Chapter Two

Lily felt the familiar sensation of travelling through fireplace after fireplace. If she opened her eyes she could see a flash of each fireplace she went through, but opening her eyes made her extremely lightheaded so she squeezed them closed again. She finally came to a stop and tumbled out of the fireplace, her vision slightly blurred. She tried to stand straight but fell forward into something very hard.

"Whoa!" said the person Lily smashed into. Her head was still pounding so she kept her eyes closed.

"Thanks," she mumbled. The person's arms were still around her, holding her up.

"No problem, Evans." Why does that voice sound familiar? Lily thought to herself. Wait a second... Her eyes flew open.

"Get off me, Potter!" She shouted, jumping out of his arms. He grinned smugly to himself. Lily stood up slowly, dusting herself off.

"Nice to bump into you." James said. Lily glared at him and looked around. None of the other Marauders were with him. She started taking in her surroundings. She did indeed end up in Florish and Blotts.

"I think I'll keep my eyes closed next time." She said, trying to break the awkward silence.

"That's probably a good idea." James said, grinning and stuffing his hands deeper into his pockets.

"Well, you've managed to piss me off in under a minute. Well done, that must be a record." Lily said hotly. She straightened her top and walked past him, knocking his shoulder on the way. Lily was so relieve there was no one else in the shop to see what had just happened.

"Lily! Wait!"

Did he just call me Lily? She kept walking, pushing through the people of Diagon Alley, trying to reach her friends. She wasn't so lucky. James caught up with her and grabbed her wrist. She really wasn't in the mood to talk to him right now. All she wanted to do was meet her friends and get this day over and done with. But James wasn't letting her go anywhere until he explained himself.

"Lily, would you just hang on a minute! I wasn't doing anything wrong. Do you seriously think I knew you were going to come tumbling out of that particular fireplace? And would you rather I had just let you fall instead of catching you?" He said, crossing his arms. No matter how much he liked Lily, she was always jumping to the wrong conclusions.

Lily knew he was right. She also knew she was too stubborn to admit that. "Yes, I would've preferred that." She answered. James gave her a look that said, seriously? "Okay, sorry, I'm just really not in the mood for you and your friends. Let me just do my stuff and then go home, alright?"

She didn't even say it rudely, which James noticed as well. He was expecting her to shout at him and make up some theory that he somehow knew she would be there, falling out of that fireplace.

"Right. I'm just getting my stuff too. The others aren't even here today. Just me." He said.

"Okay, well, I'll see you later James." She said awkwardly. I called him James. He called me Lily. What is even going on today?

She turned and left James standing in the middle of Diagon Alley. James had been too stunned to say goodbye back. She had never called him by his name before. Maybe to some, this wasn't a big deal, but James knew this was a big improvement. Usually it was 'Potter' or 'git' or 'self-centred toe rag'. He didn't know one thing could make him so happy.

"Lily!"

Lily looked up and saw her friends waving to her. They were outside Gringotts wearing their muggle clothes, waiting for her. Morgan was wearing a light blue dress with black tights and a red cardigan. She had her beautiful blonde hair up in a messy bun on top of her head. Louise was wearing her usual black skinny jeans, plain converses and a Guns 'n' Roses shirt on. Her short dark chocolate hair and black make up gave her a rough sort of look, but somehow it suited her. Lily knew she was a softie inside.

Lily ran the rest of the way to them. "Hi, sorry I'm late."

"That's alright, what you been up to?" Louise asked, shouldering her duffle bag.

"Potter. I bumped into him when I got her. Literally." Lily answered.

"Oh Merlin..." Louise said.

"What happened this time?" Morgan asked in a bored voice.

"Oh, shut up. Well, I kind of fell out of the fireplace and he caught me. Then I yelled at him and he followed me out of the store. Then he starts going on about how he did nothing wrong. He even called me by my actual name! I pretty much said whatever and told him I'd see him later. I called him James! Like what is going on? I wasn't even angry." Lily said all of this rather fast.

Louise and Morgan glanced at each other.

"What?" Lily demanded.

"Well, he really likes you. I know you hate it but he really does." Morgan said cautiously. She knew Lily was very sensitive on the subject of James Potter.

"No, he doesn't –" Lily began.

"Just listen, Lily," Louise cut her off, "he's trying really hard. I've been talking to Remus lately. He says James has grown up. Give him a chance."

"I'm not giving me a chance! He may seem like he's grown up but as soon as he's reunited with his precious Marauders, he'll be the exact same stuck up, pigheaded prat he usually is. I can't even stand to be in the same room as him. He thinks he's so good at everything. He thinks he's some sort of God on the Quidditch pitch and that everyone should bow down to him –" Lily was going to continue her rant but Louise and Morgan were giving her threatening looks and gesturing towards something behind her.

Lily turned around. James Potter stood there with his hands behind his back and his head down.

"What do you want, Potter?" Lily said harshly.

"Nothing – I was just – Well, it doesn't matter anymore. I'll see you at Hogwarts, Lily." James mumbled. He turned and walked away. As soon as he was out of earshot, Lily's friends rounded on her.

"What's your problem, Lily?" Morgan said.

"Nothing, he was obviously here to annoy –"

"Maybe he wasn't. Did you ever think about that?" Louise cut her off. Both of Lily's friends were looking at her angrily.

"What if he was here just to talk to you?" Morgan added.

Lily looked down. Maybe they were right. She didn't like it when her friends were this upset with her. She just assumed... Well, she didn't know anymore. Her friends were right. What was her problem?

"I'm sorry, guys. I-I'll find him and a-apologize." Lily stuttered. She felt awful. She didn't like feeling sorry for James Potter. She felt like she was going to burst into tears right here and she couldn't figure out why. Her eyes burned as she turned away from her friends and went looking for James.

First she went to Quality Quidditch Supplies but he wasn't there, only some younger kids fawning over a new model broomstick or something. She was going to have to hurry. It was almost two o'clock and she hadn't bought her books yet.

James wasn't in any of the book stores, potions stores, owl emporium or any sweet shops. Lily finally gave up and sat outside Florean Fortescues Ice-cream Parlour.

Lily put her head in her hands and let the silent tears fall. She had never felt like this before. It felt as though she was letting out a whole years-worth of ears - all the pressures of homework, arguments with Petunia and now James - Lily couldn't keep it in anymore. Her tears weren't as silent anymore. She sobbed but no one even noticed her.

A warm hand appeared on her shoulder.

Lily looked up through her tears and saw a tall person with broad shoulders, muscly arms and soft dark hair.

"Lily? Are you okay?" The tall man asked.

"Oh hey, James," she sniffled, "I've been looking everywhere for you."

"You have?" He sounded surprised and a little hopeful.

Lily looked back down at her fiddling hands and nodded. "I just wanted to apologize. I shouldn't have gone off at you. I just assumed..."

James sat down opposite her. "That I was coming to bother you." He finished for her. Lily was relieved that he didn't sound angry. She nodded again.

"Don't worry about it. I realized there's no way we could be friends if I kept acting like a 'stuck up, pigheaded prat'." He said, repeating her words. She looked up and saw that he was grinning. She laughed a little.

James though she looked gorgeous even when she was crying. Her smile sent a wave of butterflies through his stomach. That's the first time she had ever smiled at him and he was eager for me.

"I was just going to come and ask you if you and your friends wanted to sit with us on the way to Hogwarts." James asked hopefully, "don't worry; I'll keep Sirius under control. I've gotten to know his weaknesses since he's started living with me." He added.

"He lives with you?" Lily sure as hell didn't know that.

"Yeah, he ran away last holidays and came to my place. Mum and dad love him; he's like their second son." He explained.

"I had no idea. That was nice of your parents. Are they usually that nice?" Lily didn't know why she wanted to know that. She just wanted to keep the conversation going.

"Well they're usually busy at work but when they're home we have a lot of fun." He shrugged. Lily nodded and went back to staring at her fingers. This time it wasn't an awkward silence. It was a comfortable silence. Lily could feel James' eyes on her and she made sure she kept her head down.

"Want to talk about it?" James asked slowly.

"Talk about what?" Lily asked.

"Surely you can't be that upset about what happened earlier. There's something else, isn't it? You can tell me if you want." He said kindly.

He was right of course. James was the last person she expected to talk about her problems with.

"Well, part of it was because of how I acted. The other part is due to my sister. She's a muggle, as you know, and she hates magic. She hates me. We all used to be really close in my family, but now she thinks I'm a freak. I just miss how it used to be." Lily said, looking at her hands.

"I understand. She's just jealous of you, Lily. Who wouldn't want to be you?" He said, making Lily look up. He seemed to realize what he said and laugh uneasily. Lily smiled.

"Come on, let's get your stuff. I've already got mine." James stood up. He really wanted to hold out his hand for her but he didn't want to push his luck. He was actually talking to Lily Evans, the Lily Evans.

Lily stood up and followed James. They talked about everyday things as they bought Lily' books. She learnt that James wasn't at all what she thought. He was just a normal teenage guy. He was funny too, Lily noticed.

James was having the best time of his life. Lily was even more amazing than he thought. He took every chance he could to look at her. At her beautiful red hair and stunning green eyes that left him speechless. When they had finished buying snacks for her owl, Lily checked her watch.

It was almost five o'clock. She hadn't even noticed how much time she had spent with James.

"Dammit, I'm supposed to be home in five minutes. Mum and dad have some sort of special announcement," Lily sighed, "I have to go." She told James, gathering her things in her arms.

"Wait." James stepped closer. Lily's heart pounded. What was he doing? James flicked his wand and shrunk Lily's things so small that they could fit in her pockets. Lily breathed out a sigh of relief. She thought he was going to... Never mind.

"There you go." James said happily.

"Thanks, you're a life saver." She stuffed everything in her pockets.

"So, I'll see you on the Hogwarts Express?" He asked.

"Of course. I really have to go now!" Lily said quickly.

James' face lit up. "See you tomorrow then."

"Yeah, bye." Lily returned a smile. She didn't have time to Floo back so she apparated back to the Evans house.

The last thing she saw was James, his hands in his pockets and the sun low in the sky behind him. She couldn't believe she had spent the day with James Potter and was surprised that she was actually looking forward to tomorrow.