Hey there, I'm C.R. Richardson, your author for this fic :D

It's been almost a month since the last chapter I think – I know, I'm such a terrible author! That's way too long!

So, everything kind of starts falling apart in this chapter. Here comes all the lying and cheating – but I'll let you read it to find out what happens ;)

Sorry it's so short, I didn't really have any more to write for this chapter though... and it's only short compared to the long chapters I've been writing recently. This is about the same length as earlier chapters. Also, I have mocks, exams and a lot of stress at the moment. Which is why I wanted to get this chapter up so that deserting you for the next couple of weeks doesn't seem as bad.

Please review and tell me your opinions. Honestly, whenever I see that someone has reviewed my heart skips a beat, I get so excited! And you all want to see me happy right? :D

Hopefully you enjoy this and don't hate me for the length or anything else,

C.R. Richardson xx

(Disclaimer: I don't own Harry Potter, I'm not JK Rowling unfortunately.)

"So..." Lily followed Sam into the empty classroom.

He pulled out an empty goblet and set it on the table. It was bronze with intricate metal work spiraling up the stem. Using his wand, Sam muttered a spell that the two of them had been working on for the past couple of weeks.

Immediately after the last whisper of the spell left Sam's lips, the goblet started to morph. Two wings spread out on either side of it, and chocolate brown feathers were spreading over forming wings. Then a head unroled itself from the chest, two wide eyes stared bewildered at the students.

Lily errupted in applause. She had been patiently waiting for him to complete the spell for weeks now. She had watched him practise countless times, but never quite get, and now he had mastered it.

At the sudden noise the owl flew to the roof of the classroom, trying to escape. Lily couldn't wipe the grin off her face. "You did it!" She looked up at the perfectly formed owl.

Sam chuckled at Lily's excitement. "I had a good teacher." He said, catching her eye.

She blushed and looked away from Sam. "No, I'm sure this one is all you." She had almost forgotten the real reason why she had come – to find out what was really going on.

"Sam – I really need to talk to you." The Gryfindor student let the words tumble out of her mouth before she could regret saying them.

"Shoot." His attention was still focused on the bird, probably trying to figure out how to get it down and return it to goblet form.

"Sev said that it was your idea." Lily said quietly, studying his face as she spoke.

Eyes still trained on the owl, Sam thought through what she said. There was no denying that it was about the other night, that much was obvious. He slowly bought his face down to meet Lily's, making sure that he didn't give away any of the emotions he was actually feeling.

"What was my idea?" A smile tugged at the corner of his lips as he feigned ignorance.

Lily was starting to doubt Snape, her ex-best friend. "The other night... you know..." She swallowed. "When they..." Just hinting at what had happened was hard enough without filling out all the details.

"I know," he saved her from having to go into depth, "what you're talking about."

"Well? Was it your idea?" Lily was positioned a few steps away from him, keeping a safe distance. She was close to the door and looked like she was ready to run at any moment. There was fear in her eyes and a slight shake in her voice.

"Was what my idea?"

"Everything!"

"You're going to have to be more specific then that." Sam said with a smile. The owl sat on the big wooden rafters in the ceiling, a mere spectator, forgotten about by both students.

"Sev said you thought it would be fun to hurt me?" She spoke with pain and disbelief in her voice.

"I never said that!" He defended himself. "Why would I ever try and hurt you Lily? I really like you." Once the words were out he couldn't take them back. They hung in the air like a looming storm cloud. He knew that his problems were only just beginning with a confession like that.

Lily cleared her throat, buying time before she had to speak. "What?" She coughed out.

"Look, that really doesn't matter. I can't believe you would trust Severus over me."

"Well I have known him longer than I've known you." She thought that part was obvious. Although she hadn't personally told Sam her story, she was confident that he knew it already.

"I would never hurt you, Lily." He said quietly, looking directly into Lily's eyes, trying to show his sincerity.

"Ok," she nodded hesitantly, trying her hardest to believe him. She had never wanted it to have been Sam who implimented the whole thing. She had never wanted it to be Severus either, though. In fact, she had been quiet happy when she was blissfully unaware and didn't have to figure out this whole who-dunnit. Now, more than anything, she just wanted the nightmare to be over.

They heard voices coming from the corridor, and Lily realised that she was meant to be watching the Gryffindors play against the Ravenclaw team. James had asked specifically for her to be there and although she would never have missed the match anyway, she still promised to go.

Leaving the classroom, Sam and Lily made their way to the corridor. The noise was growing closer, it sounded like a chant that the students had made up but Lily couldn't make out the words yet. It was faintly coming closer towards them.

Lily looked down the corridor and listened to the noise; if she was correct, it sounded like students shouting "Gryffindor!" over and over interrupted by random bursts of undistinguishable yelling. A wall of students turned the corner and were now facing possibly the only two people who hadn't showen up to the game. Lily recognised almost all of them from her house, a couple were wearing yellow and black scarves identifying themselves as Hufflepuffs.

The Gryffindor Quidditch team were leading the pack, most likely back to their common room were a party was going to be inevitably held. Every single student was beaming and cheering, telling Lily that James and his team had in fact won the game. Lily's heart plunged as she realised that she had missed the game that she promised to be at.

Tami was standing near the front of the crowd that was now passing the two students. She noticed Lily standing off to the side not cheering. "There you are! Did you go to the game?"

"Um, no, don't tell James. How many points did we win by?" She thought that if she knew the right information, James would believe that she was there and just lost in the crowds.

"190 – 40," Tami grinned at the utter defeat by the Gryffindors. It had clearly been a short game, only a few points scored before the snitch had been caught. "What were you doing?" That was when the blonde haired Gryffindor caught sight of the only Slytherin in this corridor. She sent a look to Lily showing that she definitely did not approve.

Lily sighed. "We were practising Transfiguration."

Her eyebrows raised. "So you had to miss James' game?"

"I thought I would be there in time for the end." Lily tried to defend herself.

"Whatever. I'm going to the party, are you coming?"

"Maybe later. Do you know where James is?" She asked.

When Tami shrugged Lily told her that instead of going to the party she was going to look for James. Her friend bought up the valid point that if James was going to be anywhere it would probably be at the party, but Lily was hesitant to go with her because she was sure that if James was at the party he would have been leading the way with his team.

"Where are you going?" Sam asked, still standing behind her, when Tami had joined the crowd.

She had completely forgotten about him. "Oh, I'm going to look for James. I'll see you later, Sam. Good job on the spell by the way!" She called out as she walked swiftly down the corridor, hoping that serious damage control wasn't needed.

Lily stood in the middle of an empty field. Everybody had left; the Gryffindors and Hufflepuffs to party, the Ravenclaws and Slytherins to wallow in self-pity. She felt so isolated being there. The only other times she had been there was during a game with hundreds of students cheering loudly.

Only she wasn't alone. James was sitting in the stands, he hadn't noticed Lily yet, just like she hadn't noticed him. He was staring at the sky. His team had won, he should be overjoyed but he wasn't. There was a nagging feeling in the pit of his stomach that was pulling his mood down. He couldn't place what it was, just that there was something amiss.

Lily spotted him from her position on the field and waved but because he wasn't looking he didn't see her. She began her journey off the field and into the stands.

"Congratulations," she whispered in his ear. So focused on his own thoughts, James hadn't even heard her coming up behind him and so was shocked by her sudden apperance.

He turned around in his seat to face Lily and giving her a small kiss on her lips. "Thanks," he said, and shuffled to the side, gesturing for her to take the seat next to him.

"Where were you?"

She tried not to let the guilt show on her face. "What do you mean?"

"Instead of watching me play."

He seemed so calm about it, which was something Lily wasn't expecting. "I was here watching you!" She lied through her teeth, trying for a nonchalant approach.

James let out a small chuckle. "You're a terrible liar, you know that right?"

Lily smiled and laughed along with him, she had been told that once or twice. Most of the time she didn't even bother to try and be a good liar. Why should she need to lie? The truth is always better. "I know," she sighed.

"So, where were you?" He re-iterated his question.

She swallowed the lump in her throat. James may be fine about her not showing up to his game, but how would he feel if he knew what she was actually doing. "Sorry, I just got caught up with... work."

He knew she was lying. How could he not, she was so terrible at it like he just said. But he pretended like he thought that was like the truth. Pretended that she actually did have work to do because if she was lying about something than it must be pretty important. "Work...?" He muttered quietly under his breath. Sighing he decided that he should probably get to the party that would be raging in the common room. "Come on."

He stood up and offered Lily his hand, pulling them both out of the stands and along the path that would lead them back to the castle.

While Lily was off with James, Sam had gone back to the Slytherin common room nothing had gone as he had planned. Snape had decided to confess everything to Lily and Sam was pissed off. Lily now thought that everything was in some way his fault and he wasn't sure if he had managed to convince her into thinking otherwise.

"Sam!" The twins shouted cheerily as he entered the dorm he shared with them.

He was not in the mood their chipperness like he often humoured them by putting up with it. He sent them a withering glare.

"Sammy, what's wrong?" Lee pouted as he came over to the new arrival.

"Nothing." He spoke through his teeth. "Where's Snape?" He spat out.

Casey answered. "He's out."

"Can we help you?" Finished Lee.

"Yes, you can tell me where he is." Once Sam had found out from the twins exactly where Snape was he left the room promptly.

He strode down corridor after corridor making his way to the library, where the Prisa twins had last seen Snape. As he went up multiple staircases he imagined Lily partying in the Gryffindor common room with James. It made him so angry, wishing that it was himself she was dancing with not the ignorant Gryffindor Chaser.

As Sam rounded the corner he found himself facing Snape. He was completely opposite to the scrawny boy in front of him. Sam's skin was more tan compared to Snape's deathly pale complexion, he was taller by a good couple of inches and better built.

"Snape! What'd you do?" He snarled at the frightened looking Slytherin.

"What are you talking about?" Asked the bewildered boy.

Sam glanced around the corridor, wishing he didn't have to have this conversation in the middle of an open space but knowing that he couldn't have bottled his anger up until getting to a private room. "Lily knew everything and I had to lie to keep her from loosing her trust in me." He explained.

"Well maybe she shouldn't trust you." Snape said, trying to move around Sam who just stepped to the side and got in his way again.

"And what's that supposed to mean?" He was shocked at Snape taking a stand against him.

The twins were hiding around the corner listening in on the two Slytherin students conversation. They weren't really sure what was going on, but their nosey nature meant that they didn't care and continued listening. They turned to each other wide-eyed when Snape made the crack that Lily shouldn't trust Snape, but that only made them more interested.

"You know what it means. Just stay away from her." Snape turned on his heel and walked swiftly away. Confrontation wasn't his strong point and so turning his back on Sam went against his natural instinct but he did it anyway, eager to be out of there.

Charms class was as boring as ever the next Monday and the students were getting restless like usual. And, like usual Mr. Dowe seemed to take no notice and continued with his lesson. He had been explaining a multiplying charm to the kids. It wasn't difficult to learn but could hurt the subject if not used correctly.

The Prisa twins had tuned out the droning voice as soon as the class had started. There were already two of them, why did there need to be more?

"Once performed, the 'clone' will be able to move like normal but not think for themselves. This means that they will be like an empty box..." Mr. Dowe's monotonus voice filled the classroom.

Lee had a quill in his right hand and was tracing odd swirls on a piece of spare parchment. They were supposed to be taking notes on the lecture that they were being given, but no one was. Casey was holding the quill in his left hand, drawing on the same piece of parchment adding to the doodles by his twin. Neither shared a word nor a look, they knew each other so well that they could guess where their hands were going next.

"Right!" Mr. Dowes brought all the students attention back to himself. "You have your beetles in front of you, you know the spell – go for it!"

The parchment was forgotten about, they picked up their wands and pointed.

A chorus of "maxima multio" could be heard leaving all the students lips. Simultaneously the small black beetles doubled and then doubled again. In no time there were hundreds of beetles running around every students desk.

The twins grinned at each other when they saw the effects of the spell first hand. "Are you thinking what I'm thinking?" Lee asked, his eyes sparkling mischievously.

"I certainly hope I am." Casey answered, an idea beginning to form in both of their minds.

They both stood up from their seats in the back of the room. Pointing their wands directly at their doppelganger's chest, they looked each other in the eye and spoke the words in unison "maxima multio".

Suddenly the room was filled with ten identical boys. All of them were brown haired with pale skin, mischevious grins and Slytherin robes. The class couldn't help but noticed the influx in students. A lot of them laughed at the sight, a few sighed at their usual antics and the teacher ran across the room positively steaming.

"Change yourselves back, right now." Mr. Dowe insisted. But it was in vain. A bell rang signalling the end of the lesson and with that the twins were gone. The other eight clones, having the same ambitions as their creators followed suit and left Mr. Dowes staring slack-jawed after them. The other students, eager to leave the class, were close behind.

James was sat at a small table in the library by himself. He was just as stunned as the other students there. Although studying in the library was not a completely foreign concept to him it was one that didn't often come about.

None of his friends had study at the same time, but that didn't bother him. Sometimes he enjoyed being alone and able to think through everything happening in his life.

"Hey, sorry to hear about you and Lily." Lee and Casey had come up in front of James and were currently occupying the two seats opposite him.

He shot them a confused glance. "What are you talking about?"

"You guys aren't together anymore..." Yesterday, when Sam had made his way back to the dorm after confronting Snape the twins had sat him down and got him to confess to some of what was happening. From what he said they had assumed that since Lily was willing to spend time with Sam at the risk of missing James' Quidditch game that the two Gryffindors were on shakey ground.

"Yes we are."

"But she was with Sam–"

"–instead of watching your game?" They glanced at each other, wondering how they had gotten their information wrong. Of course no one had specifically said that they were broken up, but from what Sam had said it had sounded that way.

"She was with Sam?" James tried to sound nonchalant but on the inside he was fuming. If this was true then, Lily had lied to him about it. He thought he had made it very clear, right from the beginning, that he didn't like or trust Sam.

They realised they had probably said too much. "We have to go–"

"Work to do, pranks to plan." They stood up from the table with a wave to James and exited the library leaving the Gryffindor student to think through all they had told him.

Lily and Sam had an unscheduled Transfiguration practise that afternoon. After Sam had shown Lily that he was improving she was excited and had called for this impromptu lesson. They had been practising a new spell for the duration of an hour and Lily was a little disheartened because he hadn't picked it up immediately.

"That's ok, try again!" She encouraged when the spell went wrong yet again.

He sighed, "Lily, I hope Snape didn't scare you off earlier. You do know you can trust me, right?" Sam approached the subject cautiously.

She was surprised by the change of subject and to be honest she hadn't even thought about it since the weekend when they last had this conversation. "Yeah, I know." She smiled, believing what she said. "Maybe we should stop for now. You've already done such a good job!"

"If you're sure?" He wanted to agree with her, he just wasn't in the right head space to be trying to complete this difficult spells.

"Yeah, we'll work on it next lesson." She stood up from the table and made her way to the door with Sam in pursuit.

She stopped at the doorway and turned to face Sam, he had moved closer to her very quickly, without her noticing. Before she could stop him, he wrapped his hand around the back of her neck and pulled her close.

Lily wasn't pulling away which, to Sam, was always good. He deepened the kiss.

After the intial surprise she realised what was happening and knew it had to stop. Shock was the only reason it had gotten this far. She bought her arms up between them, hands balled into fists, and pushed him away using her forearms. Her hand raised to her lips, as if she could rub away the kiss and pretend it never happened.

Instead of saying anything, Lily made her escape. She rushed out of the door and down the corridor, not looking back to see if Sam was following her, just running back to her dorm.

The camera that was in the Lee's hand fell down by his side. The twins had witnessed everything from their hiding spot and now had photographic evidence.