Hey everyone!

I have just the one chapter for you today I'm afraid. But I am also posting a one-shot called Excalibur so if you want to, check that out as well. It's about when Harry's just been born and the marauders are visiting Lily and James in the hospital.

I'd just like to say thanks to the people who reviewed my last chapter: naturalme9, Clozza and Guest. Thanks guys! They made my day! :)

Anyway, here's Chapter Ten! I hope you enjoy it!

Chapter Ten

Albus Dumbledore swept through the halls of Hogwarts in the dead of the night when all the students under his protection at the magical school were supposedly asleep. He made his way down to the main gates of the school, through the winding passages he had known since he was eleven and out the doors to trek across the grounds until he met them. They were wrought iron and heavy as gold, something which no mere man could open on his own. However, with a swift flick of his wand, the gates opened smoothly and quietly for Dumbledore. It was with another wave of his wand that the they closed again, a barely audible clash that signifying that it had been done. He looked up at the castle with its turrets and odd architecture, the winged boars atop the pillars either side of the gates looking menacing and protective. He wouldn't be gone long and he was only heading down to the Three Broomsticks. But in a time like this when everything was far more dangerous than anyone really knew, he couldn't help but worry about the lives of everyone and everything inside the fortress of Hogwarts. Hopefully, the information he was to receive tonight from Benjy Fenwick and Marlene McKinnon would bring him a step closer to stopping the evil that was closing in.

He found his way down the twisting path to Hogsmeade and stopped at the Three Broomsticks pub. He knocked three times in rhythm and the door was opened by a weary eyed Madame Rosmerta. She was wearing a long blue night dress with a grey woollen cardigan over the top and donned a night bonnet to match. She was holding a candle-lit lamp in her left hand, shining Dumbledore's way into the pub.

'They're upstairs for you.' she said, trying to hold back a yawn. It was very late.

'Thank you Madame Rosmerta.' Dumbledore said, bowing his head graciously at the pubs land lady, 'I am sorry for waking you.'

'Oh don't worry about it.' Rosmerta yawned, unable to keep it in this time, 'I know it's important. I just wish importance could have waited for a few more hours.'

'My usual room?' he asked her, ignoring her last comment. He didn't have time to be profusely sorry right now. This information could not have waited for a few more hours. Everything involving Voldemort and his latest plans was timesensitive. The sooner Dumbledore knew about it, the quicker he could begin finding a soloution to put a stop to it. After all, if he didn't, who would?

'Yes, yes.' Madam Rosmerta said, showing him the way up the rickety stair case to the third door along. She opened it revealing the lighted room and the two young people who were waiting in there.

The room they were in was bare. The two armchairs, a small round low table in the middle of them and a hat stand near the door were the only pieces of furniture in the room. About a year ago, Dumbledore had begun renting this room from Madame Rosmerta for urgent Order business. Of course, she didn't know exactly what it was for. But still she obliged Dumbledore on his requests to remove the beds, wardrobe and drawers that used to stand in this room and still continued to turn a blind eye to why Dumbledore wanted this room. She had a rough idea which was why she was so willing to get up at ridiculous times to accommodate him but she never confirmed it. She didn't want to. And that suited Dumbledore perfectly. It allowed him hold small meetings with various members of the Order without fearing that Rosmerta was going to barge in to fulfil her duties as a hostess, offering drinks around with reckless abandon and accidently stumbling across information she ought not to know.

'Thank you Rosmerta.' Dumbledore said, gliding past her and into the room. He turned to face her before she shut the door. 'Your assistance is greatly appreciated.' He turned his back to her again and only when he heard the door click shut did he gesture the two twenty something's to sit in the squishy armchairs by the roaring fireplace. They did so. He then walked over to the fireplace and stood near the mantle, turning to face Benjy and Marlene who were now settled into their armchairs.

'New information has come to light then I presume?' he said, directing the question to Marlene.

'Yeah.' she said with a bob of her head. She was a conventionally pretty twenty-two year old girl with some spunk. She had sleek chestnut hair which she tied back into a rough ponytail, some of it still hanging down at the front to frame her thin face. She had similarly coloured eyes, framed by long luscious eye-lashes, detailed with a beauty spot next to her right eye and hung under perfectly shaped thick eyebrows. She had slightly tanned skin and was painted with freckles over the bridge of her nose. Her lips were coloured in a mauve-purple which curved in a serious line as she continued. 'We heard a couple of death eaters talking about it at their last meeting. Dug a bit deeper. And think we've finally pieced it together. We wanted to make sure though before we came to you with it all and such.'

'Thought you'd appreciate that.' Benjy said, sending a wink over to Marlene who shook her head amusedly in reply. Benjy was the type of person to put in his two cents only after the information had been relayed already. However, if he found something particularly important, he liked to say it.

Benjy was twenty-four years old, almost twenty-five, and was a typical lay-about lad. He had shoulder length wavy hair which was a dirty blonde, matching the designer stubble he had been working on and the small square patch he had left unshaven under his bottom lip. He had a natural cheek to his curved smile, a straight arrow nose and seaweed green eyes which were set a little too far apart. He should have been wearing glasses but he never did, not liking the look they created when combined with his thick eyebrows.

Together, the two twenty-something's, were partners. Not romantic partners, but work partners. They had a good rhythm together and so, when assignments were dished out at Order meetings, they would confirm with each other before taking them. They both knew the seriousness of what they were doing and the risks they were taking. Many people in their situation would have been scared. They would have lost themselves to the fear of knowing they could die at any minute. But these two acted as if they were office workers and their volunteer jobs were nothing more than normal nine to five jobs at the ministry offices. They still lead normal lives, Benjy looking after his grandfather who was a permanent resident at St. Mungos and Marlene with her boyfriend who worked at Zonko's joke shop part-time. They laughed and joked and regularly met up with friends, their personality's able to break them free of the darkness they were involved in.

'What is this information you have collected?' Dumbledore asked Marlene, 'What is it in regards to.'

'Hang on a sec.' she said. She began to rifle through the pockets in her deep purple robes, the bottom riding up a bit to reveal black steel-toed boots with spider-webs on them, the drawn spiders moving around from painted string to painted string.

'Cool boots.' Benjy said with a grin.

'Thanks.' Marlene smiled cockily to Benjy before saying 'Aha!' and turning to Dumbledore. 'I wrote it down.' She leant over and tried to pass it to him but he stopped her by holding up his long slender hand.

'I'd prefer you to tell me.' Dumbledore said, 'I am afraid I have been reading all day and my eyes are a bit weary.'

'Oh. Sure.' Marlene shrugged. She unfolded the piece of parchment and squinted at it. 'Ok. So we managed to get to the boy who was under the imperius curse and read the file from the Minister of Magic's office, used that potion you gave us that would temporarily lift the memory wipe and then used the veritaserum and got him to tell us what was in that file. And as it was you-know-who who ordered the reading of it, we're pretty certain that you-know-who's new plan will be to do with the muggle prime-minister.'

'Go figure.' Benjy interjected. 'For someone who hates muggles I mean.'

'I think that's the point.' Marlene replied. She continued on to Dumbledore who stood in thought and listened intently.

'Okay. So, apparently, muggles can vote for who they want as minister, (good idea), and they do this every four years so long as a majority can be reached.' Marlene started, trying to make sense of her notes. 'The one they've got at the minute, Callaghan I think, doesn't want the general election to take place and it looks like, at the minute, he's gonna get his way. He's told the muggles it's because after he received private polling data, and from that has decided that a parliamentary majority is unlikely. Whatever that is anyway.'

'Sounds like a dessert.' Benjy stated, clasping his hands together, 'Parliamentary majority.'

'Continue please.' Dumbledore said, obviously understanding what Marlene was reading to him despite the fact she wasn't too sure of it herself.

'Errr…' she said, scanning over her parchment for where she left off and shortly recapping it. 'Right. Here we go. So he thinks it's unlikely and doesn't want muggles to vote. He wants to stay as prime-minister, more importantly to us, the Minister of magic needs him to stay as muggle prime-minister because he's worried about the time it'll take to explain the wizarding world and the situation it's in to a new prime-minister.'

'All this is what was reported in that file the kid in the Minister of Magic's office, who was under the imperius curse, read.' Benjy added, just repeating what was already known.

'So we must assume everything you are telling me, Voldemort already knows even if he does not.' Dumbledore murmured, ignoring the flinches the name he had uttered brought to the two in the room.

'Yes.' Marlene said, 'And if that is true, then you-know-who knows exactly what the Minister of Magic did to make sure the muggle prime-minister stayed where he was.'

'Which was?' Dumbledore asked.

'He used an unforgiveable curse.' Benjy stated.

Dumbledore looked mildly surprised and muttered to himself. 'I didn't think he'd have it in him.'

'He didn't.' Marlene said, hearing what Dumbledore had said even though she wasn't supposed to. She didn't think anything of it though. She just went back to her parchment and continued. 'So, he didn't actually cast any unforgiveable curses himself. He ordered the head of the auror department to do it for him. You see, according to this, during March earlier this year, the Minister of Magic was obviously getting worried about a change in the muggle government because at the time, after losing in a fake/mock election, the prime-minister faced something called a vote of no confidence. That basically means that, if it had taken place, Callaghan would have been fired because no-one had had confidence in him to keep doing the job he was doing. They'd have found a replacement for him.'

'Bit harsh.' Benjy said.

'Yeah.' Marlene agreed. 'So,' she went on, 'if a vote of no confidence was cast, the muggle world would have been in chaos. Two worlds in chaos is obviously gonna be very appealing to you-know-who. So, (I assume), to keep order in the muggle world so he could focus on the disaster in ours, the Minister of Magic ordered the Callaghan to make a pact with another candidate group lead by someone who had a shot at being the next muggle prime-minister: Steel his name is. The pact they made was to keep the current muggle prime-minister as muggle prime-minister. They called it a…err…'Lib-Lab' pact.' she nodded her head after turning her notes over to find the rest of the information they had discovered. She carried on. 'Basically, Steel agreed to help keep Callaghan in power even though he could have taken the job himself. That make sense?'

'Totally.' Benjy said whilst Dumbledore just nodded solemnly and gestured her to continue.

'The bit that we think Voldemort is interested in, is this: the leader of the other candidate group, Steel, didn't agree to the pact willingly.'

'The Minister of Magic order the head of the auror department to put him under the imperius curse and forced him to agree to it.' Benjy finished up.

'We think you-know-who might use it as blackmail.' Marlene said, folding up her notes and throwing them on the low table in the middle of hers and Benjy's armchairs.

'Entirely possible.' Dumbledore said, he leant down and picked up the notes, unfolding and studying them.

The room was silent for a little bit. Benjy raised an eyebrow at Marlene and jerked his head to Dumbledore as if to ask what he was doing. Marlene shrugged.

'Are you aware of when this pact was to end?' Dumbledore asked.

'Err…' Marlene paused. She stood up and walked over to Dumbledore, peering over at the notes he now had in his hands. 'It ended in September.'

'So, I must be right in thinking that, despite the Minister of Magic's attempts to delay it, an election will be taking place in the muggle world rather soon.' he said.

'Next year I should think.' Benjy shrugged. He was still sat down, staring over at where Dumbledore and Marlene stood.

'So not only does this information provide Voldemort with black-mail material, it also informs him as to who is susceptible to the imperius curse.' Dumbledore summarised. He began to pace in front of the fire place. Marlene sat back down in her armchair to give him room to do so.

'This information tells him that if he can get close enough to Steel, he can place him under the imperius curse, push him to power and rule over the muggle world which, I am sure, is one of his ultimate goals. Voldemort wants to purify wizard kind and if he has a position of power in the muggle world, he can begin to rid himself of them without arousing suspicion.' Dumbledore deducted, 'We must not let this happen.'

'No sir.' Marlene and Benjy said in unison.

'We must have a permanent guard assembled for all muggles who are taking part in the election for the next muggle prime-minister, particularly the ones who wish to take the title.'

'Yes sir.' Marlene and Benjy repeated.

'But we mustn't naive.' Dumbledore stated. He stopped pacing and turned to face them. 'This will not be the only plan Voldemort has in the works. We cannot focus all our attentions on it. We must keep searching for another move.'

'Sir?' Marlene said, 'We have information about that as well.'

Dumbledore looked mildly surprised. 'And what would that be Miss McKinnon?'

'It's on my notes.' she said.

Dumbledore looked down at her handwriting. Scribbled in the corner was one word: Marsket.

'What is Marsket?' Dumbledore asked her.

'I think you mean who.' Benjy said, folding his arms over the back of his head. 'And let me tell you. It is the oddest little link I've ever heard of.'

The auror class was an hour and a half into that days training and James was exponentially bored. Williamson was stood at the front, droning on in phrases of three, about how it was illegal to charm muggle objects for the amusement of the wizard. James had actually read chapters on this in each of the seven books he purchased about petty crimes. He had spent the best part of six and a half hours reading and re-reading practically the same information in each of these books. Why he had had to buy seven of them he would never know. They were basically all the same. The only differences between them were the covers, the authors and the wording of the laws. In the time he had wasted reading the sentence 'it is frowned upon when a wizard commits a petty crime but is not punishable by a sentencing to Azkaban' in seven different ways, he could have gone for a ride around the Quidditch pitch. Five hundred times. He could have gone out with Remus, Sirius and Peter. He could have had lunch with his mum as she had wanted or he could have made a surprise visit to Lily as she seemed too busy at the minute to make any definite plans with him. But no. Instead, he had spread himself out on the kitchen table and had proceeded to waste half a day in his life reading dribble that he could have, in any reality, blagged his way through. And now, Williamson was reiterating it all again. It was like he was in hell.

He was tired too. It had been the first night of the full moon last night and he, Sirius and Peter had had a hard time of it. Partly because waiting for Peter to turn up had consumed most of the night anyway. Apparently his mother had become suspicious of his sneaking out, worried that he might be leaving to go and consume copious amounts of alcohol with the wages he was earning at the magical menagerie. So she had stayed up for three extra hours demanding that he tell her if he was planning on sneaking out and reprimanding him for thinking of doing such a thing. He had tried to persuade her otherwise but had eventually caved in and told her he was going to go stay at James' that night but that they weren't planning on going out anywhere. To placate her further, he had ended up giving her all the money he had saved from his job, all of it, before begging her to let him go just this once. And then, when she still wouldn't, he had ended up spiking her tea with sleeping draught and going anyway. When asked why this wasn't his first move, he was unable to answer and instead snapped at Sirius for asking him. He had lost his life savings that night and drugged his mother. He was in no mood for Sirius' remarks. However, his mood was lifted, thrown into the air with excitement in fact, when James suggested that, instead of having to go through that again, he should just come and live in the mansion with them. He didn't know it, but James had given Peter a much needed moment of happiness.

When they had finally found their way to the forest on the very edge of the Potter property, apparating within an hour's walking distance from it before transforming to avoid Moony catching a whiff of their human scent, they had a hard time finding him. All transformed, they ran through the forest, scouring every detail, every inch of it. Prongs was beside himself, knowing that even though the mansion was acres and acres away from the forest on the edge of the property, there was still a chance that Moony could have made it there and realised that there was a human in the house: Jane Potter. She would be sound asleep by now and, if Moony did somehow manage to make his way in, she wouldn't be able to defend herself and he would lose two people he loved in one night. The other thing that ran through his mind was the other animals on the Potter property: the sheep, the horses, the chickens. But they needn't have done for they actually found Moony a few minutes later, trapped underneath some overgrown roots of a conifer tree. They assumed he had been chasing a rabbit.

It took Wormy two hours to nibble through enough of the root that was trapping Moony until it was weak enough for Prongs to stamp it broken with his hoof. Once he was free, for some unknown reason, Moony pounced on Padfoot who was sat harmlessly right in front of him, anxiously awaiting his friends freedom. Prongs had had to use the full force of his antlers to shift Moony off of him but unfortunately, Padfoot's nose was still scratched and clawed in the process. After that, keeping an angry and hurt Moony, (for he was aching after being stuck under a tree root for so long), had kept them alert and in constant demand for a few more hours until the sun rose and a tender Moony was replaced by an exhausted Remus. Once he had seen what he had done to Padfoot's nose he was so apologetic but once transformed, Sirius told him to forget about it. It didn't stop Remus making an apology breakfast for his friends though. From there, it was rest for Remus, work for Peter, and the auror training programme for Sirius and James.

So Sirius, (with a gash on his nose that needed to be healed really as it hadn't really stopped bleeding), and James were now sat, absolutely bored out of their minds, in the conference room on the second floor of the Ministry of Magic. Sirius's eyes kept dropping closed and it was only by Alice Prewett's constant jabs in his ribs that he didn't just fall to sleep. James, who was sat next to Frank Longbottom was more successful in staying awake, but only just. And in his exhausted mind, he couldn't help but think that, maybe if he wasn't hearing the same information he had read seven times, he would be able to concentrate just a little bit harder. As it was, he couldn't but technically he didn't need too.

As soon as the subject had come up, James had withdrawn the notes he had on the subject from his bag and set them out on the table. He was doodling around the edges of them so it would seem to Williamson that he was taking notes on her lecture. His doodles ranged from snitches to plans on a way to turn his entire mansion into a giant bouncy castle made from jelly, from unrecognisable stags to the simple initials L.E. This was something which Frank didn't fail to notice.

'Lily Evans?' Frank asked in a whisper. He was unaccustomed to James' doodling and so, even though he was pretty sure L.E. meant Lily Evans, (a standard James doodle), he still asked.

James looked at him with a bit of a derisive look, not particularly in the mood to be questioned or spoken to or, anything really. 'No.' he said sarcastically, 'It stands for Law Enforcement. You see I'm just so damned pleased to be here and hear about things I've already read I just had to express my love for it all and-'

'Mr Potter!' Williamson called out, turning to James. Due to his tired state, his ability to whisper or, the need for it in that moment, had slipped his mind. She had heard him speaking to Frank. She continued. 'I do hope you've been listening. I do hope that you are not here just to waste my time and I do hope that your proclamation of love for law enforcement is genuine.' She raised one stern eyebrow testingly.

James exhaled a frustrated breath of air and looked around him. Everyone, (bar Sirius who seemed to have actually succeeded in falling asleep without another nudge from Alice), was looking at him, but not with the adoration or expectation that he had once received at Hogwarts. Unfortunately, he was getting all to use to that whilst he was in that room. The glares from the students who despised the fact that Williamson often stopped the lecture she was giving to call James out for yet another thing he was doing that she viewed as disruptive. James was sure that, if she just let him get on with some of the things he did, like the odd harmless conversation, the rest of the students wouldn't be as annoyed with him. Of course, outside of the class, they were fine. They had been out to the Leakey Cauldron a few nights and he had had a laugh with them all but when they were in that seminar, they didn't see the fun and laughter they had with him elsewhere. That didn't mean, however, that he knuckled under and changed for them.

'Yeah of course it's genuine.' James snarked, 'Who here doesn't love sitting in this room week after week listening to a bunch of rules which we never actually get to practice.'

'Mr Potter I thought you were aware that the first year of this course is theoretical. It is something that everyone was made aware of in their acceptance letters.' Williamson replied, ignoring his sarcasm and folding her arms at him.

James sighed and lent back boyishly in his chair. 'I know.' He was a little thrown off by the fact that, for once, she wasn't speaking in chorus' of threes.

She stared at him with narrowed eyes. She didn't believe he cared about the theory and, she was right. It was clear in his demeanour in class. He never sat to attention. He never took notes. He didn't even have the books. Little did she know though, that despite that he wasn't taking notes that say and that he wasn't sitting to attention, he had bought the books thanks to a small, somewhat forced, intervention from his girlfriend. And he knew his stuff.

'Mr Potter.' she said, placing her hands on her hips, 'Are you aware of what we have been talking about for the past hour and a half?'

James just raised his eyebrows at her and folded his arms. He really, really, wasn't in the mood for this today.

'Mr Potter.' she continued on, despite his lack of an answer. A smile played around her lips. It was the smile she used when she kicked him out the other day. She was ready to do that again. 'What punishment is given to a witch or wizard who has enchanted an every-day object in an attempt to bait muggles and who would deal with it?'

James blinked at her and the class rolled their eyes, almost in unison as they expected, once again, for James to be kicked out of the class. Last time it was because he hadn't bought the books. But he had now. And it was quite a different story.

James breathed out in slight exasperation at Williamsons glare as he leaned forwards onto his desk and clasped his hands together. He looked her straight in the eye and spoke with complete ease and confidence. 'Depending on the severity of the case it will be handled by either the Magical Law Enforcement Patrol or the auror department. The severity is determined by whether the muggle has been severely hurt or harmed and is in need off medical attention by either our healers or their doctors. If they do need medical attention, the witch or wizard who has been doing the muggle-baiting will be requested to report to an inquiry hearing at which their punishment will be decided. As muggle-baiting is not an offence punishable by a one-way trip to Azkaban, the punishment is usually a fine of up to five hundred galleons and a mark on their criminal record. However, if it is just a juvenile prank and the muggle is nothing but confused about what has happened, the witch or wizard can get away with just a warning.'

When he had finished, practically reciting each of the seven books he had read this information continuously, he leant back in his chair again and folded his arms. He raised his eyebrows at Williamson, daring her to contest the answer he had given for he knew it was right. She may think he was lazy and a bit of a delinquent, a little bit thick, but James knew otherwise. He was incredibly smart even without reading and doing research. When he did do the work set however, it just tripled his intelligence output.

The room sat with open mouths. They had not expected, not in a million years, for all of that information to pour out of James Potter's mouth. A little bit of the summarised information he had given hadn't even been taught in the lecture yet. Some of the students, mainly the boys, were slyly trying to scribble down some of the facts that James had mentioned in an attempt to either fill their notes or give them a break a bit later when Williamson went on to fines, warnings and criminal records. A few of the thirteen or so girls in the class were doing the same. Another few were whispering between themselves, still shocked that James Potter had actually answered a question to the point of stumping Williamson with shock and the remaining through were looking at James with a new found level of attraction. Handsome, fun and now, smart to boot. A few of them wouldn't mind to have him on their arm. But James didn't particularly care, even though this attention was akin to what he had revelled in at Hogwarts. One, he was too tired and two, it made him think of Lily.

Lily who he hadn't seen since he went to see her at St. Mungo's the day he had been kicked out of the class he was in now. Lily who said she would write but had only written a grand total of two letters in the past week as she had had to study and go to dinner with her family and to her grandmother's grave and go to classes but not see him at all. Lily who he ached to see, touch, smell and hear with every fibre of his being but at the minute was restricted from doing so for reasons he couldn't quite fathom. He was still trying not to read too much into it but it had been going on for a while now, even before his surprise trip to St. Mungos, and he just felt that they had come too far for it all to come crashing down on them now thanks to a bit of distance. But, on the bright side, without that distance, without that push from her in St. Mungos to buy the books, the answer he had just given to Williamson would not have happened. It wasn't like he saw this as a shimmering silver lining to his distance with Lily but at least it was a positive. It was the only one he could think of.

'That is…' Williamson began, seemingly unable to settle on a word. Finally, after a few seconds, she found one. 'Correct.' she finished. It wasn't a huge compliment. It wasn't a compliment at all. Just a fact. And one she apparently wasn't willing to dwell on for, as soon as she had confirmed to the class that James had, indeed, answered her question correctly, she told them it was time for a break.

James let his head fall back over the back of his chair and took his glasses off. He rubbed his tired eyes and then moved his hand into his hair to mess it up just a bit more than it was, (just for good measure of course), and then put his glasses back on. He expected to just be able to sit there like that for the whole break but, thanks to his show of intelligence, a few people invited him to eat lunch with them. He had looked over to Sirius to see whether he wanted to go or not but, upon seeing that he was, as James suspected, asleep, he politely declined and said that he should probably try and boot some life back into Sirius. Everybody went down to lunch except the two boys, Alice and Frank.

'So,' Frank said, picking up James' doodled notes, 'Lily Evans?'

James sighed, hanging his head back over his chair and closing his eyes. 'Yep.' he answered in return to Frank.

'You do realise that stereotypically it's the girl who's meant to doodle their loves name right?' Frank laughed, trying to induce some humour into James. If he had known how exhausted he actually was and the reasons behind the tiredness, perhaps he would have left him alone and just gone down to lunch with Alice. But, as it was, he didn't know. All he knew was that Alice and Lily were best friends and, when they hung out and he was there, it was a bit uncomfortable for him sometimes as he knew nothing about what they were saying. It was like a foreign language. So if James came along, if he extended a hand of friendship to him, the boy who he had not particularly felt the need to become real friends with before, then maybe they could be uncomfortable together. Perhaps not though. James was known at Hogwarts for fitting into a situation easily and comfortably, as if he belonged there. It could be the same if he came with Lily when she saw Alice but, maybe not. For Frank, there was only one way to find out. But today, James wasn't interested. He was too tired.

'Yeah well…' James started, ruffling his hair again, 'What can I say? I'm a stereotypical girl trapped in a guy's body. Besides, this whole 'the girl does this and the boy does that' in a relationship is crap. Lily's the boss in our relationship.'

'Oh.' Frank stated, shifting uncomfortably, 'She gonna make you go to tea with Alice tomorrow then?'

James frowned and sat up. He clasped his hands together and sat, almost in the same position that he had when he had answered Williamson's question. He looked through squinted eyes at Frank. 'What?' he asked.

'Tea. Tomorrow?' he reiterated, seeing nothing wrong with his question. 'Alice wants me to come too cause I'm staying at hers and she doesn't want me to sit through an evening of twenty questions with her mum.' he laughed, 'And let me tell you-'

'They're having tea tomorrow?' James asked again. So Lily had time to write to Alice, to arrange tea with her but she seemingly had no time for him, not even an hour in the evening? It was really, really hard not to read anything into this now. Aside from his surprise visit to St Mungo's, it had been a month since he had seen her properly.

'Yeah.' Frank said cautiously, 'I mean…they haven't seen each other since summer, before we started this programme so I assume it's like some giant catch up.'

James lulled his head and pulled his hands down his cheeks in a tiny bit of frustration. He shouldn't think any more of this than it was. Obviously it was more pressing for Lily to spend a bit of time with Alice as they hadn't seen each other for far longer that he hadn't seen her. And that was probably due to him anyway. He knew that, the week before they had received their acceptance letters onto their perspective training programmes, Lily had had coffee with Alice, but not after that. He presumed that was because, at that time, he was taking up all the free time she had had when she wasn't absorbing the books she had bought for healer training. It was towards the end of summer that they had slept together and when he saw her after that, before programmes started, they had done it time after time. Every time. Perhaps the physical aspect of it all, and the need and desire for it they had started had overridden any urge she had to see her friends consequently causing a break between Alice and herself. It was only fair that Lily spent the free time she had tomorrow at tea with Alice. But that didn't mean it didn't force a twinge of jealousy through James.

'Yeah err…' James began, looking over, (a little enviously), at Alice, 'No I'm not going. Lily's said nothing to me so…'

'You should come.' Frank suggested, 'To be frank, it'll probably make things a bit more comfortable for me if you did. I don't understand half the things they say!' He laughed again.

James laughed with him but not at the same thing. No, what he had found extremely funny in his exhaustion was Frank's use of the phrase 'to be frank'. At the minute, that seemed hilarious to him because, in short, he was Frank and he obviously couldn't see the irony in it all. It made him chuckle.

'I can't go I'm afraid.' James stated after a good three minute laugh, something which, after about thirty seconds, Frank started to become a bit confused. James didn't reveal his source of humour though. Instead he continued with their conversation. 'I have stuff I have to do tomorrow evening and I can't bail. Permanent monthly engagement of sorts.' he said, referring to the full moon.

'Too bad.' Frank grimaced.

'Yeah.' James agreed before looking over to the still sleeping Sirius. 'Well,' he said, forcing himself to standing. 'Best wake this dingus up.'

Frank nodded and watched James walk over to Sirius and kick him in the shins to bolt him awake. At the same time as James walked away, Alice walked towards him.

'Lunch?' she asked.

'Yeah.' Frank said, nodding his head at her. They made their way out of the classroom. When they were out of earshot, Frank opened up a conversation.

'Hey, do you think Lily Evans and James Potter are still together?' he asked her curiously.

'Of course they are!' Alice exclaimed, wondering where on earth Frank had come up with the idea that they weren't. It was, to Alice, a bit of a ludicrous idea to think of a world where they weren't together. They were like each other's right hand. They couldn't be without each other. They were soul mates. They were together.

'Well are they having problems?' Frank continued to ask. He was someone who liked to know things. Not in a gossipy way but just in the need to know way. He liked knowing.

'Not that I know of.' Alice shrugged, 'Why?'

'Nothing really.' Franks said, 'It's just, he was doodling her initials and got a bit snappy when I asked about it is all. He's not coming to tea tomorrow either.'

'He was probably just annoyed at the lecture.' Alice suggested, 'He obviously knows it all already, I mean, you only have to look at the answer he gave to Williamson to know that. And he never comes with Lily when we hang out so…'

'Yeah but,' Frank sighed, 'I just think that something's wrong with him. I don't know him all that well but…he seems miffed.'

'With Lily?' Alice asked incredulously.

Frank nodded.

Alice looked at him in thought and saw that he was serious. Frank was the type of person to only point something like this out if he had genuine concern. What this concern was born out of, Alice didn't really know. But she couldn't stand the idea of something being wrong between her best friend and James. It was odd to think of really. So she made a resolve. 'I'll ask Lily tomorrow.' she said. And the topic was dropped until tea the next day.

Thanks for reading!

Review if you want to! And look out for Excalibur!

Galindaba