Take Me to Your Heart

DISCLAIMER: The characters, settings, and such are not my trademark. Credit for those goes to J.K. Rowling, the greatest writer! The only thing I own are my made up characters (if any).

Chapter 3: Lily Discovers Something New
Written by melancholic orchid

"Lily, you still OK, right?" Alice inquired, remembering the strange scene Tuesday night.

"Oh, yeah. I'm fine," Lily responded. Lily stared down to the ground as they walked to Potions class. Alice looked at Lily in disbelief.

"Do you think you took it a bit hard on him, Lily?"

Slightly offended, Lily retorted, "No. He should be glad that I didn't tell the Headmaster about his first day as Head Boy." The brown-haired friend simply shrugged and continued walking along with her best friend.

Alice opened the door for Lily and followed her to a row of desks. Several students walked into the classroom and then, the door closed itself. Lily scanned the room. Ha! Her thoughts were talking again. Those Marauders are late for class – again! But I do feel sorry for Remus. I don't understand why he hangs out with those meddlesome boys. Lily giggled silently to herself.

"OK class," Professor Rafalo said, grinning, "Let's begin today's lesson." He seems to be in a good mood today. "Turn to page twenty-fi -" A loud boom echoed in the classroom. There stood four panting boys at the door. "You're late – again," Professor Rafalo said, turning his smile into a weak frown.

"We're really sorry, Professor," Remus gasped.

"I've expected better conduct from you four gentlemen this year," Professor Rafalo said, "But I guess none of you'll ever learn. Minus ten points… each. Detention for the four of you. You'll have detention in here on your first free period." James groaned as they proceeded to the remaining, unoccupied desks. "Now, as I was saying," the Potions teacher continued, "Turn to page twenty-five and read about the Midnight Frog and its use. Today, we'll be constructing a potion using the eyeballs of this frog." After his instructions, students rummaged for their book out of their school bags and deliberately turned to the assigned page. Absolute silence followed, except for the steady breathing of the pupils and the scratching of the teacher's feathered pen.

Lily had finished reading and took a quick glance at James. Apparently, they met each others' eyes. She turned away quickly; her cheeks turning slightly crimson, not realizing that James was smiling at her.

It wasn't so surprising that Lily got the second highest mark on the Quick Healer potion. Sure. She admits that it was kind of difficult but no potion is too difficult for Miss Lily Evans… or so she thought.

"Of course, Lily," Alice giggled, "You ALWAYS should get great marks – if you exclude Snape." Lily smiled. "True."

"Hey, Evans!" someone called. Lily squeaked in surprise. James laughed. "Goodness, James!" Alice snapped, "You don't have to give Lily such a scare!"

"Sorry," James muttered, "I saw you looking at me in Potions today."

"What about it?" Lily said icily, "I was only trying to see if there was any opportunity to get you into trouble, so you wouldn't be Head Boy any longer."

"Oh really! Didn't care to look at me because I'm so darn good-looking?" James said, trying to add some humour into the conversation.

"Oh yeah. You're so funny," Alice mumbled. James glared at her.

"No!" Lily snapped, "What do you want? Is this stupid conversation going somewhere? We're going to be late for Transfiguration class if you keep wasting our time – not like being late is a sad thing for you." Alice nodded in agreement.

James sighed. "Look, I'm sorry for not patrolling the school on Tuesday. I can make it up to you, if you like." Lily merely shook her head. "OK then," James said, "I'm really sorry, Evans… really. Please accept my apology."

"Sure… I accept your apology," she grunted.

"It is Thursday today, right?"

"Yes…"

"Just making sure. Thanks. I'll see you later then, bye." No reply came from the red-haired girl, as James walked away. Why was he being so kind to me? I'm sure he didn't mean anything in his apology. But then again, he sounded so serious when he was saying sorry. Lily pondered at the thought. Nah!

"So, how did it go?" Sirius asked.

"I guess you could say, OK," James said, munching on an apple.

"What did you tell her?" Sirius asked. The Marauders listened during lunch about James' apologetic encounter with the love of his life. "Sounds like she took it OK," Remus commented.

"You think?" James scoffed.

"Sure. At least she wasn't screaming at you, like Tuesday night," Remus replied.

"Hello, Mr. Moon Man. We were in the middle of the corridor. Would you think that Lily would be dumb enough to scream in front of everyone?"

"No! I'm just saying, maybe she cooled down a little bit after the incident."

"Well, I suppose so."

"Yeah. Well let's just hope that you'll be successful in being on Lily's ANNOYED side, not her ANGRY side." James chuckled. "Yeah. Tonight is my chance to move back into her ANNOYED side."

Lily briskly put her homework away and ran into her room to grab her Terrific Timer and Suspicion Sensor. Well, Lily thought to herself, time for guarding the school, day two. Maybe James DID mean everything he said in his apology – if he shows up tonight. Lily tucked her school bag away and walked into the common room. "Hey, Evans. Ready for our late night stroll?" James said.

Lily look surprised. "Oh. I thought you wouldn't show up this time."

"You thought that I was just wasting your time apologizing? What do you take me for?"

"An idiotic fool." James smiled, holding out his hand. "Well, I guess not tonight." Lily walked nervously toward him, ignoring his hand gesture. "Let's go," she said in a business-like voice. They both walked out of the common room and into the dark black halls. The only things that were lighting the area were the torches and the glowing moon in the sky.

"Lovely night, isn't it?" James said, as they were on foot.

"I guess," Lily replied, "You know, James. I think it would be more productive if you looked for any sign of trouble in the halls than admiring the night sky."

James snickered. "Of course."

"So," she said, "How was… erm… detention today?"

"It was OK. We just had to write an essay on the Midnight Frog without looking at our textbooks."

"Did you learn anything?"

"Yeah. Trying to avoid being late for class. I know I said the essay was OK, but it was kind of painful. I hate writing essays. Remus was pretty mad at me, because I took too long to wake up this morning."

"Why didn't he just leave without you guys?"

"Evans, you are talking to the leader of the Marauders. We work together, as a team. No matter what."

"Sounds like you better tweak that rule a bit, James."

"I guess so."

"I think you should… leader. It isn't fair to get detention as a 'team' you know."

"I suppose you're right. I guess it was just me that should get detention." Lily nodded. Wow! He even reflects about his own actions too.

"So, are you going to reinforce that rule, James?" Lily asked.

"Sure."

"Promise?"

"OK. I promise, Evans. Only because YOU told me to." Lily smiled.

"Good," she replied.

So far, so good. There's no sign of James the prankster, just the new side that I thought I'd never see. I guess it's true. Even a stupid prat like James still has a 'kind' side. Lily smiled to herself, slowly absorbing that moment – the moment of witnessing the 'polite' James before morning until…

BEEP! BEEP! BEEP! Her Terrific Timer rang. James jumped in shock. "Whoa! What the bloody hell was that?" Lily laughed nervously. "Oh! I forgot to tell you about my Terrific Timer. I got it from my parents before I boarded the train. They, told me to use it when I'm patrolling the halls at night. I use it as a timer – to let me know when time's up. The name says it all. They also gave me this Suspicion Sensor." Lily pulled out a small, cylinder-shaped object from her pocket. "It vibrates when it senses something odd, in a bad way. It's not very accurate but it'll do," Lily continued.

James smirked. "Well then. I guess it's time to go back now."

"You guessed it right." The pair turned around and trotted back to the Gryffindor common room.

"Silly Fig," James said, once they had reached the portrait. The Fat Lady revealed a hole, in which they entered. Lily briskly walked back to the girls' dorm. "Well… erm… good night, Evans," James said. She stopped in her tracks and turned around to face him.

"Uh… you too." An uncomfortable silence fell in the common room.

"I better go," she muttered.

"Right. I'll see you in the morning."

Lily ambled into the girls' dorm. Boy. That's one side I've never seen from James before. Lily stared into the black ceiling, laying on her four-poster bed, with a mind full of confusion, yet a tiny sliver of happiness shot into that thought. If James was like that all the time, maybe, just maybe, I would like him. Maybe. Smiling in a puzzled way, Lily replayed the scene over and over until she fell asleep.

COMMENT: I hope you like this chapter. Thanks song muse (Lauren) for being my loyal editor and hopeful obsessions (Crodo) as my super editor. And thank you to all of you who read and reviewed my story.