Disclaimer

I do not own any of the characters mentioned below, except for Sarah Beatrice Rosalynde Anne Therese Bones. (boy, do I love her name! you'll know why, in the later chapters!) for now, sit back and enjoy the very first chapter of… "Say You Love Me"… by Love Impact Melodic!

"And here they are! The famous couple of the year!" Sirius Black yelled out at the top of his lungs. Then at an afterthought, he added, "For six years actually." Then Remus Lupin laughed at the attention they were getting.

It was a new start of a new year. It was their seventh year. The four Marauders, James Harold Potter, Sirius Black, Remus Lupin and Peter Pettigrew were walking down a carriage of the Hogwarts Express train. James held hands with Sarah Bones. Sarah Beatrice Rosalynde Anne Therese Bones, to be specific. An exquisite beauty she was, with winter gray eyes that were exotically slanted in a catlike manner and with silver specks, a finely chiseled nose with an equally straight bridge, full and pouting lips that bloomed like a flower in spring and a body to die for.

She laughed at the look of awes and admiration that passed them by as she walked, hand-in-hand, with her delightfully handsome boyfriend, James Harold Potter. She looked up at James's face, which was lit with laughter, and smiled back, showing a straight row of perfectly white teeth. She flipped her deep, rich mahogany hair behind her right shoulder and said, "My, my, this would be a year, wouldn't it?"

James smiled down at his slightly shorter girlfriend. "Yeah, dear, it'll sure be."

Sirius rolled his eyes. "Oh puh-leese. I'm puking." And with that, he pretended to gag.

Lillian Evans walked behind the three of them, smiling at all the commotion. She also smiled at Remus Lupin, who was standing beside her. She looked in front and saw James laughing his head off at some joke that Sirius must have cracked. The sound of it sent a silent chill down her back. She loved the sound. And loved the way he smiled at her sometimes, whenever she made such a bad joke that no one except him, Remus and Sirius, would smile at. She looked at Remus, who was poking her side ribs gently. He seemed to have caught her staring intently at James and blushed. Even though only Remus knew that Lily had had a crush that ended almost all the years and he never told anyone, Lily sometimes couldn't take the embarrassment of James's closest friend knowing her feelings for James himself.

Remus was about to open his mouth to tease her about the way she was practically drooling over James when he and Lily both heard a cold remark that made Remus want to sneer over the hostility of it.

"Lily," came a drawling voice. "I'm tired, and I think my make-up's running. Get me my new mascara. And chase those little brutes out of the next carriage. I want to get my beauty sleep before we reach Hogwarts." That was it. No 'thank you', nor any 'please'. It sounded more like a command from a superior sheriff to a dumb cop that had some minor post, rather than a plea from one close friend to another. Remus couldn't stand it, and neither could Sirius. But Sirius was heavy on stuff like reputation, so he didn't say anything to stop Miss Bones from commanding Lily in that superior voice. Peter didn't care much about anything, so he never did probe into their complicated relationships. James sometimes pitied Lily, but never said anything much either. So the scenario almost always went like this:

"Stop commanding Lily like she's some dog," Remus looked at Sarah with his eyes half open. Unlike many people, he knew Sarah Beatrice Rosalynde Anne Therese Bones for who she really is, without even looking at her through fully opened eyes. Her despicable and low character was open enough for him to see.

Sarah looked at him coldly. She never liked Remus much, but put up with him anyway, since he was James's friend and all. But she never, ever initiated anything, much less a conversation with him. She hated the way he sometimes stood up to her, as if she didn't mean anything. And of course she did, everyone knew that she did, too. She was nothing to the world, but she was everything to Hogwarts. And the world was nothing without her, too. That's what she thought of herself most of the time, if not all. She thinks the world of herself, and believes deeply that she deserves thinking that way, and she hates it when people like Remus Lupin stands up and contradicts her and her beliefs.

"What is it now, Lupin? Angry with me because of your girlfriend?" she said, emphasizing the word 'girlfriend'. She knew that Remus liked Lily and that he wanted her for himself. But the pathetic girl never knew what she had and never appreciated it. Sarah thought that Lily was the plainest looking girl she had ever seen, and that if some guy appreciates her, she should just grab the chance and the guy as well. Sarah actually knew for a fact that not only Remus was after her, and quite a few guys, too. She thought that they must be blind, for looking at someone like Lily instead of her. With Lily's yucky green eyes and weird red hair, Sarah had thought that she would never go far, based on her looks. Obviously some people didn't think so, though.

Other people whom Lily had quietly rejected, thinking that Sarah didn't know of it, Sarah could understand. After all, what were these guys? Lily, plain-looking as she was, still had some value attached to her; she was, after all, Sarah's somewhat 'maid', if not 'servant'. (A/N: Bitch, huh?) But… Remus? Lily should just grab him the first chance she got. Sarah thought that Lily was simply playing hard to get, which was a foolish thing to do.

Remus was about to open his mouth to retort when James stopped the both of them from getting into another verbal fight as usual. He somewhat 'saved' the situation, like he almost always did. Except that he didn't know what happened to Lily when he wasn't there with his precious girlfriend.

"All right, all right. Sarah, dear, I'll get the next carriage free, all right? Lily, just go get her stuff for her. Thanks." Lily nodded fervently and ran to get Sarah's trunk for her. She knew that if she only got Sarah's mascara, she would then request another thing from her trunk. Just to play safe, she had better take the whole trunk with her. Even if it was so damn heavy.

She turned to leave and walking briskly for a few more steps, she saw that Remus was beside her, practically strolling. She stopped in her tracks and frowned. "How come you take such easy strides?" she gave Remus a good frown which made Remus laugh.

"Mayhap because my legs are long?" Remus teased.

Lily smiled. "Mayhap so." Then the both of them started walking in silence, before Remus asked whatever that came into his mind.

"Lily?"

"Hmm?"

"Why do you do this to yourself?" By then, they had already entered an empty carriage, as it was close to the carriage which carried all the trunks, and it had a rather musty smell about it.

Lily stopped in her tracks, seeing that Remus had done so.

"Do what?" she said, puzzled.

"Following that stupid bitch's orders and letting her command you like that?" Remus spat out, with traces of venom in his tone. (A/N: he really hates her, huh? Can't really blame him, though.)

"Remus!" Lily gently admonished. "Don't say that."

"Why not?" he countered. "If she acts like one, I sure as hell would call her one."

"She has her reasons, you know," Lily muttered under her breath.

"Oh, yeah? What? The same old ones that she made up?"

"She didn't make them up!" Lily retorted, trying to defend her friend.

"Really?" Remus half-shouted. Then he raked shaking fingers through his sandy hair, indicating his thorough frustration. "Lily-" he sighed. "- I checked up her background-" Remus didn't even stop when he heard Lily gasp in shock. "- she has nothing wrong with her family. Absolutely nothing. And I swear by the full moon that the information is reliable. All she has in her family, is a stupid dog that looks demented, and two parents that spoil her at every chance they've got. No abusing parents, no possessive sister or brother so as to speak of. She's lying, Lily. Trust me," he added emphatically.

Lily sighed, trying hard to digest all that Remus had just told her. She did have her suspicions every time Sarah came from the holidays. There weren't any bruises that she spoke of, but there were plenty of presents, which she claimed were from her Beauxbatons friends and Durmstrang admirers. But Lily had once chanced upon a card that said it was from her parents and the content was rather heart-warming. Lily had wanted to confront her, but she stopped thinking as soon as she saw James walking along side with Sarah. James would hate her for exposing Sarah's lie…

She sighed once again when she realized that Remus was waiting for a response from her. "I know she's lying… but… if I don't listen to her and leave her, I'll have no more friends…" she whispered, feeling a huge lump in her throat.

"Bullshit." Remus spat out. Then with a gentle tone, he added, "I'll still be with you, Lily, I'll always be."

Lily smiled, with visible tears glistening in her eyes. "Thank you, Remus… but…" her voice trailed off.

"But what? It's about James again, isn't it?" Remus said, with a tinge of bitterness in his voice. "Why don't you just bloody well tell him how you really feel?"

Something in Lily snapped.

"Oh! You think I haven't tried?! But NEVER will I forget the humiliation I got, all right?! NEVER!" Then she ran blindly to the trunk room, trying desperately to wipe away her tears and not fall at the same time.

Remus ran his fingers through his hair once again and shut his sapphire colored eyes. He seriously didn't care about his hair or how it looked anymore. He was far too mad at Lily and more at himself at that moment. How could he have been so insensitive? Oh, he remembered, all right. Remembered how seriously James had taken the issue of Lily liking him. Not at all.

Flashback

"Ah- James?" Lily stuttered as she stood, shaking, in front of James. They were finally alone, as Sarah had gone down to the bathroom to put on more make-up. (A/N: Honestly, I don't know how I created such a character like Sarah Beatrice Rosalynde Anne Therese, who positively reminds me of a nicely decorated cake which is made up of rotten eggs.)

"Yes?" James smiled, then frowned as he saw how Lily was shaking. Her shoulders seemed like pillars of support that were on the brink of collapsing. So he placed his hands on her shoulders, trying to calm it down. He certainly didn't know that he was the exact reason why she was shivering so. Her shoulders shook more, now, with James's touch. It sent her quivering more and the funny thing was, their contact wasn't only startling her.

James quickly took his hands away, as if he had just received an unpleasant electrical shock.

"I-ah- likeyoualot."

James smiled.

"What? I didn't hear you for the first time. Sorry." Then he smiled up at Sirius, Peter, Remus and Sarah, who were all standing behind Lily. But Lily didn't know it, of course. She was much too absorbed in her task and trying her best to stop shaking and get the confession thing over and done with.

"I. Like. You." Not bad, she thought, no shivering, nor quavering. Least did she expect a bewildered frown from James and a burst of laughter from Sirius and Peter.

She swerved to face Sirius and Peter, who were both shaking. From laughter. Remus had his eyebrow raised in disbelief and Sarah had glared at her with eyes that had glowed with anger now.

She turned and was about to run when James called out, "That was a joke, right?"

Sirius laughed harder. "Lame, man, Evans. Come up with something better than that the next time, all right?"

Lily could only nod and force herself to laugh at the 'joke' she had just cracked. She hoped at the time that she had managed a somewhat sheepish grin.

"Yeah, it was a joke."

At this, James laughed loudly. "You scared me there, for a moment, Lily!"

Lily smiled slowly, while she felt her heart breaking. She had then muttered something about having unfinished homework to do and leaving the room, which was now filling up with the new first graders, who looked up in awe at the four Marauders and the beautiful Sarah, who pasted a smile on her face. She knew that that was no joke that Lily had cracked. One look at the girl's hurt and flustered face would have anyone knowing that it was indeed true that she did like James, and that it was no joke she cracked earlier. She would pay dearly, Sarah thought.

And she did, as Sarah followed her up to their common room, which was empty. She had grabbed Lily by the red ponytail and practically dragged her upstairs to their room, which was also empty, unfortunately. Everyone seemed to be at their classes.

And Lily sat there, without any shedding of any tears, as Sarah gave her a good scolding and an equally good lashing. (A/N: No lashing verbally, mind you. Lashing physically.)

Then Sarah had left the room, smirking, sure that that stupid bitch would never try pulling off something like that anymore. Although she was also sure never to let James out of her sight again. Before she left, though, she remarked coldly, "Tell anyone about this, and see who they'll believe."

Lily didn't have to be smart to know the answer. She now cried, into her pillow, making it wet with her salty tears. Sarah was smart, to have whipped her at her lower back only. Only two whips with a metal ruler. It wouldn't have hurt so much, actually, if Lily wasn't still recovering from the previous lashing she got on the same spot for ignoring Sarah's orders accidentally. She had once dozed off, as she was too tired from staying up too late reading a book. And had been mistaken as ignoring Sarah on purpose. For that, she had gotten her punishment.

End Flashback

Remus knew all of this, of course. He had accidentally found out. Once, he had casually draped an arm across Lily's shoulder while sitting in the train. And Lily had accidentally gasped in pain, leaving Remus to raise his eyebrow in suspicion. And he had pulled the collar of Lily's shirt forcefully, causing Lily to gasp out in pain again. To Lily's embarrassment, her bra strap was blatant for everyone to see, although Remus and her were the only one in the carriage then. She gasped out again, in embarrassment this time. Remus saw nothing, though, except for the whip marks and bruises on the shoulder and neck. No wonder Lily had to wear a high necked sweater almost all the time. To hide the bruises.

"Who did this to you?!" he cried out in half-anguish and half-outrage.

"I banged myself." Lily was so used to this kind of questions that she had given an automatic answer to Remus too fast. Too suspiciously quick.

Both eyebrows of Remus's raised themselves.

"Tell me, Lily."

So Lily had finally admitted to him, after much persuasion that he wouldn't tell and never do anything to the culprit.

Remus was so angry that Lily was almost afraid to talk to him. However, to Lily's surprise, Remus always replied gently to Lily, even in the one time when Lily had purposely asked a question twice, just to test his impatience. He had never yelled at Lily before, though, so Lily knew that he wouldn't start soon anyway.

Well, then he had lied. 'cause afterwards, he had confronted James.

A/N: Of course, the next chapter, when he confronted James in another flashback, Sarah wasn't there. In the next chapter… there would be more stuff like Transfiguration… *hint hint* the break-up will follow up. So, hate fanatics of Sarah Beatrice Rosalynde Anne Therese Bones, please tune in for more details! (I just love her name though, her middle name. In later chapters, you guys will definitely know why it suits her SO much. if u know… don't write it in your reviews! Leave those who don't know a pleasant surprise!) And… come on, please, read and review! Thanks ~~~