The Chaser: a Marauder's Era Jily Fanfic

No. Maybe... Yes

James kept a low profile for the next week, which seemed quite unlike him. No longer was he being loud, and breaking every possible rule, but in classes, he was attentive, and did something I had never seem him do: take notes.

"Ev--er... Lily?" James tapped my shoulder as I made to go up to the dormitories one Friday night. I looked at him, expectantly. "Er...--" I saw him cast a look at Sirius, who I saw in my periphery nod in a hurry-up-and-say-it way. "Would you...er...happen to--to ...to know what the ingredients that are needed for a Strengthening Solution?" I saw Sirius sigh, lean back, and close his eyes, almost disappointed. I frowned.

"Yeah, 'course," I nodded giving him a slight, questioning smile. He nodded, looking put-out, but it seemed more to himself than anyone. I wrote the ingredients down on some parchment at the table he was sharing with Sirius, Remus and Peter. "Okay...er... Here!" I said while scribbling down the times to allow the potion to sit between adding ingredients and held the paper out to James.

"Thanks," he muttered, scanning it. "Oh! I thought I had forgotten something!"

"Yeah," I smiled. "No problem! Well, see you around!" I added after a pause. As I turned from the boys saying their goodbyes, I heard Peter whisper something incomprehensible, and James stumbled a few steps, like someone had pushed him. I looked around briefly, and James opened his mouth as if to say something, thought better of it, and closed it again.

"Yeah, see you, Lily. Thanks," he said, with an expression almost longing for help. I nodded. He sighed and turned back to his friends, where Sirius whacked him over the head with a book. I had a feeling that it wasn't for forgetting potion ingredients.

I entered the dormitories and started on my own potions homework which was "Describe the Proper Production Process of Any OWL Level Potion." I had just added the last sentence about stirring the potion with your wand seven times counter-clockwise, when Marlene entered, breathless, and slightly singed.

"Where have you been?" I asked her.

"Helping with..."--she muttered something I couldn't distinguish--"salamanders!" She wheezed. "I ran back so I could do the essay for Flitwick before dinner." She explained, after catching her breath.

"Yeah, but why are you...chard?" I asked motioning at the state of her winter cloak.

"Oh, that..." She looked down at her clothes, thoughtfully disappointed. "Well, they live in fire, don't they?! So, well... The fire didn't really stay in the fire pit." She concluded. I hid a giggle.

"Yeah. I see that," I nodded, repressing a smile.

Twenty minutes later, Marlene hadn't started on her essay, but had changed into something that hadn't been set on fire. We took our usual seats at the Gryffindor table, and the four boys joined us after a while.

"Lily," said James, looking worried. I looked at him, concerned. He just stared at me.

"Yeah? What's wrong?"

"Nothing! I just... Well, you probably will say no, but..." he trailed off. "Are you going to Hogsmeade this weekend?"

"Yeah, I think so," I nodded. "You?"

"Yeah... Well, I was wondering if... if you'd wannacomewithme?"

"Pardon?" I asked, confusedly.

"If you'd want to come with me," he said very slowly.

"James," I said incredulously. Was he seriously asking me to date him, again? "No, if you mean like a date, no, I'm not dating you."

"Oh, well, yeah, I guess I did," he said after a while. He looked genuinely hurt. I swallowed. Why wouldn't I go out with James, just once? ...Well, he was an arrogant toe-rag, that's why! Although, he hadn't been acting like one recently.

"...Maybe," I said, quietly. I cleared my throat. "Maybe I will."

"Really?" James's whole demeanour changed. I nodded slowly.

"But just maybe, okay?" I added. He nodded, and stood up from the table, and kept nodding to himself.

"I just mean... You know, sure, yeah, I will," I looked up, expecting to see him, but the door was already closing at the back of the hall.