Author's Note: Well well well... took me a while to figure out what I wanted to happen in this chapter... but I finally got it. Yes sir-ee. Props to anyone who can figure out what I was thinking about when writing the beginning of this chapter!

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Chapter Twenty One: Torment

As the weekend passed, and classes started up again the next Monday. At first, Lily was having a hard time getting used to the glares and envious stares. But by Thursday, things seemed to have settled down, and the rest of the girls in the school were being nice to her. A little... too nice.

"Lily!" A familiar voice called her name in the hall.

She turned to see Emma Nems, a sixth year Hufflepuff running towards her. "Hey Emma, what's up?" Lily asked, concerned when she saw the girls face.

"Lily! It's Reese Easecups! She's down by the lake... we were playing around...and she... the grindylows..." She tried to tell Lily what was happening, but as soon as Lily heard 'grindylows' she set out for the lake at a run, leaving her bag where she stood seconds before.

As Emma turned to watch her go, a smirk came over her face and she followed behind her at a slower pace, knowing that the best part wouldn't begin until she got there.

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Lily arrived at the lake to see a crowd of girls around something on the ground. "Make way! I'm here!" She yelled ahead as she came closer to them. They all shifted aside to let her pass through, then closed the gap in the circle behind her.

"What's going on...? Emma said that Reese was in trouble... something about a grindylow..." Lily asked looking around the circle, seeing that Reese was indeed, perfectly fine.

"Lily... so naive..." Reese said from her spot in the circle. "If I was in trouble, Emma would go for a teacher, not you."

Reese crossed her arms over her chest. "You're not deserving of him. You know that? He's liked you forever, and you think you can turn around and suddenly be with him? He only wanted you because you were the one he couldn't have. Like James would stay with someone as filthy as you, mudblood?"

Lily scowled. "James likes me, for me. Not because of the chase."

"What if you didn't have any of your precious red hair? Do you think he'd like you then?" A girl in the back of the group said as she pushed her way forward. Lily recognized her as Christina Kluntz.

Christina was brandishing her wand. "Why don't you get down on your knees, and beg forgiveness? Make the Unbreakable Vow that you'll never go near James again, and we'll leave you alone." She created a threatening fire from the tip of her wand. "Go on. Get down on your knees and beg."

Lily looked at them as if they were crazy. She thought they had gotten over that. Everything seemed to be fine... unless they were just being nice to give her false security... would they do that? A small voice inside her whispered the answer. Yes.

"No. I'm not going to give into this..." Lily said defiantly.

"Yes you are." Emma said walking through the crowd. "It's not exactly if he would be surprised. Or that he would care."

"You're pathetic. This is why James wont give you the time of day." Lily spat, suddenly furious. She had an irking feeling that these girls meant business. Audry's voice echoed in her head. "You should have seen the girls that came in about fifteen minutes before you. Tears, screaming. I think they might be plotting your murder."

Two of the girls came up behind her, and forced her down on her knees. Christina came up in front of her, and sank to her knees, forcing Lily to look at her by grabbing a handful of her hair. "Let's singe her hair a bit, let her know we're serious... eh?" She said as more of foreshadowing than asking. Her want tip caressed a strand of her hair, causing it to blacken and shrivel.

"Stop it! What the hell have I done to you!" Lily screeched. "If you really cared for him, you should be happy, that he's happy! Even if it isn't with you!"

"You're going about this all wrong..." Came the amused voice of Bellatrix Black.

"Oh really? And what would you suggest?" An extremely irritated Christina responded, continuing to singe the ends of Lily's hair as the other two girls kept her kneeling.

"Well, the Imperius Curse, for one, then force her to make the Unbreakable Vow." She said as if it was obvious before stalking away laughing at something her boyfriend, Rodolphus Lestrange had said.

"Don't you dare touch me." Lily said, her voice shaking with a mixture of anger and fear. They proved they weren't kidding. She found herself praying that someone, anyone would come and save her. She would be glad to see anyone that might help her, even if it was Snape... or Lucius... she shuddered at the thought.

"You're not exactly in the position to be telling us what to do." Reese pointed out calmly, obviously contemplating what Bellatrix had said.

"Come now, Lilykins. Don't make us resort to Bella's suggestion." Emma said with an air of false sweetness, her voice cutting through the silence.

"Hell no! I don't care what you do to me, it just proves my point! James will never love you!" She hissed.

The group of girls glared at her. She was proving to be harder to crack than they had expected. Reese and Emma were furious. They both seized her by her upper arms and dragged her to the edge of the lake. Emma grabbed her hair and forced her face down into the lake. When Emma pulled her up again, she stared at her icily. "Will you give up on him now, mudblood?"

Lily coughed and spluttered the water she had inhaled during her unexpected plunge into the lake. "No." Lily said simply. She wasn't going to give into this stupidity.

She was drove into the lake once more. She surfaced after a minute or two, spluttering and coughing again, only this time she was pulled into a loving embrace. "What do you think you're doing to her?" James voice flowed over her, sending a tingling sensation into her very soul. He sounded extremely angry. She could hear his heart beating, and the reverberations of his voice. She looked around to see the girls that were agonizing her had backed off, some still sitting on the ground shocked that James had appeared so suddenly.

It was apparent that James had thrown Emma off of her because Emma was now close to tears, sprawled on the ground. When no one answered him, he spoke again. "Your behavior is disgusting. Lily is special to me. And if I find that you, or anyone has done anything to hurt her, someone is going to have hell to pay." James spat, genuinely revolted with them.

They scattered without hesitation. He looked down to Lily, who was clinging to him. "Are you alright, love?"

She nodded slowly. "They wanted me to stay away from you." Lily intended to sound normal, but found that her voice would only come out in a whisper.

James held her close, stroking her hair, which was damp, and scorched. "I know. I'm just sorry I hadn't gotten here sooner..."

Slowly, the two made their way to the castle. Lily insisted on walking herself, despite James' protests to carry her. "No. I won't let them see me affected." She said calmly, determined to keep her pride intact.

James sighed, knowing it was no use to fight her. "Fine..." He settled for wrapping an arm around her waist.

When they reached the common room, they found their friends sitting on the couch in front of the fire, Lily's bag, the same one that she abandoned in the hallway in her haste to help Reese. They turned to look at them as they entered. Their expressions were unreadable. They flashed from relief, to anger, to curiosity and back again in a matter of seconds. They bombarded the two with questions.

Lily explained what had occurred, and then, curiosity overcame her. "James... how did you know where I was?"

James ruffled his hair. "You didn't show up in class. I figured something was wrong, so I left to go look for you... I'll admit... I thought they would do something, but they seemed to get over it... this morning everyone was nice and normal. When I was walking to the dorm, to uh... check if you were there..." James didn't want to tell Lily about the map until he confirmed it with the guys. After all, it wasn't only his secret to tell. "I saw your bag in the hall... that confirmed that something was wrong. I grabbed it and ran to the tower. You weren't here. But Madison was. She had a free period or something. I asked where you were, she said she thought you were in class with me, so I went to go look for you. It was only a matter of time before I found you."

He felt terrible lying to her, but it was true. He looked for her, just not physically. The Marauder's Map took time to search, all those dots... it wasn't until he looked at the grounds that he noticed a group of girls, and Lily at the water's edge that he realized what was happening.

After several questions from her friends, Lily said she needed some time alone, and decided to go take a nap in the Head's dorm. Ironically, she had grown quite fond of the place when she wanted to study in silence, or when she and James had to plan something for their duties. It was far quieter than the library, and far more comfortable as well.

She collapsed on the couch, and stretched before curling up into a ball and drifting off to sleep. Instead of the peaceful sleep she craved, she was plagued by fleeting dreams, which quickly turned to nightmares, all of which contained an eerie green light, before they reverted to a soothing dream again.

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James entered the dorm to be embraced by the warmth of a roaring fire. He saw her hand, flung over the arm of the couch, entangled in her long, red tresses. He approached her silently, to see her lain out on the couch. Her arm was extended under her head, over the arm of the couch, her other lain delicately across her side, draping across her stomach. Her knees were curled into her chest. He couldn't help but think that she looked like an angel. Even though her hair was dried stiffly from the lake water, and was still sporting seared ends, she looked like an angel.

For the moment he observed her, he forgot why he was here. To wake her and bring her down to dinner. He crouched in front of the couch, and took her hand. Even in her sleep, Lily's grip tightened ever so slightly. He leaned forward and kissed her lips softly.

To his surprise, Lily kissed back. Her eyelashes fluttered as they parted. "Morning, sunshine."He whispered, holding her gaze.

"It's not..." Lily paused to yawn. "morning."

"You're right. It's dinner time... wanna come down with me?"

She nodded. "Sure... just let me go brush my hair out." She rose from the couch and slipped from James' grasp, and proceeded to the bathroom. She had discovered during one of their study sessions how nice their bathroom was. It was equipped with a large tub, about the size of a swimming pool, much like the one the prefects had, but with many more taps, a shower, two sinks, and a toilette. In the cabinets beneath the sinks, were stored all the items both heads used in their morning ritual. Lily found her hair brush, and ran it through her hair, before examining the singed ends. She would have to see Madame Pomfrey about that...say her potions experiment blew up or something.

She emerged to find James sitting on the couch, his arm draped over the top of the couch, his legs spread, patting the seat between them. "C'mere."

She took up the seat, and crawled forward a bit so she was practically laying on top of him. He stroked her hair, as she lay there, her head resting on his chest. "I'm sorry Lily... I should have been there earlier..."

"It's alright James... I'm just glad you showed up when you did..."

He lifted her face and kissed her, letting his tongue play across hers. Her hands found their way to his hair, and he groaned with pleasure as she ran her fingers through it. His hands slid up her shirt, caressing her softly. She shivered with delight at his touch. After several minutes of being engrossed in each other, Lily pulled away, a soft smile on her swollen lips.

"We should go down to dinner..." She whispered, pulling herself off of him, trying not to collapse. She was certain her legs were jelly, and weren't going to support her.

James smiled softly and nodded. He didn't want to rush her. "Let's go." He said softly as he entwined his fingers with hers as they walked to the exit.

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They entered the Great Hall, and took seats up near their friends.

"Why so happy, Lily?" Audry asked, inquiring her flushed expression and swollen lips, which, by chance or choice, matched James.

"Nothing." Lily said as she took a slice of roast beef and a side of her favorite mashed potatoes and gravy.

"Yes, and 'nothing' is sitting next to you." Remus sais, a grin growing on his face.

"I'll have you know that I am 'something'." James scoffed.

Lily giggled, mostly at remembering the heated moment that happened between them, but also at James and his friends bickering over the most frivolous things.

Dinner passed, as did desert, and the friends made their way back to Gryffindor Tower. They lounged around, talking to each other, whispering sweet nothings into their romantic interests ear. All in all, they considered it to be a pleasant end to a rather unpleasant day.

When they had said their goodnights, and the girls were off to bed, the Marauders sat around for a few more moments in silence.

"Full Moon's three days from now." Remus said, letting his wariness show through. He looked tired, and pale. His friends were used to it. Heather was not. For the first time in a long time. He was worried about his transformation.

James, Sirius, and Peter had all taken a big risk to be near him when he became the monster that James referred to as his 'furry little problem.' They became illegal animagi, wizards who could change their form to that of an animal. James took the form of a stag, Sirius a large, black dog, and Peter became a rat.

With them to help him through the night, he had become a 'tame' werewolf. But now... he cared about someone. Would that effect him? What if he tried to hurt her? He would never forgive himself.

For the first time in a long time. He was worried about his transformation.

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Author's Note: Alright. I know you're all reading... my hits count is off the charts... but my reviews are lacking... show a little support:begs and pleads: Thanks to those who review and keep my spirits up!