Of friendly conversation and hairdos

„Who are you writing this novel to?"

Lily Evans sat down in one of the old red armchairs opposite a certain, black-haired fellow Gryffindor. It was well after 11 pm on a rather cold winter evening in their 6th year at Hogwarts, but the common room was warm and cosy as always.

Lily had been sitting at another table with her friends, who had all gone up to the dormitories by now. She had stayed behind, though, muttering something about wanting to finish a book in front of the fire. The thing was…she didn't even bring a book down to the common room, so while her friends may have believed her, there was no use trying to fool herself.

She had been secretly glancing over to the Marauders all evening. Lately, she found herself more and more fascinated by them, particularly by one of them.

After last summer's catastrophic OWL incident, they had come back to school somewhat changed. Also, there had been rumours that the famous as-good-as brothers James Potter and Sirius Black had had a rather nasty fight earlier in fifth year leaving a distinct kind of tension between them. It seemed to be gone now, the double- act was back in full force. And yet they were different…or perhaps that wasn't the best word for it…it was rather…more balanced, maybe.

Anyway, Lily had been finding herself intrigued by them and noticing that she, despite being in the same house for years, didn't really know them well.

It had never bothered her before. Surprisingly, it did now. She wanted to start a friendly conversation with them but she was a bit intimidated by them and their own little troublemaker-gang.

Ridiculous, really. They were just friends. Really good friends.

Anyhow, no subtle opportunity had presented itself to join into their conversation at any time during meals or after class.

Therefore, at seeing James Potter sit alone in a corner of the common room writing a letter, she had suddenly acted upon impulse, throwing all attempts at subtleness out of the window and crashed boldly into his obvious concentration at finishing at letter. At least, she assumed he should be finished soon, seeing as the letter was already really long. Really in italics, by the way.

He looked up and she saw surprise in his face, but only for a moment.

"Not nosey, Evans, are you?", he teased.

Lily felt herself blush. That had been a rather personal question, hadn't it? They might not be fighting anymore, but that didn't give her the right to demand knowledge about his private communication habits. But he only laughed.

"No need to blush, Lily." She noticed he had a slight emphasis on her name. It sounded nice.

"Anna"

"Huh?"

"It's Anna I'm writing to."

"Oh" Pause. "Your girlfriend?"

He smirked. "Why, are you jealous?"

Uhh…she felt herself blushing again. Time to leave.

"Er, no, Potter", she said hastily, "Nice to speak to you, anyway, I'll just go up-"

"I was only joking. Please stay", he interrupted her, somewhat urgently. Enough earnestness to make her stay. She fell back into her armchair.

"No"

Another pause.

Why was this conversation so awkward? Since when was he awkward at making conversation? Or was she? What did 'no' mean, anyway?

"Huh?" She heard herself making this noise for the second time in two minutes.

She watched his hand go up to ruffle his hair. The gesture seemed a bit nervous, not self-assured as usual. His eyes met hers and …suddenly they were both laughing. Lily had no idea where this had come from or why she was laughing so much but when she finally made herself stop the tension was gone.

"Okay, Lily, restart: I'm writing this letter to Anna, who is my best friend outside Hogwarts. We are not in any way romantically engaged."

There it was again, the emphasis on her name. They had not been on first-name basis for long and he did make her name sound rather nice. Suddenly the conversation was much easier.

"I was about to say I never knew you had any friends outside Hogwarts, but this is probably the most stupid and embarrassing thing to say right now. You must've grown up somewhere." That wasn't right back to her sassy self but getting there.

"Ah, how lucky you were just about to say it, then. I did indeed grow up somewhere. Right next to where Anna grew up, actually. Hence the friendship." He smiled. "She is a Muggle, so we don't see much of each other. I really miss her. Guess that is why this letter is so long."

So there she was, only five minutes into a conversation with James Potter and had already found out something private about him that made him rather likable. He was friends with a Muggle girl.

"And there was me, thinking you weren't even able to write." She grinned. "Does she know you're a wizard?"

James sat back in his chair. He seemed a little taken aback by her sudden interest in him, but not in a negative way. He put away his quill and pulled his knees up to his chest, resting himself sideways into the armchair into a comfortable, casual position. His mischievous smile did something funny to Lily's stomach.

"Ah, no chance of her of not knowing", he laughed, "we practically grew up together and I have always been a rather obvious wizarding child."

"Why don't I have a hard time believing that?", Lily murmured to herself but couldn't help thinking of her sister.

"Doesn't she mind? You being a wizard?"

"Annie? Nah, she never has. On the contrary, she used to take advantage of it shamelessly by forcing me to make all sort of weird things happen and taking her on broom rides…", James mused, evidently lost in childhood memories. "But she always says she reckons it's much better having a magical friend than actually be magical herself." He shrugged but noticing Lily's expression he froze. "Did I…say something wrong?"

"No, I…", she looked away from his worried hazel eyes, "I just wish my sister had the same point of view. She hates me, you know. For being a witch while she is not."

Suddenly, a soft finger was touching her chin, bringing her eyes back to level with his. "I'm so sorry, Lily, I didn't know…"

"You weren't to know. It's fine. Actually…you know, I had two childhood friends, both despising one of the worlds I was part of. I think I might have come to think it couldn't be any different. But obviously it can and …that makes me both happy… and sad."

She lowered her gaze again, not being at all sure if it had been a wise idea to imply her friendship with Severus in front of him, but she had felt a rather overwhelming urge to be honest.

"Lily, listen, about that-" James was now running both his hands through his hair and looked rather apprehensive. His eyes were burning themselves into hers, though. "I am really sorry about what happened last summer. I know there is probably no apology, but I heard what happened and I am horrified I've lost you a friend."

"Pardon?"

"Uh, you see, I'm afraid it's my fault he called you -, you know..."

"But it is not your fault, of course it isn't!" Somewhere in her head a tiny voice asked why she was defending him now. But then he didn't need to apologize to her and certainly not for what he was apologizing for, though she secretly appreciated it.

"I am the wrong person to apologize to. But I can assure you our friendship would've ended sooner or later, anyway. Can we not talk about that?", she added, wishing the light mood that had been there a few minutes ago would come back.

She rushed over to his side, climbing onto the back of his armchair and snatched his letter from the table, though without really attempting to read it. For the second time in the evening she was surprised at her boldness. Could she be considered flirting with him?!

"What is James Potter writing to his best female friend that takes so much parchment? All Hogwarts' girls are dying to know!", she said in a fake dramatic voice, clutching her hands in front of her chest. Oh yes. She probably was.

"Ey, Evans, give that letter back", he demanded grinning, reaching out to grab it. Laughing hard, she held it high above her head but naturally didn't stand a chance against his much longer arms. He tugged at the letter and she lost her balance on the back of the chair, tumbling forwards into him and found herself steadied by his hands at her waist. His warm breath tingled at her cheek and she felt her heartbeat rising. She sat back but they were of course still crouched into the same armchair. Witch was large…but not that large. Her eyes wandered across his jawline, his elegantly curved lips and his hazel –

"I was arguing my case against illegally leaving the castle grounds to go and see Annie to make her hairdo for her cousins' wedding next month", he said solemnly without breaking their eye contact.

Though she couldn't make out any sarcasm in his voice, she snorted with laughter. "You were going to do what exactly!?

"I know", he whined, half sincerely, half theatrically, "it is really undermining my manliness, isn't it? But what can I do? When we were children Anna used to force me to braid her hair. She is one year and a half older than me and to her I always was some sort of little brother slash slave. What can I say…I ended up being pretty good at it."

"Prove it"

"What?"

"Prove you can plait hair, Potter"

"Uhhh-okay?"

"Why so nervous?"

"I'm not-I have never braided red hair.", he said, blushing.

Lily laughed out loud. "Pathetic, Potter, what's that got to do with anything?"

She loosened her hair tie and waved her hair back, turning around to face the fire instead of him and not quite knowing – or caring, for that matter – why she felt so boisterous.

Lily could swear she heard him gulping, but a second later he'd transformed his quill into a hair comb and was brushing her long dark red hair back down her back. She wondered when someone had last done that to her. Apart from occasional visits to the hairdresser, James' tentative way of combing her hair reminded her most the caring way her granny used to do it when she was a very little girl.

The situations I manoeuvre myself into…, she mused to herself, feeling herself strangely relaxed.

She immediately tensed again, though, the moment his fingers were running softly over her scalp, beginning to plait her hair. Suddenly her whole body was tingling because of his touch and a little sigh caught in her throat. Her eyes fluttered close and she felt herself involuntarily leaning into his touch.

If he noticed anything of the sudden change in the atmosphere he didn't show. But his voice, though joking, was a bit hoarse when he spoke. "So, tell me why you decided all of a sudden to turn up and sneak some of my best kept secrets out of me?"

"Uhh…"

"Blushing, Lily?"

"No!"

"Why, but I can feel your neck heating up, love."

"Fine. I…er, guess, I wanted to get to know a few thigs about you…"

"Fair enough. But why?"

"Just….because."

Oddly, he didn't press her any further. "So, what is it that you want to know about me, Lily?", he asked, slightly tilting her head to one side to gain better access to the strands of hair above her ear.

"Just normal stuff", she croaked, finding the situation far more intimidate that she had anticipated in her rush to tease him. Still, she didn't want him to finish.

"What are your parents' names? Why do you like detention with McGonagall? How on earth did you and your partners in crime come up with these weird nicknames of yours? So on, I guess…"

"Well, my parents' names are rather ridiculous, I'm afraid. Who says I like detention?! And, hey, our nicknames are not weird, they are original!"

"Be that as it may", she laughed, "where do they come from?"

"Well", he said hesitatingly, picking up her hair tie. "I'll answer your first two questions in all honesty but won't say anything on the third. Deal?"

"Okay", she agreed shyly. "By the way, no one needs to say you like detention with Professor McGonagall – it's obvious."

"Aw, someone's been paying a lot of attention to me lately, haven't they?"

"Well, no, I-", she spluttered, knowing she had been found out. "So, why do you like writing lines or cleaning trophies or whatever is you're doing in detention?", Lily hastily tried to bring the conversation back on safer ground.

"Sure, sure", he smiled. "Um, I don't even know how to explain …well, it probably started with McGonagall concluding in our second year that all our mischief was down to plain boredom during classes. This may sound a bit conceited-

"Do you care? ...Ouch, you were tugging my hair deliberately!"

He sniggered.

"Anyway, she was right. Sirius and I have been downright bored in classes for a long time. I don't know why…things have just always come naturally to us, well, you know that, too, don't you? So McGonagall quickly changed detention from stupid stuff like writing lines and the such to more…academic punishment. She'd set us tasks to research about spells and transfigurations and writing summaries of what we'd found out. It was always stuff from higher years to finally get us to do some real work, I suppose and…I loved it. It was exactly what I needed, someone to recognise and encourage my pre-existing interest in the subject, which I was totally unable to express myself at the age of twelve. I don't even know if McGonagall would be happy with me telling anybody, but anyway, her plan didn't quite succeed…"

"Because she had let you research stuff from the year above with the result that you continually were bored because you had already read all about the new topics?"

"10 points to Gryffindor, Miss Evans"

"Yeah, I noticed that! I remember asking myself over and over again why on earth you did know everything before McGonagall hadn't so much as breathed a word about it!"

Under normal circumstances, she'd probably pointed out the unfairness of that, but today, with his fingers in her hair and his deep voice next to her ear, she found she didn't ca-, she did care. "That is so unfair!", she said indignantly but couldn't quite keep a smile from her voice.

"It was. And McGonagall recognized it eventually and moved on assigning us other research topics that were unrelated to classes but still really furthered our – or better my – interest in Transfiguration. And I'm not saying this to brag about my Transfiguration skills, honestly, I just want to make it somehow plausible that these days…McGonagall calls me into detention to correct and beta-read her articles for Transfigurations Today", he finished, and she could tell he was a bit embarrassed.

At that moment, Lily would've really liked to turn around to face him but couldn't.

"You correct McGonagall's articles for Transfiguration Today", she repeated flatly, "Merlin."

"Well, not correct correct, but, like, read for coherence and stuff."

From the way he was shifting, Lily knew he was flustered. "I really appreciate that she trusts me with it, so I like detention. Well, I also do it when I'm not in detention. Hadn't had enough detention lately to get it all done", he joked but she could tell he was waiting for a reaction.

"Well, Potter, I must say I'm impressed. I mean, I knew you were bright but who knew you knew how to make use of that sensibly?", she teased. "Professor McGonagall should better watch it. On day you might take her job."

"That'd be a dream come true", he murmured.

"You know what, James, I think you'd do a great job as a teacher. And I wouldn't have said that two hours ago."

"Thanks"

He had finally released her hair and she faced him. They smiled at each other for a second.

"I, on the other hand, always knew you had great hair. Go see." He nudged her to go over to a little mirror at the other and of the room.

"Euphemia and Fleamont, by the way. That are my parents' names."

She stopped halfway across the room to give him an incredulous look over her shoulder. "Seriously?!"

"Seriously."

"Oh, I do hope Fleamont is your second name. Please tell me Fleamont is your second name", she giggled, tuning back to the mirror.

"Nope, sorry to disappoint you, but my second name is actually Henr-"

"Merlin!"

James was suddenly interrupted by Lily staring at herself in the mirror and wide-eyedly taking in her elegantly plaited hair sitting like a crown on top of her head.

"I could get married with this!"

Her eyes found his in the mirror. His high cheekbones were pink.

"Uh, sorry, I – I mean, maybe I got a bit carr-", he mumbled.

"It's beautiful", Lily breathed. "I have to keep it until I actually get married. I won't lie down and sleep sitting up like women in the Rococo times."

"Well, you know, I could always do it ag-"

"Thanks" Lily had rushed forward and hugged him, placing a timid kiss on his cheek. He hugged her back, draping his arms around her and filling his nose yet again with the rosy scent of her hair.

"Your wife is going to be a lucky girl, Potter"

"Your husband is going to be damned lucky bloke, Evans"

"So your second name's Henry, huh?"

"Hm"

"Some people have all the luck."

"Meaning?"

"It's my grandpa's name. I've always loved it. I'd probably give it to my son."

"Funny. It's also my grandpa's name and I'd love to give it to a future son but can't since my parents already gave it to me."

"Pity"

"You're not really feeling for me, are you?", he fake-whined, pulling back from their embrace to grin at her.

"No", she grinned back, "there's always Harry."