Chapter 14: And They Come Again

"And then came Uric the Oddball…" Professor Binns droned on. I stopped listening because he wasn't really saying anything important. I could figure it all out in the library later today. Right now I was thinking about, well, life in general. James, school, Petunia, James, friends, holidays, James. Clearly I had too much James on my mind. I was starting to think I was turning like him and getting as obsessed with him as he was with me. I found it unhealthy, but I couldn't deny how much I liked it. I looked over to him. He had his head propped up on his hand. His hair was falling over his eyes. He looked like he was going to fall asleep any second now. His other hand was in mine and he was tracing circles on the back of it, probably to keep himself busy. On my other side, Remus was diligently taking notes and taking in Binns' every word. Next to Remus, Sirius and Peter were fast asleep. Why they bothered coming to class really confuses me. It really annoyed me though, that Sirius almost never studied and still got such good grades.

"Psst. Lily!" I heard. I was about to turn my head in James' direction when I felt something hit my head and land on my desk. I looked at James. He pointed to the note. I glared at him, but opened it anyway. It had a single word in it.

Hi.

What do you think you're doing? I scribbled back.

I don't know. I'm bored.

Aren't we all?

Not Remus, look at him, taking notes like a good child.

Am I not a good child?

Well you are passing notes…

It's because of you. Apparently you can't entertain yourself.

Well I use to be able to…you know, when you sat like a million miles away from me and I could stare at you all class without you noticing…but now that you're right here, it's harder.

THAT'S why I always felt like I was being watched!

Oh yeah, watching you fidget is the best part!

Yes, well I'm glad you're not doing that now, it would be very distracting.

So what are you doing for break?

James, that's not for another month!

And…?

And why are you thinking about it now?

Mostly because I have nothing else to do. And because my parents owled me yesterday, saying that they're leaving the country for New Year's so I was thinking of throwing a party.

James! You can't throw a party while your parents are out!

They wouldn't mind, in fact my dad would probably help me plan it, if he wasn't leaving.

You are insane.

I know. But you like me that way.

That is true.

Would you two stop it? You're distracting me! I can't take proper notes if you're passing notes back and forth.

Remus! Join the fun!

Lily, you are being badly influenced by James.

I'm not a bad influence!

Sure you aren't.

Remus, I believe it's more of us rubbing off on each other.

Yeah, James' prog

You guys are rubbing each other?

Padfoot, do you need to be so gross? And why'd you grab the paper from me? I was mid-sentence!

Oh Sirius, you woke up.

Prongs, why do you sound so unhappy?

We're passing notes. How does he SOUND unhappy?

He just does.

Ugh. You guys are IMPOSSIBLE.

Moony, who actually writes out "ugh"?

Shut up.

That's not a very nice word.

How do you guys write so fast?

We are in practice, my dear Lily-flower.

They do this all the time. Well they USED to, really.

Why'd they stop?

James decided it was time to be 'more responsible' and 'pay attention in class'. Really I think it was just to ogle at you more.

I prefer stare, thank you.

Hey guys, what are we talking about?

Aw, Wormtail, not you too!

Well, we WERE talking about the New Year's party I'm going to throw. Then MOONY interrupted me!

I did no such thing. You guys were being all lovey-dovey when I took the paper from Lily!

Anyway, James, so are we going to do this? And if we are, are you sure? I don't want to upset your parents, they've already done more than enough for me.

It'll be fine, Padfoot. Even in their old age they know how to have fun.

How exactly do you plan on cleaning up? There will be a huge mess and your parents are coming back the day after New Year's. You'll probably be too hung over or

OR IN BED WITH LILY

OR too tired to clean up

SIRIUS! YOU'RE LUCKY WE'RE IN CLASS!

Well, I have that sorted out. Moony's 17th is in December!

Really? I didn't know.

No one was supposed to know. Prongs only figured out because he saw the packages my parents sent me last year.

And you didn't tell us, Prongs?

I only found out yesterday…

I can't believe you guys have been friends since first year and you don't know when his birthday is. Even I knew!

It's not our faults! He kept refusing to tell us.

Aw, Remus, why? Birthdays are great.

I'm not a fan.

Moony, if you keep this attitude up, you're going to die sad, old, and lonely. You'll probably end up like Filch.

Padfoot, I'm not going to end up as a squib because I don't like celebrating my birthday. Hey, where'd Peter go?

You guys didn't notice? He fell back asleep a while ago.

Oh. Anyway, Prongs, what do you expect me to do even if I do turn 17 before your party?

Well, with a few cleaning charms…and you won't be alone you know, Peter turns 17 before then too.

Why did I have to be the youngest one?

Fine. I'll do it.

You will? That's great. Padfoot, no need for the bribery plans we had!

You guys are crazy.

I know, but you love us for it.

Yeah, yeah. But I think we should leave class now. Even Binns has left.

"Wait, really? Where'd everyone go?" Sirius asked stupidly.

"Are you an idiot? Class is over!" Remus said irately and grumbled things about 'wasting time' and 'didn't get proper notes' as he gathered his books and put them in his bag. I rolled my eyes as I followed him out.

"So, you know, first Hogsmeade weekend that Sirius is actually allowed to go to is tomorrow." James said, putting an arm around my shoulders.

"Oh yeah, it's been two months, hasn't it?" I said, remembering. It would finally give him a chance to study.

"Now, here comes the dilemma. If we're together the entire time, I can't exactly get you a Christmas present, can I? And don't you dare start with the whole 'Oh, you don't have to.' thing." He said, reading my mind. I sighed.

"So what's your plan? I need to get you one too." I reminded him.

"I'll go with Sirius and find something for you, and you'll go with Remus and Peter, and at some time we'll meet up at the Three Broomsticks again." He said, as though he had it planned out for ages..

"Whoa wait, How am I supposed to get anything for the both of them if they're with me the entire time?"

"They'll probably be talking in their own world the entire time; they're just there as backup." He said dismissively. I snorted.

"Alright then."

Later that day

I sighed contently into James' chest and breathed in his scent, grateful that he didn't completely bathe himself in his cologne. I really couldn't stand boys who did that. Ding, Ding, Ding. The clock above the fire place rang and echoed throughout the empty common room.

"Oh, it's eight. It's time for me to patrol." I said to him slowly. The next few minutes weren't going to be pleasant.

"Alright, I'll see you later." James, said giving me a lazy peck on the lips. He seemed really tired and I was grateful…maybe he wouldn't notice.

"See ya, Lily." Sirius said from the seat next to where James and I were sitting.

"Bye Lily." Remus said, giving me a hesitant glance towards James. I put a finger to my lips. James' eye lids were drooping. He definitely wouldn't notice. I walked towards the common room door, gaining confidence with every step.

"WAIT." James suddenly screamed. I stopped in my tracks. This close. I was THIS CLOSE to him not finding out! Maybe he still didn't realize. Maybe he just wanted- "WHY ARE YOU GOING WITHOUT REMUS?" He asked frantically. WELL. There goes my hope. I walked back to him.

"They decided to mix it up a little; you know get some inter-house unity thing. I'm patrolling with the Ravenclaw girl prefect now." Remus explained.

"If he's going with the Ravenclaw girl prefect….then are you going with…? NO. NO. No. You are NOT patrolling with Rosen. Not Stewart Rosen." He snarled. I rolled my eyes. Melodramatic.

"It'll be fine, James, honestly, nothing's going to happen." I told him, in the best comforting voice I could muster. I was a bit angry with him, really. He knows Rosen's scared shitless of him, he's not going to try anything! And it wasn't dangerous either! We're in Hogwarts for Merlin's sake!

"At least she's not patrolling with Snape. Diggory said it was Snape or Rosen." Remus said, trying to be helpful.

"That little bastard! He probably wanted to get back at me!" James yelled. He's really insane, isn't he?

"There's nothing we can do about it. I need to do what I'm supposed to do. And if it's patrolling with Rosen, so be it." I replied, determined to make him see sense. He was easily blinded by jealousy.

"Fine." He grumbled, giving up more easily than I thought he would.

"Good. I'm going now." I said, crossing my arms. James merely grunted in response. I left the common room in a pretty annoyed mood.

The last hour and a half had been pretty easy going, and I wasn't having a horrible time, Rosen could be pretty entertaining.

"So, how are things going with James?" He asked casually.

"Oh, pretty good." I responded automatically.

"That's good. How long have you guys been going out?"

"Uh, six months." I said, realizing it was pretty much six months. I hadn't realized, it had gone so fast!

"Cool." Piing.

"Did you hear that?" I asked, whipping my wand out and turning around.

"Damn, you're fast!" Rosen said, struggling to get his wand out of his robes. I shrugged.

"It's nothing. Now, I'm going to go forward and see what just happened. Stay here." I instructed. I took a big yet quiet step forward. My face hit something solid. Before I realized what was happening, I was falling forward, and I realized that there was something around my waist. I hit the ground, or what I thought was the ground, because there was definitely something solid underneath me, and it wasn't the cold, hard ground. It was warm. I lifted my head so I could look forward.

"James?" I asked incredulously. His floating head was staring right back at me. He was under the invisibility cloak.

"Uh, Lily, hey." He responded lamely. I climbed off of him, taking the invisibility cloak off his body in the process. He brought himself to full height and ruffled his hair a little. Yes, he should be very nervous right now.

"What the bloody hell are you doing here!" I screamed at him.

"Lily, I can explain." He said, eyes pleading. He put his hands up in front of him and stepped back. He was eying my hand. Oh, that's why he was so scared; I still had my wand out.

"Then do tell, James, what's your explanation?" I sneered taking a step forward. He took another step back.

"Well, you see…uh…" His hand flew up to his hair again. "I was you know, following you…" He started.

"You were following me? The entire time? You spent one and a half hours under that invisibility cloak, following us?" I shouted. What did he think he was doing? Did he not trust me? "Do you not trust me?" I asked, a bit softer.

"No, no, no, of course I trust you! It's just…I didn't think you'd be…I…I don't trust him." James finished, pointing at Rosen, who had been, up until now, enjoying himself. His eyes widened as big as saucers.

"ME? You don't trust me? What do you think I'm going to do? Pull a move on her?" He asked, clearly as nonplussed about this entire situation as I was. "I know better than to do that. First of all, you'd probably kill me-muggle style, and second, I don't like her. I stopped in fourth year. And if you're still concerned, I will let you know, I have a girlfriend!" He told him. James grew red in the face.

"You do?" He said weakly. I turned on him again.

"YOU SEE? HE WASN'T GOING TO DO ANYTHING! AND HERE YOU ARE, RUNNING AFTER ME LIKE I CAN'T DEFEND MYSELF!" I shrieked.

"No, no nothing like that. You can defend yourself very well." James stuttered, still looking at my wand, which I brought up to his throat. "You know, you're so beautiful, smart, nice, kind, considerate forgiving, sweet, forgiving, loving, forgiving, and wonderful all round! Did I mention forgiving? So I couldn't bear to leave you!" He stuttered as he backed up into the wall.

"Uh, well, patrolling time is over, so I think I'm going to leave now…" Rosen said, clearly perturbed by the entire situation. I heard his footsteps walk quickly. I turned back to James.

"Flattery will get you no where." I warned.

"Wait, do you hear that?" He asked, his eyes suddenly widening. I listened. I heard distant footsteps and low whispers. I turned back towards him.

"What should we do? It's probably the Slytherins!" I whispered. He put a finger to his mouth and picked the cloak up off the ground.

"Sit down, we'll cover it over both of us and it'll fit." I nodded and sat down. My stomach was doing backflips. He pulled the cloak over both of us and we sat, waiting. My heart was beating quickly, in fear. Sure enough, Bellatrix, Lestrange, Snape, and Avery turned the corner. I shivered just seeing them. They entered the closest classroom and closed the door shut behind them. I heard the lock click. James leapt from under the cloak, taking it with him, and moved closer to the door. He put his ear to it and shook his head. I stood up and walked over to him.

"We can't hear anything. Snape put a spell on it. It was Muffliato. We need to remember that, too." He whispered. "It seems to make buzzing noises in the ear rather than hearing what's actually being said in there." He said grimly. I moved closer to the door. Sure enough, I didn't hear voices, just buzzing noises.

"What should we do? We can't leave them there. They're obviously doing something dangerous or illegal or against school rules, otherwise they would have done what ever they needed to do in their common room." I reasoned.

"Good point." He said. We waited a few more minutes. I strained my ears to see if I could hear anything, but without luck.

"Okay, I have an idea." He shuffled in his pocket. He brought out a small, square object. "I'm going to put Muffliato on our side, too, so they can't hear anything we're saying here." He said, and then proceeded to do the spell. He engorio'd the square object and I realized it was a mirror. "This helps me communicate with Padfoot. I found it in my attic three years ago. That's how we communicate during detentions or when we really need each other. It's always with us and it kind of vibrates when one is calling the other. And if we need to find each other, it vibrates more if we're near each other." He quickly explained before saying 'Sirius' to the mirror. Sirius' face appeared in the mirror.

"Prongs, is something wrong?" He asked worriedly. I guess they only used it in emergencies, then?

"Yes, something's wrong. We're on the third floor, by 'we' I mean me and Lily, by the way. We saw the Slytherins going into a classroom, in the hallway that has the armor that dances during Christmas?" I could see Sirius nod. "I want you to send Moony to Professor McGonagall, telling him to tell her everything I just told you. If Wormtail's with you, ask him to come with you here. We might need backup if they decide to come out before Moony gets here with McGonagall."

"Alright, see you in a minute. I've got the map, it'll be quick." He promised. I saw his head duck out of the mirror. James reducio'd it and put it back in his pocket.

"Now what?" I asked.

"Now, we wait, without letting our guard down of course." He took out his wand and gripped it so tightly in his hand, his knuckles turned white. So he wasn't feeling as brave as he was trying to be. Nice to know he could still keep a clear mind even with everything going on right now. We stood against the wall right next to the door, waiting for someone to come.

After a few minutes of agonizing silence, and turning my head at every creak, Sirius and Peter finally came down the hall, and Sirius was holding the map.

"Alright, Moony just went down to McGonagall, it shouldn't take too long for him to convince her." Sirius said, standing next to us, wand drawn. Peter was in the same position, but looked a bit more frightened than the rest of us.

"F-filch and Mrs. N-norris are on the fuh-fifth floor." He stuttered, peering at the map. His face was bright red and his eyes were wide.

"Look, Moony and Minnie left her office. They'll be here quickly; it's only on the floor below us." Sirius said, also looking at the map. Peter let out a loud sigh of relief. Note to self: if we ever get into a large death eater fight like we did last year, get Peter out of there as quickly as possible. The next few minutes were similar to before Sirius and Peter came. We jumped at every noise and my heart was about to leap right out of my chest and I was sweating like crazy. After what seemed like hours, Remus and Professor McGonagall finally arrived. She looked at us for a moment or two before turning to the door. She raised a fist to knock but James interrupted her.

"I mimicked the spell they put on the inside of the room. It was so anyone who came close the door would only hear a buzzing noise in their ear. I put it out here so they wouldn't hear us while we talked. They won't be able to hear it." He said. "They also might've put a spell to lock the door, but I didn't listen soon enough to hear it." He added. Professor McGonagall pulled out her wand and flicked it at the door. She flicked it once again and the door creaked open. She turned back to us.

"You may go back to Gryffindor Tower. Thank you for alerting me and not doing anything rash. Ten points to Gryffindor for the each of you. And please go back. Do not linger around here." She said, and then entered the room. We turned around in silence, slightly disappointed that we couldn't see their expressions when McGonagall found them, but glad that they couldn't get their revenge for showing her where they were. James put an arm around my waist, but didn't speak until we were right in front of the Fat Lady.

"I'm glad we got out of there without having to fight or anything." He muttered as Remus told the Fat Lady the password. I nodded in agreement. Peter, Remus and Sirius went upstairs without saying a word. They were probably very tired. I wanted to go back upstairs but when I turned to James to say goodnight, I couldn't bear to leave him. His eyes were begging for forgiveness for what happened before.

"Lily, I'm sorry. I really didn't mean to…I just couldn't help myself." He told me, stroking my cheek. I sighed and hugged him.

"Just don't do it again. Please." I stressed, really hoping he wouldn't. On the other hand, I was kind of glad he was there. If he hadn't come, then Rosen and I would've had to face the Junior Death Eater problem ourselves. Without James by my side, I know I wouldn't be able to think clearly.

"Hey Lily," He muttered, moving the hair away from the cheek that wasn't pressed against his chest. I looked up at him.

"Yeah?" I whispered back. He ran a hand through my hair .

"I love you."

"I love you, too." I put my arms around his neck so my face was barely an inch away from his. We stared into each other's eyes, a smile playing on our lips. We played a silent game, trying to get the other to break and start the kiss. To coax him, I ran my lips along my tongue and pressed my chest closer against his. His eyes held lust and desire and I could tell he was going to break soon. He turned us around and delicately backed me up against a wall. He hungrily and quickly moved his lips in sync with mine. He ran his tongue along my bottom lip and I opened my mouth a little to let him in. I moved my hands from his neck to his chest and entangled the other in his hair. His hands moved quickly around my back. He suddenly slowed down. Hungriness and longing was replaced by sweet, soft caressing. I regained most of my senses and realized my heart was pounding against his chest, and I could feel his heart against my chest. I felt his hand slip under my shirt and his arm wrapped around my bare waist. He pulled away, his hand rubbing circles on my bare back under my shirt. He pressed his forehead against mine, his eyes still closed and a content smile playing on his lips.

A/N: Thank you, all of you who reviewed and favorited! I reallllyyy appreciate it! I got my 20th review with chapter 13 and I'm happy with all of the positive feedback! It's been 3 months since I started this story, 14 Chapters, and 22 reviews. I'm a pretty happy girl.

A Special Thanks to those of you who've reviewed more than one chapter!

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