A/N: This chapter is going to skip ahead a few weeks, so here we go! I swear, I don't care how bad my writer's block is, I'm going to finish this chapter if it kills me. It's three o'clock in the morning on a weekday, but here I am, writing away! (For the record, if I fall asleep in class tomorrow, I blame you.) I hope you all love this chapter as much as I do! I'm really quite fond of it.

Disclaimer: I don't own these characters. I don't even own the humorous disclaimer I was going to put here.

Three Weeks Later

(James)

"Is everything ready?" Sirius whispered subtly to James as they made their way to the Great Hall.

"I think so," he said, mentally running through his checklist. Everything seemed to be in order.

Halloween was James Potter's favorite time of year. Everyone at Hogwarts, not just the Marauders, seemed to be in the mood for a few good pranks. James knew they had to do something massive to rise up to the occasion, and they thought they had devised the perfect scheme to do it.

"Alright, lads," Remus said, turning to face the boys, "this is it. You know the plan. When I give the signal, you perform your task, and then you get out. This is going to last for a while, and I need you lot to help me get everything ready for the party tonight."

"Oh, Moony," Sirius smirked, "lighten up. It's a party for Merlin's sake, not some banquet with Dumbledore and the Wizengamot. Give 'em some booze and some music, and they're good to go."

The Marauders were famous for their wiled parties that took place in the Gryffindor Common Room. It was one of the few occasions that brought the whole house together to let loose. This year, James thought it was especially important for the party to be even more exciting than ever. With all the attacks going on, the students deserved to have some fun. They were even wearing costumes. How much better could it get?

As the four boys entered the hall, James felt the familiar fluttering in his stomach that was always there right before a big prank. He saw Sirius glance up at the floating pumpkins above him and slide a knowing smirk on his face. James was careful to avoid McGonagall's gaze as he took his seat tat the Gryffindor table.

Dumbledore stood to give his speech, but James quickly tuned out. His thoughts were directed towards a certain redhead sitting down the table from him. She still hadn't spoken to him since that day in the Hospital Wing. He couldn't blame her; if James really had done what she believed, he would be disgusted with himself. Hell, he was still slightly sickened by Sirius when he thought about it. Even so, James couldn't bring himself to regret what he'd done. He knew it was the only way to protect his best mate.

Every day made it more and more difficult to be away from her, but he was merely relieved that she was alive and healing well. Those hours waiting for her to wake up had been the longest and most frightening of his life. The last few weeks, James' nightmares had been filled with the incident. He could't seem to get the image of her lying in that pool of blood out of his mind.

He shook the thought from his head as Dumbledore took his seat, and the food appeared in front of him. Remus cleared his throat loudly from across the table. It was time.

The Marauders removed their wands from their pockets and muttered their part of the spell. A loud POP sounded through the Great Hall. Every student froze and fell silent. More pops began to follow, and the smell of butter filled the air. Suddenly, a piece of popcorn fell from one of the pumpkins. Before anyone knew it, the pumpkins were spewing popcorn like snow.

The Marauders snickered and quietly made their escape.

(Lily)

She was going to kill those boys.

Lily fumed as she watched the popcorn snow turn into a blizzard. Piles of the salty snack were already beginning to form on the floor.

"Lily," Alice said, stuffing a piece of the offending food into her mouth, "calm down. You look like a tomato."

"Those stupid prats!" she roared. "They always feel the need to flaunt their sodding egos! I'm sick of it!"

"Oh, be quiet," Mary teased. "You wouldn't be this upset if you weren't pissed at Potter."

"Speaking of which," Marlene added, "What did he even do?"

"It's none of your bloody business," Lily snapped.

All three of them stared back at her as though she had just slapped them. She sighed.

"I'm sorry," Lily said as a wave of shame hit her. "I didn't mean that. But Dumbledore swore me to secrecy."

Alice gave a small smile.

"It's alright, Lily. We understand."

Marlene seemed thoughtful for a moment.

"Maybe you should cut him some slack, Lils," she said. "I don't know what he did to make you so angry, but I know James Potter. He's not a bad bloke. Merlin knows he'd never do anything to purposely hurt you. Maybe there's more to the story than you know."

Lily felt some of her rage subside, but she stil felt a fury towards James that she didn't know would ever go away. Not after what he did. She trusted him, and he broke that trust. And with Lily, once trust was gone, it was damn near impossible to get back.

"We best be going," Mary said as she glanced at her watch. "The party's going to start soon, and we still need to change."

Lily felt her stomach sink as she exited the Hall with her friends. She wasn't quite sure she wanted to go to the gathering tonight. It wasn't that she didn't love a good party; she just wasn't too fond of one of the hosts at the moment.

Ten minutes later, Lily sat on her bed, eyeing the costume in front of her warily.

"I hate Halloween," Lily announced.

The girls turned to look at her.

"Why?" Mary asked.

"Dunno. Just feels like a day where something bad is going to happen. Call it...women's intuition or whatever. It just gives me the creeps."

From out of nowhere, Alice plopped down next to her with pursed lips.

"Lily Genevieve Evans," she began sternly, "I am not going to let you sit in here all night and wallow in self pity. I don't know what happened between you and Potter, and frankly, I don't really give a damn. But you are going to get your pretty little arse up, put on this smoking hot costume that I spent hours putting together for you, and you are going to go to the bloody party. And you're going to like it."

Lily couldn't do anything but stare at her friend. After a few moments of processing, Lily wrapped her arms around Alice in a tight embrace.

"What would I do without you?" Lily whispered.

"You'd be an antisocial freak with no sense of style," Alice teased. "Now get dressed."

"Yes, mum," Lily mocked.

A few minutes later, Lily eyed herself in the mirror. She had to admit, Alice had done a good job. The black leather dress fit her curves nicely. The skirt was rather short, yet somehow didn't make her look like a tart. The top had a V-neck halter that made her cleavage look nice, while still leaving something to the imagination. The black suede pumps made her legs look long and lean, even with her petite frame.

"Damn, Lils," Mary smirked from behind her. "You look fit."

"Gee, thanks," Lily joked. She turned o Alice. "Al, are you sure I can pull this off? I don't want to look like a tart." Alice shot her an irritated look.

"Please, Lily, you look perfect."

"Thanks," she said. "Just one question. What exactly am I supposed to be?"

"Oh, we'll get to that in a moment, she replied. "It's time for hair and makeup."

One anti-frizz charm and a curling charm later, Lily's hair fell in loose, full curls down her back. She inspected it with awe.

"Al, you've got to teach me how to do that," she demanded.

"Later. Right now, I need to figure out what to do with your makeup. Now ordinarily, I wouldn't do anything too dark because of your fair complexion. But tonight, I want to make your eyes stand out."

"If I come out of this looking like a slag, I swear to Merlin—"

"Relax, Lils," she assured her. "You'll look great."

Lily waited for what felt like hours (though it had really only been a few minutes) as Alice painted on her face. Suddenly, Alice picked up her eyeliner and started to draw on her cheeks.

"WHAT ARE YOU—"

"Trust me," Alice hissed.

When she seemed satisfied, Alice grabbed something from her bag and slid it into Lily's hair. At last, she turned Lily towards the mirror.

"It's about ti—oh."

Lily was speechless as she stared at the girl in the mirror. Her scarlet hair was perfectly curled, her winged eye makeup was flawlessly applied, and her cat ears, nose, and whiskers, completed her costume perfectly. But what was must startling was her eyes. The dark eyeshadow contrasted against them, making them a stunningly brilliant emerald. It took Lily a few moments to realize that the pretty girl in the mirror was her.

"Do you like it?" Alice asked.

"It's...it's perfect. How did you do that?"

Alice only grinned.

Thirty minutes later, Mary, Marlene, and Alive were all dressed and ready to go. Lily could hear the loud thump of the music downstairs. They made their way down the staircase, but Lily hesitated. Alice turned to her.

"Calm down. You look great," she reminded her. "Remember, it's all in how you carry yourself. Walk into a place like you own it, Lily, and people will think that you do."

Alive gave her arm a reassuring pat, and descended down the staircase. Lily took a deep breath to collect herself and did the same with her shoulders back and her head held high.

(James)

Merlin.

She looked...Merlin.

James couldn't help staring when he spotted Lily Evans. That leather dress would be the death of him. He fumbled his cup as he attempted to pour another glass of firewhiskey.

Get a grip, Potter, he thought to himself. Any chance you had with her has already flown out the Hospital Wing window.

"Prongs!" Sirius called as he reached the drinks table. "Blimey, did you get a look at Evans? Honestly, if you weren't like my brother, I'd take her to the nearest broom closet and—OW!"

He was cut off by a sharp elbow to the ribs, courtesy of James.

"Sorry, mate," Sirius said as he nursed his newfound bruise. He took a glance at the longing look on James' face. "Alright, what happened?"

"Nothing," James responded curtly.

"Bullshit. You two were making such progress, and then you just up and stopped talking. The Prongs I know wouldn't bow out that easily without a damn good reason. So what happened?"

"Just drop it, Padfoot."

"James bloody Potter, would you just tell me what the hell—"

"I took the fall for you!" James blurted out. Sirius froze in shock, so he continued. "I didn't know what she would do if she found out it was you, so I took the sodding fall for you. She thinks I'm the one who told Snivellus about Moony."

Sirius was silent for a moment as he processed what James had just told him.

"Merlin, Prongs!" he roared. "Why the bloody hell would you do that? You finally had an actual shot with Evans, and you blew it! All because you wanted to protect me? You're a moron, you know that right?"

James sighed.

"I did what I had to do. As much as I wish things could have been different, I don't regret my choice. Go. Enjoy the party; I'm going to grab some more drinks."

James left his friend and headed to the other side of the Common Room where the rest of the drinks sat. He grabbed a few bottle in his hands, but paused as he heard a familiar giggle. He peered around the corner to see a sight that made his stomach flip.

Lily Evans was flirting with Amos Diggory.

James swallowed hard as he watched them. He could see and hear them clearly, but he was fairly certain he remained out of sight.

"So how are you?" Diggory asked, flashing her a wide grin.

Stupid git, James thought.

"I'm decent, I suppose," Lily replied with a smile of her own. "What about you? I feel like I haven't hardly seen you at all this term."

James watched the exchange for several minutes. The nausea he was feeling seemed to permanently settle in his stomach. He saw Lily flip her hair several times, and she continued to touch his arm and giggle fondly at his jokes.

It was sickening.

But as James spied, he couldn't help noticing how...wrong they looked together. Sure, Diggory was a decent bloke. He was a Prefect, and James was fairly certain he recieved acceptable marks in his classes. He was also a fair Keeper for the Hufflepuff Quidditch team. But he and Lily just didn't fit. He was way too tall for her, for starters. Lily was a petite 5' 2". Diggory was anything but petite at 6' 5". It just looked...off. Lily didn't seem herself around him, either. Lily Evans was a quirky, sarcastic girl with a fiery temper and a stubborn mind; not this giggling, estrogen-fueled stranger he saw before him.

"So..." Diggory began after several minutes of small talk, "the next Hogsmeade trip is in a few weeks. Would you maybe care to join me?"

That was the last straw. James couldn't watch this any longer. He whipped around and got the hell out of there, not even waiting to hear her answer.

(Lily)

"Would you maybe care to join me?"

Lily was surprised. Amos was a nice guy. He was charming and sweet, yet something held her back.

"Oh," she faltered. "That's really sweet, Amos, but I'm sorry. I'm really not interested in seeing anyone right now."

His smile faded slightly.

"Alright," he stumbled, his voice thing with disappointment. "Maybe some other time, then. I'll let you get back to the party."

He left with another small smile. Lily felt guilty, but she believed she made the right choice. She had more important things to worry about right now.

For the next few hours, Lily chatted and mingled with people throughout the room. She had a few drinks, but not enough to make her lose control of herself. Once or twice, her eyes met James', but they both quickly averted their gazes and carried on with their business.

Somewhere around 2 a.m., the Common room was beginning to clear out when Mary found her.

"We're headed up to bed," she said groggily. "You coming?"

"No," Lily said, "but I'll be up soon."

Mary, Alice, and Marlene retreated to their dormitories, while Lily took a seat on the couch in front of the fire.

It really had been a great party. She was glad that Alive had convinced her to come. It was nice to be able to have some fun at Hogwarts every now and then.

It wasn't long before Lily fel someone sit down next to her. She turned to see the wide grin of Sirius Black.

"Hello there, Lilypad," he greeted her. "Enjoy the party?"

"Yeah, I did," she replied with a smile. "It was a lot of fun. It was nice to see everyone relax for a change."

He nodded.

"Though with you dressed like that," he commented as he eyed her dress, "I doubt many blokes were relaxing."

Lily chuckled as he winked. They sat in a slightly awkward silence for a few minutes before Sirius finally addressed the elephant in the room.

"It wasn't him."

Lily's eyes snapped up to meet his.

"Wh—what?"

"It wasn't him," Sirius repeated. "James wasn't the one who told Sniv—Snape about Remus. I was. He only told you that because he was trying to protect me."

Lily's breath caught in her throat. Of course. It finally all fit together. That what why it seemed so out of character for James to do something like that. Because he'd never actually done it.

Sirius stood up and headed towards the boys staircase. Half-way there, he stopped abruptly and slowly turned to face her once more.

"He never left, you know."

Lily's brows furrowed in confusion.

"That night. He never left your side for a moment. He stayed there for damn near thirty-six hours. We all tried to get him to eat or get some sleep, but he refused every time. I believe his exact words were, 'What if she wakes up for two minutes, and I'm not here?'" Sirius explained. "Just thought you should know that."

With that, he retired to his dormitory, leaving Lily feeling as alone and unglued as ever.

A/N: YAY! It's done! The longest chapter so far, I might add. I've been waiting to do this chapter for a long time, and I have to say, I'm pretty please with how it came out. I wanted to add some more party fluff, but it just felt like unnecessary crap. So I didn't. I hope you all enjoyed! Please be patient with me on the next chapter. It's already presenting quite a challenge for me, but I'm doing everything I can to get it finished! And as always, please REVIEW!