CHATPER NINE An open door policy when it comes to blame

Rumours were flying around the castle about how Lily Evans had suddenly returned. There were many speculations about where she had been, but every one knew that she was in the Hospital Wing from being severely injured. A few days later the red head returned to classes ignoring the pointing and whispering.

She had not seen James since he had last come to visit and she was a little bit nervous about returning to classes. Lily had noticed however that Sirius was much happier than he had been previously. He joked at every available moment and was constantly laughing.

The moment she stepped into the classroom, Sirius motioned her to sit next to him. Avoiding James' gaze she tried intently to listen, if she was going to be back at school she had decided she was going to put in the work. That would not stop her however using the school's resources and keeping well fed.

The class passed awkwardly, Sirius trying to keep conversation natural and not forced, but it was extremely hard. At the end of the lesson she waited until everyone else had left, not wanting to endure any more whispering.

As she left the class room someone pulled her into a dark niche. She recognised these hands easily as they pulled her closer into a warm kiss.

"You didn't think you could avoid me forever did you?" James asked pleasantly, trying not to let her see how much her disappearance had affected him.

She slowly drew away from him and looked at him carefully.

"I don't expect you to understand" she said simply, now was not the time to complicate things.

Instead of having the desired effect of relaxing James, she saw him arch up immediately.

"No, no, of course I wouldn't understand" he yelled "how could I understand anything IF YOU TELL ME NOTHING. You just disappear and expect me to forget about you. I searched for you Lily, every day and every night and all you can say is you don't expect me to understand. I could've helped you Lily, I would have been there for you, but NO, YOU HAD TO DISAPPEAR."

With this comment he side stepped the red head and furiously strode away. Standing stock still the red head could not believe what had just happened. Sirius had mentioned James being upset, but she had no idea it had been this bad. Feeling a rush of sympathy towards Sirius she began to walk towards the Great Hall for lunch.

Helping herself to generous servings of everything Lily began to eat slowly and carefully, savouring the food in her mouth. It had been difficult at times to find food. While she ate, Lily let her eyes casually take in the surroundings.

Everything was so different here, so tame. By the time her eyes reached the end of her table they had narrowed in suspicion. For once she didn't see the hazel eyes staring at her, or anywhere near her. In fact they seemed quite content looking into the eyes of pretty blonde fifth year who was giggling at one of his jokes. 'So this is how it's going to be' she thought 'childish James, very childish'.

Over the next few weeks, however, Lily's opinion changed dramatically. If he wanted to play games, so could she. She wasn't going to let him make a fool out of her. Two could play this game.

It was well known that James Potter fancied Lily Evans; he had hexed any boy who had shown a remote interest in Lily for the past two years. It was time for a little childish payback of her own. But where to start?

The first thought that came to her head was revenge; perhaps a little misfortune would come to those who James was going to kiss. Green hair, orange pimples, huge comic lips, the list was endless. The first step was easy. While James was fast asleep in the common room she performed a serious of spells on James lips. Grinning at her handiwork she skipped off to bed.

The red head didn't have to wait very long to see the results. A pretty brunette, the object of James' latest affection ran screaming past the hall her head covered with fluoro green hair. Chuckling she helped herself to a generous serving of breakfast. Far from guessing what was going on, James looked bewildered thinking he had done something wrong.

Sirius however had seen Lily laugh and shrewdly guessed what she was up to. Events of the next week certainly were entertaining for anyone who was around. A rumour was spreading quickly that James Potter had a horrible disease and that anyone who kissed him would have something terrible happen to them.

The only person who did not find this extremely amusing was James himself. As he did not know what the spell was he could not reverse it. Sirius did try to help him occasionally but only half-heartedly, as he didn't agree with James' methods. He was surprised that Lily had reacted at all, but perhaps this was a good sign.

Unbeknownst to James, Sirius had been spending a good deal of time with Lily. Neither of them spent much time sleeping and both wanted revenge. Spending huge amounts of time in the library they worked their way through the restricted section.

They also used the Room of Requirement which always contained a great number of useful books. One night they were working late when the door opened and James and a girl tumbled in, quite obviously not keeping their hands to themselves.

"Oops" the girl giggled and turned around, but James frowned at the scene before following the girl out of the room.

Instead of seeming annoyed Lily burst out laughing: "she won't last very long" she said between gasps. "I can't wait to see what happens to this one!"

"I KNEW it was you" Sirius chuckled, he couldn't quite contain himself.

"Mmm, not one of my finer moments, but the spell is a piece of work. Just a little revenge" she said grinning evilly.

"Are you still interested in James, after everything that happened?" Sirius inquired, trying to make it sound like this was an offhand question that anyone could ask.

The mood shifted instantly as the red head thought carefully before answering. It was true she was missing James, but it really seemed like he wasn't worth the effort if he was going to sleep with every other girl just to make her jealous. Thinking about the hazel eyes looking into someone else's while they slept together made Lily feel slightly sick.

"Not anymore I'm not, looks like he's got his hands quite full at the moment" she said coldly, turning back to her book.

Sirius wanted to tell her that James missed her desperately; he was almost a different person. These girls meant nothing to him; he was just trying to get her attention. He had not made any attempt to sleep with them as he just wasn't interested. In truth they bored him. They just weren't Lily.

Looking across at Lily again he hoped that these petty arguments wouldn't last long. He had seen James' look when he had come in. He was going to be so mad about Sirius spending time with Lily.

Over the next few days James remained frosty to Sirius, but it was time for step two of the red head's revenge plan. Approaching the Ravenclaw Quidditch captain she smiled flirtatiously and winked, sliding onto the bench next to him.

Next weekend was a Hogsmeade weekend and this young man sitting next to her was going to be her date, although he did not know it yet. Spending at least half an hour flirting she excused herself politely and walked towards her next class only pausing to shoot a 1000 watt smile back at the young man who looked quite dazed.

Sitting promptly next to Sirius she could not help but smile when she saw James scowl. Feeling a drop of pity mingled with her dislike she wondered if maybe she was going to far. Perhaps enough was enough? Then the thoughts of James with at least four other girls in the past week came to mind, she was going to finish what she set out to do.

As the red head and Sirius walked out of the class a young blond man interrupted them, the Ravenclaw Quidditch captain had come to speak to Lily. Sirius raised one eyebrow but remained silent. Smiling hugely at him Lily asked what he wanted. He answered a little nervously:

"Uh, Lily, would you like to come to Hogsmeade with me this weekend?"

He shot a glance at James who looked ready to kill. With a most un-Lily giggle she gushed:

"Of course I will go to Hogsmeade with you, I'll meet you at the main entrance at 10 30. See you then".

The girls in Lily's class broke out in furious whispers about this latest piece of gossip while James stalked off wand in hand, fully prepared to jinx the entirety of Ravenclaw just to get back at him. However before he could get very far strong hands stopped his rampage. Silently fuming James looked at Sirius and yelled:

"WHAT?"

"You wanted to play games she's just keeping up with you. You didn't really think she wouldn't catch on did you? You pissed her off and now she wants revenge, if your civil she may actually forgive you eventually. Just be careful".

James shook off Sirius' grip but couldn't shake off his words. Alright, so jinxing all of Ravenclaw possibly wasn't the best idea. Instead he resigned himself to study.

The morning before the Hogsmeade trip Lily was walking towards the Greenhouses when someone stopped her. Drawing her close to him, she looked up into his eyes, but they were not hazel eyes, they were a brilliant blue.

"Aren't I supposed to be meeting you tomorrow morning?" she said lamely.

"Yes, yes you are but I wanted to give you something before then" he answered calmly and without waiting for her to ask what it was he placed his lips against hers. The red head was so surprised she just stood there, and she began to feel something tickle her face. She looked up towards his face and found his eyebrows growing at an alarming rate.

Wait…she thought. Eyebrows growing? These were characteristics of a certain spell she had put on James, but it couldn't be.

Storming into the common room she yelled:

"JAMES POTTER COME HERE RIGHT NOW".

She could feel her face going red from frustration and irritation. James who was sitting in the corner with Sirius trotted over to her. She yanked him out of the portrait door and started hurling abuse:

"WHAT DO YOU THINK YOU ARE DOING? MAKING HIS EYEBROWS GROW, I KNOW THAT HEX, YOU BETTER REVERSE IT OR I AM GOING TO KILL YOU WITH MY BARE HANDS".

"Lily dear, have you not noticed that this is the same spell you put on me two weeks ago. It took me that long to find out what it was so the matron could reverse it. I think I should be commended for my research, it was very hard to find" he smirked.

"You arrogant prick, you think you can prevent me from going out with someone? Just because you can't have me" she hissed at him, her words dripping with venom.

These words had an immediate effect and two of them began throwing insults at each other.

"BITCH"

"EGOTISTIC JERK"

"COW"

"PAIN IN THE ARSE"

"BETRAYER"

"ASS…

The red head began but she did not get to finish for James had swept her up into his arms and kissed her with all his might. His kisses were hungry as he wanted to kiss all of her at once. Without thinking the red head kissed him back, she had forgotten how good this felt and many of her lost emotions came rushing back to her.

Kicking the door open to the nearest classroom James placed Lily on a desk, where he leaned over her his mouth never leaving hers. Furiously they began to tear at each others clothes, it had been so long and the passion was starting to consume them.

Gently she bit his neck playfully teasing him as his strong arms drew her closer. Ripping off his shirt she ran her hands down his chest causing him to moan, he wanted her so badly. This was everything he had missed about her, the passion, the fire, he realised it couldn't live without it.

He slipped his hands under her shirt as a moan of appreciation escaped her lips.

"You realise" she said "that tomorrow we have Transfiguration in this classroom!"

He laughed but picked her up and gave her back her cloak.

"Your right" he said, trailing kisses down her neck "there's always tomorrow".

Instead of reprimanding him she laughed out loud and followed him to the common room. Laughing and joking she sat with James and Sirius playfully commentating on their game of wizards chess. Their fellow Gryffindors were returning to the common room from dinner when Lily did something unexpected. In full view of everyone she kissed James letting her tongue dart inside his mouth.

It was worth it just to see the look on James face and the look on everyone else's faces who were suddenly quiet. Sirius however grinned hugely and thumped his best friend on the back, whooping and cheering.

He said to Lily: "You realise there'll be no living with him after this?"

"This calls for a celebration" he yelled and disappeared out of the portrait hole, returning minutes later with arm fulls of butterbeer, mince pies, Honeydukes sweets and Firewhiskey.

Remus and Peter had been watching the scene and proceeded to decorate the common room and loud music was coming from somewhere.

After several large drinks of firewhiskey the red head collapsed on James happy and little tipsy. She kissed him again and her hands found their way to his hair. Most people had gone to bed but the marauders and Lily remained until Sirius yelled:

"Oi, you too, get a room would ya?

With a wink that said 'I might just do that' James carried Lily upstairs to their dormitory with Sirius yelling behind them:

"No you idiot, not OUR room".

He had nothing to worry about as Lily had fallen asleep in James arms as he gently placed her in his bed. He drew the warm blankets around them as he gently caressed her body. Occasionally he frowned when his fingers found a scar, but Lily was back and he was happy once more.

A/N: I'M SO SORRY IT TOOK ME SO LONG! I've been away, but now I have returned!

LBuccalo: Once again your reviews have touched my heart! Thank you for your kind words and feed back. Hopefully you enjoy this chapter!

Dreamlikecheese: Hopefully by now you are better, being sick sucks (now I'm using alliteration as well!) I apologise for the wait on this chapter, but from now on I will update as fast as I used to. Thank you a thousand times for your reviews

Rayolis: I think you have reviewed every chapter, WOW…THANK YOU. It is so lovely and one of the highest compliments.

Madsdagirl: hahaha, I'm glad you like my reviewer response. Any one that gives me detailed reviews, and ones as lovely as yours, deserves a detailed response! It's just my way of thanking you for reviewing!