A/N: Sorry it took me so long. Kind of a cheesy chapter, but anyway...

Oh, and thank you to everyone who had been reviewing, all are greatly appreciated! Please continue!

Anywho... Enjoy!

Chapter 20 ~ A Trip To The Kitchens

To my insane embarrassment, my tummy began rumbling loudly, and due to James's chuckling, I was pretty sure he could feel as well as hear it.

He slowly slid me off his toes, which I was pretty sure must be killing him by now, and grabbing my hand pulled me along to the top of the stairs. 'Let's go get you something to eat.' He smiled down at me. I nodded, not really listening to him, too lost in his eyes. There are just so many colours to look at.

We were walking across the entrance hall towards the Great Hall when the murmuring began. 'What happened to Lily?' 'Is she alright?' I looked up at James, wondering what the hell they were talking about, but he was staring down at me, his eyes wide. I looked down too, remembering a little too late that I looked like I had been attacked by a deranged werewolf. He brought up his free hand and smacked it on his forehead. 'Oops.'

He sighed, and quickly turned around, dragging me along with him. Dodging the crowd of people surging towards us he yanked me into a small corridor, before taking a confusing mixture of turns and steps until I was thoroughly lost, meaning the people behind us had no chance of knowing where we were. James however was striding confidently forward; apparently he knew exactly where we were.

'James. Where are you taking me?' I asked. I am not a happy person when I am hungry, and therefore I wasn't overly pleased that he was dragging me away from the Great Hall, which translates to: away from the food.

He just grinned back at me in a way that made my knees weak. I ripped my eyes away from him, and tried to regain some self pride. 'Where are we going?' I asked again, more defiantly, and reclaimed my hand from his.

He laughed; his eyes watching me cradle my hand against my chest for safe keeping. 'We're there!' he announced, fiddling with something behind his back, before pushing open a painting of what looked like a fruit bowl.

'We're where?' I asked, exasperated, refusing to step inside the door. Was it really that hard to just tell me?

James's mouth dropped open in such a fashion that I had seen many a time on Tom and Jerry. 'Are you seriously saying you don't know where we are?' He asked after he took a few seconds to compose himself. I just stared blankly at him. I was growing tired of this game. James, as per usual, either didn't notice, or was completely ignoring my easily changeable moods. 'You've been here more than 6 years and you haven't discovered the entrance to the kitchens yet?'

'Kitchens?' I asked, my curiosity sparked. James just laughed and guided me through the door with his outstretched arm.

Whoa. There were a number of House Elves wondering around in clean white pillow cases, the Hogwarts emblem blazoned on the front. They looked curiously at me as I did the same to them. As soon as they saw James they crowded around us, platters of food held out in front of them asking 'Mr. Potter' about his day and sending their best wishes to 'Mr. Black'.

I gazed up at James. How often does he come down here' He must have caught the question in my gaze, as his hand flew to his hair and shrugging his shoulders said defensively 'quidditch takes a lot out of me, okay?' I burst out laughing, and a huge grin settled onto his features. I didn't miss him straightening up a little, as if he was proud of himself, which just made me laugh harder.

Taking two plates of food he indicated me to follow him with a tip of his head. We both slid ourselves down onto the floor, with our backs pressed up against the whitewashed wall. I was still laughing freely, my knees drawn up, trying in futility to ease the pain in my shaking stomach. James was now staring at me like I was crazy. Huh. There's a thought.

Sighing, I managed to regain control of myself, and took the fork James was offering to me, and dug into the ridiculously large dish of lasagne that was lying between us. It tasted good, and helped ease the pain in my rapidly filling tummy. When James sidled a little closter to me, I dropped my fork in what could only be called nervousness on m part. It dropped straight into the half eaten lasagne dish, splattering mince meat and melted cheese all over James's Jacket.

'Oh, Merlin James!' I cried. 'I am so sorry.' I jumped up and began searching everywhere for a napkin to clear it off with.

James didn't move from the floor. 'Lily. Don't worry. It'll come off.' I shook my head, for some reason needing to clean the food from the jacket. James tugged solidly on my arm, and pulled me back to the floor. 'Seriously, Lily, don't worry. We have magic, remember?' He said slowly, vanishing the stain with a quick flick of his wand. I stared at the spot where the sauce had been for a moment, before managing to wheeze out a small laugh.

'Besides, even if had stained, it wouldn't matter. I sent him a questioning glance. 'It's Sirius's.' He shrugged. I couldn't imagine why Sirius would own a muggle suit, but I had come to accept a long time ago that Sirius Black was as unpredictable as the English weather.

'Oh!' I exclaimed suddenly. James whipped his head around to look me, worry clear in his eyes.

'What?' he demanded.

'I shook my head. 'It's nothing really. Just… I understand now.' James's eyes nearly bulged out of his head.

'Understand what?'

'Why the jacket smelt wrong.' As soon as I said I knew I had made a mistake. James's face lit up, a smile breaking across his features.

'Smelt wrong?' he asked casually, his hand raising to his hair, before, with what looked like considerable effort, he pulled it back down to his side.

I narrowed my eyes at him but answered, knowing that he would just continue to pester me until I told him the truth anyway. 'Didn't smell like you.' I murmured. I was sure he was going to ask me to say that again a little louder, but he appeared to be thrilled to have just heard me say it the once, and we lapsed into a warm silence.

We sat there for what felt like minutes, but must have been hours before the thought of moving even entered my head. Seriously, it was becoming far too easy for me to hang out with James Potter now. Wow. Weird thought.

My eyes were slowly slipping shut, and James had long ago wrapped his arm around my shoulder, so I was more than comfortable and nice and warm, but the responsible part of me, the Head Girl part, told me that I had better get back to the common room and into bed. Or, I thought, more importantly, do all the work that you missed yesterday, and, my stomach dropped farther, all the work you were supposed to catch up on today, but decided instead to wile away the hours with James Potter, of all people. See; I've been hanging around with him for less than a day, and my school work is already beginning to suffer.

Begrudgingly, I pushed myself up from the floor and turned and offered James my hand. I yanked on his arm, pulling with all my might in a vain attempt to heave his enormous body weight from the floor. Laughing, he pushed up with his legs, and I toppled backwards in surprise, before his strong, muscly arms caught me around the waist, stopping me from falling all the way back.

'Careful' James warned huskily, setting me right. Thanking the House Elves for their hospitality, he led me through the door and we walked up to the common room in a comfortable silence.

As we walked in, Mary and Marlene came hurtling towards me through the otherwise empty common room. 'Where the hell were you!' they both yelled at me. 'We were worried sick! You come out of the hospital wing this morning, go missing for the entire day, and don't even bother to tell us you were okay?' Mary shouted at me. 'I was terrified that you had fainted somewhere and were slowly choking to death on your own tongue.'

'Way to keep it optimistic' I replied sarcastically. 'And, I'm sorry' I rushed out quickly as she opened her mouth to retaliate. 'Next time I will tell you where I am going, what I'm doing and what time I will be home.' Jeez. She reminded me of my mother.

Mary did not seem pleased with my weird sense of humour tonight, and sensing a losing battle turned, instead, towards James. 'And you. You're not the only person that was worried about her, you know.' She prodded James in the chest accusingly.

'Sorry' he apologised gravely, before smiling down at me, 'I got distracted.'

Marlene faked vomiting at his cheesiness, but this seemed to soften Mary somewhat, and she gave in. 'Well, just try to remember next time.'

'Mhmm' he agreed, never looking away from me. I could feel butterflies flapping crazily in my belly. I was incredibly aware of Mary and Marlene watching our every move as a huge yawn racked through my body.

'Well, 'night' I said awkwardly to James, not really sure whether I should hug him, or kiss him on the cheek or do nothing at all, and just turn and walk away. Oh Merlin. So many options: it was making my brain hurt.

'Oh, don't mind us' Mary reassured us, looking on excitedly and once again reminding me that she and Marlene were here and watching us like hawks. She really was acting like my Mother tonight.

I stepped forward and gave Potter an awkward hug, and pulled quickly away. Too quickly for my liking. It gave me no time to get in sync with his breathing, or feel the controlled movements of his muscles under my body. Oh jeez. I cut that thought off there. What was wrong with me? This is Potter I'm thinking about. The same boy who cut out a chunk of my hair in 3rd year to 'keep as a reminder of me', and who exposed the bottom half of Severus to the world in 5th year. But he was also the boy who would do anything for his friends, and who had matured a lot since 5th year; he'd made head Boy hadn't he? And Dumbledore must have his reasons for that.

Oh, it was all so confusing. Deciding to sleep on it, I turned and trudged slowly up the stairs to my dorm.

A/N: Review? Please?

Anna-Cate xxx