A/N:I don't own anything! It all belongs to J K Rowling! Thank you very much for all your support with reviews, favourites, follows and reading, it means a great deal to me. I hope you enjoy this following chapter.

THE GRYFFINDOR COMMON ROOM

JAMES' P.O.V

"Prongs! Pomfrey kicked you out, then?" Padfoot shuffles across the sofa he's sitting on to make room for me.

"Yeah," I don't sit next to Padfoot, instead I stay standing.

"What's up, Prongs? If its Evans, she'll be okay, Madam Pomfrey said –" Wormtail starts.

"This isn't about Pomfrey, this is about what Black did to Lily," I growl.

"Ah, what did my darling ex-cousin do now?" Padfoot asks, kicking up his feet on the sofa.

"The bitch sliced Mudblood into Lily's arm."

"Shit! I'm not going to make excuses because if I made an excuse every time a Black did something crappy, I'd be talking all my life."

"As if you need an excuse to talk all the time anyway," Moony cuts in, harsher than he should have done.

"What's wrong with you, Moony?"

"Nothing's wrong," we all roll our eyes. Here we go. "It's just that I think it's a little bit hypocritical for Prongs to starts caring now. It's like the only thing that gets his attention is when she's in serious pain. It's like he hasn't bothered until now, when she's absolutely desperate –"

I feel blood rising and boiling inside me, this is the problem with insults- they hurt more if they're true. They're harder to apologise for and take back because you mean every word.

"That's not true!" I deny it, I know I'm denying it.

"Isn't it? You've been so focused on your own problems. You've been in your own little bubble. Ignorance must be bliss, mustn't it? We all know there's a war ahead and Lily's in danger more than ever. If you love her like you always said you did, then why would you let that happen? Why would you join our side now?"

Moony is on his feet; he's never actually stood up to us before. I could always tell when he had a strong opinion on the stuff we did, but we all knew he'd never voice it. He was afraid we'd abandon him. We would never do such a thing, we Marauders stick together.

"Because, something happened that night when Lily went unconscious. Dumbledore told me about this bond we shared through our misdirected anger- he called it an epiphany of the soul…"

I go on to explain all of what happened and they listen with awe.

"…but we can't tell Lily. Dumbledore didn't think it was wise. You saw how she reacted to the kiss; imagine if she found out that her future was already set? She'd self-destruct."

They take it in, Moony lost deep in thought. As if considering my story. Padfoot sits with his mouth open before closing it.

"So basically you and Evans are hardwired for each other."

"Yes, exactly."

"Cool, she's the girl you always loved and now she's destined to be yours," Padfoot grins.

"I don't like it when you say it like that – like she has no choice."

"She doesn't," Moony scowls.

"The epiphany of the soul wouldn't work unless both of us bonded. She wants it too, in her soul at least."

I know what Moony is thinking, though. That maybe he can find someone who'll accept him for what he is and he won't hurt them. I feel guilty, this should have happened to Moony. This is what he needs.

"So Lily has no idea, whatsoever?" Moony asks.

"No, I don't know, maybe? She seemed pretty clueless in the Hospital Wing but maybe she was a bit confused having just woken up and everything –"

"Not that this isn't interesting, but we need to sort out our revenge on Bellatrix," Padfoot interrupts.

"Lily said –"

"Yeah, yeah, Lily said this, Lily said that. Who cares? Those Slytherins have had it coming and this is the perfect opportunity. If we take our revenge whilst she's in the Hospital Wing, she'll never know."

"You honestly think that the news that we took on Bellatrix won't reach her?" Moony raises his eyebrows.

"Fine! We'll be subtle."

"You've never been subtle in your life, Padfoot," Moony laughs.

"Yes I have, well maybe not. But first time for everything, right?"

"I say that we target what she cares about the most," Moony says.

"The Dark Lord?" Wormtail suggests.

"I don't plan on hunting him down, to be honest," I say.

Wormtail blushes at the stupid suggestion that we might hunt down He-Who-Must-Not-Be-Named.

"What about her hair?" Padfoot says. "All girls have a thing about hair, am I right?"

"Not all girls," Moony says. "But Bellatrix certainly cares an awful lot about her hair."

"Right then, we sneak into the Slytherin Dorms and ambush –" Padfoot begins.

"We're not going to get into her dormitory; we can't even get into the girl's dormitories here. Besides, I'm not breaking into Slytherin."

"What do you suggest we do?" Padfoot scowls impatiently.

"Leave her a few drops of a hair loss potion in her Pumpkin Juice," Moony grins, wickedly.

"That sounds good," I appraise him. "But something more, more than just no hair."

"What about, instead of getting rid of all her hair, we make it all grow continuously?" Padfoot says.

"I like that, every time she cuts it, it grows back twice as long!"

"How about her body hair, too?" Moony starts jotting down spells and potions.

"Yes! Is it too complicated?" I ask, peering over at Moony's notes.

"No, actually, it's relatively easy. It'll just take a while to brew. About 12 hours."

"That's alright, we can do that."

"I say we put a few drops- less concentrated- in all the Slytherin's Pumpkin Juice. Bellatrix will have it the worst, but it would be so funny to see them all try to cut it off…" Padfoot begins laughing helplessly at the thought.

"Right, when can we start?" I address Moony because Padfoot's collapsed and Wormtail's staring out of the window.

"I reckon it'll take me today to get all the ingredients and then the extra 12 hours, so let's say Tuesday breakfast, we'll plant the potion starting at the kitchen."

I grin, because this is one of the best plans we've fabricated in such short notice. I push the thought of Lily's disapproval from my mind; nothing can stop a Marauder from making mischief.

LILY'S P.O.V

Despite what Madam Pomfrey says, I think I'm fine. I don't really remember much, just our argument then a shake then the Hospital Wing. I feel very lonely without James beside me. I feel strange calling him James. It's weird not hating him, I don't know quite what I feel, but it's not loathing. He didn't reject nor accept my apology- and it's been bugging me these past few hours.

Does he hate me? Or does he not? I want him to like me. I don't want him to think I need protecting, because I don't. I can handle Bellatrix. That's why it's nagging my insides that he knows about the scars. I'm getting paranoid over it- but he can't know about the rest of them. There are things I haven't told Remus, Mar and Alice. I couldn't bring myself to; they got way too upset over just the scars. They wouldn't let me out of their sight if they heard about the other stuff.

Worst of all is Severus. He's officially joined the Dark side and I've overheard them talk about getting something called a 'Dark Mark'. I'm not 100% sure I know what that is, but it sounds dangerous. I think the worst of all the attacks was when we were on a corridor. Remus was taking on Avery, Mar had Mulciber and Alice was duelling Regulus Black. I had Bellatrix, of course. Then something weird happened, time stopped and Severus came out of the shadows. Bellatrix screamed something at him and he looked at me with unease, like he wasn't sure. I braced myself as he cast Crucio; it didn't hurt as much as when Bellatrix took over five minutes later. It was a searing pain, travelling through my veins and into my heart, pulsing the screams and terror all over my body.

When I finally came back to consciousness, I was in the Hospital Wing and nobody had any idea what they'd done to me and I didn't plan on telling them. I think Madam Pomfrey knew I was lying but she didn't push it. If she found out, or any of the teachers really, I'd be dead the minute I left Hogwarts. Bellatrix tells me all the time, that when the war begins, I'll be her first kill.

It doesn't worry me anymore, because Dumbledore told me about the Order of the Phoenix. That's exactly what I want to do, fight them. When Dumbledore talks to me about the Order, it's like I have the power back. Of course, I'm terrified, I'd be a fool not to be, but I know that she won't get me. I'll get her first, because I've made a promise to myself, she'll be my first kill if I do any killing at all.