Chapter 6 WHATS ON YOUR MIND

"What do we have now?" mumbled Lily.

"Defence Against Dark Arts." Replied James from behind.

'aah!' muttered Lily under her breath.

She was trying to avoid James all morning and with a considerable amount of success also. But he was difficult to dodge. Somehow she could not face him. Whenever she looked at him she saw the same concern, the same restlessness and the same i-know-it-wasn't-nothing look on his face. How could she tell him what happened the other night. She didn't even know anything for sure herself. She herself wanted to believe that it was nothing but a nightmare. But she knew better. And how could she explain the hair. She was too embarrassed in her own mind to say it loud out. Somehow saying out loud made everything seem so much more real and she didn't want this to be true.

'Why isn't she telling me what happened! It was not just a nightmare I know. And she must have told that Ralph everything. Why not me! After all I found her in that horrified state. Don't I deserve some explanation? If not an explanation some hint at least. Why is she brushing me away like this!' James was struggling in his mind.

They all entered the class.

'At least now he won't disturb me.' Thought Lily. But James came and sat behind her. And Lily could feel his eyes boring holes through her neck all period.

"Ok class lets begin with your new lesson. Today we will study the art of leglimency and the defense against it that is occlumency. It's a very advanced and difficult field of magic and of course highly important from the NEWT's point of view." Said Professor Logan. He was a very good looking and charming man with nice manners and an easy flowing attitude that made him a huge hit among the girls.

"Well, the basic theory for leglimency is to concentrate on the opponent and try to extract his memories. Don't expect to read the thoughts from the other person's mind. What you will come across would be flashes of life incidents and you will need to make sense out of them. And about occlumency all you need to do is empty your mind. Do not think about anything. Leave your mind blank. Ok then, let's begin. Make pairs and take turns with the attack and defense." He continued.

James rushed to Lily to make pairs with her. He was desperate to know what was going on in her mind and this was a perfect opportunity.

Lily groaned seeing him standing in front of her, but she had no choice but to do this with him. Everyone else was taken.

"I'll attack first" said Lily.

"leglimens"

There was the Gryffindor Common room. James and Sirius were sitting together. Must be their fourth year.

"What the heck prongs. Stop asking her out. Its making u look uncool and very very unavailable. Not an image you want to keep up mate!" said Sirius with a wink.

"Oh shut up! You know I don't like her. Its just the thrill of the chase baby, thrill of the chase." Replied James smiling mischievously

Though Lily always believed this but this blunt statement of James about just not liking her came as a shock. She was even hurt.

The scene dissolved.

Now they were in the dining hall and James was writing something on a piece or parchment.

Lily Potter, no Lily Evans Potter, no Mrs. Potter. He looked at Lily sitting across the table, saw the I-will-hate-you-forever look on her face and tore away the sheet.

Lily was surprised in a very pleasant way, a fact she would never admit even to herself.

Now they were in the forbidden forest. A dog was running in front of them. He was struggling with a werewolf. A voice came from behind, "Padfoot".

"NO NOT THIS" and James fell to the ground. He tried so hard to repel her spell that he fell. He didn't want her to see this. He didn't want anyone to know this. After all it wasn't his secret to tell. He didn't want her to see any of this. Well ok she could see the Mrs. Potter thing but nothing else.

Lily was extremely intrigued by the last memory. She didn't know what was happening. What was he doing in the forbidden forest with a dog and a werewolf? And the name padfoot did ring a bell. Where had she heard that before? She knew she had, a lot of times too. It just didn't strike her when or where. She knew she wouldn't rest until she found out.

Now it was James' turn.

Lily was very apprehensive. The harder she tried not to think of the dream, the more detailed a version would float in her mind.

"leglimens." cried James.

There was a cradle. It was shimmering in a faint light. It had the most beautiful baby in the world. Then he saw her struggling to keep the baby from some force snatching it away from her. He saw her crying. She was terrified. She was shouting for help. Tears welled in her eyes. She was helpless. She was alone. James wanted to help her. To let her know that she wasn't alone. Just be with her always.

He couldn't take it anymore. He couldn't see her crying like that. It broke his heart. He lifted the spell.

Though Lily was very grateful for this but she was very surprised again. Somehow James was full of shocks n surprises today. But he knew about the dream. She suddenly felt so exposed, so naked.

After the class got over none of the students had mastered the art of leglimency with a few exceptions and none of them had successfully blocked anyone without any exceptions. Prof. Logan gave them a foot long essay on Leglimency and Occlumency.

All of them dispersed.

James hurried out of the class. He didn't want to face anyone. He couldn't. The look on Lily's face clearly meant that she knew that he knew about the dream and that she knew about the forbidden forest as well or just parts of it. He could see it in her eyes how much she wanted to know about it. And he just couldn't tell her so better not deal with her right now. And he didn't want to face his fellow marauders also. One glance at him and they would know something is wrong and he couldn't tell them about Lily's dream. He didn't even know much about it himself. There was nothing in the dream that made Lily get so scared. It looked just like a normal nightmare. Maybe it was. Maybe she was saying the truth in the morning. But James knew in his hearts of hearts that there was something that he didn't know, something that he missed because Lily doesn't get scared that easily.

He went straight to his room. And lied down on the bed thinking. He never realized when he fell asleep.

After what seemed like ages Lily knocked on his door. He got up with a start and opened the door.

His hair were disheveled and he was shirtless displaying the complete torso carved by quidditch. He was breathtaking.

Lily stood there tongue-tied for half a minute admiring the Greek God like beauty in front of her.

"Lily" said James smiling to himself. He knew that he looked good but Lily admiring it was a first and he was suddenly very proud of the fact that he had this affect on her too. All the thoughts about the dream flew away from his mind.

Lily found her voice finally and asked him to discuss something about HAWKs. She was blushing from the tip of her hair to her toe getting more and more embarrassed by the minute.

He nodded and came out wearing a shirt much to her dismay.

"Well I was thinking that we should start putting the pamphlets and posters for the HAWKs you know, just to make sure everyone knows that its happening at the end of the semester n they should start preparing and forming teams." Lily said this all in one breath that she didn't know she was holding.

James was listening to her with a smirk never leaving his face. For once he realized that he might actually have a chance with Evans. He was overly pleased with himself.

"Potter.. Potter.."

"Ahem.. yeah I think you are right. You are always right love. Why do you even ask me. "

"Yeah whatever! I have to go… errrmmm…change. Bbye". She left leaving a very smiling James behind.