Lily pushed at the food on her plate, her appetite completely gone. The four conspicuously empty seats at the head of the Gryffindor table were making her sick with worry. The Marauders never missed a meal. Never. Even Frank Longbottom was glaring at the Slytherin table where Lucius Malfoy was looking rather pleased with himself.

'He didn't deserve to smile like that' Lily fumed to herself as she shot a death glare in the direction of the smirking long haired seeker. Even Dorcas and Emmeline were quiet as they glanced every few minutes towards the door of the great hall, hoping against hope that at least three of the marauders would burst in. Even the teachers knew that for the marauders to miss a meal, James Potter had to be on his deathbed at least.

The Gryffindor table was silent, with the exception of an occasional sniffle from one of the girls and a loud wail or two from Dominique Gauthier. Lily would have made a snarky remark about how she was dating Amos and shouldn't be too worried about how "Jamesie" was doing, but was too choked up to speak. Emmeline, however, was shooting uncharacteristic death glares across the table.

Even the Ravenclaws and Hufflepuffs were silent as they took in the completely contrasting atmospheres at the red and green tables. The Ravenclaw quidditch team, in particular, had not known whether to celebrate or to be outraged at the events of the previous night. On one hand, as sportsmen (and women) they were appalled at the dirty fouls committed by the Slytherin team (Lucius Malfoy in particular), most of them directed at James Potter. As fellow students, they had been concerned when, after being hit by several bludgers, their head boy had been knocked off his broom in midair by Lucius Malfoy, who had timed his flight just so that Madam Hooch would think it was an accident. As quidditch players, however, they had just been gifted the cup on a silver platter. Potter was the captain and star seeker for the Gryffindor team, and he wasn't going to be out of the hospital wing in time for their final game the next day. Which was probably what Lucius Malfoy had been going for – Slytherin had been out of the running since their first loss to Ravenclaw early in the season.

Professor Slughorn had, in a rare moment of insight confiscated Sirius, Remus and Peter's wands immediately after the game, correctly reading the murderous looks in the eyes of the three marauders. Dorcas had tried unsuccessfully to pry Remus away from the hospital wing in time for dinner the previous night. Unfortunately, the marauders had been absolutely determined to camp out by James' bedside. None of the other students (including Lily) had been allowed in, a pompous Poppy Pomfrey declaring that James needed his rest and he couldn't be bothered by fangirls. Since when was Lily Evans a fangirl, anyway?

Lily happened to catch the sympathetic eye of Barty Crouch. James, for some reason, didn't seem to like him, but he'd become something of a friend to Lily since the last dance. And there was the little fact that he had saved Emmeline from Snape, Malfoy, Avery and their little gang of future death eaters. Those bullies had surrounded Emmeline and were going to hex her when Barty had showed up and ordered them away. And they had left. In fact, Lily was sure Emmeline had developed a crush on him since that little incident.

Flashback:

'Lils.. there's something I want to talk to you about' Emmeline had appeared nervous, her cheeks flushed slightly. Almost immediately Lily had known, and it was all Lily could do to pull her friend into a squealing hug.

"Let me guess… a boy?"

'Something like that' Emmeline had blushed harder, causing Lily to grin. FINALLY Emmeline seemed to be getting over the whole Black fiasco. She did remember her new promise to James not to interfere, though.

"Would he happen to be someone… who saved you recently?"

Lily had grinned as her friend looked at her feet, smiling slightly at her shyness. Emmeline could be SO obvious sometimes.

'Y-you might say that…It's - '

"All I'm going to tell you, Em, is to look out for signs that he likes you before doing anything. You're smart enough to figure this out on your own." And Lily had skipped off to join James at the prefect's meeting, intending to keep a sharp eye on her friend Barty while she was at it.

Thinking of Emmeline and Barty made Lily think of James. He hadn't liked Barty, and had even insinuated that Barty was in league with Snape and Malfoy. He claimed he had seen Barty with Rodolphus Lestrange at the Leaky Cauldron and everyone knew Lestrange was You Know Who's head recruiter.

Lily's stomach tensed in fear as she stared at the door, willing it to open. What if that argument about Barty Crouch was the last conversation she would ever have with James? What if – Lily didn't even want to think about it. She stared at the door again. She didn't expect Black to leave the hospital wing before James did, and could only imagine the hell he would give anyone who tried to remove him from his friends' bedside. If Remus and/or Peter were to show up, though, Lily would know that James was going to be OK.

In an almost spooky coincidence, the door to the great hall swung open just when Lily was in mid stare. Her eyes widened as she caught sight of Remus Lupin, Peter Pettigrew, Sirius Black and… James Potter.

Lily barely noticed the collective intake of breath as her eyes focused on the unspoken leader of the Marauders. He had a bandage around his head, and his arm was in a sling. She noticed he had several nasty bruises on his chest, another bandage wound around his ribcage. She glared as she noticed Dominique Gauthier ogling the shirtless James Potter. Honestly, some people had no shame. Although he did look fit without his shirt. Despite the bandage, he had a very toned torso.

Speaking of shameless, Lily couldn't understand whether he was parading around the school half naked because of the bandages, or because he was just being Potter. She did notice that she had to do an awful lot of death glaring. The Slytherin table had suddenly grown quiet as cheers erupted from the Gryffindor table.

With three collective wrist flicks from the doorway, red and gold confetti fell from the ceiling as the Marauders marched up the great hall. Sirius and Remus had protective hands on James' elbows, but the four seventh years faced forward, resolute, stamping and clapping as they sang loudly,

Buddy you're a boy make a big noise

Playin in the street gonna be a big man some day

You got mud on yo' face

You big disgrace kicking your can all over the place

Singing We will, we will rock you

We will, we will rock you

Lily smothered a laugh as she saw the furious looks on Malfoy, Snape and Avery's faces. James, Sirius and Remus had hexed the seventh year Slytherins so that they were forced to stamp and clap as the Marauders made their way down the hall. It was even more comical when, in an effort to control his body, Lucius Malfoy fell face first into a cream pie that had suddenly appeared in front of him.

Buddy you're a young man hard man

Shoutin' in the street gonna take on the world some day

You got blood on yo' face

You big disgrace

Wavin' your banner all over the place

We will we will rock you

Sing it now

We will we will rock you

By this time, James and company had arrived at their usual seats and were smiling gallantly at Lily and her friends. Well, Remus and James were smiling gallantly; Sirius' smile was kind of bitter. And he sat next to James, but at least he was willing to share a table with Lily and her friends again. As she caught sight of Lucius' Malfoy's chalky white face, and James' trademark grin, Lily Evans couldn't help but feel as though things were finally Looking Up.

AN: I feel I owe you guys an explanation here. When I set out to write this fic, I intended it to subsume my L/J oneshot – I wanted it to give a bit of background as to what happened before the oneshot, and what might happen after. Then I got carried away with this storyline, and decided it should not be the focus of the fic. I did want to include it for the fans though, so here it is (partly). Hope you like it and please do r/r! Love ya all!