DISCLAIMER: As much as I would love to wake up and be her, I'm not JK Rowling and do not (sadly) own anything you recognize.

Chapter 3: Almost There

My eyes fluttered open and I almost groaned out loud. I hated waking up in the morning during the weekend. I look at my watch on my nightstand. It read six o'clock. Why did I wake up so early? I slept so late! I suppose it was habit by now, to wake up at this time, so I had an hour to get ready, eat breakfast and go to my first class.

Looking around, I saw everyone else in my dorm was still fast asleep. I threw the covers off myself, got up off my bed, and went to the window. Our dorm window had the perfect view of the east, so we could see the sun rise everyday if we wanted. I looked down at the Quidditch Pitch and thought of James. He did say he worked out every day. Knowing him, he would be near the Quidditch Pitch. Sure enough, there was a figure jogging around the Pitch. The black mop was unmistakable. It was definitely James. I smiled to myself and watched him a bit more. He seemed so concentrated. It was apparent from all the way up here. He took off his shirt and my heart jumped. His arm muscles were so big. I wanted nothing more right now than to run my hand across them. My heart started pounding against my chest as I imagined it. His bare chest so close to me…I couldn't help but stare at his stomach area, wondering how strong his abs were. I was pulled out of my reverie when James abruptly stopped jogging and just stood facing towards the castle. His eyes darted all over the castle. Finally they laid my window. I pulled myself away from the window. Did he see me? It wasn't exactly possible…Or was it? If I could see him, then maybe he could see me. After all, my red hair was very vibrant. Maybe he didn't see me. Or maybe he'll just think he imagine it. Glancing back at my wrist watch, I felt my face grow hot as I realized I'd been watching James for over a half an hour. I looked back out the window and saw James heading back towards the castle. But his eyes kept darting back to my window. I backed away from it completely. Deciding it was late enough, I took my clothes and went to go take a shower. I couldn't help but to think of James the entire time.

When I came back into the dorms, Mary was sitting still on her bed, already dressed and ready to go to breakfast.

"Hey, Lils." She said as I stood up right in front of her.

"Hi Mary. So how was your night with Sirius?" I said, smirking. She hit me with the pillow.

"It wasn't like that!" She screeched. "So how about you and James?" She asked, now enjoying herself. I felt myself turn red.

"Oh…it's uh…nothing…" I muttered, looking at my hands. I could practically hear Mary smiling at me.

"It was nothing, Lil? So you call a romantic slow dance and a kiss on the cheek nothing?" I cursed under my breath. How did she find out? I thought she'd been too busy snogging Sirius senseless.

"How'd you find out?" I asked in defeat.

"Sirius and I didn't snog the entire time." She said, raising an eyebrow. We spent a lot of time talking about you guys…how perfect you are for each other…and how you realized it, now that Snape's out of the way…" She answered. I shuddered when I heard Snape's name. That prick. I really hated him.

"Yeah…I'm just glad I know what he thinks of me. It's a shame to know he's joined his Death Eater friends." I said morosely.

"Well, why don't we go down for breakfast. We have a long day ahead of us with Sirius and James…" She said, practically singing. I laughed as I followed her downstairs. It was quite a sight to see her practically skipping. We reached the bottom of the stairs when I finally caught up with her.

"Merlin Mary, slow down." I said, breathing heavily.

"Well, Lily, maybe you should move quicker!" She told me and we burst out laughing.

"You know Mary, we have to promise each other, that even though we now have a man, in your case, a boy, in our lives, we should stick together." I said. It wasn't an option to lose Mary. We've been best friends since first year. She was like the sister I never had. Rather, actually wanted.

"Of course Lils. Just one thing. SIRIUS IS NOT A BOY! HE IS A MAN. A STRONG, HOT MAN!" She screamed, and then ran out of the common room, laughing. I chased her all the way until the Great Hall. We sat down at our regular seats and tried to find the Marauders. They were nowhere in sight.

"They probably decided to sleep in." I suggested. We ate our regular breakfast of eggs and muffins, and left to contemplate what to do for the rest of the day. We weren't supposed to go to Hogsmeade until about twelve. It was only seven thirty. We came to the poster of the Fat Lady and just then, Sirius, James, Remus, and Peter were coming out of the portrait.

"Hi Mary!" Sirius exclaimed.

"Good Morning, Sirius." She replied, with a grin.

"Evans! My favorite girl!" Sirius said, side-glancing at James as he came to hug me. I pushed him away jokingly.

"Sirius, you haven't showered yet. Don't come any closer." I warned. Knowing him, he probably only took showers to wash his hair!

"I have!" James exclaimed as he came closer to me. He stuck his tongue out at Sirius when I hugged him. Sirius fake-pouted and Mary came over to him.

"It's okay Sirius, I don't mind lack of hygiene like those two!" She said wrapping her arms around his neck.

"Good Morning, Lily." James said sweetly. His arms were around my lower back, and they were, as I saw this morning, very strong indeed. Out of the corner of my eye, I saw Peter and Remus leave. I figured they were feeling a little abandoned and decided to go down to breakfast by themselves.

"Hi James." I said, blushing. His gaze was so intense. I couldn't break away.

"Meet me near the gold statue? 12 o'clock?" He whispered.

"Sure." I said smiling.

"Oi! Mate. You have the entire day with her. Let's go eat breakfast!" Sirius said, as he broke James away from me. Mary and I laughed more as Sirius practically dragged James down the stairs as he waved goofily.

"Mary, where did we find these two?" I asked.

"Lily, we're just lucky like that." She replied. I heard a loud, impatient sigh. I realized we were still standing outside the Fat Lady's portrait. She was waiting for the password.

"Er..right, sorry. Nivellus Octovia." I said guiltily.

"About time…" She muttered as the door swung open. We sat down on the couches.

"So Lily, what are you going to wear?" Mary asked.

"What?" I replied. I haven't given a thought about what I was going to wear, I really didn't care, honestly.

"Well you can't just go on your first date ever wearing school robes, you know." She said smiling.

"I know, I know…" I said. What was I going to wear? I've never been on a date before. James usually scared them all away.

"It's okay Lily, let Magic Mary do the trick!" She said, getting up.

"Wait, now? We don't have to meet the guys for another four hours! Can't we sit by the lake or something until then?" I begged.

"Alright, fine. But we're coming right back up here at 10:30, okay?" She bargained.

"Okay." I said, as we got up to leave the common room.

After spending three hours by the lake, and taking a nice, long walk with Mary, we were back in the dorms. My stomach started doing back-flips, front-flips, and everything of the sort. The only time I remember being more nervous was the morning right before the O.W.L.'s started!

"Lily, it's going to be fine." Mary reassured me. She seemed to sense my uneasiness. "You and James are perfect for each other. It's all going to go fine. Just go with the flow and everything will be fine." She instructed. I was getting sick of hearing the word 'fine'. She finished painting my nails on my right hand. They were bright red, to match my fiery hair. She began working on my left hand.

"What am I going to wear?" I asked. I realized I had nothing really good to wear.

"Oh, we're going to go simple. James seems to like you how you are." She replied dismissively.

"Which is…?" Simple was good. I could live with simple. I just hoped she didn't expect me to wear any sandals. I liked my sneakers. She finished painting my nails and then dried them off with her wand.

"Oh, nothing. Just a plain green shirt that matches your eyes, black jeans, and we'll make your sneakers green." She said. I grinned. She really did know me.

"That's great!"

"Now, I might take a little longer. Not everyone can look as effortlessly beautiful as you, Lily." She said as she went to the bathroom to go wash her face.

"Mary, beauty is in the eye of the beholder." I told her, quoting a Muggle book. She rolled her eyes and shut the bathroom door. I sat on my bed, wondering how today was going to go. It obviously wasn't going to be perfect. I knew that. Thinking about James I realized: What if he didn't change? What if he's still that old arrogant prick? What if he returns that way, now that I agreed to go out with him? But, he seemed fine a few hours ago, I reminded myself. I shrugged my shoulders and decided I shouldn't worry about that. Well for now at least. A voice in the back of my head reminded me. I shoved it away. Mary came out of the bathroom, her face washed and glowing.

"Alright, Mary. It's about 11:15. We have enough time to get dressed and meet Sirius and James."

"Right you are, Lils." She said as she stalked over to her closet and pulled out a deep blue v-neck shirt that matched her eyes and a mid-thigh white skirt. "This is mine…." She said, laying it out on her bed. She went over to my closet and pulled out the outfit she was talking about earlier. She took my American sneakers out of my closet. It was some popular brand called Converse. My dad bought them for me when he went on a business trip there. Mary picked up her wand and muttered something and they turned green. "And this is yours." She said, laying my outfit on the bed.

"I'll get changed first, then?" I asked, as I picked up my clothes.

"Yeah." She said airily, completely zoning out, presumably thinking about what do with our hair and makeup. I rolled my eyes. I changed into my outfit and looked at myself in the mirror. I gasped at the image I saw. It was me, but a lot prettier. The green shirt hugged me to show off my curves and the jeans color worked perfectly against my pale body. I stepped out of the bathroom.

"Well. How do I look?" I asked.

"Lily. I'm going to have to hope that Sirius doesn't get jealous of James." She said snickered. I laughed as she picked up her clothes and went into the bathroom to change. She took a lot more time than I had. I gasped at the sight of her. She didn't look like the Mary I knew. The blue v-neck was absolutely perfect for her, and the white skirt was suitable on her olive skin. Her usually straight, brown hair was curled, and looking more closely at her eyes, I could see she was also wearing eye shadow, mascara, and eyeliner.

"Mary, I can't believe it's you." I said, astonished. She laughed at my expression.

"Okay, now let's work on your hair." She waved her wand at the bottom of my hair, so it curled a little. "And now your eyes…" She murmured and I looked in the mirror to see my red lashes turn to black and eye liner around my eyes.

"Perfect!" I exclaimed. "Thanks!"

"No problem." She said, shrugging her shoulders.

"You really are magic." I said, rolling my eyes. We burst out laughing.

"Alright, Lily, It's 11:50. We should head downstairs. WAIT! I forgot something VERY important!" She said, with a crazed look on her face. "We need lip gloss." Her voice was now calm and I rolled my eyes again, realizing it wasn't anything too important. "Don't look at me like that!" She put her hands on her hips. "When you kiss James later today, you'll thank me." She said confidently. She went back to her dresser and pulled out a pink tube. She applied a little on herself, handed it to me, and I did the same. "Now we're ready." She said, and left the common room. Sirius and James were nowhere to be found once again, so we assumed they were already down near the statue.

We exited the castle and I noticed it was even more beautiful than it was during our walk this morning. We found Sirius and James talking right where they said they'd be, right near the statue.

"Hi James." I said, as I walked over to him. His eyes widened when he saw me. He opened his mouth to say something, but no sound came out. "James put your eyes back in their sockets," I told him, laughing. He cleared his throat.

"Lily, you look beautiful, as usual of course." He added. I blushed.

"Thanks." I said.

"Shall we go?" He asked, holding his hand out for me. I took it and entwined my fingers with his. It felt really nice. We walked to the entrance and I took a deep breath. Here it goes. My first date.

A/N: This concludes Chapter 3. I'm sorry it was so short. I wanted James' and Lily's date to be its own chapter. Be patient, exciting things lie ahead. Will update soon!

Sam Storsky.