"You look beautiful," James said sweetly as I descended the staircase, my arm still around Kiki's shoulder.
"Thank you, Potter," I replied.
"Don't you think you could be a bit nicer and call him James?" Kiki asked.
I turned and looked at her, my eyes narrowed.
"Sorry. I'm going now," she said, slipping out from my grip and walking over to Wendy and Kyla who were standing off to the side, looking anxious to see what would happen between James and me.
"I agree with her," he said, smirking.
"Fine, James," I said.
"Wow, I like the sound of that."
"Don't get used to it," I said as I started to walk towards the portrait hole. "Are you coming?"
"Yes," he said, running to catch up with me.
We climbed out the portrait hole and started down towards the Entrance Hall, where all the other students were happily awaiting the time when Professor McGonagall and Mr. Filch, the caretaker of Hogwarts, led them to the carriages.
"Why did you say yes to me?" James asked as we stood in the crowd of students.
"What?" I asked, yelling over the sound of the happy students' clamor.
"I said, 'Why did you say yes to me?' he said, yelling as well.
"I don't know," I replied. "I guess I kind of, well, I think you've changed."
"Changed? For the better?"
I nodded, smiling. He smiled in return and we stood in silence for the rest of the time.
"All right, everyone follow me," Professor McGonagall said after she quieted everyone down.
We all followed her out the doors of the Entrance Hall and down to where a long row of carriages awaited.
"Where would you like to go first?" James asked, as he helped me out of the carriage.
"I don't mind. You choose."
"How about the Three Broomsticks?"
"Sounds good. I really want some butterbeer."
"Me too. Let's go," he replied, taking my hand nervously.
I looked down at our now intertwined fingers, but I didn't pull back. I left my hand there.
I could hear his sigh of relief as we started to walk down the wide cobblestone road, hand-in-hand.
I almost liked the feeling of being so close to him. There seemed to be a feeling of safety when you're with him. He was tall, well-built, and very intimidating. Not that I was afraid of walking in Hogsmeade without a big, tall boy with me, I've done it for the past three years, but I liked the feeling.
"Well, now aren't you the happy little couple," sneered a raspy voice from behind us.
We turned around to see Severus Snape staring at us.
"Why hello there, Snivellus," James replied, smirking.
He and pretty much every other student who wasn't in Slytherin called Snape Snivellus. I guess it never really caught on with the Slytherins.
"Since when were you and the Mudblood a couple?"
"Don't call her that," James said threateningly.
"What are you going to do?"
"Oh, I don't know. How about a rerun of last year?"
That caused him to back off a bit.
"Fine, have it your way. But I'll be back, Potter. No doubt about it."
He turned around and stalked off, leaving James and I, laughing to ourselves.
"Is he ever going to learn?" James asked.
"He's just pathetic," I answered.
"Completely," James replied. "Are you ready now?"
"Yes."
He smiled and we continued walking, arriving at the Three Broomsticks a few moments later.
"Gosh, I missed this place over the summer," I said, looking around at the familiar hustle and bustle of the Three Broomsticks.
"Oi, Jamesie!" we heard Sirius yell from across the place. He was sitting in a booth with Wendy, Kyla and Kiki.
"Hey, Sirius," James replied as we walked over and sat down.
Just then, Remus came back over with some butterbeers, Peter behind him, holding more.
"Oh, I didn't know you guys would be joining us," Remus said as he approached the table.
"Oh, don't worry about it. We'll get our own," I said, standing up to go get them.
"No, no. I'll get them," James said, signaling for me to sit back down.
"Oh, okay. Thank you," I replied. James got up and pushed his way through the crowd over to the counter to order two more.
"You guys are looking cute together," Kiki whispered in my ear, as I scooted closer to her to make room for Remus and Peter.
"Yeah, he's actually really nice and funny. We talked the whole carriage ride."
"I knew it," she replied, looking proud of herself. I just shook my head and laughed.
"Two more butterbeers," James said, placing one in front of me and the other in front of himself at his position next to Sirius.
"You guys couldn't have gotten a bigger booth?" I asked, attempting to drink my butterbeer in the squished position I was in.
"This is as large as we could get. And it was big enough for the six of us, anyways," Sirius replied, smirking.
"Fine," I said. "Is that a cue for James and me to leave?"
"Oh, no, no," Sirius responded, laughing.
"Oh, shove it, Sirius," James said, jokingly hitting his friend on the shoulder.
"Ouch," Sirius whined out in mock pain. All I could do was roll my eyes. I guess I was right when I thought they were enjoyable to be around.
Once you get to know them, they aren't half bad.
We spent nearly two hours in the Three Broomsticks, drinking butterbeer and laughing about everything.
"Who's ready to go?" James asked, obviously hoping that I'd say 'me'.
So I went with it.
"I am."
And I was the only one.
"Well, at least someone is," he said, pretending to be hurt as he got up.
"Sorry, boys," I said as Remus and Peter pushed themselves out of the booth to allow me room to exit.
"It's all right, Lily," Remus said, smiling.
"Yeah, it's fine," Peter added.
Whoa, I never hear that kid talk.
I smiled in return before following James out.
"Gee, it's nice to finally get out of there," I said as we started to walk down the cobblestone once again.
"Yeah, it can certainly get stuffy."
"So, what do you want to do now?"
"Um, well, we could just walk," he answered.
"I can do that."
He casually reached for my hand once more and I happily accepted his offer. We just silently walked down the road, hand-in-hand, again. It was nice. We didn't even have to talk. Just being with him made me happy.
Wow, I never thought I'd see the day.
But I'm still not completely sure about this whole thing. It just seems odd, how after all this time, I'm suddenly comfortable with him. I suddenly decide to accept his offer to go out somewhere. It's just, well, odd.
"That fountain is so pretty," I said as we approached the old fountain in the center of Hogsmeade.
"Yeah, it is," James replied, sounding nervous. "Lily?"
"Yes, James?"
Then he kissed me. Right there, in the middle of Hogsmeade, with tons of other people looking.
"James!" I screeched, pushing him off me.
"I'm sorry," he replied. "I just thought..."
"No! You didn't think anything! You didn't think how I'd feel or anything!"
"Lily, I'm sorry, I just..."
"No, Potter. Don't try to explain yourself. Just leave me alone!"
All I could think of doing was running. So I ran, as fast as I could to the place where the carriages dropped us off. Luckily there were a few carriages waiting for students who wanted to leave early. I jumped in one of the carriages and rode back up to Hogwarts.
I'm not really sure why I ran from him when he kissed me. There was certainly no logical reason. I just freaked out. I mean, James Potter just kissed me. It wasn't supposed to happen like that. He was supposed to go out with and kiss girls like Cindy Cross. Not girls like me. I could never understand why he liked me, though I could tolerate it. But not this. I couldn't tolerate or understand why he kissed me. It was just too far. I'm just plain, old Lily Evans. And he's, like, the great James Potter. It made no sense.
I spent the entire ride up to Hogwarts silent, completely wrapped up in my thoughts.
When I finally arrived at Hogwarts, I got out of the carriage and ran up to Gryffindor Tower, quickly mumbling the password to the Fat Lady as I made my way up to my dorm.
I prayed and prayed that the Psycho Sisters wouldn't be there. I needed some time to myself. I just needed to think.
When I got up to my dorm, I found it completely empty. Thank God. Finally, something was going my way.
The next few days went by incredibly slowly.
I avoided James at all costs, but couldn't avoid the prying questions I received from my friends.
"What is wrong with you, Lil?"
"Why did you run off?"
"Why didn't you kiss him back?"
"Aren't you happy?"
"What exactly happened?"
"Was he that bad of a kisser?"
I answered most of these questions as simply and quickly as I could, but I knew my friends could see right through the answers. I knew they could tell something more was bothering me, but they didn't pressure me for any more answers.
James did attempt to talk to me a few times, but I just blew him off. I would either smugly turn and walk away or the occasional breakdown, where I would yell at him to leave me alone.
I did feel rather bad yelling at him, as I knew he didn't really do anything wrong, but I just felt better. I just felt better making him feel bad. I liked seeing the look of sorrow on his face. If he was sad and stopped talking to me, I could finally be normal again. Everything would go back to the way it used to be. I could laugh and talk with my friends and call him Potter and everything would be okay.
But he didn't stop. He refused to give up. I knew he was a determined, persistent person, but, man, you have to draw a line. How many times must you be publicly humiliated by a girl to realize that you're not going to succeed?
Though, I guess, in the end, his efforts did pay off.