Disclaimer: I do not own Harry Potter, please don't sue, I have no money.

Chapter 10 Friendship

James went up to his dormitory after patrol and slipped quietly into the room. He was disappointed that all of his friends were already in bed apparently asleep. He wasn't completely shocked as it was after midnight but he had been hoping that Padfoot would still be awake so they could talk. He hadn't spoken to him after dinner because Remus had advised that he still needed some time to cool off.

He felt bad for having to punish Sirius but he had deserved it and Sirius really did need to learn some self-control, even if it was Snape. They would be graduating from Hogwarts soon and in the real world Sirius couldn't go around hexing people just because he felt like it. At Hogwarts that got you detention. In the real world that got you sent to Azkaban. Knowing that he'd just have to wait until morning to try and talk to Padfoot, James got into bed. He didn't fall asleep, however.

Lily's word's kept playing over and over in his head, 'You know Potter, maybe you're not as bad as I thought you were.' Maybe there was still hope. If he could just keep from doing anything too stupid maybe she'd agree to meet him in Hogsmeade.

He and Lily had talked to Professor McGonagall and Dumbledore at dinner and both had agreed that a Hogsmeade weekend before the ball was a good idea, one they had already thought of in fact, and that there would be one the first weekend in October.

James knew that Lily would want to use at least part of the time to go dress robe shopping with Katie and Marlene, but perhaps she would consent to meet up with him in the afternoon for a butterbeer and a casual stroll through the village. As long as she didn't want to go to Madame Pudifoot's, if she did, well he didn't think she would, so he just wouldn't think about that.

He was pretty sure he'd once heard her say that the only way you'd get her in there was to stun her and then put her under the imperious curse, while she was still unconscious, and even then, she'd find a way to fight it. With the highly amusing image of a stunned and imperioused Lily fighting against being dragged into Madame Pudifoot's James fell asleep.

Lily, however, came back to a dormitory full of girls who were very much awake and quite giggly. Apparently, Lily learned, Mary was now dating a Ravenclaw seventh year named David Williams.

Although Lily had told James that she hated girls her were constantly giggly being giggly during girl time was an entirely different matter altogether and Lily eagerly changed into her pajamas and flopped down next to Marlene who had a bag of chocolate frogs.

"So, David Williams, huh," Lily said as she grabbed a frog. "He's in my Ancient Runes class, seems like a nice guy."

"Yeah, and he's also fun to look at," Katie added.

"Yes, I'd noticed that, too," said Lily grinning at Mary

"Hey, hands off, he's mine!" Mary declared pretending to throw a death glare at Lily and Katie.

The girls simply laughed. Lily had fun with the girls trying to get more details about Mary's budding new romance. Once they had exhausted Mary's information on the topic Katie turned to Lily.

"So, Lily," Katie asked with a devious look on her face, "what exactly is going on with you and James Potter?"

Lily felt her face redden slightly.

"Nothing is going on," Lily said, trying to convince herself more than Katie. She did not like James Potter they were just making an effort to get along for the sake of their roles as Head Boy and Girl.

"He wrote to me after we got our Hogwarts letters and said that even though we didn't always get along in the past he thought it would be a good idea if we made an effort to get along in a professional capacity. And really, how would it look if the Head Boy and Girl couldn't get along, it would completely undermine our authority. Plus I was so shocked that he took the mature path and attempted to clear the air, before I'd even thought of it, that I figured it couldn't hurt to agree."

"Right," said Katie, "So what's going on with you and James?"

"Nothing," Lily repeated sounding mildly exasperated.

"Oh come on, Lily," Marlene said rolling her eyes. "You guys get along great, I've seen you. You've had multiple conversations so far this year that did not result in you annoyed with him. There's something going on."

"I…I don't know. It's really weird. I've never seen this side of him. I mean back when I was a Prefect, patrolling was dull, even when I was with someone I was friends with, we'd get bored, I mean you can only talk about classes and Professors so many times before you exhaust the topics. But we never seem to run out of stuff to talk about. And I feel oddly comfortable talking to him," Lily said this last part rather quietly.

"Uh oh," Katie said in a sing song voice, "I think somebody's got a crush."

"Oh, who?" Marlene asked jokingly.

"Guys, I do not," Lily insisted flushing again.

"Oh, I think you do," Abby grinned. Mary nodded her head vigorously in agreement.

Lily grabbed Marlene's pillow and buried her face in it.

"Oh come on Lily, there's no shame in it," Katie said. "Who hasn't had a crush on James Potter at some point? You just happen to be extra lucky because unlike the rest of us, he worships the ground you walk on."

"No he doesn't," Lily mumbled, her voice muffled by the pillow. "He just wants me because I won't go out with him. Once I say yes, he'll be over it."

Suddenly Marlene burst out laughing. The other girls looked at her like she was crazy and Katie threw a pillow at her but Marlene wasn't deterred and it took her almost a full minute to regain her composure.

"What on earth could possibly be that funny?" Lily asked looking both annoyed and curious at the same time. "James is only after me cause won't go out with him, I don't see the humor."

"Well if you were on the Gryffindor Quidditch team with him you would understand," Marlene explained fighting hard to keep from laughing again.

"What's that's supposed to mean?" Lily asked definitely sounding annoyed.

"Well," Marlene began as if she had a very exciting Christmas present. "If you were on the team you would know that that boy never shuts up about you. There were a few times last year when I considered spiking your morning Pumpkin Juice with love potion just so you'd go out with him and he'd shut up about it. The only thing that restrained me was the fact that I knew he'd kill me if I did it. That boy is completely enamored with you. It's kinda pathetic really," Marlene explained exasperated.

"You considered giving me a love potion," Lily asked her temper flaring slightly.

"Yeah, believe me, if you had to deal with him pestering you for advice on how to convince Lily Evans to give him a chance you'd consider giving yourself love potion too. I thought about just knocking him off his broom with my beater bat once…but I figured it would be cruel to kill him before he got to go on a date with his dream girl."

At this Lily grabbed Marlene's pillow and hit Marlene with said pillow. "His dream girl? Have you been sneaking fire whiskey and not sharing?" Lily asked.

"You think I'm kidding, but I'm not," Marlene stated. "That boy is head over heels for you, he just sucks at showing it."

"Yeah, right," Lily retorted.

"Believe what you want, doesn't change a thing," Marlene said with an heir of superiority.