Before the sixth years could tell November had arrived with loads of homework, stress and a hint of winter. With the amount of homework that was being dumped on the sixth years, even the marauders were occasionally found scribbling away at their parchments. Mary had broken down one day in the library, saying she could just learn a few cleaning spells and become Filch's assistant. Lily and Remus mostly discussed their essays on their patrols. James, Marlene and Sirius probably had the worst fate of all, with the Quidditch season fast approaching. Gryffindors had their first match against Slytherins in the last week of November. While as stressful and strenuous as training for upcoming matches normally was, this season the Gryffindor team was being trained as if they had to play against flying dragons. Slytherins were possibly their toughest competitor, even if one were to not mention their skills at cheating. However, the reason why the Gryffindor team was being grilled was, that they had a new captain. Dorcas Meadows had come up with four very new game plans and was making the team practice the play every alternate evening, while the weekends were almost completely booked. James on the other hand, had to stay back after the practice for an hour to train the new players.

Lily's fingertips were cold and the draft in the classroom didn't help. She adjusted her skirt and started pleating it at the hem. She glanced towards where James sat in the farthest corner possible, three books opened in front of him, his one hand on the books, the other scribbling away at his parchment. Late again, Lily sighed. She looked around at Peter and Sirius. Both of them looked like they were finishing up on some assignment too, but looked relatively calm. She glanced down at her own essay. Neat, with all the margins in place. She had the urge to add something but she had already exceeded the limit by 3 inches.

"Alright class, cough up your essays." declared Slughorn getting up from his seat.

The rustling of paper followed this announcement and students hurried up to the teacher's desk to submit their essays. Lily, as was her habit, waited patiently in her seat for the bustle to die down. She turned to look at James who was still writing. He looked up when the bell rang and met Lily's eyes. Lily whipped her head back, knocking off her bag from her chair. She collected her essay and hastily walked towards Slughorn's desk, blinking rapidly, trying to clear her head.

"Ah miss Evans, I see your roll of parchment looks a bit thicker than the rest of the students, eh." chuckled Slughorn. Lily cleared her throat but thought better not to say anything.

"Mr. Potter, living on the edge as always. When did you finish the essay?" asked Slughorn looking past Lily. James rushed towards Slughorn and stood next to Lily, his forearm slightly brushing her shoulder as he handed in his essay.

"An hour ago." replied James.

"I always underestimate you, Mister Potter. My guess was at breakfast." said Slughorn, as he dismissed the two students.

Lily turned around to find all the students had left for lunch. It had been an exhausting day and she herself was desperate to get some food inside her. James rushed past her to collect his books while she went over to collect hers. She looked down at her notes for the Unforgivable Curses essay inside her Transfiguration book. They had this essay due after lunch. She looked over at James who had three books and a scroll of parchment in his arms. Lily thought back to the look of horror on his face last evening when Marlene had told him this essay was due today. He hadn't even taken a shower after the quidditch practice and had sat down to work on the essay. They hadn't talked since the day Dorcas was announced captain, which made Lily all the more uneasy. Lily sighed, took out her notes and walked towards him.

"Are you done with your DADA essay?" asked Lily, trying to sound casual.

James turned around and almost lost hold of the books. He looked like a lost kid. An exceptionally tall lost kid.

"What?"

"Did you finish the Unforgivable Curses essay? The one that's due after lunch."

"Um, no, I mean I still have to read up on the Cruciatus. I hate reading long decorative articles."

"You know that's why people make notes." chuckled Lily, trying to calm her nerves.

"I know Evans, but I haven't exactly had time to make notes." replied James curtly as he sped past Lily towards the Great Hall.

Lily felt as if someone had splashed cold water onto her face. She felt naked as the embarrassment and hot anger spread through her body. Clutching her notes tightly she started towards the Great Hall, mind fixated on James Potter. She didn't have to do this. She shouldn't have even thought of sharing her notes. There was no point in giving him her notes now anyway. But the more she tried to reason her way out of it, the more she found herself walking faster towards him. As she entered the Great Hall, Lily could see the alarming faces of Sirius, Peter and soon enough James turned around to meet Lily's eyes, as she stopped, towering over him.

"Listen Evans, I didn-"

"I know you haven't had time to make notes, Potter," started Lily, enjoying James cowering under her, "which is why I, like the idiot that I am, decided to bring my notes to share them with you." Lily slapped her notes down the table, turned on her heel and walked out of the Great Hall, all traces of hunger gone.

Lily tapped her quill on the table impatiently, waiting for the class to be done with. She reached up and straightened her collar in a bid to control herself from craning her neck to look at James. Marlene shifted in her seat next to Lily and the latter had to suppress the urge of snapping at her friend, who was quite apparently discomforted by the strained silence between them. Lily had skipped lunch, and decided to wait in the classroom for the

rest of the students to come in. She sat on the first bench so she'd be as far away from James as possible but James had other plans and sat on the first bench in the row on Lily's right.

"But how would we know that the curse has hit the other person?"

"Mister Potter, I appreciate that you've finally taken to interacting in class, but you're in your sixth year, and with the amount of duelling that you get into with the Slytherins-"

"Oh well don't sugarcoat it." whispered Marlene.

"-I'm sure you can tell when a curse hits your opponent, this curse is no exception. When you see the desired result of the intended curse, you know that the curse has hit the opponent." sighed Professor Abernathy, as he answered the twelfth question asked by James. The twelfth useless question, thought Lily.

"Alright, hand in your essays for this week and I'll call off the class then." Professor Abernathy stated.

Lily grabbed her essay, walked up to the teacher's desk and submitted her assignment, fighting every urge to look at the commotion over at James' desk that had followed after she stood up from her own.

"Oi, wait for us." cried Marlene struggling to string her way past the crowd that had gathered around the teacher's table.

"I'll wait outside." mouthed Lily and made her way out of the classroom.

Lily tapped her foot waiting for her friends, the uneasy feeling growing in the pit of her stomach. Why did I even think of sharing anything with him in the first place? He has his own brilliant friends, they should've helped him. Lily checked her watch. The impatience of getting away from Potter as far as possible was ticking like a bomb inside her. She heard a familiar, hasty shuffling of feet as the students exited the classroom. She knew who was leaving next. The palm of her hands tingled with anticipation, the hair on her head felt too hot. Unable to bear the nervous energy anymore, she joined the swarm of students leaving the classroom. Struggling to move ahead, she tried pushing her way out of the crowd of unruly students. She knew James would come after her the first thing after the class ended. But she didn't know she'll want to run away from him instead of facing him head on. She hadn't thought of how many students must have seen her giving James her notes in the Great Hall. Memories of the countless times she had scoffed at girls who had offered to share their notes with the marauders in the past few years came rushing to her, flooding her senses with sick embarrassment.

No, no, no, no, n-

"Evans!"

Her heart gave a jolt, the air around her felt on guard, hearing the familiar voice. The rush of the crowd seemed to have stopped. She turned around and watched James walking towards her, the students just getting out of his way. He looked quite at ease, walked with the same gentle swagger and easy expressions on his face. But then again why should he be flustered. It wasn't the first time a girl offered him her notes, thought Lily.

"Er .. your notes, here. They were a lot of help, thanks." said James, smiling.

"No problem." replied Lily, as she took the notes from James, turned around and started walking back towards the dormitory, hoping to vanish into thin air.

She was vaguely aware of James staring at her retreating form. It made the back of her neck tingle, like when sitting with your back towards the sun for too long, even in winters.

He looks like he owns this castle. Like he's entitled to get help. Nothing fazes him. Then again, it's not his first time returning a girl's notes. Why why WHY did I share my notes with him. He was doing just fine without them. If I hadn't shared my notes someone definitely would've helped him out. He's probably adding my name to the list of the girls that had shared their notes with him. It made the insides of her stomach squirm. She looked down at her notes. They were creased everywhere. Git. It was probably because she clutched them too tightly first. But it felt good to blame Potter, felt like like pouring cold water onto hot soil. It was familiar territory for her, to blame him, even better when it was without cause. She felt the blinding heat of embarrassment flow into her hands as she tore her notes to bits and pieces. That's what she'll stick to, she decided. No more giving him the benefit of the doubt.

Author's note: Oh boy, it's been so long! So long that I've pretty much forgotten everything I had planned for this fic. But I intend to finish it at all costs, and recently I got back into writing. I need to revise all the notes for this fic and reread it to be able to write ahead. So please be patient with me. Thank you so much for reading! You guys are the best!