You're Such A Baby!

Goldgrin

Rating: PG13
Genres: Romance, Humor
Relationships: Lily & James
Book: Lily & James, Books 1 - 5
Published: 05/09/2004
Last Updated: 25/11/2004
Status: completed

This is my response to a challenge of moon_shadows in the L/J forum: A lil' mistake. Lily accidentally turns James into a child, and takes care of him after that, untill he becomes normal again, facing everything that comes with it...

Chapters

1. OOPS!

2. To The Hospital Wing

3. What to do...

4. Bathing

5. Facing the school

6. Classes

7. Flying

8. Surprise, surprise!

9. Passing the Bridge

10. Just Authors Note!

11. Chapter 9a (revised chapter 9)

1. OOPS!

Like the summary said, this is a reply to the Challenge of moon_shadows, ‘A lil’ mistake’. This were the rules:

1. Lily and James must be in 7th year.

2. L/J must be Head Girl and Head Boy and have her/his own dorm room.

3. L/J must be around the ages of 3 and 4 when she/he gets transformed.

4. L/J, as a child, can't remember anything past her/his age (3 or 4).

5. L/J must have known each other and been good friends before the age of 3 and through the age of 4, at least.

6. Please, don't start writing about other ships, besides L/J; they are irrelevant to this challenge.

7. It must end in a L/J pairing.

I hope you’ll enjoy.

---

You’re Such A Baby!

Chapter 1: OOPS!

”Can’t he just grow up!” Lily raged as she stormed out of the Common Room, with a simple spell charming her hair back to its normal state. “I can’t believe Professor Dumbledore made him Head Boy!”

“Evans! Wait!” James called after her, but she ignored him, raging on.

CLANG!!

Lily grumbled as she just found out that banging into a suit of armour that was situated just around the corner was just as painfull as banging into another persons head.

“Here, let me help you.” Hallie, Lily’s best friend since first year, said, extending her hand to Lily. She had obviously followed Lily out of the portrait hole.

“Thanks.” Lily said.

“So, what has he done now?” Hallie questioned as the two friends continued down the hall, while the harness picked itself up from the ground.

“The bloody git turned my hair blue! Blue!” Although Lily was shorter than Hallie, the latter almost had to run to keep up with her redhaired friend.

“Well I’m sure he didn’t mean to turn your hair blue!” Hallie tried to calm Lily.

“Oh, I’m sure he didn’t, but that’s not the point! He’s the bloody Head Boy, for Merlins sake! You’d think he would behave himself...”

“So what did you do, take off house-points?”

“No.” Lily said, slowing down now they had reached the Great Hall. “We’ll probably need all the points we can get to beat Slytherin, and if I would give him detention he wouldn’t even mind! No, I’m gonna make him pay – my way!”

They sat down for breakfast, and as more students filled in the Great Hall, schedules were handed out, since this would be the first schoolday of the year.

“Excelent...” Lily said, looking at the schedule over her toast. “We’ve got Charms first. That’s the best time for my plan.”

“What are you going to do then?” Hallie asked.

“Wait and see.”

Half an hour later, the students that took NEWT-Charms, including Lily, Hallie, James, Sirius and Remus, took seats in the classroom.

Lily made sure she was seated behind James and his friends and the lesson started.

After taking some notes, professor Flitwick instructed them to review some of last years charms and he walked through the classroom to help some of the students.

Lily waited untill James was in one of his discussions with Sirius.

“Redu – hey!” Midsentence, Lily was pushed by some Slytherin and her spell hit James square in the back. It had been her intention to shrink James’ clothes so he would be trapped in them, but now she wasn’t sure what was about to happen.

Lily watched in horror as James collapsed to the ground. He yelled and seemed to be in incredible pain. At first nothing seemed to be happening, but then, James glowed a bright gold. It got brighter and brighter, untill the class had to look away.

The yelling stopped and with a flash, the light was gone.

Sirius was the first to aproach the wailing James.

As the class edged closer, Lily decided she had enough courage to take a look at what she caused. And she was shocked to see that instead of the normal 6 feet tall James, there sat a little James that, if he should have been standing, he wouldn’t be much more than 3’3”, 3’4” at most.

Lily hoped with all she had that the change was only in his body, and not his mind.

“James?” Sirius asked the toddler.

James looked up at Sirius, blinked, and started wailing with all his might.

Without thinking, Lily aproached the toddler and shrank his clothes so they would fit him again.

She then picked him up and rocked him while muttering soothing words. Slowly, the wailing subsided and James looked up at Lily with big, wet, hazel eyes.

Professor Flitwick made his way through the wall of students and looked at toddler James.

“Oh my...” He said. “Well, miss Evans. I think you should take mr Potter there to the hospital wing.”

---

Well, there you have it. My first chapter as a Portkey author! Please tell me what you think.

I know its a bit short, but the chapters become longer, promise.

2. To The Hospital Wing

You’re Such A Baby!

Chapter 2: To The Hospital Wing

---

As Lily made her way to the hospital wing, James grabbed a strand of her long darkred hair.

“Why’s Lily so big?” He suddenly asked.

“What did you say, James?” Lily asked.

“Why’s you so big?” James said again and Lily giggled at his choice of words. “And where’s this?”

‘He does know how to find the difficult questions first...’ Lily thought with a sigh.

“Well, this is a school, it’s a school where you go when you know magic.” Lily explained. “Do you know about magic?”

“Of course I know magic, silly! And why is you so big?” James asked once again.

“Um... that’s because of magic. It’s because of an accident, and now we have to go to a Healer, to see if we can fix this.”

“No! Not to the Healer! I don’t want to go!” James said as he held on to Lily with his tiny fists.

‘I never knew he was afraid of the docter.’ Lily thought, amused.

“Yes, we have to go to the Healer. We’re here already.”

James tried to escape, but she held on to him.

“Madam Pomfrey?” Lily called. “There’s something with James Potter.”

Almost immediately, the schoolnurse arrived.

“What’s wrong with mr Potter, miss Evans? And why do you have a toddler with you?”

“Well, that’s the problem. This IS James Potter.”

“Who’s that, Lily?” James asked.

“That is madam Pomfrey. She is the school nurse.”

“Nurse?”

“Yes, nurse, a kind of Healer.”

“Oh... But I don’t want to be with a Healer!” James tried to escape again, and this time, he startled Lily and she let go.

James ran as fast as he could on his little legs to the door.

“James!” Lily yelled after him. “Come back here!”

“Catch me if you can!” They heard him yelling.

Lily sighed and ran after him. She could hear him laughing around a corner and sprinted around it. Not to far ahead ran James. A moment later she had caught him.

“Come on, squirt.” She said as she held on to his hand and went to go back to the hospital wing. But James let himself fall to the ground in protest.

“I don’t want to go there!”

Lily sighed exasperated. She didn’t remember him being this stubborn when they were kids.

“If you go to madam Pomfrey with me, I’ll show you some magic afterwards, okay?”

James thought about it and then stood up. “Deal. But it won’t hurt will it?” He added.

“No, squirt, it won’t hurt, I promise.”

Lily never would have thought she’d be walking hand-in-hand with James again, but here she was walking with a toddler-version of her irritating housemate.

They entered the hospital wing again and James looked suspiciously at the schoolnurse.

Lily almost had a fit of giggles because of the face of the toddler.

“Miss Evans, if you would be so kind to put mr Potter on the table.” Madam Pomfrey said in her usual impatient voice.

Lily led James over to the high examining table (do they have those) and lifted him up on it.

As the schoolnurse started examining James, she asked Lily:

“So, what happened exactly?”

“We were having Charms, and I was about to reduce something when someone pushed me and the half-pronounced spell hit him square in his back.

“I see.” Madam Pomfrey said, as she was done examining James. “There’s seems to be no harm to him, accept his change in age. How old are you, mr Potter?”

“Three” James said holding up three fingers. “And my name is James. Daddy is mister Potter.”

“Well, miss Evans, I suggest you take mr Potter here to the headmaster, as I can’t do anything to help him. As you’re the Head Girl, you probably know the password to his office?”

“Yes, I’ll go there right away, come on, squirt.” She said as James jumped back to the floor.

She took James hand again and they walked down the halls to the gargoyle in front of professor Dumbledores office.

Lily wondered why the hallways and classrooms all were deserted, but realized then that it was probably lunchtime already. One look at her watch confirmed her thoughts. But that would also mean Dumbledore was in the Great Hall having lunch.

“Lily, where is this Dumblore?”

“Professor Dumbledores office is behind this statue, squirt, and we’ll wait for him there. Lemon Drop.” As the gargoyle sprang to life to reveal the staircase, James squeeled in delight.

“It moves!”

“Yes, but lets go up now, okay?”

James let go of Lily’s hand and ran up the stairs.

“James! Not so fast!” Lily called worried. ‘I can’t believe it, I actually worry about the little piece of dynamite!’

Lily went the last part of the stairs with a couple of large paces and reached the door to Dumbledores office with James in front of it.

Just to be sure the Headmaster wasn’t inside, Lily knocked on the door.

No response came, and after she had knocked again, she opened the door and went inside, not really sure if she had permission to be here. But since she had no intention of going into the Great Hall with the toddler, she remained.

Meanwhile, James was jumping up and down trying to get to Fawkes as Fawkes was looking down on James with curiousity.

“James! You’ll hurt yourself if you keep doing that!” Lily warned.

“But I want to see the bird! What is it?”

Lily aproached the boy and bird and lifted James up so he was level with the Phoenix.

“Fawkes, I don’t know if you recognize him, but this it James. James, this is Fawkes, he’s a Phoenix.” Lily introduced to the intelligent bird.

Fawkes let out a single note that still lingered in the air as Lily quickly turned around.

“Hello miss Evans.”

---

3. What to do...

You’re Such A Baby!

Chapter 3: What to do...

---

It only took Lily about a second to get over the first shock of that fact that her Headmaster was here so fast already.

“Good morning, Professor.” She said, looking up into the twinkling blue eyes of the wizard that most people thought the most powerfull of the age.

“I figured you would be here, Professor Flitwick had quite a story.” Professor Dumbledore said with a smile. “I assume that’s mister Potter?”

“Yes, I’ve been to the hospital wing, but madam Pomfrey said he was as healthy as he could be, except he’s... somewhat younger. She couldn’t help him and adviced me to see you, sir.”

“Lily, who’s he?” James asked as Lily put him down.

“James, say hello to the Headmaster, Professor Dumbledore.”

James stepped forward with his arm outstretched. “Hello Dumblore. I’m James.”

The tall Professor got down so he could shake the three-year-olds extended hand. “Hello, young man.”

Professor Dumbledore sat down behind his desk then and mentioned Lily to sit down on a chair.

“Now, I you’d tell me, miss Evans, what exactly happened?”

Lily told Dumbledore everything she knew and Dumbledore stroked his beard in thought.

“A simple Finite Incantatem would do the trick, I’m afraid. To this kind of mistakes is, as far as my humble memories say, only one solution.”

“What is this solution, Professor?”

“We’ll just have to wait untill it wears off. It might take a day or four, five. My normal suggestion would be to have his parents take care of him, untill he would be in his original state, but...”

Professor Dumbledore paused a moment here and the twinkle in his eyes subsided almost totally. “Onfortunately, this letter was delivered to me during the time you were in Charms.”

The Headmaster pulled a letter out of his robes and handed it to Lily.

It didn’t say much, but it was enough.

Dear Albus,

There’s been another attack early this morning.

No Muggles were harmed, but two of the Order lost their lives. Elizabeth and Harold Potter have been killed by the Avada Kedavra. They took five Death-Eaters with them.

Yours sincerely,

Alastor Moody.

‘Poor James.” Lily thought, feeling the tears brimming in her eyes. She always loved mr and mrs Potter, since the time she and James were kids.

Both stayed silent for a while, untill Lily was pulled out of her thoughts by James who pulled on her robes.

“Lily, you said you show me magic!”

“You’re right, what do you want to see?” Lily asked.

James had this thoughful impression again, with his finger to his lips, then his expression cleared.

“I know! Make a dog! A large black dog!” (Sounds familiar)

Lily looked at Dumbledore, silently asking permission. The old Professor smiled and Lily took that as a yes. She pulled out her wand and transfigured a piece of wood that lay next to the heart into the requested dog.

“Padfoot!” James exclaimed happily.

Lily watched James play with the dog for a while, untill Dumbledore cleared his throath.

“Sorry!” Lily jumped. “So what now?”

“Well, someone has to take care of – ”

Dumbledore broke off as Sirius, followed by Remus almost fell into the office.

“Um... Sorry Professor, we just wondered... James?” Remus’ eye fell on James, who was still occupied by the large black dog, that oddly resembled Sirius.

“Sorry, Professor,” Remus said again, as Sirius gaped at the dog. “We were worried about James, and thought he might be here... We guessed for the password.”

“Never mind, mr Lupin, mr Black. It’s probably good you’re here, because we have a little matter here. Someone has to take care of James, untill we have our Head Boy back.” Professor Dumbledore said to the three students.

Sirius turned away from the dog to look at Dumbledore. “How about his parents?”

Lily handed the two boys the parchment, and slowly, they paled.

“Merlins beard!” Remus whispered.

“So you see we have a bit of a problem here.”

“We’ll take care of him Professor.” Remus said. “He’s still out best friend.”

“No!” James suddenly said, suddenly paying no more attention to the dog. “I want Lily!”

“What do you mean?” Sirius asked.

James stood up and walked over to where Lily sat and he grabbed the arm of her robes.

“I wanna be with Lily!” James said, looking up angrily at Sirius and Remus, as if daring them to try and take him away from Lily.

“It’s alright, Professor Dumbledore. I don’t mind taking care of him, but how about classes?” Lily said, turning to the Headmaster once more.

Both Sirius and Remus looked at Lily if she were crazy.

“You’re excused for the rest of today’s classes, and tomorrow I’ll take care of him.” Dumbledore said, ignoring Remus and Sirius’ expressions.

“You, professor?”

Dumbledore smiled. “Of course, I’m perfectly capable of taking care of a young boy, miss Evans.”

“Sorry, Professor, I just didn’t... expect it.”

Dumbledore just smiled. “Now, I’d like to continue this little conversation, but unfortunately, I’ve got some dull reports to fill in.”

Lily stood up. “Come on James, we’ll go to get something to eat.”

Lily took James’ hand and walked out the door, leaving Remus and Sirius gaping after her.

As she got at the end of the hall, Sirius and Remus caught up to her.

“I thought you hated James?” Sirius asked.

“Not in his current state, Black, so if you’ll excuse me.” Lily said, walking on.

“It’s still Lily alright!” Sirius said with a grin.

---

4. Bathing

You’re Such A Baby!

Chapter 4: Bathing

---

Since lunch was already over, Lily went to the kitchen to get some food.

As soon as she entered the kitchen, she and James were swarmed with house-elves.

“What wants miss Evans?” A house-elf with huge blue eyes and a small nose asked as a lot of other house-elves came with trays full of all kinds of food imaginable.

“I would like some sandwiches please.” She said as she was pushed to a chair. “What do you want to eat, squirt?” She asked James, who was gaping at the house-elves.

“Can I have anything I want?” James asked.

The house-elves all chattered at the same time, but it was obvious it was a yes.

“Pancakes.” James said soundly, before exploring every corner of the kitchen.

“Wow, Lily!” He shouted from the other side of the room. “I’ve never-ever seen a room this big! Do you?”

“Yes, squirt, now get back here, your pancakes are ready!”

James ran over as fast as he could (it was amazing to see how fast the three-year-old could move), and plumped down on a seat across Lily and started wolfing down the pancakes. As Lily looked at him over her sandwich with ham and cheese, she was amazed at how many energy there seemed to be stored in the little boy.

Half an hour later, the two went outside again, after Lily had taken some cakes from the insisting house-elves. James was now eating some piece of pumpkin pie.

Between bites, he asked Lily: “What’re we gonna do now? We could play hide-and-seek!”

“We can play that later. First, we’ll go up to the Head-Boy and Girl dormitories to make sure you have a decent place to sleep tonight, then we’ll see what we do alright?”

Lily led James through the hallways and up different stairs, untill they reached the portrait of the Fat Lady.

“Password?” She asked.

“I wanna say it! I wanna say it!” James said exitedly. “What is it?”

Lily whispered something in James’ ear and he looked at her. “Really?”

“Yes, that’s the password.”

“Wow... Sugar Pancakes!”

The portrait swang forward and before Lily could make a move to help James climb into the round hole, he was already inside, and all Lily could do was follow.

Lily found the common room empty and walked over to a torch on the wall, said ‘Hippogryph’, and an archway to the small common room that was shared by the Head Boy and Girl opened.

After she conjured some toys for James to play with, Lily entered his dorm and was shocked.

She had expected to find a total mess, but James proved to be more tidy than she could have imagined. It wasn’t Petunia-like tidy, but it wasn’t everything all over the place either.

The first thing she did was shrinking part of his clothes to his current size. After that, she inspected the room closely, looking for anything a little child could get harmed with.

After she had fixed some sharp edges and the like, she noticed something on James’ bedstand. Curious, she took a closer look. It was, like she had first thought, a picture. It was a picture taken when they were eight.

Lily sat down on the bed, thinking back to that day. It had been James’ birthday, and they were playing when they were surprised by James’ mother taking the picture. It was only weeks after that picture was taken that they had had that fight. Now she thought back, it had actually been because of some silly thing, she didn’t even remember what it was, but it had damaged their friendship, and they had never made up. That was almost nine years ago...

She looked at the picture again. She had no idea James still had this picture, even had it on his bedstand... they looked so happy, so carefree.

CLATTER!

Lily immediately sprang up, putting the picture back on the bedstand, and ran out of the room to find...

A total disaster. A large part of the common room was covered in ash, covering the couch, the floor, one of the small desks and...

“James!” Lily rushed to the toddler that was almost completely black now, his small glasses were hard to see through. As Lily tried to brush most of the ashes off of him, she noticed what had went wrong. James had obviously inspected the heart, and had leaned on the small railing that was in front of the fireplace, and it had fallen forward, in the middle of the ashes that lay in there.

“Scourgify!” She said, waving her wand around the room, and it was instantly its normal clean self again. Unfortunately, the spell wasn’t meant for little three-year-olds that had ash all over them.

“You’ve made a pretty big mess, didn’t you? I think you’ve got to take a bath, squirt.” Oh, Merlin! I don’t wanna see – certain things, how am I going to do this? Lily thought hard. “You sure know how to keep me occupied, don’t you. Well, come on, to the bathroom.”

To Lily’s relief, James didn’t have a problem going into bath, judging by the happy toddler that came after her.

Lily, who had been a prefect too, had found out that the Head-Girl bathroom was even more luxuoury than the Prefects’ one.

“Now, just wait a minute as I fill the bath.” The bath was somewhat larger than the Prefects’, but it’s bottom could be lowered or heightened, so she didn’t have to worry about James drowning in it.

As the bath was filled (and the edge covered with foam), Lily turned to James again, who was staring around the bathroom.

“’Tis really big!” Was all he said.

“Very. Now, have you ever washed yourself before?”

“No. I can put on my own clothes!” He said proudly.

“Good, well, why don’t you put your clothes off, and get into the bath, while I go get some clean pyjamas.”

“Okay!”

“Phew, that’s a relief...” Lily muttered to herself.

Lily felt kind of strange searching through James’ clothes, in search of some pyjamas. Apparently, James slept in only his boxershorts. After a while, she finally found a pair of pyjamas and she shrank them down, she got a pair of boxershorts and went back to the bathroom.

As she aproached the bathroom, she listened intently, and went in as she heard the splashing of water.

She aproached the bath and found James was on the other end of it.

“Come here, squirt, so I can wash you.”

James splashed towards her with a big grin on his face.

Lily didn’t really pay attention to the mischievous face of the toddler, untill he was right in front of her and suddenly threw a washing-glove in her face.

“James!” She shrieked, surprised. But then, she picked up the washing-glove and threw it right back.

It missed, and James picked it up again, but this time Lily was prepared and she ducked in time. She then went to the sink and poored a glass full of water, while picking up the washing-glove that had landed there.

She threw the washing-glove back again, and James managed to avoid it once again, ducking under water. In a quick step, Lily was by the edge of the bath, and as James resurfaced, she emptied the entire glass of cold water over James’ head.

Soon, a full water-fight had ensued, and in no time, both Lily and the whole bathroom were dripping wet.

Finally, Lily remembered she was supposed to be seventeen and a Head-Girl.

“Alright squirt, let’s wash that hair of yours.”

A quarter of an hour later, James was washed, and now Lily faced another problem. How was she supposed to dry the boy?

Unconsciously, she pulled out her wand and dried herself and the bathroom with a spell and then it hit her.

“I’m clearly not in shape today.” She muttered as she grabbed a towel.

“Alright, squirt, let’s get you dressed.” As James got out of the bath, Lily held the towel in front of him and then dried him with her spell: “Sicci.”

She handed him his pyjamas and boxershorts. “Now, as you get dressed, I’ll go see if Hallie, by any chance has dropped off my bag.”

Lily left the bathroom and, indeed, found her bag in her room. She pulled out her books and placed them on her bookcase. Then she left her dorm again and sat on the couch and lit the fire, waiting for James.

No too long after that, the bundle of energy jumped on her lap, wairing his pyjamas with moving golden lions on the red velvet.

“Lily? Can we go eat now?”

Lily looked at her watch to see it was almost dinner time now.

---

5. Facing the school

You’re Such A Baby!

Chapter 5: Facing the school

---

“We’ll go down for dinner in a minute, squirt. First, you’ve got to put on some socks and shoes, and a robe.”

As Lily went to go get James’ shoes from the bathroom and some clean socks and a robe from his room, James waited, for once, calmly on the couch.

Lily helped James putting on his socks and robe, and tied his shoes. As she looked him over, Lily couldn’t help but notice how adorable James looked. His red and gold pyjamas with his Gryffindor robes over them. His messy black hair and his big, hazel eyes that sparkled with joy...

‘Okay, here we go...’ Lily said to herself as she was about to step into the main common room.

She opened the door, and found a packed common room. Since it was about time to go down to dinner, almost every Gryffindor was in the common room. It took a while before the students noticed Lily, with James on her hand, who was trying to go through the common room as quick and unnoticed as possible.

But it was too full to go unnoticed.

“Oooohhhh! He’s so cute!” A fifth-year girl said.

“Found a stray boy, have you Evans?” Joked a sixth-year named Barney.

“Who is he, Lily?” A classmate of Lily said.

“Haven’t you heard? Lily turned James into a toddler!” Another said.

Finally, Lily reached the portrait hole, Hallie standing next to it.

“Let’s get out of here.” Lily said before Hallie had a chance to say something.

As the Fat Lady swang closed again behind them, James tugged at Lily’s hand.

“Lily? Who were that people? And who’s she?”

“Well, James, that’s my friend, Hallie, and all those people in the common room were students here. We’re going to the Great Hall now, to have dinner, and there will be even more people there.”

“Ah... um, Lily? What are students?”

Hallie snorted loudly, but Lily silenced her with a simple look.

“Students are persons, just like you, me and Hallie, and they are here to learn magic, to study.”

“Aahh...” James said knowingly. “But you’re not a student.”

“And why not?” Lily asked, really curious to know the answer.

“Because you don’t have to learn anything. You know everything!” James said proudly.

This time Hallie couldn’t hold her laughter back, and she giggled uncontrolably.

A couple of minutes later, James tugged on Lily’s hand again.

“Hm?”

“What’s wrong with Hallie?”

This time Lily had trouble containing her laughter, and Hallie was instantly quiet.

“Nothing.” Lily said. “She’s just happy.”

“Oh...” James said, still looking at Hallie like she was crazy.

They arrived at the Great Hall. There weren’t too many students inside yet, and the Staff table was still empty.

“Oy, Evans! I didn’t know you were into toddlers!” Ellean Bliston, a Slytherin 7th year said.

“So that’s why you don’t date!” Another said sarcastically. “I would watch out! They might start thinking things!”

“And you would really like to know how that works, thinking, I mean. Don’t you, Park!” Lily retorted.

James walked more closely to Lily. He didn’t like those people at all.

“Aahh... Is ickly Jamesy scawed?” That was Snape. “I hope you put him in some diapers, Mudblood, for he looks like he’s going to wet himself!”

Before he knew what hit him, Snape was hit with several curses.

“I’d watch that mouth of yours, Snivelus!” Sirius said, coming into the Great Hall. “Before you know it, it’s just as greasy as that thing on your head you call hair!”

And, for once, Lily totally agreed with Sirius. How could anyone be so cruel to a three-year-old, even if it used to be a 17-year-old.

Lily, James, Hallie, Sirius, Remus and Peter went on to the Gryffindor table and all sat together, something that was also a very rare thing.

“Why are they so mean, Lily?” James asked from besides her.

“Because they are total jerks. Don’t mind what they say. If they do it again, I’ll turn them into slugs.” Lily said the last part staring daggers in the direction of Snape, who was just getting back onto his seat, helped by his fellow Slytherins.

“Wow Lily, I didn’t think I’d see the day you would say a thing like that!” Peter said.

“He’s practically one anyway, acting like that towards a little child! How could he?”

“Welcome to the real world, Evans.” Sirius said.

“Can it, Black. Now, James, what do you want to eat?”

James, who was looking like his normal happy self again, was looking at the table at all the things that were put there. He pointed at some things and Lily put them on his plate, and then served herself.

Dinner went on rather calmly after that. Lily managed to avoid a foodfight between James, Sirius, Remus and Peter, and after they ate their desert, they got upstairs again.

As they walked, James started to show signs of exhaustion, leaning more into Lily. Lily had wondered how long he’d be able to be so wild. She lifted him up, and soon he was off to sleep into her chest.

They left Marauders and Hallie stopped talking, as not to wake James up, and they walked the rest of the way to the Fat Lady in silence.

“He is cute like this, isn’t he?” The Fat Lady said as they were in front of her. “I remember when he was still in his first year – ”

“Sugar Pancakes.” Remus said, interupting her.

Offended, the Fat Lady swung forward.

“See you in the morning.” Hallie said as Lily went straight to the torch.

“Good night.” Remus said.

Lily nodded to them. “Hippogryph.”

She carried James straight to his room. Put his robes, his shoes and socks off and tucked him in.

“Good night, love.” She said as she kissed his forehead.

---

6. Classes

You’re Such A Baby!

Chapter 6: Classes

---

Lily groaned as she heard her alarm go off. She slammed it off, looking at the time.

She groaned again. It was only 5 o’clock!

She sat up, trying to get her mind clear to figure out why it was set this early. Then it all came back, the thorougly exhausting day and her trying to get some homework done yesterday-night. She had failed miserably and had only finished her Charms homework and she had went to bed to do the rest of the homework done in the morning.

She got up and went to the bathroom, having a quick shower to wake up.

Refreshed, she put on her robes for today and grabbed some of her books. She knew they didn’t have to be done today, but she had always done her homework as soon as she could, so she didn’t have to hurry, and it worked fine with her.

As she got back out of her room, her hands full of books, quills and ink, she couldn’t help herself but had to peak in on James.

He looked so adorable. His unruly hair was even messier than normal and his face was angelic, but with the trademark mischievous grin on his face.

She stood there for a while, untill she realized she had homework to finish and, reluctantly, she went down to their small common room.

After two hours of hard work, she was glad to have her homework done. She stretched to flex her muscles a bit as she saw James’ door opening.

She got up to see the, still a bit sleepy, face of James coming around the door.

“Hello, squirt, you’re up early!”

Lily got up the stairs to James, who was now fully out of his room. He looked confused.

“Lily? Where’s my mummy?”

Lily thought quickly. “Don’t you remember? You’re staying with me for a couple of days.”

“Oh... so what are we going to do?” James asked, rubbing some sleep out of his eyes.

“Firstly, we’re going to get you dressed, then we’ll go see if there’s some breakfast downstairs.”

After helping James getting dressed, Lily packed her bag, with James looking around her room.

As she was ready, they went out of the small common room, into the main one. They weren’t such an attraction as they were the prvious night, and they only got some friendly greetings this time, which Lily, and a very mcuh more awake James returned.

Breakfast was relatively quiet and after a while, Lily and James were joined by Remus, Sirius, Peter and Hallie. Because of James toddlerness, they had put aside their indifferences and were actually quite friendly towards one-another.

About half an hour before the first lesson of the day would start, Lily took James up to Dumbledores office.

She knocked on the door on top of the stairs and a cheerfull ‘Come in’, invited her in.

“Good morning, professor.” Lily greeted the professor who sat behind his desk.

“Hi Dumblore!” James said cheerfull.

“Good morning, miss Evans, mister Potter.”

“I’m James.” James said. “My dad is mister Potter.”

The twinkling in the Headmasters eyes increased as he said: “Of course, excuse me, good morning, James.”

“Well, you said you’d watch over James as I went to classes...” Lily said.

“Yes, we’ll have lots of fun today, won’t we James!”

“Yay! Fun with Lily and Dumblore!” James said exitedly.

Lily got down next to James. “Not with me, James. I’ve got to go to classes, to learn new things. You have to stay with professor Dumbledore. Okay?”

“But you know everything already!” James said. “So you can stay!”

“I don’t know everything, love. Professor Dumbledore knows a lot more than I do, and all of the teachers too. I’ve got to go to my classes.”

“But I want to be with Lily!” James said, looking sad but determined. “I’m going to classy too!”

A smile came on Lily’s face at James’ choice of words. “You’ll find them really boring, no fun at all. If will be a lot more fun to stay here with professor Dumbledore and Fawkes.”

“But I want to be with you!” James repeated.

“It will only be for a couple of hours. Miss Evans will be back before you know it.” Professor Dumbledore said.

With a gratefull look at the Headmaster, Lily got up to leave for classes. She had to hurry now, to be on time.

But James thought otherwise and wrapped his little arms around Lily’s legs. “No! I go with you!” He said, looking up at her with watery eyes. “Please?”

Lily quickly found herself resolve as she saw him looking at her like that. She looked up at the Headmaster.

“I don’t think it would be to much trouble if you took James with you. That is, if you don’t mind.”

Lily looked at James again and ruffled his hair. ‘I must be crazy...’ “Oh, alright, squirt. But I’m sure you will think it boring. We’ve got to hurry now, though, if we want to be on time for Transfiguration.”

James’ face instantly brightened and he grabbed Lily’s hand, pulling her towards the door.

Lily heard Dumbledore chuckling softly as she exited the room.

She ran down the hallways to McGonagalls class and made it just in time.

McGonagalls class wasn’t full and contained of just five students besides Lily, normally James, Sirius and Remus.

She sat down and unpacked quickly, only then noticing the inquisitive look of the teacher.

“I’m sorry, professor, but James refused to stay with professor Dumbledore, and he said it would be okay if James came with me to class.” Lily explained.

She saw how professor McGonagall pursed her lips disapprovingly, and also heard Sirius’ soft snort and then a sound that was obviously coming from Remus’ foot contacting Sirius’ shin as she heard a muffled “Ow!” Coming from Sirius.

“Lily? Who is that?” James asked then, pointing at McGonagall.

“That’s professor McGonagall, but you have to be quiet now.”

Lily gave James a piece of parchment and some Muggle pencils she had with her and the class went on rather normally, despite the scratching sounds James was making.

McGonagall was explaining about Animagi, and Lily found it a really interesting subject. For a while, she didn’t think about James sitting next to her. As she turned to her notes to write something down, she heard the chuckles from behind her and looked up to see what was so funny.

Lily nearly choked in her gasp as she saw what was so funny.

McGonagall, who was facing the blackboard to explain something, wasn’t aware of James, who stood right behind her, looking up at the blackboard with seemingly interest, his finger thinkingly on his chin.

This wouldn’t have been too bad if professor McGonagall wouldn’t have chosen that moment to back away from the blackboard a bit.

James was standing too close behind her and she bumped into him. It seemed to take ages to Lily as she saw how James fell backwards and how McGonagall was trying to keep herself from falling too, taking a step or two backwards. Unfortunately, right there stood a chair and professor McGonagall lost her ballance and fell, quite un-elegantly, on her hindquarters.

The whole class, excluding Lily, James and McGonagall herself, was desperately trying to keep from laughing, failing miserably.

Lily immediately went to the front of the class to see if James was alright. And as she made sure he was perfectly fine, a Hufflepuff helped McGonagall up.

Lily took James back to their seats and McGonagall looked rather angry.

James obviously didn’t miss that and looked kind of frightened. “I’m sorry.” He said softly.

McGonagalls expression lightened a bit and continued with the lesson like nothing happened.

After Transfiguration, they had Herbology, and James acted like an angel through the entire lesson, looking at the different plants, without touching them, and soon, lunchtime rolled around.

As they went by the Slytherin table, Snape seemed to want to say something, but after seeing Lily grab her wand, Snape seemed to decide it better not saying anything.

Further, lunch was uneventfull.

After lunch, they went down to have Potions.

As they waited to enter the class, Snape seemed to have worked up his courage over lunch, and said: “How cute, ickly Jamesy doesn’t dare leaving the Mudblood!”

Lily whipped out her wand, ready to curse Snape into next month, but James was faster.

This time, he didn’t get scared, but he launched himself at Snape.

Snape, who didn’t expect this, fell and James started punching his small fists on Snapes nose in a rapid fashion that made Lily wonder if he had practiced.

Cursing, Snape whipped out his own wand and pointed it at James. Lily, who saw the danger, pointed her wand at Snape.

“Transfiguré Slug!”

And, with a jet of poison-green light, Snape had vanished and there was a slug instead.

“I must say, there is a certain resemblance! Nice work Evans.” Sirius said, who aproached through the hallway. “Though you might want to change him back. Professor Mensa is on his way.”

With a wave of Lily’s wand, Snape was back and Lily pulled James besides her.

“Don’t ever point your wand at James again.” Lily said in a dangerously calm voice.

And, like Sirius, the only Marauder besides James that had made it to NEWT-Potions, had said, Professor Mensa appeared just then.

Snape seemed ready to complain about what happened, but then thought otherwise and they all went inside.

The double hour of Potions went by without any accidents and soon, Lily and James together with Sirius made their way to the final class of the day, Defense Against the Dark Arts.

This years teacher was, unlike last-years professor, rather competent, though a bit too much of a softy to maintain order sometimes.

They filed into the classroom. Lily sat in the back, as not to get too much attention to James.

“Lily? When are we going to have some fun?” James asked.

“It’s not too long anymore, squirt. Just an hour.”

“You know what?” Sirius said, turning back from the seats before Lily. “You can come see the flying after dinner. I’ll even take you up if you want to.”

“Yay! Flying! Flying!” James chimed.

Lily, meanwhile, bend forward. “Black! If you drop him, you’re dead!” She whispered.

Then, Professor Vestimen entered and the class started.

Lily found it increasingly difficult keeping James quiet and out of trouble.

It was only a few more minutes untill the end of class as Lily felt something wet going down her leg. She looked down to see her ink bottle toppled over, covering her notes and part of her school uniform in the blue ink.

“James!” Lily exclaimed angry, effectively getting the attention of everyone in the classroom. “Why did you do that?! Was that fun?”

As Lily started cleaning her notes and her skirt with her wand, James’ lower lip started trembling as Lily continued muttering angrily under her breath.

Just then, it was time and all of the students and the professor left the room, save Lily, James, Hallie, Sirius, Remus and Peter.

Just as Lily looked up at James, the wall was bursting and a flood of tears streamed down James’ cheeks. “I didn’t mean to...” He sobbed and Lily melted right away, pulling James into a hug.

“Shh, don’t worry, I’m not mad at you.” She said while stroking his small back.

“Really?” James asked, looking up at her with those big hazel puppy eyes that were shining with tears.

“Really, I was just startled.” Lily said, brushing away the tears on his face.

A smile came back on James’ face.

“Can we go have dinner now?” Peter broke the silence.

---

Well, that’s chapter nr 6.

Thanks everyone who reviewed so far. I like reading what you think.

I’ll probably post within the next few days, so untill then R/R please.

7. Flying

You’re Such A Baby!

Chapter 7: Flying

---

As they sat down for dinner, James turned to Lily once again.

“When are we going to fly, Lily?”

“You can go flying with Sirius after dinner.”

“Don’t you fly?”

“No, I didn’t bring my broom with me, and I’m not that good at Quidditch. I’m more of a racer.” Lily explained.

“What is Kiddish?”

After that question, Sirius and Hallie, who were both on the team, started explaining everything there was to know about Quidditch to the three-year-old. Resulting in a quiet dinner.

After dinner, they made their way to the Quidditch-pitch. As Sirius and Hallie showed James everything, Remus and Peter went to sit on the stands. Lily sat there too, grabbing a book with the intention to read.

The first couple of minutes, that went just fine, untill Sirius and Hallie pulled out their brooms.

Lily watched with prying eyes how first Hallie and then Sirius took James up in the air.

They zoomed around the pitch a couple of times, when Sirius stopped in mid-air. He obviously showed James how to hold the broom.

Without noticing herself, Lily had stood up, watching as Sirius removed his hands from the broom. Lily was ready to hex Sirius right there and then, had James not been on the broom with him.

“Look Lily! I’m flying!” Lily was snapped out of her thoughts by the voice and she couldn’t help but feel a little proud about James, behind her fears for him falling.

She sighed in relief as Sirius got hold of the broom again.

They zoomed around the pitch once more, untill Lily’s hart was ready to stop.

She watched in horror as Sirius dived down, going almost vertically to the ground.

The squeels of delight that came from James were lost to Lily’s ears as she was sure they were going to crash.

Then, Sirius pulled up again and Lily’s felt relief, immediately followed with anger.

She stormed down the stands.

“Black! Get that cursed ass of yours down here this minute!” Lily yelled furious.

“Aw, Lily... it was just a little dive!”

Hallie, who had gone to shower and change came out of the changing rooms at that moment.

“He dived?!” Hallie asked incredulously.

“Yes.” Remus said, who had just come down the stands followed by Peter.

“Don’t you ‘aw, Lily’ me, Black!” Lily continued, without paying attention to the others. “If you don’t get down here...”

“I’m not going down there untill I’m sure you won’t lynch me.” Sirius yelled back.

James looked back and forth between the two and obviously didn’t understand what was the matter.

“You’ve got fifteen seconds to get down here Black! Or I promise you won’t reach the common room alive this night!”

Sirius seemed to get the hint and descended to the ground.

“What? Why are we stopping?” James asked disappointed.

“Because it’s been enough for today.” Lily said, glaring daggers at Sirius and grabbing James by the hand.

“But I don’t want to!” James said, trying to convince Lily. “I want to fly some more!”

“Not today, James. We’re going inside.”

James seemed ready to throw a tantrum, but Lily seemed surrounded by a power field that seemed almost tangible and he kept his mouth shut, feeling that now wasn’t a good time to test Lily.

“Are we going to fly tomorrow?” James asked as they walked back to the castle, leaving Remus and Peter who were going to wait for Sirius to change.

Lily, who was more calm now, nodded. “I’ll borrow Sirius’ broom and then I’ll take you.”

James’ smile got back on his face again and they went into the castle as the last rays of sun shone over the world.

“You can borrow mine too, you know.” Hallie said.

“I know, but then you wouldn’t be able to fly with me.”

Soon, they entered Gryffindor common room that was still rather full of students.

“I guess I’ll see you tomorrow?” Hallie said as Lily immediately made her way to her and James’ common room.

“Yeah, good night.” Lily said, entering her common room.

Lily almost immediately plumped down on the couch in front of the roaring fire and James sat down next to her.

“Will you read me a story, Lily?” James asked.

“Sure, let me think... Once upon a time, there was a little girl...” Lily started looking into the fire as James snuggled close to her.

“This little girl had a nice life, but always felt like something was missing in her life. Then, one day, the little girl got a letter, saying she was accepted to attend Hogwarts school of Witchcraft and Wizardry...”

It wasn’t long untill Lily heard the steady breathing of James and she smiled as she saw he was asleep already.

She put him in his pyjamas and put him in bed, kissing his forehead again.

At the door, she looked back at the sleeping form and leaned her head against the doorframe for a moment, engraving the picture in her mind.

Three hours later, Lily went to bed too, having finished her homework again and within minutes, she was fast asleep.

“Lily?”

Slowly, Lily woke out of her sleep, wondering what had awoken her, when she heard it again.

“Lily?”

Lily sat up, rubbing her eyes. “What’s wrong love?”

James moved towards her bed, looking scared.

“Did you have a nightmare?”

James nodded. “I’m afraid to go back asleep.” He whispered.

“It’s alright love.” Lily said, lifting James up on the bed. “It’s not real.”

“There was this awful man, with red eyes, and then there was a whole lot of green light... and you were dead.”

Lily wrapped her arms around James. “I’m right here, love, and I’m not dead. You know what, you can sleep here tonight, if it makes you feel better?”

James nodded and Lily pulled back the covers for him to get under.

She took him in her arms again, and he snuggled close to her. “Thank you, Lily.” James whispered softly as he drifted back asleep, soon followed by Lily.

---

I know it’s a bit short and not too much happens, but this was the best place to stop, since there will be something big happening really soon.

8. Surprise, surprise!

You’re Such A Baby!

Chapter 8: Surprise, surprise!

---

Slowly, James awoke, feeling strangely content. As his mind became clearer, he noticed something wasn’t like it was supposed to be, though it felt very comfortable and natural. He was just wondering what was wrong, as he noticed it... there was something warm next to him, better said, he had his arms around the warmth. He inhaled and noticed a very nice smell, coming from long hairs in which his face was burried.

Suddenly, the person stirred.

“James?” Came the feminine voice.

James opened his eyes to see the backside of his current (actually all-time) crush and his eyes almost popped out of his sockets. What was he doing in a bed together with the woman that always seemed to hate him. He was just trying to remember what happened the previous day as he said: “Lily?”

Hearing her name coming from the deep voice, instead of the child-voice she expected, Lily bolted upright.

“JAMES!!!”

Immediately, James jumped out of the bed.

Lily looked around at him incredulously, and immediately regretted doing that as she turned away from him instantly.

James, she noticed, was very poorly covered. Only shreds of material hung around his body and he seemed to notice that too, as he snatched her coveres off the bed, and only then did Lily dare turn around again.

She, too, had trouble remembering what had went on, but then it came back. The spell must have worn off during the night, and, since the clothes he was wearing weren’t adapted to his seventeen-year-old size, they had ripped.

James, obviously, didn’t remember being a toddler as he asked: “Evans! What the bloody hell am I doing here? We didn’t...”

“NO! Two days ago, I accidentally turned you in a three-year-old and since you refused being without me, I took care of you. Last night, you had a nightmare.” Lily said, calming down.

“Oh...” James said, turning even more red then he had become after noticing his nakedness, then he seemed to think of something, as his eyes shot up to Lily again. “Did you... we... you know... how did you... you know, shower.”

“Don’t worry, I didn’t see a thing.

“Right. That’s good.” James said, then turned to go out the door. “I’ll bring these covers back in a while.”

Lily nodded, though he wasn’t able to see that. At the door, James turned around again.

“Lily? Thanks. For taking care of me, you know.”

Then, James was gone.

Lily stared at the closed door for a while, and thought about his last words. ‘He called me Lily...’ She thought with joy, then she realized what she just thought. ‘Why would that matter to me?’ She started analizing. ‘I mean, I don’t even like him! Do I?’

She thought it over for a while, untill she came to a conclusion.

‘Alright, I do like him. But only platonic. I mean, I just babysat him for two days! You can’t do that without going to like him when he’s such a cute, funny, adorable, little toddler...’

At that moment, she was pulled out of her thoughts as James knocked on the door.

“Come in.”

James entered with the covers of her bed in his hand. He had obviously expanded his clothes to their normal size again, for he had his school-uniform on, only without his robe.

“Here.” He said a bit awkwardly.

“Thanks.” Lily said, taking her covers back.

“Um, lessons started Wednesday, so today it’s Friday, right?” James asked.

“Yes, you were only two days a toddler. Dumbledore expected it to be four or something like that, but obviously, it wore off sooner.”

James then turned to leave, but as he reached the door, Lily remembered something.

“James, wait a minute.”

“What is it?” James asked.

Lily went over to her desk and grabbed the picture she had looked at when she adjusted James’ room.

“This is yours. I took it out of your room, for it would have been strange for you to see a picture of an older you.”

“Thanks.” James said, taking it back. “It’s my favourite picture.”

Lily felt her hart lift at that sentense, but didn’t pay attention to it.

“So... I guess I’ll see you in class...” James said and then left the room.

As the door closed, Lily shook her thoughts off and started dressing and getting ready for school.

---

Again, a short chapter, but I didn’t want to put two chapters into one. Next chapter will probably be the last of this story, but I’m rather positive I’ll make a sequel.

Thanks for all the reviews, and if you have some constructive critisism, please tell me. It really helps.

9. Passing the Bridge

You’re Such A Baby!

Chapter 9: Passing the Bridge

---

As Lily went into the main common room, ready for school, she thought everything would go back to normal. But she wasn’t sure if she liked that.

She couldn’t have been more wrong...

“Lily! Over here!” Lily turned to see Hallie standing with Sirius, Remus and Peter.

‘Of course. They don’t know yet.’

“Where did you leave James?” Remus asked.

“Right here.” James said, coming out of the Head Boy and Girls common room.

“You’re back?” Peter said.

“No, he’s still a three-year-old, Wormtail, don’t you see?” Sirius said sarcastically. “Of course he’s back to normal! I do have to admit, Prongs, you’re really cute as a midget!”

Sirius received a punch in the arm for that last comment. “Shut it Padfoot!”

“Shall we go downstairs then?” Hallie asked.

“Yeah, I’m starved!” Peter said.

“When aren’t you?” Remus said.

They went downstairs and then to classes. The invisible force that was between Hallie and Lily, and the Marauders, seemed to have disappeared when James was turned into a toddler. The day went by and the six were actually enjoying eachothers company.

A week went by, and Lily found that the pranks the Marauders pulled were really quite funny. She almost couldn’t believe she thought them annoying once. Sometimes, Lily thought the pranks were a little out of place, but she didn’t have any trouble ‘forgetting’ about them. Even the way James and Sirius acted against Snape wasn’t something she dispiced anymore. Not after the way ‘Snivelus’ acted towards toddler-James.

Lily spent more time with James then she ever thought she could handle. But with their new friendship and their Head Boy and Girl duties, they were often seen together.

It was Saturday already when they made another one of their patrols around the castle at about eleven o’clock, when James said:

“I’ve been wanting to ask you something for a while now.”

“About what?”

“About when I was a toddler. I didn’t want to ask Sirius, Remus or Peter. Since they just stopped joking about it. I was wondering why you were the one taking care of me?”

“Remus and Sirius offered it first, but you didn’t seem to want to part with me.”

“You told me that, yes, but wouldn’t it be more logical for mum to watch over me?”

‘Merlin! I forgot about that!’ Lily thought. She stopped and leaned against the wall.

James eyed her surprised, wondering what was wrong.

“That was my first idea too. I even told that to Dumbledore, but...”

“But what? There isn’t something wrong is there?” James asked, now sounding worried.

“When we were at Charms that Wednesday, Dumbledore recieved a letter – there had been another Death-Eater attack...”

A look of anguish settled in James’ eyes. “Please tell me they’re not...” He almost begged.

“I’m so sorry James...” Lily whispered as James sank down against the wall opposite of her.

Lily made a move to comfort James, but he stood abruptly. “We’ve got to patrol.”

He started walking, fast.

“Do you want to talk about it?” Lily asked as she caught up to him.

“No.”

The rest of their patrol, neither spoke.

Weeks went by, and James was very withdrawn. He practically didn’t talk, his homework was done horrible and he didn’t take part in one single prank.

Lily was really worried about her friend. Hell, even Sirius was worrying.

Hallowe’en arrived and there would be a Ball.

A Ravenclaw had asked Lily, and Lily had accepted it. She didn’t particularly liked the guy, but she didn’t want to go without a date.

She got out of her room, dressed in a black dress. It was simple, but classy. It was strapless and reached to the ground, a slit on the side revealing a good piece of leg as she walked.

As she got into the small common room, she saw James sitting on the couch, staring into the flames, wearing his school uniform still, save for his robes and tie.

“Aren’t you going?” She asked.

“No. Don’t want to. Ain’t hungry either.”

“Oh...” Lily didn’t really know what to say anymore. “I’ll see you tomorrow I guess?”

“Probably.”

Lily then went in the main common room, walking to her friends.

Hallie was going with Sirius, Remus with a sixth year Gryffindor, and Peter didn’t have a date.

Lily was supposed to meet her date in the Entrance Hall.

“You look great, Lily!” Remus commented.

“Thomas Blaze is one lucky bastard!” Sirius said, earning him a pinch from Hallie. “Of course I’m the luckyest.” Sirius added.

Remus took a good laugh at this, Peter joining him. “Well, who would have thought! Padfoot being controlled by his date!”

Lily joined in the laughter as Sirius stuck out his tongue rather unrationally, but it didn’t last long. Lily didn’t know why, but she wasn’t really in the mood to have fun.

As Remus’ date arrived in the common room, they made their way downstairs.

The Entrance Hall was packed with students that were waiting to get into the Great Hall, but as soon as they entered, Lily heard the voice of her date.

“Lily!” The tall black-haired, brown eyed seventh-year aproached her.

“You look absolutely stunning!” He said as he reached her.

“Thanks, Thomas. You look real handsome too.”

Then, the doors to the Great Hall opened. Lily took Thomas’ offered hand and they entered the fabulously decorated Great Hall.

Lily and Thomas sat at a table together with Lily’s friends and their dates.

Soon, they all had food on their plates and were talking cheerfully, while eating.

Lily occasionally said something, but her hart wasn’t with it.

As dinner ended and the dancing started, Lily started questioning herself. Why did she feel so out of place? It wasn’t the first Ball she had attended, and the previous ones were never this un-enjoyable.

Thomas wasn’t a bad catch either, so what was wrong with her? He looked rather cute with his black hair and chocolate eyes. ‘Though I prefer messy hair and hazel eyes... Wait a minute? Where did that come from?!”

“Lily? Are you listening to a thing I’m saying?” Lily was snapped out of her thoughts by Thomas, who she was currently dancing with.

“Sorry. I was just... thinking a bit.”

A slow number started and Thomas held her closer as they danced on the slow music. But Lily felt a bit uncomfortable in Thomas’ hands.

‘What’s wrong with me?’ Lily though for the thousanth time that evening. ‘What do you want, Lily Helen Evans?’

Lily was suddenly very aware of how close Thomas’ face was with hers. He bent his head to hers, slowly inching closer as it hit her. Just as Thomas was about to kiss her, she averted her head. Thomas put a bit more space between them, and Lily looked up at him.

“I’m sorry, Thomas.” Lily said. “I do like you, but not like that.”

Thomas looked at the ground for a moment, then back at Lily. “I understand. Go to him.”

“What?”

“Go to him. I have seen you looking at him. Go!”

Lily smiled, turned away from Thomas, turned back, gave him a quick peck on his cheek and then rushed out of the Great Hall, towards Gryffindor Tower.

She hurriedly gave the password to the Fat Lady, impatiently waiting for the painting to swing forward far enough, she then rushed across the common room, toppling a couple of chairs over and gave the next password to the torch and entered the little common room.

She noticed James was still on the couch, looking like he hadn’t moved a muscle since the last time she saw him.

“James!”

“Lily? What are you doing here?”

“I couldn’t stay at the Ball – James, you have to talk about it!” Lily said, sitting down next to him on the couch.

“I don’t have to do anything.”

“You can’t keep it locked inside of you. The pain won’t go away if you don’t talk about it!”

James stood up from the couch and stared at a painting on the wall. “How would you know!”

“Because I lost my mother to cancer two years ago! I know how it feels!” Lily said, standing up too.

“At least you still have someone!” James said angry.

“Yeah, I’ve got a sister who thinks I’m a freak, and my dad’s home to sleep and is at work else. But that’s beside the point. You still have people, James! People who love you. Sirius, Remus... all of you friends!” Lily said, losing a bit of her calm demeanor.

James sat back down on the couch, looking lost. And Lily’s hart nearly broke.

“Please tell me – talk to me – James.” Lily pleaded.

James hugged his knees to his chest, something he always did when he wasn’t confident and felt hurt or lost. He looked at his knees as a silent tear rolled down his cheek.

Lily then wrapped her arms around him, sitting down again and James burst. His tears rolled freely as he burried his hair in Lily’s dark red hair.

“I miss them so much!” James whispered. “He took them all, Lily. First my grandparents, then my brother, my aunt, my uncle, my other grandparents, and now he took my last family too!”

“This are hard times for us all.” Lily whispered. “But as long as he have our friends and have love in our life, he can’t destroy us!”

James pulled back slightly and looked into Lily’s emerald pools.

Lily gently cupped his cheek, stroking a few tears away.

“Why did you come?” James asked softly.

“I couldn’t stay there. It wasn’t right. Because I left my hart here, with you...”

Something then came back in James’ eyes. Could it be hope?

James face inched closer, and then, their lips met. It was a gentle kiss, tender.

Then he pulled back again.

“James...” Lily said, barely audible. “I love you...”

James kissed her tenderly again. “I love you too.”

The End

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The ending was perhaps a bit dull, but this is my first attempt to do this kind of thing, so bear with me please.

This was it, so please tell me what you thought. The sequel will be started tomorrow, and if not, probably in the weekend.

10. Just Authors Note!

Authors Note:

I forgot this to say this in the story, so here it goes:

I don’t own anything about Harry Potter, no money is been made out of this and things like that.

Good, that’s been said. ;) Now the story’s really finished.

11. Chapter 9a (revised chapter 9)

I’ve decided the ending was rather crappy, so I revised the end, I hope you like it.

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You’re Such A Baby!

Chapter 9: Passing the Bridge

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As Lily went into the main common room, ready for school, she thought everything would go back to normal. But she wasn’t sure if she liked that.

She couldn’t have been more wrong...

“Lily! Over here!” Lily turned to see Hallie standing with Sirius, Remus and Peter.

‘Of course. They don’t know yet.’

“Where did you leave James?” Remus asked.

“Right here.” James said, coming out of the Head Boy and Girls common room.

“You’re back?” Peter said.

“No, he’s still a three-year-old, Wormtail, don’t you see?” Sirius said sarcastically. “Of course he’s back to normal! I do have to admit, Prongs, you’re really cute as a midget!”

Sirius received a punch in the arm for that last comment. “Shut it Padfoot!”

“Shall we go downstairs then?” Hallie asked.

“Yeah, I’m starved!” Peter said.

“When aren’t you?” Remus said.

They went downstairs and then to classes. The invisible force that was between Hallie and Lily, and the Marauders, seemed to have disappeared when James was turned into a toddler. The day went by and the six were actually enjoying eachothers company.

A week went by, and Lily found that the pranks the Marauders pulled were really quite funny. She almost couldn’t believe she thought them annoying once. Sometimes, Lily thought the pranks were a little out of place, but she didn’t have any trouble ‘forgetting’ about them. Even the way James and Sirius acted against Snape wasn’t something she dispiced anymore. Not after the way ‘Snivelus’ acted towards toddler-James.

Lily spent more time with James then she ever thought she could handle. But with their new friendship and their Head Boy and Girl duties, they were often seen together.

It was Saturday already when they made another one of their patrols around the castle at about eleven o’clock, when James said:

“I’ve been wanting to ask you something for a while now.”

“About what?”

“About when I was a toddler. I didn’t want to ask Sirius, Remus or Peter. Since they just stopped joking about it. I was wondering why you were the one taking care of me?”

“Remus and Sirius offered it first, but you didn’t seem to want to part with me.”

“You told me that, yes, but wouldn’t it be more logical for mum to watch over me?”

‘Merlin! I forgot about that!’ Lily thought. She stopped and leaned against the wall.

James eyed her surprised, wondering what was wrong.

“That was my first idea too. I even told that to Dumbledore, but...”

“But what? There isn’t something wrong is there?” James asked, now sounding worried.

“When we were at Charms that Wednesday, Dumbledore recieved a letter – there had been another Death-Eater attack...”

A look of anguish settled in James’ eyes. “Please tell me they’re not...” He almost begged.

“I’m so sorry James...” Lily whispered as James sank down against the wall opposite of her.

Lily made a move to comfort James, but he stood abruptly. “We’ve got to patrol.”

He started walking, fast.

“Do you want to talk about it?” Lily asked as she caught up to him.

“No.”

The rest of their patrol, neither spoke.

Weeks went by, and James was very withdrawn. He practically didn’t talk, his homework was done horrible and he didn’t take part in one single prank.

Lily was really worried about her friend. Hell, even Sirius was worrying.

Hallowe’en arrived and there would be a Ball.

A Ravenclaw had asked Lily, and Lily had accepted it. She didn’t particularly liked the guy, but she didn’t want to go without a date.

She got out of her room, dressed in a black dress. It was simple, but classy. It was strapless and reached to the ground, a slit on the side revealing a good piece of leg as she walked.

As she got into the small common room, she saw James sitting on the couch, staring into the flames, wearing his school uniform still, save for his robes and tie.

“Aren’t you going?” She asked.

“No. Don’t want to. Ain’t hungry either.”

“Oh...” Lily didn’t really know what to say anymore. “I’ll see you tomorrow I guess?”

“Probably.”

Lily then went in the main common room, walking to her friends.

Hallie was going with Sirius, Remus with a sixth year Gryffindor, and Peter didn’t have a date.

Lily was supposed to meet her date in the Entrance Hall.

“You look great, Lily!” Remus commented.

“Thomas Blaze is one lucky bastard!” Sirius said, earning him a pinch from Hallie. “Of course I’m the luckyest.” Sirius added.

Remus took a good laugh at this, Peter joining him. “Well, who would have thought! Padfoot being controlled by his date!”

Lily joined in the laughter as Sirius stuck out his tongue rather unrationally, but it didn’t last long. Lily didn’t know why, but she wasn’t really in the mood to have fun.

As Remus’ date arrived in the common room, they made their way downstairs.

The Entrance Hall was packed with students that were waiting to get into the Great Hall, but as soon as they entered, Lily heard the voice of her date.

“Lily!” The tall black-haired, brown eyed seventh-year aproached her.

“You look absolutely stunning!” He said as he reached her.

“Thanks, Thomas. You look real handsome too.”

Then, the doors to the Great Hall opened. Lily took Thomas’ offered hand and they entered the fabulously decorated Great Hall.

Lily and Thomas sat at a table together with Lily’s friends and their dates.

Soon, they all had food on their plates and were talking cheerfully, while eating.

Lily occasionally said something, but her heart wasn’t with it.

As dinner ended and the dancing started, Lily started questioning herself. Why did she feel so out of place? It wasn’t the first Ball she had attended, and the previous ones were never this un-enjoyable.

Thomas wasn’t a bad catch either, so what was wrong with her? He looked rather cute with his black hair and chocolate eyes. ‘Though I prefer messy hair and hazel eyes... Wait a minute? Where did that come from?!”

“Lily? Are you listening to a thing I’m saying?” Lily was snapped out of her thoughts by Thomas, who she was currently dancing with.

“Sorry. I was just... thinking a bit.”

A slow number started and Thomas held her closer as they danced on the slow music. But Lily felt a bit uncomfortable in Thomas’ hands.

‘What’s wrong with me?’ Lily though for the thousanth time that evening. ‘What do you want, Lily Helen Evans?’

Lily was suddenly very aware of how close Thomas’ face was with hers. He bent his head to hers, slowly inching closer as it hit her. Just as Thomas was about to kiss her, she averted her head. Thomas put a bit more space between them, and Lily looked up at him.

“I’m sorry, Thomas.” Lily said. “I do like you, but not like that.”

Thomas looked at the ground for a moment, then back at Lily. “I understand. Go to him.”

“What?”

“Go to him. I have seen you looking at him. Go!”

Lily smiled, turned away from Thomas, turned back, gave him a quick peck on his cheek and then rushed out of the Great Hall, towards Gryffindor Tower.

She hurriedly gave the password to the Fat Lady, impatiently waiting for the painting to swing forward far enough, she then rushed across the common room, toppling a couple of chairs over and gave the next password to the torch and entered the little common room.

She noticed James was still on the couch, looking like he hadn’t moved a muscle since the last time she saw him.

“James!”

“Lily? What are you doing here?”

“I couldn’t stay at the Ball – James, you have to talk about it!” Lily said, sitting down next to him on the couch.

“I don’t have to do anything.”

“You can’t keep it locked inside of you. The pain won’t go away if you don’t talk about it!”

James stood up from the couch and stared at a painting on the wall. “How would you know!”

“Because I lost my mother to cancer two years ago! I know how it feels!” Lily said, standing up too.

“At least you still have someone!” James said angry.

“Yeah, I’ve got a sister who thinks I’m a freak, and my dad’s home to sleep and is at work else. But that’s beside the point. You still have people, James! People who love you. Sirius, Remus... all of you friends!” Lily said, losing a bit of her calm demeanor.

James sat back down on the couch, looking lost. And Lily’s heart nearly broke.

“Please tell me – talk to me – James.” Lily pleaded.

James hugged his knees to his chest, something he always did when he wasn’t confident and felt hurt or lost. He looked at his knees as a silent tear rolled down his cheek.

Lily then wrapped her arms around him, sitting down again and James burst. His tears rolled freely as he burried his hair in Lily’s dark red hair.

“I miss them so much!” James whispered. “He took them all, Lily. First my grandparents, then my brother, my aunt, my uncle, my other grandparents, and now he took my last family too!”

“This are hard times for us all.” Lily whispered. “But as long as he have our friends and have love in our life, he can’t destroy us!”

James pulled back slightly and looked into Lily’s emerald pools.

Lily gently cupped his cheek, stroking a few tears away.

“Why did you come?” James asked softly.

“I couldn’t stay there. It wasn’t right. Because I left my heart here, with you...”

Something then came back in James’ eyes. Could it be hope?

James face inched closer, and then, their lips met. It was a gentle kiss, tender.

Then he pulled back again.

“James...” Lily said, barely audible.

“Yeah...” James said.

Then they were quiet, Lily letting her head rest on James’ shoulder, no further words were necessary right now. They felt content just being in the other’s presence.

The End

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Well, I think this ending is better then the previous one, a bit more realistic I think. Please give me your opinion.