name: Lily and Prongs; aka Lily
house: Gryffindor
week: one
task: use at least two meanings of your prompt
prompt: fall
title: First Signs
beta- read by: x-NewGirlInTown-x [Your're great!]
First signs
It was the first week of October, and it still was quite warm. Many students were complaining about the fact that they now had to wear shirts with long sleeves when it would have been more comfortable to still have short ones.
Lily Evans was one of those students. She was loosing loosening her red and gold striped tie while sitting in the shade of a tree near the lake. Though it was only the fifth week back at school, the 7th years were already piled with homework. The teachers didn't skip any opportunities to remind them that this was their final year at Hogwarts, and to emphasise how important the N.E.W.T.s were.
Lily closed the book she had been reading for the past hour – the Guide to Advanced Transfiguration II – and sighed. Leaning against the old oak tree, she watched the Gryffindor Quidditch team, which was practising on the other side of the lake for the first game of the season. Among them, there was a particular chaser who frequently asked her out. He had jet black hair that always looked a bit untidy, wore glasses, and was Head Boy. The latter happened to be the reason James Potter now had even more opportunities to be around Lily than he ever had had before. Since she was Head Girl, they had a lot of things to do together and had to get along somehow.
She had to admit that James Potter - by far - wasn't as annoying as he used to be. In fact, he had become quite nice since their departure from King's Cross before the summer holidays. On the train ride the previous June, he had been threatening a group of already anxious second years with Bat-Bogey hexing them all, if they kept blocking the way. He had eaten three of Marlene's Cauldron Cakes without permission and, in exchange, given her a soap flavoured Bertie Bott's on purpose. He and Sirius had made fun of Severus Snape, as usual. The two of them had also caused an unplanned halt of the train because they were pretending to throw other people's belongings out of the window, and many of the owners thought they were actually doing it. Which, in turn, caused a fairly serious panic among the students within the nearest five compartments.
That was one of the moments that Lily wished the teachers were on the train as well. As it stood, they weren't and thus, it took the driver about 20 minutes to calm everyone down, and to be able to continue the journey safely.
This, among other things, was what he had done before the summer holidays. Something – perhaps receiving the Head Boy badge had helped – during the break had changed James' attitude towards... pretty much everyone, and everything, for the better.
Since they had met again on September 1st, he had not hexed anyone just for fun, had not called Professor McGonagall 'Minnie', had not transfigured the rabbit he was supposed to be working with in Charms into a miniature jaguar (which still would have looked rather large next to Flitwick), and had not made any pieces of bacon, toast or cucumber fly around at breakfast.
Maybe even a self-appointed Marauder matured sometimes. James Potter, shocking as it was, was actually starting to act his age. Whether this was his new strategy for finally talking her into going out with him, Lily couldn't tell. All she could tell for sure was that she liked this new James. Maybe even a bit more than that. But time would tell. The term had started only recently, which meant there still was plenty of time for James to do childish, stupid, and particularly immature things.
"Evans!". Lily looked around, confused as to where the voice was suddenly coming from. She hadn't noticed anyone. The sky above the Quidditch pitch was empty now – she must have dozed off for a while, and had not noticed the team leaving.
There he was, running towards her, waving something wildly. "Hey, Evans!"
James Potter tried to take off his Quidditch robes without slowing down, but it didn't work as planned. One wrong movement and what had to happen, happened: he stepped on the scarlet hem, tripped – and sprawled on the grass. The small box flew out of his hands, and Lily caught it.
"Ouch -", James moaned as he sat up. When he saw the box in Lily's hands, he added: "Cookies? Ryan brought them, it's his birthday. I thought you might want some."
"That's nice. Are you okay?" she asked.
"I think so". James ruffled his hair. "I just wouldn't have pictured myself at your feet, if you had asked me this morning".
They sat together and ate chocolate cookies until the sun began to sink. As they decided to go back to the castle, and James pulled Lily up, a few leaves were gracefully gliding towards the ground.
The redhead smiled. Looked like it wasn't only Gryffindor chasers who were falling down that day. Red and yellow falling leaves; the first signs that summer was drawing to a close. The first signs of autumn – of fall. What an appropriate coincidence.
And maybe – just maybe – that day was also the first sign of an important change in the relationship between Lily Evans and James Potter. After all, if everything else was falling...why shouldn't she?