A/N: Wow, seriously, wow, thanks so much for all the amazing reviews!!! I feel so loved Well, I should seriously be working on other stuff . . . but this story's fun to write and I got a bit carried away, I know it's short . . . but what with play practice 'till 6 every night and play performances the past 3 nights, it's the best I could do. I hope you like it!
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"Look, I know you think she's harmless, but don't you think the fact that she's your friend may make you slightly biased?" James paced back and forth in front of his friends, still seething in anger.
Maren, Lily, and Remus had all sunk to the floor and were now sitting with their backs to a wall, watching amusedly as James rapidly paced.
"Don't you think the fact that Sirius is your friend is making you biased?" Maren rolled her eyes to Remus and Lily spoke back to James.
"Lily!" James stared at her in disbelief, "Kelly hurt Sirius!" He threw his hands up in exasperation as she continued to glare at him.
Maren nudged Remus softly in the ribs and nodded towards the raging couple. Remus heaved a heavy sigh and was just about to intervene when a hysterical Kelly burst forth from Sirius' curtains. Her eyes were rimmed red and swollen, her lips quivering, and silver tears were streaming down her rosy cheeks. The four friends watched in captivation as she fled past them.
Lily lifted her eyes from the floor only to resume her glaring at James. "Yeah, Kelly may have hurt Sirius, but it looks as if he may have returned the favor." Placing her hands firmly on the floor beside her, Lily pushed herself to her feet, and without a second glance behind her she followed Kelly out of the hospital wing, leaving James gaping after her.
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Lily followed the sound of pounding footsteps down the hall, her own echoing after her. She continued to run until she heard the sound begin to subside. Instead, muffled sobs dimly filled the corridor ahead of her.
Taking a right at a picture of a particularly narcissistic wizard gazing lovingly into a mirror, Lily slowed her steps and cautiously approached a mass bundle of blue robes, golden strands of hair protruding from the top. "Kelly?"
When no response came save for a mournful wail, Lily sat down beside the girl and gingerly paced her arm around her quaking shoulders. "Shh, Kelly, it's going to be okay."
"No . . . i-it's not, L-lil, nothing's going to be okay, Sirius h-hates me!" Kelly broke into a fresh wave of tormented sobs.
"I'm sure he doesn't hate you," she murmured soothingly, stroking Kelly's tangled hair.
"But he does! You didn't see the way he looked at me, Lily! You don't look at someone like that unless you absolutely loathe them!"
For once, Lily was at a loss for words. She'd never been on the receiving end of Sirius' anger, but she'd been around him long enough to know it was a feat that she didn't wish upon anyone; least of all Kelly. Unable to find words powerful enough to bring an end to Kelly's suffering, instead, she merely sat with her arms around her friend, rocking her back and forth as Kelly cried inconsolably into Lily's shoulder.
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"Sorry, Professor McGonagall," heads turned as Lily slipped into class half an hour late, handing a creased note to McGonagall. The stern professor scanned the note then gave a curt nod to an empty seat in front of Peter. Giving a slight bow of thanks, Lily sank into the empty seat, determinedly avoiding eye contact with any of her friends.
Taking out a worn quill and piece of parchment, Lily had just begun to take notes when a crumpled ball of paper hit her square on the head and bounced onto her desk. Taking a swift glance at McGonagall, Lily deftly unfolded the wad and smoothed it across her notes.
Where the hell have you been? –
"Real classy, James," she muttered disgustedly beneath her breath, crumpling the paper into a ball once more. Glancing again at McGonagall, Lily waited for the witch to turn back to the blackboard before throwing the ball smoothly into the rubbish bin beside the door. Hearing the soft thud of paper hitting the bottom of an empty bin, McGonagall looked curiously at Lily, who smiled innocently and bent her head over her notes, scratching her quill furiously against the paper. She had already missed class because of the marauders; she didn't need to get into any more trouble, and passing notes in McGonagall's class was a sure way of spending the evening in detention. Heaving a heavy sigh, she carefully began to print the instructions McGonagall had left on the board, oblivious to the murderous stares she was receiving from her friends.
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Half an hour later, Lily looked up from her notes, satisfied with her effort as a bell chimed throughout the castle, signaling the end of classes.
"I want 12 inches of parchment on the properties of human transfiguration for homework. You may go. Miss Evans," McGonagall added as kids swarmed around the door, each one eagerly headed off to lunch, "a word?"
James slipped out with the rest of the class, but hung back in the hallway as he watched Lily talk with McGonagall, no doubt about why she'd missed the beginning of class. Where was she? He asked himself once more. The question, along with thousands of implausible alibis had been running through his mind throughout the whole Transfiguration class. In all the years he'd known Lily, she'd never missed a single class unless she was absolutely bedridden. If she'd had a cold bad enough to excuse most students from class, she'd find a way to be there. What was so important that she'd missed half of Transfiguration?
James was so caught up in his own thoughts he barely noticed Lily brush by him on her way to lunch. Quickly snapping from his thoughts, he grasped Lily's wrist pulling her back with him. "Hey, where were you during class?"
"Oh, no where in particular," her airy tone became malevolent, "just picking up the broken pieces of Kelly that your friend left behind."
"I told you we shouldn't have let her see him," he retorted lightly.
Lily whirled around, eyes flashing dangerously, "What did you say?" she hissed, causing James to take a startled step backwards.
"I, uh, I didn't mean-"
"Don't you dare, for one minute, try to blame me, Potter," she jabbed him sharply in the stomach with her index finger, punctuating each syllable. "Sirius has broken countless hearts, one girl returns the favor and he crushes her without so much as receiving a guilty conscience. Is that what all Marauders are like, Potter?" Tears shimmered in the corners of her eyes, but she refused to let her composure fall, "If so, then I don't want any part of this."
James sank to the ground, burying his face in is hands in frustration as Lily tore away from him once more. "Potter," he spit the word out disgustedly, his heart breaking as the word echoed down the hall, mocking him in his misfortune.
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A/N: I've got the next chapter started, I swear! I was going to put the next part up with this, seeing as how this chapter is incredibly short . . . but I kind of like ending it the way it is. Besides, I've updated this story three chapters in a row without so much as a thought to "The Boy Next Door," I really should start dividing my time evenly . . .
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