Chapter 3: Seventh Year

Lily ran down the hall, her long red hair flying behind her.

Oh this is just great! She thought, running past a window covered in frost. My homework isn't done, I'm going to be late for class, and of course I'm setting a great example as Head Girl!

Lily sprinted the rest of the way down the corridor, turned the corner at break-neck speed then-

WHAM!

She crashed into something hard, dropping her books and notes everywhere and falling to the floor with a loud thump. The hard thing she crashed into sat up, rubbing its head and adjusting its glasses.

Oh no.

"Evans, are you okay?" James squinted at her through the break in his lenses, ignoring the group of third year girls who were giggling in the corner. Lily blinked a few times then nodded.

"Yeah, just a little bruised." She sat up slowly, checking for a concussion, then began gathering her papers from the floor. James stood up and grabbed the rest of her things that had rolled across the corridor.

"Why were you in such a hurry?" He asked, handing her a neat stack of her notes.

"I was trying not to be late for potions, but fat lot of good that did me seeing as I'm even later than before." Lily sighed and shoved her things into her bag haphazardly, getting ready to walk into class.

"You didn't hear? Potions was canceled today." James said, placing a hand on her shoulder to stop her from walking away. "Slughorn got sick."

"Oh…" Lily bit her lip in thought.

"He should be fine soon though, in case you were worried!" James added quickly. "I know you and him are close- I mean you're in the Slug Club so…" He rubbed at his neck awkwardly.

"Oh, your glasses are broken!" Lily frowned looking at him. "Did I do that?"

"Well, technically the fall to the ground did that, so I'd say you're off the hook." James smiled, took off his glasses, and quickly repaired them. "If you had broken my glasses we would have had a problem."

"I would have fixed them, but you beat me too it!" Lily said indignantly, starting to walk back to the tower, James following her.

"That's not what I mean. Fixing the glasses is fine, but the emotional trauma from losing my sight, even for just a moment?" James tutted, shaking his head in mock seriousness. "I think you owe me one Evans."

"Wait, you said I didn't break your glasses, the fall did. Are you telling me you were lying before?" Lily teased him.

"No…" James paused, thinking. "But you did run into me, causing me to fall, which then broke my glasses. If you hadn't been so careless as to not watch where you were going, I wouldn't have fallen and broken my glasses causing the great emotional trauma I'm suffering from." James threw an arm over his eyes in a 'woe is me' gesture and Lily laughed.

"Are you sure the 'emotional trauma' you're suffering wasn't caused by looking in the mirror this morning?"

"Ouch, that's a low blow Evans. Now you're bullying me? And you're Head Girl too!" James and Lily stopped; they had reached the tower.

"Okay, fine. Say I did cause you this deep emotional trauma-"

"And you were bullying me!" James interjected. Lily laughed.

"Right. And say I was bullying you. What do I 'owe' you?" Lily watched as James leaned against the wall beside the Fat Lady's portrait, a finger to his chin, thinking.

"I'd say you owe me a date."

"Okay." Lily nodded her agreement, gave the Fat Lady the password, and climbed through the portrait hole. James started, then ran after her.

"Wait, seriously?" He grabbed her shoulder again to stop her.

"Are you saying you don't want to go out with me?" Lily asked, aware that she was being watched by a group of people by the fire, but ignoring them.

"No! Not at all! I mean, I just wasn't sure you really wanted to go out with me." James ran a hand through his hair, unsure. Lily smiled slightly and turned to walk up the steps to the girls' dormitory.

"I said 'yes' didn't I?" She called down, smiling fully now.

When James was sure she was out of sight, he did a little victory dance, then stopped quickly as the group in the corner laughed at him.

"Hey, wait! Ev- Lily!" He shouted up the stairs after her. She poked her head around the corner, her red hair falling around her shoulders. "Friday, at 7?"

She smiled and nodded.

"Friday."