Chapter 3
The end of the party was a mix from many tired students who went to their dorms by themselves and Professor McGonnagall who was unexpectedly standing in the room and telling the rest of the students to turn the music off and go to sleep as well.
Luckily, the spell for the costumes stopped exactly like it was supposed to.
Lily entered her dorm where the other girls were already half asleep. Quietly she made herself ready for bed and fell asleep.
Even though they didn't had school the next day, Lily got up really early and took her transfiguration book to the common room.
Peter was the first of the boys who woke up. He still seemed half asleep and rubbed his eyes while asking: "Why are you already awake?"
"There was something in the last transfiguration lesson I didn't understand and it didn't let me sleep so I decided to look for the answer in my book", she answered. "Can I join?"
Surprised, she looked up from his book and at him. "Sure, why shouldn't I let you?"
A smile appeared on the boy's face when he sat down next to her arm chair in front of the fire.
For around half an hour, they sat in silence. Lily was reading and Peter sat on the floor next to her and stared into the fire.
From one moment to another, the peace was gone.
The door to the boys dorm opened and Sirius and James came downstairs while chattering loudly. Remus was after them, his nose already in a book. Lily was impressed how he managed to go downstairs without tripping once.
"Are we going to breakfast? I'm starving!" "Oh, you sure are", Lily said mockingly. She put her book away and stood up. Then she held out a hand for Peter so it would be easier for him to get up as well.
They day went by with preparing for their next school week. "What are you already studying for? Our O.W.L.s are in eight months!", Peter said while stretching out on a couch. "There's never a 'too early' for studying", was her response.
"Pete, what are you still doing here? We wanted to do our research in the library now!"
Unexpectedly, the other boys were standing next to them. Quicker than Lily thought it was possible, he got up and was even the first at the portrait hole. Lily laughed and shook her head about his sudden enthusiasm of the blonde boy. She didn't know what the boys had planned now and she didn't think she would want to know.
The lessons were as boring as always. Lily spent most of her free time studying and the boys were annoying.
But something was different. They were quiter as usual. They didn't make pranks in quite a long time and Lily saw them really regularly in the library, their noses in books and whispering to each other. At first she thought about if she should be worried but then she decided to just enjoy the rare peace.
"What are you reading, Lily?" She looked up when she heard her name. "Oh, it's a muggle children book my parents used to read for me and my sister for bed time", she answered James. "So no school book?" "No school book."
"Tell me about it, please." Surprised, she looked at him closer but only saw pure curiosity. So she put a book mark in it and put it to the side. For the next thirty minutes, she just explained the whole story to him, the most important characters and the sequel. James listened carefully. "This sounds really interesting. Can I borrow it some time?"
Now Lily felt like she was in the wrong movie. In which parallel universum was James Fleamont Potter interested in her books? It took her a few seconds to answer but then she said: "Yeah sure, when I'm finished you can read it." James smiled and said: "Alright. Now that we're done at this, wanna play one round of chess?"
Lily wasn't sure what she should think of James Potter wanting to spend time with her but she just decided to go with it for now.
It was definitely more than just one round. Lily completely forgot for what she originally came for in the library- read and spent the whole afternoon winning and losing against James and having more fun than the last few months together- even though she would never confess that. It was only when the librarian came to them and tell them they were closing, she realized how late it already was. So they both packed their things and went back to the common room together.
"That was so much fun", James said. "I was never expecting you to be that good in chess!"
"When we started in Hogwarts, I was really bad in it, never had the chance to play it. But when I came here and saw how much of a thing this is, I decided that I have to learn it too. I borrowed some books about chess and learned a few strategies. And then I practiced, mostly with Marlene." James began to laugh. "Of course it had to do something with books"
Lily punched him in the side and also laughed. "We definitely have to do it again some time." Lily nodded.
And they did it again some time. Whenever James was bored, he came up to Lily and asked her to play with him. And she said yes more and more often.
And the more time she spent with James she realized how much she enjoyed just being with him.