James had been a little worried that his mum and dad had returned from Costa Rica and he'd have to face his mum when they'd arrived, but he was relieved to see that the Lupin house was dark and unoccupied. He just didn't know what to say yet to Dora about the row they'd had, and he was feeling a bit sheepish for his remarks about her being a Slytherin and about adopting Severus Snape should anything happen to him. He knew he'd hurt her feelings, and it was bothering him - he'd have to make amends, James just didn't quite know how yet. So seeing they were still absent made him sigh with relief. 

Lily held the green and silver box tight in her hands as she followed James inside.

"I've just got to get a couple things from my room," he said, "I don't reckon there's much in there, but if you wanted something to drink or eat or something... help yourself... kitchen's back that way," he pointed.

Lily looked the way he'd pointed, then asked, "Do you need any help? I don't mind helping you pack your things."

James balked, "Well, it's just that it's a bit messy up there."

"I don't mind."

"Alright, but -- don't say I didn't warn you." He led the way up the steps, down the hall past the room Remus and Sirius were sharing, past the one his mum and dad were, and to the room that was his. He paused at the door, glancing at Lily with an embarrassed half-smile, then opening the door.

Lily's jaw dropped as she stepped into the room. "A bit messy? Potter. What the bloody hell?"

James's cheeks burned, "I - I dunno, I s'pose I got used to the house elves."

The floor was strewn with dirty clothes and the robes from his Hogwarts trunk, several Gryffindor ties lay like lifeless snakes on the carpet, and loads of books were tipped from a stack that had, at one point, stood on top of the trunk. A half-finished bottle of pumpkin juice sat on the nightstand, along with an alarm clock and a picture frame (which he quickly rushed in and tipped onto it's face before she could see the photo it contained). Loose bits of parchment were covering the desk in great piles, haphazardly knocked about, balled up sheets spilling over the top of the bin beside it. There were dried up muddy footprints on the carpet near his broomstick in the corner and, buzzing about against the ceiling, a snitch.

Lily shook her head.

James collected his broomstick - shaking the mud from it - and a couple of the books, including an extremely worn-out copy of Quidditch Through the Ages, whose covers were ripping off the spine. Lily watched in semi-disbelief as he lifted a couple shirts from the floor, giving them a sniff test to be sure (one passed and the other induced a repulsed expression on his face... though he still packed them both...). He shoved these into his rucksack, along with some that were folded neatly in a drawer, and reached up to catch the snitch as easy as anything. The moment his fingers closed around the little ball, he glanced at her to see if she'd seen it, and a grin spread over his mouth when he saw she had.

"Show off," Lily said, but she was smirking. She wondered when this sort of arrogant smirk playing on his lips now had become adorable instead of annoying? When it was that James Potter being a show off had become... (gods, she could hear Sirius Black snickering in spirit)... en-deer-ing?

James tucked the snitch into a small pocket on his rucksack that zipped shut. "Alright," he said, "That should pretty much do it.""That's it? You're going away for sometime and you pack... that? That's it?" Lily asked.

James shrugged, "I don't really need much else."

Downstairs, he ruffled through some letters that owls had left behind since they'd left for Costa Rica. He waved one, "Hogwarts supplies letter," he said, shoving it quickly into his bag without giving it much inspection. "I suppose we'll need to make a run to Diagon Alley at some point."

"Yeah, reckon we will. Wonder if mine has come yet," she mused. "It hadn't this morning." 

James replied, "Must've come today. See here, Remus and Sirius's have are here also." He jammed them into his bag as well.

"Ooh, feel Remus's!" Lily begged, "See if he got headboy! If the badge is in there, you ought to feel it."

"Good thinking." James reached back in the rucksack for Remus's owl from Hogwarts, pulling the envelope out, and giving it a good pat down with his fingers. He held it out to Lily.

She took the envelope and felt it. Her face fell. "He didn't get it."

"Doesn't feel that way."

Lily frowned and handed the envelope back to James. "I wonder who did."

"Probably that bloke in Hufflepuff," James replied, shoving the envelope back in his rucksack. He turned and reached into a cupboard, stretching as high as he could on his tiptoes and all, shoving aside some food on the shelves, and pulled out a cannister of oatmeal.

"Um, are we hungry then?" Lily asked, confused.

"No, this is where they keep the key," James explained, "The key to the cellar."

"Oh. Right." Lily had nearly forgotten about their mission with the locket and she'd tucked the box in her jumper pocket when they'd gone upstairs. Now, she took it back out. It was whispering again. She looked up at James as he fished through the oats, spilling just as much on the floor as he was sifting through. She put the box on the table and drew her wand, "You're making a mess." She waved her wand and the oats swept themselves up and into the dust bin.

James held up the key at last. "Here we are."

They trudged out the back door and across the yard, which was damp from a recent rain. James led the way to the cellar's trap door and used his trainer to scrape away a layer of mud and grime that had accumulated since the cellar had last been opened. He stuck the key into the hole and opened up the cellar. The door was loud and creaked as the door folded back and the square opening in the ground was dark, a ladder descending into the blackness below ominously.

Lily stared down into it.

"Lumos," James cast, shaking his wand, and the tip lit up. He held it down to light up the ladder and the tops of shelves just below the surface. "Well. Here goes." He got on the ladder's top wrung and lowered himself down, clutching his wand in his teeth. Lily watched the light of his wand as he climbed down the fifteen feet or so, the rest of the depth of the tunnel he was going down coming into view as he climbed. At the bottom, he dropped into the room and had a look about. "Well. Isn't this cozy," he murmured. He looked up at her through the narrow gap. "You going to come down or do you want to just toss me the box down?"

Lily didn't really want to go down there, but she wanted to see that the box was safe and well hidden, so she hurried to descend the ladder, though it was much harder for her because she had to keep one hand on the ladder's wrungs and the other about her skirt hem for she could feel it hanging and worried he might be ale to see up it if she let it go.

When she reached the bottom, she jumped off the bottom rung and stood beside him, looking around. "Gods," she murmured, "No wonder he hates it in here."

The room was dreary, broken shelves on the wall, a shredded mattress, stuffing and springs poking out, and slashes from wolf claws all over the place. The wall were made of rough cement, and there was a feeling of breathlessness, as though the air was stale and deoxygenated in there. It was like being trapped in a tomb, Lily thought, and her heart started beating quite a bit faster as a sort of claustrophobia settled into her. The walls seemed to be shrinking in.

"Let's get rid of this thing and get the bloody hell out of here," James suggested, and he took the box from her hand, walked over and lodged the box at an angle on one of the shelves, stuffed there between bits of broken wood and a couple fallen canned foods, hiding it behind can of pickled beets. "There. An apt hiding place. Beets are just as evil as that bloody locket is," he declared.

Lily stared at the spot for a long moment, then looked about at the shambled state of the cellar, and took a deep breath. "Yes. Alright. Perfect."

"Perfect," James echoed. He glanced at his watch. "C'mon, we ought to be headed to Godric's Hollow so the lads don't ask too many questions about where we've been."

Lily asked, "You don't reckon we ought to tell them where we've hidden it?"

James shook his head, "Nah. The less people who know where it's at, the better."

"Alright," Lily nodded.

James waved to the ladder, "Ladies first."

"Thank you," Lily answered, and she climbed the ladder hurriedly, forgetting about her skirt in her anxiousness to get out.

James felt a lump rise up in his throat as he caught a glimpse of the milky white skin of her upper thighs and his face flushed and he looked down at his feet quickly. Bloody hell, he thought. Keep it together Potter.

Lily climbed out of the door and onto the damp grass, then turned about to watch as James's lit wand came up the ladder behind her, his messy hair emerging from the hole. He shook the wand, "Nox," and closed the trap door, locking it with the key and setting a protective charm over the door. Carefully, James slid the key into his rucksack. He nodded, feeling as though she'd accomplished their goal. "Well, there you have it," he said.

Lily felt better already - lighter - and she let out a sigh of relief. "Thank gods."

They went back inside and James locked the doors from within with his wand, then grabbed some floo powder from the hearth and held it out for Lily. "Best place to floo to will be the pub in Godric's Hollow, we can walk to where we're meeting the others from there."

"Alright," Lily replied.

James turned, and chucking his fistful into the hearth, he said, "The Lion's Den, Godric's Hollow," clearly and stepped into the green flames.

Lily had one last glance back at the windows that overlooked the backyard. From here, she couldn't even see the trap door to the cellar. She felt better knowing that, and she tossed her floo powder into the hearth, too, and the flames flashed bright green, and she stepped in. "Lion's Den - Godric's Hollow!" she requested and with a pop she was gone.

In the cellar, the locket was hissing.

Lily appeared in the fire at the Lion's Den seconds after she'd disappeared from the Lupin house. She stumbled coming out the floo, the way she often stumbled coming off the moving staircases at the department stores or leading up to Dumbledore's office. James caught her as she lost her balance and her face hit his chest before he uprighted her gently. She flushed but he smiled at her, the scent of him having filled her nostrils, it made her knees weak. "Upsie-daisey," he said, a twinkle in his eye.

"Sorry," she muttered, running a hand over her hair to smooth it.

James nodded to the bartender, who watched them emerge before turning back to cleaning his bar top with a towel. "C'mon," James said, leading the way.

Outside, it was drizzling, but the sun was struggling to come out, so it wasn't miserable. The rain was more like a mist that made the air feel soft and cool, but thick. People were bustling about and Lily was struck for a moment by the blantant way they carried their wands in their fists and the sign over the shop across the way's  windows that read GODDY'S OWL EMPORIUM. "What of the muggles?" she asked James.

"Godric's Hollow's a wizarding town," James replied, "Not many muggles here to worry about. Don't worry, though, Muggles couldn't see that anyway."

"No?"

"No, it's under a disillusionment. Muggles would see something entirely different. Just like at the entrance for St. Mungo's." James led her along and they came to a large fountain that had a statue of the Hogwarts founder for whom the town was named, and James paused to admire it a moment, grinning up at it. "I've always loved this fountain," he said, then, to Lily, "When I was a little boy, mum and dad used to let me throw knuts in to make wishes, said Godric's power lingers in this town a bit, and the wishes made here come true." He stared up at it. "You've no idea some of the rubbish I wished for at this very well."

"Did any of them ever come true?" Lily asked.

James smirked, "A good deal of them."

"Yeah?" Lily looked impressed, and turned to look up at the statue.

"To be fair, though, they were wishes for things like a racing broom or chocolate frogs and mum and dad heard the wishes, too." James laughed, "I've a feeling they've a lot more to do with it than Godric's power does."

Lily laughed, too, "Like the tooth fairy."

"What?"

"Muggle story," she said, and when he looked confused, she added, "When you're young and you loose your baby teeth, the muggles teach their kids there's a little fairy that collects the teeth for whatever reason she has, and she leaves behind quid as a reward -- muggle money," she clarified.

"That's absurd," James laughed, "What the bloody hell would a fairy be doing with muggle money?"

Lily said, "Well it isn't real, it's actually the mummy or daddy go and swap off."

"Oh." James shook his head, "It's still absurd. Muggles ideas of magic are absurd in general. They've no idea how it works and the rubbish they come up with..." he laughed.

Lily laughed, too, "Yeah." Then she paused in walking, "Oooh."

James looked up to see what she was looking at. It was a little cottage, with white-washed walls and a large, thick garden. Ivy and morning glories climbed the front walls, the chimney positively covered with the crawling vines. There was a little stone wall that closed in the yard and garden, with a little wood gate, a brass oval engraved with the number - 25. 

James stopped beside her, looking from the house to her face. "What?" he asked.

"It's just a pretty house," Lily replied, looking up at it. "It looks like it ought to be a doll's house, it's so lovely. Look at those windows!"

James looked. The windows were guilded, with thick iron honey-comb patterns running through them. "They're very nice," he said.

"Imagine if they had coloured glass in them?" Lily said, "They'd be like church windows then. So beautiful. Gosh."

James pointed down the street, "Neighbors with Bathilda Bagshot, too," he said knowingly.

Lily looked where he was pointing. "The Bathilda Bagshot? As in textbook-writer-slash- wizarding-world-genius?"

"The very same," he laughed. 

Lily was awestruck.

"C'mon," he said, still chuckling at the expression on her face

\\\\, and he led her off down the road.

Lily glanced back at the house as they walked away, then scrambled after James, headed down the road to the Dumbledore house, where they were to meet Remus, Sirius, and Peter Pettigrew.