Lily Evans was sitting under the large oak tree near the lake. She was holding a piece of parchment and was crying her eyes out. She was shivering slightly from the cold November winds. Meanwhile, a short distance away, the Marauders were thinking of how they could cheer Lily up.

"Lily, are you all right?" asked James Potter carefully walking over to her.

"Go away, James!" Lily said crying harder if that was possible. But James sat down beside her and put his arm around her shoulders. After desperately trying to shake his arm off, she let it stay. James grinned as the other Marauders sat down. Sirius sat on the other side of Lily, Remus next to him, and Peter the farthest away.

"Lily, tell me what's wrong," James said moving closer to Lily.

"My parents were killed by Voldemort," Lily whispered and with this she began sobbing into James's shoulder. All though James liked this move, he didn't know what to say.

"Oh, Lily. That's terrible," he said.

"Yeah, it'll be okay," Sirius said. James began to rock Lily gently, but she began to shake.

"Let's go inside," James said thinking that Lily was shaking from the cold. He took his arm away and the moment he did, Lily began to fall back. James stood up and offered his hand to Lily. She didn't notice it as she was lying flat on her back. He finally realized that Lily wasn't going to be moving anytime soon.

"Sirius, help!" Remus said and together they lifted a sobbing Lily into James's arms. James staggered a bit and then got his footing. He and the other Marauders walked slowly back into the castle and to the Gryffindor tower.

"Potter! What do you think you're doing?" asked McGonagall walked briskly around the corner towards them.

"Please, it's Lily. Her parents' were murdered and she's devastated."

"Does she need to go to the Hospital Wing?" McGonagall asked suddenly less stern.

"No, she needs to go to the common room and maybe go to bed."

"Very well, keep walking, then." As she rounded the corner, the Marauders thought that they could hear her say, "Lily's parents! They're muggles. Poor child!"

"Fiddlesticks!" Sirius said to the portrait of the fat lady a few minutes later. She swung open to admit them.

"Lucky it's dinner time," Remus said looking at the near empty common room. "Where's Peter?"

"Probably went to get something to eat, the git." James laid Lily down on one of the sofas near the fireplace. He moved it slightly so that nobody could tell if it was being occupied or not.

"Shh, guys. She's sleeping," James said ending his friends' arguments about Peter at once. "She's pretty when she's asleep."

"Yeah, because she can't hit him," Sirius said softly so that only Remus heard him. They giggled.

"Well, I guess we should get something to eat," Remus said as people began to make there way into the room.

"You can go, but I'm going to stay here with Lily, to make sure she's okay."

Thirty minutes later James stood up once again and asked people to be quiet. Lily was beginning to stir. She woke up and looked around. James smiled at her.

"You're awake. That's good!" James said smiling even brighter. Lily didn't say anything. James bit his lip and said softly, "Here's your letter. I'm really sorry about your parents." With this, Lily dissolved into tears again.

"What did you do now?" Sirius asked grinning at his best friend as he walked into the common room full of food. His grin faded when he saw Lily. "What did you say to her?"

James shrugged and asked where Remus and Peter were.

"Remus is here," Sirius said as Remus stepped into the room. "And Peter is still pigging out in the Great Hall."

James chuckled and looked back at Lily. "Do you want to go upstairs?" he asked her. Lily hesitated and then nodded before crying again. James scoped her up in his arms and asked Sirius to open the door to the girl's dormitory. Sirius obeyed and the three Marauders stepped forward. Sirius and Remus had already bounded up several stairs before being thrown back as a slide appeared.

"Well, that's not going to work," Sirius said scratching his head.

"Let's go to our dormitory," James offered. They walked back across the common room and up to their room. As there were only four of them, they only had four beds in the room.

"She can go on my bed," James said laying Lily down gently. They sat down on the floor to play a game of exploding snap when Peter walked in.

"Did you eat enough?" Sirius teased. Peter blushed and hit him playfully before noticing Lily.

"What's she doing here?" he asked.

"We couldn't get into the girl's dormitory," James said simply.

Lily opened her eyes, and James leapt up.

"How are you?" he asked.

Lily groaned and said, "Sirius . . . Sirius."

"Sirius?" all four Marauders said at once. Sirius stood up and stood next to James looking confused.

"Sirius to the rescue!" he called out. "Yes, Lily?"

Lily grabbed onto his shirt and pulled him close, her eyes going in and out of focus. "I . . . love . . . you," she whispered and as her eyes closed so did her grip. Her hand slid down his shirt to the blankets and she fell asleep again. Sirius was still standing over the bed looking dumbfounded.

"What did she say?" asked James.

"I love you," Sirius answered the words feeling strange in his mouth.

"She said what!"