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Beta-d by: Stefanie

Common Misconceptions

There are many common misconceptions surrounding the relationship - and lives - of Lily Evans and James Potter. Speaking as someone rather close to both of the prats, I can tell you that most of them are false. Some may have an air of truth, but ultimately have been exaggerated or blown out of proportion by jealous gossips or overenthusiastic romance novel readers itching for a good story.

I'm not saying that theirs isn't a good story. Quite the opposite, actually. But it didn't happen exactly the way people like to remember it: the perfect romance between two of the most beautiful and compassionate creatures on Earth, but ultimately with an untimely ending.

I suppose, under everything, they were just two teenagers who fell in love when they were seventeen. They were married at eighteen, and had a child at twenty. It was all very quick, very hurried, and very awkward at times, considering that - as so many seem to forget - there was a war going on. They were both involved in fighting the darkest wizard of all time. They made friends and enemies. They cried a few times along the way, but there was always laughter, especially when you're friends with James Potter, Sirius Black, Remus Lupin, and Peter Pettigrew.

But I don't think that the most important thing they did in their too-short lives was to fall in love and give birth to the Chosen One. They were the ones who fought back first. They kindled the fighting spirit. They changed laws, fought governments, and demanded to be heard above the raucous noise of war.

Of course, all of that sounds lovely when you don't think about what happens next.

The cold, hard, truth is that they were betrayed by one of their best friends because the other side had more power.

They did indeed suffer untimely deaths.

A lot of people did.

Some of us - I'm not sure if we'd be considered lucky or not - got to live. We lived with the grief that comes with knowing that your family died while you were powerless to stop it. That your best friend could be alive, fighting, right next to you, but you dodged that killing curse and they didn't.

But we're not talking about that right now. Fortunately, we won't for quite a while.

For right now, we'll start at the beginning, when everything really started changing, and when most people assume that Lily Evans positively hated James Potter.

Lily had always been considered "the nice one."

Always. Rarely did anyone have a single bad thing to say about the fifth-year prefect. She was very popular, everyone in the school knew her by name. She was sharp as a whip, and received top marks in every class. She was very pretty, with her curly red hair and green eyes that were the exact shade of a healthy field of grass.

Most importantly, though, she was uncommonly kind. She stood up for the younger students, and helped the first years when they were confused or scared. She brewed Pepper Up Potions for Madame Pomfrey during flu season. She was even friends with Slytherins. Or, more specifically, Severus Snape.

But you all knew about that, I'm sure.

What you didn't know was that she was friends with the Marauders. In fact, every Gryffindor in that year got along. The four girls and four boys created a group of easy friendship that was envied by many other students at Hogwarts.

Now, that wasn't to say that they sung songs in the Common Room while roasting marshmallows and talking 'till the wee hours of the morning. They were still immature fifteen-year-olds, and, like most immature fifteen-year-olds, they had the tendency to act like complete prats. But as they all matured, they grew closer and closer, these eight Gryffindors. But it really started with Lily and James. Or, less specifically, Lily and the Marauders.

Lily met with Sirius twice a week to help him with Potions homework. She and Remus were the prefects for their year, and got along famously. Lily was always kind to Peter, even when no one else was. But James Potter was another category entirely.

The phrase "opposites attract" almost perfectly described Lily and James. From the very beginning they were awkward friends. So completely different, but whatever bonded them did so permanently. No matter how many times they fought or got under each other's skin, it was never the end. The next day James would ask Lily to pass the sausage during breakfast and she would, asking for him to pour her another glass of pumpkin juice, please and thank you. And just like that, it was like nothing was wrong, and all was forgiven.

Starting at the end of fourth year, James bullied younger students. Lily, thinking it was just a silly 'end of year' phase, would just scold him. She would ask him why on Earth he felt the need to tie the poor first-year's shoe laces together, causing him to trip, and James would just grin arrogantly and reply "I just wanted to test out some spellwork." He would wear her down and make her smile, making her forget the reason why she was upset with him in the first place, and their dance would begin again. He would mock her for accidentally vanishing her own eyebrows, but then give her some tips on how to improve. His potion would explode in his face, and she would laugh almost cruelly, but spend the rest of class helping him start a new one.

Fifth year was easily the worst, anyone could tell you that. With her new position of Prefect, Lily would get annoyed with Remus for not making an effort to stop his friends from misbehaving. Severus would be moody, always complaining that Lily would spend too much time with her fellow Gryffindors, especially "Potter." James, for his part, was making it easy for Snape to detest him. As Quidditch Captain, James had more reason to gloat over little things. It started in October.

"And Potter makes a brilliant pass, handing Padfoot the chicken legs, securing the win for Gryffindor."

Even Harley, Lily's easy-going friend, would tell him to stuff it and eat his dinner.

But James wasn't bothered. He would certainly behave himself for the next ten minutes, but start a new game soon after.

Lily became more and more peeved with James with every hex and jinx he sent out, especially if it was just because he felt like it. His victims always came to her, complaining, asking why she did nothing to stop him. She was ashamed to look into their eyes, knowing that she let it happen just because they were friends. She always told herself he'd grow out of it.

The morning of their Defense OWL, Lily confronted James - again.

"But why first years? Or even anyone? What have they done to you, James?"

"Lily, Stiglitz was telling his friend that I didn't deserve to be Quidditch Captain!" James replied hotly.

"You don't hex him!" Lily rubbed her eyes, stressed. She and James had had this conversation many times before. "Have you never heard of 'turn the other cheek?'"

"No."

"No, I bet not," she said sarcastically. "I don't know what happened to you, James."

"What's that supposed to mean?" he asked angrily, looking ready to lash out.

Lily, for what it was worth, stood her ground and glared up at him. "You didn't always act like this! You used to be nice! You were never a bully."

"I'm sorry not everyone is perfect like you, Evans!"

"I'm not perfect, Potter, but at least I'm not a complete arse!"

"No, you think you're above everyone! It's so obvious. You walk around the school like you own it-"

"Me?" Lily screeched, turning completely red in the face. "I act like I own the place? Look at you! You're arrogant and rude - you hex anyone who looks at you the wrong way!"

"Maybe they deserve it!"

"Well, what about me?" Lily asked finally. "We fight all the time, how come you never hex me?"

"Because we're friends!" James still shouted. Then he faltered. "Aren't we?"

"How the hell am I supposed to know?" she demanded. "What if I don't want to be friends with someone like you, James?" She regarded him sadly.

James scowled. "Whatever, Evans. Hell if I care."

Lily matched his facial expression. "Fine. I'm leaving. I told Severus I'd meet him before the exam."

She threw down her last card, which was simply mentioning the Slytherin's name. It was well known he and James hated each other, and the way James reacted was indication enough.

He sneered. "Fine. Go to your Snivellus and let him tell you how completely awful I am."

"You know, sometimes I think he's right," retorted Lily, emerald eyes flashing angrily, cheeks flushed. She turned on her heel and walked away from the bespectacled Marauder, leaving him watching her back sadly, so many things left unsaid.

You all know what happens next: James and Sirius hex Snape, Lily defends him, he calls her the unforgivable "Mudblood," leaving her speechless and the crowd shocked. Lily turns away and leaves the scene. James plays it off coolly, asking the crowd if he should take off Snapes trousers. But none of that is really important. What's important is what happens ten minutes later.

Lily left the scene quickly, before the tears stinging her eyes could escape, especially in a large crowd like that. She didn't know where to go, only that it had to be away. Away from the beech tree, away from all of those people, and especially away from James bloody Potter.

But,as so many other plans in Lily's life tend to do, that particular plan didn't work out quite the way she expected it to.

She slowed down to an almost leisurely stroll, wiping tears from her cheeks and wrapped up in her own mind. She could still hear Snape's last sentence ringing in her ears. "...mudblood like her!"

Mudblood, mudblood, mudblood.

She made a noise somewhere between a choke and a sob and leaned her back against a wall, sliding down it until she could cover her face with her knees, her whole body trembling as she continued to replay the last few minutes in her head.

She needed to stop thinking about it, she need a distraction, a-

"Lily?"

Oh, God, not now.

"What do you want, Potter?" came her muffled reply.

She could hear a few shuffled footsteps and looked up, surprised to see James kneeling in front of her feet, one hand extended awkwardly as though he was about the move her hands from her face.

"I-"

"I really cannot stand the sight of you right now," warned Lily. Her eyes flashed with pent up anger and frustration towards the boy.

James hesitated. "I know."

"Then why are you here?"

"I wanted to see if you were all right," he answered honestly.

Lily gave a short, cold laugh. "Just peachy. Best day of my life. You know, I thought the OWL deceptively easy. Afterwords, Zoe painted my nails, don't they look lovely? Bollocks, I'm forgetting something, aren't I? Oh, that's right! My best bloody friend just called me a - a -" Lily choked up, not even able to say it herself. She wiped at her face uselessly. "And you know what, Potter? I think it's your fault."

"What?" demanded James, reeling back from her. "My fault? How is it my fault?"

"If you hadn't - hadn't provoked him!"

"Lily, Snape is a cowardly, cold, manipulating arse-"

"No, he's not," Lily denied. "Don't say those things. He's better than you."

"I'm an arse," James admitted. "But I'm not evil. Snape is evil. Him and Avery and Mulciber."

He expected Lily to interrupt him, but she didn't.

"I - I'm a bully, I suppose. But they use dark magic, Lily. They cursed Mary, remember? Mulciber tried to Crucio her. You were the one who saw it, don't try to deny it."

"I'm not," Lily said quickly. "Denying it, I mean." Although she did regret telling James about that particular encounter. Whatever it was he did to Mulciber afterwards landed him in detention for two months.

She dropped her arms from being defensively crossed in front of her chest, and James took this as another invitation to continue.

"Evans - Lily, you've got to believe me. You're much better off without him."

"And what? I'm supposed to just forget about him? I've known him since we were nine years old! Am I supposed to just... fill in the hole and continue on?"

"Yes!" James said. "Hell, Lily, I'll be your brooding, sulky best mate if you need one." He hoped she would smile at his comment. She didn't.

"You're just as bad as he is," she said coldly.

"Well, seeing as how not two minutes ago you were defending him, that doesn't bother me too much." She still didn't smile. The Marauder's shoulders slumped. "Do you really believe that? I can change. He can't. Snape's gone over the line. There isn't any hope for him."

"Then prove it," Lily said, running a hand through her hair in a way that James noticed was similar to his own. "You can change, so change. I'm tired of first years coming to me, crying, because "mean James Potter" magically attached "kick me" signs on their backs. And I can't do anything to stop it because you just ignore me anyways. It's cruel, the things you do."

James faltered. Was he really that horrible? "I - fine. I'll stop. Whatever. I was going to stop anyways, it was getting boring."

Lily rolled her eyes. "You promise?"

"Promise what?"

"Focus, James. Do you promise to stop... it? Everything? To go back to how you were?"

"I am not reliving my pimply, awkward, third year, days, no-"

"James-"

"- But I will try to... you know, be nicer. I guess."

"This must be so hard for you."

"It is, though."

"It's not funny, James."

"Sorry."

"It's all right. I believe you."

"You do?"

"Yeah."

"Why the hell would you do that?"

"Because we're friends. Right?"

James nodded, the corners of his mouth twitching upwards into a smile. "Right. Thanks."

"Thank you."

"For what?"

"You know..." Lily said, waving her hand vaguely, "for looking out for me. Coming after me. You make me feel better, no matter how annoying you are."

James laughed. "Er... you're welcome, then. Now, I don't know about you, but I'm absolutely famished."

He got to his feet and offered his hands to Lily. She took them gratefully and he pulled her to her feet.

"Trust you to only think of food."

"I just like food. It keeps me alive, and Merlin knows how happy it makes the birds in the castle whenever they see me."

"We could also work on your oh so charming personality," Lily pointed out.

"One step at a time."

Lily rolled her eyes. They walked down the corridor in a very loud sort of silence. When they entered the Great Hall, Lily could see their friends sitting at the table, Sirius passing the bowl of fruit to Zoe, Marlene talking to Remus, probably asking him how he thought the exam went. It was all eerily normal. Part of Lily was thinking that something in her should almost feel broken, as if she lost the will to be normal without Severus. But with a quick glance to James out of the corner of her eye, she knew she'd probably never feel that way. Suddenly, she remembered something that unfortunately had been overshadowed by everything else.

"Hey - James," she grabbed his arm to stop him before they got too close to the table. She didn't really want any one else overhearing. "I'm sorry - for what I said. Earlier."

James gave her a blank stare.

"About - about you and... the giant squid," she prompted, turning a bright shade of red that looked just fab with her hair.

"Oh!" James's cheeks also turned a little red - or was that just her imagination? "Listen, don't worry about it. We were both sour."

"Yeah," Lily nodded. "And, you know I didn't mean it, right? Obviously, if it was between you and the giant squid-"

James chuckled. "It's all right. I was just trying to get under Snape's skin. I figured asking you out would be pretty effective."

"Oh." For some reason, Lily was very disappointed. "So - you weren't being serious?"

James's smile faltered. He could tell her everything right then and there. He could tell her how he wanted nothing more than to wrap his arms around her and snog her senseless. Or, you know, just hug her if she wanted to take things slow. He could have told her that he'd fancied her since fourth year, how he loved annoying her just because she looked adorable when she was frustrated, with her cheeks tinted red. Even if she was lecturing him, it was better than her not talking to him. So he went out of his way to do things that would grasp her attention. Like hexing first years, for example. He could have told her that not three weeks before, he had saved Severus Snape's life from the hungry, feral jaws of one of his best mates. He could have cleared it all up right then.

But the point is, he didn't. Because right now, Lily Evans needed a friend, not some arrogant bully. So instead of telling her how he really felt, he just said:

"Course not, Lily. Besides, we'd make an awkward couple, your hair is simply too red."

Lily flushed. "James-!"

But he wasn't listening. He was too busy thinking just how beautiful she looked, and how little he deserved someone like her.

A/N: Hello everyone! So this AN should be relatively short considering I'm basically just saying "Go here to actually see some updates."

So yeah, go to my tumblr if you're wondering if I'm still alive or not (I totally am). I'm going to try to start posting my personal updates.

If this is your first time reading one of my stories, hello! Welcome. Don't read any of the other things. Like really, don't. They suck. This, I think, doesn't suck nearly as much as the others. So if you thought this sucked, 1. Review it and tell me! and 2. Stay far away from anything else on this site (written by me). I only keep them up in case I need them sometime for reference or to find the name of that one character.

But anyways, yeah, hoped you enjoyed reading this. Have a wonderful day. (:

Until next time!

~Smile

P.S: Check out Biggerandbeta on tumblr! They've got an awesome system for anyone who would like to become a beta or anyone who needs one. Super friendly, too. (: