"Nice Hair Potter." Snarled the Defence against the Dark arts teacher, Professor Grout. Professor Grout was the incarnation of Evil at Hogwarts. He was the head of Slytherin and it was obvious he favoured his own house above the others. He was particularly harsh on the Marauders. James sat in the lesson with his now long hair tied back with a hair band he had borrowed off April. The Slytherins in the class were snickering and the marauders couldn't help laughing. Lily, April and Jenny were sitting in the front of the class, away from James and his friends.

"Thank you sir" James said through gritted teeth. He swore he'd get revenge on Lily and that he was going to the hospital wing as soon as Defence against the dark arts was finished. Professor Binns, the history of Magic teacher, wouldn't notice if he was late.

"Nice to see Miss. Evans has taught you manners, even if she isn't pure blood." Grout said with a smirk. Lily's smile disappeared as Grout said this and she looked at her notes that she had made on Werewolves. When Grout went on to help a Hufflepuff that had spilt his ink over the surface of a desk Lily felt a hand on her waist.

"I will get you back Evans." James muttered in her ear from behind. Lily tensed and looked at him. He gave her a dangerous look and went back to where he had been sitting with the marauders. Lily didn't like his tone of voice and glanced at her friends uncertainly.

"Was that a threat or just him coming on to me?" Lily asked her friends uncertainly. They shrugged looking slightly confused.

"It's really hard to tell with Potter." Jenny said.

*    *    *    *

"Miss. Evans, Mr. Potter I would like to inform you of extra security measures that we are going to induce on the Hogsmeade trips this year." Professor McGonagall said. James and Lily sat in the Prefect's common room looking at her slightly confused. MeGonagall was the deputy head and helped James and Lily organise the school events. Her hair was tied back in a tight bun and a large witches hat was perched on her head.

"What security measures?" James asked. The witch looked at the two and took her pointed hat off.

"As you have probably heard, the Dark Lord has been attacking Muggle families. I'm afraid that we must take extra precautions and ask the Prefects and you two to organise the houses into groups. They will have set times to go into Hogsmeade and they will be accompanied by one of the prefects." McGonagall said.

"But What if the dark Lord or a death eater shows up?" Lily asked worriedly.

"That's why you will only have small groups. The ministry has given us permission to let you create Portkeys if necessary. You will make a portkey and transport the students back to the castle."

"What about us?" Lily asked.

"You will let out some red sparks and travel by Portkey as well." McGonagall said. Lily nodded. She looked at James, who was looking quite serious. His hair was back to normal now and he ran his hand through it more then he usually did. He still hadn't gotten Lily back after a month and a half and Lily was starting to wonder if he was actually going to make good on his threat.

"Am I understood?" McGonagall asked.

"Yes Professor." Lily said

"Yes sir," James said without thinking. McGonagall gave him a harsh look.

"You may go." She said. Lily and James left the prefect common room and headed towards the great hall where everyone was eating. James was unusually silent, like he was planning something, or thinking about something. Lily was actually getting worried at James' lack of insulting her or talking to her, even if they didn't like each other. He hadn't pulled any pranks on anyone either for a while. Lily could tell it was really starting to annoy Sirius, because he was a bit more anxious nowadays.

"Are you ok?" Lily asked.

"I'm thinking." James said.

"Oh god help us all. The almighty James Potter is thinking" Lily said sarcastically. James stopped and gave her a harsh look.

"Why do you act like that?" He asked Lily as she stopped as well.

"Act like what?" Lily asked him slightly offended. She crossed her arms.

"I'm trying to grow up and be a better man just for you and all you do is throw it right back at me." James said angrily.

"I haven't noticed any change" Lily said coldly.

"Well if you would have gotten your head out of your arse you'd notice that I'm trying." James said. Lily's mouth opened in anger and shock.

"My head is not up my arse." She said.

"Yes it is. You're too proud to notice anything outside you and your little group of friends." James said.

"Fine, I'll open my mind more but I really don't see how that's going to help" Lily said. "How are you going to prove yourself? You're too obsessed with yourself to think about others."

"You'll just have to figure that out for yourself." James said marching down the stairs. Lily stayed where she was. Too shocked to move. My head is not up my arse Lily thought. She soon followed James to the great hall and joined April and Jenny. How dare he accuse me of being proud. He obviously hasn't looked at himself recently Lily thought. She jabbed at the food a bit too hard that the plate cracked and the food went everywhere. Jenny let out a scream of surprise.

"Sorry." Lily muttered. Jenny and April both looked at Lily.

"Are you ok?" April asked concerned, noticing the frown lines on Lily's forehead.

"Yeah I'm fine." Lily said getting up and leaving the hall.

*    *    *    *

"Stupid Bitch." James muttered as he, Sirius, Peter and Remus walked down a secret passage coming back from Hogsmeade. "Thinks she's better then me but she's not." Sirius rolled his eyes and pushed James over.

"Shut up" Sirius said.

"Hey!" James said getting up and dusting the dirt away.

"Prongs, please just be quite for a little while, you've been talking about Evans all the time we were in Hogsmeade, talk about something different." Remus said.

"I can't, she's just so-" James punched the wall of the tunnel in anger.

"Whoa." Sirius said slightly surprised. "She can really get to you can't she?" James looked at Sirius before carrying on down the passage.

"Is he alright?" Peter asked worriedly.

"He will be, we'll just have to give him some time to cool off" Remus said. Last time he had seen James like this, cursing someone non-stop and punching inanimate objects like walls was when his grandparents had been killed by Voldemort just after the OWLs.

James hurried down the hall, leaving the rest of the Marauders. He climbed out of the passage and started down the hall to the room of Requirement. A room he had discovered a few years ago and he often went there to think or calm down. How could Lily make him so angry, he was the one who had insulted her the most, she had barely said anything different to what she normally said but how could she get him so angry? James went into the room of requirement and looked at the sofa in the middle of the room. The room was filled with things that would normally make him feel happier but for some reason it didn't work this time. All James could think about was Lily.

*    *    *    *

It was nearly midnight and Lily patrolled the Corridors like she was supposed to. It was often very boring so she normally just did a round on each floor before heading back to the common room to get some sleep. Tonight however she wasn't really paying attention to where she was going.

"Stupid Potter, he hasn't got a clue about anything" Lily muttered to herself as she patrolled the seventh floor. She was just walking down a corridor, past the tapestry of Barnabas the Barmy when she heard footsteps. She turned to see a Slytherin called Cole Kilroy following her. Cole Kilroy was in the Seventh year and he had jet black hair and very dark eyes. They looked black if you weren't looking closely. His skin was pale and he looked like he hadn't been in the sun all his life. She frowned, he wasn't a prefect so he shouldn't be out of his common room.

"What are you doing out of your common room?" Lily asked him.

"I'm looking for you." He snarled. Lily looked at him surprised.

"Why?" Lily asked him worriedly. He smirked and stopped when he was only a foot away from her. Lily looked at him. He was a lot taller then she was.

"I needed to talk to you." He said. Lily took a step back, feeling uncomfortable. It was unheard of for a Slytherin to search for a Gryffindor just to talk.

"What do you want?" Lily asked. Cole moved around so Lily was between him and the wall.

"You do know you are a beautiful woman." Cole said. "And I was wondering whether you would, I don't know.let me kiss you or more." Cole's eyes flashed dangerously and Lily looked at him alarmed. She took a step back again just to find that she was against the wall. Cole's smirk grew wider as Lily realised there was nowhere to go.

"I, I'll get back to you on that" Lily stammered. She got her wand out but Cole grabbed her wrists with his hands and tightened his grip on her wand hand. Lily didn't say anything but she bit her lip as his grip increased. His grip was like a vice and eventually Lily dropped her wand because of the pain.

"That's better" Cole said. He pressed Lily up against the wall and forced a kiss on her. Lily didn't respond, she tried to get him off her but he was too strong. She felt him let go of one of her hands. She hit him but it didn't seem to help at all. She felt his hand on her robes, trying to find the fastenings. He pulled away from the kiss and grinned at her.

"Get off me!" she screamed.

"No," He said. "You've annoyed me enough, and it'll be a way of getting back at Potter."

"Let go!" Lily shouted again as she tried to push him away. He didn't let go and managed to get her robe fastening. Fortunately Lily was wearing some jeans and a t-shirt under the robes because she had been feeling rather cold recently. Cole pressed her against the wall even harder and kissed her again. Lily tried to scream but the kiss muffled it.