I'm BACK!

Get ready for a pretty long chapter…this one took me a while to do—It's twenty pages long front and back written out. ALSO, I want to take this time to tell you all about (the real life) Angela! She really helped me come up with ideas for the next few chapters, and I would like to plug her stories! Her screen name is insidebroomcloset, so go check her stuff out! -…Oh, by the way—I know that Harry doesn't really even have a godmother, but I want him to have one, so Jessica is it! Enjoy chapter 4!

Disclaimer: I don't own anything that you could easily find in one of the Harry Potter books. I do however own the following characters: Jessica, Angel, Angela, Sapphire, Marissa, and Jessalynn. Okay, please don't sue! Buh-Bye!

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After Charms was over, Lily told Angel and Jessica to go ahead and she'd see them in their next class together after lunch; she and James had Ancient Runes next. Remus stayed behind from Sirius as he too had the class with Lily and James.

"What did you want to say?" James asked as he shoved his things into his backpack.

"James, Sirius is telling the truth about who he hangs out with. Jessalynn confirmed it." Lily told him, a serious look on her face.

"Wait…Jessalynn Peters? Jessica's sister? Lily, you're a bloody genius and all, but to believe her…?" James snorted as they began the trek to class.

"James Potter, I have my reasons. All I know is that regardless of whom Sirius is friends with; he is first and foremost a brother to you. I do not believe he'd lie to you about this." Lily said, looking to Remus for support.

"Honestly mate, perhaps you're overreacting just a little bit? I mean, I do remember that last year a certain boy with black hair and glasses blowing the lot of us off to take a certain red head flying." Remus said knowingly.

James' face screwed up with a look of defeat, "I swear you all are out to get me…Fine, I will apologize at lunch, okay?"

Lily grinned and gave Remus a 'thumbs-up', "I knew you'd see it our way darling!" She gave James a quick kiss and skittered into class.

Lunchtime came a little too quickly for James' liking. He didn't want to fight with his best friend and longer than he already had, but he was also stubborn. James hated admitting that he'd been wrong.

He stood up after class was over and waited for Lily. She was being congratulated by the professor on attaining the highest marks (again) on the latest exam.

"Yes, thank you again Professor. See you tomorrow…" Lily said quickly as James pulled her from the classroom.

"Where's Remus?" Lily asked after a quick kiss from James.

"Right here," Remus smiled, leaning against the wall by the doorway, "Let's go, I'm starved."

James grimaced as the three made their way to the Great Hall.

"Look James, here comes Sirius." Lily pointed out the obvious fact that Sirius was striding over to the group, who stood in the archway. Lily squeezed James' hand and promptly left to join Angel and Jessica at the Gryffindor table.

"Moony, stay here, will you?" James muttered before Remus could get away.

"Sure Prongs." Remus replied simply.

"James, can we talk?" Sirius said as he reached his fellows.

"Look Padfoot, I'm sorry. I should have trusted your word. I was stupid…Can you forgive me?" James said immediately.

Sirius looked thoughtful for a moment before a grin spread across his face.

"Of course I can Prongs! Just don't underestimate my character again, yeah?" he said, the last part very seriously.

"Yeah," James grinned as well and clapped his two best friends on the back, "Let's eat!"

"So, are you two back to being best mates then?" Peter asked as his fellow Marauders sat down to eat.

"Never stopped, Worm tail." James said, piling food onto his plate.

"Yeah, we just hit a roadblock…And in true Marauder style, we plowed right through it!" Sirius added, laughing.

"Well I'm glad. It's not right seeing either of you without the other." Angel said happily.

Later that evening, everyone had gathered in the Common Room to study.

"Why does Potions have to be so bloody difficult?" Peter cried, slamming his Potions book shut in frustration and scarring some second years.

"What are you stuck with now Peter?" Lily asked, craning her neck over James to better see what Peter was working on.

"I never should have taken N.E.W.T. level Potions…I cannot remember for the life of me what to do to make a common herbal remedy." Peter whined.

"Oh, that's not hard! You can take Russian comfrey root and garlic and grind it into a powder…Then it's called Knitbone—which is like a predecessor to Skele-grow. If you add an ounce of coltsfoot, you can create a cure for the common cold." James rattled off before Lily could answer.

"Oh yes, of course…" Peter said distractedly, returning to his essay.

"James Potter, I am proud of you. You are doing so much better in all of your classes lately." Lily kissed James on the cheek.

"Yeah mate, keep this up and you'll be an Auror no problem!" Remus said, looking up from his star chart.

"I hope so. I mean, I do want to follow in my dad's footsteps." James said thoughtfully.

"They'll be proud of you Prongs, they always have been." Sirius said earnestly.

"Thanks Padfoot," James stood up and stretched, "Well, I'm off to bed…Quidditch tomorrow!"

"Yeah, I should go too…Good night guys." Sirius agreed. He stood up as well, and both retreated to the boys' dormitory for the night.

The next day was the first Quidditch match of the season; Gryffindor versus Slytherin.

"Teams, mount your brooms!" shouted Madam Hooch, "Three…two…one—"and the whistle blew.

Fourteen Brooms raised high into the air, carrying their riders around the pitch.

Thirty minutes into the game, Slytherin was ahead seventy to forty. This was mainly due to the fact that Angela was Slytherin's Keeper. And try as he might, James could not convince Sirius, who was one of the Gryffindor beaters, to knock his girlfriend off her broom.

"Just shove her off! She has her team do it to you constantly! Knock a ruddy bludger in that general direction at least and help your team!" James shouted angrily.

Sirius paused for a moment. He took a deep breath and when a bludger came near him, he did what James told him. For the first time, he hit the bludger in Angela's direction.

It was like slow motion, watching the ball sail right for the Keeper's box. Angela was not paying attention, and didn't see it heading straight for her.

"AAARRRGGGHHH!" Angela was suddenly unconscious and falling to the ground.

"ANGELA—NO!" Sirius bellowed, streaking toward her as fast as he could go.

About twenty feet from the ground, he caught her and landed safely by the stands. Madam Hooch blew her whistle and signaled a time out. James landed next to Sirius just as Madam Pomfrey arrived on the scene.

"I listen to you and look what happens!" Sirius said sarcastically, his voice cracking.

"Angela won't care. She knows it's just a game! Come on, we've got to finish." James said as Angela was mounted on a stretcher and taken to the hospital wing. As James and Sirius flew back to their positions, the game resumed.

It was over fifteen minutes later. The final score: 210 to 70.

James landed amongst the happy crowd of Gryffindors to find a glowing Lily.

"You were wonderful!" she exclaimed before kissing James hard.

James grinned and pulled back. "Well, it was pretty easy after Sirius did what I told him to do." He said smugly.

Suddenly, Lily's cheeks flushed and her brow furrowed. "James Potter, you're horrible!"

Then she did it. In one swift movement, her hand collided with James' face. Lily groaned in frustration and stalked off for the castle.

"What was that about?" Jessica asked, coming up behind James.

"Dunno…" James replied, rubbing his cheek, "Did you see where Sirius landed?"

"He didn't…He went straight up to the castle on his broom as soon as the whistle blew. He said he'd be in the Common Room for the party though." Jessica replied, walking away.

James sighed and made his way to the Field House to change into his school robes.

"Lily…What are you doing here?" came the voice of a groggy Angela as she regained consciousness in the hospital wing.

"Sirius wanted me to tell you that he was here…He'll be back within the hour. I just wanted you to know that Sirius would never have hit you if it weren't for James. He was overly concerned about the game, and not for anyone else's safety." Lily replied.

"Lily, about James…I need to tell you something." Angela sat up slightly.

"What is it?" Lily felt uneasiness build in the pit of her stomach.

"It's about the night this week that you two didn't patrol together." Angela looked at the wall behind Lily as she said this.

"What?" Lily wasn't sure she wanted to hear what Angela was about to tell her.

"James was down in the Slytherin corridor, and he saw Jessalynn. She looked really upset, so instead of just yelling at her, he asked her what was wrong. She told him that we'd just had a row about Sirius and that now she felt horrible about it all. James asked her if there was anything that he could do, and she asked if he'd follow her into an empty classroom…He agreed and they…Oh Lily, I'm really sorry." Lily had burst into tears.

"No, thank you for telling me Angela. I need to go speak with James." Lily stood just as Sirius had entered the room.

"Lily, what's up?" he asked when he surveyed the situation.

"You'll find out soon enough!" She spat, barely choking back a sob. She briskly brushed past Sirius and flew from the room.

"Let James tell you…" Angela said with a chilly tone to her voice.

The Gryffindor victory party was in full swing when Lily burst through the Portrait Hole. She quickly found James and pulled him aside.

"What on earth has gotten into you today?" James asked bemusedly.

"I could ask you the same question, Potter." Lily hissed venomously.

"Potter…? Since when were we on a last name basis again?" James was taken aback.

"Since you decided you could take advantage of my trust you bloody prat!" Lily could feel her heart aching.

"What?" James looked incredulous.

"Don't act clueless Potter. I know what you did the other night! How could you? Especially after what you said on Halloween! I can't believe that I trusted you!" By now, Lily was almost shouting.

"Look Lily, I don't know—"

"The hell you don't! James, I know about everything—I know you cheated on me!"

"That is BULL! I would never do that to you! Who told you that?" James yelled.

"That doesn't matter. If you care about me so much, why did you do it?" Lily said, her eyes glowing.

"DO WHAT EVANS! I did nothing against you!" It was hearing James call her by her last name that hurt Lily more than anything.

"I'm not gonna take this…You're a cheating, lying arse—We're THROUGH!" Lily cried.

"FINE! Have a nice life Evans. I hope the next poor sap you involve yourself with is a lot smarter than I was!" James charged up the stairs to his room.

As Lily looked around, she saw that everyone in the room had become silent to watch the row. She instantly felt hot tears begin to stream down her face. She couldn't move.

"Come on Lil, let's all go talk." Angel said as she and Jessica quietly steered her up the staircase to their room.

"My dad did that…?" Harry was devastated.

"You'd find out if you'd let us finish." Angel said, smirking.

"Sorry…Jess, can I ask you how…How you could recall the conversation between my mum and Angela? You weren't there, were you?" Harry asked.

"Lily showed me the memory in the pensive she'd won in our sixth year. She didn't feel up to retelling it herself." Jessica answered simply, "Okay…"

"You've go t to be kidding me. She said that?" Sirius and Remus sat with a distraught James later that night around midnight.

"It's not true!" James croaked out.

"We know mate," Remus said, "You wouldn't do that to anyone, especially Lily."

"I want to know who told her." James growled his tone angry.

"I think…Angela. She said that Lynn was pleased with herself too." Sirius said quietly.

"So Angela said that I snogged Jessalynn? That's disgusting…And Lily believed it?" James was furious.

"I will talk to Angela in the morning. I'll see what really went on." Sirius replied.

"Wait—James, when you came in that night, you were acting…funny. You weren't yourself. What if you did do something with Lynn that night? What if she made you do it?" Remus suggested.

"Lily, you can't possibly believe her! She and Jessalynn would do just that sort of thing to get at you." Angel said.

"My sister is painfully jealous of you Lily. She has fancied James for years. I'd go so far as to say she is lustful over him." Jessica added.

"I don't know! I just don't want to get hurt!" Lily wailed

The next day flew by as quickly as it had come. Sirius was unable to talk to any of the Slytherin girls, much less Angela. Lily and James had refused to even look at each other. Both scarcely ate and hardly spoke to anyone. This behavior went on for the rest of the week until Friday night.

"Are you kidding me!"

"Sirius, it did happen. I just…embellished a bit."

"Embellished?" Angela, you ruined them! And I don't even want to start on Jessalynn!"

"Sirius—"

"I can't deal with you right now…"

"I thought you loved me Sirius! Where are you placing your loyalties?"

"…With my brother. I'm sorry Angela. I do love you but we can go on if you are going to undermine my family."

"Don't do this…"

"I'll see you around I guess."

With that, Sirius left Angela standing alone outside the hospital wing. He was halfway to the Gryffindor Common Room when he met up with Jessica and Angel.

"Sirius, what's up?" Angel asked.

"Jessalynn cursed James. She forced him to kiss her and then had Angela lie about it to Lily…" And he told them what had just happened outside the hospital wing, feeling devastated.

"Merlin's beard…Lily will never believe you Sirius…" Jessica said miserably.

"Well we need to do something! Get them alone together somehow so they can talk…" Angela said frantically.

Sirius took a moment to think, "I've got it! I will tell James what really happened and you to can tell Lily. After you do, tell her to meet you at the lake at 11:30," Sirius knew it was about 10:45, "I will tell James to go there at the same time. We can hide out and watch them when they meet."

"Alright." Both Jessica and Angel nodded and they all ran to put the plan into action.

"James! James, get down here!" Sirius shouted as he bounded toward the Quidditch stadium.

"What?" James responded in a hollow tone as he met Sirius on the ground.

"You were cursed!" Sirius prayed this plan would work.

"Excuse me?" James replied, confused.

"Jessalynn put you under a spell that night when she kissed you, and she had Angela lie about that part to Lily." Sirius said in one long breath.

"Well a lot of good that does me if Lily doesn't believe me!" James said, running a hand through his already wind swept hair in frustration.

"She's gonna be at the lake at 11:30. Go talk to her. Angel and Jessica are telling her the whole story right now." Sirius ignored the sarcasm.

"Padfoot, what's the point? She hates me again—I'm back to square one." James stared at the ground.

"Prongs trust me. Just go to her. You need to, you love her." Sirius implored.

James' head snapped up, "What if she doesn't love me?" He was close to tears.

"She does mate, I know it," was all Sirius could manage, "Hurry and get to the lake, it's nearly 11:30 now."

"Sure…" James choked.

Meanwhile, Jessica and Angel found Lily silently crying in the back of the library.

"Lil…" Jessica started, "Lily, come here…" She pulled Lily into a hug.

"Why'd he do it? I thought that he cared about me!" Lily sobbed at once.

"Lily, he does care about you…James was forced into kissing Jessalynn. Then Angela lied to you about it. They were trying on purpose to screw everything up!" Angel desperately wanted her to understand.

"Look, we want to tell you more…meet us at the lake in ten minutes, okay?" Jessica looked at her (wizarding) watch anxiously.

"Sure…" Lily said, wiping her eyes on her sleeve.

"Phase one is complete." Sirius said as he met Angel and Jessica behind a large boulder by the lake. James was already sitting at the water's edge, staring blankly at his moonlit reflection.

"Shh…Here comes Lily!" Angel hissed. The three knelt down and watched closely.

"James…What's going on?" Lily was surprised.

"Did they tell you?" James asked, not moving from where he sat.

"Yes." Lily replied simply.

"I didn't cheat on you…Not willingly anyway." James felt his breath catch in his throat.

"How was I supposed to know that James?" Lily replied stubbornly.

"You were supposed to trust me!" James said, his temper flaring.

"Don't yell!" Lily yelled.

"And you can? Bloody hell Lily, I don't want to do this!" James stood and spun around to face Lily.

"Merlin...James, we're just two completely different people—Why even try!" Lily cried.

"Why?" James spluttered.

"Yes, why! How would it ever work? Why—"

James suddenly cut Lily's sentence short. He quickly stepped forward and pressed his lips to hers. She struggled against him at first, but only for a moment. She soon gave in and kissed back with all the emotion she had pent up inside her heart. James took Lily's hands in his and pulled back.

"I love you, that's why." He said in a husky voice.

"Oh James…" Lily breathed, fresh tears falling from her emerald eyes.

"I love you Lily. With everything that I have inside of me, I love you. When you're happy, I am too. When you're sad, so am I. For as long as I live I will love you. I will never let anyone hurt you again like that. Never." James confessed, his own eyes brimming with tears.

"James…Oh James, I love you too!" Lily whimpered, clinging to James' hands.

"Then why…?" James was grinning.

"I didn't want to admit it because I thought it would hurt more if things didn't work out between us. I was afraid…So I trusted what Angela said. I'm sorry…I'm so sorry! I love you and I never want to be away from you again James. This past week all that I've wanted to do is run up and kiss you and tell you that I didn't care anymore what happened. I've missed you so much…everything about you. I love you James." Lily declared, shaking all over.

"I missed you too." James whispered, pulling Lily into his arms and calming her.

It was slow at first, but gradually picked up. The sound of three pairs of hands clapping caused James and Lily to look toward the boulder where Sirius, Angel, and Jessica were now practically dancing around.

"Great idea Sirius, it worked!" Angel grinned.

"Thanks…" Sirius brushed the dirt off of his pant legs.

"Okay, lets get to bed…These two will want to—erm—do some 'patrolling'. Goodnight lovebirds!" Jessica then started up the hill.

Lily gasped at the comment. James just laughed as Sirius and Angel followed Jessica up the hill, winking and giving the couple the 'thumbs-up'.

"Let's go, it's kind of late…" James said a moment later with a tiny yawn.

"James, are you sure you want to do that?" Lily said quietly, an innocent look on her face.

"What…?" James looked at Lily, puzzled.

Lily sighed dramatically, "Are you going to kiss me again or not? After all, we do have a week's worth of catching up to do."

James smiled coyly and leaned down to begin 'catching up'.

"Angela, just talk to him and tell him what you just told me." Angel said exasperatedly to her sister almost a month later.

"I've tried that Angel, but he won't listen! He's being so stubborn…" Angela huffed.

"You said that he told you he loved you, right?"

"Yes…"

"And I know that you love him too, but I don't think he can believe that from you right now. So go to the extreme and show him that you mean what you've been saying." Angel thought aloud.

"What are you suggesting?" Angela asked.

"Apologize to Lily and James—In front of everyone. Tonight at dinner would be the perfect time." Angel replied.

"You're serious?" Angel coughed.

"It's the last day before the Christmas holidays Ange. Do you want to spend it without him?" Angel said matter-of-factly.

"Do you think it'll work?"

"If you're sincere it will."

Later that night, Angela composed herself and marched determinedly toward the Gryffindors.

"Lily, James, I have something that I need to say." She began.

"More lies, perhaps?" Sirius interrupted coldly.

"No…In fact, just the opposite…I'm sorry. I'm sorry for hurting you both. I know it was wrong of me, and I sincerely hope that you can find it in you to forgive me. I don't know what I was thinking." Angela then gave a small smile and turned to go to her seat.

Before she got twenty steps away, Lily called to her, "Angela?"

"Yes?" She turned around hopefully.

"We forgive you. Thank you." She smiled and James nodded in agreement.

Angela nodded as well and turned around again to leave.

"And…Angela?" It was James calling her this time.

"Yeah…" She trailed off. Sirius was standing right in front of her, close enough to touch.

"Hi." He smiled.

"Sirius…" Angela beamed.

Sirius took Angela's hand in his and gently kissed the back, sending chills all through her.

"I've really missed you Sirius. I love you so much, I am so sorry." Angela said, choking on her words.

"I know. I love you too Ange." Sirius said quietly. He tightened his hold on her hand and led Angela out of the Great Hall.

"So which broom closet do you expect to find them in this time?" asked Peter a moment later.

"I think we can skip patrols tonight," Lily said surprising everyone, "The way I see it, she actually helped James and I. If I hadn't felt what it was like to have him in my life one minute and ripped from it the next…I needed to be miserable."

"Yeah…So did I." James agreed.

Hmm…FOURTEEN pages typed out! Okay, I'd better get a truckload of reviews people…That's the only way chapter five is going to go up! Okay, have a peachy keen day!

Serena Gemini

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