DISCLAIMER: ALL HP characters are the property of JKR, the WB, and the respective publishing companies. I do own Jenn Parksen, Lori Wilson, and Monica Sinclair as well this twisted version of the plot. This is, of course, a simple Fan-Fiction that I have written in order to retain some semblance of sanity and dignity.

Chapter 10: A Change of Heart

October thirty-first dawned bright and clear, not a single cloud marring the sky. The air was a bit nippy, but there was an unspoken promise on the wind that it warm up as the day progressed. Lily woke up bright and early; only to become a bit nervous as she remembered that she had invited James Potter to spend the day with her.

It had been roughly twenty days since Jenn had tromped downstairs and found her and James curled up sleeping side by side in the armchairs in front of the fireplace at the same time as Sirius and Remus had come down from their dorm looking for James. Lily had turned beet red in embarrassment the moment she realized she that she had slept practically beside James in nothing but her night gown. Thankfully, none of the other Gryffindors had been up early to catch her in so compromising a position.

Jenn and Lori had teased her every day for a week after that. They only stopped then because Lily threatened to hex them if they brought it up one more time. She knew James was suffering through his own share of teasing too, for she had once overheard Sirius picking on James during breakfast one day. What was worse was that every time they passed one other in the halls between classes, they would both became flustered. Each of them blushing awkwardly before going their separate ways.

Once the teasing had stopped, Lily began to spend more and more time dwelling on the series of events that led up to the moment she had asked James out on a date. That in turn made her think of the night she'd spent beside him in the common room, which led to worry over the frequent nightmares that had been plaguing her since the beginning of term. And that brought her thoughts right back to James and how safe she'd felt with him near that night they slept in the common room, which would cause her to blush at the oddest moments.

Nothing Lily did could keep her mind off of Potter for long; she'd even begun to notice a drastic reduction in the number of pranks that the Marauders pulled off on a daily basis. Oh, they still got Snape and the rest of the Slytherins every now and then, but that was a far cry from the number of instances that had occurred on a daily basis during the previous six years. More and more it began to appear as if James was maturing, something Lily had always sworn would never happen. It was whispered around the school that he had actually gotten two detentions from Professor McGonagall on the night Lily and her friends had read the book. Apparently, he had never told on her for slapping him, and surprisingly enough, the other students were keeping mum about it as well.

Dragging her mind back into the present, Lily stepped out of bed, and shivered as her feet hit the near frozen stones of the floor. After dressing as quick as her cold, stiff fingers would allow, she brushed the knots out of her hair, and tied it up out of her face. When she was done, she turned to study her three best friends, all of whom were still snoring contentedly under the protective warmth of their covers.

She had not yet found the nerve to tell them that she was going to willingly spend an entire day with James Potter. She wasn't quite sure how they were going to react. After all, it was only a few short weeks ago that she had been saying how much of a pain he was. Biting her lip, she quickly made up her mind and pounced onto Jenn's bed. Jenn was by far the most rational and understanding of her three friends.

"Ger-off," mumbled Jenn as Lily shook her shoulder roughly.

"Wake up, Jenn! I need to talk to you," Lily hissed in her ear as she continued to shake Jenn.

"Okay, enough already, I'm up! I'm awake," Jenn replied groggily as she tried to burrow deeper into her covers. Lily refused to be put off though, and kept shaking Jenn, until she sat up and put her feet on the floor. "Couldn't you let me sleep?"

"No, it's important. Today's Halloween!"

"So?" Jenn muttered as she put socks on her feet and glared at Lily.

"Hogsmeade visit today you dork!"

Suddenly Jenn sat up straighter as she realized what Lily had said, "Oh no! I'd completely forgotten! He's gonna think I'm ditching him!"

Jumping from the bed Jenn rushed around the room as she dressed her self. Once she'd finished tying her hair back out of her face, she turned to Lily and was about to ask her what she wanted to talk about when Lily beat her to the punch.

"Who's him?" Lily said as she arched an eyebrow.

Jenn blushed and mumbled out something that Lily couldn't understand.

Lily just laughed and waved her hand in casual dismissal, "Come on, I want to talk to you before the others wake up." Grabbing Jenn by the arm, she pulled her out of the room and down the stairs into the Common Room. After checking to be sure that no-one else was about, Lily pushed her into the nearest chair and sat down beside her.

Taking a deep breath Lily turned to face Jenn and told her what she had done.

"Jenn, I asked James to spend the day with me today. I'd sent him the note a long time ago and he sent back saying he would be delighted to spend the day with me. I didn't say anything sooner because I was worried you all would think me a hypocrite after all the times I told him no. Only to turn around and ask him myself," Lily said quickly without taking a breath.

Jenn was staring at her open mouthed for a few moments before she cleared her throat to reply.

"Well, I don't know what to say," She looked embarrassed as she spoke for some reason. "That's close to what I was worried about."

"What do you mean?" Lily asked.

"Well, um, Sirius asked me out a few days after you had been admitted into the Hospital Wing. We'd sorta come to an understanding on the day after James had carried you up to the hospital," Jenn said slowly, blushing bright red she continued. "See. We'd had a huge fight the night you got really sick, and well when James came in, Sirius stopped James from completely freaking about the book."

"James freaked about the book?"

"Yeah, he seemed really upset that you had it and wanted to know where you'd gotten it from."

"Oh, well that's one of the reasons I asked James to go with me today. He'd given me the book back after I got out of the hospital and I never got to answer his questions because we were interrupted. I told him I would talk to him today. I have the book in my purse upstairs."

"Oh."

"What are we going to tell Lori and Monica?" Lily asked.

"Maybe we should tell them that we have to tutor the boys. Say that they are behind in charms, which is your best subject. I offered to go with you so you weren't alone and we could meet them at the Three Broomsticks afterward."

"That sounds great. I don't like leaving them out, but I think the fewer people who are involved the better. I'm not worried about Lori, but Monica was really freaked out about what we read in the book. Lori can keep an eye on Mon to make sure no rumors get out."

"Perfect, then we can tell Lori the truth when we are in class on Monday."

"Alright," Lily agreed readily as they both climbed to their feet. Together they went up to talk to their friends, only to find that Monica was feeling sick and Lori was planning on staying to keep her company. They then spent a few minutes getting ready to go; brushing their hair, changing their clothes, and putting on a touch of make-up. Lily asked Lori if there was anything she wanted her to bring back for her, but Lori said she was fine.

Grabbing her purse, Lily hugged both Lori and Monica goodbye before following Jenn back out of the dorm room. This time as they made their way down the stairs, they saw James and Sirius waiting nervously by the portrait for them.

As the two girls joined them, James bowed elegantly to Lily and offered her a single white rose. Blushing furiously she accepted the flower and murmured a surprised thanks. Beside her, Sirius had taken Jenn's right hand in his, brought it up to his mouth, and gently brushed a kiss on it before complimenting her.

Offering the girls each an arm, they opened the portrait and lead them through to the hall. There met few students as they descended the stairs and soon reached the Great Hall, where the boys chivalrously offered the girls a seat before taking one themselves.

The four of them filled their plates rather quickly, feeling a bit awkward and excited all at once, as they sat fairly close together for the first time since they met six and a half years ago. They ate in silence for the most part, only speaking to ask each other to pass a particular try or bowl. Every time James's hand would brush against her fingers, or his leg would press up against her leg, Lily would blush furiously. And each time their eyes met, they'd share a shy smile and quickly look away.

The four of them were still sitting there eating in peaceful silence side-by-side when Professor McGonagall walked into the Great Hall and stopped at the sight before her. She didn't move for a full minute as she watched a sight she never thought to see: James Potter, Lily Evans, Sirius Black and Jenn Parksen all sitting together eating quietly. And not fighting! Shaking her head she continued to the staff table and sat down to eat. Watching the four students the whole time they were in the Great Hall.

Lily had seen McGonagall enter the room and stop the moment she had seen the four of them sitting there. Lily giggled a bit and whispered to James, who had his back to the staff door. He turned slightly and peeked at McGonagall from the corner of his eye and then poked Sirius who did the same. Soon all four of them were laughing softly at the shocked expression on her face.

As they smiled, Lily and James looked at each other once more. Lily blushed slightly and then turned away to fiddle with the rose James had given her. She picked it up and brought it up to smell its fragrance in order to hide her blush. James smiled softly to himself as he finished his toast and started on a sausage.

Soon all four of them finished eating and rose from the table together. James gently took Lily's elbow and leaned in to whisper in her ear.

"Shall we give McGonagall another shock, Lily?"

Lily nodded slowly but gave James a small warning look, that said; Just don't to go too far. But he just slipped her hand inside his own, pulled her close to his side, and bent his head down next to hers as they walked out of the Great Hall together.

Up at the staff table, Professor McGonagall dropped her fork in shock as she watched James and Lily leave the room hand in hand, looking for all the world like a pair of lovebirds.

Sirius and Jenn had been waiting for them outside and were fit to be tied they were laughing so hard. Lily and James joined them after sneaking a quick look back inside, only to discover that McGonagall hadn't moved an inch. They were so caught up in the moment that Lily didn't even realize that James was still holding her hand.

"Oh Lord, did you see the look on her face when you took Lily's hand and pulled her close, Prongs?" Sirius managed to ask as he laughed. James was chuckled and nodded absently as he glanced down to see Lily's hand still in his.

"Come on, Sirius and I have planned something special for you ladies," James announced with a grin.

Together the four of them headed for the front door and checked out with Filch before heading down to the village below. They ended up being the first students to arrive in Hogsmeade that morning. James immediately took the lead, with Lily by his side, and led them down the street and past all of the usual hangouts. Sirius seemed to know where James was heading and had no trouble keeping up – his hand surreptitiously placed in the middle of Jenn's back as though to guide her along .

Lily knew Hogsmeade enough that it didn't take her too long to realize where they were heading. Sure enough, as they rounded the next corner, Lily caught sight of the Shrieking Shack and she hesitated for just an instant. Lily and her friends had only been to the shack once, back in their third year, and that was only because a couple of fifth year Slytherins had dared them to touch the front door. After that, the girls had studiously avoided the supposedly haunted building with each return trip to Hogsmeade.

"Isn't it haunted up here?" she asked, a note of uncertainty creeping into her voice.

"Only once a month, and then only after dark," James responded mysteriously, a smirk flashing across his face. "Otherwise it's no more haunted then any other abandoned cabin. Come on, let's hurry up and get out of site."

Climbing over the fence, they headed to the back of the shack, where they would not been seen by any students coming to gawk at the haunted shack. Where they found a blanket spread out over the ground and a huge basket of food waiting for them. Lily and Jenn both stopped and stared in amazement.

"Where did all this come from?" Jenn asked in a whisper.

"We Marauder's have our ways," Sirius replied just a mysteriously as James had earlier.

The four of them sat down on the blanket and looked around for a moment. From where they sat they could make out part of the Hogwarts castle and the dark shadow that was the Forbidden Forest. It was a beautiful view, uninterrupted and unspoiled and it was a long moment before anyone spoke.

"James," she said nervously, "I am... what I mean... is that I'm sorry I slapped you that night."

James tenderly took up her hand in both of his and said "It's alright Lily, I never blamed you. I've done some terrible things in the past and have been an immature idiot for the most part. I never thought you owed me an apology. If anything I owed you one. I am truly sorry that I was so misguided that you would think me capable of hurting you enough to make you hate me."

Lily sat there staring into his eyes and she saw something she hadn't seen there before. Honesty. She smiled softly before replying. "Apology accepted, Potter."

Lily had a hard time keeping a straight face as she watched James's expression fall just the just the tiniest bit after she called him Potter instead of James. It felt like a kind of release to tease him in such a familiar way and she wondered why it had taken her so long to see that there was so much more to him then what meets the eye. Finally, Lily couldn't hold in her laughter much longer, and James soon joined her as her intentions became clear to him.

They spent the next hour or so making small talk, simply spending some time to get to know each other – something they had not done during the previous six years at school together. The sun was nearing its zenith when Lily finally worked her courage up enough to open her purse and take out the book. Both Sirius and James visibly flinched when they sight of the book. The smile on James's face melting into a worried frown as a haunted look filled his eyes. Lily kept glancing between him and the book, her hands trembling slightly as she recalled all of the trouble the book had caused since the day she'd found it. Several tense minutes oozed by before Lily began to explain.

"I… I found this in the library earlier this month. I had woken up from a… well I had woken up early and went to the library to look for a book to help me interpr… a book that I was hoping to find… I was walking down the isle when this book caught my attention. I'd picked it up because it was filed out of order. I dusted the cover off and read the title… and I admit that I laughed at the notion of there being a book about an ancestor of yours. It really wasn't the book that I was looking for though, so I tried to put it back where I found it. Only before I could set it back on the shelf, Madam Pomfrey drove me out of the library and demanded I take the book with me. I tried to explain, about finding it there, but she refused to believe me... insisting most furiously that no such book had ever been in her library."

Lily let her voice trail off as she became lost in the memory of that fateful morning. When she finally looked up at James she was a bit shocked to find that he was still staring at the book, inching backwards as if he thought it was going to attack him. On the other hand, she was a bit unnerved to see that Sirius was studying her intently, his eyes boring into hers when they happened to cross paths.

Breaking the unsettling contact, she dropped her eyes back to the book and softly she continued with her explanation. "It was shortly after I found the book that I started feeling sick. I'd not been sleeping well since… well not for some time and with everything else I think I just needed to rest for a while. After seeing Madam Pomfrey, she sent me back to our tower with order to get some sleep – so I did. Jenn, Lori, and Monica woke me up shortly after supper and the four of us just hung out on my bed for the night. That was the night of your party in the common room, and because I wasn't feeling up to going down to eat, Jenn brought some food up to our room. While we were eating, we agreed to read the book, thinking that..."

"You opened the book? You actually started reading it?" James interrupted, all of the blood draining from his face as he looked away from the book for the first time since Lily had brought it out. His whole body was trembling like a leaf as he waited for an answer.

AN: I just wanted to give a brief thanks to everyone who has reviewed this story so far. I had originally tried to answer all of those reviews that I could but quickly developed a dislike for the entire review system here, due to the fact that my responses never appear with the review they are applied towards. I have CRS (can't remember s---), which means I can never remember which reviews I have replied to without seeing the evidence for my own eyes and spending twenty minutes hunting for the answer isn't always a viable option as I do have other commitments. That said, I DO appreciate each and every review (that is not a flame). So please don't think I don't care just because I haven't replied. Reader appreciation is the reason why I didn't wait the usual 3-6 days before posting this chapter! Next chapter will be out on schedule (bout 3-4 days time) - Jenn