The three champions stood silently in the Great Hall's antechamber. The booming voice of Dumbledore quieting the crowd outside the closed doors could be heard only a bit. They would be taking on their fears within the empty Great Hall, and would place based on their time. No one would see what went on, which was a bit of a relief. However, they couldn't leave until the two fears were conquered.

"We will begin with Beauxbatons!" The magically magnified voice of Dumble dore could now be clearly heard over the silence. "Celene Gaumond, enter the Great Hall!"

Minutes passed. Lily grew a bit fidgety, but remaining silent. The Durmstrang champion, Marcellus Griffis, remained stone faced. It was a bit unsettling. After what seemed to be an hour, but in reality was only fifteen minutes, a huge cheer went up from the Entrance Hall. LIly wondered if Celene was okay. Facing your fears was crazy difficult, she thought, recalling all her failed practice sessions.

Meanwhile, as Lily dwelled on the task that loomed only minutes away, and Marcellus entered the Great Hall, Sirius was panicking. James had never returned from Dumbledore's office. He had found Remus and Peter without much effort, but neither of them had seen James since he had left for the Quidditch pitch with Lily. Neither Marlene or Mary had seen him either. Sirius had even resorted to asking Adelaide, which was a bad idea. It only resulted in a lot of beautiful, yes, but remarkably annoying Beauxbatons all over him. Sirius left that situation as fast as possible. Girls, unbelievably, were not his primary concern.

The frantic search for James was interrupted by the sound of the Great Hall doors creaking open. It had been at least twenty minutes, and Marcellus was finally emerging, pale faced but obviously trying to stay strong. Both cheers and jeers went up from the waiting crowd. Their group shared worried glances as Dumbledore announced Lily.

As she entered the Great Hall, Lily scanned the room for anything that could pose a threat. The house tables were gone, and the head table sat looking forlorn and abandoned. The enchanted ceiling shone blue, with wisps of clouds floating about. She somehow noticed all this before the body on the floor.

Blood trickled from the corner of his mouth, running in a small stream down his neck that had mostly dried. His eyes were closed, lashes resting softly, just above his cheekbones. His wand had clattered to the stone floor a few feet away. Lily noticed all this and one more fact in a split second. His chest was not moving. He wasn't heaving with breath like he used to after a long run, nor was he gasping like he did after laughing so hard he nearly suffocated. Not even the soft, feather light, almost imperceptible rising and falling of his chest during sleep. James was dead, and Lily could barely pull herself together enough to remember it was an illusion.

She had more pressing matters to attend to at the moment. A figure cloaked in black had appeared and was gliding toward her. As its hood fell, Lily used all her willpower to remind herself over and over that the boggart was feeding on her fear. Lord Voldemort was not in the Great Hall.

She still cringed away when he spoke, a slightly discernable hiss beneath his words.

"You are foolish, girl, to challenge my might. I will not be stopped. Even your precious pureblood friend was not spared. Everyone who stands in my way will be crushed."

Lily raised her wand with a shaking hand, prompting a cold, terrible cackle from across the Hall. "You dare challenge me? I, Lord Voldemort, who achieved more in this horrid school then you could ever hope to in your lifetime? I, who knows magic you could never -"

"Riddikulus!" Voldemort ceased to speak, and instead began to dissolve, turning to a baby snake. Lily let out a genuine, if a bit sharp, bark of laughter, at how disgruntled the boggart seemed, and it vanished in a small poof of smoke.

Meanwhile, Sirius was staring daggers at the imposing doors of the Great Hall. He was surrounded by the rest of the Marauders, Mary, Marlene, and Adelaide. Their whole group was tense, silent and eyes as hardened with concentration. It had been very few minutes, but tensions increased with each passing second.

Lily was beginning to panic. She'd thought of a million ways that this boggart of James could make her laugh, and no matter how many times she used the boggart banishing spell, nothing happened. A minute passed as Lily thought back to earlier in the day. After what went down in the Headmaster's office, she was forced to come to the conclusion, that this was not, in fact, a boggart. James was actually laying on the floor in front of her. Fortunately, that meant he probably wasn't dead, just asleep. She knew there was probably a spell keeping her from seeing him breathing. The problem was just figuring out how to remove the illusion.

"Surgito!"

The spells lifted Lily watched as James took a deep, rattling breath, and sat up, gasping slightly. "What happened? The last thing I remember is - argh!"

She tackled him in a hug, gasping with quiet sobs into his shoulder.

"Merlin, Lily are you okay? Why am I in the Great Hall?"

Lily smiled softly, her eyes reddened by her tears. "That's not really important anymore. Come on, let's go. Can you stand?"

"Yeah, I'm fine," James stood, brushing off his robes and offering her his hand. She shakily got to her feet, trying not to lean on James too hard. He smirked in response and wrapped an arm around her shoulders. She wondered if he remembered the crowd outside just as he stiffened.

"I'm going to slip out this side door, okay? I'll meet you in our common room?"

Lily nodded, mute.

Three of the Marauders plus Lily's closest friends watched as the door to the Great Hall inched open, Lily slipping through, red eyed but smiling. They erupted in cheers as Lily hurried over to join them. She began to laugh at the hugs, congratulations and questions coming from all sides.

"What happened?"

"You're okay right?"

"Was it as bad as you thought it'd be?"

"Have you seen James?"

Everyone stopped and stared at Sirius. "What?"

"That was a bit insensitive, she just faced her worst fears, and you're worried about James? He probably stayed back in the common room," Remus chastised Sirius, who immediately looked highly embarrassed.

"Sorry," he muttered at Lily, but quickly straightened back up, his eager demeanor returning. "Dumbledore's about to announce the places!"

It was true. The judges were no longer conferring, and Dumbledore had straightened up, looking as if he were about to speak. "The judges have decided, since all contestants emerged from the Great Hall physically unscathed, which they were nor counting on -"

A loud cheer erupted from the gathered students, and Dumbledore nodded in acknowledgement. "An impressive feat, no doubt, so the judges have consequently decided to base their judging solely on time."

The group of Gryffindors gripped each other's arms, excited.

"In first place, with a time of thirteen minutes and thirty-six seconds, Celene Gaumond!"

Beauxbatons began to celebrate, but Dumbledore cleared his throat.

"In second place, with sixteen minutes and forty-nine seconds, Lily Evans!"

Marlene shrieked in her ear, ecstatic. Lily grinned at the excitement around her, but couldn't help wondering if James had made it to Gryffindor Tower yet.

He had.

They found him curled on an armchair in the Head Dorms, watching a dying fire and twisting his hands in anxiety. Books and papers were scattered on the chair and floor around him, giving the impression that he's been studying there. Lily knew better, of course, but also knew better than to blurt anything out right now.

James looked up when the portrait opened, relaxing at the sight of a drained but otherwise unharmed Lily. The girl in question thought that he was a very good actor.

He wasn't acting.

James stood, stretching his back and watching a parade of people enter the room. This crowd included Lily, Marlene, Mary, Sirius, Remus, Peter, Adelaide, Alice Fortescue, and Frank Longbottom.

He raised an eyebrow at all the people settling by the reinvigorated fire, courtesy of Remus. "So? What happened?"

Lily looked from under eyed lidded with exhaustion. "I got second," she said, curling into a corner of the couch like a cat.

James nodded and murmured congratulations, knowing she was too tired to carry on a conversation, much less celebrate. Sirius had different ideas.

He pulled two bottles of firewhiskey from seemingly nowhere, flourishing them. "I think this calls for us all to get plastered!"

"Padfoot, you think that anything is an excuse to get plastered,"

"Have a little faith Moony. There are, in fact, some things, not worth getting plastered for!"

"Oh, for Merlin's sake you two, just give me one of those already." This last sentence came from Lily, who reached over Sirius' head, (he was on the floor in front of her, leaning on the couch) grabbed a bottle of firewhiskey, unscrewed the cap, and poured a generous sip straight down her throat.