The Truth Of The Heart

Summary: Lily Evans has always, ALWAYS hated James Potter. So when they become Head Boy and Girl, nothing could be worse. But could working with him change Lily's opinion? Has she been ignoring the truth in her heart all along?

Disclaimer: I don't own any of this….except a few minor characters, so please don't sue me, JKR, 'cause I have nothing you want….unless you're into human flesh (you're not, are you?)

A/N: Thank you guys all SO MUCH for your reviews – it's nice to know I haven't been forgotten! I would do review thank-yous, but if this fic gets taken down again for anything, it won't be going up again, so I won't risk it. Apologies for the lateness of the chapter – I'm working on something else which now needs only to be fully typed up (its already half-done) before it can go up! The next chapter of this will be sooner, I swear!

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Chapter 17: Things That Go Bump In The Night

Cautiously, Lily crawled to the edge of her bed and looked around. Four sleeping bodies lay on their respective beds. The feeble light of the crescent moon filtered in through the window, lighting the room faintly. Slowly, Lily slid off her bed and stood up noiselessly. She moved carefully towards the door, praying that she would not tread on any creaky boards. Her hand on the door handle, she suddenly froze as there was an incoherent mumble, and turning round, she saw Callie roll over. She held her breath until she was sure she could hear four sets of even breathing again, and then gently eased the door open and slipped past it.

She trod lightly as she walked down the carpeted corridor in her bare feet, keeping to the shadows. Never mind the fact that she was wearing nothing but a simple vest top that had fitted her when she had been more flat-chested in second-year, but was now a little too tight and short, and a pair of crumpled pyjama bottoms, never mind the fact that she had no specific idea of what she was going to do or say, never mind the fact that there would be serious repercussions if she was caught going to the boys' dorms in the middle of the night, especially with the Head Girl thing; she had a purpose and she was going to see it through. She breathed a sigh of relief as she reached the common room. "Thank God," she murmured. Stealing across the deserted room, which was lit only by the dying embers of the fire and pale glimmers of moonlight, she entered the staircase to the boys' dorms and began to climb. Eventually, after moving at an agonisingly slow pace, she gained the top, and sneaked furtively along the corridor to the end. Checking down the corridor once more, she raised her hand and knocked quietly on the wooden door, praying that someone inside would hear it.

She did not have long to wait. A few minutes later, the door edged open, and James' face appeared, looking tired, but wary. "Who is -" he began, but then he saw Lily. "Oh. It's you."

Without further ado, he made to close the door again, but Lily took a hasty step forward and jammed her foot into the gap between door and frame.

"James, I need to talk to you," she hissed.

James looked at her coldly. "Your foot's in the way." He tried to push the door further, but Lily recklessly moved herself forward, so that he could not do anything else.

"Please!" she said, slightly louder.

"Evans, you're going to wake the whole House if you don't shut up and get going."

Lily blinked at the cold way in which he pronounced her last name, but could not let herself become fazed. "I don't care," she said firmly.

Seeing that she was serious in her intentions, James had no choice but to step outside and close the door softly behind him. He crossed his arms and focused on a point somewhere behind Lily, the soft dying torchlight throwing his face into sharp relief.

Even thought Lily was determined to do something about the situation, she could not help the silent exclamation that rose up as she realised that he was only wearing a pair of pyjama bottoms.

Shit.

Who knew James was hiding a body like this

Although not usually in the habit of swearing, she felt justified in her choice of words, as during the few seconds of intense silence, she took in the sight before her. Her mind had gone totally blank. Although not overly muscled like a wrestler, he had a lean, toned physique, and Lily could see the muscles in his chest flexing as he breathed.

Dear God.

No wonder girls throw themselves at his feet. They'd be even worse if they knew about this.

What was I going to say?

Blinking, she attempted to remember what she had planned to do.

Oh well, at least I'm not the only one wearing next to nothing.

She tried once again to shake herself out of her reverie, and focused instead on James' face. It was completely impassive, but there was a flicker of movement about the mouth that suggested that he was making an effort to keep it that way. He leaned against the wall, his arms still crossed, in a position that was so familiar to Lily and so reminiscent of happier times, that she felt a rush of emotion.

"James, I know you're – you're angry, probably furious with me, and I can see why. But -"

"I know what happened," James interrupted. His face was a cold mask. "Emma told me yesterday."

"So you know about -"

"I know it all."

"Then there's only one thing I can say." Lily fought to control her voice. "James, I'm sorry. I'm so sorry. I didn't want to do it in the first place, but then Emma begged me, and I felt so awful afterwards because I didn't follow my own instincts when I knew what was right, I just – I'm sorry." She tried desperately to get behind his closed expression. "I can't just sit here and ignore the – the destruction of a friendship."

James reached for the doorknob, and Lily wondered in a corner of her mind why the few metres between them felt like a few miles. "Is that all you have to say?"

"No. You have to believe me." It was only when Lily put her hand to her face and found her cheeks wet that she realised she was crying. "Please," she repeated softly. "I'm so sorry."

There was a silence. Lily's eyes were rapidly becoming blurry with tears that she tried to blink back. Instead, she watched James' face. He looked at her, and then up at the ceiling, as if in thought.

"I thought there was something wrong with Keegan that day . . ." he said at last, quietly. "It was like he was out of it. I didn't realise how out at the time. And that whole story he – you - fed me about falling over." He closed his eyes for a moment, and then opened them to look at the girl in front of him. "Tell me something, Lily. If you hadn't let it slip so that I found out, would you have told me about it?"

Lily studied the floor for a moment, and then looked up. "I think eventually, yes," she said honestly. "Not straight away, but I wouldn't have been able to keep it quiet forever. It was driving me mad as it was." She kept her chin up as James' hazel eyes scrutinised her seriously.

"At least you're telling the truth now," he said. "Okay."

"Really?" Lily couldn't believe her ears. She had begun to think that this was a lost cause.

"I won't forget . . . but I'll forgive you." He half-smiled at her.

Completely forgetting herself, Lily crossed the distance between them, and in a wave of emotion, threw her arms around him and hugged him, burying her face in his chest. She tried to take an unsteady breath, but found instead that she was sobbing unevenly, so relieved that something she have given up for lost was not. There was a moment's pause, and then she felt his muscular arms move hesitantly around her waist and wrap around her in return. His chest shifted beneath her as he let out a long breath that ruffled her hair as he bent his head over hers.

They must have stood like that for almost five minutes, a pair of unmoving statues with their arms tightly around each other, until Lily's quiet sobs began to subside. Eventually, James let go of Lily and took a step back. "We should go back," he said. "If you're caught . . ." He didn't need to finish the sentence. The implication of what could happen hung heavily in the air.

"Yeah," Lily said. She felt as if a huge weight had been removed from her shoulders. "Friends?"

"Friends."

Lily smiled at him. "Night, James." She turned to go.

"Night, Lily," came the quiet reply. She crept down the stairs again, hearing the slight open and close of a door behind her. Reaching her own dormitory, she climbed carefully into bed, thankful to see that all her roommates were still in deep slumber, and drifted off into the most peaceful sleep she had had in days.

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Sapphire was in a bad mood.

It could have been because she had stayed up late the night before, finishing a complicated chart for Astronomy, or it could have been because her bag broke while she was heading for her first lesson the next day, splattering indelible ink all over said Astronomy chart. It could have been because Professor Stingrey took twenty points off her by finding fault with her Puffapod leaves ('Shredded, not sliced, Miss Heathleigh! Are you such an imbecile that you do not understand the distinction?') or because of the grade she was given for her Charms essay (a 'P' with the comment 'Not up to your usual standards, Miss Heathleigh.') Sirius' jeers, when she tripped over his feet in a most undignified manner in the Great Hall at lunch, sending her books flying and ripping a big hole in her robes from the table, did not help. "Walk much, Heathleigh?" he questioned innocently.

All in all, it had been a very bad day.

Consequently, by the time dinner was over, both Emma and Lily were guiltily glad when Sapphire told them she was going to have an early night and stalked off, muttering dark things under her breath about evil people in the world (directed mainly at Sirius and Professor Stingrey). It was clear that Emma wanted to talk to Remus, so Lily walked off and found a quiet table in the library as usual, where she managed to flounder her way through a mound of essays. At nine o' clock, Madam Pince began to shoo everyone out, extinguishing the lamps as she went. Lily packed up and left.

Suddenly, as she was walking, Lily remembered the lily. I meant to thank James for that, she realised. The two of them had not done more than exchange a few words between classes, but it was enough to assure Remus, Sirius and Peter that things were now back to normal (which was why Sirius lost no time in dipping the ends of her hair into an ink bottle, earning himself several hard slaps, and a red handprint on his cheek for a few hours). She determined to do something about it as she entered the common room, and looked around for James. She saw his familiar hair over by the fire, chatting to his friends while lazily lobbing scrap parchment into the flames, and started towards him, but just then, someone called her name.

'Lily!'

Caught unawares, she turned, wondering who would be calling her so eagerly. She did not know who or what she had expected to see, but it certainly wasn't Tom, grinning at her. She tried to control her surprise and smile.

"Hey Tom."

"How're you doing?" Tom seemed slightly . . . over-nice for someone who had not spoken to her much for the past six years.

"Good. Tired, but good."

Tom took a step forward, and Lily unconsciously leaned back a little. "Did you like the flower?" he asked, lowering his voice conspiratorially.

For a moment, Lily didn't realise what he was talking about. "Huh?"

"The flower, you know, the lily. I did leave it on your pillow, didn't I?"

Slowly, his words registered in her brain.

James had not left the flower.

He had.

She stared at him in shock.

"It was you?"

Tom grinned. "Yeah. It took a bit of doing – I had to ask James about the security on the girls' dorms, and he said he would double-check with Sirius as well – I mean, those two should know, from all the rumours that are around. And then I had to work out which bed was yours . . . I did put it on yours, right?"

"Y-Yeah," Lily managed to get out. Her head was whirling in a maelstrom of confused thoughts, and she was finding it twice as hard to focus on Tom's words.

"So um, anyway, I just wanted to say that everything on that card was true. I – I do think you're pretty." Tom stumbled over his words. "You've grown up a lot over the last few years. And you've got a really nice personality," he added hurriedly. "And I know I'm really bad at compliments and pick-up lines and chatting you up in general, b-but my point is, do you want to, you know, meet up some time? Like for a walk or something?"

It took a few minutes for all of this to absorb into Lily. She was fully aware that she must have been standing there gaping like a fish, but she was powerless to do anything about it. Eventually, she found her voice.

"Um, thanks. Can I think about it and get back to you?"

'Sure,' Tom said, looking slightly disappointed. "So, see you around."

"See you." Lily smiled weakly and walked across the common room. She had reached the foot of her stairs, when she made a split second decision. Swivelling around, she walked straight back up to Tom.

"Tom, I would love to meet up with you."

Tom looked both surprised and delighted. "Great! Are you free this weekend?"

"Yeah. Sunday afternoon?"

"See you then!"

She smiled at him and retraced her footsteps. As she passed the Marauders, and all at once, she felt the rush of adrenaline evaporate. Her eyes met James' and her smile faded as his face, originally lit up with laughter, morphed into a look of confusion at her expression. Turning her head, she walked quickly on, determined to wake up Sapphire.

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A/N: