Disclaimer: All characters, locations and events taken from or related to the Harry Potter series are the exclusive property of J.K. Rowling.

Author's Note: I am so sincerely sorry for the length of time in which it has taken for me to complete this chapter. You'll be glad to know that now I've got the free time I've been waiting months for I'm making the most of it and chapter 5 is already in the works. This was, at first, a really difficult chapter for me to write but after the first few hundred words I just got carried away. So I hope you like its length. Please read and review and let me know what you think of the direction the story is taking. If you're still out there readers then thanks for sticking by this story. I promise that I intend to finish it. All the best. VIP x

Chapter 4: Can you see?

The cloud was thick all around, suffocating her wherever she turned. She had to go on. She had to save them.

A smell like no other filled the air, matching the intensity of the fog. It wasn't a pleasant smell or an unpleasant one. It was just there.

Her heart racing, Lily walked faster in what she hoped was the direction of her house. Hearing hurried voices ahead, she picked up her pace. Surely she wasn't too late! She couldn't be!

Running as fast as she physically could she forced her way through the thick fog surrounding her and finally reached the front gate. Without a moments hesitation she drew her wand.

Her knees were trembling as her heart hammered in her chest, resonating inside her head. Lily approached the front door, raising her wand ever higher, but was startled by…

GREEN

Too late. It was too late. She couldn't save them. They'd died without her having a chance to save them. Her parents were dead and it was all her fault.

"No," Lily screamed as she woke, sweating heavily and tangled in her bed sheets.

Her breathing mirrored that of her dream-self, for a dream was all it had been, but the feelings awoken in her were all too real. The very thought of losing her parents, of their murder, was almost as unbearable as the event itself would be.

Losing them without having the chance to say goodbye, when they still had so much life to live, made Lily feel guilty for failing to prevent something that hadn't even happened yet.

She had never felt safer to realise that she was still in the safety of the school grounds than when she'd awoken from her nightmare. Under the protection of Dumbledore, the only wizard that Voldemort feared, Lily knew that he couldn't harm her here. But her parents weren't in Hogwarts. They were miles away in a small muggle village where evil wizards could roam freely and kill at will. Her parents weren't protected and that's what terrified her.

She reached for the letter she'd received the night before and decided to re-read it. Her eyes repeatedly focused on the words 'might be next'. It was hard to know how seriously to take the threat but Lily felt that she couldn't afford to take any risks. Not when her parents' lives were at stake. She had to do what they wanted, whoever they might be. She had to make sure that James didn't get into any more unnecessary trouble.

Rising from her tangled sheets, Lily placed the letter into a hidden compartment under her desk to keep it away from prying eyes. She had to handle this herself if her parents were going to stand a chance.

In order to conceal the arrival of the letter and what it said from her friends, and more importantly from James, she'd have to go on as normal, school work and all. It was going to be a difficult day.


"Hey," James greeted Lily as he sat down beside her for breakfast. "Are we ok?"

"We're fine, James," Lily replied.

"Good," James responded laying an affectionate kiss on her forehead.

It was hard to disguise the turmoil going on within her head but she was determined that the note had to be kept a secret from all of her friends. So long as they steered clear of the Slytherins for the remainder of the year, and didn't make any new enemies, then her parents would be safe.

"Are you ok, Lil?" Rachel asked her as she took the seat opposite her best friend. Clearly she wasn't doing as well as she'd thought at disguising her true emotions.

Startled, Lily asked, "Who? Me? Yeah I'm fine. Why do you ask?"

You just look anxious about something," Rachel explained.

Lily noticed James watching her intently. He'd clearly taken note of Rachel's observations and was checking Lily himself to see if she'd been correct. Lily smiled widely in a desperate attempt to maintain her secret. She'd only been in the presence of her friends for thirty minutes and already cracks were starting to show.

"Honestly, I'm fine," Lily repeated. "Seriously guys, I'm good. Great even," she elaborated when they still appeared unconvinced.

Too further convince James she gently squeezed his hand under the table. It seemed to work as James smiled at her and turned back to his breakfast.

This was going to be a lot harder than she'd thought. Lying to anyone was difficult but lying to James was almost impossible.


"The homework for today class will be to practice transfiguring your partner into an animal of your choice. Please, please, nothing too dangerous or fragile. We'll demonstrate any successes at the start of the next lesson. That will be all. You're excused," Professor McGonagall outlined.

At least something was going well for Lily. Ever since she'd started being tutored by James her grades in Transfiguration were rapidly improving and she was much more confident when transfiguring the human body.

They'd just had their latest papers returned to them and Lily had been awarded an excellent grade.

"Well done, Lils," James congratulated her. "You really deserved that after all the work you put in."

"Don't you mean after all the work we put in?" Lily joked.

"Well, maybe I helped a little," James said modestly.

It was remarkable how much James had changed over the past six months. Back then it would have been a cold day in hell when Lily would have ever described James Potter as modest.

"Actually, your input was insignificant. You didn't really help at all. I do deserve this grade," Lily teased.

James smirked at her. He knew exactly what she was up to. "Well, actually, I helped quite a lot. In fact, you could say I got you that grade. Therefore, it's certainly safe to say that you couldn't have done it without me," James joked back.

"There you are," Lily simply stated.

James was quickly confused. "Huh?"

"I said there you are" Lily repeated.

"I know what you said, sweetie, I'm just wondering why you said it. You didn't accidentally transfigure your normally astute mind into a sponge now, did you?" he mocked.

"No," Lily replied, "My meaning was just that there's the James Potter I know and love. The incredibly arrogant one."

"I am not arrogant," James replied in mock indignation.

"You are too," Lily laughed back. He was so adorable when he played with her like this.

"Am not," James defended himself.

Lily stopped laughing and grabbed James' hand as they walked into the school grounds and headed towards their usual spot by the side on the lake.

"But seriously, James. Thank you so much for helping me out. Not just in Transfiguration either but in all my crap. You've been amazing," Lily revealed.

James continued their earlier teasing, "Well, you know, it just comes naturally."

Lily shoved him playfully before responding; "You can cut the arrogant act now, James. I much prefer the real you."

"What makes you think you've ever even met him?" James laughed.

Lily could tell he was in no mood to be serious. It was all that Marauder energy in him and that was one of the things she loved about him. He just couldn't be serious sometimes and that was exactly why she didn't want to tell him about the letter. She didn't want to be the one that wiped that adorable smile off his handsome face.

"I know you more than you think James Potter; the good and the bad. But I'm sure you'll be glad to know that the good far outweighs the bad," she explained.

James pulled her waist into his arms and turned her towards him. "You know, I'm really glad to know that," he replied and then leant down to kiss her.


Sirius raced towards the spot under the tree where James and the other Marauders were entertaining Lily, Rachel and Jess before the end of lunch.

"My fellow troublemakers," he began, "and lovely ladies. How are you this fine afternoon?"

"Fine, thank you, Sirius," Jess answered. "Why are you racing around as if a dementor was hot on your tail?"

"I'd watch that tail, Padfoot," James joked.

"Oh, I just need to have a very important conversation with the boys here," Sirius explained.

"What are you up to?" Rachel asked suspiciously.

Sirius fluttered his eyelashes in an attempt to look innocent. Instead he just looked womanly. "Nothing you need to worry your pretty little head about."

Lily could tell that Sirius was planning something. She'd seen that glint in his eyes a thousand times before. It was the same glint he had when 'teaching' Snape a lesson. It was the same glint he got when pranking the Slytherins in the Great Hall. But worst of all, it was the same glint he got when all four Marauders were banding together to cause mayhem. Which could only mean that James was involved too.

"Is it something that I should worry my 'pretty little head about'?" Lily demanded.

Sirius turned to face her at her abrupt words and uptight manner. "Of course not Lilykins! Why would my behaviour ever worry you," he joked. But Lily was in no mood to be laughed at.

"Is it something that I should be worrying about, James?" she re-directed the question to her boyfriend.

James looked shocked that she was suddenly rounding on him. As far as he was concerned he'd just been sitting there minding his own business when Sirius had come leaping across the grounds, as excited as a kid in an oversized sweet shop.

"You shouldn't ever worry about anything, Lils. Not so long as I'm around to prevent it," James smiled at her sincerely. "What's bothering you anyway? You've been quiet all lunch."

"What's bothering me is that my boyfriend can't be honest with me? Tell me what you're up to," she demanded hotly.

James held up his hands defensively as Lily rose angrily to her feet. Cautiously he rose to meet her. "Look Lily, I'm not entirely sure what I've done to upset you here. What is it I'm supposed to be planning?"

"Yeah," Sirius jumped in, "and if you find a spare moment, I'd quite like to know what my crimes against you are too."

Lily looked from James to Sirius and then back again. How could she have been so snappy with them? They hadn't even done anything yet. How could she know if they were planning something, and even if they were, it didn't necessarily mean that it would have anything to do with the Slytherins?

"I'm so sorry," she explained, "I don't know what came over me. I'm just so tired right now, you know, with school work and everything, and I guess I just thought you were planning to cause trouble again and I didn't want you to."

James walked towards her and wrapped an arm around her shoulders and quietly asked, "Are you sure that's all that's bothering you?"

"Yeah," Lily answered, averting her gaze from his, "Just tiredness and stress. It'll pass. I'm just sorry that I took it out on you. I really didn't mean to. Will you forgive me?"

"Always," James answered.

"Sirius?" Lily said.

Sirius attempted to shoot her an evil glare but couldn't prevent a broad grin from escaping. "Of course, Lilykins. You are my favourite red head after all. I couldn't stay mad at you forever."

"Well thank you," Lily replied gratefully.

"Let's head to class," Remus interrupted, "This lunch period has warn out its welcome if you ask me."

"Agreed," Rachel said hurriedly as she shot up to walk back to the castle with him.


Later that night the Marauders had gathered together to discuss the final arrangement for their duel with Malfoy, Snape and the rest of their cronies. It had been difficult to find a quiet moment but now that they had one they were going to take advantage of it.

"So," Sirius began, "as I was trying to say before, I bumped into Snape earlier. Or should I say the jackass bumped in to me. Anyway, there's been a change of plan. The duel's now tomorrow evening so we need to plan tactics immediately and we need to plan them quick."

"Tomorrow?" Remus responded severely. "What did you agree to that for?"

"I thought it was best to get it out of the way. They deserve a good ass kicking. What kind of compassionate human beings would we be if we prolonged their wait," Sirius explained.

James sighed before saying, "He called you a coward when you refused to bring the date forward, didn't he?"

Sirius looked away apprehensively before mumbling, "Maybe."

"Sirius," James moaned, "what possessed you to let him manipulate you like that? Now we've got less than twenty-four hours to make sure we don't end up dead."

"Calm down mate," Sirius urged him, "We can take them. We always come out on top."

"Usually we do because usually we're prepared," Remus argued.

"We'll be prepared this time," Sirius stated, "We just need to prepare rapidly."

"We're all going to die," Peter whined.

"Wormtail, don't be so dramatic. We're not going to die. If the four of us stand together we'll wipe the greasy smirks off their faces and be back in bed by midnight," Sirius responded confidently.

"Let's start planning then," James encouraged them, "We need to come up with spells that will take immediate effect with as much force as possible."

"But nothing that will cause too much damage or result in our expulsion," Remus added. "As much as I may sound like Lily, I'm not ashamed to say that I happen to enjoy being a student here at Hogwarts."

"Agreed," James and Sirius responded in unison.

Peter was remaining uncomfortably silent. It was clear that he wasn't as confident about the duel as the other boys appeared to be.

"It'll be ok, Pete," James said on noticing that his friend was so quiet. "We'll protect you."

"I'm not afraid," Peter bellowed, "Why do you always think that I'm scared. I can defend myself. I don't need you to defend me all of the time!"

"Chill out man," Sirius began, "What's got into you? Your temper's nearly as vicious as Evans'."

"Hey," James defended his girlfriend, "She apologised for that."

"For which I am fully aware and have accepted graciously," Sirius confirmed, "but it doesn't stop her having a temper."

"Pete," James responded to his outburst, "I'm sorry if we've made you feel like we don't believe in your magical abilities. We do. Do you think you'd be a Marauder if you weren't capable of it? In fact, I think you have a lot of hidden talent and you'll use it when the times right."

"Hopefully that will be tomorrow night," Sirius sighed.

Remus brought them back onto the task at hand. "Right. So, where were we? Ok, spells. What have we got?"


She was racing through a white corridor, a dull glow ebbing away in the distance. Is this where she'd find them? Could she still save them?

She brought up her hand to shield her eyes as she approached the light.

"You can't help us Lily. Go back. You can't help us".

She kept walking. She had to.

"Lily, go back. It's too late. Go back."

"No. Mum, I won't leave you. I can save you," Lily said anxiously searching for the source of the voice.

"You can't help them," said a second voice, a cold, snake-like drawl. "You can't save them little girl. They're already dead."

In place of the glowing light were two hovering, deep, red eyes. They were the most threatening, evil and malicious eyes that Lily had ever had the misfortune of looking into.

"Run," the voice shouted as the eyes grew and rapidly sped towards her.

"Argh," Lily screamed, awakening to find herself frantically panting for breath.

The red eyes had disappeared only to be replaced by the eyes of twenty startled students and a surprised professor Slughorn.

"Miss Evans, are you quite alright?" the professor inquired.

It took Lily a few seconds to establish exactly what had just happened before she replied. "Oh yes Professor. I'm terribly sorry. I must have fallen asleep. Excuse me for my rudeness."

"It's not like you to be so restless during my classes. Is something bothering you?" he inquired further.

"Nothing Professor," Lily responded quickly, "I've just been struggling to sleep recently. I guess it all caught up with me."

"Well, I'd hate to see your perfect grades slipping due to a small case of insomnia. Make sure you go and see Madam Pomfrey to get a mild dose of sleeping draft."

"Yes Professor," Lily replied obediently.


As soon as the class had ended Lily rushed towards the hospital wing. Professor Slughorn's suggestion to get a sleeping draft hadn't been a bad one. If it meant that she'd stop snapping at her friends then it was worth taking in her opinion. It would also mean that she wouldn't have to see those cold red eyes ever again.

James knew exactly where Lily had gone so hastily after class. He headed off to meet her at the hospital wing to see if she was ok.

"Lily," he called as she left Madam Pomfrey, the required medication in her hand.

"James," she replied, surprised that he'd come to meet her. "What are you doing here?"

"I needed to see if you were ok," he explained. "What happened back there? You know, in class."

"I just fell asleep and had a bad dream."

"You just fell asleep and had a bad dream? You don't do that Lily Evans. You never fall asleep in class. Is there something you want to tell me?" he asked her gently.

"Nothing," she replied defiantly.

"It most certainly is not nothing. Tell me what's going on?" he demanded.

"Nothing. I told you, I'm fine. Just leave it, James," she begged.

James could see the fear in her eyes. He couldn't understand why she was shutting him out. Didn't she trust him?

'Lily, please. Let me help you."

Lily sighed in frustration, "I don't need your help, James. It was just a bad dream. Everybody has them."

"Yeah, well you're not everybody, Lily. You don't fall asleep in your favourite class and you don't have nightmares that make you scream out in pain," he argued.

"How do you know, huh? How do you know what I do and don't do? We've only been dating a few months. You can't know everything about someone in so short a space of time!" Lily shouted, desperately trying to defend her secret.

James kept his tone calm. "I've known you for six years, Lily. But it feels like I've known you a lifetime. I know it's not possible to know everything about someone but I think I can tell when you're not being yourself. Something's hurting you. Please tell me what it is."

"You know what? Maybe you do know me well, but I know you better. I know that you and Sirius are the biggest troublemakers in the school no matter how much you try to 'change' for me. Do you think I'm stupid? I know I shouldn't have snapped at you yesterday but you were planning something weren't you?"

"Lily-"

"Tell me what it is and then maybe I'll tell you what's bothering me," she bargained with him.

"I can't tell you, Lil, I'm sorry. You're better off not knowing," he reasoned with her.

Lily looked hurt. She was sorry that he still couldn't be honest with her but his lack of trust in her had done her a favour this time if it meant that she didn't have to tell him about the letter.

"Then I guess we'll both be left in the dark," she concluded. With a sad smile she turned away from him and didn't stop walking until she was sure he'd left her alone.


"Let's go guys," Sirius said.

The four Marauders were ready to head off to the room of requirement to begin their duel with their Slytherin enemies. It was probably a dumb idea but they couldn't back out now without losing their Gryffindor pride. They'd come up with a plan of attack, which would suit their purposes perfectly. They aimed to disorient their enemies, give them minor injuries, knock them out, send them to the hospital wing and then get the hell out of there.

"Everyone ready?" James asked.

"Uh huh," Sirius responded.

"Yep," came Remus' reply.

"I left my wand in my trunk," Peter explained, "I'll meet you there."

"Wormtail," Sirius moaned, "Can't you ever get one thing right?"

"Padfoot," James warned. He knew how fragile Peter's ego was, especially after his outburst the night before. "Ok, Pete, but be quick. We can't wait for you forever."

"I'll be right behind you," Peter assured them.

The three of them set off down the long corridors of the school under the disguise of James' invisibility cloak. They'd left Peter with the Marauder's map so that he could follow them without getting caught by the school's caretaker.

On their arrival at the room of requirement they boys walked past the entrance three times waiting for the door to appear. When they entered there was no one in sight but a duelling arena was set up with a range of combating weapons strung across the walls. They were dangerous weapons, certainly nothing that the Marauders dreamt of using in this particular duel. Not if they wanted to remain in the school and stay out of Azkaban.

"I don't like this," James began.

"Me neither," Remus agreed. "They should be here by now. And what's with all the freaky weapons. We could never have conjured up a room that contained those. The Slytherin's must have had something to do with it."

"And where's Peter," Sirius began. "I know you think we've been hard on him but the lil' guy just doesn't pull his weight sometimes, you know? Sometimes I wonder if he'd be better staying a mouse and giving up being a man altogether."

"I don't know ok. He said he'd be here and I believe that he will," James replied.

Several minutes passed and still nothing. The Slytherins had still not turned up and neither had Peter.

"Those cowards have given up. They forfeit the duel and we win," Sirius bragged.

"Come on, let's just go," Remus suggested.

James was feeling unnerved by the situation. There was something deeply disturbing about it all. Why wasn't Peter here? Had his nerves finally gotten the better of him? And what about the Slytherins? They definitely weren't the type to back down out of a fight.

"I don't like this at all," James repeated.

The next moment there was a creaking noise and dust began to descend from the ceiling.

"What was that?" Sirius asked.

"Get out!" James shouted. "Both of you get out of here!"

The weapons on the wall began to rattle as the hooks holding them in place came crashing to the ground. Axes, swords and knives began whizzing around the room, targeting the three boys in their path.

"Get behind that cabinet," Remus bellowed, "We'll defend ourselves from there".

They raced towards the cabinet only to be hit with tiny shards of glass as the cabinet's doors smashed. They positioned themselves behind the wooden framework.

"They planned this those bastards. I can't believe they'd stoop so low," James stated.

"They're probably Death Eaters, Prongs. Of course they'd stoop this low. They want us dead," Sirius said exasperatedly.

"Look, we have to get out of here," Remus said. "We need to plan how we'll fight all these weapons off and then get to the door."

Just as Remus had finished his speech a large pick axe flew towards them only to collide with the hollow cabinet and reveal their hiding place.

"I think we need to go sooner rather than later," Sirius whined.

"Agreed," replied James.

"Right here's what we'll do. James you deal with the flying daggers, Sirius you take the swords and I'll deal with that bloody axe!" Remus commanded them. "Just don't stop until you reach the door and we're out of here."

"Ok, let's do it," Sirius stated.

They leaped out from behind the now shattered, halved cabinet and raced towards the direction of the door. The spells they used to ward of the weapons were only effective to a certain extent. No matter how many times they pushed them away the kept on coming back attempting to slice and dice the Marauders into tiny, lifeless pieces.

"Ouch," James hissed as one dagger managed to avoid his rebound spell and slice a small gash into his upper arm.

"Are you ok mate?" Sirius asked just a foot in front of James. He wasn't tackling the swords much better.

"I'll be fine, just keep concentrating."

"I don't think I can jeep this up much longer," Remus began. "This axe is just too powerful."

James turned to see how Remus was getting on but the daggers were demanding all of his attention. What he saw however was beyond worrying. Remus was pinned to the ground by the axe, too weak to continue fighting. If only it hadn't been a full moon last week. Remus wasn't at full strength yet. He was still too weak to defend himself fully. His arms dropping to rest by his sides Remus looked up wide-eyed as the axe raised itself higher ready to descend onto his neck. James didn't hesitate. He shot the daggers coming towards him away for as long as he could, grabbed one of the swords attacking Sirius and struggled to place it in front of Remus' chest just before the axe met its target.

James closed his eyes on impact, afraid that he's been too late. He opened them slowly to see that Remus' head remained safely attached to his body. Then why was he unconscious? James looked down the length of Remus' body and saw that the axe, although unsuccessful in hitting its initial target, has embedded its edge into Remus' side. Blood was pooling out everywhere and James didn't know what to do.

The bewitched weapons suddenly dropped to the ground around them. Sirius looked to James and realised what had happened.

"Holy S-"

"We have to get him to the hospital wing, NOW!" James screamed.

"Try and stop the bleeding with something," Sirius suggested.

James untied his cloak and stuffed it into the thin but deep cut in Remus' side. "Help me carry him."

When they reached the hospital wing Madam Pomfrey was already awake having just finished checking on the patients already staying there.

"Oh my," she started, "what on earth happened here?"

"You have to help him. He's bleeding to death. Do something!" James shouted.

"Calm down, Mr Potter. I'll do what I can. Just please try not to wake the other patients."

The boys lay Remus onto the bed and allowed Madam Pomfrey to assess the wound.

"Ah, I see what happened here. An axe was it?" she inquired.

"Well…yes," Sirius replied. How could she tell just by looking at the wound?

"How many times do I have to tell you boys not to play with medieval weaponry? It's a highly dangerous thing to do however 'cool' you may think you are?" she scolded them.

"We weren't…" Sirius began but James interrupted him.

"Shhh," he said.

"And after hours as well," Madam Pomfrey continued as she worked on Remus. "Don't worry lads. The wound may look bad but the axe didn't penetrate any of his vital organs. It's really not that bad. He's lost quite a lot of blood and will need to stay in here for a week to recover properly but he'll live."

"Thank Merlin," James sighed with relief.

"I wouldn't relax just yet Mr Potter. I'm sure Dumbledore will have a lot to say to yourself and Mr Black when he arrives within the next few minutes. And I'm sure you'll have plenty of time to relax later, during the hours of detention you'll undoubtedly be working through."

AN: Please REVIEW :)