James was patrolling the corridors at night. He looked nervously at the sky. Tomorrow would be full moon. He would have to make up a good excuse not to be patrolling the hallways, or he would have to make Peter and Sirius handle the werewolf alone. A quidditch excuse was ruled out because Lily and he patrolled the quidditch field.
James groaned inside, knowing that no one would be strolling around the hallways on the first night back. James wished he could use the Marauder’s Map, but no one but the Marauders knew about it and if Lily saw it, she might turn it in.
“You seem kind of jumpy, Potter,” Lily remarked next to him. James quickly stared at the floor in front of him.
“Its nothing.” He wrapped his arms around himself because it was so cold.
The coldness reminded him of the dementor on the train. James had never expected to come face to face with a dementor in his entire life. He was sure to receive a copy of the Daily Prophet and a pile of letters from his parents, checking to see if he was all right. Lily seemed to be pondering the exact same thing.
“Ummm…” she began.
James looked at her.
Lily looked up into James’s hazel eyes, but then shut her own, as if his look would curse her. But then he realized she was crying.
“I-I… I just wanted to thank you…”
“Thank me?”
“It was really brave of you to go after the dementor. I just wanted to let you know that I am grateful for that act.” Lily stood straighter, as if a weight had been lifted from her shoulders.
“Oh it was nothing, really, “James lied. He reached into his pocket and drew out three chocolate frog boxes.
“Here,” he offered, holding a box out for Lily to take. “Have it. Madame Curtis gave then to me, just in case I started to feel sick again.”
Lily took it and opened the box. Their hands brushed against one another for a second or two. James’s noticed that her hands were freezing cold and her eyes were stinging with tears. James opened his own box and popped the chocolate frog in his mouth.
Lily slowly opened her box and nibbled a leg off of the frog. She felt less cold inside. Her arm wiped away a tear that was streaming down her cheek. She gathered up all her strength and managed to ask James what he thought the dementor was on the train for.
James only shrugged. She still had one more weight. The (a/n: *evil*) lily… She had to select her words carefully, in case Potter got the wrong message.
“I got the flower you sent me,” Lily finally said. There. It was a perfect sentence. She was not exactly saying ‘thank you’ for the flower that just happened to bear her name.
“Oh, so you got it? Good…” He sounded a bit disappointed.
They walked a few more minutes in silence. They went to inspect the Quidditch field. Lily stood inside, not wanting to get cold, while James walked around. She looked up at the castle and noticed a light was on in a tower.
She pointed her wand at the window and said, “Nox.” The light went out. But as soon as Lily’s eyes retuned to the field, the light went back on again. Lily decided to leave it alone. James had returned and they now were heading to the Great Hall.
“Are you hungry?” James asked.
“Wha-what?” Lily answered. “Do you plan to sneak into the kitchens again?”
“Er… no.” James stuffed his hands in his pocket, guiltily. “I was just wondering. I mean you only had half of a chocolate frog and I was just thinking…” He cared? Willing to turn the subject away from her, Lily asked,
“What’s you’re family like?”
“Well… I’m an only child. My parents want to have a daughter. So when it’s safe, with no Voldemort around to kill anyone, I might get a sibling. Sirius often spends the summer at my house because his Slytherin family kind of… disowned him. We’re like brothers.” He stopped abruptly as Mrs. Norris, the caretaker’s cat, darted past them, heading to the dungeons. “So what about your life? Where do you live?” James asked, after a failed attempt to kick Mrs. Norris. Oh no. The subject was about her again.
“I’m not telling you where I live!” Lily exclaimed.
“O.K. O.K. You got me.” James grinned. “Would it hurt to tell me what you’re family’s like?”
“Oh, um, well… my parents and older sister are muggles. My parents are really proud of me, but my sister seems to loathe me. Actually, I think that she wants You-Know-Who to finish me off for her.” Lily took ripped off another leg of the chocolate frog and swallowed it.
“Any guess why? And say Voldemort, will you?” Lily looked up at him. Finally! Some encouragement to say Voldemort! “Alright, fine. Voldemort. Anyway, my only guess is that she thinks I’m abnormal.”
Silence echoed for a few seconds.
“I don’t.”
James almost killed himself. Did he really just say that? He was having an actual conversation with Lily without her shouting at him, when he had to just blurt out that touchy little line. Lily was staring at him, in a stage of shock as if she could not believe he said that herself.
“Er… I think we should get back to the Gryffindor Tower.” James stuffed his hands in his pockets and walked more quickly. Oh no. Was he turning red? He avoided Lily’s beautiful green eyes for the rest of the journey to the Gryffindor Tower.
As he ran up their stairs, he forgot the trick step and nearly got his leg stuck in it. “Star dust,” he said, briskly, to the portrait of the Fat Lady. He climbed through the hole behind the portrait and ran up to his room, leaving Lily alone in the common room.
He shut the door of his private room closed and locked it. He ripped off his sweater and threw his shoes at the wall. They bounced of harmlessly. He flopped backwards onto his bed cursing himself over and over. Of course he wouldn’t think the Lily was abnormal! He didn’t think magic was weird! So Evans must have received it the wrong way! But… it was the way he felt about her...
James looked at his watch and sighed. It was 10:30 and he wasn’t tired. He pulled out the Marauder’s Map and tapped it with his wand and said, “I solemnly swear that I am up to no good.” A map of the school blossomed on the parchment and James rested his chin on his fist, scanning the parchment.
Lily was still in the common room, sitting on the couch in front of the fire. Mrs. Norris was in the dungeons. Peeves was in the Great Hall. James made a mental note of to watch out when eating breakfast tomorrow. Professor Madres, who taught potions, was in his classroom James assumed that he was setting up for tomorrow’s classes. Professor Dumbledore was walking around his office and Filch was on the grounds.
James’s eyes slowly shut and he drifted off to sleep. He fell back on his bed and the Marauder’s Map flew out of his hands and onto the carpeted floor. As soon as James’s began to dream, several dots labeled “Lucius Malfoy,” “Bellatrix Black,” “Severus Snape,” and several other Slytherins leave their dormitory and headed to the Forbidden Forest...