AN: Welcome back!I hope you are all doing well! Sorry about this being a little late. I wrote about four versions of this chapter because I couldn't decide how I wanted it all to go. Anyway, I hope you enjoy this chapter because I spent a lot of time agonizing over it.
Disclaimer: I do not own Harry Potter. I'm pretty sure you've all guess that so far.
Lily awoke early the next morning, yawning loudly as she sat up in bed. She stared out her window at the lake below, dapples of sunrise reflecting in the choppy water. The cheery scene that presented itself before her eyes did nothing to stifle the grumble that fell from her lips. Despite what everyone always assumed, Lily was not a morning person. She secretly loved to sleep in, but on days that she had classes, she knew that she needed at least an hour to completely wake up so that she would be able to absorb the material. Just exactly as everyone knew, she cared way too much about her grades to languish in bed any longer.
Lily hated climbing out of bed that morning more than any other, however, because she knew she would have to endure a day of classes with Carrie. She didn't have to look at her schedule to know that Carrie had every class with her. They had planned it that way the previous term, thinking how great it would be to spend all day together in classes and then working on homework together at night. Now she dreaded having to spend all day with her best friend. The only thing that she had left was to hope that Carrie had calmed down at least a little bit overnight.
Walking across the plush red carpet of her room, Lily grabbed a robe before heading to the bathroom. Although she knew that it was far too early for James to be awake, she reminded herself that she needed to be more careful than when she lived with just the girls. She didn't exactly want James to see her walking across the common room in her tiny boy shorts and cami.
Feeling slightly ridiculous, she gravitated to the mirror, attempting to smooth down her unruly hair before she walked to the bathroom. She scolded herself for being unwilling to allow the chance of Potter seeing her in her just-woken state. Rolling her eyes at herself, she walked away from the mirror and opened her door. She listened hesitantly in her doorway, but when she didn't hear anything she assumed that James was still asleep. Shaking her head at her irresponsible roommate, she padded to the bathroom.
The bathroom door swung open ahead of her and she quickly got into the shower. Lily sighed as she felt the nearly scolding water pounding against her skin. She slowly washed her hair and body, feeling way too good to hurry. When she stepped out of the shower, she saw that the bathroom was thick with steam. Clearing the mirror of the steam with her wand, Lily set to work drying and fixing her hair. Despite her finesse with a wand, it still took a while to coax her hair into the smooth and straight style that she liked, and that was after using various hair potions. Lily would have been bored if it weren't for the wizard wireless that was playing music. She had turned it way up and was dancing and singing along to the music, feeling the stress of her upcoming day melting away already.
After fifteen minutes, Lily smiled at her reflection in the mirror. Now all she needed to do was to get dressed and decide if it would be worth it to go down to breakfast. Twirling around, Lily began walking back out of the bathroom. Steam was still thick in the air and she picked her way carefully along the edge of the tub, looking down at her feet as she sang the song on the wizard wireless. Lily couldn't help feeling optimistic as she sang one of her favorite songs. Maybe today would be the first day of the best year of her life (so far). Maybe Carrie would apologize to her as soon as she walked into the Great Hall. Maybe she would meet the one handsome, charming, kind, and smart guy left in the world and she would fall for him.
Just as she was thinking all of these good thoughts, she ran smack into a solid mass. Unbalanced, she began falling. She whipped her head around to see what she had run into and had just enough time to catch a glimpse of messy jet black hair before she plunged into the tub. As she fought to keep the towel around her and still rise to the surface of the tub, she felt a searing rage run through her body. Surfacing, she took several deep breaths in an effort to calm herself down before she decided she had every right to be angry.
"POTTER!" Lily screamed shrilly.
"Oh, morning Lily. Care for a swim?" James asked, pausing to smile at her before he executed a massive cannonball.
A wall of water hit Lily in the face. She glared towards where James had submerged under the water. As he surfaced, she spluttered, wiping the water off of her face.
"POTTER!" Lily screamed again, anger making it impossible for her to think coherently. She had just spent fifteen minutes fixing her hair, had been completely dry and ready to get dressed, and James had to ruin everything!
"What?" James asked confusedly.
"What? What? Are you telling me that you don't know why I'm screaming at you!" Lily screamed indignantly at him.
"Lily, I rarely ever know why you're screaming at me," James said tiredly.
"Ugh! Potter, do you enjoy being such a complete prat?" Lily shot out, stalking up the steps out of the tub and walking angrily across the red and gold tiled floor to the door.
"How could I not enjoy it when you remind me of it every five seconds," James said, heavy on the sarcasm as he trudged across the floor after her.
"Please, Potter. If I didn't knock you back into your place every once in a while your big head would make you float away," Lily said, turning to glare at him as she exited the bathroom, her soaked towel dripping huge splotches of water onto the common room carpet
"What did I even do to make you so mad, Lily?" James asked exasperatedly.
"You knocked me into the tub!" Lily screamed. She was now screaming in his face and poking his bare chest.
"I did not! You plowed into me and fell!" James accused, pushing her hand away.
"I did not! I was just walking to the door and you were blocking it!" Lily screeched.
"I was walking into the bathroom to take a shower, Lily!" James said.
"Why were you just standing there?" Lily asked pointedly.
"Maybe I was trying to see where I was going! You probably used up all of the hot water in the entire wizarding world, because I could barely see two feet in front of my face, not to mention the steam was making my glasses fog up!" James argued.
"You planned this, didn't you? You're trying to make my life miserable! You're trying to make me think you're a nice guy so you can knock me on my arse!" Lily accused.
"What are you even talking about Evans?" James roared.
"I know what you're doing!" Lily accused, her cheeks turning red with rage.
"Oh, really? And what horrible thing am I supposed to be doing now?" James asked, rolling his eyes in anger.
"You're trying to get me to fall for you so you can dump me in front of the whole school and get revenge on me for turning you down all these years!" Lily spat.
"Merlin, Lily. You can't really think that I'm that bad!" James cried angrily.
"I know you're that bad Potter! I've suspected that that's all you've been trying to do all these years. And stop calling me Lily!"
"I just don't know what to do with you anymore, Evans! You're always mad at me, and it's always for nothing!" James said exasperatedly.
"Yeah, well, just stay away from me!" Lily growled back as she marched into her room, slamming the door.
Throwing her towel into the hamper in her closet in frustration, Lily dug out her wand and began drying herself. She didn't dare use her wand to dry her hair because she knew it would only result in a poofy mass of curls. She dressed quickly in a skirt and random shirt, too annoyed to put much effort into the selection. Knowing that she didn't have time to properly fix her hair, she threw it into a messy bun and grabbed her bag. Pointedly not looking into the mirror, Lily left her room, slamming her door as she entered the common room. She could hear the shower going in the background and she fought the urge to flick her wand and make the shower water ice cold.
Lily was so preoccupied with her anger that she almost didn't notice the small house-elf standing in front of her door. Screaming, she jumped back.
"Are you alright, miss? Gretchen is very sorry, miss," the house-elf said worriedly in her high, squeaky voice. She was wearing a tea towel with a big sunflower on it over her thin figure and she had a big smile on her face.
"Oh, yes, I'm alright. Are you alright? I didn't mean to scream," Lily said apologetically.
"Yes, thank you, miss!" Gretchen said, beaming at Lily.
The bathroom door banged opened and James came charging out, clutching a towel with one hand around his waist, and gripping his wand with the other, soap coating his hair.
"Lily, what's wrong? Are you alright?" James asked worriedly, looking at her with concern.
"Potter, do you always have to poke your nose into my business?" Lily asked, still furious with him from their argument earlier. And at herself for staring a little too much at his bare, wet chest.
"You're mad again? You're mad that I was checking to see if you were alright when I heard a blood-curdling scream? You have issues Evans!" James shouted, slamming the door behind him.
"I'm sorry, Gretchen. What is it that you wanted?" Lily asked, sighing angrily at the closed door.
"I just wondered if you were finished with your breakfast, miss."
"My breakfast?" Lily asked, jolted away from thoughts of Potter the Prat.
"Yes, miss," Gretchen said, grabbing Lily's arm and tugging her towards the door to the balcony. The glass table was piled with muffins and various types of fruit spilling out of wicker baskets, platters of bacon, eggs, and pancakes, and a big jug of pumpkin juice.
"What's all that?" Lily asked in shock. She had only ever seen more food on the tables in the Great Hall, and that was to feed a whole house with seven grades of students!
"Mr. Potter came down to the kitchens early this morning and asked us to bring up some breakfast," Gretchen said. Lily stared at all of the food piled onto the table in amazement that quickly changed into anger.
"So that lazy git made you cook and prepare all of this so that he wouldn't have to walk all the way down to the Great Hall! I can't believe him!" Lily said, shaking her head.
"No Miss. Mr. Potter said he was doing it all for you," Gretchen said.
"Oh, so it's just another part of his plan," Lily said bitterly.
"His plan?" Gretchen echoed.
"Yeah, Gretchen. Can you believe that he's been nice to me just so he can pull the cloak over my eyes and then embarrass me in front of the whole school?" Lily shouted angrily.
"I don't understand miss," Gretchen said apologetically.
"He's trying to play a trick on me, Gretchen," Lily explained ruefully.
"Are you sure, miss? Mr. Potter seemed really sincere when he was talking to us about you," Gretchen said, confusion still apparent on her small face.
"What did he tell you?" Lily asked, an angry glint in her eyes.
"Oh, he told us lots! He said that you're the brightest student in all of Hogwarts, that you are kind and sincere, that you are incredibly cute when you're angry," Gretchen said, with a big grin on her face.
"He said what? I am not cute when I'm angry! Potter!" Lily protested, the anger churning within her. It took all of her restraint to keep herself from dashing into the bathroom and shouting at him. It was beyond irritating that all this time Potter was amused whenever she was furious at him!
"He said that you were really sad about a fight you had with your best friend and he wished he could do something to make things easier. And that's when he asked if we could bring some fruit and muffins up so that you wouldn't have to go down to the Great Hall and see your friend," Gretchen said.
"What? He said that?" Lily asked, sinking down into the couch beside her, not quite believing Gretchen.
"Yes, Miss," Gretchen said sincerely.
"And you don't think it was all part of the trick?" Lily said, hope alight in her eyes. If Potter was just going to extreme measures for his trick, then maybe she wouldn't have to feel like an idiot for being so wrong.
"No, miss. He was smiling so big when he was talking about you, I don't think it could have been just an act," Gretchen said, clasping her arms around herself, swaying and sighing to herself.
"Oh no!" Lily said in horror.
"What's wrong, miss?" Gretchen asked with concern.
"I've just been an absolute idiot, Gretchen! I got into a huge fight with Potter this morning! He's so mad!" Lily said miserably.
"Oh, but that's easy to fix, miss!" Gretchen said happily.
"How?" Lily asked.
"You just have to apologize!" Gretchen squeaked excitedly.
"Oh, right," Lily said flatly.
James Potter was angry himself as he strode through the corridors to the Great Hall. He knew that he didn't have a lot of time left until classes started, but he needed the long walk to calm down. It was just incredible that every time he did something nice for Lily, she found some way to twist it and make him look like a bloody prat!
James scanned the Gryffindor table for his friends and quickly found them. They were halfway down the table, shoveling food into their mouths like normal. James marched down the aisle to them, aware of all the teasing that he would get. As soon as the Marauders caught sight of James's livid face, Peter moved down so that he could sit.
"What happened, Prongs? Your breakfast date with Evans didn't go as planned?" Sirius asked, laughing to himself.
"Why else would I be down here with you lot?" James grumbled, heaping eggs, bacon, and toast onto his plate.
"Oh, Prongs, I'm stung. I thought I was your brother. And look at poor Peter! He looks like he's about to run wailing to his dorm for a good cry," Sirius said in between large mouthfuls of toast.
"Shove off, Padfoot!" Peter said.
"See, he's so upset that he's lashing out at others," Sirius said.
"Oh, come on," Peter said angrily.
"So, what happened, Prongs?" Moony asked, carefully skewering some eggs with his fork and bringing it to his mouth. He was the only member of the Marauders that didn't eat like it was his last meal for a month.
"That Evans! She makes me bloody crazy! I was just walking into the bathroom and she barreled into me and fell into the tub!" James said angrily.
"Where's the problem there? I wouldn't mind a little morning swim with Evans, sans clothes of course," Sirius interrupted, smirking.
"Padfoot! Stay away from Evans!" James growled.
"Prongs, just ignore him and tell us what happened," said Remus, rolling his eyes.
"Well, she got all mad at me, as if it was my fault! And then she said that I've just been nice to her these past few days so that I could win her over and get her to go out with me!" James growled.
"Well, isn't that what you've been doing?" Remus asked, confused.
"Unsuccessfully, I might add," Sirius said. James threw a piece of buttered toast at Sirius, but he ducked at the last second. The piece of toast flew across the aisle and stuck to Millicent Durangle's robes. The boys chuckled heartily. Millicent and her friends turned around and smiled brightly at the older Gryffindor boys which only made them laugh harder.
"No, she accused me of trying to get her to go out with me so that I could dump her in front of the whole school and humiliate her. She claims I'm trying to get revenge on her for all the times she turned me down over the years," James said, rolling his eyes.
"What a great idea, Prongs! Why didn't we think of that?" Sirius asked.
"Don't listen to him, Prongs," Remus said, rolling his eyes too.
"Do I ever? Anyway, I think I'm just done with Evans for a while. I'm just tired of getting yelled at for doing nice things," James said wearily.
"In that case, I think it's my turn to have a go at her," Sirius said, wiggling his eyebrows at James.
"Yeah right, Pads. If I haven't been able to win her over in four years, what makes you think you can?" James asked.
"Because, Prongs, the ladies love me. They can't resist me," Sirius said.
"Great, well, here's your chance, Pads. Evans is standing in the doorway," Peter said. The boys looked over to the entranceway and saw that Lily was indeed standing there. She looked frozen in place as she hovered in the doorway.
"Well, here I go. Don't worry, James. I'm not interested in the love of your life, I'm just going to show you how easy it is to win her over. Watch and learn," Sirius said. James glared at Sirius's back as he walked down the aisle towards Lily.
"I wish we could hear what he's saying," Peter said as they watched Sirius's back.
"You don't want to learn from Padfoof, Wormtail. Unless you want to end up in the hospital wing with a broken nose," said James.
After a few minutes, James felt his blood boiling. Sirius and Lily were leaning in to each other. Their lips were almost touching. At the last second before their lips touched, a great SLAP rang out through the Great Hall. Lily had smacked Sirius across the face. She found James at the Gryffindor table and glared at him before turning on her heel and walking out of the doorway.
"So, Pads, how'd it go?" Remus asked, chuckling heartily.
"I can't believe it! I used all of my best moves, and I thought it was getting through to her because she started leaning into me, and the next thing I knew she was slapping me across the face! She has quite a bit of strength for someone so small! I think her handprint is still stamped onto my cheek!" Sirius said, a confused look on his face.
"The next time you try to kiss my girl, Pads, she won't be the only one hitting you," James glared.
Lily sat down at a desk towards the front of the Potions classroom. She pulled out her Potions textbook and stifled a groan as she caught the sight of Slughorn's bulbous stomach coming towards her. Faking a smile, Lily looked up from her book and met Slughorn's over-enthusiastic expression.
"Hello, Lily, dear, had a nice summer?" Slughorn asked, beaming down at his favorite student.
"Yes, sir. Thank you. And you?" Lily asked.
"Wonderful summer, yes. I had tickets to the Quidditch Cup, of course. Archie Rogarth sent them to me, brilliant Keeper. Of course, his team, Puddlemere United, lost but it was a great match all the same. And of course I had barely enough time to do anything else, what with all the owls I got inviting me to special events, and asking my opinion on the news in the Daily Prophet," Slughorn said.
"That sounds like you had a lovely summer Professor," Lily said, flipping idly through her textbook.
"Indeed, Ms. Evens. Well, I don't want you to be too anxious, so I will owl you and the rest of the members of the Slug Club tomorrow and let you know the date of the first meeting," Slughorn said with a gleam in his eyes.
"Oh, thanks Professor," Lily said as enthusiastically as she could manage.
"Well, it looks like your classmates are starting to arrive, so I'd better go prepare for our first lesson," Slughorn said, shuffling over to the blackboard and tapping it with his wand so the day's potion instructions would appear on it.
Lily sighed to herself and looked around the room. The classroom had filled up quite a bit since she had entered a few minutes before. And sitting on the opposite side in the middle row were Hannah and Carrie. Lily felt stunned. Of course she knew it would be hard for her and Carrie to get along, but she had assumed that her friends would still sit with her and work with her in Potions class. Lily caught Hannah's eye and shot her a huge glare, before turning around and staring at her desk, a deep frown coming over her features.
"Here's your schedule, Evans. Professor McGonagall asked me to give it to you since you weren't at breakfast," James said emotionlessly as he set it on the table beside her.
"Oh, right," Lily said, her voice thick with tears that she was trying to hide. It seemed like everyone was tired of her today.
James started to shuffle off to join his friends but then paused. He could just barely make out a few stray tears dropping down Lily's cheek. With a heavy sigh, James turned around and walked back towards Lily.
"Mind if I sit here?" asked James as he pulled out the chair beside her.
"You don't have to, James. Go sit with your friends," Lily said, her voice quiet and her eyes hidden beneath her red hair.
"But I want to Lily. I mean, I promised myself at the end of last term that I wouldn't work next to Sirius anymore. Do you know how many times he's tried to splash me with his potion? I'm just glad that he's so miserable at Potions, because when he splashed me with the Draught of Living Death all it did was turn a spot on my robes a nasty green color. And besides, who better to help me with my potion than the top student in the class?" James said, grinning at her.
"I'm sorry about this morning, James," Lily blurted out before she could stop herself.
"It's ok, Lily, I know you've had a lot going on," James said, smiling.
"See, I can admit it when I'm wrong," Lily said pointedly, looking James in the eyes.
"I guess I have to jump off the astronomy tower now," James said, laughing.
"I guess you do. It's only fair," said Lily, smiling cheekily at him.
"So, are we friends now?" James asked.
"Yeah," Lily said, sniffling quietly and looking up to read the Potion that they would be making.
The day passed quickly for Lily. James sat beside her in every class, making her laugh at his jokes, giving her compliments, and proving that he was a lot smarter than she had ever thought. Hannah and Carrie still sat far away from Lily in each class, and although she had fun with James, she couldn't help being miffed at her two friends.
Lily had sat with the Marauders at lunch and was just sitting down next to James at dinner when she heard a familiar voice behind her.
"Lily, can we talk?" Hannah asked.
"What is it Hannah?" Lily asked, whirling around to look at Hannah who was looking very uncomfortable.
"Can we talk in the hall?" Hannah asked.
"No, Hannah. Just talk to me here," Lily said.
"Well, you're not going to get all angry and cause another scene, are you?" Hannah asked, looking all around her at the students who were talking and eating.
"Just talk, Hannah," Lily said, rolling her eyes.
"Well, I think this fight you and Carrie are in is so dumb! This is our last year at Hogwarts and you're going to ruin it, Lily. Carrie isn't going to do it on her own, so can you just remember that she's one of your best friends and apologize," Hannah pleaded.
"No, Hannah, I don't think I want to apologize first. I've done that almost every time Carrie and I have ever gotten into a fight, and I'm sick of it! She started everything, so she's going to be the one to apologize first, or maybe I don't want to be friends with her anymore," Lily said.
"Lily, you're just being stubborn! Why does it matter who apologizes first?" Hannah asked.
"You just wouldn't understand. You may like being a doormat, but I don't! I won't be treated like that by anyone, let alone my best friend!" Lily growled.
"You know, Lily, no one really likes to be a doormat. Sometimes you just have to know when to give in, and with you and Carrie, if I didn't always give in, than none of us would have been friends past first year," Hannah said sadly.
"Hannah," Lily said sadly.
"No, I can see that this won't work. I'll see you later," Hannah said, walking back down the Gryffindor table to where Carrie was sitting.
Lily sank onto the seat, glaring at the Marauders as if warning them not to say anything. She was feeling sick to her stomach. It took a lot for Hannah to divulge anything that she was feeling. She wasn't as open as Lily and Carrie, and now that Lily saw how her friend had been feeling for a long time, she felt awful.
"Hey, Lily, are you going to do that trick where you shovel as much food into your mouth as humanly possible again?" Sirius asked, trying to break the tension. James glared at Sirius, knowing Lily would only lash out and probably stalk away. He knew he would follow her to talk to her, but the Shepherds Pie sitting on his plate looked really good and he would surely miss it once he left.
"Nope, I thought instead that we would all shovel food into your mouth and see how much you can take," Lily said, smiling back. Sirius sent James a triumphant look before proving that he was still the champion eater of the wizarding world. It was a very good thing that Sirius didn't know about Coney Island's famous hot dog eating competition.
Lily worked on homework quietly in the Head's common room that night. She had no idea where James had gone. He and the Marauders had disappeared after dinner. She whiled away the hours until she was to meet with Dumbledore, checking and rechecking her essay for Defense. It wasn't due for another two weeks, but Lily didn't have anything better to do. Lily just hoped that James remembered their meeting, although she didn't have much confidence in him.
At ten to eight Lily headed out of the common room toward Dumbledore's office. Once at the stone gargoyle, she muttered "ice mice" and the gargoyle leapt aside, revealing a moving staircase. Lily had never been in the Headmaster's office before, but she stepped onto the stairs and rode it up. At the top, she knocked on a shiny oak door.
"Come in, Miss Evans," called Dumbledore.
Lily entered the room. Just as she suspected, James wasn't there yet. Shaking her head, she peered around the room. There were portraits that Lily recognized as former Hogwarts Headmasters and Headmistresses. There were tons of strange objects that Lily had never seen before lying all around the office.
"Have a seat, Miss Evans. I'm sure Mr. Potter will be here soon," Dumbledore said, pointing to an overstuffed armchair that was sitting before his desk.
"Oh, thank you, Professor," Lily said.
"So, Lily, have you thought of what you're going to do after Hogwarts?" the Headmaster asked, picking up a bowl of sherbet lemons and offering it to Lily.
"Oh, no thanks, Professor. I have thought of many things, but I'm not really sure yet. I thought maybe I'd go into healing, or," Lily said.
At that moment a knock sounded on the door.
"Come in Mr. Potter," Dumbledore called from his chair. James entered the room breathing heavily.
"I'm sorry I'm late, Professor," James said, sitting down in the armchair next to Lily.
"Don't worry, Mr. Potter. Miss Evans and I were just discussing her future plans. Do you have any idea what you're going to do after Hogwarts?" Dumbledore asked, offering him the bowl of sherbet lemons as well. James took one and popped it in his mouth before replying.
"Yes, Professor, I'm going to be an Auror. And as soon as I graduate, I'm joining the Order," James said confidently.
"I must say, Mr. Potter, that we'd be very glad to have you in our ranks," Dumbledore beamed from his chair, a twinkle in his eyes.
"Thank you, sir," James said, smiling back.
"Wait? The Order? What's that?" asked Lily.
"It's the resistance, Ms. Evans. It's the army that is fighting Voldemort and his deatheaters," Dumbledore explained.
"So there is a war going on, isn't there? The Daily Prophet just keeps saying that everything is fine," Lily said, frowning.
"You'll learn, Ms. Evans, that newspapers can't always be trusted. The Ministry thinks it is better for everyone to be ignorant of the war waging in our world. Perhaps if we all just ignore it, it will go away," Dumbledore explained.
"That's a load of," James began but stopped when he looked up into Dumbledore's eyes.
"Were you going to say Hippogriff feathers?" Dumbledore asked.
"Um, yeah," James said.
"Well, enough of that gloomy conversation. Let's talk about your duties as the Heads of Hogwarts," Dumbledore said.
"Ok," James and Lily both agreed.
"As Head students, you will be responsible for patrolling the halls after curfew three days a week. The rest of the days you can divvy up between the prefects. Make sure that you pair the prefects up for patrolling. It's easier for them if there are two patrolling at a time," Dumbledore advised.
"Yes, Professor," James and Lily said together.
"Also, you are able to give detentions and take away House points without the permission of a faculty member. I expect that you will both use these responsibilities wisely," said Dumbledore, looking a few seconds longer at James than Lily.
"Of course, Professor," James and Lily said.
"Good, now, it is also the duty of the Head students to keep an eye on the students during Hogsmede trips. That's not to say that you can't enjoy yourselves and shop, but just make keep an eye out for anything that might cause a problem," Dumbledore said.
"Alright, Professor," James and Lily said.
"And finally, as we are in a war time, I would like you to be ready for anything. If there should come a time when the school is under attack," Dumbledore began.
"Hogwarts?" Lily couldn't keep herself from gasping.
"Yes, Ms. Evans. We don't know everything that the enemy is planning, and we must have safety precautions in place. If Hogwarts should ever come under attack, it will be your job to make sure that third year students and younger are evacuated," Dumbledore said, the twinkle in his eyes dulled by the heavy conversation.
"Yes, Professor," Lily and James said.
"Good. That is all I have for you now. You need not worry about patrolling tonight, but tomorrow night you will be in charge of them. If you have any questions, you can always ask me or Professor McGonagall. Have a good night," Dumbledore said, rising and seeing Lily and James out of his door.
Dumbledore shut his door as Lily and James stepped onto the top stair. The stairs carried them down to the seventh corridor, where they only had a short walk to their common room.
"Lily," James said quietly as they walked through the entrance to their common room.
"Yes, James?" Lily said.
"I had a really good time hanging out with you today," James said, flopping onto the couch.
"Surprisingly, I did too," Lily said, sitting down on a chair next to the couch.
"Thanks, Lily. Now, how would you like to play a game?" James asked, walking to the cabinets. James had discovered a whole bunch of games stacked in one of the cupboards. Some of them he recognized, and some of them he had never seen before.
"Sure, what do we have?" Lily asked, sauntering over to where James stood.
"Hmm, there's Wizard's Chess, Gobstones, a mini-Quidditch game," James began rattling off.
"How about this one?" Lily asked, reaching into the cupboard and pulling out a game that she recognized.
"Uno? What's that?" James asked, moving closer so that he could look at the box. Lily could smell his woodsy scent and it almost overpowered. She looked up into his eyes and saw a whole bunch of emotions that she wasn't ready to deal with.
"Actually, I'm really tired. I should probably go to sleep," Lily said, throwing the packet of cards into the cupboard.
"It's 9 o'clock, Lily," James said confusedly.
"Yeah, well, I need to finish some homework. Um, see you tomorrow. Good night," Lily said, shuffling over to her room.
"Ok, then. Good night," James said, a look of confusion apparent on his face.
Lily closed the door behind her and flopped onto her bed. She was glad that she was friends with James. He was nice, funny, smart, thoughtful, and they had a lot in common, despite what she'd always thought. But she had only just seen all of this in the past couple of days and she wasn't ready to fall for him, no matter how charming and handsome he happened to be.
AN: Well, there you have it! I will try to update by next Wednesday. In fact, I am just about to write the next chapter as soon as this is posted. I always intend to write ahead, but it never really works out, so if I'm lucky, I will get ahead during the remaining two hours of work. Shh! Don't tell my boss.
Anyway, hope you enjoyed it and that you'll come back for more! Reviews are always appreciated!
Thanks,
Littlemisskrissy