Disclaimer- I don't own anything you guys recognize.

I've edited this chapter, after I got some feedback about my writing. I hope this one is a bit more OC! (And is just better in general.)

Chapter 1: Aftermath

No P.O.V

James stared after Lily as she angrily pushed past the crowd that was now slowly moving away.

"C'mon, Evans! Just one date! I can't be that bad…" He called after her, but she only sent him a disgusted look over her shoulder. James ran his hands through his hair.

The Giant Squid? She'd rather date the Giant Squid? He thought, frustrated. All the other girls fell over themselves for him. Why didn't she? It should have been easy.

But no, the one girl that James really wanted was the one that was immune to his charms. He looked over at his friends, helplessly.

Sirius was still holding his wand out, stunned. Remus was attempting to stay out of the whole situation, by reading a book. But that had failed, seeing as he was holding the book upside down. But he stood up from his spot when he saw James's face, utterly dejected.

"Prongs? It'll be okay! Just brush it off like everything else." He advised his friend. James shook his head.

"I just got her best friend to call her a-a mu- the m-word!" He stuttered. "She's going to hate me forever."

Sirius came out of his trance. "I thought she already hated you?"

"Nah! Not like she'll hate me now." James said.

"Why have you spent so much time chasing her then?" Sirius asked. James shrugged.

"I'm intrigued by her. She doesn't act like the other girls." Remus chuckled.

"C'mon, Prongs. You can say it in front of us. That's the reason people think you chase her." James sighed. He ran his hands through his hair yet again, making it evident that he was nervous. Sirius looked curious. He had never heard of the real reason…

"Fine then. I love her." He stated, waiting for the ridicule. But Remus just looked triumphant and Sirius looked shocked.

"Bloody hell, mate! How come I've never heard about this? My best friend loves someone and no one told me?" Sirius exclaimed. Remus scoffed.

"That was we thought it was given that you would know. It wasn't that hard to put together the pieces, Padfoot." James stepped between them.

"Yeah, I love Lily Evans. Okay?" He looked completely lost, like a puppy. For a third time he ran his hands through his hair. His friends caught the gesture.

"It's fine Prongs, we'll figure out a plan! You'll look back on this and laugh." Remus assured him. James looked skeptical.

"I'm not sure of that."

Sirius got a look in his eye.

"I've heard this saying about killing the part of you that you don't like, to become a better person. Maybe we could modify that. Kill the part of you that Evans doesn't like." Remus and James looked shocked.

"Pads, that was an honest-to-goodness deep statement." James told his friend. Sirius smirked.

"I have my moments."

The rest of fifth year was devoted to figuring out exactly what Lily despised in James. That was a bit of a hard thing to do, because it seemed that she hated everything about him. But the Marauders had managed to produce a list by the end of the year, and on the train to London, they examined it.

"Hmm… You'll have to get rid of the wrinkly sweaters, and start tucking in your shirts, Prongs." Remus was holding the list, running his finger down it. "She doesn't like the messiness. Ah… no jinxing people randomly either."

James sighed. "I'm going to miss hexing Snivelly." But he was determined to get Lily to like him; so forsaking his third favorite pastime was a small sacrifice. He took the parchment from Remus, and started to look over it himself. Oh god, this was such a long list…

"I'm back!" A voice called from the open door. James and Remus jerked around, towards the source of the noise. A triumphant Sirius was standing there, holding an enormous amount of sweets. "The trolley lady was too slow, so I decided to catch up with her." Remus chuckled.

"I thought you were going to ask Olivia Parsons out?" James asked. Sirius shook his head, dropping his licorice wands and sugar quills. As he bent down to pick them up, he dropped his Bertie Botts boxes. With an exasperated sigh, he sat down on the ground, and began to eat his candy there.

"She lives in Reading. I'm not so good with long distance relationships, y'know?" He mumbled, through some chocolate. James joined him on the floor, and picked up a pumpkin pasty, and handed Remus some chocolate frogs.

Sirius's eternal womanizing confused his friends to no end. Yeah, they had had girlfriends before, but Sirius had had literally a hundred. A hundred different girls. James was surprised there were that many females who actually would want to date a boy who's animagus was a dog. Not that anyone knew that.

"Why can't you just have a long term relationship, Sirius?" Remus asked, reaching for more chocolate. He had brought up a long-debated subject.

Sirius shrugged. "To many fish in the sea." He replied, cryptically. James shook his head. "I really don't know how you do it." Sirius flashed him a smirk.

"I'm special."

"Yeah. Special. That's what therapists call you when you're mental." James said. Sirius put on a mock look of hurt.

"Mental? My best friend accuses me of insanity?"

"Yes. Both of them." Remus told him. Sirius shot both of them a dirty look, then turned to his jellybeans.

"You don't think I'm crazy, do you, Mr. Bertie?" He popped a bean in his mouth, only to spit it out again. "Eurgh… dog food." James laughed, and took another pasty.

"That's funny. And fitting. You are Padfoot." Sirius was busy trying to scrape off all remains of the bean from his tongue, and was looking thoroughly disgusted.

"And you were talking to an inanimate object. Most clear sign of insanity, mate." Sirius shook his head.

"No. Mr. Bertie is animate. He's real. He's not inanimate." James and Remus looked positively alarmed. Ok…that crazy thing was a joke. Was Sirius actually serious?

Sirius burst out laughing. "Oh-my…god…ah…I actually…got…you!" He gasped, between giggles.

While that whole affair had been going on, the soft rolling hills and dotted landscape had turned to small towns and farms to tall buildings and busy streets. The train halted to a screeching stop, and the boys were jerked forward. James shook his head to clear the shock, and looked outside. The train station was packed with parents and aunts and uncles and brothers and sisters. The steam from the train filled the room, giving a hazy blur to the scene. Owls screeched and called, people waved to friends on the train. The scarlet engine slowly slid into place on the track, and students began to pour out, eager for vacation.

The Marauders bid goodbye to each other, and Sirius and Remus promised to come stay at James's house sometime over the summer. As he looked out over the train station, his list of do's and don'ts in his hand, he smiled. James felt his confidence rise, his old James Potter confidence. He was going to get Lily to like him. He was sure of it.