Look at all them reviews. Over 700. That's insane, yo. And I SO DON'T DESERVE IT! Aahh! But thank you thank you anyhow. Hugs to everyone!

Btw. I've just recently started using Word to save my chapters (as opposed to word pad before) and I discovered with my last upload that every time I use "…" (which I do a lot, blame Kaitlyn) it turns into a single dot – therefore mucking up the grammatical harmony of the world. So if you were wondering about that in the last chapter, there ya go.

(Quick thanks to Kaitlyn for the help, aaand for bearing with my complaining – you're a doll)

"Hidden Sentiments"
Amidst the emptiness of the Muggle Studies classroom sat Lily Evans. It was sometime after dinner, at whatever prearranged hour she and Samantha were destined to meet for Professor Hilton's impromptu tutoring session.

Just when Lily was getting to her feet, having had enough of rewardless waiting, Samantha made her appearance – looking slightly frazzled. She huffed and sat down sullenly.

"Make it quick," she uttered, not even bothering to give Lily a glance of acknowledgement.

Lily raised her eyebrows. "It's not like I was looking forward to this either."

"As I'm sure this little rendezvous interrupts your plans for snogging every decent-looking Gryffindor boy tonight," Samantha retorted dryly.

"Excuse me?"

"Oh right. You're an innocent little angel. Just a little tease now and then, right?"

"Wha—you're one to talk!" Lily bit back in frustration.

"At least I didn't have to worm my way to the top – I was there naturally."

Lily sighed. "Look, I didn't come here to exchange stabs in the heart--"

"Maybe I did."

Lily fluttered her eyelashes in astonishment a moment.

"I know you think you're queen of the schoolgirls now that you're the Marauders' little pet, but just remember that this time last year -- you were no one, Lily Evans." There was fire in her tone and her eyes, though one might swear to find a glimmer of fear hiding behind this hostility.

Lily, wanting desperately to fight back and prove herself, could do no more than look to her lap with defeat. Try as she might to brush them off, the words bit with a bitter truth. But not one she had been unaware of, oh no.

"You think I don't know that?" she said in something close to a whisper -- or maybe a snarl that was afraid to come out. "I don't know what I'm doing here, or why, or how any of this could have possibly happened. ...But somehow it did."

Samantha persisted with her brooding.

"But you know what," Lily continued pensively, choosing her words slowly and deliberately. "I almost wish none of this had happened."

Samantha allowed a moment of genuine curiosity to flicker across her moody features.

"Over the past months...all I've really accomplished is repeatedly hurting the two people I've come to care about most. These...these people that I've looked up to for years, placing them on some kind of pedestal because of how grand I thought them. And now I come to find...they're just human, like me...like you...like everyone else. And...well, it kills me to know it took my own stupidity to realize that for the first time. It's almost like...like...like I'm dragging them down. That I'm the problem. Maybe...they'd just be better off if I was still a shadow on the wall." Lily was speaking to her hands now, subconsciously crawling into her shell from the vulnerability of revealing these pains so close to her heart.

Silence ensued, for one reason or a thousand.

"I guess we all have our reasons to cry at night, huh," Samantha said in a voice that wasn't sure if it was speaking aloud or not.

Lily dared to raise her eyes, only to see Samantha's cast, almost in a detached manner, on some far off point. She sat like this for minutes or more, staring off at an invisible horizon, seemingly lost in thought. Then she spoke.

"It's not easy, y'know, being the youngest, and only Gryffindor, in a family of Slytherins. Being expected to think and act the same as the rest of the family…it's not a choice, but a fact. A way of life. When they spit on other wizards' way of life, I must spit with them; when they torture muggles for mere amusement, I must laugh with them -- all for fear of bringing shame to my family. I've done enough of that already, simply by being sorted into this bloody house," she spat with bitter emphasis on the final words.

Lily sat in silent stupor. Her eyes never left Samantha's crumbling face.

"Ever since my first day of school my parents have looked upon me like I'm a traitor to the family…something not worthy of breathing the same air. I can't even look at them in the eyes because I know what they're thinking….that they wish I had never been born." Rather than fall to pieces as any other girl might have done at this moment, Samantha seemed more likely to break something in unleashed fury.

Lily took a breath to regain any sense of feeling. "Look, Samantha, I know what it's like to be the outcast in your fam—"

"No. No you don't," she threw back with clenched teeth. "But you know who does? Sirius. Sirius knows. And you know why that is? Because he's in the same damned position as me. Did he ever tell you that?" Samantha's voice was bordering on hysterical, which only further induced Lily to keep her composure despite her desire to hide in the corner and cry.

"N-no, he never really mentioned it…" Lily conceded with as much dignity as could be mustered.

"Sometimes he was the only thing that kept me sane. Just knowing he was going through the same hell as me..." she inhaled a deep breath. "It kept me hanging on." She had calmed herself down a bit from the edge of vengeful fury, but it seemed the bitterness in her eyes would linger ever on. Lily couldn't blame her. She continued, "And then you came along…"

"Oh, Samantha, I never reali—"

"But we continued meeting nightly anyway, even though he refused to kiss me anymore. I finally changed his mind, though. The guy always was a sucker for a damsel in distress. A short skirt never hurt, either."

"I can't believe Sirius never mentioned any of this…it would've explained so much."

"It's not something you'd fancy getting around. Speaking of which, I'm sure you'll get a kick out of flourishing my sob story around the school," she said with a roll of her eyes to disguise her actual fear of such a thing happening.

"Why would I do that?"

"Come on, Evans, give me a break. I know very well that you can't stand me—"

"That's not true!"

Samantha looked over at Lily incredulously.

Lily squirmed. "Well fine. I admit I wasn't very fond of you after you…er…"

"Fooled around with your boyfriend?"

"Yes. That," Lily replied dully, not loving the memory. "But in all honesty, I don't see you at all as a horrible person. I mean, there was a reason you were sorted into Gryffindor, right? And… I truly am sorry for what you've had to live through…I don't think I could've handled it if it were me."

Samantha plastered on a face of indifference to the words. "Whatever, Evans. Just don't cry over me because I have a shitty family. I'm a big girl, I can take care of myself."

With that, Samantha stood up with her bag and made to leave. Before exiting the room, she paused in the doorway with her hand on the doorframe. She looked over her shoulder discreetly. "But thanks."

She left without another word.

Surrounded by parchment and dusty old books, Marilyn did not seem to be as invested in her work as the other students around her in the always stuffy and quiet library. She hated it in there, avoiding it at all costs, but it seemed to be the only place silent enough to allow her to clear her thoughts. She sat with her chin on her hand as she gazed blankly at the bookshelf across from her.

Suddenly she was greeted with an embrace and a soft kiss on the neck from behind. "Hey lovely," a husky voice floated into her ear.

Remus. Sigh.

Marilyn turned her head away from the affection, sending a clear indication that she was not interested. Remus straightened up with a perplexed expression on his face.

"Something wrong?" he questioned.

"Funny, I should ask you the same thing," Marilyn replied stiffly.

Remus seemed only further confused. "I'm sorry, I'm not following." He sat down in the chair next to her.

"Then neither will I." She stood up abruptly and hurried out of the library.

It took Remus a prolonged moment to realize that she had brushed him off so. When his mind caught up with the situation, he rushed after her, nearly tipping over the chair as he leaped off it.

"Marilyn?" he shouted to the hall, causing some passing students to turn heads. Ignoring this attention, Remus continued to search frantically, catching sight of her turning a corner a ways ahead of him.

He ran after her, only catching up with her just as she had left the castle out into the bright sunshine. He grabbed her arm as she stepped off the bottom stair onto the grass.

"What are y—" Remus tried to ask, but was interrupted.

"Please don't, Remus," she said calmly without looking back at him.

"Don't what?" he asked helplessly.

She wrenched her arm free and began to walk away. "Leave me alone."

Remus could do nothing but watch her walk away with a sinking heart. Did he miss something?

Then Marilyn stopped. She inhaled deeply and said, "But I don't want you to." She turned around and looked at him for perhaps the first time since he approached her. "Leave me alone, that is. I…wouldn't be able to stand it."

Remus walked tentatively over to her. "What's going on? Why're you…?"

Marilyn took his hand in both of hers and held onto it dearly. She met his troubled eyes with hers. When she spoke, her voice had become a whisper.

"I'm so scared."

The hour was late and the flames were dwindling, but Lily Evans pressed on. The terrifying prospect of a Transfiguration exam swished its dark cloak around in her mind, inhibiting her ability to give up the studying and get some much needed rest. Parchment had scattered itself about her, making up for the absence of human company.

"Malasandium…the changing of dirt to gold dust…" Lily reiterated to herself for what seemed the millionth time.

She paused a moment in her scribbling and chanting.

Overcome with the prickling feeling that another person was present, she lifted her head and glanced at the stairs. She could just make out James's figure making to turn and walk back from whence it came.

"James! Hey!" she called, trying not to raise her voice incredibly, as it was quite late.

He turned back. "Er, sorry, I didn't mean to disturb you. I was just wandering out of restlessness."

"No, no! You're not disturbing me. Or that is…well, I'd like you to stay," she lowered her voice.

James tentatively changed direction and came back down the stairs. He approached Lily slowly, as if dreading what might happen if it all was taken too quickly.

Lily smiled shyly up at him standing before her in those same plaid pajama pants, the green in them working splendidly with the hazel of his eyes. The firelight also flirted with the deep, uncertain color, bringing them to a new level of mysterious. No, Lily had never forgotten the first day she had fallen in love with those eyes. The memory haunted her still. How did she not know at that moment that James was the one she needed?

But her heart was blindfolded. So cruel irony could be in matters of love.

"Restless, you say?" Lily inquired. "Something on your mind?"

James shrugged. "Guess you could say that. How about you? A little late to be finishing homework, idn't it?"

Lily sighed as she again became aware of the workload upon her lap. "It's not homework, just years of notes to study. I hardly know where to start."

James peered down at the heaps of materials scattered about. "Transfiguration, eh?" He smirked to himself.

"Yeah…are you any good with it?"

"A bit, I guess you could say." But the self-satisfied grin gave it all away.

Lily's features brightened considerably. "It's fate!"

James looked thrown. "What?"

"That a Transfiguration genius would wander down here at the precise moment I needed it!" Lily was noticeably giddy. "So come on, sit down," she ordered.

Not much of a while later the books and parchment lay off to the side and ignored, while conversation that could only be described as jolly took its place between the friends.

"So then McGonagall was walking around the rest of the day with a rooster sitting in her hair," James finished with satisfaction. Lily was numb with contained giggles, trying desperately not to wake up the remainder of the student population.

"And you never even got so much as a detention for it?" Lily managed to ask.

James smiled triumphantly. "'Course not. There wasn't any proof to hold against us. Though every time Sirius or I would cluck at her under our breath, I swear she was ready to hex us to France."

"You guys are hysterical," Lily grinned to herself. "It seems your mischief has calmed down lately, though…" she commented in a way that made it seem a question.

James sighed. "Yeah. I s'pose we've…gotten distracted, or summat."

He didn't elaborate. Lily decided this was a sign to change subjects.

"So how's Quidditch going? Any games coming up?"

James face lit instantly. Until comprehension took its place, however. "Aw, Lil, you wouldn't know a Quaffle from a broomstick. My expansive explanations would be lost on you, luv." He then flashed her a grin. "No offense."

Lily laughed. "None taken. I was just…making conversation?" she tried.

"A selfless move on your part. Good on you."

Lily scrunched up her face in that Don't-I-Know-It way. "So anyway—wait, what time is it?"

"Quarter past 2," James answered, checking his watch.

Lily fell back into the cushion of the couch and covered her face with her hands in a hopeless manner. "Oh bloody hell, I'll never be able to concentrate tomorrow with only three hours of sleep."

James bit his lip as he always did when thinking. "Well hey, I know of a potion that you can take to make up for lost sleep."

Lily dropped her hands to look at him. "Do you?" She straightened up. "Oh, please, could I have some? It'd be so helpful."

"Of course! Except, erm…" he began to scratch the back of his neck. "Well…it's down in the potions dungeon."

"You mean we'd have to leave the common room? At three in the morning?" Lily didn't seem too thrilled with the idea. "You know how much troub—"

"One sec," James blurted and disappeared off toward the boys staircase, returning only moments later with a silvery, almost liquid-esque sort of something in his right hand.

Lily raised her eyebrows. "James Potter…you have an invisibility cloak?"

James shrugged. "Don't fancy the fact getting out though…for obvious reasons."

It all suddenly came together. "So that's how you got away with so many pranks. You were invisible! Oh you wanker! Talk about the unfair advantage," she tsk'ed.

"Hey Evans, did you forget that this cloak is about to save your bum? I'd cut the prefect act and start grovelling," he teased.

"Shall I kiss it then, O Great One? Though lord knows where it's been…" she scrunched up her face.

"It's been anywhere that I have, so it'd be about the same as kissing me. Any objections to that?" James posed with that omnipresent cheeky grin.

Lily couldn't help a blush. Bloody hell, no. Pucker up, Potter.

James, noticing her hesitance to reply, cleared his throat in an attempt to ward off awkwardness. "So shall we go?"

Out in the drafty hallway, away from the comforting assurance of the common room, Lily and James tinkered with the cloak to make sure no finger was left uncovered. And though the cloak was rather large and often served three persons at once, Lily and James found themselves leaning into each other so that their faces were not even 4 inches apart. James kept his arm linked with Lily's in order to keep her from straying at a moment of panic. Being new to the exploit, she had not yet learned the subtle art of moving and thinking as one.

"First thing to remember," James whispered into her ear, "is to avoid talking. You never know who could be around without you knowing."

"What do you call what you're doing now?" she hissed back.

"Instructions."

"Doesn't make it any less talkative."

"Are you going to be this difficult the entire time?"

"Yep."

By this time they had reached the fifth floor (meaning they had descended two floors, fyi), but as Lily made for the next staircase James tugged her in a different direction. Before Lily could question his motives he had shushed her and halted before a rather large and intimidating painting of a grand piano. One would assume the painting usually contained some sort of person playing the piano but had left for the night as painting occupants tended to do. James pulled his wand from his back pocket and murmured a soft incantation that allowed the painting to, quite eerily, dematerialize in its frame and leave a gap large enough to step through. Not unlike the portrait hole, minus the whole swinging forward part.

Lily's jaw lowered itself in plain astonishment. She looked to James for an explanation of some sort, but he was already beckoning her forward into the unfriendly darkness. Once immersed in the passageway, the painting reasserted itself behind them, hiding the castle hallways from view.

"Lumos."

The instant light emitted from James's wand revealed a cramped passageway that seemed to crawl forever onward. It was dank and stone all around, but not nearly as ghastly as other such secret corridors Lily had encountered in stories and the like.

"It's a secret passage, Sirius and I discovered it back in third year," James answered the question sitting on Lily's tongue.

"My word, James," Lily declared in awe. "I knew there was more to you than meets the eye, but really. Anything else about your mysterious nightlife you'd care to divulge?"

James stifled a weak laugh. "Let's save the rest for another night, eh?"

Lily hadn't the time to become curious over his vague answer as she felt herself being whisked down the winding alley by James's arm. On and on they went, the downward tilt of the ground assuring that they were heading at least in the general direction of the dungeons.

The end to the traveling came in the form of a stone wall. A discouraging dead end to anyone not in the know. James, however, whipped out his wand once more and tapped the corner stone three times in the form of a triangle. Contrary to expectation, an opening did not appear as it did last time, but rather the tapped stone shifted slightly upwards to leave a peephole which James promptly peered through, obviously to make sure the scene was clear before attempting to walk through what was supposed by everyone else as a solid wall.

Well that was an intelligent little trick to add, whoever made this thing anyway, Lily thought to herself.

Once James was satisfied with what he saw, he stepped back and repeated the triangular tapping on the stone next to the original one. It was then that the wall before them moved aside politely and Lily and James walked through to find themselves in one of several potions dungeons.

"The potion we're looking for should be in the next room over. Come on," James instructed.

Lily stepped softly along beside him. The going was much slower since the ground was stone and their echoing steps were not cushioned by rugs and carpeting as was the case upstairs.

At last they came upon a cupboard in a tiny room adjacent to a potions classroom. It was locked impressively, bearing the symbol of an anti-spell charm to drive off such students as themselves from poking around inside with the aid of the alohamora. James, however, was not just any student. He breathed an incantation below his breath, gave two swishes of his wand, and the cupboard was open.

Lily was beginning to understand that she had seriously underestimated this young man. Either in pure genius or criminal mastermind, he didn't seem to have the limits of a normal person.

A few minutes of prodding around produced results of a small purple vial.

"Here we go, Awareness Serum. Just take two sips of th—" James halted his speech, even breath, in under a moment. Lily did the same, if only from fear of seeing him do it.

Then she discovered just what had struck him so suddenly. Meow…

In a honed and fluid movement James had secured his and Lily's body to a corner way out of the way. Lily wasn't even entirely sure how they had gotten there so quickly and flawlessly. Nor did it matter, as at that moment all her attentions were on the door opposite her that was opening with a low creak. The soft pad of cat paws followed and then the silhouette of a man in a tattered suit coat two sizes too large for his bony frame.

Filch. Lily hoped her increasingly rapid heartbeat would not give away their position.

"Ah, my pet, so they are in here, you say?" spoke his croaky voice. A meow was his answer. "Well then they must be here somewhere. Hiding, are you? Not for long," he finished with a dry and scratchy laugh.

With each resounding step he made in the palpable darkness, James's arms seemed to tighten that much more around Lily. Their nearness was such that Lily could feel James's slow and steady breath brush over her forehead; she could feel every tense contraction of his muscles against her body. Needless to say, it was impossible for her to be consumed with fright when such serenity washed over her with each wave of his warm breath.

But then she noticed Filch's approaching figure and was reminded once more, with a volt of anxiety, that she was one misstep away from expulsion. Or at least denial of the head girl position. Same difference. Mind you, being discovered in the potions dungeon, with a boy, in the middle of the night, with a vial of a restricted potion, under an invisibility cloak – was generally frowned upon by school administration.

Overcome with an overpowering dread, Lily buried her face into James's shoulder, not bearing to even look at her oncoming doom a moment longer. James responded to this sign of weakness by softly, subtly, stroking her back in an effort to appease her worries.

A moment of relief came when Filch strayed off his path and began rummaging around in other areas of the room. The release of tension was short-lived, however, as the cat (a/n: a different cat, as mrs norris wouldn't be alive yet…I don't think….anyhow) continued to prowl straight for the guilty party beneath the clock, its yellow eyes gleaming dangerously. For not the first time, James felt the unsettling suspicion that the cat was not subject to the cloak's powers as was the rest of the wizard population.

Closer and closer it creeper, its crooked purring verberating off the ground. Any given moment, the cat would run into them and alert its master at once with horrible screeches – James had experienced it in previous encounters and it just wasn't pleasant. The unblinking stare of yellow continued its approach ever closer. James closed his eyes against his imminent fate and willed himself to disappear completely. Any moment now…

A sharp whistle broke the suspense. "Come on, cat, I have a feeling they've gone upstairs," Filch snapped. He bumbled out of the room with the obedient cat scurrying after.

When the last of the retreating footsteps died away, James and Lily let out simultaneous sighs. Lily slithered with a silent thump to the ground out of exhaustion, bringing James with her.

"Does this happen often?" she asked meekly, leaning her head back against the stone wall and allowing her eyes to close.

"Not exactly, but then again--" but he caught himself. "Er, just a bit of bad luck, I suppose."

Lily "hm"ed quietly in return, her eyes still lightly closed. "Should we go back now?"

"Not right away. We have to make sure Filch gets as far away as possible."

This time Lily did not even volunteer a reply. Not that James needed one. He blindly fell into a hypnosis feeling the steady rise and fall of her chest against his side.

In…out…in…out…

Such a perfect rhythm, so peaceful and unhurried. It was almost like…like….

But what it was like, James never decided. It was lost to sweet slumber.

And there you have it. Let's hope that "one-on-one" time was satisfying. NO, they did not kiss or run away together into the sunset. But hey, I enjoyed it.

And I'm quite excited for Samantha's new role. It may not come up for a while…but she'll be lurking, so you know.

Also, I know the Remus/Marilyn scene was…confusing, to say the least. But it'll be cleared up soon.