The seventh year Gryffindors’ first couple of weeks at school passed with some differences than their previous years at Hogwarts. For example, James had gone the whole time without chasing after Lily at all, and there had been no yelling at James on Lily’s part. But many things were still unchanged. For one thing, the Marauders were still the close-knit pranking group they had always been, proven by the fact that on one Tuesday morning, several of the Slytherins had inexplicable twitching fits, while a group of four Gryffindors watched on, smiling surreptitiously.
Some people were confused as to why this year Lily was polite to James (although definitely not overly friendly) or why when they met each other in the corridors or in class they made a point of at least nodding an acknowledgement at one another. They were both actually still a little puzzled as to what had passed between them that morning in front of Dumbledore’s office, but both were careful not to erase the small step forward that seemed to have occurred. Head duties were usually completed in silence together, and any needed conversation was civil.
While James didn’t truly enjoy the shortage of conversation between them, he knew that he was still trying to prove himself to Lily, so he kept his mouth closed many nights while they patrolled the corridors together.
Nevertheless, on Thursday night of the third week of school, James changed his mind as they were walking together. Why shouldn’t he talk to Lily? He wasn’t going to hit on her or anything, and he had rights as a human being. There was no reason that he couldn’t just start a perfectly innocent conversation, as long as he was careful.
“Wasn’t that Potions test hard today?” James asked Lily, using the only safe topic of conversation he could think of, lame as it was. He turned his head and looked at her to see a surprised expression on her face, which he attributed to the fact that they hadn‘t really spoken in the past week.
Lily quickly got over her small shock, and answered easily. “It wasn’t too bad, but I didn‘t do great either. Um, did you study?”
“Not as much as I should have,” admitted James. “Did you?”
“Barely. I’ll just study a lot for the next one.”
“Yeah, right,” laughed James, but when he realised what he said, he was going to make it sound nicer, but Lily smiled.
“You know, I probably won’t. I’ll at least try though.”
“That’s all that matters, then.”
“Yeah,” answered Lily. She looked up at James and smiled.
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“And all of a sudden he just started talking to me.” Lily rolled over on her bed and turned the page of her magazine, glancing up at Kathleen, who was on the next bed doing Hallie’s nails.
Hallie cracked her Droobles’ gum loudly. “What did he say?”
“He just asked me about the Potions test, but I think it was still kind of weird. You know, he’s barely talked to me at all this year.”
“Yes, we know,” said Kathleen. She finished painting and closed the bottle of polish, then motioned for Lily to trade places with Hallie. “Pick a color. Not peach.”
“What’s wrong with peach?” Lily asked annoyed, but she closed her magazine and moved to Kathleen’s bed.
“You’re going to ruin the colour forever if it’s all you ever wear. But what’d you say to him?”
“Basically, just school stuff. You know.” Lily pulled out a light coral shade, and Kathleen reluctantly took it.
“Well, then, it wasn’t that big of a deal, right?” said Hallie.
“No. I’m just saying, that’s all he’s said to me all year.”
“Hold still,” instructed Kathleen, not looking up from her work.
“But that’s a good thing.” Hallie glanced over at Lily, smiling a little. “Isn’t it?”
“Well, yeah.”
Hallie stretched on the bed and glanced at the clock on the wall, which read 8:06. The three girls had been in their dormitory since supper, gossiping and fixing themselves up for the night, and weren’t exactly sure where Annis and Peyton were.
Suddenly, Hallie pronounced Lily finished and hopped off the bed. “Do that curling charm on me, Lily.”
“Torqueo!” said Lily, after reaching for her wand from the bedside cupboard, and Kathleen’s normally wavy hair turned to curls.
“Thanks. Are you leaving your hair curly too?”
“No, I’ll change it,” answered Lily, similarly straightening her hair with a spell.
“Because Merlin forbid both of you have curly hair!” laughed Hallie. “Where are those black shoes you borrowed, Kathleen?”
“Probably under the bed,” Lily said for her, glancing in the mirror. “Both of you ready, now?”
“I am.”
Kathleen stood up and waited for Hallie to put on her shoes. When she had done so, the three girls exited the room and headed for the Astronomy Tower. Most Friday or Saturday nights there was a party there, which almost always was moved to the students’ respective Common Rooms around curfew.
“Ready to have some fun?” Kathleen asked Lily with a grin.
“Of course.”
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“What time is it, Padfoot?” James asked later that night amid the noise of the party, which was still going strong.
He turned to look at Sirius, who he knew was sitting on the couch next to him, but Sirius was asleep. Laughing, James looked to Remus, who was on the other side of him.
“It’s your turn to carry him to the dorm,” he said, and quickly stood up.
“What?” exclaimed Remus, also jumping up. “I carried him up last Saturday night! And it was your turn then! You said you owed me.”
“Damn your good memory!”
“It wasn’t even a week ago, Prongs,” said Remus, raising an eyebrow.
“Oh, just look at him!” James pointed to Sirius, ignoring Remus’s remark and laughing loudly.
Remus turned to see Sirius, who was the same as he had been before. He turned back to James, his forehead wrinkled, but James was gone. Remus laughed and rolled his eyes, then headed up to the dorm, leaving Sirius where he was.
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“You know, I think you might be the only other seventh-year in the school that isn’t in bed with a hangover.”
Lily turned around with a puzzled look on her face to see James standing in the door of the Owlery, bright rays of early morning sunshine streaming through the nearest window and falling on him. “Hi,” she said in reply, giving him a quick smile before turning around and tying a letter to one of the owls.
“Why are you up already?” James asked. He walked towards a tawny owl and pulled out a letter of his own.
“I just woke up and wasn’t tired enough to go back to sleep.” Lily shrugged and turned around to face him, holding her hands behind her back and leaning to rest her head on the stone wall to the back of her. “You?”
“Pretty much the same thing. Sirius is still out cold, so I decided to write a letter to my parents. They wanted me to write a lot this year, and I’ve only written once or twice.”
“I know. My parents have been sending me owls constantly ever since they learned how to do it,” Lily laughed.
“I can’t imagine having Muggle parents.”
“Um, yeah,” said Lily, and then there was a short silence. “Well… I better-”
“Do you want to do something?” James suddenly asked, cutting Lily off.
“I don’t know,” Lily began doubtfully, but then asked curiously, “what kind of thing?”
“Let’s go outside,” said James animatedly, taking a few steps towards Lily.
Lily laughed at his eagerness and shook her head with disbelief. “Why would we do that?”
“Why wouldn’t we? There’s nothing else to do; no one else is awake.”
Lily frowned as she thought and opened her mouth to argue, but no protests came out. Grinning, James seemed to take her hesitation as an agreement and beckoned for her to lead the way outside.
Once they had made their way out of Hogwarts’ large oak doors, James guided Lily around to the south side of the castle.
“Where are we going, anyway?”
James stopped and turned to Lily, locking his eyes on her. “Where do you want to go?”
“Um. I don’t know,” she answered, fidgeting under his gaze, friendly as it was. She looked around and spotted the lake close by. “How about the lake?”
“What, you want to go swimming?” James asked without thinking. Then, he grinned at Lily and raised his eyebrows.
“Seriously?” Lily looked at the lake and then back at James amazedly.
“Come on,” he said, smiling and holding out his hand.
Slowly, a smile spread across Lily’s face, and she reached for James’s hand.