The Breakup

The next day it was back to classes. Lily and James sat next to each other in every class. Professor McGonagall even commented on it. She asked what had hit Lily on the head over the break. Lily had laughed and said nothing else. James, at least, looked insulted. The rest of the day went on similarly like that. They sat together at lunch, did their homework together, and couldn't not be in the same room. At one point Sirius suggested that he use some magic to pry them but after getting hexed by James he knew enough to stop talking. Instead Aimee and Sarah sat with the rest of the Marauders. Life went on for all of them. They had quidditch practice, at which Lily excelled. They had classes, which gradually at Lily's nagging, James actually did his work and excelled in. A week later they called the first Prefect meeting of the year.

They wanted to discuss the ball. It was only a month and a half away and they had to prepare. Lily started the meeting by assigning each house different duties. Slytherin was put in charge of food. Ravenclaw was to take care of the entertainment. Hufflepuff and Gryffindor both were to do the decorations. That was the biggest duty, decorating the Main Hall, so they decided to split it. After that James put the decision whether or not to have costumes to a vote. Predictably Slytherin hated the idea and they all voted against it. Ravenclaw and Gryffindor, with the exception of Remus, loved the idea but for once Hufflepuff, with the exception of a sixth-year girl, sided with Slytherin. So it was a tie. Lily and James were the only two deciding votes left. Lily was all for it but James didn't like the idea. There was a complete and total tie. "We'll have to ask Dumbledore his opinion." Lily said as she ended the meeting. The rest of the prefects filed out but James and Lily stayed.

"Why did you say that?" James demanded. "You know that Dumbledore said it was up to us to decide."

"So we'll decide." Lily said mildly. "I just didn't want to have a two hour meeting over that. So what do you think?"

"You know what I think. I think that we shouldn't have costumes. It's to kid-like." James replied.

"Kid-like?" Lily asked. She was getting mad now. "I happen to like costumes. How can you have Halloween without costumes?"

"Very easily." James said.

"So how are we going to decide this?" Lily asked. "I refuse to give and you stubbornly refuse to admit that I'm right."

"We'll ask our friends." James suggested.

"But all of the guys will side with you and there are three of them and only two of my friends." Lily argued.

"So I win." James said.

"No you don't."

"So how do you think we should decide?" James asked her.

"We can make costumes optional." Lily suggested.

"Fine. But all of the guys will end up in regular clothes and the girls will be wearing costumes." James warned.

"I can live with that. Besides the girls will just get their boyfriends to wear them." Lily said.

"Well you won't see me in one." James said stomping out. Lily waited five minutes before she left. When she got back to the common room she looked around for James. He wasn't there and neither was Sirius. Remus and Peter were sitting on chairs playing Wizard's chess though. Lily walked over to them.

"Have you guys seen James?" She asked.

"He walked in about two minutes ago, grabbed Sirius, then walked out. Why? You guys aren't fighting are you." Remus answered. He had just commanded his bishop to take Peter's queen. Peter had never won a game against Remus and he apparently wasn't going to break that streak today.

"We had a small argument. It was stupid really." Lily answered.

"What was it over?"

"Costumes."

"Whether or not to have costumes at that ball? I thought you were going to ask Dumbledore." Remus said.

"Long story. We couldn't." Lily replied. "We ended up deciding that costumes were optional."

"So how did they lead into a fight?" Peter asked. He commanded his pawn to take one of Remus's pawns but he was clearly losing.

"I really don't feel like explaining. Can you just tell him that I need to talk to him? Thanks." Lily said ending the conversation. She walked over to an empty chair and sat down. She picked up a book and started to read. She stared there until two o'clock, long after everyone had gone to sleep. Finally she had to give up. She set down her book and went to bed.

Before James had grabbed Sirius he had gone upstairs and gotten his invisibility cloak. He and Sirius flung it over themselves as soon as they left the common room. James led them outside into the forbidden forest. He flung off the cloak. "What are we doing here?" Sirius asked.

"Lily and I got into a fight." James said gruffly. "So I don't want to be James anymore, I want to be Prongs." It was one of those rare moments where your best friend know exactly what you're going through. They know that you don't want to deal with it. How to best deny it. So they became the animals. And they ran through the forest. They played with each other occasionally, but mostly they just ran. It was after three when they went back. They didn't say anything after James said he wanted to change. They just went back to the bed

The next morning Lily woke up late. She went downstairs and sat next to where James was sitting. "I'm sorry," She said before James could say anything. "It was a stupid thing to fight over. Forgive me?" James just nodded. They sat together, just like they had any other day, but they barely spoke. When classes started they didn't sit by each other and at lunchtime Lily sat with her friends, down the table from James. There were still dating, but just barely.

From then on it was just a downward spiral. They barely talked, and when they did it sounded forced. They began to fight about everything. They fought about their friends. Sirius was sneaking out again and James wouldn't punish him. They fought about the decorations. Lily wanted classic Halloween colors and James wanted different ones. They would always apologize and make up, but everyone knew it was doomed. They were the only ones who wouldn't admit it.

The end finally came during a quidditch practice. They were only three weeks away from their first game. It was a week before the ball. Lily still hadn't convinced James to get a costume. Hogsmede was stocking costumes for the ball and they had gone to buy them a week ago. Lily had wanted to go as Cleopatra and Marc Anthony. James had refused. It led to yet another argument. So they were not at the best of terms during quidditch practice. It was raining. The type of rain that was more hail then rain. It was coming down fast and hard and it was effecting everyone's ability. Well, everyone's but James's. He was yelling at the team to work harder. Nothing they did was good enough for him. Particularly Lily. He screamed at her to catch the snitch faster. To be able to avoid the bludgers. He screamed at everybody until, finally, Lily couldn't take it anymore. She flew down to the ground and stood there. James flew down next to her.

"What are you doing?" He asked, clearly annoyed.

"I'm sick of this!" Lily had to yell to be heard over the rain. "We shouldn't be playing in these conditions and you're being to hard on the team. We're doing our best and your acting like that it isn't anyway near good enough."

"If we don't practice then we aren't going to be able to beat Ravenclaw." James yelled.

"And if we don't go inside then we're going to freeze, get sick, and not be able to play at all." Lily countered.

"It's my team and you have to follow what I say." James argued.

"You're right." Lily said.

"I am?" James said with a look of shock.

"It's your team so you can tell me what to do on the field. And I'm your girlfriend so you can tell me what to wear to the ball. And the Marauders are your friends, so I can't punish them." Lily was full out screaming by now. The rest of the team had flown down to hear what they were saying. "So you know what I quit. I'm not on your team. I'm not your girlfriend. And I'm not your friend Potter." Lily hopped on her broom and flew over to the locker rooms. Tears were streaming down her face. She changed out of her uniform and headed back to the castle.

Back on the field James was telling the team to go back to flying. A single tear rolled down his face.