Stealing Sheep

STEALING SHEEP

CHAPTER 1: The Way We Weren’t

CRASH!

A heavy novel titled, '101 Useful Uses For Wolfsbane' whizzed a mere inch above James’ head, confirming his suspicions that she was not very pleased with him.

SMASH!

An ink pot was aimed at his head, but he ducked quickly. The green liquid ran down the wall behind him, and glass pieces scattered at his feet. That was when he realised that she was not very pleased with him at all.

"For the love of Quidditch, girl! That was my favourite ink pot! I mean, I like it but I never asked for it to be smashed into me!" James exclaimed, his hazel eyes widening as her vibrant green ones bore into his.

"Quidditch! QUIDDITCH! Do NOT get me started on that bloody game! That’s all you and that pathetic friend of yours ever think about with the exception of those cruel little ‘pranks’ that you think are ever so funny!" She raged sarcastically and stalked out of the door, slamming it with all her might. She was surprisingly powerful as the room shook from her furious rampage.

She was gone long enough for James to heave a sigh of relief. Then it dawned on him that Lily Evans would never just sulk away and let him get away with it. Not that he knew what ‘it’ was . He had just been strolling along, minding his own business for once, and feeling quite good about life, when a red-headed firebolt had assaulted him. Suddenly, with a torrent of insults fit to make even Sirius blush, he had been thrown through the portrait hole and into the empty common room.

"What’s this?"

‘Here it comes,’ he thought, both mentally and physically preparing himself for what she would hurl at him. He simply had to act the right way - innocently - and there was a minute chance that he could escape with only minor injuries and his limbs still attached.

Evans held out a book - a diary to be exact - for James to see. He eyed it suspiciously, convinced it was a trick question. "Huh?" He answered stupidly; he was sure that he had missed something vital in the conversation.

"It’s called a diary - as in private. But anyway that’s not the point. Now, just suppose someone would want to pull an absolutely hilarious prank involving someone’s diary, and just suppose that this prank made a person actually sing the contents of their private diary stood on the Gryffindor House table in front of the whole bloody school!" Lily got more and more worked up as she raged at him, her face turning a deeper shade of crimson by the second, and James finally comprehended what she was going on about. "And just suppose that a certain IDIOT BOY had just so happened to do all this to someone like - let me think - ME!"

"So?" Unfortunately, despite being one of the smartest students in the school he could be incredibly thick sometimes.

"So?! SO!" She was now looking as though she would explode: her nostrils flared; her face was the color of a post box; and her free hand was balled into a fist at her side. "How dare y-"

"I didn’t do it - don’t shout at me," James said in a high-pitched, defiant tone.

This was the wrong thing to say, James realised, as she continued her tirade of abuse. But he hadn’t had anything to do with it! It must’ve been Sirius. He had actually been thinking about pulling that prank for a while now but he just couldn’t decide who should be the victim. Guess he decided.

She was now pacing in front of him, getting scarier and fiercer every second but now James had begun to get angry too. Where did she get off calling him names and blaming people randomly?

"What are you going on about? It wasn’t me! It was Sirius!" He yelled in a fierce voice, his hands now clenching into fists as well.

"Oh! So now you can’t even have the courage to admit it!" She shrieked and faced him, hands on hips, fuming as he glared down at her.

"I didn’t do it! But I’m beginning to wish that I had! I wonder what saucy little secrets you’ve been keeping? ‘Cause you’re not exactly perfect now are you?" James said hotly, staring unblinkingly at Lily.

"What are you implying? Just say what you mean for once and stop being such a whimp!" She took a challenging step towards him.

James met her in the centre of the room so that only an inch separated them. "You are a spoiled little princess who can’t admit when she’s wrong! You needed taking down a peg or two!"

"You arrogant prick!"

"Hag!"

"Toad!"

"Idiot!"

"Slug!"

"Scarlet woman!"

Their fury simultaneously reached boiling point, and, in their heightened state of wild anger, they lunged at each other, like two arrows that had been previously pulled taut now ripping loose. Before they could fully comprehend what had happened, they were locked together in a furious embrace, her hands running through his hair at an alarming rate and his lips ravishing hers.

As they sank to the floor, a mass of tangled limbs, she muttered "pig." He smiled against her mouth.

"Witch."

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A seventeen-year-old Lily Evans sprang bolt upright in her bed, instantly awake, gasping for breath and attempting to understand what the Hell had just happened to her.

After that, she could no longer sleep, for fear of revisiting the monstrous scene with Potter, so she got out of bed and padded into the bathroom. She shut the door, and sunk onto the cold, tiled floor. Lily just sat in the darkness with her head in her hands, and tried to decipher her last nightmare.

She had had the horrific visions before, of course. She had been having them for weeks now, but it was usually just them screaming at each other over something trivial. Never before had there been any inkling of any emotion other than hate between them, never mind them actually...

She gulped.

Any interaction between her and James Potter was strange in itself. In her whole life she had only said about three words to him, with the exception of the time she had stood up for that idiotic boy, Snape. But apart from that...

He had his friends, she had hers, and that was all there was to it. She had never harboured any secret desire for him, or really felt anything at all except for the occasional twinge of annoyance at his arrogance. She had, however, sometimes suspected that he had a thing for her, as she had caught him staring at her strangely once or twice.

There was no doubt that it was a bizarre situation. Why would she be dreaming about James Potter if she had no feelings for him? She wasn’t that worried about being secretly in love with him. Lily had seen loads of her friends absolutely detest someone, then all of a sudden realise that they actually kinda liked them. She was used to the concept and knew that if she began to loathe James even a tiny bit, it probably meant that she fancied him. That was so not going to happen. She had learned that love and hate were close relations, and since she didn’t hate him and sure as Hell didn’t love him, she was safe. The dreams were probably just a manifestation of some deep psychological problem. She hoped.

Lily got to her feet and quickly washed her face with cold water. ‘You have to stop this,’ she told herself. ‘It’s only sexual fantasies about James Potter...’ Whilst staring at her dripping face in the mirror, she couldn’t decide which was worse: raging hormones, or losing her mind. She concluded that she was losing her mind. Nevertheless, she would have to get over it quickly before she returned to Hogwarts for her final year, or someone was bound to notice that she was moaning, ‘Potter...prat...gorgeous’ in her sleep.

All she knew was that whatever it was, it was freaking her out.

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STEALING SHEEP

CHAPTER 2: Quiet In The Library

‘According to Newt Scamander Merpeople, also known as Selkies, Sirens or Merrows, exist all over the world (usually somewhere wet) and despite what popular stereotypes suggest they are really, really, really, really, really ugly. Trust me, I know.’

James Potter put the finishing touches on the essay due in later that day for Professor Jarvey about the Merpeople at the bottom of the lake, and audibly sighed flashing a triumphant grin. With a flourish he printed ‘THE END’ and announced arms outstretched in a ‘you have permission to worship me’ pose, "All done!"

His best friend scowled at him and continued to scribble away at the crumpled paper, while James lazily sat back in his comfy armchair by the fire and massaged his throbbing hand. He had just written an essay at least 6 feet long in under half an hour, a desperate bid to complete it in time even if it did mean resorting to exploding his handwriting so three words fitted onto one line. Last time he hadn’t bothered completing it and ended up scrubbing out the dungeons in a weeks worth of detentions, so he had been determined to finish it with time to spare. He did but that precious pressure-free minute so not worth the numbness now running down his arm.

James leaned over Sirius’ shoulder to read what he’d just written and advised him, wisely " Don’t forget about them being really, really, really ugly..." His words fizzled out as a group of fourth year girls entered the Library in a fit of maniacal giggles, causing Madam Pince to do her best Medusa impression.

On a pretence of looking for another Merpeople book James wandered around the rows upon rows of books in a haze of boredom, just watching people, occasionally muttering a ‘hello’ or ‘git’, depending upon whether they were Snape or not. When he reached the furthest corner of the Library he heard hushed voices arguing rapidly and was intrigued. He wondered who it could be that was actually taking the Librarian seriously and trying to be quiet. He ducked behind a shelf and listened to the three girls.

"You are not getting a dog collar and that is the end of it!" snapped a strangely familiar feminine voice as if the conversation was over.

"But I want one and it’s not up to y-"

"Yesss, but we would be seen in public with you. Oh, sorry, I mean with a dominatrix," interrupted another wry voice.

"My mum said she didn’t mind."

"Yes, that’s because she is miles and miles away while we are here- she doesn’t have to look at it all of the time."

"Anyway," the first voice spoke up once more, "If you wear that thing, I swear I’ll disown you!"

"But I like it..."

The argument continued and James slowly pushed aside a thick tome and peered through to the desks on the other side. ‘Ah!’ He thought, as he noticed a flash of red. ‘It’s Evans and her little gang of weirdos. Well, it’s their lucky day...’

He rounded the aisle to see Lily Evans gesticulating wildly, trying to illustrate her point, while one of her friends sat, arms crossed, frowning defiantly .The other member of their group was perched on the edge of her seat, as though she didn’t like to sit still, with a slightly amused wisp of a smile adorning her pale face.

"Howdy, cowgirls!" James presented himself in front of them with a mock Texan drawl and the tip of an imaginary Stetson.

They stared.

It was Rosa who spoke first. "Yes...Thanks. Er...Why are you talking like that?"

James just grinned, unperturbed. "Why, lil’ lady I just wanted to wish y’all a mighty fine mornin’!"

Leila looked up quickly, a spark of inspiration in her eyes. "James? Do you like my dog collar?" She now wore a feline grin, as if challenging him to oppose the horrendous piece of tat that she held out to him.

The others could scarcely believe how quickly he retreated and cheered in triumph. Yes, they decided, they must use their secret weapon (Leila) more often to scare off boys.

‘Well,’ thought James, as he hurriedly drew away from the alcove and the three fearsome girls with a maniacal glint in their eyes, ‘They were so into me. The ol’ Texan twang works every time...’ In fact, no girl had ever fallen for that seduction technique but James, in denial about his trusty sure-fire method being not so sure-fire, refused to adjust his repertoire.

As he wandered off to pester more girls their conversation continued.

"Did you hear how many times Professor McGinty managed to shove an analogy into the lesson?" Rosa’s back went ramrod straight and she stuck her nose up in the air in a perfect impression of their Potions teacher. "‘This foot of toad is rather like a large cascading river being swept away in an avalanche of snot’ and I swear I counted to at least seven references to muggle films."

During this rant on their muggle- loving potions master Lily was somewhere else. When James Potter had suddenly appeared as if from nowhere and ‘Oh, I do declare’-ed it she had been frozen with fright. What if she felt anything towards him? Would she have an overwhelming urge to slap him then snog him silly? Would she forget herself, stand on her chair and proclaim her love for his sexy body to the entire Library with just one look at him?

Lily inwardly grinned. Even if she was in love with him that would never happen. Anyway, if all her nightmares came true then her name would be Cedric the Rat, she’d wear a soup bowl as a hat and be desperately in love with Mrs Norris, Filch’s cat, as the other dream she had had that night had led her to believe.

In fact, as she had watched her friends rebuff him she realised that except for the worrying dreams she didn’t care one iota for James Potter, she didn’t even hate him. She didn’t blame him for all the pranks he played- he was a boy, that was what they were for. It wasn’t his fault that he wasn’t born into the greater sex.

"Lily, are you alright? Or are you finally cracking up?"

"Huh?"

Leila smirked. "Well, you’ve just sat through a whole bitch session on Potions homework without saying one bitter comment. Are you ill?"

Lily smiled. "Oh no, I was just thinking about James Potter."

Her friends frowned in unison. "You must be ill. Oh God, you haven’t joined the ‘I Love JP’ fanclub yet have you?" Rosa’s icy blue eyes lit up with mischief. "Or are you thinking of setting up a ‘JP is an Idiot’ club? Ooh, I like the sound of that!"

"Me too- I’m in!"

"Actually, I was feeling sorry for him." At their blank looks she elaborated, "Well, he can’t help being a pathetic, insensitive, arrogant moron- he is male so it’s his fate..." Lily looked sadly at her friends.

"Hmmmm...I’m not sure if I completely agree with that. I mean, what about the great wizards? Shakespeare, Merlin, Disney, Spielberg..." Rosa reeled off a list of male magical geniuses, counting them off on her fingers.

"Yeah, but do you really see a Shakespeare here? Please, if you do, let me know now so I can bow down to your wisdom!" Lily gestured at the group of students milling around the bookshelves and all three slowly appraised each male. Any onlooker would have concluded that they were, of course, checking out all the fanciable boys, as normal girls do. But these weren’t ‘normal’ girls- they were too smart for that.

First of all, there was Diggory, Amos Diggory, as he liked to introduce himself, or Shovel as they liked to use as a special nickname. This was down to three things: his name (Diggory- dig- shovel- geddit?); his appetite ( he ate so much so fast they joked he’d need a shovel to get it all in); and the fact that they just didn’t like him- he was conceited, disrespectful and so incredibly thick that comparing him to an inanimate object didn’t seem cruel in the least but rather unfair on shovels everywhere.

The there was Malfoy, what a prick! He insisted on waltzing around Hogwarts as though he had a broomstick shoved up his bum and shouting at random Gryffindors for breathing too loudly, giving him the opportunity to take 150 points from his rival house. Now, he sat glaring disdainfully at the Charms textbook in front of him as though disgusted that someone of such obvious Greatness, like himself, should even have to touch such a book let alone study for a lower class subject like Charms. He would never be considered to be potentially an all-time Great by anyone except himself. He was definitely not Great in any way and the glares that Malfoy was receiving from most of the Library suggested that he wouldn’t survive the night let alone all time.

The last four boys left were spread throughout the Library but were obviously connected in a powerful way. Not many people noticed it, but the three girls watching them saw the secret looks that were frequently passed from one to the other and back again. The girls sometimes discussed the possibilities of why they acted like this when they were rarely seen together in public, but the most realistic suggestions were based around the idea that every Saturday night they met and had a group orgy in the Prefects bathroom. You don’t even want to know what else was brought up...

The first of this group was Peter Pettigrew. He was a squat, squinty sort of boy with an unusual penchant for cheese and a hopeless talent for knocking over or exploding every potion he ever came into contact with. If there was a competition for hopeless cases then he would be a perfect candidate but since the contest at hand was for a Great Male he was ruled out straight away.

Next of the conspirators was Remus Lupin. He was nice enough, maybe a little bit quiet, which didn’t help his popularity but as they watched him his face lit up with anticipation like they had never seen before when Potter mouthed something to him that looked suspiciously like ‘Snape’s wings’. Remus was actually a good candidate as he had a good head on his shoulders, was by no means unattractive and had the gift of both imagination and common sense, which is rare. However, the girls decided that he just didn’t have the charisma and people skills needed to be an All Time Great.

Oh God, then came the one and only Sirius Black. There was no one who was himself as convinced that he would one day become a Great Male Role ModelTM as Sirius was. Of course, nobody else believed him. He set a thoroughly bad example and was damn proud of it, but still he was leagues ahead of most people in the brains department so it was such a shame that he happened to also be cursed with the ‘gift’ (as he liked to call it) of being able to turn into a demented git at will.

The only boy still unappraised in the Library was James Potter. The same James Potter who had previously pretended to be a Lone Ranger, and was now an astronaut on a deeply important mission, landing on the Moon in slow motion, making his audience of fifth year girls giggle over- enthusiastically.

Potter had everything going for him. He was not completely gruesome-looking (they conceded grudgingly), he had relatively genius-level smarts, a loyal and hyperactive best friend and, according to some anyway, a great sense of humour, not forgetting that he was one of the bravest people in the school. How could anyone think otherwise when, in true Gryffindor style, he had remained steadfast in his belief that McGonagall had played the Wicked Witch of the West in the muggle film ‘The Wizard of Oz’? He had continued to declare it loudly in Transfiguration class, even after the Wicked Witch had threatened to let Filch loose on him. Actually, it was only Potter and Black who had found it simultaneously absolutely hilarious and unbelievably courageous, while most considered it downright stupid. And that was what let him down in the contest for Best Male- how could they pick someone who had the emotional maturity of a three-year- old and the common sense of a horseradish?

Well, it looked as though Rosa had actually lost an argument for the first time in history- it turned out that all males were either too thick, too snobby, too unambitious, too anti- social, too clumsy, too much of a git or too convinced that they were both invincible and very, very funny when they were not.

The beginnings of a triumphant smile were forming on Lily’s face- she had finally out smarted the smartest girl on Earth! - when one so far unappraised boy flounced into the Library.

He blew a kiss in Madam Pince’s direction before she could utter a word of reprimand and his purple robes swirled about his feet, perfectly complimenting the blonde ringlets being tossed over his shoulders, strangely reminiscent of a cheesy shampoo ad. They were surprised when he didn’t pout and whisper seductively, ‘Because I’m worth it!’

He started signing pictures of himself and giving them out with a graceful flourish, to random bemused girls ( and one very pretty boy). Smiles that soon lit up their eyes and deepened into mischievous grins materialised on Lily, Rosa and Leila’s gleeful faces. They had found their ma.

"Gilderoy!"

The preening boy swivelled around at the mention of his name, hoping to sign some autographs, but all he saw were those three strange girls , holding each other up as tears of mirth ran down their cheeks and they let out loud guffaws of maniacal laughter.

‘Ah!’ thought Gilderoy, flashing the his trademark dazzling smile that twinkled as the light danced off of his pearly whites, which sent them further into fathomless hysteria, ‘More girls beside themselves just at the sight of me...’

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STEALING SHEEP

CHAPTER 3: Shenanigans

The next dream was what did it. It made her angry, furious even, with herself. How could she think up such things? Had she got some sort of illness that made her hallucinate ridiculous scenarios? She had almost convinced herself.

Lily was determined not to dream about him. She had come up with a plan- sleep in the common room. Granted, this did not sound like a very effective method of ridding her mind of images of James Potter but it made sense to her. Although extremely comfortable the armchairs were not designed for being slept on so she would be uncomfortable and, therefore, be unable to sleep. She knew that she would feel dreadful in the morning but she thought it was worth it if she could last one night without Potter invading her dreams- even if it did mean getting no sleep at all.

She curled up uncomfortably and dozed in a fitful, dreamless sleep for a few hours, until she was woken by the sound of someone carefully, but still audibly tiptoeing down the stairs of the boys dormitory. Lily knew she was only just in the shadows so kept perfectly motionless with her eyes shut and her ears straining, hoping that she could blend into the background convincingly.

She was startled by the familiar but unexpected voice whispering back up the steps to what must have been his waiting companions. "No one’s here. Let’s go!" Remus Lupin stealthily crept across the room. Lily heard the soft creaking of the floorboards suddenly stop about a foot from her chair.

"No!" Another voice whispered and ,strangely enough, it belonged to Sirius Black. "Someone’s here- Look!"

Uh. Oh. They had spotted her. ‘Keep calm! Don’t breathe too quickly’ Lily mentally ordered herself, desperately, as more gentle footfalls approached her.

"It’s Lily. She looks so pretty when she sleeps and her nose crinkles up in that cute way she has, like she’s just swallowed a lemon." His voice softened and took on a dreamy quality as he muttered to himself with what sounded suspiciously like a sigh.

James Potter sighing? Over her? It was all Lily could do not to cringe uncomfortably under his searing gaze as it felt like it was burning her very soul. Now the situation was both absurd and completely confusing. Lily was so shocked that she almost forgot herself and joined in with the ‘huh?’s and ‘what?’s being feverishly tossed around the room alongside the occasional ghost of a snigger.

"Leave her. She won’t know." What a shock it was to hear little Peter was involved with those buffoons!

As they slowly made their way out of the common room Lily was undecided as whether to follow them or not. She should not be out of bed wandering about by herself in these dark times- the castle simply wasn’t safe at night and if she got caught she would be in serious trouble.

Then again, she was immensely curious to know what their secret was, once and for all. She could finally settle that bet she’d had with Leila- were the boys conducting naked devil worshipping rituals, or secretly dressing in drag and calling themselves ‘Betty- Sue and the Gangbangers’?

But, if they found her spying...well, you know what happened to the cat that got a bit too nosy for it’s own good.

Anyway, if she discovered their secret and it was ridiculously incriminating, embarrassing, or both, she would have the power. ‘Ah,’ she thought with a grin, ‘The delights of blackmail!’

Yes, that definitely was the better option. Nothing dangerous would really happen to her- all those warnings about evil stalking the halls had obviously been grossly exaggerated in order to scare little first years into sticking to the rules.

Lily kept a discreet distance behind them and, secretly amazed that they hadn’t discovered her, followed the boys as they took the longest, creepiest labyrinthine corridors in the whole castle. Lily suspected that they knew she was there and just wanted her to suffer. If this was the case, it had worked, she *was* suffering- her legs throbbed from hurrying after them for what must’ve been miles; her eyes had become gradually sorer as she strained to see in the darkness ahead of her; and she battled against the weariness threatening to overcome her.

After trailing them for what seemed like years she felt she was slowly going out of her mind with boredom. They had each other to occupy themselves with, but she had no one- she couldn’t even eavesdrop on their conversation for entertainment as their voices were too hushed.

Just as she was nearly reduced to tears from the mind-numbing monotony, the shuffling footsteps came to a halt. With a start Lily realised that they had finally reached the Great Hall.

‘Why didn’t they just take the normal route?!’ she fumed soundlessly at the thought that it should have only taken 2 minutes to get from Gryffindor Tower to the Great Hall, which would have saved her from a lot of pain and tedium.

Lily ducked down under one of the long house tables and luckily for her the dark green cloth placed upon it (presumably to stop dust or scratches or...for a convenient plot device) flowed down past the table and reached the floor, obstructing her from view. She had to peek out from under the table t see the four boys giggle madly and stop in front of the large tapestry adorning the whole of one wall.

Then her jaw hit the floor as she saw them all take out their wands and set to work charming and transfiguring every pixie in the tapestry so that each tiny body, instead of its usual sharp- toothed mushroom of a head, had a sneer upon it strangely reminiscent of-

Shape?

Yes, the wall was now full of Pixie-Snapes all glaring down at the boys with loathing. But they hadn’t finished. Oh no, they had only just begun.

Lily rubbed her eyes to make sure what she was seeing was real. It couldn’t be real. Those boys couldn’t really have just enchanted dancing hearts to swarm around each little Pixie-Snape and made speech bubbles declaring "I’m a Barbie girl!" to sprout from their mouths. Those boys couldn’t really have just bewitched the Pixie-Snapes into lifting their tops, flashing the room, all the while glowing luminescent pink. That, childish as it were, combined the most complex magic that they had been taught!

Then Lily couldn’t believe her eyes. What had gone before had been unexpected but what happened next sent her into shock. The conspirators gathered around in a circle, stretching out their wand arms do that the tips all touched in the centre and Lily had to squint to make out what was going on in the darkness. However, seconds later the room was filled with a resplendent flash of light, that seemingly originated from the centre of their gathered wands. The sparkling red brilliance arched up and created a fountain of glittering magic over the calm night sky of the Great Hall. As the shimmers slowly fell across the velvety darkness like shooting stars finally losing their vibrancy four scrawled words were left in their wake, still glistening and dancing with vitality.

‘Courtesy of the Marauders.’

Lily was struck with a memory. A niggling memory from a dream. Though she was crouched, frozen with utter disbelief she could still recognise that this whole scenario was scarily familiar. The memory was of this, the same as what she was seeing now, except she wasn’t her. She was him, it was his point of view in her dream.

Now she was confusing herself. ‘Take a deep breath and calm down. Breathe...’ she instructed herself then slowly tried to figure it out. The dream, the last one that had her convinced she was losing her mind and had her determined to not sleep at all, the dream was of this. She had seen the tapestry and the Pixie-Snapes, except she had been him. She had seen it as he saw it-- hysterically funny_ and felt as he had felt_ barely able to contain his anticipation for the look on Snape’s face when he saw the ‘masterpiece’.

Did this mean that she was a seer? Oh God, she hoped not. For one, she could not think of anything worse than being cooped up in that stuffy Divination classroom, looking into her crystal balls that ‘magically’ told her that she would soon meet and tall, dark and cranky suitor...ugh! Anyway, Lily really didn’t want to know anything about the future- part of the fun was spontaneity and not knowing what lies ahead.

Lily heard a soft guffaw came from the direction of the tapestry, that she instantly recognised as belonging to James and abruptly realised what the implications of this ‘premonition’ were. I she had dreamt this and it had come true then did that mean that her other dreams- nightmares, really- the ones with the fighting and, ugh, kissing were actually visions of the future?

She dragged a hand over her face in weariness, deciding that tonight was not the right time to be worrying about the future, and that she would think it over tomorrow. Tonight she would force her tired legs to carry her back up to her room and have a good night’s sleep, dreams or no.

Just as she was creeping slowly out of the Great Hall, Lily glanced back across her shoulder to check that they hadn’t noticed her and clumsily lost her footing. She had no idea how it had happened but it seemed that she had tripped over something that she could’ve sworn had not been there a second earlier.

Lily want down on her hands and knees with an almighty "Thunk!" that reverberated throughout the Great Hall, up and along the great staircase, reaching the straining ears of Argus Filch.

In a panic she quickly jumped to her feet and took off towards her dormitory, trying to get there as soon as possible. In her hurry to getaway, however, she did not realise how much noise she was making, her footsteps resounding throughout the castle and alerting the caretaker to her position.

He caught up with her just as she was rushing along the corridor towards the Fat Lady’s portrait. Filch’s cold, clammy hand gripped her shoulder and yanked her back, almost pulling her off her feet. For someone who appeared so weakly he had a clamp-like grasp that managed to shock and scare Lily. Her blood pounded and her eyes stung with unshed tears. She had been caught but what horrible punishment would she receive? She hoped that Filch’s shackles had been put into retirement long ago.

"Ah...Out of bed after hours! If only they still let me use my manacles..." Filch sneered at her, flashing his grimy yellow teeth, making Lily shudder and pull out of grip in revulsion. "My office, now girl. We’ll have to see about a suitable punishment."

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STEALING SHEEP

CHAPTER 4: Where the Sun Doesn’t Shine

"So...explain to me again why you have to spend four hours tonight scrubbing the steps in the Great Hall? I didn’t quite catch it the first time round. I thought I heard something about following James Potter, falling over a cat and being ensnared by Filch. But I’m obviously delusional because that couldn’t have happened since no sane person, especially the infamously goody-two-shoes Lily Evans would ever venture out after hours just because James Potter did." Rosa raised her eyebrows and shot a sardonic expression at her friend.

Lily paused in pulling on a stripy sock and glared. "Have you finished?"

Rosa nodded with a self- satisfied little smile on her face. She couldn’t resist teasing Lily- after all, she was practically flypaper for freaky situations. She always managed to get herself into the most farcical circumstances making her a never-ending source of humour to her friends.

Lily could take it all well and laugh at herself but this time she was mad. She was mad at those stupid boys, she was mad at that stupid cat for tripping her over intentionally, she was mad at that stupid caretaker, and most of all she was furious at herself. ‘How could I be so stupid? I should’ve known that I’d end up suffering in one way or another...’

"Urggh!" A loud but muffled groan sounded from somewhere in the direction of Leila’s bed. "Do...not...tell...me...it’s...morning. I only just shut my eyes!"

In response, Rosa marched across the room towards the window and yanked open the curtains. "You liar. You went to bed at ten last night and were fast asleep by half past. You’ve had at least twelve hours sleep. You want to know how I know? You snored the whole bloody time!"

"Argggh! I’m melting! I’m melting!" Leila writhed in agony then quickly jumped to her feet and ran past Rosa into the bathroom to escape from the glorious sunshine.

When Leila re-emerged half and hour later slightly more awake than when she entered it she took one glance at Lily’s grim expression and knew, even in her sleepy state, that she had gone and got herself embroiled in another bizarre twist of fate. "So what masochistic act has good old Lils been up to this time? Fall into an forbidden swamps? Get attacked by any killer bunny rabbits? Wait- that was last week, wasn’t it?" She grinned at Lily’s sour look and turned to her other friend. "You still owe me two Galleons for that."

Rosa dismissed her with a wave of her hand. "Yeah, yeah...but wait ‘til you hear what Lily’s gone and discovered!"

Lily sighed with the inevitability of having to tell her story over and over and over. "Let’s go down to breakfast because I am so hungry I feel like my stomach is trying to claw its way out. I’ll tell you on the way."

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"But what were they doing in the Great Hall?"

They pushed through the crowd into the Hall and stopped dead. Lily glanced up at the wall to her left and immediately shut her eyes against the onslaught of pink, and cringed. "That. They were doing that."

After a few exclamations and shocked curses Lily finally managed to usher them to the Gryffindor House table, but still they both bore identical shocked expressions.

Leila put a hand to her head in astonishment. "They are the Marauders? How can this be? My whole world is off kilter! It’ll never be the same again! How can I go on knowing this? Oh-"

"Oh, shut up, you sound like you’re in a soap opera, you drama queen," Rosa interrupted as she began to butter her toast.

Lily smiled, knowing that she could always count on her best friends for entertaining banter and joined in, trying to postpone thinking of the inevitable- Filch’s detention.

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The Sun was slowly beginning to dip below the horizon, casting its last sepia rays across the castle grounds and bathing the land in warmth.

However, Lily wasn’t out there enjoying it while she could. ‘No’, she thought bitterly. ’I have a bloody detention.’

She knocked on the great wooden door and entered, bracing herself for a bight of pure Hell.

What she saw in there she was not prepared for. No, Filch had not been wearing only a rubber cat-suit and curlers, it wasn’t as disturbing as that, but still Lily had to hide her surprise at what she did see.

"Late! Late! Why is it that stinking kids have no sense of punctuality? In my day the little buggers were hung by their toenails for being late!" The caretaker raged at her.

Lily wasn’t paying attention. As she lowered herself into one of the two opposite Filch she stared at the occupant of the other. Why was James Potter here?

"Before we get down to business," Filch said with a sniff and repugnant sneer, "I have to tell you to go to Professor McGonagall’s office after your detention. She should use the whips and the rack, like in the good old days. That ‘prank’ means three weeks worth of scrubbing for me! He spat out spitefully, "But mark my words you will pay for it, you little cretins!"

Filch revealed acrid yellow teeth as he pulled back his lips into a vile grin. "Now, though, I have a little job for you two."

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"So...nice weather we’re having."

Lily was trying to ignore him but she had to struggle against a grin as a loud crash of thunder echoed throughout the castle. ‘No!’ she told herself, sternly. ‘Do not show him that you have any knowledge of his existence.’ So she blocked out his tiresome ramblings and continued to clean.

Their punishment was to scrub the steps in the Entrance Hall until they shone, which was a particularly difficult job after a day of rain and general nastiness meaning there were muddy footprints everywhere.

However, difficult as the task may have been, Lily threw herself into it, think that if she concentrated all her efforts into the cleaning she would be finished sooner.

James had other ideas. He regularly paused in his lazy scrubbing to make some ‘clever’ comment or tell her all about some hilarious prank he and Sirius once pulled. Lily was neither amused nor impressed, but getting increasingly annoyed with his hindering their progress with his vague efforts.

When he stood in front of her excitedly telling her about an adventure he’d once had she snapped. She was worrying about the meeting with McGonagall and James was just making it worse by acting unfazed by it. He was just happily chattering away, unaware that she was getting extremely angry at him.

"...So then Sirius dropped the branch on purpose and let me fall in the river! My wand was soaking...I had to send it to Ollivander’s for him to repair it- the unicorn tail had gone all soggy and..." he trailed off as he noticed her stand up menacingly and wield her scrubbing brush as a weapon.

Lily was evilly hoping that he would carry on rambling so that she could shove that brush where the Sun doesn’t shine. She was sick of him and his ’adventures’. She knew for certain that she would leave him bereft of limbs if he uttered another word about his damn pranks and actually prayed that he would so that she could take out some of her anger and confusion on someone. Also, right at that moment Potter was acting like the most annoying person on the planet.

Unfortunately, he backed off, leaving Lily disappointed.

"Erm...I’ve forgotten what I was going to say! How strange!" Potter looked nervous and edged backwards , away from he, slowly at first then, when he was about a metre off he turned and all but ran towards the safety of the opposite side of the huge staircase.

Lily was happy that she had got him to shut up but this conflicted with her frustration at not having the opportunity to send him to the Medical Wing. Why did he suddenly develop ‘intuition’ and ‘common sense’ at such an inopportune moment?

They continued scrubbing in silence for what felt like hours and was actually- hours. When Lily eventually reached he last step on her side of the great staircase and began maniacally cleaning in order to finish it.

James looked up and studied her for a moment. "Aren’t you going to ask me why I’m here?"

Lily only glanced at him and scornfully replied, "I really don’t care." She gave her steps a quick once over and, satisfied with a job well done, stood to trudge over to McGonagall’s office and discover her fate. She had only taken a few steps when James spoke softly and stopped her in her tracks.

"I know you know."

Lily looked him straight in the eyes this time, trying to figure out if he was talking about what she thought he was talking about. She decided to take the safe route. "Know what?"

He looked flustered and glanced around as if checking for any spies and whispered, " That we did it."

"Did what?"

James went red and looked like he wanted to stamp his foot in frustration. "That tapestry!"

Lily smiled in that innocent way that clearly showed her evilness. "Oh, that!"

He looked her in the eye, seriously for once, taking Lily aback. She wasn’t used to serious James. "What are you going to do?"

‘Ah!’ Lily thought. ‘The ultimate question: to lie or not to lie?’ She decided to tell him the truth as, at that time, she didn’t feel he was worthy enough for her to spend critical brain power creating an untruth when she couldn’t be bothered to. "I told McGonagall earlier, but she didn’t believe me." When she saw James sigh with relief she thought that she should be mean and not let him get away unscathed. " I believe her exact words were: ‘It couldn’t be those boys. They are too dim-witted. Potter especially is a complete and utter nitwit.’"

James’ eyebrows migrated North at this, but he stayed silent, outrage written across his face.

Lily felt slightly guilty so, even though she knew she would live to regret it, she talked to him properly, without scorn or derision, however much she wanted to. "So, they caught you to, eh?"

He shrugged with an easy smile. "Nah! I heard they’d caught you and confessed immediately."

"No, you didn’t." Lily wasn’t stupid.

His grin spread even further across his face, in recognition of his bluff being called. "Well, I would have if I hadn’t been caught."

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STEALING SHEEP

CHAPTER 5: Lost Again

"Thank God! Freedom at last!" Lily cheered as they exited the Most Boring Lesson Ever™ (otherwise known as Arithmancy). They had just spent a double lesson listening to Professor Lee drone on and on about something or other, something that no one could be bothered to even attempt to decipher.

"Why did I take that in the first place? Was I on mind-altering drugs?" Leila moaned as they started off down the corridor towards the Gryffindor common room.

Rosa smiled at her friend’s distress. "No, you just ticked the first box on the list. Arithmancy does begin with A. Its for that same reason you do Care of Magical Creature and Divination-"

She exchanged an amused glance with Lily who continued for her. "-And we, on the other hand, were mind warped into taking it by Professor Lee, through no fault of our own. She cornered us, what could we do?"

Leila snorted. "She isn’t that scary! If she were at least it’d be entertaining to see her picking on people. How can one woman be so monotonous that it makes my brain actually start to run out of my ears?"

"You’re exaggerating," Lily said. Someone had to stick up for the Professor and she wasn’t as horrifically tedious as they claimed.

"What about that time she gave you a detention for not getting ‘Excellent’ in that practice exam?" Rosa said and grinned at her friends instantly outraged expression.

"And it was only by one mark! God, I hate her so much!" Lily immediately ditched the idea of sticking up for their miserable old coot of a teacher. "Thanks to her I had to spend all night cleaning Filch’s-"

At that moment Lily was cut off by a loud scream of terror that echoed down through the corridor and across into the Great Hall, making the suits of armour vibrate and the portraits complain loudly. Everybody tried to see where the scream had come from, though most weren’t perturbed. Well, they weren’t until the next yell rang out.

"TROLL!!"

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After the Prefects and teachers had calmed down the panicking mob of school children they were all gathered together and herded to the Great Hall.

While the teachers hunted the troll armed with their trusty wands and a big box of chocolates to entice it out, the Prefects stood guard at the entrance to the Great Hall, in order to stop any stupid child who thought they could take on such a beast and live. Lily had to turn away about twenty such stupid kids, not including the eight times she had to send Sirius Black back to his sleeping bag and the three times she had thwarted his attempts at escape.

Two hours of tedium and two hours of mind-numbing thoughts such as ‘I wonder how many flobberworms would make up and flobberworm army?’ and ‘Where in the world does Snape get his bat-capes from?’ later, Lily was relieved of guard duty by a very sleepy looking sixth year prefect. She collapsed onto her sleeping bag in exhaustion, sleep claiming her immediately. In her dulled state of mind she neglected to worry about having the disturbing dreams as she did every night.

She should have worried.

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God, there she was. The one that got away. The one that he’d actually loved. The one that just so happened to be kissing another man right this second.

She smiled at the tall, blond man and James watched from the shadows, feeling uncomfortable with his new-found role of stalker but unable to tear his eyes away. He watched as she reached up to brush the hair from his face affectionately, and the sight ripped into James’ heart. He gritted his teeth in suppressed anger, even though he knew he had no right to. It shouldn’t matter to him that she had a boyfriend- after all, he hadn’t called her his girlfriend, hadn’t even seen her, in years. He didn’t know her anymore.

Nevertheless, as the guy's hands edged their way up her waist towards her breasts, James began to silently fume and clench his fists until, to his relief, Lily batted away the unwelcome ravishing. James smiled. She hadn't changed much. He remembered the strict talkings to she'd given him when he'd attempted to persuade her to take their relationship a little further. She had never given in, a fact that just made him like her even more.

When the couple ceased their kissing a few moments later and continued down the cobbled alleyway, James melted into the darkness and trudged along to the little muggle pub he liked to frequent.

He usually sat, beer in hand, for hours, enjoying the quiet anonymity of the muggle world, and simply thinking random philosophical thoughts. But tonight all he could think about was her. Once, it had been him that she had kissed, that she had laughed with, but he had messed it up, like he messed everything up. At the time he had been convinced it wasn't his fault at all, but over the years he'd come to realise that it was all because of him. He hadn't been scared of 'commitment' or anything like that. He'd just been a boy. And very very stupid. He was now resigned to the fact that he'd been an almighty fool, and he didn't even hold it against her that she had kicked him where it hurts males the most, and had possibly ruined his chances of having children. He had deserved it.

In frustration at his inability to relax, James left his pint of beer untouched and stalked from the pub into the night. God, what was wrong with him? He'd been sat all of five minutes before he had got restless. Lily was getting to him.

He had, truthfully, thought about her frequently over the past few years. He'd wondered whether she looked the same, acted the same, was the same. Had she cut her hair? Had she passed her Auror training? Had she got funnier? Sweeter? Even more gorgeous? Thoughts of her had haunted him. They always had done, even before he had realised he was in love with her.

Seeing her tonight…with another man… he hadn't expected it but the second he caught the flash of her stop sign red hair he remembered it all; the smiles, the kisses, the arguments. Then he had seen Him. The Devil, the demon, the Boyfriend. And James would've liked nothing more than to punch his face in and get rid of that self-satisfied little smirk of his.

Suddenly, James froze mid-step. He could've sworn he'd just heard something that sounded like a…scream? His ears strained with the effort of trying to pick up the yell once more and he stood stock still, concentrating with all his might.

"Why-! You-! Get OFF!!"

He set off at a run in the direction that the outraged cry had come from. He just hoped he wasn't too late…

The scene that greeted him hit him with its horror. There were six of them. Deatheaters. And they had Lily. She was snapping and kicking out at them viciously, but it made no difference as they held her against the wall and one black robed figure stepped close and rubbed a hand down her body. That was when James felt the overwhelming roots of fury as they threaded their way through his heart, squeezing it so tightly that he thought he would explode, and constricting his lungs so that his breath came in short gasps. It simultaneously gave him strength and broke him. He completely lost it.

With a furious roar James pounced on the Deatheater leering at Lily, momentarily forgetting about his wand and wanting, desperately, to pound the bastard's face in. He quickly landed two perfect right hooks on his enemy's jaw, then head-butted him, relishing in the pain it caused.

As his opponent dropped to the ground, James swung around to face the rest, brandishing his wand. A flurry of spells and counter-curses flew through the air, but he knew he couldn't last much longer against the five of them left standing. He edged backwards towards the mouth of the alley and where Lily had fallen in a kerfuffle with a Deatheater. James quickly yanked her to her feet and pulled her stumbling after him as they made their escape.

His mind was working overtime, trying to rapidly put together a plan to get them to safety. They were in the middle of muggle London…the only wizarding place nearby was…it was the only choice. His decision made, James set off running at top speed, dragging a still dazed Lily after him. Upon reaching an extremely suspicious-looking phone box, he bundled Lily in, then closed the door behind them, quickly snatching up the phone.

"Hurry UP, bloody Hell, we're trying to make a goddamn ESCAPE! You can go to Hell if you think you can just put me on HOLD! I'll bloody hex you to next bloody Wednesday, you sonofa- Hello. Evans and Potter. To escape." He slammed the receiver down and grabbed the badges reading their names and the word 'escapee' underneath, as the phone box sunk infuriatingly slowly into the ground below.

Then she spoke to him for the first time in three years. "It's you. What are YOU doing here?"

"Saving your bloody skin!" he growled. He was not in a good mood. He really wanted to stalk up and down and let out all his anger, but he had to settle with glaring at her, as they were, after all, in a telephone box. His blood was still boiling, his fury bubbling. What if he hadn't got there in time? He closed his eyes, trying to block out the memory of her pale face, her eyes frozen in terror as the Deatheaters closed in on her. The image was imprinted on his eyelids and riled his temper even more. What if he had been too late? "Stupid damn woman."

"I am certainly not stupid." She bristled as James attempted to yank her out of the now stationary phone box towards the Atrium and glowered angrily at him.

"Aren't you?" James quickly surveyed the large hall they had just entered and decided there was only one safe place close by that they could get to- the Minister of Magic's Office. He pulled her along beside him into the lush room and started to barricade them in as he tried to control his temper. "What would you call getting yourself into that situation?"

"I didn't 'get myself' into anything!"

James took a deep breath and kept piling up the furniture with numerous swishes of his wand, knowing the Floo network needed to be disabled as quickly as possible. "Shut down the fireplace."

"I don't think-"

He spun around with fury burning in his eyes and glared at her. "Shut. Down. The. Fireplace."

She did as she was told, grumbling all the while, but James couldn't seem to quell the rage bubbling up inside him. Just the thought of what could have happened to her sent him over the edge and he couldn't hold in the furious rant any longer. "Young women shouldn't be wandering around dark alleyways! What were you thinking? No-" He gritted his teeth and clenched his fists in pure hatred. "-What was that sonofabitch that you call a boyfriend thinking leaving you in a place like that? I should kick the bastard's teeth in!"

Lily turned puce with the effort of holding in her indignation and said, unsuccessfully trying to keep calm, "You can't tell me what to do. You gave up any rights you had with me a long time ago. And don't you dare talk about David like that again! He doesn't deserve it from the likes of you."

Deep deep down, James was hurt by the 'likes of you' comment. But up near the surface he was just plain mad. Indescribably mad with how she stuck up for that weasel of a boyfriend. "'Likes of me'? It was the 'likes of me' that saved your arse with no David in sight! What happened, eh? Did the bastard run? Did he?"

"No, he didn't run, he wouldn't run." Her nostrils flared and she stepped a threatening step closer to him. "And I didn't need your bloody help- I was handling it."

"Handling it? You damn nearly got yourself raped!"

"No, I did not." Her voice was shaky now, on the verge of losing her temper completely, which James knew, Lily never did. She was calm. She was collected. She was the perfect picture of control, the 'Ice Queen', always. But not now.

"He had his hand up your bloody skirt!"

"I would've stopped him." Her body shook now, with anger, with fear of the look on his face. The feral look.

"How? How could you stop him?" James' head pounded as red clouded his vision and his heart shuddered in his absolute fury, but he still took a step towards her so that only an inch separated them. He knew he shouldn't. He was on the brink and rapidly losing his grip.

Now she looked up at him and he was falling into those huge staring eyes, drowning in them. For the first time in his life, he lost control completely and let his inhibitions loose. Before he could stop himself and before either of them knew what had happened, he crushed his lips against hers. He felt his anger transform rapidly into pure lust and revelled in the savage need that swamped him, flowed through him, guided his every move. His kiss was rough and needy, and she gripped his shoulders to steady herself, succumbing to the primal lust that reverberated through them both. His rough palms were everywhere, and he ravaged her lips with a reckless abandon he hadn't known he'd possessed. The feelings she evoked were dark, keen and compelling and he could no longer think; all there was was feeling and acting. He trailed hungry kisses down her neck, and she let out a strangled moan. The sound of it slapped him back, cold and hard. What was he doing?!

He pulled away with a ragged breath and ran a hand over his face, trying to erase the feeling of her skin on his. How had he let himself lose control? Where was his sanity? His decency?

She stood with a dazed expression, her hair rumpled, her lips slightly swollen from his rough touch; she had the appearance of a woman who had been thoroughly ravished. It was almost his undoing again. It had never been like that before- she had never let him go beyond anything relatively chaste and innocent. But this time she'd been distracted and he'd pounced. He was such a bastard. He'd lost control and forced himself upon her like he'd vowed never to let happen. He'd betrayed her! He was no better than that sonofabitch Deatheater.

"I'm sorry. I shouldn't have let that happen. I lost control- I had no excuse to-"

"Shut up." His head snapped up at her tone. Sure, she'd told him to shut up before, but this time it was different. This time her voice was almost a growl. Her eyes sharpened, darkened, focused on a hunger that shocked him, yet still he found it…exciting. This was Lily Evans? What had happened to the sensible, calm, civilised girl he'd known? And who was this woman now staring at him predatorily?

She grabbed a fist full of his shirt, pulled him towards her roughly and, to his shocked excitement, kissed him with a fervour that he'd never seen in her before. But he wasn't about to complain; he matched her passion beat for beat. He could feel the sexual intensity radiating off her and grinned when she savagely pushed him against the wall, just to press her body closer to his.

James could feel the pressure building up inside him, heat blurring his vision. All he saw was Her. She was everything. She was the only thing that could suppress the primal urge that made his bones ache with longing.

She wrapped her legs around him and with a groan he lifted her off the floor, kissing her with a wild abandon that made her go weak. He carried her to the large oak desk and sat her down on the edge, before sweeping the clutter to the floor, the emblematic green peaked hat that had perched on its stand, now amongst the trail of destruction left in their wake. But he was desperate for her touch- skin on skin.

Her bright, sharp eyes watched him hungrily but instead of ravishing her like his body screamed for him to do, he took his time. She yielded, melting onto the desk under him at the long, leisurely caressing of her lips, but he was determined to make this last- she would remember this for a long long time. She gasped as he softly nipped at her lip, teasingly, temptingly, and he felt her tremble, the sensations overwhelming her. He slowly took possession of her mouth, but when he felt her shiver and groan beneath him he couldn't suppress it any longer, and let his already shaky control crumble around them.

She fumbled with the fastenings of his shirt, unable to undo them all in her haste and so he ripped it off for her; the buttons shot across the room and the shirt hung itself neatly on a peg near the door.

He let out a long, low chuckle as he continued to trace lingering butterfly kisses across her collarbone. "I think my shirt's ruined."

"We shouldn't be doing this," she gasped dazedly, her voice shuddering with craving and delicious dizziness.

He raised his head and grinned at the passion that clouded her eyes. He saw the heavy awareness in her possessive gaze and the claws of wanting ripped through him hot-tipped, razor-sharp, wiping his mind clear. She wanted him. "We should…stop."

She groaned and pulled his smiling lips to meet hers again. "Never stop," she whispered huskily and he was lost again.

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A/N: Thank you for all the reviews! I'm glad that people appreciate my smut writing skills. If you're really lucky and review loads and loads I might just write a bit more smut… To clear things up because some people didn't get it (my fault- I should've made it more obvious) the whole Ministry of Magic-rescue-sex-scene was a dream. Next time I'll put it in italics or something. This chapter is short but it was meant to follow straight on from chapter 5 but I thought the dream was so long it needed a break. Anyway, once again, reviews and happy thoughts appreciated- enjoy…

STEALING SHEEP

CHAPTER 6: That's Entertainment

The three giggling school boys couldn't help but eavesdrop. Yes, they should've minded their own business but, frankly, that was never going to happen because a) they were exactly three quarters of the Marauders and it would be against their moral code; b) it wasn't exactly a conversation so they weren't exactly eavesdropping; and c) it was really really funny. Normally, a conversation wouldn't be all that funny and sleep talking wouldn't be that funny either (although, in his sleep, Sirius did mumble some very interesting and very funny things about McGonagall, fishnet stockings and a leather whip). However, what they had here was just a touch different. What they seemed to be observing was some sort of psychic link.

Their friend, strange as he already was, had just stepped up a rung on the ladder of bizarrity. He was having a conversation with Lily Evans. In his sleep. And she was replying from across the hall. In her sleep. Actually, the conversation was more of a collection of moans and encouraging remarks than a civil little chat, which was the main reason for the giggles. They didn't find it in the least disturbing that Prongs was currently tossing and turning vigorously in his sleep, looking like he was about to explode. No, in their adolescent male state they found it extremely funny and, though no one would admit it, slightly embarrassing.

Sirius, Remus and Peter were sat cross-legged, munching on the recently conjured popcorn, fixated by the exchange between the two. What great entertainment!

"Is this a dream?" James gasped into his pillow, making the boys snort with laughter.

Sure enough, she answered with a rough reply. "If it is, it’s the best damn dream I've had in years…" She gave a throaty laugh that they had to strain to hear from across the room, but when they did they gulped in unison.

Sirius had to fight to keep himself from blushing. She sounded so experienced! So…sensual? So…mature. She sounded less like a girl and more like a woman and that scared the Hell out of him. She sounded like a woman after her prey! That prey just so happened to be his best mate, so Padfoot took it upon himself to pray for James' safety.

He needn't have bothered because, as Remus pointed out, Prongs seemed to be enduring it just fine. James began to smile slowly, his breath coming in sharp gasps. As he let out a low, guttural groan, his friends decided to make a swift departure. They slipped past the guards easily to continue their terrorism of the portraits on the fourth floor, which mainly consisted of them running up to random pictures, mooning them, then running away again, and left them to it. Whatever 'it' may be.

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Bright eyes snapped open in shock and Lily bolted upright, finally released from the nightmare. Her breathing was still ragged and rapid as she felt the last remnants of the intense pleasure coarse through her and slowly begin to ebb away. She was very much still connected to the feelings that she had experienced only moment ago in her dream world and her head felt hazy, her body pulsating from the sheer severity of the frenetic warmth that had just rushed through her.

She couldn't explain why, but something made her head snap up and she found herself staring across the half a dozen sleeping bags between them, and into those deep, dark eyes that were gaping at her. Strangely enough, they seemed to hold untold depths of confusion and shock, but…why should he be shocked to see her wake from a nightmare?

She was as surprised as he was to feel the sudden bolt of electricity that flashed between them, making her shiver feverishly. What was going on? A spell? A trick? Lily didn't have a clue, but, at that moment in time, she didn't really give a damn- all she wanted was to break away from the fire she felt inside her. It was too overwhelming. So she jumped up, out of her temporary bed, ripping her gaze away, and ran from his stunned expression and the feelings that, though she desperately tried to deny it, she found panicking and…thrilling.

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A/N: I hoped you liked it. I have the next chapter almost typed up so never fear! I WILL update soon. I promise. As always, I will be very annoying and say: REVIEW! Oh, and I don't own Harry Potter. Obviously.

STEALING SHEEP

CHAPTER 7: Kiss and Tell

"Dude, you look like crap!""

James shot an annoyed glare at his so-called ‘friend’ and pushed a hand through his unruly hair in disgruntlement. He’d had a Hellish night of not sleeping, weird dreams when he finally had got some shut eye, and his bacon this morning had been burnt. The Gods must hate him.

"So how’d you sleep last night? Have any...dreams?"

His head snapped up at Sirius’ tone of voice. What did he know? He wasn’t implying anything, was he? He couldn’t know anything. No reason to panic. However, the fact remained that it was Sirius. He never said anything unless it: a) annoyed someone; b) was funny; or c) would get him out of detention. He was grinning madly and nudging Peter, with that twinkle in his eyes, the all too familiar twinkle that did not bode well. "What?" James said. "No dreams at all last night. None. Dream-free sleep for me. Why? What’s this strange fascination with my dreams all of a sudden?"

Sirius winked at Peter then said the only thing that could have possibly made James’ day get even worse. "Oh, no reason. It's just that you were sleep talking last night." At his suddenly pale face, Sirius leaned forward conspiratorially, just to be even crueller. "Very entertaining."

"I- I can't remember." James' eyes bulged and his face had drained completely of blood; he was panicking. They knew. If they knew it meant they would tease him and annoy him endlessly and he'd end up killing them and be sent to Azkaban and become some crazy Dementor's bitch! It'd be horrible! That was James' perfectly logical reason for panic. He refused to acknowledge the one niggling voice at the back of his head that whispered that if they knew, it meant that it was all real. He had dreamt those things; he had felt those things, all the things that he'd tried in vain to block out. That scared the shit out of him. "What did I say?"

"You moaned a bit and sighed a bit but there was one very intriguing thing you said- what was it, Wormtail, my friend? - 'Please, my dear, will you…?'"

"'Marry me,'" replied Peter in a garbled response as he shovelled porridge into his mouth.

"Yes! That was it! Then it was…"

"'I want to have your children.'"

"And you can't leave out the-"

"Darling, I love you."

Remus paused as he lowered himself onto the bench next to James. He had just arrived for breakfast still foggy from a night of running around the school torturing unsuspecting portraits, and he was definitely not on the ball. He frowned in a strange mixture of amusement and worry as he glanced at his friends, trying to work out if he'd just heard what he thought he'd heard. "Erm…sorry, do you two want some alone time?" He wiggled his eyebrows with a grin, unable to resist teasing.

Sirius stuck his tongue out then grinned. "We were just reminding Romeo here of a certain night time liaison with a ravishing redhea-"

"What!" James spluttered and flooded red.

"-When, I believe he uttered the words 'Be mine, my glorious beam of sunshine and bear my numerous scruffy-looking brats.'"

"Are you out of your mind?! It wasn't like that! I never said that. Scruffy-looking?!" James stormed in outrage. He might have been a bit…lovey-dovey in his dreams but he most definitely hadn't gone that far! He refused to believe that his dream-self was that cheesy! "I totally did not say that! Trust me, I know what I said. I remember every damn word!"

"AHA!! So you admit it then?" Sirius grinned.

"Dammit."

"Don't worry. I can crack the best of 'em."

Remus speared a pancake as he said, "Sorry to interrupt this rather touching display of…whatever the Hell it is a display of, but, well, Prongs, you may as well spit it all out now."

"Spit what out?"

"The dream. Maybe we can help."

Sirius leaned forward eagerly. "Yeah, tell us all the sordid details. Did it involve fish-net stockings and leather whips?" He blushed at the looks he gathered and tried to backtrack furiously. "…'Cos, you know, that would be really…horrid."

There was a silence for a second as they stared with equal amounts of horror and amusement. "Oo-kay," said Remus. "Moving swiftly away from that- interesting- mental image, tell us about the dreams."

James sighed and buried his heads in his hands. "I can't. Its too…embarrassing."

"Dude, its us," Sirius pointed out, most intelligently.

"I suppose. But let's go to the hideout. I can't tell you here." He cast a suspicious look over his shoulder.

Remus followed his gaze, with eyebrows raised in scepticism. "Who's interested in your bizarre dreams? McGonagall?"

"She may be, the saucy minx. What?" Sirius was all wide-eyed innocence at their disgust.

The hideout was a secret room that was remarkably useful as there were spies everywhere, after all. It was a place where they could forget about trying to hide their friend- and marauder-ship and plot and scheme to their hearts content, even though day by day it became more and more obvious that they did in fact have some bond. They had actually found their hideout hidden beneath the castle, only accessible from outside the turret, and the secret password was sneezing. Yes, they had found it only due to a happy coincidence when Peter had got a steaming cold. Sirius had nicknamed him 'The Human Sneeze' and spent all day teasing him about looking like Rudolph the Rednose Reindeer after he'd got a few Firewhiskeys down him. When Peter had inadvertently discovered the secret door and the special sneeze password by- well- sneezing, the jokes stopped immediately and little Wormtail was proclaimed 'The Almighty Sneezer' and was worshipped for- ooh- at least a minute.

Anyway, a few sneezing spells later they got settled and James' moment had come. He took a deep breath and began, forcing himself not to blush. "Well, it started about a couple of months ago. I know you think they're only dreams but they're so real…It's seriously starting to freak me out. The first ones didn't scare me, I just thought it was normal teenage boy stuff. As for the dreams…number one was just a normal dream- it was nice, but normal. She was in it but we just talked and talked and laughed and she hit me. Hard. It was great fun. The second one…well, she was screaming at me again. The third one was just petrifying. We kissed- and I mean the full-Hollywood-fireworks-violins-shooting stars- kind of kiss. Can you imagine? This girl that I've barely even spoken to is suddenly the leading lady in my own personal romantic comedy every night. No, actually some times it was a bit steamier and a lot less funny than a romcom; it was quite weird, in fact. Then it got weirder. You remember that night with the tapestry? I saw it happen. In a dream. I suppose as a kind of premonition."

"What the-!" Sirius interrupted but was silenced by a few angry glares.

"Then there was last night. It was the worst and the best of them all. In the others I saw it from her perspective, which, let me tell you, was freaky, but in this one, I was me again. I felt…sad and old. Like twenty-five or something." He paused to scratch his head, as he recalled the dream. "I have the feeling that in my future I'm gonna be really bitter about something or other and, incidentally, develop a liking for something called 'Guinness'. Anyway, I saw her and it all went away. For a moment. There was this idiot- tall, blond, athletic," he sneered with disgust. "And he was all over her! I wanted to rip the bastard's throat out. Then all these Deatheaters came and we had to escape…to the Ministry, I think. Can't really remember getting there that well, I was so pissed off. Well, to cut a long story short, we argued and somehow ended up in the Minister of Magic's office."

"Hey, did you see that famous green cap they pass on? Apparently, its never ever left that stand on his desk- what's wrong?" Sirius stared suspiciously at the guilty look on his friend's face. "What did your dream-self do to that magical hat of destiny?"

James sighed and tried to prepare himself for their reactions. "Erm…well, we kissed. Well- I grabbed her, but then she grabbed me and it was kind of- frantic. And, well, in the destruction, the hat left its perch. Sorry."

Sirius looked distraught.

"Wait a minute," said Remus, holding up a hand. "You said 'the destruction.' What does that mean? Did the Deatheaters find you?"

"Er…" James felt himself going red and desperately hoped they hadn't noticed. "Well- see, we kind of got a bit- erm- carried away?"

Remus' eyes went wide with realisation after a split second of puzzlement. His mouth dropped open then a huge grin spread over his features. "MY GOD! You didn't!" he exclaimed.

"What?" The slower of the group, Sirius and Peter, chorused.

Remus laughed out loud. "They did it on the Minister of Magic's desk!"

James sighed in resignation. Fate must be laughing its arse off right alongside his hysterical friends. With its capricious guffaws seemingly echoing inside his head, he had the strange feeling that he was the punch line of some cosmic joke.

"Prongs! This is absolutely fan-bleedin'-tastic! Best news of the century! Fantastic!" Sirius jumped up and down with delight.

"Fantastic? Fantastic!" James leapt to his feet with a sudden burst of anger. "What's fantastic in knowing that in my future I get it on with that cold-hearted, miserable, goody-two-shoes ICE QUEEN?!"

"Did you say 'get it on'?" Sirius sniggered. "Okay, love machine."

"But you melt the ice," Remus said softly, a sparkle in his eyes.

"What?"

"Lily might be indifferent to you now, but you know that she won't stay like that. I don't know what triggers it, but you're meant to 'get it on'- and you will."

"But how do I know its not just a-" James froze as he belatedly processed what Remus had just said, what name he'd just said. "You said 'Lily'! How do you know its Evans? It's not Evans."

Sirius smiled indulgently as if to a small child and patted his arm soothingly. "Who said anything about Evans? Remus said Lily. Now, there are a number of Lily's not of the Evans variety in this school- dated one last year, in fact. Good kisser. Brunette. Bit clingy. But I digress, it was you who said Evans."

"Damn."

"Yup. Oh, don't beat yourself up about it. It was obvious anyway."

James' head shot up in shock. "What?"

Sirius rolled his eyes. "Come on! 'Goody-two-shoes'? 'Ice Queen'? Who else could it have been? Especially since you've fancied her for years."

"I have not!"

"Come off it! We all knew. Anyway, even if that wasn't the case, we'd still know." Sirius smiled smugly at his helpless friend.

"How could you know?"

Sirius rolled his eyes once again. "Well, it is hard to miss when you're going 'Lily, oh, yes, harder baby!' then at the other side of the room she's going 'James, don't stop, never stop' etc. It doesn't take a genius to work it out. I mean, even Peter figured it out without any lengthy explanations."

"Hey!"

"One-" James held up his index finger. "I did not say 'Oh, yes, harder baby.' Two-" He held up another finger then let them drop to his side. "She's dreaming about me, too?"

The relatively clever ones grinned while Peter remained oblivious in the bubble of his own stupidity. "Prongs," Remus said. "She's going through the same as you-"

"-Maybe you should talk to her-" Sirius interrupted.

"-Get it out in the open-"

"-And maybe-" He grinned. "-Get it on."

James was still shell-shocked. She was having the dreams too? God, how embarrassing! But she always acted so…aloof and unfazable. Maybe, she had a hidden layer of passion, fire, loveliness…Actually, he knew that she did from the future memories that still invaded his sleeping hours and made him hot under the collar just thinking about it. She was and Ice Queen, untouchable, unmoved by anything. And, he thought bitterly, that was what would finally get him. The fact that she was so cold but with him she was a furnace that he couldn't resist. He remembered the other night, when he'd watched her sleep, curled up on the sofa, before scuttling off to desecrate the tapestry. She had looked so peaceful, so warm and inviting that, to his amazement and horror, a slow uncoiling of desire had started low in his gut and hit him harder than ever. Of course, he'd felt a vague stab of longing for her hundreds of times since he'd first seen her at the Sorting Ceremony seven years ago, but never had he experienced a desire that violent and bottomless. That had and still did scare the Holy shit out of him. "Get it on? With her? I don't think so! I wouldn't touch her with a ten foot barge pole!"

"Well, be that as it may, you better get used to the idea because that prophetic dream says otherwise," Remus wisely commented.

"But she's so…so…she was nice to me the other day! Can you imagine? Her being nice to me?" He was astounded by it even now. "She's so bloody annoying. I can't stand-"

Sirius' head jerked up and excitement shone in his eyes, alongside realisation. "Wait and minute, wait a minute, wait a minute." They all stared at him, expectantly, and waited for what he found so important as to call a halt to James' rant. "Does this mean that you've seen Evans naked?"

James just glared at his friend, not quite wanting to admit that he wished that he had.

Remus was watching quietly and had apparently come to a conclusion. "Prongs, I'm sorry to tell you this but you like her- no, you're attracted to her. It's obvious. Why else would you deny liking her so vehemently when two weeks ago you didn't give a damn?"

Ruffled by what Remus had said, especially since two weeks ago he had given a damn, he just hadn't wanted to be jibed for thinking Evans had a hot ass, James jumped to his feet, intent on denial. Unfortunately, he was still ruffled, his mind still lingering on the thought of her really nice… "I don't like her! I'm not attracted to her! She simply delectable- DETESTABLE!" He flushed and died in embarrassment.

"Freudian slip," Sirius chimed in. As they all stared in surprise that he knew the name 'Freud', let alone pronounced it correctly and used it in the right context, he grinned smugly. "I'm an intellectual."

After a quick round of hysterical laughter and a hurt-looking Sirius threatening them all with physical violence, they calmed down enough for Remus to impart some more wisdom. "Mate, like it or not, it seems that you and the delectable Miss Evans are in it together. So it get used to it. Oh and you'll have to go talk to her about it, of course."

"What?" James was incredulous. "You mean to say you're telling me to stroll up to the girl that I've been sharing embarrassing, sordid, kinky- basically PORNOGRAPHIC- dreams with- this is the girl who thinks I'm scum, who, when I'm near, acts as cold as an Eskimo's private parts- and you want me to go up to her and say 'Hey, so I dreamt we got it on. Fancy a quickie in the broom cupboard?'"

"That about sums it up," Remus said, grinning. "Apart from the 'quickie' thing. I reckon that'd get you walloped."

James groaned. "Do I have to? Is it really necessary? Can't I just carry on being oblivious and ignoring it all?"

Remus' stern face cut down all of his friend's hopes ruthlessly. "No. You must conquer your fears. Confront Evans."

"Okay, then," James said dubiously.

"So you'll do it?"

James nodded, wondering what he'd got himself into. That was when he had the strange, sudden, gut-wrenching feeling that this thing he was starting was going to end up with someone tearing out his heart and fandangoing all over it.

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A/N: READ THISS!!!!!!!!!!!!! Ok, if you’ve read this before please read the ending again because I didn’t realise that the whole chapter hadn’t uploaded! About a page had been wiped so I’ve uploaded it again and finished it properly.

STEALING SHEEP

Chapter 8: Lovers and Other Strangers

She hadn't planned on avoiding him but he really gave her no choice. She thought it'd just go on as usual- both of them, safe in their own little cocoon of friends, happily ignoring each other. But he wasn't playing along. She couldn't believe that today of all days, the day after the night before, was the day that he decided she was worth hunting down and talking to. She couldn't fathom why. Okay, they had had a civil conversation in detention, but that was because he was bored and there had been no one else there to talk to. It was simply bizarre. What could he

possibly want with her?

It would be so embarrassing, especially after that dream. Of course, he wouldn't know why, but she would. And that'd be enough to kill the conversation dead before it even started. And then she'd stand there looking at him awkwardly until he realised she was, after all, just the boring, miserable 'Ice Queen'- cliché as it was- that everyone thought her to be and he'd wander off and she would get that annoyed that she'd hex him and she would totally disrupt her clean record. Okay, it had been tainted by that one detention the other week, but a single fault can be overlooked. Two faults cannot. So, it was now a case of situation prevention.

She ducked her head out of the empty classroom, glanced down the corridor then, deciding it was safe, sped towards the Great Hall for dinner. She'd just got in sight of it and quickened her pace, when a tap on her shoulder made her jump a foot in the air. He stomach clenched and she closed her eyes, getting the emotions that ran through her, namely dread and panic, under control. She slowly turned to see one of her best friends staring curiously at her. Thank God. "You scared me." She breathed a sigh of relief. She didn't have to deal with Potter.

"What's wrong? You scuttled away at the end of lesson before we woke Leila up- you know how she is. It took me a blizzard spell before she even flinched!" Rosa laughed then gestured to the skinny looking boy stood next to her who had previously escaped Lily's attention. "This is the new student I told you I was showing around today. He's transferred from Durmstrung. Got here yesterday during the troll fiasco. Bob, this is Lily."

"It's Robert," he said in a nervous voice and glanced up at Lily, suspiciously.

She was too preoccupied to pay much attention to his paranoid glares and continued to glance over her shoulder, watching for the enemy, but spared him a quick grin. "Hi, Bobbie."

Rosa frowned abruptly at her friend's preoccupied, hunted expression. Okay, Lily looked kind of out of it sometimes, but it was only on very special occasions that she looked this perturbed in public. "What is it? Who are you hiding from?"

"Hiding?" Lily tried innocence but was a terrible actress so it came out as nervous and twitchy, making her seem even more disturbed and guilty.

"Yes, hiding. Who from?"

"No one."

"Who?" Rosa demanded with such authority that Lily could do nothing but respond truthfully as much as she hated to.

"Potter," she spat bitterly. Why should she have to hide? It was a free country; she should be able to go wherever she wanted without being accosted!

Rosa frowned and opened her mouth but the words froze on her tongue as she caught sight of a figure over Lily's shoulder, striding towards them. Deciding to sacrifice her friend in order to escape from the scene about to take place, she quickly excused herself. "Sorry, but I just remembered I forgot…something. See you later."

Lily frowned after her friend, lost in thought, not realising that she was in plain view of her stalker. The firs thing she knew about it was when she felt her arm being yanked out of the socket as she was suddenly pushed into a small, cramped broom cupboard that made her nose itch from dust, and her eyes strain in the terrible light.

She glared up at him in the dimness, resentful that he had caught her, as they both knew he eventually would. "What?"

He, infuriatingly, grinned. "I drag you into a cupboard after following you around all day and all you can say is 'what'? I'm disappointed, Evans."

"Okay, then, smart arse, how about 'what do you want?'" she growled and ground her teeth, trying to suppress her temper. It was strange. She rarely lost control and it was odd that she was rapidly reaching the end of her tether with Potter, when he'd never angered her before that much. But, then again, he'd never stalked her before, either.

"I need to talk to you. Tell you something, I suppose." His face fell into a serious frown and she was astonished. James Potter not sporting an insufferable grin? What was the world coming to?

"Yes, yes, hurry up. I haven't got all day to stand around listening too you mumble incoherently," she snapped.

His words came out in a rush. "You had a dream the other night, in the Great Hall. What was it about?"

She blushed immediately at the remembered images conjured up by the word 'dream' and cursed herself for being so transparent. The last thing she needed was him questioning her about her dreams. How embarrassing that he might actually figure it out!

His tone still serious, he looked her in the eyes and said, " I thought so." A slow, knowing smile curved the edges of his mouth, drawing her gaze and making her blush even more at the thoughts that sped across her mind. He leaned in and her heart stopped. Surely he wasn't going to- Her breath caught as he neared and she didn't know what had come over her. Her head swam with confusion, her body tingled with anticipation. She froze and instantly forgot all her standard courses of action for such a situation (i.e. a knee to the crotch). Instead she closed her eyes as she felt his breath whisper against her ear as he murmured, "I saw it too."

Suddenly, the spell snapped, she jerked away violently and jumped back as much as the small broom cupboard would allow. Somehow, they had got awfully close, too close for her liking and now her main train of thought was to get out from the claustrophobic hole-in-the-wall as soon as- Did he just say what she thought he said?

She glared at him warily, one hand held out in front to ward him off. “Saw what?”

“The dream!” She saw with satisfaction that he looked flustered from their little almost-encounter, his face flushed and his eyes dark with…something she didn’t want to think about. But…she had affected him, had she? It gave her a little burst of feminine smugness to know that she hadn’t been the only one- er- disturbed by what had almost happened.

“What dream?”

He ground his teeth at her supposed ignorance and shot out, “You know, Deatheaters, the ministry, that cute little crescent moon-shaped scar on your belly…”

She stared at him, mouth agape, and for the first time in what must’ve been three or four years, she was speechless. Not even in the way that people always say they are when vaguely shocked and they can’t think of anything to say- she found it actually impossible to form coherent thought, let alone speech.

So he filled in the silence for her. “I’ve been thinking about that actually. I think it’s either one of two things: a) we’ve somehow got a psychic link and we’re sharing dreams; or b) they are visions of the future,” he mumbled the last option in embarrassment.

“Ex- excuse me?” she croaked, finally stepping away from the red flashing light and loud wailing that was the warning bell in her mind.

“We could have a psychic link and be sharing dreams- maybe occlumency or-”

“Sharing dreams?” She raised an eyebrow. “What, one of us is having these nightmares and the other is somehow picking up on it?” He just stared back in what she thought of as a meaningful way, making her blush with outrage. “It wasn’t me! They weren’t my dreams! How could you assume-!”

Surprising her into a shocked silence once again he stepped closer, lifting a finger to her lips and stared at her intently. “I didn’t. I thought they were my dreams. It isn’t as if I haven’t had them before, but they weren’t that intense.” She blinked and he breathed in deeply, as if trying to get himself under control. He gave her a resigned look and said, “I’m sorry, but I have to know.”

That was when he took her by surprise for what was around the sixth time in a few minutes and pulled her against him. Hard. His mouth swooped down as his arm encircled her waist, and she was lost. She hated herself for it, but she couldn’t help sliding into the kiss, feeling like she’d done it a million times before, each time as delicious as it was now. A fever began to grow in her as they kissed with increasing fervour, something that she’d never felt before with the few boys that she’d kissed, but then again she’d never been kissed by James Potter before-

She broke off and stared at him in horror. What had she done? She’d just been kissing a stranger! For all she knew he might have some sort of contagious disease!

She might have recognised his body from their dream world romps, but she didn’t know him. She didn’t know anything about him. She used to think she did- he was the joker, the Idiot Boy Wonder, the most annoying boy on the face of the Earth, the boy who didn’t take anything seriously- as his reputation dictated. But what she’d seen in her dreams and of him here today told her that there was a lot more to him than she had thought, and that was one thing that was not good for her piece of mind- complex people meant complex lives and right now she did not need to have the riddle of Potter on her mind. She didn’t want to think about him.

“I knew it.” She snapped back into reality at the strange dreamy tone of his voice.

Her eyes flickered up to see him staring at her amazedly. He brought a hand to his lips and softly smiled to himself. “I’ve kissed you before.” He sounded astounded. “I knew it! It was real.” He stepped forward excitedly, immediately, unintentionally, sparking her temper.

“I don’t know what you’re talking about and I’d rather not know about any of your sick fantasies,” she spat out viciously, unable to control the anger and frustration bubbling inside her. “But I’m warning you-” She poked him hard in the chest, emphasising each word with a sharp jab. “Don’t. Touch. Me. Ever. Again.”

He automatically assumed an innocent expression and held his hands up in surrender, but she most definitely didn’t have mercy in mind. “Don’t talk to me. Don’t tell anyone about this. Don’t even look at me. Don’t dream about me. I don’t want it. I don’t want you.” She glowered, shoved him roughly out of her way, and charged out of the cupboard and down the hallway, growling at random people and scaring away anyone who dared to step within a four-foot radius of her.

James scratched his head, still at a loss to understand what had just happened. Had he really just voluntarily, in a non-dream state, kissed Lily Evans, Princess Prissy? More importantly, had he really just kissed Lily Evans and enjoyed it?

He stepped out of the cupboard, still confounded, and decided he needed a meeting with his advisors. They would know what to do. They had a solution for everything!

As James proceeded to search for his fellow undercover pranksters, one thought continued, most annoyingly, to plague him. He couldn’t help but remember how she’d immediately responded to him, she’d immediately known him. And from the fire in her kiss, the Ice Queen, whether she liked it or not, was not so icy anymore.

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A/N: Just a reminder- if you read my story before please read the end of the last chapter again because I've had to upload it again- its longer because it hadn't put up all of it last time. Sorry about that, I didn't realise.

STEALING SHEEP

Chapter 9: Normal Again

The Marauders were in session.

“What are you rambling about?” Remus interrupted his friend’s mindless rant with a view to drag some semblance of sanity out of him. “It would help if you talked in a language other than your own personal mind-garble.”

James took a deep breath and forced himself to carefully summarise what he’d just rushed. It was way too embarrassing to say it all slowly so he had to edit it a bit. “I talked to Evans.”

Sirius leaned forward eagerly. “And?”

“It went wrong.”

“When has it ever gone right?” Remus sighed.

“No, it went really wrong.”

“How wrong?”

James looked up glumly. “She hates me.”

Remus sighed again. “What did you do this time?”

“I kissed her.”

Sirius clapped his hands excitedly but Remus had a far from happy response. “What?! I tell you to talk to her and you have to go and maul her? What’s wrong with you?” he demanded angrily. He wasn’t exactly a good friend of Lily but he knew her well enough to know that James had just committed a fatal faux pas. And that was definitely not good. Sirius and Remus had recently decided that, with the dreams and all, it would be appropriate to pair James up with the Ice Queen herself. And this ridiculously quick and stupid first move on the part of Prongs had ruined the plan- they were meant to simply become friends then gradually that would develop into something more… But no, James just had to go and screw it all up!

Obviously, James had absolutely no idea that his friends had a hidden agenda and so was a little surprised to see Remus’ extreme reaction. “What?”

Remus gritted his teeth, fighting the urge to shake some sense into his friend. “You shouldn’t have kissed her.” A sudden thought struck him. “Why did you do it? Kiss her I mean?”

James blushed and averted his eyes in embarrassment. “I was curious. I mean I wondered if it would be the same as in the dreams. And she was staring at me and her eyes were so…direct, you know? As if she could see right into me. It was quite uncomfortable, actually. But her lips…and her hair and…” He stared off into the distance, forgetting himself and recalling the image she had made, all startled green eyes and luscious lips. He started as Sirius coughed meaningfully and James quickly added, “But it was mainly to see if it was the same.”

“And was it?”

“What?”

Remus sighed with frustration and said, “The same.”

“No it wasn’t.”

“Oh.”

James tried to ignore the oddly crestfallen looks in his friends’ faces and continued. “It wasn’t the same but…it was.”

“Yes?”

“Of course, I’ve never kissed her before so it was new.”

Sirius jumped up and down excitedly and said, “Ooh! Ooh! What was it like? Tell me!”

James sighed. “Different.”

They all frowned. “Different?”

“Yeah, you know, it felt…different. I felt different. It was nice.”

“Just ‘nice’?” Sirius asked, disappointed in what he had felt was sure was to be the love story of the century.

“No. It was like the dream in that she was familiar.” He sighed again in embarrassment and told himself that the sooner he got it out the sooner it would be dealt with. “But it was like…” He snapped his fingers with sudden inspiration. “You remember when we all took that mind expanding potion that went wrong?”

Sirius made a face. “How could I forget? I was woozy and shaky for months afterwards. Very inconvenient for skulking and being stealthy.”

“We were hallucinating for two weeks as well,” Remus recalled, scratching his head. “Peter even went so far as to be convinced that one of the sets of armour on the third floor was his true love and it took four members of staff to haul him away from his ‘precious’. A poetry reciting, lovesick Wormtail is not something one would forget easily, even if at the time I was a bit preoccupied with the giant monkey posing as my dressing table.”

“Yeah, well, that’s what it was like,” James said.

Remus raised an eyebrow. “What? Hallucinating?”

Frustrated, he pushed a hand roughly through his hair and replied, “Yes. No! Kind of. It felt surreal. Does that make any sense?”

“Not really,” Peter spoke up for the first time, from where he sat twiddling his wand.

“Yes, it does make sense,” Remus cut in smoothly as he saw the miserable look on James’ face and the way Sirius was just about to tell off Wormtail for making it worse. Remus knew there was only one solution. As much as he didn’t want to, he had to keep his friend’s interest at heart and right now his sanity was in danger, with only one thing that could save him. “Mate, you need to forget her.”

Sirius was outraged at the dismissal of their plan to get Lily and James together but the Marauder in question simply shrugged and looked even more dispirited.

“How can I when all I see every waking and sleeping moment is her? It’s driving me daft in the melon! I mean, its so confusing! Last month, I was indifferent; last week, I could handle it- but now, after that last dream, after seeing her, kissing her…I can’t help but think of her.”

“To be honest, Prongs, I really don’t know-”

“Distraction!” Sirius burst out suddenly as an idea struck, all eyes spinning towards him.

“What?”

“Distraction. To take his mind off her,” he explained impatiently at their stupid, blank looks. “You know- Quidditch, pranks, girls, Firewhiskey- anything to make to forget. It’ll work.” At their sceptical looks he took on a fake expression of hurt and whimpered, “Don’t you trust me?”

“No,” was the immediate response. “At least, not with my love life.”

“But that’s the point, dear Prongs.” Sirius grinned happily and clapped him on the back. “You don’t have a love life.”

*****************************************************************

That was it. It was all over with. She had finally managed to persuade Madam Pomfrey to get her some dreamless sleep potion and she would sleep peacefully, without thoughts of him invading her subconscious mind.

"So are you going to tell us who you had this weird dream about, or do you want me to get Leila to pry it out of you?"

Lily sighed and wished she had never mentioned it. At the time she had been distraught, slightly hysterical in fact as she had after all just woken up mentally scarred from the disgusting feelings she was experiencing. So when her friends had found her in a corner rocking backwards and forwards like a lunatic she had no choice but to blurt out all the horrifying details. Nevertheless, she was thankful that even in her traumatised state she had remembered to avoid telling them whom it was she was dreaming of. They would've laughed, then they would've disapproved when they realised she was serious, then they would've seized the opportunity to take the piss out of her endlessly for having recurring pornographic dreams in which James Potter was her co-star. But they had forgotten about it, brushed over it as a simple nightmare, which was, in itself, a miracle as they never let her get away with anything this potentially embarrassing. They must've recognised how truly distressing it had been for her. However, when they learned about the dreamless sleep potion they seemed to abandon all ideas of mercy and pounce.

"Come on, tell us. We won't take the piss. Honest," she said, feigning the innocent, puppy-dog look that made people run away and hide.

"I can't even remember who it was," Lily replied, as she gathered up her schoolbooks from her trunk and attempted to look like she wasn't paying attention to the conversation.

"Lily, we know you remember. We're not stupid," Rosa pointed out the obvious. "Your dreams must be getting bad or you wouldn't have that potion now, would you? Stop pretending and come out with it. He can't be that bad. Who is it? Hornby?"

Leila snorted. "Not him- he's gay and just last week we had a debate on whether he's more like a monkey or a pig. What about Anderson?"

"Too small. I bet he reaches Lily's armpits. Diggory?"

"Could be. He's tall enough, but he does have the brain the size of a really small pea."

"But maybe Lily likes her men stupid," remarked Rosa, thoughtfully.

"What do you take me for?" Lily slammed down her books and stamped across to stand in front of her friends with hands on hips. She knew what they were doing, yet still she couldn’t help but get riled up as they suggested the stupidest, ugliest and the most- ugh- pungent boys in the whole school. "I have never and will never dream about Hornby, Anderson or Diggory. And I'll never tell you who I did dream of."

"Why?"

"Because you know full well that the dream was- erm- personal. And if I do tell you you'll both think I fancy him. And I don't."

"What about friendship?" Leila stormed. "Trust in each other? Female solidarity?"

Lily snorted. "Female solidarity, my arse. You'll just take the piss and to be honest, I have to contend with him taking the piss so I don't want to have to deal with you as well."

Rosa, being the observant one of the group, immediately picked up on something and said, "What? He knows?"

"No!" Lily denied desperately. She knew she had to shut up or they would get it out of her, one way or another.

There was a knock at the door and as Leila went to answer it, Lily decided to conclude their discussion with a final resolve. "Listen, forget about who it was about. He doesn't matter. Neither do the dreams. Stop trying to guess because you are never ever going to find out whom it is," she finished with a smug grin.

Aforementioned smug grin was wiped off her face when Leila re-entered the room with an equally, if not even smugger grin, with a little bit of a triumphant glint in her eyes as well. Lily's spirits plummeted. "Lily," she said with that all too innocent tone of voice. "Apparently, there's a boy downstairs who wants to talk to you. He mentioned something about dreams?"

Lily gulped and asked, "Who is it?"

Leila grinned. "James Potter."

"Excuse me?" Rosa was almost speechless, obviously dumbstruck by the revelation that her friend, her rational, sane friend, had been fantasising about the most moronic scoundrel the school had ever seen. "You're not serious."

"Oh, but I am." Leila, however, was obviously delighted by the news. "You know, Lily," she began, thoughtfully. "I think you make a rather good couple. And he isn't completely horrific-looking."

"Urgh!! Stop it! Now!" Lily pleaded, feeling sick.

"Ooh, ooh!! I've got to know- how was it?"

"It?" she asked stupidly.

"You know!" Leila wiggled her eyebrows, meaningfully. "The sex! Come on, I want grades on performance, enthusiasm, technique, special effects-"

Lily immediately clamped her hands over her ears. She should have known where her friend's innately dirty mind would instantly take her. "Shut up! SHUT UP!! I'm traumatised! I'm scarred for life! I refuse to listen to this!"

Rosa looked on disapprovingly. "Really, Leila, do you have to? I can imagine how horrific it's be in the first place and the last thing she needs is you making her rehash bad memories."

“Ok, ok, sorry,” Leila said and Lily let her hands drop to her sides and discontinued her loud, un-harmonic whistling. They all looked at each other for a moment, unsure of what to say, before Leila happily piped up, “I bet he was good, though.”

Lily groaned and turned to Rosa for help. “Tell her stop!”

“Leila, if you must talk to her about this, can you do it when I’m not here? I don’t really want to hear all the sordid details as I am not a sordid person- unlike some people I could mention.”

“Yeah, yeah, we all know how you feel about sex.” Leila rolled her eyes and Lily heaved a sigh of relief that they weren’t really focusing on her anymore.

“It’s so unhygienic.” Rosa sniffed.

“But, if people didn’t have sex, no babies would be born and then where would we be?” Leila countered.

Rosa smiled. “Miraculous conception.”

“Huh?” Leila said stupidly.

“Oh, I’m sure that God- assuming there is one- would just miraculously impregnate a few virgins- you know, just to bump up the birth rate.”

Lily realised that if she wanted to escape now would be the perfect time so she slipped past them as they got into full debating mode and took the descending steps two at a time in a hurry to get away before they noticed her absence.

She swung open the door to the Common Room to realise that she had forgotten one extremely important factor in her escape plan; James Potter was waiting for her. Before she could bolt back upstairs to the suddenly comforting sounds of her friends arguing, he spotted her and she was trapped.

“Evans, I need to talk to you about-”

“Stop.” She held up a hand and abruptly cut him off. The last thing she needed was James trying to talk to her after what had happened the other day. He’d kissed her, for God’s sake! What right did he have to try to talk to her? And hadn’t she told him to bugger off? Well, now she’d just have to put him in his place and make sure he never even attempted to speak to her again. “Listen closely, Potter. I don’t like you, I don’t like speaking to you and I sure as Hell don’t like dreaming about you.”

“I know, but I-”

“I’ve put a stop to that,” she informed him, coldly. She hated the way he flinched at her tone but she had to be harsh to get him to clear off. If he had even an inkling that she didn’t completely find him vomitous he would keep trying to talk to her and she couldn’t have that.

“How?” he demanded. “You can’t just order yourself to stop dreaming.”

She smiled. “No, but a little thing called a dreamless sleep potion can help. Now, if you don’t mind, Potter, I must be going.” She brushed past him then turned to leave one perfectly aimed parting remark. “Oh, and James? Don’t talk to me again. Now that we’re no longer linked I plan to go back to ignoring you. You are nothing to me.”

She swung around and casually strolled out of the room, all the while hating herself for being so cruel. It was only in that instant that she realised that she didn’t mean what she’d just said at all. A month ago, he had meant nothing to her, but now…Dammit, why couldn’t she get those deep, dark eyes out of her head?

He would never know that her words had affected her as much as they had affected him. No matter how much she would deny it to him or to her friends she could no longer lie to herself- she wasn’t completely indifferent to him anymore. But, she assured herself, she only liked him a little bit.

However, that night as she lie in bed, floating somewhere between waking and sleeping she couldn’t stop the images that danced across her mind. His quick grin flashing cheekily at her, the feel of his lips softly brushing hers, his dark eyes burning into her, making her feel…strange. And Lily Evans, tingling with the recollection, fell into a deep dreamless sleep with a smile on her face.

******************************************************************

A/N: Just a small curiosity for those who are interested (which probably means no one) but this chapter is actually longer than my English Literature coursework and was typed up while I watched the Eurovision song contest. That’s irrelevant information for you.

STEALING SHEEP

CHAPTER 10: Sentimental Mush

"And the tea leaves can hold some of the most interesting and significant revelations that you will ever encounter. I, myself, have found on numerous occasions that with this technique insights into the future have become commonplace…"

James sighed. It was so very boring. How could one little odd Divination professor have the ability to bore the whole class into a mindless stupor? He couldn't handle the boredom. Death would be preferable…Maybe, he already was dead…it would account for the soul-destroying, Hellish boredom…

That train of thought occupied his mind for all of half a minute before he went back to trying to focus on something other than Divination. Tealeaf reading was, of course, complete rubbish so he obviously paid no attention whatsoever to what the old windbag was going on about.

He cast around for something interesting to relieve the monotony and his mind drifted until he found himself conjuring up the image of Lily as she had been two nights ago when she'd slapped him down so brutally. She had looked so perfect, in that unattainable, untouchable way that always reminded him that she was way too good for him. She'd been so cold and indifferent, so opposite to how she'd been the other day when he'd kissed her, when she'd fired up at his touch. A smug grin began to take shape across his features as he congratulated himself on effecting the girl so much. He felt inordinately proud of the fact that the Ice Queen, the one girl who claimed to not give a damn about him, the Lily Evans had burned up at his touch. But then again he couldn't have effected her that much since she'd been so cruel towards him.

God, he was confused. She doesn't care, then she kisses him like she's possessed by the Devil, and then she goes back to not caring. Couldn't the girl make up her damn mind?

James came to the conclusion that he would never understand her and decided to leave it alone. It didn't matter anyway because the dreams had stopped and no dreams meant no connection, which meant they could go back to pretending the other didn't exist.

He had gone back to staring intently into the distance when the strangest thing happened. In his current semi-catatonic state he didn't react immediately to what he was seeing, but when he did process it, all he could do was stare in slack-jawed amazement.

The desks, the fireplace, the mismatched lumpy old armchairs were all changing. The room seemed to waver on the edge of reality and he had to blink when he saw that the professor had flickered and faded from sight to be replaced by a huge marble column. He couldn't think, couldn't argue, couldn't even get freaked out. All he could do was gawk in utter astonishment as the mundane, dull divination classroom gradually morphed into a large, vaulted chamber that glittered and glowed from the enchanted stars floating around the room. The tedious rambling of the ancient teacher was replaced with the sounds of a live band playing out the sedate rhythm of a waltz and the faint, disembodied sound of jovial laughter. Dancing figures morphed from nothingness to gracefully move across the centre of the ballroom, adding to the creation before him that was surely a result of his bored stupor.

But then he saw her and it all fell into place.

She stood on the edge of the crowd, looking uncomfortable with her surroundings, yet even in his dazed state of shock, he couldn't fail to notice how simply ravishing she looked. She wore the elegant silver gown with style, the soft, shimmering material hugging her figure without really revealing anything, and her hair fell in scarlet waves down her back. She was biting her lip, staring across the room and as he followed her gaze he realised what he was seeing.

He blinked and superimposed on the image of the ballroom was what he supposed to be reality. Just before James' eyes rolled back in his head and his body went lax, before Professor Cayce began to loudly shriek about his obvious psychic episode, before half the class started to snigger at his fainting and the other half looked on in envy at his escape from the tedium, he had a revelation. He realised that the dreams or visions or whatever the Hell they were must be much more significant than they had initially thought. James' last thought before he was pulled back into another disturbing 'memory' was that someone, somehow, was trying awfully hard to tell them something.

*******************************************************************

Lily Evans bit her lip nervously and looked over at him. God, he was so imposing with that impossible arrogance and irrepressible grin. She watched him laugh at some joke Sirius had just made and was struck again by how perfect he was.

She mentally slapped herself. Perfect? Him? Okay, he may look like an underwear model but that was no reason for her to go off the deep end and start calling him 'perfect'. What about his intellect? Conversation skills? Seriousness? Sensibility? She knew very well that he was completely wrong for her. She didn't care. He may not be perfect, he may be 'wrong' for her, but she couldn't help the way she felt. It was unstoppable and no matter how hard she fought it, debated over it, persuaded herself it wasn't the case, she couldn't deny any longer the flutter she felt deep within her whenever she looked at him. In fact, that warm, tingly feeling was so sickeningly familiar that there was hardly a time when she didn't feel it.

She had to end it. It was too dangerous; she couldn't let her feelings be battered by him again. She had to tell him to forget about her and stop trying to 'court' her, as he'd put it. She hadn't welcomed him, hadn't been particularly friendly towards him, yet still he pursued her. After that first explosive night in the Ministry of Magic she'd attempted to avoid him. Of course, James being James, he couldn’t let her go- he had to see her again, keep reminding her of it. She'd tried again and again to wipe her memory of it but just when she thought she'd got past it, he popped up and forced himself into her thoughts once again.

Now, here she was, back in the same building where she'd lost her head with him just three weeks ago.

He looked up, sensing her glare, and smiled radiantly at her, making her curse him even more. How dare he make her tingle all over with one smile?

Then all negative thoughts left her head as he proceeded to wind his way through the crowd towards her. 'Oh no,' she thought desperately, 'I'm not ready to deal with him yet!' She knew that she'd eventually end up jumping him again if she didn't control her thoughts and, tempting though it was, she didn't think the Ministry of Magic would appreciate her ravishing someone in the middle of the dance floor. She had to forget everything she felt- if only for this one night she had to rediscover the Ice Queen and block out all emotion.

"Hi." He smiled at her. Dammit, but it was really difficult to forget how her heart danced at the sight of him.

"Hello, Potter," she bit out, in what she hoped was a cold tone.

However, he seemed oblivious and leisurely swept his gaze down her body and back up again, appreciation apparent in his now darkened eyes.

Despite herself, Lily flushed and gritted her teeth at his casual perusal of her body. How dare he? "Do you really have to?"

"What?" His eyes met hers again and she felt a jolt she rather wished she hadn't.

She gulped and watched him uneasily. "Look at me like I'm a juicy fly you're just itching to swat."

James laughed, but when he leaned in his eyes were serious. "If anything, Lily, I'm the fly and you're the rolled up newspaper."

She rolled her eyes, but he yanked her to her feet and said, “Enough dodgy analogies, anyway. Let’s dance!”

She tried, she really did, but it was so difficult to resist enjoying herself when he was enthusiastic to please and such good company. She reminded herself to forget everything lovey-dovey and get down to business. She’d tell him she didn’t want to see him ever again, she was moving away- no, better yet, she was eloping with an ex-boyfriend. That might only succeed in infuriating him but she tucked it away at the back of her mind as a last resort. Knowing her track record, she’d need it.

“ Have I told you how simply gob-smacking you look tonight?” he whispered into her ear, sending unwanted shivers down her spine and increasing her heartbeat.

God, how cliché.

“No, and you’re not going to,” she answered, giving him a stern look.

“Oh, yes, I forgot,” he said smilingly. “You don’t like compliments, do you? You are the only girl I have ever met who would kill someone for saying they look nice. I actually think Sirius still has the scar from that time he told you your hair looked pretty.”

“First of all, he did not say ‘pretty’ he said ‘puffy’, and secondly, the only reason anyone ever says I’m pretty is if they want something.” She tried to avoid his gaze, knowing that he would argue, even though she knew perfectly well that she was in no way beautiful. A bit odd looking maybe, but never beautiful.

James lifted her chin and looked into her defiant eyes. “Listen to me, Evans. I don’t ever want you to say that again. Do you think the reason I say you're beautiful is because I want something?” She raised her eyebrows. “Ok, ok, don’t answer that. My point is that I mean what I say. Don’t you realise what you do to me? I just have to glance at you and I go all funny. Believe me, you’re beautiful.” He gave her a rueful grin and scratched his head in embarrassment before his face settled once more into a serious expression.

Unfortunately for her, Lily felt as though he was seeing right through her, right into her soul and she fiercely tried to ward off the barrage of feelings assaulting her.

It's just a bunch of sentimental mush.

“But, of course, you’re still not as lovely as me.”

She registered that he was grinning at her but she was too busy convincing herself how nauseating he was to reciprocate. Couldn’t he come up with something more original than ‘I go all funny’?

“What’s wrong?”

“What?”

“I know that something’s wrong. I can always tell. Especially with you. Go on tell me. What’s wrong? I am an expert problem-solver. Just ask Sirius. You know, once he actually asked me how he should approach Lucy Bennet about going out with him and I came up with a solution only using a quarter of a melon and a toothbrush…”

She stared at him. He was so cute when he went on and on about rubbish. No!! He was not cute, he was in fact pathetic and revolting.

You’re better off on your own.

“…So, since I am surely the man to help you, you can tell me. I’ll keep it a secret. Kill anyone recently? Got a secret stalker? What is it? Hmm?” He smiled encouragingly at her.

She panicked. She’d known this moment would come from the second she’d seen him this evening. She’d known her feelings and she’d known how it would all work out. It was inevitable. But in a moments weakness she just blurted it out and stared at him in horror.

“I think I’m in love with you.”

That shut him up. He stared at her blankly and stupidly blinked, shock and fear apparent on his face.

She flooded red, averted her eyes and prayed that she had hallucinated and hadn’t actually just said what she thought she’d said. She hadn’t meant to tell him, for God’s sake! She’d just meant to slowly edge out of their relationship, if in fact you could call the three weeks that he had spent pestering her while she fought as hard as she could to ignore him, a relationship.

“I know what you’re going to say. It too fast, too soon, we barely know each other anymore. And I really don’t want to hear you try to let me down gently so I’ll do it for you.” He opened his mouth to protest but Lily held up a hand to stop him. “I won’t expect any owls, I won’t continue harbouring these feelings and I sure as Hell don’t expect you to feel the same way. I’ll just forget about it all. Forget we even met.” To her complete and utter horror her eyes swam with unshed tears and her voice quavered dangerously. She would not cry. She couldn’t let him see her cry; her pride simply wouldn’t allow it.

“What? But- When- How…What?!” James managed to stammer out.

Somehow she wasable to blink back her tears, look straight into his shocked eyes and say, in what she hoped was a strong, sure voice, “Goodbye, James.”

Lily turned in her heel and swiftly departed from the ballroom. She decided that the only thing to dull the stabbing pain in her chest (it was not, as romantics would think, a broken heart, but a small heart attack, not at all that significant) was a gallon or two of Firewhiskey and so she headed home to get completely and irrevocably drunk.

*******************************************************************

Lily Evans immediately woke with the now familiar after haze of a dream and brought a hand to her head groggily. What had happened? One minute she was busily scribbling down notes, the next…And why was she sprawled across the overgrown floor of the Herbology lab, several plants rather annoyingly poking at her to get off them?

She groaned and pushed herself to her feet. Jesus, what a headache! She felt like she’d been pelted with pineapples. Still in their tins.

“What do you think you are doing?” Professor Sprout called across the room in a stern voice and Lily groaned again. She was usually rather nice and sweet but when it came to squashing her plants she was as stern as a naffed off hedgehog.

Rosa quickly jumped up from where she’d been kneeling next to her previously comatose friend and quickly responded, “Professor, Lily just fainted. Can I take her to the hospital wing? It must be the heat getting to her.”

“Oh, well, yes, of course.” The teacher seemed to have lost her steam, realising that it wasn’t in fact deliberate sabotage of her beloved herbs and plants. “But, Singleton, you take her. You’re creating such a mess it’ll be a relief for the poor plant life. Jackson, you complete the potting, if you would.”

Leila jumped enthusiastically away from the massive pile of soil that she had somehow managed to smear over every available part of herself. “So, Lily,” she said as they quickly left the greenhouse. “What happened in there? At first I thought you were dead or something. A hernia. Could’ve been a hernia. Was it a hernia, Lily?”

As she was still extremely spaced out from the whole fiasco, Lily managed a “Hmm” before returning to considering what had happened. She’d had a dream. One of those dreams. But…how could that be? She thought she’d stopped all that nonsense. Obviously not. “It must’ve been his fault,” she muttered out loud, not noticing that Leila had ceased her mindless ramble and was now staring at her in puzzlement.

“Lily? I know I’m never that serious or anything but…you know you can tell me if something’s wrong, right?”

Lily heard that all right and she couldn’t contain the disbelieving smirk that sneaked its way across her face.

“I’m serious!” Leila sounded hurt. “I know you always go to Rosa but maybe I can help you now. Tell me. Are you going insane?”

Lily smiled affectionately. “No, I’m not. Don’t worry about me.”

“It’s just that that’s the first time I’ve seen a person just fall unconscious all of a sudden for no reason and then start sleep talking about complete rubbish,” said Leila, in an off-handed manner as they began to climb the steps leading towards the hospital wing.

Lily froze. Sleep-talking? Oh no, how much had they heard…?

“Yeah, it was strange. I mean, what sort of weird dreams do you have? ’Sentimental mush’? What is that? Couldn’t make head nor tail of it. Weird, huh? Lily?” Leila paused as she noticed the strange green tinge of her friend’s features.

Lily swayed dangerously as once again the images collided across her vision. Her head pounded like a tribal dance was being conducted inside her skull. It was happening again, the agony of being torn from her body was just before her and she fought with all she had. Her eyes began to glaze over and sweat broke out on her brow as she tried to focus on Leila’s concerned face and not the comfortably furnished living room that was imposing itself into her vision. It was not real, not real… With a dreadful lurch her eyes rolled back into her head and her soul was yanked from her body and poured into the astral world of dreams.

She was gone.

*******************************************************************

James walked hesitantly up the garden path. He vaguely registered that it was a very pretty garden, just what he’d expected from her, neat and exact in its loveliness. The daffodils and tulips formed regimented rows lining the edge of the garden and the grass had a perfect buzz cut. Yes, it was definitely Lily Evans' garden.

As he stopped at the door he wondered yet again whether he was doing the right thing. She had got a bit…emotional, so should he just take it like a man and escape while he still could? His mouth set in a grim line and his eyes took on a determined glint. He was going to get to the bottom of this. He didn't believe that she was 'in love' with him, whatever that meant. In his experience, women tended to go overboard with wild passion when they simply liked a guy so he was in no doubt as to what Lily thought she felt. After all, he was a very likeable guy.

He sucked in a breath, steadying himself for what he was about to say, and knocked.

No answer.

He knocked again. This time the door was immediately flung open and James blinked as the redhead stared at him with no hint of surprise. A blush spread its way up his neck as he realised what she was wearing- very little indeed. As he took in her white silk sleep shirt and mussed hair he felt his traitorous body began to respond to the strange, sexy look. He tried to fight the rush of lust that weaved its way through his blood and stepped back away from her. What was wrong with him? He couldn't keep his thoughts clean for a second! He needed to distance himself and tell her what he'd come here to say.

"Erm-"

"Hello, James," she purred with a smile that gradually blossomed on her face.

"Hel-" Had she just purred at him? "What's wrong?" He leaned in towards her, suspicious of her innocent expression, and in the instant he saw her slightly glassy eyes he knew what was wrong. "You're drunk!"

She frowned at him playfully and insisted, "I am not drunk! I'm just mildly inebriated. Why don't you come in?"

"Er- I don't think so." He was getting rather unnerved by the predatory gleam in her eyes and since he was beginning to lose control of his faculties and his sense of decency he thought it a miracle that he was able to edge away slowly, away from temptation.

"Oh, James! Stop being such a pansy! Come in and take advantage of me," she demanded, holding open her arms and grinning seductively.

James let out a breath and shoved his hands in his pockets- by far the smartest place for them. Whatever he'd expected, this was not it. She was propositioning him, for God's sake! If she'd been sober he would've jumped at the chance, but then again, if she'd been sober the offer would never have been made. What was he to do? How could he turn down a woman who he was extremely attracted to and was offering herself to him so freely? "Um- tempting as that offer may be-"

Lily ceased tapping her foot impatiently and, catching him unaware, grabbed his shirt with both hands and yanked him inside where she could seduce him properly.

"I said 'Come in'!" she repeated and fused her mouth onto his.

Startled though he was, James realised that whether he protested or not, the woman was going to get what she wanted and he had very little say in it.

*************************************************************************

A/N: Sorry it's a bit overdue but this week is the last week of term ever because I'm going to university next year so its been a bit hectic. This chapter took me ages- I don't know why but it did. Hope you like it.

Just want to say that fanfic is really making me mad because it won't let me put cliché properly in the title. Just so you don't think I'm a complete moron. I do know how to spell it! Its nothing but still I'm mad about it because I can't stand bad spelling.

STEALING SHEEP

CHAPTER 11: Let's Be Cliche

James found himself slammed against the door rather violently as it shut behind him. Instantly her lips were on his again and again making him dizzy and unable to control his faculties. He groaned as her lips left his and trailed a fiery path across his throat. She shouldn't be doing this! What was she doing?! If she had any idea what she was doing to him and how close to the edge he was she would never have thrown herself at him and he had no doubt that he wouldn't have even been let through the front door if she'd been sober.

He had been an idiot, letting her think she was in love with him then standing there like she'd just told him her real name was Steve. He had decided that he couldn't just let her leave his life without even attempting to make her see reason- it wasn't love, it couldn't be after just a few weeks. It was lust, pure, simple, harmless lust, and she'd just got a bit confused. He would make her understand her folly.

It all went wrong. She was a bit…out of control, and in other circumstances he would've found it rather exciting, but in her current state he couldn't let her do this no matter how much he wanted it.

"Lily, wait, stop."

She didn't stop. She simply lifted her head long enough to raise a challenging eyebrow and send him a saucy grin before she went back to the task at hand: seducing Mr Potter.

James cursed his conscience for making him fight his natural urges, fight her, as her fingers went to work on his shirt buttons and brushed the heated skin of his chest, searing him. He couldn't handle it for much longer- he sizzled at her touch, unable to control his responses. Soon, he would crack and then she'd be sorry. She'd run screaming in the other direction when- no, if- he called her bluff.

He would not give in.

However, his resolve weakened somewhat when her cool hands crept across his chest and she bit down on his earlobe, whispering a creative demand that startled him with its boldness.

"Oh God!"

She was really pushing it now. His mind swam and his knees turned to jelly, as he knew they inevitably would. His control was swiftly evaporating and soon he wouldn't be able to resist the temptation if he didn't put an end to it pretty damn quickly.

With a wrench from his very soul he pushed her away from him. He was breathing hard now from the exertion of keeping his hormones reigned in when being seduced by the most tempting woman he'd ever laid eyes on. She looked just as he felt; her hair was ruffled and she smouldered at him with fiery eyes that seemed to challenge him and gave him one more push down that slippery slope that was giving in to temptation.

"Now, listen, Evans, we can't do this. You'll hate me in the morning." He gulped as she ignored his warning and slid her body over his, her greedy fingers slipping down, down, making his eyes do a slow roll into the back of his head.

Her lips curved into a feline smile. "I won't hate you. I know exactly what I'm doing, Potter. But do you?" Her eyes sparkled dangerously and his throat went dry.

"I don't want to take advantage of you," he managed to choke out through the lump that had suddenly appeared in his throat.

"But I want you to," she said with an innocent expression that didn't fool him for one second. The wicked grin that gradually spread across her face should have warned him but he wasn't quick enough for evasive manoeuvres before she pinned him against the wall again and rolled her hips over his in a suggestive grind.

As a violent rush of lust tangoed in his belly he managed somehow to extricate himself from her grasp and forced himself to try and ward her off. "Okay, crazy drunken lady, I have to leave and you have to go to bed-"

"I will if you come with me."

He manfully ignored the slippery knots of desire uncoiling inside him and continued. "I came to talk to you about something that I seem to be unable to recollect at this moment in time but I'm sure it wasn't that important so I'll just be off then…" He began to edge towards the door, fearing that he wouldn't be strong enough to leave her when she was looking at him like that.

She grinned knowingly at him and he shuffled nervously backwards towards the safety beyond the front door as he caught the alarming twinkle in her eyes that meant she knew she was about to win the argument. "But you and I know you aren't leaving here tonight. You want to make it easier for you?"

Before he could point out that if that was what he was after it would've been very easy for him indeed, she stopped any coherent thought and with one fluid movement slid her night gown over her head and threw it aside.

"Oh, sweet Jesus."

He stared with an utterly stunned expression. That was unexpected. He knew that now it was physically impossible for him to leave with her standing there, wearing nothing but that challenging glint in her eyes. His control finally gave up its fight with a whimper and, as she wound her arms around his neck and slid her silky body against his, he finally succumbed, as they both knew he eventually would.

He twisted his hands through her long red locks, relishing in the feel of her and groaned into her neck. "I'm going to Hell for this."

"But it's worth it, isn't it?"

He shivered and then grinned at her. "Sure is." He sobered as he looked into her eyes; the shining orbs sparkled at him playfully. "You make me tingle all over. You make me think sinful things that I really shouldn't be thinking about. You make me want to be a better man." She smiled softly, and her face lit up, making him remember the part of her, the big part of her that was just lovely, wonderfully shy Lily Evans and not some fiendish vixen intent on his seduction. Not that he minded the vixen part. James thought about what he'd just told her, how he'd just let her know how she made him want to be more than he was and he barked out a laugh. "Talk about a cliché, eh?"

Her sweet, serious smile gradually curved into something much more dangerous and she let out a husky laugh that reverberated throughout his entire body, sending his pulse skyrocketing further than he thought possible. "Since we're on the subject, how about this for a cliché?" Her eyes darkened and the teasing smile faded as she whispered, "Lets be bad, James. Let's be really bad."

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Sirius was laughing his arse off.

He'd just dragged James down from the Divination classroom, up another six sets of moving stairs, down sixteen really long corridors, and across two courtyards before arriving at their dorm and realising that he was a wizard and could have used a levitation spell instead of straining himself with pulling along his friend's dead weight. By all rights he should be royally pissed off. But, fortunately, before he could begin a big bout of immature sulking James had started sleep talking. And it was hysterical.

"Listen…can't…hate me… morning…Noooo" James muttered as he tossed and turned on the floor where he'd been dumped by his so-called friend.

Sirius clapped his hands together and jumped up and down on the spot happily. He loved it when James had his dreams. He'd thought he'd just collapsed from the toxic fumes that Professor Cayce insisted were 'atmospheric' but the second that James began to squirm and mutter it was obvious that the next episode of 'The Lily and James Sex Tips Show' had commenced. It was so exciting! The intrigue! The mystery! The…sexual connotations!

He heard footsteps on the staircase leading to their dorm and rushed to the door to usher Remus in quickly to enjoy the show.

"Padfoot?"

"HERE! Moony! It's happening again! Grab the popcorn! Get that stash of Butterbeer from under your bed! Round up the cancan dancers! Its Round two!"

Remus paused in the doorway, his eyebrows raised dramatically as he stared at the spread-eagle James on the floor. "Er- Padfoot?" He coughed uncomfortably but Sirius was too busy sliding an arm underneath one of the floorboards as he searched for the hidden bottle of Firewhiskey that only came out on special occasions.

"Padfoot!"

Sirius lifted his head briefly. "What? Can't you see I'm busy?"

"Erm- I don't think you're the only one."

"Wha-" Sirius froze as his gaze came to rest on James who had suddenly ceased his 'no, no, no's and began with the 'yes, yes, yes's. Now his writhing around didn't seem so hilarious, but rather- no, extremely- disturbing. It was worse than the time in the Great Hall. Thankfully last time they had left before anything truly embarrassing had gone on, but now…

"He wasn't doing that a minute ago!"

Remus looked decidedly nauseous as Sirius stood next to him and they watched their friend get more and more red in the face before he gave out a guttural, "Oh God!"

James' friends glanced at each other then immediately charged out of the room to escape from the traumatising moans and groans and collapsed into the two armchairs in the safe haven that was the Common Room.

"Urgh!" Sirius exclaimed as he brushed a hand over his face, thoroughly disgusted. "That is on par with catching your mum and dad at it."

There was a silence as Remus stared at him for a second blankly before his face fell into a horrified expression. "Thanks a lot for the mental image, you perverted prat! Just stop talking and let me quell my up-chuck reflex."

It was a good fourty minutes before an enraged James stormed into the Common Room, face aflame and fists clenched at his sides.

"Something up, Prongs?" Remus inquired from behind his textbook.

"You know very well what's- ahem- up, Moony," Sirius sniggered and dodged away from the slap on the back of the head he would have received from Remus.

"WHAT?" James said sharply and stopped pacing to glare at Sirius.

"Erm- it was just a- erm- a pun on certain- ahem- male bodily functions-"

James looked about to explode. "I KNOW what you meant! But, demented git, why did you say it? WHY? WHY! WHY! WHY! WHY! WHY!"

They stared.

"A bit stressed, Prongs?" Remus said lightly.

"No, I'm perfectly fine, thank you very much." James paused in his childish stamping and scratched his head, embarrassed. "Ok, ok, maybe I got a little bit worked up-"

Sirius snorted.

James sent him a glare and was about to rant a bit on how it was fully within his rights to get carried away now and again, especially when he was going through so much right now, when a though struck him, making his insides churn with potential embarrassment. "You- ah- didn't happen to notice if I- er- said anything in my sleep, did you?"

"No-"

James breathed a sigh of relief.

"-Only the bit about 'Lets be bad, lets be really bad,'" Sirius said in high-pitched voice, obviously meant to be an imitation of Lily yet sounding nothing remotely like her.

James' head snapped up. "It was Lily who said that not me-"

"AHA!" A huge grin spread its way across Sirius' face. "That's very interesting. I was only joking, but now I want to hear more about Miss Evans being really bad. Does it involve whips and chains?"

Remus managed to land a slap across the back of Sirius' head this time and said to James, "You alright, mate? You seem a bit miffed off."

"I am!" And the pacing began again. "She said that the dreams had stopped and I believed her!" More pacing. "Could she have done it on purpose? Maybe, she's secretly in love with me and trying to get me to be really attracted to her…Not that that would ever happen. She nearly pummelled me to death when I kissed her. And she's…Bleugh!" Up and down, up and down he paced. "But does this mean I have a secret love for her- very unlikely, I know, but what does it mean? Are they visions- yeah, I could be a seer!! I really hope this isn't the future. This last dream, it was- well, it freaked me out! It went way too far. I mean, how can I look her in the face again knowing that I've seen her nak- Padfoot, pay attention!"

"Huh?" Sirius had been temporarily hypnotised by his rhythmic pacing, spacing out from the boring mind-ramble that they had heard a million times already.

A thought snuck its way through his mind and as soon as what James had just nearly said fully registered his eyes lit up with excitement, and Sirius held up a hand to stop his friend from continuing on his tirade before he could get a word in. "Wait! WAIT!! Can we just pause for a second? Now rewind. What did you just say? 'Knowing you've seen her …'?"

James shrugged uncomfortably and glanced away shiftily. "That was it. 'Knowing I've seen her.' The end of the sentence. Nothing else. That was it. It was!"

Sirius could barely contain himself as he asked "Did you see Evans naked?"

James flooded post-box red and gulped before looking away suspiciously and saying, "Of course not."

"You did! You did!"

"You did?" Remus said in a slightly tight voice, his eyes widening.

Sirius jumped up and down in his seat, obviously no longer traumatised and now extremely excited at the prospect of finding out the vital statistics of the Ice Queen.

James stuttered, "I didn't- I couldn't- She just stripped off!"

A wide grin slowly materialised across Remus' face and he wiggled his eyebrows suggestively. "Really?" he said in a voice that would be extremely out of character, but right now he couldn't resist the enormous opportunity to take the piss. He also wasn't adverse to learning more about the naked state of Lily Evans. Ok, ok, he may have been the 'sensible, quiet, nice' one, but that didn't make him less of a boy. A seventeen year old, hormone driven boy.

"I'm not- I can't- She'd kill me if I said anything!" He looked at them imploringly, trying to get off the hook, but his friends were too stubborn and too determined to get some gossip about naked girls to be dissuaded. He sighed and gave up. "She was…"

"Hairy?"

"Wrinkly?"

"Bogey coloured?"

"Covered in whipped cream?"

They stared at the culprit of the dirty thought.

"What?" said Remus. "Can't a man have a dream?"

"Well, no to all of them. She was…" He sighed with the memory. "… lovely. I can't describe it. It was- She was- all soft and- pink and hmmm…" He was lost now in his recollections. They were perfect memories as if they had happened yesterday and he knew that she would be the image that would be imprinted on his eyelids every time he tried to get some sleep. She was perfect and now he had to battle the already lustful thoughts as well as the porno dream memories that kept resurfacing. It was pure Hell. In a very nice way.

"Hey! Prongs! Stop fantasising! It getting weird." Sirius frowned at him. "Now tell us- was she-"

"I'm not saying anything else about it." James sent a glare their way. She would kill him if she knew he'd told them what he had and he sure as Hell wasn't going to make it worse. And the last thing he needed was their relentless teasing. He had enough to worry, stress and potentially kill himself over. His shoulders suddenly sagged as he realised what mess he was in- he liked a girl who didn't like him, was dreaming about said girl, not just any dreams but saucy, sexy, memorable dreams, and now he couldn't get rid of aforementioned weird dreams, and he suspected he wouldn't even be able to control himself around her anymore. He was screwed.

"What am I going to do?"

Sirius piped up, "Kill us, if only to stop the mental replay."

"Yes, I'll kill you then…Padfoot, what are you on about?"

Sirius shrugged and said, "It really is disturbing to have the mental picture of you and her getting grindy. Ok, seeing her get busy I could handle, maybe even enjoy-" He smirked as he ducked another slap. "-But seeing my best friend in a compromising position isn't an image I want to be replaying in my head before I go to sleep, if you know what I mean."

James stared at him, utterly baffled, then, surprising everyone, turned on his heel and charged out of the Common Room. He'd just been staring at Sirius as he rambled inanely and a sudden and powerful brainwave had hit him. He knew how to put an end to the whole fiasco.

"Hey! Where're you going?"

He waved a hand over his shoulder and called back to them, "To see a man about a dog!" He strode out of the room without looking back and thought of his response with a smile.

'More like to see a Headmaster about a dream.'

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A/N: I don't think this chapter was one of my best but I tried to get it out because I promised. Let me know what you thought one way or another.

I got a review of this the other week and it said I was 'losing my touch'. I just want to say to that reviewer that I appreciate you being polite about it when you could've easily been mean, but could you be more specific? I mean, just to know that I'm getting worse isn't that helpful. Any thing in particular you think isn't going so well? Please let me know, if you're still reading.

Another thing- as of next week I'm on study leave so I really can't promise to update every week. I'll try to write as much as possible but I can't promise anything. Thankfully I know exactly what's going to happen next so I shouldn't have too much trouble. Anyway, because it may be several weeks until I update I'll give you a hint of what's going to happen- you're going to find out more about why they're having the dreams and a familiar face is in it…

Sooner of later this is going to get darker and I think a little of it will be shown in the next part- but do not fear I shall not succumb even further to conventions!! One of their parents will not die!! How's that for originality?

A/N: SORRY for the wait. Read ending authors note for excuses and grovelling

STEALING SHEEP

CHAPTER 12: Guarded Moments

Lily hurried down the corridor, her footsteps echoing along the labyrinthine passages and reminding her that she was alone. She could slow down now… She was all alone and had no one else to run from.

Where was she going? She had no idea- she just had to escape. After she'd groggily awoken from her slumber she'd jumped up and sprinted away from her enquiring friends. It was too weird. She wasn't in the right frame of mind to deal with warding off them and their worried questions. She was worried enough for them all. And frightened.

What did it all mean? This was the question that plagued her continuously, rolling around her mind night and day alongside the mental image of him. How she hated him. Of course, she was supposed to be indifferent to him but now she had been forced to feel something for him via those- those nightmares, she couldn't help hating him. She hated him for making her feel this way.

And that last dream…it was too much for her to handle. She- her- her dream self- had actually seduced him, for God's sake! And she'd loved every minute of it.

Lily knew of her reputation as the 'Ice Queen'- cliché as it was- and it was relatively accurate. On the outside she was cold, unfeeling, indifferent, but inside…well, she was just like everybody else. Ok, not just like everybody else- she was extremely cynical and as far from touchy-feely as a person could be.

She hated herself as well as him for it but…she'd really liked melting the façade. Her dream self had revelled in it, loved every heated second, luxuriated in having the power for once. Ok, so she had been tipsy but she was no where near as drunk as James had thought she was. She had been just inebriated enough to lose her fears and gain confidence. And she had wanted him, by God had she wanted him.

The present Lily paused to lean against a rough stone pillar to catch her breath and gulped as she remembered the pure lust that had rushed through her. It was an unfamiliar feeling that merely the memory of it took her breath away and she couldn't resist conjuring the mental image of the man who had turned into a quivering wreck.

Lily smiled as she recalled how scared he had been. James Potter, scared! She would've thought it impossible in the first place let alone her being the cause of it. She wasn't that threatening. But her forwardness had shook him and she had been absolutely thrilled that she could effect him so much. He had resisted with all that he had and yet it wasn't enough- he couldn't help himself around her.

For the first time she wondered if she could effect him like that now. If it were the future then surely he'd have some reaction to her in the present?

She blushed and continued down the corridor as she realised the direction of her thoughts, all the while mentally slapping herself. She didn't blush!! She was most definitely not the sort of person who blushed! And she was certainly not the sort of person who blushed at the thought of James Potter. Why did she even care what he thought about her?

Unbidden and unwelcome, came the image of James as he'd been in her dreams just before she'd woken up- smiling sleepily at her, the happiness and satisfaction evident on his face and the look of what appeared suspiciously enough like love shining in his eyes.

That was why she cared, even though she really really didn't want to.

Whether she liked it or not, for some reason he was important enough to her to be making recurring appearances in her dreams and she couldn't help smiling at how he'd been. Kind. Funny. Loving. Gorgeous. She really didn't want it to, but that dream version of Potter had somehow struck a cord in her and if that was really what he was going to turn into when he'd matured a bit…

Well, then it was worth holding in a few of her more cutting remarks and attempting to be a bit nicer to him.

Lily was dragged from her thoughts by a sudden shout from around the corner and she quickened her pace to investigate. She fully expected to see maybe a few first years in a scrap or a Slytherin bullying a Hufflepuff but the sight that greeted her eyes left her frozen in horror.

Lily had attempted to prepare herself for seeing him and the images that she just knew would be conjured up but when she first caught sight of him standing there yelling chocolate brands desperately at the stone Gargoyle it was like something had slammed into her, making her feel a hundred and one things at once. His presence alone made her instantly recollect the dreams and how she'd acted in them...

"Jupiter gums!"

Silence.

"Mars bar!"

Silence.

"Kit Kat!"

Silence.

"FIZZING WHIZBEES, FRUIT GUMS, LIQUORICE STICKS, JUMPING JELLYFISH.... JUST LET ME IN!!!" James screamed at the offending statue and slammed his fists against them in pure frustration, making Lily blink with surprise and horror at his mood. She had never seen him this agitated before- he must have dealt with the whole dreaming thing much much worse than she had and though she was loathe to admit it, it disturbed her quite a bit.

However, as he began dancing around shaking his hands in what rather looked like a tribal mating ritual but was actually a pain dance she burst into hysterical laughter.

At the sound of her giggles he immediately stopped prancing around trying to shake off the pounding agony and pushed his one good hand through his hair nervously, his back straightening automatically and a guarded expression sliding into place. "What do you want?" he snapped, while edging closer to his previous enemy, the stone Gargoyle, for protection.

The smile was wiped off of Lily's face as she realised that he was not going to co-operate; he was not going to make it at all easy for her to be nice. She found it difficult to be 'nice' at the best of times but, really, she couldn't be expected to be pleasant towards him when he acted like a flaming moron! She knew very well that he was just reacting to the dream and all the trauma of it but…It was just so tempting to explode at him and let out all her frustration/anger/confusion….

Lily smiled tightly. "Try 'Curly Wurly'." As the Gargoyle obligingly stepped aside, she swung around and strode away down the corridor, pushing herself to keep walking and not to turn and give him a piece of her mind as she longed to do. No. She was strong. She was in control of her actions and she was in control of her temper. He could be a rude imbecile if he so wished because she was above it all.

Except she wasn't above it all, she was silently fuming inside and she secretly longed to rip his stupid head off for talking to her like she was about to pounce on him.

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Breathe in. Breathe out. Breathe in. Breathe out.

Dude, get a grip.

James was still completely freaked out. When he had left the other Marauders he'd been calm and extremely determined to do what needed to be done. Dumbledore would know what to do and he would make everything right again; he and Lily would go back to barely noticing the others existence and then he would sleep peacefully again. However, when he had reached the statue and it had refused him entrance he had started to get really pissed off. His cool exterior melted and suddenly he was screaming and stamping at the Gargoyle, letting out all his anger on the mostly inanimate object. WHY wouldn't it open? He was sure it was just pissing him off on purpose- it had that little smirk on its stone face that he was just aching to pummel. So he had attempted to get his revenge on it but then a thousand strands of pain had laced through his fist. It was just bad luck that she had happened upon him at that exact moment of weakness. And she had laughed! He had to be sharp with her because: a) he was still freaked out from the dream and just seeing her almost sent his body into nervous convulsions; b) he had just punched a stone statue in a moment of stupidity; and c) she had seen and apparently enjoyed the sight of him punching a stone statue in a moment of stupidity.

James sucked in a breath and had a crack at regaining his composure. He was calm now. Collected. Cool.

He sent that smug-looking Gargoyle another death glare and stepped onto the moving staircase that he had ascended so many times and before he knew it he was stood outside of the door reading 'Headmaster Dumbledore' in gold swirly writing.

"Come in, James," he heard the ever-so-familiar voice call.

He entered the impressive room at a confident stride and stopped directly before the Headmaster. If anyone would know what to do it was Dumbledore and he was positive that by the end of the meeting his problem would be solved and this time next week everyone would be able to simply look back on it, laugh nervously and change the subject.

"Professor, I have a really big problem…I need your help, Sir- See, it started last month…I don't know what to do- Its really distracting and it makes me go all funny in the knees and its just got to stop…its all her fault, I'm positive- but, Sir, you have to understand it was just disgusting and…just YUCK!" James exclaimed both passionately and inarticulately.

Dumbledore twinkled at him from under his spectacles. "And what, may I venture to ask, are you talking of, Mr Potter?"

James went quiet. It wasn't until the most inappropriate of moments, when stood in front of the Headmaster himself that he realised that telling a hundred-odd year old Professor about his sexual fantasies involving a fellow classmate was one of the most embarrassing things that he could ever wish to do. James flushed the colour of a lobster and mentally strangled himself for such stupidity. Tell Dumbledore about his pornographic dreams? No matter how groovy the old man was, he would still probably just think he was a normal perverted teenage boy, although maybe a bit more twisted than most because he apparently enjoyed sharing aforementioned sex fantasies with various members of the faculty.

"Erm…Thanks Professor for all your help…Couldn't wish for a better Headmaster, really…" James was extremely embarrassed at this point and edged towards the exit as quickly as he could without appearing like a complete loony who just randomly burst into peoples offices, spouted nonsense then ran back out again. "…Keep up the good work."

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"So he has seen the visions," Dumbledore remarked calmly, while steepling his fingers and frowning into the shadows where he knew the stranger lurked.

"You didn't believe me."

The old man smiled. "I'm sorry to say that I'm not accustomed to being told that magic- powerful magic- is being performed directly underneath my nose and that I have been blissfully unaware of it all."

The unknown man stepped from the shadows that danced across the room and seated himself, allowing Dumbledore to make a proper appraisal of him. The man was obviously young, not more than twenty but there was something about him that suggested that he had faced more than a few horrors in his lifetime. Maybe it was the strange haunted, hollow look in his eyes, maybe it was the way that his mouth was permanently set in a grim line, or maybe it was the way he held himself, back straight, chin up as if he had faced the worst that the world had to offer and survived. "I'm sure there's nothing that you are unaware of, Professor."

"Ah, there are still a few million things that have eluded my grasp of understanding. It is my belief that everyone needs something to be confused about. Speaking of confusion I must admit that I am still baffled as to why you felt the need to inform me of your master plan, not that I am ungrateful for being updated on what is happening in my own school."

The stranger frowned and leaned forward in his seat, anxiously. "I need your help."

"Help? Why would you need my help? You seem to be perfectly capable of handling the situation without my input." Dumbledore glanced over the top of his spectacles and twinkled at the young man. "Lemon drop?" he offered.

A ghost of a smile flittered across the young man's face. "You haven't changed," he whispered to himself.

"Ah, so you know me, do you? Am I a terrible grouch in the future? I expect I've grown overly fond of knitting and have started a support group for traumatised frogs?"

The shadow slowly grew into a wide grin that lit up the man's face, chasing away all signs of a troubled past. "Something like that."

"And you want my help. All you have told me is that you are from the future and somehow have found a way to make two of my best students 'see' visions. What, may I enquire, is the point in the exercise?" Dumbledore raised his eyebrows questioningly.

The younger man smiled. "I can't tell you, Sir."

"Ah, I see." The Headmaster popped another Lemon Drop into his mouth and sucked on in thoughtfully. "The timeline cannot be broken and so you cannot tell me certain facts that may influence the future. Is there anything you can tell me? You name, for instance?"

The stranger opened his mouth to speak but caught himself before gingerly saying "I can't. Sorry."

"Oh, I understand perfectly well, dear boy."

The man clasped his hands together and stared at Dumbledore, seriously. "It's a matter of life and death, Professor."

"Life and death, eh? It all sounds very exciting," said the Headmaster merrily.

"Its not when its your life and death on the line." The raven haired man smiled grimly.

Dumbledore had taken a shine to the young man. He looked so sad and so put upon that it was almost impossible to remain unfeeling and the old man sensed a goodness about the boy. He had the feeling that in the future he knew him well but all he could do now was rely on his gut instinct. Dumbledore usually found himself quite an accurate judge of character, even though he said so himself, and he saw the man's darkened eyes and quiet way of speaking as a result of a lifetime of misery. The Headmaster wondered what horrors awaited in the future that would make so young a person seem like they had lived a thousand lifetimes and fought through all of them. Dumbledore mused on this foreboding thought as he stared at the stranger, vaguely trying to figure out what it was about the boy that was so familiar…

He dismissed the idea as simply the ponderings of an old coot starting to crack up and decided that he now liked the boy immensely, despite the amount of times he had flattered the old man with how oh-so-clever and all-knowing the Headmaster was. Dumbledore reached for the floral tea pot stationed on the desk and beamed. "Cup of tea?"

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A/N: I know a lot of people have been waiting for this chapter so I thought I'd leave this a/n to the end.

I'm sorry. So so so so sorry.

In my defence a lot has happened in the past month and a half or so. First of all I had lots of exams and they were scary (passed though- 3 Bs out of 3!). Then I went on holiday 2 days after my last exam for 2 weeks. Then my granddad died a week after I came back so obviously I was really upset. Then I went away again for another week.

Ok, that was 3 weeks ago so I admit I have just kinda ignored it for a while. Writers block, what can I say? I knew exactly what was going to happen but I just couldn't seem to make it work on paper. The last scene took me about 2 weeks to write mainly because the characters were very very difficult to write but today I finally finished it! I'm so pleased! If it doesn't seem up to scratch its cos it was written over 2 months and was sooo difficult. I'm already starting the next chapter so I hope its easier to write.

My friend pointed out that the chocolates and sweets James yells at the gargoyle probably weren't around in the 70s but I just ignored her so if anyone is especially nit-picky I'm sorry.

To all those people who emailed me about continuing it, don't worry: THIS STORY WILL NOT BE DESERTED! I might take a while to update but I've spent too much creativity and time writing this to stop

By the way, if the end of this chapter didn't make much sense at the moment don't worry about it cos its not meant to. It gets explained better later on.

Just as a taster for chapter 13 I'll tell you a few hints:

- There may be a bit more between the stranger and DD. And you might find out what DD does to help. By the way, is it really really obvious who the stranger is? I think it is but if you don't get it don't worry cos you're not meant to fully at this point.

- Theres some sort of ride using a mode of transport not mentioned in any Harry Potter books (I think). And its v romantic. At least I think so. Can you guess?

-Lily and James come to terms with having the dreams a teensy weensy bit. And get a little closer.

-V random this one. Sirius in a Batman costume. Indulge me.

Catch you later dudes.

STEALING SHEEP

CHAPTER 13: Fraternising With the Enemy

James Potter surveyed himself in the mirror, completely convinced that he looked an absolute prat. Sirius had assured him that he was an accurate likeness of a Roman Gladiator but James didn't believe him for a second.

First of all, he had no idea what one was let alone how they dressed but he was pretty damn sure no self-respecting male had ever and would ever wear a skirt. Secondly, James was certain that part of Sirius' plan to get them all 'fantastic' fancy dress costumes for the Ball was to make everyone look stupid except for himself.

He had succeeded. Remus was something big and hairy called a 'Chewbacca'; Peter was a great cuddly teddy bear; James was a nancy soldier in a skirt. And Sirius?

Batman.

Yes, the female-attracting, body-hugging, nipple-enhancing costume of a very cool superhero. Somehow James didn't think it was a completely fair deal. Granted, he suspected Sirius hadn't figured on there being so much rubber involved in the outfit but he definitely didn't look a ridiculous as the rest of them.

"Damn Dumbledore!" James grumbled to himself. The Headmaster had suddenly declared a week ago that they were to have a Ball. A Costume Ball to be exact. A Costume Ball that the Head Boy and Girl were to organise. In a week. James was very bitter about the fact that the old man had declared that it had got a bit 'stodgy' around the school and they needed something to 'spice things up a bit.'

Spicy. It was supposed to be spicy. Well, James felt like a flaming idiot and not at all spicy. He had had a crappy month an even crappier week and to top it all off he was having bloody dreams about bloody Lily Evans again.

He was sure it was the Universe's unique way a saying 'SCREW YOU!' and giving him the finger because he hadn't even had the dreams in the usual way. Oh no. It was much worse. Instead of one dream every couple of days he had had one every night. Every night. Last night he'd had two. It was Hell.

Lily kissing him…Lily fiercely throwing fruit at his head … Lily slapping him then immediately confessing her love… Lily pouring a bucket of water over his head then sweetly asking him to marry her… Lily chucking him out of a pretty white house for being 'as empty headed as Sirius'…

It didn't end. He couldn't get her out of his head no matter how hard he tried and so throughout the awkward silences where they had attempted to plan the Ball together he was desperately pleading with his brain not to press play on the silent movie montage that was all the times he'd been in love with her in his nightmares. So not only had he got to face her again he had to face her while wearing a skirt. He didn't think his life could possibly get any worse.

"It's ShowTime!" Sirius yelled. "The supreme being that is BATMAN is about to be unleashed on the unsuspecting world and I don't think they can handle it!" He swaggered from the doorway of the bathroom in full costume to pose in front of the mirror and practice his 'mysterious' and therefore irresistible smile. He smouldered at his reflection then declared triumphantly to the rest of the world, "God, I'm one sexy Devil!"

James sniggered and ducked as a lethal-looking pair of socks was lobbed at him. "Hey! Watch where you're throwing it, FATMAN!"

Sirius went puce. Of course, usually he was only slightly more vain and preening than the average teenage girl but tonight he had to look his best- it was the night to have his pick of the ladies…And, he thought to himself proudly, he had ensured that by obtaining the only thing that could possibly make him more sexy-rubber.

James dragged himself along behind his friends towards the Great Hall, Sirius bouncing excitedly and Remus and Peter grumbling about the unfairness of it all. As they approached the Master Torture Chamber- a.k.a The Great Hall- to make their grand entrance, James decided he could not being himself to face the humiliation just now- he wasn't ready. He needed a few more minutes to psyche himself up, even if they were already 'fashionably late' as Sirius had put it. "I'm just going for a breath of fresh air for a second, ok?"

"Ah, yeah right, Prongs." Sirius snickered. "Bet you've got a girl waiting to jump your bones, eh?"

James sent him a weak grin and pushed his way through the huge oak doors and into the darkness beyond.

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"Interesting."

The man paused in his pacing to stare at the Headmaster. "But will you do it?"

Dumbledore sighed and stared at him from over the top of his half moon spectacles. "I'm afraid it is against my morals to manipulate people so extremely. I understand your dilemma, dear boy, but I couldn't possibly push them together or 'order them to copulate immediately' as you suggested. It's against school rules," he added as an afterthought. "I have no doubt that the Board of Governors would frown upon my encouraging the Head Boy and Girl to reproduce and as an explanation I really don't think that 'a time traveller told me' would suffice."

"So that’s a 'no' then?"

Dumbledore smiled mysteriously in a way that clearly showed that he had several tricks up his sleeve. "Officially, it is, I'm afraid, a no."

The man lifted his head hopefully. "And unofficially?"

"Well, it would be against my morals, against the Headmasters code and most certainly it would break about a dozen school rules…" He smiled mischievously. "I'll do it."

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Lily Evans hated fancy dress parties. Of course, she hated parties in general but fancy dress parties she particularly despised. It was the tacky costumes, the vomit-flavoured punch, the bad music and the ridiculous amount of flailing that people liked to refer to as 'dancing'. But what really got to her was the fact that she had to organise the horrific festivities and that those tacky decorations, pukey punch, and cheesy music had all been chosen by her. It was her atrocious party and she loathed it.

However, she had made sure that she didn't have to stay and endure the torture. As part of her preparation for the so-called 'Ball' she had double checked all the exits and so escaped from the Hellhole as soon as she possibly could. Of course, her friends had not gone to the Ball- they had holed themselves up in their dormitory in order to spend the night defying authority. Lily wasn't so lucky as even though she longed to join her friends she couldn't go far from the Ball in case something went awry and she had to intercede again- the Marauders hadn't even turned up yet and already Cuthbert Keyes had spiked the punch and she had had to break up a fight between two fourth year girls who were about to enter a round of bareknuckle boxing over a very smug sixth year.

Lily crossed her legs and closed her eyes for a minute, trying to find a slice of peace in the raucous din echoing from inside the school. The bad music thumped in her head like a battering ram but she effectively shut it out and breathed in deeply. She focused in on the simple, natural sounds of the outdoors- the rustling of the rose bushes, the gentle gushing of the fountain, the night's zephyr whispering through the trees…

"Oh, Bloody Hell! I didn't- I mean- What are you- …Erm…Sorry. I'll just be- er- going now."

As she was in a somewhat better mood than she had normally been in when he was around she flicked open her eyes and considered him thoughtfully. "Why aren't you in there?"

He looked scared, she was amused to notice. He thought she was about to bite his head off for not attending the party they had meticulously planned. He thought that she would give him yet another tongue-lashing simply for daring to breathe in her presence. He thought that she would get mad for no reason at all and slap him silly.

James gulped and took a step backwards, averting his eyes.

"Potter, are you going to-"

"I hate parties," he blurted out.

Lily blinked at him in surprise before a wry grin flittered across her face.

He scratched his head, trying to work out what he had done to make her stop frowning and quashing the flutterings in his chest that had begun the second she'd smiled in his direction. "Huh?"

"Oh, nothing," she said, still grinning to herself. "I just find it vaguely amusing that the two people who created, moulded this party into what it is, who have been obsessing over it for over a week now loathe it with a fiery vengeance."

"Same thing. Can I ask you something, Potter?" she said, staring at him intently.

He went red under scrutiny and tried not to squirm uncomfortably. "Sure."

"Why are you dressed as a girl?"

"I'm not dressed as a girl!" He completely forgot that he was trying to tread carefully around her and indignantly defended his manhood. It was one thing for him to insult his own costume but he would definitely not allow anyone else to slight his extremely masculine outfit. "I'm a very strong and manly and non-girly soldier!"

"Ok, ok, don't get your knickers in a twist."

"My undergarments are none of your b-"

"Are you trying to tell us something by wearing a skirt, James?"

"No! I-"

"I can just see you on the battlefield," she said with a teasing smile. "Scaring away the enemy by blowing kisses at them."

"Hey!" He pouted. "This is just another reason I hate parties! Stupid costumes. It was all Sirius' idea anyway. He was the one who made me wear a skirt."

Lily smiled comfortingly and nudged him with her elbow. "Don't worry about it. You know, Roman Gladiators were actually fearsome warriors."

"Really?" he said hopefully.

"Yep."

"Hmm…" He pondered that for a second and vaguely wondered whether a Gladiator could take Batman in a fight, before realising for the first time what Lily was wearing and what he'd been oblivious of, being an average teenage boy.

"What's your costume?" he asked suspiciously.

She sent him a dazzling smile and matter-of-factly said, "God."

"God?" James was already lost.

"Yep."

"But you've just got your uniform on," he protested.

"Ah, omnipotence is the key here. All-knowing. Ruler of all. And, I figure God can come to a fancy dress party as anything He damn well wants."

He just stared. "You're weird."

"HA!" She laughed. "Thanks for the compliment."

"Evans, are you going to go back to the Ball?"

She sent him a look. "A) No; and B) It is not a 'Ball.' Ball implies beauty and grace and Russian Royalty and spherical objects, NOT sweaty fifth years dressed as cactuses!"

"Erm…" James coughed. "Its actually cacti-"

Her glare silenced him.

Silence loomed over them but for once the air wasn't sizzling with unsaid insults or filled with embarrassed coughs and awkwardness. They just sat side by side, feet dangling, listening to the sounds of the night for what seemed like hours.

"Lily?" he said hesitantly, unwilling to break the easy silence and pull her out of her peaceful daze but unable to contain the question that had been burning in him. "Are you still dreaming?" he whispered so quietly she almost didn't hear him.

Lily kept her eyes closed and took a deep breath, not wanting to answer him but knowing she must. "Are you?" she whispered back.

"Yes."

"Me too."

"So- Erm-" James awkwardly scratched his head, careful to avoid her gaze. "What are we going to do?"

"What can we do?" She sighed.

"I don't know. Endure it, I guess."

"What is the point, though?" Lily said with frustration. It was really starting to bug her that she was in the dark about it all- she always knew everything and she was just as clueless as James. It wasn't right! "Why? Why do we have to dream the stupid dreams? There must be a reason!"

James shrugged helplessly. He had no clue at all. She was meant to be the clever one. He didn't particularly care who was sending the dreams, he just wanted them to stop tormenting him with what he could never have.

"We should go to Dumbledore- he'll know what to do!"

He flushed and avoided her gaze while mumbling, "Erm…I already tried that."

"And?" she demanded.

James grimaced. "And what? I marched in there, took one look and marched back out again."

"Why? He might have helped us!"

"What? You think I actually should have gone through with telling a guy who's over a CENTURY old that I'm having- well- SEX dreams about a fellow student? Dumbledore's cool but he's not that cool."

Lily blinked. That would've been embarrassing for her but surely he did stupid things like that all the time? "Why not? He might've had some advice?"

James stared at her in amazement. "You think I should've asked Dumbledore for sex advice?"

She fought a blush and glared at him. "Dream advice, imbecile."

"Oh. Right. Yeah. Didn't see it that way."

Lily sniffed with disdain. "I didn't think so, you moronic buffoon."

"WHY?" he suddenly burst out, waving his arms in the air, and she leaned back in her seat, slightly worried at his furious expression. "Just as we begin to have a civil conversation you have to start with being mean again! I can't handle the confusion! You scare the Hell out of me!"

Her frown softened and she said, "It's what I do. I insult people. I don't mean it, but it's a habit. I can't help calling my friends names."

He froze mid-indignant-arm-wave. "You insult your friends? God, I'd hate to see what you do to your enemies!" His eyes widened as he belatedly realised what she'd said and a grin slowly worked its way over his face. "So you only insult your friends, eh? Does this mean that over the years every time you've called me 'maggot' you meant 'darling'?"

She glared.

"I'll take that as a yes."

"What's this about you being scared of me?"

He shrugged and flopped down next to her on the stone bench. "You're a scary person."

"You never used to be scared of me."

He smiled. "The more I get to know you, the scarier you become."

"Thanks."

They fell into silence once again but this time it was a different kind of silence. Over the past few weeks they had endured many a silence, some comfortable, most awkward, while this one was just empty. It was the kind of gap in a conversation where the flow ebbs and the words dry up for no particular reason except lack of inspiration.

"I'm bored." Lily sighed and crossed her arms, looking out across the grounds for something to interest her.

"Thanks."

"Of course you are an extremely boring person but that’s not what I meant. This party is meant to be a great night, great fun and what are we doing? Sitting on a wall in silence. Fascinating stuff, eh? I think I'll just go to bed." She stood up to yawn, and stretched her body leisurely.

James forced his gaze from her arching back and bit his lip. He didn't want her to go. Sure, he fancied the pants off her but this was the first time ever they had shared a conversation that was not only civil but strangely enjoyable without once resorting to physical violence. If only she would stay, they might take a stroll around the grounds. He might entertain her with the exploits of the Marauders and she'd find him hilarious and sweet and so he might out up a bit more. He might admit that he thought she was wonderful. He always had. And then she'd say he was ok too and then she might let him kiss her…Then again she might beat the living daylights out of him. It was a chance he was willing to take.

"Lily! Don't go!"

She paused as she reached the doors leading back to the party and smiled, with a confused frown. "Why do you want me to stay?"

"I don't- I- We could go for a walk?"

"We've both walked these grounds a thousand time- what could you possibly find interesting about walking it one more time?"

James grimaced. So much for Plan A. Time for the back up plan…

"I have an idea!" He yanked on her hand, leading her out of the nicely kept garden and plunged into the bushes surrounding the Castle. He felt his way along the wall in the darkness, searching for the groove that would tell him he had arrived, while simultaneously trying to ignore Lily's loud protestations.

"Where are we going, Potter? Are you trying to kidnap me? There are laws against this sort of thing, you know! I'll scream 'abuse', I will! ABUS-"

He pressed his palm to her mouth to muffle the shout and glared at her. "Shut up, I'm trying to concentrate!"

She glared back furiously, but thankfully silent.

"I will gag you is I have to." Not the best way to woo the woman he wanted but she was really starting to get on his nerves. "How'd you get so pissed off all the time, anyway?"

"I'm not pissed off!" she hissed. "I'm righteously indignant!"

"Achoo!" he sneezed and the hidden door swung open, allowing James to drag Lily into the underground came that was full of forgotten magic.

"What- what is this place?" Lily gazed, open-mouthed around the dark, dank, yet nearly full to bursting hide-out, instantly forgetting that she was meant to be fighting him. She just couldn't believe that she had walked past the entrance so many times and completely missed it. "How do I not know about it?"

"Ah." He tapped his nose. "Marauder's secrets. And a Marauder never breaks his word."

"What did you bring me here for?" she asked, now slightly suspicious. She was alone, completely alone with Potter, a renowned pervert, in a strange place, entirely cut off from the outside world and she had no idea why.

"This." He rustled through a pile of empty bottles of Butterbeer and old copies of 'Which Broomstick' to produce a rug, which by the looks of it was old, smelly and flea-ridden. "Ta-Da!"

"Hmm?" She raised an eyebrow.

"It's a magic carpet! Sit on it, we can take it for a spin!" James grinned at her, plonked himself down, crossed his legs and wiggled his eyebrows suggestively.

Lily wasn't playing along. She stood with her arms folded and an expression on her face that clearly said she was not impressed. "I am not sitting on that thing. It's probably infested with something. I might catch what you've got."

"What have I got?"

"Stupidity?"

"Oh, come on!" he begged. "It'll be fun! Please?"

She frowned.

"You said you wanted fun! It beats just going to bed, doesn't it?"

"Oh, alright, if only to shut you up." She sighed in a very put-upon sort of way and gracefully positioned herself on the grotty carpet.

"Yay! You ready?" James didn't wait for an answer before he took out his wand and activated their transportation for the evening.

Before either of them could properly steady themselves the carpet shot off at an astronomical speed, turning quickly and swooping swiftly, leaving a trail of loop-the-loops across the moonlit night's sky.

A pair of laughing voices joined in unison, dancing on the zephyr, flowing through the forest and across the mountains where the pealing echoes were lost in eternity.

Oooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooo

A/N: This chapter was written/typed up to the sounds of: a disney compilation, Daniel Bedingfield, Michael Buble

Disclaimer: I've just realised that I haven't done one of these on any of these stories- well, I think it's pretty obvious that I'm not pretending to own harry potter but just in case someone tries to sue me, don't cos a) I have no money and b) I will kick your ass. I am not JKR, I don't pretend to own any of this and none of the characters are mine. Even the ones that don't belong to the HP universe aren't mine. For example, Lily's friends in this, Rosa and Leila. They aren't my inventions. They are perfect replicas of my best friends so their personalities are owned by themselves (unless I can persuade them to sell them to me). And most of the action that takes place is a weird warping probably of every romance book I've ever read. So don't think I'm really clever, cos I'm not.

A/N: It may take ages for each update but I can promise you that I am continuously working on it- it is not abandoned. Also, thanks for all the lovely reviews! Cheers.

P.S. I really love this chapter, even though it was difficult to write so I hope you enjoy reading it.

P.P.S. This chapter was typed up to the DVDS of comedians Peter Kay and Ricky Gervais, and the video of 'Independence Day'. You probably didn't want to know that.

STEALING SHEEP

CHAPTER 14: Impossible

There are many traumatising and, indeed, horrifying things in this world…Snape…taxes…Voldemort…Snape…but really, truly, the worst thing you could ever see is your own father trying to get lucky with your mother.

I am a person who has endured the very worst in life and yet still this takes the biscuit. How did it come to this? Last month my major objective was to somehow come up with a spectacular and unexpected way of defeating the Dark Lord and casting his evil from the land forever…And now I have been reduced to spying on my teenage parents, hoping fervently that they copulate and conceive- well- me.

What more can I do? I sent them dreams, although I have no idea what dreams I did send them- Hermione and Ginny were in charge of that. Oddly enough, they had found that entertaining. I have no idea what they've been giggling about but they promised me it would work.

I crouch down into my hiding place. I can see them there. Joking and laughing. Enjoying themselves. I want to preserve that image in my memory- the image of a time before the terror and pain, the horror and suffering… when they were just kids, kids who just happened to fall in love and, as most couples do, just happened to have a baby.

Little did they know that it would be the death of them.

As I sat there in the undergrowth, watching the perfect scene before me play out, a wave of longing swept over me for the parents I never had. When I began this, my directive was simple enough: survive. I was vanishing into nothingness. I was ceasing to exist. I had to discover who was meddling with history and put it right again. I had to exist; I had to defeat Voldemort. But now…

I can save them. I'm the one who is forcing them together…If I left them to their own choices they wouldn't be together- yes, I wouldn't exist but…they would.

I see them now; happy, innocent kids and I don't want them to die.

Why should they? They did nothing wrong except love each other and their baby.

They would've made wonderful parents. I can tell. My heart aches for them, for the time we never spent together, for the unfairness of it all. I want the childhood I was never allowed, the innocence I never had, the parents I should have had…None of it was fair.

But I know my duty. I cannot be selfish. I cannot save them. It’s impossible. Their deaths saved the world. And die they must.

So I did what I had to. I charmed the trees to form a canopy, a private little alcove, I made the birds sing a lullaby, the lights dim romantically, the glow-worms glow…and I crept back into the darkness, a tear silently staining my cheek.

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Lily sighed as the carpet guided itself across the hills and valleys, gradually taking them further away from Hogwarts. Normally, she would be worried about leaving the relative safety of the school, especially in these dark times but tonight for some reason she felt different. The unexpected relationship with Potter…the oddly beautiful night…the strange atmosphere… It all contributed to the warm, secure feeling she had as they floated away amongst the clouds.

James gazed longingly at her profile in the moonlight as she watched the scenery, a small smile adorning her face. He couldn't stand it. Him…her…alone. It drove him mad that he couldn't do a thing except smile at her platonically and keep his distance. He knew their new-found friendship would be dead. He would be dead, because she would kill him. He had no idea what to do now. All he had worried about was getting her on the carpet in the first place; he'd never considered what would happen after that.

"James?"

Actually, he thought to himself, he almost preferred it when she hated him, as at least he knew where he stood.

"James?"

Then again, he didn't think he could stand going through those first six again where she had never spoken a single word to him-

"POTTER!!"

James jerked away from his melancholy thoughts and focused on the yelling vision of loveliness before him. "Yes?"

"How do you stop this thing?" She frowned and he wondered what he'd done to annoy her this time.

"Why?"

She raised her eyebrows. "Don't tell me you haven't noticed the rain."

Actually, he hadn't noticed it. Or the fact that his glasses had started to steam up, or the fact that his hair was plastered to his head, or the fact that the magic carpet was now extremely soggy and squelching at every movement.

"Er- right. Carpet, STOP!" he ordered and the vehicle froze mid-air, almost dislodging its passengers. "Where now?"

Lily glanced around her for shelter, pushing back her drenched hair out of her face and shivering as a raindrop slid down her neck. "Over there? G-gazebo?"

Minutes later they were sitting side by side, huddling together under the magic carpet that was now being used as a blanket.

"You know," James bit out through the shivers that were wracking his body. "We are wizards. Why are we sat here freezing our arses off? A simple heating charm and ba-boom! I'll be able to feel my toes again!"

"We're out of Hogwarts' grounds," she snapped. "It's illegal. Anyway," she said, nudging closer to him. "It's cosier this way."

James withheld his protests. Snuggling with Evans was definitely something that had been on his to do list for a while now and he was not going to pass the opportunity up.

To his surprise she pushed her body flush against his, not an inch separating them and he decided he must be hallucinating because it definitely was not normal Lily Evans behaviour, when she leaned her head on his shoulder. Not that he was complaining. Just as he was getting used to it, she jerked her eyes up to meet his and said with a frown, "This doesn't mean anything, ok? I'm not coming on to you- I just need warmth. Just try not to ruin anything by being- you."

What a way to kill a mood. Ah, well, he didn't mind that much. After all, he was still squashed next to Lily after a wonderful night of not fighting. It was more than he could've asked for. In fact, now it seemed positively bizarre to him that only a few weeks ago he'd been desperate to erase her from his thoughts.

He watched her out of the corner of his eyes and tried to control his amazement as he saw her sigh and smile mysteriously to herself.

I want that smile to be for me, he thought and turned his full gaze on her as he examined his surprising feelings. He had just felt a surge of…something…unexpected…and he knew it was all for her. He felt it wash over him, stronger than anything he'd ever felt before. Of course, he'd felt like this in the dreams but no matter how lucid they were it was still only a dream and there was nothing like the real thing. The- lust- love- whatever it was flowed through him as he swallowed in her beauty in the moonlight. Aphrodite, he thought. She is Aphrodite…no…she's Artemis…Goddess of the Moon and Hunt…

"What are you staring at?"

Her voice cut through his embarrassing thoughts and turned his cheeks crimson before he stuttered a response. "Er- erm- nothing really. Just- just thinking about- erm- erm-" He cast around for a logical answer that allowed him to withhold the fact that he was fantasising about her before something sparkly caught his eye. "Your necklace!"

She looked dubious, but he ploughed on anyway.

"It's- erm- very pretty. Where'd you get it?"

She blushed delicately and examined the pendent that she now held in her hand, avoiding his gaze. "I made it."

"What? Wow. I mean- wow."

She smiled faintly and said, "It's not that impressive. It's really easy to do it once you know how."

He stared more intently at the piece of jewellery now he knew where it came from. It was very beautiful but that was not what made him stare. It was like a marble, perfectly spherical but covered with what looked like minute jewels and tiny mirrors. It was definitely special.

"It's- it's unique," he said.

Lily frowned. "That's what people say when they don't want to say something's ugly."

"No!" James cried, horrified at the implication and the possibility that he may have just messed up their easygoing banter again. "I really mean it. It's- it's just- I'm not good with words." He frowned thoughtfully. "I like it. I love it. It's extremely beautiful…It reminds me- it reminds me-" He paused and looked at her from under his lashes. "It reminds me of you. Unique. Fragile but…multi-angled. Mysterious…I love it," he finished and met her softened gaze.

Her eyebrows were raised, her eyes widened in surprise and she opened her mouth as if to speak then closed it a few times. He felt gratified that he left her speechless. Finally, she smiled and said, "That isn't all." She took off the necklace and placed it in the middle of her palm. She glanced at him, a mischievous twinkle in her eyes. "Give me a name."

"Why?"

"Just do it."

"Someone we know?"

She nodded, a small smile on her face.

"Ok…er- Sirius."

"Watch," she said and lifted her palm. "Show me Sirius Black." The ball flashed once and began to spin, hovering about an inch above Lily's hand.

James watched, entranced as the flashing globe expanded to the size of a Quaffle and glowed brightly. They both peered into the still spinning orb to see the outline of a body slowly materialise until Sirius Black was clearly recognisable as he was sprawled across his bed fully clothed in his Batman rubber yet obviously asleep, with a trail of drool running down his chin.

James was the most fascinated he had ever been while watching Sirius sleep and only snapped out of his daze when Lily reached up and wrapped her hand around the ball of light which quickly diminished at her touch, pulling it back down to rest in her palm once more.

"But- wha- how?" James stuttered. He was gobsmacked.

Lily just smiled innocently. "Anything wrong?"

He stared at her, still flabbergasted. He held up a finger, self- righteously. "Firstly, that is mega advanced magic and I didn't even think you were smart enough to pull that off!" She smiled smugly and he glared at her. "Secondly, it's illegal to make a magical object like that while still underage!" That wiped the grin off her face. "Thirdly, finally, and most importantly- what about people's privacy?! How do I know you haven’t watched me shower every day for six years like a peeping Tom?!" he finished hysterically. Truthfully, he just wished he had one so he could watch her in the…

"Yes, I admit it. I confess." She was solemn until she added with a grin, "Bit of a disappointment thought. I mean- there wasn't much to see was there?"

"Hey!" Outrage!

She giggled. "Sorry, sorry. I promise I've never used it for that. In fact, I haven't even thought about it in months. After the initial thrill of being able to watch people, it gets a bit creepy." She shuddered and he raised an eyebrow. "After it showed me Philyra Pilkington getting his kicks watching Sirius and Maeve Flynn snogging I kinda thought it best to leave it alone."

"Old Phil? Is it Maeve or Sirius he's into?" James grinned as he imagined Sirius finding out he had an admirer and he burst out laughing. "Wait 'til I tell Sirius!"

"You can't tell anyone that I have the globe! It's kind of a secret," she said, her eyes quietly beseeching him to keep it to himself.

"Of course I won't tell," he assured her, secretly pleased that she had

trusted him this much. He was actually extremely impressed at how gifted, let alone devious, she must have been to have made such a rare and wonderful object. "In fact, I wish I'd thought of it first."

"Well." She smiled at him and he felt his stomach flip flop strangely. "Consider it a gift." She deposited the orb in his hand.

He stared at it then back up at her. "Is this a bribe for keeping quiet?" he said slowly.

Lily laughed and he found his heart fluttered at the sound. What was it that had started to affect him so much? Her smile? Her voice? He couldn't pinpoint it, he just knew that it would haunt him for as long as he drew breath. And that was bad, way too dangerous. He had to do something about it, soon, one way or another.

00000000000000000000000000000000000000000000000000000

Lily watched as James silently, apparently lost in thought, stared over the moonlit lake spread out before them. He had surprised her tonight. He hadn’t played the Idiot Boy Wonder he usually dissolved into, but then again she hadn’t been her normal frosty self either. She actually was quite proud of herself for being civil and smiling at him and resisting smacking him upside the head when he said something stupid. In fact, she’d- dare she admit it?- enjoyed their conversation, to her immense surprise. If only he could keep it up.

"I’m sorry, you know."

She started at the sound of his voice. His head was still turned away from her, studying the ripples in the water as the sky still mournfully dripped, but she had the feeling that this time he wasn’t pondering the universe, rather avoiding her gaze.

"Sorry about what?" she asked softly.

He rubbed the back of his neck and she was surprised to see that he was blushing. "I’m sorry that I kissed you."

Lily’s eyes widened and she frowned. "Kissed me?"

"Don’t tell me you’ve forgotten," he said flatly, now looking at her in astonishment.

Lily was tempted to claim amnesia just because he sounded so surprised that it wasn’t at the forefront of her brain all the time. Did he think he was that good a kisser that she would never forget? That she was obsessed with the memory? That since he’d kissed her she’d fallen hopelessly in love with him and yearned for nothing else? Since she’d decided to be nicer to him she thought it would be best to resist telling him off for being presumptuous and reluctantly made herself tell him the truth. "Actually…it’s just that- well- in my dreams we- kiss- all the time so…" She forced herself to finish the embarrassing statement. "…It all rolls into one and I can’t tell what’s real and what’s not."

He stared at her, a slight smile on his face. "I know exactly what you mean. But I actually meant the time when I pulled you into the broom cupboard…"

"Oh." Yes, she remembered that time all right. That had confused the Hell out of her. "Why are you sorry?" she bit out, feeling slightly insulted. Had he not liked kissing her?

His eyes widened in horror and he cried, "Oh no! It wasn’t because I didn’t enjoy kissing you because I did. You’re very kissable. It was lovely in fact and sometimes I think-" he cut himself off and flushed as if he’d let something slip he shouldn’t have. He bit his lip and frowned, finally saying softly, "I guess I kissed you because I just wanted to know-"

"How I compare to myself?" she cut in.

There was an awkward silence as they both avoided each other's eyes stubbornly, matching blushes staining their cheeks.

It was James who recovered from the embarrassment first.

"We were hot, though, weren’t we?"

Lily’s head snapped up and she elbowed him sharply in the ribs but her glare couldn’t help transforming into a smile at his contagious grin. "I suppose, if you want to put it like that," she said, attempting to sound dignified and above their petty embarrassments.

James snorted. "Trying to be lady like now? And this coming from the girl who jumped my bones in the Minister of Magic’s bloody office!"

She gasped at the fact that he would actually specifically talk about what had happened in their dreams, breaking their unspoken agreement, yet still somehow she couldn't help but laugh out loud with him. "That's not fair! You started it that time!"

He frowned playfully and she was surprised at how quickly he had got over blushing all the time. "Yeah, that time. What about when we were at your house and you seduced me? I had no part in it then- that was all you and your lack of underwear."

Lily felt herself redden at the memory, but grinned anyway, unable to believe that they were actually joking about it. "Yeah, it was." She paused then sent him a sidelong glance as she said, "What can I say? You can't resist me!"

To her surprise, he went silent and the grin suddenly disappeared, making her feel as though she'd been doused in cold water. Has she said something wrong? "James?"

His eyes caught hers and she was shocked at the intensity in his gaze. Suddenly, she realised how little space was separating them, her body squashed against his beneath the makeshift blanket, his face only inches from her own. She'd never been as aware of someone in her entire life and as she stared straight back into his dark chocolate eyes, unable, unwilling to break the spell, she realised that this night something had changed between them.

"What's going to happen to us?" he said, finally, his voice sounding croaky, as though he'd just woken up from a deep sleep.

"Oh, I expect we'll be alright when we've dried out a bit. I am concerned that I'll get a bit of a sniffle, but really I'm sure Madam Pomfrey will be able to deal with it, even if she does ask too many questions about why the Head Girl has arrived sopping wet through in the middle of the night." She wasn't surprised at the amount of babbling she did and how stupid she sounded. She knew that was not what he'd meant, he'd meant us as in us. He was asking about their future as an 'us' and she had been pretty sure that that future didn't exist.

"That's not what I meant, Lily, and you know it."

"I don't know." She was annoyed at herself for sounding so high-pitched and pathetic just because he was staring at her so she tried again. "I don't know what's going to happen to us. I don't even know if there is an us!"

He turned away from her again and she could see him gulp. Lily wondered what he was thinking. She'd never seen him so serious, let alone…Well, she was pretty sure he was upset now. What could she do? Lie to him just to cheer him up? Declare her everlasting love when really she had no idea what she felt?

"It's okay, Lily," he said slowly, softly. She'd never actually realised how lovely her name sounded when he said it. Even now, when he was upset with her, he let the word roll off his tongue like it was a delicious, exotic food. She unconsciously closed her eyes, letting his dark, soft voice wash over her. She felt a tingling warmth inside, as if she'd just stepped in from the cold into a roaring fire. "I understand. You know, even in my dreams I knew it could never be real. Why would someone like you go for someone like me? It's unthinkable. Impossible."

Her eyes flew open. Impossible? It was a word she knew well, having used it many times describing their relationship, describing their future. She now realised, with the new, strange and yet somehow familiar feelings rolling around inside her, that she'd been wrong.

She was still confused. She was still unsure.

But as she felt the trees sway in the midnight zephyr to form a private canopy just for lovers, as her head was filled with the sweet love song of a lonesome Mockingbird, as she felt the light dim to an unearthly glow, she knew what to do.

She knelt in front of him, braced her courage and gently took his face in her hands, forcing him to meet her steady gaze. "It's not impossible," Lily whispered. She watched his unsure eyes widen for a moment, her heart aching, and made her decision, plunging in head first, knowing that there would be no way back for her now.

She softly put her lips to his, uncertain of the response she'd get. When he didn't react, her resolve cracked and she pulled away, mortified.

His face was unreadable, as they stared at each other and Lily desperately wanted to know what he thought of her now. Had she just blown any chance she had? Had she just made a complete fool out of-

Before she knew what was happening, James was kissing her ferociously and she was kissing him back. She had no time to argue, didn't want to argue or question or wonder ever again. He pulled her closer, onto his lap, and she felt his hands move over her back with the same speed and skill as his lips. Her only thought was how right that moment was. They sat, entwined, beneath a canopy of stars and a whistling wind, so wrapped up in each other that the beauty of the night around them was lost in the beauty of each other and the fact that nothing was impossible.

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A/N: So? What do you think? I really love this chapter. Even though it is very very long I hope you like it to. Well, whatever you thought of it, please leave me a review to let me know what your verdict is. Also, if you want me to let you know when I next update (cos knowing me, it's gonna be ages, even though I've already started the next bit) leave your email address in a review and I will add you to the mailing list.

A/N: Sorry for the delay.

STEALING SHEEP

CHAPTER 15: Epiphanised

James was happy. He knew he shouldn't have given himself over so completely to his emotions but he really didn't care. All he cared about was seeing her again. Last night had been singularly the most perfect night in his entire life when to his astonishment, everything had gone right- they hadn't argued, he hadn't made an arse out of himself, they'd discussed the dreams maturely and finally been truthful with one another.

He couldn't quite believe that he'd had the nerve to tell her how he felt about her. He hadn't been able to hold it in much longer and the words just leapt out of his mouth before he realised what he'd done. He had thought that he'd get a slap. The last thing he'd expected was a kiss.

James sighed audibly and received strange looks from his friends.

He couldn't control the happiness bubbling inside him or the stupid grin that was plastered on his face. She had kissed him. She had kissed him. He still didn't quite believe that it was true and he hadn't imagined the whole night. But just the memory of her soft lips on his sent a shiver down his spine.

He'd been a complete gentleman, of course. When it'd stopped raining they had slowly made their way back to the castle in comfortable silence. After he'd deposited the magic carpet back in its hiding place they had crept through the shadows, past the Great Hall and up through the lonely corridors. When they'd arrived at the empty Common Room he'd walked her to the foot of her dormitory stairs and kissed her goodnight. Of course he'd wanted to sweep her up into his arms and he had sensed she wanted that too but he resisted and kept it chaste. He could still clearly see the gentle smile she sent him before she ran up the stairs to bed.

Ever since she'd left him standing there he'd been in a daze.

"Snap out of it, dude!"

James blinked blankly.

"Jesus Christ," Sirius drawled in amusement, "what happened to you last night? You look like you've been Epiphanised."

James just smiled goofily, not paying the slightest attention, but

Remus frowned. "Epiphanised? That's not a word."

Sirius grinned lazily. "It means 'to have an Epiphany or revelation strike one. Sufferers of Epiphanesia tend to sport a stupid smile and floppy hair."

"Floppy hair?" Remus was not convinced.

James, meanwhile, hadn't heard a word and didn't care anyway because heading across the room was loveliness personified. He instantly lost all the mystery and coolness he'd practised in the mirror that morning and jumped to his feet. "Er- morning, Lily. Can I have a word?"

She smiled politely back, making his heart drop a few feet and nodded. As she followed him to a quiet corner of the Common Room he wondered if she'd changed her mind drastically since last night and what he'd do if she had.

Before he could open his mouth she pulled him around to stand in front of her, effectively blocking them from view from any prying eyes and said, "I've been thinking-"

He gulped, knowing what was coming.

"-We shouldn't act differently around each other. You don't want everyone to know, do you?"

He stared at her, not quite understanding what she was staying.

"What?"

He almost stumbled backwards when she unexpectedly broke her stony expression to flash him her thousand-mega watt smile.

"Well, I don't want Black and Lupin questioning me every day on how well I'm treating you, do I? They'd drive me mad."

"So…" James still hadn't worked it out.

She sighed in exasperation. "Look, are we going to try this or not?"

"You want to?" He could hardly believe it.

"Of course," she said softly, watching him from under her lashes.

He beamed.

"On one condition."

He froze mid-beam.

"No one can find out."

He gaped at her. "Ever?"

"No, stupid," she said with amusement, "Just until we have it figured out. So in the meantime we've got to act normal. Think you can handle that?" Her eyes sparkled mischievously and to his amazement she winked at him before striding into full view saying loudly, "And don't expect me to finish that report for you; Dumbledore wants it in by tonight."

He blinked and watched her go, unable to fully take in what was going on. Yesterday, he had wanted to get her out of his thoughts at all costs and now…she was everything. And he could totally get used to the new thawed-out Lily.

James froze as it finally registered what she had only just said.

"Dammit!" he cursed as he ran back up to his room to finish the report on 'How the Head Students Suggest Inter House Unity Can Be Promoted' that he'd had for three weeks and was due in three hours. Some things never change.

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James threw down his towel and grinned at his reflection in the mirror. They had won!! Again! Ah the smell of triumph was sweet…He had flown like an eagle, scored as quick as lightening, and dodged the nasty Slytherins like they were merely bugs on his radar. Ah, he was good. As he liked to remind himself frequently. "James Potter, you are a God on the Quidditch pitch!!" He winked at his reflection as it praised him and blew kisses.

"A God, eh?"

He spun so fast he was lucky he didn't get whiplash. "Lily? Wha-? I'm half-naked here!!" He grabbed his towel and clutched it to him like a lifeline, desperately covering up his exposed torso.

She merely smiled sunnily and breezed passed him. "Oh stop being so dramatic!" She paused and stared wonderingly around the changing room. "This isn't nearly as exciting as I thought it'd be."

James quickly pulled his shirt over his dripping head and tried to ignore the fact that the material was now plastered to his body. He was magenta with embarrassment and also absolutely baffled as to why she was striding around the locker room as if it held the secrets of the Universe. "Why would you think its exciting?"

She shrugged as she inspected a shower cubicle. "Dunno. I've just always been fascinated by the amount of male bonding that goes on in here. Oh, yeah and there is all the nakedness."

He nearly swallowed his tongue. "Lily!"

"What?" She smiled and he felt a roll of heat flare in his stomach.

He'd never seen her eyes sparkle so mischievously before. "This is the place where female fantasies dwell. I swear if I could be invisible for a day this is where I'd come."

His eyes bulged. He'd never even considered using his invisibility cloak for such dark deeds. He wondered how Sirius hadn't come up with that before. He suddenly felt ashamed of himself for not fulfilling his male duty. "What are you doing here anyway?" he blurted out.

She raised an eyebrow at his desperate tone. "Congratulating you. I was waiting outside but then everyone else left and it seems you like really long showers so I thought I'd come investigate."

"Didn't you think that I might still be in said shower? That I might be in a state of undress?" he said in what he thought of as a dignified, modest voice.

She took a step closer to him and grinned seductively. "I was counting on it."

His eyes widened and he went pale.

Lily burst out laughing, to his consternation. "You should see your face!"

"What?" He was utterly baffled more or less all the time he was in her company. He used to be constantly trying to work out what he'd done to make her so mad at him, and now she seemed to be laughing at him an awful lot and he still had no idea why.

"I'm just messing with you, no need to get your knickers in a twist." She laughed and skipped around him further into the locker room.

James grabbed his bag and followed, surprised that she seemed to be in a good mood, a very good mood for once. "What's up with you today? You're all happy."

She paused where she was poking at a damp pile of clothes with her wand, a disgusted expression on her face. "I'm just…in a good mood. Jesus, you're all smelly pigs, aren't you?"

"Excuse me?"

She straightened and sighed, frowning at him mournfully. "I expected it to be all lovely and steamy and mysterious, not full of sweaty towels and funny smells. I really am disappointed. You should all make more of an effort to be sexy Quidditch players."

"Excuse me?"

"Really, is that all you can say? How about 'Lily, I am a sexy Quidditch player.' That would've been smooth." She sidled up to him, placing a hand on his chest and battering her eyelashes at him.

"Smooth?" He knew they had an understanding but she still scared the hell out of him. What was he meant to do? Pretend to be all cool, while his hair was dripping wet, his shirt hung off him awkwardly and he was still exhausted from the two hour match he'd just won?

"How about this?" Her face was still lit up with humour as she pulled him closer. "I'll be the smooth one and you can stand there gawking like an idiot."

Before he knew what was happening she was kissing him slowly and he was liking it. He was initially surprised that she could flick from laughing to serious in so little time until he caught her giggling mid-kiss.

He kept still and allowed her quivering lips to gently move over his, attempting to coax him into the response that he knew she wanted and expected. His resolve lasted all of ten seconds before he gave in and embraced the moment. All traces of laughter evaporated as he kissed her back and it suddenly became more serious, more heated than before. He kissed her with all the passion and depth that he had, but that wasn't enough- he wanted, needed more. James pushed her against the wall, eager for the contact of their bodies pressed together, and instantly froze.

He lifted his head and stared at her as the water rained down on them from the shower head they had just triggered. A droplet dripped from the end of her nose and her hair was gradually getting wetter and wetter, as he saw the start of a smile work its way onto her face. The howling laughter exploded from them and they clutched onto each other, as the two giggling maniacs were quickly drenched from head to toe.

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Lily was strolling calmly down the corridor to meet her friends in the Library, smiling to herself about the strangeness that had taken hold of her life recently.

It was weird. Of course it was weird. She was talking to James Potter, enduring James Potter, kissing James Potter... She would never have believed it possible that she was thinking about Potter and not conjuring up torture methods at the same time. She hadn't even known she'd possessed the ability to actually like someone let alone think about them pretty much all the time and yet there she was, obsessing over him. But ever since that night…she was hooked. That night had opened her eyes to the possibility that he was more than just a stupid shallow boy, that he had real feelings, that he was human, just like her. She had wanted that night to last forever.

To her surprise, her feelings were one thing that had not evaporated since the romantic moment had passed. She had fully expected to wake up feeling horrified, bemused and regretful about what she'd done but she hadn't. She had just sighed happily to herself that she was alive and James was alive and that they could be together. It had been very disturbing.

She couldn't quite believe how she had behaved just a few days before, basically pouncing on him while he was in the Quidditch changing rooms. She blushed when she realised how forward she'd been about it all. It wasn't that she'd consciously wanted a…well, a good old-fashioned snogging session, she'd just wanted to innocently tell him 'well done'. After all, he had played an excellent game and she had been buoyed by Gryffindor's success- enough to risk being spotted sneaking in to talk to him. What she hadn't banked on was walking in on him having just stepped out of the shower. Stupid of her, really, she should have expected it, should have prepared herself but she simply hadn't thought about it. Very fortunately she'd been able to yank her eyes away from his lovely chest and forced herself to act nonchalant. She was pretty sure he'd had no idea how much he'd effected her.

Now she was trying to hold it together and look at it objectively, even though she pushed away the niggle of anxiety tugging at her. Ok, she could like as much as she wanted, but under no circumstances was she to be a) cliché; b) soppy; c) girly; d) giggly; or e) pathetic. It would be fine, if a little scary, if they did develop a relationship but she wouldn't allow herself to dissolve into stupidity.

Lily was just pondering her promise to herself when suddenly her arm was grabbed and she was yanked, shrieking, into the broom cupboard she had just passed.

"Wha-!" A hand pressed itself to her mouth and muffled her exclamation.

What was happening? She had no idea. She strained her eyes in the darkness, trying to distinguish who had tried to maul her, feverishly hoping it wasn't a Slytherin after revenge for her putting them into detention or something stupid like that.

"Ssh…" A soft voice whispered and her heart beat faster. She knew that voice. "It's only me."

After a quick 'lumos' was muttered the hand was removed from her mouth and she glared up at James, who at this moment was annoyingly tall and grinning mischievously.

"What do you think you are doing?" Lily whispered angrily and pushed him hard in the chest, making him take a step back, hands raised in submission.

"Don't kill me. I come in peace. Promise," he said with a grin.

She sent him another death glare. "Was there anything you needed?" she asked frostily, crossing her arms.

"Aw, come on, Lily…" James wheedled, carefully easing closer.

She glared at him once again, still in no mood to be forgiving after he'd scared her witless. He was not getting what he wanted this time. "Don't you dare come any closer. I know exactly what you are up to."

He smirked. "Do you? Hmm…It seems to me that I just want the same thing you wanted the other day in the Quidditch showers…"

She opened her mouth and shut it again. "I don't know what you mean," she finally managed.

James arched an eyebrow at her and grinned smugly, making her want to thump him. Instead, she groaned to herself in frustration and yanked him into the kiss she'd been fighting. Stuff it, she thought fiercely, as he pinned her against the door. Stuff it all to Hell.

Unfortunately, her brain just refused to stop working. It insisted, loudly, that she release the pent up confusion in a more constructive way than snogging the brains out of Potter.

She pushed him away with an almighty shove and told herself it was for the best.

"What's wrong?" he asked her, obviously perplexed.

The tiny niggle that had bubbled at the back of her mind sparked to life and she couldn't deny it any longer. She was confused, worried, uncertain, and strangely happy. All at once.

"The other day you were happy and now…tell me what's wrong," he said, gently.

She lifted her head and met his eyes. With a jolt she realised that he'd read every mixed up emotion that had sped its way across her face all within a few seconds.

She had to ask him. "James, why are you with me?"

He smiled uncertainly. "Because I dragged you into a cupboard."

"No, what I really mean is-" She gulped, dreading how it would sound. "-What are your intentions?"

He blinked stupidly. "Intentions?"

She nodded, biting her lip nervously. "What I'm trying to say is- are you just in it for a good snog?"

His mouth dropped open in shock but she ploughed on relentless.

"It's fine if you are- I won't be mad- but I just can't let myself get carried away if you don't want something real. I need to know."

To her immense surprise, his eyes lost the confused expression and suddenly flared to life, as he grabbed her arm. "What sort of person do you think I am? I would never string you on. Didn't I tell you how much you mean to me the other night? Don't you dare say I was lying," he growled, as she opened her mouth to protest, making her jump and stare at him in shock. He had never spoken to her like that before. She was scared by his abrupt change in mood, by the fire she saw burning in his eyes, and yet strangely, guiltily, excited by it. "Whatever you may think about me, the kissing wasn't what I was in this for." He stared at her, hard, while she held her breath, not sure what he would do next. What he did do was quirk a smile and add, "Just a nice bonus."

"Well-" she squeaked and made herself start again, trying to ignore how confusing he was. "Well, what are you in it for then?"

His gaze softened and his big hands came up to softly cup her face. She willed herself not to lean into his touch as she desperately wanted to and felt her breath catch when she realised that they were so close she could see the specks of gold that sparkled in his lovely eyes. He looked so serious, so grown-up compared to how nervous and shy he'd been a few days before in the locker room when she'd had all the power. He was a man with many facets and she was slightly scared that she found each as appealing as the next.

"Lily, how can you not know?" Her heart stuttered when he gave a small smile and she realised that now he was unsure of himself. It just made her melt even more. "I'm in it for you."

"What?" She wasn't quite sure she understood.

He sighed softly and she got the feeling he was slightly embarrassed. "It's all about you. My whole life. It's all been for you."

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A/N: There you go. I love this chapter, not as much as chapter 14 but almost. When I was writing I had absolutely no idea what was going to happen next. Well, don’t worry because today I figured it out, all the dream stuff and everything and what’s really weird is that it all makes sense. To me, anyway.

I hope you enjoyed it, and please review, whether good or bad.

STEALING SHEEP

Chapter 16: Timeless

A soft sigh floated through dreams and roused James from his peaceful slumber. As he groggily brought his mind back to consciousness, he stretched and silently relished the unique feeling of the cotton sheets against his naked skin. He opened his eyes to see the bedroom was still awash with the dull gleam of night and wondered what could have awoken him. The second he spotted the figure standing at the window, he knew.

He could never sleep when she wasn't beside him.

James slowly got out of bed and took a moment to study her softly silhouetted shape in the moonlight. His heart soared and he couldn't quite believe she was his, she looked too magnificent to be real. Her scarlet locks gently waved in the sea breeze and a soft smile, a secret smile adorned her face as she studied the horizon. To him, she looked as majestic as a Celtic Goddess, at one with nature and the Universe. Once upon a time, he would have felt unworthy of her and of her beauty, but now he knew that, in some ways, he was her God as she was his Goddess.

James wrapped his arms around her waist and smiled into her neck at his luck in gaining such a wife.

Lily entwined her hands in her husbands and said softly, "I didn't want to wake you."

She felt his chuckle rumble in his chest. "I can't sleep without you. Damn woman. This is what you've reduced me to. Sirius was right when he said there would be Hell to pay if I married you. I slept like a log before you came along."

Lily smiled up at him mischievously. "Sirius only said that because he had one hundred Galleons resting on me not marrying you. And, my sources tell me, you spent an awful lot of time saying 'Lily, Lily' in your sleep then anyway!"

"I obj- Well, ok, yeah, that's true." He frowned and rested his chin on the top of her head in the way he liked to, just to reassure himself that they did, in fact, fit in every way. "Are you going to tell me what's wrong?"

He knew there definitely was something wrong when she began playing with his fingers and avoiding his gaze. "Why would there be anything wrong?"

"Come on, I'm not stupid. Ok, I am, but I still know when something's wrong. Is it a good thing or a bad thing that's kept you up?" he asked, knowing she would tell him. He was there for her, always, and she knew that.

Lily sighed, giving in. "Both, I guess. I can't wait but…I'm worried."

"Our little one's bothering you?" He grinned and patted her extended stomach. "That's my Q-"

She sighed, exasperated. "We are not calling him that."

"That's what you think."

She huffed and James knew she was working her way up to rant at him again about acceptable names etc. etc. So he interrupted before she could begin. "Are you worried about the birth?"

She frowned. "No. The medi-wizards and witches are great. It's after. How can we raise a child in this world? In the middle of a war?" she said, now wringing her hands with anxiety.

He softly covered her hands, calming them and hugged her closer. "Lily, I know it isn't the best of timing-"

"No kidding," she said, wryly. "Voldemort will be knocking on our back door and I'll be yelling 'Come on in, Dark Lord, grab some hot towels, I hope you've delivered a baby before!'"

He continued. "-And I know that the baby was pretty much a surprise-"

"Yeah, you couldn't talk for a full half hour after I told you- I swear, that's the longest I've ever seen you not talk." Her laughter pealed out. "I might tell you I'm pregnant again one of these days just to get you to shut up..."

James chose to not resort to an undignified retort and maturely ignored the jibe, deciding to get her back later. "As I was saying, before I was so rudely interrupted-" He sent a death glare through the top of her head. "-It's not a good time and we didn't plan on him, but he's here anyway. There's nothing we can do now except love him, protect him and raise him the right way."

Lily swivelled in his arms and he was surprised when he saw tears glisten happily in her eyes. He knew her hormones were all screwed up but he chose to believe his way with words was just that beautiful.

He didn't like to see her crying, whether tears of joy or sadness so he added glibly, "Just so you know- 'the right way' means 'into a professional Quidditch player'."

He'd judged correctly as she laughed at him and swatted his arm gently. "What is it with you and Quidditch? It's not even that good."

James' jaw dropped open in shock. In all their time together he had never heard her be so- so- blasé and downright mean about his altogether number one obsession (aside from her). "Take that back!"

"No." She stuck her tongue out at him, making him laugh with outrage. "It's rubbish."

"'No'? 'It's rubbish'? Excuse me? I think, as penance you should let me name the baby what I want to name him," he said, rubbing his hands up and down her arms in an effort to be persuasive. He actually thought he had a chance.

She glared at him. "You are not calling our son Queerditch."

"But-"

"I'm not stupid- I know its just a roundabout way of naming him after that horrendous sport."

"Hey!"

"Anyway, I've got the perfect name for him. Harry."

He made a face. "What? Why would you want to call him that? For God's sake, my dad's called Ha- oh." He frowned for a second then smiled brightly. "How about Eunice?"

She laughed. "You do know that's a girl's name?"

"She was a bloody good Seeker!"

Silence.

"Moantrimmer?"

"No."

"Chudley?"

"No."

"Bloody Hell, woman why the Hell not?"

And that was when everything changed.

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The tapestry was unwinding.

Hermione Granger looked through the magical magnifying glass at the minute fray in the enormous wall hanging and couldn’t believe her eyes. One strand unravelling happened sometimes- people with time turners messed up and inadvertently changed things and, it was her job to sort it out. But this was no time turner accident. The one strand beginning to fray was expanding, affecting other Threads and the ripples were slowly stretching out towards present day. One glance through the magical magnifying glass had answered her questions.

Without a word, she ran from the Time Room and made her way through the complicated maze to the lift taking her from the Department of Mysteries to Law Enforcement.

Hermione knew he would be there, even though it was nearing 7 in the morning. He was always either sat hunched over his paperwork, concentrating fiercely, or out pummelling bad guys. After all, The Job was his life.

As she stepped out onto the floor she immediately saw him, as predicted, hunched over a foot high pile of papers.

He glanced up and smiled. “Hermione, what are you doing here?”

She rushed over and said breathlessly, “You have to come with me, now.” She slammed a hand down on his desk, making papers flutter to the floor.

Harry simply looked mildly surprised at her dramatics and slowly rearranged the scrolls before him. “What’s the matter? I have a lot of work to do.”

She had no time for this! If they didn’t hurry, everything would change and all because Harry had ‘too much work to do’. “Listen to me, this is extremely important. Life or death.”

He shrugged.

“For God’s sake, Harry, you can do your damn paperwork later!”

His eyebrows shot North. Hermione never swore, even mildly. It must be something serious. “Ok, ok, I’ll come, calm down.”

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Harry stared down the intimidating corridor that used to invade his dreams. It looked ordinary, unthreatening, but it still swamped him with memories of that night. That night had been the beginning of the end for Voldemort. Although the war had not even begun in full force, it had given him the determination to master his talents and exceed all expectations. That night had set Harry on the course he was on today- vanquishing Voldemort, ending the war and working every night, falling asleep at his desk in his empty bid to battle away his inner demons and dissolve his guilt at letting so many people die before he could put an end to the reign of fire.

Hermione had said that she had a big problem and it was something to do with him. He knew that she worked in the Department of Mysteries and, as an Unspeakable, had never before been able to give even a hint about what she was working on, let alone require his help. To be honest, he was both dreading re-entering the network of top-secret rooms and curious. He couldn’t understand how her work was to do with him.

“It’s your parents,” she explained as she lead the way into the ticking room, and through the desks to the hidden wall hanging beyond.

“My parents?” He stared at her, shocked, as she studied the enormous tapestry. It was a jolt he hadn’t been prepared for.

“Yes,” said Hermione in a rush to explain. “The tapestry is unwinding at exactly the year 1978 and the position on the map indicates it’s the path of their relationship that is the problem and if it continues it will have disastrous consequences in the present. Life as we know it will not exist!”

Harry stared at her. “What does that translate to in English?”

She frowned at him then tapped a finger against her chin, thoughtfully. “I suppose you’ll need to know about this first.” She gestured to the hidden wall hanging. “This is the Tapestry of Time. It’s a map of sorts that charts everything that has ever happened from the beginning of time.”

“It’s a timeline?” Harry asked, amazed.

“Yes, exactly! And part of my job here is to study it and make sure no irregularities occur and if they do, fix them immediately. Well, about an hour ago I found this.” She led him over to the far end of the huge hanging and pointed to a tiny fray in the material.

“So?” Harry was still extremely lost in the complexity of what she was telling him and despite his natural intelligence, was finding it hard to grasp. Maybe it was because she talked so fast, her words tripping over each other, a mile a minute, not allowing him o process anything she said.

“I’m getting to that. Now look closely at the material but whatever you do, don’t touch it,” she warned.

Harry hesitantly focused on the material. To his amazement , the billions of tiny threads that made up the tapestry were all complexly interwoven and flowed together like a million gyrating snakes dancing to a silent pulsing beat. He was soon mesmerised. “Hermione? What-”

“Those-” She smiled like a proud parent. “-Are the Threads of Time.”

He couldn’t help it. His hand snaked out to touch one of those entrancing strands.

Hermione quickly slapped it away and ordered “Don’t touch it! Listen to me, Harry.” She continued when he yanked his gaze back to hers. “They are beautiful, I know. Each Thread is a life, a person, and it glows with all the goodness of the human spirit. But if you touch a Thread you are dragged into that persons life and can’t escape.”

Harry was horrified. “Dragged in?”

“Yes. You follow their life, like a shadow, from birth until death before you’re returned to your own body at the exact instant you left it. Its quite interesting- we’ve found that when people report the feeling of having a Guardian Angel watching over them its simply been-”

“Wait a minute, wait a minute! What has this got to do with me?” With each passing moment, he was getting more suspicious that he was about to be pulled into another adventure, another unrelenting mission and that inevitably he would be in danger. Again.

She opened her mouth to explain lengthily again and he cut her off. “Just give me the bottom line.”

“Ok,” she said, wringing her hands. “The bottom line is that this-” she pointed to the frayed thread. “-is you.”

Oh.

Hermione continued quickly the second she saw his face pale. “But I think I’ve figured it out! Its not just you- look.” She pointed to the surrounding Threads that also seemed to be unravelling. “This is me, this is Ron, this is- well, its spreading forwards and backwards in time so…well, this is Sirius,” she said softly, as if she thought he’d break.

He’d gotten well past the stage where he would crumble inside at his godfather’s name but still he had to force down a lump of pain. “Sirius is in there?”

“It’s not him, Harry. Not really. Its just a recording of his life.” She put her hand on his shoulder, comfortingly, and they stood for a moment, thinking of the loved ones they’d lost since Sirius. It seemed an age since he had disappeared through the Veil, and many more had fallen in action, disappeared, been murdered, commited suicide…the list of the dead was endless.

Finally, Harry broke the silence and forced his thoughts to focus on the issue at hand. “Have you found the source?”

“Yes.” She sighed, knowing this would be the difficult part. “It stems from just two. As far as I can tell every strand effected has either a direct or indirect link to these.” She pointed to two small Threads joined at the base but utterly separated as they grew to full length.

“Let me guess,” Harry said with a sinking feeling. “My parents?”

“I’m afraid so.” Hermione frowned at him seriously. “The only way this could’ve happened is if someone has been tampering with time. If we don’t change it then eventually everything will be different- you won’t even exist! So we need to make a plan- be clever about this, not go rushing through the circuits of time like a bull in a china shop…”

“Hermione? Any chance you could explain?”

She began to pace in frustration. “I’m going too fast. Basically, someone in the past has altered the path Lily and James- you parents- were meant to travel so that they no longer got married and therefore you were never born, Voldemort was never defeated and countless other lives were lost.

Harry grabbed her by the arms, mid-pace , interrupting her flow of words. “What do you mean I was never born? You can’t just ignore the fact that I’m standing right here!”

“It doesn’t work like that.” She studied him, wondering how best to put it. “Time hasn’t caught up with itself yet. Your parents never married and yet you still exist- for now.”

“How long have I got?” Harry said quietly, strangely composed. He was facing the prospect of ceasing to exist, yet he was not worried. He’d been in danger that often, that it felt slightly odd when he wasn’t fighting for his life. Anyway, his Auror training taught him to keep calm and objective in every bad circumstance, every hopeless situation. This was probably as bad and hopeless as it was going to get but he would survive. He had to.

“I don’t know, it could be any time. But we can’t give up.” She smiled at him triumphantly. “I have a plan.”

Time was unravelling fast.

-------------------------------------------------------

James was replaced suddenly by slithering arms that coiled around her, repulsing her, but before she could react the scene was changing once more. Unwavering tendrils of fire and ice erupted behind her eyelids, smothering her mind, drowning her thoughts until she had no sensation but of overwhelming, unbearable oppression…

The He was there. The Viper. The Snake. The Dark Lord.

“Stand aside, you silly girl,” he spat out with a disgusted sneer.

Once she had been a defiant, determined warrior, fighting optimistically for the victory she knew would come. Now, her husband murdered only moments before, the prospect of herself and her baby joining him loomed closer. She finally broke, giving up all her dignity, her pride and spoke the words she had vowed never to utter.

“Please…have mercy…have mercy…” she begged, for her child.

The perverse pleasure Voldemort took from seeing her beg was evident. He sneered at her broken spirit, and raised his wand derisively.

Lily steeled herself and forced away the aching of her heart for her broken family. She would be with him soon enough.

In a last act of defiance, the epitome of motherly love, Lily Potter placed herself calmly in front of her son and stared into the wand of death and the words ‘Avada Kedavra’.

There was a moment- no, less than a moment- when time seemed to freeze in its tracks as the deadly green haze leapt from its barrel and began to race towards its victim. A thousand emotions and thoughts, memories and wishes flashed through her mind. Pain, sorrow, relief, images of happy times, times when they were a family, times when James had yelled at her, when he laughed with her, when he stood by her…But in that age before the life was ripped her from her and her limp body fell, broken and empty to the harsh floor, a single word clutched at her heart and left a soft smile on her face. She had won. She had saved him with her sacrifice. Harry.

----------------------------------------------------

A/N: This took me ages to finish cos I had trouble getting the tone of the last bit right. Looking back I really like this chapter. Its full of info so I guess this is make or break. Either it'll become a bit clearer or even more confusing. Let me know which...<

A/N: Warning: Extreme melodrama ahead.

STEALING SHEEP

CHAPTER 17: Unthreaded

The force of the nightmare pushed Lily into consciousness and she lay gasping into the darkness, unable to deal with what she had just seen.

A flash of green…a high pitched laugh… a body slamming lifeless into the ground…

She closed her eyes tightly, trying to shut out the unbearable images that were threatening to overpower her. The whole dream had been so sharp, so clear…it just couldn't be real. But she could recall the exact shade of green of the baby's room, the specific pattern on the walls, the wondrous gurgle of her baby's laughter…

Her chest seized up and she couldn't handle it anymore. She flung herself from her bed, and ran from the bedroom, fleeing the nightmares and the reality of what it all meant.

Frozen on the threshold to the Common Room, Lily stared, wild-eyed, at the image before her. Her heart banged out an angry rhythm in her chest as she took in the sight of the man in her dream, the dead body that had slumped lifeless to the floor.

He was the perfect tableau of despondency; his shoulders sagged, his head dropped, and, as he stared into the dying embers of the fireplace, she saw the same grief that had forced its way into her heart, had etched itself into his face.

As if sensing someone was watching him, his gaze snapped up to meet hers and in that second she saw him once again, as he had been in her nightmare. He was a broken, empty vessel, flung awkwardly across the floor like a rag doll, mouth open, silently screaming empty words, his last words, forever, his warm tawny eyes, usually sparkling with humour and love, were now glazed, vacant, mocking her with their empty promises…

"Dead." The word was ripped from her as the pain in her head intensified and her internal organs were slowly being hacked to pieces.

"I don't care, Lily," James said softly, yanking her back to the present and making her stare, horrified, at him as he stood before her.

"What? Don't care? Well, I care." She drew in a shaky breath. "I just can't let you do it."

James pulled her into his arms gently and she let herself do what she had previously resisted- she sank into him, accepting his warmth and protection. Leaning against him, she was secure in the knowledge that right here, right now, he was alive, well and with her. But then he spoke again, pulling her world down with his words. "I would die for you, Lily. I will die for you."

Lily pulled away from him, pushed him in the chest, hard, and said, fiercly "Well, what if I don't want you to?" That haunting image of those dead glassy eyes that pierced her very soul crept into her mind once again and she shuddered violently.

"What is it, Lily?" James said, grabbing her hand and watching her closely.

Her heart was beating wildly, threatening to break a rib and she fought to curb the wave of sorrow washing through her. His gaze was so warm, so welcoming…alive. She couldn't let that change. "I can’t let you die for me. It's an awfully romantic gesture but chivalry went out of fashion a long time ago, Potter," she forced herself to bite out the words and yank her hand away from his grasp.

He stared at her, silently, his eyes full of surprise. She had called him 'Potter'. She knew that he would understand what that meant- no more first names, no more rendezvous, no more relationship. They were back to the beginning again.

Even though her heart cried out in objection, she walked up her Dormitory stairs without looking back at him, knowing that he was still watching her, knowing that if she did, her resolve would shatter.

Nevertheless, she couldn't suppress the silent sob that wracked her body the second she stepped into the bedroom. She rested her forehead against the cool wood of the closed door and pressed her palms into the smooth surface, steadying her shaking body. She hadn't been ready to deal with him, but she knew she had done the only thing she could have to protect him.

"I'm sorry, James," she whispered, gently. "I just can't watch you die again."

xxx

2005

"Tell me what's wrong with him."

Hermione sighed and looked away. She shouldn't. She knew she shouldn't. There were secrecy laws, there were all sorts of repercussions for this sort of breach in

confidentiality, not to mention the cosmic consequences. But she knew Ginny. More importantly, she knew that the expression on her friend's face meant that she was not going to let this go. "It's complicated."

"Then un-complicate it," Ginny said, with a frown and folded her arms over her chest. There was no way she was going to let Hermione brush her off, like Harry had done.

'It's nothing,' he'd said. Nothing. 'Nothing' was the reason he looked more drawn than she'd seen him in years; 'nothing' was the reason he'd been avoiding everyone. Everyone, that is, but Hermione.

"It's…just-" She looked over her shoulder to check for unlikely eavesdroppers in the very nearly deserted tea rooms, and lowered her voice to a whisper, "The law."

"Screw the law!" Ginny exclaimed, rather louder than she'd planned, making the

waitress peer over the counter, suspiciously. The Weasley ignored this, and leaned imposingly across the table and hissed, "I need to know. I won't be kept out of the loop anymore. I swear, if you don’t tell me voluntarily, I'll force you to, friend or not."

Hermione's eyes widened and her mouth pursed, disapprovingly. "Ginny, really, I'm

not going to be threatened-"

"Hermione, please." The redhead clasped her hands together and stared beseechingly at her friend, trying her utmost to turn her eyes into the puppy dog variety. Hermione was her last hope, after all. Ron had been useless. None of her family knew anything. And she knew Harry would refuse to tell her because of some ridiculously chivalrous urge to protect her, or keep her from worrying. Or maybe he just didn't trust her. Maybe he didn't want her to be part of his life at all.

She shook her head and gritted her teeth against those unwelcome thoughts. 'Screw him,' she thought, fiercely, to herself. Whether he wanted her help or not, he was going to get it.

"Do you want the long version, or the short one?" Hermione asked, with an air of great resignation.

Ginny sent her a grateful smile and said, "Ok, the long one."

"Well, when the Universe was created-"

The redhead held up a hand. "Maybe not as long as that."

Hermione paused, then began again. "Ok, a Tapestry of Time was created at the beginning of time, to keep track of every thread of human civilisation throughout history, so the first threads were, obviously, the Cavemen, as it actually records all history, not just magical history, which is interesting, because-"

Ginny sighed. "How about a Summary? A short one, not involving the creation of the Universe, or the development of Man, or anything else that would take a few years for you to finish describing."

Hermione frowned. "Someone went back in time, stopped Harry's parents from marrying, and so Harry's existence is slowly being unthreaded."

"Oh." Ginny blinked. "That sounds…bad."

"It is bad. Very bad." Hermione sighed and rested her head in her hands. "We've been trying for weeks to sort it out but we just have no idea who's changing time. It could be anyone. And since we can't trace them, we can't stop them, and all we can do is repair the damage and in the meantime-"

"-Harry ceases to exist," Ginny said, with a heavy feeling rolling around her stomach.

"Will- will he just-" Her voice cracked. "-Disappear?"

"We don't know, exactly. But the World would be different. Nobody will remember him since he was never born, Voldemort reigned supreme and it will be, to put it in simple terms, Hell on Earth," Hermione said, unable to keep her voice from shaking slightly and her eyes from tearing up again.

Ginny stared blankly at Hermione's crumpled face and fought the despair that wound its way like a viper clutching at her heart, forcing her to face the reality.

No Harry.

No memories, no anything. No messy hair. No stupid Spellotaped glasses. No softly shared laughter. No mischievous glints in his eyes. No beating him at Wizards Chess. No more loaded glances that give her hope that their chance hasn't passed them by. None of the goodness that he radiated, making everyone within a hundred yards feel protected.

'I won't forget,' she thought, ferociously, as her heart burned in her chest. She repeated it like a mantra in her head, driving it into her heart and her mind, pushing away the certainty that she would forget him. Her memories would be purged of him, her heart free from his grip. Her Harry would be gone forever.

"What can I do?" she demanded, suddenly.

Hermione's head snapped up at Ginny's sharp tone of voice, and she smiled to herself. She should have known she wouldn't cry. Hermione herself had cracked only a few hours after discovering the news; she'd suddenly burst into uncontrollable tears in the midst of a lengthy explanation on the nature of time travel and thrown her arms around a bewildered Harry. "I've been theorising and- well- I've got a new plan! But Harry doesn't like it-"

"I'll deal with Harry," Ginny said, a dangerous glint in her eye. She was furious that he hadn't thought her fit to be trusted with the knowledge that he was ceasing to exist. She couldn't quite believe that he had kept it all to himself; he hadn't even told Ron, who she'd interrogated first. It seemed that he'd completely forgotten that he'd got friends. Well, no longer would she sit on the sidelines and watch while he, once again, acted the hero, saving lives. This time, she would save him. "What's the plan? I'll do it."

"Ginny-"

"Listen to me, Hermione. You know how much I- well, that I- I care about him. I always have. And I'm not about to let some time-warping sicko make him cease to exist. I have to do this."

Hermione nodded brusquely and smiled, tensely. Yet another person to worry about. "Well, let's get you ready for your journey, then."

Ginny raised an eyebrow and stood to follow. "Where are you sending me?"

Hermione smiled. "1979."

xx

A/N: Sorry for the wait. I am a totally mean person. So so so sorry. Thanks for the reviews and please review again this time, if just to tell me off for the wait.

STEALING SHEEP

Chapter 18: Home

James stood before the house and took in the sight that so merrily greeted him home. The twinkling fairy lights danced across the expansive roof, making it look like a shimmering sea of pearls, and in the front garden, singing a rousing rendition of Jingle Bells, was a choir of jolly looking snowmen, even though it hadn’t snowed once so far that winter.

A firm hand slapped him on the back and a voice sang, “Home sweet home, eh, Prongs?”

He managed a smile, heaved up his trunk and followed his best friend into the house.

As they stepped over the threshold, James felt relief sweep through him. He loved Hogwarts, he truly did; it always felt just like a more exciting version of home, with all its dusty old corridors and secret passageways, nooks and crannies, waiting to be taken advantage of…But home, real home, was this. The grand entrance hall was dominated by the large Christmas tree, haphazardly decorated, just how he liked it. The living room was covered, from top to bottom, in red and green and gold, in festive cheer and bucketfuls of Yuletide recollections. To him, home wasn’t just a house, it was a mixture of past and present; a place of sweet smells, warm hearths and a haven for all his childhood memories.

His bedroom was far from how he’d left it. Obviously, it had been cleaned sometime during the past four months. It was far too neat for two teenage boys; the beds were made, the floor was clear of rubbish, and there was a strangely floral fragrance that was entirely too pleasant smelling. It only took the opening of a trunk for Sirius to create the necessary environment; within seconds there was the required cacophony of noisy posters, weird smells and numerous suspicious looking packages and ripped underwear strewn across the floor.

As James unpacked his own trunk (which contained of just two pairs of socks, four pairs of festive boxer shorts, and a bottle of Sirius’ smuggled Firewhiskey), he forced himself to be cheerful. It was Christmas! The holiday of joy and happiness and the only time in the year when he could prance around the house charming things to be obnoxious and/ or insulting to passers by, and get away with it.

“Fancy a bit of the traditional gnome charming, Padfoot?” he asked, in an attempt to start off the holiday as he meant to go on.

Sirius paused in enthusiastically bouncing on his bed and grinned. “When have I ever refused you?”

After several arduous hours spent slaving over a hot gnome, their masterpieces were complete and a new army of Santa-Gnomes was ready to attack any carollers unfortunate enough to try their luck at the Potter household.

“I’m very disappointed in you, boys…You’ve been back less than a day and havoc ensues!” Mrs Potter said, after the third set of people were scared off by the creepily cheerful Santa-Gnomes. “And don’t give me that innocent look, Sirius!”

“Oh, Mrs Potter, have I mentioned how lovely you-”

He was silenced with a glare. “Go to bed boys. And please try not to get into any mischief until at least tomorrow morning. That means no night time wanderings like last year, James Potter. I don’t want to wake up to find out you’ve been skinny dipping in Mrs Westley’s swimming pool again.”

James was instantly outraged. “I explained that, mum! I was sleep walking, and, to be frank, I feel insulted that you would even think that I would be so immature as to-” Mrs Potter sent him a look that made him change tactics. “Off to bed with us, Sirius!”

James couldn’t sleep that night. He’d spent two hours listening to Sirius talk incessantly about girls, Santa Claus, the mysterious bottle of something foul smelling that he’d found under his bed, and the merits of banana pancakes. It hadn’t been even vaguely interesting, but trying to come up with methods of shutting Sirius up had occupied his mind for a while, which was all he could ask for at the moment.

She was still there. The second he stopped thinking, stopped talking, stopped desperately trying to come up with something to occupy himself, she crept into his thoughts and he was possessed by her all over again.

She had dumped him. Unceremoniously. Not that they were ever properly together. No one else had known, not even Sirius, which should have made it all easier for James. No one was looking at him with pity, no one was trying to cheer him up, no one was trying to make him get over her. So he was stuck with dealing with it all by himself. He was finding it rather difficult.

For starters, there was the fact that less than a week ago he had dreamt of his own death, which would understandably freak someone out. The second he had woken up from the flash of poisonous light, he had panicked, jumped out of bed, very nearly hysterical. After a few minutes, something had struck him. He had been married to Lily. And he had a son. He had the brief memory of a feeling of warmth and love and the irrepressible need to protect his family. If his dreams were premonitions then he would die. But, he would also spend months, maybe even years, with her. They would have a life together, and a child together. He was only eighteen, and yes, the idea of children did indeed scare him. But he had the firm recollection of the strength of that overwhelming love for his son, and that was enough.

He’d seen the look of horror in Lily’s face as she’d stared at him. Her eyes had been dull with sudden horrific recollections and he knew then that he had lost her. She had watched him die. As he had looked at her then, standing there, deathly pale like a ghostly figment of his imagination, he had known that she was worth whatever happened to him. He would die a thousand deaths to spend just a few days with her. In those few moments, he had matured beyond anything he could have predicted.

He had tried to grab her and talk to her as they disembarked the Hogwarts Express at Platform 9 ¾, had tried to sort things out before they parted. She had avoided his eyes and softly said, “Don’t. Please, James. Don‘t make it any harder.”

With her words ringing through his head, James shoved back his bed covers and padded downstairs to check to see if Aphrodite, the family owl, had brought anything for him. Of course, he knew it was irrational that Lily would send him anything at one in the morning, would send him anything at all, but he just needed to check.

He entered the living room, yawning, and jumped about a foot in the air. “Dad!”

Mr Potter looked up from the telescope set up at the parlour’s large window. “Hmm?”

“What do you think you’re doing messing around in the middle of the night?” James asked, shaking a finger at his father.

“Stargazing.”

“At one in the morning?”

“Well, it would be rather pointless during the day.” Mr Potter straightened up from the telescope with a groan and smiled at his only son. “What are you doing up anyway?”

“Well, I, you know, couldn’t sleep, so I just thought I’d, you know, check to see if Aphrodite brought any mail back with him tonight. Just for, you know, something to do,” James said, scratching his head and trying to look nonchalant.

“Well,” Mr Potter said, with a knowing smile. “You can tell me all about her over a stiff drink. Or, you know, some cocoa.”

Embarrassment immediately heated James’ face. “What? Her? There is no-”

“Of course there’s a her.” Mr Potter led the way into the kitchen where he began to conjure up some hot chocolate and biscuits. He paused, and looked at James, obviously trying to hide a grin. “Unless, of course, there’s a him.”

James spluttered and choked out, “It’s a her! She’s definitely a her.”

“Why, of course she is.” Mr Potter said, his eyes twinkling behind his round glasses, as he handed James a steaming mug of cocoa. “Does she have a name?”

“Er…yes, she does have a name…” James thought furiously, which was more difficult that it sounded. “Her name is…” He desperately glanced around the room for inspiration, his eyes landing on a potted miniature rose bush on a table in the corner. Of course, instead of going for the very respectable name of ‘Rose’, he chose a less logical path. “Plant!….ilda.”

“Plant…ilda?” Mr Potter repeated, following his gaze to the rose bush, and trying to hide a grin. “Unusual name.”

“Yes…her family are…foreign. From totally different country. Totally weird and different country. France! She’s French!”

“French, eh? Ooh, la, la!” Mr Potter laughed as he took a seat at the dining table. “So, what’s she like, this Plantilda? Other than being French, of course. Let me guess; she’s green, prickly, and has to be watered on a daily basis!”

“Very funny,” James said, glaring at his father.

“Does she wear a beret?” Mr Potter was openly giggling now over his hot chocolate.

“I’m glad someone finds my love life amusing.”

“Oh, come on, James! Plantilda? I thought I’d taught you better than that! Come up with a plausible fake name, if you must.” Mr Potter frowned suddenly. “She’s not a Professor, is she?”

“DAD!” James was horrified. “No, its not a professor! If you must know, she’s in my year.”

“Oh, good. I’m glad I don’t need to face McGonagall as a potential daughter-in-law.”

James choked on his cocoa, and flushed as red as a muggle post box. He would never be able to look at McGonagall in the same way again.

“So, what’s she like? Would I like her?”

He sighed and stared into his hot chocolate. He didn’t want to talk about the real her. It would bring up too many emotions, dredge up too many questions that had been left unanswered…

Mr Potter put a hand on his shoulder and James looked up into his father’s rapidly aging face to see concern there. “What’s wrong, James?”

“Nothing. I…” he trailed off, unable to think of any credible excuse for his obvious reluctance.

“You’re not yourself, James,” his father said seriously, making James look up at him. “Your mother’s worried about you, you know. You might try to blow it off and act normal but we’re your parents. You can’t fool us. Is it to do with your girl?”

James lowered his head and sighed, knowing he had to answer truthfully. “She’s not really my girl but…yes.”

“Ah. Unrequited love.” Mr Potter nodded sagely.

James shifted uncomfortably and said, “Its not really unrequited either though. Its just…extremely complicated.”

“It always is, son. You’ll never find a romance that’s simple.”

“I know. But this is…extremely complicated. Extremely,” James said, seriously.

Mr Potter leaned forward, suddenly, frowning. “She’s not pregnant, is she?”

“No!” James exclaimed, nearly jumping out of his seat. “Bloody hell, dad! Not that complicated. Merlin’s beard, if I even attempted to…well, Lily’d most likely castrate-”

“Lily?” his father interrupted, with a sudden beaming grin. “Lily Evans? The Lily Evans that you’ve been moaning about being extremely boring and horrible for the past forever?”

“Erm…” James squirmed. “Maybe.”

“Oh, this is too good! Brilliant!” chuckled Mr Potter. “Your mother always did insist that you must have a crush on her to always be talking about how disgusting she is. Wait a minute…why hasn’t Sirius sung it from the rooftops yet?”

“Because he doesn’t know. Nobody knows, except me and Lily, and, well, now you,” James said.

“I see.” Mr Potter studied him from over the top of his glasses, pensively, and said, “Do you love Lily, James?”

Memories swept across his mind; the image of Lily jokingly smouldering at him from within the circle of his arms, Lily drenched in the Quidditch changing rooms showers, grinning at him, Lily laughing in the moonlight at something he’d actually said to make her laugh…and he knew the answer. He raised his head and looked his father directly in the eyes. “Yes. I do.”

“Are you sure, son?”

“ I love how she makes me feel. I love that I can make her laugh, that I can make her happy. I…I’ve never been- I mean, I’ve never felt as-” James stared into the distance for a second, then met his fathers gaze once again. “ I’ve never felt as alive as when I’m with her.”

Mr Potter stared at him for a few moments, his brow furrowed as he considered his son’s words. He slowly broke into a smile. “Then she’s worthy of you.”

James frowned to himself as the pieces finally fit together. He loved her. It was pure and simple. He would fight, live and die for her. That was it. He would fight for her.

----------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------

A/N: First thing I want to say is that I loved writing Mr Potter.

Sorry. Sorry about the wait. I have many excuses but the main reason is just that I’m lazy. I suddenly glanced at it a few days ago though and realised that it was festive so I better finish it before its out of season.

Thanks go out to all my faithful reviewers who have kept reviewing, encouraging me to write more. Thanks for the inspiration!

Another strange thing about this is that the James perspective was intended to only be the beginning half of this chapter, but it grew and grew into a really long chapter. So I split it in half and this chapter and the next were once a giant chapter. So, for once, the next chapter will be ready within a few days- I just need to type it up.

So please please review and shout at me if you must about the long long wait. The more reviews I get, the quicker I will upload the next chapter.

Thanks!

Disclaimer: I don't own Harry Potter, JK Rowling does. Big surprise I'm sure.

STEALING SHEEP

Chapter 19: Lights

She sat at the window and watched as her parents drove away towards another Christmas party, towards another night full of meaningless conversations, leaving Lily alone with her thoughts.

She'd thought about a lot of things over the holiday. Her mind had understandably been elsewhere and she had simply forgotten to enjoy herself, or even pretend to. Her parents were naturally slightly concerned, but she knew that they assumed, as usual, that she was just worrying about upcoming exams. That's all they thought she was. Exams and schoolwork, rules and regulations. She wondered, with a smile, what they'd say if they knew their bookworm of a daughter had been cornering half-naked boys in the Quidditch showers. Well, not boys. Boy.

For the past two weeks, she had been reliving the last moment she'd seen him, as she'd brushed off his latest attempt to talk to her, ignored his burning stare and strode away towards the safety of her parents and the muggle world. She had told herself a million times that it was just being sensible. She couldn't listen to him, look at him, even speak to him. Instead, she'd turned and walked away, as she always had done. She couldn't count how many times she'd regretted not letting him speak, but she had never actually changed her mind. She knew that she was saving them both by walking away from him.

It was strange how sometimes it felt more like cowardice.

And she missed him. Frequently, she'd been brushing her hair or looking out of a window, or even washing the dishes and she'd felt his strong arms surround her waist and pull her against his warm body, as if it was the most natural thing in the world. It had only been after a few glorious moments that her senses had flown back to her and spun her into the disappointment of it being a daydream.

Lily curled up in her armchair and sighed, staring out of her bedroom window at the pure white snow that had begun to dust the treetops with a sprinkling of Christmas. It all looked so beautiful out there. The cleansing snow would cover everything in sight, making even the ugliest lamppost become a thing of beauty.

BANG!

The comfortable silence was broken by a noise from below, and Lily was startled from her reverie. She froze and strained to hear another sound, her heart jittering a dance of fear in her chest. It had sounded like the back door slamming open. But no one was due back for at least another three hours…If they were being robbed- If there was an intruder-

Another noise. Directly below her now. In the kitchen. A glance out of the window told her that her parents hadn't arrived back unexpectedly. Lily gulped down her fear, gripped her wand and stealthily crept out of the room.

She winced as the first step of the old staircase groaned alarmingly under her bare feet. She gripped the banister. Another bang. The living room.

Her breath came in shallow gasps as she approached the ajar door. There was definitely someone in there. And she was home alone. Maybe- maybe they had a- a knife or something- She was a seventeen year old girl, alone in a house with an intruder and potential axe murderer! She shuddered violently and nearly dropped her wand. She was going to die.

Instantly, her back straightened in outrage at herself. How dare she act so pathetic? Of course she wasn't going to die! She wasn't weak, she wasn't stupid and she certainly would not cower. She was a witch, for goodness' sake. She could handle a little old axe murderer any day of the week. She needed to stop being melodramatic and act.

The grip on her wand tightened defiantly and her gaze grew steely. Her head pounding with adrenaline, she pushed open the door and sprung into the room, brandishing her wand fiercely, ready to confront any intruder who dared to enter her home.

The room was empty.

She checked behind the sofa, even under the cushions and there wasn't one axe-wielding maniac to be found. Not even a neighbourhood kid after a bit of cash. Just no one.

Lily let out a breath she hadn't known she`d been holding and scratched her head in bafflement. No intruder at all. Feeling somewhat embarrassed and rather stupid to have jumped to such extreme conclusions, she gave the downstairs rooms a cursory checking over, making herself a cup of tea on her way through the kitchen, and started back up the staircase to return to the cosy armchair that was now calling her.

She grinned to herself, thoroughly relieved she hadn't had to resort to a duel to the death. After all, Christmas was not the time to be battling axe-wielding murderers, she decided as she pushed open her bedroom door. It was a time of angels, and baby Jesus', and miracles, and fat men in red suits and-

Lily didn't hear the smash of her mug as it crashed to the floor and shattered at her feet. She didn't hear anything except the strange rushing in her ears.

She just stared.

Someone was sitting in her armchair.

After several long torturous moments where her heart clawed at her insides and her mind screamed at her to do something, anything, she fumbled for her wand and eventually brandished it clumsily, hating herself for her lack of composure, knowing that she could very well die here tonight.

“Don't move,” Lily said, evenly, as the figure at the window began to turn to face her. She wasn't stupid. She knew that looks could be deceiving. This woman looked normal enough, but a gun or an axe could still kill her, whether wielded by a man or a woman. So could the simple words `Avada Kedavra'.

However, the woman did something that Lily was not at all prepared for. She did move. In fact, she jumped up from the chair, stared at her for a few seconds, then leapt forwards and gave her an enormous hug. Lily froze in shock, her arms limp at her side and her wand all but forgotten. What was she supposed to do? They didn't teach you about how to defend yourself from hugs in her Defense Against The Dark Arts class. “It worked! It worked!” the stranger cried, jumping up and down jubilantly, making Lily push away from her and glare. “You're you and I'm here and there's hope for him yet!”

Lily blinked and quickly levelled her wand at the intruder. “What? Who are you? What are you doing in my house? ”

The extremely strange woman merely stared at Lily for a few moments and smiled. “I can see it,” she whispered to herself. “Its definitely in the eyes.”

“What? What's in my eyes? What are doing in my house?”

“Agrippa, this is weird.” The woman completely ignored her, and stared at her oddly, a small, confusing smile on her face. “I can't believe I'm standing here, being held at wand point by… you.” She laughed triumphantly to herself once again, glanced out of the window, as if looking for something, and sat back into the armchair. “And, at the risk of sounding cliché, I'm not here to harm you. In fact, I'm here to help you.”

Lily narrowed her eyes suspiciously. “You're a witch?”

“Yes.”

“And just who are you? How could you possibly help me? And, actually, why do I need help in the first place?”

The strange witch sighed and curled up in the chair, much like Lily had less than half an hour ago. “The answer to the first question is the easiest, but I can't answer it. I can't tell you my name. My real name, anyway. Rules and regulations, blah, blah, blah.”

“Rules and…?” Lily slowly sat on her bed, but continued trailing her wand on the woman.

“Well, I've had to promise to uphold the laws of time t-” In an instant she froze, turned white, and smiled brightly. “You can call me Luna.”

“Luna?”

“Yes.” `Luna' nodded, making her red ponytail bob up and down. “Anyway, down to business. They'll be here soon.”

“They?”

For a moment, Luna had a wistful, almost sad expression. “I can't tell you what they are. You'll see for yourself.”

“What's all this about?”

“Well, I'm…from somewhere far far away,” she began slowly.

“A galaxy far far away?” Lily couldn't help but interrupt with a grin.

“Are you saying I look like an alien?” Luna glared jokingly and with some confusion. “I'm definitely from this galaxy, I'm allowed to tell you that much. I think. And I know you better than you realise. We've been- well, watching isn't the right word…monitoring you from a distance for quite a while now…”

“What?” Lily's face went bright red, and her mouth hung open. “How dare you-”

Luna held up a hand and grimaced. “Let me finish before you start getting outraged. There's more. You've been having strange dreams lately, right?”

Lily's eyes widened. She gripped her hands together and whispered, “How…?”

“I sent them. Some juicy ones, eh?” She grinned and wiggled her eyebrows at Lily, making her blush even harder, then continued. “There was a point behind the dreams, you know. Things went off course. He wasn't going to exist so we had to butt in and try to force you two together, and you're not understanding a word of this, are you?”

Lily, mouth still agape, shook her head.

“Dammit, Hermione, why did it have to be so hard?” Luna muttered to herself as she pushed out of her chair irritably and began to pace.

“What's your real name?” Lily asked, a shrewd expression on her face. She'd had enough confusion for one night. She was going to get to the bottom of the whole situation, even if it killed her.

The witch paused and smiled, resignedly. “Ginny. My name is Ginny.”

Lily straightened her shoulders, stood up and looked her directly in the eyes. “Ginny. Why exactly are you here? We've established that you're definitely from this galaxy, and that's about it. Tell me why you're here or I'm afraid I'm going to have to curse you, which would be a shame because I think you're actually quite nice.”

Ginny stopped pacing, stared at her with a frown, then broke out into a laugh. “Oh, I do like you! You've got spunk. Oh, you're just like him!”

“Like who?” Lily asked in frustration. “I was serious about the cursing!”

Ginny sighed and bit her lip. “You just…remind me of someone I know. As for why I'm here- I've told you, I'm just here to help.”

“Help me do what?” Lily flapped her hands in exasperation.

Ginny blew out a breath and said, “Marry James Potter.”

“Um-” Lily's voice cracked as she very early lost her calm. “Pardon?”

“I'm basically here to make you realise that you really need to marry James Potter.”

“Right,” Lily said to herself, slowly falling into hysterics as confusion wrapped its way around her. “Right. Of course. Marry him. Of course.”

“Look, I know this is all strange but-”

Suddenly, there was a burst of flame midair, making Lily jump, and a large vibrant coloured feather floated gently to the carpet.

Ginny picked up the feather and tutted. “They're early. I should've known.”

“Who's earl-”

“Listen, we haven't got much time now so you've got to pay attention.”

Lily squared her shoulders and glared at the woman. “Why should I listen to you? You haven't told me anything and-”

“Please, just humour me.” Ginny grabbed her shoulders, made her look her in the eyes and quickly said, “You're going to see some things soon and- well, they will be slightly- shocking.”

Lily's jumped slightly as she heard the dustbins outside fall over.

Ginny glanced out of the window swiftly, and rushed on. “Don't worry, Lily, this is not a Deatheater's trick. This is real. Just be prepared for anything, and you'll be fine.”

Lily's head snapped around as she heard a door bang open downstairs. “Someone's in the house-”

Ginny shook her shoulders, making her look at her once more. “They're here. Listen to them, Lily Evans, and learn.”

Lily opened her mouth to ask once more what the hell she was going on about when the bedroom door slammed open, and a light, brighter than anything she'd ever seen, sped into the room, blinding them. Instantly, both Lily and Ginny ducked and covered their heads as the deafening sound of a thousand wings beating furiously swept in after the light, and circled them in a great spiral of noise. The lamps flickered, threateningly, then they were pitched into darkness, the brightness disappearing as swiftly as it had arrived, the wings ceasing to beat in an instant.

Shakily, Lily raised her head and began to ask, “What in God's name-”

“Shh!” Ginny whispered out of the darkness. “They've come for you. I wish…I wish I could go with you, see them again…” To Lily's surprise she heard her sniffle. “Just remember to cherish every moment and to trust them. Good luck, Lily.”

Lily opened her mouth to reply, when she noticed a tiny white light beginning in the centre of the room, growing…It was pulsing with something…It was pulsing with her heartbeat, and she stared, mesmirised as it slowly expanded…it was a Quaffle now…no, it was bigger… slowly it grew and enveloped everything in its path into the golden light…She watched with astonishment as it slowly unfolded, the layers upon layers of radiance covering her boring little bedroom. First it spread to her wardrobe…then her desk…her bed…the entire carpet was white…Ginny was gone…the tendrils of light were reaching out towards her now…She resisted, pulling her leg out of reach, even though her body longed to throw itself into it…She couldn't give in…

Suddenly, she noticed…how could she not have noticed? It was not just a ball of light. It encompassed three glowing figures…she was seeing angels…pure, beautifully golden shadows…did this mean she'd died? She didn't care… Slowly, oh so slowly, one radiant being stepped towards her…

She squeezed her eyes shut tight. She couldn't be seeing celestial beings…she just couldn't. She was rational, normal, sane…it was all a dream, all just a big fat dream, she'd wake up and-

“Bloody hell, Lily, I haven't got all day!”

Her eyes snapped open and her jaw dropped in astonishment to see a familiar, brightly grinning figure holding out its hand for her to take. She just stared, gob smacked until, the supposed `angel' sighed mockingly, and roughly yanked her into the light, with a wink. “Don't gape, dear, its extremely unbecoming.”

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