Chapter 6

She looked so perfect. That was the only word he could use to describe her.

Perfect, as his hands ran through her auburn locks that fanned out over his pillow. Perfect as she gave a small sigh of content in her sleep and snuggled closer to his chest, one hand unconsciously coming up to grip at his dress shirt that remained on. Her wonderful lips parted as her breath came in small, slow intervals. The dress she wore fanned out along with hair across his mattress like liquid, the many folds shifting and ruffling whenever she moved.

Smiling, he removed his hand from her hair and ran a thumb across her smooth cheek, free of blemishes, realizing with slight amusement he had only ever seen her with a blemish once or twice. Her cheeks took on a rosy hue even in her sleep that could match her hair in an instant if provoked. He loved that about her.

His thumb brushed gently over her eyelid, her long dark eyelashes. He had a fleeting wish to see her eyes at that moment. Her beautiful emerald eyes that often left him breathless. Even tonight when they had been threatening tears. He swallowed, realizing what he had done.

He both hurt her and confessed in one night. The one thing he'd wanted to say to her for years now had come out. He'd loved her since the moment, long ago, when she told him he should be studying instead of playing exploding snap with Sirius. His eyebrows had been singed at the time.

That bossy little redhead that time and time again pointedly refused to date him. Though, looking back, he had realized he had been a little obnoxious. Remus had told him this many times.

Last summer, when he decided to change... for her... she had given into him. Once he just started to act more like himself. Grew up a little bit. She had fallen for him.

He knew how she felt... she must love him.

...Lately she'd been looking at him the exact same way he must have been looking at her all those years. That look that Sirius often described as pathetic.

As if on que, Sirius entered the dorm room, heading directly towards his bed without a word, looking slightly defeated. His shoulders slumped, his normal grin completely absent.

When he stopped in the middle of the room, and turned his blue eyes towards James however, he realized that Sirius must not have thought him awake, thus his quiet entrance.

His eyes moved from his best friend to Lily in his arms. "I didn't wake you, did I?"

James shook his head, eyeing the boy turned man before him. "No... I wasn't asleep."

Sirius moved over to his own bed, the one next to James' and took a seat, removing his dress shoes and setting the cat ears he had been carrying in his hands on the night stand. "She'll have a right surprise in the morning." He made a small motion towards the redhead.

James smiled, but not the usual grin he held when around Sirius. "How's your arm, Padfoot?"

Sirius merely shrugged, though by the action, James could tell it wasn't fairing well. "I'll see Pomfrey in the morning."

James nodded, not wanting to continue with the subject, as it was obvious Sirius didn't either. "Moony didn't enjoy tonight very much."

Both boys turned to look in the direction of Remus' bed. His hangings were still pulled closed, his costume lay at a heap at the side of his bed. Sirius grimaced, a look of guilt creeping onto his face to match James'. "We shouldn't have left him alone."

"No, we shouldn't have." James admitted, falling back onto his pillow and resting his head next to Lily's. "We'll apologies in the morning."

Sirius nodded and moved onto his bed, fluffing the pillow before resting his head against it.

It was quiet for a long while, and James was starting to drift off a bit, his arm lazily over Lily's side when Sirius' voice broke the silence. "I'm sorry."

James knew what he was talking about right away. "Don't be. I followed."

There was no more to be said, and James closed his eyes again, inhaling the smell of flowers and vanilla.

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Lily awoke feeling particularly refreshed and warm, and her first thought was 'This will be a good day' followed almost immediately by 'why is Black in the girl's dorm?'

She sat up to tell the obnoxious black haired boy to leave at once, or she'd call a teacher when she realized that a very masculine arm was around her waist.

She took a good look around 'her' dorm room at that point, feeling a sudden amount of dread well up in her.

Remus was staring back at her curiously from his bed across the room, her hair mussed. Peter sat not too far off, watching her with something like awe on his face. A very tired looking James lay next to her, a smile on his handsome face and Sirius Black was standing before her.

Once again his bark-like laughter- the reason she woke up in the first place- rang through the room, and he asked, his blue eyes dancing, "Have a good sleep, Evans?"

She bristled and turned around in her bed... James' bed... to give him a piece of her mind. "Why did you let me sleep here?" She asked, a hint of panic in her voice.

He shrugged and sat up, seemingly reluctant to let go of her waist. He ran a hand through his already on edge hair and yawned before answering. "I thought you looked comfortable." Than he smiled and added. "I was comfortable."

"Pervert." She mumbled, unable to hold back the amazing blush now forming. She struggled off his bed, the dress she realized she was still wearing holding her down. Once free of the confines of his blankets she turned and glared at all the males present, with the exception of Remus who seemed embarrassed enough having been caught in his boxer shorts half awake. She opened her mouth to let out a tyrant of well versed lectures and complaints, but found, given the circumstances, it wouldn't be right too. So instead, she turned on her heel and stomped out of the room, mumbling intelligible comments all the way down the staircase.

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The bathroom was hot and steamy when she stepped out of the shower, and she dried herself quickly off with the red towels provided by the school.

She refreshed, but the embarrassment from that morning still had yet to ware off- Sirius would never let her live that down. She became more embarrassed however when she remembered the events of the night before.

She went from enjoying the dance, to angry, to disappointed, to sad and back again to happy all in the expanse of a few hours. She was still exhausted from it all despite the restful sleep she had obtained in James' arms.

The James that told her he loved her.

She knew it was coming. But when it actually happened... when the words left his mouth... and the look on his face...

Lily sighed and ran her hand along the mirror, wiping away the foggy impression, bringing her face into clarity. She leaned into the sink, bringing her face closer to the glass.

She didn't understand it. Why her? He explained it to her that night before they came to Hogwarts, yes... Destiny. That's what he said. But how could she believe that? No matter how much she wanted to, she still didn't see why he chose her over any other girl in school. Merlin... James would probably have a very good pick of the girls out of school.

She brought a hand to her hair, a look of distaste crossing her features. She wished she had dark hair sometimes. Blonde maybe... Anything that didn't make the small freckles on her nose stand out more, or her blush match her hair. But these were things that she knew James liked about her. He told her so on several occasions.

With a final look of annoyance at her reflection she turned and left the bathroom to get dressed for class.

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"Something isn't right."

Sirius looked up from his text book that he was blindly staring at, Professor Flitwick squeaking in the background. He turned to look in the direction James' attention was most obviously.

Narcissa was sitting with her usual group of Slytherin's. All whispering amongst themselves well passing small looks towards the Marauders.

"What?" Sirius voice held obvious annoyance and spite as he returned to staring at his book.

James furrowed his brow, still watching the Slytherins as he replied. "They're not telling people about the fight."

Sirius slammed his book shut, causing Remus to turn around in his seat to look at him. "Shouldn't that be a good thing?" His voice was constrained, as if he wanted to yell but was holding it back. James knew that was the case...

He opened his mouth to reply but Remus cut in, his voice waspish... obviously he was still a tad peeved about the other night. "Will you two shut up? This will be on our N.E.W.T's."

Lily turned to look back at them as well as he spoke, her gaze curious as James turned back towards the front, his jaw set.

They listened for a few minutes more before Sirius leaned in to speak to James. "Don't bring it up, and maybe they won't." Remus sighed from in front of them but didn't turn around again, however Lily did.

"Isn't it possible they are just as embarrassed?"

Sirius scowled but James put on a wry smile. "I don't think it would bother them Lily, they won."

"Can we drop it?" Sirius hissed and Remus muttered, "Good plan."

They all turned back to the professor, but James, as he did so, caught Narcissa and Snape staring in their direction. As his hazel eyes narrowed in suspicion, a slow, malicious smile formed on Narcissa's face before he turned away.

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"You're becoming obsessive."

James turned away from the Slytherin table and shot a glare at Remus across from him. The werewolf was watching him with a mixture of worry and anger. Peter was sitting beside him, looking as if he didn't want to get involved... which he probably didn't.

James let his eyes linger on the pudgy blonde boy a moment, his eyes narrowing causing Peter to slink into the bench more.

He couldn't help thinking venomous thoughts towards the boy at that moment, and had no idea why. 'Coward.'

"James, I mean it."

He snapped his attention back to the brunette and shook his head. "Sirius had noticed it too... since Halloween they've been acting odd."

"I haven't noticed them acting any different than their normal nasty selves." Lily moved onto the bench next to James. Setting her book bag at her feet she pulled the bowl of pasta towards her, eyeing both Remus and James as she did before averting her gaze to her plate. "Martha Brindell didn't miss her opportunity to call me a "mudblood" as soon as I entered the hall."

James' anger flared instantly and he glanced over to the doors as if hoping the Slytherin girl was still standing there. He felt a strong need to hex someone into oblivion, and if it meant sticking up for his girlfriend at the same time... well...

"Honestly though James... Sirius is right. They haven't brought up the fight... don't worry about it." Remus' voice took on a softer tone than earlier, seeming to have seen the evident explosion just below the surface. James was ready to blow.

He turned and snapped. "That's exactly why I'm worrying." He visibly bristled, his messy hair seeming to stand more on end. "And those looks they keep passing me in the halls constantly-"

"No more than usual."

"-Damn right annoying those are."

"Still James you can't-" Remus tried to cut in.

"And Snivellus said something the other day that didn't seem right."

Remus frowned deeply and went back to eating his pasta, obviously knowing he wasn't going to get anywhere with James now.

"What did he say?" Peter's voice broke the tense silence that suddenly fell over the group.

James rounded on him, and for a brief moment Lily thought he would hit the small boy.

"Something about sending a letter home."

Lily frowned, and Remus looked up from his food, a strange look on his face.

"What did he mean by that?" Lily asked quietly, noticing with some fear that some color had drained from Remus' face. The werewolf was obviously thinking along the same lines as her.

"How should I bloody know!" James ran a hand through his hair and looked fleetingly over to the Slytherin table. "Maybe I should send a letter home." He moved to get up, all food forgotten.

Lily stood up as well. "I'll come with you to the owlery."

He smiled now. Small, but genuine and took her hand as she stood up from retrieving her books.

As soon as they left the hall Remus turned to look at Peter, a worried expression on his face.

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James held onto his black owl, Horris, well Lily hastily tied James' quickly written letter to his foot, her green eyes narrowed as she tried to see the string in the dim light the moon provided the room. Sighing with irritation, she stepped back, pulled out her wand and mutter "lumos" . Instantly the space was lit up and Horris ruffled his feathers with obvious annoyance.

Lily went back to tying the string. "You really shouldn't let the Slytherins get to you, James. I'm used to it."

He snorted, though his gaze softened as he looked down at her. "That's not a good thing."

"No, I suppose not..." She finished tying the string and stepped back from the bird. "All done."

He nodded and went to the open windows, muttering something under his breath to Horris that she wasn't able to hear. He watched the bird out of sight before turning back to her. "It's gotten worse with them as the attacks become for frequent." His voice was quiet as he spoke... kind... and she realized he was trying not to scare her.

It did little to stop her fears for her parents and sister however.

She shook her head, and moved to leave the room and he followed, eager to leave the dropping strewn floors behind. "They're just big headed fools." She muttered.

"Who, once done with this school, will most likely follow in their parents footsteps."

"You have no doubt than?"

He turned to look at her as they walked down the stairway and into the hallway below. "About what?"

"That they're vile people."

"Do you?"

She was silent a while, before shaking her head. "Maybe... but a part of it is just appearance."

"That makes them even more vile." His voice was dangerously low and she turned to look at him, tilting her head to see his face properly.

"Things might change once they leave school." She knew she sounded hopeful, and she could see the tell tale marks of a smirk forming on James' face.

"Would you really want to work with one of them at the ministry? They were put into Slytherin for a reason."

"The hat wanted to put me into Ravenclaw."

He turned to look down at her, a look of surprise on his face for a moment before he smiled. "I thought so."

"You don't think that maybe some of them asked to be in Slytherin to make their parents happy?" She furrowed her brow and James felt he wanted to kiss her, despite the conversation.

"Look at Sirius."

"Yes, looking at Sirius I can definitely see he wanted to make his parents happy."

James looked down at her once more in surprise at her sarcastic tone, nearly stopping in his tracks. She turned to look at him, her gaze full of defiance.

"Lily..."

She shook her head. "Let's just forget it." She smiled, though it looked slightly forced, and grabbed his hand, pulling him along down the corridor.

He followed, lacing his fingers with hers in the process. "Are you still mad about this morning?"

She stopped than, turning around to face him, her face showing her surprise from the sudden question. "What?"

"That I didn't wake you up. Are you mad?"

She blushed. He could see it in the torch light. But he felt he really wanted to know the answer.

Finally, after staring up at him for what seemed forever, she looked down at her feet and answered, "Not really."

"Not really? Honestly Lily, I would have brought you to your dorm if I'd have woken up a bit earlier."

She shook her head, laughter apparent as she spoke. "And have the staircase scream and spit you back down again. Sirius already tried that."

"I forgot about that." He answered honestly, looking up to the ceiling a moment as if deep in thought. "I wonder if you could just fly up to the window?"

"Don't get any ideas."

"-Maybe there's a switch or something... maybe a trick step?"

"James, don't." She was laughing.

"But what if I want to tuck you in one night?"

Shaking her head and pulling him along the hall again, she chuckled to herself, her eyes dancing. "Pervert."

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AN: Hope this chapter was ok... next chapter will be a bit...angsty... just to warn you

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