AUTHOR'S NOTE:

A quick update this time. Once I get started I can't seem to stop writing and I have mid-terms next week so there might be a couple more updates quite soon. Exams are a sure-fire way to cure writers block.

Enjoy!

Sometimes when James Potter was nervous he paced around the room like a prisoner stuck in his tiny cell. When he worried, he raked his fingers through his jet black hair attempting to flatten the unruly strands.

At this very moment he was doing both of these things.

"Seven years! It took seven years for Lily to finally agree to go out with me! The pressure is on. I have to impress her. This date has to be extraordinary. It has to be amazing. Better than amazing. Better than any other date she's ever been on -"

"Thanks to you, she hasn't been on any other dates...so the bar isn't set too high," Sirius interjected.

James barely even heard his friend. His voice was creeping towards hysteria, as he strode across the room, one hand buried in his hair, tugging at his locks. " - this is a once in a lifetime opportunity. I've waited seven years. I can't waste my chance."

Remus sighed. "Sit down James, you're making Peter dizzy with all that pacing."

"I can't. I'm too nervous," James argued, but he plopped down onto his bed anyway.

"There's no reason to be nervous," Remus replied, his voice calm and soothing, "You hang out with Lily all the time. She obviously enjoys your company, so there's no reason for all that pacing."

"She's been to Hogsmeade so many times. There's nowhere new that I can take her. There's nothing new that I can show her," James whined.

"I'm sure I can think of some new things that you can show her," Sirius said, waggling his eyebrows suggestively.

"Why am I friends with you?" James muttered under his breath.

"Because I'm handsome and charming?" James opened his mouth to reply but Sirius cut him off. "Honestly James, you are completely overthinking this. Lily agreed to go out with you, not because she wants you to take her somewhere new and exciting-"

James opened his mouth to interrupt once more.

" - Close that mouth of yours, Prongs. Padfoot's speaking now and if you don't keep your gob shut, I'll shove one of Wormtail's socks into it."

James mouth slammed shut. As nice as Peter was, the poor guy had a bit of a foot odour problem and James didn't want his sock anywhere near his mouth, or any part of him really.

Sirius continued his rant. Someone had to make his idiot friend understand. "Lily obviously likes you. A lot. Enough to overlook the hundreds of stupid things you did to get her attention over the past few years. If she didn't like you, she wouldn't have agreed to go to Hogsmeade. It's as simple as that. God knows the girl never had a problem rejecting you."

"But-"

Sirius sighed. When it came to Lily, James was incredibly thick. "Prongs, you've already impressed her. You have nothing to worry about. Just try to have fun."

When he was finally done with his monologue, Sirius cast his gaze around the room. His friends' gaped at him in silence.

"What?" He suddenly felt uncomfortable.

Remus was the first to recover. "That was probably the most sensible thing that has come out of your mouth in a while."

Sirius coloured. "I can be sensible. Why is that so surprising?"

"Because you so often choose not to be?" Remus quipped.

Sirius shrugged. "Being sensible is rarely fun. It would have been more fun to watch Prongs struggle while occasionally offering up an unsavory and unhelpful comment, but because he's my best mate, I felt as though I had to take pity on him and tell him the truth."

James grinned at his best friend and felt an overwhelming desire to hug him, but he refrained, because men didn't do such things.

"Also, I don't think Lily would have been very happy if Prongs turned up half-bald," Sirius added.

And with that the desire for hugging and mushy sentimentality was gone. "I am not going to end up bald!" James glowered.

"Are you nervous about Hogsmeade?" Alice asked excitedly.

"Why would I be nervous?" Lily asked, "I see James all the time."

If there was one thing that Lily had learned over the past few days, it was that even after she agreed to go on a date with him, James was still the same James and there was nothing to worry about.

She was excited about their 'romantic rendezvous' tomorrow. She couldn't wait to spend some more time with him and do it somewhere other than a darkened hallway... not that that didn't hold a certain appeal.

"It's different. Dates are always different. " Alice continued as if Lily hadn't spoken. "What if he tries to kiss you?"

I certainly hope he does, Lily thought to herself but she was prudent enough not to voice the idea.

"I bet James is nervous," Vera mused.

Lily scoffed. "James is never nervous. He has more confidence than ten guys put together."

"You've rejected him for seven years straight, Lily. How could he not be nervous?" Vera remarked solemnly.

"Since when did you become the expert on Potter's feelings?"

"Sirius may have let a few things slip," Vera said, "but you didn't hear it from me."

"Of course not," Lily replied knowingly, " but I still cannot believe that a date with me could make the great James Potter nervous."

"Well, he has been in love with you for years," said Alice, "I'm sure he wants to impress you."

"He's already impressed me!" Exasperation began to colour Lily's tone. "And I wouldn't have said 'yes' if I didn't already like him!"

"Sirius told him as much."

"Sirius is smarter than he appears," Lily muttered darkly.

Alice cleared her throat. "Ladies" she announced, nodding at Vera, "I would like to bring to your attention the fact that precisely 1 minute ago, Lily Evans confessed that she 'already liked' James Potter."

Lily rolled her eyes at her friends. "Shut up before the rest of Hogwarts finds out." She still wasn't ready for everyone to know that she had finally succumbed to Potter's charm, as he always said she would.

Lily frowned slightly, her brow creasing in concentration. James had made her feel so completely comfortable in his presence, that she couldn't fathom the idea that he might be nervous about Saturday. She was surprised to find that the idea of James feeling anxious and uncomfortable bothered and upset her more than it should. Lily didn't want him to feel anything less than deliriously happy about the prospect of their first date. She didn't know why Potter's happiness mattered so much to her, but she was determined to put him at ease before Saturday. She brightened at the prospect of their shared Head Duties that night.

Surely she could say something to make him less nervous about the following day, to make him feel as calm and excited as she did.

They had been patrolling the third floor for the past 20 minutes and Lily had not yet said anything. She had chattered about classes and how swamped she felt by the amount of work that was required for NEWTs. She had even brought up Quidditch, musing about Gryffindor's chances of winning the Quidditch Cup, but James had been uncharacteristically taciturn.

Her observations and questions were greeted with monosyllables and long drawn-out silences. It was almost painful to watch charming, confident James Potter reduced to this.
They were climbing up the stairs leading to the Astronomy tower when Lily finally decided that enough was enough.

She cleared her throat loudly. "James, is something wrong?"

James almost jumped. Her words had startled him. "What? Oh no. Fine. I'm fine."

Lily shot him a sharp look. "You don't seem fine."

"I am!" he said, pasting a weak smile onto his face. "Great. I feel great."

Lily sighed. He was impossible. "James? Are you by any chance worried about tomorrow?"

James stiffened. His muscles grew tense and that poor excuse for a smile slid off his face. "Why would you ask me that?"

Lily's voice grew more gentle. "I'm not saying that you are nervous, but I just wanted to let you no that you don't need to be."

"I'm not."

"Good," she took a step towards him, resting her fingers gently on his rough cheek, "because I'm not."

James' eyes widened and Lily wasn't sure whether that was because of her words or her touch. "You're not?"

Lily shook her head.

"Why not?"

"Because I know we'll have a great time tomorrow." She slid her hand up through his hair until it rested behind his ear. "And do you know how I know this, Potter?"

James shook his head.

Lily laughed softly. "We always have a good time together. Even when you're teaching me Arithmancy." She paused for a second before continuing, "I like you James. You should know that by now."

A slow smile spread across his features as looked deeply into her eyes. Lily was frightened by the intensity of the moment but she didn't pull her gaze away from his smouldering hazel eyes. She didn't know how her attempt at soothing Potter's fears had turned into such a tender moment but somehow she knew that if she pulled away, he'd think she was lying. For someone so confident, he could be so insecure. Instead she ended the moment by pasting a bright smile onto her face and removing her hand from his face before sliding it into his hand and tugging him along from corridor to corridor until they finally finished their patrol.