After James's talk with Remus, Remus seemed to relax. Everyone noticed it, especially Lily. James was happy for Remus but guilt was clouding him. He was thinking of one of his best friends in a way he didn't think he should have. Seeing Lily with any guy made him want to hit them. Not exactly sure why he thought like that, James would push the feeling to the back of his head and then find his girlfriend, Elle.

The first Quidditch match of the season was about to be played. It was Gryffindor versus Slytherin. Many people going to the stands watched in amazement as Lily and Lucius gave each other a hug and wish the other good luck. Lucius was even able to place a kiss on Lily's cheek before departing for his changing rooms.

'This is going to be one interesting match,' Lily thought to herself as she started pulling her Quidditch robes on.

Lily sat on a bench and waited for the others so Luke Mio could give his pep talk. James sat down behind her. "You all right?" he asked as he put a hand on her shoulder and squeezed. "Wow! You're tense!"

Lily laughed. "Well, let's think, James. I'm in a Quidditch match against my—" Lily stopped. What was Lucius to her? "My kind-of boyfriend?"

James snickered and began massaging her shoulders. "You need to relax, Lils. Don't worry about him. His team will save his arse. You just worry about scoring points with me and whichever Harris twin is playing."

"It's Angela today."

"Right. So you just worry about scoring points with Angela and me."

Lily nodded. "Right. You know, you're good at this." She pointed to her shoulders. James just laughed.

Lily looked around the locker room. Rini and Angelo Harris were talking. Sirius was talking to his fellow beater, Eric Sionne. Angela and Luke were talking. Lily sighed. "Just relax, Lils," James said. 'We'll do a great job."

Lily nodded fervently. "All right. We can do this." She turned around. "But what about—"

"No buts, Lily." James turned Lily back around. "Just focus on the game and nothing else." Lily nodded again and James smiled as he felt the muscles in her shoulders relax. "Good girl," he said sarcastically.

Lily elbowed him in the stomach just as Luke called for everyone's attention. Lily didn't hear a word of his speech as she mentally prepared herself for the match. She came back to reality as she felt James stand up behind her. Picking up her broom, Lily walked onto the pitch with the others.

Lily watched as Luke and Lucius shook hands. She also saw Lucius glance at her. Scolding herself, she mounted her broom. Madam Hooch blew her whistle and fifteen brooms rose into the air.

Once Lily was in the air she looked around and saw that Angela had the quaffle. Angela passed the quaffle to James. Lily knew what was to come next. She flew around and watched as the ball was passed back to Angela and then to her. She quickly flew to the goals and scored.

The game had been going for about ten minutes with no sign of the snitch when a bludger came flying at her and nearly hit her head. Instead it hit her shoulder and she almost fell off her broom. James flew to her, helped her get settled back on her broom and made sure she was okay. She nodded when James asked if she'd be able to fly and hold the quaffle and saw Lucius berating the beater who had sent the bludger at her. Lily smiled in spite of herself and thought, 'Maybe he has as much heart as the rest of us.'

Getting her mind back on the game, Lily stole the quaffle from Lucius and tossed it to Angela. They tossed it back and forth, making their way toward the goals. It appeared that Lily was about to throw the quaffle through the middle hoop when she threw it to James, who scored in the hoop on the left. Lily and Angela gave each other high-fives as the started back towards the other side of the pitch.

The score was 70-90 Slytherin when everyone saw Rini and the Slytherin seeker dive. They both reached and then came out of the dive; Rini was holding up the snitch. Except the Slytherins, the entire pitch was cheering. The entire Gryffindor Quidditch team was surrounding Rini and giving her hugs.

The Slytherin team landed and scowled at the Gryffindors. It was the second year in a row that they had been beaten by them. Lily laughed and pointed this out to her teammates who proceeded to laugh with her.

The entire Gryffindor House was walking back into the castle to go and have a party in the Common Room. Someone grabbed Lily by her elbow and pulled her out of the crowd.

Sirius, who had been walking beside her, noticed and followed her. When he cleared the crowd he saw Lily talking to Lucius. Lily was looking down and Lucius was looking unhappy. "Everything all right, Lils?" he called.

Lily looked up and smiled. "Everything's fine, Sirius." She saw his unbelieving look and said, "Really! Everything is fine. You go on up and start the party without me. I'll be up shortly."

Sirius still wasn't satisfied, so he nodded and then hid around the first bush he came to. He watched as Lily and Lucius started talking.

"You aren't angry at me, are you, Lucius?" Lily said looking up to meet his gaze.

Lucius smiled. "No, I'm not angry at you or with you. It's just a game and you did everything you had to win. Just as I did."

Lily smiled. "So you're okay with the fact that I stole the quaffle from you a few times?"

Lucius laughed. "Ah, but I let you steal the quaffle from me."

"Let me! You didn't let me do anything!" she said and hit him playfully.

"Is that so?" he said as he turned her around so he could tickle her stomach. Lily let out a shriek of laughter as Lucius continued to tickle her.

Sirius was about to hex Lucius before he realized that Lily was laughing, not shrieking in fear or pain. He growled in spite of himself. The thought of Lucius tickling Lily was not one he liked.

Lily was leaning back against Lucius so she didn't fall to the ground. "Okay, okay! You win! You let me steal the ball!" she cried. "You win, now stop! I give!"

Lucius stopped tickling her and wrapped his arms around her stomach. "I knew you'd see it my way," he said. Leaning his head down beside hers he whispered, "You're beautiful, you know," in her ear. Taking a chance, he kissed her neck. Lily tensed immediately and stepped away from him and turned around.

"I like you, Lucius. I really do. It's just that I still don't completely trust you. With our history and how much you hate my friends…" Lily's voice trailed off and she looked down.

Lucius put his hand on her cheek and brought her eyes back up to meet his. "I understand." He kissed her forehead. "I'll wait for you to trust me completely." He smiled suddenly. "Only an imbecile would not do everything right with you."

Lily gave a small smile. "Thank you," she said softly. "I really should be heading to the party now. They'll start to worry where I am. Good night, Lucius." Lily turned and started walking to the castle.

"Good night, Lily," Lucius said quietly as he watched her walk into the castle. His gaze was taken off the front of the castle doors when he heard a rustling in a nearby shrub. He looked toward it and saw Sirius step out from behind it. "Do you resort to spying on your friends, now, Black?" he called.

"No," Sirius replied. "Just the people who are trying to use them and have nasty plans for them such as yourself, Malfoy."

"Don't worry about Lily," Lucius answered with a smirk. "She's in good hands."

"She'll be in good hands when she's dating someone I don't have a reason to hate or mistrust." Sirius started walking up toward the castle and went in. Lucius waited a few minutes before he, too, went to the castle.

Lily tried as discreetly as possible to avoid Lucius over the next month. She once again immersed herself in her schoolwork and the animagi potion. She could constantly be found in the library or not be found at all.

Remus was worried for her but tried to hide it by going out with a friend of James's girlfriend named Margo. James, Elle, Remus, and Margo would hang out together during the Hogsmeade trips and the four would sneak there under James's invisibility cloak.

It was very close to Christmas holidays when Lily saw Remus and Margo kissing out by the lake. Tears came unbidden to her eyes and she ran to her dorm and cried. Her efforts to hurt Remus were failing and the only way she knew to truly hurt Remus was if he caught her snogging Lucius. Was she really ready to take it that far? She did like the Lucius she had gotten to know since Halloween, but was that really Lucius or just a façade? Her crying session was interrupted when her door opened and out of the corner of her eye she saw James come in.

"Lily, I wanted to talk to you about the animagi potion." James looked at her lying on her bed in a ball. "Lily? Are you all right?"

Lily looked up at him with a tearstained face. "No," she said quietly. "I'm not all right."

James sat down on her bed and pulled her into a hug. "Lily, darling, what's wrong?"

"I…I saw Remus…and that-that Ravenclaw bimbo down by the lake!" she said into James shirt.

"Oh," James said. "I see. So you can play games with him by going out with Lucius but when he plays the game back it's a horrible thing."

Lily looked up at James. "James, I am merely trying to show Remus that he should trust me like Lucius does. You know that. Anyway, how does he know I'm supposedly playing some game unless someone told him?" Lily looked into James eyes and saw guilt written in them. "You!" she shouted. "You told him, you traitor!" Lily started hitting James as hard as he could. "I trusted you and you told him!"

Lily's emotions got the best of her. She used her powers to throw herself away from James and lay on the floor crying. She pointed her hand toward the window and energy shot out into the sunny sky. Outside, clouds became dark and hid the sun. Thunder and lightning could be seen and heard and rain started to pour down.

James carefully slid off Lily's bed and knelt beside her. He placed a hand on her shoulder and nothing happened. Seeing this as a good sign, he picked her up and laid her on her bed. "This is your fault," she said to him with hatred. "I love Remus. I just wanted him to stop being so…confining. I just wanted him to stop crowding me."

"I'm sorry, Lily. I just couldn't see Remus suffer so terribly. He's my friend too, just like you are. I can't just be your friend just because you two broke up. I've known him longer and it isn't fair for you to make me choose between you two. I love you both, fully and equally."

Lily nodded. James got up to leave when Lily grabbed his wrist and with her mind told him to stay. He sat back down and held Lily as she cried herself to sleep.

Remus and Margo had been outside when Margo pointed towards something in the sky. Remus looked where it was coming from and saw that it came from the Gryffindor tower. When it started to rain, he was positive he knew who had done it. "Lily!" he cried and started running toward the castle with Margo on his heels.

"Remus!" she called. "What about Evans? What has she anything to do with that thing we saw?"

Remus ignored her and raced up the front stairs of the castle and then up the stairs to the Gryffindor tower. He ran in and up the stairs to the girls' dormitory. He reached the third year girls' dorm and opened the door. What met his eyes was not what he had expected.

James was sitting on Lily's bed with her head in his lap. He had his arms around her shoulders while she had hers around his waist. Her face appeared to be tearstained. "What happened?" he asked.

James put a finger to his lips, motioning for Remus to be quiet. Then James un-wrapped Lily's arms from his waist and set her head on her pillow. "Remus," Lily said in her sleep. "Is that you? Where are you?"

"I'm right here, Little Flower. Go back to sleep," Remus answered her. Then he and James went over to the corner of her dorm. "What happened here, James?"

James sighed. "She saw you. Kissing Margo, I might add. She became upset because she still loves you and she thought you still loved her. What were you thinking letting her see you!"

Remus's look became panicked. "She saw me?" he choked out. James nodded. "Oh, God! Oh, God! I never meant for her to see me kissing another girl!" Remus sank to the floor with his hands in his hair.

Both boys looked towards Lily as she began to mumble again. At first it was incomprehensible, then clear as day. "James, he hates me, doesn't he. I've lost him forever." Then her words became jumbled again until she was silent once more.

James looked back at Remus. "I think she's going to do something she'll regret either tomorrow or sometime soon. She's angry with me for telling you why she's with Lucius and furious with you for kissing Margo and playing her game."

Remus returned James's gaze with concern. "What do you think she'll do?" James looked as if he was kicking himself mentally for saying too much. "James Potter, you better tell me what the hell you know or I promise you, you will be sorry," he said in a voice like death.

"All right!" James said forcefully. Then his voice softened. "All right. Lily has been avoiding Lucius since the Quidditch match against Slytherin. Sirius told me that Lily stayed behind to talk to Lucius and Sirius had hid behind a shrub to keep an eye on the stupid prat. Lucius talked to Lily and then tickled her. When he stopped tickling her he did something to put her on her guard. Ever since she has either been in classes, the library, with at least Rini, or no where to be found. Now, with you being the idiot that you are, you probably just drove her back into the arms of the enemy! Literally, I might add!"

"That still doesn't tell me what you think she's going to do!"

"Remember that night you saw Lucius kiss Lily and then she and I came laughing into the Common Room?"

"Yeah. What about it?"

"Well, remember how I told you she didn't snog him? That is was just a kiss on the lips, nothing more." Remus nodded. "Well, if she doesn't feel as if you love her, or if she feels you're playing her game, the one thing she hasn't done besides sleeping with him would be?"

"God, no," Remus said. "You honestly believe she would let him snog her?" James nodded. "You truly believe she would let him stick his slimy tongue down her delicate throat!" James nodded again. "I've got to do something to stop her!"

"Remus, what can you do! Lily is upset and confused. She thought you loved her and then she sees you snogging some other girl. To her, what you are doing is worse than what she's doing. No matter that they are the same. I wish you two would stop playing these games!"

"I've got to tell her tomorrow," Remus said. "I've got to tell her it was all a game. That I truly do love her."

"You aren't listening!" James wasn't able to continue as their attention was drawn back to Lily, who was talking in her sleep again.

"Daddy? Daddy, don't leave me, too, Daddy! If you leave I'll have no one. Daddy, please!" Lily was talking as if she were crying as well. James and Remus each went to one side of her bed and saw she actually did have tears in her eyes. "Gone," Lily said with agony. "All gone! Remus, James, and Daddy: all gone. Rini, Sirius, and Mama: all gone, too. Nobody left who loves me."

Remus couldn't believe what Lily was dreaming and saying those things. "Lily, I'm still here and I love you," he said in hopes of altering her dream.

Lily's eyes were moving beneath her eyelids as she search for the speaker in her dream. "Who's there?" Lily fell silent, as did both boys, who were waiting to see who the speaker in Lily's dream was.

Lily gasped in her sleep. "Lucius! You seriously love me?" Lily fell silent as she waited for the dream Lucius's response. James took the opportunity to glance at Remus, who looked ready to commit murder.

Finally, Lily spoke one last time. "I believe you, Lucius. I trust you with all my heart." She said it in barely more than a whisper but the words echoed in James and Remus's heads, getting louder each time. Then Lily hugged her pillow.

Both boys decided it was time to leave. They headed for their dorm and spent half the night trying to get Lily's words out of their heads to fall asleep.

The next day, Lily woke up without a memory of the dream. She got up, showered, and dressed. Then she went down to the Common Room to find Remus in his chair. "Good morning," she said stiffly.

Remus couldn't bring himself to look at her. "Morning," he said quietly. "You sleep well? Any dreams or nightmares?"

"The only nightmare I remember is seeing you by the lake last night. Then again, that really happened so I guess I didn't dream at all last night," she said sharply as she left the Common Room and headed for the owlry.

Remus gave a half-hearted smile. "She doesn't remember the dream."

During breakfast, Lily's owl, Emrys, flew in and over to Lucius. He recognized it as Lily's but didn't know its name. "Hello, sweetheart," he said warmly to her and took the letter from her leg.

Severus looked over at him with a disgusted look. "You've gone soft!"

"I have not, Severus!" Lucius snapped. He opened the letter and read:

Dearest Lucius,

I'm terribly sorry about being fairly unreachable over the last several weeks. I would greatly appreciate it if you could meet me on the western side of the lake at 8 o'clock tonight. Please send a reply back with Emrys.

With Love,

Lily

Lucius smiled. He quickly got out a quill and inkpot and wrote his reply. He gave the letter to Emrys who flew off, circled, and then flew down to Lily. She read the reply and then smiled brightly at Lucius.

Severus leaned over toward Lucius. "You better not let any emotions get in the way of the plan, Lucius. What would your father say if he knew you actually had feelings for that little mudblood? No matter how good looking she is it's disgraceful!" Lucius just scowled at him.

A little further down the Gryffindor table, Remus had also received a letter from a school owl. His read Meet me on the right side of the lake at 8:15 tonight. The note wasn't signed. The hand was slightly familiar but not recognizable. "Hey guys, look at this." He showed them the note.

"That sort of looks like Lily's writing," Sirius said off-handedly.

James looked at it closely. "No, that's not Lily's hand. Slightly similar, but not hers."

Remus looked down towards Lily. She was talked to Rini but kept glancing across the Hall towards the Slytherin table. "I doubt it was her," he said with a sigh. "She's too caught in Malfoy's trap."

Lily was telling Rini about the night before and how she was meeting Lucius later that night.

"Are you sure that's the best idea, Lily. I mean, we all know how manipulative he is."

"People change. He's not the same. I mean, has he been one of the ones who have been bothering you and the boys? No! It's been Snape, Crabbe, and Goyle. So, just leave Lucius alone!"

Lily stood up and walked over to the boys. Leaning down she hugged James and kissed his cheek. "Thanks," she said. James smiled at her.

"Hi, Lily," Remus said timidly.

Lily glared at him. She curtly nodded, said, "Lupin," very stiffly, and stalked out of the Great Hall.

Sirius looked at the very depressed Remus and then James. "What was that all about?"

James looked at him and mouthed 'Later.'

Lily sat in the roots of a tree on the western side of the lake. She glanced at her watch. It read 8:04. Where was Lucius? Remus would be here in about ten minutes.

She was pretty pleased with her plan of revenge. First she would meet with Lucius and then Remus would come to meet the person who wrote him a note and instead see her and Lucius. She had written Remus's note with her left hand so it would be familiar but not distinguishable as her hand.

Lily heard footsteps approaching and stood up. She turned around and was face-to-face with Lucius Malfoy. Lily smiled, glad he got there before Remus. "I'm sorry," Lily said as she gave him a hug.

Lucius hugged Lily tightly against him. "For what?"

"For disappearing like I did. For watching you and everyone like a human shadow. For being slightly paranoid."

Lucius chuckled and smiled, hugging her tighter. "It's okay. Everyone gets a little crazy once in a while. I know I have."

Lily giggles. She looked down at her watch. Remus should appear at any moment. As if right on cue, she heard some grass rustling. Seeing no one, she figured he was wearing James's invisibility cloak. Perfect.

Lily looked up at Lucius. "I have been thinking and watching. Well, mostly watching. I trust you, Lucius. Truly and completely trust you."

"I've waited to hear you say that for weeks now," Lucius said with a smile that could put the sun to shame.

About five feet away, Remus was watching under James's cloak. If fact, so were James and Sirius. They watched in horror as Lucius lowered his lips to Lily neck and she giggled.

Lily knew Remus was still watching because she hadn't heard him leave. The thought of him watching her made Lily a bit giddy because she knew he was probably horrified at seeing her being kissed so sensually when he wasn't the one kissing her just as she had been upset seeing him kiss that girl. The thought made Lily giggle.

Lily knew Lucius wanted to snog her. She'd known it from the first time he'd tried. She had had a few snogging sessions with Remus over the course of their relationship, so it wasn't like it was a new thing to her. Lily lifted Lucius's lips from her neck and to her lips where he met her with a searing kiss.

It was more forceful then anything Lily had ever experienced Remus. It was almost painful. She moved back toward the tree with her hand behind her, feeling for the tree's trunk. Lily started wishing that Remus would take off the cloak and stop Lucius. She wished James would happen to come by and pull Lucius off her. That Sirius would send a hex at Lucius and stop him. But none of the wishes came true. Her hand touched the bark of the tree but Lucius kept pushing her back. She hit the tree, banging her head and breaking the kiss with a loud, "Owe!"

"Are you okay?" Lucius's voice was pure concern.

"I hit my head on the tree. You were kissing too forcefully."

"I'm sorry, Lily. I've just really wanted to kiss you like that for a long time now. I guess I didn't realize how forceful I was being."

Lily nodded. "Well, I have denied you the privilege for months now. I just wasn't expecting it to be so rough. Don't take offense but it's usually gentle."

"I'm sorry. I promise I'll be more gentle next time."

'If there is a next time,' Lily thought. "Thanks." she said out loud as she glanced at her watch. "Good gracious! We should be heading in. Plus, I have a slight chill."

The boys under the cloak heard this and almost panicked as they tried to get back to the castle as quickly and quietly as possible. When they were in the castle, James stuffed the cloak under his robes and they ran as quickly as possible to the Common Room.

"Snitch! Snitch!" James said, coming up the Fat Lady.

"Slow down!" she scolded as she swung open.

They clambered through. "Were have you three been?" Rini asked, taking a look at them.

Sirius tried to tell her. "Remus…got note…went with…saw Lily…let Malfoy…snog her…" Sirius flopped on the couch beside her, still trying to catch his breath.

"Okay, first sit down, calm down, and catch your breaths." She waited for them to catch their breath. "Now, what happened?"

James took a deep breath. "I guess I'll tell since I know everything about it. You know how Lily is playing that game with Remus and Lucius?" Rini nodded. "Well, Remus decided to play it, too. Lily saw him kissing Elle's friend, Margo."

Rini looked at Remus with shock. "Oh, please tell my you didn't, Reme." Remus looked up at her and his eyes confirmed what James had said. "Let me guess. It happened last night and she got so upset the sky cried with her as well."

"You could say it like that," James said slowly. "During breakfast today Remus got a note. It told him to meet someone on the right side of the lake. We all went under the cloak, just in case. When we got there we saw and heard Lily tell Malfoy she trusted him. Then she let him kiss her neck and snog her! I might add it was so forceful he pushed her head into the tree behind them."

"Are you serious? Ewe!" Rini snuggled closer to Sirius who in turn put his arm around her. "I'm glad I've got you."

They sat in silence for a few minutes before a very upset looking Lily entered the Common Room. Remus glared up at her but his expression softened when he saw how upset she was.