Disclaimer: I own nothing but this bit of plot. I only do this to retain sanity while I pass through Post-Potter Depression and while I wait for my Pottermore Welcome email. *scoffs* So much for early access, eh?

I kept my head down as I walked to class. I didn't want to see James. I didn't think that there was any humanly possible way that I could face him after that dream last night.

I felt my face redden as I recalled his words.

"I love you, Lily Potter."

Pushing through a group of fourth year Ravenclaws, who all cried in outrage as I barreled through them, I made it into Transfiguration where McGonagall eyed me curiously as I sank into my seat, dropping my head to my arms. I let out a deep breath and kept my head down.

"Something wrong, Miss Evans?" McGonagall asked.

My head shot up and found McGonagall who was standing directly in front of my table.

"Oh, er, no, Professor," I said nervously. I looked around and saw the classroom filling up.

She looked at me with a mixture of confusion and concern before turning to face the class.

"Good afternoon," she said in her stern voice. Her eyes darted to me before she began to teach.

With a tiny sigh of relief at no further questioning, I pulled out a fresh piece of parchment, dipped my quill into the ink, and began writing down notes on today's subject.

After class, just as I was standing to leave, Professor McGonagall called me to her desk, where she scribbled away furiously on a piece of parchment.

"Yes, Professor?" I asked cautiously.

"Miss Evans," she said, her head still bent over the parchment, "I need you to and Potter to patrol the corridors tonight. It is Friday and there will be no classes. You will be relieved of patrolling around three or so."

I gaped at her. Patrolling? Tonight? With Potter? Oh, fantastic! This was just what I needed! Time alone with Potter, the man whom I dreamt telling me he loved me. Well this was going to be an interesting evening, I thought grimly.

Looking up at me, she said, "Is there a problem?"

Closing my mouth, I shook my head. "No, Professor."

"Very well," she said sternly. "Off you go. Oh, and Miss Evans?" she added. I turned to look at her. "Tell Mr. Potter."

I nodded and rushed out of the classroom and on to Arithmancy.

During dinner, I found Potter, who was rolling in his seat with laughter along with the other "Marauders", and wacked him on the back of the head.

He sobered up immediately and turned a furious gaze to me.

"What the devil was that for?" he demanded while Black, Remus, and Peter snickered quietly.

"We have to patrol tonight," I said.

"Okay? So?" he asked, shooting a glare at Black, who immediately returned a poker face.

"All night," I said.

"All night?" James asked.

I nodded.

"Prongs, Quidditch is tomorrow," Black said quickly.

"I know!" James said angrily. He turned back to me and said, "Why couldn't we have patrolled Saturday night or something? Why tonight?"

I shrugged.

"McGonagall's orders," I replied before finding Alice and Marlene, who, much to my surprise, was sitting with Mary and Emmeline.

With a shrug, I took a seat to the right of Alice and fell right into their conversations of costume ideas for Slughorn's party next week.

Both Mary and Emmeline had been invited, I had discovered, and were eager to go.

Later that night, after I bade my friends' goodnight, I met Potter at the portrait hole and, together, we began patrolling.

After an hour or so of silence, James let out a loud sigh.

"What?" I asked, trying to sound unconcerned.

"Why are we not talking?" he demanded, stopping. I stopped too.

"What do you mean?" I asked, though I knew what he was talking about.

"Look, we are as alone as we could possibly get," he said, "we're going to Hogsmeade together, and yet…we aren't talking. Why?"

I shrugged and started walking again.

"I don't know."

"Something's happened," James said, catching up to me.

"I don't know what you're talking about," I replied coldly.

"Ha! There! See?" he said triumphantly. "Something's happened! Tell me what it is!"

I turned a cold glare to him.

"You can't order me around, James Potter," I said with venom. "I'm not some Quidditch player that hangs onto your every command."

I stalked off.

"Why do you hate me?" he asked quietly, almost too quiet for me to hear even though I hadn't made it more than four feet from him.

I turned around, surprised. He looked defeated and, as his glasses slid halfway down his nose, he fixed me with a sad look.

"I don't hate you," I said quickly.

"Then why do you always yell at me?"

"Because someone has to do it," I replied with a small laugh.

He frowned and I walked back to him.

"Why won't you tell me what's wrong?" he asked.

"Because nothing is wrong," I said.

"I know you, Lily," James said quietly. "And something's wrong."

I looked at him, surprised. Did he honestly know me that well?

"Tell me?" he asked. "Please?"

I sighed and, after motioning at him to follow, I said, after some hesitation, "Well, see, last night, I had a dream."

"Of?" he prompted and I hesitated. "Come on, Lily! Please?"

I sighed and gave him a sideways look before I said, in one breath, "I-had-a-dream-about-you-and-I-was-there-and-you-were-holding-a-baby-and-then-you-gave-him-to-me-and-then-you-said,-'I-love-you-Lily-Potter."

James stared at me in shock, his mouth hanging open.

After a moment of his silence, I let out a strangled noise and said, "Come on! Say something! Please!"

He opened and closed his mouth several times before he blinked quickly and said, sounding breathless, "Why…why would you have a dream like that?"

"I don't know," I admitted. "I just…it scared me!"

"When did you have this dream?" James asked, his voice very quiet and subdued now.

"Um, last night," I said. "Why?"

He let out a deep breath before he answered.

"Because I…had a dream last night," he said, his hazel eyes meeting my own. "And you were in it. And…I told you I loved you."

I stared at him.

Wait, was I hearing this right? Did James and I have the same dream last night? Was that even possible? No, there was no way that was possible. That just didn't happen, even in the Wizarding world.

James shook his head and walked ahead of me.

"James, what does this mean?" I asked him.

"I don't know," he snapped. "You're the brainiac! You figure it out."

I froze and stood rooted to the spot as James continued to walk down the long corridor. It was only when he reached the end of the hall that he realized that I wasn't there beside him anymore.

He looked around him and saw me all the way at the other end. He walked slowly back to me, a look of remorse on his face.

When he reached me, he stretched out a hand and made to touch my shoulder, but I pulled myself out of his reach and brushed past him.

"Aw, Lily, c'mon!" he cried. "I didn't mean it! I really didn't! I swear!"

"Save it, Potter," I growled. "I don't want to hear your excuses this time."

"Damn it, Lily," he said. He grabbed my upper arm and turned me around to face him. "I'm not Snape. I won't insult you and mean it. I won't make excuses for my behavior like he did."

I stared up at him and tried to pull my arm from his grip.

"Let me go," I demanded, but his grip tightened. I winced, but he didn't relinquish his hold on me.

"Lily, you know I would never do anything to hurt you," he said in a low voice that was full of conviction.

"Then let me go," I said in a shaky voice.

James dropped his hand from my arm and I pulled away from him, rubbing the spot he had been holding. He was watching me and I could see the guilt in his eyes.

"I'm sorry," he murmured. "I didn't mean to do it. I promise. I just…it just freaked me out that we had the same dream."

I scoffed.

"It won't ever come true anyways," I muttered before continuing to walk.

"And why not?" James asked.

"Why should it?" I asked, laughing. He looked hurt. "Sorry," I muttered quickly.

He laughed without emotion.

"Fat chance of it happening anyways," he said with a crooked smile.

I said nothing as we walked for another hour, James occasionally making a comment about something that happened in his group of friends.

"…and then, if you'll believe this," he laughed, gasping for breath, "we got Wormtail to go try and ask Mary McDonald out! But he tried to get up the stairs! And he slid right down! She laughed at him! Oh, Merlin's beard, it was priceless! The whole Common Room just laughed! I don't think Wormtail was more embarrassed in his life!"

"I don't know why he's friends with you," I said coldly as we started up the staircase to the fifth floor.

James shrugged, still laughing. "I suppose it's because we're the only ones who ever actually tried to be friends with him. no one else wants to be friends with Peter Pettigrew."

"Well, I think he's nice," I said in defense. "Maybe a little odd, but nice."

James still chuckled beside me and I looked over at him.

"James, don't you think he's been a little, well, distant this year?" I asked him slowly, curiously. "I mean, I've noticed he doesn't talk as much as he used to."

"He never talked much in the first place, Lily," James pointed out.

"Yeah, but what if Peter finally gets tired of you and Black picking on him while Remus just lets it happen?" I asked him. "What if he joins You-Know-Who?"

James stopped in his tracks and fixed me with a disbelieving stare.

"What did you say?" he asked breathlessly.

I hesitated and stared at my hands, twisting them.

"Well, I mean, what if Peter says 'Enough is enough' and joins You-Know-Who?" I asked quietly. "From what I've heard, he makes you feel wanted."

"And is that what Snivellus told you?" James demanded, his face lined with anger.

I gaped. "What? No! No, he didn't tell me that! Severus was involved with the Dark Arts way before he heard You-Know-Who was recruiting school kids. He created his own spells, for Merlin's sake!"

"Yeah, I know!" James snapped. "I've been hit with them more often than I can count. Why do you think I don't let him get away with anything? You overlooked his fascination with the Dark Arts for years! I learned the spells he created and gave him a taste of his own medicine!"

I listened to him silently, knowing he was right. I had let Severus get away with so many things, I had made excuses for him for years. I was in the wrong, letting him get away with so much. I should've told someone, but I didn't. I just let him do it.

"And what made you change your mind completely?" James asked. "Was it just him calling you a you-know-what? Or was it more than that?"

I looked at him and bit my lip.

"Well, I guess him calling me a 'Mudblood' was the last straw," I said, walking slowly, James following. "But I had been noticing since our fourth year that he was getting in with the bad people of Slytherin house. I'd seen him do darker magic than we had been taught. I'd heard him call other students of my blood 'Mudblood'. I think him calling me that was it, I couldn't do it anymore." I looked at the floor. "That, and when I saw him use that spell on you, the one that gave you the gash. I think then was when I realized it was done. I couldn't be friends with someone who was on a destructive path towards the Dark Arts and, ultimately, joining You-Know-Who."

"Well, you know he loves you, right?" James asked, giving me a sideways look.

I scoffed.

"Yes, I know," I said. "He couldn't stand it when I kept telling him it would never happen."

James looked happier at these words and I couldn't repress the smile that formed on my lips.

"So tell me about your dream," he said after a moment of silence.

"What do you want to know?"

"I just want to know if it was exactly like mine or if it was just similar to it."

We turned a corner and walked down half of the hall before I continued.

"Well, it actually started off with a dog, a rat, a stag, and a werewolf," I said, frowning, trying to remember the details. "They were playing around with the werewolf and I remember being worried for the three animals. I mean, it was a werewolf! But the four animals were happy, I could feel it. They enjoyed being together."

I looked at James and he was studiously trying not to meet my gaze. I shrugged and went on.

"Then I looked at the stag and…it turned into you. And you were smiling at me," I said quietly. "And then you were suddenly holding that little boy. He had dark hair, I think, but I couldn't really tell. I was too busy focusing on the fact that you were in my dream." I grinned sheepishly. James said nothing. "The little boy just laughed and then you passed him to me."

I stopped and didn't want to continue. It just seemed much too personal to say it.

"What? What happened next, Lily?" James asked, his voice quiet.

"Well, as I was holding the boy, you walked over to me," I said, "and kissed my forehead. And then you said you loved me," I finished in a whisper.

We were both silent, deep in our thoughts.

I mean, if James had the same dream as me, then maybe it means something. But maybe it was the date with him that was getting to me. I knew James had liked me since fourth year and, perhaps I was being arrogant, but I assume that he had dreams about me before. After all, I had heard Black saying something about a dream me to James, who had gotten red in the face before he hit Black in the stomach in our fifth year.

"What was your dream?" I asked him.

"Exactly like yours," he said and looked at me with a slight smile on his face. I smiled back, unsure of what to say.

But what was there to say? How do you explain having the same dream with someone else? It just seemed impossible, but it appeared to be true. James Potter had the same dream that I did.

I let out a shaky breath and James's face grew concerned.

"What is it?" he asked in a worried tone.

I shook my head. "Nothing, it's just…how is it possible? How can we have the same dream? And what does it mean?"

"I dunno," James said truthfully. "But it must mean something. What, I don't know, but we'll figure it out. We will, Lily. I promise."

I smiled at him and, to my surprise, he took my hand in his and gave it a gentle squeeze.

My heart gave a little squeeze of its own when he took my hand in his and my stomach flipped.

For the rest of the night, he never let go of my hand and we hardly spoke, giving me time to think. But I wasn't sure that having time to think without interruption was the best idea.

When McGonagall finally found us around three that morning, she eyed our enclosed hands but said nothing as she sent us off to bed, an order in which we followed gratefully.

James let me through the portrait hole first and, as we were about to go our separate ways, he pulled me close and kissed me on my cheek.

"Sweet dreams, Lily," he whispered.

I blushed.

"You too, James," I whispered back.

He let go of my hand and I went to my dorm, looking over my shoulder as I was about to close the door. He was standing at his door, a soft smile on his face and an unknown emotion in his eyes. He dipped his head in farewell as I closed the door.

When I was finally in my bed, staring up at the canopy, it was then that I realized the emotion in James's eyes…was love.

Rolling onto my side, I realized that I was falling in love with James Potter.

I hope you enjoyed this new chapter! Please review! And have a great weekend!

~TheTragedyIs13~