She Loves Me, She Loves Me Not

Okay, this is my Lily/James fic! Hope you guys like it!

Ch.1
Year 1

James Potter, a small boy with untidy, jet black air dragged his trunk down the train, searching for a place to sit. He reached the last compartment and saw, to his immense nearly empty. Just two boys sat inside; a pale boy with light blonde hair and blue eyes, and a small boy with light brown hair.

James slid the compartment door open nervously, "Um...Hi, do you guys mind if I sit here? Everywhere else is full already."
"No, not at all, take a seat," replied the blonde boy. "I'm Remus Lupin, and this is Peter Petigrew."
"James Potter," James stuffed his trunk up into the racks above his head and looked back at them. "So, what year are you guys in?"

He didn't hear their answer however, because at just that moment there was a commotion out in the corridor. James and Lupin stood up and went to the door to see what was going on. As they slid open the door they heard a tall boy with dark hair, just a bit lighter than James' yelling at a girl, she was also rather tall, with long dark hair.
"Just leave her alone, Bella! She didn't do anything! She was just walking past!"
"Aww, look at my dear little cousin! Defender of the Mudbloods!" Bella laughed.

It was with this that James noticed a beautiful girl with long red hair that fell into gentle curls, and shining green eyes cowering in the corner, the second he saw those beautiful eyes he knew that he would never ever forget Lily Evans. He exchanged a look with Remus and the both drew their wands. Being first years, neither of them knew how to do proper magic yet. However, it was worth a try.

"Is there a problem here?" James asked, pointing his wand at Bella.
"No, no problem, just having a chat with my dearest cousin here, so why don't you mind your own business and return to your compartment?"
"I don't think we can, you see, you 'chat' is getting rather disruptive, and now we are involved."
Bella scowled and stormed back into her compartment, only to return seconds later carrying a trunk with the letters S.B. engraved on it. She dumped the trunk in the hall and glared at her cousin. "You can return when you learn to be a proper Black!"

James walked over to the girl, who was still cowering in the corner, and extended his hand and helped her to her feet. "Hey, are you ok? Don't worry, I promise not to let her hurt you."
"Thank you, I don't know what I would have done if you guys hadn't come along."
"It's really no big deal, besides this guy was there to help you." James said, gesturing to the tall boy.
"Well, I may have stood up to Bella, but that's not much, I doubt she would ever actually listen to me. Besides, I'm only first year, I couldn't have done any magic. By the way, my name is Sirius, Sirius Black." he replied.

The group moved back inside the compartment, with the exception of Peter because it turned out he had been hiding there the whole time, and talked for about an hour when there was a knock at the compartment door. The door opened and three girls came in. The first one, Ana Neumann, a tall athletic girl with straight blonde hair and blue eyes, spoke first, "Has any of you seen our friend? She went to the bathroom and-"
"Oh my God, guys! I'm so sorry, I completley spaced out!" Lily quickly explained what had happened and then introduced her friends to the guys. The two other girls were Zoey McBrian, who had dark curly hair and dark eyes, and Claire Yungblood, a small girl with strawberry-blonde hair and hazel eyes.

The train pulled up at the school and the group made their way off. As they climbed down they heard a voice shouting "Firs' years! Firs' years! This way please." The were led over to a small dock with a bunch of boats and all climbed in, the group miraculosly fit in one boat, they were sturdier than they looked. When they arrived at the school they were told brought into the Great Hall and led to the very front. Sitting there on a small wooden stool was a tattered old hat. The hat began to sing a song, telling them that he would look at their brains, and sort them into houses. James, however, was not paining any attention, this was because he was to busy staring at Lily. Lupin elbowed him and he heard Proffesor McGonagal explaining that she waould call them up alphabetically by last name.

"Anderson, Paige."
"HUFFLEPUFF
"Black, Bellatrix."
"SLYTHERIN"
"Black, Sirius."
"GRYFFINDOR!"
There was much commotion at this, and when the hall finally quieted down Professor McGonagal continued reading.
"Lovegood, Thomas!"
"RAVENCLAW"
It seemed like forever before she got to "Potter, James."
"hmm...you'll do great things. Brave, very brave, yes i can see it all here in your head. Would go to any lengths to help a friend. Well, it seems, it had better be GRYFFINDOR!" The hat screamed these last words. And James ran to sit down with his friends, who had all been placed in Gryffindor as well.

Ch. 2
Chapter Two
End of Year 5

The train pulled up at platform 9 and 3/4 and Sirius, James, Remus, and Peter grabbed their things and made their way to the barrier. James felt his stomach tighten, as it always did, when he say Lily Evans. She was standing with her friends Ana, Zoe, and Claire, trying to get her trunk down.

"Hey! Evans! Let me help you with your trunk!" he called.
"I can get my own trunk, Potter!" Lily spat icily, "And I thought that I told you to stay away from me!"

Flashback-a few weeks earlier, right after the end of exams.

"Evans! Hey Evans! Wait up!" James called, chasing after Lily. "Hey, Lily, will you just talk to me for a minute? Please?"
"What?" she stopped. Shocked that he had used her first name.
"Why won't you go out with me?"
"Wow, Potter, does nothing penetrate that thick scull of yours?" She asked coldly, " I will repeat myself, you are a conceited, arrogant, git, maybe if you weren't so full of yourself you would have a chance! Maybe, now do me a favor, and STAY AWAY FROM ME!" and with that she stormed away.

End of flashback

"God, Potter, could you please stop staring?!" and, just as she had a few weeks earlier, Lily stormed away from him.
'That's what I have to do' thought James, 'I have to change, then she'll like me, then I'll have a chance. I have to prove that I'm not a conceited git.' And with that he followed Lily through the barrier. "Hey mum, dad!" he called.

Lily looked up and noticed he was staring in the direction of her parents. 'Does he honestly think calling my parents mum and dad will help make me fall for him?!' she thought. But then Lily noticed the two people standing next to her parents. The man looked exactly like James, only older, their hair even stood up in the same places. And the woman called out "Hey Son! Welcome Home!"

It was certain, those people were James' parents, the only questions left were, how they knew her parents, and why they were talking to them.

ch. 3
"Hey mum, dad." he said, giving them both a quick hug. "This is Lily, the girl I told you guys about."
"Oh, Lily dear, it's so nice to meet you, James has told us the most wonderful things about you." Mrs. Potter gushed.
"Thank you," she said, silently doubting that James could have possibly said anything nice. "It's nice to meet you to Mrs. Potter."
"Lily, why don't you let me put your things in the car? James asked. Lily was on the verge of telling him where he could go with his things, but bite her lip because of the parents standing there. Instead, she just smiled and agreed.

He threw the trunk in the car and walked back over to the group. "Ready to go?" his mother asked
"Yup, see you soon Lily. It was nice to meet you Mr. and Mrs. Evans."
"Please James, you make us feel old with the formalities, its Joe and Amy."
"Alright, see you Lily."
"Yea, see you."

As he walked away Lily thought about what he had said 'See you soon...' Soon? Was three months really soon? "Wait! What do you mean soon?" she started to call, but he was already gone. It was with this that she noticed the look in her mother's eyes and remembered her earlier question.

"What were you and Potters parents talking about anyways?"
"Oh, nothing..." her mother replied mysteriously.

Chapter Four

The first month of summer passed uneventfully. Lily spent some time getting caught up with her muggle friends, but she still felt rather disconnected. It wasn't that so much had happened that it was impossible to get caught up, that was one of the bonus's of living in a small town like hers, nothing all that interesting ever happened to miss. Plus, it wasn't like she hadn't kept in touch with them through muggle post during the year. She had mailed letters to her mother by owl and had her mother give them to her friends, and her friends had sent letters with her mother's care packages.

The problem was that she was living in two completely different worlds, and those worlds were impossible to connect. And so, whenever she was around her friends she had to be careful what she said. She had to hide this whole part of her life from them. She hated it, they trusted her with everything, but she lied to them on a near daily basis, whenever the topic of her school came up.

And it wasn't exactly like she could tell them the truth. For one thing, how would the take it when they found out that she was a witch? She already knew the answer to that. The same way Petunia did. They would think she was a freak. And even if they didn't mind the fact that she was a witch, they were sure to be mad that she had lied to them for the last five years. She had been telling them that she had entered a writing competition and won a scholarship to a prestigious writing school up north. Of course they had believed that, she was the most talented writer any of them had met. But how would they take it when they found out she had lied? They would never trust her again.

And even if her friends didn't mind that she was a witch, and could manage to understand why she had lied, there was still the Ministry of Magic to consider. It was against the law to show or tell muggles about magic. With the obvious exception of muggle-born's with magical powers, and their immediate family. Or, she supposed, if a witch or a wizard were to marry a muggle they would be allowed to tell them. But neither of those cases applied to her friends. So she really had no choice other than to continue lying.

And so, the first month of summer passed. Lily got over feeling guilty, as she always did, managing to convince herself that it was nessasary to lie, and that they wouldn't understand. Lily finished up all her homework, and had even managed to forget the strange meeting at Kings Cross on the first day of summer. That is, she had managed to put it out of her mind until the end of June.

Lily had just gotten home from shopping with her friends; Tessa Dean, a tall girl with long, curly, dark hair, and Jaime O'connell, a petite blonde. Her friends had come back to her house to spend the night.

"Hey Lily, can you come in here for a minute?" her mom called from the kitchen.
"Yeah, I'll be right there!" she turned back to her friends, "Why don't you guys head upstairs? I'll be up in a minute."
"What's up Mum?" Lily asked.
"I just wanted to tell you before I forget that I need you to clean out one of the guest bedroom after Jaime and Tessa leave tomorrow."
"Ok, sure, who's coming to stay?"
"Oh, didn't I tell you? That nice boy from your school...James Potter."
"What?! Potter is coming here?! He can't come, what about Petunia? You know how she is! And besides, Potter is anything but nice!"
"Well, he is coming, Petunia will deal, besides, she's been spending so much time at Vernon's that I doubt she will notice." her mother choose to ignore the final comment.
"Why? Why is he coming her?"
"His parents are going away for the summer, he has nowhere else to stay. I met his mother when we were dropping you off at the train at the beginning of the last year. We've kept in touch and when we met at Kings Cross to pick you up she asked me if it would be to much trouble, she had already spoken to his other friends parents and none of them could, and she knows how much James thinks of you, so she's sure that he'll behave for us."
"Potter? Behave? I wouldn't count on it."
"Lily, really that is enough now! I told his mother that he could stay here and that's final. He'll be here on Sunday and I expect one of the guest room to be cleaned out by then."

Lily stormed upstairs and collapsed on her bed, completely forgetting that her friends were still there. "Lily, are you ok?" Tessa asked, "You look like somebody died." Before Lily could answer however Jaime cut in "Oh my God, Tessa, that is so inconsiderate! What if somebody did die and you said that to them?!" she turned to Lily, "Nobody died, did they Lily? Oh my God, I'm so so sorry!"
"Jaime, chill, nobody died."
"Oh, then why do you have that look?"
Lily sighed, she knew she would have to tell them sooner or later, and it just looked like it would be sooner. "Ok, you guys know that guy from my school I was telling you about? The really annoying one who keeps asking me out? Well, his parents are going away on business for the rest of the summer, he's staying here."
"Ok, Lily don't kill me, but it sounds like this guy really likes you, maybe you'll get to know him and realize he's not so bad. Maybe you'll even start to like him." Tessa suggested.
"Tess, you sound like my friends from school, they all keep telling me to give him a chance. But the only reason he likes me is because I keep turning him down, if I were to say yes he would get bored in about a week." Tessa sighed, but made no further argument.

ch. 5
The next three days passed extreamely quickly. Before Lily knew it Sunday had arrived, and with it came her enemy, James Potter. Lily spent Sunday morning in her bedroom trying to calm her nerves. But she could neither think of a way to calm herself down. Nor, could she figure out why she was so nervous. After all, It was just Potter. She lived in the same house as him all year round and didn't stress this much, so why was she so worried about 4 weeks with him? But if she was being honest with herself she knew. At Hogwarts she had her friends and schoolwork to busy herself with. Here, she was virtuasly defensless, she was going to have to see him, and talk to him on a daily basis.

When the doorbell rang at 11:30 Lilly screamed, and jumped about a foot in the air. She took a minute to try to compose herself, but then heard her mother shout for her to come down and abandoned all hope.

As she reached the front hall she heard her mother and Mrs. Potter talking.
"Thank you so much for taking him. You don't know how much this means to his father and I, we really didn't want to have to leave him home alone. God knows what he would have gotten into..."
"It's no problem, really." her mother assured her.
"OK, well, I had better be going." she gave James a hug. "Behave yourself." She warned.
"Oh Mum, I always behave. You know that." At this Lily had to refrain from laughing, that is until she saw the look on Mrs. Potter's face, and realized that the woman must not be completely oblivious to what he got into at school.

After his mother disapperated Lily took James upstairs and showed him his room. "Do you want to unpack now and have me show you around later? Or do you want to look around now?" she silently prayed for the former. But her prayers went unanswered.
"Now sounds good." He replied. "If that's ok with you." He added, noticing the look on her face.
"No, now's fine. Well, there isn't really much up here. My room is directly across from yours. The bathroom is next to yours. And the room next to mine is my sister Petunia's, I'm sorry, but there's only one bathroom, so the three of us will have to share." she added.
"No, that's fine, I don't mind sharing. I didn't know you had a sister."
"Well, no, I suppose not many people do. She doesn't go to Hogwarts." Lily clarified, giving James a look that said, please drop this now.
He completely ignored this however and said, "Well, that's not unusual, there aren't many muggle-born families that produce two witches. I'm not surprised that she didn't get in."
"It's not that she didn't get in." Lily said quietly, "She didn't want to go. Called it a freak school, called me a freak who goes to that freak school."
"Oh, God Lily, I'm so sorry. I-I didn't know."
"It's fine," she said shortly, "Lets finish the tour so you can unpack ok?"

ch. 6
That night Lily's parents took them out to dinner, to celebrate James' arrival. He noticed that Petunia was extreamley frosty towards him in particular, but also towards her parents. Although he probably should have expected it, seeing as how she probably considered him just as much of a freak as Lily, if not more, considering he was born into it. And she probably wasn't all that thrilled about her parents allowing him to stay. In fact, he was willing to bet that if there was one person even more dissappointed that he was living with them than Lily, it would be her bony sister.

When they got back to the house he went up to his room, saying that he needed to finish unpacking. He had actually finished this before dinner, but he wanted to talk to Sirius. when he got up to his room he pulled out a little square mirror. "Hey Padfoot!" he spoke directly into it. After a moment Sirius' head appeared in the mirror.
"Hey Prongs, whats up?"
"You are never going to believe it, I spent the whole afternoon with Lily, and I managed to be nice the whole time. She didn't yell at me once! And by the end of the night she was actually calling me 'James.'"
"Wow! That's awesome! So, you were really serious about changing for her then?"
"Yeah," there was a knock on the door. "Look, I gotta go. I'll talk to you later."

James shoved the mirror under his pillow and went to the door. Lily was standing on the other side.
"Hey, um...who were you talking to? I thought I heard voiced..."
"Oh, myself...I was talking to myself."
Lily made a face like she didn't believe him, but nodded anyways. "Ok, um...could I come in? We need to talk...."
"Yea, sure, whats up?"
"Well, a few things actually....First of all...I would really really appriciate it if you didn't...you know...tell anybody form school about what I told you...about Petunia I mean...I don't even know why I told you really...It's really personal...I mean...I haven't told anybody...I shouldn't have told you...It just sota came out...-"
James cut her off, "Lily, calm down. I'm not going to tell anybod, never planned to tell anybody. If you want people to know things about your life, you tell them. It's none of my buisness who knows what about you."
She smiled, surprised he was being so nice about it. "Thanks, Ok, the other thing that I wanted to talk to you about was my friends....while your staying here...well...my mom expects me to introduce you to them....and...well...they want to meet you as well...I've never had anybody from school stay....But the thing is...they don't know about me being...well...a 'freak'." She qouted her sister. The both laughed at that.
"Ok, so you want me to keep up your story? No proplem, tell me what I'm supposed to know about the story you've given them, I'll tell it. No problem." he smiled, "And for the record, I don't think your a freak." They both laughed at that.

"Thank you," she blushed a little. "Well, we had better get to bed, you have a busy day tomarrow..." She started to leave, still blushing.
"Wait, I do?" James looked so cute confused.
"Yea, in the morning we have to go to the mall, get you some appropriate muggle clothes. And then in the afternoon my friend Tessa is throwing you a party, sort of a 'Welcome to the neighborhood' thing even though you don't really live here but-" James cut her off, sensing that she was about to start rambling again "Sounds good." Lily left.

_____________________

Neither of them went to sleep yet though. When Lily got back to her room she grabbed her pajamas and favorite bath set and went to take a shower. After she got back in her room she laid in bed thinking about James.

"He's been so sweet! Completely ignoring the fact that she was blabbering like an idiot. And he had been so agreeable. She had expected to argue with him, or at least have him try to hold her sister being a royal b**** over her head to get her to go out with him. But he had been so sweet about it. 'It's none of my buisness,' he had said, 'You can tell people when you want. It's none of my buisness.' He had been so cute."
Then another voice in her head chimed in "Lily! Stop thinking that! You sound like you actually like him! It's Potter! she told herself! Potter, the annoying toe-rag!"
"Maybe he's changed!" said the first voice.
And so the fight in her head continued untill she fell into an uneasy sleep.

ch. 7
James was up late that night as well, he was trying to figure out something he could do for Lily. He found it so hard to believe that the girl who he had been obsessed to the point of stalking for the last five years had such a sad life at home, and that he had had no idea. It made him said to think about it, so he promised himself he would do something for her, if he could only figure out what to do.

By about 2 in the morning he had finally come up with a plan. He sat down to his desk and took out some parchment and a quill and wrote a letter to Remus, explaining what he wanted to do. He conviently left out his entire reasoning behind it, making it sound as though he just wanted to do this for Lily to prove he had changed. By the time he sent the owl it was about 3 a.m.
___________________
That morning Lily was up and dressed by 8:30, and although she was extreamly tired she put on a perky face and went into James' room to wake him. "I told you to go to bed," she sighed when he tried to object to getting up, "It's not my fault that you didn't listen to me." Since he couldn't exactly object to that he just sighed and got out of bed. An hour later they were at the mall.

They spent about an hour in the first store they entered. But by the time they were done James had two outfits and Lily had a black sundress for the party tonight.
"I don't see why I needed two outfits." James commented as they went to pay. "I do own muggle clothes you know."
"Yes, I know. But you didn't have anything nice." Then noticing the look on his face she added, "Party clothes. For Tessa's Party tonight and my party at the end of the summer.
"Yea, you did." James smiled his famous marauder grin. The one that everyone knew ment that he had some big prank coming.

Lily would have been worried about it had she noticed it. Lucky for James however she had just seen someone out of the corner of her eye. That someone happened to be heading towards them.
"****." Lily murmered, more to herself than James. Then she turned to him and started speaking really quickly, "James, do you see that guy heading towards us? Well see he's my-" but it was to late, he was already there.

James saw a boy who looked his age coming to them, they were about the same hight, but the boy had wavy carmal-blonde hair. Based on Lily's panic at seeing him, James could only assume that this must be her ex-boyfriend. This was quickly confirmed as the boy approached.
"Hey Lily" He leaned down to kiss her, but she pushed him away.
"Nathan! I told, we are over! I'm not going to go out with you again! And trying to make-out with me is not the way to get me to change my mind!"
At that James couldn't help but laugh, as he did so he realized he had been holding his breathe the whole time, waiing to see how Lily reacted to him. "Sorry," he muttered.
"So, is this my replacement?" the boy named Nathan asked angrily.
"No! James is a friend of mine from school. He's staying with us for the summer." She turned to James, "This is my ex-boyfriend Nathan Lowe. Nathan, James Potter."

After a few more minutes of small talk Nathan left. As soon as he was out of ear-shot James started cracking up.
"What?!" Lily asked, thinking James was making fun of her for who she dated.
"Nothing, I actually think that I should be offended. This guy tries to stick his tongue down your throat and he just gets yelled at. Where you and I both know I would have been slapped for that. In fact," he added laughing, "you've slapped me for much less..."

The rest of the afternoon past pleasantly and before they knew it, it was time to go to the party. Lily wore a denim skirt and a green halter-top that brought out her eyes. James wore a blue shirt and kahkies.
"Wow...you look....amazing...wow." James said when he saw Lily.
"Thanks," she blushed, "You look really nice to."
"Well, you should think so, considering you picked out my outfit." James teased.

When they arrived at the party Lily introduced him to her friends. He flashed his famous smile at a few of the girls, the one that made every girl at Hogwarts hate Lily because he was in love with her, and not them.
"Lily," Tessa whispered, "please remind me why you refuse to date him again."
'Maybe she has noticed I've changed' James thought when Lily didn't answer. 'Considering normally she can't resist an opportunity to point out what a big-headed toe-rag I am...'

Later that evening James was sitting at a table with a group of guys. Lily and the girls had gone to the bathroom, presumably to talk about the guys.
"So, have you asked her out?" asked a dark haired boy named David.
"What?" James asked
"Lily, have you asked her out?" noticing how shocked James looked he added, "We've all been there at some point or another. But there have got to be a bunch of guys you could have stayed with for the summer, you chose to come here for a reason. And I'll bet serious money that it wasn't for the small town scenery."
"Oh...umm, yea, I've asked her out a few times. But she's not interested." he thought about it and added. "I really didn't have anywhere else to go, my best mates parents hate me, and the only two other guys I get on well with...well they're both out of town." It was half true anyway. Peter was out of town, but he couldn't stay with Remus because his parents didn't know that he was an animagus, in their opinion staying there for two months wasn't safe.
"Well, don't worry about it to much, Lily's cautious around guys. After what Nate did to her it doesn't surprise me." David said, pulling James out of his thoughts.
"What happened?"
"Wait, you don't know? Lily will kill me if I tell you."
One of the other guys, Luke looked at David, "Too late now, I reckon. If we don't tell him he's gonna just ask Lily, she'll kill us anyways." To James he said, "If you could please not mention that we told you....well, to make a long story short, he basically cheated on her with Jaime. He told Jaime that they had split and the two of them hooked up."
"And Tessa still invited the git to her party?" James asked incredulously.
"We live in a small town, if we don't deal with each other, well lets just say things could get messy." David said simply.
_____________________
While the guys were having this conversation the girls were standing in front of the mirrors in the bathroom, re-applying their make-up and talking. Well, Lily was just talking, because she hadn't worn any make-up to begin with.
"Ok, seriously Lil, why won't you date this guy? I mean, have you looked at him? Because that boy is fine." Tessa commented.
"Tes, you don't know him like I do...at school he's...different."
"Different, sure, does he grow an extra head or something Lil?" Jaime asked
Lily laughed, "I mean the way he acts, when he's around his friends. He's so, I don't know, immature around them."
"I still say you give him a chance, maybe he's changed." Tessa said simply.
Lily just rolled her eyes, but she thought 'If this change is permanent I may do just that Tessa.' then realizing what she had just thought she shook her head 'Lily! It's Potter! You do NOT like Potter!'

As she and her friends left the bathroom Lily saw Nathan heading towards them. 'Oh God, I'm so not in the mood to deal with him right now.' she thought. She gave him a sort of half smile and turned away. Hoping that he could take the hint. He didn't and the next thing she knew he was slipping his arms around her waste. She spun around and slapped him as hard as she could.
"You know, I had thought that I made my meaning pretty clear this morning at the mall. But obviously your a slow learner."
"Lily, can we just talk, please? Just talk?" He looked so desperate.
"Alright, talk then! But keep your hands off of me!" She replied cooley.
"Lily, my Lily, I can't even tell you how sorry I am, that I ruined the most wonderful thing in my life, what we had. You have to understand how hard it was for me. We started dating, and then you left for school a week later. I was alone. I-"
Lily cut him off. "First of all, I am NOT your Lily. You got the second part right though. What we had past tense. And third, I missed you to, only funny, I don't remember hooking up with any guys at school! And I definitely didn't lie to your best friend saying that we had broken up, just to get in her pants at some party!" Lily was screaming by the end.
"Lily I'm-"
"Leaving now? Never going to come near you again?" James interrupted. "Good plan."
"Mind your own business Potter!"
"See, I don't think I can. Because, the last time I checked, you were upsetting a very good friend of mine. And I don't like seeing people I care about upset. And that makes it my business."

Nathan punched James. James reached for something in his pocket, but seeing Lily's face he stopped himself.
"Can't even defend yourself, but you expect to defend Lily?" Nathan taunted.
James leaned in close and whispered so only Nathan could here. "If I wanted to hurt you, I could do it in about a second. But I'm not going to, for one thing, it would upset a girl that I care about very much, and I could never do that to her. And for another, well," James laughed, "What I'm thinking of doing to you is very very illegal, I'd probably go to jail for it." He punched Nathan in the gut then added, "But so help me God, if I ever hear about you upsetting her again, I will not hold back."
James walked over to Lily, "Lily, I'm sorry, I know you don't like it when I-"
But Lily cut him off, "Thank You." she whispered, giving him a hug. James knew that she wasn't thanking him for standing up for her, not entirely. She was thanking him for not using magic.

ch. 8
The rest of the summer passed quickley. Lily tought James how to play some muggle games like football, and he tought her how to play quiditch. They went to the movies a few times with Lily's friends as well, excluding Nathan of course. James decided it would probably be best if he never saw Nathan again anyways. Seeing as if he did he probably wouldn't be able to restrain himself from hexing him into oblivion.

About a week before school resumed Lily and James got their book lists. And with them, came O.W.L. results. Lilly did extreamley well on hers, recieving an 'O' in everything except Divination, in which she recieved an 'E.' James recieved an 'O' in Defense Against the Dark Arts. An 'E' in Care of Magical Creatures, Charms, Potions, and Transfiguration. 'A' in Astronomy. 'P' in divination. And 'D' in History of Magic.

The next day they took the muggle underground into London to get their books. This fasinated James, who had never taken the underground before. Before they left James seperated from Lily, claiming he needed to use the rest room and he would be right back. He didn't return for half an hour, however when questioned he insisted that he had been in the bathroom. There had simply been a very long wait.

And so, before they knew it, the end of the summer came. And with it came Lily's party. They were sitting in the living room with Tessa, Jamie, David, and Steve when the front doorbell rang. Lily called to her mother to answer it, but it rang again, so she got up and went to the door. A few seconds later there was a scream. Standing on her front porch were her best friends; Ana, Zoey, and Claire, as well as the Marauders.
"Really Lily, is that anyway to greet our friends?" laughed James, who had followed her to the door.

Lily led them in to the living room and introduced them to her friends. They all sat there talking for a few hours before looking at the clock and realizing how late it was getting. Lily was positively beeming the whole time. Finally, after five years, her two worlds had come together. Without her having to break the law, or make her friends mad at her. It was as simple as one party.

That night before bed Lily pulled James aside, "Thank you."
"For what?" James asked confused, "I really didn't do anything, just sent an owl to Remus..."
"For making this the happiest summer I've had since I started Hogwarts, for making my sister bearable, for punching Nathan, for...everything." Then, before she could stop herself, she leaned in and kissed him softly. "Goodnight, James."

James stood there in the hall for about 3 minutes in shock. "Did Lily Evans really just kiss me?" he wondered.

ch. 9

The next morning was extremely hectic, getting ready to go to King's Cross. James hadn't even bothered to pack before, so they were all running around trying to get his stuff together, as well as getting Lily's in the car. They were so busy that Lily and James barely said one word to each other the whole morning.

When they were in the car on the way to the station James put his arm around Lily. She started to yell at him, that her parents and sister were in the car. However, she decided she didn't care. After all, if her parents could deal with Petunia snogging that oaf of a boyfriend of hers, Vernon, in the living room almost every night, the could deal with James' arm around her. Her mother gave her a look that clearly said, 'I told you this summer wouldn't be that bad. Lily laughed.

When they got to the station Lily and James made their way to platform 9 3/4, but her mother stopped her. Since her parents were muggles they weren't allowed on the platform.
"Go ahead, James, I'll meet you there." Lily told him, and kissed him on the cheek.
"Alright," he smiled, "Thanks again for having me Mr. and Mrs. Evans, see you around Petunia."
"What's up mom?"
"Not here," her mother said as she pulled her away from her father and her sister. "I wanted to tell you that I saw you and James together." Lily prepared herself for a lecture, "No, I don't have a problem with it, just a warning. I want you to be careful Lily. If he's the boy I have gotten to know over the summer, and if the things you told me about him are true, then you will have to give him a chance, just one more time."
"How do you know that mom?" Lily asked confused.
"Because, sweetie, if he was the boy you say he was at school, then he's more like your father than you could possibly know."

Lily desperately wanted to ask her mother what that meant. But one look at the clock told her that if she stayed to chat any longer she would miss the train.

ch. 10
Lily boarded the train, still thinking about what her mother had told her. "Give him one more chance, he'll need it." What was that supposed to mean? And what had her father done to need two chances? She raked her brain, trying to think of any stories her parents had told. But came up with nothing.

She was so lost in thought, that she didn't even notice she walked right passed her friends compartment. And righ into a compartment off Slytherins.
"What do you want, mudblood?" sneered a pale boy with white-blonde hair, Lucius Malfoy.
Lily looked up startled. "Oh, I'm sorry, I wasn't paying attention." She turned to leave, remembering having said those same words on her first train ride, and knowing that, just as it hadn't worked then, it wouldn't help her any now.
Bellatrix seemed to be thinking along those same lines as she said, "Pity my blood-traitor cousin and his friends aren't here to save you this time." she laughed.
"Ah, Bella, must you underestimate us so?" Came a deep voice behind Lily. She spun around and saw James and Sirius behind her.
"You should know me well enough to know that me and my...what you call us? Oh yea...blood-traitor friends, would never leave Lily alone with you." Sirius added laughing.

Snape, had apperantly had enough chit-chat, as he drew his wand and pointed it at Lily, "I wouldn't do that if I were you Snivilly." Said James, all laughter gone from his face. Snape pointed his wand at James instead, and within seconds there was a full on duel in the compartment. Sirius stunded Lucius and started for Bella, but Lily stopped him, and pointed her own wand at her. She cast a hex under her breathe, and though nothing happened Lily smiled. "Now, be my guest Sirius." She told him with a laugh.

After the Slytherins were all unconsious in their compartment the Sirius, James, and Lily headed back to their compartment.
"Lily, Lily, what am I going to do with you?" James asked, "I leave you alone for about ten minutes, and you get into a duel without me?"
"I didn't mean to, I was just lost in thought, and the next thing I knew, I was surrounded by them."
"Well, don't think so much then..."
"Ok, Lily I have to ask, what did you do to my dear cousin back there?" Sirious put in curiously.
"Oh, well...lets just say that she is not going to wake up very happy tomarow morning..." Lily said laughing. Sirius and James exchanged a look, neither of them had ever seen this part of Lily. "What," she asked, still laughing, "I can defend myself if I need to, I don't need you to always be there to rescue me." She told James, then, seeing his face added, "But, I'm glad you were." James smiled and took her hand.

The rest of the train ride past uneventfully. Lily was teased mercilessly by her friends for finally having fallen for James.
"What did I tell you?" Zoey asked, "You sent me an owl saying James was coming, and I told you to give him a chance, that you like him. The summer ended, and you two are together!" Lily blushed

ch. 11
As they were getting off the train James pulled Lily off to the side and handed her a neatly wrapped box.
"Happy first day off school," he said.
"So, this is what you were doing for 30 minutes in the bathroom-" she broke off as she pulled a silver charm bracelet out of the box, each charm was one of her friends, both her muggle friends and her Hogwarts friends all together. They were separated by little diamond lilies, and there was a lily clasp. "Oh my God, James this is beautiful! How- I mean, why would you buy this for me? We weren't even dating then?"
"It was never about that, this isn't like my thank you for finally giving me a chance if that's what you think, I just saw you looking at it when we past, I wanted to get you something nice." Lily stood on her tip-toes and kissed him, running her hands through his hair.
"I'll take it you like it then?" James asked when they pulled apart.
____________________________________________________

"I hope that the sorting is fast tonight." Sirius said as the group sat down in the Great Hall, "I'm starving."
"You just ate like 50 pounds of Bertie Botts Every Flavored Beans on the train! How could you still be hungry?" Zoey teased him, then turning to Lily she added, "I swear, all guys are controlled by their stomachs!"
"Nope, that is definitely not true." Sirius countered, "Parts that are slightly farther south play a definite role in there as well." The girls all rolled their eyes.
"Padfoot, just because you are controlled by your hormones, doesn't mean that we all are." Remus told him

Sirius started to reply but at that moment Professor McGonagal led a line of first years in for the sorting ceremony. After the sorting was finished Dumbledore rose to his feet, "While I am sure you are all anxious to start the feast, we have one more matter of business to attend to first," he said, "We have a new student joining us this year from a wizarding school in America, she will be in sixth year, I expect you all to treat her with kindness."

At that moment the doors to the Hall opened, in walked the most beautiful girl any of them had ever seen. She was a tall blonde girl with shining blue eyes, she was wearing a denim skirt and a baby-blue tank-top.
"I would like to introduce you to Miss Kelly Brtis." Dumbledore said.
"I see she couldn't be bothered with the school robes." Anna muttered darkly.
"Now, Anna, you and I both know that the robes wouldn't be nearly as revealing of those legs of hers." Zoey replied in mock shock. All the other girls in the Hall seemed to be having similar conversations, however, the guys in the hall didn't seem to be able to keep their eye's off of her. Lily looked at James, surprised to see that he was the one exception, he was staring at Lily.
"Well, I thought that I'd be different from these guys, rather than looking at the new girl, I decided to look at the most beautiful girl." He said simply then leaned in and kissed her softly.

They didn't break apart until they heard the sorting hat shout "GRYFFINDOR!" They both looked up surprised.
"Welcome back Prongs, Lily" Sirius muttered
"Oh shut up, it's not like you can talk Padfoot." James replied laughing, he gave his friend a playful shove.
"Lily, could you please control your boyfriend?" Sirius asked
Lily started to tell Sirius that she never could control him before they started going out, and didn't see how it would be any different now. But before she could she noticed that Sirius had redirected his gaze to somebody behind her.
"Do you mind if I sit with you?" Kelly asked, flashing a gorgeous smile.
"No, not at all," Sirius replied as he pulled out the chair next to him. Zoey glared at Hannah, everybody present knew that she liked Sirius, with the exception of Sirius himself.

As dinner progressed the girls started to warm up to Kelly, including Zoey, after she noticed Kelly's obvious disgust with Sirius' eating habits. After the meal ended Dumbledore rose to his feet once more.
"I would like to inform the first years that the forbidden forest is out of bounds, and I should probably remind the older students as well." his gaze traveled to the Marauders who grinned back as if to say 'we're perfect angels' to which all the girls burst out laughing.
"I would also like to inform you the the caretaker has added several items to the list of banned objects. Quidditch try-outs will be held next week, please check the notice board in your common room for the date. Now that we have all been fed and watered, it is time for bed." He announced. The students all rose to their feet,
"Come on, we'll show you where Gryffindor is so you don't have to walk with the first years." Anna told Kelly

When they reached Gryffindor they split up to go to their separate dorms, Lily kissed James softly, "Thanks again for the bracelet." She smiled.
The girls went upstairs to their dorm, "You can take the bed on the end over there, a girl named Hannah used to sleep there, but her parents pulled her out last year after her brother died." Lily told them.
"Oh I'm sorry, was she a friend of yours?" Kelly asked.
"We weren't ever really close, I mean, we shared a dorm, but other than that...not like the four of us are." Claire told her. Lily, Zoey, and Anna all looked at her shocked. Claire was very shy and normally didn't speak up, especially to people she didn't know, she prefered to wait to see what her friends said, and then put in her opinion.
"Oh," Kelly said, obviously not noticing anything was wrong, "So, tell me about those boys we were sitting with, obviously your dating James," she said looking at Lily, "To bad, I would love to know what it's like to be with him...but the other ones weren't bad looking either. Sirius had that bad-boy thing going for him, and James has nice eyes. And even that quiet one, what's his name again? Well, I could go for the shy thing to."

The girls all fell silent for a moment. She had basically just said that all of the guys they liked were her type, and that she planned to start dating one of them as soon as possible. Finally Lily spoke up, "Well, the marauders are definitely the most sought after guys in the school, so I guess girls in America don't vary in taste much..."
"Well, I figure that I have just as good of a chance, I mean, nobody has ever said 'no' to me before."

ch.12
"So, Prongsie finally got the girl?" Sirius teased as the marauders entered their dormitory.
"Shut up Padfoot." James laughed.
"Sorry, I can't do that. I have had to listen to you whine about how she won't date you for the last 6 years, and now you finally get her to go out with you and try to brush it off like it's no big deal? Not gonna happen, Prongs, how'd you do it?"
"I honestley don't know Padfoot." he thought about it. "I really don't know what I did, I mean, I invited you guys to her party, and then we started going out that night after you left."
"You are honestly the stupidest person on the planet." Remus told him
"What?"
"You don't know what you did? You grew up, you changed, you lived with her for a month and didn't ask her out once, you were nice to her friends, and you didn't act like a git. You changed James." Remus told him seriously.
"Oh," then he decided to change the subject at risk of being called stupid again, "So, what about you, Padfoot?"
"What about me?"
"Who's heart are you going to break first this year, while you pretend you don't like Zoey?"
"Well, first of all, you know I'm not going to date Zoey. As for who I'm going to ask out...I'm thinking that new girl looked pretty hot tonight."
"I can't believe you!" Remus said, "You've liked Zoey forever, you two flirt constintley, and you know she likes you. Yet you refuse to date her why?"
"Because I like her. If I date her, then I'll get bored and break up with her. It's easier to just date girls I don't really care about."
"Here's an idea," said Remus tiredly, "You date Zoey, and here's the catch, you don't break up with her."

___________________
The next morning the group walked down to breakfast, with Kelly joining with them. James wrapped his arms around Lily, "Please tell me what you did to Bella?" He laughed in her ear.
"You'll see when we get down to the Great Hall!" She replied with a smile.
"But it would be more fun if you tell me know..." he kissed her softly,
"Well, since your so persuasive...You'll just have to wait and see." She teased him.

When they entered the Great Hall they all looked instinctively towards the Slytherin table. Bellatrix was sitting there with her head bowed so that her hair was covering her face. All the other Slytherins were sitting far away from her, as if afraid it was contagious.
"Well, this is no good," Sirius commented, "How can we figure it out if we can't see her? Hey, Bellatrix!" He shouted across the hall. She looked up instinctively and the entire hall burst out laughing. Her face was entirely broken out, except the pimples were in an unusual form, they formed the words 'I love Severus Snape' across her forehead. She blushed and ducked her head down again.

"Oh my God Lily! Did you seriously do that to her?" Ana and Zoey asked in shock. Lily just smiled and looked in the other direction. James leaned in and whispered into her ear,
"You'd make a decent Marauder Lil." He flashed his amazing grin.
"You wish Potter." She replied. But, it wasn't like before, she had said those same exact words every time he asked her out for the last year. But this time was different, there was laughter in her face and voice. She kissed him.

At that moment the post arrived, to Lily's surprise she had a letter. She always left her owl at home, so her mother could contact her, but she almost never got a letter. She opened it up.
Dear Lily,
I'm sure that you are a little confused after our conversation yesterday. I'm going to try to explain to you. You're father was a lot like James in school. When you were describe him to me before he arrived I actually had to fight back laughter, they sound like they were so similar. I'm sure you'll find this hard to believe, but your father was the same exact way, always showing off, goofing around with his friends, pestering me. So, why did I marry him you ask? He showed me he could behave himself, he changed himself from the way he had acted, all for me. When James spent the summer at our house and I saw how well you were getting on with him, I can only assume that he has done some growing recently.

Lily dear, I'm going to tell you something else about your father you probably didn't know. He and I broke up for a few months, just after we started dating. I'm not going to go into details, just know that I over reacted. I didn't give him a chance to explain himself properly. I saw how happy James made you yeasteday, and I'm sure you two will be happy for a long time. But, please, don't ruin it. If your ever upset with him, let him know. But allow him to explain before you storm off angry.

With all my love,
Mum

Lily folded up her mothers letter smiling. She didn't believe that she would have that problem with James. She looked up to see him smiling at her.
"Who's the letter from?"
"My mum, just a little girl talk." she replied, she pulled the letter out of his reach, it was personall, she didn't want him reading that.

ch. 13
The week of classes passed uneventfully. It was Friday, and the group had the weekend to relax. As their last class of the week, transfiguration, ended Proffesor McGonagal called James up to her desk.
"Potter, I need to ask you a favor. One of the students in this class is terribley behind. I need you to tutor her."
"Well, yea ok, but why me? Both Lily and Remus are much better than I am." He looked confused.
"They are busy with prefect duties, Mr. Potter, and do not have time."
"Oh, well sure, if you're certain you want me to do it, then who is it?"
"You'll be tutoring Miss Brtis."

He exited the classroom to find Kelly standing there waiting for him. He was a little shocked to see her but nodded at her anyways. "What's up?"
"Just wondering why McGonagal asked you to stay late." She smiled mischiviously, "Were you doing something naughty?" She asked
"Umm...no." He made a strange face at her, "But it looks like I'm gonna be your new tutor." Kelly's face lit up at those words,
"Really? Well, I bet you can teach me something interesting." She smiled at him.
"Um...Kelly, I don't know, maybe you missed this fact. But I'm dating Lily. I don't like you that way." and with that he walked away. Leaving Kelly staring after him looking extremely confused.

"Hey Prongs, where've you been?" Sirius asked him as he walked into the common room. He glanced around for Lily, he wasn't sure why, but he knew it would be a bad idea to tell her about what had just happened.
"She's in the library." Remus said, "Now, where were you?" James quickly explained what had happened with Kelly.
"Wow, what are you going to do Prongs?" Sirius asked him when he was done.
"What do you mean what am I going to do? I have to tutor her, McGonagal didn't give me an option."
"He meant about Lily." Remus told him
"I don't want to tell her. It'll just cause trouble."
"You have to tell her, she will be so mad if you don't." Remus pointed out.
"I'm going to tell her I'm tutoring Kelly, but I think it's a bad idea for her to know about the rest of it."
"Ok, it's your relationship Prongs, but I think your making a mistake." This time it was Sirius who spoke up. It was mainly the fact that Sirius, who knew nothing about relationships, thought that it was a bad idea, that made up his mind.

That night, Lily and James went for a walk. Suddenly, James stopped in the middle of an empty corridor.
"What are we doing?" Lily asked confused.
"You'll see, just give me a minute." He replied with a mysterious smile. He paced back and forth thinking 'I need someplace we can go to talk, someplace special that she'll love, some place romantic.'

The third time he walked passed a door appeared in the hallway.
"James what-"
"After you, Lily.” He cut her off and opened the door for her. Inside was the most beautiful garden, filled with lilies. There was a magnificent waterfall in the middle. And there were benches situated all through the garden.
"Oh my God, James it's...it's so beautiful." she kissed him softly. The kiss quickly grew, but he pulled away.
"I didn't come here to snog Lils, God, I wish that we were here for something that simple..." he trailed off.
"What is it?"
"Why don't you sit down?" James asked, leading her to a bench.

Then he started explaining everything that happened with Kelly. After he finished, Lily just sat there, staring at the waterfall. Finally, after what seemed like an eternity she turned to him.
"Do you like her?"
"What? God no Lil! I love you. Please, don't be mad, I just I thought you should know."
"In that case, of course I'm not mad," she said, laying her head on his chest. "Well, I'm not mad at you. That little **** has another thing coming though. How dare she!" then she calmed down a little. "So you can't get out of tutoring her?"
"No, I tried before I knew she liked me, but McGonagall insists."
"Thank you, I'm glad you told me."
"I thought you deserved too know, your sure your not mad at me?"
Lily kissed him. "Of course not, you didn't do anything wrong."
"Good. Now, where were we before I told you about my new job?" He asked with a mischievous smile on his face.
"Mmm...I think we were about here...” Lily trailed off as he gently pulled her face towards his.

ch. 14
Remus and Sirius watched, James and Lily leave the common room that night, Sirius immediately pulled out a piece of parchment.
"What are you doing?" Remus asked, although he was sure he already knew.
"Aren't you curious to see if he took your advice or not?" Sirius questioned, then he tapped the map and muttered, "I solemnly swear that I am up to no good." A map appeared on the parchment.
"Honestly," Remus replied, "No, James has liked her for so long, he's not gonna blow it. You on the other hand, should take my advice to heart."
"Look, Moony, I already told you, I'm not going to ask her out. If I do, I'll just end up hurting her, again. I can't do that."
"Did you ever think, that you are hurting her by not asking her out, just as much as you would if you broke up with her?" Remus asked him. "You didn't see her last night when she figured out where you were."
"Wait, how did she know? How do you know for that matter?"
"Checked the map, kinda like your doing now." Remus replied laughing. "You weren't on it. It doesn't take much to figure out what that meant."
"Wait, she looked at the map?" He looked upset.
"You and I both know that she doesn't even know about the map, unless you told her that is." Remus looked at his friend; they had all agreed to keep the Marauders map a secret.
"No, but you said..." he trailed off.
"Well, she noticed you weren't here, she saw that Kelly wasn't here, and she knows you and lives with Kelly. Zoey isn't stupid, you know."
"Oh." Sirius sighed, "She was really upset?"

________________________________

The next morning, Lily walked down to breakfast with her friends.
"So, Lil, are you ever going to tell us what you were up to last night?" Anna asked her
"Sneaking in at midnight, I would never have expected it from the perfect Miss. Evans!" Zoey added in mock disbelief.
"I'll tell you guys later, someplace more private, than the breakfast table." Lily told them.
"Wow, you and James sure didn't waste any time..." Zoey commented laughing.
"Oh my God! Zoey! We were NOT DOING THAT. He just talked! Oh my God!"
"Oh," Zoey laughed, "I just figured since you couldn't talk about it at the breakfast table..."
"We just talked, but if I talk about it right now, I'm going to end up punching the girl sitting down the table from us. I’m really not in the mood for a detention tonight." Lily said, she glanced down the table at Kelly. "I'll explain it all later.”, she promised.

At that moment the marauders walked in and sat down with them. Lily was shocked to see Sirius put his arm around Zoey.
"And were you ever going to tell me you to started dating!" Lily laughed.
Zoey blushed, "Well, I was more anxious to hear about your night, I already knew how mine went." Zoey replied, "Besides, your smart, I'm sure you would have figured it out."

After about fifteen minutes the groups split. The marauders wouldn't say what they were doing, and the girls planned to go to the library to study. They were sitting at a table in the library when Kelly walked up.
"So, your dating Sirius now?" She asked Zoey, "Well, good luck, I only lasted one night so, you're gonna need it." Zoey looked upset and started to retort, but Lily beat her to it.
"Kelly, I think your forgetting one major detail." Lily said sweetly.
"Oh, I am?"
"Yes, see you and Sirius weren't ever really dating, he was with you for one night, and was after one thing. You gave it to him, and that was the end of it. Zoey and Sirius have an actual relationship."
"And how do you know that Sirius actually likes her? And isn't just after the same thing he was with me?"
"Simple, they dated for a little while last year, Sirius knows that Zoey isn't like that. He respects her for that. With you, he knew he could get that." Kelly looked upset. "Oh, and Kelly, one more thing, while we're having this lovely chat. Stay away from my boyfriend."
"What if I don't want to stay away from him?''
Lily considered this, "Well, you saw what I did to Bellatrix."
"Is that a threat, Evans?"
"No, Brtis, it's a promise."

ch. 15
The next few weeks passed quickly, Lily and Remus had even more Prefect responsibilities than ever as the Halloween Feast drew nearer, though they wouldn't say exactly what they were doing. "Dumbledore will announce it in a few days." The would say when questioned. James, Sirius, and Zoey were all busy with quiditch practice. James was seeker, and Sirius and Zoey were chasers. James also had to tutor Kelly for an hour a week. All this on top of the work load, which was huge now that they were Newt students. They barely had a moment to relax.

The Thursday before Halloween everybody received a shock during dinner. About half-way through the meal Dumbledore rose to his feet. Silence fell immediatly, which was unusual in itself because it was normally impossible to get the students to stop talking. But if you were to walk in at that moment you would think that somebody had placed a silencing charm over the Hall.
"Thank you," Dumbledore said, "I have a special announcement to make. This Saturday we will be having a Halloween Ball. It will be opened to all students above fourth year. Third years with a date above fourth year are also invited. It is closed to all first and second years. As I am sure you will need to go shopping to prepare for the Ball, I have set up a Hogsmade trip that morning. You all students third year and above with a signed form are allowed to attend the Hogsmade trip. The Ball will begin at 8 pm. Dinner will be served. Any students not attending the dance, the Hall will be open for dinner from 6 to 7:30."

As he sat down the Hall burst with conversation, never before had there been a Halloween Ball. James turned on Remus and Lily.
"This is what you two were so busy with isn't it?" He questioned
Lily smiled mysteriously, "I have no idea what you are talking about." She laughed. Then turned to her friends to begin discussing dresses.
"Hold up," James said when he heard the conversation, "Don't I get a say in your dress, seeing as I'm your date?"
"Who said you were my date?" Lily teased him, then noticing his face she kissed him. "But you still don't get a say in my dress, whatever I wear you will just have to deal with. If I decide to wear a fluffy pink dress with white lace all over it that makes me look like a big, fat, pink marshmallow, you will have to deal with it."
"Hmm...you know...I like the sound of that. Definitely get the marshmallow one. You would make an adorable marshmallow." He replied with a smile.

ch. 16
That night after dinner, James headed up to the library for his weekly tutoring session, with Kelly. He ran in a few minutes late, but when he looked around he saw that she wasn't there yet. He grabbed one of the few vacant tables and waited. She finally walked in fifteen minutes later. Chatting, with a fifth year Slytherin.
'Now what is she up to?' he wondered, as she sat down. "You're late." He told her.
"I'm sorry; I was-"
"Chatting with Sirius' younger cousin, Narcissa? Yea, I saw. But I have alot of things I could be doing right now, other than waiting around for you. So can we skip the story and get started?", he asked.
"Somebody's grumpy!" She muttered in a sing-song voice. "It's okay, I happen to like grumpy.", She added.
James shook his head, "You know, I really don't want to be here, if you’re not going to take this seriously then, I’m going to go. I'll deal with McGonagall later."
"Fine, lets work." she conceded.

The next ten minutes passed with her working, on turning a pencil into a cushion, only speaking , when James explained the concept to her. Then she suddenly spoke up,
"You should probably wear blue dress robes on Saturday."
"And why exactly would I do that?" He asked, annoyed.
"Because silly, then you'll match my dress." she reached over and grabbed his hand.
________________________________

Meanwhile, the Lily, Zoey, Anna, and Claire, were sitting in the Gryffindor Common room.
"Oh, I hate the fact that she's there in the library with him, and I'm stuck here." Lily commented for the umpteenth time.
"Crazy thought, but why don't you go to the library then?" Zoey, asked her.
"Because, I don't want James to think, I don't trust him."
"Well, you don't.", Anna pointed out.
Lily sighed, "That's not true. But I don't trust Kelly. And...well...you guys heard what Sirius said at the feast at the begining of the year, about guys being controlled by-"
Zoey cut her off, "You know, Sirius was joking!" she said exasperated.
"Why don't you have one of us go to the library?" Claire asked nervously, she was extremely shy and always cautious of what she said, not wanting to upset any of her friends. "Then...James wouldn't know you were spying, but you could still find out what’s going on."
Lily's entire face lit up, "That's genius, Claire!"

Anna, walked into the library and saw James and Kelly sitting at a table off to the side. James looked extremely annoyed. She immediately decided that she didn't want him to see her there. She knew that there was no rule against her being in the library, but as she was supposed to be spying on them, it didn't seem like a good idea to let them know she was there. She walked over to the book case behind the table and stood with her back turned to James' back. She knew that Kelly could still see her; but, it was the best position she could get without being too obvious or to far away to hear.
"You should probably wear blue dress robes on Saturday.”, she heard Kelly tell him.
"And why exactly would I do that?" He asked, annoyed.
"Because silly, then you'll match my dress."
'Oh my God!' she thought 'James would match her? But that sounds like he's going to the dance with her! No, he's going with Lily! Isn't he? Oh my God! Is he really going to leave Lily for that little ****?! I have to tell her! She's going to be heart broken!'

At that moment, she heard her name.
"Oh, hello Anna.", Kelly was saying. Anna spun around, normally she would have been embarrassed for being caught spying; but right now she was too worried about what she was going to tell Lily to care. She ignored Kelly and looked at James.
"I can't believe you. You know she actually cares about you. But, I guess she had been right, she's just some trophy to you! You finally got what you wanted and then got bored! I can't believe I ever told her to give you a chance!" And with that she stormed away.
James turned to Kelly. "You disgust me, you really do." He turned to leave.
"I wouldn't do that if, I were you James."Kelly said smiling at him.
"And why would I give a sh*t what you think?" He asked angrily.
"Because, even if you stop Anna from telling her what she just heard, Lily is still going to be mad at you." James stared at her confused.
"You know what Kelly, I don't know what the hell you’re on, but I suggest you get off of it." And with that he chased after, Anna.

ch. 17
James tore down the hallway after Anna,
"Anna, Anna, wait!" He called.
She spun around, "Don't you think you've done enough damage for one night?" She asked him.
"Me, done damage?!" He asked getting angry, "You're the one who comes down to the library and then actually lets that little b*tch fool you into thinking I'm cheating on Lily!"
Anna looked shocked, but James continued, "Honestly, Remus said you weer smart. Use your head! She saw you and decided she would have fun trying to make trouble for me!"

Anna stared at him for a moment, but before she could reply Anna caught up to them.
"Good, you haven't spoken to Lily yet." She smiled.
"Kelly, if you know what's good for you, you will be leaving now." Anna said, angry she had just been made a fool of.
"And, Anna, if you know what's good for your friendship with Lily, then you will pretend that you and James never had this conversation, and that he is cheating on her with me." Kelly replied with the same mischiveous smile.
"And why in God's name would I do that."
"Because, I know something about you and James, that if it gets out, it will ruin your freindship with Lily, but if you ruin her relationship with James, then you can preserve your freindship." Kelly replied with a laugh. "The balls in your court, I'll give you time to decide, but those two had better not be at the ball together." And with that Kelly walked away.

Now it was James turn to stare at Anna. "Are you really gonna do that to Lily? She's your best friend, how could you do something you know will only hurt her, and me?" he asked.
"I don't know what I'm going to do James." Anna replied, bitting her bottom lip. "Do you think she really has anything on us?"
"Nah, she's gotta be bluffing. I mean, there's only one thing that could possibly ruin my relationsip with Lily, as well as your friendship with her and...." James trailed off, he had wanted to say that nobody knew, but it wasn't true, "I told Sirius about it." He admited, "But no way would he tell anybody."
"I told Zoey, but she would never tell either."
"And they're the only two who know?" James clarified, but it came out more like a question.
"Unless they told anybody, which I'm sure they didn't." Anna said nervously. She thought for a moment then added, "But we have to tell Lily."
"What? I thought we both just agreed that Kelly doesn't know about that? Why would we have to tell her? Besides, it happened ages ago, it doesn't matter anymore."
"Yes, I know that, but we both know that it will matter to Lily. Besides, say Kelly does know somehow, do you really want Lily to find out from her? You know what will happen then, Lily will get in a huge fight with Kelly, and then question us later, then we'll have to tell her, and then she'll be even more upset."
James sighed. "Okay," he gave in, knowing she was right, "Tomarrow night?" He asked.
Anna nodded.

ch. 18
The next day passed, unusually quickly, for both James and Anna. They both swore that the clocks knew they were dreading that evening, so sped up to force them to it faster. For Lily however, the day could not pass any slower. James had passed her a note at breakfast, that morning asking her to meet him at 'their spot.' The garden he had taken her to in the room of requirement when he had wanted to tell her, about what happened with Kelly. She wasn't sure if that was a good thing or a bad thing. She feared bad, because he was unusually quiet the entire day and he barely ate anything.

When she finally arrived at their garden she entered to find James sitting there, talking to Anna. She felt her heart stop , knowing that nothing good could possibly come from this.
"James, what's going on?", She asked nervously.
He spun around and sighed. ", You should probably sit down, I have the feeling we're going to be here awhile.”, He had such pain in his eyes, she wanted to comfort him. But something inside her told her that whatever he had to say was going to hurt her, so she decided it was better to be firm.
"No, I think I'm going to stand, thanks.", She said.

James stared at her for a moment, as if going to object with her decision to remain standing, but decided against it, he merely nodded. There was silence for a few minutes, James and Anna both trying to figure out what to say, both looking so...sad.
"James, you never answered my question." Lily pointed out finally.
James sighed again, "Ok, Lil, this is really hard for me, you have no idea how hard. I know you're going to be upset, but I, we, think it's best you hear from us, rather than...other sources.”, He began, but Lily interupted.
"Wait, are you guys...are you...you two dating? Behind my...my back?", She could hardley get the words out, and could feel her eyes filling with tears.
"God no, Lily! You know I would never do that to you, your one of my best friends." Anna finally spoke up.
At the same time James said "Lils, how could you possibly think I would ever do that?"
"Sorry," she muttered,"It's just that....", she trailed off, feeling somewhat stupid.

She also felt relieved, whatever they had to tell her, it couldn't be worse than that, she thought.
"Don't appoligize Lilly, we're the ones who should be apologizing", James said, pulling her out of her thoughts.
"Wait-but you...you just said..."
"Lily, we're not together now." Anna told her.
"Now?!"
"It was Winter break of our fifth year. Anna was staying at my place because her's was underconstruction. Our parents are good friends, and we had the room." James started.
"We were never really together, not like you two are, we never dated-" Anna put in.
"It just sort of, I don't know, happened-"
"Our parents had gone out to dinner, and we were sitting there talking and...I don't even remember how it happened-"
"Me neither, but, the next thing I knew I was kissing her-"
"We realised right away that it was wrong and stopped-"
"But we thought you should know.", Anna finished.

Lily just stood there in shock. She didn't even know how long she was standing there. But the next thing she remembered was being on the ground, with James standing over her.
"Lil, are you okay Lily?"
"Well, I just found out that my best friend and my boy friend were together last year...how do you think I am James?," She asked, feeling the tears in her eyes.
"I knew it was a bad idea to tell her...", James muttered.
"Would you have prefered it turn out, Kelly wasn't bluffing? And had her find out that way?", Anna snapped back.
"Wait, rewind. The only reason you two finally came clean to me was because you were afraid that Kelly might tell me?! How the Hell, would she even know?!" Lily was now outraged.
"Well, she probably doesn't, but she was hinting that she did. We didn't want you to find out like that.", Anna told her.
"Oh, well thank you for being so conserned about my feelings!", Lily snapped sarcasticly. And she stormed off.

"Well," Anna said to James, "It could have gone worse."
"How? How the hell could that have possibly gone worse?"
"I don't know. But it could have.", she sighed.

ch. 19
Lily came running through, the Gryffindor common room and up to her dorm, straight past Zoey, Sirius, Claire, and Remus who were sitting in the chairs closest to the fire working on homework. Zoey and Claire both stood to follow her.
"Where are you two going?", Sirius asked.
"Honestly, Sirius, sometimes I don't think you have any feelings at all. Didn't you see her face?," Remus answered for the girls, who hadn't stopped to answer, but chased Lily upstairs instead.

When they entered the dorm, they found Lily sitting on her bed in tears.
"Hey, Lily, what's wrong?", Zoey asked soothingly.
Lily looked up and sighed, now that her friends would see her there was no way of getting out of talking about it, she would have to tell them. "James...James and...and Anna..." She struggled to get the words out. "James kissed Anna. Over, winter break last year...I...I just found out about it."

Even as she said it, Lily could feel how foolish it sounded; it wasn't like James had cheated on her. But she shook those thoughts out of her head; they had still hid it from her. There had to be a reason for that.
"Aww...Lils," Zoey said, bringing her out of her thoughts, "I know that this has got to be hard for you to hear about now, but it's in the past. It happened almost ten months ago. It's not like James was seeing her behind your back."
"But that's just it," Lily sighed, "Why keep it a secret from me? It was behind my back because nobody told me about it."
"Lily, did you ever think of the reason why Anna didn't tell you about it?"
"And what exactly would that be?", she snapped.
"Lil, think about your relationship with James at the time.",Claire spoke up soothingly. "You liked him, but weren't ready to admit that he had finally reached you. If Anna told you, you would have just gotten mad at her. And you would have been confused as to why you were mad at her. It was just easier this way."
"Maybe," Lily agreed stubbornly. "But somebody should have told me!"

The conversation went on in for a few more minutes, Lily knew what her friends were saying was not only true, but made sense. But that didn't change the fact that she was hurt. The door opened and Anna walked in, as soon as she saw the other girls she stopped, unsure how much Lily had told them, and of how mad Lily was at her.
"Umm...hi...", she said tentatively.
Lily looked at Claire and Zoey; they both nodded and then left the room without saying a word. Lily and Anna both stood there, unsure of what to say. Finally, Anna spoke up.
"Look, Lily, I'm really sorry I didn't tell you, I should have, I know that, but it's just, it was stupid, just something that happened. We both just wanted to forget it. And talking about it would have just upset you. And-"
Lily couldn't help but laugh, Anna only rambled like that when she was really upset.
"I'm trying to apologize here and your laughing?!" She asked outraged.
"I'm sorry, I'm not mad at you, really, it's just that..." Lily sighed, "I'm hurt by you. If you didn't tell me about that, what else have you been hiding?"
"Lily! I'm not hiding anything!" Anna said, "I wasn't even hidding that, just trying to forget it. If I could go back and do it again, it wouldn't have happened. But there's no do over. So, I'm just trying to forget."
"Ok," Lily laughed. "Besides, my best friend isn't the same stupid girl she was last year, so I can't stay mad at her forever."
Anna smiled, relieved. "No, she's definitely not.", The two girls hugged. "You know, Lily, your boyfriend isn't the same stupid boy he was last year either."
Lily sighed, "I know, and I knew going into this that he had dated and kissed a lot of girls, but I didn't know that you were one of them...", she trailed off, thinking, "But, I'll talk to him in the morning, don't worry."

ch. 21
Lily, was woken up the next morning by her friends, jumping on her bed.
"Wake up, sunshine!", Zoey sang out.
"What are you guys doing?", Lily questioned.
"What does it look like we're doing?", Anna asked
"Being right pains.", Lily murmured.
"Nope," Anna replied laughing, "We're waking you up silly!"
"At six in the morning?, When all the classes have been cancelled?"
"Ah, but Lil's, you must remember why the classes have been cancelled." Zoey put in.
"So, we can go shopping before the ball, tomorrow. But the stores in Hogsmade don't even open for another two hours!"
"True, very true. But we have to get dressed and eat breakfast before then. And you have some serious conversations to have before we leave, with a boy who has been at the foot of the stairs since four-thirty mind.", Zoey said calmly.
"He's what?!"
"Been at the foot of the stairs since four-thirty this morning. He was afraid you'd get up early and leave so you could avoid him.", Zoey still sounded extremly nonchalant about it. Like boys stood at the exit to the dormitory every morning waiting for them.
Lily sighed. ",Alright, I'm up. It seems you lot aren't going to let me sleep anymore. And now I feel guilty for not talking to him last night."

The girls got dressed and forty-five minutes later they were on their way down the stairs. Sure enough, there was James sitting on the first step. Looking half dead, though it was hard to say if this was from being tired, or from being upset.
Lily nodded at her friends. "I'll catch up with you guys later.", Before approaching James. "What on earth are you doing?", she asked.
He looked up at her, "Lily. Please, let me explain-"
Lily cut him off, "There's nothing to explain James."
"Lily, please, I'm so so sorry. If I could take it back I would. It's all so stupid really-"
"James, look, I've gotta go."
"Lily, come on just let me-"
"Look, James, I assume you want your date to look nice for the ball, correct? So, you’re going to have to let me go eat breakfast now so that I can go shopping.", She said smiling.
"Wait, you mean..."
"I was upset you didn't tell me, I'm over it now. I just needed some time to clear my head.", She kissed him softly, then allowed him to deepen the kiss. They stayed like that for a moment or two before Sirius came down the stairs from the boy’s dormitory.
"Ah-hem.", They broke apart, "See you two have made up then."
"See you need to learn when to mind your own business.", James replied.

***************

The girls entered the dress shop in Hogsmade at nine o'clock. They had been delayed by deciding to wait for the boys to eat and get ready, so they could walk into town together.
"Ok, we have 3 hours to find the perfect dresses before we meet the guys at the Three Broomsticks for lunch.", Zoey said. They tried on dress after dress before they found the right ones.
"Ok, so you and James are officially back together then?", Zoey asked.
"Back together? We never broke up. We didn't even really have a fight."
"Just making sure. I, being the source of all things to be known in Gryffindor, need to know the status of all couples."
"Since when did you have that job?", Anna asked her laughing.
"And your going with Remus then, Anna?" she asked ignoring the question.
"Sure, change the subject when your in the spotlight.", Anna scoffed. turning bright red.
"That doesn't answer my question.''
"And you never answered hers," Lily put in ending their bickering. "And Anna, you know the reason Zoey made up that job was because she's so nosey. And Zoey, one look at Anna's face can tell you that they are. Now, what about you and Sirius?"
Zoey suddenly fell quiet, grabbed a dress, and headed into the nearest changing room. She came back out wearing a blue-green dress, it was knee-length but the left side angled downwards toward the floor. The body was bunched together and it had silver beads embedded into the skirt.
"Sirius is going to love that dress on you." Lily said, staring at her friend in awe.
"You have to by it!" Anna added.
"You guys like it?" She asked, unsure.
"Lets put it this way, if you don't buy it, I'm buying it for you and forcing you to wear it." Lily said simply. Then, turning to Anna who had just tried on a black knee-length dress, with a halter top, and a black satin ribbon around the waist that hugged her curves, she added, "And the same goes for you with that dress."
"What about you Lil?", Zoey asked.
Lily sighed. "I don't know, I can't find anything I really like."

ch. 21
Severus Snape, Avery, Rodolphus Lestrange, Evan Rosier, Lucius Malfoy, and Bellatrix and Narcissa Black sat around the fireplace in the Slytherin common room. None of them were speaking. Or even moving. They all just sat there, staring at the fireplace, as if waiting for something to happen.

There was a loud crack, and then something did happen. A pale face appeared in the fireplace. The man's face looked as if it had once been very handsome; however since then it had become gaunt and cold. He had narrow eyes, like those of a cat, and when he spoke his voice was cold.
"My faithful servants," he said.
"Master," they murmured in response, bowing their heads.
"I have good news for you. We have a spy working in one of the other houses."
"Master, who is it?", Snape asked.
"That is not of your concern at this time. Just know that we have a Gryffindor on our side."
"A blood-traitor is working for us? How do we know that he is really on our side?", Bellatrix asked suspiciously.
"Do you dare question me, Bella? Surely you know that I'm not that careless about whom I let in on our plans."
"No master, forgive me.", She murmured.
"Now, we have more important matters to attend to tonight, and I cannot stay long, I believe that Dumbledore is growing suspicious. You have a ball tomorrow night, is that correct? I want you to search out possible candidates to join us. This will be a good opportunity for you to observe students of other houses and years. Do not approach them with the subject. Just observe. Is that understood?"
"yes, master.", they murmured.
"Good." And then he disappeared from the fire.
**********
Lily, Anna, Zoey and Claire walked into, the Three Broomsticks and saw the Marauders sitting at a table in the back corner. They made their way over to the table. James stood up and kissed the top of Lily's head, then turned to great the rest of the girls. When he saw Claire, he made a face, but quickly composed himself. Sirius, however, did not have as much self control.
"What are you doing here?", He asked bluntly.
"Sirius!", Zoey was shocked.
"What? I didn't expect her to be here. That's all."
"Oh, well, then. I mean, it's completely understandable why you would think that when I said 'we'd meet you there at noon' that I meant I was ditching Claire at the dress shop."
James quickly, came to his friends rescue. , "We assumed she wasn't with you guys at all today. Peter told us that he wasn't coming with us because he was meeting up with Claire."
Lily quickly looked around and noticed that Peter, who was always extremely quiet and easy to overlook was in fact missing.
"Sorry Claire, I was just, you know, surprised that you were there."
Claire blushed and said, "It's no big deal.
"Do you know where he is then?”, Remus asked
“Um...no, I-He never said anything about meeting up with me...."
"Really? I wonder where he is then.’”, James said thoughtfully, wondering why Peter would lie to them.
"It's probably no big deal." , Sirius said. "He's probably just sucking up to Slughorn again, trying to get himself invited to those stupid party's again."

The group quickly forgot about Peter's weird behavior and started talking about other things. Lily looked up and saw Kelly entering the Three Broomsticks, she sighed, knowing that wherever Kelly was, trouble always seemed to come close behind it. James looked up and followed her gaze.
"Don't worry about it. She only tries to cause trouble in a one-on-one setting, not a fan of group confrontations.", He whispered in her ear. He was quickly proven wrong on that matter. Kelly made a bee-line straight for there table. James gave Lily's hand a squeeze. "Never mind then."
She smiled sweetly at the group before looking at James. "Times up. Have you thought about my offer?"
Before he could answer Lily cut in, pretending to be confused. "What offer?" then her voice turned cold, "Oh, you mean the one where you blackmail my boyfriend into breaking up with me and dating you?"
Kelly looked shocked "How-How do you..."
"Kelly, did you honestly think I would lie to my best friend and upset her on purpose to help you?", Anna asked quietly. "Especially over something so stupid?"
"Or that I would break up with him over something that happened before we were dating?"
"I think you'd better leave now Brtis.”, James said.

Kelly turned and walked out of the restraunt and down the street heading back to Hogwarts. But she didn't get very far before Lily caught up with her.
***"Kelly, I have a question for you!", she called out
"What?!" Kelly asked angrily, turning back to Lily.
"Are you a female dog?", Lily asked innocently.
"What-no..."Kelly now looked extremly confused.
"Then stop being a b*tch and stay away from my boyfriend.", With that Lily slapped her and walked away.****
"You'll be sorry for that Evans!", Kelly called after her.
"I doubt it, Brtis. See, I'd have thought you'd have learned by now. It doesn't matter what you do. You aren't going to get between me and James."
Kelly looked as though she was going to say something, but then thought better of it.

************
At about three the girls headed back up to Hogwarts to get ready for the dance. When they entered their dorm they were relieved to find that Kelly wasn't in there.
"I wonder it has gone off to.” , Anna said.
"Maybe she's been eaten by the giant squid.", Zoey said hopefully.
"More likely plotting more ways to try to ruin my life...", Lily suggested angrily. She still hadn't gotten over her confrontation with Kelly that afternoon. 'The nerve of her! To try and hook-up with James when I'm sitting right there next to him!', Lily thought angrily. Anna must have been using legilmency to read Lily's toughts
Because she said., "Lil's you really need to stop thinking about it now. You'll be all depressed for the dance tonight if you don't."
"I know it's just..." , Lily took a deep breath to calm herself and then went to the bathroom to change. She found that the door was locked.
"Zoey went in there while you were fuming.", Claire said.
"Oh," Lily said "Hey Zo, can you hand me my curling iron?!"
"I'll be out in a minute then you can get it.", Zoey replied.

A moment later the bathroom door opened. Zoey came out with a funny look on her face.
"You okay Zoey?" Lily asked.
"What? Oh, yea, fine." Zoey replied. She forced a smile onto her face. "I'm done in there, it's all yours."
Lily stared at her friend for a second, not quite believing her. Then sight. "Okay."

*******
The guys stayed in Hogsmeade for another hour, after the girls left before making their way back to Hogwarts to get ready themselves.
"Why do they need so much time to get dressed?” Sirius asked. "I mean, look at me, 30 minutes, and I'm showered, dressed, and looking good."
"And not at all conceited.", Remus added seriously.
"Shut up, Moony."

Before James knew it he was standing at the bottom of the stairs to the girls dormitory for the second time today. Like before, he was nervous to see Lily, unlike before, this time was for a good reason. Not a bad one. He looked up and saw her heading down the stairs. She was wearing a stunning cream, strapless dress that hugged her curves. The body of the dress had pink and gold beads embroidered into it. Her hair was pulled up in a messy bun and beautiful curls tumbled down from the top of her head, framing her face.
"You look beautiful." He told her giving her a kiss.
Lily smiled and told him he looked nice as well.

She looked around at her friends. They all looked beautiful and were having similar conversations. Well, Anna and Remus were, minus the kissing of course. Peter and Claire were standing there silently. They weren't really going together, as Peter couldn't get up the courage to asked her out. But it was obvious that they both liked it each other, well, to all their friends it was anyway. Sirius and Zoey were in the middle of a heavy make-out session.
James cleared his throat. "Are you to going up to the boy’s dorm? Or coming with us to the ball?"
"Shut up, Prongs." , Sirius glared, the turned to Zoey, "Up to you on that one."
"I think we'd better go to the dance tonight.", she smiled.
"Okay, well, if you change your mind..."
"I don't think that'll be happening tonight."
***********
When they walked into the great hall and were shocked. The normal tables had been cleared out and replaced with small round ones, in the center there was a huge dance floor. Leaning against one wall was was a large buffet table, with every food imaginable being served by house elves. The ceiling was the same as always, reflecting the sky outside of the castle, tonight it was bright and stary. The walls, however, had been completly transformed into murals, a different one on each wall, representing each of the houses. They went and sat down at the largest table, in one of the back corners, it had exactly eight seats. After they set their stuff on the table James and Sirius went to load up on food, but Lily stopped them,
"Wait until Dumbledore makes his speech!"
They sat back down, Sirius whining that he was hungry. But at that moment Dumbledore rose to his feet.
"Welcome students! To our first ever Halloween Ball!" Dumbledore said, "I know you are all anxious to get started, so with that being said, let us begin!"
"Great speech!" Sirius said as he rushed over to the buffet table. Zoey rolled her eyes at him. He returned to the table a moment later, his plate full of food, he was also carrying two butterbears.
"Wow, Padfoot, did you leave any for anybody else?"
"It's not all for me Prongs," he turned to Zoey, "I figured we could share so you wouldn't have to get up."
"Awwww...Sirius, I didn't know you could be so sweet." Lily teased him.
"Shut up, Evans." he replied laughing.
James opened his mouth to say something to Sirius about his aditued, but then noticed Lily was laughing, so he stopped himself and just wrapped his arm around her. The rest of the group went to get food, when they returned to the table they noticed that although Zoey had eaten a bit of the food he had brought, she hadn't eaten much, and hadn't touched her butterbeer.
"You okay Zoey?" Lily asked
"What? yea, fine..."
But just like earlier that night, Lily didn't believe her.

At that moment the music started playing, they had gotten a group of girls from Ravenclaw to play, the girls called themselves the 'Weird Sisters' and insisted that they would be the next big group on the wizarding radio station, though nobody really belived them.
James stood up and took Lily's hand, "May I have this dance, Miss Evans?" He asked.
Lily laughed and rose to her feet as well, "Yes, you may, Mr. Potter." Sirius and Remus followed his lead, leaving Peter and Claire at the table together. They sat there awkwardly for a moment, before Peter stood up as well, he tried to act like James, but failed miserably.
"Erm...right." He picked up Claires hand. "um...I was, I wanted to see if, you'd like to." but then he lost his nerve, "Like me to get you something to drink." He finished, dropping her hand.
Claires face fell, "No, I'm fine thank you." Peter however, had no choice but to go get a drink, even though he didn't really want one, because it would look strange if he sat back down.

******
A few tables over the Slytherins sat, watching the dance, looking almost bored.
"This is a waste of time," Regulus said, "We could be up in the library, doing something useful."
"You and I both know we couldn't." Snape snapped at him. "For one thing, it would look suspicious if we blew off the dance, people would start asking questions, and for another, we have orders to watch for people to have join our ranks."
"Yea, because we can really tell who is powerfull by how they dance." Narcissa put in dryly.
"Are you questioning the Dark Lord?" Snape questioned
"No, of course not, I just..."
"Maybe we're going about this the wrong way." Lucius said, then, before anybody could interupt him he stood and pulled Narcissa to her feet and led her out to the dance floor.
*******

"I think I'm gonna be sick." Sirius said
"What's wrong?" Zoey questioned.
"That." sirius replied, looking disgusted. They all looked over to see Narcissa dancing with Lucius Malfoy.
"Wow, tough luck man." James said, trying to restrain his laughter.
"It's not your fault your cousin has such terrible taste."
"Wait-my cousin?" Sirius looked confused, then his eyes fell on Narcissa, "Now I'm definitly going to be sick."
"Wait, what were you talking about then?"
"My brother over there, dancing with Bellatrix. I mean, it's not just that she's gross, she's our cousin!"
"Sirius, I don't know if I can date you any more," Zoey teased, "I mean, I don't think I could bear marrying into a family of such weirdos." They all laughed. Then suddenly Zoey's face changed, she looked like she was going to be sick, as if the though of Sirius' family was to much to bear.
"Hey, Zo, are you okay?"
She shook her head, "I-I don't think so-" and then rushed off to the nearest bathroom.
"I'll go check on her." Lily said, following after her friend.

Lily entered the bathroom to find a very pale Zoey standing next to the sink.
"Hey Zo, are you okay? Did you puke or something?"
Zoey looked up "No, but I-I don't feel good."
"Did you eat something weird?"
"No..it's not that." Zoey looked like she was planning on saying more but stopped herself.
"What is it Zoey?"
"It's...it's nothing Lil, promise."
"Zoey Lucy OBrien! Tell me what is going on right now!"
"Lily, I-" she stopped herself, she knew she couldn't lie to Lily, she decided to go with a half truth. "I don't know for sure that anything is going on yet. Once I do I promise to tell you." It was true that she wasn't one-hundred percent positive yet, but she wasn't sure she would be able to tell Lily. "Lets get back to the dance, the guys are probably wondering where we are."

ch. 22
The next week passed uneventfully, Zoey stopped acting strange, although Lily noticed that whenever she wasn't laughing, or talking, or kissing Sirius, her face fell a little, not exactly like she was upset, more like she was worried about something and thinking hard about it.

On Sunday, she finally decided that she couldn't wait any longer, she pulled Sirius away from the rest of the group and tried to explain. When she was finished he just sat there, not saying anything.
"Please, say something, anything.", She said her eyes full of tears.

**********Sirius POV************
Sirius was sitting with James next to the fire when Zoey walked over, she looked like she was close to tears.
"Zo, what's wrong babe?" He asked, worried.
"I-I think we need to talk Sirius. Alone." She added with a glance at James.
"I'll leave," James said,
"No, that's okay James, Sirius if it's alright with you I think we should go someplace away from everybody else. Like your dorm, if you don't mind."
"Yea, sure." Sirius replied, his face breaking into a huge grin.

As soon as they entered the dorm Sirius wrapped his arms around Zoey's waist and pulled her in kissing her softly, but she quickly pulled away.
"What's wrong?" Sirius asked, confused.
"We need to talk."
"Oh-you mean, you- I thought..."he trailed off, embarrased. "Sorry."
"No it's fine, well, it's not fine, I mean, you didn't do anything wrong but..." Zoey took a deep breath, "Sirius, I'm pregnant."

Sirius felt like time had stopped, he must have stood there for an eternity just staring off into space. All he could think was 'How could this of happened?' of course, he knew how it happened, but he couldn't believe it had happened. They had only done it one time. He didn't know what to say, what to do, he was in shock. Then he heard Zoey's voice, as if from far away, "Please, say something, anything." he looked up and saw that she was about to cry.

********Zoey's POV**********
"Zoey, are-are you s-sure?", He finally asked.
"She nodded, I'm a month late."
"A-a month? And you didn't tell me sooner?"
"I wanted to, but well, at first I wasn't sure, and didn't want to worry you unless I knew for sure...and then, then when I did know, I was afraid how...I was afraid how you would react. I was afraid you'd be mad at me...", Zoey confessed.
"Zoey," Sirius sighed, "If I'm mad, it's at myself, for making you believe that you couldn't trust me with this sooner, that I would leave if I knew...with any other girl, that probably would be the case."
"So, your-your not upset?"
"Maybe a little, I wish you'd told me sooner Zo, I could have been worried with you this last month, and you didn't have to be on your own. I promise you won't be on your own with this again.”, He Kissed the top of her head. They walked back into the common room about two hours later, they had sat there talking for what felt like ever, trying to figure out their options. Not that they really had any they could come up with. They had decided on one thing, or at least Sirius had, he was going to find a way to take care of them. When they rejoined their friends sitting around the fireplace they were both very quiet.
"Hey Padfoot, what's with you?" James asked after about 20 minutes, "I have never in my life seen you so quiet after spending two hours up in the boys dorm with a girl."
Zoey and Sirius exchanged a glance, they knew that they would have to tell their friends eventually, but had hoped that eventually wouldn't start for at least a few weeks.
Sirius nodded at her, "It's up to you." he whispered.
"Zoey, what is going on?" Lily asked, "No secrets, remember?"
Zoey sighed, "No secrets." Sirius took her hand, to show his support, "I guess you guys would have found out anyways, I-I'm pregnant."
"Are you serious?", James asked.
But even before Zoey nodded he knew the answer, if this had been some cruel prank they'd cooked up, Sirius wouldn't have been able to resist making some lame joke about his name.
"In that case, we'll be there for you guys, whatever you need.", Lily promised, giving her friend a hug.
"Yea, Zo, we're here for you.”, Anna agreed, while Claire nodded.
"Same goes for me," Remus said, "Just call and I'll be there."
"I'm here for you to Sirius, and I'm sure my parents will help out, they think of you like a son, so I'm sure they'll treat this kid of yours like their own grandchild."
"Well, they had better not get used to the whole grandchild idea...at least not for a few more years." Lily muttered under her breathe.
"Thanks you guys! You don't know how much this means.", Zoey said, her eyes filling with tears.

Okay, so the next chapter should be up soon...I'm being kinda lazy right now and don't feel like setting up a seperate thread for feedback...So please just leave feedback here. I really wanna know what you guys think, even if all you have to say is "That fic is a piece of garbage why on earth would anybody post it?!" Please tell me that, I want an honest answer. lol.