*gapes* someone said I was going slowly? *gapes* first time ever! YEAH!

Here' a chapter I'll probably delete. It's from James's perspective. Tell me if you like it, I might not take it out.

Chapter Seven

James Potter

Lily was an odd girl. James had decided. Her startling green eyes and red hair made her stand out as the pretty type, but James couldn't find it a reason for his heart to race abnormally every time he saw her and his breath to come short.

All in all, Lily was odd.

He decided this when he had been at Hogwarts nearly a month. He was walking into charms when Sirius caught his arm. "James, where's Remus?" he asked.

"I dunno, thought he went down early this morning…" James paused and thought about it. Remus appeared beside them suddenly.

"Top of the morning to you." He said and entered the class. The bags under Remus's eyes were obvious and James wondered what was going on.

"Oh, well that answered my question." Sirius said, entering the class as the bell rang.

James hurried to his place as Professor Herald began the lesson. "Today we will be using the map makers charm," he began. "It is a simple charm, and has immense practical uses."

After a half hour of taking notes, the class was set to making a map of the classroom. James sighed and tried again, "(Latin for making map)"

Lily smiled at him and said, "You do realize you're making the area to big for the paper?"

"Um- no?" James said.

"You have to have it in proportion to the room, otherwise it won't be an exact copy. You also have to have knowledge of the room. How wide is the room?" she asked.

"Uh—" James looked over the walls, trying to discern what it was.

"If you had been listening you would realize that it is twenty meters wide and thirty meters wide." Lily said looking down at some calculations.

"Oh."

"You're paper should be, well, twenty centimeters by thirty would be best, but-" she paused and scribbled something down. "It can be anything really."

"When did you learn this stuff?" James asked.

"Maths." Lily replied.

"What?"

"Oh right, Muggle School. But I expect you wouldn't know stuff like that. Do wizards go to Muggle School?"

"No, we learn basic Maths and reading before we come, from our parents." James replied. He concentrated on trying to size his paper down, but it wasn't working.

"James, don't do a reduction charm, it won't work, you've got to cut off some of it." Lily said.

"Wonderful." James said.

"Look it's a smiple cutting charm." Lily sad, looking at the paper and saying "Corte!" Lily said. the paper was cut, leaving a rectangle, that when James measured it, was exactly the right size.

"Where did you learn that?"

"I learned it in our book." Lily said smugly. She concentrated on her paper and said the charm again "Corte."

"Mapa hacienda." James tried again. Lily glanced at his paper and smiled encouragingly.

"Almost," she said, "Really concentrate on the room, all you know about it and say, Mapa hacienda." Lines formed across the page, laying out the room perfectly.

"Why are you so good at charms?" James asked, trying again, concentrating on the paper, "Mapa hacienda." Lines formed, but didn't finish themselves.

James sighed and looked at Remus. "Remus looks tired." Lily said raising her hand.

"Just a little more then usuall, I wonder what's up." James said and then tried again with the map. The lines continued, but still it wasn't perfect. Professor Herald appeared.

"Yes Miss Evans?"

"I finished my map and was wondering what to do now." Lily said.

"Very good, you can now get the map to show the people entering the room. It's harder, because you have to think about who will enter. Or you can give the map a connection with the list of students and staff who may enter. But say someone else enters, who is not part of the school. Since you finished your map, you won't have the homework of doing those questions, but I do want it to say who enters the room tomorrow." Professor Herald joked moved away and Lily stared.

"Danm." She whispered.

"I feel sorry for you." James said, wondering if Liy was really going to take the bait.

"You have to do it tonight to, and have to write about it, I just have to get it to work." Lily replied, staring at her map, as if trying to get the answer to appear.

"Mapa hacienda." James said and the map formed completely this time. he smiled and sat back.

"James, do you want more homework?" Lily asked.

"You'll help us." James said.

"Or I might not." Lily warned. James sighed and went back to working on the map, just to get Lily.

His mind wasn't really on the task as it began to wander. It darted towards the way Remus had looked when he said hello. He looked haunted and tired. His eyes had seemed more yellow then they're usual gray and they were tired. Lily broke his thought on this by saying, "Did Professor Herald say there was a list of people who were in Hogwarts?" she asked.

"Who worked or attended yes." James said.

"Do you think there's one of all wizards in the world?"

"Probably." James said, not following.

"I think I've got it." Lily said with a small smiled. She raised her hand. "Professor Herald may I go to the library?" Professor Herald raised an eyebrow.

"Alright Miss Evans, you are dismissed to the library." He said. Lily gathered her things and left. James returned to his thoughts about Remus, wondering what was wrong with his friend.

Later that evening Lily returned. She had been in the library in all her spare time and had only just appeared at the end of dinner. She sat down exhausted. "Just let me close my eyes five minutes." She murmured and fell onto the sofa asleep.

"Well, Charms does take up most of her energy." Sirius observed. "What was she looking up?"

"Professor Herald made a joke to her about the homework, saying she had to find out how to put anyone who entered the charms room on her map." James explained, pulling the book out from under Lily. He pulled out the sheet of paper to show Sirius the map.

"Good god." Sirius exclaimed, looking at the map, which had a tiny dot that said, 'Arnold Herald' in delicate script. The dot was pacing back and forth and finally left.

"Do you think it's real?" James asked.

"Nah." Sirius said.

Remus came down and was about to head out of the portrait whole when James stopped him. "Where are you going?" he asked.

Remus was pale. "My mother's sick, I have to go." Remus said. James was shocked.

"Is-" he stopped.

"I'll tell you later." He clambered out of the hole and disappeared.

James looked at the place where his friend had been then back at the common room. Lily had sat up and was glaring at him. "What?" he asked.

"You have my map." She said.

"Oh, sorry." James said, quickly moving over to where Lily was and handing her the paper. He sat down and told Sirius what Remus had said.

Lily looked worried as she pulled out her astronomy homework. "That's terrible." Lily said.

"Why are you doing astronomy?" James asked.

"We have it tonight, if you don't remember. Perfect opportunity, since it's the full moon tonight." Lily replied, taking out her notes.

James sighed. "Danm." He said brushing a hand through his hair and grabbing his bag. "Will you help us Lily?" he asked.

Lily hit him. "I'm not doing the homework, going over notes." She said. James glared at her.

"Why do you do the homework so soon?" Sirius asked settling back and searching for the assignment.

"Because if I don't, then I'll end up like you two gits." Lily laughed. James's heart skipped a beat.

"That's nice of you." James said.

Arabella walked over, she looked slightly somber, but sat down among them. "Such terrible company you keep Lily, I thought I might join."

Sirius placed an arm over her shoulder and cried out "My dear Arabella, my sweet what would I do with out you?"

Arabella went red but laughed along with the rest of them. "Sirius Black what do you think you're doing?"

"Nothing my sweet, my pearl!" Sirius said. he grinned.

"Sirius!" Arabella squealed.

James looked at his friends and relaxed slightly. Peter and Karrie, and Frank joined them and they studied for astronomy that night. James only once wondered if Remus was okay.

Finally they got up and gathered their things for astronomy. Looking out the window, he heard a wolf howl.

Back to Lily next chapter.

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