Hey guys,

I just wanted to thank you all for the huge response I got for the last chapter. I was shocked that so many of you liked it enough to leave feedback and deeply touched that you took the time to leave me feedback or to add my story to your favourites. It encourages me to keep writing and has also encouraged me to start developing plot ideas for the next LE/JP story I intend t write once this story is done.

I'm sorry it took so long to update. I did start this chapter just after I finished the last one and got about 3000 words written before a huge dose of writers block and college work hit me and I just didn't have the time to work on it. Sorry also that this chapter hasn't been beta read and any mistakes corrected, my beta is busy and I didn't want to wait to post it. Just as soon as it's been beta read I'll update the chapter with the corrected copy. Until then I hope you enjoy this chapter.

Hugs and stuff

Katie

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 7

James's P.O.V.

I wandered down to the lake later on that day, making my way towards a figure that was sat on the shore, huddled up in a black coat against the wind. She'd been sat there for about an hour ever since she'd finished her dinner in the Great Hall and hurried out into the castle grounds. I guessed when I saw her leave that she wanted some time on her own, to gather her thoughts or something like that that girls often seem to do. I'd been pestering and joking with her all through classes, trying to tease out the identity of the boy in her dream and getting absolutely nowhere with it and Remus told me that if I didn't want to push her over the edge or annoy her, I'd be better off leaving her alone for a while.

Still, I'd left her alone for an hour and I figured that now was a good time to go and talk to her. It was getting cold outside and I wasn't sure if she had her cloak on her. I didn' t want her to catch her death of cold out there and thought it a good idea to go and check on her. At least, that was the excuse I was using, Sirius claims I was just looking for a legitimate excuse to stalk her without getting slapped for it.

"Lily?" I asked softly, pausing a few feet away from her, looking down at her as the wind danced through her hair, twirling the odd tendril that had escaped from her French plaits. I love her hair; it's so alive and vibrant in a world that seems to get duller and darker as each day goes by. It's cliché to put it like this, but her hair shines like a fire and no matter how dark the room gets as the sun goes down and the night unfolds, the fire will still burn and provide a little bit of hope and warmth for those around. "You okay?" I asked gently, not wanting to startle or scare her or disturb the calm and stillness of the moment.

She didn't answer for a moment and I wondered if she'd heard me. I stepped closer and crouched down next to her and glanced down at her face as she gazed out across the lake. "I'm fine," She said softly after a moment, her eyes not moving from the point in the distance that she was gazing at. "Just needed to be somewhere quiet and still," She said wryly.

"Want me to go?" I offered understandingly. When I want to think about things or even forget about things that bother me, I take my broom down the Quidditch Pitch and fly in circles for hours, each lap gradually getting wider and longer as I got lost in my thoughts and I started flying across the sky over and beyond the grounds of Hogwarts. I know when I need to think I don't like other people around, badgering me to make conversation when I just want to be alone with my thoughts.

She smiled, her eyes gleaming even in the dim light, as the wind suddenly gusted, tearing at our clothes as it rushed past us. I would love to be flying tonight, letting the strength of the wind push me along even faster than my broom could normally fly on a still day. Something I would love even more and would probably seem a little bit on the cliché, would be to go flying with Lily. She's a great flyer on her own but it would be magical to fly with her. "No, I was about to get up and go back to the castle anyway," She shivered a little and wrapped her cloak tighter around her shoulders. "It's getting a little cold out here," She admitted to me. I confess I felt a little disappointed that she didn't need my cloak. I admit it would have given me more than a little possessive thrill to see her in my cloak.

In a bid to draw the moment out a little longer, I pulled my wand out and performed a simple charm that we'd learnt in the first week of our first year here at the castle all those years ago and bluebell flames danced out of the tip of my wand, falling gently to the floor in front of us. "Is that better?" I didn't want her to go back up to the castle at the moment; I wanted some time alone with her with no distractions from the outside of the world, with no responsibilities, studies or worries to drag us down.

She stretched her hands out towards the glowing flames. I was fascinated by the way her skin reflected the gentle blue flames across her soft white skin. I wanted to reach out and trace it along her skin but I doubted she would appreciate that. She looks as me as a friend and I won't push it any further until a time when she's ready for more, if that time ever comes. I spent the last three years trying to push her into a relationship that I wanted and that just made her even more stubborn not to give me a chance, so now I'll take my cues from her and go with what is right for her and hopefully, with time, she'll see that maybe I am the right man for her and give me that chance.

"Yeah," She sighed softly, her eyes meeting mine properly for the first time since I'd joined her out here. Her gaze was strong and intense, nothing shy or secretive about it, as she gazed at my expression, openly searching for something in my face. I wondered what she was looking for, or even if she even knew what answers she was looking for in my face. I don't know what it was in that glance though but it sent tingles down my spine and made me feel like she was finally looking properly for the first time, seeing me for the person I could be if I'm given the chance. "Much better thanks," She admitted in a soft whisper.

Her hand reached out and touched my hand, squeezing gently in appreciation. It looked so tiny and dainty next to my hands, almost like a child's hand but there's no way I would ever mistake Lily for a child. Her skin was cool, the warmth of the fire not really taking effect on her hands yet, but soft, incredibly soft and gentle. I knew the rest of her would be just as smooth and just as soft as her hands and I had to forcibly stop myself from imagining how amazing it would feel to have those soft hands touch other parts of my body. I really didn't want to be distracted by lust and end up saying something stupid that would just ruin the moment. Tonight I wanted to make a memory, and a good one at that.

I gently enfolded her hand in mine and started to gently rub them, trying to rub some warmth into her hands, not wanting the cold to ruin what was turning into a perfect moment for me. "That's good," I said simply, for once in my life completely unsure about what to say. I wanted to ask her what she'd been thinking about, wanted to get inside her head and see what made her tick, what made her Lily Evans, what made her stand out from all the other faceless girls in this school but I respected her privacy enough not to ask about it.

After several moments of peaceful silence, she pulled her hand free from mine and placed it back in front of the flames. It was getting darker now and soon we would have to go back inside. A quick glance up at the moon showed that I didn't have to worry about getting Lily safely back inside the castle before the moon rose because we were still a few nights away from the full moon when Remus would go through his monthly torment.

"It's okay," She said suddenly, startling me and I looked down on her face, entranced always by the imperfect perfection of her face, confusion clearly etched on my own as I didn't understand what she meant. "You want to ask me what I was thinking about but you're scared that I might think you're trying to invade my privacy and make me angry," She grinned cheekily at me.

"Well you are really scary when you get mad," I admitted sheepishly.

"So scary that you went out of your way time after time, to make me loose my temper in the past at every chance that you got?" She pointed out with a wry grin.

"Since when has something being dangerous or scary ever stopped me from doing something," I shrugged. "Besides, you get this fiery sparkle in your eyes which just does something to a guy and I just couldn't resist bringing it out. Your so incredibly sexy and gorgeous when your mad," I shrugged honestly, a sly twinkle in my eyes and my tongue slightly in cheek as I couldn't resist teasing her a little bit more.

She laughed at this. "Sometimes, James, I think you have more courage than sense," She told me lightly, a different sparkle appearing in her eyes, one that I consider to be exclusively mine. Mind you, I think all the sparkles in her eyes should be exclusively mine. And all her smiles too, come to think of it. "I bet you hate being stuck here in school, dealing with all the petty squabbles of school life when you feel you could be doing a lot more good outside, helping with the war," She guessed softly and I could hear the echo of my frustration in her voice.

If you try and push Lily down, try and force her into a corner, she'll turn into a dragon and fight back. I bet she wishes she was out there in the real world, fighting for her right to be treated as an equal with all the purebloods, for her right to do magic and live without fear or misery. Here at Hogwarts, we're so protected from the outside world, so sheltered and away from all the danger that sometimes it's easy to forget about the horrors of what Lord Voldemort and his armies have been reeking on this country. It just seems like its happening somewhere else and that it could never touch our lives at all, but it's not like that at all. In fact, it's probably a lot worse than any of us can even imagine and yet in a few months, we'll be released into that world and we'll either hit the ground running or die with our heads still buried in the sands.

And it will be a lot worse for Lily. If she had just been your average Muggle-born witch I wouldn't be so worried and scared about what will happen to her when we leave Hogwarts. But Lily is so much more than average, so amazing, so kind and so successful that she's made a lot of enemies within Slytherin house who will have the means to make sure that the Death Eaters target her and put her back into what they see as being her place, if not kill her outright. She'll literally be at the top of the Death Eater's most wanted list and that thought terrifies the life out of me.

I tried, once, thinking about what the world would be like if Lily was killed, how I would cope and survive without her and I just couldn't do it. Every muscle in my body locked in position and I just couldn't breathe, couldn't get the air into my body to keep my lungs and heart going. If Lily died, then I don't think I could manage any form of continued existence without her.

"Sometimes I feel like that," I admitted softly, looking down at my own hands so that she couldn't see into my eyes. She's too observant and if I let her see my eyes right now then she would probably see every single thought and emotion that was passing through my mind right now and that would probably scare her off. "Sometimes it drives me crazy how life can carry on with it's trivial worries and stupid pointless essay questions about things I'll probably just forget anyway when we leave when so much evil is happening out there. But then other times I'm glad I'm still here because I love being carefree and irresponsible and I don't want to lose that just yet,"

"I know," She whispered softly. "I'm terrified for my family, that they might be targeted when there is nothing I can do to protect them. If the Death Eaters chose to attack them then no defensive spells that I surround them with will keep them safe," She confessed shakily, her voice losing the confident note in it that I was used to hearing.

I wanted to gather her up into my arms and hold her until the fear in her voice disappeared, to whisper in her ears that everything would be okay, that her family would be fine and that no one would even dream of hurting them at all but it would be a lie and Lily and I both know that it would be a lie.

"Do you know what the worst part about it is?" She asked me suddenly, picking up a pebble from the ground next to her and hurling it into the water angrily, throwing it as far as she possibly could.

"No," I said honestly, not understanding fully how hard any of this actually is for her. I don't have her background so I can't even begin to wonder what it must be like for her. "Tell me," I begged softly, needing to know.

I noticed out of the corner of my eye when a tear fell onto her pale white cheek and trickled down. I reached out and wiped it away, my heart heavy with her pain. "The worst part is that I can't tell them about all the bad things that are happening, I can't tell them that me being a witch puts their very lives in danger and that at any moment their lives might be cut brutally short through no fault of their own," Lily told me softly and I could hear the pain behind every single word she said. "They gave up so much so that I could come here and study magic and they're so proud and supportive of everything that I do that I just can't face them to tell them that it might be all my fault that one day they might be murdered just because they unknowingly gave birth to a witch. That despite all the things I can do, I can't keep them safe. I just can't imagine how they would ever even begin to understand the situation," She admitted.

I stop trying fight the urge to put my arm round her and gave it, gently levitating the bluebell fire away from us so that I could pull her to me, spreading my cloak around her much smaller body as she snuggled into me. "It's not your fault Lily," I whispered into her hair. "They wouldn't blame you for any of this,"

"I know, I know," She admitted shakily. "And that's the worst part about it because it feels like it is my fault. I was selfish enough to want to come here in the first place and now that selfishness might hurt my family,"

This made me angry, furious even at all those people who thought that purity of blood meant everything in our world. How could they think that someone as talented, as good and generous and loving as Lily is unworthy to study magic just because her parents never did? It's absolute rubbish.

"Never, ever believe that this is your fault, Lily Evans!" I told her fiercely, determined to get my point across, determined to make her believe undoubtedly in what I was about to tell her. "You have just as much right to study magic and to live in the magical world as those purebloods that are descended from the original seven clans. Just because they feel threatened by the thought of losing the power and privileges' that they have been taught from birth to expect as their right, just because they are becoming lazy and arrogant, thinking that they don't need to work hard and study well to still gain all the riches that they feel life owes them and just because they need a scapegoat to blame for all the changes that they see happening in society doesn't mean that you are unworthy or that any of this is your fault! It never has been your fault and it never will be your fault,"

"Really?" She asked hesitantly as if unsure to believe what I was telling her. In that moment I wanted to hunt down anyone who has ever in the past tried to make her feel ashamed of her background and anyone who would ever do it in the future and hex them into oblivion, hex them so badly that they'd never even dream of trying to make a person feel unworthy just because they don't come from a wizarding family.

"Really," I told her firmly. "You are the kindest, least judgemental person I know and that's more important than any family history or any magical talent,"

"That's sounds like something Dumbledore would say," She said hesitantly but with more conviction in her voice than the last time she had spoken.

"He's a great man, Dumbledore is," I repeated the obvious, my respect for Dumbledore showing in my voice. I felt a hint of pride that she would compare me to such a great and powerful wizard. "Knows what he's talking about," I joked gently.

"Most of the time," Lily answered jokingly, her voice still soft. "Sometimes he talks absolute nonsense for the sheer heck of it all,"

"But he would argue that there is sense in nonsense sometimes, if your willing to look hard enough," I pointed out, trying to sound wise but probably just sounding silly. Lily didn't laugh at me for it though.

"He probably would," She sighed and her gaze travelled back across the wave, staring at some distant point on the horizon. Another gust of wind hit us and she snuggled even closer to me. I gently started to rub her arms like I had done with her hands before. I should have brought a pair of gloves with me when I came out to meet her, I'd feel a whole lot better about staying out here with her if I wasn't worrying about her fingers freezing up.

"Was that why you came out here?" I asked after a moment, not wanting there to be an awkward silence between us. "To worry about your parents?" I prompted.

There was a slight pause before she answered. "No, not really," She admitted quietly. "I just suddenly realised today how drastically everything has changed and how it feels like I've never noticed it all, like it all happened underneath my nose and I never gave it a moments thought. It scared me a little bit and I needed to finally sit down and think about it," She confessed with a laugh.

"What changes?" I asked curiously, wondering if she'd noticed the most important change of all.

"My perceptions of things really," She said slowly. "I remember when I first came here and I didn't know anyone other than Severus and I didn't know anything about magic other than what I'd read in my books and what he had told me, I thought the seven years here would last for eternity. I just couldn't imagine a world beyond Hogwarts, could never imagine myself getting older and older and having to leave. Logically, I knew it would happen but I just couldn't see how it would happen."

"I guess every child thinks that," I agreed with her, understanding what she meant. "I felt exactly the same way and I know Sirius did too,"

"Yeah but you and Sirius are the kinds of people who will never grow up," She laughed. "No matter how well you put on the act of being all grown up and mature, deep down there will always be that well of mischief and troublemaking that will flare up and cause you to pull any outrageously inappropriate prank you little minds can think off,"

"I'll have you know that none of our pranks were ever inappropriate," I chuckled defensively but knowing that she didn't mean it in a bad way, she was just trying to lighten the mood a little and have a joke with me, maybe even to get me back for the teasing that I'd done of her today.

"Sure, sure," She chuckled. "That's another thing I've noticed today, I can actually appreciate some of the stunts you pull. Some of them even make me smile or laugh?" She confessed sheepishly. "But don't tell anybody, I do have a reputation to maintain," She winked at me conspiratorially.

I laughed with her. "It will be our little secret," I agreed light heartedly. "One that I'll take to my grave with me. There is no way on earth anyone would drag the secret past my lips, no torture, no spell and certainly no potion could drag the words from my mouth," I promised jokingly, joining in the spirit of her joke.

"Because if I ever found out that you did tell anybody my deep, dark secret then I would have to kill you in the most painful way I could imagine," She played along playfully, trying to pull an evil face that just made her look even more adorable as the end of her nose wiggled slightly. I really wanted to kiss it at that moment and I really had to fight the urge to lean forward even further and do that. "After all, you know I have a nasty temper,"

"The whole school knows about your nasty temper," I sniggered. "It's not really that much a secret. Anyway, if anything ever happens to me, a violent murder or something, Sirius swears that he'll tell anyone who'll listen to investigate you first," I invented quickly.

She lightly punched my arm. "Oi," She glared at me, causing her smooth white forehead slightly. "That's unfair! I only lose my temper when you provoke me into it. No one else is crazy enough to provoke me like that,"

"It's because secretly, deep down, you must be a siren or a circe. You captivate me, bewitch me into doing things that no other man would dare do," I told her half seriously.

"Don't be silly, James," She blushed and her cheeks turned rosy with her embarrassment and also, a slight hint of pleasure. That's one of the things I've noticed recently, one of the things that helps to keep me hoping that one day she will one day love me back. It's only recently that she's started feeling anything other than irritation and anger that she used to feel when I paid her what I guess she considers to be wildly outrageous compliments.

"It's not silly, half of the boys would love to date you," I told her honestly. "They're just less open about it than I ever was," I shrugged unconcernedly. The other guys that like Lily, and I could write you a list of all the guys I know that have a crush on her, aren't really any competition for me. She considers most of them to be friends and they're too shy to make a move on her or too scared that I would hex the living daylights out of them.

"No they wouldn't," Lily waved her hand in a gesture of denial. "Anyway, this is getting off what we were talking about."

"Fine, we'll change the subject back, only because you know I'm right and you don't like that idea," I grinned arrogantly at her and she just rolled her eyes. "What other changes have you noticed?" I asked curiously, wondering what was going on inside that amazing head of hers.

"You, you've changed loads," She said simply and I stared at her in shock. So she had noticed the changes I'd work so hard to make in myself for her. A bubble of elation built up in my chest at this, I really hoped this was a sign of progress, a softening in her feelings towards me, a lowering of the barriers that she uses to protect her emotions from the often careless actions of other people.

"Me? Changed?" I asked nonchalantly, trying to hide my inner thoughts from her. She watched me closely and I wasn't sure if I completely managed to hide it from her. Sometimes those bottomless green eyes see too much for my comfort, observing things that most other people miss. "Nah, you must have the wrong guy, I've always been this responsible, hardworking guy you see before me," I somehow managed to say in a serious tone with a serious expression on my face. Unfortunately I couldn't hold the act for long and when she raised her eyebrow in that sexy way she has, clearly telling me that she didn't believe me for a single moment.

"Yeah right," She snorted as she watched my expression break into a huge grin that I just couldn't keep off my face. The light was nearly gone from the sky now and the bluebell flames were the only real source of light. "In your dreams, maybe, but in reality I've seen four years act more responsible than you," She told me lightly, no trace of condemnation in her voice which warmed inside too, feeling good in the knowledge that she seemed to finally accept that small trouble making part of me that takes over my mind and body sometimes and causes me to do crazy things that drive her to distraction.

"I'll have you know I have very vivid dreams," I protested quickly, blushing when I realised what other meanings my words could have.

Lily picked up on the alternative meanings. "I'm sure all teenage boys do, James," She joked softly.

"Okay, so this recent responsible development in my character is a fairly recent modification, I'll admit, completely inspired by your own charming self," I acknowledge with a smile. "You were right at the end of fifth year, I was nothing but a bullying toe rage and that didn't sit right with me, I guess." I said quickly, feeling more than a little bit self conscious about it all. This wasn't an easy area of conversation for me.

She shook her head in irritation at something and from the sudden tension in her shoulders I guessed that it was aimed at herself rather than me. "When did this change happen, James? When did this all start and why did I never notice it?" She asked quietly. "I mean I pride myself on noticing things like this and yet I completely missed what was happening right underneath my own nose." She sounded extremely irritated about herself.

I massaged her shoulders lightly, trying to relax some of the tension out her shoulders. We were under enough stress at the moment, what with our studies and head student duties and I didn't want her adding any more worries on top of that. "Probably because you were so used to hating me and so busy running the ever popular We Hate James Potter Club, that you missed the flyers I handed out announcing the change in management to the rest of the world," I joked awkwardly.

Her forehead furrowed again as she frowned and bit her lip, her eyes not meeting mine for a moment as she looked down at her hands, her expression unsure. Then suddenly she met my gaze, bold and full on, a small fire blazing in their green depths. "I never hated you, James," She said quietly. I raised my eyes in doubt but she firmly shook her head and carried on ignoring my protests. "Oh, you frustrated the hell out of me a lot of the times I hated how you act towards other people, especially the Slytherins, but I could never bring myself to hate you. How could I when I saw how loyal you were to Remus and Peter? How you stuck up for them when the Slytherins were bullying poor Peter in his first year and when Severus kept insinuating that Remus was a werewolf in fifth year. You stuck by them when other people turned away and I can't hate someone who does that. I find it hard to hate anyone really she confessed." Her words and her honesty shocked me, especially the bit about Moony.

"You think Moony is a werewolf?" I gasped, feigning shock and horror. This was an act I was used to putting on and I knew she wouldn't see through this one.

"I don't know," She shrugged. "I deliberately don't think about it. All the signs are there and that's one interpretation but there could also be a hundred other meanings to everything. If he is a werewolf then my heart hurts for the harsh life he'll face but if he isn't and there's another reason that he doesn't want people to know about then that's his own choice. Who am I to pry," She shrugged.

I swear if I wasn't already in love this girl, in that moment I would have fallen in love with her then. Any person who can accept one of my best friends like that and be so supportive and not judgemental is literally worth a million times her weight in gold. "It wouldn't bother you if he was a werewolf?" I asked, shock toning my voice. I think she took the shock to mean that I hadn't consider the fact that my best friend might be a werewolf more than anything else.

"Not really," She shrugged. "At the end of the day, he's still Remus and he's still my friend. If he is a werewolf and does turn into a crazy wolf once a month then it's not his fault, I mean it's not like he asked for it to happen to him," She said quietly.

"You are absolutely amazing girl, Lily Evans, one in a million, I swear," I told her, my voice thick with emotion.

She shook her head vehemently. "I'm not, I'm just a normal teenage girl," She chuckled, waving my words aside as idle flattery. I didn't force the issue, there would be other times for me to persuade her how amazing she is. "Besides, that's not the point." She said in frustration.

"What is the point then?" I asked, grateful to get off the topic of Moony and his lycanthropy. I got to my feet, gently pulling Lily up with me. "Come on, it's time to go inside. It's too cold to stay out much longer," A flick of my wand vanished the bluebell coloured flames.

"But it's so pretty out here tonight," Lily protested half heartedly.

"It's also very cold," I told her, noticing that she was shivering now that the fire has gone. "Come on, I want to sit by a warm fire tonight and get some of my homework done," I started walking back to the castle and after one last look around her, Lily followed me. I pulled her into my side, wrapping my cloak around her to shield her from the cold as we headed towards the huge doors that led into the Main Hall.

"James Potter actually doing homework? What is the world coming too?" She asked teasingly, poking me in the side.

"Hey, enough of the jokes about my new responsibility, you'll hurt my ego if you carry on like that," I told her, pretending to be offended by her words.

"You say that like it's a bad thing," She replied dryly.

"It would be an awful thing to happen," I told her seriously. "But we're getting distracted again from the point you wanted to talk about," I pointed out, curious by now to know what was bothering her about the change in me so much.

Lily stumbled suddenly, nearly tripping over a small hole in the ground that was hidden by the darkness. I used this as an excuse to wrap my arms firmly around her tiny waist to stop her from falling and used the Lumos charm to light our way. "I'm just trying to work out how on earth I managed to miss this huge change that took place. After all, it can't have been a recent development or Dumbledore would never have made you head boy," She reasoned logically.

"I wouldn't worry about it, Lily," I shrugged. "It was a very gradual change and I made a few huge slip ups on the way that probably made you think I was just the same old boy I'd always been."

"Probably," She agreed with, seeming happy by my explanation. "Still, I have to admit, I really like this new mix of the responsible, hard working head boy mixed in with the trouble making, mischievous boy that I remember. Surprisingly I find the combination to be extremely endearing," She mused out loud.

I wished I could bottle up the elation that filled me when she said that so that I could save it and feel that good on another occasion when things maybe aren't going so well. She likes the new changes in me, thinks that they make me endearing. I felt like I could dance a jig at her words but I managed to suppress that urge but all the way back to the Gryffindor common room I felt like I was floating, dancing through the clouds. All night long, all I could hear inside my head was the echo of her words, filling me with hope.

I'll take endearing. Endearing is an emotion I can take and hopefully mould into something much deeper and meaningful. Endearing means I have more of a chance with Lily Evans than I've ever had before in my life. Who wouldn't be elated and hopeful in my place?