A/N: I still don't own anything.

James slammed the front door of his house. It had been a hard day of Auror training. Sighing, he went to the only room in the house with the light on: the kitchen. He walked right past Lily, who was sitting at the table and went directly to the refrigerator. "I'm starving," he said to Lily.

James wasn't surprised to see Lily there, she had been spending a lot of time at his house, clearing out the little lavender room in the back was harder than either of them had imagined. Alice had put way too many enlarging enchantments on it. It had been three weeks since Lily had offered to help James. And they had hardly made a dent in that room.

"What's that?" James was pointing at the very large, delicious-looking sub sandwich in Lily's hands. "A sub," she answered breezily. "What kind," James asked, licking his lips. "Does it matter?" Lily smiled while taking a rather large bite. "Give it to me," James demanded. "What?" said Lily looking alarmed and holding her sandwich protectively. "Give it to me," he said again. "No!"

James lunged at the sandwich. Lily jumped up, laughing as she ran out of the room. James chased her. In the front room, he finally caught and tackled her so he was now sitting on top of her, "Give me the sandwich!" Lily was holding her side, she was laughing so hard. "I surrender! I surrender!" she shrieked, holding the sandwich in the air. James took it but didn't get off her. She was still laughing.

"Ah-hem."

Both of them looked over to the figure standing in the doorway. "Hello Sirius!" James said cheerfully with his mouth full of food. "Hi Sirius," Lily said while pushing James off her and getting up off the floor. Sirius merely nodded in her direction. Unlike James, Sirius had not become used to Lily's almost-constant presence. "Don't you think its weird that she's over here more now than when Alice was alive?" he'd ask James. "No," James would always respond, "She's helping me clear out Alice's stuff. Did you see how much progress we've made since you've last been her?"

To Sirius, the room would always look completely untouched. "Whatever mate, its just a tad bit weird, that's all I'm saying. Does she even go home at night? Because I swear, that girl never leaves." Sirius once complained. "Of course she leaves," James defended her, "Listen, just get off Lily's back, will you?" Sirius didn't understand what was going on between them. When he had found them tonight, they had looked like a couple. But Lily never appeared to like James much when Alice was dating him, and it only made sense that Lily would have nothing to do with James once there only connection was broken.

And yet…

Lily didn't stay away.

At first it was because of Alice. Clearing out her stuff was like letting her go, but pulling her closer at the same time. It was a way of coping. When Lily and James sat down to work on it, they would get a whole area done, or they would sit in silence and cry. Or sometimes they would pick up an object and remember something about Alice. To Lily, it was a healing process.

But then it became about spending time with James. James was her friend. She could laugh with him, cry with him or just sit in silence with him. Since Alice had died, Lily had felt lonelier than ever before. Knowing that James was there too, in that dark abyss of loneliness made her feel better. So she would sometimes go over to his house after work and work on Alice's room, or sometimes just talk to James.

It didn't take long for Lily to realize that their connection to Alice wasn't the only attraction that drew her to James. There were lots of little things, too. Like the untidiness of his black hair, or his hazel eyes that always showed exactly what he was thinking. Or things like his laugh or his strength or those rare and brief moments when he would look at her and she would feel this electric shock go through her. Lily sighed and silently scolded herself, no Lily. Not him. Anyone but Alice's boyfriend. He's not right for you anyway. Those silly things aren't what make a person matter. But that was exactly why Lily liked James so much. The little things.

"What?" Lily said suddenly as she woke from her thoughts. Sirius gave her a funny look, "I was just telling James that I ran into Frank, and he said to tell James that he wanted to meet him at the Hog's Head tonight."

"WHY?" Lily asked looking alarmed, He can't tell James. James doesn't need more pain in his life. Please don't say-

"He said he had something important to tell him." Sirius shrugged, "I don't know what exactly, what do I look like? The man with all the answers?" But Lily wasn't even listening now. "I have to go!" she declared in a panicky voice, "Oh dear, where are my things? Accio cloak, accio shoes, accio purse, accio keys, accio sandwich!" And with that she disapparated with a 'pop'.

All this while, James stood there, dumbfounded by Lily's reaction to this one insignificant comment. But as she left, James couldn't help but notice how fierce her sparkling green eyes were.

"Oh, please, don't look like that." James turned to Sirius, "Like what?" Sirius sighed and clamped a hand on James's shoulder, "Like a lovesick little schoolgirl. Don't do that for her, James, she's not worth it."

"And what if she is?" James shot back without really thinking. Sirius sighed again, "Just don't get in too deep mate, I hate to see you suffer just because she's using you to get over the shock of her best friend's death. Either that or she's just moving in on her best friend's territory by stealing her boyfriend. That's the best possible case."

"Would she do that?" James was still at a loss when it came to women. Alice had been different, he was always comfortable around her, never any butterflies or sweating palms. "I don't know mate, maybe." James looked down at his hands, just realizing that something was missing. Something delicious and half-eaten. Where was that sub sandwich? "Hey!"

Peering through the dense crowd, Lily finally spotted Frank, sitting alone at the bar, a fire whiskey in front of him. Lily strode towards him, ignoring the calls and whistles of the other half-drunk wizards. Frank looked up when he saw her shadow towering over him and the very first thing Lily did was slap him in the face.
Sirius had left shortly after Lily, which left James alone to think about what he had said. What the bloody hell is going on? James thought, is Lily using me? She isn't like that, is she? He sighed and walked aimlessly around his house. He needed a distraction. Standing in front of a light lavender wall, James found the distraction he needed. Sitting down on the floor, he picked up a stack of papers on the floor, and after flipping through them briefly, put them in a box. His eyes strayed to a box that Lily had packed up the week before.

Flashback

"Ugghh…After Alice moved out, I had forgotten about what a packrat she was," Lily complained. James laughed, "Well, I'm sure you remember now. Hey, look; Alice had actually put stuff in a box! I wonder what's in it…" "I'll do that one!" Lily jumped up and said quickly. She grabbed the box out of his hands. "Why, what's in it? Notes confessing your deep, passionate love for Severus Snape?" James teased. Lily laughed, "Fortunately no, those, I believe, are in the top drawer of the desk. But seriously, don't worry about this one, I'll do it."

Now, as James was sitting there staring at the box, he couldn't help the curiosity that was burning inside of him. Slowly, he got up and ambled towards the box.

"What were you thinking?" Lily demanded angrily, " Why would you even dream of telling James?" Frank rubbed his cheek and glared at her, "You have no idea what you're talking about."

"Don't I?" Lily shot back, "Alice was my best friend, you know."

"But she didn't tell you," Frank said smugly. Lily sighed and sat down, "No, she didn't. But just because she didn't say doesn't mean I didn't know. I was her best friend, I knew her. It wasn't incredibly difficult to realize." Frank took a sip of his fire whiskey, "So when did you figure it out?" Lily sighed and answered, "After she died. That night after you were over at my flat. I had seen her ring, but she didn't say anything about it, and then you talked about her, and then James said that he was that he hadn't yet proposed. As soon as I stopped to think about it, I knew that it was you that had given her that ring. It was you that she was in love with."

Frank looked at her for a moment and said flatly, "She would have wanted me to tell him." Lily glared at him, her fierce eyes flashing dangerously, "No she wouldn't, Frank. She's gone. James cared about her; he thought she loved him. Does he really need to have his heart completely shattered? Was it not enough that it's been broken? Really, Frank. Alice didn't want to hurt him, that's why she never told him. She had plenty of time to tell James about you two and she didn't. That's not what she would have wanted."

Frank smirked at her, "Why am I sensing that this is more about James than about Alice's wishes?" That flustered Lily. "I don't- we're not- arrg…Just promise me you won't tell him." Frank laughed, "I won't, but only because you feel so strongly about it, and Alice cared about what you thought. That's why she didn't tell you, because she was afraid you would think less of her." Lily smiled, "I wouldn't. I can understand why she would have wanted to be with you. You're a great guy Frank. Thanks."

Frank smiled smugly, "But I bet what you can't understand, is why Alice would pick me over your James." Lily stood up, glowering at him, "You don't know what you're talking about." "Don't I?" Frank did a perfect imitation that left Lily speechless. "The fire whiskey's getting to you," she finally mumbled. Frank laughed, she was probably right. So a very aggravated Lily left a very amused and probably drunk Frank at the Hog's Head.

The top layers of the box were school notes from Hogwarts. This made James even more suspicious. They had put all Alice's things from Hogwarts in her old school trunk. Lily was trying to hide something. He delved deeper into the box and found a scroll. Unrolling it, James saw that it was covered with large messy scrawl. There was a sinking feeling in his stomach. James knew that this mysterious note would not bring good news.

Alice, my darling Alice,

You know that I would wait forever for you, if that's what need be, but you and I both know that it doesn't have to be this way. I understand how hard this is for you, and how scary this is for both of us. But you need to tell him. James deserves to know. It's not fair to him and it will only hurt both of you more the longer you wait. There's no avoiding it now, you know that, Alice. At first we could have pretended that it had never happened, but we're in too deep. I love you. And you say you love me. James needs to know that. As I said, it's only going to get harder.

If you won't do this for him, think of me. How do you think I feel knowing that you're with him? How hard do you think it is for me to let you walk out that door every day knowing that you're going to him? I can't do this anymore. Please, love, I need you to do this as much if not more than he needs you to do this. He will figure it out eventually, and so will your friend Lily. I can see her scrutinizing you every time you're around me. Tell her, tell both of them Alice. Please, this cannot go on much longer. Tell them tonight, if possible. Everything will be okay as long as we're together. I promise.

All my love,

Frank

James couldn't breathe. She didn't love him. Every word she had ever said to him was a lie. And Lily knew. Lily. James closed his eyes. Sirius was right. Lily had used him. Just not as either of them had expected. She had used him to cover up Alice's secret. Damn them. All of them. Especially Frank. Damn them all to hell. He hated them. He hated Alice for lying to him and cheating on him, he hated Frank because Alice had picked him over himself. And Lily, at this moment, it was Lily that he hated most of all. He had trusted her. He had thought that she was his friend. But that was never the case, was it?

As soon as Frank had finished his firewhiskey, he left the bar and stepped out into the crisp autumn air. He decided to walk a bit, because he needed to clear his head. But as soon as he turned the corner, he heard screaming. Pulling out his wand, he raced towards the screams.

In the alley, was Emmeline Vance, sprawled on the ground screaming with two Death Eaters pointing her wands at her. "Stupefy!" Frank yelled. One of the Death Eaters fell to the ground and the other turned towards Frank. "Run," Frank yelled towards Emmeline, "Get help." With a moan, Emmeline disapparated.

"How heroic," a deathly voice behind him said. Frank wheeled around. "Sacrificing yourself for the girl. Some sacrifice," he sneered, "Some sacrifice. You don't deserve to live. You don't even deserve to carry a wand. Imperio!" Frank felt his mind clear of everything except one voice. Give me your wand. Give it to me. "NO!" Frank breaking through the voice, "NO!"

Voldemort chuckled, "Don't be difficult."

The next thing Frank knew, a series of images flashed through his mind. Alice's face. Alice kissing James. James whispering, "I love you." to Alice and Alice whispering it back. Alice lying dead on a floor. Frank couldn't suppress them. Give me your wand; you have nothing to live for. The images got worse. Alice with her face contorted in hate spitting at him, "I hate you, I've always hated you, and you'll never be half as good as James." Frank was screaming now, "NO! NO! I DON'T BELIEVE YOU! ALICE LOVES ME! SHE LOVES ME AND YOU CAN'T MAKE ME BELIEVE ANY DIFFERENT!"

Voldemort's face twisted in anger, "You dare defy me!" The other Death Eater froze, how many times had he said that to Frank Longbottom? Once, twice, no.

But Voldemort had not seemed to realize this. "Severus," he addressed the Death Eater, "Get rid of him." And that was the last thing Frank Longbottom heard, because then everything went black.

RULER BUTTON IS NOT WORKING. MY APOLOGIES

A/N: Well, I hope I explained some things. But I'm not sure how well I did. In case you didn't already realize it, (i tried to drop some hints) Alice was cheating on James with Frank. And Lily is feeling a bit more than friendship towards James. And James wants the world to die (but that won't last). What will Severus do with Frank? I'll let you know the next chapter. So keep reading.

I know you're out there, and I know your reading this, so please, please review. I'm really curious to see what people think about this. Your (constructive) criticism is welcome and appreciated. In fact, I'd be eternally grateful if you gave me a review. Thanks.

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