Catch Me if You Can

A fanfiction written by Kerri Filippone and Katie Regal

Disclaimer: We don't own Harry potter, or any other trademark used in this fanfiction unless we say we do in a note.

Chapter One: Catch me if you can

A sixteen year old girl with crimson hair walked out of the herbology green house, after staying back helping Professor Sprout with some biting tantaculum. Her best friend, Catlyn Marks, ran up to her with her dark brown hair flying behind her. It seemed like whatever she was about to say was important.

When Catlyn reached Lily, she was entirely out of breath, having been probably marching up some set of stairs inside the castle and then rushed here to tell her friend something. She was bent over with her hands on her knees, panting.

"James...coming...now...RUN!" she uttered.

Lily looked at her friend. "Thanks." Then she began to run away from Hogwarts castle and towards the Forbidden Forest.

As Lily ran, she smirked. This game had been going on for a while, and she absolutely despised it. So why would she even play it? Because, if she didn't she would win a free date the arrogant, conceited, all-around git, James Potter.

It had started like this. Only just about three weeks ago, during the first week of the term, her dear friend Allie Hattleburg had insisted that if she couldn't go out with James, then Lily must. The problem was that James was Lily's WORST enemy. So Lily thought everything was happy-go-lucky then. But what she didn't know was that (behind her back) Allie had made a deal with James that if he could catch Lily during certain intervals of time, chosen by her, Catlyn, and James' friend, Sirius Black (to make it fair), then she must go out with him. If Lily refused to play the game, then she would end up getting caught and having to go out with him. So really, Lily had absolutely no choice.

It was getting easier though, because Catlyn was always finding out when James would be coming, and warning her to run. Although this was against the rules of the game, Catlyn couldn't bear it if Lily got caught. More than likely because Lily would probably end up committing more than one murder.

This all rushed through Lily's head as she ran across the grounds. She was almost at the forest. Her right leg hurt, because of her messenger-style book bag banging against it with all of the heavy spell books inside it.

She reached the forest. Quickly, she enclosed herself inside the trees. Not too far in though, because she was afraid of getting lost. Lily set her books down, she was lucky to have a free period right now (since she quit muggle studies back in the beginning of 6th year) because she was afraid she may be hiding there for a while. James was becoming more determined each time to find her.

Lily peered out through the trees. She saw Catlyn standing there; she had a free period too. She had quite Arithmancy because she thought it would be useless to her. She must have caught her breath, because she stood tall once again. Beside her was a boy of her age with hazel eyes and particularly messy jet-black hair. James Potter.

He seemed to be arguing with Catlyn, since he had a look of mixed anger and disappointment. Obviously he was angry that he didn't get there in time. Lily suppressed her giggles. As much as she hated the game, she couldn't help but laugh at the fact that she was winning. If only he would stop doing such stupid things, like this game. Then maybe I would consider going out with him. Lily thought.

After a few moments James stormed off. Obviously mad that he had lost. As soon as he stepped inside the castle and closed the heavy, wooden doors, Catlyn began to run down the hilly grounds of Hogwarts in Lily's direction.

She stopped about 8 feet away from Lily, just outside the forest. "Lily...Lils...it's safe to come out now, he's gone." she called.

"I know. I saw you two fighting."

"Well, it wasn't really fighting. He was just in a huffy because once again, he lost the game."

"Oh...Catlyn?"

"Yeah?"

"Are we really going to have to play this idiotic game all year?"

"If that is what it takes to make sure you don't have to go out with James, yes."

Lily muttered a swear under her breath. "Ok...do you want to go back up to the common room then?"

"Sure."

The two girls headed up with their things to the Gryffindor Common Room, all the way joking about how great they were at a game they didn't even like. When they got to the portrait of the Fat Lady, Lily said the password: "Beetle eyes" and then entered.

Only to see a very sullen James Potter sitting there, waiting.

"oh shi--shoot Lily corrected herself and ran as fast as she could, there were still five minutes left on the clock.

James chased Lily up and down the stairs and around the common room. Lily was fast, but so was James and he was always just a little bit more than an arms length behind her. Just as James was about to grab Lily by the hood of her cloak, when something rang and Allie called "TIME"

Lily smirked and straightened out her skirt, but James wasn't done yet. He grabbed Lily by the waist and kissed her. After a moment lily kissed him back, and after several minutes she realized what she was doing. Lily untangled her lips from James' and ran up the stairs frantically. Catlyn sighed, shook her head at her best guy friend and followed Lily up the stairs yelling her name.

Lily un-surprisingly didn't want to talk to anyone; she had closed the door that she had created as a passage-way from the Gryffindor girls common rooms to her head girl dorm. That kiss had created a spark, ok a ton of fireworks. But it was still unlike any other kiss she ever had.

'I can't possibly like Potter!' Lily yelled at her self 'I mean who could ever fall for those gorgeous eyes and adorable smile! And he was so fit and that hair! Lily smacked herself 'snap out of it Evans! I mean this is Potter! Get a hold of your self girl! You can't possibly like Potter!'

"Lily?" Catlyn called through the door, after breaking through the passage block Lily had put up," can we talk?" Lily wiped away the tears that she hadn't recognized until that moment. "Yeah, come on in."

Catlyn sat down on Lilys queen sized bed, putting an arm around her best friend. "Catie?" Lily asked tentively, using the name she had called Catlyn as a little girl, "I don't like Potter...right?"

"Well," Catlyn started in a very UN Catlyn like way, "I honestly can't answer that Lily bear, "It's your feelings, not mine."

"But Catie how could I possibly like Potter after all these years of detesting him?" Catlyn laughed which made Lily look at her oddly. "Do you remember, before Hogwarts when you I and Alex would always play together at his stables?" Catlyn asked, and Lily nodded "do you remember how Alex and I were the best of friends and then got together?" Lily nodded, "Well that has nothing to do with this!" Catlyn laughed, making Lily crack up and roll all over the floor laughing.

" Honestly though," Catlyn said, wiping her eyes as they recovered from their laughing fit, " remember Gia, and how she used to detest Paul, just like you hate James?" Lily nodded again smirking at the memory of the torturous things Gia used to do, "Well," Catlyn said digging through her pack and pulling out a letter, "This is an invitation to there wedding."

Lily nearly choked on her Sprite "GIA and PAUL! MARRIED!" she gasped and Catlyn nodded, "So if you do like James it's not that unusual"

"I can't believe it...I thought they hated each other...oh god Catlyn, please, that actually didn't help me feel better.", Lily said.

"Sorry...wait, why?" Catlyn said, a look of confusion on her face.

"Because..." Lily sighed exasperatedly ," If Gia and Paul hated each others guts, and then got married in the end, and I hate James' guts...". Her voice trailed off.

"Oh Lily, don't think like that. You never know where fate is going to take you. Gia and Paul aren't you and James, so forget about it. Forget about what just happened."

"It's not THAT easy Catie...because that isn't just something you forget, especially when the worse part of me doesn't want to forget it, and the better part does."

"Then what I have to tell you isn't going to be easy."

"Oh, great. Now what?"

"Well...James broke the rules. Neither of you is supposed to even go near each other except in class and during the "Catch Lily" times. Allie called 'TIME' before he kissed you. So now since it is his fault, you get to decide: Do you want to keep playing the game? Or you can quit the game and not have to worry about getting caught, and everything will be back to...well, not normal, but as close as it gets."

"You know what Catlyn; I swear you just want to see me unhappy." Lily huffed.

"Hey, who helped you the past three weeks? Unless you want me to turn on you..."

"NO!"

"So you'll keep playing the game?"

"Yes, WAIT! NO! I mean...uh...I don't know!"

"LILY!!!"

"WHAT!?!?! I can't decide this very minute!"

"Lily, only an hour ago you would have been screaming at me: 'I will NOT keep playing this stupid game!!! And you can tell Potter to GET-A-LIFE!'", Catlyn said mimicking Lily's voice.

"Yes, but this isn't an hour ago, is it?"

"No…"

The two girls sat there, and then all of a sudden burst into laughter. Neither of them knew why, maybe it was because they couldn't believe they had gotten themselves into such a stupid mess. Or rather, Lily had gotten herself into a stupid mess.

The girls laughter was broken by Allie running into the room, and excited look on her face.

"Oh my gosh, Lily! I can't believe it!!! YOU KISSED JAMES POTTER!!!!"

"Correction, he kissed me", Lily said, putting a serious look on her face.

"Yeah, but you DIDN'T PULL AWAY!!!!!!!", Allie protested.

"Only because I was in shock so my mind went blank and I had no idea what I was doing.", Lily fought back.

"Lily, this is like...headline news. There were quite a few gossip girls in the room when that happened; this is going to FLY across the school."

"Way to cheer her up, Allie." Catlyn glared at her.

"What? Lily, there probably isn't a girl in this school who wouldn't want to be in your shoes." Allie said.

"Then what am I?" Catlyn said

"Who knows?"

"ALLIE!!!"

"Ok, fine. ALMOST every girl in school would want to be in your shoes."

"Well, I wouldn't mind if they were." Lily said in a solid, strong tone.

"Whatever. Anyway, James is sulking downstairs. He feels like a total prat for doing that. I wish you'd go talk to him."

"Lily has to stay here, Allie. In case she still wants to play the game. If she does and goes down there and talks to him, then it will be her fault and James gets to decide." Catlyn said.

"Oh. Oh yeah! Lily, what are you going to do?" Allie asked.

"Hmm...Maybe if I got 2 seconds to think about it I could give you an answer, Allie."

"Sheesh, sorry."

The talk died down. After a few moments Lily spoke.

"Sorry, you two, but could you please leave. I need some time to think."

Catlyn and Allie left immediately.

The rest of the day seemed to take forever. Allie had been right, the news had traveled fast. Girls stared at Lily in awe, probably thinking that she had either entered the real world or had lost her mind to not want to date James, even after kissing him. She wished they would stop; she was not an exhibit at the museum.

But the girls in the halls weren't the only ones. It seemed like EVERYONE knew, and everyone cared. Apparently Lily had made it too well known she hated James, because this was like talk about the Vietnam War in America. It was important. Lily did her best to avoid the eye-goggling and jaw-dropping. Even those these people weren't her problems

James was her problem. She had to avoid him because she hadn't decided on what to do yet. Plus, she really didn't feel like talking to him, looking at him, or even being in the same room as him right now. Still, she would have to talk to him at some point and she would have to do it soon.

But Lily decided on whether or not to play the game or not first. If she didn't, she could go back to her regular life. That would be nice; not having to be constantly watching the clock to make sure James wasn't around. That would be awesome. But the catch with that was, before the game started, James hadn't kissed Lily. She remembered well how she had felt, and she couldn't deny it. He was perfect. But Lily was stubborn, she wasn't going to give in just because some full-of-himself idiot had kissed her and she had...liked it. It wasn't going to go down like that. But if she chose her regular life again, if James came up to her and asked her out, she would be much more vulnerable and eventually...probably say yes.

However, if she played the game, she wouldn't be able to give in to James, because she wouldn't be allowed near him. The game almost gave her protection over her feelings, even though it also gave the great possibility that James could catch her, and she would HAVE to go out with him. HAVE. That almost made Lily feel better, it wouldn't be her choice, and it would be the games. Even though she wouldn't mind it nearly as much as she would of at breakfast this morning in the Great Hall. Lily knew her decision.

Later that night in the Gryffindor Common Room, she found Allie. Allie was the founder of the game "Catch Me if You Can" so Lily had to tell her the decision.

"Allie! I made my decision."

Allie looked up from her magazine she was reading, and popped her gum loudly. "Yeah?"

"I've decided that I'll play the game."

"Really? Are you sure?"

"Positive. Don't question me."

"Fine, I'll tell Sirius, and he'll tell James. Be sure to tell Catlyn too."

"Ok then."

Lily headed up the stairs to her dorm. She wasn't satisfied at all, she was displeased. She wished Allie had never invented the stupid game. She sat there, perfectly fine. Chewing her gum and reading magazines. She didn't care. Life was perfect for her. She didn't have to hide from anyone, or have to hide secret feelings. She got her guys, she had her style, and she was passing her classes. Oh yeah, life was bliss on the other side of the window pane. But Lily could only look through. God forbid Lily have even half as good of a life as her friends.

She decided to just go to bed. Her homework was done for the rest of the week, and the only worry was to get caught by James now. Oh, and the emotional roller coaster inside of her that was urging her to just go out with James. Maybe Lily was as bad as James, she was being stubborn and ignorant, she didn't care what people told her, she wasn't going to cave in anytime soon.

As Lily went to bed, she thought of what James' reaction would be when Allie told him she was going to play the game.

But that wasn't going to be necessary, because James had been sitting in a dark corner, listening, when Lily was telling Allie her decision.