A/N: Well, here's another chapter for you guys! It didn't take forever this time at least, but I guess I could have been faster. Oh well...

Disclaimer: I forgot to do one of these last times. Again! But hey, guys what!? I just saw a flock of turkey's cross the street! No, I am not kidding. They're currently having a pow-wow in my driveway, one of my dad's clients almost ran them over. It was really strange. I've never seen a turkey cross the street before. I've never seen a chicken cross the street for that matter, but that's beside the point. Now would Jo be so imature as to find this extremely amusing? I'm guessing no.


Last Time:

There door open with a loud scraping noise. Then there was a loud crash and a scream. It wasn't Lily's.

She hurried through the doorway, and peered down a long winding staircase.

She'd thought today couldn't get much worse. But she was wrong. Dead wrong. Staring back at her was the unconscious body of James Potter.

/-o0o-/

"So," Said James, interrupting Lily's musing thoughts as he nudged his pawn two spaces ahead, "Are you going to apologize, or what?"

Lily didn't answer, instead opting to focus on the game. It had taken them nearly five minutes to figure out how to balance the game board on the hospital wing bed, after which they had set up all the pieces, and it had promptly fallen over. They tried again with similar results, until finally Lily decided to use her brain and bewitch the obstinate game board, which was now hovering about two inches above James' legs.

"Lily?" James pressed, "Yoo-hoo! Earth to Evans!"

He leaned over and waved a hand in front of her face, which finally forced her to look up at him. "What?" She asked irritably, glaring at him from the chair beside his bedside.

"You didn't answer my question." James stated stubbornly.

"I don't answer stupid questions." Lily fired back, smiling smugly as she directed her rook to attack one of Potter's bishops.

After a short scuffle, and a muffled crash, the bishop was reduced to rubble and the rook punched the air in triumph.

James pouted, "It wasn't a stupid question," He said sulkily, scanning the board for his next move.

"It was." Said Lily in a bored voice, also scanning the board, "If I were going to apologize I would have already done so. And since I haven't, that means I'm not going to."

"You don't know that." Said James, an evil glint in his eye. "Knight to D4," he said, watching in satisfaction as his knight took out the offending rook.

Lily also smiled, and promptly sent her own knight to attack Potter's. That one small space was certainly building up debris.

James scowled at Lily before returning his attention to the board before them.

"And just so you know," Interrupted Lily, "I know for a fact that I'll never apologize to you, no matter how many times I knock you out cold."

"Yeah, and why's that?" James taunted offhandedly.

"Because you deserve it." Was her simple answer.

"No one deserves getting six concussions in a year and a half."

"Some people do."

Crash!

"Dammit Lily." Potter muttered under his breath, scooping up the rumble from his fallen rook.

"I told you I was good at chess." Lily said smugly.

"You did." Potter agreed ruefully, searching the board and suppressing a smile when he found what he was looking for.

He urged his pawn forward one space.

"So," he said, searching for a topic that might divert Lily's attention for awhile, "Are you guys keeping tabs on how many times you've sent me to the hospital wing so far this year? You have a poll going or something? Because if you do, I want in."

Lily smiled despite herself. "You ever think that maybe there's a reason your brain keeps bouncing off the inside of your skull whenever you're around me?" She asked spitefully, "Maybe that's natures way of telling you something."

James shrugged. "I call it fatal attraction."

"Fate has nothing to do with it." Said Lily, sliding her bishop forward and taking out James' bishop.

James rearranged his features into a frown and nudged his pawn forward once more.

"You don't believe in fate?" He asked.

"I didn't say that," Said Lily, her attention clearly on the game and not their inane conversation.

"You implied it." James pushed.

"I guess I did." Said Lily vaguely.

"So you don't believe in fate?" Asked Potter, genuinely interested now.

Lily moved her knight two spaces forward and once to the left. "Not really. I find the concept a bit dated, honestly."

"How so?" Asked James, as his pawn stole across yet another space on the board.

"Well," Said Lily, still not looking up from the board, "The whole idea that everything happens for a reason is a little bit excessive, don't you think? I mean, I guess for some people it has its merits, but I find the theory that there's a higher being on this planet with nothing better to do than screw with people's lives a bit ridiculous. I mean sure, you fall off your bike and scrape your knee when you're a little kid, and that happened for a reason so you learn not to fool around on the road and don't get into pointless accidents when you start driving, that makes sense. But deciding that getting hit in the forehead with a dart is a gift from God, because you end up meeting your 'soul mate' or whatnot in the ER, is just absurd."

She moved her rook one space to the left.

"Hmmm…" Said James, mulling over her words, while sliding his bishop to the other side of the board. "I didn't really get the muggle references, but I guess you have a point. I take it you don't believe in soul mates?"

"No," said Lily flatly, "I don't."

"Why, because 'happily ever after' is an urban legend? Because people aren't meant to be with each other forever?"

Lily shrugged, and moved her rook so that it was right beside James' bishop. "Partly. Forever is another overrated concept anyway. It's just something people say because they're afraid to die."

James looked up at Lily in surprise, but she was still leaning over the game-board, "You think so?"

"I know so." Said Lily, marveling at how easy it was to talk to this infuriating kid once they'd started up an actual civil conversation. It was almost making her forget her guilt over landing Potter in the hospital wing again. Almost.

James moved his bishop to the side, dodging the rook. "Well then, if forever doesn't exist, then what does?" He asked, partly to continue to divert Lily's attention from his wandering pawn on the far side of the board, partly because he was genuinely curious.

"What do you mean?" Asked Lily, again, moving her rook to take out James bishop, which was conveniently cornered between a knight and two pawns. Next turn she'd have him.

"Well, if the universe isn't never ending, than what is it? A ticking time bomb, just waiting for the right time to explode and put an end to everything?"

James looked over at his bishop with what he hoped was a sullen façade upon his features. He nudged his pawn ahead. Just one space left to go…

"Well, no, and yes I guess. I don't know." Said Lily, "I don't know how the universe works James, I just don't think it's possible for two people to be together forever. Time will always change things, and people will always come and go. Fairy tales about 'forever and ever' will never change that."

She was surprised with herself for answering the question so personally. Potter may not know it, but her answer was very much in tandem with an intimate part of her psyche.

Lily directed her rook to the space James's bishop was on. He watched as the small marble soldier drew his sword and reduced the bishop to rubble. "I guess you're right Lily," He said, "Nothing lasts forever."

He pushed his pawn the last space forward. "But that doesn't mean forever doesn't exist. I mean," He said, looking directly at her bent forehead, "Just because you can't have something, doesn't make it any less real."

Something in his voice must have caused her head to rise. She looked at James, as he said his next words, "And just because it's impossible now, doesn't mean it'll always be. I mean, forever's an awful long time to change things. And stranger things have been known to happen. Oh yeah, by the way, checkmate."

Lily's mouth nearly dropped off the roof of her mouth. "Wa-What…" She stammered.

Potter smirked. "Like I said Lils, stranger things…"

Lily scanned the board, and found to her dismay that Potter was right. His pawn had made it all the way across the board without her knowledge, and now was pointed directly at her king. She had no pieces to block it, and the only way to move her king out of the way would put her straight in the path of Potter's Queen. Damn…

"Don't call me Lils." Said Lily, just because she had to say something, and was unwilling to concede defeat, especially to Potter.

"Good game yourself," Said Potter cheekily. "Really Lily, you're pretty good, usually I don't have to resort to mind games to win."

"Mind games!" Lily exclaimed, "So that was what this whole conversation was, just another game to you?!"

She was getting flustered now, and not just a little bit angry. James backpedaled a little bit, "Well, yeah, at first it was, but uhhh it was really an enlightening, and er- insightful conversation. Honestly Lils, by the time we were finished I really was interested, I mean your theories, they were, they were-"

"I said don't call me Lils!" Said Lily defiantly. "What is your problem, Potter? I come down here to be nice to you for awhile while you're stuck in a hospital bed, and you take that opportunity to play mind games with me, huh? Great way to show gratitude."

"Lily…" James whined, because Lily was packing up the game board now and looked about ready to leave, "I'm sorry ok, it was just a game. I'm a competitive person, I like to win. I wasn't playing mind games, I was just strategizing, honestly."

When Lily didn't reply and only continued to clear off the debris from the game board, James grew more frustrated himself, "Hey, it's not like you came here out of the good of your own heart anyways, you came here to feel better about yourself because you feel guilty about giving me a concussion and you're too damn stubborn to admit it. So sorry if I didn't stroke your precious ego for gracing me with your prescience, Your Highness. Sometimes, the world doesn't work out like a fairy tale."

"Don't I know it." Said Lily, "If it did, you would have been eaten by a dragon a long time ago."

James would have chuckled, but she was dead serious.

"See you 'round Potter." She said flatly, and with a final flick of her wand and a quick turn of the heel, the chessboard was packing itself back up in the closet, and Lily was gone.

/-o0o-/

Jenna came downstairs early the next day to find her best friend sitting in an armchair by the fire, scribbling on a spare bit of parchment with such vehemence that it looked as though her quill might explode. In fact, she was sloshing quite a lot of excess ink around on the page, even to the extent that a few stray droplets had found their way onto her face. She seemed too intent on her parchment to notice.

Yawning, Jenna strode over to join her, "…Morning Lils…" Jenna greeted sleepily, slumping into an armchair opposite Lily's.

"Don't cal me Lils." Said Lily sharply, without looking up.

"Huh?"

Lily glanced up and saw her friend blinking at her in confusion. "Sorry, not you. I er- just got confused for a second there…"

Jenna was too tired to do more than shrug and mutter, "Kay."

They sat in silence for a while, Jenna staring at the wall as she slowly began to wake, and Lily continuing to splay ink in such a way that would make even Mt. Vesuvius cringe.

"So," Jenna said finally, piercing the silence and still suppressing a yawn, "What's up with the whole writing frenzy all of a sudden? What did that poor parchment ever do to you?"

Lily didn't look up. "Hmmm?"

"You're stabbing the thing with your quill so hard it's leaving holes Lils…" Jenna said gently, "The poor parchment looks like it's bleeding ink for Merlins sake. And unless you caught dragon pox overnight, your face is covered in ink splatters and you don't even seem to have noticed. So what's wrong? And don't even try to pretend you're ok, because I know you aren't. Quit massacring the parchment and talk to me."

Sighing heavily, though it was mostly an act, Lily dropped her quill and turned to face Jenna. "My face is really covered in ink splatters?" She asked sadly.

Jenna nodded sympathetically. "It's ok, I'll fix them. Just hold still a second."

Lily did as told, and Jenna pulled out her wand and lazily flicked it towards Lily's face. Instantly, the ink droplets disappeared. Jenna really was remarkable at charms work.

"Thanks." Lily muttered, glancing back at her parchment.

"What were you writing anyways?" Jenna asked, attempting to snatch the parchment up.

Lily just shook her head and shoved the parchment in her pocket. "None of your business." She said, though not unkindly.

Jenna shrugged. "Alright, fair enough. But seriously, are you ok? You never wake up this early without a good reason."

"I didn't go to sleep." Lily replied impassively.

Jenna glanced back at her friend. Now that she peered more closely, she could just make out the faintest trace of dark circles under her eyes. "Lily…" She said concernedly, "You've been up all night? What's wrong? C'mon, spill. I'm your friend. You're supposed to wake me up and keep me up half the night rambling about your problems when you can't sleep. That's just what friends do."

Lily smiled slightly. "It's nothing Jen, really. Just, you know, I kind of knocked Potter down a flight of stairs, he got a concussion…Wait, you knew about that?!"

Jenna promptly stopped nodding. "Yeah, well, you know, it's Hogwarts. News travels faster than wildfires 'round here."

Lily sighed, "Whatever. Anyways, I felt bad about it, so I went to visit him. And then we started talking, and I don't know, I was actually kind of enjoying it. It was confusing, you know? Because he was surprisingly easy to talk to, and we were having an interesting conversation about fate and soulmates and forever and stuff-"

"Wait, wait, wait…" Interjected Jenna, unable to stop herself, "You talked about what? With Potter?"

Lily rolled her eyes. "Yeah, we talked about fate and destiny and moonbeams and all that crap, get over it. What else would we talk about? 'Hey Lily, sent anyone to the hospital wing lately?' 'Why yes, as a matter of fact, you.' 'Oh how lovely.' 'Yeah, isn't it just great that I'm a human wrecking ball capable of bashing someone's brain against a floor so many times he sustains permanent brain damage?'" She was getting more and more worked up the more she talked, and talking faster and louder as a result. Jenna could have sworn she was forgetting to breathe, "…Isn't it wonderful that I get reminded of the fact that I almost killed him nearly every day, just because he won't get rid of that damn scar? Isn't it fine that just because he doesn't want to forget, I have to relive that stupid night every time I see his retarded face! Isn't that just dandy? Happy skippy-doo, no one come near Lily, she'll bash your head into the nearest suit of armor guaranteed. And then when she tries to make up for it, you'll just cast her to the wolves and play stupid mind games on her, just because you're too damn determined to win a friggin chess game. No matter that she's actually being genuine with you for once, the one thing you swore you always wanted, winning a pointless game is always far more important! That's all it ever is with boys, you know? Ooooh shiny snitch! Must catch snitch, must win game! They're bloody Neanderthals! I swear to Merlin, evolution skipped over their entire gender. No wonder I haven't irreparably damaged his brain by now, it's probably still the size of a friggin walnut! Ugh! I swear to Merlin Jenna, I swear to Merlin…"

Jenna was looking at Lily with an expression that clearly permeated her complete and utter confusion. Her head was cocked slightly to the side, and her eyebrows had risen so far they threatened to fly off her face. Clearly though, as Lily had just finished her rant, and here Jenna was, the best friend, trying to support her friend in need, she was expected to say something. So, taking a deep breath, she spoke with all the wisdom of someone who was still far too sleepy to figure out a puzzler like this, "Uh-huh…"

Lily sighed loudly, "I know, you probably think I'm insane. Maybe I am. I don't know what got into me back there. I should know by now that Potter's not capable of sustaining an intellectual conversation unless he has an ulterior motive. It's probably my own fault. But Merlin, do I want to hurt someone right now! Honestly, that kid better watch his back when he gets out of the hospital wing, unless he wants to make a return trip in the near future."

"Mmmm-hmmm…" Said Jenna, nodding stupidly.

"And you know, aren't I supposed to be the smart one? I beat Potter in practically every single class. Well, except transfiguration, but that's just because all the Marauders are freakishly good in that subject, even Peter, which is certainly saying something. He's all brawn and no brains, right? So why was he the one who was playing mind games? That should have been me. I should have been doing everything possible to win. Dammit, I should have won. Not that pathetic excuse for a primate!"

Jenna had only heard a select few words in Lily's latest monologue. "Potter…? Peter…? Brawn…? Primate…?" Se asked, getting more and more confused by the moment.

"You know what?" Lily said suddenly, not bothering to wait for an answer to her rhetorical question before plunging on, "I betcha that's it! I'm not upset about the mind games, I mean that's just Potter right? I already knew he was a heartless git, that's no surprise. No, what's bothering me is that the idiot beat me! It's my pride that's the issue! That's it! That's what I've got to do! I just have to challenge him to a rematch, and win this time! And this time he won't have his mind games to hide behind, because I already know about that trick! This'll be easy as- easy as- well I don't know, but easy as something ridiculously simple! Thanks Jen!"

"Huh?" Jenna said blankly as Lily suddenly leapt from her seat and hugged her, "Er- ahh sure, your welcome?"

"You're the best Jenna!" Lily called, as she hurried up to her dorm, "Don't know what I'd do without you!"

"No problem," muttered Jenna, shaking her head dazedly. Note to self: Don't ever ask Lily to explain her problems to you at five in the morning again. Ever.

/-o0o-/

When James left the hospital wing the next day, he thought he'd have to search high and low to find Lily and apologize too her. As it turns out though, he was quite mistaken.

"Rematch." Said Lily, firmly grabbing his arm and proceeding to drag him into a secluded corner of the common room, only seconds after he'd stepped through the portrait hole, "Now."

James could do nothing but allow himself to be dragged into the corner and sat down in front of an already set chess set.

Lily sat down across from him. He raised an eyebrow in bewilderment. She sent him an icy glare and nudged her first pawn forward. And so, the game began.

For the first few turns they played in silence. James was quite confused as to why Lily'd want to play another game after storming off from the last one, but tactfully chose to say nothing for the time being. Lily was just too intent on beating him to bother with something as mundane as talking.

Pawns slowly inched forward, knights smashed rooks, rooks trampled bishops to smithereens. The game board collected more and more rubble the longer the game went on, and neither bothered to clear the debris.

It was rather cathartic, when James thought about it. Like fate had had a hand in putting them together tonight, so they could both vent their frustration with each other through the unfortunate little chess pieces.

As he mulled over his next move, James drummed his fingers absentmindedly on the table. Lily caught on to this and sent him a warning glare. James noticed, but didn't cease his tapping. Lily was actually quite cute when she was annoyed, and even her fierce scowl could do nothing to diminish the fact.

"Cut. It. Out." She said, breaking the silence in a strained voice about five minutes later.

James stopped tapping his fingers and looked up with what he hoped was an innocent expression, "Cut what out?" he asked politely, just because he knew it would infuriate her further.

"Tapping your fingers. It's maddening." She said, stressing each syllable.

"Maddening?" James asked.

"Yes Maddening. As in, I'm about five seconds away of hexing your fingers off if you don't stop tapping them on the tabletop. It also wouldn't hurt to move your hand out from under that annoyingly bright lamp."

James eyebrows knit together in genuine confusion. "What's wrong with the lamp?"

Lily bit her lip. "Nothing. Forget I said it."

"Then what-"

"Forget it Potter!" Lily said, with a vehemence that surprised even her.

"Sheesh, alright Evans…" Said James warily, casting his eyes back towards the game board.

The game commenced. Potter didn't move his hand.

Every so often, James would catch Lily sneaking glances at his outstretched arm, illuminated by the light of the so-called 'annoyingly-bright' lamp. She'd do it when he was scanning the board for his next move, and thought he wasn't watching her. At first, this utterly perplexed him. However, the more he thought about it, the more the pieces seemed to fit together. His scar was on that hand, and though not easily visible, he had no doubt Lily could just make it out under the fierce glow of the lamp. And of course she wouldn't want him to see her do it, because that would mean admitting that she actually felt guilty about it. Which, regardless of her actual feelings, was something Lily would simply never do.

Which was why of course, James didn't bother to move his hand. If Lily couldn't be bothered to apologize to him, he certainly wasn't going to make things any easier on her. That, and the fact that all her stray glances at him were kind of cute, in a way. He could almost imagine she were looking at him for the same reasons most girls did; for his looks and apparent charm, and not for a half-inch scar residing somewhere just above his right thumb.

"So," Said Lily suddenly, about halfway through the game as she took out Potters second knight with a smug grin, "When we were playing mind games yesterday, you never told me what you thought about fate yourself."

Potter inwardly cringed at the mention of 'mind games'. He had regretted the words as soon as they'd left his mouth. His conversations with Lily were few and far between, and they were nothing whatsoever resembling games. They were far to precious to waste on frivolous small talk and mind tricks and the like. Sure, he'd taken things a bit too far on a competitive level during their last game, but Lily had as well. They were both extremely competitive people. Put them together, and they'd make quite a potent team in James' opinion, but against each other? It was like salt and vinegar. They just didn't mix. And anyhow, Lily wouldn't have been angry with the so-called 'mind games' if they hadn't worked and she'd still won. She was just sore from losing, that's all.

"Listen," Said James, deciding now was as good a time as ever to explain these things to her, "About that. I-"

Lily cut him off with a flippant wave of her hand, "Honestly Potter, I'm really not in the mood for your pathetic excuses. I'm over that anyways. I'm just, I don't know, kind of curious as to what you think about fate and soul mates and forever and everything. I got to ramble on about my opinions, but you never got to share yours."

James looked up at Lily's face, searching for some kind of trick, or a catch or something. He saw nothing. Her face was as blank and passive as one of those stoic looking muggle card players on the pelivison. Maybe she really did, for some weird reason, actually care what he had to say. Or maybe this was just some elaborate trick on her part to get back at him. Either way, Potter was willing to hazard a response to find out.

"I don't know what I think, to be honest."

Lily snorted, "Wow, that was enlightening."

James gritted his teeth at her sarcastic comment. For the girl he'd supposedly been mooning over for years, she certainly was infuriating when she wanted to be. "I wasn't finished," He said.

"Oh, well excuse me for interrupting you Socrates, carry on with your brilliant tangent."

"Hey! You're the one who asked me in the first place! Quit bashing me unless you want me to shut up!"

"Maybe I do want you to shut up."

"Then why ask the question in the first place?"

"I never asked you anything, I simply implied-"

"Oh, you implied it. Well that makes a big difference!"

"It really does."

"It doesn't."

"It does too."

"Does not."

"Does too."

"Does not."

"Does too." Lily spat.

"Does not." Potter countered vehemently.

Lily crossed her fingers under the table for luck, as she attempted an old childhood trick that had worked on Petunia for as long as she remembered. Though Potter obviously wasn't as stupid as her idiot sister, she thought it still had a fairly good chance of working.

"Does not." She said, reiterating Potter's line.

"Does too!" Said Potter, completing the pattern. Then, upon realizing his error, "Oh shit…"

Lily laughed. "Haha! I win."

James scowled.

"Knight to E6." Lily said, grinning like a Cheshire cat, "Oh yeah, Checkmate."

James scowl deepened.

He scanned the board to find that Lily was right. However, something was still niggling at the back of his mind…

"Hey, you cheated!" He spit out suddenly, as he finally realized what had happened.

"No I didn't." Lily said, the smile not dissipating by any means, but rather seeming to grow.

"You did!" Exclaimed James, "It was my turn after our little argument, but you went instead! I would have blocked you, and my bishop would have, hey wait- what happened to my bishop? It moved to the other side of the board! You moved it!"

Lily put a hand over her mouth to stifle her laughter. "No James, you did."

"No I didn't! It's on D2! I never said- Oh…" He said, realization dawning.

"You tricked me!" James said, so loudly that several heads in the vicinity turned to look at them with perplexed faces. "And I said 'does too', not D2. That shouldn't even count! I want a re-do!"

Lily just shook her head, that smug smirk still upon her features. Suddenly, James found her significantly less attractive. "Sorry James. I just thought you might like a taste of your own medicine. Oh, and while you're at it, you might want to get that Bishop of yours' ears checked out."

And so, smirking shamelessly at the perceived brilliance of her own joke. Lily stood up and took her leave.

James sat in the corner, still fuming.

It was then that he noticed the small, folded scrap of parchment on the edge of Lily's chair. It seemed to be beckoning for him to pick it up and read it.

Which, of course, is exactly what he did. At first, Potters face was alight with confusion as he struggled to make sense of the mercilessly ink splattered paper. Then however, comprehension began to dawn.

And slowly, a malicious grin lit up his features.


A/N: Dun Dun Dun... Cliffhanger... Not really, but whatever. Reviews are love, I'll update in 'bout a week. Yadda Yadda Yadda. And there's a friggin flock of turkeys in my driveway! Sorry guys, but I gotta go. My dog looks about ready to have an aneurism...