A/N: okay, why am I writing this next chapter when I have an urgent exam to study for? Ah, well, if my mind isn't on math, then I won't be able to study anyways, so, here it is.

The Wind Through My Hair

"BEEP! BEEP! BEEP!" James' alarm clock sang at 7 in the morning. He turned over and opened one crusty eye to see what the bright read numbers on his clock read.

"Seven o' clock? Bloody hell, SHUT IT!" James yelled incoherently to himself. He slapped the clock, and it tumbled off his bedside table. He sighed, content, and turned back over to rest.

"BEEP! BEEP! BEEP!" James' groaned and scowled. He knew there was something suspicious about the alarm clock his mother has sent him as a dormitory-warming gift. "Shut up, I said!" James yelled.

"BEEP! Your mum told me to wake you, and I will!" It screeched. "God, James, Turn that bloody thing off!" Peter mumbled. James sighed, frustrated, and got up, not forgetting to kick the clock against the wall and snarling at it. He went into the bathroom, took his routine five-minute-shower. He walked out the shower and shook his hair to dry it like a wet dog would, and picked up his school uniform off the ground, sniffed it and deemed it clean enough to wear. His school robes were hanging on the wall—those had to look clean…they covered up how wrinkled and dirty his actual uniform looked. He took his robes down and slipped it on; James looked in the mirror and practiced his smile, just to see if he still had it. Just as he was about to walk out the door, he turned back around, realizing that he still had the mark of a…do-gooder placed upon in chest in the form of a small shiny badge.

Scowling, he tugged at it, in attempt to take it off. Maybe no one would ever find out he was Head Boy if he just pretended he wasn't. Head Boy duties were not for people like him…they were suited to people like Remus much better. No matter how much he pulled defiantly at his badge, it would not come off, and soon, he was actually breaking a sweat trying to rip it off. He gave up and looked at the clock…it only read 7:45, and he wasn't even late. Heck, if he showed up at breakfast now, he wouldn't even be considered on time. God forbid, he would be early. "This badge is already turning me into a monster…" he muttered. Just to spite…well, he really didn't know who he was spiting, but just to spite, he sat on his bed and folded his arms, deciding not to even consider leaving the dormitory before 8:10.

Finally, James resignedly got up at 8:05, tired of sitting completely unproductively. Coincidentally, 8:05 is when Sirius fell out of bed on accident, glanced at the clock, jumped up, and ran to the bathroom while grabbing his school clothes (or, Peter's school clothes?) off the ground as he went. And at 8:06, Peter woke with a start with Sirius thumping around, and squeaked, not delaying to get out of bed as well. Remus was still in the hospital wing, having to sleep there every night until the full moon was over with. "Where is my uniform?" Peter squealed in panic just as James was walking out of the dorm for breakfast.

He strolled as leisurely as possible, and managed to get to the Great Hall in the beginning of the middle of breakfast. Not too shabby…As he walked past the Slytherin, Ravenclaw, and Hufflepuff tables to get to the Gryffindor table, people casually glanced up to see who had entered. It was only James Potter, late as always…however, few people did a double take and caught sight of the shiny silver badge upon his chest and turned to tell their neighbors.

"Oi, Potter!" Lucius Malfoy called out in a not-so-nice tone of voice. James did not even flinch as he walked past, hoping to avoid talking to scum of the earth at all costs. "Nice of you to take Sevvy's spot after making him leave. Makes you seem like a real saint, doesn't it?" He sneered. James twitched slightly and continued to walk briskly until he made it to his house table. He sat down, and immediately, he saw Lily get up through his periphial vision. She sat across from him and scowled.

"Since when have you been made Head boy!" She screeched. "And what's happened to Snape? Well, not that I enjoyed him much, but honestly, how could someone like you manage a spot like that? I mean, I've worked practically seven years to become Head Girl, and you prance around the school, blowing up everything in sight, and look at you!"

James rolled his eyes, and honestly did not want to talk about it. Did she really think he chose to do this? "Anyway. About that date tomorrow night," he said, deliberately ignoring her protests of anger.

"Date? DATE! You want to talk about the date now? Potter, you have the worst timing I have ever seen!"

"I was thinking, are you dressing formally? Because, really, I was thinking casual. And the way we're going to Hogsmeade, you're bound to get a bit muddy anyhow," James said.

"What date?" Lily said, deadpan, and glared at him coldly before walking off. James' mouth fell open slightly and he stabbed at his egg violently. "Damn girls," he muttered.

xxx

The day passed uneventfully…or maybe James had not noticed anything extraordinary, because he was so preoccupied the whole day. He could not seem to think of anything but of Lily. He'd be damned if she wasn't going on any date. She was going on one, and that was that, was what James decided. He got the meeting information from a 5th year Ravenclaw prefect, Melissa Ngoc, since James refused to talk to Lily. Besides, even if he had asked her, she probably would not have told him anyways.

He entered an insignificant room on the first floor, strolling in casually. The loud voice that was talking faltered and the whole room, which was seated in an very organized manner, turned in unison to see who dared enter in on a Lily prefect meeting 5 minutes late, and so unworried at that.

"Potter," Lily growled. "You're late."

"Excuse me, I didn't know where the room was. No one told me, and I'm a bit timid you see. Afraid to ask," James said, making sure to wink at Lily before he walked up to the front, grabbed a seat, turned it around and sat in it backwards. "You've got my undivided attention, miss."

She rolled her eyes and turned back to the prefects. "Back to what I was saying...its up to the 5th year prefects to set up the 7th years ending feasts. I mean, I would organize it myself, but its tradition, and we all know I can't break that. Dumbledore insists. So, make sure you plan it, because if it blows, then I'll be very disappointed."

"Right. What she said. Make sure you've got music too. Last year's ending feast is exactly what every ending feast should not be. You know, music makes a party and that's what we want and..."

"Shut it, Potter," Lily said.

"Why don't you shut it, for once?" James said.

"Because, I'm not as annoying as you are. That's impossible."

"Yes, but along with my annoying nature is charm and lovability." Lily tried her best to make a retort, but she couldn't help but grin a little. He was just ridiculous sometimes. "Shut up...on with the agenda..."

Lily gathered her belongings very slowly after the prefect meeting. Whether it was because she wanted to talk to Potter or because she was caught up in her thoughts is unknown. Maybe it was both. The 7th years' ending feast was occupying her mind; it brought her back to last year, when she had been on the worst date of her life with...what was his name? She couldn't even remember. She did remember that she had fainted and James had sweetly—I mean, that git had brought her back to his dorm and slept on the couch like a big idiot. A rather nice one... Lily couldn't help thinking as she imagined how uncomfortable it must have been for extremely tall James to sleep on the small, cramped couch.

Soon, it was only James and she in the room. She had been standing there idly for probably about 5 minutes, and James was leaning against the wall, checking out his nails and waiting for her to finish. "Are you finished yet? I don't think I can wait in silence much longer," he said, not looking up for his nails. Lily shook her head to fall out of her trance and nodded silently, forgetting that she was mad at him. James looked a bit surprised and shrugged, getting up and taking her bag and books.

"What are you doing?" Lily asked.

"Taking your books, genius," James said. Lily scowled, but didn't complain. He was being a gentleman...but being a git about it. She then remembered she was mad at him.

"I can carry my own stuff, thanks. I'm not some damsel in distress," Lily spat.

"I never said you were...I'm just trying to be nice. I don't even know why you're mad at me! God, you're so moody," James said.

"I'm mad because...because, you're an idiot that gets whatever he wants! That's why."

"I DON'T always get what I want! You don't know anything!"

"OH YEAH? Well, tell me, one thing you haven't gotten!" Lily screamed.

"Well, I haven't gotten—" James paused to think of something he could tell her. "I haven't gotten a date with you." Lily almost looked surprised for a moment or two, but she quickly recovered and frowned.

"You're not getting one. That's one thing you won't get."

"I don't get plenty. And you ARE going on a date with me, tomorrow, at 7 after dinner! I don't care what you say!" James said. Lily scoffed and rolled her eyes.

"What makes you think you're my boss?"

"I never said that! You're always making things up! And I don't want to go on a date with you anymore, if you're going to act high-maintenance!"

"I AM NOT HIGH-MAINTENANCE!"

"You are too! I can't take you on a date without going through an entire ordeal. Why can't you just meet me after dinner in the great hall like a normal person? It's THAT simple!" James said.

"Oh yeah? We'll see about that! I'm going to show you how ...un-high maintenance I am!"

"Who says I want to see!" James yelled.

"GREAT HALL, 7:00. DON'T BE LATE," Lily said.

"FINE!" James said.

"FINE!" Lily said.

"Fine." They both said at once, and both turning sharply on their heels to part ways.

Only that, James turned around quickly and briskly walked the direction in which Lily had gone, realizing that they were in the same house and were headed in the same direction.

xxx

The next day, Diana, Sarah, and Lily sat in the common room studying. They were usually in Arithmancy at that time, but Professor Vector had gone on a trip to Bolivia with several other renowned professors of witchcraft and wizardry to do some research on a strange concentration of mysterious dark magic in a patch of forest south of a small village. Lily was glad that the professor was gone for the week and they had a study hall with assigned work issued to them in the space of time he would be gone. She was so uptight that almost anything from math to Care of Magical Creatures could tip her scale of sanity

Diana frowned and erased a large portion of what she had written and grunted unsatisfied with the outcome of her problem. Lily glanced over at Diana's paper to see the problem and thought better of trying to help since Diana was on question nine while she was only on number 2. Not only that, but Lily had many more scratch outs than Diana did. She just couldn't concentrate and almost anything threw her off. Lily did want to finish her homework so she wouldn't fail the upcoming test that Professor Vector would throw at them the moment he came back from his expedition, but it seemed impossible. And it didn't help that Sarah continually brought up irrelevant topics of conversation when Lily had finally managed to get a train of thought together. As they sat silently, immersed in their own problems before them...

"OH. MY. GOD," Sarah shrieked, trying to sound excited about what she was about to say, but not quite showing it through to her eyes. "Guess who said hi to me and asked me to sit with him for lunch tomorrow?" Diana sighed heavily and looked up with a less-than-jolly expression. Lily rolled her eyes and tried to sigh as annoyingly loud as possible to display the fact that she already knew because it was obvious, and that she really didn't care.

"The cookie monster?" Diana said sarcastically. Sarah ignored her.

"JOSH! Oh my gosh, he's totally in love with me, and he's SO cute! Have you seen him recently?" Sarah said, still trying to sound enthusiastic but only succeeding in sounding fake. Diana and Lily gave each other signifigant looks. Sarah had been so obsessed with a boy named Josh that it was all she could talk about. He was the only thing she had even mentioned to them for weeks, and it seemed as though she exaggerated everything that went on between them. Which happened to be nothing. They hardly ever talked, and when she waved hello to him in the corridors and he so much as glanced at her while she did so, she would run to Lily and Diana and tell them a ridiculous story of how they had run into each other and he had picked up her books and walked her to class to make up for his clumsiness.

"Oh, it was Josh? Well, that's nice..." Lily said, humoring her friend and biting back a sharp comment on the tip of her tongue.

"Really, I know. But, Bobby asked me on a date for the same time, and I just don't know whom I want to go with. You know? Well, maybe you don't, but still, it's so hard choosing between boys when they're both so cute," Sarah said. It was a known fact that Bobby was currently going out with a girl that had left Hogwarts last year and didn't date anyone equal to or below him in age. Not to mention he was quite superficial and was known to date only the prettiest girls. And, though Sarah had certain charming characteristics about her, she's not what you would deem classically attractive if you didn't know her.

Lily twitched and gave Sarah a dirty look. What did she mean she wouldn't know about that? "And Will was definitely flirting with me, but you know, I don't like him as much as Josh. Josh is just perfect in every way. And I think we might go farther then where we're at right now!"

Lily opened her mouth to tell Sarah off, but instead decided she'd just leave it alone. "It's time for lunch, so let's go...I'm starving and sick of this work." They all got up and stretched, sauntering out of the common room and listening to Sarah babble on about topics that no one could possibly care to talk about.

When they arrived at the Great Hall, most of the school was already milling around and chattering happily among their friends. The three sat down in their usual spots and began to dig into their lunch.

"And you know, I'll bet you anything that Ricki was drunk when she said yes to him. But then, I don't think she's very pretty so, take what you can get, right?" Sarah drawled on. Diana growled and slammed her fist on the table.

"WILL YOU—..." but stopped, when she realized that an eerie hush had fallen over everyone around her. Slowly and gracefully, dark-feathered owls soared through the Great Hall clasping official-looking letters in their claws. There was worried muttering between the students and most everyone looked worried to death.

All three of the owls dispersed over the hall and swooped down, dropping their letters right onto the laps of the recipients. This time, two Hufflepuffs and one Slytherin received a letter.

xxx

By the end of the day, Lily was in a very irritable mood. Diana was too; therefore they didn't really take pleasure in talk to the other. Sarah, on the other hand, had the tendency to be blissfully unaware of other people's moods, including her two closest friends. Thus, they all parted ways, and Lily was left to get ready for her date alone. "Date." Lily rolled her eyes. She was very unexcited about this little get together with James Potter, mainly because of the reasons this date was even taking place. The only reason they were going anywhere was because he called her high-maintenance and she wanted to show him she was not. She smirked—she would show him she was as low-maintenance as possible. Chuckling, she leaned down to her laundry pile and pulled out a dirty shirt with a tomato sauce stain on it...

James checked his watch—in all honesty, Lily was not late at all. Actually, he had just arrived. However, James was trying to look as if he had been waiting for hours and that Lily was ages late. If she were to come now and be ten minutes early, he would make sure, regardless, that he was tapping his foot and glancing irritably at his wrist watch. Five minutes later, Lily strolled in. She had a small smirk on her face as she walked up to James as relaxed-looking as possible. She wanted to be the epitome of "unhigh-maintenance," whatever that was.

"What?" Lily asked innocently as James scanned her up and down looking slightly aghast. He couldn't believe that the usual prim and proper Lily Evans with the perfectly ironed shirts and impeccably clean, shiny black loafers was prancing around in an obviously dirty shirt and old jeans. Not to mention her hair looked unbrushed, her face unscrubbed, and her shoes unshiny. She happened to be wearing the most ugly and oldest pair of tennis shoes he had ever seen.

James shook it off. "Nothing. Let's just go..."

xxx

"Where exactly are we going?" Lily asked, as James led her to a statue of a one-eyed witch. It was a rather gruesome looking scuplture with an unsightly hunchback and adorned in old rags. "Is this what our date is? A picnic by an ugly statue? Wow, I feel so honored," Lily said.

"What would you do if I said yes? Complain?" James taunted. Lily scowled and pursed her lips. "No, I wouldn't mind one bit!" Lily said.

James smirked and rolled his eyes. He whipped out his wand and tapped the hunchback three times and a small doorway that only a relatively slim person could fit through appeared. Lily's eyes grew a bit bigger and James took the opportunity to smile cheekily at her. "Ladies first," James said.

"Meow," came the feline sound from behind them. Mrs. Norris slinked around the corner with a malicious look in her eyes which any normal cat could not possibly posess. James cursed under his breathe and soon enough, he heard the disgruntled voice of Filch the Caretaker not far behind his precious cat. "You've just darted off Mrs. Norris! What have you found now, my dear? Heh, we'll get those lowly scums of the earth, now won't we?" James shook his head...Filch was obviously losing his mind to have only a cat for company.

"James!" Lily hissed. "Why are we just standing here!" James snapped out of it and cursed again, shoved Lily down the small door and then jumping in (not very gracefully, I might add) him self. He shut the door, and suddenly, everything was pitch black. "Er...Lils? You all right?"

"Urgh! You dolt! You shoved me and then nearly trampled me! Do I look all right?" Lily said.

James bit his lip and shrugged. "Well, I can't really see you..." He began to walk slowly and feel the wall...til he stepped on something large, and soft. "AGHHH! WHAT are you DOING!" Lily yelped in pain. She quickly stumbled to her feet and rubbed her back indignantly. "This is absolutely ridiculous! Why are you walking around blindly and stepping on me when you could just used your wand?" She took her wand out and whispered "Lumos!" which immediately lit up the small area of space they were occupying.

She looked at him and giggled. "You've gotten all muddy."

He looked at her after pulling out his own wand and snorted. "I've gotten muddy? What about you? You're worse. Not that it matters though, since your clothes were already filthy," he said.

Lily, suprisingly, did not get mad but burst into a fit of giggles. "I-I-I was trying to prove that I w-wasn't high-maintenance," she gasped. James was laughing as well by now and simply grabbed her hand and led them down the long, winding passage which led to the basement of Honeyduke's.

A/N: As I'm writing this author's note, it's nearly 2 months (give or take a few) since my first author's note at the beginning of this chapter where I was commenting about my Math exam. Heh, sorry about that! Well, here's the sad chapter that was extremely anti-climatic to me. Hopefully, the next chapter, which contains the rest of the date and then some, will be a little better. ;/ I thought this chapter would be a little more interesting but I proved myself wrong! Hopefully you guys aren't as hard on me as I was with myself...PLEASE REVIEW:D

P.S. You think I can get 2 reviews so I can reach 200? Help me out here!