"Knock, knock." James Potter strode into the Gryffindor common room. Lily looked up from her Potions textbook to find that his hair was particularly messy, and that his forehead glistened with sweat.

"Bad dream?" Lily inquired, for it was about two in the morning.

"Well, sort of. But that can wait. What I need to ask you is if you'll go to Hogsmeade with me."

Lily sighed with exasperation. "James! I thought you had enough common sense to know the answer to that."

"Nope. Plus, answers can change."

"I wish you would stop asking me to go out with you! It ISN'T going to happen!" She huffed and stormed back up to her dormitory. She had had enough of James Potter for tonight. He had already asked her to Hogsmeade three times that day, and it was getting aggravating. Though she couldn't deny the small part of her... No. She would NOT like James Potter. He was James Potter.

After dinner that day, Lily had some time to herself. All she did was roam the castle, occasionally finding someone to talk to or objects that fascinated her. She briefly spoke to Nearly Headless Nick as well, because he had noticed that she seemed depressed, although she really hadn't herself. He had told her that if something had her down, she could talk to him in confidence. Lily really had appreciated the offer, but she politely declined, suddenly having a better idea.

Finding a small statue of a very sad looking fairy, she quoted, "Flip and fly, move aside, I have something I need to hide." The fairy slid over to reveal a passage that Chelsea and her had found as fourth years. It was a superb hiding spot, as it lead to an underground room and was very hard to come by.

She followed the tunnel, excited by the aspect of somewhere quiet. Well, that was not exactly what she got. Reaching the room, Lily saw none other than James himself sitting in the large armchair that she typically sat in.

Shocked, James looked up. His eyes were red and puffy; his cheeks glistened. He was crying. It appeared that he was trying to cover something in his lap up. "Lily? What? Uh, I'm just... Wait, how?... Uh..." He stammered something real intelligent like that.

"What's wrong? What's in your lap? How did you find this place?" The questions gushed out of Lily at a thousand miles per hour.

"After you turned me down again last night, I just needed..." James shifted slightly, and revealed the corner of a book resting in his hands. No! It was a journal! She stalked forward quickly and snatched it. "LILY! No! You can't...!" He grabbed wildly, but she was out of his reach. Rising from the chair, he tried to stop her, but saw that it was too late. She was leafing through the pages.

The cover read, "Journal: Lily Evans." As Lily thumbed through the thick journal, she caught fragments of the text. "First year. ...definitely hates me...most beautiful girl in Hogwarts...Second year...nothing...changed... Fifth year...guess...call us friends..." And finally, seventh year, that is, that year, "...thinking of giving up on her...who am I kidding?...never letting...go...love her."

For once in her life, Lily Evans was frozen. In shambles, she simply raced back to the girls dorm.

Lily knew she had to admit her feelings, but she just wanted to stall, chicken out, or crawl into a hole and never come out again. She wanted to bloody avoid him until they both went crazy.

Once again, she ventured to the secret room. All fears must be faced. The difference this time was that she had a weapon. Ish.

Munching on a bag of licorice, she stepped into the passage. She quickly swapped her licorice with one in the pocket of her robe, keeping one in her hand to look like it was directly from that bag.

Sure enough, as she stepped into the room, there he was. "Lily, I..."

"Shhh. It's okay. Licorice?" She asked, the look on her face kept innocent. He drew a piece out of the bag and nodded appreciatively. He bit into it, and time slowed down. Blinking once and shaking his head to clear it, he swallowed. And she waited. And waited. And waited. Then he looked up at her angrily and asked what she had done. "It was the only way," she whispered.

"What do you want to know then, Lily?" He said in a mocking voice, still glaring at her. She had spiked the licorice with Veritaserum, the most powerful truth potion.

Gathering her courage, she said,"I want to know how you really feel about me." His gaze softened.

"Lils, I have loved you since the day I first saw you. I saw in you the way your smile lit up the room, the adorable way you slurp your drinks, the drunk version of you, your eyes and the way they have so much light. And so, so much more. You are forgiven for doing this to me, by the way, I understand your reasons. But Lily Evans, I love you."

"Okay... Thanks?" She didn't have a clue what to say. Mainly because she got the feeling that someone turned the lights out. Wake. Up. Lily. She stood slowly and walked out of the room, not knowing what else to say.

Great. Now she had no idea how to act around James. This was Lily's first thought as she dragged herself out of bed the next morning. She slurped (pun intended) a gulp of water out of the cup on her nightstand. It had an interesting twinge of flavor, though... Huh, weird. Suddenly there was a knock. "Urghhhh." She supposed it was Chelsea.

"Lils, can I come in?" Wonderful. It was him.

"Lily." That water...

"Fine..." She groaned. As he stepped in, it hit her. "You drugged me!" Now it was her turn to glare. "Okay, what do you want to know?" She had a feeling she knew.

"Lils, how exactly do you feel about me?"

She crossed the room and kissed him.