So sorry for the long update times. I'm in my last year of college and in the middle of applying to graduate school!

Once again—I own nothing that you recognize, and I would appreciate a review every now and then. =]

Chapter 8

Lily immediately looked for James, she didn't know if she could do this. Upon entering the Great Hall, Lily felt their eyes on her; all of the Slytherins who were in the clearing the other night were there. Before Lily could back out of the hall, Marlene hooked their arms together and marched her to the Gryffindor's table.

"Don't give them the satisfaction of scaring you," she whispered in Lily's ear as the two of them sat down.

James sat down on Lily's other side and glared at the Slytherin table. It didn't matter that they were on the other side of the Great Hall, James didn't want them anywhere near Lily; he hated that she was frightened and that there was nothing he could do about it.

"At least Snivellus isn't showing his greasy head," Sirius muttered darkly.

Lily didn't say a word throughout dinner. Her nerves were at their end and she could barely eat. Marlene kept putting food on her plate while Alice and Emmeline, who were sitting across from them, kept trying to block the Slytherin table from Lily's view.

"Lily," Remus said gently. "You really should eat something. You don't need to end up back in the Hospital Wing."

"Yeah," joked Sirius. "She might not let you back out."

It wasn't until James silently squeezed Lily's knee under the table that she began eating something. She knew he was really worried about her, and Lily didn't want to make him more stressed out.

Finally seeing that she was eating, everyone else was able to start enjoying their dinner as well. Sirius played tricks on Peter—magically moving the food out of his reach when he went for it, making his goblet disappear—to try and get everyone to laugh. The whole group enjoyed the little stunts he was pulling. Even Lily managed to crack a smile when she saw Peter wasn't upset by the pranks.

Everyone thoroughly enjoyed dinner and Lily and James were able to relax for a bit. James took great care to place his hand on her knee or the small of her back when he thought no one was looking and Lily liked the feel of him next to her. James wasn't sure how long he could put up with their relationship being a secret; he wanted to be able to hold her hand or put his arms around her. He definitely wanted to kiss Lily and he didn't care who was looking.

When the group finished eating, and was satisfied that Lily had eaten enough, they started to walk to the Gryffindor Common Room. However, in the Entrance Hall, they found a surprise.

"What are you doing here Snivellus?" James asked as he pushed Lily behind him.

"I was going down to dinner Potter," Severus snapped back. "But now I don't have to, I need to talk to Lily and—"

BANG! Snape was thrown back into the wall as a spell hit him in the chest. James pushed Lily further backwards and looked around for the source of the spell. As each teenager looked around, their jaws dropped to see that Emmeline was the one with her wand pointed out.

"I cannot believe you!" Emmeline yelled at Snape. "Haven't you hurt her enough? What more do you need to say to her you greasy, slimy, slithering….I don't even know what to call you! Why can't you just stay away from her?"

"Em," Lily said shakily. "What are you doing?"

"I'm trying to protect you," Emmeline replied without dropping her wand. "Lily, this creep had you tortured and is a bad person. You need to see him for what he is and stay away from him."

"Fine," Snape snarled. "Make her stay away from me, I don't care anymore! What was I thinking being friends with a filthy Mudblood in the first place?"

"YOU GREASY, SLIMEY GIT!" James screamed, grabbing the front of Snape's robes. "HOW DARE YOU TALK TO HER THAT WAY!"

"Mr. Potter!" said a stern voice from behind. "What in Merlin's name is going on?

"Professor McGonagall," James looked at her but didn't let go of Snape. "He just called Lily a Mudblood."

Professor McGonagall looked horrified. "Ms. Evans, is this true?"

Lily just looked at her feet. "Professor, I just want to go upstairs," she mumbled.

"Very well Ms. Evans," McGonagall said with what sounded like pity in her voice. "You may go back to Gryffindor Tower with everyone—except you two," she was pointing at James and Severus.

When the other students had left, McGonagall turned to James and Severus. "Nothing gives students the right to fight each other in the hallways of this school," she said, her nostrils flaring.

"But Professor—," James started.

"No Potter," McGonagall cut him off. "I don't care what he did or what he said. You should have come to find a teacher, not attack him. I am giving you a detention on Saturday evening, I suggest you do not stay out too late in Hogsmeade during this visit. You may go back to Gryffindor Tower. As for you Mr. Snape, you will be serving detention on Saturday night as well and you will come with me to Professor Slughorn's office to discuss this matter with him."

James looked upset and nodded his head. He knew that his temper was getting the best of him, but he wasn't going to let Lily be spoken to like that. He left the Entrance Hall and didn't look back. He wanted to make sure Lily was okay and then tell the rest of the guys about his Hogsmeade plans and detention, even if he couldn't tell them about Lily he could still hint that things were getting better.

When he walked into the Common Room it was to find only his fellow Marauders waiting for him. Remus was staring intently into the fire as Sirius was slaughtering Peter in a game of wizard's chess.

"James," Sirius looked up as the portrait hole swung shut. "I was getting worried mate, what did old Minnie want with you?"

"She gave me a detention for Saturday night," James replied. "But at least I can still go to Hogsmeade during the day."

"Well that's a relief," Sirius exclaimed. "We wanted to use the time in Hogsmeade to go over plans for our first full moon outing."

"Sirius," Remus hissed. "Lower your voice will you?"

"Remus," Sirius said while looking around the common room. "We're the only ones in here, you can calm your panties."

James had completely forgotten about the fact that the full moon was approaching. With everything going on these last couple of days, he let it slip from his mind that the full moon was this Sunday night. Remus was counting on him and Sirius to reign him in during the worst times since they were bigger animals than Peter and this would be the first full moon they went out with him. Remus would be most aggressive this time around because he is not used to anyone being with him while he's in his werewolf form.

James put on a slightly forced smile. "I can't wait to roam around as a stag this weekend."

Remus grimaced. "I still don't think this is a good idea," he said. "What happens if one of you gets seriously hurt? I know that my bites won't transform you if you're an animal, but you could still end up in the Hospital Wing and how are we going to explain that to Madame Pomfrey?"

"James and Sirius said it will be okay," Peter piped up. "I don't think we would do this if we were going to die or something mate."

"Remus," James said seriously. "You are one of our best friends and any risk is worth making your furry little problem more bearable."

Remus sighed and looked resigned. "I know I can't talk you guys out of this and I really am grateful—I'm just worried that you're biting off more than you can chew."

"No offense Remus," Sirius laughed. "But I think we'll leave the biting to you."

The four boys were laughing as they walked up the staircase to their dormitory. James, walking in last, asked the others how the girls had fared upon returning to the Common Room. Once Remus and Sirius assured James that the girls—especially Lily—was alright, they changed and headed to bed. Almost instantly, you could hear Peter's snores coming from his bed and Sirius and Remus' deep breathing soon followed. James, however hard he tried, could not get to sleep; his mind was too preoccupied with Lily and everything she had gone through over the past week. Getting out of bed as quietly as he could, James went back down to the Common Room to try and clear his mind.

Lily and the other girls were in their dorm room getting ready for bed. She could not be more grateful for the people in her life right now and didn't want to think about where she would be if James had not come to her rescue. Glancing over her shoulder, Lily saw Alice looking at her.

"Everything okay Alice?" Lily asked.

"Yeah, just making sure you're okay."

"I'm fine, at least I will be. Madame Pomfrey said I would be sore for a few days. Anyway, it's Emm I'm more worried about—what made you snap at Severus?"

"I didn't want him to hurt you again," Emmeline said rather forcefully. "I thought that was obvious."

"Well yeah," Lily replied. "But like he was going to do anything with all of you pointing wands at him."

"Snape never was one to put up a good fight anyway," Marlene interjected. "He's too much of a coward to fight without a trick up his sleeve."

"Do you see him in the library always looking at those Dark books?" Emm said. "Fucking creepy if you ask me."

"I think the git got what was coming to him," Alice said. "I just feel bad that James got called back with him when McGonagall came out."

"I do too," Emm replied with her head down. "It was my fault that there was all that noise and McGonagall came out."

Lily said nothing, she turned away from the other girls and focused on getting ready for bed. She hadn't told them that things between her and James are starting to change. She knew that her friends would understand wanting to be friendlier with James and the other Marauders since they saved her from the Slytherins, but she did not want to deal with them freaking out when they realized she actually liked James as more than a friend.

"Lily," Marlene said tentatively. "Are you okay?"

"Yeah," Lily replied giving the girls a small smile. "I'm just really tired."

After that all of the girls went to bed and, one by one, their deep breathing soon filled the room. It was only about eleven o'clock at night but everyone was tired from the events of the weekend. About an hour after they fell asleep, Alice shot up wide awake—someone was screaming like they were dying. Looking around, Alice saw Marlene and Emmeline rip open the curtains around their beds and look around. Alice, seeing that Lily's curtains weren't moving, ran to her bed and opened them up.

"Lily," Alice said shaking her. "Lily, wake up! You're having a nightmare."

Slowly, Lily calmed down enough to open her eyes. Her breathing was shallow and fast and her eyes would not stop looking around the dormitory.

"What happened," Lily looked confused. "Alice, is everything okay?"

"You were having a nightmare," she replied.

"We thought you were being attacked," Marlene joined in.

Lily sat up in her bed and tried to calm her breathing. Emmeline and Alice were shaking and Marlene had her wand out as if she was prepared for a fight. She knew she must have been screaming in her sleep—she had been dreaming about the attack but didn't realize how much it was affecting her.

"I'm fine," Lily told her friends. "Just a bad dream, I won't let it happen again."

"Do you want to talk at all?" Alice asked her, sitting back down on her bed. "We didn't even think to ask how you're handling things with everything else going on."

"I'm okay, just really tired." Lily replied. "I'm just going to try and get some more sleep. I'm sorry I woke you guys up."

"It's okay," Emmeline replied and the other two nodded along with her. "It isn't your fault."

The girls went back to their beds and settled down to fall asleep again. They all thought it was lucky the other two Gryffindor girls in their year were out somewhere in the castle; most likely they were doing slutty things with boys from other houses. They didn't get along with Lily, mostly because they were jealous of the attention James gave her. Their dislike of Lily spread to her friends when they couldn't get them to leave the muggleborn girl alone.

Lily cast a silencing charm around her bed and thought herself stupid that she didn't think if it in the first place. It would have been so much worse had it not just been Alice, Emmeline, and Marlene in the room with her. She didn't think she could stand the scorn of her other roommates; they were purebloods and looked for any reason to belittle Lily.

Sleep was eluding her and, after a while, Lily decided to go downstairs to the Common Room. She picked up her novel and quietly tiptoed around everyone's beds so she didn't wake them up. As she walked down the steps, hoping that the fire was still going in front of her favorite armchair, she saw the back of a head with messy jet black hair.

"James," Lily said tentatively. "What are you doing up?"

"Lily," He smiled at her. "I couldn't sleep so I came downstairs to clear my mind. What about you?"

"I…I had a nightmare," Lily admitted reluctantly. "I came down here so I wouldn't wake the girls up again."

"Again?" James looked worried.

"I guess I was making noise in my sleep," Lily replied walking over to the couch that James was sitting on. "It's not a big deal." She tried playing it off so James wouldn't have to worry about more than he did already.

James reached out his hand so that he could grab hers. When Lily laced her fingers through his, James gently pulled her down onto the couch with him and put his arm around her. Lily instantly felt better in James' arms. She put her head on his neck and breathed in deeply. James tightened his arms around her and kissed the top of her head.

"Lil," James said quietly. "You need to get some sleep."

"I don't want to wake the girls up again," Lily told him.

"You can't stay up forever you know," he replied.

"I just want to stay right here," Lily said while snuggling further into him. "I feel like nothing can go wrong like this."

James smiled. "I have an idea," he said mischievously. "But we'll have to be sneaky."

"What did you have in mind?" Lily looked up at him and couldn't help smile at the sly smile on his face.

"Well, since you are oh so comfortable in my arms," James squeezed her a little tighter. "You could always sleep with me in my bed."

Lily looked surprised. "I thought that we weren't going to tell anyone."

"That's where the sneaky part comes in," James smiled down at her. "We can pull the curtains around the bed that way no one can see you in it."

"But how am I going to get out of your dorm without Sirius and Remus noticing?"

"We can wake up early that way you can get back to your dorm before any of the girls wake up."

"You seem to have been giving this a lot of thought," Lily said a little harshly. "Did you think it would be this easy to get me in your bed?"

"No," James seemed exasperated. "Damn Lily, can't you understand that I just want you to be safe? You said you liked being in my arms, you said you were having nightmares—maybe you won't have them if you're with me at night."

Lily pulled out of his arms. "I don't know if I'm comfortable with this James. Everything is happening so fast….I just—I can't do this"

"Hey," James said, pulling Lily into a hug. "It's just to sleep. I don't want to do anything that you don't want to do, I promise."

Lily looked into James' eyes and saw how concerned he was. It touched her heart to know that he cared about her so much even though she had hated him for most of their time at Hogwarts.

She finally nodded and James led her up the stairs to his dormitory. Once Lily was laying in his bed, he pulled the curtains around them and joined her. As he put his arms around Lily, closed his eyes, and listened to her finally fall into a deep sleep, he could not help but think that he was the luckiest guy in the world right now.