A/N: Okay, so in this chapter Marissa gets started on her plan to get rid of Lily. Plus, Sirius gets sick and Lily has to nurse him back to health for a night. Will her old feelings for the boy resurface? Enjoy this chapter!

Chapter 17: New Plans and Old Love

The beginning of December came in a flash- but once it was there it crawled by slower than anybody could imagine. Classes for the H6 got harder as the N.E.W.T.S loomed around the corner and extra-curricular activities started to bog the teens down. Lily and James were piled in Head boy/girl activities, which were piling up as students started to get "winter fever" and decide that the school rules didn't matter to them anymore.

Sora was under a lot of pressure from the Hogwarts Spirit Committee (a club Sora founded herself that organized all of Hogwarts various parties/formal get together/balls/and even exam schedules) to put on an amazing Christmas party that year. It was also the first year that the Headmaster gave permission to the Committee to put on a Valentine's Day ball- so the girl was getting ready in advance for that as well.

Remus was putting in extra hours in his role as peer tutor (he got extra credit for it- so usually didn't mind) as all the seventh years realized at the exact same time that they better start studying for the exams.

Sirius was waist deep in the large project that he needed to do for his advanced Herbology class (which was so difficult that only six students decided to take it- two of which dropped out after the first three weeks).

Even Peter was kept busy with the Pre-Auror club, which he was the president of. Professor McGonagall, who was the sponsor of the club, decided that the club was also an excellent way to help the students study for several of their N.E.W.T.S, and was now assigning various homework and projects for the club members to do.

And on top of all of that, Frank Longbottom was calling extra quidditch practices, so Sora, James, and Sirius were even more exhausted that the rest, always complaining about their various aches and pains.

"I don't know if I can stand another week like this one!" James cried one Friday as the H6 sat outside under their favorite tree, savoring the last few minutes of peace before they had to go to Transfiguration.

"Tell me about it. I just wanted to strangle Frank yesterday when he told us we were going to have five practices next week" Sirius moaned, tossing his textbook into her back. The thought of studying even an ounce more made him want to throw up, even though he knew that he would be up all night trying to finish a last minute paper for potions.

"Well, look on the bright side, only two more weeks left until winter break" Remus said, going over the notes that Lily had let him borrow.

"Ah- don't remind me of that! The day before we let out for break is the Christmas party- and the Committee is expecting me to top last years" Sora cried out. Last year's party had been fantastic, complete with singing wood nymphs and polar bears ambling around the great hall. This year, Sora was up to her neck in suggestions given to her by various students as to what she should to this time around.

"Plus- I have the night shift for head duties this whole weekend- and I'm going to be up all tonight working on my essay for DADA" Lily moaned, singing down, the large textbook in her lap sliding off.

Peter looked at the group in front of him. They all looked as sad and pathetic as he felt, and he knew every one of them had worked themselves down to the bone. It was hard being the role models for everybody else in the school- it set the pressure too high. Every member of the H6 felt as though they had to be perfect at everything.

"And out transfiguration class isn't going to help much either" James said lamely.

"Yeah- I know. All we're going to do is keep reviewing old material for the exam. It gets really tiring" Remus said.

"Especially because McGonagall in such a dictator and harks down on us making sure that we're studying every second" Sirius said.

"There's no point of us even going to that class" Sora whined.

"Then let's not" Peter said suddenly. Everybody looked up at him, their eyes wide in shock; as though such an idea wasn't even to be fathomed.

"What?" Lily asked.

"Why don't we just skip class- head over to Hogsmede, have a few butterbeers" Peter said, shrugging.

"We can't do that" Remus said.

"Why can't we- we used to do it all the time in third year. Plus, we need to blow off steam" Peter answered.

"Yeah- but in third year we didn't have N.E.W.T.S or we weren't role models for the whole school" Sora pointed out.

"I don't know why you lot are even worried about the exams" Peter said loosely "you're the cleverest people in the whole school. Besides- what type of role models are we going to be if we're walking down the hallways half dead all the time?"

The rest of the group just sat in silence for a few seconds, contemplating the idea.

"I guess it wouldn't harm us to take a little break" Sirius said slowly

"We damn well deserve it" James added in.

"Definitely. Plus, I am in the mood for a butterbeer" Remus said.

"And I'm really not in the mood for Transfiguration" Lily mussed.

"So I guess it's set then" Sora said, looking around the group.

"To Hogsmede it is!" cried Peter getting up and throwing all of his books in his bag.

"You are a horrible influence on us, Wormtail" Sirius said to Peter, grinning, and putting all of his books away as well.

Marissa Potter sat at her desk, her eyes scanning over the papers in front of her without even seeing the words on it. The whole situation with James and his mudblood girlfriend was bothering the woman too much, and she couldn't concentrate on her work.

Finally she just set the paper aside and turned towards the butler who always stood at guard beside her desk.

"Jacques, go and get Thomas for me" Marissa said to the butler, who nodded his head and immediately left the room. Moments later he returned wit another person.

The man who entered the room with Jacques was someone who would be described as intimidating. He was muscular in any way, but he was tall, towering at about 6'7, with long, shoulder length black hair that looked as though he hacked at it himself. His face was taught and his eyes were the fiercest shade of black and dead-looking. His mouth was set in a harsh line and he walked with the air of a highly dangerous person. All in all, Thomas Helquest was not a man to be crossed.

And because of that, he was Marissa's personal assistant. Thomas had helped the woman get out of much trouble in the past and he was an expert of getting rid of annoying little problems.

"You called Madam?" Thomas asked, his voice harsh and brusque.

"Oh yes, I have a little problem that I need you to take care of" Marissa said softly.

"Of course, milady" Thomas answered, eyebrows raising interest.

"There is this one girl, Lily Evans, who is causing a bit of trouble for me" Marissa said slowly.

"Would you like me to take care of her for you?" Thomas asked.

"Oh, no- killing isn't in order at this time. All I want you to do is gather as much information about her family as you can. See what her parents do for a living, where they live, if she has any siblings" Marissa answered.

Thomas nodded. That would be easy. "And the what would you like to do?" he asked.

"Then bide your time. Help them out in fact. Give her dad a promotion; let them buy a bigger house, nicer, finer things. Wait about a month." Marissa said, tapping her hands on her desk. She looked up at Thomas with a sickly, evil smile.

"And then" she continued "once they've reached the top and are happy- I want you to ruin them"

The outing to Hogsmede was a relief on all the members of the H6… for about two hours. But once the group reached Hogwarts again, all of their worries and troubles came back. Sora had to rush off to Hannah Talbot's (a 7th year Hufflepuff) room for an overnight meeting about the winter party. Peter hurried off to get ready for his usual Friday night date with his girlfriend, Jenny. Remus rushed away to get ready to teach his nightly tutoring session. James went to patrol the hallways on his last day of night duty before the weekend and Sirius went off to go work on his mountain of homework.

Lily, on the other hand, went straight back to her room- determined to get her DADA essay done since she wouldn't have any time during the weekend. She went to her bedroom, got her books, and took them down to her common room, sitting in a chair by the fire, her parchment in her lap, open books surrounding her.

Lily looked at all the work she had to do and sighed. Lately none of the H6 had time to do anything fun like they used to. In fact, the afternoon outing to Hogsmede was the only entertaining thing that the group had done all week. The last full moon wasn't even fun because all of the H6 was so busy they couldn't even go out and keep Remus company.

All the work was taking its toll on her and James's relationship as well. It had been rocky to begin with, Lily admitted to herself. She and James were complete opposites, and there wasn't any secret about that. He was playful, slightly arrogant, and always eager to go out and do things. Lily on the other hand, was studious, shy, and enjoyed just sitting in front of the fire and talking instead of going out somewhere. But her and James had made the relationship work somehow. Now they didn't even get to see each at all any more and Lily had to admit that unless they made more time for themselves that their relationship wouldn't last.

After spending three hours trying to find information for her essay in vain, Lily finally decided to go to the library and research what she needed. She packed up all of her things and left a note to James about where she was, just incase he came back to the room earlier than she did.

Slowly she walked out of the common room and down the hallway. The sun had just set and most people where making their way back to their rooms, chatting merrily with their friends.

Lily reached the library and threw her bag on the nearest table, rushing over to the DADA section and grabbing ever single book that seemed like it might have something to do with her topic. Carrying the dangerously wobbly stack of books back to her table, Lily opened all of them in front of her and started to research.

Three hours later, Lily was almost dead from boredom, but she had a completed essay in front of her. Happily, she put all the books back on the shelf and put away her essay, making sure she put it somewhere safe. If anything happened to that assignment she would have to murder somebody.
Lily was just about to leave the library when she saw Sirius, sitting on one of the tables near the back, a huge mountain of books in front of him. Lily walked over to the boy.

"Hey Sirius" she said merrily. Sirius just waved at her, eyes still glued to the book in front of him. Lily reached the table and read the title of the book. It was something about Herbology.

"Still working on your project?" she asked. Sirius just moaned.

"I have so much to do and I haven't even really started on it yet! I just don't have the time any more. I shouldn't have gone to Hogsmede today" he said weakly.

"Sirius, we all needed a break today, Peter was right" Lily said.

"But I can't afford a break, I've got so many things to do" the boy said. Lily looked down at him and suddenly noticed something. Sirius was paler than usual, and his hands were trembling.

"Sirius, are you feeling well?" she asked.

"I'm feeling awful" he answered truthfully. Lily sat down next to him and placed her hand against his forehead. He was burning up.

"You've got an awful fever!" she cried. "Is anything hurting you?" she asked.

"Well, I've got the most awful headache known to mankind, my stomach hurts like crazy, and my throat feels odd" Sirius answered weakly. Lily immediately balked. She knew exactly what Sirius had; she herself had it last week.

"Sirius- you've got strep throat!" she cried.

"I've got what?" he asked

"Strep throat- it's a muggle disease" Lily explained.

"A muggle disease? How in the world did I catch that?" Sirius asked.

"Well- have you been snogging any muggles recently?" Lily asked, teasing.

"Snogging any…no way, are you out of your mind!" Sirius asked, failing to see that Lily was joking; his mind was a bit hazy.

"You need to go get some rest, and some antibiotics. If you don't treat strep it could become scarlet fever" Lily said sternly.

Somewhere in the back of Sirius's clouded mind the term scarlet fever came up. He had taken muggle studies for only one year- but they had a unit on diseases. If he remembered correctly, scarlet fever was quite dangerous.

"I can't get scarlet fever!" Sirius moaned. Lily grinned.

"Don't worry- I won't let you get it" she said "I just had strep last week, and I have some medicine left. Come, I'll give you some"

"But…what about my project?" Sirius asked, groggily.

"Sirius Black- you are half dead and you ask about your project! You are resting- no more working tonight" Lily said, thinking that maybe she should become a nurse. God knows she was stern enough.

Lily helped Sirius put away all of his material and then helped him get to her room. The boy was becoming worse every minute and by the time that they reached the heads' dorms, he could barely walk without assistance. Lily placed Sirius on the couch and ran up to her bedroom to get her medicine. She gave Sirius the medicine and a glass of hot tea to drink it down with.

"Hot liquids should help soothe your throat" she said as Sirius drank the tea down.

"Thanks" he mumbled, eyes starting to droop. Lily felt his forehead once again. It was still burning.

"You worked yourself too hard" Lily said to the boy. Sirius just nodded slightly, head tilting to one side.

"I'm hot" he said weakly. Lily slapped herself on the forehead. Of course the boy would be hot; he was wearing his stuffy school robes for heaven's sake.

"You just take off your robe, I'll get you one of James's night robes for you" she said, running up to James's room and picking a night robe from his wardrobe. She walked back down the stairs and stopped, suddenly out of breath.

"Sirius was sitting on the couch. He had taken off his school robes, exposing the black shirt and black pants he had on underneath. He reached up and took his shirt off and Lily almost lost her breath. Sirius without his shirt on was a rather pleasant sight to say the least. Obviously the intense quidditch practices had been paying off…big time. Lily shook her head, trying to talk some sense into herself.

"Snap out of it, Lily you dolt! He's your best mate's husband" she said quietly to herself before walking up to him and handing him James's robe.

"This should be much cooler" she said. Sirius took the robe thankfully and slipped it on.

"Tired?" Lily asked the boy refilling his tea sup and giving it back to him. She sat down on the couch beside him.

"Tired" Sirius said, sleepily. His eyes were darkened greatly by the fever and when he looked over at Lily, her heart skipped a beat. She knew it was completely, horribly wrong, but Lily couldn't help but notice how beautiful his eyes looked at that moment.

"You…you should sleep then" Lily said quietly to the boy. Yes, him sleeping would be good, because then he'd close those gorgeous eyes of his and she wouldn't feel so guilty anymore.

"Yes" he said groggily "Thank you Lily, for everything" he said, smiling sweetly at her.

Lily's breath caught in her thought at that smile but she managed to spurt out some form of "your welcome" to him.

Sirius's eyes closed and he dropped to the side, falling over, his head landing on Lily's thigh. He was fast asleep, the fever and fatigue finally catching up to him.

Lily tried not to look at the boy, but she couldn't help it. He looked so peaceful, so cute when he slept. His hair was slightly damp from his perspiration and it was starting to curl like it always did when it got wet. Lily thought the boy looked absolutely adorable when his hair went all curly like it was. Looking down at him, Lily thought to herself that Sirius was a hundred times better looking than Adrian was. Plus Sirius was sweet and kind, not a huge git.

Suddenly Lily actually comprehended what she was thinking about and groaned. She couldn't think about Sirius in this way- he was Sora's husband. He loved Sora and saw Lily as only a friend- and that was the way it would always be. Lily had obsessed over the boy from third through sixth year and had made a pact with herself at the beginning of this year that she would finally give him up. But that was hard to do with him lying in her lap, looking so vulnerable and endearing.

Lily knew that she had to get away from Sirius, and fast. She quickly got up, gently setting Sirius's head on the sofa. The boy shuffled a bit.

"Are you leaving me?" he mumbled. Lily bent down

"Just for a moment" she lied.

"Don't leave…so hot…" he mumbled again. Lily was quite tempted to stay, but she knew that she couldn't. She loved Sora and she would not let herself fall in love with her husband. Lily placed her hand on Sirius's forehead once again.

"You're feeling cooler already, you'll be better soon" she whispered.

"Where…Sora?..." Sirius muttered. Lily smiled to herself ruefully. He was lying, feverish, delirious, and all he could ask about was Sora.

"She's at Hannah's. She'll be back by morning and she'll see you then" Lily said. Sirius closed his eyes and fell asleep once more, satisfied with Lily's answer.

Lily just looked down at the dozing boy once more and the rushed up to her room. She sat on her bed, confused and worried. Her thigh still felt hot from where Sirius's head had been lying on it and at that moment she wanted to do nothing more than go back down and stay with the boy.

"This shouldn't happen, I love James" she said to herself. And it was true. She did love James. She loved his energy; his zest for life, the way cared for her so deeply…she loved everything about him, faults and all.

But then there was Sirius- the boy she had loved for three years. He was handsome, sweet, and slightly mysterious- an endearing combination. But he was married to Lily's best friend and he had never let on in any way that he had feelings for the girl. Lily knew that having a crush on Sirius would lead to nowhere but pain for her, but he had looked so innocent and cute tonight that her old feelings couldn't help but surface.

Lily groaned and laid back on her bed, closing her eyes in frustration.

Was it possible to be in love with two people?

A/N: So there you have it, the new chapter. What do you think about it? The next chapter will cover winter break and Christmas. I've been in a Christmas mood for this whole month for some reason, so this next chapter should be quite fun to write!