Hello =D

I'm surprised that I'm actually keeping up; but that's a good thing XD

And thank you to my reviewers you are all incredible and I hope you enjoy this chapter. ;D


Gemmaline was sitting up in her bed, staring blankly at the wall. Tears refused to fall and the sting of Oliverus' hand had yet to fade from her mind. She kept reliving it in her thoughts. She jumped as Alice and Lily barged into the room, but she quickly regained her usual composure, and by the time the other two had tossed their bags onto their bed and glanced at her, she seemed like herself.

"So what happened to you this afternoon?" Alice asked as she took a seat on the edge of Gemmaline's bed.

"I had some family matters to take care of and then decided I needed a break." She muttered forcing herself to put on a smile and look up at Alice's blue eyes.

"Lazy bum." Alice quipped as she pulled her off her robes and tossed them into a pile beside her bed.

"We're getting our potion partners tomorrow." Lily said as she stepped out of the bathroom with her hair gathered on top of her head in a neat ponytail.

"I hope I get someone attractive."

"Out of the Slytherins and Gryffindors?" Alice questioned with a smile.

"Never mind...I hope I get someone smart."

"Once again...Slytherins and Gryffindors."

"Hey! I'm smart!"

"No, Lily, you're special." Alice laughed as she dodged a pillow that hit Gemmaline's face instead. Luckily no one saw her wince as it came in contact with the same cheek that was still burning.

"As long as I don't get Cosette I'll be happy?" Gemmaline stated.

"Wouldn't it be hysterical if Sirius had to deal with her?" Lily said.

"Better him than me! Who do you think you're getting?"

"I'll put bets on Potter." She shuddered as the other two laughed lightly. "And, by the way, Sev wants you to meet him up in the library to work on the essay we were assigned. I'll be up there too...but Dumbledore wanted to talk to me so I'll be a little late." Lily's gaze had shifted to the window, she knew it was about Dudley and thinking about him had that affect on her.

"I'm not invited?" Alice said a little offended.

"You hate Severus." Gemmaline stated.

"Now I remember!" Alice cried victoriously as Lily and Gemmaline shook their heads.

"So what are you going to do without us?"

"Hmm, I'll probably sit in the common room and wait for entertainment to show itself."

"You mean the marauders come back after they set up their prank?"

"Yeah, that too." She smiled.

"We should go to dinner." Lily sighed.

"Agreed." Alice said as she stood up.

"I'll be down, I have a few things to do first." Gemmaline muttered Lily glanced at her with worry but Gemmaline forced herself to smile back reassuringly and Lily must have believed it because she simply shrugged and closed the door behind her.

Gemmaline stood up and crossed the room, sighing as she glanced into the mirror. Her cheek still looked a little red and her eyes looked like watery and swollen which seemed fair enough considering she had been crying for most of the day. There was no way Alice and Lily couldn't have seen and there was also a fair chance that they wouldn't be the only ones to notice. She sighed deeply and turned for the door.

'*' '*' '*'

Sirius, James, Remus, and Peter were all smiling at each other and quite frankly a little giddy as they had finally come up with a prank that Sirius had approved for his brother (which didn't involve killing him or lasting injury).

"Remus, give me the butter!" Sirius cried, his mouth stuffed with food.

"And support the massacre of dinner rolls?"

"Give me the butter!" Sirius demanded, getting frustrated as he shoveled more food into his mouth.

"Magic word?"

"Give me the damn butter!" He bellowed. Remus' grin only increased as he watched Sirius struggle from across the table.

"Not when you ask like that, Si." Remus remarked with mock seriousness. Sirius swallowed his food as he frowned and turned to James, who was sitting beside Remus.

"Will dearest Jamesie pass the butter?" Sirius pouted. James glanced at Remus before answering.

"Nope. I enjoy watching your struggle." He smirked, Remus grinned wider and Sirius glared at them both.

"Peter!" Sirius barked. "Butter! Now!" Peter jumped out of his trance and then lunged toward the group of sixth years that sat near them where a fresh stick of butter was sitting.

"Here!" He squeaked throwing it at Sirius.

"Thank you." Sirius smiled innocently at the boy, feeling victorious as Remus and James groaned melodramatically across the table.

"What did I do?" Peter asked cautiously as he noted the smug look on Sirius face and the pissed off ones of James and Remus.

"Oh, nothing, you just fueled the beast." Remus sighed as he pulled a roll from the plate.

"Sorry." He muttered guiltily as he buried his face with food (not quite literally).

"Alright. So lets go over the plan one more time." James stated as Sirius and Peter finally put their forks down.

"Okay, so James and I are going to go up to the library and work on our homework until the library closes.-"
"What?! I didn't agree to these terms! And why the hell?!"

"Yes you did, James, you just suffer from temporary memory loss. And if two of the four of us get our homework done then two of four of us can stay on the professors' good sides giving us a better chance at getting out of a few detentions."

"Rem, you're a manipulative, cunning little ass." Sirius muttered.

"I have to be, look at who I'm forced to work with."

"This is very true..." Peter agreed looking at Sirius and James.

"Continuing with our plan." Remus started, getting back on subject. "After the library let's meet by the kitchens considering we all know where that's at." The three boys agreed as Remus continued. "So when the library closes there are still going to be quite a few people in the common room. So we have two choices; We either wait or-"

"Set off a dungbomb." Sirius interrupted smiling.

"Right." Remus muttered, laughing at the excitement in Sirius expression.

"I say dungbomb." James added.

"Peter?"

"I never have a problem with dungbombs."

"Alright." Remus said. "Dungbomb it is but we'll need to figure out a way to get it in there."

"I know!" James exclaimed. "Snivellus is going to be in the library until it closes and he's afraid to get caught in the hallways in after hours. So lets stick it in his bag and put a time curse on it."

"You know, James, that's quite the brilliant idea." Remus said with surprise.

"I know! And we get Snivellus in the process; it's perfect!"

"Alright, so we generally have a plan. One last thing. Everyone knows the spells they're doing and where to go. Correct?" The boys nodded and anxious smiles crept up their faces.

James' smirk faded as his gaze shifted from his friends and fixed on Lily Evans who was sitting a small distance down the table. He noticed how her hair didn't seem to shine as bright as it normally did beneath the candlelight. He also noticed the distracted look on Gemmaline's face and the agitated frown the blonde was wearing; the same she always does when things are out of place. He watched as Lily muttered something to the other two and then rose to her feet. As she brushed past him he smiled at the smell of her scent; which was still just as sweet.

'*' '*' '*'

Ten minutes passed and the boys had left the Great Hall and were on their way to the common room to grab a few necessary items such as dungbombs, explosives (which served no purpose but were fun anyway), and the invisibility cloak. Then James and Remus headed to the library while Peter and Sirius stayed behind.

The library was quite crowded but not too crowded that they wouldn't be able to find an open table. James glanced around the room and noticed that Snape and Gemmaline were here but Lily was no where to be seen. Quite unusual he thought to himself.

"Hey, Rem?"

"Yeah." He replied, not looking up from a Potion's essay.

"I forgot something in the common room. I'll be back." He muttered standing up. Remus nodded and James rushed out of the library. On his way to Gryffindor Tower he caught a glimpse of a girl with flaming red hair turn down an abandoned corridor. He walked hurriedly in that direction and tip-toed down the same empty corridor and he was almost sure he heard muffled sobs coming from around a corner. He wasn't sure if he should say anything or simply leave her alone; although leaving her alone would be very much against his nature.

"Lily?" He called down the hallway, as delicately as he could manage. He almost smiled as she spun around with an intense glare plaguing her watery emerald eyes.

"Potter." She spat. "What do you want." He glanced towards the ceiling as words formed on his tongue..

"I-I wanted to see if you're okay." He stammered, letting his eyes meet Lily's which had softened a little.

"Well I am." She huffed and walked past him. But James easily caught up and walked alongside her. "Leave me alone." She growled and turned the other direction. She really didn't mean to be so vicious but she didn't want anyone to see her vulnerable; especially him.

"You're lying." He stated as he ran a hand through his, already, messy hair.

"What's it to you if I am?" She remarked briskly attempting to walk past him again but this time he caught her arm and pulled her back.

"Because Alice looked worried and most that things fly over that girls head. Not to mention you're not being nearly as mean to me...normally by now I'd be hexed."

"Maybe I've had a change of heart." She stated icily, shaking off his arm but making no attempt to move away.

"You're Lily Evans, you heart is perfect as it is." A blush crept to James' cheeks as he averted his eyes. Lily smiled to herself, she had never heard him say anything genuinely sweet.

"Why can't you use lines like that more often? You might actually succeed in winning me over." She looked at him, her emerald eyes sparkling again.

"It's not a line and if I spoke my heart to you everyday; I'm afraid today would be no different." Lily was suddenly aware of how close she was standing to Jame's Potter and how she could almost feel his breath on her face. She was frozen, her eyes locked on his hazel ones; eyes that could make her forget everything. At the moment she couldn't even remember why she crying. She saw his eyes were getting closer and realized that she really wouldn't mind getting lost in them. In that moment her own emerald eyes fluttered closed and she suddenly felt the pressure of his lips against hers. As he moved his hand to the small of her back and drew her in closer; she suddenly realized what had just happened.

'*' '*' '*'

"Hey, Sev." Gemmaline muttered as she set her books onto the dusty table.

"You weren't in class today." He stated as his black eyes looked at her with apprehension.

"I know." She replied as she opened her book and pulled a quill from her bag. A silence hung in the air while Gemma's eyes skimmed through the paragraphs and Severus scrutinized her; expecting her to add something more.

"You went to talk to Oliverus, didn't you." He said, his eyes narrowing at her.

"Yes, I did." She murmured shifting her eyes from his and onto the pages in her book. She was strong; hiding her emotions had always come so easy to her but now whenever she thought of Oliverus, tears started to burn in her eyes and she refused to let Severus see her this way. "How do you know?" She stammered; struggling to hide the wavering in her voice.

"I go that way to get to Potions and I figured you were in the mood to raise Hell." The two laughed lightly and Gemmaline was able to blink away the tears and look up Severus.

"I was, wasn't I?"

"Yes you were." He chuckled, his black eyes glittering in the candlelight which reminded Gemmaline of when they were younger and laughing as they made fun of their families from the top of the staircase during one of their thousand dinner parties. The two sighed and glanced down at their books; neither wanting to do it.

"What happened in Potions today?"

"Nothing much." He decided it was best if she found out about Prynne firsthand, at least she would have some ounce of control in a classroom.

"Certainly nothing out of the ordinary." She responded. Severus nodded and another silence stretched between them as Severus' quill scratched the parchment. When he noticed that Gemmaline hadn't started writing (which wasn't unusual) he set his quill down and looked at her knowing that there was more on her mind because if there wasn't she would have been yammering on about gossip, how much she hates her mother, or how pointless she finds homework to be.

"You haven't started." He stated, she looked at him with a mock expression of pain as she attempted to pick up the quill.

"I can't, it hurts." She retorted dryly.

"It's your father isn't it?"

"Huh?"

"It's still on your mind."

"Oh, yeah."

"Have you told Lily?"

"...no." She stammered.

"I think she deserves to know."

"She'll never talk to me again."

"She deserves to know who's responsible and she can't hate you because it's not your fault."

"But she can."

"She'll get over it, Gem, but you have to tell her."

"I-"

"You're telling her." He said, his black eyes narrowing on hers. Gemmaline nodded, shifting her eyes to the paper as tears started to glaze over her green-gray irises. The two started working, Gemmaline simply read and reread over the chapter while Severus returned to scratching the parchment. They didn't look up until a girl with fiery red hair and saddened eyes had thrown her bag to the ground and slumped into the seat beside Gemmaline.

"Uhm...hey, Lils."

"Oh, hi." She muttered as she pulled a book and parchment from her bag then slammed a quill onto the desk.

"Is everything okay?" Severus asked as she took to madly scratching out an essay.

"Yeah, fine." She said breathlessly as she lifted her eyes from the parchment for a moment before returning.

"What did Dumbled-"

"Absolutely nothing." She responded coldly, refusing to look up from her essay. Gemmaline jumped as Severus kicked her from underneath the table, luckily Lily hadn't noticed.

"Hey, Lily, what's a better word for stop?" Gemmaline said innocently as she glared across the table at Severus who gave her a knowing look.

"Why? You don't need to wait for anything."

"Yes you do, right there, after you at the dried leaves of Vine of Ennui, you have to wait until it stop bubbling."

"Oh, dragon balls."

"I don't think Slughorn would appreciate that."

"No, I have to erase everything."

"That's your problem. I need some words."
"Ask, Sev, I'm busy." She grumbled as she swished her wand over her paper.

"Cease, come to halt, fade-"

"I think that's plenty." Lily mumbled as she returned to writing. Severus kicked Gemmaline under the table again.

"Would you stop!" She said through gritted teeth.

"I did nothing!" He whispered briskly as a grin turned up the corners of his mouth.

"What are you two doing?" Lily hissed.

"Nothing." They snapped at the same time then buried their noses back in their essays. About an hour of silence had passed and Lily closed her book causing both Severus and Gemmaline to glance up from their parchment.

"I finished so I think I'm going to go to the common room." She picked her quill up and tucked it into her bag. Gemmaline yelped as Severus kicked her again. "What is with you two?" Lily asked. Gemmaline glanced at Severus who was looking at her sharply.

"I-I have something I need to tell you..." Gemmaline muttered, her eyes fixed on the empty table behind Lily.

"You might want to sit down." Severus added. Lily nodded and sunk back into her seat as Gemmaline took a deep breath.

"That man...the one who attacked you..."

"Yes." Lily stated her emerald eyes wide but sorrow was in her voice.

"He...he..he was-is my...father." Gemmaline whispered with a tremulous voice. Lily looked at her blankly unsure of what to say. Gemmaline forced herself to continue "And...the tattoo...it's the family crest...the E stands for Everlasting and the G...it's...it's self explanatory." Gemmaline's voice was shaking and tears were beginning to well in her eyes when she said the hurt that glittered in Lily's. "I'm so sorry." She whispered. There was a stretch of silence before any of them made any attempt at movement.

"I-I have to go." Lily whimpered, tears dangerously close to dropping from her jaded eyes. Gemmaline nodded and Lily swept out of the room.

"She's never going to forgive me." She croaked, setting her head in her hands as a hot tear began to roll, hesitantly, down her cheek.

"She will." Severus muttered reassuringly. Gemmaline only shook her head as she rolled up her parchment and stuffed it into her bag.

"I'm leaving."

"I'll come with you." He replied as he stuffed his supplies into his bag and stood up. She smiled weakly and without a word the pair slipped out of the library, neither one noticing the scowls on Remus and James' faces as they left.

'*' '*' '*'

"There goes our plan." Remus groaned as him and James watched Snape and Gemmaline walk out.

"We could just follow them." James suggested as he started to put his things together.

"Okay, we're desperate, but not that desperate."

"You saw the way Lily looked when she got up from the table!"

"Maybe it was something Gemmaline said." Remus suggested, but James narrowed his hazel eyes.

"Gemmaline would never do anything to make Lily that upset."

"Neither would Snape!" Remus cried, James huffed incredulously. "I know! Let's give it to Lestrange."

"What is he doing in a library?"

"By the looks of it...choking Bellatrix with his tongue in the restricted section."

"That's a pleasant image...and Lestrange won't work because he doesn't go back to the room until after hours."

"How do you know?"

"Remember second year, we were going to pull a prank and it involved waiting for everyone to be asleep so Peter and I practically spent the night under the cloak in their common room...actually that lasted for a week."

"Oh yeah I remember! That's the one where we redecorated/destroyed their common room, got caught and were forced to serve a month and a half of detentions."

"Oh yeah...I hated those detentions."

"Me too. Okay back to focus."

"We're going for Snape."

"James," Remus warned. "We don't know the whole story."

"Lily was upset and Snape was there. That's all I need to know."

"James-"

"You hate Snape as much as I do." James said as he stood up and slung his bag around his shoulder. Remus groaned. "Come on we're going."

"But, James, I'm lazy and don't feel like stalking." He whined as he leaned back into the chair.

"Let's go." James muttered and threw Remus' bag at him. Remus glared but packed up quickly and soon him and James disappeared from the library and into the corridor.


Heh. Fluff XD. I have way too much fun writing it...so I couldn't resist adding in a little.

I refuse to give anything away...but you'll just have to wait and see what is in store for the lot of them...bahaha. I think -no- I'm pretty sure that I love writing because it's different everytime and all my characters seem to have taken up a life of their own so we'll see what happens lol.

And that fluff scene...yeah completely unintentional. It was all James..I swear. Okay, I'm done acting crazy.

I'll try and update soon as possible; But who knows when school is going to become all consuming. =P

Lastly, reviews? I really would love some feedback on the characters =] Even a few suggestions for pranks; those are always purposeful. :D