Preface –I just pray somebody loves you, somebody, somewhere

Lily sighed. She couldn't get herself to stand up. It was Saturday, for Merlin's sake! And she had been up very late last night, until half past twelve! Only twelve years old, it has been quite an adventure to be up so late. But now, Lily was just tired and annoyed.

"Oh come on, you stubborn little ginger!" her best friend called from the bathroom, "We have a Quidditch match to attend!"

"Ugh, Marlene! I'm sure it'll rain any minute now! Beginning of October, it'll rain. Don't make me get up for a Quidditch match."

"It'll be awesome! Now, get up!"

Before Lily could to anything, her best friend had already drawn her curtains and was lying flat across her body, tickling the red-head feverishly. Lily was laughing loudly, trying to catch her breath while fighting off the blond girl. After a while, Marlene let go of her.

"You're gonna get up, Lils. And you're gonna get dressed and I'll make sure that you look like a proper Gryffindor when we cheer." She kissed Lily's cheek and sat up properly.

"And by the way: I'm not ginger, Marlene!"

"I know! You're too dark to be a ginger, you've told me plenty of times! But hey, I had to find a way to distract you so I could attack you!"

Lily rolled her eyes but did get out of bed.

"Okay, so show me how to look like a proper Gryffidor Quidditch fan" she grinned. Even if it was 8am on a Saturday, Marlene and her enthusiasm never failed to make Lily smile.

"Well, if you want to impress James Potter..."

"Marlene, no. You know I can't stand him. He's such a show-off."

"He made it into the team in his second year! He's a bloody brilliant player."

"He might be, but he's still an annoying prick. He keeps following me everywhere."

"Maybe he's in love with you", Marlene chuckled, "he keeps talking to you and you're always so rude!"

"He hexed my best friend!"

"I'm your best friend and he never hexed me!" Marlene pouted.

"You know I'm talking about Sev. Potter always hexes him! Yesterday he hexed Sev's pumpkin juice. His hair turned all green. He had to wash it five times to get the colour out of it!"

Marlene had to chuckled, which only caused Lily to shot her a shut-up-or-I'll-hex-you glance.

"Sorry Lils. But that is funny! Hurts no-one and Severus had to finally wash his hair for once. I bet those five times will be enough for the entire year!"

"Don't be mean. Sev is such a nice guy. You never made the effort to get to know him. You two are my best friends and I'd love for you to like him, too."

"He doesn't like me and you know that."

Lily nodded sadly. She did know. And she didn't understand. She knew, if Severus would consider talking to Marlene, she'd talk to him, too, and then, just like Lily, she would learn to like him.

"Anyway, let's get you ready for the big game. Are you even sitting with us? I remember last year, when you sat with Severus and the Slytherins instead of with us."

"Well, Potter and Black kept annoying me. Sev didn't."

"I didn't and Remus didn't either."

"I'm sorry." Lily hugged her friend and cuddled her softly. "Let's get me ready then. A proper Gryffindor fan!"

Marlene had great fun ruffling through Lily's thick, dark-red hair to make it look like a lion's mane. She even made her friend wear a hair band with cat's ears on it, so that Lily did look like a lion with her face painted half gold, half red.

By now she was actually really excited to see the game. Lily was so fascinated by Quidditch but she never considered playing it herself. She was amazed by how quickly the players could change their path, by how safe and secure they seemed to be, high up in the air with one hand on a ball. She didn't like to admit it, but she thought James Potter was doing a great job. Twelve years old and already an amazing Chaser. By what she could tell. But others said so, too.

"150 to 160, that was close!" Marlene took Lily's hand, jumping up and down, all excited, "James was brilliant! Scored the only goal! I know, I know. Another reason for him to show off."

"Exactly."

Lily shrugged her shoulders as she was walking alongside Marlene back to the castle to celebrate the win. Far behind them, she heard Sirius Black, Peter Pettigrew and Remus Lupin chatting and laughing. Did it just seem like it or were they a much happier lot without Potter? Maybe they were just very cheery because Gryffindor beat Slytherin.

"Close, wasn't it?"

Lily smiled as her best friend Severus Snape caught up with her.

"Definitely. Your team scored so many goals. Fifteen! That is amazing!"

He nodded slightly and looked over at Marlene, who just rolled her eyes.

"Lils, I'll see you in the Common Room, okay? Don't take too long!" She quickly hugged her friend and stayed behind to walk towards the castle with Pettigrew, Lupin and Black. Marlene kind of liked Black, but Lily had no idea why. He was just as much of a show off as Potter was. But he wasn't nearly as annoying as Potter.

Once Marlene was out of sight, Severus smiled at Lily.

"I missed you at the game. Why didn't you sit with me?"

"Well, I like to support my house."

Severus nodded slightly. "The brawny ones, yes. You look all dolled up for it. Green would suit you."

"My eyes are green."

"I know. I like your eyes. They're pretty."

Lily smiled at him thankfully. "I am still your friend, Sev. I just support my house. That doesn't mean I'm against yours. Because I'm not. I like you and that is reason enough to like your house. Remember, you were the one that told me that it doesn't matter what background you have or what house you're in."

"But look at all the other Gryffindors. You're an exception. You should've been in Slytherin."

Lily was sick of this. They've had conversations like that all the time. Why didn't she choose to be in Slytherin? Why didn't he choose to be in Gryffindor then, as she had been the first of the two of them to be sorted into a house, Lily'd usually reply.

Why couldn't they just be friends, without all of the House hate? She didn't hate on Slytherin, so why did he hate on Gryffindor?

"Most Gryffindors are really phony", Severus continued, "You're not."

"Marlene isn't either. Remus isn't."

"They both hang out with that Potter boy."

"So what?" Lily was getting more and more impatient with his rant, "the people you surround yourself with aren't who you are. You are who you are. You told me that yourself, Sev. Just because they like Potter and Black don't make them bad people. Please, try to talk to them. For me, please. I know you admire intelligence and Remus really is intelligent. We are always head-to-head in class."

"McKinnon isn't so smart."

"Marlene is adorable and I love her very much. She makes me happy. Just like you make me happy."

"I make you happy?"

"Oh, of course." She beamed at Severus. Never would she understand why he was so insecure. He was such a great chap. Charming and dedicated and clever and he was so kind. He also didn't care about your blood-status at all. Which was very important for Lily. Friends who didn't care about it.

"You make me very happy. You've always been there for me, especially in those first days when I was so confused about everything in and about and around Hogwarts. You'll always be my best friend."

"Always?"

"Always", promised Lily with a wide, toothy smile.

Just as Severus wanted to say something else, Remus Lupin ran up next to them.

"Excuse me, Lily?" The blond boy looked at her with a huge questioning expression, his hair all messy, his eyes all tired. Maybe he had been up late, too, Lily thought, reading a book or trying to get his friends to be quiet. Maybe he couldn't sleep because Potter and Black were very loud. Lily imagined them to be loud at night time. They were loud at daytime, so it wasn't impossible.

"Hey Remus. What's up?"

"Oh, I just wanted to ask you for advice on our Potions essay. I tried to figure it out yesterday evening but I couldn't. On full moons I usually stay awake and work until late at night. The moon shines very brightly in our dorm, so I can hardly sleep."

"Sorry to hear", the red-head smiled sympathetically. That would explain the tired eyes. "We can go to the library, if you want to. I guess there'll be a celebration in the Common Room, so we won't be able to work there at all."

"I'd love that", he smiled shyly, "Will you be joining us?" Remus addresses the black-haired boy next to Lily.

"No chance", Severus said coldly, "I'll catch up with you later, Lily. Say we meet at the lake at six?"

"Okay, sure!" Lily nodded happily, waving at Severus as he parted from Lily and Remus.

"Why didn't he want to come with us? Is it because of the hair colour thing James did?"

"He thinks you're as bad as Potter and Black."

"James and Sirius aren't bad. They're awesome and so much fun to be with!"

"Severus doesn't like them and they don't like him. Neither do I. But I like you! So, shall we get our Potions stuff and work on the essay?"

Remus nodded and faced the portrait of the Fat Lady, naming the password before letting Lily enter the Common Room, following her.

Inside, the whole room was decorated with signs and banners saying 'Well done, guys and gals!', 'Hooray for Gryffindor!' and the lot more. The Gryffindors were still waiting for the team to come; it usually took them a while to shower and get changed.

Lily and Remus fetched their books, paper and quills before heading towards the library.

"I hope you don't mind. I left a note for Sirius and James and Peter where I am so that they'll find me if they need me."

"Nah, not at all." Lily wasn't keen on having the others around, but she highly doubt that any of them would show up. Not on the day of a Quidditch celebration. She kind of wondered why Remus was working with her and not celebrating his best friend's first Quidditch match. Little did she know about Remus and full moons.

They sat in the library for about two hours until James Potter showed up. The black hair all messy, the brown eyes all tired, books clutched under his left arm.

"Hey. Can I join you? I haven't done my essay either... Was up late last night."

Lily frowned but nodded and gestured towards the seat opposite of hers.

"Of course, sit down. Remus and I are nearly done."

"Cool! So I can copy yours?"

"No way, James!" Remus laughed, "You can have a look and I will check yours later on but you can't copy it."

"Yeah, I know..." He sighed but smirked at the same time. In his first year, the smirk hasn't been as worked out as it was now. Lily supposed that by the age of twenty, his smirk would be Potter's only weapon left. When his glory as a Quidditch player had faded away and his friends got sick of him.

James sat down next to Remus. "Sirius said he's gonna celebrate a bit and might copy mine at night. And Peter fell asleep on the sofa after he ate three pieces of chocolate cake", the black-haired boy informed his friend.

"Bless his little soul", Remus laughed, "Peter and chocolate: an untold love story with a tragic ending."

"Could be written by Shakespeare", James grinned, "Always littered with corpses."

The girl at the table frowned again and lightly shook her head. Boys and their weird thoughts.

After another half an hour of concentrated working, Lily looked up from her books only to see Remus being fast asleep on his essay, while James stuck small paper balls all over in his friend's hair, chuckling happily.

"So what's the real reason you came here, Potter? You could celebrate your great game and yet you're here", Lily whispered as not to wake up poor Remus.

"I need to get better in Potions", he whispered back, "And you're the best one in Potions. So I figured I could just join your study group. Was that not right? I'm sorry, Remus left a note, so I thought it'd be okay..."

"It's fine, don't worry." Lily sighed. She was not the type of girl to leave someone hanging. Though she wasn't a fan of James Potter, she would certainly try her best to help him. He was Remus' friend after all and she did like Remus.

"So, what I don't get is why you hate me so much."

"What I don't get is why you're so obsessed with me."

"I'm not obsessed. I... I like you." James blushed and quickly cleared his throat, "So, tell me. What is the function of the tulip in the sunshine potion? Why does it say it has to be yellow? Can I use a different yellow flower? Like a sunflower or daffodil?"

"Nah, you can't." Lily shook her head and patted on the seat next to hear, "Sit here, then you can read it with me."

James smiled at her and Merlin was his smile contagious!

She smiled softly back at him as James sat down next to her, looking into her book of plants and flowers.

"So... It has to be a tulip because?"

"Well, the sunshine potion was discovered by a German magician called Albertus Magnus and the tulip has always been the Germans' favourite flower. It has a strong emotional connection to the potion and its inventor."

"How do you know? It doesn't say so in your book." James frowned and looked at her, all confused and still in awe, "How do you know that?"

"Well... In the Potions book it states the inventor and in Famous Witches and Wizards of the 13th Century Europe there is a short summary about Albertus Magnus and his work. And here, in the Herbology book about flowers it states the meaning of flowers. So I guess I just connected it? Also, yellow tulips are supposed to represent sunshine, pink tulips are for the beginning of love and orange tulips mean fascination. That's why we are supposed to use yellow tulips."

"Okay." James nodded and scrunched his nose, tilting his head slightly. "So... sunflowers won't work because the emotional connection is missing and a differently coloured tulip won't work because the meaning is a different one?"

"Exactly!" She beamed at him, rather proud of his accomplishment.

"What is the meaning of lilies?"

"Light, innocence, virginity, love..."

James inspected her from head to toe, and then nodded. "Yes, works for you, Evans. Works for you."

Lily rolled her eyes. "Don't talk like that. You're not grown up."

"Am, too! Anyway. What is your favourite flower? Is it a lily?"

"Nah, it isn't. I like sunflowers."

"Sunflowers, huh?" James nodded, looking very serious, as if he was making a mental note. Little did she know that from now on she'd get a sunflower every birthday, Christmas Day and Valentine's Day.

"Thanks a bunch, Evans. I'd have never gotten that without your help. I owe you big time!"

"Maybe you could stop teasing Severus?" she asked, hopefully.

"No can do." James shook his head and ran a hand through his hair, "It's his own fault. He's stupid."

"Well, you're stupid", Lily pouted, "I can't believe I've helped you! I just pray somebody loves you, somebody, somewhere! Though I hardly believe it." And she could hardly believe she even considered him to be nice.

James looked at her with a look she thought she'd never forget. Was he hurt? Well, he was the one to insult her best friend!

"I'm heading off then!" James grinned at her, a forced grin as she thought, before getting up to give Remus a slight nudge.

"Oi, Remus. Off we go. You need to get to bed. And so do I. I also upset Evans, so we might need to leave quickly, before she kills us with her wrath." James chuckled and ruffled his hair.

Remus just rolled his eyes. "It will kill you, not me. She likes me. Sorry for falling asleep, Lily. Sorry for leaving you with this smart prick."

"No worries", Lily smiled at him, "I'll be staying for a bit, okay? You two head off. Good night, Remus. Potter." She threw a slight nod into James' direction, before turning back to her essay.

"Good night, Evans. Sleep tight and don't let the bed-bugs bite", James beamed at her, quickly following Remus out of the library.

Annoyed, the red-headed girl shut her book. He was a prick, he really was. But maybe, just maybe someday, Lily could start to like him. James didn't seem too bad, if she was honest with herself. She actually considered spending more time with him.

"We'll see..." she muttered to herself.