IMPORTANT! This chapter and the next have been removed and edited, due to boo boo's on my part. Please just re-read them so that it makes sense later on. I'm in a big writing mood so I might have an update in store :)

Thanks again to those who review, it really is appreciated.

Last time: Lily nodded and linked her arm with Sophie's. "Come on. Lets get you back to lover boy" Sophie gave her a soft slap on her arm, but laughed along with her

James had got a couple of cups of Pumpkin juice, but was currently being interrogated by Sirius, Remus and Peter.

"What, so she hasn't slapped you?"

"Or told you to shut up?"

"Or deflated your ego?"

James laughed, knowing they didn't mean it badly. He happened to know he didn't have much of an ego, it was just easier to get along with most people, and because he was a Marauder, that he gave an image of being big-headed and arrogant.

"Nope. Nothing of the sort actually."

Sirius and Peter looked at each other, laughter playing on their lips, but Remus looked at James, almost proudly. "About time Prongs. You need to prove to her that your not who everyone thinks you are. This is your last chance after all." He smiled at James, while the other 2 just nodded, but still had a look of disbelief written on their faces.

"You sure she hasn't done anything to you? Or have you done something to her-you haven't poisoned her have you?!" Sirius continued. James laughed lightly and shook his head. Ignoring Sirius' expression, he turned back to Remus.

"Cheers Moony. Well if you gents don't mind I've got to get back. I'll probably catch up with you later." And with that, he left, scanning the room for a flash of red hair, weaving his way through the crowds, holding the pumpkin juice aloft so it didn't end up getting knocked and split all over him.

He saw Sophie out of the corner of his eye, and knew Lily would be close by. He turned towards them, and shuffled through. Lily saw him approach and went to stand by Sophie, who was chatting to some of Sam's friends while he went to get a few nibbles and drinks. James found Lily by Sophie, and handed her her drink wordlessly.

"Thank you" she said, smiling up at him. His heart missed a beat, and he grinned back at her, but this was soon lost, and a frown appeared upon his brow instead. "You ok Lily? You look a little peaky." Before she could answer he had taken her arm and led her to a seat in a corner, near a small table. They set their drinks on the table and James made her sit down.

He knelt in front of her. Lily crossed her arms, though not in annoyance, or anger, or anything conscious, but more for the sake of defence against his questions. "Lily? You ok?" she huffed out a large sigh.

"Yes, thank you, I just need a drink." He raised an eyebrow at her.

"Really Potter." She fixed him with a sharp look, and he just stood, placed a hand on her shoulder, gave it a squeeze, and walked off. Lily frowned. 'Why was he being so nice to her? After what an idiot he normally is, and how horrible they can be to each other.' Of course, she knew he had once liked her, and she had done nothing but shout and scream at him and maybe the occasional kick if he passed too close.

She turned round to find James bringing up another chair, and sit beside her as she sipped her drink. In honesty, she didn't feel too good; the headache she had felt coming on earlier was progressing to a pounding in her head, and right now she just wanted to lie down and sleep. But this was the first thing she'd organised this year, and she didn't want anything getting in the way of seeing it through right until the end.

"So, how do you think it's gone?" James asked beside her. She turned to face him, to see if he was just mocking her with his question, but he had a look of innocence and genuinely wanted to know her opinion. She looked about the room, thinking of an answer.

"Well, nothing bad has happened- yet, nothing seems to have gone wrong, people are laughing and having a good time, and the decorations look fabulous-where did you get that grimy spell from by the way?"

James smiled and just tapped his nose. She laughed and looked back towards the dance floor, watching Sophie dance again with Sam. In truth, she did think it was a success, the people she could see were all having a great time, the food was delicious, the music suited the ball perfectly, and they still had the surprises of the Boggarts to come.

On the downside, her head was getting worse, and it was only 11 o'clock. It was another hour until the bells chimed and everyone had to get back to their common rooms, and hopefully on the way be spooked by the Boggarts and a few tricks the Marauders had set up, unbeknownst to Lily, and for once, James had hardly been involved.

He needed to change Lily's view of him, and setting up a prank on a ball that she had worked so hard for wouldn't be the wisest way to go about it. The only thing James had done this time was tell them where they could set a couple of pranks off, under the conditions that they wouldn't involve Lily in any way, and wouldn't be as bad as to ruin the ball, or upstage the Boggarts.

In the end, Sirius had found a charm to make the walls moan if someone walked too close, and Remus and Peter had discovered one in which an echo of plodding boots followed the victim down the 5th floor corridor.

She put her cup down, having drained the contents, and put her elbow on the table, and leaned her head in her hand. The pounding in her head was getting worse, and the music and faint lights were only making it worse, straining her eyes to see and providing a thorough beat for her head to pound to. She felt a hand on her back, and James came round to kneel in front of her again.

"Lily. You're not well at all. Why don't you go back to the common room now, get some peace and quiet?" She shook her head, and regretted it instantly, going to clutch her head as if it were to explode at any moment.

"I can't go. I don't want to miss the end of the ball." James wouldn't take no for an answer-he couldn't. Not seeing her like that anyway. He knew she suffered from headaches from time to time, and she always insisted a lie down in a darkened room helped it go away; she would never go to the hospital wing.

He took both her hands and hoisted her up out of her seat, but she leaned on him heavily for a moment- a haze of dizziness brought from standing so quickly had come over her, and they stood for a minute or two until it passed. "I'm sorry Potter. I just stood too quickly." She hated to be a pain for other people, particularly when this person was someone she had hated for many years, and didn't want to be nearer to than was necessary. "I'll just go upstairs and lie down for a while." She made to leave, but he still had her hands in his own, and wasn't planning on letting go anytime soon. He moved to stand next to her, and let go of one hand, and stood to her side, still holding one hand, his other curled around her side in case she felt dizzy again. They left the hall virtually unnoticed and started walking up the stairs towards their common room.

They turned around a corner, and passed a well hidden trunk. The end of the corridor couldn't be seen, the moon was only peeking through some passing clouds, and the few candles that were lit were very dim. They continued walking, Lily with her head down.

The sound of flopping feet echoed off the walls, and they both turned to look around, James' grip on Lily's hand tightening. James pulled his wand out and whispered "Lumos". A great white swan was waddling down the corridor towards them.

Lily screamed and covered her eyes, muttering something which James was sure was "it's alright, it's not real, it's not real, it's not!" James wrapped his arms around her and moved so his back was facing the oncoming swan. He thought back to third year when they had studied Boggarts, and tried to think of something funny.

Lily was still muttering, and every few seconds she would raise her head above his shoulder to see where the swan was only to sink back down and clutch at his robes and sink her face into his chest. He rubbed her back to try and calm her. Tears threatened to spill, but she went to reach for her own wand to try and get rid of the swan. James heard her breathe unevenly-holding back the tears and felt her shift, and he watched as she straightened and took a few steps towards the swan. Her eyes shone with unshed tears and she held out her wand shakily. He couldn't understand what she could fear from a swan, but he couldn't bear to see her like this either, so he went to lower her wand with a look of concern, but she shook her head, and stepped forward a little further.

She raised her wand and shouted "Riddikulus!" A thin sheet of ice appeared on the floor, and the swan started to skate about very unsteadily. It fell on its tail and flapped its wings-which made Lily jump and sob, but she held in the tears and watched as the swan tried to get closer, but slid around on the ice.

James lowered his wand and stepped closer to it, and it stopped moving and stared at James. He stepped closer, his toes touching the edge of the ice, and the swan disappeared, and in its place was a man in a smart black suit and top hat, with a very formal piece of paper in his hands. He went to read from the paper, but before he could get the words out James had shouted "Riddikulus!" and the paper turned into a very frilly piece of lace, the top hat was now a cap with a mini helicopter rotor on top, and the man was now wearing striped shorts that were held up with very bright braces, under which was a shirt in a very fetching shade of lilac.

Lily started to laugh quietly, the man looked completely ridiculous, and James couldn't help but join in. Utterly bewildered by their laughter, the man backed off down the corridor, until they could see it no longer.

They arrived at their dorm room in silence, Lily having wiped her eyes of any unshed tears was now walking with her head down and arms folded. James walked in time with her, and ached to hold her hand again, but knew now that it would be too awkward. He'd had an excuse whilst in the Great Hall, now it would no doubt just cause an argument.

Once they had entered their dorm, James absentmindedly poked the fire and put a new log on it, whilst Lily sat in the corner of the sofa, leaning her head in her hand. She closed her eyes against the brightness of the awakening fire, but didn't move for it was comfortably warm. She fell into a light slumber, and her headache started to fade. Like she'd always said, a quiet dark room always helped.

James was satisfied that the fire would last an hour or two longer, and turned to the sofa. He smiled when he saw Lily sleeping, her legs tucked under herself as though to make herself smaller so to fit into the corner of the sofa, and her head on her hand. He sat down next to her and tucked a piece of fiery auburn hair behind her ear. She didn't stir. He sat forward so he could move better, and twisted his arm around her back, and pulled her close to him. He placed his other arm around her so he held her shoulder so that she wouldn't fall about. He kissed her head again and sighed. How he wished he could do this all the time, and tell her how he felt. He was sure somewhere, deep down she liked him, and if she didn't now, then she would be the end of the year.

He sat with her in his arms until the fire died down to a mere glow. Lily shifted in her sleep and he loosened his arm around her shoulder. She felt the absence of warmth and opened her eyes sleepily. He smiled down at her, but didn't wait for her to realise how they were sat, and got up quickly. He offered her his hand while she ran a hand through her hair. She looked up at him, a little confused as to why he held out his hand, but she took it anyway. He took her up the stairs to her room, and she turned to face him.

"Well…thanks. Goodnight James." She made to leave, but he still had her hand in his.

"Goodnight Lily." He brought her hand up to his lips and pressed a soft kiss into her palm, and then closed her fingers around it. He smiled and turned before Lily could say anything, and walked down the stairs and into the main room they had just left. Lily continued to stare down the stairs even after she couldn't see him anymore. Sighing, she turned and walked into her own room. She collapsed on her bed, completely tired, but happier. Her headache hadn't completely gone, but that didn't matter anymore. She needed some sleep, for she had some major thinking to do the next day, and no doubt some cleaning up in the Great Hall, and gossip to get from Sophie.