"Hey Evans! Evans wait up!" James Potter shouted after Lily Evans as he did everyday in the corridor outside the History of Magic classroom, and every day the result was the same:

He would call after her but she would ignore him and keep walking whilst quickening her pace. He would try to follow her but his fellow marauders would call after him and drag him off to their next class.

That's how it was for three years until one day in fifth year it all changed...

On the day in question, two weeks before the Christmas holidays, with snow building upon the castle windows. James Potter was coming out of a particularly uninteresting History of Magic lesson when he spotted a familiar red-head moving through the crowd.

"Hey Evans! Evans wait up!" James shouted, trying to reach her.

"Oh for Merlin's sake Potty would you just leave me alone!" answered Lily angrily whirling around to face him, "I have been ignoring you for three years now anyone with a brain the size of a pea would realize that I don't want to go out with you, talk to you or even be near you if I can help it!"

"Why?" James asked with a hurt and exasperated expression on his face.

"Why? You have to ask why?! You went out with my best friend, Katie, for two years, then she caught you snogging Kimberly, the slut from third year, in a broom closet while she was on prefect duty! And that's not the worst of it! When Katie found you and asked what the hell you were doing what did you say?! You asked: 'who are you again'?! That's what you said! You asked your girlfriend of two years who she was!" Lily shouted incredulously.

James winced at the memory "Yeah, well, I said I was sorry about a million times! What could I do if she wouldn't forgive me, it wasn't my fault she dumped me!"

"What the hell are you on you prick! You...you...you...ugh!!" Lily screamed throwing her hands in the air as she walked away.

James stood perplexed. "What just happened?" he asked no one in particular.

"Lily Evans just rejected you. Again." Sirius answered as he pulled James off to Potions down in the dungeons.

"Oh hey Lily! What's up? You look really, really angry." Katie, Lily's best friend since first year, asked cautiously when Lily got to the common room after Charms, their last class of the day.

"You don't want to know." She replied wearily, flopping into the armchair by the crackling fire.



"You know that just makes me want to know more right?" Katie said as she crashed down beside her.

"No seriously-"but at that she was cut off by Sirius rushing over and saying;

"Did someone call me?" with a sly smile on his face from the use of the pun.

"No Sirius as always no one wants to talk to you!" Lily answered rolling her eyes.

"Oh ouch! What's gotten into you today Ms Meanie?" Sirius asked grinning.

"As opposed to me being all kind and preppie usually?" Lily's voice was dripping with sarcasm.

"True, true." Sirius shrugged, "So what's up with you guys?" he asked making himself comfortable in another of the armchairs around the fire that he had plonked himself in when he came over to them.

"Well actually we were in the middle of a private conversation so if you could bugger of that would be great thanks!" Lily said pointedly.

Sirius got up from his chair looking sullen and murmured something about Prongs being nuts.

The minute Sirius was gone Katie reached over and thumped Lily in the arm.

"Ow! What the hell was that for?!" Lily asked nursing her sore arm.

"Why do you always have to be so mean to him?" Katie asked looking angry.

"Why do you care so much about how I treat Sirius? It's not like you like him or anything!"

Katie blushed and looked at the ground hoping Lily wouldn't notice her flaming cheeks.

"Oh my god you do like him!" Lily screeched in awe.

"Would you shut up! I do not like him I just...I dunno I just... it's hard to explain. It's like every time I see him I get this fluttery feeling in my stomach and it won't stop until he leaves but the thing is I don't want him to leave because then I miss him and the feeling changes to emptiness." Katie answered staring at the ground dreamily.

"Wow, you're right, you don't like him...you love him! How long have you felt like this?! And why the hell didn't you tell me?!" Lily said in disbelief.

"It started after James and I broke up. In the middle of the night, one random night, I couldn't sleep so I went up to the astronomy tower, you know how the view up there always relaxes me. Well when I got up there Sirius was there leaning against the wall just staring out at the stars, we started talking and I ended up falling asleep up there with his arm wrapped around me!"

"Aw that's so cute! What did you talk about?" Lily asked.

"Mostly James, but after a while we started talking about ourselves and stuff we liked and it was just really cool. Anyway it was a once off, the next night I went up again and he wasn't there so you know, whatever."



"That is so not 'whatever' I saw the way he looked at you there it was like he wanted to tell you something but didn't know how!" Lily exclaimed excitedly turning to look at her friend full in the face.

"Ha! Whatever, anyway I'm exhausted I'm going to bed you coming?" Katie asked standing up from the big, comfy armchair and stretching.

"Yeah same here. But don't think you're getting out of this conversation we will continue it tomorrow!" Lily answered warningly.

"Ugh do we have to?" Katie wrinkled her nose in distaste.

"Yes!"

And with that they went up to their dorms and their comfy four poster beds!