Disclaimer: All the characters that you recognize belong to J. K. Rowling.
Author's Note: Thanks to cilverblood, ilovecaptainjacks, little-angel123452000, milkywaypnay37, siriuszsecretlover, gatoriris, Boy-Crazy Bookworm, KC's-Diamond, Pranks Are So Siriusly Padfoot, J.E.A.R.K.Potter, lOvEiNhEaVeN, miss-mags-ak, MissMrprk, alli8, Smay, Prongsie-Jamesie, Denise, Lyny Angell, alli88, and RawBean for reviewing! You guys are awesome!
RawBean: Sure you can use the idea! I actually thought of it because of Book 5, when Hermione had the coins and put the spell on it!
Lily stood in front of the full length mirror near her bed. She was wearing a white turtle-neck sweater with tight blue jeans. Her green eyes were vibrant against her white face, the only color other than slightly rosy cheeks. Her hair was curled and loosely pulled into low pigtails.
She looked in the mirror and then said aloud, "James, there's something I need to talk to you about…Well, you see, I still love you."
She screwed up her face a bit and shook her head no. "No, that just sounds stupid."
She then pushed a few escaped strands of crimson hair away from her face and began again, "James, I'm really sorry. I don't know why I broke up with you, because I still love you. I love you more than words could ever explain."
Lily let out a sigh of frustration; nothing she said seemed to work. It all made her sound dumb, and didn't sound right at all. With another try, she looked into the mirror, fidgeted her hands around and said, "James, I miss you. I don't know what possessed me to do that, because I ended up hurting myself over the loss of you. I guess I never realized how much you meant to me until it was too late. And, well, I don't blame you if you don't forgive me, but if you could find it in your heart to do so…I love you."
"Aw, how sweet," Gracie said as she came into the room.
Lily snapped her head around at the sound of her friend's voice. Her eyes were wide, and her cheeks even more flushed than before. She hadn't wanted anymore to hear her rehearsing what she would say to James.
"Gracie, shut up," Lily snapped.
"What? All I said was that it was sweet. And let me tell you, with words like that James will come running over to you, sweep you off your feet, and lay the biggest kiss on you," Gracie responded with slight giggle.
"Stop," Lily whined, although secretly she would be thrilled if Gracie's prediction was true. She wanted James to wrap his arms around her petite body, and hold her tightly against him. In fact, she never wanted him to let go. She just wanted to have the two of them together forever.
"Okay, now that you've practiced your speech, go say it to lover-boy," Gracie said with a smirk.
"Shut up, I wasn't practicing," Lily replied, although her bright red cheeks said otherwise.
"Ha, you can't even stop blushing," Gracie teased as the two girls made their way down the stairs toward the common room.
"No," Lily muttered while holding back a smile.
"Yes, and just for the fun of it," Gracie said, and then switched her voice to do the impersonation of Lily, "Oh, James, I just can't live without you. I need you so much, I'm so sorry for breaking up with you. Will you ever forgive me?"
"Shut up," Lily told her friend while trying to cover her face with her own hands.
Gracie, however decided to ignore the comment, and said in a deep, masculine voice, "Oh, Lily, I'm so glad to hear what you're saying. I was beside myself having to live without you."
"Gracie," Lily whined while holding back her laughter.
"Oh, James, I've never been so excited in my life!" Gracie said while switching over to impersonating Lily's voice.
"I wouldn't say that," Lily said while flashing a huge smile.
"Oh, right, you'd be more like, 'Great, kiss me now!'" and with that said, Gracie turned to face the wall, wrapped her own arms around her self, and started to pretend to kiss someone. Seeing that only made Lily laugh even harder, and Gracie ended up turning around to laugh as well.
The laughter finally stopped after several moments, and the two girls made their way to the Great Hall to look for James.
"Where is he?" Lily asked as her eyes searched the Gryffindor table.
"Maybe he already ate," Gracie suggested.
"Maybe…But he wasn't in the common room either. So where is he?" Lily asked.
"Is he in his room?"
"No, he doesn't go up there too often. Usually only to sleep, and make plans with the Marauders. But they do that at night, when they won't be disturbed," Lily automatically replied.
"Wow."
"What?"
"You sure know a lot about James," Gracie commented.
"Well, being with him so much does that to a girl," Lily responded with a smile forming at her cherry colored lips.
"How about we ask Zaynah," Gracie suggested.
With that said, Lily snapped back into reality, forced to stop thinking about James. Just then mention of Zaynah's name made Lily want to scream. In fact, the mention of her name made Lily's hopes and dreams of being with James come to a swift halt. True, James and Zaynah weren't dating, but they spent so much time together. And Lily was sure that all they did was flirt with each other, especially Zaynah, whom she didn't trust at all.
"Why would I ever want to talk to her?" Lily questioned, daggers burning in her vibrant eyes.
Gracie shifted uncomfortably a little bit before responding, "Well, she and James are friends, so she might know where he is."
Lily didn't say anything, but headed over to the table that Zaynah was currently sitting at. It appeared that she was writing a letter to someone, probably a family member at home.
As Lily approached her, Zaynah looked up to meet her eyes, and asked, "What do you want?"
"Do you know where James is?" Lily asked.
"Why do you care?"
"I need to talk to him, it's important," Lily responded.
"What, going to be mean and nasty to him again?" Zaynah asked. Her eyes were narrowed and looked fierce. She had a smug look on her face, as if she had just won a battle of wits.
Lily clenched her hands into small balls, making her nails pierce her delicate skin. Her face showed no emotion other than hatred toward the girl in front of her, and she responded, "It doesn't concern you."
"Then maybe his whereabouts don't concern you," Zaynah remarked.
"And they concern you?" Lily asked while raising her eyebrows in disbelief.
"As I am close to him, yes they do," she responded.
Lily's eyes bulged out in annoyance as she held back her tongue from saying sour words. "Never mind then."
Once Lily turned her back, Zaynah muttered, "Don't even try it, bitch."
Lily froze once she heard the words, and quickly turned to face her enemy. "Try what?"
"Don't break his heart," Zaynah said as she got to her feet.
"Don't make me break your face," Lily angry replied.
Zaynah came closer to Lily, and whispered, "at least I've got the guy." She then walked passed Lily, leaving her at a loss for words.
"How can he stand her?" Lily yelled in frustration.
"Don't let her get to you," Gracie advised.
…
"What the fuck could the password be?" Remus hissed. He, James, Sirius, and Peter (in rat form) were underneath the invisibility cloak, standing outside of Dumbledore's office.
"Shut up, Moony, someone will hear you," James whispered.
As if on cue, Zaynah was strolling by the office. She had a smile on her face, and occasionally let out a chuckle. She was muttering something as well, but the Marauders couldn't quite make out what she was saying. All they knew was that it had something to do about 'showing her up.'
Once Zaynah had passed them, Sirius muttered, "Well, that was a close one…Now what the fuck is the stupid password?"
"I don't know," Remus replied, "What's the kind of things he likes?"
"Hmm, pastry puffs," James whispered to the gargoyle statue. Nothing happened. "Chocolate…pies…roast turkey." Nothing happened.
"What makes you so sure it's a food?" Sirius asked.
"Why wouldn't it be?"
"Good point…chocolate éclair…ice cream…strawberry shortcake," Sirius said to the statue. Once again, nothing happened.
"Apple tart….cameral…peppermint patty," James tried, but once again, the statue didn't' budge.
"Okay, let me try," Remus told the group, "Root beer float…Hershey's kiss…lemon" However, Remus didn't' have to go any further with his guesses. It seemed that Hershey's kiss did the trick.
A spiral staircase started to appear, and the Marauders instantly jumped onto it. As the started to ascend, they were amazed at what was to be seen. The room was vibrant, with shades of red and gold covering the office. There was a gigantic desk in the center, with a large cushioned chair behind it. Off to the side was a velvet couch, able to seat four grown men comfortably. There was also a wooden chair off to the other side, which the Marauders presumed was pulled up opposite of Dumbledore's when he had meetings. What intrigued them most however, were the objects on the bookshelf. There was a glass ball, which James guessed was a pensieve, holding all of Dumbledore's memories. Near it were books, letters, and tons of other supplies. There was even a telescope placed nearby, which James found himself leaning towards, wanting to find out what it did. The sorting hat was also visible, as well as a beautifully colored bird. Portraits lined the walls as well, and James recognized them as previous Headmasters of Hogwarts.
"What do you suppose this does?" James asked as he held up the telescope. The decorations on it were spectacular. The background color was black, and it had silver engravings all over it, making it look very oriental.
"No clue," Peter responded once he transformed back into his human shape.
Curiosity getting the better of him, he held the small object to his right eye. Inside was an imagine of himself. He was smiling broadly, with a woman with vibrant red hair and bright green eyes next to him; Lily. They were seated in the common room, right next to the fire. He had his arm slung around her shoulder, and her head rested on his shoulder. She whispered something into his ear, which made him smile and lay a kiss on the top of her head.
"What is it?" Remus asked.
James immediately looked up, and replied, "Not sure."
"What did you see?" Peter asked.
"Lily," James replied. "I saw me with her."
"Let me have a look," Sirius said while grabbing the telescope out of James's hands. He peered into the tiny telescope and smiled at what he saw. In the small looking glass were four friends running wild; Padfoot, Prongs, Moony, and Wormtail. The shadows of the animals were draped high onto the road in Hogsmeade village. He, Padfoot, let out a bark of happiness as they continued on their journey.
"What do you see?" Remus asked as he took a step closer to his friend.
"Us, running around Hogsmeade," he replied.
"Hmm, let me have a look," Remus told his friend. When looking into the telescope, Remus saw himself, only years younger. He was sitting at the kitchen counter at home, just casually reading a book. His complexion was pale, and Remus guessed it was right after a full moon. An owl suddenly swooped in through the window, letting a letter fall onto his lap. It was the letter from Hogwarts, inviting him to join the school for his first year at Hogwarts.
"What'd you see, Moony?" James asked.
"Me, when I was eleven. I just got my Hogwarts letter," he replied.
"My turn," Peter anxiously said while taking the telescope from Remus. Peter smiled at the memory he was seeing. It was of a prank that the Marauders had accomplished in sixth year. It was one of their best pranks ever pulled, and Peter had been doing most of the work. He was in his rat form, causing the Slytherins hell for the day. Once finishing the prank up, his fellow Marauders were cheering for him, and giving him pats on the back.
"What about you, Wormtail?" Remus asked.
"Oh, just a prank that we pulled," Peter casually answered.
"Hmm, it could be anything," Remus commented. "We should look it up sometime."
"Have fun that," Sirius joked.
"Okay, guys, we're on a mission here. We need to find out about that Meeting thing," James reminded his friends.
With that said each of the boys started to snoop around the office, coming up with several interesting items. However, none of them seemed to show any sort of information about the fight against You-know-who.
"This is hopeless, we'll never find anything," Peter complained.
"Yeah, I hate to admit it, but we've been looking around for nearly an hour and we still haven't found anything," Remus told the group.
"Come on, we can't just give up…I'm sure that there's something around here," James said while searching Dumbledore's desk.
"I don't know, Prongs, I think Moony and Wormtail are right," Sirius told his friend.
After checking each drawer in the desk, James said, "Okay, maybe you're right. Maybe there's nothing here at all…But since we're up here, we might as well have a little fun."
"What do you mean?" Remus curiously asked.
"Well, why not have a bit of fun with all this cool stuff that Dumbledore's got up here. I mean, this pensieve is practically begging us to look at it," James said with a glint of mischief in his eyes.
And so they did look at it. They looked into Dumbledore's past and were surprised at what they saw. There wasn't a happy memory to be seen, only sad ones. Most were at trials, watching accused Voldermort supporters get sentenced to lifetime in Azkaban Prison. Some however were even worse. Dumbledore had to tell families that their husbands, wives, or even children were murdered in the fight against the Dark Lord. Truth be told, James could understand perfectly why Dumbledore had chosen to place these memories in the pensieve. Too many bad memories could make even the most cheerful person in the world crash and burn easily.
"Wow," was all James could muster up to say after looking into the memories.
"Yeah, I never knew how tough the guy's life really was," Sirius commented.
Just then, the four boys heard the staircase start to move. Someone was coming! They rushed to get under the cloak, Peter having to turn into his rat form.
"What was so important that we had to discuss events in Dumbledore's private office?" Professor McGonagall asked the tall man that stood by her side.
"It's about the Order," the man said. His voice was strong, sounding fearless.
"What is it? Did something happen?" McGonagall asked. Her voice was full of worry. The last thing she needed happening was for something to go wring with the Order, with Dumbledore being away and all.
"I was spying on the Death Eaters again, and saw someone who shouldn't have been there. At least, I'm assuming he shouldn't have been there," the man said.
"Who was it?"
"Gregory Burns," the stranger said.
"No, he shouldn't be there. He isn't a spy," McGonagall announced.
"That's why I came here. I think he may be a spy for You-know-who. I think he was at the Order to find out how much we know."
"Oh goodness…This is awful," McGonagall told the man. "We don't even know who we can trust anymore."
"That's not all though. I heard stuff when I was there. His new plan is to scare the wizarding community by even more murders. Except these ones aren't on the muggle-born. They want to attack the pure-blood families that won't join the Dark Lord."
James could feel his face go white. His parents suddenly came into his mind. They were very strongly against Lord Voldermort. In fact, they would do anything to get rid of him, even if it risked their own lives.
"Oh my," McGonagall said. "We have to tell Dumbledore immediately. We need to warn the families, especially those in the order. If there are spies, then they have most certainly told You-know-who of who's in the Order."
"Alright, you go write to Dumbledore. Tell him it's urgent and explain everything that I've told you. I'm off for more undercover work. I heard that there's a meeting near Gingdon's Hill tonight, I'll see what else I can find out."
Author's Note 2: Okay, here's chapter 35! I was actually really excited to write this one! Oh, and so sorry about the lack of review this past week. In my other story, I put up an author's note for a chapter, and fanfiction found out and they locked my account. This meant that I couldn't add a new chapter until today, which was really sucky because this one was ready since Friday! Anyways, I hope you guys all like it, and please review!