I woke up slowly, languishing in the time I could lay in bed before the new day began. The sun was just beginning to rise over the horizon. Snow was falling heavily outside, piling up on the edge of my window sill. The thought of snow caused me to shiver, and I burrowed deeper into my blankets.

Until I realized I didn't have any blankets.

I glanced around my bed, not finding them. I sat up, peeking over the opposite side of the bed. They weren't there. I stood up and stumbled over to the foot of the bed. They weren't there either. I couldn't believe it. Somebody had stolen my blankets!

"Hey! Which one of you selfish prats stole my blankets?" I yelled at my still sleeping dorm mates.

The only response I got was a mumbled, "Lily, it isn't polite to accuse innocent people. Or to scream at them before six AM on a Saturday."

"Alice, I don't much care for your attitude right now. Not that it matters. I need my blankets back. Who has them?" I persisted.

Nobody answered.

I came to the conclusion that it was pointless to continue since they weren't listening. I debated on whether or not to take one of the other girls' blankets for a moment before deciding that I wouldn't be able to fall back to sleep anyway. Instead, I got dressed in my robes, and descended the steps to the Gryffindor common room.

I sat down in a chair next to a window that had a view of the Forbidden Forest. I'd never been in the forest before. I'd hear about werewolves and acromantulas residing in there. Frankly, I'd prefer to stay as far away from it as possible. I would bet that James had been in there before. I made a mental note to ask him if the rumors about acromantulas were true. Then I remembered my "Only-Talk-To-James-If-It-Is-Necessary-Because-You-Do-Not-Want-To-Slip-And-Tell-Him-That-You-Sort-Of-Like-Him" rule. It's actually a pretty self-explanatory regulation.

I was contemplating what James' expression would be if I were to confess my feelings for him, when none other than said person walked down from the boys dormitories. He was still dressed in his night-clothes. He, apparently, did not expect anyone to be in the common room at this hour. I watched him as he walked over to the arm chair in front of the empty fireplace and sat down without noticing me, seemingly deep in thought.

We sat there for a time like that, him staring into space, me staring at him staring into space. I figured that it would be more awkward if he realized that I was watching him the longer it went on, so I decided to say something. I settled on asking him about the acromantulas. "Er, James... are there truly acromantulas in the Forbidden Forest?"

He turned to look at me so fast that I'm honestly surprised he didn't have whiplash.

"Lily!" he exclaimed, "blimey, how long have you been sitting there?"

"Er, I've been here since before you came down."

"Oh."

Awkwardly, I asked, "So, um, is it true?"

"Is what true?" He questioned, a confused look appearing upon his face.

"About the acromantulas living in the Forbidden Forest," I answered exasperated.

He turned in his chair so he could have a more comfortable position talking to me. "Oh, yeah. It's true. What are you doing down here?"

I explained how some terrible, unkind person had stolen my blankets from me in my sleep.

"So, why didn't you just conjure up some new ones?"

"Because," I said smartly.

"Because why?" he returned grinning.

"Because they are my special blankets," I elucidated.

"What so special about them?" James asked.

"Well, I mean, I've had one of them since I was, like, 6. I've slept with it every night of my life, basically. And the others are just as special for their own little reasons. For example, one of them has a never-ending heating spell on it while another has a never-ending cooling spell, so I'm never too warm or too cold!"

"Huh. I suppose that does make them a little special," he said.

We lapsed into silence after that. James seemed to be concentrating on something again. His brow was furrowed and his eyes crinkled. He would run his hand through his hair every once in awhile. I couldn't help but take notice of his exceptional beauty. I know, men aren't supposed to be beautiful. They're meant to be handsome or dashing. But James, James was more than just handsome. He was beautiful and more, dashing and then some. I was thinking about how if he did ever decide to ask me out again, I would accept. It was our last year after all. If I didn't give him a chance now, I expect it would be one of those things that I'd regret for the next 20 years. It wasn't likely that he would, however. To my astonishment and disappointment, James hadn't asked me out once the entire year.

The sun was nearly full up, I expected people to be waking anytime. I was about to ask James if he thought that breakfast would be served yet when he began talking.

"Lily, I know you'll probably say no, and you'll probably be mad at me for asking, but I want to have one more go before I stop for good, you know. Would you possibly think about going to Hogsmeade with my next Saturday?"

Surprised and elated that he had asked I answered without hesitation. "Yes."

"Just to make sure, yes as in, you will go out with me?" he nervously asked.

"Yeah," I confirmed.

Immediately, his face brightened. He grinned, and I grinned back at him.

A few moments passed, both of us grinning silly at each other, immersed in happiness before we sunk back down to Earth. After a beat of uncomfortableness, I inquired as to whether he thought breakfast would be being served yet.

"Wha--? Yeah, it should be," James said.

"Would you like to accompany me down?"

Still smiling, he stood up, "I'd be more than delighted to!"

We were just about to exit the portrait hole when Alice came tromping down the stairs from the girls dormitories.

She had a bundle of blankets in her arms.

MY blankets, to be precise.

She walked up to me and said, "Here, you were looking for these earlier. I borrowed them last night." I snatched them out of her grasp, "Thanks for asking," I said, and marched out of the common room with a chuckling James trailing along beside me.

A.N-Well, thanks for reading! Feel free to tell me what's wrong or what's okay with it! ;D