~*Dearest,

There are things in life that are inevitable; I am powerless to control them. The Sun will rise and set, the tide will come in and go out, the seasons will change, the birds will fly south for the winter and return in the spring, and the caterpillar will transform itself into a gorgeous butterfly. Somehow, I feel reassured by this because many other things in life are so transient - so momentary.
 

Love, from the moment we met, I knew that our friendship would develop into something lasting and precious, just as I am sure that the caterpillar will one day become a gorgeous butterfly.
 

Dearest, I believe that our love is blessed by God. It is a union of two spirits destined for everlasting happiness. Thus, you have truly become the star of my life which brings me light in this dark world and warmth when I need it. You offer me the promise of renewal, the joy of living, the peace of mind that comes from sharing and caring, and that shoulder to lean on in times of stress. You are my Swallow from Capistrano - my precious butterfly, and I will cherish you and love you forever.
 

-Love, me*~

He didn't even know the girl's next to him name--but he was willing to find out everything possible about this girl, if he could feel half of what she felt for him.

"I'm sorry, but I'm not sure if I know your name." Amos asked the shy, quiet girl beside him. Another fellow Hufflepuff was all he knew.

"My name's Lorena Simpson." Lorena said politely.

"I'm Amos Diggory, nice to meet your acquaintance Lorena Simpson." Lorena giggled...And yet another romance had started from that one short letter....

When the night class was over, Amos and Lorena walked back to the common room together, and Amos kept the letter inside his bag for safe keeping--he'd ask her about it later...

^*^*^*^*^*^*^*^*^*^*^*^*^*^*^*^*^*^

Remus Lupin was not having a good night--for one Peter Pettigrew had been acting like a mean, insensitive jerk to him--and Sirius Black (his long time crush) seemed to fancy James Potter. And James, quite obviously liked Lily Evans, since he was spending ALL his time talking about her or being with her--Flirting like the fool he was and poor Lily was left to wonder where his new found feelings had come from--Remus himself had asked James about them, and just shrugged and grinned about something he was keeping secret.

At the moment, when he should be asleep (It Friday Night and he was a tired boy), James and Sirius were having a  one-sided conversation.

"You know James...It's okay to tell the truth."

"I know Sirius and I'm telling you-."

"That you like Lily...Are you sure about that though? There's nobody else you might like?"

"Err--."

"I see, there IS someone else!" Sirius exclaimed.

"I never said that!" James cried out in protest.

"You IMPLIED it!"

"No I did-."

"Oh so, you did!"

"SIRIUS!" James was getting frustrated with his friend's antics.

"That settles it then...I'm on my way to bed." The lights went off and everyone fell asleep, more then one in complete confusion as to what was going on.

Sirius was wondering why James couldn't admit that he liked him.

Peter was wondering where that love letter had gotten to...If word got out Remus liked him...Things could get ugly.

James was wondering about Lily being in love with him and Sirius' acting like a patient from St. Mungo's.

Remus was wondering where all the sanity had gone.

-^-^-^-^-^-^-^-^-^-^-^-^-^-^-^-^-^-^-^-^-^-^-

"Lily?" Jimena Jenkins asked her best friend Lily Evans the next morning as they got ready to go to Hogsmeade.

"Hmm?" Lily asked as she concentrated on putting on her shoes and soaks.

"You don't mind if...I go off with Raidon this Hogsmeade Weekend do you? It's our date..."

"Oh that's fine, I'll just hang out with Lorena--you know the sixth year Hufflepuff?"

"Yeah, I know her--she's really quiet."

"I agree with you on that, but she's nice. And it's better then hanging out with James--God  that flirting is so blatantly obvious!" Lily said in a high pitched voice, that wasn't her own--because she had just fallen off her unstable spot on her bed. "Ouch."

"You sure are clumsy." Jimena noted.

"Apparently, well I got to hurry or I might not catch Lorena or escape from James! Bye Jimena!" Lily called, shoving her shoe on the rest of the way and running out the door.

Lily found Lorena talking to Amos Diggory, another sixth year Hufflepuff Lily was on friendly terms with. "Hey guys, how's it going?" Lily asked coming up beside them.

"Great." They answered at the same time.

"Amos and I are going to hang out this Hogsmeade visit--your welcome to come along." Lorena invited, her eyes clearly stating she wanted Lily to be with her so she wouldn't be alone.

"Um, I guess so." Lily said with a shrug and the three headed out to catch a carriage to Hogsmeade.

It was cold out that Saturday morning, and everyone was bundled up and running through the snow. Some 1st-3rd years were having a snowball fight, the blizzard was over and it was a much nicer day.

Lily watched as Amos and Lorena talked; there was a lot of chemistry between the popular boy and shy girl and Lily stayed quiet to give them time to get to know each other.

"--Oh, Charms is my favorite class."

"Mine too!" Lily listened to them talk, and enjoyed herself all through the morning and then at lunch time they went into the Three Broomsticks.

She spotted Raidon and Jimena in a lively conversation about who knows what, and Lucius and Narcissa drooling over each other in the corner of the room, their butter beer long forgotten. She also spotted Professor McGonagall and Sinistra sitting together, looking quite adorable as they talked quietly to each other...Maybe there was something to that crush James had been talking about... Speaking of James--

There he was sitting with his three friends, James and Sirius on one side of the table with Sirius pestering James about something and Peter looking fidgety and poor Remus looking lost as to what was going on.

Lily had always liked Remus as a friend and so she decided that maybe she could cheer him up a bit by talking to him and giving Lorena and Amos some privacy in the process. Lily excused her self from the soon-to-be-couple and made her way to Remus' table.

"Hey guys." Lily greeted and the table suddenly changed atmosphere and all seemed happy to see her but Sirius who looked rather irritated she'd interrupted his conversation with James, whatever that might be about.

"Lily, here with Amos and...Lorena?" Remus asked, hoping he got the other girl's name right.

"Yes, Lorena seemed to want company. They are a good match together, though you wouldn't think so by their social abilities..." Lily said thoughtfully, "I wonder how they ended up going here together anyway! I was almost positive they'd never talked before yesterday."

"That's what I thought." James agreed, that silly grin on his face once more, that he always had on whenever Lily was in his presence.

"Err...Remus, you want to go to--Flourish and Blotts with me? I need this certain book for Arithmancy and I forget what it's called."

"Yeah sure." Remus practically leapt out of his seat and he and Lily made a quick exit. "So, this isn't about an Arithmancy book is it?"

"No, I just wanted to escape James before he started flirting." Remus snorted with laughter.

"The poor guy, he really likes you." Remus said, trying to keep his 'good friend' status.

"It came out of NOWHERE though, one minute he was normal--the next, he was after me like I was some juicy piece of meat!" Lily exclaimed.

"It did, and I'm confused on it myself...Everyone seems to have gone off their rocker recently, Sirius seems to have a crush on James, and Peter seems afraid of me--Narcissa's snogging with Malfoy."

"That was a shocker...Sirius likes James? I didn't know he was gay."

"Yeah, he came out quietly to everyone...Some people still don't know, but the Marauders all know of course." Remus explained.

"Hmm...What do you thinks going on that you and I don't know about? And also--there was Lorena and Amos talking!  And Sinistra and McGonagall on a date!"

"Yeah...true." Remus agreed. "That was unexpected."

"Oh! And then Raidon said YES to a date invitation."

"Strange...And then of course, we all saw how Snape looked yesterday morning." The two teenagers shivered involuntarily.

"I never want to see a man in a thong again!" Lily blinked several times, trying to rid the image from her mind. 

The two continued to talk about the oddities happening at Hogwarts as they entered the book store and a half hour later came back out and went back to the Three Broomsticks. They went inside and almost everyone was gone, they were about to turn around and leave, when Lily spotted Amos' book bag in his unoccupied seat, she picked it up to give to him later and walked back to the castle with Remus.

Lily and Remus were crossing the grounds when a HUGE snowball whacked Lily and knocked Amos' bag out of her hands, and his papers and books went flying everywhere. Remus started helping, but she told him to go yell at the thrower. Lily picked them up and was almost done when a certain parchment caught her eye.

She read through it quickly, and pocketed it. Amos wouldn't be missing it, she'd copy it and put it back before returning the bag.

Remus came back, and let Lily and her prefect powers deduct points to the Slytherin culprit and then the two fifth years continued on their way once more.

~^~^~^~^~^~^~^~^~^~^~^~^~^~^~^~^~

Lily finished copying the letter, and now had her own personal copy. Dear God help them all! TWO love letters could now get into circulation...She folded it up and put it in her pocket and then put Amos' copy in his bag and went down to the Great Hall for dinner, where she would give him his bag.

Lily walked in to the full Great Hall and dropped off Amos' bag and smiled at him and Lorena and walked to the Gryffindor table and sat beside Jimena Jenkins. Who only talked about Raidon Chang...

"He's so nice, and sweet and funny! We're going out again next weekend...and tomorrow night we're studying together!" Jimena squealed with delight.

"That's great Jimena." Lily sat absent-mindedly, and Jimena continued her blabbering and Lily began to go into her own thoughts...She began thinking about how much that letter moved her--she had no idea why...She wondered if Amos had written it for Lorena or she him...Or it could be someone else all together.

Then Lily began thinking about he problem Remus had been telling her about yesterday. It was obvious that Remus loved Sirius in the way he sounded upset about the fact that Sirius liked James. Maybe Lily could help Remus out a small bit...

If Lily gave Remus yet, another copy of the love letter, then he could give it to Sirius! Then Sirius would feel all flattered and everything and Remus and Sirius would be happy...

Yes, that's what Lily was going to do. She got up from her spot at the Gryffindor table (ignoring Jimena) and went over to Remus and since he was done eating they both exited rather quickly.

Sirius turned to Peter and said, "Do you think there's something between Remus and Lily?"

James (who had been listening) and Peter both said at the exact same moment, "I doubt that!"

~!*~!*~!*~!*~!*~!*~!*~!*~!*~!*~!*~!*~!*~!*~!*~

Lily and Remus were talking rather loudly in the common room, and it was lucky no one else was there.

"I DON'T like Sirius--in THAT way!" Remus said, acting appalled that Lily would accuse him of such a thing.

"Yes you DO just admit it...You have to admit it to somebody! I won't tell anybody...In fact I want to try and HELP you!" Lily exclaimed, exasperated that Remus was being so stubborn.

Remus was quiet a moment as he thought it over, "Okay, okay--so I do like him--a lot, but he doesn't like me! He doesn't even know that I...Swing that way." Remus said faintly.

"Oh, so what! Your very good-looking Remus, he's going to like you! He's already your friend!" Lily told him

"True..." Remus admitted.

"So, take this letter and give it to him! He'll fall for it for SURE." Lily suggested as she pulled the letter out. "You can copy it, so it's your handwriting."

Remus read the letter over, "Did YOU write this Lils?"

"HA! I wish! I found it in Amos Diggory's book bag, remember when it got emptied?"

"Oh right...I don't think Amos would be the type to write love letters..."

"Me either, but maybe someone wrote it to him." Lily tried.

"Maybe, but I'm sure as hell not giving this to Sirius, he'd know I wouldn't write something like this. He knows me too well." Remus sighed and gave it back.

"Oh Remus don't be such a party pooper, just take it copy it and give it back when your done! Just in case." Remus rolled his eyes but finally agreed.

Remus went up to his messy dorm, and sat the letter on his desk and began copying it quickly and left his copy on the desk and then went back down to the common room to give her copy back to her. He found Lily scribbling away on homework already and he just set it on her desk and then went to go and talk to the other Marauders.

"Oh Remus! You missed it!" Sirius laughed as soon as Remus sat down in an empty chair near them.

"What'd I miss?" Remus asked.

"Oh we got Snape BIG time!" James explained excitedly, and then the three boys proceeded to tell Remus play by play how they made Severus Snape get three detentions, by making him cuss out McGonagall in French.

(A/N I found out this week, that in the Wizard of Oz, when the tree is yelling at Dorothy that if you translate it to French--the tree calls her a little 'Bit**'. It cracked us up! My teacher actually said the whole word! It was weird hearing my teacher cuss....)

When they finished their lively explaining, Remus spoke up, "You know he's going to get us all back."

"Yeah, and we'll be ready!" James crowed. The other three rolled their eyes.

"I just hope we don't end up waking up naked in the common room again..." Peter said nervously.

"It wasn't that bad, Pete!" Sirius laughed.

"You're just saying that because your gay and liked seeing us naked." Remus snapped, causing both James and Peter to burst into laughter, and Sirius to blush.

"That was unfair Remus."

"I know, I'm a cruel vicious beast-."

"REMUS!"

"What? Just stating the truth."

The three were suddenly in an uproar convincing Remus that he wasn't one and they spent the rest of the evening doing so.

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Chapter 4-->