Thanks for the reviews guys!!! Enjoy this one…

Lily and James stood face to face, eyes not trained on each other, but fixed over the other's shoulder. Time had ceased to exist. Neither moved; they didn't care that they were being jostled from behind, they didn't care that class was starting, they no longer cared about helping warn the other. They were transfixed in a trance, not moving, but seeing all too clearly.

Slowly, but surely, the crowd began to disperse, filtering into the classrooms, leaving behind two distraught teenagers. The objects of their trance were no longer in their range of vision, yet they stood stock still, eyes staring out across the other, not moving, not blinking, not daring to breathe.

Lily was the first to move. She slowly brought her eyes away from the spot Caradoc had stood, up across James' shoulder, up to his face. And she felt like she was looking in a mirror.

His features were etched in complete, and utter shock.

Lily didn't even care that she was showing some emotion. She was so utterly heartbroken, just seeing him there, she couldn't even think about James at the moment. Every worry, every need to see James and warn him about seeing Dorcas, had vanished. Her entire mind that usually was focused, and determined, and distant, was just thinking about one thing: Caradoc.

Xxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxx

James did not know how long he had been standing in the same place. He vaguely registered the moving crowd slowly die down, hazily remembering Lily was in front of him. Time flew by; nothing mattered, nothing distracted him, nothing was more important enough to take his mind off that gorgeous brunette that had walked away some unknown time before.

He dimly saw Lily break her gaze, and shift it to his face. But he couldn't bring himself to look at her. He couldn't bring himself to forget Dorcas and to remember that Lily was going through the same thing. He didn't even remember why she was standing in front of him, what he was going to tell her, or what had been so important only minutes before.

There was only one thing going through his mind: Dorcas.

Xxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxx

Slowly, but surely, James' gaze had shifted down to meet Lily's, which were now shining with unshed tears. The shock had faded, and pain had taken its place. Silently, without a word, he took her hand, and they slowly walked back up to the Head's tower. Both knew that they weren't going to class today.

Xxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxx

Lily woke with a start. She slowly surveyed where she was, trying to remember how she got there.

Her dark room glared back at her.

She slowly sat up, wiping the sleep from her eyes, then turned to glance at her alarm clock.

5:30 a.m. shined tauntingly back at her.

Lily's mind slowly woke up, remembering that she hadn't attended class yesterday, that she and James had just walked into the heads room and went their separate ways, silently. She remembered seeing Caradoc for the first time, since the break up.

Tears started to flow again, and as she buried her head into her strangely wet pillow, she also remembered that she had cried herself to sleep last night, something she hadn't done since the last day of school last year.

Memories flooded Lily from the day before, all at random times. James' messy back hair, Natalie pounding on her door at two in the morning demanding to know what had happened, her sweaty palm encompassed by another, tears, and, Caradoc.

She closed her eyes at tight as she could, wishing yesterday away, pearly tears barely escaping her tightly sealed eyelids.

She stayed like that for a full minute, struggling with herself, trying not to cry, but also trying to explain why she didn't want to.

And Lily broke. She stopped struggling, and let the pain in. Her body convulsed with sobs, and tears fell fast and heavy. She pulled at her hair, wailing in grief, her small body wracked with convulsions she no longer was trying to stop. And her mind was focused on one thing. Caradoc.

And after awhile, the tears stopped, and her breathing slowed, and she laid unmoving atop of wet pillows, tissues from the night before, and messy blankets, staring at the ceiling.

Slowly, but surely, Lily's mind returned to its original, analyzing, conclusive, emotionless, state. Her reasonable self started to come back to her, and her pathetic wince at the ceiling turned to a firm, hard, glare.

Lily turned over and glanced at her clock again.

6:00 A.M.

Lily rolled out of bed, wiping her eyes briskly and gathering her things for a shower, ready to think things over in the hot water.

She crossed her dark room, dodging her chest and her bedside table, and carefully opened the bathroom door as to not wake her roommate.

Light flooded the bathroom, and Lily squinted her eyes, waiting for them to adjust. Then she placed her things neatly on the floor and stepped into the shower.

Lily began to analyze the situation. And it did not look good.

She turned on the shower and stepped into the stream, letting the water run down her face.

All she had done had seen Caradoc. He hadn't said anything to her, true, but he hadn't done anything mean. So why was she so upset?

Lily washed herself in growing disgust. What would people say if they knew that Lily Evans, the Lily Evans, had cried herself to sleep because she had just seen a boy?

Lily shook her head, trying to clear the uneasy feeling. Nothing had even happened, and she was crying like a little girl.

Lily shook her head again as she laid down in the tub of the shower, letting the water fall on her like pouring rain. She closed her eyes.

There was no other explanation; she had overreacted.

Her eyes shot open.

But that overreaction told her one thing.

She wanted him back.

Xxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxx

James awoke slowly, eyes opening a crack, then closing, then opening a little more, the closing, then opened all the way.

Then he remembered yesterday.

He closed his eyes again.

Memories of yesterday came back to him: Dorcas' dark hair, Lily's face etched in shock, a sweaty palm tucked into his own, sadness, and, darkness.

James cracked open an eye and stared at the clock.

It read 5:30.

He rolled onto his back and glared at the ceiling.

Why did she have to change? Why did she come back like she did, beautiful and gorgeous, yet still the Dorcas he knew? This was torturing him.

His mind slowly started to wake up. He would have to see Dumbledore and make up an adequate excuse for their absence in class. He'd have to see Lily's sadness. He would have to see Dorcas.

Quiet sniffling filled the silence. James' heart twisted when he realized it was Lily. He listened sadly, staring at the ceiling, while it grew louder in volume, and then slowly

subsided.

He hadn't even thought of Lily. But was there any need? He knew what she was going through; it was what he was going through.

James began to feel disgusted with himself. He was acting like a little baby. Dorcas hadn't done anything to him, yet here he was, skipping class to go cry himself asleep. But he couldn't shake the sadness.

He heard the shower go on and knew that Lily must have dragged herself out of bed. If she could do it, so could he. He slowly raised himself up and slid out of the covers.

James started to feel a little uncomfortable as he searched for his clothes. Had he overreacted? No doubt that he was very upset about this new change, but Dorcas hadn't burst into tears had she? And she was the victim in this mess. James straightened with a sigh. All these dramatics had shown him one thing, at least. He wasn't over her.

He wanted her back.