Chapter 2: Sixth Year

Lily sat in the common room pouring over notes that were spread over the table in front of her. Though her NEWTs were still a year away, she found the pressure to succeed was ever mounting. Her exams were coming up and she felt totally and completely unprepared.

Just then, James Potter entered the common room, though the only reason Lily could tell it was him was the untidy black hair sticking out above the stack of books he carried in with him. He sighed as he dropped them onto one of the tables across the room and adjusted his glasses before sitting down and settling into his work.

That's strange. Lily thought, watching James. Where are the boys he's always hanging around with? It was odd to see any without the other, and odder still to see James studying without the motherly, nagging insistence of Remus in his ear.

He must be as stressed as I am… Lily thought, watching James as he wrote furiously on an already mangled piece of parchment. She noticed that his handwriting was still the messy scrawl it was back when they were eleven and assigned as partners for potions. She remembered how, though he had tried to hide it, James was embarrassed by his handwriting and had insisted Lily write all the notes for them. At the time, Lily just assumed it was because he didn't want to do any work, but looking at it objectively now…

I've been rather unfair in my judgements of him. She realized with a jolt. She didn't like to think herself rude or judgmental at all, yet the proof was in front of her. How many years had she written him off as an airheaded jock? How many times had she and Severus-

Lily's thoughts stopped cold. Though it had been a year since her friendship with Severus ended, the pangs of her heart still felt as urgent as they had that day. Lily shook her head to clear her thoughts, returning again to James.

She hadn't ever thought too much about it, really. She had written him off in her brain as a show-off bully.

But that can't be all there is to him. Lily mused, sucking on the end of her quill. Remus has been friends with him since first year, and he's a genuine person. He's a prefect! What about the others? Lily scrunched her nose in concentration. I don't really know much about Peter… He seems nice enough, but he doesn't stop James and Sirius from picking on Severus-

Lily stopped again. Why do I keep thinking about Severus? She thought angrily, huffing loudly. He's made it clear that he doesn't like to hang around 'mudbloods' and I certainly don't want to be around that kind of dark magic…

Lily thought back to the day she ended her friendship with Severus. It was tough to think about, but she hoped the more she did, the easier it would become to separate all emotions from that memory. She couldn't help but remember vividly the terrible bullying James and Sirius claimed was "just good fun".

Of course they can get away with stuff like that more easily now that Remus is a prefect…

As the thoughts entered her head, she realized she actually hadn't seen James act up recently. Sure there was the normal fooling around in class, and the general rowdiness, but other than that…

What made him change?

"Something I can help you with, Evans?"

Lily snapped back to reality, her gaze on James.

"What are you talking about?" She asked, genuinely puzzled. James laughed and Lily felt herself blush.

"You've been staring at me for the past twenty minutes! Normally I'd assume it's because of my devilishly handsome features, but you seem to be the only girl at this school that that doesn't affect. So what is it? Is there something on my face?" James scrubbed a sleeve on his cheek and Lily couldn't help but notice the slight scruff darkening his jaw line.

"Hello? Earth to Evans!" James laughed. "What's going on with you today?" Lily turned pinker than before but tried to hide it by glaring at him.

"Absolutely nothing! I was just thinking and you happened to be in my line of vision. I wasn't trying to stare at you, but believe me, it won't happen again!" With that, Lily gathered her things and stormed up the steps to the girls' dormitory; her footsteps and angry grumblings echoing down to the common room.

James chuckled and ran a hand through his hair. For a moment he had believed Lily really was angry with him; then he saw the blush that stained her cheeks. He stretched his arms above his head and sighed just as the portrait of the Fat Lady swung open. Sirius and Lupin entered, deep in conversation about Hufflepuff's chances against Slytherin in the next Quidditch match, Peter trailing behind, hanging on their every word. Sirius stopped and looked at James.

"You look happier than usual. What's up?" James shrugged in response but Lupin, glancing at the table across the room where Lily had forgotten her scroll of Transfiguration notes, shot Sirius a knowing look.

"Oh!" Sirius nodded and looked back at James. Peter looked fervently between Lupin and Sirius, a confused expression on his face.

"Oh get off it!" James said laughing. Sirius laughed at James' discomfort while Lupin filled in an oblivious Peter.

Upstairs, Lily lay in bed, staring at the cloth above her four poster. If she listened closely, she could hear the faint sounds of Sirius teasing James about something Lily could only assume was her. As much as she would deny it normally, the thought of Sirius teasing James about her made her smile.