A/N: Chapter 8 has arrived. Well, the new semester has started and I am taking intro to urban affairs... You know what that means party people... My writing time has increased astronomically! I should be getting updates out faster now, and I'm sure your gonna enjoy the next few no doubt. Also last chapter, my longest one yet, garnered me naught but two reviews... Thank you very much to: An angel on ice, who has been reviewing since the story began, and Wanderer27 for their reviews. It is much appreciated. And to everyone else please review. It makes me happy :)

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

Chapter 8: Mysteries Abound

James was sitting in and armchair in the head dorms the next morning after a short and restless sleep. He was leaning forward in his chair, hands folded in front of him, elbows on his knees. He rested his chin on his hands while he stared intently at the door of Lily's bedroom. His eyes left the door briefly every so often to glance down at the Marauder's map, which he had laid out on the table in front of him. She hadn't come out for breakfast. James didn't go either. The Marauders were all still sound asleep in their beds as well. The map assured him that Lily was indeed still in her room, presumably asleep. After what seemed like an eternity of waiting for Lily to come out, James noticed that Sirius and Remus were on their way down. His eyes didn't leave Lily's door as the two marauders made their way in and over to his chair.

"Oi Prongs," Sirius called over to him. "I think someone hexed your painting last night." He said chuckling. "You just got smacked!:

"Remus however looked rather worried. "Is everything alright?" he asked stoically.

James just shook his head. "I don't know," he said quietly, which immediately brought Sirius down, and made Remus concerned further. "Everything was fine yesterday when I last saw her. But she still hasn't come out of her room, so I have no idea what could be wrong." Remus peered over his shoulder examining the map. The three waited in silence. Remus now was handling the watching of the map while James sat thinking. Sirius paced the room behind them.

After a few minutes time, Sirius broke the silence. "Even if something did happen, nothing you could have done to her in one day could make her that mad. Your paintings prolly just broken or something. Like it's overreacting," Sirius reassured him.

"Hey," Remus said. "Jenny and Yumi are on their way here." He pointed to the map showing James and Sirius the two dots. "Maybe they know something about this."

A minute later the portrait swung open and Yumi stepped in. Remus had walked over to the door to greet her when he saw them getting close. Sirius was busy clearing the map. "Hi Remy!" She said excitedly throwing her arms around him. "I bought such a lovely dress last night! I cant wait until the dance! We'll have so much fun!" Her pink eyes scanned over the room, she greeted Sirius, then she spotted James sitting at the table looking over at her hoping her arrival might shed some light on his current situation. The Asian witch's eyes turned red as they narrowed meeting his. "Hello Potter," she muttered. Remus and James were rather taken aback. Sirius who was enjoying a 'good morning snog' with Jenny even broke away.

"You're mad at him too?" Remus asked in disbelief.

"I guess the painting isn't broken," Sirius mused, worry etched in his face.

"Perhaps you can tell me what I did then," James said standing, anger developing in his voice. "Because the girl I love is apparently very upset and I have wracked my brain and have no idea why."

Yumi scoffed at him and Jenny spoke up, "oh please Potter you know exactly what you did. If you really loved her none of this would have happened."

James' anger was apparent now as his voice raised even more. "I don't know what I did or I would have fixed things by now. And don't you dare, ever, call into question my love for Lily!"

"You don't love me," a small voice came from behind. All heads immediately turned to see Lily standing in her bedroom doorway. Her eyes were as red as her hair, which fell messily around her and into her tear stained face. As she stood there new tears began to form and fall from her eyes.

"Lily!" James shouted turning toward her beginning to walk over.

"No!" Lily said as firmly as her voice would allow and stamped her foot down. James stopped dead in his tracks mortified.

"Wh-whats wrong?" He stammered in shocked disbelief.

She looked exhausted from crying and a lack of sleep. "You know. I though you would at least admit what you did." James did his best to keep his emotions under his control as she continued. "After all you have said and done. It was all a lie wasn't it? I could hardly believe it was you. My hear didn't want to believe it when you walked into the Hog's Head last night." James' eyes shot open and Remus gasped.

"Oh shit," Sirius muttered suprisedly.

"But It was you. I saw you. You cheated on me last night James Potter!" She yelled at him as tears fell freely down her face.

"No Lily," James started quickly defending himself. But she cut him off.

"I saw you!" she continued shouting. "How can you say it wasn't you? I was there! They were there too!" She yelled pointing at Yumi and Jenny. Who were both glaring at him. At hearing this Sirius and Remus looked at each other and shifted uncomfortably.

"Lily please listen to me," James began in a calming voice. "Yes. I was there. But it's not what it looks like. Nothing happened last night."

"Oh please!" She shouted back, "then why were you there? And why were you getting a room with a nice fire?" she asked mockingly.

James ran his hand through his messy hair, his immense stress evident. "Look I can't really explain what was going on. But its not what it looks like. Lily please, I swear to you. I didn't cheat on you."

"He's telling the truth," Sirius confirmed from the other side of the room.

"Oh like you wouldn't take his side Black! And what do you mean you can't explain?" She demanded

"I can't tell you," he said hanging his head defeated.

"You can't tell?" She asked. "Or you can't think up a good excuse right now?"

"I'm sorry Lily," he whispered. "I love you. Please know that."

"If you loved me you would be able to explain," she said harshly.

"He can't," Remus said exasperated seeing his best friend's plight. "And you know I wouldn't just say that to get James out of this. He isn't lying."

"I've had enough of this," Lily said angrily. "I'm leaving."

"Lily!" James shouted reaching out. Her door slammed shut behind her without another word. James' outstretched hand closed in the air and fell to his side.

"James," Sirius began as he walked toward him.

"Stop," James simply responded, holding out his hand without turning to face them. "Leave," he declared softly.

"But," Sirius began.

"Now," the distressed marauder said barely louder than a whisper.

"You know where to find me mate," his best friend responded. James answered with a slow confirming nod. "C'mon," he said to Remus and the girls. They grudgingly agreed not wanting to leave Lily behind. The door clicked shut and James fell backwards into the couch. He rubbed his face and was staring at the ceiling, not believing what was happening.

"I can't believe him," Jenny said as they walked away from the head portrait, which now showed a distraught James keeping his distance from Lily. "And that lame 'I didn't do it but I cant tell you' thing. Did he think that would work?"

Sirius rounded on her, "first of all, watch what you say about him. He's been by best mate since we got to this school. And second, he was telling the truth. He can't say why he was there. I don't care that your my girlfriend, no one insults James in front of me," he declared angrily.

"What? So you know why he was there?" she asked. "Why don't you just tell us then.? She said putting her hands on her hips leaning toward him.

"They can't say," Remus declared. "You can either trust him and believe what he says or forget about it. You can't know why we were there."

"Wait," Yumi asked puzzled. "Why we were there? Remy were you there too?" She looked worried staring at him waiting for his response.

Sirius slapped his forehead. "Nice one mate."

Jenny reached over holding Sirius by the hair on the back of his head and spoke into his ear. "Were you there too? Off sleeping with some slut instead of me?"

Sirius grinned sliding his hand across her to the small of her back pulling her body close. "Trust me darlin. No one slept with anyone last night. Yes. We were there. But thats just gonna have to be part of the mystery that is Sirius Black." Sirius caught a look in her eyes before she, without letting go of his hair, dove up at him for an intense snog.

"Well," Remus said to Yumi, who was giggling at her friend's antics. "He certainly can disarm a tense situation.

"I guess so," She said with a laugh. Her mood quickly grew serious again. "You aren't lying to me are you Remy?"

He hugged her consolingly. "I would never do that to you," he said confidently.

"I really hope things get better for Lily and James," she said sadly while he hugged her.

"Yea, me too," he agreed whole heartedly. "C'mon Sirius, we've got homework to do. Sirius groaned sadly finally tearing his lips away from Jenny's.

"You go do it," he replied. "I'll copy it later. I'm busy." He said, then quickly turned his attention back to his girlfriend where he put his mouth to better use.

Yumi giggled again. "No snogging in the hallways," Remus declared. "Ten points from Gryffindor." Remus folded his arms across his chest.

"What!" Sirius roared turning. Remus was grinning at him but then Jenny hugged Sirius around his shoulders and whispered in his ear, right before licking it. Sirius shuddered briefly before saying, "well since I'm a prefect too. I give Jenny Ten points for an amazing snog in the hallway." Jenny grinned at Remus who looked back defeated.

Remus shook his head. "Fine, whatever." Remus knew a battle with Sirius would be both time consuming and useless. "I'm gonna go do homework. I think I'm gonna have to be pullin double duty now anyway," he said thinking about James and the current state he was in. He left arm in arm with Yumi.

"Hey, do you have to do that homework right now?" Yumi asked him with a pout. "You know, I hardly ever get any points," she added innocently. Remus grinned.

Several days passed. James and Lily still hadn't resolved things. Lily was too stubborn to listen to anything James had to say. She wouldn't even listen to her two best friends who repeatedly assured her nothing could have happened. James was in a sorry state as well. He rarely smiled and never laughed. People were beginning to notice the change in both of them.

"Please Lily," Yumi begged. "Just listen to him. James is a really sweet guy. You saw how he was with that little girl at quiddich tryouts. He's a good person. Sure he fools around in school but this is something serious. You should believe him. And I know Remy wouldn't just lie for him about something as serious as this."

Lily simply stared into space ignoring Yumi. "I told you. I never want to talk about Potter again."

Sirius and James were both sitting in the astronomy tower. Whenever something was truly bothering one of them, it was where they met to talk. "I don't get it Padfoot," he began, staring off into the dark black forest. "She means everything to me, I could tell her the truth, but I swore not to. Why wont she trust me?"

"Shes too stubborn Prongs," the other marauder began. "Shes just like you. She wont give in easy, but you can't give up. Not on this. I know how much she means to you." James just continued staring out of the tower. "Lets go get something to drink in the kitchens. It will cheer you up."

"You go ahead Padfoot," he responded sullenly. "I'm not in the mood."

"I'll see you in the morning mate," Sirius called to him as he headed down the stairs. James didn't respond, just continued to think.

Sirius was sitting on one of the counter tops of the kitchen relaxing eating a pumpkin pasty and drinking hot chocolate. He heard the door creek open. "So you decided to join me eh?" Sirius called over.

"Mr. Black, I didn't know you had invited me tonight," came the voice of none other than Albus Dumbledore.

Sirius promptly spit out the hot chocolate he had in his mouth in surprise. "Professor Dumbledore!" He shouted wiping his mouth. "Why... I... Um... How did I get here? Are these the kitchens?" He asked attempting poorly to feign innocence.

Dumbledore chuckled. "Mr. Black, I am well aware that you and your friends frequent these kitchens."

"Oh," Sirius said. "Sorry," he quickly apologized.

Dumbledore waved his hand dismissively. "Don't mind my being here, I just came for a little midnight snack. Speaking of your friends however, I happened to walk past the head dormitories a few nights ago. I was rather surprised by the actions of Mr. Potter and Ms. Evan's painting."

Sirius' mood dropped further. "Lily saw James going into the Hog's Head on Saturday. She thought he was cheating on her."

"Ahhh. I see," the old wizard responded as he poured himself a drink. "I believe she was pleasantly surprised when he told her the true reason he was there."

"He didn't tell her," Sirius responded confused. "We were sworn to secrecy."

Dumbledore chuckled once more. "Mr. Black there are things in this world much more valuable to each of us than secrets. I'm sure that Ms. Evans would keep this certain secret anyway."

Sirius jaw dropped. "You mean he should-" he stopped mid sentence. "I've got to go professor."

Dumbledore's eye twinkled as it always did when he was pleased and waved to Sirius as he quickly departed. "Ah to be young again," he smiled.

A/N: Chapter 8 toasted. Thanks for reading and for all your reviews. 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.