AN-Hello to the two or three people who are actually reading this. LOL. Sorry if I'm boring everyone to tears with this, but the first two chapters were necessary for exposition. This is where we actually get to the plot, more or less. I hope those of you who are reading enjoy it and that you'll do me the favor of reviewing. Thanks!

Dream Dance

If only he could stay in this moment always, in this dream always.

Here they were, under a ceiling of moonlight and stairs, surrounded by happy faces, happy people. He and Lily. They were dancing. An elegant waltz he new he could never have managed in his waking life. There was music and the smell of flowers. And Lily was so lovely, her bright green eyes shining at him, her hair fixed in a curly up-do.

She was enjoying herself immensely, swaying with the music, in James' arms. She inhaled, taking in his scent and laughing to herself. She could not remember a moment when she had been happier.

The tempo of the music changed, sped up, and the dream changed as well. The people disappeared, the light dimmed, the stars and the moon vanished. They were left alone together, in each other's arms. Everything melted away.

And then he was kissing her. She kissed him back. The world continued to spin, although they had stopped dancing. Their cloths were gone. They stood together, kissing and touching, arousing each other with their mutual exploration. Their feet were no longer on solid ground, and they floated in fog and nothingness as their pleasure grew.

Lily felt her mind drift, letting herself relinquish control to her emotions. She was drowsy with desire as James began to kiss his way down her body. Her eyes flew open and then snapped shut as his mouth reached her breast and his hand-

Lily woke up on a sigh. It had been such a good dream, she thought.

But wait, had she really been dreaming, quite vividly dreaming about James Potter? It must have been a reaction to exhaustion, and all the odd events from the past few nights. That was all.

She'd just have to talk to James about all the flirting and niceness. It would have to stop, if they were going to have an effective working relationship. Friendly, but professional. That was best.

She supposed, though, it couldn't hurt for her to be a little nicer. She sat up, glancing around the dimly lit common room. James wasn't up and about yet. Perhaps she could start by hunting up some breakfast for the both of them.

With her mind still spinning and her body stiff from sleeping in the chair, Lily left the common room.

James woke up aroused. The dream had been hot. Strange, but hot. Like most of his dreams lately.

He new that it was wrong, and completely against his ne Nice Guy policy, to be picturing Evans naked, and to be enjoying it so much. How was he supposed to convince her he was decent if he couldn't keep the images of her perfect body under his out of his head?

On a sigh, he got up and headed for the bathroom. He was drowsy, grumpy, and still half aroused. A good ice cold shower was just what he needed. He peeled off the pajama bottoms he'd been sleeping in and forced himself under the cold spray.

He had just begun to lather on the soap when he heard footsteps coming up the dorm stairs, and Lily's voice calling for him. Oh, wonderful.

"Coming!" He hurriedly rinsed the soap away and turned off the shower. Wrapping a towel around his waist, he headed out to the dorm.

There she was, her hair a mess and her clothes wrinkled. Her face was awake, obviously well rested. Her eyes were bright. She was carrying what appeared to be a large tray of food and had her bag slung over her arm. He reached for his glasses on the bedside table so that he could see her better. To his mind she looked better then ever.

"James, you're-

"Naked. Yeah, I was showering. Heh." He ran a his hand through his hair self-consciously, using the other to hold his towel in place.

"I was going to say blue. And you're shivering. Do you always shower at sub-zero temperatures?"

"Yeah. That is, er, no. I mean...Hey, you brought food" He hastily changed the subject.

Lily nodded. She was trying very hard not to stare at his impressively well-built and tanned chest. "Yeah. I thought we could eat and...talk."

Her mind was straying back to the dream. She put the tray down on the bedside table and stood awkwardly, waiting for him to speak again.

James noticed that Lily was blushing, her face almost as red as her hair. She looked so pretty, standing there with her hair all rumpled and her eyes lingering on him intimately. He knew he should get dressed now, before he ended up doing something stupid.

"Erm, do you mind turning around for a second so that I can get dressed."

"I don't know, I kind of like you this way." There was a note of flirtatiousness in her voice.

"Really?" James was grinning.

"Well your not likely to pull anything stupid with your ass bare, now are you?"

James laughed. "On the contrary, Evans, you'll find that most men are considerably more stupid when there's nudity involved."

"Well, we certainty can't have that." And she turned away, facing the other side of the room. James began to dress.

"You know, Evans, your quite snappy in the morning."

"I know. I'm sorry. Really. I'm...going to try to be nicer. You know, because we'll be working together all year. And...I actually think it would be really nice if we were...Friends."

"I'd like that, Evans. I really would." But James thought about that dream he'd had, and realized that when it came to Lily, being friends was the last thing he had on his mind.

"I feel it's important we start on our security plans. It's particularly important, with mad wizards on the loose, that we make sure everyone is safe."

"Yeah. Like maybe we could tighten security on muggle borns, that sort of thing?" James pulled his robes into place and turned to the tray of food.

"I don't think that would be wise." Lily said slowly.

"Why not, they're the one's this Voldemort guy is after. Ah, bacon." He began to eat enthusiastically.

"Placing more protection on one group then the other only emphasizes the ridiculous prejudice. All witches and wizards are the same" She said hotly, turning to glare at James.

"I guess your right. Sorry." He sat down on his unmade bed, a plate of food in his lap. "Really, I meant no offense."

"I know. I guess the issue just bothers me, that's all." She chose a spot on Sirius' bed, and started on her own plate of food. "Anyway, Dumbledore has given us all sorts of maps, and there's a list of prefects and duties to be delegated. There's also a note about organizing the End of School Ball for seventh years. Dumbledore seems to think that we should still have one, despite all the security problems."

"The fact is that, with or without us, the is still the safest place there is." James spoke between bites. "Dumbledore is a force to be reckoned with. And the other teachers aren't exactly fairy princesses."

"I read somewhere though, that this Voldemort guy once took out five people in their own homes in broad day light, and all the muggle police found were bloody stains on the walls."

"I thought you didn't read the papers."

"I stopped because it was getting depressing. And scary." Lily looked down at her half eaten food, suddenly feeling nauseous. "James, my family are muggles."

"Yeah."

James set his plate aside, having eaten everything on it. He grabbed Lily's bag and began looking through the maps and prefect information. He also found the book that she'd been reading on the train. It was heavy and leather bound, with a blank cover and no visible indication of title or author.

"A little bed time reading?" James held the book up playfully, but he was genuinely curious.

"Oh no, it's nothing, really. Just...Give it back." She held out her hand for the book, but couldn't quite reach.

"No way, Lily." He deliberately used her first name. "You want to be friends. I agree. I say that this is the perfect opportunity for me to learn something about you. What's this book about."

"Oh." Lily sighed, but resigned herself to explaining. "A lady at Flourish and Blotts showed it to me. It's a subject I've been sort of interested in..."

"And that would be?"

"Old magic. You know, binding contracts, powerful spells based on emotions."

"Wow. Intense."

"Yeah. See, most of the book is based on soul mates. Two people who fall in love and agree to magically bind their souls together in order to gain powers."

"Sounds useful."

"Yeah, many people have thought so. But the thing is, it doesn't always work. You have to be genuinely in love, the real deal."

"Which doesn't happen as often as you'd think." James commented, staring into her eyes which were alive with wonder and enthusiasm.

"Exactly. There are only a few couples a century who have the connection for it."

"And how would you even know if it were you?"

"Oh you'd know." Said Lily assuredly. "There are all sorts of signs. Couples describe sharing a psychic connection-"

"What, like hearing each other's thoughts? Creepy."

"Yeah, and they share dreams and fantasies. Some claim to be able to see into their future. And once they've bound themselves magically, they extend their expected life spans, are able to heal one another, create magical defensive shields, and feel each others pain and emotions-all without using a wand. And if they were to have children..." She trailed off, catching herself. "I'm sorry, I'm sure you can't find this all that interesting."

"No." James shrugging. "It's interesting. But of course, we should probably get to the whole security thing."

"Right."

James thought of the dream he'd had last night, and the ones he'd been having every night for as long as he could remember. The ones with Lily. And thinking of how she had said last night that she'd been having odd dreams. And how she'd blushed when she'd seen him bare chested. But then he dismissed his thoughts, and focused on the security information.