"And what do you think you're doing?"
James turned around, stared at the prefect's bright red hair, and attempted to come up with a quick response to excuse his actions.
"Well, err, it's quite a long story," James began, "and I'm quite sure that you don't want to hear it all."
"I have all night," Lily said, sounding incredibly bossy.
"Oh." His plan didn't quite work. "Well, I wanted to go to the library, but then I got lost."
"You...got...lost." Lily didn't believe James one bit.
James hesitated. "N-Yes. I...got lost."
"Well then," Lily said, "You probably should head back to the common room, because otherwise I'll give you a detention for not being back by curfew."
"Speaking of curfew," James rebutted, standing up a little straighter, "what are you, a prefect, doing out at night?"
"Err- that's not really important at the moment, is it?" Lily was taken aback by James' question.
"Such a naughty girl," James said, teasing her.
"I'm- that's- that's demeaning, and you're a sexist hog, James Potter!" Lily raced up the stairs.
"I didn't mean that like that!" James shouted, knowing he had made Lily upset. "Don't take it too seriously!"
"Every single effing day," Lily shouted at him, "you always hit on me, and flirt with me, and I just want it to effing stop. Okay? I don't like you. You've got to understand that."
"I do understand," James said after moments of silence, spent reevaluating the situation and composing his response. "But, as I'm a Gryffindor, I'll persistently beg you to change your mind."
"And I'll persistently say no." Lily stormed up the remaining stairs, which led straight to the painting of the fat lady. "Gargoyle," Lily muttered, just loud enough for James to hear it. She stepped in.
James moved out of the corridor he was in and stepped onto the staircase. Knowing his luck, it was a miracle that it didn't move. He murmured the password to the fat lady, who was clearly annoyed with James entering a good 30 seconds after Lily had slammed the door shut. He entered the common room, surprised to encounter a drunken Sirius, a sleeping Peter, a sober Remus, and a very ticked-off Lily.
"Why on Earth did you think that this was a good idea?" she asked Remus, knowing that the other two wouldn't answer properly.
"I didn't," Remus said. "But I wasn't going to spoil their fun. I mean, if they want to make terrible choices with their lives, it's their decision. Isn't that right, mate?" Remus clapped Sirius on the back.
"What he said," Sirius slurred. James chuckled.
"James!" Lily said, even more annoyed than before. "He's drunk!"
"Lighten up, Lil." James realized what he had just said and feared the consequences.
"Lily," she said. "My name… is Lily."
"Yeah," James said, "yeah. That's what I said."
"No," Lily said, her cheeks becoming red with anger, "you called me Lil. Nobody can do that."
"Hasn't Snivelus done that?"
"Don't you dare bring Severus into this." Lily stared at James, appalled. "You have no right to bring him into this. He's much more of a man than you."
She ran up the stairs, going up to the girl's dormitory.
"Harsh, mate," said Sirius, who was having trouble standing up. "Don't take it too bad." He fell over.
"No," James said, smiling. "No, I won't."