I do not own any of the characters in this fanfiction. All characters belong to J.K. Rowling

It was slightly too cold to have bare arms, but in a jumper the heat would be stifling. But she didn't want to be caught without a jumper in case it got cold and look silly shivering. Instead Lily opted for a long sleeved top. It was a deep purple with a v-neck. She put it on, then realised it clashed hideously with her hair. She hurriedly searched through her trunk for another. On her bed lay several similarly discarded tops and skirts and jeans and cords which had been through the same experience of indecision.

James had been up and ready for two hours now, and sat in the common room of Gryffindor tower making a mental list of topics to talk about over the approaching hours in Hogsmeade. He had wanted this occasion to come about for years now, since his first year in Hogwarts School of Witchcraft and Wizardry, but now it had arrived he was panicking more than a little. He had never had trouble thinking of things to say around Lily Evans before, but the thought of the upcoming hours spent alone in her company seemed to push every possible conversation topic out of his head. A mild panic had awoken him this morning and as he showered, dressed and, now, sat in front of the fire, it had increased to one that would double the amount of sweat on his hands every time he wiped them on his trousers.

Lily pulled on a pair of light blue jeans and, leaning over her trunk, extracted a pale green short sleeved shirt that was the colour of mint ice cream. It smelled a bit stale so Lily cast a charm to make her wand blow cool air on it, to air it out a bit. After doing this for a minute or so, she flapped it out of the window once or twice. Sniffing it hesitantly she decided it was quite fine now. Putting it on and buttoning it up, she also pulled on a deeper green cardigan which lay discarded on her bed. Quite content now, she turned her attention to taming her long, red hair. It was taking a ridiculous amount of time to get ready this morning, Lily thought to herself. Usually she didn't give to much thought to her outfit, confident in the knowledge that all her clothes suited her and that she didn't choose her outfit for anyone but herself, with function as the main priority, not fashion. But today was a different matter. For some reason she had accepted James Potter's invitation to Hogsmeade, if only to keep him quiet. It hadn't worked, of course, and now the whole of Gryffindor knew first hand they were going to be spending the day together, and the rest of the school knew through gossip none-too-quietly passed in the corridors. And today, she thought with a horrible sinking feeling in her stomach, seemed to be the first day she had given more than a second thought to what she would be wearing.

James was getting restless now. If only he hadn't woken so early, he thought. Pacing in front of the empty fire might get rid of some of this excess energy. Glancing around the common room to see whether Lily had slipped in unnoticed by him, he stood up and started pacing, wringing his hands as he did so. No, she hadn't emerged form the girl's dorm yet. Usually Lily was one of the first up, James recalled. He hoped nothing had happened, that she hadn't changed her mind! This thought redoubled the anxious pacing and it was when he had his back turned to the girls dormitory that Lily finally emerged, to the sight of James silently convincing himself she must have tripped over her trunk which led to her banging her head on the wall, falling unconscious and now must be lying in a coma, unnoticed by anyone. When he turned and saw her, James let out a sigh of both relief and nervousness and struck his winning smile, though he thought his eyes might betray his thoughts.