1st chapter - Sept 1976 Start of 7th year
As soon as Lily stepped onto Platform-Nine-and-Three-Quarters, she knew that things were going to be a little less chaotic than they were at home. Petunia just got herself engaged a giant lump of a man, who could not be reasoned about anything out of the ordinary. Mum was in a manic state, and worried about everything that had to do with the wedding, even though it wasn't going to be until next summer that they were getting married. Mum insisted that Lily be home for the wedding, but Petunia wouldn't allow her to actually be in the wedding. She was too excited to get away from all of that. Her parents even tried to include Lily's getting head girl into Petunia's engagement dinner, but Petunia would have none of it. Instead Lily just got a note to go buy herself her own congratulatory gift. She decided to get a cat from Diagon Alley and named it Tigger. Alice and Frank Longbottom, the previous head boy and fellow Gryffindor and one of last year's 7th year Ravenclaw perfects were married and Lily was invited to their wedding. It was the only bright spot that happened to her all summer.
This year her parents just dropped her, her school items, and her new cat off at the front entrance, much to Lily's dismay. They didn't even go in. Petunia was apparently already late for a bridal dress appointment. So she made her parents just drop Lily off 30 mins before the train even departed. At least she had time to check out who all was coming back, and who she would have to look out for now that she was Head Girl.
The day that she got her badge in the mail was the same day Petunia got engaged, and Petunia was not thrilled that Lily once again had dulled her parents enthusiasm for her with Lily's academic achievement. Needless to say the tension between the two sisters was growing more unsteady as the days progressed.
Once she stepped onto the train and stowed her luggage on the train, she roamed to the front of the train to the lounge to have the first meeting with Dumbledore before the train departed, and to also find out who was Head Boy. Once she got to the car more students were starting to file onto the platform, and making their way to the train. Already it seemed like there were fewer people attending this year than the last few. She saw her friends Marlene McKinnon and Amelia Bones, along with her cousin Edgar Bones, but it already felt like there were fewer people than normal as she made her way to the Head car.
Not 5 minutes later after Lily arrived at the car did Dumbledore showed up and greet her with his usual cheerful self. They sat and chatted about her summer holiday, and very soon Dumbledore was giving her advice on how to go about talking to Petunia about her wedding, and the role that Lily would have liked to play, Maid of Honor.
Suddenly the door swung open, and James Potter stepped through the threshold of the lounge and glanced at Dumbledore, then Lily, gaped, and then back at Dumbledore.
"Am I too late? Has the meeting already started?"
Dumbledore not remotely phased by James' appearance replied, "No, James. You are right on time. Although if you had been 5 more seconds, then you may have been late. Next time try to not let Sirius hold you up. James have a seat next to Lily."
Lily was staring at James in confusion as he sat down, and then back at Dumbledore waiting for an explanation.
Dumbledore noticed Lily's bewildered gaze turned to her and replied, "Lily, I do not have enough time right now to explain what I think you have questions about, but yes, James Potter will be working with you this year as Head Boy, no, I am not a nutter, and yes James was the best option of what was available. I will go over a brief summary of duties to be done on the trip to Hogwarts, and what to address with the Perfects when they come up for their meeting once we get started. After your first set of classes before dinner tomorrow night we will have our first meeting about the school year in my office. I am quite fond of chocolate cockroaches.
"James and Lily, as Head Boy and Head Girl, you must know that your responsibilities will be greater than everyone else's at the school, especially in this heated climate. You have the most authority among the students, and I ask you not to abuse your powers. You must treat everyone justly and fair. When the Perfects come up in about a half hour, please assign times for them to patrol the train. I have always felt it is easiest by splitting up the duties into 2 hour segments between the four houses, this way the Perfects start to get to know the other Perfects in their own house. There is time later to mix up the patrolling schedule. Let the Perfects know about deducting points, why to deduct points, and emphasize to not abuse their powers like I have just said to you. I believe that is all you need to tell them at this time. I also ask that you just keep an eye out for any usual circumstances and be available for the perfect at all times on the train ride. The Perfect meetings will be held on the 2nd Wednesday of every month in the Perfects lounge across the hall from the portrait of Helga Hufflepuff, under the tapestry of Hengist of Woodcroft flying around on a broomstick. James, may I suggest that this is the best time to explain to Lily why you are here. She still has a befuddled countenance. Good day. I will see you at the feast!" and with a faint pop, he was gone.
Lily muttered under her breath "I don't think I will ever get used to that" and rounded on James looking at him imploringly.
"So, are you going to tell me what happened? Why are you here? Why did Dumbledore choose you?" asked Lily.
"Well." Said James. "It's kind of a long story."
"There's no time like the present. If I am going to have any respect for you as Head Boy, I need to know why and how you got the Head Boyship. I thought only Perfects were able to get it? Where's Remus? He should be here instead of you."
"You're right Evans. Remus should be here instead of me. I will be the first to admit I really don't know what is going on. I got some pointers from Remus at the end of last year when he was forced to resign his Perfects badge, but I have never actually attended a meeting."
"Ok. But you have not answered how you got the Perfects Badge and why Remus had to resign."
"So, did Severus ever come to you at the end of last year and tell you a wild story about Remus, Sirius and I hanging around the Whomping Willow around the full-moon?"
"Yes, what does that have to do with anything?"
"Everything."
"Oh." Lily suddenly had a great affinity to look at her shoelaces. "I remember Severus coming up to me that night with this outrageous tale about a werewolf, and how you and Sirius were trying to get him to goad it, or something like that. I don't remember all the details because I don't think Severus was telling the complete truth."
"Yea, that was the night."
Lily looked up at James, "I also remember telling him when he confronted me about it, that I was not the correct person to go to about punishment. I felt like I didn't have enough power as a perfect to overrule Severus' story, or completely believe it, so I told him to take it to Dumbledore."
"Well, he did." James got up and started pacing the room. "He asked that Remus be expelled from Hogwarts, have his Perfects badge taken away, and not allowed back on the premises of Hogwarts again. I believe he even questioned why Dumbledore allowed Remus to even be a Perfect."
"But Remus was so good at being a Perfect! The fact that he is a werewolf shouldn't matter even in the slightest."
"I completely agree. This was Dumbledore's logic as well, but Severus wanted someone to be punished or else he was going to tell the whole school about Remus' 'furry little problem'."
Lily started to giggle.
"Whats so funny?!"
"Furry little problem. What an elegant way to put his lycanthropy. Still, though, Severus shouldn't have threatened Remus."
"So you know about Remus then."
"Yea, I figured it out third year. Severus was always asking questions about him, and as much as I wanted to believe that he was sick or always visiting his mum, I just couldn't hold it off forever.
"Severus started doing research about monthly cycles of various wizarding world creatures, and when he figured out that it was always on the full moon that Remus was disappearing, then I couldn't hold off my doubts any longer. I confronted Remus about it, and promised him that I wouldn't say anything about it. I kept denying it to Severus, and eventually he stopped hounding me about it. I also started telling and supporting the lies that Remus would give to anyone else who asked about it.
"Fifth year came along and when I found out he was a perfect with me, I was even more determined to help him out. I gave excuses about random things when our patrol came up on or near the full-moon and had our times switched with another set of Perfects."
"Huh. Imagine that. Perfect Lily Evans lying to the Head Boy and Girl trying to get out of patrol duty."
"Honestly James. Patrol duty isn't all that it's cracked up to be."
"Maybe you aren't doing it properly."
"How would you know if I'm doing it properly. You've never been on patrol!"
"Well, we shall see about that. I intend to change your views on patrol by the end of the year. Just you wait and see. You'll like it once we are through, and you will be begging me to put you on patrol all the time." James gave her a very toothy grin. Lily rolled her eyes back at him, "Oh James, you really have no idea what you are talking about do you."
"So, back to the night that Remus got his badge taken away, how did you get it?" Lily asked again.
"So," James said with a sigh,"I went up to Dumbledore's office with Remus when Dumbledore gave us the news. He had summoned both of us together a week after the incident. Dumbledore's logic was that since Remus couldn't take the Gryffindor Perfects badge, and he knew that Sirius would just tarnish the Perfect's honor of upholding the rules of the school, the only other two options were Peter and myself. "
"Peter can be a coward any day of the week."
"Very true. He's also a little afraid of the dark."
"I didn't know that. I don't think I would have put up with that if I had gone patrol with him."
"Also one of Dumbledore's other points. Which left me. I'm sure if there were other boys in our grade level in Gryffindor, then they would have gotten the pick over me, but alas, I was the last option, and I accepted it whole-heartedly. When I told my parents this past summer they celebrated and told me that I'm 'turning over a new leaf'. Also, I'm glad that I got it. Don't want all of those nasty Slytherins clobbering up the new Head Girl now do we."
"As much as I hate to admit it, you are rather good at dueling, even if it is against school policy, and I don't think Jerry Rawlins of Hufflepuff, and Thomas Kline of Ravenclaw would have stood up to the challenge. They're probably also going to be too busy with their new girlfriend or studying to make any impact."
"Speaking of them, looks like they are headed this way now. I didn't even realize that the train has started moving yet."
With that the door to the compartment opened, and the Perfects from each of the houses all started to trickle in for the first Perfect meeting of the year. James got many questionable looks from the guys, and a few flirtatious glances from some of the new 5th year girls.
Lily started the meeting, went over Dumbledore's notes, and James added in a few that she had left out, taking everything in stride. The meeting was dismissed and everyone filed out back to their own friends.
The rest of the train ride was uneventful, except when Lily had to go find James to break up a fight between Sirius and his brother.
The Great Hall that evening was all aglow with candlelight, but did little to offset the looming clouds that were lingering above threatening rain. The chatter was excited from the first years, but more muted among everyone else. Some of the normal random faces were missing from the crowd. Families that had been affected by Voldemort and his followers were no longer at the school, making the impending war even more eminent.
Lily and James were seated across from each other at the table with a couple of the Gryffindor Perfects close by to welcome the new students who were sorted into their house. The rest of the Marauder were close at hand, with Remus sitting next to Lily and Sirius next to James, who was grumbling about being too close to the Professors. Marlene McKinnon and Amelia Bones were on the other side of Lily.
Lily, noticing the absence of some of the students asked James, "Is it really as bad as the papers say about the disappearances?"
James replied, "If anything its worse. I don't think the papers publish everything about whats going on. I think they are trying to not panic everyone about Voldemort."
Peter twitched next to Sirius, "James can we please not say his name? I've heard there's been a taboo put on it. I don't want to provoke him coming to Hogwarts."
"Sure Pete. I can try. But you know, fear of a name only means fear of the thing itself."
"Duly noted." Pete turned his attention back to the sorting.
Lily watched 7 new Gryffindors get sorted, and once she saw that they were settled down for the feast, she attended her own plate for food.
Professor Slughorn ambled up to Lily half way through the meal to congratulate her on her head girlship.
"congratulations Lily, my dear! I'm so pleased that you were nominated for Head Girl. I told Professor Dumbledore last year that I thought you were the most suited for the job."
"Thanks Professor." Lily smiled back to him.
"Also, look for my owl in the next few weeks, as I plan to resume our jovial Slug Club meetings. I do hope you will attend."
"Wouldn't miss it Professor." Lily smiled and said in response.
The professor then turned and walked down the table to other students and greeted in the same manner.
Once out of earshot James piped up, "Glad I don't have to attend those meetings. I'm afraid I would be bored out of my mind."
Lily just gave him a sideways smirk and resumed her meal. "You never know until you go to one and see what they're all about"
Marlene piped up next to Lily, "Honestly James, they're not all they are cracked up to be."
The rest of the feast both Lily and James answered questions from the eager 1st years, and didn't have time for conversation elsewhere. Once the feast was over, and the Perfects lead all of the new students to their dormitories, James and Lily lagged behind to make sure the rest went up to bed, and they themselves followed close behind.
The next morning at breakfast when their new class schedules arrived James looked at his and noticed that Lily had all but one class together. Pete only had 3 classes with him and Lily and Remus and Sirius each had 5 classes with James. The extra class that Lily did not share with James, both Remus and Peter were taking along with Marlene and Amelia. As it was their final year and all of the classes were mixed in with all of the other houses.
Lily could tell within the first two classes that this was not going to fare well for her. The Slytherins were being worse than ever to her due to her blood status and head girlship combination. There were no more than 5 different threats that were being slung her way on that first day, and it was trying her resolve. She almost felt fortunate that there was at least one other Gryffindor boy in each of her classes, so that the threats were not as impending if she were on her own. Besides Marlene and Amelia, the girls in her year were great girls, but they were much more into all of the current trends, and begged here to join them, so that they could give her a make over or re-style her hair. She adored these girls to pieces, but they were no comparison to the guys of their year. The girls resolves were much less overt and they seemed to cower and any sort of wand work that didn't involve beautifying oneself. This was why Lily was glad the boys were in her classes, even though she wouldn't admit it to them. Their egos were still a little bit too smug for her tastes.
Once all of the classes were finished for the day, and Sirius had gotten out at least 5 different complaints about all of the homework that was already given, James was coming down the stairs, ignored him and finally found Lily in the common room sitting with Marlene, and asked if she was ready to go to their first Head Boy/Girl meeting with Dumbledore. They started out of the portrait hole and on their way to Dumbledore's Office when Lily asked,
"James, whats going on between you and Sirius?"
"What do you mean whats going on? Everything's fine between us."
"No it isn't. I can tell. You guys aren't caterwauling around anymore."
"What you mean all the jokes and stuff?"
"Not just the jokes, but your casualness with him seems strained."
"I don't understand your point Lily."
"Up through last year you two were inseparable, and giggling like two 10 year old girls gossiping in the corridor all the time. Plotting revenge on something or other or always besting one another. So far this year not one peep about jokes or tricks or anything between you two. What's the reason?"
"I don't know Lily, we all change at some point. I'm not really sure why you're so worried anyways."
"I guess I just want to be prepared if there are going to be any pranks or anything like that played on me. I just want to be alert so that you guys don't get out of hand."
"Lily, you really think we would get out of hand with all of the history that we've had with pranks?"
"There is a slight chance. Sometimes Sirius' ideas aren't always the best."
"This I know Lily." James said somberly. "This I know."
"Chocolate Cockroaches."
And with this they had reached the staircase to the Headmaster's office, in while Professor Dumbledore was waiting for both of them to enter.
"Right on time you two, I'm so glad that you both were able to make it!"
"Professor, its only been the first day of classes. Not too much could have gone wrong already."
"I know James, but you'd be surprised. I remember one year we had to send the Head Girl to St Mungos because one of the other students got overly zealous when it came time for human transfigurations, her transfiguration partner was a little love sick over her, and her arms had turned into lacewing fly wings, while her torso had that of a rat. Not really sure how it happened, but it did, and in my classroom too. Tsk Tsk. Oh, I was so relieved when she turned out to be ok, and were able to return not a week later when they finally got the potion to remove the wings from her back. It took five days to brew when they finally figured out what she needed. Unfortunately for the lad, she didn't really talk to him again."
Lily just gaped at him, looked over at James and started eying him suspiciously.
"James I hope you don't get any ideas."
"Have a heart Lily, I'm much better at transfiguration than that and would never get confused with my spellwork. If I were to turn you into anything it would probably be a cat so when we're done with our studies we can cuddle up together so I can pet you."
"You can always dream James, but I doubt that would happen even if I were human."
"Now now children," Dumbeldore said with a little sparkle in his eye, "We need to get started on our meeting."
With that they settled into the meeting and Dumbledore talked about how often each house needs to patrol, when the teachers patrol, and how often they themselves would need to patrol. Among their duties they had to be available for a study hour at least once a week for the younger students, so that if they had any questions outside of class, they could be there for them. If no students showed up then they could study on their own, but they had to be in the library for their study time. They were in charge of handing out any notices of Hogsmeade trips or changes to the schools to all of the perfects, and they were also in charge of scheduling any quidditch matches, as well at coordinating with the house elves on special holiday feasts.
Once the formal duties were concluded and James and Lily stood up to leave, Dumbledore called them back for one more duty that he would like them to keep an eye on, "I realize that Voldemort and his Death Eaters are getting stronger every day, and that he is recruiting straight from our very own Hogwarts students. I want to you be extra diplomatic in your approach to the Slytherin or any other students that may want to join his ranks. I am not asking you to not use spells, but given the current climate, passive to assertive spell-use will be allowed when the situation is dire. Please find a professor, or call out to someone to find one if you feel like you do not have the situation under control. I do not expect you two to fight everything yourselves, but you must realized when you may not be able to win and accept help when necessary. I have asked the teachers to keep more of a cautionary eye out during passing periods so that these things will be less likely to happen, but I feel that sometimes I am much too optimistic in my approach, and things will get out of control. Have a good night and sleep tight!"
The walk from Dumbledore's office was quiet. Much too quiet for either Lily or James' taste. Once they stepped inside of the common room, and saw Remus looking over a rumpled piece of parchment, James breathed a sigh of relief and said, "Thanks Remus. I'm glad you were checking out for us."
"No problem. It's what friends are for. It looked like you had a tail for a while, but they left after you got to the fifth floor. Looked like one of the Slytherins, maybe a 4th year, but I didn't recognize the name." James sigh, and said, "Lets get to bed. We have another day of classes and homework ahead of us. Night Lily."
Lily just glanced between the two and the rumpled sheet of paper, completely baffled by what they were talking about, and headed for the girl's staircase to get ready for bed.
Classes for the next month went off as they usually did. Teachers piled homework on all of their students, and the Quidditch teams were chosen. James being the Gryffindor Captain as well as Head Boy, was more strained than he thought he was going to be. He took things in stride as best as he could, but there was only so much time in the day. It seemed as if the teachers just wouldn't let up. There were numerous times that he begged off the hour study sessions for the younger students, and asked Lily to cover for him time and time again. Each and every time he said he would make it up to her. Most of the time, he got his Head Boy duties done by sending Lily notes in class of possible solutions that she could take to Dumbledore by herself, so that she would have to think of everything on her own.
Lily was appreciative of the suggestions by note, and understood the fact that James was so busy with everything else he had going on, but there were times where she wish she could just sit down face to face with him so that her notebooks weren't a cluttered mess with his notes taped all over the place.
Lily cornered him in the common room one evening, where he was studying with the other Marauders.
"So James, what are you working on." With this James glanced up, and was startled that anyone was near. Sirius was in the background, trying to snatch the papers they were looking at to get the away from Lily's view.
"Oh nothing much, just some Defence Against the Dark Arts practicing, nothing too serious."
"So you wouldn't mind if you would like to go for a walk while we talk about our Head Duties."
"Oh, I can't right now. I'm working on this assignment, and then I have that Potions essay that Slughorn gave us, along with some practice I promised Peter for transfiguration."
Peter enthusiastically nodded his head to confirm James' impending schedule.
"Oh, well then, why don't we just sit here on the couch for 5 minutes and just discuss whats going on. I'm sure you can take 5 minutes out of your schedule to join me. Please James, I'm having a hard time keeping up with these duties by myself. I've got as much work as you do, but I've been spending twice as much time as you doing all of the head duties. You showed up an hour into the rounds, and begged off 15 mins early, so that you can catch up on your beauty sleep."
"Well I really am sorry about all of that, I truly am, but we're in the middle of something, and we can't let it go right now."
"James, all I ask is for 5 minutes. I even have a list written out over the topics we need to discuss before the next Perfect meeting on Wednesday this week."
"Oh, is that this week? Has it already been two weeks since the last meeting? I hadn't even realized." Lily just turned and glared at him.
"You need to get your priorities in order or else I will be on your case more often about them. May I suggest keeping a calendar?"
"Lily, you're starting to sound like McGonagall."
"And like an old married couple." Sirius chimed in.
Lily in turn redirected her glare to Sirius, and then continued her conversation with James. "Well, if that's what it takes to get through your thick skull, then yes that is what I suggest. Five minutes. That's all that I ask, and then you can go back to planning your prank."
Sirius' eyes bugged out and said, "Who said anything about a prank."
"Sirius, its written all over all of your faces. I promise that if you guys let me have James for 5 minutes to discuss Head duties, and you promise that the prank won't be very dangerous, then I will promise you that I won't turn you in and deduct house points."
Each of the Marauders gave one another a look and figured it was a fair trade, and pushed James out of his chair at their table to go talk to Lily.
Lily lead them over a couple of chairs that were near the fireplace, and grabbed her quill and parchment along the way.
"Ok. First things first. We still need to talk to Dumbledore about setting the Qudditch matches so this is what I got from your notes in class: Gryffindor plays Hufflepuff at the end of October, and Slytherin vs Ravenclaw a week after that, and then the end of January, Ravenclaw vs Gryffindor with the Hufflepuff vs Slytherin game the following week, and finally the Ravenclaw vs Hufflepuff game the first week in April, before Easter Holiday, with the Gryffindor vs Slytherin game the weekend after Easter Holiday. Does that sound about right?"
"Yes that's good. You may want to change the last game to a week later though. That first week after Easter Holiday can be a little rough."
"Ok. That's one thing settled." She scratched out the date and put a new one it. "Next. Patrolling. I've already done the schedule for this month, but James I'm going to ask that you do it for next month. I know you don't have any experience in making the schedule, and you really don't know the other perfects all that well yet, but you need to try to make an effort with that. We can sit down sometime and I can help you along with the schedule, and after we can make it together, but in all honesty James, I can't do all of this on my own with school work. I'm going to need a little more effort on your part."
"Ok Lily. I will try to make an effort with it for next month. Do you think you could give me a copy of your schedule and any notes that you have on making them for the next time so I'm better prepared? I will try to do it, but I doubt I'll be as good as you are at it."
Lily eyed him wearily, and said, "Just don't make a habit of it. Let me know when you want to set up a time to go over making the schedule. Also, James, do you know of any notices that need to go up in the common rooms that are coming up? Hogsmeade trips? Quidditch trials, and matches and the general rules of the school?"
"Oh yeah, Hogsmeade. I think it should be the weekend after the first Quidditch match. We didn't think about Hogsmeade soon enough to plan it before the match, so that sounds like our best option, that way all Gryffindors and Hufflepuff teams can enjoy the weekend. I think we should tell the perfects first on Wednesday, and then put the notices up on Thursday morning. Hopefully the Quidditch captains have already started putting together their rosters for the teams. I know I have. So just Hogsmeade and Quidditch Matches then for the notice Thursday morning." Lily wrote down another note on her parchment and then looked up. "This is going quicker than I thought." James said perking up a little bit.
"Next. James, I would also like your help more with the younger students and the study time in the library. I know you like to work in the common room with your friends, but you need to be more available to the younger students. They will suffer if you are not there to help support them. There were quite a handful that came to the Library this week, and it would have gone a lot smoother if you were there to help me out. You need to start thinking of your other classmates before yourself, or else your honor and respectability may be discredited."
James excitement faded and started to look a little downcast with this and replied, "I promised to make it up to you, and I don't back out on my promises. I'm still getting used to all of the responsibilities that Head Boy does. I didn't realize it was so many. I promise that once Quidditch trials get over this week it will settle down a bit, and I will be helping you out so much more. I did break up 3 fights this week from the Slytherins with nothing more than a shield charm, and I stopped at least two groups who tried to follow you this week."
"That's nice of you James, but you need to look out for the younger ones too, and not just me. I can take care of myself just as well as you can, but its the younger ones that are more vulnerable."
"I will work on it." James looked down on Lily's notes and read the last note out loud, "Holiday Feasts. Ooo. I can take care of that one. At least for Halloween. I have an excellent idea to give to the House Elves. That'll be part of my repayment for neglecting my time with the younger students. I know I won't be off the hook until the feast happens, and I will promise to help out more next week, but can this suffice for now?"
"Sure. What do you have in mind?"
"Well some of it will be a surprise, but I'm more than willing to accept suggestions."
"Well, its always nice to have some muggle sweets, like candy bars, and smarties, and the like, it reminds me of trick or treating when I was young, and how about worms in dirt!"
James stared at her blankly.
"You know! You put jelly worms in a chocolate pudding filled bowl, and sprinkle crumbled chocolate cookies over the top! Maybe have a plant growing out of it for good measure." Lily was getting giddier by the moment. "Of course, the plant should probably not be poisonous or anything like that. We don't want everyone getting sick off of it, or worse, dying."
James could help but smile at her enthusiasm. "I have no idea what you're talking about, but lets go with it. That can be your contribution when we visit the house elves."
"But James, I don't even know where the kitchens are."
"No worries, I can show you were they are." James said, still grinning like a fool.
"James why are you smiling at me like that when you don't even know what I'm talking about."
James got up and left to go sit back with the Marauders, when he turned around and smiled back at her,
"Because Lily, you sparkle when you smile."
This is the end of the 1st Chapter. I hope you like it! This is kinda how I hope to do all of the chapters. One for each month of their 7th year and the major months that something important happens in their lives afterwards. Comments are welcome, but I'm not going to beg you to write any. I enjoy reading fanfiction and stories, solely based on the fact that I can get lost in someone else's mind for a while. Critiquing just takes away some of the involvement of the story. ~Geogmuse