A/N: Um helllloooo everyone. Before we get started here, I just want to warn you about something. This chapter is kind of, really un-edited. This is Maddy's chapter, and I'm supposed to edit them for her, but I'm being really lazy today and don't really feel like it. BUT to make up for that, it's probably the longest chapter we have in this story AND it's one of the scenes we thought of and built the whole story around. I hope you all like it and ignore any spelling or grammar errors I was too lazy to fix. LOVE YA.

It only occurs to me that Lily might have a fear of heights after class is over and I see her walking from the girls' changing rooms with as much dignity as she could manage. She hadn't returned to the class after running off, and I instantly wanted to go comfort her when she did. But I had a class to teach. It actually explained everything, really, especially the question of why she was taking the beginners' class in the first place. I hurry after her, yelling, "Evans!" to let her know I won't let her just ignore me.

When she sees who it is, I can tell she wants to start running away as fast as she possibly can, but I am filled with relief when she waits for me to catch up to her. "Look, I know you're afraid of heights-"

"Came to mock me, did you?" she says bitterly, crossing her arms over her chest. I'm taken aback at her blunt interruption, surprised that she would consider that.

"Well...no, of course not. It makes sense, really. It explains a lot."

"Oh?" Lily retorts. "And what are some things it would explain?"

"Why you never came to a Quidditch match, ever, why you were the only one in our year not to take flying lessons in first year, why you don't take Astronomy, and why you just ran out on a class designed for eleven- to twelve-year-olds. To name a few." She glares at me, and out of instinct my hand immediately goes to my already-messy black hair. Before she can spit something mean out at me, I say quietly, "There's nothing wrong with being afraid of heights. It's a perfectly logical phobia. But you're going to have to get over it if you ever want to be an Auror."

"And how do you suggest I do that, Mr. Know-It-All?" Her anger is a little less apparent, but I'm on a mission to get rid of it all together. And I think I know how.

"Skip class tomorrow. Come with me to London." I can tell this answer catches her off guard, and I smile at her reaction.

"Erm...what?" is all she is able to respond with.

"I can get Alice to take over my class. Come on, Lily, come with me to London! We'll be Muggles for the day. Just you and me. And I promise you that by the end of the day you will be cured of your fear for heights."

"Is this another one of your schemes to ask me out?" she asks accusingly, making a very good point.

"Absolutely not. It is just a teacher trying to help his student and friend," I respond. This is both true and a lie: I do genuinely want to help her, but I'm also hoping a day with just the two of us will help me too. "Meet me on the Westminster Bridge at twelve o'clock sharp. You won't be sorry, I promise."

Before I can give her a chance to respond, I turn and walk away, feeling more excited than I did when I started talking to Lily. With any luck, she'd be there waiting for me on that bridge the next day, and with a little more luck, it'd be just as wonderful as I hope for it to be.

I see Lily on Westminster Bridge before she spots me: she's dressed in a floral dress, black tights, boots, and a brown leather jacket, and the wind across the Thames is blowing her hair behind her. She looks almost ethereal as she leans into the edge of the bridge, gazing at the city around her. She's so beautiful that I stop and stare for a moment, feeling butterflies in my stomach at the thought of walking next to her, talking to her, having her all to myself for a whole day...

"And yet you're able to manage this height?" I say, walking over to where she stands. Her attention snaps from her surroundings to me, and a small smirk crosses her face. So far, so good.

"This is different. It's not so high, really, and I like the view of the water. I've always liked bridges, really." Lily comes over to stand by me and we look each other square in the eye. I can feel the electricity shoot between us, even though we're about a foot apart, and it takes much of my effort not to lean over and kiss her now. She probably would not like it if I did so.

"That's good," I tell her. "Keep that in mind today, yeah?" She stares me down suspiciously, narrowing her green eyes at me. Such pretty eyes...

"What do you have in mind, Potter?" she drawls slowly.

"The cure to your fear of heights. Unfortunately, it's a little ways down the river. Poor planning on my part, really. We could walk, if you really wanted to, or we could take a taxi cab, or the Underground..." I trail off, waiting for her to reach a decision, which she does quickly.

"Let's walk, please. It's not every day I get to stroll through London." I agree with her instantly. Usually when I'm here it's to visit the Ministry for something or other, and it's nice to just enjoy everything about the city through the eyes of a Muggle: the sights, the sounds, the people, and most importantly, the beautiful girl to walk next to me.

"Okay, but mind you, it's a bit of a long walk. Like an hour, I think." We start to meander across the bridge, walking towards the impressive Parliament Building and Big Ben on the bank.

"I don't mind. Besides, it's not like we really have anywhere to be. How did you manage coming here, anyway? You said something about Alice taking over your classes, but how is that allowed?" I figured Lily would ask something like this at some point, knowing how concerned she always is with her studies. I suppose that applies to summer Quidditch camp, too.

"Well, Sirius moved down from teaching the Advanced class to co-teaching the Intermediate with Alice. So with two teachers, it's easier to handle two classes. And both of them are smart-despite how Sirius might act sometimes-so I'm sure they'll find ways to suit both levels of experience in the kids." She nods, then looks puzzled.

"Have you noticing the two of them...acting strangely around each other? Sirius and Alice?" she asks, and I understand her point exaclty.

"It would take a blind man not to notice. I've tried talking to Sirius about her, but every time I do he starts acting all strange and instantly changes the subject. I do wonder what could be going on between, them though..." Lily nods, but her facial expression doesn't show that she's thoroughly satisfied with my answer.

"Okay...I'll try talking to her about it sometime. Thanks, James."

"No problem." I decide not to make a comment about her using my first name, and start to think that maybe she didn't notice it, that it just slipped out...Then I tell myself to stop over-analyzing.

Commuters crowd the sidewalks on their way to jobs, homes, shops, schools, and who knows where else. Lily and I don't talk much for the first ten minutes or so as we walk, instead just enjoying our surroundings and each other's companionable silence.

"So what gave you this idea, anyway?" she asks suddenly as we wait to cross a busy street. "Why London?"

I shrug, trying to find an answer myself. "Well...I do really like this city and was kind of just looking for an excuse to go, even if it meant skipping a day of teaching. And I also thought of the perfect solution for your phobia. But it's a pretty far walk from here."

"Well...alright then. And I don't mind the walk."

"You've said that already."

"Shut up, Potter," she says playfully, rolling her eyes with a half-grin on her face. We don't talk for another while. Luckily, I had mapped my way through here last night and know exactly where to go. That, and it's really just a matter of following the direction the river flows until we reach our destination. We trek along the Victoria Embankment, past a children's theatre, and come across Cleopatra's Needle where the river makes a sudden turn. We also pass a lot of food options, but I know we can't stop to eat until we've come what we came here to do. Then we have the rest of the day to have fun and frolic about London.

"So where are we going, exactly?" Lily asks.

In response to her question, I only smile and say, "We've still got a ways to go. But we're almost there. In fact, I think we only have about twenty minutes more until we get there, if that's Southwark Bridge."

"Why did you make me meet you on Westminster Bridge if it's so far away?"

I shrug. "It's my favorite bridge in London, particularly because of the location. Sure, it's quite a ways away, but I love looking at the Parliament building and the old City Hall and Big Ben and the Abbey. Plus, it's so much more romantic than Southwark over there." I point to the bridge laden with traffic we just turned away from to continue a route across another street to currently.

Lily sighs, sounding exasperated, but I can see the small smile on her face. "Don't kid yourself, James." Ah, ha! My name! Again! "So, how do you know the way around this city? I'm very surprised you haven't gotten us lost yet."

"And I'm hurt, Evans!" I say jokingly. "My grand-dad used to take me here a lot, before I started school at Hogwarts. He died just a few days before I got my acceptance letter." Lily is silent for a moment, watching my fast earnestly.

"That's...really sad. I'm sorry, James." I shrug, yet again.

"I'm over it now. It was a long time ago. And he lived to be a hundred and seventeen years old, so it's pretty good, I guess."

"'Pretty good, you guess?' That's quite impressive!" she exclaims. "Although, I did grow up around Muggles, with whom the life expectancy is lower. My great grandfather died at age ninety-six."

"Only ninety-six?" I reply, teasing her. She scoffs at me and lightly pushes me, but then a sight up ahead catches her attention.

"Ooh, look James! It's the Tower of London!" My eyes follow to where she's pointing and instantly see the large castle standing impressively next to the river. Muggle tourists crowd the area: waiting in lines, taking photographs, talking animatedly. "You're not taking me to see that, are you? Because I don't see how that would cure my fear of heights."

"Not today, no. But our destination is only a few meters away from it." I point my own hand forwards, a little to the right of the Tower, to the bridge right next to it.

"Tower Bridge?" Lily asks, confused. "But I've told you, being on bridges doesn't really-"

"Well, we're going to a different part of the bridge." She freezes, eyes widened to twice their normal size.

"You mean...up there?" she stutters, referring to the walkways connecting the two towers.

"Erm...yes! Now let's go." I grab her rest and pull her the rest of the way before she can argue with me. Once we are at the entrance to the Northwest Tower, I turn back to Lily, who is breathing deeply in the hopes of calming herself down. "Now, normally we would have to pay to go up there, but today is an exception. This actually took quite a bit of preparation, believe it or not."

"And what do you mean by 'preparation'?" she asks me, and I'm glad I was able to distract her from her nervousness for a moment. I pull out my wand and think Alohamora as hard as I can to unlock the door.

"Let's just say they closed the Exhibition to visitors for the day last-minute," I say as I hold the door for her, "for renovations. This way, please." I lead her up a flight of stairs until we get to the walkway, which is lined with windows showing a wonderful view of London around the Thames. A ways to the left we can see the downtown area, and directly under us to the right is the Tower of London again.

Lily is breathing much more heavily now, her attempts at calming herself evidently failing, but she still manages to look as composed as possible. "Well..." she manages to get out. "I suppose this isn't so bad. Not...not my idea of fun, but it's...manageable."

"Glad you think so," I say absentmindedly, trying to locate the trapdoor in the roof of the walkway. "Cause things are about to get a little more intense." I spot it quickly after that and magically unscrew the bolts holding it in place. Basically, it's just a giant ceiling tile that can be removed from the roof, giving access to the top of the walkway.

"Jameswhatareyoudoing?" Lily exclaims quickly, sounding terrified.

I turn away from the exposed hole in the ceiling, where we can hear the wind rushing past and the sounds of traffic on the bridge below us. We have to do this carefully, because if any Muggles see us they'll most likely assume we're both going to jump below in the attempts of suicide. I walk over to Lily and place both of my hands on her shoulders, which are shaking (along with her whole body).

"Lily," I say calmly but firmly. "You're going to have to trust me on this. I promise that I won't let anything happen to you, now," I pause, looking into her wonderful eyes, "or ever. Will you trust me, Lily? Please?" She stares me down for a moment, her green staying connected with my hazel, then slowly nods.

"I trust you, James," she whispers.

"Okay," I say quietly. "Then come with me." I take her hand and lead her over to the trapdoor. "I hope you don't mind, but we're going to have to levitate up there." She nods again, mouth set in a firm line, and I admire her determination to do this. With a few flicks of my wand, both of us stand on the roof of the walkway, Lily clutching me with a death grip and her face buried in my chest.

"You're fine, Lily," I say over the wind. "Just look." Slowly, she turns her head to look across the city, and I can hear her gasp when she does.

Not that I blame her, the view is terrific.

Very gradually, she loosens her grip on my waist and lowers her arms, taking a few teetering steps closer to the edge. I follow her, my eyes on her face as hers are on the horizon. The wind blows her hair back both gently and harshly, and once again I am transfixed by her beauty.

She sits down, crossing her legs, and I follow suit, sitting next to her as we both look at the view around us. Lily's breathing has calmed at this point, and she looks almost at peace. Well, as at peace as a person sitting on top of a walkway well over fifty meters above a river can look. But the world moves on around us, between wizards and Muggles alike: cars, double-decker buses, and trucks drive, boats navigate, and people continue with their lives, but on top of that bridge, the only thing that matters in that moment is me and Lily.

REVIEWS MAKE US UPDATE FASTER! REVIEWS MAKE LILY AND JAMES KISS! REVIEWS MAKE LILY AND JAMES GET TOGETHER! Come on guys, pleaseeee? Maybe if you all review, I'll post another tonight... hmm something to think about... Please, tell us what you think and remember it's never to late to submit your character!