'It's a conspiracy. That's what this is. Why does she sit next to him?' Lily thought as she entered the hall to find her best friend had conveniently left a Lily sized space between her and James. Lily sat next to Alice who looked up and smiled at her.
"I like James, Lily. He's a nice guy and I want you to give him a chance." Alice said simply. Luckily James was distracted by Sirius who was pleading to McGonagall to try and get her to revoke the detention he had already received.
Lily was momentarily stunned her mouth hung open as she tried to form a question. "But how…?"
"You're right it is a conspiracy Lily." Mary said giggling at the look on her friends face.
"Did you two learn Legilimency over the summer or something?"
"Of course not we just know you to well. You're quite predictable, especially when it comes to James." Mary replied happily. "You're also very paranoid."
"Well I did." Alice answered in a clearly put on 'serious' voice. "But don't tell Frank, because now I know what he wants for his birthday." She wiggled her eyebrows suggestively. "Speaking of which, I'm off to owl him a letter." With that Alice stood and exited the hall.
"It sounds to me like Frank might enjoy his birthday present." Mary thought aloud.
Lily was broken from her thoughts when a plate of food appeared in front of her. This time it was James who received a questioning look from Lily.
"What?" James tried to look innocent but failed miserably. "Well your mouth was hanging open so I thought you might like some food to put in it." He turned back to his friends and continued chatting.
Lily moved her eyes back to her plate expecting something she would not enjoy such as James' leftovers. Instead she was met by the same breakfast she had every morning. Even down to the piece of toast, cut in half diagonally with one half buttered and the other without.
"Maybe I am predictable." Lily said before beginning to eat her breakfast.
Mary leaned across the table to reach for another piece of toast, and whispered to Lily as she did so. "Maybe someone has being paying attention."
Lily blushed again, which was becoming a much more frequent occurrence when ever someone mentioned James. Of course Alice and Mary had noticed this and would use it to cause Lily as much embarrassment as possible.
"Have you revised for Flitwick's test yet?"
"What?" Lily was broken from her thoughts again. "Oh the test, it's tomorrow isn't it? No, not yet, I'll do some tonight."
"But you'll be out with me tonight Lily." James nudged her gently with his elbow.
"Not if I have anything to do with it." Lily replied curtly. "Have you decided on what I have to do to avoid the horror of another date with you?" She smiled at James sarcastically who immediately smiled back happily.
"Well, you told me not to pull any more pranks, but that doesn't mean I don't think they're funny. I want you to pull a prank on somebody and more importantly I want you to get away with it."
"You want me to break school rules for your amusement?" Lily asked, pretending to be disgusted. Unfortunately James saw right through this ruse.
"Yes."
Lily thought about it for a few seconds before answering. "Fine."
"Great, I'll see you later." James stood and passed behind her. Before he left he placed a hand on each of her shoulders and leant down to whisper in her ear. Lily could feel his breath on her neck and without think she lent back into his chest and closed her eyes. Her breakfast sat forgotten in front of her, until James reminded her where it came from.
"You're welcome for the breakfast Lily." He then left almost causing Lily to topple backwards off the bench because of his absence. Her eyes followed him until he left the hall, as her mind strayed to who she would prank. At least that question was easily answered but how to do it was much more difficult.
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Lily wasn't the most imaginative person in the world but she had managed to pull a plan together with a little help from Alice. The 'target' was known to be in Gryffindor tower and Alice would hand him a letter telling him in no uncertain terms to get to the courtyard immediately. If they knew the targets reaction, which Alice seemed to think she did, he would literally come running straight into the trap. After a trip to the library and the owlery, the prank was ready.
Lily sat on the edge of the fountain surrounded by students who were heading down to dinner. As the doors that connected it to the main hallways crashed open Lily flicked her wand casting the charms on the path between them.
"Lily! Whatever I did I'm really, really, really sorry." He came running as fast as he could across the courtyard towards her. The crashing of the doors opening, closing and his shouting was unfortunate, for him at least. Everyone who had been milling around in the courtyard's attention was brought upon him as he reached the path that Lily had treated with some seriously strong smoothing charms.
Lily stood and stepped quickly aside as he skidded towards her at high speed. Lily was impressed that he managed to stay on his feet until he hit the edge of the fountain and fell in.
The image of James Potter emerging from the water with his hair plastered to his head and his glasses askew would stay with Lily forever. It was by far the funniest thing she had ever seen in her life, until she unleashed the second half of her plan. With a quick flick of her wand the box above James' head, which Lily had vanished, opened releasing thousands of owl feathers. Lily had slipped a little bubotuber pus into the fountain to make sure the feathers stuck.
The laughter at James echoed around the courtyard as he stood in the fountain covered from head to toe in brown owl feathers. He looked towards Lily with a stunned looked on his face which was very hard to decipher from under all of the feathers. He blew a few feathers out of his mouth in Lily's direction and sent her a quick smile before jumping out of the fountain and running back the way he came.
Thinking back Lily should have removed the smoothing charms from the path after James had slipped on them the first time. Now sopping wet and covered in feathers James was unable to keep his balance a second time. He fell over backwards and crumpled up into the wall at high speed where he lay still.
Lily immediately stopped laughing and ran over to James to help him, only for her to slip onto her bum and slide next to him. Lily had to remove a few feathers from his face before she realised that he was unconscious.
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James world was a blur when he woke up in the hospital wing. He looked around to see red headed figure that he could recognise even if he hadn't got a concussion. His head was pounding as he managed to form the two combined syllables he loved most in the world.
"Lily?" She immediately looked up and put her book down and reached towards the table next to his bed. She gently placed the glasses on to his face and James felt his face burn where her hand had touched his cheek.
"I'm sorry James."
"It's okay, really. How many times have you been in here because a prank that went wrong or because you got caught in the crossfire trying to stop a duel between the Marauders and the Slytherins?"
Lily looked thoughtful. "Three and you always stayed until I woke up. You would have stayed longer if I hadn't told you to get lost."
"Ah, Mr Potter, you're awake." Madam Pomfrey walked briskly over. "Now sit up and drink this. It should stop the pain."
James tried to sit up and winced as he felt the pain that Madam Pomfrey was referring to. Lily was immediately by his side, supporting him and arranging the pillows behind him.
"You should be able to go in a couple of hours." Madam Pomfrey left as quickly as she came. There was silence for a couple of minutes as James drank the thick potion that she had given him.
James ruffled his hair and felt the lump on his head which he caught with his watch. He winced again and hoped that Lily hadn't noticed it. He could hear snort and try to hold back laughter.
"It doesn't hurt you know." James said defensively.
"You don't have to be so macho. Anyway you have a feather in your hair." James tried to pick it out with no success.
"That's a point, how did I get cleaned up?"
"Oh, I did that on the way up here. After all I didn't want to get caught did I?" She leaned over and picked the feather out of his hair. As she began to move away James held onto her wrist.
"Wait." He reached for her collar where her necklace hung down from her neck. James held the doe pendant in his hand. "I thought you threw it in the lake."
Lily sat on the edge of his bed. "I was going to, but I couldn't. I kept the poem too. I still read it sometimes, when I'm feeling down." James moved over to make more room for Lily on the bed. Lily decided to change the subject quickly. "Remus brought us some food, are you hungry?"
James nodded and was still thinking about what Lily had just said. They ate the pasties that Remus had brought them in silence. Each was looking out the window across the grounds towards the forbidden forest and the Quidditch pitch.
After finishing his pasty James broke the silence after fidgeting for a few seconds. "I'm really uncomfortable."
"You're not the only one in pain in James."
"I'm not in pain," Lily cocked an eyebrow at him. "I'm just uncomfortable."
"Well me too." In one swift motion Lily flicked off her shoes and swung her legs onto the bed parallel to James'. The entirely length of their bodies were now touching which James was very aware of. "After you knocked your self out I came over to help you. I slipped on my own smoothing charms and bruised my bum."
James nodded sympathetically. "I could rub it better for you if you like?" James barely got the sentence out before bursting into laughter. Lily elbowed him sharply in the ribs causing him to cry out in pain.
"Ow!" James quickly recovered remembering his previous macho façade. "My ego."
It was Lily's turn to burst out laughing and it wasn't long before James was laughing too. When they eventually got their giggles under control both leant back against the huge pile of cushions Lily had procured and closed their eyes. James stretched and yawned rather melodramatically. He began to reach an arm over Lily's shoulder but she had predicted this move.
"Don't push it Potter." She murmured. His arm shot back down to his side very quickly. Lily laughed again and rested her head on his shoulder. Even though her eyes were closed she could tell that James was blushing.
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"What is the meaning of this?!"
The first thing that Lily noticed was how comfortable she was with her hand in another, much larger than her own. Lily's eyes shot open to find herself looking very closely at the Head Boy's neck.
"I said, what is the meaning of this?!" Madam Pomfrey was definitely angry; Lily stood up quickly and felt decidedly flustered. James was slowly stirring because of Lily's sudden movement from next to him.
His eyes opened slowly and eventually focused on the angry figure of Madam Pomfrey who was stood at the end of his bed. "Uh oh."
"This is not the place for a co-ed slumber party!" She yelled shrilly.
They both ran from the hospital wing as fast as they could, both carrying their shoes and Lily's book. They both hastily put their shoes back on and stood at opposite sides of the corridor looking at each other. James smiled shyly towards Lily, which she returned. James nodded down the corridor and they began to head back towards the common room. The walked slowly and James was much closer to Lily than he usually dared to be.
"Alice and Mary will probably be wondering where you are."
"They know I came to the hospital wing with you and it's only 11 'o' clock."
James shrugged, "Yeah but you girls always go upstairs at half 10 without fail."
"I really am predictable aren't I?" Lily couldn't hide the edge of sadness to her voice as her head fell.
James reacted immediately rubbing her back gently. "That's a good thing you know." Lily wasn't convinced so James continued. "It means you're dependable, reliable, Elvendork."
"What?" Lily turned to James utterly confused by his last statement until she followed his gaze up to the Gryffindor portrait of the fat lady and the entrance to the common room. They entered the common room which was empty except for a few fourth years who were chatting noisily in the corner.
James continued to issue praise to Lily, "You never let anyone down, and people can trust you." They stopped at the bottom of the girl's staircase. The world went silent for Lily and it was as though they were the only two people in the world. "It's one of the reasons I like you. One of many." He mumbled and blushed as the silence surrounding them continued.
"You know so much about and I hardly know anything about you."
"That's not true. What about the prank, you knew my one weakness that would get me to come running." He smiled again.
"And what's that?"
"You." He said simply.
Lily watched James as he slowly took his wand out from the front of his robes and conjured a beautiful posy of flowers which he held out for Lily to take. "Thank you for looking after me and taking me to the hospital wing."
"I was the one who put you there! It was nothing."
"It meant everything." James replied softly. The emotion with which he spoke made the breath catch in Lily's throat.
He then pointed his wand under his left arm. Suddenly there were shouts from the fourth years as they jumped up from their seats, voicing their objections to being soaked from head to toe by James powerful charm.
"It's rude to eavesdrop." He said loudly but calmly without turning around. "Goodnight Lily. I'll see you in the morning." He bowed and then turned towards the boy's stairs.
"James, hang on." He paused and turned back to her. She walked up to him and placed one of the flowers in his hand and closed his fingers around it. "Goodnight James."
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"For me? You shouldn't have!"
"James conjured them for me." Lily calmly responded to Mary's dramatics as she transfigured part of a discarded scroll into a vase for the flowers. "Aguamenti." A small amount of water spouted from the end of her wand into the vase.
"Why are you doing that Lily?" Alice asked, clearly confused by her friends actions.
"They need a vase Alice; they can't stand on their own anymore." Lily grinned.
"No, not the vase, the water. Conjured flowers die after a few hours unless the charm is particularly strong." Alice looked surprised by Lily's lack of knowledge.
"Nobodies ever given me conjured flowers before." Lily sighed.
"That's not true." Mary said quietly. Lily tried to remember a previous time but was unable to. "James has given you flowers at least five times before, but you always threw them back at him."
"Or set fire to them and put them in his dinner." Alice laughed, "That was classic."
"But this time you accepted them." Mary grinned at Alice who returned it.
"It sounds to me like someone is coming around at last." Both girls giggled excitedly.
"Goodnight girls." Lily drew her curtains around her bed, still clutching a single flower in her hand.
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"For me? You shouldn't have!"
James stuck his tongue out at Sirius. "Lily gave it to me actually." He was staring at the flower grinning from ear to ear.
"Was this after you gave it to her because that doesn't really count you know." Sirius countered.
"No! Well, yes but I gave her a bunch and she gave me one back." He blushed.
"You're such a girl!" Sirius laughed and despite attempting to resist Remus soon broke from his book, unable to concentrate and joined in the laughter.
"Shut up you two." A quick change of subject was needed for James before he spontaneously combusted from blushing too much. "So what on earth did you two do without me?"
It was Remus who first composed himself enough to answer. "I stayed here did my homework, revised and read my book."
"How fun for you!" Sirius mocked.
"Thanks for the pasties by the way." Remus nodded in return.
"After my detention with McGonagall, Peter and I went down to the courtyard to watch the ensuing chaos from Lily's prank. Turning you into a six foot owl, I would have loved to see that! Alice told us about the plan and that Lily had knocked you out, 'accidentally' of course. Obviously we had to go and get tips for knocking you unconscious. When we got down there were students flying in all directions, a bit of a crowd was gathering to watch. Then McGonagall came down and literally went down!"
"She didn't!"
"She did." Sirius raised his hand and slammed it down onto his other hand. A loud slap echoed in the room. "Anyway I was laughing so hard that I didn't see that everyone else had scarpered and I was sort of stood on Peter's robes. McGonagall blamed us and we've been in the greenhouses for hours fighting plants into new pots."
James guffawed at his friend's predicament. Sirius looked across at Peter who was once again sleeping soundly. "Poor guy, one of the bigger plants picked him up and tried to eat him. I don't know why he hangs around with us we get him in trouble so much." He sighed.
"What do you mean we?" Remus asked.
All three sniggered before saying goodnight and drawing the curtains around them. Despite getting changed James had yet to release the flower from his hand.
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Lily and James both fell asleep with the same flowery scent resting next to them on their respective pillows. The day had not gone to plan for either as each had sustained injuries from Lily's prank gone wrong. Although Lily would never admit it, they both agreed that today could hardly have turned out better.
A/N What did you think of this chapter? please review and let me know!
The next chapter is now up!
