Disclaimer: Any characters mentioned or even talked about in J.K. Rowling's books are not mine. I only own my characters, which obviously are not in her books. And if I did own those characters, I would not be writing online, I would be publishing my book!

A/N: here it is!

Chapter 6: Dumbledore's Speech

"If we get another Charms essay to do today in class, that's it, I'm leaving Hogwarts." Alison said before sitting down next to Lily. The Great Hall was noisy with the clatter of utensils and chatter from the students.

"I second that!" Maggie agreed.

"Hey Lils, what's going on between you and the Potter villain? It seems like you aren't so opposed to each other last time I checked." Alison questioned.

"Nothing is going on between us. We're just friends. The only difference from last year to now is that he isn't as childish as before. That's all. Nothing more, nothing less." Lily said sternly. "And as for you Alison, you shouldn't be saying anything to me because if I don't say so myself, I believe you were playing with Sirius in the common room the other night when I went to bring Maggie her book back."

"Was not!"

"Was too!" Maggie yelled back. "I thought maybe it was just me at first but you two were practically eating out the palms of each other's hands!"

"Alright then, I fancy him." Alison said shyly.

"Ali!" Lily and Maggie yelled in unison.

"Okay, I fancy him a lot! Is that a crime?" She said blushing a bit.

"You know what, today is too nice to spend it sitting in here. I'm going outside to do some work. Unless you all want to join me, I'll catch you later." Lily announced before grabbing her books and heading out to the grounds.

"I think I'll join you in a bit Lils." Maggie replied.

The grounds were lush with autumn leaves hugging the lawns. Mean while the winter evergreens of the dark forest remained rigid with their sense of mystery lurking about them. A cool breeze blew about every now and then. While some students remained indoors seeking a chance to get ahead on their studies, a large amount seemed to have given up hope and were hanging out under the trees and throwing rocks into the lake.

Lily eyed a nice spot under one empty tree near the lake and ventured towards it. Opening up her Herbology book, she began to list the remedies for their given list of poisonous plants. After a minute or two she let her gaze drift up towards the lake . The giant squid was apparently enjoying the weather as well because it would poke out the water every now and then, here and there.

Nearby James and Remus were talking about their game of chess as they walked out onto the grounds.

"You have no strategy. That's your problem." Remus was telling James.

"I do too! You just don't understand it." James replied back. "Okay maybe not, but you're a vicious chess player. You could make the Minister of Magic cry with your skills. Using them on me, especially when I barely know what a chess strategy is, is complete rubbish!" James said outdone by Mooney.

"Look who's sitting out by the lake." Remus said casting his glance towards Lily.

"Come on then. "I've got to give her a message." So the two walked over and sat down next to Lily who barely seemed to notice.

"Hello Lily." Remus said awakening Lily from her day dream.

"Oh, sorry. I was daydreaming I guess." Lily said a bit embarrassed. "What are you two up to. Hopefully no evil plots I assume."

"Why on earth would we do that?" Said James jokingly. "No, we were just out for a bit and saw you over here, so here we are. Oh and by the way we have a meeting with Dumbledore."

"What do you 'spose it's about?"

"Probably the Halloween Ball at the end of the month. He wants us to meet him after dinner."

"Hey you guys!" Maggie said joining the bunch on the grounds.

"Hey Maggie." James said acknowledging her.

"Hello Remus." Maggie said to a shy Remus. He, unlike the others, was a bit uncomfortable around Maggie.

"Hi." he replied.

"Okay." James said confused. "I guess we can leave that one to the imagination." he said before making Lily laugh. 'God she has a great smile.' James thought to himself.

'Why is he grinning at that way?' Lily thought to herself. As they sat there grinning at each other, Maggie noticed the strange happenings between her two friends. Suddenly a gust of wind blew and with it a few leaves at James causing them all to laugh, bringing them back to reality.

"Well I guess we can leave that bit to the imagination too can't we, James." Maggie teased as Lily blushed. "So Remus, have any luck with that Herbology homework?"

"No, I still keep mixing up the plant names. If we get through this year, we can get through anything." Remus said before rummaging through his bag for something. "Aha! Do you want to compare notes? I was going to ask James, but he's got a meeting to go to tonight."

"Um, sure! I'd love to. We could tutor each other a thing or two." Maggie replied getting happier by the moment.

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It was strange how life was changing. People were growing up; classes were now not only teaching you basic magical knowledge, but knowledge towards your future job. 'Everything and everyone is changing. Even people you never thought would, like James." Lily thought to herself. 'I've never seen this side of him before. He spends less time pulling pranks and more time studying or helping someone else study. Even when he's relaxing he's like a different person...'

"Lily, Lily?"

"What?" Lily said jerking back to reality. "Are you done eating? You've been staring off into space for about forever, and I'm sure your food is stone cold by now." Alison said looking at her friend. 'Why has she been so out of it lately? Normally it's eat & study, never do just one thing, get two done.'

"I'm fine, I was just day dreaming, that's all. Um James, I'm going to go up to my room and get some work done before the meeting. Just meet me there when your done eating."

"Okay. See you later." he said before eying her as she walked all the way down the Great Hall. 'Man she's beautiful ...' he thought to himself. As he looked around at the table he could see Alison and Sirius in a very funny conversation, well it seemed funny mainly because Alison apparently could not stop laughing. Remus and Maggie were busy "comparing notes" but it was more like them comparing who could go the longest without looking into the other's eyes.

After finishing up his plate and drinking the last of his pumpkin juice James got up and headed for the his dormitory to meet Lily.

"Blast ended screwt." he said before the portrait opened to their common room, where he saw Lily pouring over herbology book once more.

"You know," he said, "If you look at that book anymore, I think you'll burn a hole into it." he said teasing her.

"Gee, thanks. I'll keep that in mind. So when do you wanna go?" She said while putting up her books on the nearby table.

"I guess in about twenty minutes. I don't want to rush his dinnertime. You know how he is about sweets..." he said before making Lily laugh. She really was beautiful. Every time he saw her he was forced to stop and marvel at her beauty. She wasn't just beautiful, she was smart and focused in life too. James wondered if she would ever feel as taken with him as he was with her...'Why did she always say no to guys. Everyone in the school, except maybe the Slytherins, thought she was superb as far as girls go. Although there was that Fredrick guy. She seemed to like him, but then he left all of a sudden...I wonder why...Normally anything that happened in the school is all over within a day of it going on.'

"I'm just gonna go take a quick shower before we go, okay." James told Lily before heading over to his room. 'Get her out of your mind James. She's not yours and probably doesn't want to be. Well, she has been nicer. Maybe she doesn't hate me anymore. Maybe.' he said to himself as he stepped into the hot water of his shower. A wave of comfort washed over him, wiping away the stress from the day. 'Who knows, its Lily.'

"I hope James doesn't take forever to shower and change." Lily thought to herself as he sat back down at the table opening a rather large Transfiguration book.

Once James was cleaned up and ready to go, they left dormitories to head to the headmaster's office to find out about what he needed them to do.

"Licorice Snaps.' James said before the entrance to the headmaster's office opened up to reveal a revolving staircase. The tension between Lily and James was building as they slowly made their way towards the door. They knocked and heard a voice in the distance call them inside.

The sight of the headmaster was a bit odd. It had nothing to with anything he was wearing, but he eyed the two students through his half-moon spectacles as if to say that there was something that he knew that they didn't.

"I asked you two to come here today to update you on the status of the Halloween Ball. Everything is going as planned, the only thing left to decide is how everything will be arranged at the party, what extra necessary decorations you two might want, and whatever modifications you'll may want to make. The location we decided should be changed to the Great Hall because of various reasons. If there was bad whether the students might get wet going in various ways...Also Professor McGonagall suggested that it would be nice to have different size tables around the Hall, but still have the food sent up from the kitchens below...You two would have an easier time viewing the hall to get ideas, versus you having to leave the castle to visit another building. So, have you got any ideas already thought out?" Dumbledore said casting his glance towards them.

"Um, well to be honest I hadn't thought about it much." Lily said apologetically.

"Me too." James said in agreement.

"Well then, you have a lot to think about. The food has been setup, location, decorations are awaiting your selection. So it seems that you have to make your decisions and finalize the rest of the plans."

"Well then, that covered everything in one breath." James more to himself than out loud.

The three, well four if you count Fawkes in the room sat in an awkward silence. Dumbledore seemed to be oddly amused by a flower that was on his desk. He was playing with it as a thought stirred deep within him...and then the silence was broken.

"Interesting." Dumbledore said gazing at the flower. "In order for the flower to continually have new and beautiful petals, the past petals must be shed. If they are not, then eventually the flower dies, and never gets to renew itself." Dumbledore seemed to be off his rocker, but in other ways trying to make some statement. Both Lily and James were puzzled by the headmaster's words. However, deep down James could tell Dumbledore was telling them both something they needed to hear. He didn't know what, but he knew it was true.

"Sometimes a flower needs to be in a different environment, or at other times it just needs a bit of sunshine to brighten the day...All in all, the flower could truly be a wondrous plant if it just shed its past petals and continued to grow. Well you two better be off. I daresay I don't want Professor McGonagall upset with me for keeping you two here all night instead of being out on your rounds. She might not get me anymore Sherbert Lemon for my birthday." He said before giving a light chuckle, easing some of the tension in the room.

"Well then we'll be off." Lily said before standing up to head for the door.

In the corridor neither James nor Lily spoke until they were back at the entrance to their head dormitories.

"What do you think Dumbledore was trying to tell us back there?" James spoke breaking the silence.

"Who knows. I think he was trying to tell us something, but it didn't make any sense to me. I mean, past petals? Flowers dying?" She said confused.

They went to patrol the corridors later on that night, bu there job was basically pointless. Students who wanted to meet secretly will just continue to do that every night, and James and Lily will just have yo keep breaking the rendevous up. After their rounds, the two tired students packed it in and headed for bed. As James tried to grab Lily's arm to check the time, she jerked back.

"What?" he said. "I was just trying to check the time." he said sleepily.

"Oh, I just- well- um goodnight." She said before racing off to her bedroom and clicking the door to lock.

"Something's up with her." James said walking over to his own bedroom to collapse into a deep slumber. As he tracked his way there he thought about the speech Dumbledore made a few hours ago back in his office. He began to wonder. His mind jerked to when Lily freaked out at the beginning of the term, and just now when he tried to look at her watch. Something was missing. There was something she wasn't telling him. James' mind began to race through his years at Hogwarts with Lily and all that had happened. He thought of weird events over the years. Then as if someone put it there, he thought of the day when that Fredrick student was expelled, and how no one knew why. Lily was good friends with him, but was disconnected afterwards. He thought it was all just because her friend had to leave, so did everyone else. And then it all clicked. James knew exactly what happened. He knew why she reacted the way she did. It all made perfect sense. He thought to himself about Dumbledore's speech. He knew what the headmaster was telling them. He now understood. On word escaped his mouth, "Lily."

A/N: Its finally here! and I'm very pleased with the way this chapter went. So please tell me what you think! Do you think James should have figured it out then or later, maybe even sooner? I'm gonna try to start writing the next chapter soon but I've got summer reading to do but I won't let you down! So please review!