Hi everyone!!! here is the long awaited (cough cough) update to my cliffhanger!!

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Chapter 8. The Marauders to the Rescue?

James had been in a deep conversation with Sirius and Remus before Lily caught his eye in The Three Broomsticks. He watched as she aimlessly chatted away with her friends. James was content to just watch her from afar, but before he knew it, the object of his affection lost her balance and was about to fall off her chair. Without another thought, he immediately rushed to the redhead and caught her before she fell.

"Are you alright?" he asked in a slight whisper. James felt her shiver a bit at the sound of his voice. 'Did she really just shiver because of me?' he wondered, hoping that he was right.

He hadn't even noticed how close they were. He had his arms wrapped around her waist and her back was leaning on his chest. Everything seemed perfect before she turned around to see who her savior was.

Realizing who it was that had caught her, Lily quickly jumped out of James' arms, to his disappointment, and looked at him angrily.

"Potter! I could have handled it myself! There was no need for you to-"

"Save your ass?" he finished softly, looking deeply into her eyes. He wanted to give her his usual smirk of triumph but something inside his head was telling him not to.

They were now staring at each other. Lily was giving him a look of uncertainty, her eyes glared at him in an odd way.

" Ahem," Liz interrupted after a few seconds of awkward silence. "So you boys have finally showed up."

At that, the spell between James and Lily was finally broken, and Lily sat back down on her chair in a huff, with her arms crossed in front of her chest.

"It's about time. We've been waiting here for," Gwen paused as she checked her watch, " ten minutes."

"Hey, sorry about that. We had some business to take care of," said Sirius as he took a chair from another table and placed it between Gwen and Elizabeth.

"Hello, everyone," said Remus as he too took a chair from the other table and placed it next to Elizabeth, leaving room from James to sit between Elizabeth and Lily. (how perfect, right?)

"Hey, Remus," the girls replied.

"So, I see that you ladies have not yet ordered drinks," Remus observed.

"Ha, it's funny you mentioned that," said Gwen. "It just so happened that all three of us ran out of money. Well, actually I left my money at home but that's beside the point."

"Is that so? And I'm betting that the three of you expect us to buy you drinks?" Sirius asked suavely.

"Weeell, if you boys wouldn't mind, then that would be a fabulous idea!" said Gwen batting her eyes at Sirius. Like said before, Gwen always had a way of getting what she wanted, one way or another.

"And what do we get in return for our generosity? Eh, Gwen?" Sirius asked, leaning slightly on Gwen.

"Sirius, you'll get a niiiccee pat on the back. How 'bout that?" she replied cunningly, trying to get the tempting Marauder to stop leaning toward her.

"Aww, is that all? I was expecting something a little more, Gwenny," Sirius said, moving his eyebrows up and down in a suggestive manner.

"Not in your life, Sirius. Just lend us some money and we'll pay you back. Deal?" she finally said, pushing him off her.

"Oh, all right. Deal…but you're no fun, Gwen," Sirius replied disappointedly.

"Oh, well. Too bad," she smirked. But as she said this James could have sworn that Gwen was giving Sirius a very seductive smile.

"I'll pay for Liz if you don't mind," said Remus interrupting the little flirting fit between Sirius and Gwen.

"Then I'll pay for Lily," James added, still in a state of confusion from his little moment with Lily.

"Potter, you don't have to buy me a drink. I'm fine."

"No, Lily," Liz interrupted. "I think that you should take the drink. You look very pale at the moment," Liz said.

"Fine, I'll have a Butterbeer, please," Lily finally mumbled; her arms still folded against her chest and her head down in defeat, refusing to look at James.

--------------------------------------------------

Noon came and went for the group of six. Lily hadn't noticed how fast time flew when she was having fun. She sat in The Three Broomsticks; drinking her fourth Butterbeer that James had bought her. Surprisingly, she didn't feel compelled to yell at James or make comments about him. At the moment, it seemed as if they were friends…or something of that sort.

Everything was going along smoothly. They all talked, joked, and made fun of the some old men with funny hats. Time flew by so fast that they hadn't even noticed that all of the students were heading back to Hogwarts. It wasn't until Lily set aside her Butterbeer and took a look at her watch when she noticed how late it was. '8:55, now that couldn't be right,' she thought. 'It couldn't be that late already.' Quickly turning to Gwen, she asked what the time was.

"Why it's…holy crap! 8:55! We should have been at Hogwarts hours ago!" she gasped.

"We are going to be in big trouble if McGonagall catches us out of bounds!" Lily said, hysterically. She had jumped out of her seat and looked as if she was about to run out of the pub.

"Calm down. We can get there in no time," said James coolly.

"How?! It will take us forever to get there by foot," Lily whined.

"Who said we were getting there by foot?" he asked his eyes were wide and a grin played upon his lips.

"Are you thinking what I'm thinking, Prongs?" Sirius asked suddenly.

"Of course, Padfoot. Way ahead of you," James said happily, pulling out a metal object from his pocket.

At first, Lily thought that James was taking out a cigarette lighter but as he brought the object into view she knew exactly what it was.

"Where did you get that?" she gasped.

"It was a little present from my dear ol' mum," said Sirius, sarcastically, "then I gave it to James as a birthday present." He added happily.

"And I'm glad you gave this to me instead of those Vampire lollypops," James said with a smirk.

"But but, that thing is illegal, isn't it?" Lily stuttered.

"Oh, don't worry. I have a license for it…" said Sirius reassuringly, "or at least I did have a license for it until it became illegal."

"Ok, ok, I dunno if you've noticed, but Liz and I are clueless as to what you are talking about!" said Gwen, heatedly.

"Dear Gwen, it is only you who is clueless at the moment," replied Liz, calmly. "The thing in which they speak of is called a Polyport Device. It opens a portal to anyplace that you like and it allows you to travel to your destination in the blink of an eye."

"Yes, but let me remind you that if you don't know the correct incantation then it could send you to a different era… or worse," Lily added cautiously.

"Oh, so it's kinda like a portkey combined with Apparation and the Floo System?" Gwen asked.

"Somewhat," Remus joined into the conversation. "It's way more advanced and much more dangerous, though,"

"Alright, alright, enough of this worrisome chatter. We need to get our butts to Hogwarts in a matter of two seconds!" James interrupted. He seemed to be getting quite irritated that the group was taking so long talking about the device instead of using it.

"You better do this right Potter! Or I'll personally kill you with my bear hands!"

"Not a problem, Miss Evans. I promise to get you back to Hogwarts safe and sound, or my name isn't Jack Sparrow!" the messy haired boy said, bowing gentleman-like at her. (sorry, i couldn't help it...i've been watching Pirates of the Caribbean all weekend :P)

"James, but your name isn't Jack Sparrow," said Remus, shaking his head at his friend. Lily could hardly believe that Remus hung out with such and idiot.

Suddenly Lily's thoughts were soon inturrupted because she was now being dragged out of The Three Broomsticks and into a dark alley along with Gwen and Liz and the rest of the Marauders. At the moment, James was holding the metal object like he would a wand. He then whispered the incantation and traced a large oval in the air. Instantly, a bright blue light appeared where James had made the invisible oval.

As Lily watched the light glow brighter, she felt a slight tug around her waist. That was when she noticed that James had grabbed her and was leading her into the portal.

"Potter! What are you doing?! I don't think I need an escort into that thing!" she hissed.

"Well you were just standing there and it looked like you were in too much of a daze to move," was his reply. Lily rolled her eyes but she reluctantly let James guide her towards the glowing gateway.

Without another word, James and Lily stepped inside the oval. In the blink of an eye, they arrived outside the portrait of the Fat Lady. Not long after, they were reunited with Sirius and Gwen then with Remus and Liz.

"So tell me again why this was so dangerous?" asked Gwen as she blinked her eyes to get use to the dimly lit corridor.

Suddenly someone from the shadows answered Gwen's question.

"Because, it's illegal and will expel you from Hogwarts."

Before anyone had time to speak, a tall, disheveled man walked out from the shadows of the corridor.

eek! i wonder who that could be? and i apologize for yet another Cliffy!! please don't start sending me flames...i promise i have a really nice surprise for everyone! laters!! REVIEW!!!!