James moved stiffly through the portrait hole, his body protesting his every movement, but he forced it into cooperating so that he could finally enter the party that could be heard all the way down the corridor.

Before his feet had even really touched the floor though, some imbecile had already slapped him on the back. Just as James was losing the battle against grimacing, Sirius strolled up, knocked the overenthusiastic fifth year away and took it upon himself to drag James across the room and over to the chairs that the Marauders had already secured.

When they had finally navigated themselves through the obstacle course of well-intentioned celebrators, they were relatively unscathed, thanks to Sirius's well-timed scowls and encouraging shoves out of the way. Just as James started to relax, he was unceremoniously pushed into a seat, the sudden pain knocking the breath right out of him.

"You are to stay there," commanded Sirius, as he passed James a shot of Firewhiskey.

"Thanks, Sirius. You should be a nurse," James quipped sarcastically, even as he took the offered alcohol and downed it with one large gulp. It burned on its way down, but once the warmth had settled in his stomach he couldn't help but think that the pain in his side had eased a little bit.

"Ahh, diddums, was I not gentle enough with your tender and broken body?" Sirius mocked as he refilled James's glass.

James knew he was joking, he could see the concern in Sirius's eyes, and so chose not to answer, knowing it would just embarrass the both of them.

"Hey, mate." Remus greeted James as he took one of the spare seats, propping his feet up on the table and downing his own shot, shortly followed by Peter.

"Don't hog the alcohol, Padfoot," he rebuked without taking his eyes of James. "So, still alive I see?" he drawled motioning to James. "How much damage did you do this time? It was a spectacular fall, by the way. Looked like one of your worst to date."

"Yeah, well, it may have looked bad but it definitely wasn't one of the worst. Only a few broken ribs and some nice bruises for my effort this time!" James grinned sardonically.

Remus snorted as he poked Sirius into refilling his glass. "Only? Merlin, James, even Sirius and I were up out of our seat gripping on to each like a couple of little girls— only difference was Sirius's grip was so strong I think I'm going to have bruises…"

James laughed, then sobered. "What about Lily?" he asked nervously, worried that they would tell him that she had only seemed mildly concerned. It was a silly thought, especially seeing the way she had reacted in the Hospital Wing, but James couldn't shake the need for further reassurance.

"Lily was absolutely frantic," Remus answered thoughtfully. "If I'd still had any doubts about your relationship, they were certainly put to rest when I saw how she reacted to your fall. I don't think I've ever seen her lose her composure quite like that."

"Yeah," Sirius chuckled. "It was magnificent, you should be sorry you missed it actually. Lily nearly knocked the poor Astronomy teacher to the ground when she was told she wouldn't be allowed to get on to the pitch to see you. If I hadn't been so worried myself, I'd probably still be laughing over the scene."

James couldn't contain his smile at the image. Lily could be a real hellion and he wouldn't have wanted to be in the professor's shoes. But the image wasn't what was making him feel giddy; it was the fact that she really cared after all. James had known when Lily had come to see him, had known the minute he looked in her eyes that she was genuinely concerned about him, but to hear about her reaction really warmed him. It confirmed the impossible; she cared, and apparently she cared a lot.

James came back to the conversation surrounding him when he heard Remus say, "There'll be retaliation, of course."

"Of course," interjected Sirius, without even waiting for James's approval.

"Wait, wait," James insisted as his mind tried to fill in the blanks. "Retaliation for what?"

Sirius and Remus looked at James as if he were mad.

"Did you bump your head, too?" chuckled Peter, when no one else made a comment.

"Of course he hit his head, you idiot," sighed Remus. "He fell off his broom."

"That's beside the point at the moment, he's fine—" Sirius started.

"You can't retaliate!" James interrupted.

Three set of eyes turned on him.

"Why not?" Peter asked, looking at James incredulously.

The only reason James could think of was that Lily wouldn't like it but there was no way James was going to say that thought out loud, and so he shrugged his shoulders instead when nothing else came to him.

Sirius was watching him closely. "James, that bastard knocked into you on purpose and it's the only reason you fell. We have to retaliate, it's what we do and we're good at it."

James nodded his acceptance of that fact and resigned himself to the anger he would probably have to endure from Lily, even if he chose not to take part.

"So it's settled then?" asked Remus, looking between James and the other Marauders.

"Yeah," James mumbled as he held out his glass to Sirius, "but fill me up, at least that way I can use my inebriation as an excuse."

"Spoken like a true alcoholic!" Sirius beamed.

The group laughed, as James rarely submitted himself to the loss of control alcohol provided, anymore. But tonight as they all took a drink together it seemed James wasn't eager to behave himself tonight.

"That's more like it!" Peter said enthusiastically, punching James in the shoulder.

"PETE!" James shouted, wincing in pain, just as Sirius and Remus clipped the boy round each ear.

"Sorry," he mumbled sheepishly, rubbing the back of his head.

James rolled his eyes and took a deep breath. "Just fill me up again," he wheezed.

---

"What the hell does he think he's doing?"

"Who?"

"Him," James said through gritted teeth.

Sirius looked around bemusedly, then followed James gaze to rest on Gideon Prewitt, who was talking animatedly with someone blocked from Sirius's view.

"You mean Gideon?" asked Sirius, the surprise evident in this voice.

"Yes – that…that...," stammered James, gesturing over to the tall boy.

"What?"

"That toe rag!"

"Toe rag? Gideon?" repeated Sirius, totally perplexed now. "James, mate, you've known Gideon since you were in nappies. You two have always gotten on."

"Yeah, as a mate he's great, but with women…."

"What about him and women?"

"He's a scum bag."

"He's not a scum bag. If he treated women with anything less than kindness and respect, his brother would knock the wind right out of him," smiled Sirius, still puzzled by James's behaviour.

James just grunted in response.

Sirius craned his neck to get a better look at Gideon. What he saw made Sirius smile and before long he was laughing. "Ahh, I see now." Sirius's view was now un-obscured, and he realized why James was being so unreasonable.

"See? What is it you think you see?" asked James. "All I see is some womanising twat hanging all over Lily."

"But that's the point isn't it? He's hanging all over Lily. You wouldn't care if it was somebody else – admit it."

"Of course I would care - he's just standing so close to her, how can she even breathe? I know he can be a cheeky wanker, but I didn't think he'd ever have had the nerve to hit on Lily, and in front of me, too! I'm going to make him run extra laps at practice!"

"What?! James, you've never abused your position as duelling captain. Never."

"Well, for this, I'll make an exception."

Sirius, starting to get worried by the darkening tone of James's voice, replied in a placating voice, "James, mate, they are just talking. Just like you were talking to Cassie Mira a few minutes ago."

"The hell they are!" James said, but at that moment Gideon left Lily's side, waved to James, and continued on his way.

James's stance relaxed and Sirius forced a chuckle. "See? All worried for nothing. What did I tell you?"

James grinned sheepishly. "I know, I know. Gideon has been my friend for years, I was being irrational."

"At least you can admit it," Sirius said, shaking his head, a genuine smile starting to curl his mouth.

James smiled in response. "The booze must be doing strange things to my mind."

"More like making you more uninhibited with your feelings," Sirius grinned. "I have to say it's bizarre to see you like this. You've never been the jealous type before."

"Shut up," James mumbled, downing another shot to cover his embarrassment, "I'm not jealous."

---

An hour or so later though, James once again felt that familiar pang of jealousy burn inside him , but this time it wasn't Gideon who was behind it .

"What the bloody hell does that bastard think he's doing?!" he growled as he watched Brandon Thomas get entirely too close to Lily, whispering something in her ear. James arriving back at the Gryffindor party having left to retrieve his hidden stash of whiskey and now fresh from his tenth shot, was annoyed to return only to see the sixth year practically pressing himself up against Lily, whispering to her and touching her hair flirtatiously.

"Chill mate," Sirius intercepted him before he did anything stupid, thinking that this hissy fit was just a repeat of his earlier worries about Gideon. He grabbed the bottle and poured more drinks as he spoke. "She's your girlfriend, and she's Lily. I've seen you two together, and that kid doesn't stand a snowball's chance in hell of getting with her," Sirius assured further, putting a restraining hand on James's shoulder.

"I don't care," muttered James. "That bastard is entirely too close to her."

"It can't be that bad. You're just making a mountain out of a mole hill… it's the booze," Sirius said, without even turning around to look and desperately hoping he was right.

"What's got you so insecure tonight anyway? It's unlike you. Are you and Lily having trouble or something?" Sirius looked thoughtfully at James, his brows furrowed .

"No!" James quickly defended. "We're doing really well, or at least I thought we were," he muttered, trying to watch Lily out of his peripheral vision.

"Exactly," Sirius nodded. "You two are good together, and she doesn't even know Brandon. Give her a little credit, James."

"Since when do you defend Lily?" asked James, momentarily distracted, turning his attention to his best friend.

"Since you like her so much," shrugged Sirius, watching Brandon and Lily out of the corner of his eye and desperately hoping James wouldn't look back over just yet. He had just noticed how Lily had started frowning and trying to move away from Brandon , but having little success.

If he hadn't known without a shadow of a doubt that James would pulverise the bloke if left alone even for a moment, Sirius himself would have gone over to have words with the arrogant little prick.

Sirius could see how uncomfortable Lily was and he just prayed James wouldn't notice.

James was becoming awfully protective; it was instinctual for him to defend the people he cared about, and unless Sirius was severely miscalculating Lily fell more firmly into that category than almost anyone else. Sirius knew without hesitation that it would be one thing to insult James, but it would quite another to upset Lily. Hell, James was getting to the point where he would probably kill anyone who made her frown.

Just as that thought crossed his mind, Brandon reached out and ran his hand down Lily's cheek. Lily slapped his hand away but the fool wasn't deterred. Sirius was itching to intervene now. His eyes frantically searched for one of the other Marauders, hoping they could diffuse the problem before it got out of hand, or better yet, take over the duty of restraining James and allow Sirius the opportunity to have words with the git.

It was only a matter of time before James noticed where Brandon was trying to put his hand. When James was sober he noticed everything, and by now half the room was now watching and sending wary looks in James's direction. The tension would be hard to miss despite intoxication.

"What an idiot," Sirius muttered, shaking his head at Brandon's stupidity. He turned around to James to try and placate him before a real fight broke out.

James and Brandon already had a bit of a rivalry going on because of the duelling club, if a fight broke out it would only add fuel to an already blazing fire.

Brandon was convinced he'd make just as good a captain as James, and so he undermined James' authority at every opportunity. He was wrong of course, no one was as good as James. Brandon had always taken James's patience and understanding for granted and had never seemed to realise that James was constantly holding back at practice and even in school competitions. Very few people to would be able to stay standing up for longer that a minute if James decided to duel without limits.

Under normal circumstances Brandon would have been kicked off the team a year ago. Unfortunately, whilst he was no competition for James the boy really was good at his craft, and so his insubordination had been tolerated.

The bastard knew he was on thin ice though, and the last thing Sirius thought the idiot should be doing was hitting on his already impatient captain's girlfriend.

He'd never witnessed such blatant stupidity.

Then again, Brandon had only ever seen James in paltry school competitions, never in real competition or worse; when the situation really called for it. James could terrify even Sirius when he was in full battle mode. Truth be told, Sirius had only seen one or two other people as wickedly fast or as talented as James in a fight. He was totally ruthless, too when the situation called for it. Brandon was an idiot of the highest order for thinking he could get away with this insult unscathed. When James was finished with him, Sirius would probably have the unpleasant duty of scraping the stupid boy off the walls.

This situation was too volatile to ignore, but just as Sirius turned to James to attempt to diffuse the situation by pulling James out of the room, James's face went hard and his eyes flashed fire, telling Sirius that his attention was once again on the couple in the corner. Sirius groaned inwardly.

"Where the hell did he just put his hand?" James asked in a deadly calm voice, the one Sirius knew was only used when James was suffering from the cool detached ruthless anger that made him truly terrifying and dangerous.

Later, Sirius wouldn't be ashamed to admit that he stepped away from his friend at that moment, knowing the entire situation was beyond his control.

"What the fuck do you think you're doing?!" roared James, pulling away from his friend and walking with controlled measure steps to the place where Brandon now had Lily pressed between his body and the wall.

James came to an abrupt stop inches from Brandon's back, and made eye contact with Lily over the boy's shoulder, but he was too angry to notice her revulsion for the boy holding her so indecently.

"Get out of here, Brandon," commanded James, in a voice made of steel.

It finally seemed to penetrate into Brandon's slow mind that there was a very angry and extremely able boyfriend standing millimetres away from him.

"We were just talking, weren't we, precious?" Brandon said cockily, without even turning to face James.

Sirius had to shake his head in amazement. The boy had no clue what he was getting himself in for.

In a voice that shook with cold fury, James asked, "Talking? No, Brandon, you just did the most incredibly stupid thing in your pathetic excuse for a life and put your hand on my girlfriends arse."

Brandon made no response other than shrugging his shoulders indifferently. "What you going to do about it?" he asked mockingly

Incensed even further by Brandon's lack of respect and fear, James roughly grabbed him by his shoulder and spun him around before Lily could even utter a word.

Being a dueller, Brandon simply reacted to being handled so roughly and when he pivoted towards James, he used the momentum to swing his fist.

Despite his inebriated state, James was still exceptional in defence and so he saw the punch coming and was easily able to knock the hand away right before he pressed his arm against the idiot's chest and shoved him up against the wall so hard the wind was knocked right out of him.

As soon as Brandon was facing his captain and could finally see the fury in his eyes, all cockiness vanished like smoke.

"James!" shouted Lily.

"I'm going to kill you" James whispered right into Brandon's face "and I'm going to enjoy it".

"James!"

"Don't worry Precious he doesn't have it in him" Brandon managed to smirk through his rising panic

"Shut up!" Lily snapped back.

Both boys ignored her

"Judging by your little show just now I'm guessing you think you know what I'm capable of?"

Feeling brave Brandon said "You don't have what it takes Potter." even as James started to apply more pressure to his neck

Lily looked at the boy still in such a precarious position trapped against the wall by an irate James and decided that the boy had to be insane, eventually she said in an incredulous voice "Don't be an idiot he really could kill you."

Hearing Lily's confidence in his ability brought James a little closer to reality and he couldn't help but turn to look at her to make sure she was being sincere, noticing she finally had his attention she caught his eye and said in a pleading voice "James put him down now."

"He was touching you, Lily," was the growled response and James felt the red haze of rage start to overtake him again.

"Yes he was, but I was managing it on my own, thank you very much, and I don't need your interference….I can look after myself," she told him, resting her hand on his shoulder and squeezing with an iron hard grip, trying to remind him without words that he was the reason she could protect herself. "Let him go," she said forcefully. "He's drunk and he doesn't know any better."

James hesitate then let Brandon go with a look of disgust, as the boy before him slumped back against the wall, trying to get air back into his lungs. When he'd recovered enough the burly sixth year held up his hands, hoping to placate James by proving he was no longer touching his girlfriend. "Sorry must have… slipped." It was a ludicrous thing to say, but James decided to let it go for now as he watched the pervy bastard back away from Lily. He would deal with him later, when there was no one around to witness it.

It was unfortunate that Brandon had disappeared though, because now James had nowhere to direct his anger but towards Lily

"What the bloody fuck was that?!" he demanded angrily.

"We were just talking," Lily was quick to say, taken aback by James's protectiveness and anger. She knew she would only flame it further by telling him the truth. She'd wait for him to calm down first; Lily knew better than anyone what James was capable of, and whilst she disliked Brandon immensely, she didn't want the foolish boy to die.

"Maybe you were just talking, but he was hitting on you."

"He was not!" She glared at James. "And even if he was, I can take care of myself! Can't you just calm down and let it go?"

"He was, Lily," retorted James, exasperated by her naiveté, "and I will not bloody calm down!"

"Have you been drinking?" she asked, quickly changing the subject.

"For medicinal purposes," he quipped dryly, his eyes still burning with anger. "Stop avoiding the issue. Why did you even bother talking to him?" he demanded again.

Lily rolled her eyes. "What do you care anyway?" she continued, flustered by having his anger directed at her.

"I don't care what you do as long as it's in private," he spat at her, ignoring the look of hurt that flashed clearly across her face and his heart's answering thump. "You made me look stupid tonight hanging off of him like that. You may not really be my girlfriend, but other people don't know that and I wont have anyone else, especially not him, thinking he can take my girlfriend!" he whispered harshly, grabbing her arm and squeezing, "You could ruin everything – everything we've worked for!"

"Let go of me, you're hurting me!" she demanded, her eyes flashing at what he was insinuating.

James let go instantly, but whilst he could stop himself from physically hurting her, he couldn't help but give into the childish need to try to hurt her emotionally, to try and make her feel the way he was feeling.

"So, is that what this is all about – you don't want your precious reputation hurt?!" she suddenly demanded.

"Look we agreed-"

"I know what we agreed, but that's just it James - we have an agreement, that doesn't mean you get to dictate who I can and can't talk to!" interrupted Lily angrily. She shook her head in disbelief. "That's all I am to you, isn't it?" she laughed humourlessly. "After everything, I'm just some sort of possession to you!"

"Damn right, and I won't let you make a fool of me. You were acting like you wanted his attention, like some kind of…of…whor—"

"Don't you dare finish that sentence!" Lily shouted, and then took a moment to try to breathe through the pain. She pinched the bridge of her nose and tried to calm down. "I didn't know what he wanted until it was too late," she whispered in a suddenly defeated voice. She couldn't believe what he was saying to her. How had she misjudged him so badly?

"Well then, you're stupid," he spat. "Because I could see his intentions clear across the room, just like everyone else!" He'd practically bellowed that last sentence at her and that action, adding to the strain of lifting Brandon clear off the floor only minutes ago, proved too much for his still tender ribs. Suddenly, he groaned and had to lower himself on to one of the chairs behind him, clutching at his side the whole time.

"James! Are you alright" Lily asked in a shaky voice, forgetting his hurtful words the moment she saw he was in pain, and taking a step towards him.

"Don't," he commanded holding up a hand. "I'm fine. Just leave me be. I don't want you near me at the moment."

Lily just stared at him, her mouth stretched into a thin line. James expected her to shout at him, like she always did when they fought, but instead she whispered one word before leaving, "Fine."

James was still too angry and in too much pain to hear the slight hitch in her voice. Still that one word felt like a stab to his gut, and James stood up quickly as she started to move away, ignoring the now burning pain in his over stretched ribs.

"Lily!" James bellowed, as she walked away, completely ignoring him. "Lily!"

"James, that's enough," commanded Sirius, coming up behind him.

James turned furiously to his friend and finally realised the whole room was watching. The shock quickly cleared his brain of his haze of anger.

He turned back around to where Lily had been standing, and the thought that she had been on the verge of tears finally penetrated his mind. The empty spot where she had stood made him feel physically sick.

James stood still, staring at the spot she'd just left from, with his emotions twisting his gut. What had he just done?

But Sirius once again interrupted his musings. "Sit down man, before you need another trip the bloody Hospital Wing."

James threw a dirty look at his friend, half tempted to storm out after Lily and finish their argument before getting down on his knees and apologising profusely, but Sirius distracted him.

"What kind of agreement was she talking about, James?" he asked almost absently, hoping to take his friend's mind off what had just happened. It didn't have the desired effect.

"Nothing!" James suddenly roared, before spinning on his heel and following Lily's exit.

---

AN

I know its been a while but this is an extra long chap!

I apologise for the wait but I have to work and whilst its not nearly as much fun a writing, it still has to be done

Massive thanks to Abok for her help

I will try and update again soon but unfortunately the next chap is not even close to being finished…

Thank you for all your reviews!!