A/N: Again, SO sorry for the delay! We just finished finals this past week, and things have just been really hectic and crazy and GAH. But, we're both on holiday right now, so we should catch up very quickly. We might even think about updating more frequently over the break, to make up for this extremely long delay.

Like always, please R/Rv!

This chapter is dedicated to Julia, for scaring me into finishing it :)

- Megan

I handed Alice another tissue and she blew her nose loudly into it. She sat on the edge of my four-poster bed, her chestnut hair falling into her face as she leaned forward. I reached out a hand and placed it on the top of her head, stroking her hair as her sobs slowly began to subside. We sat in silence for a moment, her sniffles the only sound audible in the room. Mary, Marlene, and Emmeline were all soundly asleep in their beds, informing me that my hastily cast silencing charm worked. We were, essentially, alone.

I breathed in deeply. "When did you find out?"

Alice rubbed her swollen eyes with the back of her hand. "J-just this morning. I haven't been in class all day, D-Dumbledore called me into his office and that's when he…he told me…" Her voice cracked, and I squeezed my hand gently on her shoulder. Her face crumpled again, and she sobbed harder into my shoulder. "It's so fucked up, Lily!" she practically screamed in between sobs. I flinched—Alice never swore, and hearing the words coming from her mouth somehow made it that much more vicious.

"I know, it is…" I offered weakly, lightly tracing circles on her back. "I'm so sorry—"

She sobbed harder, loud moans that felt like they pierced right through me. But then suddenly, with a hitch of breath, she stopped. She jerked her head up and her red, puffy eyes met mine with a kind of intensity I had never seen before.

"I swear to God, Lily," she spoke with a wavering but sure voice, "They may have gotten David, but they won't get me. Or you. I don't care what I have to do, but I will make sure that Voldemort and every single one of his fucking puppets will pay for what they've done. Or I'll die trying."

I sat there, speechless, as Alice stood up and walked over towards her own bed. She took a few steps before pausing and turning back to me. "Thanks, Lily. You're…you're honestly the best friend I could ask for, you know that?"

I smiled weakly. "You too, Alice."

She gave me a half-hearted smile before returning to her bed, and shutting off her lamp, leaving me in complete darkness.

I was incapable of forming thoughts, coherent sentences, or even images in my mind. I was stripped down to the base form of human thought, which was pure emotion, an aching feeling that started in my brain and spread all the way down to the tips of my toes.

It was the middle of the night and I felt drained, but I couldn't sleep. There were too many feelings, too many unchecked emotions swirling through my body. I sighed, got up, and walked out the door to the dormitory, closing it gently behind me, and went down the long flight of stairs into the Common Room. Sirius was sprawled out on the large red couch in the middle of the room, snoring loudly. I tiptoed past him towards the staircase leading to the boys' dormitory and crept up the stairs. When I finally reached the top, I walked towards the end of the hallway, where the seventh years slept, and stopped when I reached the giant scarlet-coloured door with gold trimming. I knocked softly on the door. When no response came, I pushed the door open slightly.

I was immediately greeted with overwhelming darkness. It took my eyes a moment to adjust, but I could see a blanket-covered boy in the bed directly across from the door.

"Remus?" I whispered. The boy shifted, and the blankets moved slightly, revealing a completely bare torso and a mop of unruly brown hair. I froze, the realization that James also shared the dormitory with Remus hitting me like a brick wall. Oh God, I thought, panicking, What if—what if he's sleeping naked? The thought both terrified me and, somewhere in the back of my mind, intrigued me. Shaking the thought from my head, I called out slightly louder. "Remus!" I hissed.

"Lily?" His voice responded in the darkness, sounding perfectly clear and awake. "Is that you?"

"Yes," I whispered back, "Meet me in the Common Room?"

"Yeah, sure," He responded, a note of worry in his voice.

I closed the door softly, and immediately backed into someone. "Sorry," I said quickly as I turned around, and saw the bemused face of Sirius Black.

"No reason to apologize, Reds," He responded with a smirk in his voice. "Although, I might inquire as to why you're sneakily exiting the boys' dormitory at this hour."

My face immediately turned red. "Sod off, Black," I snapped, exasperated. "It's none of your business where I go."

Still smirking, he held up his hands in mock surrender. "No, no, absolutely not. Have a good night. Or, rather…morning."

His chuckles echoed behind me as I brushed past him, my face still beet-red, and I walked towards the staircase of the Common Room, before walking down and plopping down on the same couch Sirius and Remus were on. About ten minutes later, Remus appeared at the top of the staircase, wearing a thin t-shirt and plaid flannel pants, his hair perfectly combed and in place.

"Blimey, Remus, were you even sleeping?"

He smiled as he walked down the stairs. "No, just thinking about things. Mostly wondering about Alice. She seemed distraught." He walked over to the couch and sat down next to me.

"Yeah, that's what I wanted to talk to you about," I admitted.

"What, did something happen with Frank?" he asked, "Because he seemed upset all today, too."

I shook my head. "No. Her brother went missing."

His eyes widened. "Was it, you know, Voldemort?"

"Well the thing is," I began, "I guess I should tell you...that girl who went missing before, Hills McDonnell? She was—is" I quickly amended, "Her brother's fiancee. And she went missing when..." I looked around the common room, my voice dropping to barely above a whisper. "...when they were on a mission for the Order of the Phoenix."

"So, yes. It was Voldemort."

"Well, Alice told me when her brother returned to the house he and Hills were stationed at, there was a Dark Mark over it. Y'know, that creepy skull thing that's been in all of those pictures in the Prophet. She told me then that it seemed like they were looking for him."

He took a deep breath. "Lily, can you promise me something?"

I eyed him suspiciously. "It depends. What?"

"You can't tell James about any of this."

I looked at him in disbelief. "Are you joking? He'd want to know the most—his father could be in real danger. They should hide, they should—"

"We don't even know for sure if his father is in the Order. The second James hears this, he'll run right out of Hogwarts and hunt Voldemort down himself if he thinks it will protect his family. You know he will. I'll talk to Dumbledore to see if there's anything he can do to protect the Potters, but they're one of the most powerful wizarding families in existence. I'm sure they can take care of themselves without James running in."

I stared at him for a moment, and blinked. "But, what if they can't? What if they need him? What if they need us..."

"What if they need a group of misbehaving seventh year students? This isn't the Slytherin quidditch team. They're obviously incredibly powerful. We haven't even passed our N.E.W.T.s yet."

"So, what—we're supposed to sit here and watch our families and friends disappear?" My voice steadily grew louder. "You're right, Remus. They're incredibly powerful. And that's more of a reason for us to help them—in any way we can. I mean, hell, Black, Peter, and James are all animagi. And you're one of the best in our year, Remus. And I'm pretty decent at Charms and Potions, so maybe we could be of use to them in some way."

"Then we do it the right way. Join up. Let the Order train us. If we run right in unannounced, we risk putting the Order in even more danger."

"Then we haveto talk to James," I persisted. "He'll be first in line."

"That's what I'm afraid of."

"Well...yes, James is a very passionate person, but can be a good thing." Instantly, Remus raised an eyebrow at me. "I mean—" I sputtered, "He cares about his family and friends! He has real motivation. And, you have to admit, Remus, he's grown up a lot. Maybe he won't react the way you think."

"Just an hour ago, you were negating the idea that he was even a person. Where is this coming from?"

I paused for a moment, briefly meeting Remus' eyes with my own before looking down at my hands in my lap. He was right, of course, as always. "I don't know. It's...it's been a long day."

He sighed, a deep, pained sigh. "It certainly has."

I stood up, my tired legs wobbling slightly. "I'm going to bed. We can talk more in the morning."

He nodded silently, not moving from the couch as I stood and made my way towards the staircase. I didn't look back at him but I knew he was probably sitting there, doing the same thing as I was—thinking about what to do next.

The next morning, Dumbledore accompanied Alice back to her house. "I need to be with my family," she had responded to my protests of Hogwarts being the safest place to stay. "It's hard to be away from them knowing that at any moment, one of them could be…" She trailed off, biting down hard on her bottom lip.

"Hey, don't think that way," I said lightly, trying to be comforting. I pulled her into a hug and she squeezed me tightly with her arms, lingering for a moment before pulling away.

"You're really the best, Lily," She said quickly, her eyes beginning to water slightly. "Sorry if I've been—"

"No," I said firmly, placing my hands on her shoulders. "Don't even say that. That's what I'm here for."

She grinned—the first genuine smile I had seen from her in days. With a wave goodbye and another quick hug, she turned down the hall towards Dumbledore's office. With a sinking feeling in my stomach, I watched her as she disappeared down the corridor.

I fancied a stroll alone. It was a beautiful Sunday morning despite all that was going on, and I needed some time to really think. I scurried down the end of the corridor and walked through to the outside of the castle near the Black Lake. It was still rather early in the day—before 10 o'clock, so I knew that the rest of my dormitory, and likely all of the castle, was still sleeping. Sweet-smelling dew still lingered on the tips of the bright green blades of grass. I slipped my feet out of my shoes, picked them up with one hand, and carried them down towards the shore of the lake. Gingerly, I dipped a toe into the small ripple of water lapping up against the land. It was unusually warm for September, so much so that I pulled away my foot in shock for a moment before resting it back in the water. Smiling, I closed my eyes, and felt the gentle, warm breeze tickle the hairs on my skin, soaking up the very last remnants of summer.

"Lily?"

I snapped my eyes open at the familiar, yet jarring, voice. I whipped my head around to the source of the sound, and saw him there. A pale, thin boy just a few inches taller than me, with neatly combed black hair and a long nose.

"Snape," I replied with a curt nod, trying to sound nonplussed. I turned back towards the horizon of the lake.

"What are you doing out here?"

Holding back the urge to tell him to sod off, I slowly turned my head back. "Trying to enjoy a peaceful Sunday morning…alone." I was being rude, but I didn't care. Just as I was beginning to relax, just as I was starting to forget about all of the messed up things that were happening all around me, he just had to show up and shove it all back in my face.

"Of course," He said quickly. I nodded, and once again turned away, expecting him to leave. But, out of the corner of my eye, I saw that he remained where he was. Staring at me. I tried to ignore him for a few moments, but he just stood there, watching me as I pretended not to notice him.

"Can I help you?" I snapped, dropping all sense of formality. He stood there still, simply looking at me while the breeze slightly picked up around my ankles. He furrowed his eyebrows, the corners of his mouth drooping slightly.

"Lily…" He trailed off, as though unsure of what he wanted to say.

"What do you want from me?" I asked with as even of a tone as I could muster. "We aren't friends. We haven't been friends for months and months now. Over two years. Nothing has changed, Severus."

"Things are changing everywhere," He whispered vehemently, something unrecognizable in his eyes. "And I'm sorry, but I want to be on the right side of things, and you should, too—"

"Excuse me?" The color drained from his face as I spoke to him, venom dripping from every syllable. Months and months of pent-up anger and frustration cracked inside me as I felt a blockade in me come crumbling to the ground. "Unlike you and your precious Death Eater friends," I practically spat the words at him, watching his expression turn fearful. "I don't havethat choice, Severus. Because I'm a Mudblood—don't flinch, you're the one who said it, after all—I'm a Mudblood, and even if I wasn't, the fact that you think I'd want to join some sick, twisted, evil group of…of…of murderers—is probably the most insulting thing you could ever suggest to me. So, I'd suggest you leave me alone, because if that's what you want to become, I have no desire to speak with you or even see you ever again." By the time I finished speaking, I couldn't tell if I was on the verge of tears or eruption but somehow I managed to storm back off towards the castle without looking behind me to see Snape's reaction.

The nerve of it all. I bristled down the hallway towards the opposite end of the castle, determined to salvage my Sunday morning. I wandered aimlessly around the mostly empty castle before resigning with a sigh to return to the Gryffindor Common Room.

"Cauda draconis," I offered to the half-sleeping portrait of the Fat Lady.

"Yes, indeed," She mumbled, rolling over to her side as the portrait swung open. I stormed into the Common Room as the door swung shut behind me. Breathing heavily, I huffed through room and up the staircase to the girls' dormitory, barely even noticing that Remus was still sitting in the same spot on the couch as he was the night before, sleeping soundly on the plush armrest.