Hi everyone!

I'm sorry that it took me a bit longer than usual to update. Enjoy the chapter and let me know what you think! :)

Black-lightningrunes x

Chapter 12:

"So you wish to have a Hogsmeade weekend in a couple of weeks?"

"Yes sir."

Lily and James were in one of their meetings with Professor Dumbledore. Concluding with the idea of having a Hogsmeade day soon. Some people had already been asking them, and the third years were begging to go.

"Well I have no issue with this. I will have the heads of each house out up notices in each of the common rooms."

"Thank you, sir."

"That seems to be all. I will see you both at our next meeting."

James stood to leave, however Lily remained sitting.

"Sir," she began, "Can I speak to you about something?"

"Of course, Miss Evans."

James knew she was going to ask about going and seeing her dad.

"I'll just wait out here for you Lily," he said as he left the office.

"What can I do for you, Miss Evans?" Professor Dumbledore asked Lily as the door closed behind James.

"Sir, yesterday I received a letter from my sister yesterday. My father isn't well, they aren't really sure how long he may live."

"I am sorry to hear this. I assume you are here to ask if you may go visit him?"

"Yes sir. If I could spend some time at home."

"Of course you may. How long would you wish to be gone?"

"I'm not really sure. A week maybe. If I have permission?"

"That sounds fair. But I think a week should be the maximum. At least for now. I don't wish you to miss out on too much work."

"Of course. I wouldn't want to miss out on too much. I just need to see him."

"I understand. What do you think then? What would you like to do?"

Lily sat in silence thinking about what days she should go.

"Umm. I'm not sure. Perhaps Wednesday to Tuesday?"

"That will work just fine. I will speak to your teachers and Professor McGonagal. On Wednesday, meet Professor McGonagal in her office at, let us say, lunchtime and she will escort you out of the gate. For your return, I will set up the floo network so you may go straight to your common room from your house. That way you may arrive back anytime you wish during the day, but it will only be set up for Tuesday."

Yes sir. Thank you so much."

"You are very welcome."

With that, Lily stood and exited the office.

Leaning against the wall on the opposite side, James was waiting for Lily.

"So how did it all go?" he asked as soon a he saw her.

"I'm going home on Wednesday until next Tuesday," she told him.

"Oh okay."

Lily thought she heard the sound of disappointment in his voice as she said how long she would be gone.

"I might head to the owlery and let my parents know I'm coming to visit," she told James.

"Sure. Do you want me to come with you?"

"No, don't worry about it. The guys are probably waiting for you."

"Yeah, right of course. I'll see you later then."

"Yup, see you later."

They walked their separate ways.

As she headed to the owlery, Lily wondered what it would be like at home and how sick her dad was.

As she arrived at the owlery, she took out some parchment and a quill and begun writing the note.

Mum &Dad,

How are you both?

I received Petunia's letter and went to speak with Professor Dumbledore. With his permission I am able to visit for a week. I'll be arriving on Wednesday (in two days) and can stay until next Tuesday.

Cannot wait to see you,
Love you lots,
Lily.

Attaching the parchment to Peggie, she watched as her bird flew away.

~~~/~~~

Wednesday morning, Lily was packing some of clothes and books into a bag to take home with her.

James stood at the doorway watching her.

"You sure you're going to be okay?" he asked, as he leant against the door.

"Seriously? Of course. I'm just going home James."

"But your sister will probably be there."

"She'll definitely be there and I'm just going to deal with it. I'm going to see my dad and make sure mum is doing okay."

"I know, I know. But your sister sounds like a cow."

"We just aren't as close anymore. Everything will be fine. Trust me."

"Yeah, I do. Listen, you'll write to me right? If you need anything at all?"

"Yeah, I will. I might actually send Peggie ahead, that way she's there if I need. And James."

"Yeah?"

"Thanks for being here for me. And just understanding and all."

"You're welcome."

~~~/~~~

When it got to lunch time, Lily figured she would head to the Great Hall, get something to eat say goodbye to her friends then go to Professor McGonagall's office.

"We'll miss you Lils," Alice was saying as they were all eating.

"It's only a week guys."

"A week too long!"

Lily shook her head and her friends, "I should probably get going guys," she told her friends.

"Okay sure, we'll come with you," Marlene said, as she along with Alice and the Marauders all stood. Frank had already said goodbye as he finished lunch earlier to go to the library.

"Seriously, you don't all have to come."

"Sure we do," Remus said smiling at her.

Knowing she wasn't going to win this, she just nodded and with her friends walked to Professor McGonagall's office.

When they made it outside the office door Lily began hugging everyone. Peter first, Remus then Sirius, who lifted her off the ground, spun her around and said, "Don't worry Lily-Flower, everything will be fine. You'll see."

"Thanks Sirius."

It was then James' turn. She wrapped her arms around his neck, while his automatically went around her waist.

"He'll be okay Lily. And remember, if you need anything, just write," he whispered into her ear.

"Thank you, and I will, promise."

Letting go of James she moved to her best friends.

The three of them all moved into each others arms.

"We'll miss you!"

"I know, I know. I'll miss you guys too!"

Letting go of her friends, she said, "I'll see you guys next week."

"Bye Lily."

"Say hi to your parents."

"See you next week."

Her friends all said before turning to walk away.

Lily let them walk a distance before knocking on the door before her. From behind the door she heard, "Come in."

Putting her hand on the door, she turned to look where her friends were further down the corridor. At that moment she looked, James too turned around. Their eyes locked and both gave the other a smile. James raised his hand before turning back around. Once he turned around, Lily entered the office.

"Miss Evans, here you are," Professor McGonagall said as she looked an saw Lily entering her office.

"Hi. Sorry if I kept you waiting Professor."

"Oh no, not at all. So shall we?"

"Professor, just to check am I disapparating home?"

"Yes you will be. As I am sure you may know, you are unable to disapparate from inside the castle walls, so I will be escorting you outside the perimeter and you may leave from there."

Professor McGonagall lead Lily down to the main gate of the grounds. There she opened a smaller gate, about the size of a normal door, and moved aside for Lily to move past.

"Thank you Professor," Lily said as she walked out of the gate.

"You are most welcome Miss Evans. I look forward to having you back in the class. Goodbye."

"Bye Professor," Lily said before she disapparated.

~~~/~~~

It was cold when Lily apparated into her back yard. The sky above her was grey making the day seem later than it actually was. Not only that, rain was pouring down on her.

Securing her bag on her shoulder, Lily ran across the grass in the backyard.

She didn't make it halfway before her foot slipped on the wet grass and she ended up falling down and sliding a bit across the ground.

"Eurgh, of course I fall," Lily mumbled to herself as she pushed herself off the ground.

Scrambling up, now covered in mud, Lily quickly, but carefully, moved to her back porch.

Safe from the rain, Lily shook her hair out of her face and took her shoes off.

The door she walked through was the one that lead to the laundry. That way she could leave her bag there and not take it through the house while it was soaked.

Since the door was unlocked, Lily knew people were home do she called out, "Hello? Mum? Dad? Anyone?"

"Lily! We're in the kitchen!" Lily heard her mum's voice calling out.

Walking through her house she went into the kitchen where, sure enough, her mum and Petunia had wedding plans spread across the table.

"Lily!" Hazel exclaimed, as she saw her daughter in the opening, standing to move to give her a hug.

She however took in the sight of Lily, wet and covered in mud, and changed her mind.

"It's so lovely to see you, but why don't you go get cleaned up first. What on earth happened?"

"Umm, I may have fallen across the grass as I tried to escape the rain."

Hazel just laughed at her daughter, "I have no idea where you got your clumsiness. Go on, have a shower and warm up. Your father is in our room but if he's awake or asleep, I'm not sure."

"Kay, thanks."

With that Lily walked upstairs. Peeping into her parents room she saw her dad lying on the bed. She couldn't tell if he was awake or not so she decided she would have her shower first.

Heading into her room Lily grabbed her favourite jumper and black sweatpants. She saw that Peggie had arrived safely and was glad that she had decided to send Peggie across earlier so she could write to her friends.

Once she said hello to Peggie, she went to the bathroom, which was the room next to hers.

The warm water washing over her body felt amazing. After making sure all the mud was gone, Lily just remained under the running water while she thought about different things.

However, there was only one thing, no one person, that her kind kept wondering to. James. Every little thing he did now Lily noticed, making her realise that he had been wrong about him. Though she had only ever really seen the jerk side of him, since that was how he always acted towards her. Now he was different, now she was seeing the side of James that everyone always told her was there.

Except now that she was seeing it, and had finally admitted to her friends how she felt, he hadn't even asked her out once. She knew that of he did, she would say yes and give him a shot.

Running her hands through her hair one more time, Lily turn off the water and quickly dried herself so she could get into her warm clothing.

Performing a charm to dry her hair, she went to see if her dad was actually awake or not.

Looking into her parents room, she found her dad was now sitting up in bed reading a book.

"Dad!" she exclaimed as she rushed into the room and into his arms.

"Hi darling," David said, kissing the top of her head.

Lily moved back to look carefully at her father. Dark circles covered his eyes and he was extremely pale.

"Don't look at me like that sweet heart," he told her.

"I'm sorry dad. But what happened? You were okay before I left."

"Well not a hundred percent," he hesitated, "there were some signs, but your mother and I didn't want to worry you. Especially not before school started, and with everything else going on in the magic world."

As her father spoke, tears had formed in Lily's eyes.

"But dad, I get that, but why couldn't you just tell me? Do you know how hard it was to get the letter saying that you were unwell and they weren't sure how long it would be."

"I'm sorry. I truly am."

"So what is it?"

"What do you mean?"

"What have doctors said?"

"Oh," he hesitated, "they think that it's cancer. I have some tests over the next few days. There's no need to worry okay honey?"

"Okay dad. I'm going to go get coffee, would you like some?"

"No thank you. Do me a favour and help out your mum and your sister with the wedding plans."

Rolling her eyes, she stood saying, "Sure dad."

Before she left, she leant down and gave him another hug.

"Love you," she whispered into his ear.

"Love you more."

Leaving her father in peace, Lily went to the kitchen to get the cup of coffee she desperately craved.

When she walked back into the kitchen, she found herself engulfed in her mothers arms.

"I'm so glad you're here," she heard her mum's muffled voice.

"Me too," Lily replied hugging her mum back.

"So mum, what do you think of the menu I've created from the chef's mains?" Lily heard Petunia's voice from the kitchen table.

Letting go of Lily, Hazel turned to Petunia and said, "Hmm, let's have a look at it," before going and sitting back down.

Looking across at Petunia, Lily saw that her sister was already looking at her. The grin on Petunia's face was saying this is my time and you can't ruin in.

Rolling her eyes at her sister, Lily went to get the cup of coffee. As she made it, the smell filled her and she couldn't wait to drink it.

Holding the cup in her hand she sat down at the table.

"So is there anything I can do?" she asked.

Petunia just looked at her suspiciously, while her mum responded, "Of course! We would love your opinion, wouldn't we Pet?"

Knowing there was no way out of it, Petunia smiled at both Lily and Hazel and said, "Yes. Of course."

~~~/~~~

Lily lost count of the amount of coffees she had had in such a short amount of time.

Stuck at the table with Petunia and her mum discussing wedding plans wasn't really what she wanted to do. Listening to places where to hold the reception, the amount of guests, the order things should go in was boring her to death. However as promised she out in her opinions, and helped out making it seen like she was interested.

It was only when the colour schemes of the bridesmaids dresses of the wedding party came up that Lily was surprised.

"Well I was thinking of pink, but that won't go with Lily's hair," Petunia had begun saying.

Lily just blanked at her sister, "Um, I'm sorry what?"

"Bridesmaids. Red hair and pink do not match."

"Yeah I get that. But I didn't realise I was a bridesmaid."

"Well of course. Freak or not, you are my sister and you /have/ to be a part of my wedding. I would have had you as maid of honour. But since you are the place of freaks -"

"That's so great that you are having Lily involved!" Hazel cut in front of Petunia. She was happy that Petunia had let Lily be in her wedding party, but knew that Petunia was probably about to say something that would end in a fight.

"Yeah umm thanks Petunia. I'm really honoured you want me and I'm glad to," Lily said putting a smile on her face.

On the inside, Lily didn't feel so great. She was happy that Petunia wanted her as a bridesmaid, but Lily seemed to think it was just a show, for her friends and the family. She wasn't asked, but instead told, and while being told was insulted for being who she is.

"It'll be great Lily. Just you wait. So about the dress colour, I was thinking purple or silver? What do you think?"

"Um, I'm not sure," Lily said honestly, "it needs to be your choice."

"But I'm not sure."

"Look at the time," Hazel said, "We've been at this for hours."

Looking up at the time, Lily saw that it was getting close to 5 o'clock.

Standing up, Lily went to the kitchen to wash her coffee cup. She really wanted another, but thought she should wait until after dinner.

As she washed up, her mum started preparing food around her.

"Can I help at all?" Lily asked her mum.

"No, no of course not. It's your first night home. I won't have you do anything tonight!"

"Okay then, I'm going to head up to my room for a bit. I'll probably come back down later though."

"That's okay sweetheart."

Walking upstairs it was pitch black. Shadows casted along the walls. In her room she flicked the lights on and sat herself down on her bed wondering what she wanted to do. Looking around her room she found herself looking at her desk, which had parchment and a quill sitting on it, and at Peggie who was perched in the corner of Lily's room that she had set up for the owl.

Suddenly Lily knew exactly what she wanted to do. Moving across to her desk Lily sat down, moving a piece of parchment in front of her and grabbed a quill. There she began to write.

James,

You said to write if I wanted to, so here goes.

I know I only arrived earlier today, but as you had put it earlier, my sister really is a cow. I had to spend my entire afternoon looking at wedding plans. Can I kill myself? Please? It was so long and boring but I promised my dad I would help.

Seeing dad was really hard. It turns out my parents have known for a while about my dad and had decided not to say anything. I can't believe they would do that! They still have no idea how hard it was the day I got that letter.

Taken the opportunity to get up to trouble with the rest of the Marauders now that I'm gone?

Lily.

Happy with what she wrote, Lily attached the letter to Peggie and told her to deliver the letter to James.

Grabbing A Tale of Two Cities from her bag, she decided to head back downstairs so that she was still near her family since she only had a week with them.

While Lily had been writing her letter her father had left the bed and headed downstairs. When she walked into the kitchen with her book in hand she saw her father standing behind her mother with his arms around her waist as she cut up the vegetables for dinner.

She smiled at the sight in front of her. It was quite cute and was something she didn't often get to see. Lily loved the fact that they were like this, even though she knew that they were unsure of what was to come. She knew they would stick by each other and use whatever time they could to spend together.

~~~/~~~

It was breakfast time, the following day, and James was sitting with Remus, when a familiar owl came and dropped a letter in front of him.

"Hey isn't that Lily's owl?" Remus asked, "Umm Peggie, I think."

"Yeah it is," James said as he opened up the letter to read it.

"So is it from Lily?" Remus asked as James refolded the letter.

"Yeah it is."

"And?"

"And what?"

"Well, why was she writing to you?"

"I told her is she needed anything that she can write."

"Is everything okay?"

"Yeah I think she just wanted to write to someone and get away from her sister's wedding planning."

"And she wrote to you?" Remus asked, disbelief obvious in his voice.

"Yes she wrote to me! What's so unbelievable about it?"

"James, she hated your guts up until the end of last year. I just would have thought she would write to Alice or Marlene or both."

"Yeah fine, fine. I get your point. Maybe she wrote to them as well? But Moony, can we not tell the others?"

"Sure, Prongs no problem."

"Thanks. Do you have some parchment so I can respond?"

Without answering, Remus grabbed his bag and handed James a piece of parchment and quill.

Scribbling down a response to Lily, he rushed off to the owlery not wanting to make Peggie have to fly such a long way again.

~~~/~~~

Petunia had left the house sometime after breakfast leaving the day free for Lily to spend with her parents.

They were sitting in the lounge room talking. However both Hazel and David were trying to avoid the conversation about David's sickness by asking Lily how school was going.

Lily answered their questions, knowing that her parents had some appointments later in the day and she would talk to them after those.

"So how is it being head girl? Who is head boy? Do we know him?" Hazel was asking Lily.

"It's great! I've gotten to run the prefect meetings and having my own dorm is the best. The only bad thing is I have to take the late rounds."

"And the head boy?" Hazel pressed.

"Uh, James Potter."

"Isn't he the one who you hate? And would complain about him every time you were at home?"

"Um, yeah that's the one."

"So what's its like having to work with him then?"

"Actually not too bad. He's really matured and doesn't annoy me anymore. Plus he's a good leader. Actually the girls and I hangout a bit more with James and his friends."

Hazel and David locked eyes for a brief second, smiling at one another, before Hazel turned back to Lily and said, "Marlene must be happy with that. She's been friends with them for years right?"

"Yeah, she is."

They sat there for longer, talking about classes and really just anything, wanting to spend as much time together.

It was mid afternoon when David and Hazel had to start getting ready to go to their appointments. As they stood, Lily decided she would reheat some of the pasta from the previous night for lunch.

It didn't take her parents long to get ready to leave, and once they were gone Lily was sitting at the kitchen table eating lunch.

She was lost in her thoughts staring out at the dark sky when a tiny white owl landed on her windowsill.

Getting the owl to hop on her arm, she carried it upstairs so it could rest on the perch Lily had in her room.

There she opened up the letter, already guessing who it was from.

Lily,

Of course I am staying out of trouble! I resent the fact that you believe I would even do such a thing!

I, along with everyone else here, would prefer if you didn't kill yourself. I'm sure the wedding planning can't be that bad?

I'm so sorry again about your dad. They would have had a good reason to not tell you. It was just after the Diagon Alley incident. Maybe they were going to tell you but things got a bit crazy. Just tell them if it ever comes up again, they'll understand.

Keep writing if you need anything at all, even if it's someone to talk to.

James.

P.S. Meet Apollo. He's been my friend since first year. A warning, he can bite strangers.

Finishing the letter, Lily smiled to herself. She would write back but would have to do it later since Apollo would be tired. She did carefully put out food for him, and luckily he didn't bite her.

It was nice being by herself in the house. She was able to sit herself on the couch downstairs with a book in hand and a coffee next to her. She had no one to distract her, or at least try to, and was then able to escape into the book and into her thoughts.

~~~/~~~

"It's weird not having Lily-flower here," Sirius commented.

It had been a few days since Lily had left to visit her parents. Everyone was sitting around eating lunch.

"Yeah, we have to put up with you lot more," Marlene told him.

"Don't lie McKinnon, you love us."

"You wish Black."

"Yeah, he does," James joked.

While the others laughed, Sirius' eyes narrowed.

"You know, on the subject of 'loving people'... Why have you not asked Lily out yet?"

That made everyone go silent. They too were also curious to why he hadn't. Not since last year.

"I don't want to ruin things," he told them honestly, breaking the silence.

"What do you mean?" Alice asked.

"Everything has been great between us. I mean we're getting along and everything. I just don't want her to get annoyed and hate me again."

"She won't."

"What do you mean, she won't?"

"Exactly what I say. You said it yourself James. Things are different now. You don't know how she would respond."

"Are you saying that you know something Alice?"

At this, Alice looked and locked eyes with Marlene, who was sitting next to James. Marlene moved her head slightly to the left and then back. Don't say anything.

"No, sorry. There's those sides of Lily where we have no idea what goes through her mind," Alice responded to James, understanding Marlene.

"Oh. Okay," James replied sounding both disappointed and unconvinced.

"Don't worry James, she's been writing to you pretty much everyday since she left. Just ask her when she gets back," Remus commented.

"Wait what?" Marlene asked.

"Thanks Moony," James said glaring at Remus.

"What letters, James?" Marlene pressed.

"It's nothing, we've just been writing to each other."

"About what?"

"Just anything. She just wanted to escape her sister's wedding planning so she wrote to me. I told her before she left just write if she needed anything."

"And you're worried that she would reject you if you turned her down! She hasn't written to us at all! When she gets back you have to ask her!"

"Fine, I will. Maybe."

They all just groaned at him.

~~~/~~~

The rest of the week went quickly for Lily. From the tests that David undertook, the results came back informing the family that he had a heart disease. They would be able to keep it under control but it could be unpredictable.

Throughout the week, Lily had had to put up with the excessive wedding planning and she was over it. Petunia had finally decided on colours for the dresses. They would be mainly a deep purple but have some silver though out. Lily was dragged into a dress shop where she and Petunia's maid of honour and other bridesmaid, Chrissy and Lexi, along with Petunia had to get measured for dresses. Lily considered it one of the worst days and complained about it a lot in one of her letters to James.

It was the final day that Lily could stay at home with her family. It meant that Dumbledore would have once more set up the floo network for her, which would be open until midnight. Lily knew she would stay as late as she possible could.

She was sitting at the table reading her latest letter from James.

Lily,
We miss you like crazy. Even Sirius has been complaining about you not being here!

Can't wait till you get back.

Enjoy the last day with your family

James.

She knew she had the biggest smile on her face but she didn't care. Every day that she had been gone, Lily and James wrote back and forth to one another. She felt sorry for Peggie and Apollo who had to make the journeys. There was once, James sent Max, Sirius' bird that she saw on that day in Diagon Alley.

Across the table from Lily was her mum, who was watching the smile on Lily's face form as she read whatever letter she had just received.

"Who is it from darling?" Hazel asked, "I haven't seen that particular owl before this week. It is Alice or Marlene?"

"Umm it's from James."

"As in James Potter, the arrogant bullying toerag?"

"Yes mum. But I told you the other day he's not like that anymore."

"Is there something - "

"Mum, no!" Lily interrupted her mum quickly.

"Okay, okay" Hazel said raising her hands, "just curious, that's all."

"So uh, dad's has been looking a lot better these past few days," Lily commented making an obvious change of subject.

"Yeah he has. I think it's because they told him that they could help control any issues. Plus he always loves it when you are home."

"I miss you guys too. I'll make sure when I return that I write more. Oh that reminds me, I need to send Apollo back to Hogwarts before I leave."

"What time will you be leaving?"

"As long as I leave before midnight I can leave whenever. So I was thinking after dinner. If that's okay?"

"Of course it is darling! We wouldn't have it any other way."

~~~/~~~

The rest of the day went by quickly for Lily. Dinner had passed and for a while Lily and her parents sat in their lounge room and just talked. Hazel tried to get more information about James out of Lily, but nothing worked.

At about 10 o'clock, when Lily saw her dad was getting tired anyway, she decided that it was probably time for her to leave.

She had already sent Apollo back to Hogwarts, so all she needed to do was grab her bag and say goodbye to her parents.

First her mum and then her dad, she wrapped her arms around their necks giving them a kiss on the cheek each.

"I love you both," she told them, "and just so you know I'll be sending letters, wanting regular updates. See you at Christmas."

Stepping into her fireplace, she heard both her parents say a final goodbye before she called out, "Hogwarts, heads' common room!" before throwing floo powder into the fireplace beneath her.

Everything spun, but it was over quickly and she was back in her common room. She tried to be quiet as she sorted herself but gave a start when she heard a voice.

"Welcome back."

"Oh hey there. Thanks. Sorry about the noise."

"No it's okay. I've just been reading."

When Lily looked properly she found that James was lying on the couch with a book in his hand.

"Oh I'll just leave you to that then," she said to him as she regathered her bag and started towards her room.

"No wait," he said quickly moving to make space on the couch, "sit with me. Well if you want to."

Smiling at James, she said, "Sure, I would love to. Just let me put my bag in my room."

She walked into her room and dropped her bag on her bed. She would deal with it later. Without a second thought, she joined James on the couch, sitting so she was facing him.

"So, umm thanks for putting up with all my letters." she said a bit awkwardly, not knowing what else to say.

"You're welcome. So how was it really?" James asked her, "I mean I know we wrote, but letters are different to hearing it in person."

"Umm, honestly, it was... I don't know... It was hard to be there... Petunia was too wrapped up in her wedding plans, while mum had to balance between dad and Petunia. And Petunia didn't even care!"

"And what about your dad?"

"Seeing him was so hard. He was just so weak. Though I think he actually looked a bit better by today. At least I thought so. He was even getting up and doing things, as much as we tried to make him rest."

"Well that's good then," James said giving Lily an encouraging smile.

"Yeah it is," she gave him a small smile back, "I just... I don't know what I would do, if anything happened."

Tears began to form in her eyes and she quickly rubbed them before he could see. But he did, and as she moved her hand back down, he leant across and held it.

Holding her hand, using his thumb to draw circles he said to her, "It won't. But if it does I'll be here for you. We all will be."

"Thank you James."

They continued talking for a while longer, into the early morning. Lily was tired, but she just didn't want to go to bed yet. If she was alone, she would imagine the worst possibilities.

She begun to yawn more frequently.

"Oh, I'm sorry for keeping you up late. You must be pretty tired," James said to her as he noticed her yawning.

"Yeah, I should probably head to bed. Goodnight James," she said as she stood up, moving towards her room.

Right before she got to her door, James said, "Hey Lily?"

She turned, "Yeah?"

"Iwasjustwonderingifyouwanttogotohogsmeade? With me?" He quickly said, obviously nervous.

"I'm sorry, but what?"

James took a deep breath and tried again, "Everything has been going really well between us, and I don't want to ruin it, but I was just wondering if you would like to go to Hogsmeade with me this weekend. It can just as friends if you want?"

To James, Lily's response took forever, though that wasn't the case. Even though his friends had told him to just try again, he was scared she would say no.

"Sure. I would love to," she responded, smiling, before walking into her room and closing the door behind her.

James figured he should probably head to bed too. He had only stayed up to see Lily. Going into his room, he knew there would be nothing that could wipe the grin off his face.

She finally said yes.