Lily flitted around the dormitory, frantically grabbing her wand and looking at her hair in the mirror. "Hideous!" she cried. Dorcas and Marlene were laughing, and Emmeline began tapping her foot on the floor.

"Time flies, Lily."

"Oh shut up, Vance!" Lily looked at herself in the glass for a final time. Her hair was hanging down in messy curtains, and Lily thought her face was bit pale and faintly like a raccoon's. Disgusting, really. Good thing we're only out to be friends… Lily knew that she was lying to herself, but nonetheless she picked up the spellbook and left the dormitory, just hearing Marlene's "I told you she actually liked him…" Lily slammed the door.

All four of the bloody bastards were waiting for her downstairs. Lily forced a smile and handed Remus his book.

"Thanks," he said ruefully, tossing the graffitied text onto an armchair. Unfortunately, Sirius happened to be lounging in that armchair, and he let out a loud grunt as the book caught him in the stomach. James and Peter laughed.

"C'mon, Lily," said James, taking her arm with one of his charming smiles. "Best we'd be off."

"Bye!" waved Peter. James nodded farewell and they exited the portrait hole. Lily felt her heart beating furiously, thump thump thump thump—

"I like your hair like that, Evans," declared James after a few moments of silence. Lily wondered what he was talking about until she blushed, remembering how she had let him turn her hair purple in Transfiguration. James hadn't bothered to concentrate on the spell too much (he had mostly been talking to Lily) and it was fading, so the curl of hair was a reddish currant color.

"Ah…" said Lily lamely. "Yes, well, er, where should we patrol James?"

"Everywhere," answered James with a wink. Lily's heart jackknifed again. At the rate she was going, she wouldn't last the night without undergoing apoplexy. They wandered down the corridor and took a twisty spiral of stairs to the lower level.

"So, er, how was your summer?" asked Lily, feeling it was her turn to initiate conversation. James shrugged.

"Good. Sirius has a new place now, though, so it was mostly packing and grousing. And eating. Loads of that."

"Wait," said Lily curiously, "Sirius Black lives with you?"

"Lived with us," answered James with a grin, "Honestly Evans, do you listen to anything I say? Or do you prefer to just stare at me and dream?" Lily raised her eyebrow, hoping desperately that she wasn't blushing.

"I thought you were over your childish, arrogant stage, James."

"What can I say? I like to stay young, Lily, and you—" James was interrupted by a maniacal laugh from behind. Lily spun on her heel to see Argus Filch, the odious caretaker, fall out from some passage behind a large tapestry. His latest kitten, the hated Mrs. Norris, was prowling towards them. James had whipped out his wand, as Lily was quick to notice, and was only now lowering it as he recognized Filch.

Filch was so wheezing with glee that Lily thought he might suffer a heart attack. He was hurrying towards the pair, panting, with a look of triumph upon his unflattering features.

"AHA! POTTER!" Lily made a face as a fleck of spit hit her cheek. She wiped it off with the arm of her robe. James seemed very at ease, possibly even amused. Filch didn't notice any of this and continued on, pointing his gnarled finger at James and hooting,

"Caught you now, eh Potter? After hours, and with a girl too! Where are your nasty little friends, eh? Scampered off and left you to old Filch, eh? Well this is the last straw now, Dumbledore'll have to—"

"—congratulate me?" interrupted James. Filch paused, chest still heaving.

"Why the hell would he do that?" he spat unceremoniously, although he seemed uncertain. James put on a long-suffering sigh and pointed with a flourish to his Head Boy badge.

"Because," said James, as though trying to explain mathematics to a gerbil, "I, just like you, happen to be on patrol. Head Boy, you know."

Filch looked as if someone had just told him that Mrs. Norris was Lord Voldemort. His face crashed into one of the most defeated and evil looks that Lily had ever seen, his eyes darting wildly.

"But… I've caught you! Finally! I have proof! You're here, with this girl—"

"The Head Girl, Filch, the Head Girl," sighed James patiently. Lily suspected that he was enjoying this immensely. Filch made a twisting motion with his hands, looking as if he was strangling some imaginary enemy. Lily thought that she could guess who that would be.

"You're still on my list, Potter!" he cried, trying to regain his bluster. "You and Black, and Pettigrew, and Lupin—" James raised his hands helplessly.

"That's something you're going to need to take up with Professor Dumbledore, sir." Filch was murderous. He spared James, and then Lily, a final, vicious glance before skulking off, muttering to himself. Mrs. Norris stared at them for a second longer before turning tail and following him. As they disappeared around a corner, James laughed out loud.

"Bet that's a nasty pill for him to swallow, one of the people he'd dearly love to expel now has the privilege to roam the halls—"

"He certainly seems to hate you," observed Lily as she began walking again. James fell in step beside her. "What'd you do to him, James?"

"Lily, the man hated me from my fourth day at Hogwarts, when I accidentally stepped on his ickle kitty—"

"Accidentally?" laughed Lily. James gave her a genial grin and a wink that set her stomach into somersaults.

"Well, I was young and innocent—" Lily snickered "—so, yes, it was mostly an accident."

"Innocent, pah. What are we to do with you, James?" she asked as they approached the girls' toilets on that floor.

"Well, first you could stop walking before you step in that puddle."

"What? That doesn't make sense—" Lily heard a slush. She looked down and saw that she was standing in about two inches of rapidly-spreading water. Lily jumped backwards, nearly slamming into James.

"Knackers!" she exclaimed, balancing herself. Lily felt woozy, and she thought probably had something to do with getting another whiff of the Head Boy's cologne before she moved away. Her shoes were soaked through, and she felt water seeping around her toes. James looked at her and laughed, he had not stepped in the water, the smug roach.

"My, what language from our pristine Head Girl! It's only a bit of damp, Peeves probably pulled the taps—"

"It's 'damp' that we've got to bandy about in all the way to the sinks so we can shut it off, and Merlin knows if it's really from the sinks or else something worse!" she said angrily, retreating further from the water. Something he said seemed to register in her brain and she realized why she was so out of sorts. Lily demanded, "And what makes me so pristine, James Potter?"

"Well," he began, looking at her with a strange sort of smile, "I've never known you to wander after hours, or get detentions, or be late to class, or—"

"Technically, you've never 'known me' at all!" Lily shot back, not totally sure why she was so suddenly infuriated at James' thinking she was a little angel. "It's not like I spend every minute doing homework or reading books. I know where the kitchens are, James."

"But have you ever been to the kitchens?" he asked with a grin. Lily stood cold for a minute and then pinched his arm. Hard.

"Ouch!" James cried, rubbing at the white mark.

"You shout like a woman," muttered Lily, zapping the hem of her robes dry. In retaliation, James pushed her forwards into the water.

"Arrgh!" Lily stumbled into the puddle, her shoes splashing loudly. James had just opened his mouth to chuckle when Lily twirled her wand and a stream of water hit James square in the eye. He choked.

"Oh, so that's it, Evans?" He growled in a very convincing way and waded towards her. Lily squealed, all anger once again forgotten, and ran for it. She was heading straight into the girls' room.

Indeed, the sinks were all gushing loudly like miniature waterfalls. Lily ran past them, turning the taps as she went, before James' arms closed on her from behind. There's that smell again—

"Let go!" she cried, laughing like an idiot for no reason.

"No," answered James, who was also laughing. Lily resisted half-heartedly as she tried to catch her breath. She could feel his cheek on hers, warm, very warm… Hmm… Lily ceased her struggles and relaxed, even as her brain shouted No, no you fool! This is a bad move, you see, very bad—

"Lily?" James' voice was husky and low, and he had not let go of her.

"Yes?" she breathed softly, sounding to her angry, cognitive brain like a fluttery airhead. Nooo Lily, nooo! He'll break your heart—Lily caught sight of herself and James in one of the mirrors. Her face was flushed and her hair was wild, and she was breathing raggedly through open lips. James was staring intently at her, his hazel eyes barely illuminated in the faint light from the hallways. His arms were still firmly wrapped around her, and she fit naturally into the crook of his neck. Their eyes met in the mirror and the contact was electric.

"I…I think w-we should go back to patrols," supplied Lily in a shaky voice, before her intentions got the best of her.

James didn't say anything and didn't move. He was still all around her, and he inhaled deeply. She smells like flowers and fire, he thought, before he slowly, reluctantly released her. He didn't want to force her into anything, although he was stretched nearly to the breaking point.

Lily also was slow in leaving James, and the warmth of his arms. She turned around and faced him, staring straight into him with her blazing emerald eyes. Without looking away, she reached over and turned off the last two spigots.

"Come on," she said softly, and James thought that he saw something in her impassive face that wasn't there before. She made a movement, and James looked down to see her hand outstretched; her delicate, long fingers barely uncurled. James understood and took her hand in his. He squeezed once, and quietly, they sloshed out of the bathroom, neither looking at the other but both very aware that they were not alone.

Yay! I had reviews, so I will continue. I smile. And flora, you are too good to me ;)