Chapter 1 – Suspicions Aroused

Lily Evans was not happy.

She had every reason to be happy. After all she was one of the smartest and most popular girls at Hogwarts. Every year she had come top of her class in Charms and Transfiguration. She had many friends. She had been a prefect for the last two years and now she was Head Girl with her own dormitory and bathroom. She had outstanding grades predicted for her NEWTS and a bright future beckoned. So really she should have been happy.

Except she wasn't.

The reason was one James Potter who, almost since the moment they met, had tried to ingratiate himself with her. Lily had made it clear that she was not interested in him and did not want to be friends with him. Not least because he and his little gang – the Marauders as they called themselves – seemed to have taken the job of the most annoying pranksters at the school. And the most frequent victim of their pranks and schemes was Severus Snape, who had been Lily's friend since childhood. It had been he who first told her that she was a witch, much to the dismay of her sister Petunia. Then an incident two years ago had ended any friendship between them.

Mudblood.

The memory still hurt her. Severus had been her best friend! He would have been the last person she would have expected to call her that. Yet another thing to blame Potter for. If he hadn't insisted on tormenting Severus then Severus would never had been so angry as to insult her like that. She had never mentioned the incident in her letters to her sister. She couldn't bear to give her the satisfaction.

Petunia...

Ever since Lily had started Hogwarts all those years ago she had written to her sister in the hope that Tuney's outburst on the platform at King's Cross hadn't been sincere. She had written letters about the teachers, the subjects, her friends, the creatures, everything about her life here.

Her sister had never written back.

Over the years Lily's letters had grown fewer and fewer. During the last couple of years they had mainly concerned her frustration over Potter's advances. Tuney never wrote back but Lily continued to send the letters as a way to vent her feelings. She shook her head. Once again it came back to Potter. She would have been more than happy to stay out of his way all the time. This was not possible however as James Potter had been made Head Boy and, as a result, shared her dormitory.

Responsibility hadn't changed him at all. Every night on their patrols around the school Potter kept on trying to work his rather ineffective charm on her. He would point out dark corners where no one would be able to see them and mentioned secret passages, although how he knew about them Lily had no idea. During the day he spent all his time with his cronies – Sirius Black, Peter Pettigrew and Remus Lupin – planning some new trick no doubt to be used on Severus. They were all as bad as each other, although Remus did treat Lily with some measure of respect.

Lily could see no light at the end of the tunnel. From now until the end of the year she would have to put up with Potter. After that she would never have to see him again. She sighed. It was only three weeks into the first term. It would be a long year.

...

That evening Lily put her books and scrolls away to prepare for another night of patrolling with Potter and his interminable advances. She didn't look up when the door to his room opened and he emerged.

"Look Evans," he began. "I can't come on patrol tonight. There's something important I have to do."

Lily looked up. He was being perfectly serious. "Something more important? These are our responsibilities you're talking about!" She couldn't believe what she was hearing from him. "You're Head Boy for Merlin's sake! You can't just put it on and take it off whenever you want!"

"I know! I know." Potter said. "I just... I have something I have to do. It's just tonight."

Lily opened her mouth to protest even more then shut it again. Hadn't she just been complaining to herself that patrol would be taken up with Potter trying to chat her up? It would make a change to do it quietly for once. She nodded. "Okay then. I'll do it by myself. But if you keep this up I'm going straight to Dumbledore!"

Potter nodded and left through the door.

...

Patrol that night did indeed go smoothly, even though Lily had to do it herself. Without Potter chattering away beside her she found that she was paying more attention to the corridors and statues and doorways. She found and chased off a couple of students who were out of their beds but, apart from that, nothing too exciting happened.

A couple of hours later Lily was back in her dormitory. There was still no sign of Potter. Wherever he was it looked like he would be out all night. Lily had said she wouldn't tell the Headmaster but, if it interfered with his Head Boy duties she would. Lily took the opportunity to finish off her Potions essay on the mixture needed to cure eight different types of poison without the use of a bezoar and went off to bed.

...

The next morning she went down to the Great Hall for breakfast. She sat at the Gryffindor table with her friends and they soon lost themselves talking about Potions and Golpalott's Third Law, which only Lily had been able to fully understand. She noticed that Potter and the rest of his gang were not present but didn't give it much thought, instead turning her full attention to the food in front of her.

After about half an hour the doors opened and in walked Potter with his friends. Lily briefly looked up as they sat down at the far end of the table. Was it her imagination or did Potter's face look bruised? She thought she saw the telltale signs of dittany over some scratches which were starting to heal. Shaking her head she returned to her breakfast.

After breakfast she caught up with Potter outside the Hall.

"What have you been doing?" she hissed loudly.

"Concern Evans?" Potter grinned at her, making her even more angry. "Can it be I'm finally bringing you round?"

"Dream on Potter!" Lily continued. "What was it? Picking a fight with the villagers? When Dumbledore hears about this..."

"Don't tell him." Potter whispered. "Look Evans, I know you don't like me but you have to trust me. I know what I'm doing and it is important. Just drop it ok?" With that he walked away, leaving Lily standing there.

Throughout the day the encounter didn't crop up in Lily's mind as all her attention was taken up with her lessons and studies. Professor Slughorn loved her essay and gave her top marks for it. He said that only one other student had managed to grasp Golpalott's Third Law so completely and, out of the corner of her eye, she saw Severus going red. She ignored him and instead concentrated on the current day's project.

Charms and Transfiguration likewise went past with Professors Flitwick and McGonagall again praising her for her progress in some of the most difficult spells they had taught. Defence Against the Dark Arts was her one weak subject, partly due to the fact that the teacher spent most of his time stammering and jumping at the slightest noise.

At the end of the day Lily returned to the Head's dormitory and flopped down onto the sofa. She turned her head and saw Potter sitting on a chair, looking down at the floor. He had obviously been waiting for her.

"What do you want?" she asked him.

Potter looked up at her. "I've got to go out again tonight. I'm sorry Evans."

Lily was not pleased. "Again? Who is it going to be this time? The centaurs? Hippogriffs?"

Potter shook his head. "You wouldn't understand."

"Look Potter... James..." Potter was surprised when she used his first name. She carried on speaking. "I can't cover for you. Sooner or later someone's going to find out that you're not doing your duties. When they do I won't lie for you or defend you."

"I'm not asking you to." Potter replied. "I'm just asking you to trust me. Just a couple more days and I'll be done. Please?"

Lily thought for a moment. Why should she? She didn't owe him anything, in fact she hated him. But there was something in his voice that spoke of sincerity, which she would never have thought he was capable of. Eventually she nodded. "All right. Two more days. After that no more."

Potter thanked her and left the room. Thinking back over their conversation, she realised that he had never once said anything to try to chat her up. It must be serious. She thought to herself.

...

After she completed her patrol Lily returned to the room she shared with Potter and did her homework for that day. She did not go to bed afterwards, instead deciding to wait up for Potter, mainly out of curiosity as to what state he would be in.

Hours passed and Lily felt herself falling asleep. Through sheer will she stayed awake and eventually she heard the handle of the door turning. Not wanting Potter to see her she cast a Disillusionment Charm on herself, shivering as the cold feeling ran down her spine.

The door opened and Lily fought back a gasp. Potter staggered in, his face not just bruised but scratched and bleeding. In one hand he held what looked like a bundle of cloth and in the other hand a blank parchment. He put these down onto the table and walked over to their sink. From the cupboard he pulled out a bottle of dittany and splashed it onto his face. The cuts instantly started to heal and Lily realised that this was what must have happened the previous night. Despite her feelings of animosity towards Potter she was starting to grow concerned. What was it that was doing this to him? Where was he going? Wherever it was he must be going with the others. Were they hunting some beast in the Forest? Her mind was whirling with questions.

Potter put the bottle back and crossed to the door to his bedroom. Putting his hand to the doorknob and opening it he turned his head slightly and whispered "Night Lily."

Lily waited until his door had shut before removing the charm. Had he known she was there? That wasn't possible! She hadn't moved an inch and there was no way he could have seen her. Another thought struck her. Did he do that every night? Wish her good night knowing she wouldn't be able to hear him? It certainly didn't fit the boisterous, egotistical prankster she loathed.

Lily flopped into her own bed to try to catch the few hours of sleep available.

...

The next day Lily found that she was watching Potter more and more. She told herself that she was making sure he wasn't doing anything else dangerous or stupid but deep down she knew that she was starting to worry about him.

"Lils? Lils!"

"Hmm? What?" Lily's arm was shaken by Alice, one of her oldest friends.

"You ok Lils? You look lost in a daydream."

Lily shook her head. "I'm fine. Where were we?"

"Gamp's Law of Elemental Transfiguration." Alice replied. "You sure you're alright Lils?" She followed Lily's gaze and her jaw dropped. "James Potter? Lily you're not serious!"

"Ssshhh Ally! It's not like that!" Lily said but as she did so she found herself thinking again. What is it like then? Lily furiously started writing notes on why food could not be created out of thin air, trying to put Potter and his night time excursions out of her head.

She found to her annoyance that she was not completely successful.

...

That night Lily only grunted when Potter said it was time for him to go out again. She waited after he had left. Tonight she wouldn't be doing her patrol. Lily hated the thought of not performing the duties entrusted to her but she had decided that she wanted to know exactly what Potter and his friends were doing.

After approximately fifteen minutes Lily left the dormitory. Potter, of course, was nowhere in sight. Lily reasoned however that wherever he was going he would be with Black, Pettigrew and Lupin. And that meant his first visit would be to Gryffindor tower.

Lily took a deep breath and, as quietly as she could, made her way to her old house. She briefly remembered that her wand was still lying on the table where she had put it down to do her studies.

I shouldn't need it. She thought to herself. After all, what could possibly happen?

A/N Well, as promised, here is my next story. I've chosen to go with James/Lily this time (obviously) and I'm picking up on the event mentioned in chapter 20 of Harry Potter and the Undiscovered Country. This one isn't going to be as long as I'm only looking at one event in their lives.

Oh yes and I now have a twitter account - cardinal001. Don't know how often I'll be updating it but I'll certainly try to keep it posted with news of fics and things.

Next Chapter - Tailing the Marauders