nat

I still don't know how this works. I read Jily :)

[chdarling-tle]

“You have to listen to me —”

“Miss, the mediwizards are right this way—”

“No — I’m fine. I don’t need a mediwizard, I need someone to listen to me!”

Lily pushed frantically through the chaos of the ruined street, trying to find some authority figure who wasn’t completely useless. The air was acrid with smoke — plumes of it choked the village as columns of Fiendfyre still raged on — and though the dueling had ceased and the Death Eaters had vanished, still all was a bustle of frantic, terrified activity as the Ministry officials who had apparated in at last to quell the fighting and flames now attempted to regain a modicum of control over the situation. Wounded students and civilians were herded in a daze towards white tents for medical treatment. Friends separated by the fray reunited with tears and shouts.

Lily didn’t know where any of her friends were. She was desperate to find them — but first, she needed to get help, and no one would listen to her.

Whatever adrenaline or delusion had kept her moving, kept her feet dancing just out of the way of hexes and flames, kept her mind sharp amidst the chaos — it had faded now, and she felt as though waves of weariness had crashed upon her as she stumbled bewildered through the wreckage.

Read on AO3.

[nat-reads-jily]

[relyingonoldships]

An Archive of Our Own, a project of the Organization for Transformative Works

"A Hogwarts drop-out and a Head girl walk into a bar."

I haven't stopped thinking about @toorumlk's Hogwarts drop-out fan art since she dropped it. This fic is the result of my feral romione origins.

Please check out @toorumlk's incredible work if you haven't already and give this a wee read if you're so inclined.

may your trials end in full bloom.

head girl and her dropout boyfriend

[practicecourts]

Today’s micro is for you @charmsandtealeaves, because I wished I could hug you and do more to help, xxx take care of yourself

@jilymicrofics word Proud

read Proud to Present on ao3 or below the cut

"Look, Lily, I'm not saying we can't..."

Lily looked up, her eyes seemed impossibly bigger than before, her lashes dark and long, her gaze pleading. He was so done for. 

"I just don't know if it's... are you sure it's not too big a commitment," he finally managed. 

She blinked and he swore her eyes grew brighter and larger and more pleading as he was watching. 

"James," it still did something when she used his name, his first name, he was never going to refuse her. And the strangest thing was, that he'd been thinking about it himself. He just hadn't wanted to do anything rash and overly bold, for fear of scaring her.

"We don't have to decide anything. We are just going down there to have a look. I've never seen a nest of kneazle kittens before, and I'm really excited to finally have that chance. I'd love for you to come. It's not like I'm asking you to marry me, but now we are living together, wouldn't it be the logical next step for us? Someone for us both to come home to, someone we can give a good life?"

No, there was no way, absolutely no way, that her eyes were this large normally, right? Right? James nodded, befuddled by her emerald greens and the words marry, next step, home, prancing around in his head. 

❂❂

When a charming tabby, boasting a proud strut, a white neck, and a single white paw, caught and attacked his shoelaces with a fiery passion, clambered up his legs to nestle into his lap for a brief snooze, it was clear to him, inevitable really; they had found their new roommate.

[nat-reads-jily]

[blvnk-art]

serenade in the common room

[practicecourts]

@jilychallenge I've struggled with my January challenge but it clearly needed some additional prompts, so thank you @jilymicrofics for the Moody March list. So here it finally is @petals2fish.

I loved your Hungergame AU Catching Fire so I hope you will like this Medieval Jily fic. JilyChallenge January 2024 Theme: Love in Tough Times. Prompt: oh lord, o lord what have I done? I’ve fallen in love with a man on the run, Oh Lord, Oh lord, I’m begging you please, Don’t take this sinner away from me (The devil’s backbone / civil wars) / TS Don’t blame me (Oh lord, save me, my drug is my baby, I’ll be using for the rest of my life @jilymicro-oops || Moody March day 4 || despondent || ca 1250 wrds. Read Chapter one: To Hang... on ao3 thanks @tinyluminaryzombie for last minute beta reading (Chapter 2 will be up sometime tomorrow) ! please check the warnings in the notes !

To Hang...

People enter the city through the guarded gates, most are on foot, some on horseback. A few heavy carts, pulled by oxen with laboured breaths, make their way to the heart of town. The smells of baked goods mingle with earth and mud and unwashed clothes.

Lily has escaped her sister's nagging and moves through the throngs of people who have come to watch the procession later today. Unlike others who have come to their wares at the market or in the hopes of making a good bargain, Lily has come on a fanciful whim. She has met someone, a stranger. Rationally she knows he will be long gone. He’s a man of adventures, a sword for hire, who does not linger in a place like this. Still, she's come today on the off-chance she might catch a glimpse of him.

The sun still hangs low in the sky but she can already tell it will be another hot day.

read on...

[practicecourts]

Moody March day one (let's see how far I get).|| Troubled || @jilymicrofics || 149 words Lost Count on ao3 or below the cut

Four walls of grey stone.

A small stone. 

No wand.

A bed of straw.

Three openings that let light in, enough to separate the days from nights.

Sixteen rows with four marks crossed by a fifth each and three marks makes eighty three days since she was put here. 

Eighty three days since her capture. 

Eighty three days since she’s seen anyone other than the grim wizard who levitates food and water into her cell. 

Eighty three days since she last washed.

She smells bad. So bad it makes her sick to her stomach. 

She has no idea what goes on outside these walls, other than that her husband must be looking for her. 

She doesn’t doubt it, he will come for her. He will find her, if it’s the last thing he does; she knows this. 

She’s troubled by another number. 

She’s more than a hundred days late.

[daiziesssart]

a kiss for the head boy !!

[mppmaraudergirl-deactivated2024]

James did not ask Lily to be his girlfriend. Nor did she ask him to be her boyfriend.

They just melded together that way in Seventh Year. They grew together over late nights and free periods. Found themselves together at Quidditch matches and Hogsmeade weekends. Smiled and laughed and debated and touched hands and hair and faces. When they walked from Herbology back to the castle, his arm hung lazily around her shoulders. When she laughed at his joke at breakfast she buried her face into his side.

They first kissed one night in late November, and the world continued spinning. There was no revelation of feelings, no wows, no this-could-work-couldnt-it? It was just what was meant to happen for them. Effortless, inevitable, beyond their control.

They could not pinpoint a beginning. The transition from friends to more was seamless and natural. There were no proposals, no “maybe we could"s or “would you be"s. It was as if they were meant to be with each other, and they finally let fate tie them together.

[chdarling-tle]

James ran. He ran faster than he’d ever run in his whole life. He hurtled out the door of the apothecary, slamming it shut with his wand as he went, lest the others try to follow him into the fray. He weaved and dodged through spell and smoke, flinging up a shield charm just as a masked man raised his wand — the curse hit the invisible barrier in a cascade of sparks. James paid it no mind. Kept going. Distantly, he was aware of someone shouting at him through all the chaos, recognized adult figures that weren’t masked or dressed in black — he ignored them all. Only one thought filled his brain, drowning out everything else amidst this swirling hurricane — only one word, one idea, one purpose commanded his mind’s eye: Lily.

He was nearly to the bookshop, just a few more paces. The fire was growing — roaring, spitting, spreading; it circled the shop like a snake about to squeeze its prey. If he didn’t make it through, the shop would be cut off — and Lily trapped inside.

A burst of heat blossomed behind him; he pushed harder, ran faster.

Skid of heel against cobblestone; air hot with smoke and ash. He slipped through the circle of fire just as it closed upon itself, a flaming ouroboros. James paused for half a second to catch his breath, sweat pearling on his brow in the heat of the blaze. Then the fiery snake flicked its tail, and a wall of flame crashed into the shop.

Read on AO3.

[chdarling-tle]

Peter stared.

High above him, bright gleaming emerald stars glittered against a smoke-stained sky. They formed the shape of a skull — gaping eye sockets as dark and empty as those of Professor Carter-Myles’ several feet away. A serpent slithered through the skull’s teeth…Peter could almost hear its hiss, echoing in his own skull, slinking through his thoughts, unfurling through all the horrors that flitted about his brain. And amidst the hiss, there was a voice — his own voice — that couldn’t stop squealing: It’s my fault, it’s my fault, it’s my fault!

But how could he have known this would happen? His little plot with the mirror had been completely innocent. He’d just wanted to impress his friends, to get back what was theirs, to show them that Peter Pettigrew wasn’t useless. And he’d gotten the mirror back, had it stowed safely in his trunk in the dormitory. He hadn’t told his friends about it yet — there hadn’t been time, he’d wanted it to be a moment of triumph — and he hadn’t wanted to tell them about the little incident with Snape. But he couldn’t have known this would happen! He thought at worst Snape might tell a teacher, or perhaps some of his Slytherin pals would show up and harass them…but this? This?

Maybe it didn’t have anything to do with him at all. Maybe it was all just a terrible coincidence.

“The Dark Mark,” said Sirius, and Peter wrenched his gaze back from the heavens. “That means—”

“I know what it means!” snapped Peter, and he hated the hysterical shriek in his voice but he couldn’t turn it down.

“We have to move.”

“I’ve been saying so!”

Read on AO3.

[chdarling-tle]

At first, the only thing that registered was the heavy thump of pain that echoed through the body like the aftershocks of a quake, each heartbeat a blast reverberating against this battered bag of flesh and bone.

Then, slowly, Sirius became conscious of the fact that the heartbeats were his own, the pain his own, and he began to make further inquiries into the status of his body. He discovered that he was lying on his stomach, cheek and palms pressed to the hot earth, and they ached. There was some sort of pressure atop him, keeping him down. He couldn’t move. After a heart-stuttering moment, he determined with relief that he could — though it was most unpleasant — feel his legs. They also ached, all the way down to his tiniest toenail. Even the gums of his teeth seemed to ache. His skull clanged like a ringing bell.

He tried to determine where he was, to remember how he got here, but he came up empty. Perhaps he’d been attacked by his cousins again. It felt about the same.

It occurred to him at this point that he might open his eyes. He tried it. It didn’t make much difference. He could only see straight ahead — all an endless, dusty grey — and of that he could only glimpse a sliver as there was most certainly something large and painfully heavy atop him. Like a wall. It was as though a wall had collapsed on him, pinning him to the ground.

That didn’t make any sense.

Read on AO3.

[chdarling-tle]

“Here we are,” said James, breezing into the bookshop as merrily as the jingling bell that announced their arrival. “Hotbed of dangerous political activity, and all that.”

He peered around cheerfully. Though he, Remus, and Peter had arrived on the early side, arms laden with signs for the protest they’d crafted in the dormitory earlier, the place was already quite full of activity. He’d been inside this tiny little shop once before, and it had been utterly empty. Today, however, it was teeming with people, all students, all milling around picking up books and chatting.

“Blimey,” said James. “I guess we successfully got the word out?”

“I’d say so,” agreed Remus. “Here, give me those signs, I’ll set them up on a table over there to hand out later.”

“Right you are.” James unburdened himself of his political paraphernalia and turned back to beam around the shop, basking in the bustle of activity as one might enjoy a really sunny day. He’d been quite grumpy on the way over, to tell the truth. They’d taken that tunnel hidden behind the mirror, not wanting to draw attention to their protest signs and Muggle clothing, and James had engaged in a good sulk most of the way about the fact that Sirius had opted to stay behind to “get to know Garrett.” It didn’t take a genius to spot that Sirius was, one might say, up to no good.

Read on AO3.

[blvnk-art]

the love they never felt before

[blvnk-art]

their new family

[butterflysclaws]

We're small but love is big enough

[the-dream-team]

"Lily Evans liked girls. Well, she liked boys, too. Bisexual. That was the term she’d settled on." After 22 years spent in the closet, Lily is excited to finally start dating girls. In fact, she's quite determined to make up for a lifetime of relationships with mediocre men, and the messy-haired boy who works at the art museum isn't going to change her plans anytime soon. Definitely not.

Chapter 16: It's All About to Change

“Who are you textiiinnnngggg?”

Lily glared up at Dorcas through her fringe. “You already know who.”

“Is it James?” asked Marlene, handing Dorcas a bag of chocolate-covered pretzels before plopping down next to her on the couch. 

It was still a little strange seeing Marlene at their flat, her feet lovingly tucked under Dorcas’s leg. She had to admit, they made a good couple. It was clear how well they fed off each other; a constant stream of jokes and compliments paired with endless hours of healthy debate over everything from the best Capri Sun flavours to the most effective way to kill houseplants. No, the strange part was how well Marlene fit into their apartment dynamic, how normal it felt to have her there, as though she’d been a regular staple for years, like Reg. 

Lily angled her glare toward Marlene, though the malice left her eyes. She may have been fine with Dorcas and Marlene being together, it was even nice having Marlene around as a friend, but was she ready to discuss whatever was happening between her and James with the girl she’d briefly dated? A pit of guilt settled in the back of Lily’s throat over the entire situation, but Marlene had already been briefed on Lily’s current romantic struggles (and she’d guessed a good chunk of it on her own).

“Okay Kubrick Stare,” said Dorcas, “enough with the eyes and tell us what he said!”

Read on AO3

[blvnk-art]

After head boy and head girl’s duty

[blvnk-art]