I wrote this for my friend Kirsty (known on this website as KCornish13) for her sixteenth birthday today. As James and Lily are one of the only pairings we actually agree on, I decided to write this for her - so enjoy! And to Kirsty, HAPPY BIRTHDAY!

Sitting on the edge of the Lake, watching the sun rise over its still waters, Lily sighed. It was January the 31st 1976, her sixteenth birthday, and she had never felt more miserable in her life.

It had all started with a letter from Severus, which she had found hovering outside her bedroom window the previous morning.

Dear Lily,

I'm sorry. Again. I know my last letters haven't changed anything, and I don't suppose I should have expected them to, but this time I'm just asking you to forgive me for one day. Please. Let me be your friend, just for tomorrow, on your birthday. For one day. Please. I miss you so much.

Always,

Sev

She'd cried again when she'd read it, because in her heart she missed him too, so much. Then, she'd sat up, wiped her eyes, and torn the letter to shreds. She was sure the other girls in the dormitory had noticed her red eyes, but she kept a determinately blank expression as she dressed and no one commented.

Heading down to the common room, she heard a cry behind her.

'Lily! Wait!'

Turning round, she saw Mary running downstairs.

'Lily! Oh, you aren't going to like this, you really aren't…'

Lily found herself being dragged into a corner of the common room, next to the notice board. Mary looked around worriedly before turning to her.

'Lily, listen, I was talking to Remus just now - '

'Ooh, Remus, eh?' Lily grinned, knowing Mary's soft spot for the kindly boy.

'Shut up!' Mary hissed. 'I was going to say I was talking to Remus just now, and he told me about something. Something to do with…er… James Potter…'

Lily's face fell. 'Oh.' she muttered.

'Lily, listen to me! Remus says that James and Sirius are planning something for your birthday tomorrow, to show you James' undying love or something ridiculous, and I can't help worrying that if it's particularly extravagant - '

'It's James Potter, of course it will be,' Lily interrupted crossly.

' – then Severus might get involved.'

Lily turned away at the mention of his name, looking very much like she had decided the conversation was now over.

'No, Lily, you don't get it! I mean, you know how protective Severus still is of you, and if this surprise is a bit over the top then it would be just like him to charge in, trying to take care of you, and get himself – you know – hurt. I know James has said his 'Snivellus Cursing Days' are behind him, but you know what he's like when he gets worked up. And – and I know you and Severus aren't on the best of terms at the moment, but I didn't think you'd want him to actually get hurt.'

Lily turned to face her friend again.

'Thanks for letting me know, Mary,' she said in a cool tone. 'I do appreciate it, but I think that if Severus - ' she spat the name – 'wants to get himself beaten up in some heroic attempt to help me, then he can do just that. It's no concern of mine.'

The girls walked down to breakfast, chatting idly about the upcoming Quidditch match against Ravenclaw. Sitting down at the Gryffindor table, they began to fill their plates.

'Oh, hang on, I've just remembered I promised Ellen I would let her copy my Charms homework,' said Mary, spotting a girl sat on the Hufflepuff table. 'Bless her, she's got too much to do as it is – prefect, Quidditch captain and revising for her OWLs. I won't be a second.'

As she hurried away, Lily carried on eating, flicking through the morning's Prophet as she did so. Suddenly, she noticed the shadow of a person standing right behind her, and, sighing, she didn't even turn around before saying, 'What do you want, Potter?'

'I hear tomorrow's your birthday, Evans,' he said, grinning, as he slid onto the bench next to her.

'What's it to you?' she replied coldly.

He gasped in mock horror, clutching his chest as he feigned an arrow piercing his heart.

'Why, I only wished to invite you on an evening stroll tomorrow,' he said in falsely wounded tone. 'But if you would rather be doing something else - '

'Potter, if you think I would want to spend part of my birthday alone with you, then you've got another thing coming.'

He grinned again at her words.

'I promise you won't regret it.'

She groaned.

'And what would this stroll involve, exactly?'

He stretched back in his seat. 'Oh, nothing much,' he said, yawning as he did so. 'Just a nice walk, a little picnic… maybe some music – hey, Evans!'

She had stood up, and was walking away.

'Oh, come on!' he said, running after her. 'I was joking about the music, come on, Evans - '

'You know what your problem is, Potter?' she snapped, whirling round. 'You have such a solid belief that you are the most irresistible person ever to have walked the planet. Well, your cheap ideas might work on other girls, but I am not going to be pulled in by you!'

And she stalked off, her crimson hair swinging behind her as she did so.

xxx

The day didn't get much better. For the first time ever, her Calming Solution just wouldn't smooth down in Potions (she still refused help from Severus, who spent most of the lesson wincing in her direction as the potion bubbled over), she got a line of red scratches down her arm and one on her cheek from a particularly angry Bowtruckle in Care of Magical Creatures, and she succeeded in turning Bertie McDougall's hair into a flashing light display in Charms, which Professor Flitwick was only able to sort out after several complicated incantations and wavings of his wand.

'Are you quite all right, Miss Evans?' he asked her in his quavery voice as she apologised for the fifth time.

'Yes, yes,' she babbled. Mary gave her an odd look, but she could hardly tell her friend that it was James Potter's overblown head which was causing her bad mood when the boy in question was only three desks away, vanishing mouse after mouse with irritating ease.

As the bell rang to end the lesson, she tripped on her way out of the door. Her inkbottle smashed on the floor, and she cursed, bending to pick it up. As she did so, she heard two male voices cry 'Reparo!', and had to leap out of the way as he bottle flew back together, now triple its original size. Turning round, she saw Severus and James, with their wands both still pointed at her bottle, and looking at each other with murderous expressions on their faces.

'What was the point of that, Snivellus? Trying to win her back?' sneered James, moving his wand towards the other boy's chest. 'Are you really as stupid as you look? After what you did the other month, I should think yourself lucky you haven't been on the receiving end of one of Evans' hexes yet.'

'Keep your mouth shut, Potter! As if it isn't already blindingly obvious, Lily here clearly doesn't want your company!'

'Will you stop it!'

Lily's shriek echoed around the empty classroom, and the two boys stared at her.

'I am sick of this! Fighting, cursing, insults – I hate you both! You can try to pretend you both want me to forgive you, but we all know it's just so you can get one over the other! Well, I have had it! Thank you both for ruining everything!'

She ran down the corridor, wiping away tears as she did so, and leaving the boys in stunned silence behind her.

xxx

She sniffed as she watched the sun rise higher into the early morning sky. It was so peaceful out here, and so quiet. She'd snuck out of the dormitory in the early hours of the morning, when it was still dark, and lain on the grass outside watching the stars. But now, as the daylight got brighter, she knew she was going to have to go inside soon. Start the day, go through a birthday of attempted apologies and longing looks – she was so miserable.

'Hey, Lily.'

She started. The voice she heard from behind her was one that hadn't used her first name before all that often, and it was odd hearing it come from his mouth.

'What do you want, Potter?' She repeated her words of the previous morning, trying hard to choke down her tears.

'Please, Lily. James? Just once? It's not that hard to say, you know.'

She didn't have the energy to argue, so she let him sit beside her.

'I used to come out here for sunrise all the time, you know. It always made for a peaceful start to the day.'

She looked at him, surprised. James Potter had never struck her as one for pretty views.

'You can laugh,' he said, smiling, 'I know it doesn't seem much like me.'

She smiled back, and didn't object when he put his arm around her.

'Lily, you're freezing! How long have you been out here?'

She shrugged, clinging to the warmth of his arms.

'Let's get you inside. Come on,' he said, helping her to her feet. She felt him tense in shock as she took his hand, and grinned at his expression.

'Something wrong, James?' she said, emphasising his name.

'No,' he breathed, 'no. Absolutely nothing.'

She giggled as he began to lead her back up to the castle.

'Oh, and by the way, Lily,' he added as they headed through the doors. 'Happy birthday.'

Thanks for reading! And happy birthday to Kirsty again!

Iliketotastetherainbow x