Visiting James…

That night, Lily's eyes were almost closed when she remember the conversation that her and James had had that morning.

Throwing her blanket off of her, she threw on her dressing gown and crept down the stairs, her little green book securely in her pocket. She was so intent on getting out of the dormitory that she didn't notice her bed wasn't the only one unoccupied…

"Ella?" Lily hissed, when she got to the common room. The fire had burned right down now, so that it was only emitting a soft glow, by which she could see two figures sitting very close by it's side. They didn't move when she talked. They hadn't heard Lily, but she could see Ella's long hair glimmering in the dim light.

"Ella? What are you doing?" Lily asked again, a little louder. The figures by the fire jumped, and flew apart. Now she could see. Remus and Ella sat by the fire, hand in hand, their eyes wide in shock. Lily sniggered, smiling.

"Finally!" she whispered, as they dropped their hands and looked sheepish, "don't worry, I wont tell anyone, I'm just glad you too have finally got a move on!"

"No! It's not what you-"

"Quiet Remus, it's exactly what I think!" Lily laughed. She saw her friends grin by the firelight, and their hands found each other again. "Now, did you tell her the truth?" she asked. Lupin nodded awkwardly. Lily laughed.

"Ok, now, I want you to repeat after me- Lily was right!"

"No!" said Lupin, chuckling. Evan Ella cracked a smile.

"No way! You are not getting away with this! How long have I told you to tell her huh?"

"Ok ok! Lily was right!" he said, "Now, Miss Evan's, what are you doing out of bed at this time of night?" said Lupin. Lily looked uneasy.

"I was visiting James." She murmured. Ella and Lupin looked at each other and hi-fived discretely.

"No! It's nothing like that! Need to talk to him about something! I promise, it's not anything…you know what, I'm just going to leave you to it!" Lily turned and rushed up the stairs, followed by humoured yells of-" Come on lily, say it! Remus and Ella were right!" she grinned to herself, and ran over to James' bed. He was lying on top of the sheets, staring at the ceiling.

"Oh good, you're awake!" she whispered happily, the smile made from Ella and Remus's taunts still not left her face.

"Mmmm. I didn't know if you would remember, but I thought that I'd wait anyway. I couldn't sleep."

"Neither could I." Said Lily. "Do you mind if we don't look through the book tonight? Sorry, I just don't think I could keep my mind on it at the moment." James nodded, understanding, and patted the patch of bed next to him, for her to sit down, hoisting himself up so that he was leaning on his cushions. Peter's soft snores filled the room, and the light from the moon outside drifted in and cast James' face in numinous shadows.

Lily lay on the patch of bed. She looked up at James.

"So, what do you recon?" he asked her seriously.

"I don't know. I want to do something, but I'm having such a great time here…" she said quietly.

James nodded. "I know, I am too. I don't want to have to grow up so fast. Is that selfish?"

Lily shrugged, and James lay down next to her.

"And besides," said Lily after a while, "I don't think that I could bare it if anything happened to you." Lily became quiet sad.

"You don't have to worry about that." James whispered in her ear. "I promise that I'll always be there to protect you."

James stroked Lily's soft, red hair quietly, running his fingers through the long gingery strands that fell upon her back. Lily felt her eyes begin to close. She couldn't fall asleep in the boy's dormitory. She would be in big trouble if McGonagal ever found her…but the gentle lulling of James hand and the comfort of him there beside her made her eyes gently close, and she was swept off into dreams filled with Voldermort's sneering face, and James quiet protection…

Lily woke with a start. James' arm was wrapped around her, but it was Sirius' Black face that was peering down at her, laughing.

"What are you doing?" she asked him blearily, sitting herself up and untangling her limbs from James' embarrassedly.

"I think that I should be asking you that Miss Evans? What on earth were you and James up to last night? Lucky bugger. Dani would never agree to sleep in my bed."

"That, Sirius, is because Danielle has a boyfriend, and he is not you! But, you never know what her and Matt have been doing…" she enjoyed the effect of her word son Sirius's tormented face, as she got out of James bed and pulled her dressing gown on over her pyjamas.

"What did she…what do they…No, you know what, I don't want to know." He told her defiantly. Lily laughed.

"No, neither do I! Will you tell James that I said good morning, when he wakes up? Oh, and thankyou! See you Sirius!" said Lily cheerfully. Giving her bewildered friend a jovial wave and flitting down the stairs, Lily snuck discreetly across the common room and up to her dormitory, where Ella and Dani were only just rising.

"Where were you?" asked Dani, amazed. "I thought that you must have been in the shower or something!" Ella sniggered; She had known where Lily was.

"Yes Lily," she said, amused, her face screwed up in mock curiosity, "Where were you?"

"Oh shut up Ella!" Lily snapped. Ella giggled.

"Well, if you must know, I was, uh, up in the boys dormitory talking to James." Lily said airily, not meeting Dani's eye and straightening the cushions on her bed. Dani dropped the brush that she was holding.

"All night?" he said, dumbfounded. Lily rolled her eyes.

"No, ok, I slept up there, but only because I was tired from talking" she argued. Dani scoffed.

"Tired from talking? I think you were tired from something else."

"Well then Dani, while we're at it, Sirius said that you're welcome to join him up there any time that you like." Lily smirked. Dani stopped, mid-laugh.

"Ok, truce. We wont discuss this ever again." She said.

The legend of the bloodstone…

The three girls went down to the Great Hall, for breakfast.

The Ravenclaws hissed at them as they passed. James and Sirius made rude hand gestures at the perpetrators, greeting the girls with grim smiles and helping them into their seats.

"Quidditch getting close huh?" said Lily to James, when they were seated. James and Sirius nodded dourly. Ella laughed.

"You two will be fine! It's them who should be worrying! I wouldn't want to be…" she trailed off, looking at Dani. She was stark white. Sirius grinned. He would be competing against Matt on the weekend. Perhaps if he beat him by a large enough margin then Dani would realise what a prat he was? Maybe the jubilation of a victory party would be enough for them to finally get together. His hopes were not high, but it was with more enthusiasm than normal that he dug into his bacon and eggs.

"What do we have first?" James asked. Lily checked her timetable.

"Free period." She said, happily. "Common room?" James nodded, and they said goodbye to the others and went up to the common room, Lily racing up to her dormitory to retrieve the little green book, which had taken up residence under her pillow.

"That it?" James asked, when she took a seat opposite him beside the fireplace. Lily nodded, and opened the tiny cover. James peered over the edge.

"The writing's tiny." He said, squinting at its pages, while Lily flicked through.

"Not really, look!" said Lily, and she opened it at a page with a sparkling photograph, which seemed to glimmer, though no light was hitting it. It was a deep green stone, with flecks of red scattered through it. Lily knew that she had found what she was looking for. This was why the book had been calling for her. Something wanted her to get to the bottom of this mystery,. She didn't know what it was, but it had made her pick up the one book in the library that could have helped her.

James' eyes widened at the sight of the stone that sparkled on the page.

"Is that a bloodstone?" he asked quietly. Lily nodded, and held the book up to her eyes so that she could decipher the tiny script.

The legend of the Bloodstone oth-

"The inks smudged." Whispered Lily. James shrugged, and gestured for her to continue.

For centuries the villages of Kuraby and Marleston had fought. The source of their conflict was a stone. The stone was large as large as a snitch, however, it was no ordinary gem. When one who was pure of heart, with good intentions used the stone to their advantage then they could perform amazing feats. These can be seen on small scales today, purification of the blood, banishing of evil spirits, protection, prolonging of life and the curing of werewolves were some of it's more exclusive powers, with the last being the moist unique. Though many potions today use ground up bloodstone to cure a werewolf of their condition these are merely home remedies, and none of yet have proved successful.

The villages had formed tribes and councils, and the grudges that they held against one another were passed down from generation to generation, like a disease that continued to grow more fearsome with each passing child.

When the burden got too much, and the tribes could no longer with hold their ancient grudge, they let loose on the other, and a war endured that lasted for many years. It was at this time, thousands of centuries ago, that many believe the Avada Kedavera curse was created, though this cant be confirmed. There was nothing that was going to end the desperate fight for power, and it seemed as though it would never end, each village wanting the power for themselves, believing that supreme power and magic would be theirs.

Finally, when only one wizard had made it through the fighting, and only one was left form each of the villages, they stood before the stone,. Thinking of all they had lost and beginning to wonder if the lives of all they had loved had been worth the stone, when the warrior from Marleston reached for the bloodstone, and something horrible, something amazing occurred.

The man didn't become immortal, and he wasn't cured of his heartache and pain. The good energy that would once power the stone was gone, and the death and destruction that was in its place made the blood red veins that ran through it's smooth surface ablaze with fury and devastation. The two men found themselves swallowed up with darkness, and the place where their villages stood was never seen again, as though they were gobbled up by the earth itself.

As was the bloodstone. Though there have been many rumours in recent years of the great stone beginning used to cure and to create, most believe that the legend of the bloodstone is just that. A legend to be told to foolish travellers and wistful warriors, who want to make their mark on the world.

"That's it James, That's it!" Lily cried, slamming the book shut and looking up at him in amazement. "That's not just a legend! I've read this somewhere before, I know that I have, and that's what we've got to do! We have to go there and find the bloodstone!"

James was looking crestfallen, staring at the carpet in dismay.

"What is it?" she asked him quietly. "What's wrong?"

"What's wrong, is that we don't have the time, or the powers to go off looking for rocks, even if they do save Remus. And did you read the end of that story Lily? It's only a story. We shouldn't get too excited, and, for the moment, I don't think that we should get Remus worked up either. I know that we really want to do this, but what will happen to our NEWTS? And where would we even start looking when we got there? And what about all those other things that we have to worry about at the moment? What about the Heliotrope?"
Lily sighed at the mention of that mysterious word.

"We should have asked Dumbledore." She said wearily.

"No we shouldn't have." James replied firmly. "We weren't meant to be there, remember?"

"Mmmm. I suppose. It's just frustrating…"

"Listen, I know what this means, I understand that, I do, but we do only have half a year left here, ok? Lets try, for once in our lives, to be normal. There will be plenty of time for finding the stone then."

Lily hesitated for a moment, and looked into James' eyes.

"Ok." She relented finally. "But if we find the heliotrope then we are going after it, agreed?" James nodded, regretfully.

She pocketed the little book, and they headed down to their potions class.

The potions teacher, Professor Slughorn, was the head of Slytherin House, however, he had taken a liking to Lily and Lupin, inviting them to parties and meeting that were for, as he liked to call it, The Slug Club.

Lily found the whole idea quite funny, and she liked to tease Slughorn immensely, their witty banters taking up much of the potions lessons. Lupin, on the other hand, found that being in the Slugclub was embarrassing and degrading, and didn't often turn up to parties, having mysterious prefect duties, or detentions on the nights that they were held.

"Evans!" boomed Slughorn, when they had all taken their seats and begun brewing Corperletius, a potion that would heal burns; "We're all meeting in my office tonight if you wish to come!"

"It had better not be your resident snakes this time Professor. Got any Griffindore's that you wish to invite?"

"Only you and Remus, but as he doesn't wish to come on many the occasion."

"So who else have you rounded up this year?" she asked, teasingly. Slughorn scowled.

"Rounded up! You make it sound as though I force them to come."

"Certainly not, or else Remus would attend."

"Very well, I suppose it wouldn't hurt to tell you… Nott, Cumberdale, Mixaxtas, Severus, and-"

"And Remus." Added James. Lily, Remus and Slughorn all looked at him in horror and shock. But James' eyes weren't on Remus. He was too busy looking across the room at Snape.

"Very well then, Remus, if you finally wish to join us. We will have pudding." Slughorn chortled, and started up the rows again. Lily shared a look of exasperation with Sirius.

"Why the hell did you do that?" Remus hissed, ducking down behind his cauldron to talk to James, who was fuming.

"I don't want him, there…alone, with her." James said angrily.

"They wont be alone! There's a professor there for crying out loud!"

"That wouldn't stop Snivelius, the little slime ball…be a perfect time for him to slip Lily a love potion or-"

"Or what? Listen, if I'm there so that I can keep an eye on Lily then I have got better things to do." Remus argued.

"Are you saying you don't care about Lily?" James said, his jaw clenched like his fist.

" No James, I just don't think that there's any need. I know that Snape likes her, but she doesn't know that, and even if she did she wouldn't do anything about it! And in any case, he wouldn't do anything with her. He calls her a mudblood, remember?" James was breathing deeply.

"So you wont go?"

"No. No I wont. "

"He said there'd be pudding!" James tried. Lupin laughed.

"I don't want his pudding. If it were your choice I wouldn't even eat the pudding, I'd be too busy throwing it at Snape, while he and Lily snogged-"

"Professor!" called James, popping up from behind his caldron.

"Ella asked me to tell you that she'd like to come to the next little one of you gatherings. Too, and she is sorely sorry that she has missed so many in the past." James said, with a grin on his face. Lily and Sirius looked at him open mouthed.

"Ella? Her mother wrote 'Famous Wands And What They've Done, did she not?"

James nodded. "That's the one! Is it still ok that she comes?" Slughorn grinned, and nodded enthusiastically. James ducked back down under his cauldron, where Remus's face was red.

"What the ruddy hell did you do that for?" said Remus.

"Not you have to go! Cumberdale's going, and you know who he want-"

"Shut up James! I could just get Lily to keep an eye on her…oh no, wait, she'll be off snogging Snape." James growled, and they emerged from their discussion, and went back to brewing their potion.

"James? What did you do that for? You know that Ella wont want to go!" Lily said to him, outraged.

"Maybe she will now, Remus is going." He said with a roguish smile, so that Lily couldn't help but crack a reluctant grin.

" Perhaps, but I don't think that that will stop her killing you when she finds out that you signed her up for a night with Slughorn." Said Lily, stirring her potion with apparent ease while Sirius tried to amend his gluggy concoction.

"A night with Slughorn?" James teased.

"What do you do at these little get togethers of yours Evans?" James asked, winking, and Lily looked repulsed.

"Ew! James Potter get your mind out of the gutter and onto your potion! You know what I mean. She'll throttle you, I promise." She said, peering her copy of Advanced Potion Making in concentration. James smiled at her.

"What?" she said haphazardly, catching his expression of bliss.

"Nothing. " James said quickly, and didn't disclose to anyone but himself that the reason he was so happy was the mere fact that he was here spending time with Lily Evans.