Chapter 3

Lily walked into the Great Hall the next morning feeling a little nervous and ready to try out her acting skills. She and James had to continue as if last night hadn't happened if they were to fool their friends.

She approached Sam, who was speaking to Sirius and Remus, "morning" she said as she sat down beside her, the boys moved away to sit further down the table "what did they want?" Lily asked.

"Oh er nothing, did you catch up on your work last night?" Sam asked changing the subject

Lily grinned, "I got up early this morning and finished it off" Sam looked pleased, she'd noticed the stress on Lily's face over the last week and it was good to see Lily smiling again.

"Don't look now, but here comes your favourite person" Sam whispered to Lily pointing at James who had just walked in and was heading up the isle towards the other Marauders.

"He's not my favourite person" she snapped, she met his eyes briefly as he passed and she blushed

"Really? I had no idea," replied Sam, her voice dripping with sarcasm

xxxx

James walked into the Great Hall and headed to meet Sirius, Remus and Peter for breakfast, he looked at Lily on his way passed and she blushed, he couldn't wait until later when they would be on their own together, but for now he would pretend nothing had changed.

Sirius looked excited about something and as James sat down he found out exactly what. "You are gonna love me, Prongsie" he said, winking and nudging James gently in the ribs

James looked apprehensive "what have you done? He asked warily

"I have just got us a date with Sam and Lily for the Hogsmeade trip next Saturday" Sirius leaned back in his chair, with his arms crossed and a smug look on his face.

James was a bit taken back by this news, surely Lily hadn't told everyone they were together, he frowned "Lily has agreed to go on a date with me?" he asked uncertainly.

"Not exactly, I asked Sam to come with me and I kind of suggested that I bring you and she bring Lily, I don't think she is planning to tell Lily about it, but hey, who cares, once we are all in Hogsmeade, I'll drag Sam away and leave you two alone, so you can work your magic on her" Sirius was obviously very pleased with himself.

James' frown turned into a huge smile, having thought he and Lily wouldn't be able to spend the Hogsmeade trip together as they were pretending there was nothing between them, he'd not been looking forward to it, but Sirius had unknowingly created a great opportunity for them to have the afternoon alone together without causing any suspicion from their friends. It was going to be a good day.

xxxx

Herbology was Lily's last lesson of the day and as soon as it finished she headed straight to the heads common room, her and James hadn't spoken all day and she was eager to see him, as she walked down the fourth floor corridor, a door opened to her left and an arm reached out and pulled her into an empty classroom. She dropped her books in surprise but they lay forgotten on the floor as she realised who had grabbed her.

"I thought I'd never get you alone" He whispered before kissing her passionately.

"How did you know it was me?" she managed to say between kisses

"Lucky guess" he replied cheekily, he tilted her chin up and kissed her again, she pulled him closer feeling she belonged right here in his arms and wishing they could just stay like this forever.

xxxx

The sun shone brightly on the morning of the Hogsmeade trip, it was a crisp autumn day. Lily and Sam headed down to the entrance hall. As they approached, Lily noticed Sirius and James waiting by the door and watching them come down the stairs.

"Great!" Lily said, "What are they doing here?" she asked Sam, secretly enjoying keeping up the act of hating James

Sam looked nervous, "er, did I not tell you, Sirius asked me to go into Hogsmeade with him and I kind of said yes" she said uncertainly

"I know you have a bit of a thing for Sirius, even if I don't understand it, but why is James with him and why did you bring me along, surely it should just be the two of you if it's a date?" Lily said angrily

"Well, Remus was going with Melody, you know, that Ravenclaw girl in our Defence class, Peter has detention today so Sirius asked if he could bring James along as he'd be on his own, he suggested I bring you too so we could go as a four, oh please Lils, do it for me" Sam pleaded

Lily turned her nose up, Sirius was the biggest flirt of all the Marauders and Sam was bound to get hurt by him, but her friend clearly liked him and maybe she would get to spend a bit of time alone with James while they were out, "OK" she said to Sam "I'll come"

After having their names ticked off the list in Filch's hand, they started the walk down into the village, Sam and Sirius walked side by side and James and Lily fell into step behind them. Lily turned to James and gave him a cheeky wink and he grinned back at her.

Sirius wanted to go to Zonko's and Lily needed a new quill so after having a long look around the shops they headed to the Three Broomsticks, ordered four foaming mugs of Butterbeer and sat down at a table by the fireplace.

They chatted easily for a while until Sirius turned to Lily and said "Hey Lils, after we've finished our drinks, I'm gonna take Sam for lunch and a bit of alone time, only for a few hours, you don't mind do you? You can keep James company and we'll meet you outside Honeydukes at 4 to head back."

Lily tutted in reply and slouched back in her chair with her arms crossed but didn't object. Sirius took that as his cue to leave and drained his mug, stood and held his arm out to Sam "care to join me" he asked her. Sam giggled and linked her arm through his, looking back at Lily she mouthed "sorry" and left the pub with Sirius.

"I'm impressed" James turned towards Lily, "you should be an actress! Come on lets get out of here" he said, and they too left the pub.

Once they were away from the main hustle and bustle of the High Street James took Lily's hand "we've got 3 hours until we have to meet the others and I know just the place for us to go" he started running further towards the edge of the village pulling Lily along with him, both were out of breath when they stopped and Lily looked at where James was taking her.

"the Shrieking Shack" she gasped "I'm not going in there, it's the most haunted building in Britain" she tried pull free of James' hand and back away but he held her tightly.

"you shouldn't believe everything you hear sweet Lily" he said as he pulled her closer to the entrance. Something about the way he was talking made Lily think he knew something about this place that she didn't.

"er, I'm not sure about this James" she was breathing hard and looking fearful.

James stopped and faced her, "do you trust me?" he asked

"yes, but…." She looked from James to the shack and back to James

"I would never do anything to hurt you, I've been in there lots of times, its not haunted" he gave her a small kiss and held out his hand "Coming?"

Lily nodded and took his hand, feeling nervous but excited, they entered the Shrieking Shack.

"wow, look at this place" Lily said as she stared around in amazement, there were a few pieces of furniture but all were covered in scratches and rips, animal footprints were all that disturbed the dust and the floor boards creaked as they moved further inside but Lily didn't feel scared anymore, there was something unusual going on in here but seeing how relaxed James was had put her at ease.

James showed her around the whole shack until there was only one room left to see, this room was different from the others, there was a squishy sofa and a little table, and some candles around the walls. Though the sofa was still old, there were no rips and this room was almost free of dust.

James closed the door behind them and lit the candles with his wand "the Marauders have explored every part of the castle and we found a secret passage that leads straight here, we've been visiting this shack about once a month for the last couple of years" James explained

Lily smiled, going out with James was going to be a lot of fun. She leaned closer and her lips touched his as he circled his arms around her waist pulling her to him.

She ran her hands up his back and into his hair, it was messy as usual but felt good through her fingers. James kissed her neck, it tickled and she giggled, then his hands slid beneath her shirt and up her back.

"do you have any idea what you're doing to me?" he whispered as he nibbled her ear gently

"I have an inkling" she replied cheekily as she felt his hardness against her. James slid his hands around to her front and up towards her lace bra, he ran his thumb over her protruding nipple and she threw her head back and moaned, she pulled him closer and his erection pushed hard against her.

Slipping his hand round to her back he reached the clasp of her bra, but just as he went to undo it, she pulled away

"I'm sorry James" she said quietly "I'm not ready, this is going a bit fast for me"

He managed to hide the disappointment in his face "I'm sorry, I shouldn't have pushed you, it's too soon, that's OK, we can wait until you're ready"

"thank you" she said as she straightened out her clothes "maybe we should head back to meet the others"

James kissed her lightly "when it comes to you, I would wait forever" he said as they left the Shrieking Shack and walked back to Honeydukes.