A/N: Here is Chapter 7. Sorry it took forever to post this. Holidays and stuff everything was nuts. That and I was competing the Supergrands world games. I won my devision and I'm a world karate champion now! Yay! Also I would say I've been writing this the entire time since I last posted but no... I actually wrote all this today. I was bored. Enjoy.

Disclaimer: I don't own the Harry Potter universe... Just the plot and the OC's I make.

Chapter 7: An Angsty Twist

James was late for class. James was always late to class. He stood leaning casually against the stone walls idly flipping a silver sickle in the air. This time however he had a worried expression on his face. Not worried about the class or what punishment was waiting for him when he got there, but worried about who else was late. Lily. Lily was never late to class. He gave a sidelong glance at the door beside him still firmly shut. He sighed. 'She ducked into the bathroom like ten minutes ago even though I warned her we were running late. She must be sick or something. And she looked kinda nervous this morning.' Many other thoughts went through his head as his eyes bobbed up and down following the spinning sickle. A moment later the door swung open and Lily rushed out running headlong into him. She tripped over James but was grabbed up by him, thanks to his quiddich reflexes, before she could hit the ground. His sickle however was not quite as lucky. It pinged as it hit the ground, bounced and rolled out of sight down the corridor.

"James!" Lily exclaimed once she was back on her feet. Her face was flushed a deep red and he could feel her heart beating extremely fast. "I told you, you could go to class without me," she said straightening herself out and trying to calm down a bit.

"It's no problem," he said still a bit worried about her. "Are you okay?" Before Lily had a chance to respond however, the door opened again and Narcissa Black stepped out. Her expression was even more smug than usual as she strode past, scoffing at the two of them with barely a second glance. James looked from Narcissa's retreating back to Lily who was now staring intently at the ground. "What did she say to you Lily?" James questioned. She said nothing, just continued to stare at the ground. He put his arm around her comfortingly. "No matter what she said to you, shes wrong. Don't worry about what people like her think."

She smiled up at him thankful for his attempts to comfort her. "Thanks James. But really, It's nothing. Now we better get going or were gonna be really late, and we'll miss the lesson and be way behind." They both turned and left down the corridor heading to transfiguration. Lily cast a last look over her shoulder for any sign of the Slytherin girl. The events which just unfurled ran through her mind again, they would be weighing heavily on her thoughts all day. A moment later however she turned back choosing to try and forget what happened, at least for now. She couldn't let herself dwell on it.

James too took one last look down the hallway hoping to see a glint of his silver coin. 'Oh well,' he thought 'Sirius owes me a sickle anyway.' He walked with his arm around Lily studying her peculiar behavior. 'There's something she isn't telling me. She does trust me right?' He tried keeping his mind on happier things during the pair's silent walk to class. They reached the door and James held it open for her. She walked in confidently already right back to her usual self. James then followed her in bracing himself for the yelling he was about to endure from Professor McGonagall.

"Gee Lil," Sirius began taunting after class. "Your lucky you can use the head girl excuse otherwise you would be in detention with me tonight."

"Well thank Merlin I'm the head girl then," she said giving him a dirty look. "I have to go. I'll see you later James." Without another word she was off.

"Whats up with her mate?" Sirius asked a bit taken aback, watching her storm away.

"Something to do with your cousin Narcissa I believe. She ran into her this morning. Thats why we were late." he replied, still upset from the encounter.

Sirius simply shook his head at hearing that his cousin was involved. "Man I hate her. Always messing with everyone else."

"You know you mess with people too," Remus reminded him snickering.

"Yea, but I do it for everyone's enjoyment, not because I think my blood makes me better than everyone else and gives me the right to do so," Sirius responded casually.

"At least you have your morals Padfoot," Remus said smiling.

The Marauders continued the trek back to Gryffindor tower talking about their weekend plans. There was a trip to Hogsmead but the girls already were planning on going dress shopping together for the Halloween ball next week. Sirius stopped mid stride and bent down. When he stood back up he turned to James.

"Hey Prongs," Sirius laughed happily. "Here's that sickle I owe you!" He then flipped the coin he had just picked up to James and continued walking with Remus. James however was still standing in the same spot as he looked around recognizing the corridor from earlier.

"But... This is my..." he trailed off realizing he was talking only to himself, nor would Sirius believe him otherwise. He sighed defeated as he pocketed the coin and caught back up to the other two.

"So what are your weekend plans Moony?" James asked when he caught back up.

"Probably working on my potions essay," he told him. "Yumi is going out with the girls so it will give me time to finish it up."

"Let me know when your done," Sirius said with his usual grin. "I've got a new spell that I've been working on that I want to try out. It will copy, then paraphrase, then change words into my handwriting."

Remus stared at him. "How are you doing so bad in classes half the time if you can make up advanced cheating spells like that? Why don't you just apply your time to actual work?"

Sirius thought for a moment, "um... I'm Sirius Black." He responded.

Remus scoffed at this. 'Unbelievable... not only can he make up his own advanced spells for cheating, just being who he is makes a plausible excuse for just about anything...' he mused to himself.

The next day Lily was in much better spirits. She woke early took a nice long hot shower, and ate a delicious breakfast. What put her in the best mood however was the big Hogsmead shopping trip she went on with Yumi and Jenny. She soon found herself in the most popular dress shop in Hogsmead. The three of them were having a blast trying on various dresses and accessories picking out what they would wear to the ball.Each one of them would pick a dress try it on and rush to the mirrors to see themselves. Lily currently was standing in a sleek scarlet floor length strapless dress, showing off all her curves.

"My my dearie, your looking lovely in that," the elderly woman who owned the shop told her. "It certainly matches your hair. Any man would love to have you on his arm wearing that. Lily blushed looking herself over again.

'I really think this dress might be the one,' she thought to herself smiling at her reflection. 'James will positively love me in it!'

"Hmmmm," the old woman hummed as she looked through her cases of jewelry. "Ah here we are," she declared pulling a small box out. She opened it revealing to Lily a pair of beautiful sparkling emerald earrings. Lily gasped looking them over. "Well what are you waiting for, try them on," the woman encouraged. Lily put them in and stared at herself in the mirror. "They match your eyes perfectly," the woman told her.

"There beautiful," Lily breathed as she watched the light reflect off them. "How much are they?"

"Ah..." the old woman sighed. "They look as if they were made for you Keep them."

Lily stared incredulously, "oh I couldn't possibly..." she began before she was cut off.

"Nonsense darling they wouldn't look as good on anyone else. They are yours."

Lily thanked her profusely during the rest of the time she was there. Yumi had chosen a beautiful dark blue and black traditional Japanese kimono. The blue and black formed swirls up and down giving it an almost hypnotic beauty. Jenny on the other hand had shown far less restraint as per usual. The dress she decided on had a corset style top laced tightly in the back and laced again in the front but left room for skin to be shown down her stomach through the lace. The lower half of the dress itself had a deep slit up the leg.

"Well Sirius is certainly going to be happy with you," Lily pointed out laughing with the other two. They left the shop carrying their purchases. The sky was dark, they had been dress shopping for hours. They walked the lamp lined main street talking excitedly about the ball.

"I hope Remy likes my dress too," Yumi stated. Her eyes were practically glowing blue, then the colors swam to pink and back again.

"I'm sure he'll love it," Lily told her smiling. "Now calm down before your eyes explode or something," Lily taunted.

"Hey don't make her mad too," Jenny interjected. "We don't need a third color in the mix!" The three erupted into laughter as they headed toward the carriages.

"I cant believe how long we were here," Yumi said. "O no! All the carriages are gone!" Yumi and the girls looked panicked for a moment wondering how they would get back to the castle.

"Don't worry we can just walk back. It's not that terribly far," Jenny rationalized. Lily and Yumi calmed down at this. "But first lets get something to drink," she added cheerfully starting back down the street. After a moment of walking they found themselves in front of the Hog's Head.

Yumi was plainly scared of the place and was standing closely behind Lily barely peeking her now firmly gray eyes over Lily's shoulder. "But this place isn't very safe," she whispered as if being heard would get her in trouble. "Lets just go to the three broomsticks."

"Oh wheres your sense of adventure," Jenny asked then quickly grabbed Yumi's hand and started inside. She squeaked in protest and grabbed Lily's arm hoping to be saved, but both of them were quickly dragged inside. The dimly lit bar had several occupants at the time. Many unsavory looking characters were seated at the various tables. The three girls took a seat near the back. After a moment a waitress came by to take their orders. Lily and Yumi ordered butter beers while Jenny ordered fire whiskey, which garnered her a look of protest from Yumi. They continued talking while they drank. Yumi was slouched in her chair her eyes still a stony gray surveying the patrons of the bar.

"Can we get out of here soon?" She begged looking around. "Oh I wish Remy was here by me," she added to herself as she slouched more trying to make herself less noticeable.

"It is getting pretty late," Lily noted. "Plus we have to walk the whole way back to Hogwarts." The second she went to get up she was yanked back down by Yumi. "What the?" She asked in confusion before a hand was clapped over her mouth and forcibly was ducked down. Jenny's eyes were wide as she pointed over to the bar at a man with messy black hair who had his arm around an attractive blond girl. Lily watched in horror as the scene unfolded in front of her.

"A room please. One with a nice fire." Lily's eyes filled with tears and could feel her heart breaking to pieces as she recognized James taking a key from the bartender and paying the man. She felt the tears running down her face as he led the girl up the stairs. The silent tears continued to pour down and onto Yumi's hand which was still firmly over her mouth. Were it there or not she wouldn't have been able to make a sound. She felt a hand descend on her shoulder.

"Lily," Jenny began comfortingly. Lily didn't give her time to finish. She jumped up breaking free from the girl's grasp. Packages and drinks forgotten she ran out the door as fast as she could. The two girls quickly left their payment and grabbed up their packages. They followed her into the street but didn't see her. After a moment they heard someone running, they turned to see Lily's retreating back as she ran toward the castle. They quickly followed her.

Lilly ran. She couldn't stop running. Her mind was blank, all she wanted to do was get as far from the Hog's Head as she could. Before she knew it she found herself back in the castle, moments after that she was back in her dorm. She collapsed onto her bed crying incessantly into her pillow. 'How could James do this to me... He said he loved me... That I was the only one...' Her mind was filled with terrible images of James standing at the bar with his arm around that girl. Over the sound of her cries she heard quiet knocking on the portrait outside. She ignored it.

"Lily open up please," Yumi's sad voice called in. She couldn't answer. She was too heartbroken to get out of her bed. Eventually the knocking subsided but her tears did not. Soon, the exhaustion of running and the tears she shed finally brought her into a tormented sleep.

Sometime near four in the morning a silent figure in an invisibility cloak stalked through the halls. It was pitch black in some of them but the figure still knew the way. It was as if he walked them a thousand times before. He knew the castle back to front, nothing in this place surprised him anymore. Or so he thought. He came to a stop in front of the portrait doorway to his dorm. He looked in shocked and horror as he arrived just in time to see painting James slapped in the face by teary eyed Lily, before she turned her back crying not letting him anywhere near her. The invisibility cloak fell to the floor, dropped in sadness and disbelief. James was left standing dumbfounded staring at the painting. "What the hell?" he whispered.
A/N: Chapter 7 done. Thanks for reading. Thank you for all your reviews last chapter. Reviews are always appreciated. If you have any questions about whats going on in the story, just ask em in a review and I'll answer in the authors notes in the next chapter. Happy new years.