here's the next chapter. its pretty much just Sirius and Remus' point of view of what happened and them trying to figure everything out. kinda filler-ish.

DISCLAIMER: i own nothing except the plot

I LOVE YOU ALL:

Jersey Princess: im going to reply to all your reviews in one shot. thanks soooo much for reviewing to all the chappies that you reviewed to! (which was all of them). im glad you liked it! ::gives Princess all the bribes promised:: ( only because im too lazy to type out all 8 bribes). And its not that i dont like best-friends-fics, the thing is, sirius and moony are alone during the books, so that means the best friends they are meant to be with die or they break up or something, which is is. really, the same thing goes for lily's friends, because they never really talk about a best friend of lily's when she was younger, meaning that person might have died too. in some of my stories (the future ones that are works-in-progress), lily has a best friend or 2 like james has the Marauders... but i still dont like the james-best-friends fall in 3 with lily's-best-friends. too... perfectville... anyways. i hope you enjoy this chappie!

MissCleo: well, you'll have to wait a bit longer for lily and james to hook up. mostly, this chappie is about remmi and sirius. and its not so much she has special powers, she just loses control like Harry did when he blew up his aunt and she manages to focus it a bit. glad you liked it! ::MissCleo gets a sundae::

Dans-girl-4ever: im glad you liked it (and that you picked up on the sarcasm!) ::Dan's girl gets a sundae::

Alandra Jade Hart: :-D your review made me soooo happy. i hope you like this chappie just as much! ::Alandra gets a sundae::

dreamy-crazygirl: im glad you loved it so much!!! this one took me a loooong time too, im sorry to say. this chappie isnt really up to par, but i needed to get somethin out before i forgot about this story completely (i got an idea for a new one that i totally love and started and got relaly distracted, but i havent posted it yet). how'd you do in competition? im glad you liek the pjs- ron can cheer everyone up.. he's just that pretty. that last chappie was one of my all time favs, mostly because i got to write lily as this strong, dont-take-shit character finally taking action and not really being in control and stuff. it was just really fun for me and im sooo thrilled you liked it so much! i think this chapter was so delayed, you no longer need the ice cream on layaway. ::gives crazygirl 2 scoops java ice cream, wand/broom sprinkles, etc sundae:: (im too lazy to finish it- add whatever you please :-D) i got the POA dvd!!! grint is my favorite, but dan is sooo pretty (much hotter than tom). feel free to ramble on!

the-power-of-love: glad you liked it ::sundae for power-of-love::

Flame of Desire: im sorry i made you lose socks!!! it took a mondo-long time for me to update, i know!! hope you enjoy this chappie ::sundae for Desire::

Annmarie Aspasia: im glad you liked it (and im sorry i scared you last time). hehe. you kepted your brother from sleeping. i wouldnt even let my brother near the computer while i was on, so i commend you for your selfcontol in not killing him just yet (remember- the plan doesnt go into effect until after christmas, so that we get all their presents) ::sundae for annmarie::

James-RoxMySox: im glad you liked it so much! i hope this chappie was worth the wait, too. i love when lily is pissed too, so much fun to write. :-D YAY! i get a cupcake!!!! ::sundae for James-RoxMySox::

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Chapter 9: Finding Some Help

Dazed, Remus slowly began to open his eyes, which were unable to focus and annoyingly sensitive to light. Blindly, he reached for the nearby lamp. Turning it off, he allowed his eyes to readjust themselves. When he first looked at his watch, he thought he was misreading it. Ten o'clock? How?

Looking outside the window, he saw it was indeed dark. How on earth had they slept for... he couldn't even remember how long. His brain was fuzzy and he couldn't think clearly. He remembered... reading and watching his friends play chess. Looking up, he saw Sirius was still asleep, but no sign of James. Standing slowly, Moony walked over to Sirius and yanked the thick chessboard from under him, causing Sirius' head to make a loud THWACK against the mahogony table.

Needless to say, but Sirius woke up a bit faster than Remus had.

"Remus! Mate, what was that for?" Sirius asked accusingly, rubbing the sore side of his face, which was a tint redder than the rest of his face. Remus' head was still a little fuzzy, but not so much that he was incapable of simple logic.

"To wake you up." He said simply, shrugging. He waited as Sirius stood and stretched out his long limbs, which were sore after sitting in the same position for so long. Sirius, still a bit dazed, looked around the room with a curious expression on his face, blinking rapidly. Remus began to follow his gaze, wondering what Sirius was looking for.

"Hey- where's Prongs?" Sirius continued to look around the room as if he expected James to pop out of thin air, yelling 'SURPRISE!'.

"Um... not quite sure, really.... We've been sleeping for quite a bit, I'm sure he left to eat or something..."

"Quite a bit? What'dya mean? It's only..." Sirius glanced at a clock on the wall, ".. ten o'clock?!" Sirius turned his head back to the clock.

"Moony- how'd we sleep for... for.. How many hours did we sleep?" Sirius asked, very confused. Remus just shook his head. Sitting down on the couch, Remus rested his head in his hands. His head was beginning to hurt- why couldn't they figure out what happened? Tiredly, Remus lifted his head and looked at Sirius.

"Mate- you didn't, you know, put something in our drinks, did you?" Remus asked cautiously. Sirius shook his head vigorously.

"No! But.. someone else might have... but, who could've?" Sirius said thoughtfully, his face contorted in concentration. His head was still a little foggy and he was having some trouble getting from point A to point B without getting sidetracked. Remus began to search the room, looking under tables and cushions.

"Moony, whatcha looking for?" Sirius asked, looking around.

"The .." he looked under the table where Sirius and James had been playing chess, "..map! There it is!" Remus stood triumphantly, unrolling the Marauder's Map, scanning it for James. He finally found him...

"What's he bloody doing in the Forbidden Forest?!?" Sirius, who was leaning over Remus' shoulder, asked.

"Mate- I don't think that is the biggest shock from this. Notice who he is with?!?" Remus asked, slightly panicked. Sirius looked at him curiously, then back at the map.

"Oh, yeah, with Lily and with- oh shit. Where's Dumbledore? We gotta go tell him!! Right now!!! Remus, c'mon. James is surrounded by Voldermont and a buncha his cronies, we HAVE TO GO!!!!" Sirius began to charge out of the Common Room. Remus stood frozen for a moment, then began to search the map again. Dumbledore was in his office.

The two boys raced to their headmaster's office. When they reached the stone gargoyle, panting, Remus gasped out the password (as told by the Marauder's Map).

"Acid Pop!" The gargoyle lept aside and Dumbledore stepped out from behind it. Remus stuffed the map in his pocket as Sirius began to explain what happened.

"Professor!! You gotta come! It's James- and Lily- he's in the forest with- with Voldermont! I don't know why, but something's happpened! You gotta go save them!" Sirius' eyes were wide with fright and he was having what felt like a mild anxiety attack. As soon as he heard Voldermont's name, Dumbledore's eyes ceased to twinkle and his playful smile dropped. Gravely serious, Dumbledore called for Fawkes and sent the bird off with instructions neither boy heard.

"You two- stay here. We don't need any more lives at stake." Dumbledore pushed the two into his office and stalked off, power radiating from him. The boys couldn't just wait in his office, but it wasn't like they had any choice- they were locked in. Spreading the map out across the desk, the boys did their best to follow the battle.

Though they didn't know what was being said, they saw Lily and James were being held back by Death Eaters, but not for long. Somehow, the pair was suddenly moving quickly down a hill.

"Do'ya think they got pushed?" Sirius asked in a hushed voice.

"It doesn't matter- look, Dumbledore is right there, and there goes Voldemont- they are all gone." Remus rested his head in his hands.

"We shoulda gotten to Dumbledore earlier- he woulda been able to catch Voldemont!" Sirius muttered, blaming himself. Remus shook his head.

"How? How could we have gotten here sooner- we were drugged, I'm sure of it. It musta been in our food- remember, James didn't eat at lunch. I dunno how they did it though- must have been hard, making it so only we got drugged. But WHY?" Remus asked, angry for not being able to figure it out. Frustration never helped solve a problem, though.

"Maybe... maybe it was to get to James." Sirius said seriously (no one say anything!!). There was no place for his usual comic relief- the whole sitiuation was too sobering and too.. too real. Remus looked at him thoughtfully, his eyes out of focus. The answer was right there! If only he could reach it...

"Or... maybe it was to get to Lily..." Remus rubbed his chin- the pieces were almost close enough to solve the puzzle!

"But, why drug us? We have nothing to do with her." Remus shook his head and motioned for Sirius to stop talking. He began to pace the room.

"Someone... someone must've told him that Lily and James have gotten closer, or that they live in the same dorms, which everyone knows... Maybe, maybe they knew that James would go looking for Lily if she didn't come back one night... And they couldn't just take James without us noticing, so they had to move us out of the way, at least temporarily..." Sirius interrupted, the little light bulb turning on in his head. Questions began to swarm inside his brain.

"But why not just drug James? Or kill all of us?" Remus continued to pace.

"Well, maybe they tried to drug James- but he didn't eat, remember? I don't know if he went to dinner, but if he did, they must've not realized he hadn't been drugged. And, c'mon Sirius, do you really think they could have gotten away with killing three of the Marauders? The whole school would freak- even some of the Slytherins would be angry! No.. no they wouldn't want that. Better to just move us out of the way until later..." Sirius looked up at Remus.

"Whose 'they'? And why do they want to kill Lily?" But, Remus was on a roll and ignored Sirius' questions.

"Or.. or maybe he wanted both Lily and James out of the way, so they wouldn't have drugged James, just us. Maybe he thinks Lily and James are too big of a threat- maybe he knows something about them we don't. But, then, why not just poison them? Maybe... maybe he wanted it to be personal? But, why bother?" Remus was now talking to himself, trying to figure this all out. Sirius continued to ask questions that Remus ignored.

"Whose 'they'? Whose 'he'? Clue me in!!" Remus turned to Sirius.

"He, as in Voldemont. They, as in his Death Eaters and, more specifically, the students who are doing their dirty work and feeding them information." A look of understanding flashed across Sirius' face.

"It seems you've figured out more of this mystery than the rest of us." Dumbledore said quietly from the door, watching the two boys. Sirius scrambled to hide the map and stuffed it into his robes. Remus smiled wanely at the headmaster and shook his head.

"All guesses. We don't know any more than anyone else. How are James and Lily? What did Voldemont do?" Remus asked worriedly. Sirius began to bombard Dumbledore with questions.

"What happened? Are they okay? Did you catch any of them? Do you know what's going on? Do you know who any of them are? Do you know what they drugged us with--" Dumbledore cut him off with a wave of his hand. Exhaustedly, Dumbledore dropped into his chair behind his desk.

"Mr. Black, I don't know much more than you do, but I do know that both Ms. Evans and Mr. Potter will be fine- you can visit them tomorrow. Now, what's this about being drugged?" Dumbledore asked curiously, his voice even and collected. His fiery passion was once again put to rest and now Dumbledore needed more information on what happened.

"Well, we don't really know- we went to lunch, played quidditch a bit, then it's all a bit fuzzy. I remember playing chess with James, then waking up and finding it's 10 o'clock and James is gone." Dumbledore nodded slowly as Sirius finished his short explanation.

"I'll look into, don't worry. We'll get to the bottom of this. Though, I'm afraid, we'll have to wait until Mr. Potter and Ms. Evans awake. You two should go back to your dorms- though I'm not sure if you'll be able to sleep." Remus and Sirius recognized the dismissal and left the circular office. The pair walked to the kitchen, they were both quite hungry since the last time they ate was lunch.

"Moony... why do you think he chose her- she wasn't anything special, never did anything to grab his attention.. to grab anyone's attention. James never did anything all that special either... Why them? Why did he have to do that to them?" Sirius asked, leaning against the wall, his voice soft and hopeless, confused and thoughtful.

"Maybe he saw something in her that no one else did, something that threatened him. And the same with James. Maybe he knows something about them... about their future that the rest of us are clueless about." Remus said thoughtfully, leaning against the wall next to his friend. Sirius smiled.

"Yeah- because Lily and James have a real bright future together. Gunna get married and have a million kids, one of which are going to be the end of dear, old Uncle Voldie, right?" Sirius joked, losing his depressed demeanor. Pushing off the wall, Sirius began to walk towards the kitchens again. Remus watched him saunter off, his expression thoughtful.

"Hey, ya never know..." Remus whispered softly, his voice trailing off. He heard a grumble coming from his stomach and realized suddenly how truly starving he was. Shaking his head to empty it of any of the bizarre notions he had been having, Remus caught up with Sirius, temporarily forgetting whatever profound (and prophetic) thoughts about the future that was to come.

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