Lily Evans and the Marauder's Secrets

Chapter 35: Epilogue

My knees buckle when I pop back into existence. I've only been apparating for the last six months, most of which I've spent at Hogwarts where apparition isn't even possible, and I'm still getting the hang of managing the nauseating side effects. 

I sink to my knees in my bedroom, a little bit from apparating but mostly because of what I. JUST. DID. 

I bury my face in my hands. "Oh no..." I moan.

James Potter was never supposed to know how I was starting to feel. I was never even supposed to feel this way! I'm not sure I even do feel this way, not always. How can I, when half of our encounters still end with one of us frustrated or yelling at each other? How can I, when I don't even entirely trust him?

I blame the dancing.

I was all caught up in the emotion and intensity of the night, and tired from all the fighting, and I couldn't bear the thought that not seeing him until we were back at school, with our other friends and in our Head Student roles, might erase the understanding we'd reached tonight. And the dancing. So I kissed him, hoping that a kiss might solidify tonight.

Or maybe I was hoping to do just the opposite – turn tonight into such a fantasy there was no way we could treat it as anything but a fantasy in the future. One fantastic, unrealistic night where Lily Evans and James Potter escaped death and danced and kissed and talked about trust...

Something enough to start earning your trust...

I start and my hand goes immediately to my pocket to dig out the envelope. I have no clue what to expect, but I hope whatever it is gives me something to ponder instead of the mess my brain is in right now.

I open the envelope with shaking hands. Two things fall out: a short note from James, and a big, blank, folded-up piece of parchment. I stare at them laying on my rug for several moments before raising the note up to read.

Dear Lily, 

I know things aren't always clear and I know I can be secretive, but I want you to be able to trust me. This isn't my biggest secret, but it's up there with it. Consider this a token of my trust in you. 

Tap the parchment with your wand and say, 'I solemnly swear I am up to no good.' When you're done, use 'mischief managed'.

Don't be too mad with me. 

James

PS: thanks for the help with the Homonculous Charm. 

Now truly apprehensive, I pick up the blank parchment. I draw my wand out of my pocket. 

"I solemnly swear I am up to no good," I whisper. My wand tip trembles against the parchment. 

Ink blooms out from where my wand touches the paper and I watch wide-eyed as words spill across the top of the page:

Messrs Mooney, Wormtail, Padfoot, and Prongs are proud to present...

The Marauders Map 

END OF PART 1