A/N: -Sighs- This chapter took really long to post. I wrote the entire thing by the pool at Niagra Falls, and this idiot boy kept doing cannon balls and splashing me. He was a hillbilly, literally. -Snarls at stupid boy- Oh well, sorry it took me so long to update. I went on a lot of vacations this year. It won't happen again. -Bows-

I was checking out the stats of this story, and I found that 232 people veiw this fic. Sowhy do I only have 13 reviews? Seriously people,you could take 3.5 seconds and write, "You and your fic suck" for all I care, just review! Thanks to the people who DID review: Anjali, Talia,Zemmy, babi-gurl8907, Daisy Pixie, xLynex, ashlynn, and Shattered Serenity. You guys are so awesome!

So, without further ado, here's chapter 3!

Disclaimer: Ok, raise your hand if you actually think that I own HP or Don't Let Him Go. -Crickets chirp- Didn't think so.

He makes you so angry, he makes you so sore

Several weeks had passed since James Potter had declared his desire to know more about Lily. The two had done everything in their power to avoid each other. They continued on like this through Thanksgiving and well into December. They both knew, however, that they would someday have to confront what was said, and the more Lily thought about it, the more she dreaded it.

Lily was in a state of utter confusion. She absolutely despised not knowing what to do or what was about to happen, yet she found herself in that very place. She seemed more prone to anger and klutziness, which both worried and confused her friends. Lily had told Claire, Alice and Sarah all about Remus' odd conversation with 'Prongs', the attack of Snape, and her exchange with Potter, yet none of them seemed to understand what was bothering Lily so much.

"It's not odd for a guy to want to know more about a girl," Claire had said. True, Lily thought, but is it normal for your enemy to suddenly crave information about you? Something about this whole situation just didn't make sense, and the mystery of it all was causing Lily to lose focus.

In fact, she had been having a series of horrid days which either involved her forgetting something of utmost importance or ending up in the hospital wing. And when Lily awoke from a restless sleep, promptly fell over the side of her four poster bed and landed spread eagle on the cold, hard floor, she knew that today was going to be another one of those days.

The loud thud of Lily toppling onto the floor woke Claire, Alice and Sarah up instantly.

"Don't kill me!" Alice screamed, jumping three feet in the air. Claire and Sarah stared at her. "Sorry, I had a nightmare." She said in a small voice.

"Well, your lives are gonna be one enormous nightmare if someone doesn't help me here!" Lily said irritably.

"Jeez, someone's sure not a morning person," Claire muttered under her breath as she pulled Lily to her feet.

"I heard that," Lily replied, straitening out her nightgown. Claire rolled her eyes hugely. "Don't you dare roll your eyes at me, Claire Dubois!" Lily exclaimed, her annoyance written all over her face. When Claire simply smirked, Lily did the only logical thing she could think of. She whacked Claire with her pillow.

"Hey!" Claire screeched indignantly, feathers hanging from her mussed curls. "Oh, you'll pay for that one," she said, pulling her pillow off her bed. She made to hit Lily back, but Alice stepped between the two and said, "Girls? We're seventeen - adults. Don't you think having a pillow fight is slightly immature?"

Lily and Claire stared at Alice in disbelief, then looked at each other. Two identically devious smiles erupted on their faces, and they began pelting a very surprised Alice with pillows. Soon Sarah joined into the Attack Alice Fest.

"Sarah!" Alice shrieked as Sarah's pillow collided with her face, sending feathers everywhere.

"Sorry, Alice, but I'm not seventeen 'til May." Sarah replied slyly.

Alice sighed heavily. "Right." She said. Then, quite suddenly, she dived toward her bed, snatched up her pillow, and joined into the fray.

"Hey Alice," Claire said, attempting to fight off Lily. "I thought you said we were too old for pillow fights."

Alice smiled. "I changed my mind." She said. "You're never too old for pillow fights."

The girls continued their battle, laughing and screaming all the way. It was a long time before Claire's alarm clock went off, jolting the girls back into reality.

Claire abandoned to others and went to turn the clock off. But when she saw the time, she stopped dead. "Bloody hell," She said weakly, turning to face the others. "It's 9:33. Breakfast ends at-"

"9:20." Lily finished for her. "And we have Transfigurations at 9:50."

All four girls looked at each other for a moment before launching themselves into the bathroom. After ten minutes, each girl was miraculously washed, dressed, and ready to go.

"I can't believe we missed breakfast," Alice moaned, her stomach growling. She and the others hurried out the door and onto the staircase.

"Good thing McGonagal's room's close, or we'd never make it." Sarah said.

Lily looked over at her friends. Each of them seemed presentable, except -

" Alice, you've got a feather in your hair," Lily said, reaching over to pull it out. Unfortunately, Lily's chronic klutziness chose this exact moment to kick in. She lost her balance and fell backwards down the stairway.

"LILY!" Claire Alice and Sarah all shrieked as they stood frozen to their steps.

"Aaaaaaaahhhhhhhh!" Lily screamed as she made her quick decent. Great, she thought. Not only will I be late for Transfigurations, but my bum'll hurt and I'll be laughed out of the common room...Funny, I don't remember the staircase being so long before...

Lily closed her eyes and braced herself for impact. She winced as she landed, only the thing she landed on wasn't the floor.

It was a person. They had caught her. Thank God, Lily thought, extremely grateful for her luck. She sighed in relief. "Thank you so mu -"She looked up and found herself staring into magnificent hazel eyes, slightly concealed by round wire-rimmed glasses.

James Potter had caught her.

Lily sat there, frozen in his lap, very aware of his hand on her mid-back and his arm under her knees. It appeared that both of them had been petrified there, staring into each other's eyes, shocked.

Lily noticed that James' breath was coming out in pants, as if he'd been running. She realized suddenly that this was not a random act, as if he'd just happened to be there to catch her. No, he had actually meant to catch her, and by the looks of it, he'd ran to get there.

The sound of someone clearing their throat pierced the silence that seemed to be present whenever Lily and James interacted with each other. Lily blinked for the first time in what seemed like years and looked up to find the source of the noise. Her eyes landed on Remus Lupin, who had his hand out stretched. Lily placed her hand in his, and he pulled her to her feet. "Thanks..." she said, a small smile on her face. Internally, she was grateful to break contact with James, as his presence had caused an odd feeling in her stomach.

Once Lily was stable, she looked back at the girls' staircase and saw Claire, Alice and Sarah, who were each staring wide-eyed between Lily and James as if watching a highly interesting tennis match. They seemed to be just as frozen as she had been moments before.

Lily heard, or rather, felt James rise behind her. It was then that she noticed that her bag had fallen off her shoulder during her fall. She turned and located it on a couch, whose arm happened to be directly behind James. Lily made to go around him, but just as she was about to take a step, a foot flew out and tripped her.

Lily toppled into an unexpecting James, who fell backwards over the couch's arm. The two landed with Lily on top of James, her hands on his chest and his arms encircling her waist. Once again, they found themselves staring into each other's eyes.

Lily's mind was racing. Ohhhh, shit, I'm on top of Potter! Lily flushed. Everyone's gonna think I like him or something, like one of those ditzy Hufflepuffs! This cannot be happening. She stared as James' eyes clouded over, but with what she couldn't tell. What on earth -

Lily snapped back into focus and quickly detangled herself from James. She turned, her blazing emerald eyes scanning the common room to find the asshole that tripped her. They landed on Sirius Black, who was bouncing on the balls of his feet and whistling in a would-be innocent way.

"Black!" Lily hissed malevolently. "You have until the count of five before I rip you to shreds!"

"Oh, come on, Evans, I was only trying to help -"

"One..."

"Really, someone had to do it -"

"Two..."

"You could cut the tension with a knife!"

"Three..."

"The sexual tension, I mean."

Lily's eyes narrowed to mere slits of disgust. "Four..."

"You know, it'd be a waste to kill me. There aren't many guys this handsome around..."

"FIVE!" And, leaving her bag behind, Lily charged after Sirius, who yelped and ran out the portrait hole as fast as he could.

Claire, Alice and Sarah each seemed to regain their senses. "Think Lily'll actually kill him?" Sarah asked Claire as the noise level in the common room returned to its usual height.

"Well, that depends on your definition of 'kill'. She won't cut off his head or anything, but she may cut off something else." Claire replied. Sarah blushed.

"If Lily did cut, er, that off, it'd sure kill Sirius's chances of ever getting a girlfriend again." Alice said. She looked down at her watch and gasped loudly. "We were supposed to be in Transfigurations four minutes ago!"

"What?" Sarah asked, her eyebrows disappearing into her hairline.

"Dammit!" Claire exclaimed. She grabbed Lily's bag and the three ran out of the common room in sheer panic.

The wait may be worth it, but how can you wait anymore

When you're wondering what you're waiting for

"I can't believe McGonagal didn't give us detention!" Claire said excitedly for about the thirtieth time as the girls walked through the corridors. Transfigurations had just ended, and Lily had miraculously been on time. The others didn't fair so well, but their lack of punishment truly was cause for celebration.

Lily rolled her eyes. "Well, it's not like any of us have ever been late before. I mean, seriously, how fair would it be if she gave you detention for being five minutes late when she didn't give Potter detention for being nine?"

There was a second's pause before Sarah said, "You seem to be seeing a lot of James Potter lately..."

Lily stopped dead. "And what's that supposed to mean?" She asked, with a hint of iciness in her voice.

"Well, first you get into this huge fight with him that leaves you crying in bed," Claire said in place of Sarah. She had a feeling that Sarah couldn't take Lily's glare. "Then Snape practically forces himself on you, and who should save you, but Potter. Then you get into another fight with him 'cuz he wants to get to know you. And then you fall down a flight of stairs, and who should catch you at the bottom, but Potter. And now you're comparing our situation to his. Not to mention the fact that he asked you out, er, how many times was it, Alice?" Claire turned to Alice. "Three hundred forty seven times?" Alice nodded and Claire turned back to Lily. "Three hundred forty seven times in fifth year."

Lily stared momentarily at Alice. "You kept count?" she asked. Alice nodded meekly. Lily frowned and turned back to Claire. "He wasn't being serious; he was making fun of me. That's why he stopped after fifth year. And as for all those other things, they were just coincidences! It's not like they meant anything!"

"Oh yeah? So then why was he staring at you all through Transfigurations, then?" Sarah asked suddenly. She looked almost angry.

"He - wait, what? How would you know? You were sitting with us! Unless...you weren't staring back at him, were you?" Lily asked, confused.

"Maggie Hawthorne from Hufflepuff was sitting at the table next to his. She said that she kept trying to get him to look at her, but he kept staring at you!" Sarah answered, ignoring Lily's last question. "She also said she was surprised you head didn't catch on fire, 'cuz his eyes were burning holes right through the back of your head."

Lily frowned and flushed slightly. The truth was, she had felt James' eyes on her, though she had tried her hardest to pretend she didn't. Lily tried to focus on the conversation at hand, but her thoughts kept drifting to the events that had taken place earlier in the common room. I can't help but think there's something different about him, almost like he's...like he's changed or something. And why'd he catch me in the first place? He hates me...right?

Lily's reverie was broken by two boys who stepped in the four girls' path. One of them, a tall, well built blonde, leaned down and kissed Claire lightly on the lips.

"Guys, this is Shawn. He's in Ravenclaw." Claire said, sliding her hand into his. Shawn smiled at the others in greeting, then directed his attention back to Claire.

"Wanna go with me to Hogsmeade on the next trip?" He asked.

"What, you mean the one tomorrow?" Claire questioned him. Shawn looked guiltily back at her. Claire smiled and punched him lightly on the arm. "Of course," She then turned to the other, previously forgotten boy. "Who's this?" she asked.

"Oh, that's -"

"I'm Alec Diggory, also in Ravenclaw." the boy named Alec replied.

"Are you related to Amos Diggory?" Alice asked politely.

"Yup, he's my older brother, also known as the biggest git in the world." Alec replied. Lily caught herself before saying, I know a git bigger than your brother.

"So, Lily," Alec turned his attention onto the redhead, whose brain jolted into focus. "D'you wanna go to Hogsmeade with me tomorrow?"

Lily paused to consider her answer. Sure, Alec was handsome with his dark brown eyes and matching hair, but she wasn't really interested in him. "I'm sorry, but I'm not really looking for a relationship right now. Thanks though," She replied.

Alec shrugged. "Suit yourself."

Shawn kissed Claire again and said, "See you tomorrow, then." And with that, the two left.

Once they were out of earshot, Claire rounded on Lily. "What was that, Lily? Alec's probably a great guy, and you just blew him off!"

"Like I said," Lily replied calmly. "I'm not looking for a boyfriend right now. And besides, Christmas holiday starts the day after the Hogsmeade trip, so there's really no point."

"Oh yeah," Sarah said. "You're staying here over the holidays, aren't you?" Lily nodded.

"What was it? Your parents won...?" Alice asked.

"A cruise," Lily replied. "It only for two, though, so it's either go home and deal with Petunia, or stay here. Personally, I'd choose the latter."

Claire shook her head, her curls bouncing. "I feel sorta bad leaving you in the dorm alone." She said.

"Don't, I'm gonna stay in the Head dorms. They're empty, so I should be fine." Lily reassured her.

By now, the girls had reached the common room. They entered through the portrait hole and dropped into their favorite chairs.

"So why does your sister hate you so much?" Alice asked Lily, pulling her bag off her shoulder.

Lily laughed bitterly. "Because I'm a witch. She hates everything abnormal, and being able to do magic is her definition of the word."

"Ah, don't let it get to you, Lils." Claire said, slinging her arm over Lily's shoulder. "Petunia's a bloody bitch who's jealous of her younger sister's talents and looks."

"Thanks, Claire," Lily said, hugging her friend. Then, longing to change the subject, Lily turned to Alice and Sarah. "So, are you two going to Hogsmeade with anyone?"

"Well, I'm going with Frank Longbottom." Alice said, smiling and blushing slightly.

"She's had a crush on him for years." Sarah added, earning a glare from Alice. "But he seems to've also, 'cuz he asked her about two weeks ago."

"And you never told us?" Claire asked accusingly. Alice looked extremely uncomfortable.

"Ooh, you guys'll make a cute couple." Lily said, sparing Alice from Claire death glare. Alice smiled gratefully. "Are you going with anyone, Sarah?" Lily asked.

"No. I figure I'll need some extra time to pack and hand out gifts. Plus, I need to get a head start on the homework. I guess I really don't have time for a boyfriend now." Sarah admitted. "Not since Potter, at least."

Claire turned to Lily, her anger at Alice forgotten. "See? Alice and I both have dates and Sarah has a valid excuse not to have one. But you have neither."

Lily shrugged. "I guess I'm just...waiting for something."

"But what?" Alice asked.

Lily contemplated her answer. What am I waiting for, she wondered. "I guess I'm waiting just waiting for something - someone - out of the ordinary. Like, a guy I can trust not to like me just for...the way I look." She answered, slightly uncomfortably. "Saying that I'm waiting for 'The One' is a bit cliché, but that's kinda what I'm doing. I don't really feel like jumping in head first and wasting my time on a relationship that's gonna mean nothing in the end. Like with Alec, when I look at him, I feel nothing. He's just another guy. I want to go out with a guy who makes me feel warm inside, a guy that I just...like."

"So basically, you want a guy who loves you for who you are that you can love back?" Claire asked.

Lily thought for a moment. "Yes," she said at last.

"Well, I think we know a guy who just might be perfect for you." Claire said, sharing a sly look with Sarah and Alice.

"What?" Lily asked, surprised. "Who?"

The other three looked at each other. "Well, time to go pack!" Claire exclaimed, standing and walking quickly toward the girls' staircase.

"Yup, loads to do," Alice said, following Claire.

"See ya later!" Sarah called from halfway up the stairwell.

Lily, regaining her senses, stood and yelled, "Hey! Get your arses back her and tell me who!" And with that, she disappeared up the staircase.

-Sighs- I'm not entirely happy with this chapter. Oh well.

Ok, I have a question for all of you. If you get it right, I'll dedicate my nxt chapter to you. So here it is:

When the snow melts, what does it become?

Well, please review!

Hugs and fuzzles

MM360