A/N: In honor of today being the last day of my spring break (groan!) , today is going to be a two-for-one! Anyway, continuing on.

Slow Progress

The days passed quickly into October, when students could finally catch their breath after the fury of beginning classes and opening assignments. Lilly was rather surprised: James had yet to abuse his Head powers and was actually being relatively responsible. He still pranked people, but they were harmless pranks to lighten the heavy mood of beginning school. He was still a little arrogant, but Lilly somehow didn't mind it so much.

'He's still Potter, and I'm not friends with him.'

But his, like so many other seemingly irrevocably things in Lilly's life, changed with the colors of the falling leaves.

It was two weeks before the Halloween Feast, and Lilly and James were patrolling the corridors. They always completed this task in silence. Until today, of course.

"So . . . how come Alice hasn't gone with Frank to Hogsmeade yet?" James asked.

"I don't know . . maybe because he didn't ask her?" Lilly replied. They lapsed back into silence.

"Alright, stop for a minute" James said, pulling Lilly to a halt beside him.

"What?" Lilly asked perplexedly.

"We're Head Boy and Girl, we live together, and we barely ever speak. I'm going to be completely honest, and I'm only completely honest to Remus and Sirius. So here it goes. I'm sorry. I'm sorry I turned your hair into carrots. If I'd known you were sensitive about it, I wouldn't have done it. I just wanted to meet you so much. I'm sorry I put firewhiskey in Tabitha's pumpkin juice in 3rd year. I'm sorry I let Sirius kidnap you cat-"

"- catnap" Lilly corrected.

"- and hold it for ransom in 4th year and I'm really really sorry I hexed Snape in 5th year, even if the slimy git deserves it. I'm sorry I've been a git for forever, and arrogant, and a 'bullying toerag' but you've got to believe that I've changed. I just want to be friends, Lilly. Can't we be friends?"

Lilly looked at him for a minute, blinked, and turned to continue through the hall. James sighed.

'It was worth a shot' he thought, and jogged to catch up with her.

They walked in silence for a few minutes until-

"My name is Lilly Guinevere Evans. No, Lilly is NOT short for Lillian. My mum has a thing for flowers, which leads me to my sister, Petunia. She is two years older than me, and despises me because of my magic. She degrades me and calls me a 'freak' whenever she can. She is going out with a muggle names Vernon Dursley. The man has the intelligence of a wet mop, and is the size of a small car, or a baby whale, take your pick. The only thing that exceeds his excessive girth and stupidity is his arrogance. I would rather be tied to a mound of fire ants than have a conversation with him. My father is Prime Minister of the Muggle government, and my mum is a homemaker." Lilly took a deep breath, and continued.

"You know my best friends, Tabby, Gea, and Alice, and since we're being completely honest, I forgave the carrots thing, and I don't mind you pranking Snape, as long as it's relatively harmless."

She stopped, and they walked a moment in silence.

"What was that?" James asked.

"Well, if we're going to be friends, we have to know something about each other."