October 31, 1977

Lily had stuffed herself full of all the goodies that had been on the table. Now lying in the Gryffindor common room she was beginning to think that was a mistake.

"Ughhhhh… I think I ate too much!" Mary moaned beside her.

"Same…." Lily groaned.

Lily struggled to sit up and moved to sit on the couch nearby.

"So when Alice says 'It's our last Halloween feast at hogwarts let's stuff our faces' I'm going to say no thanks!" Lily grumbled.

"Hey, this is not my fault, you could've ignored me, like you do for homework!"

"Don't try to wiggle out of this! I wasn't a pig yesterday now I'm a thousand pounds!" Mary squealed from the floor.

"I protest!"

"Don't!" Lily and Mary said in unison.

They all dissolved into giggles before clutching their stomachs and moaning.

"I will never eat again!" Lily sighed.

"Alright, I'm sorry! I'm going to do some charms homework!" Alice cried standing up.

"I'll join you!" Mary struggled off the floor before following Alice.

"Ha! I did the essay two days ago instead of snogging in a broom closet." Lily called from the couch. Mary and Alice glared at her as they walked away. It was really only Marlene and Dorcas who were snogging in broom closets nowadays, which actually where were they?

She reached over to the side table and grabbed her book, turning to her page, 394, and began reading. After a few chapters she looked up at the bare room and sighed. She had done it again. How was she supposed to sleep if this kept happening?

She stood placing her book on the table. Thankfully she didn't have classes tomorrow and had done most of her homework. She moved toward the girls dorm stairs, but a noise made her stop.

"Lily! Wait!"

It was James Potter she realized as she turned around.

"Want to play a game of chess?" He gestured aimlessly towards a table where a wizards chess set had been placed.

James was looking at her strangely. "Sure James." She heard herself saying.

Lily wouldn't say that she was great at chess, but she was certainly better than James. This became extremely clear five minutes into the game when she had already captured a bishop, a knight and three pawns.

"Checkmate!" Lily said.

"Ughhh! How are you so much better than I am? That was barely twenty minutes!"

"James your problem is you act compulsively. You don't analyze the consequences, you just go."

James sat in silence for a minute, evidently contemplating what she had said. "Play me again?" He asked after a while.

Lily sighed, she was starting to feel tired, but still she heard herself say, "Alright James, one more game."

The next game James still lost, but he was thinking more before each turn and Lily thought that was progress at least.

o0o

"One more game!I'm getting better!"

"No James! I said one game, I'm exhausted!"

"We can play so you can sit on the couch?"

"Fine, but this better be quick." James practically jumped for joy.

"Alright I'll go first uh… I'll move my pawn here."

Lily was fading she could feel it. Her body was starting to give up, her eyes drooping and her breathing slowing to a snail's pace. She felt like if she wanted to lift her arm that it wouldn't even budge.

"Hmmm… Lily?" James looked at her concerned. Her eyes gave up the strain and fell closed. She was going in and out of consciousness.

James was next to her… James was leaving… she didn't want him to go….

"James…. stay…."

***James perspective****

"James…. stay…."

James had been waiting for this for years. Lily didn't seem to hate him anymore. It probably had something to do with the fact that he hadn't been hexing people who breathed and had stopped being a bully in general, but it was still amazing.

James sat down next to a nearly asleep Lily. She was breathing steadily, probably already asleep. She shouldn't really sleep in the common room, but boys weren't allowed in the girl's dorm so he couldn't carry her up unless…

James gently picked Lily off the couch, she murmured, but didn't stop him. James could smell her strawberry shampoo as he walked toward the stairs to the girl's dorm.

He stopped short of the stairs and started to doubt his plan, but he went ahead anyway.

"Stairs… umm I would like permission to bring Lily up to bed… I uhhh I won't do anything up there just drop her off in bed and leave…" James felt stupid but he put a tentative step on the stairs and to his amazement they didn't turn into a slide.

He took another step and again the stairs didn't turn into a slide. He went all the way up to the seventh year dorms and walked into the dark room

He placed Lily gently onto the only vacant bed and started to turn away.

"James… thanks…." Lily mumbled and rolled over. James felt his heart flutter and smile spread over his face.

He left in the best mood he'd had in years.