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As I sit down for lunch, my heart is pounding.
"perfect for each other..."
"soulmates..."
Maybe James isn't so bad at Divination after all.

Alice taps me on the shoulder. "You okay, Lils?"
I'm a lot of things right now, and 'okay' isn't one of them!
I mentally shake myself and try to get composed. "Yeah...yeah I'm fine."
Then James walks into the Hall. He jogs over to where we're sitting and sits down in between Sirius, who's making a tower out of bread rolls, and Frank, who I think is trying to become a Human rubbish bin, shovelling all of the food within his reach into his already full mouth.

I catch James' eye and for a moment we look at each other, green eyes meeting hazel. He extends his hand slightly, and opens it, where my hair ribbon is curled up like a little snake. I look down at it, glance around to make sure none of my friends are looking before staring back up at him, who mouths "What did you hear?"
I take a deep breath and move my lips, no sound coming out. "They match."

Then Sirius nudges James and, with a despairing look at me, he turns to the side, apparently discussing Quidditch. Just then, Professor Oola comes up behind him and speaks in a soft, sinister voice that sends chills down my spine.
"Congratulations Miss Evans."
I curl my lip in disgust. "Excuse me?"
"You've found your soulmate, have you not?"
James clenches his fists and, if looks could kill, this woman would be lying dead on the floor.
"It's very rare for two students have the same Patronus, but for those two students to actively detest each other...Let's just say, it could prove dangerous. I wish you luck, Miss Evans."

I sit up as high as I can, tilt my chin up in defiance and speak in a cold clear voice.
"I'm sorry Professor, but it appears you have made a mistake. We don't hate each other at all, we're good friends." I fix her with my death stare, the one that Alice says could stop Death in his tracks, and smile sweetly. She falters slightly, before turning and walking briskly back up to the Head table.

"Ooooh, Lily, who's your soulmate?" Alice pipes up, ladling some soup into her bowl. I stare at James for help, but he just shrugs and gazes at me pleadingly, widening his eyes behind his glasses. "I...don't know!" I invent wildly, glaring at Sirius' smirking face.
"I mean...I haven't been...told...who yet!" My friend furrows her eyebrows in confusion.
"Huh? So why did Oola think you knew?"
"I'm...not sure! I'll say anything to shut her up, you know me."
Alice laughs and starts dunking her roll her in soup, as I shoot my death stare at a wilting Sirius.

The bell clangs for five minutes until the next lesson, but I'm not fazed; I have a free period next. Apparently Alice does too, as she stays sitting down as Frank, Sirius and James clamber to their feet, Frank knocking over Sirius' roll masterpiece, to many groans. Frank kisses Alice on the forehead, and Sirius waves and blows a kiss at Marlene, so I catch James' eye and grin mischievously.

The next minute, we're embracing each other, then we pull apart and I'm fake-crying dramatically. James walks down the aisle leading out of the Hall, waving slowly, calling out to me in an exaggerated sad voice. "I'll see you later, Lily dearest, if the boredom doesn't kill me first!"
"I'll see you later, James dearest. If you die, don't worry, I'll arrange a lovely funeral for you!"
"That's my girl!"
He waves finally and jogs out of the Hall, leaving behind a confused Alice, an irate table of professors and me, giggling openly.

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Later, in the Heads' common room, I'm sighing over a Transfiguration essay when a green ribbon falls in my lap. I turn around and smile at the supposedly empty space, reaching out and pulling over the Invisibility Cloak that's covering James. He grins sheepishly and climbs over onto the sofa, so I push my half-finished homework away, and curl up, turning to face him.

"So..." he starts, fiddling with the end of his tie nervously. "You heard my conversation with Oola, huh?"
"Possibly..."
"And you saw what my Patronus is?"
I try to sound confident, but my voice comes out as a whisper. "They match, James. They match."
He sighs loudly, and runs his hand through his hair. "I know. You know what that means, right?"
"It's like the world wants us to be together." I ponder, tapping on the cushion next to me.
James rolls his eyes and speaks firmly. "When... I mean, if we get together, the world will nothing to do with it."
"Why not?"
"Because we would get together on our own, through our own choices. The world is just giving us signs to say that if we did get together, it would be really good."
Now it's my turn to roll my eyes. "Are you sure that you failed your Divination OWL, James? That sounded refreshingly deep and meaningful, just like that load of prediction crap."

James laughs and slouches back into the love seat, and I lean back against him.
" I do work, you know? I didn't spend all of my holidays playing Quidditch, Lily!"
"No, just 99% of the time?"
"Yeah..."

We sit in silence for a moment, then I can't help but blurt out:

"Umm...James...can we summon then again?"
"What? Our Patroni?"
"Uh-huh."
"Sure. Why?"
"I know it's stupid, but..." I blush as red as my hair. "I just wanted to make sure that I wasn't imagining it, last time."

He raises his wand and waves it in an arc. "Expecto Patronum." The stag from earlier stands in front of us, his head leaned toward towards me respectively. I smile as I whisper the incantation, remembering the look on James' face when I said I'd rejected Diggory.
My silvery doe leaps gracefully out of the end of my wand and nudges the stag, so he starts to canter after her, racing around the room, leaping over the coffee table.
I can't believe how beautiful it is.

There's a sudden knock on the door and Sirius bursts in. "So, mate, how did it go with Oola? What did she- Oh...sorry."
My Patronus vanishes as I lose concentration and James' vanishes too.

I sit up and grin at Sirius, before jumping off the sofa, and skipping up the stairs to the bedroom. Halfway up, I hear James calling me and stop, spinning around. "Lily? You don't have to go upstairs, I just promised Padfoot I would-"
"It's no big deal, I'm just going to see Alice." I gather up my stuff, and sling my bag over my shoulder, before walking quickly down the stairs.

James is pacing up and down, gesticulating wildly, and Sirius is sitting, cross-legged on the rug, leaning against the back of the sofa, out of James' line of sight. "-not saying about it! It's driving me-"
"Uhhh...Prongs." Sirius winks at me, and I smile as James falters.

"Bye dearest James!" I call, amusement clear in my voice.
"See you later, Petal." He smiles wearily.
Sirius pouts and speaks in a mock-distressed voice. "What, I don't get a goodbye, Evans?"
I go over and hug Sirius, grinning, and he whispers in my ear, "Keep quiet, Evans, just play along."
Then he growls my name in a seductive voice. "Lily...Evans..."
I don't have much experience in pretending to snog someone, surprisingly, so I just close my eyes tightly, and wait in anticipation for James to explode.

James storms around the sofa, and speaks in an angry voice. "What the hell is-" he stops when he sees Sirius laughing, and me smiling nervously, and steps forward, growling menacingly. I stand up, and yank Sirius up by the back of his robes, trying not to giggle. Sensing James' genuine anger, I wave nervously at him, grimace at Sirius and jog out of the room, frowning nervously as I hear James' annoyed yells. "It's not funny! You know how much I-"

I don't want to hear anymore.
I jog off down the corridor to find Alice.

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