Chapter fifteen: Trickery

James walked down the boys' dormatory stair case and into the common room to find Lily, still in her school uniform, asleep in a chair facing the window. He walked over to her and shook her awake.

"Remus," she said as she jolted awake. Looking around, she pushed her hair away from her face and realized James was looking at her. "James?"

"What were you dreaming about," James teased.

"Nothing I- I- wow I did fall asleep."

"What were you doing down here anyway?" James asked curiously as he looked at the nearby table and saw no books of any kind.

"I was waiting for Remus to come back. Did he?"

James shook his head. "I didn't hear him come in last night and his bed was made." Lily groaned and covered her face with her hands. "What are you so worried about Lils? Remus is a big boy. He can take care of himself." Before Lily could reply, the portrait covering the entrance hole to the common room opened and in walked a very tired, but happy, looking Remus. Lily and James walked over to him as he flopped on the couch with a sigh and a smile. He threw the invisibility cloak at James, which he caught.

"Remus," Lily said, breaking into a stride the last few steps and sitting down next to him. "Where have you been?"

"Out," was all Remus was able to get out.

"With Sam?" James questioned further. When he nodded, James let out a loud woop that was awarded a glare from Lily since it was still quite early.

"But, what could you possibly do with- with- that girl all night?" Lily demanded. When the only reaction from Remus was a wider smile, James smiled himself and said, "Easy Lils. Remus got some last night."

Lily gasped and her head turned, so she could look at James, so fast a sharp pain went through it. "Don't say such a think James! Remus would never do something like that!" Looking back at Remus she asked, "Would you Remus?" He straightened himself from his slouch and, looking at her seriously, said, "There is a fine line between what I would do and what you would do Lily. Please keep your nose in your own relationship."

Lily's eyes falshed furiously at these words. "Fine," she stood up so fast that it made both Remus and James jump, "Fine then. I'm going to get ready for class." And she walked away angrily, making sure to slam the girls' dorm door when closing it. James and Remus sat in silence for some time, James carefully watching Remus as he stared across the room and out the window. He only moved when he heard movement in the dorm and decided it was time to get ready for the day.

As the weeks in December passed by so many things changed. For one thing it got a lot colder out and Quidditch practice became more and more intense so James could get the tactics he came up with beaten into his teammate's heads'. He was just coming inside from another strenuous practice when his mind began to wander. The snow reminded him of Lily's soft ivory white skin so he mostly thought about her and how frustrated she's been now a days. She was taking more classes then them all, even though she didn't have to, she had head girl duties and, even though she didn't need to, she constantly worried about Remus. She wasn't the only one though. Secretly James began to worry too. He knew he should be happy for Remus and his new found love, even if she was a Slytherin, but as the seasons changed so did he. Remus now began to skip classes to go hang out with Sam, he didn't exactly neglect prefect duties but he did begin to slack off and the only real thing that was bothering him was how to keep Sam buying his lies about where he would be going every month during the full moon. Sure he worried about keeping him being a were-wolf a secret but that always seemed to be at the bottom of his list and studies at the top, until now.

As James walked up the marble staircase and down the hall he heard voices, and one sounded very familiar. Stopping and looking around, he hid behind a suit of armor and listened as three giggling girls walked past. The one in the middle stopped.

"Hold up, I gotta tie my shoe." Bending down she started to unlace the untied shoe.

"Geeze Sam, do you have to do that every time you tie your shoes?" a girl with shoulder length black hair and heavily lidded eyes asked annoyed.

Still doing her shoes up Sam answered, "Yes, Bella."

The other girl, who had long white blonde hair, looked around to see that they were alone and, finding they were, whispered, "So tell us your plan."

Sam stopped tying her shoe and looked up. She looked around also and then beckoned them closer. "All right," she whispered, "well you know how I'm going out with Remus?" The other two nodded their heads. Sam looked around again and continued. "Well, I'm only going out with him to get," she paused to look around once more, as well for dramatic affect, "to James Potter."

The two girls gasped. Bella smiled wide.

"Are you serious? But why?"

"Why what?"

"Why James? Why Remus? Why anyone?"

The girl with the blonde hair interrupted. "James Potter was chosen for...certain reasons."

Bella gasped and looked from one girl to the other. 'Is- is Cissy right? Is she telling the truth Sam? Did He- choose you for-?" Sam smiled and nodded and Bella let out a small laugh. Sam switched to the other shoe as Bella continued to question her. "But why'd you choose Remus? Why not Sirius or that other blond boy?"

"Yeah. Remus seems too smart. I mean," Cissy scoffed, "Sirius would've been perfect. He's dimwitted enough. No offense Bella."

Bella glared with seething anger. "In case you have forgotten, Narcissa, your last name is Black too which makes him your cousin as much as mine. I mean we are sisters, even if you do like to deny it." Before a sisterly argument could break out Sam interrupted.

"I picked Remus because Sirius is too close to James. They're inseparable. I know that sounds perfect but I thought he'd catch on sooner than Remus. Heck, I thought Remus would've caught on by now."

"Well, you did- you know- do stuff with him right?" Bella asked and Sam nodded. "Maybe that's why."

"Oh please. I don't think Remus is-"

"Hey, I'm just saying. Guys do enjoy doing stuff with girls. You should've seen Lucius before he met Narcissa." Sam and Bella giggled while Narcissa glared.

The three girls were silent for a while. "Well, Lucius told me that if this works, Sam, He will be pleased with you," Narcissa informed them.

Bella smiled and said, louder then she meant to, "Yeah, I mean killing James Pot-"

"Shhhh!" Sam hissed at her harshly as she looked around frantically and they stood up and walked away. "So, how are you and Lucius, Cissy?" Sam asked as if the previous conversation never happened..

"Oh, we're good but-" James didn't hear any more as the girls' walked down the hall. When their footsteps faded completely, James came out from behind the suit of armor full of shock. Sam was just using Remus and he had no clue. But what shocked him the most was that she was just using Remus to get to him. So she could kill him. James started to panic. He looked up and down the hall. He had to find Remus and tell him. He started to run towards the Gryffindor tower when he heard a door from behind him open. Turning around he saw Sirius practically falling out of a broom closet with a brown haired Slytherin sixth year. Seeing James he said, "Oh hey James!" he turned to the girl and said, "I'll see you later." The girl turned and walked away, waving goodbye over her shoulder.

"Okay, what were you doing with her?" James asked when she was out of sight.

"Oh you know, just getting to know her. Hey, Remus was right. Slytherin's are fun!"

"You do know who that was though, right?"

Sirius thought for a minute. "I think she said her name was Christine."

"Yes, but do you know her nickname?" Sirius shook his head. "Well I don't know if it's true but I heard they call her STD Christine." An ugly look came upon Sirius' handsome face and he started to walk away. James grabbed his arm though and pulled him back. "Where do you think you're going?"

"To take a bath in acid."

"No you're not. You're going to help me find Remus." James filled Sirius in on what he heard. Sirius' eyes grew wide, "That little whore!"

"I know."

"We gotta go find Rmus and tell him!"

"Right, you check the common room and I'll check the library." They split up to go and find him.

A/N: DUN DUN DUN! I feel bad for Remus. I just ruin his love life don't I? Well no one ever said that tough love didn't hurt. I wasn't sure whether Bella always had the heavily lidded eyes and I remember Harry guessing it was from her being in Azkaban but I just made it so she always had them.