"Alright Evans?" James Potter said as he entered the common room, his broomstick in his hand and his hair sticks up oddly from him nervously running his hand through it.

Lily Evans sat, legs-crossed, in an armchair by the window, her discarded Charms homework on the floor next to her, a book in her hands.

She looked up when she heard her name, but frowned when she saw the caller.

"I'm fine" she sniffed and returned to her book, facing the other way from him, her hair shielding most of her face.

Her Red hair was floaty and silky, what James wouldn't do to run his hands through it.

He looked closer and saw the tears that she'd tried to hold back, running down her face. Her eyes weren't focused on her words infront of her, but blinking furiously in an attempt to stop the tears.

His heart ached. He wanted to wipe the tears away. To hug her and comfort her. He wanted to make everything alright again.

But that wasn't his job.

He wasn't the boyfriend, or the best friend, or even just someone who was there. James Potter was the one she had hated since there first meeting on the train, and a hatred of 5 years was the reason he couldn't do anything.

He glanced at Lily again; the flow of tears had stopped but she still looked broken, and he wanted to fix her.

"Er, Evans?" He began

Lily had turned her head, he took this as a sign for him to continue.

"Are you okay?" He asked "because you were..." He drifted off.

"I was what?" She said monotonously, looking down and wringing her hands in her lap.

"You were crying, and I just thought that maybe you umm...needed someone to talk too?" He asked quickly, stumbling over his words a little.

Lily look up, the shock apparent in her glittering eyes. James could still see the streaks the tears had left on her cheeks.

The shocked look disappeared off her face quickly and was replaced by a hard focused one.

"Don't be stupid" she snapped "I'm not crying,I've got a cold. Your also distracting me from my work, what is it? Did you loose Sirius? I'm sure if you whistle he'll come"

James wasn't taken aback. He'd gone through years of this and it had stopped bothering him.

Well maybe not completely.

She'd angrily pulled her Charms work towards her and was scribbling furiously, she had deliberately turned away so that she didn't have to look at him.

James sighed and turned around, making his way out of the common room to find Sirius.

Should I continue?