In a room full of young people, there sat a girl around the age of sixteen or seventeen in a large chair by the fire. This girl was in her seventh year at Hogwarts School of Witchcraft and Wizardry and her time was now being occupied by homework that was given to her in Charms. Turning the page of the thick book, her fairly dark red hair fell into her eyes and she swept it back onto her shoulder. Her startling green eyes reflected the dancing fire as she continued to read.

Across the room at a small table were four boys that looked the same age as the ginger-haired girl. On one side of the table there was a boy who was leaning back into his chair, letting two of the four legs come off from the ground. This young man had shoulder length black hair and had dark eyes to match. Though he looked relaxed, he had an air of coolness around him, like he was sophisticated in a way that was easy for him, hard for others. Next to him, there was a boy who had jet-black hair, though his was shorter than the other boy's. He had hazel eyes that were covered in round glasses. This boy kept ruffling his hair as though he thought it was impressive. He seemed to be laughing along with the other three boys at a joke the first boy told. Next to the be-speckled boy, there was another who looked thinner than the other two. His hair was a very light brown and didn't quite pass his ears. He smiled at the joke as he fiddled with the corner of the book he was holding. This boy had dark circles under his eyes as if he had not slept in a few days. He also had the look of someone who loved to read which became more obvious as his eyes continued to flicker between his friends and the book. And lastly, next to the sickly looking boy, sat yet another. This one was a head shorter than the other three and far plumper. His eyes gleamed as he giggled with the cooler boys. His hair was sandy and his eyes seemed almost rodent-like.

The boy with glasses, James Potter, continued to mess up his already untidy hair but this time he looked over past the other people in the gold and red decorated room to the girl in the chair. His dark eyed friend, Sirius Black, noticed this.

"Come on Prongs, just go talk to her," he said as he let his chair fall on all fours and nodded toward the girl near the fire.

"I- She'll just say no… again."

Sighing in an exasperated way, Sirius grabbed a piece of paper from the boy across from him, the sickly one: Remus Lupin, and crumpled it up. The beady-eyed boy named Peter Pettigrew sat up in excitement at the prospect of fun. Sirius, with a sly smile upon his handsome face, took the wad of paper and threw it. He threw it with such good aim, that it landed at its designated target across the room: on the girl by the fire called Lily Evans.

The girl's eyes were torn away from the book as a ball of paper hit her in the head. Looking up, she saw James Potter smile at her while Sirius Black had yet another sly expression upon his face. As soon as she saw who threw the paper, Lily flicked it into the fire and continued to read.

"Bad luck Prongs," Remus said to his friend, "But maybe you could try talking to her instead of throwing stuff at her head."

With that, the boy opened his book and started to read just like the girl. Sirius, having not completely listened to Remus' advice, grabbed another piece of yellow parchment and balled it up. Before James could say yes or no, Black had thrown it at Lily again. And for the second time, he hit his target.

The paper hit her in the head once again, and landed on her lap. Trying to keep her composure, she threw it on the ground.

James turned back around from looking at Lily to find Sirius already in the act of throwing another piece of crumpled up paper at Evan's head. Turning towards her as the paper hit her, he was slightly surprised to see Lily grab the paper and stomp over to where he sat.

"Why can't you ever just leave me alone, Potter?"

James smiled as he got up from his chair to stand in front of the yelling girl as she threw the paper at Sirius who was laughing deviously in the background.

"Maybe I'll stop bothering you if you go out with me," James said for what seemed like the hundredth time in the last two or so years as he stepped closer to the fiery girl.

Grunting in a frustrating way, she turned around, her hair whipped dangerously close to the boy's face. She went to her chair, grabbed her book, and stomped out of the portrait hole of the Gryffindor tower.

Smiling, James slumped back down at the common room table with his three friends.

"I think she likes me," he said as he rested his feet on the paper-covered table.

"Really? I would have thought she hated you."

"Oh, c'mon, Moony… it could have been worse."

James started thinking of one of their encounters a month ago, Halloween, where Lily almost cursed him and his smile widened.

Turning to Sirius, who was also smiling, James wondered out loud, "Should I follow her? I mean, she might actually be mad at me this time."

He smiled at his sarcasm as he stood up and strode off towards the library (where he had guessed she had gone) before Padfoot could respond. Stepping out of the hole Lily had gone out of moments before, James saw a lone quill on the ground. Picking it up, he noticed it as one he had seen Lily holding before and guessed she had dropped it on her way to the Hogwarts library. James looked up and realized that the quill was pointing the way towards a corridor that did not lead to the library.

"I guess she changed her mind…" James muttered as he started walking off in the direction that all sources pointed to. After walking for a few moments, he passed a bathroom and heard a sniff. Turning, he noticed it was a girl's bathroom. James hesitated but decided against it and did not open the door but walked on.

Potter spent a good fifteen minutes looking for his crush before giving up and going back to his house's common room. Since he had wandered the halls many times before, he was not at all lost as most would be and it did not take him long until he passed the bathroom. As soon as he was directly in front of the wooden door, it opened and a wave a red hair came out. Stopping abruptly, James was almost knocked over by Lily Evans coming out of the room. They both stared at each other for what seemed like hours but was really seconds before James Potter noticed her eyes: her brilliantly green eyes were red and puffy as if she had been…

"Were you crying, Evans?" James asked in the most non-jeering voice she had heard him mutter.

Her eyes widened in a way that told she had not realized it looked that obvious. She quickly stammered something along the lines of "of course not" before she pushed past the boy and ran towards the Gryffindor tower, her face as red as her hair.

Potter stood there for a moment, playing the scene over and over again in his head.

"She was crying," James thought after realizing nothing in the event that just took place could be changed by him thinking about it. "Was... it something I...?"

He started walking, passed the Fat Lady, and onto the grounds and finally stopping at the foot of the Gryffindor tower. He sat there thinking about Lily's wet eyes.

"It couldn't have been me," he whispered furiously, "I would never make Evans cry…."

After sitting there for a half an hour, the sky was starting to turn dark and he realized that he should go back inside. Running back towards his common room, he suddenly came up with an idea.

The next morning, being Saturday, was being greeted with laziness all around. As far as everyone knew, their fellow students were laying in bed, getting breakfast, or just lounging around the common rooms before going out onto the warm, sunny grounds. The only exception was James Potter who was whispering with Sirius Black while they sat near the door of the girl's dormitory. Every now and then, a girl would come out and eye the two boys suspiciously, but the boys would only look up to see who the girl was, shake their heads, then resume talking.

"I- No its not Lily," James said as he looked up at a blonde girl as she stumbled at the site of them.

"Okay, Prongs, tell me again what happened."

"She came out of the bathroom looking like she had just cried and… I really don't- I think I might have done something…" James sighed as he shook his head at his friend.

"So you're waiting here to apologize? You know she might never come out… she's a girl! They can stay up in their rooms forever! Are you going to stay here all day?"

James sighed and finally said, "Yeah, sure."

Sirius got up with a grunt and said, "Well I'm hungry so I'm going to breakfast, I'll be back later." He walked out of the door, past a group of girls who giggled as he swept his hair out of his face.

James moved towards the wall and rested his head on its hard surface with a deep sigh. Without realizing it, his eyelids closed and his mind filled with a dream.

There he was with Lily on the side of the lake, holding hands. He turned to the girl at his side and beamed at her, but when he saw her face, she was crying. James jumped at the sight of the tears and leaned towards her.

"Why are you crying, Lily?"

But all the girl did was stand up and stride over to a tree. Turning around, he saw Lily walking towards Severus Snape. He jumped up and ran over to the boy with the long, oily, lanky hair and punched him. As soon as his fist met Snape's face there were a loud bang and a door slamming woke James.

His eyes snapping open, he saw the girl of his dreams standing there, looking at him with a look of mixed emotions. James jumped up and walked the few steps so he was now right in front of Lily. He took it as somewhat of a sign that she did not yell in his face and run off. He took a deep breath and immediately felt butterflies zoom into his empty stomach.

Lily watched at the dark-haired boy walked over to her and she was frozen with curiosity.

"Why were you outside the girl's dorm?" Lily said in an almost whisper that surprised her.

"I-," but as James started to speak he felt more nervous than he had any other time he had spoken to Lily. Taking another deep breath he tried to speak again, "Lily, I… um… last night…. I saw that you were crying and I just thought that er I did something and I wanted to," he cleared his throat, "I wanted to apologize for anything I did to make you cry because that's the last thing I want to happen."

He said the last few words in a rush and hoped Lily had understood him. But when Lily's green eyes started to fill with water, James' hazel ones grew as he stepped back.

"Merlin- Did I make you cry again? I-," he swore quietly as Lily smiled which confused him even more.

"James, you didn't make me cry, though you did help…. No…. I'm just very confused. About loads of things," Lily giggled as she stepped closer to James. The truth was, he was what she was confused about. For the last couple of months, she couldn't help but think about him, which was the last thing she wanted to do. And with him acting all mature lately: it was just too much.

"Oh, well… since you seem to hate me, I just thought that I was the cause of um… yeah…" James ruffled his hair unconsciously in a nervous way.

"I-," Lily's face turned pink, 'I don't hate you… well you do annoy me… but…"

"You mean you actually like me? Not Snape-," he had said the last think without thinking: the dream still being remotely fresh in his mind.

"What? Why would you bring up Sev- that person at a time like this!" Lily's voice was rising gradually, " What does he have to do with me and-!" Lily sighed angrily as she stepped back from the boy.

"I mean… He's always looking at you and…" James stepped toward Lily again as he told her he was sorry once more. He smiled inside as he thought of the funny little dance they were doing.

"You know him and I aren't friends anymore, and now you know that I don't hate you and…" Lily stepped closer to James so there wasn't a lot of space between then anymore. She was surprised at how she wasn't as annoyed with him as she should have been. Her courage was interesting also; the fact that she had been so bold as to not run out of the room with fear was weird.

It happened to suddenly, that James didn't register it at first. Lily had grabbed his hand and had started walking towards the portrait hole to go to breakfast.

Over the next few hours, everyone knew that Lily Evans and James Potter were going out or that they were much closer than ever. Even their friends were surprised at the sudden happenings.

"I can't believe how fast this spread," said Lily as she sat with James under a tree with Remus, Sirius, and Peter. She was looking around at all the people watching her hold hands with Potter.

"Let them talk, it doesn't matter," James had had a grin on her face ever since his mind registered what had happened.

"Well everyone knew it was going to happen sooner or later, even though everyone thought you hated us, Evans." Sirius had laughed once he saw his best friend walking into the Great Hall hand in hand with the girl.

Remus smiled as he continued to read his book and Peter looked at the couple in awe with his small eyes. Lily was shocked at what had happened, shocked but surprisingly euphoric.

"I need to go get a book from my room for Transfiguration, I'll be right back," Lily stood up as she spoke to her boyfriend. James stood up with her and before she walked away, she kissed him softly on the cheek. She turned away and started walking to the castle and he did not see her face turn pink and she didn't see James' face turn as red as her hair.

As soon as he sat back down, James was hit hard in the arm. Turning, he saw Sirius with an evil grin upon his face.

"What was that for?"

"You do realize you are now dating Lily Evans, right? THE Lily Evans! The Lily Evans every guy wants to date, the girl you have been pining for during the last what? Three years!"

At this, a huge grin slid across James' face. Remus was now looking up and laughing at the dazed look on his friend. Peter, who had been looking at James like a king had a small smile upon his face. Sirius was clutching his sides with laughter as he hit James' arm again.

"You guys don't mind her hanging out with us, do you?" James, who still had a silly grin on, looked at his three friends.

Remus shook his head and James knew that he liked Lily. "You know we all like her, she is really nice…." He trailed off as he looked down at his book, once again entranced with the words.

Laughing, Sirius nodded and James took this as a yes. Peter also nodded but not as vigorously as the others would have.

As the guys laughed, Lily sat back down at James' side with a thin book in her arms. Leaning against him, Lily opened the book and started to read as James put his arm around her and tapped her shoulder.

"What?"

"Let's go take a walk."

"But I just got this book-"

"Come on, Lil."

Reluctantly, Lily set her book down and got up to walk with James. They headed to the edge of the forest without seeing Severus Snape watching them with look of utter horror upon his face that was partially covered with his greasy hair.

"So what made you stop hating me?" James asked as they walked behind a few trees.

Lily blushed as she said, "I don't know. After a while some of your jokes became funny and I didn't get as annoyed when you asked me out…"

James squeezed her hand and said, "I really like you Lily, and you know that right?"

Lily turned to him and said, "Yes I do James."

James stopped and quietly said, "You've never called be James before."

And without responding with words, Lily leaned up towards James.

"What-" but before he could go on, she lessened the gap between the two and their lips met.

A wonderful sensation went through both of their bodies. The kiss, small at first, deepened. Their mouths opened and James' hands went to her hips and hair. Lily's hands wrapped around his neck as the kissed became more passionate. Lightly, they went backwards and Lily was pushed against the tree as the continued to kiss.

After coming up for air for a moment, James whispered, "I think I more than like you…"

He kissed her neck as she opened her eyes and looked into his deep hazel ones.

"What?"

James plunged into her fantastically green eyes and knew it was true.

"I love you Lily Evans."

Lily pushed he backwards in surprise. James was slightly startled himself when she let go.

"You… what?" Lily's insides were churning as if they had been thrashed around in the Whomping Willow, but somewhere deep she felt a ping of happiness.

"I..." James was lightly confused because this wasn't how he thought she would take it.

But before he could speak again, Lily smiled. A sweet smile that would have filled the place with light if it wasn't noon and the sun shining. She filled in the gap between herself and James once again and kissed him.

It was a full mouth kiss that seemed to last forever. Their hands everywhere and their mouths gracefully exploring each other, they knew. Being together was the one thing they had been missing in each of their lives, and they knew. They knew that they were meant to be, and as the continued to kiss, they both realized. As they broke apart and looked into each other's faces, in each of their minds, hearts, and souls: they knew for a fact that they were in love.

End.