I spent the next week pondering why I was even thinking about sneaking to Hogsmeade to see Chris. I had so many reasons to just forget it. First of all, it was pissing off Bella to no end for a reason completely beyond me. I had apologized to her (still having no clue what was my fault) but I felt like she only half heard it. Second, the letter was basically a blatant booty call. Was I honestly that desperate? And thirdly, I was prefect! Going into Hogsmeade would break at least 7 rules. Also, Chris hadn't exactly treated me well on our last encounter. And lastly, I had no clue how I could get there. I pondered for a few moments whether I should maybe ask McGonagall or Dumbledore but rethought that quickly. It wasn't worth it.

I was better than this guy and I knew it, but at the same time, when not occupied by work or conversation, my thoughts always returned to that bench he pushed me against so passionately and how I could get to that bench again.

'God, I really need to get some,' I thought to myself while drifting off to Binn's lecture. I had received another letter from Chris that morning. It basically gave more details of when he was free and had some flirtatious comments about making it worth my while if I got into town. I saw Bella purse her lips when his owl landed this morning. I hadn't looked at the letter since breakfast. I knew I needed to forget about it.

The day dragged by and soon I was trying to defeat the transfiguration assignment due the next day, Friday. Bella had disappeared to bed a while ago and only the odd student still remained in the common room. I was settled into my normal spot by the fire.

"You still working on the mammal transfiguration theory essay?" said a voice behind my head.

Turning, I let my eyes rest upon the resident transfiguration pro. "You could say that but I think working would probably a nice way of putting it. Bull shitting would be more appropriate."

Potter smacked a hand over my mouth surprising me. "Evans! You cursed! Your own mouth tainted your precious ears. The horror!"

I licked his hand and he withdrew it, flushing. "Transfiguration tends to do that to me."

"Well do you want some help?" He asked. I looked at him skeptically until he continued. "I finished it already and don't feel like going to bed yet."

"I mean, I'm almost done." I said looking at my paper. "It just sucks."

"Let me see it," he said, pulling my paper towards him. We sat in silence for a while, the only sound in the room, the crackling of the fire, the scratch of James's quill, and a soft footsteps of tired students dragging themselves up the stairs to bed.

"There," said Potter pushing the paper back to me. "All you have left to do is your conclusion. Just say something about the differences between mammal transformation and animagi so as to show you know what happens beyond this topic and you should be fine. At least an Exceeds Expectations I would guess."

Sighing, I looked over Potter's changes and wrote off a quick conclusion before snapping my books shut and sinking deeper into my seat. I was so tired.

"Tired?"

I opened one of my eyes. "It's been a long week."

"It's been a long year," he laughed back.

"You could say that again," I said but upon seeing his mouth open I continued, "but don't."

We sat in silence for a while just enjoying the sound of the fire.

"So I hear you want to get into Hogsmeade," Potter said suddenly.

"How'd you…."

"Bella was talking to Sirius… well I think bitching would be the word I'd use."

I placed my head in my hands. "I honestly don't know what's going on with her. She always gets like this when a guy I'm interested in shows interest in me. It doesn't matter to her at all if I like a guy and he ignores it or if he likes me and I'm not interested."

"Am I the latter?" He said jokingly, though his eyes showed he was more interested in the answer than he wanted to seem.

I shook my head sadly. "Not everything is about you Potter." Standing up and walking closer to the warmth of the fire, I continued, "In this case, it's all about Bella."

He quickly said, "But anyway, I didn't come here just to talk about Bella."

I looked at him over my shoulder. "Then why did you? To rub in my face the fact that prefect Evans wants to break a rule and go to Hogsmeade?"

He couldn't hold back a smile. "Only a little."

"I'm done," I said exasperated. I had enough to deal with without Potter being… Potter.

"Just wait a second Evans before you assume the worst of me." I stopped walking, mostly because I still needed to grab my transfiguration papers off the couch. A little part of my brain also told me that I was curious what his excuse could be. "I came to you," he continued, "because I need to grab a few new quills, and restock on Honeydukes goods and Zonkos products."

I was temporarily shocked into silence. "So are you offering to bring me to Hogsmeade?" I finally responded slowly, unbelieving. I walked back over towards him.

"If you still want to go. I mean, since when do you break rules? Especially for a date?" I was picking up my papers as he talked but stopped and turned to him on the word date.

"But wait a second. You're willing to show me into Hogsmeade so I can go on a date? This doesn't seem like you Potter. You're usually punching guys who even think about dating me."

He shrugged. "Well, maybe I'm growing up a little."

I shrugged back. "Maybe you are." We both just stood there for a moment, looking at each other, sizing each other up. "So are you serious about your offer then?"

He shifted from foot to foot, looking somewhere just over my right shoulder. "Yeah, I mean, I need to go anyway."

I thought for a moment and found the hilarity in the situation. I was just about to give up on the whole idea of going to see Chris when Potter basically begs to take me to him. He was helping me date someone. This being mates thing was going to take some getting used to. "How about tomorrow then?"

Potter moved his eyes to mine and gave a soft smile, not his usual confident one. "We don't have quidditch practice until the day after so I'm free."

Finishing gathering up my notes, I moved to pass him and go up the stairs but stopped short when next to him. "Thanks James," I said warmly, letting his first name slid easily off my tongue.

And with that, I walked up the stairs, put my books in my trunk, and got ready for bed. I was suddenly reminded of Remus's words of warning. Feeling slightly guilty and concerned that I may have led him on, I gave my hair an extra good brushing to work out both my knots and my nerves.

--

On the other side of the tower, the 6th year boys were being rudely woken by an elated boy dancing around and singing, "She called me James! She called me James!"

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Hey all! Hope you enjoyed this chapter. I just remembered that I had this inspiration the other day and hadn't written it yet. I know it's not an overly long chapter but I feel it says a lot about Lily and James's growing relationship and also about Bella's character. I'm basing her off of an old best friend that I had at the time a lot of my relationship drama was going on.

Please let me know what you think and give me your ideas and suggestions. I have a main framework worked out (aka. my own love life to draw from) but would love some fluffy ideas or some great prank ideas. Not a huge prankster myself, I find planning Marauder sized pranks difficult.

All My Love,

Melissa

PS: REVIEW!!