I own nothing. Every character mentioned here came from the genius mind of JK Rowling and her wonderful series. :-)

Quidditch and Things

Quidditch was always fun. In my opinion it was the second best thing about Hogwarts, next to Lily of course. I could always lose myself when I was up in the air. The team was looking very good again this year and I was looking forward to our match against Slytherin in the coming weekend. As I flew around the pitch watching the rest of the team practice and yelling out pointers at them, I couldn't help but think about my meeting with Lily later that night. It would be our first meeting alone in the common room since all of our other meetings were at the library where Madame Pince usually kept a close eye on us. Being around Lily always did something to me that I couldn't really explain. I was known at Hogwarts as a very easy going, loud guy who expelled all sorts of confidence, but when Lily was around, I turned into a stuttering, blushing fool. She was the only girl that ever made me feel that way and I think I liked her more for it. She was also the only girl at Hogwarts who had ever turned me down, but that only made me want her more because at least I knew she wasn't like all the other girls who went for looks and popularity in a guy. I was suddenly shaken from my reverie when Sirius flew up behind me and smacked me upside the head with his beater's club.

"Hey Prongs, we're talking to you," he yelled in my ear.

"Oh, sorry, just got a bit distracted," I said rubbing the back of my head.

"So are we done for tonight or what? We're beat," he said.

"Yeah, sorry guys. I guess I lost track of time," I said as I made my way towards the rest of the team. "Be ready to play this Saturday, because it's an important match. We can't lose to Slytherin can we? We'll be the laughing stock of the school," I said before flying down and landing by the locker rooms.

"What's with you lately? You've been acting all strange since we got back. We haven't pulled a prank in over a week. Are you feeling alright?" Sirius asked landing next to me.

"I'm fine Padfoot. I've just been pre-occupied with the whole Head Boy thing. It's no big deal," I sighed. "Besides, I have to act as if I don't go around pranking as Head Boy, remember?" I said absent mindedly.

"Excuse me? We're Marauders Prongs. We live to prank Slytherins and innocent bystanders, everyone knows that, even Dumbledore knows that," he said waving his around.

"I guess, but it's becoming too much to handle. Things have changed too much this year with this stupid badge constantly looming over me and having to worry about NEWTS," I said running my hand through my already messy hair again. "I enjoy pulling pranks as much as you do Padfoot, I really do, but I feel like I need to prove that I can be more than a prankster. I need to prove that I can be a responsible adult like my father wanted me to be," I said looking away from him. I wasn't exactly comfortable having this type of conversation with Sirius. He was my best mate but at the same time I think we both knew that talking about serious stuff might get in the way of having fun.

"Sorry Prongs. I never knew you felt that way. But we can at least prank the Slytherins every once in a while, right?" he asked with a puppy dog face.

"Well, maybe you could try to pull some stuff off without me and then I'll pretend I don't know about it, that way it doesn't look suspicious," I said with a smile.

Sirius looked at me and gave me that devilish grin he was notorious for before walking into the locker rooms for a shower.

x

Seeing as how it was late at night by the time I got out of the showers, I simply put on some muggle clothing. I slipped into a pair of jeans and put on a white t-shirt before getting my things and walking towards the castle to meet with Lily in the common room. When I walked into the common room, I was not surprised to see that Lily was the only person there. She was sitting by the fire place with a book propped up on her knees, the flames giving her face a beautiful glow. I slowly walked up beside her and put my belongings down on the floor. A sudden urge to take her in my arms threatened to overcome me, but I held my emotions in check for the sake of not making a big fool of myself.

"Sorry I'm late, practice went a little long and I spent more time than I intended in the locker room," I said to her as I sat down beside her.

"Oh, that's fine, I was just getting a head start on my reading for Charms," she said still looking down at her book.

"So, shall we get started?" I asked.

"Sure," she said finally looking up. She stared at me for a few seconds before she noticed that I was staring back, and she blushed deep red, finally tearing her gaze away. Had she really just been staring at me? Nah, too much to ask for.

When she finally looked up again trying to avert my gaze, I just couldn't help it. I couldn't keep my eyes off hers. Her eyes were illuminated more by the light of the fire and I could have sworn she stared at me for another moment and blushed before looking back down again. I smiled back at her not being able to contain my happiness at spending time alone with her even if it was only for a meeting.

"We should probably start by planning the next Hogsmeade trip," she began, her voice sounding a little strained. I wasn't paying much attention to what she was saying because I was still looking at her. It was amazing how much she had changed in the past year. She was so grown up. I also couldn't believe how differently I felt about her. In the past I knew I liked her a lot, but it was different that year. Every time I looked at her I felt a strange feeling at the pit of my stomach that I couldn't explain. She must have noticed that I was staring at her because she suddenly stopped and looked at me with her head tilted to the side.

"Are you listening to a word I'm saying?" she suddenly asked me.

I shook my head and looked down. "Sorry, I got distracted," I said for the hundredth time that day hoping she wouldn't see me blushing.

"Wow, is James Potter blushing?" she teased.

"No," I said getting up and turning away.

"Yes you are. You were staring into space with your mouth practically wide open while I was talking and I caught you, and now you're blushing," she teased.

"I wasn't staring into space, I was thinking about something and my mouth was not wide open," I said trying to sound as cool as possible.

"Whatever you say, but as I was saying, we should probably plan on having the first Hogsmeade trip around the Halloween weekend. It shouldn't be cold then," she said to me obviously trying to hold back her laughter.

"That sounds good to me," I said trying my hardest to not look at her with fear that I would break out laughing too. She then started telling me about how we should have another visit right before Christmas but I was only catching a few of words. I had just realized that she had almost caught me staring at her and although I hadn't heard a word she said, she hadn't gotten mad at me for it. If it had been sixth year and she caught me ignoring everything she was saying, she would have made some smart remark to make me look like a complete idiot in front of other people. But she hadn't done that. She had simply laughed at the fact that she had caught me staring into space.

"So what do you think?" she asked me, tearing me away from my thoughts.

"That sounds great," I said trying to sound as if I knew exactly what she was talking about.

"Well that settles it, do you want me to turn these notes in to Professor Dumbledore, or will you do it?"

"I'll give them in to him tomorrow before Charms," I said standing up.

"Great," she said also standing up.

"I guess I'll see you tomorrow then," I said looking down at her.

"Yes, I'll see you tomorrow."

At that moment we both took a step forward to walk towards our belongings on opposite sides of the common room and we bumped right into each other. I felt her small frame bump into my chest and I immediately held out my arms to catch her before she fell over from the collision. She looked confused at first, but after realizing what had just occurred, she burst out in a fit of laughter and I did the same. We remained that way for a few seconds before she realized she was still in my arms and she quickly stood up.

"I'm sorry. That was so clumsy of me," she said trying to stifle her laughter.

"You shouldn't be apologizing, I knocked you over," I said trying to compose myself.

"Is James Potter actually being a gentleman?" she asked through a wide smile.

"Well in the words of one Lily Evans I guess I finally popped my 'excessively large head' for which I only use to show off in front of everyone and actually began acting the part of the young, charming young fellow that I am," I said with my most pretentious tone of voice.

"You are not a charming young fellow, but you did have an excessively large head. I'm only grateful that you seem to have deflated it this year and that you're actually acting civilized," she said with a more serious tone.

"It was no easy task deflating it mind you, but I figured I would let Sirius have something he could claim was his own, you know? No one wants two big heads in one common room do they? Where would everyone else fit?" I said laughing. "I'm glad you noticed."

"Good night James," she said with a large grin before walking up the stairs to her dormitory.

There it was again. James. I stood there for a moment trying to freeze the moment in time. What was happening between me and Lily? At the beginning of the term when she saw me on the train she wanted nothing more than to make me go away, but now it seemed that she was actually enjoying my company. I at least hoped that she felt that way because to me it was the most incredible feeling in the world.

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