Disclaimer: I own nothing, everything belongs to JK Rowling.

A/N: Here's the second installment. Just remember, these are just glimpses of different moments in James's and Lily's life, it is not a linear story where each chapter picks up where the last one left off.

Chapter Two: The First Time He Needed Her

James groaned loudly as he dropped his book bag onto the ground and plopped onto the couch next to Lily. Remus and Mary looked up at him momentarily before returning to their homework. James waited a long moment looking around at his friends who were paying no attention to him at all and sighed loudly again. He saw the corner of Lily's lips turn up but she still didn't look up at him.

"Something wrong, Prongs?" Peter asked, happy for any reason to close his Charms book.

"Why yes, Wormtail, something is the matter. Thank you for asking," he said sarcastically, throwing a glare at the rest of his friends. Lily and Sirius looked up smirking while Remus just rolled his eyes and continued diligently working away at his essay. "Slughorn caught up with me after dinner and told me I needed tutoring in Potions." Sirius immediately started laughing loudly and leaned his chair back on two legs, hugging his chest as his body shook. Lily just shook her head and muttered something that sounded like, "overdramatic."

"Are you really that bad at Potions?" Jenna asked causing Sirius to go into a fit of laughter again.

"No!" It was Lily's turn to chuckle at his reply. She tried to disguise it as a cough but not very effectively. He glared at her out of the corner of his eye. "I've never been particularly great at Potions, but I've never needed tutoring."

"Who's going to tutor you?" Remus asked, finally looking up from his essay, looking just as amused as the rest of his friends. James flashed him an angelic smile.

"How about you, Moony?" Remus gave James a disbelieving look.

"I thought the point was to get better at Potions," Sirius said, finally calming his laughter enough to speak. James ignored him and Remus balled up a spare bit of parchment and threw it as hard as he could at Sirius's head.

"Padfoot? Do you want to tutor me?" There was a collective snigger this time from around the circle.

"Ah, Prongs, there are so many reasons to say 'no.'"

"Oh yeah, and what would those be?"

"Firstly, I'm not going to spend any more time studying than I have too and I'm especially not going to spend more time than necessary in the dungeons. Second, I'm better at Potions than you, but not that much better." James groaned loudly.

"Not to mention that neither of you would actually work," Lily said, giving them a pointed look before turning her attention back to her Arithmancy essay.

"Oh yeah, you think so?" James challenged.

"Of course I do," she said, finishing up a sentence and then looking up to meet his gaze. "You and Sirius locked up in a dungeon for a few hours…nothing good can possibly come of that," she finished giving him a good-natured smile.

"Why don't you tutor me then?" Lily gave him a disbelieving look but Remus's head had snapped back up from his work.

"That's not a bad idea, actually," he said.

"What? No, that's a terrible idea!" Lily protested.

"Why? You're the best at Potions out of all of us and you most certainly would keep him on task," Remus reasoned. Lily shot him a look of pure venom but he just raised his eyebrows and smiled back at her. "You have to admit, you're the best candidate for the job."

She looked around at the others in the group for a face that might come to her defense but found nothing. "But, I don't want to," she whined.

"You guys really know how to make a guy feel special, all trying to get out of having to spend time with me," James said, moodily pulling his bag into his lap and yanking a book out of it.

"Sorry, I always forget how fragile your feelings are," Sirius said leaning back again. James gave him an angry look and then kicked the chair so that Sirius went falling backwards onto the floor.

James turned his attention back to Lily. "Please, Lily…please. I really don't want to have to do one-on-one sessions with Slughorn." His eyes grew wide in mock terror at the idea and Lily sighed.

"Fine!" She threw her arms up in defeat. "How about Friday night? Meet you here at seven?"

"Sounds good to me," James said happily as he unscrewed his ink bottle and loaded up a quill in preparation for beginning on his Transfiguration essay.

"Sounds like a date to me," Sirius said from the floor. "You two behave down in those deserted dungeons all by yourselves." He wiggled his eyebrows suggestively before James aimed another kick in his direction and Lily threw and empty ink bottle at him, leaving a dark black smudge across his forehead.

As the week went on however, Lily's work load grew larger and larger and she slept less and less, staying up with Mary and Jenna in front of the fireplace hours after every one else had drifted upstairs to bed.

By the time Friday rolled around Lily felt like the walking dead. Mary took up responsibility for the task of poking Lily every time her eyes drooped during Transfiguration causing her to squeal loudly and Professor McGonagall to give them both disapproving looks.

By the time seven rolled around, Lily wasn't sure she was going to make it through the night. She sat in one of the arm chairs in the Common Room waiting for James to come down from his dormitory. She'd considered telling him they needed to reschedule but had decided in the end that the likelihood of her work load decreasing as the term went on was not good.

"What are we going to talk about for three hours?" Lily asked as they walked down to the dungeons, Lily carrying a bag full of books and James towing his cauldron.

"Quidditch," he replied as though it were an obvious answer. When she gave him a disparaging look, he simply grinned angelically at her.

"Oh great," she said sarcastically, rolling her eyes.

"Aw, come on Lily. We're actually friends now. And you don't hate me anymore…at least I don't think you do." He looked at her questioningly and she shrugged. "Surely we'll be able to find something to talk about."

"You're probably right," Lily said as she stepped through the door James held for her and into the dungeon they had Potions class in. He followed her in, setting his cauldron down over one of the grates and lighting a small fire with his wand. He pulled out his ingredients and his copy of Advanced Potion Making and laid them out on top of the table. She sat down in the chair beside him and dropped her bag onto the floor. "Now, which potion was it that you were having trouble with?"

"The Brawny potion." A confused line appeared between Lily's green eyes, so James explained further. "Well, that's what Padfoot and I call it, anyway." She rolled her eyes at that.

"What is the actual name of the potion?"

"The Strengthening Solution."

"That's the one you had trouble with?" She considered it for a moment and then murmured, "That surprises me," as she flipped open her book as well.

"Why?"

"I figured you would have wanted to use it to cheat at Quidditch or something." She didn't look up from her book as she said it but then looked over at him to gauge his reaction.

"What kind of person do you think I am?" he asked, feigning indignation. She couldn't help but grin as he defended himself. "First, I never cheat. And second, Gryffindor doesn't need to cheat to win."

"Someone's a little cocky…" Lily said, raising her eyebrows.

"Not cocky, Lily…confident," James corrected. "There's a big difference." He looked at her very seriously before turning his attention back to his book.

"Okay, okay, I'm sorry…I didn't mean to offend your honor." He laughed. "It figures you would have trouble on the potion that takes the longest to make," she grumbled.

"Sorry."

She waved a hand impatiently at his apology. "Just go ahead and mix in the first three ingredients. I'll start cutting up the puffapod root." He began pouring and stirring the solution and it instantly turned a dark orange color. Lily pulled a knife out of her bag and began cutting the roots up into small squares. "The real question here is do you want to make merely a satisfactory potion or do you want to make a perfect potion like I make?" she teased, giving him a playful wink.

"Now who's cocky?" James laughed. After considering for a moment he answered, "Let's go for perfection."

"Yes! But, I must warn you, if you start doing better than me in Potions too, I'll sabotage you." James shuddered teasingly.

"I'll be on the lookout." When he looked over at her, he pierced her with an inquisitive stare. "What are you doing?"

"This is my first trick. See, we want this to dissolve completely but you want it done quickly because the more potent the original solution is, the more quickly the potion takes effect. So what you do is create more surface area on the root so that the solution has more to dissolve. You cut it up but then you just make criss-cross cuts over the surface to make grooves for the liquid to get in." She smiled proudly at her idea while James looked at her astounded.

"Wow…how did you come up with that?"

"I study," she replied sarcastically. He rolled his eyes at her and she flashed him a momentary grin. "No, I just figure out what it is about each ingredient that makes the potion work and then figure out how to make it more efficient."

"Yeah, well, who doesn't do that?" James muttered under his breath. Lily just ignored him.

"It's pretty easy after that, just like following a recipe."

"Are you a good cook?" James wondered.

Lily laughed before turning her eyes on him. "I'm not a good cook, I'm a phenomenal cook. You should be so lucky to get to eat some of my cooking."

"Wow! You're just all kinds of arrogant tonight." Lily giggled and turned her attention back to the puffapod roots. "Do you cook a lot during the holidays?" James inquired.

"Yeah, it's kind of my thing. My mum always made me cook dinner with her growing up and now it's like a mother-daughter thing we do when I'm home. She always wants me to make her a potion but I was never quite sure how that fit into underage wizardry or the Statute of Secrecy."

"You'll be seventeen this summer though, right?" James said, grabbing a handful of her finished roots and tossing them into the solution with a tiny splash and watched as the orange liquid glowed momentarily before turning a deep navy blue.

"Yeah, I guess I should make her a love potion or something for Dad. Or maybe an Anti-Aging Potion. That's the one she was bugging me for all last summer." She mixed in the rest of the roots while he began trying to chop up the sopophorous bean. "You're doing that wrong, by the way," she stated while she gave the potion a quick stir.

"How? The book says to juice it…I'm juicing it!"

"That's what thickens it though so you need to get as much juice as possible. Here, put it in your palm and then put the flat part of the knife on top. Now, roll the heel of your other hand carefully over the top…yeah, like that," Lily instructed. He followed her directions perfectly and was amazed as he watched more juice than seemed possible squirt out of his bean and into his potion. "See, much more efficient."

"Where'd you learn that?" he asked, astonished.

"Just something I picked up," Lily replied, off-handedly.

"From Snivellus?" He had to work really hard to not sound bitter and to not spit the name as it left his mouth. She stiffened instantly, but then gained control of herself and continued stirring the potion. "Is that why you're so good at Potions? Because you hung around with him for so long?" James wanted so badly for this question to sound light-hearted, but couldn't get rid of the steely tone his voice had taken.

"It's more the opposite actually. Don't get me wrong, Snape is very good at Potions, but I helped him more than he helped me." She avoided his eyes as she relayed this information to him. She had worked very hard to lose some of the bitterness she still felt toward her former friend and talking about the friendship they used to share only brought back harsh feelings. "Is it so hard to believe that I'm just naturally good at this?" she asked, hoping to change the subject.

"I guess not," James admitted after a few moments of consideration. "You are pretty good at everything you do." She smiled gratefully at him. "I suppose I should be careful complimenting you though. I don't want your big head to get any more inflated than it already is." He raised his eyebrows at her and quirked up the side of his mouth as Lily threw the remnants of the sopophorous bean at him.

"Ha ha…you just concentrate on stirring the cauldron," she ordered, handing off the spoon and flipping through the pages of her book. They sat in comfortable silence for a moment, Lily cleaning up some of the tools and putting away the unused ingredients. "So, did you go to the World Cup this summer?" She smirked at him and he just laughed.

"You don't have to do that," he chuckled.

"Do what?" Lily asked innocently.

"We don't have to talk about Quidditch. I know you don't like it. I was just kidding when I suggested it earlier."

"I like Quidditch…I do!" she insisted after he fixed her with a disbelieving gaze. "I don't like it as much as you do and I certainly don't know as much about it as you do, but I like it. Besides, I'm inquiring about whether you went, not how many times that Harpies' Chasers flew in an "I" formation."

"Whoa, I'm impressed," he teased. "Okay, yeah, my dad took Padfoot and me. I think when he bought the tickets the intention was for us to go with my mum, but when Sirius moved in she gave him her ticket."

"Wait…Sirius moved in with you? I didn't know that." Lily had stopped her puttering and looked at James with great interest.

"Oh…yeah, um…he kind of ran away and then stayed with us all summer," he mumbled, dropping his eyes. He wasn't sure that he was at liberty to explain the circumstances which caused his best friend to move in with him. Sirius wasn't typically a private person so James had taken the fact that he hadn't brought up the events of the summer to mean that no one was really supposed to know.

"That was nice of your parents to let him stay."

"Yeah, well, they love him. He's the closest thing I have to a brother and they think of him as a son so…"

"Keep stirring," Lily commanded as his arm had become stationary. He turned his attention back to the cauldron and began stirring feverishly again. "Why did he run away?"

James was quiet for a moment as he contemplated what he could say and how he should say it. "To make a long story short, he doesn't really…get along with his family. And they, in no uncertain terms mind you, informed him that they didn't want him around anymore."

Lily's eyes were wide. She had never imagined that someone as confident and well, cool, as Sirius could be anything but adored by his family. Sure, he was rebellious and Lily was confident in the fact that he had probably gotten into loads of trouble when he was younger, but he was also funny and smart and a good person. How could his own flesh and blood not want him?

"I guess I can relate to that," Lily said quietly. James looked at her quizzically. "I mean, my parents love me, but my sister barely speaks to me anymore. Ever since I came here she's wanted nothing to do with me. Actually, she got married this summer and not only was I not a bridesmaid, but I wasn't even invited." Now it was James's turn to look shocked. "I went anyway," she said with a grim smile, "she wasn't very happy about that."

"I'm sorry," James said after a moment.

"Don't be," she said quickly. "It was my decision to come here. I chose to live with the consequences and I wouldn't do it any differently."

"Well, I think we both know that I'm glad you're here," James mumbled, his eyes extremely intent on the cauldron now as it changed from navy to a teal color. But the fact that he wasn't looking at her didn't stop her from noticing the blush that crept up his neck and onto his cheeks. She smiled slightly and gazed at him with a softened expression.

"Thanks."

"Sure," he said, clearing his throat and then turning his eyes back to her, his cheeks still tinged pink. "And please don't mention anything about Sirius. I don't think he really wants a lot of people to know about that so…" He didn't need to continue. The serious look he was piercing her with conveyed his feelings on the matter.

"Of course, my lips are sealed." He smiled gratefully at her and then pulled the spoon out of the potion. "Okay, ready for another trick?" Lily asked, ready to steer the conversation away from the serious turn it had taken. "Cover that up." She gestured to the cauldron. "I did learn this from cooking. If you cover it, it holds in the heat better so it gets thicker and in this solution, the thicker the better."

He did as she requested and watched as the steam fogged up the glass cover he had placed over the cauldron.

"Now what?" James asked, looking at her for further instruction.

"Now we let it sit for two hours," she instructed blandly.

"Thrilling," James said sarcastically. "I guess I can work on the essay for this class." He did not look remotely excited as he turned his attention to his bag again and pulled out a piece of parchment, a quill and his ink bottle. "Are you going to Hogsmeade this weekend?" he asked as she did the same.

"Yeah, I need to talk to Madam Rosmerta about having the Halloween party in the Three Broomsticks," Lily stated.

"I can help with that, if you want."

"Can you?" Lily gave him a puzzled look now, as if she doubted the validity of this statement. A crease formed in between James's eyebrows.

"Yeah…" he said slowly.

"It's just that Claire Andrews has been flouncing through all the girls' dormitories swearing that she is going with you to Hogsmeade this weekend," Lily explained. The crease disappeared as James's eyebrows shot high onto his forehead.

"Oh really? That's…that's weird," he said, struggling for the words. "She never mentioned it to me."

"Are you sure you didn't lead her on?" Lily giggled.

"All I've said to her all week is, 'All right, Claire?' If that's the new way of asking someone out, then I'm apparently out of the loop." He shook his head and rolled his eyes.

"Oh, she's going to be so disappointed. She's really looking forward to all of the fun adventures you had planned for her." Her eyes sparkled with amusement as James groaned loudly. He shook his head again, dismissing this disturbing bit of information.

"So, do you want help going to the Three Broomsticks?" he persisted.

"You're sure you have time?"

"Of course. I have to restock at Zonko's but besides that, my day is free." He flashed her a mischievous grin.

"Oh no…should I steer clear of the Common Room then?"

"The Prefects' Bathroom is probably more dangerous," James advised giving her a wink.

"Thanks for the warning," Lily replied, a playful grin on her face. As she started unrolling a sheet of parchment, James pulled out his wand and conjured an overstuffed love seat covered in cushions and pillows in the middle of the classroom. Lily quirked an eyebrow at him.

"I would have made it bigger but there wasn't enough room," James said, settling into one of the cushions.

"Show off," Lily murmured under her breath, but an amused grin found its way to her face. She moved her bag over and dropped it on the floor before plopping down on the couch beside him.

"You've been showing off all night with your fancy Potions tricks. It's only fair that I get to show off in my subject, too." Lily laughed and settled further into the pillows.

"I suppose you're right. And you definitely outshine me in Transfiguration. I've never made furniture this comfortable." James smiled at the praise and opened his book to the chapter on Strengthening Solutions. "You may have made this too comfy, actually. I might fall asleep!"

They settled into their homework, the only sound coming from the flipping of pages and the bubbling cauldron.

James tried to focus on his book but was finding himself distracted. Every time Lily would yawn or shift a little in her seat, he was tempted to start talking to her again or to look over at her. He was hyper-aware of how close they were to each other. Though they'd obviously sat next to each other before, something felt different, more intimate because they were alone in the dimly lit dungeon.

"Snap out of it!" he commanded himself. "It's just Lily. We're doing homework for crying out loud!" And though it was a weak argument, he knew that he did need to work. He and Lily both, along with all the other 7th years, had piles upon piles of homework to finish. So, with a sigh he forced himself to focus on the words staring up at him from Advanced Potion Making.

…there are numerous herbs that can be used to add strength. The herb one uses depends on the muscle one desires to enhance. For strength of mind one can use
the spines of a blowfish. For strength of character, one should add a sprinkle of ground centaur hoof.

James shuddered at the idea of retrieving a bit of centaur hoof to grind. He'd had a few too many run-ins with the centaurs in the Forbidden Forest as a stag, the most recent time ending with the centaurs declaring it open hunting season on animagi.

…for full body strength, the most common herb is cellofin seeds, but one can also use sphinx hair, jemmaweed, or the root tips of cefelopad plants though these are
either extremely rare and therefore difficult to acquire or they produce weaker potions than those that use the cellofin seeds. The Strengthening Solution is most
commonly made by mincing the seeds creating pockets of power to supply the strength.

James reread that last sentence a few times.

"Hey, what does this mean? 'Pockets of power'?" he asked without looking up, his eyes still searching the page for some kind of definition. "Lily?" he asked again, looking over at her when she didn't answer.

She was fast asleep. Her book lay open to the same page as his in her lap, but her hand lay over it, obscuring most of the words. Her head was leaning back and to the side, her mouth slightly open. He could hear her inhaling deeply, her breathing steady. She was in an uncomfortable position and looked as though she were about to fall over on him at any moment. He knew that she would be upset if she missed two hours of study time, but he couldn't bring himself to wake her up.

He also couldn't help fantasizing for a moment. He put his left arm on the back of the love seat and just barely let his finger brush the hair off of her cheek.

As if unconsciously feeling his touch, she made a quiet, peaceful noise and moved toward him. He stayed completely still, afraid that she would wake and be angry with him for the small touch. Instead she remained fast asleep but snuggled into the crook under his arm, resting her head on his shoulder. Her breathing remained steady. James wasn't entirely sure that he should leave her there knowing that if she were to wake up she would either be livid or intensely embarrassed (or both).

But then again, he wasn't sure he would ever have a chance to be this close to her again. He knew it was giving into his selfish desires, but in the end he decided that it was worth risking her fury in order to be able to smell the delicate floral scent of her hair and to feel the gentle rise and fall of her chest, if only for a moment.

"This will make it more difficult to concentrate," he thought as she sighed again.

He did decide against putting his arm around her as she slept, tempting as it was, and left it on the back of the love seat instead.

He went back to reading about the importance of having the "pockets of power" evenly distributed, becoming more and more bored with the subject as he read. Just as he was considering summoning his Quidditch Through the Ages, Lily did something that captured his attention once again.

"James?" she murmured quietly. He froze thinking she had woken up. He considered feigning sleep that way she would think it was all purely accidental but realized she would notice if he suddenly went from his current rigid state to a relaxed form.

He looked down at her, preparing himself for the angry green eyes he was about to meet. Instead he saw that her eyes were still closed and a small smile was on her face.

And then she said it again. "James…" more quietly but with her grin still intact and she snuggled a little closer to him, turning her face a little further into his chest.

She was dreaming of him.

He didn't even try to conceal the wide smile that broke across his face now or the frantic butterflies that took flight in the pit of his stomach. Elation that was like nothing he had ever felt before flooded his body. He felt a flush creep up onto his cheeks and he still couldn't manage to force his smile back.

"It doesn't mean anything," a cynical voice told him. And he knew that. But try as he might to fully believe it and release the hope that was sure to come back and bite him later, he couldn't smother the feeling of ecstasy that overwhelmed him now. He glanced at his watch to see how much time was left before he had to go back to his potion (and reality) and was saddened to find that only twenty minutes remained.

"Well, if I'm going to give in, I may as well do it right," he thought and instead of summoning his book, he simply watched her sleep, enjoying the way she would occasionally smile or frown and the times she would take a deep breath or adjust her head to fit better on his chest.

He cursed his watch for making the last twenty minutes end so quickly.

He reluctantly shifted underneath her, being careful not to jostle or shake her. He held her body up while simultaneously getting to his feet and then laid her gently on the spot he'd just vacated in an attempt to keep from waking her, but to no avail.

As soon as his arms released her, she shifted slightly and opened her eyes. They were unfocused for a moment and she looked completely disoriented before her eyes found his. A light blush reached her cheeks and she grinned sheepishly at him.

"Hey," she murmured, her voice gravelly from sleep.

"Hi…I'm sorry, I didn't mean to wake you. You can go back to sleep, I'll just finish this up on my own."

"Don't be ridiculous," she said, stifling a yawn. She sat up slowly and stretched her arms out over her head for a moment. "I'm already awake and the next tricks are the best ones." She tried to sound enthusiastic but couldn't shake the sleep from her voice. James rolled his eyes at her but stepped over to his cauldron and uncovered it, a cloud of steam billowing up around them.

Lily yawned again but turned her attention to her book. "Now the herb that makes this work is the cellofin seeds. The book says to just mince it but the key is that you get bursts of power. Because the potion itself is so thick, it's difficult to dissolve completely so if you grate the seeds then it dissolves better and spreads out more."

"Grate?"

"Yeah, like cheese." He still didn't look convinced. "Here," she said, exasperatedly holding out her hand for him to pour a few of the seeds into. She picked up a cheese grater-like instrument and began running the seed along to side as a demonstration. She raised her eyebrows at him and shoved the seeds back at and indicated for him to begin grating.

"Are you sure?" He still didn't look like he was ready to take this advice.

"Yes, just trust me," Lily demanded. He shrugged and began grating the seeds which was more difficult than it had looked when she was doing it because the seeds were so small. She rested her chin on her fist and her eyes were beginning to droop again.

"What were you dreaming about, Lily?" he prodded after a few minutes of silence.

"Hmm?" she murmured though her eyes remained closed.

"When you were asleep just now…what were you dreaming about?" Her eyes suddenly snapped open, looking horrified, and James had to duck his head to keep her from seeing he smile.

"What makes you think I was dreaming?" she asked, her voice quaking. She cursed herself silently for not being able to sound as innocent as she was trying to seem.

"You were mumbling," he answered, turning to watch her reaction after he had regained control of his laughter.

"Mmm…I don't really remember. What did I say?" Her heart sped up as the possibilities of the things she could have said crossed her mind. Surely he hadn't heard anything too bad or else he wouldn't have waited this long to bring it up.

"Most of it wasn't really coherent. I couldn't really understand you," James lied, though the instant relief on her face almost broke his mask of resolute indifference.

"Oh…sorry. I didn't bother you, did I?"

"Not at all," he proclaimed as he grandly picked up the now grated cellofin seeds and dumped them into the thick, bubbling potion.

The sopophorous bean juice must have done its job because the potion was so thick that the seeds did not sink into the liquid but sat right on top.

"Excellent," Lily commented quietly as she saw this. "And now for my final trick," James smirked at her, "the folding technique…also something I learned from cooking." She picked the spoon back up and dipped it carefully into the teal liquid. "You want to fold it in instead of mixing it. It retains its stiff texture if you just fold the bottom over the top rather than mixing it up," she explained as she demonstrated. He took the spoon from her and replicated her movements. "Very good," she commented. "Wonderful form."

James laughed as he finished up the folding. "Now we just have to let it sit for half an hour, right?"

"Yup," Lily answered as she practically dragged herself back over to the couch and lay down on top of it. "I'm just going to relax here. Wake me up when you're ready to go back up to the Common Room, okay?" She closed her eyes and almost instantly fell back into her previous sleep.

James smiled to himself and began cleaning up their area. He washed all of the tools and packed up the rest of the unused ingredients. Then he packed away their books and quills and waited for the potion to finish simmering. Her breathing slowed and was his background as he bottled up a sample of his perfectly colored Strengthening Solution. He placed it on Slughorn's desk and then cleared the remaining potion out of his cauldron.

He slung his and Lily's bags over his shoulder and then walked over to where she slept.

"Lily," he whispered as he gently nudged her arm. She gave a quiet moan and rolled over a bit but did not wake up. "Lily," he whispered again, though not really willing to wake her up.

When she still didn't seem likely to wake up soon he slid his arm under her knees and the other behind her back and lifted her up, cradling her in his arms and trying to keep thoughts about how good it felt to hold her at bay. He flicked his wand once and the couch vanished and flicked it again, extinguishing the lanterns before walking out of the dungeon and carrying Lily back to the Gryffindor Common Room.

A/N: I hope you enjoyed it! I certainly enjoyed writing their developing friendship. The next chapter is "The First Time She Was Attracted to Him" so get excited for that one.