Dancing In November

By Capucine

Chapter One

"So," said Sirius, as James took a seat beside him. "Feel like taking notes for me?"

"Not especially, mate," answered James.

"Damn, Remus won't either," said Sirius. He sighed and rummaged through his bag for parchment. "And McGonagall'll have my head if I don't."

"I know, it sucks when you have to take your own notes," said James distractedly.

He'd been more than a bit surprised when she'd agreed. Honestly, she had insisted that the giant squid would have made a better date for so many years and suddenly she had to go and spring a "yes" on a bloke? It wasn't too considerate of her, in James's humble opinion.

Which is not to suggest he was even the slightest bit dissapointed at her reaction. Although her proposal had been a bit... strange, to say the least. A month.

A month?

Yes, a very strange proposal. He knew about her now-finished relationship with Amos Diggory, of course. The whole school knew, after Diggory decided the inside details on his love life needed to be made public.

He'd predicted it would end badly, and it did. He knew Amos Diggory too well. Far too well—for his liking.

He could have killed the arrogant bastard for humiliating Lily.

All the same, her conditions were odd and he wasn't sure what she expected of him.

"James?"

He jerked out of his pondersome stupor and focused on Remus's hand. "What?" he said.

"You were spacing out," said Sirius from his other side. "What's with you today?"

"Nothing," said James musingly.

"Are you sure, mate, because you really look as though you could use a—"

"Mr. Black," snapped Professor McGonagall from the front of the classroom. "Allow me to apologize for interrupting your conversation."

"It's quite all right, Professor," said Sirius jovially. "What can I do for you?"

McGonagall's nostrils flared. "What I meant, Mr. Black," she said levelly, "was that a detention lurks somewhere in your immediate future if you do not shut your mouth."

Sirius smiled. "Ah," he said. "I think I know what you mean."

*

Lily let herself collapse onto her bed. She didn't remember anything from her Arithmancy lesson, and for once in her life, she didn't even care. It had been a long day.

She should never have gotten involved with Amos Diggory. But it had been so easy. Encouraged by her friends, envied by girls who had the sort of traditional beauty she'd always wished she had.

Potter had known all along. Or maybe he had only hoped.

Whatever it was, he had been right, and if there was one thing Lily Evans could not stand it was James being right while she was wrong.

She sighed, and pushed dark red hair out of her eyes. It had probably been unwise to agree to dating James Potter, when she harbored such animosity for him, but what did she have to lose? Her heart had already been stolen from her and thrown back at her feet, like a hunted child.

The boy her friends had approved of hadn't worked. Perhaps it was time to try one they didn't.

She could feel the emotion welling in her eyes. She picked up her wand and muttered a spell. The lock on the door slid into place with a grating sound. She lay back and let the tears flow.

*

James took the stairs two at a time, and he still wasn't going fast enough. He'd have loved to be flying through the corridors rather than walking, but it was "against school policy" to allow broomsticks in the school, according to McGonagall. She'd told him so in third year, when she had given him his six hundred and ninety-eighth detention for flying in the castle.

Head Boys didn't get detentions. It was one of the perks.

He muttered, "essence of wigglesnot" and clambered through the portrait hole into the common room. It took him all of five seconds to survey the room. There were a few people studying at the study tables, but none of them had a thatch of red hair or those enchantingly green eyes.

She hadn't been around the library lately. That meant one thing. She must be lurking in her private room.

James glared fiercely at the stairs to the girls' dormitories. He and Sirius had discovered its sliding tendencies in the first term of their first year. Second term of their first year, they had found out that it was unCharmable. The staircase was magic-proof. Apparently, Godric Gryffindor had wholeheartedly approved of celibacy.

James gave the staircase the one-over of someone who fully intends to find a way around his problem. The founders had meant for the girls' dormitories to stay strictly off limits to those of the male persuasion. Indeed, they had never foreseen any loopholes.

They'd never met anyone like James Potter.

James slid his wand out from his sleeve and glanced behind him at the studiers. A few of them were looking at him curiously, but he took the risk and muttered, "Accio Comet 140." After all, who was going to bother the Head Boy?

It was another of the perks

The broomstick sailed down the stairs up to the boys' dormitories and landed in James's open palm. He swung a leg over the handle and kicked off, flying over the stairs with ease. Furiously, the stairs melded into one another to form a slide, but James was already airborne.

He didn't stop flying until he reached the very end top of the spiraling staircase. He'd never been up here before, but he assumed the floor plan was the same as the boys' dormitories, and his assumption turned out to be correct. He dismounted from the broom and leaned it up against the wall beside the door. Then, glancing at the brass "Head Girl" plate, he raised his hand and knocked.

*

Lily's head jerked up at the brisk rap on the door. Who the hell was bothering her now? She couldn't even remember the last time someone had come to this room.

She glanced at the mirror at the head of her bed, fumbled for her wand, and muttered a handy little spell to rid her eyes of their redness. It was a charm she had been using a lot lately. Too much.

The knock came again. She turned her head to look at the door again and stood up, padding over, leaving her wand on the bed.

*

She hadn't answered, so he knocked again. This time the door swung open, and she looked blankly at him.

"Er... hello," said James, feeling quite silly now that he was actually face to face with her. She wasn't looking at him. She was staring at the broomstick leaning on the opposite wall.

"You flew," she said dully. "You find a way around everything, don't you?"

"Er...yes?" James said, not sure what was expected of him.

Lily sighed. "You do. You have for all these years and you're still doing it."

"Am I?"

"You found a way around me, didn't you?"

"Are you sorry about that?" James said. It was hard to breathe. He wondered what he'd do if she said 'yes'. Turn around, grab the broomstick and leave? He didn't know. He tried to breathe as she apparently debated.

"No," she said finally. He exhaled, trying not to make too obvious the fact that he had been holding his breath. She turned around and went back in the room, leaving the door open behind her. "You can come in," she said. So he did.

*

Lily sat down on her bed again, picking up her wand and twirling it between her fingers. She didn't look up as James followed her inside. She saw him glance around out of the corners of her eyes, but she was concentrating on the slim wood between her fingertips.

After a pause, she said, "Sit down," and he did, pulling the chair from her desk over. She was glad. She wouldn't have known how to react if he'd sat on the bed with her, the same way Amos had used to.

He sat the way he always did: lounging, as if he couldn't quite bring himself to condense his lanky form into the space provided for by the chair. His legs were crossed at the ankles and he crossed his arms comfortably over his chest.

She put the wand down and looked up at him. "You know about Amos," she said; it wasn't a question, but rather a statement.

*

James blinked. "Yes," he said carefully, not sure what she was looking for.

She looked down at her hands, curled helplessly in her lap. She picked up the wand again, running her fingers down the length. "Yes," she said. "I think about him a lot."

James leaned forward, elbows resting languidly on his knees. "That's normal," he said, feeling sorry for her.

She nodded. "I don't know... why he did it... that way," she said slowly. "I don't know... why he had to make it such a... such a..."

"Public display?"

She nodded again, grateful for the interception. "I don't know why," she repeated.

"I don't know," he lied. Lily, he reasoned, probably wouldn't take too kindly to his calling her ex-boyfriend a cold bastard when the wound was so new.

"Yes, you do," she said suddenly, looking up at him. "You've known all along. You knew he was—he was—"

She was gripping the wand so tightly that her fingertips were white. James reached over and gently pried it from her grasp, setting it down on the bedside table. She hugged her knees to her chest, as if she was trying to hold herself together.

There was silence for a few seconds, and then James said, "This weekend's Hogsmeade's Thanksgiving Carnival."

Silence.

Hesitation.

"Okay," she said. She looked up at him. "I'd like to."

He grinned openly at her. "Excellent."

The door opened, and a house-elf came trotting in, followed by two more, who carried a tray laden with, it seemed to James, a helping of everything from the usual dinner table. He was glad that the house-elves were looking after Lily.

Lily looked at him. She turned back to the house-elves. "Enough for two tonight, please, Gabby."

*

Author's Note: Ooookay! 'Tis Chapter One, and I hope it was muchly enjoyed. I had a dream last night that I was J.K. Rowling, and I went around persecuting all these people for stealing my characters. Fortunately, I did not file a lawsuit against me. In other words, they're not mine; standard disclaimers apply.

All who reviewed the prologue, thank you so much! It was much more successful than I anticipated...

Aniangel: I'm glad you think it's a refreshing change! I always get tired of same old, same old... Thanks!

Kala Black: Eesh, I'm flattered. *blush* Thank you so much! Please keep reading.

Princess Pixie Ice: Oooh, I kept somebody from going to bed—yay! Sorry... I'm a little high off Skittles at the moment. Thanks for the compliments!

Cricketlover: Sorry it took a while to get this posted... my computer wouldn't update it to HTML format, so I had some issues with that. Keep reading!

LilyE: Thanks! And thanks for the good luck, too... I needed it!

Me: Here 'tis! Enjoy!

LiL'AnGel1011: Eeep, you people are too nice. Thanks so much!

Y Kuang: Yours was possibly the most helpful review I've ever received. (!) Thank you for your support, and I hope you like Chapter One! Please let me know what you think! And I know exactly how you feel about that kind of review...

Thanks, everybody. Keep it up, s'il-vous plait! I thrive on feedback. Oh, and I need to know what you guys think about the constant switching between James and Lily. It's a technique I haven't really tried before, so I need to know if I pulled it off. Thanks again!