"Evans!"
Lily hurried her pace, not even looking over her shoulder as she recognised the voice.
"Hey Evans, wait up!" James Potter shouted from a few feet behind her, jogging to try and keep up.
She continued walking, shaking her head when he finally fell into step with her. She didn't need to look up to know he'd be smirking, running his hands through his already unruly hair, eyes twinkling with mischief. She didn't need to ask to figure out that he wasn't planning on going to Arithmancy with her after Potions was over, even though he was certainly part of her class, and she certainly didn't need to ask to find out that the reason behind his skipping the class would be the new seating arrangement in which he was on the opposite side of the class from her and Sirius.
"Why in such a hurry, Evans?" James asked her casually, slipping a hand into his pocket.
Lily scowled and answered with gritted teeth, "I'm late."
"What was that?"
"I'm late." she repeated, walking even faster, hoping to lose him in the fast dwindling crowd.
But it turned out that she didn't need to, as he suddenly stopped in his place and gasped. Startled, Lily also came to a stop and looked back at him with wide eyes.
"THE Lily Evans. PERFECT PREFECT EVANS is late to a class? Her favourite, none the less. What is the world coming to?" he gasped out, theatrically laying the back of one of his hands on his forehead while the other clutched his chest.
Lilly huffed, rolling her eyes, and started walking again, absent mindedly wondering how he knew her favourite class was Potions.
Determined not to be left behind, James quickly caught up to her, chuckling to himself.
"You have a minute and a half to get to the other side of the castle Evans." James stated. He looked at her, seeing she gave no indication of hearing him except for a slight increase in her walking speed. "I can get you there in under a minute." he continued, satisfied when she glanced at him for a split second, clearly sceptical.
"But if you'd rather be late to precious Sluggy's class..." he trailed.
"Fine." Lilly snapped, once again stopping abruptly in the middle of the hallway.
Not predicting this, James, who till then was walking behind her, crashed into her small frame, nearly knocking her over. She gasped and clutched his shirt sleeve and his hand went around her waist in an attempt to steady them both. Both fifth years stood in the same position for a few seconds before realising what they were doing and stepping apart quickly, blushing and looking away from each other.
Lily cleared her throat after a moment of silence, "So how do you plan on getting me there?"
James looked at her and smirked, back in his element. He walked a little ways down the corridor and dramatically sweeped the air with his hand to point at a tapestry of a wizard farmer.
Lily raised her eyebrows at him and he quickly moved the tapestry aside to reveal a dark tunnel. She sighed when he motioned for her to go first and stepped into it, whispering Lumos when James closed the entrance, throwing them into darkness.
No wonder the Mauraders never get caught, they probably know all the secret passages, like this one, all over the school, Lily thought to herself, mildly impressed.
She jumped when James put his hand on her waist to tell her to move forward and after a few seconds of walking on a downhill slope, she found herself exiting the passageway, pushing aside a tapestry similar to the one hiding the entrance. She looked around, pleasantly surprised to find herself in the corridor next to the one holding her Potions classroom.
Now definitely impressed, she turned to thank James, surprised to see he was covering the exit, intending to go with her to class
She shrugged and walked towards the class, shrugging off James' arm when he swung it around her shoulders.
"Not going to say thanks then, Evans?" James asked as she walked into class, just in time.
"Thankyou, Potter." she responded curtly, smiling at her Potions partner, Severus Snape.
"Right, yea." James muttered, walking towards Sirius who had his eyebrows raised at the sight of James walking in with Lily.
"What did he want?" Severus snapped as soon as Lily sat down next to him.
Sighing, she answered him patiently, "Nothing. Everything is fine."
Sev scowled at the dark haired boy, who was mucking about with Black, nevertheless, stopping only when Slughorn entered the room to begin class.