Morning dawned beautifully on the grounds of Hogwarts School of Witchcraft and Wizardry. Lily gleefully pulled herself out of bed and into her own private bathroom. It was an advantage to being Head Girl, she didn't have to share. After her rather long shower, she'd woken early, Lily dressed and headed down into the common room James and she shared, with a collection of this year's course books. James came down a half an hour later.

"Good morning, sweetheart," he said, dropping a light kiss on her cheek.

"Good morning, James."

"You're studying already?" Lily grinned.

"That's exactly what Alaura said last year."

"Great minds think alike."

"Great minds think for themselves," Lily retorted, absently flipping the pages in her Charms book.

"Do they now?"

"I should hope so. Otherwise you'd probably be thinking some not so nice thoughts about Sirius and I might…" Lily tried but was interrupted by James placing his hands on her cheeks and pressing his lips to hers.

Heaven, Lily thought as she let her own mouth move with his, allowing his tongue entrance when it brushed across her lips. She blanked out after that, her only thoughts being about what James was doing as his lips left hers and trailed down her neck to her pulse point and then her shoulder, his hands moving from her cheeks to the clasp on her robe. Once that annoying piece of clothing was out of the way, his fingers moved to undo the first buttons on her shirt. Meanwhile, Lily had long since unclasped James' robe and had unbuttoned his shirt, letting it hang on his shoulders. They would have gone further – James' hand positioned over the clasp on her bra, hers over his belt buckle – if it wasn't for the insistent knocking that began on the portrait. James groaned in frustration as he helped Lily button up her shirt and smooth out her long hair. Smiling slightly, she motioned for him to get the portrait as she left to get her brush.

Thank Merlin I didn't braid my hair before, like I wanted, Lily thought lifting the silver engraved instrument to her long red hair, before pulling it back in a tight braid. She heard voices in the common room as she finished the braid, putting elastic around the end and walked back to the spacious room, expecting Alaura to be facing her room. Instead of Alaura, Lily found half of the female population crowded around James and Sirius. Lily rolled her eyes as she exited the beautiful portrait of an old fashioned couple on a beach. The sun was setting in the background and the ocean sparkled in the early evening sunlight. Turning to head down for breakfast she was stopped by a very annoyed looking Alaura Cook. Lily smiled wordlessly they went down to breakfast.

The Great Hall was very full, as it was the peak hour for breakfast, and Lily and Alaura took seats across from Lia and Remus.

"James and Sirius busy?" Lia asked with a giggle. Lily shrugged, indifferent, as she spooned herself oatmeal and polished it off quickly.

"Lily!" Narcissa, a blonde seventh year Ravenclaw, approached with a smile on her face. "Congratulations on getting Head Girl. Lucius wanted Head Boy and when Potter got it he was livid! I stayed away from him all summer. Anyway, we all just wanted to say congrats!" And she left as Lily took more oatmeal.

"Thanks Narcissa!" Lily called after the blond. The next group to come was Lily's enemy, just as Lucius was to James, Paris Kensington. Paris smirked evilly.

"Your boyfriend busy, Evans?"

"Well he's not here is he? And what about yours? Satisfying you?" Lily replied looking at the brunette behind her. Paris' cheeks were red, her eyes filled with suppressed anger.

"I forgot my summer essay for Herbology," Lily said before Paris could retort, pawing through the already stuffed canvas bag beside her. "I'll meet you in class." Standing and smiling at her friends and taking a last drink of her pumpkin juice, she pushed past Paris and left, heading back to the Heads' rooms.

Meanwhile

James was trying hard to get Erin Birch away from him and over to Lily's dorm to ask if she was ready to go but Erin just wasn't letting go.

"Erin, please, I need to get Lily so we can get down to breakfast," James was saying as Erin pulled him back onto the scarlet couch.

"Lily?"

"Evans. The Head Girl?" James could tell Erin still had no clue who James was talking about. She had him pinned on the couch and was straddling James before the black haired man could blink of protest. The click of the portrait was heard faintly just as Erin's lips crashed down onto his. There was a gasp and running footsteps. James shoved Erin hard off of him and looked to see a red braid disappear through Lily's room. He rounded on the closest person, Erin.

"How dare you," he said his voice dangerously low and quiet. "If you have ruined my relationship with Lily, I swear to whatever god is listening, I will hex you until you are unrecognizable!" Erin sat on the floor, stunned.

"Get out!" James bellowed. Erin, unfazed by James' outburst, stood and ran a hand suggestively down James' chest. James continued to glare, trying his best to keep his anger under control, until Erin and her friends left.

Lily had known pain in her life, she had experienced it during training with her father, but even that couldn't prepare her for the pain she felt when she saw James lip locked with Erin. Her heart had been shattered into a million and a half pieces, her breath coming in short pants as the tears fell silently down her cheeks. Her eyes were already red and puffy, her stomach clenching painfully making her rush to the bathroom and vomit up everything she had eaten at breakfast. She knew she would have to see Madame Pomfrey later for a painkiller and something for her nausea. She felt a hand caressing her back, making her shiver terribly. She knew without looking that James would be there, concern lining his face but she couldn't look at him, not even if she wanted – tears were blurring her vision. When she felt better, she ran to her bed, not bearing to glance at James. Alaura came in, a solemn look adorning her face as she wordlessly hugged the redhead close, rubbing her back.

"Alaura, my heart hurts, and my stomach hurts," James heard Lily say. It tore him apart inside to see Lily as hurt as she was, and he knew that it was partially his fault. He wished he could comfort her – or take the whole thing back – but something told him it was better to leave, and leave he did but not far. The furthest James could stand to go was to his own room.

Alaura entered James' room with Sirius twenty minutes later, somber and soaked with tears.

"She's dealing. You'll have to talk to her too, James, she's not good. She' hurting… a lot. She really loves you. Talk to her tomorrow, when she's feeling better," Alaura said, sitting on the edge of James' bed, her eyes holding part of the pain that Lily was most likely feeling.

"She threw up," James said dully.

"Three times since I saw you leave," Alaura replied quietly, looking at her hands, folded in her lap.

"She'll be okay. She ended up crying herself to sleep," Sirius said taking over the story. He didn't want to see James heartbroken any more than Alaura wanted to see Lily vomiting and crying.

"What happened?" Alaura asked.

"I didn't see Lily leave her room to go to breakfast," James began looking Alaura directly in the eye, his heart bared to her. "Erin sat next to me as soon as I opened the portrait and started talking. The next think I knew, I was surrounded by blondes and brunettes and I couldn't see Lily's door, so I didn't see her go. After a half an hour, I got worried about Lily and wanted to go check on her but Erin wouldn't let me go. She kept pulling me down beside her over and over. I told her I really had to check on Lily and stood up. Erin pulled me back down and ended up on top of me and she straddled me. Then she was kissing me and I guess that's when Lily came in and that's what she saw." This was all said monotonously, completely void of any emotion and Alaura felt very sorry for what James was going through and what Erin had done.

"I'll kill her," Alaura whispered to Sirius as she watched James lay his head in his hands. "It's all her fault Lily's sick." A light knock sounded on the large oak door as Lia poked her sad head inside.

"You've been in to see Lil?" Alaura asked the dark haired girl. Lia nodded.

"She's not doing well. She's really weak and freezing cold, even under all of the heavy blankets," Lia said. James wordlessly stood and, grasping his winter cloak, headed off towards Lily's room.

Lily pretended to be asleep as the door opened and some one entered, draping a cloth over her body and setting something on her night table. The person caressed her freezing forehead and dropped a kiss on her cheek. There was only one person who would do that and her heart broke again. Her stomach churned in response and Lily was forced to throw her covers off of her body and running unsteadily into the bathroom. James followed slowly, wondering why such a simple thing would make Lily sick. Something wasn't right and as James watched Lily empty her stomach for the fifth tie, he realized that this wasn't natural. This was lovesickness in its physical form and physical lovesickness was not natural. He rubbed her back, whispering comforting things to her and when she had finished, James wordlessly picked her up and tucked her carefully into bed.

"Why?" Lily asked hoarsely, her eyes fluttering open to look James in the eye.

"I didn't do it," James whispered in reply, taking the redhead's hand in his own and launching into the same story he had told Alaura and Sirius. Just as he finished, Lily's hand went limp in James' grip. Terrified, James tried to wake up the now frail and pale looking Head Girl, but to no avail. Lily had lost consciousness. Working fast, James lifted Lily and his cloak, carrying her quickly down to the Hospital Wing.

Madame Pomfrey was unable to find anything wrong with Lily, and so, after reviving her and prescribing Pepper Up Potion, she sent Lily and James back to their dormitory, telling Lily to rest for the day. They walked slowly back in an awkward silence, knowing a lot needed to be said, but not wanting to say it. Classes were continuing and more than once they met groups that were part of that morning's fan club. As they passed Paris on her way to divination at the top of North Tower, she smirked at the pair, and at Lily's pale complexion. Erin followed half way before James lost his temper and bellowed at her to leave them alone. Lily swayed dangerously at James' loud volume, and he gripped her tightly to keep her from falling to the stone floor. Smiling shakily Lily gained her balance and withdrew herself from his arms and slowly continued on toward her room, wincing slightly at every loud noise. James caught up with her two steps from the portrait murmuring the password and carefully helping Lily back to her bed. He made his way back to the common room where the rest of his friends were sitting. Alaura looked up and non-verbally asked if Lily was okay.

"She'll be alright. She's a fighter. Madame Pomfrey told her to rest for now. The only problem is, something's fishy.

"What?" Alaura asked suddenly on the alert. Tanice had been unconscious for six months last year and that unconsciousness had also been unnatural.

"It could be a potion," Sirius suggested gloomily. James shook his head, voicing his doubt. It was impossible. Who could have given it to her? Alaura mentioned Narcissa and her group coming over to congratulate Lily on getting Head Girl and though the icily beautiful blond had indeed been dating Lucius Malfoy – James' sworn enemy – for all of the prior year, both Lily and Narcissa had continued being friends and so both Lia and Alaura dismissed the accusation. The next person and their clique that had showed up at Gryffindor table that morning, was Paris Kensington. Alaura and Lia exchanged glances.

"You think she did it?" Sirius asked incredulously.

"Sirius, one, she's a Slytherin, two, she's Lily's sworn enemy and three, its Paris, she doesn't need an excuse," Alaura said counting the reasons off on her fingers. Lia shook her head.

"I don't think it was Paris specifically. It was probably her right hand."

"Pamela? She's too dumb," Alaura said, screwing up her face in confusion and disgust. Lia shook her head.

"Not Pamela, her other right hand, the smart one." At the confused looks of her friends, Lia continued. "Pam isn't smart enough to make a potion like that and then put it in Lily's pumpkin juice this morning. I'll bet Snape made the potion on Paris' behalf but Nikki put it in. She would have been able to slip it in with us all looking at Paris to make sure she didn't try anything funny. Obviously Paris really trusts Nikki because her eyes didn't leave Lily's the entire two seconds they were bickering." She pulled out a black rectangular box, lifting the lid.

"What on earth?" Remus asked looking at Lia in awe.

"I asked Lily to hang onto this. It's an organization of potions by symptom. I did it this summer with my mom because of Tanice last year. My mom got really worried so I helped her put this together and then brought it to school," she answered flipping through the many tabs marking the break points of each symptom.

"Damn. It could be any number of potions," she said shuffling through the twenty-five little cards.

"Like what?" Remus asked looking over his girlfriend's shoulder.

"Well, it can't be these three. They all deal with some… power removal spell and that can only be used on wandless witches and wizards."

"What could have set it off though?" Sirius asked.

"Time?" Alaura suggested. James shook his head.

"It flipped when she saw me kissing Erin," he pointed out.

"Erin's part of Paris' clique. Fifth year Slytherin," Lia replied still looking through the cards.

"It was all a well planned conspiracy to get Lil?" Alaura asked.

"Seems like it. Erin was here ready when Lily would come back. Paris and Nikki put the potion in the goblet. It was perfect."

"But how did Erin know it was Lily coming through the portrait and not Paris or any one else?" Sirius asked.

"She didn't. It was complete luck that it was Lily coming through that hole and not me or any more of Erin's little friends."

"Can we just try all of the antidotes?" James asked getting impatient.

"Some of them will kill her if we're not careful and Lily can't… we can't afford to do that right now," Lia answered glumly. "Most of these antidotes make us wait a while to check on the other symptoms that may arise. We don't have time!"

"Pomfrey prescribed Pepper Up until she feels better. We can just keep giving her the potion every day until we can actually figure out what happened," James said watching confused as Lia, Alaura and Sirius – who were sitting across from him – stiffen.

"What happened?" James spun at the sound of the weakened voice to meet Lily's green eyes. Now he knew why Lia, Sirius and Alaura had stiffened. James looked to Lia to explain.

"We're pretty sure that Paris planned a whole thing to put you out of commission," Alaura said, rolling her eyes slightly at James.

"What," Lily started her voice coming out softer than a whisper, "what plan?" James hung his head and Lia opened her mouth to speak but Lily shook her head.

"I want to hear it from James," she whispered with a slight smile. She knew she was losing her voice along with her freezing fever and vomiting. And so, James launched into the whole story of how Paris got help from Nikki and Erin to set Lily and himself up. Lily's eyes grew narrower and narrower at each new revelation.

"So you guys think that Paris is the reason for me feeling under the weather?" Lily asked finally, her voice, even in its whisper, sounded angry and still hurt.

"And the reason you started too. Every potion with these symptoms has something to do with a trigger and all of the triggers aren't good," Lia said searching through the box. Lily sat beside her, calmly taking the cards from Lia's hands and setting them back in the box.

"You need to go to class." Her friends protested incredulously and in concern. "I need some one to pick up my work and bring it back. I'm not leaving here, like Pomfrey asked, and I need to keep up with my work. Especially this year." James smiled slightly.

"Always the student," he murmured quietly but Lily heard him. She smiled also approaching him and leaning in to whisper in James' ear.

"I trust you," she whispered before going back into her room, leaving the door slightly ajar. No other words were exchanged as the five left for class.

The day had moved slower than James ever could have imagined and when he, and the rest of the gang entered the Head tower that afternoon before dinner, he was anxious to see Lily. Her statement that morning had baffled him and he had wanted to ask her questions since. Without a word to the others about what he was doing he took the parchment roll with all of that days lessons and homework for the day and entered the sick redhead's room. Lily looked up from her book, smiling at James. He wordlessly handed her the parchment and she unrolled it taking in all of the seemingly extra assignments that had been assigned. She groaned inaudibly and James had a faint memory of a happy early morning.

"Lily?" James whispered moving to the door and closing it quietly before making his way back over to her bed. Lily looked back at him questioningly confirming James' suspicion that she had lost her voice and wanted to rest it.

"Why did you say I trust you this morning before we left for class?" Lily didn't answer him. She shook her head and then nodded it.

"Ask yes or no questions?" Lily nodded, smiling happily.

"Did you say 'I trust you' because you do?" Lily rolled her eyes and nodded. James smiled. She meant 'no kidding'.

"And is that the only reason you said it?" Lily shook her head no and pointed to the book on her lap and then back at herself. James was confused. Did she mean that she could read? Lily shook her head no when he voiced the idea. She then pointed to herself, her head, him and the story.

"You trust me. You believed my story?" Lily nodded her head. James was ecstatic. Lily cleared her throat loudly and tried to speak, but still no sound came out. She pulled up a muggle notebook she had on her bedside table and a muggle pen, quickly writing down a message.

I believed your story when you told it but Lia's accusations drove it home. James smiled. He thanked Lia silently for helping him with this hurdle in his relationship with Lily.

"Does that mean we're still dating?" Lily nodded, setting her book aside and opening her arms to him. James pulled her down beside him dropping a series of kisses from her forehead to her lips before curling her up next to him. Lily snuggled close and drifted off again into the land of dreams.

Sirius woke James up in time for dinner. Alaura and Lia had decided to let Lily sleep and see if that would help her feel better so James, Sirius, Remus, Lia and Alaura made their way down to the Great Hall for dinner. Upon their arrival the entire hall was talking excitedly and as James listened closely to the Ravenclaws on his way to Gryffindor table, he found out that the school's rumor mill was up and running. The latest rumor: James and Lily's breakup. James guessed that Erin had told Paris exactly what happened and Paris had begun the rumor. It seemed, however, that the rumor had – as rumors tend to have – many different stories or in this case, many ways that Lily and James had split. James rolled his eyes as he took a seat at the table and was immediately bombarded with questions about his relationship with Lily. James answered them all, telling each person who asked about it to pass on the information. It worked well and the rumor that was passed around the Ravenclaw and Hufflepuff tables changed quickly. James grinned slightly, the first time since that morning.

Lily woke up without James beside her and breathed out heavily. It was just a dream. Then she looked beside her and found a photo frame on her table and bottles upon bottles of Pepper Up Potion. Lifting a hand to feel her head, she felt the freezing cold temperature of her forehead. With a groan, she dropped back into her pillows looking up at the crimson canopy of her bed with foggy eyes. Then her memory came back and all of the day's events bombarded her tired brain. She would kill Paris if indeed she had been part of this controversy. She faintly heard the portrait open and gently swung herself out of bed, wrapping a scarlet winter robe tightly around her body. She walked out of her room and took a seat on the couch just as James, Alaura, Sirius, Lia and Remus entered. James immediately went to her side, inquiring about her health. Lily answered all of his questions with a smile on her face. She loved to watch James' concern and worry line his face. It made her feel special and cared for. He sat beside her, wrapping an arm around her shoulders and pulled her close.

"The school rumor mill is up and running," Alaura mentioned with a slight smile. Lily looked up and then to James curiously.

"Our breakup," he said smiling slightly. "I set the record straight."

"The Slytherins aren't going to believe it," Lily said hoarsely, her voice no better than it had been earlier that morning. "They don't want to believe that. Especially Paris. Paris wants to make sure that I'm out of the running for everything. Academics, quidditch, and any sort of…"

"You think this is just the beginning of a deeper plot?" Alaura asked.

"Well come on. We're the smartest, aren't we? We solved the Angel's Seal legend. If they've got something they need to do they don't want us in the way," Lia pointed out.

"They're Slytherins. Slimy, do-whatever-they-can-to-get-they're-enemies-out-of-the-way Slytherins who would plot something like this. You guys have any better ideas?" Lily asked. The others shook their heads in defeat.

"But what would they want? What do they need to do?" It was a question that was floating through each head.

'We're expecting that they have a good reason for making Lily this sick. We don't know if Lily will be able to go to class tomorrow or even when she'll be able to go," Alaura said, hanging her head.

"I'm going to classes tomorrow," Lily rasped out. "With or without my voice."

"But…"

"No buts. I'm going to classes tomorrow as long as I'm feeling strong. I'll carry Pepper Up Potion with me so that I will be fine all day, but I'm going."

"No," James said forcefully and Lily rolled her eyes.

"I can't miss another day of classes. I will be way too far behind if I miss more," Lily protested pulling herself away from James, an indignant look on her face.

"We'll catch you up," Alaura said but Lily shook her head.

"No. I'm not going to keep putting your guys through this while I can still walk and semi-talk. My classes are very important to you and you all know that. Why are you making this so hard on me?"

"We're making it hard on you?"

"I'm going. No amount of guilt or… or persuasion is going to keep me from going," Lily said standing and rounding, annoyed, on all of her friends.

"Lily, you can't…" Alaura tried again.

"I'm going. Even if it kills me."