Back again, and with a longer chapter! ...Sigh... I rock, don't I? Lol.

To the faithful:

InvisibleA: thank you,as always.

XXRoseDawsonXX: I know a girl who sucks at life and her name starts with an M... lol. Siriusly, though (lol), what story is it? I mean, how long does it take you to read a freakin fanfiction?

HPHGCroar: Thank you. I hope this one's long enough for you.

Wefeedowls: thanks.

HPHG4EVAH: thank you. (all these HPHG shippers...sheesh...sorry, not trying to discriminate or criticize you, lol.)

Prongs.lives.in.you.Harry.: thank you. And I'm glad I creeped somebody out. Hehe.

Chapter 7: Friends

It was Friday, and Lily and James found themselves stuck in yet another Potions class. Everyone was busy working on their potions. James was sitting on a stool with his feet up on the table, relaxing while Lily checked the list of ingredients.

"The next ingredient is a teaspoonful of unicorn blood," she said.

"Easy," said James, "we'll just transfigure something into a unicorn."

"I don't think it works that way, James. I mean, the feather worked, but that was different. We transfigured a bird into a bird, and took something from its outside appearance. To get unicorn blood, I think we have to actually find a unicorn."

"Well how do you suppose we do that?" James asked, lowering his feet and sitting up straight.

"Hagrid."

"What?"

"Hagrid. Rubeus Hagrid, gamekeeper of Hogwarts. He might have some," Lily said.

"Yes, but would he give us any?" Lily nodded.

"Sure. He's my friend," she said. It was true. When Lily had nobody else to talk to, she always visited the half-giant for a chat and a cup of tea. He was lonely too and could often relate to her.

"Okay. Then after school, we're going to see Hagrid. I just don't want to know why he'd have unicorn blood on him," James said, wincing. Lily laughed.

"I'll spare you the details then," she said.

"Good. So… what do we do if he doesn't have any?"

"Well, we don't want to be accused of cruelty to magical creatures, so I don't think we have to make another trip to the forbidden forest for a while. Other than that, I don't know…"

"What about the Care of Magical Creatures professor? Maybe she could get unicorn's blood somehow, without actually having to physically harm a unicorn," James suggested.

"I don't know if that's possible, James. But… we'll see what happens. For now, we rely on Hagrid. We'll meet this afternoon in the common room, okay?"

"Okay."

That afternoon, as James made his way to the common room, he found himself in a fairly familiar situation. Lily was waiting for him, sitting by the fire again, and Cornelia was sitting with Remus, Peter and Sirius. She waved to James with a smile and he tried to smile back, but his lips would not move. He looked back at Lily. She was sitting patiently, a thoughtful look spread about her face. James sighed and walked over towards Lily.

"Are you ready?" he asked.

"Yes," she said. He offered her his hand and she took it and got up. They walked together out of the common room, James offering a short wave towards his friends as they left. Cornelia gasped.

When they were outside, Lily got ahead of James. She strode gracefully towards the half-giant's hut, softly humming a tune which James did not recognize. He followed her willingly, grinning at the back of her auburn-colored head. His eyes trailed down to her denim-clad hips, swaying as she walked. But she had stopped moving. James looked up to see that they were already at the hut, and Lily was knocking on the door.

"Who's there?" said a loud, rather husky voice which James could only assume was Hagrid's.

"It's me, Lily," Lily said. Not a second later the door was open and Hagrid was standing there, looking pleased and quite taller than James remembered, if that's possible. Lily stepped inside and Hagrid followed her in, not noticing or expecting, really, for James to be there. But Hagrid's puppy, Fang, jumped out immediately and began barking at James.

"Fang! What are ye yappin' about? Stop it! Oh, I see we have an unexpected visitor today," he said, adressing James.

"Erm, hello, Hagrid," James said awkwardly.

"Who are ye?" he queried.

"J-james Potter, sir. Nice to meet you," he said as politely as possible, extending his right hand. Hagrid looked questioningly at him before taking his hand and shaking it roughly.

"What's taking you guys so long?" Lily was now standing beside Hagrid, arms folded.

"Oh, forgive me. Come on in," he said to James. He was still clutching his hand rather tightly, so he took the opportunity to haul James inside the house. James stumbled when Hagrid let go, then steadied himself, and looked around.

They were indeed in a very strange house. James could not imagine who would want to live there. There were pictures of dragons and hippogriffs on the wall and books about taming wild beasts on the bookshelves. There were strange silver strings hanging by the windows and on the windowsill there was a jar of small, oddly shaped biscuits or something.

"What are those?" James inquired.

"Those would be Pinkylump turds. They're good for keeping unwanted critters away," Hagrid replied.

"Is that what they are?" he said, not wanting a reply unless it was 'just kidding.' But when he didn't get a response, he had to put his hand to his mouth to stop himself from vomiting all over Hagrid's floor.

"Ye alrigh' there, James?" Hagrid asked. James lowered his hand and nodded.

"Good. Now, what brings you two here on this fine day?" he asked.

"What, you mean we can't just visit you?" Lily asked. Hagrid shot her a questioning look, but did not say anything.

"I'll make some tea," he said before going into the kitchen.

"Well, what do you think?" Lily asked James when they were alone.

"I think you have some weird friends," was his reply.

"You think Hagrid's weird? Well that's not very nice of you. He probably thinks you're weird, too," Lily said.

""Well, the tea's brewin' now, so if yer want ta wait in the kitchen, yeh can," Hagrid said from the kitchen doorway. Lily and James walked in and sat down at the table. Hagrid joined them.

They sat in silece for a minute or so before James shot an irritated look at Lily. Lily tilted her head.

"Oh…um… Hagrid," she said, turning to the half-giant, "Do you by any chance have some unicorn blood we could borrow?"

"I knew it! Ye don' wanta visist me! Yer just here to get somethin' from me!" Hagrid bawled.

"Hagrid! I visit you all the time! What are you talking about? I just remembered now that I needed unicorn blood, and I thought you might have some," Lily replied. James kept silent as he watched the two of them.

"Really? Well, I think I may have… waitaminute! What do you want with unicorn blood, anyway? Dangerous stuff ter be messin' aroun' with, Lily," Hagrid said.

"It's a project for Potions class, Lily replied truthfully.

"Project, eh? Well, in tha' case… I do have some unicorn's blood. How much do ye need?" he asked.

"Oh, um… I forgot. James, do you remember?" Lily asked.

"Huh? Yeah… um, a teaspoonful, I think," he said.

"Oh, good. So you do pay attention," she said. James raised an eyebrow.

"What's that supposed to mean?"

"Uh… nothing! Hagrid, where's the unicorn blood?"

"Eh? Oh, lemme get it. An' do me a favor and get the tea, alrigh'?"

"Sure." Hagrid retreated to another room, and Lily took out her wand. She raised it and pointed it at the tea kettle, levitating it and pouring it into three separate mugs. Then she got up and walked over, picking up a mug for herself and sipping the tea.

"Here we go," Hagrid walked into the room with a small jar full of blood. "I got this when I saw a wounded unicorn in the forest one day. I helped it, but it lost a lot of blood. I've been keeping this warm, so it wouldn' dry up," he explained.

"Excellent. Do we have a teaspoon to measure with? And we need something to carry it in," Lily said.

"Yeah, here, lemme go get somethin' for ye…" Hagrid again retreated to the other room and came out two minuted later with a teaspoon and a small cup. He measured the blood with the teaspoon and poured it into the cup, and then handed the cup to Lily.

"Excellent, Excellent," Lily stated, "This'll be perfect. James, are you ready to go? Oh, you haven't touched your tea!" James looked at her, then looked over at the mug in front of him, and then back at her.

"I'm fine, really. Let's go," he said.

"Alright. Don't forget to thank Hagrid for his hospitality," she said.

"Oh, uh, thanks, Hagrid," James said, standing up. "Let's go," he said to Lily. She nodded and led the way out before saying goodbye to Hagrid.

"That wasn't too hard, right?" she said, once they were outside.

"Not at all," James said with a grin, "Although I wouldn't like to go back there again."

"Oh, but he's always so lonely!" Lily said.

"That's what he has a dog for."

They walked back to the castle and headed towards the dungeons. When they entered the classroom, they grew silent. They were both too afraid of what had happened the other night in that very same room, even though they'd been in there that morning and were fine. It was dark in there, as it had been before, and so very cold. Lily shivered as she made her way over to the cauldron on their table. She emptied the contents of the cup into the cauldron and backed away, looking at James.

"Let's get out of here," she whispered to him. He turned around and headed out of the room, followed closely be Lily.

Silently they made their way up to Gryffindor tower. That silence was broken when they entered the noisy common room. Sirius and Remus were playing exploding snap, and Cornelia was sitting, chatting with the other 7th year girls. Ezmerelda and Peter were nowhere to be found.

"Where's Pete?" James asked as he made his way over to his friends.

"He's with Ezmerelda; they're working on their project," Remus explained.

"Oh." James sat down next to Sirius. Lily stood there, not sure what to do. Her only friend wasn't there for once.

"Hey, Prongs, why don't you tell your friend to join us?" Sirius asked. James looked up.

"Friend? Oh, you mean Evans? She's not my… well… why not? Evans, won't you join us?" James said.

"Um… I don't know…"

"Come on!" Sirius chimed in.

"O-okay." She sat down across from them and next to Remus, who smiled at her. Cornelia glowered at her from across the room, but nobody noticed.

"So, Prongs, I believe you were about to say that Evans isn't your friend. Is this true?" Sirius asked.

"She's just me partner for Potions, Padfoot," James replied.

"Oh, I see. Hey, Evans, will you be my friend?" Sirius asked. James hit him. "Ow! What'd I do?"

"Everything," James muttered.

"I was being serious, though!" said Sirius. (A/N: Yes, that's right, I know what you were thinking when you read that line. It's really not funny anymore.)

"Um, S-sirius… why would you want to be my friend?" Lily asked.

"Why not?" was his reply.

"Because she's a freak!" Cornelia said, walking towards Lily with a menacing look.

"Corey!" James shouted.

"You know it's the truth. You all know it," Cornelia said. She moved towards James now and sat on his lap, glancing at Lily to make sure she was looking. Then she moved down and began unbuttoning James' shirt.

"Corey…" James groaned, "Not now, love." Cornelia did not listen to him, though. She leaned down on him and kissed him from his mouth, all the way down to his waistline, and then she began to unzip his fly…

"Cornelia!" James shouted, shoving the girl off of him. He zipped his pants and buttoned his shirt quickly, not daring to look at Lily. Cornelia looked shocked, but then stood up straight and flipped her hair casually. She then folded her arms and glared down at James from where she stood.

"If you don't want me, then… it's over! You can have the freak instead, you freak!" She shouted at him.

"Don't call her that," James said through gritted teeth. He didn't even care that he'd been called a freak.

"Why not? The girl's a freakazoid. She dresses in fucking black all the time! It's like she's into dead people, or something. She should just go fuck a zombie, instead of hanging all over you like a fucking whore!"

And at that moment, Cornelia Taylor, Head Girl, got what was coming to her. For James had stood up and punched her in the face. Cornelia's hand immediately flew to her nose, which had apparently broken, as there was blood oozing out from her fingers.

"Get. Away. From. Me. You. Stupid. Bitch!" James said to her. She gasped and backed away from him, still clutching her nose. Then she ran out of the common room, followed by some of the 7th year girls who had been watching the fight.

Once she was out of the room, Sirius and Remus burst out laughing. James glared at them, but they didn't stop until a few good minutes later.

"Oh… Oh that was… I'm… sorry… haha… Oh… that was great," Sirius said in between breaths.

"Yeah… that was the greatest… thing… I've ever seen… Haha!… Oh man…" Remus said.

"Are you blokes feeling all right?" James asked.

"Yeah, we're fine," said Remus, "But we've been waiting for that to happen all year!"

"And it was better than expected," said Sirius.

James rolled his eyes at the two of them and turned to Lily.

"I'm sorry about what she said. She's just an arrogant bitch," he said.

"That's okay. Thank you for sticking up for me," Lily said softly. James smiled. She was okay; she hadn't been hurt by Cornelia's ignorant insults. And he was glad.

"Are we friends then?" he asked.

"Friends?" Lily lit up.

"Yeah. Friends," he said.

"Okay!" She smiled brightly. James loved her warm, beautiful smiles… but they were, and would always be, very rare.

This chapter's longer for you guys, since I was getting complaints, lol. Hope you enjoyed it. And if you did, review! If you didn't... review and tell me what's wrong!

Next Chapter: Foes