"Behind here," James said as he tugged me into a small opening behind a portrait of a knight on the third floor.

"Why?" I asked.

"Quiet," he shushed me.

"Sorry," I whispered back.

Neither of us spoke as we trudged along the tiny, dark corridor.

"Do you know where this leads?" I asked.

"Would I have taken you in it if I didn't?" he asked, squeezing my hand as a sign not to worry.

"Just making sure," I answered sheepishly, squeezing his hand back.

A few more minutes went by with neither of us speaking, just walking.

It seemed like forever before we finally reached the end.

James felt around in the dark and I could hear him let out a barely audible "yes" as he finally grasped on to something.

He jerked it open and pushed.

Light burst into the dark corridor and was I was nearly blinded as I stumbled backwards.

Luckily, he caught me.

"I seem to have to catch you a lot," he said jokingly as he steadied me.

"Well, let's hope it's not a regular occurrence," I replied, laughing.

"Guess what?"

"What?"

"Your hair is back," he said, running his hand through my newly returned auburn hair.

"Really? Hm, must have been a temporary spell," I mumbled as I stepped closer to him.

I snaked my arms around his waist and I could feel him press his face into my hair.

"I always wanted to do this," he said, leaning back so he could look down at my face.

"Do what?" I asked.

"Just hold on to you whenever I felt like it. And run my hands through your hair. And see that very look in your eyes when you look at me," he replied, smiling.

"Well, now you get to," I answered as I rose to my tip-toes and pecked a kiss on his lips. "Now, let's go."

"All right. You're the boss," he replied. "Ladies first."

"Why thank you," I said, taking his hand to help me out of the portrait.

He followed and closed the portrait behind him.

"We're at Gryffindor Tower already?" I asked, pointing towards the portrait of the Fat Lady a few feet away.

"Seems we are," he replied, smirking.

"Use that escape route often?" I asked.

"Not too often," he answered, laughing. "We better get going."

"Now you want to rush," I said as we walked over to the portrait.

"Gryffindor," James said.

Nothing.

He cleared his throat impatiently and the Fat Lady jerked awake.

"What do you want, young man? 'Tis too early for a student to be up!" she shouted back. "And I don't remember you leaving," she added, eyeing us suspiciously.

"Just let us in," I said, more impatiently than his throat-clearing a few moments earlier.

"Password?" she asked, raising an inquisitive eyebrow.

"Gryffindor," James answered.

"Fine," she replied huffily as her portrait swung open.

"Dear lord, she's stubborn," I muttered as we walked in.

Luckily the only person in earshot was James, who laughed lightheartedly.

We walked slowly into the common room, each praying that no one would be up.

Fortunately, there was no one to be found anywhere in the common room.

"I guess this is goodbye for now," I said, reaching up to kiss him quickly on the cheek.

"I guess," he replied as I trotted up the stairs to my dorm.

When I got to my dorm, I slowly creaked the door open. I popped my head in and saw that the other girls were still sound asleep in their beds.
That's a relief, I thought.

I tip-toed in and quietly shut the door behind me.

I quickly slipped out of my dress and into my pajamas.

I soundlessly crawled into bed and rested my head on my pillow.

After closing my hangings, I breathed a sigh of relief.

I'm homefree, now, I thought proudly.

I allowed myself to relax and soon fell asleep.

"Where's Lily?" Kiki asked curiously as she sat in the common room the day after the ball.

"She must still be sleeping," Kyla answered.

"But I never saw her come into the common room," Wendy stated. "And we stayed up pretty late."

"Maybe she crashed early and we didn't see her," Kiki replied.

The other girls nodded in agreement.

They were completely oblivious to the fact that I had spent the evening with James Potter.

"There's Lily!" Wendy suddenly said after a few moments of silence.

The other two girls turned to see me skipping down the stairs happily.

"What's gotten into you?" Kyla asked me as I sat down beside her on the couch.

"I'm just in a good mood," I answered, smiling dreamily.

"So, how was it last night?" Kiki asked pryingly.

"What do you mean?"

Oh, no. Does she know? She couldn't.

"Well, we didn't see you much at the ball after you danced with James. Where'd you go?"

"Oh, I, um. I didn't feel well so I came back to the dorm for a few minutes, but I ended up falling asleep."

Kiki eyed me suspiciously, but replied simply, "Oh."

Score: Lily- 1, the girls- 0.

I could feel myself breath a sigh of relief, but stopped it mid-exhale in fear of them suspecting me.

"Well, why are you in such a good mood, then?" Wendy asked a few moments later.

"I don't really know. I just feel good," I answered.

And maybe because I just found out that I love my sworn enemy and I'm actually happy about it, I thought to myself.

"Well, that's good," she replied.

"What do you guys want to do today?" Kyla asked, sounding bored as she twirled a piece of her fiery red hair around her forefinger.

"I don't know," Kiki answered.

"Why don't we go out on the grounds," Wendy suggested. "It's a nice day. And it's starting to get cold, so we might as well take advantage of the last few somewhat warm days before winter."

"Good point," I replied. "Let's do it."

"All right," Kyla and Kiki answered in unison.

"Lily! No fair. You've got longer legs than we do!" Wendy shrieked up to me as I sprinted a good four lengths ahead of them.

"That's no excuse!" I shouted back in response.

"Wait up," Kiki whined as she started slowing.

"Fine," I said, stopping abruptly, causing a sidetracked Wendy to run straight into me.

We both fell to the ground in fits of laughter.

"Nice to see that you watch where you're running," I said through a giggle.

"Well, you stopped and I was looking over there," she said, nodding her head towards where Sirius and James were playing with a shiny, gold snitch.

Must have nicked it from the Quidditch supply room, I thought curiously to myself.

"You're so obsessed," I said to her as we helped each other up.

"It's a curse," she answered, smiling.

"Yeah, the curse of the Black Charm," I replied, laughing as she stared at him dreamily. "Hello?" I asked, waving my hand in front of her eyes.

"Sorry," she said sheepishly as I pulled her out of her daydream.
"It's all right," I responded, throwing my arm around her shoulders jokingly.

She put her arm around my shoulders and we soon walked over to where Kyla and Kiki were sitting up against the tree.

"Look at stupid Potter, playing with that snitch like he's the Quidditch God," Kiki said spitefully as she frowned at his antics.

"Oh, I know," I replied, trying to sound as normal as possible.

"He loves to show off for all the girls," she added as a group of giddy fifth years went gallivanting up to the boys, batting their eyelashes and twirling their hair.

As one of the girls moved closer to James, touching his arm casually, I felt something I never thought I would: jealousy. I wished that I could be her over there, laughing and talking with him freely. I wished that I was the one who was making him smile at that moment. Not this other girl.

"Lily?" asked Kiki, pulling me out of my apparent daydream. "You were zoning out again."

"Sorry," I replied, not taking my eyes off James.

Just then, I saw him turn in my direction and subtly wink.

Oh, please tell me the girls did not see that.

"Hello?" asked Kiki, again, this time waving her hand in front of my eyes.

"Sorry," I mumbled as I turned my attention back to them.

"You seem stare a lot in that certain direction," Kyla pointed out, smirking. "What's the deal?"

"What's what deal?"

"Why you keep staring at James."

"No reason."

"Of course there's a reason, Lily. I personally think you fancy him," Kiki said.

"I do not!"

"Yes, you do. Admit it!" she responded, laughing at me.

"I do not!"

"Your mouth is twitching!" she shrieked back, now rolling in a fit of laughter.

"No, it's not!" I answered, covering my mouth.

"When your mouth twitches, it means you're lying! I know you fancy him, Lily. There's no denying that undying love in your eyes whenever you see him," Kyla said, grinning madly.

"I knew you'd come around," Wendy added, grinning as well.

"I do not fancy him!" I said, standing up angrily.

"Lily! Don't go, Lily! We're just playing around with you," Kiki shouted to me as I walked off back to the castle.

I didn't turn around. I couldn't.

My face had turned up into the biggest grin you'd ever seen.

I couldn't help but laugh. So they did notice how I stared at him and the look in my eyes when I saw him.

I was also smiling because I knew that they were right. But I did everything in power to make them think otherwise.

"Lily, wait up!" I heard someone running behind me.

Wait a second. That wasn't a girls' voice.

Oh, no. James!

I spun around on my foot, nearly knocking myself over, and looked at him.

"Not in public," I hissed. "Wait a second, then meet me in the passage," I added, smirking as I turned around and walked off.

I could see him smile as I turned.

God, that smile. It made me melt, as much as I hated admitting it.

I walked quickly up the stairs and down a few corridors until I reached that same portrait from that morning.

I repeated what James did: spoke clearly and unthreateningly to the overly defensive knight, who claimed to be called Sir Cadogen.

"Who goes there!" he shouted as I walked up to his portrait.

"My name is Lily. I was here this morning with James, sir," I replied meekly.

"Yes, I remember you," he replied. "Well, what do you need?"

"I just need to get in, sir," I replied.

"Password?"

Oh, crap. What was it? I know this. I know I know this.

"Cadogen's Crusade," said someone behind me.

I spun around to see James.

"Hello, there," I said.

"Correct," shouted Sir Cadogen. "You may proceed," he added as his portrait swung open.

I smiled at James and nodded towards the passage, wiggling my eyebrows suggestively.

He grinned and walked over to me.

He grabbed me around the waist and pushed me into the passage with him.

The portrait swung closed after us and it was pitch black.

I could feel the cold, stone wall on my back as James pressed his body against mine, kissing me passionately.

I snaked my arms around his neck and held him close as his tongue teasingly slid over my lips.

We held that position for a long while, exchanging our passions continuously.

Finally, after tiring ourselves, we both slid down the wall and sat with our backs against it.

"That was fun," he breathed out.

"Certainly," I replied, leaning my head on his shoulder.

He wrapped his arm around me as I took his other hand in mine.

I draw hearts on his hand with my fingers and relaxed as he massaged my shoulder.

Even though we couldn't see each other in the pitch black, I knew he was smiling. I knew that he was as happy to be there as I was.

"Are you happy?" he asked curiously after a few moments of comfortable silence.

"Am I happy?" I answered.

"Yeah. Are you?"

"With what?"

"Everything. This. Us."

"Yes, I am," I answered, lifting my hand to feel for his face.

I slid my hand over his cheek, then leaned up and kissed him on the lips.

"Are you?" I asked.

"Of course, I am. I've wanted this day to come for six years."

"Six years?" I asked incredulously.

"Yeah, Lily. I've fancied you for six years. Ever since the first day I laid eyes on you, I knew you were perfect."

"Me? Perfect? Yeah, right."

"Perfect for me," he replied, squeezing my shoulder sweetly.

I smiled and nestled my head back on to his shoulder.

A few more minutes passed without a word, until he finally spoke again.

"We should get going."

"Why? You have something better to do?" I asked sarcastically.

"Of course not," he answered. "But I'm sure our friends are getting suspicious from our mysterious disappearances," he said, chuckling.

"Eh, they'll never guess."

I knew that wasn't true.

I could tell that my friends thought I was with James last night.

I could tell they knew something.

"Mine would," he replied.

"Well then, I guess we better get going."

I could feel him stand up first, then I could feel his hands on my knees.

I took his hands and he effortlessly pulled me up.

"You want to go out this way?" he asked, tapping on the portrait.

"Sure," I answered. "See you outside," I added, giving him one last peck on the lips.

Then I turned, pushed open the portrait and climbed out.

I noticed James wink at me as I left, but I couldn't reply as Sir Cadogen's portrait had already closed.

Damn.

That was amazing.

I kept thinking about that amazing experience as I walked back out on to the grounds.

I noticed the girls sitting in the same spot.

I shook my body a bit and attempted to lose the smile that had been plastered to my face for past few minutes, but I couldn't.

I couldn't relax.

I couldn't not smile.

I was still caught up in the moment of being that close and passionate to James.

Forgetting about trying to look upset, I trotted over to the girls and sat down next to them.

"Sorry about before, we were..." Wendy started.

"Don't worry about it. I overreacted."

"You did?" Kyla asked.

"Yeah. I guess I do kind of have feelings for James," I replied, attempting to hide my sheepish smile.

"You do!?" Kiki asked, nearly falling over.

"Yes."

"That's outstanding! Now you two can go steady and be the hottest couple in school!" Wendy exclaimed happily.

"No."

"Why?"

"Because that just won't happen."

"Aw, you ruined it," Wendy said, pouting playfully.

"You're so odd," I replied, laughing.

"But Lily. You fancy James. James fancies you. Why don't you go out?" Kiki asked curiously.

"I just don't want to."

"Oh, by the way. Where did you say you were last night?" Kyla asked, looking as if she had just remembered something.

"I didn't feel well, so I went back to my dorm and ended up falling asleep," I answered, looking from smirking face to smirking face.

"Is that why your shoes were sitting by this tree?" Kyla asked accusingly, pulling the same pair of silver heels I'd worn the night before.

"I, um, uh, I..." I stuttered.

Crap!

"What were you really doing, Lily?" Kiki asked, smirking incessantly.

"I was, um..."

"Spit it out!" Wendy exclaimed, laughing at my stuttering.

"I was out here!"

"That's pretty obvious," Kiki replied. "What mean, Lily, is 'With who?'"

"What do you mean with who? I was alone. Before I went up to my dorm, I came out here to get some fresh air," I answered, finally thinking of an alibi.

"Yeah, okay," Kiki responded, staring back at me with narrowed eyes. "You were with James, weren't you!?"

"NO!"

"YES, YOU WERE! Your mouth is twitching again!"

"It is not!" I snapped, covering my mouth.

"You're lying."

"No, I'm not."

"Yes, you are."

"Look in my eyes. Am I lying?"

Kiki moved closer to me and looked directly into my eyes.

I was the master as that.

Growing up where I did, you couldn't let your eyes say anything about you.

After all these years, I could still turn my eyes stone cold.

She peered into my eyes and moved back and forth a few times.

Frowning as she moved away a final time, she spoke.

"She's right."

"What are you talking about?" Wendy exclaimed. "Of course she's lying!"

"No, she's not," Kiki answered. "If she was lying, her eyes would tell you. But she's not."

Haha.

Score: Lily- 2, the girls- 0.