A Change of Heart

Chapter 10

Lily had managed to earn herself a detention as a result of her outburst. Professor Binns had gotten upset to say the least. He had experienced distractions in the classroom as a result of the marauders. Suffice to say, he actually had learned the four boys' names as a result of the amount of detentions they had been given, but when he was about give Lily her detention he also asked her for her name. She had wanted to laugh about it, but knew not to. The rest of the class just looked around confused before falling back asleep. Sarah and Hannah, who had been sitting next to her, were shocked as well as confused. For one, they didn't know what had happened as they had drifted off themselves. On another part, they were shocked that their perfect friend had gotten a detention and wasn't upset about it at all. They gave her several furtive questioning glances, but she just mouthed the words 'tell you about it later' as she turned to write on a piece of parchment.

By the end of class, Lily was told she would have to serve her detention with Professor McGonagall. She accepted the punishment and walked outside the room only to be surprised by her friends.

"What happened?" both girls said at a smiling Lily. "Why do you look so happy? You just got a detention."

"Well," she started. She pulled a piece of parchment from within a book and handed it to her friends. "Here, read at the end."

"He asked you out?" Sarah asked excitedly as she finished reading. "I can see why you don't mind getting a detention now..."

"That's great Lils! This weekend!" Hannah said smiling. "But at what cost! So when is your detention?"

"I have to ask Professor McGonagall," Lily said still unable to take the grin off her face.

***

As Sirius walked out of History of Magic that day he wrote goodbye to Lily under his plans to go to Hogsmeade that weekend. He smiled as she stayed behind to receive her detention. She seemed positively casual about the punishment. He walked outside absentmindedly, didn't even notice that Peter was talking next to him.

"---Potion has been extremely horrible and I don't think I'll get on well this year. I'll probably do just as bad in Charms! Sirius, are you listening?" Peter asked poking Sirius and snapping him into attention.

"Yeah?" he asked dazed.

"Nevermind. Are we going to go visit Remus and James? We might as well go now, you won't be seeing us later," Peter said bitterly.

"What do you mean?" Sirius inquired curiously.

"Well, Professor McGonagall gave us detention today and tomorrow for not stopping the fight before it got out of hand. She took five points from each of us, but then again, she gave you and Lily thirty points for saving us," he said while walking towards the hospital wing. "So anyhow, we're serving detention with the old bat tonight at seven."

They arrived to the hospital wing and Sirius entered looking almost nauseous. He needed to tell James he had asked Lily Evans out. He needed to tell him before he heard it from someone else. Yet, as James greeted him happily and pushed him and Peter towards the bed were Remus had been instructed to lie down for hours, he smiled despite himself.

"Always like us to get in trouble," he said laughing.

"It's usually you and James!" Remus said from his bed. "But somebody needed to defend this git since you decided to become friends with Lily."

"Well, you know how she is, always in need of a good talk," he tried to cover up jokingly.

"They talk about homework and classes. Aurora told me what you two talk about... let me see how she put it, 'meaningful conversations only true friends share'," James teased. "Yet you fail to provide me with the help I need to get her on my good side."

"I would think it's pretty obvious," Remus observed. "She's only been telling you she thinks you're a bit full of yourself for about what three or four years."

The group laughed at his comment, while James looked at the other boys sulking. "Laugh all you want but just when I came in here with my cut; she was tending to me herself."

At his words Sirius stiffened suddenly and gave him a questioning look. "What do you mean?"

"She said she knew muggle first aid and got some water and 'cleaned' my cut. It stopped bleeding soon after. It was rather amazing really," he mused not noticing Sirius' change in attitude.

However, he was the only one who didn't notice. Peter and Remus exchanged a furtive glance. Remus looked at Sirius concerned and asked him, "Are you okay?"

"Yeah, why wouldn't I be?" he responded dryly.

He decided then, that there was no better day than tomorrow to tell him. Particularly when he wasn't glowering about Lily having taken care of his wound. Or perhaps when he didn't feel so jealous at the fact that Lily had finally been civil to someone who he felt she shared so much in common with.

***

Lily found out she would have detention that same day, as had been supplied by an owl during the afternoon. She was to report to Professor McGonagall's classroom at seven that night. She knew the procedure; she had been looking out for her detention slip all day. It wasn't as though she hadn't served a detention before. She wasn't exactly a goody two shoes. Lily hardly did get detentions though, and the times she did were what she called self-defense or justified. She had cursed a Slytherin for calling her a 'mudblood', she had also once hit a girl by the surname of Umbridge on the face for having said something very insensitive to someone who had just lost their parents to Lord Voldemort, she had whacked Lucius Malfoy on the head when she had seen him torturing a fairy, things like that. Not that it really mattered, those times had been worth it. This time, she wasn't sure it had.

When Lily came into Professor McGonagall's classroom, she expected to find the old teacher in an empty classroom, sitting on her desk. Boy was she wrong. She found Professor McGonagall, positively mad and lecturing James, Remus, and Peter.

"--- foolish of you to fight back! If it hadn't been for Miss Evans' ability with that spell!" she said positively raving. She heard the door close as Lily entered. "Ah Miss Evans, how good of you to join us. Now, Professor Binns said something about you disrupting class. I find that nearly impossible to believe. That is these young men's responsibility, or so you would think from the amount of trouble they've given to us in the past."

"I didn't mean to disrupt class," Lily said almost in a whisper.

She focused on Remus, all signs of his snout completely erased. She put her finger on her nose when he looked at her and smiled. He nodded and gave her a warm smile. She looked at Peter gave him a nod acknowledging his presence, and avoided looking at James. She had thought about their little 'moment' in the infirmary, but her beliefs remained the same: ignoring James Potter was probably the best thing she could do. The boy was trouble. She walked right behind where the three boys were seated. Professor McGonagall had moved to sit in her desk and looked down at some papers scattered on top.

"I don't know what to do about these children---" she muttered in an almost inaudible voice.

James and Remus smirked at the comment, while Peter just gazed at the window distractedly. Remus turned to face Lily from in front and whispered, "What are you doing here?"

"I spoke too loudly during Professor Binns class," she said leaning in to whisper.

"Why were you awake?" he asked amazedly.

She rolled her eyes at his comment and smiled, "Some people need to take notes to pass the class."

"Some people might need to borrow today's notes to study for tests," he said grinning.

"I don't mind today. I had a great day! Besides you have an excuse today," she said in a bright whisper.

"You're not supposed to be entertaining yourselves! Well, since you and Mr. Lupin are enjoying this moment, maybe I should assign you to different chores," Professor McGonagall said indignantly. "I believe that our groundkeeper Hagrid needed help today gathering some specimens in the forest today. Mr. Potter, Miss Evans, you two will help him. Mr. Lupin, Mr. Pettigrew, you will assist Mr. Filch in cleaning the trophy room."

Both Peter and Remus groaned loudly while Lily felt a terrified look dawn in her face.

"The f-forest?" she asked nervously.

"Mr. Filch will come by to collect you two. I will take you both to Hagrid myself," Professor McGonagall said ignoring Lily's comment. "Come on, let's go."

The professor started out the door while Remus whispered to James 'Lucky dog' as he followed her. Lily stood still before following suit and walked out of the door.

***

Lily caught up in James and stole a glance in his direction. He seemed to find that going to help in the forbidden forest was natural and uneventful. She was slowly getting irritated at his behavior. Then again, she just liked being angry at him.

When they arrived at the hut, Professor McGonagall found that there was no one there. They walked around to find Hagrid setting up his crossbow. He looked surprised to find the teacher there with the two students.

"They are serving detention Hagrid and I remembered you saying you might need help today collecting those specimens for Professor Kettleburn," she said pausing to push James and Lily forward. "Here are your helpers."

Hagrid looked pleased at the idea, James smiled, and Lily gave Hagrid a weak grin.

"Well, they are in your care today Hagrid. I hope all goes well," and with those words she walked away.

"Well I'm glad yeh two are here! It seems yeh both needed a detention ter come visit me!" he said smiling.

"I'm sorry I haven't come by Hagrid, I--" Lily started.

"Yeah, I'm sorry too Hagrid," James said cutting in.

"It's all right yeh two! Now we need to get ter work. I'm glad Professor McGonagall brought me help, I didn' think I could do it by meself," he said grinning at both kids.

He explained to them that they were to gather a few creatures that dwelled in the forest including a billywig, a bowtruckle, a graphon, and if they could, an imp. The billywig, Lily noted, would be hard to find as it was usually native to Australia. She went on to say it to Hagrid, trying not to sound like an annoying know-it-all.

"But Hagrid, how will we find the billywig? It's native to Australia," she said simply.

"There's more ter this forest than meets the eye," he said picking up his crossbow again. "Now, I know yeh two will be alright if yeh look after each other. So don't stray too far. Stay on the path an' I'll be walking ahead of yeh two. If there's any problems just holler an' shoot red sparks from yer wand. If yeh find any of the things we're looking fer, don't try anything fer yerselves, yeh hear? Sends green sparks and I'll come ter find yeh. Some of those can be tricky."

With that he led them into the forest, Lily walking as close to James as she could. He smiled as he noticed and whispered to her, "You okay? Seem kinda jumpy."

"I'm fine," she grumbled. "Now, let's try and find some of those things before we have to stay here all night. This isn't exactly what I had in mind when Professor Binns gave me the detention."

They looked around for half an hour before they finally spotted a bowtruckle. Lily spotted it and whispered at James.

"Is that a bowtruckle?" she inquired in an unsure whisper.

"Yeah I think so. Let's signal Hagrid," he said walking ahead to see Hagrid was nowhere to be seen.

He shot green sparks from his wand and sure enough, within moments large footprints could be heard making their way to them.

"So yeh found somethin'," Hagrid said delighted.

He collected the bowtruckle without many problems and put in a small box big enough for it. The box had a few wholes around the sides, but the bowtruckle seemed to be taking the separation from its home badly as they could hear a few thumps against the small wood box. Hagrid just put the box away in a bag around his shoulders and proceeded to advance before the two. They walked slowly for another half hour before Lily saw something rather interesting. She thought it was an illusion, but sure enough she saw another glimpse of a bright blue color in the distance. She suddenly felt excited at finding that the creature she had thought impossible for them to find was only a few meters away.

"James!" she called in a giddy whisper. "Do you see that?"

He turned to look in the direction she was pointing at and saw a bright blue object fly past a couple of trees. James was about to suggest calling Hagrid again when Lily very suddenly started rushing towards the creature. James called for her to stop, but went after her without thinking twice.

"What are you doing?" he said when he had caught up with her. They were close to it now and Lily approached the creature slowly, careful not to make a sound. James, who was rather annoyed at her behavior, was less wary about making noise. He stepped on a twig making it crack loudly. The sound alerted the insect of the presence of someone else. Lily turned to look at James annoyed. He glared back at her. He moved slightly closer to whisper something when he slipped and fell, knocking her over in the process. Needless to say, it seemed that the billywig was not pleased. It wasn't alone either.

Lily had somehow managed to land on top of James and she had been about to move when she felt something sting her upper right arm. She winced in pain and suddenly felt dizzy. She managed to register James' 'Ouch!' and that was it. She struggled to remove herself from on top of James and failed miserably. She started giggling at her incompetence. James, who had already been stung by the billywig himself, laughed as well. Then as if the laughing wasn't enough, Lily began floating, until she was starting to put a little distance between herself and James. James, confused and unsure, put his arms around her in an attempt to keep her close. She giggled again as he put his arms around her and smiled slightly.

"What's going on?" she asked happily.

"Dunno," he replied smiling.

He barely registered the next thought in his mind, but he lifted his head slightly and put his lips on hers. As though she knew what was going on, but not really, she responded. It felt like the most natural thing and when they pulled away, they giggled incessantly.

Lily smiled besides herself. She knew she couldn't have wanted that to happen, but she didn't seem to care right then. In fact, everything, she thought, was remarkably funny.

"I reckon we should throw up sparks..." James said smiling.

"Sure," she giggled.

He let go of her and pulled out his wand, she had by then floated a bit away. Sparks flowed over their heads as James started floating too. However, soon after the sparks, Hagrid had come running to the spot where Lily and James were now levitating by.

"Oh!" he said surprised. He quickly tried to pull James and Lily down by their cloaks. They giggled as Hagrid tried to pull them down and they moved away. "Come on now! Both of yeh get down!"

They put up quite a struggle but Hagrid managed to pull them down. He tied them up to him with a rope he pulled from inside his overcoat. By the end of the night, Lily and James were both in the infirmary as Madam Pomfrey gave them a potion to make the effects of the billywig die down. They were obligated to sleep in the infirmary, as Madam Pomfrey had insisted, so that she could make sure they didn't still float away during the night.

As they lay in their beds, both of them could feel a bit of tension in the air.

"Did all of that really happen?" Lily asked, speaking for the first time since they had been brought out of their trance.

"I think so," he said unsure.

"Do you--did we---we didn't---" she tried to ask, failing miserably.

"Kiss?" he said with a slight smile drawing on his lips.

"Don't say it!" Lilly hissed ashamed. "We were just really confused... that's it. Take that look off your face!"

"I don't have a look," he said trying to sound innocent.

"You do too!" she said accusingly.

"Do not. And besides, you looked pretty happy when we were kissing too," he said defensively.

"That's what the sting of a billywig does to you. If you tell anyone about this---" she started warningly.

"What? What are you planning to do?" he demanded defiantly.

"I will tell Professor McGonagall that you let the pixies lose in the Great Hall last Thursday," she said haughtily.

"Ha! That wasn't me! That was Sirius!" he said triumphantly.

"You had to be involved in it!" she exclaimed surprised.

"Nope, that was all him!" James laughed as he said it.

"Oh come on. Don't... promise me you won't say anything about it to anyone!" she said desperately, finally looking at him straight in the eyes.

He looked into her deep emerald eyes and felt himself giving in. He couldn't just deny her the chance to keep her pride. However, he couldn't deny that he felt somewhat hurt about the fact that she found him so embarrassing. That while other girls bragged about being with James at one point or another, she would do anything to deny having anything to do with him.

"Fine," he said miserably.

His tone hit a nerve inside her. She felt mean suddenly. So she said one thing before she fell asleep.

"If it's any consolation, it was a nice kiss," she said. With that she turned her back on him and pretended to be asleep, all the while thinking how she actually rather enjoyed a kiss she knew she should've hated.