Thanks for the reviews!! I just want to say one thing before I get started…
To Aly Marie Lupin: I read every review I get. Just because I don't do something that somebody says in a review, doesn't mean I didn't read it. I know you said to make that last chapter extra long, but I just didn't have time. I play a lot of sports, and I take advanced honors classes, so even during the holiday breaks I'm busy and have a lot of work to do. Plus, I went on vacation. I don't spend my life in front of the computer, and I don't think it's fair that you tell me you're going to stop reading my story because of that.
Ok now that I got that out, here's the chapter…
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*THREE DAYS LATER*
Lily slowly walked down the stairs to the Common Room. She still wasn't ready to face the world but she needed a change of scenery, she had been shut up in her dorm for three days. It was breakfast time anyway, so she assumed it would be empty.
She was so absorbed in thoughts of her parents, that she didn't notice the boy sitting on the couch as she sat down in the armchair by the fire.
"Lily?"
Lily looked up, startled. It was James. "Oh, hi. I-I thought everybody would be down at breakfast."
"Quidditch tryouts were last night, and I have to pick the new team by lunch time." He motioned to the papers spread out on the tables in front of him, which were covered in stats and scribbled notes.
"Oh."
An awkward silence fell. Lily stared into the fireplace, lost once again in thoughts of her parents, and James continued his work.
Suddenly James looked up and broke the silence. "Are you okay?"
Lily continued staring into the fire as she answered. "No, but I'm getting there."
"It'll get better with time."
"I suppose."
Another silence fell, but this time it was Lily who broke it.
"Listen, James…I want to thank you…"
"For what?"
"For being there for me the other night."
"Oh, no don't thank me, it was nothing…"
"No, it wasn't nothing. I was horrible to you, I always have been, and all you've ever been is nice to me. I'm sorry."
"Forget it, it's past history,"
Just then the portrait hole opened and Gryffindors began spilling into the Common room. Lily jumped up; she wanted to get away before people started talking to her.
"Ok, well I'm going to go."
"Alright, bye."
Lily bit her lip. "Friends?"
James smiled and nodded, "Friends."
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When Lily returned to class a week later, she was pretty far behind the rest of the students. At the end of Transfiguration, the last class of the day, Professor McGonagall called her up to her desk.
"Ms. Evans, after missing over a week of classes, it's understandable that you're quite far behind everybody else, but we need to catch you up on the work. I've decided to get you a tutor. I spoke to Mr. Potter last night, and he is willing to do it. You are to meet him in the library after dinner every night."
Lily stared. "James is going to tutor me?"
McGonagall sighed. "I know you're not particularly fond of him, but he's the smartest student in this year, he's best for the job."
"Oh…alright. Thank you professor."
Lily turned and left to catch up with her friends. Normally, she would have been furious that she had to spend even more time with James, but right now she didn't really mind too much. She and James had been getting along quite well recently, and she now knew that he wasn't as bad as she thought. He had grown up a lot, and he wasn't as conceited.
Over the next few weeks Lily and James became the best of friends. Between the tutoring sessions, the Heads meetings they were now having daily to make up for the missed ones, and all of their other heads duties such as patrolling the corridors, they spent almost every second of their day together, except for when James was at quidditch.
All the work was really taking a toll on them, and they were both exhausted. The night before the dance, they were in the library yet again, desperately trying to finish up their assignments.
They were to be excused from classes the next day, because as Head Boy and Girl they needed to decorate for the Halloween feast and then the Halloween dance. Their teachers, not wanting them to fall behind, gave them the work a day early; they had been in the library for hours trying to finish it.
Finally at about 11:30, James triumphantly threw down his quill and said, "Finished!"
Lily groaned. "How are you done? I still have half of the Potions essay to write!"
"Sucks for you."
Lily gave him the middle finger and went back to her work.
James laughed. "Here, Lil, just copy mine."
Lily shook her head. "No, that's cheating. I'm Head Girl, I can't get caught doing stuff like that."
"Come on, you deserve a break. Just reword my last few paragraphs, nobody will know."
Lily considered it for a moment and then smiled. "Alright, thanks." She pulled James' parchment towards her resumed her work.
Ten minutes later, she threw down her quill and said, "Finished!" mimicking James.
They gathered up their things and exited the library, talking and laughing.
Lily groaned as they came to the foot of yet another staircase. "Why does Gryffindor Tower have to be so far away from the library? I'm exhausted."
James sighed "Tell me about it. Nobody said being Head Boy required this much work; if they had I probably would have turned it down."
"Still, we did a great job, the dance is going to be amazing. We make a pretty good team."
"Yeah, we do."
Lily was struck by a sudden thought. "Speaking of the dance, who are you going with?"
"Remus' cousin, Jenna Murphy. She's a Ravenclaw sixth year."
"Don't you think Remus will be pissed when you sleep with her and then dump her the next morning?"
"No actually, I'm not going to do that this time. I like her, a lot, otherwise I would never go out with her; Remus would kill me if I broke her heart."
Lily looked up, stunned. "You actually like her? When did this happen?"
"I don't know, we've always been friends, I just sort of started seeing her differently I guess. I've been wanting to ask her out for a few weeks, but with all this work I didn't really have time to have a girlfriend. Now that the dance is over with I think I'm going to do it, probably tomorrow night."
"Awww, I think our little Jaimsie is growing up," Lily said, grinning and pinching his cheek.
James rolled his eyes. "Yeah, yeah laugh it up."
"Come on, you know I'm only joking."
"Yeah, whatever. And who are you going with?"
"Brad Davies, he's also a Ravenclaw."
"After all that shit you give me and Sirius about being Playboys, you're going to the dance with Brad Davies? He's worse than us! Well, no he's not, but he would be if he had our skills…"
"James, shut up. It's just a school dance, and I'm not stupid enough to get played by him. He was the first person to ask me, and he's really good-looking, and pretty nice, so I said yes."
"Alright," James said as they reached the portrait hole. "But going with him means that you can never tell me or Sirius off again for being the way we are."
"Nice try, but I'll tell off whoever I want, whenever I want." Lily said the password and they stepped in side.
"But that would make you a hypocrite," James said grinning and tapping her nose
Lily laughed and headed towards the stairs to her dorm. "Goodnight James."
James waved and headed towards his.
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OK that's it. Next chapter will be the dance. Hopefully it'll be up by tomorrow. Unfortunately, school starts again on Monday, and seeing as I haven't even started studying for mid-terms, I'm guessing I'm going to have to get started, which means that I'll be updating a little less frequently, probably about once a week.
I know some of you probably think that it's unlikely that James and Lily became such good friends, but it's really not. They've been forced to spend all of their time together lately, so they got to know each other.
Lily doesn't like James yet, or at least she doesn't know she does, and James thinks that he is completely over her, and really likes Jenna. (Just wanted to clear that up.)
Please review! And remember, if you have any ideas for things that you want to happen, please tell me! I don't have writer's block yet, but knowing me I'll get it soon, and will be in need of you're help.- Britt
