DISCLAIMER: I don't own Harry Potter.

Chapter 2: Fifth Year

"Lily, are you sure you're feeling all right?" Remus asked worriedly as they were on their way to a prefects' meeting.

'No, no, I'm not,' Lily wanted to say. 'I'm being taken advantage of. He's forcing me to sleep with him, and I don't know how to escape.'

What she said was, "I'm fine, Remus, just a little tired. I was up studying until late last night."

"Keep in mind that tomorrow will be the last meeting this term," the Head Boy said to the prefects gathered around the table – today, Professor McGonagall was supervising the meeting. "Exams commence today. Sixth year prefects, you're responsible for supervising the hallways in between exams. Seventh year prefects, the Great Hall and the library, and fifth year prefects, if I can ask you to supervise the courtyard."

The prefects all nodded.

The Head Girl spoke up then. "This isn't an official supervision, really, as the professors will be around as well, but you're asked to keep an eye out for trouble in your assigned areas. Lupin – "

"I'll try," Remus said wearily. "I'm not making any promises."

"They'd better not do anything that'll interfere with OWLs," Lily threatened.

"Hey, why doesn't Bletchley and Zabini just keep Snape out of their hair, and there won't be a problem?" Remus exclaimed.

"Like I'm going anywhere near that git!" Derek Bletchley exclaimed. Abigail Zabini agreed with a curt nod.

"What flaming idiots," Lily muttered as she saw the familiar sight of Severus Snape hanging by his ankles in the air and a rather large group of students gathered around. "Remus, I'm going to curse you into Atlantis…" She set down her Transfiguration notes. "Dani, watch my stuff, will you?" With that, she got up and stalked over to the crowd to ream out Black and Potter. She'd deal with Remus tomorrow morning. There was no use in spreading rumours about dissent among the prefects.

Lily turned her face away to avoid having to look at Slughorn as he came up behind her that night. Dani and Persia thought she was out at another 'inner circle' party. If they knew what really went on in these 'parties', they'd be horrified, she was sure of it.

She knew that she wasn't the only one. She was his favourite, she knew that much, but she wasn't the only girl in this position.

"I was quite impressed with the way you rescued Severus this afternoon," Slughorn murmured into her ear. Lily opened her mouth to protest, but nothing came out. She had forgotten about the compliance spell. Her voice disappeared when she was in this room, her body ceased to listen to her when she was in this room, and her mouth acted of its own accord when somebody asked her why she was so tired, or why she looked so pale, or where she had been the night before. "I thought that perhaps you were starting to come around, Lily."

'Never,' Lily thought contemptuously. 'I'll never give in to you.'

"Remus!" Lily snapped angrily, stalking down the hallway. Remus stopped and turned around, glaring at her in irritation. He was obviously not in his best mood today, but that was all right, because neither was she. Slughorn had kept her out until 3 AM, and it was going to reflect in her Transfiguration exam this morning. He still seemed to think the reason Lily had stopped Black and Potter was because she was coming around, when all it was, was that she knew how it felt to be helpless against your tormentors.

"What?" Remus snapped back irritably.

"What kind of prefect are you?" she demanded. "You sat there and read while they were tormenting poor Snape! Why, I ought to go to Professor McGonagall and demand that your badge gets taken!"

"Excuse me, that's a little rich coming from you!" Remus snarled.

"Excuse me?" she shrieked.

"I noticed you weren't in the tower until 3 AM!"

"What were you doing up at 3 AM?!"

"Studying, unlike some people who seem to think just because they're the professor's pet, that gives them license to shirk curfew all the time! Hoping to get special privileges from Slughorn or something?"

That was the last straw. Shaking with rage, Lily gave him a good, hard slap and stormed off, fuming, to the prefects' hall.

Remus and Lily shot daggers at each other right through prefects' meeting, breakfast and all the way into the written portion of their Transfiguration OWL. She felt mildly guilty when she noticed that Remus' face was actually bruised, but she quickly pushed that aside.

Something was up with the Gryffindor boys, she noticed. Professor Dumbledore, face grim, had come and taken Potter away to his office right as they were leaving their exam. Potter had come back barely a half-hour later, face set in stone. All of the boys had been in a tight little huddle across the yard ever since.

"What's up with you and Remus today?" Persia asked curiously as they sat outside, practicing for their practical Transfiguration in the afternoon. "You're not usually like this…"

"Shut up, would you, Persia?" Lily said tersely, trying to transfigure the rock at her feet into a rat. The rock sprouted a tail and whiskers, and she growled in frustration, undoing the spell to try again.

"What's got you so shirty today?" Persia said in astonishment.

Lily slammed her textbook shut and got up. "Nothing," she replied tightly. How could she possibly explain to Persia how much Remus' accusation had hurt her? To imply that Lily was asking for this hell to happen, night after night, for the last five years… and the fact it was Remus who had said it… She never would've expected Remus to have said something as low as that, it was more something she'd have expected out of Black, or Potter.

And of course this would all happen the day of the exam in her worst subject – she was terrible at Transfiguration and a lack of studying didn't help her any. As she passed the Gryffindor boys, she contemplated kicking Remus hard in the back, then decided to be the better person.

"… should've known it was coming…" Potter was saying dully. "She's been ill for years." Lily slowed down slightly to hear some more – never in her life had she thought James Potter was capable of any voice except cocky and arrogant. This sounded almost… grieved. Sad.

"Won't make it hurt any less, Jay," Black replied softly, grasping his friend's shoulder, and to Lily's astonishment, she heard the same edge of pain in his voice. "C'mon, let's head back to the tower…"

"No, no, we got an exam in an hour," Potter muttered. "Can't miss it. Remus, you said you wanted some help with Switching Spells?"

"James, you don't have to force yourself," Remus said quietly. "I'm sure the professors would let you skip the exam, given the circumstances…"

"Just shut up about it, would you?" Potter snapped. "Do you or do you not want help?"

"All right," Remus sighed, handing him the revision notes Lily knew Remus had spent hours meticulously writing out. He caught sight of Lily, and he sent her a clear 'get out of here and don't you dare say anything' glare.

Transfiguration was an absolute disaster, but she really didn't care at that moment. She was itching with curiosity to know what was going on with Potter. However, any thoughts of finding out for sure were thwarted by a note from Slughorn. Come tonight at 11. Again? This was costing her OWLs big-time! Not to mention, she had promised Danielle she would help her study for Potions…

"Lily, where are you going?" Danielle asked with a definite tone of panic in her voice. "We've got our Potions OWL tomorrow, you said you'd help me!" Poor Danielle wasn't too good in Potions, she'd be lucky to scrape a D without Lily's help – even with it, neither was expecting more than an A.

"Just going to the bathroom, Dani, I'll be right back," Lily said, slipping out before more questions could fly at her.

Lily bit back the sobs as she felt Slughorn's fleshy hands seize her waist, kissing her neck with such hunger that she wondered if he had been turned into a vampire. Her body complied fluidly as Slughorn laid her down. She turned her face away again, closing her eyes tightly to try and shut him out.

"Close your eyes all you want, Lily, I'm still here," Slughorn breathed into her ear. "I will always be here."

Lily fought against the spells viciously and finally managed to spit out, "But I won't be."

Slughorn drew back momentarily, shocked that she had broken through. Then she saw the anger crackle in his eyes, and she knew she was in for a rough night.

Lily shut the door to the prefects' bathroom, thankful for once that it was 4 AM and therefore unlikely to have occupants besides perhaps Moaning Myrtle. She didn't want anybody to see her like this: face and arms bruised, still shaking from hours of abuse, tears staining her cheeks and eyes red.

She headed straight for the hidden cupboard near the mermaid portrait where she kept her bruise remover. Taking it out, she returned to the mirror and began dabbing it on, silently cursing the tears that still threatened to fall. The remover would take about half an hour to work, she'd have to stay in here and think up her excuse to Dani.

"What happened to you?" came the voice of James Potter from a dark corner of the bathroom. Lily jumped and whirled around, heart racing. Potter emerged from the corner, his own eyes suspiciously red. "You look like you got into a Quidditch brawl or something."

"Mind your own business, Potter," she snapped, turning away. "What are you doing here any way? It's 4 AM."

"I'm well aware of that," Potter replied acidly. "For your information, I was enjoying some well-earned solitude before you came crashing in."

"Having a good cry far from Black?" she asked sneeringly, her anger and panic at being caught in this state getting the worst of her. "Wouldn't want to damage the reputation, would you? Imagine the great James Potter, bawling like some small child – " She jumped aside with a scream when a hex hurtled past her, shattering the mirror. Her own wand out seconds later, they stood off like a pair of duelists, each daring the other to move. "Don't you dare hex me," she snarled through clenched teeth. "You'll regret it."

"And don't you go sneering at me," Potter snarled back. "Don't talk about what you don't know, Evans. You don't see me sneering at you, or reporting you for that matter, because you are constantly in Slughorn's office at very odd hours. 11 PM, Evans? And don't try denying it, I know it's true." He stopped and a truly nasty grin spread across his face. "I always thought it was weird that a pureblood maniac like Slughorn consistently gives top marks and privileges to a Muggle-born. I guess now we know why you've got top marks in Potions, don't we?"

Lily struggled to contain herself. She would like nothing more than to curse James Potter into oblivion right now. She would also like nothing more than to just sit down and have a good cry, and for a moment, she fantasized about crying on that slim, strong shoulder…

Finally, with some difficulty, she said, "Eat dung, Potter," and left.

Lily was in a thoroughly foul mood all day. Dani was so angry at her for breaking her promise, she had tried to hex her until she was nothing more than a pile of ashes. It took all of the Gryffindor girls holding Dani back to avoid that very scene. Lily escaped and shut herself away in a corner off the third floor corridor to cry, returning only minutes before the written exam was due to start and taking her seat without a look or word to anybody.

To top it off, McGonagall called her into her office directly after the exam with a very serious expression.

"I've had a few concerns expressed by other students about your behaviour, Miss Evans," McGonagall said seriously. "Out at all hours of the night, multiple times a week? Don't try to tell me that these are all parties with Professor Slughorn, he knows very well he can't be doing that sort of thing, it detracts from schoolwork. Reports of unexplained injuries? Not to mention the scene with Miss Zacharias earlier this morning."

Oh, they were both going to get it… Potter and Remus had gone to McGonagall.

"Is there something you would like to tell me, Miss Evans?" McGonagall asked, and Lily thought she saw a glimpse of compassion in her severe eyes. She knew… she knew that something was wrong.

'YES!' Lily screamed inside her mind, even as her head shook 'no'. "I'm sorry, Professor McGonagall, it won't happen again," she said, watching her shoes.

"Anything you say in here, Lily, will be held in strictest of confidences," McGonagall said softly.

Lily looked up momentarily from the shock – Professor McGonagall had never called any student by their given name even once. She shook her head again as she struggled to break through the spells again. "There's nothing going on, Professor," she repeated quietly.

"Very well, then," McGonagall said doubtfully. "I catch wind of any more nighttime jaunts, Miss Evans, and I will take away your prefect's badge."

Lily nodded silently and left quickly, steaming mad at Remus and Potter. Why'd they have to go to McGonagall? As if they didn't leave the tower at all hours of the night, multiple times a week as well! And they had unexplained injuries too – as if scratches on Remus' face were from taking a fall off his broom at Quidditch practice!