"The truth. It is a beautiful and terrible thing, and should therefore be treated with great caution." – Albus Percival Wulfric Brian Dumbledore (Harry Potter and the Sorcerer's Stone)

Dreadful Dates, Dark Magic and the Oh No Moment

"Hey – you better not pull any fast ones on Dorcas, Sirius. I'll be watching."

"Must you be so creepy? Jeez. Can't you just leave me alone?"

"Nope. You're stuck with me forever."

"For the love of – I'm leaving this weird little rendez-vous. Don't stalk us just because your date's rubbish, Prongs!"

James scowled as Sirius left the boys lavatories in the Three Broomsticks and sighed. His date with Lola was not going as well as expected. Yeah, the snogging was good, but not the entire time. He knew he couldn't stay in his hideout much longer without being obvious, so he mussed up his hair and glared at his reflection before he turned to leave the toilets.

Right when he opened the door, Peter was coming in and James grinned, slapping his friend on the back.

"Hey, Wormtail! How's your date going?" he asked, thankful for the distraction.

Peter shrugged sheepishly. "Alright, I guess. She looks kind of bored."

"Pete, I told you, you actually have to talk. Be more confident, mate."

"I know, I know. Hey, did you see Lily's face when she saw you snogging Lola? It was priceless." He laughed, and James' glee could not have been more obvious.

He beamed and grabbed Peter's collar. "Really? Explain to me what she looked like!"

"James, you're pathetic," he sighed, laughing, "She just did a double take and looked really shocked."

"Jealousy, maybe?"

"Don't push your luck, Prongs. Hey, isn't your date waiting?"

James' face immediately drooped and he dropped his hands from Peter's robes. "Yes." He said flatly.

Peter snorted and pushed James towards the door. "Go on, then."

James rolled his eyes and hoped he was smooth enough to weasel his way out of this one.

XXX

Lily really didn't know how she got herself into these situations. She sighed again as Smiley, in his desperate attempt at conversation, kept talking. It seemed to her she always ended up with blokes like this, but, granted, this one was her fault. She gazed around the Three Broomsticks and looked to James and Lola's table again. He'd been gone from their face-sucking session for quite a bit now and the perfect blonde-haired Lola was starting to look impatient, examining her nails. She saw James exit the boys' loo with an odd expression on his face – dread, maybe?

Lily smirked. "Lola's not so perfect now, is she, Potter?" she muttered.

"What was that?" Smiley asked, and she jumped slightly.

"Oh, nothing, nothing. Sorry, go on." She urged, but a slightly depressed look formed on his face, and it was like a miracle – his smile was gone.

"Lily? Are you enjoying yourself?" he asked seriously.

She hesitated. "I do owe you the truth, Steven, and if I'm being honest –"

"No?" he guessed, smiling bitterly.

She smiled back, and he sighed. "You know, I'll be honest as well. I sort of just wanted to make this girl jealous. Daniela Kimble, if you know her."

Lily chuckled. "I sort of did the same thing." she admitted.

"Trying to make James jealous, eh?" he guessed, grinning.

Lily was startled. "Why does everyone think we have some sort of secret relationship?" she scoffed.

Steven raised an eyebrow. "Well – Lily, I don't know about everyone else, but I've always thought you two would end up together. You just seem perfect for each other – and I'm not even into that 'true love' rubbish. Plus, you've been glaring over at his table for the entire time we've been here."

Lily frowned. "You make a good case, I suppose."

He laughed, and she joined in half-heartedly. "Look, Lily. If you haven't come to terms with – and please don't take offense – your almost-obvious feelings for him, I would do it sooner rather than later, before he finally gives up on chasing after you."

Steven's words sunk in and she furrowed her brow, looking over to where James was subtly sidling his way out of the Three Broomsticks and away from an extremely angry-looking Lola.

XXX

Five minutes later, after saying her goodbyes to Steven, she jogged out of the Three Broomsticks. Better to catch James alone and tell him to the truth now rather than later. She stopped in the chilly fall weather and looked around, wrapping her scarf around herself.

She caught sight of Remus walking into one of the stores and called out his name. They really needed to talk before she made her confession to James.

Remus looked to her and smiled, waving. She jogged over to him and asked, "Could I talk to you for a moment?"

"Of course," he said and they started walking. "What's going on?"

"I just . . . I need to tell James soon, Remus," she admitted, "I don't know about you, but I can't stop thinking about it. And I don't know if we should do it together or what, but either way, it's going to be terribly difficult. I mean, we're going to get trapped into having to tell him soon and that's really not good."

"I know, I know," Reus sighed, "Look, I think we should meet with him tonight and tell him. The sooner the better. And if one of us ends up getting trapped by themselves with him and ends up telling him, that's okay, too, because I for one am running out of willpower here. We just need to be prepared. We need to tell him it was nothing, that it was a drunken kiss –"

"Did it mean nothing to you, Remus?" she asked quietly.

He looked taken aback and took a while to say, "Lily . . . we can't – I can't . . . I could never do that to James, you must know that. We're friends, Lily, and we cannot be more. I'm sorry."

Lily's breath caught and she was about to say something when she heard a scream to their left. She whipped her head around to see a horrific scene. Mary was being suspended upside down by Mulciber, Avery snickering right behind him, and Alice screamed at them to stop, starting to pull out her own wand. She saw James come out of one of the stores to the left and run towards the scene, his wand already out. Lily took out hers as well and sprinted down the street, Remus right beside her. When she got closer, she saw that not only was Mary levitated, but her eyes were rolled up to show the whites of her eyes and she was shaking.

"Mulciber, let her go!" James yelled furiously, putting his wand up to Mulciber's neck.

Lily, Remus and Alice went up behind him, glaring fiercely. Mulciber grimaced and hesitated only a moment before he lowered her to the ground, completely dropping her a foot from the ground. Alice immediately rushed over to her side, but Lily and Remus stepped up beside James, so the two of them would be outnumbered if it came to that. Mulciber and Avery glanced at each other and sneered.

"Get out of here." James said darkly.

When they started to retreat, Lily quickly rushed to Mary's side as well. She knelt and put a hand to her friend's pasty cheek and felt it was scorching and damp. She was whimpering, her eyes flickering beneath her closed lids. Lily put a hand to her mouth.

"Oh, Mary." She whispered.

James and Remus came over and knelt by her and James put his hand on Mary's. "We need to get her to Madam Pomfrey right away."

Lily nodded. "We'll take care of it – you go up to the castle and tell one of the professors."

James looked to her and nodded, turning and running towards the castle. Lily met eyes with Alice and saw she was nearly bawling. Lily took her hand and Remus rubbed her back.

"Alice, Mary's going to be okay. I promise you. Don't be frightened." She whispered.

Alice nodded and Lily could see her trying to keep it together. She knew Alice was still fragile, and it was hard for her to see a loved one even close to harm. Lily had to be the strong one this time.

XXX

Madam Pomfrey had rushed Mary in and started working on her immediately. Mulciber and Avery were sent into Professor Dumbledore's office and none of them had heard any further news. The rest of them stayed outside the hospital doors the rest of the day and into the night. Dorcas had felt incredibly guilty for not being there for Mary, but Lily assured her there was nothing she could've done to help further.
Of course the whole school had heard of it by then and there were crazy rumors going around everywhere – or so Peter reported when he went to get some food for them. People said she'd grown a head of a donkey and other rubbish like that, and hearing this only irked the lot of them more than they already were.

When it was getting considerably late, Dorcas had curled into Sirius' side and started to sleep as he stared out the window in thought, Alice and Frank – who'd joined them later in the evening – were murmuring in low voices to each other, and that left Peter, Remus, James and Lily – except Remus went to fetch some more food for Frank and the Marauders who were up, who ate like animals, and Peter had fallen asleep in the fetal position long ago. Lily was actually quite tired as well and ended up dozing off on her own shoulder, but kept startling awake when she'd start to fall over. James chuckled at her efforts and she glared playfully at him.

"You can lean on my shoulder, Evans," he offered, "Don't be shy, I don't have coodies."

She rolled her eyes with a slight smile and leaned her head on him obligingly, finding his warm body immediately comforting.

"How was your date with Lola?" she asked in a whisper, though she already knew the answer.

"Alright I suppose," He murmured, "A bit too much snogging and not enough socializing, but, you know, you get what you get."

She smiled and admitted, "Mine with Smiley didn't go too well. It turns out he was trying to make someone jealous by asking me."

"You're kidding," He said, sounding miffed. "That son of a –"

"James, it okay," she laughed quietly, "I guess we sort of had the same idea."

There was a silence in which Lily turned extremely red from the certain miscommunication that was evident and James' face sported an extremely confused but hopeful expression.

Dammit. She was stuck, just like she and Remus had talked about earlier that day. She had to tell him now.

"James, it . . . isn't what you think." she whispered, squeezing her eyes shut.

"What do you mean?"

Dread filled her and she had the sudden urge to cry. She took a deep breath. "I should've told you sooner."

"Told me what, Lily? Look at me." He said softly, and she bit her lip, lifting her head reluctantly.

"James . . . I don't want to hurt you," she whispered, "but I have to tell you the truth. . . . I sort of – for quite a while now, actually – I've sort of . . . fancied Remus."

He looked shocked, and after a moment, said, "What?"

"And – and one night when you were in the hospital and we went to the Slug Club, we got extremely drunk – it was completely stupid of us, and . . . and we kissed. I don't know why it was so important to me, but I thought you should know."

Lily caught a flash of the pain in James' eyes, but he quickly wiped his face clean, He looked away and he asked flatly, "And he didn't tell me this himself, because . . . ?"

"I beat him to it, James, that's all – you have to understand, though, it was nothing, we were intoxicated –"

"Listen, Lily," he said in a low voice, "I know I can be overbearing. And I have no business being hurt about who you fancy or who you're dating, since you've made it clear on multiple occasions what you think of me –"

"Stop it, James." She whispered.

"What happened between you and Remus is none of my business either," he continued, "And if you truly do like him – we can be friends, alright? If that makes you two happy."

And as he looked into Lily's eyes, she saw what he been professing in what she'd thought been a joke for years – he actually cared for her.

Lily swallowed and looked down, shaking her head. "James, I . . . never really knew you really cared for me. Everyone else told me it was true, what you felt, but I never really believed them."

He stared at her for a moment and she looked back up at him. "You do now." He murmured.

Then, Remus came up the corridor at the worst possible moment, holding baskets of food. He walked up to them first, and asked, "Food?"

Lily looked up at him with sad eyes, and his eyes widened as he looked between them. "Oh, no."