A/N: I need someone who's willing to talk to me about my story (preferably several people) so that I can go over the details of the plot and get some help smoothing things out. Also, I need someone who will help me with the grammar, which is something I'm pretty bad at. HELP WANTED.

Chapter 2

Sirius and Remus were both lying down on their beds, reading Quidditch magazines and waiting for James to return from his patrol duties. They lay in repose, both seemed to give off an air of cool indifference. However, Peter's actions across from the two of them gave a more accurate tableau as to how they actually were feeling.

Peter was sitting on the edge of his bed, twitching nervously every so often and leaping up to pace back and forth a few feet before abruptly sitting back down again. After repeating this a few times, he shuffled over to the dresser and opened it, apparently searching for something, but found nothing in the top drawer and so then proceeded to open the second drawer, and continued down until he was on the bottom drawer.

Sirius raised his eyebrows slightly at this behaviour, but inside himself, he felt just as jumpy and felt as if he'd like to explode. He kept having to remind himself that it was none of his business about Lily and James. It shouldn't matter to him if they were off wandering alone together around the whole school for several hours. None of his business. He had to leave well enough alone since James was obviously trying to get over her-

Suddenly the door burst open and James hurtled in, looking slightly flushed and with his eyes wide like those of a startled deer. He looked around the room at his best friends and sighed heavily, very obviously trying not to be too obvious. Clearing his throat he asked, «What have you guys been up to?» His voice was strained and slightly high pitched, as if it had been stretched out like a rubber band. Without waiting for a reply, he sat down on his bed and removed his robes and shoes and started to jiggle his leg animatedly.

James couldn't believe that Lily had just willingly hugged him, and now he couldn't contain his eagerness to win her over completely. Yea, and get her to dump that idiot John. He felt a deep restlessness in his bones that made him want to go and do something grand and heroic and extremely difficult in order to impress her with his intelligence and bravery. But then again, he was also attempting to appear mature, and all the ideas that were popping up in his mind were much too childish. He lay back on the mattress and sighed with content. Thoughts were flying through his head at a terrifying speed. Maybe she liked him as more than a friend. Maybe he was finally going to get her to be his.

Remus snapped his magazine open and shut several times. He watched his best friend's face, slightly puckered in an attempt to hide how he was feeling. Remus brushed his hair out of his eyes, a nervous habit that he now repeated twice before realising what he was doing and abruptly dropping his hand to his side to clench it into a fist. «So…how'd it go?»

Sirius and Peter's heads snapped up in tandem, their eyes burning with a desire to know what the hell had happened. Sirius watched as James stared at the ceiling, knowing that he would be unable to keep it to himself for too long. That was James: loyal and open.

James hesitated and flipped over onto his stomach. He put his head down on the pillow, angled away from his friends as he tried not to sound too eager.

«It was good. She was nice.» After a long silence he added, «At the end, she hugged me.» Sighing, he said softly, as if to himself, «But she's got a boyfriend. She's not mine for me to want, you know?» James leaned back onto his pillow, clasping his hands infront of his face and stretching his arms out, trying to sound nonchalant. He looked over at his three friends, all watching him with pity written on their faces. Looking away, he frowned and interlocked his fingers, stretching them towards the canopy of his bed, as if holding something up.

Remus looked pained. «James, I-»

«No, Remus. I know. It's fine that she's dating someone else.» James let out a breathy sigh. «I guess I just have to wait a little longer.»

break

The next morning in the Great Hall, tensions were high and hopes were up. Lily had spent most of the night pondering her relationship with John. It had only been two weeks, and they hadn't even gone on a date. It seemed as though it were more of a surface relationship. She felt like something of a trophy wife, or atleast, trophy girlfriend. He loved to hold her hand in public and hug her and kiss her while everyone was watching; he reveled in other people's attention. Lily doubted that he even liked her that much. Just this morning, when he had come to get her from the Gryffindor Common Room, he had made a big show of his «good morning kiss» and had insisted on wrapping his arms around her as they entered the Great Hall. Even now, as they sat at the Ravenclaw table eating breakfast, he held onto her like a leech, and she was beginning to feel him sucking away her patience.

But Lily didn't want such a one dimensional relationship. She longed for something deep and romantic. She dreamed of a boy that would come and sweep her off her feet and make her fall helplessly in love. That was her greatest weakness; she was a sucker for any corny love story that she heard. Of course, James had always tried to do that, but he had only annoyed her. She had never felt 'sparks of passion' for him. More like 'sparks of hatred.'

Yet now as she went over last night's patrol session, she realized with a slight shock that there was a very fine line between passion and hatred, and that really, the opposite of love was not hate, but indifference.

So why the hell was she dating someone she couldn't care less about?

break

James twitched impatiently, sitting in the back of his Transfiguration class, watching as Lily copied down notes from the board behind Professor McGonagall's head. Usually he paid close attention to Transfiguration because he enjoyed it, but right now, with yesterday evening's events first and foremost on his mind, he couldn't concentrate. He heard Sirius hiss beside him, and leaned over, still keeping his gaze focused on Lily.

«James, mate, what are we going to do when the full moon comes 'round?» Sirius grinned cheekily. «Will the Marauders go gallivanting, or will Prongs have to be left behind for patrolling?»

This issue took all of James' attention, and he smirked over at Sirius. «Well, Padfoot, I'll have to ask yonder red-headed maiden if I can skip a night.»

The strange nicknames were not as unfounded as one might think. James was immensely talented at Transfiguration, and several years back, upon learning that Remus was a werewolf, he and Sirius, along with some of the blundering help of Peter, had worked until they had become Animagi. All three boys were now capable of transforming into a specific animal. He was a stag, hence the nickname Prongs, while Sirius was a shaggy black dog, therefore being named Padfoot. Peter was not so fortunate; when he transformed, he became a straggly rat, and his unflattering appearance earned him the name of Wormtail. Remus was given the name Moony, for obvious reasons, and the four gave themselves the group name of the Marauders, and wandered the grounds on a monthly basis, familiarizing themselves with all of the Hogwarts grounds.

Sirius lips turned up in a wickedly handsome smile. «Excellent,» he hissed out. «We're gonna have fun.» With that said, he turned his attention back to flirting with a girl sitting in front of him, and James went back to watching Lily.

Yes, we are.

break

Lunch hour had arrived at last. Lily sighed in relief. She was exhausted by her Head Girl duties; she had never realized how much effort it took to lead the students or help out anyone who was confused or upset. She had begged off sitting with John, claiming she had work to do, and that sitting with him was distracting her. He had looked disappointed, but what could he say?

Lily proceeded towards the far end of the Gryffindor table, looking for a seat where she could be left alone. Finding one section relatively empty, she sat down contentedly and started eating.

Lily was not usually an anti-social person, but most of her friends had been in older years, and now she found herself alone more often than not. She didn't mind, she had enough confidence to sit by herself and be relaxed, and anyways, she couldn't stand most of the girls in her years. There were four other girls in her year, and they were obnoxious, gossiping little pricks who had nothing better to do than scrounge up nasty pieces of information on you and spread them around. The four girls, Paige, Amanda, Mari, and Ebie were awful, no doubt about it. No matter whether what they said was true or not, they were backstabbing bitches and that was that.

Well, speak of the devil, though Lily. It's Paige, Queen of the Stupid Girls Club, surrounded by her courtiers. There goes my nice, solitary lunch. Angrily, she picked up her bag and left quickly through the crowd, trying to avoid being seen by Paige. Lily knew that Paige liked John quite a bit, and she was most likely out hunting for Lily in order to win him back. Lily definitely wanted to avoid a scuffle and darted outside the Hall, looking back in relief. Good, she hadn't been seen.

«Oof- watch it!»

Lily blushed, sprawled out on the ground, her books and robes in disarray. Stammering apologies she bent onto her hands and knees, trying not to look up. Why oh WHY wasn't she more careful? She struggled to get her flaming red cheeks under control before looking up to see who she had run into, but there was no need.

«Well, little Mudblood, looks as though you need a lesson in manners.»

She stiffened, and plunged her hand into her robes, reaching for her wand. Shit! Where was it? She could have sworn she'd put it in her robe pocket.

Above her, Severus Snape laughed disgustedly.

«Looking for this?»

Lily looked up slowly, dreading what she would see. She looked Snape square in the eye, watching as he twirled her wand lazily in his long, disgustingly pale fingers.

«Give it back, Snape,» she said, keeping her voice calm and even, as though talking to a wild animal that was liable to go beserk at any moment.

«And why should I, my dear mudblood?» Snape hissed in his disgusting voice, and Lily thought that she just might get sick.

«Because, Snivellus, I don't think you'd want the Marauders after you from here to eternity, am I right?» James had come out of nowhere, stepping out from behind Snape, with Sirius, Remus, and Peter standing right behind him. He looked brave and intimidating, emanating authority and power.

Snape opened his mouth in fury, but nothing came out. Looking as though he'd like to shoot someone, he angrily tossed Lily's wand at her. She caught it, and he turned on his heel and stormed off.

Lily sighed in relief. «Thanks.» She couldn't say anything else. She looked up at James and smiled. «Rather silly of me to be so careless, I should have watched where I was heading.»

James grinned down at her and proffered a hand, which she accepted.

break

Late in the evening, James and Lily were back to patrolling the dark halls of the castle. Occasionally they spoke to each other, but they mostly studiously avoided confrontation, prefering instead to chance glances, blushing when their eyes met. The awkwardness of their newfound goodwill towards each other (atleast, Lily's newfound goodwill) had made James deliriously happy.

He couldn't help but marvel at how easy it was to walk along in silence. He didn't feel the need to impress her anymore, and he almost liked that there was discomfort. It meant that she knew something was going on, right? Right? He had to know. All night long they had talked about the most trite and banal topics, careful of not stepping over the line of polite conversation. But there was no more skirting around the issue any longer.

«Lily?»

She snapped her head so that she could gaze straight at him. Her eyes were so miraculously pure in color, that he drowned in them for a moment before continuing on his path to reckless abandonment.

«You know that I still like you, right?» Despite the wording and tone of voice, it was more of a statement than a question. They both knew that he liked her. Now that it had been said aloud, though, the only thing left to be asked was if she liked him. Oh dear Agrippa, he wanted for her to like him so badly.

She lowered her head to the ground before turning back to look at him again. Their eyes met once more and she opened her mouth slightly. There was a hesitant pause and James was about to say something when she spoke.

«Yes, I do.»

break

Lily kept looking straight on at James. Her face was a little defiant, and that brave, forward gaze stayed trained on his face, watching for a reaction.

She didn't understand why it had taken her so long to recognize how wonderful he looked. She had always insisted that it was hormones and group mentalities that had lead nearly all the girls in Hogwarts to throw themselves postrate at his and Sirius' feet. But now that she had studied him closely several times, she was forced to admit that he was, for lack of a better term, fucking hot.

She was tempted to grab his hand, hidden in the pocket of his robes, and pull him in close. She wanted him, alright. It had been an unexpected change. In just two nights, she had gone from no feelings to heavy, powerful feelings, as if she had been in a stopped car and was now hurtling down a freeway at lightspeed.

The fact that they were walking alone and late at night had a lot to do with it. Yesterday, after the first patrol, when they had reached the Astronomy tower, the thought romantic had leapt into her mind, unbidden and unstoppable. The sparkling stars and beautiful view had made her weak in the knees, and James had further fueled her desire for a Prince Charming.

She knew it was wrong to like James; she was dating someone else! But nevertheless, she still did, and she didn't want to be a coward and not tell him. Life was for the living, not the lifeless.

So she begged in her mind, please, please, please.

Except, she wasn't sure of what exactly she was pleading for. What did she want? Him, yes, but mostly, she wanted to feel accepted.

Please.

break

James took a deep breath. It had been easier than expected, asking her if she knew. The silence afterwards, however, was heavy and leaden with questions he was burning to ask. Did he dare ask her if she liked him back?

Well, he might as well go for the full monty.

He took a deep breath, ready to take the plunge, when he reeled back in shock as she began to speak.

«You know, I -I kind of like you too.» She wasn't looking at him now. Instead, she was staring at her feet, walking hurriedly and moving ahead. She jerkily pushed open the doorway to a classroom, checking for students. In reality, she was trying to hide her burning face. She couldn't believe that she'd just said that.

Lily tensed when she heard him laugh. It was a beautiful laugh, choky and full, a littly coarse, and slightly angry. She hung her head in shame. She deserved that. James had been persistent in attempts to win her affection, and only now that she was off limits did she let him in. It was cruel of her, and she knew that.

«You have lousy timing.» His voice was harsh, a little bitter, but there was a tinge of satisfaction written in there as well. He laughed again, and strode forward purposefully, and gripped her arm, pulling her around to face him. «Do you know that?»

She looked up at him and bit her lip. «Yes.»

The frankness of her gaze surprised him, and he nodded quietly and still holding her arm, they walked up to the Astronomy tower.

Somewhere along the way, her hand slipped into his.

break

James was bewilderedly happy. Upon returning from their patrol, at the foot of the stairs Lily and he had embraced, and this time she had pulled herself up, letting her breath fly hot onto his neck as she brought her arm around his neck so that the inside of her elbow touched him.

They had stood there like that for a full five minutes, until she had suddenly pulled away and dashed up the stairs. Again, like the night before she had turned around before reaching the top.

This time, unlike the last, she had smiled, a curvaceous, secret smile that had filled him simultaneously with warmth and a slight pang of fear.

That smile had seemed to ask him, can you keep a secret?

Could he?

Review Responses

Greengrl: haha, I like that you like that he gets excited. I wasn't sure if that was really realistic, but oh well…

Celina Black: I read your story! Its cute, really! You're on my faves list, I remember reading your story before and being all ooh this is good. LOL. Thnx for the advice on reviews, by the way.

Daman5: yea, I'm not sure if I can keep up with all my grammar, so if you could just keep checking that, I'd reaaally appreciate it. I spell checked this as well, so if I missed something, you'll have to tell me.

Alex C. Potter: It's updated now!

Hpjsr: haha, same response, it's updated now!

Darkbird1345: same thing, yet again!

REVIEWthose little comments that you leave make me all tingly inside.

Just no flames please!