Disclaimer: I own nothing except Joey, but also she has been inspired by the marvellous work of JKR! Wow.

1 – The awakening

"I would never in a million years go out with you! Not even if I was paid to do it! Can't you just get that into you big fat head!?"

James Potter woke up with a start and sat up in his bed. He had just had a dream. Well, dream was not the right word, but he had just dreamed about his last day of the 6th year at Hogwarts School of Witchcraft and Wizardry. He had asked Lily Evans to go out with him and that was what he had gotten in response. It was not because he liked that she yelled at him, but he just liked her so much and had no idea how to make her go out with him but keep asking her.

James lay for a couple of minutes and kept thinking at Lily before he got up from his bed and over to a mirror. A 17 year old boy with warm hazel eyes looked back at him. His pitch-black hair stuck out in all directions and looked like a bird's nest on top of his head. He shook his head and it fell down a down. He looked out of the window. It couldn't be over midday yet. Across his window he could see a young girl cleaning up her room.

It was Joey, one of James's best friends. They had known each other since they both were four. They had both attended to Hogwarts when they turned 11. Before then, James had found out that Joey, her father and two brothers could perform magic just like his parents. Joey had very short blonde hair and sky-blue eyes; she was a bit shorter than James but not much. If James hadn't considered Joey as a sister, a good friend from childhood and therefore a girl he had nothing but friendly feelings for, she would be a girl he would like to date.

Yet, she was nothing compared to Lily. Lily had thick, shiny red hair that fell gently around her shoulders and bright green eyes that shined like green emeralds. She was almost a head lower than James (last time he saw her) and had a perfect body which many boys at Hogwarts admired and girls envied. She was perfect according to James. He pictured Lily in his eyes; she was wearing that little black skirt he loved so much and her arms were around his own neck and-

"Stop it!" James muttered to himself.

He had no idea how, but every time he thought of something that had nothing to do with Lily, his thoughts always ended up with her.

"What's that noise for?" a voice asked from the other bed.

James looked over at his best friend, Sirius, also known among friends as Padfoot, who had been sleeping until now. Sirius had dark hair just like James, but his was sleeker then James's and not as messy. They were like brothers to each other, and were the best pranksters that had ever attended Hogwarts. They spend at least half of their spare time at detention, and the other half on the Quidditch pitch. The fact that this meant they had no time left for homework didn't concern them at all. They did fine without it. Along with Sirius, James had two other very good friends. Remus Lupin and Peter Pettigrew. Remus was called Moony and was a normal sized boy with light brown hair and brown eyes. Once a month he would lose a bit weight and look more tired and in the night he would seem a bit more hairy, as James said when other people where near them. He was the responsible one in the group (if you could call any of them responsible). Then there was Peter; he was called Wormtail. He was little and a bit chubby. He had dirty blonde hair and small eyes. He was quite and more a 'watcher' than James, Sirius and Remus. The four boys combined were called the Marauders and was known for their pranks and popularity at Hogwarts.

"I thought it was time for you to get up." James said after some time to Sirius.

He walked slowly over to Sirius's bed and pushed him out of it. He hit the floor with a loud bump.

"OUCH!" Sirius exclaimed.

"Now, get up!" James grinned.

Sirius slowly got up and the two boys ate the first meal of the day. After eating, they went out to the back yard and began the play with a red ball. James had bought it in a shop in Diagon Alley a year back, and the ball was not all controllable.

They had a lot of fun until Sirius kicked to the ball a little too hard and James did not stop it. The ball flew into the garden that belonged to Joey and her family, and a girl's shriek was heard. James and Sirius looked at each other with big eyes and James quickly crawled over the hedge, and Sirius walked through the little gate, and they found a red haired girl lying on the ground. Her hair was in two long plaits and her eyes were closed, but James recognised who she was nevertheless.

"Please tell me that, that's not Lily Evans," he groaned to Sirius.

"That hair and that body are not to be mistaken," Sirius said and looked Lily up and down.

"Padfoot!" James said sharply and placed his elbow between Sirius's ribs.

"Ouch! ..." Sirius asked and rubbed his ribs. "But what's she doing here?"

James had a hunch. Lily was Joey's best friend and had been since they started at Hogwarts. What James found strange was that Lily had always accepted that he and Joey were as good friends as they were. She had never complained when Joey spend time with James and left her alone with some of the other girls. Now she was obvious spending the summer with Joey.

"I think I know…"

In the same second Joey came out to the garden from the house. When she saw Lily lying on the ground she dropped a jug of lemonade from her hands and ran over to Lily.

"Merlin! What have you done to her?"

"Well…" James began. "We were playing with a ball and Sirius kicked it over the hedge and we think it hit her because we heard a girl scream."

"You two just can't stay away from trouble, can you?" Joey asked and looked around. "Now, where did I put my wand?"

She found it and pointed at Lily while muttering something. After some seconds Lily blinked a couple of times and slowly sat up with her one hand placed on the side of her head.

"What a headache!" she mumbled and looked at Joey. "What happened?"

"You better ask them," Joey said and pointed at James and Sirius.

Lily looked at James and Sirius. As her gaze fell on James she fell backwards to the ground again. "I think I'm still dreaming. I thought I just saw Potter and Black in your back yard."

"Not dreaming, Lily," Joey said, grabbing Lily's hand and pulled her up again.

"What are they doing here?" Lily asked Joey, pretending they weren't there, or just ignoring them.

"Ask them."

"Please don't make me talk to that," she said, obviously referring to James.

"Then I'll do it," Joey said and looked at James. "James, Lily would like to know what you are doing here," she continued before Lily could stop her.

James showed the white of his eyes and sighed. "Sirius and I played with a ball and we kicked it over the hedge and it hit Lily. And that is why she's lying on the ground now," James said to Joey.

"You WHAT?" Lily yelled, suddenly talking directly to James.

"Well, we didn't do it on purpose," James explained quickly.

"I mean, how could you do that? Joey, please tell me you do not live next-door to that."

"Lily, you know that. I told you once in second year."

Lily was quite for some time. "That's… That's right. I had totally forgotten."

"Evans, we're really sorry we hit you…" James said to Lily.

Lily looked from Joey to James. "Hmph!" she just uttered before she got up and stormed inside.

"I'll go talk to her," Joey said and got up. "See you around."

"Should we go back?" Sirius asked.

James shrugged. "Yeah. Perhaps that would be a good idea," he said and picked up the ball.

When they entered the garden again Karen Potter stood and looked at them with her arms crossed.

"What?" James asked as he saw the look at his mother's face.

"You got into trouble, didn't you?" she just asked.

"What makes you think that?" Sirius grinned.

"I heard someone yell from in there."

James looked at Sirius and shook his head.

"It was nothing," he said.

"I hope not. Lise has asked us to dinner tonight, and it would be sad to start with you two go over at apologize for something."

"But we didn't do anything," James said. "And you're not serous about the dinner, are you?"

"Yes I am and you're definitely going." – Sirius groaned silently – "Lise also told me Josephina has a friend over. You better be nice to her too."

"If she's nice to us," James mumbled and Sirius made a snort.

Karen looked at them for some time. "Now go inside and wash your hands. And you better be down in the kitchen at 6 when we have to be over there."

"Yes, Mum," James muttered and slowly walked inside the house with Sirius behind him.

As soon the boys were inside they ran upstairs to wash their hands.

"Does she want a war to break out at the table tonight?" Sirius asked as soon they were at the bathroom.

"I don't know… perhaps," James said and shrugged. "Just keep me away from Evans, otherwise I'll ask her out at least ten times during dinner."

Sirius grinned. "Sure, mate."

James and Sirius spend the rest of the day in the pool where they played and had loads of fun. None of them heard or saw anything of the girls.

"Do you think that's a good sign or a bad sign that we haven't seen them?" Sirius asked James.

James looked towards the hedge. "I don't know. I thought girls loved spending time outside when the weather is like this."

"So did I."

"You don't think there's anything wrong with Lily, do you?" James asked, a bit anxious.

Sirius pulled himself out of the pool and sat at a chair instead. James went up after him.

"Naah. The ball is not that hard. Is it?" Sirius asked back.

"Nope. They're probably just gone to the beach or something."

"We'll see them tonight."

James nodded and lay down on the lawn.

Ten minutes to six that evening James walked out from the bathroom, pulling a white shirt over his head. He was pretty nervous about how he would act towards Lily that night. The boys had planned something Sirius could say if James started to annoy Lily.

When James entered his room Sirius was just pulling a red shirt over his head.

"Ready to help me tonight?" James asked.

Sirius nodded. "Sure. Just try to behave yourself. Remember your mother and father will be there."

"That's also one of the things that concern me," James said and let his hand run thought his hair.

He was nervous and he was pretty sure it could be seen.

He and Sirius made the way down to the kitchen ten minutes later, ready to go. His parents stood and waited for them.

"Ready boys?" James's father, Evan, asked them.

James nodded, but just as they had gotten out of the door he suddenly thought that his shirt was not good enough.

"Where're you going?" His dad asked when he stopped.

"Finding another shirt," James called as he ran up to his room.

There he found a dark green shirt instead of the white one. He pulled the white one off and put the green one on. He looked out of the window once more and saw the back of Joey walk out of the room. He took a last look at himself in the mirror, and when he thought he looked reasonable he walked downstairs. Outside the air was warm and the sky was still light blue, but darkness was lowering down around him as they walked across the garden. He stopped in front of small gate into the Sands' garden. He took a deep breath and then opened the gate, not knowing that the evening would be a lot more different than he ever would have imagined.

Please tell me what you think :)