Chapter 12

Day 9- Sunday

Remus left the house the next day to spend the last day of holidays with his own family. But not before having a talk with James; curious he was about the fact that James and Lily were suddenly acting very strange around one another. In other words Lily no longer seemed to get mad at him. She even seemed to stop all antics towards Sirius, who seemed just as puzzled by the change as Remus was.

"What changed, James?" He asked when just the two of them were standing in the entrance hall.

James had just smiled and shook his head, indicating he either didn't want to talk about it, or wasn't quite sure himself. But he did answer. "We've reached an understand, Lily and I."

And Remus suddenly realized just how much James had grown up over the past year.

Sirius was having a harder time coping with the new James, mostly because it seemed he had lost his partner in crime. Though when it came right down to it, he was getting slightly bored with the pranks and mischief making himself. They had done it all it seemed, and he was having a hard enough time last year coming up with new ideas. On the exception of snivellus of course. He knew no matter how much James had grown he would never be too old to annoy Snape... well... because he deserved it.

Sirius had noticed the change himself when he woke up at his usual time that day, around 12 in the afternoon, and came down stairs to find Lily and James talking quietly to one another in the living room. He had stood in the doorway a moment, waiting to hear Lily start to raise her voice or James getting frustrated with her.

However, that didn't happen. Instead came the distinct sound of Lily Evans laughing and James joining her.

Confused, he walked in to the room, wondering if the girl had lost her mind.

"What are you both up to?" His voice was playful as usual, but he held a look of deep suspicion.

James had looked towards his best friend with a small smile on his face, and Sirius realized, by the slight dancing of James' eyes in the sunlight that he was truly happy. It surprised him. But he smiled in turn when James told him that him and Lily were talking about Professor Slughorn, the fat potions teacher who favoured Lily above most of his students.

"What do you think of him, Sirius?"

That was the first time Lily had called him by his first name besides the small amount of times she called him Sirius in class, and she smiled at him, instead of giving him the look of distinct disapproval he was so used to getting from her.

He felt like he had snapped and stepped into an alternate universe. "Erm..." He came fully into the room after that, taking a seat carefully in the armchair across from the pair, still eyeing them both suspiciously. This had to be some sort of joke.

But it wasn't, and he felt glad for that. James finally had his Lily.

James told him later what had happened the night before. He was hesitant to tell him, and Sirius was sure he left a lot of stuff out, but was happy he was told all the same. He had laughed after the story was told, and patted him on the back, congratulating him. Feeling happy for his best friend's final success, even though he was feeling slightly envious. He wouldn't tell James this of course.

Tomorrow they would be going back to Hogwarts, and things would be different.

It wasn't that he didn't like Lily. He liked her very much. She was kind and smart... though sometimes very pushy and nosy when it came to their pranks... and not to mention slightly strict. But Remus could be like that too.

Come to think of it... she was kind of like a female Remus.

He just didn't like it when she spoiled his fun, but he always let it go for James.

Things would be different...

------------------------------------------

"Why are we doing this?" Sirius tilted his head against the lush grass in James' backyard, eyeing his friend with an amused look on his face. James turned from the starry sky to smile at him, his eyes full of the same mischief that his were probably holding.

"It's fun."

Sirius snorted and turned back to the night sky, listening as Lily spoke up from James' other side.

"I like astrology, but I had to drop it to make room for Care of Magical Creatures."

Sirius held back the urge to roll his eyes, though she wouldn't see the action anyway. "That must have been hard on you."

She made a small noise of anger and James cut in before it could become more than that. "Why are we doing this, Lily."

She turned to him, eyeing him dangerously for a moment before sighing with annoyance. "You just said it was fun."

"That's how you described it when you got us out here, yes." Sirius told her, sitting up to see her better.

She was laying on the cold grass in her jeans and yellow T-shirt, her long hair fanned around her. Her green eyes flashed in his direction. "I used to do this when I was little, with my sister."

"I thought you didn't like your sister." He asked, raising an eyebrow at her, noticing that James was watching him now too, a strange expression on his face.

"She is my sister... You didn't dislike Regulus when you were younger did you?"

He nodded, a grin on his face now. "I did... little siblings are annoying."

"I'd say the same about you."

Once again James cut in, a slightly nervous expression on his face. "Changing the subject-"

"No, it's fine, James." Sirius grinned down at his best mate. "I know not to take anything Lily says seriously. Like her hating you for instance."

James turned to look at her as she snorted slightly and turned away, but both boys were able to see her smile before she did this.

----------------------------------------------------------

Day 10- Monday

Getting them all to the Hogwarts Express the next day was some what of a hassle.

Mr. Potter was able to borrow a ministry car so they could arrive safely with all their trunks and school supplies. The extended interiors made it a lot easier to cram them all in, and, sitting between James and Sirius, Lily rode comfortably to the station, trying to empty feeling of missing her parents. This would be the first time they hadn't seen her off for school, and the last time they would ever get a chance to.

But James seemed to notice her discomfort and sadness because he secretly held her hand under his jacket until they had to unload from the car, sending her constant smiles and whispering sweet little comments into her ear.

As they came through the barrier of platform 9 ¾ however, she felt a painful squeeze in her chest that had nothing to do with her parents. As Sirius was surrounded by a large number of girls asking about his holiday, and James joined Remus and Peter at the platform she suddenly realized, after staying with them for a week, that things would be different.

As she glanced around for friends of hers, girls her age, she found she was longing more to continue to hang out with James, Sirius and Remus who were definitely a lot more fun then some of her girl friends.

"Lily!" She spun around, taking her eyes reluctantly from James as he laughed at something Remus said. She forced a smile as Catherine Brown, a girl who Lily shared a dorm with, came rushing over.

She smiled politely as the petite girl told her about her summer, only half listening as her eyes wandered over the crowd of school students and their parents, ever so often coming to rest on the bespectacled boy who was now moving onto the train... and away from her.

"Excuse me Catherine." To the other girls surprise, she pulled her trunk quickly along, hoisted it up into the train after her and proceeded to follow the group of boys just ahead of her to where ever they were going, watching as they choose a cart and entered, still laughing about something.

Feeling slightly stupid, not knowing what else to do, she pulled her trunk along and stopped at their door. They hadn't closed it yet, and upon seeing her in the doorway James quickly put his trunk in the rack above his seat and motioned for her to come in. They were all smiling at her, with the exception of Peter who just looked confused, a look that was found most often on his face.

"I didn't think you'd want to sit with us, seeing as you had to spend a week with us already." He had a slightly apologetic look on his face as he moved forward and gently took her trunk from her hands.

"You wouldn't mind if I sat with you?" She asked, feeling herself blushing from the stupidness of it all.

James laughed and Remus spoke up, taking a book from his bag as he did so, "Why would we care, Lily?"

She passed an uncertain look to Sirius who simply shrugged, and Lily smiled. "I just thought I might destroy your reputation of trouble makers if I sat with you."

"We're sitting with Remus aren't we?" Sirius added slyly, nudging the werewolf in the ribs and received a scowl from the blonde boy.

Lily laughed again and took a seat next to James after he hoisted her trunk up next to his. He smiled sweetly at her as the train whistle blew and the train gave a shuddering jolt before picking up speed out of the station. They were on their way to Hogwarts.

"Does this mean that you've decided?" They were way on their way when he asked her. The treat trolley had already come around and she was snacking happily on some chocolate frogs.

She turned to him, a small grin on her face, then leaned towards his ear. "What do you think, Potter?"

"Yes?"

She laughed slightly, only loud enough for him to hear over the sounds of the train. "Yes, James. I've decided."

He smiled fully now when he leaned away from her, and she realized that this year would be completely different from the rest.

This year would be different because of her desperation for a place to stay. Her desperation that landed her at the Potter's house.

This year would be different because...

... she had James.

------------------------------------------

AN: All done.

This story ended a lot lamer then I originally intended, but I forgot how I wanted it to end.

I hope this is good enough. And now that it's done, I want all people to review! ALL YOU PEOPLE! YES YOU!

AND I ALSO CREATED ANOTHER JAMES AND LILY ONESHOT. GO READ IT! IT'S CALLED ALWAYS DREAM