A/N: Okay, I lied before, this one isn't too long either, but the next one I SWEAR is! enjoy!

Chapter Three

Lily ran from the Gryffindor tower until she reached the front entrance. Looking over her shoulder for anyone coming, she soundlessly opened the grand doors and made her way outside.

Once she was safely outside she took the path that led her down the hill to the gamekeeper, Hagrid's hut. Looking over her shoulder one last time, she knocked quickly.

Opening the door, Hagrid looked down at the petite redhead standing in front of him. With a giant size sigh, Hagrid stepped aside and motioned for her to enter.

"Lily, how much longer are yah gunna' be hiding here? I don't mind, but I think your friends must miss yah." Hagrid spoke as he prepared two mugs of hot tea.

She settled on the couch and let Fang, Hagrid's boar hound jump up beside her and laid his head on her lap, drooling as he did.

"I don't know Hagrid, I just don't want any more pity, and I've had enough of that over the summer." Lily accepted her mug from Hagrid and watched as he sat in the easy chair across from the couch.

"How do you know that's what they'll do, Lily? Maybe you're not giving them enough credit." Hagrid tried to reason with her.

Lily knew he had the right intentions, but he knew exactly how they would react. Alice would be constantly fretting over her, never letting her get a moments peace, all with a permanent look of worry on her face. Marlene on the other hand would feel so awkward around her, and not know what to say, most likely ending up with her just staring at Lily. Lily wasn't sure what was worse to be honest.

With a shake of his head, Hagrid stood up from his chair and stretched. "Well Lily, if I can't convince yah, then feel free to sleep on that lumpy ol' couch as long as you feel yah need ta." With a wink towards Lily, Hagrid called for Fang and they went into the small bedroom off the kitchen.

Lily sighed for what felt like the millionth time and reached into her pocket for her magically shrunk trunk. Pulling out her wand she made the trunk larger and grabbed her pyjamas from inside.

After she changed, she clicked her tongue to the top of her mouth, and called out for Goose. Goose peeked his head out from under a cabinet and realizing the coast was clear of Fang, ran over to Lily and curled into her lap.

Stroking Goose, Lily reached into her rucksack and pulled out the reading she needed to do for Transfiguration.

She knew she had to face her friends eventually, but for now Lily needed the peace and quiet of Hagrid's hut to keep her mind off of everything.

Unfortunately nothing seemed to take her mind off her earlier encounter with James Potter.

James sat in his bed that night, poring over a piece of parchment by wand light.

After Lily had ran away from them, James had been sorely tempted to chase after her. What seemed like the worst internal struggle he had gone through, James finally conceded and followed his friends into the Gryffindor common room.

Now that it was close to midnight, James was curious if Lily did in fact go to bed as she said she was going to. Searching through the labyrinth of the Marauder's map, James concluded that she had lied. It took him another few minutes of looking, but he eventually found her dot in the confines of Hagrid's hut.

James stared at the dot for a few contemplative minutes, trying to decide whether it was the best idea to grab his invisibility cloak and search the hut, before he tapped the map with his wand. He muttered the words "Mischief managed" to clear the map, and folded it neatly before placing it in his top drawer of his bedside table.

James wasn't sure how long he had laid there trying to make sense of everything that had happened that day, but before he knew it, Remus was shaking his shoulder to wake him up.

"Morning, Mate, figured you'd want to get some breakfast in before class started." Remus smiled at James before leaving the dormitory himself.

Groaning as he stretched out tense muscles, James flung his long legs over the side of his bed and get ready for his day.

Before he drifted off to sleep last night, James had settled on a course of action with dealing with Lily. He was going to give her the space that she wanted, but he was going to unwavering polite, and constantly on the lookout out for potentially upsetting things for her.

With this game plan in mind, he dressed quickly and went down to breakfast. When he reached the great hall and looked around, he noticed Sirius, Peter and Remus sitting in their usual spot, Alice and Marlene sat a few seats away from them, their brown and blonde hair cascading together as they whispered with their heads close together. Finally he looked for Lily, but as he suspected, he did not find her.

James joined his friends, and jumped in occasionally with some comments to their conversation about Puddlemere United's chance at the cup this upcoming season, but was too distracted keeping an eye out for Lily.

Finally it was almost time for their first class of the day to start; Charms. Knowing this was Lily's favorite class; James gathered some toast in a napkin and hurried out of the great hall, ignoring his friends' shouts behind him.

Once he reached the hallway outside of their charms classroom, he slowed his pace and walked quietly into the room, adjusting the strap on his bag as he went.

Lily was seated at the back of the classroom, reading over what looked like her assignment they were to hand in today. James approached her desk, and when she looked up, he placed the wrapped toast in front of her.

"I noticed you weren't at breakfast this morning, and I thought you might be hungry, so uh, here's some toast." James said lamely, awkwardly rubbing the back of his neck.

"Oh, well, thank you, I am actually quite hungry. I woke up a little later than expected and wasn't able to make it down to breakfast." Lily responded quietly, and James was happy that she didn't just throw the food away.

When she realized they didn't really have much more to say, Lily suddenly looked uncomfortable.

"Well, I'll just go ov-"

"Would you like to-"

They had both spoken at the same time, and subsequently became very red in the face. James awkwardly gestured for her to continue.

"I was going to offer you the seat beside me if you'd like." Lily flushed an even darker red.

James looked at the slowly filling classroom, and over to where Sirius was undoubtedly saving him a seat, then back at Lily.

"I would like that, thank you." James walked behind the desk and sat beside Lily.

When James was fully sitting down, he looked around the classroom more closely this time, his friends were staring at him in surprise, but also with smiles on their faces, Alice and Marlene were looking at Lily with hurt and longing, and his least favorite person, Severus Snape was glaring openly at James with such loathing.

Rolling his eyes at Snape's behaviour, James reached into his bag and pulled out his own charms homework.

"Thank you Lily."

"You're welcome, James."

They did not speak for the rest of the class.

A/N: Hello beautiful people! How was everyone's week!? Like I said at the top there, this isn't as long as I had originally intended, but, I usually try to be a full written chapter done before I post a new one, and It's been a full week, and I'm still not done the next chapter.

Hope you enjoyed, and thank you thank you THANK YOU for continuing to read!