AN:/ 'Lo guys(: Hope you enjoy this chapter:D

After breakfast Lily returned to the common room and settled herself by the window. Already a heavy rain was storming onto the grounds, pulled horizontally by the strong winds. She could barely see the spot where she had sat with James yesterday.

The weather really was messed up, but Lily could see that it went with the overall mood of the students of Hogwarts. A sunny day would have seemed ridiculous, what with all of the deaths and parents confirmed to be missing.
She'd heard just this morning from a Ravenclaw in her year that a muggle born 1nd year had left Hogwarts in the early hours of the morning, after his father was killed amongst many other muggles, confirmed to have been the works of Voldemort himself.
The worst thing was that Lily no longer felt shocked.
She was certain that little Roger Moore wouldn't be the last to lose a parent at the hands of dark forces.

A copy of the weeks Daily Prophet was sitting on the table across from her. Lily picked it up and scanned the front cover.

'45 year old Boris Baxter is released from St Mungos after his traumatic experience with a doxy, see full interview on page 3.'

'Bertie Bott's Beans: A fun treat with deadly consequences'

Lily rolled her eyes.
Honestly, who really cared about all of that? Did it warrant front-page news?
The ministry were clearly trying to hush all of the bad business up, to avoiding worry and fear spreading. Because so many witches and wizards swear by the prophet, if they don't print about Voldemort, he doesn't exist.

But Dumbledore had told them all at the opening feast, that bad times were approaching and things were going to change. And if Lily had to pick a side, to believe the ministry or Dumbledore, it would be Dumbledore's every time.

The rest of the girls, who had decided not to go into Hogsmeade because of the weather, joined Lily a short while later.
"Merlin, I am so bored." Hestia said, groaning. She was spread out on a sofa, her hair falling off the edge of the arm.
Alice, who was sitting cross-legged with her back to the fire, nodded. "I know, I've done all of my homework."
"We should do something fun." Said Marlene, sitting up straighter. Lily looked over.
"I mean, everyone has been so depressed and I know we have a reason to be," She frowned before continuing. "But seriously, we should get the marauders down, play some games."
Lily bit her lip. As good as that did sound, she wasn't sure. No matter who he was, James had lost his parents just yesterday, and she had no idea how he would be today. Sirius too, surely wouldn't be in the mood.
"Well," She said slowly. "I suppose we could ask them."

By the time James had a shower and got dressed, the others were finally beginning to wake up. Sirius stumbled his way past him and slammed the bathroom door shut. Peter rubbed his eyes and said something that James found difficult to understand.
Remus had his hands clenched on either side of his head, looking pale.
"My favourite day again." He said through gritted teeth. James smiled sympathetically. Tonight he would finally find out if the lycanthropy had passed on. He tried not to be too anxious as he didn't feel anyway ill unlike Remus who looked ready to throw up at any minute.
Remus looked at James, searching for any sign of pain.
"It's alright, Moony." Said James. "I feel fine."
The werewolf nodded, relaxing his head back onto the pillow.

James watched Remus fall asleep, his forehead dotted with beads of sweat. Every so often he would wince or twitch in his sleep. Peter had fallen asleep again after getting tired of waiting for Sirius to get out of the bathroom. James got up and banged on the door.
"Padfoot! What the hell are you doing in there?"
There was a shuffling noise from behind the door, and Sirius appeared looking spectacularly the same as he ever had, not warranting the hour he took to get dressed.
Sirius pouted. "What?"
James rolled his eyes and turned back to Peter. He walked over and kicked his stomach. The mousy boy jumped up, gasping. "I didn't take your kettle!"
Sirius walked to stand beside James.
"Pete, I don't even want to know why you were dreaming of stealing a kettle."
Peter crossed his arms.
"I wasn't stealing, I was accused wrongly."
James zoned out the usual banter and walked over to the window. The weather was absolutely dreadful.
"We are not going to Hogsmeade today." He said, looking over at Peter and Sirius. They didn't hear him, or if they did they didn't respond. James sighed and glanced at Remus, who had turned onto his side with his hand covering his face. He was about to tell Peter and Sirius to shut up when there was a knock on the door.

Sirius looked up at the door and then looked over at Remus.
"Should we ignore it?" He asked. James walked past him.
"No, I'll see who it is."
He turned the handle and opened the door a fraction. He lurched his hand forward by accident when he saw Lily, Marlene and Hestia looking back at him. Lily immediately looked over his shoulder. He saw her eyes gazing around the room, looking at Remus in particular. Her eyes widened in understanding.
"Oh, sorry James…Mar, we should go."
Of course, Marlene knew nothing about Remus's condition, so she appeared to mistake Lily's anxiety as embarrassment.
"Lily wise up, just because you two have had, lets say, an intimate moment together, doesn't mean we can't talk to the boy!"
Lily turned and glared at her friend and James felt his cheeks warm.
"Oh, uh…um…" He stuttered for a moment, and was saved by Sirius who appeared behind James's shoulder. He pushed James out of the room and closed the door so they were in the hall facing the three girls.
"Ladies. Evans." He said.
Lily stamped on his foot.
"Merlin woman!" Sirius shouted. "No need for physical violence!"
She snickered.

Marlene cleared her throat.
"We're dying of boredom down there and wondered if you guys want to come have some fun." She turned to Sirius. "And no, idiot, I do not mean that kind of fun."
James turned to his friend. Thinking for a moment about Remus, whether he'd be okat with them leaving him. Sirius shrugged and then nodded. He seemed to think it would be fine.
"I don't see why not."
"Well um, If you don't want to because of, well…uh you know…yes um-" Lily breathed deeply, seemingly struggling to find an end to that sentence. James shook his head.
"We'd love to, I just want to act normal...remember?"
Lily nodded; she remembered their talk too. He didn't want anyone walking on eggshells around him.
A smile slowly spread across her face.
"Right then, Potter." Grinned Lily. "Crack open the firewhiskey." And with that she turned and walked swiftly away, Marlene and Hestia behind her.
They stood staring after them for a moment, James smiling slightly at Lily, remembering what it felt like to be close to her and hear her laugh. He figured Sirius was probably just staring at their arses.
"She's bloody bonkers." Said Sirius.

Lily sat down on the sofa by herself. Alice and Frank were cuddled up on a one seater; she had no idea when he'd got there. Marlene and Hestia were occupying the sofa opposite hers, chatting fast about whether they should play truth or dare, but deciding it was more of a third year game.
The common room was mostly empty, it seemed most had braved the weather and gone to Hogsmeade. Those under third year were probably at lunch by now. An annoyed looking seventh year was sitting writing at the other side of the room and three tiny first years were playing a game of wizard's chess.
After 10 or so minutes the boys arrived, though Lily noted Remus's absence. She'd guessed it must be full moon after seeing her friend's state. She just hoped that the others wouldn't notice he was missing.
James sat down beside Lily and her stomach lurched at his closeness. He smiled, passing her a bottle of butterbeer.
"Is this the alcoholic one?" Said Lily, not sounding too concerned. In truth she wasn't concerned at all. A break from everything tense at the moment would be welcomed.
James frowned.
"Yeah," He bit his lip. "I can run down to the kitchens if you want and get you something-"
"No, no." Lily said, twisting the lid off. "This will do." She grinned.
Sirius had handed the others a bottle each, setting the rest on the coffee table.
"Where do you stash all of these?" Hestia said before taking a gulp. Sirius raised a hand to his chest.
"Marauder's secret, if I told you I'm afraid I'd have to turn you into a snail."
Hestia rolled her eyes.

About half an hour later Lily was starting her third bottle. A warm feeling had settled inside her, making the grin impossible to drop from her face. James was laughing, looking over at Sirius. She studied his profile, marking how his nose was crooked and his glasses were perched precariously on the edge. His hair was the same messy state as always, something that had once infuriated Lily but now made her smile.
Sirius tapped his bottle off the table, making everybody go quiet. The seventh year had left 10 minutes ago, glaring at the party. Sirius had ushered the first years from the common room.
"Let's play a game."
"We're not playing Truth or dare, Sirius." Said Marlene, sounding bored.
"I never said we were! I have a better game!"
Lily sighed. She imagined that Sirius's games were never good and almost always ended in someone doing something they would regret.
"Oh yeah?" Said Alice. "What?"
"It's called Never have I ever."
Lily snorted. She'd played this game before she went to Hogwarts, with her old friends. Of course there had been no alcohol involved then.
"How do you know that game?" She asked.
Sirius shrugged. "Couple of muggleborn friends in Seventh year told me about it a while ago. And I love it."
"Explain the rules to us please!" Hestia said, looking excited.
"Basically," Lily said. "The person says something like 'never have I ever ate three pizzas' and if you have done that thing, you drink. Basically it's just a slightly more clever way to get completely rat arsed and embarrass yourself at the same time."

She looked around at her friends, who were nodding slowly. "Alright, sounds good." Said Marlene. "You go first Sirius."
The boy smirked, tapping his chin thoughtfully.
"Okay…never have I ever tried to snog a doxy."
Everyone looked at Sirius, raising his or her eyebrows. Surely no one would…
Peter took a sip of his drink, turning beetroot. Sirius burst out laughing, throwing his head back.
"No fair!" The other boy said. "You did that on purpose!"
Lily stared at Peter. "Do I even want to know?" She asked James.
But he too was laughing so hard that his drink had dropped from his hand. Lily rolled her eyes and cleaned the mess away with her wand.
"Moving on…" She said, giggling. "Your turn then Peter."

The mousy boy bit his lip, thinking.
"Never have I ever…gone to class drunk." Sirius and James smirked at each other and took a drink. To Lily's surprise, Marlene and Alice drank too, looking guilty
"Alice? Mar?" She said. "When did this happen?"
Marlene pushed her hair behind her ears.
"I mean I wouldn't say drunk drunk, but it was in fourth year…we just wanted to try firewhiskey. You can guess why we didn't tell you. Hestia opted out."
Lily shook her head, grinning.

Marlene went next, saying 'never have I ever skinny dipped in the lake.' Sirius, James and Peter drank, claiming that one time in second year they'd got a little over excited about being rebels and had ended up nearly freezing to death. Next up was Alice, who asked a question that everyone drank to except for Lily. Then for Frank's turn, she also didn't drink.
It was sort of depressing if she was honest. Having spent her years at school trying to be perfect, she'd never really done anything spontaneous. So when Lily had to say something, she found it difficult to think of a good one.
"Never have I ever…got a detention?" She said, feeling embarrassed at how rubbish that was. Of course, everyone drank again.
James, now a little bit more than tipsy having drank at every single one so far, raised his glass and chuckled. "Never have I ever kissed Marlene McKinnon!"
Marlene barked out a laugh as Sirius drank yet again.

When it was Peter's turn again, he was definitely what you could call plastered. His face was red and his eyes kept shifting from person to person. He decided to copy James's question, though altered slightly, to Lily's horror.
"Never have I ever kissed Lily Evans!"
Silence.
James froze, his smiled faltering. Marlene, Alice and Hestia turned their heads to him; waiting to see of he'd admit it.
Sirius tipped the last contents of the firewhiskey bottle down his throat, and Lily was reminded of her first kiss…
So he remembered too.
Lily turned purple and looked down at her feet.
Out of the corner of her eye though, she registered that James hadn't drunk yet. He was glancing around, his hand shaking. She looked up at him, questioning.
He should have taken a drink by now.
What was he thinking?

Abruptly, James set the glass on the table and stood up.
"This game is stupid." He said, before rushing up the boy's stairs.

In response to a review saying that James parents might have died of natural causes due to the speculations around Charlus and Dorea Potter being the parent's of James, I realise that JK did say that his parents died naturally and that is a mistake of mine. But I think that Charlus was just a relative of James, because if he and Dorea were James' parents, technically Harry would be related to a lot of the people which he knew at Hogwarts, and it is well known that Harry did not have any living relatives besides the Dursleys. Just my opinion, and no one really knows except for Jo herself:) x