Hello, sorry for not uploading over the weekend! I'm a little bit nervous about this chapter, as it's a shade darker than the other ones have been, please say if you'd rather it all stays fluffy and I'll make sure not to write much more on this thread... Anyway, so it's a bit more depressing than usual but I hope you all still enjoy it:) Thank you to Chel123, ginnytheginger and chairmanmeoww for reviewing.

Also, in response to ginnythegingers question, I'm british:) It's says so on my (atrociously bad) profile. Happy reading;)

Chapter 21

The Cracks Begin To Show

Lily's P.O.V

It was only six days until Christmas and all was good, Sara and I had rekindled our old friendship, the Marauders had called quits with pranking until lessons began again, and I had not been trapped under ONE SINGLE piece of mistletoe for the whole holiday season. Not one. There were just a couple of tiny hiccups in my happiness. One was, predictably, James Potter. Usually, I couldn't even tell you what colour shirt he was wearing, but ever since the Smurf incident every time I saw him I was bombarded with little facts about him: how his hair, which I usually hated, always looked like he'd just got back from fooling around with some girl; how gorgeously sexy his arms looked when he rolled up his shirt sleeves to his elbows in his black school jumper; his shoulders were almost as broad as Black's and his top buttons were open just the right amount so I could get a tempting glimpse of his collarbone; that his nose was absolutely, perfectly, maddeningly, dead straight, and his lips were flawlessly full so he looked like some sort of Greek statue; how his eyes were an amazing shade of hazel, almost gold, like melting honey. This didn't mean I fancied him, not at all, of course not… But I hated the idea that I was attracted to James Potter in any way. Which brings me onto my second problem: Where was my boyfriend? I'd seen very little of him recently and honestly now more than ever I needed to be reminded why I liked him. I lay on Mary's bed, frowning slightly.

"Lily, are you still worrying about Potter because really, what happened is totally natural! You're probably just discovering your feelings for him…?" I scowled at her; she knew it wasn't like that!

"No. I'm thinking about Lector for your information…"

"Who…?" She asked in a confused tone. I sat up and threw my pillow at her,

"My boyfriend Lector!" I huffed, scowling, " You knew that Mary!"

"Oh… Him…" She sighed as if he was a great inconvenience for her.

"What do you mean by that?" I snapped defensively. She pulled a face and then became serious.

"Well… I mean, I know he's hot and seems nice enough but, well, why do you like him?" She asked me. I sighed opening my mouth to brush her off "I'm serious, Lils! Tell me exactly why you like Lector Scott…?"

"Well," I stared at her as she nodded encouragingly, "He's…He's a really great person, and he's trustworthy and kind and friendly…" I trailed off when I saw her pretend to gag.

"Yeah, yeah, typical Hufflepuff, I get the picture,"

"AND," I added angrily, "He's sensible and dependable and-"

"Incredibly BORING apparently! I just don't get you sometimes Lily, I mean, how can you compare that to what you have with James?" I gawked at her, momentarily forgetting to be pissed off.

"What?"

"You've got something special, exciting! Anyone would kill for that sort of passion!" She exclaimed with a dreamy expression.

"Yeah, you call it passion, I call it wanting to rip a persons hair out at the slightest thing. He gets on my nerves Mary, not in a good way! It's like he know exactly how to push all my buttons and drive me insane with a couple of words. Whenever I talk to him it feels like I'm going to burst into flames, he's just so… he's a total bully! He treats everyone like dirt!" She looked at me slyly.

"He doesn't treat you like dirt…"

"That's the whole point Mary! ... Of course you don't understand… Half the reason I like Lector is-" I shut my mouth suddenly, a sinking in my gut.

"Is what?" Mary asked.

"…Is that he's the exact opposite of James." I said quietly.

"Oh..." Mary said looking a bit uncomfortable but also like she needed me to elaborate on the subject.

"He's… He's just easy to be with, you know? He's safe, reliable, and honest and …and nothing like James Potter…"I for some reason felt incredibly guilty at this revelation.

"Lily… There's something about Lector I think you should know…." Mary bit her lip at my suddenly ashen face.

"What?"

"He… I mean, I'm sure he's a wonderful person and all but… well, I'm not sure he's being as honest as you think he is…"

"Just tell me." I said carefully, bracing myself for the worse.

"Well, do you know the Hufflepuff seeker? Valerie Young? She's in fifth year?" My heart sunk, I had a horrible hunch it would be something to do with her, though I was surprised she was only 15, her scratchy voice was misleading. "Well, they've known each other since before she could talk, and they've always been … close…" She paused dramatically and I wanted to shout at her to get on with it. "But about a year ago they… you know, got their act together…" My eyebrows knitted at what I'd always suspected.

"Wait, when she was 14?" I couldn't imagine dating a fourth year at my age.

"Yeah, as you can imagine there were several raised eyebrows at that. Anyway, recently there was a massive rumor circulating that he'd, you know, been taking advantage of her... Sprout got involved and the whole thing ended in the two splitting. It was all a bit shifty to start with if you ask me…" I reeled slightly at this rather troubling personal newsflash.

"Ok, I'm sure it's not true, he wouldn't do that, even if he did he would never do it before she was 16… or at all…" I added with a shameful twinge of jealously in my voice.

"I haven't told you the important bit yet!" She told me. God, what could possibly be MORE important than that?

"What?"

"All this happened a week before… before he started dating you." Oh… Oh wow.

"I-I'm going to go and find him, I'm sure it's just the rumor mill spilling out crap, right?" When she didn't reply I echoed, "…right?"

I stalked into Hufflepuff common room, (the entryway was a stone arch a short way off from the kitchens, and apparently was free-for-all) people looked up surprised at the Gryffindor intruder. I scanned the room but didn't spot Lector, though my eyes did finally land on Sharon who, predictably, was with Dan (it was a minor miracle the two weren't dating)

"Where's Lector?" I asked urgently. Sharon looked at Dan and Dan looked at Sharon in that annoying way that the two seemed gifted with, as if they were having a detailed conversation with just their eyes.

"He's in the hospital wing." She finally said.

"With Valerie, she got a nasty injury in the game, lung punctured. It's taking a while to fix her up." Dan offered. I tried to feel sorry for her and not immediately suspect the worse of them both but still some of my suspicion must have shown on my face.

"You heard about those two, huh?" Dan sighed, rubbing a hand over his face, a nervous tick.

"What's going on? I heard some rumors-" I squawked, panicking.

"They broke up about a week before he asked you out, that much is true," He evaluated my expression as if he was trying to decide what other rumor I may have heard "We don't know about the rest of it, and even if we did, we wouldn't say." I sighed.

"So it's a lie?" I said, feeling like a weight had been lifted of my chest.

"He said we didn't know." Sharon said shortly "We think it's personal to them, it's their business to tell us what is and isn't true when they're ready." So Lector hadn't told them, that didn't bode well, after all, to him his team was family. He wouldn't hide things from them if it were just idle gossip.

"So he's in the hospital wing?" I finally said.

"Yes, but Lily, I wouldn't… I mean I think it's a bad idea…!" Sharon shouted after my receding back.

Arriving at the hospital wing, out of breath, I was met by closed doors and Madam Pomfrey's closed expression.

"The hospital wing is closed." She told me.

"But I just came to see if Lector was-"

"Mr. Scott isn't a patient in the hospital wing. I'm sorry, but it would be preferred if you could go about your social errands away from my healing students." She told me sharply.

"I meant, Valerie…I came to see Valerie…and Lector, he told me he was visiting her, I said I'd come along, but I'm late." I lied through my teeth.

"-I'm sorry Miss Evans but-"

"Please? She's been here for a week, I'm worried!" I begged, my gut churning with guilt. Madam Pomfrey sighed,

"Fine, but only for a minute, Miss Young is asleep at the moment, and will be let out tomorrow, honestly… teenagers… dramatics… couldn't wait …" She muttered to herself as she unlocked the door for me "One minute, don't make me come and get you!" She warned. I nodded my thanks and slowly headed in. I looked around and spotted them almost straight away, suddenly frozen. I was close enough to hear what was being said but not close enough to be noticed. Valerie was lying on her back on the bed, bandages still wrapped around her torso, her dirty blond hair loose for once and spread across the pillow like something from a fairytale. Complete with handsome prince leant over her in the moonlight, clutching the sleeping girl's hand, looking like a complete cliché that shouldn't exist outside a children's book, I was half expecting to see a tear streaking down his face.

"I'm sorry Vals…" He whispered, brushing a strand of hair of her forehead. I stared at the two, too much in shock to spoil the moment. He kissed her hair gently when she turned over slightly, wincing in her sleep. I finally made my feet move when he gently pressed his lips to hers. Not caring that Madam Pomfrey watched in surprise as I ran back out the room, because I had to away from them.

Dun Dun DUNNNNNN...! just totally ruined the mood didn't I? :/