White Stag
As promised, James came to the clearing the next day, looking much better and much more awake than the previous day.
Lily told him more about Petunia and her family, and soon found herself just as comfortable with James in human form as she had been with the stag. She especially liked that he was just as good a listener when he could talk as when he couldn't. They had been in the clearing for a while when she realized that it had been just her talking, prattling on and on with no thought to if James wanted to talk or not. She quickly asked him about it.
He smiled. "It's not a problem."
"That just means you want to talk but you're being too polite to say so," she retorted.
He laughed. "Nobody told me that," he said, still laughing slightly. "I don't want to talk, Lily, don't worry."
She raised an eyebrow at him. "Was it really that funny?" she asked, laughing a little at him.
He shook his head. "Probably not. The caffine from the coffee Remus made me drink this morning hasn't worn off yet, it's normal."
"He made you drink coffee? Still tired?" she asked, slightly worried.
"Nah, he's just being himself and worrying about us. He made Sirius and Peter drink some too," he added, seeingthe question in Lily's eyesat the word 'us'.
She nodded and looked at her watch. "We should probably go back up to school," she said. "Break's almost over, we're going to be late for class."
James got up, then reached down to help Lily up. She took the offered hand and got up. She smiled as she let go of his hand.
"What?" James asked, seeing the smile.
"You always did that," she said, remembering the stag bending his head so Lily could pull herself up using his antlers. He smiled too.
"Old habits die hard?" he said, running one hand through his hair. She laughed, grabbing his wrist and pulling his hand away from his hair. He laughed too. "Race you to the castle!" he said with a grin.
"Oh, you're on, Potter!" she said, an almost identical smile on her face.
Yay, they're still happy.:smiles: And Lily still doesn't know about the other three. As to your guess, Hogwartsgirl52 (ahh, that's really getting long.Got anickname I can use?), I would have to say... you're right. :winks: Question is, how long will it take Lily to figure that out?
And have you noticed that James isn't using anybody's nicknames around Lily? Wonder why... :raises eyebrows: