Chapter 16:

It didn't matter how long they had been going out, people still stared at James and Lily. The girls who had always wanted James glared at Lily, and she was getting sick off it. It was uncountable how many times she complained that they "needed to mind their own business and leave her alone."

They had been together for nearly a month now, and Lily knew that it was one of the best decisions she had made.

She laughed to herself thinking about what things used to be like between them, how her friends kept telling her that James wasn't that bad, or how she used to complain all the time to her parents when she went home.

Thinking of her parents made Lily remember the letter she received from her parents after telling them about James. Both her parents wrote in the letter. Her mum was ecstatic and said she knew it was coming. Her dad however, was more protective wanting to know absolutely everything.

She also found out that Petunia's wedding would be during Lily's Christmas break, so that she could be there as she was a bridesmaid. Her mum also asked if she wanted to invite James to the wedding, as it was a requirement that sometime on the break, they had to meet James.

Although Lily had received the letter shortly after she had sent hers, she still hadn't asked James about the wedding. She wanted to, but she never knew when to bring it up. He had heard so much about Petunia that she thought maybe he just wouldn't want to go. Though, she realised she would have to ask him soon. Just to give him some time to think about it.

She was sitting alone in the common room, reading about vampires and other dark creatures in her Defence Against the Dark Arts text. They had an essay they had to do, so she was reading to find some information she could use.

James was at Quidditch practice and was bound to return soon. As she turned over the next page, she heard a soft click of the door. She continued reading, guessing James was going to try and scare her, since he hadn't called out as usual.

She heard movement right behind her and said quickly, "Don't even think about it."

"How did you know?" he exclaimed.

"You really aren't as quiet as you think," Lily said smiling, "and don't even think about coming near me."

"You just had Quidditch practice, meaning you're going to be all sweaty, and I know you prefer the shower in here," she said still not looking up from her book.

Sensing he was about to grab her she shot up quickly, moving away from him. When she turned towards him, he was standing behind the couch with the biggest smirk on his face.

Dressed in a well fitted top, Lily couldn't help but state at him. The contours of his muscles could be seen.

He took a step again, moving closer to Lily who took a step away.

"Aw, come on Lily! Just a hug."

"No!"

He started towards her, and she quickly moved away. It wasn't long before it became a chase around their common room. Unfortunately for Lily, she wasn't quick enough to stay away from him. Before long she was wrapped in his arms.

"Ew!' She squealed as his sweaty arms wrapped around her,

"You love it Evans," James teased.

"No I don't. Now I'm going to have to take a shower!"

"Hey what a coincidence," James said, "so do I, We should go take a shower."

"In your dreams Potter."

"They already are, Lily-Flower," another voice said from behind them.

Spinning quickly, Lily spotted Sirius, leaning against the wall of the hallway casually. His arms folded across his body, he was smirking at his friends.

"Shut up Padfoot," James told him.

"Um how long have you been standing there?" Lily asked still engulfed in James' arms.

"Oh I don't know. Long enough," he shrugged nonchalantly still smirking at them, "You two really need to get a room."

Lily felt her face go bright red at Sirius' comment as she felt James let go of her. Not a second later, Lily watched as a book went flying across the room smacking Sirius in the face.

"Oi! What was that for?" Sirius exclaimed.

"You know exactly what!"

"Nope, don't think I do."

"Um so what are you doing here?" Lily asked.

"What? I'm not allowed spend time with you?" Sirius feigned being hurt.

"Well yeah, but there is this thing called knocking."

"I did knock!"

"But did we let you in?" Lily glared at him.

"Sure, I'm pretty sure you did."

Rolling her eyes, it was Lily's turn to throw something at Sirius.

"Hey! Hey! Hey! Prongs, control your girlfriend. She's violent!"

"I swear to god, Black!" Lily exclaimed holding up another book to throw at Sirius.

Holding up his hands in defence, Sirius began backing up, "So I'm just going to go now. I'll, uhh, see you two later."

Quickly Sirius turned and ran out.

Laughing, James and Lily faced one another.

"So where were we again?"

~~~/~~~

Walking up, Lily felt drained. It was pitch black outside still and her arm, which wasn't under her blanket, was freezing cold. Turning over, she looked at the time. Four o'clock in the morning.

Groaning, she rolled back over. There was absolutely no reason for her to be awake at that time and she hated her body for it.

She didn't remember what she dreamed, but it was something that kept her tossing and turning during the night. She could barely move as her sheets were wrapped fully around her.

Wriggling and attempting to pull her sheets from beneath her, she removed herself from being completely tangled.

She rolled to her side, pulling the covers over her to stay warm. Closing her eyes she hoped she could get a couple more hours sleep before she would have to get up for the day.

Time seemed to go slowly, and Lily tossing and turning wasn't able to get back to sleep. Usually when her alarm went off, at quarter to seven, she would wake up and be able to get up. Instead she turned her alarm off and rolled back over, throwing her blankets over her head.

It felt like only seconds later, she heard the light tapping on her door.

"Lils? Lily? Are you in there?"

Instead of replying to him, Lily remained wrapped in her blankets not wanting to move.

She knew she should get up soon, and she would eventually, but after such a terrible night of sleeping she didn't feel up to it.

The next thing she knew was James was sitting on her bed, shaking her awake.

"Come on Lily. Time to get up," he told her softly.

"No," she groaned.

"Are you okay? Sick? Do I need to take you to the hospital wing?"

"No. Sleep," she said grumpily, "can I just sleep all day?"

"No you can't. Come on let's get you up," he said as he pulled her covers away from her head, "since when does Lily Evans want to skip classes? I'm a bad influence on you!"

"Shut it, Potter," she said sitting up slowly, "see I'm up okay?"

Giving him a quick kiss on the lips she said, "Now get out. I'll be out in a moment."

As soon as James closed the door being him, Lily grudgingly got herself out of bed and ready for the day.

"I need coffee," she mumbled to herself before leaving her room.

Leaving her room, the smell of coffee hit her.

"Wow I really need coffee badly," she said under her breath.

"What was that?" James asked.

"I really need coffee. I said that right before walking out of my room and now I'm smelling it."

Grinning, James said, "Your wish is my command," as he indicated a cup of coffee on the little table in front of the couch where he was sitting."

"COFFEE!" Lily exclaimed before running over to have some, "Ow! Hot, hot, hot!"

"oh shut up!" she said to James who was laughing at her, "how?"

"My secret," he winked at her, "let's go down to breakfast. I'm starved."

"But coffee..."

"Bring it with you," he told her, standing and kissing her cheek.

Together they walked down to the hall, Lily gratefully holding her cup of well needed coffee.

"What's wrong this morning?" James asked her.

"I just slept really badly last night. Weird dreams and such."

"Do you want to talk about it?"

"I don't really remember them, just that they were weird. I must have turned a fair bit during the night. I could barely move when I woke up at the ridiculous hour this morning."

"Hmm okay," James said, unsure how to respond, "perhaps if we get some food into you it will help a bit."

"If it include chocolate then I am okay with this."

"Yes we'll get you something chocolate."

"Yay!" Lily said as she moved a little bit faster to get to the Great Hall faster.

Shaking his head, James followed after her. When they arrived to the hall, they joined their friends who were already sitting at the table

"Where were you two?" Sirius asked suggestively, winking at James.

"Shut up Padfoot," Remus said slapping Sirius on the back of the head, while Peter giggled.

"Oi! No hitting! It takes effort to look like this!" Sirius complained.

"Trust me. We know," Remus responded bluntly, "there are others who want to use the bathroom in the mornings."

"Hush you. James nor Lily responded to my question."

"I slept in," Lily said sleepily, as she yawned while putting some food on her plate and pouring some pumpkin juice.

The girls looked across at Lily curiously, knowing that it was strange for Lily to sleep in.

"Is everything okay?" Marlene asked, worried about her friend.

"Yeah don't worry. I'm fine."

Both Marlene and Alice looked unconvinced, but knew not to push their friend. They continued looking at Lily, who looked down and continued eating.

James also watched Lily. His arm stayed around her to comfort her.

Once she finished eating, they all left for their first class.

~~~/~~~

Potions class was last. Lily loved potions, which meant it didn't matter to her that it was the last class of the day she would always be attentive in the class. No matter how tired she was. It was probably why Professor Slughorn liked her so much. The fact that she was actually pretty decent at the subject, probably the best in the class – other than Sev – helped with that too. They used to work together in classes as it was easy for the both of them. That was until fifth year.

It was weird for a while after that, sure Lily had her girl friends and of course, James chasing after her. But it didn't feel right. Her friend, who introduced magic to her, just left her calling her something she never thought she would hear from his mouth.

It didn't matter so much anymore. She knew they chose their separate paths, there wasn't much that could change that but at least she had James now.

Thinking about James, she looked across at him, sitting next to Sirius in the row in front and to the side. He was actually paying attention to Slughorn, looking up at him and taking notes, but as if feeling Lily's gaze on him, he looked behind and smiled at her. She smiled back, but only softly. She was still tired.

Noticing that something was wrong, he mouthed, "Are you okay?"

"Yes," she mouthed back and nodded, trying to smile a bit better to convince him that she was okay. It didn't seem to work.

Class seemed to drag on forever. They were discussing the uses of Polyjuice Potion and the effects it could have but also its benefits and uses by aurors.

That was probably why James and Sirius were paying so much attention in the class. They both wanted to becomes aurors, following in James' parent's footsteps.

When the lesson eventually finished, Lily let out a sigh of relief. She just wanted to go back to her bed and sleep more.

James jumped up immediately and came to see if she was okay.

"I can cancel practice if you need," he was saying to her.

"No! No. No. No," Sirius said, "there is no way you are cancelling this practice! We barely ever get time one the pitch. Say your goodbyes and let's go."

Allowing James to give Lily a quick kiss, Sirius grabbed James' arm and dragged him away.

Lily still needed to pack up all her belongings, and although the others offered to wait with her, she sent them on her way saying that she was heading straight back to her room to sleep. They grudgingly left her.

As she slowly packed up, she realised there was one other person left behind. Sev.

Instead of leaving he moved over to talk to her.

"Lily," he began.

"What do you want?"

"So it's you and Potter is it?"

"Yes," she told him curtly, "what's it matter to you?"

"You used to hate him."

"And I used to like you."

"You don't anymore?"

"Well why should I? You've change. You know what you said."

"I don't know how many times I can apologise for – "

"No. Don't even bother. Save your breath. I don't think I can forgive you for that."

"What, and you can forgive Potter? For everything that he did to you? To me?"

"Yes. Because he wasn't hateful. He has never discriminated me because I'm a muggleborn. Oh wait no, I'm a mudblood right?"

"No. Please, don't say that. Don't call yourself that."

"Well I am one, aren't I? You said so yourself. But what did you want, there has to be a reason you wanted to talk to me."

"Break up with him."

"Seriously. That's what you wanted to tell me? Just leave me alone."

"No you don't understand. Please just break up with him. You don't hear what the others are saying about you two."

Lily knew exactly who he meant. His friends, the death eaters.

"They are planning things," he continued, "terrible things to hurt the two of you. To hurt you. The mudblood and the blood traitor, that's what they say."

"Why would you even care? You hate James."

"Yes. But I care about you."

"Whatever, just leave me alone," Lily told him before she grabbed all her stuff and walked out.

From behind her she heard Sev call out, "Be careful, please. They will hurt you."

Just like you hurt me," she thought to herself, but didn't have the heart to say it aloud. Instead she continued walking, not turning once.

~~~/~~~

"Come on guys, let's do this!" James said as he one by one pushed his team out of the change rooms.

One by one the team left the change room, followed lastly by James.

"You know, oh fearless captain, it's about time we had another practice," Christine said to him, "how's being with Lily going?"

"Hey! It's been impossible to book the pitch for us! It's as if every house bar us can get it. And great thank you very much," he responded.

"Yeah, it's impossible to break them a part!" Sirius called from a head.

"Shut it Padfoot! Okay I want 5 laps of the pitch! Go, go, go!" James instructed his team

Following his team, he weaved in and out between then for the five laps correcting technique but also providing a distraction of sorts so they to could practice their weaving and dodging.

After their five laps James set himself, Sirius, Christine, Chad, Lucus and Rhys working on skills and techniques, getting himself and the other two chasers to practice shots while Rhys defended while at the same time the beaters, Sirius and Lucus were practicing their aim of hitting the blisters towards charmed targets.

Mary, as seeker was told to practice her dives.

Part way through practice, Sirius flew over to James, "So what's wrong with our Lily-flower today? She seems... Out of it..."

"She didn't sleep well. It took ages for me to get her up, which is unusual for her."

"Bad dreams?"

"Apparently, but she said she doesn't remember them. Literally took me forever to get her out of bed. At least the sight of coffee managed to wake her up a bit. Honestly, I'm a bit worried."

"Hey, you don't need to worry. It was only last night this has happened to her. It'll be fine."

"Yeah, true," James said unconvincingly, "right. Come on. Let's get back to work."

It wasn't until it became dark and James knew it was dinnertime that he finally called the practice quits. The team all flew down together.

"Good work guys! The cup should be ours this year!" James said, clearly excited about idea of winning the cup.

Tired and sweaty from the practice, the team headed into the change rooms to take a shower before all rushing to get some dinner.

James, when he walked into the Great Hall, looked down the Gryffindor table for Lily However, he only spotted Marlene, sitting with Peter and Remus and Alice and Frank in their own little world. Just like he always knew Lily and he would be perfect together, Alice and Frank were composite pieces of a puzzle.

Since he didn't spot Lily, he figured she had gone back to their dorm already. Quickly stuffing food into his mouth, he ate his dinner and went up to the dorm, only to find that she wasn't in their common room and her bedroom door was closed. He wanted to go in and see if she was awake, but after the night she had had the night before it was better that he let her sleep.

~~~/~~~

Severus' words rang through Lily's mind.

"The mudblood and the blood traitor… They are planning things terrible things to hurt the two of you. To hurt you."

She knew she shouldn't listen to him. It was probably just some ploy so that the couple would break up. No, she knew it was just a ploy. How could it not be. Sev, no Snape, hates James, just as she used to. Of course he would hate the fact they were together. It didn't matter if she was happy or not.

But even being happy, and believing it was some ploy. What he said scared her. Not that she should be scared of students, but she knew who they were. They were death eaters. Everyone knew they were and she was surprised Dumbledore would even let them in the school.

She didn't want to have to deal with them.

Lying in bed, her eyes began to close. Looking out her window, the moon was high in the dark but clear sky. The last thing to cross her mid before she fell asleep, the full moon is soon.

Hi everyone!

Here it is finally! I'm so sorry that it's taken me so long, but I hope you have enjoyed the chapter.

Black-lightning-runes xx