A/N so so sorry fro not updating so soon, I've had a bit of a block with this chapter but it's all good now :)

Please Review, none of the characters, settings or anything are mine - they are the wonderful Jo's xx

Molteaser x

Chapter Twenty-One

"Are you alright Marls?" Lily asked, walking into the dormitory to find her friend lying on her bed and staring at the ceiling.

"Fine." Marlene replied.

"Stop lying." Lily said, sitting down on her own bed. "Something's up, I can tell."

Marlene bit her lip.

"Sirius?" Lily guessed.

"Why," Marlene snapped, sitting up straight, "do you immediately jump to him? I wish it wasn't him - I have tons of other things that are weighing me down at the moment, like the fact that my brother is in a coma and might die, my parents were attacked by Death Eaters and almost killed - there is a war massing outside Hogwarts and there is nothing I can do to prevent it." Marlene scowled and took a deep breath before letting it out in a loud sigh. "But no, I have to thinking about Sirius bloody Black!"

Lily frowned. "What's he done wrong?" As far as she knew, Sirius had been brilliant ever since the news of Marlene's brother's attack had reached them. Lily couldn't understand why Marlene was speaking with such a venomous tone when she spoke of him.

"Nothing!" Marlene said frantically. "He's done nothing wrong!"

"Then why-?"

"He's being way too nice to me!" Marlene exploded. "He's not supposed to do this! I slapped him, flirted with other boys in front of him to make him jealous, then told him that we could only be friends. He's supposed to hate me for that." She rubbed her hands over he face and looked up at Lily with a desperate expression. "He's not supposed to be this nice to me and I -" she broke off and flattened her face into her pillow.

Lily suddenly understood what was happening. "You're starting to fall for him, aren't you?"

Marlene sat up. "No... I don't know."

"He loves you." Lily said. She would probably regret saying it but lately she had seen it in Sirius' eyes. At first she had thought it was just a crush and would go away in time but now she knew that it was something deeper. Sirius was always the first to comfort Marlene, to tell her that it would be alright and Lily had seen something in his eyes when he had punched Severus after he'd hit Marlene. There was defiantly a strong desire to protect her that went beyond 'just friends'. Lily was also certain that Sirius had no idea himself.

Marlene stared at her. "What?"

Lily shrugged. "You can tell that he does."

Marlene stared at her for a little longer. Then she shook her head and looked away. "Come on Lily, this is Sirius Black we're talking about - not some love struck romantic like James Potter."

Lily flinched slightly at the mention of that name. Marlene noticed and jumped on that instantly.

"Have you two made up yet?"

" I don't think so..." Lily mumbled.

"Well can you please hurry up. I don't want to go to James' New Years party on my own for a third time running."

"You won't be on your own - James, Sirius, Remus and Peter will all be there." Lily said, wincing at her lame excuses.

Marlene rolled her eyes, not in the least bit fooled. "Still, James wants to invite you. Give him a reason to. It'll be the polite thing to do cause if he doesn't, your coming anyway, with or without an invitation."

Lily hesitated for a moment before making up her mind. "Alright... I'll try."

Lily made her way back down to the common room ten minutes later.

Alice and Frank were down there sitting on the sofa at the far end of the room. Frank had his arms wrapped around Alice's torso and her head was resting on his chest.

Lily stood and watched them, smiling to herself at the sight. Although spending time with Frank did limit Alice's time with her and Marlene, Lily knew that Frank was a gentleman and would never hurt Alice and Lily could see that Alice was happy. She wished that she could see Marlene as happy.

Lily turned and wondered out though the portrait hole. She walked through the corridors, not really aware of where she was going but just wanting to go somewhere. She stopped suddenly when she realised where she had ended up; the beech tree in the middle of the grounds.

Sitting beneath that tree was James and Remus.

Lily stood and stared at them for a moment.

Remus looked up and saw her standing there. It was almost as if he had sensed that somebody was watching them. Their eyes met for an instant then Remus tugged gently on James' sleeve.

James glanced up and when he caught sight of Lily he froze.

Deciding that she had nothing left to lose, Lily started to make her way towards them.

As she approached, James muttered something to Remus that Lily couldn't hear and the paler boy nodded, stuffed his book into his bag and got to his feet.

When Remus drew near her, he stopped and looked at her steadily. Lily halted and stared back at him.

"Go easy on him Lily." Remus said quietly with the utmost seriousness.

"I –" Lily began but Remus cut across her.

"Don't." He said. "I'm not saying you have to make up with him and be friends, just don't hurt him too badly."

Lily opened her mouth to say that that wasn't her intention but Remus had already swept past her and moving swiftly towards the lake.

Sucking in a deep breath through her teeth, Lily braced herself and walked over to James before she could change her mind and sat down next to him, refusing to look at him.

There was a heavy silence that was eventually broken by James clearing his throat. "Are you alright?"

Lily jumped. She realised that she'd been staring at the ground. "Oh, um, yes, I'm fine thanks."

"Good..." James said quietly, looking away from her and out towards the lake. "Is there anything I can do for you?"

Lily flinched slightly at his indifferent tone of voice but squared her jaw and said in a stronger voice that she actually felt. "How long have you known? About the fact that Severus... loved me?"

James' head snapped towards her at this. "I've never known." He said. "Just guessed, as well as plenty of others."

"Marlene knew." Lily said quietly. "Both her and Alice knew and they didn't tell me..."

"They were trying to protect you." James said earnestly, his glasses slipping down his nose in his haste to reassure her. "They didn't want you to get hurt." A slight pucker appeared at the corner of his mouth as he said this and he pushed his glasses up his face and turned away from her again.

Suddenly Lily was sick of it. She wanted James to be like he used to be with her, before this last fight. She wanted them to be friends again and to do that; Lily knew she'd have to accept responsibility for this one. "I'm sorry James."

"What?" he said sharply.

"I'm sorry for not believing you. It was dumb of me to think that you were bullying Severus... and to not listen when everyone else was trying to tell me the truth. I just couldn't see it, I was blind James and for that I'm sorry."

James stared at her stedily. "Lily," he said finally then he paused and seemed to consider what he was going to say. "Lily, I would never do anything to hurt you."

The seriousness in his eyes took her breath away and her own eyes watered slightly in gratitude for his sentimentality. She decided that she might as well go the full length and she launched herself towards him, wrapping her arms around his neck and hugging him tightly.

James froze in shock, not in the least suspecting that kind of gesture from her but then he began to appreciate the fact that Lily Evans was actually hugging him spontaneously and he wrapped his arms around her back and pressed his face into her shoulder, breathing in her flowery smell.

I love you Lily. He thought. I will always love you.

But he didn't say the words out loud.

A/N Thanks for reading and thanks for sticking with me, its been a wait I know and I am sorry but we got there in the end. I hope you enjoyed it.

P.S If your intrested in my work, check out my other Marauder's story 'Will It Ever End' I have decided to continue it and will be uploading the next chapter as soon as I get round to typing it up.

Molteaser x