Author's Note: I updated sooner! Yaaay! I hope you like this chapter, it's not exactly been my favorite. But it's still here, and more interesting chapters are coming soon to a computer screen near you! Hope you like it!

Quack Quack 88: Cool, a new reader/reviewer! I'm glad you thought it was good! And as for the elaboration bit, I was trying to fit the flow of the story to the way Lily was thinking at that point--not quite clearly, spontaneously, carelessly. I will elaborate as the story goes on, particularly in this chapter. Thanks!

Windowseat Wonderer: Gee, no matter how bad I think my chapters are, you always love them--and I love that! Yeah, I was trying to make the chapter a little awkward to match how the two were probably feeling at that point. James, worthy of Remus? He would appreciate that compliment, I'm sure! Thanks!

Tanya J Potter: Glad you love it, and hope I've updated soon enough for you! Thanks!

mione-xavier: I know, I've got a terrible habit about not updating. But I think this time was a little quicker…hopefully! Thanks!

Lady of Masbolle: I'm glad you like my story so much! Thanks!

practiceGirly: Oh man…similar in what way? I've never even read that story before. I guess all L/J stories are similar in basis, since the storyline is pretty much set in stone. Hopefully as time goes on you could see my story as a little bit different than someone else's. Thanks, though!

Sk8er Gal: I'm so glad you like it! Here's more, and thanks!

Chapter Nine

Lily walked up to her dormitory, after saying a rather shy good-bye to James, and found Anna still awake. She was sitting up on her bed, a book propped up against her knees, and frowning with concentration. She looked up for a moment, then returned to her reading--and almost like a cartoon, she did a double take.

"What's with you?" Anna asked, rather bluntly. Lily just sighed happily and walked over to her four-poster bed, feeling very much like she was in a dream. "Okay, never mind, anything that could make you that dazed, I really don't want to know." And so she returned to reading her book, flipping the pages in a way that seemed rather irritated.

"Oh, Anna," Lily murmured, "Thanks. A lot." Anna looked up again, shaking her head.

"Lily, I think I've done about a thousand things that you should have--not that you did--thanked me for. And now something's important enough to express your gratitude? There must be something wrong with you," She said, shaking her head.

"Yeah…well, good night," Lily said, and without even changing into her pajamas, she fell asleep right there--for about three hours, which is when she woke up, feeling considerably more level-headed than before. A thousand not-so-good thoughts were swarming & bussing around her head like bees.

What have I done? She asked herself, wondering if and how she could fix it. From that point on, she dreamt up ridiculous scenarios of herself desperately trying to erase what had just happened. Surprisingly enough, before she drifted back to sleep, all she could think about was how ecstatic she'd felt from the moment their lips had touched…

And it was because of this that when she saw James the next morning at breakfast, she boldly went over and sat right across from him, causing a number of reactions from Remus, Sirius, and Peter. Sirius' piece of toast dropped out of his mouth, Remus (who was sitting next to her) elbowed her slightly and flashed her a small smile, and Peter just goggled.

"Er…morning, everyone," She said uncertainly, feeling very uncomfortable indeed. Chancing a glance at James across the table, she saw that he looked a little panicked. Quickly realizing what was going on, she tried to think of a cover for it. "Remus," She said brightly, turning to her left, "I was wondering if you'd finished that Muggle Studies essay yet."

Remus looked at her, clearly puzzled. "What essay?" He asked.

"The Muggle Studies one," She said pointedly, stepping on his foot under the table. He seemed to finally come to his senses.

"Oh--OH! Yes, well, I'm not quite finished with it yet, but I think it'll be done at least by tonight," He said, and she nodded, getting up.

"Well…nice seeing you all," She said, and shot a meaningful (but momentary) look at James, who looked extremely grateful. As she walked over to join Anna, who had just entered the Great Hall, she felt considerably worried. Was something wrong already? Her question, was answered, however, only a few minutes later when James caught up to her on the way to Potions.

"Hey," He said after finally catching up with her, "Thanks for that back there."

"Uh-huh," She replied, feeling a little irritated with him. After all, it was a pretty big thing that had happened between them…at least to her. After thinking for a while, she'd thought that maybe she'd been wrong about him. Maybe he had just gone after her to prove that he could get her, and now the chase was over, so were his feelings.

"I suppose you want some sort of explanation," James said, speaking very slowly. Lily sighed with exasperation.

"Well, yes, that would be nice," She snapped, "After all, now that we've--"

"Okay, okay, I get it," He mumbled, stuffing his hands in his pockets, "But I do have a good reason, if you'll give me chance to tell you it."

"When? We have class right now!" Lily said, just as the bell rang. James looked around quickly as people scrambled to get to their classes.

"Would you be willing to…er…skip out of class for a few minutes?" He asked meekly. Just as Lily was about to start yelling at him, she stopped. As angry as she was at the moment, she couldn't help but wanting things to be okay--and it seemed that the only way it would ever be okay is if she at least heard him out. If he really did have a good explanation, things would be fine. But if he was just being an idiot…well, as much as she wanted to think she had nothing to lose, a feeling inside told her she had a whole lot to lose indeed.

Much to James' relief, Lily had decided that missing one class was all right. He took her hand and half-dragged her into an empty classroom, where he tried to think of how to explain things in the right way. Before he could even say one word, she started speaking.

"What in the world is wrong with you? For six years you bother me nonstop about how much you care about me--you asked me out twice a day! And now, when you've finally got everything just the way you want it, you pretend like none of it ever happened! I thought that I actually had feelings for you, but maybe I was just following your lead and acting without thinking! I put everything on the line for this! What happened?" She finished, looking tearful. James sighed, hoping what he had to say would make her feel better. He thought that if she cried, he probably wouldn't be able to sputter out anything at all.

"Lily, I never--never--wanted to make you feel this way. I just haven't exactly…gotten around to telling everyone yet, okay?" He said. She threw her hands up in frustration.

"Obviously! They all looked at me like I was from another planet when I sat there! Do you have any idea how that made me feel, especially when I had to--"

"Okay, okay, I get it. You're mad. I probably would be too! But I have a good reason for not telling them, all right?" James said, struggling to find words, "Even though this is going to sound corny…I wanted to know whether it was okay with you to tell them, and just to make sure we were on the same page with all of this. You…" James paused, hoping what he was about to say would come out right, "You mean so much to me, okay? I know it's not like we've been in a long term relationship or anything, but you've always been important to me. And now that I mean something to you, even if I only mean a little bit, I didn't want to wreck it by doing something stupid right from the get-go."

It seemed all Lily could do was stand there, looking slightly shocked. When she didn't say anything, James tried a different approach.

"Listen, why don't we keep it to ourselves for a while, until we get it all sorted out," He said, "Sirius might end up in St. Mungo's if we tell him right before the Quidditch game. The shock might get to him a little bit." Lily laughed, the first noise she'd made in the last while.

"Sounds like a plan to me," She said, smiling. James felt a wave of relief come over him, now that he knew she wasn't going to get mad at him. "So do you think we should go back to our classes now?" Lily asked.

They argued for about ten minutes on the issue of whether to go back to class or to just miss the whole thing. James, as could be expected, tried to persuade Lily into letting him show her all the school's secret passages. Lily had questioned his motives for wanting to show her their secrets of the school, and James had a hard time thinking up an answer that she'd want to hear.

"James," She had said, "The only reason you want to show me secret passages is because they're likely very dark & small. And as much as I know you'd like to be like those little third year couples and go snog in a broom cupboard--"

"It's not a broom cupboard, for heaven's sakes, it's a secret passage!" James had protested vehemently.

"Same difference. Plus, I already know half of the ones in this school anyway. You've forgot that I've already spent two years patrolling corridors at night."

In the end, James had half-persuaded her. She agreed that going back to class right now was pretty much pointless, seeing that they only had about a half an hour left. They decided to walk up to the Astronomy tower, since no one was up there in the daytime.

"I'm really glad you're still not mad at me," James said as they exited the classroom. Lily laughed.

"In six years, I've never heard you be as sentimental and sweet as you've been in the past 24 hours," She said.

"Yeah, well in six years, I've never seen you so free-spirited and rule-breaking as you've been in the past 24 hours," James replied.

"What can I say? You bring out the worst in me," Lily said, still smiling as she took his hand.

And so the two of them walked down the hallways and up to the tower, feeling extremely happy--and neither realized that bad things were coming their way.