Disclaimer- I don't own anything J.K. does

The three Marauders made their way through the school under James' cloak. Using the Marauders map they were able to successfully navigate the corridors. Once they reached the infamous Whomping Willow, Peter transformed and ran through the thrashing branches. He prodded a certain knot on the trunk and the branches stopped moving. James and Sirius ran to join Peter. They too transformed, just in case. They raced through the passageway. James led the way. They ran through several rooms before finally finding Remus. Once they saw he was safe they transformed again. Remus looked terrible. The three boys understood why he left a night early. He looked as if he was on his deathbed. They didn't understand. How could he so strong and yet so weak?

"Remus? Wake up Moony." James said, afraid he wouldn't wake. "James? Sirius? Peter?" He responded hoarsely. "What are you guys doing here?" "Remus, listen to me. I was wrong about Reese. R.A.W. got permission to kill werewolves. She's hunting tomorrow night in the forest. We can't leave." Remus was too weak to even answer; he just nodded and fell back asleep. James looked to Sirius; he didn't know what to do. As if he had been reading his thoughts he answered, "We'll stay." The three slept on the floor next to their ill friend. As much as they wanted to stay, they had to leave in the morning. Being careful to relock the passageway, they reluctantly made their way back to the school.

Padfoot, Prongs, and Wormtail started toward the Great Hall for breakfast. They were all tired and a bit out of it. "Hey, you guys don't look so good." Taylor said as they sat down. The four Gryffindor girls all looked concerned. "Isn't Remus coming to breakfast?" Cad asked, finally realizing he was missing. "Huh?" Sirius asked groggily. "Oh! He had to leave early this morning. He got an owl saying his grandmother was ill." Sirius saved himself after his blunder. "Really? That's terrible." Cad said frowning. Reese chose that moment to make her entrance. She sat next to James. Sirius looked as if he wanted to kill her, but a look from James quickly calmed him. James avoided conversation with her and rushed through breakfast.

"What was that about?" Sirius asked once out of earshot. "You sitting so close to that thing? Haven't you broken up with her?" James sighed. "I can't do that." Sirius was outraged, "You're staying with her? She wants to kill Remus!" James thought for a second. "Look. If Reese hadn't told me that she was hunting, we wouldn't have known, right?" Sirius nodded, slowly catching on. "And you still would've gone out with him. He could've been killed." James finished. "So you have to stay with her to protect Remus." Sirius stated. "Exactly." James said as he and Sirius turned to continue walking to class. "I don't like it." Sirius said, stating the obvious. James smiled, "I know."

"Mr. Potter!" James snapped to attention out of what would have been a blissful nap. He heard Sirius do the same next to him. "Do you agree with me?" Taken aback by the question, he sat speechless. "Err-" "Yes or no Potter." McGonagall's voice boomed. "Yes, Professor, 100%." James tried to smile. "So you agree that Mr. Black and yourself should have a week's worth of detentions for sleeping in my class?" Sirius picked his head up. "Yes, professor." James answered lazily. He should have seen that coming.

"You git!" Sirius was running his hands through his hair, "detention for a week!" "Well, I didn't see you waking up to help!" James said defensively. They bickered lightheartedly as they entered the Charms classroom. As James sat down, Reese went to take the seat next to him. "Sorry, babe, seat's taken." Sirius said sarcastically as he took the seat. After Reese walked away dejectedly, Cad turned around. "Marauders back together?" She said laughing. "Something like that." James smiled, his first real smile in a while. Lily took Remus' seat in front of James. James sat up, and nodded toward her. "Here we go again." Sirius muttered under his breath.

James, Sirius and Peter all skipped dinner. They were too worried about their best friend. "He'll be all right." Peter said comfortingly. Each boy was sitting on his bed. "It's so much worse without us though." Sirius said hoarsely. "And what if he gets out? And she finds him?" He had never gotten out on his own, but the boys couldn't help but think the worst. "Besides, he shouldn't have to go through it alone." James thought out loud. "Couldn't we just go and stay in the shack?" Peter asked dumbly. "You know we can't. We wouldn't only be risking ourselves, but his life." James answered, more to convince himself than his friend. "It's just not fair." Sirius said angrily. Just then there was a knock at the door.

"Come in." James answered. He quickly got up when he saw that it was Reese. He had to get her out of there, before Sirius could say something. "Can I talk to you, James?" He quickly agreed and left the room with her. "I'm going to go now. Just thought I'd say good night." She said reluctantly. "Oh. I'm so nervous." She blurted out. "What if I'm not fast enough? What if I get bitten?" She continued. "You'll be fine." He answered heartlessly. She recovered from her breakdown, "Well, I better get going. Wish me luck." He leaned down and gave her a quick kiss. "Good night." With that, he turned around and went back to the dormitory.

"How can you stand her?" Sirius asked James as the two made their way to Professor McGonagall's office. "I thought I liked her." James answered simply. "What about Lily?" "What about her?" James really didn't want to get into it, but could tell his friend wasn't going to let him off so easy. "I thought you liked her?" Sirius said truthfully. "I did. I mean, I do," he paused, "and she made it clear that she didn't like me. I had to move on." James stared at the ground as he walked. Even though Sirius was like a brother to him, it was a hard topic to talk about. Sirius nodded and the two walked on in silence.

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"What are you up to?" Cad asked Lily as she plopped herself down next to her. "Just finishing up a letter to Max." Cad leaned over Lily's shoulder to try and read it. Lily pushed her away. "You can read it when I'm done." She answered with a laugh. "How is good old Max?" Cad asked with a hint of sarcasm. "He's fine. Christmas seems so far away. I can't wait to see him." Lily said ignoring Cad's sarcasm. She signed her name to the letter and handed it to Cad.

Dear Max,

How are you? I miss you so much. School's going good, I've been loaded down with homework though. How was your English test?.........

"Boring. Boring. Boring." Cad said as she put the half read letter down. "How do you get these to him anyway?" Lily smiled at her friend's confusion. "Easy. I owl it to my mum and she mails it." Lily answered proudly. They had been writing letters to each other ever since the start of term. Lily really thought their relationship was growing. She really liked Max. But something seemed to be missing. She couldn't figure out what; all she knew was that she wanted it. She pushed those thoughts aside. She was happy, and that's all she thought mattered.

"What about James?" Cad broke Lily's thoughts. "What about him?" Lily answered frowning. "I don't mean it like that." Cad said quickly catching the look on her friend's face. "You two have been friendlier lately, that's all." "I guess. It's easier to get along when he's not hitting on me." Lily answered honestly. "I don't think Reese would like it too much if he did." Cad pointed out. "True. She does seem rather smitten." Lily said. She didn't like it either. She hated every time she saw her with James. It's not that she wanted to be with him, she just didn't want Reese to be. "I don't like it either." Cad said. She had known Lily long enough to know when she was unhappy about something. Lily smiled, "Where are the two lovebirds anyway?" "Well, James has detention, and I don't know about Reese. She just kind of disappeared." "That's odd." Said Lily.

"Looks like that gangs back together though," Cad said happily. "Yeah," Lily perked up, "I wonder what they were fighting about?" "I don't know. Remus wouldn't tell me." The girls hadn't gotten a chance to talk much. Ever since Lily hooked up with Max there had pretty much always been a boyfriend around; Max then Remus. They seized their opportunity and talked until they both fell asleep on the couches.

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"You are two of the top students! I expect better from you!" James and Sirius nodded their heads. They had grown accustomed to hearing Professor McGonagall's lectures. "Tonight you will be working with our groundskeeper, Hagrid." She continued. She then escorted them to the edge of the forest. The boys were quite surprised. Of course they had been in the forest many times, but the teachers didn't know that. The boys feigned shock, and followed Hagrid into the forest. They spent several hours gathering filliwigs. They were pretty tricky, but made for a good challenge.

"James, look." Sirius stopped and pointed. "Is that?" There was no mistaking it. She was dressed in camouflage, like the others in her group, but her red hair set her apart. "Reese?" James started to walk toward her, but Sirius stopped him. She was crying. "Just a little closer?" Sirius nodded. "....It leapt...and I....I...froze...I dropped my....and he...it's all my fault." Reese was sobbing uncontrollably. Before the boys could find out what was wrong, Hagrid sent up sparks for them to return.

"What could have possibly happened?" James asked Sirius rhetorically. They tossed ideas back a forth while they walked back to the common room. It was about one in the morning, and they were exhausted. They entered the common room and were surprised to see they weren't alone. "Should we wake them?" Sirius asked. "Might as well. I'll take Lily." "Of course you will." Sirius smirked. Sirius woke Cad up in a matter of seconds. She was already heading toward the dormitory when James approached Lily.

He gazed at her for a minute before nudging her. "Lily? C'mon wake up." He whispered. She moved a bit. "C'mon let's get you to bed." She made some sort of sound and opened her eyes. She tried to get up but stumbled. "Here let me help you." James smiled and picked her up. He loved how easily she fit into his arms. He stopped when he reached the bottom of the stairs to her dormitory. "Why'd you stop?" Lily asked groggily. "You know I can't take you up there." Lily opened her eyes. James set her down, "Goodnight Evans." She continued up the stairs, but turned around when she reached the top. "Goodnight Potter."

A/N- Hey I hope you liked the chapter! Coming up: a revelation, a funeral, and more Lily. I'll post after 10 reviews or 5 days!