Hate and Love

Chapter One: Returning & Tales of Trouble

“The most wasted of all days is one without laughter.”

-e.e. cummings

Monday, September 1^st, 1977

I can't believe this is our seventh year already. Our very last. It seems like just yesterday I was a first year. This year will have to be better than before. I’m Head Girl, Remus is Head Boy, Sarah is currently crush-free, and this is the last year of horrible tests to go through. Now, if only that insufferable toerag Potter would behave and maybe deflate his ego, it would be even better. Lily thought as she stared out the window of the Hogwarts Express. She looked up as a brown-haired blue-eyed girl sat down on the seat across from her and sighed.

“What did you do to your hair?” Lily asked the girl across from her.

“What you don’t like it? I think it makes me look…sophisticated,” Sarah, Lily’s best friend answered, searching for the right word.

“If you say so,“ Cassidy said from her spot next to Lily, tucking her light blonde hair behind her ears.

“I think it does,” Lane said and gave Sarah a smile from her place aside of her. “Who were you with?” Lane asked her.

“I was helping the sixth years along a bit,” Sarah answered her.

“Doing what?” Lily asked warily, not sure if she really wanted to know.

“Ah…nothing,” Sarah replied with a certain glint in her eyes. “Oh no! I forgot! Celia still has my necklace that she ‘borrowed’ from me last year. I’m going to go find her. Go with me Lane?” Sarah said.

“No, you go ahead,” Lane said shaking her head no.

“Aw, you’re no fun,” Sarah said hitting Lane playfully on the arm as she stood up and exited their compartment.

“Geez what was that for?” Lane asked, rubbing her arm a bit.

“Sarah is so violent,” Cassidy commented.

“Don’t say that, she is not,” Lily scolded as she whacked Cassidy on the arm with the back of her hand.

“Lily!” Cassidy exclaimed.

“Sorry Cass,” Lily apologized.

“You are too now. Sarah’s rubbed off on you too much,” Cassidy said. “It won’t be long now before you go crazy like her too.”

“She’s not crazy, just a bit…out there?” Lily tried to defend her friend.

“Sure Lily,” Cassidy said, not agreeing with her at all.

“AH-HA! I HAVE RESCUED THE MISSING JEWEL OF THE AMONTILADO FROM THE DEEP BLUE OCEAN SEA!” Sarah said happily as she entered their compartment with a necklace in her hand.

“Just ‘out there’?” Cassidy asked with a raised eyebrow.

“Ah. I see you’ve all been talking about me again when I was gone! Did you miss me? Were you talking about my beautiful hair? Or my amazing good looks? Or my charm and wit? So many things to choose from…” Sarah joked with them. She sat down again across from Lily. “And Lily, I think your dear Potter might be looking for you. I think he knows you’re Head Girl,” Sarah warned her, knowing how much Lily disliked him.

“Again? And I haven’t even set foot off of the rain yet. Why does he care that I’m Head Girl?“ Lily said. “It’s none of his business.”

Sarah stared at Lily, but then remembered quickly. She hadn’t told her. She exchanged a glance with Lane who has a look of disbelief on her face.

“No wonder,” Lane said quietly, barely above a whisper.

“What Sarah?” Lily asked irritably.

Sarah twirled a strand of her hair around her finger as she usually did when she was nervous or thinking. “Nothing Lily. It’s nothing,” she assured her, even though she inwardly groaned. Lily is going to kill me later once she knows I knew and I forgot to tell her. Sarah thought, not looking forward to that time.

Cassidy adjusted her watch and quickly stood up. “Come on Lily, we have to go to the prefects meeting or we’re going to be late!” Cassidy exclaimed dragging Lily out of the compartment with her.

Lane turned to Sarah. “She doesn’t know, does she?” Lane asked her. Sarah was laughing.

“This will be interesting,” Sarah said between laughs.

“What will be?” Sirius Black inquired as the their compartment door opened revealing him leaning against the doorway with Peter behind him. They entered and Sirius sat down next to Sarah with Peter opposite him.

“Lily finding out that only her favoritest person in the whole world, James Potter, is Head Boy,” Sarah said with a large grin upon her face .

“She doesn’t know?” Sirius asked her.

“Nope,” Sarah said shaking her head back and forth.

“It will be then,” Sirius agreed.

“Didn’t anyone tell her?” Peter asked.

“Well…I was supposed to, but I sort of…forgot,” Sarah said sheepishly.

“Good going,” Sirius commended her.

“Lily will not be happy when she finds out. And I bet she’ll be even madder when she finds out that you knew and didn’t tell her,” Lane said.

“Ugh, I know. Don’t remind me,” Sarah groaned.

“How was your vacation Peter?” Lane asked him.

Peter swallowed hard. He wasn’t about to say the truth, it hurt too much. Instead he settled for a little half-lie. “I mostly took care of my mum. She hasn’t been feeling too well lately,” he said, refusing to look Lane in the eye as he said this.

“Oh I’m sorry. I hope she feels better,” Lane said, hoping she didn’t offend him.

“It’s alright,” he answered quietly.

“What did you do all summer?” Sirius turned to Sarah as he asked her.

“Oh lots of interesting stuff,” Sarah said evenly, wanting him to asker her more.

“Like what?” he asked.

“Oh, the usual, shopping with Lane and Lily, partying nearly every night at that club in London, and nearly getting arrested…everyday stuff you know,” Sarah told him.

“Nearly getting arrested?” Peter asked, eyes widening. “What did you do?”

“Lane and I were going shopping in the muggle place and we were trying on sunglasses. I pushed a pair onto my head, and well, I forgot about them,” Sarah said.

“Like something else I can think of,” Lane said.

“Oh shush!,” Sarah told her. “It’s not my fault. Anyways, when we went out of the store this awful alarm went off! I didn’t know what was going on, until two cops appeared before us. I was scared! I thought they were going to lock us up like they did in that one movie we saw!”

“He wanted to,” Lane said. “But then Sarah started flirting with the younger looking one and he talked the older on into letting her off with just a warning, which is all she got luckily. My mum would’ve had our head if she would’ve had to bail you out of jail,” Lane told Sarah.

“I know, thank Merlin that didn’t happen,” Sarah said thankfully.

“Then what happened?” Sirius asked.

“We went home,” Lane said simply.

“Oh,” Sirius said, obviously quite disappointed with their ending.

“Well, to Lane’s home. We were listening to music, and we turned it up a bit, and before we knew it Lane’s mum was banging on the door. We turned the music off, and her mum and the same old copper was standing in her doorway! Can you believe it!” Sarah exclaimed.

“No,” Peter said in disbelief.

“Yes,” Sarah reassured him quickly.

“And he was yelling saying one of our old neighbors complained about the noise. He said he thought he saw us before but I had to reassure him that he didn’t. I didn’t tell my mum about earlier that day and she would’ve been furious with me. Sarah disappeared somehow and left me to deal with the cop and my mum afterwards. I swear if the whole block couldn’t of have head the music, they definitely heard her screaming afterwards,” Lane said.

“Two run-ins with the cops in one day?” Sirius asked.

Sarah nodded.

“Almost beats me and James’.”

“How many have you had in one day then?” Lane asked a bit hurt that they had more.

“Five,” Sirius told them smugly.

“Five?” Sarah, Lane, and Peter all asked at once.

“Five,” Sirius repeated.

“How did you manage that?” Sarah asked him.

“Well, over the summer we decided to wander out of Diagon Alley. We found this great big glass shop, and so we went inside. James found a little glass ball and we were fooling around with it until the shopkeeper saw us and yelled at us, we her shouting scared James and he dropped the glass ball. She started having a fit, and demanded that we paid for it. As it turns out, the little money we had exchanged at Gringott’s wasn’t enough to pay for the ball. She asked for our parents’ number so could ring them up, and we gave her a fake number. She told us to stay where we were. So when she went behind her little desk to call, we slipped out of the store. She was talking on the phone to the police, I heard her. We made our way down the street. There was terrible yelling coming from one of the houses, so we peeked inside and there were two people fighting. James and I were fighting for the better view, and he fell off of the crate we were standing on. Needless to say, the two people saw us and one of them yelled to the other to call the police. We ran from that place like crazy. James saw a park and suggested that we go there so we did. He laid down on the grass to catch his breathe and I sat down next to him. Supposedly it’s illegal to be on the grass in a park, and this cop started yelling at us, waving his arms over his head as he ran towards us. We didn’t stay long enough to find out what the consequences were.”

“Then what happened?” Sarah asked, fully enraptured in his story.

“We walked around the town a little, until we found a candy store. We ate some of the stuff, which isn’t half as great as the stuff at Honeyduke’s, and apparently you’re not supposed to do that. So when we tried to apologise and pay for the stuff we’d eaten, the police were rang up. But then all we had left were knuts and sickles, no muggle money, and the man wasn’t too happy with us. We had to run out of that store, but the police were just arriving and luckily we out-ran them or else we wouldn’t of have been able to explain ourselves and our lack of money and parents. We got lost and had to ask for directions, which if we just would’ve followed my directions, instead of James’, we would’ve been there half an hour earlier without any help. Luckily the lady we asked knew where the Leaky Cauldron was. We took a booth and ordered, but then the police showed up at the door, but we ran out the back and into Diagon Alley. James parents had asked us where we were when we found them, but we didn’t tell them. They wouldn’t of have been to happy with us,” Sirius finished.

“That’s a great story,” Sarah said, laughing. “That couldn’t of have really happened.”

“It did!” Sirius exclaimed. “Ask James yourself!”

“Sure Sirius,” Lane said, also laughing.

“It really did happen!” Sirius insisted.

The compartment door swung open to reveal a very upset Lily Evans.

“Uh-oh,” Sirius said quietly as he saw her face.

“You two,” Lily said pointing her finger at Sirius then Peter, “out.” The two boys quickly scrambled out of the compartment as she paced in front of Sarah and Lane.

After about a minute of this pacing, she managed to say it. “James Potter is Head Boy,” she said, stopping in front of them.

“We sort of knew,” Lane said.

“What? You two knew? Why didn’t you tell me?” Lily demanded.

“Sarah was supposed to…” Lane started to say.

“But I just…forgot. Sorry Lily,” Sarah apologised.

“You forgot? You forgot to tell me that James Potter is Head Boy? I don’t believe this!” Lily exclaimed in frustration, throwing her hands up in defeat.

“Where’s Cassidy?” Lane asked.

“Patrolling with Remus. Don’t try and change the subject. How could you forget Sarah? This is huge! I could’ve at least tried to prepare, instead of walking into the Prefects’ compartment and asking what James was doing there. That would’ve saved me quite a bit of humiliation,” Lily said.

“I’m sorry,” Sarah repeated.

“Why him? Why not Remus? At least someone I could tolerate. What was Dumbledore thinking?” Lily said hopelessly.

“There has to be some reason that he picked him. We just don’t know why yet,” Lane tried to console Lily.

“I think Dumbledore’s lost it,” Lily said. “This is only going to encourage them to do whatever they want, whenever simply because James is Head.”

“If he does that, then he’ll lose his badge. He can’t let them get away with murder and know about it. Dumbledore wouldn’t allow it,” Lane told her.

“That’s true. He could always loose his position by not following the rules…”

“Lily, leave him alone. Don’t try to make him loose Head Boy. I know what that pretty head of yours is thinking,” Sarah warned her.

“Damn,” Lily said, snapping her fingers. “There goes my plan.”

“Calm down Lily. I doubt it’ll be half as bad as you think it’s going to be.”

“Easy for you to say, Lane. You don’t have to work with him.”

“And live with him,” Sarah added.

“What?” Lily demanded, glaring at Sarah.

“Remember? The Heads get their own rooms.”

“Shit,” Lily said slumping down in her seat. “This year can’t possibly get any worse right now.”

“If you say that it will,” Sarah warned her.

The black clouds that had started to gather in the sky seemingly burst open and the rain poured down.

“Great,” Lily said sarcastically. “Now it’s raining.”

“Oh, just think of the first-years. Having to cross the lake in the rain, poor Ali,” Lane said staring out of the window watching the rain fall.

“Who’s Ali?” Sarah asked her.

“My cousin,” Lane said. “I left her with Hattie and her friend Melissa. Mum said that Hattie and I were supposed to look after her.”

“How are you supposed to look after her?”

Lane shrugged, “I don’t know. I hope she gets into Ravenclaw though so I don’t have to put up with her. She gets annoying really fast.”

“Aw. Does Hattie like her?” Lily asked.

“Yeah. Actually, Ali reminds me of Melissa a lot. They’re both really talkative and annoying. I don’t know how Hattie deals with either of them. I swear that Hattie isn’t my sister. She has so much patience with people,” Lane said.

“You do too though, I just don’t think you realize it,” Lily told her.

“Doesn’t matter. I still don’t want her in Gryffindor.”

The compartment door slid open and Cassidy stepped inside and took a seat next to Lane across from Lily. “Hey guys.”

“How was patrolling?” Lane asked.

“Boring. Nothing ever happens on the train,” Cassidy replied. “I don’t even see why we have to do it.”

“Speaking of, who’s patrolling now?” Lily asked Cassidy.

“The sixth years,” Cassidy answered.

“I better make sure they’re doing it right. That Carson is trouble I know it,” Lily said and stood up. “I better go check and make sure Potter is ready to do rounds too. I can’t believe my luck,” she muttered as she walked out of the compartment, the door sliding shut behind her.

“Do you think this year they’ll get together?” Lane asked.

“Most definitely,” Sarah answered with a smile playing upon her lips.

Chapter Two: New and Partly Shiny

“Don't let anyone ever make you feel like you don't deserve what you want.”

Monday, September 1^st, 1977

The entranceway was buzzing with excitement and the chattering of returning students. The large mass of students was gradually filing into the Great Hall and sitting at their respective tables.

“Finally!” Sarah exclaimed as her foot touched the stone floor of the Great Hall.

Lily laughed and guided their little group towards the back end of the Gryffindor table. They were seventh years now. Seniority rules.

Sarah sat down next to Lily on one side of the table with Lane and Cassidy on the other side.

“Where are all the boys?” Lane asked, she couldn’t see the Marauders anywhere.

“They probably got lost and didn’t want to ask for directions,” Lily replied.

“Sorry to disappoint, Lily dear, but we’re here,” James said sitting down next to Lily.

“Damn, too bad,” Lily muttered just loud enough for James to hear though.

It didn’t take too long before the returning students were settled and McGonagall placed the sorting hat on the stool. It was hard for Lily to see the hat, but she remembered almost exactly what it looked like from when she had to place it on her head.

Halfway through the sorting when Lane sat up straight. “Look! There’s Ali!” Lane said, poking Cassidy in the side and pointing to a girl with brown hair and chocolate brown eyes as she sat on the stool and placed the hat on her head.

The Sorting Hat shouted, “Ravenclaw!” a few seconds after she sat down. Ali look relieved and scampered off to the table where most of the applause was coming from. Lane relaxed in her seat, “Good, she’s in Ravenclaw. Hattie can look after her then.”

“I’m starving,” Sirius announced as his stomach rumbled.

“You’re always hungry,” Sarah said. “Besides, there’s only a few more left. I’m sure you can wait.”

“I’m not sure I can,” Sirius warned.

Sarah shot him a look, “You’ll have to.”

“There’s only one more to go,” Remus said.

As soon as the last first-year had been sorted into Hufflepuff, Professor Dumbledore stood up.

“I’d like to say this: Welcome back to our returning students, and welcome to our new students. Enjoy the feast.” As Dumbledore sat down, the surfaces of the tables were covered in mountains of food. He looked around the Great Hall, evidently pleased with the scene before him. The room was quickly filled with noise and the gentle chatter of students again.

Sirius shoved mouthful of food after another into his mouth. How he managed to fit it all in was amazing. Sarah watched him for a few seconds then asked, “Do you even swallow?”

He paused for a second, as if to think, then looked at her and smiled. “Nope.”

“Where does it all go?” Sarah asked.

“They’re all bottomless pits,” Lily said, motioning to James who looked as if he had never eaten before either.

“Looks like it,” Sarah agreed.

~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~

Dumbledore stood up and all the conversations stopped. “I hope you all have enjoyed the feast. I have a few start-of-term announcements. Your schedules will be delivered to you at breakfast tomorrow. Mr. Filch has returned for another year, and he has taken the liberty of putting a list outside of his office of all the items not to be used in school. He wishes me to remind you that magic is not to be used in between classes. The Forbidden Forest is forbidden, as always. I’d like to introduce the new Head Boy and Girl. This year they are both from the same house: James Potter and Lily Evans.” Everyone clapped for the two as they stood up. James waved to a few people, clearly enjoying the attention. Lily blushed and bobbed her head in acknowledgement. “After the feast, I would like you two to meet me outside of my office. That is all, enjoy your first night back,” Dumbledore concluded. ~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~

Professor Dumbledore led them down a series of corridors until he stopped in front of a painting of a sprite. “This is Arabelle. It leads to your Heads’ room. You’ll have to make up a password. I’ll leave you two to explore your new home. Enjoy,” he told them and left them alone in the corridor.

“We need a password,” Lily said.

“Yeah,” James agreed.

“What about ‘James is the hottest Head Boy ever’?” Adalyn from Ravenclaw suggested as she stopped behind the two and winked at James. Lily glared at her. “I’ll see you around,” she said to James and continued down the hallway.

“That’s not a bad idea. What about ‘Lily and James are the hottest Heads ever’?” he proposed.

“Sure,” Lily agreed. “Did you get that?” she asked Arabelle who giggled and nodded.

“Lily and James are the hottest heads ever,” James said and the painting sprung forward. James followed Lily into their own private common room. It was smaller than the Gryffindor common room, since it was meant just for two, although it was decorated in red and gold.

Lily went up the four steps to the left side of the room and opened the door with the plaque “Head Girl.” her room was beautiful.

“Lily!” she heard James call.

“Never mind! I’m already here!” Sarah said as she walked into Lily’s room. “Lily! This is awesome!”

“I know!” Lily replied.

Sarah wandered over to a door on the other side of Lily’s room. “Where’s this go?”

“I don’t know. Open it,” Lily told her.

Sarah opened the door and walked into a bathroom. Damn! I wish I was Head Girl! Another door. Where does that one go? A closet? She opened it only to find James Potter. “Hey James. Nice room,” she said looking around.

“What is this?!? My best friend and my…” Sirius faltered only for a second, “Sarah! Together!” Sirius held a hand over his heart.

“Oh shut it you prat,” she started to walk out of James’ room. “Besides, it’s not my fault he’s better looking,” she added, just loud enough for them to hear her as she closed the door behind her.

Sirius Black gaped at the spot where Sarah had been standing. “Wha…? She…Did you…? You…said I was…Did you hear her?!?” Sirius finally managed to sputter.

James smiled. “Yes, I heard her.”

Sirius started to pace James’ room. “Well?”

“Well what?” James asked him, clearly amused.

“What am I going to do about…” he broke off and motioned to the bathroom door.

“What? Do you have to use the water closet, mate?” James laughed, not making it any easier for Sirius.

“No! Sarah!” he shouted.

“Nothing, I suppose. You heard her, she likes me better,” James said casually.

“She can’t like you. She likes me. Lily even said so,” Sirius said. “Anyways, what’s the password?”

“It’s: Lily and James are the hottest Heads ever. Wait. How’d you get in?” James questioned him.

“Let’s just say if a good-looking guy ever wants to come in, it’s no problem.”

“Then how did you manage to get in?” Lily asked from James’ doorway to the bathroom they shared.

“Very funny Lily,” Sirius said dryly.

“His ego can only take so many hits a day,” James said as Sirius collapsed onto a chair.

“What do you want?” Sirius asked her.

“Hmmmm…I don’t remember,” Lily said and walked back into the bathroom.

“Wait! Lily!” Sirius called her. Lily turned around. “Does Sarah like me?”

“I don’t know. She said she hated you like, a minute ago, before she left, but there’s no way of telling when hate just covers up another emotion. There’s a fine line between hate and love.” She walked into the bathroom and closed the door behind her, returning to her room.

“So there is hope,” James said, thinking about what Lily had just said.

“There is,” Sirius repeated, thinking about Sarah.

~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~

Tuesday, September 2^nd, 1977

“This year will be extremely difficult. I will prepare you for your N.E.W.T.S at the end of this year. You must be prepared to face the real world and all of its dangers. I expect-” this is where Lily stopped listening. Instead she got out a piece of parchment and wrote to Sarah. I hate the first day. All the classes are lectures on expectations, and about NEWTs. Boring.

I know. I think I’m going to fall asleep.

Me too. What’s the point? We know what’s expected of us and whatnot. Ha. Sirius is sending you dirty looks.

Bastard. He needs to be taught a lesson.

What did you say to him yesterday that got him all mad? James said something about how Sirius can only take so many blows to his ego or something.

Oh, that. I told him that James was hotter than he was.

Haha. How did he take it?

I dunno. I left after that.

Oh so that’s why you just left then.

Yes. Sirius was being a prat. How’s James?

Uh, fine I guess. How would I know?

Well, you do sort of live with him now.

Don’t remind me. He’s been sort of…weird lately.

Weird how?

He hasn’t asked me out yet, but it’s only the second day of school. I haven’t seen a prank yet. And he’s just not acting so arrogant, I guess.

And this is bad?

No.

So you like it then?

I’m just saying that he’s different. Seriously, Sarah. You make it sound like…I don’t know. I was obsessed with him or something.

You? Obsessed? Never!

Shut up Sarah. You’re just as bad as them.

No I’m not. And you know it. Or else you would try and hate me. But you love me so much! Haha.

Yes, and you’re lucky too. I don’t know how I put up with someone as crazy as you.

Look at Hayley’s hair. It’s so cute.

Yea. I like it. How’d she do it?

If I knew, my hair wouldn’t be looking as horrible as it is now.

Please, Sarah. Your hair looks fine. Lane can probably do it like that.

Yes! Lane is awesome at that stuff! Look at my picture.

Lily looked at the picture Sarah had drawn. It was of McGonagall giving her speech with all of the class snoozing around her. The people looked real. Lily found herself sitting next to Sarah in the picture with a piece of paper between them.

That’s really good Sarah.

It’s ok. Not the best.

You should be an artist, Sarah.

And give up my dreams? Never. Drawing’s only for fun. Do you know what I want to learn how to do?

Now what?

Learn how to play the guitar.

What? Do you even have a guitar??

My dad has one. At home. I found it. But I didn’t ask him about it.

Why not?

It um….wasn’t really a good time to ask.

Why?

It just wasn’t. I do believe the Head Boy is looking at you Lily.

Big deal. What do I care?

Lily, I think you should go out with him.

Riiiiiighhhhttttttttt. This is coming from the girl who thinks Zane Ashby is hot.

Lily! He totally is!! Lane, Lia, Celia, and the rest of the female population thinks so too! It’s not my fault he doesn’t have black hair and hazel eyes, doesn’t go to our school, and isn’t Head Boy…

Stop Sarah. I DO NOT like James. We’re barely even friends. And Zane is not hot. Never. Ever. Not even in a million years.

Sure. I’ll remember that.

You better.

I will. Those words will come back to bit you in the arse.

Which ones?

All.

Ok, Sarah. Whatever you say.

You just watch Lily Evans.

I will, my dear Sarah. What happened to your hand?

What’s wrong with it?

That scratch thing there.

My dad’s owl scratched me there.

Oh.

Look at my nails Lily! They’re FINALLY growing.

Haha. Good for you Sarah.

I know. Too bad that spell didn’t work…

That was a disaster! The rug wouldn’t stop growing! I seriously thought it would like, strangle us.

Strangle us? A rug?

It might’ve. If I didn’t remember how to stop it. It could’ve blocked all of the airways.

Lily, darling, we’re witches.

Right. Good job Sarah.

I know... Oooh! She’s done talking! Yay!

The bell’s going to ring.

Bells are annoying.

But they’re liberating.

Lily grabbed the piece of parchment they were writing on and stuffed it into her bag as they made their way to History of Magic.

~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~ Sarah swatted at Sirius’ hand. “Stop touching my hair,” she said and resumed talking to Lia who was sitting next to her. Sirius tugged a piece of her hair again. “What do you want?” she asked him.

“Nothing,” he replied with a smile. She turned her back to him, and he tapped her on the shoulder.

“What, Sirius? What do you want?” Sarah asked him again.

“You.”

Sarah stifled a laugh. “Sure.” She resumed talking to Lia when Sirius ran his finger up and down her spine, giving her chills. “Do you like to annoy me?”

“Yes,” he answered, cocking his head to one side. “You’re hot when you’re angry.”

“Yeah well, you’re hot all the time, Black,” Sarah answered just as the bell rang. “I’ll talk to you later, Lia.”

~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~

“She’s not up there,” Sarah said as she walked down the stairs from Lily’s room. She slipped and fell down two steps. “Ow!” Sarah cried out as she hit the floor.

“Are you ok?” James asked her, offering her a hand. She grabbed his hand and stood up.

“Yeah, I’m fine. If anyone could fall down two steps, It’d be me!” Sarah laughed. “OW!” Sarah yelled again when she put weight on her left ankle.

“You’re obviously not ok,” James told her and scooped her up and carried her to the couch where he set her down.

“James, I’m fine, really.” She tried to stand, but plopped down on the sofa again. “It only hurts a little bit,” she told James who looked at her in disbelief.

“Stay here, I’m going to get a bandage,” he told her as he walked up into his room.

“I’m not bleeding or anything,” Sarah muttered. James came down with an ace bandage and started to wrap it around Sarah’s left ankle when she grabbed it from him. “I can do it myself you know,” she told him and wrapped her own ankle. James smiled at her independence and sat down next to her.

Sarah didn’t know why she did it. She blamed it on the fall (it had messed up her brain more so) and on James, sitting there smiling at her. Sure she had thought about it before, (what girl hadn’t?). But that was before, when she was a little 2^nd year. She did not know what came over her. She didn’t know what possessed her to kiss James. But she did know that she was out of there in a flash, despite her throbbing ankle. She could hear his footsteps getting closer. There was a door on her left. Sarah opened it, only to find Sirius and Kirsten, a 6^th year Gryffindor, snogging.

“You’re disgusting,” she glared at Sirius. “Shove over,” she told them as she fit herself into the broom closet with them.

“But Sarah, there isn’t enough room,” Kirsten said, pleading to Sarah with her eyes. This was her time with Sirius, not Sarah’s.

“Shut up. This is not a good time,” Sarah said. Sirius moved closer to Kirsten making more room for her on his left. Sarah sat down next to him.

“So Sarah, what brings you to my broom closet?” Sirius asked.

“It’s nothing,” Sarah dismissed his question.

“Is it a guy?” Kirsten asked her.

Sarah didn’t reply.

“So it is a guy!” Kirsten exclaimed. “Who?”

Sarah glared at Kirsten. Sirius felt for Sarah’s hand and held it, out of Kirsten’s sight. Sarah pulled her hand out of his. She got up and stuck her head out of the closet for James. He wasn’t outside of the closet.

“You, Sirius, are the most despicable man-whore I’ve ever had the unfortunate-ness of meeting. And you, Kirsten, can do better,” Sarah told them, and with that, she left.

~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~

“Boys are stupid. I can’t believe it. One moment he’s flirting with me and the next I find him snogging Kirsten in a broom closet! What am I supposed to make of that?” Sarah asked Lia. She didn’t dare tell Lia why she found Sirius in the broom closet. Lia didn’t have to know everything. Or the whole school would.

Lia shook her head sympathetically. “I don’t know,” she responded.

“Oh well. Thanks Lia,” Sarah said and left Lia’s dorm in Hufflepuff for her own. Thankfully, she didn’t see James or Sirius. She trudged up to their dorm. Lane was sitting at her desk working on something. “LANE! My best-est friend! You know I love you, don’t you!”

“What do you want, Sarah?” Lane smiled.

Sarah sat on her bed. “Well, today in History of Magic, Sirius was being really annoying, like always. And he was flirting with me. Then after Herbology, I went up to Lily’s dorm. And she wasn’t there…then when I left I fell down those stupid stairs. I hurt my ankle and everything and James brought me a bandage to wrap it and I did. Then I…kissed him. And I left, and I heard him try to follow me, so I opened a door to hide in a classroom or something and I find Sirius snogging Kirsten! And I don’t know what to do!” Sarah cried in anguish.

“Who do you like?” Lane asked her.

“I don't know. I thought I sort of liked Sirius, but he’s just a big flirt. And I’ve never really thought about James like that. Until…well, I kissed him. He’s not a bad kisser, you know,” Sarah told her.

“You’ve got a problem,” Lane told her.

“I know. And you’re the problem-solver. So what should I do?” Sarah asked her again.

“I don’t know. What about Lily?” Lane queried.

“Who knows. You know, she doesn’t have any claim on him, or anything. She’s not going out with him. Oh what a mess that would’ve been…if she was. But she’s not.”

“See where James takes you,” Lane told her. This might work. If Lily sees Sarah and James together, she might get jealous and realize that she does like him.

“What?” Sarah asked Lane in disbelief.

“You’re right. Lily has no claim on him. If you like James, go for it. See what happens,” Lane repeated.

“Thanks Lane.”

“Anytime.” I just hope it works.

Sarah left their dorm, thinking things over in her head.

~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~

Lily saw it the second time too. Sarah had been talking, and they slowly moved closer and closer together. Until Sarah and James were snogging. Again. She went back into her room and read. Sometimes their pretend world was better than her own. With friends who didn’t snog the Head Boy with no warning. The picture of her and Sarah caught her eye. She got up and placed it face down on her dresser. She went back to her bed and read.

~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~

Sarah stared into the empty fireplace, it wasn’t cold enough to need a fire yet. Lily had seen them kiss, Sarah was sure of that. Lily didn’t like it. It was times like these when she was glad that she could read minds. Knowing that Lily didn’t like Sarah and James kissing bothered her. She was supposed to be loyal to her best friend. If loyalty was your best quality, you’d be in Hufflepuff. Not in Gryffindor. Sarah told herself. Still, she felt bad.

Disclaimer: I do not own Harry Potter

Chapter 3: Yelling

“Don’t forget what people say when they’re angry. That’s when the truth comes out.”

Wednesday, September 3^rd, 1979

Lily sat down next to Cassidy. And James. It was the only spot left. Sarah was sitting across from her, to Lily’s distaste.

“Great. It’s raining again,” Lane said, looking at the ceiling of the Great Hall.

Cassidy groaned. “I hate the rain,” she said.

Sarah peered at the ceiling. It was a dark grey outside with dark clouds showering rain on Hogwarts. “I like it,” she decided and ate her eggs.

“You would,” Lily muttered to herself.

“Crap, I forgot my book,” Sarah said rummaging through her bag. “I gotta go get it,” Sarah said, getting up from the table. Lane went with her. Lily glared at Sarah’s back.

“What’s wrong with you?” Cassidy asked her.

“Nothing,” Lily replied.

“Well then what’s going on with you and Sarah?”

“Nothing, Cass, don’t worry about it,” Lily told her.

~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~

James looked at his door as he sat on his bed. Sarah had just told him that it meant nothing. The kiss. He agreed. She was a distraction, as much as he hated to admit it. From Lily. The girl who haunted all of his dreams. Who he wanted more than anything. Who he loved. Who was just a room away. A distraction, like all the other girls had been. A few times he even fooled himself, thinking he was finally over Lily Evans. I’ll never be over her, James thought miserably. Lily Evans has my heart, and she won’t even give me a piece of hers.

~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~

Sarah was unbelievably happy. She opened the door to Lily’s room, she didn’t even bother to knock. Lily was doing her work at her desk, but she looked up at Sarah.

Why the hell is she so happy? Another make-out session with James? Lily thought.

Sarah sat on Lily’s bed. “It’s over. Although…it never really begun…”

Lily shook her head. Sarah could be so vague when she wanted to be. “What are you talking about?” Lily asked her.

“James. I don’t like him Lily. I’m sorry,” Sarah said. She lowered her head and stared at her fingernails.

Lily hated Sarah as soon as she said she was sorry. Sarah’s always sorry. She always screws up, and expects everyone to forgive her. Lily thought bitterly. And Lily always did. And Sarah always forgave Lily when she did something stupid, which wasn’t often. (Lily usually thought things out.) But they were best friends. Lily walked over to her bed and sat down next to Sarah. She hugged her.

“Lily, I truly am sorry,” Sarah said quietly. “I never should’ve kissed him. And I still think you should go out with him. He’s a great kisser,” Sarah told Lily, and they laughed. They talked a little and Sarah left Lily to her thoughts.

~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~

“I think that’s one of the fastest relationships you ever had, Sarah,” Lane said after Sarah told her about what she had said to James.

“Yeah. But we didn’t even go out. I think Lily was relieved…” Sarah said.

“Do you think she likes him?” Lane asked her.

“Yes. Or at least a little,” Sarah said.

“I haven’t heard him ask her out… Maybe he really has grown-up,” Lane wondered.

“Maybe. I don’t want to grow up. I’d like to stay here forever…” Sarah said laying down on her bed.

“I don’t think you’ll ever grow up,” Lily laughed, walking into her old dorm. “Where’s Cass?”

Lane smirked. “Off with Remus…studying. Supposedly.”

“Really?” Sarah sat up quickly.

“Yes. She was ‘studying’ with him last night too…”

“Ah!” Sarah squealed. “Somebody has a crush!”

“Aw. Cassidy and Remus. They’d be so cute together,” Lily said.

“Yeah,” Lane agreed.

“But are they actually going out yet?” Sarah asked.

“No. Not yet. Oooh. Maybe he’ll ask her tonight!” Lane said happily.

“I did see him looking at her today,” Sarah said.

“Yeah, me too,” Lane agreed.

“How’s Alden?” Lily asked her.

“Fine. It’d be better if he were in Gryffindor though, instead of Hufflepuff,” Lane said.

Lily and Sarah shot her sympathetic looks.

“But Garret, he is hot…” Sarah said.

“What?” Lily asked her. Completely insane, she is.

“Garret…he’s in Hufflepuff,” Sarah said defensively. “Isn’t he?”

“Yes,” Lane answered her.

“Well then, maybe you could get Alden to introduce him to me,” Sarah suggested.

“Sarah. You. Are. A. Slut! Snogging James. And dumping him the next day. And looking for a new toy already?” Lily said, infuriated.

“Lily! I’m joking! Chill out!” Sarah said.

“You weren’t. I know you, Sarah. You run from one guy to the next… Much like James and Sirius, come to think about it. But with girls. I can’t believe you, Sarah,” Lily told her.

“AND I can’t believe YOU haven’t DONE anything yet!” Sarah exclaimed.

Lily narrowed her eyes. “What do you mean?”

Lane slipped out of the room. She knew better than to be around when Lily and Sarah got into a row.

“You OBVIOUSLY like JAMES but you won’t DO ANYTHING ABOUT IT!” Sarah yelled.

“I DO NOT LIKE POTTER! GOD SARAH! GET THAT THROUGH YOUR THICK HEAD! I HATE HIM!”

“WHY?”

“WHY? WHY!! BECAUSE! HE IS SO ARROGANT! AND CONCEITED! AND VAIN! AND HE DOES THAT STUPID THING WITH HIS STUPID HAIR. TRYING TO ACT ALL COOL…HE’S NOT COOL!!!! HE’S NOT EVEN CUTE!”

“Not even a little?” Sarah asked.

“WELL MAYBE A LITTLE. BUT THAT’S IT!” Lily continued yelling.

“Then why were you mad when I kissed him?” Sarah asked in a small voice.

“BECAUSE HE’S SUPPOSED TO KISS ME INSTEAD OF SARAH! HE’S SUPPOSED TO LIKE ME! HE’S NOT SUPPOSED TO GO SNOGGING MY BEST FRIEND. IT’S JUST NOT DONE! I THOUGHT HE LIKED me. I thought that maybe, he’d be done with his whole ‘player’ image or whatever. Maybe I thought he should be given a chance. Maybe I wanted to kiss him…” Lily said, drifting off into her thoughts. She didn’t seem to notice that she wasn’t alone, and Sarah was still there.

“Do you like him?”

“Yes,” Lily answered, then snapped out of her trance. “No! I meant to say no!” Lily tried to cover up.

Sarah smiled. “Lane was right. You were jealous. And you do like him, no matter what you say. I’m sorry,” Sarah said again, and left Lily alone in the 7^th year girls’ dorm.

~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~

Friday, September 5^th, 1979

Lily and Sarah were walking back to the Gryffindor Tower. When they rounded a corner and Lily crashed into Amos Diggory, sending Lily’s bag and its contents flying. Lily quickly retrieved all of her belongings.

“I’m sorry,” Amos apologized.

“No, I’m sorry. I wasn’t watching where I was going,” Lily said.

“Um, Lily? Could I talk to you?” Amos asked her. Then he glanced at Sarah, obviously wishing she was somewhere else.

Sarah got the hint. “Here, give me that,” Sarah said talking Lily’s bag from her. “I’ll catch up with you later,” Sarah said, leaving the two alone. Amos likes Lily, Amos likes Lily, Sarah sang to herself in her head. Being a mind reader-person-thing does have its advantages…Now I don’t have to wait to find out that Amos is going to ask Lily out. Oh no…she’ll say yes! Damn. So then my whole kiss-Potter thing, a.k.a. Mission: S(park) J(ealousy) didn’t work. Eh. My plans NEVER work out like I want them to! She was SUPPOSED to rush to Potter and tell him that she likes him! And then it failed AGAIN! Well, partly. She admitted that she likes him and thinks he’s “cute”. So much for Mission: S.J. Haha. S.J. Sarah. James. Oh that’s rich…I can’t believe I just noticed that now…I’m so oblivious. DAMN YOU AMOS! SCREWING UP MY PLANS! EVEN LANE THOUGHT IT HAD A SLIGHT CHANCE OF WORKING! THE WHOLE JEALOUSY THING! Well, I’m never going to try that again. Ew. I kissed POTTER for LILY. Nasty. And now she’s just going out with Amos anyways…gr…not the way I wanted to start my year…

“Pixie Wings,” Sarah said to the portrait of the Fat Lady, which swung open. She made her way up the Girls’ Staircase.

“Sarah! Come here!” Kirsten called out as she passed the 6^th year dorm.

“Merlin. What did you guys do in here?” Sarah asked them. Their dorm was a wreck. Clothing was strewn all over the place, with purses, hair ties, shoes, accessories, and make-up every place imaginable.

“Elisha has a date with Trey,” Kirsten explained, “and we were helping her pick out outfits.”

“Great! Show me the first one!” Sarah said.

~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~

Amos kissed her good-bye outside of the Heads Tower.

“Bye Lily,” he said.

“Bye,” she answered. She watched him walk away from her. “Lily and James are the hottest Heads ever,” Lily said. The sprite giggled and swung open for her.

James looked up at her from the book he was reading. “Why’re you so happy?” James asked her.

Lily smiled at him. “Nothing. You wouldn’t care,” she said and traveled up to her room.

“I do,” James told the empty room.

~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~

Next Friday, September 12^th, 1977

Sarah was walking back to Gryffindor Tower after spending an hour in the library. She heard voices coming from a classroom, that would normally be empty. She stood outside the door; who ever was inside had left it open a crack, and their voices drifted into the hall.

“I thought you didn’t like Lily,” a girl said, Sarah recognized the voice as Katie’s.

“I don’t. Not really,” a boy answered. That’s Amos. Why’s he talking to Katie?

“Then why are you going out with Lily again?” another boy asked. Ew. Brian. I don’t like him. Always thinks he’s freaking right…prat.

“I told you before, Brian. Do you remember last year, when Potter and I made that bet about who would win the Quidditch Cup?” Brian must’ve nodded no here, for there was no reply. Amos continued, “Well, we lost. So then you remember when I went out with Valerie Fomhr?” he said with disgust. “And I had to tell her that I loved her? In front of the entire Great Hall? That was part of the bet. If Potter would’ve lost that would’ve been him. But of course it wasn’t. Not fucking Potter. Well I’m sick of him. It’s time for revenge.”

“So?” Katie asked, Sarah could tell she was obviously bored with his whole speech.

“So? So who does Potter want more than anything?” Amos asked them.

“Lily,” Brian said.

“Yes. So I go out with her, and poor James is left with no one,” Amos said smugly.

“That’s the worst plan I’ve ever heard,” Katie told them with disgust. Yes! One point for Katie! Maybe I should talk to her more…

“What?” Amos asked her, annoyed.

“First off, you and Lily will break up sometime. Then she’ll just run back to James anyways. And then he’ll comfort her, and presto- he’s the hero, and he gets the last laugh. Secondly, how stupid can you be? How many bets have you made with him before and lost? Shouldn’t you have learned your lesson by now? Thirdly, what the hell were you thinking? You seriously thought that was a good plan? You might just as well abandon that one. It sucks. Get him at his own game. Prank him or something. BUT THINK IT OUT FIRST!” Katie told him. Sarah quickly continued on her way to Gryffindor Tower, before she was caught by Katie, Brian, or Amos. Crap. I have to tell Lily. She changed directions and headed for the Heads room. To her disappointment, Lily wasn’t there. Sarah tried their dorm, but Lily wasn’t there either.

“Why? What’s so important?” Lane asked her.

“Amos. He’s a bastard. She has to dump him. Now.” Sarah told Lane.

“Why?”

“He’s just using Lily,” Sarah said.

“Oh. Did you check the Heads room?” Lane asked.

“YES LANE! I’m not completely stupid, you know!” Sarah said. She needed to find Lily now.

“Not completely stupid? So you are then?” Lane said slyly.

“SHUT UP LANE! You weren’t THERE! I’M GOING TO GO FIND LILY! MERLIN!” Sarah yelled as she stormed out of their dorm.

She made her way to the landing that overlooked the Entrance Hall. Sarah saw Lily and Amos walk outside, hand in hand. She noticed James staring after Lily and Amos, with a hurt look on his face, and Sirius pushing him up the steps. Sarah felt bad for him.

“Sarah!” Sirius exclaimed when he saw her.

“Not now Sirius,” Sarah said as she tried to get by him.

“Come on Sarah,” he said wrapping his arm around her waist and pulling her along with them.

“But-” Sarah started to complain.

“Sarah, you should be absolutely delighted. You’re going to help us,” Sirius told her as he half dragged her to the common room. James was walking behind them. Sarah dug her heels into the stone beneath her feet.

“No Sirius. I have to go. Now you bloody prat!” Sarah almost yelled. She had enough of people not listening to her for one day.

“Please, it can’t be half as important as this is,” Sirius said happily.

Lily’s alone with Amos! Merlin, I hope he doesn’t try anything… she instantly thought of the time when he shoved her into a broom closet and tried to snog her, despite her protests. It wasn’t until she kicked him, hard, that he let her go. Don’t let anything happen to Lily. If only this PRAT would let me go! Sarah thought angrily, but Sirius was stronger than she was. Something was going to happen. Something bad. She knew it. James! she realized. She turned her head around, grabbed the front of his robes, and pulled him closer to her until he was in line with her and Sirius, who was still blabbing on about what they were about to do. “Lily is with Amos. Outside somewhere. Go get her. Now. Please James?” she pleaded with him quietly, so Sirius didn’t hear. He nodded. He would do anything for Lily. Sarah just hoped he would get there in time. In time for something bad that Sarah just knew was about to take place.

~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~

A/N: Thanks to the fabulous Bumi, hazeleyedmarauder, anonymous, Fiddlestix, c(=, and lauren_titmus.

I hope you guys enjoyed it.

Please review.

Because then I have a reason to neglect my stupid summer work! I write for the reviewers! Lol.

A/N: Thanks to all the fabulous people who reviewed the last chapter!

Chapter 4: Threats and Heroes

“Is everybody going crazy?
Is anybody gonna save me?
Can anybody tell me what's going on?
Tell me what's going on?
If you open your eyes
You'll see that something, something is wrong.”

- “Crazy” by Simple Plan

Friday, September 12^th, 1979

Lily smiled as Amos led her to a an empty side of the lake, his hand in hers. They sat down, and Amos wrapped his arm around her waist. They had a perfect view of Hogwarts. They faced each other. Amos leaned in to kiss Lily, and she let him. She was so happy.

~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~

“SIRIUS! I HAVE TO GO!” Sarah yelled at him for the millionth time.

“Why? Do you have a date? No, you don’t. Now sit down and listen for once,” he scolded her like a child. Something was happening to Lily. ~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~

Amos broke the kiss. “I’m sorry Lily, but I don’t need you anymore,” he told her quietly.

“What?” Lily asked. What is he talking about? He doesn’t need me?

~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~

Anger welled up inside of Sarah. She crossed her arms over her chest and refused to sit down on Sirius’ bed where he was looking at some piece of parchment. “Sarah, stop acting so spoiled. You have to help me,” Sirius told her.

~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~

“I thought I did. But I don’t. There are other ways.”
What the hell is he talking about? Other ways? Lily started to panic, he was really starting to scare her. His eyes held a glint that she had never seen before. He stood up, towering above her. Lily quickly scrambled to her feet, and stumbled backwards. She lost her footing and fell on her side.

~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~

Sarah snapped.

“I have to help YOU!? You LOCKED me in here! You’re planning some stupid PRANK while SOMETHING is happening to LILY! My BEST FRIEND!!” Sarah whacked him on the arm. “You” -whack- “won’t let me” -whack- “out” -hit- “when something” -kick- “BAD” -punch- “is happening” -whack- “to LILY!” -slap-. Sarah paused to catch her breath and Sirius leapt off of his bed and seized her wrists so she couldn’t hit him anymore.

~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~

“Come on Lily. Get up,” he told her.

Lily was scared. She couldn’t move. She turned towards the woods, and thought she saw something move. Amos roughly pulled her up onto her feet. She gathered all her courage and punched him in his face. He flinched, but her hand hurt more than his face did.

Damn! Ow, ow ow… stupid, stupid, stupid. Help!

~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~

“LET ME GO!” Sarah cried out and tried to wriggle out of Sirius’ grasp. He tightened his grip. “Sirius, please let me go. I have to go help Lily!”

~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~

He pulled out his wand and muttered a charm that held Lily above the ground. Lily reached for her wand, but it wasn’t there. Damn! It must’ve fallen out on the grass! Amos looked around and saw the lake. Oh no! Not the lake! Amos knows perfectly well that I can’t swim! I told him! I shouldn’t have… Amos moved his wand so that it pointed over the lake, and Lily went with it. She looked past Amos, into the woods, and she was certain that she saw someone there, but her mouth wouldn’t move to call for help. Lily stopped moving, and looked down. She could see the inky black water just past her feet. Her heart froze. I’m going to die, Lily thought sadly looking at the water shifting beneath her.

~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~

“Please! Sirius!” Sarah begged him. He just looked at her like a sad puppy.

~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~

“Put her down!” a voice said. Lily looked up and found none other than James standing with his wand pointing at Amos, although James was standing to her right. The movement from the woods was on the left, behind Amos. I think.

Amos grinned and let her go. Lily plunged into the icy cold water. It felt like knives were stabbing her.

~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~

“SIRIUS! You wouldn’t understand! Something’s happening-happened. I have to go. Lily is like my sister and-” Sirius’ lips on hers stopped her mid-sentence. Sarah leaned back, away from him, as soon as her meddled mind could make sense of what was happening. “What are you doing!” Sarah yelled in anger. She had had enough of him for a whole month.

~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~

“Crap!” James yelled as he dove into the lake and swam towards Lily.

I’m dying. What about Sarah? And James? Lane? Sirius? Cassidy and Remus? I’ll miss them… Lily thought. She could feel herself being sucked down into the murky depths of the lake. She couldn’t breathe. Then she felt something grab her arm. It pulled her towards the surface. She gasped for air. Lily heard someone breathing hard, but she kept her eyes shut.

James pulled Lily towards the shore. He could see that Amos had fled. Coward. James thought. He laid Lily on the grass. Good, she still breathing! Lily started coughing, trying to get the water out of her lungs. James quickly found Lily’s wand in the grass and took her in his arms. Lily opened her eyes.

“James,” she said weakly.

“Sh...it’s ok,” he tried to comfort her. Silent tears ran down her cheeks and she wrapped her arms around his neck as he carried her into the school.

~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~

She stomped on his foot, and he immediately let go of her wrists. Sarah stormed to the door. “UNLOCK IT!” she demanded.

~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~

“James?” Lily whispered in his ear.

“Yeah?”

“Take me to my room,” she begged and passed out. James turned back and went to the Heads’ room. He laid Lily on her bed.

~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~

Sirius muttered something, and Sarah was able to open the door, which she did, and ran down the boys’ staircase. Sarah found Lily’s mind, but it wasn’t clear. Lily was sleeping, and dreaming of something cold and dark. Not helping! Oh Merlin, where’s Lily? … JAMES! James has to know! James was thinking about Lily (as usual). And he couldn’t make up his mind whether he should get her or Sirius, or if he should stay and make sure Lily was ok and didn’t wake up alone. Sarah ran up the boys’ staircase and swung open the door to the 7^th year boys’ dorm.

~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~

James brushed Lily’s red hair out of her face and kissed her lightly on her forehead. He sat down in a chair close to her bed and cradled his head in his hands, trying to comprehend what almost happened to Lily. Lily can’t swim.

~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~

“Oi! Let’s go you bloody fucking tart!” Sarah said angrily and ran down the staircase again. She made her way to the Heads’ room as quickly as she could and barreled into Lily’s room with Sirius right behind her.

James lifted his head from his hands, startled by the sudden appearance of Sarah and Sirius.

“What happened?” Sarah asked.

James opened his mouth to reply when Sarah interrupted him, “Wait. I don’t want to know. Lily’ll tell me. Although I would have been there if someone-” she glared at Sirius “-hadn’t decided to hold me captive. Now go. She’ll be fine,” Sarah told James.

“But-” James started to protest.

“-Fine,” Sarah interrupted him again, “you can stay.” Sarah saw that James had good intentions, and she was happy. She turned to Sirius, whom she was still upset with. “You don’t have to be here.” He shrugged, but didn’t leave.

“Should we take her to Madame Promfry? Do you think she’ll be okay?” Sarah asked James fearfully.

“She wanted to come here. She’ll be fine,” James told her. Sarah nodded and moved towards Lily. She had a cut on the side of her face and on her one hand that was on her pillow. Sarah healed them. She conjured a bed for herself on one side of Lily’s bed. There was no way she was going to leave Lily alone. James followed suit and placed his on the other side of Lily’s bed. Sirius conjured a bed too, but placed his next to Sarah’s and not next to James’. Sarah didn’t say anything. She crawled into her bed and shut her eyes.

~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~

Sarah’s bed creaked and someone climbed in beside her. Sarah woke up and turned to find Sirius right beside her. “What are you doing?” she whispered to him in the dark.

“Nothing. Why didn’t you tell me something this bad happened to Lily? James looks horrible,” Sirius asked.

Sarah’s mouth dropped open, even though he couldn’t see it. “I did tell you,” she hissed. “Now go to sleep,” Sarah told him. He didn’t leave her bed. Sarah couldn’t fall back asleep, although she was sure Sirius had. What does Sirius want? What are his intentions? Why me? He was probably just fooling around. I’m thinking too much. She saw James get out of his bed and watched him as he stood over Lily’s sleeping form. He pushed a piece of her hair out of her face and pulled the covers around her body. He gazed at her for a few moments before he went back to his bed.

Sarah smiled to one and closed her eyes. She found she could sleep.

~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~

Saturday, September 13^th, 1979

Lily awoke with a pounding headache. She sat up and found Sirius and James sleeping in a bed on either side of hers. Why? Sarah was sitting at Lily’s vanity brushing her hair, humming. What are they doing here? In my room?

“Lily!” Sarah exclaimed happily, relieved that her best friend was awake. “Are you ok? Are you hurt? What happened last night??”

Last night…Amos…the lake…drowning…James? “How did I get out of the lake?” Lily asked Sarah.

“James. I was being held hostage,” Sarah said sullenly.

“What? How did James know? You? Who held you hostage?”

“I had a feeling. So I told him to go find you. And Sirius would not let me go! He was going on and on about something…I’m really sorry Lily. It wasn’t until I beat him that he let me go!”

“You beat him?”

Sarah bit her lip. “Well, not really. Just whacked him ‘round the head a bit…he wouldn’t listen! And something horrible was happening to you!”

“It’s ok Sarah. I’m fine, really.”

“Are you sure?”

“Yes. I’ve just got a headache,” Lily told her.

“Oh!” Sarah said brightly. “I can fix that,” she said as she pulled out her wand and pointed it at Lily’s head.

Lily shrunk back. It’s not that she didn’t trust Sarah…

“Cabe dufine,” Sarah said and Lily’s headache vanished.

Lily relaxed. “Thanks.”

“Anytime. Are you hungry? Do you feel ok to go down to the Great Hall?” Sarah asked anxiously.

“Lily, you’re awake,” James said when he awoke and placed his glasses on his face.

“Erm…yes,” Lily said.

“I’ll be back,” James said heading to the bathroom and heading into his room.

“I always wanted to wake up to find to lovely ladies waiting for me,” Sirius said as he climbed out of bed.

“I’m sure…” Sarah muttered. “Go away Sirius,” Sarah told him.

“Anything for you, Sarah,” he said as his exited Lily’s room for James’.

“Looks like someone has a crush,” Lily said.

“What? Who?” Sarah asked.

“Sirius. On you,” Lily said.

“Yeah right. Gag me. So…what happened last night?” Sarah asked tentatively.

“Well-don’t tell anyone ok?-Amos and I were just walking and talking. Then we stopped by the lake and he kissed me. And then…he was all weird…he said he didn’t need me…something about other ways…and I fell, he pulled me up…I punched him…then I was over the lake. And I fell into it. That’s all I remember. I really thought I was going to die.”

“Guys there’s no point eavesdropping. Lily would’ve told you if you’d asked,” Sarah said and the two boys grinned sheepishly as they stepped into Lily’s room from the bathroom. Lily looked at James, and his eyes met hers.

“I’m hungry. We’re going to go get some food,” Sirius said, pulling James out of Lily’s room.

Sarah turned to Lily. “I think I know what Amos meant. But not why he did…well, that.” Lily looked at her expectantly. “Well I overheard Amos talking to Brian and Katie yesterday. He was bragging about going out with you, and how he was just using you to get back at James. And then Katie yelled at him and told him that it was the stupidest plan she’d ever heard of, which it was. Anyways, he didn’t need you anymore. But I don’t know what was up with trying to hurt you. I didn’t think he’d stoop that low. I’m sorry.”

“It’s not your fault,” Lily told her.

“But it is! I should’ve gotten to you before Amos did. I’m such a horrible friend. I don’t even deserve to live…”

“Shut up Sarah. You got James to come. You did help. Don’t worry about it.”

“I don’t know. There’s something about James. He got up at all hours of the night to check on you…”

“What? He did?”

“Yes. It was cute! I wish someone would do that for me…”

“Someday they will, Sarah.”

“Maybe. But who? You already have James Potter,” Sarah pointed out.

“Sarah, I do not have James Potter,” Lily told her.

“Sure. He only went running when I told him you were in trouble,” Sarah said sarcastically.

“He’s just…um…”

“Madly in love with you?” Sarah suggested.

“No! Just…nice?” Lily said uncertainly.

Sarah laughed. “Who knows. Maybe one day you’ll finally give him a chance and go out with him. He really is different, you know.”

“But why? Why does everyone insist that I go out with him?” Lily asked.

“Because. James has tried so hard, since like, ever. And you always turn it down. Spice things up a little! Say yes!”

“I don’t know Sarah. I don’t think so.”

“Why?” Sarah whined like a little child.

“Because, he’s Potter.”

“And a damn sexy one too Lily. You said it yourself. You want to be James’ girlfriend. You admitted it. But then you went out with Amos the bastard. So now, do what you should have done a long time ago and say yes to James!”

“How comes it always comes back to this?” Lily asked

“Because there isn’t any good gossip right now,” Sarah said matter-of-factly. “I’ll have to talk to Lia and fix that. And kill Amos while I’m there.”

“Sarah, you can’t kill him,” Lily told her.

“No, but I can try. And if I don’t succeed, I’m sure James will.”

A/N: Finally! A really good chapter. Well, one with action! Lol. Tell me what you think.

Chapter 5: Heartache

“To put it simply, I just want to be someone's everything.”

Still Saturday, September 13^th, 1979

Lily ventured down into the Heads’ room. The last bit of sunlight streamed into the room from the windows. The sun was setting over the lake. James was sitting on a couch reading. “James?” she said walking over towards him.

He looked up at her with his gorgeous hazel eyes.

“Um…listen.” Lily sat down next to him. Why was she so nervous? “I just wanted to thank you. For yesterday. When you saved me. If it weren’t for you, I’d probably be dead…so, thanks,” Lily said quickly.

“No problem.”

There was silence and tension. Well, had always been tension, but never this kind. At least not for Lily, and she was uncomfortable. What should she say? Do? Why did she suddenly feel an urge to kiss him?

Sarah burst into the Heads’ Room. “Lily! Our darling Cassidy and Remus are officially going together!” Sarah yelled. Then she noticed James and Lily sitting together on a couch. “Hey guys!”

“What?” James asked.

“Re-mus and Cas-si-dy are go-ing to-get-her,” Sarah pronounced loudly.

“That’s great,” Lily said, relieved. Sarah always came to her rescue from awkward situations. Lily wasn’t sure if Sarah even knew she did it.

“Lily darling, can I borrow that book of yours?” Sarah asked heading up to Lily’s room.

“Which one?” Lily asked, following Sarah.

“I don’t know. That one that you have with all those different things in it..” Sarah said as she closed the door behind them.

“Thank you Sarah!” Lily exclaimed, sitting on her bed.

“Why?” Sarah asked, though she knew perfectly well why Lily was thanking her.

“Nothing. You just saved me from a very awkward moment,” Lily told her. “Come to think of it…you usually do. How do you know?” Lily asked Sarah. Sarah’s eyes went wide open. Her mouth opened and closed, as if she were going to say something, but then thought better of it. “Sarah?”

“You’re my best friend, Lily,’ Sarah said.

“Yeah? So?” Lily asked uncertainly.

“You’re gonna be mad that I didn’t tell you,” Sarah said blatantly.

“What is it? Just tell me already!”

“I can read minds. And feelings. That’s how I knew you need to get out of there,” Sarah said quickly.

“What! Like legilimency?” Lily asked.

Sarah shrugged, “I guess.”

“And you didn’t tell me! How long did you know!” Lily exclaimed

“Sorry. About a year. But I wasn’t sure what it was. I thought I was going crazier. I’ve sorta got it down now, I guess. Stop looking at me like that. I didn’t do anything wrong. It’s not my fault I’m crazy!”

“You’re not crazy, Sarah. Just a tad, though,” Lily laughed. “So are Cassidy and Remus really going together or did you just make that up?”

“No, they really are. He asked her out this morning in the common room while we were still in your room. Well, except for Lane. She was there to witness it.”

“Aw. Good for Cass. I know how much she fancies him,” Lily said. “Let’s go see her.”

Lily and Sarah went down to the Heads’ room. James and Sirius seemed to be arguing, but stopped when they came down, and whispered quietly. Lily caught James’ eye and smiled slightly. He smiled back at her. Smiling at Potter now, are we? No, I don’t like him. Just a smile. Crap. I shouldn’t of have done that. Lily fought with herself, as she climbed out the portrait hole. She turned around to face Sarah, but she wasn’t there. She saw Sarah standing with Sirius giving her a look that said ‘help me’ before the portrait swung shut. Interesting. Should I save her? Nah…Sirius did look, well…serious. I’ll let her go this one time. Besides! Cassidy and Remus are going together! Lily thought happily as she entered the Gryffindor common room.

“Lily!” Lane said happily when she saw Lily. “Did you hear? About Cassidy and Remus?”

“Yes,” Lily answered.

Lane rolled her eyes. “Sarah told you.”

“Yeah,” Lily said.

“She ruins all my fun. Where were you this morning?” Lane asked her.

Sarah didn’t tell her? Strange… “I was sleeping,” Lily told her.

“And all of today?”

“Uh…working on some stuff,” Lily lied.

“I haven’t seen Sarah. I mean, I know she’s mad at me, but…well, whatever. She never stays mad long. Oh well. I’ve gotta go see Alden!” Lane said happily, all traces of anger from when she mentioned Sarah were gone.

“Lily!” Julia said, and pulled Lily onto a couch, only to be surrounded by the rest of the 6^th years. Lily smiled. She knew they looked up to her, and chatted with them over mindless subjects until Sarah showed up next to them.

“Hey guys,” Sarah greeted them.

“Sarah, I saw you with Sirius last night. What were you guys doing?” Kirsten asked her.

“Nothing,” Sarah told her.

“No. What happened?” Kirsten asked her again.

Oh yea. She was with Sirius in the broom closet. Last week sometime. Poor thing…so hung up on that prat. “Nothing happened. He just wanted to rant and rave about something or other. I really didn’t pay attention,” Sarah said quickly. Kirsten looked a bit relieved.

“Kirsten, you’re so hung up on Sirius. You need to get over him,” Julia told her. Rachel and Elisha nodded in agreement.

“I think you guys are wrong,” Kirsten said. “He’s really sweet when he wants to be…”

Lily and Sarah exchanged glances, and left the group of girls alone. They headed up to the 7^th year dorm.

“You didn’t tell Lane what happened?” Lily asked Sarah.

Sarah shrugged, “No. She was being a prat.”

“Speaking of prats, what did Sirius want?”

“Ah, nothing.”

“What did he want, Sarah?” Lily asked her again.

“I think, to apologize. But I’m not sure. He seemed sorry but he never actually said that he was…he’s a bit strange…” Sarah mused.

“Sorry to say it, but so are you. You two would make a perfect couple.”

“Shut up Lily.”

“I’m serious. You should go out with him.”

“Uh-huh. Just like you’re going to go out with James.”

“If I go out with James, you have to go out with Sirius,” Lily told her.

“No way. Lily, darling, I DO NOT like Sirius, and I WILL NOT go out with him under any circumstances.”

Lily smiled. “But I think Sirius likes you.”

“I don’t care. James likes you, but you won’t go out with him.”

“You should give Sirius a chance.”

“You should give James a chance.”

“James is different. He’s a complete arse.”

“You’re such a hypocrite Lily. The day that you go out with James Potter is the day that I kiss Sirius Black.”

“Deal?” Lily said, holding out her hand.

“Fine,” Sarah agreed, and they shook on it.

~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~

Monday, September 15^th, 1979

“Who’s that?” Sarah asked curiously, looking at the black haired and brown-eyed boy sitting at the Hufflepuff table next to Alden and Garret.

“I don’t know,” Lily said, “I’ve never seen him before.”

“I’m going to go find out,” Sarah decided and made her way to the Hufflepuff table and sat down with Lia, Celia, Danni, and Katie.

“It’s a good thing Sarah’s such good friends with Lia,” Lane said.

“Why?” Lily asked.

“Because Lia is the ‘gossip girl’, even if she doesn’t know it,” Lane told her. “She knows everyone’s business. Mostly because they tell her,” Lane said.

“O-kay then…” Lily said.

“His name is Pierre. He’s from France and went to Beauxtons. He’s in our year,” Sarah said sitting down with them again.

He is so hot! Sarah mouthed to Lily, who stifled a laugh. Sarah scowled.

~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~

Tuesday, September 16^th, 1979

“Yes Cass, he really is,” Lily agreed, although she had no idea what she was agreeing too. Cassidy was going on and on about Remus. Lily had stopped listening after 10 minutes.

“He’s the sweetest guy I’ve ever met. I don’t know what I did to deserve him. I’m so lucky,” Cassidy said happily, sitting on Lily’s bed.

Lily nodded her head.

“Remus is so nice. He has the greatest laugh. He always makes me smile. He told me I was beautiful the other day. It was so sweet…”

Lily gave a sigh of relief as Sarah walked into Lily’s bedroom with a bright smile on her face, and collapsed in one of Lily’s chairs.

“What happened to you?” Lily asked her.

“He’s gorgeous. He really is,” Sarah said dreamily.

“Who?” Cassidy and Lily asked.

“Pierre,” Sarah sighed. “I’m in love with him.”

“What?” Lily asked.

“You can’t love him, Sarah. You don’t even know him,” Cassidy said.

Sarah sighed, “I think I do.”

“No, you don’t. I don’t know if I love Remus and he and I are going out!”

“So? That doesn’t mean that I can’t love Pierre,” Sarah said in her defense.

“I bet you don’t know what love is,” Cassidy said.

“How would you know?” Sarah shot back.

“Because I do. Why do you love him?”

“Well, he’s gorgeous and he seems nice.”

“So his body? Typical.”

“What do you mean ‘typical’?” Sarah asked Cassidy. Lily could get away with those comments, but she was Lily. Cassidy was just Cassidy, not Sarah’s best friend.

“You like him because he’s hot. Not because of who he is.”

“Why don’t you just go screw Remus or something, Cass? Maybe that’ll make you happy instead of being so miserable and bursting other people’s bubbles.”

Cassidy stormed out of Lily’s room, furious.

“Well that was great,” Sarah said sarcastically. “I can’t believe her.”

Lily just sighed, not wanting to get in between the two.

“Well? Aren’t you going to say anything?” Sarah asked her.

“No. What happened with Pierre?”

Sarah smiled. “I talked to him today. He’s really nice, Lily. Plus, he has this gorgeous smile. And his accent! Totally to die for! He’s awesome. And I think-maybe-he likes me too? I dunno. He was sweet, and sort of shy. I totally like him. Ah, everything I want in a guy…”

“Sure. But what about Sirius? I swear that he likes you!”

“Grrr. Lily, get your mind off of Sirius. Maybe you like him, the way you talk about him all of the time.”

“Nope, I have enough to deal with this year. No guys. Now go apologise to Cassidy.”

“Why? She started it!” Sarah whined.

“Fine. But I’m not taking sides.”

“Which means you’re totally with me, but you don’t want to make darling, precious, Cassidy mad.”

Lily grinned.

~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~

Thursday, September 18^th, 1979

“Do we really need Hogsmeade dates?” Sarah asked. “Can’t the three of us go? ‘Cause Lane’ll probably be with Alden again.”

“I don’t care,” Lily said. Lily and Sarah looked to Cassidy, who avoided their gaze.

“I have a date,” Cassidy said quietly.

“Oh yeah,” Lily remembered. “Remus.”

Cassidy blushed.

The door opened and Lane rushed in, almost in tears. “Lane! What’s wrong?” Cassidy asked her. Lane shook her head and sat down on her bed. Lily, Sarah, and Cassidy did too, positioning themselves around her. “Lane, what’s wrong?” Cassidy repeated.

“Alden,” Lane said, and two tears leaked out of her eyes and fell onto the scarlet bedspread.

“Alden what?” Cassidy asked.

“He was kissing, no, snogging KATIE like there was no tomorrow!” Lane exclaimed.

Cassidy gave her a hug.

“What do I do?” Lane asked them. No one replied. Lane was the one they went to with their problems. She was the problem-solver. They were not.

“I don’t know,” Sarah answered.

“Well, you’re not going to sit here and cry,” Lily told her, handing Lane a tissue. “No guy is worth tears if he does that to you,” Lily told her. Lane brushed away her tears. “You’ll act like nothing is wrong. Hmmm. Sarah, find out what happened, no I will. Sorry, you get distracted too easily. You need to help Lane. We need to find some new guys for Lane. Cassidy, you can do that. I’ll be the mastermind,” Lily said.

“Wait. Why can’t I be the mastermind?” Sarah asked.

“Because it’s my plan,” Lily told her. “Everyone got it?”

“Yes,” they all agreed.

“Wait, no. What are we going to do?” Sarah asked.

“Get back at Alden,” Lily said.

“How?” Sarah asked.

“What would hurt him more than anything?” Lily asked Lane.

Lane thought for a moment and then told her, “Me and well, somebody else.”

“Good, we’ll go off that,” Lily said.

“Who though?” Lily asked Sarah and Cassidy. “We’ve got the Marauders at our disposal.”

“No, not them. Then he’ll think it’s been going on,” Cassidy said.

“True,” Lily took this into consideration. “Maybe a Ravenclaw…or perhaps a Hufflepuff.”

“So we have Ewan, Bryce, Dayton, Chal…” Cassidy started to list.

“Chal’s going with Stella, a 6^th year Ravenclaw,” Sarah said. “Dayton…isn’t he going with Jessica? That girl in 5^th year? I’m not sure…Ewan is just dull. Not him. And Bryce is going out with Adalyn the Slut.”

“Ok, Brian, Amos-”

“-I don’t want to deal with Amos,” Lane said quickly.

“Me neither,” Lily said.

“Garret-”

“-Lia!” Sarah said happily.

“Alden, and Pierre,” Cassidy finished the list.

“Alden doesn’t like Pierre that much. He says Pierre has it so easy, because he’s French and girls love French guys,” Lane said quietly.

“Great!” Sarah exclaimed. “So Pierre it is then!”

“Wait. Don’t you like Pierre, Sarah?” Lily asked her.

“Yeah. So? Lane is like my best friend too!” Sarah said.

“And what if Lane actually falls for Pierre?” Lily asked, narrowing her eyes. She didn’t need Sarah and Lane not talking to each other. Sarah and Cassidy had just made up earlier that day.

“Then that’s what happens. Lay off Lily, I’m not going to hate Lane because she likes the guy I like. I don’t even know if I like him,” Sarah said calmly.

“Hello guys! I’m right here,” Lane said. “ It’s not like I can’t hear you. I’m not going to fall for Pierre. I want Alden back…But I’m not sure if I’ll take him back.”

“So then you could stay with Pierre,” Lily pointed out.

“Whatever. We’ll worry about it when the time comes,” Sarah said serenely.

“Why are you so calm?” Lily asked suspiciously.

Sarah shrugged.

“Because now she can go out with Sirius, knowing that Pierre is with Lane,” Cassidy said.

“No. I don’t like Sirius. He’s a bit of a prat. But he’s bloody gorgeous, I’ll give him that,” Sarah said.

“Ok. So then Pierre it is,” Lily said.

“It needs a name,” Sarah pointed out.

“All good missions and operations have good names,” Lane agreed.

“Operation Kiss and Tell has now begun,” Lily said.

“Kiss and Tell?” Sarah asked doubtfully.

“What? Do you have a better name?” Lily asked her.

“Not now…But I will!” Sarah declared.

“Sure Sarah.”

A/N: Introducing…Pierre! Yay! Lol. He’s sorta based off of a real person…anyone know who? There was a clue in the previous chapter…Well, the real one isn’t from France though… Anyways, if I get lots of nice reviews (or helpful ones) I’ll post another chapter before I go to off to school on Tuesday!

Chapter 6: Start

“Sometimes, we don't see certain things until we're ready to see them in a certain way.”

Friday, September 19^th, 1977

“This color sucks. I’m gonna have to redo my nails,” Sarah complained studying her nails.

“Sarah, why don’t you do your work, instead of worrying about your nails?” Lily asked her scribbling out part of her charms essay.

“Vanaify! Because, my dear, I am a procrastinator. I procrastinate. That’s what I do. Which one do you like better?” Sarah asked holding up two bottles of nail polish, one purple and one blue.

“The blue one,” Lily answered.

“Ok,” Sarah said and proceeded to put the purple nail polish on her nails.

Sirius and James walked into the Heads’ Room.

“Lily? Will you go to Hogsmeade with me?” James asked.

“No. I’m going with Sarah and Lane,” Lily replied quickly.

“With Sarah?” Sirius said in mock surprise, “I thought you were going with me, Sarah!”

Sarah laughed and almost knocked over her bottle of nail polish. “Not on your life.”

“But you promised me!” he said as he sat down on the couch next to her.

“What? When did I promise you anything?” Sarah asked him.

“After I did this,” Sirius said and kissed her.

Sarah pushed him away. “Sirius!” she exclaimed and kicked him in his shin.

“Hey! What was that for!” Sirius yelled in pain.

“For this!” Sarah yelled back and kissed him.

Lily and James laughed at the two and walked out of the Heads’ Room. They didn’t want to be late for Transfiguration.

“What’s up with them two?” James asked her.

“I have no idea,” Lily answered.

“I think Sirius fancies her,” James said.

“Me too,” Lily agreed.

James looked down at his watch, “Ah, we’re late.”

“Should we just skip it?” Lily asked him.

“Are you seriously suggesting that we skip a class?” James asked her.

“Yeah…what? I didn’t feel like taking it today anyways!” Lily laughed.

“Let’s go to the kitchens,” James suggested, and started to lead her down a corridor.

“OI! JAMES!” Sirius yelled and tackled him to the floor when he caught up with them. “Going to the kitchens without me!”

James grinned. “You looked…busy to me.”

Sirius grinned back at him and wrapped his arm around Sarah’s waist.

“Get your bloody hands off of me,” Sarah said and pried his hands off of her.

Lily moved closer to James as they walked and he put his arm around her. James looked back at Sirius and stuck his tongue out at him.

“That’s not fair,” Sirius pouted as he stopped walking and crossed his arms over his chest. Lily and James just kept walking, chatting quietly. Sarah sighed and kissed him on the cheek. This seemed to be enough for him, for he started to walk again.

“Just like a little kid,” Lily said.

“That needs to grow up,” Sarah added. Pierre appeared at the end of the hall, and eyed the group when he passed them.

“What’s he doing out of class?” Sirius asked once he passed them.

“Same thing that you’re doing,” Lily said, “skiving off classes for no reason.”

“I do too have a reason, I’m hungry,” Sirius said in his defense. “What’s yours?”

“I was late to class because somebody had to put on a show,” she retorted.

“What a lame excuse,” James chucked.

“Hey!” Lily said and swatted at him. “What’s yours?”

“I just wanted to be with you,” he replied.

“Aw, James, that’s so sweet!” Sarah said, and gave Lily the look-how-sweet-he-is-you-should-totally-go-out-with-him look.

Lily just rolled her eyes. You should go out with Sirius, she mouthed back at her.

“Unthinkable!” Sarah cried loudly.

All three of them stared at her.

“What are you doing Sarah? Your big mouth is going to get us caught,” Lily whispered. Sarah shrugged.

“What’s wrong with you?” James asked her. Sarah shrugged again.

“Do you fancy me?” Sirius asked. Sarah shrugged yet again. They kept on walking. Until they arrived at the portrait of the bowl of fruit. James tickled the pear and led them into the kitchens. They were greeted by a house-elf.

“What an Tibby get for the young masters and misses?” Tibby asked them.

“Do you have ice cream?” Sarah asked.

Tibby nodded.

“Cookies and cream?”

Tibby squeaked, “Yes miss.”

“Then I’ll have that then,” Sarah said happily.

James had rocky road, Lily had strawberry, and Sirius got a banana split. They sat down at a small table.

“I love ice cream,” Sarah said, eating a spoonful of hers.

“Me too. Any food really,” Sirius said and they all laughed.

James asked, “Do you think McGonagall misses us?”

“No, she’s probably relieved,” Lily joked.

“We got stuck with them instead,” Sarah said and laughed with Lily. James and Sirius pouted, pretending to be hurt.

“We’re not that bad,” James said.

“No. Not you two. Goofing off until McGonagall yells at you to show her the new spell and you get it on the first try,” Lily said.

“I hate Transfiguration,” Sarah mentioned.

“Me too. Wait. I thought you were going to be a healer? Do they need Transfiguration?” Lily asked Sarah.

Sarah shrugged. “I’m not sure. I’m still taking it anyways.”

“Quidditch try-outs are next Saturday. Are you going out for it?” James asked Sarah.

“Yeah. I hope I make it,” Sarah laughed. She had been a chaser ever since 3^rd year.

“What about you Lily?” James asked her.

Lily shook her head. “I don’t think so.”

“Why not?” James asked.

“I’m not a Quidditch person,” Lily said.

“You could still try-out. No harm in that,” Sirius pointed out.

“Besides, it’s our last year. What do you have to loose?” Sarah asked.

“Maybe…” Lily said.

James, Sarah, and Sirius cheered.

Tibby appeared at their table. “Is there anything Tibby can be getting for you?”

“No,” Lily said. “We’d better go. I have Arithmancy,” Lily said. And they all left to go their separate ways.

~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~

Saturday, September 20^th, 1977

Lily was alone with James Potter. She didn’t know how it happened exactly. Peter hadn’t come at all. Cassidy and Remus were off somewhere. Lane wanted some stink bombs (for Alden’s dorm) and Sirius went with here. Sarah had been there, but sometime when she was chatting with James Sarah just disappeared from Lily’s side. She was alone at a table with James-Potter- in the Three Broomsticks.

“Our friends deserted us,” James said.

“Sad isn’t it? Here one moment, gone the next,” Lily said. “It’s still strange not to see you without Sirius and Remus on either side of you all of the time.”

“Sirius is like my right hand. He’s my brother. And you never seem to go far with out Sarah.”

“She’s my best friend. Hogwarts’d be so dull without her.

“I know, right?” Sarah said in a fake high voice as she appeared next to Lily. “Operation: K and T has been set in motion! (A bit.) The target has been chatted up!”

“Operation: K and T?” James asked.

“That’s for us to know,” Sarah said.

James queried, “What? I won’t even find out?”

“Maybe,” Lily answered.

“Got to go! I want to see it. Just thought you’d like to know, M.M.” Sarah said and walked out of the Three Broomsticks.

“M.M.?” James prompted.

Lily laughed, “Master Mind. Sarah’s crazy.”

“Master mind? Maybe you could help with some of our plans then,” James said.

“Ha. Maybe. You haven’t done any pranks in awhile. Why? Did you loose your touch?”

“Never. We’re just planning something big.”

“Whose idea was it?”

“Sirius’ and mine. But Remus made the plan.”

“What is it? The plan?”

“I can’t tell you. Marauder business. Besides, would you really want to know? You being Head Girl?”

“And you’re Head Boy. What difference does it make?” Lily asked.

“I cannot tell you. I would, but then I’d have to kill you, and I really wouldn’t want to do that.”

“Fine,” Lily huffed. “I’m going to go look for Sarah,” she said and left James all alone, wishing he had kept his mouth shut.

~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~

Wednesday, September 24^th, 1977

Lily and Sarah were watching Lane and Pierre, who were chatting away and walking around the lake together.

“Lily look, Alden is coming out!” Sarah said, pointing to where Alden was exiting the castle with Garret.

“This’ll be fun,” Lily said sarcastically.

“Isn’t that what we want though? For him to see them?” Sarah queried.

“Yeah. I feel sort of bad for him though,” Lily said.

“I guess. But he did snog Katie. How would you like that? Besides, it’s your plan.”

“He looks livid.”

“Yes. Poor Lane. Poor Pierre. He has to live with Alden.”

“Should we really do this?” Lily asked.

“Yes, Lily. It was your plan. Plus, how will Alden know how Lane felt?”

Lily watched Lane who kept stealing glances at Alden. She liked talking to Pierre, Lily knew that. Alden kept looking at Lane and Pierre, always just missing Lane’s eyes. He was angry, upset, hurt. And Lily felt bad. This was her doing. Her fault. She hung her head.

“Lily, stop. Lane is happy. This is her revenge. She wants him back, but she knows he has to suffer. Lily, she’s thinking about it. Don’t worry,” Sarah told her. “Everything’ll work out.”

“Are you sure?” Lily asked her.

“Yeah. If not, they’ll probably turn out better than they were going to be anyways…”

Lily smiled. “That was really random, Sarah.”

“I know. I can be quite sage when I want to be.”

Lily laughed, “Not often though?”

“No. What’s the fun in that? Now sit down and watch as the plot thickens.”

“So this is a show now?”

Sarah shrugged, “I guess. What’s with you and James?”

“Nothing.”

“Lily, you seem to be able to hold a civil conversation with him now.”

Lily grinned, “Yeah. Sometimes James isn’t that bad.”

“LILY! You just SMILED AND called Potter JAMES! THIS IS A HUGE START LILY! I’m so proud of you!” Sarah exclaimed.

“Shut up Sarah before someone hears you,” Lily said, tugging on Sarah’s skirt to get her to sit down.

“LILY EVANS CALLED JAMES POTTER JAMES!” Sarah yelled at the top of her lungs. Lily buried her hands in her face. She could’ve sworn she saw a messy-haired hazel-eyed boy with glasses at the entrance to the castle grin before going inside.

A/N:I hate this chapter. It's not great at all, but it does serve its purpose. James and Lily start talking...oooooh...I wonder where that's going to lead to. Lol. Lily even let him put his arm around her...

Anonymous/~luv4books: Sirius dragged Sarah into the boys’ dorm, he was trying to explain something to her [which is in upcoming chapters so I can’t tell you what it is] and Sarah has a very short attention span, so he locked it so she would pay attention for once. He just wanted her to listen and to help his plan, but she didn’t listen to anything he was saying anyways. Sorry about the confusion.

FiddleStix: I can’t tell you! Maybe in chapter 10? I’m not quite sure, I haven’t written them yet, but I have a time line thing, and I know when I want it to happen and where…just hang in a little longer!

Chapter 7: Play

“A friend is one who believes in you when you have ceased to believe in yourself.”

Saturday, September 27^th, 1977

Lily looked down at the Quidditch Pitch. James was giving directions to the crowd in front of him. There was a large number of girls crowding around James. Tarts. I bet they can’t even play! I could do better than them! All because James is on the team. And captain. They think they need Quidditch to get his attention. Pity.

“Lily, get down there,” Sarah said grabbing Lily’s arm and dragging her down the steps. “And you better get that look out from your eyes,” Sarah advised.

Lily asked, “What look?”

“The look that says you’re about to kill any girl within 10 feet of James.”

“I do not!” Lily protested, but when the reached the field and saw James surrounded by more girls, the ‘look’ returned.

“Let’s go,” Sarah said walking to the group of people.

“But I don’t even have a broom!”

“You can borrow mine. And I’m 100% positive that James will let you borrow his if you ask,” Sarah teased.

“KEEPERS OVER THERE!” James yelled and pointed to his right. Two guys, a girl, and Sirius, moved.

“Chasers over there!” James yelled again, but pointed to his left. Sarah moved to his left and Lily followed her.

“Beaters stay where you are,” James called out.

The keepers tried out first, while the people trying out for chasers and beaters watched.

“Sirius is pretty good,” Lily said.

“Of course he is. He’s been the keeper ever since 2^nd year. Except for half of last year…” Sarah replied.

“Why?” Lily asked.

“I don’t know. Remember the big row they all had last year?” Lily nodded. “Well, I think it had something to do with that.”

The beaters tried out next.

“What was the row about?”

“Lily, if I knew, you’d know. Lia didn’t even know. But it involved Snape.”

“Yeah, I remember. Snape was unbearable then. He cursed and hexed them every chance he got. But always from the back. Never from the front.”

Sarah agreed, “I know.”

“He hasn’t backed off this year at all.”

“James has.”

“I noticed.”

“So you do pay attention to James?” Sarah asked.

“It’s not like you can miss him, with the marauders and girls hanging around him.”

“True…”

“There’s an unusually large amount of girls trying out. Don’t you think?”

“Yes, Lily.”

“Chasers!” James yelled. Lily and Sarah walked to where James was standing. He had them fly around and try to score. He also put different people together to see how well they worked together.

“Lily is really good,” Sirius told James as she made a score against Riley Bristow, last year’s keeper for half of the season, on Kirsten’s broom.

“Yeah,” James said, watching Lily. “How comes she never tried out before?”

“I dunno.”

“She and Sarah work really well together.”

“They are best friends, Prongs. Don’t’ they usually work well together?” James nodded.

When everyone was done, and James was satisfied, he gathered them all together. “Thanks for coming out. You all were great. The list of the team will be put up tomorrow, after dinner. Even if you don’t make it this year, try out next year.”

The group of hopeful Quidditch players dispersed. Lily and Sarah walked up to the Heads Room and collapsed on the couch.

“I hope I make it,” Sarah said.

“You will. You’re an awesome player.”

“So are you, Lily. I’m glad you decided to try it.”

“You forced me to, Sarah,” Lily reminded her.

“Right. Well, I’m glad I forced you to.” They laughed.

“It wasn’t that bad,” Lily admitted.

“What? Did you think it was going to be painful?”

“No, it just wasn’t what I was expecting.”

“See? New things can be fun!”

Lily laughed, “Yeah, I guess.”

“You should listen to me more often,” Sarah told Lily.

“What about when you told me that James wouldn’t like me anymore if I punch him? He only asked me out 83 more times that day!” they both laughed. Lily inwardly kicked herself. She had called Potter James. Again.

James and Sirius walked into the room. “You guys were great,” James said before going into his room.

Sirius sat down across from them. “I didn’t know you could play Quidditch,” he said to Lily.

“I guess I can.”

“James was impressed,” he told her.

Her spirits soared, but instead Lily said, “So? Am I supposed to be flattered or something?”

Sirius shook his head and left.

“You are a mean, mean girl,” Sarah told her.

~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~

Sunday, September 28^th, 1977

“Let’s go see if he posted it yet,” Sarah said. Lily followed Sarah to the Gryffindor Common Room where, indeed, James had posted the results of the Quidditch try outs. Sarah shoved her way to the front of the crowed and read the list to the entire room. “Seeker: James Potter. (Like we didn’t know that!) Keeper: Sirius Black. (Again. What did happen last year…) Beaters: Derek Amherst. (First year on the team, eh?) And Zoë Robert. (Go Zoë! I’m so proud of you!) Chasers: Me. (YAY!) Trey Colville. (Girls love Quidditch player, Trey.) And- Merlin! Lily Evans! Lily! You’re a Chaser!”

“Who’s reserves?” a second year asked.

“Other way now! Chasers (Reserve people): Julia Reed. (Julia! That’s awesome! I didn’t see you yesterday!) Daniel Haymay. (You’re kind a cute…just to let you know.) Andrew Beecher. (I don’t’ know you. Where are you? Oh, there you are!) Beaters: Ayla Dlock. (Cute eye shadow.)”

Lane and Cassidy pulled Lily up to their dorm.

“Lily! I didn’t know you were going to try out for Quidditch!”

“I wasn’t. But then Sarah made me.”

“That’s so awesome,” Cassidy said.

Lily smiled.

“You didn’t try out because of James?” Lane asked.

“No! I can’t even believe I made it. I didn’t think I would.”

“You have to be good. James wouldn’t put you on the team otherwise.

“That’s not what other people think,” Sarah said entering their dorm. “They just think the reason that Lily made the team is because James facies her. I’m on the team because I supposedly slept with James last night -no matter that I made it last year and the year before that. Besides it’s not like I don’t have you two who saw me go to my bed last night and wake up in it,” she said sarcastically. She wasn’t mad. In fact, she was quite amused. People always believed what they needed to hear. There had to be a reason for their failure.

Cassidy was appalled, “How could people say stuff like that?”

Sarah shrugged, “They’re just mad that they didn’t make it.”

“You don’t think he let me on the team just because…” Lily’s voice trailed off.

“No,” Sarah, Lane, and Cassidy said at once.

“He loves Quidditch too much. And this is his last year. He really wants that Cup again,” Sarah said.

~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~

“Sarah! Lily!” Kirsten called out as they passed the 6^th year dorm.

“Yeah?” Lily asked stepping inside their room.

“Are you really a chaser?” Kirsten asked.

Lily nodded.

“And you’re a chaser too?” Kirsten asked Sarah.

“Yes Kirsten. And Julia is a reserve chaser, we know,” Sarah told her.

“Do you know what I heard?” Kirsten told them.

“We don’t care what you heard,” Sarah said.

“I bet none of it’s true. I don’t want to hear it. Especially if it has anything to do with Quidditch,” Lily told her and left the room.

Sarah told Kirsten, “That was rude,” and left.

“You’re a bitch,” Elisha told Kirsten.

“Look what you did,” Julia told her. “Now I bet Lily’ll never talk to us again. God Kirsten, think for once!”

“What did you hear though?” Rachel asked.

“That Lily is secretly dating Sirius, and Sirius got her onto the team,” Kirsten told her.

“I heard that Remus is dating Sarah and Sarah threatened to break up with him if he didn’t get James to put them both on the team,” Rachel said.

“That’s not it, you’re wrong,” Kirsten told her.

“You’re both wrong. James is dating Sarah and Lily, but neither of them know that the other one is dating him,” Elisha corrected them.

“None of that is true!” Julia said. Three pairs of eyes narrowed at her.

“How do you know?” Kirsten asked her.

“Because. Remus is dating Cassidy,” Julia said.

“Oh! Her? He could surely do better,” Kirsten said.

“Sirius likes Sarah, but she will not go out with him,” Julia said.

“I hate her,” Kirsten informed them.

“Oh please, yesterday you were going on about how you wanted to be her,” Julia said.

“Things change,” Kirsten said.

“Too bad you don’t,” Elisha muttered.

“James isn’t dating Sarah. Nor did he sleep with her last night. Lily won’t go out with him,” Julia said.

“Oh! Sarah slept with James?” Kirsten asked, suddenly interested in what Julia was saying.

“NO! He didn’t. Kirsten come back here!” Julia shouted at the figure disappearing out of their dorm.

~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~

Wednesday, October 1^st, 1977

“No, that charms essay is due tomorrow,” Lily told Sarah.

“Oh great. I’ll have to do it tonight,” Sarah complained.

“You should really write this stuff down, Sarah,” Lane told her.

“But that’s what I have Lily for. Besides, I’d probably loose the parchment I wrote it on.”

The owl post came in and dropped an oblong package in front of Lily.

“What is it?” Cassidy asked.

“Open it Lily,” Sarah said eagerly, ignoring, for a moment, the letter in her hand.

Lily opened the package and found a Nimbus 1,000. She stared at in in awe.

“James’ll go ballistic when he sees that. It’s newer than his,” Sarah said.

“What’s newer than mine?” James asked coming up behind Lily. “You got a new broom.”

“Yeah, I did,” Lily replied.

“How did you get it?”

“McGonagall helped get it for me.”

“I only have a 900! And Sirius too. How did you get a 1,000? It’s the newest one!”

Lily shrugged. “I’m going to take it upstairs before classes,” Lily said and left for her room with Sarah following her, reading her letter.

~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~

Thursday, October 2^nd, 1977

What am I doing here? I don’t belong here. I can’t even play that well. I’ll just go tell James that I quit. Yes. I’m going to go tell him right now, Lily thought.

“You’ll do no such thing MM,” Sarah whispered to her. “There’s a reason you’re here.”

Damn you Sarah! Sarah laughed beside her. Stay out Sarah! It’s not fair! Stop it!

“It might not be fair, but it’s dead useful. And fun.”

Yeah, for you, you tart.

“Now, MM, that’s my word. Don’t go stealing my words.”

Tart.

“Come on, let’s go,” Sarah said and walked out of the girls’ changing room with Lily following behind reluctantly. Derek and Trey were talking with Zoë. James and Sirius came out last with the chest and they started practice.

A/N: I’m so glad you guys like it so far! And all of your reviews are awesome! I enjoy reading what you thought of it. And I know you all are waiting for Lily and James to get together…they’re getting there, I promise. Closer and closer with each chapter.

“You are a mean, mean girl,” Sarah told her.

“You’re a bitch,” Elisha told Kirsten.

I love Mean Girls! It's sooo funny, and I just had to put that in there, even if I had to break it up.

Do you guys like Lily playing Quidditch? It'll lead up to something, which I guess, could've happened if she didn't, but :shrugs: I like it anyways. I always thought, why doesn't Lily ever play Quidditch? Well, now she does! Lol.

And all of the 6th year girls (in Gryffindor) have their names for a reason...they are the names of...

...my favorite movie actresses. I know. It's not very exciting for you all to find that out. It might be a bit depressing actually, thinking the names would have something fabulous all in common. Lol. But I do love those names. Kirsten Dunst, Julia Stiles, Elisha Cuthbert and Rachel McAdams.

Disclaimer: I do not own Harry Potter.

Chapter 8: Mixed Emotions & Anticipation

Jamie: Without suffering there could be no compassion.

Landon: Yeah, well tell that to those who suffer. - A Walk To Remember

Saturday, October 3^rd, 1977

“So then, October 19^th?” James asked as he sat back in his chain the room of requirement.

“Yeah,” Sarah said.

“Everyone in?” Sirius asked, eyeing Lily.

“I’m in,” James said.

“’Course I am,” Sarah answered.

Lily sighed, “Count me in too.”

~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~

Tuesday, October 7^th, 1977

Lily walked into the common room with Sarah and Lane behind her. It was quiet, except for someone’s sobs. Lily aw Julia crying. Kirsten was hugging her and the rest of the common room was watching the two. Lily walked over to the group of 6^th year girls. “What’s wrong?” she asked Elisha.

“Julia’s dad is…dead,” Elisha whispered quietly.

Lily and Lane exchanged looks. Lily didn’t know what to do. Both of her parents were still alive, thankfully.

Sarah took Julia by the hand and led her up the girls’ staircase. No one dared to follow them.

People slowly started talking in hushed whispers.

Lily asked, “What happened?”

“We were sitting here when that first year, Reyana, told Julia that McGonagall wanted to see her. So she went and when she came back she was crying and managed to tell us that her father was killed by Death Eaters before she started sobbing,” Kirsten told them.

“That’s horrible,” Lily said.

“She still has a mum, doesn’t she?” Lane asked.

Kirsten nodded. “I loved her dad, he was always so nice to me.”

“I know, me too,” Elisha agreed.

“I hope she’ll be okay,” Rachel said.

~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~

Thursday, October 9^th, 1977

“Sill on for the 19^th?” Sarah asked Sirius as she passed him in the hall on her way to the Heads Room.

“Yeah,” Sirius answered before he ran to catch up with Dara, his current snog buddy.

~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~

Monday, October 13^th, 1977

The week passed quietly. The whole school knew what happened to Julia’s dad. The teachers let her slide on a few assignments.

The school was terrified. Who would be Voldemort’s next victim?

The students didn’t have to wait long.

Lily was reading a book in the Heads Room when James came in.

“Lewis Orldy’s parents are dead,” he told her. “From Hufflepuff.”

“Oh no. I can’t believe this. Voldemort?”

James nodded.

“He can’t keep doing this. He needs to be stopped. James, why doesn’t anyone stop him?” Lily questioned him.

“He’s too powerful, Lily. They’re trying.”

“It’s not enough.”

“I know. When I get out there, I’m going to fight him,” James said admirably as he looked out the window.

Lily looked at James, the last sunlight hitting his face, a determined look on it. Lily looked at him, and knew, that he did grow up. He would do great things. “Me too.”

~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~

Wednesday, October15^th, 1977

“We’re not seriously still going to go through with this?” Lily asked them.

“I’m Sirius, and yes it is going to happen,” Sirius replied.

“But look what just happened! Would this really be the best time?” Lily questioned him.

“I think it is. We need to laugh now. Especially with what’s been going on outside,” James answered her.

“He’s right,” Sarah said quietly.

Lily shook her head.

“You’re still in, right?” James asked.

Lily didn’t respond.

“Come on Lily! We need you,” Sarah said.

“Fine,” Lily muttered as the three cheered.

~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~

Thursday, October 16^th, 1977

“Lanie, come on,” Sarah prompted her as she rounded another corner, Lane still behind her.

“You need to dedicate yourself. Is this what you want?” a high voice said from classroom that should have been empty at night. That sounded like Ember. Merlin, I can’t stand her. Or her voice. Sarah passed the door, it was open a crack so she looked through it for a second. A boy that resembled Peter was in there, but Sarah didn’t get to look again before Lane came sprinting up to her.

“Filch is coming!” Lane said and the two ran to the picture of the Fat Lady.

“Verasilium,” Sarah said and the portrait swung open.

“That was close,” Lane said as they made their way up the steps.

“I know! Thank Merlin he didn’t catch us! I cannot stand him,” Sarah said.

“And he smells!”

“Ew! Yeah!” Sarah agreed.

“And that stupid little cat of his…”

“It keeps getting fatter and fatter. I’m surprised it can even run around the castle like that.”

Lane opened the door to their dorm and they snuck inside. Cassidy was already sleeping.

Sarah laid down on her bed and fell asleep, not giving what she saw in the classroom a second thought.

~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~

Sunday, October 19^th, 1977

Willy Wonka: The suspense is terrible..... I hope it lasts. - Willy Wonka and the Chocolate Factory

“What time is it?” Sarah asked.

“Nine,” Lily answered.

“How many more hours is that?” Sarah queried.

Lily replied, “3 ½.”

“3 ½! I’m going to die of impatient-ness and excitement until then!” Sarah exclaimed, hopping out of her chair in Lily’s room.

“Well don’t. We need you. And I’m not doing it alone.”

“What am I supposed to do until then?”

“Read,” Lily suggested as she took notes from her book.

Sarah scoffed, “Read? I’m going to look at your pictures Lily.”

“Whatever.”

Sarah picked up a picture of all four of them. Lily was in a black dress and Sarah was in a hot pink one. They both had tiaras on and long, elegant evening gloves on. Lane was wearing a mermaid-type dress. It was translucent green. Cassidy had a while gown on with angel wings. All of them had masks on for the Halloween Masquerade Ball the previous year.

“Here, take our picture, please?” Sarah asked Kirsten. She nodded and Sarah gave her beloved camera to Kirsten.

“Smile everyone!” Kirsten said as she took the picture.

“Thank you Kirsten!” Sarah said. “Let’s go to the ball!”

They made their way to the Great Hall, which looked as fabulous as it did every Halloween.

“I can’t believe I let you talk me into being a princess,” Lily said as she entered the hall.

“I know, me neither. It was a fabulous idea!” Sarah answered. “Now let’s dance!” Sarah dragged Lily and Cassidy onto the dance floor. Lane had gone to find Alden.

“How comes we’re not having a Halloween Ball this year?”

Lily shrugged. “Holiday Ball this year.”

“Really? Oh that’s awesome!” Sarah examined the pictures. There was one of Lily, Lane, and Cassidy cheering at a Quidditch match in 5^th year.

“Go Sarah!” Lily called as Sarah threw the quaffle and it went through the middle hoop.

“Gryffindor scores again! They now lead 30 to 10!” Kemper Weliel announced, a 7^th year Hufflepuff at the time.

“Yes! She scored!” Lane yelled.

“Potter has spotted the snitch!” Kemper’s voice said through out the stands. “He goes down into a dive with Keskal on his tail! They’re getting close to the ground…and Keskal pulls up. James is holding the snitch! Gryffindor wins!”

Lily, Lane, and Cassidy yelled and cheered as loud as they could. “Let’s go see Sarah!” Lily said and led them down the stairs to find Sarah.

One was of Lily and Cassidy in crazy outfits at Cassidy’s house. They had found a trunk of old clothes in Cassidy’s attic, so the three of them tried them on and Sarah had taken the picture.

“Ah! Sarah, I love that outfit on you!” Lily laughed at Sarah’s denim jeans with patches and a tie-dye shirt that was huge on her .

Sarah stuck her tongue out and laughed too. “I love yours Lily.” Lily was wearing a knee-length skirt that had different colored flowers on it and a see through blue blouse with a red shirt underneath.

“Somebody should take a picture,” Cassidy said, wearing an old orange and hot pink dress with a wild zebra pattern down the middle.

“I do have my camera! I completely forgot!” Sarah said as she got her camera out of its case and snapped the picture.

Sarah picked up another picture. It was one of her and Lily last year, by the lake.

“What do you think of James?” Sarah had asked her.

Lily replied, “I still don’t like him. He is so arrogant and annoying. Yesterday he had Snape stuck to the wall!”

“That’s pretty clever.”

“Hey Evans! Will you go out with me?” James yelled from across the lake.

“NO!” Lily yelled back.

Sarah looked at another photograph she had taken 6^th year…

“Lily he had no right to call you that!” James protested.

“I don’t care! It doesn’t give you the right to hex him into next week!” Lily retorted. Sarah snapped the photo then. “Sarah!”

“Did you get my good side?” James asked her.

“Insufferable!” Lily yelled before she stormed off to the girls’ staircase insulting James all the way up.

There was another picture of Cassidy and Lily together from 2^nd year.

“Take a picture of me and my best friend,” Lily told Sarah as she and Cassidy put their arms around each other’ shoulders and grinned. Sarah took the picture.

“Great. Now will you take one of me and Lane?” Sarah had asked Lily.

Lily and Sarah weren’t best friends until 3^rd year. Lily and Cassidy had been best friends as well as Sarah and Lane.

There was one last picture of Lily and her parents. It didn’t move like all of the others, it was a muggle picture.

After she was done with the pictures Sarah sat down and started to hum.

“What are you humming?” Lily asked, irritated.

“I don’t know. I’m making it up as I go.”

“Can’t you do something else?”

“I know! I’ll write a letter to Mish!”

Lily asked, “Who’s Mish?”

“My favoritest cousin!” Sarah took out a piece of parchment from Lily’s desk and sat down to write. “My Dearest Cousin Mish,” Sarah said aloud as she wrote it down. “How are you? I’m sorry I haven’t written in so long. I’ve been very busy with…sports, schoolwork, boys, and trying to get my very best friend to go out with James Potter, an incredibly charming, sweet, and handsome guy. There is a gorgeous new boy from France and his name is Pierre. I know you would like him. -Lily? How much longer?”

“2 ½ hours.”

“Still? Oh well- I was so happy to receive your letter. I’m glad you had so much fun in Hawaii. I would love to go there. It sounds so beautiful. Besides, I want to get lei’d. -Lily! I’m going to call you Lilei from now on. Instead of Lily (Lileee), Lilei (Lilay)!”

“Sure Sarah. I don’t care.”

“Awesome- Next time you go Mish, take me with you! Please? Do you really think your parents would let me come over for Christmas? That would be so cool!”

“Mish lives in America, right?

“Yeah.”

“So you’re going to the states for Christmas?”

“Yeah. Maybe. It depends on if her parents say yes or no- I would love to go to New York City. You’ve been everywhere Mish. You’re so lucky. I’m very sorry to hear that Mr. Kochaz is being evil to you. That sucks. It’s ok, I don’t think my teacher, Professor McGonagall likes me too much. I think she thinks I’m too loud or I don’t pay attention or something.”

“Sarah, you usually don’t pay attention.”

“-But I get it anyways!- We’re going to have a Holiday Ball. I think it’s going to be exciting. Do you have lots of balls? Or just those dances? How are things on the Nathan front? Are you guys going together yet? Can you send me a picture of him? Maybe you two together. And I’m still not going together with anyone.”

“You’re not going with Sirius?”

“-No! We’re friends. Besides, isn’t he snogging some girl from Hufflepuff?”

“Claire, I think her name is.”

“Yeah, he and I are so not together. Time?”

“2 hours yet.”

“Damn- Write me back soon! Just send it to my dad.”

“Why does she do that?”

“I can’t send my beautiful owl Astrum to her house! She’s a muggle! She sends them to my dad by muggle mail and he sends them to me by owl post and visa versa.”

“How are you related to her?”

“She’s actually my second cousin. But she is my favorite.- Love Your Cousin, Sarah.- Now isn’t that a fabulous letter?”

“Uh, sure Sarah.”

“I’m going to the owlery.”

“Good for you.”

“I’m going to send it to Mish.”

“I thought you said you had to send it to your dad first.”

“Yeah. Hm. I should write him a note,” Sarah said and pulled out another piece of parchment. “Dear Daddy, I hope everything is well at home. I’ll write you a longer letter soon. I’m very busy with schoolwork and whatnot. Will you please send this letter to Michelle? Thank you Father! Love, Sarah.”

“Awesome letter.”

“I think so too. Now I’m going to owl them,” Sarah said and left the room.

“Crazy, that girl is,” Lily told her empty room. She crossed her room and put her book away. As she started to turn away from the bookcase the floor squeaked underneath her. She looked down at the floorboards. The one her left foot was on seemed to be smaller than the rest and left a tiny gap between it and the next one. There was a small hole near the one end. Lily stuck her finger in it and pulled it upwards. To her surprise, it lifted up and revealed a small space underneath. Lily kneeled on the floor and found a notebook, a jewelry box, and a diary. She took out the diary. It was red with white flowers on it. Inside of it written:

This Diary Belongs To:

Gabriella Sullivan

Lily turned the page of the yellowed diary, curious as to who she was.

August, 1957

Mum just bought me this diary at Flourish & Blott’s. She bought another one for Brianna as well. Except hers is blue with the white flowers. Summer is almost over, and I’ll be heading back to Hogwarts. Brianna spent almost the whole summer at my house. Her parents are muggles, but I think she said that her aunt is a witch? I am not sure. She’s an only child. I pity her. I have an older brother, Warner. He works for the ministry now. Mum is allowing Brianna and I to explore Diagon Alley tomorrow on our own like she did last year.

Lily looked at her door, just to make sure that Sarah wasn’t about to come in. Who are these people? Gabriella? Brianna? Was one of them Head Girl? It was probably Gabriella, this is her diary…Lily thought as she looked around her room, wondering if any clues to who this girl was. She turned the page in Gabriella’s Diary.

Early September of 1957

Brianna thinks that Harold fancies me. I do not think so though. I am Head Girl and Crison is Head Boy. He is in Ravenclaw. We share our own dorm. I thought Harold would be, but he isn’t. Life is boring. Thank goodness I have Brianna. Classes are boring. I wish something exciting would happen.

Charlie just asked me to go with him to Hogsmeade. I said yes, of course. I have a date! Brina does not. She fancies Nicholas, but he does not fancy her.

This is Brianna Turcotte, Gabriella’s best friend! I found this diary in her desk drawer. Gabella, you need to hide it better than that if you don’t want people to see it. Harold most definitely fancies my Gabella. You could do so much better than Charlie, Gab. And Harold was looking at you in Transfiguration. I think you like him Gabella. You just don’t want to admit it. He isn’t bad looking and he’s quite smitten with you. Give him a chance. And someday Nicholas will be mine. You just watch.

Lily put the diary down. It seemed like her and Sarah. Lily placed the diary back into the space with the box and the other notebook. Sarah would be back soon, and Lily didn’t feel like sharing what she had found just yet. She found her thoughts wandering to a certain dark-haired boy once again…No…I don’t think I like him…I can’t. Can I? And he’s always been the one I said no to. I don’t hate him anymore…if I did I wouldn’t be doing this tonight…but I’m not falling for him. We are just friends, I guess. I don’t even know what we are!

“Lilei,” Sarah said walking into her room, “time!”

“1 hour and 15 minutes,” Lily said.

“Ah! Anyways I ran into Lia. And she definitely likes Garret. He’s really nice. And Alden isn’t too happy with Lane and Pierre hooking up. Sirius is going with May now, as of…oh…½ an hour ago.”

“That’s what took you so long.”

“Yeah. Oh and Adalyn and Bryce had a HUGE fight in the Ravenclaw common room. You could hear it out in the hall. Lia didn’t know what it was about, but Adalyn slapped Bryce and stormed off to her dorm. Bryce did the same. Then Adalyn snuck down to go meet Ethan somewhere, a 6^th year.”

“Poor Bryce.”

“But he should’ve known. I mean, he did ask out Adalyn the slut.”

“She isn’t a slut.”

“Lilei, she’s slept with half of the guys at Hogwarts and snogged even more! She is a slut.”

“Ah…maybe…”

“See! I am right. And I’m bored.”

“Find something to do.”

“Let’s get ready. What are you wearing?”

“Uh, this?” Lily said looking down at her jeans and t-shirt.

“It’s not black.”

“So?”

“If we’re going to do this right you have to change,” Sarah said walking over to Lily’s dresser. She pulled out the draws and began throwing things to the floor.

“SARAH! Those are my clothes! Put them back!” Lily shrieked.

“AH-HA!” Sarah said triumphantly as she pulled a black shirt out from one of Lily’s drawers.

“Oh please help me,” Lily muttered as she looked to her ceiling for some kind of help.

“Put this on,” Sarah told her as she threw the shirt at Lily.

Lily did as she said as Sarah rummaged through her draw for another one. Sarah pulled off her pink t-shirt and put on one of Lily’s. “Can I borrow this Lilei?” she asked, the t-shirt already on her.

Lily laughed, “Sure.”

Sarah pulled out another drawer and found Lily’s jeans. “Do you have 2 pairs of black jeans?”

“Yeah,” Lily answered.

“Oh good. I found them,” Sarah said as she pulled them out from the bottom of her drawer. She threw a pair of black jeans to Lily and put the other pair on, thankful that she and Lily were the same size.

“I suppose I have to wear black shoes too?” Lily questioned her.

Sarah grinned, “Of course!”

“I have some in my closet.”

Sarah got a pair of black boots and a pair of plain black dress shoes, but only with a small heel. “Which ones do you want?” Sarah asked Lily.

Lily took the dress shoes “Those are too big for me,” she said as she pointed at the boots. “I don’t even know why I brought them.”

“Um..uh…Isortastuckthemintoyourtruckforyou,” Sarah said quickly as she pulled on the boots.

“What?”

“I put them in.”

“Sarah!”

“What? I really like them!”

Lily sighed. “You can have them.”

“Really?” Sarah asked eagerly.

“I don’t care. They don’t fit anyways. I told you they were too big for me.”

“Thanks darling! Now what make-up should we wear?”

“Make-up! We don’t need make-up Sarah,” Lily told her.

“Yes we do,” Sarah said and dragged Lily over to her vanity. For the next hour Sarah made up Lily’s face and her hair, occasionally doing something to her own.

“Sarah, we have to go.”

“Is it time?!?” Sarah asked eagerly.

“Yes,” Lily replied.

“YEA!”

“I have the list,” Lily said, pushing a piece of parchment into her pocket. She glanced into the mirror, and she had to admit, she didn’t look half bad.

“Let’s go!!!” Sarah yelled quietly, as she swung the door open.

Lily followed her down into the Heads Room, hoping that everything would go right…

A/N: Hey! Sorry it took so long. High school. ::sigh:: I have homework EVERY SINGLE NIGHT! I'm serious. Especially in history. Never take AP/Accel/Honor classes... It's like I'm in college already. High school is prepping me for college? Nooo, not in our school. College should be prepping us for high school. Enough with my excuses. Hope you liked it. It was a tad longer than usually. It kept me entertained.

One question: Where are Sarah and Lily going?

And another: Who's Gabriella?

Chapter 9: Mischief

Sometimes, there are no

'Next Times'

No

'Time Outs'

No

'Second Chances'

Sometimes, its Now or Never

Monday, September 20^th, 1979

Lily’s heart pounded. She had never done anything like this before. Sneaking around the castle past twelve? Never. She was Lily Evans, and it simply wasn’t done. Yet she found herself crawling into the Slytherins’ common room past midnight with James’ hand pulling her in. Lily stopped once she got in. Sarah pushed her aside so she could get in too, slinging her black bag over her shoulder. It was dark and dreary, not at all like the Gryffindor common room. The seats were dark green and made out of some material that Lily wasn’t sure she wanted to know. Peter sat down in a chair, so he could see the entrance.

“How do we know if they’re all asleep?” Lily whispered, trying to keep an eye on the two doors on either side of the common room, most likely one led to the boy’s dorm and the other one to the girls’.

James pulled out a blank piece of parchment and whispered, “I solemnly swear that I am up to no good,” and tapped it with his wand. Lily peered over his shoulder to look at it.

Messrs. Padfoot, Prongs, Moony, and Wormtail Proudly Present the Marauder’s Map. James opened the parchment to reveal a map of Hogwarts.

“How did…?” Lily said astonished.

“Shhhh,” Sarah hushed her.

“They’re all in their dorms, presumably asleep,” James told her. We’ll do Snape and his gang first.”

Lily and Sarah followed James to the 7^th Year Boys dorm with Sirius behind them. When the came to the door with the silver plaque with ‘7^th Year’ on it they opened it carefully. They each pointed their wand at a sleeping Slytherin and said “dorme.” They would sleep for three dreamless hours if they weren’t already asleep, and if they were they would stay sleeping. The four sneaked into the dorm and carefully shut it, careful not to wake any of the other years. Imagine that, four Gryffindors being caught in the Slytherin’s dorms. Disastrous.

“Silencio,” James said, pointing his wand at the cold stone walls of the dorm.

Lily pulled out a piece of parchment with spells written on it. She had spent a few hours with Sarah in the library looking up some of them. James, Sirius, and Sarah pulled an identical list out of their pockets as well.

“Sirius and I will take care of their clothes,” James whispered to Lily. She shivered as his hot breath tickled her ear. She nodded.

“Oh wait,” Sarah said, and slung her black bag down onto the floor. “I have…” she rummaged through her bag, “gloves!” she exclaimed quietly as she pulled them out. “Here, put these on,” she told Lily, James and Sirius as she handed each of them a pair of white medical gloves.

“Where did you get these?” Sirius asked her as he eyed them suspiciously.

“My cousin’s mother’s work. They’re cool, so I grabbed a box of them. I knew I got them for a reason. This way we don’t have to actually touch them. That would be nasty.”

“Very,” Lily said.

Sarah pulled out a bottle of Madame Heyele’s Rambunctious Razzle Red Hair Spray out of her black bag and grinned. “I hope this stays on Snape’s greasy hair. I’m not sure if it will, it’s so slick the color might just slide right off,” Sarah said and began to spray Snape’s hair.

“Do his eyebrows too,” Lily suggested.

“His eyebrows are huge,” Sarah said.

“You wouldn’t happen to have any tweezers, would you?” Lily asked Sarah with a grin.

“As a matter-of-fact, I do,” Sarah responded, producing a pair of tweezers from her bag. “I’ll have to dispose of them later.”

“I wouldn’t want them afterwards either.” Sarah handed the tweezers to Lily, and she began to pluck the black hairs of Snape’s eyebrows while Sarah sprayed his hair. “Should I pluck his unibrow too?” Lily asked.

“Of course! Who wants a unibrow? Especially that one…” Sarah replied.

“Ew. Look at his skin, it’s all red where I plucked it!” Lily exclaimed. The skin began to swell from all of the plucking of his once huge eyebrow.

Sarah tilted her head and looked at Lily’s work. “Well, at least now he has two instead of that one!” she said and giggled with Lily joining in. “Maybe you should thin them out…they’re too…manly yet.”

Lily stifled a laugh and plucked his eyebrows even more. “This has to hurt…”

“But at least it’s not us!”

“I would kill you if you ever did this to me in my sleep.”

“Good to know.”

“Ok, I think I’m done Sarah. How do they look?”

“B-e-a-utiful Lilei! I’ve never seen such fine work,” Sarah said.

“Including me?” Sirius asked from across the room, looking at her instead of the clothing he was turning red.

“Not,” Sarah replied not looking at him.

Sirius grinned.

“What colors did we decide then? Besides red.” James asked.

“Red and hot pink,” Lily replied.

“Wicked,” James said and grinned. He pointed his wand at the clothing in a draw. “Scarletus.”

“Celisicus,” Sirius said, also pointing his wand at the Slytherins’ clothing turning half of it hot pink.

Lily and Sarah walked to their next victim of makeover, Zane. “Lilei! We should spike his hair!” Sarah said eagerly remembering the photo she had showed Lily of her and a guy named David she had met in the States.

“Yeah!” Lily agreed. “Can you guys hold Zane up while I do his hair?” Lily asked James and Sirius.

“Sure,” James said. He and Sirius walked on either side of Zane’s bed. They pulled him upward to a sitting position. Lily started to form spikes on Zane’s head with the help of Madame Heyele’s Magnificent Mousse that Sarah had dug out of her bag.

“That stuff smells,” Sirius said.

“Good or bad?” Sarah asked as she rummaged through her bag.

“Good,” Sirius decided. Sarah smiled as she pulled a bottle of gold nail polish from her bag.

“His nails look really bad,” Sarah said holding up Vance’s hand up tentatively showing the three of them his nails.

“Ew,” Lily said.

“This is disgusting. This’ll have to go too. Too bad, I really liked this colour,” Sarah said painting Vance’s dirty nails.

“It is pretty,” Lily agreed.

“They look like they could poke someone’s eye out,” James said as Lily worked on the last spike on Zane’s head.

“I bet they could,” Lily said, finished.

“Probably,” Sarah agreed.

Lily pulled out her wand. “Cenmtify. Didaimont. And they’ll stay right like that for two days. Done.”

“What should we do with Rodo?” Sarah asked nodding her head to the last bed which held Rodolphus Lestrange.

“Haircut?” James suggested.

Lily grinned. “Perfect. Sarah? Scissors?”

“Duh,” Sarah said as she shoved the nail polish into Sirius’ hands before hunting through her bag yet again. She placed the scissors into Lily’s hand before recovering her nail polish.

“Guys will you hold him up?” Lily asked them. They moved on either side of Rodolphus’ bed and pulled him upward like they did with Zane.

“Almost done,” Sarah said happily as she painted the second to last nail on Vance’s hand.

Lily started hacking away at Rodolphus’ head. “Ew this is nasty. I bet he doesn’t wash his hair, just like Snape,” Lily grimaced.

“I’m done!” Sarah announced. She tilted her head and watched Lily cut Rodolphus’ hair off. “Nice job Lilei.”

“Thanks,” Lily said as she finished his hair. They all started to laugh. Roldolphus’ hair was completely gone at some parts and was left bald. What little hair remained was cut unevenly and wasn’t the same length. Sirius and James let him fall back onto his pillow. Sarah threw the rest of her supplies into her bag while Lily cast the spell on Vance and Roldolphus.

Sirius and James went back to changing the color of the boys’ clothing.

“Lilei, let’s write a note and put it on Rodolphus nightstand, ” Sarah whispered in Lily’s ear.

“What?” Lily asked, confused.

“I’ll write ‘thanks for the great night.’!” Sarah whispered excitedly.

“What do you mean?” Lily asked.

“Lilei, come on. Like it’s from Bella. Or whoever else he’s sleeping with.”

“Sarah! You’re so mean!”

“I know.”

“Put lipstick on and kiss the parchment!” Lily suggested.

“Great idea!” Sarah agreed and wrote out her note for Rodolphus.

R,

Thank you for an amazing night.

-

Sarah wrote and kissed it with red lipstick on, only a few shades off from the colour Bella wore. Sarah put the note on his bedside, but as she turned to walk away from his bed, she tripped and fell on the floor.

“Sarah!” Lily exclaimed as quietly as she could.

“Are you ok?” Sirius asked her.

“I’m fine,” she said as Sirius pulled her up from her spot on the floor. She brushed herself off, and picked up the shoe she tripped on. “Know what we should do with this?”

“Ruin it?” James asked.

“Fill it with potatoes?” Sirius asked.

“Shrink it?” Lily asked.

“No. But good ideas. Colour it gold. And shrink it,” she smirked.

They all grinned. Lily pulled out her piece of parchment and scanned down the list until she found the spell she wanted. “Golitus. Reducio. Didaimont.” She repeated the spells on all of the boys’ shoes.

“Are we done?” James asked.

“I think so,” Lily replied.

“Ok, let’s get out of here then,” James said. They crept into the hallway that led back into the Slytherin Common Room with Lily in the lead, way before Sarah, Sirius and James. When she opened the door and walked into the room she froze. Someone was standing in the middle of the common room. The others were still way behind her. The person in the common room began to walk towards her. quickly. Her mind screamed but her feet wouldn’t budge.

Chapter 10: Mischief Managed

If you're not living life on the edge, you're taking up too much space

Monday, October 20^th, 1979

“Lily?” the person asked. As they crossed the room, the few flames from the fire illuminated their face. It was Peter. Lily sighed in relief.

“Hey Peter,” Lily said shakily.

“Peter!” James called out as he, Sirius and Sarah entered the room. “Any problems?”

“No,” Peter replied.

“Good,” James said. “Onto the girls. You know what to do if anything happens,” James instructed. Peter nodded and returned to his chair by the fireplace. James opened the door labeled “Girls Dorm,” but when he couldn’t get through the doorway.

“Come on James, stop fooling around,” Lily said as she brushed past him and walked into the hallway.

James tried again, but was thrown backwards onto the floor. “I can’t!”

“Obviously,” Sirius remarked.

“Now what?” Lily asked.

“You guys just go. We’ll figure out a way,” James told them.

Sarah shrugged and stepped into the dark hallway. They crept along the hallway until they reached the 7^th year dorm. Lily’s heart was pounding. It seemed so much weirder without James and Sirius with them. Lily stopped outside the door. Sarah pushed past her and stepped inside the dark dorm.

“Come on,” Sarah whispered pulling Lily inside and closing the door. “Silencio.”

Lily gathered her wits, and pointed her wand at each of the sleeping girls. “Duerme.”

“What are we doing to them?” Sarah asked her.

Lily thought for a moment. “Don’t you think it would be quite nice of us to let them have the same hair colour as Snape?”

Sarah grinned. “So very nice of us. They should be grateful, really…”

And the two went to work.

~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~

“Hello,” James whispered in Lily’s ear and she jumped whacked him on his arm in surprise.

“What was that for?” Lily said hastily as she tried to calm her nerves down. Sneaking out and messing with the Slytherins was definitely taking its toll on her. And it was only the first time she’d done it. She had a feeling it wouldn’t be her last.

“Sorry,” James said, rubbing his arm a bit.

“How did you get in?” Sarah asked.

“The founders always made a way for guys to get into the girls’ dorms,” Sirius said.

“So how did you get into the hall?” Lily asked.

“Secret,” James said.

“Tart,” Lily said.

“My word!” Sarah said exasperatedly.

“You two can start doing their robes while we finish Jinelle,” Lily told James and Sirius.

“Pink yet?” James asked her.

“Yes,” Lily answered. “I heard they hate pink.”

James and Sirius set to work on their robes while Sarah closed the bottle of Madam Heyeley’s and put it into her black bag. Lily found Bella’s make-up and turned it all different crazy colours, like electric green and neon yellow.

“Lilei,” Sarah whispered to her. “Remember Rodo’s note? I have an idea.”

“Yeah, what is it?” Lily asked.

“That lipstick. Should I put it with Jinelle’s stuff?”

“Yes! That’s awesome. You’re a genius Sarah.”

Sarah grinned, “I know.”

Lily gave her a little push towards Jinelle’s bed. “Do it.”

Sarah found the lipstick they had put on Rodolphus’ note and placed it on Jinelle’s nightstand. “Bella will be furious.”

“Explosive. Thank goodness we won’t be in here tomorrow.”

“I expect Jinelle will be making a trip to the Hospital Wing tomorrow.”

“Me too. And maybe Rodo,” Lily agreed.

“Done!” Sirius said happily.

“We are too,” Sarah said.

“I love Bella’s hair,” Sirius said.

“Thanks,” Lily said. They had dyed it and put it into tiny little knots, almost impossible to get out.

After a last look around, James nodded and led the way out into the hallway. Sirius quietly closed the door to the girls’ dorm, behind Lily and Sarah. Lily did not want to go first after last time. James opened the door to the common room and walked through with the three behind him with no problem this time.

“I was just about to get you guys! I think someone’s awake!” Peter squeaked as he rushed towards them from where he had been listening at the door to the boy’s dorms.

“Let’s go,” James said and they rushed out of the Slytherin’s common room. They stealthily climbed up the stairs from the dungeons. They were creeping along a hallway when they heard the footsteps coming from behind them.

Lily’s heart skipped a beat. I bet it’s a professor. It’s way past round times. No excuse. My Head Badge! It’ll be taken away! I’ll get a detention and everything.

The footsteps grew louder as they got closer. The clinking of keys on a chain was also heard. Oh God. It’s Filch. Not much better! Definitely a detention. And then he’ll tell McGonagall. I shouldn’t of have done this…I’m no good at this. James and them were made for this. I wasn’t. I doubt my heart can beat any faster.

The three boys looked at each other when they reached where two hallways intersected. They nodded. Sarah and Lily didn’t understand their silent language. Sirius grabbed Sarah’s hand and led her down the left corridor. James went to the right. Lily panicked and followed him. Peter turned into a rat once the girls were out of view and continued down the hallway that they were in. If Mrs. Norris was with him she’d go after Peter, letting the other four off of the hook.

James and Lily turned yet another corner. Lily prayed that he knew where they were going. She was completely lost. Filch was getting closer, although he had no idea he was gaining on the two. They walked as quickly as they could without making any noise. Filch seemed to be moving faster than he usually did, at least to James and Lily he seemed to. Suddenly, James pulled Lily inside a niche in the wall, hidden behind a tapestry. Lily’s breath caught in her throat at James’ touch. His body was pressed up against hers in the tiny niche. She could feel the heat from his body. Filch’s footsteps became more distinct, and after what felt like a lifetime, passed them. Lily found herself staring into James’ hazel eyes. His eyes are so gorgeous…just like the rest of him…No! This is James! I mean Potter!

James managed to avert his gaze and stuck his head out to see if the coast was clear. It was. He stepped out and Lily followed. James led her they way they came. After a few more turns and hallways they ended up outside their common room. Arabelle was sleeping on a flower next to her river in the painting.

“Er. Hello? Arabelle? Can you let us in?” James asked.

Arabelle opened one of her eyes. “Password?” she asked them sleepily.

“It’s ‘Lily and James are the hottest heads ever.’ But change it to ‘mischief managed.’ Ok?” Lily said quickly before James could respond.

Arabelle nodded yes and closed her eyes as the painting swung forward granting the two access to their common room.

James and Lily stood together awkwardly. Neither of them knew what to say.

Finally, Lily broke the silence. “Do you think they made it back to their common room?”

“Yea,” James answered. “Sirius knows his way. Maybe even better than me.”

“Is that possible?” Lily joked.

“Possibly.”

“You really trust Sirius?” Lily asked.

“With my life,” James replied. “He’s my brother.”

Lily smiled. “Goodnight James,” she said as she gave him a quick hug.

“’Night Lily,” he said quietly as she walked to her room and he went to his.

~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~

Lily grinned to herself in the darkness of her room as she pulled the covers around her. Mischief most definitely managed.

A/N: You guys rock.

{Short chappie, I know. BUT! I am very excited for chapter 11. It’s so much better than this one!}

Chapter 11: Aftermath

Monday October 20^th, 1979

Lily opened her eyes. It’s way too early. I’m dead tired. When she sat up in bed her heart jumped a mile. She wasn’t expecting Sarah to be sitting at the foot of her bed watching her. “Sarah! What are you doing!?”

“Morning to you too sleepyhead. I was just about to wake you up,” Sarah replied.

“How did you get in? We changed the password,” Lily said.

“I have my ways, love. Now get dressed,” Sarah said smiling.

“Oh yea…” Lily said, realizing what Sarah meant. Doing as she was told, Lily got dressed, although she wished she could crawl back into bed. She pulled her hair up into a ponytail. Lily didn’t even get to apply any make-up before Sarah was dragging her out of her room.

“You look fine. Besides, you haven’t forgotten last night, have you?” Sarah said before Lily could protest. “I can’t wait.”

Lily managed to free her arm from Sarah’s grasp as Lane and Cassidy caught up with them.

“Something happened to the Slytherins,” Lane said as they made their way to the Great Hall.

“What happened?” Lily asked, curious as to how much Lane knew.

“I’m not sure exactly,” Lane admitted.

“No one knows for sure,” Cassidy said. “I guess we’ll find out what happened later.”

“What class do we have with them?” Sarah asked.

“Transfiguration. Everyone except Jinelle and Vance,” Lane replied, “second period.”

“I don’t think I can wait that long,” Sarah said.

“I’m sure someone has to know,” Lily said as they entered the Great Hall.

“Yeah. This is Hogwarts after all,” Sarah said, sitting down next to Sirius as the Gryffindor table.

“Lia said that they had a row this morning. Bella and presumably Jinelle, because Bella was yelling and Jinelle went to the Hospital Wing this morning.” Lily and Sarah exchanged looks.

“What happened to Jinelle?” James asked.

“I think Lia said she was burned a bit and was cut up from when Bella threw something at her,” Lane told them.

“What was the row about?” Lily asked.

“Something about a note,” Cassidy shrugged.

Lily bit her lip. Jinelle went to the Hospital Wing.

“I don’t see any of the 7^th years,” Sarah said as she scanned the Slytherin table for them.

“Damn,” Sirius said dejectedly.

“It’s ok,” Sarah told him as she patted his arm comfortingly.

“Do you guys know what happened?” Kirsten asked, appearing behind Lily with Julia at her side.

“Not really,” Sarah answered.

“No one knows!” Kirsten said. She turned on her heels and returned to her place at the table.

“Everybody’s talking about it,” Julia said, “but no one knows what happened.”

“Typical,” Cassidy commented.

“Yeah,” Julia agreed. “I gotta go. I’ll see you guys later.”

“We gotta go too, or we’re going to be late,” Lily said standing up from the table.

“I don’t feel like going to DA-DA,” Sarah complained.

“Me neither,” Lane agreed as they made their way out of the Great Hall.

“Lane!” a voice called from behind them. Lane turned around to find Pierre trying to catch up to her.

“You guys can go ahead,” Lane said as she stopped to wait for Pierre.

Sarah’s smile slipped a bit form her face.

“Sarah,” Lily whispered warningly.

Sarah mentally scolded herself and opened her mind to Lily’s, curious as to what she thought.

Sarah promised she wouldn’t fall for him. Always falling in and out of love…

I am not! Sarah thought angrily projecting her thoughts to the redhead beside her.

Lily stopped walking and touched Sarah’s arm. “Sarah?” she asked suspiciously.

Now what? Sarah thought as she turned around to face Lily.

Lily’s eyes were huge. Oh my god! SARAH!

What? Sarah thought irritably at Lily’s crazy mood.

Sarah, I can hear you! It’s like your voice, but different. Almost as if I’m reading what you say! So this is what it’s like to be you! Sarah! I can tell what you’re thinking!

Sarah’s face lit up with excitement and squealed.

“Lily this is awesome!” she said as she gave Lily a hug.

“I know!” Lily said happily.

“What’s going on?” James asked suspiciously.

“Um..nothing,” Lily replied.

“Sure,” Sirius said sarcastically.

Lily and Sarah experimented with their newfound gift. They figured out they could talk to each other with their minds. Lily could only “talk” to Sarah if Sarah established the connection first. They found it easy to distinguished what the other was trying to “say” and not read the other’s private thoughts. All this was found out on the way to Defense Against the Dark Arts. The two worked quickly when they really wanted something.

Sirius and James were very relived when they reached the classroom because they couldn’t, for the life of them, figure out what Lily and Sarah were laughing about. Or if they were laughing at them. Which would be even worse, for James and Sirius appeared to be on the receiving end of it.

Sarah pulled the door open and they all went inside. Sarah and Lily took their seats and James and Sirius sat behind them at another table. Lane quietly slipped into her seat next to Celia, the only Hufflepuff in the class before Professor Brahman entered from the side room.

Professor Brahman stood at the front of the room and cleared his throat, trying to gain the attention of his class. One of the largest he taught. “Today we will be studying Granchers, a highly dangerous, venomous, treacherous animal. They usually on-” he stopped when the heavy oak door in the back of the classroom creaked as it opened. Everyone head turned to the doorway to see who dared enter Professor Brahman’s classroom late.

Every head that was turned gasped in surprise, disgust, and shock. And slowly but surely, everyone tried to suppress the laughter that threatened to ring throughout the classroom. The Slytherins glared at the rest of their peers, daring each and everyone of them to laugh. Their new wardrobe and the alters in their appearances was a hit, to say the least. Bella quickly sat down at one table and pulled Ember into the seat next to her. Rodolphus, who usually sat with Bella, quickly recovered from this silent blow and sat down at a table with Zane. Snape and Jinelle were forced to take a walk of shame to the very first table in the front of the classroom in the middle of the three rows. All eyes were on them as they made their way to the last empty table in the room. When the pair sat down, the hushed whispers began.

Professor Brahman tried to regain the attention of his class, but it was futile. Sighing, he wrote a few questions on the board and instructed his class to answer them with their textbooks. The textbooks opened, but no one read. There was more interesting things going on right that moment. He sat down at his desk and got out papers that needed to be graded. He knew it was going to be a long day.

~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~

The talk at breakfast was just a slight shower of a precursor that was followed by a downpour of gossip that took over the minds of the students at Hogwarts by lunch. Everyone was talking about it. And when the Slytherins didn’t show up for lunch, it only worsened.

“Are you going to eat that?” Sirius asked Sarah of her half uneaten sandwich.

“There’s a whole plate of ‘em right in front of you,” Sarah pointed out.

“Yea…So can I have yours?” he repeated.

Sarah rolled her eyes and resumed her conversation with Lily. “Did you see them in DA? Bella was furious with Rodo!” Sirius tried to grab her sandwich and she slapped his hand away.

“Ow!” Sirius cried out.

“I know! She wasn’t happy with him at all,” Lily agreed.

“I don’t blame her! I would be too if someone framed my boyfriend and best friend!” Sarah exclaimed.

“Uh, Sarah? It was your idea,” Lily said.

“I know. I just didn’t think it would work so well!” Sarah said happily. “I must be a genius.”

Sirius snorted while trying to contain his laughter.

“Sarah!” Lia called out as she made her way to the Gryffindor table.

“Yea?” Sarah asked while she slapped Sirius’ hand again when he tried to steal her sandwich.

“You won’t believe it!”

“What?” Sarah asked.

“Some of these fourth years are trying to sneak into the Slytherin common room to see them!” Lia told them.

“That’s stupid,” Lily said. “They’ll be cooked and eaten for dinner if they don’t keep their noses out of there. The Slytherins weren’t too happy all morning. I don’t think they‘ll be too pleased when the fourth years try to get in.”

Lia frowned a bit and nodded. “I’ll see you later,” she said to Sarah and left.

“Aw, Lily. I think you burst her bubble!” Sarah teased.

“Yea, she was probably planning on going with,” James added.

Lily just rolled her eyes.

~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~

“Come here my Fantastic Eight! Well, minus Peter. ‘Cause he’s not here. Which is really too bad. Where is he anyways? I haven’t seen him awhile…well outside class and all…” Sarah said as she skipped through the portrait entrance and into the Heads’ common room where James, Lily, Sirius, Lane, Cassidy, and Remus were all lounging around talking.

“What is it Sarah?” Lily asked her, interrupting Sarah’s train of thought.

“What? Oh. The Slytherins. Their tiny little brains have come to the conclusion that the Marauders had something to do with their…uh...alteration,” Sarah told them. “And supposedly they have something really nasty up their nasty, grimy, pink sleeves for you guys. They don’t know that Lily and I were there. Obviously.”

“Great,” Lily said sarcastically.

“But Jinelle’s out of the Hospital Wing,” Sarah informed them.

“Like we care…” Sirius said as he got up. “I think I’m going to go find Kristen…”

“Uh, hello! Did you not just hear Sarah? You’re not going by yourself are you? They’ll be looking for you,” Lane told him.

“They don’t scare me,” Sirius said defiantly.

“It doesn’t matter if they scare your or not. They can still hurt you,” Lane argued.

“I’ll come with you,” Sarah said.

“No,” Sirius said, getting a bit angry. “I can take care of myself. You don’t have to go. And don’t you dare follow me.” He stepped through the hole and was gone.

“Fine then. He gets what he deserves,” Lane said.

Sarah nodded and Lily patted her arm.

~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~

They think I can’t take care of myself. I don’t need Sarah to watch over me. Why can’t she stay out of my business? If she doesn’t want me then she shouldn’t prevent me from snogging someone else. I don’t even like Sarah. James and Remus are hallucinating. I wonder where Kristen is…Sirius thought as he roamed the halls looking for something or someone.

~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~

Lily quietly slipped from the room without anyone noticing. Thankfully, her door didn’t creak when she opened it. She made her way to the loose floorboard with the hole in it. It had been in the back of her mind all of last night and today, nagging her to read more. She lifted the floorboard up and pulled out the diary. She sat cross-legged on the floor with the diary on her lap. Lily wanted to know more, but she was trespassing. It wasn’t her diary. But it was left here. Anyone could have read it. There was a small knot of guilt in her stomach. Lily opened the diary to the next entry.

September of 1957

Professor Artis was quite angry today, for no apparent reason. He gave Brianna a detention! She was quite furious. She was up here debating whether she should serve her detention. I told her just to go. She was driving me quite mad. And she keeps pestering me about Charles. I think she secretly likes Harold, but does not want to go out with him so she bugs me to. I am not sure. She is a bit of a mystery sometimes. But she always tells me everything. And if she did like Harold, she would definitely of have told me. Right? Brina is not one to keep secrets.

Crison is looking for me to do rounds. I like talking to him.

Gabella, hiding it under the mattress is not going to work. I am far too clever for that. Give me a bit of a challenge! Harold is perfect for Gabella, but she just does not see it. And I certainly do not like him. I adore Nicholas. He smiled at me today in Transfiguration. I think he fancies me. And I never keep secrets from you, Gabella. You know that. Charles is so boring. And Professor Artis is evil. I think Gabella secretly likes Harold. Keeping secrets from me and then accusing me of doing it. Naughty, naughty.

Lily smiled to herself. Brianna seems a bit like Sarah. Annoying, but you can’t help but loving her. Who were these people? Were they actually real people? Students at Hogwarts? And if so, why won’t Gabriella go out with Harold if he liked her? Brianna really must’ve liked Nicholas. That sounds like Sarah. Gabriella had good taste in friends.

The door to her room opened, and Lily hid the diary behind her back.

“Lilei? What are you doing?” Sarah asked her.

“Uh, nothing,” Lily lied.

“Lilei, this is me you’re talking to. Why are you sitting on the floor?” Sarah questioned her.

“Um, I was just looking to see if I got a splinter in my foot. But, uh, I didn’t!” Lily tired to lie.

“Ok, then. Come on down,” Sarah said as she closed the door, not believing Lily for a second.

Lily sighed in relief and put the diary back. Thank goodness she had put the floorboard back when she first got it out or Sarah wouldn’t of have put it down. And Lily just didn’t feel like sharing this little secret of hers just yet.

~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~

As Sirius rounded the corner, he heard voices coming from the other end of the hallway. Ugh. People. I hope it’s not a bunch of girls. I really don’t feel like dealing with them all now. But I do hope it’s Kristen and Julia. He grinned at the prospect of having a snogging buddy for the night and quickened his pace. Light was still pouring in from the end of the hallway via the stained glass window at the end the group was coming from. Sirius couldn’t make out their faces or any distinguishing features, for they were in the shadows. He quickened his pace to see who it was. Only when he could, he wasn’t so happy.

~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~

“I’m going to go find Lia or Celia. And see what happened with those fourth years,” Sarah laughed.

“Hopefully there still is some fourth years left,” James joked. They all laughed.

“I’m going back to the dorm, I still have homework to do,” Lane said.

“Me too,” Cassidy said.

“And me,” Remus added after Cassidy elbowed him in the side. They all chuckled at this while Cassidy blushed. The four stood up and said their good-byes.

“I’ll be back,” Sarah told them, “don’t worry.”

“I won’t,” Lily said.

Sarah, Lane, Cassidy, and Remus made their way out of the common room. ~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~

“Hello Sirius.”

Sirius grunted in return.

“That isn’t any way to greet you favorite-est cousin, now is it?” Bella asked.

Sirius didn’t bother to reply.

“You need to learn some manners,” Bella told him, raising her wand.

“Expelliamus!” Sirius yelled.

“Protego! Stupefy!” Bella shouted, immediately, Sirius froze.

“Incarcerous,” Snape added, binding Sirius’ legs and wrists together.

“Now what?” Ember asked timidly.

“This would be so much more fun if he was awake. Ennervate,” Bella said. Sirius unfroze and tried to escape from the ropes that he found around his wrists and ankles.

~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~

“Ah! Don’t ever let Sirius know that I told you that!” Remus said. “He’ll kill me if he knew that I told you guys!”

“We won’t say anything,” Sarah assured him, winking at Lane.

“Never,” Lane agreed.

“I’m dead,” Remus said, hanging his head.

“It’ll be fine. We won’t say anything,” Cassidy told him while she sent Sarah and Lane glared and squeezed his hand in assurance.

Sarah made a gagging face behind Cassidy’s back and Lane giggled.

“Knock if off Sarah,” Cassidy said, not even bothering to look at her.

“Sorry Mum. I’ll be good,” Sarah told her with a fake smile.

Cassidy and Remus walked faster than Sarah and Lane did, leaving the two trailing behind them. “They look cute together,” Lane said.

“Yeah. They do. I’m happy for her,” Sarah said.

“You are?”

“Yea. Why wouldn’t I be?” Sarah asked.

Lane shrugged. “No reason. I’m glad that you’re glad for her.”

“Nice,” Sarah said. When the hallway divided into two ways Sarah turned to the one on the right.

“Aren’t you coming this way?” Lane asked. “It’s shorter.”

“I think I’ll go this way.”

“Why?”

“I don’t know,” Sarah shrugged.

“Whatever,” Lane said. “Later.”

“Ok, bye,” Sarah said.

~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~

“Sectumsempra,” Severus cast, his wand pointing at Sirius.

Sirius felt the blood trickle down his face and from another place on his arm. Suddenly there was a searing pain, as if he was being cut by a knife. He cried out in pain.

“No one can hear you,” Bella said with her nose in the air. “Do it again, Severus,” she ordered.

“Sectumsempra! Sectumsempra!” Severus said again.

Sirius could feel the wounds opening up. He tried to sit up, but the pain was unbearable. The pain was intensifying. He could feel himself losing consciousness from all of the pain searing through his body. He faintly hear Bella say Stupefy and the footsteps leaving him alone in a deserted corridor.

~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~

I wonder what Lily and James do together when the Fantastic Eight isn’t there…They do have it all to themselves…Ah. Probably not the same thing I would use it for. Sarah grinned. Fantastic Eight. We need a new name. Something with an ‘e’. Eager. Energized. Exciting. Easy. Haha. Only a few of us are actually easy…No! Ebullient! Yes! Fantabulous! We’re the Ebullient Eight. Thank goodness for Mish and those crazy books that she has to read. And the dictionary she has. I wonder if dad sent her my letter. I hope he remembered. Maybe I’ll owl him and find out. Sarah thought as she walked down the hall. She noticed something in the middle of the corridor ahead of her. It cast a long dark shadow towards her. What is it? Out of curiosity, instead of turning left into the next hallway, she continued straight. What is it? Oh god. It’s a person! She rushed to the figure on the floor. Sarah sucked in her breath and held it. Sirius was lying unconscious at her feet.

A/N: Well. That’s about 7 pages, and at size 12pt and not my normal 14, so that’s good. Well, it’s be over a month since I updated. Yup, so that’s a reason to review, even if it’s just to yell at me for not updating sooner. And Gabriella and Brianna is in here! I know I’m not the greatest writer, I’m pretty bad actually, but the plot is ok. And the drama is fabulous. You can thank my G-ma for that, ‘cause she got me THE FIRST SEASON OF One Tree Hill!!!! Yea, OTH rocks. And so does the drama that’s coming.

If I get 6 reviews (‘cause of the New Year, ‘06) I’ll update before…oh the 15^th. Ok? More reviews equals faster writing time and update time.

HAPPY NEW YEAR!

Chapter 12: Please

“We’re the kids who feel like dead ends.” - Fall Out Boy from I’ve Got A Dark Alley And A Bad Idea That Says You Should Shut Your Mouth (Summer Song)

Monday October 20^th, 1979

Panic set in. Please don’t let him be dead. Please, please, please, please. If there is a God up there, somewhere. Please do not let him be dead. Oh God. What am I gonna do? Please don’t be dead. She faintly saw his chest rise and fall. He’s alive. Oh thank God. Thank you. But still I need help. Lily. I need Lily’s help. I don’t even know where we are!

Lily! LILY!

Sarah?

YES! LILY! Oh thank God. I need you. Right now. It’s Sirius.

What’s wrong?

He…well, he’s unconscious. But he’s not dead! Oh God, Lily, I thought he was dead! I’m so scared. I don’t know what to do! Please Lily!

SARAH! Calm down. Is he ok?

No. Not at all. Come quickly.

What? Where are you?

Uh…I don’t know! Lily, hurry!

James is getting the map. Found you. We’re coming. Just hang on.

I’m trying. Please hurry, Lily.

We are!

Sarah sank to the floor and tried to undo the ropes around his wrists. She couldn’t help the tears that ran down her face. He can’t die. He can’t. He’s Sirius. He’s not gonna leave. Don’t leave me. Please? I’m sorry. Please don’t go.

Sarah, we’re almost there.

Good. I see you! LILY!

“Sirius!” James called out as he ran to his friend, lying in the middle of the hall. “What happened?”

Sarah shook her head. “I don’t know, I just found him.”

“We’ve got to get him to the Hospital Wing,” Lily said.

“Locomotor Sirius,” James said and Sirius’ body floated into the air. He led the two girls to the Hospital Wing. When they arrived Madame Pomfry was in a bustle. She tried to shoo James, Lily, and Sarah out of the wing, but they refused. She made them wait outside his little room while she cleaned him up.

“Do you think he’ll be ok?” Sarah asked.

“Yeah,” James answered.

Sarah nodded and continued to star off into space. “I should’ve gone with him.”

“Don’t blame yourself,” Lily told her.

Madame Pomfry came out of his room. “You can go in now. But he’s sleeping, so keep it quiet,” she warned.

They nodded and slipped into Sirius’ room.

James walked to Sirius’ bed and sat down in the chair next to his head.

Lily bit her lip and sat down on the chair that was made for two people. Sarah sat down next to her.

He looks horrible, Lily. Look at his face. I can’t believe this. This could’ve been avoided if I just would’ve went with him.

I don’t know what they did to him. It’s not your fault Sarah. If you would’ve went with him it still would’ve happened, only you would be hurt too. And no one would have found you guys.

Still. How could they do that to him? It looks like they cut his face with a knife or something. And his arm. It’s almost too painful to look at. Look at James. I feel so bad for him.

Sirius will be fine, Sarah. Stop blaming yourself. It’s not your fault.

It is though. I can’t be here. I’m going to go.

Should I come with you?

No. I’m going to go tell the rest. Ok? Stay here. James might need you.

Ok. You know how to get me if you need anything.

Thanks Lily. You’re my best friend.

Lily smiled. I know. You’re mine too.

Sarah walked out of Sirius’ room.

“Where is she going?” James asked Lily.

Lily shook her head. “She can’t stand this. Being here.”

James nodded. “I understand. I’m just glad she found him.”

“She really thinks it her fault. Because she didn’t go with.”

“But if she went, no one would have found them.”

“I know.”

~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~

Sarah bit her lip as she walked into the dorm that she shared with Lane and Cassidy.

“Hey Sarah,” Lane said. “Are you ok? Is something wrong?” she asked as soon as she caught a glimpse of Sarah’s face.

Sarah walked over to her bed and sat down. “No. Sirius is in the Hospital Wing.”

“Why? What happened??” Lane asked.

“The Slytherins attacked him. I don’t know what they did to him. He was really hurt.”

“Are you serious? Is he going to be ok? Were you with him? Tell me all of it Sarah,” Lane said.

“I found him lying unconscious. And then Lily and James came and we took him to the Hospital Wing. Lily and James are with him now.”

“Is he awake? Does he know what happened?”

Sarah shook her head. “I don’t know.”

“I’m going to go find Cassidy and Remus, then we’ll go see Sirius.”

“Ok,” Sarah replied.

“Are you coming with?” Lane asked.

“No.”

“Oh. Ok,” Lane said as she walked out of their dorm on her search for Cassidy.

~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~ A picture of Sirius in the hospital bed kept forcing itself into her brain. It flashed between that picture and one of him lying on the ground where she had found him. She threw back her covers and pulled a sweatshirt on over her tank top and didn’t bother to change out of her pajama pants. She slipped her slippers on and snuck out of the dorm. She tried to be as quiet as she could. It felt wrong to disturb the peace and quiet that settled over Hogwarts late at night. The Gryffindor common room was empty and only a few embers glowed from the fireplace. She swung open the portrait without much disturbance and took the empty hallways that led her to the Hospital Wing. Once she arrived at the doors that led into the actual room, she hesitated. Her nerves were running high and she tried to calm them down. She had made it that far. Why should she stop there? Where was that Gryffindor courage the Sorting Hat was always talking about? She pulled the door hand and opened it without a creak. She crept into the Hospital Wing and stealthily made her way to Sirius’ room. She went inside and pulled a chair up to the side of his bed and eased herself into it. Moonlight streamed in through the windows. Madame Pomfry had healed his cuts and wounds. There was a light pink line on his cheek where she remembered one of the worst slashes had been. She stared at his sleeping face.

She didn’t know what to do. Or why she felt so compelled to come here in the first place. She shifted uncomfortably in her chair. She settled on trying to talk to him, grateful that he wouldn’t remember and that he couldn’t respond.

She opened her mouth to tell him that it would be ok. That he would be fine. That everyone hoped he was feeling alright and to get better. But all that came out was, “I’m sorry, Sirius.” Please forgive me. Tears slid down her face. For Sirius, and for all the emotions raging inside her, demanding attention.

~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~

Sirius opened his eyes. He panicked when he realized he was in the Hospital Wing. Slowly it all came back to him. He remembered Lily and James talking. Then Lane, Cassidy and Remus. And he remembered hearing Sarah’s voice telling him that she was sorry. He took a closer look at his surroundings and realized that Sarah was sleep on a chair facing the side of his bed with her head resting on the bed. He smiled to himself and fell back asleep.

~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~

Tuesday October 21^st, 1979

Sirius opened his eyes again. It was morning and sunlight poured through the large windows. He looked to Sarah’s spot, but she wasn’t there. He looked up and saw her leaving the room. She glanced back and their eyes met. She quickly averted them and rushed out of the room without saying anything to him. He want to go after her. But what would he say?

~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~

“I’m going to go visit Sirius before classes,” James said as he got up from the breakfast table.

“D’you want me to go with?” Remus asked.

“Nah,” James said. “I think I can managed to find the way by myself.”

“Tell him we all said ‘hi’ and to get out of there soon,” Lily said with a smile.

“Breakfast is too quiet without him,” Lane said.

James nodded and started on his uneventful trip to the Hospital Wing. When he was almost there he ran into Kristen.

“Oh, sorry. Hey James. I didn’t see Sirius today. Is he alright?” Kristen asked.

“Uh, he’s just not feeling that great today,” James told her.

“Oh, ok. Tell him to get better for me. ‘Bye James,” she said as she continued on her way.

James watched her figure get farther away from him, and he finished his walk to the Hospital Wing. He let himself into Sirius’ room. Sirius was attempting to get out of bed, but every time he attempted to swing his legs over the side of the bed, they immediately stuck to the bed, like two magnets attracting.

“Hey Padfoot,” James said.

“Prongsie!” Sirius replied.

“Everyone says to feel better.”

“I’d feel a whole hell of a lot better if I could get out of this damn bed.” James laughed. “I’m serious. I think she’s gone mad and put some sort of charm on this so I can’t leave it! It’s horrible!”

James laughed even harder.

“It’s not funny Prongs!”

“Yes it is Paddy.”

“Shut it Prongs.”

“Sorry, Paddy. She just finally came up with a way to keep you from sneaking out. Priceless.”

“Well I’m glad you find it so damn entertaining.”

“Wait ‘til you’re in here. And then we’ll see who’s laughing then,” Sirius told him with a scowl.

“Oh….ok. I’m sorry Padfoot.”

“I s’pose it’s alright.”

“Guess who I ran into coming up here.”

“Minnie? And I bet she was so devastated that I won’t be in her class today.”

“No. Guess again.”

“Lily. And she finally told you about our torrid love affair.”

“Very funny. Guess again.”

“Dumbledore and he wanted to congratulate us on another brilliant prank.”

“No. One more. Realistic this time.”

“Sarah. And she finally proclaimed her secret love for me.”

“No. It was Kristen and she asked about you. She cares about you, Sirius. Unlike Sarah who left just as soon as Madame Pomfry let us in here last night. I don’t know why you’re so hung up on her.”

So she didn’t tell anyone about her little escapade last night.

“Maybe she didn’t want to see me in a hospital bed.”

James snorted. “Like I do? Sorry Paddy. I just don’t’ think she’s right for you. I have to go. I actually have to attend classes today.”

“I’d rather go then be stuck in here. It’s dead boring. At least I’d have you there to amuse me.”

“’Luck Padfoot.”

“Thanks,” Sirius said sarcastically.

“Bye,” James said has he exited the room.

“Bye.”

~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~

Lily, I have a headache. I’m going to see Madame Pomfry.

Should I go with you?

No. Just worry about chatting with James and keeping his attention all the way down to the dungeons.

Ok. ‘Bye, Sar.

Bye my love.

Sarah turned around and headed for the Hospital Wing. She managed to slip in without catching Madame Pomfry’s attention and made her way into Sirius’ room. She watched him try to put his leg over the side of the bed but it was always stopped by an invisible wall. This went on for about a minute before he realized she was watching him and he quickly stopped. “I didn’t see you there.”

“I don’t suppose you did. Are you feeling better?”

“I’m fine. I just wish I could get out. There’s nothing. To do.”

“Aw. Did Pomfry ask what happened?”

“No. It’s sort of a I-don’t-ask, don’t-tell sort of policy she has. If she did ask I guess she’d have to dock points and if that was the case, we’d be in the negatives.”

“So you’re in here a lot. I think there’s only four places I’d have to look for you if I need you.”

“Where?”

“You’re either here, at the kitchens, at detention or in Lily and James’ room.”

“I’m on the Quidditch Pitch too.”

“Yes, but then I’d be there with you so I wouldn’t have to look for you.”

“I do go to classes you know.”

“Rarely. But anyways, I didn’t come here to argue with you.”

“Really? What did you come here for then?”

Sarah shrugged. “Because I wanted to.”

“Because you missed me?”

“Oh yes. Because I missed you soooo much,” Sarah said with a hint of sarcasm. “And just to let you know, I’m not speaking to you once you get out.”

“Why?” Sirius asked.

“Because you wouldn’t be in here in the first place if you would’ve let me go with you.”

“Sarah, I’m fine. It doesn’t really matter now. Besides, this gives me some time to plan my revenge.”

“You have to get out of here first. And it looks like you’ll have some trouble with that.”

“Don’t remind me. Bloody nurse. Pain in my arse, that’s what she is. D’you know what? I think she fancies me. That’s why she won’t let me out. She wants to keep me here for her own devices.”

Sarah laughed. “I don’t think she fancies you. Sorry.”

“How do you know? She even took my shirt off of me…”

“To heal your arm.”

“Still. What kind of person would keep me from my adoring fans? Especially after such a great prank? A monster that’s who!”

“A monster that healed you, that’s more like it. You should be thankful.”

“Why? You could’ve healed me. I know you’re good with that stuff.”

Sarah lowered her gaze. “I froze. I didn’t do anything.”

“What happened last night?” Sirius asked her.

Sarah sighed. “I found you…and I didn’t know what to do. I got Lily and James and they brought you here. I didn’t do anything. I panicked.”

“Sarah, it’s ok,” he told her. She was clearly upset.

“Please, Sirius…I know it’s not. You lost a lot of blood last night. That’s why you have to stay here. If I wouldn’t of have been so stupid, I could’ve tried to head at least some of your cuts. Then maybe you wouldn’t still be in here.” Sarah headed for the door. “Bye Sirius.” And with that, she left.

~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~

“So how’s Sirius?” Lily asked Sarah. They were sitting in the Head’s room during their break.

“How would I know?” Sarah asked innocently.

“Because I know that’s why you went to the Hospital Wing. To see him.”

“Oh, shut it. I know you like him. You’re in de-nial.”

“If I am, then you most certainly are.”

“I do not like James.”

“Yes you do. And you call him James now. I know who I like, and it’s not Sirius.”

“Who is it?”

“You already know. Zane Ashby,” Sarah said with a sigh.

“Ugh. Gag me.”

“Why?” James asked as he entered the room.

“Sarah likes Zane Ashby,” Lily told him.

“Who’s he?”

“An American film star.”
“The hottest American I’ve ever seen! And he’s our age too!” Sarah said.

“You’re obsessed,” Lily told her.

“I know,” Sarah replied. “I’m going.”

“Lily, will you be honest with me?” James asked after Sarah left.

“Sure,” Lily said.

“Does Sarah fancy Sirius? Yes or no? I need to know.”

“Yes, I think so, a bit. Why?”

“Sirius. He…I don’t know…She‘s different. And maybe…I thought…I don‘t know…” James tried to explain but couldn’t find the words.

“Mmmhmmm…” Lily nodded in agreement, although she hadn’t the slightest idea what he was talking about.

~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~

Sarah sat with her knees drawn to her chest. James didn’t think she was good enough for Sirius.

~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~

Sarah stared at the ceiling for the second night in a row. This is ridiculous. Why do I feel so horrible yet? She crept out of bed and walked to the Hospital Wing. Sirius was awake, sitting up in his bed.

“Thought you might come,” he said as she walked towards him.

“Oh yea? How did you know?”

“I didn’t. I just hoped you would.”

“Really?”

“Yeah.”

A/N: Oh yea. I’m back. Like a week and 5 days late. Sorry. Yo tengo escuela y cheerleading cada dia. (I don’t know how to say cheerleading in Spanish & I think that‘s how you say every day. Not sure.) Hope you liked this chapter despite its delay. Next chapter will probably about nonsense, but then the chapter after that will be what you’ve all been waiting for. Well, most of you at least. You know what that means? REVIEW! =]

How many of you guys watch One Tree Hill??? I’m addicted to it watch it like every week, and I tape it every time I have a game so I can watch it. You know it might be cancelled because of the WB merging with the UPN??? Not good. So go to http://www.onetreehillweb.net/support.html to see what you can do.

Chapter 13: A Chance Not Worth Taking

“You can't force open the petals of a rose.

When he is ready, he will open up to you”

Wednesday, October 22^nd, 1979

Sirius walked into the Heads’ Room. Sarah was asleep on the couch, although it was still before noon. He sat down next to her feet and she awoke. “Sleep well?” he asked her.

“Mmhmm…very. I haven’t been getting much sleep lately.

“Oh yea? Why’s that?”

“I just couldn’t fall asleep. But I think tonight will be better.” She smiled at him and he smiled back.

~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~

Sarah sighed again, more loudly this time, trying to gain Lily’s attention.

“Alright, what is it Sarah?” Lily asked, rather annoyed. Sarah was keeping her from writing her potions essay and from reading the diary that laid upstairs in her room, waiting for Lily to read it.

“Fine,” Sarah replied, a bit hurt. “I’m going,” she said and left Lily alone in the Heads room.

Lily relaxed a little and went up to her room. She uncovered the diary and turned to the next unread entry.

Early October, 1957

Charles and I walked around a bit today and talked. It was nice. Then Brianna came running up to us and dragged me away from him. Not after a quick kiss though. There was not any real reason that she dragged me away. She said she was lonely. I think she just simply does not like Charles. I know she does not. Nothing else of interest. I bet Brina has her little book filled. She always has something interesting to say. Adelaide Tourcotte is in Ravenclaw and she is going with Crison. I enjoy her company. She is always in the Heads Room or Crison’s room. She is quite nice. Brianna and her would talk forever if they could. It is disastrous to try and get them apart once they start talking. They always know what is going on in the school.

Adelaide is going home for the weekend because her grandmother passed away and she was granted permission to leave. Crison is quite sad, for he cannot go with her.

I forgot that Brianna gave me these lovely earrings that she bought for me in Hogsmeade. She said if I would have went with her I would know where she got them at. It does not matter that much anyways. I enjoyed being with Charles. He’s sweet.

Andrew fell asleep in transfiguration today. It was quite funny. Professor Ingham yelled at him and woke him up. I felt bad for him, but he started to laugh along with Harold. He has a detention for three days. With Professor Artis. I pity him.

I must go down to dinner.

Once again, it is the great Brianna Davis. I am so very bored. I do not like Charles. At least, I do not like him for Gabella. I write in your book, Gabella more than I do in mine. Adelaide is adorable, but I love Gabella more. Adelaide understands. She is just nice to have some one to talk to when Gabriella is off with Charles somewhere or is doing rounds with Crison. He and Adelaide get along so well together. I am sometimes envious of what they have. Nicholas and I will have that someday. Soon, I hope. Poor Adelaide, she told me she was close to her grandmother and they wrote letters often. I don’t know why Crison is not permitted to go with her. Neither of them knew why.

Transfiguration was most interesting with Andrew falling asleep. I told Harold that he should do something so that he can keep Andrew company in detention. He suggested that I should do it, but I will not. I hate Professor Artis. He is such a pain. I cannot stand him. And I know he hates me. Even when I get a question right, he picks it apart to find something wrong with it. It’s not fair, and thus, my animosity towards Professor Artis.

Lily closed the little book and let her thoughts drift to Gabriella and Brianna. Poor Adelaide. Losing her grandmother like that. And then Crison wasn’t allowed to go with? Rubbish. Julia got to take Kristen with to the funeral. And Brianna, Brina, is definitely like Sarah. She is such a dreamer. And full of life.

~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~

Remus came into their dorm and collapsed on his bed between classes.

“Hard day so far, Moony?” Sirius asked.

“No, the full moon’s tonight,” Remus replied.

“I know. Can’t wait,” Sirius said.

“Well I’m glad you enjoy it.”

“Did you tell Cassidy about your ‘furry little problem’?” James asked him.

“No,” Remus told him.

“Why?”

“Do you honestly think she’d still like me if she knew that I turn into a monster every month?” Remus asked them.

“If she really cared about you it wouldn’t matter, Moony,” James told him.

“But it’s not a chance I’m willing to take.”

~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~

James made his way into the Heads’ room where Lily was working during their free period. He sat down next to Lily on the couch where she was writing her essay.

“So, what do you think about werewolves?” he asked as he skimmed the paragraphs of her essay on them.

“What? You mean like Remus?” she asked James.

“Wait, what? How d’you know? Did he tell you?” James asked.

“No, I had some suspicions. You just confirmed them actually.”

“Oh great,” James said smacking his hand on his forehead. “Me and my big mouth.”

“I won’t tell anyone.”

“Not even Sarah?” James inquired.

“She’s a bit dubious already. But I won’t tell her anything. I promise,” Lily told him sincerely.

“Remus is gonna kill me.”

“Don’t worry. I won’t let him,” Lily told him as she rested her hand on his arm.

“This doesn’t change the way you see him, does it?”

“No. He’s still the same old Remus. Why? Do you honestly think it would change anything?”

“No, but he’ll worry about it. Well, I suppose I should tell him.”

“Should I go with you?” Lily asked.

“No,” James replied as he made his way to find Remus.

~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~

“Remus?” James called as he entered the boys’ dorm.

“Yeah?” Remus answered sitting up in his bed.

“I have something to tell you.”

“What is it? Is Cassidy ok?” he asked worriedly, throwing the covers off of himself to go check on Cassidy.

“No, no. Relax. It’s Lily. She knows about your…condition.”

“What? How does she know? You didn’t tell her did you?”

“No, never. She said she had her suspicions before and I ‘confirmed’ them before I knew that she didn’t really know if you had it. She promised not to tell anyone, not even Sarah. Although Sarah is staring to have her doubts too. Maybe you should just tell everyone,” James suggested.

“No. You know I can’t do that. Not even Cass.”

James nodded, feeling for the first time what Remus hated most: pity.

~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~

“Cass, what do you think about werewolves?” Sarah asked her once she came back from supper and saw Cassidy working. She knew Remus was a werewolf. She could read minds after all, and sometimes it came in handy.

“Personally, I think they’re horrible things. They should be locked up so they can’t harm anyone. They can go to Antarctica for all I care. Danni told me how she saw one once and it was killing something. She didn’t know what it was. Her dad dragged her away. They’re monsters,” Cassidy told her. “I hate them.”

“Cassidy, you do know that they are humans. They only change for one night.”

“It doesn’t matter. Think of all the damage they could do in just one night. Think of how many things they could kill or maim. They should be killed just so they can’t hurt anyone else.”

“What would you do if you met one?”

“I’d scream and run away. I wouldn’t look back.”

“What if-”

“-I’m sorry Sarah, but I have to cut our little chat short. I have to go meet Remus. He’s a great boyfriend. It’s just a pity that you can’t seem to keep one for yourself,“ Cassidy said and walked out of their dorm.

Sarah was sorely tempted to yell out and tell her right then and there, but she didn’t. She managed to keep her mouth shut. I hope she dies a long and painful death.

~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~

Remus was teetering between the two realms of sleeping and daydreaming. He was tired, but he couldn’t sleep. The full moon would be out in a matter of hours. His eyes were closed when he heard the portrait to the Heads’ common room open.

“Remus?” Cassidy called. “Remus. What are you doing?” she asked.

He opened his eyes reluctantly. “Nothing.”

“Do you want to go for a walk around the lake?” she asked.

“Not really,” he replied as he stifled a yawn.

“Oh. Ok then,” Cassidy said, obviously hurt. She took a few steps backward.

“I’m sorry, Cass. Another day, ok?” he said. “I’m just really tired.”

“Yea. It’s ok Remus,” she replied and quickly walked out of the common room, forgetting what she had just told Sarah. Why doesn’t he want to be with me?

Remus let his head drop and shut his eyes. Today just wasn’t his day. He didn’t want to hurt Cassidy, but he couldn’t tell her everything either. There was no compromise.

~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~

“What’s wrong?” Lane asked as Cassidy sank into her bed.

“Nothing,” she mumbled as she smothered her face with her pillow.

“C’mon Cass. What’s wrong?” Lane asked as she walked to Cassidy’s bed.

Cassidy lifted her head up. “Remus. I don’t think he likes me anymore.”

“Aw, Cass, I’m sure he does.”

“He doesn’t. I asked him to go on a walk, and he turned me down. He said he was ‘too tired’. I know that’s code for ‘leave me alone I’m so sick of being with you’. I’m sure of it. I know it is.”

“That’s not true. Remus loves you,” Lane told her.

“How can you be sure?” Cassidy asked Lane.

“It’s easy. By the way he looks at you. How he talks about you constantly when you’re not around.”

“Don’t worry about it. He didn’t look that good today in class. I think he’s sick,” Sarah said from her spot at her desk.

Cassidy rolled her eyes. “He said he was tired. Not that he didn’t feel good.”

“You get tired when you’re sick, duh Cas,” Sarah pointed out.

“That’s not what he said though,” Cassidy replied. “Why would he lie to me? I’m his girlfriend.”

“That’s not lying, Miss Priss.”

“Close enough in my book. And don’t call me that,” Cassidy retorted.

“Your book is a bit messed up, just like you MP.”

“Knock it off, Sarah,” Lane cut in.

“Whatever,” Sarah said as she stood up.

“Where are you going?” Cassidy asked her.

“Anywhere that you’re not,” Sarah replied as she walked out of their dorm.

“I don’t like her,” Cassidy told Lane once Sarah had disappeared.

“I don’t like you either,” Sarah yelled back as she traveled down the steps.

“Loser,” Cassidy muttered.

“Leave her alone,” Lane told Cassidy.

“She has no respect for anyone. I wasn’t even talking to her you know. She just butts into whatever conversation she wants to. So rude,” Cassidy said.

“You know you love her.”

“No. I don’t. She’s a pain in my arse. She always thinks she knows everything.”

“No she doesn’t.”

“Yes she does!”

“Why don’t you like her?” Lane asked Cassidy.

“Because I don’t.”

“That’s not a real reason, Cassidy.”

“Because she’s slutty and she’s a pain. She thinks she’s so good just because she’s friends with Lily. I don’t think Lily really likes her. I think she just pities the poor wench. And she calls me ‘Miss Priss.’ That’s not even a good insult. I would think that someone like her could at least come up with a more hurtful insult.”

“Just stop Cassidy. What were you saying about Remus?”

~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~

Thursday, October 23^rd, 1979

“Hey,” Cassidy said slipping her hand into Remus’ on the way to breakfast. “Where were you last night?”

James and Sirius exchanged glances, wondering if he would tell her the truth.

“I, uh, didn’t feel well. I spent the night in the Hospital Wing,” he told her.

“Oh, are you feeling better?”

“I am now,” he replied as he kissed the top of her head. Cassidy smiled.

I don’t want to loose her. How would I live without this? I couldn’t possibly live without her. I don’t want to risk it. Telling her just isn’t worth the outcome…

~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~

James was trying to talk to Sirius, who was staring at Sarah across the Gryffindor common room. Sirius obviously wasn’t listening. “Padfoot?” James said again, waving his hand in front of Sirius’ face, trying to gain his attention unsuccessfully.

“Yeah?” Sirius asked, coming out of his trance.

James rolled his eyes. “Why don’t you just go ask her out?”

“Who?” Sirius asked.

“Sarah. It’s pretty obvious that you like her.”

“No I don’t.”

“Sure Padfoot. I believe that…”

“I don’t. She’s just a friend.”

“A very good friend then.”

“I thought you didn’t like her?” Sirius asked James.

“I like her. I just don’t think she’s right for you.”

“And who do you suppose is?”

“I don’t know…anyone but her.”

“But why?”

“She…I guess she just doesn’t seem sincere. Like she cares all that much. Very flighty.”

“Flighty?” Sirius asked in disgust. “Maybe she cares more than you think? And you’re one to talk about being flighty.”

James held his hands up, “Ok, ok. I’m sorry, Paddy. No need to get all mad at me.”

“So you don’t think she likes me?”

“Not really.”

Sirius nodded slowly.

~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~

“I need a boyfriend,” Sarah announced while she skimmed the common room for possible candidates.

“Oh please, Sarah. You don’t need one,” Lily told her.

“I wonder if Stefan’s going out with anyone,” she wondered aloud.

“Don’t toy with him, Sarah. Don’t start the whole on-again off-again thing.”

“Why not? You’re no fun. Maybe you should shack up with Potter. I’m sure you two would have fun together,” Sarah suggested.

“Uh, no. What about Sirius?”

“Oh, so you like Sirius? And here I am trying to set you up with the wrong Marauder…”

“No, I meant you Sarah. Don’t you like him? You went to visit him at night in the Hospital Wing and everything.”

Sarah snapped her head in Lily’s direction. “How do you know about that?” Lily shrugged. “It doesn’t even matter. We’re just friends. I don’t’ know if I could picture us as anything more.”

Lilly hmmmed while she shrugged again.

“I know you don’t believe me. But it’s Sirius. I just…I don’t know. I don’t think it’d be right. Besides, he doesn’t even like me.”

“Are you sure? It doesn’t seem that way to me.”

“If you keep bringing Sirius into this, I’m going to have to talk about James.”

“Okay, I’ll stop.”

Sarah stared out at the fading sun. “I would hate to lose him.”

“How would you lose him?”

“If we broke up or something. As a friend. I like him, and I wouldn’t want to lose that.”

~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~

Friday, October 24^th, 1979

“Sarah, darling, it’s Friday night and we’re dateless,” Lily said.

“Are we loosing our touch?” Sarah asked.

“I hope not,” Lily replied as she draped herself on one of the couches in the Gryffindor common room. Sarah sat down on the couch across from her.

“Me too. Life just isn’t fair.”

“I know. Lane and Cassidy both have dates.”

“I’m sure I could set you two up with some friends if you want me to,” Remus said as he sat down next to Sarah.

“If their names are James and Sirius, then no thanks,” Lily said. “What are you doing here?”

“Waiting for Cass. Does it usually take girls this long? Why did she have to change? It doesn’t really matter what she wears. She always looks good no matter what,” Remus said.

“Aw. That’s so sweet, Remus,” Lily said.

“Why aren’t there more guys like you in this school?” Sarah asked. “Better yet, why doesn’t Zane go to Hogwarts? Life would be perfect then…”

Lily laughed. “Keep on dreaming Sarah. It would be perfect for you and almost every other girl here.”

“Hey Remus,” Cassidy said as she appeared next to him.

“Hey, ready?” he said.

Cassidy nodded and he took her hand. “I’ll see you guys around.” They turned and started to walk out of the common room.

“He’s a keeper!” Sarah yelled after them.

~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~

“I wonder what they’re doing right now,” Lily said aloud as she laid on her bed.

“Who?” Sarah asked, looking up from her drawing.

“Cassidy and Lane. Mostly Cassidy and Remus though. They’re so cute together.”

“They’re probably doing it.”

“Sarah, you have a very nasty mind. I think Cassidy’s still a virgin.”

“I haven’t heard otherwise. Not that she would tell me.”

“I envy her. I wish I had what she has,” Lily said staring out her window.

“What, no sex life?”

“No,” Lily said as she rolled her eyes. “Remus.”

“Wait, so now you want Remus? My goodness girl, you move fast.”

“Stop it Sarah. I mean how he acts. Like gentleman. How he cares for her. He loves her, you know?”

Sarah sighed. “I know. I want it too. Although I’m going to die a lonely old woman. I’ll never be able to settle down with just one guy.”

“No, you’ll have me.”

“I don’t think James’ll like me living with you and all of your little kiddies.”

“Sarah! I’m not going to marry James.”

“Are you sure?” Sarah asked her.

Lily shrugged. “Who knows what the future holds. Do you think Remus and Cassidy will get married?”

“I don’t know. Depends on if he tells her that he’s a werewolf or not. You know she hates them, don’t you? I told you that, right?”

Lily nodded. “You did. I think she’d make an exception for Remus though, don’t you think?”

“Maybe. But then again, this is Cassidy we’re talking about. Miss Priss of Hogwarts.”

“Don’t call her that.”

“I can call her whatever I want. She’s not my friend.”

“Who do you think’ll get married after Hogwarts?” Lily asked Sarah.

“Remus and Cassidy. You and James. Lane and Alden. Lia and Garret. Adalyn and Bryce, although they’ll split up plenty of times before then, and even then they’ll get a divorce. Rodo and Bell, ewwwness, but they’re perfect for each other. I think maybe Katie and Amos. I can see Dayton and Sasha hooking up. Oh, and Vance and Jinelle. I shiver just thinking about their ugly offspring.”

“And what about you?”

“I told you, I’ll have plenty of boyfriends, but I don’t think I’ll get married.”

“I think you will.”

“Really?”

“Yeah. And what about Sirius?”

“I don’t know…” Sarah thought for a moment. “Maybe some beautiful French model or something. I have no idea.”

“What about you and Sirius getting married?”

“Nah. I don’t think we’d ever work out. Are you coming back with me to the dorm so you can hear all about Cassidy and Lane’s great dates?” Sarah asked her.

“Do you really want to go back to your dorm?”

“Uh, no. I hate the period of time after Cassidy gets back from a date with Remus. Remembering that there are guys who don’t like girls with scars is the only think keeping me from slitting my wrists.”

“You can stay here. I don’t really want to hear about Cass and her future husband’s date either. Maybe we’ll just grow old together.”

“That’s fine with me. I couldn’t live without you anyways.”

“I know. I love you, my dear Sarah.”

“Back at you Lilei.” Sarah conjured a bed and climbed in. She closed her eyes and she heard Lily move around in her bed. “Oh crap. Isn’t tomorrow Hogsmeade?”

Lily groaned. “Yes. I forgot.”

“How could you forget Hogsmeade!”

“You did too! Oh, that’s right. Michael asked me to go with him,” Lily said, remembering.

“Lucky. No one asked me. Did you agree?”

“No. Why would I?”

“Why wouldn’t you?”

“I don’t know. But you know what this means?” Lily asked Sarah.

“What?”

“More stories of Cassidy and Remus.”

“Oh please my darling ancestors in the sky help me!” Sarah groaned as she buried her face in her pillow.

“My thoughts exactly.”

A/N: So there you have it. More Cassidy. I think she needed her own chapter. Well, mostly about her and Remus. I feel so bad for Remus. And Crison’s a cool name! I got it by a book by Avi. I don’t remember the title, but it was a good book! ::laughs:: I’m sorry my loves, but I don’t know when the next chapter will be finished. But! The quote! How awesomely does it fit with this chapter!? I know, I’m such a dork. ::shrugs:: And I managed to come up with a title with more than one word!

So how was everyone’s V-day? My bf got me flowers. They’re sooooo pretty! I carried them around all day (because they made me feel special). ::smiles:: And I made him cookies and I gave him chocolate. And he said something like “chocolate’s my favorite thing besides you.” <3. He’s so cute. And my bio teacher liked my flowers. I tell you, she’s crazy. Omg. She whacked my one friend on the head during lab! ::shudders:: And she’s almost stabbed me with this probe thing. Crazy, I tell you.

And this wouldn’t be a complete author’s note without me mentioning One Tree Hill! ::laughs:: Best show ever! But it’s not on for like 2 weeks! I’m going to die until then! So if this is not updated, you know it’s because I’ve died from OTH withdrawal. I don’t even have the second soundtrack yet! ::gasp:: I know. I want it so bad. But they were sold out of it! ::tear:: Ok, ok, I’m getting waaaaay off topic, and I’m so hyper because of all the chocolate I’ve had.

But, do you see that ‘review’ tool? Yeah, use it. Please? I’d love it if you did. Oh and how do you like me responding to all your reviews! J I have fun doing it. So write me a nice little review, even if it has nothing to do with the story, and I promise to write you back.

Chapter 14: A Little Too Much To Handle

Sure we act like...

>Immature idiots<

But at least were

Having fun

Saturday, October 25^th, 1979

Lily and Sarah walked arm in arm down the main path of Hogsmeade.

“I ‘ave to ssay. I’mmm qquuuite glad I turned down whatsss-his-face. I wouldn’t ofhada have thisssmuch fun wihim,” Lily said, slurring her words together. The two had just exited the Hogs Head after consuming endless glasses of firewhisky and other alcoholic drinks, which they had gotten with no problem.

“I knoooow. He never wouldofhad don’ thisss,” Sarah said. “Issss that Ssssiriuuss?” she asked Lily, pointing to a figure of a boy and a girl holding hands, walking further down the road.

Lily squinted as she tried to see. “Why’s the sun so bloo’y bri’t? I thunk itss ‘im. Is that Ad’lllyn with ‘im?”

“I hate her tha ssssslluuut,” Sarah said as she waved her fist in front of her, almost causing her to loose balance. “I sssshouuld go s’ve ‘m.”

“How PS?” Lily asked.

“Watch,” Sarah told her and marched up to Sirius as best as she could, trying her best to get there in a straight line. She wrapped her arm around his neck form his back and swung around so she was now facing him. She kissed him hard and long. “Ah’ll ssssee you to’night then,” Sarah said as seductively as she could given her state and winked at him before returning to Lily.

“Niiice,” Lily said.

“Ah hate A’lllyn.”

“I knooow. Did she ju’hit ‘im? Bla’sted sun. Turn it’off won’ you PS?”

“Ah can’tt Leee my luhve. Ah wish. Where di’tha cloudssss go?”

Lily shrugged, “What a’bout tha sun PS?”

“What about it?” Sirius asked as he caught up to the two.

“Turn i’ off!” Lily begged.

“Sorry babe, no can do,” Sirius told her. “Are you guys drunk?” he asked.

“Noooooo Bri’t One,” Lily answered.

Sirius went to pull Sarah closer to him to keep her safe, but she moved out of his reach.

“Ah hate A’lllyn,” she said.

“Obviously. Come with me, you two,” Sirius said as he led them outside the joke shop where James was. “Stay right here,” he told them as he went inside to get James. When he found him, he pulled on his arm a bit to get him to move. “James, you’ve got to help me. Lily and Sarah are drunk. They’re outside. We’ve got to take them back to the castle. Before anyone sees them. Lily is Head Girl after all.”

“Let’s go,” James said and followed Sirius out of the store. He looked in shock at the scene before him. Lily and Sarah were lying on the ground staring at he sky.

“Tha’ uhne looks like ah duk,” Sarah said pointing to the sky.

“I’ looks like ah uhven,” Lily argued.

“Uhvens ar’ eeevil,” Sarah replied.

“What are you guys talking about?” James asked them.

“Tha’ clu’ds. Duh, s’illy,” Lily replied.

Sirius and James looked up at the sky. It was completely void of clouds today. There wasn’t a cloud in sight.

“You guys are obviously drunk, but did you take drugs as well?” James asked.

“Druhgs ah’r bad,” Sarah replied.

“C’mon, let’s get you guys to the castle,” Sirius said.

Sarah attempted to stand, but fell back to the ground. “Ah can’na ge’up,” Sarah said.

“I see,” Sirius said and scooped her up into his arms.

James helped Lily up. He put her arm around his neck and he put his other arm around her waist. “So Lily, how many clouds are in the sky?” he asked her.

Lily pointed to each cloud as she said, “Wuhn, two, thre’, f’ve, seix, nuhne, sveeeen…But there’s no’nough to ge’rid of tha’ blo’dy fuk’n sun. I ca’ bar’ly see any’thin.”

“How many drinks did you guys have?” James queried.

“I don’ know. Alllooot.”

“Why were you two drinking?”

“We ‘wer cele-ba-ra’n,” Lily said happily as she flung her unused arm into the air and let it fall lamely to her side.

“Celebrating what?” Sirius asked her, looking over his shoulder.

Lily shrugged. “I don’ remmmbr. PS, wha’ wer we celebrat’n?” Sarah didn’t answer her. “PS? Answr me damnit!”

“Sarah’s sleeping,” Sirius told her.

“Awwwww. She’left me. I don’ think she lik’d Ad’lllyn, Bri’t Wuhn,” Lily warned him.

“Bright One?” James asked as he tired not to laugh.

“Shu’up Mistah Clu’d,” Lily told James.

It was Sirius’ turn not to laugh.

“Ah we almust ‘ere?” Lily asked.

“Yes,” James replied.

“Yuh’ar’ veeerry nihce. Why don’ I lik’yu?” Lily asked him as she cocked her head to the side and stumbled as she did so.

James helped her right herself. “I didn’t know you didn’t like me.”

“I mean’ lik’yu lik’yu. Liek whenyoo…uh…” Lily smacked her hand to her forehead “Ow!”

“Hold hands?” James asked.

“Have sex?” Sirius suggested.

“Kiss?”

“Feel them up?”

“Wai. Uh..yes..ah’ll ‘em. Yoo guys ar’givn’ meah heeeaadache,” Lily said as she pressed her hand to the side of her head. “I lik’yoo. We’sssshoood gooo…”

“Get you help?” James asked.

“Have sex?” Sirius added.

“Yesss!” Lily said excitedly as she pointed at Sirius.

“No way Lily,” James told her.

“Whay? I thout you lik’d me? Or am’I jus’nother sluuut-faced-sluuutbag?”

“No! No. It’s not that,” James reassured her.

“Have you had sex before, Lily?” Sirius asked her.

“Yesss!” Lily scoffed, but it only came out as a hiccup. “Wi’ uh…I don’ remmmmbr…..it wa’a guuy. Nahmee…nahme…” Lily yawned as they entered the castle. “Alm’st ‘ere yeet?”

“Yup, hold on love,” James said. Lily slipped to the floor and curled up into a ball. She closed her eyes. “Come on, love. We’re almost there.” Lily didn’t make any attempt to get up. James lifted her up and carried her to the Heads room. He made his way into her room with Sirius carrying Sarah behind him. James placed Lily on her bed.

“I guess they had a sleepover last night,” Sirius said as he placed Sarah on the bed next to Lily’s that Sarah hadn’t gotten rid of. “Well, at least now we know that we can’t take them out drinking,” Sirius joked as he and James descended into the Heads’ room and sunk into the comfy chairs.

“Yeah, really. What was with Adalyn?” James asked.

Sirius chuckled. “Sarah hates her it seems.”

James laughed too now. “I get that. But why? What did you do?”

Sirius scoffed. “I didn’t do anything! Sarah simply walked up to me in front of Adalyn and kissed me. And then she said ‘I’ll see you tonight’ and walked away. To get Adalyn jealous, no doubt.”

James shrugged, “Girls are crazy.”

“You can say that again. And why were they talking about clouds, Mr. Cloud?”

~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~

“Nothing. Nothing is wrong, and asking is against the rules.

Crying is against the rules.

You're strong, don't let them break you.

They're trying to destroy you.”

“Sarah? Sarah? Sarah! Wake up!” Lily yelled as she shook Sarah awake.

“Go ‘way,” Sarah mumbled as she turned in her sleep.

“Sarah wake up!” Lily yelled again as she shook Sarah even harder.

“What?” Sarah asked as she sat up.

“What happened?” Lily asked her.

“I don’t know,” Sarah said as she rubbed her head, “but I’ve got a major hangover.”

“I think Sirius and James brought us back, I’m not sure though,” Lily said.

Sarah groaned. “Are you sure? Because I don’t really enjoy the thought of thanking him. I don’t relish the thought of getting out of bed either.”

“Too bad for you then,” Lily said. She sat down at her vanity and pulled her hair into a low ponytail.

Sarah reluctantly got out of bed and straightened out her outfit.

“Do you want to go down?” Lily asked. “I bet we missed out on all the juicy gossip.”

“Ah, yea. You know I can’t resist all that juicy gossip!” Sarah laughed and reluctantly followed Lily into the Heads room.

“Sleep well?” Sirius asked as he looked up from his and James’ game of Wizarding chess.

Lily nodded. “Thanks for bringing us back.”

“No problem,” James replied. “But tell me, it’s not too bright in here for you, is it?” he laughed.

Lily rolled her eyes, “No…was I really that bad?”

“You both were! Lying on the ground pointing to imaginary clouds!” Sirius laughed.

“Why don’t you like ovens, Sarah?” James asked as he tried not to laugh.

“They’re evil I tell you! One burned me!” Sarah replied indignantly.

“It burned you? Or did you burn yourself on it?” James asked.

“It burned me, they’re evil,” Sarah told him.

“Suuuuure Sarah. Whatever you say,” James said sarcastically.

“You guys are so funny when you’re drunk,” Sirius said.

“It was Sarah’s idea,” Lily said.

“So? You had more fun with me than you would’ve had with Michael,” Sarah pointed out.

“Michael asked you to Hogsmeade?” James asked.

“Yeah, but I said no,” Lily told him.

“Why?” James asked.

“Because I didn’t want to go with him,” Lily replied.

“Did we miss dinner?” Sarah asked. “I’m kinda hungry.”

“No. Do you want to go now?” Sirius said.

“Yeah,” Sarah replied. She looped her arm through Lily’s and made her way down to the Great Hall with Sirius and James following them. They had just sat down at the Gryffindor table when Cassidy came rushing into the Great Hall.

“Lily! Lily!” Cassidy cried out, running to where Lily was seated.

“What?” Lily asked her once she arrived next to her.

“It’s Lane. Well, no. Alden hit Pierre! He saw Pierre and Lane together and I guess he got really angry and now Pierre is unconscious! He punched him right in the face!” Cassidy said excitedly.

“Is Lane ok?” Sarah asked Cassidy.

“Lane is shaken up, Lily. She’s with him in our common room,” Cassidy said, ignoring Sarah. Cassidy pulled Lily up and dragged her out of the Great Hall.

“I guess I’m not important enough to go,” Sarah said, resting her head on her hand.

“Why didn’t she answer you?” James asked her.

“She hates me,” Sarah replied with a sigh.

“Why?” Sirius asked her.

“I don’t know,” Sarah said sadly. “We sort of used to be friends. But now it’s like I can’t even talk to her anymore without her yelling at me. I don’t know what I did wrong.”

“It’s ok. I don’t like Cassidy that much,” Sirius said, trying to comfort her.

“But she’s going with Remus? How can you not like her?” Sarah asked him.

“So? She’s your roommate. She’s annoyingly sweet. Lily is nothing compared to her. No offense, to either of you,” Sirius replied. Sarah and James both nodded.

“She does get a little annoying after awhile,” James admitted.

“Tell me about it. I have to deal with her day in and day out,” Sarah told them.

“I pity you,” Sirius said, shoving a roll into his mouth.

“Is that why you’ve taken to sleeping in the Heads’ room?” James asked her.

Sarah nodded. “She’s been getting really angry at me for no reason lately. She’s going to push me over the edge one of these days. If it were anyone else, I’d of have had it out with her a long time ago. But Lane and Lily are both friends with her. And I love them. I don’t want to make them choose. It’s not fair.”

Sirius piled food onto her plate, his way of showing his sympathy.

James though for a moment. Maybe I am wrong about her. Maybe she does care a little more than she lets on. She’s not willing to sacrifice her and Lily’s and Lane’s relationships just to have a go at Cassidy. And she’s really sad about it.

“Sarah, you have to eat something,” Sirius told her.

Sarah pushed her untouched plate away from her and stood up. “I’m going for a walk. In case anyone would…ask,” her voice faded as she realized no one would come looking for her anyways. She made her way out of the Great Hall and passed through the giant doors that led outside. The grounds were deserted except for two girls sitting on the stone steps. Sarah walked around the lake, trying to clear her head. She saw some movement in the outskirts of the forest. She quietly made her way to the spot, taking precaution so she would not make any noise.

“And then what?” Katie asked.

“I don’t know,” Amos replied.

“Are you sure that I get Sarah? I’m not doing it unless I get her,” Brian threatened.

“You will. I promise,” Amos replied.

“How can you be sure?” Brian asked them.

“Either she’ll do it on her own accord, or we’ll use that potion my cousin gave me. It’s foolproof,” Amos told him.

Sarah took a step back, dazed. They were talking about her. There were no other Sarahs at Hogwarts. She turned around and started to walk to the castle. It seemed like her legs wouldn’t carry her fast enough from the terrible three. Especially Brian.

~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~

Sirius skimmed the grounds. The sun had nearly disappeared, leaving it a bit hard to see. He saw a figure rapidly approaching the castle, and he knew instantly that it was Sarah. He ran out to meet her. She looked upset. He caught her in his arms and wrapped them around her. “What’s wrong Sar?” he asked.

Sarah shook her head quickly, “Nothing.”

“Sarah, you can tell me. What’s wrong?” Sirius repeated.

“I told you: nothing. Are you always going to try and save me?” Sarah asked him.

“If you need me to. Besides, it’s only my turn.” He wrapped his arm around her shoulders and she leaned into him as they made their way into the castle. “So, are you going to tell me what happened?”

“No, because it’s nothing, like I said.”

They walked along in silence before he found the nerve to ask her what had been bugging him since dinner. “Tell me something, does Cassidy not liking you really bother you?” he asked. Sarah wasn’t the kind of person to care about what people thought about her, which he admired, but Cassidy really seemed to get to her.

“Honestly? Yes. I know I shouldn’t. At first I thought it would get better…but then it didn’t. It’s gotten worse. And I really don’t know what I did or said to make her hate me so much. I would fix it if I could, but I don’t know how,” Sarah told him. “Now I get to ask you a question. What do you see in Adalyn?”

Sirius chuckled. “She’s pretty and confident.”

“And cocky, conceited, and slutty. You forgot those,” Sarah added.

“She is nice sometimes. When she wants to be. She’s good company.”

“Oh please,” Sarah said as she rolled her eyes, “even Cassidy is better company than her. Much more tolerable than her,” Sarah said in distaste.

“Why don’t you like her?” Sirius asked her.

“Because she’s a slut. And I don’t like sluts. She’s too confident and vain. She wears too much eyeliner and she dyes her hair black. That’s not her natural hair color. I happen to know she’s a very ugly dishwater brown brunette. She acts like she has the whole world at her feet-Mischief Managed-” Sarah said as the nymph nodded and swung the portrait forward so they could enter, “like she’s a princess. But she’s not.”

“She’s not?”

“No.”

“Why not?” Sirius asked her.

“Because I am,” Sarah retorted haughtily.

“Oh are you?” Sirius replied sarcastically.

“Yes. Sarah means ‘princess‘. Didn’t you know? That’s why I’m named Sarah. Because I’m Daddy’s little princess.”

Sirius nodded in acknowledgement. “Any other girls you don’t approve of me seeing?”

“Um, just Adalyn. And Cassidy. If you stay away from the Slytherin girls, I think we’ll be ok.”

“Who should I go out with then? Since Adalyn is out of the picture?”

“She is?”

“Yeah. You sort of scared her off earlier.”

“Oh yea…” Sarah said as she remembered what she had done. “I’m not sure. Whoever you wish. Just not Lily either. I don’t think James will be too pleased with you then,” she said as she smiled.

“I have another question. Earlier, Lily called you PS. What’s that mean?”

“We were out drinking during the summer and I had a little too much to drink one night. There were these really hot guys and they asked me for my name. I told them they could call me princess. Well, Lily added Sarah to that, then shortened it to PS.”

“And what’s Lee for?”

“I can’t manage to say Lily when I’m drunk. So I just call her Lee. Plus it has done wonders to hinder her stalkers’ attempts to find her,” Sarah laughed. “My question. Did you come out to find me?”

“Yes.”

“Why?”

“Because I wanted to make sure that you were ok,” Sirius said.

“Awww. See now that’s the kind of response ever girl wants. Keep saying things like that, and I just might fall for that ‘Black charm’ you’re always going on about.”

“Really?” Sirius asked, trying to feign interest.

Sarah nodded with a little smile.

“I guess I’ll have to turn it on to full power in that case,” he said, only-half joking. Sarah laughed.

“I wonder what they’re doing right now.”

“Who?” Sirius asked.

“Lily, Lane and Cassidy. I wonder how Pierre is doing.”

“He’s probably fine. And I wouldn’t put it past Cassidy to be trying to turn Lily and Lane against you.”

“Me neither. I bet they’re all plotting my demise this very second.”

“Don’t worry, I’ll protect you.”

“Oh that really makes me feel better. All one of them has to do is bat an eyelash, and you’ll be at their beck and call.”

“I’d never abandon you like that to fight Cassidy.”

“That’s good to know,” Sarah said as she leaned into him. “I’m really tired. I might just fall asleep right here,” she warned.

“Fine with me. Some girl made it so I wasn’t getting laid tonight anyways,” Sirius told her.

“Good. Remind me to thank her later,” Sarah replied, closing her eyes with her little half-smile still playing on her lips.

~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~

“Shhh,” Lily said as they entered the Heads room. Sarah and Sirius were asleep on the cough together. “They’re cute together,” Lily said as the two walked to the steps that led to her door. “Thanks for helping me tonight.”

“Anytime,” James replied with a smile.

Lily gave him a quick kiss on the cheek, and let go of his hand, which she hadn’t realized she had been holding. “G’night James.”

“’Night Lily,” James said as she stepped into her room. He grinned to the dark room and walked into his room, elated. Lily had given him good-night kiss. He touched his hand to his cheek, to make sure it had really happened. Maybe she’s starting to like me. If only, if only.

~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~

Lily’s cheeks were flushed. She had just given James Potter a kiss. And they were holding hands. Lily wasn’t even aware of it until she tried to walk away. James Potter. James Potter. I think Sarah might be right more than I give her credit for. James Potter. James Potter, you better watch out.

A/N: You guys are A-mazing. I swear. Each and every one of you. And especially those of you who take time to review. I love you guys with all my heart. I would’ve updated sooner, but my sister has been on the computer 24/7, it’s quite annoying. I’m never allowed on. =[

Please excuse my drunken scene. I’ve never been drunk.

I have to say, I was sorely tempted to put “Shut up you Russian!” in this chapter to celebrate the Real World Key West. But I resisted temptation. Maybe next chapter =] Besides, I didn’t want to offend anyone. I’m part Russian myself.

And here it comes….

…you all knew it was coming. (Didn’t you? I bet you did)

One Tree Hill. If you don’t watch it, you seriously don’t know what you’re missing. And the last episode? Omg. Mind-blowing. Dead serious here. It was like a Columbine episode. Even if you’re not an avid OTH fan, or if this is the first time hearing of it (which I can’t see how it is because I talk about it all the time in my a.n.s unless you skip over them) you need to see it. It’s the best episode yet. And what kind of person would I be if I stressed the need to see it, yet didn’t give you a link to watch it?!? Well, don’t worry about that, because here’s the link: http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=MqkZNdushCA&eurl= The quality may not be the best. BUT it’s better than not seeing it at all. I suggest this is the only browser you should have open at time of loading or else it will not load fully and you’ll be gypped parts of a great episode. And I got the second soundtrack! I know, you all are so happy for me. I thought it was a bit depressing at first, but then after watching “With Tired Eyes, Tired Minds, Tired Souls, We Slept” (the last one) it made sense.

So this concludes another extremely long author’s note by me. (Props to whoever read the whole thing.) Now, go use the handy little review tool! It’s quite fun & I promise to respond. And I promise, cross my heart, that you will want the next chapter asap.

A/N: I found my original copy of the last scene, so I rewrote a tiny bit of it. I doubt you can even tell the difference.

Chapter 15: Hormones & Nerves & Teen-Age Excitement

“Don’t it feel like sunshine after all?” Jimmy Eat World

Sunday, October 26^th, 1979

“So what else do you think we should do?” James asked his fellow Marauders who were seated around a table in the Heads room planning for All Hallows Eve.

“You know Lily, I love fireworks,” Sarah said rather loudly from across the room. All the Marauders looked at her and Lily swatted at her arm.

“Shh! Sarah!” Lily reproved.

“Fireworks?” Sirius suggested. James chuckled and Remus smiled. Peter nodded.

“Anything else?” James asked. No one said anything. “All right. Then I conclude this meeting of the Marauders!” James said and hit his hand against the table.

Peter got up first and made to leave when Sirius’ voice stopped him. “Where are you going in such a hurry?” Sirius asked.

“Uh, nowhere,” Peter managed to mumble before quickly making his exit.

“What’s gotten into him?” James

Remus shrugged. “I don’t know. He’s been going off alone lately. Maybe to be with Ember?” he suggested.

“Does he still think that we don’t know about her?” James asked him.

“No idea. He’s been even quieter than usual,” Remus said.

~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~

Thursday, October 30^th, 1979, Celebration of All Hallows Eve

Everyone was dancing and having fun. The common rooms had been rearranged so there was a large space for people to dance in and mill around. They had food in each common room and drinks. Each common room was open to any student, regardless of their house.

“Lily, this was a great idea!” Kirsten yelled as she tried her best to be heard over other voices and music.

“Thanks!” Lily said and smiled. It was a good idea. Instead of having one large ball or dance, she and James decided to make it more informal and have 4 smaller ones going on at once. Lily spotted Sirius at the table with the drinks on it, she immediately cornered him. “What are you doing? Spiking the drinks?”

Sirius laughed. “Of course not, that was done within the first ten minutes of the party! I’m just getting some more, Lilykins.”

Lily tried to give him a look, but ended up giving him a smile.

“Have you seen Sarah?” he asked.

Lily shook her head. “No, I lost her. Or she deserted me. I’m not sure which. Why?”

“She owes me a dance,” Sirius said before joining the mob of people dancing.

She made her way to one of the unoccupied couches and sat down.

Someone’s looking for you.

Sarah? Where did you go?

I was all over. James is looking for you.

Really?

Yes.

Well Sirius is looking for you. He says you owe him a dance.

Ugh. He likes me. Did you know that?

Aw Sarah! Going into his mind isn’t half as much fun as finding out the old-fashioned way! You’re just ruining it for yourself.

I’d rather know than wait to find out. So when James asks you to dance, you’re going to say yes, right?

What? Sarah! Stop it!

I’ll take that as a yes. By the way, he thinks you look very pretty tonight. I have to agree. You look fantastic.

Sarah would you please stop? I don’t want to know!

But I’m preparing you!

I see him.

Be nice he’s nervous. But I don’t think you’ll have too much of a problem doing that. I’ll think you’ll have a much harder time restraining yourself from shagging him right in the middle of the room.

SARAH! I SWEAR I’M GOING TO-

-Toodles! Have fun!-

-Sarah? Sarah! Come back!

Lily looked around the room, and sure enough, James Potter was headed straight towards her. She immediately averted her eyes so he wouldn’t see that she was looking for him. Lily twisted the ring around her finger.

“Care to dance?” James asked her. She looked up and took his outstretched hand. He led her to the middle of the crowd. The people were packed tightly together. They began to dance, and his body was merely centimeters away from hers. She could feel the adrenaline rushing though her veins.

~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~

Friday, October 31^st, 1979, All Hallows’ Day

“Go to bed Lily,” Sarah moaned as she turned in her bed.

“Sorry,” Lily whispered as she crept into her room. It was 2:30 am. The party had gone on forever, and she had to help clean it up. With the prefects. And James. James…Lily thought as she crawled into bed, not even bothering to take of her clothing.

~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~

He was the only thing she could think about. It was driving her crazy. Him and the kiss he gave her on her forehead. She touched the spot on her forehead. It seemed to burn at her touch. She shook her head, trying to clear her mind of him. Everyone else was talking around her. She nodded occasionally, trying to make it look like she was paying attention. She wasn’t really. Not with him taking up every inch of her hormone-ridden brain.

~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~

He was watching Lily out of the corner of his eyes. She was reading a letter. Suddenly, she started laughing.

“What’s so funny?” James asked, curious.

“Oh, just my sister, Petunia. She and her boyfriend are finally engaged.”

“Congratulations. Do you like him?”

“No. But then again, my sister and I haven’t gotten along in ages, so I think they’re a perfect match for each other.”

“What is so funny though?”

“Petunia. She can’t make up her mind about anything. It would be a disaster if her tablecloths didn’t match the napkins perfectly. And the balloons. She can’t make up her mind who to invite, although it seems like she’s inviting every person she’s ever talked to,” Lily said, scanning the letter again.

“When is it?”

Lily shook her head. “She doesn’t say…weird. Ah, I’m supposed to be a bridesmaid if I’m able. What a joke.”

“Why?”

“Because we’ve barely spoken for the last couple of years. If she ever utters a word to me, it’s mean to insult.”

“I don’t understand. Why would she do that to you?”

Lily dropped her voice, “Because I’m a witch…because I’m different.”

“That’s why she hates you? That’s absurd.”

“That’s my sister. Now you know why we don’t talk. We used to be able to. We were friends. She was the bright one, I never did that well in school, I was always causing trouble unlike her. But then once my parents knew why I was so different, they treated me like they did her. There wasn’t just Petunia and her little trouble-causing sister. There was Petunia the average girl, and Lily, a real live witch. Which do you think our parents paid more attention to?” Lily raised her eyes to stare into his.

“You,” James said quietly.

Lily shook her head. “It’s not like I tried to take it. I felt rather embarrassed, like I was on display. My parents showed me around, saying I had gotten into a brilliant boarding school. And oh how the praises came to my mum and dad for being such great parents. Petunia was pushed off into a corner. Not that they didn’t love her, but they could finally put their finger on what was so different about me. They embraced me more. And Petunia hated me for it. She still does to this day.”

“Lily that’s horrible. It’s not your fault at all,” James said.

“Sometimes I feel like it is,” Lily whispered. James embraced Lily, holding her close, trying to understand.

~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~

“Come on in,” James waved them all towards him after an extremely exhausting practice.

“I can’t believe tomorrow is our first game!” Sarah said excitedly, walking next to Lily.

“Don’t remind me, I’m nervous enough already,” Lily replied.

“Alright, good practice everyone,” James said once everyone had gathered around him. “As you all know, tomorrow is our first game against Hufflepuff. They’ve gotten better since last year, but they’re still not as good as us. I want you to be serious about this game. Don’t just play it off as no big deal. I want you all to get a good night’s sleep and eat a good breakfast tomorrow morning. The game starts at 12, be ready at 11:30. OK?” he asked and looked around. No one said anything. “Ok, practice is over.”

“Thank Merlin,” Sarah muttered.

“Shh! Sarah!” Lily whispered and shoved her a bit.

“What? I’m exhausted!” Sarah replied. “And hungry. We better not have missed dinner.”

“I doubt it, James would never miss dinner.”

~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~

“Doesn’t the sky look lovely tonight?” James asked Lily. She looked up at the ceiling of the Great Hall, it was a clear night, and all the stars were visible.

BANG

A firework exploded above them.

“James!” Lily exclaimed.

BANG BANG

And the fireworks show continued. Everyone in the Great Hall was mesmerized by the brilliant display of color being showed right above their very heads. Any student that wasn’t lucky enough to be in the Great Hall, rushed to it to see what all the excitement was about.

And once everyone was inside the Great Hall, the real show ensued. Eggs came crashing down into the faces of unexpecting** upturned faces and bits of blue and orange confetti fluttered from the sky, sticking to everyone’s face and other parts that were drenched in raw egg. It happened so fast that no one could anticipate the attack. Except for the end of one table that coincidentally held the Marauders, Lily, Sarah, and Lane. (Remus wasn’t able to persuade Cassidy to join them.) A pie whizzed past half of the tables and hit Snape square in the face. He picked up some food and flung it as far as he was able to. It hit a first year at the next table. He then picked up some of his food and flung it back at Snape and his friends helped him. It turned into a full-flung food fight right in the middle of dinner.

Lily stood flabbergasted at the sight going on before her. Somehow, none of the food had been able to touch her. She went to go help stop the fight when James grabbed a hold of her arm. “Do you really want to go out there?” he questioned her.

“No,” Lily sighed. “Make it stop James! Do you know how much trouble we’re going to get into!?” she exclaimed.

“Relax, no one knows that we did it. Do you see any sign that says ‘Courtesy of the Marauders?’ No, you don’t. We’re fine. And how exactly are we supposed to stop oh, 300 unruly, food-fighting kids?” James asked her.

Lily glared at him and returned to her seat. There really was nothing she could do. She was only one person. And James wouldn’t help her. James was right. Damn him.

~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~

Saturday, November 1^st, 1979

Lily clutched her hand to her stomach. “I can’t do this. I’m going to be sick.”

“Lily, you’ll be fine,” Sarah told her. “We’ve got to go.” Sarah followed the rest of the team out of the locker room, but Lily stood frozen at the entrance. “Come on Lily, the match is going to start!”

Lily shook her head. “I can’t. I really can’t.”

James appeared at Sarah’s side. “What’s wrong?”

“I can’t play today,” Lily told him.

“Go on ahead,” James told Sarah. She nodded and caught up with the rest of the team. “Why can’t you play, Lily?” he asked her.

“I think I’m going to be sick. And I can’t play. I’m horrible at quidditch. Why am I on the team?” she moaned.

“Lily, you’re a great player. You’ll be fine. It’s just nerves. Just go out there and forget about the crowd. You made the team. You’re good enough to be on it. No one else is,” James told her.

“What about Zoë ? Why don’t you let her play instead of me? She’s really good, I know she’ll do great,” Lily suggested.

James placed one hand on each of her shoulders and looked at Lily straight in her eyes. “Listen, you’re an excellent quidditch player. I don’t know why you didn’t try out before. Anyone would’ve put you on the team. I know you can do this. I believe in you, Lily”

Lily thought for a moment, and then nodded.

“Good, then let’s go play,” James said. They walked onto the field and met up with the rest of their teammates.

~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~

“Did you guys see that pass!?” Lane shouted from the Gryffindor stands.

Cassidy rolled her eyes.

“I saw that! Look at Lily go! I never knew she could fly so well!” Remus shouted back. The noise in the stadium was deafening. “GOAL! LILY GOT A GOAL!”

Lane shouted for joy. “YES! GO LILY!”

Cassidy crossed her arms. She wasn’t enjoying herself at all. This is so boring. I don’t know why I agreed to come. Perfectly nice day that’s ruined now. Stupid match.

“LILY! WATCH OUT!” Lane screamed as a bludger when whizzing past her leg by mere centimeters.

“What’s going on?” Peter asked as he made his way into the stands and sat down in the seat next to Remus.

“Where were you?” Remus asked Peter.

“Around. Who’s winning?”

“We are! You should see Lily! Her and Sarah are fantastic together! GO JAMES!” Remus yelled as James began to fly around the stadium at a dangerously fast speed.

~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~

“Ooh! I think James sees the snitch!” Lia yelled.

“No! We’re going to loose!” Celia moaned.

“It’s not the first time,” Lia pointed out.

“True.”

~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~

“Sarah just thinks she’s all that,” Adalyn said bitterly.

“She is pretty good though,” Kalia said.

“Shut up Kali,” Adalyn told her.

“Sarah’s pretty hot,” Bryce commented.

“SHUT UP!” Adalyn yelled, drawing quite a bit of attention from her fellow Ravenclaws and a few dirty stares.

“Lily’s a good chaser. I never knew she played,” Kalia said.

“Me neither,” Bryce said.

“She probably slept with James to get onto the team,” Adalyn muttered.

“Actually, no. They were barely even on speaking terms when she made the team,” Kalia informed her.

Adalyn sighed in frustration, “You’re not helping, Kali.”

“Ah! Addy! Did you see that!? Did you? Sarah just passed it to Lily and Lily scored! She barely missed the bludger flying her way again!” Kalia exclaimed.

Adalyn sat down in her seat and crossed her arms. “I’m not going to watch.”

~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~

“YES! GO GARRET!” Lia yelled as he flew past the Hufflepuff stands.

“GO! GO! GO!” Celia yelled. They held their breath in excitement as Garret made his way to the hoops at the opposite end of the stadium. Garret threw the ball, but was blocked by Sirius.

“NO!” Lia moaned.

“Sarah has the quaffle again,” Celia said. “Now, Lily, Sarah, Lily…geez they’re really good.”

“I know! Ugh. This isn’t fair. We’re loosing,” Lia complained.

“And Sarah just scored again!”

“Look!” Lia told Celia, pointing to James, “do’you think he sees the snitch?”

“Ah, this isn’t looking so good,” Celia commented.

“Not at all.”

“He’s got it!” Celia shouted.

“NO! WE LOST!” Lia yelled.

~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~

“YES! LILY! WE DID IT!” Sarah yelled as they started for the ground.

Lily smiled. I did it. I was ok. I actually scored!

The noise was deafening, especially from the Gryffindor section. The Slytherins didn’t bother to respond to the Gryffindor win, except from a few boos and taunts.

All the players were landing. Lily skimmed the pitch and saw James on the ground, holding the snitch in his one hand, grinning. She could hear some of the spectators yelling her name in congratulations. As soon as Lily’s feet touched the hard ground, she was off running in James’ direction. She threw her arms around his neck and kissed him.

The entire stadium was quiet. No one dared to breathe and no one said a word. Their eyes were transfixed on the two. It was the moment everyone had waited for. Not even one Slytherin dared to break the perfect silence.

I’ve died and gone to heaven. Was all that James could think. He wrapped his arms around Lily’s waist.

~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~

“What’s going on?” Adalyn demanded as she rose from her seat to look around.

“Shh!” Kalia scolded and pointed to James and Lily in the middle of the pitch, kissing.

~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~

As soon as Lily’s brain caught up with the rest of her body, she knew something was wrong. Either it was because A) There wasn’t one thing being shouted after Gryffindor had just won or B) She was somehow kissing James Potter. She broke away from him, and looked around. Everyone was staring at her. She could feel the heat rising to her face.

She found Sarah, who smiled at her and whistled. Sirius started to clap. Suddenly, the whole stadium burst out in shouts of hysteria.

“Looks like James won more than just a match!” Adam, the commentator for the game said.

If possible, the cheers from the spectators got even louder.

Lily felt James wrap his arm around his waist, which she had lost when she broke away from him, and he started to lead her away from the pitch.

“I knew you could do it,” James whispered in her ear.

And it was all Lily could do to hold herself back and not snog him right there.

“Don't find love, let love find you.

That's why its called falling in love.

You don't force yourself to fall,

You just do.”

**So apparently, “unexpecting” isn’t really a word in my computer’s dictionary. But it’s my story, my words. So:

Unexpecting - not expecting or anticipating, not paying attention

Reprove-censure somebody: to speak to somebody in a way that shows disapproval of something he or she has done (I used that word right! Whoo-hoo!)

A/N: So there you have it. Chapter 15. What did you think?

I’m writing about Lily & James getting together when I just dumped my bf. How ironic. (I’ve been single for 2 weeks and 5 days! Yea! Lol No one’s ever been this excited to be single.)

Could you please maybe, possibly try to answer some of these questions in your review? They’d help me out a whole lot for future chapters, and they let me know what you like/don’t like about this story and things I can fix. =]

-My Survey for Hate & Love Through Chapter 15-

Your Favorite Character:

Favorite Couple:

Favorite Chapter:

Favorite Scene:

Least Favorite Character:

Least Favorite Chapter:

Least Favorite Couple:

Least Favorite Scene:

Do you like the quotes I use?:

Any you absolutely hate?:

Any suggestions and/or comments:

Chapter 16: Fists and Fury Do Not Mix Well With Water

“Now you glare at me...

Behind my back...

And I hear what you whisper...

And I hear you when you laugh...

You're expecting me to play your game...

But I won't,

Because you see unlike you,

I'm not a fake.”

Saturday, November 1^st, 1979

“PAR-TAY!” Kirsten squealed as she rushed past Lily and Sarah in the hall.

“I think the party started without us!” Sarah gasped in fake horror.

Lily laughed, “Of course it couldn’t of have!”

“Oh that’s right. James Potter could never start the party without his new girlfriend, Lily Evans,” Sarah said.

Sarah’s remark made Lily blush.

“I’m so proud of you Lily!” Sarah exclaimed. “I knew you fancied him. I really did. But I never expected you to snog him in front of the entire school!”

The colour in Lily’s cheeks darkened. “I didn’t mean to! It just sort of…happened? Oh, I’m never going to live this one down.”

“Why would you want to?” Sarah asked her. “James Potter is gorgeous, my dear.”

“Yes, but I kissed him in front of the entire school, Sarah. Even the professors!” Lily cried out.

“And I’m very proud of you for doing so. I have to say, I don’t know why it took you so long to do it,” Sarah said.

“Can we please talk about something else?” Lily begged.

“Like what? You know when we get there that’s all you’re going to hear.”

“I know. I’m not looking forward to it. I bet we’ll get into trouble. We’re really not supposed to have parties you know,” Lily informed her.

“So? It’s not like they don’t know about them. It’s a tradition. Now stop worrying for one night!” Sarah told her.

“Roaming clouds,” Lily said to the portrait of the Fat Lady, who swung open to let them in. (James had made the passwords this week. Needless to say, it was in honor of Lily and Sarah’s last adventure.) They made their way into the crowded common room.

“-And here they are!” James announced. “The lovely Lily and Sarah!”

The crowd erupted into applause and shouts of joy.

“Come on up here,” he told them. “Let them through!” The mob of people divided to make a path from where they were standing to the platform James was on.

Lily looked hesitant, but Sarah pulled her through and onto the platform. James greeted her with a kiss and wrapped his arm around her waist, to more than a few shouts of joy from the crowd.

“Well, I don’t know what else to say,” James said to the crowd.

“I do!” Sarah announced. “Let’s get this party started!” she screamed and the whole room burst into shouts and the music started.

“Can we get off of here?” Lily asked James.

“Anything for you,” he told her and helped her off of the platform.

Sarah gazed at the crowd surrounding here. She could make out Sirius dancing with Kirsten. Her heart gave a little sigh, but she quickly pushed it aside. It was nothing after all.

~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~

“Come on Cass, have some fun already,” Lane said to Cassidy. “This is a party.”

“This is so boring, Lane. And I don’t know where Remus is! I hate this,” Cassidy replied.

“Lane! Come dance!” Elisha yelled, grabbing Lane’s arm and pulling her into the crowd.

“Go have fun!” Lane yelled to Cassidy before she lost sight of her.

~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~

Sirius sat down on a couch that had been pushed to the side of the room to make room. He had barely escaped Kirsten’s clutches. She was driving him crazy tonight. He skimmed the crowd, and his eyes rested on a certain brown-haired blue-eyed 7^th year. Unfortunately she was dancing with Derek, with a drink in one hand and her other wrapped around his neck.

“You’re too good for her,” a voice said next to him.

“What?” Sirius asked, confused as he looked up to see who was talking to him.

“You’re too good for her. She doesn’t deserve you. She’s a flirt, a slut. Besides, she doesn’t see you as anything more than a friend. She’d give the new French guy a chance before you,” Cassidy told him. “You really don’t need her. You’re so much better off without her, believe me.”

“Why should I believe you?” Sirius asked her, standing up to face her.

“Because, you shouldn’t waste your time on someone who will never love you back,” Cassidy said.

“Funny. You’re one to talk,” Sarah said from behind them.

Cassidy gave her a dirty look and Sarah threw the contents of her cup into Cassidy’s face, drenching her and her new outfit. A few people stopped dancing to watch them.

“Bitch!” Cassidy exclaimed as she wiped the butterbeer out of her eyes.

“Wrong. You’re the evil, conniving, deceitful bitch!” Sarah yelled.

Cassidy swung at Sarah but missed. Sarah quickly punched Cassidy in her face. Cassidy swung again and made contact with Sarah’s cheek. Sarah lunged at Cassidy and knocked her to the ground. The crowd that had formed around them took a step backwards as the two wrestled on the ground.

“Stop it!” Lily yelled as she and James reached the two. Sirius pulled Sarah off of Cassidy. James quickly grabbed Cassidy and handed her over to Remus when he appeared. Remus tried to restrain Cassidy.

“Let me go!” Sarah demanded of Sirius who was barely able to hold her back with her arms and legs flailing. “Sirius! PUT ME DOWN!”

Cassidy wasn’t putting up half the fight Sarah was. Her nose was bleeding as well as her lip. Her eye was swelling and her clothes and hair were in disarray. She was no match for Sarah.

“Come on, I’m taking you to the hospital wing,” Remus said.

The crowd around them began to whisper, and made a path to the exit for Remus and Cassidy.

“Will you put me down now?” Sarah asked harshly.

“Chill out Sarah. Relax,” Sirius told her. Sarah kicked him hard. “Ow!” Sirius exclaimed, but didn’t loosen his grip on her.

“Let me go Sirius,” Sarah repeated, very agitated now with her captor.

“Promise to behave?”

“Scout’s honor,” she said.

Sirius let her go, and as soon as her feet touched the ground she headed for the portrait.

“Sarah!” Lily called out. “What are you doing?”

“Relax,” Sarah said sarcastically, not bothering to turn around and face them, “I’m not going to touch her,” she said disappearing through the hole.

“Should I go after her?” Sirius asked Lily.

“No. She’ll keep her word. Besides, you can always trust a scout,” Lily told him. Lily made her way to a couch. She sat down and closed her eyes. The party resumed around her, but they all tried to stay as far from the 7^th years as possible.

James caught sight of Lily and walked to where she was sitting. He kissed her on her forehead. “Are you alright?”

Lily opened her eyes. “Yes, I’m fine. I’m exhausted though.”

“Come on, I’ll take you to your room,” James said as he helped her up. She leaned on him as he walked her to the Head’s Room.

~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~

Sarah stomped on down the hallway. Her shoes making a satisfying angry click on the stone as she walked. It echoed down the hall, but she didn’t care if anyone heard her. She didn’t care if she was caught. What she really wanted to do was wring Cassidy’s neck. Make her cry out in pain. Yet she didn’t. Her feet led her to the Astronomy tower, which was deserted, thankfully.

She sat on the window’s edge and dangled her legs outside. She leaned forward a little bit, and a little more. Her heart started beating faster. If she leaned any further, gravity would claim her and she would go falling to her death. Sarah leaned back, so she wasn’t in any danger of falling. She started to swing her legs back and forth, anything to distract her from what had her blood boiling. Yet, she did it. She though of Cassidy. Her hands balled up into fists reflexively. I hate her. I hate that lying bitch. I can’t believe her. Just because she’s so miserable she has to make everyone else feel her pain. I hate her. Telling Sirius all that stuff. Calling me a bitch? A slut? She has no right. She doesn’t know me. I don’t care that she doesn’t like me, but trying to get Sirius to hate me? She crossed the line. I never say anything to Remus about her. Never. Why does she have to do it? Who does she think she is? I hope her nose is broken. I hope it causes her pain for Madame Pomfry to fix it. I hope she can’t fix it. I know she will though. Damn. Maybe that’ll teach her not to mess with me.

It killed her, but Sarah knew that there was some truth in what Cassidy had said to Sirius. She didn’t like him as anything more than a friend, but she knew it hurt him.

I do love Sirius. Just not as much as he’d like me too.

~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~

Sunday, November 2^nd, 1979

It was awkward to say the least.

They were all ill at ease with one another.

Even Sarah, who usually knew what to say in these situations to make it less uncomfortable, knew not what to say this time. She wondered why she had sat with them. Of course she knew she couldn’t leave Lily by herself, but James was now with her. But if she would have sat with Lia and Celia like she wanted to do, then it would have been even more obvious that something was wrong. What was the difference if she had sat at the Hufflepuff table or if she stayed here at the Gryffindor table. The tension would still exist among them all. Sarah looked around the Great Hall, hoping something would provide a distraction, something to break the silence. To her horror, she saw Cassidy heading towards the table. Sarah nudged Lily and tried to make several quick glances in Cassidy’s direction to get Lily to notice her. Lily picked up and her eyebrows shot up when she saw Cassidy.

I can’t stay here. Not with her. I’m going to go.

Where are you going to go? Should I come with you?

No, stay here with James. You two are so cute together. Have fun!

I’ll try. I’ll be out soon. I really don’t want to be her with her.

Ok.

“I’ve got to go. I need to finish my work for Sluggy,” Sarah said, standing up.

No one bothered to answer her and she quickly made way out of the Great Hall, making sure not to pass Cassidy. If she got too close to her, she wasn’t sure she wanted to be held responsible for her actions.

~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~

“Hey there you are,” Lily said, finally finding Sarah sitting on the steps leading outside of the castle.

“Shhh. Watch. Everyone who passes, they talk about me. How I got into a fight with Cassidy. It’s quite entertaining actually. They’ve made me out to be even stronger than I am,” Sarah said, quite enjoying herself.

“I believe, that you are the strangest individual I have ever met,” Lily told her.

“Thanks.”

“Hi Lily,” Cassidy said as she walked out of the castle, down the steps past them.

Lily half-nodded.

I can’t believe her. She has some nerve.

“Cassidy!” Adalyn said, rushing up to Cassidy a few meters from where Sarah and Lily sat on the steps. “How are you?”

“Oh, I’m ok.”

“Are you feeling better?” Adalyn asked her.

“Yes, thanks for asking,” Cassidy replied.

“I couldn’t believe she hit you! People are always trying to start fights, it’s so pointless,” Adalyn said.

“I know,” Cassidy agreed. “It’s so sad.”

I hate her! I can’t believe them! Do you see them!? Merlin! They make me so mad! Lily, do you hear them!? I bet they staged the whole thing out already. Bitches.

I hear them.

“Why in the world would she want to start a fight with you?” Adalyn queried. “I’ve never heard of you getting into trouble, unlike her. I heard she started a fight with a second-year before. Didn’t that get a bit bloody?”

“Oh yes, got quite a few detentions for that stunt,” Cassidy replied.

That wasn’t my fault! The bloody bastard ran into me! Then he tried to blame it on me and kicked me! I had to defend myself! He got detentions as well! It wasn’t only my fault!

“I think she’s just jealous. She hasn’t had a real boyfriend in ages,” Cassidy told her.

“People do crazy things when they’re lonely,” Adalyn concurred. “And she obviously can’t get Sirius.”

That’s it. They’re dead.

Don’t get yourself expelled! Sarah!

Sarah stormed up to Cassidy and Adalyn. “I’m not as lonely as you are with Remus,” she spat at Cassidy, and pushed her backwards. Cassidy fell and tumbled backwards into the lake.

Cassidy sputtered and tried to find the rocks underneath her feet in the water. She hated the lake to begin with.

“But I may be a bit crazy,” Sarah said, and turned her back and walked away.

Teach her to mess with me that crazy bitch.

That was brilliant!

I know. It felt good. And she hates getting wet, it ruins her hair.

Lily rushed up to her and the two walked into the castle as if nothing had happened.

~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~

Lily was sitting quietly in the Heads’ Room reading her book. She was quite comfortable, lost in the world of words.

“Lily!” James exclaimed as he rushed into the Heads’ Room.

Lily looked up from her book, annoyed that she was interrupted, but smiled when she saw James face.

“Did Sarah really push Cassidy into the lake?” James asked her, sitting down next to her on the couch.

Lily laughed, “Yes, she did. They were being horrible. She deserved it.”

“Good for her. I sure wouldn’t want to be on Sarah’s bad side,” James said, giving Lily a kiss on her forehead. “Be careful. I wouldn’t want anything to happen to you.”

“Sarah would never do anything to me.”

James smiled, “I know. If anyone would ever do anything like that to you I would kill them.”

“I know that,” Lily said, snuggling close to James who put his arms around her.

~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~

“SARAH! CAN’T YOU EVER PICK UP AFTER YOURSELF! You’re such a slob! I can’t stand living with you! Your crap is everywhere!” Cassidy exclaimed as soon as Sarah stepped foot into the 7^th year dorm. She had been avoiding it because of this reason.

Sarah rolled her eyes, and proceeded to look for a piece of parchment she knew she had to finish her work.

“SARAH! Pick up your stuff!” Cassidy yelled.

Sarah glared at Cassidy. “No.”

“Sarah!” Cassidy yelled and stomped her foot.

“Aguamenti” Sarah said, aiming at Cassidy. A huge stream of water poured out of her wand, more so than she had intended, but it was probably because of her anger. “You need to cool down,” Sarah told Cassidy evenly, grabbed her parchment and walked out of the room, closing the door behind her.

“AGGGGGHHHHHHHH!!!” Cassidy yelled as she stormed into the bathroom, soaking wet.

~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~

A/N: Kk my lovelies, I’m sure you were a bit disappointed in this chapter, and for that I’m sorry. There wasn’t much L/J in it. But it needed to be done.

I haven’t felt like writing because:

1.) I like this boy, who doesn’t really even know me

2.) I’ve had no major feelings of anger or sadness, when I usually write my best stuff (haha, only me, I know.)

3) Vay-cay, I can finally read stuff that I want to read instead of my English book.

Pitiful list but w/e.

And thanks for filling out the survey. I really didn’t use it for this chapter, since it was party written before, but here are the results (they’ve been combined portkey&ff.net):

-My Survey for Hate & Love Through Chapter 15-

Your Favorite Character:

Sarah - 6

Lily - 4

James - 3

Sirius - 3

Favorite Couple:

Lily & James - 11

Sarah & Sirius - 4

Favorite Chapter:

Chapter 15 - 8

Chapter 9 - 2

Chapter 14 - 1

Favorite Scene:

Lily & James Kiss - 9

Lily & Sarah Drunk - 2

Least Favorite Character:

Cassidy - 6
Peter - 5

Snape - 2

Amos & gang - 1

Least Favorite Chapter:

Really no responses, except the beginning

Least Favorite Couple:

Cassidy & Remus - 6

Peter & Ember - 3

Lane & Alden 1

Least Favorite Scene:

Cassidy says she hates werewolves & such - 2

Sirius getting beat up - 2

Slytherin common room in Mischief - 1

Diary scenes - 1

Do you like the quotes I use?:

Yes - 10

Although some people didn’t know that I used them

Any you absolutely hate?:

Not really

Any suggestions and/or comments:

More L/J, make-out scenes, romantic stuff, update faster.

Chapter 17: Mostly Happy With A Chance of Strangeness

"Whoever said money can't buy happiness

Simply didn't know where to go shopping." - Bo Derek

"What's the use of happiness? It can't buy you money." - Henny Youngman

Wednesday November 12^th, 1979

Lily rested her head on James’ shoulder. Sarah had kept her up last night until one o’clock making her help her study for their potions exam. Sarah said she couldn’t study by herself. Lily stifled a yawn and earned a few angry looks from her peers still taking the exam. James wrapped his arm around her shoulder. He was so comfortable that she almost fell asleep right there.

I swear I failed that test. That was hard!

Lily groaned. She wasn’t in the mood for this she was too tired. You did fine Sarah. We studied all last night. How could you not have passed? You knew everything.

Yeah, I did. Until he handed out the test. Damn. I can’t believe this.

Just let it go. How can you even be awake right now? I’m half-asleep.

I had chocolate this morning.

That explains it. I should write a letter to the house-elves so they know not to give you, caffeine, sugar, chocolate, or ice cream of any kind because you get too hyper from it.

I do believe Miss Cassidy is giving you evil looks.

Why now?

Because you and James are so adorable together. And James pays more attention to you than Remus does to her. She’s jealous.

But she has a boyfriend!

Nothing I can do.

~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~

Saturday, November 15^th, 1979

“Sarah’s coming,” Lily sighed, untangling herself from James’ on the sofa where they had started out studying transfiguration but graduated to the anatomy of each other’s tongues.

“What?” James asked in a daze. “How do you know?”

“Hey guys!” Sarah greeted them as she walked into their common room and crossed the room to enter Lily’s room where she had moved all her stuff.

“She’s still in your room?” James asked her with disbelief.

“What? She’s my best friend. And you know her and Cassidy don’t get along together at all. Would you really want a repeat of the party just because you can’t deal with her sharing my room?” Lily asked him.

“Why don’t they get along? They didn’t seem that bad off last year,” James said.

“They just never really liked each other. I don’t know if something happened between the two of them that I don’t know about or what. I doubt it, if something happened, Sarah would’ve told me. She tells me everything,” Lily said.

“What about you? Do you tell her everything?” James asked.

“Almost everything.”

“What about me?”

“What about you?”

“Would you tell me everything?”

Lily was caught off guard. How was she supposed to answer that? Would she really? If she couldn’t even tell Sarah everything, how could she tell him? But she made the mistake of looking into his eyes, filled with concern and love and hope. And she knew she would. He would know everything about her. “I would.” This answer seemed to satisfy him and they just sat together in silence, not having any use for words. Suddenly, a loud thump was heard. It came from Lily’s bedroom.

Lily jumped up and rushed to her bedroom, flinging the door open. Sarah was lying on the floor with her chair on the floor beside her. When Sarah spotted Lily she picked herself up off of the floor and slammed the notebook on her desk shut and began throwing things into the drawers.

“What’s wrong Sarah? Are you ok?” Lily asked.

“Yeah I’m fine,” Sarah said, closing the drawer. She picked up the chair and placed it on the floor the right way. “I just fell off the chair. No big deal.”

“What were you doing?” Lily asked her, trying to see the cover of the notebook.

“Oh nothing of importance,” Sarah said, picking up her notebook and holding it at her side.

“Are you sure?” Lily eyed her suspiciously.

“Yeah, positive Lilei darling. I’m fine. Just go back down to James,” she said sitting down on her chair again and placing the notebook on the desk.

“Ok,” Lily said half-heartedly and closed the door behind her as she walked out.

~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~

“Well, it was only a matter of time before you succumbed to the infamous Potter charm,” he told her, as if it was a common fact. They were patrolling later that night, glad to be alone.

Lily cocked her head to the side. “Is that so?” she asked him.

“Yes,” James replied.

And before she could think of a suitable response, James had her up against the wall, his mouth covering hers. She wrapped her arms around his neck and pulled him closer to her if possible. Lily felt so many different emotions all at once, lust, desire, excitement, nerves, happiness. They stayed like that, Lily’s back to the wall and their tongues playing a game only they knew of.

Suddenly they heard footsteps and a shh-ing. They reluctantly broke apart.

A girl giggled, “Trey, stop,” she whispered as quietly as she could. The couple rounded the corner, without paying attention. Elisha was pushing Trey’s face away from hers with her free hand. The other was holding his. Once they took their eyes off each other they froze in their tracks. Before them stood a very agitated James Potter.

“Detentions, Elisha, Trey, for the next 3 days. And 5 points each for being up past curfew,” James told them. “Now, get yourselves to your dorms.”

Elisha nodded and the two scurried off in the direction of the Gryffindor Tower.

“Aw, did you have to be so hard on them?” Lily asked, intertwining her fingers with James’.

“Yes, they shouldn’t be up at this hour,” James replied.

“But usually you give them one detention. Giving them two wouldn’t happen to have anything to do with them interrupting anything would it?” Lily asked him.

“Of course not,” James told her.

“Ok then,” Lily replied, not believing him at all.

~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~

Monday November 17^th, 1979

“LILY WAKE UP!” Sarah called out as she tried to shake her friend awake.

“What?” Lily moaned, pulling the covers over her head.

“It’s MONDAY!” Sarah squealed, doing a crazy little dance next to Lily’s bed. “Do you know what today is?!”

“Your birthday,” Lily mumbled from underneath the comforter of her bed.

“YES! I’M SEVENTEEN!” Sarah yelled. “It’s my birthday! It’s my birthday! It’s my birthday!” Sarah sang as she danced around the room.

“Calm down Sarah,” Lily said throwing her covers off and getting out of bed. “You have all day to celebrate.”

“Hurry Lilei, I’m hungry,” Sarah said.

“I’m going, I’m going,” Lily said as she grabbed her uniform and went into the bathroom. She tried to move as fast as she could because she knew Sarah would not hesitate to burst right into the bathroom and drag her out, even if she was half naked. When she emerged from the bedroom she found Sarah on her bed laughing at something. Lily walked over to her. Sarah was holding a picture of her and another girl in a city. They were shaking hands with a taxi driver and he looked thoroughly confused.

“Who’s that?” Lily asked, pointing to the girl she didn’t recognize.

“Oh that’s my cousin Mish. She took me to New York City over the summer, remember?”

“Yeah I remember,” Lily said sitting down next to her so she could see the pictures better.

“Come on, we better get down to breakfast,” Sarah said standing up and dragging Lily out of the room by her wrist. Lily managed to grab the pictures and her bag before the door shut behind them.

Once they reached the Great Hall Sarah pulled Lily down into the seat next to her.

“Mmmm, pancakes,” Sarah said as she piled a stack of them on her plate and drenched them in syrup.

“Sarah, you’re going to get sick with all that syrup, that cannot be good for you,” Lily said shaking her head.

“It doesn’t matter. It’s my birthday, I can do whatever I want!”

“Hey guys. Happy birthday Sarah,” Lane said sitting down across from them.

“Hey Lane,” Sarah greeted her. She noticed Cassidy wasn’t around.

They ate breakfast in peace. Lily noticed that Sarah didn’t even complain about classes once the whole day through. She seemed blissfully peaceful and didn’t talk back to the teachers, and even answered a few questions.

Once classes were over for the day Sarah told Lily that she was going back to her room and Lily nodded. As soon as Sarah was out of earshot, Lily turned to James. “James, you have to take me down to the kitchens,” she told him.

“Why?” he asked.

“Because it’s Sarah’s birthday, and I want to see if they can make her a cake or something. Please?” she asked him.

“Of course,” he said.

“Hey! I want to come too!” Sirius said. James led the way down to the kitchens and once inside they were surrounded by house-elves. Tibby, the elf that had greeted them before stepped forward.

“What can Tibby be getting for the masters and miss today?” he asked, bowing.

“Is there any way you could make a cake?” Lily asked them, praying that they could somehow.

“A cake?” Tibby squeaked.

Lily nodded.

“Of course!” Tibby said and motioned to some other elves who started to bring out supplies.

Lily bit her bottom lip nervously. “Um, could you possibly send it to the Heads’ room around seven-thirty? Along with some other food?” Lily asked Tibby.

Tibby nodded vigorously, “Of course miss!”

“It wouldn’t be too much trouble?”

“Oh no miss! We’d be happy to oblige!” Tibby reassured her, clapping his small hands together in anticipation.

Lily breathed a sigh of relief. “Thank you,” she said and nodded to James who led the way out of the kitchens.

“Alright, Sirius I need you to take care of Sarah while James and I decorate the Heads’ room,” Lily told him while James wrapped his arm around her waist.

“Sure,” Sirius nodded.

“Thanks,” Lily said.

~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~

“Alright, Remus could you help Lane put that banner up?” Lily asked handing the banner to Lane. Remus nodded and walked towards Lane and took one end of it. Suddenly Tibby and a mass of house elves and food appeared in the middle of the room. “Tibby!” Lily exclaimed at the sight that appeared before here.

“Is this enough food, miss?” Tibby asked her peering over a huge tower of ice cream, which was white with little chocolate specks. Cookies ‘n cream maybe?

Boy they have good memories. “Yes, Tibby. This is enough food. Thank you,” Lily said.

Tibby nodded, “Anything for the masters.” And with a little pop he and the rest of the house elves disappeared.

Lily took a deep breathe and surveyed the room. It looked good, with the banner Remus and Lane had just hung, the food, and the little pile of presents on the table. Remus, James, Lane, Lia, and Celia were all standing in a circle talking, waiting for Sarah to arrive. Lily walked over to their little group, when she heard the portrait moving. “Shh!” she called out quietly. “She’s coming!”

“Stop it Sirius,” Sarah’s voice could be heard saying, getting closer. “Why is it so-” she was cut off by the sight of her friends and the decorations spanning the room.

“Happy Birthday Sarah!” everyone shouted at the same time.

“Aw! You guys!” Sarah said as she made her way towards everyone. Lily reached her first and gave her a hug. “Thank you Lily,” Sarah said.

The eight of them sat around and ate the food that the elves had brought. James and Remus bought Sarah what seemed to be like half of Honeydukes. Sirius bought Sarah a small silver bracelet. Lia and Celia bought her nail polishes, a bottle of perfume, and other girly things.

“My turn,” Lily said and handed Sarah a small wrapped box.

Sarah took the box and unwrapped it. It was a small jewelry box. Sarah shot Lily a questioning look and Lily just shrugged. Sarah opened the box and gasped. It was her necklace with that had broken years ago and she had never gotten fixed. It was silver with an XO hanging from the chain and a little topaz stone, her birthstone, dropping from the O. It was her favorite necklace and she was devastated when it broke in the middle of fourth year. “Thank you Lily!” Sarah said and wrapped her best friend into a hug. When she released Lily, Sarah carefully picked up her gift and placed it around her neck.

Celia let out a yawn from her spot on the sofa. “It’s getting late. We should probably head back to our dorm,” Celia said as she stood up with Lia by her side. “Happy Birthday Sarah,” she and Lia said as they made their way to the hole.

“’Bye thanks guys!” Sarah called back as the two figures made their way to the other side of the portrait.

“We should probably go back too,” Lane reasoned. “I don’t know who’s patrolling tonight.” Remus nodded and they all wished Sarah a happy birthday one last time before leaving James, Lily, and Sarah alone in the Heads’ Room.

Sarah turned to the couple. “Thanks for doing this for me. It really means a lot. And thanks for not letting Cassidy come.”

“Of course, babe. I didn’t think you’d want to get into a fight on your birthday,” Lily said.

“You were right. I’m going upstairs to bed. ‘Night you two,” Sarah said as she left Lily and James alone.

“Thank you James for helping me,” Lily said, wrapping her arms around his neck once Sarah was gone.

“Anything for you Lily,” James replied, kissing her on her forehead.

Lily smiled and gave him a quick kiss goodnight. She walked to her door, feeling James’ eyes watching here. It sent shivers up and down her spine, just knowing he was always watching her. She changed into her night clothes and as she crawled into bed, she noticed a large box next to Sarah’s bed that hadn’t been there before. Sarah was fast asleep, turned on her side away from the box. Lily pushed the covers off of her, and quietly stepped out of bed. She crept to the box, and slid it across the floor to the small lamp beside her bed. Lily tried to open it as quietly as she could. The box was filled with notebooks and painting supplies. Lily pulled out assorted sizes of brushes and different coloured paints. The notebooks were all blank on the inside. Beneath the paintings she found boxes of coloured pencils of every imaginable colour. Lily looked up to Sarah’s sleeping form. These had to be for Sarah, but why? Sarah had never mentioned that she painted or drew. Or that she even wanted to. At the very bottom of the box was a brand-new wizard camera. That Lily understood. Sarah had always loved to take pictures. She carefully placed everything back inside the box. On the side of the box, there was a letter that Lily had missed seeing. She opened the envelope and took out the letter. She quickly scanned it. Happy Birthday…know you’ll like this…a present…forever to find it all…right kind...Love, Dad. It was from Sarah’s father. Didn’t her mum send her anything? Strange, Lily thought as she stuffed the letter back into the envelope and pushed the box back into its place next to Sarah’s bed. Lily climbed back into her bed and pulled the covers up around her. She decided to ask Sarah what was inside the box the next morning, hopefully being able to get some answers from her that way. At least she liked her necklace. Thank goodness she didn’t notice it was gone. She would’ve had my head if she knew it was gone. She does love that necklace.

A/N: Eeeek. Yeah. It’s been like forever. My bad. But I did survive the AP World History test!!! Omg it was so great, we had a fire drill right in the middle of the essay part. And all three of the essays had to do with China (which we spent the least amount of time on) so basically every single one of us BS-ed the essays. And then we went to Fiorie’s (a pizza shop) afterwards to celebrate being done.

But school is over!!!!!

So now I can start on my summer work =[

Next year I’m taking AP Biology (with the same freaking psycho-lock-her-up-please teacher), AP American History (I have been informed is really really hard. One of the hardest courses, yay me), Pre-AP English and Pre-AP Chemistry (incredibly difficult, plus I hate math). Thank god I suck at math so I’m not in Honors Algebra II. That’d be overload. tests next year. Everyone thinks I’m crazy because I’m taking all these courses. So yeah, can’t wait for next year and all that work….

BUT NO SPANISH NEXT YEAR!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!! So happy about that. She’s like the meanest strictest Foreign Language teacher EVER!

And I have been writing. Basically everything but this story. (sorry) But maybe you should go and read my other stories while you’re waiting for me to update.

I’m like 273583x excited for the next chapter. I love writing those kinds. (Hopefully it’ll come out like I want it to. I’m hoping.)

Review?? (I know you want to.)

[July 1^st = Panic! At the Disco concert!!!!!!!!]

Chapter 18: Letters of Terrible Tidings/Little Relief in a Big Disaster

“Just because her eyes don't tear,

Doesn't mean her heart doesn't cry.

And just because she comes off so strong,

Doesn't mean there's nothing wrong.”

Tuesday, November 18th, 1979

“Morning Sunshine,” Lily said as Sarah stumbled out of bed.

“Morning,” Sarah grumbled. She grabbed her clothing and locked the door behind her as she walked into the bathroom.

Lily looked for the box she had peeked into the night before. Good, it’s still there. She pulled her shoes onto her feet. She searched for Sarah’s bag and found it at the bottom of Sarah’s bed underneath the covers. That girl really is crazy. How’d she sleep with it there? Lily finished getting ready as Sarah walked out of the bathroom. “Hey, Sarah?”

“What?”

“What’s that box there?” Lily asked, pointing to the box aside of Sarah’s bed that she had looked into the night before.

“It’s nothing,” Sarah shrugged and grabbed her bag. “Let’s go. I’m starving.”

Lily followed Sarah out of her room and down the stairs. “Well, what’s inside of it?” Lily asked her.

“Nothing important.”

“What’s inside, Sarah?” Lily asked again.

“It’s nothing, Lily,” Sarah said more firmly.

Lily bit her lip, wanting to ask her again, but knowing that making Sarah mad first thing in the morning wasn’t the smartest thing to do so she followed her in silence to the Great Hall. Sarah sat down next to Lane who was already seated at the table. Lily sat down across from them.

“Where’s Cassidy?” Lily asked Lane.

Lane shrugged, “I don’t know. I saw her this morning, then she just disappeared.”

“Hopefully she won’t come back,” Sarah muttered.

~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~

Tuesday, November 25^th, 1979

“Here come the owls,” Lane said as the owl post arrived for the morning.

“Astrum!” Sarah exclaimed as her owl dropped a letter in front of her and perched on Sarah’s arm. Sarah fed her a bit of her breakfast before Astrum hooted and flew off again. Sarah picked up the letter that Astrum had delivered and examined the outside for a moment before she stashed it in her bag underneath her.

“Aren’t you going to open it?” Lily asked her.

“No, I’m just going to wait until later to read it,” Sarah said. Lily shrugged and brushed off her friend’s weird behavior. Sarah usually loved getting mail.

~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~

Lily walked into her room to find Sarah sitting on her bed holding an envelope and staring blankly at it. Lily recognized it as the one Astrum had delivered that morning.

“Did you open it?” Lily asked her.

Sarah didn’t reply, she just stared at the envelope.

“Sarah, what’s going on? Is something wrong?”

No attempt was made on Sarah’s behalf to communicate with Lily. Lily’s temper quickly rose, getting impatient with Sarah and her stubbornness.

“Sarah, why won’t you tell me what’s wrong?” Lily demanded, growing increasingly angry with her.

“It’s nothing,” Sarah spat at her, glaring.

“Why won’t you tell me?” Lily yelled.

“It’s nothing. It doesn’t even matter,” Sarah yelled back at her. Why wouldn’t Lily just leave her alone?

“Tell me!”

“NO!” Sarah yelled. “It’s none of your business.” Sarah left Lily’s room with a slam of the door and the envelope clutched in her hands.

Lily sighed, frustrated with Sarah. Sarah told her everything. Why couldn’t she just tell her? What was the big deal?

~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~

Sirius walked into Heads Room, intending to find James, but instead he found Sarah sitting on the couch, holding a letter in her hands. Sirius had never seen her looking so miserable. He made his way to where she was sitting. “Sarah?” he said as gently as he could. She lifted her face upwards and looked into his eyes. He noticed her eyes looked as if they were about to let the tears behind them fall, yet no signs of tears were to be found on her face. “What’s wrong?” he asked as he sat down next to her.

Sarah shook her head and quickly folded the letter in her shaking hands, “Nothing.”

“Sarah? What’s wrong? C’mon you can tell me,” Sirius pleaded with her.

Sarah managed a small smile at his sincerity, but didn’t answer his question.

“Sarah, tell me what’s wrong,” Sirius asked her again.

Sarah swallowed. Of all the people to tell… “Promise me you won’t say a word to anyone? Not even James or Lily?”

“I promise.”

Sarah took a deep breathe and paused for a moment before saying, “My father died.”

Sirius looked at her in shock. “How?”

Tears brimmed at the edges of her eyes. “He committed suicide,” she said, not even flinching.

“That’s horrible, Sarah. I’m so sorry,” Sirius said, wrapping his arm around her protectively. “Your mother must be devastated.”

A small sob escaped from her lips before she told him, “My mum died when I was three.”

Sirius’ head reeled. Both of her parents were dead? How could he not have known that her mum was dead? “I’m sorry. I didn’t know your mum was dead.”

“It’s alright. You couldn’t of have known. No one knows.”

“No one?”

“Except you, you’re the first to know,” Sarah said with a small smile as if it were some great award to be the first to know. “And to know about my dad,” she added.

“You haven’t got any brothers or sisters that you haven’t told anyone about, have you?”

“No. My closest and only living relative lives in America. I’m all alone now.”

Sirius felt a surge of grief for the girl in his arms. She really had lost everything with the loss of her father.

Sarah turned so she could see his face and gave him a kiss on the cheek. “Thank you Sirius,” she said as she worked her way out of his embrace and stood before him.

Sirius nodded. She started to walk towards the door to Lily’s bedroom. “Are you going to be okay?”

Sarah turned to face him, “I’ll be fine.” She clutched the letter in her hand a little tighter and walked into Lily’s room. She carefully closed the door behind her. As soon as the lock clicked into its place, she slid down the rough wood, collapsing on the floor beneath it. The tears she had held back were finally allowed to flow freely. Sarah read the letter over and over through her blurry eyes until it was soaked through. She cried until the tears wouldn’t come anymore. Then her grief turned to anger. Sarah collected herself off of the floor and set her sights on the box aside of her bed. She picked up the bottles of paints and hurled them against the wall. Why did he leave me? I thought he loved me. I tried to be good. I hurt too. He wasn’t the only one who lost her. It’s not fair. Now I don’t have him either. She grabbed the notebook in the box and tore out the pages. She broke the brushes and pencils in half and let them drop to the ground. She kicked the box hard one last time and sat down on her bed. It’s not fair she though as she laid down. they’re gone. I won’t get to see them again. A few tears trickled down her face. I miss them.

~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~

Friday, November 28^th, 1979

Lily sat in James’ arms on the couch. It was so pleasant, but she couldn’t help but think about Sarah. Just then Sirius entered their common room. “Sirius!” Lily exclaimed, freeing herself from James’ arms.

“What are you doing?” James asked, upset that his girlfriend was trying to get away from him and he held her tighter.

“Stop James,” Lily laughed as he tickled her side. “I need to talk to Sirius.”

“About what? Are you leaving me?” James asked in fake horror.

“Never,” Lily smiled and kissed him.

“Aw you two make me sick,” Sirius complained shielding his eyes with his hands from the terrible sight of them kissing.

“Shut up Padfoot,” James said, “you’re just jealous.”

“You know it,” Sirius winked. “So how about you make me un-jealous Lil?” Sirius suggested.

“Only if you tell me something,” Lily said, scooting off of James’ lap and onto the cushion aside of him.

“Alright, what is it?” Sirius asked, sitting down next to her on the couch.

“Do you know if everything is ok with Sarah?” Lily asked him, biting her lip in hopes that he knew something.

“You-you don’t know?” Sirius asked incredulously.

“Don’t know what!” Lily exclaimed. How did he know but she didn’t?

“Sarah didn’t tell you what happened?” Sirius asked.

“No,” Lily said angrily. “She doesn’t tell me anything! She’s been acting normal, but at night, when she thinks I’m asleep I can sometimes hear her crying.”

“She made me swear I wouldn’t tell,” Sirius said.

“So then, let us guess it,” James suggested.

Sirius nodded.

“Was it something bad?” Lily asked.

Sirius rolled his eyes. Lily swatted him on his arm, and Sirius nodded to answer her question.

“Um,” Lily bit her lip again, trying to think of something else to ask him.

James sighed at Lily’s obvious lack of skill at this guessing-game and said, “Something with her family?”

Sirius nodded vigorously.

“What happened?” Lily asked.

Sirius smacked his hand to his forehead. Lily had obviously never done this before with Sarah.

“Did someone…die?” James asked Sirius tentatively.

Sirius nodded.

Lily sucked in her breath. “Her dad?” she asked quietly.

Sirius nodded again.

“Oh no,” Lily moaned and leaned back into James’ embrace.

Sirius didn’t say anything. “There’s something else?” James asked.

Again, Sirius nodded.

“Did someone else die?” James asked.

This time, Sirius half-nodded half-moved his head in a circle.

“What?” Lily asked, clearly confused by Sirius’ answer. She thought this was a yes-or-no game.

“Did Sarah have any siblings?”

Sirius shook his head no.

“Her mum?” James guessed.

Sirius nodded quickly.

“This is ridiculous, just tell me already!” Lily exclaimed.

“Her mum is dead?”

Another nod.

“Oh my god,” Lily said softly, tears welling in her eyes.

“Her mum’s been dead for awhile now,” Sirius said quickly, the game now over.

“What?” Lily asked. What in the world was he talking about?

“Sarah’s mum died when she was little, three or so.”

“What? No, that’s not possible,” Lily disagreed as she shook her head back and forth. “She never said anything. Never. She would’ve told me…”

“She never told anyone,” Sirius said. “And her dad committed suicide.”

“I don’t believe it,” Lily said quietly. James held her closer and she turned and buried her face in his shoulder.

“But you cannot tell Sarah that I let you know what happened. I swore I wouldn’t tell you two. Please?” Sirius begged them.

“We won’t say anything,” James reassured Sirius.

“What?” Lily said as she pushed herself away from James. “How can you expect me to not say anything?”

“You can’t Lil,” James told her.

“Why not?”

“Because, if Sarah had wanted to tell you, she would’ve told you,” Sirius said.

“Why did she tell you then?” Lily asked angrily.

Sirius shrugged, “I don’t know.”

“Unbelievable,” Lily muttered.

~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~

Sunday, November 30^th, 1979

“Come on, Sarah,” Sirius said, holding her hand and pulling her through the hole that led to the Heads’ room.

Sarah followed him reluctantly. As they entered the room she saw James and Lily sitting together on the couch, like always. You would’ve thought the two would have been married by now or something. Sirius led her to a chair facing Lily and James and she sat down, but Sirius stood aside of her. “What’s going on?” she asked them, obviously something was off.

“You have to tell them,” Sirius said. Sarah had no idea that Lily and James already knew, but they figured that it would be better if she thought she would be the first to tell them. And maybe this way, they would learn more. Anything would suffice, after the shock of not knowing that Sarah had been motherless for the better part of her life.

Sarah took one look at Lily and James and made up her mind. They were happy. Why burden them with the death of her father? It didn’t even matter. They didn’t know him. Why did they have to know? “No,” she said and crossed her arms.

“Just tell them,” Sirius told her.

Who was he to tell her what to do? “No,” she repeated.

“Sarah, would you just tell us what’s going on already?” Lily asked her.

“It doesn’t matter.”

“Yes it does, Sarah,” Lily said. “Something’s wrong, but you won’t tell me what it is! Why not?”

“It’s really nothing at all,” Sarah told them, keeping her arms folded across her chest as some kind of protection from Lily’s angry words.

“Then tell us,” James urged her.

Sarah sighed and studied the three faces. Sirius already knew, if only he would sit down instead of guarding her, Lily who she usually trusted, and James, who seemed sincere enough. “Alright,” Sarah said, “but only if you sit down, Sirius. You’re making me feel like I’m being interrogated or something.”

Sirius sat down in the chair next to hers, and made a small motion with his hands, as if to tell her to start with the story.

“So,” Sarah said uneasily entertaining for the first time an audience she wished she didn’t have. “I guess I’ll start at the beginning. My parents met here, at Hogwarts, and got married. I never knew my grandparents, they all died before I was born. When I was three, my mother was attacked at our house. She was working on some case for the ministry, and apparently knew too much for the criminals so they killed her. I remember my dad running out of the house with me. He used to be so happy…but after that, after my mum died, he just became this…shell of a person? I guess that’s what you’d say. He cared for me, but he never really knew me, he was always off in his little dream world where my mother was still alive. I’ve missed him. Lately he was starting to listen, actually listen and care about me and my life. He sent me a box full of art stuff, which he knows I love. He promised my mum he would take care of me, until I was old enough to do it myself. I guess me turning of age is when he decided I didn’t need anyone anymore, so he went to be with my mum,” Sarah finished quietly.

No one spoke for a moment, as Sarah’s words soaked into them.

“Sarah,” Lily said softly, “I’m so sorry.”

“It’s ok. There’s nothing you can do,” Sarah told her.

“Why didn’t you tell us?” Lily asked her.

“Because it’s not important. It wouldn’t of have made any difference.”

“What? Of course it’s important. It’s your family, Sarah!” Lily exclaimed.

“It was,” Sarah corrected.

“How did you find out?” Lily queried.

“The ministry sent me a letter. Then I got a letter from my dad. He wrote it before it happened.”

Lily nodded silently, unsure of what to say next.

Sarah stood up from her chair. “Thanks for this little, intervention or whatever, guys but I’m fine.” She left the room without another word being spoken.

“Well, at least she told you,” Sirius said after a moment.

Lily just rolled her eyes and threw her hands up into the air.

This chapter deserves another quote:

Ephram: I wish you had died instead of mom.

Dr. Brown: Well I wish I had too, you little bastard.

-Everwood (:tear: I’m going to miss that show!)

A/N: Less than a month to update! Lol. So I did like this chapter until the last little scene there. Oh well.

Panic! At the Disco concert was AMAZING.

And I’ve kept busy making a boy jealous and such. Sigh. I’m so bad. (but it’s my bff’s fault too.)

So I’ve got 5 more chapters planned. And then, I think that’s it. It’s done. Or rather, I’m done with it. The story could continue, but I’ve been writing this story for over a year now, and I can barely do the same thing for five minutes without growing bored of it.

Review???

<3 you all!

A/N: Ahhhh I’m BACK! :D

Forget what happened in the story since it’s been forever? Go to http://brite-city.livejournal.com for Hate & Love recaps!!! (I’ll be posting other stuff there as well, but I know you want the story)

Chapter 19: Being There

Don't confuse the people who are always around

With the ones who are always there

Monday, December 1^st, 1979

Lily watched Sarah from the corner of her eye. Sarah was writing something, hunched over her desk. Lily couldn’t believe how Sarah was acting. It was as if nothing had happened. As if Sarah’s dad hadn’t passed away. Sarah was acting completely normal which Lily found unnerving and unsettling. She didn’t want to press Sarah, but she knew if she didn’t get any details soon that she would burst of curiosity.

“I’m fine, Lily,” Sarah said, not bothering to look up from her writing. “I can feel you watching me. Read your book. Or go find James. I am capable of being by myself, you know,” Sarah laughed. Lily had barely left her side ever since she found out about her father.

Lily sighed and tried to concentrate on her book, but she couldn’t help it, she kept glancing at Sarah. She wanted to make sure she was still there and was ok.

Sarah stood up. “I’m going for a walk.”

“Do you want me to go with you?” Lily asked, closing her book.

“No, I’ll be fine by myself. Besides, shouldn’t you be working on the ball?” Sarah asked her.

A look of horror came upon Lily’s face. “Oh no. I completely forgot!” she cried. Lily grabbed a few pieces of parchment, a quill, and ink and rushed out of the room, presumably to find James.

Sarah smiled to herself and grabbed her cloak. She crept through the Heads Common Room where Lily was banging on James’ door who was, according to Lily, being a prat. The portrait swung shut, muting Lily’s shouts.

The hall was quiet and empty. She walked the familiar path down to the doors that led outside. There were only a few people milling about the entrance outside. The weather had turned a bit colder and the sky looked blank, no clouds, no sun, no creatures. She walked around the grounds aimlessly.

“Want some company?” a voice asked. She turned around to see Sirius with his hands in his pockets.

“Sure,” she shrugged. She continued her walk and he followed.

“So what are you doing out here?” Sirius asked.

“Honestly? Lily. She’s driving me crazy.”

“How?”

“She thinks I should be moping about the castle or something because of my dad. I rarely saw him anyways. It’s not like there’s that much of a different now anyways.”

“It-it doesn’t bother you?” Sirius asked incredulously.

“No, no,” Sarah replied quickly. She didn’t want him to think that she was some heartless beast. “I miss him. I miss her. I just don’t see the point of making myself feel horrible about it. I do care, I really do. I love them, but life goes on and I don’t want to waste it.”

Sirius tried to understand, but he wasn’t sure if he did completely.

“His funeral is on Saturday. I haven’t told Lily yet. I know she’ll want to go with me.”

“This Saturday? Don’t you want her to go with you?”

“She’ll feel obligated to go. She didn’t really know him. I’d just rather go alone.”

“Really? Are you sure?” he asked her. “I could go with you, if you wanted,” Sirius offered.

“That’s really nice of you, Sirius, but this is something I have to do alone.”

“Can’t I help you?” Sirius asked.

Sarah stopped and turned to him. “You already helped more than you could’ve imagined,” Sarah said quietly and kissed him.

~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~

“We should’ve had this whole thing planned already,” Lily complained. James leaned forward to kiss her on her cheek, but Lily pushed his face away from hers. “It’s all your fault, you know. You’re too much of a distraction.”

“Who, me?” James asked innocently. “Never.”

Lily rolled her eyes. “This’ll never be done in time. I can’t believe Dumbledore chose us as Heads. It should’ve really of have been done by now.”

“Relax, Lil. We’ll start right now if it’ll make you feel better.” Lily nodded. “Ok then. The date is December nineteenth,” James said and wrote it on a piece of parchment Lily had brought.

“It’ll be in the Great Hall?” Lily nodded again and James wrote it down.

~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~

Sarah took a step backwards. “I’m sorry,” she said as she covered her mouth with one hand.

She was usually so good with her feelings. They were there when she needed them. She cared for everybody, but she only let herself get really attached to a few. And somehow, Sirius had made his way onto that list. She couldn’t believe her body had betrayed her and let her kiss Sirius Black. He was her friend. Since when did her body start making decisions without her brain knowing?

“Don’t be,” Sirius replied. He took the hand that covered her mouth and moved it away. He kissed her.

Sarah didn’t know what to do, so she did the only thing she could do and kissed him back.

~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~

“There. We’ve got the basic outline for the ball. Now all we need to do is take it to Dumbledore and get it approved,” James said as he rolled up a few pieces of parchment. “Feel better?”

“Yes,” Lily said with a smile, obviously relieved.

“Good.”

Just then Sarah and Sirius walked into the room. Sarah smiled at them and went into Lily’s room. Sirius was grinning happily as he took a chair and sat down.

“What’s with you?” James asked Sirius.

“Sarah kissed me. Twice,” he said.

“What?” Lily asked, completely shocked. Sarah had never mentioned liking Sirius. Ever. And now all of a sudden she was kissing him?
“You heard me.”

“She doesn’t tell me anything anymore,” Lily complained. “I didn’t know about her mum or dad or any of this. I don’t get it!” Lily exclaimed.

“Uh, I’m not sure if I should say anything,” Sirius said quietly, all too aware of what could happen when Lily was upset.

“Please do,” Lily said sarcastically, “since you’ve become our resident expert on Sarah lately. Shower us with your wealth of knowledge. What was she doing at seven-fifteen this morning? What’s her favorite colour? Favorite place? Favorite cousin? Who does she write to nearly every week?”

“Fine then,” Sirius replied hotly, “I won’t tell you.” He got up and left.

Lily sighed. “That went well,” she said with a hint of sarcasm in her voice. She leaned into James, but he didn’t wrap his arms around her like he normally did.

“Sirius is my best mate, Lily. If he can get Sarah to talk, then let him, even if you can’t. you should be happy that she’s at least talking to someone. Sirius does care you know. You’re not the only one who does,” James said sternly, almost as if he were scolding a little child. He got up and went into his own room, leaving Lily all alone.

~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~Tuesday, December 2^nd, 1979

Lily walked into the Gryffindor common room and scanned the room, looking for a head of black hair. She found him in a chair, near the fire and she walked towards him.

“Hello Lily,” he said, not looking up from whatever was in his hands.

Lily jumped a bit. “Hi Sirius,” she replied. She looked over his should and saw he held the map. No wonder he knew it was me. She sat down across from him in an unoccupied chair. James hadn’t been unkind to her, but he was being a little standoffish and this was the only way she knew how to fix it. “What are you doing?” she asked him.

“Searching for Peter. He has something of mine, and I need it back,” he said, still looking at the map.

“Oh,” she replied. She wondered if she should come back later when he wasn’t so preoccupied, but then she remembered James and her courage rose. “Listen Sirius, I’m really sorry about what I said the other day.” He looked up at her. “I guess… I’m just not used to Sarah telling other people things before me. I was hurt, but it’s not your fault.”

“It’s ok Lily. It’s not your fault either. You’re just protective of her. I’m not going to hurt her, you know.”

Lily nodded, “I know. But even if you did, it would be good for her.” Lily paused for a moment and added quickly, “Not that you should though.”

“What do you mean?”
“Well, she really hasn’t said anything about her parents. Does she talk to you about them?”

“Not really. I only found out about her dad before you because I managed to stumble upon her first and she was only out side because… well…” Sirius said uneasily.

“Because of what? Tell me.”

“Because of you,” Sirius said. Lily raised her eyebrows in disbelief. “She said that you were driving her crazy because she wasn’t moping like you thought she should be.”

Lily put her head in her hands. “I’m a horrible friend. No wonder she doesn’t tell me anything, not when I’m trying to make her do something she doesn’t want to do.”

“You are a good friend, Lily. I think she just needs her space. But if you need a replacement best friend, I’d be happy to fill in for a little.”

Lily laughed. “I think I’ll be alright. But thanks. Good luck finding Peter.” She walked up to the 7^th year girls dormitory to find Lane and Cassidy inside. They were sitting on Lane’s bed just talking.

“Hey Lily,” Lane said when Lily entered.

“Where’s Sarah?” Cassidy asked.

“Nice to see you too,” she said. “I don’t know where she is.” Lily sat down on the bed with Lane and Cassidy.

“Sorry, but she’s always following you around,” Cassidy said.

“She does not, we’re friends and we walk places together,” Lily replied.

“Anyways,” Lane said loudly, “what brings you here Lily?”

Lily shrugged, “Just wanted to see how you guys were. I feel like I haven’t talked to you guys in awhile.

“That’s because you haven’t,” Cassidy said nastily, “you’re always with Sarah or James. You never even make time to talk to us anymore.”

“I know, and I’m sorry,” Lily said.

“That’s alright Lily,” Lane said and smiled at her.

“Yeah we’re just second-rate replacements for Sarah,” Cassidy retorted.

“Would you shut up?” Lily exclaimed. “I came to talk, not have you try and bash my best friend! You’re so ridiculous. I don’t know what’s going on with you anymore.” Lily shook her head and walked out the door.

Lane turned to Cassidy, “What is going on with you? Tell me now.”

Cassidy sighed and looked down. “I don’t know. It’s just everything it seems. I don’t know what’s going on with Remus and me. It seems like he’s always too busy or something else is going on and I never get to see him. It’s not fair.”

“Cass, it’s ok. School has been a bit busy lately, it’s not his fault. I’m sure it’ll work itself out.”

Cassidy smiled at her. “Thanks Lane.”

“Of course Cass, that’s what I’m here for.”

~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~

Friday, December 5^th, 1979

“What are you doing?” Lily asked as she entered her room and saw Sarah putting clothing into a bag.

“Packing,” Sarah replied.

“For what?”

Sarah turned to face Lily. “I’m leaving tonight to go home. My dad’s funeral is tomorrow. I’ll be back Sunday.”

“What? His funeral? Do you want me to go with you?” Lily offered.

Sarah smiled but shook her head no. “I’d rather go alone.”

“Is Sirius going with you?”

“Nope,” Sarah said as she continued to pack.

“Are you sure you want to go alone?” Lily asked again.

“I’m sure.”

Lily was about to say something else, but decided against it. Instead, she sat down at her desk and started her schoolwork.

After about half an hour, Sarah placed her bag on the floor. “Thank you for being so good about this,” Sarah said as she gave Lily a hug.

“Of course,” Lily replied. “I’ll miss you.”

“I’ll miss you too, Lily darling,” Sarah said and with that she left.

A/N: Apologies all around, ‘cept junior year is exceptionally hard, I have no time, and I have no idea where I want this story to go right now, if I want to end it soon or let it go on for a bit yet.

I’m excited for the next chapter as most of it is written already (::GASP!::). And for all you diary haters/non-likers/non-understanders, there’s some in the next chappie but I think you’ll like them a whole lot more by the end of it (well, let’s hope so at least).

Well I’ve got nothing else to say (surprisingly) except I want to thank all of you for sticking around since I haven’t updated in half a year. God I just want to bash my head against a wall for making you wait this long. I promise if you’ll stick around and put up with my infrequent updates, it’ll be worth it in the end.

Chapter 20: Puzzle Pieces

“Just think of me as the pages in your diary” - Diary, Alicia Keys

Saturday, December 6^th, 1979

Lily woke up and laid in bed for a few minutes. There was nothing she had to do all day. Sarah wasn’t here to talk with, she did all of her schoolwork, and she had nothing else planned to do. Then she remembered the diary. She hadn’t been able to read them with Sarah sharing her room, because she could easily walk in on her at any time and Lily still didn’t feel like sharing her little treasure. If she showed them to anyone, it would be like she was betraying Gabriella. She walked to the secret hiding place and lifted the diary out of it. She replaced the floorboard and sat on her bed with the diary.

November 1957

Charles and I are not seeing each other. Harold whistled and hummed the whole day and nearly drove me insane. As well as Brianna.

My Gabella finally got her head on straight and dumped Charles! I am so very happy! Almost as happy as Harold was. He fancies you Gabriella Anastasia Sawyer whether you want to acknowledge it or not. And I do not drive Gabella insane. I am deeply hurt. But I will manage to survive, somehow.

Oh, just the thought of Nicholas is enough to keep my heart beating. Never mind not living. He talked to me yesterday in the library. I am quite sure he knows who I am now.

I think I write in this more than you do Gabella. Pity. You should write more. We live such fascinating lives. Who would not want to read about it? Maybe someday somebody will write about us. That would be grand. I bet it will be called Gabriella & Brianna: A Tribute to the Greatest Girls Ever to Live. That’s too long. Maybe just Gabriella & Brianna or Gabella & Brina. Or maybe they will write Gabriella and Harold, then a sequel: Brianna and Nicholas. Or Gabriella & Brianna: Best Friends. That fits. Yes, that will do quite nicely. I wonder how they will find out about us. Gabella, we have to do something great. I will think of what. But you probably will, you are much smarter than I am. And that is the truth. Gabriella Anastasia is smarter than I am. Nicholas is smart too…smarter than I am. As well as Harold. He got a detention the other day for not paying attention in class. I suppose he was thinking about my Gabella. I looked at him after the professor notified him of his detention, and smiled at him, letting him know that it was ok to be thinking about her. She is my best friend after all. So I gave him my consent. He just sort of looked at me when I smiled at him though. Maybe he did not understand what I meant. But maybe he did because then he grinned and looked back at Gabella. Boys are thick sometimes.

Yes they are. And Harold does not need Brianna’s consent to think about me. I suppose I give Nicholas consent to think about my Brina then. I will have to talk to her about this tomorrow. If I was in the Gryffindor dorm, I could talk to her right now, but she is not. So it will have to wait until tomorrow.

Mid-November 1957

Brianna Mishelle Davis is at the library flirting with Nicholas right now, so it is safe to write. I love her, but she annoys me so much sometimes. Harold kept smiling and trying to catch my attention today. I do not know why he is acting so strange. Isabelle told me today that Harold fancies me. I am not sure if this is the truth though. Isabelle is not the most honest person, although I am sure that she means well. People perplex me. Brianna Mishelle the most though. She breezes through everyday without a care. Everyone loves her. She is very easy to get along with. I do not know what will become of us once we leave Hogwarts. It is a scare and foreboding thought. After Hogwarts. Hogwarts has been my home for the past six years. And now, this is our last. I do believe that I would like to be an auror. There are not many female arurors, but I do have my heart set on becoming one. I think it will be rather exciting. In addition, I am almost positive that Brina is going to be an auror also. Would that not be fantastic? Working with Brina everyday? I believe Harold is going to be an auror. Brina is coming, I must hide you. Only Brina sings while coming into the Heads’ Dorm.

It is your darling Brianna again! Gabriella Anastasia Sawyer is out doing rounds yet again with Harold. I know she enjoys them. Why she does not admit to liking Harold, I will never know. And not everyone likes me. Jelnise abhors me. She is in Slytherin. She is dating that Lestrange boy, who is in fact, very strange. I have not a clue what his name is. And quite frankly, I do not really care. Gabella makes it seem like am a wonderful person to know. She is the greatest person I have ever known. Except maybe for Dumbledore. She is well-known and well-liked throughout the school. Many of the teachers like her too. Sometimes she is a bit shy. She is like me but reversed. No, she is not, Hope is. And I do not really enjoy Hope’s company. Gabriella Anastasia is a hundred times better than that dreadful Hufflepuff is. A hundred times better than anyone I know. Isabelle would know who Harold fancies, she is good friends with his friend Andrew.

I too shall miss Hogwarts. But I shall enjoy working with my Gabella everyday. If I did not sing in the little Heads’ common room, how would she know that I was coming? I love to sing. Gabella is a magnificent singer. I must sneak back to my own dorm before Gabella and Crison catch me out. Although I doubt Gabella would give me a detention. Still, Professor Artris might catch me, and I do not wish to serve a detention with him. I still ache from the last one. He should not be allowed to hand out detentions or supervise them.

Lily laughed, she liked Brianna and Gabriella, even if she never met them. She decided to keep reading and turned to the next entry.

December 1957

Harold and I are going together. He makes me laugh, and I love to be around him. He makes me smile. Harold is much better than Charles. He was so boring compared to Harold. It is like trying to hold a candle to the sun. It just does not compare. Never mind, I am not making any sense. Isabelle seems upset with me. I suppose it is because Harold is always with me instead of her and Andrew. I cannot say that I mind him being with me all the time. He is so sweet and I am so lucky to have him. I never though I would say this but Brina was right. And if she was right about Harold what else is she capable of being right of? I sometimes wonder. Well, only the past few days actually. Harold got a detention tonight. He was not paying attention in transfiguration today, although he is quite brilliant at it. Brianna laughed and whispered that he was probably thinking about me. Brina is off talking with Nicholas right now. I am lonely, so I decided to write. The Heads Room does not seem quite as inviting or warm as it does when Brina or Harold is with me. Maybe I will just go see what everyone is doing in the Gryffindor Common Room. Yes I think I will. I will catch up with all the girls and try to maintain Isabelle’s friendship. I hope she is there. Actually, I hope she is not, for what shall I say to her? “I’m sorry I am going with Harold?” No, I shall not. Maybe Rebecca will know what to do. For a fifth year, she is quite grown up. I remember when I was in fifth year, I was a prefect then. Last year Melanie was prefect. And now I’m Head Girl. I wonder what Dumbledore was thinking. If I knew what Dumbledore and Brina knew, I would be quite well off. Harold is calling for me. Is his detention over already?

Back again. Harold and Gabriella look so cute together. I am glad she gave him a chance. She is much happier and better off than she ever was with Charles. Or Char, as he hated to be called. Nicholas is the nicest boy I have ever met. Although Harold comes in at a close second. Isabelle is a pain, and I hope you are not that concerned about her Gabella, she is not worth it. There is nothing she can do about you and Harold. She has Andrew. I’m not sure if her and Andrew are more than friends. Harold snuck out of detention because Professor Ingham fell asleep. Gabriella Anastasia and Harold are out on a walk now. I am not quite sure what his middle name is. I will have to pry it out of him. I am quite upset with Melanie. She said that she fancies Nicholas and that he fancies her. She told me that I was interfering. She never said anything about him before. I do not know why she is acting like this. What a shame. There is this group of girls that follow my Gabella, me, and Harold around all of the time. It is quite unnerving. I suppose Gabella and Harold have not noticed it though, for the never seem to notice anything, other than each other, when they are together. So romantic. I wonder if I shall have to paint a sign for Nicholas for him to notice me? Actually, that is not a bad idea.

The thought of Brianna painting a sign for Nicolas sent Lily into a fit of giggles. She was glad she didn’t have to do that for James. Instead she just kissed him in front of the entire school, she blushed instinctively at that thought. She still couldn’t believe that she did that. Lily shook her head of James and continued to read the diary.

Mid-December 1957

Writing again in this little book. I wonder if I shall still write after school? And my dearest Brianna Mishelle Davis is going with Nicholas. Finally, after what seems like forever. He asked her this very day in the library. What happened you ask? I shall tell you.

I begged Brina to go to the library with me since Harold was busy helping Andrew with something. She went along with me reluctantly. She was happy she went when she spotted Nicholas in there but not so much when she saw that he was with Cadence. She wanted to leave but I got her to stay. I hate being in the library all by myself. It is so boring. When Nicholas saw Brianna, he immediately had a reason to push Cadence away. I think she was annoying him. Cadence, that is, not Brina. Cadence had to make up some excuse to leave because she knew she obviously was not wanted. Nicholas and Brianna were talking and they were laughing. Then Brina got this huge smile on her face. She gave him a hug. He blushed a little and left. She came bounding up to me from where I was watching in on the aisles and told me that they are going together! How exciting. I am so very happy for Brina. I know she fancies him a great deal. She danced around the library singing a bit until she was kicked out.

Now she is in the common room basking in her glory of finally getting Nicholas. Everyone is happy for her. Well, the girls are. They have been putting up with her talking about him forever. Now we both have boyfriends. How sweet.

I cannot believe it. I am going with Nicholas. The Nicholas that I have dreamed about forever. I am very happy. Very, very, very, very, very, very, extremely happy. Happy does not even begin to describe it. I feel like a cloud. Yes, that is better. I am off to go spread my joy with the Ravenclaws or Hufflepuffs. Whomever I run into first.

So now both Gabriella and Brianna had boyfriends. She tried to imagine what they looked like, but found it slightly difficult as Gabriella nor Brianna never wrote what they looked like.

Christmas 1957

Harold is so adorable he bought me an amazing pair of earrings. They’re hanging diamond-shaped sapphires. I can’t believe he got them for me. I’m so lucky to have him. He’s amazing, plus he has good taste in jewelry. And from Brina I got a beautiful jewelry box. It’s wood and the top opens to four little compartments. The top is glass and it has a picture of a castle on it. They know me so well. I love Christmas.

I wonder if the boys went shopping together, because Nicolas got me a gorgeous diamond bracelet. It’s so pretty. I’m wearing it right now, I doubt I’ll ever take it off. My wonderful Gabella got me a notebook and pasted all our letters that we wrote to one another over all of our summers. There are pictures in it too, and notes that we wrote back and forth while in class. She actually took the time to make it. I have the most amazing best friend in the world. I doubt anyone knows how much it means to me.

The jewelry box, Lily thought. Is that the one…? Lily uncovered the hole in the floor and reached for the jewelry box. She placed it on the floor beside her. The top was covered in dust and dirt. She wiped away most of it with the hem of her robe, and sure enough she could make out a beautiful castle. She opened the top and there were a few pieces of jewelry inside. She immediately spotted the earrings and took them out. They were beautiful, just as Gabriella had described them. There was a sapphire bracelet and a pair of diamond earrings inside the jewelry box as well. Lily put all the pieces of jewelry back inside carefully. She then put the box back inside its hiding place. She covered the hole and smiled. She got dressed and went down into their common room to see James reading on the couch. “Hello,” she said as she kissed him on the cheek. He put his book down and she sat on the edge of the sofa next to him.

“What have you been up to?” James asked her.

“Nothing much,” Lily said.

“You know Christmas is coming up. Are you staying here for the holidays?” James asked her suddenly.

Lily was taken aback, she hadn’t even given the holidays much thought yet. “I, I don’t know. I usually go home…but this year…”

“You don’t want to be away from me?” James smiled.

Lily laughed, “Oh yes.”

“You’d miss me too much,” James told her as he wrapped his arms around her and pulled her towards him.

“And you would miss me,” Lily smirked.

“You should come home with me. You can meet my parents.”

“Your parents?” Lily asked uneasily.

“I’m sure you’ll love them. Sirius does. He calls my mum ‘Aunt Gab’,” he chuckled.

“Aunt Gab?”

“Yeah, my mum’s name is Gabriella,” he told her.

Gabriella? Gabriella from the diary? “James, what’s your dad’s name?”

“Harold, why?”

“No reason,” she lied as her heart raced. She had found the diary that belonged to James’ mum. But that would mean that she knew who Brianna was. Did James know? “Tell me about your mum.”

“Uh, well, she was a Gryffindor and she was Head Girl, just like you. Her best friend’s name was Bri-something, she’s mentioned her once or twice and she met my dad here. Brienna? No, Brianna? Yeah, that’s it. Brianna helped get my mum and my dad together actually.”

“What happened to Brianna?” Lily asked. “Are they still friends?”

“No, not anymore. I think she died when I was little. I remember my mum crying when she heard the news. She was really close to her yet. What’s with all the questions?”

“Nothing, it’s just, if I’m going to meet your parents I want to know a little bit about them,” Lily said smoothly.

“Are you really going to come home with me over break?” James asked.

Lily shrugged, “I don’t know.” She didn’t know how she felt about meeting James’ parents just yet. “What if we both were to stay here over break?” Lily propositioned him.

“Hmmm,” James pondered as he stroked his chin. “I suppose I could think about it,” he teased.

“You’re horrible,” Lily laughed.

“And you’re all mine,” James replied with a kiss.

~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~

Sunday, December 7^th 1979

Lily walked out of the bathroom to find Sarah sitting on her bed. “Sarah! You’re back!” Lily exclaimed as she ran over to Sarah’s bed and hugged her.

“I’m glad to see you too Lily,” Sarah smiled as she hugged her back.

“How was it?” Lily asked.

Sarah shrugged. “I don’t know. I didn’t know my dad knew that many people, he never had any company over when I was home. Mr. and Mrs. Potter were there too actually. I didn’t know that they knew him either.”

“Really?”

“Yeah. Mr. Potter talked about my dad and my mum, saying how close they were. The last thing he said was ‘I know Nicked missed Brianna very much after she died, and now they’re finally together again,’” Sarah recalled. “It was so sweet.”

“What’s your parent’s names?” Lily asked her.

“Nicholas and Brianna,” Sarah answered. “Why?”

“Oh, no reason,” Lily shrugged. “I just never heard you say their names before.”

“Yeah,” Sarah said sadly. “I promised Sirius I’d see him once I got back…”

“It’s okay Sarah, you don’t need my permission to go see Sirius,” Lily laughed.

Sarah smiled, “I’ll be back.”

Lily watched Sarah leave, and as the door shut she fell back onto Sarah’s bed. Brianna and Nicholas were her parents. The Brina from the diary was Sarah’s mum. And Gabriella was James’ mum. She smiled up at the ceiling, no wonder Brina seemed so much like Sarah. That’s her daughter.

A/N: LIST TIME! =)

A/N: I’ve been debating posting this only because the next chapter isn’t written yet and I don’t know when it will be up. I have a job now (::gasp!:: Sara’s got a job?!? Yes, it’s true, I’ve joined the workforce) and it basically consumes all my time. I hope you like this chapter, because this whole part of the story is why H&L was rewritten two summers ago. So yeah, enjoy…

Chapter: A Night In the Forest

“Fear is pain arising from the anticipation of evil” - Aristotle

Saturday, December 13^th, 1979

Cassidy felt her eyelids closing on her. Ugh, not now. I need to finish this, I only need three more inches she thought as she stared at the potions book in front of her. Her stomach growled. She stood up and decided to have a bit of a snack. Remus had shown her where the kitchens were after all. “Lane, I’m going to the kitchens,” Cassidy whispered. Lane grunted in her sleep.

She crept down the stairs and out of the common room. The hallways were eerily silent as the full moon shone in from the stained glass windows.

“Shh, come on,” a voice said from a hallway in front of her. Cassidy traveled towards the sound until a small group came into her view. They traveled down the hallway, Cassidy was intrigued. Part of her wanted to follow them, but she knew it wasn’t a good idea, sneaking around the castle at night just dying to be caught. Sarah would do it a small voice said from the back of her head. Sarah Cassidy thought bitterly, everyone just adores her. She’s not even that smart or pretty. Yet she has Lily following her around and now Sirius. She just thinks so highly of herself. Just once I would like to see her fall.

Cassidy made up her mind and hurried down the hallway after them. She followed them down the staircase that led to the Great Hall, and then she hid behind the knight at the bottom. She watched them as they opened up the oak doors, the moonlight casting a sliver of light across the stone floor. The group quickly stepped outside with their cloak hoods still up. The last person to exit pulled the door almost shut, but the tiniest amount of light still shone through the crack. and didn’t close them completely.

She stepped out of her hiding place, her heart beating wildly. She couldn’t follow them outside. Wandering the hallways after curfew was bad enough. Cassidy wanted to follow them, but she was scared. She had no idea who they were or what they were doing out at this time of night. It had to be past twelve o’clock. She bit her lip. Finally she gathered up enough courage to walk across the room and open the oak door slowly. Remus would be proud, she smiled in the dark. She slipped out the door and watched the group travel across the grounds to the Forbidden Forest. She stepped onto the first step and closed the door behind her. She snuck down the steps and rand across the grounds until she was at the edge of the forest.

She looked around, but she couldn’t find the group of people that she had been following. She took a deep breath and stepped into the forest. To her surprise, nothing grabbed her. She took another step. And another. She tried to listen for sounds of people as she carefully made her through the forest. She tried not to step on too many twigs or let too many branches hit her in her face. After a few minutes she came to a little clearing and stopped as she heard movement.

She suddenly froze at the sight before her.

A werewolf stood at the opposite side of the clearing. Her heart started beating rapidly and she knew she should run, or do something but her body refused to respond. The monster walked slowly towards her. It swung one of its large claws at her, hitting her right arm. She didn’t know what to do and she couldn’t move even if she wanted to. Out of the corner of her eye she saw the shrubbery move as a stag and dog appeared. They quickly charged at the werewolf, sending him away from Cassidy. The werewolf must have decided that the dog would make a better snack than her because as the dog ran away from the spot where Cassidy stood, the wolf followed it. Cassidy stumbled backwards, unable to comprehend what had just happened. She stepped backwards and her foot touched a rock. As she placed her weight on her food, the rock slipped out from underneath her and she fell to the ground. She blacked out.

~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~

Cassidy awoke with a splitting headache. She tried to move, but found it extremely difficult. A few twigs cracked under her. She was lying on her back and she could only see a patch of sky that remained unobstructed by the trees’ branches.

“What was that?” she heard someone, a girl, shriek. Footsteps told her someone was coming towards her.

Severus’ face appeared in Cassidy’s line of vision. “Look what I found,” Severus said nastily, towering over Cassidy. Cassidy quickly looked around to see who was with him. Bellatrix, Narcissa, and Vance all stood around her too. She tried not to panic as she realized that she was alone and that there were four of them.

“What are we going to do with her?” Narcissa asked.

“I have a few ideas,” Severus told her. “Grab her,” he told Vance. Vance moved toward Cassidy. She winced as Vance grabbed her right arm and pulled her up. He supported most of her weight. Blood trickled down her arm. Severus led them deeper inside the forest to a tiny clearing, barely big enough for all five of them. He said something that Cassidy couldn’t make out. Not that she could if she really wanted to. Her head was swimming with pain. Immediately her hands and legs were bound. Vance let her fall to the ground. Cassidy looked up, but she couldn’t even see the sky, the trees weaved together and let no light in.

“What is Remus?” Severus asked her. Surely Cassidy knew. Severus had sworn not to tell. But no one else had, not Bella, Narcissa, or Vance. The whole school would know and Remus would surely be kicked out.

“What?” Cassidy asked from her place on the ground.

“What is Remus?” Snape demanded.

“A…guy?” Cassidy said. What the hell? Snape is insane.

“No!” Severus yelled, his voice echoing. Why wouldn’t she say it? “Crucio!”

Pain coursed through Cassidy’s body. She never felt anything as excruciatingly horrible as this. I want to die. Let me die now.

“Do you, of all people, not know what a terrible monster he is?” Severus demanded of her one last time.

“No,” Cassidy insisted, biting her lip in effort to not let the tears spill out her eyes. There’s nothing wrong with Remus. “Even if I did, I wouldn’t tell you,” Cassidy spat, the tears flowing freely down her face now.

“Then you’re of no use to me,” Severus decided. “Avada kedavra.”

Cassidy’s tears stopped.

~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~

“Hey Lane,” Sarah greeted as she walked into the Girls’ Dormitory.

“Hey Sarah,” Lane responded.

“Is she still sleeping?” Sarah asked as she pointed to Cassidy’s bed that had the curtains drawn around it yet.

Lane shrugged, “I guess. She usually doesn’t sleep this late.” She crossed to Cassidy’s bed and pulled the curtains open, “Cassidy, wake up-” she stopped. “Cassidy’s not here.”

“What?” Sarah asked. “Where could she have gone?”

“I don’t know. Maybe she just went down to the common room, and I didn’t hear her get up,” Lane suggested hopefully and headed for the door.

“Wait Lane,” Sarah ordered before Lane could pass through the doorway.

“What is it?” Lane asked her impatiently.

“You’re not dressed.”

Lane looked down at her attire. Indeed, she was still wearing her night clothes. “Oh. Right.” Lane quickly changed into more suitable attire. “Ok, now I’m ready,” she said and Sarah followed her down into the common room. They scanned the room quickly, seeing no signs of Cassidy.

“Do you think she went to the Heads’ Room?” Sarah suggested although she would have seen her in the hallways if she had gone there.

“Maybe,” Lane said uncertainly. Nevertheless, they made their way to the Heads Room to find Lily reading a book on the couch. “Lily, did you see Cassidy at all today?” Lane asked her before Lily could even get out a ‘hello.’

“No,” Lily said. “Why? Is something wrong?”

“We don’t know,” Lane replied.

“Is she at breakfast already?” Sarah asked.

“Breakfast?” James said as he entered the room. “That’s a good idea.”

“We can’t find Cassidy,” Lane told him. “We’re worried about her.”

“Oh really? I can fix that,” he said disappearing back into his room. The girls shot each other doubtful looks, but waited for him anyways. James came back with a piece of parchment in his hands and the girls quickly stood around him, Sarah mentally kicking herself for not thinking of it in the first place. “I solemnly swear that I am up to no good.”

“What is it?” Lane asked.

The map of Hogwarts appeared with all of its little dots and names.

“Look for the one titled Cassidy Ashwell,” James instructed, and the girls did as they told.

After a few minutes of searching Lane cried out “I found it!” as she pointed to a small dot.

James’ face paled. “She’s in the forbidden forest.”

~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~

“Come on!” Lane urged them as she recklessly barreled ahead of the group through the forest, afraid of what she would find. A mess of branches revealed a tiny clearing. “Cassidy?” she called out. “Cassidy? Cass, where are you?” She scanned the clearing. There-she ran towards the dark figure. She didn’t have far to run when she reached it and her hand flew to her mouth.

There was Cassidy before her, sprawled out on the ground with twigs in her hair and her faced smudged with dirt. Her cheek had a cut on it that had obviously been bleeding.

The tears started to fall as she rushed forwards and dropped to her knees, frantically trying to find a pulse in Cassidy’s limp wrist.

“Lane?” a voice called out from behind her.

“Over-” Lane choked, “over here!”

She was joined by Lily, James, Dumbledore, and McGonagall. Lily was in shock, and James held her hand.

Dumbledore learned down and gathered Cassidy’s body into his arms and started back. McGonagall quickly followed after him, not saying a word to the three either. Lily helped Lane up from the ground, and they followed in silence, each preoccupied with their own thoughts. Before they knew it, they had arrived at the Hospital Wing. Dumbledore laid Cassidy’s body on the nearest bed and pulled the curtains closed around the bed while McGonagall fetched Madame Pomfry. James, Lily, and Lane all took seats near the door. McGonagall and Pomfry rushed back to where Dumbledore was and they started speaking in hushed tones, with a glance in the three’s direction every once in awhile.

Suddenly Dumbledore turned towards them. “Miss Evans, Miss Channing, Mr. Potter?” The three of them jumped to their feet at the sound of his voice interrupting their thoughts.

“Yes professor?” James asked.

“Would you three gather Mr. Black, Miss Jonstone, and Mr. Pettigrew and meet me in my office?” Dumbledore asked them.

James nodded and the three headed towards Gryffindor tower. When they arrived, a flurry of questions were thrown at them, but Lily merely shook her head. “Dumbledore wants to see us all,” she said, not answering any questions. Everyone grew silent as James and Lily led them to the Headmaster’s office.

James gave the password and the gargoyles sprang to life, letting their little group pass up the stairs and into Dumbledore’s office where six chairs were waiting for them.

As soon as they were all situated, Dumbledore spoke. “I’m afraid I have some rather sad news for you all. Your friend, Cassidy Ashwell died last night in the Forbidden Forest.” Sirius and James exchanged nervous glances. “She did not suffer any physical harm from any creature last night, but rather of something much worse, a human.”

Dumbledore went on and asked each of them what they knew about the situation. Once he was done with them he dismissed them with the exception of Lily and James. He informed them that the dance was to be cancelled and he had half a mind to cancel the Hogsmeade trips, but he did not. He then dismissed them and they were all too happy to oblige. Neither of them had ever seen him look so angry before.

~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~ Remus walked into the Heads’ room. James and Sirius were sitting side by side. Strangely, both were silent and the mood seemed somber instead of the cheerfulness that followed the two everywhere. They both looked serious and Remus, quite frankly, was scared. Something was going on.

He took a seat across from them and asked, “What’s wrong?”

James and Sirius exchanged looked, but neither said anything.

“What’s going on?” Remus asked them, more afraid than he had been moments ago.

“We have bad news, Moony,” James said quietly, avoiding his gaze.

“What is it?”

“Cassidy’s dead,” James told him and looked into his eyes.

“No she’s not. I just saw her. What’s really going on?” Remus asked as he laughed a nervous chuckle.

“Moony, we’re serious,” Sirius said with a stony face. He didn’t even try to smile like he usually did when he said that word.

Remus’ face went blank, betraying no emotion. “How?”

“She was in the forest last night-no don’t worry,” James said quickly at Remus’ look of horror, “it wasn’t you. Or any of us. There were people in the forest last night. They did it.”

“Who?” Remus whispered.

James shook his head, “We don’t know…it had to be a student. And it wasn’t an accident either.”

“I bet Snivellus and the rest of those slimy gits had something to do with it,” Sirius muttered darkly.

“I think I’m going to go lie down,” Remus said and left before James or Sirius could think of anything to say.

“Do you think he’ll be alright?” Sirius asked.

“I hope so,” James replied.