The Forgotten Stranger

A week had passed since Lily's first date with James. She had been feeling on a high ever since that night she had left him dumfounded in the common room. She would sneak glances at him through the lessons and whenever she turned away she could feel him glancing back at her, making her skin burn with excitement.

Lily was just about to turn the corner to the Gryffindor common room, after a long night of studying in the library when a strong pair of hands gripped her waist and spun her around. Lily jumped and screamed until she saw who her stalker was.

"Bloody hell, James! Do you want to give me a heart attack?" Lily laughed trying to catch her breath.

James replied smoothly.

"Now why would I want to do that?" He pulled Lily closer to him. "I like you too much."

Spontaneously, Lily placed her arms around James' neck and hugged him closely, while nuzzling into his neck and breathing in his sweet, masculine scent. James pulled away slightly and looked Lily deeply in the eyes and said,

"I like you way too much to do that."

Lily's heart skipped a beat.

"That's good, because I like you too!"

The couple shared another deep look, as James moved his head closer to Lily so that their foreheads were lightly touching. She could feel his warm breath tickling her cheek and in a flash James' soft lips were brushing her cheek, she smiled. James gently and slowly moved his lips to her mouth, Lily gasped but returned the kiss. James pulled away and looked up and down Lily's face, his hands moved back to her waist. Lily moved her fingers through James' soft black hair as James' mouth inched over to hers; she felt his hands begin to move up her back as his tongue met hers. Lily thought she might faint, her first kiss with the gorgeous James Potter!

As Lily gradually drifted back to reality the next morning and the memories of the night before came rushing back, she grinned. The sensation James' touch had brought came flooding back as her skin began to tingle. Lily couldn't remember ever feeling this happy and it was all due to James, she wanted him to be hers.

James rolled over in bed and sighed. He had a strangely good feeling in his stomach, he grinned to himself as remembered why. He could remember the smell of Lily's hair and the feel of her lips on his. James had been planning different romantic meals for the past week to make it special, but when he saw Lily walking along the corridor he couldn't wait any longer. Every bone in his body longed to hold her, so much that it hurt deep in his stomach.

"Well?"

James jumped out of his skin as the curtains around his four-poster jerked open and Sirius' face popped through.

"What?" James asked, but he couldn't help but grin.

"Don't even bother with the what? me? crap, Prongs!" Sirius laughed.

James scrambled out of bed but Sirius didn't give up that easily, he followed James across the room, grinning expectantly.

"How did you guess?" James asked laughing at Sirius' childlike face.

"Oh, come on James! You came back last night with a face like a seeker who's just caught the Snitch!" Sirius smirked knowingly.

"OK, OK! You win Padfoot!" James smiled, diving into the bathroom to escape any further interrogation.

"Morning beautiful" James greeted Lily as he took his place next to her on the sofa. James leaned into Lily and kissed her, he ran his hand along her side, gently brushing the skin between her skirt and top.
"Ahem!" The two broke apart blushing as they were greeted by the three grinning faces of Sam, Sirius and Estelle.
"Don't mind us!" Sirius muttered, positioning himself between Lily and James on the sofa. He put an arm around James then Lily and pulled them into a playful hug.
"Aww, look at how grown up my boy's getting, chatting up all the girls! He learns from the best of course!" Sirius finished as he got up and placed his arm around Sam's shoulders.

"Come on Prongs, detention for that chair incident with Binns!" Sirius said, rolling his eyes. James sighed heavily, kissed Lily on the forehead and heaved himself off the sofa. The three girls watched Sirius and James' retreating backs in silence until they were safely out of earshot.
"Well?" Sam asked excitedly, sitting next to Lily.
"We want all the details!" Estelle winked, getting comfortable.

After Lily had provided her friends with enough information to satisfy their curiosity (which took hours!), the two boys were back from detention.
"Have fun?" Sam asked, as they entered the common room.
"Tons!" Sirius answered sarcastically.
"Have any of you seen Remus or Peter?" James asked, missing the
presence of the two other Marauders.
"Actually no!" Estelle jumped in quite quickly receiving a 'look' from
Sam and Lily. At that point the portrait door creaked open revealing a
very happy looking Remus. No one could miss the grin that covered his
face.
"Something to share with the group Mooney?" Sirius asked curiously.

Remus blushed slightly and mumbled something under his breath.
"You were with Who? What?" Sirius asked smirking.
"I was with Amy actually; we were chatting by the lake for hours! I
really like her so . . . I asked her out! We're going to Hogsmead on the
next trip." Remus finished with a satisfied grin.
"Wooo!" Sirius began but was cut short when Estelle stormed past him
and hurried up the dormitory stairs.
"See you at lunch," she shouted over her shoulder, "just remembered
that Potions essay!"
Lily and Sam exchanged puzzled glances.
"You want to come for a walk Sam?" Sirius asked, taking her hand.
"Yeh sure," Sam answered, forgetting her friends peculiar behaviour.
"I need to speak to Madame Pomfrey; I'll walk with you to the Hospital
Wing." Remus added, "Amy's meeting me there."
"Not long now," James muttered, looking at a calendar on the wall. Lily was just about to ask 'not long until what?' when she was cut short by James' hand covering her own. She put her feet up on the sofa and lay her head on his knee.
"I wonder if Estelle's alright?" Lily sighed, "she ran off quite fast!"
"I'm sure she's fine," James assured her whilst stroking her red hair. This made Lily relax and she began to feel very tired, she felt like she hadn't slept for ages, all her work was catching up on her. And then there was Estelle; she had been acting very strange recently.
"Do you want to get some lunch yet?" James broke the silence.
"Yeh sure" Lily heaved herself up from her comfortable position and took James' outstretched hand.

As they were walking down the corridor, Lily heard a scream from behind them. As she turned she saw a girl running towards them, the auburn haired stranger threw herself into James' arms, knocking the wind out of him.
"Oh Jamesy!" she squealed, not even noticing Lily's existence.
"Sara, hey!" James answered wearily, "What are you doing here?"
"I had to come with our headmaster for a while, I was hoping to see you!" she carried on excitedly, kissing James on the cheek. Lily's stomach tightened, as she wanted to stop this girl from clinging onto her guy.
"Ahhmmm!" Lily cleared her throat, reminding them of her presence.
"Can we help you?" The girl asked. Lily's face burned red, clashing remarkably with her hair.
"This is Lily, Sara," James jumped in quickly, squeezing Lily's hand tightly, "my girlfriend." He added proudly. Lily's heart jumped and she tried her best to contain a smile – failing miserably. James Potter had just called her his girlfriend!
"Oh," Sara looked at Lily, she didn't seem very impressed. "I hadn't heard, well I'm around for a little bit like I said, do you fancy going into Hogsmeade? Just the two of us to 'catch up' on old times. I miss our double dates with Sirius and Laura; we had so much fun," Lily couldn't believe the audacity of this girl. She was chatting James up when he'd just told her he was with Lily. Lily was furious.
"Don't mind me. I'll be in the Great Hall. I wouldn't want to interrupt anything," Lily stammered, she felt her eyes prickling; how could this girl, this stranger, maker her feel so small.

As she walked away she heard Sara laugh, "What's up with her? So Jamsey..."

Lily was almost near the common room when she heard James shout her name as he came running up behind her.
"Lil! Why did you run off like that? I'm sorry about Sara, I didn't know she was coming otherwise I would have told you all about her".
"I'm sorry I was in your way, Jamesy!" Lily cut in, rather more sharply than she expected. James looked positively heart broken, his face fell. He ran a hand through his hair.
"Shit Lily, I didn't think! I am so sorry! I didn't mention her because I didn't think she was important. She's in my past, she moved away and as far as I was concerned I was never going to see her again!"

Lily's heart softened when she saw the regret on James' face. She smiled and wrapped her arms around his neck.
"So I'm your girlfriend then?" she laughed, punching him playfully on the shoulder.
"Well, if you still want me?" James sighed, relieved.
"Stupid question Potter!" Lily smiled, pulling him close. "As long as it's me want though James, you have to be sure?" Lily became serious and looked straight into James' eyes. He looked right back and answered softly:
"It's always been you, Lil."

A.N – We apologise for the amount of time it has taken for us to up date this story but we have had lots of exams that unfortunately needed studying for and which weren't about Harry Potter! This chapter is a short filler as we are preparing for a huge event that is going to change a lot between all of the characters in this story and develop on new ones. The character Sara is going to become highly significant so please keep trust in us and we promise to do our best to make this story good! We also would like to thank everybody for their reviews they are great!
Lots of love Black and Potter xxxxxxxxxx