Chapter 7

Lily, Mary and Alice flopped into the armchairs by the fire in the Head's sitting room. Halfway through the try-outs, it had completely clouded over and the rain had come pouring down. Sirius and Peter had sprinted back to the warmth of the castle but Remus and the girls stayed, with their cloaks pulled over their heads, out of loyalty to their friends.

Lily removed her shoes and socks, wringing them out with her hands.

"Honestly, the amount of water these socks absorb," she said shaking her hands out after placing the socks on the hearth.

"I still think we should've left when Sirius and Peter did." Mary grumbled, squeezing the ends of her hair and wiping the black mascara trails from under her eyes. "My make-up has completely disappeared." Trust Mary to be fretting over her appearance.

"Marlene should be back soon, shouldn't she?" Alice said. Just then, the portrait hole opened and a completely dry Sirius and Peter followed by a dripping, muddy James Potter.

"Hellooo ladies," Sirius said striding over to Lily, Mary and Alice by the fire and promptly tripping over the carpet. The girls burst into a fit of giggles. James and Peter sauntered over behind him. James sat down directly in front of the fire.

"Good God, I am freezing." He said. He ran a hand through his wet hair, spraying Lily behind him with mud.

"For goodness sake! I have just this second dried myself off. Go and have a shower!"

James turned at gave a crooked grin at her. "I'm Head Boy, I'll do what I like, Lils,"

"Don't call me Lils." She frowned.

"Everyone calls you Lils."

"You're not everyone"

"Are you saying I'm special?"

"No! "

"Yes you are. You said I'm different to everyone else"

"I did not."

"Hear that Pads? She thinks I'm special! Progress!"

"That is not progress, James!" Lily cried, smiling despite herself.

"The flirting, I can't take it!" Sirius said, pretending to faint.

"Shut up Sirius!" James and Lily growled at him at the same time. Lily glared at him and stood up. "I'm going to see if Marlene is in the Gryffindor dormitory," and with that, she marched off.

Sirius sat up. "You heard what she said, right Prongs?" he was grinning like an idiot.

"Yeah." James replied dejectedly "She hates me."

"Buuuuuuut..." Sirius said. "She called you James!"

"Oh yeah!" Alice said.

"What?" James asked.

"She didn't say Potter, she said James!" Mary cried.

James grinned. "Definite progress!"

Just then, Lily arrived back.

"She's not in the dormitories or the common room. I wonder where she's got to?"

"Who?" James asked.

"Marlene. We haven't seen her since the try-outs."

"Well she'd left the changing rooms by the time I was finished."

"I'm sure she's ok." Mary said.

"Speaking of which, I haven't seen Remus either." Alice said.

James and Sirius exchanged a look.

"Oh he's in the hospital wing," Sirius said "He said he didn't feel well."

"Oh alright then. I hope he's ok." Peter said, fiddling with his shoelace. James and Sirius looked at him incredulously. Sometimes, Peter could be really thick.

"It's nearly dinnertime." Alice said. "I think I'll go and find Frank."

"Frank?" Lily asked "Your not…."

"She is!" squealed Mary as Alice went beetroot red.

"Oh my God! Alice why didn't you tell us?"

"I'm sure I mentioned-" Alice muttered.

James, Sirius and Peter just stared as the girls jumped up and down and hugged Alice over and over.

"Do you have any idea what's going on?" Sirius whispered to James.

"Not a clue." He replied.

"I think I'll visit Remus before they try to involve us." Sirius jumped up and scuttled toward the portrait hole. Peter lay fast asleep on one of the armchairs. James leaned back against the leg of the other one and closed his eyes. He could hear the girls giggling still. Then they stopped and James heard the portrait hole open and close again. He was about to heave himself off the carpet when he heard the creak of the sofa and the rustling of the pages of a book. Lily. James relaxed and pretended to be asleep, even letting a few contented snores escape, listening to her breathing.

Lily flicked through the pages of Fantastic Beasts and Where to Find Them but she couldn't concentrate on the words. Her mind was too preoccupied. Remus was in the Hospital Wing. Alice was going out with Frank and Mary had gone to 'check up' on them. Marlene was still missing and Peter looked absolutely hilarious slumped in a deep sleep in the armchair, drool running down his chin. Lily's eyes swept over the darkening room, the fire was the only light now, illuminating the high ceiling and stone walls. Her gaze was drawn to James, sprawled out on the carpet, also asleep. He looked strangely vulnerable. His face wasn't creased up with laughter lines but it wasn't frowning either. His dark hair fell over his eyes because he hadn't run his hand through it and his glasses were slipping down his nose. His Quidditch robe-clad chest rose and fell with every breath, dried mud encrusted in them. Suddenly, he gave an enormous snore which sounded to Lily as fake as it could possibly be. She started laughing and when James grinned his playful grin and opened his eyes she giggled even harder.

"What?" he said, oh so innocently. "You woke me up with your laughing. Which, by the way,-" he added "-is a lovely sound to wake up to"

Lily threw a cushion at him. "You weren't asleep! That snore sounded like a tuba!"

"Hey!" James said, bringing his hand to his heart pretending to be hurt. "I can't help it if I snore like that!" He threw a cushion back at her.

Lily shrieked and ran behind the sofa to hide. She peeked up over the back in time to see James bound across the room in an attempt to jump over the back of the sofa. Unfortunately, he misjudged and flipped over instead, landing on Lily, knocking her to the floor. She screamed.

"Well Li-Evans." He said, grinning like a Chesire cat.

" Get off."

"No."

"Get off"

"Nah. Don't wanna."

"Potter." Lily gritted her teeth. James sighed and stood up.

"Thank you!" Lily scrambled to her feet. "You smell of mud, by the way." And with that, she stormed out of the room.