A/N: Work load is huge! But it's weekend and I felt the need to write! I'll try to keep my updates at least once per week. I hope you guys enjoy this chapter!

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James now understood why impatience was always depicted as a person tapping his or her foot. He imagined that his leg was tapping so fast that he creating a constant hum of his shoe on the stone; in reality he was just fidgeting restlessly.

"The House Cup no longer stands of having our name on it this year, don't disappoint me by giving the Quidditch Cup away too." McGonagall was saying.

James heard about two words out of her speech: 'Quidditch' and 'away'. It was the latter that he wanted the most.

"Mr. Potter, at least pretend that you've heard what I've said like you usually do!" The Professor snapped but sighed when her student just blinked blankly at her. Still, it was nothing new, student love was always the same but James Potter and Lily Evans did have a special ring around them, it reminded of her own school days-

Minerva pulled on breaks on at that. "Fine Potter, you may go."

He'd apparently heard that part with absolutely no problem because he was half turned in the direction Lily had left in and would have sprinted down the corridor had a heavy crash not caused them both to jump.

Lily!

Her name and face flashed in red danger lights all around James' head and he was tearing down the corridor. In his eyes he could see all the Grievers surrounding her and somehow Lily was horribly aware of what they represented.

When he arrived, his heart was pounding not so much from the run as from the dread of seeing Lily. The first thing he saw was the pieces of disjointed armor that lay scattered about the carpet, next he saw Lily sit back away from Brent rubbing her knees with a frown. For a split second his mind did not register what it was that felt so completely wrong with what he was seeing.

He blinked twice more before closing his eyes completely. The Grievers, they're gone. It was like an answered prayer but no prayer could ever feel this suspicious or fragile. He relaxed his eyelids and opened again...

There they were. The excited Grievers were gathered at such a density that Lily looked almost obscured in their smothering blanket. One more blink and they were gone. Blink. There they were again. Blink. Gone. It was as if they were playing some sort of morbid 'now you see me now you don't' trick with his eyes.

One final decisive blink and they did not reappear. Confused James took a step closer to Lily. Cautiously he blinked a few good times to check that they weren't pulling a sly one and weren't waiting to spring a surprise on him. But finally satisfied that he could see no suspicious shadow lurking or feel any change in the gravity around him he felt a genuine grin spread on his face.

Maybe, just maybe, this was it! The grief was over and Lily came out relatively unscathed! Well at least she looked unscathed. He gave her a once over scan and decided that she was okay although he was more worried about her expression. She had her right brow arched and she looked back at him as if he'd just done a monkey dance.

"Are you feeling all right?" She asked him as if expecting him to repeat the monkey dance he had just performed. It was then that James realized that he had spent a good few minutes blinking in an exaggerating and excessive manner.

Brent was also looking at him as if he too thought he was mad. Turning around confirmed that McGonagall had a similar expression etched on her face.

Clearing his throat James raked a hand through his damp hair and grinned. "Never been better!" He went over to her and held out a hand. "Are you hurt?" he asked as much out of concern as wanting to draw attention away from himself. "What happened?"

Lily took his offer and stood up brushing her skirt. "Maybe a bruise on my shin. Peeves happened. He pushed the armor off the balcony above and Brent was right below it."

"Oh." It didn't take a genius to work out that Lily had pushed him out of the path of a certain crash just in time.

"Yes, about that. I did see it coming but I was just a touch preoccupied. Might have taken me just a second more to get out of the way myself, but anyway thank you for saving me." Brent said quickly, also getting up. He picked up his bag and waved. "Cheerio then!"

"He makes it sound like we should award him a medal or something." James huffed.

"Oh shush, you know what he's like." Lily said with a smile while having a rummage in her bag. "I need to go back to my room, I forgot my ink."

"We can use mine." He protested. The Grievers were nowhere to be seen but that didn't erase his sense of dread.

"Yeah but my one changes color as you write. Does your ink do that?" she teased.

James appeared thoughtful. "Well, at the moment it writes only in black but I'm sure I can figure out a spell that will fix it."

"That's a lot of effort. It'll be easier for me to get mine. Where are you going?" she added when James made a move to follow her.

"Going with you."

Lily grimaced. "You know, I think it's very sweet how you're always waiting around with me and going everywhere with me." She paused briefly trying to pick her words carefully. "But urm...don't you think that it will ruin your guy image or something?" What she had really intended to say was that she found it a bit overwhelming and at times smothering.

James looked puzzled for a split second but it soon was clear. He had literally been tailing her for the past day. As much as he loved her company, if situation had been reversed he would have been feeling quite claustrophobic over the obsessive attention. He chuckled. "What so what you really mean is that I'm ruining your girl image. It's not cool to have you boyfriend with you all the time?"

"Well yeah!" Lily laughed. "Well go ahead to the hall and I'll be there in five minutes, if not send out a search team for me."

"Will do." He promised with the intention of leading the search team if need be.

"Take my bag down to the hall with you please." She handed it to him and almost skipped away feeling like nothing in the world could go wrong.

James watched her leave reluctantly. As much as the feeling of safety from the Grievers had returned he could not help but feel paranoid. He checked his watched and headed for the hall. Neither he nor Lily noticed that McGonagall had slipped away, beckoned by someone with something grave to tell.

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Once seated James found the Morning paper already on the table and he turned straight to the back in the Property sales section.

A minute or two later Sirius dropped into a seat opposite him muttering under his breath. He was hunched over and he had his cloak pulled up around his ears.

"Bloody cold." He poured himself a cup of tea. "Is that a bit of egg on my plate or has your flying chicken been in today?" he complained.

"Tatty has been here but she didn't do anything because you weren't around." James replied without taking his eyes off the paper.

"Is it me or is that cat getting fat?"

James flicked a glance at Nutmeg whom he hadn't noticed arrive at the table. He reached over and poured a saucer of warm milk. Maybe she did seem a bit chubby but she was still very cute.

"You're over feeding that ball of fluff." Sirius commented.

"Bright ray of sunshine you are today!" James said with humor.

"Well if I hadn't been woken up so damn early! Couldn't get back to sleep. I think I'm starting to feel ill anyway."

"Go see Pomfrey, she's got this great ginger tea that will zap you right out of any cold. It'll make you smoke out of your ears for a bit but other than that it's good."

"Maybe later." Sirius sniffed. "What are you looking at?"

"Flats and houses."

"What for?"

"I can't live with my parents forever! I thought that with graduation so near it was about time I started looking for a place of my own."

"I thought you were coming to live with me!" Sirius said with some surprise. "I made sure the place I got was big enough for all four of us!"

"I'm not so sure Lily is going to like living with four guys."

Sirius' usual grin slipped into place. "Oh, so this is what it's all about! Looking for a love nest are we? Had enough of the broom closet?"

James flicked the crust of his toast at him. "Unlike you I have standards. As well as a perfect understanding of basic hygiene."

"Pah! Who needs to buy a whole house for a bit of nookie! No seriously, I really do have a room ready for you if you want to move out."

"Good I'll be there whenever I can't be bothered to go home." James pointed at a random advertised flat.

"Okay, if you want." After a moment he spoke again. "You seem awfully happy considering the state you were in this morning." James filled Sirius in on the falling armor. "You really think that's it?" Sirius asked when he had finished.

Once again James felt as if his fragile hope was balancing on the tip of a sword but he shrugged. "I like to think that's it, or I'd still be able to see them right?"

"Yeah...or the spell could have worn off." Sirius said with unsettling reason.

"Could be." James said tightly aware that he'd left Lily return to her room by herself.

Noticing the effect this had on his friend Sirius decided that the mood needed to be lightened; he peered over at the paper. "How about that one?" he asked pointing at a picture of a bungalow.

"I don't think Lily will like that one."

"This one?"

"No she'll hate that."

Sirius' eyebrows went up and he began to randomize each colourful picture but all of James' comments always involved Lily in one way or another. "You're making out that you two are moving in together once you graduate." He said finally.

"What? Of course not!" James exclaimed in surprise but then he thought about it. It did seem a lot like that. He hadn't intentionally thought about it but it just seemed that whenever he thought about the 'what next' in his future she automatically became part of it.

"You guys haven't been together that long. That's a lot of commitment." Sirius said voicing James' concern.

Now that Sirius had said it James felt a little shaky. What was he doing? In one movement he had the newspaper closed. "Whoa, that was scary."

Sirius nodded solemnly. "I almost lost you there mate."

James shook his head and straightened the paper, this time focusing on the headlines. "You-Know-Who has killed again." He said gravely as he skimmed the article. "Another death list..." He scanned the list to see if there were any names he recognized. His eyes reached the end of the list before something he'd seen made him do a double take. "Oh shit..."

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A/N: What do you think happens next??????