Sorry for not updating in ages, my computer broke and we had to send it to London to be fixed and when they sent it back to us they had broken it more so I've not had the internet for months :(

I'm still working on this so I'm very very very sorry if I disappear again.

Thank you to everyone who reviewed the last chapter!

Disclaimer: Harry Potter ain't mine

Chapter 12

Lily was sitting in History of Magic staring out of the window at the wet ground outside wishing that she was somewhere else. On one side of her a blonde haired girl called Cathy was applying her mascara and on her other side Rachael was absent-mindedly tearing up a piece of parchment. Lily looked around the classroom, not one person looked as though they were taking in any of the information Professor Binns was giving them. Remus Lupin was sitting with a quill and a piece of parchment as if he had intended to take notes, but instead he was staring straight in front him clearly in another world. Next to him Sirius was drawing on his arms Lily looked over to James who was sitting next to Sirius and realised he was staring right at her. When her eyes met his he blushed a deep red and quickly looked away. Rachael noticed this and nudged Lily saying, "Wonder what he was thinking".

Lily smiled and told Rachael to shut up. She kind of liked having this power over James. It used to be him who made her red, now it was his turn. She looked at James, waiting until he looked up, when he did she looked into his eyes just long enough to make him feel uncomfortable and then looked out of the window. She glanced at him, his face was burning red, and she smiled to herself.

James felt himself going red and cursed Lily. He looked down hoping his face would cool down quickly. Out of the corner of his eye he saw Lily look at him and smile to herself. She was playing with him. Well, he thought to himself, two can play at that game.

Lily knew someone was staring at her, she guessed (correctly) that it was James and decided to have some more fun so she turned to look at him. He was staring intently into her eyes, so she looked back into his. But instead of James getting embarrassed like Lily intended she felt a strange feeling in the pit of her stomach, and felt her own face getting hotter. James smirked slightly and then tore his gaze away from Lily's scarlet face.

Rachael turned to speak to Lily then said loudly, "Woah, are you okay Lily you're bright red?" Rachael's voice rang loudly around the stone classroom and the only person who didn't turn to look at Lily was Professor Binns.

Sirius looked at her, grinned and wolf whistled, "that's a good look Lily, natural blusher."

Lily sunk down in her chair, wishing she could slide right down under her desk.

Rachael looked around, realising what she had done, "Oops, sorry Lils, ha, you're even redder now."

"Really?" Lily said, her voce dripping with sarcasm. "I wonder why?"

Beth giggled and said, "If looks could kill, you'd be dead Rachael."

"I'm sorry Lily" Rachael said for the 100th time as the two of them entered the great hall for their dinner, "I don't see the big deal about going a bit red."

"You wouldn't," Lily replied fervently, "Your skin is dark, I have red hair and half the time my skin is the same colour! You wouldn't understand unless you have experienced it!"

Rachael put her hands up in mock surrender, "Ok, ok its dreadful, awful, terrible."

Lily smiled, "Thank-you, Now what's for lunch?"

Lily and Rachael were eating they're lunch when Beth, Sirius and James entered the hall after an extra quidditch practise that James, who was obsessed with their upcoming match, had squeezed into the first half hour of lunch.

They walked over to Lily and Rachael and Sirius sat next to Rachael, and James sat next to Lily. Beth looked at Lily who was looking at her pleadingly, shrugged and sat on the other side of Sirius. Lily glared down the table at her.

"We had a good practise," James said. "We'll beat Slytherin easily"

Lily wasn't sure if he was talking to her or himself so she settled with saying, "Mmm".

"What does that mean?" James asked her.

"Whatever you want it to mean." Lily replied, sprinkling cheese onto her baked potato.

"So it can mean, 'I want to go out with you James' " James said with a grin.

"No"

"But you just sai..."

Lily cut him off, "I lied, it just means mmm."

"Oh, that's a bummer." James said, grinning at Lily and surprisingly she found herself smiling back.

"Lily?" James asked cautiously,

"Yes"

"Do you still want to learn how to play quidditch?"

"Yeah,"

"Do you want to try tonight, the weather's cleared up."

"Em, ok."

"Cool" James looked down at his lunch, happy that he was getting on with Lily.

"Maybe I should tell James to leave the quidditch for another night," Lily said to Beth, "I have loads of homework and it's going to get dark soon."

"No Lily, he's offered, it would be rude to change your mind"

"But I'm always rude, I don't think he'd notice."

Beth sighed exasperatedly, "He does notice Lily."

"Does he? Woops" Lily said. "I suppose I should go. I do want to play quidditch, but I hope he doesn't try to knock me off my broom or something."

"Why would he do that?" Beth asked.

Lily closed her books, said, "Because it's James we're talking about here," and got up to ask James if they should go down to the quidditch pitch.

James was sitting by himself when he saw Lily approaching him. "Should we go down to the quidditch pitch now?" she asked him.

He looked up at Lily and smiled, "Yeah if you're ready, do you have a broom."

Lily suddenly realised that she didn't have a broom, "Eh, no actually."

"Well," James said, "That's going to it a bit harder to learn how to play quidditch."

"I'll use a school one"

James shook his head, "The school brooms are crap. I'll ask Sirius if you can borrow his."

"Ok" Lily watched him as he went over to Sirius who was sitting next to fire. Trying to remember why she hated him.

She felt someone looking at her and turned around to see Beth smirking at her with her eyebrows raised.

"What?" Lily asked.

Beth didn't answer. Just kept on smirking to herself.

"What are you laughing at??" Lily asked again.

"You and James"

"What about me and James?" Lily said, it felt strange pairing her name with his like she had just done.

"You like him don't you? As more than a friend." Beth said.

"No!" Lily said, "I think the complete opposite!"

Beth just smiled wider and said, "The opposite of love isn't hate, it's indifference."

Lily was about to answer her back when she felt James tap her on the shoulder, he was holding two brooms, "You ready?" He asked. Lily nodded, gave Beth an evil look and followed James out of the common room.

Half and hour later Lily sat down on the quidditch pitch and folded her arms. "It's no use James! I suck at this. I can't concentrate on the balls and staying on my broom at the same time."

James sat down beside her, noting that she had called him James again, "Yes you can, it's your first time, you'll get better with practise."

Lily smiled at him and said doubtfully, "Maybe"

"There's no maybe about it, believe it or not, I was the same when I started playing."

Lily pretended to look shocked, "No, the wonderful James Potter, not good at something?"

He grinned and played along, "Hard to believe I know"

She hit him lightly on the side of his head and said, "Lets go inside I can't feel my toes."

James nodded and stood up, brushing grass off his robes. They walked up to the castle in silence, both lost in thought. James was just trying to get his head round the fact that he and Lily seemed to be able to have proper conversations and Lily was thinking about what Beth said earlier, she knew she didn't hate James any more, but she didn't like him as more than a friend....did she?