*Remus POV*

Sirius raced into the Great Hall, smoothly sliding into the seat beside James.

"Everything is all set," He whispered excitedly.

"Hasn't everything been all set for the past few days now? I thought that we had already come up with a plan?" Lily questions, tucking a loose strand of vibrant hair behind her ear.

Sirius glared before pouting, "It was for dramatic effect!"

Lily laughed, forcing out an apology between her giggles.

I looked around the table, noticing that something seemed to be missing.

Or perhaps it was someone.

"Have any of you seen Lilah lately?" I asked the group, my eyes continuing to wonder across the room.

"No, she hasn't really been at the dorm much," Lily replied, a worried crease marring her forehead.

"So you haven't seen her outside of the dorm?" I probed, something not feeling right.

"Well sometimes but I haven't really talked to her since breakfast a few weeks ago when we all left, I just couldn't look her in the eye and lie to her like that,"

"Pads, Prongs?" I asked them.

"No, I haven't," James responded sullenly. "I tried to talk to her a few days ago in Divination but she completely ignored me and sat at another table,"

"No," Sirius mumbled, staring down at his plate, no longer wanting to eat its contents as his mind raced around him unintentionally ignoring his newest friend. "You?"

"No," I answered sadly, suddenly feeling like the worst cousin ever.

That's even if I was truly her cousin, something still felt slightly off despite our close friendship.

*Lilah POV*

I walked through the entrance to the great hall, my hand entwined with Nic's.

I glanced up at my boyfriend, glad that I at least still had someone that I could count on.

"You alright?" He chuckled, his fingers tightening their grip in reassurance.

"Yeah, you just make me happy is all,"

"Well, I'm glad," He smiled, tugging me gently in the direction of Ravenclaw's table.

Ever since breakfast a few weeks ago, the Marauders and Lily had been acting awfully strange. One moment they were fine and then the next they were doing all that they could to avoid me and let's just say that I finally got the hint and stopped trying to mend the broken friendship.

It hurt, I had no idea what I had done wrong but I got over it. I was pretty angry for a while as well but I guess I've just accepted it now, I've still got Nick and Marlene as well as a few other Ravenclaw's that I had managed to befriend.

"Li!" Jesse called out, his dark blond hair sticking out in numerous directions.

Jesse was Nicholas's best friend, having met on the boats the first night.

"Hey," I smiled warmly, glad that I had made new friends.

He bounced up and down in his seat excitedly, his eyes screaming in happiness. "Have you guys heard?"

"Heard what?" Nic asked, sitting us down across from Jesse.

"The school is holding a dance! Isn't that exciting? Because I think it's exciting!"

Nicholas turned towards me, smiling as he asked, "Sweetheart, would you give me the honour of accompanying you to this said dance?"

I don't know what it was but Nicholas didn't seem like the same sweet guy I met at the start of school – maybe I was looking too far into things? He did briefly mention once that he was having family troubles.

"Hm I don't know," I grinned cheekily, tapping my finger against my chin in mock thought.

He gasped, placing a hand over his heart as if he'd been shot.

"How can I ever live now?" He cried out.

I playfully hit him on the arm, the mischievous grin on his face mimicking my own.

"Of course, I'd love to,"

He leant in closer, his forehead brushing against mine. His breath fanned my face and it oddly reminded me of chocolate and mint.

Both of which are delicious - which of course he is.

"Um hi," Jesse choked out, "yeah still here,"

*Third Person POV*

Lily shifted uncomfortably next to James as Sirius snickered under the invisibility cloak.

"Ow!" Sirius muttered.

"Thanks, Remus," Lily beamed in the general direction she believed them to be in.

They tiptoed into the library, having previously seen Nicholas walk in not long beforehand.

"It's like we're Batman," Lily whispered under her breath.

Remus snorted loudly, attracting the attention of our peers around us.

"Good going," James berated.

"What's a Batman?" Sirius questioned, genuinely confused.

"He's a muggle superhero," Remus explained quietly.

"Oh," Sirius mumbled, not finding the explanation as interesting as he had originally thought it to be. "Does he lick weed as well? Because the soulless ginger definitely did,"

"Lick weed?" Remus and Lily laughed, both having more exposure to muggle antics opposed to the two purebloods.

"Isn't that what I just said?" Sirius sassed, flicking his hair dramatically under the cloak.

"You don't lic-"

"Merlin! Lads we're here for one reason and one reason only – to expose Nicholas for the evil git he is," James whispered harshly, his patience for once wearing thin.

"Right," Sirius mumbled, refocusing on the task at hand, reassuring himself that he would discover the truth about licking weed sometime in the near future.

The group split up, tumbling awkwardly around the library in an attempt to appear inconspicuous, as Remus had put it.

"The ball should be fun," A light voice carried over to James and Lily.

"Anything's fun with you be my side," A deeper voice flirted.

Lily and James looked at each other, nodding in recognition before making their way closer to the pair.

"You can't just walk up to them! We're trying to be discreet!" Lily whispered, not allowing James' anger to get the best of him when the plan was almost completed. She pulled on his sleeve, directing him to the bookshelf behind the occupied table. In their rush, they had missed out on some of the pair's conversation, only catching the end of Lilah's sentence.

"...it doesn't matter anymore, alright? They don't matter anymore. They didn't want to be friends with me, Nic," Lilah replied, her sad eyes glancing down at her book.

"But they hurt you," his annoyed tone carried through to the fake couple hiding behind them, a wince twisting the boy's face.

"Yeah, they did and it's alright," She muttered.

"How in Merlin's beard is it alright?" He exclaimed, his voice rising, risking the possibility of the old librarian kicking him out.

"Because now I've got you," She whispered softly, mustering a small smile in his direction.

"This is complete bullshit," James clenched his teeth, the sight in front of him making him want to be physically sick – however, he wasn't yet sure if it was because he was only just realising how deeply he had hurt the girl who was his supposed future or if it was because she had moved on and was literally now in the arm's of another man.

"I'm going to go check out the Potions book, I'll be back in a minute," Lilah stood, pressing a soft kiss to her boyfriend's lips before heading towards the opposite side of the room to check out her book.

"That's disgusting," James gagged, ready to throw up his breakfast from earlier that morning.

"Oh stop being dramatic," Lily scolded, still finding the couple adorable despite the small possibility of Nicholas being a death eater and not being on good terms with Lilah.

"Dramatic? I can show you dramatic!" James whispered loudly, ready to lunge at Nicholas.

"Oi Prongs, chill your pickle," Sirius grunted out, mildly shocking the two.

Sirius and Remus pulled the cloak off, leaning beside James and Lily on the bookcase to peer out at Nicholas.

"What happens after this?" Lily asked quietly.

"What do you mean?" James was the one to reply.

The red head ran a hand a hand over her pin straight hair, "Even if we do prove that Nicholas is a death eater, will she want to still be friends with us? We've treated her horribly lately, she basically has no one other than us,"

"What do you mean?" Sirius replied, not wanting to think of the possibility that he had truly lost one of the only people he trusted because of their foolishness, "Of course she will! Everything will be like it was before,"

"I don't think it will be," Remus agreed with Lily.

"She's rarely ever in our dorm anymore and when she is it's like I don't exist," Lily sighed sadly, her hand dropping from her hair. "Sometimes during the night I can hear her cry out like she's having nightmares but I don't do anything,"

She was disappointed in herself, something the Marauders could identify easily.

"Hey," Remus placed his hand upon Lily's shoulder, "we can try, alright?"

She smiled slightly up at Remus, grateful for his attempt to put her mind at ease.

"Okay," She breathed out.

"Ssh, look," James pointed.

In front of the bookcase sat Nicholas but also Lucius Malfoy.

"Is it complete?" Malfoy whispered harshly.

"Almost, I shall inform the Dark Lord when it is complete, Lucius," Nicholas gritted out.

"He is getting impatient," Lucius continued.

"Is it he who is getting impatient or is it you, Malfoy? Do learn not to confuse the two, he will not be happy," Nicholas smirked darkly, his tongue licking his bottom lip.

"How dare you!" Lucius was turning red, a stark contrast from his pale blond hair and pasty skin.

"Learn your place Malfoy, otherwise I'll be forced to put you in it," Nicholas leant back in his seat, his eyes glimmering in simmering rage.

"I-"

Nicholas lifted up his sleeve, proudly displaying his mark. "Would you like me to call him, dear Lucius? I'm sure he will be quite pleased with your attempt to get in his good graces," He smiled sarcastically, his wand hovering over the mark. "You best be off now, I'm sure your girlfriend is curious as to where you've wondered off to,"

"At least my girlfriend isn't some Gryffindor slut," He spat, turning to leave the isolated table.

"You better watch what you say Malfoy or something unforgivable might happen,"

Malfoy hurried out quickly after the thinly veiled threat, his tail tucked tightly between his legs.

"Did he-" Lily breathed out.

"Yeah," James replied, shocked at what he had just witnessed.

"So he's a-" Lily couldn't find the words, fiddling nervously with the locket around her neck.

"What do we do now?" Sirius asked out loud.

"We expose him."