James woke up before any of the other students in his dormitory room. He grabbed his robes and quietly slipped out of the room. He slipped by the portrait of the fat lady and woke her with a start.
"What are you doing up so early? She asked sleepily.
"I've got to get my bath before the others so I might get to take a ride on my broomstick before classes." He gave a grin and she quickly caught on.
"Oh right, you're the Gryffindor star seeker. You've got to get your practice in." and she quickly dozed back off.
He walked past a window that showed the sun just peeking over the horizon. He entered the prefect's bathroom and walked past a picture of a beautiful mermaid basking in the morning sun. She heard him shut a door and slide into one of the bathtubs and she began to sing. James relaxed in the giant tub and fell asleep to the sound of her voice. He didn't stir until he heard the click of the door and someone walk into the main chamber of the bathroom. The mermaid had long since stopped her singing and now the song was replaced by a familiar female voice humming.
"Oh no my clothes are on the other side of the door." James panicked and looked around for anything to cover himself long enough to grab his clothes. There was a tall, thin shelf to hold shampoos and concoctions to make his hair even more wild and crazy or potions to tame his hair and brighten his complexion. But he didn't need any of those things to help him be more attractive. And he especially didn't need any of those things to cover himself up.
He lifted himself out of the tub and crept to the door. "Um, excuse me" he let a nervous laugh escape. "Do you think you could hand me my towel and robe? I forgot to bring it in with me." He asked
"James Potter is that you?" The girl from behind the door asked.
"Uh yeah. So could you?" He asked again.
"Sure, just a minute." A few seconds later a towel dropped from above the door.
"Umm there's no robe out here. All I found was your towel." The girl innocently replied.
James quickly wrapped the towel around his waste and hesitantly walked out. His hair was still wet but nothing could hold it down, so it was just as messy as if it were dry. He shook his head out of embarrassment when he noticed who the girl was.
Venus stood across the main chamber with his robe in her hand. "Is this yours?"
James stood against the door water dripped off his head and ran down his broad shoulders. His anger coated his embarrassment and he swiftly raised his hand towards the brunette and yelled, "Accio Robe". The robe slipped out of her snug grip and flew across the room to his hand.
Lily opened the door just as the robe flew across the room. She looked to her left and saw James standing with an angry look on his face. She turned to her right and saw Venus with a sly grin painted across her face. She realized what had happened as soon as she saw the look on both of their faces. She ignored Venus and stared at James. Did he know how cute he was when he was angry, not to mention the fact that all he had on was a towel and he was dripping wet.
"Playing a nasty joke on James are we? I would think that a mature fifth year like yourself would have outgrown such childish pranks." She laughed at herself, she knew that she and the four marauders had not outgrown childish pranks but it didn't hurt to call Venus on it. "The Gryffindor bathroom is almost empty if you need to use it, and this bathroom is reserved for prefects. I'm sure you must have slipped in on accident." Lily was proud of herself for being so rude to Venus.
Venus noticed the rudeness and quietly left the bathroom. James stood in awe, not bothering to put his robe on. He had regained his confidence "Thank you so much. You know I could have used your help last night. I don't know how I keep getting put in these situations. Having a girl like you around might just come in handy." He gave her a wink and returned to his stall to dry off and get dressed.
Lily quickly washed off and got dressed; she too had gotten up early to take a ride on her broomstick. James waited for her to finish and they both walked to the quidditch field together.
They both kicked off at the same time. Lily flew to the top of one of the stands and rested in the air. She loved to look down at all the seats and to see how far she could see. James, however, liked more action he circled the stands a few times and then dipped very close to the ground. This was one of his famous moves. He went straight down to the ground so close that it looked as if he would slam into it and then he turned completely around and headed straight up towards the clouds.
Lily watched as James flew. She loved to see how smooth he flew. When he was on a broom he was a different person. He didn't worry about anything except the broom and himself. James loved to do dangerous stunts with his broom. One of his favorites was the one he was performing now. He stood on his broom as if he were surfing, flying straight at one of the hoops and just as he got to the hoop, he jumped off. The broom flew through the hoop and his feet landed safely on the on the broomstick.
Lily flew to the middle of the pitch and waited to see the next stunt James would pull. But instead he flew in her direction and circled her a few times. She saw what he wanted so she flew under his broomstick and swerved in an out of the stands, with James following quickly behind her. She tried everything she could but she couldn't shake him off.
Finally she flew back into the center of the pitch to give up. She started to raise her hand to surrender but James flew straight at her. He only missed her by inches, blowing her hair away from her face. Just as he flew by her, he grabbed her hand and the force of which he flew, caught them up in a whirlwind.
They both spun around each other holding on by only one hand. Lily thought she was going to fly out of control. She was so afraid to look up, for some reason she thought that if she looked up she would lose control and go spinning into one of the stands. Finally she mustered enough courage to look up to see James' green eyes glittering manically. His lips were parted in one of the biggest smiles she had ever seen. She knew this look she saw this look on his face when he was about to catch the golden snitch.
James looked into her eyes. His heart was beating uncontrollably. He didn't want to let go of her hand for anything. So he raised his free hand and stopped their uncontrollable spinning. Her red locks slowly landed on her shoulders again she looked down at his free hand which was now resting on her broom. It seemed like they were stuck in time. Everything stopped around them as James leaned in and kissed her passionately. His lips were soft and warm; hers had a hint of cherry fizz pop. Lily thought her heart was going to beat out of her chest. Her free hand was shaking. James had not let go of her other hand.
"I think I'm going to fall off my broomstick." She said. His laughter broke the silence. He kissed her again quickly and grabbed her around her waste and pulled her onto his broom. He held tightly to her and raced to the ground.
"We've got to get to our first class. Or we'll be late. Its embarrassing to be late especially being a prefect" She laughed.
A large tabby cat sat on the desk in the front of the Transfiguration classroom. The sixth years were used to the cat with spots that resembled spectacles near its eyes. The cat blinked once and then transformed into Professor McGonagall.
"Now I know sixth years are used to my transformation, but you will all be happy to know that this year you will begin to learn to turn yourselves into an animal of your choice. We will spend the rest of the class choosing the animals you wish to turn yourselves into and going over the rules set by the ministry of magic that deal with Animagi.
Lily grinned at James. They had taken seats next to Sirius and Peter. Remus had taken sick already on the first day. The three boys had secretly already become animagi a few years ago. Lily, however had just become an Animagus. Last year after she caught the four boys in the act. The four of them knew they were going to have a hard time faking problems. If they were too good at transforming themselves, McGonagall would definitely know something was up.