Author's Note: Okay... so... this chapter is... really full... A lot happens in it. I just started writing and it turned into this. I really like it though. It is starting to set up some major plot points, and I'm trying to work on character developing. Enjoy!

Chapter Eight: Plotting and Fighting

James was totally dumbstruck. In fact, most of the class just sat there staring at Flamel like he was a madman. Sirius, however, who had not taken one note, stood up and started packing up his bag. The rest of the class followed suit. James, Lily, Dorcas, and Remus followed Sirius as he exited.

"Does anyone else know what just happened in that class?" James asked, feeling confused.

"Professor Flamel was a little confusing, but once he told us to look at it from a philosophical stand I think I started to understand more," Lily replied.

"I found it all to be a little ridiculous. I mean, I just don't see the appeal in living forever and being rich while doing so. It'd get boring," Dorcas said, she sounded annoyed.

While Remus and Sirius moved towards the Entrance Hall, Dorcas kept moving forward.

"Where are you going?" Lily asked her.

"To the library," she replied, shortly.

"Oh… well I'll see you in Arithmancy then?" Lily said. Dorcas shrugged.

James was totally baffled by this exchange. He saw no reason for Dorcas to be treating Lily this coldly, but matters of women never made sense to him. He turned to follow Lily as she made her way through the Entrance Hall and into the Great Hall for lunch. They arrived at the table where Remus and Sirius had gotten to just before them. James and Lily sat down.

"What else have you got today, Prongs?" Sirius asked him.

"Just Muggle Studies and Arithmancy," James replied.

"Gasp! Does this mean I have Muggle Studies with the Heads themselves? I am honored." Sirius gushed.

James rolled his eyes as Peter ran up to them.

"There you are! I've been looking everywhere! How have your classes been?" he asked them.

"Oh, they were alright. Just the average start of term lurch. I've already got homework in Charms and History of Magic! I'm just glad Flamel seems to enjoy us so far a human beings to not overload us yet." James complained.

"I have a feeling that Alchemy will be the most challenging subject we have, Potter. Even though he hasn't assigned homework for today, I think there'll be a lot more in the future," Lily said. She seemed to be in a pensive mood. While she had just answered his question, it seemed that her mind wasn't totally in it.

"I think Lily is right," said Lupin, "I mean did you hear Flamel's lecture today? The subject is intense! I can't wait for the rest of term."

"I have a reasonable work load in my classes. Next I have Muggle Studies and then Care of Magical Creatures," Peter said.

"I have both of those with you, mate! As do our dream team," Sirius said, his eyes glinting.

"Thank goodness!" Peter sighed, "I haven't been in a class with anyone yet."

He and Sirius went over exchanging schedules, but when Marlene walked up Sirius seemed to forget what he was saying. Marlene kissed him, and turned to Lily.

"Hi, Lils," she said, smiling.

"Hi, Marls, how are classes going?" Lily asked her.

"They went fairly well this morning. How have yours been?"

"Fairly interesting, Especially, Alchemy."

"That's great!"

James listened as the two gushed over teachers and work load. After they ate, they bad farewell to the Marauder's and went off to Muggle Studies; the boys promising to catch up.

"So, Prongs…" Sirius began.

"Yes, Padfoot?" James replied.

"How has your morning with Evans been?" Sirius asked, wiggling his eyebrows.

James shrugged, "She got mad at me today and then kind of forgave me, and then kind of forgot it ever happened? I dunno, women are an endless labyrinth that I will never understand."

"But Evans is the one you want to understand," Peter chimed in.

"Honestly, this year I just want to be her friend… just having her look at me without an underlying hatred would be better than the torture of her hating me."

"Stop being so melodramatic, Prongs. She's never hung 'round us this long. Maybe this is your year," Sirius commented, which was unlike him.

"That's all because you and Marlene are glued to the seams when you're near each other," James joked.

"Animal magnetism," Sirius replied, unashamedly. "You're all jealous that I'm the only bloke amoungst us getting some."

"Hah! You are not 'getting' anything from Marlene McKinnon. She's a saint!" Peter snorted.

"You watch your mouth, Wormtail!" Sirius exclaimed in mock horror. "Miss McKinnon is not nearly as chaste as you think she is."

Remus rolled his eyes. "She's smarter to engage in any such activities with you."

"Well your mum wasn't," Sirius retored.

James and Peter fell over laughing.

"Now, my fellow comrades, we have yet to discuss a matter of great importance to me." Sirius said, his voice becoming grave.

"What? Is Moony's mum really that important to you?" James joked.

"Shove off, Prongs, this is about our final start of term prank."

"Ahhhhh yes, Padfoot, you are quite right. Although, I wonder if our Head Boy will condone such actions now that he stands in a position of authority." Remus replied. He was looking at James in an odd way. Almost to see if James would back down.

"Moony, how could you! Of course, I have something planned. I would not be a Marauder, manager of mischief, if I didn't have a little something thought out," James bragged. "However, whatever we decide on… we'll have to allow Peeves to get in on it… I mean… I accidentally promised him?"

"Ugh, that'll be fine. So long as he doesn't rat us out," Padfoot replied.

"Don't tell me you lot are up to something again?" a voice behind them said.

James looked around. It was Vance.

"Oh, hello Emmeline. We're not doing anything of impo-," Sirius said, slyly, but Emmeline cut him off.

"I want in," she said.

"You what?" James gasped, disbelievingly.

"I. Want. In." she said.

"May I ask why?" Sirius asked.

"I need a really good laugh, and I promised myself that I'd be the one to do it, not some ridiculous boys who can't tell a good prank from a dangerous excursion."

"Very well, Vance. Let's see what you've got."

Lily spent the rest of her day in confusion. She was mostly preoccupied with why Dorcas seemed so cross with her. There were several times where James tried to get her to cheer up, but really he was just coming off as annoying.

"Hey, Lily, what do you think Muggles really do with this?" and then he'd hold up some weird object and Lily would just roll her eyes.

Finally it was time for Arithmancy, she and Potter walked in to the classroom to find that Dorcas was already sitting with Helene Cartwright and Pandora Brosio. Lily felt her disappointment deepen. She and James sat with Remus one row behind Dorcas.

Lily could not even pay attention properly enough to Professor Vector to comprehend the complexities of the class. At the end, Lily walked up to Dorcas.

"Can we talk, Dor? Please?" she asked.

"Fine." Dorcas snapped. They walked out together and headed out to the courtyard.

"Why are you so mad at me?" Lily began.

"Frankly, Lily, I think you have behaved appallingly the first day of school."

"What the hell are you talking about?"

"I'm talking about how last night, you apparently drank a good amount of firewhisky, when 1. It is a banned substance and 2. You are the Head Girl. You should be more responsible than that when it comes to rules. Also, I think the fact that you're hanging around Potter because he's Head Boy is rubbish. He's a bloody nuisance and can't tell a flobberworm from a unicorn and is so obviously only using this to get close to you. I mean you sit with him in every bloody class! I understand trying to work alongside him, but it doesn't even seem to me like you hate him anymore. I guess you're just too shallow and self-absorbed to see that nothing about him has changed."

For a moment, Lily had nothing to say. Then she could feel the anger brewing in her stomach and she shot, "Oh, I'm the self-absorbed one? I'm just trying to relax and have a good time in our last year at Hogwarts ever. I'm not the one who has a condescending attitude and believes that since 'I don't drink' no one else should either. What I do with my time is of no concern of yours. I thought you valued our friendship more than that. I didn't think you would be the one person to judge me. And as for Potter, I'm 'sorry' that he and I literally have the same schedule and for the first bloody day, I sat with him in class. God forbid I sit next to someone even if he is intolerable sometimes. And yeah, he's still an ass, I haven't forgotten that. But I also have a tiny shred of hope that he's changed a bit. He's not the same idiot, who asked me out every single day in our fifth year. I've had a couple of fairly decent conversations with him about things that you are too judgmental to understand. How dare you act like I should be ashamed of trying to forgive someone who seems to deserve it? Who are you to judge him or me? I am my own person and as my friend I thought that you'd accept that."

"You were wrong. How could you accept someone who caused so much hurt? Need I mention that time he and Black hexed Belby so that his head was too big for his body? Or all those times that he attempted to practically kill Sna-"

"Need I remind you that James Potter was the only one who tried to stand up for me when Snape called me a you-know-what? Granted, I didn't need him to defend me, but I didn't see anyone else stand up for me. Not even you and you saw the whole thing."

"Oh please, don't pretend like you wanted my help. You loved standing up for yourself and you loved throwing yourself into any fight that Potter and Snape would get in. You loved the drama and you loved stringing Potter along because while you pretended to hate how he fawned over you, you secretly loved it."

Lily was fuming. "Never in my life have I done that. You know better than anyone how frustrated I was with Potter. Why even bring this up now? If this has bothered you so much, why wait years before telling me?"

"I'm done, Lily. Let me know when you've decided to grow up."

Lily watched as Dorcas turned away. She could feel her face flush with heat and her eyes started stinging.

Lily Evans would not cry. Not here. Not because of some crap Dorcas Meadows said about her. She took a deep breath and turned to walk away.

James Potter was standing a few yards away, Lupin was next to him. Both of their jaws were hanging open.

"Lily…" James began, but Lily brushed past them both and headed back to Gryffindor Tower.

As she headed up the Grand Staircase, she could feel the stinging returning to her eyes. She started blinking furiously and started to flat out run to Gryffindor Tower.

She got to the portrait hold of the Fat Lady, who asked her, "Is everything alright, dear?"

"Gillyweed." Lily said, ignoring her and breathing heavily.

The portrait swung open and Lily zoomed past her fellow Gryffindors who were making their way down to dinner. Some people called out to her, but she ignored them too. She stopped running when she got into the Head's quarters. Practically crying, Lily threw herself down on her bed and started to cry.

She never cried in front of people. It wasn't the Lily way. But the words Dorcas said to her hurt, and most of it was so untrue that it pained Lily to think that that was how Dorcas felt.

James did not see Lily anywhere at dinner. His heart sunk a little. The Marauders and Emmeline were all huddled together discussing plans. Luckily, James already knew exactly what he wanted to do.

While he explained the plan to the Marauders, Emmeline looked awestruck.

"Potter, that is genius. I never think I truly appreciated some of the finesse of your work, but this is something else," she said, impressed.

"But what on earth is the spell to do that?" Sirius demanded. "Personally, I'm hurt that you never told me about this before."

"Sirius, if I had told you any sooner, you'd have used it immediately and ruined the whole thing!" James scolded, rolling his eyed. "As a matter of fact, I will not be telling you the spell."

"JAMES, YOU GIT! THAT ISN'T FAIR!" Sirius bellowed, and stood up. Everyone turned to look at him and McGonagall gave him a reprimanding look from her seat.

Sirius gave a dramatic bow then took his seat. James and Remus started roaring with laughter and Peter practically had tears in his eyes. Emmeline had to hide her face in her arms that were resting on the table.

"And now I know who our target should be!" Sirius said, with a glint in his eyes. They all looked at him curiously, but before anyone could ask him who, Marlene sauntered up to him.

"Emmeline, you haven't seen Lily tonight have you?" she asked, looking worried. She slid into the empty seat next to Sirius.

"No! I haven't even thought about it. I was busy… with some school stuff…" Emmeline lied, uncomfortably.

James rolled his eyes. He was hoping that Emmeline wouldn't be a liability in this grandiose of pranks. Marlene, however, seemed to not be listening.

"Um… Marlene…" James began. "Something's happened with Lily… She and… Dorcas Meadows had a row."

Marlene's eyes widened. "A row?" she asked, incredulously.

"Yeah, um," James began and gave her a brief overview of what Dorcas had accused her of. Marlene and Emmeline both stood up, horror etched all over their faces.

"Sorry, but we have to go then." They both said in unison.

"James, I really think that-" Remus began, but James cut him off.

"No, Remus. She doesn't want to see me."

"James, you're being too hard on yourself," Peter started to say.

"No, I'm not. Peter, you weren't there, but Remus was and can attest to this. I'm pretty much the reason why Dorcas doesn't want to be Evans's friend. Now, she'll probably want nothing to do with me."

"Merlin's pants, James. I always forget how dramatic you can be about that damn bird, but you need to sodding man up. Who bloody cares if some girl told Lily that she didn't like you? From what I hear, Evans sort of defended you. Now, put on your big boy pants and do the right thing for once," Sirius said finally, slamming his hand down onto the table.

"Sirius, sometimes you can be a prick," James told him, mockingly.

"Yeah, well at least I'm a prick who tells you how it is," he grumbled, rolling his eyes and smiling a little.

"Fine fine. I'll talk to her and see if I can say… something…" James said. He got up, as did the other Marauders, and they headed back up to Gryffindor Tower together.

When they entered the common room, they found Emmeline and Marlene looking defeated.

"What happened?" Peter asked them, as he and Remus sat in the couch opposite of the two comfy armchairs that the girls were occupying.

"We talked to her… and she says that she's fine… but she's still just lying there on the floor of her room…" Marlene said, scooting over in the armchair so she and Sirius could share it. She swung her legs over the arm next to Sirius and rested her head on his shoulder.

James didn't say anything to them. Instead, he headed into the Head's common room and over to Lily's door. He knocked.

There was no response so he knocked again.

"Evans…" he said, tentatively. Still no response.

"If you don't say anything, I'm coming in." Still no response. "Alright then…"

James opened the door and to his surprise found Lily sitting on the floor and reading a book.

"What the bloody hell, Evans!" Lily looked up at him.

"Oh, hello, Potter. What are you doing here?"

"I came here to talk to you about… about what happened earlier," he said, in total confusion.

"Did you really think I was going to let Dorcas Meadows get the best of me? Please, I never let anything you did do that," Lily replied, with a hint of amusement. This time when her eyes met his, he thought she looked sad.

"Look… Lily… I just wanted to apologize…" he said, sitting on a bit of the carpet in front of her.

"What for?" she asked him.

"I feel like it's partly my fault that you and… when Dorcas fou-" he began, but Lily stopped him.

"Potter, the argument with Dorcas had nothing to do with you." Lily said, definitely.

"What do you mean? I was practically all she talked about."

Lily rolled her eyes. "No, you were what she used to try and hurt me and make me feel like shit. She's really mad at me for getting Head Girl and 'abusing my powers'. She's also very pissed that she herself did not get it."

"What?" James said in surprised.

"Oh yeah. I could see it in her face when she said the words 'Head Girl'. She probably doesn't think I deserve it, but that isn't my problem. It's hers and until she's done being all pissy about it, I'm going to leave her alone."

"Oh… oh…" James said, nodding his head like he completely understood.

"But… I suppose I will… y'know… miss her…" Lily said, almost too quietly for James to hear.

But he did hear it. It was something that he thought about, as he was lying in his four poster bed later that evening. The way she said those words with such sorrow. If there was one thing that James Potter knew for certain about Lily Evans, it was that she cared deeply for her friends. He wanted more than anything for her to care about him just a sliver of the amount she cared for Dorcas, Marlene or Emmeline. Even if she'd never like him the way he wanted her to, at least she'd like him as a friend.

Lily woke up on the second day of term, simply dreading the day. Her argument with Dorcas had left her grumpy and slightly nervous for what the day would hold.

After she got ready, she met Emmeline and Marlene in the common room.

"Lily, how are you?" Marlene asked her, giving her a meaningful hug.

"I'm doing fine, I promise. I'm just super hungry! I really should not have skipped dinner last night!" she laughed and the girls started making their way down to the Great Hall.

The Marauders had beaten them there and Sirius had saved Marlene a seat. Lily sat down, without shame, next to Potter while Emmeline sat on the other side of her.

They all exchanged 'Good mornings'.

When they were halfway through the meal, a tawny barn owl swooped down and landed next to Lily. In its claws, it had a copy of that day's Daily Prophet. She paid the owl and it took off, she opened the paper and started reading the contents.

Lily's fist came crashing down onto the table. Her hands shook a bit as she look in horror on the bodies of the Warren family.

"What's wrong?" her friends asked around her.

She handed the parchment to Sirius, who had reached out for it.

"Five Surrey Hostages Found Dead.

Between the hours of 11 and 12 last night, the Auror department followed a lead that was supposed to take them to the whereabouts of the Warren family, one of the three families that He-Who-Must-Not-Be-Named kidnapped from Surrey. Our sources inside the ministry say, that when the Aurors arrived on the scene, they walked into a kill zone. There are images below of the inside of the house where the Warren family was being held. Warning: These images are explicit. Those pictured of the Warren family are of the father Michael and the mother Susan. Their three children were also with them, Cassandra, their oldest, would have been a fifth year at Hogwarts in Hufflepuff. Their middle child, Elijah, would have been a first year. Their youngest son Bernie was only seven."

"Oh god… There's something terrifying about a picture that can, but doesn't move…" Sirius said, gravely. He set the paper down on the table so the rest could see the pictures.

"That's… that's… cruel…" Remus said, simply.

"They were all so young…" Marlene whispered.

Slowly, the rest of the Great Hall started to fall quiet, as the students who received the Daily Prophet started whispering nervously to the others.

There was a blood curdling scream, "NO! NO! NO! NOT CASSANDRA. NO!" A small Hufflepuff, was backing away from her friends who all looked equally said and frightened.

Professor Sprout came running up the aisle to comfort the young girl, who was loudly crying. She ushered the girl and some of the other Hufflepuffs away, to probably calm them down.

Professor Dumbledore stood up and addressed the Hall.

"Students, the events of yesterday bring great sadness with them. The loss of our dear student Cassandra Warren will affect us all. While we mourn her and her family, we cannot forget who is responsible.

"We are now entering a time where we must keep our friends close. Rely on each other while you are here at school. Your friends are your greatest ally in this war. For any Hufflepuff, Ravenclaw, Gryffindor, or Slytherin who knew Cassandra, I ask that you think of her in the highest regard for she was brave and honest and kind and she deserved to live.

"However, you can keep her memory alive by what you choose to do with your life. I encourage you all to remember Cassandra. Remember that she died because Lord Voldemort"—there was an intake of breath from the students at this—"took her from us far too soon. Remember that she was taken from us because one man decided that she and her family were inferior to him. Remember how you feel in this moment and choose to be better than them—these so called Death Eaters.

"Classes today will not be cancelled. We will not give Lord Voldemort"—again a sharp gasp—"dictate our lives and how we choose to live them. If you feel as if you would like to talk about the events that transpired yesterday, I ask that you talk to a teacher. They are here to listen to you just as much as your friends are." With that, Dumbledore sat down.

Nobody spoke in the Great Hall. Slowly, students began to leave for class. Some Hufflepuffs were crying and comforting each other. She felt a fire in her soul. She knew, that in that moment, she wanted to be out there fighting Voldemort. Fuck not calling him by his name. Lily looked over at her friends. Peter looked terrified. Lupin looked reserved as always, but determined. Sirius had his eyes closed, deep in thought. For once, he didn't have anything funny to say. Marlene was looking scared and intently at Sirius. Emmeline was looking at the table silently.

Lily looked over at James sitting next to her and she knew that he too felt the fire she was feeling.

One by one, without any of them speaking, there seemed to be an understanding that passed through this group of seemingly unlikely friend. While they were all feeling something different in this moment, Lily could tell that they all felt angry at what had happened and a desire to change it.

Author's Note part 2: Okay okay... I know what you all must be thinking. "How is it that they are only just now on the second day of school when it's bloody chapter eight going on to nine?" Well, it's because I really wanted the start of term to be BIG. I wanted to emphasize the scale of the war and how it really set the tone for the Marauders' seventh year. That's one of the reasons I chose to write my story during their last year. Now, the fight with Dorcas isn't something that I really thought was going to happen, but I see Dorcas as a sort of FOIL to Lily in some ways. I think this was partially why I had Lily be her friend. And I know you must be thinking, "But Dorcas was a part of the Order of the Phoenix with Lily and the others?" Dear readers, you are smart. I have a lot of great things in store for our bickering ladies. I am also afraid that Lily's emotions probably seem all over the place. I always found to think of Lily as the type who would deal with her own shit. If she was upset, she'd lock herself in her room for an hour and then get the hell over it because she's tougher than that.

I also promise that not all of my chapters are going to be death and gloom. I know that the Marauder's are notorious for their humor and pranks (I just really enjoy exploring their depth). You will be reading your fair share soon enough. I am excited for more comedic, light-hearted chapters coming up.

To end this ridiculously long A/N, I did want to say that I was sort of referencing Dumbledore's famous speech at the end of the Goblet of Fire. I always had the idea in my mind that Dumbledore probably saw many more student's deaths during the Marauder's era just because of how much support Voldemort had at the time. I wanted to mirror that speech because I think that Dumbledore has probably had to give more than his fair share of speeches for deceased student.