A/N: Thanks for all the great reviews guys! Once again, sorry that I'm such a slow updater, lol, I really am trying. I hope you enjoy this chapter, it's a bit boring but oh well...

Chapter 4

A Friendship Blooms

'Wow, Lily Evans actually took my offer to be friends,' James thought to himself, as he continued to shake her hand.

Lily started to blush as she cleared her throat and stood up, " Well, I think I might go to bed now, I'm awfully tired,"

He stood up also and started to walk out of the room, but just as he opened the door a thought ran into his head... yes it might just work, " Hey, um, well, now that we have settled our differences and everything... well I know I've already asked two times but, do you happen to want to go to Hogsmeade with me? Just as friends you know, since-" but he was interrupted by Lily.

She smiled and nodded, " Yeah, I think that would be a good idea, so we can get to know each other,"

James beamed, 'YES!' he thought triumphantly, " Great, so how does 2 o'clock sound?"

Lily nodded again, " Just fine," she replied.

" Okay then, goodnight,"

" Night,"

With that he closed her door and went across the hallway into his own room. As soon as the sleepy teenager's head had hit the pillows he was out.

Xxxxx

" She said yes? She really said yes?" Sirius asked the next day at breakfast. Lily still hadn't arrived so James had decided to tell Sirius and Remus about the night before.

" Yes, Padfoot, yes, I have told you the story three times already," James said, stabbing his sausage annoyingly.

" Well, actually I'm not surprised," Remus said, catching everyone off guard. " It's kind of obvious that she likes you back. The first stage is denial you know,"

James laughed and then stopped immediately, Remus was being serious he had thought he was joking, " You're kidding right?"

Remus shook his head, " No, not at all, I've seen her, she watches you,"

Sirius snorted, and shot his milk out of his nose, " Yeah, she plans multiple ways to kill him,"

" Well, I think she just doesn't want to believe that she has feelings for you," Remus suggested persistently.

" I wish," James laughed.

" Oh look who it is, Hullo." Sirius said waving his wand and making the milk disappear, as Lily seated herself across from the three men.

" Hey, guys, how are you?" she said cheerfully as she filled her plate, her emerald eyes sparkling with happiness.

James smiled, she seemed to be in a good mood this morning, " Good," they replied.

" Have you three seen Mallory or Amanda this morning?" Lily asked filling her goblet with pumpkin juice.

" Amanda came to me and Mallory's dorm earlier, she said that she would be back by breakfast," Sirius said, as he took a drink of his milk and shoved a piece of toast in his mouth.

" Oh, okay then,I went to both of your dorms and no one was there." Lily said furrowing her brow, " I wonder why they didn't come and pick me up too, I needed to talk to them about something,"

Just as Lily said that Mallory and Amanda stepped into the Great Hall, they ran over to the table and seated themselves on either side of Lily.

" Hey Lils, sorry we're late, we had to go do something," Mallory said stabbing her pancakes and shoving them into her mouth.

" Yeah, we didn't want to come and get you because we figured you were still sleeping." Amanda commented unconvincingly.

Lily knew this was a lie, but she didn't worry about it too much, " Oh, alright, well after breakfast I want to talk to you guys about something so would you like to come back to my dorm later?"

Mallory looked at Amanda curiously but then nodded, " Yeah,... sure... ," she said slowly.

Lily smiled and reassuringly stated, " Don't worry, I'm not pregnant or anything,"

This immediately lightened the mood because Amanda and Mallory both started to giggle like mad, but the guys just looked at each other and shrugged. " Must be a girl thing," Remus mumbled to James, who started laughing and then nodded in agreement.

" Well, ladies James, Remus and I are going to head off to the library. We'll talk to you later," Sirius said, sending a wink at Mallory who started choking on her biscuit.

" Okay, bye," Lily replied, saving Mallory of the chore to talk since she was already having a problem with swallowing, the biscuit had shot out of her mouth and landed on her bag.

Lily cringed " You know," she started after the guys had left, " you really need to control yourself when he is around,"

" Be quite Lily, at least I am not in denial about who I like," Mallory shot back at her angrily.

" Calm down Mal, I was kidding. And I am not in denial!"

" Well, what do you call it then? I don't see why you can't just accept the fact that you like him too," Amanda said slyly, smirking at Lily.

Lily bent down and helped Mallory clean off her bag so that they didn't see her blush, " I am not in denial I have nothing to accept," 'Anymore that is, I used to be in denial,' she thought smiling.

" Sure whatever," Mallory said as she waved her wand and made the jelly that had dripped onto her shirt disappear.

" Shall we go to my dorm now?" Lily asked about a half hour later, standing up and slinging her bag onto her shoulder.

" Yeah, I suppose," Amanda replied.

Mallory nodded " Okay,"

They all walked in silence, following Lily who was reading the map that James had previously read as he led Lily and himself to their dormitory just the day before. When they had came upon the cat it hissed and growled, " Oh, it's you, you dreadful little thing, say the password so that I can get back to my beauty sleep,"

Mallory and Amanda started cracking up at the cat who had so much anger built up in its little body that they figured it would explode.

" I see you're a bit feisty today, eh?" Lily started, only to get an evil glare thrown at her by Fluffy, " Alright, alright, 'Chocolate Covered Strawberries'," she said .

Fluffy gave one last evil look at then the canvas flung open and slammed into the wall.

" Wow, Lils, what did you do to that cat?" Mallory asked as she sat down on the love seat.

Lily giggled and seated herself on another chair that was beside the door they had just came in through." Well, I was a bit rude with it the other day," she said

Amanda sat down beside Mallory and said" I guess, the cat looked so innocent until it woke up. I would've thought it was a nice little kitty.. guess not!"

" Yeah," Amanda started, snorting with laughter, " I guess Fluffy doesn't exactly live up to it's name,"

They all laughed at this, Fluffy did, indeed, did not live up to it's name in the least.

Mallory grinned widely at Lily and asked, " So, what did you need to tell us?"

" Yeah, I'm dying to know," Amanda added.

Lily smiled and then thought about what she was going to tell them, " Well, I'm going with James to Hogsmeade later." the girls gasped and Amanda stood up and did a sort of victory dance.

" I told you so, I told you so! I was right, you were wrong! Hahaha!" Amanda shouted triumphantly.

Lily rolled her eyes and sighed, ' I knew she would do that, now to bust her bubble'

" So that means that you do like him then, right?" Mallory asked, pulling at the back of Amanda's shirt, which made her sit down, most regretfully.

" No, well, not in the way your thinking. We're going as friends, - just friends," she added noticing the look of disbelief on their faces. " You see, last night we had a huge fight, and ... well I realized that it was as much my fault as it was his that we weren't friends. So, later, when he came into my room to apologize, I apologized as well.. we shook hands and said that we'd be friends, and now, well here I am. I just can't believe I have befriended James Potter, It's a little weird, after hating him for so long you know."

" Yeah, wow, I can't believe it, after all of these years of trying to tell you that you should be friends, it was him to change your mind after all... unbelievable." Mallory said gazing off into space and shaking her head.

" So, you mean, you don't like him that way?" Amanda said looking very disappointed.

Lily giggled and nodded, " Yep, sorry Mandy, we're just friends. That's how I want it to stay."

" Darn," she muttered under her breath.

Mallory smiled and shrugged, " Well, at least you don't hate each other anymore!"

" Yeah, I guess," Lily said.

She stood up and walked over to the glass door, staring out into the bright morning sky, think about what she had just said. 'Yep, sorry Mandy we're just friends. That's how I want it to stay' what she had said was not necessarily true, she didn't want it to stay that way, but the, Lily Evans, would not let anyone know that.

" Some place you got here, Lils, mine's nothing like this," Mallory said, absentmindedly running her fingers along the spines of the book shelves.

" Yeah, we don't have a balcony, or a desk in our common room." Amanda agreed.

Lily furrowed her brow as she turned to face them, " Really? You mean, my common room is nicer than yours?"

" Yep," Mallory stated.

" But why would Dumbledore be doing something like that, shouldn't everyone's be the same?"

" Dunno, it is kind of weird isn't it?"Amanda said as she walked over to the door leading to the hallway and opened it

Lily nodded," Yeah," It was really weird. Why would James and Lily have a nicer common room, she had to talk to Dumbledore about this.

" Which one's your door, Lils?" Mallory asked, joining Amanda in the hallway.

Lily walked over to them and pointed at her door, " The gold one,"

They opened the door and then gasped, " Silk!" " A window seat?" " Another desk!" they exclaimed.

" Yeah, don't you have them too?"

Mallory shook her head vigorously, " No! My bed is a four poster too, but I don't have silk quilts and pillows with it! And, oh my gosh, you have your initials on your quilt and pillows! I don't have my initials on my quilts and pillows!"

" Yeah me either! This is so unfair, there better be a very good explanation behind all of this!"

Lily smiled, " Well, then, since you seem to like my dormitory so much we are going to have to have a slumber party sometime, maybe next Friday?"

" Oh yes, that would be great. What'd you think Mandy."

She smiled and nodded, " Sounds wonderful," she replied.

Lily smiled, " Good, next Friday it is then!"

Amanda happened to notice the clock on her nightstand and instinctively read it.

" Oh merlin, Mallory, we we're supposed to meet Sirius and Remus in the library at 12 o'clock and its 12:30 right now!" Amanda said, staring wide-eyed at her friend.

" Oh no! Sorry Lils but we have to go, I'll talk to you later!"

" Yeah, we'll meet you at Hogs Head later!"

Lily shook her head and waved at them, " Okay, have fun, see you then!" But they didn't hear because they had already ran out of the room and slammed the common room door shut.

Being all alone, she figured she might as well pick out what she was going to where for their Hogsmeade date... outing.

Lily flipped through her shirts, skirts, jeans, and halters but found nothing that was really flattering, so she went over to her bag and pulled out her favorite fashion magazine and started flipping through it. After a few minutes she found a crimson halter top that tied around the neck and a pair of boot cut jeans, she also picked out a pair of red sandals to match.

She raised her wand and conjured the items from the magazine and placed them on her bed. Since she still had two hours until the date.. outing started she decided to go down to the Great Hall and grab some lunch.

Lily walked out of the dormitory and continued down the long hall, Fluffy mumbling and hissing behind her the entire way. When she finally reached the main corridor she looked around, usually the halls were filled with people, it was weird to be out on a Saturday, everything seemed so out of place.

" Hey Lily," someone said, breaking her train of thought. She looked around and came to face none other than James.

She smiled, " Hi, what are you doing out here? I thought you and the guys went to the library."

He rolled his eyes in disgust and shrugged, " Well, we did, but then Mallory and Amanda came into the library and the guys asked me to leave. I thought you and the girls were going back to our dorm."

" We... did...," she said slowly, what were they up to? Were they trying to make she and James spend time together purposely? " But they left about ten minutes ago, said they had to meet up with Sirius and Remus."

James furrowed his brow, " Hm, that's weird. Oh well, hey are you hungry? I was going to go back to our dorms and see if you wanted to get some lunch with me, but I found you here."

" Yeah sure, that'd be great, I was going back to the Great Hall to get some lunch anyway." she said smiling again, as they started to walk back to the Great Hall.

Xxxxx

" Wow, I'm stuffed," James said as he finished his lunch and pushed the plate back, his face starting to get very green.

" Yeah, same here," she replied laughing at James who looked like he was ready to throw up everything he had just eaten.

He smiled and then laughed," Ugg, I really need to learn when I'm full, don't I?"

Lily just looked at him, shook her head and then started laughing again, " Maybe just a little,"

" So, do you want to head off to Hogsmeade now?" he asked.

She nodded," Yeah, but would you mind stopping back at the dorms first, I would like to get out of these clothes."

James stood up and shrugged, " Fine with me, let's go then,"

She stood up and walked towards the door James following. When they reached the dorms a few minutes later they went into their rooms and began to get ready.

Lily headed to the bathroom to take a shower and when she entered she stood in shock. The bathroom was as extravagant as the common room had been. There was white diamond-shaped tiling on the floor and the walls were covered with a rich blue paint that made the room seem much bigger than it actually was. In front of her was a shower with a frosted sliding glass door and to the right of the shower was a bathtub.

And this wasn't just any bathtub, it was more like a mini swimming pool, there were three steps leading into it. The edges of the tub were surrounded with taps that each poured out a different fragrance of bubble bath. There was also a handle bar near the steps, Lily being the curious teen that she was pulled on it. She found that it was a lid, a lid to a towel warmer. Steam poured out of the towel warmer and swirled all the way to the ceiling.

She closed the towel warmer and turned around, now she was face to face with a mirror that covered the entire left side of the wall. There also was a large marble counter top with drawers and a round off-white sink in the middle.

Once Lily had finally came out of her trance she stripped down and took a quick shower. When she finished she grabbed a towel out of the towel warmer and rapped herself in it. She went over to the sink and grabbed her wand, lifting it to her head she murmured a spell and her hair suddenly dried.

Lily walked into her room and started to get dressed, she walked over to her bed and changed into her new outfit, that had just recently became her favorite outfit. She went over to her mirror and admired how the shirt seemed to make her stomach look much slimmer and how it managed to enhance her chest at the same time. Lily smiled in satisfaction and walked into the bathroom, taking care to knock before entering; walking in on James wouldn't exactly be the best thing to do.

She stood in front of the mirror, wand in hand, wondering all the time about how she was supposed to do her hair. After a few minutes of 'conscious debating' she lifted her wand and waved it around her head twice. Her hair stood straight up on her head for a few seconds and then started swirling around; once her hair finished this little 'dance' it looked beautiful. Her hair was slightly curled and fell to her mid back, her bangs were pulled to the side with her favorite heart-shaped diamond clip.

Lily decided that since it was just a little 'outing' that they were going on, that it probably wouldn't be the best idea to load on a bunch of make up. Instead she applied clear lip gloss and and put on light mascara.

Lily smiled again, she looked great; she wasn't too dressy, nor was she under dressed. She went back into her room stuck her wand in her pocket, grabbed her purse and walked out of her room.

When she walked into the common room she found James sitting in the chair next to the door reading the Daily Prophet.

She cleared her throat and he flinched, he peaked around the paper and when he saw her he stood up and started to fold the paper up hastily.

" Oh your ready, you look very nice," he said in a gentlemanly manner.

She smiled and cleared her throat again trying not to blush. " Thanks, you look nice too," That was a lie, he looked better than nice, she had never really seen him out of his uniform. He had on a simple blue polo shirt with worn in jeans and tennis shoes, but what really completed his look was his ruffled hair and sparkling chocolate eyes that seemed to suck her in.

'Oh merlin, quit thinking these things' she scolded herself, shaking her head.

" An owl came from Professor sprout, she sent us the seed and a letter explaining the potions that we'll need to make for it ," James said as he slipped on a thin jacket and handed Lily her's.

" Oh okay, did the potions look as complicated as Professor McClerk made them out to be?"she asked as they exited the common room and headed down the corridor.

He shrugged, " Kind of, I mean they didn't look too awfully bad, I think McClerk, may have wanted to scare us a little. The hardest thing out of it all would be the fact that we have to make a different potion every week, and you know what else?"

" No, what?"

" Remember how he said that the project would be for the rest of the month?"

She cocked her head in confusion, " Yeah."

" Well," he laughed " on the paper it said something entirely different. It said that the project will be continuing through the rest of the year, we have to turn in the plant the week before we leave,"

She looked at him with bulging eyes, " Your kidding,"

" No, I'm dead serious."

" We should probably go to Dumbledore and ask him what's going on. Obviously neither of the professors do."

James laughed, " Yeah that'd probably be a wise decision,"

They continued to chat until they reached Hogsmeade, once there they met up with Amanda, Mallory, Sirius and Remus. The five of them had a very good time and were all completely exhausted when they arrived back at their dorms.

Lily said good night to James, and went straight to her room. She changed into her Pj's, grabbed her diary, got under the covers and started to scribble in the little pink book.

September 6th

Saturday 9:47 P.M.

Dear Diary,

Yesterday, as you know, James and I had that huge fight, and I was sure he'd never speak a word to me again. But just after I had finished writing in here he knocked on my door, came in here and apologized! Can you believe that? Of course not.. your a little pink book, anyway... we shook hands and decided to be friends. And then he did something totally unexpected. For the third time that day, merlin he is so gutsy, he asked me to go to Hogsmeade with him. I thought about it for a minute and decided that it would be a good idea to get to know him. So today we left at about half past two and met up with the girls , Sirius and Remus in Hogs Head. We had a great time, first the girls and I went off shopping for clothes and such while the guys went to Zonkos. We also went by the Three Broomsticks and the Sweet Shop, and I never realized how funny James was, I don't think I've laughed this much since Petunia fell down the stairs back home and busted her nose. Ha ha that was truly a classic!

Anyway, when we got back I went to my room and sent an owl to Pr. Dumbledore asking him about how long we are supposed to be doing this project; the other nutty Professors obviously don't have a clue. After I did that I read the letter we received earlier from Pr. Sprout, it said that we had to have the seed planted in a pot and have the first potion made and fed to it by this Friday. I think I'll start brewing the potions ahead of time, that way if something comes up I don't have to worry about getting the potions to the stupid plant late and failing this whole project.

Well I think it'd be wise for me to go to sleep now, I'm so tired.

Yours Always,

Lily Evans

Lily closed her diary, waved her wand, and her diary went soaring through the air, landing quietly and safely in the depths of her bag. She turned over and within a matter of seconds the warmth of her bed had enveloped her in a deep sleep.

A/N: Well, not much to this chapter, really kind of pointless, oh well. I hope you liked it anyway! I worked very hard on it! Thanks for reading, now do me a favor and click on that little button below that says 'Go' and then type your thoughts about my story and/or chapter, it really isn't hard! I would really appreciate your thoughts! Thanks again,

Luv you all!

Lissy