Recon
Chapter One

The prickling in Lily Evans's right leg fell to a dull throbbing as she shifted her weight. She grimaced but stayed quiet, shoving away a strand of her red hair. Its black color in the feeble moonlight had only captured her mind in some dreadful sort of symbolism, as if that meant she was morphing into a sinister prowler, or worse - into a Potter.

The image of James's hair drifted around her head for a moment and she glanced up at the shadows cast on the beautiful brick façade in front of her. The yellow light from the second story window showed no sign of the boy there, not even the form of his rumpled head. She rolled her eyes, unwillingly reminded of his vain habit. She never even thought his propositions through, really. One hand to his hair and all she could think about was how he must see himself: an irresistible vision of unruly charm. There was no way in hell she would feed his ego by even considering a date. She was quite pleased at being the one thing the arrogant prick couldn't claim.

She could almost find it funny, then, that for the third night in a row, she was clutching to the darkness below his window.

Not that this had anything to do with him, she assured herself firmly. Well, it did. But not in a romantic way - no, in the typical annoying Potter sort of way. She wasn't here to listen to his voice, or imagine him naked, or anything else she would much rather block from her mind. This was business, and he was only hanging around it, as usual.

Concentrating back on the garden plant she was crouched next to, she grasped hold of the waxy leaves lying flat against their vine. The plant quivered at the disturbance, but did nothing more. With painstaking caution, she pulled the leaves upward and flinched when the thin stems snapped. She held her breath, but nothing else happened. After a few moments the vine stopped moving, and she pocketed the leaves as she released the air from her lungs. Hasty to finally crawl out of the garden and go home, she dug her fingers into the dirt for a sample.

"Bloody hell!" she mouthed angrily. As soon as she had touched a root, the vine had reared away and sprayed a burning liquid onto her skin. Her free arm had caught most of it, thrown up to shield her eyes, but her chin and forehead stung heavily. She wiped at her face with her sleeve and, abandoning the soil with half a mind to take out her wand and set fire to the vines, hauled herself up off the ground. A glance upward showed the light from James's bedroom still undisturbed. At least he's having a good night, she thought bitterly.

She cried out as her wrists were grabbed and pinned together behind her back, while an unmistakable wooden point was pressed firmly up against her chin.

"Three nights I've noticed something down here," a deep voice rumbled menacingly. "What do you…think you're…" He trailed off and his grip on her wrists slackened slightly, although she still felt unable to slip free. She couldn't tell whether this was because he recognized her as a girl, or as the proclaimed love of his life.

"James," said Lily, wrenching her arms away from him as the sound of her voice loosened his hands even more. She smacked his wand away from her neck and turned to face him, but he did nothing to stop her.

"Lily Evans?" he asked incredulously. "Lumos."

"Can you get that out of my face, Potter?" she snapped, his surname jumping to her lips with her flaring annoyance. Still shocked, he nodded and lowered his wand so that the lighted tip softly illuminated them both.

"What are you doing here?" he managed.

"I was…" She paused and tried to ease her mounting frustration. "I…How the bloody hell did you do that, anyway?" Her wrists ached, but she was glad to find that she no longer felt the vine's toxin eating at her skin.

"Oh. Good, wasn't I?" His voice wasn't very smug, but she figured he might as well be.

"Yeah," she answered sarcastically, "and now that you've mauled me, can I use your bath?" She felt nothing on her, but still wished for some water - Professor Drake had warned her she might get a rash, and that was the last thing she needed on top of trespassing charges.

"My…?" Despite his confusion, his hazel eyes sparkled. "You sneak into my garden, and now you want to come inside and take your clothes off?"

"Can I or not?"

He smiled. "Certainly, love, although you do owe me an explanation. Hold on tight."

His arms wrapped around her and she gasped at the unexpected feeling that she was being pressed from all sides. It lasted only a moment, however, and when she unclenched her eyelids she was standing on a black marble floor, a few feet away from what looked like a small round pool. She felt like she would never get used to Apparating.

"Seventeen, I see?" she asked through gritted teeth, though she would have much rather have hit him for the lack of a warning.

"Ah, you should know, having so callously declined my invitation to celebrate."

She ignored him and began to fill the bath. Sensing something more tense than usual, James placed a fluffy towel on the white marble counter and mentioned something about finding her some clothes as he left the room. Dazed from the sudden Apparation, her tiring stress, and the ridiculous plant attack, she locked the door behind him. She didn't want to deal with him again, even if he came bearing a clean t-shirt. Wearily she slipped out of her clothes and sunk into the warm water.

The truth was that she wouldn't be in Potter's house if he hadn't been pestering her a year ago. Right awful, wasn't it, the way the universe worked in his favor. He acted like a prat, and in return received a nighttime visit from the "girl of his dreams." Not that this was going to be anything like he wanted. She wasn't everything and everyone else. She owed him nothing, and if she chose to walk out of here without another word, she could.

She inhaled deeply and submerged her head. Entirely underwater, she felt her heartbeat slow and her anger subside. Floating below, watching her long red hair wave back and forth, her mind was calm.

Once she had hoisted herself out of the bath and dried herself with the towel, she examined her damp reflection in the mirror. Her fair skin showed no intruding redness, on either face or arm. Sighing in uneasy relief, she put on her undergarments and glanced at her clothes. They were streaked with dirt, and she wanted nothing to do with the shirt in case it was still wet with toxin. Her decision to lock James out of the bathroom before he had given her anything to wear now came back as clear stupidity. Best case scenario, the pervert would have some clothes for her, but not until he saw her naked. Worst case, he wouldn't give her any clothes at all.

She opened the door a sliver and peeked through. There was no sign of him, but neatly folded on the floor were a t-shirt and shorts. The door to the hall was closed, encouraging her to inch out of the bathroom. When there was no going back, she rushed out and scrambled into his clothes. She half expected him to pop out from under his Invisibility Cloak when she was done, but the silence in the room remained broken only by the low fire crackling in the fireplace. Allowing herself to relax a little, she surveyed the room and noticed for the first time how beautiful it was. The walls were painted a deep, soft red, and their trimmings were gold. The large bed with glossy rosewood posts looked as if the white blankets would let her sink in and sleep until the afternoon blazed in through the huge windows. She settled for the white couch by the fireplace, sitting down after examining her reflection in the low coffee table of the same glossy rosewood as the bed frame. The bookcase in the room seemed less abandoned than she would have imagined, and the desk was cluttered with picture frames, papers, and other objects.

"Lily?" she heard faintly, followed by a muffled knock on the door. "Hey, Evans?"

Lily reluctantly raised herself off the couch and let James in. He strode over to where she had been sitting and set a tray on the coffee table.

"I wanted to give you enough time, so I went downstairs and made you some…tea," he finished with an odd sort of laugh, as if making someone tea was the most unusual thing. He glanced down at the two little china cups on their matching flowered tray and laughed again. When he raised his head, he saw a flash of red hair and felt something collide gently with his chest.

Lily Evans was hugging him.

Something was definitely not right with this girl.

Author's Note: Review please! I would like some feedback on things that are good or things that need fixing. Thanks!

Author's Note 2: This is a replaced chapter. Some words are different, but nothing of much importance.