Disclaimer: I wish I owned Lily and James…however I add my own spice into their lives as well as my own plot…and

A/N: A special thanks to my two loyal reviewers, Steelo and BrownEyedAthena. Here comes the next chapter…

BrownEyedAthena: Yeah, Chris really is a bastard. He'll get what's coming to him. I hadn't planned Sirius to come out that way, but I think it worked. I know that you're still you. I just didn't put the write name in chapter 2 when I did review thank yous. Thanks. My spring break is busy and coming to an end. Oh no…I have tons of homework…whoops..Ok well Good luck with exams, and I will read your story when I get a chance. Thanks.

Steelo: Yeah, Chris is a jerk and I wanted it to be known. With Lily, I wouldn't exactly say she's defenseless. It's more of being shocked and scared. That's my fault as a writer, I should've made her emotions more clear, and it's just that after being through something like you're shocked and don't know what to do and then you get scared. It takes awhile for instincts to kick in, at least for me that's kind of how it worked.

Ok…Story time…yay!

Chapter 4: Discord and arguments

At six o'clock, Lily awoke to a knock on her door. She opened it and saw Melissa and Alex. They looked angry, but relieved at the same time.

"Lily Evans, explain to me what is going on right now," Melissa told her angrily.

"Meliss, relax. Didn't Black tell you the whole story already?"

"Yes," Melissa said, "but I don't believe him or trust him, so instead I'm asking you."

Lily sighed. She hated lying to her friends, but right now there was no other thing that she could do. "Well, Alex probably told you about cla-"

"Lily, I want the whole story from you. I don't want to piece together the small parts that I hear from different people. You had me worried sick all day. At least tell me what happened," Melissa said.

Lily took a deep breathe and began to tell one of the hardest lies she would ever tell in her whole life. "After Potions Chris told me he had Muggle Studies, but he just left and ran off in the opposite direction than the class is in. He ran off telling me it was his favorite class and that he didn't want to be late, which obviously wasn't true.

"Then Potter pulled me aside on the way to class and told me that last night he while he was patrolling he had seen Chris snogging Cassandra. He was trying to make me realize how strange Chris has been behaving, but I'm just not sure whether I should believe him or not.

"So in class I was aggravated and really unsure. I felt restless and I couldn't be in class any longer so I asked to be excused and instead I went to the ice rink to clear my head. I was distracted and I wound up falling and hitting myself hard. Sirius found me and took me up to the hospital wing. The nurse said I could go back to my room and just rest for the rest of the day, so that's exactly what I did," Lily explained, praying that Sirius's answer had been the same as hers.

"Melissa walked over to Lily and hugged her, "I was just really worried about you and no one had any idea where you had gone. Have you found out anything else about Chris?"

"No, not yet," Lily lied.

Alexandra coughed and Lily spent a minute trying to figure out the unreadable expression on her face.

"Alex, what's wrong?" Lily asked.

"Nothing Lils," she said, "Melissa and I will let you get ready and then you can meet us in our room so we can go to defense lessons."

Lily nodded as the two girls started to leave the room.

Melissa was already sitting on the couch so Lily grabbed Alex's arm, "Alex, what's going on?"

"Lily," Alex sighed "I know that there's a lot you left out of your story and that most of your story was made up. I can tell. I can also tell that whatever you aren't saying is really hard for you to say and that you have reasons for not saying. Don't ask me how I know, I just do. However, I also know that Black knows what happened, but he won't tell anyone. You're lucky, he's good about that, he won't tell anyone. You know, I'm not exactly sure if I should be mad about all this or just let it go. I just hope that eventually you will be able to tell your best friends. Just know, that no matter how long it takes, I'll still stand by you, and Melissa doesn't know. I won't tell her either, Lily. Don't worry."

Tears sprung into Lily's eyes and she nodded. Alex looked at her with sympathy, but just went to leave with Melissa. Lily watched her two best friends leave. Lily really didn't know what to do.

Lily shut her eyes tight and when she opened them again she saw James standing in the doorway of his room. His deep hazel eyes were pouring into her. She felt her stomach flip. He made a move to walk toward her and Lily quickly went into her room and shut the door. She just wasn't in the mood to talk to him. She knew he could guess the truth, and for some reason, she didn't think she would mind telling him.

Lily sat on her bed and let the tears pour down. She couldn't live the rest of the year like this. She wasn't even sure if she could make it through a whole year of this. There was only one thing that Lily thought she could do. She hated lying to her friends like that. She hated having to avoid the people that cared because she wanted to avoid the situation. She couldn't wind up hurting them in the end though. She knew she was hurting Alex. She could tell from the look on Alex's face. She was really mad. James' expression wasn't far from hers, and surprisingly, she didn't think she could take hurting him either. The only thing that she could do was avoid them. That's what she would do. She would distance herself from all of them. If Sirius wanted to then he could help her occasionally, but he had been so good to her and she didn't want to wind up hurting him either.

Lily slightly opened the door to her room and saw that James wasn't there. She used that chance to get into the bathroom and shower. Hopefully by the time she was done, he would be gone. She knew she would have to face him for rounds tonight, unless she could convince him she was still hurt. Oh well, she thought, I'll deal with that when it comes to that.

James was sitting on his bed and was examining the map. He had seen Lily go into the shower. He knew that she was avoiding him, even though he wasn't really sure why. He sat there trying to decide how to approach her. He knew something was wrong because he had seen it in her eyes. He could tell it was something big. He just wished he knew what it was.

At about 20 to 8 he heard the shower turn off. He watched the dot labeled Lily walk into her room. At ten to eight he saw the dot move toward the door. He casually walked out of his room, but he was greeted by nothing. He could have sworn he had seen Lily just leave her room. She wouldn't have left the common room already. She didn't move that fast.

He took out the map again and decided to see what was up. Maybe it was malfunctioning. He opened it up and looked at it. The dot labeled Lily was now right up against the wall. A million questions popped into his head. He was so confused. Well he decided, I'm about to get all my answers from her. Just then though, his mirror signaled that Sirius was trying to talk to him.

"Yeah Padfoot?"

"Where are you and Lily? Did she leave yet? We're all waiting for the both of you."

"Padfoot, I don't know where she went. I'll explain later. Just meet me in the Great Hall. Sorry to keep you waiting. But.." Then he mouthed she has the cloak.

"Oh ok mate. I'll explain later. Don't do anything. Just meet us all down here ok?"

"Sure thing mate."

James stepped out of the Head's room and gave Lily enough time to get out of it. He walked downstairs slowly. He could feel her walking right next to him. At the entrance of the Great Hall, she went off to a dark corner to slip the cloak off. Sirius was talking intently to Alex and Melissa and as soon as he saw Lily he walked toward her, but she walked away to her place beside Chris. Sirius looked awestruck and then just went back to chatting with Alex and Melissa. James pulled him aside.

"Why does she have my cloak," he asked his best friend.

"Chill mate, I told you I was borrowing it. She needs it. Believe me; she needs it more than any of us. It's not my place to say why though, Prongs."

James sighed, "Then I want my cloak back. She has no right to have it in her hands."

"Bloody hell James will you just trust me on this and let her use it," Sirius cried exasperated, "Sometimes she just doesn't want anyone following her and she just needs to be alone. She's having rough times right now James, just respect that."

"She can tell you about them, but she can't tell me," James cried angrily, "I'm the one that's in love with her and she doesn't bother to tell me. I care about her so bloody much and she doesn't think she can tell me? What is with that?"

"James, don't bite my head off. I have no say in it. She'll come around though."

James was about to reply, but Dumbledore started speaking. He took a look over at Lily and saw her snuggled in Chris's arms. He was rubbing her back and playing with her hair. An instant surge of jealous flared up in him. He was about to lose control. He tried to focus on Dumbledore, "We have looked at your overall ability in Defense Against the Dark Arts. We have grouped you together in small groups of ten based on that. Each section will meet twice a week most of the time. One day you will be grouped with me as your teacher, and the other with Professor Pent, our defense teacher.

"The lessons will begin next Monday and the schedule will be posted in your House Common Room. First group: James, Lily, Sirius, Alex Garcia, Alice, Mimi, Landon, Lissy, Drake, and Hope. Group two will be Remus, Cassandra, Melissa, Arthur, Jason, Edward, Greg, Andy, Betsy, Susie. Group three will be: Snivellius, Jessica, Mandy, Margie, Patricia, Rhoda, Samuel, Ruth, Ralph, Ted. The last group will be Chris, Peter, Rina, Brian, Anthony, Mark, Andrew, Carey, George, and Helen. Groups one and three will work on the same days and groups two and four will work on the same days. Please, head back to your dormitories. I want everyone in bed early and Heads to start patrolling in twenty minutes. Good night all."

Chris walked Lily out and all the way back to the Head's room. James watched them kiss good night. Jealously flared up in him yet again. He walked into his room to get his cloak. He left his room and closed the door when he saw a note taped onto his door. It was from Lily.

James,

I'm returning the favor from last night. Please don't trouble yourself with coming along to do something. I have it under control. I want us to be even at the moment. I'll take care of it all tonight. Don't worry about it. Thanks for last night.

Lily

James was trying to decide whether or not he should go after her. He decided going after her was the best thing to do. He took out his map and spotted her outside. Now, that was doing anyone much. He left the room and went out to get her.

He saw her go inside just as he was approaching the entrance. He walked right up to her and she took a step back. He had surprised her.

"I said I would take care of everything tonight. I didn't want you to come here and do it as well. I wanted time to myself tonight."

"Consider last night as a favor on the house," James told her, "the favor doesn't need to be returned, so don't worry about it."

She nodded, not wanting to argue with him at the moment.

"Lily, what's wrong," James asked her.

"Why does everyone keep asking me that?" Lily sighed.

"Lily, if someone takes one look at your eyes they can tell something is really wrong and that is bothering you to the point that its hurting you so much. None of us want to see you hurt like that Lily."

"Potter, just leave it alone. I don't need a babysitter."

"Bloody hell Lily, excuse me for caring. Go ahead and penalize my because I care. I know that's a damn crime. I'm Lily Evans and I think I want to push everyone away now since I think I'm a big girl."

Lily stared at him, clearly appalled, "You are such a git Potter. Don't you bloody even think about talking to me because I don't want to see your bloody face near me."

James gently pushed her back against the wall and put his arms above her. He looked at her and saw the tears that she was fighting.

"Lily, you know it's true. Stop pushing away the people that care and let them help you. The people you're deciding to keep around are only going to hurt you," James told her.

If only you knew Lily though, exactly how much they already hurt me.

James looked into her eyes and saw a silent plea in them. He couldn't figure it out though. He grabbed her shoulders and shook her. Lily winced as he touched the bruises left by Chris and shut her eyes tight.

"James, please don't," Lily told him, her voice barely a whisper.

James let her go and sighed, "Lily stop being like this and let us help. You're hurting us."

"You wouldn't understand," Lily yelled, "you just wouldn't get it. You have gotten my life for the whole time we've known each other. What makes you think I should tell you now. You're an arrogant git who needs to grow up and see things with your eyes…"

"Are you telling me that I haven't been looking with my eyes? All day today I've been trying to help you and you don't want it. Either way I can't please you Lily. What am I supposed to do? I don't understand. Why are you acting like such a little kid? Your petty drama is causing a lot of people confusion and hurt"

"Good night, Potter. I'm going to bed. I don't need you of all people to lecture me about acting like a little kid. Good night. Have fun patrolling on your own while I go take care of my petty drama," Lily said as she stormed off back to her room.

James stood there, and watched her go. He was tired of her games and petty drama. Lily Evans, I've had enough…I think its time for me to move on and completely disregard you and your attitude. We can just be cool and civil. James spent another hour patrolling because he was dreading going back to his room. He finally went to bed though, and Lily was already asleep.

End of chapter 4: Good, maybe? Maybe not? I think chapter five will be finished by tomorrow, (in total so far this is 40 pages, but you haven't seen chapter 5 yet so without that its 38), but if it isn't I will definitely do my best to get it done before Monday for you all. I've just been procrastinating homework and projects and papers all week. Review please…you would make me very happy