What happened next…

Disclaimer: J.K Rowling wrote the books not me. I don't own anything. Except the characters I made up.

Summary: James likes Lily but are his feelings returned? Will Lily ever give in and go out with the marauder or is them even being friends asking too much? These two questions can only lead to confusion, fun, and much more. Rated m for later chapters. R and R.

Author's Notes: Hi. Thanks for my reviews. Hope you like this chapter. Just a short note because I wanted to put this up and I don't have much time. Thanks for reading. Please review and I will post some more.

Chapter 10

The next morning the group all woke up tired. The others had wondered the night before where Sirius and Cressida went all night but figured it was best not to bother them. Remus, Amaryllis, James and Lily had spent the night talking until Remus asked Amaryllis to come with him to show her something and Lily and James figured they should go off to bed.

Lily was first to wake up and went to her friend's room but neither of them were there. Their beds hadn't been slept in so Lily decided it was probably best to think of where they were. Lily couldn't believe Amaryllis had spent to night with Remus, she usually was a lot shyer about things like that. But she guessed it was okay. She only had one choice as to who to find because she knew he would be sleeping alone. She went to the second floor to find James. There were four rooms on this floor unlike the girls who had many more. James' room was easily found as it had his name on the door. She knocked first but as he seemed to be not answering she pushed the door open and entered his room. She was surprised to see it was quite tidy inside. Everything was red and gold, of course. The room was enormous, easily twice the size of Lily's and there was an enormous bed in the middle where Lily assumed James would be. She walked up to the bed and saw James' wasn't there. She decided to have a quick look around his room though before she left. He had a desk in the corner and shelves, which seemed to have a lot of picture frames in it. She saw many of James' parents recognising them from their portraits. Lots of happy memories obviously as all the pictures were of happy faces. Many of the pictures were group pictures of the marauders, with them messing around and dancing about or doing something evil to a Slytherin. One picture though was different, it was smaller and was in a silver frame instead of gold like the rest. Lily looked closer and saw it was indeed a picture of her. She was sitting beneath a tree reading a book, she was playing with her hair. Lily didn't remember him taking this photo; he must have taken it secretly. Lily thought it strange that he had a picture of her. But she didn't have much time to think as she was interrupted.

"Lily!" James said in a surprised voice from behind her. Lily turned around and saw James dripping wet with a towel tied loosely around his waist, obviously just coming out of the shower. Lily blushed bright red and turned around. James didn't seem embarrassed at all but he did seem shocked to see her there.

"What are you doing here?" James asked her pulling his towel off while she wasn't looking.

"Um… I was just looking for someone, the girls are all missing so I guessed they were… busy." Lily worded carefully.

"Well I guess they are… busy then." James said smirking. "I'm decent." He said and Lily turned around. His view on being decent was standing there in his boxers. Lily stayed red. He was extremely toned and was easy on the eyes. He pulled a T-shirt over his head and Lily blinked trying not to stare. He pulled a pair of trousers on and looked at her.

"So what do you want to do now? Or shall we just stay here and let you stare at me?" James said grinning. Lily came out of her glazed look and glared at him.

"No thanks I'm good," She said quickly showing no sign of being ruffled.

"How about breakfast then?" James asked.

"Sure, lets go," Lily said going to the door with James following. They passed two doors and James could hear muffled talking in both. He knew exactly what his friends were up to and couldn't help but grin. Though Remus shocked him, he wasn't so much of a player as Sirius was. They walked down the corridor and down the stairs and into the kitchen. The elves scattered when they entered rushing around getting them breakfast. Five minutes after they sat down every type of breakfast food appeared in front of them. Lily immediately stuck into the bacon, which was her favourite. She made a sandwich and before she took a big bite she looked at James. He was eating a piece of heavily buttered toast.

"James?" Lily asked,

"Yes," James mumbled through his mouthful of food.

"Well I was just thinking how much you must love living here," Lily said, "I mean its so big and its been so much fun being here." James smiled slightly and swallowed the food in his mouth.

"I do love living here, I am extremely fortunate that my parents left me this place. Its just I have no one to share it with. That's why I didn't live here after they… after they…" he cleared his throat, "after they died." He said. "I've loved having you all here this summer, its made being here so much easier. I would have been lonely without you here." He said hanging his head. A single tear dropped off his chin and he quickly swiped another away. Lily stood up when she saw he was upset. It was almost instinct that took over her. You wouldn't be able to tell but simultaneously they pulled each other into a hug and him sitting and her standing. They stood there for ages until finally James pulled away and wiped his face.

"I feel so ashamed of myself, that's the first time I have ever cried. I didn't even cry at their funeral. I was too numb. I just stood there like a piece of wood. I was so empty. It's just… its just being back here. It finally got to me." James said quietly. Lily rested an arm on his shoulder.

"You don't have to explain. Just know I am here if you need me." Lily said sitting back down and finishing her now slightly cold breakfast. They sat in silence until their friends finally joined them. Well some of their friends, Amaryllis and Remus came down looking well rested and looking slightly embarrassed. They joined them for breakfast and they all made small talk. When Amaryllis finished her bowl of cereal Lily jumped up.

"Me and 'illis are going on a walk," she said grabbing Amaryllis's arm. They walked outside into the garden and strolled along the park. The minute they were outside Lily turned to Amaryllis.

"So!" she squealed.

"So what?" Amaryllis said cheekily.

"Don't play with me? What happened last night?" Lily asked linking her arm in Amaryllis's.

"Nothing, nothing. We didn't do it. We were just fooling about on his bed and we fell asleep together, nothing full on happened. Just a bit of fun." Amaryllis assured Lily.

"Okay, well I doubt that's what Cressida will be telling us," Lily said.

"Well it looks like we're going to find out," Amaryllis said signalling walking towards them slowly smiling to herself. She joined them linking her arm to Lily's and they carried on walking.

"Okay we want details," Lily said straight away.

"What's to say, I spent the night getting shagged senseless, and the morning and in the shower if you really want to know." Cressida said outright.

"Oh my god Cressida!" Amaryllis squealed happily.

"God, it was amazing," Cressida said, "He is awesome." She sighed heavily and her friends giggled.

"I can tell he is Cressida, you're walking kind of funny," Lily said giggling. Cressida hit her gently on the shoulder and they carried on walking down the path talking.

"So this morning was weird," Lily said.

"How come?" Cressida asked.

"Well for one both my friends weren't in their beds," Lily said grinning.

"Wait both of us? You and Remus too 'illis?" Cressida asked.

"No we didn't we just slept in the same bed, nothing else. What else was weird Lil's?" Amaryllis said.

"Well for one I saw James half naked." Lily said waiting for a reaction.

"When!" Cressida cried.

"I went into his room looking for him and he was just in a towel after having a shower. He looks good wet," Lily giggled. "Then we had breakfast." She didn't feel the need to tell them about what else happened with James. He wouldn't want her telling anyone she was sure.

The day carried on with them hanging out. They were all tired from the late nights they were having.

"Sorry about the girls night in last night Lil's. It didn't really last did it?" Cressida said.

"Don't worry about it. I had fun. Hide and seek was funny." Lily said.

"Yeah, Sirius definitely found me," Cressida said insinuating something. Her friends laughed.

"So you're not worried you rushed into it?" Lily asked Cressida.

"Not really, Sirius and me, I think its really going to last. He's changed." Cressida said dreamily.

"Great because I would hate to see you hurt," Lily said.

"He promised he would never hurt me so I have to take his word for it I guess." Cressida said. Her friends smiled, obviously Cressida was happy and that's all that mattered. They walked in silence for a while until Lily broke the silence.

"I think I have feelings for James," she said looking horrified that she had said it. He friends reacted differently, they jumped around excitedly.

"That's so great Lily, you have got to get together," Amaryllis said.

"No I don't think so, its just not the right time for me or him and I don't want to ruin the friendship we have at the moment." Lily said sensibly.

"I understand, but if you do really like him then you should go for it," Cressida said.

They walked all the way around the garden then back around to the house where they met up with the boys again. Lily didn't want to act any different to James now that she had admitted her feelings to her friends. They all sat around the table and talked. She liked it this way. No complications.