Fatal Incompatibility.

Summary: James Potter has a secret. Lily Evans is trying to convince herself she doesn't care. "Trying" being the operative word. She can't get him out of her mind, he can only hope that she doesn't find out. (Eventual L/J)

Disclaimer: If this was mine would I need one of these? Alright I'm disclaiming! All the characters you recognise belong to JKRowling; anything you don't recognise is mine. ALL MINE!

Chapter 8: Vicious Circle

"Would it save you a lot of time if I just gave up and went mad now?" – Douglas Adams, The Hitch Hiker's guide to the Galaxy.

Lily was at the end of her tether. James Potter was certifiably insane, something which she had long suspected, but now believed absolutely. Ever since she had arrived back at school, slightly tearful at leaving her parents but happy to escape Petunia before they blew up at each other, he had done nothing but watch her, and get his friends to watch her, and ask her friends questions about her. It was driving her mad.

She imagined men in white coats running in and forcing her into a straight jacket as she babbled incessantly in a paranoid whisper that "the little purple bunnies in the orange juice were watching her." Lily threw her hands up in frustration. She couldn't go mad, she'd probably end up being carted off to the same secure unit as James Potter, and then he could watch her as much as he liked. Ugh, was no where safe?

Grimacing, Lily looked down at the parchment she had been steadily working on for an hour and a half, growling with frustration as she read what she had got so far she quickly screwed it up, Flitwick would not want her to hand in homework with 'I HATE James Potter' written all over it. Yes, she felt slightly hypocritical for writing it, especially after her frequent statements that she hated no one and that hate was a very harsh word. But, somehow, 'I dislike James Potter probably more than I will ever dislike anybody at this precise moment' didn't quite give her the same sense of satisfaction. She started her work again, trying to concentrate on the correct development of unlocking charms; Lily soon admitted though that she should probably give up after writing for the third time "the 'alohamora' charm was developed in Hawaii as seen by the word 'aloha' at the beginning of the incantation."

She sighed as she saw Remus Lupin walking over. Of all the four boys he was acting the most normally, although he did keep asking her strange, searching questions which normally meant Lily spent their entire conversation trying to second guess where he was going.

She watched Remus sit in the chair opposite her, pulling the seat back to provide room for his long legs. "Hi Remus,"

"Lily," He replied, nodding his head, "Why are you in the library?" She pushed her Charms homework towards him and he smirked in amusement "Developed in Hawaii?"

"Don't even mention it," Lily groaned,

"Why do I get the feeling that you're a bit distracted?"

"Maybe because I am." Lily grumbled into her arms as she slumped onto the table.

"So what's bothering you?" Remus asked brightly obviously not realising the floodgates that he had just opened,

"What's bothering me? What's bothering me?" She breathed deeply, trying to stop sounding so hysterical and failing miserably, "Your little group is what's bothering me. Every where I go one of you is staring at me, especially James could-you-move-to-the-left-so-I-can-see-you-better Potter. You're always talking to my friends about me; my friends Remus. I can't concentrate. Everyone has noticed, someone asked me yesterday if Potter fancied me because he watched me all the time." Remus winced, "And you ask what's bothering me?"

"Well, Lily -"

"Remus," Lily sighed heavily, "I'm sorry. I'm just a little overwrought."

"Yeah," Remus said, looking at the small red head in front of him as she once again laid her head in the cradle of her arms and breathed deeply.

"Why are you all watching me?" She asked in a very small voice, looking straight at Remus,

"I can't tell you." Remus said sadly, but inside his heart was brightening; maybe Lily didn't know anything about James after all, even after all his paranoia.

"Is this something to do with the scar on Potter's stomach?" Lily was watching him shrewdly and Remus' own stomach plummeted, or maybe she did. "Because he 'fell into a rosebush' didn't he?" Her words were vicious, scarily sweet. She looked at him directly for a moment as if searching for something and then gathered her books, "You coming to the Prefect's Meeting?"

"Well tough shit – he's the one chosen by God as today's scapegoat." – Jonathan Kellerman

James was fuming. He and the rest of the Marauder's had decided to watch Lily Evans carefully to see if they could pick up any clues on what she knew, and the more he watched her the less certain he was.

He stalked down the corridor towards Transfiguration and growled when he saw it was completely jam packed. He was not in the mood for this today. Waving his wand every single person directly in front of him rose into the air and James walked through the narrow path way which was now available.

Suddenly a tall Slytherin 7th year stood directly in front of him,

"Let my girlfriend down, Gryffindork." James sighed, you'd think that at least a good insult could have been used, but no. Waving his wand again the Slytherin was also in the air, floating merrily beside his girlfriend in a very interesting choice of attire. James had just known that pink frills would suit him.

Stalking down the corridor he stopped in front of the Transfiguration Classroom's door. "Hey guys," He said dully, feeling slightly better now that he had relieved some anger at a deserving person. Remus, Sirius and Peter were admiring his work on the corridor.

"Nice pathway," Sirius said appreciatively, the corridor was now full of shrieks as those who had previously been floating fell on top of those below. The Slytherin 7th year who had blocked James was cursing "that arrogant git"at the top of his lungs.

Just at that moment the door to the classroom opened and the fifth year Gryffindors walked inside. James took solace that at least someone else looked thoroughly miserable, even if that person was Lily Evans. He brightened considerably at the sight of her; somehow he felt safer around the small red head, as if when he was around she couldn't give anything away.

He turned to the front of the room and pretended to listen to McGonagall's lecture, at the same time he was watching Lily out of the corner of his eye. Every now and again she would turn around and glare at him from her place in the front and he would smirk at the desk before surreptitiously watching her twirl her hair in concentration as she took notes from the board.

Suddenly he heard a cough from in front of him, "Mister Potter," James immediately pasted a glowing smile on her face,

"Professor McGonagall," He replied evenly,

"Potter, have you been listening or have you been watching Miss Evans?" Professor McGonagall glowered at him,

"I've been listening, Professor." James said, biting back the retort that, actually, he had been watching 'Miss' Evans.

"Wonderful, then you surely won't hesitate to inform the class why you have not even attempted to transfigure the cup in front of you into a tortoise." Everyone looked at James expectantly and he frowned slightly,

"Well, Professor, as I was preparing for today's class last night I thought it would be best to try the spell out in advance."

"Are you trying to tell me, Mister Potter, that you have already mastered the spell?" Professor McGonagall said incredulously,

"That is exactly it, Professor. Allow me to demonstrate." James waved his wand and muttered the words he remembered from the few moments skim-reading he had done at the beginning of the class and watched with satisfaction as his porcelain cup was transfigured into a small green tortoise. Professor McGonagall pursed her lips but looked pleased despite herself,

"10 points to Gryffindor for having the foresight to look through spells in advance Mister Potter, however, next time you feel like daydreaming in class I suggest you don't rely on luck to get away with it." James grinned impishly at her before she swept away, shaking her head.

Sirius threw James a note, "teacher's pet." James smirked and drew a quick sketch on the page and threw it back to his best friend. Sirius smoothed it open and grinned as he saw "Takes one to know one." And drawn underneath was a picture of Sirius fluttering his eyelashes at Professor Vector. Remus laughed as he looked over to see James mocking Sirius cheerfully, it was good that James was laughing – especially after the continual bad mood he seemed to be in at the moment.

The problem seemed to be to Remus that the more James watched Lily and acted in any way suspicious towards her, the angrier she got with him. When she was angry she was more likely to shout at him for what he was doing, and when she shouted at him James in turn got angry and was more likely to do something which merited being shouted at. It was definitely a vicious circle.

Remus sighed, he really needed to talk to James about the effects their constant vigilance may be having on Lily. Somehow he doubted James would be receptive to that particular chat.

"It is perfectly monstrous the way people go about nowadays saying things against one behind one's back that are absolutely and entirely true." – Oscar Wilde

James looked up in frustration as Remus shifted and coughed for the hundredth time. "Moony, stop it." He snapped in frustration,

"Stop what?" Remus asked with some considerable surprise, was James telling him to stop watching Lily? That would be wonderful.

"Stop fidgeting and coughing." Or not.

"Oh. Sorry."

The two looked back at their parchments and Remus pulled another book towards him from the shelf behind. James quickly stole a glance at Lily Evans, she was sitting at the table next to them in the library and though she looked incredibly uncomfortable she still seemed absorbed in her work.

"Prongs?" James looked up at Remus who was still bent over the latest tome he had pulled towards him, "Stop it."

"Stop what?" James mimicked,

"Stop watching Lily Evans."

"What? Why?" James looked at him in surprise and Remus coughed and shifted uncomfortably, James glared at him and Remus gave a small smile as he wrote something on to his parchment,

"Because you're making her life difficult, she has no clue what is going on and everyone thinks you fancy her."

"They what?" James said in a strangled voice causing several people in the surrounding area to frown at him.

"They think that you like Lily Evans in a non-platonic way." Remus explained,

"But I don't even like Evans in a platonic way." James said in shock,

"That's not what's on the rumour mill." Remus still stared at his parchment; he didn't want to see what colour of puce his friend was going with that titbit of information,

"Well the 'rumour mill' is wrong." the two sat in silence for a bit, each involved in their homework once more, "How am I making her life difficult?" James asked suddenly,

Remus looked up at him steadily and James felt slightly ashamed, it was kind of obvious why Lily Evans may not be enjoying that particular rumour. "If you really need it explaining to you -"

"She doesn't like the rumour that I fancy her."

"Don't sound so put out about it!" Remus grinned,

"Why wouldn't she want me to fancy her?" James said arrogantly,

"But you don't." Remus pointed out,

"Well, no…"

"Exactly."

The two scratched at their work a bit more before James grew bored again, "So you really don't think that she knows?" He asked, continuing to add detail to his picture of McGonagall on a broomstick as Remus pondered his answer,

"I think she might suspect something is suspicious about you. I don't think she believes your cover story." James' face fell, and Remus hurried on, "However, she has not mentioned it to anybody – not even Parisa and Artis – and she has not made any enquiries since she stopped carrying that brown book around."

"She threw the book in the fire."

"How did you know that?"

"Sirius told me." James finished his picture with a final flourish, "I won't watch her so much" Remus raised an eyebrow at him, "And I won't ask any questions about her to her friends, and I'll get a girlfriend to get rid of that rumour."

"Excellent." Remus replied, pleased with the results of this little chat, "That picture's very good by the way."

"Great, it can be McGonagall's Christmas card." Remus didn't think he should point out that Christmas was two weeks ago.

"What a fuss people make about fidelity." – Oscar Wilde

The same evening as James and Remus had their conversation in the library Lily, Parisa and Artis were sitting in their dorm 'catching up' on everything they had not yet discovered about each other's holidays, which mainly involved Lily and Parisa badgering Artis to tell her about the boy she had met.

"So, Artis, how was Ireland." Parisa asked calmly,

"It was great going home, don't you guys miss your families when we're away."

"Stop being obtuse Artis. Tell Lily about Eoin Finnegan." Artis grinned despite herself and Lily mentally frowned.

"Oh, Eoin." Artis sighed, "Well, he's wonderful, you know. He's sexy, charming, a great dancer."

"Did you kiss him?" Parisa demanded,

"No!" Artis giggled and then continued in a mock posh accent, dropping her Irish burr for a moment "He's frightfully religious and proper."

"Artis, what about Remus?" Lily asked seriously, but her friend didn't seem bothered,

"What about him?"

"Well, aren't you going out?"

"Yes." Artis said,

"What's that got to do with anything Lily?" Parisa asked,

"Don't you think he would be upset if he knew that Artis was going on about some other guy so much, was contemplating kissing him, and wasn't even thinking about his feelings."

"Well, maybe." Artis said, honestly looking like she hadn't even thought about it. "What should I do about him?"

"Are you planning on trying to get Eoin to ask you out?" Lily asked,

"Oh, you really should 'Tis." Parisa beamed,

"I don't know. It might be difficult because we're away from each other a lot." Artis looked at Lily from under her blonde curls, "I'm going to keep writing him, I really think that he's perfect Lils, but I want you to approve." Lily sighed deeply,

"I do approve 'Tis, if he makes you so happy. But do not try to get him to go out with you while you're still dating Remus. If you're going to go after Eoin it's kinder to dump Remus now." She grinned at Artis encouragingly,

"I'm just going to stay friends with Eoin. At least for now." Artis' eyes twinkled, "Remus is very hot."

Parisa and Lily laughed and Artis launched into a description of her summer and they all laughed at her attempts to get Eoin to kiss her.

After a while their laughing had quieted down, and Parisa looked at Lily, "It's good to hear you laughing after your perpetual bad mood this week."

"You would be in a bad mood too if James Potter and his lackeys – sorry 'Tis – had been watching you and following you all week."

"I think I'd be rather flattered." Parisa said,

"Flattered?" Lily sputtered,

"Sure, James is quite good looking, though certainly not my type, and he must have a crush on you…" She was cut off by Lily launching her broomstick at her head. "That was uncalled for Lily Evans!" Parisa shrieked,

"Potter does not fancy me!" Lily yelled back,

"So why's he watching you and following you around all the time?" Artis asked in interest.

"If I knew I would have gotten him to stop." Lily moaned. However she did have a sneaking suspicion, an idea was forming at the back of her mind and Lily forcefully pushed it away. Obviously Potter's actions were something to do with her seeing his scar but she couldn't see anything that special about it – in fact, it was only because Potter was making such a fuss that she had even considered that his excuse may not have been genuine. She decided to voice the most ridiculous idea she had in the hope that saying it out loud would allow her to believe it, "Maybe it's some Quidditch drill?"

Artis and Parisa started laughing "Whatever you say Lils."

"Humour is... despair refusing to take itself seriously." - Arland Ussher

Sirius was sitting in the common room looking quite the picture of a classic brooding antihero. He was glaring into the fire place when Peter and Remus came over, chatting about their chances for the Quidditch match against Hufflepuff tomorrow.

"What's up, Padfoot?" Remus said as he plopped down on the chair next to him, Peter sitting opposite,

"Nothing."

"Oh, yes?" Peter queried,

"He's just been moping that none of us have been around entertaining him." Remus joked; Sirius continued to glower at the fire.

"Don't blame us, Moony was patrolling, I was doing detention and Prongs is flying randomly around the Quidditch pitch." Sirius grunted in response, but his friends seemed determined to translate that as a continuation of the conversation,

"I agree Padfoot, Prongs' pre-game ritual is stupid." Remus grinned, Sirius didn't grunt again and seemed to resign himself to the fact that he would have to talk else Remus and Peter would continue to try to engage him in conversation,

"At least he doesn't refuse to eat anything which isn't red for the whole week leading up to the game anymore," Peter and Remus laughed at this comment,

"Do you remember when he spent a day in the Hospital Wing because he had collapsed from trying to live off blood-flavoured lollypops as nothing red was served all day?"

"That was before we'd found the kitchens." Sirius pointed out,

"That was what inspired the search for the kitchens anyway." Peter laughed; they all laughed at their friends many strange and bewildering Quidditch-related rituals.

"So, now you're talking Padfoot, and not moping like some wounded antihero -"

"Antihero?" Sirius cried, outraged

"Well you're not really blonde enough to be a traditional hero." Remus laughed. Peter watched his two friends eagerly and laughed at Sirius' theatrical over-the-top impressions of a wounded hero.

"Anyway," Remus began once he had every one's attention, "Prongs has decided he needs to get a girlfriend to stop these rumours that he likes Lily."

"Well, if he wins tomorrow he'll have no problems -" Sirius grinned at the same time as Peter said,

"You mean he doesn't fancy Lily?" Sirius and Remus looked at Peter in shock,

"Of course not Wormtail, they hate each other."

"Not hate, Moony, strongly dislike."

"Oh yes, hate is a very strong word." Remus mimicked Lily's frequently said words.

"But he keeps watching her even though -" Peter was quickly cut off by Sirius clapping his hand over his mouth,

"Just announce it to the world, Wormtail." Sirius said harshly. Peter squeaked but was interrupted by a loud shriek from the girls dorms,

"Potter does not fancy me!"

"See, Wormtail, even Lily knows that Prongs doesn't fancy her,"

"Don't know why she sounds so happy about that fact, most girls want me to like them."

"Prongs!" Sirius cried happily, now thoroughly throwing off his foul mood as James sat on the final chair in front of the fire. Remus quirked his eyebrows in amusement at James' conceitedness,

"Well neither of you like the other so it's not really problem."

"I'm perfectly likeable, I'm good-looking, smart, rich, and I'm the Quidditch Captain of the best Quidditch team in the school."

"And he's modest, humble, generous, free of any strange habits…" A voice came from behind James' sofa. The boys turned to look at Artis who was smiling down at them, "Nice t-shirt James." She laughed. She was pointing to his too small t-shirt which had a picture of a Quidditch player on it, annotated with 'The perfect Quidditch player's characteristics.'

"Don't diss the t-shirt Artis," Remus said in stage whisper, "It's the one he wore when he got onto the Gryffindor team, he'll start thinking he'll lose the game if you insult it."

"What happens when it splits because it's too small?" Artis replied, stage-whispering in return,

"Gryffindor will never win another game." Sirius entered the conversation.

James looked put out, "Shut up, it's always worked before."

"O, we wouldn't dream of dissing the t-shirt, James." Artis grinned,

"That's only because we don't have death-wish," Sirius said cheerfully. James growled at them,

"O no, someone must have cursed the t-shirt! It's turning James into a wild animal!" Artis said, feigning horror. They all laughed, and then Artis tugged on Remus' arm, "Remus, will you come to the kitchens with me, I'm hungry?"

"Sure," Remus smiled, standing up. "Don't forget you need to get a girlfriend to stop that rumour Prongs." James frowned,

"You mean he doesn't like Lily?" Artis asked brightly,

"Argh!" James shouted and ran upstairs,

"I'll take that as a 'no.'"

"Half this game is 90 mental." - Danny Ozark

The following morning a group of seven people sat quietly at the Gryffindor table, staring at their plates as Lily Evans and James Potter, momentarily putting aside their differences for the good of the team, tried to force each of the other members of the team to eat something…anything…please…

At 9:30 there was an hour to go until the match started and the Great Hall was nearly full, Lily was receiving a pep-talk from Artis and Parisa; both were kitted out in full Gryffindor gear: hair braided with red ribbons, Gryffindor scarves wrapped tightly around their necks and apparently with 'Go Gryffindor' banners as well. They had arranged to sit next to Sirius, Peter and Remus and had given the boys a large banner which they refused to divulge the contents of, promising with wicked smiles that they had to leave some surprise support for the game itself.

Ten-minutes later, the Gryffindor Quidditch team was trudging out of the Great Hall followed by the Hufflepuffs. Lily felt jealous of James Potter's apparent calm, and wished that she hadn't eaten that muffin even though she had promised herself that she wouldn't be one of those ridiculous people who refused to eat before a game, taking one glance at him coolly eating toast as the rest of the team bustled and changed around him Lily suddenly felt calmer – if Potter could be cool, calm and collected so could she.

With ten minutes to go the team assembled on the benches before James and he looked around at them, a look of grim determination on his face before he smiled brightly.

"Well, this is it guys, this is the game where we make our mark. Compared to Hufflepuff we are untried and untested – we have a new Chaser combination, a new Beater partnership, a new Seeker and, obviously, a new Captain." He struck a pose and there was a short moment of uncomfortable laughter, Lily appreciated James' attempt to ease the tension, "but this only gives us the advantage. They don't know what we are capable of, they don't know how strong we are and they don't know that we are going to beat their sorry excuse for a team because we practise harder, work together better and, most importantly, we want it more!" The team cheered and hugged each other, lining up before the doors as the announcer began winding up the crowd.

"Here we have people the Gryffindor Quidditch team…CAPTAIN POTTER, LONGBOTTOM, FAVERSHAM, MEADOWES, WAN, HEMLOCK, AND EVANS!"

Lily walked onto the pitch, stood opposite her counterpart from the Hufflepuff team and watched anxiously as Madam Hooch walked onto the pitch, the case containing the balls in her hand. The now elderly woman looked up to the teachers' stands briefly and smiled at her young granddaughter before she turned to the two Captains. They shook hands without the usual rivalry which took place over the starting handshake; in fact the whole atmosphere was more relaxed than usual. The Ravenclaws didn't know who to support and so were just hoping for a good game; the Slytherins did not want the Gryffindors to win on pure principle yet having the nauseatingly nice Hufflepuffs winning did not sit well with them either; the Hufflepuffs and Gryffindors were backing their teams wholeheartedly, yet the teams themselves, though each determined to win, did not have the massive rivalry which was present in all Gryffindor/Slytherin games. All in all this was probably the perfect game for Lily's first match and she settled into her role, determined to win and prove to all the Gryffindors that perfect James Potter had not made a mistake in picking her, that his many adoring fans would not have cause to blame her for a loss.

Jaw set firmly, Lily blasted into the air as the whistle blew and immediately started searching the field for any sign of the elusive, winged snitch. Sweeping around the goalposts Lily was able to watch James receive the Quaffle from Frank Longbottom and with a clever underarm feint throw it through the central hoop. Lily smiled – they were in the lead!

Getting back to searching Lily was too involved in trying to throw the Hufflepuff seeker off her trail to be able to watch first Frank Longbottom and then Tania Faversham score their first goals of the game.

Half an hour later, Lily was still tirelessly searching for the snitch. The score was now 70/40 to Gryffindor and the play was slowing down. Both sides had fantastic keepers, and though the formations used by the Gryffindors were better and more effective the Hufflepuff keeper was managing to block at least 1/3 of all the shots.

James was completely frustrated, seizing the Quaffle, he dodged a Bludger which fired towards him and streaked towards the goal. Unfortunately he began to do this at exactly the same time as Lily finally caught sight of the Snitch.

Blocking everything around her in her focus Lily shot off towards the Golden Snitch and the crowd watched in horror as the two players sped obliviously towards each other in what would certainly be a collision.

In the crowd Artis was yelling at the top of her lungs, glaring as she did at anyone who was not supporting Gryffindor.

All eyes on the field were focused on Lily and James; the two members were mere metres away from each other.

Lily and James did know what was about to happen and with one swift movement Lily ducked her head; James gave a brief nod, to all watching both looked as if they had never taken their eyes off their individual goals.

One second before impact Lily dipped down, so narrowly avoiding James that she could feel the light buffering of the air around his broomstick. The crowd roared as they rushed past each other, Lily stretched out her arm for the snitch and James lobbed the Quaffle at the central hoop with all his might.

The audience watched with baited breath as Lily did a small sideways loop, the Quaffle flew through the goal and as soon as she heard the cheer of the crowd she snaked out her arm and grabbed the small, gold Snitch from the air.

Lily raised her arms in the air, whooping in celebration and immediately flew to the ground. She hugged every member of the team, screaming in happiness.

"AND LILY EVANS, GRYFFINDOR'S NEW SEEKER CAUGHT THE SNITCH. 150 POINTS TO GRYFFINDOR! THOSE LAST FEW MOMENTS HAVE DEFINITELY BEEN THE MOST EXCITING OF THE ENTIRE GAME, ONLY POTTER AND EVANS' SEAMLESS UNDERSTANDING ON THE PITCH STOPPING WHAT SEEMED TO BE A SURE FIRE HEAD-ON COLLISION AND TURNED IT INTO THE WINNING MOVE OF THE GAME. SURELY THAT WAS A RECORD – SHORTEST TIME BETWEEN A GOAL AND THE SNITCH BEING CAUGHT?"

But no one answered the Ravenclaw commentator's question as they were all too busy celebrating; the whole of Gryffindor house seemed to have rushed onto the pitch, scooping up each member of the team in their joy. Lily waved at Artis and Parisa in the crowd, who were standing waving a large banner with Remus, Sirius and Peter. She pretended to glare at them as she read what it said but was in too good a mood to do anything about it.

The writing may not have been as elaborate as what normally showed up on the Marauder's handy work but it was still bold and clear,

"GRYFFINDOR: THE WINNING TEAM BUILT ON 'EXTREME DISLIKE'!"

"I've had a perfectly wonderful evening. But this wasn't it." - Groucho Marx

The party in the Gryffindor Common Room following the game was spectacular. A large supply of Butterbeers and party food had somehow made its way into the common room, and, though Lily had her suspicions about who had magicked the food up here, at the sight of popcorn she vowed that they obviously needed to be given house points for their excellent food taste.

Photos were floating around the room, Lily shrieked in mock outrage when Sirius showed her a photo of herself with large elf ears following the Marauder's Christmas prank. She restrained herself from being too mad though when Sirius showed her his own photo and she had to admit that elf ears suited her far more than they did him. Sirius said if she said such things again he would make sure the House Elves never gave her any popcorn again. Lily said she would cry.

James Potter was surrounded by a group of fourth year girls and was desperately trying to escape with all his clothes. Remus mouthed at him, "You said you would get a girlfriend." James sighed in resignation and turned to the prettiest of the four girls surrounding him, messing his hair and in his most suave voice James said to her,

"Why don't you come with me to get another Butterbeer?" The girl grinned and took his arm, her friends sending her jealous looks before seeing if they could find any other guys.

Sirius had by this time collected all of the photos which had been floating around and had banished them to his room; he had decided that he loved photos. Now, he was attempting to chat up Parisa Atri, who was laughingly pushing off his advances, "Seriously Sirius, go back to your little fan girls." She laughed as Sirius clutched his heart,

"O, you wound me, beauteous maiden."

Remus was fighting his way over to Artis, who smiled warmly at him as they sat side by side on the sofa farthest away from the food table, "hey 'Tis,"

"Hey. It was a good game wasn't it?"

"I thought Lily and James were going to kill each other." Remus laughed,

"Or end up in the hospital wing at least."

"Did you see how Lily waited to catch the snitch so James could score first?"

"Yeah, but that does put us further ahead for the house cup."

"Only by ten points." Remus grinned,

"But we're still in the lead!" Artis cheered,

"Yeah!" And the two clinked their glasses together in celebration before downing their Butterbeers.

Two hours later the party was still in full swing, James was kissing the fourth year in a corner, Sirius had given up on Parisa and was laughing with Peter, Artis and Remus were following James' example and Lily and Parisa were fighting good-naturedly over the rest of the popcorn.

Suddenly a large officious looking owl flew into the common room and over to Peter and Sirius. Looking up in surprise Sirius made to take the note but the owl flew towards Peter. Shrugging his shoulders Sirius allowed Peter to take his letter.

"What does it say Wormtail?" Sirius asked curiously. Instantly all of the music stopped in the common room and people looked around in surprise as Professor McGonagall stood in the portrait hole.

"Mister Pettigrew, if you could please follow me." Silently Peter followed McGonagall out of the room, still clutching his letter tightly in his fist. James stepped forward quickly, grabbing Peter's shoulder,

"Do you want me to come to Professor?"

"Thank you Mister Potter, but you can return to your party." Despite her clipped tone Professor McGonagall did appear to smile a little at James after his offer.

Everyone watched as the podgy boy followed the tightly laced deputy head out of the room and as soon as the portrait swung shut every burst into loud whispers. James, Sirius and Remus made their way over to the chairs nearest the fire, not worried when Lily, Artis and Parisa joined them to ask if Peter was ok. Six of the seven fifth year Gryffindors sat together, worrying about the last of their group and swapping conspiracy theories.

No one really felt like partying anymore.

"One can survive everything nowadays except death." - Oscar Wilde

Late that evening Peter Pettigrew returned to Gryffindor tower, sitting in the common room was the ruins of the abandoned party and six fifth year Gryffindors.

They had fallen silent shortly after the common room had completely emptied, the occupants cutting off a party because of Professor McGonagall's appearance for the first time since she could remember.

"Hey Pete." Remus said as the exhausted boy entered, reverting to his real name instead of nickname because more than anything Peter looked like he needed it. The others all turned around and greeted Peter warily, each certain something catastrophic had happened and none sure what it was.

An unspoken question hovered in the air between the two groups, one gathered together and one standing in the shadows by the entrance, "What's wrong?"

Lily suddenly got up and dragged Artis and Parisa with her, "I hope your ok Pete, we're going to bed." She said softly, obviously recognising his unwillingness to talk in front of the girls. James was grateful for Lily's astuteness, even though he refused to admit that even to himself.

"Good Night girls!" Sirius tried to grin,

"Night," Remus repeated, pecking Artis on the cheek. James and Peter waved vaguely at them.

Once the three girls had gone the common room was silent again but for the crackle of flames in the dying fire. Peter sat on the now empty seat and looked sadly at his hands,

"Dad," He began, voice steady, "has had a heart-attack."

"Oh Merlin," James said,

"Is he…ok?" Sirius asked, wincing at how horrid that sounded,

"No." The silence stretched as James, Sirius and Remus waited for clarification. "He died."

"I'm sorry, Pete." Remus said,

"Yeah." He said quietly, "Will you guys come to the funeral?"

"Sure we'll come." James said quickly. There was another long pause as each wondered what affect this could have on the weakest of their friends,

"How's your mum?" Sirius asked,

"She's coming up tomorrow." Peter evaded, his voice monotonous

"Great." Remus said, though he wasn't sure why.

"No, it's not." Peter replied. What more was there to say?

A/N: this chapter is dedicated to my friedn Emma, I'm going to miss you next term Emz. Anyway, I have gone back and redone many of the chapters, no content has changed but some wording is different. Oh, and the mention Lily made before about their first match being against Ravenclaw was deleted.

PLEASE REVIEW - I have a hit counter and KNOW that many aren't!

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