A/N: Well, here's the new chapter. With it being a long weekend, I thought that I would try to get a chapter out for all my stories except Grand Theft Autumn which I have on hold for this weekend— during next week I will be working on it and I might have more than one chapter for it at that time. Anyways, thanks to "granny" who reviewed, sorry at the moment I can't remember the entire penname but I thought I'd mention you since it was a really nice review. Thanks!

Disclaimer: Harry Potter doesn't belong to me. Never did, never will.

A Marauder's Tale

EilayAdnayVolieay

Chapter Ten: More Arguments

"You might try it sometime," Remus replied. He grabbed the book from James and looked at it. "Godric Gryffindor's history? Perhaps you aren't a lost cause, James, although I have reason to believe there might never be hope for Sirius." Remus smiled when Sirius stood up defiantly.

"Hey Moony, I have my homework done and its not Sunday," Sirius said. "I think that means there's hope for me." James put a hand on his shoulder and forced him to sit down.

"Mate, don't defend yourself on an accusation like that! Its what you want, to be a lost cause. You aren't the type to be..." James faked a shudder. "Proud of having your homework done." Sirius nodded.

"Yeah, yeah, your right! I'm not proud— I-I... I'm disgusted!" Sirius replied finally. Megan rolled her eyes and Ali just giggled. Sirius glared at Megan. "And just what did I say to make you think this was a matter you could roll your eyes about? It's a serious matter, no pun intended." Megan crossed her arms.

"Oh yeah, so serious. Its your bloody homework, get over yourself its either done or its not done, its not like you should be given some award either way. Unless your Remus and Lily— they tend to go over the edge with their homework and could probably use some award by now. Yes, I believe Lily has fairly earned the title "Book Worm," and Remus over there," Megan pointed and Remus looked up, slightly curious. "He's more than fairly earned the title of Book Worm as well, but they can't both have the same thing. Perhaps Book Wol– uh... never mind," Megan decided quietly under her breath. Remus saw Ali looking confused— he supposed she was the only one who didn't know he was a werewolf. Despite the fact that he was sure she would hate him, he decided to give her the benefit of the doubt— after all, Megan and Lily didn't care. James, Sirius, and Peter, they didn't care. Dumbledore didn't care— so maybe Ali would be the same. Remus looked around. The Common Room had already cleared out as it was getting late. Most students had turned in early or were having their own party in their dorms.

"Ali... do you know why I'm in the Hospital Wing so much?" Remus asked finally. James looked up. Was this actually Remus telling someone that he was a werewolf? He had made everyone else figure it out on their own. Perhaps Remus liked Ali more than James had thought.

"I assume because you get sick a lot," Ali shrugged. "I never really gave it much thought. Why do you ask?"

"Because. I..." Remus sighed and looked away. That way, if she hated him, he'd never know what look she had on her face when he told her. "I'm a werewolf." he said finally. Ali gasped.

"You're a... a... oh Remus, I'm so sorry!" she replied. "I never knew! How did this... how did this happen?" she asked finally. Remus saw that James and Sirius had looked up then.

"I'll tell all of you— but not until Lily's out of the hospital wing. So," Remus replied after a few moments of silence, "how about we read this book?"

—

Lily awoke in the middle of the night. What had caused her to wake up so suddenly? A shuffling noise, Lily remembered. She had been half-asleep in the Hospital Wing when she had heard the shuffling noise— near her bed. She saw up immediately and looked around. There didn't seem to be anyone there, but yet... she had heard them. She knew she had. She heard a low voice begin to speak and she immediately laid back in her bed, closing her eyes. She tried to make it seem as though she were sleeping, and she breathed as quietly as she could even though her heart was pounding. Why? Because of what the voice was saying...

"Master," it said. "We cannot talk here. It's too dangerous." There it was again, the sound of shuffling. Who was this person talking to? Who was... this man the voice called "Master"?

"SILENCE!" a second voice, deeper, snakelike, boomed even though it was in a whisper. Lily couldn't help but jump; she only hoped these two people didn't notice.

"Yes, Master, of course. What was it you wanted to speak with me about?" the first voice sounded scared, far from confident. There was silence— Lily was terrified of the silence, terrified that while she had her eyes clamped shut they were watching her. She didn't feel as though she was being watched, but then again, she rarely did.

"The girl. The one on the bed. What is her name?" the man called "Master" asked.

"Lily. Lily Evans, master. A mudblood, however intelligent. What do you want with her?" the first voice asked.

"I want the prophecy. I want you to wait until they find it, and then I want you to get it. I don't care how. Steal it from your pathetic bro—" there was another sound, coming from just outside the Hospital Wing. A voice! Someone was coming.

"Master, you must leave." the first voice replied in a hurry. There was that shuffling noise again— the swish of robes. Lily recognized it now. The sound of a window being thrown open was heard, and Lily heard the familiar sound of a broomstick leaving. Of course! She realized. You can't apparate or disapparate in the school. That must be how that man got here. He was definitely not a student. But... what about the other voice? A student, Lily thought. The voice that had possibly saved her was now beside her bed.

"Ouch! That was my foot you moron," whispered a girls voice. Lily grinned. Megan!

"Its not my fault you have clown sized feet!" And that was James, Lily could recognize his voice anywhere. But... they weren't there. Lily didn't see them.

"James? Megan?" Lily whispered into the darkness. Suddenly Megan and James appeared, basically from nowhere. She wrapped her arms around both of them. "Thank goodness the two of you came!" James was thankful that it was dark because his face must have turned a million shades of red— at least, he could feel his face burning.

"What's with the warm welcome?" Megan asked after Lily had released them. Lily looked around— even though her eyes were adjusted to the dark, she couldn't see if anyone else was still in there— mainly, the person who had been in there earlier talking to his "master".

"Is... is there anyone else in here?" Lily asked.

"You mean like Ali? She was afraid of getting caught wandering the halls, even with this moron's invisibility cloak. Remus is reading this book that the moron—"

"Do you have to keep calling me that?" James asked tiredly. Megan smiled.

"Of course! The truth and nothing but the truth, besides you've earned it. Oh and Sirius I believe had a date tonight— you know the type," Megan added rolling her eyes. "Peter's finishing up his homework— although he has to ask Remus often for help I'm sure," Megan added thoughtfully. "Anyways, none of them came. I didn't want to come with this moron, but he wouldn't let me come on my own." James looked away at that and didn't say anything.

"I didn't mean them," Lily said slowly. "Are you sure there's nobody, regardless of who, in here?" Lily asked. James looked up. "I think we passed someone on our way here but we didn't pay attention. Some guy, I didn't really look at his face. Was that who you meant?" James asked quietly. Perhaps Lily had a visit from some guy she liked...

"Yes! Well... before either of you came in here, I heard this shuffling noise. It was actually what had woke me. I sat up and looked around but soon laid back down because I heard two people speaking. One called the other "master" and he sounded as though he was... scared. I was terrified because they talked about ME. And... they know about the prophecy. Bellatrix does too," Lily added. Then she realized that neither of them probably knew that Bellatrix was obviously the reason that she had been put in the Hospital Wing. She opened her mouth to explain but James saved her the trouble.

"We know. Well, I knew, and then I told the others. I took a wrong turn—"

"He was reading. Honestly, Lils, I think your rubbing off on him!" Megan interrupted. James ignored her comment.

"I took a wrong turn and I saw Bellatrix had cornered you." James finished. Lily looked up at him confused.

"If you knew it was Bellatrix, why didn't you tell Madame Pomfrey? She said the person who brought me here, which I suppose must have been you, didn't see who the person was."

"Oh... well, why didn't you?" James countered. Megan rolled her eyes.

"He couldn't tell her because he had used an untested spell on Bellatrix to knock her out because she didn't plan on letting go of you anytime soon."

"James!" Lily cried. "You can't use an untested spell on people!" James shrugged.

"I'd rather test it on her than anyone. You weren't breathing, do you know how terrifying it is to hear you barely get out "I... c..c..can't... b... breath!"?" James asked. Lily smiled.

"Aww, you really do care," she teased. James flushed and looked away.

"Eww, if you guys are going to get all... like, lovey dovey on me... let me know now so I can spare myself and leave," Megan replied. This time Lily flushed and looked down at her hands. She had never noticed how very pale they seemed—

"She was only kidding..." James replied after recovering.

"I think I will go, if looks could kill..." Megan replied, as Lily was glaring daggers at her. "I'll be fine without the cloak, if I get caught, it will just be an excuse to hate Filch or his bloody cat more so I don't have a problem with that." Megan replied. Lily saw the chance to get back at her, and couldn't resist.

"You know, you and Sirius are a lot alike. You both love pranks and don't care if you get caught doing anything against the rules. Perhaps you two should consider—"

"DON'T EVEN SAY IT!" Megan shouted. She then lowered her voice, realizing that shouting might not have been the best idea. "Sirius Black is a two-headed PIG and he's the most obnoxious, smelly... its just not going to happen," she added quickly. Too quickly... Lily caught a strange look in Megan's eyes, and was about to ask about it when Megan ran out.

"Well," James said finally, "That went well."

"I... I really was only kidding, I— I couldn't care less about whether or not you cared about me!" Lily replied finally. She then felt bad for saying it. James had, for the past while, been nothing but nice to her. He didn't deserve that. "James, I..."

"Forget it, Evans." James replied. He got up and threw his cloak on. "I should have known better than to come here. Some people never grow up... funny, that was what you used to say to me. Yet now, I'm forced to say it to you." Lily heard his voice, but she didn't know where it was coming from. Did James feel better talking to her when he was invisible? Suddenly, she was furious. Her, immature? Who was the one who pulled mindless pranks all the time? Who was the one proud of the number of detentions they had?

"You don't even deserve to be Head Boy," Lily retorted. "Every time you get detention, your head grows thicker. I suppose after you finally couldn't hold it up on your head you decided to take a break from your pranking. Well James Potter, there's no deflating your thick head, so I guess your pranking days better be over unless you want to be squashed by your own head. And at least I don't need an invisibility cloak to tell someone what I think of them." James threw off his cloak from his head and glared at her.

"You think your so damn perfect Evans?" he asked finally. "Maybe you should take a look in the mirror. I might be immature at times, and yeah, I pull pranks. At least I don't hide how I am from people I care about. I've liked you since third year, but have you even showed you cared? No, you haven't. Can't you see that I tried to change for you? No, of course you can't, because where I have a huge head, you have a huge ego. You refuse to admit to anyone, even yourself that maybe, just maybe you have feelings for me. Deny it all you want, Lily Evans, because despite how much you try to hide it, I know you. More than you know yourself, clearly. And you know what? I'll always like you, because no matter how hard I try not to, I can't stop. So here's some advice for you— get used to it. We're going to be around each other a lot now that we know about this prophecy, and I'm not making it easy for you anymore. I've acted like I don't like you, around everyone, even you. Now, I guess I just don't care who knows, even if I am in love with the most idiotic witch at this school. You may be smart in all your classes, but I guess this is one place where you know nothing." James threw the cloak on his head, but brought it down again and turned to her. "Do me a favor, Evans, and stop acting nice to me. You think you don't have feelings for me? Prove it. I look forward to watching you realize that maybe for once I was right. As for those Transfiguration lessons I was going to help you with, forget it. Find someone else." James turned and left the Hospital Wing. Lily was seething with anger. The nerve of him! To say that she had feelings for him— HIM! She didn't care about him, in any way. He was arrogant, two-face, obnoxious, conceited just... self-centered. Entirely. He didn't love her— he wanted her because he couldn't get her. That was the way it had always been. Once James realized there was someone at the school who didn't drool over him, he decided he wanted her. Well, that was just tough for him. Her, have feelings for him? Actually care? James couldn't have been farther from the truth, Lily told herself. I don't care for him— what's there to like?

A/N: Aww, and they were getting along so well! But hey, I couldn't have them just fall in love without a few bumps along the way. What kind of fanfiction writer would I be? Anyways, there was a bit of "mysteriousness" in here, not much just a bit with the two voices. I'm sure by now you know who the voice that belonged to "master" was— same as before. It was guessed to be Voldemort, and I have to say it was quite easy to work out if you actually thought about it. Considering we all know that Bellatrix was a Death Eater. But who else do we know was a Death Eater? Think hard about this— and in this case, I don't mean Peter. He hasn't gone down that road— yet. Don't forget to review. D