I do not own any of the characters in this fanfiction. They all belong to J.K. Rowling

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Lily thought James looks somehow different today, but she couldn't quite place why. Perhaps it was seeing him out of school uniform. But no, she saw that every weekend so that couldn't be it. Before she had time to ponder it further James was standing in front of her, offering his arm. Lily accepted it, somewhat hesitantly as she wasn't used to James being this gentlemanly. Usually she'd have to deal with his immature antics, usually in their meetings for head boy and head girl. Actually, she thought to herself, this was one of the very rare times her and James were alone together without a prearranged reason, like one of the prefects' meetings. This suddenly made Lily feel very nervous, and all conversation topics seemed to disapparate from her mind.

James cursed himself silently for offering Lily his arm, it was obvious to him that she found the gesture unusual and was reluctant. As they reached the portrait hole James looked back into the common room and cast around for his best friends, the Marauders. Catching the eye of his partner-in-crime, Sirius Black, he grinned widely and followed Lily out into the corridor. Outside the portrait hole they really were alone, and James now felt very tall and cumbersome compared to how gracefully Lily was composed. He started to walk but felt like his feet were twice their normal size.

Lily walked in silence, remembering to hold her shoulders back and head high. She didn't want to slouch in front of James and give him a chance to make fun of her. As they got nearer the Entrance Hall, Lily started to worry that maybe she should say something. She tried to think of something that would get James talking so she wouldn't have to start up conversation topics herself. What would get James Potter nattering for hours? Quidditch! She tried to remember the names of any popular Quidditch teams but couldn't recall any, so settled on the school teams.

"Gryffindor flew really well in the last Quidditch match, didn't they?" She said, suddenly.

James had been wrapped up in his own thoughts on what to say, and let out a sigh of relief that she had initiated the conversation. He was slightly surprised that she had brought up Quidditch, something he was fairly certain Lily had little interest in, but relieved all the same as he could talk for England about Quidditch.

"Yeah, I think we'll do really well this year. Everyone's been flying well and we've got a really good team, who're all committed and on great brooms. Our tactics are going to win us the cup, I'm sure. Some of our moves are new and... "

James trailed off. He didn't want to carry on as he glanced at Lily who seemed to have a glazed expression on her face. He thought about what might interest her, and remembered she was very good at potions. But he doubted whether she would want to talk about classes on the weekend. Maybe he could use this rare occasion to find out a little more about the elusive Lily Evans.

"So, um, what do you want to do after Hogwarts?"

Lily had hardly noticed James had stopped talking about Quidditch, but quickly regained her composure. She paused before answering his question, however, as she hardly knew the answer herself.

"Well, I'm not sure exactly. When we had the talks about careers before we chose our NEWTs I hadn't decided, so I just chose subjects that interested me and I was good at really. All I know is that I want to help people, so maybe a Healer or working at the Ministry even."

They had reached the Entrance Hall now, so James didn't reply and instead walked over to the growing crowd that were soon to be heading off for Hogsmeade.