Chapter 6

November passed in a blur and before they knew it the students at Hogwarts were cramming in packing their trunk in between the real cramming for their mid year exams. Lily appeared to be taking it very hard. You could often find her hidden behind several enormous stacks of book in the back of the library where she scribbled away madly day and night and snapped ferociously at anyone who came near her or made the slightest noise.
All of the stress was beginning to take a toll on her relationship with James. Every time he got a second to talk to her he was complaining about them not spending any time together anymore. Usually Lily would roll her eyes or glare at him while pointing out that they had exams in a week and she couldn't think about silly things like dates right now...this just made James even angrier.
One day James wandered into the library with a bouquet of roses for Lily. He crept up behind her and kissed her on the cheek, slipping his hand over her eyes.
"James, not now," she pushed his hand away and began to search for something on the table. He picked up one of her stray quills and handed to her. "Thanks," she mumbled before scrawling on a disheveled piece of parchment.
"I brought you flowers," he said, holding them out to her in a sad attempt to get her attention. She took them and laid them on the other side of the table and continued to scribble.
"Great..do you happen to have my transfiguration notes too? Because that would actually be helpful.." she replied scathingly.
James made face.
"Look, Lily. We need to talk. I cannot stand going out with you when you're like this crazy study freak all the time," he started but he could tell that she wasn't listening very hard as she flipped through her potions book looking for a chart. He grabbed the book from the table and threw it in the garbage can next to the desk. A few people looked up from their work.
"James!" she screeched shooting him a death glare as she reached into the bin to get her book.
"No, Lily," he said, putting himself in between Lily and the textbook. She continued to glare.
"Lily, we all have exams coming up and we're all freaked out about them but that doesn't mean you can forget all your friends and seclude yourself in the back of the library and just shut yourself off from the real world! C'mon." His voice had raised a bit and everyone in the room was watching to see what Lily would say.
She swallowed.
"James, I really don't need this now," she replied. Then she added in an undertone, "not from you."
James was taken aback. "Excuse me?" he asked raising his eyebrows at her.
"Look James, just because you never study for anything and everything is just handed to you on a platter doesn't mean the rest of us don't have to work hard to get what we want." As soon as the words had left her mouth Lily knew they had been a mistake. James narrowed his yes at her and lowered his voice so that only Lily could hear what he said.
"You know full well that everything is not handed to me on platter so think before you accuse me of things like that. and you know I work hard for what I want but I have priorities, Lily, and you are one of them."
"Yeah you work hard for what you want, like quidditch. You work oh so hard, James. Anyway, you only work at things to please other people, even when they aren't around to see your "hard work" pay off," Lily spat back.
"You really know how to make it hurt, don't you, Lily?" James replied.
"Well if I cause you so much pain then maybe we shouldn't be together anymore," she replied without thinking.
"Maybe we shouldn't," he replied harshly.
"Fine!" she said, throwing the roses at him.
"FINE!" he caught the roses and stormed out of the library. When he got to the first trash can, he threw them in.
Back in the library Lily was fuming. Everyone watched as she grabbed her ink bottle and threw it on the floor. Then she broke down and laid her head on the desk to cry.

James's first exam was Transfiguration. He woke on the morning of December 12 and quickly closed his eyes again when he realized that 4 hours from then he would be sitting for one of the most important exams of his life. He needed terrific grades on all of his N.E.W.T.S. in order to land a spot at the ministry where he had wanted to work since the age of 5. He sighed and looked around. Sirius was still sleeping heavily and a note was taped to the door saying that Remus was in the library doing some last minute studying. The other boys' beds were still unmade so James assumed they were in the bathroom. He hoisted himself out of bed and walked across the room to his closet where he grabbed his bathrobe and headed out the door.
In the bathroom James stared at his reflection in the mirror. He looked very tired and there were dark circles under his eyes from the lack of sleep he'd gotten in the past 5 days. He let the air out of his lungs, walked over to a stall and opened the door.

When James was finished in the bathroom he walked back into the room. Peter was brushing his hair and Jason was pulling a green T-shirt over his head as James entered the room. He looked over Sirius's and saw that he was still asleep.
"Think we should wake him?" Peter asked.
"Yeah, I'll do it," James replied as he made his way to Sirius. James noticed a spot of drool that had appeared on the pillow next to Sirius's mouth as he tapped him.
Nothing.
James tapped him again but he still slept on. James rolled his eyes and smacked his friend on the shoulder. Sirius finally opened one eye and looked at James.
"Go away...sleeping," he managed to get out before rolling over.
James sighed. He had to go to his last resort. He walked to the window and pretended to stare at something very interesting.
"Hmm..it seems as though some of the girls have finally cracked and are running around outside stripping off their clothes...interesting." Peter rushed to the window and James threw him a sad look.
Sirius was suddenly up in bed. "I'm up, I'm up!" he said. Then his faced fell as he realized he had been tricked. "I hate you."
"Ah, well I love you too, Sirius. Go have a shower; we're going to breakfast," James replied as he picked up a shirt off the floor and sniffed it before pulling it over his head.

James entered the Great Hall 3 hours later and looked around. The long tables had been replaced by dozens of single person desks. Each desk had a thick-looking packet and a quill on it. James sighed as he and the boys took seats in the same row and waited to begin the test.

"Woohoo! We're done!" Sirius jumped in the air as they reached the stair after their last exam. James laughed.
"Vacation, here we come," he said.
They walked up the stairs to their dorm room and grabbed their trunks. Peter was the only boy staying at Hogwarts for Christmas. James had invited him to stay at his house but he had opted for the quiet of the castle instead. Sirius would be going to the Potter house for the break. The four boys who were leaving grabbed their trunks and said good-bye to Peter, waving as they left. They walked the short distance to the train.
As James was about to get onboard he felt someone tap him on the shoulder.
"Hi , Lily," he said as he turned around.
"Hi, James," she replied. He waited for her to say something.
"I just wanted to say have a Happy break and I got you something before we, you know," she said. Lily rummaged in her trunk for a minute before pulling out a perfectly wrapped box.
"Oh, thanks," James replied, taking the present. "I got you something too." He found a small wrapped box in his bag and handed it to her.
She smiled. "Happy Christmas."
"You too, and uhh, see you after the break," he replied.
"Yeah, I'll..I'll see ya." Then she turned around and walked down the platform.

Hey guys, its so nice to be posting again, hope I haven't added too much and overwhelmed you! Haha

Seven will be up soon!

Jes

p.s. here is the link to that other story if you haven't found it

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