Chapter Fifteen: Just Friends

James and Lily spend an evening alone in the Head's Office.

Lily was tired. She was exhausted both mentally and physically; the first few weeks of school had left her drained. School, and the emotional turmoil that is caused by fancying James Potter, she thought. All Lily wanted to do was sleep. But alas, she had fallen shamefully behind on her Head's duties, which is why after dinner, she was planning on going straight to the Head's Office as opposed to snuggling up in her favorite armchair by the fire in the Gryffindor Common Room. She was already developing a headache just thinking about all the work she had to do.

As she was leaving the Great Hall, she was stopped by Professor Slughorn. "Lily, my dear, have you been able to work on the little project I assigned you?"

Fuck, Lily thought as she realized she had definitely not asked James about his schedule yet. She had meant to, she really had, but she had been swamped with schoolwork, and then she and James got into a fight and didn't talk for two weeks….

"Professor Slughorn, I am so sorry I haven't asked him yet," Lily apologized.

"Not to worry," Slughorn didn't seem deterred at all. "Try and let me know by tomorrow, yes?"

"Absolutely," Lily assured him. Great, now I have to add "find James Potter" to my list of things to do tonight.

Lily looked, but not very hard. She decided she would catch him at breakfast the next morning and headed for the Head's Office instead. She really needed to get started on her paperwork, which is how Lily found herself still working on it nearly two hours later, when she was startled half to death by a visitor.

She had been diligently working when James Potter barged into the Head's Office, nearly giving her a heart attack. "Lily!" he seemed surprised to see her sitting there. "I'm sorry, I didn't know you were in here."

He slammed the door shut behind him. It took Lily a few seconds to recover from the sudden and disruptive appearance of James Potter. "What are you -"

James ran over and clamped his hand over Lily's mouth and placed a finger to his lips, indicating for her to be quiet. They both listened as footsteps approached the office. There was a brief knock on the door. "James? Are you in here?"

Lily quickly recognized the voice of Mary MacDonald. Her eyes flashed to James, with a look of utmost disgust. He maintained his stony silence, ignoring Mary's incessant knocks and calls on the other side of the door. "James? It's Mary! I tried to catch you after dinner, but you ran off. James, are you there?"

After nearly five minutes, Mary finally gave up, and Lily and James listened as her footsteps silenced in the distance.

James finally relaxed his position and released his hand from Lily's mouth. "What the bloody hell was that about?" Lily exclaimed.

"I'm sorry!" James said. "She has been hounding me since dinner. I didn't know how else to get rid of her. I didn't realize you would be in here. I didn't mean to interrupt you."

"It's not a problem." Lily didn't admit that his was a welcomed presence to her solitude.

"What are you doing here?" James asked.

"Well, I've been appallingly neglectful of my Head Girl duties and needed to get through some of this paperwork backlog before McGonagall gets on my case," Lily admitted sheepishly.

James smirked at her. "Sounds like a job for the Head Boy. Need help?"

"Sure." Lily smiled brightly at him.

They worked together for another hour, laughing and talking about whatever came to mind. This is so easy, Lily noticed with a warm heart. She didn't often find herself alone with James, but it was always a delightful surprise when she did.

"So, Mary Macdonald?" Lily broached the subject. "She's on the Potter train again?"

James sighed. "Don't remind me. She's been relentlessly asking me out; it's been driving me crazy!"

"Hmm, someone relentlessly asking you out despite your very obvious protests," Lily feigned confusion. "I wonder what that must be like?"

James groaned. "Lily, I am so sorry if this is really what it was like for you. God, I really am such a prat. I totally deserve this."

While Lily knew she could continue to take the mickey out of him, she found herself feeling a little sympathetic to him. She knew how determined Mary could be when she was in pursuit of a lover. Not to mention, Lily suddenly found herself very defensive of James…. Because we are friends… she told herself weakly.

"Don't worry about it," Lily shrugged. "How long has this been going on anyway?"

James suddenly looked very uncomfortable. "Er, since we fought a few weeks ago actually."

Lily looked confused. "What does that have to do with anything?"

James blushed fiercely and suddenly became very interested in his shoes. "Oh well, I guess there's been some rumors going around…. About us…. Being romantically involved…."

It was Lily's turn to blush now. "Oh. I hadn't heard about that."

James cleared his throat. "Yeah, I didn't hear about it until Mary asked me if we had broken up after our fight. I told her we hadn't even been dating. She took that as an invitation to ask me out, several times, and she can't take no for an answer."

"So, you figured avoiding her was the best option?" Lily asked, amused.

"Well, I'm not as witty as you, so I can't think of snappy rejections like you can," James smirked.

Lily laughed. "Don't sell yourself short, Potter."

"I'm just trying to get out of going out with her this weekend, and I am horrible of thinking of excuses," James admitted dejectedly.

Lily suddenly had a brilliant idea and saw this as her opening to fulfill Slughorn's request. "Well, I have an idea," Lily suggested slyly.

"I'm listening," James smirked.

"Why don't you accompany me to an event Saturday night? We can just go as friends, but Mary doesn't need to know that"

James smiled. "I like the way you think, Evans. What is the event?"

"Oh no, you have to agree to come with me before I tell you. And you have to promise not to back out."

"Hmm, blindly agree to spend a night with Lily Evans? I think I can get on board with that."

"So, we have an accord?"

"Lily Evans, I solemnly swear I will be your date to whatever horrible event you have signed us up for tomorrow evening," James said with a hand over his heart.

Lily smiled. "Great! We are going to Slughorn's dinner."

"Ugh," James groaned. "Well, alright. As long as you'll be there."

Lily smiled at him. "Great! Meet me in the Common Room at 7:00 pm Saturday night."

"I wouldn't miss it." They smiled at each other for a moment before blushing fiercely and returning to their work. It is unclear how much work was actually getting done because both of them were internally freaking out at what just happened. However, instead of discussing their feelings like rational adults, they found it best to crush their feelings down until the other admitted to them first… or until they withered and died. Whichever came first.

Eventually, they managed to settle their thoughts long enough to catch up on all their paperwork.

"Thanks for your help, James. I don't know how long it would have taken me without you," Lily said gratefully.

"Please, this is just as much your job as it mine. I'm Head Boy, remember?" James pointed out.

"True. Maybe I should just make you do all the work from now on," Lily joked. James laughed in response. "So, would you like to accompany me to the kitchens for a late-night snack?" Lily asked.

James's smile fell, and he checked his watch. "Lily, I would love to. Really, I would like nothing better. But unfortunately, I have plans."

"Oh," Lily said, her smile faltering. "That's fine."

"I'm so sorry," James repeated. "But I'll see you later, yeah?"

"Yeah, of course," Lily assured him.

"I'm sorry again, Lily," James said. He gave her one last pained look before he took off down the corridor, in the complete opposite direction of the Gryffindor Common Room.

Where is he going? Lily wondered. Is he meeting another girl? Lily's worries plague her thoughts, and instead of dreaming about her upcoming "date" with James Potter, she tossed and turned for most of the night wondering what he could be hiding from her.