Lily and James seemed to be set in a comfortable routine, the incident with Snape forgotten. Every morning, they would wake up and brush their teeth together, making each other laugh. Then, as they headed down to the Great Hall together for breakfast, they would exchange their schedules, trying to coordinate a time to finish up their Head duties. They would separate at breakfast, meeting up with their respective friends. However, they would meet again in the evening in the library, finishing up their homework together and asking each other questions. As James would leave to attend Quidditch practice and Lily would go to tutor Dorcas, they would both trade smiles while they continued on their own.
It was during one of these evenings that James and Lily found themselves holed up in the library, trying to finish up their Charms essay. Of course, Lily's quill flew seamlessly over her parchment, while James' was a bit slower.
"Erm, Lils? Where did you find that paragraph on the dangers of the charm?" James asked, peering at her from the top of his glasses.
"I think it was on page 238. Did you find it?"
James flipped through his textbook. "Oh, yeah, found it. Thanks."
A few minutes later, Lily placed her quill down and stretched her arms in front of her. "Finished! Merlin, that was exhausting."
"Gimme a few more minutes. I'm almost done."
Lily nodded and decided to work on cleaning out her schoolbag. It over a month into the school year and she had begun to throw in various pieces of parchment from her classes. She rolled up her Charms essay and placed it on the side as she began to organize the loose sheets of parchment floating around in her bag.
As she worked, she came across a crumpled piece of parchment hidden deep in the folds of her bag. She tried to straighten it out to read it, but across from her, James had just finished his essay.
Lily reached over and handed James her essay while also grabbing his essay. She stared at his cramped handwriting for a second before running her fingers over the dry ink. She smiled inwardly as she noticed the various crossed out sections in his essay. They were so different, but in the end, they both got the job done.
"Hey, Lily? I wanted you to review my essay, not ogle at my parchment," James said, staring at her, his eyebrows creased.
Lily let out a small laugh. "Okay, okay. I'm working on it, James."
She dipped her quill in fresh ink and began to read over his work. His essay was pretty well structured, but she made a few mental notes on where he could improve. Across from her, James was also doing the same, reading over her essay.
"I think you misread this part here, Lily. It took a while for me to understand the theory, but I think I got it."
Lily frowned and flipped through her textbook to reread the section he was referring to. She noticed that she had, indeed, misread the theory. She quickly revised the section of her essay before handing it back to James.
"There, much better. Thanks for catching that."
Once Lily had finished James' essay, she handed it back to him and gave him a few tips on where he could elaborate more. James nodded and began to flip through his textbook once again. Lily resumed organizing her bag, her gaze once again landing on the crumpled piece of parchment.
As Lily began to unfold it, she recognized her own small, curly handwriting and tried to rack her brain where it came from. When she had completely straightened out the parchment, Lily skimmed over the first line, her face glowing hot with embarrassment as she realized what she was holding.
She mumbled something to James, "I'll be back...", stuffed the parchment into her robes, and practically ran to the nearest bookshelf. She didn't notice James' amused smile as she scurried away from him.
Safely hidden out of sight from the boy in question, Lily rested her back against the bookshelf and unfolded the parchment again. She smiled softly as she read through the contents of her unsent letter to Marlene, the one she had written weeks ago at the start of the term.
She had written it just after their duel with the Slytherins when she had actually begun to warm up to James. Parts of the letter stood out to her as she realized how much her opinions about him had changed since her first year at Hogwarts.
'... James was there for me, though...'
'... He's a fighter and a strong leader...'
'... I think I've finally come to respect James Potter...'
Lily was reminded of the events the night she wrote that letter, but her heart warmed as she remembered what he had told her that night. He had said that he would fight for people like her until his dying breath.
Lily tried to suppress her smile as she thought about all the things he had done for her since then. However, she was ultimately unsuccessful and anyone who might've stumbled upon Lily Evans would've found her behind a bookshelf clutching a worn piece of parchment, smiling like a lunatic.
Until she heard it.
"James?"
Lily stiffened and peered around the end of the bookshelf, the smile melting off her face, just in time to see James look up from his textbook to face a petite brunette.
"Erm, yes?" he asked, confused.
"Hi! I'm Helen! I'm a sixth-year Hufflepuff and I've been having some trouble with, erm-" She glanced down at his essay, "Charms! I was wondering if you could help me out."
"Oh! I'm actually not that good at Charms. I could ask Lily, though. She's pretty much a genius when it comes to Charms."
Behind the bookshelf, Lily felt her face warm with pride, but the moment was short-lived as the girl began to speak again.
"Haha, that's alright! I also needed some help with Transfiguration and I know you're an expert at that. Would you be able to help me?" she asked him, fluttering her eyelashes.
"Er- I would, but I'm actually pretty busy this term. I could talk with McGonagall and ask her to set you up with a tutor."
The girl frowned a little bit but straightened up almost immediately. She reached out and lightly touched James' arm. "But, I want the best, and I heard that you're the best."
Lily's hands formed fists as she fought the urge to amputate the girl's arm.
James cleared his throat awkwardly and shifted away from her. "I'm sorry, Helen. I suggest you find someone else to help you. As I said before, I'm very busy and I couldn't possibly take the time out to tutor you. If you really need some help with the class, I would be more than happy to find you someone who knows the material."
As he finished, James shut his book and finally made eye contact with the girl, noticing her slumped posture. He sighed and ran his hand through his hair before speaking.
"However, I would be able to look over your work after you've finished and possibly give you a few tips...?" James told her, earnestly.
The girl, (Helen, Lily reminded her herself) unsure of how to take his response, twisted her lips into a semblance of a smile. She stole one last glance at James Potter before excusing herself back to her friends.
Lily watched the entire exchange unfold and let out a breath she wasn't even aware she was holding in. Her fingers curled around the letter she had hastily shoved into her pockets. She sighed. They were just friends, nothing more.
"Ah, Evans. I never took you for a stalker," a smug voice said from behind her.
Lily whirled around to face the last person she wanted to see, Sirius Black. She flushed, the heat coloring her cheeks red, as she realized she had been found in a rather compromising position. She quickly racked her brain to find some excuse to explain why she had been, to put it lightly, spying on the Head Boy.
"Er- I was just looking for a book," she lied, lamely.
Sirius smirked, noticing the way her face had turned the same shade as her hair, "I didn't realize that a book could make you drool. Congrats, Evans, you've impressed me with your attention to detail."
"Never thought I would see the day when Sirius Black walked into the library. Honestly, I didn't even think you knew how to read," Lily retorted, crossing her arms.
"Nice try, Evans. Let's see what James has to say about this, huh?"
Lily blanched. "What? No- Sirius- please-"
Her protests were met on deaf ears as he brought her out from behind the shelves.
"James! Look who I found lurking around the bookshelves," Sirius announced, throwing his arm around Lily's shoulder and leading her towards James.
"Lily!" he said, his face brightening as he sought out her green eyes, "Where'd you go?"
Lily scowled at Sirius as he plopped himself into a chair next to James. She took her seat again, ignored Sirius' self-satisfied look, and forced herself to look at James.
"Just looking for a book," she repeated, but then gathered the courage to ask, "Anyways, what did Helen want?"
James scrunched his eyebrows together. "Who?"
Lily sighed and waved her hand, dismissively, trying to put on an air of indifference, "You know, the girl who was here?"
"Oh," James straightened up and shrugged, "I dunno. She said something about Transfiguration."
"I think what the Lovely Lily wants to know is how much time you'll be spending with this other girl. Evans wants you all to herself," Sirius piped up, watching the exchange between the Head students with a smirk.
Lily's mouth dropped open and she lobbed one of her quills at him. It hit him squarely in the middle of his forehead, leaving behind a small stain of ink.
"Merlin, Lily! No need to get violent, I was only trying to help," Sirius exclaimed, rubbing the spot on his forehead where the quill had hit him.
"Well, bugger off, Black."
James sat back, watching Sirius and Lily squabble like toddlers. It made him happy that Lily could put Sirius in his place. Most girls were afraid to even disagree with the legendary Sirius Black.
Lily cleared her throat, bringing James out of his thoughts. "So, this Helen, she seemed very interested in Transfiguration."
James frowned, wondering why she was bringing this up again. Unless- was she jealous? How Lily Evans could think he had eyes for any other girl when she was so beautiful herself was beyond him.
"She asked me to tutor her in Transfiguration, but I turned her down. I'm swamped as it is," James told her, hopefully quashing any doubt she had.
Lily nodded, nonchalantly, but as soon as James looked down to finish his essay, she allowed herself to smile, truly happy. Sirius noticed this and raised his eyebrows at her. Lily lifted another one of her quills, silently challenging him to say something. Sirius shrugged and Lily's fingers found the piece of parchment in her pocket once again.
Just friends.