UNPRANKABLE

Chapter 6- Conversations

(I won't bother with a disclaimer, 'cause you all know what's hers and what's mine! ;-)

"Are you really sure about what you're doing?" James asked cautiously as he watched Lily dump a large amount of brown powder into their cauldron.

"Have I ever been wrong?" she answered, smiling. James opened his mouth to respond and Lily shushed him with her expression. "Don't start with me, Potter," she said, turning back to her potion. James smiled as he saw the corners of her mouth twitching with mirth.

"But it says to put in 2 tablespoons of -" he began, stepping towards her to look inside their cauldron.

"And I put in three," she interrupted, dragging her big green eyes away from the slightly bubbling potion to glance at him. "I know, it's just that I'm sure it'll make the potion work better. Now you cut up those weeds, we have to get them in before the potion starts boiling."

James smiled as he cut the purple weeds into small rectangles and dropped them one by one into the cauldron. Each one emitted a small sizzling noise as it sunk in the bubbly water. It had been only a couple weeks since the incident in the Great Lake, and yet he felt completely at ease with the redhead. He liked the way she had naturally fit in with his friends, and the way he felt at ease with her friends. It seemed like the most natural, obvious thing that they should all hang out together. And what's more, James had done the impossible: he had decided to stop dating random girls! Well, he was in the process of stopping. His grin widened slightly. He was improving, he was getting there!

"Put the rest of the weeds in now!" ordered Lily primly, interrupting his thoughts. James quickly dumped the rest of the weeds, and stir it slowly counter-clockwise. Now it was Lily's turn to watch him.

She loved being his friend. She had to admit, she'd had him all wrong, for the most part. Lily smiled, her green eyes dancing with the soft blue flame that was heating the potion. James turned out to be a pretty nice guy, and he had stopped being a playboy – mostly. She could still occasionally hear James brag to Sirius about his earlier conquests, but things were going perfectly well, since Mona had been shipped off to some other school across the ocean. It seemed like every day was a sunny one, and every moment was a happy one. It was almost like being in love...

Lily froze. Why did she think that? Why did she think that?

Stop.

Breathe.

Lily took a deep breath, and let it out in a big whoosh, biting her lip anxiously. There we go. "I'm not in love with James," she said to herself, smiling weakly at the mere thought.

James stopped stock still, barely believing his ears. "L-Lily?" he stammered, his eyes wide and fixated on her. Lily's eyes were equally surprised; she hadn't realized she had said that aloud. Lily could feel her cheeks burning with embarrassment, and she turned away from James to face the wall.

Lily reddened. "Nothing, nothing! I didn't say ANYTHING!" she yelled loudly, closing her eyes tightly and shaking her head back and forth while it was cradled in her trembling hands.

"But you...you said..." James stuttered, his face utterly stunned. "What – could you repeat that?"

Lily stopped shaking her head abruptly. "A-a watched pot never boils!" she said as convincingly as she could, wincing at the feeble excuse she had come up with.

"That's not what you-" James began, but Lily cut him off.

"Of course that's what I said!" she interrupted shakily. "Ja – Potter, we have to work on the potion before it goes bad- it has to simmer for only a minute and I'm sure we've gone past it!"

She had said James, right? He didn't know what she had said before- but he was sure she had said James.

She turned her head back to the potion, while James, still not quite comprehending what Lily had said, followed suit. His mind was still whirling with the fact that she called him James...

James sat in History of Magic, obviously bored out of his mind. He leaned back and crossed his arms, sighing loudly and glancing around the room. Sirius was staring at a pretty girl next to him, Louise Krenshaw. She stretched and grinned at Sirius, who continued to stare at her protruding chest. Remus and Peter were murmuring to one another and pointing to a graph one of them had drawn on a piece of spare parchment - he was guessing it was about the prank they were planning. Nothing huge, he had to admit, but a pretty good prank all the same. But then again, their pranks always were.

As the teacher droned on, James turned discreetly to look at Lily. He couldn't help but smile. She was avidly reading a book that she'd hidden on her lap. He loved when she'd read in class like that, because then he could stare at her all he wanted without her noticing.

He dropped his quill loudly and deliberately near her. She looked up suddenly and caught his eye. He blushed slightly, smiled, and gestured towards the quill. She raised her eyebrows, picked up the quill, and tossed it at his head. He caught it nimbly between his forefinger and his middle finger, grinning at her. She smirked back at him and placed her book in her bag. She then sighed contently, a satisfied look on her face, having finally finished her book. History of Magic was her least favorite subject, as it was most people's. Who cares how many people Ulgrid the 4th slaughtered in 1823?

Suddenly she felt something hit her hand. She glanced downwards and saw a small folded piece of parchment that had "Lily" written on it in Jame's handwriting. She picked it up delicately. She opened it up, and triumphantly put down an "x".

"I won!" she whispered to him gleefully, .

"Again?" he whispered back, a pretend pout on his face. "Man, I'm really bad at tic-tac-toe."

She laughed. James couldn't help but smile too at the look on her face.

"Hey, give me your bracelet," he said suddenly, holding out his hand and glancing around to make sure no one was looking at them.

"Why?" she asked, still laughing slightly. However, she unclasped her bracelet and handed it to him out of curiousity..

He took it carefully and hid it in his hand while Lily watched interestedly. When he opened his hands, the bracelet was lying in them, twisted into a gorgeous flower shape.

"How did you do that?" said Lily breathlessly, overwhelmed by this simple gesture.

"Magic," he whispered softly, handing it back over to her. Their hands touched for a slight second when he handed her bracelet back to her, and Lily jumped at the feeling of electricity that surged through her. She quickly jerked her hand away from his, clutching her bracelet for dear life and running her fingers on the smooth surface of it over and over to calm her fast beating heart.

Lily walked down the hall hurriedly, having only a few minutes to get to the Green House for Herbology. She stopped suddenly, and heard loud footsteps behind her. She absently turned her head, and caught sight of a girl hurrying towards her. It was Amelia Sophea, one of James' most desperate fans.

"Hi Lily," she said sweetly with a sickening fake smile.

"Hi Amelia," answered Lily.

"Well," Amelia continued in her whiny, sugary tone. "You seem to be spending an awful lot of time with James... "

Lily started to laugh slightly, a true smile on her face. "Are you suggesting that James and I are dating?"

"That's exactly what I am suggesting," said Amelia in a haughty tone, convinced that she was right.

Lily stared at Amelia in disbelief. "Have you people ever heard of a guy and a girl being friends?" she answered exasperatedly.

"Well he gave you a ring!" protested Amelia, whiny as ever.

"So?" Lily said, her smile disappearing and being replaced with a look of annoyance. "That's nothing!"

"He never gave me anything!" said Amelia, frowning and stamping the floor in anger and immaturity.

Lily sighed. Why did they all think stupid things like that? Couldn't she and James just be friends? She supposed these type of girls had NEVER had a friend that was a boy...

"We're just friends!" she exclaimed.

Amelia looked at her for a second, and then said, "You're afraid, Lily."

Startled by this, Lily glanced at Amelia in confusion. "What do you mean, I'm afraid?"

"You're afraid of becoming more than friends with James," said Amelia, smirking as she saw Lily's face redden. "You're afraid it will ruin your reputation and – " she paused dramatically. "You're afraid of being hurt by him."

Before Lily had a chance to respond to this (except for her gaping mouth and clueless expression), James had turned the corner and was now making his way towards her.

"See ya," said Amelia in a satisfactory tone as she brushed past Lily, and when Lily turned around again, she was gone.

"Hey," James called softly from behind, his hand reaching out to tap her shoulder. She turned around and found herself looking into James' smiling face.

"What's wrong?" he asked, genuinely concerned at the look on Lily's face – it was a look of surprise and confusion.

"Nothing," she answered nervously, taking notice of how close their faces were.

James shrugged. "If you say so! C'mon, we're going to be late!"

He motioned to her with his hand as he walked forward and smiled at her, his hazel eyes twinkling mysteriously.

She smiled back, and ran up to him so they could walk to class together. Their hands touched again, and this time, Lily didn't pull away.

Lily sat uncomfortably in a large armchair facing the fire, trying to think of what she should put down for her astronomy homework. She shifted positions, trying to concentrate as best as she could, but it was hard to concentrate at 2 in the morning. Lily was not a morning person. She rested her head on the arm of the chair and curled up very small, so that no one could see her from the other side.

Everyone else was sleeping, so the common room was calm. Suddenly she heard soft footsteps and hushed whispers behind her. She turned around and raised her head slightly so only her eyes were showing over the plushy red chair. She rolled her eyes when she saw all four of the marauders tiptoeing towards the portrait hole. She frowned and squinted, trying to see what they were doing to no avail.

Suddenly, James stopped. He was leading the other 3, and when he stopped, all the others did too.

"James?" Remus asked, confused at his sudden pause. "Why did you stop?"

James shook his head. "I thought I heard something- well not heard, I felt something! Never mind, lets just go."

As they quietly closed the portrait hole door shut, Lily got up and crept silently after them, her brain working overtime at what James had said. What was he talking about anyway? She stuck her head through the portrait hole in just enough time to see Peter round the corner. She got up quickly and followed them, trying to make as little noise as possible.

Her instincts were urging her to follow them.

And that look on Sirius' face told her that something was about to happen...

A/N: Woah, was that a long update or what! I'm soooo sorry for not updating earlier, but I have been so busy, and frankly, not in the mood to work on the story. But now I'm up and about again- and if you're nice to me and review despite the fact that I've been an evil, un-updating person, maybe I'll update by Thursday!