Disclaimer: All the characters that you recognize belong to J. K. Rowling.

Author's Note: Thanks to sunlitmist, themaraudersaremine, milkywaypnay37, x0x-Mystique-x0x, nowthatspink, Ann, Miss Myrtle360, blondesRhot, trashcan, -Lily Evans 4 life-, LJ fan for life, and kiss67 for reviewing! It means the world to me! The greatest thing for me is your reviews (and thanks to LJ fan for life for recommending my story, I was both surprised and extremely happy, thanks!) All of you guys are simply amazing!

Miss Myrtle360: You have a good point there, to what Dumbledore could have done. But I've got two things to say to that: 1. Dumbledore's plan was to wait for her to arrive back at the castle, which was supposed to happen the next morning, so that once she got back he would be ready and waiting for her there with the Ministry. That way she would certainly be caught, not just the slight possibility that they would find her. 2. It was needed for the story!

-Lily Evans 4 life-: Sorry, but I have no clue what a beta is! I don't have one, and probably don't need one (I think I've obviously managed without one!) If you find out though, I'd be interested to know what they are too!

As James headed back to Gryffindor, he still couldn't shake the feeling of murder out of his mind. Dumbledore had probably told him at least fifteen times that it couldn't have been avoided, that it was Lily's only chance to survive, and that if James hadn't done the murder first, he would have never made it out of that room alive. James knew that Dumbledore was correct about all of this, and that he should feel more like a hero than a villain. But his heart told him otherwise.

"Hippogriff," James said as he approached the Fat Lady.

The door swung open to reveal an empty common room. It was almost eerie at how deserted it was. The fire was low, as though it were about to go out. There were no bodies in the chairs, not even the look of an indented seat where someone just got up. There were no sounds coming from inside the dormitories, everyone was fast asleep. The sky outside was pitch black, it was a new moon that night, so not even the moon's glow reflected into the empty room.

And just as the common room, James was utterly alone.

He heard a noise coming from the glass windows, almost like a scratching noise. He turned his head to find an owl there, holding a small letter on his leg. James went to window and was astonished to see it was his mother's owl, Jove, outside.

He let him in, and quickly untied the letter from Jove's leg. He searched in his pockets for something to give the owl, but could find nothing for him to snack on. He shrugged his shoulders, and the owl flew off.

James looked down at the letter for a moment before ripping it open to read.

James,

Sweetheart, your father and I just received a note from Dumbledore about, well, what happened. James, we are so proud of you. Not every seventh year student would have made it out alive, but you did. We truly are both amazed and delighted. Of course it was a tragic event for you, we both understand that greatly. On the other hand though, you are alive and safe, that's what most important to both of us.

When we received the note from Dumbledore we didn't know what to expect. A letter waking us up in the middle of the night generally doesn't mean good news. It gave us quite the nasty shock. But after reading it, we were both so happy and proud of you.

I realize that you must be upset, which is very reasonable. But remember, you saved Lily's life, as well as your own. If it weren't for you, many more students could have been harmed.

James, remember, we love you very much and always will. And send our love to Lily, whom we have heard has received her potion and is expected to be just fine.

Love,

Mum and Dad

P.S. Your father thinks that you will make an excellent auror.

James stared at the letter, despising his parents for being so ignorant of how he was feeling. They only mentioned two sentences out of the entire letter about how he was upset. And even that was followed up by more of the "don't feel sad" act. James hated that. Why couldn't anyone know how he was feeling?

The last line was what had really set him off though, "P.S. Your father thinks that you will make an excellent auror." Was that all his father could think of? Did he really only care about James's future career?

James couldn't believe them. He always thought his parents as understanding people who would know exactly what he wanted to hear and say it. Not say a bunch of crap that he already knew. As awful as it sounds, James couldn't help but think that for the first time in his life, his parents were a huge disappointment.

As frustrated as he was, he finally managed to go up to his dormitory and fall asleep.

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The next morning James was awoken by the sounds of his roommates. He could hear Peter scrambling through all his stuff, most likely searching for a book he misplaced. He heard Sirius whining about not wanting to go to class, and Remus was replying by telling him to get off his sorry ass and stop complaining.

Although he was awake, he didn't open his eyes. He didn't want his friends to notice that he was awake; in fact, he wanted them to forget about him and leave for the Great Hall without him. This, however, was not an option for the Marauders. They never left for breakfast without each other unless specified by the person not coming along.

"Wake up, Prongs," Sirius said.

James still didn't move.

"James, don't make us dump water on you again," Remus warned.

James grumbled a little, remembering the icy surprise wake-up that had came to quite a shock to him back in their fifth year. He had never been that grumpy toward his friends in his entire life before that incident, but he was that day. In fact, for nearly the entire morning he refused to speak to them, as childish as it was.

"Prongs," came Peter's warning voice.

"I'm up, I'm up," he grumbled.

"That's what we thought," Sirius said, a smile on his face. "Now come on, breakfast will only be out for twenty more minutes. And then we've got to face those dreaded classes. I mean Transfiguration with the strictest teacher, and then Potions with Rander, it's enough to make me want to kill myself."

At Rander's name, James thought he was going to be sick. The memory of last night, which had almost escaped his mind was back to haunt him. He remembered every step he took, every spell that left his lips, every action he made. He clearly remembered seeing his ex-professor fall to the ground, dieing instantly.

Then another thought entered his mind, back to Rander's and Voldermort's conversation. "Sirius, why didn't you tell me that you were related to Rander?" James asked.

Sirius went pale at the mention of his family. He hated them, every single member of the Black family, well with the exception of his uncle. All the others went to the Dark side, joining forces with Voldermort.

"How did you know that?" Sirius questioned.

"I'll tell you later," James replied.

"I, I never talk to her…She's my mother's sister. I never liked her, and she never liked me. We decided when she first started teaching here, two years ago, that we would pretend not to know each other. She sent me a letter saying so. I agreed to that, not wanting to be associated with any Slytherin, especially her," Sirius explained.

"Oh, well, I understand," James replied. "I was just curious."

"How did you hear that, James, you can tell me."

"I heard something I wasn't supposed, let's leave it at that. I'll tell you the rest later," James responded.

"Alright…Well, you better get up, we've got class soon."

"I'm not going."

"What do you mean you're not going?" Remus asked.

"I'm not going," James answered.

"Are you sick or something?" Peter asked.

"No, I'm fine."

"Is something wrong?" Remus asked.

"No."

"Are you sure? Did you and Lily get in a row or something?" Sirius asked.

James pressed his eyes shut at the thought of Lily. Last he heard was that her potion was on the way to Hogwarts and after she took that she would be fine. It would be a matter of hours, maybe days before she would wake up. Madame Lingwood assured him though, that she would be perfectly normal and healthy in no time at all.

"No," James answered, "I just don't feel like going."

"Prongs, you can't just go around missing classes, especially since you're Head Boy," Remus reminded him.

"I know, but I just can't go to them right now. I'll tell you guys the rest later," James answered.

"Fine, but what do you want us to tell McGonagall? Because you bloody well know that she'll ask us right away," Sirius said.

"You don't have to say anything, she won't ask," James assured his friend.

"James, are you sure you're okay?" Remus asked, a concerned look on his face.

"Yeah, I'm okay…you guys had better go though, McGonagall will kill you if you're late one more time," James replied.

"Um, alright then, if you need us, just come find one of us," Peter told his friend.

As the three boys left James, they couldn't help but wonder what was wrong. They knew that something was up, they could tell by not only the way he was acting, but by the fact that he didn't share information. He did that often when something was bothering him, shut away the rest of the world.

When Sirius, Remus, and Peter entered the Great Hall, they were surprised to see how chaotic it was. Students were talking, obviously sharing news and stories. What about though, none of the Marauders knew.

"Scarlett, what's going on?" Remus asked as he plopped down across from her.

"You didn't hear? Well, out of the blue, all Potions classes have been cancelled. Dumbledore made an announcement earlier saying that Rander wasn't here any longer and Potions is cancelled they find another teacher," she responded.

"What?" all three boys asked.

"Yeah, Danny Moran, the sixth year in Hufflepuff, said that he went down to the classroom this morning and the room had caution tape all around it, and no one can get in unless authorized to do so. He said he saw ministry workers in there, and that the room was all messed up. There were bottles smashed, books flown from the shelves, everything was out of place... Odd, isn't' it," Scarlett commented.

"Yeah, very," Sirius agreed.

"Aubrey Quinn says that Rander was death eater, and she was caught by the ministry. And that's why her room is being searched," Marissa added.

"I wouldn't be surprised," Sirius replied.

"Of course, there are so many outrageous rumors going around though… Ed Keegan reckons that she was killed, right here in the castle. He swears that one of the teachers did her in. And then there's that one going around that she and Dumbledore got into a duel, and he killed her. And Lee Lawrence said that she heard that a student killed her, because she gave him a bad test grade…So of course, the likelihood of them being true is very rare, but that's what I've heard in the last half hour," Marissa told the group.

"Wow," Peter said.

"Oh, there you guys are," Gracie said as she popped in near the group. "I was looking for you guys, have any of you seen Lily?"

"Nope," all three Marauders responded.

"That's odd…I never heard her come into the dorm last night, and when I woke up she wasn't there either," she said, then looking at Scarlett and Marissa she asked, "Did either of you hear her come in last night or leave this morning?"

"Now that you mention it, no," Scarlett said, worry on her face. Marissa nodded her head no.

"That's odd, really odd," Gracie commented.

"She wasn't with James, was she?" Marissa asked.

"No, not that we saw anyway," Remus answered.

"But, that makes sense. Maybe the reason James didn't' get up this morning was because he was hiding Lily!" Peter exclaimed, happy that he came to such an elaborate conclusion.

"Hmm, maybe," Remus said. "Anyway though, I'd rather not talk about the two of them hiding in his bed, it's really rather disturbing breakfast conversation."

"Good point," Peter agreed, while Sirius nodded his head. All three girls just rolled their eyes at that comment.

As they heard the bell ring, all six students rushed off to Transfiguration, and barely made it there in time. Surprisingly, McGonagall didn't ask about James's absence or Lily's for that matter. Instead she carried on like any other class, ignoring the thought that two students were missing.

Unsurprisingly though, was that the rumors kept on increasing. Some students were even claiming that they crept out of bed and saw Rander and Dumbledore duke it out with their wands, and Dumbledore just barely winning. Some students even went as far as Rander was actually a vampire and the ministry discovered her secret and took her away from the school.

Everywhere you turned there were rumors spreading like wildfire. Every student was dieing to know the truth, but none of them knew it, none but James Potter.

And he was certainly far away from all of the commotion caused by his classmates. Instead, he was in the infirmary, watching over Lily's peaceful slumber. As he sat at the head of her bed, he traced a small outline of her face, wanting to take in everything about her, the way her face curved, the length of her eyelashes, even the smoothness of her skin.

He heard a small moan come from deep inside her body, and she twisted her torso slightly. Her eyes then fluttered open, revealing the pools of emeralds that James adored so much.

"James," she whispered.

"I'm here," he softly told her.

"I knew you would be," she replied, a weak smile forming at her lips. She gently took his hand in her own, holding in softly, her strength just barely allowing this action.

"How are you feeling?" he asked.

"I'm okay, just a little tired," she answered.

"I, I don't remember how we got away, James…I just remember seeing her wand pointed directly at me, and I fell to the ground, very hard, and then the next thing I know and I'm here, with you," she told him.

"He bent forward and kissed her hand, and then said, "Lils, it was scary, I'm not going to lie to you. I was scared that I was going to lose you forever." From there he explained everything that happened, from right after the curse was put on her until the teachers found him crying for help.

"James, wow," she whispered.

"I know…but let's not talk about that right now, I don't want to. I just want to be with you right now," he told her.

She smiled up at him and then slowly shifted her body over to one side of the bed, allowing room for him to sit next to her. As he slid onto the bed, she rested her head against his chest, feeling as he took in each breath. She moved up and down to beating of his heart, until sleep overcame her once more.

James didn't mind though, he enjoyed every moment of it. Now, there truly was no one but him and Lily. There was no one to remind him of what he did, no one to tell him he was a hero when he didn't feel that way at all, no one to interrupt a perfect moment with Lily.

Author's Note 2: Okay, well I hope you all liked the chapter! I know that it certainly wasn't action packed like the last chapter, but I still hope it was enjoyable. Please review!