NOW WHAT?
She came out of the hall almost immediately.
"Ready?" he asked her.
"Yes," she said simply.
She looked simply beautiful with her long red hair left open with a single pin holding it off of each ear.
A ghost of an itch made him want to touch his hair but he realised it was getting easier to control that urge, especially around her.
They walked to the doors together and set off along the path, not talking.
Taking the road into the village felt weird to James, for he had always used a shortcut straight in.
He could see some students staring at them curiously but decided not to give them any thought, savouring the fact that he was walking with Lily Evans down to Hogsmeade.
"Where do you wanna go?" he asked her.
She shrugged. "I don't mind. I just had some breakfast so we can just look around?"
"Alright," he said, completely forgetting that he had not had breakfast at all.
They walked down the main street which was muddy from the rains it had endured over the month.
After some time he broke the silence that had been piling between them like a wall of sand.
"So... What's your Quidditch team?"
She raised her eyebrows at the question and said not unkindly, "I am not really much of a Quidditch follower James."
"Ah," he trailed off awkwardly, pretending to be interested in an advertisement outside Dervish and Banges.
Jeez, this is difficult, he thought to himself. I cant even have a proper conversation with her!
It started to drizzle.
Lily frowned at the slightly grey sky. "You don't like a bit of rain?" he asked her incredulously.
She grimaced and said, "Can we go inside a shop? Any shop will do... At least until it stops?"
"Uh, sure."
So they entered Honeydukes, which was filled with the familiar warm, sweet air as always.
As they moved through the crowd in the small shop, James glanced at the slightly steamy window and saw Sirius, Remus and Peter leave Zonko's with bulging bags and felt a slight pang that he was not with them.
His date was going badly, there was no denying.
She clearly wanted to be surrounded by people when he wanted to have a private talk with her.
"Yet somehow, everything he would have liked to say to her seemed to have left his brain.
What do you tell a girl you've unabashedly pursued for nearly five years, that could make her realise she was 'it' for you?
Scowling at a third year student who was gaping at him, he followed Lily into the thickest part of the crowd.
