Coming To Conclusions

James finally stumbled into the Head's common room around five in the morning, his clothes all torn, muddy and wet. Blood was dripping down his face from a small but deep gash on his forehead above his eye that Remus had been kind enough to give him.

The first thing he saw was Lily, asleep on the couch. Oh great, James thought, she waited up for me. He crossed over to the couch and picked up the sleeping Lily, careful to not wake her. He carried her to her room and lied her down on the bed, covering her with her blankets. Lily slept on, so James backed slowly from her room and closed the door.

As he showered and changed, James thought about the excuses he was going to have to use. He loved Lily, but he wasn't sure if he should tell her the truth. He knew that lying to her was the worse thing he could do, so he was just going to have to avoid her until he talked to Remus about the whole situation. Satisfied with the conclusion he reached, James fell into a dreamless sleep.

XXXX

Lily awoke around nine, absently thinking that she was glad it was a Saturday. She got out of bed and noticed she was still dressed from the day before. That's right, James didn't show up for his duties, Lily thought, walking across the hall to James' room. She opened the door and saw him fast asleep. I'll interrogate you later, Lily thought, not wanting to wake him. She had no idea when he got in the night before, but she knew that when he did he carried her to her room. She had been half asleep at the time, and had felt him kiss her softly on the lips before retreating to his own room.

Lily showered and got dressed, all the time thinking about James and where he could have been. While she had been waiting for him, a million thoughts had gone through her mind, a lot of them completely absorb now that she had given them a second thought.

When she left her room to go check on James again, he was gone. Now more then a little peeved with him, Lily made her way down to the Great Hall so she could have what was left of breakfast. She was relieved to see all her friends sitting at the table, by the looks at it they had all gotten a late start too, as they were the only ones in the Great Hall.

"Morning Lily, don't you look happy," Ellie joked, winking at Lily as she sat down beside her.

"Oh I'm ever so peachy." Lily retorted sarcastically, rolling her eyes as she started piling the bacon, eggs and toast on her plate.

"What's bothering you Lil?" Marlene sighed, taking a sip of her pumpkin juice.

"James," Lily replied, tossing her head back and glaring at her plate. "He didn't show up for his duties last night again, and when I got up he was sleeping. I had a shower and changed and when I looked back in his room he was gone."

"Maybe he got hungry," Ellie shrugged, trying to think of a logical explanation as to why James, Remus, Sirius and Peter had all mysteriously gone missing last night.

"I wonder why Sirius, Peter, and Remus were also missing from the common room last night," Marlene thoughtfully asked, chewing on a piece of toast.

"Maybe they're planning something special for us," Ellie suggested, eyes gleaming ever so slightly at the thought.

"Sirius? Romantic? Don't make me laugh," Lily snorted.

"I think they are keeping something from us," Marlene continued with her theory, ignoring the now pouting Ellie, "Especially Remus, and its up to us to find out just what that is."

"Agreed," Lily nodded. "Let's just act like we don't suspect a thing, and go from there."

"Sounds good," Ellie smiled, taking a delicate sip of her pumpkin juice.

XXXX

"They so know we're up to something," James moaned later that afternoon. He was in the boy's dormitory in the Gryffindor tower with the other Marauders.

"I know," Remus nodded, accepting the fact as he lay spiralled out on his twin bed.

"I keep getting the feeling that I should tell Lily what's going on," James sighed, rubbing his throbbing forehead.

"Not until Remus tells Marlene," Peter said. "She should be the first to know that he's a werewolf."

"Hmm, why don't we loudly announce it for the rest of the Gryffindor's to hear," Sirius sarcastically said, throwing a pillow at Peter's face.

"Sorry," Peter mumbled, turning slightly pink. "Ledaria's been wondering where I disappear to too."

"Under absoulutly no curitisums are you to tell Ledaria Smirth, or any other Slytherin for that matter, where we go," Sirius barked. Peter shrunk ever so slightly against Sirius little outburst.

"But you guys want to tell Lily, Marlene, and Ellie," Peter whined.

"There's a huge difference mate," James told him softly, "We can trust those girls, and Alice too. They're our friends. They would understand."

"We can trust Ledaria, I swear!" Peter protested, his watery eyes pleading with them.

"You haven't already told her, have you?" Remus questioned, sitting forward and looking extremely pale.

"No," Peter pouted.

"Just promise us you won't," James said.

"Alright, I promise." Peter grumbled, glaring at the wall.

"So it's decided then, we tell Lily and Marlene, and we tell Alice and Ellie too because Lily and Marlene don't keep secrets from Alice and Ellie, and we can trust them all." Remus yawned, still tired from the night before.

"I wonder what their reaction is going to be," James thought out loud.

Hello everyone, I'm sorry this chapter took so long to finish. I've been very busy with grade eleven work, and since I've had so many reviews and don't have the time to go over them, I'll just thank you all for enjoying my story. I think this chapter is rather weak...but its here, more will build off it. I'll try to update more often!

I hope you enjoyed it!