A/N: Remember when I said I was aiming for weekly updates? Yeah, I suck. For some reason my brain is refusing to co-operate with me at the moment, and I ended up starting a third fic (a Harry/Ginny AU, if anyone's interested) because I could not get the idea out of my head.

Anyway, this chapter has been re-written about five times now; I just can't quite get it right. But it's done, and I hope at least some of you like it! It's a little less fluffy and a little more serious than previous chapters, so I hope that's okay with everyone. Even I have my limits on fluff-production.

And a big thank you to everyone who reviewed the last chapter, especially those of you who offered me alternative translations!

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4th April 1977, 5.15pm

Lily drummed her fingertips on the arm of the sofa, ignoring the obvious irritation of her friends at her fidgeting. The windows of the common room were thrown open to let the early spring air in, and she could smell cut grass and feel the warmth of the air, and that only served to make her even more annoyed.

'Evans, my love, light of my life!'

She didn't have to look to know who that was. Closing her eyes and tilting her head back to better be able to ignore him, she answered quietly.

'If you want me to re-write your charms homework again Sirius, you can forget it. Once in a lifetime offer remember? Now bugger off.'

She sensed him sitting down beside her. His arm brushed lightly against hers and she could smell his aftershave; it was lighter than James', without those underlying warm scents of woods and grass, but similar enough to be oddly soothing. She felt herself relaxing slightly.

'Evans, I'm hurt. I'd never ask you for such a big favour twice in the same year.'

She didn't even crack a smile at that and he knew she was well and truly narked. He studied her profile for a moment; head tilted back, hair spreading over the back of the sofa, eyes closed and mouth set in that straight line that quite clearly said someone was in for it. Hoping it wasn't going to be him, Sirius nudged her elbow with his.

'I know you're not really mad at me.'

She snorted. 'Oh really?'

He shook his head and smiled to himself; this whole "Prongs and Evans" thing was turning out to be far more amusing than he'd thought it would be.

'Nope.' He answered. 'I can hazard a really good guess at who you're mad at, and he has messy hair, wears glasses, is a bit of a prat and answers to the name of James Potter.'

'I'm not mad at Potter.' Lily replied, her tone deliberately cool and unaffected.

Sirius smirked to himself. 'The fact that you just called him Potter suggests otherwise. You only call him Potter when he's done something to hack you off.'

She opened her eyes and turned her head towards him on an exasperated sigh. 'Spare me your feeble analysis of my behaviour. What do you want Sirius?'

He grinned at her and held up a folded piece of parchment. 'Prongs asked me to give you this.'

Lily stared at it for a moment, her face softening, but then it set back into that grim line and her head went back to its previous position, tilted back and looking up at the ceiling. 'Tell him to come and give it to me himself.'

'He can't.' Sirius' voice was suddenly solemn. 'He's not here.'

Lily's head spun to face him, her eyes slamming open to meet his silvery ones. He held out the parchment again, and this time she took it slowly, turning it over and over in her hands.

'Before you decide you're furious at him, read the letter.' Sirius' eyes were fixed on her face, and his voice was firm; Lily found herself nodding slowly, and Sirius rose and began to move away, aiming a grin in her direction as he went. Lily looked round at her friends who were all observing her with varying degrees of interest.

'I'm just going to, er…' She trailed off and settled for vaguely waving her hand in the direction of the girl's dorms. Marlene raised her eyebrows, but Alice and Emma simply nodded their acknowledgment of her gesture as she wandered away.

Gripping the letter in one hand she climbed the stairs until she reached her dorm, passing only one other girl on the stairs. She made her way over to her bed and sat cross-legged in the middle, staring at the letter in her hands; she was unexpectedly apprehensive at what it might say. She began to unfold it then stopped suddenly and, in a fit of paranoia, drew the drapes round her bed so that even if one of the girls came in unexpectedly she would have time to compose herself before she saw them.

She mentally berated herself for the train of thought; why was she so worked up over some scribbled note from James, which was probably going to turn out to be something totally unimportant anyway?

She took a deep breath and made the final unfold.

Lily,

I hope Sirius gets this note to you before the end of classes, but if he doesn't then I'm so sorry I didn't meet you in the grounds. Please don't be too mad at me.

McGonagall came and pulled me out of Herbology this morning to tell me that my parents are in St Mungo's again. I've gone to see them, and I'm not sure when I'll be back. I only had a couple of minutes to scribble this note down for you; please believe me when I say I would have told you myself if I'd had the chance.

I swear I'll take you to see the unicorns in the forests as soon as I get back. The very second I arrive if you want.

I'm sorry.

James

Lily read the letter through a second time and felt her heart sinking for James. He hadn't talked about it much since New Year's Eve, but she knew that having his parents in hospital was hell for him; he'd thought of them both as indestructible aurors for so long that it had been a shock for him to abruptly realise that they were actually rather old and vulnerable.

It suddenly didn't matter that she'd spent twenty minutes waiting outside for him to meet her and take her to see the unicorns that he swore lived in the forest; it didn't matter that she'd been furious with him not fifteen minutes ago, or that she'd been determined not to let him out of this one too easily.

He was hurting, and probably panicked, and apparently worried not just about his sick parents but about whether she was upset with him. At what had to be an absolutely horrible moment for him, he'd taken a minute to worry about her and write her a note to explain.

She turned to her bedside table and scrabbled for a quill and parchment.

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5th April 1977, 11.45am

James stretched in the too-small chair, his long legs reaching out across the floor in front of him and his arms raised above his head. His eyes were tired and sore and his mind was groggy, but he forced himself up out of his seat and began to pace the room in an attempt to work out the knots in his back and legs.

He let himself out of the waiting room and headed off down the corridor to his parent's room; he opened the door and slipped in. His mother was very deeply asleep – sleeping draught he suspected – but his father seemed to be very close to waking up, mumbling and shifting in his sleep. Not wanting to disturb them, he backed out of the room and walked back towards the nurse's station to see if he could charm an update from someone.

The nurse behind the desk was young and blonde and he didn't think he'd seen her anywhere near his parents, but hopeful that she might have news for him anyway he stepped towards the desk. He was about to ask her if she knew anything about his parents when he heard his name called from behind him. He turned to see Healer Andrews, the medi-witch responsible for his parents heading down the hallway towards him so he turned and walked to meet her. She'd been in charge of their care at Christmas as well. James had liked her.

'They're stable.' She stated without preamble. 'Few days here and they'll be fine. But this isn't an illness that we can cure; they're going to have recurring bouts of it, and they need to start to take better care of themselves. That might include giving up work, or at least taking lighter duties.'

She looked at James sternly. 'They won't listen to me I'm sure, but they may listen to you. They aren't as young as they think they are, and they can't keep pushing their bodies like this. See if you can get some sense into them.'

James nodded slowly before he turned and began to walk back towards their room, hands tucked in his pockets and shoulders slumped as he imagined the conversation to come; his parents had never shown any inclination to listen to him before, so he couldn't imagine they'd be likely to start now. He was stopped by Healer Andrews calling after him, and he turned to face her.

She walked up to him and held out a letter. 'Almost forgot. Arrived at the main desk; they were a bit confused – we don't get mail for patients or visitors very often - but I recognised your name.'

'Oh.' He took the letter and gave it an odd look. 'Well thanks.'

She nodded easily. 'Must have been a very smart owl to find you here.' She walked briskly away from him, a model of efficiency in her white coat, and he tucked the letter safely away in his pocket before turning back in the direction he's come from.

James continued his slow pace towards his parent's room before making a last minute swerve into the family room he'd been sleeping in. He settled himself into a chair and unfolded the letter.

James

I'm not mad. I'm so far away from being mad you wouldn't even believe.

And you don't need to be sorry; you have nothing to apologise for. I hope your mum and dad are doing okay. Please owl me if you need anything; don't ask Sirius, it'll take him days to get organised.

As for those unicorns, we'll go see them sometime. It's not like there's a rush is there? Just come back when you can.

Love Lily

James read the letter twice. Then once more. Then he just settled for reading that last line again.

Love Lily.

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9th April 1977, 7.50pm

James climbed the last of the stairs up to Gryffindor Tower and came to a halt outside the portrait of the Fat Lady.

'Back are we?' she asked loudly. 'Password's been changed while you were gone.' She raised her chin haughtily and James grinned; she was always snippy with him, he suspected because he was always waking her up late at night to let him either in or out.

'I thought it might have been, so I stopped by Professor McGonagall's office on the way up.' He looked at the Fat Lady, lazy grin still fixed on his face. 'Mothballs.' He said firmly.

She sniffed and looked at him as if he was far too disgusting to contemplate, but nonetheless the door swung open and he was able to step through. As he stepped into the common room, he realised he was walking into a blazing row; he craned his neck to see over the heads of some of the younger years who'd crowded round the argument, and groaned internally when he saw Sirius, still in his Quidditch gear, yelling his head off at the rest of the team.

For a moment he was tempted to just slip back outside and leave them to it, but his new found sense of responsibility reared its ugly head and compelled him to move forward, pushing his way gently through the crowd of interested onlookers.

'…and another thing; keep track of your team mates! You're supposed to know where the rest of the team is; I don't want to see another botched quaffle play because you're not bothering to keep track of the other chasers, or another bludger hit towards a member of your own team because you're staring off into the stands… Gregory are you listening to me?' Sirius' voice was low and angry, and the rest of the team were looking borderline mutinous.

James sighed and dragged a hand through his hair before he stepped out of the crowd and into the row. 'Do I even want to ask?'

Sirius' face immediately brightened up. 'Prongs! How are you mate?'

He embraced James roughly but let go quickly and waved a finger under his nose. 'Are your mum and dad okay?'

James nodded. 'Yeah, they're all right.'

'Good.' Sirius clapped him on the back. 'Then I have just one request of you; please never leave me in charge of this team ever again. They are a bunch of blithering idiots.'

'Oi!' Frank folded his arms and glared at Sirius from his position off to the side of the argument.

'Except Longbottom.' Sirius amended quickly. 'Longbottom may be the only one of these imbeciles with any skill at Quidditch at all…'

'Okay, thanks mate.' James cut him off quickly. 'We'll discuss this at the next practice shall we? Looks like you can all call it quits for tonight, and we'll have a practice in a day or so when everyone's got cooler heads.'

There were a few mumbles from the other members of the team, but none of them even considered challenging James' words, so they began to wander off in search of showers, much to the disgust of the gathered crowd who'd been rather enjoying the show. They scattered back to their various seats in the room, leaving James and Sirius in the middle of a slowly emptying circle of people.

Richard Benton, the team's keeper, stopped and gave him a grin as he went past in the direction of the boy's dorms. 'Good to see you back Captain.'

James grinned back. 'Thanks Benton. Nice to be back. I'll let you all know about practice.'

Benton nodded and continued past, and James was suddenly aware of Remus and Peter joining him and Sirius in the middle of the room.

'All right Prongs?' Peter asked quietly.

James grinned at him. 'Yeah mate, I'm alright. Mum and Dad have got to stay in for a few more days then they can go home. They're retiring; the Healers have them convinced that going back to work will make them sicker, so they're going to tie up some loose end and finish at the end of the month. They're not completely happy about it, but they're going to do it.'

Remus clapped James on the back. 'As long as they're okay mate. And you're okay too obviously.'

The portrait opened again, and James heard girl's laughter echoing. There wasn't exactly anything unusual in that, but he'd recognise one of those voices anywhere; not a moment later, Lily stepped through into the common room. She stopped dead at the sight of James standing in the middle of the room with his friends and he felt the corners of his mouth turn up as soon as his eyes landed on her.

She was a mess, and it looked gorgeous on her. Her hair was tied back in that untidy bun she favoured when she was doing homework, strands escaping everywhere around her face, and her shirt was un-tucked from her skirt and her tie hung loose around her neck where she'd undone her top button. Without really stopping to think about it, he held out his arms to her, and just as he realised what he had done and began to think better of it, she crossed the room and threw herself into them, her arms locking themselves around his waist.

'Welcome back James.' She murmured the words into his chest, and he felt the smile stretch further on his face.

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16th April 1977, 7.15pm

'Why am I so bad at this?' Alice slammed her fist down on the table. 'I swear to Morgana, I used to be good at transfiguration.'

She waved her wand at her hedgehog, but it just sat and stared back at her as her spell proved to be completely ineffective – again - at turning it back into a pincushion.

'Well, this is un-transfiguration isn't it? It's harder.' Marlene had long since given up on the spell and was using her wand to curl her hair, her legs tucked up under her as she perched on the table in their little corner of the library.

Emma had mastered the spell an hour ago but thus far had been completely unable to explain how to her friends, so she was sat quietly checking through her runes homework, smiling occasionally at the profanity that left Alice's mouth as she attempted the spell again and again. Say what you would about Alice, no-one could ever accuse her of being a quitter.

The sound of footsteps echoed across the floor, and Lily marched triumphantly around the bookcases and towards their table. 'I have the solution to our problem.' She turned to look behind her, and a confused look briefly crossed her face. She took a few steps back, and at almost exactly that moment Sirius stumbled out from behind the shelves; he righted himself and glared behind him. James stepped out next, hands tucked in his pockets and whistling innocently, Remus and Peter right behind him, both trying to unsuccessfully hide their grins.

Marlene raised one perfectly shaped eyebrow. 'Care to enlighten us?'

'Study group.' Said Lily grimly. 'We are not leaving this room until we have all finished our homework; if we all help each other it shouldn't take that long. James has been dragging me through transfiguration for the last three months, so he and Sirius ought to be able to knock this spell into our heads, and then we can all work together on that bloody Defence project. And anything else anyone wants to tackle of course.'

Sirius turned his head towards James. 'Is she always this bossy?'

James grinned and nodded. 'More or less. But I like it.'

Lily pretended not to hear, but the blush on her cheeks was unmistakable.

An hour later Peter was helping Emma label a diagram of a Porlock, Remus and Lily were surrounded by an enormous pile of books as they researched Lethifolds for their Defence class and James and Alice were practising glamour charms on each other's faces; Sirius, on the other hand, had his face buried in his hands as he sat on the edge of the table.

'Okay.' He scrubbed his face with the heel of both hands before sliding to his feet and looking directly at Marlene, his expression slightly despairing. 'Okay. One more time McKinnon. You can do this, and you bloody well will do it, if it's the last thing I ever accomplish. Twist the wand very slightly to the right as you raise it, and flourish it downwards when you point. Go.'

Everyone else stopped working to watch as Marlene took a deep breath, raised her hand and spoke the incantation, directing her wand through the intricate movements of the spell until it was pointed at the hedgehog.

Which turned into a pincushion.

There was a moment of silence, and then everyone cheered as Marlene threw her arms in the air and spun around in a circle on the spot before launching herself at Sirius, who caught her even as he laughed at her jubilation.

'Any more of that racket and you all go out!' Madame Pince's face appeared around the shelves, her mouth set in a grim line as she glowered at each of them in turn before disappearing again.

Everyone else suddenly became incredibly interested in their work as Marlene and Sirius seemed to realise just how close together they were standing, arms still wrapped around each other. They weren't laughing anymore as they looked at each other intently, faces only an inch apart.

The moment was broken by Peter throwing the pincushion at them. 'Why don't you two go practice elsewhere?' There was only the faintest hint of innuendo in his tone, but it was enough to make Lily and Alice both giggle.

Sirius picked up the pincushion from where it had landed on the floor next to his feet, his face a picture of indignation. 'Well, we might just do that.' He retorted, scowling at Peter, who paid him absolutely no attention. Marlene's hand slipped into his, and his head turned quickly away from his friends to look at her.

'Sounds like a good idea to me.' She spoke softly and Sirius cocked his head to one side as he studied her expression, which was oddly shy. It was unusual to see Marlene vulnerable, but he found it rather adorable. His lips twitched up into a smile.

'Let's go then.'

The two of them drifted off without a word of goodbye to their friends, Sirius with the pincushion tucked under one arm and Marlene still gripping her wand in one hand, while their other hands clung together.

James screwed up a wad of paper and threw it at Peter's head. 'Cheers mate. They're going to be a nightmare to be around.'

'Oh hush.' Lily didn't even look up from her book. 'They're happy, leave them alone.'

James screwed up another piece of paper to aim at her. 'I'll remind you of that when you start complaining about them eating each other's faces at every opportunity.'

'Careful mate, you almost sound jealous.' Remus didn't look up either, but James could see the corners of his mouth turned up in a grin.

'That's gross Moony.' He pulled a face. 'I don't want to snog either of them thank you very much.'

'Remus isn't suggesting that you want to snog either of those two James, I think he's just trying to point out that you are jealous of them snogging because you can't snog the person you want to.' Alice smirked at him, her eyebrows raised suggestively.

James flicked his eyes quickly in Lily's direction, then tried to pretend he hadn't. Alice's grin widened, and he knew she had noticed, so he calmly picked up a book and began to leaf through it.

'Not at all Ally.' He tried to keep his voice level and composed. 'I just don't relish listening to those two suck face all night. In case you'd forgotten, Sirius can't get into the girl's dorm, which means those two will be spending their time in ours, and we're the ones who'll have to live with it.'

He shuddered, and Remus looked up, horror filling his features. 'Merlin, I hadn't thought of that. Do you think we could at least get Sirius to embrace silencing charms?'

'Doubtful.' James dropped his book and picked up the next. 'How do you two manage to stay focused on reading this crap for so long?'

'Practice.' Said Lily quietly, reaching over and removing the book from his grasp. He was about to lean over and grab it back when a younger student came around the corner and stopped by their table.

'Is one of you Lily Evans?' She asked quietly, her eyes darting nervously between them.

Lily looked up and smiled gently. 'That's me.'

The girl held up a sealed envelope. 'Someone told me to give you this.' She placed it on the desk and walked away before anyone could question her further.

Lily reached over for the envelope and opened it. There was only a small slip of parchment inside; she read the two short lines written on it, then turned it over and over in her hands, looking for anything to identify the sender.

James frowned at her puzzled expression. 'Everything okay?'

Wordlessly, she passed the note over to him, and his eyes darted down to take in the words before meeting hers again.

Don't patrol the corridors on your own anymore. Trust me, you'll regret it.

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20th April 1977, 9.15pm

The knock on the door made them all jump, but Sirius was the first to recover.

'Just come in, we don't stand on formality round here!'

The door to the sixth year boys' dorm was pushed open, and Frank stepped in hesitantly. 'Please tell me I'm not going to see anything I don't want to see in here.'

Sirius grinned. 'Don't worry Mr Prefect, your sensibilities are safe in here.'

Remus snorted. 'I wouldn't go that far. I have a crisis of conscience almost every day sharing with you lot.'

James threw a pillow at him as he sat up on his bed. 'What's up Frank?'

'Er, I was hoping you guys could help me out actually.' Worry was clearly written across Frank's face, and James found himself sitting up straighter in response.

'Sure.' He nodded. 'What do you need?'

'Well, Alice said that when Lily was disappearing by herself all the time and they couldn't find her, they'd come to you and you could always find out where she was somehow. She was talking about how well you knew the castle.' He paused and took another breath. 'Thing is, she was supposed to meet me over an hour ago for a walk, and she didn't turn up; the girls haven't seen her since dinner, and I haven't been able to find her anywhere, and I'm, well I'm just a bit worried is all.'

He looked around at each of them before his gaze settled back on James. 'I guess I was just wondering if you could think of anywhere she could be that I wouldn't have thought to look.'

'Where have you looked?' Asked Sirius, who was surprisingly solemn for once.

'Library, common room, astronomy tower.' Frank checked them off on his fingers. 'Lily checked the girls' bathrooms for me and I've been all round the grounds too.'

'Hmm.' James reached surreptitiously under his bed for the map while Frank was looking at Sirius. 'Why don't we help you look? We can split up and cover more ground.'

Remus was quick to understand James' suggestion. 'That makes sense. Why don't me and you go have a look around the classrooms, and you three can start checking other places?'

James nodded his acknowledgment. 'Okay Moony.'

Remus and Frank headed for the door but just as they were about to open it they were stopped by a shout from Sirius. 'Oi! Take this.' He held out a small mirror, and Remus took it with a grin before he and Frank headed out.

The three remaining boys gave it a minute to make sure they weren't coming back before James spread the map out on his bed. They hunched over it, scouring for Alice's dot until Peter finally spotted it. 'There! Third floor corridor, East side. What is she doing along there?'

'She's not moving.' James said, his brow furrowing. 'We'd better get up there and see if she's alright.'

He turned to his trunk and pulled out the cloak; Sirius grabbed the map and the three boys made their way down to the common room and out of the portrait hole. James threw the cloak over them, and Peter held the map, since he was the shortest of the three.

'Should we have given either the cloak or the map to Remus and Frank do you think? It is after curfew.' Whispered Peter as they made their way through the quiet corridors.

'Nah.' It was Sirius who answered as James was too intent on keeping them all covered by the material of the cloak. 'It may be after curfew, but they're both prefects, they can make something up if they have to. We're the only ones who are going to be in trouble if we get caught wandering around.'

'Shh!' James' voice was oddly harsh as he quietened them, and Sirius was about to complain when he heard the approaching footsteps. The three of them stood as quietly as they could manage, barely even daring to breathe as Professor MacGregor made his way past them back towards the Defence classroom.

'He's gone.' Sirius blew out the breath he'd been holding. 'Let's move quick.'

They stayed under the cloak until they'd found their way into one of the narrow secret passageways that they regularly used to navigate the castle after curfew, then they began to move as quickly as possible in single file towards the corridor they'd spotted Alice in.

'Is she still there?' asked James, craning his neck as he twisted to speak to Peter, who nodded after a quick glance at the map for confirmation. James' mouth set in a grim line. None of them voiced their concerns but the fact was Alice had apparently not moved in more than twenty minutes, and she had very uncharacteristically stood Frank up and hadn't been seen by any of her friends in almost two hours.

They arrived at the end of the passageway and waited while Peter scanned over the map; when he gave them a nod, they slid out from behind the tapestry that concealed the entrance and began to jog towards the adjacent corridor, not bothering with the cloak any longer.

They rounded the corner and saw that their fears were accurate; Alice lay unmoving, face down on the stone floor of the corridor.

James threw the mirror from his pocket at Peter. 'Get Moony and Frank up here!'

Peter called Remus' name in the mirror urgently while James and Sirius dropped down next to Alice.

'Well, she's breathing.' Sirius' tone was grave as he felt her neck for a pulse and James slid his hands gently under her to turn her over. His breath hitched as his hands touched something sticky, and it stuck in his throat entirely as he rolled her body and saw the dozens of small incisions that had sliced through her clothes and cut into her skin.

'Merlin…' Sirius breathed out. 'I've never seen anything like that.'

The sound of running feet came around the corner and suddenly Frank and Remus were there, dropping to Alice's side.

'Ally!' Frank's usually calm exterior was completely gone as he ran his hands over her numerous injuries. 'Sweetheart, can you look at me? Open your eyes baby.'

Remus looked up at James. 'Get out of here. Frank and I will deal with this, you lot don't need to be caught out after curfew.'

James looked uncertain for a moment, and Remus gave him a sharp look. 'Go!'

James, Sirius and Peter disappeared back towards the passage, leaving the strange and horrifying scene behind them.

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25th April 1977, 9.45pm

'You've been staring at that bloody map for the last hour; are you joining this game or what?' Sirius sounded exasperated and James silently prayed for patience as he looked up.

'What are you teaching us again?'

'Poker.' Sirius announced proudly from his spot on the floor in the centre of the room, Remus and Peter sat to either side of him. 'It's a muggle game; apparently they usually play it for money, or there's a version where you have to strip if you lose!'

James shuddered. 'Please tell me you aren't playing that version.'

'Of course not.' Sirius sounded appalled. 'I wouldn't play that version with men, especially not you lot.'

'You aren't missing much James, I'm not convinced that Padfoot has the rules of this right.' Remus turned his cards around in his hands, his brow furrowed in confusion.

'Yeah Padfoot, leave him alone.' Peter smirked at James. 'Let him stalk Lily all he wants.'

'I'm not stalking her, I'm just…looking out for her.' James muttered grumpily. 'Between that stupid note and what happened to Alice, I'm worried.'

'Alice is okay though.' Sirius placed his cards face down on the floor in front of him and turned to face James. 'I mean, she's as okay as she can be, you know, for someone who was hit by an unknown spell then stupefied. No lasting effects.'

'It sucks she didn't see who it was.' Peter dropped his cards to the ground too and leaned back against his bed.

'Two people, probably boys, wearing black cloaks.' Remus said wearily. 'There are about eight hundred students in this school and it could have been any of them. Though given that it was obviously Dark Magic, I'd say that narrows the suspect list considerably.'

Sirius straightened up and narrowed his eyes at James, struck with a sudden realisation. 'So if you've been worried about Lily since she got that note, and what happened to Alice made you even more paranoid, does that mean you've been watching her on the map every time she's done patrols for like, the last fortnight?'

James kept his eyes on the map refusing to look up and meet the questioning gazes of all three of his friends. 'Yes.'

Sirius snorted and folded his arms across his chest. 'You've got it bad.'

'Shut up.' His eyes followed Lily's dot down two flights of stairs to the dungeons. 'I wish she wouldn't do the dungeons though; you'd think she could convince Diggory to switch that with her wouldn't you?'

'I'm positive she could.' Said Remus quietly. 'But she wouldn't, because she'd see it as a defeat. The idea of there being places in the castle that she can't go to because of who she is…well, Lily doesn't take kindly to the idea.'

'True enough.' James responded, looking up from the map. 'She deserves to be seen as an equal; hell, she's better than most of the tossers in this place, so I don't know why they'd think they have the right to look down on her.'

'Prejudice and fear are rarely clear-sighted and logical Prongs.' Remus' lips twitched into a sarcastic smile. 'I know that better than most.'

The four of them were silent for a moment then, unsure of what could be said. On a day-to-day basis, James, Sirius and Peter often forgot about the widespread prejudice against werewolves; it was, after all, such an alien concept to them that they didn't often stop to think about how other people would treat Remus if they knew. Remus for his part never forgot it, but he was at least grateful that he could hide it; Lily would always be instantly recognisable as a muggle-born and so would always face prejudice, but Remus could hide his affliction and escape the worst of it. Most of the time anyway.

James eyes flicked back down to the map, instantly closing in on where he'd last seen Lily; he found her dot just a little further along the corridor, checking the empty Potions classrooms. Only, one of them wasn't empty, and he read the names of the people occupying it with horror; Snape, Mulciber and Macnair. She was just four doors away from checking that particular room.

He was up off the bed and grabbing his wand almost before he'd even finished reading the names. He ran for the door, snatching up the cloak from the top of his school trunk as he went.

'Prongs, what?' Sirius' voice rang out, startled and confused, and James stopped in the doorway to briefly face his friends.

'Lily's about to walk into a probable shitstorm of trouble.'

Then he was running. He was aware that the other three had followed him and were on his heels as they ran down the stairs to the common room; he ignored the odd looks they got from some of the kids still sitting in the common room as they crossed it without stopping and went straight out of the Tower. Once they were outside the doors, James threw the map to Remus and they headed for the nearest passage.

It took longer than any of them would have liked to get to the Potions corridor, and as they rounded the corner they heard screams, accompanied with rough laughter.

'See Graham, it's easy! Want a go Sev? I know you have a fondness for this spell; you invented it after all.'

Not one of them gave it a second thought; they burst into the classroom, wands drawn and ready. Macnair stepped away from Lily's prone body; Snape and Mulciber were stood off to one side, wands out.

Lily struggled to her feet, snatching her wand up off the floor as she rose and pointing it at her attackers. Realising the odds were not in their favour, the three Slytherins backed towards the door, and it was not without effort that the Marauders let them go without hexing them.

James was the first to turn his back on the door, as he moved across the room to Lily. She was staring at the door, wand still pointed and he touched her hand carefully. 'Lil?'

When she didn't move or respond to him, he shook her hand a little more firmly. 'Lily.'

Then he felt it - the tremors running through her - and he very gently grasped both her arms and turned her to face him; his breath caught when he saw the small, deep cuts marking her cheek. 'Are you okay?'

She looked at him vacantly for a moment, then shook her head and burst into tears; he pulled her towards him, arms wrapping around her and he was aware of the others coming closer. Sirius ran a hand over Lily's hair and Remus gently rubbed her arm, while Peter kept his eyes fixed on the door, wand still drawn. They stood there for a few minutes, the four boys surrounding her until her sobs had mostly died down.

'Come on.' James rubbed his hands up and down her arms. 'Let's get you back upstairs and clean you up.'

The walk back to Gryffindor Tower took much longer than their mad dash down. When they finally arrived back at the portrait hole, Remus slipped through under the cloak to check the common room; when he reported back that it was empty, the rest of them followed him in. James glanced around the empty common room and gave the situation only a moment's consideration before he took Lily's hand and gently tugged her towards the boys' staircase.

She followed him mutely, clinging onto his hand and ignoring the boys' whispered conversation.

'What the hell Prongs? We should take her up to the girls.'

'Yes Padfoot we should, but we can't get up the stairs remember?' James hissed back. 'Do you want to leave her to wander up there on her own while she's hurt? She can come up to our dorm and we can clean up her injuries out of sight of prying eyes and then see how she is.'

'It makes sense Pads.' Peter's low voice came from behind them. 'And keep your voices down, you'll wake someone.'

They reached the boys' door and James pulled Lily through, Sirius and Peter following him. Remus stopped in the doorway.

'I'm going to get Frank.' The other boys looked at him in confusion and he rolled his eyes at them. 'He's better than any of us at healing charms, and he won't say anything if we don't want him to.' He shut the door quietly behind him and the boys turned their attention back to Lily who standing in the centre of their room with her arms wrapped round herself.

'Sit down Lils.' James waved a hand to indicate that she should sit wherever she liked and she turned slowly and perched herself on the edge of his bed. James crouched down in front of her to examine her cuts, and Sirius appeared at his side with a bowl of warm water and a cloth; Lily reached for the cloth and began to wash her face with it.

'I don't want to talk about it.' Her voice was firm, if a little quiet, and while it went against his better judgement, James found himself nodding his agreement, just happy to hear her voice sounding stronger, more like herself.

By midnight, everyone but James and Lily was asleep; they were sitting side by side on his bed, propped up against the headboard. Frank had been and gone; he'd been able to close all the cuts on Lily's face, but had remarked on their oddness and pointed out the similarities to the marks that had been left on Alice. If the comments they'd overheard were true, then Snape had invented a spell that caused those injuries and he and some of his friends were having fun testing it on other students.

Lily had outright refused to discuss it, and one by one the others had gone to bed, leaving the two of them talking quietly on James' bed, a fact he was trying very hard not to dwell on.

'Merlin this has been one shit month hasn't it?' Lily's voice was tired, and he could tell by the way her head was drooping onto his shoulder that she was exhausted enough to sleep if she'd only admit it.

James laughed at her quietly. 'It's not been great, I'll concede that much.'

Lily yawned and curled up to him, tucking her legs under her body and hugging his arm. 'Thanks James. For looking out for me.'

'Any time.' He answered, his voice almost imperceptibly low; he wasn't sure she heard him at all.

She was asleep just moments later, and when he was sure she was properly under he shifted so he could slide his arms under her body and move her, sliding her under his covers and tucking them round her. He smoothed her hair where it spread across his pillows and watched as all the signs of stress and worry left her face as she slept. He settled down beside her on top of the covers and closed his eyes, breathing in her scent and the fact that she was safe, and beside him.

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A/N: Sirius/Marlene gave me hell in this chapter. My original plan called for them to get together next chapter, but that little tutoring scene pretty much wrote itself, and no matter how many times I tried to alter it it just kept going the same way, and eventually I was just like "fine, whatever, snog now if you must". So that's that.

Anyway, I'm rambling again. I'd love it if you left me a review to tell me your thoughts, but whether you do or don't, thank you for reading and for your continued support.