Disclaimer: JKR owns all characters, plots, etc. that you recognize.

Summary: It seems love just isn't what's in store for Lily Evans and James Potter. After two years in a relationship, they couldn't see why they were still together. Now they try to convince themselves and everyone around them that breaking up really was for the best, even though deep down they are heartbroken. They struggle to find some sort of happiness, sort through confusion, and end up realizing that they were meant for each other. Then all they have to do is put aside their pride and tell each other the truth. Eventually LJ! R&R Please!

Chapter 4

"Get moving, Evans. Any slower and you'd be a goner for sure," Moody yelled at me. I gritted my teeth together as I pushed myself to run faster through the obstacle course. Bead drops of sweat streamed down my face as I pushed myself harder and harder. I could hear the others from the Academy, mostly guys, yelling things at me ("You're a wuss, Evans!") and laughing as well. Moody had a way of embarrassing you; intentional or not.

"Come on, Evans. Imagine there's ten Death Eaters behind you. You can't take them all on, so you've got to get your ass out of there."

Great. Now they're really laughing. God, I know that at least I would normally try to take them on, but this is the embarrassing situation that Moody's come up with. But I'd like to see them training with Moody, trying to complete the Academy in only a month. The funny thing is that they have more time to do all this. They have three months, but they still struggle with it. Ha.

Jumping over a hurtle, I pushed the pieces of hair that continuously fell in my face. I had stitch in my side but I pushed on because I could see the end of the obstacle course. Suddenly, spells were being shot in my direction. I should have known this was coming--Moody did this at every training session. Although, it was very unpredictable when he would do this.

Dodging spells, I continued my running. I was determined to get through the obstacle course with no problems. I was a few feet from the finish, when a spell hit my back. The spell caused a big, bloody gash on my back, but I still made it to the end.

I walked around with my arms above my head to lower my heart rate and every so often I would bring my hands down to the stitch in my side.

"Good work, Evans. Though you need to work on watching your back. Hit the showers."

I nodded my head in confirmation and began walking in the direction of the locker rooms. On the way, I had to pass the others from the Academy. When I did, I threw them a very smug look and laughed when I heard Moody telling them they were up. I could see some of the nervous looks upon their faces.

I walked into the locker room and grabbed my things to take a shower. I stripped off my clothing and turned the water on. When it was the right temperature, I stepped in. The heat relaxed my muscles, but as soon as I turned around I hissed in pain and clenched my teeth together.

How could I have forgotten the huge gash on my back? The water beating down on it didn't help with the pain at all. Sucking in air, I continued with my shower, being very careful with my wound.

Climbing out of the shower, I dressed my lower body and held the towel around the front of my body. I walked out of the locker room in search of someone I knew and trusted. I needed help healing the gash on my back, due to the fact that I couldn't really see it. Pushing the heavy door open, I began walking out feeling very self conscious.

I wasn't watching where I was walking, so of course I ran into someone. A hand immediately shot out and grabbed my arm to prevent me from hitting the ground. I looked up to see James and Sirius standing there.

"Fancy seeing you here, Lil," Sirius grinned, with that charm of his.

"Same to you Sirius," I smiled. "James," I said, acknowledging him. James nodded his head back to me and said my name as well.

"What in the world are you doing walking around with just a towel on," Sirius questioned, taking in my appearance. "Did you just get out of the shower? Are you trying to pick up guys, Lil," Sirius asked with a knowing wink.

"Sirius," I swatted his arm. "No, I'm not trying to pick up any guys. And yes, I did just get out of the shower, but I have more on than just a towel--I'm wearing pants as well," I paused, gesturing towards the article of clothing on my lower half.

"Anyway, I need some help. See, I was training with Moody and towards the end of training I was hit with a spell in the back. So now I have this huge gash and I can't heal it on my own, so will you help me?"

"Well, I'm not that good with healing spells, but James is," Sirius said, elbowing James in the side.

"Fine. Will you help me, James," I asked, giving in.

"I guess," he shrugged.

"Ok, let's go in here."

"But that's the girls' locker room," Sirius said, stating the obvious.

"Yeah, so?" What was his point?

"Well, we're guys," he gestured to himself and James.

"Oh whatever. It doesn't matter. Besides I'm the only girl using it right now. The other girls are out training or working," I pulled their arms, dragging them into the locker room.

I sat down on one of the benches, with my back to them. James pulled out his wand and began to say the spell to heal my gash. And I could hear Sirius mumbling how the girls' locker room looked just like the guys'. I laughed to myself.

"There. All done. But you're gonna have to go to St. Mungo's to get it completely healed. Right now it's healed to the point where it won't bleed if you don't do anything to strenuous. But you'll still feel the pain. Sorry I couldn't heal it completely," he said quietly.

I nodded silently in agreement.

"Thanks, James. See you guys later."

I watched them walk out before I headed back over to where the rest of my clothes were. I pulled on my bra and shirt and grabbed the rest of my things. After I left the Ministry building, I headed over to St. Mungo's.

"Hey, Lily. What are you doing here," asked Patrick.

"Oh, well, I got hit with a spell today at training and I came to get it healed. Think you can do it for me?"

"Sure. Hop on up here. Now where did you get hit?"

"My back. I had someone heal it to the point where it stopped bleeding, but if you could heal it completely, I would be extremely grateful," I smiled.

"Let's get started then."

I turned my back to him and lifted up my shirt.

"This shouldn't be a problem, though you will have a slight scar from it," he said as he began to heal my back. "There you go. All done," Patrick said proudly.

"Thanks, Pat. You're amazing," I hugged him in thanks with a huge smile upon my face.

"See you later, Lily," he replied dazed, as he waved a little.

I decided to walk home from St. Mungo's instead of apparating. It gave me time to think. Today had been the first time since I had seen James at that dinner.

He looked really good. And I had missed his touch; it was nice to feel his hand on my arm, even if it was only for a few seconds.

Shaking my head, I convinced myself that I needed to get over him. As much as I wanted to be with him, the two of us were just too different to be together. Perhaps I should do what Sirius accused me of.

Nah, I couldn't just pick up some guys. I wasn't that type of girl, I laughed to myself.

I still couldn't believe that I was going into my third week of training. After this week, I would only have one week left before I graduated and was given the title of an Auror. Then I'd be able to go out into the field and put that to use; I'd be the Head Healer out there. Just thinking about this made me shake with excitement.

The Academy wasn't so bad. In the mornings, I attended classes for four hours and usually had to take two tests everyday. So much was covered in one sitting, not that I minded because I usually worked well under pressure. And then in the afternoons, I had four hours of physical training with Moody. Today was often like the other days for training. I definitely liked the results I got from working out. My body was much more toned now.

God, I could remember my first day of training with Moody. It had to be one of the worst experiences I've ever had to endure. I left the training, with my whole body shaking and sore. As soon as I got home, I collapsed on the floor because my legs were so weak and sore, so that's were I slept that night.

For the first hour and a half, I worked out in the weight room and cardio room. Then for a half an hour, I would be put up against Death Eater dummies that were shooting spells at me, and I'd have to shoot spells back to take them out. Then the last two hours were usually me having to go through the obstacle course.

I thought it was really weird how the Auror Academy was in the same part as the Auror Department. Well, it's not really that weird so much as the fact that they have the licensed Aurors in the same part of the building as the ones learning to become licensed Aurors. I always just thought that they would be on different floors at the Ministry. Oh well.

Finally, I arrived at my front door and pulled my keys out to unlock the door. Dropping my bag at the front door, I grabbed a bite to eat before I pulled out my books to study for a couple of hours and finish off my homework before I headed off to bed.

I arrived at the Ministry a half an hour before I was supposed to be in class. I stood at the entrance taking in my surroundings. There was an extremely long and big hallway filled with fireplaces. On one side of the hall, people were flooing into the Ministry. The other side, people were flooing out of the building.

The hallway was very chaotic. But I later learned most of the Ministry was very chaotic. In the middle of the building, there was an enormous fountain with a statue of a wizard, a witch, a centaur, a goblin, and a house-elf. The entrance and the Grand Hall were full of people and creatures rushing around.

Then there was always a line to use the elevators, which I was currently standing in. The Auror Department was located on the sixteenth floor. Today the elevators were extremely packed, so I tried to stand towards the front by the doors. I didn't do well in elevators, or any small spaces, due to the fact that I was extremely claustrophobic, though I never told anyone or let it show.

After what seemed like stopping at every floor, we finally stopped at the sixteenth floor. I rushed out of the elevator as fast as I could, breathing fresh air.

Composing myself--it would not do if I showed up to class having an almost panic attack--I headed off to class so I wouldn't be late. I arrived with a few minutes to spare. So I sat down at my desk and pulled my things out of my bag.

After I had everything in order, the teacher walked in and greeted everyone. I was in class with those attending the Academy for the full course. Although, I wasn't on the same page as them. The teacher headed over to me and gave me a paper, which told me what I was going to be covering in class today.

I usually sat in the back corner and ignored what everyone else was doing. Today, I'd be taking a test first off. Then I'd be given an incident and I'd have to write a report off of it, like licensed Aurors have to do. When they'd go out on a mission, they'd have to write a report about what happened. This was training me so I didn't have to learn it afterwards. I'd be ready to go.

The funny thing is that I'm excellent at these because I'd have to write them up at the hospital all the time. But once I'm out on the field, I would have to write two reports--one fro the Auror Department and the other for St. Mungo's. Anyway, then I had my final test of the day.

It shouldn't be too bad of a day.

Done. I finished the test with ease. I walked up to the teacher's desk and handed him my test. He looked up at me in slight surprise before handing me back the first test I took earlier that day. Missed zero. Yay!

Since I'd been doing so well, he decided to let me leave early, and I heard him mutter about having to prepare more work for me. This made me laugh to myself, because everyday I would finish my work pretty early. I gathered up my things and walked out of the class room.

Again, I ran into someone, but this time there was no one to steady me, causing me to fall to the ground. I groaned, all my papers had been knocked out of my hand and went everywhere. I looked to see who I had run into and it turned out to be Jenn. I laughed when I caught her eyes, causing her to laugh as well.

"Hey Jenn. What's up with you," I asked, after I calmed my laughter.

"Nothing. Just heading back to my office. Moody called me in to see if I was interested in a mission. Of course I agreed. Anyway, what are you up to? I thought you were supposed to be in class for at least another hour?"

"Oh, yeah, technically I'm supposed to be in class. But I was allowed to leave early because I finished everything early like usual. Oh, and I got my first test of the day back and I did really well on it. So yeah. I'm heading off to lunch. When do you take your lunch?"

"Um, in a few minutes, I'm going out to lunch with Sirius and James. Did you want to go," Jenn asked.

"Uh, I don't know…" I trailed off.

"Come on, Lily, I haven't seen you since our last lunch with the other girls. You know you want to come. I know you don't want to have lunch alone."

"Fine," I sighed.

"Are you coming with us, Lily?"

I felt an arm sling around my shoulders. I brought my gaze up to meet Sirius' eyes.

"Hey, you. Yeah, Jenn convinced me to tag along. Besides, I don't feel like eating lunch alone. So where are we going?"

"I have no clue. It's James' turn to decide," Sirius said, looking at James. I brought my eyes over to where James was standing.

"Um, how about the Leaky Cauldron," James asked unsurely.

"Ok. The Leaky Cauldron it is," Sirius said leading me away, with Jenn and James following behind us.

A/N: So, like I mentioned in my a/n at the beginning the reason it's taken me so long to post this chapter is because I've been under a lot of stress lately. What with working full time at a preschool/daycare and going to school full time, and my internet being extremely weird, it's been very difficult to find time to write and be inspired to take the time to sit down to write. And I needed time to sleep so yea.

Anyway, I really liked the way this chapter came out. I rewrote it the day my internet started working again. I hope that you all enjoyed this chapter and since I have time now, I'm already writing the next chapter. Please review, so I know how I'm doing. Besides the more reviews I get, the faster I'll post the next chapter. Hehe, (wink, wink, nudge, nudge). Thanks!

--Jenn

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