Disclaimer: The ever-wonderful J.K Rowling owns all but the journal idea.

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beta by: ilovethedotgame

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Chapter Sixteen: A Few Clues

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James Potter

Sirius Black

Remus Lupin

Peter Pettigrew

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Lily's birthday is in a couple of days. And guess what? I have her gift already!

Sirius and I snuck out to Hogsmeade the other night to grab a butterbeer and some stuff from Zonko's. While we were there, we passed by a shop and there, in the window, was this necklace: a glass lily on a silver chain.

The minute I saw it, I knew that it was meant for Lily. I can just picture her wearing it in a dark green dress with her hair falling over her shoulders…

It was a little expensive, but I don't care. Money isn't really an issue in my family, but even if it were, I still would have bought it for her.

Do you think Lily would appreciate it if I had the entire house sing Happy Birthday to her tomorrow morning when she comes downstairs?

I thought she didn't like having the spotlight on her?

She doesn't, but I think you may be able to get away with it.

As long as it's only the birthday song, and you don't do something stupid like ask her out.

I am never making that mistake again.

Never?

Ever?

Not unless I'm sure that she returns my feelings. Until then, I'm not going to jeopardize my friendship with her. Okay, now, I need to go and find Alice or somebody to help me alert all of the girls' dorms of the plan. You guys go to all the boys' dorms and tell them that at 8:15 tomorrow morning in the common room they should be ready to sing "Happy Birthday to Lily".

What if they don't listen?

They'll face my wrath.

Alice is a genius. She gave Lily the tiniest bit of sleep potion so that she overslept a bit and was the last one in the common room.

Lily knew immediately that I was the one who planned it. As soon as everyone started to sing her eyes began looking for me in the crowd.

She seemed a little embarrassed, but not in a "Potter, I hate you!" kind of way, just a "James, I can't believe you planned this!"

After the song was over, I approached Lily and handed her her gift. I admit that I was a tad nervous about giving her jewelry, but any fears I harbored about her not liking her present disappeared the moment she opened the box and saw the necklace. Her entire face lit up when she saw it, and she kept telling me how much she loved it.

'Gryffindor is going to beat Slytherin'.

What a password. Anyone with half a brain could figure that one out. Like I said before, you need to stop choosing obvious phrases that anyone could say. You need to think of something creative that no one would think of. Like…Martha makes muffins in the morning, or something equally ridiculous.

You know, with these easy passwords, one might think that you didn't actually mind me and the others writing in your little journal – that you actually want us to…

Ha! That will be the day, when I value your input about romance.

Gryffindor will beat Slytherin. We've been training harder and longer than ever before – I tell you, we're in top form.

Since I had nothing to do but sit around and do homework over Easter holiday, I came up with a new training program for the team. It's so secret that I can't even write it in here. That's so if by some freak incident, someone other than my friends ended up with this notebook, they won't be able to figure out our secret strategy.

I wonder if I should go out and practice the nights that the team doesn't have practice. Okay, there are only two, but still, it could help.

Lily doesn't think that I should do any extra practice aside from team practice. Apparently, team isn't spelled with an "I".

But there is a "me".

She didn't like that either.

No noteworthy happenings with Lily. Well, I think everything about her is noteworthy, but I don't need to go back into stalker mode; so, I'll refrain from mentioning that she ate apple cinnamon oatmeal this morning, wore her hair in a ponytail, and painted her nails a light pink.

I enjoy how you said you didn't want to go back into "stalker mode" but yet, you were able to tell us what she ate, how she wore her hair and the state of her fingernails. Now, it could be just me, but that's a bit stalkerish, James.

It was not stalkerish. It was observant. Stalkerish would be me telling you that she stirred her oatmeal counterclockwise exactly five times before taking her first bite.

Did she?

Maybe.

I rest my case.

The match is today, and I have never been more ready for a game of quidditch than I am this morning. Gryffindor morale is running high, and the team is more than ready.

Need I even say it?

WE WON!

And Lily wore red and gold ribbons in her hair to show her Gryffindor spirit and pride.

Don't forget her cloak.

She didn't have it that way intentionally.

Oh, she was so angry about it. She tore the cloak from her shoulders and vowed never to touch it or even look at it for the rest of her life. I suppose she's out burning it right now.

Don't be stupid.

I'm just saying that she didn't seem to mind having "Potter" and "Chaser" imprinted on the back of her cloak.

That's because we're friends and she was supporting the team. But she never would have had that on her cloak if you hadn't put it there.

I thought you might like it.

Well sure, but she said it herself, she liked it because "it shows my support for my friend and my Gryffindor spirit all in one."

That's what she says, anyway.

Oh, bugger off. Like it meant any more to her than that.

You never know.

Trust me, I know. And it isn't like that.

I don't like Herbology much. Besides getting to dig in the dirt, it's not too exciting. What's the practical use? I can guarantee you, once I'm out of Hogwarts I'm not going to be messing around with fanged plants that need repotting.

And today, that Stephen Perks guy had the audacity to ask Lily to Hogsmeade again. And with me standing three plants away! That guy doesn't give up, does he?

Fortunately for me, Lily politely turned him down, saying that she didn't feel that way about him. And then – and this is the part that gets me – Stephan said "It's because of James, isn't it?"

My first thought was that Stephan was saying that Lily was saying no to him because she was afraid of my reaction, but then Lily kind of twitched and answered "What? No!"

That made me feel oh-so good about myself. What? James? Him? Oh, no! No, no, no!

"It's okay if you like him, I understand."

"I don't like him. I just don't feel that way about you. Sorry."

Stephen said, yet again, that it was okay. Lily thanked him, and then -

"Good luck with James."

Stephen thinks that Lily likes me as more than a friend.

Shows how much he knows.

Hmm… more clues.

Good ones, too. We're getting some concrete information now.

Too bad Prongs is so dense. It could all be resolved so quickly if he would just wake up.

I don't think so. A certain someone isn't admitting anything, and until that happens, nothing else can happen. The someone has to be sure of where they stand before Prongs can do anything.

It's a good thing I know what you were trying to say, because if I didn't, I would be really confused right about now.

Well, I am. Someone care to explain all these "someone's" and "happenings" to me?

Later.

Today was the last Hogsmeade visit of the year. Pity. I had a great time. I spent the afternoon walking around the village with Lily, Hestia, Remus, and Peter. Both Sirius and Alice were on dates, though not with each other. Sirius was off with some girl named Marlene and Alice was with Frank Longbottom.

Well, that was the way the day started, but all at once, the others announced that they would meet us at Three Broomsticks and walked off. I didn't even tell them to! That's how it used to be; before we'd get to Hogsmeade, I'd tell everyone to gradually leave me and Lily alone. But this time, they did it all on their own.

So Lily and I walked around, and I gave her commentated tour of the village. We ended up at Three Broomsticks and since everyone else hadn't arrived yet, we bought drinks and talked about what we planned to do with our summers.

I plan to:

Play quidditch

Write Lily

Have my friends over

Write Lily

Play some more quidditch

And write Lily a few more letters

Let's just say that Lily's going to be getting quite a bit of mail this summer.

You're going to make her sick of you if you write her every bleeding moment.

I'm not going to write more than a few letters a week.

A few a week?

Yeah, why?

No reason.

I could be studying.

I should be studying.

Exams are next week, after all. I'm not worried. I'll do fine, but I really should study.

I don't want to study.

I'll go study.

There are certain advantages to having the house prefects for friends. For example: Lily found me and Sirius selling "brain enhancing potion" (in actuality, it was a potion that makes you unable to sleep) to fifth years who were panicking about their O.W.Ls and instead of giving us detention, gave us a good scolding and a warning.

I remember a time when Lily would have given me a week's worth of detention for that, not that she wouldn't punish me now. She told me that she would if she caught us again, she would have to give us detention.

So we won't get caught again.

Isn't that a bit undermining of Lily's authority? And mine as well?

Maybe. But who says I'm really going to try and sell anymore of that stuff?

Who says you aren't?

Oh, fine. I won't sell any more of it.

I need a new hat. Snape has touched mine and therefore rendered it unusable.

See, at the end of the year feast tonight, when Dumbledore announced that Gryffindor had won the house cup, the guys and I stood up and threw our hats in the air and mine landed in Snape's goblet. What rotten luck.

Looking back on this year, things have really changed. I've changed. I mean, when I go back and read my earlier entries from this year, I sound different…obviously I sound younger but there's something else I can't quite put my finger on.

In any case, I've learned so much, not only the things they've taught us in the classroom but also about friendship and loyalty and perhaps even love.

Luck is on my side. My mum is friends with Lily's mum. They've been having tea together once a week! And this Sunday, her family is coming over for dinner!

It may be summer, but I'm getting the feeling that I'm going to be seeing quite a lot of Lily.

Life is good.

Review Responses

AnneChristy: It's pretty warm where I am too. We haven't had much rain and we're getting into drought conditions. As usual, thanks for the great review!

InuBecka: Yeah, James does need better passwords. But where would be the fun in that?

Queen Of Day Dreams: Well, you were right on the happy count, but no, I'm not in love and I'm not trying to get done before July16th. I'm just trying to get done before school starts so I only have to worry about one story during the school year.

aussiechick249: I like this story better too. I'm not quite sure what you're talking about…I have been updating much quicker lately…I do like to make sure my spelling and grammar and correct and that I accomplish everything I want to in a chapter before I post it. I don't believe in posting crappy chapters everyday just to please readers.

Laughing Dragoness: I like "warm-fuzzy" chapters too! They're my favorite!

J.E.A.R.K.Potter: Sorry, it's go to end! I love this story to pieces, but it can't go on forever. :-) :-(

Abby: Thanks! Yes, only two chapters left now. Nah, it wouldn't be any fun if James gave up on his passwords. See, he thinks he's being creative, but well, we know the truth:-)

Ashley: Thanks!

illegiblewriter: Thank you! Your review meant a lot to me. Not to be critical of the people who say "cute fic! Update!" but I really like it when people tell me what they enjoy about the story, or even what they'd like to see me do differently. That tells me that they really enjoy my story and get emotionally involved with the characters. It's very inspiring. You're right, James has grown so much. Sometimes I don't even realize I'm making him do the growing up – the words just come to me and I write them down and then I look back over them when I edit and think "He's really grown up!" :-D

avovisto: Yes, it will have eighteen chapters to match the eighteen chapters of the counterpart story.

PsychoHaired: Wow! You went to a lot of trouble to find my story! That makes me really happy! I'm, glad I portray the characters as you see them!

Trapped Rabit: I guess you could call it that, although I have to say I never thought of it as a feminine role. I think a guy can be head over heels too. My beta reader is just one my friends who's good at editing. She doesn't actually have a user name here, she just goes by ilovethedotgame to avoid using her real name. I'm not sure that that was what you're looking for, but I can't tell you any more than that.

NinitademiBrooke: I know what you're talking about! I've definitely done the staring thing myself. They are coming together –slowly. But that's to be expected since Lily's in denial and on a mission to forget her feelings for him and James is a little dense about the whole thing. He's so used to hoping that Lily will like him but not having her like him as any more than friends, the possibility that she might actually like him doesn't really cross his mind. At least for now. :-D