A/N: just to let everyone know, i do have the next chapter completely written out and am ready to update. unfortunately, i wont be posting until more people review. i know that's mean to those who have already reviewed, but i need to know that people are actually reading this. if you could please just leave a review(it doesnt even need to be much. just a 'hey, update.' or whatever.) i would really appriecaite it. thanks. --jenn 8/6/08 1:33 AM

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 12

How bizarre, I thought to myself, as I walked the lifeless streets of Hogsmeade. Although the town was normally bustling with people, it almost seemed as if the town had been completely abandoned. Somehow I felt little concern as to where the town's people were or where I was going.

Up ahead, there were two figures standing off to the side of the road. I could only make out one of the figures--it was James. I knew his stance from anywhere. Not to mention, his hair had always caught my attention. The other figure was blocked by James' form, but I could see their arms waving around. I could hear James and this mysterious person arguing, but couldn't make out what they were saying.

I made my way closer to the pair only to find that the other person was, in fact, me. I was surprised to say the least, yet I slowly inched my way toward the couple. Suddenly, the other me stopped shouting at James and I could see his mouth moving. The other me reached her arms out toward him. As she touched his arm, I could feel his warmth on my fingertips. I looked down at my fingers and wiggled them around. I looked back up in time to see her saying something with an endearing look upon her face.

She raised her arms to rest around James' neck, pressing her body against his. Once again, I could feel an invisible warmth, only this time, it fully encompassed me. Then as James whispered something in her ear, I could hear his voice whispering 'I love you.'

Hearing this, my heart clenched and it felt as if my throat closed up. The air felt so thick with emotion. As quick as this feeling came, the other me disappeared and I now stood before James.

I looked around, wondering how I had managed to travel thirty feet in the blink of an eye; I hadn't apparated otherwise I would have felt that crushing, breath-taking feeling. I couldn't quite bring myself to look James in the eye, so I looked down at his shoes.

He nudged my chin up until I was looking him in the eyes. Then he grinned, his eyes had a mischievous glint to them. It had been such a long time since I had last seen this smile of his. It was almost surreal.

In another second, James quickly pulled his hand away from me, as if he had been burned by my touch. He gave me a look of repulsion, which caused me to back up a few steps.

He stepped away from me until he reached the others. When had they arrived? I hadn't even noticed. Then again, I had been entranced with James' smile. Each and every person I cared about began saying hurtful and hateful things.

"You're a pathetic excuse of a witch."

"Worthless little bitch."

"You're nothing but a stupid mudblood."

"Nobody wants you. You're a waste of time and space."

James had to have said the worst thing out of everyone, as he held Isabel's waist.

"I never loved you," he said with cold, hard eyes.

XxXxXxXxXxXxXxXxXxXxX

Everyone but James disappeared as my surroundings changed. The sky grew darker and the temperature grew colder.

I heard a crack behind me. I slowly turned to face Voldemort. I shuttered, backing away slowly, towards James. I was half hoping that he wouldn't notice me, but the other half of me knew better.

"CRUCIO!"

The spell hit me with such force I nearly lost my breath as I fell to the ground. I let out several screams; my body felt like it was on fire and that there were knives being continuously jammed into my body. I had never felt pain as intensive as this.

After a minute of torture, Voldemort would lift the spell for a few seconds before beginning over again. After the fifth round, I began to give up trying to fight the curse; I had neither the strength nor the will to continue. My voice had grown hoarse long ago.

"Please. Just stop," I barely managed to whisper.

I willed James to help me, but he just stood there now behind Voldemort. I saw Voldemort lift his wand once more. Only this time, he muttered the killing curse and the last thing I saw was the green light that headed straight towards me.

I sat up straight after ice cold water was dumped on my head. I gasped for air as I clutched my chest. My heart was pounding at an alarming rate. What had just happened?

"What the hell was that for?" I looked up to find Sirius' face hovering only inches above mine. The others' behind him.

"Are you okay?"

"I'm fine. Why did you have to throw a bucket of ice water on me?"

"You were screaming bloody murder. We thought something was happening to you. We tried waking you up, but nothing was working."

I looked away, feeling ashamed. I knew I had been screaming because of my dream.

"Are you sure you're feeling okay? You're looking sort of peaky. I knew I should have had the healer check you out," Sirius said, muttering the last part.

"You told us she was fine. How could you let her leave the hospital without seeing the healer," James asked in an outrage.

"Other than being pale, she seemed fine to me. Besides, you know how stubborn she can be. It's impossible to change her mind," he responded defensively.

"I'm fine. It was a bad dream. That's all," I lied.

I knew I wasn't fine, but once again, I was letting my stupid pride get in the way.

I shakily climbed out of bed and locked myself in the bathroom. My dream continued to circulate through my mind. At some point, I must have blacked out and fallen in the shower because one second I was soaping up my body, and the next I was laying in the tub as the stream over water beat down on my body.

I heard shouts and pounding at the bathroom door.

"I'm fine!"

XxXxXxXxXxXxXxXxXxXxX

I walked out of the bathroom after I changed my appearance. I was now a blonde with hazel eyes. I was also much shorter and slimmer.

"Eric and I will go to the café that Sirius and I were at last night," I said, grabbing a bag. "The rest of you can figure out where you'll be."

"Let's go," I motioned to Eric, before turning to walk out the door.

I was almost to the door when a hand grabbed my arm. I was being forced to turn around.

"Who do you think you are giving out orders? You're not the leader of this team," James said.

"Neither are you," I replied coldly.

I yanked my arm out of his grasp and left. I didn't even bother to wait for Eric to catch up.

XxXxXxXxXxXxXxXxXxXxX

I sipped my tea, momentarily watching Eric over my cup. We had been sitting at a table in this café in for over ten minutes now.

"Here. Sirius told me to give this to you," Eric said, sliding a pocket mirror across the table. "He said he'd contact you in a while. Not sure how."

I grabbed the pocket mirror, not saying a word. I knew what this was. I had never seen another pair of communication mirrors such as what I held. I had always been envious of James and Sirius.

I pocketed the mirror before sipping my tea once more. I was observing my surrounding and the people.

"So. What happened last night? Exactly?"

"Didn't Sirius tell you guys?"

"No. He was pretty vague."

"Well, Sirius and I were just walking around when we heard a woman scream. We ran to where she was. She was being tortured by a few death eaters, or at least I think they were death eaters. Anyway, we ended up fighting with them. Then they left. After that, we took the woman to the hospital. End of story."

"Come on, there has to be more to the story than just that."

"Sorry. That's it."

"Man, you and Sirius just aren't into details, are you?"

"I suppose not," I replied casually.

XxXxXxXxXxXxXxXxXxXxX

"Come on. We're not finding anything out by just sitting here," Eric said.

"Yeah. Okay. Just hold on for a second. I have to go to the lavatory," I replied.

After I made sure I was alone in the lavatory, I pulled the borrowed mirror out of my pocket.

"Sirius Black."

"Hello, love. What can I do for ya," Sirius asked as his face appeared in the mirror.

"Eric and I are leaving the café. I just wanted to see where the two of you were and where Frank and Kingsley are at."

"Well, when we left, Kingsley and Frank were going to cover the area about four blocks away from your café. And James and I are probably about a block away from you guys."

"Okay. We'll talk to you later."

"Sure thing, love." And with that, Sirius' face faded, leaving me staring at my own reflection.

I walked out of the bathroom to where Eric stood.

"Okay. Ready?"

Eric nodded and replied, "Let's go."

XxXxXxXxXxXxXxXxXxXxX

"There's the alley where we found the woman," I motioned the direction with my head.

"Hmm. That seems like a really random place to be torturing someone. I'm betting, these people are in a building somewhere near here," Eric said, as we continued to walk.

"Yes, well. I'm sure that they are being more cautious knowing that someone's stumbled onto them. Although I'm not sure they know we're Aurors.

"Maybe. Maybe not. We'll find out soon enough."

XxXxXxXxXxXxXxXxXxXxX

James' P.o.V.

"Can't we stop to get something to eat? I'm starving."

"No, Padfoot. We have to keep looking. Besides you should have eaten breakfast before we left."

"I did though. I'm still hungry."

I shook my head in disbelief. "Fine. But get it to go."

"Sure thing," Sirius replied.

I now stood outside the building Sirius disappeared into. I rubbed my hands together for warmth as my thoughts traveled back to earlier this morning. I couldn't believe that Lily had acted so irresponsibly last night, according to what Sirius had told me later. She not only put herself in danger, but Sirius as well. And in this kind of profession, you can't think only of yourself.

And this morning, my heart nearly stopped when I heard Lily screaming.

"Okay, we can go now," Sirius interrupted my thoughts, a bag in one hand and a bagel in the other.

XxXxXxXxXxXxXxXxXxXxX

"Maybe we should just call the others and head back to the inn."

"Not yet. I think we should go back to the alley you guys were at last night. Just see if we can find any clues. You know," I asked.

"Are you nuts, Prongs?"

"I'm not nuts. I just think that if we go there we might be able to find a clue or something. I mean, we've been at this all day and still we haven't found out anything. Besides, I brought my invisibility cloak," I replied, patting my pocket.

"Okay. I'll stay here and watch your back. Be careful."

"Yeah," I turned into an alley.

After making sure no one could see me. I pulled my invisibility cloak out of my pocket and returned it to its normal size. Throwing it over me, I made my way past Sirius and told him I was going.

XxXxXxXxXxXxXxXxXxXxX

Back to Lily's P.o.V.

"Lily Evans."

I turned, looking behind me before I realized the voice came from my pocket. I pulled the mirror out of my pocket for the second time that day.

"Sirius. What's up?"

"Hey. We're calling it quits for today. We just talked to Frank and Kingsley a few minutes ago and we're heading back to the inn. We'll meet you there."

"Okay. We'll be there soon. Bye."

I put the mirror away once more before turning to face Eric.

"I think we should go to the hospital and question the woman. Maybe we can find something out."

"But you just said--"

"I know. Let's go."

A/N: Hey. So it's been a while. I actually meant to post this chapter the following week after my last posting but that didn't happen. I was actually too busy and excited to sit down and write. I ended up going to Disneyland with a few close friends on the 19th of july and then I went to a tattoo convention with them. My friend got fairy wings tattooed on her back in UV ink and I got my first tattoo. Then I celebrated my birthday with friends on the 25th, and spent my actual birthday (the 28th) with my boyfriend who I hadn't seen in two weeks. Also, I recently got accepted into a medical assistant program, which starts later on this month. So much has happened lately, just thought I'd let you know.

Anyway, I hope you enjoyed this chapter. I hope to get the next out soon. Maybe if I get enough reviews it'll get here faster. :wink wink:hint hint:

And much thanks goes to everyone who reviewed. I really appreciate it. : )

Much love,

Jenn

PS. My best friend made me laugh when she told me that Morgan Freeman was an actor. I hadn't even realized. I mean I know who Morgan Freeman was, but I just wasn't thinking. Hehe. Just thought I'd share that will you all. : )