Special honor

In the following days, James had Potions class and was in a group with Snape and Emily. He felt so sorry every time he saw his first friend.

He couldn't believe that she had to live through so much physical and verbal abuse by her stepmother and her blood father completely ignoring her as if she didn't exist.

Also, from what Gwen told him, the physical abuse was severe. To the point that they left wounds on her arms, legs, back, etc. Especially since they were places not visible when wearing the Hogwarts uniform.

He was very relieved and happy when he noticed that Gwen loved Emily, even seemed to adore her wanting to protect her no matter what. Now they had to find ways to save Emily from having to go to that house that had a madwoman inside. So, they would gather on the balcony of the fourth-floor tower to brainstorm ideas.

Last year, when they met in room 11, Gwen was angry at Emily just because she didn't want to be seen with her, and her mother would somehow find out and get back at Emily for being with her firstborn. So, she kept her distance while looking for a way to protect her.

"Why are you looking at me so much?" asked Emily, looking up from a Potions book.

Currently, there was the Potions class group gathered together. Writing a long scroll with lots of details. Snape had gone off to find a particular book.

"I was just thinking we're friends, right?" asked James.

Emily raised an eyebrow at this odd question, but her face didn't change expression much.

"I guess," replied Emily in a monotone.

"So, any problems you have, you can ask me for help. I have some skills," said James, acting modestly.

"People who annoy me, you'll drag them across the floor with a Flipendo? Like you did with that Lestrange boy?" asked Emily, looking with her black eyes at James.

Before he could answer, she continued speaking, "No thanks. I can take care of myself."

"Don't overthink it. It would only be the help of a friend," said James, making a lazy gesture with his hand. Just then, Snape arrived and leaned a heavy book on the table managing to catch both of their attention.

"What took you so long?" complained James, and Snape clicked his tongue as usual.

"In this book is a thorough and detailed explanation of the girding potion. Our potion will be the best in the class. And that's thanks to me," said Snape.

"You're the best, Snape," said James with clear sarcasm.

"I know. You don't need to tell me," said Snape.

That same day James and Lupin as usual in the evening headed to the Room of Requirement to continue practicing and studying. As for the practical stuff, James used his Protego while Lupin threw offensive charms at him trying to break his shield.

It took them longer than usual to finish the training session. At half past twelve, they left the room and returned to the Gryffindor common room which was already empty. Except for one person.

"Is that Lily?" asked Lupin, who was under the invisibility cloak next to James.

Lily Evans was at one of the tables with her face lying on her numerous notes. Her eyes were closed, and she had fallen asleep.

"Yes, that's her. You go first. Keep the cloak in my trunk," James said, stepping out of the cloak and heading towards Lily.

Lupin nodded and gave a slight smile that James didn't notice. Like everyone else, Lupin had noticed that James and Lily studied every day in the library together for several hours.

He was too sleepy to make a teasing comment, so he went to the dormitory quickly.

When he got to Lily's side, he could see that her long red hair was covering her face a bit, and a bit of drool was coming out of her mouth. He looked at all the books and notes on the table and sighed.

In this time spent with Lily, he noticed that she was very competitive. The redhead, albeit subtly, would ask him about his study routines, his progress, and more. He had already noticed that when he came back Lily was studying in the common room.

Similar to his routine. Only James told Lily that he was studying in his dorm instead of the common room. He didn't tell her about the room of requirement.

Besides, Lily was looking for perfect grades. So, she also wanted homework in all subjects to be as perfect as possible. James doesn't do this and concentrates entirely on the subjects he studies on his own, like transfiguration, DADA, and Occlumency.

Astronomy, History of Magic, and Herbology tasks are as simple and fast as possible. He does not spend a lot of time doing them as Lily does, as he prioritizes. It is more important to learn conjuration and advanced offensive and defensive spells than the history of magic and how the stars move.

In the subjects of Charms, Potions, Transfiguration, and DADA he keeps top marks as he is so advanced and the tasks he can do perfectly.

"Hey, Lily," James said trying to wake Lily up, but she was still sleeping.

"Hey," he added as he gently moved Lily's shoulder.

"Lily," This time, he moved the redhead's shoulder a little more forcefully.

"Hmm..." Lily opened her eyes slowly and sat up with a start as she realized she had fallen asleep.

"What time is it? Do we have to go to breakfast?" she asked, looking around. It would be too bad to miss a class. She couldn't be punished. She never was, not this year, not last year.

"It's still night. There are a few hours left to go to breakfast," said James, holding back a laugh. Lily was strange. She was very studious and didn't want to break any kind of rule, although some she didn't mind breaking, like the revenge towards Professor Eustace.

"Oh, that's a relief... James. What are you doing here?" asked Lily. Just then, she noticed she had a bit of drool on her, and with flushed cheeks, she quickly wiped it off.

"I wanted to clear my mind a bit from all that studying..." lied James. He couldn't tell her that he was studying outside the common room as it was forbidden. And in this case, Lily would be angry as it could cause the house to lose points.

"Yes... sometimes studying so much is a bit tiring," nodded Lily, agreeing with James.

Lily to someone else would not believe such a comment, as she observes the study habits of all her classmates, and most spend too little time for her liking. Only James studies as much as she does or more. And for that, she considers him a worthy rival.

"You should rest. Rest is essential. The mind can't go twenty-four hours studying and reading nonstop," said James with real concern.

"If you do it, Why shouldn't I? Six hours of sleep is enough for me," said Lily.

James couldn't tell Lily that he wasn't normal. In his previous life, he was used to studying for so long and having so little time to rest or spend with friends. He even noticed that Lupin had a hard time following him every day to go and continue studying and practicing for another three or four hours more in the Room of Requirement.

And that Lupin didn't study in the afternoon after school for another four hours in the library like James, who studied with Lily.

He thinks that for a 12-year-old boy or girl, it would be very excessive to spend all day studying and only have one or two hours maximum of rest per day.

"If you say so..." said James, knowing that anything he said was useless with someone as stubborn as Lily.

"Thanks for waking me up now. I can finish my astronomy homework," said Lily as she picked up her quill.

"Was there astronomy homework?" asked James with an ugly expression.

"Yes. Don't tell me you didn't do it. The professor already gave you a warning last class. It'll be bad if you don't turn in the homework again," said Lily, looking at James.

"I know," said James with a grimace, thinking how he would do the long paper the professor had left.

The assignment wasn't difficult. The problem was that a lot of information had to be transcribed onto the parchments which would make it take an hour or two. And every hour is valuable.

"If you help me complete the last part I'm missing, I can lend you my work to copy," Lily said, surprising James. It was a very strange occurrence for Lily to allow him to copy her homework to someone.

"Really?" asked James.

"Yes. But you'd better pay more attention to your homework. You study a lot, but all of the more advanced subjects, and you forget the professors' homework," said Lily.

"As you say, professor. Thanks for the honor of copying from your homework," joked James.

"An honor that few have been given. You should be proud," said Lily with a smile acting noble and following James' joke.

Like James, Lily considered him her friend, and she didn't have many friends. Jasmine, Khanna, and Severus were his best friends. The others like Mary, Lupin, or another Gryffindor student from her year didn't have much of a relationship.

Lily's opinion of James had changed, unlike the first time she saw him. She thought he was an arrogant bully, but he wasn't. He had even befriended Severus, though only she thought this.

She had seen the two of them working together in potions classes, and they were very good. Even in the exhibition, they did they were the best and they hit it off very well or so she thought in her head.

"Go get your stuff. You have a lot of copying to do," Lily added, and James went to his dorm.

Thirty minutes it took them thirty minutes to complete the final part Lily was missing. Then James started copying her work, and it took thirty minutes longer. This was because Lily stayed with him and dictated to him, so he saved time since he didn't have to read first and then copy.