A/N: You guys rock- 1 million hugs and a thousand "thank you"s to everyone who has reviewed!!! It's been awhile since the last chapter, but this time I really do have good excuse! I was in Thailand fixing up orphanages for children with AIDS. Props to anyone who has it in them to sponsor a child! Seriously, all you have to do is set aside $25 or so a month (possibly $10 depending on the orphanage) and a child will have the medication and care they need for a year. But I'm not here to advertise . . . on with the story!
With each new day following Sirius' recovery, tension filled the Gryffindor common room, and by the end of the week there was not a single Hogwarts' student who didn't know about the Head Boy and Girl's supposed breakup. Even the teachers seemed in on the secret; they went out of their way to prevent pairing the two up and continuously throw pitying looks in their direction when this couldn't be avoided. Professor McGonagall had even gone as far as to tell Lily to feel free to drop by her office if she ever felt the need to talk.
"I know that facing these types of hardships is very hard on a girl's self-esteem," McGonagall murmured sympathetically, her eyes misting over, "however, I urge you not to let this affect your studies. You're a brilliant girl, Miss Evans; don't let it all go to waste over some boy."
Red-faced, Lily quickly muttered her thanks and bolted from the room in embarrassment. It was bad enough having girls her own age pity her, but it was mortifying to see McGonagall doing the same. Hurrying down the hall, Lily passed numerous groups of girls whispering amongst themselves, all of which came to an abrupt stop when she approached and built into a crescendo of excitement one she'd left. As she turned the corner into the Great Hall, Lily cursed inwardly. Maren, who had left her to fend McGonagall herself, was sitting between Remus and Sirius, leaning across the table to talk with James. Catching Lily's eye, Maren waved, motioning to the empty seat beside James, who looked up blankly as Maren spoke to him. Before he could catch sight of her, Lily ducked into a swarm of Ravenclaws and veered to the other end of the table, taking a seat with Andromeda and Dorcas.
"I can't say much to defend Sirius. Much as I love him, Kelly was much too sweet a girl to be treated like that. But I'm not quite sure I don't' feel obligated to defend James. True, he is a bit conceited, but he's usually quite sweet." Andromeda was saying as she took a sip of pumpkin juice.
"Not that Andy's not completely biased in her opinion, though, I remember one summer when she seemed awfully smitten with her cousin's best friend." Dorcas teased.
"Dori, I was eleven, okay? Hardly old enough to know what I wanted in a guy. Not that James isn't great," she added hastily, "but I want someone different. I know it sounds weird," she smiled shyly, "especially with all the good magic can do, but I'd really like a man who can cook."
"Bet you 10 galleons she marries a Muggle." Dorcas nodded solemnly.
"Oh, stuff it," Andy grumbled, throwing a piece of bread at Dorcas who stuck out her tongue in retort. Lily laughed in spite of herself, wondering why she'd never spent this much time with them before.
Suddenly, Lily felt a creeping chill down her spine, as though someone was watching her. On impulse she scanned the hall for James, expecting to find his gaze lingering on her. But he was staring sullenly at his food, pushing it around with his fork but not actually eating anything. The hairs on the nape of her neck prickled, and though she was surrounded by people she suddenly felt alone. Muttering excuses to the two girls, Lily hastily sped from the hall, unable to quell the fear building inside her.
"James, look who it is," Maren whispered, leaning across the table.
He looked up just in time to see Lily swallowed by a swarming crowd and carried to Andromeda Black. Maren gave him an apologetic smile and sank back into Remus' arms as Lily sank into the empty seat across from Dorcas Meadowes. Giving Maren a weak smile in return, James turned sullenly back to his food which he was absentmindedly playing with. I'm not all that hungry. He realized as he stared at the blend of colors on his plate; he hadn't been in quite some time. Each time he even thought of eating his stomach would churn unpleasantly.
He'd never felt this way before, his friends in secondary school had nicknamed him the "human disposal" and had often made comments about how his stomach largely resembled a bottomless pit. But ever since his row with Lily, all food that touched his tongue tasted like chalk. Instead of food, he found himself craving the creamy touch of Lily's skin, the sweet scent of her silken hair, the soothing thrill of her lips on his . . .
Felling eyes on him, James quickly looked up. His own eyes alert, he found his hazel eyes locked with Lily's emerald ones. She looked like a dear caught in a headlight; eyes wide and startled. And as she shoved through the mass of kids in the hall, James saw something else in her eyes, something that sent chills down his spine; fear.
"We've got to do something about this," Sirius muttered as he watched James sulkily trudge back up to his dorm.
"Don't go there, Sirius," Remus warned, his head bent over a chess board, examining Peter's last move.
"I can't 'not go there,' mate, it's my fault James is in this mess . . . well, partly my fault, I think the fact that his girlfriend is a psychotic lunatic may have something to do with it . . ." he paused, considering, then shook his head as if to clear his thoughts. "Anyways, I owe it to him to fix this mess."
"Sirius," Maren looked up from her transfiguration essay, "don't you think you've done enough damage already?"
"No offense, Goldberg, but I never much liked you or your opinions anyway," he smirked as Maren started at him, looking somewhat amused, "Secondly, didn't you have to interfere to get the two together in the first place?"
"That was different," she replied shortly.
"I don't see how," Sirius smirked, "You got them together and I'm just trying to keep them that way."
"What if they don't want to be together?" Peter squeaked, nervously wringing his hands.
Sirius rolled his eyes, "It's obvious that they do. James is moping like a wounded dog that's been kicked and told to go away, and Lily's guiltily avoiding him because she doesn't want to admit to herself that she's made a mistake."
Maren glared venomously at Sirius. She knew he was right, knew he was right about Lily. She had too much pride to admit to being wrong and James, though wounded, had too much pride to grovel and beg for Lily back. "Say for a moment that you're right," Maren voiced her concerns aloud, making sure to clarify the issue of their friends' exaggerated pride. "There's no way we can possibly get them back together, neither one is going to crack."
"I hate to say it, Padfoot, but I think Mari's right. This is a problem they're going to have to work out on their own." Remus leaned back in his armchair, his face lined in regret.
Sirius shook his head in disbelief, "You guys are forgetting that there has never been a problem the Marauders couldn't solve."
"But we're minus one Marauder." Peter pointed out skeptically.
"And that one Marauder needs our help." Sirius stated defiantly. "James has always been there for us. When I was disowned James was the first to offer me a place to stay; he never treated me like less than family. Peter, when you were failing Potions James immediately offered to tutor you even though he barely had time for himself between homework and Quidditch practices. He never once made you feel inferior, did he?"
Peter shook his head, at a loss for words as Sirius bounded on to Remus. "Remus, James was the one who suggested the . . . erm, experiment when you . . . uh, got . . . sick . . ." he trailed off, glancing nervously at Maren.
But Maren, apparently, was unimpressed and had stopped listening long ago. "That's very touching, Black, but what's the point?"
"The point, Goldberg, is that James is always there for us, and its about time we returned the favor!"
Remus was smiling now, the gears rapidly churning in his mind, "I think you may be on to something for once, Padfoot."
"You can't be serious!" Maren shrieked, staring disbelievingly at her boyfriend.
"I'm always onto something, Moony," Sirius chose to ignore Maren's outbreak. "I just choose not to let you on. I'd hate for you to think I was the brains and beauty of our group."
Remus rolled his eyes and affectionately rumpled Sirius' hair. "So, where do we begin?"
"You are serious," Maren shook her head. Gathering up her belongings, she threw a disgusted look in the boys' direction. "I want nothing to do with this, understand? When Lily blows up at you three she will in no way be able to trace this psychotic plan got to me, got it?"
The boys waved their hands dismissively and Maren grumpily stormed up to the girls' dorm, muttering under her breath all the while.
"Moony," Sirius shook his head as Maren slammed the door, eliciting many curious stares from other students. "You may be the brains of the group, but I can't say much for your taste in girls."
"Aw, you're just jealous because you've never managed to keep a girlfriend for more than a week . . . and you've never had the guts to date a temperamental redhead before."
"Yeah, I'm insanely jealous," Sirius muttered, rolling his eyes at the lovesick fool. "But Maren's not the redhead we're meant to be focusing on." Inclining his head towards Peter and Remus, Sirius began to unfold his plan.
He watched as the redhead tore from the hall, eyes brimming in fear. He'd been watching Lily Evans for some time now, observing her every move until he was sure she was no longer associating with Potter. She was vulnerable now, without Potter there to protect her. Earlier in the year she would have been strong, not susceptible to pressure, proud to walk the halls alone without a trace of fear on her face; but time with Potter had made her weak. She'd grown too accustomed to the guaranteed security her boyfriend had provided for her, and now she was alone, without a friend to run to. He'd be her friend, he'd gain her trust easily, and once he did she would be easy to manipulate, a simple pawn in his game. The thought made him smile a crooked, malicious smile that curled across his teeth like a wolf preparing to attack. She was making this too easy.
A/N: Haha, that end bit was fun to write there . . . I wasn't intentionally planning on including anything at all like that . . . but it's fun, isn't it? is apparently having issues with me at the moment . . . whenever I try and log in it informs me that my account is no longer active. I hope posting this works, and if it does, I hope there aren't any problems in the future, but I'm giving you fair warning now – if this keeps up I may not be able to update for awhile.
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