A week later, I decided to enjoy what was left of the autumn weather and sit outside by the Great Lake. The initial plan was to get caught up on some Charms work, but I ended up just sitting in the sun, watching the lake and nature. After about a half an hour of alone time, James walked up. I smiled when I saw him, which he returned.
"Hey Lily."
"James. Where's Sirius and/or Remus?"
"They're both studying for the Potions exam." I gave him an disbelieving look, which he laughed at. "Okay, Remus is studying, and Sirius is off with Haley."
"Excuse me?" I said, a bit too loudly. He chuckled at me again.
"No, I'm serious, actually. Sirius is spending time with Haley."
"Why?" I said. I was completely thrown. One thing I had always been confident in was Sirius's mutual hatred of that girl.
"I asked him to. I was aware of his, uh, dislike, and it bothered me. I want them to be friends. I asked him to hang out with her for like a half hour and get to know her."
"Sounds fun." I said stiffly. I wanted to redirect the conversation, but was not really sure where to take it. All I knew was that if Haley was concerned, I wanted nothing to do with it.
"Good thing I don't have to worry about you or Remus on that. You two are so much more open minded." We were not so much open minded as discreet with our emotions. I decided against telling him that, and ended up asking him about the charms homework. We talked for a good half hour about nothing in particular. When silence finally overtook us, I softly said to myself
"This is so easy." Whenever I had boyfriends, the hardest part was always casual conversation. I always wanted a relationship to come out of a friendship, but so far I had not been so lucky.
"Yeah, it is." I look up at him, startled. I hadn't meant for him to hear me, but his easy smile relaxed my frayed, hormonal nerves. I smiled back, and let myself believe for a few minutes that he meant it the way I did.