A/N: Yes, I know it's been a week since my last update. I don't really have a good excuse this time. A couple things did come up, but what it comes down to is that I'm just lazy. I'm sorry guys. Really I am. Anyways, I couldn't resist throwing a little bit more drama into the plot, even though this story is almost finished. Hopefully this chapter isn't too wierd for you...

Plan Y: Not Part Of The Plan

I was walking away from the unicorn pasture after Care of Magical creatures, when I suddenly stopped in my tracks and gulped. There, sitting on the fence with her legs crossed, and her quill behind her ear, was none other than Rita Skeeter.

I thought about yelling at her. Something along the lines of: What the hell are you doing here you filthy old cow?! But I didn't want to get into any more trouble with her than I was already in, so instead I just glared at her.

She met my gaze, and stared back evenly, "Lily Evans. Am I mistaken?" She asked in her mock-sweet voice.

I nodded curtly. She smiled, an evil, painfully malicious smile. "Ah Good. Well then," She folded her hands on her lap, "There's a few things I think you should know. Shall we get down to business?"

I didn't say anything, I simply continued glaring at her with as much intensity as I could muster. I wished looks could kill, because if that were so, I was sure Rita would have dropped dead five minutes ago.

"It's about your boyfriend." She stressed the last word teasingly and looked over my face to see my reaction.

I was careful to keep my face blank as I told her quite calmly, "He isn't my boyfriend."

Her smile deepened, "Oh what a shame. Probably all for the best though. I wouldn't want to go out with someone like that. I'd have dumped his sorry ass months ago."

I continued glaring at her, fuming silently. I didn't want to give her the satisfaction of knowing that her words angered me. No one was allowed to speak about James like that. That was my job.

She let her words sink in for a moment, before continuing in a simpering voice, "Oh dear, you don't know do you?"

I knew what she wanted me to say, but I kept my mouth locked shut.

She gave me a look that was clearly meant to look sympathetic. I kept my jaw locked in a tight line and my expression neutral, but really, my blood had almost reached boiling point. I wanted to hex her into oblivion. First she insulted my mom, now James. What next?

"Oh dear oh dear oh dear…. Where to begin?"

She fidgeted slightly, then crossed and uncrossed her legs. I got the feeling she was biding her time for the dramatic affect of whatever gloating news she had in store for me, and that only angered me further.

Finally, I could take it no longer. Although I knew I was playing right into Rita's hand I snarled, "You came here to tell me something. Why don't you just say it, gloat, and get the hell out of here!"

"Patience child," She simpered maliciously, "Good things come to those who wait, though in your case I suppose that isn't true."

"I don't suppose you'd like me to hex you right back to whatever hell-hole you crawled out of." I sneered, because I'd finally been pushed over the edge.

Her sinister smile lengthened, "Watch your mouth child, or I'll be forced to report you to your headmaster. Now you wouldn't want that, would you?"

She hopped off the railing and walked over towards me. I probably should have left then, but I didn't want her to think I was scared of her, so I stood my ground.

When she got close to me she reached out a spindly hand with blood-red fingernails and pinched my cheek like a grandmother might do, only much harder. I shot her my best death glare, but it didn't seem to affect her in the slightest.

"Poor Lily… I'm afraid what I have to say to you will wipe that silly sneer off your face in a heartbeat. Anyways no more dilly-dallying. Time to get down to business." She took a deep, theatrical breath and plunged on, "James is cheating on you with a certain blonde witch called Stacy."

I could have laughed. This was her huge gloating news? "Yeah, he went to the dance with her. So what? I already knew that." I stated triumphantly.

Her smile didn't waver however, on the contrary it seemed to grow, if that was even possible. "Oh but you don't know everything it seems."

I smirked, "Oh yeah." I challenged.

"Oh, well did you perchance know, that I walked in on them at about one in the morning going at it in a broom closet on the first floor."

My smirk wavered, but only for a second. Of course she was lying. "You're a horrible liar Skeeter." I sneered.

She looked me over closely, as a doctor might, or perhaps a stern teacher, "Perhaps it was coatroom…" she trailed off musingly.

I couldn't help my smile from flickering for a second, a movement I was sure she caught. "Ahhh…now I remember!" She said triumphantly, "I was going to get my coat, and I opened the door to see the two of them locked in close embrace. Snogging, I guess you young ones would call it. At any rate it looked like he was sucking her face off. They didn't seem to notice me, so I went to close the door, but not before I heard James say something I thought you might find quite interesting…"

"Oh yeah, and what was that?" I asked mockingly.

"He said, and I quote: 'I love you Stacy. I may have said that to two women today, but you're the only one for whom I meant it.'"

I rolled my eyes at her, although her words had brought just the smallest tinge of doubt to my mind. How could she possibly guess what Potter had said to me? She wasn't in the coatroom then, no one was.

She seemed to sense my skepticism, "Oh but Lily, that's not the half of it. See, he had this small black piece of leather, a shoe strap by the looks of it… and he took it out of his pocket, spat on it, and threw it down on the floor."

I was all ready to throw a malicious insult her way, but when she said shoe strap, my voice caught in my throat. No. How could she know I lost my shoe strap? It's not possible. She wasn't in the coatroom with us. No one was and I would have noticed if someone came in. I'm sure of it.

I was a rational person, however I didn't want to rationalize this situation, for fear she may actually be telling the truth, That would be more horrible than I could imagine. So instead I said the most intelligent thing I could think of, in the hope of catching her out, "So uhhh why were you still at the dance at one in the morning? It ended at twelve." I asked, trying to sound as skeptical as possible.

"Oh well I was writing my story of course. I must strike while my muse is still with me. I'd only just finished at one, and I went to get my coat so I could get out of the grounds and apparate home."

I silently cursed her explanation. It sounded relatively reasonable actually. But I wasn't going to believe her. I wouldn't believe her. She was an accomplished witch, surely she had magical means of eavesdropping that had allowed her to spy on us. She just wanted to get back at me for the pocketbook, but I wouldn't give her the satisfaction of knowing that her words had sparked even the tiniest ripple of doubt. "I don't believe you Rita. You may know how to lie on paper, but you can't lie for shit in front of someone's face." I spat, before turning my on my heel to leave.

However, she snatched my arm again before I'd had the chance to walk two steps. I breathed in slowly to calm myself enough that I wouldn't be tempted to draw my wand and turned back around to face her. "Yes? What do you want now?"

"Would you believe me if I used veritaserum?" She asked, drawing a small silver vial from her pocket.

My breath caught. How did she get that? It was veritaserum alright, I was too good a potion maker not to recognize the telltale sheen of bubbles on the surface and the numbing fumes issuing from just the small dose. I squinted closer for a better look. There was a small, silver symbol etched into the glass. It looked like a torch, or maybe it was a sun…

As my eyes locked on the symbol, my body jerked as though an electric shock had passed through me. My head knocked the vial right out of Rita's hands, and fell to the ground with a light thud!

The vial didn't break on the mossy ground, but the potion spilled out and seeped into the ground. There would be no recovering it. And yet strangely, I didn't mind. I didn't need the potions assurance anymore. Somehow, I just knew that Rita was right. She'd been right all along, I'd just been too thick to realize it.

I looked up to see Rita looking at me expectantly. I smiled up at her; suddenly all anger dissipating. "Thank you for telling me the truth Rita." I said sincerely, turning around for the last time, to go and hex Potter.

/-o0o-/

It was the calm before the storm. The gang and I were hanging by the common room fire, plotting our last escapade before graduation. I had claimed one of the better armchairs by the fire, and so had Remus and Sirius, but poor Peter was reduced to sitting on the floor, craning his pudgy little neck to look at us as we spoke in hushed whispers. We were debating about whether or not to attempt to break into Zonko's. Sirius and I were gung-ho of course, but Remus, always the voice of reason, insisted that it was too risky.

"What about that run in with Aberforth's goat last month," he insisted, "You have to admit, that was a close call, and he lives right down the street…"

He trailed off, and then Sirius spoke up, "So you eat the goat, it's not like anyone's going to miss that pesky little bugger."

I snorted, "Still angry about the cloak, Padfoot?" I teased.

"I'll have you know that was the best bloody cloak I ever owned! And that freakin little monster had no right to bite a chunk out of it!"

I snorted, "You're a bloody pansy, you know that?"

He glared, "Prat!"

"Moron!" I retorted jokingly.

"Dillhole!"

"Pighead!"

"Bastard!"

"Jackass!"

"Uh…. You guys…" Came Peter's shaky voice.

We both looked down to see him pointing a shaking finger towards the portrait hole, white as a ghost. I followed his train of sight in time to see the door flung against the wall violently, with a resounding thud, as Hurricane Lily entered the room.

I inwardly shuddered as I watched her quickly scan the room, and her wild eyes came to rest on me. She sent me one of her full on death glares- causing every nerve in my body to taut, every cell to cry out in alarm. As our eyes locked, I tried to look into those wild emerald orbs, but they were clouded by that now familiar, fiery red-head passion and anger, and this time, the anger won out, but didn't recede by any means. I swear, for the briefest instant, I saw the lights flicker around her, and the smoldering fire behind me spark to new life. But that may have just been a reflection of the unbelievable rage evident in those terrifying emerald depths. And that rage, that terrible, smoldering hate that was perfectly capable of sparking an immanent titanic disaster, that rage was directed at none other, but me.

She took a step towards me, as I staggered out of my chair to face her. I took in her bedraggled appearance wearily. Her mud splattered robe, her flyaway hair, her livid face, her labored breathing. It looked as if she'd run all the way here from somewhere outside.

She was mad at me obviously. Any idiot or anxious Gryffindor onlooker could see that. I hadn't the slightest clue why though. As far as I could remember, I had done no wrong by her in weeks. "What did I do?" I asked, as soon as my throat had moistened enough to speak.

"What did you do? What did you do?!" She yelled, loud enough to reach the moon, "You lied to me, that's what!"

Lied? My mind scrambled frantically trying to recall an instance when this had happened. Within seconds, I realized what she was on about, or so I thought. "Is this about the Animagus, because Lily I swear, I couldn't tell you!" I sputtered, perhaps foolishly.

"Animagus? So you have more secrets! No, this is about Stacy you moronic bastard!"

"Stacy?" I asked blankly.

"You cheated on me Potter! You cheated and lied! You made me think that you actually cared! You made me hope that you were something more! But when it really comes down to it, you're not! You're not worth a second of the time I spent with you! You're not worth a fraction of the grief you've given me! I should have known before, you're nothing but a womanizing rat bastard! And you know what? I don't care anymore. You can have you're frikin whore! Go run off with that ditsy blonde slut for all I care! She deserves you!"

I tried to open my mouth to speak, to tell her that her wild accusations were completely false, to ask her what had led her to believe such preposterous lies, but I was almost too bewildered to form a coherent sentence. Panicked, I stuttered out the first thing that came to mind, "Lily I… I'm-"

"You're what, you're sorry!" She cried, "Well I've got news for you Potter- it's too late for that. The damage is done, and you know what, I'm glad! At least now I know the truth! And to think, I was almost about to tell you I wanted to be with you! Well trust me, I'll never make that mistake again!"

I staggered back a bit at the slap in the face that was her cruel and slightly ironic words, and at the ferocious glint in her eyes. Her hand was buried in her cloak, were I was quite certain it was gripping her wand so hard her knuckles had gone white. When Lily was livid like this, she was dangerous. I must try to reason with her in the most cautious manner possible. Swallowing a lump in my throat, and trying to still the knot of fear and anguish in my stomach, I chocked out another weak protest, "Lily, I didn't. I swear, I don't know what you're talking about. Whatever it is, it's not true. None of it's true!" The urgency was evident in my voice. I had to make her hear me before she decided to do something rash.

To late apparently. In one smooth motion, her wand was drawn, and pointed directly at my throat.

My eyes widened as her wand let of a round of angry red sparks, diffusing themselves in Lily's wild and matted hair. "Skee- my source didn't lie. You're the liar. I see that clearly now Potter. I'm done playing games with you. We're thru!" She swiped her wand in a fierce arc to empathize her point.

I couldn't help it as my eyes widened and my jaw slackened in shock. I hadn't a clue what had gotten into her head, all I knew was that I was losing her, despite my best efforts all year, and I would not let that happen. Sure, Lily Evans wasn't an object, wasn't a prize but a person, however at that moment it didn't matter to me. I was James Potter. And I refused to lose the girl I loved.

I trudged over to her, all thoughts of my own safety forgotten, and placed a hand on her arm, "Lily I-" I started, before she slapped my hand a away, angry tears prickling at her eyelids.

"LET GO OF ME!" She bellowed, redirecting her wand so that it hovered bellow my temple.

Stupidly, I desperately attempted to grab her arm again, but she pulled away with a fierce, "FUCK OFF POTTER!"

Her cussing left me at a loss of words, and she used that as an opportunity to mumble a hasty, "Flippendo!"

The next thing I knew, I was flying through the air, looking into anxious onlookers startled faces and feeling as if I might puke. I hit the ground with a loud THUD! and felt a sharp pain in the back of my head, as it collided forcefully with my dormitory staircase. The last thing I saw was Lily's tearstained, but enraged face, looking daggers straight at me, before the darkness engulfed me, and I passed out.

/-o0o-/

When I came to, it was late at night, and I was lying on my back on my four poster bed. My head throbbed, and the whole of my body ached, but what hurt most was the searing pain that seemed to burn a hole through my heart, leaving me feeling completely and utterly desolate and alone.

Lily and I were through. I knew that inexplicably now. I had no idea what demon had possessed her to say those horrible things, and to spout those terrible accusations, but I did know enough to realize that she was lost to me, and this time I feared it was for good.

After all we'd been through, after all I'd done for her, after all those injuries I'd sustained, it was finally over. I guess we just were never meant to be.

I bit my lip as tears threatened to fall. James Potter did not cry. Especially not over some girl. But the thing was, Lily wasn't just some girl. She wasn't just another crush. I didn't quite know what she was, but I was sure that she was so much more.

Was. Past tense. She wasn't anything anymore. Just another disappointment. Just another lost opportunity. Just another maybe in a field of infinite doubts and regrets.

Frustrated, I sat up quickly, blinking dazedly as all the blood rushed from my face and small dots of light danced across my vision. I bit my lip harder as my eyes began to well up, so hard a trickle of blood began to spew out into my mouth, tasting metallic, and not at all desirable. Angrily, I cupped my hand into a fist, and threw it back towards the wall with as much force as my pent up rage, frustration, and deep, deep remorse would allow.

The result was a rather large dent, a few broken knuckles, a stream of blood trickling down the wall, staining my sheets red to match the curtains, and one lone tear that somehow slipped out through my physical pain and remorse. It trickled down the side of my face and landed in the pool of my blood, diffusing instantly, as if it had never been. If only my pain could leave me so easily.

The rest of the week was the longest of my life. I tried to speak to Lily on a few occasions, but eventually gave up when it became clear she would not listen. She wouldn't even make eye contact with me. My favorite color in the world, the color of her eyes, was now shrouded and unreachable.

We did end up going out on the full moon. Sirius and I even dressed Aberforth's goat up in a pair of his old pajama's, but I did so only half-heartedly. The world seemed a much less cheery place without Lily's infectious smile and dazzling emerald eyes to light it up.

The week wore on and on, seeming to last forever, but at the same time it took no time at all. Time didn't really matter to me. Nothing really mattered to me anymore. Nothing but Lily. As much as I tried to force myself to hate her, I couldn't. Sure, I was angry, but I still loved her, and that was a hard emotion to erase. It would have been easier to hate, I could deal with that, and it would go away over time, but as it was, the pain inside me would not recede, would not go away any more than the dent in the wall. It would take magic to fix that, and though I was a wizard, I didn't have the heart.

/-o0o-/

'You never really know what you have till it's gone.' That was a phrase I'd never really understood, until now, when it seemed clear as day.

I'd always seen Potter as just a constant annoyance. But the thing was, he was a constant. As in always there. And now that he wasn't dogging my every step, bombarding me with a constant stream of humiliation and pathetic pick-up lines, I found I rather missed him. No, I didn't just miss him, I craved him. It was like a void had opened up somewhere in my heart, and a crucial piece that I'd never really acknowledged was missing. And slowly, ever so slowly, that missing piece was killing me.

I had to keep reminding myself about the horrible thing that Potter did, the terrible way that he betrayed me, to keep myself from running to him and begging him to take me back. As it was, it was an effort just to make it through the day. I couldn't talk to him, couldn't even look him in the eye, for fear of weakening my resolve.

And the sad thing was, although I was furious at him, I didn't hate him. I'd never really hated him, and now when I had sufficient reason to, I found I was incapable of it. I was just filled with this hollow remorse, this empty numbness and sorrow. It would have been easier to hate him. I could get over that. But I couldn't hate that wretched boy, and I knew it would take awhile, if ever, to get over him.

/-o0o-/

The last person I'd expect to come up to me, approached me today in the library. Yeah… you guessed it. Stacy.

I was sitting at one of the larger tables, studying for NEWTS, minding my own business when she came over and plopped herself down besides me, flicking her long blonde hair back lazily as she took a seat.

"What do you want?" I asked coldly.

"To talk." Se said simply.

I glared at her. "I'm kind of busy right now, in case you haven't noticed." I gestured to my elaborate setup of study charts and textbooks, sprawled out along two large tables.

She spared my study tools a quick glance before she turned her attention back to me. "Too bad. I happen to know that you've been studying for five hours straight now, so I'm sure you can spare five minutes to hear me out."

"Save your breath. I don't care what you have to say." I snapped, returning my attention to my transfiguration book.

"Fine, then I'll just sit here till you're ready to listen to me." She replied airily, leaning back in her chair and clasping her hands behind her head.

I rolled my eyes. "Fine. Get comfortable, because it's going to be awhile."

We didn't speak again for about fifteen minutes. I was amazed that she actually stayed that long. Surely if she just wanted to gloat, she'd have lost patience and blabbed by now? All the same, her presence was beginning to annoy me. It is very difficult to study with someone staring at you like you've grown an extra head.

I didn't think she could possibly irk me more than she was now, but unfortunately, I was wrong. "This chart is wrong," She said breezily, gesturing to a chart on my right, "Chemical substances isn't the first of the five Principal Exceptions to Gamp's Law of Elementary Transfiguration, food is."

I glared at her and snatched up my list to check. Sure enough, she was right. I'd made a mistake and she'd caught me out. I guess she isn't as dumb as I presumed her to be, I thought. Incidentally, this thought did nothing to lighten my mood.

I sighed, "Well if you're so good at Transfiguration then, why don't you go study and quit bugging me?" I asked in frustration.

Stacy smirked in a self-satisfied way, much like that smirk of Potter's that I loathed so much. "I wasn't aware that I was annoying you Lily. I'm only watching is all." She retorted icily, "But if you want me to leave, all you have to do is hear me out. Five minutes is all I ask, then I'll be gone and you'll never have to speak to me again."

I rolled my eyes, "Fine then. Five minutes. You're on the clock."

Stacy cleared her throat and shifted in her seat. It looked like she was preparing to make a speech or launch a presentation. I sighed and glanced at my watch as she began, "I'm going to be frank with you Lily; I know you don't like me. Ditsy blonde slut isn't exactly a term used to describe a friend." I snorted, but she plowed on as if she hadn't heard, "And honestly, from what I've seen of you, I don't like you either. You're self-absorbed, absolutely conceited, an insufferable know it all, and to top that all off, a complete idiot."

I rolled my eyes at her, hoping her little rant of insults would end soon. She took a deep breath and kept going, "And for some reason, I'm not at all sure why, Potter loves you."

I tried to retort at that one. To tell her that pledging your love to a girl, and then turning around and cheating on them did not equal love, did not even equal someone capable of love, but she raised her wand threateningly, and my breath caught at the ferocious look in her eyes. I'd never been on the receiving end of a death glare until then, and only now did I understand the full extent of their power. "Transfiguration is only one of my good subjects. I can, and will hex you straight to hell and back if you try to interrupt me Lily." She sneered, injecting malice into each word, making me completely believe her fearful threats. Needless to say, I shut up.

She smirked and kept going, her wand still pointed at my face, "I'm sure it doesn't surprise you that I heard all about that little incident in the Gryffindor Common room a few weeks back. And I can assure you, I did no such thing. I have too much respect for myself to kiss someone who is so obviously head over heels in love for another. And especially a Gryffindor." She made a disgusted face, but kept speaking, "I've never seen him in a romantic sense before. He's always been just a fierce competitor and a close acquaintance. Maybe even a friend."

"Which is why I have to convince you that I'm the one telling you the truth, not Skeeter." I almost asked her how she knew it was Rita Skeeter who'd given me the tip off, but thought better of it, mostly owing to the fact that her wand was still pointed directly at my face.

"I want to make it perfectly clear, I'm doing this for Potter, not you. And yes Lily, I know about Skeeter. Potter told me at the dance about the run in you had with her in Hogesmede, and so I easily put two and two together and figured out what was up. She told you something Lily, and it was a lie."

I bit my lip. Sure, I'd like to believe Stacy was the truthful one, but so far she'd given me nothing to go by but her word, which wasn't exactly solid evidence. "Anyways, I did some snooping around of my own and found this." Here she held up a small news clipping for me to see, with a postage stamp sized picture of a rather distressed looking Rita Skeeter.

"It says here that about a week ago, Skeeter was fined 50 gallions for being found with an illicit truth vial in her possession. Not to mention her quick quotes quill tried to stab the ministry official who wrote her up…"

I couldn't help but snort at that, serves her right. However, I failed to see how this related to anything Stacy was trying to tell me. That Rita was a foul, evil person? I already knew that.

She continued after giving me a chance to quickly scan the article, oblivious to my obvious confusion, "A truth vial, you may or may not know, is a highly powerful magical artifact that can make someone believe just about anything if they feel even the tiniest bit of doubt about their original belief or theory. It was originally manufactured by ancient Egyptian wizards, who used it to convince ancient embalmers that the brain was a useless organ which must be extracted from the body prior to burial. What these wizards actually wanted was to use the brains for potion making. I'm sure you know that the cerebellum of a primate's brain is often used in dark potion brewing. Later, the rest of Europe adopted the vial to convince common citizens who'd accidentally witnessed magic that wizardry didn't exist, which was all fine and good until the vials started being distributed more rapidly and without much care, eventually ending up in the hands of dark wizards who could use them to convince entire communities to fight amongst themselves, purely for that wizard's entertainment. Eventually there was an order issued to destroy all existing vials, because they were found to be too similar to the imperious curse and much too dangerous. Most of them were destroyed of course, but obviously a few survived on the black market, because Rita somehow managed to get her hands on one. How she managed to wriggle out of that one without going to Azkaban, who knows?"

"Are you suggesting that Rita used one of those on me?" I asked, not able to stay silent a moment longer.

Stacy seemed to consider me for a moment, "Yes. Even though I don't think you're as smart as you seem to think you are, you're not a complete idiot. You would never have believed Skeeter if she didn't use some kind of witchcraft on you. Think back Lily, do you remember her asking you to look closely at something? Did you see a small silver vial with a sunrise symbol etched into it?"

I thought back, willing my mind to think past the anger that had clouded my mind directly preceding my talk with Rita. I remember she'd made a few valid points, I also remember not believing her at first, despite all that, and then… and then… Something about veritaserum… Then I'd lent forward to get a good look, I'd gazed at it, gazed at the small silver vial- Wait, vial? And then it was like something in the back of my mind just clicked. Suddenly it all fit together so perfectly. This was her revenge. She'd made me believe her just to ruin my life, but it was a lie, it was all a lie. She'd been able to sew just the tiniest bit of doubt into my mind, and then that was all she needed. It was all so perfect, so masterful, how did I fall prey to such a simple yet ingenious plan?

Stacy watched me silently, as realization slowly dawned on my face. "Well, I see my work here is done." Said Stacy, about a minute later, smirking that self satisfied smirk yet again, "I'll just leave you to it then."

She stood up in one swooping, graceful motion and turned around to face me once more, "Oh and Lily," She said, "I very wise person once said that anyone can make a mistake and screw up, but it takes a very strong person to admit they were wrong and do something to fix it."

"Oh yeah, who said that?" I asked, before she could turn her back on me.

"I did." She said, before turning her back on me, and striding away.

I watched her leave the library, and then put my head in my hands the moment I was sure she was too far away to notice. Stacy was absolutely right. I was an idiot, and now I was completely screwed.

A/N: Wow, what a beast of a chapter! If you stuck it out this long, I congradulate you! Sorry about the emo-ish chap. Next one will be fluffy and cute, promise:)