Author's Note: Thank you for reading! Please review, because I want to know what you do and don't like about my story. Also, please tell me if I'm missing some element in the story that you think should be included ;)

Lily was sitting on the common room couch, wondering where James was. Sirius had come up a few minutes earlier and had told her he would be up soon. Lily wasn't sure if she even wanted to see him, but Lily did know that she needed to straighten out her feelings for James before they got too out of hand. But she wasn't planning on waiting for him forever, and if he didn't come up soon she would just forget all about talking to him. So fifteen minutes later she sighed heavily and made her way through the packed common room, weaving through the crowd towards the portrait hole.

"It's so loud in there," the Fat Lady complained as Lily began the walk to the Heads Dorms.

"Yeah," Lily nodded absent-mindedly.

At last, she arrived at the Heads Dorms. She was surprised, however, when the doors opened and James's 'Quidditch Corner' she called it, was unoccupied. Where could he be if his Quidditch stuff wasn't in their room? Just to make sure, she knocked on his bedroom door. No answer. She didn't know why, but she had a feeling that this wasn't going to be good. Running over to the window, she gazed out into the darkness, just happening to look down when she saw a flash of red light.

"James," she whispered and before she knew what she was doing, she was already out of the room and running down the hallway. She had never run this fast in her life, and it seemed like only a matter of seconds before she was standing in front of the entrance doors. Throwing one open, she bolted outside, looking ahead. She could hear the two boys arguing, and she unfortunately knew both voices all too well. She slowed, thinking it was just another Potter-Snape fight. But when she heard that terrible curse come from her ex-best friend's mouth, she knew it was way beyond that.

"Crucio!"

"Ah!" Lily screamed, stumbling in terror as she saw the boy on the ground writhe under the curse. "James!"

"Lily?" Snape asked in disbelief, looking up to find his Lily staring at him in horror.

"STOP!" she cried, throwing herself to the ground beside James, taking his head in her lap. Snape reluctantly lifted the curse.

"L-Lily," James gasped, clutching his side. That's when she noticed his wounds. "Lily, get o-out of here."

"Why did you do this?" Lily choked, glaring up at the boy standing in the shadows. "How could you?"

"How could I?" Snape demanded, his voice shaking in fury. "No, how could you. You used to hate Potter, you told him you'd rather die than go on a date with him."

"What do I have to do with any of this?" she glared while trying to stop James's bleeding. She knew that she couldn't move him herself, and she didn't trust herself with a levitation spell in her panicked state.

"Everything," she heard Snape whisper, but she couldn't tear her eyes away from James. "Lily, please come with me. You'll be safe-."

"How can you be so selfish?" she demanded, her heart skipping a beat when James opened his eyes. "Stay with me now, keep looking at me," she murmured to the man in her arms, smiling down at him tenderly.

"I've never been able to look away," James whispered back, but his voice was fading.

"Lily, listen-."

"Get away from me Snape."

"I have to tell you-."

"I don't want to hear what you have to say!" she growled, glaring up at Snape one last time. "I don't care about you anymore; all you do is hurt me and the people I care about. You don't understand: I would rather die than be any part of Voldemort's ranks because to me only idiots blinded by insanity would join him."

"You seem to be, since you're helping Potter," Snape said, his stomach dropping. Every word Lily spoke to him was like knives cutting into his heart.

Looking Snape square in the eye, she whispered the words that she never thoughts she would say. "If caring about James Potter means that I'm insane, then I guess I am."

She turned her full attention to James, saying a few spells that would help the bleeding. They began looking better to an extent that she might be able to trust herself to levitate him. While attending to James, she had no fear of the boy watching her, because she vowed to herself that she would never look at him again. This meant that she did not see the tears that flowed down his cheeks as he walked away from his only home and the only girl he had ever loved.

"Where the hell is Prongs?" Sirius demanded, glancing at the clock. The party was still in full swing, and it was unlike James to miss out on it. "Be right back, Carol," he said, nodding at the brunette that had previously been situated on his lap.

"Cathy," she corrected, but he was already halfway up to his dorm.

Upon entering his dorm, he went right to Peter's trunk and dug around in it until he found what he was looking for. Taking out the piece of parchment, he tapped it and said "I solemnly swear that I am up to no good." As always, the Maurderers Map ;) revealed every person's location in Hogwarts. It didn't take him long to find James's dot, which happened to be right on top of Lily's. Smirking, he was about to go show Remus when he noticed something wrong. If Lily and James really were making out, why would they be outside all the way down not far from the Quidditch pitch? And…why would Severus Snape be walking away from them?

It didn't take long for Sirius to put two and two together, and when he did he bolted down the staircase and out the common room.

"Lily!"

Lily Evans had never been happier to hear Sirius Black's voice in her life. She had tried levitating James, but she was so shaken by his wounds that she couldn't hold her concentration for long, and she was afraid that if she dropped him he would be injured more than he was.

"Sirius!" she sighed in relief as he dropped down next to her. "Sirius, he's hurt…and I d-don't know what to do!" she sobbed. Up until then, she hadn't noticed how much she was crying.

"Talk to me, Prongsie," Sirius muttered, checking over James's wounds. "Who did this?"

"Snape," Lily cried, standing up but not being able to tear her eyes away from the bleeding boy in front of her. "Don't make a deal of it Sirius, he's gone."

Sirius shook his head, trying to hide his anger and pain. He knew what Lily meant by 'gone', and he also had seen a few other names on the map next to Snape.

"Pads," James muttered as Sirius performed a levitation charm. "Reg…he went with them."

"It's going to be okay mate," Sirius sniffed as he led the way to the castle, his friend floating next to him. He assumed Lily was behind him. "Regulus chose his path, and I chose mine."

The last thing James said before he passed out was "I'm glad you did."