This chapter is dedicated to Ghost of Allknowing cuz they finally got me off my lazy bum and i started updating. cuz.... you'll never get this.... THEY REVIEWED.

Madame Pomfrey had released Harry from the Hospital Wing, saying that nothing was wrong with him but a small case of depression. He had, after all, gone through a lot of stress over the past year or so.

So the group were all sitting, doing their homework, with a curious Iliana peering over their shoulders, eager to see what witches and wizards learned in school. James hadn't been seen since he returned from the Hospital Wing. When Ron went looking for him in the dormitory room, he wasn't there, only Dean, Neville and Seamus playing a game of Exploding Snap.

As Ron bounded down the stairs to inform Harry, right on cue, James came crawling through the portrait hole, laughing. No one could see why, but when he turned around to help someone else through the entrance, everyone's jaws dropped.

Being led into the common room was a girl who must have been only a year or two under James. She had long, thick red hair that fell in her face in a manner that painfully reminded Harry of Sirius. The girl was laughing along with James. Harry recognized her to be a fellow Gryffindor in fourth year. He had never paid attention to her, however, and her name was escaping him.

James's attention turned to the rest of the common room, and when he saw Iliana, staring at him from behind Harry's armchair, the laughter was wiped from his face. Seeing her next to his soon-to-be son reminded him of seeing her with himself. He mumbled something to the red-headed girl, who went over to a group of fourth years doing their homework on the other end of the common room, and James strutted casually over to her.

"Iliana," he said, with an irresistible confidence in his voice. "Can … you accompany me to the Library?" She looked worried, but went with him. Once they were out of the portrait entrance, he began talking, and Iliana's fears were confirmed. "Have you ever felt—well, I always was—" He sighed, unable to find the right words. "I saw her, and it was like … like a reminder, you know?"

"A reminder of what?"

"Of Her! Of my Goddess. Of Lily. She's from where I come from. And I saw this girl and it all came back to me, but she—she accepts me. She doesn't reject me."

Even though she had absolutely no idea what James was talking about, Iliana nodded in understanding. "So—so I guess …"

"Yeah," he said. "Look, I'm really sorry," he said, stopping her and turning her to face him. His expression was genuinely apologetic, but there was something in his eyes that told her that he had done this more than once.

She could feel the tears burning inside her. "I have to go," she said, trying to get the words out of her mouth as quickly as possible. She started walking away from him, and once she had turned a corner, she started running.

Running away from something, running towards something, running nowhere in particular, she didn't know. Just running. She hardly noticed it when she ran straight into the suit of armour against the wall she would have hit instead had it not been there. She simply fell over and curled into a fetal position, crying and screaming.

This reaction was unknown to her. She had known that James had been different. That she felt a pang when he wasn't there, but she didn't know that a pang could be so painful. She hated him, but something inside was aching.

And all in a flash, it came rushing back to her.He was starring at her. "The moon," she whispered. "Look at the moon."

He took a small step closer to her and put his hands on either side of her face. "I am looking at the moon. You are my moon. You are breathtaking."

"You're pretending."

James pulled her face towards him and drew her into a strong kiss, his tongue slowly coercing her mouth to open wider. Finally letting her go, he looked down at her. "Was that pretending?"

She looked as if she was about to faint. "Arthur's sword," she murmured. "That's the best pretending I've ever felt."

He kissed her again, her arms wrapped around his lanky middle.

That moment.

That moment was all that mattered, but now James was gone, and the moment was just as good as an old memory, discarded at the back of her head along with her kindergarten teacher and her old fish, Jacob.

James was feeling rather good about himself. He walked down the hall with an extra bounce in his step. He wasn't near the other Marauders, but he was near a girl who looked just like Lily, and she was dating him.

And he knew, to top it all off, that he went back to his own time in the end.

Nothing could get him down.

Back in the common room, he met up with the Lily look-alike and took her off on a tour of the castle – maybe the Room of Requirement he, Sirius, Remus and Peter had just discovered the year before – unaware that Harry, Ron and Hermione were watching his back, curiously as he left.

Seeing them together, Harry suddenly realized why James was drawn to her. The fourth year Gryffindor girl looked nearly exactly like Lily Evans, Harry's mother. And that was wrong. James loved Lily, but what if he fell in love with this… this other girl? He could already start to feel his skin prickle, as if he was disappearing, as if history was already rewriting itself.

Turning back to Ron and Hermione, he said, "What happened to the Muggle girl?"

"Dunno," said Ron, turning back to his homework, uninterested. "Probably got murdered by Malfoy or something."

"Ron, we just saw her. She's still alive and still in Hogwarts," said Hermione, looking something up in her Arithmancy textbook.

"Harry," said Ron, watching his best friend stare avidly into the dying flames of the Gryffindor common room. "Harry, are you alright?"

"I can't let him date her."

Hermione looked up. "She's just a date. Nothing happened between you and Cho … that was just a date."

Harry's head snapped in Hermione's direction. "Hermione, that has nothing to do with it. I—I need to stop him…" he finished resolutely. Dumping the homework he had been working on onto the table between their three armchairs, Harry got up and crawled out of the portrait hole.

He had to find Iliana.

ok.......... crappy crappy crappy crappy chapter. i know. i had to write something. im suffering from a block and all ive been able to pop out lately are one shots. not my fault.

ok, a little my fault.

ok, so it's my fault. but thats not fair cuz YOURE NOT REVIEWING.

ahem.

review.

thank you