Disclaimer: I don't own Harry Potter, JK Rowling does. Big surprise I'm sure.

Dandelions

Chapter 4: Light and Dark

James walked down the corridor and melted into the darkness. Familiar objects descended into sinister shadows in the flickering lantern light. Spectral footsteps echoed all around him; his heart was rattling against his ribcage and his throat was closing up, before he realised that they were his sure and steady footsteps. He marched into the night like he was marching into battle.

He checked that the classrooms were empty as he passed them. Despite his fear, he had a job to do; it was his responsibility to make sure that there was no one prowling the halls after curfew.

He paused and peered down an empty hallway; he shuddered. It was strange- as a child he hadn't been afraid of the dark. At first, it was just an excuse, a reason for his mother to allow him to keep his bedroom light on at night, and a means to an end. He used to stay up until dawn reading his Quidditch magazines.

But now the darkness meant something different; it hissed at him that life was made of more than sports and pranks. Now he could feel it, that dense, suffocating cocoon, slowly pressing in around him, and he wondered how he'd never noticed it before. It gave him no escape from the doors in his mind, doors that should be locked forever but were forced open in the dense nothingness and now swung ajar. It was in the middle of the night, in the pitch black, that he had to face himself.

He could've, should've, lit his wand as he strode along the corridor, but he refused. He wouldn't let the darkness win; he had an illogical conviction that if he did, he would lose part of himself, the part that squared its shoulders in defiance.

He was strong, he was fearless; he was a wall of goodness, courage, and light. But behind that wall, he hid away his shadows, and prayed that no one ever discovered the worries that plagued him.

Sometimes in the dark he wondered about the future, about whether it would be easy when the time came, whether he would teeter on that brink. He worried about facing the hidden parts of himself and succumbing to everything that he hated. He knew that evil and death lurked in the hearts of everyone, that the slightest thing could trigger betrayal. Every night he prayed to a god he didn't believe in that he would never be that weak.

James frowned and shook his head, pushing through the darkness, as he always did. He ignored the nagging doubt and willed himself forward, towards the promise of light and Gryffindor Tower.

That was until he saw the flash...

But then the night was silent and still. Patches of shadow swamped the corridor, leaving no trace of the brightness that had momentarily blinded him. He almost thought he'd imagined it.

Another flash.

All bleak thoughts dissipated as his heart started thumping and adrenaline pounded through his veins. It was two o'clock in the morning. Everyone was in bed. He had already done his rounds patrolling, and, for a change, he had found no one out of bed and roaming the corridors or making mischief. He remembered all too well when he and his friends had been the ones causing havoc throughout the night, but since he had been made Head Boy the Marauders' antics had had to stop somewhat, and since the war had intensified there had been no one wandering around unsupervised. It was too dangerous. Nowadays it seemed the only people sneaking out after dark were those who were looking for trouble darker and more dangerous than usual.

He cautiously approached the door the light had come from. It was McGonagall's classroom. He sincerely hoped he wasn't about to burst in on the old crone doing something untoward.

He was just about to dramatically push open the door and confront the rule breaker when he realised that he was being completely stupid. He was not only a wizard, but a Marauder, for Merlin's sake! He pulled out the Marauder's Map, whispered a few words and found what he was looking for.

It was Evans.

He wondered if hell had frozen over.

He didn't have a clue why she'd be up at this time. She was the least likely person in the entire school to be up after curfew. She abided by the rules, especially ones that were put there for her own protection.

James stepped up to door, peered through its window pane, and stopped breathing.

She was fighting. His eyes widened as he watched her battle against an imagined foe, throwing spell after spell at the empty classroom. She was a whirling vortex of energy; her wand swirled in fearsome flames of light, her hair whipped around her like a hurricane, and a thousand shades of emotion played across her face. She was lit up from inside the inferno of magic, a mesmerising tempest, and he wondered whether that was what she looked like when she was battling him. Had he been so involved in pushing against her all these years that he had never noticed the magnificence of her fury?

He had never seen her like this before, full of passion and life. His heart felt like it was on fire and he couldn't breathe properly as he watched her smile triumphantly and brandish her wand like a sword, dancing forward to land the killing thrust, succeeding in smiting her invisible enemy.

She flourished her wand, conjuring a ball of fire that hovered in the centre of the classroom. She waved her wand again, but, instead of the impressive trails of colourful sparks and sophisticated magic she had been spurting, a plume of black smoke issued from its glowing tip. Lily stopped with a sigh, her shoulders slumping, and with another wave of her wand the magical maelstrom immediately dissipated.

James was jolted from his trance by the suddenness of her stopping mid-battle and instantly felt embarrassed that he'd been watching her with such fascination.

Beating back his body's impulse to blush, he consciously ignored the thoughts he'd just been having about her. He opened the door, leaned against the doorframe awkwardly and coughed. "You're doing it wrong."

She jumped about a foot in the air, and whirled around, shouting "Expelliarmus!"

His wand whipped out of his pocket and flew into her outstretched hand.

"It's just me." He spread his hands out in a placating gesture. "I was only offering some friendly advice. No need to hex me."

Her mouth opened and closed for a few seconds and two rosy spots appeared on her cheeks, but she didn't drop the wands. Eventually she spat out, "Did I ask for your advice?"

"No. But you need it. You're doing it wrong."

Instead of the customary scowl Evans tended to sport whenever he was nearby, she smiled. "I know- hence the practising."

His eyebrows lifted and his vocal box malfunctioned in the presence of her unfamiliar smile. "Well- you- so that's – Practising? That's what you're doing here?"

"Yeah, well, as much as it pains me to say it, I'm not good enough. There's lots of important stuff I don't know and even more that I can't put into practice." She bit her lip, staring past his shoulder into the dark corridor. "I've got to get better, there's no other option. I'm running out of time." She jerked her eyes back to meet his concerned gaze, shrugged, and awkwardly added, "You know, for exams."

"Exams, right." He nodded enthusiastically, attempting to cover the strained moment. They both knew exactly why she'd been practising and it sure as hell wasn't because of upcoming exams. "They are...important, I guess."

"What are you doing here anyway?" She set her hands on her hips, blew hair out of her face, and looked at him expectantly. He half expected her to start tapping her foot. "Shouldn't you be off with your little friends having food fights or strategically placing dungbombs beneath trap-doors?"

"Well, since we aren't twelve years old anymore, no." He ignored her snort of disbelief and continued, "In fact, I should be asking what you're doing here. Its past curfew, you know. I should report you."

"What? Why? What time is it?" She grabbed hold of his wrist and twisted it so she could see the clock face on his watch. "Two o'clock!" she wailed.

"Yep." He smiled at her devastated expression. "It's been past curfew for a good four hours now. I figure that means you owe me four times the amount of bribery it usually takes to get me not to report a student."

"You take bribes?" she gasped, scandalized. "Potter, you can't go around doing that, we've got a responsibility as-" She cut herself off and narrowed her eyes.

He grinned, and shrugged modestly.

"Don't even think about trying to blackmail me." She crossed her arms, and shook her head, her long red mane whipping around her back. "I'm not going to be forced into doing anything, not by you. If you think I'm going to be your slave, or be nice to you for a week, or do all your homework, or even, God forbid, kiss you, then you can go to hell. I'd rather get detention every night for the rest of my life."

"Hey, I admire your imagination, and those are all legitimate and interesting propositions, Evans, but I was thinking of something a little more innocuous." He pushed himself off the doorframe and rubbed his hands together. "Let me help you with that charm."

She mouthed silently for a few moments then frowned at him suspiciously. "Why?"

"Because," he leaned forward, smiled, and gently took his wand out of her hand, "I want to help. Besides, you'd never get it right by yourself."

She huffed in silent indignation (silent because she knew that he was right) and followed him back to the centre of the room.

"The Flame-Freezer Charm, right?"

"Yes, I know it's not on the syllabus but-"

" Incendio!" A ball of flames leapt up between the rows of desks.

"- I thought it might come in useful when I'm out- well, when I have to- if it's a surprise question in the exam." Lily fell quiet and bit her thumbnail nervously.

"It's mostly a simple charm," James said, brandishing his wand, "but it's the wiggly bit you're doing wrong."

"Wiggly bit? How is that a technical-"

"Congelo Flamma!"

"I'm supposed to be good at Charms," she grumbled, staring bitterly at the frozen sculpture that was once a roaring fire. "And you're good at Transfiguration. That's how it goes."

"Yeah, well, sometimes people surprise you. Sometimes you're not infallible and sometimes I'm not a complete idiot." He quirked an eyebrow at her and smiled.

She conjured another ball of flame, rolling her eyes at him.

"So this time try not to flourish your wand as much. It's all well and good doing those fancy squiggles but it makes what you're trying to do harder."

"Since when are you an expert?" She bit her lip as she concentrated on casting the charm and failed miserably. He was right, she realised with an annoyed frown, she was flourishing too much.

He moved behind her, gently taking hold of her arm. "Since I can do this charm and you can't." He wasn't sure if it was because she was embarrassed that he could do something she couldn't or if it was because of how close they were standing, but he enjoyed the fact that her cheeks were flaming and she was avoiding his gaze. "You need to point your wand like this." He wrapped his hand around hers and thrust her wand arm forward.

"Do you know why you're being nice to me?" Evans asked in a strangely rough voice as she allowed him to move her arm through the casting movement. "Because me? Non comprende."

He chuckled and placed his free hand on her shoulder, steadying her. "I thought you'd know. I definitely don't understand it. I assumed you'd discovered some new charm that makes people act the opposite to how they feel."

"And how do you feel?" She swung her head around to look him in the eye and paused, her breath catching. Their faces were just inches apart and they were both suddenly aware of their bodies pressing closely against each other, his arms wrapped around her. His hand was tingling where it touched her soft skin and, despite the part of him that said this was a mistake, he wondered if it would tingle like that if he kissed her.

Of their own accord, his eyes dropped to her lips and he asked himself what he was doing. This was supposed to be Evans, his nemesis, not Lily, the girl he wanted to kiss. And he did want to kiss her. His head dipped slightly and her eyes widened, but she didn't pull away, to both their surprise. This was wrong, he knew. If he lowered his head just a little further and did what, for some crazy reason, both of them wanted him to do, nothing would ever be the same again. There would be no more passionate arguments, no more epic grudges; just awkward silences and avoiding each other.

But then her bright eyes darkened and the expression in them told him that things already had changed. She was looking at him like she'd never seen him before, or maybe had never allowed herself to. Her lips parted and heat flooded him, his breathing became shallow, and every thought he might have had was buried beneath the weight of his need to feel his lips on hers.

The air pulsed around them, filled with something like a promise, something that neither of them had felt before. At that moment they were just boy and girl.

James lowered his head and Lily stretched up on her tip-toes to meet him. His lips were a hair's breadth away from hers, almost touching when-

BANG!

They leapt away from each other, wild eyed and blushing. The ball of fire that had been floating in mid-air in front of them, awaiting the Flame-Freezing Charm, had grown and grown in size until it had imploded.

The unforeseen moment had been shattered along with any trace of the status quo that they had enjoyed for years. James had been correct; their easy antagonism had dissipated in one almost-kiss, leaving a wake of unwelcome questions, unfamiliar feelings, and uncomfortable silences.

They stared in horror at each other from across the classroom for close to a minute before the spell holding them frozen snapped and Lily seemed to go into overdrive. She moved at top speed, haphazardly grabbing papers and books and shoving them into her large shoulder bag. "I- I should really get back- It's late- past curfew," she shoved a table lamp in her bag, stared at it for a moment, then pulled it out again, "-but you knew that – and I've got to do revision for the- the- that test tomorrow- and I'm tired- well, not so tired as I can't get back on my own, but so tired that I need to go to bed right now- so I'll just-"

"I'll come with you." His thoughts were scrambled and confused, but this one thing was clear. "It's not safe."

She hauled her bag onto her shoulder and began straightening the chairs in front of her, still not meeting his eyes, and blushing furiously. "Well, I don't think that is necess-"

He interrupted her. "For either of us."

"I- " She glanced up and seemed to realised that he wasn't going to budge. "Alright." Her shoulders drooped.

James struggled to keep up with her as she marched along the dark corridor as though being chased by a rogue bludger. He couldn't quite process what had happened. Since when did she stammer around him? For that matter, since when did she want to kiss him? He guessed the answer to that was since about ten minutes ago when he had wanted to kiss her too.

He glanced at her sideways as she strode through the dark, resolutely staring ahead and gritting her teeth. Her bright hair cast off a soft glow in the gloom, and he felt his insides twist. What was going on here? Didn't they sort of hate each other?

When they reached Gryffindor Tower, the air taut with a thousand questions and denials that neither of them wanted to acknowledge, she immediately bolted towards her dormitory.

It was only then, the moment that Lily left his side, that James realised that the entire time they'd been walking through the deserted corridors, he'd not thought once about the darkness they were striding through, about the secrets and lies that were hidden in its shadows. He hadn't heard its whispers and he hadn't been afraid. His lips quirked into a bemused smile. Around her, he had felt safe.

"Evans!"

She paused halfway up the stairs, and seemed to silently argue with herself. After a few moments, she slowly turned to face him, her expression tense. "Yes?"

"Thank you."

"What?"

"For being you." He shrugged, ran a hand through his hair, and then quickly stuck it back in his pocket. "I know this sounds strange but - I'd rather argue with you than be nice to anyone else."

Her eyes widened and she gulped. She stared at him in uncertainty before whirling around and running up the stairs to the safety of her dormitory.

James was vaguely aware of something strange happening inside him as he watched her scurry up to her room as if afraid he was going to follow her. It was subtle, so small he barely noticed it, but a tectonic plate somewhere in the dungeons of his heart shifted, and those doors, the doors to the dark recesses of his mind swung gently closed with a 'click'.

A/N: Wow that chapter was long! I'm sorry I took longer to upload this chapter than the first ones, but this was a work-in-progress. I decided to go back and add a chapter so I've literally just finished writing this. The next chapters will probably take a couple of days each for me to upload as although the meat of the text is done I need to go back and update lots of it.

I hope you liked this chapter, because it dramatically advances their relationship. I wanted to get inside of James' head. In the next chapters we'll see more of Lily's POV. The next two chapters are a two-parter where the plot really kicks off.

Thanks to everyone who reviewed! Please please let me know what you thought of it. I really could do with some feedback.

Next chapter clues:

- The girls' bathroom

- Peter Pan

- Something to fight for