James's Morning - I

"James," Remus's voice breaks through my wondrous World Cup victory celebration. Why now? Why does it have to be morning right now? I take in a deep breath and turn myself up on my side. Just enough that Remus will be satisfied that I'm paying attention. I open my eyes, but I can't see much right now, not that I'm giving him my attention. I still want to hold that trophy.

"hmm?" I mumble. I wonder if Remus even heard me. They say there's a problem with the scoring, they want to review the game before they hand the trophy over to me. Now I'm just depressed.

"James, It's morning. You asked me to get you up before I left, so that you could go set up the Quidditch field for tryouts before breakfast."

Whoa, wait, how does Remus know I'm preoccupied with my Quidditch dream? And what would that even have to do with breakfast?

"You told McGonagall you would handle it. Now get up and be quiet about it." Remus tells me, putting particular emphasis on the last bit with a head nod towards Sirius's bed. That's not right, Remus isn't usually that covert this early in the morning. Guess I have to wake up now. I pull myself up on my elbows and try to blink out the sleepiness. I'll get my World Cup trophy later. I look at Remus, he's watching me quietly. Probably trying to decide if he should repeat himself in case I didn't hear him. I can't help if he wasn't nearly as interesting as my dream, but I think he wants to tell me something about Sirius. Well if I want to ease my curiosity about what is going on I have to ask.

"Wha-" I begin, but a yawn interrupts me. I lift my fist up to cover it. Luckily Remus figured out what I was going to ask about. Wish my brain worked that quickly in the morning.

"Someone, didn't get in till after midnight, apparently he's still avoiding a certain someone."

Ah. That's what he meant. I thought that after this past summer, everything would be worked out between them. I can't believe he still thinks he needs to avoid her. I'll have to talk with Cenis about this during Quidditch tryouts. Oh, that's why Remus woke me up. That's right. I asked him to wake me up before he leaves for the library.

"Peter's going to join me in the library, I'm going to help him with his history of magic report. If you want some help too, just meet us when you're done at the Quidditch pitch."

Nah, I shake my head as I ruffle my hair. I got that done last night with Cenis's help. I'll probably just goof off on the Quidditch pitch until it's time for breakfast.

"Sirius hasn't finished his either do you want me to wake him up too Remus?" Peter speaks up. Whoa, I hadn't even noticed he was down by his trunk until now.

"No." both me and Remus reply at the same time. I'm looking straight at Sirius's bed and can't believe my eyes. The guy actually fell asleep with his shoes on. That's not entirely normal, but what makes it worse is the clear lack of his discarded necktie and robe. That would mean he just walked in here and climbed into bed. My head shifts to the side.

Just how long did he stay outside the dormitory avoiding her anyways. Wait. Remus said after midnight, that's when he stops reading and goes to bed. That means Sirius wasn't in here when he went to sleep.

Peter heads out of the room. I jump out of bed and begin my morning stretches.

Yeah, I'll definitely be having a chat with Cenis later. She's my keeper now that I'm Captain, she'll listen to me. And if not, I'll bribe her with some bertie beans. That always works, well, for me anyways. But seriously, nothing has happened since after O.W.L.S. of last year between them, it just doesn't make any sense.

Remus waves at me, I smirk at him and give him a quick salute and then go back to my stretching. As the door closes shut I drop down to the floor for twenty sit-ups. Note to self, I'll have to come up here and wake Sirius up for breakfast since Peter will make Remus head straight to the Great Hall. I just hope that he doesn't cause too much trouble for Remus so he can catch up on all his work.

I finish stretching and then head into the bathroom. I showered last night so I really just need to brush my teeth and get dressed. It's Saturday, so I don't have to be in uniform, which is great since we have tryouts later. I have to go set up for those in a bit. Which works out great for me, I can think about what to do about Cenis and Sirius. Maybe I can get Ariel to help me, no one knows Cenis better than her and me since we grew up in the same town. I'll have to catch her at breakfast quickly since she's in Ravenclaw. She'll probably say yes so long as that Justin guy doesn't distract her. Not that that isn't hard to do, but still. He pays far to close attention to Ariel for my liking. Only thing funny about it is how Ariel doesn't even seem to notice his attraction to her.

Alrighty, well I'm ready to head down and out. I slink by Sirius's bed and out the door, closing it as softy as I can behind before I dart down the stairs and out of the portrait. It really must be early, the common room is completely empty. Not that I blame them, it is Saturday after all, I'd be sleeping in too if I hadn't told McGonagall I'd take care of setting up for tryouts. I just hope I can find a Seeker who can give Ariel some competition. She's pretty quick and as much as I love her like a sister, we are on opposite Quidditch teams after all, and there's nothing wrong with some healthy competition amongst friends.

The castle is just as empty as it is when we sneek around at night. Some people prefer the empty halls, but personally, I don't mind them crowded any more than when they are empty. Something me and Ariel agree on in fact, considering most of our friends complain about one preference or the other. That's how I found out Lily enjoys the crowded halls, she found the empty halls creepy when she became a prefect last year.

I truly love that girl, but sometimes she treats me worse than Vedex the vicious treated his followers. That's who my History of Magic report was on, you know the one I said I finished last night. I wasn't being rude, just trying to make a joke. So don't think I like to tease Lily or anything. I absolutely do not.

Hey, speaking of which, I think I see her pretty red head now. I wonder what's she doing up this early and why she's heading towards the main entrance. I continue heading down the stairs. I just hope she doesn't think I'm following her, I mean, I know I am just because she's in front of me and we are both apparently headed for the same place, but still. She has always been on edge with me and I'd prefer it if she didn't think I have resorted to stalking her. Not that I haven't given that any thought, mind. But luckily I came to my senses and realized girls don't want to date men who stalk them. I think if a girl chose to stalk me though, if she were cute, I'd give it a go.

But anyways, Lily has stopped in front of the door. I wish I could see her face.

"Evans." I voice at her as I approach the doors myself. It's so weird calling her by her last name, but she has always wanted me too, and according the advice I got this summer from Ariel, I should try and not upset her as much as possible. Can't say I think it will be easy, she's very easily upset. She moves to wipe something from her face. Please tell me she's not crying. I'm not very skilled with women when they're crying.

"Potter? What are you doing up this early?" She questions me.

"I could ask you the same thing Evans." I can help it, I'm hard wired to rise to the occasion, but really, what kind of a response was she expecting anyways? I give her my trademark smirk.

"I couldn't sleep and I just wanted some fresh air" Okay, I wasn't expecting that one. I take a closer look at her face.

"Lily, is something wrong?" I ask her as politely as possible given my current urge to hug her tightly and tell her whatever has upset her enough to cry about is okay. But I stay put, I don't even know if it is something I can even tell her that anyways. But I wish I could.

"No." That was quick.

"You sure, it looks to me like you're upset and you to tear tracks on your cheeks." She needs to take a lesson from Sirius and learn that the key to lying is the timing and subtly in your voice. He is the master of the group, but I will never admit that aloud. I have my pride after all, and I'm not such a bad liar myself. Lily turns her head away from me. I know we aren't that close, but did she really feel the need to do that?

"I'm fine really, it's nothing," Which usually means it's something, but so long as it isn't something that prevents her from chatting with me I guess there's no reason to press her about it. Does she realize she's wiping her face again? Heh. "I just got upset with myself because I wanted to go outside and enjoy the weather but I forgot to bring a book with me." It's sad how that doesn't sound like a lie.

"Oh is that all," I try not to scoff to much, but honestly, she's upset for forgetting a book. Remus isn't even that bad. I wish we were better friends so I could crack a joke but since we aren't, I have to focus on remaining as serious as possible. "Well why don't you come out anyways, there's plenty you can do outside without a book."

"Like what?" Serious, must give a serious reply, and not a Sirius reply. HA! I crack myself up sometimes. Surely I'm not the only one who can come up with some witty retorts to that kind of a question. It's times like these I wish Sirius was here beside me, so we could swap jokes about it later. But anyways, back to my actual conversation with Lily.

"How about a walk with a classmate?" I suggest, I hope I don't look to excited, but I have no problem admitting that hanging with Lily, talking with her, just spending time alone together, would make my morning very enjoyable.

"A walk with you? Why would you think I'd want to do that?" Here we go. Why does she always want to pick a fight with me? I swear, I love her, but she's so argumentative. It's like she questions everything I say and my motives for saying them all the time. Is that normal for girls to do? Serious reply James, be nice and cool and completely honest with her. I hope it works, after all I've had a lot of advice over the past few years on what I should to get Lily to go out with me and so far I'm 207 to 0. I always thought she was playing hard to get, but apparently, thanks to some inside information, that wasn't the case.

"Well you're here, I'm here, and I've got to go set up the Quidditch field for the tryouts after breakfast today and I would enjoy the company." Heh, that's such a good line. I'll have to remember that one for later when I tell Sirius about all this. I'm really am awesome.

"Fine." Extremely awesome! I can't believe it, that was way too- "But just the walk and only because there is nothing else to do right now."

"Right." Darn it. But still, this is the best I've ever done when talking to Lily. This is completely awesome.

We walk out of the castle and I pull out my wand, with a quick non-verbal depulso spell the door is pulled closed behind us. I wish she'd mention something about that, anything, here I am at the beginning of my sixth year and I'm using a non-verbal spell like it is nothing. How can she not notice that?

I like walking with Lily. Even though we aren't talking as we make our way around the courtyard and over the covered bridge, I really don't mind. Then again, it may just be because I don't usually get to spend time with Lily like this. I doubt I could walk silently like this with any of my friends or teammates. It would really be awkward. Probably irritate me a bit too, I'm not a fan of prolonged silence. But with Lily, I don't seem to mind it.

"Thank you-" Lily interrupts my thoughts. Strike what I just thought about our not talking. "Thank you for not being obnoxious about this."

Er- what is that about? Then again, maybe the not talking was better if this is the type of conversation she wants to have.

"About what, walking with me? What did you expect me to say?" I lift my arms slightly and place my hands in my pockets. It's comfortable and helps me resist the urge to ruffle my hair or reach out and hold her hand. The first one apparently annoys her, and I'm not quite sure how she'd reach to the second gesture.

"I don't know, something about how my agreeing to walk with you implies I've grown romantic feelings for you. Which I haven't." It is remarkable how a sudden second of hopefulness can get smacked away with the next moment. But at least she's honest. You have to admire that about her. I know I do.

"I didn't say anything." I'm not offended, not really. I keep my cool with my reply and just keep hoping this conversation will lead on to something else. Anything else, so long as it keeps her talking to me. Honestly I don't think I've ever had a conversation this long with Evans before. It's rather enjoyable, but you know, she did bring up an interesting subject after all. Why would she be talking with me like this if she didn't like me? Wouldn't she just snipe at me to leave her alone and walk off on her own?

"You may have been about to though." Evans interrupts my thoughts again. I would give anything to laugh out loud right now, but I don't want to give her the wrong idea so instead I just nod my head in agreement of her statement. She seems slightly shocked by my reaction. What was she expecting me to do I wonder?

Well James was requested, I hope it was enjoyable to read his point of view. I know the dialogue will pretty much be the same as the other chapters but I'll do my best to keep his thoughts unique and give his perspective its own flare so that the repetition doesn't become bothersome.

the next chapter will be in Remus's point of view again. Should the next one after that be James's continued one or a new Lily one?