The Marauders, Eliane, and Lily were in the Gryffindor common room, sprawled on the floor in front of the fireplace. Lily was already half asleep, and Remus was already snoring. But Sirius, his shoulder bandaged, was feeling energetic enough to tell about what had happened to them.

"So I was still in my shape of a dog," Sirius was saying, having already confessed to Eliane the fact that they all were animagus. "and these Death Eaters entered, and started talking. Then they saw me, and they decided to have fun messing around with a poor old dog... So I got kicked, and punched, and hexed, but I just couldn't do anything back. After a while they got sick of me, and I just crawled into a corner and waited for Lily and Remus..."

Eliane and James stared wide eyed at their friends.

"You guys are the best friends anyone could ever hope for!" said Eliane, half crying.

"Which reminds me," said Lily sleepily. "I've got to give the painting to Professor Dumbledore."

"What?" asked Sirius, James, and Eliane.

"Painting... Cure..." she murmured. Then her eyes fluttered closed and she began to sleep.

"Gosh, she's tired!" exclaimed Eliane. "I guess we better get to bed."

Sirius began to shake Remus awake. Remus opened one eye, closed it, and then tiredly headed up the stairs.

"I can't wake up Lily!" said Eliane.

"I'll stay with her," said James quietly.

"Wh-" began Eliane.

"It's fine."

"Okay," she said, looking weirdly at James. She turned around and walked up the stairs.

James was sitting in a large, fluffy armchair. He had been blind for two days now, and he felt... Empty. He had never realized how much he needed his friends until now. And most of all, he realized how much he liked Lily: Lily the beautiful friend who had risked her life to try to save him from this black emptiness.

He heard Lily turn over. Now that he was blind, he was learning to hear more than anything else. He felt like his hearing was becoming clearer by the hour. James didn't really know what to make of all this.

"But what if they don't really have the cure?" he thought to himself. "What would I do?"

He turned his head, and curling up in the armchair began to think of his life, of his early years...

Lily woke up. It was one of those hard awakenings when all of a sudden you are brought back to reality brutally, and left feeling just as tired as when you fell asleep. Disoriented, she sat up. She saw James, curled up in an armchair and fast asleep.

"He looks so... Tired," she thought to herself. "Maybe even weary... He's gone through a lot... I just wish I knew why Voldemort was after him..."

James stirred, and finally woke up.

"How are you?" she asked softly.

Startled, he moved his head in her direction. "I didn't know you were awake."

"Are you okay? I mean, do you want to talk or something?" she questioned gently.

"I... I don't know," he answered. He got up slowly and began to feel his way over to the fireplace. Suddenly he felt a hand on his arm.

"This way," whispered Lily, leading him a little to the left. "Do you want to go in?"

"Yeah, yeah. I would like that," he muttered.

Lily placed his hand on the Inscriptions and led him through the door.

Once inside, James felt his way into the second room, and sat down at the piano. Suddenly, a strong emotion burned through him, and his hands shaking, he began to play. Quickly and surely his hands swept across the piano's keys, playing a strong, angry tune. His hands pounded on the keys and he felt tears in his sightless eyes as he poured his heart out through the music.

Lily watched from the side. She saw the tears rolling down his cheek, and felt tears on her own. He was playing something beautiful, and she could tell how everything he was feeling was coming out in this melody. When he stopped playing, his cheeks were streaked with tears.

Lily sat next to him on the piano stool. "I didn't know how much pain this all caused you," she said softly.

"It- It's hard. For all of you... I can't believe you did this... For me. It makes me wonder what I did to deserve this..."

"You're a wonderful person, James. And I know that you'd do the same thing for them and for me... James, you're brave and strong, and a good friend. That's more than enough to deserve this."

"And yesterday you said that we were supposedly enemies!" he said, smiling.

Lily put her hand on his. "Well, now we can never be enemies. I think we might even be friends."

"Yeah," he agreed. He felt Lily's arms around him.

"I know it's hard," she whispered. "But we'll all be there for you, no matter what. Okay? Please don't lose hope, because Remus has probably found the cure... Now, come on. I'll bring you to your room. Okay?"

Reluctantly he let go of her, and nodded. She took his hand and led him slowly out of the two rooms and up the stairs.

"Tomorrow, we'll go to Professor Dumbledore and work this out," she whispered. "Sleep well..."

She left, and suddenly James knew. As he lay on his bed, he thought about her, and realized how being blind had made at least one thing clear: he was in love with Lily Evans.

But was Lily in love with him?

Two days later, Remus studied the painting thoughtfully. "I just don't get it!" he yelled, frustrated.

"What?" asked Lily, worried.

"The cure! It's supposed to be on here somewhere! But I just can't find it! Nothing make sense!"

"Just tell me the riddle and I'll help you!"

"I can't!" he admitted weakly.

"But why?"

"Because I don't remember it clearly," he said. "I know it's here, but I just don't remember..."

"Remus!" she said. "Just come clean, what is going on?"

"Okay! You want to know the real story? I know about this only because of my parents. You know they died, murdered." Lily nodded. "Well," he continued. "The Ministry said that this had no ties with Voldemort, but I saw him kill them- personally. Lily, I haven't told anyone else about this... They died because they were researching on this. I don't know why it's so important to him, but he's going to come after me for this. All the knowledge I have of this is things I've heard through the closed door of their room!"

"I'm sorry Remus," she said softly, her emerald eyes glistening with tears. "I... Thank you for telling me. I'm going to help you Remus, and if ever you need someone to talk to... I'll be there, okay?"

"Thanks, Lil," he said, smiling slightly.

"Now, I'm guessing this is really complicated? Tell me all you know."

Remus creeped into their room, closing the door as softly as he could. He carefully walked over to his bed.

"Where were you?" whispered James from his bed.

"I was working on the cure," he answered.

"You missed lessons all day? And they don't mind?"

"They know how important this is- heck, they let Padfoot stay with you all day!"

"Yeah," smiled James.

"Now go to sleep, I'm tired," whispered Remus.

As he lay in his bed, Remus had only one thought: "Why hasn't Voldemort come after the painting yet?"

A/N: here, do you like it? lol! well chapter 8 comes when reviews do! ( --- HINT!)

Thanks so much to all those of you who have reviewed!