A.N. – Alright, so this one is a little shorter than the last one, but fear not! I am already halfway through the next chapter (I am really determined to keep a regular updating rhythm, so… only 12 days, yay). See the end of the chapter for a longer note:)

I'd like to once again thank my beta, sweetly-secret, for looking this over for me.

Enjoy!


By the time James had moved on to his problems with the beaters, now that Sirius and Pierce were apparently not in good terms, Lily was fast asleep against his shoulder. Which really shouldn't have made his brain short circuit so fast.

They were almost friends now. They ate lunch together in the same group, they worked as a team to get their head duties done, they'd been freaking living together for a whole month and his private parts hadn't even been threatened for Merlin's sake! (James didn't count the moment they'd first gotten into the dorm, when the words "If you get anywhere near my room, Potter" were pronounced, accompanied by a pointed swish of Lily's wand at his lower half menacingly. He firmly believed the redhead had simply meant she'd throw a good old Tarantallegra at him and watch him dance himself exhausted – it was believable that she was pointing it at his legs, right? Totally believable. No matter what Padfoot said.)

The point was they were very well on their way to becoming actual friends, and he wasn't going to blow it all up by having her wake up to him smelling her hair like a bloody maniac.

(It still smelled of cinnamon; it had since their 5th year at least – he'd never gotten close enough to tell before that.)

Okay, so he was a bit of a creep when it came to Lily Evans. But he was getting better! Which was why he needed to play his cards right with this. Luckily enough, overanalyzing situations happened to be one of his hobbies; you know, when he wasn't ignoring all rational thought and acting on impulse alone, which was something Lily didn't seem to appreciate very much – hence his effort to retreat further and further into the first state of mind. James sat pondering what to do, absent mindedly petting Lily's hair softly as he made a mental checklist of his options.

Option A: He could leave her on the couch… but she'd doubtless wake up sore and uncomfortable – he'd appear inconsiderate. Option B: He could stay and be her pillow… pretend he'd fallen asleep too… something inside his chest purred at the thought, but then his brain shut it down quickly as well: they'd both be sore the next day, which would be terrible for quidditch, and knowing Lily she could think he'd just taken his chance to do merlin knew what while she was asleep. And sleep deprivation made people go all kinds of crazy.

As if reading his mind, Lily snuggled further into him, dropping her face to the crook of his neck and nuzzling him slightly. James exhaled slowly as he fought to keep himself from moving – merlin, why did god have to test him like this? Well… god might have no reason to, but... James frowned and looked down at the red head, but she was still clearly very asleep; apparently, god was just a bastard.

He could carry her to her room… except he didn't know the password; well, he did, it was sesame. He'd overheard it, by accident actually – not that he wouldn't have tried to figure it out, sooner or later – when he was sneaking off under the cloak last week; what it meant, however, he had no clue – he'd asked Marlene but she had offered no further insight either. But Lily did not know he did, and he didn't want to give up his knowledge, or, yet again, seem creepy. Which also applied to option D, which was taking her to his room – he quickly shut down the image of Lily Evans sprawled across his sheets before he got so sidetracked he would have another problem to deal with.

Finally, he settled on waking her up. Politely. Gently. But not flirty; definitely not. No matter how peacefully beautiful she looked right then, leaning against him, appearing as comfortable as if she'd been doing so for years. James cleared his throat; she didn't move.

Well, shit.

Sighing, James leaned away from her, using his hands to cushion her head as he slowly got up from the couch, easing Lily down on it until she was completely horizontal. She complained with a soft groan when he left, and James grit his teeth. Get a grip, Potter, for fuck's sake.

He pushed her shoulder softly, in what he hoped would be interpreted as a friendly manner. Unfortunately for his intentions of remaining friendly, the redhead decided it would be nice to just stretch out like a fucking cat right there and then, yawning what vaguely sounded like a version of his name.

Forcefully looking away from where her skirt was riding up her thighs and ignoring the reactions that sound had caused, James cursed under his breath. He wondered if there was some sort of reverse Felix Felicis potion that Padfoot or Wormtail might've dosed his juice with at breakfast that morning.

Eventually, Lily turned on her back and rubbed at her eyes sleepily. James quickly sat down on one of the armchairs, picking up a book from the coffee table and opening it on a random page, smiling hesitantly over it.

The redhead frowned slightly. "James?"

The boy in question chuckled and lowered the book onto his lap. "You fell asleep, Evans."

Lily sat down and immediately tilted her head in confusion. "But I thought… why are you reading my potions book?"

James blinked once before looking down to see that he was, indeed, holding the book she had been reading when he'd first come in the room. "Right. I was studying a bit."

She frowned again. "But… that's my masters manual… not the textbook."

James mentally cursed again; sleepy Lily was even pushier than her regular awake self. Keeping his smile in place, he replied airily. "Oh, well, I was curious. I still haven't decided what I want to do, so I was studying… possibilities." He mentally congratulated his overworked brain for the quick thinking before fearing she would think he was being rude and adding. "I'm sorry, I should've asked for permission. But I didn't think you would mind."

"I don't." She yawned and got up, taking the book from him gently. "But you shouldn't do potions. We both know you're a genius in transfiguration, and Alice says you're quite handy with arithmancy too."

James felt his eyes widen. Was Lily Evans actually paying him a compliment? Maybe he had fallen asleep on the couch with her and this was all just a dream. That theory became a lot more likely when she placed her hand on his shoulder, running it lightly down his arm as she whispered absent mindedly. "And of course, quidditch. You're probably the best player in the school."

By this point, James was sure he looked ridiculously like a deer caught in the headlights (he mentally high fived himself on the pun), his lips parted as he stared at the beautiful redhead in front of him. Unfortunately, she seemed to think that was enough for the night, stifling another yawn with her hand then waving at him over her shoulder as she turned to climb up the stairs to her dorm. "Night, James."

The Head Boy stayed in that position for what felt like ages, before deciding that sleep deprivation made people very crazy indeed and climbing up to his room as well.


A.N. – A little James' POV here! What did you think? I'm just trying to establish that both of our lovely main characters are more than a little confused this early on, and I will try to navigate through all of these conflicting feelings and situations into (hopefully) a good story.

If you are enjoying this story, then please leave a review. If you are hating it, then by all means, leave a review as well explaining what you don't like. Any and all constructive feedback is welcome. Honestly, one word reviews are totally valid if you have no time for more.

Follows and Favorites are also amazeballs, and only take a second ;) Plus they will only make me write faster hehehe… anyway, hope you enjoyed this, and stick around, the real fun will begin soon :P

Bad Ass Blye