Chapter 8

James stared at the wall for a minute without making a sound. He told himself that she should have known better and he couldn't blame Lily for finding someone else over the break. Even though he told himself those things, his anger mounted higher and higher.

"James..." Lily whispered as the compartment swayed and shook with the movement of the train.
He shot a look at her. His mouth was drawn in a straight line and there were embarassed red patches on his cheeks.
He turned and left the compartment. Hearing footsteps behind him, James sped up. He felt a hand on his shoulder.
He turned. LIly was standing in front of him. He towered over her and noticed that her eyes were glossy with tears.
"James.." she tried again.
"Visitng friends? Or visiting your boyfriend?" he asked scathingly, his eyes boring into her. She looked away. "Were you even going to tell me, Lily?" He didn't wait for an answer before stalking off.
A tear fell down Lily's pale cheek and she watched him walk away from her.
"No.." she answered to the silence.

The first week back at school James did well at avoiding Lily in class and in the hallways. One Sunday he woke up early and walked to owlery to send a letter home. When he pushed open the door, he saw a slight figure standing in front of the rows of birds and tying a peice of parchment to one their legs.
"Take this to Ben," she told the owl before letting it fly off out the window.
James waited a second before entering the room. He walked over to the owls and looked for his own. He made a big show of avoiding Lily, who wasn't leaving even though she has sent her letter.
He found his bird and began to attach his letter to it's leg.
"James, please talk to me," he heard Lily say behind him.
He walked to the window and let the owl fly away before turning to face her.
"Who were you writing to?" he asked.
She swallowed. "I was writing home," she answered.
He looked her in the eye and shook his head.
"Don't lie to me, Lily." He replied angrily.
Then he brushed past her and opened the door.
"Tell Ben I say 'Hi', next time," he added before shutting the door behind him.

James decided that he needed a plan. And it came to him: if Lily having a boyfriend made him feel like that, then maybe him having a girlfriend would work the same on her. And the best part of the whole plan was that his girlfriend would be a Hogwarts student, so he would be able to make her jealous all the time.

He planned it perfectly. Every Thursday at 10.30 Lily had a meeting with Professor McGonagal. She left the professor's office at 10.47, walked up the stairs reading her newest book and when she reached the top of the staircase, she turned left, left again and right to her dormitory. She would lazily give the password and enter without looking up. Then she would continue to her room, take exactly one and half minutes to grab her books and fix her hair and makeup and then walk back down to the common room and exit through the portait hole and walk to her next class.
James knew all this. He wasn't a stalker, he was just...observant.

So when he saw Lily knock on the door to McGonagal's office the next Thursday, he looked around for an appropriate target. Spotting a auburn-haired 6th year he recognized exiting the Great Hall surrounded by a gaggle of tittering girls, James leaned casually against the wall and folded his arms. As the group grew closer, he called out to her.

"Tracey!" he flashed her a smile. She turned to look at him shyly.
"Hi, James," she replied. Her girlfriends stopped a little ahead of her to watch the exchange.
"Can I talk to you for a second?" he asked her, grinning micheviously.
The group of girls erupted in giggles and whispering. Tracey walked over to James. She looked behind her at her friends and waved them away. They didn't budge, their eyes transfized on her and James.
"You wanted to talk?" she said nervously.
"Yeah," he offered his hands out and added, "here let me take those books."
She handed them over and he looked at the edge of a test paper poking out of her History of Magic textbook.
"98, wow," he said, raising his eyebrows. She blushed slightly and let her gaze fall to her feet. "Hey, I like smart girls, especially when they're as pretty as you," he smiled and her blush deepened.
"Thanks," she replied, not knowing what else to say.
"Anyway, so I was wondering what you were doing this weekend?" he changed the subject. James knew that the best way to get a girl to say yes to a date was to compliment and then ask her out.
"Nothing...really," she replied. Her eyes were wide and expectant.
"So you might wanna go out with me? To Hogsmeade maybe?" he asked. He discreetly checked his watch. 10.46. Perfect.
"Yeah, I'd like that," she replied cutely. He smiled as he saw the door behind her open and Lily walked out, her nose in a heavy green-bcked book.
He waited for her to reach the bottom of the stairs before answering.
"Great. Look, why don't you let me walk you back to the common room before your next class?"
"Okay," she replied, and as they walked up the steps he took her hand in his for effect.

A few minutes later they planned to meet back in the common room with their new books. He was waiting for Tracey as she came down the stairs. He took her books and gave her a kiss on the cheek as he noticed a certain redhead appear behind Tracey. She giggled, causing Lily to look up from her book. She raised her eyebrows at the sight of James canoodling right there in the common room. Her cheeks paled and then flushed.
He caught her eyes. "Hi, Lily!" he called to her, waving his hand in a friendly manner. "You know Tracey, right?"
She paused before answering. "Uhh, yeah, we've met."
"Great." He took a glance at his watch. "Look we gotta go; I'm walking Tracey to Herbology." He flashed a grin at her. "See you in Transfiguration?" he asked, putting his arm around Tracey's shoulder.
"S-sure," Lily stammered. "See ya."