A/N: Time for a night in the astronomy tower…

Lily was going to fail.

She sat in the astronomy tower, alternating between scouring her textbook and scouring the cool autumn sky above her. It was a clear night, thank goodness, because it was the last night before her first big astronomy exam. For the first time in her life, Lily thought she actually might fail.

It had been Alice's idea to take astronomy together. It had sounded like such an innocent class – you look at the stars, you map them out. What was so hard about that? But Lily soon found that astronomy was a wolf in sheep's clothing. She also soon found out the real reason Alice had wanted to take the class. Frank was in it. And so, incidentally, was James Potter.

They'd developed an almost-normal friendship over the past few months, and Lily was proud of herself for that. James still asked her out daily, but it was almost like a form of greeting now. "Good morning, Lily. I love you. Will you go out with me?" to which she inevitably replied, "Good morning, James. Thanks, but no." It was a casual joke between them at this point. And Lily sometimes wondered if James didn't just ask to keep up appearances. If maybe, just maybe, he'd actually lost interest in her romantically. The thought made her a little sad, but she chose to ignore the nagging feeling. She had a new friend. That was something, right?

For now, she needed to focus on astronomy. Calculations and mapping and various seasonal changes that caused shifts in the constellations. Lily looked up at the sky indignantly.

"I hate you, you know," she said aloud, "I used to just think you were pretty. But now…"

"Don't you think I'm pretty anymore?" The mocked hurt voice of James tore Lily's eyes away from the sky.

"I'm sorry," she said, playing along with the joke, "I couldn't think of how to tell you. There's no nice way to put it, you see."

James laughed and trotted up the last few stairs to the top of the tower.

"Alice mentioned you were up here studying," he remarked, "I thought I would come offer you a much-needed break."

He opened up his school bag and pulled out a warm flask of hot chocolate and a few baked sweets.

"Chocolate and cookies?"

Lily smiled, "You're a lifesaver."

The sat down together cross-legged on the cool stone floor, and James poured the hot chocolate into two mugs. Lily made a note to give Alice a hard time for this the next time she saw her – that girl was always plotting ways to get her and James alone together, convinced that it was destiny. As Lily kept reminding her, it wasn't destiny when your best friend was the one planning it.

"So, I gather astronomy's not really your thing," James remarked.

Lily sighed, "Apparently not. Alice convinced me to take the class, and I figured it would be easy. I mean, it's stargazing, right? Little did I know…"

She glanced up at the sky, "If I'm lucky maybe it'll rain tomorrow night."

James shook his head, "Wouldn't matter," he replied, "Professor Laurien would just clear the clouds."

"Sometimes I really hate magic."

James smiled into his hot chocolate, "Well," he said, "Luckily there is a second reason I'm here."

"You're not going to try to have ravenous sex with me in the astronomy tower, are you?" Lily asked casually, "Because this floor would be wildly uncomfortable."

James laughed, "Ravenous sex? No. Ravenous studying? Yes," he glanced at Lily, "You look surprised, Lils. But I'm actually acing astronomy right now. I'm here to help."

At first Lily was going to insist that she didn't need any help. She would figure it out on her own, and hope to at least pass with some sort of acceptable grade. But she was just about to tell him no when she realized what an idiot she was being. If James was good at this, she should let him help her. Not to mention the fact that he seemed pretty excited about it. Her stomach fluttered slightly – maybe he was excited to spend all night along with her. Maybe he hadn't gotten over her after all.

But now was hardly the time to think about it.

"Okay then, professor," she said, "if you're ready to pull an all-night, then so am I."

A smile lit up James's face, "Let's get to work."

lllllll

Exactly 24 hours later, Lily was back in the astronomy tower with the rest of her class, staring up at infinite space. But unlike last night, she no longer felt overwhelmed. With a thrill, she realized that she understood what she was looking at now. The way James had explained everything last night made it seem so simple. He was a good teacher, and she'd told him as much. She couldn't be sure, but she was fairly certain the compliment had made him blush.

"Everyone ready?" Professor Laurien asked.

She glanced over at James, and he gave her a wink. She smiled. She could do this.

"Begin."

For the next hour Lily scribbled furiously with her quill, making calculations and answering questions about answering questions about the ancient mythology of the constellations. She got tripped up a few times, but every time she began to feel flustered she remembered James's words to her last night.

"Always go back to the North Star," he said simply, "And orient yourself from there. It's always my starting point, that way you don't get sloppy with calculations moving from one constellation to another."

When she heard Professor Laurien say, "Quills down," she finished her last answer quickly, and looked down at the parchment. She felt good about this.

"So," James asked as they filtered down the spiral staircase, "How do you think you did?"

Lily smiled, "Actually, I feel great about it! And all thanks to you."

James glowed, "I'm glad I could help."

"You saved my skin," Lily replied, and she gave him a quick kiss on the cheek. "Same time, same place before the next exam?"

"It would be my pleasure," James replied.

And Lily found herself looking forward to the next exam.

A/N: I hope you're enjoying these ficlets so far! Please review if you have a moment.