Disclaimer: Anything you recognize is not mine! Surprise, surprise!

Author's Note: Thank you so very much for reviewing. Although I am beginning to love this story, I am not feeling the title. Help! Review with ideas. Thanks!!

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Chapter 4: Something Greater

James…

With a thud James fell into the satin comforter on his bed. It was quite possibly the most bewildering day in his entire life. He began to write in his journal; writing helped James to visualize everything in his life as script. That way he could place the puzzle together.

"Just absorb your surroundings," Lily Evans

Lily Evans…just the sound of it makes my head spin. I don't think I will ever fully understand her. Why did she want me to meet her today? At least tomorrow I have Defense Against the Dark Arts to keep my mind of Lily. The pleasures of enjoying something you actually understand.

"Prongs, Prongsie, wake up!" Sirius said while poking James.

"Guys I thought we said no more late nights, come on…please just let me go back to sleep," James whined.

"James, we all got up. It was your idea anyways," Remus reasoned.

"Oh Moony, please! When did I ever come up with the brilliant idea of waking up at midnight?" James asked annoyed.

"Prongs just get up. Don't be such a whiner," Peter yelled.

"Whatever, tell me what we are getting up for first," James said in a still annoyed tone.

"Do you remember our prank we planned? Come on…you came up with half of it," Remus said trying to understand why James was being so unlike James.

"Maybe if you had come to lunch instead of flirting with your little girlfriend," Sirius said annoyed as well. Usually James was the one waking everyone else up because he had a dream about a funny prank they could play. James had never before complained about or forgotten a prank.

"Whoa, what are you talking about?" James yelled.

"Padfoot, Prongs come on…this is about our loathe for Slytherins. Let's get this done so we can get some sleep and a few good laughs in the morning," Remus said in an attempt to temporarily settle the argument.

"Ok Moony, but tomorrow you can count on seeing me at lunch," James said to Sirius.

"Ha! Very good threat Prongsie," Sirius laughed.

"Why thank you. I suppose you have some counter threat," James joked.

"Oh no, I don't think I could compare to you my good fellow," Sirius laughed.

"I will never understand how you two can go from yelling to laughing within in seconds," Remus said shaking his head.

"Can we go now?" Peter asked.

"Why of course Wormtail," Sirius smiled.

The suns rays peeked through the burgundy curtains in the boys' dormitory. A single shaft of light shone on James's face as his deep brown eyes peeked open. He stood up and opened the curtains, thus filling the room with light.

"James, some of us want to sleep still," mumbled Sirius.

"Oh, sorry," James said turning to his friend. That morning felt strange; it was as if the sun was meant to shine in that room, on that bed, that morning. He made his way to the common room. Usually James would have gone back to sleep, but today felt different. Today the sun was calling him out to play. He walked out to the Quidditch pitch. The dew on the grass was chilling his feet, and you could barely see anything through the morning fog. Once there he simply paused and thought about his life, which was certainly not a common ritual. That morning he came to a conclusion; he was utterly unhappy.

"Where were you?" Sirius asked.

"Oh, I uh…went out to the Quidditch pitch," James explained.

"Sounds exciting," Peter jokes sarcastically.

"Well somebody wouldn't get up, so naturally I was incredibly bored," James said in defense.

"How about we go see the effects of our little night excursion," Remus interrupted.

"Right-o Moony," Sirius said enthusiastically. The Slytherins came in to the room with faces as pink as if they had over-done the blush this morning, carrying their baskets filled with goodies. They took some of the food and began to gorge. Momentarily the Great Hall erupted with laughter. The girls cried hysterically and many ran off the to bathroom covering their faces. No one laughed harder than the Marauders though. James found it funny, although it was the same old thing. They always pranked the Slytherins. It just didn't hold the same joy for him anymore.

James kept his head down as they walked to Defense Against the Dark Arts, but that's pretty much how he always walked. Defense Against the Dark Arts was James's only passion. He thrived in this class. Everyone knew James to be a genius when it cam to the subject.

"Students, students, please sit down. In this class I have high expectations. Some people have told me my expectations are too high; that I set my self up for disappointment. Well I always say to them that through my years I have seen students who fail other classes, rise to my expectations. I always seem to get brilliant results. So this will be a course in which you get homework every class. I expect that you all are here to learn, thus I will only teach those who are willing to learn. You may leave now if you are going to disrupt my class for I can not waste any of my precious time on you. Lets get started with a simple spell to defend yourself against an Aqurillis. As we all know an Aqurillis is a forest creature with the ability to breathe fire. Thus, this spell will create an imitation shield to protect you against its flame. " Professor Artemis instructed. "Repeat after me Repentus Nezmerana." James knew the spell. They echoed through his empty mansion all summer long. It kept him sane.

"Professor when are we going to be able to practice on a real Aqurillis?" James asked.

"James, I thought you knew me better than that? When have I taught you a spell and not let you try it out that very same day?" Professor Artemis laughed.

"Right," James said with a broad smile.

"Alright then, I expect you can learn how to say a word with 2 minutes so I am moving on. For all of you who chose to spend you're time talking, I suggest you learn that spell instantly because we are practicing on a real Aqurillis next. Hannah to the front please…" He called.

"Wait Professor, what, what is it again?" Hannah stuttered. Suddenly her face was pink with embarrassment.

"Perhaps you would know if you were listening," Professor Artemis lectured.

"But Professor," Hannah begged as if she was given a great injustice.

"But what? I recited a spell and time to practice. I expect that you listened and practiced. I expect you can handle this simple task," He said beginning to get annoyed.

"Well, can you at least tell me again?" Hannah asked.

"You are wasting my time. Please sit down," Professor Artemis instructed. "Miss Lily Evans, why I don't think I know that name."

"I recently transferred from the Untied States," Lily said with a smile as she walked to the front of the room. He revealed a brass, cubical cage, in which lay a creature pleasing to fickle eye. With soft gentle wings like that of a butterfly, one half expected it to kiss you on the cheek. Alas, when the being's cage was rattled the cloudy eyes illuminated red. The angel became a demon. With much effort Lily constructed a mere outline of the shield she was attempting to create.

"That was decent," Professor Artemis congratulated her.

"Thank you," Lily said proud of her modest accomplishment. Many other students fell to the wrath of Professor Artemis who made a similar transformation to the Aqurillis, yet his eyes remained their stormy gray. One after another individuals would excuse themselves for poor performance with illnesses, traumatic experiences, and anything that would allow them to side step the blame.

Professor Artemis announced that James was next. A shock immediately shot up his spine and exploded through his body. He looked up with a quick jolt and focused upon the brass cage. James's eyes met with the glowing red. He ducked flames and instantly called out the spell with noted perfection from all in his vicinity. He reached into a power buried in his soul and found his strength there among lost hopes and forgotten dreams. A golden shield dissolved into view upon his left arm. The fire hit and was absorbed into the shield with such power as the sun's rays are absorbed into earth-bound objects.

Expressions grew into admiration. James hated to express his talent publicly, but also understood that Professor Artemis withheld a certain standard for him. It really made him fume when people made up lame excuses. If you are going to fail at something, at least accept that you have failed. With a shake of the head, James thought of how people are so fickle. They will recognize talents in others and be amazed, but when it comes to their simple existence, they will not pursue any of their talents. He never considered applying this to his own life.

"Decent," Professor Artemis replied with a large smile. He was a firm believer that students would benefit from high standards, and to uphold this he did not combust with praise.

James stormed out the door when class ended. His head was sunk; every sound of praise was matched with a hateful thought passing through his head.

"James! Wait up," Lily called on her way out of class.

"What now?" he asked.

"I just wanted to know if understand how great that was," Lily noted that he was upset and didn't recognize his own accomplishments.

"Trust me. I know, okay. You think the 10th somebody says that in a row and suddenly I'll be happy. What is it with people? Just stay in your own life," James fumed.

"James you don't have to be mad at me. Okay, I didn't do anything harmful. I understand you want your space though. I guess I'll see you later," Lily said with sound acceptance.

"You aren't going to yell at me back?" James asked puzzled. Lily was walking away leaving James with an irritated look. Lily whipped around. Her hair had fallen perfectly around her smiling face. She was so content, so peaceful.

"What good would that do?" Lily asked. She then turned around knowing James had no answer and walked away. He stood for a moment in perplexity deciphering her pure words. Again he shook off the effect and walked off in the other direction. James didn't know where he was going, kind of just wandering. He had been doing that a lot lately. Perhaps it was because he wasn't getting much sleep, but it could be something else. Something greater was taking toll upon James's life, something bigger than Quidditch, Hogwarts, or even his looming future.

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Author's Note: Wow, you got to the bottom in one piece. I understand your attention span is wearing thin so I'll make this brief. Review with suggestions for a new title!! Also give me some tips on my writing style; I think I am losing some of the power of earlier work.

Thanks bunches,

Lilducky18