Chapter 49: Out in the open

When Rick stirred awake, the soft warmth of the sheets barely registered compared to the weight of her. Lily was nestled against him, bare skin flush against his side, her cheek pillowed on his shoulder as if it were her rightful place. The scent of her hair, that faint mix of moonlight and lingering sex, curled around his senses like silk, familiar and intimate.

But what caught his eye first wasn't the mess of tangled limbs or the faint red marks his hands had left across her hips. It was the way she was looking at her hand. Her left hand.

The morning light, barely creeping through the enchanted window's edge, caught the ring perfectly, casting faint flickers of red as the small rubies around the lions' heads glittered in motion. Her fingers moved minutely, as if testing its weight, its warmth, its reality. She didn't notice he was awake. Her eyes were half lidded, unfocused in that dreamy way she only ever looked when her walls were down, soft and completely unguarded.

He realized then that she had been staring at it. Not for a few seconds. Not idly. She had been there a while. Just breathing. Just touching. Just looking.

Rick didn't speak at first. He didn't want to startle her out of that quiet reverence. Instead, he just watched as her thumb grazed the ring's band again, slowly circling the lions as if memorizing every detail by touch. The movement was careful, almost devotional. Her lips moved once. He couldn't tell if it was a word or just an exhale, but whatever it was, it seemed like a vow whispered only to herself.

"You really like it."

She tilted her head upward, the slow deliberate movement framed by a cascade of tousled red curls spilling across his chest like living flame. Her eyes, still soft with sleep but luminous with something deeper, something rooted, locked onto his. A silent confirmation passed between them as she gave a gentle nod, slow and full of meaning, the kind of gesture that didn't need words to speak volumes.

Then came the kiss. Just a peck, nothing elaborate, but it lingered in the air like the trailing scent of firewhiskey on a winter night: warm, sharp, and wholly intoxicating. It made his chest tighten just a little, in that way only she ever could.

As she pulled away, her gaze drifted once more to her hand. The ring sparkled against her pale skin, and she watched it with something close to awe, like it was a living thing. A secret she now wore openly.

Rick dipped his head and buried his face in the crown of her hair, breathing her in like she was the only air that mattered. A moan escaped him, low, rumbling, impossibly content.

The sound made her giggle, that soft delighted laugh that always undid him completely.

Then, swift as magic and heavy with intent, he rolled them, his body pressing her into the mattress in one fluid familiar motion. He hovered above her, hands braced on either side of her shoulders, and the look she gave him made the world beyond that bed utterly irrelevant. Her lips were parted, her cheeks flushed, her pupils wide with a hunger that was both emotional and visceral.

And she wanted him. All of him.

Her legs wrapped around his hips with instinctual ease, drawing him closer, sealing him there like she was built to hold him. Her hands slid up his back, nails tracing the ridges of his spine as she pulled his head down to hers. This time, the kiss was not a peck. It was full and claiming, slow but demanding, the kind of kiss that tasted like promises already being kept.

"Thank you for making me the happiest guy in the world."

"You're welcome." She winced and reached for her throat with her hand when she spoke.

"Shit. How bad is it? Never mind, we're going to see Madam Pomfrey first things first."

Lily shook her head in refusal then mouthed "breakfast." To give credit to her choice, her stomach grumbled.

"Alright, breakfast first but we're visiting her right after."

This time she nodded in approval. He pulled away from her and stood up. He took her in his arms, carrying her like a princess, and thought about the need for a shower and bathtub. Immediately, the room answered his request. Lily pointed to the bathtub and he obliged her. They soaked in the warm water for a bit, Lily resting against his chest, before he began to wash her and himself. Once clean, they dried themselves and Rick called for Tipsy to bring them new clothes. Lily just changed her panties but kept the rest of her lingerie on her. She didn't care if it reeked of sex. It smelled like Rick to her and she wasn't discarding it. She didn't care about Remus and his hyper developed nose.

They were graduating in less than two weeks and she was tired of hiding. If Remus found out, then he found out. She knew he wouldn't say anything anyway, not when he had been among the werewolves that were part of her testing of her wolfsbane pills. He was very thankful for her creation, which worked perfectly without any side effects. He was also thankful for her keeping his affliction secret all those years without him even knowing about it.

When they exited the room, Tipsy having picked up their dirty clothes and the food that they didn't touch, they separated a bit before the Entrance Hall. Rick told Lily to go to the Great Hall while he made a small detour to the kitchen to visit Barmy. They may not have eaten the food but the little guy had worked hard on it and he deserved a big thank you.

When Lily entered the Hall she quickly found Marlene sitting next to Sirius at the head of the Gryffindor table. She mentally laughed when she noticed he was a bit nervous to be so close to the teachers, especially their head of house who was giving him some not so furtive looks from time to time. She was half sure he was working on a prank and half sure Marlene was having a good influence on him. That was the only reason she could think of as to why, after seven years, he was sitting so close to the teachers' table when he always sat as far as he could.

Sitting in front of her blonde friend, she answered her "good morning" with one of her own. Her hoarse voice drew a curious look from Sirius and a bewildered one from the pureblood heiress who noticed everything that her boyfriend missed.

"Lily!" she whispered and put her hand on her own neck to signal Lily about hers. The redhead reached for her neck and noticed the absence of her usual Gryffindor choker which she used to hide the hickeys Rick left on it or the bite marks.

"MERLIN'S BALLS!" Sirius exclaimed when he finally noticed the state her neck was in.

"MISTER BLACK! Ten points from Gryffindor for foul language!" He winced at Professor McGonagall's reprimand. "It will be a detention if I hear you swearing again."

Sirius nodded and was about to answer that he understood when his girlfriend gasped and nearly went over the table to reach for Lily's left hand, which was massaging her neck and trying to hide Rick's marks on her skin. He didn't understand what she was doing at first, but her squeal and the huge ring of gold and red on Lily's finger nearly made him swear again on the spot.

He couldn't understand what was happening. As far as anyone knew, Lily Evans was the untouchable queen of the school who hadn't gone on a single date her whole time at Hogwarts. And right now, she had hickeys all over her neck and what he believed to be an engagement ring on her finger. Then there was her hoarse voice which made him think that some lucky sod, in combination with the hickeys, had given her the time of her life the previous night.

"So that's where the both of you went last night! He didn't even warn me! I'm going to kick his ass for this!"

"Marlene!" Lily tried to shout, pulling her hand back and hiding it. Understanding that she had just goofed, the blonde was about to say something but Sirius preempted her.

"There is no way I'm going to believe whatever excuse you're going to serve me," he said with a deadpan face. "So who's the lucky guy? And for how long have you been seeing each other? Because if I'm not mistaken that's an engagement ring. The pureblood kind. Although I don't understand why it's representative of the Gryffindor House and not his own house. That's not the pureblood tradition."

Lily and Marlene exchanged a look which meant a lot.

"It's alright. He won't say anything."

"It doesn't matter anymore. School is ending," Lily confessed.

"Want to fill him in or does your throat hurt too much?"

"Do it."

"Fill me on what?"

"On something you better keep quiet about if you don't want me to nutter you," she warned and threatened, and Sirius raised his hands in surrender. "Since Easter in our fourth year, Lily has been dating Rick."

"AH! I knew he wasn't gay! Wait! What about fifth year when…"

"That was Lily. Don't ask how, I don't know, they refused to tell me." She tried to avoid the complications that bringing up Amelia would make, and Lily went along with it with a nod as she sipped the hot tea she had gotten. "The ring is because last summer Lily did an inheritance test. She's the first magical in a long line of squibs from an Ancient and Noble House."

Sirius blinked in curiosity. "Which one?"

"I don't know, baby. Which house has for a symbol a lion and for colors red and gold?" she said hotly and a bit too loud. She wasn't pleased by her boyfriend not getting it when a few moments earlier he noticed it was representative of Gryffindor.

They heard someone choking and coughing at the teachers' table, and they all watched their head of house having her back tapped by Professor Dumbledore. Clearly, she had heard Marlene's sarcastic answer and she wasn't the only one. Only then did Sirius's neurons connect properly.

"MERLIN'S SAGGY…"

"BLACK!"

"Sorry professor but you all heard what I heard!"

"Indeed we did," Flitwick commented. "Is there any truth to that, Miss Evans?" Lily nodded, a bit embarrassed, and the small man grunted. "I never had a chance to get you in Ravenclaw did I? The game was rigged from the start." That made Dumbledore chuckle.

"To think one of the founder's lines would reappear. Truly a wonder," Slughorn commented jovially, already deciding in his head that Lily was his favorite student. She already was with Rick but her being the Lady of the house of one of the founders gave her a huge boost.

It was right at this moment that Rick showed up and sat next to Lily, completely missing the situation.

"Congratulations, Mister Wald," Dumbledore said, and the other professors mimicked him. They had been made aware the previous night by Minerva that he had been dating Lily for years. Minerva even showed them the memory and they had a good laugh about it, despite losing a few galleons.

"Thank you, sir, but it was a team effort."

"I wasn't talking about the cup."

"A bit early for the NEWTs, no?"

"I was talking about your engagement to Miss Evans."

Hearing this, Rick imitated a goldfish with his mouth in an "O" without knowing it. He gave a look at Lily who pointed at Marlene, who just shrugged her shoulders.

"Thank you, sir." Then he turned to his blonde friend. "Anything else you want to spill?"

"She already spilled that Lily was the bloody Lady…"

"BLACK!"

"Of Gryffindor. Why? Are there more secrets?" The silence the trio shared told him everything he needed to know. "Merlin there are! What are you guys? Unspeakables?"

"No," Rick sighed. "It doesn't matter at this point anymore anyway. The news will make it to the Daily Prophet soon enough."

"What news?"

"The news, Sirius, is that Rick Wald is the name I was given when I was put in the orphanage but it's not my real name. During the summer before fifth year I did an inheritance test at Gringotts and found out my birth name. Corvus Matthew Potter."

This time it was Horace Slughorn who choked on the sausage he was eating.

"MERLIN…"

"DETENTION, BLACK!"

"I didn't even swear yet!" he retorted to his head of house then turned back to Rick.

"Hello, cousin," Rick joked.

"Cousin?" Sirius blinked in confusion at the notion.

"My parents are Charlus Potter and Dorea Black. She's your grandfather Arcturus's little sister."

"No freaking way!"

"Yes, way. She learned you ran away from home by the way. She didn't contact you because you found refuge with James and because that would have brought my real identity to light, but if you need help or support, she'll be there."

"She'll get in trouble with my grandfather," Sirius replied with a frown.

"She will just transfigure his mouth into a duck beak again. She did that when she learned about Andromeda."

"Andy? You know where she is?" The interest and worry in Sirius's voice was genuine.

"Not exactly. She lived for a year at Potter manor with her husband and their daughter. They moved out once Ted could make a living for the family. Mom knows, however. You can ask her to be in contact with Andy. With a bit of luck you'll get to meet her daughter, Nymphadora. You'll love her. She's a wild child. You're never bored with her around."

"True," Marlene cut in. "And she's adorable. The way her hair changes colors in response to what she's feeling is so cute she's to die for."

"Metamorphmagus? She's a metamorphmagus?" The disbelief in Sirius's voice was amusing to the audience.

"Yep."

Sirius began to laugh at the irony. The one metamorphmagus who appeared from the Black line after three hundred years was a halfblood whose father was a muggleborn. He knew his mother would just choke on her own blood should she learn about it. The thought of his blood purist mother dying of that brought him great satisfaction. Thinking of purebloods, a thought crossed his mind.

"Shit, James! He's going to shit bricks."

"Because I'm engaged to Lily or because I'm the heir of House Potter?"

"Heir?" The confusion on Sirius's face was obvious to everyone. He too believed James was the heir.

"Yes. His father is my father's proxy. Charlus Potter is the lord of House Potter which makes me the heir."

"Holy… James is not going to like this. He always thought…"

"We know." Braving the pain, Lily spoke though it was Marlene who explained why.

"That's why those two dated in secret and Rick kept his identity hidden. No one knows how he disappeared from his parents' care as a baby and ended up in the muggle world. Just in case it was a dark wizard or an enemy of House Potter's doing, they kept quiet."

"I didn't even know I had a great aunt and that she was married to the actual Lord Potter. I always thought Fleamont was the Lord. Now lots of things make sense. Like… He doesn't have the lordship ring nor gave James the heirship ring."

"Two great aunts. Cassiopeia Black is still alive," Rick corrected.

"She is?!" Horace interjected in shock.

"Oh dear," muttered Dumbledore.

"Sirs? You know her?"

"Absolutely not," the potion professor denied, which was an obvious lie, while the headmaster nodded.

"We… met during the war. My brother Aberforth knows her better than I do though."

"Ah, yes, she was fighting with Grindelwald," Rick was reminded.

"Bloody… Not sure I want to meet this one," grumbled Sirius.

"Nah, she's cool. She's no blood purist. Pureblood or muggleborn doesn't matter to her. Same for squibs. She keeps fighting with Uncle Arcturus and it's epic."

"Their tongues are sharp. It's funny, really. They clearly love each other but keep trading insults. It's like their own way to communicate," confirmed Marlene.

"Anyway, if you want to know that side of the family, just send an owl."

Sirius nodded and thanked Rick. The number of revelations he had heard in the past fifteen minutes had been a bit too much for him, and he left with Marlene outside. He didn't know how to break some things to James, and she pointed out that he didn't have to say anything, though it was better to be straightforward.

Meanwhile, Lily was brought by Rick to Madam Pomfrey who gave her a potion to reduce the swelling of her vocal cords. She was to drink another in the evening to completely heal. Lily was thankful because she didn't want to pass her practical exams with a sore throat and a hoarse voice.

For once, she had not panicked for the exams. The reason was because she knew she was ready and because she didn't really care anymore. Nothing, not even the prospect of failing her NEWTs, which she knew wouldn't happen, could dampen her mood. She was happy as hell and her happiness overrode her stress and anxiety.

Curiously, both she and Rick had the same reviewer for all their classes. Griselda Marchbanks, the governor of the Wizarding Examination Authority. She had been the one who had written her and his result letters for their OWLs in fifth year.

"Do you have anything to present?" The old woman was curious and expectant of Rick.

"Yes. Although I'm not sure it can be accepted as it's a mix between runes and charms."

"You're taking runes too. Show me and I will tell you in which class it would be counted."

"Yes, ma'am."

He reached inside his school bag which had been expanded and pulled out his broom and the cape he had given Professor Flitwick for Christmas. He had asked to borrow it for the exam and the tiny man readily agreed.

"This cape allows the one wearing it to levitate and fly a bit. No more walking." Rick put the cloak around his shoulder, not caring it made him look ridiculous because it barely reached the middle of his back, and began to float in the air, moving around slowly in any direction. "It can't go higher than seven feet above the ground so it's useless for tall people, but again it was made for someone very short. The movement speed does not go over five kilometers per hour," he added when he got back on the ground and gave the cloak for examination.

"Interesting. The rune here is used to maintain the charm but nothing else if I'm not mistaken?"

"You're not, no. Since it was a gift for Professor Flitwick, I wanted him to be able to study the charms and not the runes. Also I wasn't yet quite adept at using runes for such intricate charms. If you'd look at my broom you'll see what I mean," he explained, taking back the cloak and showing her his Stormbreaker.

"Hmm… Yes, definitely a project for runes. More than the cloak," she muttered after a few minutes of looking at the different runes carved on the handle.

Giving back the broom with a very impressed look, she asked if he had something else to show, something that used his wand.

"The Patronus Charm, but you're already aware of this."

"A dun mare, yes. For the sake of conformity, please?"

"Expecto Patronum!"

A silver light with a blue hue shot out from Rick's wand and took a shape that he didn't recognize at first. He was too busy being shocked that his usual dun mare didn't appear.

"A… Lioness? Why? I didn't have any life impacting event happening to me," he asked himself aloud, but Madam Marchbanks was the one who gave the answer.

"It's not well known, but the appearance of a Patronus changes for another reason. A deep and powerful love. Usually, it takes the form of the loved one and how we perceive them."

"...You knew this would happen," he realized and blurted it out.

"No, but I had an idea that it would be the case. Miss Evans' Patronus was a lion when she showed it to me this morning, and I've discussed the two of you at length with Dumbledore. That both your Patroni changed to match the other is really fascinating. True love indeed."

She seemed amused by that, and Rick didn't know what to say. Fortunately, he didn't have to.

"And this ends your practical examination in Charms. No need to present yourself tomorrow for Runes. Your broom was more than enough, the cloak too in truth."

"Thank you, ma'am. I suppose we'll see each other for Alchemy and Advanced Arithmancy the day after tomorrow?"

"Yes. Good day to you, Mister Wald."

"You too, ma'am."

Leaving the room, he climbed down two floors to reach the entrance of the castle. He was done with his day and wanted to spend some time with Lily. He found her where he always found her, at the lone tree near the edge of the Black Lake. With their relationship out in the open, he didn't bother to hide his feelings anymore nor to be mindful of his actions towards her. Thus he laid his head in her lap, which interrupted her reading.

"Hey," he greeted her softly.

"Hey." Her hand immediately went for his head, and she let her fingers run through his hair.

"Something weird happened during the test."

"Oh? What?"

"Just like you, my Patronus changed."

"How do you know about that?" She didn't like the knowing smirk he had on his lips.

"Madam Marchbanks shared the information. She said that's because of a, and I'm quoting here, 'deep and powerful love' and that 'it takes the form of the loved one and how we perceive them,' end quote. While I'm surprised that your Patronus changed, I'm not surprised it's a lion."

"What's yours?"

"That's a…" She knew he was about to say "secret" so she put a quick stop to it by grabbing his ear. "A lioness!" he exclaimed out of pain, and Lily released him while she began to laugh. "I guess magic itself is telling us we're made for each other," he joked.

"Perhaps, perhaps not. Doesn't really matter. I just know it's the truth."

She leaned forward and gave him a kiss on the lips. A long one. They stayed like this for the rest of the day. Marlene joined them since Sirius was trying to cheer James up. The other Potter had not been happy at all to know that Rick "stole everything from him," far from it. Lily and Rick didn't care. Lily was his because she gave herself to him, and the heirship was his birthright. James could cry out all he wanted; it would change nothing, although the engaged couple stayed vigilant for any nasty surprises. They knew the animal and how petty and entitled he could be. Even though he became better the past two years, there was always the possibility of him falling back to his bad habits.