Disclaimer: I do not own the Harry Potter books or movies. That's all J.K Rowling's and Warner Brothers'

Once in a While

Chapter Twelve – Confrontation

"You do! You like him!"

"Oh please! I'm more likely to fancy this piece of toast," Lily raised her breakfast over her head as she spoke, "than… oh. Hi James!" The hand holding the piece of toast went limp and the food tumbled onto the floor. Lily stared for a moment and then waved with the still raised hand, "How are you?"

James nodded seriously, "Not bad. And you?"

"Yes. Fine thank you."

As James turned his back on the group the girls burst unanimously into wild laughter, and as he rolled his eyes he definitely heard Lily groaning in embarrassment. James grinned to himself, and slipped into a seat next to Remus and opposite the other two. He reached for some sort of porridge thing and got caught up in a conversation about cloning spells. Sirius tried to make his point by doubling his breakfast several times, and then eating it all.

Halfway through the third plate, James looked up the table and felt his stomach lurch. Lily was staring absent-mindedly at him, gently tapping her spoon on the table while her friends chattered around her. She didn't seem to notice James was actually looking back, the distant look in her face not wavering until James waved at her, when she seemed to snap back to reality and flushed a deep scarlet. She turned swiftly back to her cereal and James felt a grin spread across his face as he himself turned back and re-entered the conversation.

"Yeah, well that's all very good and all. But it would mean we had two Snivellus' running round the place…"

All four boys shuddered and the idea was quickly abandoned. Actually, now James thought about it, he hadn't seen Snivellus in a while. Things were definitely looking up…

Potions lessons were, as we already experienced, not James' favourite lesson. As it was, he was sat in his usual seat at the back, head propped on one hand and staring blankly at Slughorn, who was explaining something with such enthusiasm James was worried he'd burst out his waistcoat…

Trying to rid his mind of that horrible image, he glanced at Sirius, who was busy making his quill and knife dance the tango across their desk. The danger of this task didn't seem to be a factor in Sirius' mind, as the dancing became wilder and wilder and climaxed when the knife fell off the table. Sirius swore as it stabbed into his bag and sat there, quivering slightly and sending flashes of light across the room.

James gave a low chuckle and Sirius grinned at him, and before long there was a dance-off taking place on the back desk. Many of their classmates had turned to watch, and were silently egging on either the knife and quill, or James' scrap of parchment and stirring spoon.

"Potter! Black!"

The quill spun off the table and landed gently on the floor as James and Sirius both looked up, "Yes sir?"

"Did I disturb your activities?"

"Oh don't worry about it sir! Please," James waved his hand at his teacher, "carry on."

Slughorn looked confused and opened his mouth as if to speak, but evidently thought better of it and turned back to the board while Sirius cracked up silently behind him.

James joined in the laughter for a moment before plonking his head back on his hand and restarting his aimless staring. He ran his gaze from one side of the classroom to the other. Some students were immersed in their work, diligently copying down Slughorns latest diagram, while others occupied themselves with slightly less tedious tasks. Lily, of course, was bent over the desk. Her hair was loose today and reached just past her shoulders, curling gently under at the ends. Very pretty, in James' opinion.

Suddenly an idea hit James. A brilliant idea, if he said so himself. He reached for his quill and scrawled five words on a spare piece of parchment before scrunching it up into a small ball. He waited for Slughorn to turn back to his amazingly dull diagram before chucking it in Lily's direction. Being the most experienced chaser in the school, it wasn't a surprise that it was right on target. It bounced off the top of her head and plopped onto her desk.

The redhead turned angrily and glared round the classroom, her eyes landing on James. The boy nodded, eyebrows raised, and she had no choice but to turn back and flatten out the piece of parchment. Her eyes narrowed in confusion as she read the note, her lips sounding it out as though that might tempt some sense out of it.

We should have a theme!

She turned again and stared at James, scanning him for a second before mouthing, "What?" across the room.

"For the ball," mouthed James in reply, but only received another shake of the head. "The ball," he mouthed again, "The ball!"

"What?"

"THE BALL!"

The whole class turned and stared at James, who looked rather surprised at the volume of his voice. "Sorry guys."

Slughorn simply shook his head and turned back to the board, muttering under his breath while Lily giggled in James' direction. James waited for her to go back to her work before allowing his head to hit the desk with a thud.

After the lesson was over, James and Sirius stood by the door waiting for Lily to appear. Eventually she came out the room, flanked, as always, by a group of friends, all of whom burst into laughter as they saw James. Quite a few shoved Lily gently and earned themselves a withering look. The others took off up the corridor, glancing over their shoulders and laughing loudly as they disappeared.

"What was that about?"

"Nothing," was that a flush on Lily's neck? "What was that note about?"

"We should have a theme!"

"Yes, I got that much thanks. For the ball, you mean?"

"Sure."

"Well," Lily pushed her hair out of her face, "what kind of theme?"

Sirius, who was standing at James' shoulder, took this opportunity to speak up, "Pirate theme!"

"No," said Lily.

Sirius looked put out, "Why not?"

"Because… that's weird!"

James and Sirius couldn't help but laugh at her flabbergasted expression, and she grinned sheepishly in reply, tucking a strand of hair behind her ear.

"Well," laughed Sirius, "I know where I'm not wanted! Prongs, remember what I told you, right?" He winked slyly.

"Right." And James watched Sirius stride out of sight, before turning back to look at his companions curious face.

"What did Sirius tell you?"

"Nothing. What were your friends laughing about?"

"Nothing." The two stared at each other for a split second before bursting into laughter.

After they had calmed down, they started to move along to the main corridor. "So what do you think of this theme idea?" Asked James, and Lily thought for a second.

"It could work. We'd have to think of a good theme, obviously, or no' one will join in. But if…"

"OI!"

James had spun on his heel and was glaring down the corridor they had just exited, his hand scrabbling on his back, where a large scorch mark had appeared, smouldering gently. He scanned the shadows with his sharp eyes, and then produced his wand from his robes and flicked it towards a particularly dark corner. There was a strangled cry and someone was fired into the light, staggering and swearing under their breath.

The boy was quite tall, about the same height as James, and his skin was so pale it almost seemed to glow in the badly lit space. His nose was hooked and his eyes stood out starkly in their pale surroundings, dark and angry.

"Snivellus," James lowered his wand, though his grip on it tightened, "What do you want?"

"I don't want anything from you, Potter," spat Snape, glowering angrily out from his curtains of greasy black hair. James felt his back muscles tense up but struggled to contain his temper, very aware of Lily's presence next to him.

"Come on," She muttered, gently gripping James' tense arm, "Lets go."

James forced himself to turn his back on his rival and felt his feet propel him away from the scene, although his gut instinct was to curse Snape into oblivion.

"That's it Potter," sneered the voice behind him, "Listen to the mudblood. Merlin knows she's smarter than you'll ever be."

James wrenched his arm back from Lily and strode angrily towards Snape, his wand raised threateningly and a curse already forming on his lips. He crossed the space quickly and backed Snape against the wall, where he cowered nervously.

"James!" Lily's angry voice dragged him back to sanity, and he blinked, looking down on the boy before him, and instead of the usual urge to inflict damage, he felt a stab of pity. The boy was pathetic, and quite clearly, not worth his time.

Breathing heavily, James pocketed the wand, which he had been clutching so hard his fingers had gone numb,and walked back to Lily in a swirl of robes. She grabbed his hand and pulled him away, sparing only a second to glare back at Snape, who was standing alone in the darkened corridor, watching them leave with expressionless eyes.

A/N: Thanks so much for all the reviews guys! I was so amazed by the great response I got! Lets try and beat it this time, right? I love you all - you're awesome! xx