Author's Note: For you "Elusive" fans who want to know the status - the next chapter is halfway done.

Chapter 3: Jealousy, McGonagall and Pain

Lily sat, drumming her fingers on the new table in the middle of the warm Heads' Common room. She hated waiting and James was definitely late. She groaned with impatience when she spotted the time – half an hour had passed since the supposed meeting time.

So much for leaving her textbooks in her room, thinking it would be a quick meeting. Where was James anyways! Slouching in the armchair, Lily's hand hit her book bag. Wait, she had her sketchbook with her.

Grinning in triumph, Lily whipped it out, happy to have something to do. Then she remembered her most recent project and she frowned. Grumbling, she figured she'd better get it done sooner rather than later, and after it was done, she would not have to think about James Potter other than Head meetings. Even in meetings with the Prefects she tended to ignore him. She wasn't rude, no. Lily liked to think she was diplomatic even working with someone as immature as Potter.

The black book loomed up at her, lying comfortably in her lap as she scowled. Gritting her teeth as she fished for a pencil (she found she didn't sketch as well with quills) Lily reminded herself this was the price she had to pay for keeping her hobby a secret. Turning to the page of the rough sketching of James Potter she filled in some of it with softer lines, working from her memory. Shading parts of the picture to give it depth, Lily didn't hear the door creak open. When she really concentrated on drawing, she lost herself entirely to it and didn't think of anything else – which made it an excellent distraction from her hectic life. Unfortunately, that particular trait didn't help her at the moment. Only when she heard panting did Lily's head snap up.

"Potter!" He looked sweaty, dirty, not to mention a gash on his forehead that was bleeding profusely.

"Oh hey Lily, sorry I'm late," he apologized. He gave her a sheepish look. "I hope you're not too mad, something ran a bit over."

"For heaven's sake Potter – are you alright?" Lily hastily discarded her book and pencil to the side, grabbing her wand, and looked for a cloth of some sort. Spotting her tissues on a nearby table, she took some to James.

"I'm fine," he insisted, brushing off her concern like it was nothing important. "Let me just clean up and I'll be right out." He began to head to the stairs leading to his separate room, but Lily stopped him.

"Now just wait one minute. You're bleeding, sweaty, look as if you've been in some sort of scuffle and you want me to believe that you're fine?" Lily looked at him disbelievingly with her large green eyes. "As Head Girl I demand to know what you've been up to Potter. What if someone else is seriously hurt? Was this another prank of yours?" Her words rushed together as possibilities entered her mind.

James merely smiled at her. "While your concern is touching, darling, you can't pull rank on me since we do share the same authority. I promise though, you don't have to worry about any one else being hurt and it was not a prank." He made a mock bow before her. "Now if you don't mind, I need to clean up as this was not how I intended to look for our date."

Lily made a sound of disbelief – she didn't know whether to scold him for continuing the date pretense or ignoring the seriousness of his injuries. "Potter if you move a toe I will hex you into submission. For the love of Merlin! You're bleeding all over the place!" And indeed he was, drops of blood were spilling onto the crimson carpet, Charmed to match the rest of the Gryffindor-ish decor in the Head Common room.

Lily wiped his face to be able to actually see how badly he was cut. Thankfully it was not as bad as she feared. Her Muggle instincts took over her magical ones and she wiped the rest of his face gently, absentmindedly thinking of where she could find a bandage.

James only adored her more for her forgetfulness. "You are a witch you know." His eyes sparkled as he delighted in watching her stammer and blush a little as she whipped her hand back with the blood-stained tissue.

"Yes, as if I didn't know that already Potter. Your insightfulness is astounding," Lily retorted, trying to cover up her embarrassment at unnecessarily touching him. She frowned at how dirty his cut was. Bits of things she couldn't identify were going to give him a nasty infection if it wasn't cleaned properly. "What you really need is some wound-cleaning potion Potter, but I don't happen to carry that around every day." Thinking for a moment, Lily came to a decision and grabbed James by the hand, leading him to the door. "I'll see you to Madame Pomfrey."

James quickly steered her the other way. "Oh no you don't. I'm quite fine without a mediwitch thank you. I actually…" he trailed off nervously, releasing her and running a hand through his hair. He didn't meet her eyes.

Lily raised an eyebrow. "Yes Potter? Something you'd like to share?" She folded her arms and tapped her foot.

He coughed, feeling the penetrating intelligent gaze on his back. "I actually have some wound-cleaning potion."

"And blood-replenishing, Pepper up, Skele-Gro…" James thought to himself, wondering what Lily would make of that.

"I suppose I should ask why you have an unusual medical potion handy…but I might just let it slide this time if you tell me what happened." Lily was trying to finagle him out of information that would no doubt satisfy her growing curiosity about what he did when he wasn't in class, but more importantly reassure her that there was no one else that was hurt. It was her duty as Head Girl to watch over any and all students in the castle.

James sighed, losing the playful look he had adorned when talking to Lily. He just wanted to forget about the fight he had with Amos Diggory and his friends. It was more like an ambush as they knew he was on his way to a Head meeting with Lily. He had been surprised at Amos' anger towards him – he had thought they only shared a Quidditch rivalry but if tonight had been any indication it was more than that. James should have deducted house points for their conduct but pride was at stake, not to mention McGonagall intervened as well.

"Going to deduct house points Potter?" Amos scoffed as two of his friends came behind the Head boy. "So terrifying," he said with a sarcastic edge to his voice.

James only smiled at him, which served to further infuriate him. "Don't think you want your house to be in the negative Diggory. You'll need them when you play Gryffindor in a few weeks."

The Hufflepuff boy launched his fist at James, who managed to step back in time, only catching a fraction of the blow intended for him. He staggered back a little, blackness temporarily entering his vision, as he heard the rustle of robes behind him. Knowingly, James ducked, managing to escape a Jelly-Brain jinx intended for him, hitting Diggory instead.

Still dazed, James turned around a bit slower than he would have liked. Diggory's other mate grinned at him, as he shouted, "Diffindo!"

James still tried to throw up a shield in time: "Protego!"

The hex whizzed by the shield that had just gone up and made a nasty cut on James' head, very similar to the pain Snape's curse had done to him a couple years back. He groaned a little, still resisting the temptation to hex all of them into oblivion with the encyclopedia of jinxes he knew by heart. Standing in a defensive position, he moved towards the wall so none of them could cast spells at his back.

"Alright, what's the big idea? A silly hex or two, practical jokes, those are all things I can understand, and even laugh about, but casting to injure? That's going a bit far, mate." James growled, very aware of the shiny Head Boy badge pinned to the front of his robes.

Amos, meanwhile, had enough sense to reverse the hex cast upon him and turned to glower at James. "As if you don't know! Head Boy should have been me Potter! You stole it from me – I bet your parents paid loads to get you that position didn't he because we both bloody well know you never deserved it!"

James looked at him in disbelief and chuckled. "Is that what this is all about? I never asked to be Head Boy – hell I wasn't even a Prefect. You're seriously nutters if you think I asked for the position."

Amos was almost seeing red – he was so angry. Everything was handed to Potter on a platter – Head Boy, Quidditch captain, and the latest – Lily Evans. Or at least he suspected it when he heard she had been watching Potter at practice and not him. She was quite easily one of the prettiest girls at school, and one of the few that he really wanted on his arm. He could have sworn she would have agreed to be his date for Hogsmeade if it weren't for the insufferable bastard in front of him. Enough was enough.

He leapt at Potter, nodding to his mates to hold him down.

"Petrificus Totalus!" came an angry voice from the end of the corridor, accompanied by the unmistakable click of high heels.

James gulped. McGonagall.

"What is going on here!" she demanded, after releasing Amos from the Body-bind spell. Her anger radiated from her no-nonsense tone as her nostrils flared and her mouth was set in a very thin line.

After hearing stories from all four boys, McGonagall sent Diggory and his friends off, promising them a world of punishment and stern lecturing from the Headmaster. She even hinted at the possibility of expulsion for attacking a fellow student.

James waved it off. Diggory wasn't evil, just jealous. "There's no need to expel him Professor."

"The Headmaster will be the judge of that Mr. Potter," interrupted a dignified looking McGonagall as she straightened out her robes. "You best be headed to Madame Pomfrey." She fixed him with a look that had no room for argument – much like the look Lily gave him sometimes, which he ignored much to her frustration and his delight. But he wasn't about to argue with McGonagall.

James heaved a great sigh, making a big show that he was reluctantly obedient to her instruction and headed towards the infirmary. As soon as he was out of her sight however, he took a relatively less known passage to go back towards the Head Common room, grinning at his cleverness. He didn't curb every one of his desires when he had become Head Boy.

Some things would never change.

James decided the best approach would be to ask her bluntly to leave it alone. "Look, just for once, could you forget your obligations as Head Girl and don't ask me about it alright? I know you don't trust me, but you can trust the same sense of duty that binds me to Head obligations."

That answer seemed to satisfy Lily or so he thought until she opened her mouth again to speak. "So…"

James frowned. So much for asking nicely.

Lily sighed, exasperated with him. "Are all of you boys such idiots? Wound-cleaning potion Potter?"

"Oh right!" He blinked and snapped to action. "Accio wound-cleaning potion," he intoned and a bottle of purple liquid flew into his outstretched palm. The stuff was notoriously painful as it stung worse than the injuries oftentimes.

Lily took it from him, grinning. "Well I hope whatever you got yourself into was worth it Potter." Smoke billowed from where she popped out the cork as she slathered some onto a cloth.

"That's more than enough don't you think, love?" James laughed nervously, backing into a wall as Lily looked ready to pounce onto him with the now purple-stained cloth, smoke trailing behind it as she moved like a predatory cat.

"Oh no, I think it's just enough to make you really consider your actions next time." She smiled sweetly at him, inching towards him, knowing that her slowness was only adding to his horror.

James winced. There had to be something he could do to escape the clutches of the smirking Lily right now, who cast a Silencing Charm on the room.

He panicked – pride be damned. He gave her his best begging eyes.

"Mercy?"