Whoa feels like forever since I updated I know! Life just doesn't seem to slow down, this won't be very long or probably very good, sorry but I just wanted to update at least a little for you. To everyone that favourited me or added my story, you guys are such peaches, thanks heaps!
To The DA is dressed to the nines; I could never get sick of your sweet comments, really gives me inspiration to keep writing :D
To .lvr; aww thank you! So sweet of you :D

To xTALANx; thanks :D I'll try to keep posting.

THANK YOU EVERYONE! Lots of love to you all xxx

CHAPTER 9

JAMES

The stars were especially bright tonight, each of the tiny pin pricks winking at me, their constant glow a comfort. I liked to believe that each star was a prankster, sending me their blessing, looking down on me, watching all our silly pranks and approving. I loved the outdoors, everything had its place and it some way made sense. I used to spend hours in summer under the stars with Sirius, neither of us would ever say a word but I reckon that it was those nights that cemented our friendship to brotherhood. When you can feel comfortable in silence and know what the other is thinking without them saying anything, it's something for life. I hoped one day Lily could be that way with me too.

"Jimmie, quit thinking about Evans and get your head in the game," Sirius hissed.

"How did you know I was thinking about Evans?" I ask, shaking my head to rid myself of her smile and failing.

"You have that look on your face," Remus told me matter of factly.

"What look?"

"The sappy one you see in the muggle movies," Peter chirped.

I shrugged my shoulders feeling my cheeks go red.

"Yeah mate, you're a walking talking chick flick cliché," Sirius tells me.

"Not exactly," I reply. "I don't have the girl."

Remus places a hand on my shoulder and I'm surprised by the contact. "That only happens in the end James, and it's not the end yet."

"God, you guys aren't gonna kiss right?" Sirius asked in disgust.

Remus immediately let me go and resumed looking at his feet and I smacked Sirius lightly. "Shut up idiot."

Sirius rubbed his shoulder then proceeded with our previous argument. "I don't get why you guys think we should postpone the prank? Since when do we need to schedule our pranks?"

"Since McGonagall and all the teachers are present and we can't hide ourselves, and we can't take our animal form in case we're caught, do you really want to face McGonagalls full wrath and Dumbledore's disappointment?" Remus asked quietly, pointing out all our little doubts.

"Well…"

"And what about Carla?" Remus continued. "You really wanna risk upsetting her and then spending time as the spurned almost lover?"

Sirius was clearly breaking but trying to find the manliest way to do so, being such a great friend I decided I'd give him a break and an escape route.

"Why don't we do something less risky and pranky but still fun?"

"Like what?" Sirius asked, pouting a little.

I whispered my plan to them quickly and with every word Sirius's face beamed and even Remus looked impressed.

"You reckon it can be done?" I ask.

Peter jumps up and down, Remus nods and Sirius jumps into my arms. "Maybe you're not completely boring afterall."

"Mr Potter!" I jumped as McGonagall boomed my name twenty minutes later.

"I didn't do it," I replied out of instinct.

"I never accused you potter, feeling guilty about something?"

"Oh no Professor, I'm just covering all bases for in advance, one day I may not get the chance to proclaim my innocence and this has made up for it."

McGonagall raised an eyebrow. "You may want an early night Potter, tomorrow will be draining and you're meant to be healing."

"Thanks for your concern miss, I won't be up too late, I just wanted to catch Evans before bed."

"As long as you're not going to end up falling down a cliff again I trust?"

I found myself smiling. "Professor, that would never happen, if we were going to get hurt again I'd at least be creative enough to change the circumstance, can't keep things boring and predictable."

Professor McGonagall sighed deeply. "I would have preferred you promise not to get into any trouble, not worry about being predictable in your ventures that end in injury."

I smiled as I spotted Lily and began walking away. "But Miss, I would never lie to you."

I could hear her scoff as I walked away.

"Hey stranger," I whispered in her ear.

I felt her stiffen, then relax before she turned to face me.

"Stranger? I was taught never to talk to strangers."

I grin. "Well, I'm James, nice to meet you, now we're not strangers."

Her pink lips quirked into a smile. "You're so annoying."

"Why are you smiling then?"

"I'm imagining cursing the smirk off your face,"

I heard Sirius's tell tale deep laugh and felt my smile lift. It was nearly time.

"Say what you want Evan's, but tonight is beautiful and not even your attempts at tearing me down is going to work, and despite everything you have ever said to me, I even have something for you."

Sirius joined us and we both grinned behind us at Remus and Peter who were sitting on the logs by the fire, both trying to hide excited grins.

"Sirius Black what have you done?" Carla asked, arms crossed over her chest.

Sirius gave a perfect impression of innocence and just smiled serenely at Carla who was looking more and more suspicious.

"Lovely night," he commented casually.

Now Lily crossed her arms. "So James had already noticed, just what is so beautiful about this night might I ask?"

Sirius never got a chance to answer because at that moment there was a massive boom and everyone except the four responsible and brave Lily Evans hit the ground.

"What the hell was that?" Carla asks, a sob in her throat as Sirius pulls her into his arms and nods towards the sky which now lights up.

A sword appears then bursts into flame and the words Griffindor form in the sky, lingering for a few seconds before they twist into a huge green snake which then prompts a rat, stag, wolf and dog to charge together as one to banish the snake and then form a massive pink heart and is sparking brightly, causing many oo's and ahh's from the girls in the crowd who were now cuddling up to different guys and watching the show. As rainbows and pretty creatures burst out of the sky and almost blacked out the stars, Lily actually let her into my arms for the finale. Finally the heart exploded and millions of little hearts appeared everywhere. If you looked closely on each one there were initials, the two biggest hearts had 'J.P + L.E" and 'S.B + C.F."

A few minutes more and all the hearts had disappeared and a different sound filled the air; applause.

"That was beautiful," Carla told Sirius with a smile.

"Thanks," he replied casually, but his grin was massive.

"Well?" I asked Lily. "What do you think?"

Lily shrugged. "You did ok."

I felt like she'd slapped me. "Ok?"

She leant in and gave me a quick peck on the cheek and pulled away and winked. "Just ok."

I smiled brightly and pulled her into my arms again, trying to ignore Sirius and Carla swapping spit beside us. "I like ok, what if I did really good?"

Lily grinned mischievously. "Let's see if you can ever make really good."

"James Potter!" I bowed my head in defeat as I heard McGonagall and the foot steps of the other teachers heading towards us.

"Yes Professor?"

Professor Slughorn got in first. "Great display of magic that was, jolly good! Whom ever responsible will have a bright future!" he winked at us as he said this.

Professor McGonagall looked ready to slog him. "What the hell was that?" she asked me.

"I thought it was a creative light show professor," Sirius replied politely.

"I'll rephrase, what were you thinking!"

"Are you accusing us?" I asked, straight faced.

"No, Potter, accusing you would mean suspicion, I know it was you and Mr Black."

"It was my idea Professor,"

Everyone looked to Remus who stood awkwardly to the side.

"Yours Mr Lupid?"

"Yes Professor, I thought we could make the most of free time."

"I helped too!" Peter chirped in.

McGonagall sighed to herself and took a few seconds to compose herself. "Thank you Mr Lupin, Mr Pettigrew, however, I think it's clear you were not the instigators, your loyalty is admirable however. I suggest we all take our leave to bed, if you think I'm impressed you boys are mistaken, had this been a real situation you would have alerted the enemy to our whereabouts."

"But Miss, we were having free time, so it's not like we were on the survival clocks."

I pulled Sirius away with a smile and nod at the Professors to prevent Sirius talking himself into anymore trouble, Lily, Carla, Peter and Remus followed.

"I thought it was really sweet," Carla proclaimed loudly, making me realize how similar her and Sirius really were.

Lily clamped her hand over Carla's mouth and smiled back at the Professors who were looking over curiously.

"Thanks babe," Sirius beamed. "Moony, trying to take the credit huh? My friend you are way to responsible to be able to shoulder blame successfully."

Remus shrugged. "I'm going to head to bed, tomorrow is going to be tiring for sure, you should do the same."

Sirius clasped Remus's cheeks with his palms and shook his face gently. "Good night dad!"

The girls each gave Remus and Peter who was following him, good night hugs, being manly, Sirius and I simply nodded.

"Well, we should probably get to bed too," Lily said sadly. "God knows what we'll end up with tomorrow, Potter, promise to stay away from me ok? I don't want to fall to my death this time."

I knew she was joking and smiled in reply. "Evans I would catch you before you hit the ground."

"How would you do that?"

Sirius held his hand to his heart and danced around us in a circle. "Love gives you wings!"

All three of us whacked him on the shoulder. "Shut up Sirius."

Sirius pushed his bottom lip put and crossed his arms. "Bring on tomorrow, anything will be better than the abuse I face here!"

LILY

This wasn't good, and quite possibly the stupidest move the teachers had ever made. I mean did they honestly think that by splitting us into groups and intermixing the houses was going to tame the fact that we were pretty much playing hunter or the hunted? And they thought we were naïve..

God my back was killing me, I'm pretty sure all my wounds have opened up again and may had even added to them and it was so uncomfortable in this too small tree with three other companions. How long had we been hiding from Bellatrix, McNair and Avery and their too scared to interfere companions who had decided that instead of playing their role of hiding they'd become those doing the seeking, and the hurting.

Twigs broke and my eyes darted to the ground underneath me, Bellatrix was there, long black hair starting to matte on her head, maniacal smile still on her face. Severus, who was so tightly pressed against me I could feel his ribs stiffened at her presence.

"Severus," she called in an annoying sing song voice. "Come out, come out wherever you are. You know we don't want to hurt you Sevvy boy, we just want you to stop being so selfish and share your little play thing."

"Do you think they've moved on?" McNair asked gruffly as he joined her.

"They can't have gone far," Avery stated, pulling at his gold bracelet on his wrist. "We're all confined to this area, they can't cross into anyone else's area until our three hours are up, or we get to the finish."

Stupid, idiot teachers, how could they truly trust hormonal, angst filled teenagers with each others safety, weren't they meant to be at least patrolling to make sure we were ok? How much longer did I have to sit here slowly bleeding out?

"Snape's probably cloaking them," McNair concluded. "He spends more time than all of us buried in spell books."

Bellatrix hit him hard across the face. "Are you insinuating Snape would betray us for the mudblood and her friends?"

"Doesn't he always?"

"He grew up with the muggle born, it's just a child hood debt he feels to look out for her, we're breaking him of that, now if you're done wasting time let's split up again and meet back here in twenty minutes."

McNair looked ready to snap back but Avery shook his head discreetly and they both stormed off.

I waited a full five minutes before they were out of view before I shoved Severus roughly.

"This is all your fault!"

He didn't reply and I shoved him so hard he nearly fell out.

"Lily!" Frank scolded. "Now is not the time!"

"Frank, we're hiding in a tree, afraid for our lives on a school excursion because Severus's friends want him to prove himself. You have a cut down your neck, Bella's got a broken wrist, I'm probably bleeding out and what does he have? A hurt ego. You're loving this aren't you?" I demand to Severus who still won't meet my eyes. "I bet it was a big plan too, get on my team, gain my trust with you fake stories and offers of friendship and then as soon as you could throw me to your fellow death eaters so they can practice all their dark magic on me."

"I would never," it's barely a whisper.

"You disgust me," I reply with conviction, then look over his shoulder at Frank. "We need to signal for a teacher or something,"

"I tried before," Bella told me in a raspy voice then held up her hand. "It backfired and broke my wrist."

"They've used an anti charm," Severus explains quietly. "It's very powerful but usually only lasts an hour or so."

"You've used it before?" Frank asks.

"I created it," Severus replies.

"Figures," I snarl.

"I would never use it to hurt you, I would never intentionally hurt you," he tells me fervently.

"You're a coward," I tell him.

"I AM NOT A COWARD!" he booms until I punch him fair in the face and he falls silent.

"Great work you dolt, now they're going to come running back, another of your plans Severus?"

"I…I didn't mean…"

"Maybe you should just keep quiet," Frank tells him firmly. "You've done enough."

Frantic footsteps are getting closer and louder and I clasp Frank's hand, hoping more than anything that they will just pick on me and leave the others and that they at least don't kill me while we're in school when I can't defend myself.

Deciding I wasn't just going to sit here like a sitting duck and let them remove me from the tree I shoved Severus away and moved around to the base of the tree and then slid down, using branches to help me.

Pushing the fear down inside of me, I stood straight, fists clenched, back against the wall and tried to remember how I used to win the fights against Petunia and her friends in the summer when they got pretty rough. Wizard and Witches really did need a self defence class without wands.

The foot steps got even faster and closer and I took a deep breath as I waited for them to burst out the trees.

Imagine my surprise when James burst out, wand a blazing.

"Evans!"

"Potter?" I asked incredulously.

"Are you ok?" he asked, gently running his hands over my bruised face where Avery had thrown a log.

"How did you get here with the magic?"

He looks a bit fidgety and didn't meet my eyes as he shrugged. "I found a way to get through."

"But how did you know I was in trouble?"

"Zane Bluff from Slytherine in my team, actually a cool guy, told me he heard whispers of Bellatrix wanting to make an example of you and I came running."

"Still trying to be the hero?" I asked with a small smile.

"Who says I'm trying?" he replied, stroking his hand across my cheek.

"Why, how touching," drawled a familiar voice, I jumped back from the direction and James put himself firmly in front of me.

"I was looking for the mudblood but this is even better, does my cousin happen to be around to make it a perfect day?" Bellatrix asked, wand pointed firmly at us.

"Go to hell," I snarl.

"Manners, manners, you're being very rude. So Potter came to rescue you did he? Where is Severus for this? He'll be heart broken."

I glanced up quickly to see Severus with his hand out and pointed at James, Frank with his wand pointed at Severus and Bella crouched in a ball trying to be as small as possible.

"He abandoned us," I replied and kicked myself for protecting him. "He wanted to find you to 'regroup' or something, he wouldn't stay even when we begged."

Bellatrix grinned broadly. "Good boy, finally embracing everything that needs to be done."

James raised his wand higher and as I peeked over his shoulder I saw he was smiling brightly.

"So, shall we do this?"

Bellatrix sent a curse at us which we narrowly missed and which blew up a small bush.

"James, she's going to kill us, you shouldn't have come back!" I told him trying to push him behind me and failing.

"She's going to try," James replied gruffly.

Bellatrix raised her wand and before she could utter anything her wand was thrown out of her hands.

"I believe that's quite enough."

I looked over incredulously as Dumbledore stood looking ferocious and much taller than I believed him to be.