Disclaimer: I don't own any of the characters that are familiar to you. They are owned by the brilliant J.K Rowling, and this fan fiction is solely for entertainment.

Chapter 19: A Definite Change For Men and Flying Broomsticks

Lily woke up in a particularly good mood, but when her thoughts turned to Potter, she became nervous because of the night before. She had never expected herself to be so bold, especially to James Potter. When I woke up, she was humming to herself while she brushed her hair.

"When did you wake up?" I asked her groggily. She turned, startled at my voice, not knowing I was awake.

"Not that long ago." She said blankly.

"What's wrong?" I asked her. I could sense it. She stopped for a second, and then shrugged.

"Nothing,"

"Bull!" I said. I looked around at Cecily, Alice and Kelsey. They were still sleeping like logs, so I got up and walked over to Lily. I hopped up onto the vanity, while she sat in front of it, looking into the mirror. Her brow creased as if she was in deep thought. I prayed she was thinking about James, so I brought it up subtly.

"How was the Head Girl/Guy-prefect thing meeting last night? It went on pretty late," I said. She paused and looked at me for a second, set her brush down and buried her face into her hands. She groaned inwardly as if regretting something.

"Whoa...did I miss something here?" I said, surprised. I looked at the others who were sleeping. They hadn't budged, so I turned back to her.

"I won't...I can't...I'm soooo stupid...God, I wasn't flirting...no, I wasn't. Maybe I was...or maybe he thought I was... Ewww...he WAS nice, but...what's wrong with me?!" she mumbled. I hardly got any of it. I took her arm and led her into the connecting bathroom and closed the door.

"What the hell are you talking about?" I asked in a harsh whisper.

"James." She said quietly.

"James? JAMES?! Firstly, I'm shocked you called him JAMES and secondly, YOU FLIRTED WITH HIM?!" I yelled. She slammed her hand over my mouth before the other three woke up.

"I didn't flirt with him...I--no. I didn't. There. Never mind. Forget what I said."

"How 'bout not. Seriously, what happened?" I asked, trying to hide in my eagerness. She sighed deeply, before beginning.

"He stayed after to talk to Dumbledore after the meeting and I was walking down the corridor when I got a little freaked out walking alone in a HUGE castle right? So, I go back and..." she shuddered and mentally hit herself, "I waited for him. When he came out, he was really nice and we walked up to the common room. But before I went up to the dormitory, I told him he'd changed. He smirked and said, 'I hope it's a good thing,' which it is and I said, 'yeah, it's good.' She finished. I paused.

"That's it?"

She nodded. I threw up my hands.

"That's not flirting, Lily! You were being nice and so was he!"

"I know! I wasn't flirting, but what if he took it as if I like him now or something?!" she exclaimed in a whisper. I looked at her.

"Do you?"

"Do I what?"

"Like him."

Lily froze, it hadn't passed her mind. Did she like James Potter? That was completely out of the question. Right?

"I..." she faltered.

"Lily? Caroline?" came Alice's voice from the dormitory. Lily immediately took this as an excuse to avoid the question.

"In here!" she yelled and hurried out of the bathroom.

James was indeed in an even better mood than Lily and showed it to anyone in his presence.

"Hey, Perky! Snap out of it!" Sirius yelled into his ear. He jumped in surprise and hit Sirius on the back.

"What's up with you today, mate?" Remus asked. James grinned triumphantly.

"She likes me."
Sirius raised his eyebrows. Remus rose one skeptically.

"And this is a fact?" Remus asked. James shrugged.

"Well, it's not official, but-"

"Did she TELL you? 'Hey James. I like you.'"? Sirius egged. James slumped his shoulders.

"Not exactly. BUT, she said I had changed and I was like, 'Is that a good thing,' and she smiled and said, it was very good. Merlin, when she smiled..." he fell backwards. Sirius clapped. Remus rolled his eyes, grinning.

"Your right, mate. I think she fancies you...almost," Sirius said, kneeling down beside James.

"He's right. You don't think she already COMPLETELY altered her opinions of you the second day of school?" Remus said.

"You're right, Moony, but don't worry 'bout that." He said winking at him. He then gave him a look that Remus wasn't sure what it meant.

"What about you Rem? Any opinions on the opposite sex? One specific female maybe?"

"What?"

"Don't be daft, Moony! Kelsey! What's up with you and her?" Sirius exclaimed, slipping on this robe, not bothering with his tie. Remus turned crimson and shrugged.

"Did you see her this summer?"

"No, she forgot to tell me where she was going," he said.

"Are you 'continuing' your relationship this year?" James asked. "You gonna ask her to Hogsmeade again?"

Remus glared at him.

"I was going to, but now I'm not sure since you gits went and ruined the last one!" he said angrily.

"I swear Moony, this time we won't mess it up." Sirius said. Remus didn't believe either of them and they finally decided to go down to breakfast without Peter who had slept in (and snored and snorted uncontrollably).

As I sat eating breakfast that morning, I noticed James, Sirius and Remus come in, but didn't say anything. I looked at Lily but she gave me a look and I went back to talking to Cecily, Alice and Kelsey. It wasn't until Sirius came up behind me that I started to talk to them.

"Come to the Quidditch pitch after lunch," he said. "It'll just be me and James and you can try out for us." He said. I nodded and turned back to Kelsey. She looked rather excited until they began passing out our new schedules.

"Double potions?!" she exclaimed, cursing her least favorite class. I looked down at my new schedule. Mine was much different from Kelsey's or Lily's. I had double Defense Against the Dark Arts. Every day. Confused, I got up and approached Professor McGonagall at the teacher's table. When I told her about my schedule and how it was different from Kelsey and Lily's, she creased her brow.

"Well, of course they're different, dear. You told me during career choices fifth year you wanted to be an Auror. Your classes this year are to prepare you for it. Miss Evans and Miss Jistel are on the career path to become healers. I'm afraid you won't have as many classes with them." She said. I blinked and my mouth curved into a small smile.

"I-I'm going to be an Auror?"

Professor McGonagall stared at me for a moment as if I was brain-dead or something, then answered.

"Yes, dear. You'll have to go through training at the Ministry, of course, after you finish school but yes, if you want to be," she said. I blinked again.

"Okay...thank-you, professor..." I said and hurried back to the Gryffindor table.

After breakfast, I split from Kelsey, Lily, Cecily and Alice to go to DADA only to pass by Sirius and James. As I walked by, Sirius grabbed my schedule out of my hand.

"Hey!" I said, not knowing it was him. I sighed irritated, when I saw him and crossed my arms as I waited for him to give it back.

"Hey! You're in practically all my classes!" he exclaimed as he handed my schedule to James.

"Oh joy." I said. James looked up from the parchment.

"Are you planning on becoming an Auror too?" he asked.

"Apparently," I said.

"Excellent, so, we'll all be in training at the Ministry together," Sirius added. I nodded.

"Looks that way," I said, grabbing my schedule from James's hand.

"What about Lily?" James asked.

"What about her?" I asked, tucking my schedule into my bag.

"What was her career choice?"

"Healer. Same as Kelsey," I answered. He nodded before entering the Defense Against the Dark Arts classroom.

"What? Is that part of your 'plan' to get her?" I asked, following him into the classroom. He rolled his eyes and shrugged.

"I was just wondering,"

"Sure,"

"Seriously!"

"Yeah, okay."

The morning classes went by so slowly, it felt like it was dinner, by the time it was lunch. During lunch, Cecily reminded me to go to the Quidditch pitch afterwards.

"You think Potter will put you on the team?" Alice asked.

"I don't know..." I said nervously.

"If he did, would you play?" Cecily added. I shrugged.

"Probably.

"Probably... you will! We're going to make you! In fact, I'm glad they're making you go out for the team. We need a Gryffindor girl on the Quidditch team!" Lily said. I raised my eyebrows at her.

"Any other reason, Lily Evans?" She turned a deep pink.

"No." she said quickly. She kicked me under the table and I gave her teasing grin.

After lunch, I nervously made my way out to the Quidditch field and sat down on a bench since James and Sirius weren't there yet. To pass the time, I took out my DADA homework (we already had some, I know, it's horrible!). I hadn't gotten past the first paragraph when suddenly Sirius and James slid onto the bench on either side of me from behind. I jumped from surprise, dropping my parchment. James grabbed it before it blew off across the field. They both grinned eagerly.

"Ready?"

I sighed, packing my homework into my bag.

"As much as I'll ever be," I said. James smiled and handed me a folded stack of Quidditch robes. Taking them, I hurried into the locker room. There were two separate rooms. Girls and Guys. Walking into the empty girl's locker room, I quickly changed into the Quidditch robes. They were tad bit confusing (especially the arm and shin guards), but quite comfortable. Making my way out onto the Quidditch pitch, I conjured up a hair elastic (a little trick Cecily taught me) and pulled my hair back into a loose ponytail. I met up with Sirius and James in the middle of the field, where they stood with the case of Quidditch balls and their brooms. Unfortunately, they were not in their Quidditch robes. (A/N: hee hee) James handed me his broom.

"Here, you can use mine," he said. I was well aware he always had the latest model, so I raised my eyebrows at it.

"You sure it's not 'too much' for me?" I teased. He shrugged.

"It's not that bad,"

I nodded and he opened the ball case.

"Sirius is going to go up with you," James said, motioning toward Sirius, who had taken off his black robe and rolled up his uniform sleeves.

"Okay,"

"So, you know the basic stuff of Quidditch, right?"

"Depends on how YOU define basic." I answered.

"Like, you know the positions, the balls and all that."

"I'm not THAT clueless, James." He laughed and motioned for Sirius to fly up.

"Okay, you can go up too." He said. Mounting, I lifted off, soaring into the air so naturally it was as if I had been flying for years. My insides leapt, feeling the same adrenaline I felt at Hogsmeade. Sirius was a little ways away from me and soared higher, so he wasn't in my way.

"Are you ready?!" James shouted up to me.

"Yeah!" I yelled back.

"Okay, I'm going to send out a bludger and I wanted you to hit it through the goal hoops!" he instructed. I gaped down at him.

"Through them?! How do I know if I'll even hit one?!" I exclaimed.

"Just try!"

"Okay, fine,"

"Try not to get hit by them! Trust me, it hurts like bloody hell!" Sirius yelled down to me, laughing. I rolled my eyes.

"Gee, thanks," I mumbled.

"Okay!" James yelled and cautiously let go of the bludger.

The bludger pummeled into the sky soaring around the far end of the field toward the goal post. I gripped the beater bat and watched in anticipation as it soared back toward me.

"Watch it now, it's coming back!" Sirius yelled. I had never in my life felt my heart pound against my chest as hard as it did now. Reeling the bat back, I swished to the side without thinking and right when the bludger came close enough, I leveled with it, swinging with all my strength. The bludger met the bat with a loud crack and flew back in the same direction it came. Astonished by the amount of strength I had suddenly gained, I watched as the bludger soared back toward the goal hoops. Sirius and James were silent as they watched intently. Sirius flew after it to get a closer look. The bludger zoomed evenly right through the middle goal. I gaped at myself. I, in no way could do that, but I just did nearly out of reflex! Sirius came flying back, with a bewildered, yet very impressed expression on his face.

"Caroline!" James called from below, "That was incredible!"

"Er, thanks." I said. There was a low whistling noise and I turned to see the bludger hurdling back towards me.

"Hit it a couple more times," James said as Sirius landed next to him.

I ended up hitting it more than a 'couple times' and finally Sirius caught it, tumbling to the ground, struggling to get it back in the box.

After I changed out of my now sweaty Quidditch robes, James and Sirius met me outside the locker room.

"Is that all?" I asked, as if they had anything else they wanted me to do. James shook his head. Nodding, I headed off back toward the castle. Sirius and James stood there for a moment. Turning to each other, they blinked for a second and dashed after me, whirling in front of me. I was taken aback as James and Sirius swished around to face me.

"You're on the team."

"What?"

"You're on. We start practice next week.

"You're kidding."

"No."

I arched an eyebrow.

"You really want me on the team?"

"Yes.

"Am I that good?"

"YES! Why in bloody hell haven't you ever tried out for the team before?!" "I...err...I don't know."

"Well, whatever. You're on the team now and you better say you'll play or I'll—"

"Okay."

"What?"

"Okay, I'll play! Sure, Geez. Don't freak out James, it's just Quidditch.

James took that a tad bit too personally and a short lecture later, I met up with Alice, Cecily, Lily and Kelsey in the common room. They jumped up when I came in.

"Well?!"

I shrugged giving them an excited grin.

"I'm on the team,"

There was a squeal of excitement and an eruption of questions. Embarrassed, I dragged all of them up to the dormitory before they made a scene.

Today was the first night for patrolling the halls for Lily and mixed emotions swirled in her brain as she left After Hours to wait for James (who patrols with her). She was excited, apprehensive and nervous at the same time to be patrolling with him and she still could not control the mixed emotions that James was now overpowering her with. She leaned against the stone wall while she waited for him to arrive.

"Lily?"

Lily turned as James walked up toward her with a smug grin on his face. He nodded at him as he came up beside her.

"Ready?" he asked. Lily nodded and they began walking through random hallways. There was a long silence between the two of them and Lily got incredibly nervous.

"Caroline told us you put her on the team," she said.

"Yeah!" James said with excitement. Lily smiled.

"She still doesn't seem to understand why though,"

James grinned.

"It'll sink in. It took Angus Fletcher days before he truly acknowledged he was on the Quidditch team," he added, laughing.

"What about you?"

"Ah, well, I wasn't that surprised I made the team. I knew I would make it." he said. Lily rolled her eyes.

"That doesn't surprise me either,"

"Yeah well..." he stopped and suddenly whirled around to face her directly.

"Look, Lily. I won't deny that I've been a bit conceited in the past and I really, truly want you to know that I completely agree at why you hate me, now that I've thought about it. And now since we're working together so much, would it be possible if you put all your resent for me aside and just be friends?"

The small speech stunned Lily and she didn't know what to say.

"Er...Friends?"

"Friends."

"...Okay," was all she could say. James nodded and smiled and they began walking again.

"Okay, now that we cleared that up, I want to know more about you." James said. "Wait, hold on. Let me guess," he said.

"You have loads of brothers and sisters; you live in like the outskirts of London in a white house..."

Lily laughed hard.

"Merlin no! I have one sister. I thought you knew that... I live in Surrey and my house is brick." She said intellectually. James grinned and nodded,

"I knew that."

Lily laughed again and James smiled wider. He loved to make her laugh and for the remaining time of patrolling he made her laugh all he could. All he had was Sirius or Remus or Peter to make laugh but that wasn't as enjoyable as making the one girl you've loved for quite a few years, smile. He had told her he wanted to be just friends and a part of him regretted ever saying it.

'She'll probably think I'm the best friend, who comes to her wedding to give congratulations or something,' he thought.

James really wanted to be more than that but he didn't want to ruin what he had at this very moment with Lily by jumping further.

When they entered the common room to end for the night, James stopped and smiled at her.

"Well, I'll see you tomorrow..." he said softly and made his way up the stone steps.

"Good night," he said back toward her.

"Good night..." Lily whispered, but James could still hear her and his heart leapt. He had the great urge to run back down and kiss her right now, but hurried up to the dormitory with effort. Lily let out a breath.

"That wasn't so bad." She said out loud and walked up to the girl's dormitory. In fact, it was more than that. She had quite a fun time patrolling with James and still laughed randomly at all the things he had said that made her laugh so hard. She definitely could not wait until tomorrow. James Potter had most definitely changed and Lily couldn't get enough of it.