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Disclaimer; I do not own HP!

Chapter 2

The day passed rather uneventfully for Lily, although she did fall asleep in History of Magic. Professor Binns, along with being one of those teachers Lily could never see doing anything but teaching, could never keep her attention, and she was one of the more attentive pupils. Today, the young professor was lecturing on the importance of their OWLs, a talk all the students received from all their teachers. Lily could practically recite their speech in her sleep.

Lily heard a thud from the desk next to hers, which woke her out of her stupor. She turned to see what caused the commotion, and came face-to-face with someone whose name was always associated with trouble.

"Potter, what are you plotting now?" She questioned, a smile playing on her lips as she shook her head.

"Me? Plotting? I would never do such a thing!" James Potter replied dramatically, as he placed his palm on his heart.

"Oh, acting innocent are we? Oh blow it," Lily said shaking her head, giving in for once." Just, if you were trying to get us out of this bore of a lesson, I wouldn't blame you." She said with a sigh and ran her hand through her long red hair.

"Whoa Evans, you must be desperate." James said under his breath, looking at the girl with more admiration that he had before. He was just about to say something she could hear but when he looked up from his desk she had already turned back to face the front of the classroom.

But, at that second as if by magic, the bell went, signalling the end of the lesson.

As James Potter stood to lift his books into his bag Lily sashayed past him and out the door into the corridor beyond, and he realised.

Lily Evans was hot.

Seeming as it was exam year, the students were constantly bombarded with assignments, essays and revision. It was a common sight to see fifth years and above in the common room late into the night, surrounded by broken quills, heads bent over textbooks and rolls of parchment marked with scrawls of writing.

That evening Lily was sat finishing a DADA essay on the use of dark magic in common society with Susannah, one of her best friends. As they both finished and packed away Lily spotted James heading her way. Lily quickly turned away, and in succession banged her knee into the seat of one of the plush high-backed armchairs that filled the common room. She felt a strong grip on her arm, guiding her to sit back down. This couldn't be good. When she looked up she saw the mischievous eyes of James assessing the situation.

"You alright there Lily?" He asked, taking his arm off her shoulder. She could his tie was loose and the top two buttons on his school shirt were undone, giving her a view of his muscular chest. She mentally scolded herself.

"Yeah, yep, yes, yes I'm fine thank you James." She stuttered looking away and rubbing her knee, not wanting to make eye contact with him. She tried to stand, but her knee was omitting a dull ache that radiated up her leg.

"No you're not, let me help you. To the stairs at least?"

This wasn't the James Potter she knew, she knew the James Potter that was a fool, who didn't try, who mocked everything. Not this kind and caring person.

"Um, okay." She muttered. With his help, she hobbled to the stairs leading up to the girls' side of the tower. When they reached the stairs her let go of her waist, leaving her to once more stand on her own.

"This is yours." James absentmindedly said, passing her her school bag, his gaze not leaving her face.

"Oh, thank you." Lifting the bag onto her shoulder, leaning on the bannister for support.

At that moment, Susannah skipped down the stairs. "Oh there you are Lily! I was wondering where you'd got to!" Her brows furrowed as she saw James. "Oh hey Potter, what do you want?" Susannah wasn't a massive fan of James since he magically dyed her hair blue in second year for a joke.

"Hey Blue-sannah." He said with a laugh.

"James!" Lily scolded as she lightly hit him with her spare hand.

"I'm sorry, Susannah. Lily hurt her knee, I just helped her that's all." He explained with a shrug of his shoulders.

"You, help someone?" Don't make me laugh Potter." Susannah said with a smirk. "I'm her best friend; I can help her from now." She said sarcastically grabbing Lily's bag from her hand. "Let's go Lily. It's late." She said as she marched up the stairs.

Lily looked back at James, her expression apologetic. He silently held up his hand, as if to tell her nothing was necessary.

"I can see where I'm not wanted." He stated, starting to turn around.

"No, don't listen to her James; she's just not over what happened. I better go now anyway." She said placing her hand on his shoulder so he would listen to her.

As she took the steps up to the dorm gingerly she heard James call her name from the bottom of the stairs.

"Lily?"

"Yeah?" She said as she turned around to face him again.

His brows furrowed as if he wanted to say something. "Goodnight Lily." He said with a smile.

She returned the smile quickly. "Goodnight James." She said as she turned around and took the last three stairs up to her room.