A/N: Sorry I haven't posted in a few days… had writers block. All better now. Thanks for the reviews!! If you want a new chapter keep it up, one will do it. I own nothing.
Chapter Twelve
It occurred to James that Sirius might have been right over the summer, he was overloaded. He was somehow managing to balance his classes, homework, being Quidditch captain with practices and games, along with his Head Boy duties. Lily was helping as much as she could. They would each pick a different class and do the homework, then switch and copy each others. This cut their homework in half by half. James only managed to convince Lily to do this if he agreed they would do their hardest subjects so that they were learning in the subjects they struggled in. Since they seemed to be exact opposites it worked out great. Lily succeeded in Potions, Charms and History of Magic, while James didn't, so those where the classes he did the homework in. Lily struggled with Transfiguration, Defense Against the Dark Arts and Astronomy, so she did those assignments. It also worked out, because they could usually catch mistakes between the two of them.
Unfortunately this was not enough to relieve James of the pressure he was under. Frequently he fell asleep in classes, or slept through them all together. Luckily teachers had always seemed to turn a blind eye when it came to the Mauranders. However, he still had NEWT's to worry about, which is why he was in the common room surrounded by a stack of books doing his homework on Halloween. Lily was out with her friends, probably down at Hogsmead. He thought she would be back soon since it was growing dark out, but that was hours ago. He was getting worried, even pulling out his map to make sure she was in the castle, but she wasn't.
He got up, moving to an armchair after grabbing some chocolate out of the cupboard. Lily and him had discovered that the cupboard refilled itself, which was amazing. As he sat down he thought again of Lily. Things had changed between them recently. Neither of them mentioned it, and James felt that if he did it would draw attention to it and it would stop. It was just little things, like sitting closer when studying, walking with each other to class, eating meals with one another. Lily seemed happier around him than he had witnessed before. She was always sending smiles his way, and laughing at his jokes, even flirting in a friendly teasing way. James smiled thinking of the other day. They had been sitting in the common room and James had asked what she was thinking about. Apparently he had surprised her enough for her to answer honestly, "You." Was all she said, and James nearly fainted. She had gotten all flustered and embarrassed which was incredibly cute to James.
James was trying not to get his hopes up, much to his friends' disgust. Sirius had told him earlier in the week that he was a "bloody idiot" and that "everyone can see that she likes you now." James didn't want to push it, he had decided that if Lily's feelings for him had changed that he wanted to be sure that she wanted to be with him, so he would wait for her to make the first move. When he discussed this choice with Remus, he had shook his head and smiled. "I think she is trying to James, it's just more subtle than you're used to. She is not going to throw herself at you." James still stuck with his decision; he would wait for a clear sign before pursuing Lily again.