Broken Covenant

Lily giggled as she left the boys' dormitory. James' cloak certainly came in handy...Their midnight rendezvous had recently become more and more passionate, and risky. She had nearly surrendered her maidenhead on more than one occasion, and James was an incredibly skilled lover. But Lily also was terrified that her muggleborn status would come back to haunt her if she gave in willingly: Would James really marry her, become essentially a blood traitor, if she granted him access to her innocence? This tormented Lily more than James knew, and it pained her that more than just the Gryffindor girls' dorms were populated with his various conquests. Rumors circulated that he had even broken in several of the younger girls in Hufflepuff, and Ravenclaw. Some breathless third year Gryffindors had gossiped one day at breakfast in the main hall, one or two Slytherins had succumbed to his charms as well. But Lily was seventeen, helplessly enthralled by James, and not immune to feelings of betrayal, and hurt.
James could also be exceedingly dense when it came to her emotions.
He assured her once she allowed him to claim her utterly, there'd be no need for these 'exceptions', and he'd be completely faithful.
His arrogance infuriated her, although she endured his constant philandering in stoic silence. James was not only proud, but an inordinate bully, and this sometimes tried Lily's patience to the point that she would ignore him for days. However, she always relented, but lately, she had grown increasingly malcontented. His mind was always on pranks, other women, and Quidditch. They were going to graduate from Hogwarts soon--then where would they be?
Lily had an ardent desire to become an auror, and she had the marks and the qualifications. It was no secret that there were many prejudiced against muggleborns, and recently, Death Eater raids on both the Ministry of Magic and attacks against muggleborns had increased. More and more muggleborns turned up dead, or were missing altogether....Lily Evans feared for herself, and all others like her. Surely a pureblood for a husband would afford her some leverage in wizarding society, she tried to convince herself. Even if he could sometimes be a dunderhead.
Lily collapsed quietly in her own bed, her thoughts disturbed and jumbled. She tried to sleep, and then gave up. She grabbed her wand, and the cloak, and crept outside of Hogwarts, to the Forbidden Forest. She'd learned how to bypass the wards long before, and she yearned for the night air, and the stillness of the forest to ease her mind. Once she was deep inside the forest, she sighed, dropping her wand and the cloak. What nobody knew, not even James, was that Lily was also an animagus. She stretched out her arms, and took the form she had discovered she could assume the moment she hit menarche. The night air was pierced with a strange song, one of longing and desire. Lily Evans was a phoenix.