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"There is no disguise which can for long conceal love where it exits or simulate it where it does not exist."
-Francois, Duc de la Rochefourcould

Chapter 28: Three's A Crowd

Lily was a bit nervous as she boarded the Hogwarts train with only one of her friends, Kyra Walters. Although the reason for the missing friend was accounted for by an owl she had sent a few days after Christmas, Lily was still worried about her friend. This friend, whose names was Corinthia, known to her friends as Cora, had for some unexplained reason decided to go back to Hogwarts right after Christmas instead of waiting out the remaining of the holiday as the rest of the Hogwarts students were doing. Cora's owl post did not give any real explanation for her sudden change of plans, nor did it give as much information as Lily would have liked. Yet Lily believed that Kyra might have gotten a note similar to the one Lily had received; she only hoped that Kyra had received more information.

The two girls quickly found a compartment that was empty; they were early for the train, as they had planned to be. After placing their bags and trunks in the storage space in the room, they sat opposite each other in order to easily talk between themselves while giving the illusion of the whole compartment being full for they wanted privacy.

After a few moments of silence between the girls, Kyra spoke up, "Shouldn't we have waited for Cora on the platform?"

Lily stared at her friend in disbelief, could she have really forgotten about Cora going back to Hogwarts early? Kyra was known amongst many that she had been blessed at birth with a terrible memory, so it would not be astonishing if Kyra had forgotten this. But then again, Cora not being on the train back to school was not a frivolous event, which many of the happenings Kyra often forgot could be labeled as.

"Lily," Kyra said, waving her hand in front of her friend's face.

"Sorry," Lily said, coming out her thoughts, "But didn't you get the letter from Cora saying she wouldn't be on the train?"

Kyra's mouth dropped at Lily's words and a look of complete flabbergast came over her. "What?"

Lily half-laughed at the situation as she nodded her head. Although outside Lily appeared calm and collected about the circumstances, a few moments of worry came over her. Why had Cora not sent a letter to Kyra? At first, Lily thought Cora may still be distant from Kyra because of her current relationship with Sirius, but it was not in Cora's nature to hold a grudge for that long of a time. Yet Lily knew that Cora had been acting strangely since Sirius chose Kyra over her, but she knew there had to be more to this fight than Cora was letting her friends know. Lily promised herself that she would find out what was going on with her friend, no matter how deep and dirty she had to get.

"Yeah," Lily said, deciding that she would do her detective work on her own rather than involve the person who was probably the source of the start of Cora's independence. "Here," she continued, getting the letter out of her pocket and handing it to Kyra.

Kyra took the letter from Lily's hand, her mind still in a jumble. "Why didn't she just send me a letter herself," she said, as she began reading the letter.

"I dunno," Lily said almost in a whisper.

Dear Lily,

First of all I would like to wish you a very Happy Christmas and I do hope you like the gift I gave you as much as I enjoyed the gift you gave me. Though I haven't quite figured out the puzzle yet, I am sure I will get it soon and if I don't I trust you will be able to help me.

The other reason for my letter is that I must tell you something important. I have gone back to Hogwarts early, in fact you can probably tell I am all ready here because I am using a school owl. Please do not get worried as to why I am here or fret over the thought that this letter is a fraud. Feel free to send letters back to me if you wish to better ease your mind into believing I am here. The reason I am mainly saying this is so you don't look for me when you get on the train again in January.

Well I must go now

Your friend,

Cora

P.S. You may want to skip out on the evening feast on the day you get back. I heard Sirius and James plotting this morning something for that day, although I am unsure of what the exact details are. If we can meet somewhere else to eat I think that will be best. And Lily don't turn them in for doing something they haven't done yet. Besides, from the look of things I think the students are not the only ones who need a good laugh.

When Kyra had finished the letter, her jaw was still open but here eyes looked like they were someplace else. It was not the type of stare people had when they were staring at the scenery the train passed as they traveled by; it was a stare that came when the eyes were searching through their mind for answers. She held the letter in her hand, moving her thumbs up and down the page, although not taking here eyes off the invisible memory in her mind.

"What," Lily asked. It was not normal for Kyra to sit in voiceless thought. She was more of the friend who seemed to have trouble with her inner monologue, for she often thought out loud.

Kyra closed her eyes and shook her head with a smile. When she reopened them she said, "I can only guess one reason why she went back early."

"What?" Lily asked, getting more agitate because Kyra was not giving the answers quick enough for her,

"There was an attack on Christmas Eve in a wizarding neighborhood," Kyra took a pause for Lily to gasp, let the words sink in, and then come back to reality, "Two aurors were killed and a bunch of civilians too. They're still cleaning up the mess."

"How many were killed?" Lily said, not believing this could happen. She knew they were in a war, but what type of heartless person would order an attack on Christmas Eve?

"So far, 21 are dead and 4 injured, but they are finding more bodies everyday. They think the death count might reach 50," Kyra said, her usually gleeful glint missing in her eye.

Lily clasped her hands against her mouth as her eyes widened at Kyra's words. Twenty-one people were dead, with more bodies being found everyday. The destruction in the small area must have been monumental if, after about a week since the attack, it was still being cleaned up. Why did the world her and her friends were about to enter have to involve so much death and devastation? In only a few months they would have to leave behind their trivial teen problems and reluctantly welcome the maladies of the world. They would soon be a part of the system designed to take down the Dark Lord and his followers. Would they succeed? Would they fail?

"I know," Kyra said in a whisper.


As the students arrived in Hogwarts Lily noticed that some children were not as happy as others. The attack still fresh in her mind, Lily believed that these poor souls had to deal with the massacre first hand. Yet, it was doubtful that they had seen the attack, for all who saw what happened were either killed or so severely injured that they were just beginning to talk about the ordeal, at least that was the news according to Kyra. But what did this attack have to do with Cora? If Kyra was right, then could fear alone force Alex to send his younger sister back to school about a week early? Lily was not sure, but she would not rest until she found out the answers.

Lily and Kyra entered their school going the opposite way of the other students; they decided to follow Cora's advice and not go into the Great Hall for the feast. On the way to the common room, they met Cora in front of a fruit basket painting.

"I figured you guys would heed my warning about the Marauders," Cora said, calmly.

Although the cool manners in Cora's appearance, words, and actions, could easily fool any other person in the school, for her two best friends it was going to take more than a friendly gesture to wipe the questions from there minds.

"What did you come back early?" Lily and Kyra asked together looking at Cora, before looking back at themselves smiling.

"You heard about the attacks I'd wager," Cora said darkly.

"Yeah," Lily said, her mood becoming almost as dark as Cora.

Cora offered a smile before she opened her mouth and spoke the words she had been rehearsing in her mind since she had arrived at Hogwarts, "Nothing to fret about, I just don't like thinking about the whole incident." Her smile faded a bit, "It just makes me think of when my parents were killed. But no worries, Alex just reckoned I should come back to school. I am all he has and he doesn't want anything to happen to me."

Kyra slowly walked up to her friend, not sure of what to think. It was almost unethical for someone to come back to school early, although she had no doubt that in this time of war that Dumbldore would have no problem with someone coming back into the safety of Hogwarts before time. Yet, Kyra could not figure out Cora's or Alex's logic in all of this. In this time of fear, why would the two sacrifice time together? If Alex were to die, wouldn't either of them want to spend their last moments together? Not that Kyra wanted her best friend dead but, Kyra thought again, she guessed this sacrifice was made out of the deepest love a brother could have for his younger sister. Kyra finally started to understand this decision. The selfish choice would have been to keep both siblings home, but love torn them apart. Kyra now had a new respect for Alex. She before saw him as a man who only thought of himself, but now he was willing to sacrifice himself for his sister.

Meanwhile, Cora was continuing on, "Since the attack was near by, he didn't want to risk loosing another member of our family to him."

Lily, who looked like she had been battling the same thoughts in her mind as Kyra, spoke the words Kyra was trying to will herself to speak, "Are you sure that is all that happened?"

Cora slowly smiled and answered back sweetly, "I'm positive."

"Good," Lily said, slapping her hands together and rubbing them against themselves, "Let's eat shall we."

"Marauder style," Kyra said, tickling the pear and opening the door.


Sirius shared a quick glance and smile with James as the feast of the night had officially started. It was planned that James and Sirius would start fighting amongst themselves, so that others would get the idea of what was expected if they were hit by any food. Then, Sirius, since he was always more eager of the two to get other people involved in publics fight, would hit the student of the Slytherin table as James would duck under the table. With the mix of jealous wanting eyes from others wanting to join the fight and the insurmountable tension that all ready existed between the two rivals, a fight would start without a doubt.

But, as Sirius was about to hit James with the first bit of food, he was distracted by a splat heard a few seats down from him. It was not clear to many people what had happened at first, but once the Gryffindor boy felt the back of his head and felt essence of potato on his skin, he immediately turned around to the Slytherin table and threw his pumpkin juice at the boy who as snickering the loudest. The laughing boy stifled his mocking laughter and threw more food at the boy. With that last action, half of the Gryffindor table yelled started throwing food back at the boy; in the midst of that mayhem, a boy from Ravenclaw yelled, "Food Fight."

Had this been any normal day, the Marauders would have welcomed the fight, but today was not a normal day. Their attempt at lightening the mood in Hogwarts has been thwarted. What made matters worse, was that each boy would later claim that they had heard Dumbledore mutter to Slughorn to go easy on the students when it came to punishment. It appeared that he was not the only one glad to see that happiness still ran through the school like a never ending river. If they had started the fight, they would have gotten off with only one detention each, or better, but the 'filthy Slytherins' had to ruin there fun and steal their idea. Although neither at the time knew how their rivals had found out their scheme, each knew inside themselves that they had stolen it and crowned it as their own. It was a stunt that would not be tolerated by any other house, for it would mean to scoop lower the initial person who envisioned the wrong doing, but for a member of the house that fell under the colors of green and silver, it was a normal act. Disgusted and filled with greater hate for their enemies, the Marauders left the table and headed for the kitchens to eat in peace; they were sure the gazes of the thefts followed them as they departed.

None of the boys spoke for the first few moment of the journey to the kitchens, but it was only a matter of time before one of the exploded. Sirius, who seemed to be the most pissed at the moment, was walking in front, pacing from one end of the corridor to the other. Suddenly, but not unexpectedly, he walked up to the wall on the right and threw his left fist against the wall. Although the force of the punch probably hurt Sirius greatly, he did not flinch; it was as if the pain was cooling him down.

"Watch where you are throwing that!" a person from the portrait nearest Sirius' hand yelled back at him, he was nearly hit by the punch.

"Fuck off," Sirius said, throwing his weight off the wall with his fist and running the rest of the way down the hall.

James stopped as he watched his best friend run angrily in front of him. If he had not been so pissed off himself, he more than likely would have chased after him. But he knew that if he followed him, the two would just get into a fight and be angry at each other. James knew, from experience, that there were only two ways to calm Sirius down; being alone in a padded room so he could not hurt himself or having a good snog. Hopefully Sirius would find Kyra or Ariel to let out his temper on, or else he would invite Remus and Peter into the Head's common room. It would be a stunt Lily would not appreciate, but it was better than being ripped apart in the middle of the night by a ranting Sirius.

"We have to get them back for this," Remus said, which partially shocked James and Peter because Remus was usually the reluctant marauder.

"If you say so, then they more than deserve something," James said with a brief smile to his face, but it faded as he said the next words, "Fucking Slytherins."

The three then ran in the direction towards the kitchen on the warm ground that Sirius had patted his feat against only a few moments before.


"…So he started laughing so hard that orange soda came rushing out…" but Cora stopped her story of her last good memory of her brother, not that any of her friends knew he was dead, because they were interrupted by the most unexpected though most expected person to come rushing into the room.

She had decided, as she took the trip to Hogwarts on Christmas Day, to not inform her friends about the murder of her brother. She did want to feel the pity they would surely give her after having all of her family killed by the same mass murderer. Cora had all ready decided that she had taken up enough of her friends' time the last time tragedy had struck her family. Although, she would be lying to herself if she were saying she did not want some time with her friends without their boyfriends hanging around, she just did not want to spend that time in remorse. Since Cora was all ready used to pretending to be something she was not, she believed she had the strength to get through the death of her beloved brother on her own. She knew it was unhealthy to keep everything inside, but it was better than to have her friends worrying about her every minute of the day. They were entitled to have a final year at Hogwarts that was filled with joy, happiness, and love. There was enough fear and death happening in the outside world, there was no need for those types of things to start occurring in the only place most people believed they were safe. It was out of the same love that Alex was filled with when he sacrificed himself for her, something she would never forgive herself for doing. So many times since she had declined the letter from the Dark Lord, she wondered whether his death threats were serious. She knew he was a mass murder who would never give any killings a second glance, but she could not bring herself to believe that lightening would strike twice…she was wrong to doubt him.

"What the fuck are you three doing here?" Sirius yelled, as his three friends followed in, just as shocked as he.

"What are we doing here," Kyra snapped back, "What are you doing here? Aren't you guys supposed to be doing some stunt?"

"How did you know?" James called back, his temper rising with the thought that a fellow Gryffindor foiled one of their plans.

"Cora over heard you two talking at breakfast one day," Lily spoke up from behind her two friends, "She didn't know what you guys were planning, but she warned us that we may not want to eat there."

"How do you know about his place?" Sirius asked, his anger growing in his voice.

"Just because you coined the term 'marauders,' doesn't mean no one else in this school knows a secret passage here and there," Kyra said, using her great ability to draw in the rage from a situation and make it part of her.

"Great! Everywhere we go tonight, people are beating us to it," Sirius yelled, throwing his hands up in defeat, "I've got to get out of here."

The group watched as a fuming Sirius ran from the room; no one dared follow his lead. But, as if signaled by his departure from the room, James moved toward the quietest girl in the room. He walked toward her in a very stern and proud manner; the others in the room could easily tell he was trying to intimidate her. He stopped his strut when his toes were only about an inch or two from touching hers.

"You didn't know what we were planning?" James asked the girl in front of him with her head down.

"No," she said before she lifted up her head to look at him, "and even if I did I wouldn't tell anyone except those two."

James just gazed back at Cora's eyes, whose kept shifting under his strong gaze. She knew he was searching for any weakness in the chains of her story, but since she knew she did not lie about anything she had just said, she did not fear him at this moment. Yet, she could not stand to look him straight in the eye, her confidence at the moment did not allow her to do so. On a good night she might have been able to stand up to him and stare back, and it would have been easier because she was not trying to hide anything. But tonight, fighting the urge to burst into tears by lying to her friends about her brother, she no longer had any strength left to put up a fight.

"I guess your telling the truth," James said, ruffling up her hair with his hand as if he were shaking off her mistake as a parent might do to a child.

Cora looked back up at him and smiled slightly, as he went off into a corner and told an eager house elf his food order.

"I guess one of us should go and find him," Remus said as their conversation reached Sirius once again; since it seemed that James had nothing more to say about the situation and he wanted to be alone.

"I'll go. He might hit one of you if one of you guys go," Kyra said breaking from the crowd, "but in all my years of knowing Sirius, he has never hit a girl."

"You mean the thought of having a hate shag isn't part of your reasoning?" Peter said, to which Remus, Lily, and Cora busted out into laughter.

"Shut up," Kyra said, her cheeks turning a shade of pink before leaving the room.

"Nice one Pete," Lily said, giving him a high five.

"Thanks," he answered back with confidence.

The trio sat in silence for a while, before Remus' eyes moved toward the lone boy in the corner of the room. Although Remus, himself, was gaining back his composure rather quickly since he thought the idea of a food fight was more of a spur of the moment idea, rather than a planned event. But then again, Remus was only disappointed when their pranks went wrong; so a large reaction from him was no expected from either of two masterminds. The only real time Remus had ever got emotional when a prank went wrong was when he was unaware of being in a prank. He could remember how he felt that day, betrayed, taken advantage of, and many other emotions he did not want to feel again. He thanked James mentally everyday that he had been there to keep Sirius from getting expelled from Hogwarts and Snape getting critically injured, not that he liked the man, but he did not wish being a werewolf or death on his worst enemies.

The emotions of that day started to take over him, and Remus politely excused himself from the room. Peter quickly followed; his need to be around one of his close friends at the moment was great. Had James been in a better mood, he would have stayed in the room, but since Kyra had spoken earlier of Sirius hitting one of them, he figured James might have been in the same mood. Taking what he believed was the best choice of the situation; he took to sticking with the logical Remus rather than the sometimes-illogical leaders.

"I guess I'll go too," Cora said, not liking the feeling of being forced in between Lily and James; a couple that most people knew needed as much time alone to realize that they were just what each other were looking for.

Lily walked up to James as he walked over to the table to eat the food the house elf had just given him. She did not say a word as she sat down and he aggressively took a bite of his sandwich. She could tell it was not the right time to interrupt his meal, she would only succeed in getting into an argument with him; something both would regret in the morning. Lily knew in circumstances like this, you just had to let the person open up to you and vent. For the ordinary person, venting would so the trick, but then again, James was far from average.

"Are you going to leave with the rest," James scoffed.

"I wasn't planning on it," Lily tried to say with an attitude, but failed miserably when a smile spread across her face.

"Think this is funny do you?" James asked, throwing down his food and drawing the attention of the nearby house elves. "Think it's funny that our idea was stolen by some dirty Slytherins. You think that it's funny that we haven't pulled a prank on anyone for almost a month! People are starting to think the marauders are dead because we haven't been as active as you used to be! Do really find that so hysterical that you have to sit here and pretty much mock me for your own amusement."

"Now James,' Lily said, a stern look on her face from being criticized by the boy in front of her, "I may be guilty of a lot of things, but I am not mocking you are at this moment."

"They why were you laughing?" James asked, becoming more childish by the minute.

"I was laughing because of the current situation we are in now. You, the great James Potter, as you are known by around the school, acting more like a first year than a seventh year because some stunt not even worthy to be called a prank was stolen by someone else. No James let me finish," Lily said, as James was about to interrupt her, "Image what others would say if they saw you in this position? Is this really the James Potter you want everyone to see?"

James was fuming with anger from the words coming out of Lily's mouth. She had not spoken to him like this in a while, and if his mood had been lighter he may have let his cockiness taken him over and play along with her accusations, but at this moment in time, he was in no mood for games.

"Now you listen here Lily. You have no idea what it is like to have your genius idea stolen from you. How would you like it if someone stole your homework right before class?"

"That is completely different James," Lily said, throwing her hands on the table in disgust to his horrible metaphor. "Homework will help you in the long run, while pranks and jokes will only get you in trouble. And don't give me this 'genius idea' shit, a food fight. Come on James, I could have come up with a better idea than that."

James just stayed quiet as she pierced her green orbs into his chest. He could feel her gaze upon him, and for that reason he chose to find his shoes to be very interesting at the moment. He knew she was right, that was nothing new, but the worst part about it was that she knew she was right. Lily was a girl who knew she was smart and clever, no one needed to add fuel to an all ready burning fire; but he had done just that.

"I win," Lily said, crossing her arms and legs in her seat at the opposite end of the table from James.

"Don't rub it in," James mumbled back after a few moments of silence.

It was then Lily took her hand and moved it out of its current position, and placed it in the middle of the table on James' hand. He looked up at her when she did this, a look of shock on his face. At this moment he completely forgot about the incident in the Great Hall and the argument he had just had with Lily; all he wanted to know was the answer to the age-old question he had been asking Lily since fifth year.

"I've done some thinking over the break," Lily said, not breaking eye contact with him.

"And…" he asked, egging her on to speak the possible words he had been waiting to officially here for so long.

"Well, why don't you ask me and I'll tell you?" Lily said, cocking her head to the side.

James looked at her for a moment, scanning her a bit. It was then that he noticed the chain around her neck that looked familiar to him. Although he could not see the pendant on the end, he knew it was the necklace he had given her for Christmas. It was a simple gift, and he knew he could have done better, but he felt it would have more sentimental value to her than if he were to spend more money on something he was not even sure she would like. With Lily, who ranged greatly in her likes and dislikes, he felt better not taking a chance, although he was still anxious over whether she would like it or not. Seeing it around her neck have him the knowledge that she had liked the gift and it aided in giving him confidence that the answer to the question he was going to ask was going to be in his favor.

James smiled once more and said in a more serious voice than the thousands of other times he had spoke to her the same words, "Will you, officially, go out with me?"

Lily put her index finger to her chin and made a face with her mouth to make it look like she was contemplating the question in her mind. When she was done with those antics, she gave him a smile and answered, "yes."


Kyra ran around checking all the usual spots for Sirius. She knew she had to find him fast or else he might hurt someone or himself without fully realizing what he was doing. Sirius could be the life of a party and not have a care in the world, but when it came to pranks and jokes, he could not be more serious; it was perhaps the only time his name fit his personality.

Kyra had finished checking the normal places and she was just about to search the other end of the castle when she heard his voice coming from inside an old classroom. But it did not sound as if there was any sadness in his voice, in fact it sounded as if he was completely enjoying himself. Kyra's eyes scrunched at the sounds of another voice, for she could not figure out whom it belonged to. Walking slowly toward the door, she cautiously put her hand on the doorknob; she was not sure if she wanted to know what was going on behind it, but her curiosity was getting the better of her. She turned the knob gradually at a slow but steady pace. She worked it with very little noise and it did not appear to attract the attention of the people inside.

"Sirius," Kyra said in disbelief as she saw her boyfriend in the arms of Ariel Sayers.

Shock took over as she saw the two together. Although Sirius had been a player in the past, he had assured her that since he was finally getting the girl he had always wanted, he would end this part of his life. In fact, he would often talk about how James' change of heart had caused him to rethink par of his life. Kyra believed he was being sincere at this moment, but she knew now that he could never keep his hands on one girl for long. She could feel the anger growing inside her, but she was surprised to find that her resentment was not for Sirius. She blamed herself for her feelings she had when she found him, for she had probably fallen for the same trick he had told other girls he had been with. How could she have let herself be taken as a fool?

"I should have known you could never change," Kyra said, as tears threatened to fall down her face.

Sirius shrugged at her voice, "If you wanted it to last longer, you should have kept my attention more."

Kyra left as she heard Ariel laugh at these words, she did not want to cry in front of him.


A/N: I think this is one of my longest chapters yet, over 5,000 words. I think I own you guys a long one since I have been dishing out shorter chapters. I'm thinking of writing a one shot about why Sirius acts so crazy and stuff like that(as Remus said in the 3rd movie 'the madness within'). I thought of it a few nights ago and since I finished this chapter early I may write it. I don't know what it will be called yet, but when I write it I shall tell you all and you can read it if you like. I like the idea in my head; I think it will be a good one shot. Don't worry; I will probably work on that on the side for this story, because I would really like to finish this story before the 7th book comes out. I have to work fast, since I have no idea how many more chapters this will have.

I hope there aren't many mistake, I read through it, but it isn't beta-ed. Please don't ahte me too much because I am giving you all aquick long update!

Oh, and I have a question. JK Rowling said that in the new book were going to find out the jobs of Lily and James in this book. Did I just miss this information or did she not put it in? If anyone can any ideas about this can you leave the information in a review, I would greatly appreciate it. Maybe she just said something that was going to be found out in the 7th book, but I am still unsure.

PLEASE REVIEW! If you guys don't review I'll make Sirius do his puppy eyes again.

Kudos for everyone that reviewed!

PadfootandProngs91: Your so sweet and one of my favorite reviewers, I love hearing from you! Thanks alot for your review...I think it is the best I have ever gotten.

mizlovegood: With your comment about Sirius, don't worry, Cora will get a chance to get at him in the next chapter. Thanks for your reviews!

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