AN: I started this story about a year ago, but it got abandoned due mainly to the fact that I was starting school. However, I was going through my old stories the other day, and there it was, a gem in the dirt. So, I'm having another go at it. Hope you enjoy!

Disclaimer: You all know I'm not the fabulous Ms. Rowling, lets be real here. Honestly, my writing's not that great.


Lily Evans wouldn't have known that this day would be much different than any other by the start of it. When she woke up, nothing felt different - as people liked to say they sensed things when a day was going to go awesomely awkward. She got dressed and huffed a bit when she failed to locate a hairtie. Leaving her hair to fly about her shoulders, she grabbed the bag in which her class supplies rested and took off down the stairs of the Gryffindor girls' dormitories.

Potter and his gang were not to be avoided in the common room, but that was hardly a tell-tale sign of disaster - sometimes they were too hungry in the morning, and left before she came down for the promise of food in the Great Hall. A few girls giggled when she walked into the round room, but her fellow Gryffindor's often laughed at her for many reasons, especially the girls. They liked to question her sanity. Something about her refusal of Potter's advances made them think she was a nutter, apparently. She shook her head at them as she exited through the portrait hole.

The trip to the Great Hall was quiet, as it was every morning that Hestia woke and left before she did. She frowned as she reached the open doors of the Great Hall. There were the self-named Marauders, sitting next to Hestia. The girl was chatting up one Sirius Black, who Lily happened to know Hestia fancied. The girl didn't know Lily knew, and Lily could honestly say she wished she didn't. Oh, the things one heard when waking up at one in the morning for a quick run to the loo. Lily shuddered a bit before going to sit down.

It was no surprise that nearly every eye landed on her as she sat next to Potter, nor was it a surprise that whispers broke out amongst her fellow students. It was quite an oddity for her to willingly be anywhere near him. However, he sat by Hestia, and Lily always sat with her best mate. Besides, she knew what most of the students were whispering about, but she had stopped blaming him for Severus' betrayal. He couldn't be held responsible for the Slytherin boy's actions, just as Lily herself couldn't. That road led to madness.

She helped herself to breakfast, muttering a 'thank you' as Potter poured her a glass of orange juice, her breakfast beverage of choice. He nodded, setting the jug of juice down near her goblet and digging back into his own hearty breakfast. She listened idly to Hestia and Sirius' playful banter - they were debating over whether or not England would win in this year's Quidditch World Cup - as she awoke slowly, eating her munch drowsily. Potter stayed unusually quiet as Remus and Peter spoke of the test in Charms tomorrow - apparently Peter was having a spot of trouble with the illusion charms. Lily had mastered them a week prior by dressing in her muggle clothes every day of the week and using the charm to make it look as though she were wearing her uniform. It didn't help Peter that he was all over the gaff, notes from all classes lying randomly in his bag. She could see a tic forming in Remus' temple.

Lily's attention was drawn back to Hestia and Sirius as their argument was becoming quite heated. She noted - as the other three boys' attention was drawn as well - that the fight had somehow(details were beyond her at this point) morphed into who would beat the other - the Falmouth Falcons or the Chudley Cannons. Sirius was rooting for the former, while Hestia adamantly defended the latter's new style. James sighed before speaking up.

"Please, you both know that they'll never get far enough to face each other." He stated in a condescending tone, resulting in heated glares tossed toward him from the two. Lily sighed, the knowledge of the fact that Hestia would be complaining about it to her every spare second of the day making her wish she had stuck in bed this particular day.

"What do you think, Evans?" The question shocked her; the fact that it had come from Sirius shocked her more. He rarely addressed her, and she point blank gawked at him for the fact that he had asked her a question about Quidditch.

"Uhmm... I don't know. What do you think James?" She forwent calling him 'Potter' as she tried to shift the spotlight off of herself. The boy only stared back at her, and she realized that using his Christian name had been rather counterproductive. In fact, now even more people were staring at her and she shifted nervously. "Well?" She insisted, occupying her blushing face with the meal in front of her. The boy shook his head slightly, unruly hair flopping around.

"Ahm. I'm rooting for the Appleby Arrows." He stated nervously. "They were sponsored for new Silver Arrows during the off season, and they've always been good at strategizing... I think they could really make it far this year." He gained a bit of enthusiasm as he spoke about the team, and Lily was happy as the attention averted to him. That is, of course, until Sirius butted in once more.

"Yeah, but they're so far behind. I mean, you've had the new Silver Arrow longer than they have. Where are they going to get with that kind of ruddy sponsoring? What do you think, Evans?" He questioned her again. She sighed. It was obvious she wouldn't be getting away from his persistent questioning. She wondered for a moment whether he was doing this to purposefully embarass her. He knew that, as a muggle-born, she hadn't been raised in a Quidditch-friendly environment, and therefore knew next-to-nothing about the different teams. She was glad that the question was local and not global, because she didn't know anything about the national teams.

"Maybe... Er, Puddlemere United?" She answered with the only other team she knew, though the question in her voice was barely masked. Sirius outright snorted, clearly displaying his disdain for her choice. The blush returned to her cheeks tenfold, she could feel them burning as a few snickers were heard up the table. As Hestia shook her head, Lily tilted her head down, letting her hair form a curtain to hide her flaming face. Potter shifted next to her.

"It is possible. They've got Moontrimmers, and they've had them longer, so they'll definitely be in better control. They got pretty well done over last season by the Falcon's, but they're always brutal - it's in their slogan. And besides that, Puddlemere's got a new captain this year, I hear. Haven't let out who it is, but he could lead them to victory." James supported her, tucking some hair behind her ear. She sent him a gaze that she hoped screamed 'thank you', deciding to overlook the hair gesture this time. He nodded slightly before returning to his nearly-finished breakfast. Sirius snorted again, clearly stating that he thought hers was a poor choice. "You asked." She mumbled, going back to her own food.

It was as she sat in a seat near the back of the Defence Against the Dark Arts classroom that she realized something was off. People were actually turning in their seats to look at her - before quickly turning back around when they realized she saw them. Aside from that, Potter held her usual seat out for her like a gentleman, before sitting himself next to her. Remus went around to sit on her other side, and she was quite grateful for it when she saw the disappointed look on Sirius' face as he sat next to Potter. She was sure he'd been planning some form of further humiliation for her, and she thanked Remus for his help quietly as class started.

This year's professor, Arianna Dugley, was a stout woman. She'd worked at the Ministry before applying for this job. They said she planned to take a year off before returning to the Ministry, who'd offered to take her back. In the short time she'd been here, she'd discovered that practical demonstrations were not to be had at Hogwarts.

Despite the fact that her brother was an Auror with James' father - she'd gushed the first few days of class - and there were many clippings passed around Hogwarts about her stunning work with magical creatures, she'd been attacked by every single beast and fiend she'd shown them. Of course, that was before she'd learned to stick to a more theoretical teaching approach. Some people whispered that the position was cursed, as they'd never had the same DADA professor for more than a year. Had this been a normal school, Lily would've scoffed at the rumor. She wondered sometimes, though, if it weren't true. The teachers taught perfectly well, but accidents and incidents inevitably lead to their retirement. In her first year at the school, Professor Paddyshire had actually been forced to retire due to the rather gruesome loss of his right leg. It had occured in a seventh-year class halfway through the second semester. Headmaster Dumbledore had filled in until the end of the year.

Back to the present issue, though. Potter was being far too kind today. She'd been with him since breakfast in the Great Hall,(while it really hadn't been all that long) and he had yet to ask her out. This was a particularly worrying issue, and she wondered, frightful, if he'd gotten bad news from home or the like. His father's profession was a very dangerous one, after all. At the front of the class, Professor Dugley was beginning a lecture on safety measures when near dementors. Lily had already read the chapter, and decided to ask the question nagging at her. She scribbled it down on the piece of loose parchment she'd intended for her notes and pushed the paper into James' space. He took it, a look of surprise on his face as he slid it closer to himself before scratching down a reply and scooting it back to her.

How's everything with your family?

Quite alright. Any particular reason you ask, Evans? It's not like you to not pay attention in class.

He slid the note quietly back to her. Relief spread through her at the knowledge that everything was okay with his family - really, she shouldn't let herself get so worked up, she was going to have a nervy fit one of these days. However, that still left the question of why he was being such a gentleman and why everyone kept looking at her. She didn't know how to broach those subjects, though. She sighed, scratching down a flippant response about him not acting like himself that he clearly accepted, for he shrugged and flipped the paper over, putting it under his own untouched stack for notes.

A half hour went by as she sat, for the most part bored with Professor Dugley's rather lackluster lecture before Lily looked up at Sirius, who was suddenly taking notes at a furious pace, a sure sign that something was bothering him. The boy could put on as valiant of a front as he wanted, but Lily knew that something was up, and she was going to find out.

She sighed. Not only had her hunch about Potter's family been - thankfully - wrong, she had actually gotten further from an answer to why girls and boys were still snickering at her expense. Well, they must not have been whispering about the Severus incident at breakfast. They wouldn't have dragged something like that out, especially since it had happened last year. She pulled out a fresh sheet of parchment, pushing herself to take notes in spite of the fact that she had rather extensive ones on the desk in her dorm.

Not five minutes later, Professor Dugley finished her lecture and gave them their homework, leaving the remainder of class for the students to squander as they wished. The promise of extra work kept the noise to a dull roar, but Lily was nevertheless distracted by the outrageous number of giggles coming from the group of Ravenclaws in the row in front of them. Although James and Sirius weren't working on anything - they were leaning back in their chairs, debating about Quidditch again - she figured it would be safest for her to question someone she knew a little better.

"Hey. Do you know why in Merlin's name everyone's giggling at me?" Remus looked up from his work at her whispered question. His eyes rested on the Ravenclaws - who giggled once more - before they jumped almost guiltily to James and Sirius, before finally resting on his work once more. It was as much of a clue as she'd get from him. Her eyebrows raised a slight bit.

"Alright then. If you can't tell me that, then why is Potter being such a gentleman today?" She questioned, recieving the same nonverbal answer, though his eyes stayed longer on the Ravenclaws. So they were connected. She sighed before returning to her own work. She got about half of the questions done before she was distracted again.

"Hey Evans." She looked up at Sirius. A crease formed in her brow as she noted that he was still speaking avidly with James about Quidditch teams and brooms. Casting her eyes about the room, the emeralds landed on the only person looking at her - a Slytherin named Connie Barker. She was a year below Lily, and a righteous little fifth year at that. With her pitch black hair and ice blue eyes, she held herself up to the highest standards for Slytherins - ie. she'd never so much as glanced Lily's way, as far as the redheaded witch knew.

"I was just trying to answer number three; I thought you might be of some help." The girl stated snidely, as though she was privvy to some private joke. Which, judging by the rest of the class' reaction, must not have been all that private. Generally, when Slytherins and Gryffindors started verbal wars, the other houses stayed out of it. There was no such pretense at these words; the group of Ravenclaws in front of her dissolved into laughter, along with most of the other students. Lily threw an alarmed glance at Remus after glancing at question three. It said something about being stuck to the ground, which of course made no sense at all to her.

Remus was tossing panicked glances over her shoulder at his mates. She turned her gaze on them. Sirius was outright smiling - obviously laughing at her - while James was looking at her, easily ten times more panicked than Remus. This didn't promise good for the Marauders. Had he asked her out in some humiliating way that she hadn't seen yet? She quirked an eyebrow at him and was flabbergasted to see him shrink back a titch from her.

"Do you know how to get back up, or are you perpetually stuck there?" Another Slytherin girl continued the line of jokes Lily couldn't understand. If it was an embarassing date proposal, what did Lily being on the ground have to do with it? She was becoming bloody frustrated, wishing with a fiery vengeance that she understood the joke. She noted the fact that a small scowl was forming on Potter's lips as the jokes continued, all while Sirius actually let out a snort of laughter. Lily figured she was about to go ballistic when another Slytherin girl opened her mouth to - Lily was sure - insult her, but she was saved by the bell, which thankfully chose that opportune moment to ring loudly.

She stalked, annoyed, after James and his gang to their next class - Care of Magical Creatures. They were headed outside today, to the Quidditch pitch, where they held class when there was a particularly hazardous creature involved. Lily sighed, realizing that this class was likely to turn out just as their last class had. Nobody even bothered to fake an 'ooh' or an 'ahhh' when they found out the creature of the day was a dragon - albeit, a small one. Although there were only two Slytherins in this class - both boys - she could see their brains working hard to come up with a good dig like the ones in last hour - or at least, she assumed they were good. It was hard to tell, when you didn't know what had started it all.

She noticed out of her peripheral vision that James was trying to slink away from her, slowly but surely. Luckily, the perfect opportunity to keep him near came as Professor Kettleburn asked for volunteers to demonstrate how you should always take on a dragon - if you had to, that is - with a partner. After all, he certainly couldn't show them with his few remaining limbs. She grasped James' hand in her own and raised them high, much to his surprise. He was still staring at her hand as she declared loudly that they'd do it. Not that she'd needed to - everyone else had nervously moved back a step at his request.

Kettleburn smiled brightly, and she dropped Potter's hand, walking forward to relocate to the spot the professor had indicated. James, apparently still a bit shocked, took a bit getting to his own designated place. They closed in on the young dragon together, James at the head and she at the tail. She assumed the creature must've been paying close attention to James, for it didn't notice her creeping up from behind to hit it with a quick, yet strong, 'Stupefy'. The beast fell, unconscious, to it's side, and the professor clapped loudly for them, commenting briefly on how well they worked together. This sent the students - who had been clapping, as well - into a buzzing state of whispering, which Lily tried and failed to hear. They sent eyes at her as she followed James to where he stood with his fellow Marauders.

"I swear on Godric Gryffindor's legacy, Remus. If you don't tell me..." Her whisper was cut off by the boy in question, who shook his head shortly. He grasped her upper arm and pulled her a bit away from James and Sirius, who were watching the dragon and laughing, respectively. She drew her attention back to the sandy blond holding her. He shook his head again.

"It's not something I can tell you, even if Sirius hadn't made me promise I wouldn't. You'd have to be shown. And the only way for you to possibly see it is probably to corner James. He could sneak... it from Sirius, but you'll never see it any other way." Remus told her vaguely. So it was Black that was causing this mayhem, not Potter. While that was a tiny relief at first, she was soon much more worried than she had been before. There were a number of ways Black could embarrass her, most of which were worse than the usual humiliation by date proposition. The boy in question was looking at them now with narrowed eyes, obviously suspecting that Remus was telling her something he wasn't supposed to. She rolled her eyes and huffed, stepping back up to James' side.

The hour went by at a maddeningly slow pace as the sun rose higher into the blue sky. Lily sighed as another pair of students tried a jinx on the dragon, proving it to be inneffective at capturing the beast. She would've felt bad for the baby any other day, but her own troubles distracted her from the fact that it was rather cruel to be trying binding curse after stunning curse after blasting and gouging curses on an essentially defenseless baby. The Slytherin boys made confusing, idle comments, none of which granted a reaction such as those from Defence Against the Dark Arts.

Lily sighed as the bell rang from the castle in the distance, happy to get out of the sun, which was beginning to heat the landscape and make the air more stifling than fresh and awakening. She trekked, Remus at her side, up to the second floor Charms classroom for her third period. She seated herself in the very front right corner of the room so as not to face any other student. After two hours, she was sure that she'd been the last in the school to hear about whatever it was that had made her a laughing stock today, and she didn't want to deal with looking at the people laughing at her. Remus sat himself next to her, Sirius, James and Peter ducking into the seats directly behind them. Although she knew it was likely because Sirius wanted to toss little wads of paper at her head all hour(which he promptly started doing as class began), she was silently grateful. It would mean that she didn't have to listen to as much of the mad giggling.

Today's assignments started with demonstrating the charms they'd come up with for homework the other night. As per usual, Professor Flitwick noted aloud that Lily and the Marauders - though he mentioned them by their proper names - had gone a cut above the rest, suggesting that the class look to those five for guidance in the creation area of the class. Lily's complex scale-model of Hogwarts was returned back to it's original form - a pointed wizard's hat - and the lesson continued on. Flitwick lectured for a couple minutes before setting the class free to attempting the various charms in the chapter they were working on. He wanted the students in groups of five, and so Lily reluctantly turned around as Remus did. Hestia moved from her seat on the other side of Remus, crossing the classroom to complete another group of Gryffindors.

Charms flew as the students settled into their groups, hitting random objects about the room and causing students to duck away from bolts of colored light. A stray aguamenti flew out an open window behind Flitwick, who looked relieved to have not been doused in the magically-summoned water. Having already perfected the charms, she and Remus played a bit with the fire and water charms - one of them would cast a small incendium, which the other would quickly put out with an aguamenti.

Lily watched James as she played with Remus. He was nervous - glancing about, barely paying attention to the spells he was casting, causing his friends to dive out of the way of more than one errant earth-moving charm. She counted them truly lucky for the fact that he didn't feel the need to practice his fire charms. In any case, his nervous fidgetting indicated that he did, in fact, know about whatever it was that people were laughing about, and was probably worried that she thought it was his fault. He'd never been known to look nervous, and this made Lily herself even more nervous. If he was nervous, then whatever it was must be worse than anything she'd ever encountered.

So the question came down to - how was she going to corner James? The elusive James Potter, the one who knew all the school's secret passageways and hiding places. The one who seemed to always know where she was. How would she get him to herself if he didn't want her to? She frowned as an idea occured to her. She'd just have to make him want to be near her. Of course! Why hadn't she thought of it first? This was James Potter. While he may know Hogwarts' every nook and cranny like the back of his hand, he also fancied her. It shouldn't really be all that hard to get him alone, should it? How hard could flirting back be?

Her frown of concentration became one of frustration. But, of course, he hadn't been flirting with her today. In fact, he seemed to be trying to avoid her in his nervous state. She sighed a bit, waving off Remus' questioning look. After a group of Hufflepuffs nearly set their table on fire, they were laughing so hard, she set a new goal for herself. After all, flirting couldn't be that difficult, could it?

A list of ways she could flirt with James Potter in her head, she set off to lunch after the bell, barely keeping up with the fast-paced boys. She wondered briefly how they could move so fast, but it was a rather wide-spread fact that the best way to get to a man was through food. The gang of boys situated themselves almost halfway down the Gryffindor table. She'd never noticed before, but they sat in the same spot every day. She sighed, thanking Godric Gryffindor that one of James' sides was empty, and headed up the table to where they sat, filling their plates with the house elf-prepared foods.

All four boys stared at her, surprised, as she seated herself next to the black haired boy. She was sure that other people were staring as well - so much whispering was happening in the Great Hall that it souded like a giant hornets' nest. However, she valiantly braved it - she wasn't a Gryffindor for nothing - and started gathering her own food, acting as though nothing were amiss. She noted, surprised, that many of the foods she grabbed were also on James' plate. She settled into the munch, the boys still gawking at her. Attempting coyness was probably not her forte, but she sent what she desperately hoped was a flirtatious glance out of the corner of her eye to James. She noted a slight blush over his cheekbones; he was just full of surprises today. He followed her example from this morning, burrying his slightly pink face in his own plateful. She let the whipers die down a bit before she spoke a few minutes later.

"So how's your day been?" She question amicably - hoping she came off as not really caring, just trying to make conversation. If it seemed like she really cared, he'd probably figure out what she was up to. Remus coughed a bit, and she knew that he was onto her ploy. She smiled a tiny bit for his benefit, though it was worrying that she was so easy to see through. She'd have to step it up.

"Ah, good? The dragon thing was fairly bonkers, and I'm not really getting the incendium charm, but otherwise... Good." He looked a bit confused, but she was easily distracted from that.

"You aren't getting the fire charms? Why weren't you practicing in class, James?" She tossed his first name on the end, remembering the reaction at breakfast. His stuttering distracted her from whoever was sitting down on her other side.

"I suppose he doesn't want to look like an idiot in your favorite class, Lils." She whipped around, now noting the third entrant to the conversation. Hestia sat by her, picking out her food. She turned back to James, who was burrying his face once more in his lunch. She frowned a bit.

"That can't be true though, Hes. Everyone knows that he's brilliant when it comes to Charms. I mean, he's not performing muggle pranks, now is he?" She stated, attempting to give him a bit of confidence. It was just too abnormal for him to be lacking in that area; it threw off her perception of the world. Hestia snorted beside her, but Lily smiled a bit as Potter's head lifted, proud for praise.

"Anyhow, I think that particular spell was one of the more difficult ones, so it's not that surprising that you're having difficulty." It was a lie, of course, but she could hardly flirt while telling him it was barmy that he hadn't figured out a spell yet. She pulled out her own wand, seizing the opportunity.

"It's like this." She stated simply before twirling her wand upward and slashing it down. The move itself had taken her a few tries, so she knew it was most likely what he was having trouble with. She performed the move again as he reached for his own wand, eyeing her critically. Hesitantly, he performed it. The wand didn't move upwards much during the twirls and his chop was more forceful than elegant. She blamed it on the Quidditch.

"No, no. See, watch me again. Watch the way the wand moves." She instructed before performing the moves again. His following attempt was better, as the wand moved upwards, but he was still having difficulty with the chop. She frowned, never being known for her patience. She sighed.

"Here." She moved him to face Sirius, who was on his other side, thus situating herself behind him. From this position, she grabbed his hand lightly, holding it just tight enough to control.

"Now just let me do the moving." His arm relaxed and she slowly moved the wand in his hand, showing him the move and demonstrating what he was doing wrong. She noticed from this angle that he seemed most elegant, gripping the mahogany wand in a way that made it appear an extension of himself, just the way it should. She got a bit distracted by Ollivander's exellence before coming back to the situation at hand. She pulled her hand slowly away from his and he looked back at her over his shoulder. Turning back to the table, he proceeded to perform the move expertly. She smiled widely.

"Excellent!" She declared, and a smile sprang up on his still-dazed face.

"Yes, yes. Now that you've shown off your teaching expertise, can we all go back to eating? I'm bloody starving." Hestia spoke. Lily huffed, a bit embarrassed by the 'showing off' comment.

"Nobody asked you to stop eating for this, Hestia. Now, how are you pronouncing it, James?" She questioned, her voice going from annoyed to soft questioning in the space of an instant. He spoke and she knew that his previous difficulty had come from the conflict between his moves and voice.

"A bit harsher, like you were doing with the slash." Her eyes were trained on his lips as he prounounced the spell once more. She stared for a few more moments, wondering if flirting with someone made you like them instead of the opposite.

"Very good. Now put them together. Make sure your intent isn't to set the whole table on fire." She guided him. He performed the spell fantastically, setting fire to a piece of bread on Sirius' plate. She snorted as the boy panicked, tossing the bread - now blackened toast - across the table towards Remus, who deftly ducked out of the way. It flew past him, into a group of Hufflepuff boys. They shouted, before Andrew, who was in their Charms class, put out the fire that had started on Earl's robes. Lily sniggered. No matter that the Hufflepuffs had become unintended victims. Lily was now laughing, watching Sirius, who was trying to regain composure as James patted him heartily on the back, laughing his arse off with the rest of them.

Lunch passed without incident - aside from Peter knocking over his goblet and nearly spilling his pumpkin juice all over Lily - and many glares from the Hufflepuff boys. Hestia found herself very amused by this and had taken to tossing little bread crumbs over at them, much the Lily's chagrin. The bell ringing brought her out of her thoughts, sending the group off to Advanced Transfiguration.

Sitting in the front, she chatted up McGonagall, who eyed the boys sitting with her warily. No matter how outstanding the boys were in her class - Lily was still attempting to repress memories of James and Sirius beating her on the O.W.L. - that didn't make up for their trickster natures. At the moment, James - who seemed to be back to his normal self at her side - was transfiguring McGonagall's chair into giant, moving frog. Lily watched it, noticing that it was highly advanced work, probably well beyond anything taught here at Hogwarts. McGonagall gave a great shout as another student walked in, staring blankly at the chair before bursting into laughter. The Head of Gryffindor transfigured it back to it's original state and glared at the obvious culprit. However, Lily noticed a spark of pride in the strict woman's eyes; she was clearly glad that her house had been blessed with someone as talented in her subject as James.

Class started with a short, informative lecture, before the students - trusted more in their sixth year than ever before - were let go to work on transfiguring thimbles into toy mice. Professor McGonagall enjoyed throwing out days for practice. She felt that if you wanted someone to grow, they needed to continue performing the things they had learned early on. And so, Lily had a pile of toy mice - in bright neon colors - growing nearly as fast as James'.

Halfway through the hour, McGonagall's alarmed look got Lily to grasp James' wand arm, effectively distracting him from his next thimble. The entire four-person desk was covered in toy mice, of all shapes, sizes and colors. Potter elbowed Sirius in the side, as he was the last to continue making them - Remus had noticed the woman's face and stopped immediately, as well. Lily sighed and set herself to the task of transfiguring the mice into their true forms five at a time.

Two minutes later, the desk was cleared, thimbles returned to their giant box. Lily set her head on the desk, facing the boys. She looked up at James from her spot on the table. His eyes quickly flitted away from her face - she could only assume he'd been staring.

"Where did you learn to do that?" She tilted her head to where McGonagall sat in her chair, grading papers. Lily couldn't figure that she had anything to 'flirt' with him over aside from schoolwork - she knew virtually nothing about Quidditch, held no particular interest in pulling pranks, was the opposite gender, and was a muggle-born, so they would only get muddled up in the details of their home lives. His eyes came back to her, and he shrugged.

"Dad was saying something about how someone in his department had done it and it'd gone wild - the animal, that is. I think it was a hare, though. But it didn't seem like it could be that hard." He shrugged, and Lily stared. Not that... How could it be 'not that hard'? It was extremely advanced magic for a sixth year, and he just shrugged it off! Lily was reminded of how odd this boy could be. He was such a show off with his childish pranks, but he didn't think that magic not typically learned until much older was anything special. She shook her head slightly, rolling her eyes at him.

"What?" He questioned, having caught her movement.

"You... You're really brilliant, aren't you?" The words had left her mouth before she could stop to think about them, and she was privvy to another of James' ridiculous blushes. He stared out a window, forgoing whatever reply he could possibly come up with for that - she was sure there wasn't much. How do you reply to someone who's ignored you for the better part of six years suddenly telling you you're brilliant? Lily kept her mouth shut for the rest of the hour, pondering on what had possessed her to tell him that. Her eyes stayed trained on his face though, unconsciously committing it to memory.

The bell had her standing, groggily, to go off to the next class. She brightened considerably as she realized that fifth period had finally arrived - Advanced Potions. She lead the way to the dark room on the first floor cheerily, only realizing as she reached the door that this, the only class they shared with Severus, was also the only class in which none of the Marauders had ever sat by her. The smile she hadn't been aware of faded a shade, but Professor Slughorn smiled back nonetheless. As a member of the 'Slug Club' - so affectionally termed by the man himself, not-so-surprisingly - she was often treated nicer than the majority of the other students of Hogwarts. She doubted if there was anything she could do to get into trouble with him. He often spoke of how they - his Slug Clubbers - would go onto greatness, and she had already figured that the only reason the club existed was because he wanted to be affiliated to that greatness.

She thanked Merlin when she sat down for Remus, who came up and sat down at her side without preamble. Sadly, Black beat Potter to the seat on her other side. The nervous look back on his face, Potter sat beside Sirius, obviously hoping that he could interfere if Sirius were to try to... start anything. Peter sat next to Remus and the rest of the students took their seats as class began. They were brewing Amortentia today, which Lily sighed at. Of course, the one day she sat with the Marauders they'd be brewing a love potion.

However, the boys stayed oddly quiet considering all of the love jokes she knew Sirius could come up with. When a joke was finally made, it wasn't even from the four surrounding her, in fact. Professor Slughorn was in the storeroom on the other side of the class when she was finally addressed.

"Needing a little extra help from the Marauders today, are we Evans? Gotten a bit closer with them recently?" She turned her head at the sound of Mullciber's gravelly voice as he questioned her. Though she was clueless what he meant, she shrugged the insult off as she always would've as the other Slytherins in the class hooted in laughter at his apparent joke. She narrowed her eyes at him, pulling the aloof demeanor she always used in this class out of thin air.

"In case you hadn't noticed, Mullciber, the boys are still working in their pairs, and I am still working alone. Meanwhile, you are still allowing Avery to do all the work for you, so your lack of any particular talent, let alone in Potions, has me wondering why you think you have the upper hand here." She stated snootily. She was rather impressed with herself - she'd really sounded like Petunia that time. By now, James and Sirius were turned towards Mullciber as well, who was glaring at her as silence had befallen the Slytherins.

"Oh please. Your friend Sirius waving that picture around gives us all the 'upper hand' we need. I mean, if you're going to lower yourself that way..." A girl who Lily only knew by her surname, Dragomir, spoke from behind Mullciber, and the Slytherins erupted into laughter once more. There it was again, more reference to Lily being on the ground... Her mind turned the idea over and over as she turned back to her potion, which was beginning to bubble and steam. What could that possibly mean? She looked to Remus, who suddenly turned back to his and Peter's potion, acting as though he hadn't seen her. She scowled, sending a look out of the corner of her eye to Potter and Black. They were engaged in a deep, whispered conversation that she couldn't overhear, not paying any attention to their potion, which was beginning to turn a sickly color of yellow.

"You'll want to pay attention to your potion Black, it's never going to get a passing grade at the rate you're going." She said, her tone still a bit sharp from the conversation with the Slytherins. She hadn't missed what Dragomir had said - Sirius had been the one showing everyone the picture, and until she learned what exactly the picture had in it that had everyone so amused, she was not going to rest. Which meant, of course, that she was going to have to turn up the charm on James, regardless of how disastrous it had gone in Transfiguration.


AN: I didn't know I was gonna enjoy this story so much, but here I am, barreling through to get to another chapter. :) As far as I know, 'Incendium' is mine(a Latin translation for the word 'fire').