Chapter 36

A/N: We're back at school. Hurray! Not for long though. I reckon next chapter will be Christmas in Jily land. I hope you liked last chapter.

Disclaimer: I own nothing you recognise.

Enjoy :)

Upon returning to Hogwarts the first thing I noticed was that Marlene had once again taken to hiding behind people, mainly me, whenever Kieran was around. Any attempt to question her about her appeared desire to play Whack-a-Mole, with Kieran as the hammer, had led to an angry huff from my honey-eyed friend. Alice and Mary had originally found it hilarious but now found it annoying because if you were talking to Marlene and anyone male wandered past she would duck with a terrified squeak and you would have to reassure her it wasn't Kieran.

Whatever the cause of her hiding, I tried to be helpful. But it wasn't easy seeing as she had Quidditch practice with him 3 times a week and had to play alongside him. Because of this I had now been demanded to watch every Quidditch practice so she could rush over to me and pretend to be too focused on our conversation to notice Kieran trying to talk to her whenever practice was adjourned. I had to admit that Kieran was growing more and more creative in his attempts to talk to her - once attempting to summon her watch so that she would be dragged along behind it. This had forced me to intervene and summon the watch myself with a stronger summoning charm. I was quite impressed that my spell had managed to overpower Kieran's. Needless to say, I had attended more Quidditch practices than I had ever wanted to and spent too many hours being bored watching the Gryffindor team practice. The worst thing was I had to look as though I was enjoying it whenever one of my mates looked over. One time I hadn't smiled when James had looked at me and he'd literally flown to where I was just to ask me whether I was alright.

Currently, I was in the stands doing my homework as the red-robed players flew above me. The cold wasn't an issue as I had cast warming charms on myself and had a jar of bluebell flames which were also my source of light. I sighed as I wrote my concluding paragraph for Thornton's essay on fighting dementors. I was unsure of whether I felt using occlumency and therefore making myself invisible to dementors was more effective or the patronus charm. Either way I decided that a patronus charm was harder to achieve because thinking of your happiest memory was quite difficult in particular when under pressure. Removing all emotions was a technique used by many exam students so therefore more people would be able to do it.

There was a shout from above and Marlene pelted towards me being chased by Kieran. Both were exceptionally good flyers but in her desperation to avoid him Marlene had a little more speed. She practically crash-landed next to me and grabbed me.

'Pack up your stuff!' She cried panicked. 'Quickly!' I obliged with a flick of my wand and stood up. She pulled me onto her broom and we flew off as fast as possible back to the castle with me protesting all the way. Kieran followed a little way behind us and I found myself egging Marlene on despite my fear of flying.

'He's gaining on us!' I yelled in her ear and she sped forwards. We bombarded through the front doors and skidded to a halt in the Entrance Hall. There was a thud as we both fell off the broomstick. Gingerly, I got to my feet, cursing flying, and dragged Marlene up. 'Come on Marls. He'll be in here any moment.' That got her moving and we sprinted up the staircase and through as many corridors as we could. Eventually, breathing got the better of us and we were forced to stop. 'You'd better explain yourself soon.' I grumbled.

'I don't want to.' She whined.

'Marlene Young! You flew – FLEW – me a goodness know how many miles per hour across the grounds of Hogwarts and then made me sprint through Hogwarts to avoid a boy! You'd better start talking or I'll get Kieran right now and keep you here until you talk to him.'

Marlene stared at the floor for a long time.

'I-I-I said I loved him!' She mumbled finally. I blinked.

'And what did he say?'

'I don't know!' She wailed. 'I fucking ran away before he could, didn't I.'

'So you've been avoiding him because you don't know what his reply is?' I asked. Marlene nodded. 'That's it? Come on, Marls!' I indicated to the whole of her. 'Who are you? What happened to the Marlene who didn't care what people thought? So what if he doesn't feel the same way? You know how you feel and that's not something you can control.'

'But I don't think I can face him ever again if he says no.'

'Well, you're never going to find out his answer if you keep hiding from him.'

'But-'

'Marls, you're one of the toughest people I've ever met. If he says no then you'll get over it. It might take years but I'll be there for you. Mary will be there and so will Alice. You're not alone.'

'It's not a fucking crush though. I've had crushes before and this is completely fucking different.'

'If it's love then that'll go away in the end. If it stays unrequited it'll leave eventually whether that's what it feels like or not.'

'No it doesn't.' Marlene mumbled.

'How would you know, Marls? As far as I'm aware you've never been in love before this.'

'Well, I am now.' She snapped. 'And it fucking sucks.'

'But it'll feel great once you find out Kieran's answer.' I said encouragingly.

'No, it won't!'

'I think we should go find Kieran and find out.' I said clapping my hands together.

'No!' Marlene cried weakly.

'Marls, this will give you a final answer of his feelings and then we can deal with the situation from there.' I squeezed her shoulder reassuringly. Begrudgingly, Marlene followed me and the two of us headed to Gryffindor Tower where, as I had expected, Kieran was. Gently, I nudged Marlene in his direction and the two stood face to face for a moment just staring at each other. Seconds ticked by. Then, Kieran grabbed Marlene and kissed her.

Well, that sorted that out.

My mates and I were walking in the direction of our DADA classroom. I walked next to James thinking about my stomach. It had bloated overnight and I had measured it to be exactly 2 cm bigger than before. That depressing fact had led to a generally bad day as I silently hated on my period giving my face an extremely disgruntled look. As we walked, a cramp decided to join in on the fun so I stopped abruptly. James, noticing I was no longer next to him, walked back to join me.

'Lils? You okay?' He asked concernedly.

'Hold my bag for a moment, would you?' I asked wincing as I dumped my school bag in James' arms. Then I fumbled around searching for a heating pad and my painkiller. I found both but refrained from doing a victory dance as my cramp lazily spread to take up a larger area. I began rolling up the bottom of my school blouse and jumper. James went slightly pink but I ignored his reaction. I wrapped the heating pad around my stomach and then rolled down my blouse and jumper again. Taking my bag back from James I thanked him. 'Thanks. You don't have to look so embarrassed, you know. It was just my stomach.'

'Haha.' James replied turning a little pinker. 'Is your stomach alright? I mean, if you had to put a bandage on it, it must have been pretty bad…' I laughed and then winced regretfully.

'I have cramp so I put on a heating pad. Wouldn't want it to get any worse.' James turned scarlet.

'C-cramps?' He said weakly. 'Y-y-you have that minstrel cycle thing, don't you?'

'Oh grow up James!' I said jovially and elbowing him. 'And it's the menstrual cycle.'

'Right.' He paused for a moment. 'Want some chocolate?'

'I'll get some at lunch. Marls always has loads under her bed and if she doesn't Remus definitely will.' James conjured a large bar of chocolate.

'Help yourself.' He said grinning as we reached our classroom. I smiled up at him. That boy really knew me too well.

'Thanks.' I answered and broke off a piece. Popping it in my mouth I smiled. 'Mmmm… Chilli-chocolate; my favourite…'

'HA!' Remus yelled loudly from behind me causing James and I to jump quite spectacularly. 'Take that Wormtail!' Peter looked disgruntled for a moment before reluctantly agreeing chilli-chocolate wasn't an abomination of flavours. We took our normal seats and Thornton arrived.

'Right class.' Thornton began, rolling up his shirt sleeves as he spoke. 'Today's lesson is going to be on Inferi. How to identify them and how to deal with them. We'll start with theory so wands away for the first bit of the lesson. Now can anyone tell me the difference between humans and Inferi?'

'One looks like Sirius in the mornings and the other doesn't.' James said with a loud yawn from behind me. I smiled into my lap.

'I resent that Potter.' Sirius muttered. Thornton didn't look impressed.

'My policy of not being harsh about people's answers do not stretch to you Mr Potter. Such stupid answers are not tolerated in my classroom.' Thornton snapped. 'Perhaps you can save your witty responses for all the non-existant females queueing up to hear them.'

'Ooooh.' I whispered to Marlene who snickered. 'Nice burn.' Unfortunately, James heard and hit me on the head with his DADA textbook when Thornton had turned away. 'Hey!' I grumbled rubbing my head.

'Miss Evans,' Thornton said smoothly. 'I'm sure you can give a much better answer to my question.'

'An Inferi is a dead corpse bewitched to do the biding of an evil wizard or witch. Humans however are usually accountable for their actions unless of course they are intoxicated or under the Imperious curse or something similar. Moreover, Inferi will still have the appearance of a cadaver whereas a human is unlikely to look deceased.'

'A perfect answer, Miss Evans.' Thornton winked at me and I shrank into my seat as almost all the girls in the class giggled. Death was the only suitable option for me.

'A perfect answer.' James mimicked from behind me. 'Mine was way better and it was funny.' I discreetly directed my wand at James and sent a jet of water directly into his face. 'Ahhhh!' He cried. The Girls and I snorted as Thornton ignored James who was now being hit by jets of water from all directions. I loved the Founder's Library.

'If we could all take out our quills and parchment for note taking.' Thornton continued as though James wasn't being attacked by water. 'Finite Incantatum.' He added lazily as he flicked his wand and the water stopped squirting James.

For the next half an hour we took notes before splitting into pairs to practice fire conjuring spells. I turned to partner Marlene but was dragged away by a disgruntled James.

'Thanks for that, Lils!' James grumbled.

'I don't know what you mean.' I responded innocently.

'You know exactly what I mean.' He wagged his finger at me causing me to roll my eyes.

'You deserved it.' I answered evenly. James huffed and I laughed before conjuring some bluebell flames.

'Excellent, Miss Evans!' Thornton called from the front of the classroom and did another roguish wink. Once again death came to me as the only option.

'Get a room!' I heard James mumbled and I whacked him on the head.

'Don't even joke about that!' I moaned and tugged at my plait.

'By the way, did I tell you you're invited for Christmas?'

'No, you didn't.'

'Well, I've told you now. And you haven't got a choice in the matter. You're staying with me if you like it or not. I'll force you if you don't say yes.' James pouted making him look adorable.

'Doesn't that count as kidnap?' I questioned warily.

'I wouldn't call it that.' He answered with an evil grin. Raising my hands in mock surrender I turned my gaze to the flames sitting merrily on the desk in front of us.

At 10 to 7 I reluctantly headed to my DADA classroom for tutoring with Thornton. When I entered Thornton grinned at me from behind a stack of parchment and I moved towards his desk.

'Miss Evans, I'll be done with these papers in a minute and then we can begin. I'm sure you can take this time to prepare.' Thornton returned his gaze to his work and I put my bag down. Pulling off my black school robes to reveal the school uniform I wore beneath I suddenly got the feeling that someone was watching me. Subtly, I looked behind me but Thornton was entirely absorbed in his papers. I pulled my school jumper off and bent down to fold it neatly on top of my school bag. Almost instantly, I straightened up with that same feeling of unease. And yet there was only Thornton and I in the room and he was engrossed in his paperwork.

I sat myself on one of the desks and fiddled with my wand while I waited for Thornton to finish. Eventually, he got up from behind his desk.

'Right, duel stance please, Miss Evans.' I obliged. 'It's almost there. Almost perfect but this leg,' He poked my left leg. 'still needs to move a little. Remember it's your pivot and that means you've got to rotate with it easily. Allow me.' Thornton knelt down and began shifting my leg. After a few seconds he stopped but did not release his grip on my left leg. I glanced down and saw him looking up my skirt. Okay…I needed to stay calm. I could just pull my leg away and then leave the room. Easy. It was going to be fine.

A smirk slithered onto his face that made my heart leap with fear. While one of his hands still held my ankle the other began to crawl up my leg. Calm, Lily. Calm.

It reached the top of my tights and began to tug at them with the intent of pulling them down. My breathing increased ten-fold and panic flooded through me. It coursed through me and I knew I needed to get away. Far away.

Wrenching my foot out of his grasp I stepped back and stared coldly at my DADA teacher.

'I suggest you learn what is appropriate as a teacher and what isn't.' I said icily. 'A small piece of advice however, would be not to look up the skirts of your students.' Gathering up my things, I made my way across the room. Before I left, I turned to him. 'Our tutoring sessions are discontinued, I presume.' I fixed him with a disgusted gaze that looked braver than I felt and hurried away.

I wasn't sure where to go so I headed for Gryffindor tower hoping for some solitude in my dormitory. The dormitory was empty and I rushed into the shower. Scrubbing myself furiously, I blinked back tears. My skin soon protested as it became red raw but I still felt dirty so I continued with my ruthless cleaning. Eventually, I had to give in and stop but I made sure to dry myself as vigorously as I could. Changing into a clean pair of pyjamas I slid into bed hoping sleep would whisk me away. It did not however, and by the time Alice and Marlene had gone to bed and fallen asleep I was still awake and staring at the canopy of my four-poster.

The dormitory was silent. Mary, who's snores used to fill the room, now had her own room with Andrew and Oliver so the only noise came from Alice when she sporadically mumbled something or Marlene who grunted on occasion. I shifted beneath my covers and closed my eyes.

'She is weak isn't she.' A voice hissed in the back of my brain. Rowle's leering face swam into view and I shook my head trying to move him out. 'Look at your weak little mudblood.'

'No!' I mumbled and my head began to ache as Thornton's unnerving smile floated across my vision. I could feel his grip on my leg and I jerked it trying to get him off. The feeling of a hand crawling up my leg came made me squirm. 'No!' I mumbled again. 'I don't like it. Get off…'

'Crucio Potter.' Rowle's harsh voice seemed to cut right through me. Thornton still held me and as I struggled to get free I heard a scream. I tried to help whoever it was but my body felt like lead. It was pulling me down down and-

'Lily! Lily! Wake up!' Someone shook me. I opened my eyes and saw Marlene hovering over me. Behind her Alice stood watching me with concern.

'I- what?' I looked at the two of them a little disorientated as I sat up.

'You had a nightmare.' Alice said softly. 'We heard you thrashing around in your sleep and then you kept mumbling something.'

'Oh.' I mumbled.

'You can tell us, you know.' Marlene said sitting down next to me.

'It was nothing.' I dismissed hurriedly.

'Fine. Don't tell us anything.' An evil grin slid on to Marlene's face. 'We'll just go tell Potter you were mumbling "I love James" in your sleep, shall we?' I raised my eyebrow at Marlene's smug face.

'Oh shut up, Marls.' Alice grumbled and sat down on the other side of me. 'Don't worry, Lily. You didn't say anything of the sort.' I rolled my eyes at the two of them.

'I'm fine.' I said firmly. 'You two can go back to bed.'

'You'd tell us if something was wrong, wouldn't you Lily?' Alice asked with concerned eyes. 'We're not here just to look pretty, you know.'

'Well, I don't know about Marls…Ow!' Marlene whacked my arm.

'Night then.' Alice sighed and Marlene begrudgingly got off my bed. The two of them went off to their respective beds and silence fell upon the room once more.

Thanks for reading!

I hope you liked this chapter. It wasn't the best one if written but hopefully it wasn't bad. Next up's Christmas at the Potter's.

Please review :)