The door to the carriage slid open, and Sirius's face popped in.  "Hi, y'all! Mind if we sit in here with you two? The only other carriage left was with Snape," he said, a disgusted look on his face.

"Sure, sounds great!" Danni smiled.  Sirius climbed in the carriage and sat on one side of Danni. Remus climbed in next and sat on her other side, his arm around her waist.  They all waited for James to come in, but after 5 minutes, there was still no sign of him.  Lily, who was getting pretty fed up with waiting, climbed out of the carriage to find James staring at a blank space in front of it.

"James?" she asked quietly. "James? Are you alright?"

"Can you see it?" he whispered.

"Huh? See what?"

"Them," he replied, his eyes still wide in shock. "Those… creatures! They're horrifying! Can't you see them?"

"James, I think you need to get in the carriage. Come on," Lily soothed, taking his arm and pulling him in the carriage after her.  His eyes didn't leave that spot of air, however, until the carriage door was completely shut.  For the rest of the carriage ride, Sirius, Remus, and Danni had a long discussion about their favorite Quidditch teams. Lily was pretending to read "Gone with the Wind," but she was really watching James stare out the carriage window.  He still had that strange, dazed look on his face.  She decided that she would ask him about who "they" were that night before they both went to bed.

THUMP! The carriage jerked to a halt, sending its occupants flying everywhere.  The 5 teens ended up in a big pile, with Lily on the bottom.  Danni and Sirius just laughed it off and got back up. As Danni was helping Remus up, however, Remus couldn't help but notice the way that James had landed on Lily.  He was facing her, straddling her legs with his hands to either side of her shoulders. They were both just staring at each other, entranced. James began to lower his head down to hers… He was only centimeters away, when BAM! The carriage jolted back into motion, sending James rolling off of Lily, who jumped up immediately and ran to sit down in the corner, where she continued to bury her face in her book and "read." James just stayed on the floor, staring at the ceiling, until Remus offered him a hand up. The two boys then joined Sirius and Danni, who were still arguing about Quidditch teams. Although they kept inviting James into the conversation, the most he could ever do was nod his head or say "yeah, I know," (or something along those lines.) His eyes were fixed on Lily, who had begun to doze off where she was reading.

'Did I really just do that?' he asked himself.  'Was I really about to KISS her? Thank God nobody saw! At least, I don't think anyone did… Oh man, does this mean I'm actually starting to like somebody? I can't let this happen! And what were those creepy creatures pulling the carriages? Why couldn't Lily see them? Lily…' he had been thinking so much that he didn't notice the carriages had come to a complete stop and Danni, Remus, and Sirius were already outside the door.

"James!" Danni called. "Can you do us a favor and wake Lily up? We'll meet you both back at the castle!"

"Yeah, sure," he called to them. "See you there." He wandered over to where Lily had fallen asleep. Her hair, which had been in a bun for all 7 years at Hogwarts that he could remember, was falling out a little around her face, framing her pale skin. In fact, if James looked close enough, he thought he could see some kind of powder on her face.  He was about to wipe it off with his index finger when he caught himself. 'No,' he thought. 'I've got to wake her up.'

"Lily," he said quietly. "Lily," he said a little louder when he got no reaction. "Lily?" he asked, shaking her a little. Finally, her eyes shot open.

"What? What happened? Who are y- oh, James… hi…" she said, casting her head down at the end. Clearly she was still embarrassed from earlier. "Was I sleeping?"

"Yeah," he said, backing away and offering her his hand to get up. "The others have left, it's time to start heading back to the castle."

"Oh, alright. Thanks for not leaving me here," she said. Lily stepped out of the carriage and quickly walked to the castle. James stayed behind, watching her as she walked.  There was something mysterious about her, something that made him want to find out more… he knew she was hiding something, he just needed to figure out what.

It was now after the opening feast in the Great Hall, and Lily was in her new Head Girl room, putting on her pajamas and getting ready for bed.  It was only about 8:30, but she was exhausted for some reason.  She slipped on her nightgown, took out her contacts, and washed the foundation off of her face.  She then took her hair out of its tight, high bun and let it flow down to her waist.  After combing it out, she climbed into her bed, closed her eyes, and drifted off into a dream…

It was dark. Very dark.  So dark, in fact, that she couldn't see anything anywhere.  She knew there was another presence there, however; her natural instincts told her so.  Suddenly, she felt a hand reach out. It gently touched her arm, turning her towards it's body.  The mysterious figure muttered an incantation, and candles were lit all around the room.  Lily looked up at the figure and saw a tall young man with dark hair and hazel eyes. She couldn't make out anything else besides that.  Those eyes… she knew she had seen them somewhere before, she just couldn't place them on someone.  The figure began to lean his head down so it was just a breath away from hers. She felt strong arms encircle her waist, drawing her closer… his lips had just brushed hers when-

Lily shot up in bed.  'What was THAT?' she asked herself. 'More like who was that? Was I really just dreaming about kissing some random guy? But those eyes… I've seen those eyes before…' Looking at the clock, Lily saw that it was 11:30 PM.  After 10 more minutes of trying to get back to sleep, she decided that she wouldn't be drifting off anytime soon. Lily stepped out of bed and pulled a bathrobe on over her nightgown. She then walked into the bathroom and put in her brown contacts, 'Just in case,' she told herself. After putting her hair into a messy bun, Lily stepped into her slippers walked down to the Head Boy/Girl common room.  Once there, she sat on the couch in front of the fire, not bothering to look around her.  She sat there, her eyes transfixed on the fire, when a deep voice rang out from her left.

"Can't sleep?" Lily whirled around at the sound of the voice and saw that James was sitting in an armchair next to the couch. She blushed when she saw he was only wearing pajama pants and a bathrobe that was left untied in the front, giving her a nice view of his muscular chest… 'Whoah!' Lily asked herself. 'Since WHEN do I like looking at guys' chests?'

"I had a weird dream," Lily said, not daring to look him in the face for fear of blushing again.

"Care to explain?" he asked.

"Um, not really…"

"Come on, I'll tell you what I saw outside the carriages!" he pleaded.

Oh yes! She had almost forgotten about that! "Fine," she said.  "I dreamt that I was in a dark room with some guy… all I remember are his eyes, they're difficult to explain, but I can see them in my head.  Anyways, he tried to kiss me but then I woke up." Lily said the last sentence in a rush.

James blushed. Lily suddenly realized that the dream figure could have very well been James, since he HAD tried to kiss her that same day! "Well," he said. "That's… interesting."

Lily cleared her throat. "Um, yeah. You said you'd tell me what you saw now. Tell!"

James looked away. "They were these winged creatures, black and ghostly and really creepy. I'd never noticed them before… not until this year, anyways…" The tone of his voice made Lily turn to look at him. He had turned his head around and was now looking directly at her. She lifted her head up and met his gaze.  Lily gasped. In his eyes, she saw loneliness, darkness, and pain.  He had obviously suffered a lot in his life.  'Kind of like me,' Lily subconsciously thought. 

"You're hiding something," Lily whispered. James broke her gaze and looked away. 

"Maybe," he said softly.

"You can tell me," she said comfortingly.  He looked at her again and smiled.

"I know," he said. "It's just… so hard, you know? Telling other people who might not understand what it's like to have problems in their life."

"Oh, you'd be surprised," Lily said, grimacing at the thought of her parents as she looked away, too. "Come on, James. Tell me what's bothering you."

"Alright," he sighed.  "Well, it's… my parents. They abuse me. My dad is a big fat idiot who drinks all the time and my mom is a first class slut.  My dad beats me up when he's drunk, and when he's sober he calls me bad names and makes me work all the time.  I doubt my mom even knows I exist," he said sadly.  James looked at Lily and, to his surprise, saw a smile on her face and tears in her eyes. "Lily? Are you… what's wrong with you?" Lily leaped forward and threw her arms around his neck.

"James! Oh, James! You understand! You get it! I'm not the only one! Oh, thank you, God, for sending him to me! Thank you!" she continued to cry and hugged him tighter. A moment later, she released him. "James, I have problems with my parents too! My mom abuses me and calls me bad names! My dad is really intimidated by her and just doesn't acknowledge me. My sister is a slut and I haven't seen her since I was 7. Don't you get it, James? We're not alone! All my life I've thought I was the only one with bad parents, but now I've got someone who understands!"

James stared wide-eyed at her. He never would have thought that Lily Evans, the smartest and most perfect girl in his year, could have an abusive life. He had to agree with her, though. He had always thought that he was alone. He never knew that there were other people whose parents abused them, too.  A smile crept across his face, and he opened his arms, allowing Lily to fall back into them again.  He closed his eyes as he embraced her, suddenly not feeling as alone as he had before.