Chapter One: It's a Date

"It's our final year," Ivy said, dipping a pumpkin pasty into a bowl of whipped cream. "We should focus on enjoying ourselves in the time we have left."

Alice and Lily shared looks.

"Did you not read the same article we just did?" Lily centered the Daily Prophet paper in front of Ivy, shoving her plate to the side. "More wizard disappearances, the majority of students have lost one or both of their parents to deatheater attacks. We're in the middle of a war, Ivy; we need to do something to help out. We can't spend all our time slacking off or having fun, we have to fight."

"You heard Dumbledore last term," Ivy lowered her voice so that the couple of third years sitting next to them at the Gryffindor table wouldn't overhear. "He said we were too young to join the resistance movement."

"But now we're of age," Lily argued. "We should ask again."

"Fine," Ivy said wearily. "When? After dinner? Should we drop out of school tonight?"

She raised her eyebrows at Alice, as if to say, 'why do we put up with this?' Alice stared back, biting her lip.

"Michael did it! Avery did it! Lots of students have dropped out of Hogwarts to fight!" Lily said, pulling more food onto her plate. "But I think we would serve the movement better by staying at school and recruiting more students, maybe from other houses, raise awareness while we're still here."

"You have other responsibilities here," Ivy glanced along the length of the table. "You're head girl. You're responsible for the students in Gryfindor house. In fact, you and James are going to be working together this year. Are you going to leave him to do all the work alone?"

"That's another thing," Lily started, but Ivy cut her off with a groan.

"I don't want to hear another speech about James Potter being irresponsible. I get it. You think he's an arrogant sexist womanizer who doesn't deserve the honor of being a head boy. But, Dumbledore made the decision. We're going to have to live with it."

Ivy finished her dessert and chugged her goblet of water as if it contained a stronger brew.

"Look Lily, you're my best friend and I'll support whatever decision you make, but please try to see yourself as a person who has more value than as a martyr. You'd serve the movement better if you weren't so keen on going out there and getting yourself killed you know. Sirius says that your stunt last term didn't only put yourself at risk, but it also endangered Alice and..."

"I learned from that," Lily interrupted, flushing. "Everyone makes mistakes."

"But you still have that mentality. Who do you think you'll help if you get yourself killed going off on your own and fighting singlehandedly?" Ivy stood up. "I'm going back to the common room. Alice, are you coming?"

Alice nodded, glanced pityingly at Lily, stood up, and followed Ivy out of the dining hall, leaving Lily alone at the table.

"She's right," James said, scooting down the table so he was sitting directly across from her.

Lily had seen him there before, but she had pretended she hadn't. She had looked right past him and avoided looking at him, even in her peripheral. She knew this was a bit immature for a seventeen-year-old, but she didn't like the feeling she got when they made eye contact.

There was also the fact that last year he had saved her life, and she felt uncomfortable with the position this put her in. Gone were the days when she could ignore him coldly or treat him badly. Worse, she still felt that mixture of physical attraction and intense dislike of his character that made her actions confused. It felt better to avoid him altogether. That way, she didn't have to play nice or talk. Instead, she could forget that she owed him, or even that he existed.

However, they now had a professional relationship which involved coordinating activities (aka talking) and living next to each other in the head student dorm-rooms. He had made it abundantly clear while they were on the Hogwarts Express that he would be exploiting their professional relationship for personal purposes. For instance, he wouldn't let her leave the head boy/girl compartment to check on the halls, and instead blocked the doorway with his body as he forced her to engage in polite conversation. Then, he and Sirius sat with her, Ivy, and Alice in their carriage to Hogwarts, leaving behind Remus and Peter. He had made a point of sitting next to her and placing his arm casually behind her on the carriage walls. Then, Sirius and James had sat on either side of her in the dining hall during sorting, blocking her from sitting with Ivy and Alice.

"Eavesdropping. Really, Potter?" She asked stiffly, considering abandoning her food and walking off.

"I don't agree with everything she said, though," James continued as if he hadn't heard her. "Sirius and I don't blame you for what happened last term. You were tricked by that greasy, awful git."

Lily flushed again, feeling tears pricking her eyelids at the thought of the man he called a "greasy, awful git." That man had been her best friend once and she had really trusted him. Last term, he had lured her into the Forbidden Forest and his gang of recently graduated ex-Slytherin friends had actually tried to kill her. They hadn't even been fooling around. They wanted to kill her because she was a muggle-born witch, and Severus had been the one that asked her to go there. He had written her a very sweet letter, containing a heart-felt apology about the way he had treated her during sixth year, and promised that if they met in their 'secret spot,' he would make it up to her. When she arrived in their 'secret spot,' he wasn't there. His friends had all been there though, and Lily hadn't been able to ward them off alone.

"I don't want to talk about that," Lily said, sincerely no longer hungry.

She pushed her plate of food away.

"I'm sorry he did that to you," James said, leaning across the table with a somewhat sad expression. "If he had been there, I would have made him regret it, but the cowardly git…"

"Potter, please," Lily covered her eyes with trembling hands. "I really don't want to talk about that, okay? I get it. I owe you."

"Call me James," said James. "I hate it when you call me Potter. You make it sound like an insult. And I'm not making a point about you owing me. I don't even care about that."

Lily remembered James's expression when he entered the woods running, leading Sirius, Remus, Ivy, Alice, and Peter with his wand held out. He had looked beyond angry, he looked scared.

"I know. I'm sorry." Lily lowered her hands. "I'm grateful that you were there, otherwise I certainly would have been killed. I'm not too proud to admit that I couldn't handle them on my own. I just, I wish I could forget that it happened. Please don't bring it up anymore. If I can do something to repay my debt, I will, but if not, please don't bring it up."

James gave her an appraising look, shifting the newspaper out from under his elbows and folding it as he thought.

"You'd do anything to repay your debt?" He cocked his head and leaned back in the chair.

Lily knew what was coming, but she felt she didn't have the right to refuse.

"Yes," she said, gritting her teeth under pursed lips.

"Go out with me to Hogsmeade next weekend," James said, looking unpredictably grim about it. "Let's go on a date."

He stared at her with raised eyebrows, as if daring her to turn him down. She knew she couldn't, though he certainly expected she would.

"Alright," she said.

And, before he could comment, she stood up and left.