Lily was at least prepared for the jerk behind her nav this time as she transcribed the runes from Professor Laurie's books onto her own parchment.

"Evans, you want to be partners?"

"No."

"Please, Evans? I'll be a grand partner. I'm brillant at herbology."

"No, Potter."

"C'mon.. it'll be smashing. My mum does loads of gardening so I'm really great with plants. I have a bit of a green thumb, you know." He held up his thumb and somehow or another he'd actually turned it green. He cackled and his eyes lit up with humor, "See, look at that, Love."

"Don't call me love."

James Potter grinned in that obnoxious, unnerving way he had that made her simply want to slap his stupid face. She turned away, looking to spot if quite literally anyone else in the room was without a partner.

"C'mon Evans."

"No!" She pointed at the table a couple away where Sirius Black was heckling a Hufflepuff boy. "Why don't you go be partners with Sirius and you can both leave the rest of the world be at peace for a single bloody second?"

"Because I want to be your partner, love."

"Stop. Calling. Me. Love."

"No, but really Evans, I can really be great. I know loads. Like for instance, you're holding those trimmers wrong, see you're supposed to hold them like this --" he reached and Lily jerked her hands back.

"Stop it!" she snapped, but his hands were already on the shears and they moved funny and sliced right across her finger. A bright red line of blood broke out across her finger and she inhaled sharply at the pain of it, tears instinctively coming to her eyes, "Ouch! Look what you've done!" she snapped.

James stepped back, hands up, "I'm sorry. I didn't mean to --"

"You didn't mean to be an overbearing toerag, you mean?" She snapped and, flustered and upset, her finger throbbing, she turned and rushed out of the green houses. She was out on the lawn of the grounds, clutching her finger and hot tears rolling over her cheeks in a moment.

She heard the door to the green houses open behind her and she half turned. Seeing a swath of black hair. "Isn't it enough you've sliced me open, you horrid beast, you have to come out here and torture me out here, too?"

"Sorry, Lily, I just wanted to make sure you were alright."

The voice wasn't James Potter's.

She looked up in surprise to see a boy very much like James at a quick glance - black hair, wide eyes with a high forehead and perfectly straight nose, a friendly grin and lanky body that seemed to have too many limbs or at least limbs of an unusual size for the torso or something - but that's where the similarities ended. This boy wore Hufflepuff robes, for one, and had squarer shoulders and a chin that sort of jutted out a bit more than James. He had bigger ears and his black hair was touseled in a more natural way - you could tell he hadn't been running his fingers through it every five seconds, that is.

It was the boy that had been being heckled by Sirius Black, she realized, though she wasn't certain of his name, only that she'd seen him on the pitch in Quidditch and that he was pretty good... Odair, maybe?

"Are you? Alright, that is?" he pressed, concern pinching his forehead.

Lily looked down, her finger was still bloody, but not actively bleeding anymore. It was more messy than anything but it was still throbbing a bit the way cuts do for a time, and she murmured, "Sorry. Yeah, I'm alright. I didn't mean to snap at you."

"It's alright." The boy came closer and Lily was struck by the gentleness in his tone and manner, the way he held out his hands for hers and he bent over it, inspecting carefully.

He looked up. "I think you'll live through it, at least," he assessed.

Lily laughed, "Well that's a break, I was worried."

He looked up and their eyes met solidly. "I'm Jasper Odair, by the way."

"I'm Lily Evans."

"I know." He flushed and looked away. "I mean, you're on the quidditch team. I've... heard your name.. you know, around."

Lily said, "Oh." She paused. "Good things, I hope."

"The best." He paused. Then, "I'm glad you aren't hurt terribly."

"That Potter boy can be ruddy awful."

"He's got a lot of energy, that's for sure." Jasper smiled, then, "Funny as hell, the lot of them. It must be exhausting being the only girl in their year."

"Utterly," Lily answered firmly. She rolled her eyes. "Honestly, I look forward to the sanity of Herbology with the Hufflepuffs just to get away from... all that."

Jasper laughed. "People do tend to find us calming."

Lily smiled.

Jasper looked surprised. "You - you don't know the joke, do you?"

"The joke?"

"I thought maybe because you knew Sirius Black that you might know the joke."

"What joke?"

"About Hufflepuffs who find things?"

"What?"

"Hufflepuffs are particularly good at finding things," Jasper explained. "For some reason that amuses Sirius Black so he tries to say find all the time around - well, I reckon it's around all the Hufflepuffs, but he rather enjoys saying it to me in particular. I guess you've not heard it."

"I try not to pay attention to things that Sirius Black and James Potter say, honestly," Lily said, adding, "Particularly when they are being bullies."

Jasper shrugged, "Dunno if it's so much bullying as much just trying to have some fun."

"But it's annoying."

"Sometimes." Jasper shrugged again. He pointed at her hand. "Can I fix you up?" he asked.

Lily nodded and held out her hand, expecting him to take out his wand and cast the bandaging spell. Instead, he reached in his pocket and took out a Band Aid.

Lily giggled, "Is that a muggle bandage?"

Jasper nodded, "Yes." He ripped open the package, "I find them very novel... and my little brother loves them. And look." He held it up, showing it to her. "There's pictures on it." He squinted at it for a moment, then laughed, "Sorry; they're of motorcars. Edgar loves motorcars."

Lily laughed and Jasper gently wrapped the bandage around her finger, making sure it was securely stuck on. "There you have it," he told her, releasing her hand gently. "You're on the mend now."

She reckoned her finger had never been so well badaged.

She could still feel Jasper's gentle touch lingering and she felt almost guilty for the way it tingled on her skin. She laughed at the fleeting thought of how hard James would try at not appearing jealous if he knew about the tingling, even now - a little better than a month from their wedding.

Sirius Black's countdown to Queen was further out than her becoming Mrs. Potter was.

She looked at the runes and her mind returned to Jasper Odair and the comfort he had always given her, like a favorite jumper on a cold autumn
day, or the tune to a song you'd sung a thousand times over coming up on the radio. He'd always been considerate and there in ways that few people ever were.

Jasper was there like that for everyone, for anyone who was in need. It didn't matter if he knew the person - not really - so long as he was able to spare it of himself, Jasper was there.

Which was why it had been such rot when he had been sent to Azkaban, sent to that horrible place, and for what? For saving his brother? For the very act of being there that made him so special?

Lily's heart throbbed with the thought of him sitting there among the dementors, and thrilled with realization that despite it, despite what he had been through, Jasper hadn't changed. He was sensitive to what he had gone through, sure, but he was still there for others as much as he'd ever been.

How many tears had he dried from her eyes?

How safe had she felt in his arms in the past?

The only person who she felt safer and more loved by in all the world was James himself.

Sirius joked once that Jasper was a knock-off of James, that Jasper was the James you got when you didn't have James. But no, Jasper was more than that. They were just cut from the same cloth, he and James, similar but not the same.

"What d'ya reckon you'll be when you've grown?" Lily once asked him, sitting at the tables outside Florean Fortescue's shop. Jasper was wearing that pink and green striped shirt and the goofy hat of the uniform and she was eating raspberry ice cream he had served her in a dish, on the house.

"Dunno, suppose I don't really want anything more than what I'm doing here, now," he answered, waving at the shop.

"Oh Jasper, you can do so much more," Lily had said, quickly trying to build him up, "Even without finishing at Hogwarts there are loads of options for you. Maybe you could even get your certifications from a post educational program - or go to a muggle college, you're very smart."

"I'm not settling, Lil," he said shaking his head. "Blimey, I love this, honestly... The smiles on the kids faces when they get their ice cream is so good. They make me feel happy and important. I feel like I really make a difference. Oh I know I'm not changing the bloody world with dishes of sherbet but I am making a difference if only in the moment."

Lily had wanted to hug him then and she wanted to hug him now, just remembering the sincerity of his face. One day, she thought, if Jasper Odair got his wish, one day she and James would go to Fortescue's and bring along their children and their children would get to hug and play with their Uncle Jasper, and oh what a wonderful Uncle Jasper they would have, for he would always find the time to be with them, whatever was going on...

And Lily couldn't help but tear up even as she giggled at the echo of the word find that played about in her mind.

She looked down at the parchment, at the runes she had translated.

"Darkness is passing," she read outloud. "Although it seems all consuming now, in this finite world, it passes more and more, decaying each day. One day, the darkness shall die away, along with these bodies of flesh and bone; then the light of Love shall be made perfect in each of us."

She closed her eyes.

Let it be, she begged, please let it be.