Thank you to all my wonderful reviewers! Not much has change on here, if anything, but it was edited for the last time bit. More coming soon!

Last time: "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.

James was left at the bottom of the stairs, and he listened until he heard her door shut. He sat down in front of the fire, replaying the whole night in his head. Lily had not only looked fabulous, but she danced like an angel and they had both been more than pleasant to each other all night. She had let him dance with her, more than once, and she hadn't been cross with him for getting closer than what may be seen as normal dancing. And, he thought to himself, he hadn't been stupid either, there were no jokes or tricks, and he had been a perfect gentleman. If that wasn't the way to change her image of him he didn't know what was. He sat in silence, watching the embers in the grate, listening to the screams of many people coming through the walls. The Boggarts seemed to have worked quite well. He went up to bed not long after most of the screams had died down- he would sort the Boggarts out in the morning.

The sun refused to rise the next morning, the thick black clouds completely obscuring it from view. The day was dull and overcast and the mood seemed to be infused in most of the students too. James had spent most of the morning rounding up the Boggarts. He hadn't seen Lily yet, but Sirius and Remus showed up to help him take down the decorations that had been put around the castle. The candles and chandeliers were lit earlier as it was so dark outside and roaring fires in all of the common rooms and the Great Hall, but there was still a chill in the air everywhere else.

Lily had got up feeling refreshed and with her head feeling quite normal. She had got up earlier than James, and no doubt the rest of the school, so that she could go and clear up any mess in the Great Hall. She found it in a relatively clean state; the elves had obviously been in and started, but had left to finish breakfast. She used her wand and cleaned the chandeliers and windows of cobwebs, had a general look around for anything people had left behind. There was nothing of significance, she only found a few cups behind some chairs, and she placed them on a small side table, sure that the house elves would come and take them later. People were slowing coming down for breakfast, so she glanced around making sure everything was as it should be, and left to go to Library.

James found Lily a couple of hours later. She was in her usual spot in the library, finding out about Gillyweed for her latest Potions essay. She looked up at him as he walked over to her table, but she ignored his smile and buried herself in her book again.

"Hey, Lily." He pulled out a chair opposite her and sat down. "You alright now?"

She turned a page in her book and whispered "Yes I'm fine. What are you doing in here Potter?"

He looked around, startled by her tone. "Er, I just came to see how you were, you know, after last night." She chucked her quill down on the desk, finally looking up at him.

"Potter. I am fine. Last night I just had a bad head, purely because I had hardly eaten all day. I do not need you checking up on me!" This outburst had attracted the attention of the librarian, and she quickly shooed them out before they created even more noise. Once outside James tried to speak again.

"Lily I'm not look-"

"Save it Potter!" and she stormed off. James leaned against the wall. What had he done wrong? He left to find Sirius and Remus, hoping he could get some sense out of them.

Lily had rushed off to the Gryffindor common room to find Sophie. She needed to talk. Her mind was reeling-she had had a good night last night, and she and James had got on well, the ball was a success…so why was she still feeling nasty towards him. He had taken care of her after all.

She entered the Gryffindor common room and sat at a desk facing the stairs. After half an hour of waiting, she went upstairs to Sophie's dorm. She went over to Sophie's bed to find a lump curled up under the covers. She shook the lump gently.

"Shove off" came a shaky voice from under the covers.

"Soph? Come on, its lunchtime already! You alright?" Lily pulled the covers down and tucked them under Sophie's chin so she could see her face. Sophie had red eyes and cheeks, and a tissue clutched in her hand.

"Hey! What's up?"

"I don't know. I really don't. It's stupid. I had a great night last night, and now, now I'm just worried about everything. Sam is so lovely you know Lils, and well, I guess I'm afraid I'm going to mess it up with him. And I really don't want to. He's great-I'm surprised he hasn't already got a girlfriend, and what kind of guy would go for someone like me anyway. He wouldn't. And who's to say he even thinks of me like that anyway!" She had sat up by now, looking down into her hands. She knew she was babbling, but she didn't know how else to explain herself.

Lily sighed and giggled-sometimes this girl was so daft. "Sophie. He spent the whole night with you, and if he wasn't dancing with you he was staring at you; he introduced you to his friends, brought you drinks-he likes you ok. I don't know why you say things like that, you won't mess anything up, you never do, and you know you're stunning so just shut up with this nonsense and get out of bed!"

Sophie looked up at Lily, almost ashamed that she sounded so silly, and smiled. "Thanks Lil. You always know just what to say."

Lily laughed again, and this time Sophie joined in. Once the laughter had died down Lily stood and left, telling Sophie that she would wait for her downstairs, and if she hurried up they could still catch come lunch.

Lunch was a quiet affair, Sophie was thinking about Sam, and Lily was still thinking about the Ball and Potter. She resolved to talk to Sophie about it later, when they were doing their Care of Magical Creatures homework.

James and the Marauders were sat at the other end of the table, quieter than normal. They had left not long after Lily and Sophie had arrived. Remus had said hello to Lily as he went by, and she had replied as she always did, and asked if he was ok and had a good night at the ball.

The grey clouds refused to shift, and eventually, after lunch it started to rain. A group of Slytherins ran back into the entrance hall, soaked to the bone and miserable-the rain having interrupted their Quidditch training.

Lily and Sophie had returned to the common room not long ago, and they had both got their books and notes sprawled over a couple of desks. Lily knew now was as good a time as ever to talk to Sophie. She started to tell her about what had happened last night with the Boggarts, and how Potter had held her while she sobbed. Sophie listened intently, but didn't understand what Lily was getting at.

"…and so last night, it was just…so lovely, and yet this morning I didn't care about anything, I was still snapping at him, I couldn't call him anything but Potter, and he tried to speak to me-he came and found me in the library earlier to see if I was alright. And all I could do was get cross and come up here. I don't get it, I don't see why I care now, its no different to the last 5 or 6 years, but today I just feel…different I 'spose."

Sophie tapped her quill on her inkpot, shaking her head at Lily.

"What?!" asked Lily, confused at her friends unreadable expression.

"Lily, I saw you last night. You danced with him a couple of times-voluntarily I mean, and you weren't at all bothered. You seemed quite happy when I saw you really…and you called him James. You even said it to me when you were asking where he was! I knew something was up! You like him Lils, that's the only explanation for it!"

Lily sat back, looking at Sophie incredulously. How could Sophie even think that?! "Soph I hate him. I always have. We've never got on, never will." She crossed her arms. This conversation had not gone the way she had wanted.

"Yeah well you keep telling yourself that Lil. Now, I've got to finish these notes. Can I copy the rest of yours?" Lily huffed as she passed her parchments over. The thoughts in her head took over and the sound of the common room drifted out of hearing. Maybe Sophie is right. Maybe after last night, I actually like him. Not in that way of course, but as a friend at least. He was very nice, especially with the Boggart thing—

Lily snapped back to reality. James' Boggart last night had been some weird old man. She had completely forgotten, but she had meant to ask him about it. He didn't seem very scary last night, but apparently that random man was the biggest of James' fears. "Soph I got to dash. I'll see you at dinner." And with that she rushed out, eager to find James and ask him about his Boggart, but firstly apologise for her behaviour earlier.

She found him in the Heads common room, lounging on a sofa reading a Quidditch book. He looked up when Lily entered and put his book down. Lily didn't know where to begin. Better to get it all out I guess.

"James I..um..I'm sorry for earlier. And last night, I was a pain really, but that's not what I wanted to talk about, I just, I am sorry about earlier, I did have a great night last night, and I thought we got on quite well really. I guess I'd like that to carry on really, so I'm sorry, I don't know why I spoke to you like that."

The red was now bright in her cheeks, and she shuffled her feet uncomfortable. She still didn't understand fully why she felt bad, or even why she was so concerned with making amends, but she knew that they couldn't be on bad terms forever.

He shifted on the sofa and patted the space near him. She gave a weak smile and sat down.

"Firstly, don't worry about earlier, I shouldn't hassle you like that, especially when your working-" Lily went to interrupt but stopped at the tone of his voice. It was kind and understanding, yet authoritative at the same time. "-and secondly, don't worry about last night. I was worried about you, and I wanted to make sure you were alright. That's all." He reached across and gave her hand a squeeze.

"Thank you James." She said, almost whispering. "Good job you were there really, with the Boggart I mean." She laughed, but he didn't join in.

He looked over at her curiously. "Why are you afraid of swans Lily?" Her cheeks reddened again, and she started to explain.

"It's quite silly really. I was about four, and my parents had taken me to the park. We played on the swings and the see-saws, I had a great time. Then we fed the ducks on the pond, and there were a couple of swans there. To a four year old, they were pretty big, and eventually they had got out of the pond and started coming towards us. They started hissing and flapping around, and I hated it. I was petrified, they seemed so huge, and they kept coming closer and closer. I started crying and my mum picked me up and my dad tried to shoo them away, so they hissed at him and took the slices of bread out of his hand. The rest is a bit of a blur really, but I've hated them ever since."

James nodded, apparently satisfied with her explanation and seeing the reason in it.

"What about you? Why are you scared of suit-wearing men?"

He raised his eyebrows and fidgeted in his seat, obviously uncomfortable with giving an answer.

"Come on, I've told you mine, and it's pretty ridiculous really. It can't be worse than that."

He laughed and agreed, "Yes well, yours is a little random." She smiled but said nothing, waiting for him to continue.

"Alright. My fear isn't of anything material, more of things that could happen. The man isn't anybody in particular. He's merely a representation of what could be. He represents a worker at the Ministry. He's the one that has to inform families of attacks and incidents with their relatives and stuff, I'm sure you get the picture." Lily nodded. "Well, my fear is that. My fear is opening the door to find this guy there, ready to tell me that all my loved ones are gone; all the people that are care about have been killed or attacked. That is my worst nightmare. To find that there's nobody left, to be alone, to lose those closest to me, or those that I care about."

He looked at her now, emphasising his point about people he cared about, trying to make her understand. Lily looked at him, as if trying to see if he was being serious or not. But he was. He was more serious that she'd ever seen him.

"Well I can't really laugh at that then." They both fell silent, the mood in the room now solemn and sad. There had been increasing reports of a wizard who called himself Lord Voldemort, and each new report brought news of death and destruction. James had every reason to be afraid for his loved ones thought Lily; he had a much more sensible fear than her.

Time slowly ticked away, and still they sat in silence, until James realised it was already half way through dinner. They stood and left and Lily couldn't help but notice a chill on her hand, which had only moments before still been covered by a larger warm one. They went down together, and the mood soon picked up, and Lily soon found herself sitting in between Sophie and James, having a wonderful discussion about the next Hogsmeade visit.