Lily was staring out at the grounds through her dormitory window trying to think of how to organize the essay due on Wednesday. She felt like her parchment had an impervious charm on it, all her thoughts just slipped right off. Everything she tried to write was horrible, and though she didn't like to leave her assignments unfinished, she felt like continuing from here would be a waste. Looking at her watch she realized it was now two in the morning. She had gone to sleep at eleven and woken up an hour previously to find that falling once again into her dream world was impossible.
A whim struck her just the second she put her quill down. How long had it been since she broke the rules? Two years? She had been so stressed not to break any rules because she so often had to tell Potter and his boys off. They seemed to be okay now, though, they were being good. Who was to say that Lily couldn't have some fun too?
With that, Lily got dressed, she figured if she was going to venture into the school she couldn't rule out the possibility of also going about the grounds. She raced down the stairs to the common room as silently as she could, crossed the room by skirting the shadows, and hid in the shadow right by the portrait hole, glancing around to make sure no one was there. Unfortunately there was someone there. James Potter was standing there, fully clothed, as if he had just come back from his own secret mission. She didn't doubt for a second that if he saw her he would pounce on the chance to wonder aloud why she, the prefect, was fully dressed and lurking in the shadow of the portrait hole.
She now realized that this might have been a bad idea, and she probably should have checked the common room before crossing it. She shrunk deeper into the shadow and tried to think of what to do. There was a possibility that he would hear her leaving if she went now, as the fat lady didn't like being woken from either side of the portrait this late, and took to yelling and or talking to the perpetrator. The fat lady's portrait also chose the most inconvenient times to squeak loudly when opening and closing. Lily decided it might be best just to lie low and wait for James to leave. Unfortunately for her, Remus chose that time to walk into the common room as well. Not only could she really not leave now, but they both looked serious and the conversation to ensue would most definitely not be one she was welcome to listen into.
"That witch of yours is the most kind person I think I've ever met." Lily was pretty sure Remus was the one who said this.
"Of mine? I wish." Who were they talking about? Lily wondered and then reprimanded herself for listening "And I know she's kind. It makes me sick sometimes to look at myself in comparison."
"Actually, I think you two are very similar in that way." Who were they talking about? Then she realized that both of them were looking the other way and she took the opportunity to quickly creep into the portrait hole and push open the portrait as quietly as she could.
"silencio" she thought to the portrait and even though the fat lady was obviously making a rude comment no sound escaped her lips.
"She knows, and she doesn't care." Lily heard as she shut the portrait as quietly as she could.
Who could they be talking about? Certainly someone who James liked very much, she hoped for the sake of saving time that Remus didn't have to approve of every girl James went after with a conversation like this. The girl had to be cruel as hell to be alike James in kindness, because he was not, in any sense of the word 'kind'. Lily thought back to Severus, as much as it angered her to do so, and thought of how little he deserved the treatment bestowed upon him by Potter. Even though Severus was sure to become a death eater, what better way to ensure it than by showing how cruel the other side could be? She knew very well that James was going to be on her side, quite sure that he would do anything he could to stop Voldemort. But she was also sure that Severus would have turned to her their side had James Potter not existed.
Lily knew that Remus had not been sarcastic in comparing James to this kind young woman. Trying to be as unbiased as she could, Lily supposed that she had never seen James act anything less that perfectly kind to any of his friends or really, house mates. He had tortured Lily, but only by asking her out which couldn't exactly be considered mean. And as for pranks, they hadn't pulled anything mean since third or fourth year and even then it had been the Slytherins or more specifically, those known to be or those guaranteed to become death eaters.
Lily realized that she had traveled all the way to the astronomy tower, and had climbed a majority of it. Forgetting her previous thought, she hastened to reach the top. She knew it was a hot spot for late night lovers, but three o'clock in the morning was a bit late for a Monday. She was right, the tower was abandoned and she could look down on the grounds in peace. After a minute or two Lily became aware of how horribly cold she was in her thin long sleeve shirt and how good her warm bed sounded even if she couldn't fall asleep.
With that thought, Lily rushed back to the common room, running until she either felt stupid or out of breath and then walking again until she got cold. When she finally reached it, she once again silenced the portrait and woke it.
"Godrics Hollow" She said firmly, and the portrait opened.
She walked in and thought only of how nice her bed must be. Her heart was racing because in the last minutes of her adventure she realized that even her prefect badge wouldn't have saved her this early in the morning if she had been caught. Relief washing over her, she thought she might now know why the Gryffindor boys loved breaking rules so much.
"Out late, Evans?" She heard a voice say, and her heart dropped as she looked up to find James Potter lying casually on the couch by the fire.
"What of it, Potter?" Lily said casually hoping against hope that he didn't jump down her throat. Maybe she shouldn't have been so harsh on them. But instead of getting angry, he just grinned.
"I knew you'd see how much temptation rule breaking provides eventually."
"Well, I had to try it once, I couldn't sleep." She smiled
"I'm proud of you for resisting so long. But next time you go out, it probably wouldn't be best to use the third corridor to get up to the astronomy tower, Filch spends most of his time patrolling that one, because, you know, love runs high on the top of that tower." He smiled while Lily tried her best not to look outraged that he had followed her and curious as to how he did it while he was in the middle of a conversation with Remus.
"I know. Thanks for the tip." Lily said and then for curiosity's sake, she added in a suggestive tone "How do you know I wasn't meeting someone up there?"
"Who would you be meeting, Lily Evans?" He asked, as if that were the obvious retort.
Lily wondered what this whole conversation was all about, was it an olive branch? They were speaking, if not on friendly terms, at least as if they were grown adults. It was weird, like she was seeing a different person now. He was being nice, even a bit playful; she had to admit that she wouldn't mind talking to him if their conversations were going to be this peaceful. For some reason he didn't bother her right now, even though his last comment was kind of harsh, it didn't seem like he was being an arrogant git for once.
With that he got up from his chair and walked to the stairs in front of the boys dormitories, and then before she could say anything, turned and said "'Night Evans. Oh, and for the record, you're a giant hypocrite."