iluv2bcrazee, WerrnogWeasley96, . .Books,, JadeZinniaMarchetta, thatnerdnextdoor1, speedtexter, Dazzled11, SophieJBlakey –glad to have you all!

stefanie437 gave me the loveliest review in Chapter 10. It's so, so spot-on with what I've been trying to convey. And yes, I've always imagined that Remus was a bit of a Bruce Banner type rather than a I-like-books-and-rules-and-I'm-not-at-all-upset-by-my-lycanthropy-and-its-negative-effects sort of guy.

For everyone else who reviewed, I just have to say… I did that "Aw, shucks" thing where I blush and scuff my shoes and can't look you straight in the eye because you've given me the good self-esteem feels.

A Chapter 7 review mentioned that they were rather sure that James played Seeker, not Chaser. However, the film adaptation of PS/SS got it wrong; James Potter was, in fact, a Chaser. (Granted, he was playing with a Snitch in OotP, but the Snitch would be an easy thing to hide once you stole it, so I'd chalk it up to that.) Anyway, it's a common misunderstanding, since the film said James was a Seeker, and the books never explicitly say; if you check out the Harry Potter Wiki page, though, it will link you to JKR's statements on the matter.

Now, for a little quote to keep in mind during this installment of ARE: "James always suspected Snape harbored deeper feelings for Lily, which was a factor in James's behavior to Snape." – JKR, in a 2007 interview with .

I've got another long chapter here. It's like as soon as I acknowledged how short the first few were, the rest of them just started going on for pages and pages and I didn't have the heart to split them up. Anyway, hope you like it, and hit me with your reviews if you've got any!

Much love to you all… –K.

Tuesday, 1:20 P.M.

"Alice, I never got a chance to ask you how your date went on Saturday."

"Oh, right. Well, that's all right, Lily, I know – OUCH!"

"Are you okay?" Lily asked, looking up from the teacup she was supposed to be Charming.

Alice was shaking her hand, trying to dislodge her own teacup, which had clamped its jaw around her finger. "Damn cup," she snarled, finally succeeding in shaking it off. "I gave it teeth instead of legs."

Marlene, who was sitting on the other side of Alice, laughed heartily at her friend's mistake.

"It's not funny, Mar," Alice snapped. She waved her wand and shot her flesh-hungry teacup at Marlene, who said "Reducto!" and succeeded in blasting the offending cup into little flower-patterned pieces.

Alice sighed but didn't bother arguing since the spell was such a pain, anyway, and Charms was too much of an excitable class for Flitwick to notice that she'd called it quits.

"So," Lily said pointedly before Alice and Marlene could have a go at each other, "how was it?"

"It went well," Alice told her, a bubble of happiness surfacing in her chest, successfully dissolving her annoyance. "He's sweet. He tried taking me to Madam Puddifoot's and I started laughing because, well, you know, it's Puddifoot's…"

"Ah, well, Longbottom's nothing if not eager to please," Marlene chimed in.

Lily laughed. "I expect he was just trying to do what he thought you wanted, Alice," she said, poking her legless teacup with her wand to no avail. She was distracted and didn't much care about bestowing mobility upon a teacup. "Granted, he was off the mark, but how could he have known?"

"That's what I thought, too," Alice agreed. "Anyway, he started laughing too. We talked about how mad everyone is, wanting to get together in a small space to snog each other –"

"Disgusting," Marlene supplied, pulling a face.

Alice nodded. "Precisely."

"Really," Lily said, "who wants to go for a snog someplace where you can hear a bunch of other people sucking face two feet away? Anyway, Alice, go on. Did he kiss you?"

"Somewhere private?" Marlene added, her mind still on the madness of Madam Puddifoot's.

Alice blushed furiously at the question, and she became suddenly very interested in her fingernails. "Well, um, yes, as a matter of fact," she mumbled, embarrassed. "We were walking back and we were shooting off those Filibuster firecrackers, just talking, and then he sort of caught me mid-sentence."

"Did he use tongue?"

"Marlene!" Lily laughed again.

"What?" Marlene said innocently. "I've been tongued loads of times –"

"Oh, don't say it like that," Lily pleaded, still chuckling. "It doesn't sound like you're talking about kissing at all."

"Maybe I'm not," Marlene said haughtily, causing Alice to gasp and Lily's jaw to drop. She couldn't keep a straight face after that. "All right, I was," she admitted. "But come on, Prewett, don't hold out on me; did he do it or not?"

"Um… a bit."

"Ha!" Marlene jabbed her teacup rather forcefully in her exuberance. "I'm telling your brothers."

Alice shoved her. "Shut up."

Marlene grinned and looked over at Lily. "What about you, then?"

Lily stared resolutely at her motionless cup. She recognized that tone, and she didn't care for it one bit. "What about me?"

Marlene sighed, exasperated by her friend's obvious dodging. "We know about all that Snape business," she said. "You were upset and we respected that for two whole days – don't smirk, Lily, two days is quite the feat for us – so now you owe us Potter information."

"Shh!" Lily flapped her hands wildly in Marlene's direction to silence her. She looked over her shoulder to see if James had heard, but he was too busy racing teacups with Sirius. Relieved, Lily turned back to her friends and said, "There is no Potter information."

Alice and Marlene groaned in disappointment, and Lily rolled her eyes. "What is it with you two?"

"What is it with you two?" Marlene countered. "You and Potter. Seriously, you need to find yourselves a nice broom closet and just shag it out already."

Lily gaped at her. "Shag what out?" she said, even though she was sure that wasn't what she meant to come out of her mouth.

But it was too late; Marlene was already flourishing her wand, searching for the right words. "You two are so fraught with sexual electricity," she explained. "Every time you're together, it's like – whoosh." She waved her arms in a windmill motion. "It just gets hotter, and it is very uncomfortable for everyone in the general vicinity. Just the way he looks at you, even… it's maddening. A little pathetic, too, to be honest."

"Be nice," Alice told Marlene, then turned to Lily. "It's just one of those things, you know? Everybody's dying for you two to get together."

Lily frowned at her teacup, but she wasn't really seeing it. "What about what I want?"

Marlene snorted. "Oh, you want it, too."

"Well, thanks, Mar, but I'd rather figure that out for myself," Lily snapped, thoroughly annoyed now. Why couldn't everyone just get off her back? "I quite like being his friend, and that should be good enough for everybody else because it's none of their business, anyway."

"All right." Marlene held up her hands in a gesture of surrender. "I was just saying, don't dismiss the idea."

It was Lily's turn to snort. "Do you and Sirius get together to chat about this or something?" she wanted to know. "Because he said the same thing to me on Saturday."

"Ha!" Marlene said again, pleased. "That's brilliant. But no. I'll tell you something, if I got a chance to talk to Black, I don't think I'd actually waste time talking…"

Lily smirked, despite Marlene's request that she refrain from doing so. "I'll put in a good word for you. Just don't sneak off during my patrols; I don't want to be the one who finds you with your knickers around your knees."

Alice laughed and Marlene adopted a dignified expression. "Please," Lily," she said, waving her wand and breaking her own teacup, "I've got a bit more class than that."

James heard Lily's laugh several times during Charms, and he wished it was enough to make him feel better. It wasn't, and that was how James knew he hadn't felt worse in a very long time.

Remus hadn't spoken to any of them since Sunday. He'd skipped classes and meals and he kept his bed hangings drawn. The worst of it was that James knew it was all their fault, so they couldn't shrug it off and wait for Remus to realize that he'd overreacted, because he hadn't so there was nothing for him to realize at all.

Even though James had gone after Snape, Remus was still right about everything he'd said. He'd been suffering through the feud for years; even though he didn't care for the Slytherins, he would have been content with ignoring the lot of them. But his friends weren't so easily satisfied, so he'd stood by while the battle ensued, and the culmination of that battle could have meant terrible things for Remus. It was no wonder he'd had enough.

"D'you think he'll ever come around?" James asked miserably.

"Yeah," Sirius said, although he didn't sound entirely convinced. "He's got to. We've been friends too long."

"He's just got to cool off," Peter agreed. "Hope he does soon; I can't manage Charms without him."

"Aw, come on," James said as his own teacup skipped happily around the desk. "It's not hard."

"Maybe not for you two," Peter said as Sirius's cup joined James's.

The two cups were getting ready for a race when James heard his name from a few desks in front of them: "…you owe us Potter information," Marlene McKinnon was saying. Lily hushed her friend and peeked over her shoulder at James, who pretended to be distracted by his teacup. His heart had started a pleased little jig and he strained to hear more, but the girls had lowered their voices too much.

Sirius had heard it, too, and looked at his hopeful friend. "She's getting to be as bad as you," he teased. "Evans this, Potter that…"

"Really," Peter said glumly. "She better watch herself around Moony, or she'll get a telling-off as well."

Sirius nodded, but didn't make eye contact with either of his friends. "Too right."

James frowned. He'd tried not to think too much about what Remus had said about him being jealous of Snape, but it hadn't been working because it was true, to an extent. He had resented Snape and Lily's friendship. He wouldn't admit it out loud, but he'd been so paranoid last year, thinking that he'd wake up one day to find out that they were suddenly more than friends. That was partly why he'd asked her out so much; maybe Snape wouldn't want to bother competing, if James was constantly on Lily's tail about going out with him.

It had been stupid and poorly thought-out, James knew that now. Snape had been too invested in the Dark Arts; even before he'd called Lily the M-word in front of all those people, it was unlikely that their relationship could have withstood their fundamental differences for much longer.

But none of that really mattered right now, because what it all boiled down to was that Remus had once again been right: James was so consumed by envy that he still carried it around, and it didn't only affect him and Snape.

He needed to get it out of his system, James thought, his eyes straying to the back of Lily's head. He had to get it off his chest, or if might very well affect Lily as negatively as it had affected Remus. James had made one too many mistakes because of Snape, and he refused to lose his friends as a result.

4:17 P.M.

Lily sat alone in the courtyard, her legs up on the bench and her arms wrapped around her knees, a book open in her hands. She hadn't had enough alone time lately, so she'd shaken off Alice and Marlene after their final lesson in order to get some.

But while Alice and Marlene might have granted her the courtesy, Lily should have known the silence wouldn't last. After all, most of the people she knew were hardly capable of that peace and quiet she'd been starved of recently.

"LILY."

"EVANS."

Lily sighed and looked up from her book to see the Prewett brothers marching towards her, Frank Longbottom following along in their wake. The Prewetts looked a bit put-off, and Frank appeared to be battling a combination of exasperation at them and apology towards Lily.

"No need to shout," Lily informed them as they reached what she'd foolishly thought to be a secluded bench.

"There's every reason to shout!" Fabian proclaimed. He snatched the book from Lily's hand and flipped through it. "What is this, what are you reading?"

Lily grabbed the book back from him. "That can't be why you're yelling at me from across the courtyard."

"It's not," Frank said before either of his friends could speak. He rolled his eyes. "They want to –"

"SILENCE," Gideon ordered, "you dirty sister-snogger."

"You mangy cad," Fabian added.

"Betrayer of friendship!"

"Traitor of trust!"

"Ooh, that was a good one," Gideon said appreciatively. "Traitor of trust. I like that, it's catchy."

"Oh, why, thank you, it just came to me, you know –"

"Is this about Frank and Alice?" Lily interrupted. "Because I'm not getting in the middle of it, if it is. And I know it is, actually, because it's the only thing that makes sense."

Fabian stuck his tongue out at her and Gideon said, "She's so clever, isn't she?"

"They've been insufferable lately," Frank told Lily. "I can't get a moment's peace."

"I know the feeling," Lily assured him. She'd been experiencing it enough lately that she was much more familiar with it than she'd ever cared to be.

"Well, apparently, that's not the only thing you know," Fabian accused. "You knew about the traitor and our sister, and you didn't say a word!"

"Nothing, nada, zip," Gideon chirped.

Lily looked from one brother to the other. "So?"

"So?" Fabian echoed incredulously. "So, Lily Evans, you are an accessory!"

"An accessory to what, exactly?" Lily asked, unable to keep herself from laughing at their absurdity. "Alice is free to go out with whomever she likes."

"Thank you," Frank said, but he was drowned out by Gideon's yell of "She is free to date NO ONE."

"Not until she's thirty," Fabian amended.

"Not until she's dead," Gideon revised further.

"Not until we, her brothers, have been dead a hundred years, when our bodies have decomposed so thoroughly that they are one with the soil."

Lily rolled her eyes. "Well, then, she'd never date," she said, "which I'm sure is what you're getting at, but too bad. The deed is done."

Both brothers rounded on Frank then.

"Deed?" Gideon said. "What deed?"

"Surely not the deed," Fabian said.

"Don't be thick," Frank told them. "We've been on one date, and I rather like living, which I'm sure would cease immediately if you found out that I'd done that with her."

"What's Longbottom done?" a sneering voice said from behind Lily. "Surely nothing with that filthy thing, or were you talking about a different 'her'?"

Fabian and Gideon's playful expressions fell immediately, to be replaced by looks of utmost loathing. Lily turned to see Bellatrix Black, accompanied by her sister Narcissa and cousin Regulus. That was a rather new development, Lily thought. She stood from her seat and she felt Frank and the Prewetts step closer, surrounding her.

"What's it to you?" Frank said, his eyes dark as they took in the Slytherins.

Bellatrix grinned. It was a twisted expression that didn't do justice to her good looks; if anything, it seemed to distort her beauty. Her face was only meant to scowl.

"Just making sure that the Mudbloods aren't dallying with real wizards," Bellatrix said, looking Lily up and down.

"Watch it, Black," Gideon snarled, his wand at the ready.

"Aww, what, the Mudblood can't defend herself?" Bellatrix said, her expression changing to one of mock surprise.

Lily's wand came out at the provocation. She was hardly aware of the crowd that was beginning to form around them, all keeping their distance but watching nonetheless.

"Don't you have another filthy word to throw at me?" Lily asked furiously. "Mudblood's sort of losing its touch, don't you think?"

"I haven't tired of it yet," Bellatrix said conversationally. Her wand slipped out of her sleeve and into her hand. Lily felt Frank and Fabian shift slightly, and she knew their wands were out now as well.

"Have you just come looking for a fight, then?" Lily went on, trying to postpone a duel long enough for a teacher to come along and put an end to it. She felt her blood boiling, but the last thing she wanted to do was get in a fight because the Slytherins threw the same insult at her for the thousandth time.

It wasn't worth it, she told herself. But she kept her wand pointed at Bellatrix Black, anyway.

"Don't be silly," Bellatrix said, her own wand pointing menacingly at Lily's throat. "We're trying to show Regulus how to deal with your kind."

Regulus's eyes glanced from Lily to Bellatrix, his expression slightly panicked at having his name thrown so unexpectedly into the fray.

"Her kind's just the same as yours or ours," Fabian said, disgusted by every word that fell from Bellatrix's lips.

Bellatrix scowled. "Don't you try to put her on the same level as me, Prewett," she spat. "Your level, fine, since your family's so caught up in Muggle-loving that they might as well toss their wands away and join them. It would do us all some good."

Lily couldn't stand it anymore; she might want to put the self-satisfied Slytherin in her place, but she knew that it wouldn't do her any good.

"Why don't you run off, go talk about how great it is to be a pureblood?" Lily suggested, shoving her wand back in her pocket. "Go on, go rave about that mad tosser you're all so eager to join…"

Lily made to turn then, to walk away from the Slytherins and the fight they were trying to incite. But her words had toppled Bellatrix's already ill temper over the edge.

The curse hit her – fast, painful – Lily felt the blood pour from the gash that had materialized down the side of her neck…

She fell to her knees, her hands shaking violently as they moved to the injury, trying to stem the flow of blood. In front of her, Frank and the Prewetts had retaliated, shooting hexes at the Slytherins and dodging the ones shot at them. Lily couldn't tell which jinx hit who; the only things she could register were the shouts of the fighters and the crowd, and jets of light as they exploded around her.

She was losing too much blood – it was dark and sticky against her skin, and there was too much of it. There was a dull roar growing louder in her head, and everything was getting darker, her vision was swimming and she felt like she was going to be sick and why was she still bleeding? The pain was blinding, excruciating.

Her body slumped over completely; she felt the cold stone as it met her overheated skin, and the blood was still pouring. The darkness was consuming her and everything sounded as though it were coming from very far away…

"Lily!"

4:34 P.M.

James had wandered rather aimlessly after his final lesson, looking for Lily. He'd decided that he needed to clear his head with her first, and then he could find Remus and fix things between all the Marauders. It wasn't much of a plan, but it was better than sitting around and waiting for things to get better by themselves; if anything, they probably would have gotten worse.

So he walked around the corridors, hoping that he would run into Lily, but once he saw a Lily-less Alice and Marlene, he called quits on his navigational skills and pulled out the Marauder's Map. His eyes scanned the parchment, locating her out on the grounds; her dot was stationary, so he imagined that she was sitting outside, hiding, her nose stuck in a book.

The image made him smile more genuinely than he had in two days, and he tucked the map back in his pocket as he left the castle to find her.

Of course, he hadn't expected to find her quite like this.

The first thing he saw when he came upon this particular area of the courtyard was the crowd. They'd formed a circle around whatever was happening in the center, but no one seemed to want to get too close; when James caught sight of the jets of light, he didn't wonder why.

Lily had to be there somewhere, he thought, pushing his way through the throng of shouting students. He saw Frank Longbottom and the Prewett brothers, dueling fiercely with some of the Slytherins; everyone involved seemed to have retained some injury, but it was hard to tell what exactly they were since everyone was covered in blood.

As the image of all that blood settled itself comfortably into James's mind, he saw her: Lily was lying motionless behind Frank and the Prewetts. From what he could see of her, her skin was chalk-white and blood was streaming out of a gash in her neck… more blood than was covering anyone else, more blood than all of them combined…

"Lily!"

James rushed forward and fell to his knees at Lily's immobile side. Her eyes were shut and her breathing was shallow. James turned her carefully onto her back, suddenly unaware of the fight raging behind him.

"Damn it," he swore as he got a good look at her. There was too much red; it was falling from her neck and caking her skin – her hands, her jaw line, her shoulder and down her arm…

There were more shouts and James felt the ground shudder violently beneath him. The spells had stopped flying, and James turned to see a clear, rippling mass of something that now separated the Slytherins from James, Lily, and the others. Someone must have shot a barrier there…

"What on earth –" It was a livid Professor McGonagall, followed closely by Dumbledore and Slughorn.

"Calm, Minerva," Dumbledore said, recognizing the fury in his colleague's voice and placing a hand on her shoulder.

"Calm?" McGonagall repeated the word as if she'd never heard it before. "Never, in my entire time at Hogwarts, have I witnessed such a display of careless, moronic –"

"Professor!" James yelled. He didn't want to shout at her, but under the circumstances he thought it was the most appropriate thing to do. "Professor, it's Evans; she's hurt. I don't – I can't wake her up."

McGonagall's fury dissipated when she came forward and saw Lily's too-still body. She bent down and took her pulse. "It's there," she murmured. "It's not much, but there's something."

Dumbledore turned to Slughorn. "Horace, take your students to your office and wait for me there," he instructed. "I will deal with everyone separately."

Slughorn nodded and motioned for the Slytherins to follow him. Bellatrix tossed a furious look over her shoulder, but there was something oddly triumphant in the movement when her eyes fell on Lily. James's hand itched for his wand, but he knew it wasn't something he could risk. Not then, anyway.

"Is she all right?" Fabian asked anxiously. He was holding his arm up to his nose, stemming his own flow of blood with his sleeve.

"She will be," McGonagall said. She looked at James. "We need to get Miss Evans to the hospital wing immediately; Potter, could you carry her?"

James nodded. He slid his arms beneath Lily as gently as he could and lifted her; her body was limp and warm against his, and her head lolled against his shoulder, blood trickling down her neck and over the front of his robes. He didn't care about the blood, but this wasn't exactly how he'd pictured the first time he got to wrap his arms around her.

"You three –" McGonagall began, turning to the others, but they stood their ground.

"We want to make sure she's all right," Frank said, and the Prewetts nodded fervently.

"Then off you go," Dumbledore said, ushering them all forward. "Minerva, if you could disperse the crowd, please…"

McGonagall obliged, shooing away the surrounding students, all of whom were clamoring to get a good look at Lily's injury. "Fight's over, move along now…"

James made his way through the courtyard, Lily still in his arms, Dumbledore, Frank, and the Prewetts trailing behind. He tried to ignore the fear that was rising in his chest, tried to bury it; if he let it take over, he'd lose his head completely, and he couldn't afford to break right now. He had to make sure everything was going to be okay.

When they arrived at the hospital wing, Madam Pomfrey gasped audibly at the sight of Lily, hardly batting an eye at Frank and the Prewetts' minimal injuries. She had James lay Lily down on a bed at the end of the wing, away from any prying eyes that might pass by to get a look at her condition. She drew the curtain around the bed, forcing the others to wait on the other side of it.

"Don't give me that look, Potter," Madam Pomfrey said as she did this. "I can't take care of her with you breathing down my neck."

James scowled but Madam Pomfrey drew the hangings, anyway.

Dumbledore's twinkling blue eyes surveyed each of the boys in turn, landing on James last, and he said, "Explain."

"I'd love to, Professor, but it wasn't me this time," James told him, slightly offended by Dumbledore's assumption. Had the consequences of the duel been less dire, James would have felt rather proud, but that level of confidence failed him as he wondered what was happening behind that curtain.

"It was us, Professor," Frank inserted. "Well, it was Black, mostly…"

And he regaled Dumbledore and James with the details of the fight they'd only seen the end of. When Frank was finished, Dumbledore studied him quietly for a moment and then asked, "So, Mr. Longbottom, it was the Slytherins who instigated the ordeal?"

"Depends on your definition of 'instigate,'" Gideon answered for Frank. "I pulled my wand out first, but it was a precautionary measure, really –"

"Mr. Prewett, do you consider it self-defense when you've been given nothing to defend against?"

"Nothing to defend against?" Fabian repeated incredulously. "All due respect, sir, but were you listening to Frank at all? Black attacked as soon as Lily put her wand away, all because she called Voldemort a mad tosser, which is a right side better than what the lot of them call her –"

Dumbledore held up a hand to stop Fabian's impassioned explanation. "Miss Black will be held accountable for her actions," he assured the boys. "I have to say, though, that I am rather disappointed in you three –" his gaze fell on Frank, Fabian, and Gideon – "considering what we discussed the other day."

"How could you possibly be disappointed?" Frank demanded, enraged. "This is what we talked about! Defending our side, fighting against Voldemort and all his bollocks prejudices. The only reason we fought at all was because Lily was lying on the ground, blood spouting out of her, and the Slytherins were throwing curses as soon as that gash opened in her neck!"

James was beginning to feel ill as he listened to Frank and the Prewetts defend their position. But more than that, he found himself feeling equally as angry – angry that Dumbledore wasn't listening, angry that he hadn't been in the courtyard from the beginning…

"This is mad," he said, his eyes finding Dumbledore's. "This whole thing. It's insane. What are you doing here, Professor, scolding us when none of the Slytherins are stuck in the hospital wing? They're always picking fights, always the first to throw a hex, and all the while they're muttering under their breath about filthy Mudbloods –"

"Mr. Potter." Dumbledore's voice was its usual calm, but the twinkle had gone from his eyes. "I am quite aware of your position on the matter. However, that does not excuse hatred and intolerance –"

"They hated us first!" James exploded. His hands were balled into fists at his sides, his fingernails digging painfully into his palms. "And in case you haven't noticed, our hatred and intolerance hasn't lost them any blood!"

Before Dumbledore could respond, the curtain opened behind them and Madam Pomfrey reappeared, giving them all highly disapproving looks but not commenting on the volume of the row anymore than that.

She looked at Dumbledore. "I've managed to stop the bleeding," she told him, "but I'm not sure that there's anything I can do for the cut itself. I've never seen a curse like it before."

Dumbledore nodded, a frown line appearing between his brows. "I'll set off for Slughorn's office now," he said. "I'm sure Miss Black would be happy to tell us what the curse was."

His eyes flickered once again over the four boys, but he said nothing more and, with a sweep of his robes, he walked down to the end of the hospital wing and left it, the door swinging shut behind him.

James turned back to Madam Pomfrey. "Is she awake?" he asked, his heart pounding wildly against his ribcage, his stomach twisted in unpleasant knots.

"No, but she will be," Madam Pomfrey said. She turned to the others. "You three, come along, I'll fix you right up."

Fabian and Gideon clapped James reassuringly on the back as they followed the nurse back down the ward. Frank grasped his shoulder and said, "She'll be all right."

James nodded. "Frank," he said as his friend made to move past him. "Thank you. I just – I wish I'd been there, too."

Frank gave him a heartening smile. "Anytime, mate," he said. "As long as we're around, you don't have to worry about leaving her alone."

"Yeah," James said. He knew that Frank was right, but he wished he'd been there, anyway.

As Frank followed the others to the other end of the hospital wing, James pulled back the curtain surrounding Lily's bed and stepped behind it. He dropped himself into the chair beside her, elbows on his knees as he leaned forward, watching her anxiously.

She was still so pale, he observed. The gash on her neck was clean, but it stood out bright and jagged against the translucent hue of her skin. The cut ran a crooked line from the space behind her ear all the way down to her shoulder, and James was sure it would scar.

But she was breathing, he saw; the faint but steady rise and fall of her chest comforted him. He could see her face, eyes still closed, but her breath still fluttered out from between slightly parted lips. He ran tentative fingers down the side of her face. Her skin was soft, flawless, and only slightly warm, her body temperature having returned to normal with the help of Madam Pomfrey.

The nurse reappeared as soon as the thought crossed James's mind. He heard her, but refused to tear his eyes away from Lily's face.

"I'm not going anywhere," he said stubbornly, sure that she'd come back to kick him out.

Madam Pomfrey sighed. "I expected as much," she said, "but you've got some visitors of your own."

James turned at that, and saw Sirius, Peter, and – surprisingly enough – Remus. He swallowed nervously. "Hey, chaps," he greeted them uncertainly, his eyes on Remus.

"I've agreed to let them stay," Madam Pomfrey said grudgingly. "But ten minutes only, and then I must insist that you all return to your dormitory –"

"I told you, I'm not leaving," James interrupted, causing her to sigh again.

"Yes, Potter, I know. But the rest of you, ten minutes."

"Sure, sure," Sirius said unconcernedly, waving her away. The nurse glared at him for a moment but left them for her office, the door snapping shut behind her.

The boys were quiet for two solid minutes before any of them spoke, and it was Remus who broke the silence.

"I'm sorry, James."

James shrugged, his eyes still on Lily. "I should have been there."

"You can't be with her all the time," Remus told him, putting a hand on his shoulder.

"Yeah," James said, "I s'pose that would get rather insufferable, wouldn't it?"

"Not that you're not insufferable enough as it is," Sirius piped up. He shoved his hands in his pockets and frowned at Lily's unconscious form, a dark look passing over his face as he thought about what had gotten her there. "My cousin's a piece of work, isn't she?"

James felt the anger rise in his throat. "I'll say," he said. He looked around at his friends. "How'd you find out about this, anyway?"

"We saw Slughorn and the rest of them heading down to his office," Peter told him. "So, naturally, our curiosity was piqued and we listened at the keyhole, put the pieces together."

"We ran into Frank and the Prewetts on our way here, too," Remus said. "They filled in the blanks."

"Right." James's eyes were only on Remus now. "But I've got a blank for you to fill in, too."

Knowing where James was going with this, Remus said, "You didn't think I'd stay angry with you forever, did you?" he said, a wry smile moving across his lips. "Mind you, it would have lasted longer if not for the extenuating circumstances."

James wasn't quite sure what to say to that. Remus had every right to be angry for as long as he liked, and yet here he was, forgiving them all just like that, all because one of his friends fancied a girl who'd been carted to the hospital wing, courtesy of the same feud that Remus had been raging about only two days ago.

So James didn't say anything at all. He stood up and pulled Remus into a tight hug, trying to convey everything he was feeling into the simple gesture – his regret, his apology, and his thanks. Remus returned the embrace, patting James twice on the back before they pulled apart.

"You lot are always there for me," Remus said. His eyes slid to Sirius then. "No matter how incredibly selfish you can be."

"Come on, Moony," Sirius said, his desire to get things back to normal overriding his still fresh guilt. "I told you, I'll do your laundry for the rest of term to make it up to you."

Remus rolled his eyes. "An apology that would hold a lot more weight if the house-elves didn't already do the laundry."

"It's the thought that counts, isn't it?"

Remus's retort was cut off by the sound of footsteps rushing up to the end of the ward. The boys looked around to see a frantic-looking Alice Prewett and Marlene McKinnon as they made their way towards them.

Alice made an odd squeaking noise when she saw Lily, her hand moving to cover her mouth as her eyes brightened with unshed tears. Marlene looked on, stony-faced as she thought of who had done this to her friend.

"Frank told us," Marlene answered the Marauders' unasked question. "Fabian and Gideon, too. They found us at dinner. I'll tell you, I've never seen the three of them look more murderous…" She shook her head. "Never thought I'd be scared of Longbottom and the Prewett boys, but there you go."

She looked at James then. "They told us about how you lost it with Dumbledore, too. I'm surprised he didn't stick you in detention for your bad mouth."

James frowned at her. "You would've said the same thing as I did, McKinnon," he pointed out.

"Oh, I'm sure I would have said worse," Marlene agreed. "That wasn't an insult, Potter; I think Dumbledore's too soft on the mad purebloods, too."

"Oh." James felt a little guilty then. "Right. Sorry."

"Whatever." Marlene brushed it off good-naturedly. She looked at Sirius next. "Speaking of murderous things, though, I've come up with ten successful ways to kill your cousin and get away with it. Interested?"

Sirius grinned at her. "Very."

Alice shot the pair of them a reprimanding look. "Don't joke," she said, her eyes shining. "You think it's funny, but that's the sort of thinking that got Lily here in the first place."

"It's not funny, and I'm not joking," Sirius told her, but he was sure to keep his voice softened so as not to upset her. Alice hadn't done anything wrong, and she really was right; it just didn't lessen his anger at the situation. "My family thinks it's the worst thing to be a blood traitor, but they don't think twice about spilling any."

"So maybe you should be above that," Alice snapped. "I know you're mad, but join the club. Getting back at the Slytherins isn't going to solve anything."

"Maybe not," Sirius said, "but it would sure make us all feel better."

"Speak for yourself."

All of them whipped around at the noise. The words had been spoken quietly, hoarsely, but there was no mistake: Lily had opened her eyes and was looking at them expectantly, waiting to be acknowledged.

"Oh, Lil, are you all right?" Alice asked hurriedly, her hand moving to push Lily's hair back in a comforting gesture. James felt a sense of longing tug at his stomach muscles, but he stayed back, letting Alice and Marlene fuss over their friend.

"Fine," Lily said, her voice still quiet. She looked at Sirius. "I told you not to get yourself in trouble, didn't I? That includes not killing anyone."

Sirius couldn't help but grin. "You told me not to get caught."

"You're much too narcissistic to not brag about pulling off murder."

"Glad to see that your sense of humor hasn't been damaged, Evans."

Lily returned his smile, and James felt the pull in his stomach again.

"Are the others okay?" Lily asked, looking around at the group. "Frank and Fabian and Gideon? I know they were fighting."

"Of course they're okay," Marlene said, taking one of Lily's hands in hers. "They're pissed, but relatively unscathed."

"Do me a favor, Alice," Lily said. "Distract Frank by snogging him, right, and then your brothers will forget about the Slytherins, too."

Everyone laughed and Alice said, "I'm sure I could talk him into it, yeah."

The sound of laughter spurred Madam Pomfrey, leading her out of her office and towards the crowd around Lily's bed. She was carrying a bottle of medicine and wearing a frown.

"All right, you lot," she said as she approached, "your ten minutes are more than up, I think. Everyone run along. Except you, Mr. Potter," she added impatiently when James opened his mouth to protest. She wasn't in the mood to argue with an emotionally exhausted teenage boy.

Alice and Marlene hugged Lily and told her they'd be back to see her the next day. Remus said he'd take over her patrols for however long she was in the hospital wing, and Peter (blushing slightly) told her to get better soon. Sirius hooked pinkies with her and shot her a wink before turning to James and saying, "Don't give me that look, Prongs; Evans and I have an understanding."

James rolled his eyes at Sirius's purposefully smug attitude, and then the group left the hospital wing, leaving James sitting next to Lily's bed as Madam Pomfrey applied dittany to the gash.

"Do you know what it was? The curse, I mean," Lily asked the nurse, trying to distract herself from the sting of dittany on her injury.

"The headmaster sent a note along a bit ago," Madam Pomfrey told her. "It wasn't something he'd heard of, but he got what he needed from Miss Black and the rest of them. It's too late to avoid scarring, but the dittany should help with the pain, at least."

"He didn't happen to mention any punishment, did he?" James asked, although he already knew the answer.

"I didn't think to ask," Madam Pomfrey said. She stuck the cork back in the bottle of medicine. "That should do for now, Miss Evans. You'll stay the night, of course, and we'll discuss what to do with you from there tomorrow."

Lily nodded and, satisfied that her orders hadn't been met with any protest, Madam Pomfrey went back to her office, leaving James and Lily alone.

Lily looked at him curiously, as though she were trying to figure something out. James waited for her to speak. "That was you, wasn't it?" she asked at length.

"Er… what was me?"

"You yelled my name," Lily went on. "Right before I passed out in the courtyard, I heard you. You must have just gotten there."

"Oh." James ruffled his hair sheepishly. "Yeah, I guess that was me, then."

Lily offered him a sympathetic smile. "I'm sure I was something of a fright, wasn't I?"

"Well, seeing you like that scared me half to death, if that's what you mean," James blurted without thinking. He felt his face flush. Perhaps that had been too much.

"Oh." Lily's face went pink and she wasn't sure what to say next; that is, until she spotted the bloodstains on James's shirt collar. "They didn't get you too, did they?"

"What?" James looked down to see what Lily was staring at. "Oh – no, they didn't. That's, um, that's from you." His face grew hotter. "McGonagall, she – she asked me to carry you to the hospital wing, and you were still bleeding…"

Oh, God, why are you still talking? he wondered furiously. Shut up, shut up, shut up. "So, uh – so that's that."

Lily wrinkled her nose. "That's unpleasant – someone else's blood on you, I mean," she said, stumbling over her words. "Sorry about that."

What are you sorry for? she demanded internally. You were unconscious, you couldn't help where your blood went!

"Don't be," James insisted. "So does it – does it hurt? Your neck?"

Stupid prat, of course it does! You saw all that blood. It nearly gave you a heart attack, remember?

"A bit, yeah," Lily said. "The dittany helps. Does it look terrible?"

No, Lily, there's a big red line streaking down your neck, and it's not noticeable at all. In fact, you've never looked better.

"No," James said, more or less honest. "Well, I mean, the cut itself, it's – it's pretty wicked. But you don't look terrible. You're –" Gorgeous, smart, beautiful, funny, perfect, please will you let me kiss you? – "it's not bad."

That was good enough for Lily, and the way he was staring at her was making her slightly uncomfortable, and the fact that it was the sort of discomfort that she somehow liked made it worse, so she changed the subject.

"I'm surprised Pomfrey let you stay," she said. "She usually kicks everyone out. We need our rest, you know."

James smiled. "I told her I wasn't going anywhere."

"Oh." Bad subject change, then, Lily thought. Stupid, stupid, stupid…

James could tell that something was bothering her, and he had a feeling that it was the same something that was bothering him, but he didn't want to push his luck because he couldn't afford to get his hopes up because that's when he messed everything up. He wasn't going to do that anymore.

"I actually – I wanted to talk to you about something," he said, resolved to talk to her about what he'd sought her out for earlier. "That's why I came looking for you after classes today, but, well, considering everything…" He trailed off with a shrug.

"Right." Lily's mouth was dry. He wasn't going to ask her out, was he? That seemed like something James Potter would want to talk to her about, and what better time to do it than when she was lying in a hospital bed? She couldn't jinx him or hit him or run away and really she could hardly say no to him, since she was stuck here and he'd just keep pestering her.

But did she even want to say no anymore?

Yes, of course you do, don't be stupid, her sensible side told her. He punches people in the face and he badgers you constantly and he stares at you and he's always trying to catch you off-guard by touching you and making you feel good about yourself. You do not want to go out with him.

Lily shook her head to clear it, to shut herself up. "So then," she said, drowning out the voice inside her head with her real one, "what is it?"

"I – well, I understand if you don't want to talk about this," James said, suddenly realizing what he'd be asking of her if he brought this up. Damn it. "You know, actually, maybe this is a bad time for it –"

"No, tell me," Lily said, genuinely interested. "You have to; you've made it sound far too interesting for me to shrug it off now."

James rumpled his hair again; he always did it when he was nervous, and nothing was more nerve-wracking than Lily Evans.

"All right," he said, dropping his hand into his lap. "I wanted to talk to you about… about Snape."

Lily's brow furrowed. "Oh." Quit saying that! Do you not know words?!

"It was something Remus said the other day," James continued, fumbling as he tried to properly articulate his thoughts. "He was right, of course, Remus is always right, and it made me think about you – about me and you, and how I acted last year. I thought that maybe if I didn't talk to you about it now, it'd come back to bite me in the ass, you know."

"Okay." Oh, great, you've added an extra syllable. You're making great strides, Evans.

"Okay, so…" James's hands ran through his hair again, making even more of it stand on end. "So I guess, the thing is, I was – I was always sort of jealous of Snape."

"What?" Lily said, astonished that James would feel that way, that he would actually admit it out loud. "What – why would you be jealous?"

"Because." Well, that's a lousy answer, you big idiot. James scuffed his shoes against the floor. "You know, because he was your friend and you hated me and I know I was a great prat, but I wanted to know you so bad…" Shut up, shut up, she's going to punch you.

"James…"

The sound of his name on her lips made James's heart skip around his chest, up and down his ribcage, jumping from his stomach to his throat and back again.

Lily struggled to say more. "Me and Sev – Snape – we were friends," she said, her words coming out in a stream-of-conscious sort of way. "Look what happened to us, though. That's nothing to be jealous of."

"Well, right, I wasn't then," James said. "I'm not anymore, not so much. But it was like… he got to be around you, and the closer I got to you, the more hexes I got hit with. Understandably and all, and I'll tell you, Evans, it's a privilege to stare down the end of your wand –"

Lily laughed and James noticeably relaxed.

"Well," she said, and she held out a hand for James to take, which he did, "you can know me now, if that's any consolation."

James smiled and ran his thumb over the back of her hand, warm and steady and real in his own. "I think I can feel better about that, then, yeah," he said.

Then he took a chance and lifted her hand, turning it slightly and pressing his lips against the inside of her wrist. He felt her pulse pick up speed to match his heartbeat.

Lily swallowed the inexplicable lump that had formed in her throat. "Okay," she said. "I'm – I'm going to go to sleep now."

"All right." James didn't let go of her hand.

"Are – you're staying, then?"

He nodded.

"Okay."

Lily fell asleep a little while later, lulled into a peaceful slumber as both of James's hands enveloped the one of hers he'd been holding. When she was asleep, he brought her hand back to his lips and kept it there, closing his eyes, losing himself to her scent and the feel of her skin against his.

A/N: Well, there you have it. I've been waiting to write this chapter for awhile, and I'm quite fond of how it turned out. Hopefully I've given you equal parts action/intrigue/fluff here; I've been trying to strike a better balance between the two, and this seemed like the perfect opportunity to play with that.

Before I leave you, I wanted to mention another review that said that James should be angrier about all the Snape business. I avoided that here because I felt that, under the circumstances, he wasn't going to go off on Lily about it. But I completely agree and, rest assured, it's coming. That sounds ominous, doesn't it? Ah, well… ;)