Disclaimer—I own nothing but this hat I bought in Italy.

Author's Note—I'm so so so sorry! Did I mention I'm sorry? I went away for a total of about 4 weeks this summer, most of that being the last 3 weeks in a row. So I haven't been updating. Please forgive me and keep reviewing. Replies are here as usual, and I really hope this chapter is better than the last one. I didn't really get to start hammering it out until 3 days ago.

REPLIES

Faerie Lover—Thanks! Hehe. I had to come up with some reason for Frank not to be a Marauder. I like putting him and Alice in the same year as Lily and James. :-)

Hi Im Crazy—I feel kind of bad for Lily too, but she still treated James absolutely horrible with the mistletoe thing. I dunno if I said this or not, but I'm working on the UPLARS for when Lily tells Remus about how she feels about James. It should be pretty good, but I'm so behind on chapter fics that I don't know when I'll be able to work on it again.

Swishy Willow Wand—Hehe! It's fun to confuse people. I think I want to write a story where somebody gets blindfolded, spun around 3 times, and told to find their common room. Very confusing! Thanks. Sorry it's taken so long to update.

Ashley48506—Thanks. Hehe, the apology. Might take a while. Lily is a stubborn little thing! You're welcome. Want me to keep emailing updates?

Lily hostetler—Thanks! Hehe, you're a night owl, like me. I stay up pretty late.

Briana Marie— Maybe if I ever get time to revise I'll fix it…somehow. Yeah, Hagrid was kind of random. He just spoke so well of Lily and James in Sorcerer's/Philosopher's Stone that I wanted to put him in somewhere. Hope you like this chapter. Next chapter I think I'm going to have James's point of view a lot.

Popppincorn—Hehe. She'll talk to James soon. Not yet (stubborn Lily!) but soon!

FlamezFlyer—Hehe. I got that because people always say I'm blunt. I try to be tactful, but…eh. Not worth the trouble. :-) Thanks! I'm sorry it's been so long, between camp (1 week), camp counseling (1 week), and Italy with my mom (2 weeks), I haven't been home much to type.

Professor D. S. Silvers—Aw, thanks so much!

Frankie Beeblebrox—Hey, Frankie! I swear I'll email soon, I just got back from Italy on Friday night and I've been wiped. I'm going to detail my trip in my Xanga. Must catch up on my trip journal. I got behind and never finished. I see Lily kind of being afraid of James and her feelings like that. Hehe! Of course he has a list! Merlin forbid he put an ounce of energy toward schoolwork or studying, it all goes toward the list and plotting revenge!

Siriusforeva—Thanks! Lily can't admit her feelings because she's a stubborn little girl who cares too much about what other people think when it comes to that sort of thing. Interesting, no? Didn't care about how she dressed, dressing un-fashionably and so-on, but she cares if she dating a troublemaker. That Lily!

PeRkieGuRL—Thanks! I'm sorry the wait has been so long. I've been out of town so much.

Loraliant Angelisa Snape—Thanks so much. I'm sorry it's been so since the last chapter. I keep going out of town too. How was your trip? You said you were going away for 2 weeks?

Queen of Zan—Thanks. I just had to add Hagrid. He's oodles of fun!

Hekate101—Cool? Thanks! Yay! :::special:::

DOJ—Thanks. I'm hoping this chapter came out better than the last one. I like the idea of Frank and Alice as Lily's close friends. Glad you liked Hagrid in there, I wasn't sure about him.

Maria—Thanks! Sorry it's taken me so long to update.

Curiousdragon—Hi! Yeah, the beginning was Mary-Sue-ish, they get together in what, chapter 3? With no reasonable explanation? I was just setting James up for his heartbreak. :::evil laughter::: I'm trying not to keep it too predictable. Trying to keep the twists in there. I hope you like this chapter.

Crazy4padfoot—Wow! Classes already? I start in three weeks, and that's pretty early for out here. Yeah, that last chapter was a little lame. I was trying to get over some writer's block. I think this one is better, at least, I hope it is. Sorry it's taken me so long to update.

Gwendolyn James—Glad you liked it so much! I was nervous about putting in the bit with Hagrid in it. I wasn't sure about how well it fit.

BrokenSkye—I love Hagrid. He's so much fun to write. I just don't know how effective he was in changing Lily's mind…

Holly-evans—Thanks. Sorry it's taken so long to update!

S—I'm so sorry! Between one thing and another I have posted anything in ages…

Me'aer—Thanks. I try to do things differently and make things as un-cliché as possible. Yup, he smiles! Ever heard the phrase "fool in love"? Or "crazy things we do for love"? I love those. James is absolutely hopeless! Hehe. I try to make this realistic. I was nervous about Lily and Sirius's talk, because I honestly wasn't sure how it'd turn out. Really? The Hit List was kind of a random thing I added just for fun! Sorry it's been so long since my last update.

Artemis Moonsong—Thanks. I'm so sorry it's taken me forever to update!

Amy Lampion—Lily gets portrayed as "perfect" a lot of times, and I just wanted to show that she wasn't. So she made some major mistakes in this story. :-) I'm glad you think I did a good job keeping them canon! I really try to keep everybody In-Character, sometimes it's easier than others.

On with the story!

Chapter 10: Night Two

Midnight found Lily, Alice, Sirius, Remus, Peter, and James in the common room for a continuation of the trial. They weren't the only ones there. Frank had come to join in on Lily's side (what did he have to lose? Sirius and his bunch already hated him). Also joining the trial were about a dozen other students, a Hufflepuff boy, and Ravenclaw girl. Somehow they'd all found out about what was going on. The Hufflepuff and the Ravenclaw had come as delegates for their houses. They wanted to find out just what went on and made plans to stay with Gryffindors that night. They'd had to draw straws in their common rooms to decide who would get to come.

Lily looked around uneasily. She couldn't do it. Not with all these people standing here. She couldn't just say she was crazy about James Potter. That was not going to happen. End of story.

"If there are no objections, we'll continue where we left off."

"I have an objection," Frank said loudly, as he got to his feet.

Remus sighed and Sirius shot Frank a glare that would have melted iron. "What do you want, Longbottom?" Sirius snapped.

"I'll ask the questions here, Sirius. What do you want, Longbottom? I mean, what are you doing here, Frank?"

"I'm here because Sirius Black has been slandering the good name of Lily Evans. He's been spreading around half-truths and lies the way Hagrid spreads manure around the pumpkins every autumn."

Lily blinked at Frank's analogy and stole a quick glance at James. He hadn't moved since Sirius had dragged him down from their dormitory. He was still sitting with his face in his hands, but his eyes had changed. They were no longer staring blankly at the wall, no longer glazed over. He was slowly drawing himself out of his daze. Someone had managed to say something that finally got to him.

One of the third years who'd joined the newly formed jury, said, "But what about how she humiliated him?" This third year had a very high opinion of James and sent an "anonymous" letter to him at least once a month.

"What does that matter?" asked Alice. The next 5 words were spoken slowly and evenly. "She broke up with him. Big deal! It happens to everybody sometimes. Sometimes it's worse than others. Who here can honestly say they haven't broken up with somebody, or had somebody break up with them?" Some of the younger ones raised their hands, but Alice dismissed them with a wave of her hand. "It'll happen to you too. Trust me. Sure Lily was a little harsh, romance is. But stuff like this happens to everybody."

"But this is James Potter!" insisted the third year. "Nobody's ever broken up with him before. I know I wouldn't," she gushed.

Lily was fairly sure that she heard Alice mutter, "hormone crazy ditz" before Frank continued.

"The point is, everybody has bad relationships. Some breakups are worse than others. But everybody moves on. Everybody deals with it. That is, everybody but Potter here. He's been moping around ever since the night before term started and because of that, his friend decided to take action by getting revenge on Lily…and all of you have been a part of it. He told you that Lily humiliated James. Well, James put her on the spot. She didn't mean to embarrass him, she didn't mean to hurt him. It happens to everybody. It was the night before term started again and they were caught under the mistletoe in a full common room. What was she supposed to do? Anything that happened between them over Christmas break should stay where it belongs: Christmas break."

Hilary, the third year, was about to say something, but the boy next to her firmly clamped a hand over her mouth.

Sirius stood up. "I think we've heard all we need to hear, Longbottom. I think it's clear the Lily Evans is guilty."

The Ravenclaw stood up, "Guilty of what? What are the charges? And what did Black do that was so terrible?"

Frank, Alice, Sirius, and Remus all tried to talk at once.

"SHUT-UP!" screamed Lily.

Everybody turned around and looked at her. "Sorry," she said meekly.

Remus glared at Sirius, Alice, and Frank. "I'll answer the questions. Miss Evans has been accused of being deceptive, misleading James Potter, misconduct, and public humiliation; so Mister Black stated the charges pressed by Mister Potter. By our reports, Mister Black has been telling this to other people."

Alice just about exploded. "Telling? TELLING!" she screamed. "Look at this!" She took out a fist full of flyers from her robes and threw one at Remus, and the rest at the jury. They were the flyers she'd found earlier. "I'm sure you've all seen these. They've been floating around the school in common rooms and dormitories. Sirius Black has convinced people to go out of their way to make things difficult for Lily Evans today. So far she's encountered unwillingness for anyone to sit with her, someone sabotaged her potion and melted her cauldron, and pulled her chair out from under her. She was ignored and treated badly."

Lily bit her lip. She hadn't told Alice about Sirius's little talk with her. Or Remus's.

James turned his head slowly and blinked once. "Is this true, Padfoot?" He said "Padfoot" low enough that no one else heard it.

"Well…she hurt you, James. I couldn't let her do that. I couldn't stand to see you miserable anymore. I just had a little talk with some of the students. That's all. I didn't hex her or anything. Not yet anyway. You don't deserve to be treated the way she treated you."

"I can't believe you did that."

"James, I wasn't going to let her hurt you anymore. I j—"

"What did I tell you? What did I tell you? Huh?" James's voice was taking on an edge.

"Pron—"

Now his voice was dangerous. "I told you that she was off-limits. That no matter how much she tormented me, nobody is allowed to hurt her. You broke the rules. Broken." He stood up and stalked upstairs. Had anybody been in his way, he would have pushed them. Wisely, they backed away when they saw him coming.

After a few dumbfounded seconds, Sirius ran after him.

Pete ran after Sirius, but by the time he reached the stairs, Sirius was back in sight and screaming, "He's gone!"

"Are you sure he's not just hiding from you?" asked Pete.

"No, he's gone. Took his cloak and everything."

Remus, having just jogged over from across the common room, groaned. "Now we'll never find him."

"What makes you say that?" asked Alice, coming over at last.

"When James Potter doesn't want to be found, he can't be found."

"There are only so many places he can hide," she insisted. She pushed her way past the three boys and up the stairs, into the boys' dormitories.

Pete glanced back at Lily. She hadn't moved from her seat. She stared at James's vacated seat. Pete spotted something through the window behind Lily. "Look!" Nobody seemed to hear him. He thumped Remus and Sirius on the shoulders, "I said LOOK!" and ran over to the window where a figure was flying on a broom.

Alice came back down the stairs. "I can't find him anywhere unless he's hiding in one of the other dorms. The window was open. It's raining. You don't think he'd be stupid enough to climb down the castle wall, do you?" she asked Remus. "Then again, it's Potter. He might be that stupid."

Peter had had enough. He went back grabbed Alice and Remus by their sleeves and prodded Sirius with his foot. "James flew out the window. He's outside!" He pointed a finger melodramatically at the flying speck that was James.

Sirius smacked his forehead with the heel of his hand. "Bloody lunatic! He's gonna get himself struck by lightning." He didn't waste anymore time and ran upstairs. Within moments, the crowd now gathered around the window (nobody thought to look out one of the other windows) saw Sirius flying past to try and chase after James.

"Er, I guess we'll leave them to that then. He'll bring him back. I guess we've heard everything we need to hear. If everybody'll sit down again…?" asked Remus.

By now about half of the jury had wandered off. The remaining members sat down and Alice sat back down next to Lily. Frank hadn't moved; Potter and Black were being stupid, again. What else was new? For all he knew, they may have planned it. He sat moodily and watched the window from his seat before turning his attention back to Remus.

Remus cleared his throat. "Now, of the 4 charges listed earlier, who finds Miss Evans guilty? Raise your hand." Remus counted. Peter counted. Frank counted. Alice counted. Lily sat, wondering what exactly was supposed to happen if she was proved guilty. "Now who thinks Miss Evans is innocent? Hands." Again, Remus counted. Again Peter, Alice, and Frank all counted silently. Again Lily said wondering, what would happen if she were declared innocent? "It's a tie. Four of you say guilty, four of you say innocent. Is anyone planning on changing their answer?"

Two people raised their hands. "I want to change my vote to guilty. She was so mean to him that he ran out in the rain so he didn't have to stay here anymore."

"I want to change my vote to innocent. He's over-reacting."

Remus sighed. "Re-vote. Guilty, raise your hands." He counted. "Innocent, the same." Again, it was a tie. "This is getting us nowhere…"

"Wait a second, does this mean we're going to have to continue this for a third night?" asked Alice.

"Well, we didn't seem to get anywhere tonight," Remus said exasperatingly.

"That's not true. We got Sirius to admit that he's been conspiring against Lily Evans. James was obviously displeased. I think he's going to call off all charges and drop the case."

"I don't think so," said Peter.

"Why not?" asked Alice.

"Because, it wasn't his idea in the first place. It was all Sirius," Peter replied.

Frank muttered, "It's always Sirius."

Lily bit her lip as she heard a clap of thunder. James and Sirius were out there, in the rain, because she'd done something stupid. She'd kissed and flirted with James all through Christmas break, and then expected things to be able to go back to normal when everybody came back for term. But she couldn't just admit everything, could she? No…when it came to clothes or looks, she couldn't care less about what other people though. Be as unnoticeable as possible that was pretty much her motto. But James? That was her reputation. She was the good girl. She was Head Girl. She'd been a Prefect. She got top marks. He was a bad boy. He was a troublemaker with the second highest detention record in the school (give you one guess at who held the highest record). He was the Quiditch player who'd somehow beat out Frank and Remus for the Head Boy spot. What would people think if they got together? Would everyone stop trusting Lily's judgment? Her authority? Her senses? Her promises? She'd often said she would rather go out with the giant squid than so much as look at James Potter. There was a flash of lightning and she woke up from her reverie with Frank's hand on her arm. She looked at him and he nodded toward where Alice was arguing with Remus and Peter.

He whispered, "I sent her over because I didn't trust myself not to strangle those two."

She felt a weak smile twitch at her lips.

Alice came back. "We'll resume tomorrow if necessary, just the 7 of us."

"Do you think it will be necessary?" asked Lily.

"I'm not sure," she said, a worry line forming on her forehead. "Remus is sending everybody off to bed now."

"Shouldn't I do that? I'm Head Girl."

"He just figures you've had a rough day."

People doubting her already! She was more than capable of shooing off a few students. She let him round up the boys and send the girls off herself. "Get upstairs. Move it along, it's late. I'm remembering faces; if any of you try to skip class tomorrow because you're too tired, you'll get detention. It's your own fault for staying out here when you should be in bed. Move along. You, you're not a Gryffindor. Name?"

"Stephanie. I'm Ravenclaw. Sixth year."

"Where are you staying? It's too late to be wandering the castle this late at night."

"I'm staying in the Gryffindor fifth year girl's dormitory. Morgan Feylé is my cousin."

"That's right. My name's Morgan. I cleared it with the other girls, and her roommates know where she is," Morgan said, seeing Lily talking to her cousin.

"Alright. Upstairs, the both of you."

Soon only Remus, Peter, Frank, Alice, and Lily were left in the common room.

Frank gave Lily and Alice a hug. "Goodnight, Frankie," smiled Alice, stifling a hug.

"G'night, Frank. Thank you."

"Welcome, girls. I'll see you both at breakfast." He smiled at both of them and waited at the bottom of the boys' staircase.

Peter waved goodbye and went upstairs. Remus cast an uneasy glance at Frank before turning to Lily and Alice. "Alice, is it okay if I have a minute alone with Lily?"

Alice paused before replying. "Fine. Lily, just scream if you need me." After one last glare at Remus, Alice started up the stairs, but stopped just out of sight.

"Look, Lily, I'm sorry about all this. As much as James didn't deserve to be treated the way you treated him, and I know you didn't mean too," he added hurriedly. "You didn't deserve to be treated the way Sirius treated you. I'm sorry." He gave a slight smile. "When it comes to his best friends, Sirius has an almost doglike sense of loyalty. I don't care if you like James, or don't like James, but for everybody's sake, I wish you'd make up your mind. It's not fair to anybody really. Just, please, think about it. It's late now, but in the morning, think about it. Please, Lillers?"

She gave a tiny laugh. "Alright, Re. Soon. I'll make up my mind soon. Maybe you and I can talk tomorrow?"

"Anytime. As long as you tell Frank not to kill me. I think he'd be happier if he just got rid of the whole rest of the dormitory."

"You may be right about that. 'Night."

"G'night." Remus went back to the staircase and went up it, followed by Frank.

Lily wasn't surprised to find Alice waiting on the stairs. "What did he say?" she asked.

"Not much. Don't worry, you don't have to have Frank kill him anytime soon."

"Alright."

As they opened the door and went in, Lily asked, "Alice?" She took out her pajamas and started to put them on.

Alice was doing the same. "Yeah?"

"If they decide I'm innocent, what happens?"

"The BEEQIP will never bother you again. We should have made the deal that his friends wouldn't bother you again either, but I guess it's a little too late for that."

"And if I'm guilty?"

"Then you have to apologize to James, publicly, and tell everyone just what happened over Christmas." Alice climbed into bed. "But you didn't mean to hurt him. Unintentional harm shouldn't count as a crime. Like if a Beater is playing Quidditch and hits the Bludger out of the stadium and it hits somebody walking by, it's not really their fault. It was an accident. They had no idea what would happen. So they aren't really guilty."

Lily went and sat by the window, watching for Sirius and James to come back. She whispered to herself, "But I am guilty."

NEXT CHAPTER:

1. James's point of view (I think).

2. Possibly the last chapter, maybe second or third to last.

3. I don't know what else will be in it, because I haven't started it yet.

Please review! I'll try not to keep you waiting like that again.