Stressed to the Max

Hey, guys! I'm posting a new oneshot! :D This one came to me when I was reading 'Boyfriend' by Molly Raesly on Fanfiction.net. It's a brilliant story with epic sequels. It makes me laugh everytime I read it and I definitely recommend them if you're a fan of Lily/James!

For this story, I kind of had an epiphany, if you will, that James might get stressed out really bad and I thought, well, what a wonderful start for a new relationship between Lily and James. Also, I'm not sure of the age differences between Gwenog Jones and the marauders, but for the sake of the story, just ignore it. Another thing, Zarah is a completely made up character (not that she has an important role...) and I got the name from my mom's character on Skyrim... *le sigh*

Anyway, happy reading, and please don't forget to review!

Lily stepped through the portrait hole into the Gryffindor common room. She had just finished patrols with one of the Ravenclaw prefects, Zarah, and had planned on finishing her Transfiguration essay before heading to bed.

It took her a second to realize that someone else was still in the common room; she had thought it would be empty. On closer inspection, she realized it was James Potter, the head boy to her head girl, fast asleep on her favorite armchair by the fire. James was the supposed 'leader' to the group of four marauders in Lily's year. Also, he was the boy who would not stop asking her out every day of every year from third year up until the start of this school year, their seventh year. At mid-January, she realized he hadn't asked her out once this year. In fact, one might even suggest them starting to become friends, a status completely different from the relationship before when the only time Lily would even look at Potter was when she was yelling at him.

She thought about waking him, but he looked too peaceful. His face looked slightly younger and innocent when he was asleep. His glasses were a tad askew, but Lily found it endearing. He had his Defense book opened across his chest as he lounged in the chair with his legs spread out in front of him.

Lily gently pulled his glasses off of his face and set them on the coffee table in front of the chair and sat in the chair beside him to finish her essay. Almost twenty minutes later, as Lily was just starting on her conclusion, she noticed James begin to stir.

He blearily opened his eyes and realized he didn't have his glasses on. He began to fumble around with his hands searching for them. "Where're my glasses?" He mumbled.

Lily smiled and grabbed the spectacles from the table and placed them in one of James' outstretched hands.

"Thanks." He put them on his face and blinked a few times to wake up more thoroughly. "Hey, Lily," he said. His voice was slightly rough from the sleep and it made Lily blink at the strange reaction it caused her heart to have. "How long have I been asleep?"

"I dunno. You were asleep when I came in a little while ago," Lily said.

He looked at her for a second before his eyes widened. "Did I miss patrols? I didn't mean to, I swear! It's just with Quidditch and my parents and school and the guys and-"

"James."

"Yeah?"

"I had patrols with Zarah. You're fine."

James took a deep, relieved breath. "Oh, good."

Lily studied James for a moment. She noted that he looked slightly stressed. "Do you want to talk about it?"

James snapped his head up. "Huh?"

"You look like crap."

James snorted. "Gee, thanks. Appreciate it, really."