Stock up for School! ((Summer '76)) -James/Lily-

[Redvamp]

James stared at Lily wondering how he was going to get her home. He could always apparate to her home with her, but that did take a lot of energy. He figured if worse came to worse he could do that, or better yet, he could take her on his broom. Yes, why didn’t he think of that earlier! Then again, did she even like to fly? He could never recall seeing her on a broom except when they had been taught to ride them. Hmm…he would have to ask her that later on that evening. At least now he didn’t have to go school shopping anymore which was a relief. He had noticed his mother had taken her money, but he knew she would not spend it. If she thought of Lily at all like Sirius then she would buy the girl her stuff and slip the money back in with it. And if Lily confronted her about it she would look rather confused and say that Lily must have forgotten where she had placed her money and left it at that.

He had caught the little bit about her parents and couldn’t help but frown before he had come into the room. He never knew that her dad had had cancer. Why didn’t he know? Because only her friends would know that. His mind taunted him and he couldn’t help but shake his head to stop that annoying voice from starting up again.

He wasn’t sure if he purposely had sat closer to Lily or if it had been just because that spot looked more comfortable then the other and it was a shorter walk. He nodded upon hearing that she didn’t need anything. He ran his hand through his hair trying to think of something for them to talk about. Now that his mother wasn’t there he couldn’t hide behind her questions. This was a moment he had dreamed so long about, and yet he was so very unprepared for it. He looked up at her when she asked about a telephone. They had one, somewhere, so that his parents could talk to their muggle friends. “Let me go find it.” He said as he stood up slowly, and stretched as soon as he was standing.

He went back into the kitchen in search of the phone. There was much clanking going on and a few thuds and one slight ‘ow’ from James but he soon came back with the phone in hand, a broad, almost victorious smile on his lips. He looked proudly at her as if he had just defeated some vial beast in order to get the object. “For you, my lady.” He said with a chuckled in his vocals as he handed her the phone. He moved to sit off to the side on a chair so that she felt she could freely talk to her parents. He pulled off his shoe and rubbed his foot where he had dropped a heavy cookbook on it.

Once she finished the call he stood back up and returned to her side. At the question about dinner he quickly raised his wand and with a flick of his wrist he knew the soup was turned to a mere simmer to keep it from burning. That was all he needed was an angry mother when she got back. “Oh you are more than welcome to stay for dinner.” He was rather startled by her comment, but he knew his mother wouldn’t mind and he surely didn’t. “She is making a stew or soup or something. I don’t generally ask her the name of things; I just kind of eat it.” He couldn’t help but laugh at the end of that sentence. “But don’t worry, she is a good cook.”

He glanced down at her leg before looking to his pretty visage. “Are you feeling any better?” Concern clung to his soft vocals.
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[Lily Evans]

Lily was rather unsure of how she was to get home, she had figured that she would be able to Apparate her way there, but being unable to stand on her foot complicated things. The swelling on her ankle had decreased a minuet degree, but still throbbed painfully. She tried to ignore it, if she wasn’t thinking about it, it didn’t hurt. Her mind returned to her previous worries. Floo powder could work… well, if her house was connected to the Floo network. Sadly to say, it wasn’t. Severus Snape’s was though, he just lived a few blocks away from her, but that would involve walking. She sighed. She had two other options, spend the night, which she would definitely not be doing. She had already overstayed her welcome, or flying on a broomstick.

Lily hadn’t been on a broom since the second week in her first year. It was the only thing that she was unsuccessful at, broom riding, racing, and flying, anything that had to do with a broom. You name it, she couldn’t do it. There was also the whole, riding with someone else on a broom. There was only one person, presently, at the Potter manner that rode a broom, and that was James itself. If there was single person that she would trust with her life on a broom, it would be him. He was an amazing flyer, flipper, twister, chaser, you name it; he could do it, add some of his own ‘pizzazz’ to it, and land nimbly on the ground.

At the mention of a telephone, James stood up, did some sort of a stretch, and left the room. Lily sighed, leaning back against the arm rest of the comfortable couch, curling her knees to her chest in front of her. From the kitchen, much clanging and ruckus was heard. She giggled, he was probably making a mess of the overly large kitchen that the Potter’s were sure to have. Once or twice she heard him mutter ‘ow’ or something along those lines. Within a few moments, he returned, a cordless telephone in hand. HE was smiling like a child that had just done something absolutely amazing and praiseworthy. “Why thank you, kind knight.” She replied to him, gingerly taking the phone from his hand.

She dialed the oh so familiar number. It rang three times before someone picked up. “Hello? Mom? It’s Lily. I think I’m going to be a bit later than I thought.” Her mother began to yell into the phone, screaming about her never telling her what is going on, on what she is doing. That she wished that Lily was as responsible as Petunia. Lily rolled her eyes. “I ran into a friend in Diagon Alley, and he’s erm-“ she paused trying to find that right words. “, invited me over for dinner.” There was no reason for her mother to know all the details. Again, her mother shouted into the phone. This time about how she shouldn’t have gone home with anyone without her permission, especially a boy. “Yes, mom. I’ll be responsible. Nothing will happen. I promise.” She rolled her eyes once more. Her mother had never been this protective when her father was still alive.

She quickly hung up the phone before she could be reprimanded any more “Moms…” Lily said with a grin. She looked over to James, who was rubbing his foot. “Are you okay?” She asked. She had heard quite a bit of falling objects, hopefully nothing to serious had fallen on him. She couldn’t help but smile as she gazed upon the boy in front of her. He was gorgeous. The thing was though, he could be that boy. But there was no way that she would be that girl. He would marry some beautiful pureblooded women who could give him everything that he needed. Lily couldn’t do that. She was a mudblood. Not at all worthy of the hand of a pureblood.

She smiled again as he returned to her side. It felt good to be sitting so close to him. It was funny, how not 6 months ago, she would have hexed him for holding her the way he did earlier, carrying her bridal style into his house so that his mother could heal her. Things could really change in the course of a month. She wasn’t really complaining, whatever his mother was fixing smelt delicious. He flicked his wand in the direction of the kitchen, most likely changing something that was occurring there. It musr be so easy, to get to use magic all the time. Lily rarely used it at home, just when she was alone, or it was her turn to bake dinner. She couldn’t bake to save her life. Another quality that James probably looked for in a wife.

She nodded, after again hearing the caring and worry in his voice. It made her stomach do a little back-flip. He cared again. “Yeah… I feel fine, your mother is an amazing healer; did she ever work at St. Mungo’s?” She asked, that was her second choice for a profession, if for some reason she wasn’t excepted on as an Auror. “Speaking of careers? What do you have planned for after school?” If he had the same future laid out that she did, she would, hopefully, get to spend even more time with him.

[Redvamp]

James would be more than willing to take Lily home on his broom if that was what she wished. He could also apparate with her back to her home, but that would take a lot more energy out of him. If he still was trying to get with the pretty redhead he would have pushed for riding the broom for sure. I mean, he would get to cuddle close to her and hold her tight, and it would be a lot more intimate than apparating ever could be. Also, it would give him more time with her. He would prefer that way of travel, anyway, for the mere fact that he lived on his broom, or at least when he was allowed to be on his broom he lived on it. There was no better way to travel!

Speaking of broom, he still needed to do more prep work for Quidditch before the summer was over. He had done a lot as it was, but it was only planning out different plays or writing reminders to himself about certain members of the other teams, especially Slytherin. They had a fast seeker and he would have to be sure his beaters stayed on top of the bludger and smacked it at her as often as possible. He also would have to push his own seeker a little harder for the mere fact that…well…they were the most important player on any Quidditch team.

He couldn’t help but snicker at Lily calling him a knight and he bowed to her before he had sat down. He pulled off his sock and looked at the slightly bruised surface. It wasn’t anything too bad so he didn’t feel the need to head upstairs to get something to treat it. He would be fine. He tried his hardest not to listen in on her conversation, but he couldn’t but overhear. He felt bad because he was the cause of her getting yelled at. If he had just taken her home she wouldn’t have been in this much trouble.

“Eh?” He looked up hearing her say something to him. “Oh it is just a flesh wound, nothing that won’t heal quickly. I need to be a little more careful.” He flashed her a smile after the statement. Now that he was sitting back next to her he felt all the more comfortable. “Should I take you home now so your mom doesn’t get even more upset with you? I don’t want to be the cause of you getting in trouble, I would feel awful.” He turned so he could look on her better so he could watch her body language as she spoke. She might have just been staying there to repay him for his and his mother’s kindness. He would be able to tell if her body language didn’t mesh with her vocals.

As a witch or wizard it wasn’t nearly as hard to cook, or so he figured. He couldn’t comprehend how someone could cook without magic. He guessed he could do it, but he would have to do so much and pay attention to so many different things. Magic was so much easier; he could just say a simple spell and with the flick of his wrist he could get everything started and cooking. Of course he had to go out and buy the different ingredients needed for the recipe but he figured that couldn’t be that hard. And if it was…well his girl could go out and buy the stuff and he could cook.

“She worked there for a few years, but once I was born she chose to stay home and raise me and make sure I didn’t get into too much trouble.” He couldn’t help but chuckle at that last comment. She had tried to keep him out of trouble, but trouble had found him in the form of his best mate. He was taken slightly off guard by her comment about what he wanted to do after school. He didn’t think that she really wanted to get into personal matters such as that, but the simpler things like ‘how are you doing’ or ‘how is the weather,’ etc.

“Honestly I am really not sure. I once had the dream of playing Quidditch when I got out of Hogwarts, but I don’t think that is a career that would last too long, what with all the injuries and all.” He paused. “So if I drop that dream I have to say I want to be an Auror and join the Order of the Phoenix and help to defeat Voldemort.” He was waiting for her to laugh at him and tell him he wasn’t smart enough to do such or that he wasn’t cut out for that job.

[Lily Evans]

Lily rather preferred to ride on a broom, the closeness, the intimacy of the ride. It would be amazing. It shouldn’t be too hard to convince James to bring her home on his broom; he practically lived on his broom anyways. Not only would he have to hold her, but it was a rather long way from here to her house, giving them more time together. This whole broom thing was looking better and better. She would wait a while before asking, she didn’t want to sound too eager to leave. That was something that she was definitely not eager for. Honestly, if she could have frozen the moment, she would have. This was perfect.

She didn’t like Quidditch. She didn’t get Quidditch, she didn’t understand it, she honestly, had no clue with what was going on during the games. The only reason that she attended games was because of her prefect duties. It was her responsibility to watch over the game watchers and keep them out of trouble. She had never had a brother, or a guy friend to explain it to her, so she had to make her own guesses with the game, and cheer when other people cheered. She probably looked like a complete idiot at games.

Speaking of guy friends; Lily finally had one. She wasn’t sure whether to be happy about it or not. She reminded herself that it would be better to have him as a friend, than to not have him at all. She sighed, before another thought popped into her mind. Was she his first girl friend, or gal friend, to be more precise? She had never seen him simply hanging out with another girl. He was always with his little posse of, what was it? Oh! The Marauders. That’s what they called themselves.

“Are you sure?” Lily asked, concerned, she knew his personality, and if he was in pain, he wouldn’t say anything. He would be more worried about her pain, than his own. She returned his smile as he sat down next to her, it was funny, the couch seemed so much more comfortable when he was there. “Oh, trust me, if I showed up now, I’d be chewed out again for being home earlier than I said. Unless… you want me to leave.” She ended sadly. If he wanted her gone, she would understand, and leave. Simple as that.

“That’s so cool.” Lily commented on his mother’s profession. “That’s my second choice for a job, if my first one falls through.” She smiled. She honestly, would rather be an Auror than a healer. Aurors were at the scene of the action, right in the middle of it all. That is where she wanted to be. The Order of the Phoenix was always there as a fall back too. They were always accepting new, off age, members.

Lily’s jaw dropped as she heard his ‘planned’ future. “No way!” She practically squealed. “Me too!” She couldn’t help but be excited with that. It was enevitable that they would be able to spend more time together. The only downfall, if he showed up to an Order meeting three years from now, with a pretty lady on his arm, Lily might loose it. She had a feeling that this wasn’t something that she could easily get over.

[Redvamp]

All Lily had to do was say the word and they would be off to her house. He of course would be a gentleman and grab her a jacket or sweater before they left because it would be a rather cold ride because of how high in the sky they would have to fly to keep out of muggle sight. That was one thing he liked about Hogwarts; he could fly as close to the ground or water or tree tops as he wished and he didn’t have to worry about some muggle walking out and catching sight of him. He was even losing the opportunity to fly over the ocean because of all the boats and ships that seemed to always be here and there, spotting the horizon. Of course he still fly, not caring if they saw so much; they would probably pass it off as just being out at sea far too long and they were seeing things. He could become like the mermaid legend, though such wasn’t a legend...which is why he could easily become a sea faring wizard. Though the muggles would call him a witch because wizards were like Merlin and didn’t ride brooms. Ignorant muggles.

Well Lily would probably fit well with Remus. He was a good teacher and he wouldn’t make fun of her for not knowing the game. James would teach her also if she asked when he wasn’t busy with Sirius being up to no good, wandering the halls at Hogwarts to keep others from being up to no good, and of course practicing and playing Quidditch. Oh how he loved that game, even when he fell hard to the ground and got more than the wind knocked out of him. He couldn’t count on his two hands how many times he had been carried off the field by Madam Pomfrey or stuck in her room to rest and get his wounds treated. He could treat the wounds himself; then again after the mishap his fifth year when he tired a potion that he and Sirius made on one of his wounds and turned it green and a yellow liquid came out instead of blood she really didn’t trust him doing such.

James had had plenty of female friends throughout his years at Hogwarts. Nothing more than that… Well maybe the occasional snogging, but that was one a drunken night after a Quidditch game win or when Sirius set him up with some pretty Ravenclaw or whatnot his sixth year when he had given up most hope with Lily Evans. He was sure there were a few rumors about him going around school but they were probably overshadowed immensely by Sirius’ own rumors and reputation.

“Yeah I am fine. Nothing too bad.” He offered her up a smile and laid his hand on her arm to show that she had nothing to worry about. He removed his hand and placed it back in his own lap. He didn’t want to offend her by touching her too much. She had been a good sport for everything that happened earlier that night and he didn’t wish to push his luck. “No I don’t want you to leave. I just didn’t want you to get into more trouble because of me. I mean, you are staying for dinner so why would I want you to leave? My mom would be disappointed if you left and she didn’t get to poke and prod at your personal life anymore.” He laughed knowing he was blowing that way out of proportion. His mother was a very proper lady and would never ask inappropriate questions to a perfect stranger.

“I seriously doubt that you of all people need to have a back up job. You and Remus are probably the few people in Gryffindor that can set their goals as high as the sky and won’t be disappointed.” He was about to ask her what her first choice was but decided if she wanted to tell him she would. And then her jaw dropped. He raised a brow wondering why. And then she squealed, shocking him, and he fell off the couch.

He didn’t cry out in pain or even say ow, instead he just sat there laughing. “That is very exciting. It will be easy for you to get in, me…well…I will have to make up for my years of screwing up. I plan on trying to do that this year. Probably will annoy Remus with all my questions and need for help. Hope he is up to many all night cram sessions.” He looked up at her, a smile clear in his hazel optics.
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[Lily Evans]

Lily thought back to her previous years at Hogwarts. She had had a few boyfriends. Nothing to special though. She couldn’t remember one that stood out, made her feel special. That’s the single thing that she looked for in a guy. Someone who could love her for who she is, and not care about her flaws and defects. She hated that she had had exactly what she wanted at her fingertips for over six years, and didn’t give it a second thought. She felt horribly stupid when recollecting it. James had done everything he was capable of to try to get her to care, from stupid little pranks, to the occasional rose or box of chocolates. How could she have ever thought that he was a prat?

Quite a few of her female ‘friends’ had mentioned that she should date Remus. That the two of them would go well together. There was no way. One, Remus wouldn’t have ever agreed to it. He was one of James’ best friends. And two, they were just friends. She had never had any romantic feelings for him. She didn’t believe that she ever would either. She would be lucky enough to get these feelings for James to go away before she made a mistake and leaked everything that she was feeling.

He gently laid his hand on her arm, assuring her that he was fine. Lily nodded silently, afraid to open her mouth. Her heart rate accelerated with his casual touch. I shouldn’t be feeling this she thought to herself. They were friends. Friends didn’t have these sorts of emotions for each other. She watched him set his hand in his lap out of the corner of her eyes. What she wouldn’t give to be able to comfortably sit there, her head rested in the crook of his neck, breathing in his husky, natural scent. “Oh-okay.” She spluttered stupidly. She shook her head, regaining her composure before smiling up at the raven-haired boy before her. “Alrighty then. I’d hate to deny your mother the right of further questioning.” She said playfully. His mother seemed to be a very pleasant person. Or maybe, she hadn’t actually had a conversation with another female the entire summer. That could be all that it was.

She felt the blood flush her face as he complemented her. Well, her and Remus. She chose to only focus on the part directed at her. It was true though. She had given her all every year of school, and she would go the extra mile to get whatever she wanted to do, done. After she let out a not-so-lady like squeal, she watched as he fell off of the couch. Slowly, and carefully, she slid off and onto the ground next to him. “Really Potter?” She growled playfully. “You couldn’t sit on the couch? Surely you’ve heard a girl squeal before.”

Her tone lightened as she spoke again. “I take it you’re fine, so I won’t ask.” She smirked. “Most people don’t laugh if they’ve been injured, to be honest with you.” She gently lay her hand on his arm, “Y’know, if you ever need any help studying, and Remus has had enough of you, I’d be willing to help. It’d be good for me. A bit of a refresher.” Again, her heart rate sped up ten fold. It was amazing, what the most casual of contact could do to her love-struck heart.

Oh that smile, she loved that smile. The way his eyes lit up, she hardly noticeable dimples that appeared in his cheeks. She was falling, and falling fast. But was anybody going to be there to catch her?

[Redvamp]

Most of James’ time at Hogwarts had not been taken up by girls, but enough of it was to make a few rumors flow down the halls. He had never dated anyone in the school, mostly because his heart had been set on Lily Evans from the first time he talked to her. He wanted to date her and no one else. He was a guy, though, and couldn’t help but kiss a few girls here and there. Plus, with a best mate like Sirius, and being the star of the Gryffindor Quidditch team, one couldn’t help but find himself surrounded by girls. He did, though, always try to find something that would crack Lily’s shell. He sent her gifts, flirted with her blatantly, flirted with her in a sly manner, picked on her, pranked her…anything and everything he could do to get her to notice him, and hopefully fall for him.

James would hope that Remus would not date his girl. Though he had no claim to her it was pretty much known to his male friends that she was off limits. He had never said it, but it was guy code. Every guy that ever dated Lily Evans was not under said guy code because they were not his close friends, or even friends at all. He especially had no rule in the other Houses, or with the Gryffindor males that were jealous of his ‘Gryffindor King’ standing.

He watched as she slid off the couch to join him on the ground. He wanted to tell her that she did not need to join him down her, but it was too late and she was already with him on the floor. The growl caught him off guard so it took him more than a minute to be able to answer her. “I guess a couch is a little harder to stay on than a broom.” He offered up a shy smile. Clearly he was slightly embarrassed by what he had just happened, but he would never say so. “And I hear girls squealing all the time, but usually I am on a broom high above their heads focusing on catching the snitch. I am not normally right next to them; you caught me off guard.”

“Well clearly Sirius and I don’t count when it comes to most people.” They tended to laugh all the time when they got hurt, especially if it was while they were trying to prank the other. “But yes, I am fine.” He ran his head through his hair, but quickly let it fall when he felt her hand on his other arm. He took a deep breath and held it for but a second before letting it go. “Thank you.” He said with a soft smile, trying to ignore her hand on his arm. More than anything he wanted to lean over and kiss her. He started to lean toward her to act on that impulse, but quickly pulled back offering up another shy smile. “I will probably take you up on the offer.”

What was he to do now? He felt so silly just sitting her with her. He had imagined this more than once and by now he would have already kissed her at least on the cheek. He was so confused! They had just become friends and he couldn’t mess that up now.
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[Lily Evans]

It hurt to be this close to him, but know that the things that she was feeling was feeling were different than that of what he felt. Lily liked that they were friends, but she wanted so much more. She wanted to rest her head on his shoulder, feel his arm around her. But that seemed to only happen in her dreams. Things had changed between them, they had gone from mortal enemies, to friends. He was one of the closet friends she had. But come to think of it, he was one of the only friends she had. She had pushed all her other relationships aside to focus on her studies the past couple of years; she needed to pass her OWLs and now her NEWTs. She had thought that she wouldn’t need any friends. But, she found out, as she sat alone in Hogsmeade, she would have rather had a friend or two to talk to. Maybe now she would have someone to hang out with in the small wizarding town, as a friend, of course.

There had been so many years when James’ ‘claim’ on Lily got on her very last nerve. No guys would even look at her for fear of being hexed back into the first year. Most of the guys she had dated were from Ravenclaw or Hufflepuff. Most of the guys in Gryffindor were scared of James, forcing them to not ask her out. There was one guys though, and she vaguely remembered a fight later that night, that was the first time that she had actually gotten drunk. She wasn’t proud of it. Sure, his gifts were sometimes rather cute, and she would never admit it, she still had the teddy bear that he had given her last year on Valentines Day, and several of his attempts at flirting had made her blush once or twice.

She smiled as he claimed that a broom was easier to stay on than a couch. “Sadly, I don’t believe you James, I find it much easier to stay on a couch. Brooms aren’t easy to stay on.” ‘If I had someone to hold me up there though, that might make it easier.’ She finished silently. So many things were running through her head, it was hard to keep the secrets inside while she spoke.

She noticed a small fire in a nearby fire pit. It gave her a tingling feeling in the pit of her stomach. It was oddly romantic. If there had been less of a distance between them, it could have been one of the best moments of her life. During this time, she was somewhat reminded of a part of the book The Notebook. She loved that book, it was one of her favorites. The only difference, nothing was going happen. No matter how hard she could wish for it, he no longer had feelings for her.

Did he? He looked a lot like he was leaning towards her, as if he wanted to kiss her. Lily, subconsciously, leaned towards him too, until, that was, he pulled back, smiling shyly. She must’ve imagined it. His hazel eyes were beautiful, he looked so innocent. “What offer?” She asked, lost in his eyes. She knew that she should control her emotions better, but for some reason, she didn’t care anymore. She was going to soak in every moment that she had with the gorgeous boy that sat beside her.

She tried to sneakily scoot a bit closer to him, hoping that he wouldn’t notice. She wanted, no needed to be near him. She smiled shyly as she continued to gaze into his hazel orbs.

[Redvamp]

James had no idea that Lily did not have many friends or that she spent the weekends to Hogsmeade alone. He always saw her around other people whenever he passed by. He figured she had more friends that he did, though he only considered the rest of his group ‘friends’ while anyone else was a mere acquaintance. He was happy to see that she finally distanced herself from Snivellus. He hated seeing them together. Oh how it made his blood boil; he wanted so badly to beat the other up to keep him from getting closer to Lily, yet it always worked against him whenever he played a prank on the Slytherin male. He never did see what she saw in him, but he was glad that she finally took a step back and saw what James saw in that lowly gutter snake.

He shrugged at her comment. “Well I think it is rather easy to stay on a broomstick. They are not nearly as slippery as couches are. I mean…you have something to grip onto when you ride a broom, but a couch, you can’t grip onto the fabric because there is nothing to get a grip on.” He clearly was trying to explain to her his reasoning behind it all, but it all came out in a rambled mess. “Or something like that…” He muttered showing his defeat. The couch had defeated him, but only Lily Evans would ever know such.

He had thought that he saw her move toward him as he had moved toward her; such could not be the case because she had told him more than once that she would rather kiss a toad than him. That comment always made Peter snigger, which resulted in Sirius jabbing him hard in the ribs. He often wondered why Peter hung out with the rest of them because they did not treat him as well as friends should. James was trying harder to not just use the male as Sirius did. He really felt a connection with him and was trying, desperately, to make up for all the wrong he had done to the male over the years.

“Umm…” He stared back into her emerald optics, his brows slightly furrowed. “The offer of tutoring me if Remus were busy.” He reached out a hand and pressed the back of it to her forehead. “Are you alright?” She didn’t feel feverish, but she clearly was not acting like herself. He wanted to know what was wrong with her so that he could try to fix it and make her better. He did not like seeing her like this…whatever ‘this’ was.

[Lily Evans]

Lily laughed at James’ attempt to determine that a couch was harder to stay on than a broom. She decided not to argue back anymore. This was a fight she had fully won. Oddly though, it didn’t please her. She liked it better when she saw the grin of triumph on James’ face, much like the one he had displayed earlier when he brought her the telephone. She didn’t realize that she was crying, she was laughing so hard. She brushed away the few tears and smiled at him. She patted his knee as she spoke. “You have such a way with words Mr. Potter.” She told him with a chuckle. “I won’t tell anyone that you fell off of a perfectly normal Muggle couch. Your secret is safe with me.” With those words, she felt an odd explosion in the pit of her stomach. She knew something about James that no one else knew, granted it was petty and stupid, but nevertheless, she knew, other people didn’t.

Truth be told, Lily missed Severus. He had been her first true ‘friend.’ She missed their relationship, the fun that they used to have together. She wished that they hadn’t have had their falling out in the fifth year, she truly thought that they could have been close friends. But now, there were rumors going around that he had feelings for her. She wished she had known beforehand. She wouldn’t have been so freely open with him, sharing all her secrets. She had trusted him, told her everything. She had stood up for him when James had his cronies were being berks. Now she knew that it would have been the complete other way around. She would have stood up for James if Snape was a prat. If it was even true… with rumors these days, you could never tell.

Lily returned to her sense as James pressed the back of his hand to her forehead, using a Muggle technique to check to see if she had a fever. “Oh. My. God.” She muttered, her cheeks redder than her hair. She curled her knees to her chest and buried her head in her arms. She wasn’t crying, she was just hoping that in doing so, she could keep James from seeing her severely flushed cheeks. “Sorry.” She murmured against her arm.

How could she have been so stupid? She clearly, and blatantly wore her heart on her sleeve there. Surly he caught on, he wasn’t an idiot. He had to have noticed something. She wanted to simply curl up and die. She was a prat. She deserved to die. “Yeah… I’d be glad to help.” She replied, her voice most likely a bit higher than before. What had she done?