The rest of the holidays were just made durable by the presence of Sirius and James. They both did anything and everything to cheer her up, they even gave her a private quidditch match in their underwear in the freezing weather. How they managed it eventually Lily could only guess but it was highly amusing. They were later joined by Remus and Peter. Remus was very sympathetic but Peter didn't say anything. He always sat in corner and listened to Remus, Sirius and James talk about the latest quidditch scores. They would talk about anything other then Voldemort or the Ministry of magic because, as Sirius and James had found out early on, Lily had a tendency of crying because it reminded her of her parents.

By the time they returned to school Lily and James were very close and Lily found the world bearable as long as James was nearby. They managed to find a compartment and waited there together until the others came.

"Hi Lily" Said Jenny coming into the compartment with a dishevelled looking April. "How are you coping?"

"Alright" Lily told her "You?" Jenny looked at Lily and then sat down next to her and gave her a tight sisterly hug.

"You don't need your sister," Jenny said. Lily gave her a sad smile and returned the hug.

"I'm going to go and find the others." James said.

"Ok." Lily said. James gave her a quick kiss and left the compartment.

"So are you and James an item?" Jenny asked.

"Yeah, he asked me out on Christmas eve." Lily said with a slight smile.

"It wasn't really romantic though was it?" April said. Lily pulled April over to her side of the Compartment.

"How have you been?" Lily asked.

"A bit shaken but I'm feeling better. Did your parents have a funeral?" April asked. Lily nodded.

"I wasn't invited. It was a Muggle thing." Lily said, fighting the urge to cry. Her sister hadn't thought she should come. Sirius and James had taken her to their graves after but it wasn't the same.

"Oh, Lily." Jenny said. Jenny sat on the other side of Lily and hooked an arm through Lily's. They sat in silence for a few moments as the train started to move.

"I told James I loved him" Lily told her friends. She wanted to change the topic as thinking about her parents made her depressed and thinking of James made her happy.

"What?" April asked, slightly surprised.

"I told James I loved him" Lily repeated. "He was kinda looking after me for a bit and I told him I loved him"

"Do you love him?" Jenny asked. Lily nodded and smiled.

"Yeah." This brought a smile to all their faces and the girls started talking animatedly about boyfriends.

"We leave them for a few minutes and they're already planning on ditching us." Sirius said as he sat in a different compartment to the girls. All the boys had found somewhere else to sit but they could still hear the girls.

"Well, at least Lily sounds happy again." Remus said.

"And April." James said. "I spoke to her on the station and she looked really depressed and sounded like it too." A group of Sixth year Hufflepuff girls walked by the compartment and stopped when they saw the Marauders sitting talking.

"Hi James" said the leader of the group of girls. "I heard you had a rough holiday, could I help by making you feel better?" She said with a smile. James frowned.

"No thanks, I have a girlfriend." He said. The girl frowned and turned to her friends.

"Who?" asked another girl. James tapped his nose saying it was his secret. The girls all walked off angrily.

"Oh, I bet it's that Lily Evans. She's always had James Potter following her and adoring her." Said the leader of the group. "She probably gave James a love spell or something in the third year."

Lily looked at the entrance of the compartment as the group of Sixth year girls walked past without looking in the compartment.

"What is that about?" Lily asked slightly stunned.

"I have no idea. But anyway. My brother is going to marry his girlfriend" Jenny said excitedly.

"Oh that's brilliant" April said.

"Well he kinda had to because he got her pregnant, they found out a few days ago. She's a few weeks gone" Jenny told them.

"Really?" Lily said. "Imagine being pregnant before you marry. How wired would that be?"

"Mum and dad are a bit pissed with him but they're going to help all they can." Jenny said. "I can't wait, I hope the baby is a girl"

"That would be cool, and that she comes to Hogwarts." April said. "I've decided I want to be a defence against the Dark arts teacher." Jenny looked at her confused.

"She's been brushing up on her knowledge all holiday. She blew up my bedroom door on Christmas eve." Lily said with a sad smile.

"Yeah, hey, do you remember that really weird guy who said he was a…um, what was it?"

"I think he said he was a dentist" Lily said. "Muggles have always been really strange. I prefer Witches and wizards."

"I should hope so Miss. Evans" said James coming into the Compartment. "Because if you didn't I'm afraid it might take a while to convince you that we are far more interesting,"

"And a lot sexier." Lily added with a cheeky smile. James grinned.

"Back to normal I see." He said.

"Not quite, nearly." Lily said taking his hand.

"You've done a good job with her James." April said. "Getting her to smile so quickly." Lily smiled shyly and shrugged.

"I am sitting right here you know" Lily said.

"Yeah, we know." Jenny said with a cheeky smile.

*    *    *    *

The news that James and Lily were an item spread through the school like wild fire. All the girls were suddenly giving Lily evil stares and looks while the boys congratulated James on his 'conquest'. James hexed a few boys who said that Lily was a conquest because she wasn't. Of course Lily never knew about him hexing these boys and what Lily didn't know couldn't hurt. James himself carried a large secret that could get him a hefty sentence if he was caught.

The holidays had changed quite a few of the people that knew Lily. April was no longer interested in keeping the social life and she was less interested in Sirius then she had been. She admitted that she loved him but after what had happened to Lily's parents she was hesitant about forming any new relationships.

"Hi, April, my darling." Sirius said putting his arms around April, one evening in the middle of January. April smiled and her reading slowed. "How are you?" Sirius said trying to get a word out of April

"Good." April said.

"Do you still love me?" Sirius asked.

"Yes."

"Will you meet me in the astronomy tower for a not so secret Rendezvous?" Sirius asked.

"No."

"Why?" Sirius moaned. He was suffering from a real lack of attention from April. He did anything he could to get attention from April. He even tried to jinx her but couldn't bring himself round to do it.

"Because I've got to finish reading this book for Transfiguration." April said putting a hand on Sirius' face. Sirius frowned and turned to Lily in pretend anger.

"Ok April, get out of Lily's body." He said to Lily. James and Lily started in surprise as Sirius grabbed Lily.

"Padfoot!" James said slightly annoyed. They had been in the middle of quite an intimate discussion that made Lily feel quite light-headed and giggly when Sirius had grabbed Lily. Sirius stared into Lily's eyes.

"April, are you in there?" He said. Lily looked at him confused and pushed him away.

"What are you doing?" Lily asked in slight disgust.

"April has turned into you. She's studying and not even paying any attention to me." Sirius complained. He gave them a look that resembled a depressed looking King Charles spaniel.

"That's not true, she talks about you all the time." Lily said sitting on James' lap again. James put his arms tightly around Lily's waist so she couldn't move very far. He didn't like being away from her any more. Going to lessons felt like agony as they had to stay in the seats they had chosen at the beginning of the year, when Lily and James had hated each other. How quickly things changed.

"She's just reading." Sirius said looking at April and waving a hand in her direction.

"She's just scared she'll lose you." Lily said. "My parent's death effected more then just me" Lily added quietly. Sirius gave Lily a sympathetic look then got up and went to April. He snatched the book away and put it on the table.

"Sirius." April said slightly annoyed. "I was reading that."

"Not anymore." Sirius said. He leaned over and picked April up in his arms and placed her over his shoulder.

"Sirius!" April said, she didn't sound angry but a hint of her old attitude started to show again. Sirius noticed this subtly change in her tone and grinned.

"I'm not letting you go until we get at least half an hour of privacy." Sirius said marching out of the Gryffindor Common room with April protesting and struggling to get down. Jenny walked into the common room as they left and watched amused. Lily was also watching quite bemused with Sirius' action to get his girlfriend back on kissing terms with him.

"I'm guessing they're going to get off with each other again?" Jenny said.

"Who knows?" Lily said like she had no idea but she knew that April and Sirius wouldn't be back for at least another hour. Remus came walking down the stairs from the boys dorm and perched himself on the edge of the chair that Lily and James were sitting on.

"Prongs, half an hour." He said. James frowned and glanced at the window. Lily looked as well. It was the night before the full moon and it looked absolutely amazing. The sky was clear and the windows were slightly steamed but Lily could still see the moon clearly.

"Ok, I'll get padfoot in a minute." James said. Lily looked back at her boyfriend and scowled.

"You're gong somewhere?" she asked.

"Um, yeah. Marauder business." James said. Lily nodded and got up to let James go about and do what he needed. She understood that James loved her and his friends and as much as she hated not being in the same room as her she would never come between James and his friends. James smiled gratefully and gave Lily a prolonged goodnight kiss. Lily knew that he wouldn't be back before Midnight as well. She didn't know how she knew but she just did.

"Thanks Lily." Remus said. "I'll meet you and Padfoot, you know where. I'll go and get Wormtail and the-." Remus looked at James.

"I know about the invisibility cloak" Lily said.

"So do I." Jenny told them. Remus frowned slightly but got up and left them and headed up the stairs to the boys dorm.

"See ya Lily." James said. Lily gave him a smile and he left the common room. Lily sat back down and tucked her legs underneath her and gave a soft satisfied sigh. Jenny gave her a pleased smile.

"So what are you wearing to the ball?" Jenny asked. Lily looked at her slightly confused.

"That's another month away." Lily said.

"Yeah, so?" Jenny sad.

"Have you got a date for it?" Lily asked.

"Yeah, the Ravenclaw prefect, Charles Kinnear asked me just now." Jenny said. Lily gave her a pleased smile.

"We haven't put the notices up yet." Lily told Jenny.

"Charles is a prefect though, he knows about it." Jenny said. Lily nodded,

"True." She muttered. A few moments later April came storming into the common room looking quite annoyed and angry.

"Lily, Jenny, can I talk to you in our dorm room?" April asked straining to keep her voice under control.

"As long as you don't jinx us." Jenny said cautiously.

"I might jinx her" April said pointing at Lily, "but you're safe." Lily looked at her slightly alarmed and instinctively her hand moved to her wand. April grabbed Lily's wrist and pulled Lily after her as she went towards the dorm rooms.

"I think one of them is a werewolf." April said abruptly when she had locked the door behind Jenny, who casually strolled in after Lily and April.

"One of who?" Jenny asked.

"The Marauders, I think one of them is a werewolf" April repeated.

"Why? I mean, there's nothing strange about them or anything" Lily said.

"They're always going out on iMarauder business/i about the time of the full moon and they're never back until way after midnight. It only makes sense that one of them is a werewolf." April said.

"But then why do all four of them go?" Lily asked April. April started pacing the dorm room. She threw her hands in the air.

"I don't know, maybe all four of them are werewolves." April said.

"James is not a werewolf." Lily said defensively.

"How do you know?" April said. "He doesn't tell you everything about him. I know Sirius has lots of secrets from me."

"James would tell me if he was." Lily said, trying to sound confident in what she was saying but a tiny voice in the back of her head was telling her that James wasn't telling her anything. Every time Lily brought up the subject of Marauder business he would quickly change the topic.

"Yeah, whatever." April said.

"One of them could be you know." Jenny said. "I mean I've also noticed that they've been going missing for a few nights every month for quite a few years."

"I haven't noticed anything" Lily said.

"That's because you never paid any attention to them" Jenny said.

"I vaguely remember you saying that James was a big stuck up bastard a few months ago" April said looking at Lily.

"Things change" Lily said looking at the floor. She sat on her bed and pulled her knees towards her and hugged them tightly. She remembered when she got her letter for Hogwarts petunia suddenly becoming a lot meaner, her suddenly falling for James and how her life had changed since her parents death. Some things changed too quickly.

"Things do change" April said. Lily could see that April was thinking along the same sort of lines.

"I'm going for a walk" Lily said getting up. She shouldn't have thought about her parents. She could feel the memories itching to relive themselves. Lily picked her cloak up from her trunk and held it loosely in her hand.

"Where are you going?" Jenny asked eyeing the cloak.

"I don't know. I might go to the Quidditch pitch or I might go visit Hagrid. I don't know." Lily left the Dorm room and left the Gryffindor tower.