"James!" called Lily.
He'd been walking back towards the Gryffindor common room after Quidditch practise. His muscles were aching slightly, he was more than a little sweaty, and his bones were exhausted. When he heard her voice, he turned in her direction despite his groaning body.
"I enjoyed our date yesterday."
"Oh did you?"
"Mmm," she said noncommittally. "Which is a good thing, especially if you want a repeat experience."
He looked her directly in the eyes, and she felt her heart flutter slightly and her palms begin to sweat.
"It is," he agreed.
He gazed at her for a few more seconds and then said, "I'll see you tomorrow then, Lily."
She nodded silently and walked back toward her friends.
"What was all that about?" asked Sarah, smiling at her friends apparent bewilderment. "Has he been cornering you in the broom cupboard again?"
"No," said Lily, frowning. "What's even worse is that I'm not sure I'd curse him if he tried to."
Sarah grinned appreciatively at her friends change in attitude. "Now we're getting somewhere," she said loudly. "I knew you had it in you!"
"Shouldn't you be revising for Charms?" asked Lily disapprovingly.
"I was taking a break actually. I've also been told by Remus over there that it's unhealthy to revise for too many hours at a time," said Sarah, grinning. "He's quite the gentleman."
"He's a taken gentleman, Sarah," said Lily warningly. "Diana will kill you if you even look at him again."
"I know," she said despairingly. "But you can't blame a girl for trying her luck, can you?"
"Try it on Sirius instead if you're so interested in the group," said Lily, rolling her eyes.
"I was thinking about James actually," said Sarah innocently.
"Mm," said Lily as she read her book. "Go for it."
"I was planning what we could do in the broom cupboard together," she continued, laughing at her friend's expense.
"Who with?" asked Lily absently.
"Your future husband," said Sarah, waggling her eyebrows suggestively.
"James?" exclaimed Lily, dropping her book. "You were planning to do those things with Potter?"
"So you're planning on getting married to him, are you?" grinned Sarah roguishly.
"Of course," said Lily, raising her eyebrows. "It's been fated for years."
She poked her tongue out at the look of surprise on her friends face. "Honestly, Sarah, who do you take me for?"
"You really don't want me to respond to that," she said flatly.
"Lily, would you help me with my Charms essay?" asked Hannah hopefully. "I've been struggling with it for hours."
"Sure," said Lily with a smile.
Lily, Hannah and Sarah spent the rest of the evening correcting Hannah's essay so it would be presentable to Professor Flitwick the next day. Lily was so busy concentrating that she didn't noticed a certain hazel-eyed boy watching her every movement with interest.
"It's not normal to spend your evening staring at somebody," said Sirius, breaking into James's thoughts.
"No, some might even say that it's a little…what's the word, Sirius?" asked Remus.
"Stalkerish would be the one you're looking for, I believe," replied Sirius seriously. "And it's not healthy."
"No, it's certainly not healthy," said Remus. "Which is why we thought we'd present to you -"
"The Marauder's Map!" declared Sirius, handing James the piece of seemingly blank parchment.
"You see, we were going to wait until Peter was back," explained Remus.
"But then we realised that we were incapable of waiting," continued Sirius, "and that Peter could be out for hours writing his Charms essay if last time was anything to go by."
"Plus we wanted to try it out this evening because neither of us have any patrol duties," put in Remus.
James's face broke into a huge grin. "How did you do it?" he asked.
"Actually, it wasn't us," said Remus. "As much as I'd like to claim the credit for such a legendary piece of Charm work."
"It was Lily's doing," said Sirius smiling slightly. "She came up to us with the charm just after you left."
"Amazing," said Remus, looking awestruck. "Never seen anything like it before, mate."
*
The next morning James was awoken by his owl hooting at him and tapping its beak on the window.
"Okay," he said sleepily. "I'm coming."
He rubbed the sleep from his eyes and ruffled his hair as he tried to get his owl through the window. He noticed that some of the wings were ruffled slightly oddly on one side. Had his owl been attacked?
Dear James,
We're so very proud of your achievements at school this term. I've never seen you go so long without landing yourself at least one detention before. You really have no idea how relieved your father and I are that you're finally growing into somebody who we can present to the rest of the family. Before we had to worry about you having a prank up your sleeve!
I'm writing to you because of all the events that are taking place around here. It's not safe anywhere anymore. That includes Hogwarts, James. If you see anything (and I really do mean anything, darling!) suspicious then please report it to Professor Dumbledore. It may seem almost insignificant to you, but I'm sure it will be of the utmost importance to him at a time like this.
Your father has been taken ill (no, really, there's no need to worry) and is going to be in St. Mungo's for a short spell so he can recover. I do not want you visiting him, or us, until we are back at home. You're at the safest place you could be right now, and I do not want you leaving under any circumstances. If I could stop you from visiting Hogsmeade I would, but I know your knowledge of the passages leading outside of school far outstrips my own. It would be fruitless for me to suggest such a thing, but I will express my hopes that you will heed my advice.
Be strong, James, and get through this year with your N.E.W.T.s. I've never been more proud of you, honey, and I know you'll get everything you want to out of your life. Your father wishes you to get yourself a replacement girlfriend; neither of us liked the sound of your previous one and I think he's suggesting that you should renew your efforts with a certain red-haired lady.
Wishing you all the best,
Mum (and dad).
James smiled at her last words and pulled the quill out of his bag, uncertain of what he was going to say.
Dearest Mother,
Code has never been your strong point, has it? Think of the information potential letter thieves could have gotten out of that. It's a good job that a certain mad-eyed Auror isn't reading your mail, or he would have a fit.
As for the news regarding the certain red-haired lady, I think you'll wish me all the best. I think she might be close to being won over. Then again, I have written similar letters to you every year, and each time they've turned out to be full of false hope.
I would love to visit dad, but I know you won't permit it, and I would hate to put either of you at risk. Please wish him all the best from me and a speedy recovery. Tell him when he gets better I'll take him out flying. He can be taught how to fly with style (for once) without a Beater's bat in his left hand (which will be a relief because I'm fed up with coming home with bruises!).
Please stay safe. I promise I will try to at all costs even if I won't grant your wish of remaining out of Hogsmeade at…certain times of the month.
Love to you both.
Your favourite and only son, James.
He tied the parchment to his owl's leg and watched it as it flew back off in the opposite direction, stopping to hunt on its way. He sighed slightly, rested his head in his hands, and thought of his father in his hospital bed in London. Was his father really only slightly ill? Had there been another Death Eater attack that his mother didn't want to tell him about? His mind was in turmoil.
He walked down to the showers slowly, humming a tune to himself. He decided not to worry too much about his parents' situation. Regardless of what happened, he could not change anything himself, as much as he would like to.
He showered quickly, pulled on his robes, and decided to go straight to the Owlery. He was up early anyway, and he could always stop by the kitchens on the way to Defence Against the Dark Arts.
Once he got there he looked out into the skies, then the Hogwarts grounds below. In the distance he could see Hagrid just outside his hut chopping logs and adding them to the fire. James thought that he must be doing Salamander lessons with the third years again.
He attached the letter to the owl's leg and watched it fly out into the cloudless sky.
*
Half an hour later James was in Charms sitting next to Sirius, who had charmed his Quill to take notes for him.
"You're so lazy," said James, rolling his eyes at his friend. "It's even going to note down when Flitwick falls off his books, you do realise?"
"Of course," said Sirius. "It'll make revision far more fun if I remember the spectacular moment every lesson where you give him a heart attack with your wand waving and he falls off his desk."
James shook his head at his friend and said, "Got any more fake wands, Padfoot?"
"'Fraid not," said Sirius regretfully. "Used the last of them to entertain myself in Slughorn's lesson on Friday."
"Shame on you," admonished James. "His lessons aren't half so bad as these."
"No," said Sirius. "But then you would say that because Lily sits directly in front of you. I've never see you work so hard before in Potions."
James laughed at his friend. "What would I do without you?" he asked.
"Prongs, it doesn't even bear thinking about. If I didn't have you I'd be spending my time in the library with Remus," said Sirius, looking horrified.
"Good job I'm not going anywhere then," said James.
"You will be if you carry on talking in Flitwick's lessons," said Remus behind them. "Apparently he wants to put you in detention, James, but he can't bear to break your clean slate."
"Wonderful," said James. "Mother will be happy."
Sirius stared at him for a few seconds before letting out a bark of laughter. "I thought you were serious there for a second, mate."
"I was," said James, grinning. "So what do you think about our final prank for the end of the year then?"
"Couldn't be better constructed. Of course there's the highest possibility of us getting caught, but I feel strangely confident about it," said Sirius.
"I don't, for once," said James doubtfully. "I swear Filch is onto us with this one. He's been tailing me everywhere since the last dung bomb episode."
"How's he meant to know that we're planning on letting off a hundred fireworks in the Great Hall?" asked Sirius.
"Talk a little louder why don't you, Sirius!" exclaimed Remus from behind them. "Announce it to the world!"
"Ignore him," said Peter quietly. "He's just stressed because Diana thinks it's time for them to have a 'break' -"
James swivelled around in his chair. "She said what, Moony?"
"Mr. Potter, would you please pay attention! Five points from Gryffindor. Now turn around in your seat before I put a permanent sticking charm on your -"
James looked at the Professor with an expression of terror. "I'd rather have a duel, sir," he said with a grin.
"School champion, I was," squeaked Professor Flitwick.
James said nothing in response, choosing to talk to Remus out of the corner of his mouth instead. "What did you do this time?"
"I missed her birthday," groaned Remus. "But it was transformation night, and what was I supposed to do?"
"Turn up at her birthday as a werewolf and yell 'surprise'?" said Sirius, laughing.
"Well," said Remus, grinning, "it honestly did cross my mind, but I decided while it might be my best prank yet it would also wreak -"
"Havoc," finished James. "Go make it up to her. Has she ever not taken you back before?"
"Well, it would have been okay," said Remus slowly, "had I told her where we went every month."
"Ah," said Sirius quietly. "Relationship wrecker."
"Exactly," said Remus. "Never seen anybody go so red, actually. I thought she was going to explode from fury."
"You've obviously not seen James's mum when I ruined her cake," chimed in Peter.
"God, do you remember that, Peter?" asked James, laughing. "It was wonderful to see her shouting at somebody other than me. She felt awful afterwards, of course."
"Anyway," continued Remus, "I thought it was wisest to apologise and make a swift exit until she calmed down."
"Oh no," groaned Sirius. "You walked out while she was shouting?"
"Evidently not the right thing to do," said Remus. "I recall that shortly after that she said 'we need a break'."
"I wouldn't hold out for her," said James. "Sounds like that's it."
"It would be easier had she not spread the word to all of the girls in the school," said Remus ruefully. "Now they have the idea that I'm a lousy boyfriend."
"Which, of course, you are," supplied Sirius. "Having to run out of a date to transform isn't ideal -"
The bell signalling the end of the class rang at this point, and the boys hastily packed up their things.
James heard Lily say to her friends, "No, you go on. I'll catch up with you later."
He gathered up his pieces of parchment and stuffed them into his bag. He needed to hurry if he was going to be on time to his Care of Magical Creatures lesson.
"James?" said Lily. "I need to talk to you if you don't mind -"
And even though he was, indeed, in a hurry, he put his bag down anyway.
"It's about Remus," she continued. "I'd like to know…I'd like to know where he goes every month."
"I can't tell you," said James. "Is this because of Diana?"
"Yes," said Lily uncertainly. "I had a feeling that if she knew the truth then she might give him a second chance."
"He'll never tell her," said James. "She's wasting her time. If she knew she wouldn't want to be with him. I know her type."
"Don't you think that's a little judgemental?" asked Lily. "Why won't he give her a chance?"
"Because she'll judge him for it," said James.
"You're not going to tell me, are you?"
"No," said James flatly. "And I'd appreciate it if you didn't ask again."
"James, I didn't mean to intrude…"
But she was talking to his back. He had taken his things and left for his next lesson. Sighing in defeat, Lily stalked back to the common room. Always two steps forward, one step back, she thought sadly.