A/N: This Chapter is dedicated to my friend Dawn. Are you glad I've updated? Now for chapter four... That's going to be a challenge...

Disclaimer: I don't own the Potterverse, but i do own this story!

Chapter 3: A Different Kind of Attraction

My heart was thumping, thinking back to my dream. Confused and groggy I went to get ready for my first day as a Hogwarts Professor. At breakfast, I received a schedule from McGonagall – though I already had one. I saw that I had some first years today, which excited me, and I realized then that I was looking forward to meeting Lily. My mind wandered to my dream (how confused it left me!) and I knew that I would not be able to get it out of my head for a while. It meant isomething/i. I knew that much. But what did it mean?

My dream troubled me so much that I couldn't finish my breakfast. I headed off to my first class of the morning with black coffee in my hand. It was a small class, really, with less than twenty seventh years, a few from each House and I knew that I would not have many problems. Seventh years were the most serious students of Hogwarts, so I knew they'd be more mature than a group like the fourth years.

The bell rang, signaling that classes were to begin. All my students were here, all fourteen of them. Friends sat with each other, usually from the same House, and I could tell because of their colored ties. I gulped some coffee, bitter and black, grimaced at the taste. I cleared my throat and started my day.

My hunches about the seventh years were right; they all listened to me, answered the questions correctly. My next class was Ravenclaw and Hufflepuff fifth years, who were more jumpy than the seventh years, but I didn't mind. My first two classes received a lot of homework because Those classes were the O.W.L. and N.E.W.T. years, the most important years of Hogwarts. I knew that they were very bored, because my first two lessons were not at all practical; I lectured, asked questions, gave class work, and gave homework. Those two lessons were two hours each, so I had only one class left, and when I checked my schedule again, I got excited.

A half hour after lunch, I finally met Lily in my third and final class of the day, which was at one thirty after noon. She walked in right before the bell seeming very nervous, with her cousin Erin accompanying her. I recognized them both from the night before, as they stuck out in my memory the most. I was intrigued by them, Lily especially so. I wanted to know who Erin was more like – Ron or Hermione? – because it was obvious who her parents were. But Lily stumped me. Whose daughter was she? Why did it matter so much? I had even more Weasleys to figure out.

After Lily and Erin had taken their seats, I did a role call like the two classes before, and looked at each student for a few seconds to better my memory of them. Not that I was getting old – I had hundreds of names to remember! Erin answered confidently when I called her, but Lily's voice was so quiet (plus, she was in the back of the room), that I had to strain to hear her. Even if I didn't hear her… I knew she was there. I smiled encouragingly at her, hoping she wouldn't be so shy. The look on her face was so peculiar. A lot of different emotions shown at once. Extreme curiosity, anger, hurt, happiness… confusion.

After roll call, I leaned casually on my desk, facing the tiny first years. Was I really that small? Was Ron? The last time I had seen Ron was eleven years ago. Almost ten. He was so big… so menacing. I drifted, gazed unfocusedly at Lily. At Erin. Only when I saw the movement of Lily's red hair as she embarrassedly turned her face from me to whisper something to her cousin, had I realized that ten minutes had gone by. Ten minutes of my silent brooding, thinking, remembering. I snapped back to attention, then, opened my mouth as if to speak. What was I to say?

"Wands out," I ordered with a smile, pulling out my own. There was an almost tangible excitement as the students opened their bags, pulled out their wands, holding them as if to cast spells. They were excited, as well as I. "Pull out some parchment, some ink, a quill." They opened their bags once more and pulled out some parchment, ink bottles, and quills. "Notes," I said, going to one side of the room. I tapped the chalk board with my wand, and white chalk writing appeared on the green slate surface.

iDefense Against the Dark Arts for beginnersi, it read. Then I took a piece of chalk for myself, wrote down a few spells. Beginner spells. Spells that I learned in my first year for Defense classes. This lesson, I gave a lot less notes, mostly a list of beginner spells, and I had the students practice them. This was their first official day with using magic, as they weren't allowed over the summer, and I wanted them to enjoy it. And they did.

Their faces lit up with excitement and wonder as they unleashed the power that rested from within themselves. It amazed me. Erin was a lot like her mum, skilled and extremely smart in magic, bushy hair and the same shaped face. She was more like Ron in her appearance, with a long nose, very tall for her age, red hair and freckles, and even a bit carefree. I missed Hermione and Ron more and more.

Lily on the other hand, had very few freckles, and soft skin. Her hair was auburn-ginger and she had the most exquisite green eyes. They were bright and clear and vaguely familiar. Frustratingly familiar. Where had I seen those eyes before? She was just a bit shorter than Erin and they got along so well. They could have passed for sisters if they did not look so different in all of their similarities. Lily was very quiet and blushed a lot. When I complimented her on her red sparks, her feeble-yet-strong-for-a-first-year disarming charm, she became awkward, turning almost as red as her hair, but not quite. I had an attraction to Lily – nothing at all like the emotions that I would feel toward Ginny – but something different. But it was similar, because it was love.

Only after class did I really feel something for Lily. She was so familiar, but I was sure I had not met her before. She walked up to my desk after the bell rang, signaling the end of classes for the day. It did, I noticed, take a lot of coaxing from Erin. She left Lily hear saying, "I'll meet you in the Common Room before lunch." Erin gave me a strange look, one of longing and confusion and sadness… it reminded me of Lily's expression, so mixed up, during roll call.

Lily tried to secretly examine me with her head bent, lifting every so often to peak at me. She constantly shifted her weight from one foot to the other, and I knew she was nervous. "Can I help you, Lily?" I said to her kindly. I smiled at her, blinking.

"Er…" she started with a nod. She walked closer to the desk, seeming to get more comfortable.

"I'm nervous, too," I told her. The words just spilled out of my mouth unthinkingly. Instinct. The trickle of words continued, no consent from my brain. "I was even nervous in my first year. But I'm more nervous now." I was going to talk her to death. I was a teacher, she a student. What was there to even talk about between us? Certainly we had nothing in common. She just shrugged and perched on the edge of my desk, half sitting half standing.

"I don't know…" she began slowly, thoughtfully, "I don't exactly know what to say to you… Professor. I've heard all about you, though!" I laughed when she said that.

"I know, I know," I said. "Me, Harry Potter. Everyone's heard of me…" My voice drifted, as did my enthusiasm. Did she want an autograph? I asked her.

"No…" she said quite frankly. I was almost insulted, but what she said next made my heart swell. "No. I'd love to get to know you."

My heart just reached out to Lily, then, and I couldn't help what my heart felt. I replied to her confession, reciprocating her desire.

"I'd love to get to know you, too."

A/N: Alright alright! Review!