James and Lily walked silently back to the common room; the sun threatened to rise as the sky changed into a slightly lighter shade of blue. There were no incidents along the way, Lily noticed that James' face remained unreadable. She did not care for his opinion at this point anyways, he had dragged himself into the situation. They had made plans to meet later on Thursday night, so there was nothing left to be said as they shed the invisibility cloak and parted ways.

Lily wearily climbed the stairs to her dormitory, changing into her pajamas and sneaking into her bed. The lack of sleep was not a concern for Lily, she rarely slept much anymore and found it wasn't necessary for her to function. Still, she found herself drifting off as the sky gradually became brighter, and thoughts of her family, past and James slowly drifted away.

*

That Monday Arabella Figg and Lily Evans sat in Transfiguration, doodling on Belle's parchment with a quill. Eva was struggling with a spell over to their right, her dark hair pulled messily into a ponytail, loose strands framing her soot smudged face. Her attempt at making a hedgehog into a salamander was unsuccessful, and when the cloud of smoke cleared all Eva had was a very angry looking and green hedgehog. It waddled off the desk, and Sirius went chasing after it.

Lily and Belle used this distraction to have a conversation, and the class one by one joined the pursuit of the hedgehog. It had just run under a desk and Sirius knocked his head trying to get it. One injury already.

"Sirius asked me to the Winter Ball," Belle said.

"Oh did he?" replied Lily, none too surprised.

"Well, he needs someone to help him with a project," Belle answered, winking mischievously. Lily sighed, wondering what havoc those two would wreak on the unsuspecting student body.

"Yeah, next Hogesmede trip we have to go shopping for dresses. Eva is going with that Ravenclaw boy we see her with, but won't admit they're an item yet. It's perfect really; they're both bloody brilliant. I wonder how she ended up in Griffyndor anyways," Belle said as she watched Eva follow the hedgehog. It had crawled behind a bookcase - she was crouched making hedgehog noises at it and calling to it softly. Sirius appeared behind her with a stick.

"No! Sirius, get away from Irving with that!" Eva cried.

"Irving??? You named the evil hedgehog???" he yelled.

"Yes, I will get him, I'm sorry about your head. But he's not evil, he's scared."

"Oh no, Eva. You're all wrong. Just step away from the bookcase, that thing is dangerous." With that Eva moved aside, hanging her head and looking very nervous. She peered over Sirius's shoulder as he reached behind the bookcase. He seemed to feel around for a moment, but then a look of success and victory came over his face as he withdrew his hand, clutching the hedgehog. Almost immediately, his face contorted again into a grimace of pain, and several of the hedgehog's quills became lodged in his hand.

"Ow, blast," he yelled, dropped Irving, and started to hop up and down, cradling his hand. Eva picked up the animal with gloves, holding it close and petting it softly. Irving seemed to relax and settle down as they made their way back to the table, where Professor McGonagall would fix him. Sirius was still hoping around the room.

Lily and Belle, being used to these sort of occurrences by now, didn't even blink an eye.

"Well I hate to burst your bubble Belle, but I forgot all about the dance, and I don't have a date yet," Lily said.

"Lily, the dance is still over a month away. Lots of people are just starting to get dates now, and trust me, you will have no trouble getting one," she added. Belle secretly knew of many a male student (you hear things in a Quidditch lockeroom) who would give anything to have Lily Evans on their arm. She was, as Belle had heard her described, quite striking.

"So even though you may be the last one dateless, not all hope is lost," she laughed.

"Last one, you say? Who, may I ask, is everyone else going with?"

"Remus is going with Katie Bell, and James in going with Alice," Belle replied, watching Lily's face carefully. She had thought something suspicious about their dance last Saturday in Hogesmede.

Lily had figured those would be the two boys' dates. "Well, we'll see what happens with me and the dance. But I will gladly help you and Eva find dresses," she replied cheerfully.

Sirius had by this time plucked the quills from his hand, and the results were quite gory. Professor McGonagall was trying to persuade him into seeing Madame Pomfrey. Lily grinned a bit, picked up her quill and began to doodle again.

*

Lily picked at her dinner, and noticed off-handedly that James was picking at his as well. He pushed his carrots around the plate, circling around the potatoes and back again. He failed to notice her observing - he was also half listening to Remus, who was describing some of the finer points of defending against more violent poltergeists.

Sirius was recounting his harrowing adventure to a group of first years - who, wide-eyed, listened to his tale of the battle between himself and the giant mutant hedgehog that threatened the entire class.

"It was gigantic, violent, frothing at the mouth," he said, making adequate hand gestures that Lily might compare to a Muggle showing how big the fish was.

"It was really dangerous?" asked one particular girl with blond pigtails. She had many frights this year already, what with the giant "man-eating" plant in the Herbology greenhouse, and poor Ian Randall - what his fate was, no one seemed to know. Last Lily had heard, he had moved to Costa Rica and was working as a one eyed, three toed mercenary. She sighed into her pumpkin juice.

"Yes," came a voice from across the table. It was James, having caught wind of Sirius's exploits. "It was massive, and it tried to kill poor Eva here, almost got her with its razor-sharp claws. But not before Sirius performed a spell and returned it to its normal size, bravely captured it, and returned it to its cage," he finished.

All heads turned immediately toward Eva, who was taking a bite out of her pot roast. At first she had an annoyed expression, but after swallowing, she took on the most serious, devastated look Lily had ever seen her with.

"I feared for my life," she stated, then turned her attention back to her pot roast.

Sirius was delighted she would play along, and continued scaring the pants off the first year crowd. Meanwhile, Peter, who was never there, sat down next to Lily, Belle, and James.

"Hey guys," he said.

"Well, if it isn't Peter. Where have you been?" asked James.

"I've been having some trouble with my classes," he replied quickly. "What I was meaning to ask is if you guys are planning on going to dueling club next week."

Lily thought this was a strange question to be asking her. But then again, he might not be aware of what happened last time; he said he had been busy.

"Oh, well no," said Lily. "I think I'll skip this one, I've got some work to do."

"Oh," said Peter. "James?"

"I've got some things to do as well. Maybe next time though," he said, again studying his carrots.

"That's too bad. Well, I'm off to do some homework," Peter said, getting up.

"What subject?" asked Belle suddenly. When he looked a bit taken aback by her quick question, she softened it with, "Just in case, you need some help, you know."

"Potions," replied Peter, and headed toward the dungeon. As he left, Belle narrowed her eyes, but very slightly. It was so subtle, Lily was sure she was the only one who noticed. She almost scolded Belle, but then held her tongue. Peter wasn't easy to like, she knew. He always seemed nervous and jumpy, ever since they had met in first year. But that fact made Lily want to put him at ease.

"Be nice," she whispered.

"Me? I'm always nice. Don't be lecturing me Lily Evans," Belle said with a smile.

"Of course," agreed Lily. "It was silly of me - and I will try to remember that at the Winter Ball," she laughed, alluding to the scheme Belle and Sirius were cooking up.

"The dance, eh?" came a voice from above them. They both looked up to see Eva's date standing there, along with a friend. Eva put down the pot roast, smiled, and invited them to sit down.

"Lily, Belle, this is Scott, my date. And this is his friend Sebastian," she made introductions as the boys took a seat. "They're both in Ravenclaw," she said.

"Yeah, I think we have you two in our Advanced Care of Magical Creatures class," said Belle. The boys nodded in recognition.

"Yes, sorry we didn't introduce ourselves earlier, we've been having some trouble reigning in our Hippogriffs," added Lily.

Sebastian smiled at her. "Yes, I've seen both of you during that unfortunate incident with the Purple FlobberWorms. How were you supposed to know that if you fed them lettuce, they explode?"

"I know," Lily said, returning the smile. "Those purple ones are tricky. It snuck into the bag, and then it was all downhill from there."

Lily noticed that he had dark hair, like James and Sirius, but it was a few inches longer, and shaggier. His eyes were dark, almost black it seemed, but warm all the same. Also, he was wearing a Muggle shirt and jeans, the shirt having long sleeves and being a charcoal color. She wondered if he came from a normal family as well.

He noticed her examination. "I've never been really comfortable in those robes," he admitted. "I wish I could wear my usual clothes to class."

Lily smiled again. "Me too, sometimes," she replied. Looking over, she noticed Eva and Scott sitting somewhat close and talking quietly. Belle was eating quietly, but Lily could tell she was trying not to giggle at her and Sebastian.

Sebastian looked over at Scott, and turned to Lily. "I was going to teach Scott how to rollerskate, he thinks it's the funniest idea he's ever heard. But he seems a bit busy right now. Would you like to go instead?" he asked, somehow knowing she was from a Muggle family and hoping she knew how.

Lily laughed. "I haven't done that since I was ten!" she exclaimed. "Yeah, sure I would love to."

Lily began to get up from her seat, when a voice interrupted her.

"I thought we had a Divination project to do," James said, and Lily became aware he had heard their conversation.

Turning and facing him, Lily replied, "It's not due till next week. Besides, here comes Alice. Looks like you have your hands full anyway," she added, taking Sebastian's arm, ignoring James' look of annoyance, and leaving.

*

"Oh my gosh, James, there's something floating in my pumpkin juice."

"You don't say," replied James, still steering around his carrot. He saw Alice frowning at her goblet from the corner of his eye. Lily had obviously found out that he was taking Alice to the dance. Not like she cared, but it would give her ammunition to insult him until the whole thing was over. Alice had actually asked him to the Ball, and he could think of no reason to say no. Alice was nice enough, and he had no particular attachment to anyone at Hogwarts to prevent him from accepting. Absolutely none.

There was no substance in his attraction to Lily, he told himself. She was a beautiful woman - it was only normal. Otherwise she was hardly tolerable. They had a strictly business relationship, and after it was all done, he would do his best to get as far away from her as possible.

"He's going to ask her," squeaked Eva from across the table.

"Who?" asked Alice, apparently having extracted the offending object from her pumpkin juice.

"Sebastian. He's going to ask Lily," said Eva.

"How do you know?" asked Belle.

"He's had a crush on her for awhile," admitted Scott. "But he's kind of shy, and he had no way of meeting her until I became friends with Eva," he said quietly.

"That's adorable!" cooed Alice. "And he's so handsome," and after a moment added, "But not as handsome as you James." She then grabbed his arm as squeezed it.

James didn't hear her or feel the squeeze. He put down his fork and looked at the door they had exited.

"I don't know Potter, you've been losing it a bit lately," joked Belle, ruffling his unkempt hair.

Trying to act natural, James played along. "Figg, I wouldn't start with me. You've earned yourself ball duty next practice. Good luck with those bludgers," he said laughing. He stood and ducked away as she made a playful punch at his arm, and an exasperated noise.

As he was leaving, James noticed eyes on him from across the room. A quick glance let him know it was Lucius. There was suspicion in the glare; James wondered how much he knew - about him - about Lily - and what new information he would inevitably learn about her and her family through his connections. Maybe he knew already.

But James put it aside. He took a long stroll back to the dormitory, taking time to look at pictures. Passing a window, he studied the front of the castle as the sun continued to set. He could see them on the pavement in the courtyard. Lily was a horrible skater, or at least James thought she must be by the fact he couldn't seem to stop as she speed toward a giant stone statue. Luckily, Sebastian reached out and grabbed her, slowing her down. Then it seemed he was teaching her how to use the brakes on skates. When he turned around, Lily pulled out her wand, and turned his skates hot pink with purple fuzzy tassels.

Finally noticing, He began to chase her, and James could hear her screams of protest and laughter. They skated out of his sight.

He could not, for the life of him, understand Muggle entertainment sometimes. He rolled on one shoulder than had been leaning against the wall, and slid down the stone slab till he sat on the ground. He put his arms around his knees, and thought quietly in the growing dark.