I'm back!

Sorry the last one was short, but it didn't seem right to put it with this one. I don't know how long future chapters will be, but I'm making a conscious effort to write more, so they'll at least be posted closer together.

I always appreciate constructive criticism, so if you see anything you want to comment on, just do so nicely. Hehe.

Disclaimer: Don't sue me, for I have nothing but old batteries and lots of last year's Chemistry notes.










The Lily and The Stag




James had desperately wanted to say something – anything - to Lily on the way to Hogsmeade, but she seemed so deep in thought that he felt rather guilty interrupting her. After much internal debate, he decided that he could not help but speak up when they got to their destination. If she spoke up beforehand, then all the better.

Unfortunately, she did not speak up, and James was left walking beside a silent Lily, enduring endless whispers with a straight face. Hearing the incredulous remarks hurt his pride enough by themselves; wondering what they were doing to Lily was almost unbearable. He hoped feverishly that she wouldn't change her mind about the whole thing before he even got a word in.

At long last they got to Hogsmeade, but his date had not yet uttered a word. Mustering up the courage, he took a deep breath before practically whispering her name: "Lily."

Oddly enough, she jumped at the sound of her name. For a moment, he studied her, wondering what she was thinking. There was a strange guilty look in her eye, not unlike the look Peter or Remus had while lying. Worried by this, he watched her further, but seeing nothing else alarming, he continued.

"Where do you want to go first?" he asked.

Her sudden release of breath rather confused him, but before he could inquire further she replied, rather breathlessly, "Anywhere's fine, really."

"Are you sure?" James peered at her curiously.

Lily nodded.

He looked at the streets of Hogsmeade before them, wondering what they would do. He had been hoping that she had a favorite haunt she would like to visit or something in mind. Now that that idea was out the window, he wasn't sure of what to do next.

"Maybe we could just, you know, walk around, and if you see anything you like, we can stop there," he ventured, shrugging his right shoulder.

Lily gave him a half-hearted shrug of her own in return. "That sounds fine."

"All right then…let's, um, walk," James said lamely. Smooth one there, Prongs.

Lily's face revealed no show of amusement or disgust; James wasn't even sure that her expression had changed in the slightest. Now this was getting a bit irritating. If she wasn't going to make an effort, fine, but James had Lily for the next few hours, and he wasn't about to waste it walking in silence.

He looked around, trying to find something to comment on. He spotted a woman offering a large bar of chocolate to a fat child screaming at the top of his lungs, but didn't think that was a good conversation piece. Nearby, a Ravenclaw third year was determinedly poking an explosive from Zonko's with their wand, but James wasn't sure how to twist that into an intelligent discussion; besides, by the looks of it, it was about to explode. James discreetly guided Lily to the other side of the street just in time; a moment later, the Ravenclaw was surrounded by other third years, all of them desperately trying to put the fire out of his hair.

Finally, his eyes found something interesting. Walking down the street was a thin man with a large black mustache affectionately tickling a purring Puffskein. Suddenly, he knew what to say.

He gently nudged Lily, who turned around with a dazed expression. She was obviously thinking again. James smiled and pointed out the man with the Puffskein. "Look at that," he whispered.

She smiled softly before shooting him a suspicious look. "You aren't making fun of him, are you?"

"Why would I do that?" he replied, deftly suppressing the unpleasant shock that came with her response. "I used to own one myself."

Lily gave him a funny look. "Really now?"

James nodded, stuffing his hands in his pockets. "I named him Frederick. You see, when I was younger I had an unnatural obsession with the muggle musical The Sound of Music." Lily giggled, and James took it as a sign to keep going.

"My mother, you see, she absolutely adores musicals, muggles and magical alike," he continued. "In fact, I have reason to believe that she prefers muggle performances – their sets, or lack thereof, amaze her to no end. In any case, when she heard that The Sound of Music was in muggle movie theaters, she simply had to see it." He grinned. "That was my first muggle movie, and it immediately caught my attention."

"Why?" asked Lily. James looked at her in surprise and almost walked into a pole as a result. Was she actually paying attention?

"Why what?' he said stupidly.

"Why did it catch your attention?" she elaborated, turning away for a moment to peer inside the post office window.

"Oh. Well, the fact that one family of singers could outrun the Nazis was pretty impressive," said James thoughtfully, stopping by her and looking at the owls. "I was also amazed by Maria's inadvertent seduction of Captain von Trapp."

"At five?" Lily said skeptically, looking at him.

"No, I didn't notice that until I was a bit older," said James sheepishly.

Lily chuckled. "So why Frederick?" she asked, curious in spite of herself.

"He was the oldest," replied James simply, "and the most masculine one of all the von Trapp children."

At this, Lily burst out laughing. James, rather affronted, demanded to know what was so funny.

"I-I'm sorry," she said in between gasps, "But Frederick…manly…" And she burst into another round of giggles.

"Hey! I'm telling you my old embarrassing childhood memories!" cried James indignantly. "The least you could do is take them seriously!"

xxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxx

"Move over!"

"Ow! You just stepped on my foot!"

"Yea, well, I told you to move, didn't I?"

"Shut up you two!"

"Can we stop by the Three Broomsticks, I'm thirsty…"

Sirius, Remus, Peter, and Alice were all spying on James and Lily, but doing a poor job of it. At Sirius's insistence, they chose to go through alleyways and hide behind large crowds, and as a result had been stepped on, elbowed, nudged, kicked, and pushed. Now impatient with his ideas, the quartet was now attempting to get out of the alley and onto the main street. After much squabbling, the four managed to squeeze out, each sporting a new bruise.

"That's the last time we put you in charge," muttered Alice, brushing her hair with her hand.

"Hey! At least we haven't lost them yet, have we?" Sirius retorted, take a step towards her and further messing up his robes.

"Calm down, Sirius," said Remus, putting his hand on his friend's shoulder and pulling him back. He forced Sirius to turn around and began to adjust his robes impatiently. "They'll hear you."

"Neat freak," muttered Sirius irritably, but he allowed Remus groom anyway.

"I'm thirsty," repeated Peter, looking towards the Three Broomsticks longingly as he too tried desperately to fix his appearance. Remus took one look at him and sighed. "Honestly, what did you guys do back there?" he clucked, annoyed. "It wasn't that cramped."

"I'm with Sirius on this one," grumbled Peter as Remus helped him tidy up. "You are a neat freak."

"He's the only one out of the six of us in our dorm whose side of the room is perpetually spotless," Sirius told Alice, nodding smartly.

"I'm also the only one who knows where everything is," replied Remus calmly, patting Peter on the back. "There you go."

"Bet you don't now where James and Lily are," Alice said, looking around wildly. "Because I think we've lost them."

"They're by the post office," said Remus without missing a beat. "I can hear Lily laughing."

Alice stared at him. Sirius, on the other hand, took a few curious steps forward. He cocked his head to the side and stood very still, his eyes sliding down in an effort to place the sound. When Alice opened her mouth to say something, he quickly put his palm up to silence her. She was so shocked by his behavior that she complied.

Suddenly, he lifted his head back to a normal position and nodded. "Remus is right," Sirius reported. "Lily is laughing, right in front of the post office window."

Peter frowned. "Laughing? With James? Has that happened before?"

"I say we investigate," declared Sirius. "For all we know, they could have separated, and Lily is just laughing with one of her friends."

Alice nodded, and Remus replied, "I concur. Sirius, lead the way."

Forgetting all about his past failures as a spy, the group followed Sirius towards the post office. Sirius, suddenly focused, moved so deftly and quietly through the crowds that Alice was once more surprised. Since when did Sirius know how to act like a hunting dog?

"Halt," he whispered suddenly, throwing an arm back to stop them. Alice, Remus and Peter bumped into him. "If we go any farther, they'll spot us. Quick, look natural."

Remus pulled a newspaper out of his robes and leaned against a wall, engrossed in an article about flying carpets. Peter and Alice turned towards each other and commenced talking amongst themselves about the latest Quidditch match. Sirius too had something to read; he slipped a magazine out of his pocket and began to flip through his pages.

"Do you see anything?" whispered Sirius.

Remus chanced a look. "Lily's looking at James and smiling at her. He's…" His voice trailed off.

"What? He's what?" hissed Alice.

"He offered her his arm, and she took it," he finished, unable to believe it.

"WHAT?" she cried.

"Shhh!" The boys shushed her, and she hastily lowered her voice. "Since when does she accept his arm?" she continued.

"Who knows," muttered Remus, "But -"

"Bugger it, they're heading towards this way," Sirius snarled, slapping his magazine shut and stuffing it in his pocket.

Remus followed suit and the quartet quickly crossed the street, taking care not to be too obvious as they watched the couple go into Honeydukes.

"I'm hungry," Peter whined.

Suddenly, they heard a distant rumble.

"Was that what I think it was?" asked Alice, looking up towards the sky. Dark wisps of cloud were floating above their heads, dancing on the strengthening wind.

"Don't worry about it," Sirius assured her, giving the heavens a quick glance. "It's not going to rain."