Disclaimer: I don't own Harry Potter. Which, I think, is pretty obvious…

I dedicate this chapter to: Lilyluvr

-Chapter Sixteen-

Lily sat seething in the last row of seats, against the wall, in the potions dungeon. The look on her face was nothing short of murderous.

Sirius watched worriedly from beside her. He glanced cautiously between her and James, who sat a few rows ahead of them with a perky brunette.

She was watching them like a hawk. Sirius had tried to reason with her. He told her that she needn't worry about James. He would never hurt her. She just wouldn't listen.

"Lilly," he said, getting annoyed. "Can't you just let it go? The professor made them partners. It's not like he'd choose her over you."

"That may be, but he doesn't have to flirt!" she said, rather shrilly, making Sirius groan.

"He's not flirting, Evans. That's just how he talks. And besides, that girl giggles at everything. He's probably just talking about the potion… That we haven't even started, Lily!"

"Oh, I forgot…" she said, beginning to make the potion they had been assigned. Although, only half-heartedly.

But Sirius was satisfied, as he knew that half-hearted for Lily, was normal for anyone else.

As soon as they were dismissed, Lily sped from the room, as not to face James. She had really thought about what Sirius had said, and she'd realized he'd been right. She knew James would never cheat on her, he loved her.

She couldn't stand to talk to him after she'd been so childish. She went to hide in the library, ashamed.

----------X----------

"Have you seen Lily?" James asked his best mate, as they were leaving the Great Hall after lunch. "I haven't seen her since potions…"

Sirius looked at his mate, not sure what to do. Since Lily and James had started dating, he and Lily had become much better friends. She was almost like the sister he'd never had. He decided though that he should probably tell James.

"The last time I saw her, she was pretty upset, so-"

"Upset? What happened?" His voice was clearly frantic.

"… I don't know if she.. Wants me to tell you," he said, rethinking his descision.

"Padfoot, what happened?" James' voice was dead serious.

"What happened?"

They both spun around to see Lily looking at them curiously over the book she was reading.

"Lily…?"

"Um… James?" Lily was looking back and forth from James to Sirius, trying to read their expressions, but to no avail.

"Guess that's my cue…" Sirius' words went unnoticed though, as he left to find Audrey.

James moved closer to Lily, putting his hands on her shoulders.

"Lily, what's happened?"

Lily looked perplexed.

"Nothing, why would you think something happened?" She asked, though she'd realized she thought she knew the answer.

"Well, Sirius said you were upset…" Lily groaned at this.

"Sirius also said that he didn't think you wanted me to know. Lily, why wouldn't you want me to know?"

"See how bad you're freaking out? It would be worse, and I'd like to save us all the trouble. I was stupid, I wasn't thinking, and I'd rather not tell you about it," she said, and she started to walk away, not sure if she even wanted him to follow.

"Lily? What happ- Oh, Lily, no, you didn't-"

The sound of his accusing voice made her stop dead in her tracks. She turned to look at him incredulously.

"Of course not!" She nearly spat. "How could you think that?"

And then, she remembered why they were having this discussion -which was nearly an argument- because she thought him unfaithful.

"Well, I mean, that's just how it sounded… So then what is it? It can't be worse than that."

But Lily had a feeling it was. She wanted to avoid it at all costs. She walked up to him, and hugged him tightly around the middle.

James looked down at her curiously. He had been taken by surprise. Lily felt a chuckle rumble through his body, as he wrapped his arms around her, and kissed the top of her head.

When Lily looked up at him, he saw that there were tears streaming from her eyes.

He reached down and ran his calloused thumbs across her cheeks, cupping her face, wiping away her tears. He grinned, and kissed her lightly, she smiled sheepishly.

"I love you, Lils." She smiled a little more.

"I love you, too."

----------X----------

Audrey looked up at James. He was flying around the Quidditch Pitch on his broomstick. He really was an excellent flyer. And she had to admit he was, in her own words, 'Pretty Freakin Gorgeous'.

Audrey felt bad about what she had to do. She really had come to like James and his friends, especially Sirius. It wasn't supposed to happen like this. It was supposed to have been easier.

James started to circle and then came down and landed next to Audrey with a thud.

"What're you doing out here so late?" James questioned, his mind elsewhere.

"I could ask you the same thing," she said swiftly. This caught James' attention. He looked at her curiously.

"I come out here a lot, you know, to get my mind off things," he informed her. "I really love flying."

Audrey looked up to see a figure descending the great stone steps of Hogwarts.

"Mhm, I know what you mean. There is a thing," she smiled at him, "that I like to do to get my mind off of things, too."

She reached her hand behind his head and pulled him roughly to her, crashing her lips onto his.

James was so utterly shocked that he couldn't even move. As much as he wanted to, he just couldn't pull back.

Audrey slowly turned, so that James was facing the school. It was just in time for him to see the look on Lily's face as she stood behind them. She turned and started to run before he could even manage to break away, and try to explain.

She ran up the stone steps, and through the Entrance Hall. She ran up the Grand Staircase, to the corridor where the Head Dorms were located. She ran to her room and on her way to her bed, picked up anything that reminded her even remotely of James, and one by one, they were broken, torn, and destroyed.

----------X----------

James was left horrorstruck, frozen in place. He jumped away from Audrey in disgust.

"What the hell was that?" he spat furiously.

But without giving her time to answer, he started to run back towards the school, his broom forgotten. Once he reached the Entrance Hall, he followed the exact path Lily had taken only moments before.

He burst into their Common Room and paused to look around. He figured Lily must be in her room, so he went to the magnificent mahogany door that read, 'Head Girl' and tried to open it. It, of course, was locked. With the thought of magic far from his mind, he ran into his room and to the bathroom, where Lily had left her door unlocked. He pulled it open slowly, trembling. Lily didn't even seem to have noticed him enter.

James looked around; it was as if a tornado had ripped through. Numerous things relating to him were strewn across the floor. Cards, letters and pictures torn. The flowers he'd given her last week, which had been on her dresser, were knocked out of their vase, and lay dead on the floor. The necklace he'd given her for Christmas lay against the wall, where it seems she'd thrown it.

"Lils?" he said cautiously.

Lily whipped around. Her eyes were bloodshot, and her face was tear-stained. Her cheeks were flushed, and her hair was tousled. And James still thought she looked beautiful.

"Get OUT!" she bellowed.

"Listen, Lily, you don't understand," he pleaded with her. "She kissed me!"

"You didn't try and stop her, James! I was there, I saw it. Don't try and tell me I don't understand!"

"I'm sorry, I-"

"No! Don't give me that bullshit," she nearly screamed. "I should have known this would happen! You are James 'the-toe-rag' Potter, after all!"

James flinched at his old nickname.

"You said you'd never do this, but hey, so did Tyler!"

"I know, but I love you! Audrey came on to me," he said. "I didn't want to kiss her! Please, just listen, give me another chance."

"No." was all she said. And she turned back to ripping James out of every picture she had.

----------X----------

Audrey really did feel bad. She could tell by James' reaction that he really did love Lily. And judging by Lily's reaction, she was sure they'd just broken the poor girl's heart. She felt horrible. She really hoped they got through this, no matter what was supposed to happen.

She'd done her part. Although, it had proven harder than she'd expected. She was going to come here, do her job, and then leave. What she hadn't expected, though, was to fall in love. She wasn't supposed to become attached. To any of them. But she did. She really did.

Audrey was taken by surprise when she entered the Common Room and Sirius came stalking over to her. She wondered, stupidly, why he looked so angry.

He grabbed her hand and pulled her up to his dorm, ignoring the questioning stares they were receiving.

Once they were in the safety of his dorm, Sirius locked the door and whipped her around.

"Ouch, Sirius, not so-" she stopped mid-sentence, terrified by the look on Sirius' face. Fury. Fury, and hurt.

"What the bloody hell, Audrey?" he asked furiously.

"Uh, I- Wh… Er, what do you m-mean?" She squeaked.

"You know bloody well what I mean!" he looked to her side, where she held James' broom.

"I- Sirius, I can explain," she pleaded. "It wasn't what it looked like."

"Oh, right. Because I'm sure I don't know what snogging looks like!" he yelled, his voice dripping with sarcasm.

"We were not… er, snogging," she said a little uncertainly.

"Don't you lie to me, Audrey. I saw you!"

"I was only one kiss," she said. "One lousy, meaningless kiss."

"It doesn't matter how many fucking kisses it was! I should have known, you're just another American Whore," he spat.

Audrey froze, awestruck, tears filling her eyes, then spilling down her cheeks.

"Don't you dare call me names, Sirius Black!" she roared. "You have no fucking room to talk. How does it feel, Hmm? Have you ever even been cheated on before? I doubt it, from what I've heard. Taste your own fucking medicine, why don't you!"

With that, she tore from the room, leaving Sirius looking more than shocked. He fell back onto his bed, thinking over what had just happened. He soon fell into a somewhat forced sleep, and woke a few hours later feeling unrested.

He rolled over to try and fall back asleep, only to find a letter next to his face, on the pillow.

Sirius,

I'm… Gone. I've had about all I can take of this fucking school, and this country, for that matter. Don't expect to see me again. Tell Lily and James that I really am sorry, but that I know they'll be fine. I just know it. I know more about it than they or you may think. Don't underestimate me. Maybe someday, you'll know it all, too. I don't know. And, now, I don't know if I even care, either. I wasn't sure what I'd do after I kissed James. Normally I'd just leave, but it was much more complicated this time. But, thanks to you, it became obvious right away. I was confused, because I did something horrible. Well, horrible for my position. I fell in love. That really made this all much harder than usual. Yes. I loved you. And I'm sorry it had to end this way, but I guess it showed me who you really are. I guess everybody makes mistakes though, right? I could never stay with you, knowing what I know, anyways. I never really thought you could just stop loving someone, but I guess you proved me wrong, again. I'm sorry.

Good bye,

Audrey.

Sirius stared unblinkingly at the letter. It didn't make much sense to him. He read it through a few more times, before deciding he'd have to show it to someone else.

He was getting up to go down into the Common Room when he noticed a familiar lump in the bed next to him. Familiar, but not normal. Not one bit.

He walked over to the lump and took a look at his face. He saw that he wasn't sleeping either. James' hazel eyes stared emotionlessly back at him through his messy black hair.

"Prongs?" he whispered, so as not to wake up the others.

Sirius knew he should be mad at his friend, he had thought he'd wanted to be, but as he looked down at his pathetic form, he realized that this whole situation must have affected him, too. Because through his rage, Sirius had not only seen the kiss, but the redhead that had been, apparently, meant to see it, as well.

James rose slowly from his bed. He swung his legs over the side, and ran a hand through his unruly hair. He looked up at his friend, clearly pained.

"I'm sorry," James said, quietly.

"I know she… she kissed you. I'm not mad at you or anything..."

"No, I'm sorry that she did that. To you, I know how you, you know, felt about her."

"Yeah, well, everybody makes mistakes, right?" he said, realizing painfully that he'd quoted her.

"She left, didn't she?" Sirius nodded. "I heard her come in, earlier. Is that why?"

Sirius followed his friends' gaze to the letter in his hand, and nodded again. They sat in silence a moment before James got up to go down to the Common Room.

Sirius followed him, as he had nothing better to do. They sat there in silence, as well. Until James spoke up.

"I couldn't stand to stay there," he said, answering the question Sirius dared not ask. "She hates me. I don't think she'll ever speak to me again."

"She said she's sorry," Sirius said abruptly, causing James to look curiously at him.

"Who?"

"Audrey. She said she's really sorry, and that she knows you'll be fine. And to not underestimate her and… well, here, just read this." Sirius passed James the letter she'd left him.

James read it through, his expressions varying greatly. Once he'd finished, he simply stared at it for a moment. Then he looked up at Sirius.

"Knowing what she knows? It was more complicated this time? Normally? What does she mean?"

"I have no idea," Sirius said truthfully.

"She's hinting at it like you know. Are you sure she never mentioned anything?"

Sirius thought hard about it. Knowing what she knows? Sirius remembered the first time he kissed her, she'd looked so sad. He then remembered when they'd first met, and she'd done that weird thing in the Great Hall, and then rushed off. He also recalled the many times she visited the Headmaster, though she'd never gotten in real trouble.

"Dumbledore!" Sirius yelled.

"What? Where?" James asked, looking around confusedly.

"No, no. We need to talk to Dumbledore. We need to show him this!" He said madly.

"What? Why would we do that? Sirius, you're not making any sense."

"Because, loser, Dumbledore is Audrey's uncle."

AN: WOW. Wow. It's been a while. And I'm SO sorry about that. You have no idea how bad I feel. SO. Finally the Climax Chapter. How's it feel? It feels way good for me; I've had the climax of this story written since August 06. I just had to build the story up to it. And finally, it's here. I'm pretty happy with it. It may seem confusing to you, but it'll be cleared up in no time. :)

I am, however, interested in hearing what you guys think is going to happen. Like what's the deal with Audrey, and whatever. If you don't mind sharing, let me know. :)

So, I will really really really really try to get the next one done faster. I have a couple BS classes that I think I can spend time writing in. I will try. I promise. First reviewer gets dedication.

Love, Lady Carmilla.