A/N: This is written by two authors. Me and CleveristWitchHerAge. We would both like to add that we don't own Harry Potter, though we both wish we did, but you all knew that already, didn't you?

Family Keeps You Sane

By: animaguswolfsong and CleveristWitchHerAge

Disclaimer: Don't own it. Never have, never will.

Chapter 5 – Lily's Lover

James looked up from the letter in his hands as a sharp knock sounded on his door.

"Come in," he said. The door opened and Sirius poked his head inside.

"Hey, Prongs," he said as he plopped down on the bed. "Whatcha got there?" he asked, pointing to the letter.

"Just a letter from my parents," James answered, handing the letter to Sirius for him to read.

"My great uncle is going into hiding. You know the one that was the head of the MPA?" Sirius nodded as he read the letter.

"This Voldemort guy must be turning into some threat if your great uncle has to go into hiding," Sirius commented as he handed the letter back to James. James nodded, his expression concerned.

"I'm sure that he will be alright, James. I mean he has the entire Potter family behind him," Sirius said, guessing James's fear.

"I sure hope so, Padfoot." James sighed looking over at his loyal friend. Sirius put a comforting hand on James's shoulder. James looked back at the letter once more then stood up. "Let go get some lunch."

"Alright," Sirius said.

James and Sirius made there way down to the Quidditch pitch for practice. They were going down early to get some extra field time in and the rest of the team would show up later. They arrived at the pitch and took to the skies.

Once James was on his broom, wind pressing against his face, making his hair messier than normal, his thoughts drifted from the looming threat on his family to the free feeling that enveloped him when he flew through the air.

Too soon in James' opinion, did the rest of the Gryffindor team arrive, brooms in hand. James and Sirius flew down to meet the team. Tori had gotten the balls from the shed and Keith McMullen helped her by holding the other side of the box. Keith played as the team's seeker. As of right now, he held the record for the fastest catches in Hogwarts history, ending a game against Hufflepuff in five minutes, the final score, 150 to nothing. He made the team when he was in third year and had helped the team each of the three years he'd been a part of it.

Lee Roberts, a fifth year, filled the last spot for chaser. He had only been on the team for a year, only getting the guts to try out during his fourth year. James liked him. He was quick and handled the Quaffle professionally. The only thing that annoyed James about Lee was his shy demeanor. He hardly spoke a word during practices, and that had worried James when he had first met him. Lee surprised James and the whole Gryffindor team when, during his first match, he had knocked a Slytherin off his broom, though he claims it was an accident. He turns horrifyingly aggressive when he plays Quidditch, which doesn't bother James at all.

The youngest member of the team, Kingsley Shacklebolt, made the team the previous year as a second year. James thinks him quite amusing at times, always eager to learn all he can and has a great sense of humor. He is Sirius' partner in the business of beating. James swears he's the strongest thirteen-year-old he's ever met. He broke a Hufflepuff's arm on accident. James has no doubt it was an accident; the boy was so distraught after the incident, he wouldn't pick up a beater's bat for two weeks. Finally, Sirius had to force him to practice by casting a spell so Kingsley couldn't let go of the bat.

Eric Wells played as the team's keeper. In the same year as James and Sirius, Eric has been playing for the team since his third year when the previous keeper graduated. Nothing special made Eric stand out. He was a decent keeper; he could block the ball, but his attitude annoyed everyone. James rolled his eyes as Eric strode forward in a pompous manner, his broom in his hand.

"Ready for the season, Potter?" he asked airily. Sirius frowned as he walked up to James' side.

"The question is, Eric, are you?" James queried, casting a steady gaze on Eric. Eric huffed and rolled his eyes.

"I won't tolerate any of your attitude this year. I'm the captain of this team. If you have a problem with that, take it up with McGonagall, don't make the team suffer for your stupidity. If I have to, I will replace you," James threatened. He then turned to the rest of the team. "In the air, all of you!" he commanded, a smile on his face. "It's time for some Quidditch."­­­

Lily walked hurriedly through the hallway towards the Head's Dorm. She didn't know why exactly she walked so briskly, she just was. She and Adelie were planning on meeting together to discuss their Defense Against the Dark Arts homework. Tori had Quidditch practice with Potter. Lily shuddered in anger at the thought.

"Fairy lights," she muttered to the portrait, who swung open with a nod of her head. Lily rushed inside and walked straight for her room.

"Lily!" Adelie cried as Lily entered the room. Lily turned sharply to see her friend sitting in the stuffed armchair by her window. Lily smiled.

"Hi, Adelie," Lily greeted as she set her bag on her bed.

"Are you ready?" Adelie asked, walking over to the bed. Lily plopped down and pulled out a quill and parchment to write on.

"I don't know, really," Lily said. "I don't want to share my fear with anyone. It's not their business," she stated.

Adelie nodded her head. "Yeah, but you have to admit, it does make sense. We need to be prepared. Professor Rune's right. There are more weapons and spells targeting fears than anything else. I'm a bit excited."

"I'm not," Lily said. "I don't exactly plan on marching out with the front lines to fight some maniac."

"Why not?" Adelie asked, her face looking curiously at her friend. "Out of you, me and Tori, you have more incentive to want to fight. He's targeting muggles and you're muggleborn. Tori and I aren't."

"I guess," Lily agreed. "but that doesn't mean I want to fight. You know how horrible I am at dueling."

"Unless it's James Potter you're fighting," Adelie pointed out absentmindedly. Lily's eyes suddenly burned with fury and Adelie looked up from her parchment in realization of what she had said.

"Lily, calm down. That was two years ago," she said, trying to soothe the furious Lily.

"That no-good, idiotic, selfish, self-centered, insolent—"

"Lily!" Adelie shouted. Lily turned to face her friend. "That was two years ago. And you have to admit, James can bring the scariest fighting spirit out of you." Lily calmed down at the mention of the duel she had had with James. A sly grin spread over her lips as she remembered that day.

"Wasn't that glorious, James flying through the air, landing flat on his back?"

Adelie giggled at her friend's far off look. "If you say so," she said, shaking her head.

"I wish I could do that again," she muttered.

"You know, I bet that just because you go to such lengths to avoid him, you're going to end up saying yes to him eventually, either because you actually like him, or you're sick of him asking."

"What!" Lily screamed, jumping off the bed. "Are you mad? That's the most absurd thing I've ever heard! You've got to be joking!" Lily cried as she stared at her friend.

Adelie just laughed. Lily fixed her with a confused stare. "You hate him so much! It's ridiculous!" Lily just rolled her eyes and sat back on the bed.

­­­­­­­­­­­­­­­­­­In the common room after dinner, the Marauders were sitting by the fire. Remus and Sirius were playing a game of Exploding Snap. Peter was struggling over his Defense Against the Dark Arts essay and James was staring off in the corner of the room where Lily diligently worked on her homework, presumably the same assignment that all the seventh years were working on, the Defense essay.

What was Lily's fear, James wondered. Her hair slipped from her ponytail and fell in her face. She quickly tucked it behind her ears as she furiously worked on her essay. James grinned goofily as he took in her appearance. The setting sun shone through the window, lighting her radiant hair. Her hand moved swiftly across the paper and her eyes . . . her eyes . . .

Abruptly, someone stepped in his view, drawing James from his reverie. Eric had just walked up to Lily pompously. Lily looked up at his approach and Eric sat down at the table.

James' curiosity peaked with interest when Lily giggled at something Eric Wells had said. His eyes narrowed as he stared at the two. What was that idiot doing?

"Prongs, what's wrong?" Remus inquired. James ignored him as he stood up and walked closer towards the table. He got close enough to the table to hear what the two were saying without them spotting him. What was Wells doing? He'd never talked to Lily before.

"So I was wondering," Wells said sweetly. "if you would do me the honor of keeping me company on the first Hogsmead trip this weekend." James' eyes burned in fury as he subconsciously reached for his wand. Lily took a moment before she agreed to go with him, but to James it was instant. When Wells leaned forward and lightly pecked Lily on the cheek, James' fury boiled over, and he walked towards him.

Before he could take two steps though, someone grabbed his arm. James whipped around and glared at whoever had stopped him.

"Remus, let go of me," he muttered darkly.

"I don't think so, James. That's a really bad idea, going over there."

"But that bloody idiot just asked Lily out!" James said strongly.

"Now's not the best time to blast anyone's head off, James. At the risk of sounding like a parent, maybe you should go to your room and calm down," Remus said just as sternly.

James shook himself free from Remus' grip before taking a look at Eric and pocketing his wand. He gave one last look at his friends before angrily walking out of the portrait to his room, fuming the whole way.

That night, James couldn't sleep. He had decided that the next morning he would talk to Lily about Eric. She didn't know him very well; he was slime, and it would only take Lily a few days to figure that out, he hoped. He only used girls. He didn't care about them. A question that haunted him all night was why did Lily say yes to Eric? He had to be even more egotistical than James acted, so why had Lily turned James down when Eric was just as big a jerk as Lily claimed James was?

He saw her on the way to Ancient Runes after breakfast, accompanied by Adelie and Tori.

"Hey, Evans, wait up!" he called jogging after Lily. She turned, but at the sight of James, she turned back around. James sped up when he noticed that Lily wasn't going to wait for him. When he fell into step with her, he asked, "Why didn't you stop? That's rather rude."

"Well, you aren't exactly someone who's worth waiting for, Potter," she replied coolly.

James ignored Lily and jumped in front of her, halting her movement.

"Move, Potter," Lily commanded. James shook his head. Lily sighed exasperatedly and made to move around James, but he stepped with her.

"What do you want?" she snapped.

"I have a few questions for you," James said calmly.

"Well, get on with it, then!"

"Why are you going with Eric Wells to Hogsmeade this weekend?" James asked. Lily looked taken aback at the question.

"What?" Adelie and Tori exclaimed at the same time.

"How did you know about that?" Lily asked.

James raised an eyebrow. "They didn't know?" James asked, eyeing Adelie and Tori.

"Of course not!" Lily exclaimed. "It just happened last night!"

"You said yes to that jerk?" Tori exclaimed, staring in shock at Lily.

"What do you mean 'jerk'?" Lily eyed Tori.

"We're drifting from my question," James said. "Why'd you say yes to him, Evans?"

"What are you, the jealous boyfriend?" Lily asked, furious. James opened his mouth to reply, but Lily cut him off. "No, you aren't. This is none of your business, Potter, and if you don't leave me alone, I swear that I'll blast your head off!" Lily screamed before turning furiously and storming off down the hall, Adelie and Tori right behind her.

James just stood there, staring after Lily's retreating figure, mentally hitting himself for being so stupid.

"Hey, Prongs! I've been looking for you." James looked up and saw Sirius walking up to him.

"You okay?" he asked.

James nodded his head. "Yeah," he said. "I'm fine."

­The next morning at breakfast Lily glared as much as possible at James. He tried to ignore the piercing green eyes, but he wasn't too successful

"You got any idea why Evans is trying to kill you with her stare?" Sirius asked between mouthfuls.

James didn't answer.

"I'll take that as a yes," Sirius concluded.

"What did you do, James?" Remus asked with a sigh.

Before James could say anything, not that he was planning on answering, the post arrived. Owls swooped into the Great Hall, flying to each of the four house tables. The students eagerly took the gifts and letters from the owls, talking excitedly about what they received.

In the midst of the white and brown owls, a lone black owl swooped down, scanning the whole hall, swooping back and forth across the room. It then began to fly straight for the Gryffindor table and landed right in front of the Marauders. Those nearby stared over at the owl as it turned to face James.

James had never seen the owl before, but the letter was for him. The black envelope was tied with a red ribbon and his name was scrawled on the front in elegant silver letters. James set his fork down, reached for the letter, and opened it . . . .

A/N: Oooh! Cliffie. Just so you know, it's not a stupid Death Eater letter. It's not from Voldemort. If you've read one of those stories, you know what I'm talking about. If you haven't, don't worry about it.

About the cookies, I burned them. Plus, we've got this huge blizzard going on. It's been snowing since 5 in the morning yesterday. It's supposed to keep snowing til noon today. We have huge rifts all over the place. We can't get out our front door! Well, that just means we both have time to work on our story.

I will not resort to begging for reviews! I won't!

But if you want to give one as a gift . . .

The next chapter will be up soon. January is what we're shooting for. In chapter 6, they will finally have their Defense Against the Dark Arts class, you will find out what is written in the letter, and wittness Voldemort's slow rise to power.

Look out for the next chapter: Defense Against the Dark Arts.