Disclaimer: I do not own Harry Potter or any characters in associated with the series.

James

James Potter was not one to wake up early without reason. Very few things caused him to wake up earlier then was absolutely necessary (lessons were not one of those reasons). So when he awoke at 6:15 in the morning, he was a bit more than shocked. For a few moments, he laid in bed and just stared at the ceiling, but unable to go back to sleep.

His mind went through some of the reasons why he would have awoken. He had scheduled no Quidditch practice today (the Hufflepuff's had beaten him to booking the field today –much to his dismay, but his teams happiness for a weekend break). Sirius was not snoring –which has, on more than one occasion, startled James so much that he hexed Sirius in a half-awake state thinking that his best mates snores were a banshee screech. It was not a full moon, so he was not taking care of Remus. He heard his three friends all sleeping soundly in their respectable beds, so they hadn't been attempting to play a prank on him.

Sighing, James decided that he was awake for no reason, but going back to a peaceful sleep was a lost cause. He thought about what he was going to have to do today, the only thing that came to mind was meeting up with Lily Evans and speaking with Dumbledore about some new (brilliant, in James' opinion) plans that himself and Lily had come up with a few days ago while patrolling the corridors late at night.

A smile spread on James' face as he thought about Lily. They had become friends due to their Head duties that they did and James was glad to just be settled with that for now. He still hoped that it would go further than friendship one day, but he would be at peace with this arrangement for now. Before he even knew what he was doing, he had pulled the Marauders' map out from underneath his pillow and whispered "I solemnly swear that I'm up to no good" and it revealed the complete map of Hogwarts.

The main reason that James had it under his pillow was due to the fact that when he had it in his trunk, Sirius had dug it -and his invisibility cloak- out and went for a midnight run to the kitchens without inviting James to go with him. So he was now more protective over it more out of spite of Sirius than anything else.

His eyes searched the girl's Seventh year dorm and saw that Lily's name wasn't there. He searched the Common room to find that –once again- Lily's name wasn't there. He checked in the Head's room –which was more created for the Heads when they were in two different Houses and needed a more quiet place to plan things out and meet up, Lily usually went in there to study if she wanted quiet that she couldn't find in the common room- she still wasn't there. Finally, he moved his eyes to the Great Hall and saw that Lily was not there, but he saw one little dot all alone in private corridor that he didn't even think that anyone besides the Marauders knew about. That little dot read 'Lily Evans.'

Frowning, James saw that Lily wasn't moving from that spot and suddenly got curious and very worried about her. He used the Map to see if Lily would move from her position at all, but she didn't move in the whole three minute it took for him to get down to her –glad for his Quidditch skills, as he did run most of the way. He paused outside of the corridor and listened to hear if Lily was studying –as she usually quietly whispered to herself- or writing, but he heard neither. Instead her heard the unmistakable sound of Lily crying… and the sound ripped his heart out. That's what caused James to walk right into the corridor and move right next to her on the ground, putting his arm around her. "Hey," He said quietly, not even thinking about what he was saying, "It's okay, Lily."

When James exited the corridor with Lily, hand-in-hand, he was glad that he got up as early as he did. If things like this happen all the time to people who got up this early, he just may think about doing it more often.

In all reality, he was the happiest guy alive right now. Lily Evans had just agreed to go out with him and she wasn't crying anymore and seemingly in a much better mood. Overall, he considered this a highly successful day, all before any of the other Marauders were up as well, probably a record. For himself at least.

As the two walked to the staircase that led to the Gryffindor common room, James could only think 'today is a good day.'