Chapter 2

James walked very quickly on his way back to Gryffindor tower. "Whatareyoudoing whatareyoudoing" pounded through his head in time with his rapid footsteps. Malfoy! Did he care what Malfoy did with his life?

"Of course not!" James answered himself but he could not beat off the sneaking suspicion that he was lying. How could he be thinking thoughts usually reserved for Lilly about the boy who he hated more than any other? Or thought he hated. He was so distracted that he hadn't noticed that he was already standing before the Fat Lady, who was clearing her throat loudly. James looked up at her, startled.

"Password?" she asked impatiently.

"o-ortum novum" he said distantly and almost tripped over his feet as he clambered inside.

The common room was mostly empty, with a fire dying in the grate as he crossed it and started to climb the stairs to the boy's dormitories. Behind him, a figure stirred in an armchair.

"Potter?" it asked.

"Huh? Yes?" James paused with one foot on the stairs. He turned as Lilly rose from the chair and came towards him, the fire-light glinting off her long coppery hair.

"You missed the weekly prefect meeting!" She said a bite in her voice. James waited for the familiar butterflies to flutter in his stomach at the sound of her voice, but they did not. He swallowed.

"Yes I know," he replied. "I was in detention; you were there when McGonagall gave it to me!"

"A lot of good you the school, not being available to do your duties," Lilly snapped, ignoring him.

"Look Evans," James' temper was growing short. "I extend my deepest apologies for missing this oh so important meeting, I doubt there will be another!" Lilly opened her mouth but James plowed on. "Oh wait! There will be one next week, and the week after and then we'll go HOME FOR THE SUMMER!" He whirled around and almost ran up the stairs, leaving her alone, mouth slightly agape.

Peter's snores already filled the dormitory when he entered a few seconds later, closing the door a bit harder than was necessary. Remus looked up from his book and Sirius, looking slightly rumpled, was extracting pajamas from his trunk.

"Where've you been mate?" Sirius asked as James pulled off his robes and sweater, leaving them in a pile by his trunk.

"Detention" grumbled James as he crawled into his four-poster.

"What are you so upset about?" Remus asked, turning a page. "We heard shouting."

"Nothing." James snapped and turned out his light. "Also, Mooney, that book is upside down." He closed his hangings and the other two heard him burrow down into his blankets. Remus and Sirius looked at each other and blushed.

After James' hasty departure, Lucius had dragged his feet down towards the Slytherin common room. His footsteps echoed off the narrow stone coridorrs and his shadow flickered across the walls. He usually was never alone, traversing these passages. Being alone, he thought, they were slightly creepy.

"What am I thinking?" he demanded of himself. "What am I doing thinking of a toe rag like Potter?" He got no response from his spinning mind. He tried to picture Narcissa, her straight blond hair and pretty grey eyes, her annoyingly high pitched voice and her nagging. He shook his head. James' face pushed Narcissa's from his mind. The strong jaw and deep brown eyes transfixed him. He had never noticed just how attractive James really was, until tonight, with his brow beading sweat and the way he grinned when he was told that they were free to go, even though he was being forced to return the next evening.

He stopped suddenly, turned around in the dark dungeon corridor and backtracked ten or twelve paces and stopped before the stretch of blank stone wall he so often walked past when he was deep in thought.

"mente turbata" he said to the wall and it slid open, revealing sweeping wooden steps that led down into the Slytherin common room. He had barely set his foot on the top step before he saw Narcissa. She was dozing on the sofa near the fire, looking ghostly in the pale green light coming from the lamps in the ceiling. Lucius stared at her for a few moments before deciding against waking her, for he knew what hell she would raise at him and hurried down the steps, across the stone floor and up again into the boys dormitories. His heart clattered in his chest as shut the door to his single and turned to look over the room. There was a primly folded piece of parchment resting on his pillow. He opened it and read

Lucius-

This is rather serious, so I would prefer if you did not ignore me tomorrow evening, even in the face of detention. Explain that you have a previous engagement that is of the utmost importance and you simply can not miss it! We need to speak about our future and I would much prefer to do this before we return to our homes for the holiday.

-Narcissa

Lucius shut his eyes tight and re-opened them to see the message remained, in her script handwriting. He could hear her formal icy voice with such the tone of blame that he shook his head to clear it. He would hurt her, ending things, but it had to be done. She would have to summer to recover and he to get the nerve to tell his family that he was not in want of a wife.

"You'll really tell them that?" The voice in his head asked slyly.

"Or maybe she would just have the time to get over it" he reconsidered.

"Maybe James will do the same to that crazy redhead he always drools over" the voice hissed. Lucius' following shiver had nothing to do with the temperature of the room.