Sorry for the delay of this chapter! The holidays are extremely busy for me! And I apologize that I can't do personal thank yous this time! I'm in Florida now for my Christmas break using my grandparents computer, and I can't take too much time. Good thing I brought this on a floppy disk so I could just pull it up. =D! I hope you like the chapter, and don't forget to review!



Chapter Eleven

Marauders Memories



"Lily!" James yelled.

"James!" Her voice came from the pit. "James! Help me!" She called desperately. James ran across the stage and slid the last few feet on his stomach, then looking down into the orchestra pit. Lily was hanging by her just her fingers, dangling in what seemed to be a bottomless pit.

James reached into the pit and grabbed Lily's arms in attempts to pull her up. Yet the fact that she was 5'7" and at least 120 pounds didn't help at all. James scuffled back, pulling her up a bit so she had her whole arms over the wooden stage, or what was left of it. More wood crumbled off the stage, and James lost his grip, Lily now holding on only to his hands.

"Oh my god!" She screamed in fright, gripping James' hands so tight James thought they might fall off.

James pulled with all his might, finally lifting her up out of the pit. Lily clung to James, her heart racing. "Oh God..." She gasped in fright.

"What happened?" James asked eagerly, pulling her a bit away from the edge of the stage.

"The floor fell away, I was too close to the edge." She gasped, nuzzling her head on his shoulder, crying half in fright and pain, and then half emotionally. James couldn't help but think about how wonderful it felt to have her in his arms, even if she was crying on his shoulder.

"It's OK." James said quietly, stroking Lily's hair. Amazingly, Lily made no objection. "It's going to be alright." He said, still pulling her away from the edge of the stage. "Here, sit down." He said once they were much closer to the wall. Lily obliged, and collapsed onto the stage, James taking a seat next to her. James swept his plumed hat off, and undid his black mask.

Lily, through her tears, looked over to see him, glasses free, mask free, looking at his hat in his hands as bristles of his unruly black hair fell into his warm hazel eyes.

'I never knew he had such nice eyes...' Lily thought to herself. 'Then again they usually are hidden by his glasses.'

After about a half an hour of silence, and Lily had cried to the point that she could cry no more, James finally spoke.

"What were you, Candace, and Remus talking about?" James asked curiously, hoping it wouldn't upset her.

"Remus and Candace had a, well...sort of affair, I guess you could call it that. Remus and I had been together for a year and I caught them together in your old dormitory." Lily sighed, rubbing her eyes in exhaustion. "That's why Candace and I were fighting for seven months. I refused to believe that Remus would ever do something like that to me, and she refused to take all the blame for it. I realize now she was right. I just didn't want to believe he did it to me willingly, that maybe, by chance, she had bewitched him in some way or another."

James at in silence. How could Remus have wanted more when he was already with Lily? What more could there be in Candace that Lily didn't have? Lily had everything that James wanted! She was perfect for him! Yet whether he was perfect for her or not was an entirely different matter.

"What time is it?" Lily yawned, wishing the ball was over so she could go back to the castle and collapse in her bed and never wake up...

"Ten o'clock. Still another hour..." James sighed. The door creaked open, and Candace entered the theater.

"Lily?" She asked, seeing Lily sitting with James on the stage.

"Hi Candace." James said quietly.

"Can I talk to Lily alone?" Candace asked.

"Oh sure." James said, standing up. "I have to take care of something anyway."

"Sirius is just outside." Candace told him.

"All right." James said pushing to door open.

"You OK?" Candace asked Lily.

"Yeah, I think I'm good." Lily sighed.

"Hey Prongs." Sirius sighed. "Great ball, just not great people."

"Thanks Padfoot." James grinned, feeling a bit sorry for himself that he had co-made a ball in which made he and all he cared about miserable. "Where'd Moony get off to?" James asked curiously.

"He's outside with Wormtail. The worthless prat. Come in just when the trouble starts and try to milk it for all its worth by trying to mediate."

"Come on." James said walking down the hallway towards the lobby.

"Are you kidding me?" Sirius laughed. "Besides, Candace is only in there for a minute. She'll be mad if I leave her."

"Padfoot, they're girls." James said slowly, enunciating every word just to emphasize the stupidity of Sirius. "They can talk for hours and not get tired of it."

"Eh, you're right." Sirius shrugged, following James. They wove their way through the excited chattering people in the lobby, who unlike them were enjoying themselves. James pushed the outside door open, the brisk autumn air biting at his face.

Sirius exited through the door as well, and they squinted around in the darkness in attempts to find Peter and Remus.

They were sitting nearby on the sloping lawns in front of the theater, in a pile of leaves.

"Wormtail! Moony!" Sirius called in the darkness.

"Padfoot?" Remus called.

"Yeah," Sirius said as he and James got closer to them. Remus saw James, then quickly looked past him.

"So, Moony. I'm a gutter rat, now am I?" James asked, gritting his teeth in anger.

"You know I didn't mean it, Prongs." Remus responded quietly.

"Then why did you say it?" James asked firmly.

"I was mad, upset, hurt. I didn't even mean to end things with Lily. She'll never take me back now." Remus said sadly. James couldn't help but lose a little of his anger in spite of his friend. He understood how he felt, a bit. He wanted Lily, and yet there was something in front of him, something that prevented him from having her. But James didn't care too much, since he had wanted Lily for years.

"You overreacted, you know." James snapped.

"I did not overreact. You don't come to a bloody ball with someone then dance for over an hour with their best mate!" Remus said angrily through gritted teeth.

"You've never been the jealous type, Moony." Sirius said quietly.

"I've never had anything to be jealous of." Remus said, running his hands through his hair. James glanced up at the moon. It was close to full.

"Full moon next week." James said quietly.

"Trust me, I know more then you." Remus growled. "You think I can't feel it?"

"I didn't say werewolves can't feel it when a full moon's coming. I was simply stating a fact." James snapped.

"Someone's a bit testy tonight." Remus snapped in return.

"I'm the testy one? I'm sorry but I didn't totally chew out my friend and dump my girlfriend calling her a whore." James answered angrily.

"For one thing, you couldn't get a girlfriend that would last more then a week, and stop reminding me!" Remus yelled.

"Both of you, shut up." Sirius ordered. James was ready to retort, but he stopped by the pained look on Sirius' face.

"Just remember that we've all been best mates for the last six and a half years." Peter squeaked.

James thought for a moment. Memories of their previous years flooded into his head, and he couldn't help but smile at the thought of them.

"Moony was such a prat when we first met him." Sirius laughed.

"Enough of that." Remus answered, laughing a bit too. "God that was funny." James said, laughing a bit harder.



~*~*~*~



Sirius and James entered the Gryffindor Common Room, just having been sorted, looking around in awe.

"This will be your Common Room for the next seven years to come." The Head Boy said. He had a rather large nose, a long mane of shaggy brown hair, and small, dark beady eyes. "Boys dormitories up the left stair case and to your left. Girls dormitories of the right staircase and to your right. I'm your Head Boy for this year, if you have any questions you can ask me. I'm Alastor Moody, by the way." He grinned.

James grinned as he admired the large Common Room with many squishy red couches placed around the Common Room. "I think I'm gonna like it here." James said to Sirius. Sirius nodded in agreement. James strode over to one of the couches by the staircase to the boys dormitories and took a seat, yet found there was already someone sitting there.

"Ouch!" The person squeaked. James quickly jumped up to see a small brown haired boy with watery black eyes that seemed to dart around the room nervously.

"Sorry about that!" James said quickly.

"It's all right." The boy squeaked, jumping up from the couch. He was at least half a foot shorter then James, who was only 4'8" at the time. "I'm Peter. Peter Pettigrew." The boy squeaked, extending a pudgy hand.

"James Potter." James answered, shaking his hand.

"Sirius Black." Sirius said, shaking the boy's hand as well.

"AHHHHHH!" A scream came from the staircase. James turned around just in time to be crashed into by someone who seemed to have gotten quite a bit of air falling down the stairs.

"OUCH!" James yelled in pain as he was knocked to the floor. He gasped in pain as the other boy landed on him, crunching him against the floor.

James winced in pain, tears forming in his eyes. 'Don't you dare cry...' James thought to himself. The boy rolled off, and James groaned as he turned over to see the other person. He had sandy brown hair, and chocolate brown eyes. He looked quite a bit bigger then James, taller, and a bit larger framed. Probably an older student, James assumed.

"We got a first year!" A triumphant voice came from up the stairs as two boys pulled a broomstick out of the hallway area. They bounded down the stairs.

"You two all right?" The other one asked, looking concerned. "They weren't supposed to get hurt you prat." He said glaring at the other boy.

"I think I cracked a rib." James gasped.

"I think I did too." The other boy groaned.

"What's this?" Alastor Moody asked, coming over looking at James and the other boy laying on their backs on the floor. "Mundungus Fletcher, Dedalus Diggle? You aren't tormenting first years again are you? Blimey, after five years of it, I would think you would've gotten sick of it." Moody laughed.

"We'll never get enough of it." One laughed.

"Yeah, well we've never injured one before." The other said, still glaring. "Here." He said extending his hand to James. "Dedalus Diggle. And this git is Mundungus Fletcher." Mundungus Fletcher helped the other boy up.

James was breathing in sharp gasps. "I seriously think I broke a rib."

"Well, off to the hospital wing then. Madam Pomfrey does wonders for broken bones, I'll have you know." Moody laughed. "I've got these two to take care of."

"I think I'll come." The other boy said. "Where is it?"

"Just off of the Great Hall. Down the corridor, third door to the left." Moody answered. James hobbled to the portrait hole, holding his ribs in pain, as the other boy followed him. Sirius and Peter remained in the Common Room, fighting the urge to burst out laughing.

"I'm Remus Lupin." The boy gasped. "Really sorry about that. I walked out of the dormitory and there was a broomstick in the middle of the corridor. I didn't see it and just flew down the stairs."

"James Potter. And it's all right." He gasped. "She just better be able to fix this because I'm starting to not be able to breathe."



*~*~*~*~*



"Two broken ribs." James laughed.

"One cracked rib. Don't know how that happened. I was the one who flew down the stairs." Remus laughed.

"Yeah, well you crunched me against the floor. It's called inertia my dear friend. You went up in an arc, gained speed, collapsed on me and the obvious effect was pain." James laughed.

"I'm sorry I said everything I did." Remus sighed. "It just hurts to see the person you love with your best mate."

"She's not with me." James replied.

"I want her back, but I can't have her." Remus continued, ignoring James' comment. "She'll either hate me, or be too upset to look at me, or just move on. Besides, after all she said, I can't go and ask her to be with me again. And after all I said."

"I can't believe you cheated on her." James said, shaking his head in disgust.

"Come again?" Sirius asked.

"That's what he, Lily, and Candace were talking about. He cheated on Lily with Candace."

"What is up with this?" Sirius asked. "All my mates have fooled around with Candace Daily before I have!"

"I haven't." Peter squeaked.

"Wormtail, you date rats, not girls." Sirius answered.

"Hey!" Peter replied. James and Remus sniggered quietly.

"Candace was drunk when she messed around with me." James laughed. "Thanks to you. And you haven't done anything with her anyways since you don't have the balls."

"We messed around a bit tonight." Sirius defended. "But honestly, that girl has been playing hard to get all year! She wouldn't do anything with me even if I tried. Then she went into this whole thing about how I was being unfair to her by misleading her making her think I liked her one minute, and the next we were just friends. It was so weird." Sirius laughed.

"Are you dating her?" Remus asked.

"No."

"Then maybe that's where you're misleading her." James answered.

"I'm not taking advice from any of you." Sirius laughed. "The two of you have been obsessed with the same girl for over a year, and Wormtail, well, if I ever need to know how to charm a rat, I'll ask."

"Stop it!" Peter squeaked.

"So, are we mates again?" Sirius grinned.

"Marauders for life." James grinned reluctantly, still angry with Remus for hurting Lily.



"So, what're you thinking about?" Candace asked.

"Who cares." Lily sighed. "Nothing. I'm thinking about absolutely nothing." Lily lied. They sat a few moments in thought. "He saved my life, Candace." She finally said.

"What?" Candace asked, her head whipping to face Lily.

"The floor gave in and I slipped. He ran back in and pulled me out."

"Who did?"

"James." Lily answered, rubbing her eyes in exhaustion. "I don't know why I'm thinking about him. Especially after..." Lily sighed. She wasn't taking her break up very well at all. "I don't know what I expected." Lily said, starting to cry again. "I came here with Remus, then left him to dance with James for at least half an hour. I don't know why I didn't see it then. I was just so wrapped up in the moment I didn't even think about it."

"Lil, don't cry again." Candace said softly.

"I can't help it." Lily yelled in frustration. "I feel so awful. I wish I could relive today. I would do it all different."

"Would you?" Candace asked. "I don't want to make you upset by saying this, but Sirius and I were watching you and James dance. It looked like you were meant for each other. And there was just this way you were looking at each other...it was like true love." Candace sighed at the thought.

"You don't believe that I like James, do you?" Lily asked, her eyebrows raised.

"I don't know." Candace shrugged. "Only you can be the judge of that." Candace looked at her watch. "It's almost eleven. The carriages should be here any minute to take up back to school." Candace stood herself up and brushed her purple gown off.

Lily stood up as well, fixing the different layers of her long southern belle costume. "I'm sorry, Candace. I feel like I was being selfish now, making you stay with me when you could've been with Sirius."

"No, it's all right. Friends are supposed to be there for friends in need." Candace smiled. "Besides, due to the lax security for tonight, we're going to slip away somewhere in Hogsmeade." Candace grinned.

"But how will you get back to the school?"

"Sirius must know a way." Candace laughed.

"Well, you'll have to tell me how things go." Lily forced a smile, not wanting to make Candace feel bad due to Lily's misery.



An hour later, Lily collapsed into her bed, so exhausted she drifted right off to sleep. However, sleep didn't find James that easily. He tossed around in his bed thinking, wondering, wishing.

When he thought of the events of that night while laying there in his bed, he only then realized how horrible it was to Remus that he had basically taken his girlfriend during a dance, and refused to give her back. James sat up in his bed, and began to pace the familiar track around his bedroom.

"I can't believe I did that to my best mate." James sighed, running his hands through his hair. "But all at the same time she agreed to do it. I can't take all the blame." James sighed. "But a lot of the blaming deserves to be on me. I shouldn't have even asked her to dance. Why is everything my fault?" He asked himself.

He sighed, and paced back and forth about five times before he spoke to himself again. "Well, tomorrow night's a full moon. I can make part of it up to Moony by just being there for him, when he needs it the most."

Early in their Hogwarts career, James and Sirius, after much poking around, had discovered that Remus was a werewolf. Every month he disappeared for about three days, saying his grandmother was ill, or his parents needed him home for various reasons. After a while, James and Sirius stopped buying it. Peter, on the other hand, stood up for Remus, telling Sirius and James off for poking and prodding, saying there was nothing to find.

But finally they found out, and Remus confessed. But instead of deserting him, like Remus thought they would, they helped him by becoming unregistered Animagus' in which they could accompany him during his werewolf escapades. So every month during the full moon, Sirius, James and Peter would turn into their Animagus forms and run wild on the grounds with Remus, of course keeping him under check as they went. In animal form, the most harm Remus could do to them was break skin.

James paced back and forth. "Is it so bad that I want her the way I do?" He sighed. "Every minute I'm thinking about her. I thought going with Alena would make me get over her, but it only made me think of her even more."

"I wish she cared about me like I care about her." James sighed. "And I still got that damn bet with Sirius. He's gonna ridicule me when we graduate and the bet won't even be in play. What a dumb bet to agree to." James sighed. Sleep finally found James around five in the morning.



Sorry the whole making up thing was so quick to happen, kind of rushed. But I really have to get moving on to the next few things in this story, or I'll be wasting time on useless fighting! Next chapter-Full moon! What will happen then? Only I know, but you will find out when I post it...in a while...once it's edited. Please review! I really appreciate it and it keeps me going!