Okay, if any Stargate SG-1 fans are reading this...see if you can spot the reference...

Life was hell. Beth hated waking up, because she would be in the middle of the war between her two best friends. Then, she rarely got to see her boyfriend, because there was all kinds of tension between the boys and the girls. It was absolute torture. The first week they got back, she spent the time when she wasn't in class hiding behind her bed curtains to avoid the sulking and the bad mouthing that generally goes along with teenage fights. On Saturday Afternoon, when she finally re-emerged from behind the curtains, she spent 20 minutes sitting in the dormitory watching her friends ignore each other. Finally, she got fed up and went to go downstairs.

"Where are you going?" Lily asked.

"'She doesn't have to tell you. You're not her mother." Sam muttered.

"I'd go anywhere, just as long as I'm away from you two." Beth informed them both, and, slamming the door behind her, headed down into the common room. She sat down next to Remus at the table the Marauders were working at, and sunk down into the cushions.

"I strongly dislike fights." She sighed, sinking deeper into her chair.

"Not as much as I strongly dislike this guy." Remus flattened his newspaper down on the table, revealing an article about some new self-proclaimed dark lord that was gaining some followers. Beth skimmed the article quickly, gasping along the way.

"What kind of maniac would kill a 3 year-old boy?"

"Not to mention the boy's parents, grandparents, and twin 12-year-old sisters." Sirius groaned, pulling the paper nearer to him as Beth put her notebook onto the table, scribbling franticly

"Yeah, Dad wrote about this nutter. Giving the aurors all kind of trouble. Apparently, he's already seen this guy twice. He told me to watch my step, because a lot of his followers are really young. People suspect that many of them are still in school."

Peter stood up, mumbled something about asking Prof. Slughorn a question, and scurried out of the room.

Sirius tore the paper into a few pieces, tossed it into the fire, and stomped into the boys' dormitory.

Lily came down the stairs, and sat in the chair next to Beth. "Hey, I just wanted to apologize for being a jerk. Just because Sam and I are fighting, we shouldn't make your life miserable."

Beth nodded and stood up. "I'm not mad at you guys...I just don't want to be around you right now. I'm going to the library." Beth made her way through the common room.

She was only gone a few moments before Remus stood up. "If you'll excuse me." he muttered as he followed after Beth's path.

Lily and James sat awkwardly across the table from each other.

"Are you mad at me?" James boldly asked.

Lily sighed, and sat silently for a minute. "No, I don't think so. I'm just angry in general."

A few minutes of silence went by again. "You didn't come to lessons yesterday." Lily said.

"I didn't know we were going to have lessons."

"I promised, didn't I?"

"Well, yeah. But I wasn't sure."

"Next Friday then, okay?"

"Yeah." They sat awkwardly in silence for a little bit longer before James excused himself and headed up to the boys dormitory.

Lily stood and slowly made her way back up into her own dormitory.

"Sam?" She asked out.

Sam replied with a grunt from behind the bed curtains.

"Can you tell me what you know about Potter...I mean...Personally?"

Sam's head appeared between the curtains. "You mean...?"

Lily opened her mouth hesitantly. "Maybe..."

""

Later, that night, Lily and Remus were on their prefect rounds. Remus, in a rather good mood, was talking almost non-stop, while Lily was lost in thought.

"Anyway, I'm sorry, but that just happens to be how I feel about it. What do you think?" Remus concluded.

Lily snapped back into reality momentarily, "What?"

"What do you think?" Remus repeated. Lily furrowed her eye brow and continued to look confused. "Lily, is something wrong?"

Lily smiled at Remus and shook her head, "Maybe. Don't worry about me, I'll be fine" Just then, they heard a sudden crash coming from an unused classroom down the hall. A second smash sent them quickly and quietly towards the door, wands out and ready. Lily pushed on the door and it squeaked open slowly. At first, the room seemed empty, although with several desks in a heap against the opposite wall, obviously have been thrown there. Only after they fully entered the room did they notice the messy black hair and realized that James was huddled in a corner.

"Potter? What did you do to this classroom?" Lily asked trying not to sound accusatory. James merely sat there, but as Lily took a few steps towards closer, she realized he was sobbing.

"Prongs mate, what's wrong?" Remus stepped forward.

"Potter?" Lily's voice was soft and shaking. She had always seen James smiling and joking around. Seeing him crying was a bit of a blow to her. "What's wrong?"

James lifted his head. His round glasses were sitting in his hands, his hair was messier than usual and tear paths were winding down his face. His hazel eyes looked lost and as if he just barely recognized them. He stared at them for a minute before waving his arm toward one of the walls and then curled back into a ball with his head down.

Remus walked to where a crumpled piece of parchment was against the wall. He scooped up the page and began to read.

"Dear Mr. J. Potter, We are sorry to inform you that Mr. Gregory Potter and Mrs. Julia Potter were killed in combat against You-Know-Who and his followers at Potter Mansion last night. In their will they left everything to you, their only son. Any possessions of theirs that survived the attack will be moved to your property at Godric's Hollow. We are sorry for your loss." Remus went on to name several members of the ministry of Magic. Silent tears began to run down Lily's face. In one quick movement she ran to James, throwing her arms around his neck and pulling him into a big hug.

"I'm so sorry James. This is so horrible." James let lily hug him for a moment before he quickly stood up, leaving her sitting in the corner and Remus hovering awkwardly around them. James bent over quickly and kissed Lily softly on the forehead, and gave Remus an odd pat on the back. "See you in two days, Moony." James whispered, and left the room. "

""

James didn't show up for breakfast the next morning or to any of his morning classes. At lunch, Lily turned to Beth.

"What if he did something stupid? What if he's hurt? I've never seen him miss two meals in a row."

Beth flipped her hair over her shoulder and looked Lily right in the eye. "He hasn't done anything stupid. He just needs some time alone right now. Remember how Sam was?" Sam's father had been killed in their 4th year. She wouldn't come out of the dormitory for 9 days and when she did finally come out, she was still a complete wreck. Even though she had mostly recovered to her normal self now, there would still be occasional days when Lily and Beth would wake up to find her crying.

Lily sighed, she knew Beth was right. James was smarter than to hurt himself, but she still couldn't help but feel worried. Gryffindor 6th years didn't have an afternoon class, due to the fact that Professor Kettleburn had severally burned his arm the other day, so Lily trudged up to the common room, her mind still bubbling with thoughts of James. She sat down at her usual seat and began to pull her books out, but found herself absent-mindedly staring out the window. She finally shoved her books back into her bag, told Sam and Beth that she wanted to go on a walk to clear her mind, and quickly headed toward the lake. Following the edge of the lake for a while, she found a nice place to sit. While she sat there, it began to rain softly. She lied down and shut her eyes, letting the rain hit her face. When she opened her eyes, there was a stag looking down on her. Startled, she sat up quickly, nearly knocking hears with the animal.

"Sorry, you scared me." She said softly to the animal. He bowed his head and allowed Lily to stroke his neck softly. "Hey, you want to be my friend?" Lily asked the stag softly as he sat next to her. She smiled as the stag rubbed his nose against her cheek. "I'll tell you what, I need something to talk to and be with this stupid murderer running around and N.E.W.T.s approaching. Now maybe I'm overestimating the intelligence of animals, but maybe if you meet me here after dinner, I would really like that." Lily smiled and she could've sworn that she saw the animal wink at her. "You are a smart animal aren't you?" She rubbed his neck again and looked into the animal's eyes. "Aww, what happened to you? Why do you look so sad?" The Stag rested his head on the ground and looked pathetically up at Lily.

"I know how you feel," Lily sighed, "I guess I better head back up to the castle, see you tomorrow?" The stag stood up and pawed at the ground. Lily stood and walked away, leaving a reformed James kicking the dirt at the edge of the lake. James half-wished she would turn around again and see him standing there, but decided it was for the best that she didn't know, then he slipped silently back into the forest toward the clubhouse the Marauders made a few years past.

""

Beth's Notebook

The great thing about having best friends is that you can scream at each other and throw complete fits about each other, but you can still trust each other and come back to each other. Yes, Sam and Lily are talking again. Granted, it still a bit strained and isn't quite at the friendship level they were at before, I'll take anything over the complete silence that was looming before. As for Lily and James, well…they fight so often I don't know if they can even tell the difference between when they are fighting or not. Shame about James's Parents though, I wish I could do something to help…though some things are completely helpless.

""

Okay, Short, Corny, Clichéd, and entirely unBETAed…but it's an update….so…REVIEWS…or not...whatever

Bek

P.S. I own NOTHING:)