That night, Lily sat in the common room with three different homework assignments spread out before her. It was only the second week of school, and she was already behind in her homework. On top of that, she still had Head duties to attend to; she and James had to patrol the corridors that night. She certainly would not give James the satisfaction of knowing that she was behind, especially when he seemed to keep up with the workload effortlessly. And he had Quidditch practice to boot.
At that very minute, James himself walked in. He took one look at Lily and jogged up to his dormitory, returning a couple minutes later with an old piece of parchment in his hand. "I see you're behind on your work," he observed.
"What's it to you?" Lily questioned.
"Don't worry. I'm behind myself. I still have to finish that stupid Transfiguration essay. And Slughorn's four feet on Polyjuice is going to take awhile. I certainly don't want to patrol the corridors tonight, and I doubt you do. So I've brought some help."
"A piece of parchment?" Lily glanced skeptically at the tattered piece he held in his hand.
"It's not just any parchment. Watch." James pulled out his wand and tapped the parchment. "I solemnly swear that I am up to no good." Immediately, ink lines began to snake across the page, gradually coming together to form a complete image. Lily suddenly realized what it was.
"A map," she breathed. "Of Hogwarts. And it looks like it shows every secret passage in the castle. Is this how you and Sirius manage to pop up when I least expect it?"
"Basically. Look closer."
Lily did and saw dozens of small dots moving around the map. Each one had a miniscule label; Lily bent down closer to read the first one and saw "Horace Slughorn." "Does this map really show where everyone in the caste is?"
"Everybody."
"Where did you get it?"
"The Marauders and I made it in our third year."
"That's really advanced magic for third years."
"We were pretty advanced third years. Well, except for Wormtail. He's always been a bit slower than the rest of us."
"Why didn't you show me this before?"
"I always enjoyed our nighttime strolls around the castle. Besides, I was afraid you'd confiscate it or something." He glanced down at the map. "It seems we have only two rule breakers tonight." He pointed to the two dots on the corner of the page.
"That's good. They're not that far. This shouldn't take too long at all," Lily said.
"Are you sure you want to break the two lovebirds up?"
"They're breaking school rules."
"So?"
"So as Head Girl, it's my job to break them up. And it's your job, too."
"All right. I'm coming. And when I get back, why don't I help you with that killer Transfiguration essay? That way, we can both get it done faster."
Lily could not speak for a minute. James was actually being nice to her? Without asking for anything in return? It did not seem right. 'Maybe he has changed,' she thought. 'Or maybe he has some ulterior motive'. . . 'But I could really use help with Transfiguration homework.' There was no other option. "I'd love some help," she told him.
In what seemed like the blink of an eye, Friday had arrived. When Lily walked into the Great Hall, she saw that grey clouds covered the sky outside. These clouds loomed over her, increasing the trepidation she felt about her date that night. She was still unsure as to why she had agreed to go out with Roger. Although he was a nice guy, she would never have thought of him as her boyfriend. She just did not like him in that way.
After dinner, Lily walked toward the Gryffindor common room to meet him as she had promised. She found him anxiously pacing back and forth in front of the portrait of the Fat Lady who guarded the entrance to the common room. He smiled shyly when he saw her and asked, "Ready to go?"
"Sure. Where are we going?"
Roger looked down at his feet. "I thought I'd let you decide."
"What are my options?"
"Well, we can go for a walk down by the lake. Or go nick some food from the kitchens and have a romantic dinner."
"I'm not that hungry. Let's go for a walk."
"Okay." He slowly inched his hand toward hers, finally touching it and closing his fingers over hers. His hand was warm but not comforting. The two walked out onto the grounds hand-in-hand. After a few feeble attempts to start a conversation, he finally began to rant about Quidditch. Lily, who was not nearly as fond of Quidditch, felt her mind begin to wander. She thought of all the great times she had had next to the lake. Skating on it during the winter and skipping rocks across in the spring. Watching James coax the giant squid—
'No!' she thought. 'I'm on a date. I'm not going to think of James. Besides, I hate him. I shouldn't be thinking of him anyway.' Lily forced herself to focus on what Roger was saying—something about Germany's chances at the Quidditch World Cup. She nodded in agreement, hoping he would not ask her any questions which she would, of course, be unable to answer.
When the two reached the Head dormitories, Lily told Roger goodnight and turned to leave. He held her back, however, pulling her close to him. She could feel his warm breath on her cheek as he leaned in and kissed her full on the lips. However, Lily did not have the "tingly" feeling described so often in movies and books; in fact, the kiss felt odd and unnatural. Yet Lily did not wish to hurt Roger's feelings, so she continued to kiss him for a few seconds before pulling away. "I'll see you tomorrow, then?" he asked.
"Yeah. See ya."
James hurried back from the library, clutching the precious book he had found. He could not wait to show Lily; the two had been scouring the library for three days, searching for a book which contained the instructions for a potion Slughorn had assigned. Maybe Lily would consider being his friend; after all, he had proved countless times that he had changed. All he wanted was for her to accept him as a friend. For now at least. The rest would come later.
As James rounded the corner, he stopped suddenly. Ahead of him was Likely kissing. . . was that the idiot Ravenclaw keeper who could not stop a ball if his life depended on it? James had scored more goals on him than any other Keeper. Although he was tempted to throw the book he was holding at the two of them, he controlled his rage (with difficulty) and quickly stormed around the corner, slamming into Tina. "Sorry," he apologized, helping her up.
"We have to stop meeting like this." Tina smiled broadly. James merely stood there, staring at her. Everything that had happened over the past few days suddenly rose to the surface. His suppressed rage at the gall of Roger to kiss Lily. His depression over the fact that Lily still seemed to hate him. His stress over the heavy workload of classes, Quidditch, and Head duties. Without a second thought, he pulled Tina to him and kissed her. However, the kiss was not one of passion. He felt nothing as he pressed his lips on hers. 'You bloody idiot,' he thought. 'You love Lily. You have no feelings for Tina. You're just going to get both of you hurt.' However, he disregarded this thought and continued to kiss her. Finally, she pulled away, breathing heavily. He stared down at her for a couple seconds, an odd expression on his face, before asking, "Wanna go out sometime?"
"Sure." As Tina said this, he turned and walked briskly away.
Tina joined Lily in the Head common room a couple minutes later. "What's up?" Lily asked, seeing the shock on Tina's face.
"James Potter just kissed me and asked me out," Tina explained, still not believing this statement herself.
"He what?" 'Careful, Lily, you sound jealous. . . But maybe I am. . . Yet that would mean I like James Potter which is impossible. . . Ah, not as impossible as you think.'
"He. . . asked me out. I always thought he liked you."
"Maybe he's finally moved on. What'd you say?" The fierce battle still raged in Lily's head.
"Yes, of course." Tina turned to face her friend. "No one turns down James Potter. Except you, of course."
'Yes, except me,' Lily thought to herself. 'Obviously I don't like him or I wouldn't keep refusing him.'
James entered the Gryffindor common room with a glazed expression on his face. Sirius and Remus, who were enjoying a game of Exploding Snap in the corner, immediately became concerned. "What's the matter, mate? You look like you just swallowed a bottle of Skele-Grow," Sirius commented.
"I kissed Tina," James told him.
"What about Lily?" Remus asked.
"I saw her kissing another guy. That idiot on the Ravenclaw team."
"Janson?" Sirius inquired.
"That's the one. Anyway, I saw him with her, and I just snapped. I ran into Tina, and I kissed her."
"That's great, man," Sirius congratulated. "I've always thought you've been stuck on Lily too long. You need to get around more. Take me, for example. I date a different girl every couple weeks, and I'm perfectly happy with that arrangement. It never gets boring."
"Yeah. I guess." James stared into the fire, images of the best way to torture Roger Janson running through his head.
Two days later, Tina, Julie, and Lily were all gathered to the Head common room talking. James was sitting on the windowsill, ostensibly doing homework (although he was actually eavesdropping on the girls' conversation). "You never told us about our date with Roger, Lily," Julie reminded her.
"It was. . . okay," Lily answered elusively.
"Okay? That's all we get?" Julie asked incredulously. "No details at all, like what you guys did? Did he kiss you? Is he a good kisser? Did you-"
"All right, okay. You win. I'll give you details. He made me choose what we were going to do."
"That was thoughtful," Tina commented.
"Except the only options he gave me were walking by the lake or nicking food from the kitchens."
"Not very creative," Julie agreed.
"But there's not much you can do here," Tina pointed out. "I mean, what would you have liked to do?"
"I know it's cliché, but I've always thought dinner and a movie is a great first date."
"A movie?" Julie asked.
"It's a Muggle thing," Lily explained. "A bunch of people called actors pretend to be someone else and act out of a scene that's been written for them. They record it on a thin sheet of plastic and you can play it back. It's very interesting. It's like a story with moving pictures."
"Wicked!" Julie exclaimed.
"Are there different kinds?" Tina asked.
"Sure, there are hundreds of different movies. I like a variety of movies—Star Wars and Titanic are two of my all-time favorites."
"You'll have to let us see one sometime," Tina said.
"I will," Lily promised. "Someday."
"Now, you've answered my first question. What about the second two?"
"I'm getting there. Yes, he kissed me. And it was. . . well, truthfully, a little weird. It just seemed awkward."
"But it's the first kiss. It'll get better," Tina assured her.
"I hope so. Now, what about you and James?" Tina turned bright red as Lily asked this. James slammed his book shut and stormed out of the common room.
After wandering the halls for a bit, James finally realized what he needed to do. Quickly, he turned and sprinted up to the Gryffindor common room. When he entered, his eyes quickly scanned the room before finding the three people he was searching for. The other Marauders sat hunched over in a corner discussing something. "Hullo, Prongs. 'Bout time you joined us. Have you been off snogging your girlfriend again?" Sirius questioned.
"Ha, ha. No, I was actually doing homework."
"Yeah right." Sirius looked at the blank parchment in front of him. "We've missed you lately, mate."
"I'm sorry. I've been really busy. It must have been hard to pull pranks with all the brains on your team missing." Sirius and Remus rolled their eyes, but James continued. "I've got an idea for our next prank."
"I though you'd sworn off pranking people for Lily," Remus commented, raising his eyebrows.
"I don't have to worry about Lily anymore. I have a girlfriend, remember?"
"One who doesn't care if you play pranks?"
"I don't give a damn what she thinks."
"She's your girlfriend."
"And I'm sure she'll be perfectly okay with a harmless prank. Now, are we going to do this or not?" Remus opened his mouth to protest once more, but closed it when he realized he had nothing more to object to.
"Okay, Prongs, let's hear this brilliant plan."
The four Marauders entered the Great Hall together the next day, attempting not to look too expectant and give themselves away. Catching Tina's eye, James walked over to the table where she was sitting. He slid in next to her and put his arm around her shoulders. Lily glanced over at the two of them and quickly looked away. Her eyes scanned the Great Hall for any sign of Roger; however, he had not yet come down to breakfast. Lily sighed and surveyed the odd group surrounding her. Two days before, she would never have imagined that she would be willingly sitting next to the Marauders. She listened to Sirius and James argue about dragons (with occasional comments by Remus). Peter stared morosely at his food, pushing it around the plate with a fork. Tina tried (unsuccessfully) to enter into the dragon conversation, eventually resorting to brooding silently. Julie continued to pester Lily with questions, growing steadily more annoyed at her obvious lack of attention.
Finally, Lily saw Roger enter the Great Hall. Spotting her and the others, he made his way to their table. When he saw the Marauders sitting with Lily, he hesitated. However, she waved him on, so he approached and kissed her on the cheek. A loud croak suddenly came from his mouth. He attempted to apologize in vain; the croaks simply grew louder and more insistent. James bit his tongue to prevent himself from laughing. Sirius had turned his head to hide the huge grin he wore, and Peter smiled at his food. Even Remus could not suppress a smile as Roger continued croaking loudly. Nearby students were cracking up, watching the strange scene unfold. Lily attempted to cure the croaking with disastrous results; Roger moved from croaking to quacking to barking. After Lily had run out of charms to try and Roger had gone through an entire farmyard of sounds, a fuming Roger left for the nurse's office, clucking like a chicken. The entire Great Hall had found the whole fiasco uproariously funny, and Roger received a standing ovation as he left.
"I'm going to kill you for this," Lily hissed through clenched teeth.
"For what?" James asked innocently, fooloing no one.
"Potter, you are the most incorrigible little. . ." Lily's stream of insults continued until James said loudly.
"The charm will wear off tonight. He'll talk regularly tomorrow. Though I must say, he's much easier to talk to."
"Yeah, I think he sounds more intelligent, Evans," Sirius added, still trying to stifle his laughter.
"I would certainly agree, Padfoot."
"You guys are horrible!" Lily stood up and walked briskly away.
"I'm hurt, Evans! Deeply hurt!" Sirius called after her sarcastically. James, however, remained silent.
'She hates you again,' the little voice in his head told him. 'You've accomplished absolutely nothing. Besides, you've both moved on. She's with Janson and you're with Tina. It's time to move on and forget about Lily.'
But could he?