Disclaimer: We do not own the characters, but we are responsible for anything said characters do in this story.

Sorry!! We went away, but now we're back!! During the school year we'll try to write as much as possible.

Chapter 10

Sunday dawned bright and early. Too early, in fact, for Lily. But then she remembered that Alex expected her to unlock the prefects' bathroom, and do the proper spells so that they wouldn't be discovered doing makeovers. She got up reluctantly and pulled on a pair of white capris, and a green tank top, put her hair in a pony tail and left. She had hoped to see James in the common room, but sadly, he wasn't there. Oh well. She hurried down the hall to the statue of Boris the Bewildered, and counted four doors down.

"Mouthwash." she said. That was Dumbledore's current favorite Muggle invention.

The door opened, and, like every time Lily saw it, she gasped. Even though she had been using it for a while, she still couldn't get used to how pretty it was. The walls were made of marble, and on three of them there were huge mirrors. The whole room was centered on the pool-sized bath with hundreds of taps. She stood there for a while, then shook her self and started doing the spells needed.

"Lets see, Mufflaito, ummm…" And this was what she was doing when she realized that there was someone else in the other room.

" Sorry," she said distractedly without turning to look and see who it was. "I hope I didn't bother you." She continued and then went back to thinking of spells that would keep them from getting caught.

"'Course you didn't." replied a voice that Lily knew only too well. Startled she dropped her wand. It clattered loudly on the floor and echoed around the giant bathroom. James sauntered out of the change room with only a towel around his waist. He looked so hot. Lily couldn't think straight. She closed her eyes for a moment but it was no use. Images of James with no towel at all clouded her mind. His toned chest and amazing abs. If she could just.... She shook her head and opened her eyes. James had crossed the room and was now standing beside her. He slid his arm around her waist.

"What are you doing here so early in the morning?" He asked quietly.

"Well… I… me and my friends were, er, gonna do makeovers." Lily fumbled over the words. But it was so hard to concentrate when James was standing so close to her and being so extremely hot without his shirt on. She could feel his warm body up against hers.

"Makeovers?" He laughed, "But how do you have time to fit in a makeover with all that transfiguration studying to do?"

"Well, it's not that hard…" she stopped short realizing that he was teasing her and glared playfully at him.

"Kidding!" he said lightly, " But you don't need a makeover, you're so beautiful already." He murmured in her ear.

She turned to look at him and he caught her in a kiss.

"How long till the rest of them come?" Asked James quietly.

"Long enough!" Lily whispered excitedly.

He held her tightly against his body and kissed her again. She felt his warm lips against her own, moving together. She ran her finger wildly through his hair. He held her tighter. Lily felt that nothing in the world could have separated them. She trailed her fingers along his smooth flawless chest. His hands were suddenly under her shirt, but she didn't mind. In fact she rather liked them there.

Through the haze Lily heard the door opening and abruptly pulled away.

"What…?" James asked looking confused and a little hurt. Lily jerked her head in the direction of the door. Good thing they can't see us from here. She thought. Quickly she shoved James into the closet and locked the door.

"Sorry, James" She whispered before running to greet her friends.

"Hey guys, are you ready?" she gushed to her friends trying to sound nonchalant.

"For sure! You ok Lil, you look a little worried?" answered Alex

" O yeah, just setting up and stuff . . ."

A rumbling noise came from the closet.

"What was that?" Asked Gwen, looking slightly scared

"O, you know, er, moaning Myrtle, ghosts and stuff." replied Lily shiftily. Then pointed her wand at the closet and whispered "muffliato" under her breath so no one would hear James

Lily felt bad for leaving him in the closet with nothing but a wet towel on for what she knew would be hours while she and her friends did makeovers. But he would have to stay there. She just wasn't ready to admit to anyone her newfound feelings for James Potter, the boy she had spent so much time and energy hating and ignoring.

"What shall we start with, hair or make up?" she asked her friends.

"I think Alex should do your face first Lily, she's the best at makeup, and she always makes you look soooooo pretty!" gushed Shayla

"Um . . .ok." Lily murmured uneasily. She had never been one for makeup. Not that she really needed it; she was naturally gorgeous. So when Alex was finished with her, she was simply stunning.

When she looked at herself in the mirror, the first thought that came to Lily's head was: Wait 'til James sees me now. She was practically bouncing on the spot with anticipation.

"Wow Lily! Are you actually excited by my makeup job?" asked Alex.

"Well, yes, I suppose I am." Lily flashed a pretty smile her way.

For the next two hours, Lily tried to be excited and interested in what her friends were saying and what was going on. It took almost all her mental strength not to float into a dreamland in which there was only she and Potter and time stood still. They could snog all day long, and no one would bother them.

"Lily!" Gwen clapped in front of her face.

"What . . ." Lily answered not really paying attention.

"You have a funny look on your face, what are you thinking about?"

Damn, she'd slipped. What could she say? Anything really, if she played it right. Her friends trusted her so much. This thought just made her feel even worse than she already did for constantly lying to them. She really wasn't that king of person. But for some reason she couldn't bring herself to tell her secret quite yet. Soon, she reassured herself.

"I'm just really tired, I couldn't sleep very well last night." she replied airily.

"Thinking about James were you?" Shayla giggled

"No!" Lily said defiantly and a little meanly

" Calm down Lily, I was just teasing, I know how upset you are about having to tutor with him and all." Shalyla said looking a little hurt.

Lily instantly felt bad. Of course she was joking. How could she know, nobody knew. And Lily had practically bitten her head off.

"I'm really sorry Shayla. Like I said, I didn't get much sleep last night, guess I'm a little grumpy"

"No worries!" Shayla answered brightly.

I really do have the best friends in the world, thought Lily.

As the girls packed up, Lily said in a would be casual voice "I think I'll stay behind and take a shower."

"But Lil, you had one yesterday, remember?" Said Alex, slightly confused. Lily was not one to forget things like that, or anything at all really.

"Oh, erm, well I just . . . you're right. Silly me!" Lily said, and hurried everyone out of the bathroom.

She would have to sneak back later to let James out.

When they got back to the Gryffindor common room Lily announced that she couldn't stay and had to go to her own common room to study her transfiguration.

"Um . . .ok Lily." said Alex looking slightly put out and a little surprised.

"I just thought, you know, if I get better in transfiguration, then I won't need a tutor any more, and I won't have to deal with Potter." Lily said, thinking quickly.

"Makes sense." Alex replied, and they all said good-bye to Lily as she climbed out of the portrait hole.

She was getting better at making up stories. But was that necessarily a good thing? Getting better at lying to her friends. How long did she want to continue with this?

She sprinted down the hall to the prefects' bathroom. She was still running through the door as she muttered the spell to unlock the door. She yanked it open, and out tumbled James Potter.

"Jesus Lily!" he exclaimed, "My back aches like bloody hell! How long were you going to keep me cooped up in that closet?!"

"I'm sorry," squeaked Lily, and she truly was

"Come on Lily, can't we just tell them?" James said a little gentler.

"Well . . ." trailed off Lily

"Lily, I really like you, and I respect whatever reasons you have for not wanting to tell anyone. But it's killing me. For most of my Hogwarts career, I have wanted you, and I haven't exactly been very quiet about it."

"Believe me, I know." Interjected Lily

"And now that I have you, it's a big secret." James finished

"It's just that . . .James, I spent so much time making sure everyone knew how much I didn't like you . . .I'm not sure I'm ready to admit how wrong I was. You know I'm not very good at that."

"I know Lily, but it's not as big a deal as you think it is. Trust me. You can do that, can't you?"

"James, I like you a lot . . . " Lily stood in her tiptoes and kissed him lightly on the lips. "I'm just not ready. . ."

Lily practically sprinted out of the bathroom, leaving James standing in the middle looking hurt. Why did she do that? What was she doing? He hadn't asked for anything unreasonable. What was wrong with her? She let her feet take her where they wanted and ended up in the library.

Meanwhile James stood frozen in the bathroom. He couldn't understand Lily sometimes. What had he done? Was it irrational to ask her not to keep their relationship in secret? James hated that she couldn't trust him. He liked her so much, and just when he had thought he finally had her, she had slipped through his fingers. Well, one thing he knew for sure: she wasn't getting rid of him that easily.

When Lily got back to the head common room, she locked herself in her room. She didn't care that she had tutoring with James. She ignored his calls and put her head under her pillow when he banged on her door. She couldn't face him right now, not after what she had done to him. Eventually, after three hours, he gave up. She had to hand it to that boy; he was persistent. At least he was good at showing that he cared and wasn't emotionally challenged like her.

It took Lily until four in the morning to fall asleep, and she was plagued by dreams of James Potter kissing her until her heart was content. And then leaving her standing all alone without a word of good bye, and never coming back. Lily hoped that someday things could work out between her and James.