Disclaimer: I am not JK Rowling, I do not own any of the characters that appear in the HP books. I do own the ones that don't appear in the books, though.

"Hey Evans, will you go out with me?"

Lily sighed and kept walking until she had gone straight through the barrier that led to Platform Nine and Three Quarters. Wow. This was going to be a fun year. Potter really had to be determined if that was the first thing he said to her. She turned around sharply to meet him.

"A hello would be nice before you ask me out again."

"Oh, okay," said James, beginning to grin, "hello. Will you go out with me?"

"No." Lily turned and began to walk to the train, where she was hailed by her three best friends, Anna, Sierra, and Bailey.

"Lily!" they chorused.

"Hi," she said. "Guess what? I'm Head Girl!" Lily pointed to the badge pinned to her shirt. She was immediately hit by a barrage of "Congratulations!"-s and "Why didn't you tell us?"-s.

"Anyway," Lily continued, trying not to look too proud of herself, "Guess who just asked me out twice in a minute?"

The girls began giggling. "You know, you should pay more attention to him, Lily. James is really nice when he's not hexing Snape," Anna said fairly. Anna was the sweetest of her friends and never said anything bad about anybody. She had thin blonde hair that fell halfway down her back and light blue-green eyes. She was medium height and skinny and quieter than the other two.

"I love his pranks," said Bailey fondly. Bailey was the shortest of the four and had auburn hair, big brown eyes, and freckles. Out of the four, she was the troublemaker.

Sierra rolled her eyes. Then she turned to Lily. "You two would make a good couple, you know."

"Wow, I just love all the support I'm getting from you guys," Lily said, annoyed. "Possibly all of you haven't yet noticed that Potter is an arrogant jerk who doesn't care for anyone but himself?"

"Now that's a little harsh," said Sierra. She was the tallest of them and very outgoing. She had thick black hair and dark eyes. She was very likeable. When she and Lily met in their first year, they were instant friends.

"Yes, you know, James is Head Boy," Anna said, nodding.

"What?!?!?" Lily dropped her heavy trunk on Bailey's foot, who squeaked and starting hopping around in pain, clutching her toe. Lily didn't notice.

"James—James Potter—is Head Boy?!? How could they have picked him?" Lily was angry. For as long as she had known she was Head Girl, she had wondered who Head Boy was, who she would share the Head Common Room with, who she would do her duties with.....and it would be with James Potter, the man who was desperately in love with her?! Aaaaah!!

The train ride there was relatively uneventful. Lily, Anna, Sierra, and Bailey had a compartment to themselves. That is, until the four Marauders decided to come bursting in, pretending not to notice the four girls already there. They acted like the chairs containing Lily, Anna, Sierra and Bailey were empty and decided to have a seat.

"James Potter, you get off me this instant!" Lily cried, trying to push him off her lap, but with little success.

"I will if you go out with me," he replied, grinning.

"Oh, come on, Lily, it's not every day that you have a guy sitting on your lap," said Bailey, who did not look the least bit objectionable to Sirius's decision to sit down right on top of her. "Lighten up."

Remus and Peter stood up. James and Sirius, however, remained seated. Finally, they too got into standing positions.

"Want a game of Exploding Snap?" James asked eagerly, looking around the room.

Soon the game began, with squeals from the girls every time the cards blew up. It was a highly competitive game; whenever one of the boys lost, particularly James and Sirius, they would yell loudly in anguish. It was extremely amusing to all, even Lily.

At last, the colossal castle was in view, and the group got off the train and managed to squeeze into one carriage. Sirius was still muttering about the unfairness of the last game.

"Apparently, the Head Boy and Girl have to lead the way to the castle," said Sirius, looking at James. "Prongs, old boy, you're gonna have to find the Head Girl, you know."

"He's sitting next to her," said Lily, looking at the ceiling of the carriage. It was dark blue and peeling.

James sat bolt upright and stared at Lily with such a weird expression on his face that the whole carriage burst out laughing, with the exception of Lily.

"You?" he asked, shocked.

"Funny, I had the same reaction when I found out it was you," Lily said coldly, still looking at the ceiling.

"You mean you were happy when you found out it was me? Does this mean you like me?" James asked, surprised. Quickly he said, "Will you go out with me?"

Sierra and Bailey both gave Lily identical aww-he's-so-sweet-to-you-why-don't-you-go-out-with-him? looks.

"No, I was not happy when I found out it was you. Quite the opposite. I meant shock, you dimwit."

"You still haven't answered my other question."

"No, I will not go out with you."

"Why?"

Lily stopped looking at the ceiling and turned to face him. "Why? I'll tell you why. I will not go out with you because you are stupid, mean, and completely and totally full of yourself. Grow up."

As Lily said this, a genuine expression of hurt feelings appeared on James's face. For a split second, Lily felt bad and wanted to take back what she said. But only for a split second.

"Did you really mean that?" James whispered to her so that the others wouldn't hear. They didn't. Lily didn't answer. She sincerely hoped James couldn't see her battling feelings on her face. Unfortunately for her, he could.

Realizing that Lily didn't really hate him as much as she had said, James settled back into his seat. He was still irked, though. Why couldn't she just be nice to him, just once? He sighed.

James and Lily didn't talk once as they led the way up the steps. A couple times James looked hopefully at Lily, but she had her eyes set straight ahead. She could be so stubborn. Then he, too, turned his attention to the castle.

Dumbledore met them at the door. He smiled.

"Ah, our Head Boy and Girl," he said, beaming at them. "Welcome back, James, Lily."

The two smiled at him.

"Thank you," they said.

The school filtered into the Great Hall. Lily seated herself at the Gryffindor table. James sat down next to her. Lily scowled at him. He grinned in reply.
The Sorting was over fairly quickly. Soon, the tables were filled and the students looked instinctively at Dumbledore. He cleared his throat. Silence fell.

"Welcome back, all of you! To our newcomers: the Forbidden Forest is off limits to all students. To everyone else: Quidditch trials will be held starting on October 2, depending on your House, check the notice board. And now I have one command for you all: Eat!"

The plates, as usual, filled with food, and the feast began. Lily and her friend were waiting for one of the Marauders' tricks, but it didn't come. They must be planning something big, Lily thought. Ugh.