Author's Notes: This story is the effort of a group of dedicated Gryffindors, written for the house fan fiction contest at Third Floor Corridor. In this chapter, Captain J. Black was the author.

While we wish Harry Potter belonged to us, we do not own him, nor the books, nor the movies. They are owned by J.K. Rowling, Bloomsbury Books, Warner Brothers, and possibly a few others. No harm is intended, and no profit is being made.

Finally, reviews are love.

Chapter Ten

James just stood on the dance floor, shocked, until a hand gave him a sharp push after Lily. He turned and saw Remus dancing away with his date, but the werewolf shot him a look over his shoulder. James turned and determinedly walked off the dance floor after Lily.

It was pleasantly cool outside, with a slight breeze. James watched Lily's back disappear into a darkened section of the garden. He followed after her, and found her standing near a fountain, her shoulders slumped.

"Lily," he whispered, stopping a few feet behind of her. Her shoulders tensed, and he thought he heard her sniffling. "I'm sorry," he apologized quietly, sounding ashamed.

"Why did you even bother asking me to be your date?" she asked, sounding hurt. He almost hadn't heard the question over the splash of the fountain, she was speaking so quietly. He'd never seen her like this before.

"I asked you because I wanted to you to come with me," he answered quickly, taking a small step forward.

She whirled then, her dress fanning out around her. She crossed her arms over her chest and looked at him, her face still hidden in shadows. "Then why didn't you ask me to dance?" she demanded, her voice growing louder.

"I… well you see… um… er… I… Oh, bother," he said haltingly, trying to answer her question honestly. He took a deep breath and started again. "Well, I was sort of scared that you wouldn't want to dance with me, and then I got more scared because what if you did want to dance, then we would and it was slow dancing music and I just panicked, but I was talking myself into going to ask you to dance and right when I was about to, you were already dancing with Oliver," James said, his voice laced with jealousy.

"You panicked?" she exclaimed, taking a step forward. James could see her eyes now, and they were flashing at him angrily. James was very familiar with that look. It meant she was on the verge of a full-out rant. "Why on earth would you panic? James! I said that I would go with you to the ball with the full understanding that there would be dancing! While you took your time deciding whether or not you wanted to dance with me, all of our friends were out dancing and I was left all by myself to do nothing! What is wrong with you?" she shouted at him.

"I don't know!" he yelled back. "I said that I was sorry and I really am!"

"James, I need to go," Lily said, her shoulders slumping again. She pressed her forehead into her hand, and she stared at the ground.

"Go?" James asked, panicking anew. Lily couldn't leave. He hadn't had a chance to dance with her yet. He hadn't had a chance to make up for being an enormous prat. "Where are you going?"

"I need to go – to go to sleep, James. I suppose I'll see you in the morning," Lily said, brushing past him and walking away from him. James turned, his mouth open in unvoiced protest, and watched her go. She passed Remus on her way in, and James watched as she paused for a moment to say something to him before she disappeared inside.

Remus came out into the gardens, and headed in his direction. "Prongs, are you out here?" he called, his voice soft and soothing.

"Yeah," James answered dejectedly.

Remus walked over to the corner of the garden where James was standing. He sat down on the wall surrounding the fountain and waited for James to start talking. James sat next to him and looked up at the window to the room where Lily was staying. Presently, the light flicked on and her silhouette passed the window. James sighed unhappily and turned his gaze to the ground, which he scuffed with his shoe. Soon, Sirius stuck his head out the door and spotted them sitting in the dark. He disappeared for a moment, and then returned with Peter, and the two boys came out and sat next to James and Remus.

"What are you two doing out here?" asked Remus.

"The girls are all upstairs getting ready for bed. Mum said they could all stay the night so that – so that Lily wouldn't be alone," Sirius answered, his casual tone somewhat forced.

"Oh, I see," Remus answered blandly.

"So, what's going on out here?" Peter asked hurriedly.

"Lily and I got into a row. I think I just ruined what little chance I had with her," James said, sighing heavily.

"What did you row about? Because you didn't dance with her, or something else?" Remus asked.

"Yeah, that was it," James said sadly. "I was going to ask her, I swear I was! But then I – well, I just panicked." He sighed again.

"Sorry, mate," Sirius said, patting James's back. He heard a window open above their heads, and he looked up at the house. He saw the window that James had noticed earlier, and now it was open. He nudged Remus and pointed and then he did the same to Peter. Just then, they noticed Maddie at the window, looking down at them.

"So, Prongs, how exactly do you feel about Lily?" Peter asked loudly. James looked at him like he was crazy.

"I'm right here, Wormtail. You don't have to yell," James said, wincing slightly. "Besides, you know how I feel about Lily."

Sirius chanced a glance up again. Maddie grinned at him and disappeared from the window. In a moment, she came back with the other girls, dragging Lily to the front of the group.

Looking down quickly, Sirius gave Remus a meaningful look before prodding James again. "Well?" questioned Sirius. "What would it hurt to tell us again how you feel about Lily?"

"You lot ask me that all the time. Don't I always give you the same answer?" James asked grumpily.

"Just humor us, mate," Peter said, grinning.

James pondered the question for a while, frowning slightly. Then his face softened with a slight smile. "Well… I really like her a lot," James said at last.

"Just what do you like about her?" Remus prompted.

"Her eyes, and her hair, and the way she walks and smells and… just – I don't know. I like every thing about her," he sighed, kicking at the ground with his shoes again.

Sirius looked up once more. The four girls in the window were smiling down on the boys, but it was the look on Lily's face that nearly made Sirius want to direct James's gaze upward. Her hand was on her heart, and a pleased smile warmed her face.

The next morning, Lily was a lot nicer to James, but it was clear she was still somewhat upset with him. She did ask him to keep writing to her over the summer, though. Of course, she also asked the other boys to do the same thing, but to James that didn't matter one bit.

The girls left shortly after breakfast, after thanking Carolyn and Harold for being such kind hosts. Lily was the last to leave, and she looked as though she wanted to say something, but instead, she pressed her lips closed, waved in farewell, and hurried down the walk to her mother's car, where her sister sat in the passenger seat, looking furious. When Lily opened the door to climb in, James was certain he heard Petunia call her a freak, but he didn't think the other boys had heard.

After seeing that James looked rather down about something, Carolyn invited Peter and Remus to stay for a few extra days, and they agreed readily. The boys spent the rest of the morning rough-housing and playing games in the garden. At lunchtime, they went in and ate, then helped Carolyn clean up from the Ball. There wasn't really anything for them to do, though, because the house-elves that had been hired for the Ball had already done most of the work.

Two nights later, the boys were in James's room, lounging on the camp-beds that had been set up for them in there. It was well past midnight and the rest of the house was quiet, but they had been up for a while, just talking to each other.

"So, the full moon is next week," James observed.

"Yes, she is," Remus answered with a sigh.

"So, we're all going to Remus's house all of next week, then, right?" Peter asked, rolling onto his stomach and looking at the boy in question.

"No, we're going to Africa for all of next week," Sirius answered sarcastically.

"Yes, Peter, you'll all be coming to my home for all of next week," Remus answered, tossing a pillow at Sirius.

"This is going to be great," James said excitedly. "I mean, this will be the first summer where we can all be with you, Remus."

"Yeah, it'll be nice not to be alone, locked up in the basement," Remus replied, dodging the pillow as Sirius threw it back at him.

"Right, let's start making the plans, then," Sirius said, hitching himself up on his elbows and rubbing his hands together.

"How about we do that in the morning, mate?" Peter asked, yawning.

"Yeah, I'm with Peter on this one," Remus agreed. "Let's just go to sleep."

Soon after that, the boys dropped off to sleep, one by one.

The next day, the boys spent most of their time making the plans that they would put into action during the week of the full moon. There wasn't too much to worry about, though, because both of Remus's parents were briefly leaving town on business. Remus's mother would be locking him in the basement and then she would leave for two days. The morning after the full moon, the door would unlock, and Remus would be free to return to the rest of the house to recover from his transformation.

The days leading up to the week of the full moon were spent in bliss. The boys continued to stay at the Potter house, and they went shopping in Diagon Alley once or twice with Carolyn and Harold. The boys also took to wandering around Godric's Hollow. James explained that it used to be nearly exclusively a wizarding village, but now there was a large population of Muggles, as well.

Finally, Saturday arrived, and the boys went to sleep that night ready to leave for Remus's house in the morning, for a week full of adventure, fun, and misbehavior.