Chapter Ten

The next day Hogwarts was in uproar. Professor Dumbledore was at the teachers table chatting to Professor McGonagall as though nothing had happened and as far as he was concerned nothing probably did. It was part of his day to day life, eat some lemon drops, come up with a new use of Dragon's Blood and defeat a Dark Lord.

Just a casual Tuesday.

James and I had been let out of the Hospital Wing after a nights prescribed bed rest and both of us had ended up in the Gryffindor common room being fussed over by our friends.

"Lily we were so worried about you?" Marlene squealed when she saw me, running over to pull me into a bone crushing hug. "Who am I supposed to copy notes from if you died!" She said humorously but from the very real tears brimming in her eyes I knew she was a lot more upset than she let on.

I was then passed to Alice who offered me the same bone crushing hug but without the snarky comment. "I'm so glad you're okay Lily." The majority of the other Gryffindor's smiled over at me and gave me their well wishes, most telling me that it was good to see me again. James was getting the same treatment, but his well-wishers were a lot more of the physical side, with boys clapping him on the back and girls doing their best to hug him and touch his arm as he walked past. I felt my stomach drop and I stopped smiling.

"Lily." Alice shook my arm which made me turn away from the sight and back to her. "What's wrong? You've been staring into space for a while."

I smiled at her in reassurance. "Everything's fine. I'm okay." I grabbed her hand and lead her over to the sofa where for once no one was sitting on. Probably because they were all standing around James waiting to hear his story about what happened yesterday.

I tuned out the noise as I already knew what had happened and couldn't be bothered to hear any additional falsities. I snuggled into the sofa's warmth, feeling the added heat from the fire warm my suddenly cold skin. This was good. I jumped when I felt a different kind of warmth on my shoulders, a human heat was now resting there. I sighed and was ready to push James off when I opened my eyes, not realising that I'd closed them, to see that it wasn't James' arm.

It was Greg Anderson, a boy in the year below.

What on earth was he doing? He was smiling at me pleasantly, his teeth sparkling white and the flames from the fire danced along them. I sat up and tried to awkwardly shuffle away from him but I was already at the edge of the sofa. Alice seemed to have been pushed away from me and I looked at her in desperation.

She was at a loss as well.

This was marvellous.

"Hello Greg." I spoke first, in an attempt to break the dazzling smile that was directed my way but all that seemed to do was widen it.

"Lily." He started, pulling me along the sofa and more into his side. I winced and tried to stop myself but he was stronger than I was. "I heard about what happened."

"So did everyone else it seems." I cut in, putting one of my hands over the one that had now managed to find itself on my waist, keeping me into his side. "Would you mind letting go?" I tried to peel it off but it remained where it was.

The smile dimmed slightly and Greg looked down at me with a puzzled frown. "I just wanted to make sure you're okay?"

I gave him a fake smile. "That's very nice of you, but I would appreciate if you didn't touch me."

"I just-"

He was interrupted by a loud male voice that was directly behind us, it made me jump but I looked up at the familiar voice and relaxed. "She said let go." James stood there with an unimpressed look on his face that he directed towards Greg. The boy immediately took his hands away from me, knowing not to mess with the imposing figure that James struck in that moment.

"I'm sorry Lily." He apologised. "I just wanted to get to know you a little better but I can see now that I was a bit too forward." He smiled gently at me once more and I felt that this time it was slightly more sincere. "Come find me if you ever want to talk."

James started glaring at him. "She won't."

"She can make her own mind up." Greg snapped back, giving me one last smile before going over to re-join his friends who were watching avidly.

James watched him go and only relaxed when it looked as though he wasn't coming back. He walked around the front of the sofa and sat down next to me, giving me more space than Greg did and not putting his hands on me at all. "Are you okay?" He asked quietly, hazel eyes peering at me in concern.

I felt a smile grace my lips and I leant forwards to give him a hug. "I'm good." I pulled away quickly, but it was clear that everyone in the common room had seen what I'd done. The simple fact was that there was no more talking, everyone was silently watching the two of us and I felt my cheeks warm in embarrassment.

"Alright." Sirius spoke over the silence. "Nothing to see here. Merlin it's like you lot have never seen a boy and a girl before." That killed the quiet and everyone was soon talking again but this time it was definitely about James and I, the two people that two weeks ago were fighting every day. How times change when there's a dangerous psychopathic killer on the loose that almost killed you.

I looked over James' shoulder and caught the eye of Cindy Mattings, a girl two years my junior who looked like she wanted to get a fork and stab me in the eyes with it. I hid a smile, how jealously was such a fickle thing.

Alice made herself known again, giving me a wink as she got up. "Well I think I'll be off to bed, a bit too much excitement down here for me."

I felt my cheeks glow again and hid my face behind my hair as I waited for the damnable red colour to leave my face. James chuckled, shifting closer to me on the cushion we were now sharing and put some of my hair behind my ear so that he could see me better.

"Don't worry about what people say all the time, Lils." He spoke quietly so that only I could hear him.

I furrowed my eyebrows in confusion. "I don't. If I did would you think I would have shouted at you every day for the past seven years?"

He laughed, his eyes crinkling in an adorable way as he did so. I stopped in my thoughts. That was a very dangerous road to go down. "True." He replied. "I don't know why I thought you looked a bit self-conscious then."

I glared at him mockingly. "I wasn't."

"You were a little bit." He teased. I smacked him gently in the stomach and laughed when he bent over, pretending as though it hurt more than it did. "Alright, alright!" He held his hands up in surrender. "You didn't." He tentatively put his arm across the back of the sofa, waiting for me to pull away but when I didn't, he didn't push it. He left his arm there and sighed softly in what sounded like relief. "I'm glad you're okay." He admitted.

I smiled over at him. "I'm glad you are as well." I shivered, remembering the events yesterday, the arm laying on the sofa twitched. "It could have gone a lot worse for us."

"Hey," he shushed, "don't think about it like that. We're safe. Dumbledore managed to drive him away from the village and I don't think he's stupid enough to come back anytime soon."

I nodded, what he said was right, of course. There was still a niggling fear in the back of my mind, this wasn't over and it wouldn't be for a long time. "Thank you James. If you weren't there I don't know what would have happened."

He scoffed. "I'm the one that got you into that mess in the first place." He appeared genuinely angry at himself and I couldn't help myself from leaning over and placing a hand on his other that rested on his knee.

"Hey, don't apologise. You couldn't have known. And I had a great time." I smiled. "Minus the whole attack thing, I had fun."

He smiled brightly back at me and finally let his arm rest on my shoulders, pulling me gently into a side hug. I snuggled into his warmth and allowed myself not to care that anyone could see us. Almost dying gave me a whole new perspective on things. On James.

"So, would you like to do it again?" He asked nervously. "I mean not the attack thing obviously. On the part we were having fun. Would you like to go with me Lily, to the next Hogsmeade visit?"

I pulled away and felt him deflate, however I turned to him and lifted his chin from where it had dropped in defeat. "I would."