Disclaimer- Is it mine-snorts- Pigs might fly.

Authoress's Note- Sorry about the lack of updating-tears- And yes Crazy Chats readers, I didn't update that fic first, but I'll get to it... eventually. Homework, homework, and more homework plus extracurricular activities are taking hold (La Conquistadora this is why we should never participate!). I'm tired and don't know what else to say except that this chapter has very little humor. Not because of trouble writing on my part, mind you, but because it just CAN'T be funny for most of the chapter and still be believable. That's all I'm going to say. E.D.J.

Thank you for the wonderful reviews!

Tri- I deeply apologize for the gay couple thing. I was terribly angry about Remus/Sirius coupledom at that moment and a review I got for a different fic "to give Remus back to Sirius" or something and I took it out on you. I apologize. No, I won't get mad at you for having different views on my fic. I'm really trying to be at accepting critcism and yours was hardly insulting. Yes Marauders Rock and Girl Power!

ThelovelyladyLily- I'm glad you liked Remus reading about werewolves!

Melody- Yay! New reader/reviewer! I'm glad you like the fic! And 2 days to finish this-whistles- This IS getting long and new readers have a lot of chapter to finish to catch up with everyone else!

Constructive Criticism- Grr... I lost my original response to you, so I will quickly try to summarize since I'm due to go to bed. I was wrong about the age thing. Basically what I mean is I won't be so entertained trying to write the characters their correct age. I don't hate slash writers as people I only hate what they're doing to characters. Yes, you all have the right to expression your opinion, I just don't want a reviewer fight clogging up my inbox. Thank you for refraining from that. Glad you liked part of the last chapter and were able to tell me. Authoress/Author probably based on some nontrue gender thing at first, but I don't feel that way now and I basically write it out of habit and it adds a little flourish to my author's notes.

La Conquistadora- Woe is you because you got your way-shakes head- The otter needs friends!

MissPadfoot92- This is one of the best Marauder stories-gapes astonished- Thank you! Yes er... sorry about your er... Siri's injuries. Don't worry he's a fast healer. Favorite Marauder? Remus! He's so sarcastic and witty-drools- Remus and James are really close but I'm pretty sure Remus is ahead. So yeah Marauders and Lily order from best to worst for me goes: Remus, James, Sirius, Lily, Peter. Don't get me wrong, I simply LOVE Sirius and he is so fun and easy to write, but Remus and James, sigh... Anyway yes I like Lily, but I truly love the Marauders more. They are (usually) extremely fun and easy to write and Lily always comes harder for me unless she's extremely angry then I would say it's not as hard to write her.
Ch. 23- The Beginning of A Nightmare

"Morning, Mum," yawned James as he and his three friends sat down at the breakfast table.

His mother didn't say anything; she just stared blankly at the copy of the Daily Prophet in front of her.

"Mum?" asked James uncertainly, waving a hand in front of her eyes.

"Seven people," breathed Mrs. Potter, her voice shaking. "No warning at all."

"Mum, what are you on about?" asked James, gently prying the newspaper from his mother's hands.

He gaped at the front page. A picture of a smoking, ruined building filled half the page, but that wasn't the worst of it. A skull, that seemed to be made of some sort of eerie stars, floated above the building, a snake protruding from its open mouth.

"'Seven killed in Kent by a supposed 'Lord Voldemort'," read Sirius from over James's shoulder. "Blimey."

"It was a Muggle-born and her family," croaked Mrs. Potter, tears glistening on her cheeks. "Cursed within an inch of their life and then killed with Avada Kedavra to finish the job." She drew in a shaky breath. "Myra Aisley was her name and you couldn't find a sweeter girl. She was one of the secretaries for us down at the Auror Headquarters and she was in charge of the files that documented every Auror's whereabouts and patrol assignments. She wouldn't tell them anything, so… they tortured her. Then, they turned on Myra's family and she… somehow managed to apparate to the Ministry and warn them of this 'Lord Voldemort' and his followers before she died. Charles (A/N- Current Minister of Magic, Charles Burton) was in hysterics when he appeared in the fire this morning.I didn't believe him, but here it is!" She pointed furiously at the newspaper. "And this won't be the end! No, it won't be the end. I can feel it, the evil tide that's coming! What will stop him from killing again? He and his followers got out without even a scratch! One young, twenty-something-year-old witch is no match for these people. But, they won't get off so easily the next time. Your father and I will be waiting, and we will fight."

All four boys stared at Mrs. Potter warily, noting the glint in her eyes.

"Did this Myra Aisley tell the Ministry anything else?" asked Remus tentatively.

Mrs. Potter nodded. "This man claims to be 'purifying' the wizarding community. That has to say something about his character and how far he's willing to go with this little 'campaign.'"

Both Remus and Peter shifted uncomfortably, knowing their own blood wasn't as pure as it could be.

"I'm sure Headquarters is in an uproar," said Mrs. Potter, hiccupping slightly as she stood. "There hasn't be a murder this severe in near ten years. Your father and I had better go see what we can do." She turned to go, but then stopped and caught James up in a bone-crushing hug. "Stay safe, James," she whispered, her voice wavering.

"I will, Mum," said James soothingly, patting his mother's back.

She finally released him and, wiping her streaming eyes, she Disapparated.

"I can't believe someone actually did something," breathed Sirius, staring unblinking at the picture in the Daily Prophet. "I mean, Mum and Dad and their friends were always going on about how we should wipe all Muggleborns and halfbloods from society, but…" He gave a low whistle and shook his head sadly. "I know what your mum means, James. With people like my family supporting this 'lord', this won't be the end."

Lily was woken by loud, frantic screeching and banging against her window. Groggily, she stumbled over to the window and thrust it open. Two rather ruffled and frightened-looking owls shot inside.

"What's the matter?" asked Lily, confused as the owls fluttered around the room nervously.

She managed to snare on of the owls with a blanket and Lily wrestled the letter from its leg. She released the owl, and it hooted indignantly before flapping over to sit on one of her bedposts.

Lily opened the letter and in spidery, shaky handwriting it read:

Lily? Lily? Are you alright? Oh Merlin, I'm going mad with worry right now. Owl me back as soon as you get this! It you don't… well I'll assume the worst.

Bella

What was Bella talking about? Lily wondered. Why would there be anything wrong with me?

Suddenly, she felt a sharp nip at her elbow, and she turned to find the other owl looking quite irritated with a bit of her nightgown now clasped in its beak.

"Oh, a terror is what you are!" cried Lily, tossing a pillow at the owl as she examined the hole in her sleeve. "Bloody owl."

She sighed and then reached for the owl. She grappled with it until she pulled the letter free of its leg, but not without being raked by the rather insulted owl's talons a number of times.

Wincing at the long scratches on her arms, Lily opened the letter. It was a bit more level-headed than Bella's, but, nonetheless, still very unclear:

Lily,

Oh I do hope you're alright! My mum and dad are frantic thinking that we'll be next, and Mum's already started researching security charms and defense spells. Everyone in the whole wizarding world is in an upheaval because they're certain this is going to be the 'long and bloody war begun by the spilling of supposed bad blood and led by one whose name will become feared and unspoken.' The Seer Cassandra Trelawney predicted that some number of years ago. Frankly, I don't know what to believe. It's not like this Seer mentioned any specific names, did she? There's a copy of the Daily Prophet article enclosed since I'm sure it can explain everything much better than I can. My nerves are too shot.

Worried,

Emmeline

Just then, Lily noticed the newspaper clipping that had fallen to the floor. She stared at the twinkling skull and snake image, and her eyes widened as she read. 'One Muggleborn and six Muggles dead', 'no leads', and 'purity of blood' seemed to jump off the page, and her hands began to shake violently.

"Why?" Lily whispered, feeling her eyes prickle as she wrote short notes to Bella and Emmeline and shooed the owls out the window. Her question hung in the air unanswered, and she felt herself begin to wonder if she really belonged in the wizarding world.

"Stop it," Lily told herself sternly. "They wouldn't have sent you a Hogwarts letter in the first place if you weren't supposed to belong."

She glanced absently at her lap and noticed she had torn the article to pieces while she'd been thinking. Lily tossed the pieces in the wastebasket and decided the only way to get her mind off the murders would be to be productive.

Damn.

Lily sighed and pulled her Defense Against the Dark Arts book from the stack on her desk along with a spare bit of parchment. She flipped open the book to the section on Minor Hex and Jinx Deflection she was supposed to be writing an essay on. Lily sighed as she read. She was alright at the practical part of Defense Against the Dark Arts, but when it came totheory, Lily was unable to keep it all in her head. There were so many spells to counter different hexes and jinxes, and she had to know them all! Lily did fine it class where Professor Dearborn would tell them the correct incantation to counter their partner's attack, but in a real duel she wouldn't know what her opponent would attack with. She was told all students would be having strictly monitored practice duels sometime during their years at Hogwarts, and the very thought made her sweat. She could attack and dodge a spell well enough, but there was only so much Lily could do without knowing how to stop or deflect certain spells.

Lily turned the page and skimmed the section on the Jelly-Legs Jinx, not taking in a word of it. "Only six more years of this," she muttered.

All anyone in the wizarding world could talk about was the mass killing, whether or not the supposed prophesy was true, and if they were indeed on the brink of a deadly war. The Aurors were pulling double, sometimes triple shifts at the office and had patrols circulating different areas across the U.K. every night. The Muggle-Worthy Excuse Committee was also incredibly overworked because the floating skull about the Aisleys' home refused to disappear, despite the Accidental Magic Reversal Squad's efforts. The committee had given the Muggles excuses about pranks gone haywire and skywriting mishaps, but the excuses were starting to wear thin.

Sirius, Remus, and Peter, despite loud grumbling from Sirius, returned home due to their families' worries about having them end up dead if Lord Voldemort decided to launch an attack against the Aurors. Well, truthfully, in Sirius's case, his parents didn't want the killer to think their son was associating with blood traitors and have him get killed along with the Potters, bringing disgrace to the Black family name. Now, Mr. and Mrs. Potter were rarely home any given night and James soon began to worry about them never returning the next morning.

It came as a relief when September first arrived, and all the students would return to school. Parents were skeptical about their children's safety, but Professor McGonagall had sent out letters explaining all the known security precautions already surrounding Hogwarts and the new charms that had been added. The parents finally relented.

On September first, James found himself alone on Platform Nine and Three-Quarters; his parents having been called to the office. He felt rather lonely and was relieved when his roommate Frank Longbottom came over to say hello.

"I'll give you three guesses what everyone's whispering about," sighed Frank, nodding at the huddle groups of studentsmilling aboutthe platform.

"It's no wonder they've started referring to him as 'You-Know-Who'," said James, shaking his head.

"Your mum and dad got called to the Ministry too?" asked Frank. "Same as almost everyone else."

James glanced around and noticed how few adults were on the platform. "Do you really think it'll be a full blown war?" he whispered. "It's not as if we've had very many new Aurors in the past few years either. All the recruits drop out of training sooner or later these days. It would be perfect timing for him to launch a huge attack on us. The less Aurors he has to defeat, the easier it will be."

Frank shuddered. "Let's talk about something else. You-Know-Who gives me the creeps."

James sighed and wondered what his parents were doing at the office. Probably going mental over another fake attack report again, he thought. People are turning into right loons, thinking they're going to be killed around every corner.

James was shaken out of his thoughts when someonesmacked him hard in the shoulder and shouted, "JAMESIE!"

"Dear Merlin, Sirius," grumbled James, rubbing his shoulder. "My arm's gone numb."

"I'm sure you'll survive," said Remus, popping up on James's left. "Where's Peter?"

"How am I supposed to know?" snapped James, waving goodbye to Frank as he went to go greet a few of his Ravenclaw friends. "I don't even know where my parents are half the time let alone Peter."

"Touchy, aren't we?" said Remus coolly. "We may as well find a compartment and wait for him there."

James didn't respond, he just grabbed his trunk and dragged across the platform toward the train. After lunging it to a compartment near the end of the train, he put his trunk on the luggage rack, and threw himself violently into a seat, arms crossed.

"Don't pout, James," said Sirius, sitting down next to his best friend. "It doesn't make you look at all becoming."

"Like I care," muttered James, but he instantly wiped the sulky look off his face.

Peter soon appeared and sat down with the other three Marauders. They were having a tremendously good time not thinking about the fear that seemed to blanket the wizarding world when a flash of red caught James's eye.

"Oh for the love of…" he moaned, glancing up and confirming it was Lily Evans standing in the compartment doorway.

"Don't even start, Potter," snapped Lily, quite red in the face from pulling her trunk up and down the train. "I was just wondering if you've seen Bella and Emmeline anywhere."

All four boys jerked their heads toward the front of the train, remembering they'd past the two girls' compartment.

Lily nodded at the Marauders and with an exasperated sigh she reached for her trunk.

"You could just leave that in here," offered Remus, noticing her struggle.

"And have you four prank my things?" demanded Lily. "No thank you."

"Suit yourself," said Remus, returning to his bag of Bertie Bott's Every Flavor Beans.

Lily heaved a sigh and turned back to her trunk. She noticed two pairs of feet behind and heard a biting voice say, "Well, if it isn't the Mudblood. We should have known you'd be here with the halfbloods and blood traitors."

She stiffened and slowly looked up into the smirking faces of Bellatrix Black and another second-year Slytherin, Demelza Wilkes. "Get out," Lily said coldly.

"Seen the Prophet, Mudblood?" asked Demelza, sneering at Lily. "People like you are going to be killed off. You may as well go back to your filthy parents than try to make it inour world."

"Excuse us," said four voices and Lily noticed the Marauders had surrounded her.

"Did they insult us awhile back?" asked Remus thoughtfully.

"I believe they did, Remus," said Peter coolly.

"Funny," said Sirius, pretending to think, "because there seems to be five of us and only two of them."

"If you two ladies will…excuse me,you two aren't ladies," said James menacingly. "Well then, if you two Slytherins will kindly excuse us."

James and Sirius stepped forward, grasping Demelza's arms. She cursed and struggled against them. They shoved her none too gently into the neighboring compartment.

They returned for Bellatrix, but the girl backed away from them. "Don't touch me, you filth! I'll show myself out." With that, she disappeared through the compartment door.

Lily stood stunned, but strangely relieved. Shaking her head, she reached for her trunk again.

"I do know a spell to make that trunk feather-light you know, Evans," James offered generously. "Are you sure you want to drag that thing around more?"

"Fine, Potter," said Lily flatly. "I could use the help."

Grinning wickedly at his friends, but making sure Lily didn't see, James raised his wand.

Lily saw the smirk at the last and shouted, "No, don't…"

Too late. Her trunk was now sopping wet and had some sort of strange fungus sprouting out of it.

"Well, it does tend to have that side effect," said James wickedly.

"Oh!" shrieked Lily angrily. "Why was I stupid enough to let you do that?" She strode over and slapped James across the face.

"OW!" shouted James, his ears ringing and his glasses askew. "You didn't hit me last year!"

"Consider it a new method of dealing with you," spat Lily, her voice dripping with venom.

She dragged her wet trunk out of the compartment and started toward the front of the train.

"Do you mind if I…?" asked James, holding his wand up.

His three friends nodded and James muttered an incantation.

"POTTER!" A downpour of water had suddenly drenched Lily from head to toe. Leaving her trunk behind, she raced back to the Marauders' compartment to find that they had closed and locked the door. Raising her wand, she shouted, "Alohomora!"

Lily tried the door, but it was still locked.

They must have used a more complicated spell, thought Lily furiously.

She banged on the door until her arms ached. Giving up, Lily did a drying spell on herself and, boiling mad, grabbed her trunk and went in search of Emmeline and Bella.

See why the beginning can't be funny? Anyway I don't have time to give this a final proofread, so if I made any terrible errors please tell me! Early Merry Christmas to all and to all a good night! E.D.J.