Chapter Five:

Mara gasped and swung around. There she was face to face with Professor McGonagall.

The Marauders looked on with intrigue and slight fear.

"P-P-Professor McGonagall! What do you mean?" stuttered Mara. She never was a good liar.

With a steely glint in her eye, McGonagall gripped Mara by the arm and dragged her over to a corner of the common room, far away from the Marauders' eavesdropping ears. "Listen well, Miss Harper. Miss Evans is indeed in some trouble. But we are all trying our hardest to resolve the problem. The Headmaster has instructed clearly about what he wants us all to do. For you, you will do well to keep this matter a secret. Do not, I repeat, DO NOT speak of this to anyone. That includes those four boys trying to listen in on our conversation over there. If you reveal anything, it may become a hindrance to the slow progress we are making with Miss Evans. Are we clear?"

Mara looked constricted, like she couldn't breathe. "Can I see Lily?"

Professor McGonagall gripped her arm even harder. "No! You cannot! Have you not understood anything I just told you? This concerns Miss Evans' life! If you ever want to see your best friend again, I advise you to do as you are told! Keep your mouth shut and carry on without her as if nothing is wrong. If you are asked about Miss Evans, just say you aren't clear. Do you understand?"

There was a tense silence as Mara comprehended carefully what her teacher was telling her. Then, slowly and hesitatingly, she nodded, as if fearful of McGonagall's reaction. "Good." The elder lady flung away Mara's arm and strode off. Feeling a little dazed, Mara just stood there, staring at the rich red carpet.

The Marauders ran over. "Mara! What did McGonagall want with you?" asked Sirius. Mara shook her head. "What about Lily? Is she okay?" said James, a note of panic rising in his voice. Mara shook her head again. "Tell us what's going on!" said Remus, his eyes fixed on her. Mara covered her ears with both hands and squeezed her eyes shut. "I don't know! I don't know! Don't ask me!"

The four boys looked at each other and then at a slightly hysterical Mara. At the moment, it seemed that the best solution would be to leave things as they were and talk about it when Mara had calmed down a little and was ready to speak about Lily. Now, it was really getting late, and with classes tomorrow, they should all go for a good night's sleep.

-_- o -_-

"What do you think has happened to Lily?" asked Peter as they climbed into bed.

"I don't know, but it's definitely far from good. I mean, just look at the way McGonagall blew up at Mara when she was about to say more! Mara looked so scared I felt sorry for her!" Sirius sighed. Then he continued, "I hope Lily's going to be all right. This all sounds really serious."

Remus made a humming noise and they all looked towards him. "From what I'm hearing, it doesn't sound like Mara knows that much at all. But even the little information she knows shouldn't be spoken of. That must mean something big. To be honest, I am very curious about Lily. Let's review about her behaviour."

James jumped up. "Lily will be fine! She must be! She'll come back to classes soon and everything will normal! Everything MUST be normal!"

Sirius sat down beside James and patted him on the shoulder. "It's all right, mate. It's not like she's dead. I believe that she WILL be fine."

James took a deep breathe and calmed down. "Moony, do you think we can at least find out about what's going on?"

Remus smiled. "We're the Marauders. We can practically do anything!"

Sirius started laughing, and soon the rest of them joined in. Then, they slowly fell asleep, not knowing what they were dealing with.

-_- o -_-

Mara looked at the moon outside her window and wondered if Lily was looking at the same moon. It felt weird that Lily wasn't here with her in this room. They were always together when they were at Hogwarts. It had always been that way. Behind her, the other two girls sharing their dorm were fast asleep. They looked so happy. It seemed unfair that they were full of joy while Mara was full of worry.

When Mara had entered the room, they had asked Mara about Lily. She couldn't say anything and merely answered, "I don't know." She couldn't tell them how worried she was. She couldn't tell them how badly she wanted to know what was going on. She couldn't tell them how much she wanted her best friend back. She could only say, "I don't know."

Stupid Professor McGonagall! How could she be so cruel! This worry was eating up Mara inside and she had no one to share her pain with. What a burden to bear!

She looked out the window again. There was a thin sheet of fog drifting around and the moon was misty and unclear. She cleared her head with a deep breath and reluctantly clambered into bed. She did have classes tomorrow and who knew? Maybe Lily would be back, just like the old Lily.

But somewhere in her mind, Mara was thinking sure, and pigs fly too.

-_- o -_-

The walk down to the Great Hall was a dismal one. There was no one to walk with her. Usually Lily would be up and bash Mara over the head with a pillow, bellowing in her ear that they were going to be late and she was hungry for breakfast.

But Mara couldn't sleep well at all. She was too worried for Lily's wellbeing. Even though she had gone to bed at a late hour already, she woke up early. The result became a very sleepy (yet unable to sleep), trance-like and grumpy Mara. She hoped no one would try to mess with her today. She knew she would probably explode.

The Marauders caught up with her at the entrance of the Great Hall.

"Hey, Mara! Are you okay? You don't look so good."

Although Sirius meant well, an extremely irritated Mara still felt annoyed. "Just shove off, okay? I'm not in the mood."

Not taking a hint, Sirius pressed on. "Not in the mood for what? Breathing? Eating? Talking? You should be specific!"

Reaching the end of her line, Mara reached up a hand to slap him and Remus grabbed her hands. "Hey! Sirius was just trying to cheer you up! You don't have to be so grumpy! We're just as worried about Lily as you are!"

Mara pulled away from Remus. "What do you know? Have you been sharing most of her life's secrets for the past four years? Have you lived in the same room as her for the past four years? Have you ever taken care to acknowledge her presence and help her study and stay up with her when she had a big problem for the past four years? What right do you have to be worried about Lily?"

James spoke angrily. "What right do we have? Just because you have the special title of being Lily's best friend, doesn't mean that you're her only friend. We care about her too! We helped her through some problems too! Not sharing everything with her doesn't mean we don't have a right to be worried about her! So you can just stick your arrogance right up your arse!"

Mara stepped back, realizing she was being ridiculous. "I'm sorry. I haven't slept well. I was up all night because I'm so worried about Lily. I…"

She broke off and sobbed into her hand. James relented. "It's okay. We're all in this together. We ALL care about Lily. But for now, there's nothing we can do. Let's just go have breakfast and attend our classes as usual. We can talk about this later, right?"

Mara nodded gratefully and they all trooped into the Hall in silence.

AN: Okay, this wasn't a very productive chapter. It's also a little bit short. I also didn't say anything about Lily's "problem", so bear with me. Next chapter, I promise! Please review!! Please, please, please, please, please!