Disclaimer:  I do not own any characters, places, magic or anything to do with the world of Harry Potter that you recognise.

A completely Lily and James chapter (with a tiny bit of Sirius!).

Feeling Under (Chapter 2)

The first week of school was pretty uneventful for the Seventh Years.  The impact of coursework, homework and revision after the freedom of the summer holidays hit everyone hard and the mood was generally of a depressed feeling.  Nearly everyone left their homework to the last minute, and either had to stay up for half the night or hand their work in incomplete.  The stress got to everyone, but each person reacted in their own way.

"Lily?"  Said James in an I-need-help-I'm-creeping-to-you kind of voice.

Lily looked up from her Potions homework and looked at James suspiciously.

"What do you want?"

"Any chance that you'd let me look at your Defence Against the Dark Arts homework?"

"Nope.  Do it yourself – I had to.  Or you could ask Remus, as he's your friend and top of the class – he's as good as the teacher!"  Lily thought for a second.  "Why do you need help anyway?  I thought you were really good at everything."

James smirked.  "Ha, ha, very funny Lily.  I am good at it, brilliant in fact, it's just that I don't feel like staying up all night."

"What a shame, I feel really sorry for you."  Lily said sarcastically.  "Goodnight."

Lily walked back to her dorm and flopped out on her bed.  She felt something dig into her back and sat up, reaching behind to find the culprit.

Lily blankly stared at the Transfiguration book before realisation set in.  A frown formed on her face as she grabbed some fresh parchment, a quill and some ink and made her way back to the Head's common room.

James was sat with his head in his hands, desperately trying to keep his mind on the Defence Against the Dark Arts homework on the table in front of him.  His eyelids started to droop and his body and mind gave way to sleep.

Lily laughed aloud when she saw James.  He actually looked quite cute, though she couldn't believe she was even thinking that.  She sat down opposite him at the table and slammed down her Transfiguration book.  This had absolutely no effect on James, who seemed to be a deep sleeper.  Lily stared at his face and managed to resist the urge to move one of his hands away from his head.  His hair was even messier than usual – he'd been running his hands through it nervously, trying to get himself to concentrate.

"James?"

Lily waved a hand in front of his face.  Some of James' hair that was sticking out brushed against Lily's hand.  Lily studied James' hair, and suddenly became fascinated by it.  She raised a hand cautiously and gently stroked James' hair.  Lily blushed and was glad that there was nobody around to see, luckily James hadn't woken up.

Lily looked away from James and tried to concentrate on her Transfiguration homework.  She found herself gazing at James every time she looked up.  He was definitely better when he was asleep.  Lily decided that she needed some refreshments, so she made her way down to the kitchens.  She didn't need to avoid any teachers – she was a head pupil now and could easily come up with a believable excuse if need be.

She walked into the kitchen quietly, so that she didn't startle the house elves and asked for a selection of food – Popcorn (Salted), boiled egg sandwiches, tuna sandwiches, grated cheese, chocolate, crisps (in assorted flavours), cola bottles, cherry cola bottles, a mix of sour sweets and a pot of tea. 

As the house elf excitedly ran to get Lily's choice of foods, Lily turned around and nearly jumped out of her skin when she saw Sirius Black sitting at one of the tables gnawing on a chicken drumstick. 

"Greetings Lily Flower, care to join me?" 

"Just came down for a little snack, I need to go back upstairs and do my Transfiguration homework."

"A little snack?  You just ordered one hell of a 'snack' Lily, sounded more like a midnight feast to me."

Lily blushed.  "Well, what can I say?  I'm starving hungry, and I can't concentrate on an empty stomach."

"You sound like James.  He always says that when he's dreading his workload, it puts it off for a bit longer."

Lily grinned.  "Well, maybe he's actually right about something!  He's still doing homework too, except it was so mind numbingly boring that he fell asleep."

Sirius let out a short bark of laughter.

A house elf rushed up to Lily holding a huge tray of the selection of food and drink that Lily had requested.

"Thank you."  The house elf rushed away looking delighted to have pleased Lily.  "Anyway, I better get back to that homework.  Bye Sirius!"

"Bye!"

Lily put the tray at one end of the table and poured herself a cup of tea.  James awoke when Lily started crunching popcorn.  He opened his eyes sleepily and stared around. 

"Shit – I fell asleep.  How long was I asleep for?"

Lily grinned.  "Only about half an hour.  I didn't want to wake you up."

James' eyes fell on the food.  "Well, it's probably because I tried to concentrate on an empty stomach, that's never a good idea."

Lily laughed.  "I agree.  Help yourself."

James ate some cherry cola bottles.  "You have extremely good taste Lily, cherry cola bottles are my favourite."

"Mine too.  Tea?"

"Yes please."

Lily poured James a cup of tea, and they continued with their homework.  They drank a lot of tea and ate a lot of cola and cherry cola bottles while they worked.  Eventually, about two hours later, James triumphantly put his quill down and scanned through his Defence Against the Dark Arts homework.  He grinned at Lily.

"How much have you got left?"

Lily, concentrating on her work, didn't answer James, but continued writing.  A few minutes later, she put her quill down and looked up happily to find James staring at her.

"Finished."

"Finito."

"Done and dusted."

"Go me."

"Go you."

"Wahoo."

"Goodnight."

"Sleep tight."

"Don't let the bed bugs bite."

"Bed bugs?"

"Yeah, anyway…goodnight."

"Night."

The next day was Saturday, otherwise known as lie-in day.  Lily got up at two o'clock, showered, got dressed and walked down to the hall for a late lunch.  As she walked through a hallway a sudden wave of sickness washed over her and her surroundings started to sway, then spin.  She started to fall backwards and found herself unable to stop the motion.  She anticipated her impact onto the stone floor and waited for it to come.  It didn't.  Lily heard footsteps rushing towards her from behind and then felt a strong pair of arms encircle her before she hit the ground.  A huge wave of relief rushed over Lily.

"Lily?  Are you okay?"  James softly said into Lily's ear. 

"I don't feel so good."  Lily's voice was a barely a whisper, and her head pounded with each word.

"Come on, I'll take you to the hospital wing."

James carefully positioned one of his arms behind Lily's back to support her and stop her from falling as she walked.  Lily leaned against James as she walked, and found that she was glad he was there.  Maybe he had changed – he certainly seemed to be a lot more considerate towards other people's feelings.

When they reached the hospital wing Lily thanked James and he promised to come and see her.

A/N: Thanks to Kirsten and Ti, my only two reviewers (sniff, sniff).  I don't know how this chapter ended up as long as it did, but I wanted to make it quite long (the main idea of it was really short) and it ended up quite long (in my opinion!).  Anyway, I'll stop rambling, if anyone is reading this (Is there anyone out there??)  please give me a review!  I will be eternally grateful! Thanks!

Tanya*

P.S Please hit the review button! :O)