The first thing she noticed when she woke up was that her scarf appeared to be strangling her. Letting out a low growl of frustration, she loosened it.

The things she would do for approval…

Rita Skeeter sat up, and slid her slightly skewed glasses back up her nose. Blinking, she took a cursory look around the room. Usually, Rita was very suspicious about sleeping where anybody could get to her. It was almost as if she asked for the pranks, for the sniggering and malicious intention.

Well, actually, the more she thought about it…. She did.

Rita blinked, suddenly realising that she had awoken in an unfamiliar room. The air was distinctly chilly, and she huddled on the lounge, drawing her robes closer in a futile attempt to gather warmth.

Next, using her fantastic and finely honed powers of observation, Rita noticed that she was not, as she had suspected, the sole occupant of this cold, foreboding room.

James Potter and Sirius Black leant against a table across the other side of the chamber, regarding her suspiciously.

Which really was a bit rich considering they were the ones who had kidnapped her…

Noticing that James and Sirius were without the other Marauders, irrational hope flared within Rita's heart. Maybe, if she was lucky, that Lupin boy who was always so pale had gone to find Lily, to bring her back here… Maybe, if she was lucky, the Marauders wouldn't steal her thunder after all?

After all that work hiding and spying on Scamander for months on end, Rita felt it was the least she deserved.

James, however, was of the opinion that Rita Skeeter deserved to have her filthy secrets burnt, and her camera and quill confiscated. As Head Boy he was quite entitled to do this, too: so long as he filed a report explaining his reasons, that is. A report that Lily, as Head Girl, would readily have access to.

Well, James sighed. It had been a nice idea…

Sirius watched the girl on the lounge sit up, his mouth twisted into some semblance of disgust. Had Sirius been a less-attractive boy, it would have been an ugly look. James' knuckles, he noticed, were clenching on the table for support. Rita watched them for a moment, looking (Sirius felt) strangely hopeful, before she tried to stand up.

For the second time that day, Rita Skeeter found herself at Sirius Black's wand point.

"Sit," he snarled, looking very much intimidating.

James came to stand by him, and rested a soothing hand on his shoulder. Then, crouching down, he addressed Rita with a quiet tone – he would have seemed almost gentle, had his eyes been not so hard.

"Why would you do that to Lily?"

Rita blinked. "Do what to Lily?" she asked sweetly.

Sirius felt the insane need to punch something. Luckily for Rita, Sirius wasn't all inclined to hit a girl, although it was a close call.

Suddenly, the door to the Room of Requirement opened, and all three occupants startled. For a wild moment, James feared that Lily had discovered them – what would he tell her?

"We brought supplies!" Peter announced happily, entering the room with food piled in his arms. Remus followed in procession, setting his load down on the table that had appeared helpfully by the doorway. "What's up?" he asked briskly.

James and Sirius stepped aside silently to reveal their captive. Remus raised his eyebrows, able to appreciate the absurdness of this situation. "You kidnapped Rita Skeeter?"

Peter, who was bent over the table, helping himself to a muffin, chuckled. "Why on earth would any one want to kidnap that-"

Sirius coughed, hiding a smile.

James stood and crossed his arms, eyebrows raised sardonically as he watched Sirius' attempt to subtly gravitate toward the table of food. Needless to say, he was not impressed. It was typical of the Marauders to not take things so seriously… but honestly! Catering for an interrogation like they were having a party was just ridiculous. Did no one take anything seriously anymore?

Once the food had been sorted, Remus wandered over to James, who was seated rather dejectedly on a tabletop across the room. Gently, he untangled James' hands from his twisted robes.

"Now are you going to tell me exactly what's going on?" Remus asked kindly, mildly surprised to find his normally self-assured friend so anxious. Wordlessly, James pointed a single finger toward a large, square shaped book resting on the far end of his table.

It seemed like an age before James heard the book close gently. Remus cleared his throat awkwardly.

"Well," he murmured. "I think that I for one am having nightmares tonight."

Sirius let out a bark-like laugh, earning himself three separate sets of glares: one each from Remus, James, and surprisingly, Rita.

"What are we going to do, Prongs?" Remus persisted gently. "Its your call."

James shrugged. "I don't know," he muttered, scowling at Rita as if this entire mess was all her fault.

And, credit where credit is due, Rita Skeeter was partially responsible for the disaster. But Remus didn't think it was fair that she was held responsible for Art, too.

"We destroy the scrapbook," Peter suggested suddenly, looking hopefully between the faces of his friends.

"That doesn't just make the problem go away, Wormtail," Remus explained gently.

Sirius shrugged. "I personally don't see what you have to lose in telling her, Prongs," he reasoned. "She breaks up with Art, you woo her and BANG – she's your girlfriend. Simple."

James' hand flew toward his wand pocket before he thought better. Freezing, he chose instead to redirect his scowl.

"Simple? Yeah, you know what I feel like doing today, Paddy? Breaking Lily's heart. Let's just cut it out, jump on it for a while, and see how much she loves me then.Simple? Oh Lily, I love to so much that I just can't wait to make you miserable. Yeah. That sounds about right, doesn't it?"

Sirius swallowed. All three boys knew very well that James Potter was rarely sarcastic – and when he was, they knew something was wrong.

Remus sighed, resting a hand warningly on James' arm. "All right. We won't tell her. But lets just – put our heads together. There has to be something we can do, right?"

"Checkmate!"

Lily grinned, taking a triumphant final swig from her bottle of butterbeer. Em rolled her eyes.

"I don't even know why I bother to play with you, Lily Evans. I should know better. Every single game?!"

Lily shrugged, grin still plastered across her face. "Sorry Em," she laughed, not appearing to be sorry in the least.

Emmeline smiled good naturedly. "I'm sure you are, Lils. But that's enough for me. A girl can only take so many losses. Fancy a walk?"

Lily stretched luxuriously. "Why not? I have to return a book to the library anyway," she murmured, casting a cursory look around the Gryffindor Common Room.

Lily and Emmeline were busy enjoying their free Wednesday afternoon, whilst the rest of the school was in class. It was, Lily felt, one of the biggest perks of seventh year.

Speaking of seventh year… The Marauders hadn't been in Charms or Potions that morning. This in itself wasn't a rare occurrence; it was more that the Marauders had continued to flaunt their absence during the free lessons in which, more often than not, they persisted in incessantly pestering Emmeline and herself.

Probably tired from the Halloween dinner last night, Lily concluded, conveniently forgetting that James had not returned to the Heads Tower last night.

Smiling lazily, she raised herself with great effort from the armchair. Then, together with Emmeline, she left the Gryffindor Common room for her own Heads Tower. Retrieving her library book, the Head Girl again failed to observe that the Marauders had not invaded that Tower. Quite frankly, a Marauder-free day meant a drama-free day, and Lily was quite satisfied with that.

"Fancy a trip to the kitchens, sweet heart?"

Petria Diggory looked up, startled, at the tall, blonde boy who leant casually over her study carrel. Sweeping his hair out of his enchantingly blue eyes, Art Scamander smiled charmingly, and tucked a lock of (in her opinion, muddy brown) hair behind Petria's ear.

"Me?" she asked, extremely surprised and secretly appalled.

Art rolled his eyes in an exaggerated fashion. "No, the other gorgeous little brunette I have sitting before me," he laughed, displaying his very white teeth.

Petria narrowed her eyes. As charming as Art appeared to be…

"Don't you have a girlfriend?" she countered suspiciously.

Art shrugged. "Not here now, is she?" he replied easily, before leaning even closer. "No," he murmured softly. "She doesn't matter, Petria. The only people who matter are you," he stroked her cheek gently, "and me."

Petria slapped his hand away, standing up abruptly and backing away. "Don't you dare touch me again, Scamander," she warned, eyes glittering fiercely. "You have a girlfriend – and Lily is a wonderful girl at that. I'm a prefect, you know. I see her a lot. She doesn't deserve such a scumbag."

And with one final look of disgust, Petria packed up her things and left the library, head held high.

Art scowled, easing himself into Petria's vacated seat.

Well that could have gone better, he sighed. He'd have to chase her now; flatter her, and the effort tired him so…

"Art!"

A terribly familiar voice invaded his thoughts, and before he knew it, the aforementioned girlfriend – or, as Art liked to think of her, ball-and-chain – swooped down on him and kissed his cheek.

"Fancy running into you here!" Lily smiled, already entwining her fingers in his hair.

Not those bloody fingers…. There was nothing worse, in Art's opinion, than Lily messing up his hair.

"What are you doing here?" he demanded gruffly. He was grumpy, and he didn't care who knew it.

With an obligatory glance upwards, he looked at his girlfriend for the first time, and had to remind himself not to wince. Her hair was out, again. Art hated Lily's hair out.

Because it looked nicer than his.

Noticing they were not alone, Art raised his eyebrows and sneered at Emmeline Vance. That girl was such a … Art couldn't even find the words.

Even if she wasn't Lily's best friend, he wouldn't bother hitting on her. That was it. Emmeline's renowned fame for her Fanged Fairy hex was enough to keep him away.

"Yes?"

Emmeline visibly blanched, looking doubtfully between Lily, who was still smiling in that damned affectionate way, and Art, who was looking as though he'd just swallowed Hippogriff dung.

"I – er – have to go to the Owlery!" she announced, her voice falsely bright. "I'll see you later, Lily."

Emmeline hurried out of the library, feeling ill. That boy… she shook her head, as usual, unable to comprehend what in Merlin's name Lily saw in him.

"Fancy a walk?" Lily asked brightly, gesturing toward the window, through which the grounds could be seen, basking in the light of the late-afternoon sun. Art shrugged.

At least, he decided, if they were walking, she wouldn't talk too much.

Emmeline wandered back toward the common room, thoroughly out of sorts. Art Scamander was every inch as Scummy as the Marauder's nickname for him, and yet, Lily persistently ignored their rather accurate assessment of the situation. It seemed clear to Emmeline that Art Scamander deserved nothing more than to be dumped harshly and brutally.

But how was she ever going to convince Lily?

Lily was notorious for not listening to anyone's advice: much less, the advice of her very best friend. Emmeline sighed.

Rounding the corner into the corridor that led past the Transfiguration classroom, Emmeline found herself suddenly and inexplicably hurled against a wall by an invisible force.

Well, not so much hurled, as shoved roughly.

Next thing she knew, something was thrown over her head, and –

Emmeline blinked as Sirius Black grinned sheepishly at her.

Sirius Black had her pinned against a wall.

Oh Merlin.

"What?" Emmeline demanded crossly.

Sirius expelled his breath slowly, looking supremely reluctant. "We're in a spot of bother."

"I don't care, Black," Emmeline told him coldly. "I've had it up to here with boys today, what with Scummy and then – what?"

Sirius' expression had darkened at the very mention of that name.

Sirius frowned. "It's Scummy, and we need you now, because James is freaking out," he told her shortly.

Emmeline shrugged. "And its my problem because?"

"Because," Sirius said firmly, leaning even closer and fixing her eyes with a stubborn look, "Lily is your dearest friend in the whole, wide world, Vance," he told her. "And we need your help."

Emmeline winced. Sirius' face was centimetres from hers, and he looked so… grave.

"All right," she told him reluctantly.

Sirius' face transformed, and suddenly he smiled, relieved. "Thank you," he told her, sincerely. "You have no idea what this will mean to James."

Emmeline raised her eyebrows. "I'm not doing this –whatever it is – for you, Sirius. I'm doing it for Lily."

Sirius impulsively kissed her cheek. "You're a good friend," he told her softly. "And trust me, Lily's going to need her friends sooner rather than later."

Emmeline blushed, extremely confused, and allowed herself to be led away beneath what appeared to be an invisibility cloak, still mildly disgruntled.