This final dedication goes for the entire book, and it's dedicated to the dreamers, the memory makers, and all those that refuse to let the dominos fall.
Thank you ♥️♥️♥️

(4th May 1978)

The street was quiet when they arrived with a soft crack. Nobody saw them cross the vacant roads, or through the back alleys of London. Nobody was around to question the two rumpled looking boys and the purple haired girl running across the city, boots slamming on the cobbled roads, slightly wet from a burst of rain earlier in the day. Raindrops soared into the sky in time with their footfalls, but nobody saw.

As they approached a red telephone box, overlooking a derelict building, the tallest boy motioned for them to stop. The other two ground to a halt, he placed a finger to his lips.
"Wait here," the boy, James, whispered urgently.

Now they'd stopped running, their surroundings came into focus. They had arrived in London, and the building in front of them was not abandoned, it was the Ministry of Magic, disguised from the muggle eye.

"I don't mean to be rude, James, but how do you plan on getting us in?" Sirius Black asked, his cynical gray eyes filled with worry and doubt as he cast them towards the Ministry.
"We don't know who's on our side in there, if someone sees us and word spreads to the wrong ears– we're in very deep shit."

Once again, James pressed a finger to his lips and Sirius fell silent.
"We're waiting for someone to leave for the night. When they do, I want you to stun them."

"And I'll copy their looks?" It was the first time Esme-Leigh had spoken since they'd arrived in London, her eyes were sparkling with her friend's genius but her brow was still creased with worry.

"Exactly. That way you can act as a lookout and we don't need the cloak."

"If we knew you were such a genius, we'd have let you plan way more pranks. Remus will shit himself."

"Shut up, Padfoot."

Sirius grumbled but did not argue.

The three of them waited, the building appeared to be completely silent and they were about to abandon their idea when a lone woman exited the through the postbox lift.

"Target acquired," Sirius whispered, aiming his wand at her, "stupify."

The woman collapsed to the ground, immediately. Impressively quickly.
"Umm... guys?" Sirius ventured as they approached the body carefully, "is it just me, or did this old looking lady go down a little too fast for a light stunning spell?"

Esme shrugged, "maybe you misjudged her weight?"

"Maybe."

They stood in a semi-circle, watching the unconscious witch for a beat before casting the strangeness out of their minds.
"Okay, back off. I need a good look at her before I can copy her looks accurately."

James and Sirius stood aside for Esme to do her job.
"Let's take a look at the mirror."

"Do it quietly, if she's still with snatchers then they might hear it."

James nodded, producing the mirror from his back pocket and lifting it to his lips, "Lily Evans," he whispered.

The first time calling the reflection changed, molding like water.
Lily was in an office, and she appeared to be alone.
"She's still unconscious, otherwise she'd have answered it herself."

The office was small, the light was scarce and she appeared to be lying on the floor. There was a fireplace and a window. Aside from that, they had nothing to go on. No indication of the department, of who the office belonged to. Only that she was very likely locked inside.

"Recognise it?"

James shook his head just as the connection wavered, then flickered out.

"Shit."

James raked a hand through his hair, pulling on it. His head filling up with the most horrific ideas, immediately arriving at the worst conclusions...

"Boys?"

Esme-Leigh's French tinted accent broke James away from his increasingly dark ruminations.
He looked up to see her completely different. She was smaller, and more widely built in. Her hair was a box dye blonde, and her eyes pale blue.

"You look scary, mate," Sirius chuckled, perhaps it was hysteria, but he didn't seem to be able to stop making jokes.

"That's all well and good but I wanted to show you something," Esme pointed upwards at the ministry building.

"What is that?"

(4th May 1978)

The first thing she noticed was that there was a dull ache in her head, it throbbed and plused when she attempted to sit up. The second thing she noticed was that she was attempting to sit up from the floor.

When the ache subsided, Lily began to assess her surroundings, allowing the memories of how she ended up here to fill her head.
She was in an office. She was chased by Lucifer. The floors were wooden, save for the rug she'd been lying on. James had taken her to Hogwarts and Sirius led her to the shack. There was a fireplace that wasn't lit, a draft was coming from the crack in the door. Sirius and James had fought the snatchers chasing her. There wasn't much light in the office, a single lamp sat on the oak desk. Lily had jumped in front of a curse to save James. Lucifer would be here soon, of that she was certain...

Standing up slowly, Lily began to regain her full consciousness, the vertigo faded and left her alone with the room. It was smaller than it seemed from her position lying down, but one thing she hadn't seen immediately was the dim light coming in from the crack in the door.

The desk was devoid of any use at first glance, however the drawers were unlocked and filled with all sorts of trinkets. A glass vile that looked like a thermometer; an hourglass smaller than her hand; a silver bound book. There must be something to pick a lock with, Lily thought, rummaging through the next drawer.

She'd been searching the drawers frantically for a few minutes when suddenly a chill ran down her spine. Lucifer.
Her connection with the devil was something she was still trying to understand, however it was clear to her that he was close. Too close. Lily's search became hysteric.

She was about to give in when she found it. A single pin, pushed to the back of the last drawer, seemingly forgotten about. She could escape, find Sirius and James. They couldn't have taken her far.

Sirius and James.

They must have followed her. They would be searching right now. They had to be.

Lily's eyes found the window and she rushed towards it in the same breath, skidding to a halt when she reached the pane.
Three shadows stood in the distance, conferring about something or other but it was immediately obvious it was them, but Lily didn't recognise the woman they were with.

There was no way she could have risked catching their attention with the other woman watching her. If she was to make a scene at the window it would be immediately obvious she was in trouble and there was no telling who this woman was.

Almost as if by some sort of divine circumstance, a sudden weight in her pocket changed Lily's hopelessness. It was the mirror she'd seen James use earlier, he'd slipped it into her pocket before snatchers took her.

"Thank you, James Potter," she whispered to herself as she picked up the candle that lit the office. From there it wasn't difficult to direct a beam of light towards the figures on the street.

James saw her first. The tallest figure followed the beam of light to her window, scurrying out the shadows and pointing upwards for the other two to see.

She didn't have enough time to see if they had understood her message because a chill ran up her spine, suddenly, cold and unforgiving. The candle fell to the ground and extinguished with a hiss.

Lucifer was close. She could feel his shadows creeping through the cracks in the doors and slipping in the open windows. Shadows we're everywhere, twisting into sinister shapes and suffocating anything in their path.
The force of Lucifer's presence threw Lily off guard and her back hit the wall.

It was clear they didn't have long. Lily reached for the pin she'd found. It was darker still in the office without the candle but being blind was only half her struggle, now she had to deal with Lucifer himself, and whoever was with James and Sirius.

The only real question was, who would arrive first?

(4th May 1978)

It was a light.

"Look," James breathed, turning his attention to the orange beem shining towards them.

"It's her."

She'd woken up and found away to find help for herself. James had never loved her more.

"Let's go. Come on!"

They headed towards the Ministry of Magic with a new found vigour. They knew where to go, they knew Lily was okay; but they didn't know how long that would last...

♣ ♣ ♣

(4th May 1978)

"Now!" Esme-Leigh hissed, beckoning a waiting James and Sirius down the corridor. She was still disguised as a nameless Ministry official but nobody had noticed them so far.
The two boys ran across the corridor, grinding to a halt when Esme held out a hand.

The corridor they found themselves in was vast, lit by torches running low. The walls were dark marble, and the floors clicked uncomfortably underfoot. There was something about this part of the Ministry building that set one on edge. An atmosphere, a feeling, an inkling, that something wasn't quite right. There was something off centre, just a hair. If one wasn't looking then they would not notice it; to the average eye it would appear to be a normal enough corridor, but James knew it to be something much more sinister. They were approaching the room they'd seen Lily and everything seemed to go faster. His heart, the seconds ticking by– the length of the corridors were the only thing increasing in size. They seemed to stretch for miles, into the shadows and the dark.

Shadows.

"Ez, we need to go. Now!"

Esme turned around and placed a finger to her lips. "Someone's coming!" She hissed.

Before James and Sirius had time to react, a stocky man in travelling robes appeared down the hall.
He passed Esme-Leigh without so much as a nod, and continued on down the corridor- towards the boys. They pressed themselves against the walls, Sirius pressed a finger to his lips.

They held their breath.

The man walked directly past them, he didn't even look their way. In fact, James thought, he hadn't blinked at all.

"Stun him."

"What?" Sirius breathed from the wall next to James.

"I'll do it then. Stupify."

The man fell in the same breath. His eyes were wide open.

"Holy shit."

Esme-Leigh had jogged back down the corridor to join them, "what is it?"

"Look!" James cried, motioning to the unconscious man.

Shadows crawled around him, reminding them of their urgency, "Esme, I don't think your job is entirely necessary." Without expanding, he set off down the corridor, this time at a run.

"What? Prongs get back here!" Sirius hissed, rushing to catch up with Esme-Leigh in tow.

"We don't have time to stop moving. The shadows are everywhere now. If you keep up I'll explain..."
It was plainly obvious to him, now that he'd seen the man, just how much danger they were in.

"Explain then!"

"That man, and the woman you're impersonating, Ez, they've been possessed. They can't see us! It's them! The Snatchers– they're possessed Ministry officials. That's why they've never been caught, and it's why they don't blink. That's why nobody knows where they go to. It's why they know all the protected spots and how they can penetrate them. It's why no snatcher has ever been found– they can't remember doing it themselves."

"But that would mean–"

"They have a leader working on the inside."

Sirius snapped his fingers, "exactly. They would need multiple to command that amount of magic all the time."

"And that kind of magic leaves a mark."

"The shadows."

"Exactly."

On queue, the aforementioned shadows crept across the floor, seemingly spilling from the door at the end of the hall. They quickened their pace to a sprint. If they were right, then this was a lot worse than they thought. Whoever was at the other end of that door was a lot more powerful than they had ever imagined...

Lucifer, whoever he was, neared.

(4th May 1978)

The lock clicked under her pin as she struggled to pick the door open. In truth, she wasn't entirely sure what she was doing, but it was clear this was her only option. Shadows still swirled around the room like black ink, a perpetual midnight making its home around her.

"Come on!" She hissed at the door, moving the pin around wildly until she found a bolt of some sort. It stuck under her pin and she pulled without the knowledge it would work.

A loud click reverberated around the room, echoing down the hall. She was free.

Something was wrong.

The door swung open as Lily jumped to her feet, and there he was...

Lucifer stood in front of her, his hood nowhere to be seen but Lily could recognise the devil anywhere.

"Lily Evans," he said, grinning, "I must say it is a pleasure indeed."

He winked at her and she felt the shadows creep into every crevice of her body. Fear melded her into the ground.

Lucifer stepped inside the dark office, shutting the door behind him, giving Lily barley enough time to register the faint sound of voices somewhere in the shadows down the hall...

"I was wondering how I might find you, and I must say I am not disappointed at all. You are truly fascinating, Miss Evans."

What struck Lily the most was how terrifyingly normal he looked. Without his hood and his shadows in the amber light, Lucifer looked like any ordinary, pedestrian man. Lily doubted she'd have been able to pick him out a crowd, the thought unsettled her further.

"I suppose your boyfriend has filled you in on your importance?"

If Lily's tongue weren't glued to the roof of her mouth, she might have asked how he knew of James, he never seemed to be around when James was there. Then she remembered the sports jersey she wore, and the fact that Lucifer seemed to know everything. Yes, Lily thought, he was the devil alright. And he was a very good one.

Lucifer chuckled, as if he was heard her.
"Well I suppose it won't matter much."
He stalked the room like a predator, watching his prey. Lily supposed he was.

His accent was smooth English, his features polished, his eyes intelligent. He looked like any normal man, he looked like the man in the cafe, the postman, the man in the street, the devil. The devil had been everywhere.

Lily wasn't sure when Lucifer had produced a wand from his pocket, only that he was now twirling it between his fingers, almost thoughtfully.

The voices Lily had heard down the hall were gone. Seeing his face, and his smile, she was almost glad. At least this way they wouldn't get hurt too.

"You're a brave girl," Lucifer said in that silk voice of his, "a very brave girl."

Lucifer grinned his Cheshire Cat grin, his wand was pointing at her chest–

A knock sounded at the door, followed by a woman stumbling in. Lily couldn't have been certain, but she thought it was the same middle aged woman she had seen with James and Sirius. She held her breath.

Lucifer's back was to the woman, he hadn't lowered his wand, but it was obvious the sudden entrance had startled him.

"Excuse me sir, I was just looking for Mr—"
Lucifer turned to face the woman and her expression dropped.

"Evening, sweetheart," Lucifer smirked before flinging a purple curse at her.

The woman screamed out on pain, hitting the wall back behind as her appearance transformed completely. The box dye blonde hair transformed from blue to purple to a silk blonde. Her face aged down into something ethereally beautiful, dusted with light freckles like kisses. She looked smaller, but perhaps that was just the way she crumbled to the ground like a paper doll.

It was Esme-Leigh Bisset.

"Esme!—" Lily cried but Lucifer had already turned his attention back to her, leaving Esme to collapse onto the floor, writhing in pain. Her hair was electric blue, then blush pink, back to blonde; her skin was patchy with burns.

Lily didn't have time to breath and was at the mercy of Lucifer's wand once again. But the noise must have alerted them, because Sirius and James appeared at the door in an instant.

Now Lucifer did lower his wand, but he took his time turning around.
"Evening gentlemen," he said smoothly, twirling his wand once again.

Lily's eyes were fixed on James through the whole ordeal. Meaning she saw the exact moment he saw Lucifer's face, and the exact moment he went sheet white.

It seemed like James had seen a ghost, or something much, much worse...

"Millard?!"

(4th May 1978)

Lucifer was Millard McQuade.

Millard was grinning when he met James' eye and the answer to his question was revealed. That was why he'd advised James' father to step down; why Lily told him Lucifer was not always there– he'd been away investigating, or worse still- he didn't want James to recognise him. That was why he'd targeted Lily himself, because he knew Fleamont had stood down before the papers did, why her protection had fallen.

"Good to see you, son."

Sirius, next to James, had frozen almost completely. This was the same man they'd spent Christmas with; the same man that would joke with their father when he came round for dinner; the same man that would talk their ear off about quidditch. Lucifer was Millard McQuade, and something was about to happen...

"How could you?" James whispered, barely audible above the blood thumping in his ears, "how could you do this? To muggleborns, to my father, to your co-workers?"

Millard– Lucifer– shrugged in a manned that was almost flippant. He seemed to be enjoying himself, his confession allowing his intellect to be brought to light.

"I've spent years curating this formula, this routine. The right amount of snatchers; the right about of commanders to bewitch them; the right intel to follow. The charms need updates nearly daily of course. It's not a job I take lightly."

Sirius began edging forward but James nudged him with his foot. Something was about to happen, and it wouldn't if Sirius rushed now.

"I wonder if you remember when your family first moved into the Cokeworth House?"

James felt his mouth opening off its own accord, "you didn't want us to go. You'd make jokes about retirement, and the insanity of it all. Even then I should have known."

"Maybe. But you didn't. Perhaps it's for the best that we do this now, before you get too attached to the poor girl you've tried so desperately to save. Perhaps—"

Millard continued to speak, and James daren't take his eyes away from the cruel green that used to be so kind. In the corner of his vision, Lily had pulled the mirror from her pocket...

Something was about to happen.

"—but your father was becoming suspicious. So we hit high profile places. Places 'protected' from snatchers—"

"You did it on purpose?! You got Fleamont Potter fired on purpose?" Sirius asked, his tone incredulous, his eyes blazing fire. James could only assume he has seen Lily too the mirror poised.

"High profile cases are important in a war. If the Dark Lord can reach Lily Evans, he can reach anyone. Anything. And he won't stop until he had done so. He will never stop. Not until—"

SMASH!

James startled, jumping back from broken glass, narrowly missing the shards as they exploded around the room, leaving Lily Evans standing above, looking down on an unconscious and bloodied Lucifer. The devil had fallen. All it took was a broken mirror and a muggle girl.

(4th May 1978)

Sirius shot a lazy spell from his wand and Lucifer was wrapped in body binds. It appeared pointless to Lily, he was unconscious, but she supposed it was best to be careful.
Thoughts seemed to come to Lily in a perfectly rational order, considering what she'd just done.

Lucifer looked odd. He lay on the floor, his eyes closed behind his glasses, silver hair splattered with the blood from where Lily had hit him with the mirror. He looked innocuous there, almost like he were sleeping, and far too terrifyingly human.

She gazed at him with a peculiar sort of fascination. This was the monster that had stalked her for months; the man outside her window; the one that sent chills down her spine to think about. And yet there he was, his name was Millard McQuade and she had bested him. She didn't need to be a witch, or a muggle, or anything in between. She needed to be Lily Evans, a girl that she was finally content to be.

When she looked up James was watching her. His eyes sparkled when they met hers and a beaming grin spread across his lips, contagious and beautiful. The look he gave Lily could have convinced her to do anything, he looked at her as if she'd hung to moon and painted the stars herself.
Lily smiled back, the space between them from opposite sides of the office felt like miles, days, far too fucking long.

Before either registered what they were doing, Lily ran as fast as her legs would carry her the small number of steps into James arms. It only took a split second but suddenly she was safe, suddenly she was home.

"You did it!" He whispered in her ear alternating between kissing the side of her face and burying his nose into her neck.

"I did it," she replied, her disbelief evident in the way it curled around her whisper.

James pulled back slightly, his arms still held her tight but this way he could see her face to face.
"You fucking did it, Lily Evans," and he kissed her.

As soon as his lips touched hers, the world burst into colour beneath her eyelids and nothing else mattered. His lips were soft and still slightly cold from the nighttime air, he tasted like mint toothpaste, he smelt like wet grass and cigarettes. Everything seemed to fit into place when he was kissing her. Everything was perfect.

Carefully she pulled away and watched as he opened his eyes, painstakingly slowly, almost as if he were trying to save the moment for as long as possible, burn it into his memory so that he would never be without it again.

"Hi," she whispered, her nose touching his in a featherlight caress.

"Hey."

"Sorry to interrupt, lovebirds, but when the fuck did this become a thing? And why –on Godric's green earth– did nobody think to tell me?!" Sirius was kneeling beside Esme, but he was watching them both with his mouth slightly parted in shock, a small step away from dropping his jaw to the floor. He seemed almost scandalised by this turn of events and it only made Lily blush a deeper than James' kiss had. She buried her face into his neck and grinned something pink and gorgeous.

"Shut up, Padfoot," James sighed, "it was pretty much yesterday. I didn't tell you because I anticipated this sort of Sirius-Black-Level-Meltdown. Also, we kind of had other things to talk about that seemed more pressing than telling you all my secrets at a sleepover!"

Lily couldn't help it: she laughed. Despite Lucifer lying unconscious on the floor; despite Esme-Leigh holding Sirius' jumper against her bloody head, drifting in and out of sleep; despite the fact she was still being held to close enough to James' body to feel him breathe; despite everything they had just discovered, everything they had just endured. Lily laughed.
She laughed and the stars seemed to dim.

♥ ♥ ♥

(4th May 1978 continued)

Sirius and James helped wake Esme-Leigh and pull her to her feet. Her eyes were chestnut brown and her pupils nearly took up her whole eye.
"I'm fine," she insisted but both boys hushed her rather aggressively.

"I'll take Esme to St Mungo's, and I'll get word to Flea."
Sirius pulled Esme-Leigh closer to him and Lily watched in horror as she slipped down into unconsciousness again. Instead of having her walk, Sirius scooped her up into his arms.
"Come on, gorgeous, let's get you to a healer," he turned back to Lily and James, who were now standing side by side, "take Lily home, Prongs. Wherever that may be."

Without another word, Sirius and Esme-Leigh disappeared with a crack, leaving them alone once more.

"Shall we?"

"Shall we what?"

"Shall we take you home?"

James held out an arm which Lily took without question.
"Wherever that may be."

♥ ♥ ♥

(4th May 1978 continued)

They arrived back where they began– in Hogwarts' grounds. The sun was beginning to rise, the dawning of a new day, and the trees were whistling a gentle tune to the wind.

"You said you were taking me home?"

"I did."

In that moment she felt a desperate, visceral need to kiss him. Lily held onto his neck like it was the only steady thing for miles, and James held her back like she was the most precious thing in the world.

"I love you," she whispered against his lips and James grinned.

"Really?"

"Uh-huh."

"You better keep reminding me then, in case I forget." He kissed her again and the rising sun smiled down on them.

"Can we go inside?" Lily asked, her childlike excitement shone through every pore of her body.

James chuckled, taking a step back and offering her his hand.
"In a minute, what's the rush anyway? There's all the time in the world."

Lily beamed and took his hand. They laced their fingers together and James began to lead her somewhere.
"Take me on an adventure," she said, and this time it really meant something.

(4th May 1978)

Two years ago James had found himself short of cigarettes while boarding the Hogwarts Express for the penultimate time. He'd given his last one to Jasmine Sempere, the head girl at the time, and he distinctly remembered the sad emptiness of needing something.
True to his favourite ABBA song, smoking really was his only vice.

But now, as he found himself with Lily, perched on one of the large stones out near Hagrid's hut (the ones that overlook all of Hogwarts from the best angle), things were different. Now, James rarely smoked and it was because of the woman next to him. It was because of every time she had chastised him, or plucked the cigarettes from between his teeth and stamped them herself. Now James rarely smoked simply because Lily didn't want him to. It was apparent he had other vices now (though, admittedly, still the same favourite ABBA song).

"Want a cigarette?" James asked, holding out a half empty box, tattered and worn with the day's events.

Lily considered him from her perch by his side. They sat so close their thighs were touching on the stone, both facing the castle and the lake beyond. She watched him with a careful eye for a second before nodding.

He did not tease her change in attitude, he did not comment at all. Instead, James produced his wand and tapped it gently on the end of his cigarette. It lit without fuss, emitting a stream of lustre smoke, catching the morning light in its colour. It looked rather like one's breath does on a winter morning, spiralling with the chilly air; though today the morning was warmer, spring wrapped itself around them like a welcoming hug.

James passed her the cigarette and watched her carefully as she took a drag. It was a peculiar thing, he thought, to watch Lily smoke.

"Okay?" She asked him, catching James watching her and smiling coyly.

"More than okay."

The sun was rising around them and it was perfectly content to do so in a glow of warm colour. Nothing dazzling and impassioned, but James supposed there was a poetry in that.

"I let you win, you know?" He said suddenly, cutting the quiet with his softly spoken tone.

"Let me what?"

"The day we first met. We played Marauders Dares and we got put in a drinking game. You outdrank me and were delighted with yourself. But I never told you that I let you win."

Lily seemed to be watching him with a delightfully shocked expression. He took a drag of their cigarette and grinned puckishly.

"You let me think... for all this time?! I—"

"Sorry."

"My life," Lily cried, a hand on her chest, "my life is a lie!"

They held their pretence of seriousness for three more seconds before they started to laugh. They laughed and the world faded to something irrelevant.

It didn't matter that they'd just come out the other side of hell to be there, because they were out. They'd made it, and suddenly every second felt like magic.

There was still a way to go, still things that didn't make sense, and some that probably never would; but they were alive and laughing.

"I can't believe you never said anything!" Lily wheezed.

"I didn't think I ever would, if I'm honest."
They locked eyes again and suddenly everything became funnier. Everything became alright.

When the laughter finally subsided, they were left with gasping breaths, sore sides, and the sunrise.

"Can I ask you a question?"

"Anything."

Lily paused, taking a drag of the now dwindling cigarette, "why did you do it?"

"Why did I let you win?"

She nodded.

"Because I had no idea I was in love with you, and that was perfectly logical at the time."
It was true, he really hasn't the faintest clue why when he went home that night, but now, looking back, it was all so painfully and comically obvious. He'd been in love with her from the beginning, it just took him a while to realise it.

Lily was grinning when he looked over at her, the light in her eyes seemed to be coming directly from the sunrise.
"I love you so fucking much. I had no idea I would ever say those words to you. No idea."

They were serious now, the world had changed once again, moving with the workings of the sun.
James felt his chest swell in such a way he hoped it would never stop. Everything looked different in the sunrise; the trees that had whispered warning of peril, now just looked like trees; the grass that had been inky black was now just green with droplets of dew decorating the blades; and the moon had hid herself from sight. But she would be back, when the sun went down again.

"Do you think I could belong here? One day?" Lily asked carefully, her voice quiet, nearly a whisper, as if the possibility of such an idea were incomprehensible.

"Belong at Hogwarts?"

"Belong amongst magic. I'm a muggle after all, aren't I?"

James studied her, the way she spoke with an edge of sarcasm, but her eyes portrayed genuine emotion, hope. He smiled at her and reached to take her hand.
"You're not a muggle. Not really."

A moment came back to him then; the marauders, Esme and Marlene were in their usual compartment on the way to Hogwarts, the same day James gave his cigarette to Jazzy. Remus had said Lily Evans –whoever she may have been– wasn't truly a muggle. She was a muggle in theory, maybe, but magic would always flow through her veins. It was a thing wonder, James thought, to have the answer to the question they'd discussed so many times.

"You're a muggle in theory, Lily. In reality, you're just as magic as the rest of us, if not more. And to me? You are magic."

It was immediately obvious to James that he had said the right thing. Lily's eyes lit up brighter than he had ever seen them, like emeralds glittering in the sun. She was radiant, truly magic.

"Do you think I could study here? Learn all the things I should have?"

James chuckled, the cigarette smoke winding around his head like a halo but he paid it no heed, "of course you can. You can learn it all, I bet you'd make a better witch than me after the training."

When Lily laughed the world seemed to stop and watch her. James included.
"I want to try anyway."

"When I was younger I'd always had a fascination with Lily Evans, I remember thinking about how she could have been the best quidditch player the world had seen, she could have invented a life changing potion, she could have found a way to evade the killing curse. We just didn't know. And now," James locked her gaze to his, "now, we do."

"I want to belong here one day."

"You will. You do."

They didn't talk for a while after that. Their cigarette was finished and James didn't light another. Instead, they watched the sunrise in silence, with Lily's head resting on his shoulder.

It was like nothing had changed from that first time they'd sat like this, the day of his mother's funeral. That day he had decided not to let the dominos fall; the day he decided to face them, to push back and it brought him here.

The sun would rise everyday, James had come to realise. The sun would set, it would rise, and in between there were stars.

As if she could read his mind, Lily shifted slightly to gaze up at him, smiling softly. James pressed a kiss to her lips and the world slotted into place. He held her she was the secret to the universe and he would sooner be killed than have to let go.

The sun was in the sky, high above their heads when James finally hopped off stone. He held out a hand to Lily, somewhere between an invitation and a question.

"Coming?"

"Coming where?"

James smiled something bright and sweet. "I've always wanted to show Lily Evans the wizarding world– the good and the bad. Well now I can." He helped Lily climb down from the stone and as soon as her feet hit the ground they set off, hand in hand.

"So where are you taking me?"

He wrapped an arm around her, holding her as close as he could. Everything he ever wanted could fit under his arm. He thought of the dominos, of the memories, the dreams, the kisses, the good, and the bad. He thought of the magic and smiled.

Where are you taking me?

"Home, of course."

So here we are. It's over and I have run out of things to say. I'll do all the thank yous and gushing after the epilogue but for now I want you to know that I appreciate every single person reading this right now and I couldn't be more grateful you're here, reading this. It means the world to me.

Stay turned for the epilogue!

Thank you and a massive love,

Abbi♥️