A/N- So here's the chapter a few of you have been waiting for: Lily's grand escape! Well, maybe not so grand, but hey, it's an escape! Sorry this chapter is a little more…. Well, it's a bit different to the others. Slightly more serious at some parts, I think. I don't know why, it just came out like that. Anyway, thanks again to everyone who reviewed! Your words mean more than you can imagine. Special mention to elliey black whose enthusiasm keeps me updating. And thanks to everyone for the alerts and favourite-ing too. Remember, just one more chapter to go after this, so keep reviewing!

Of Upsets and Understandings

"I'm going to get Lily back for this," Sirius hissed as he and Peter ran down the corridor towards the hospital wing. Peter, panting besides him, grunted in agreement.

"But after she tell us another story," Sirius added as an afterthought. Peter grunted again.

The two were near the entrance to the hospital wing when they stopped running and straightened up their clothes, trying not to look harried.

"Ok remember, I'll distract, you go for the map." Sirius reminded Peter before they opened the door.

"Prongs! Moony!" Sirius said happily, walking towards his friends. Remus was seated on a nearby bed, having just had his tooth returned to its rightful place in his gums. Madam Pompfrey was giving him instruction to treat it carefully for the next few days just in case whilst James stood beside him, looking sheepish.

"Hullo Padfoot" James greeted him with a slight smile.

"Lily told us what happened. How's the tooth Moony? Oh hello Poppy!" Sirius grabbed Madam Pompfrey's hand and kissed it, leaving the usually stern woman quite flustered. He then wrapped an arm around James' shoulders. "Cheer up buddy, it's not like you permanently knocked it out!" James smiled again, this time slightly more genuine, completely unaware that Peter was in the process of removing the Marauders map from his pocket.

"Well, I guess we'd better be off then," Remus said as he stood from the bed. Peter shoved the map into his robe pockets quickly, and nodded at Sirius' questioning look. The four teens headed to the door and departed for their respective classes; James and Sirius to potions, Remus to Arithmancy and Peter to Care of Magical Creatures. Or so it would seem; in fact, Peter headed back to the Heads Common Room.

"Here it is" he handed Lily the blank map reluctantly. She examined it closely, frowning.

"There's nothing on this," she said.

"Well I'm not going to show you how to work it! It's bad enough that it's in your possession. Sirius is going to be mighty cross with you for a while for making him betray James," Peter grumbled.

"Then how do I know it's the real map?" Lily asked slowly. Peter blinked, before removing it from her hands. Turning his back to her, he quietly muttered something, before turning around to face her, holding the map up. Lily gasped as ink lines began to form on the previously blank paper. She could just about make out the third floor when the map was removed from her line of sight.

"Happy?" Peter turned around again and muttered something before handing her the once again blank parchment. Lily placed it inside one of her books carefully, before grabbing her bag.

"Well, thank you very much. I'll see you and Sirius next week then." She said happily as she headed to class.

It was only once she was just about to enter the classroom that she realised a slight flaw in her plan. She had potions. James and Sirius also had potions. Therefore, through a carefully thought out equation, she could conclude that there was no way she could enter the classroom without James noticing. In a split second decision, she decided to go in. What could James do to stop her anyway? He could hardly tell Professor Slughorn that she was sick and escort her back!

James' eyes widened as Lily entered the classroom. He immediately turned to Sirius, who was carefully avoiding his eyes. A clear sign that he was somehow involved.

"I'll deal with you later," James growled at Sirius before standing up.

"Lily!" He half yelled, attracting the attention of every student in the class, as well as Professor Slughorn. Lily's eyes widened at the sudden focus on her.

"I'm sorry Professor, but I'm afraid I have to escort Lily back to the Gryffindor common room. You see, she's quite ill-"

"No I'm not!"

"-but she refuses to stay in bed because she absolutely adores Potions-"

"I'm not sick!" Lily protested.

"-however despite how important Potions is, I feel that her health should be placed first. I'm sure you would agree with me Professor?" James concluded. Professor Slughorn looked slightly taken aback.

"I- Lily my dear, are you sick?" He was worriedly.

"I'm not!" Lily declared, grinning slightly. She could easily convince Slughorn to let her stay. She was his favourite student, after all. Nothing James said could convince him. Nothing.

"Professor, if you'll let me demonstrate. Within the next half a minute, Lily will sneeze twice, and then cough." James said confidently.

All eyes turned to Lily. She laughed slightly, knowing James was bluffing. How on earth did he expect people to believe he knew her well enough to-

Uh oh.

Lily could feel it creeping in her nose. A sneeze. Her eyes widened as she desperately tried to control her sinuses. She twitched her nose slightly before taking in a deep breath, determined that the sneeze would not escape.

Twenty seconds later, she sneezed. Twice. These two sneezes were promptly followed by a cough. The class exploded in applause at James' ability to predict Lily's sneezes. Lily meanwhile was fuming. Professor Slughorn approached her.

"I'm afraid I'll have to let Mr Potter escort you back to your dormitories Lily," he told her. She sighed and nodded.

"I understand Professor," she said sadly, turning and leaving with James trailing behind her. Professor Slughorn dabbed the corner of his eye slowly as he watched her leave.

"Such dedication," he marvelled, before turning back to resume teaching.

Outside the classroom, Lily was facing the wrath of one very unhappy James Potter. He wasn't yelling at her. It was much worse than that. He was completely ignoring her. Lily almost had to run to keep up with his much longer strides.

"James…. slow... down, would… you?" She asked, panting. Suddenly, James whirled around to face her.

"Slow down? You want me to slow down Lily? Why would you want me to slow down if you're not sick, as you keep telling everyone?" James' voice was rapidly increasing in volume as he walked closer to her. Lily shrank slightly.

"I-" she couldn't think of anything to say. James nodded.

"Yeah, that's what I thought. Perfect Lily, determined to do whatever she wants whenever she wants, regardless of the consequences. Right?"

Lily felt a sudden fury rise in her at James' words.

"Well you don't have any right to tell me what to do, Potter," she spat out. "You're not my dad! You're not my mum; you're not anything to me!"

A silence fell between the two. Lily had been wishing she could take back her words as soon as they left her mouth, but it was too late. James meanwhile didn't say anything, instead looking at the floor. It was several minutes before he spoke again.

"I may not be anything to you Lily, but I care about you enough to try and look out for you. If my efforts have inconvenienced you, I'm sorry" James said tonelessly, looking her in the eyes for the first time, and Lily could see just how hurt he was by her words.

"James, I didn't mean-" But he had already started walking again, resuming the path to the Common Room, and Lily realised that despite their argument, despite everything, he still intended to drop her off. Unable to say anything, she followed him to their Common Room. Once they reached the Portrait entrance, James turned to go, but was stopped.

"James, please. Please just come inside and let me explain," Lily pleaded. James wanted to leave, but when Lily asked him in that voice, how could he refuse? He slowly walked into the Common Room, her words still weighing down his heart. He sat down on a nearby couch, while Lily stood a few metres away from him.

"I blackmailed Sirius and Peter into stealing the map off you. I told them I wouldn't tell them any more stories if they didn't." Lily rushed. "So you can't blame them, they didn't want to. I know they both felt terrible about betraying you. Sirius is already refusing to talk to me, and Peter didn't seem very happy with me either."

James said nothing, instead continued to stare at his hands. Lily took a step closer.

"I'm sorry," she said quietly. "I'm sorry for sneaking out, and I'm sorry for blackmailing your friends, but I'm mostly sorry for what I said earlier. You don't mean nothing to me, in fact it's almost the opposite, you mean too much to me and I don't quite know how to explain it so I let my emotions get the better of me and then I explode and say things I don't mean, and-" Lily stopped, realising she was rambling.

"My point is, you've been so wonderful to me, and taken so much time and effort to try and keep me well, and I want- I need you to know that it means so much to me. You mean so much to me," Lily said, her voice barely louder than a whisper, but James could hear every word. He looked up at Lily, who was blushing. She held his gaze, and was relieved to see a warm smile spread across his face. Lily felt a great weight leave her chest.

"So… are we okay?" She asked hesitantly. James paused for a second, before nodding.

"Yeah, we're okay." He said, and the air between them seemed to clear immediately.

"So you won't get angry at Sirius and Peter, right?" Lily asked worriedly.

"They'll get what comes to them," James said, before noticing Lily's horrified expression. "Oh no, it won't be anything bad. Just a small prank to remind them not to betray me. I would think that after last time, Sirius would remember," James reminisced fondly.

"What happened last time?" Lily asked curiously.

"Sirius 'accidentally' broke my broom. He was flying it when I told him not to. So I put a sticking charm on his chair, and he was stuck to it for a whole day."

Lily laughed, remembering the day in their fifth year. "I remember that! I always wondered who did it to him!"

"Yes well, I'll have to come up with something worthy to fit their current crime," James said. He then remembered that he still had class.

"Oh, I should get to Potions!" He exclaimed, grabbing his bag. He was nearly out the door when he turned back to Lily.

"Lily-"

"James, I swear to you this time, I won't leave the Common Room. You have my word," Lily promised. To prove she was telling the truth, she pulled the map out of her Transfiguration book and handed it to him. He took it with a grin.

"I'll see you later," and with a roguish wink he took off, leaving Lily alone to ponder their conversation and her feelings in peace.