Diagon Alley Visits

Hello Jily people. Here is the next part. Thanks so much for sticking with the story. I'm trying to post more often.

JamesHow had he been picked for Head Boy? Lily being picked was expected because she was perfect for this sort of thing, but James? The school prankster who had more detentions in one semester than he could count.

At least it wasn't Snape.

James had been fearful that Snape would be picked for Head Boy at Lily's side. At least now he could spend some time with her.

James went to his mother and father that night and told them the news. At first, they seemed just as shocked as he had been, but then they celebrated with him. They were proud of their son and excited to have a Head Boy in the family.

James returned to his room to go to sleep. Tomorrow, everyone would return home and he would go to Diagon Alley to get his school supplies. Although the few weeks with his friends had started stressful and eventful, the last few days had been fun for him.

After settling into bed, James stared at the ceiling and thought about life at his seventh year at Hogwarts as Head Boy. The idea of Lily and him leading the school brought him joy beyond compare.

She has to tolerate you first, he reminded himself. With that, he drifted into sleep.

The next morning, James slept in until 11:00. He didn't know why he was so tired. He got up, felt for his glasses, put some sweatpants on, and went downstairs. When he entered of living room, he caught sight of Mary and Marlene blushing in the corner and staring at him. It took him a moment to realize he had forgotten a shirt. He was slow in the morning sometimes.

"Oi Prongsie. If you wanted to give these ladies a show, you should've just asked me," Sirius teased.

Marlene giggled and Sirius winked at her. That was new.

James didn't have time to wonder what was going on between Mar and Sirius, though, because Lily had just entered the room and was staring at him with a look of total awe. James was usually confident with his body, not to brag, but now he felt like he wanted to hide.

"Um..." he said.

This snapped Lily out of her daze.

"Find a shirt, Potter." she said, slightly embarrassed, yet keeping her cool. "I'm leaving in 5 minutes."

James turned to run upstairs. He practically leaped up the stairs two at a time. Lily Evans was staring at me.

James slipped on the first shirt in his drawer, a red t-shirt, and ran back downstairs. Lily had already wished everyone else goodbye. She stood there, looking at him awkwardly, like she was still deciding on something.

Then she looked at him and said one of the last things he'd expected.

"Thank you for everything, James."

The room had gone silent. Everyone was listening, but James didn't care. He grinned a lopsided smile and ran a hand through his hair.

"No problem, Evans."

"In that case," she said, clearly wishing to change the subject. "I must go."

They had decided Lily would travel by floo powder home after the whole apparation incident. James was happy to see Lily walking without her cane, though. He told her to follow him over to the fire place.

When they reached the fire, Lily turned to him. She was forced to look up at him because he was so tall.

"Um James, I...um...I," Lily started to stutter. James grinned at her. "Maybe I'll see you at Diagon Ally tomorrow."

James thought about what she was saying and his spirits lifted. She was giving him a chance to make up for all of his awkward past mistakes.

"Sure, sure Evans. I'll be there."

She smiled a tiny smile, took a handful of floo powder, and with a call of her address, vanished in green flames.

The next day

JamesYesterday, James had said goodbye to all of his friends, who had returned to their families. Now, it was just him and Sirius. Sirius was going to go with him to Diagon Alley.

James had taken time to comb his hair, find matching muggle clothes, and make sure his glasses were straight on his nose.

Sirius was waiting for him at the bottom of the steps with a smirk on his face.

"Hey, Prongs. You took a little longer to get ready. I got my money that..."

"Shut up!" James snapped. "You know it's not like that," he lied.

Sirius laughed. "I'm just pointing out the obvious."

James sighed and walked past Sirius into the kitchen where he hugged his mom, wished her goodbye, and picked up his supplies list. Sirius lead James into the living room where he picked up a handful of floo powder.

"See ya in a second," Sirius said as he stepped into the fireplace.

"Diagon Alley," he said as he disappeared into the green flames.

James copied him. He grabbed the floo powder, stepped into the fire place, called out Diagon Alley, and watched as he was overwhelmed with green light.

Sirius was waiting for him when he exited the fire place in Diagon Alley. They decided they would go to Gringotts first, and then they would pick up their books, robes, and potion ingredients.

As James spent the day at Diagon Alley, he couldn't help looking over the crowd in search of bright red hair. He couldn't help but feel upset that he couldn't find her. James and Sirius had already bought all of their books and robes before James finally saw a flash of red hair through the window of the ingredients shop.

"Padfoot come on!" James shouted. Sirius seemed confused until he saw the bright smile on James' face and followed him.

The shop Lily was in was dingy and smelled of a stench he couldn't identify. In the gloom of shop, Lily's hair was like a bright flame. James ran a hand through his hair one last time and then cleared his throat.

"Evans?"

Lily turned around with her eyebrows raised. He looked at her, and all he could think was wow. Why could only Lily Evans do this to him? Make him stare and forget everything else. It was really inconvenient.

"Potter," Lily said.

Then there was silence. It was so awkward that they both looked at the ground. Neither of them were used to the idea that Lily would even speak to James without sarcasm or threats in her words.

After a few moments, it was Sirius that broke the silence.

"Well isn't this just great," he said. "The sexual tension between you two is thick enough to cut so..."

Sirius made a scissor-like motion with his fingers and pretended to cut the air between Lily and James. Lily's face had gone beat red and James' glare could have scared away any Death Eater.

"Anyway," James began. "Wanna get some ice cream or something?"

"Don't you need anything in here first?" Lily asked.

"Oh, um, yeah," James replied embarrassed. Lily helped James and Sirius find their ingredients. James had almost forgotten how much Lily liked potions.

When they returned to the crowded streets of Diagon Alley, the sun was hot above their heads. James went ahead and bought Lily and Sirius ice creams and handed them out. For a moment, James' hand touched Lily's and he felt as if his hand had been shocked. He almost dropped the cone, but he focused before he did. Lily eyed him curiously.

They found a place to sit outside of Florean Fortesue's Ice cream Parlour to finish their cones. After a moment Lily spoke.

"You do realize all of those girls are staring at you, right?"

James turned his head to see a group of girls all looking at him. When he faced them, they giggled and averted their eyes.

In fact, James hadn't noticed the girls. He had been staring at Lily. She had had ice cream on her upper lip, and she had looked so cute and silly in that moment.

"Actually, I think they were staring at me," Sirius corrected Lily. She grinned.

"Oh yeah, Black. You and your gorgeous hair," she said dramatically.

"Um Evans," James interrupted. "I have the gorgeous hair here."

This lead to a long argument about who had the best hair. It resulted in a draw. After a while, Lily announced she had to leave and get home before Vernon showed up for dinner. James had almost forgotten how hard Lily's home life was.

"Good luck, Evans," James said. He genuinely meant it.

"Thanks, Potter," she said quietly. "I'll see you in a few days."

With that, she turned away, leaving James with a smell of her sweet perfume. It could have put him in a trance. He noticed it smelled like citrus.

"James...Prongs...Potter...JAMES POTTER DO YOU HEAR ME?" Sirius screamed. James focused and realized Padfoot had been trying to get his attention.

"What, um...sorry," James said.

"You're hopeless, but I'm rooting for ya," Sirius added.

"I'm that obvious?"

Sirius only laughed.

With that, they began to walk, brother with brother, through the sunny, crowed alleyway.