CCM: Oy! Readers! I have just updated twice within 24 hours! You know what that means, right? RUN! THE APOCOLYPSE IS UPON US! (Ahhhhhh! Save the women and children…and really good video games!) Ha ha, just kidding. Actually it's my sister again. She convinced me with the promise of candy. And thus is why I should never be allowed anywhere alone…Anyway, ENJOY!

Special Thanks To: soysauce-jr and Shippo-is-my-lover for making me feel as if my lazy time in front of the computer is not time wasted.

Disclaimer: Another one of these reminding me of all the things I could own, but don't. tear

Chapter Three: Forgive and Forget

James

"You ruddy git—"James growled as he charged at Remus and landed a hard right hook to his friend's face. The next few moments were chaos. Remus stumbled back into a bookshelf which proceeded to knock down countless other bookshelves, Lily screamed in shock, Sirius shouted at James and nearly jumped on him to detain him, Peter cowered by a table, and Madam Pince—the librarian—rushed towards the commotion just in time to complain about the mess and award everyone detention. Sorely, James was forcefully yanked out of the library by Sirius.

As soon as the two were outside James broke free of his friend's grip, all the while keeping his back turned as well as his deathly dark mood. The two remained in silence for quite some time until Sirius, as always, decided to break the uncomfortable mood.

"Nice punch." He joked, even though he knew it wasn't the time. "Look Prongs, I'm sure there's some kind of explanation. Moony isn't the kind of guy to…hurt a friend." James, who remained faced away, clenched his right fist for a moment and then relaxed it. Without a word he headed for the Gryffindor tower alone.

Lupin and Lily

Remus sat in a stiff library chair, nursing his jaw in silence. He felt miserable and worse yet—deserving of what he had just received. After all, he had done nothing to prevent that kiss…he had even liked it. But he had not at all liked the look of pain on his good friend's face.

After helping Madam Pince reorganize some of the library with her wand, Lily quietly approached Remus, unsure of exactly what to say. After mentally sorting through a bunch of conversation starters she decided upon the safest choice. "How are you doing?" She asked the boy shyly.

Remus glanced up at the hopeful girl and frowned. "Could be better I suppose." He responded rather soullessly. A sort of silence developed between the two of them, during which time Lily's attention was directed at her hands fiddling with her fingernails.

"Anything…" Lily piped up, disliking the discomfort that the atmosphere presented. "Anything I can do to help?" Remus' attention remained focused on his friend Wormtail who had been stuck helping Madam Pince finish the rest of the tidying up—and was doing a very poor job of doing so.

"Yeah…turn back time." Remus said with a bland laugh, for he knew that things between his friends would most certainly be poor to say the least in days to come. Lily thought of the time turners she had read about not to long ago, but knew that Remus wasn't exactly serious. Still…his words stung. Lily could feel an uncomfortable lump lodged in her throat and her eyes were becoming obnoxiously irritated.

Remus sighed deeply and then stood to face the girl who was desperately trying to hold back her emotions. (For they had already caused enough trouble today.) "I didn't quite mean that." Remus said softly as he looked into her blurry eyes. "Lily, listen. You're…a wonderful girl, but we just…can't work out. For me things are…complicated."

"Because of James?" Lily asked, her voice barely audible to even herself.

"He's—part of it, true." Remus agreed, guilt rising every time his mind flashed to his angered friend. "But it's more so me. I can't be with you in that way…I'm sorry."

Lily broke their eye lock by snapping her head to the side. She bit her lip and took in some deep, calming breaths, but it did not help. She could feel the tears welling in the corners of her eyes.

"Evans?" Remus asked reverting back to the informal name she had asked him to drop. Lily shook her head.

"It's ok…" She said softly. "I get it. I'm ok…I'm just…. going to go now…if that's ok?" Remus nodded sadly and without another word Lily quickly headed for the library doors. Once she was safely beyond them she leaned her weight against the nearest wall, allowing the tears to fall freely. She knew that in all truth that this had only been a crush and a very short one at that…but it still hurt all the same.

What's worse was that now…now she had even more reason to dislike James Potter.

Sirius Black

"Prongs…classes today." A fully dressed Sirius said to his bed confined friend—who hadn't moved no matter what enticement he had used, that of course being his worse. His next would be to mention the exam they had in Transfiguration, but he didn't see how that was going to help at all. Sirius sighed, he couldn't very well blame James lack of enthusiasim for attending...anything. The idea of having potions with the girl and friend who just broke your heart wasn't exactly an appealing idea.

"Well, I'll save you a seat at breakfast in case you change your mind." Sirius said quietly just before making his way down to the common room where he spotted Remus sprawled out on a couch. Sirius assumed that he had spent the night there seeing as the bloke never made it up to the room.

"Sirius…" Grumbled the disheveled boy just as Sirius was about to exit the room. "It wasn't what…I never wanted that to happen." Sirius, ever loyal to James, felt a slight amount of rage towards Lupin. But that dissipated when he noted the sincerity in Remus's voice.

"I know…" Sirius grunted and then exited.

Sirius lay sprawled out on the Gryffindor bench throughout breakfast, his desire for food slight in the least. "Telling people that those seats are saved might be…easier." Wormtail observed as he talked to what looked to those at his back to be an empty space.

"Might be." Sirius replied in a lazy manner with no intention of finding out. Even though he knew neither one of the other marauders would possibly be joining them he would remain in such a position 'till the end like a loyal friend or tragic war hero…something to that caliber. Sirius let out a sigh and tried to recall a time where breakfast had been this quiet…he couldn't think of one.

A few Gryffindor girls approached Sirius so he ended up looking up at them, wishing that they had been wearing short skirts instead of long robes. "Can I help you ladies?" He asked in his velvety smooth voice.

"Well, you are taking up quite a bit of room on the bench." One mentioned and another continued by saying "And seating is kinda scarce at the moment." Sirius tilted his head every which way as if to survey their point.

"Quite a dilemma we have here." Sirius muttered playfully. The girls snickered and the third girl gave a curt "Quite." in response.

"Unfortunately m'ladies, I can't move for I am saving seats for friends." He remarked regretfully. "But that doesn't mean we all can't win. Why don't you all just sit on me in the mean time?" Sirius gave a cheeky smile as he patted his stomach. The three girls giggled loudly and then moved on in search of somewhere to plant themselves. Sirius called out flattering goodbyes as they left.

"You're a dog." Spoke a girl sitting nearest to Sirius' head which caused him to sit up and smirk at Wormtail.

"How'd she know?" He joked, implying about his animangi form. Wormtail was the only one who chuckled—for none of the other marauders had made it to hear the jest.

Remus Lupin

It had nearly been a week now since the small brawl with James and since he had talked to him as well. For in that time James had worked very hard on becoming elusive. So much so that Remus was beginning to wonder if James had his invisibility cloak on him constantly.

"Now that I think of it, I don't even recall seeing him in potions today." Remus mused to himself. The boy frowned; he had become a bit accustomed to talking to himself in the past few days. It used to be that it was difficult for something he said not to be heard by marauder ears, now it was surprising to hear of a marauder.

He had, however, spoken to Sirius and Wormtail a couple of times within his silence. They were brief and a bit sad, much like everything else nowadays. Lily had even become more distant—not that that wasn't expected. Sure she had smiled and waved to him upon greeting and talked with him on occasion about an upcoming assignment, but not very whole heartedly and not for a lengthened amount of time.

Slowly, Remus trudged up to his room, deciding that he was to exhausted to do homework and that it would have to wait until tomorrow. As he made it to the top of the stairs he gave a silent laugh. Remus noted that even when the marauders weren't as close as usual, their habits were unconsciously still rubbing off on him.

His momentary release was, however, quickly shattered when Remus caught sight of something he hadn't expected while entering the room—James Potter. The two froze, an eerie stillness surrounding them both. It seemed as if they might stay this way for a while and much longer if they didn't do something and quick. Remus decided to be the one to step up.

"James, I know it may not seem like much, but I'm sorry." Remus said quietly. "I wasn't after Li—Evans. Even though it might've seemed that way…" When James said nothing Remus decided he'd continue.

"I don't know if I can ever gain back your friendship, but I really do miss it." Remus said sadly as a final attempt to patch things up. James remained silent and Remus let out a small sigh and crossed the room to his bed to plop down. Once he had, he waited to hear James' footsteps clunk out of the room, but he didn't.

"Moony." He heared James say in a low tone. "I miss our marauding days too, mate." Remus shifted so he could see James with that ole' smirk on his face.

"Oh?" Remus asked, mimicking his friend's smile.

"Yeah, I've been dreaming of our beloved nights spent howling at the moon." James responded slyly. "The fun, the romance of it all…"

The two laughed. "Sorry about the cold shoulder." James decided to contribute. "But not the punch." Remus looked at him a bit perplexed, that is, until his friend pushed up his sleeve and flexed a muscle.

"That had to be one of the best right hooks of a lifetime." He joked casually. Remus laughed, rubbing his jaw in mock humor.

Lily

Lily Evans thought that since her ordeal with Remus, James would have most definitely given up on pursuing her. And yet here she was, no more than a week later, trying to find a counter spell for the permanent ink phrase "Will you be mine? Love, James" plastered on the back of her hand.

"That—THAT—!" Lily spouted, but didn't continue. She really could not believe James Potter. That conceited prat had the nerve to hit his own friend just because he was under the delusion that Lily might be his. Lily laughed at this thought.

"Not in a million lifetimes." She cursed as she slammed yet another useless book and tossed it aside. Her stomach curdled at the thought of people seeing the monstrosity so she quickly pulled on a pair of gloves—despite the fact that it was relatively warm out.

Hastily, she exited the bathroom she had been stationed in and made her way to potions.

"You've got to be kidding me." Lily said sarcastically as she neared the doorway. For there right in front of the entrance was James Potter.

Lily, cloaked in her ill mood made her way to him.

"Afternoon, Evans." James said warmly. Lily glared intently. "What's with the mittens?" With a playful smirk he gestured to her hands.

"I would think you would know." Lilly spat angrily. "After all, it is thanks to you that I'm wearing them."

"You still haven't gotten the counter spell then." James said almost gleefully. "But you know…mittens just look foolish this time of year."

"Not as foolish as going around with…that on my hand." Lily retorted, implying the message James had left. James sighed.

"Well, if you really feel that way…" He said softly grabbing for her hand which she quickly pulled away. "Geez Evans I'm trying to help, not bite you."

Hesitantly, Lily surrendered her hand for the time being as James quickly mumbled the counter spell and tapped her hand. "Your welcome." He said with a smile as she examined her hand.

"I didn't say thank you." She said softly. "It was your fault in the first place so it wasn't as if this was some gracious deed. Now please move, I'm going to be late to potions."

"What's got you going today, Evans?" James asked as she attempted to pass him. Angrily, she spun on him.

"Today?" She asked harshly. "Try every day Potter. You get to me every day!" She could see herself about to bust and no way of stopping herself.

"I don't know what I did to deserve you annoying me day in and out, but I really wished I hadn't done it! If it was that trunk incident I'm sorry, I guess that really does say something about that 'look before you leap' hubbub people are always spewing!" Lily took a sharp intake of breath.

James tried to counter, but he was cut short. "I strongly dislike you, Potter, and I don't know exactly how to spell it out for that thick head of yours, but so help me I'm trying!" And to fully deal the wound the fiery red head added, "Get your own life Potter and stay out of mine!"

She would have finished the speech off with storming into the potions room, but when she tried to enter she found the door to be locked.

"Oh, by the way…Potions is canceled today, Evans." James sad sadly as he examined the floor. "Thought you ought to know…"

For the next few minutes Lily stood there watching the boy slump off, feeling foolish for having blown up at him while he had actually attempted to be nice to her.

Author's note: My goodness! Why am I so cruel to James! NOOOO! James! I'm sooooo sorry! Ack! Oh well, all the more reason for the readers to cheer on our crestfallen hero, no? Anyway, a bit less romance in this chapter…more drama I suppose. Hopefully interesting drama though…Well, time for me to think up the next installment! In the meantime R&R!