Disclaimer: I don't own Harry Potter, and if I did, all the books would all be out by now and I would be reading them. This is a small romance fanfiction about Lilly and James.

Catch it like a Snitch

Chapter 1: Prats

"Oh! I can't stand him anymore!"

Lily slammed her books onto the table, spilling ink everywhere as she did, and glared across the room like an eagle watching its prey. Lily's friend, Brianna, completely ignored this outburst. Lily fumed so much about James Potter that it was utterly impossible to care about it anymore. Everyday, several times per hour, Lily could be heard cursing James to oblivion and wishing he would vanish; death threats were also quite normal as of late.

"Lily," Brianna sighed, not looking up from her book, "James is never going to change. Just give it a rest and try to live with him, already."

These words had a very negative effect.

"Brianna!" shouted Lily, a bit too loud for being indoors, "How can you possibly defend that egotistical, obnoxious, redundant little prat!"

"Did you call for me, my sweet?" said a deep, handsome voice.

Lily turned around and, sure enough, there stood James Potter. He was wearing an expression of distinct impishness, as usual, and ruffled his hair unnecessarily in an attempt to look more stupid. Lily cast him a nasty look, turned away angrily in an effort to ignore him, and waved her wand to clean up the ink; she had only just noticed that it was spilt all over the floor.

"Tusk, tusk!" mocked James, walking around the chair and forcing Lily to look at him, "I'm only answering your call, you know. There's no need to have a fit!"

Lily, again, cast him a filthy look.

"I wouldn't call for you if I were hanging by one finger on the end of a cliff!" she spat, jumping up with a rush of pure hatred.

"My dear," cooed James, pretending to sound worried, "if you were on the end of a cliff you wouldn't need to call for me! I would be there faster then-"

"Oh, shut-up!" Lily interrupted, bumping him on purpose as she stormed away.

Lily thundered up the stairs to girl's dormitory, stopped at the top most stair to shout 'Prat!', and slammed the door so hard she caused a picture to fall off the wall. The man inside it looked very disgruntled indeed.

"Yikes." James chuckled, sitting in the chair that Lily had previously occupied, "She's in a worse temper then usual, today, isn't she?"

Brianna snorted loudly, turning the page of her book as she did.

"She's still upset about you putting that dead Doxy in her hair." Brianna smirked, sounding half amused and half disappointed.

"Oh, is that it?" said James, not sounding sorry at all. "I thought it was because I ruined her potion in class today; I put a chocolate frog in her cauldron to see what would happen."

At this, James stood up and walked away. He was hailed by his usual gang of friends (Peter Pettigrew, Remus Lupin, and Sirius Black), and sat with them to finish his homework by the fire. The Gryffindor common room was usually very full, but since most people were still down at dinner, it was only the Marauders and a couple of giggling first years. Brianna sighed heavily, finally putting down her book, and watched the boys across the room with a heavy heart. If only James would start acting his age… He liked Lily so much, and yet he made an effort every day to terrorize her life. Brianna just didn't get it.

Meanwhile, upstairs, Lily was screaming as loud as she could into her pillow. The sound was muffled, of course, and she tossed it aside when she finally ran out of breath.

"He is so…so…"

But whatever James was, Lily never said. With that, she fell face first into her four poster bed, groaned, and took a very well deserved nap.

Brianna came up some time later to check on her, decided not to wake her, and went back down to the now crowded common room. James and his friends were having a grand old time. Most of the people in the room were laughing as the marauders stood in front of the fire and reenacted their finest high jinks of the day.

Slowly, but surely, the room emptied out. Soon, Brianna looked up from her book and realized that only James and she were sitting in the room anymore. Brianna stood to leave, but James spotted her and prevented her from going. With no friends around, and no one to show off for, James was just as normal as everybody else.

"Brianna, could I have a word?" said James, sounding a little more serious then usual.

"Yes?" said Brianna, wondering what he could possibly be planning.

"Look," he said, glancing around for eavesdroppers, "Is Lily still mad at me, or has she calmed down?"

Brianna shook her head at him. Lily was asleep, and sleep usually made her a whole lot calmer.

"Good." Said James flatly, picking up his quill again, "I have to ask her something important tomorrow and it will be a whole easier if she isn't in one of her moods."

Brianna nodded at this, collected her school things, and walked off to bed. James followed suit, and the common room became empty once more. Brianna lay awake for a few minutes, pondering what James wanted to ask Lily, and fell asleep with a huff. She assumed that it was nothing to look forward to.

Well, that's chapter one! Let me know how you like it!