Okay. No multi-chapter story has come from my writing vault in a while, so here's something I hope you find interesting!

--

Preface: White Horse

Song by Taylor Swift

Say your sorry that face of an angel comes out just when you need it to...

--

LILY POV

The wind pushed my hair in my face, covering my vision with streaks of red as I ran out of the Great Hall and on to the dock over the Black Lake. I stopped at the end and sat down. A tingling sensation overcame me as I dangled my feet into the cool water. I could feel the tears coming, slowly but painfully. They left ghosts of themselves to mark their appearances on my saddened face. I didn't bother wiping them off because I knew it would be obvious I had been crying anyways. I hunched my shoulders slightly and I could see my face looking back at me in the Black Lake. I didn't like the face looking back at me. A few tears fell into the lake and distorted the reflection.

"Lily?" A voice whispered from behind me. Before I turned around, I already knew who it was. James Potter. I knew he would try to find me in my moment of weakness. He would probably try to make a move on me when I was most vulnerable. It's typical.

"Go away. I don't want to talk." I said in an annoyed tone. Unfortunately, James always sees past the way my voice sounds. All he hears is the words, mostly when I don't want to talk to him.

"I know." He sat next to me, taking off his tan sandals and dipping his feet into the water with me.

"Why? Why do you always do this?" I buried my face into the darkness of my hands.

"Do what?"

"This! I tell you I don't want to talk and you sit down anyways!" I flung my arms out, narrowly missing James. He dodged it at the last second.

"Hey. I just want to sit with you! I never said I wanted to talk. I just want to listen." I realized that he was being earnest.

"Yes. But I said I didn't want to talk. Who are you going to listen to?"

"I figured you'd get sick of the silence and want to talk yourself." He leaned back on his elbows and looked forward. I had to admit, it was really sweet that he just wanted to hear me talk. But I was also annoyed. Can't he ever just leave me alone?

I hadn't realized neither of us had talked for a while until I heard James splash a bit of water around with his feet. I mus of looked pissed because when James turned to look at me, he blushed and ran his hand through his messy nest of hair..

"Sorry. I didn't mean to annoy you..." I almost felt bad for him. At that moment, I felt as though I owed James something for all these years of being cruel and unforgiving towards him.

"Okay. You want me to talk? I'll talk. But don't interrupt me." I glanced at James. His eyes lit up and he gave me a genuine smile that I rarely saw. "This morning, I was walking to the Great Hall for breakfast with Clare and Samantha. Well when we sat down, Severus walked over to where we were sitting before we even got to get our food."

Well he grabbed me and-and pulled me from the table. Clare and Sammie tried to protest but he glared at them and threatened them with his wand. He brought me to the hall and s-said 'Evans, don't you dare come near me again. I don't want you and the amature witches you call friends around me anymore'. And he slapped me. Severus slapped me. Across the face, too. We hadn't even bothered him. I don't know what he was talking about." My voice quivered a bit with anger. James nodded.

"Happy now? I told you. Now you can go brag to your friends that you got Lily Evans to talk." I leaned on my knees and sighed.

"Why would I brag about that? What is this image that you have set up in your mind of me? Do you really think that I would go out of my way just to get you to talk and then treat you as some sort of award to brag about?" James had a look of disgust written on his face.

"Well, yeah! I've always figured you just wanted the catch. Wanted the attention. I thought you wanted headlines that said 'James Potter Gets Stubborn Lily Evans Out Of Her Shell, Full Story Inside'. Isn't that how you and Sirius work? You want the catch, not the being."

"No Lily. Only Sirius works that way, and even he's growing out of it. This is why you should actually meet someone before putting a label on them." James shook his head and stood up. I stood up also. "You can't know everything, Lily. You've always been the 'good girl'. You've always wanted to keep yourself safe and make sure everything goes perfectly. Well, it doesn't. You can't always have things go smoothly, Lily! You've been telling me I'm arrogant and such a toe-rag, but the only time we talk is when you reject me or stick up your nose and walk away. You don't know me. You know the thing you've built me up to be. And I'm sick of it. I'm not gonna take anymore rejection. I think it's better if we just stayed away from each other." James picked up his sandals and walked away. Before he turned around, I could see that his face was red and his eyes were watery.

I couldn't help but feel helpless and confused. Was I really like that? Now that I thought about it, I always was a bit on the mean side to James. But I didn't know it was hurting him. I felt my lip quiver and I ran off towards where I had just came from, running from the faces of some girls who had skipped breakfast. I wished at that moment I could run from the face that was mine. But James Potter made sure I could never run away from that. I could've puked at that moment. I was absolutely disgusted with myself.

--

This is just the preface. Each chapter will be named after a song and it will have a bit of lyrics from the song under it :D. This story is dedicated to Clare and Samantha (or Sam or Sammie or whatever :D). Yes, they will make more appearances. Clare is awesome cos she wrote some pretty awesome songs ;)! Sam is awesome cos she loves Harry Potter and How I Met Your Mother, but come on. Marshall is sooo much cooler than Barney.