Date Posted: 1st July 2010

Disclaimer: I do not own Harry Potter

"Wotcher!" said Alice to the Marauders.

That instantly gained their attention, especially James'. After all, it was not every day Lily would walk up to him, albeit she was being forcefully dragged by the two little minxes, Euphie and Alice - quite reluctantly might I add.

Lily was squashed between Euphie and Alice, leaning away from James and the rest of the Marauders as much as possible; some things just never change do they?

"Can we sit with you guys? The rest of the bar is full and it's getting pretty cold outside."

"Sure, no problem," welcomed Remus, after all, he was the most tolerated of the Marauders from Lily's perspective.

All the Marauders (except for Peter who is out doing his own thing) squished to one side to allow the three girls to seat. Lily was about to plot herself next to Remus, when the other two girls blocked her and plopped themselves in an available seat, leaving Lily the only option of sitting with James. I can frankly say she wasn't pleased.

Lily looked at James with disdain, before turning her head away and reluctantly sitting next to him. She perched herself as far away as possible and edged to the brink of the seat, her eyes never meeting his in the whole process.

James merely kept his head down and tried not to make Lily uncomfortable. He knew how hard this was for her, he didn't want to push her over the edge and rile her up any more than she was already.

"I'm doing the right thing. Lily would be happier. You're not Jasper, you're James. Just give her some distance; don't invade her personal space; don't make her feel threatened. This is what Lily wants." the voice echoed in his mind.

"What drinks would you girls like?" asked Rosmerta.

"Three butterbeers thanks," requested Euphie.

"We'll have three too," asked James, gesturing to the consumed bottles.

"No problem, be back in a sec."

"So, where's Peter?" asked Alice.

"Oh, he's just off doing something by himself. No idea what," answered Remus, "Why aren't you with Frank?"

"You know, if you're dumping him, I'd be glad to take his place," suggested Padfoot.

"As much as I'd love to humour you Sirius, I'm not so sure my boyfriend would like that," said Alice.

"I was only joking you know. Frank and I may not be the closest of friends, but I would never date his girl without first asking. I'm not that must of a jerk," assured Sirius, his spurious claim, questionable.

"Good, cause if he heard you, he'd probably sock you in the face. The reason he's not with me now, is because I take turns. One Hogsmeade trip with my friends, and one with Frank; I alternate," she explained.

"Here are your butterbeers," came Rosmerta with a platter of drinks.

"Thanks, " James quietly said, accepting the drinks from her before distributing them out.

"Here Lily," he hesitated, passing her her beerbutter.

Lily took one look at the drink, before averting her eyes elsewhere, "I'm not thirsty, or at the very least not from anything you've touched," she said sharply, "who knows, maybe you're desperate enough to put Love Potion in it," she sneered.

"Sorry," he murmured. James looked really hurt, but accepted it.

"I'll go ask Rosmerta for another beerbutter," he offered.

"No thanks," she said, "I can get my own." With that, she stalked off towards the bar for a new drink. She was still very angry about this morning and the Lyrical Lily incident. This was obviously affection her act.

"So..." Euphie tried to distract James from his despairing thoughts of Lily, "I heard you were planning to get it with Greengrass tonight Sirius," said Euphie.

"Does everyone know about this?" he exclaimed, "You're like, the third person today!"

"It doesn't take a genius to figure that out, though, I am one obviously," playfully boasted Euphie, skimming a look at James from the corner of her eye. He was staring blankly at a wall.

"Pads, will you ever think about anything other than shagging?" asked Remus.

At this, both girls snickered.

"You know, I can't help but notice the two of you, as well as most girls snicker when I talk to Pads. What's with you people?" asked Remus. Sirius couldn't help but nod in agreement.

The girls only snickered more at this comment.

"C'mon! What is it that you guys are always laughing about?" questioned Sirius.

"You're nickname for him is so stupid!" they girls giggled. At this point, James had gotten out of his temporary depression and had began listening to the conversation, curious as to where this was leading to.

"Padfoot? What's wrong with Padfoot?" asked Sirius.

"Yeah, what's wrong with Pads," Remus asked.

The girls couldn't help but laugh yet again, not only at the name, but at the boys blatant stupidity. Listening to a guy ask what was wrong with pads was just hilarious.

"What's wrong with pads?" joked the girls to themselves.

"What do you need, pads?" still chortling at their inside joke.

"I talked to pads," they were in mass hysteria by this time.

"What do you want, pads?" the girls were pounding at the table.

"Have you seen pads?" their eyes were tearing up with the questions they were asking each other.

James, by this time, had realised what the girls were on about. Sirius and Remus however, where still confused.

James couldn't help but turn a deep shade of vermilion red at what the girls were joking to themselves about. He had to admit, the thought never occurred to him that he might have been calling his best friend a er...blood soaking...thing? for most of his life at Hogwarts. They were guys. They didn't think about this stuff.

James wasn't sure whether he should be grateful to know about this stuff or disgusted by the fact he knew what the girls were talking about. The wizarding world didn't use pads. Nope, they had a special potion they drank instead ages ago. It was less messier and didn't give you annoying cramps, though, the degree of mood swings stayed the same.

The wizarding world is full of problems, with one of the major ones being the fact that they are behind times. But we're not just talking clothing and feminine hygene here, we're also talking about beliefs and morals. The muggle world, educates everyone, regardless of gender about the...physical development of both genders. The wizarding world however, finds that immoral and unnecessary due to their obsolete beliefs. This means that they only teach males about males, and females about females. This lead to the obvious problem that all wizarding guys knew next to nothing about females and their...time of the month.

Knowledge about this stuff wasn't unventured for James of course. He had just recently spent all of the last holidays learning about reproduction, genetics, DNA and all that stuff in science, but not everyone did muggle schooling as well as wizarding schooling like he did. All those American comedies he's seen on TV weren't exactly sexual reference free either (Thumbs up for Two and a Half Men). Wizards couldn't learn about this sort of stuff at Hogwarts because they've probably never even heard of the word science before; it would be meaningless with all these defied laws due to magic. They also didn't know about television like James and muggleborns did. So here you have people raised in the wizarding world not knowing anything about the opposite gender, and all of them, even the witches, didn't know about pads because they had used to potion for as long as they could remember.

Lily came back from the bar with a questioning and curious expression. Remus and Sirius looked about as clueless as a two year old who just had Quantum Physics explained to them and Alice and Euphie looked like they got hit with a dozen rictumsempras. Potter was just looking like Potter always does. Pathetic, cocky and obnoxious. Bit opinionated anyone?

After Euphie and Alice finally calmed down, Lily asked, "Anyone want to fill me in on what happened during the past five minutes I was gone?" she said, raising an eyebrow.

Euphie and Alice relapsed into their fits of laughter and James flushed red again, whilst Remus and Sirius were begining to get more frustrated than confused.

"Moony, why do I feel like I'm missing something major here?" asked Sirius.

"I dunno Pads, but I'm going to find out," replied Remus. If Remus didn't know something, then he would be sure to find out or die trying. Something tells me the library is going to have constant company for a while.

"You didn't tell them why all the girls laugh did you?" asked Lily, "It's been a sacred secret since third year!" (they didn't become animagus' until fourth or fifth year in the canon I think but just stick to it. In my story, they became animagus in the beginning of third year after practising all holidays when they found out about Lupin in early second year.)

It was unspoken that anyone who knew about the joke was not to explain it to the Marauders. As far as the Hogwarts population knew, they were all raised in the wizarding world by wizarding beliefs (other than James, but they didn't know that). Any muggleborn (male or female), or any wizarding world raised personnel who had it explained to them, would never divulge this to any of the Marauders. No one really wanted to explain it to them anyway. Not only was it an embarrassing topic, but it was fun to laugh right in their face without them knowing why. Payback for all those pranks I suppose.

"Of course we didn't tell. Where would the fun be in that?" sputtered Euphie.

"Though, it would be entertaining to watch the shock and disgust on their faces if we explained it," added Alice.

James just sat there trying to look confused...failing miserably because he couldn't stop blushing.

Lily sat back in her seat, as far away from Potter as possible and began to sip her drink.

"Look Lily, I'm really sorry abou-" started James.

"Shut up Potter. I don't want to hear it," sneered Lily as she began edging further away to the very brink of her seat.

"Lily, I just want to apologise. Can't you at least grant me that?"

"Fine. Apology accepted. Now go sod off!"

This reply didn't exactly make James feel any better. If anything, it made him feel worse. He knew Lily could be a stubborn and very cold person to anyone she hated. But never, not even to Malfoy or Tod Willis (the school bully if you remember from ch4) had she shown such quintessential hatred. Hatred from Lily, even after five years of suffering under it, was still a very foreign thing to James. It was so different from that sweet, kind and gentle green-eyed girl that Jasper loved and cared for everyday.

James relented. It wouldn't do to accidentally vex Lily in this state. Yes, best not to annoy her and let her calm down.

"You're not Jasper, you're James. Just give her some distance; don't invade her personal space; don't make her feel threatened. This is what Lily wants. Yes, that's what is most important. Give her some distance; don't invade her personal space; don't make her feel threatened. Give her some distance; don't invade her personal space; don't make her fe-"

James' and Sirius' duelling enhanced instincts and Remus' lycanthropy were blaring danger louder than a trumpeting herd of elephants. All of them reacted simultaneously, pushing down the person closest to them under the table and protecting them with their bodies.

"Get off me Potter! You anim-"

BOOM!

People began screaming and ducking for cover as one of the walls of the pubs were blasted away, sending debris flying everywhere.

Through the gaping hole in the wall you could see dozens of Death Eaters swarming around shops, causing havoc and bedlam destruction. Everybody was ducking for cover and seeking shelter in the stores.

It was a Death Eater attack.

"We have to get out of here," James whispered as he saw the Death Eaters working their way closer to them. He was currently smashing Honeyduke's.

"Are you nuts?" said Lily, "Imagine what they would do if they caught us? We should just stay here and try not to draw attention to ourselves whilst the professors are coming."

"No, Lily. They're going to get here before the professors can. We have to go now while we still have a chance," said Sirius.

"That's insane," argued Alice, "There's no way any of us can defeat a Death Eater!"

"We don't have to defeat them, we just have to get back to the safety of the castle," said Remus.

"Then we better hurry up, because that Death Eater's not going to have a Honeyduke to keep him occupied for long!" announced Sirius.

Taking advantage of his occupied state, all of them rushed out along with some others that had yet to escape the Three Broomsticks. They dashed towards the huge hole in the wall, a gift from one of the Death Eaters.

"This isn't a good idea! We should just stay here and wait for Dumbledore," said Euphie.

The boys just ignored her and pointed to a large piece of debris.

"We can take cover there. It should be be able to take a couple of mild spells, and it's large enough to cover all of us," said James. It took some time to realise what it was. It was very familiar. After some squinting, they were able to identify the mysterious object as what used to be the Scrivenshaft's Quill Shop. Hogsmeade was going to have a long recovery period.

When they felt none of the Death Eaters were looking, they bolted behind the remains the shop. They were about to scramble to the next location behind Spintwitches, when one of the Death Eaters caught sight of them.

"Well, well, well. What do we have here?" mocked one of the masked Death Eaters fiddling with his wand, "A bunch of little kiddies thinking they can hide from the great, powerful all-knowing me. If it was any other Death Eater maybe, but I'm sorry to inform you I am the gre-"

"Petrificus Totalus!" shot James, "He really should talk less."

"No time to comment James. Less talking, more running!" said Remus.

And so they did. They made a break for the path back to Hogwarts. They sprinted as fast as they could, occasionally employing their duellings skills to hex Death Eaters in their way or attacking other students.

"Duck!" James shouted, pulling Lily down as flashing red spell zoomed over head, "Confringo!" James shot back, hitting the Death Eater dead on.

"Unhand me Potter!"

"Lily, as much as I'd love to chat, I'm a bit busy right now," said James, cursing another Death Eater, saving some threatened younger years, "Bombarda! Impedimentia! "Confringo!"

"Run!" shouted Sirius.

"Run where? In case you haven't noticed, there are Death Eaters blocking the path!" screamed Euphie as she dodged a red stunner. The seriousness of the situation was affecting people and their tempers.

"Diffindo!" cast Sirius, cutting down the Death Eater, "Can you run now?"

"Run? We can't run! What about the other students? We can't just leave them. They're going to die!" protested Lily, shooting a stunner at the cloaked assailants.

"Run ahead Lils, we'll take care of it," said James, shooting down yet another Death Eater. He wasn't the son of the top Auror for nil.

"No, I will not runaway. I'm not some damsel in distress you think you have to prove to. I can look after myself fine you sexist bastard," she yelled back.

"I didn't mean that. I didin't mean to- Reducto! offend you. I just don't want you to- Expulso! Get hurt," James finally finished.

"I can look after myself fine you chauvinistic pig!" proving her self by hexing a Death Eater meters away from her.

"I'm apologise if you took offence to that. It was not my intention."

Other students, seeing their skill, shrouded behind them for protection whilst some of the older years joined their ranks. Slowly, the faction inched their ways towards the safety of Hogwarts.

In the corner of her eye, Lily saw a straggling younger student under the debris. Without thought, she rushed towards him in aid.

"What's wrong?" she shouted at him amongst the melee.

"My leg. It's trapped!" yelled back the first year.

"Wingardium Leviosa!"

The burden lifted, freeing the younger year.

"Run towards that group," she pointed to wards Marauders and friends, "stay behind them, and they'll protect you."

"Thank you," he cried with tears of gratitude before dashing off towards what seemed like a sanctuary in burning depths of hell.

"Oh, what do we have here? Got left behind darl'?" teased a Death Eater, barely a foot away from her.

Lily stiffened. She tried raising her wand at him, but he just swiped it away. She tried diving for her wand, but he kicked it away, far out of her grasp. Her entire body was tense with exorbitant fear. She was now unarmed and separated from her group. She was now alone with a Death Eater.

"Even though you're a stupid Gryffindor, you're a fairly beautiful - beautiful enough for a good fuck I suppose," he slunk closer with a lecherous grin on his face, his eyes scanning the length of her body before lingering at her chest.

You could hear her heart pumping over a thousand miles a second. She knew what he was refering to. She had read in the Prophet about what they would do to women caught up in Death Eater raids. Raped before killed like worthless flies and she could do nothing to save herself. Savages! She didn't have her wand, she didn't know martial arts and no-one was here to help her. Her eyes began to water in despair as her body trembled like a leaf in the wind.

He strode closer, approaching like leopards on the hunt. She tried running away. Anything, anything would do at this point, but he was physically stronger than her and clutched her wrists tightly as she struggled. He slithered closer and brushed her vibrant red hair aside before roughly copping a feel of her chest. She could do nothing but whimper and shake.

"Don't worry," he whispered huskily, "you'll enjoy it."

Tears of fear were now freely cascading from her eyes. She couldn't do anything. She couldn't even scream, her voice lost in an unfathomable crevasse of dismay.

He latched onto her with bruising strength and suddenly pushed her down on the cold, hard earth with a loud thud! This abrupt action gave her her voice back.

"...call for me, and I will always come for you..." she remembered and screamed the first word that came into her mind:-

"JASPER!"

"Expulso!" cast a shadowed figure.

The spell threw the bastard off Lily and smashed him through two walls before landing awkwardly on his neck.

The hidden figure cradled a still shocked Lily and hauled her to safety.

Lily still couldn't think straight. She didn't want to think; to remember what had just nearly happened. She just lost herself in the void of blankness that had overcome her. Tears still freely flowed from her face as she allowed herself to immerse in the safe arms of her saviour. The day must have taken it's toll, as she drifted off into the darkness with only one thought lingering on her mind:Jasper had come, just like he always said he would...

A/N - Was that awkward to read? Because it sure was awkward to write about how witches deal with their time of the month. Writing a Hogsmeade attack is so much harder than reading one. Didn't I do a crap job of it or do you think it was reasonable? So about the scene with Lily and the Death Eater. Never written something like that before. So it was probably a bit weird.

I would like to clarify that although Lily would usually know that Jasper, being a muggle, would not be in Hogsmeade not would he be able to help her even if he was, Lily wasn't exactly thinking straight. She's just been through a Death Eater attack and was about to be raped - not the idea situation to have a clear head. Her thoughts and emotions are kinda haywire right now so she just screamed the first name that came into her mind - Jasper.

Thank you alias093001 for questioning that and thanks Darth obnoxious for pointing out some mistakes in this chapter. I have tried my best to address them and I hope you find these changes satisfying.

Thanks for all those who reviewed. Special thank to Lily. and .Alice who was awesome enough to review 10 times. Really appreciate it; it helped me write faster. I hope the rest of you are also planning on reviewing this chapter. I'd like to aim for 35 this time. That's not to evil of me is it?

Thanks for reading!

Pls R&R!