James didn't know what to say when Lily walked in. Normally, he'd flirt, beg her to come to Hogsmeade. But somehow, he knew he had over stepped the boundary when he had turned Snape against her last year.

"Lily flower," James called from across the common room, hoping the summer had dulled her hatred for him. "Lils!"

"Leave me alone, Potter," she growled.

James tried his best to hide his hurt at this. Before, it had been normal for her to reject him and that didn't hurt as much. But now, her hate filled tone injured him. "Why, Evans?" he asked, forcing the same tone and narrowing his eyes.

"Why would I want to talk to you?" Lily said, her eyes flashing with anger. "After all that you've done to me?!"

"'All that I've done to you?!'" James felt his voice raising and the first and second years were staring at them in worry. "Have you ever thought of what you've done to me?"

Lily's voice started to raise defensively as well. "What?! I did nothing to you!" she squeaked furiously.

"Oh yeah," James said nastily. "You've ignored me when I try to be nice to you, you turn down all my attempts to be your friend, you hate me, and apparently it makes you such a better person."

Lily gasped angrily. "Do you know what you've done to me?" she shrieked back. "You made me lose my best friend, you ruined my friendship that I had since I was ten! You constantly annoy me and are rude -"

James lowered his voice. "You're calling my attempts at friendship rude? Calling you beautiful is rude? Because you are gorgeous, Lily, even though you never give me the time of day, even though you push me away all the time."

Lily spluttered and then fell silent. She stared at him with her pretty green eyes, and to his dismay, her eyes started to fill with tears. He didn't mind her anger, but he didn't want to be the cause of her crying.

"Lily," he said, more gently now. "Lily, please don't cry. I'm sorry. I'm sorry for being immature, I'm sorry for ruining your friendship with Snape. I wouldn't have done that if I had known how much you cared. Really, I should've known, because you are so sweet and kind and wonderful that you care about everyone."

James turned and walked away. He couldn't stand the sight of her - her in all her beauty, standing before him, and still hating him. There, he'd said it. His apology. That's all he could do. He may as well give up on her ever loving him - after five years of being in love with Lily Evans, he thought he may as well give up now. The pain of giving up hurt like a wrench in his gut.

Sirius and Remus were standing at the bottom of the stairs, waiting for him. They were the only ones left in the common room other than himself and Lily. They looked at him, Sirius concerned, and Remus's expression unreadable.

A soft voice behind him whispered, "Wait. James, don't go."

Relief and joy filled him at the realization: she had called him James. Lily had never as long as he had known her, called him James.

He turned. Lily was still standing in the same place, staring at him, her face twisted with regret and grief.

"I'm sorry," she whispered.

She walked slowly up to him, until they were standing very close, and he was looking down at her.

"I'm sorry for being mean to you, and for pushing you away. It was uncalled for. And I'm sorry for blaming you for ruining my friendship. It probably would've happened anyway.". She choked, and a tear ran down her cheek.

"Oh, Lils."

She suddenly threw her arms around his waist, holding him more tightly than he could believe, her face buried into his chest. He smoothed back her beautiful red hair, holding her tightly as well.

"Don't cry, it's okay."

"I know, I'm okay. I just, I have something important to tell you."

He frowned. "What is it?"

"I don't know how to tell you."

Her arms loosened and she leaned back to look at him. Her mouth was slightly parted, and she moved one hand from his waist to hold his cheek. In surprise, he caught his breath, barely able to believe it. He desperately hoped she'd kiss him.

He could feel her breath against his mouth when she whispered, "James, I don't hate you."

Her eyes closed and she pressed her forehead back into his shoulder. He didn't know how to answer that, gazing down at the girl that was holding him in a tight hug. Girls were so confusing.

"I don't hate you either," he replied. He gazed down into her beautiful green eyes and remembered for a moment why his favorite color was green. This brief thought he pushed away. She was nice, maybe they could be friends, but he couldn't jeopardize that, even for how she was acting in this moment.

He smiled a cautious but kind smile at her. She laughed shyly and smiled back before stepping away, their hands dropping to their sides.

"I'll uh, I'll...see you tomorrow, James," she whispered.

He reached out and touched her hand as she turned away. "Do you promise?"

She smiled at that. "Yes."

He watched Lily walk away, and she turned to look at him before walking upstairs. James slowly walked up the stairs to the boys dormitory, briefly thinking that Remus and Sirius must've already walked up.

He saw both of them in their beds when he came up, but both turned to look at him.

"So, how'd it go with her?" Sirius asked.

"When did you walk up?" he asked.

Sirius grinned, swinging back onto his own bed. "She saw us, Prongs, when you started to walk away, so we left after you went back to her."

James sighed, confused and wondering what the beautiful girl really thought of him. "Well, she hugged me."

Remus grinned as Sirius mocked squealed like a girl. Peter looked up from his bed tiredly, rubbing his eyes. "Moony, Moony, Lils hugged our Prongs!" Sirius jumped from his bed to James, bouncing happily.

"Our Prongs is growing up!" Remus mock sniffled.

James threw a playful punch at Sirius, who punched back grinning.

"I think our Lils likes our Prongs," Sirius said.

James flopped back to lounge on his bed. "I guess we'll have to figure that out later. That was confusing. Girls are so...Lily especially is - "

"Weird." Peter.

"Hard to understand." Sirius.

"Unpredictable." Remus.

James murmured, "Beautiful."

Sirius and Remus guffawed with laughter. Remus, rolling his eyes, muttered, "James is such a sap."

Sirius snorted. "Well, Moony, I think we'll have to work on getting him and Lily together."

James glared. "Don't you dare, Padfoot."

"Jamsie, do I ever ask permission for anything?" Sirius asked innocently.

Remus yawned, falling back against his bunk and pulling his covers over himself. He was always more on the ill side, always more on the cold side, probably due to his problem. "We'll find out tomorrow."

"Good night, Rem. Peter." James hopped into his own bed and Sirius turned off the lights.

Before he had fallen asleep, Sirius leaned over his bed to look at James. "Prongs, did she kiss you?" he whispered.

"No. I thought she was going to though," he whispered back.

"Ah man! We'll have to work on that too!" Sirius's cheerful voice made him smile as he turned over and closed his eyes to sleep.