CHAPTER 3

After the long first day of classes, James and I still had to do prefect rounds, checking the castle for wandering students. James was walking alongside me, swinging his arms comically beside himself, when he reached up and began to loosen his scarlet and gold tie. He must've felt my eyes on him because he looked up and grinned.

"This castle's bloody hot."

I nodded, trying not to be so stupefied by the simple act of him pulling at his tie. "Right, yes, very hot."

I was an idiot, a blubbering fool, all from one small motion that was him loosening his tie. How utterly ridiculous of me.

Potter didn't seem to notice my odd behavior. He continued pulling at his tie until it hug very loosely around his neck and then began rolling up his sleeves. He cleared his throat as he did and said, nonchalantly, "I hope you enjoyed that compliment at breakfast, Evans, because I've been given hell for it all day."

My eyes snapped from his forearms to his hazel gaze. "What?"

"That one about your hair—"

I shook my head. "I know that, you dolt. Who's given you a hard time?"

He let out an exaggerated sigh. "The blokes. They won't stop taking the mickey." He adopted a very prissy, girlish voice and said, "'Oi, Evans, your hair is so shiny! Oh, Lily, your hair is just fabulous!'" He looked at me exasperatedly and dropped back to his usual tone. "I told them to sod off, but they won't shut up for anything. It's given them ammunition for the rest of term, I'm afraid."

I wrinkled my nose in distaste. "Our whole house is made up of toads. Mary and Dorcas have been nagging me, too."

He looked interested. "They have?"

I nodded miserably. "They keep asking why I didn't hex you into oblivion, and I keep telling them that I only dislike you when you're being a prat, and you weren't being a prat!"

He looked rather proud of himself and ran a hand through his hair. "That's right—I was just being a nice fellow."

"I don't know if I'd say that," I said, laughing when he gave me an outrageous expression.

"You have the prettiest laugh," said James, and then we both froze. My laughter stopped in my throat, and he looked like he was afraid he'd let a terrible secret slip.

"No, I don't," I said, to break the silence.

He looked at me as though I'd grown another head. "Are you barmy?"

I rolled my eyes at him. "Come off it, Potter. I sound like a chicken giving birth to a cat."

James let out a loud burst of laughter. "How do you even know what that sounds like?"

I gave him a playful shove to the shoulder. "It's a figure of speech."

"No, it isn't," he insisted. "I have never heard that. And you don't sound like... well, like that."

"Sure."

James stopped walking, and I turned around to look back at him, an exasperated hand on my hip.

"Seriously, Evans, if I could just hear you laugh once every day for the rest of my life, I'd be the happiest bloke alive."

If I had read that in a novel, or maybe Dorcas or Mary or even my sister Petunia had told me that a fellow said that to them, I would have probably snickered and thought it cheesy or ridiculous. As it was, when James said it to me, I was left slightly breathless. I opened and closed my mouth like a fish out of water for a minute.

"That... That was... very sweet, Potter," I said, and I wasn't quite sure what to do with my hands when I said it. I felt really very awkward.

"It was?" he asked, looking proud of himself again.

I laughed and rolled my eyes and replied begrudgingly, "Yeah. But don't go getting a big ego about it."

I watched him laugh in reply and step towards me. Together, we continued down the corridor, searching for students out of bed in broom closets and empty classrooms.

-/-/-

For the next several breakfasts, James and his friends sat with us, and Mary seemed thankful to have a reason to sit near and flirt with Sirius. One morning, the first Saturday we'd spent at the castle, we were all sitting around eating pancakes when Sirius looked from James to me and then said, in a clear effort to make both his best mate and me feel awkward, "Evans, I've noticed that you've been wearing your hair down quite a bit this week."

I tried to ignore my blush and shifted my gaze to James when I replied, "Yeah, I was recently told that it looks nice this way."

James grinned that perfect, crooked smile, looking rather pleased with himself, and I avoided eye contact with anyone else and looked back to my plate. I could feel my face burning from my admission.

-/-/-

I could hear James and his friends talking in the library. It was Sunday night, and they were gathered around a round table in the back, and I was standing in the Restricted Section. I really hadn't come here to spy—rather to find a book to help with my Potions essay—but then I overheard Sirius say my name.

"Lily Evans will never go out with you, mate," Sirius was saying.

I couldn't see James' face, as he was sitting with his back to me, but I could see Remus' expression form into one of disbelief.

"Are you joking?" he said. "Prongs, don't listen to him. Lily has been responding very well to all of your compliments and jokes. I think she's well beyond any dislike she once felt toward you."

"You think?" James asked. "I hope so. I just don't see myself dating any other girl while she's around. I mean, thanks, mates, for trying to set me up with Ginger, but I just don't think she's the ginger I want, you know?"

Remus grinned at the joke, and I almost laughed aloud with relief, but I felt my spirits sink when I saw Peter's look of frustration.

"James, Ginger is a perfectly nice girl with a really nice bum, and she wants to go out with you," he said.

Sirius gave Peter a slap on the back. "It's no use, Pete. He's not going to think about another girl until Evans marries someone else."

I watched James slump in his chair. "I just can't give up on her. I tried that this summer, remember, and that didn't go too well."

My eyes widened. So James had gone out over the summer with some girls? I took a deep breath, trying to remain quiet.

Remus patted James on the back. "I think it's best that way. I'm sure she's coming around."

"How long do I have to go with biting my tongue though? I can't help it—every time I see her I just have the urge to ask her out or say something stupid," James said miserably.

Unfortunately, I failed to hear what Remus' advice was because I felt a pair of eyes watching me. I looked to Potter's left to see Sirius, staring through the bookcases. Shit.