A/N: Sorry- took awhile again =( I've decided that I'm going to try to wrap this story up in the next several chapters, so that I'll have more time for the other two stories I'm writing at the moment. Plus this story is getting long, is it not? ;)

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Chapter 35- Unexpected yet Expected

            James sat in his dorm, staring at the wall in front of him. Listen to her heart? What in God's name is that supposed to mean? He tried to think back to what she could possibly have said no to once…but it wasn't coming to him. His memory wasn't that bad; was it? I don't remember asking her anything, unless….Unless she was talking about that time, a long time ago, when I took her into a room. But I didn't ask anything before she told me no. And she didn't say no, exactly…she had thought we were moving too fast. He scrunched up his face. All of this was giving him a headache. Is it possible that girls are psychic? How else would she have known that I would have asked her to- to marry me? Maybe she isn't talking about that, after all. I certainly don't want to make that mistake.

"You okay, Prongs?" Sirius asked. "I didn't know the wall was so interesting."

James turned around and rolled his eyes, just as Remus walked through the door. James and Sirius watched him with amused expressions. He walked around the room grinning happily to himself.

"What's up?" James asked. A long silence followed.

"Oh, me?" Remus looked up.

"Yes, you. Who else but the crazy one?"

Remus smiled. "I'm not crazy. I just love Chloe."

Sirius and James knew the feeling…they didn't, however, talk about it. "Yeah, right." Sirius replied, uneasily turning back to James. "Anyone up for a game of prank the girls?"

"I'm up for anything." James leaned closer.

Even Remus came over and sat near them, grinning.

"Well- what shall we do, then?"

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"I don't think he took the hint…" Lily said to her mirror.

Chloe appeared from the bathroom. "James? Took what hint?"

Lily blushed lightly. She had thought she was alone… "Er- nothing. I-"

"What is this? Talking without me? This sounds important." Jennifer nonchalantly ran a hand through her light hair and approached them.

Lily smiled tiredly. "I don't feel like explaining..."

"Oh no you don't."

"That's the excuse that people only use when they don't want to explain. Well you're going to." Chloe grinned mischievously, and Jennifer nodded in agreement. "We're not letting you move from that spot until you do. Now, I heard a mention of James. Hmm?"

Lily sighed and plopped herself down on the bed. She wasn't sure how to explain this to them. "Well...there was a day...months ago. I think James was about to ask me something...important."

 "Oh my god." Jennifer said, staring intently.

"And before he could, I- well, I made it clear that we were moving to fast." she began to talk faster, her words tumbling over themselves. "I mean- we haven't been together that long. It was just so soon. I didn't know what to say, and I didn't want to hurt his feelings. I-"

 "Lily, you said it was to soon..." Chloe said softly. "Was?"

Lily smiled. "That's right. That's what I was trying to tell him today."

"So you gave him a hint?"

"I tried. But he didn't get it, I don't think..."

Jennifer laughed. "I'm not surprised, Lils. Don't even worry about it. He'll catch on eventually."

Lily nodded. Softly, so that they had to strain their ears to hear, she added, "But we might not have forever."

"What do you mean? We're seventeen. I would say that allots us some time to play around with."

 Lily smiled sadly. "You would think so, wouldn't you? But for some reason, I have a feeling that I don't have that long. I'll bet you do, and Chloe. But James and I...there's something weird going on."

Chloe and Jennifer simply watched her. What did you say to that? I'm sorry? They couldn't come up with an intelligent and comforting response.

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       The night passed and the Marauders and the girls fell asleep without further ado. Lily's thoughts were weighing down her brain...she felt like she needed, well, something. And she didn't know what it was. She felt like...it was unexplainable.

Slowly, realizing that it was useless to lie in bed and expect sleep to overcome her, she stripped off the covers and swung her legs to the floor. It was cool, and she shivered. Rubbing her eyes, she reached out a hand to find her way to the door. It creaked shrilly; she cringed inwardly and held her breath. Until her friends sighed and continued sleeping. Not that it would have mattered...she wasn't sneaking out. But she needed to be alone. To think. They would pity her and follow to try and comfort her, had she awoken them.

She didn't need comforting. Especially not since she didn't know what was wrong. If anything. She had a vivid imagination after all.

After descending the steps to the common room, Lily realized that she hadn't given a thought to what she was doing. All of her homework was finished, and that left, well, sleep. Obviously, that couldn't be accomplished.

She turned to see someone with dark hair sitting on the couch, facing the flaming fireplace, and made the quick association...

"What're you doing here, James?"

No answer. She frowned and moved closer. What was James doing fully dressed? Wouldn't he have been ready for bed? And she'd never seen those robes before...

 James turned around slowly. It wasn't James. She looked into the face of a man older than her, but still young enough. He seemed older than his years...as if his age had been stalled a long time ago. Specks of a new beard dotted his chin and his eyes seemed to pierce her soul. He knew her secrets; he knew her.

All of this, in two seconds. The man squinted in the dark. He quickly perceived her for who she was, or seemed to. She had certainly never laid eyes on him- for all she could tell.

"I've been waiting...for you." he said, drawling his words out carefully.

She made herself outwardly bold; forced it. Inwardly, she was cowering and her brain told her to run away. What was this man doing in the Gryffindor tower anyway? She would have to tell Dumbledore...yes, she would.

"W-waiting?" she asked nervously. "Why? You don't know me..."

"I know more about you than you think. I know you're the Head Girl. You know James Potter...the Head Boy, quite well I think." he displayed a nasty smile. "And I know that you have two best friends. Both rather pretty...we call them fanciers, back home."

"Why are you here? What is this?" she was confused and tired. Why, again, had she come down here? Am I dreaming?

"Alright, you want to get to the point?" he took a step closer to her. "I'm after your boyfriend, sweetheart."

 She set her jaw stubbornly. "You can't have him."

"Oh, I want nothing with you. You're unimportant, as far as I am concerned. It's this easy- you show me the way to him, and I will let you go untouched. Refuse to cooperate, however, and..." he displayed a knife which seemed to come from thin air.

 Lily swallowed. "You'll never get help from me." Vaguely, she wondered why he needed her help anyway...he was already in the tower. Surely he could go from there unaided. Such thoughts provided no comfort to her, and she cut them off abruptly.

He closed the space between them, pressing the knife to her throat. She froze, glancing down at it and breathing hard. "You have two choices- live or die. I'll find help from someone, whether it is you or not. So what'll it be?"

She didn't answer, and realized that she couldn't move an inch.

"I am a man of my word, so you know. And I say that I will have James Potter." he paused, waiting for her reply. "Answer me!" he growled.

Oh, James. Don't come down. Please James, stay where you are. Forever. Stay safe. "I can't do this." She mumbled to herself. "Not this." Her strength was failing her. She closed her eyes, trying to shut out his stare; it was burning her.

           

I don't have a choice…And I will not watch James die. Or be taken away…or whatever this man is here too do. I cannot do it. I'm going to break soon…very soon. She felt limp; her mind felt limp. Could I lead him away? Could I? But what then? How long could I keep him away, before he realized what was going on? How long could I keep him away from James? Any alternative was better than the decision that lay in front of her.

Her eyes opened, and she saw that the man hadn't moved an inch. He continued to stare at her impatiently; awaiting her answer.

"Alright."

His eyes didn't move.

"I will take you, to him." Where can I take him? This tower is not that large, and he'll know that James is in here...unless…"He spent the night in the Heads room, because he's in a fight with his friends." she released breathily.  

The man watched skeptically.

"I'll take you there...if you don't know the way."

"Fine." he snapped. "Be quick about it."

The Heads room didn't have beds, in fact. A couch, sure, and some other things...but no beds. This man obviously did not know that. Nor was he going to find out, if she could help it.

She nodded, hoping that she could act well enough to at least last through this; to convince him. He already appeared unconvinced. Again she wondered why he needed help anyway.

They stepped outside the portrait hole. Her bare feet felt like ice against the floor. She shivered, and not only from the coolness. This was a dream, wasn't it? She would wake up...

She turned the corner, feeling the man's presence behind her, but refusing to turn around to look at him. He seemed unworried about the possibility of running into ghosts or the Hogwarts staff. For once, she prayed for Mrs. Norris to show up. But the cat was nowhere to be seen. No meowing pierced to silent night air, and no Peeves to annoy anybody. What was wrong here? Where was everybody when you really needed them?

Lily's breathing escaped her lips in short, short gasps. It was almost like she wasn't getting enough air; she felt suffocated. But she refused to give up. This man had no gain on her, and she intended for it to stay that way. I'm doing this for you, James. It would help if I knew what I was doing.... Lily turned around to see that the man was no longer directly behind her.

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A/N: Okay, so I suck at writing anything suspenseful =) Hehe, probably should have gone ahead and completed this part, shouldn't I have? I know...evil. But I will update sooner this time. You have the full right to flame me all you want if I don't (I guess you do anyway, lol...). I just wish I had more time to write. For right now, I have to go study for Spanish =( Review?

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ru- Thanks for the chapter-ly comments, though you did stop reading at 15 ;) I'm glad you liked it.

~`Sugar`~- Lol, I should hope Lily isn't thinking about marriage at this moment ;) And James...well, he'll come into this next chapter, near as I can tell right now. Thanks for another review!!

Axania chic- Glad you like it ;) I suppose this chapter wasn't sweet...and a bad attempt at suspense, but hopefully it wasn't too bad...

TheYellowSubmarine- I feel like I'm saying thank you to you right and left ;) You certainly deserve it. I hope that HTML problem is solved...if not, there must be some way to fix it. Thanks again!

heehee- Lol, you've been asking me to update- well, finally I have. And as usual, thanks for the stars ;)

wicked-women- Lol, he does need to drop dead. Well, at least it isn't Voldemort with Lily right now...Anyway, thanks a lot!

kristatwen- Hehe...if that last chapter was too much of a cliffy, I can imagine you people hating me for this chapter.  Lol, thanks for reviewing!

LaminaCourt- Yeah, they're almost all retarded. Like something my stepdad said today...but it's a long story ;) Thanks for reviewing, always!

Rachna- Lol, I love friends! Last week was really funny- with Freddy the male nanny. Lol, and fricken (fried chicken). Anyway, I'm glad you took so much time to get all the way up to here. And yes, I'm trying to tie this up...=( I know I should, but it's sort of sad, you know? I started writing this the first day I signed up to ff.net, hehe.

MarauderChic-Lily- Lol, here's the next chapter! Late again too- but I do have excuses for that! In any case, thanks for reviewing again!

Stephi- I interpreted your review as saying you wanted me to email you when I posted. So I'll do that after I add this…Thanks ;)

Channy Hoppy- Lol, I'm so touched that you took the time to do all that. Makes me feel good about this story ;) I hope this chapter wasn't too…dull and out of character for you. I think I've always had suspense problems…Well, I do appreciate the review ;) very much.

AnotherKoolKitty- Lol, maybe one day I could write a sequel. Although I probably won't, because this story is long as it is. But who knows anymore. And do I even need to thank you again? =)

The Lady Lillian- Lol, sorry 'bout that. My fault…I've had bad updating habits since this nightmare that I call school started. But they're not having sex…or maybe they are, but I didn't want to add any of that considering I'm fourteen and it might be uncomfortable. But I hope you liked this chapter…I thought it was sort of bad, myself...

SilverTears13- Lol, did I ever mention that I hate little kids? Hate babysitting too…it's really too bad, since everywhere I go there are little kids. It's certainly not in my plans to have any anytime soon…then again, I have a long time. ;) Thanks for reviewing, as usual.

Leia-Elise- I'm surprised =) I thought it was, sadly, rather predictable. Thanks for the review!

Louisa Potter- Thanks! You can't imagine how happy reviews make me…

Tinki-chan- Yep, that's all true. I'm too random with this story in the first place…but then again I never really know what's going to happen next anyway. Thanks for the comments!

Cute-crazy-chick1- Lol, thank you! I'm always happy when someone tells me they liked it ;)