CHAPTER TWO
James' Mistake
"So, Lily chewed you out last night?" Remus asked bemusedly. Sirius and James had just been regaling him on the previous evening's escapades.
"Yeah! And we weren't even doing anything!" Sirius exclaimed indignantly.
"Life isn't fair sometimes, is it?" Remus joked, patting his friend's arm sympathetically.
"Whatever," James muttered. His mind was on the night before, too, but his feelings on it were mixed. Did this mean that Lily really didn't want anything to do with him?
"Too bad about Wormtail, eh?" Sirius mentioned, changing the subject.
"Yeah. . ." James sighed, not really paying attention. "Wait. What?"
Remus sighed. "You have to stop skiving off potions, mate. Wormtail accidentally dumped an entire cauldron of Irritation Solution all over himself."
"Broke out in boils about as big as your hand," added Sirius. "They took him to the hospital wing."
"Poor bloke," James said distractedly. He shook his head. "Here she comes. Look!"
Lily was, indeed, walking towards them. She seemed confused about something, and almost turned around before thinking better of it. "Umm. . .James? Can we talk? Maybe. . .go for a walk?"
"Whatever you want, Evans," James replied, cool and collected once again. He stood up and followed her out of the portrait hole.
"Good luck, Potter!" Sirius shouted after him. James smiled. He wouldn't need it.
For a while they walked in silence. James concentrated on keeping his calm, disaffected grin. Lily was wringing her hands. "What's wrong?" James asked her, eventually giving in to his curiosity.
"Nothing," she replied, a little too quickly to be honest.
James cocked an eyebrow and halted their slow progress down the hall. "Really?" Lily nodded enthusiastically, and he began walking again, chuckling. "Sounds like something to me." Habitually, he ruffled his hair.
"Why do you do that?" Lily asked him suddenly.
"Do what?"
She waved her hand in some unknown gesture. "Fiddle with your hair; make it messier. What's the point?"
This was a touchy subject to James, because, in all honesty, he did it to impress her. Smoothly, he concocted a lie. "Dunno. I've done it since I was a kid." Once again they fell into an uneasy silence. James coughed.
"Cover your mouth!" scolded a portrait of a rather dowdy witch carrying a fat baby.
"Sorry," James replied, but the irritation of the obscure portrait put a grin back on his face. Sneaking a glance at Lily, he saw that she was smiling, too.