Disclaimer: It all belongs to J.K. Even my inspiration.

Previously:

"When you see James, just remind him—that animals can be restless at this time of day. Say it's a message from me."

"Alright," Lily said slowly, though she wondered what Remus meant by his strange message. Coming from anyone else, she might have thought it was innuendo. "See you tomorrow, Remus."

And with that Lily set off across the Hogwarts grounds towards the Quiddich pitch; she could see tiny red-and-gold figures flying about, and so she guessed that James was at team practice. But it was getting dusky, so she doubted she'd have to wait long to see him. Thus resolved, she moved onward.

Chapter Thirteen:

The Quiddich Pitch Reconciliation

By the time Lily reached the Quiddich pitch, the sun was half sunk behind the hills. She was glad when she saw the Gryffindor team making their way towards the locker rooms, and she jogged to intercept James—she wanted to talk to him alone, and this way the rest of his teammates would be busy changing and showering.

But when she reached the team, James wasn't among them.

"Hey Lily," said chaser Henry Spinnet with a wave. "What brings you out to the pitch?"

"Looking for James," she said. When Henry gave her a strange look she quickly amended herself: "I have a question about Transfiguration," Lily said quickly. This seemed to disappate any curiosity that had arisen amongst the Quiddich team, and they started back on towards the lockers.

As he was passing by Lily, Henry turned around and walked backwards, looking at her with an odd expression on his face. Then he gave her a small smile and pointed up at the sky behind Lily's head before turning back around and jogging to catch up with the rest of his team.

Lily turned to see where he had pointed, and sure enough, silhouetted against the orange sky, a figure swooped and careered in the air far off over the pitch. She knew at once that it was James.

Doggedly, but a little more nervous now that she knew for sure she'd be alone with James, Lily continued to make her way towards the pitch.

A few minutes later Lily stepped through the bleachers and onto the edge of the pitch. She hugged herself to keep from shivering, for the recent hot spell had given way to chilly autumn winds. Blading a hand above her forehead so she could see despite the bright low sun, Lily spotted James again. He was looping and diving, racing back and forth across the sky, high and low; he was clearly focused on his practice and he didn't notice Lily standing nervously at the end of the field. When she squinted, she saw with a jolt that James wasn't wearing a shirt. Damn, she thought. That is not going to make our conversation any easier.

But still Lily stood at the edge of the pitch, waiting for James to come down. She really needed to straighten things out, and when was the next time she'd be able to talk to him in privacy—talk to him without the other Marauders listening in.

Sometime during the time when Lily was watching James career around the field, he noticed her flaming hair at the edge of the pitch. What does she—why is she—what have I done now? He wondered. As he tried to set his thoughts in order and calm his nerves, he started to do more difficult tricks up on his broomstick, intent on impressing Lily. He did all sorts of obscure feignts and maneuvers, most of which Lily grudgingly admired from her spot on the ground—but she would never know how very dangerous many of the tricks had been.

After about ten minutes, Lily could feel her fingers beginning to grow numb from the cold and she decided she'd just have to return to the castle; she never knew James was so involved in his Quiddich practice.

But just as Lily was turning to go, she heard a soft thud on the ground a few yards behind her. "Evans?" James asked a little incredulously, "what are you doing here?"

It took even the quick-tongued Lily a few moments to answer; she was too busy staring at James. The combination of physical vigor heating up his skin from underneath and the patchy redness caused by the cold wind (which was obviously much more intense when you were flying through the air at 60 miles an hour) made James' chest, shoulders, and face glow. His breath was still coming in pants, and his chest—covered with a light sheen of sweat—was rising and falling rapidly.

Luckily for James, Lily couldn't tell that his heart was racing not from exercise but from his close proximity to her and his pink face was not ruddy from the elements but blushing furiously at the idea that she was staring quite bluntly at his bare chest. He suddenly felt inadequate and scrawny; James had less-obvious, rope-like muscles and he'd always been very thin and wiry as opposed to Sirius' brawny strength and more conventionally manly body.

"Evans?" James asked again. He looked at her: her wavy red hair was blowing messily in her face and her cheeks too were red from the cold wind (or from a blush?). He saw that she was shivering convulsively in her thin robes, and her vain attempts to warm herself were proving completely futile. Her lips were turning blue.

"Merlin, Evans, how long have you been out here?" he asked worriedly.

"Oh..." she began vaguely, still having trouble sorting her muddled thoughts. "I left the castle about a half hour ago but I've only been standing here for...20 minutes, I think. I don't know."

"You're shivering!—it's not that cold out, is it?" James asked.

"Well it's...I'm cold-blooded," Lily replied. "I get cold very quickly."

"That's why you're always bundled up and drinking tea all the time," James commented absently.

Lily looked curiously at James. "How did you know that?" she asked.

"Well, erm..." began James, suddenly awkward. "We've been in the same house for a long time, Evans."

"Hm," she said, at a loss for a clever response.

There was an awkward pause, and then: "So not to be rude, but why are you here, Evans?" James asked again.

Lily looked more nervous than James had ever seen her before. "Well, I just. I just needed to. I found out about something that. You see I was talking to Remus and. At least it seems that maybe." She was stumbling, stuttering, speaking much too fast. This was much harder to say in person—to a sweaty, shirtless James, no less—than it had been when she imagined the scene in her head.

"I think what happened was that." Lily tried again. She paused, then: "I'm sorry Potter, but could you please put on a shirt?" She couldn't stand the distraction of his heaving muscular chest any longer.

James looked taken aback, then very abashed. "Right. Sorry, Evans, I forgot. I was just...it was a long practice, and so..." His voice trailed off again, and James realized that once again he was failing to be even the least bit coherent when around Lily. She must think I'm dumber than Ralph Davies, he thought glumly.

Then, remembering his objective, James cast his eyes around for his shirt. Over on a bench he spotted his old gray t-shirt. "Ah, there it is," he said with some relief. He jogged quickly over to the bench and pulled the shirt hurriedly over his head. He ran a hand nervously through his already scruffy hair.

"So. You're here because...?" James prompted for the third time. He was trying to be patient, but he was getting frustrated in his nervousness.

"Alright, here's what happened," Lily suddenly blurted out. "I know I made a terrible mistake when I yelled at you that time at the lake because you saved me from the Giant Squid and I know you were probably just going for a walk because it was hot that day and I might have drowned if you hadn't come in but then I just got mad at you and I had no right to I know and I shouldn't have even been out of the castle let alone naked so..." she paused to catch her breath. "So I'm sorry for all that. Though you still shouldn't have gotten an erection," she added as an afterthought.

At this comment James blushed unmistakeably, and he rubbed the back of his neck self-consciously. "Sorry about that," he said sheepishly. "I'm a teenage boy, you know. You're a pretty girl. It was dark, I was tired and restless. Sorry, that shouldn't have happened, I know." Lily saw that James was being sincere. She gave him a smile, a small smile, admittedly, but a real smile at that.

James felt his whole body growing warm. She doesn't hate me! He thought ecstatically.

"Okay, well..." said Lily, still feeling awkward. "I'm glad we straightened that out. It would be silly for us to not get along just because of a thing like that."

"So we're friends?" asked James hopefully.

Lily hesitated, then: "Yeah, I guess we are."

"Lily," he said.

"What?" she asked.

"I said, Lily. I can call you Lily, now that we're friends."

"Hm."

"And what are you going to call me? Now that we're friends."

"Are you making fun of me, Potter?"

"No."

"Well, fine then. James."

James felt a grin spreading all the way across his face. Lily was clearly trying to suppress a smile, as well. Then James saw that Lily was still shuddering from the cold; she was clenching her jaw to keep her teeth from chattering and goosebumps stood up on her arms. She folded her arms across her chest to try to warm them up.

"Merlin, Lily," said James when he noticed this. He was still trying out the novelty of calling Lily 'Lily' to her face.

"W-what?" she shivered.

"You're going to get hypothermia there! Your fingernails are blue!" he said.

She glanced down at her fingernails and looked mildly surprised. "They don't really bother me," she said. "I stopped feeling my fingers about ten minutes ago."

"Jesus! You've got to tell me these things, Lily."

"Well, you looked so warm, and you're only wearing a t-shirt, so I didn't want to complain."

"I'm—I'm warm-blooded. And I was just flying around...Merlin! Here, give me your hands," James suddenly demanded. She held them out; her fingernails were indeed blue and her hands were shaking slightly from the cold. He took Lily's hands into his own and pressed them together; his large, warm hands completely enclosed her small ones. "Damn, you're freezing," he said, pressing his hands around hers to try to warm them.

Lily could barely hear what he was saying. He had stepped closer to Lily when he took her hands, and now he was close enough for her to feel his warm breath on her cheek and feel the warmth radiating from his body. And his hands... They were so warm and strong, soft in some places but also heavily calloused and rough from Quiddich. She tried to remember if she'd ever felt anything so wonderful, but her head was too muddled even for that.

"James," she murmered, "don't do this."

"But your hands..." he said helplessly, looking awkwardly down at their hands. Then he looked up and into Lily's face. "Your lips are blue, too, you know," James said softly. He leaned in to close the inches of cold air that separated their faces. His eyes were heavy lidded, his heart thudding faster than it have ever done in Quiddich. He was so nervous... Her lips were blue, he wanted to warm them. He wanted to kiss her more than anything else. He leaned in further. Lily's eyes began to flutter closed.

Then Lily's eyes snapped open wide, like one who has just remembered something very important. "No, James. Potter," she said suddenly. He pulled back as though slapped.

"What?" He was completely bewildered. Hadn't she been leaning in, too?

"I...we can't. Do this. We can't do this."

"Why? Why the hell not, Lily? I want this; you want this," he said vehemently.

"No, I don't want this," she said sadly. "I'm so sorry... I said I wanted us to be friends—but just that. I—it's just—there's someone else. That I like."

James just looked at Lily confusedly. "Who?" he asked, and his heart was breaking. "Who?"

Coming up: Who is it that Lily likes better than James? And how does THAT enigmatic guy feel about Lily's affections? Also, I think the next chapter will have some significant Shrieking Shack time...I don't know if it's going to be a whole chapter's worth, but Remus does transform this night; remember Lily's message she's SUPPOSED to tell James? A/N: Hello my lovelies. Your kind and inspiring reviews have really helped me to keep up with the story. I especially want to thank shadowed.phoenix for your really thoughtful comments. I love to know when my writing is affecting people. Anyway, everyone please keep up the great reviews. If you read this chapter and liked it, just drop me a sentence so I'll write the next one faster. If you didn't like this chapter, tell me so I can make the next one better. I love you all almost as much as I love James.