I love this story. James and Lily are both well-written. It completely makes sense that they would miss their relatively carefree student days. It also makes sense that most death eaters would have poor duelling skills; like many gangs, they fight only when they outnumber their opponents.

oh, i enjoyed the dickens quote too...it fit very nicely in with the context of the story. i was wondering if you were also making a connection about how similar those stories are, notably the theme of sacrifice between "tale of two cities" and the hp series? (the main people who sacrifice themselves to save the people they love... carton in dickens world and lily in hp?) i thought that was cool if u did intend to draw that line between them. :)

Author's Response: I actually had no intention of drawing that connection, but now that you mention it, it does fit perfectly. So let's pretend it was deliberate. I was trying more to get at the feelings Lily and James must have been experiencing at the time - all the feelings of loss that you feel as you exit your teens and childhood, plus the scariness of having to live in the "real world."

This was really good. You describe things very well, and the plot was believable. I'm a huge Marauder Era fan, and, to me, this fic did justice to how they might have felt about their lives through the first war. Great job! :)

Author's Response: Thanks a lot! Yeah, the thought occured to me recently as I was rereading Deathly Hallows that James and Lily were only twenty-one when they died. They were still growing up, barely even adults. I wanted to communicate the loss of innocence they must have felt as the war progressed. Glad hit the nail on the head, then!