The next few days increasingly confused James as he tried to get his head round the girl's mysterious behaviour. He would try and try to talk to her – to 'bump' into her in the library, or wait for her outside her classes, but try as he might, he could not shake the feeling that she was avoiding him.
"Lily!" he called after her outside one Potions lesson that following Thursday.
"Sorry Potter I really can't talk, Alice's lost her…"
But whatever it was Alice had lost James would never find out, for Lily had almost ran out of sight out of the Dungeons. James sighed.
"Girls," he muttered, shaking his head.
That night after Quidditch practice he was the first of his team members to climb back through the Portrait hole, looking around the comfy Common Room as the glowing fire illuminated several faces – none of whom were Lily.
"Alice!" he exclaimed, desperate for an answer.
The pretty blonde girl snapped her head up, having evidently fallen asleep whilst attempting, in vain, to finish her Potions essay.
"James! H-hi…!" she stuttered, nervously. James sighed inwardly, well used to this reaction from girls. That's what made Lily so special…
"Have you seen Lily?" he demanded.
"Um… Er, I think she's up in the, er, girl's dormitories…" Alice replied quickly, giving James a nervous smile as she batted her eyelashes.
James ran a hand through his thick black hair. "Alice, tell me I'm stupid, but I can't stop feeling like she's avoiding me," he sighed, plopping down on a squishy red armchair. At these words the girl flushed a deep scarlet, and James narrowed his eyes. She knew something.
"Alice please… I need to talk to her. She thinks I'm some immature, arrogant toerag because of what I've done in the past, but she has no idea! I've changed… she's made me change…"
James looked up and was surprised to see tears swimming in Alice's blue eyes. "What's wrong!"
"It's just… so … sweet…" she sniffed. "She's doing some homework in the old Charms classroom, said she wanted some peace and quiet." Alice blurted out. "But hurry! And… and don't tell her I told you!" But James had already disappeared, grinning, into the corridor beyond the portrait hole.
James donned his Invisibility Cloak and headed for the Charms classroom, knowing what he was going to say. Lily needed to know what he'd known for five years now… if there was any chance, any remote chance, that she was interested in him at all, James had to seize it. Lily was the only girl he would ever – no, could ever – love. His heart was beating fast as he reached the fifth floor corridor, full of that excited confidence that often preceded a big Quidditch game. But, as he peered into the old dimly lit classroom, his grin faltered at the sight he saw before him. Lily was not alone.
