Chapter 11

"C'mon, Lils, you haven't been to the common room in forever," Marlene begged, dragging me through the portrait hole. Honestly, all I really wanted to do was go back to the Head's Common Room and talk to James. But I wasn't ready to share these things with Marlene yet, so I found a seat by the fire, with other seventh years.

"Want one?" Derek Clearwater held out a butterbeer to me. I hesitated for only a split second.

"Sure," I said, taking it and smiling at him. I sat down on the couch next to Marlene and Derek dealt me in for a game of Exploding Snap.

"I only have two cards left!" I said, as we all watched the tower with nervous apprehension.

"Cheater!" Derek teased.

"Hey," I protested, laughing as I balanced a card on top.

Marlene bit her lip in concentration and tried to slip a card on top of mine, but she was too slow, and the stack exploded, cards flying everywhere and hitting people in the face. The common room stayed silent for a moment, and in that moment the portrait hole swung open, and Tracy Benson stepped through, pulling none other than James along. A few people looked over, but then turned back to whatever they were doing before the cards exploded. I couldn't have turned back even if I had tried.

James was giving her that same smile he gave me, and putting that same arm around her waist (a much smaller waist than mine) and all of the sudden I realized I had been so stupid, living underneath the delusion that James preferred my company to everyone else.

"Lily?" Marlene asked, concerned.

"Up for another round?" Derek asked, oblivious to what was going on across the room. His blue eyes caught mine, and I thought a distraction would be nice. Maybe it would distract me from feeling like bawling my eyes out as I saw James flirt with Tracy.

"Sure," I said, trying to conceal my feelings.

I moved to sit next to Derek on the couch, blocking my view from whatever James was doing with Tracy in the corner, but I could tell from Marlene's face that it certainly wasn't very kid-friendly.

Forget about a distraction, I thought, as the round ended. The thought of snogging Derek wasn't even enough because the only person I wanted to snog was James.

"I've gotta go finish up some homework for tomorrow," I said, faintly, getting up on shaky legs and leaving the common room quickly. I climbed the steps to the Owlrey quickly, hoping it would be abandoned.

This place reminded me of first year, when Petunia had stopped sending me letters, and I felt completely alone. The moonlight shone from the rafters as a breeze whistled in, eliciting soft hoots from the sleeping owls.

I couldn't believe what I had just seen. James snogging Tracy, possibly one of the prettiest girls in the school, but also one of the dumbest. Which also made me wonder about a number of things. Did he know that I liked him, and wanted revenge for all those times I rejected him, so he picked the dumbest girl to hurt me the most? But how would he have known I was in the common room? Nothing was making any sense.

"Lily?" Remus asked, standing in the doorway with his hands in his pockets.

"Hey," I said weakly. I scooted over to make room for him on the bench. He put his arm around me in one of those true Remus gestures.

"Is it James that's bothering you?" He asked. I liked that Remus always got straight to the point with these sorts of things. Ever since we were prefects, we had been close friends.

"Yeah," I admitted, feeling slightly stupid about how worked up I was getting about this.

"Don't worry about him. He'll come around," Remus reassured me.

"I just, I thought things were going so good, and then…" I said, leaning my head on his shoulder.

"Lily, one of the things you have to understand about James is that he hates second chances." He paused, considering his next words carefully.

"You know that you are special to James if he gives you more than one chance. He would do anything for any of us, in a heartbeat. After the incident at the lake in fifth year, James gave you another chance. After your big fight in sixth year, James gave you another chance. At the beginning of this year, James gave you another chance." Remus paused to let these words sink in.

"Lily, you may not be able to see it, but James really cares about you, no matter what he does." Remus said. "And now it's time for you to give him another chance and not give up on him," He continued.

"Thanks, Remus," I said, hugging my knees to my chest.

"Don't give up on him, Lily," Remus said, getting up to leave me to my thoughts. I heard the sound of his footsteps fading down the stairs. I knew what I needed to do now. James had put himself out there for so many years, and now I needed to do the same.

"Ouch!" I yelled, pulling my wand away from my hair. I'd been curling my hair with my wand for the past twenty minutes, which was pretty tiring, but it looked amazing. I put some hairspray on and inspected myself in the mirror. Forty-five minutes had certainly turned out well. I didn't have any outside classes today, so I shaved my legs and wore a skirt with my snug-fitting shirt tucked in. I had done a pretty good job on my makeup and hair, and I pulled my uniform robes on and left to go to breakfast.

"You look good today, Lils," Marlene commented, pouring me some pumpkin juice.

"Not that you don't look good every day," Alice added, as her owl landed right on my toast.

"Sorry," She added, almost knocking her goblet over in her haste to read Frank's letter.

I fed the toast to the owl and scanned the hall for James. Maybe he was eating breakfast in the kitchens with Sirius.

"So, Lils, what made you dress up?" Marlene asked, as she opened a letter from her parents.

"I just felt like it today," I said, making up a lame excuse. I tried to act like I didn't notice that this marked one month of no letters from my family. Petunia was furious that mom was trying to make her include me in her wedding.

"Miss. Evans, may I see you and Mr. Potter in my office after classes have ended?" McGonagall asked on her way up to the staff table.

"Of course, Professor," I said, wondering what she was going to tell us.

I settled myself into a chair in McGonagall's office next to James.

"In light of recent events, the staff of Hogwarts thinks it would be good for the students to be engaged in an activity that involves the whole school to promote house unity. Since this is the first year, we have decided on a Christmas Ball. We have enlisted you to help plan it and sort out the finer details. The ball will take place the Saturday before break, and will only be open to fifth years and above. As Head students, I suggest you attend the ball together, but it is not mandatory." She handed my some papers.

"Decorations must be ordered by the beginning of December, in two weeks, and these forms must be turned in to me by then," McGonagall said, as I looked at the paperwork in my hands.

"If there are no questions, you are dismissed. Come to me if you need any help," She said, and James and I got up from our chairs.

"This is going to take hours," I complained, once we reached the hallway.

"How much work can a ball be anyways?" James asked, as we walked back to the common room.

We remained in companionable silence, as I thought about what Remus had told me regarding James. I wondered if he had any inkling of a thought about what I felt for him. I wasn't exactly sure about what I felt for him either, but I knew that it was a strong feeling, and I needed to tell him about it soon.

A/N: I'm so proud of myself for this quick update! Thank you to all my lovely reviewers and supporters, because you really keep this story going. Stay tuned for the next few chapters because I guarantee you that there will be some priceless Jily moments.

Don't forget to review!

-PAR