FOREVER

Year Five

Part Four

Subtitled: The Tide Begins to Turn

*Roo* - haha wow, okay, first of all thank you so much!! Actually I'm in the planning stages for another fic and chapter one should be up pretty soon! As for them speaking poshly, I'm not at all offended actually I'm quite glad you brought it up! I'll try and fix that, its just for some reason I always pictured lupin, especially, being very intelligent. I loved hearing your POV, though. You're South African? That's so cool! I'm American myself. I can't wait til your put your fic up, let me know when you do? Okay?

FireLizid - Haha I took the hint but I'm sorry this wasn't up sooner.

Dreamlight - 30 chapters is deceiving isn't it??? You'd think with it being that long I would be done already wouldn't you?? Haha NOWAY!

Confusedperson - Lily quit the quidditch team in her third year and they got together when Snape asked her out in her fourth year.

Parselmouth Granger - Thank you very, very much!!! The last chapter is definitely one of my favorites because I worked so hard on it. It was a pivotal chapter so a LOT of prewriting and outlines for future chapters went into it. I had to plan forever to make sure it was alright. In fact I rewrote it twice because there were some holes in it.

Gurlie 409- Haha to quote Professor Lupin "Not at all up to your usual standards!" You have sort of the right idea but some of it was off. Hehe ::smiles evilly:: The good news it that at least SOME if it will be a surprise!

Arwen - Thanks babe, you're the best! I'll be by to see your fic really soon!

Unshed Tears - You've caught me!! This story has been my first real story so my writing and this story have sort of grown up together. I apologize if the inconsistence was confusing but I do hope I'm getting better!

Luvlily, Rose Wood, Quack Quack 88, Ruby, Valicity, JustineStar, Black Sparkles, *~...:*:…~*, Brittanie, June_bug,

Life after Sirius' stunt, life turned basically back to normal, granted Sirius was in detention for just about the rest of his life and banned from Hogsmade for the rest of the year, but, as Sirius soon proved, there were ways around the last one. Namely, a secret passage and James' invisibility cloak. So things were back to normal, more or less, but there were a few substantial differences. One, Snape dumped Lily. The reasons for this weren't obvious to anyone even those who had been out the night of the "stunt." Two, James cut off ties with Sarah. No one, not even Sirius knew why he did this. It was really strange, he went out for a fly one day by the lake and when he had come back later that night, he and Sarah were none existent. And three, Sirius changed his habits, but then I wonder why I am babbling on when you are about to see all of this.

*****

"The mudblood must go." Malfoy hissed from underneath his cloak.

Snape cringed underneath his own cloth. Despite his original intentions regarding Lily he had grown rather fond of her. "Is that really necessary? She not hurting anyone." Snape said quietly.

Malfoy was silent for a moment and his silence made Snape nervous. "Get rid of her." He said slowly and deliberately. "Or we'll get rid of you."

Snape gulped. This wasn't going to be easy,

*****

Sirius laughed as he raced recklessly down the hall. "You're not going to win this one Lupin!" he called to his opponent as they flew past the Charms corridor.

"Yeah, If I LET you win!" Remus said, laughing. He turned to tell Sirius something when he ame into contact with something very hard and was thrown to the floor.

"Watch where you're going Snape!" Sirius said, helping Remus up.

Snape just stared at him strangely as he got up calmly. "If you see Lily will you tell her to meet me outside by the lake after dinner?" he asked and continued walking.

"Whoa." Said Remus in surprise.

"That was weird. He didn't shout insults at us or try to curse us or anything." Sirius said, unsure how to react as it had been the first time he had encountered Snape without wanting to kill him.

"Come on, we'd better find Lily." Remus said as he tore his eyes away from where Snape had stood. "I wonder what he wants with Lily?" Remus mused as they continued down the corridor, this time walking.

"I don't know." Sirius scowled. "But if he hurts my cousin, he will die."

Something in the tone of Sirius' voice made Remus turn to face his friend. One look at Sirius' face and he didn't doubt it.

*****

"He WHAT?" Anna cried her face red and her eyes bulging in absolute fury. "That bloody idiot, when I get my hands on him." She made a very violent motion with her hands. "I can't believe he would try to do that to his friend! James could have gotten hurt. Snape could have gotten hurt. HE could have gotten hurt." She fumed as she walked toward the window and shook her head.

Lily's eyes grew wide. "Whoa Anna, calm down. Wait till you hear why he did it."

Anna crossed her arms. "Why?" she asked Lily finally, with more than a little bite in her voice.

"Because he was so hurt that you turned him down." Said Lily a smile playing on her lips.

Anna just stared. Whatever she had expected Lily to say, that wasn't it.

"I heard him tell Remus so, when he was apologizing like crazy." Lily continued trying to read Anna's body language.

Anna's chin was set out defiantly and she was staring out the window. She turned around slowly. "I need to go for a walk." Her voice was strangled, and she didn't even try to conceal her confusion.

Seconds after Anna had left the room there was a knock at the door.

"Come in!" Lily called with out looking up from her book.

The door slid open. "Hey." Said Remus as he walked over to her.

"Hey." Lily said and waved, her eyes never leaving the page.

"What's up with Anna?" Sirius asked as he slid into the room and shut the door quietly behind him. "She looked at me really weirdly."

"Yeah." Said Remus. "When we passed her on the stairs she gave Sirius this really strange look."

Lily looked up from her book and thought quickly. "Um well, you know, she's just confused about something. So… what's going on?" she smiled at her friends.

"Snape wants to see you in front of the lake after dinner." Sirius muttered, suddenly becoming very interested in Roslyn's bedspread.

Lily eyed Sirius with amusement. "You don't have to like him you know. You just have to put up with us."

Sirius looked up. "I think I've been really understanding with this whole Snape/you thing so far."

Lily smiled. "Yes, yes you have."

"But its no longer funny Lily." He said looking her straight in the eye.

Lily's smile disappeared. "What are you trying to say?" She demanded, suspicious.

"I think you should break up with him."

"Why?" she asked her voice deathly calm.

Sirius gulped. "Look its just not right. He's gross and a Slytherin, and stuck up and a Prat…"

Suddenly a grin broke into Lily's face. "You're a good guy, Sirius." She said and patted him on the back as she left the room.

Sirius stared after her astounded. "I will never understand girls." He said shaking his head.

Remus laughed. "I thought for a second there that you were a dead man.

"Yeah." He said quietly. "Me too."

*****

"You wanted to see me Severus?" Lily asked softly as she walked up silently behind Snape.

Snape jumped in surprise and turned around. "Ah, yes, yes I did." He said a bit too quickly.

Lily smiled patiently. "and?"

Snape blushed as he realized that he was supposed to continue. "andithinkweshouldbreakup!" he gushed quickly, muttered some excuse for leaving and ran fast toward the castle.

Lily stared wide-eyed at his retreating figure, too shocked to cry out.

Behind the bushes James Potter grinned, mounted his broom again, and took off soundlessly. He had never been so glad that his broom had malfunctioned in his life.

*****

"Hey Remus, you want put yellow hair dye in Maple Watson's hair tonight?" Peter asked lazily as he tossed a ball up in the air and caught it.

Remus yawned as he thumbed through his transfiguration text book. He shrugged. "I dunno, sure why not. Should we ask James?"

"Actually, I think he's doing something tonight." Peter said.

"Alright, I guess it's just us then." Remus said, as he read through a particularly complex spell.

"Hey what about me?" Sirius asked, sounding hurt.

Both Peter and Remus stopped what they were doing and looked at him. "You don't have a date?" Remus asked confused

"Did someone else turn you down?" Peter asked, unable to grasp the concept.

"NO!" Sirius cried, his pride still stinging from Anna's rejection. "I just don't feel like going out is all." He continued quieter.

"But it's Friday night!" Peter said incredulous.

Remus shot Peter a look, because he now understood what was going on. "Okay, Sirius you can come with us."

Just then the door to the common room swung open. Anna walked tiredly through the entrance.

"Hey Anna." Remus waved.

"Hi." Said Peter.

Anna turned to smile at her friends. She caught sight of Sirius though and her smile fell. "Hey." She said stiffly and jogged up to her room.

*****

Anna hadn't been in her room long when Lily came in, her face tear stained and her movements empty.

"Lily!" gasped Roslyn and she jumped up to help her friend.

"Are you okay?" she asked shooting a questioning look to Anna.

Anna shrugged looking just as confused.

"I'm fine." Lily said, shrugging Roslyn off, although it was obvious to everyone that she wasn't.

"No you not." Anna said flatly. "What happened?" She asked more gently.

Lily was quiet for a moment. "Severus broke up with me." She said avoiding their gazes.

"That's wonderful!" Anna cried before she could stop herself. She quickly realized her mistake though. "I mean it's wonderful that… well…you know…" she thought quickly. "that he saved you the trouble of doing it yourself." She finished lamely.

"Did you like him?" Roslyn asked suddenly her eyes digging into Lily.

Lily sighed and shifted her weight uncomfortably under her gaze. "At first, no. When we first started going out all I wanted was to forget about James. But then I got to know him, and he's really sweet and really nice. I mean it, he really is a decent guy."

Anna listened to her friend and watched her stare wistfully out the window. She suddenly felt extremely guilty.

Roslyn shot her a look. "Listen Lily." She said. "If you need to talk…" Roslyn smiled at her.

"I'm okay, really! So what are you guys doing for Christmas?" Lily asked, purposely changing the subject.

"I'm going home." Roslyn said, playing along, she could press Lily later.

"I'm not, my parents are visiting my grandparents in Canada." Anna said, scowling fiercely at the letter her parents had just sent her. "How about you, Lil?"

"I dunno, I'll have to ask Sirius." She said thoughtfully.

"You will NEVER believe it!" Katie gushed as she burst through the door.

Anna raised her eyebrows, amused. "Try me." She said wryly.

Katie chose to ignore her tone and continued on. "There's going to be a DANCE!!!" She cried, nearly bursting with excitement.

Anna and Roslyn looked at Lily in surprise. "Really LilY?" They asked.

Lily nodded. "Yeah we decided in the last prefects meeting, I wanted it to be a surprise."

"Oh I have to find Lessie, she'll just DIE when she finds out!" Katie giggled and left as suddenly as she had come in.

"Hey look you guys, its snowing." Lily said softly and walked to the window to get a closer look.

*****

The Great Hall was full to bursting with students as they helped themselves to breakfast. At the usual time the owls swooped in but there was something different about this time. There were five times the usual amount of owls and every student in the fourth year and up received one.

Lily untied the envelope's from her owls claws and read them one at a time.

She opened the first one.

Dear Lily,

We would love for you to come home for Christmas, Sirius mentioned that your friend, Anna, will be left there all alone. You can bring her if you like.

LOVE

Your Aunt

Lily grinned. Her aunt was so cool!

"Hey Anna!" she called.

Anna looked up from her own mail. "yeah?"

"Want to come home with me for Christmas?"

Anna's face light up. "Yeah!"

Lily smiled and opened her second letter.

You're Cordially Invited to the 1st annual Christmas Dance

Friday, December 10

6:00 PM

Dates required for entry

Lily raised her eyebrows at the last line, they hadn't agreed on that during the meeting.

"James?" she asked hesitantly.

"Yeah?" he asked, his own mail yet untouched.

"Did you know that you have to have a date to go to the ball?" she asked.

He looked at her unbelieving. "Let me see that." He took her paper. "Must be the head girl's addition. She oversaw the final touches." He handed it back to her.

Lily stared up at the snowing ceiling. Where was she going to find a date for the dance? Could this week get any worse? She doubted it. What she didn't know was that she still had one thing still unopened on the table. A daily prophet that had only one subject in the entire paper. Lord Voldemort.