Chapter 6: First Lessons, Then Love
The first week passed by so quickly, James was sincerely considering staying in Diggory's body for a third week. But he refused to drink that stupid Polyjuice shit for another seven days. The Divinations lessons were great with Lily. They were hilarious, actually! James knew that she had no idea what she was talking about and yet he nodded as if he understood. Once in a while, she would look at him for no reason and smile. James used all his will power to stop himself from kissing her right on the spot. Remus and Sirius were depending on him not to screw up. He couldn't risk screwing up anymore. But when Lily was leaning in so close that he could smell her hair, and when she took his palm into her hand to show him palm reading, he nearly died with the craving to hold her. He had put himself in this situation. She was so close but so far. When she started to trace her finger along his palm (quite on purpose), he almost whimpered.
"You know what?" he said suddenly, standing up so he wouldn't do anything that he would regret.
"Hm?" Lily looked up at him positively beaming. She hadn't been able to work her flirty charms for a while, and they seemed to be working pretty well on this one.
"I want to teach you to fly," James blurted. He had wanted to teach her to fly a million times before, but the last time he asked (or just mentioned broom closet) he got his ass kicked. Lily wouldn't dare hurt her love interest.
"To..to fly…?" Lily stuttered. If there was one thing she was afraid of more than failing, it was flying. She closed her eyes and swallowed at the thought of being high in the air where the people looked like ants.
"Come with me," he urged as he took her hand and tugged. She stuck to her chair.
Then gripped the table so hard her knuckles turned white. James saw and became highly alert of her fear-stricken face.
"Are you alright?" James asked letting go of her hand and he sat back down, hating himself for being insensitive to her obvious fear.
"I'm scared," she said very quietly.
"I know," he said quietly in return.
She looked at him with a question in her eyes.
"That's why I'm going to teach you. It will be all right. I won't let anything happen to you, I promise. Now, come on!" he smiled to put her at ease and it seemed to work. At least she got out of her chair.
James led her to the Quidditch field, where he felt at home. Mounting his broomstick, he decided to stretch some dormant muscles he used in Quidditch and did a few loop-de-loops and more just to show off.
When he landed she was positively beaming, but what she said caught him off guard.
"That was wonderful! You fly just as well as James Potter! Just like him in fact! If I didn't know any better I'd say you were him! Imagine that. Haven't you tried out for Quidditch?" she called to him. He froze and ruffled his hair nervously.
"Oh, that kid's got it made for Quidditch. I'm just an admirer," he called back to save himself.
He made it look so easy, but she knew otherwise. When he came over to where she was standing, she hid her blush. She was going to look ridiculous and he knew it. What if she fell on her bottom? That would be so horrible.
"Come on Lil. It won't be that bad, I promise. Just kick off and hover. If you fall, I'll catch you," he swore solemnly.
Lily grinned. Maybe she should just fall on purpose then!
He held the broom steady as she mounted.
"This isn't very comfortable," she muttered.
"Try being a man and having to do it," he smiled.
"A man, eh?" she mocked.
He laughed and told her if she kept it up, he would jinx her broom. She shut up.
"Now, kick off."
She did.
"Hover."
"How do you hover!" she screamed down at him as she kept going higher and higher. Then she just screamed out of pure fright. She hated being up here, having no control over what was going to happen. She was suppose to have control, but she didn't understand how to apply it. She tried twisting her broom to the right, and she started to dive down instead.
"Shit," he cursed under his breath while mounting and kicking off with his own broom to chase after her.
"Oh my God!" she cried out throwing her arms around the thin broom, "Please, oh please, don't let me die!"
Then she was still. As in, not moving. She looked around and she was still in the air.
"Hello—behind you," James called out.
Lily turned around and Amos had his hand fastened securely on the back of her broom.
"I want to get down," she whimpered.
"Don't you want to try again?" he insisted. He hadn't been able to catch her or anything. And if Lily did fall, James was sure that Remus would not have let him let Lily die, so he would have to catch her.
"Maybe some other time," she said, "Bring me down?"
He lowered her to the ground and helped her get off. She was bent over, almost as if she were going to vomit.
"You okay?" he asked as he came over to rub her back.
"Yeah, just peachy!" She muttered as she tasted the bile in her throat.
They started to walk towards the school, but Professor McGonagall had spotted them and chased after them. Running with one hand attached to her skirts and one hand flailing furiously in the air, she called to Lily.
"Ms. Evans!" she called out. Lily turned around and McGonagall walked faster, "Have you forgotten?"
"I'm sorry Professor? What?" McGonagall had a disappointed look on her face and her fists attached to her hips.
"Ms. Evans, we're going to Hogsmeade. As Head Girl, it is your duty to gather the children, is it not? Potter isn't here, obviously…nor is he anywhere for that matter," James almost laughed, "But is it too difficult to do it on your own?"
"Well…" she looked at Amos wishing she didn't have to go to Hogsmeade alone to baby-sit the students.
"I can help, Professor," James said gallantly.
"Oh. Diggory," McGonagall looked at him with the least bit of interest. She approved, waved them off and walked back into the school.
Lily turned back to him positively beaming.
What a nice guy! She thought.
"You didn't have to do that, you know," she said as they started to walk.
"No problem. I wanted to spend more time with you anyway," James stopped.
Damn it! I shouldn't have said that!
Lily stopped and looked up at him.
Oh…so he likes me?
"Not that I like you or anything," James tried to save himself.
Lily's face fell. So, he doesn't like me.
An awkward silence fell upon the both of them until they reached Hogsmeade. To lighten the mood, James took Lily to get candy. She said she hadn't any money, but he insisted to pay for her. She blushed. James pulled out the coins in his pocket and Lily gasped.
"You're as rich as James Potter, too!" she mumbled. James planted one fist on his hip and gave her an exasperated look.
"Now why are you always comparing me to James Potter? Do you like the kid or something?" Lily turned pink.
"No!" she said almost too quickly.
How could anyone possibly think that. I've only brought James up twice with Amos. Did I just call him…James? Ahh! I meant Potter. Specifically Potter. Focus: Amos is right in front of you. This is what you want. Stop thinking about Potter.
"Lily?" James prodded after a couple minutes of silence.
"Yes?"
"You like him, don't you?"
"Well as a friend, I suppose…besides all the times he's a jackass and the times that he's pranking people or making them feel bad about themselves or…"
"Whoa, whoa, whoa!" James said completely overwhelmed by the negative.
"What?"
"Isn't there anything good about the kid?" James queried, hoping that there would be a many good things about him as much as there were bad things about him.
"Plenty. Do we have to discuss this?" Lily wanted to avoid all thinking about James.
"Plenty, huh?" James wanted to know everything, "We'll talk about it sooner or later. I'd like to know what you think about Potter."
"Later than sooner," Lily mumbled.
They ended up spending the whole day with each other, having a good time and laughing. Of course, Lily was enjoying herself and James was frustrated with a pasted smile on his face. It was so hard to keep himself in check when Lily liked him for the week. And she would like him for the next one after that. If he kept taking the potion, she would like him all the time! But that was selfish. Amos, the real Amos, needed to live his life. James just wished he didn't have to turn into himself and know that Lily hates him when she was here, right beside him, laughing and smiling. When they got back to the school, James didn't want to end his day with Lily just yet. It was pretty dark and James looked up at the sky and in the corner of his eye, he saw the Astronomy Tower. He beamed.
"You know what else I'm having trouble with in school, Lily?" he said as they entered the Great Hall for dinner.
"What?"
"Astronomy."
"But we ended that course two years ago, Amos? What do you mean?" Lily looked at the man who she'd just spent over one week and 8 hours with. Her knight in shining armor. But he kept randomly bringing up subjects and things to talk about that Lily didn't quite understand him.
"It was so interesting though; I never really understood the constantations," he said as they sat down at the same table. Lily cocked her head to the side in confusion and after a few moments, she understood what he meant.
"Constellations?" Lily corrected. Amos nodded.
"You wanna do something really cool?" James' eyes widened in excitement.
"Now? But—McGonagall… and Dumbledore," Lily stuttered.
"Grab some food and I'll go out first and you follow a few minutes behind. Meet me in the foyer," James got up without waiting for Lily to answer. This way, she wouldn't have a choice whether to stay or go.
"But—!" she tried to say as Amos ran off with a whole roasted chicken.
Like no one will notice that? She thought sarcastically, sighed, and knew she had no choice but to meet him in the foyer. Grabbing a few cookies from the dessert tray and two cups of cider, she walked out of the Great Hall.
Remus had spotted all that had just occurred, summarized it for Sirius and all they could do was slump miserably on the bench and shake their heads in disapproval. James was up to no good and at this rate, he would have to stay Amos for a long time. Even with both their serious warnings, James was ignoring the fact that he was Amos and not himself.
"What are we doing?" Lily asked as she walked briskly towards Amos. He had a silly grin on his face and broke into a sprint when she was close enough to follow.
"What—?" she rolled her eyes at how foolish he looked running with a roasted chicken and she running after him with cookies and goblets.
He made it all the way to the Astronomy Tower and then looked back to wait for her to catch up, but surprisingly she wasn't that far behind.
"Up here," he said between breaths.
"The Astronomy Tower," she stated and eyed his suspiciously. Not that she had any experience, but this place was known as a perfect make-out spot. She had heard her roommates brag constantly of the stars above them while…yadayadayada…
"What are we here for?" she asked, hoping she wouldn't be getting the answer she expected.
"A picnic," he said sweetly as he closed the door.
Conjuring a picnic blanket, plates and a few other necessities, he sat down next to the large telescope and lighted a couple candles.
"Lumos," he whispered.
The scene was more than romantic. The candles were dim, the stars were bright, the sky was clear, the moon was out, Amos was sitting peacefully no more than 3 feet away and they were going to have a picnic instead of having dinner. Yet, Lily was confused. Was this a date? And if it was a date, why were they on it? Wasn't Amos just someone she liked a lot, but he didn't like her in that way? At least that's what it seemed like up until like week. He had been paying so much attention to her that she was flattered and surprised.
Ask him if it's a date. A little voice in her mind nagged.
No! she said back to the little voice.
Come on…you know you want to! It said back.
This is stupid, I am not going to have a mental conversation when I have a real person to talk to! She realized that if she continued further to have a discussion with herself, she would go insane.
"Um—Amos," she began to speak tentatively.
James was more alert than usual. Neither of them had spoken for a while and he was just getting use to the silence.
"Is…This will sound really…but…" she had lost all sense of speech. She couldn't even bring herself to say the word!
"What?" James examined her tortured face.
"Is this a date?" she finally blurted and James looked aghast.
He looked around. They were at the Astronomy Tower, picnic blanket, stars, candles…it was a date. It was an unintentional date.