Yay! I'm actually getting to type Chapter 6... ah well, I'm sorry it's taken so long. Not going to talk a lot... **hears snort in background** Ah shaddup. Since no one reads anything I write up here, if I'm going to blab, I will do it at the end of the chappy. So here it, is, Chapter 6.

BTW... I asked for 90 reviews last chapter, and got 88... that's not so bad... to all those who were kind enough to review, thank you! I will save the long list of thank-yous for the end of this story. I will personally thank every person who reviewed. But not till the end… mwahahaha... I see that light at the end of the tunnel... no, don't say it. I know. It's probably a train coming to run over me. **SPLAT**

Chapter 6: Sirius is a Moron and Remus Has a Plan

Lily and James avoided each other as much as humanly possible for the next two days. Lily spent most of her day in a small hidden corner of the library, hardly moving except to go to classes; at night, she would stay up, poring through book after book, as late as her eyelids would let her, so she could slip up to bed when no one else was awake. James spent most of his time either on the Quidditch pitch, flying around aimlessly and letting the wind blow his cares away— at least for a little while— or in a small room by the North Tower that Sirius had found, which was hidden by a painting of a rose. This way, the only time Lily and James could run into each other except for during classes was on the way to and from classes. However, James soon eliminated this possibility by resorting to the secret passages revealed by the Marauder's Map. There was always the risk of getting caught and punished, but James had never worried about that before, so why start worrying now?

So that was how life went for Lily and James— sleeping, studying, sneaking down to the kitchen at various times to eat. In the rare event that they did see each other, they either ignored each other or exchanged a few clipped, but civil, words. And that was that.

~*~*~

You can't possibly think that Lily and James were the only ones affected by Lily's decision, can you? Well, they weren't. Ariel and Arabella, having the power known as feminine sensitivity, did what they could for Lily, and never mentioned anything having to do with that night. They supposed she had her reasons, but they weren't about to ask her until she felt ready to tell them. Friends stayed with each other no matter what, so they would do what they could and always be there for her if she ever needed them.

On the other hand, Sirius and Remus did not have the benefit of feminine sensitivity, though Remus did have the male counterpart of that, which is similar, but a little less— sensitive. Let's just note that Remus has more of it that Sirius, though.

They both viewed the situation differently. Unbeknownst to anyone, Remus had actually watched the entire thing from a small, hidden niche, and using the heightened senses that came from being a werewolf, he drew his own conclusions. Lily obviously had some sort of reason for doing what she did— if she had really wanted to cheat on James, she wasn't stupid enough to do it out in the open. Lily didn't strike him as the "cheating type" either. Besides, wasn't it a little too coincidental that Lily kissed Chase at the exact moment when James came in? Combine that with the fact that just seconds before, Lily had literally dragged Chase to the corner, looking desperate. Justifiably, Remus had his suspicions.

And when a Marauder has suspicions, a plan is born.

Sirius, on the other hand, had the sensitivity of a rock and the power of observation of a blind, deaf, and dumb idiot, especially when it came to "female matters". (A/N: Sorry, Sirius fans.) You don't believe me? Narrator is shutting up, and the story continues—

"Heya, Jamesie-boy!" Sirius shouted gleefully as he bounded into the common room one lovely afternoon, his cheery, gay (A/N: Sorry. Couldn't resist. ^_^) disposition a bit more exaggerated than usual. He clambered onto the plush chair James was sitting in, perilously close to James's arm, and nearly upset his inkbottle.

Still writing, James's eyes flickered upwards to discern the identity of his attacker. He then said a brief "hello", and returned his attention to his Transfiguration essay.

Sirius looked at the many rolls of parchment stacked neatly by James's chair, fingered through them quickly, then exclaimed, "Good god, James! McGonagall said 3 feet of parchment! This is what—" Sirius counted and multiplied quickly under his breath, "— 4 rolls, and 3 feet each— good lord! James, 12 feet of parchment?? And you're not even done yet?"

James stopped writing, put his quill down, and looked up at Sirius for the first time since Sirius had made his entrance known to James. "It's not like I have much to do nowadays, Sirius," he said quietly. Everyday, he and Lily used to sit outside on the grass and do their homework together, and when they were done, they would go for walks hand-in-hand by the lake, or James would take Lily flying on his broom. Now, the memories hurt. Sometimes, even being outside hurt, because everywhere he looked, he could see himself and Lily walking together, or sneaking around together under his Invisible Cloak by the pale glow of moonlight.

James sighed, and picked up his quill again.

Sirius misunderstood what James had said, and leapt right in enthusiastically. "You noticed, James," he said sarcastically. "Good, it's time for you to stop moping. Why don't you get a new girlfriend? That will help you forget— her— and give you something to do, too."

Remus, just entering the common room, stopped short when he heard that. No! he thought frantically. If James gets a new girlfriend, everything'll be ruined! He cleared his throat loudly. "I don't think that's such a good idea," he began.

Sirius turned around and leaned casually against the back of James's chair, though his expression was guarded, maybe even bordering on hostile. "And why not, Remus?"

Remus paused. He couldn't share his suspicions with Sirius, because 1) Sirius— being Sirius— wouldn't understand, nor would he care, and 2) James was here, and he wouldn't take Remus's ideas very kindly, since he had proceeded to make himself hate Lily in order to hide his pain. Thinking quickly, Remus answered, "A simpering, empty-headed girlfriend isn't going to help James. God knows Lily was one of the only sensible, intelligent female specimens in Hogwarts." Then, listening to himself, Remus winced inwardly for forgetting to never mention Lily, but he continued anyway, hoping to smooth over his mistake. "Besides, what kind of girl would willingly want to be tortured by James? Especially his snoring..." Remus grinned, and ducked when James threw a pillow at him.

James made a face. "Thanks, Remus," he said dryly.

"Anytime, dear."

They both laughed, slightly lifting the tenseness that had settled over their heads before.

However, Sirius still wasn't convinced. "There are plenty of girls falling over their feet to please James," he pointed out, "and they aren't all simpering idiots."

Remus raised his eyebrows. The second part of Sirius's argument was completely new to him, from all that he'd witnessed over the past six years. "For example..."

Sirius gulped, his mind racing for a name. "Ummm... Jessie Fitzroy in Ravenclaw isn't so bad. She's quite pretty, too."

Jessamine Fitzroy was a fifth year with long, dark brown hair and caramel-colored eyes. She was always constantly nice (there was no other way to put it) to everyone, always cheery and smiling. Sometimes, though, her saccharine-sweetness was as thick, overpowering, and stifling as honey. Besides, who knew what evils might lurk behind that cheery smile or that sweet, innocent face?

But still, Remus couldn't quite argue with Sirius. It was true that Jessie basically worshipped the ground James walked on, but she did it from afar, and she wasn't, as it had been so neatly put, a "simpering idiot". Remus knew that if he tried to argue further, James and Sirius would accuse him of being a traitor for "protecting" Lily. Remus had already been forced to ignore Lily and act cold to her— he didn't want to, but he couldn't act against the [unspoken but understood] Marauder orders. He didn't want to start a fight that would end up doing nothing except put him at odds with James and Sirius, so he grimaced but kept his mouth shut. Plans could— and in this case, would have to— be changed.

Sirius, seeing that Remus had relented, mercilessly pursued his main target— James. "Come on, James, you've seen Jessie. She's nice, she's smart, she's pretty—"

"Then why didn't you ask her out yourself?" snapped an irritated James. He wanted them all to shut up and go away, so he could finish his Transfiguration homework.

Remus snickered, and coughed something that sounded unmistakably like "Ariel". Sirius glared at him, and Remus laughed. "Hit the nail right on the head, eh, Siri?"

"Shut your bloody trap, Remmy," growled Sirius mock-threateningly. He then put on his best high-pitched feminine voice and sang out, "Oh Arabella..."

Remus stuck out his tongue at Sirius, to which Sirius replied, "Oh how remarkably mature, Remmy."

Remus's answer to that was a pillow flung straight at Sirius's head, which knocked him onto James. Instead of rolling off and pouncing on Remus, Sirius took advantage of his position and pinned James to the couch.

"Bloody hell! Sirius, get off me!"

A couple of second year Gryffindors about to come down the stairs heard that, glimpsed Sirius in a very perverted position atop James, and immediately raced back into their dormitory.

Smiling devilishly, Sirius said, "Remus, why don't we tie Jamesie-boy here to the chair."

Struggling violently, James shouted, "One more time, Sirius— get the bloody sodding hell off me!!!" This only made Sirius laugh harder, of course.

Remus shrugged and uttered the spell.

James glared, temporarily stopping his struggling. "You too, Remus?"

Remus shrugged again, but this time, there was a mischievous glint in his eyes.

Sirius turned around slightly to give Remus a thumbs up and a conspiratorial wink, then refocused his attention to James. He struck a pose meant to be commanding and intimidating, and cleared his throat. "Now, James, listen to me. Forget— her." Sirius paused, letting the meaning of that one last word which he had spat out with such loathing and contempt hang over their heads. "James, you're— well, James. James Potter, Head Boy, Captain of Gryffindor's most renowned and esteemed Quidditch team—" At this, however, Remus coughed loudly, as they had been completely flattened by Slytherin in their last game, partly due to James's miserable state and half-hearted playing.

Sirius shot Remus a look, meaning, Hey, cooperate with me here; we're in this together, you know, then continued. "Come on, James. Stop your bloody moping and sulking. Some Muggle once said, 'No man or woman is worth your tears, but the one who is won't make you cry'. She's not worth it, James, so stop wasting your time on her. Go ask Jessie Fitzroy out. Ask her to go to Hogsmeade with you this weekend or something." He paused, mulling over something. "Actually, on second thought, why don't you use the Marauder's Map and take her there... tonight, let's say?"

Both Remus and James started at Sirius as if he had suddenly sprouted leeks from his ears. (A/N: I would have said "as if he had suddenly grown horns on his head", but then again, they wouldn't be so surprised if that happened, would they? ^_^) Other than Lily, who had been an exception to so many of their rules that she was considered almost an honorary Marauder, none of the Marauders had ever introduced their pride and joy to any of their girlfriends. To do so was a taboo, one that none of them had ever even thought of breaking. And now Sirius was suggesting it...

"And what if I said no, Sirius?"

Sirius raised his eyebrows, then let a devilish grin slowly creep over his face. The resemblance between Sirius and the Cheshire Cat about to pounce was startling.

James gulped audibly. "Do I really want to know?"

Sirius's grin widened even more, and even Remus started to grin evilly. Mouthing "be right back" to Sirius, he turned and trotted up the stairs to the boys' dormitory.

"Actually, no. No, I don't want to know."

His eyes sparkling, Sirius said, "That's not enough, Jamesie-boy. Tell me what I want to here, or else..." He started to reach for his pocketed wand.

James squeaked. He could clearly remember the results of the last time Sirius had had his wand and he had been at his mercy, unarmed and unable to defend himself. "Okay! Okay! I'll go out with her!"

"Good, Jamesie-boy. Very good."

"Now get these blasted ropes off me!"

Sirius shrugged. "Sorry, James. Don't know how." With that, he turned and walked off, whistling cheerily with an extremely big grin on his face.

"SIRIUS SODDING BLACK!!! Get these bloody ropes off me!!!"

With one last wave, Sirius climbed out of the portrait hole, leaving an outraged James tied up in a cushy chair, shouting threats and muttering obscenities at Sirius.

When Sirius had well and truly disappeared, James shut up and fumed silently. Then, he remembered that Remus should still be in the boys' dorm, unless he had jumped out the window or stolen James's Invisibility Cloak and crept away already.

"REMUS LUPIN!!! Get your bloody ass down here NOW and get these blasted ropes off me!!!"

There was a laugh from somewhere in front of James, and then Remus's head suddenly appeared, floating in midair. "Don't you look comfy, Jamesie-boy," he said with a laugh.

"Shut it, Lupin, and get these sodding ropes off me!"

Remus looked at James's fuming face and the smoke practically coming out of his ears, and started to crack up hysterically. Then, the idea was born...

When James saw all of Remus's body materialize, and Remus started to advance towards James with that damned devilish glint in his eyes and a wicked grin on his lips, James knew what was going to happen. "Oh no. Don't you bloody dare, Remus Lupin. I swear, if you do, I will strangle you, chop you up into little pieces, feed you to Fang—" When James thought Remus was close enough, he lashed out at him with his bound feet.

However, Remus managed to skip nimbly to the side in time to avoid being hit. "Nice try, James," he said, "but it's still not going to do you any good." Backing up until he was completely out of James's reach, Remus then cast a spell and slowly guided the Invisibility Cloak into place, completely covering James.

To the second years once again attempting to creep down the stairs, it looked like Remus was laughing hysterically at an empty chair. Scared of whatever unseen force was driving the older Gryffindors insane, they raced back to their rooms, locked the door, and hid under the bed.

A noise came from the chair. And a very loud noise at that. "Remus, you will die a horrible death. Make that a very horrible death, the worst that anyone can ever imagine. And to everyone else, do not sit on me! I repeat, I am not a chair! Rather, I have been tied up by a bunch of bloody idiots. I am currently occupying this chair. I repeat, do not sit—"

Laughing, Remus said to no one in particular, "This won't do. We can't have this, or it won't be any fun, otherwise." He muttered a few choice words under his breath, and James felt his bonds tighten a bit more and lock firmly together. Another couple words, and James found that when he opened his mouth and/or worked his jaws, no sound came out. Not a word, a scream, a shout, or a moan could be heard.

All in all, looking there the chair where James had been (well, and actually still was), all you could see was— an empty chair. And there was nothing that could possibly change that perception.

Grinning and checking his handiwork one last time, Remus then turned and left the common room.

~*~*~

"She doesn't eat, Ara! For god's sakes, all she does outside of class is sit in the sodding library and look through those books!"

Ariel and Arabella, conversing in not-quite-quiet tones, stormed into the seemingly empty common room. They were unaware of James's presence, but he could hear every word they said.

"You know why, Ariel?" Arabella's tone was deadly calm— all the more to be feared. "It's because of those bloody Marauders— Lily's practically scared to death of them. They're a bunch of cold assholes with no feelings, a bunch of blasted idiots. But she's still doing it for him! I don't understand why, but then again, that's Lily for you..."

James narrowed his eyes. She was blaming them? Calling them "cold assholes with no feelings" and "a bunch of blasted idiots"? Even when it had been Lily who had cheated on him, who had ruthlessly broke his heart? And Lily was doing what for who?

Ariel gave Arabella a twinkling sidelong glance, a small grin playing on her lips. "Are you sure about that description, Ara? I swear, Remus was looking at you the other day..."

Arabella growled. "Shut it, Ariel."

James, hidden in his niche, started, surprised. That tone usually only meant one thing. Arabella like Remus? Ooooh...

Suddenly, James felt something land on him for a moment, then heard a scream. A hand felt around, hitting James in the nose and almost gouging out his eyes, before Arabella managed to get a hold of the cloth and jerk the Invisibility Cloak off him. Livid with rage and embarrassment, Arabella snarled, "What in the bloody hell do you think you're doing, Potter?"

James couldn't do anything but shake his head violently.

Drawing her wand, Arabella said, "Do you know how bloody tempted I am right now to make you over into something the cat just dragged in? Answer me, or I swear I will!"

Frantically, James opened and closed his mouth and shook his head, hoping she would understand. Arabella, in her state right now, could be much more dangerous than Sirius. And that was something James didn't even dare think about.

Fortunately for James, Ariel got the message. Tapping Arabella on the shoulder, she said, "Ara, he's trying to say he can't talk."

Arabella lowered her wand for a second. "Bloody hell," she muttered. "But still—" She raised her wand again.

James squeaked [noiselessly] and struggled, mouthing angrily at Arabella.

She lowered her wand again. "What now, Potter?" she asked, annoyed. "I was going to take the spell off you."

He immediately stopped struggling, and turned a pleading, innocent puppy face that he usually reserved for teachers towards Arabella. The change was so startling— yet endearing— that Ariel couldn't help but smile.

Sighing resignedly, Arabella muttered the countercurse.

The moment he could talk, James shouted, "The bloody bugger! I swear, once I get my hands on him—"

At Arabella's pointed look, James shut up.

Her voice took on a calm, maybe even pleasant, tone to it, as she said, "You owe me one now, Potter. You're lucky that it was me who— came across— you, instead of, let's say, Kayla Martin or Tiffany Ciera."

James shuddered violently as he imagined all the horrible things that might have happened had it actually been Kayla or Tiffany who had discovered him defenseless and unable to escape their— advances. Oh, the absolute horror. He cringed.

Arabella smirked, knowing full well what was running through James's mind at the moment. Deciding to take advantage of it while she could, she said, "Actually, you owe me two. The other one is for me letting you talk." Then, she narrowed her eyes. "Wait. Potter, did you hear what me and Ariel were talking about before?" Her grip on her wand tightened.

James, being immensely afraid for his well-being, portrayed the very picture of innocence and reason as he said, "I doubt it. I—"

"I doubt it?" Arabella's voice had once again taken on that dangerously calm tone.

"Okay! Okay! I didn't hear you!" Thinking quickly, he said, "Invisibility Cloaks block sound."

Arabella brought her wand up and leveled it straight at James. "Meep. Wrong answer. Try again."

"Then... ummm... maybe... maybe that spell Remus put on me impairs hearing?"

Arabella raised her eyebrows at his frantic stuttering, but seemed to accept that, for the moment. Until something dawned upon her. "If you supposedly couldn't hear me when you still couldn't talk, then how did you know what I was saying before I took off the spell?"

James gulped. "Body language?"

Arabella slowly advanced towards James, wand pointed right at him, until she was almost in his face. James cowered in his chair. "Beep. Wrong answer. You're dead."

Suddenly, out of the corner of his eye, James saw Remus poke his head into the portrait hole, apparently to check on the "empty chair". When he saw that James had been rescued, in a manner of speaking, if one could consider being held at wand point as a form of rescue, he quickly withdrew and went to go execute the next step of his plan.

"REMUS LUPIN!!! Get your bloody ass in here right now!!" James shouted, practically into Arabella's face.

She quickly pulled back, her ears ringing, and glared at James.

"Oops. Sorry," he said, but he didn't look or sound the least bit apologetic. "But then again, if you hadn't shoved your face up into—"

"—his ass," interrupted a wickedly grinning Sirius, who was hovering outside the open window by the chair, "then maybe Jamesie-boy wouldn't have hollered so loud."

James took one look at Sirius, who was laughing maniacally, put two and two together, and immediately shouted, "Bloody hell! Sirius Black, if I find one bloody scratch on my bloody broom, I bloody swear—" (A/N: Sorry, I couldn't resist. I just find that immensely funny... that's what I randomly do at school, sometimes)

Before James could finish his heartfelt oath, though, Sirius zoomed away, still laughing.

James plopped back with a "hmph". Directing his attention to Arabella, he said, "Will you please take these ropes off me now so I can get my broom back before that blasted idiot crashes it into the Whomping Willow and turns it into pulp again?"

Arabella cocked her head to the side, a habit she had subconsciously inherited from Lily. "And pray tell why I would care about what happens to your bloody stick, Potter?"

"Fine. Then will you please get these ropes off me so I can go after Lupin?"

Arabella's mouth twitched. "For that cause, gladly."

She raised her wand and muttered something. James's foot twitched impatiently, waiting for the ropes to unravel so he could get his arms to come back to life again.

Suddenly, the ropes began to glow and burn. James's face contorted with pain as he struggled, and Arabella and Ariel looked on with something very near to absolute horror.

"What did you do, Ara?" whispered Ariel, her voice shaking.

Arabella's face paled. "All I did was say the countercurse to the Binding Spell. It should have worked..."

Finally, the glowing began to dim, and James collapsed limply onto the chair, breathing hard. His eyes were dark and reminiscent of the time before when he had once experienced such pain.

After a tense moment of silence, Arabella said meekly, "James?"

At first, she didn't think he'd heard her. Either that, or he was ignoring her. But then, she saw that his eyes had closed and his head fell limply to the side.

The ropes were still burning hot.

"Oh shit. Ariel, go get Lily. Quick."

~*~*~

(A/N: I was originally going to end this chapter here, but I decided not to end with this type of cliffie, because I've already used it before, and it gets annoying, I know... so here's a bit more.)

Lily was in the library flipping through a book and absently twirling a quill over her fingers when Ariel crashed through the door, panting. Her eyes quickly scanned the room, then Ariel finally spotted Lily at a table on the other side of the room.

"Lily! Lily! Lily!! C'mere, quick!" Ariel's frantic voice carried loudly across the room, earning disapproving stares from the other students and the librarian, who started to make her way over to Ariel, brandishing a feather duster. Ariel paid them no heed, though, and continued weaving her way through the bookshelves.

Lily quickly stuffed the notes she'd taken on the book into her bag, shut the book and hid it in a shelf, and opened a novel, pretending to read. As Ariel neared the table, Lily slowly inserted the bookmark in the book and looked up, feigning slight annoyance. "What, Ariel?"

Ariel came to a halt by Lily's seat, raised her eyebrows slightly at the novel she had been "reading", looked over at the bookshelf Lily had hidden the other book behind, but said nothing. She stuffed the novel into Lily's bag, grabbed the bag, and dragged Lily forcefully out of the library into the hallway.

Once they had arrived in the vicinity out of earshot of anyone else, Lily removed her arm from Ariel's grasp and planted her feet firmly where they were, refusing to move another inch. "What's all this about?" she demanded.

"No time to explain, Lily. Arabella looked like she knew what she was doing, and she practically ordered me to get you. So come on." With that cryptic, not-quite-informative reply, Ariel once again grabbed a hold of Lily's arm, and continued pulling her towards the Gryffindor Common Room.

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Yay! Done typing! **grins proudly**

This chapter didn't encompass as much of the plot as I hoped it would, because my plot bunny drank a little too much of my insanity and got a little too high on crack, so the end just kinda... got out of control. So I'm planning to write a short, but concise, chapter within the next couple of days with the part of the plot that I failed to put in this chapter. From now on, I think I'll try to write shorter chapters, but update more often... How bout that? **grins** I likes that...

So review, please, and look for more soon!

=^.^= MQ