Chapter 4

"I don't rattle that," James only grumbled as he stepped through the portal door into the corridor. That really bothered him. Who brought Remus to eat? Did anyone know they were a werewolf? Maybe even Severus?No, James answered the question himself and trotted on down the stairs. Then Remus would no longer be at this school, since Severus wouldn't find anything better if this group were finally separated.
"Don't be mad about it," Sirius patted him on the shoulder. "Maybe he has found a friend and just wants to keep it a secret from us," he grinned broadly.
"Don't talk, that doesn't suit him at all - he's much too shy and you know ... he thinks he can never be loved"
But then the other two just shook their heads. Maybe Sirius was really right. Perhaps there was a girl in the young man's life after all. It would definitely be nice, because Remus is often really alone.He has problems looking for friends, never goes out of himself and hides behind the books.
But he was torn from his thoughts when a redhead crossed his path. Young Lily was standing down there, holding the books in front of her chest again. She still looked a little tired, but she shone like sunshine in the dark walls.
"James?"
Sirius waved his hand in front of his friend's face, but it didn't seem to work. This floated again in his very own world, padded the stairs further down to her as if he wanted to take her in his arms right away.
Everything in his head revolved around the woman down there, standing there with her friends and whispering. Every now and then a quiet giggle could be heard as if they were talking about the latest gossip from the Daily Prophet. However, just as he seemed to reach the bottom, he got stuck. He was sunk in the trick stage and never came out."Look, Lily," he heard one of the girls' voices and immediately all eyes turned to James. This half hung in the stairs and tried desperately to get out. But the more he wriggled, the deeper he sank and the louder the laughter got around him.
"Now stop it," Lily shook her head. Then she approached him. "The second time, right, James?" She whispered softly and offered her hand to him.
The blush of shame drove it into his face. Still, he didn't cut off her hand. The other two gentlemen also preferred to stay in the background. There seemed to be just the two at the moment. You and him. It was a strange feeling, but James certainly wasn't uncomfortable. He cupped her gentle hand in his and with a little pulling and tugging they finally got him out of the step.
"Thanks," he muttered, embarrassed, just because James knew how big his best friend's grin was right now.Even if Sirius could still hide it. It was even more embarrassing for the young man that he did not even notice that he was still hiding the young woman's hand in his own. She had such soft skin, perfectly clean. Was it natural or did she help with some creams?
"You ... can let go of me too," Lily whispered something else and then simply withdrew her hand. She had put the books on the step, but when she bent down to them, it was James who had the same thought crossed his mind. They were just able to prevent a collision by Sirius pulling the lovable man backwards. "Be careful," he hissed and pointed to Lily, who then picked up her books. Still she stopped and looked at him.
Her green eyes were on him, piercing him with a questioning look. At first he couldn't imagine what she wanted from him. So far they have hardly talked to each other and what question could he now answer for her?That was the question that tormented him.
With a deep sigh, Lily then turned away and left the stairs with her group of friends, so that James stopped and looked like a doused poodle. Only that his hair continued to stand out on all sides. He drove through them and first sank down on the step and looked after her questioningly.
"What was that?" He asked simply in the group and above all probably himself.
"She probably thought you had her parchment with you," came the bored mouth of the second black-haired man, who then walked past James and patted him on the shoulder again. "You gambled away, dude," he reminded him with a big grin as he led the way.
But that wasn't exactly what James wanted to hear right now. For the sole reason that he probably knew best himself. But grieving was of no use, he had to stay on the ball now. They talked to each other, even if it was mostly just because he dropped down somewhere and looked rather stupidly out of the laundry.Hopefully it wouldn't just be the Samaritan effect that brought the two together. Young Potter didn't want to risk that. If she ever found each other, it should be out of true love and not because she wanted to take care of him out of fear that he would eventually break both arms and legs if there was no one to look after it.
James didn't say a word for the entire breakfast, nor did he eat very much. His gaze rested only on the young woman who, surrounded by all the other girls, was often lost in the crowd. She just let her red hair stand out. Even if the young man was certain that she was the prettiest of all at this school. Nobody came close to her beauty. For him there would be only her and no other, he was sure of that.
"Now don't take them off with a look," Sirius nudged him, who by now had noticed how the person sitting next to him kept staring over at Lily.He'd also noticed that someone else was doing the same thing two tables away, but he didn't care at the moment. It was more about the fact that James shouldn't ride himself further in. And he was standing chest high in the mud, as it looked at the moment.
"Do you have training this afternoon?" Black tried to keep getting his attention.
A quick "yes" was the only answer he got. Soon everything was lost.
Either James had really looked over his ears at Lily or someone had given him a rather strong love potion, even though it was even banned at this school by rules. And there weren't that many wizards Sirius could trust to do such a thing. There were few lights in the Potions subject. Lily herself would not have done such a thing and Severus would rather use the potion on Lily to make her fall in love with him.
"That's a hell of a game," Sirius growled, then gave up.He preferred to rush to his breakfast because it looked a lot more tempting right now than the fact that James was lovesick.

Slowly it was approaching the end of breakfast. James was still staring at the young woman. He just couldn't and didn't want to break away from her face, she fascinated him. Just when she brushed this one strand from her face, but it fell straight back onto her forehead, let him plunge into completely different worlds of thought. He was blown away. But whatever he did, however well or conspicuously he behaved, she just didn't see him. Didn't she want to see him? Why did she always have her eyes elsewhere? He was the center. At least he wanted to become that central pole of her life.
It wasn't that James was ignored. A fifth grade girl was indispensably stuck on the hook, and would even follow him into the locker room if it were possible. So many girls looked up at him, wanted the woman to be by his side and maybe enjoy influence, but it was just unbearable.The majority of the female students liked his aloofness, the rebel he displayed, but it was precisely these qualities that made the woman he wanted to impress with, to turn away from him. The world couldn't be more unjust.
All of a sudden, however, he was torn from his thoughts when the house ghost of Gryffindor, Sir Nicolas de Mimsy-Porpington, or amicablyThe almost headless Nick, rose from the mountain of Essen on the table and cast a dissolute look around the group .
"Dude, we're just having dinner, in case you haven't noticed," Sirius managed, mouth half full, only then swallowed the big bite.
"Excuse me, Mister Black. You don't talk to me like that!" The ghost's mouth gushed excitedly.
"Sir Nicolas, please calm down. We don't want to spoil breakfast because of such things, or do you disagree?" James tried to calm the spirit.He didn't want to hear something like that early in the morning. Especially since neither of the two would have given in until night fell.Sirius is always looking for an argument, James sighed deeply.
After a few minutes the mind finally caught itself and slowly calmed down. He was finally able to deliver the news because of which he had interrupted the morning meal of the students at this table.
"I should tell you students that the lessons in the care of magical creatures will unfortunately be canceled this morning. Your teacher Miss Bromer has just been called to the Ministry," the ghost announced loudly over the entire table of the house.
You could hear cheers from all the affected students in this class. It would certainly have been more pleasant and easier if they had found out about it the evening before, but being able to laze about half a morning wasn't a bad sign either. They wouldn't have class until the third hour.And when has it ever happened that a teacher suddenly fails? Often they had experienced that sooner or later they had a substitute, but failure? It was one of the few things in the school of spells that they rarely experienced.
But before anyone else had the idea to say or do something, Lily put her things in her pocket. She also made a few loaves disappear and got up from her seat.
"I'll see you later," she said to her friends and she was already gone from the Great Hall. Glances followed her, but nobody dared to take a step after her. At the moment there was no one to go to. Even Severus looked a little puzzled from under his coat. She certainly wouldn't want to sit in the library alone. Or was it misjudged? Did she really want to enjoy the quiet hours a little?
"Where does she want to go?"
"Do I know?"Sirius said, exasperated. He was fed up with