Disclaimer: I still do not own Harry Potter...
Chapter Five: Patrolling Duties
"Lily, are you ready? It's almost time for us to-" James called from outside Lily's closed bedroom door.
"I know, patrol," Lily interrupted, swinging her door open. James was standing right in the doorway, smiling at her with his hazel eyes.
"Well, let's go," James said, moving out of the way to allow Lily through.
The first week had practically flown by, Lily was relieved it was finally Friday. The meeting with the Prefects had gone exceptionally well, except for Severus Snape muttering under his breath that she was a dirty Mudblood and James pulled out his wand, threatening Lily. She had to, yet again, break up another fight.
They walked around the school making small talk, patrolling the corridors and breaking up several couples in broom closets.
"We should try it sometime, it looks like fun," James joked as they broke up their fifth couple that evening.
"In your dreams," Lily mumbled, trying to hide her smiling.
"What? Did I just make Lily Evans smile by making a sexual pun? What is the world coming too?" James said over dramatically as they made their rounds up to the Owlery. Lily rolled her eyes and put her hand on James's chest, firmly pushing him away. But as she touched his hard chest, she almost felt an electric shock, one that James himself had felt too.
Confused they both looked away and continued their patrolling duties.
"So…" Lily said, trying to get him to talk again.
"Yeah…"
"How's Holly Dunham doing?" Lily smirked, referring to James's last ex-girlfriend. James gave her a strange look. Not nearly as good as you, he thought, looking her up and down. Lily felt his gaze and turned up to look at him.
"I don't know who your talking about." James said, smiling. They had now reached the Owlery, and the light from the windows shone against Lily, bathing her skin in moonlight and haloing her hair. She looks just like an angel, he thought, moving closer to her. She was facing him, having turned around.
"What?" she demanded.
"Nothing, you just look really gorgeous." James mumbled. Lily glanced up at him, he was looking down at her with a weird look on his face. A year before she would have pushed him away from her and she would have been disgusted, this year she found her heart pounding as he moved in closer to her, their lips almost touching.
"Thanks," she mumbled, glancing up at him in a daze. What's going on here Lily! She thought, You can't possibly be falling for James! "Um, come on, we still have to check the Dungeons." Lily told him backing away a little. He nodded, following her out of the empty Owlery.
XXXXX"What's going on Lily? Why are you so quiet today?" Alice questioned the next day at breakfast. Lucky for Lily it was a Saturday, she had no classes to worry about and could just laze around with her friends.
"I'll tell you later. Do you all fancy a walk around the grounds after breakfast?" Lily asked, ignoring James at the opposite end of the table. Shay Burton, a sixth year girl in Gryffindor, was sitting next to him and flirting with him. Lily couldn't explain the surge of anger she felt whenever he smiled back at her.
"Sure, we're finished now if you like," Marlene said, giving Ellie a silencing look when she pouted down at her unfinished harsh browns.
"Alright, lets go," Ellie sighed, getting up and reluctantly looking at her unfinished breakfast.
It was a warm September afternoon, and the girls walked all the way to the lake.
"Spill Lil." Demanded Marlene as she stretched.
"Well…if I confess to this one thing, you absolutely have to keep it a secret." Lily told them. They all nodded. Lily could trust her friends to keep secrets, not once had they broken a promise to her or each other. Lily sat down by the bank and breathed deeply.
"Well what is it!" Ellie exclaimed, plopping down beside her. Alice and Marlene sat down too, both looking at her expectantly.
"I think I'm having feelings for James Potter," Lily sighed, speaking very softly.
"What?" Ellie cried, "I thought you hated him!"
"So did I," admitted Lily, "I don't know, just…I'm having weird thoughts and feelings whenever he's around me."
"So why don't you go out with him? You know he loves you," Marlene asked. Lily brushed back a strand of red hair that had fallen out of the hair tie.
"No, I don't know, he may love my…er, body, but how do I know if he loves me? It sounds stupid, never mind." Lily sighed, sulking. She wrapped her arms around her knees and stared out at the lake.
"It doesn't sound stupid, it makes perfect sense," Marlene said, putting a consoling hand on Lily's shoulder and speaking softly.
"I've never been hurt before, and I don't plan on it now. If you stop yourself from falling in love then nothing bad will happen," Lily said, speaking in a far away voice.
"Yes but nothing good will happen either," Alice pointed out, throwing a rock into the lake and missing the giant squid by an inch. She winced, not wanting to hurt it.
"You could never skip rocks," Lily half smiled, throwing a stone and skipping it perfectly.
"Anyway, my point is, look at me, I let myself love and now Frank and I are getting married!" Alice said, ignoring Lily's comment.
"I think you should tell James how you feel," Ellie told her.
"I don't think so, it'll just ruin everything. I'm not ready to trust him with something as valuable as my heart," she told them, sighing deeply and resting her chin on her knees.
"But he trusted you enough to trust his heart with you," Ellie said wisely.
"Whatever happens, happens," Lily said. Ellie, Alice and Marlene exchanged looks.
"So if he were to ask you out on a date, what would you say?" Marlene questioned.
"I don't know if I'm ready for that. James is such a player, I don't want to get played." Lily replied.
"He wouldn't play you, he loves you." Ellie told her. Lily sighed.
"I guess we'll just have to wait and see then, I think its too soon anyway," Lily replied.
"So what are you going to do?" questioned Marlene, watching Lily closely.
"Pretend that I don't like him. Trust me girl's, I'll know if any of you tell James or any of his friends. Especially you Marlene, keep this from Remus. And you too Ellie, you seem to be taking a shining to Sirius." Lily said, a faint smile escaping on her lips.
"Yeah, what is going on between you and Sirius?" Alice questioned. Lily, Alice and Marlene all stared at Ellie waiting for a reply.
"Basically the same thing as Lily and James, Sirius said he's attracted to me and I'm attracted to him but I don't want to be one of his one night stands." Ellie said, smiling slightly, "If he's the one then he'll give up all the girls for me, if not then I'll just have to wait around for him."
XXXXWhile Lily and her friends sat near the lake and talked, James stood with his friends under the tree a few yards away from them.
"Stop thinking about her mate," Sirius sighed. He was sprawled out on the grass under the tree beside Remus, half asleep half awake.
"How do you know I'm thinking about her?" James mumbled, amused.
"I know you all to well," Sirius grinned.
"Besides, you get this look on your face when you think about her and anyone can tell," Remus added, flipping a page in the book he was reading called 101 Wild Pranks To Pull On Your Peers. Peter was, of course, sitting with them.
"Whatever," James laughed, pulling out the gold snitch he had stolen from Madam Hooch's office.
"So when are you going to get it over with and ask her out?" Sirius questioned lazily, brushing back his hair in a motion that made the sixth year girls standing by the steps go crazy. When Sirius did it, his hair fell smoothly back into place, but no matter what James did his hair was always messy. Not that he cared, worrying about such things was to feminine. Besides, he felt it added to his charm.
"I told you Padfoot," James said, sighing, "I'm trying to convince to her that I've changed. If I keep asking her out then she'll think I haven't changed."
"Have you changed?" Peter questioned, obviously not with the program.
"Yes, I'm not being a jerk to her anymore. She doesn't wake up with blue hair anymore," James said, grinning at the last part in remembrance. Lily had, in earlier years, woken up with different shades of wild colours, but he wasn't really impressed with how he had acted and was trying to make it up to her now.
"No she just wakes up feeling slightly violated," Sirius joked.
"Sod off," James said, also joking.
"Well, seeing as it's nearly lunch I think we should head off to the Great Hall." Remus said, closing the book and standing up.
"How do you know it's almost lunch?" Sirius asked, looking at him bewildered.
"Because I can hear Wormtail's stomach growling, let's go."
XXXX"Lily! Can I talk to you for a moment?" someone called, causing Lily to turn around quickly and bump into them.
"Oh sorry James," she mumbled, blushing slightly when he steadied her with his strong arms and felt his rough hands graze across her upper arms. "Well what did you want to talk to me about?"
"Friday," James said, looking down at her, "I was wondering if you could cover for me during patrolling. I've got something really important I need to handle."
"What's so important that you need to miss patrolling duty?" Lily asked, assuming it was some big-breasted girl he was taking out.
"It's just important Lily, I can't tell you what it is," James answered. His hands were still on Lily's arms, as if he had forgotten them, and when she look down at them he followed her gaze. "Sorry," he mumbled, dropping his hands to his sides.
"So taking out some girl is more important then patrolling?" Lily questioned coldly, not adding the little with me at the end of the sentence like she so desperately wanted to. James almost laughed.
"Lily I swear it's not another girl, your just going to have to trust me," Lily found herself looking in James's eyes, searching for some sort of let on that he was lying. He seemed sincere enough.
"Fine, alright I'll cover for you," she sighed. His face seemed to light up.
"Thanks Lily, you're the greatest!" James exclaimed, collecting her up in a hug. Lily felt her heart do a foolish jump.
"Yeah no problem. But remember this, you owe me." She replied.
"You really are the greatest Lily," he smiled, looking into her eyes. She glanced away, finding herself thinking thoughts that she didn't want to think.
"Ok," she shrugged, pulling away. He smiled at her again before heading off in the opposite direction.
BlazeAngleDragon: Thank you so much for the review!
WhiteCamellia: I hope this chapter answers your question ;)
To all readers: thanks so much for reading my story! Please review and let me know what you think of it! More chapters coming! I'll keep updating so long as I'm not working etc you know the deal.