The sudden disappearance of Remus Lupin and Ellie Phelps has sparked a great deal of excitable conversation between the Seventh years in the morning, so much so that news of Lily and James being left alone together for two days straight had been forgotten, much to the annoyance of Lily herself. Normally she would have despised this sort of gossip and told those spreading it where to stick it, but now that the gossip had changed topic, she realised that it was exactly that sort of thing that sparked the subtle flame between herself and any rate it had always got them talking, something which hadn't happened since the previous night.

He's probably just too worried about Remus...

Lily sighed with her head in her hand and poked at the bacon sizzling on the camping stove before her with her plastic fork. She wanted more than anything to go and talk to James, to discuss everything that had happened over the past couple of nights...especially the rainy ones, but she felt as though it would be too insensitive. Neither herself nor James were able to get in contact with Madame Pomfrey to discuss the current condition of their friends although she had confirmed to Lily on the night of the attack that Ellie would be able to make a full recovery; she had not been bitten and would therefore not be affected by Remus' actions, James on the other hand had not received such comfort from the school nurse as Remus had not yet returned to his original form at that time. Suddenly deciding that she wasn't hungry after all, Lily zipped what had been hers and Ellie's tent back up, turned the stove off and pushed it to the side before deciding to go for a stroll in the forest to clear her head. She pulled her robes tighter around her, keeping her head down as she passed through the camp in an attempt to ignore all of her fellow seventh years desperately trying to figure out what happened to Ellie and Remus.

"Lily, what happened to Ellie?"
"Lily where's your camper buddy?"
"Hey Lily, what happened to Ellie and Remus?"
"Lily, did Remus and Ellie find you and James or are they missing now too?"

Great another ambush...

"Listen!" Lily said angrily, "I don't know what happened, you're just going to have to ask the teachers ok?"
"But you were there!" Cried one of the Ravenclaws.
"Well...yes, but I only saw her after she was hurt."
"She was hurt?" Asked one of the Hufflepuffs.
"Ok, look, there was an accident, I don't know what happened, she err...probably fell or something. I just don't know....ask the teachers." And with that Lily pushed through the small crowd of gossipers, into the sanctuary of the trees. Lily sighed and ran her fingers through her messy red hair, fumbling around in her pocket for a hair band, tying her hair back into a scruffy ponytail when she found one.

"...fine James; he always is, and Ellie wouldn't squeal."

"How do you know? What if she's been traumatized? You didn't see her Sirius."
"James she's crushing big time on Remus...she wouldn't want to ruin her chances."
"Really? You think the fact that he's a werewolf and nearly killed her yesterday wouldn't have put her off?"
"It didn't put us off did it?"
"Yes but we know Remus a lot more than she does."

"Well put it this way, would you go off Lily if you found out that she was a werewolf?"
"I...look that's different." Lily's eyes widened and she hurriedly hid behind the thick trunk of a large oak tree in order to get as close to the sound of Sirius and James as possible without being seen.

"Oh yeah? How do you know? She could be as crazy about Remus as you are about-"

"I'm not!" James said suddenly.

"You're not...what?" Sirius asked puzzled.

"I'm not...not sure that....I mean me and Lily...it's not really..." Lily's eyes widened.

"Prongs mate, are you saying that you don't fancy Lily anymore?"
"I...oh of course I do!" James whined, "But I'm thinking that maybe...maybe I should give up..." There was a pause and Lily's heart accelerated; clearly Sirius was just as stunned as she was.

"What exactly happened between you two in the forest before Remus' furry little problem got in the way, James?" Sirius asked and Lily heard James take in a deep breath.

"Well I...I told her that I...that I lo-oh I was being a prat as usual and I said something that I shouldn't have and she basically told me that I should just...forget about it." Lily closed her eyes and released a quiet sigh.

Why didn't you just let him kiss you last night Lily? Why did you have to go and make everything complicated?

Oh she knew why; she had been scared, petrified of the fact that she might actually have started fancying James Potter, of all people! It was true that she had always found him good looking although it hadn't really occurred to her until she found herself staring at him over the past couple of nights.

...at the most inappropriate times none the less...

Had she'd always done that? It had taken her by surprise when she found herself ogling at his bare chest, swooning when he did that stupid hair thing. It hadn't helped when he had suddenly transformed into a gentleman overnight...like Remus had a werewolf. She had become so used to the annoying, bullying pest that had been James Potter that she had been blinded to what he was now...and even to what he had always been; the real James Potter.

Well...beneath the toe rag he once was...

How could she have said that she couldn't gamble her heart on him when it was clear that he'd been doing that himself since they had been 11 years old? The only difference was that he had the courage to admit his affections for her, to risk it when she hadn't. It was official; for the first time, since the very beginning, she was regretting not having said yes to James Potter. It would all be ok though when she told him that she regretted it, that she really did want him after all these years...wouldn't it?

"Yeah but...surely two nights wouldn't have ruined what's almost 7 years mate...?" Sirius asked, snapping her out of her thoughts.
"Well...that's just it isn't it, Padfoot? It hasn't been just two nights has it? She's been rejecting me from the very beginning."

"But that's never put you down before..."

"Yeah well I never said that I...that thing..." Sirius studied his friend as James' eyes refused to meet his.

"What exactly did you tell her Prongs?"

"I...I..."

"OH MERLIN DID YOU...?" Sirius gasped, a strange amused expression across his face.
"Well that all depends on what you mean," James said nervously, shocked at his friends sudden outburst.
"Did you try and...you know..." Sirius said using his suggestive eyebrows.

"No! Sirius! No!" James said, "Merlin no! I would never...well I-of course I wouldn't!"

"You so would," Sirius grinned and Lily could feel herself blushing a little and oddly fought the strange urge to laugh.

"Sirius!" James moaned.

"What? I mean it makes sense...you being alone in a tent with Lily for two days. I mean you're bound to want to-"
"Yeah can we move on please? Thanks," James said, quickly cutting him short, "No I did not try to do that."

"Well I did...and succeeded," Sirius grinned nostalgically before James gave him a stern look, "Well did you do the other thing then?"

"Well bloody hell Sirius how am I supposed to know what you mean by 'the other thing'?"
"Alright alright," Sirius said airily, amused that James was getting so worked up, "Did you tell her that you love her?" Lily's brow furrowed at this thought. It had only been last night when she had thought the same thing, when she had found herself alone after her...first moment with James. She did have some memory of something like that but thought it was nothing more than a dream.

Could he really have said that?

"WellImihavsaid-"
"What?"
"Yes."
"You utter pleb."

Lily felt her breath catch and slapped a hand to her mouth before it gave away her position.

James Potter is in love with me...

Sure Lily knew that James had always fancied her; he never wasted his time trying to woo her, telling everyone that he could that he was Lily's soon-to-be-boyfriend, jealously glancing at her whenever she was with another boy, but she had never in a million years thought that James was in love with her. The sudden wave of guilt washed over her, drowning her slowly. How long had he been in love with her for? When she had said all those horrible things in the past, had he loved her then? If so, how could he possibly still love her now? How could she have told him that she couldn't be with him for being unsure, blaming him?

"Well...did you mean it?" Sirius asked and Lily found herself clutching to the bark of the oak with her nails. She didn't really know what she wanted him to say. Did she love him if that was the case? She couldn't help but feel the impending disappointment, a painful pang in her heart waiting to explode the moment he said 'no', but did she really want something as serious as love?

"I think I did...I mean I do..." James muttered, setting the army of butterflies free in Lily's stomach.

"Prongs mate," Sirius said with a sigh, "Telling a girl you love her just...scares her off-"
"How would you know?" James asked, "When was the last time you told a girl you loved her?"
"Well I haven't."
"Well then how-"
"James mate, how many girls have I been with? Now look at that compared to how many times I've told them I love them...I rest my case."
"Well....it's alright for you," James argued, "You've never been in love."
"How do you know?" Sirius asked and James gave him a look, causing a wide grin to spread across his handsome face, "Yeah alright I'll give you that one." James laughed and ran his fingers through his hair, messing up his already scruffy matt even further.

I love it when he does that...

Shut up Lily, not now.

She didn't know when she had begun to notice every single little habit that James Potter had but it wasn't helping her at all.

"Come on mate, let's go get something to eat; maybe madam Pomfrey will have sent news of Remus and Ellie," Sirius said and James nodded following his friend closely behind before he suddenly stopped and lagged behind.

"Erm...actually Padfoot, I'm going to hang round for a while..." He said hesitantly and Lily froze.

"Alright," Sirius said without questioning, "If you need me my face will be stuck to Becky Taylor..."
"Wow Sirius, the same girl four days in a row?" James said, "Are you sure you're not in love?" Sirius didn't turn to look at his friend but stuck his finger up at him as he carried on walking with his back to him, chuckling to himself. Lily watched curiously as James waited until Sirius had disappeared before he seemed to pull out a blank sheet of parchment. Carefully he placed the tip of his wand to its centre and muttered:

"I solemnly swear that I am up to no good." Within an instant, a number of strange markings appeared on the parchment and James perched himself on a low branch, scrutinizing it until his eyes fixed in one place. Lily didn't know how long James was going to stay perched on his branch so she swiftly made the decision to reveal herself, careful to create a believable story as she went. Craftily, she slowly marched on the spot, making it seem as though she were walking before she emerged from behind the tree just in time to see James scrunch the parchment into his pocket.

"Oh..." He said when he saw her and his face seemed to soften though his body didn't.

"Oh..."Lily said as though she didn't realize he had been sitting there, "Hello."

"Hi," James said timidly and it made Lily's heart flutter knowing how vulnerable he was being in love with her, "How's your ankle?"
"Madame Pomfrey fixed it as soon as we came back," Lily informed, twisting it a little to prove her point, "I guess I was so worried about Ellie that I forgot about the pain running through that forest last night..."

"I probably would have felt the same," James said, smiling a little, making Lily's heart melt, "I'm sorry for yelling at you when she was attacked."

"You were looking out for me..." Lily smiled and they both felt as though Lily didn't need to continue to inform James that she had forgiven him.

"So erm...whatchya doing?" She asked casually, maybe too casually.

"Thinking..." James answered quietly.
"Yeah that's...what I've been doing too."
Well that's not a lie...

"James what happened before-" Lily began but she was already interrupted.

"Lily, you don't have to say anything it was...all in the heat of the moment right?" James said hurriedly, "You and I would never work, you're right."

"Yeah that's...we wouldn't?" Lily asked, slightly confused.

"Well...no of course not!" James said, trying to act as though he genuinely agreed with all this.

"And why do you think that?" Lily asked, playing along.

"Well we're just different," James said, jumping down from the branch, "I mean, like you said, you couldn't possibly have a relationship with someone that apparently changes too much and I can't possibly have one with someone I can't have a laugh with."
Ouch...

"Well I'm sorry you feel that way," Lily said, getting angry, "And why can't you have a laugh with me; because I'm not a bully like you and black?"
"See! This is exactly what I mean! You always get offended!"

"Oh well I'm sorry that I don't find hexing people in the slightest bit amusing!"

"Hey I don't do that anymore and I only ever did that to Severus and he deserved it!"
"I thought you had changed Potter!"
"Well I'm sorry I'm not perfect Lily, I'm sorry I'm not in the slug club like you and the rest of Slughorn's little collection! I'm sorry that I never have been and never will be good enough for you!"

"You know what? I'm glad that we don't belong together!"
"Well so am I!"
"Well then it's a good thing I said no isn't it Potter!" Lily said, storming off back to camp muttering under her breath, leaving him staring after her. Oh how she hated him, she loathed him and yet...she longed for him to hold her like he did on that rainy day in the tent. She wanted to see him ruffle his hair again, his impish grin, that half-lidded longing look in his eyes when their lips were inches apart. She wanted to smell the aftershave, feel his warmth radiating from him, to wear his Westgate Winged Horses shirt knowing that it was his and that he'd worn it. And, what she wanted more than anything was to be his, in his arms with the feel of his lips against hers.

Author's note: TADAAAA! Another Chapter is complete! It didn't feel right dragging them back to school without bringing it all back together beforehand so here's the warm up for the end. Sorry for the lack of Ellie and Remus in this one but I couldn't have the injured and the dangerous hanging around camp lol XD I hope you enjoyed it although it's not the greatest chapter I've written PLEASE REVIEW as always and a HUGE thanks to those who have xxx