I literally struggled with this chapter for five days. I might re-write it... I don't know. Again, I thank you those who are still with this story. I got the idea of James's letter from Sweet Valley Junior High. The words in between the dashes are words crossed out by James. :)

I own nothing you recognized.

James awoke the following morning with what felt like a large ball of fabric crushed into his open mouth. He sat up weakly, spitting out what apparently was a mouthful of his bed hangings.

He gazed up at his bed, his mouth slack, and his round glasses hanging limp on the bridge of his nose. Needless to say, it wasn't his most becoming moment.

It appeared that he had rolled off his bed like a log at one point during the abysmal night to the apparent worry of no one, and to the great bemusement of himself, because he could not, try as he might practically cataleptic, ever recall crashing on his left side.

"Bloody gits," James moaned loudly, hauling himself back into bed as though it were a pond he could promptly drown himself in.

'Please! What else is there to know about you?'

James could not help but cringe with pain at the awful memory of the previous night. He felt doubly worse when he realized that it was the second time in only a month that he had made Lily cry.

'Tell me, mate, why is that?' James wryly asked himself, deciding for a moment whether or not he should jump off the Astronomy Tower later that evening, or just simply feed himself to the Giant squid, 'Because you wanted to help.'

But had he given Lily any reason to see him as untrustworthy, as dishonest?

James was not so far deluded to believe that he was a saint... he had, admittedly, been guilty of many of the things she had accused him of being—although, James sighed, thoroughly exasperated, 'I had hope she would have noticed me trying... I haven't hexed anyone for months now! Well-except for bloody Adams, who, as luck would have it, just happens to be her sodding boyfriend,' James conceded bitterly, considering the insufferable, cheating, lying, hideously two-faced berk to be the absolute exception.

'But what would make her think that I would lie to her about something like that?' James despaired, drawing his bed sheet up over his face to shield himself from the initial glimmers of sunlight that were now streaming in from the high, bed-side windows, 'I mean yeah, I want them broken up, but not like this…not if Lily's the one who's going to be hurt in the end.'

Before he could continue pondering the all-important matter of Lily's fate, the hangings on his bed were swept apart unceremoniously, and he felt, with a deep frown, the distinct weight of three people sitting closely to the left of him.

"I've said it before," Sirius simpered, doing a frighteningly spot-on imitation of James's great aunt, Lucrezia, "He does look like an angel when he sleeps."

Against his pillow, James stifled a beseeching groan.

"Prongs, we know you're awake," Remus laughed gently, "And no doubt waiting for the lot of us to leave so you can continue crying your eyes out."

At this positively unjust remark, James rose indignantly from his pillow, his face reddening into a furious shade of magenta.

"I was not crying!"

"Yes, and you didn't frog-leap off your bed either," Sirius put forth, a smothered laugh caught in his throat,

"I frog-leaped? Seriously?" James had grown impossibly redder in the face, his voice speeding into a terrible stutter. "I-I ha-had anan-an o-off night last night…"

"We heard," squeaked Peter with decidedly more joy than he should have,

"The whole of Scotland heard," Sirius attested grimly, "Didn't you hear? The Wireless has decided to pick it up for their evening slot: The Boy who will not get a clue! Agonize as an audience every Wednesday night-"

Sirius stooped to a half-crouch as James's dog-eared copy of 'Hogwarts a History' whizzed suddenly past his left ear,

"We thought you could do with some 'tucking in' in bed," Peter wheezed shyly, abruptly forcing a cough to conceal what James saw was his decided unease at having been forced to say this particular line.

James then spotted, to his immense delight, four, fat bags of what appeared to be magical sweets, no doubt filched earlier from Honeydukes when he had been asleep.

"Peppermint toad, or Chocolate frog?" Sirius offered, violently biting the head off a Chocolate frog with a contented toss to his head that recalled an eating dog.

James smiled.

"Frog, Mr. Padfoot."

"I still cannot believe that Potter would lie to you like that!" Pragna exclaimed to Lily minutes after the customary toast, and kippers appeared, her nose wrinkled in disgust as she carefully poured herself the ritual goblet of pumpkin juice, "Granted he's not an angel, but that is downright pathetic!"

"And desperate!" Belinda added, her tone haughty and clipped with disapproval as her pair of watery, brown eyes peered down at Lily from over the top of the morning's Daily Prophet, "You were right to put him in his place!"

Lily lifted her chin from her hand where it had been resting dolefully for the past ten minutes, raising her impaled sausage at them as if to rally, "Yes, I was. Now can we please move on to another topic... something more appetizing?"

Quirking an eyebrow, Pragna set her goblet down, and shot Lily a fierce, suspicious stare.

"You don't believe it do you? ...what Potter said about Douglas?"

Lily swallowed, reddening at the sheer injustice of the question.

"Of course not! I know Douglas better than that! Besides-" Lily crossed and uncrossed her stockinged legs angrily, her lips curling into a distasteful frown, "When has Potter ever been marked for his honesty."

Pragna looked satisfied with this answer, and lifted her goblet to her lips again, "I've known Douglas for nearly seven years, a good bloke, he would never do something like that to you!"

Feeling like a complete heel while she did it, Lily shot Pragna a completely mechanical smile, glancing up from where she normally sat in the Great Hall to eye the noticeably empty spot James and his friends usually occupied in the mornings.

Rather than being overjoyed at his absence, however, Lily found herself feeling faintly miserable.

'You know very little, Lily… little about me.'

Lily shook her head, as though the physical motion itself would completely rid her skull of James bloody Potter.

Though she had been very exhausted last night, what with the hour she had spent weeping artlessly into the old well of her pillow, and the other hour she had devoted to finishing McGonagall's vile essay… there had been something about the expression on James's face when she had told him what a lying, selfish, bullying prat he was that kept her mercilessly awake, wracked with guilt, for hours, and hours on end...

"Lily," Belinda prompted, clearly not for the first time.

"Yes, Bel?" Lily responded apologetically, issuing Belinda a tiny smile,

"Are you alright?" Belinda frowned,

"Brilliant, why?"

"You've been waving that sausage around…"

"Oh, right!" Lily wanted to smack herself, "Just cooling it! You know they really make them too hot these days! Terribly unsafe!"

'Smooth, Lils, smoooooth,' Lily thought dryly, taking in Belinda's worried look. She couldn't blame her friend. She sighed as she forced herself to finish off the cool remains of her sausage.

'James lied to you Lily, he lied to you, you should forget about him,' and yet, somehow, Lily was finding it increasingly difficult to believe in her heart of hearts that James Potter would actually lie to her.

In fact, ironically enough, it was easier to believe that her boyfriend was cheating on her!

Lily had to admit, the notion wasn't entirely out of the question—ever since Douglas had promised her the date of her life, it almost appeared as though the boy was taking great pains to avoid her, spending nearly all of his free time with his friends, whom, interestingly enough, she had chanced to see four or five times by the lake without him. And yes, Douglas was a seventh-year student like herself, and as such was no doubt suffering under the same amount of workload—still.

It didn't explain the hollow expression on his face when she leaned up, on the tips of her toes to kiss him on the cheek, the unusual weight of his hands whenever she held them tightly in her own, the blank look in his eyes whenever she'd ask him a question about his day.

Lily pushed her plate away from her, feeling slightly queasy.

To both Belinda and Pragna's surprise, Lily stood and excused herself from the table.

"I'm going to look for Douglas."

Letter to Lily Evans from Douglas Adams (written by James Potter in the School Library.)

-My dearest Lily pod-

-My Lilykins-

-Lily-

My lovely flower Lily,

It has come to my attention that I am a foul, loathsome, and beastly little git, and thus, am not deserving of someone as beautiful, charming, smart, kind, and funny as you, etc.

Now, it's simply unfair, unreasonable, and idiotic for you to keep going out with someone who -is ugly- cannot fulfill your needs, mentally, spiritually, emotionally, and physically.

So for your sake, we are now officially broken up. -Cheers.-

I am confident that you will find someone else who can make you so much happier than I could ever make you -physically.-

-Who knows? Maybe you've already crossed paths with this highly desirable, witty, bespectacled, black-haired gentleman. Maybe he's someone who's changed for the better, someone who, perhaps, you've rejected in the past... multiple times, for whatever reason, I cannot fathom... something to do with your being insufferably stubborn, and refusing to admit that you are, in fact, madly in love with him, and nothing more would fulfill you in life than to snog him senseless up against a wall whenever the opportunity presents itself. Which would be a lot, he is delighted to let you know. On the ground would be perfectly fine as well.-

Please don't let a tear fall from those beautiful -jade- -peridot- emerald eyes. Just be content with the time we've shared together, my darling.

-Love,-

From,

Douglas Adams.

James glanced up breathlessly from his thirty-minutes worth of work, looking (if not slightly weary,) incredibly pleased with himself. He took up his sugar quill again, and sucked the tip, already half-considering crossing out 'my darling' from the bottom paragraph with a tiny frown when Remus, from his immediate left, prompted him with a sudden question,

"Er, Prongs?"

James met Remus's puzzled look from over the top of his outstretched parchment.

"Yes, Moony?"

"Correct me if I'm wrong… but are you jotting down notes?"

Immediately, James could see how Remus had fallen under the impression: beneath Lily's letter laid his copy of Wizarding through the Ages: An Extensive History opened, for whatever reason, on page three-hundred-and-thirty-nine.

James smiled easily, cocking his head.

"I'll be jotting down notes, Moony, when Snivelly manages to bang himself a girl,"

Remus looked positively affronted with this reply, and appeared to be biting back the beginnings of a stern reprimand, "Now-"

"Which is to say never," James finished nastily, slamming his book shut with a loud snort.

"While I wholeheartedly agree," yawned Sirius loudly, looking absolutely miserable at Remus's idea of an amusing evening, "You," he pointed at James as he straightened up in his seat, grinning, "-Haven't been doing any better."

Unaffected, James beamed. "Haven't been doing any better, so far. That, my friends, is easily changed,"

James dangled his letter proudly in front of them, "This is the solution to all my problems!"

Doubtful, Sirius leaned forward, immediately sputtering "Lily pod?" in a tone of great amusement as he scanned the bit of parchment James had thrust eagerly under his nose.

Before James knew it, Sirius had turned purple in the face, shoulders shaking as though with the huge effort to keep from laughing outright. They were in the library after all.

"What!? What is it?" James demanded, red with indignation as he quickly pulled his letter away from Sirius.

"Prongs-" Sirius shook his head, tears crowding his eyes, "You've gone mad!"

"Can I take a look at that?" Remus implored almost immediately, his lips a fully formed smile, and James shook his head, glaring at Sirius as though with the hope of disembowelling him,

"What is so stupid about my letter?"

Seeing that James was actually serious, Sirius choked on his disbelief.

"Prongs! You can't possibly think of giving that to Lily, desperate as you are," Sirius added, waving an airy hand, and James rolled his eyes.

"You see," Sirius ploughed on, setting both his elbows on the table with exaggerated care, "She'd just take it to Douglas, and once they were finished laughing their arses off, she'd... well... she'd kill you..."

James crumpled his letter miserably into a wad, sighing a deep, gaping sigh, his hand deep in his hair, "What d'you reckon I should do then?"

Sirius looked as if he had been waiting to be asked this quesiton.

"What we do best."

James's face lit up.

Remus was aghast.

From his solitary game of hangman, Peter let out a delighted titter.

"Why, Padfoot, are you asking me to go out on a prank with you?" James batted his eyelashes, his hands clasped.

Sirius grinned.

"What can I say? When I see something I like, I go after it,"

Remus gave a shuddering sigh.

"Shit."