Seventh Year Changes

Summary: It's that elusive seventh year in which Lily and James hooked up. Lupin and his cousin decide to play matchmakers; and new romance ensues, but not just for the famous pair!

Disclaimer: Harry and all his events, locations, chums, enemies and parents, are not mine.

Chapter 6- An Awkward Invitation

James sat in the Common Room, eating the sandwich he had just been to the kitchen to get. Those house-elves were so accommodating, he could request a roast with potatoes and gravy and they would get it for him, with a smile on their little faces. He knew he really should've been in bed, but couldn't sleep. The sickening thought of Emily White playing Chaser just wouldn't escape his mind. He had had to go to tryouts and tell all the bright-faced hopefuls that the position had been taken. And when he told them who had the position, quite a few had burst out laughing. Damn Sirius and his Wimbourne Wasps!

He glanced at the Marauders' Map, which was positioned on his lap, and noticed a dot labelled 'Lily Evans' was walking fast out of her room and into the Common Room. He quickly whispered "Mischief Managed" to the map and stuffed it into a pocket. He then brushed the crumbs off his shirt and stood up, turning just in time to greet Lily, who was dressed in a pair of pale blue pyjamas. He smiled. "Hello Evans, fancy meeting you here."

Lily looked absolutely horrified to see James. Her face went red and she began staring at her fingernails. "Oh. Hello Potter."

James noticed what looked like a crumpled letter in her right hand. "What's that you've got there?" he asked, interested.

"Um..." she hesitated, looking as if she was going to tell him, but then said very quickly; "Nothing, really." Lily was quickly turning a shade of red to rival the scarlet on a Gryffindor tapestry hanging behind her.

James gave her a disbelieving look. She was a bad liar.

"Look, Potter," she said abruptly, her face now so red it blended in with the tapestry. "I... have to go and discuss something with Emily. In fact, I don't know why I really needed to tell you that. It's not like you're of any importance to me. Not like you're my boyfriend who my parents are dying to meet." She was rambling.

James raised an eyebrow. "What are you going on about, Evans?"

She bit her lip. "Um... I'm going to go now." And she hurried off up the stairs.

James decided that he had to know exactly what she was going on about. He grabbed the invisibility cloak from under the armchair he had been sitting on and threw it on, racing up the stairs to catch up to Lily.

He caught up with her on the landing to the girls' dormitories and followed her in.

James followed Lily until she reached her old dormitory which contained her sleeping friends. He watched curiously as she drew the curtains of a four-poster-bed. Emily White sat up, rubbing her eyes.

"Lily?" she said, her voice croaky from tiredness.

"We need to talk." James couldn't help thinking Lily's voice was rather cold. She pulled Emily of bed. "You come with me. Let's go back to the common room. I don't want to wake anyone."

"Can't this wait until morning?"

"No."

And they made their way to the common room, James, who was very confused, following them quietly under the invisibility cloak.

When they reached the common room, Emily turned to face Lily, and said; "What is it Lily, is something wrong?"

Lily folded her arms and sniffed. "Wrong? Wrong? No, nothing's wrong, except for this." She held out her hand and revealed the letter James had noticed earlier.

"Wha-" she failed to suppress a yawn. "What's that?"

Lily swallowed. "Don't you dare play dumb with me, Emily." She handed the letter to her friend, who stared at it blankly.

"Lily, I can't understand this without my reading glasses."

Lily gave an exasperated sigh, and pulled it out of Emily's grasp. "I'll read it out for you then." And she began to read out the letter.

When she had finished, Emily had an odd expression on her face. She looked pensive. James, however, had nearly fainted underneath the cloak upon hearing the letter's conclusion. He had to grab onto an armchair to prevent himself from falling over. He was looking back and forth between the blonde and the redhead. He really couldn't begin to comprehend the letter Lily had just read out. When her mother had been going on about Lily's 'boyfriend' he had been insanely jealous, but when Lily had reached the end of the letter, he had thought he hadn't listened properly. Could it be true? Did

Lily was glaring at her friend. "This evening you said to me that the answer for a date to Petunia's wedding would fly into my head. And you put specific emphasis on the word fly, as if you knew it would literally fly into my bedroom in the form of a letter from my mother. What did you have to do with this?"

Emily swallowed. "It was... a joke."

Lily let out her adorable sound of disbelief. "A joke? Do you actually expect me to believe you?"

"We were doing those handwriting imitators in Charms, remember? And you and I switched handwriting with each other, and we had to write a letter to someone who would be able to pick forgery, and if we got a positive response, we would have no trouble in the N.E.W.Ts on them."

James could remember handwriting imitators; they were only a few days ago. You had to have permission of the person whose handwriting you were imitating and then it would work. He had found no real use for it, as the only handwriting that would come into use would be handwriting for which no permission had been given.

Lily looked sceptical. "So you decided to tell my family that I was going out with James Potter?"

"As I said before, it was a joke. I thought you would think it was funny. And I was going to tell you about it but... it passed my mind."

Lily's glare increased. "It passed your mind?"

"Well, then we had to go to Transfiguration after Charms, which we weren't allowed to speak in because we had to do those essays, and then McGonagall kept you back, and then when I got into the common room you were sitting with James, looking rather... intimate. So my mind went haywire, and I was wondering why the hell two people who hate each other were sitting having a deep discussion-"

Lily cut her off. "We don't hate each other."

Emily stared at her. So did James. Emily's mouth dropped opened. "What?"

"He doesn't hate me. At least I don't think so. He's been rather...sweet to me so far this year."

Emily voiced the question which was darting through James' mind. "And you? You don't hate him anymore?"

"I..." she paused, looking down. She looked as though she was searching desperately for what to say. "I... don't have any feelings for James Potter." Maybe it was just him, but from the way she said it, James couldn't help thinking she was trying to convince herself more than anyone else.

"...But you don't hate him anymore?"

"Look, Emily. This is beside the point. I still don't believe you forgot to tell me about your 'joke'. You had almost a week!"

Emily looked down. "Well, you can believe me or you don't have to. But I am telling the truth. And our friendship is too good to destroy over a stupid misunderstanding like this."

Lily sighed, and plonked herself into a chair. "What should I do Emily? I can't say it was a joke, my parents will be devastated. You heard how excited they were to find out I finally got a boyfriend. I think they were beginning to think I prefer girls and you were my secret lover or something."

Emily laughed. "Why don't you just turn up and say you two broke up or he couldn't make it or something."

"Because Petunia's heard. And she won't believe me and I couldn't bare that cow spending the entire day gloating, not because she's gotten married, but because I didn't bring the boyfriend I said I would."

Emily sighed. "Look Lily, I'm really sorry. I didn't think it would cause this much trouble."

"I know. I know you're sorry."

"So what are you going to do?"

Lily swallowed. "I guess I'll have to do the inevitable. Ask James Potter to my sister's wedding."

And James decided that was a great place to leave Emily and Lily's conversation, making his way up the dormitories with a feeling of absolute unbridled happiness welling in his belly.

Very early next morning Lily got dressed just as the sun was rising and decided to go for a walk by the lake to think. She pulled on her shoes and made her way out of Hogwarts, and to the lake, where she found none other than James Potter. He was standing by the lake, skimming stones across its surface.

Just as Lily began considering running back to Gryffindor tower, he turned around and spotted her, greeting her with a warm smile. "We really have to stop meeting like this."

"It's not my fault. You just keep showing up whenever I want to be alone," she returned, her voice wavering slightly. She felt colour rush to her cheeks when he raised an eyebrow and smirked.

"Well, it's not my fault, I just keep happening to bump into you, and I don't think it's necessarily a bad thing."

"How do you explain it then?" she asked, wishing she new how to apparate properly, so she could get back to a populated area of Hogwarts, one where she wouldn't have to be alone with James Potter, searching for some form of conversation to prevent herself from blurting out that she needed him to go to her sister's wedding with her.

"Fate," said James smoothly. "It's the only explanation. Some distant force desperately wants us to keep bumping into each other."

She didn't know whether that was supposed to be a joke, or whether he was serious. She swallowed and decided to change the subject. "It looks like it's going to be a nice day today." Yes, that's the way, she thought. When all else fails, revert conversation to the weather. That way nothing awkward can occur.

He nodded. "Great day for Quiddich."

Lily frowned. When trying to avoid awkward conversations, girls look to the weather for help and boys... boys talk about sport. Her father constantly turned the conversation to football when it went stale. Not that herself, her mother or her sister could add anything to a conversation about the offside rule. She knew her father had always secretly wanted a boy so he could talk about sport. She remembered the look of disappointment in his face when he had asked Vernon which team he supported and received the reply of "Football is a stupid sport. I prefer a sensible game of golf." The thought jumped into Lily's head that her father would probably love James. She wondered briefly how James would act around her family if she were to introduce them.

She swallowed. She had to do it. And now would be the best time to do it, as no-one else was around, and she wouldn't be as embarrassed as if the entire Gryffindor common room were watching her.

"Er..." she said, feeling her face turn a vivid red. "James?"

He cocked an eyebrow. "Yeah?"

"Um... My sister is getting married soon, and I have to find a date."

"Do you now?" he had an odd look of amusement on his face. "And what has that got to do with me?"

"Well... I think you'll find this rather funny actually, because it's something you'd probably find amusing....and I think-"

"Evans?"

"Yes?" she squeaked.

"Spit it out."

"Emily sent my family a letter saying you are my boyfriend and now you have to come to my sister's wedding with me." She finished in a rush, her face burning from embarrassment. She was staring at her feet. Lily looked up and found James beaming down at her, as if she were something cute and fluffy. He didn't reply. She bit her lip. "Please?"

"I don't know..."

Lily was so embarrassed she missed his sarcasm.

"Oh... It'll be only a couple of days away from school."

He laughed. "Of course I will, Evans," he said, grinning at her.

A/N- Okay... long time I know.

Writer's block sucks, hey?

Well... once again

BIG HUGGIES AND KISSES TO YOU ALL WHO REVIEWED.

Keep up the good work.

I'll update soon, I promise.

As in this week.

So thankyou all.

And I hope you enjoyed this. It was a long time in the making...

:-D