Chapter 1

There was laughter and talk ringing through the Great Hall as students finished their first meal. The four seperate house tables were covered with the remains of a delicious supper, and everyone seemed satisfied. As students moved to leave the Hall, four students seated at the Gryffindor table lagged behind.

To be specific, there were four boys, three of whom were languidly relaxing, while the fourth sat nervously, seemingly out of place compared to the others' ease. They all sat across from each other, two on either side of the table. One of the boys looked up in annoyance after watching his friend continue to agitatedly flit a glance around the hall.

"Peter, would you stop being such a bloody annoyance and calm down?" A lazy voice drawled. The boy was doodling his name in the air with his wand. "Sirius" was spelled out in a glowing red in front of his face as he busily embellished it with curlicues. He was the picture of cool condescension, with sleek black hair that draped elegantly across his forehead. His straight nose and soft mouth created a pleasing image and his dark, cloudy eyes were half closed, covered mostly by soft lashes. "You're making me all tense. What are you worried about, anyways? We haven't done anything wrong."

The nervous boy, Peter, squeaked slightly. "I just don't want to be in trouble on our first day back. You guys didn't do anything without telling me, right? Because whenever you three do something without telling me, I still get in trouble and I don't-"

"Peter, Sirius is right. Shut up. We already told you we haven't done anything. We're tired. We all spent last night trying to pack- we're not maniacs about the whole pranking thing." This comment was made by the boy sitting closest to Sirius. He, like Sirius, was immensly good looking, with messy black hair that spiked appealingly. He had a long, perfect straight nose and his mouth was slightly less full than his best friend's. He seemed slightly more regal than Sirius, less like a puppy and more authoritative.

When he grinned, his lips parted to reveal even white rows of teeth. His deep brown eyes glinted with mischief and revealed a quick cleverness. "Remus looks like he's glad for a break anyways."

The addressee jerked his head up, as if awakening from sleep. "What? Sorry, didn't hear you James," he murmured, speaking softly to his friend.

"I said that you look like you need a break," said James.

"That I do," replied Remus. He looked markedly different from James and Sirius. He had soft blonde hair that curled ever so slightly at the tips, giving him an angelic look. His face was structured more delicately than either of his darker friends, and his mouth was full and small, like a baby's. His skin was also much paler than their's. "Full moon in a week and a half."

Peter smiled. "Excellent." Peter was the oddest member in this group of four. He was an anomaly, with his short height and wide, squat form. He had a small, beakish nose and watery eyes that made him look perpetually on the verge of a sneeze. His ungainly posture and attitude made him a strange addition to the otherwise handsome crew.

James jerked his head up at this comment. "Don't be so inconsiderate, Peter," he hissed. "Remus obviously doesn't feel well." James turned his head towards Remus. "You look tired, do you want to go see Ms. Pomfrey?"

Any outsider of this group of friends would be confused by these comments. But the four boys were joined in knowledge of Remus' secret affliction. To put it simply, he was a werewolf.

Remus smiled wanly. "That's alright James. I'll be fine. I'm just starting to feel that itchy ache all over." He looked up at his friend. "I've been meaning to ask- how are YOU?"

James struggled to put up a confused face. "What do you mean, how am I?" His voice, however, was slightly strained, revealing that he knew exactly what his friend meant.

Sirius smirked slightly. "What he MEANS, my dear friend, is how are you taking the sudden news of THAT." He jerked his head sideways, indicating the presence of two other people who had also remained after the meal had finished.

The pair seemed to be locked in a semi-embrace, with the taller of the two looping one arm over the shorter, presumably female person's shoulders. The taller, another 7th year male by the looks of it, was straddling the bench slightly and leaning on his elbow as the girl fed him a piece of fruit.

The girl was beautiful, with deep red hair and lightly tanned skin. A small pert nose and berry colored lips along with high cheekbones and sparkling emerald green eyes gave her an ethereal attractiveness. She smiled winningly at her companion, who was not quite as handsome as she was alluring, leaned in to kiss her nose.

James stiffened as he watched this, and hastily turned away. "I don't care. I don't care, and I'm over her. Lily isn't my crush anymore." He looked around at the disbelieving faces surrounding him. "I swear!" he said indignantly.

Sirius snorted. "Yea, and that's why you look as if you want to go and throttle the living daylights out of John, right?" He looked over at the pair again. "Although I must say that I'm disappointed that she's dating John Lafferty. He's such a player. I didn't think she went for that kind of guy."

"That's rich, coming from you, mate." Remus replied. "You shouldn't be one to judge another 'player' as you put it. You're much more of a Don Juan than he is. " He glanced sideways at James again. "Are you sure that you're OK about this? I mean, I know that you say that you're over her and everything, but you look kind of..." He trailed off, looking concerned before finishing his comment. "You look like you still want her."

James sighed softly and looked down. "Of course I do, but she doesn't want me, and I made an executive decision this summer that I don't like her anymore." He looked up, slightly pitifully. "Old habits you know...the whole thing...they die hard." He looked down at the table again, this time with his eyebrows knit together and his face scrunched in consternation. Softly, so that no one could hear him he whispered, "Really hard."

Sirius hauled himself up into a proper sitting position and leaned to the right towards his best friend, leaning forward on his left elbow, studying James carefully. "Mate, if you still like her, it's OK, you know?" He continued watching as his friend's face contorted slightly in anguish. "You're really trying to get over her then?"

James tilted his head up to the ceiling and shut his eyes slightly. "Yea, I am. No more begging, you know?"

break

Lily smiled warmly again at her boyfriend. God, she loved that word. Boyfriend. John was so gentle, so kind, so...She drifted off again into thoughts of him and she studied his face, admiring it.

John was handsome in an angular way. His face's most prominent features were his sharp cheekbones and slightly large nose. However, these slightly extreme characteristics worked on an otherwise bland face of pale perfection. He had dark brown hair and his skin was lacking in color, but he looked rather noble, atleast to her.

"Lily? Lily... are you listening? What's wrong?"

She snapped hastily out of her idle reverie, blushing, and apologized. "What is it? What did you say? Sorry, I drifted off there for a moment. I'm so tired and-"

John interrupted her firmly. "It's fine." He smiled slightly and said, "I was just asking whether you wanted to go out on a real date this weekend. You know, out to Hogsmeade and all. We're allowed to go every weekend now that we're seventh years, and I thought it would be fun."

Lily grinned excitedly, "Yea, I'd love to. Shall we go on Saturday? We can go right after breakfast and spend the day."

"Yea, yea I'd like that. But hey, we should probably head up to bed now. It's getting late and the teachers are watching. You probably have to patrol or something now that you're Head Girl." John smiled proudly down at her. "Right?"

Lily jumped up. "Oh shit, I forgot, I have to patrol! You're right, oh oh..." She looked around, "Is Potter here? I need to go with him for lights out."

John nodded and pointed over his shoulder, further down the tables. "He's right over there." He looked protectively up at her saying, "Are you sure he won't bother you? I mean, he's pretty obvious about having a huge crush on you and all that."

Lily laughed it off. "It's fine. He won't bother me. He's Head Boy now, so obviously Dumbledore thinks he's grown up and is responsible now." She reached up and hugged her boyfriend around the neck, kissing his cheek softly. "You'd better head off to your common room now. It's nearly past curfew."

After a few more goodbye kisses, she turned and walked towards James, unconciously walking slower and slightly more warily.

"Er...James? Do you remember, um...patrol?"Lily cursed her voice. Why did she sound so nervous? She was Head Girl, for God's sake. She was supposed to have authority. Abruptly, she cleared her throat again and said, "James? Come on, we have to patrol."

At the sound of her voice, James had jerked his head up and looked up at her in slight confusion before recognition and realization appeared on his face.

"Oh! Oh, right! Sorry, I-" He looked around at his friends apologetically. "Sorry mates, I have to take off, but you guys had better get to the dorms. I'll be there in an hour or so, ok? I have to patrol, I forgot, it slipped my mind." He turned towards Lily. "Sorry Lily, I was tired,-"

"It's quite alright. I nearly forgot as well." Lily smiled at the rest of the boys. "See you tomorrow then Remus, Sirius, Peter." She swung around quickly and she and James walked out of the hall together, side by side.

His friends watched as the pair walked off together, side by side.

"Honestly," snorted Sirius. "The two of them look bloody perfect together. It makes me sick, you know?"

Remus smiled slightly. "Yea, they do. But Lily is not single and that means James will have to wait."

break

As James and Lily left quickly out of the dining area they accidentaly brushed hands. Blushing, they both muttered apologies before widening the narrow gap between them. They continued to walk up and down the halls, going down corridors and checking classrooms for any students out of bed.

James coughed slightly and said,"Well, how was your summer?" They hadn't spoken the entire time so far, and he was becoming uncomfortable with the silence.

Lily jumped, a little surprised by the sudden attempt at conversation. "Oh, it was good. I spent the summer in Italy. Did lots of shopping, you know." Lily laughed a little at how frivolous that sounded. "How was yours? You seem all tan- did you spend a lot of time in a warm place or is that just from being out of doors?"

James flushed a little in pleasure that she'd noticed his tan. "Oh, you know, went to Greece with my parents, Sirius, and Remus. Peter's parents didn't let him come along, but we had fun." He looked ahead at some nonexistant object and asked quickly, "How long have you been dating John?"

She flushed as well, although this time more from discomfort rather than pleasure. "Uhm... just about a week. He sent an owl and you know, I thought he was rather nice and..." Why was she rambling? She didn't need to explain herself to him!

"That's nice," he replied, slightly dazedly. He didn't reply for a while. Suddenly, he said, "Do you behave differently over the summer? Is life really different without all of your wizarding friends and stuff?" He stopped, looking embarassed. "Sorry, you don't have to answer that. That's your private business."

Lily laughed, relieved in the change of subject. "Oh, no that's quite alright. I don't mind you asking. It's actually rather funny, because living in the Muggle world is rather difficult now that I'm so used to living as a witch. I keep having to remind myself to not use magic. I have to keep saying to myself, OK, remember that it's a car that we use to get around here, not a broom, and things like that."

James looked at her inquisitively. "A car? What's that again? Is it that funny horseless carriage? The thing that's always puttering around on tallroads and that sort of thing?"

Lily grinned. "Yea sort of. I think you meant HIGHways. They're really useful. Cars, I mean." She slowed her walking suddenly. "Well, I think the patrolling is finished." She looked around hesitantly. "How do we get to Gryffindor Tower from here?"

The pair had ended up at the Astronomy Tower, and now James leaned lazily against one of the pillars that stood on either side of the open window out of which students came to gaze up at the stars.

He shrugged lazily. "I dunno. Let me think for a second." In truth, he knew exactly how to get back, but Lily made such a pretty picture there, red hair gleaming softly under the star and moonlight that he felt compelled to watch her like that for a little while.

He had been nervous about sharing the Head position with her initially. They hadn't exactly gotten along over the past two years. Ever since he had confessed his undying love for her at the fifth year Halloween feast for the whole school to hear, their relationship, or non-relationship, had been tense and unfriendly. But this summer he had promised himself that he would no longer do such immature things as prank random strangers and prove himself worthy of her affection. Although James had told his friends he wanted to get over her- which he did, and he would if he could, but he couldn't- he was still madly in love with her, and he would do anything that he could to have her as his. He smiled, amused by that thought. He was hers, if anything. Lily owned him. Owned his thoughts, his dreams, his hopes, his hopeful future especially. He sighed slightly and continued to watch her out of the corner of his eye.

Lily was a little surprised by how easily she was talking with James. He seemed sweet, really, and much more mature than last year. He'd really grown up over the summer. As she watched his face, she was struck by just how handsome he was. Of course, he'd always been good looking, and well loved by all the ladies, but since the fifth year, he'd devoted himself to her, and no amount of dissuasion on her part could convince him to lighten up and back away. She secretly admired his persistency, and would have gone out with him this year, maybe, if John hadn't asked first.

"Do you remember how to get back?" she queried softly. She watched as he turned his head and directed his face towards her.

"I think so," he said softly. James sighed slightly and got back up and headed out of the tower. "You ready?"

Lily nodded and the pair headed out the tower and down to Gryffindor's common room in silence.

Once they'd reached entered the common room, they both stopped uncomfortably at the foot of the two stairways to the boy's and girls's dormitories.

James spoke first. "Well, goodnight." He turned and headed towards his dorms quickly, afraid that he might do something wild and stupid like kiss her. She was so captivating that it was painful to look at her.

"James," said Lily softly. She wasn't sure why, but she felt compelled to hug him, which she did quickly, before she could chicken out. "Goodnight. I'll see you tomorrow at breakfast." Hurriedly she walked up the stairs, but then halfway up, she turned around and looked at him, comically frozen in surprise at her sudden show of affection, before turning and heading up to her dormitory.

James stood at the foot of the stairs for a little while, thinking about that soft hug. Suddenly he smiled goofily and raced up the stairs to share the news.

Apparently, Lily didn't hate him so much after all.