A/N: Okay, sorry it took me so long to get the nezt xhapter up to you guys- I've just been super busy. Another year gone by, another class of seniors that I will tearfully say bye to in a couple of months. It makes me quite depressed. Even more so when I think that next year, I'll be the one graduating and going far away next year. Ah well, at least I have my writing to keep me happy. Hopefully this chapter will be worth the wait. Enjoy!

Chapter nineteen: Merlin and Marriage

The train ride back to Hogwarts was a depressing affair. Nobody had wanted to leave Sirius and Sora's comfortable flat; especially not with a whole new semester of strikingly hard classes and the impending arrival of the N.E.W.T.S to look forward to. The mood in the H6's compartment, as well as the rest of the bus, was dark- and it was easy to tell.

"Oh, there's no need to be so glum!" Jenny finally cried as Peter sighed sadly for the fourteenth time.

"Is there a reason not to be glum?" Remus asked, his head resting lazily against the cool window pane.

"Why…we get to see all of our friends when we get back. Plus- I heard teachers are more lax with the students the first few weeks after winter break" Jenny said, trying to sound optimistic.

"Yeah, well I have double potions with the Slytherins to look forward to first thing tomorrow" Peter moaned.

"Peter, we all have double potions with the Slytherins first thing tomorrow" Sora reminded him. Sirius groaned beside her.

"Great- just what we need. Start the new semester with Slughorn" he said, irritably.

"Well, just think about it- we only have one semester left and then we'll graduate and be free!" Jenny said, trying to find something positive to say.

"I won't be free- I've got to go to business school" James said.

"And I've got auror school" Peter added.

"I'm headed off to professor training" Remus stated.

"And Sora, Sirius and I all have internships with the ministry" Lily added in.

"We'll never be free!" Jenny cried, finally giving up. She slumped down into her seat, upset and surly- just like the rest of the group.

The H6 all walked slowly into the castle when they arrived- stepping over the threshold into the main entrance way- standing still for a moment, taking in the familiar sights of the school.

"I guess winter hols is officially over now" James said finally. The rest of the group nodded numbly and made their way down the hall to their common rooms.

Lily and James walked in silence to their room, both of them quite depressed and confused over completely different things.

James was saddened because of the impeding start of classes and the fact that he hadn't done any of his winter assignments yet. He was going to so get kicked out of his head boy duties. And he was confused because his mother hadn't mailed him one howler over the break- even though he strictly disobeyed her orders for him to come home that Christmas. His mother was usually a hellion when her orders weren't obeyed- so he knew that something had to be up- and it made him feel nervous.

Lily, on the other hand was depressed because this Christmas had been the most joyous one she ever had celebrated- and she knew deep down that there would never be another one like it. Next year, the H6 would be separated and they would all be so busy with their own things that nobody would have time to get together anymore- which made Lily want to cry. The H6 was her life, she loved every member of it and she couldn't imagine being parted from them. And she was confused, very confused in fact, because the feelings she had for Sirius were still there and she didn't know how to get rid of them. She loved James, loved him with all of her heart- but she still felt a bit numb whenever Sirius walked past her, and she didn't know why.

"You look spaced" James commented to her as they reached their common room.

"Just a bit confused" Lily answered truthfully. James nodded his head, not wanting to pry. He gave the password to the portrait and stepped into the common room, only to find somebody already sitting there.

A boy lounged on the sofa, looking lazily into the unlit fireplace. His hair was black and messy, falling to the nape of his neck. He was a tall, graceful person- though he looked a bit too thin, as though he was sickly. He had a pair of the most electric blue eyes set in a thin, handsome face. And when he looked up at James and Lily, his lips did not pull up into a smile.

"Regulus" James said stiffly, acknowledging the boy in front of him. Regulus was Sirius's little brother- but besides physical resemblance- there really wasn't much the two boys had in common. Nobody in the H6 cared for the boy much, except for Sora- who had become fast friends with Regulus after she saved him from being mauled by the giant squid in his first year.

"James" Regulus said, nodding his head towards him. "And of course, Lily" he added as the girl stepped into the common room.

James stepped a little closer to Lily, a clear sign of protection.

"Do you need something Regulus?" Lily asked, wondering how in the world the boy got in the room in the first place. But as soon as the question popped into her head- she answered it. Regulus was a regular fox. He was sly and cunning and knew all the passwords to every room in the school. It was slightly frightening…

"I have some information that I thought would be valuable to both of you" Regulus said plainly. James looked at the boy with narrowed eyes.

"What type of information?" he asked.

"Information concerning your dear mum and her little plan to get rid of Lily" Regulus said, his face breaking out into a grin.

James and Lily's faces paled. Regulus wasn't a very nice person, but he never lied when it came to doling out information.

"What…what plan?" James asked weakly. He knew that his mother had been acting oddly…

"My information doesn't come for free, James" Regulus said calmly. James's eyes flashed and when he spoke again, his voice was hard and chilling.

"You tell me what my mum's plan is right now or I swear I will rip your face off" he growled. Regulus, on the other hand, was not impressed.

"Honestly, James- you can come up with a better threat than that, can't you? Anyways- this information was hard to attain; it will cost you something quite special" Regulus answered. James gave out a sigh of frustration and grabbed the boy by the cuff of his robes, hoisting him off the sofa and dragging him out of the room, which wasn't that difficult seeing as how the boy was really quite thin.

"James- what are you doing?" Lily cried, running after him.

"Get your hands off of me, Potter!" Regulus cried, trying to fight James's death grip.

"If he isn't willing to cooperate, I'll take him to someone who will make him" James said coolly, dragging the boy out of the common room and into the hall.

Sora and Sirius were in the bedroom, in the middle of unpacking all of their things when the door to their common room burst open. Both of them rushed out of their room and down the stairs- wondering what had happened now. They were more than shocked to reach the bottom and see a pale, scared looking Lily standing next to an infuriated James who was hauling Regulus behind him.

"What…the…bloody…hell..?" Sirius asked slowly, taking in the odd sight.

"I need your help" James said to his two friends standing in front of him.

"James you let go of that boy right now!" Sora cried. James let go of Regulus right away. He might be stronger than the boy- but Sora had a mean roundhouse kick that she liked to use now and then.

"What's going on?" Sirius asked, looking at his brother, who was lying on a heap on the ground, clutching his side in pain.

"Regulus was in our room and he said that he had some news about James's mum and some plan that she had. Then he refused to tell us anything unless we paid him and James got angry and dragged him over here" Lily explained quickly.

"He demanded pay?" Sirius asked. Lily nodded.

"He said it would cost us something special" she added.

"Well that's rather easy to get!" Sora said.

"What? Does he want money? That's not really something special. I can give him that. How much, 200 galleons?" James said.

"I don't want your filthy money, James" Regulus said, getting up, still clutching his side.

"Then what?" Lily asked. Sora just shook her head and ran up the stairs to her room. She returned a few seconds later, a rather large box clutched in one hand.

"What is that?" James asked. Sirius craned his neck to look at what Sora was holding.

Sora, instead, threw the box in front of Regulus.

"Okay, now tell us whatever you know" she said, grinning widely. Regulus looked at the box in disdain, expecting it to be something ridiculous. But upon reading the words on it, he immediately snatched the box from the ground and looked up at Sora.

"You know my weak spot" he stated simply. Sora nodded her head.

"What is it?" Lily asked, confused- just as James and Sirius were.

"Chocolate frogs" Sora answered.

"Caramel filled ones" Regulus added in. James, Lily, and Sirius just stared at him.

"You weren't willing to take good money for your information- but you'll give it away for a box of caramel filled chocolate frogs?" James asked in confusion.

"Pretty much so" Regulus answered.

"Your brother is really odd, you know that don't you?" Lily said, turning towards Sirius. The boy just shrugged. Regulus had always been a bit odd- but then again, he was a "true" Black; what else was there to expect.

"Just tell us whatever you found out" Sora said, but James stopped her.

"No wait one minute; I want Moony and Wormtail to be here for this. We can't make any plans without them" he said. Lily, Sora, and Sirius all nodded their heads and Sirius rushed out of the room to go grab the other two members of the H6.

A few minutes later, all six teens were sitting on the floor in front of the fireplace, looking up at Regulus, who was seated on the sofa before them.

"Okay, so what is this all about?" Remus asked.

"Well, apparently James's mum has this plan to get rid of Lily so that James ca get married to some type of rich witch heiress" Regulus said.

"But how will she get rid of Lily; she's safe as long as she's in Hogwarts. Professor Dumbledore won't let anything happen to her" Peter said.

"That's why Marissa has decided to attack Lily indirectly. She plans on ruining her family" Regulus continued.

"My family!" Lily cried, shocked and disgusted. It was a low blow for Marissa Potter, to attack her family- who couldn't even use magic to defend themselves.

"But my dad just got a raise and my mum's business has just started to pick up" the girl added.

"Which was all part of the plan. Marissa was going to raise your family up to the top and then ruin them completely- as in take away their jobs and home." Regulus said.

"But…we can't let her do that! Where will my parents go?" Lily asked.

"Don't be daft, Lily- don't you think one of our families would take your parents and sister in?" Sora asked.

"We've got more than enough space in our place" Peter offered.

"Plus, my dad could get your folks a new job in no time" Sora added in.

Lily smiled at all of her friends, thankful that they were there for her. But still, she didn't want it to come to that point.

"I can't let my family go through all of this pain just because of me" Lily said softly.

"What do you mean?" Sirius asked.

"I mean it's not fair for my parents and sister to suffer just because I fell in love with the wrong person" Lily answered.

"You couldn't help it, Lils, it's not like it's your fault. Plus- what can you do about it?" Sora asked. Lily looked up at James. She loved him and she didn't want to let him go…but, on the other hand, she couldn't do this to her family.

"I…I don't know what to do" Lily said quietly, her eyes filling up with tears.

"We are not going to break up" James said to the girl firmly.

"What else can we do- James? What other option do we have?" Lily cried.

"We'll find a way, Lily. We always do" James answered, his tone hard. He wouldn't give up Lily, not this easily.

"Well, how do we know Regulus got his information from a reliable source anyway?" Remus asked. Suddenly everybody turned on Regulus.

"My source is infallible" Regulus answered.

"Who is it?" James asked. Regulus gave him a sick little grin.

"Your mum's right hand man- Thomas" he answered. James looked at him through narrowed eyes.

"Thomas is deadly loyal to my mother- he wouldn't give out her plans to anybody" James said. Regulus just laughed at this.

"Really, James, you are so innocent. All I had to do was dangle a sack of galleons in front of him and he sang like a bird" Regulus answered.

"Remind me to tell mother to give that man a raise" James said, shaking his head. It was a bit off-putting to know that his mum's most trusted advisor betrayed her so easily, but then again- if it wasn't for the man's loose lips, they wouldn't have known about Marissa's plan until it was too late.

"But what can we do to stop Marissa?" Peter asked Regulus. The boy just shrugged his slight shoulders.

"Don't ask me- I just give out information" he answered. Lily looked over at James, who was deep in thought.

"There is nothing we can do" she said, his voice low and defeated.

"Don't say that, Lily. There's always something we can do- look as Sora and me- we solved our problem rather easily" Sirius said, trying to be comforting.

"Don't I know" Lily mumbled to herself.

"But this is a rather tough problem. Marissa Potter isn't just your ordinary witch" Remus said. James nodded his head darkly.

"I know. Whatever my mum wants, she gets. Nobody has ever been able to stop one of her plans ever" he said. Sora looked up at him with indignation.

"Yeah- well nobody had ever stopped one of the marauders plans before until Lily and I came along- and now look at us. We're the H6! If anybody could stop your mum, it's us" she said to the boy.

"I guess you're right" James said, once again getting lost in his thoughts. He stayed in his thoughtful gaze for a few moments until his eyes brightened and a wide grin spread on his face.

"I've got an idea!" he cried. The rest of the group stared at him.

"You found a way to stop you mum's plan?" Peter asked. James shook his head.

"No, but I found a way for my mother to accept Lily" he answered. Lily scoffed.

"James- please, your mum would never accept me. You are the sole heir of the biggest, richest corporation in the whole wizarding world! I'm the oldest daughter of a poor muggle family; there is nothing in the world that could make me worthy of you in your mum's eyes" Lily said. James just shook his head.

"There is one thing that will force her to accept you" James said.

"What is it?" Regulus asked, curious. He wasn't a dull boy- he knew that it would take something huge to get Marissa Potter to accept Lily as her daughter-in-law.

"Merlin" James said, his grin growing wider. Everybody in the group except for Lily gasped, looking at James with wide eyes.

"Impossible! It will never work" Regulus said, sounding shocked.

"He does have a point- Prongs, the Merlin is a pretty big stretch, even for us" Remus said, agreeing with Regulus for the first time in his life. Lily just looked at everybody, a confused expression plastered on her face.

"What is Merlin?" Lily asked. Everybody just turned and looked at her as though she was crazy.

"You must be kidding me, Lily- you don't know about Merlin?" Sirius asked, stunned. Lily just shook her head.

"The Merlin Pageant- it's only the biggest event for teenage witches ever" Sora said. Lily looked at Sora, even more confused than ever.

"Pageant…as in beauty pageant?" she asked. Everybody nodded. Lily just stared at the group and then bursted out laughing. James looked quite hurt.

"What's the matter with my idea?" he asked. Lily looked over at him, her eyes brimming with tears of laughter.

"James- how in the world do you think that a beauty pageant will stop you mum? Out of all the ideas you have ever had- this is the most pathetic one" she said.

"Lily, you don't understand- the Merlin Pageant is the biggest event for girls searching for rich husbands" Peter said.

"I'm not searching for a rich husband" Lily said.

"Um, hello- didn't we already establish that I am the richest wizard in the whole magical world?" James said. Lily blushed a ferocious shade of red.

"We never said anything about marriage" she mumbled. James just shook his head.

'We don't need to discuss that. We're going to get married- why wouldn't we? What we need to worry about now is getting my mum to accept the marriage" James said. Lily just looked over at the boy. He was so confident, did he not even think about asking her for her opinion about the whole marriage thing?

"You haven't even proposed to me yet" Lily said to the boy.

"Fine- I'll get around to it soon. But right now we need to get you to win the Merlin" James said.

"Prongs- I'm not trying to be negative- but it's almost impossible for Lily to win the Merlin" Sirius said. Lily looked over at him angrily.

"What, do you think I'm too ugly?" she asked, the blush creeping back onto her face.

"Nah, your gorgeous, Lily" Sirius assured her (Lily tried not to swoon at the boy's words) "But all of the girls who participate in the pageant have been preparing for it their whole lives!" he added.

"But why? Why is the Merlin so important?" Lily asked.

"Because, Lils, the girl who wins the Merlin is named the best catch in the whole wizarding world. High society girls from all countries come and compete in the pageant. Whoever wins can basically has clout to do anything" Sora said.

"So if you win the pageant and become the best catch in the whole world- my mum will have to accept you" James said excitedly "My mother participated in the pageant and won. That's how she met my dad" he added.

"My mum won the pageant the year before James's" Remus said thoughtfully "I guess that's basically how she met my dad as well"

"Its how all high society girls meet their husbands" Peter said. Lily looked over at Sora.

"You're a high society girl, Sora- why aren't you participating in the pageant?" she asked. Sora just snorted.

"My parents never really pushed me to try out for it- plus, I don't need to meet a high society husband" Sora answered. Lily just nodded her head thoughtfully.

"But…but I could never win the Merlin. I'm not high society- I'm not even close to it" Lily said.

"Don't worry, Lily, you have us to support you. All you need to do is get accepted to participate in the pageant and you're golden" James said.

"How do I get accepted?" Lily asked.

"Well, you will be judged by a panel on five things" James said "One in proper etiquette, one in music, one in public speaking, one in gracious hosting, and one in personal appearance. The panel will then pick the top 50 of the thousand candidates to participate in the pageant" James answered. Lily looked down at herself, her fading school robes and wild, curly hair.

"Why even bother?" she sighed. "I don't know anything about proper etiquette or music; I hate speaking in front of large crowds, I can't host parties to save my life; and as for personal appearance- look at me!" she cried, holding up a strand of wild, flaming hair.

"You can do it, Lily" James said, confidently.

"I'm just not pageant witch material. I don't know anything" Lily said disheartened.

"Which is why I found you a team of the bets tutors in the world" James said suddenly, causing everybody to look up at him.

"What?" Lily asked.

"You found a team already? But you only came up with the idea five minutes ago" Peter said, confused.

"Yeah, who is this team?" Remus asked.

"Why- it's us, of course!" James said. Everybody just stared at him.

"Us?" Sirius asked.

"Yeah, us. Padfoot and Regulus could train Lily on music; Sora could teach her proper well bred etiquette and gracious hosting; Moony and Wormtail could fine tune her public speaking; and I can hook her up with the best beauty saloon in all of Britain to help with her personal appearance" James said brightly "Who out there can help Lily better than us? All of us come from the most highest families in the society" he added.

"Well…I guess it could work" Remus said slowly.

"Yeah, I don't have a problem with tutoring Lily" Peter added.

"And we could help her a lot" Sora mussed.

"I'm not going to do it- I'm not part of your H6" Regulus said suddenly. James turned on him.

"Yeah- but do it to help Lily, to help me" he said. Regulus just gave out a mirthless laugh.

"Why in the world would I help you, Potter, when just an hour ago you dragged me across the whole school?" he asked. Sora turned to him.

"Regulus, please. I'm asking you as a friend. Lily needs your help. She needs to win the pageant" she said.

"Sora, I am grateful for your friendship- but I really don't see any gain for me from helping Lily." Regulus answered. James sighed.

"I'll give you a box of chocolate frogs every week" he said, Regulus narrowed his eyes.

"Three boxes" he said.

"Fine, whatever" James said irritably.

"Deal then" Regulus answered with a grin "but it has to be the caramel filled ones" he added.

"So it's set- we will get Lily ready for the Merlin Pageant!" Peter announced. Everybody nodded their heads.

"When is the pageant?" Lily asked.

"On Valentine's day" James answered "about a month and a half"

"Will I be ready by then?" she asked.

"You better be" James answered, grinning.

The teens all sat around for a few minutes and created up a schedule for Lily's tutoring. It was tough fitting in sessions between everybody's activities, but they finally drafted up a time table. After that was over everybody dispersed to go to their various outings, except for the two girls, who remained in Sirius and Sora's common room.

"Do you have anywhere to go?" Sora asked Lily. Lily just shook her head.

"Good. We need to have some girl time. It's been forever since we've sat and talked- just the two of us" Sora said. Lily nodded and leaned back in her chair, sighing.

"This whole Merlin thing is killing me and we haven't even started yet" Lily cried. Sora looked over at her friend.

"You seemed to be worried before this whole pageant thing came up. There's something else that's bothering you- what is it?" Sora asked.

Maybe it could be the fact that I'm in love with your husband Lily though ruefully. But of course she could never say that out loud, not to Sora. But then again, she couldn't hide anything from the girl either. She knew her too well.

"I…I think I'm in love with two people" Lily said, causing Sora to gasp.

"It's Remus isn't it?" Sora asked. Lily looked up at her friend in shock.

"Remus?" Lily asked.

"Yeah, I've been suspecting so for quite some time now. You're always spending all that time with him. You get along better with him than you ever have with James" Sora said.

Lily just stared up at her friend in wonder.

"Yeah…yeah, it is Remus" she finally said. It wasn't true- Lily's feeling towards Remus were only friendly- but she couldn't tell Sora who she was really in love with.

"But what about James, do you not love him?" Sora asked. Lily just sighed.

"I love James- that's the problem. James is the sweetest, kindest person that I have ever met. He's so considerate when it comes to me and he might be a bit overprotective, but I think that's adorable" Lily said "but on the other hand, I have a huge crush on…Remus… even though I know for sure that he will never like me back. I try to get rid of my crush, but it won't go away" she added

"Well, it seems as though James is the better man for you" Sora said "but if you're not sure of that then I don't think you should lead him on"

"I'm not leading him on, Sora- I really do love him! But…I'm just confused right now" Lily said. Sora looked down at her friend sadly.

"Lily I know that you're confused- but James is fixing to propose to you- he's madly in love with you. You should see the way he looks at you some time- it's sweet enough to make a person's heart melt. If you aren't as serious about the relationship as he is, then don't pretend like you are. He's my friend too, and I don't want to see him get hurt" Sora said.

"And I don't want to see you get hurt either" she added "maybe you should take a break. Just don't date anybody for a few weeks- give yourself time to clear your head"

Lily pondered over that thought for a moment.

"You know what, that's a wonderful idea" Lily said. "I'll just take a little break from dating and clear up my confusion. Thanks Sora" she said, hugging her friend and running from the room, hurrying to tell James about the plan. He would be upset as hell at first, Lily knew it. But, in the end, it would be better for the both of them. Lily could get over her infatuation with Sirius and finally open her heart up completely to James. She just needed some time…

Lily rushed into her common room, only to find James standing there, pacing.

"James I have something to tell you" Lily cried out. James looked at her with an odd expression.

"Wait, I have something more important to ask you" James said. He was wearing an expression that Lily had never seen on him before and it frightened her.

"James, what is it?" she asked, suddenly feeling afraid. James walked up to her and took something out of his pocket.

"Lily…" he said hesitantly. Suddenly Lily placed the emotion on his face. He was nervous! For the first time in his life James was nervous.

"I know that we haven't discussed this yet- but it's pretty obvious- I just wanted to formally do this" James said.

"What are you talking about?" Lily asked him. James opened his hand. There, on his palm, was a beautiful diamond ring winking up at Lily.

"Lily, will you marry me?" James asked.

Lily just looked up at him in shock, she knew it would have happened eventually- but not so soon. Lily just stood there, a million emotions raging through her, confusion, love, defiance, it was all too much for her. Half of her wanted to scream yes, half of her wanted to run away. Her body was being pulled in a million different directions and it hurt like hell.

"I think I'm going to throw up" Lily mumbled, and the she did, all over the plush carpet.

A/N: Ah, so another chapter finished. Next chapter- you find out whether or not Lily will accept James's proposal as well as well as see what happens when Marissa brings out her "secret weapon". As always, please review- they make my day!