I Never Thought it Would

[Issa (Luisa)]

*mutters something about knowing the fate of most of the main characters*

Marauder fics usually end sadly as well. Remember Mikki's sequel to "catch me when I fall"? It ended with somebody killing themselves, a baby being buried, two people being cursed to insanity, an innocent man in jail, a traitor, loads of dead people, and another baby becoming an orphan and having to deal with the whole chosen one stuff.

[Ames]

Oh yes. I remember it. Vividly. She had many people in tears by the end of her sequel. And she enjoyed every minute. She really was evil. But boy did we love her all the more for it!

[Issa (Luisa)]

It's just, we know the fate of most of the main characters and even other characters from that era. When Lily scorns James, you think, "Soon, you'll like him Lily. Then you'll marry, have a son, die at the hands of Voldemort, your son will then save the magical world a million times, marry, then name his daughter after you." That's my only problem with Marauder era things, like during Prince's tale, I knew how almost every character (besides Dung) died.

-waits for next chapter-

-twitches-

[Ames]

Boo! Hey there, just thought I'd pop in and post the next chapter here. I haven't forgotten about this fic, things just keep on getting busier as Christmas approaches. I probably won't be on much between now and then. But after the New Year, I'm hoping things will slow down and I'll be able to get back to it.

Anyways, here's the next chapter.

[Ames]

Chapter 3:

The party lasted well past midnight, and Lily got more and more tired as the night went on. Not that she hadn’t enjoyed herself, she’d had a great time, she just wanted it to end so she could think about the events of the evening and figure a few things out for herself. She also knew that she was facing a brutally long question and answer period with her friends before she could even think about getting any sleep. And it was very obvious that her friends were anxious to get the session started.

As it turned out, the marauders were the last Aspirants to leave, so Lily didn’t feel quite as bad when Alice and Halli practically pushed them out the front door. Lily just managed a quick wave goodbye before the girls shut the door, then proceeded to nearly pull her arms out of their sockets trying to drag her up the stairs.

“I can walk just fine by myself, thank you very much!” Lily huffed, yanking her arms free. “What has gotten into you two?” she demanded, stopping half way up the stairs and glaring at her friends. The simply shared another knowing glance in response. Yes, because that wasn’t getting irritating at all, Lily thought, then decided she’d better follow them before the figured she needed to be tied up and carried to her room.

As she reached her bedroom door, their two sets of hands grabbed her arms once more, pulled her roughly into the room, and shoved her towards her bed. She landed on her butt sitting on her bed just as Halli turned and locked the bedroom door and Alice approached her with her arms crossed. Halli joined just a second later.

“Ok, you have two seconds to start talking. Spill! And we want to hear every detail, don’t you dare leave anything out!” Alice said, glancing at her watch to make sure Lily complied. Lily almost laughed at this, until she looked up at Alice and Halli shooting death glares at her. She gulped and started at the beginning, since she knew that they would squeeze her for every detail anyways.

“Well, you know that I went into this evening thinking that Remus was Head Boy this year. I mean, obviously you know that, since you were there that day in Diagon Alley too. Surely I wouldn’t have told my mum he was if I didn’t think it was true. In my defense, he was holding the pin, so how was I supposed to know...” she grumbled, looking up at her friends. Upon seeing the looks on their faces, she hastily continued. “Right, I’m babbling. Anyways, that’s not the point! I mean, I suppose it partially is because that’s how it all started. I really thought that Remus was the Head Boy, and I was so happy because I knew that he would be good at it, and I had it all planned out: it was going to be a great year...”

“LILY!” Halli blurted out, getting very impatient. “Babbling. Story. Now!” she added, closing her eyes in attempt to control her temper.

“Oh, yeah. Sorry.” Lily mumbled to the floor, blushing profusely. “So my mum comes up and tells me about the dance for my father and the dance for the Head Boy. I was excited that the party was finally starting. I danced with my dad, so much fun by the way. Then I came back to get Remus for our dance.” Lily continued, finally getting into the story.

“Yes, we witnessed all of that. So far so good.” Alice interrupted.

“Well, then Potter stepped forward for the dance. I was angry, obviously. I mean, it was the Head Boy and Girl dance! What was he trying to pull? Just being his usual annoying, stupid, immature, half-witted, inappropriate self, like he always is. Could he be more self-assured? I just want to wring his neck most of the time, then bring him back so I can do it again! Really, the way he struts around, acting as if he owns the place, like he’s some kind of God! Who is he trying to...” she rambled, her voice rising a notch, like it always did when she spoke of him.

“Oh my God! If you don’t get back on topic, I’M going to wring YOUR neck!” Halli screached, stomping her foot in frustration, and glaring at Lily again. Lily’s jaw dropped in shock at Halli’s uncharacteristic outburst, and even Alice gave her a nervous glance.

“Right. Sorry.” Lily apologized again. “Potter tells me he’s the new Head Boy. I don’t believe him. Remus confirms it. I’m blind sighted, and try to protest. HE drags me onto the dance floor, after yelling at me. I’m too shocked to react. He forces me to dance with him. Still too shocked to do anything. He pulls me closer, the git. Still very, very shocked! He gropes me. I pull away and run for my life.” she blurted out very quickly.

“Oh...kay.” Alice said slowly, analyzing Lily’s version of events. “But from what I saw James didn’t yell at you, force you to do anything let alone dance with him, or grope you in any way.” she pointed out.

“Well I don’t know what he expected. I mean, I was in shock, for crying out loud! I couldn’t react to what was happening. Did he think that dancing would make me change my mind about him? He might get his kicks out of man-handling me in front of large groups of people, but I, for one, felt nothing during that dance. NOTHING! Except, perhaps, pure and immeasurable hatred.” Lily finished, staring at her friends as if daring them to argue with her.

“Well, you didn’t seem to be minding that dance too much while you were in his arms.” Halli commented, deciding to take her chances with Lily. Alice nodded her agreement, obviously not backing down from the fight either.

“You’re WRONG! I told you, I was too shocked to do anything for a minute! Are you listening to me? Why would I like dancing with someone I can’t stand? Just to refresh your memory, I DON’T LIKE JAMES POTTER!” Lily argued back, blushing again. She hoped her friends would think her red face was due to her anger instead of embarrassment. Blast her fair skin! She stomped over to her door, unlocked it, and opened it roughly. “Goodnight. I’m tired and I’m going to bed.” she barked at them, motioning them out of her room.

“Ok, Lily. We’ll see you in the morning to go to the train.” Halli relented, for the time being anyways.

“Goodnight.” Alice added, not ready to give up yet, but not wanting to take on an irrate Lily alone. The walked out into the hallway, and flinched as Lily slammed the door an locked it behind them.

“Oh my...” Alice started.

“God!” Halli finished for her. “Lily likes James. Did you see? She was blushing like mad. And she completely enjoyed that dance!” she whispered.

“And she’s completely in denial about it. We may have to intervene!” Alice added, an evil smile slowly spreading across her face.

“I think you’re absolutely right. But we will need backup: she’s so stubborn.” Halli agreed.

“Hmmmm...” Alice gave a look of mock-puzzlement, knowing exactly who Halli meant.

“The marauders!” they said in unison, then walked to their room, laughing and forming a plan as they went.

~

At the Potter mansion, the marauders were having an equally difficult time getting any decent information out of James. In all honesty, the were starting to get a little bit worried. The boys thought that Lily may have done permanent damage to their friend this time. He hadn’t said a single word since she had broken their very cozy dance. Not a good sign, considering James usually never shut up.

They were all gathered in James’ bedroom, with James sitting on the window seat, gazing out into the night. The had been trying for the past half hour to involve him in a conversation, hoping that they would eventually be able to steer that conversation towards the events of the evening so the could get some answers. These attempts had been rather unsuccessful. Finally, Sirius became very irritated with his best friend.

“Prongs! What the hell happened out there with you and Lily?” he blurted out in frustration.

“Or we could just cut right to the chase. So much for being subtle.” Remus mumbled, more to himself than any of the others. They all stared at James, waiting for his reply. He simply looked at them, shook his head, then turned back to stare out the window once more. Sirius blinked at him.

“No?” he blinked again, and turned to Remus. “Was that even an appropriate answer for the question? It wasn’t a yes or no kind of question.” he said, now truly puzzled and concerned.

“You’re quick aren’t you Padfoot?” Remus sniggered. “No, it wasn’t an answer to the question. I do believe that Prongs here is actually refusing to tell us what happened.” he finished, very shocked.

“Well why won’t he tell us?” Sirius asked.

“I don’t know.” Remus stated.

“What happened to make him not want to tell us?” Sirius replied.

“I don’t know.” Remus answered again.

“Well, why won’t he tell us what happened to make him not want to tell us what happened?” Sirius asked, now really confused.

“Oh! I DON’T KNOW! And if you ask one more question then you’ll be joining our temporarily mute friend over there.” he shouted in frustration. Peter looked mildly amused by this exchange, but thought it best to stay out of it. Sirius thought about Remus’ comment a moment, then smiled.

“Yes, but temporary being the key word here, my friend.” he laughed.

“In your case, I wouldn’t be so sure.” Remus glared at him. Sirius gulped and took a step further away from Remus. “Well, we’re going to head off to bed then, mate.” Remus called to James, when Sirius was smart enough to stay quiet for once. “See you in the morning to catch the train.” he added.

Remus, Sirius, and Peter stepped out of James’ room and closed the door behind themselves. They looked at each other in concern.

“Ok, is anyone else getting panicked? What on earth did she do to him out there anyways? I mean, I didn’t hear her say anything to him, did you? And now he’s acting like...I don’t even know! I’ve never seen him like this, not even after his dad passed away in first year. He hasn’t said a single word in nearly four hours!” Sirius whispered urgently.

A brief flicker of annoyance passed over Remus’ features at Sirius’ continued questioning, before he actually took in what Sirius had said. Suddenly, he understood perfectly.

“That’s because he’s not upset, or sad.” he said slowly, letting the pieces fall into place. “He would have reacted differently if he was. I mean, we’ve seen him react to those emotions when they’ve been inflicted by Lily too many times to count. He’s happy! Actually, I’d say he’s more than happy, judging by his sudden vow of silence.” Remus realized.

“But why would he be happy?” Peter asked, confused more than ever about the situation.

“Yeah, I mean, she ran off before the song was even half over, and she didn’t say a word to him during the dance or after it.” Sirius agreed.

“Well, obviously what happened out there wasn’t verbal. It was physical.” Remus replied simply.

Sirius started to chuckle at this, but seeing the look on Remus’ face, hastily turned it into a cough.

“Not that! You really have a one track mind, you know that?” Remus asked his friend. Sirius just shrugged in reply. “What I meant was she responded to him, followed his lead, didn’t push him away, that kind of thing.” he added, by way of explanation.

“Which means...?” Sirius prompted.

“Which means that no matter how much she objects, she’s starting to crack! She’s starting to like him back.” Remus exclaimed.

Both Sirius and Peter felt their jaws drop. Remus’ mind was reeling with this brand new, and huge, bit of information.

“Holy! I never thought that I would live to see this day. Now I understand why Prongs is being so quiet. I mean, he must be feeling this shock times a hundred. No, times a thousand! Times a million, trillion...” Sirius babbled.

“Padfoot! We get the picture. In fact, I practically took the picture, the showed it to you!” Remus interrupted before he went off on one of his famous tangents.

“Oh, right, yeah!” Sirius replied. “So she likes him, hey? What’s our next move then?” he added mischievously.

“Our next...?” Peter asked.

“Move, yeah!” Sirius finished for him.

“I don’t think we should interfere!” Peter squeaked, with an increasingly panicked look in his eyes.

“They are our friends. And I think the need all the help they can get, those two.” Sirius countered.

Peter opened his mouth to spit out a retort, but Remus cut him off.

“For once, I think that you may have a valid point there, Padfoot. Prongs is completely hopeless whenever he gets around Lily. And she is so stubborn, even if she does like him back, she may never agree to go out with him just to prove a point! No, I definitely think that they will need our help in this particular case.” Remus said, thinking out loud, more to himself than the other two.

“I repeat, what’s our next move?” Sirius said.

“Well, first of all I think we’re going to have to involve the help of some accomplices. Female accomplices.” he added, to clarify.

“I like the way you think!” Sirius replied happily, thinking of which girls they should pick. They definitely had to be sneaky, and of course hot, and...

“I already had two particular girls in mind, Pad.” Remus interrupted him, annoyed once more by his one track mind. “Specifically, Lily’s best friends, and therefore the girls who are the most likely to be of any help to us and our plan: Alice and Halli!” he added with a grin, as they reached the Aspirant wing of the house and said their goodnights.

~

While both groups were discussing their plans, James and Lily were in their respective rooms, both questioning what had happened that evening. Both were very confused.

What on earth was I thinking, Lily thought to herself. James danced with me! And I let him? OH no. NOT GOOD! What? Wait…James? Oh my god. No, not James, never James. It’s Potter. Potter, Potter, Potter! See? Not James, Potter! Yeah! So, I let Jam…GAHHHHHH! No wonder Alice and Halli think that I like him now. But I don’t. Never have and never will! So then what was it exactly that I felt when we danced? He made me feel protected, and safe. Not at all what I was expecting. I don’t get it.

I don’t get it, thought James. I thought that she hated me, so why was she actually leaning in to the dance. She accepted every move that I made, and she followed my lead. She leaned into me; let me get close enough to actually touch her. So, if she actually didn’t mind the dance, then does that mean that she likes me now? If she likes me, or at least doesn’t hate me anymore, then why did she pull away before the dance was even halfway done? And what was she saying about I shouldn’t have done that? Shouldn’t have done what exactly? I think that she’s the one that shouldn’t have done what she did tonight. I could have dealt with tonight if she had pulled away at the start of the dance. Yelled, slapped me, just plain stomped off and ignored me like she usually does! But she didn’t. She acted like she was enjoying herself, then changes her mind mid-thought? What am I supposed to do now?

What am I supposed to do now, Lily pondered? Clearly things won’t be able to go back to the way they were before the dance even happened. I wish I could just rewind and do it all over again. But would I really do anything differently? Hmmmm. I guess I can’t say for sure. Hum, this train of thought is pointless! I can’t turn back time, so I’m just going to have to deal with this situation. Yes, I’ll just talk to him on the train tomorrow and clear everything right up. I’ll tell him, James…huh, no IT’S POTTER! POTTER, Lily, get it right. Seriously, what is that? What am I trying to do to myself here?

What am I doing to myself here? This is just stupid, James thought. I’ll just end up torturing myself about this all night, and not get any sleep, just to get on the train tomorrow morning and find out that nothing has changed at all. That she still hates my guts. That I am still completely and totally in love with her, even though no one knows it but me. Why haven’t I told the guys yet? Hmmm, yeah, because they would laugh at me. I mean, she hates me, so that just makes it seem even more pathetic than if it was just a crush! Right, so I’ll just wait and talk to her tomorrow, and see what’s going on. That will work, if I can actually form complete sentences while trying not to think of how close we were tonight.

Yes, Lily decided, that will work. As long as I can speak in complete sentences. I just won’t think about how close we were tonight during the dance. Yes, good plan!

Her last thought as she was lying in bed was of the conversation that she was going to have the next day. As she closed her eyes, she whispered, “Goodnight James.” And for the first time since the dance, she didn’t correct herself, before she fell into a deep sleep.

In his own house, James was thinking the same thoughts.

“Goodnight Lily.” he whispered quietly to the room at large, before closing his eyes and drifting off to sleep.

[Issa (Luisa)]

I laughed at this chapter. LOL! Loved Lily and James' thoughts.

Wait…James? Oh my god. No, not James, never James. It’s Potter. Potter, Potter, Potter! See? Not James, Potter! Yeah! So, I let Jam…GAHHHHHH!

Lily doesn't seem like a good liar, if you count how she reacted to Alice and Halli's question. But at least she said more than Mr. Sudden Bow Of Silence.

[Ames]

Wow, okay, so it's been a long time since I've been on here. I'm still around, but things are crazy busy here, and will be for the next couple of days. Things should slow down once Christmas holidays start (TWO DAYS AND COUNTING)! I'll be back then.

[Ames]

Heh, yeah right. "things should slow down around Christmas holidays" Ha. Shows how much I know. My Christmas holidays were insane! And then I lost my job and such.....

Anyways, I'm back now. I'm off to a job interview here in a few minutes, but I think I'll post the next chapter first.

[Ames]

Chapter 4:

Just a couple of hours later, James awoke to Sirius, Remus, and Peter jumping on the foot of his bed. All three fixed him with intense stares. They waited a couple of seconds for him to speak, and when he didn’t Sirius spoke up.

“So are you still not talking to anyone this morning, then? Your mum sent us up here to get you to come down for breakfast.” he said, and then started back towards the bedroom door. He was two steps away from it when he turned back towards James. “And Prongs? You might want to hurry; we have to leave to go to train in half an hour! And we all know that you will need a while to get ready, since you will be seeing the new Head Girl again today.” he added quickly, then ran out of the room. He was halfway down the stairs when he heard James yell.

“WHAT? Half an hour?” was the response that he got. It was followed quickly by a huge thump that vibrated throughout the house, meaning that James had fallen out of bed.

For the next fifteen minutes, all that could be heard was a series of bumps and bangs that was James changing and packing. He joined them with five minutes left, and ate a very rushed breakfast, before loading his trunk into the ministry car. No sooner had he shut the door, than his dad was speeding towards King’s Cross Station.

As they unloaded their trunks onto trolleys and made their way into the station, James spotted a familiar head of curly red hair. Lily was winding her way through the crowd towards the entry to platform 9 ¾ along with Alice and Halli. Normally he would have run after her and tried to get them to sit in the same compartment as him. After the previous night, however, and with the upcoming conversation that he was planning on having with her, he hung back with his friends in order to delay it a bit longer.

Remus noticed his hesitation and gave him a puzzled look.

“Aren’t you going to go after her? Try to get her to sit with us? Or at least ask her out?” he questioned, noticing the direction of his friend’s gaze, and gaping at his friends newfound restraint.

“No.” James mumbled in response.

This simple retort caught Sirius’ attention. He did not seem satisfied by the one word answer to the question; it was very out of character for James.

“Why not?” he added.

James just shrugged this time, and then walked towards the barrier to the platform, pulling his trolley behind him. His friends shared a confused look, before following him through and onto the platform. James still hadn’t muttered more than a handful of words since he got up that morning.

“We are going to have to approach Alice and Halli today, guys. I miss the old James; he still isn’t himself this morning. Even I thought that he would be all right once he slept on the new information from last night. Apparently, I was very wrong!” Remus whispered to Sirius and Peter. They both nodded in agreement, before hurrying to catch up to James. They found him already sitting in their usual compartment at the very end of the train, with his trunk in stowed in the overhead bins.

“I was wondering where you had gotten to! One minute, you’re right behind me, and the next, you’re gone!” James growled at the sight of them standing in the doorway.

“We were a little busy trying to interpret your sudden change of heart where a certain red-haired Head Girl is concerned! What did she do to you last night that made you change your mind about pursuing her? Did she hit you over the head or something and we just didn’t see it?” Sirius ranted at James. “I mean, I thought that when someone decides that they like you back, you were supposed to intensify the hunt, not give up completely!” he added.

“I’m not giving up! I’ll never give up on her.” James stated clearly. “I love her!” he whispered, finally admitting to his friends what he had known for a long time.

“Phew!” Remus whistled, raising his eyebrows in shock. “Well that’s a little more than we bargained for!” he said grinning at James.

Sirius brushed Remus’ comment aside.

“Then what are you doing? Why didn’t you ask her out?” Sirius insisted.

“Because that’s what I would have done before, Padfoot, and that’s what she expects of me! I can’t explain it, but something changed between us last night when we were dancing. Something changed in her. I felt it. And now, I don’t know how, but I just know that I have to do things a little differently than before.” James explained with certainty.

“Wow!” Remus said, astonished at the change in his friend.

“And what exactly are you going to do now that’s so different then Prongs?” Sirius asked skeptically.

“Well, I’m going to start by talking to her.” James stated simply, unaffected by Sirius’ attitude.

Sirius chuckled at his response, while Remus shot Sirius warning glances. He, however, missed the looks.

“What is so different about that? You have talked to her many, many times!” he laughed.

“No, I have talked at her many, many times. We’ve never really had a conversation. I am going to start off by apologizing to her, not for what I did or for dancing with her. I don’t regret that, so I can’t apologize for it! But I will apologize for the fact that she may have misinterpreted my actions. She needs to know that I would never try to intimidate or hurt her.” James said with conviction.

Sirius opened his mouth to say something, with a sheepish look on his face. James interrupted him before he could start.

“I’m not mad, Padfoot! I’m just trying to explain. Now, I have to go to the Prefect meeting. I’ll catch up with you later.” he added, grinning at Sirius and Peter. He then turned to Remus.

“I’m right behind you!” Remus said, following James out of the compartment and up toward the front of the train with one last quick wave to the other two marauders.

~

“Well, I should get to the Prefect meeting, ladies.” Lily said awkwardly. Alice and Halli had been very quiet, and almost nervous, with her all morning. They had barely spoken two complete sentences between the two of them since breakfast. She was nervous enough about the upcoming meeting, and her friends’ behavior was starting to get on her nerves. “I’ll catch up with you later.” she mumbled opening the compartment door and quickly escaping into the hallway.

Unfortunately for Lily, she found her section of the hallway to be occupied at the moment she chose to make her retreat. Not watching where she was going, she crashed into someone and lost her balance. Luckily, the person she had run into had quick reflexes and managed to catch her before she found herself sprawled on the floor.

“I’m so sorry!” she said, as she looked up and found herself staring into the hazel eyes that had haunted her dreams the night before. “Th...thank you. For catching me. That probably would have hurt.” she said, blushing furiously at the thought of finding herself in his arms for the second time in a twenty-four hour period. She hastily looked down at her feet to hide her rosy cheeks. “That will teach me for not watching where I’m going!” she added, looking back up at him with a small grin.

“It’s okay...Lily. I’m glad I was here to help.” James replied, taken aback by her attitude. She really had changed last night. She was being...nice. Normally, she probably would have yelled at him to watch where he was going and to get out of her way. Okay, not probably: Definitely. There would definitely have been yelling. And today she was getting red in the face. Not from anger, which was usually the case when he was around. She was blushing. Interesting.

“We were just on our way to the Prefect meeting, Lily. Want to join us for the rest of the walk? You never know who else might be lurking in the hallways ready to trip you or something. Always good to have friends around in those cases.” Remus piped up when he noticed that James and Lily were fast approaching the awkward phase of a conversation called “silence”.

James was still holding on to her arms, supposedly helping her regain her balance. He dropped his hands at Remus’ comment and nodded his approval.

“Alright, I suppose it couldn’t hurt to have some backup!” she shot back at Remus, then smiled at James again. “Lead the way!” she said to him, standing up straight again and pointing towards the front of the train.

“Yes, I suppose it really wouldn’t look very good for the Head Boy and Girl to be late for the very first meeting, now would it?” James smiled back, before turning on his heel and once again making his way towards the Prefect compartment.

“So, how was your summer Lily?” Remus asked, when he realized that James was obviously not ready to say anything yet.

“Oh, it was fine. I spent a couple of weeks in France on vacation with my family. It was fun; I’d never been there before. Paris was my favorite, I loved it there. And my sister got engaged. She’s really excited. I’m going to be the maid of honor, but only because my parents forced her to give me the job. We don’t get along.” she added in a whisper. It still hurt that her best friend had turned against her. They used to be so close.

“That’s rough.” James said, finally deciding to join the conversation. “I have a brother, twin actually, that I haven’t spoken to or seen since I started school. He goes to Durmstrang.” he added. He looked down at his feet, then chanced a quick look at Remus.

Remus looked like he had just been punched in the stomach. James knew why; he had never told the marauders about Joshua. He wasn’t sure why he had suddenly decided to share that painful piece of information, only that Lily was hurting and he wanted to comfort her. She had a way of doing that to him. She made him forget everything, except that he wanted to make her as happy as possible.

“Really? I never knew that!” Lily exclaimed in surprise.

“Join the club.” Remus mumbled under his breath.

“I thought that you were close with your siblings! Don’t you have two sisters that go to Hogwarts?” Lily asked, trying to remember their names.

“Oh yeah! Abigail and Amanda, well Abby and Mandy to me. Yeah, we’re very close. They’re two years younger than us. They’re twins too, actually!” James explained, cheering up at the thought of his sisters. They had always been very close, and was still very protective of them.

“Oh, two sets of twins? Your poor mother!” Lily teased.

“Yeah, you have no idea. We weren’t exactly the easiest children to take care of.” James laughed.

“Oh, I think I do have an idea!” Lily retorted, now laughing as well.

“Yeah, I guess you of all people probably would know.” James replied, a shadow momentarily falling across his face. He really had acted very childish whenever she was around for the past six years. But that was all about to change. Last night had been a major wake-up call for him. He had to drop the facade he had built up when she was around if he was going to be able to convince her of his feelings.

Remus watched their conversation in awe. He had completely forgotten about James’ declaration that he had a twin brother; it was taking all of his energy just to absorb the situation in front of him. He was starting to feel like he was in the twilight zone. Lily and James. Together. Laughing. And talking. They were actually having a civilized conversation. With each other. In fact, they had kind of kicked him out of the conversation, even though he had started it. This really was new. And it was going to take some getting used to. He was going to have to fill Sirius, Peter, and the girls in on the latest developments. Maybe it wasn’t going to take as much interference on their part to get Lily and James together. Interesting, he thought to himself.

When they arrived at the Prefect compartment James reached out to open the door. He was stopped, however by a small hand on his arm.

“James, can we talk? After the meeting?” Lily asked quietly. She winced and gave herself a mental kick. We covered this last night! It’s POTTER, not James. She looked from James to Remus and then back again. They were both wearing identical looks of shock, and seemed to be having difficulties speaking. Understandable, she thought to herself. I never use his first name. Why did I have to go and mess that up? Now he’s going to think...

Her thoughts were interrupted when James found his voice.

“You...you...” he stopped, then cleared his throat. “Yes, I was actually going to ask you the same question.” he replied, deciding to ignore her use of his first name for the time being. He just had to get through the Prefect meeting, then he could talk to her about last night. He gave her a reassuring smile, then opened the door and stepped back to let her go in first.

“Thank you.” she whispered as she passed him and took a seat.

James and Remus followed her into the compartment, and found seats on either side of her. All of the other Prefects appeared to have arrived already, so Lily decided to start the meeting.

“Good morning! I am Lily Evans, and I will be your Head Girl this year! I hope everyone enjoyed their summer vacations!” she said, smiling around at all the familiar faces and the new group of fifth year prefects. “I think that we should start off by taking a few minutes to introduce the new Prefects! Oh, and we have another newbie in our group this year.” she added as an afterthought, smiling at James.

“Yes. I am James Potter, and I am the new Head Boy. But enough about us. It’s your turn now!” he said, motioning to the new prefects.

After all of the introductions had been made, and the new Prefects were looking at least slightly more comfortable in their surroundings, Lily looked around at them all.

“Well, now that we at least know everyone’s names, you can go and patrol the hallways of the train. Older Prefects please pair up with the newer ones until they learn the ropes! Prefect meetings will be every Tuesday evening at 7 in the Charms classroom. Oh, and we will have your patrolling schedules for you tomorrow at breakfast, so that you know when it is your turn. James and I will do the first shift tonight until the schedules are set.” Lily explained.

“Actually Lily, I meant to tell you earlier. I already made up the schedules. Remus filled me in on who everyone was and what has to be done during the rounds. I made up the schedules a couple of days ago; do you want to see them first?” he asked apprehensively.

“Oh!” Lily said in surprise, and took the stack of papers that he was holding out. She glanced down at the one on the top, and saw a neat timetable that told when Remus would be patrolling. She smiled in appreciation. “No, they look just fine. Thank you!” she whispered so that only he could hear her, while passing out the schedules.

“As you can see, Lily and I do still have the first shift. Your shifts start tomorrow evening. If you have any concerns, you can bring them up with either of us.” he addressed the entire group again. “And I think that’s it, so get out of here!” he added with a wink. There were a few chuckles from the group, before they started to gather their things and leave the compartment to patrol.

“I’ll go start patrolling. See you later!” Remus said, remembering that Lily had said she wanted to talk to James after the meeting. He slipped out the door before either of them could respond.

“Hmm, he left awfully fast. Do you think something’s up with him?” Lily asked, curious.

“Not sure, he has been acting a little strange ever since...” James stopped mid-sentence. He had been about to bring up last night, but he wasn’t sure whether or not now was the right time. “So...” he paused.

“You wanted to talk to me?” they both said at the same time.

“Sorry, you go ahead.” Lily said blushing.

“Ok. I just wanted...to apologize. Last night, I think you may have misinterpreted what I was trying to do. I just wanted to dance with you, I’ve always wanted that chance, it’s all I’ve ever wanted. The chance to get closer to you. So last night, when I saw the opportunity, I took it. I didn’t think about how you would react, or what it would do to you. I’m sorry, Lily!” he said, turning towards her and looking her right in the eye. “I would never hurt you or try to intimidate you. You have to believe me.” he whispered sincerely.

“I do. And I know you wouldn’t hurt me. We don’t get along, but at least I know that much is true. I appreciate the apology.” she said, a smile spreading across her face. “Actually, I wanted to apologize too. We don’t get along, as I said before. We don’t spend time together, we’re not close. We’re not even friends, actually we’ve been more like enemies for the past six years. So last night...” she hesitated. She cleared her throat and tried again. “Last night when you dragged me onto the dance floor, and we started dancing, it all happened so fast. And we were so close, and I had just learned that you were Head Boy. I was so shocked, and confused. I’m rambling again. Sorry. What I’m trying to say is that I panicked. So I ran, which is what I do when I get panicky.” she explained in a hurry.

“It’s okay, Lily. I know it was probably a lot to take in.” James said

“Yeah, it really was. I never thought in a million years that you would be Head Boy, you’ve been too much of a trouble maker! I thought Remus had it in the bag. Then you go and announce that it’s you... I was seriously questioning Professor Dumbledore’s sanity! Actually, I still am a little bit.” she laughed.

“Me too, believe me.” he laughed with her. “I was so sure that it was going to be Remus that I had Sirius hanging upside down from my living room ceiling, trying to get him to admit that it was a prank he was playing on me when I got my letter.” James explained, smiling at the memory.

“Oh? And who was it that finally convinced you that it wasn’t a prank?” Lily asked in between giggles.

“Actually, it was my mum. My parents are friends with Dumbledore, and she walked in on me interrogating Sirius! I was so surprised when she told me the letter was real that I accidentally dropped Sirius right on our coffee table.” he said, now wheezing from laughing too hard. “Not that it was the first time that I’ve dropped him. By accident of course.” he added with a look of mischief.

“Oh, of course.” Lily nodded, trying to be serious. But she couldn’t hold it and ended up laughing again. “Actually, that explains a LOT!” she burst out into giggles again.

“Yeah, I guess it does!” James said, his laughter dying down.

“Listen, James. I’m glad that you’re taking your Head Boy position seriously. I know that in the past things have been very tense between us. Lots of anger and yelling. At least, I know that’s how it was on my part. But I like this better, without the tension. Being able to talk without yelling myself hoarse. Especially since we’re going to be working together a lot this year, and spending so much time together.” she paused and looked him in the eye. “So what do you say? Friends?” she asked tentatively, holding out her hand for him to shake if he agreed.

She thought she saw a flicker of pain cross his face before he stuck out his hand as well, and gently wrapped his fingers around her hand. He smiled as they shook hands.

“Friends.” he said simply, still holding her hand.

At that moment, the compartment door opened and Sirius walked in, accompanied by Alice. They stared at their friends in shock.

“Well, well, well. What have we here?” he asked, looking at their joined hands.

“Nothing!” Lily and James said at the same time. They dropped their hands and looked at each other again. They grinned mischievously at one another.

“Just a business type of deal.” James said, smiling secretly at Lily.

“Yes.” she smiled back at him. “Just a business deal.”