Hey there,
I have to admit this was an epic chapter for me to write. It's over 6,000 words and I've never written anything that long before. Huge thanks to Megin my beta reader who had to work on this in three parts because it was such a long chapter and for getting it done so that I could post it today. She's beta-ed about 15,000 word over the last two days, quite an epic feat I think.
I'd also like to thank the two people who left feedback on my last chapter, Queen Moanna of the Underworld and tinkerbell25285. Don't worry, I don't plan on giving up writing anytime soon. I find it too relaxing and fun for me to want to give it up anytime soon.
Thanks to all my readers and I hope you enjoy the next chapter.
Hugs and stuff
Katie
P.S. Please, if you are following this story, please just leave me a bit of feedback to tell me what you think of it, what things you think I could improve and what things you'd like to see me include, even if it's just one sentence, anonymous feedback.
Disclaimer: I do not own or have any rights to anything mentioned, described and included in any Harry Potter related book/movie or product. This is just my interpretation of how Lily and James got together. All rights reserved to J.K. Rowling.
Chapter 6
Lily's P.O.V.
Sometimes, when I'm lying in bed at night, I have moments when I don't quite know whether I'm awake or sleeping. Part of me thinks that I'm awake because I see the shadowy shapes of the posters at the foot of my bed and of those surrounding the beds of the other girl's beds in my dormitory but my brain is convinced that I'm asleep because my eyes feel so heavy and I can't move. My thoughts seem to whirl round in my head in a crazy, seething mass but the thoughts themselves make absolutely no sense which just adds to my brains confusion as to whether I'm awake or asleep because I know for a fact that when I'm awake, my thoughts would never be that random. If they were, I probably would have been locked up in a nice padded cell for my own safety and also the safety of every other human on the planet.
I hate those kinds of nights. They don't happen very often but often enough for them to annoy me. I never get enough sleep on those nights and always find it a struggle to stay awake the next day because my body tries to pull me into a nice, 'proper' sleep where it can gain some rest. I guess the tiredness is evidence that I wasn't completely half asleep. There is probably some scientific reason for nights like that, maybe I'm half asleep and half awake, I don't know. All I know is that I dread those nights like you wouldn't believe. The lack of control that I have over them scares me because of the fact that I can't seem to 'wake' myself up from them or just fall into a proper dreamless sleep.
Last night I think I had one of those nights and the shocking thing was that it didn't feel wrong or crazy, it just felt right. It didn't last all night, in fact it seemed like it was only an hour or so when I couldn't work out what was going on and then afterwards, when it was over, I was able to drift back into a deep sleep that I really didn't want to wake up from when morning came.
Madame Pomfrey, as I had predicted, had insisted on keeping me in the Hospital Wing overnight which meant that I wasn't able to do that prefect's patrol or any of my homework which I had, on the grounds that the headache had probably been caused by too much stress and not enough rest and relaxation. She had given me a potion to take the pain in my head away, stood and watched as I ate my way through a tray of food that she brought over to my bed after James and Remus had left to go and get their own dinner before they rushed off to Quidditch practice. After that she had given me a dreamless sleep draught that she insisted that I take then and there so that I could get at least ten hours sleep before class tomorrow.
Now I've taken the sleeping draught once before that night and I know that when you take it, you don't remember much happening after drinking it when you wake up. If you do dream then you certainly don't remember the dreams and it's almost impossible to be woken up by someone else unless the effects of the potion have completely worn off. The potion, as you might have guessed, does just exactly what its name suggests and that is why what happened last night is so surprising to me.
I don't remember much of what happened, it's all a bit hazy as though it was in fact just a dream but the feeling of safety and peace leaves me wishing in a way that it had been real, that besides the bizarreness of the whole incident it just felt right and natural as though this was the way the world would be if everyone got along and there was no fighting. Madame Pomfrey must have miscalculated the amount of potion I needed to help me sleep through the night or something and my body was busy trying to fight off the effects of the potion while trying not to completely wake up or something because that is the only explanation that I could come up with for what had happened.
In this dream, I swear James Potter came and sat by my bed for a while and just sat there silently as he stroked my hair. No one has ever really stroked my hair like that since my mother used to do it when I was ill as a little girl and I couldn't help but feel comforted and almost adored, I guess would be the word used to describe it, beyond anything in the world. He didn't say anything and seemed content to just sit there in silence.
Had I been more alert and conscious, I would probably have wondered what on earth he was doing sitting by my bed in the Hospital Wing long after Madame Pomfrey had closed it to any visitors and what must have been well after curfew but I was too much asleep for my brain to think logically about something like that. It might just have been my imagination if I really was asleep and dreaming or the way the shadows were falling on his face on the highly unlikely and improbable chance that I was awake, but it looked like the James was deep in thought as though something was troubling him. Part of me wanted to ask him what was wrong and I must have mumbled something incoherently because his hand froze in my hair and his gaze snapped to mine.
"Lily?" His voice whispered gently as he looked down on me. I moaned, wanting to feel his hand stroking my hair again. I sluggishly rolled onto my side so that I was facing him, snuggling my head deeper into gentle hand. "Lily, are you awake?" I nudged his hand again with my head and I think he got the message because he started stroking my hair again. I didn't make any other noises though, to content with the feeling of safety that was slowly sweeping over.
His other hand stretched out and touched my cheek softly, hesitantly at first as though scared I might wake up the minute his skin met mine, but quickly growing in confidence as he realized that I probably wouldn't wake up anytime soon. His finger gently traced my cheekbones, stroked softly over my lips and traced gently over the shape of my nose. It was a weird feeling to have his skin so close to mine, so sure and confident and yet so careful and gentle. It sent shivers down my spine and I swear my skin must have broken out with goose pimples. It felt so good, better than anything I've ever felt before, awake or sleeping.
I could feel myself drifting off to a deeper sleep as he sat there stroking me. My thoughts seemed to slow down and my body relaxed in a way it hasn't done for so long. It was like worries about the war going on outside the walls of Hogwarts and the stresses and strains of trying to prepare for both my NEWT exams and the responsibilities of being the Head Girl just didn't exist or were just trivial matters that didn't deserve me getting all stressed out and worried about.
"Lily?" James's voice suddenly broke through my attempts to drift off into a deeper sleep. If I had been fully awake I probably would have started grumbling at that point but I was too far out of it to do that. My brain was hanging onto what he was saying as much as it possibly could in its fuzzy, confused state. "Lily, I'm so sorry,"
In all my time at Hogwarts, I don't think I've ever heard James apologise for anything and known instinctively that he meant it with everything possible. It was hidden deep in his tone of voice but my groggy mind managed to catch onto that. He sounded so sad and tired that I wanted to reach out and stroke his hair and take it all away from him, so that he could be the happy, laughing prankster that everyone loved but my arms felt like lead and I just couldn't move them an inch. I settled for mumbling something incoherently and left it at that. James probably thought that I was talking in my sleep.
"I know he was your best friend and that once your really cared about him; and I know it's my fault that you're no longer his friend," James started slowly in that whispered voice that was so apologetic and sincere. "I just hated how you were friends with him and yet couldn't be anywhere near me without getting angry with me or into an argument about stupid little things and I just couldn't find the strength in me to resist taking my frustration out on him. I know it was wrong of me to target him, to be the bully you always said I was and I wish that I could go back and change every little thing I said or did to him if I thought it would change what he's planning to do," I could hear the guilt and shame in his voice. I wondered what on earth he was going on about and wished that I could wake up enough to answer but I was trapped in this half asleep, half awake state and I just couldn't do it. Waking up was just millimetres away from my grasp, it seemed, but my arm just couldn't stretch enough to grab it.
He fell silent again for a few moments. "I guess around you, I lose track of good sense and never learnt when to stop. I chose to fight him because I saw him as my rival for you but in the end I guess I've lost the fight and now you're going to pay the cost because I was a selfish bastard," There had been anger in his voice at that last bit and maybe a bit of self hatred. "I didn't mean to drag you into the middle of this; I never thought he would use you to hurt me. It seems so obvious to me now but I never in my wildest dreams thought he would try anything like this, not to you, not to someone he loves,"
I was still completely confused by this and was shocked when, almost from a distance as though I wasn't even in my own body, I felt him lift my hand up and kiss my fingers softly, gently and heartbreakingly tender. "I swear to you, Lily, I swear on my life and everything that I care about, that I won't let him touch you," He whispered into my fingers, his breath warm against my skin. He held it there for a while, occasionally kissing it again, gently, almost reverently as though I was the most valuable thing on the planet instead of just one insignificant girl.
After a while, he placed my hand gently back on the coverlet, gently smoothing my hand out of the fist that it had formed into so that my fingers lay relaxed and flat against the cover. He didn't stand up or make to leave though, reaching out to gently grab a strand of my hair, smoothing it gently between his fingers as he leant closer to me.
The next thing I knew, cool lips were gently kissing my cheek, so softly that I might just have imagined it. Something like that couldn't be real. Things like that only ever happen in Muggle films and fairytales, not in the harsh world of reality. My skin tingled from where the soft caress had touched it and the next thing I knew he kissed my lips softly.
"I love you, Lily, and I won't let anybody hurt you," He whispered so quietly that I almost didn't hear it, the deep well of emotion in his voice.
A clatter interrupted whatever else he tried to tell me and he seemed to just fade out of the dream, completely disappearing from where he had been before. It shocked me how much the mood of the dream changed when he disappeared, some of the feeling of peace and safety completely disappeared and I could no longer completely relax into my blankets. I lay there for a while, still trapped between being half awake and half asleep before my body surrendered to sleep and I fell once more into a dreamless sleep.
It had to have been a dream though; I can't believe that it was real. James was acting so far out of character, doing things and saying things that my logical mind just can't imagine him actually doing. There was enough detail and feelings in it for me to confuse it with reality but it was hazy enough and dreamlike enough for me to know that it must have been a dream. Guys just don't act like that outside dreams and stories, especially not teenage boys who are mostly driven by their hormones and whatever other immature urges drive them. It's a well known fact, after all, that boys don't mature as fast as girls, even in times of war, when the horrors of what we read in the newspapers slowly snatches away whatever childhood innocence still remains.
"Miss Evans!" A voice broke through my thoughts like a stone through a still pond, scattering ripples everywhere, dragging me back to reality. I turned my face from the window I had been gazing out of and turned towards Professor Flitwick, my charms teacher. He was obviously waiting for a reply to some question that I hadn't heard.
"I'm sorry Professor, could you repeat the question?" I asked quietly, feeling the gazes of everyone else in the class fix on me. My face started to burn and I blushed bright red. I've never been inattentive in class in all my time at Hogwarts, even in the most boring of lessons like History of Magic where everyone else used the boring lesson to catch up on missed sleep or to finish homework assignments as Binns droned on in the background.
"Are you feeling okay, Miss Evans?" Flitwich asked, concerned. "You were in the Hospital Wing last night, weren't you?" He was looking carefully at me as though trying to work out if I was going to pass out or be sick or something in his lesson.
"Yes sir," I admitted quietly, not wanting to go into any details. "But Madame Pomfrey said I was fine this morning and that I would be okay to go to class." I shrugged, trying not to make it seem like a big deal. The last thing I needed was for rumours flying round the school saying that I couldn't cope with all my workload and that I shouldn't be head girl. There were enough of those flying round at the moment spread by the some of the Slytherin girls who felt their own seventh year prefect should have got the job instead of me that I didn't need anymore.
"I don't think you are okay, Lily," Flitwick said gently. "I think you need to go back and see her, you're looking a bit pale." I like Professor Flitwick and his lessons. I seem to have a natural ability for charms that means a lot of what he teaches just comes naturally to me and when he sees that I've mastered something, he'll always push me to take it one step further but never onto something I'm not ready for. He knows what my limits are and doesn't try and force me beyond them unless it's for a really important, complex, advanced charm that he wants me to master because it might prove useful to me once I leave Hogwarts.
He was the one who in fifth year had decided that it was time that I learnt how to conjure up my own, corporal patronus, a defensive charm that creates a short of barrier that will drive away Dementors and Lethifolds. Many fully grown wizards cannot conjure an indistinct patronus, let alone a fully formed one because the concentration you need to focus on a single, happy memory that you need to create the spell while the Dementor is trying to suck it right out of you to feast on it, is immense. It took me months to learn how to do it and lots of private lessons after class before I finally managed to conjure mine.
Today I think he was lecturing to us about the Patronus Charm. I don't think he would be attempting to teach it to us because it was so advanced that a lot of people here would probably never be able to cast it and because he didn't have to time to spend lots of lessons teaching the rest of the group how to conjure it when we had more important spells to look at. After all, this was a charms lesson, not a Defence Against The Dark Arts class where it seemed more logical that this spell would be taught.
"I'm fine Professor, just a bit tired," I shrugged calmly. "Could you repeat the question please?" I asked politely, hoping that it was something obvious that I could answer easily.
"If you're sure?" He hesitated for a moment. I nodded and he decided to let the whole thing go. "What shape does a corporal Patronus shield take?" He repeated the question and I let my body relax from the tense, bolt up right position it had taken when I had first been shocked from my thoughts. I knew this, it was so obvious to me now.
"A fully formed, corporal Patronus will take the shape of an animal that holds some significance to the caster's personality," I recited quickly. "It's very rare for a person's patronus shape to change but there have been occasional recorded occurrences where a change in the caster's circumstances through the death of a loved one or through falling in love with another person will cause the patronus to change shape to mirror the personality of the other person," I said calmly.
"Excellent answer, Miss Evans," Flitwick beamed at me with a knowing twinkle in his eyes. No one else in my year knew that I could conjure up a patronus or even that I had taken lessons to learn how to do so. "10 points to Gryffindor,"
I let a small smile form on my face while inside I felt like a fraud for earning those points for Gryffindor when I already knew the answer, having been taught all this once before while none of the others in my class had had that same chance. I kept quiet about it and hoped that Black would break some rule that would result in those points being knocked off. I could very quickly earn them back in another lesson, maybe in Potions next lesson.
My conscience duly appeased, I turned my gaze back to the window, about to drift back off into my thoughts when a voice from behind me piped up. "They take the shape of a real animal?" Potter asked curiously behind me. I turned round in shock to see that he was sat there at the desk directly behind me, parchment out in front of him with what appeared to be lesson notes transcribed onto it. I had to clench my jaw to stop it from dropping. James rarely ever felt the need to take notes in class because he had such a formidable memory that he just managed to remember all the important details that weren't in a book like you wouldn't believe.
His face wore a serious expression as though he was nothing more than a conscientious student who was asking for clarification on a question but this close to him, I could see a twinkle burning deep in his hazel eyes that told me not everything was as it seemed.
I could feel more blood rushing to my cheeks as he met my curious, surprised gaze feeling extremely flustered and embarrassed to be so close to him after last night's dream. It just felt a little weird to be so close to the real James Potter when the dream version of him had made me feel so different than I'd ever felt in my entire life. He never normally sat this close to me in class, choosing instead to sit across on the other side of the room with Peter, Remus and Sirius. I wondered what on earth had made him move over to this side of the room when the rest of his friends were stubbornly sitting in their normal seats at the back of the classroom.
"No, it's more of a silvery, white form of the animal," I explained, ignoring the fact that the question was probably aimed at Professor Flitwick and answering it myself. "The incantation for the spell is Expect Patronus; Patronus meaning protector or guardian which reflects the spells role as a defensive shield charm and expecto comes from the latin word exspecto which roughly translates to 'I await' or 'I wait for'. This means the charm roughly translates to 'I wait for a protector' and the animal shape of the corporal form of the spell matches some muggle religious beliefs that every person has a spirit animal guardian that looks after them and protects them," As I spoke, James bent his head and focused on his parchment as he quickly scribbled my words down onto it. I felt a little flattered that he would pay such close attention to my words.
"Excellent answer, Miss Evans," Professor Flitwick praised me. My second answer had contained information that I'd researched much later after I'd finished my lessons with him on trying to conjure my own patronus shield and I was able to take this praise without a sense of guilt. "Take another ten points for Gryffindor,"
"Thank you sir," My face broke into a small smile.
"So it's like a ghost?" Sirius asked from the other side of the room.
"No, it's like this," I sighed, picking my wand up off the desk and muttering the incantation under my breath, focusing on the lingering happy feeling that remained from last nights dream. I didn't know how to explain it in any other way so I figured the easiest way would be to conjure one up for him. A silver doe shot out of the end of my wand and fell to the floor in front of me.
The was a simultaneous gasp as everyone in the classroom strained to look at my patronus as it paced up and down in front of them, looking for a Dementor to chase away. Some even climbed to their feet in an attempt to get a closer look at it. Out of the corner of my eyes, I saw James turn and stare at my patronus with a look of awe on his face and also what looked like to be a certain amount of satisfaction before he turned and grinned smugly at Black. I had no idea what the heck that was about.
As people slowly got over the shock of what I'd done, they started whispering to themselves, no doubt dissecting what I had done trying to work out how on earth I'd managed to learn how to do something so advanced. I felt a tinge of regret that I'd taken it upon myself to show Black what a patronus looks like. There was no doubt that Flitwick was just as capable of demonstrating the charm to the class, being the schools Charms professor and everything, so I had no idea what had motivated my sudden desire to show off what I could do. It had been a weird day so far and the only reason that I can think of for doing it was the fact that sometimes I get tired of having to hide all the advance charms that I can do from people to avoid being seen as a show off and for once I just wanted to be the one to do something that was openly amazing that other people could see.
Poor Professor Flitwick had to set off several firecrackers to quiet everyone down. I turned away from James to face the front of the class but could feel his gaze burning into my back. It made me feel uncomfortable.
"Thank you, Miss Evans, for that fantastic show of magic," Flitwick thanked me calmly and then just carried on with the lesson as though nothing out of the ordinary had happened and my gaze wandered back out towards the windows as my thoughts drifted away from the class and off into what happened last night.
That has to be one of my biggest failings in life, I tend to overanalyse every little thing in life, even though I'm pretty sure what had happened was just some silly little dream I had. I mean it would be incredibly awkward if James did still have feelings for me, I mean I look at him as my friend, someone I do patrol duty with him. If he did still have feelings for me I would always have to be careful what I do or say around him because I don't want to inadvertently give him the wrong impression. How awkward would it be if that happened and we still had to patrol together and work together with the prefect duties?
"Lily," An amused voice spoke in my ear and for the second time that day I was shocked back to reality. "The lessons over, Lily," Malcolm Clearwater, a Ravenclaw seventh year who I often worked with in Charms when we had to do group assignments or practice spells on each other in class said. He's quite a close friend of mine, we did date briefly in fourth year but quickly realised that we were better off being friends, especially when James Potter suddenly realised he had a crush on me and started discouraging any guys who showed so much as a slight interest in dating me and Severus made it perfectly clear that their presence wasn't welcome.
"Sorry," I chuckled. "I was just lost in my thoughts," I told him, embarrassed, as I climbed to my feet and picked up my books, storing them neatly in my bag. A quick glance behind me showed that James was adding some quick last minute details to his notes. As I hoisted my bag to my shoulder though, he put his quill down, sealed the bottle of ink and shoved all his things haphazardly into his bags.
"The great Lily Evans lost in thought during class?" Malcolm joked as we made our way towards the door to the classroom, James following behind us. "What is the world coming to, eh, Potter?" He joked, including James in the conversation. I rolled my eyes at the use of James's last name. Why is it that unless they're close mates, the guys here at Hogwarts always insist on calling each other by their last name? It makes no sense to me.
"It must be coming to an end, Clearwater," James said calmly, a weird tone in his voice that I couldn't quite recognise what emotion it was showing. "We should probably be running round panicking like headless chickens or something," He intoned in a mock serious voice.
"Oh stop it, you two," I blushed at their gentle mocking. "We all have off days when we can't focus on schoolwork,"
"It's more of an off day when I do pay attention in class," James shrugged with a cheeky wink.
"Can't say the same for me," Malcolm chuckled.
"Yeah but you're in Ravenclaw, Clearwater, and you have a certain reputation to keep up," James told him sarcastically. "Can't have any member of Ravenclaw slacking off,"
"Better to be brainy than brawny," Malcolm shrugged unconcernedly, not too upset by James's mocking attitude towards his house.
"Unless you're ever caught out in a fight without your wand, then it's better to be brawny I'd say," James shrugged. "So what were you thinking about, Lily, that would distract you so deeply from one of your favourite lessons?"
"Just a weird dream I had last night," I shrugged. "I'd already studied about Patroni before in the past, so I didn't think I would miss much by not paying attention,"
"I'd say that that was a bit of an understatement," Malcolm laughed. "That was an amazing piece of magic you did,"
"Thanks, but it was nothing special," I downplayed it all, uncomfortable.
"What was the dream about?" James asked curiously seeing how uncomfortable I was at the mention of what I'd done in Charms. "Must have been some dream to distract you from class,"
"Yeah it was," I shrugged, unwilling to tell James about it because it involved him and unwilling to talk about it in front of Malcolm because it just felt to personal and intimate for everyone else to know. "One of the nicest ones I've ever had," I was being truthful there, any girl in Hogwarts would love to have a dream where James Potter came and stroked their hair and kissed their fingers while they slept.
Malcolm looked closely at me, "Oh, it was about a guy then?" He chuckled at the shocked expression on my face at his words. He chuckled at the shocked expression on my face at his words. "You've got that soft expression on your face you only get when you like a guy. Come on, tell us who it is" James shot me a shocked glance.
"It's not like that," My face flushed with colour as I denied it. "It was just an incredibly sweet dream and I couldn't help replaying it in my mind." I admitted with a sigh.
"Sounds like someone is in denial to me," Malcolm laughed. "You must like whoever it is to have that expression on your face," He said confidently.
"I don't like him like that," I defended myself. "He's just a good friend of mine, nothing more. It's no big deal,"
"I'd say if you're dreaming about him you like him more than you think," Malcolm shrugged. "It's nothing to be embarrassed about," He laughed.
"But I don't like him like that," I shrugged. "Just leave it, Malcolm, you wouldn't understand,"
"But if you tell me who it is…" Malcolm started but James quickly interrupted and I was really grateful that he did. I really didn't want people pushing me to talk about this because I just wasn't going to.
"Leave it, can't you see she doesn't want to talk about it?" James glared at Malcolm who quickly shut up. I sent James a grateful look, glad that he at least was willing to respect my privacy and leave things alone. We'd been slowly walking down the Charms corridor towards the main staircase where we would head on down to the dungeons to Potions while Malcolm would head off to his next lesson. "Don't you have Transfiguration to get to, Clearwater?" James asked pointedly as we paused at the top of the staircase. "McGonagall won't like it if your late to her lesson, you know,"
"True," Malcolm shrugged as though this wasn't such a big deal though. I knew that that was just an act though because he hates being late to class. "I'll see you around later on," He told me, quickly hugging me.
"Yeah," I smiled softly. "Enjoy Transfiguration," I told him with a wry grin. Transfiguration isn't one of his favourite subjects.
"I won't do," He laughed, turning and heading down the corridor as James and I headed down the staircase to the lower levels.
"Thanks for that, James," I told him with a grin as we headed down the last few steps, people crowding around us. I was surprised that Black and Lupin weren't walking with us to class. They were conspicuous by absence. "Sometimes Malcolm doesn't know when to let things be,"
"Yeah," James chuckled. "I figured you didn't want to talk about it. Nice bit of wand work you did there in charms. That's one stunning patronus you've got there," He complimented me generously.
"Thanks," I laughed. "Though the doe thing was never anything I did. It's just the form that suited me, I guess,"
"It must have taken you ages to learn how to do it," James mused thoughtfully.
"A couple of months back in fifth year," I shrugged. "It's easy to get a corporal patronus when there are no Dementors around. I had to practise with a boggart when I was learning and it took me ages to even manage to get the incantation out." I shrugged.
"When did you learn to do it?" He asked curiously.
"I finally managed to do it just after the OWLs exams," I admitted. "Once the pressure of the exams was lifted it was a lot easier to do,"
James looked shocked about that. I think he expected for me to only just have learnt it instead of being able to do it and keep it a secret for so long. James seems to be one of those people who the minute he manages to do something complicated like that, has to tell the world that he can do it. I'm quite the opposite to him in that respect, I don't always like to show off everything that I can do. I would rather people underestimate me and not know what secret weapons I can pull out of the bag when I need them. It makes me a lot less predictable to anyone who might want to take me on.
"Wow," He finally gasped. "That's amazing. Most grown up witches and wizards can't do that spell,"
"They probably could if they were willing to put the time and practise in," I disagreed. "You just have to be patient and keep trying and eventually it will come to you. If you give up because it's too hard you'll never master it," I shrugged, still downplaying it all.
"True," James mused to himself before suddenly asking me, "Can you show Sirius, Remus, Peter and me how to do that sometime? It seems like one of those spells we should learn before we leave school. My dad says Voldemort is trying to recruit the Dementors to his side and if they're no longer under the control of the Ministry then I'd rather be able to drive them off should they ever come near me rather than rely on luck to keep them away,"
"Sure," I shrugged. "If we get some spare time anytime soon, I'll show the you the basics and it's up to you to practise it,"
"Thanks, Lily," James said appreciatively as we headed towards the corridor to the dungeon for the second time this week. "You're an awesome person,"
"You won't be saying that when I'm making you work your butt off tonight on the prefect rotas," I laughed gently. James always tries to put off doing the rotas until the last possible moment and as we were getting near to the end of the last one he drew up, he needed to make another.
"Damn," He sighed. "I was hoping you would have forgotten about those,"
"Nope," I told him with a cheeky grin. "It takes a lot to distract me from remembering that, James."
"I think I know something that will make you forget about it?" James said suddenly, his trademark twinkle returning to his eyes as we reached the last corridor before we reached the next class. "Something guaranteed to make you forget about it?"
"Oh yeah?" I challenged with a grin, curious to see what he had planned. "You really think so?"
"Oh I know so," James said confidently with a sly grin on his face.
"Well go on then," I laughed, "Make me forget."
"Well, don't say I didn't warn you," James told me as we entered the classroom.
"Just do whatever it is you think will make me forget it," I told him impatiently.
"Who was the guy in your dream?" He asked suddenly with a sly grin. I swear, I wanted to hit him when he said that. I settled for glaring at him and reaching for my wand.