So this is my first multi-chapter foray into the world of Harry Potter. I love and respect this series so much, and like many others I've grown up with it, but I've always been afraid to write a lot for the fandom because it's just so huge. But... Jily is my OTP of all OTPs, and when a plot began to form, I couldn't really say no.

That being said, I realize that there will probably be parallels to fics that you, as the reader, have read in the past or will read in the future. Please believe me when I say that I am not copying anyone, nor do I mean to plagiarize. The fandom (and the number of fics we have) is too big for there to be a totally original idea. I give you my word as the author that there isn't anything suspicious going around here.

On another note, I'll try to follow canon as closely as possible, and given the fact that not a lot of details were furnished about Jily, I don't think it'll be that hard to do. If I do make a mistake, I apologize.

Last but not least, I have a request that I hate to make, but I find is necessary. Whenever I post something nowadays, I've been getting a lot of hits but barely any reviews. My Jily drabbles have gotten over four hundred hits but only two reviews. This has seriously discouraged me from writing, as well as from returning to the site at all. So, although I really really hate it when authors ask this of their readers, I'm afraid I'll have to ask for a certain number before I update again. I'll try to keep the required number very moderate. I'm sorry, and thank you to those who understand.

Apologies also for the long A/N; let's get to the stuff you came here to read. Enjoy :)

June 18, 1976

Fifth Year

22:51

Gryffindor Common Room

"Evans?" Pause. "You shouldn't be out of bed so late."

Lily twisted around in her seat to meet the cool gaze of Sirius Black, relaxing the fingers which had tightened reflexively over her wand at the sudden noise. His eyes darted from hers to the movement, head tilting imperceptibly in understanding. She cleared her throat and recaptured his attention; that is, if one could call Sirius Black's languid, almost insolent stare attention.

"I had you pegged for many things, Sirius Black, but a hypocrite never touched the list until today."

The handsome boy cracked a grin, stepping off the boys' staircase and into an armchair opposite his companion's with an easy jaunt. "Ah, I knew I liked you for a reason, Evans."

"And what reason is that?"

"Your ability to come up with snappy retorts is refreshing. Sure, clueless birds are good for shagging, but the clever ones are the ones you keep around, yeah?" This was accompanied by a wink on his end, a roll of the eyes on hers.

There was a short pause, which the dying fire broke with a loud pop. As if it was a signal that the two teenagers had been waiting for, the air in the room seemed to thicken and grow taut with tension. Lily avoided Sirius's eyes, which in turn only intensified on her face.

"Where is he?" she finally asked with an air of exasperation. They both chose to ignore the crack of nervousness at the end of the question.

"Out, I s'pose," he replied, too carelessly to be truly believable. She sighed: she'd expected this. Friends Lily and Sirius may be, but the bond that tied Sirius Black and James Potter together ran much deeper than friendship, and therefore it took precedence.

"Out where, Black?" At his stony silence, she added, "I only want to talk to him. I - I know I was wrong to shout by the Lake today, but I want to hear it from his point of view - "

Sirius started. "His 'point of view,' as you so charmingly put it, is one of protecting you from gits like Snivellus - "

"Yes, and look where that got us - "

"Well it got you away for the likes of him, so if I were you I'd be bloody thankful - "

"All I'm asking is that you tell me where he went so we can talk about it ourselves - "

"He's in the Room of Requirement." A third voice, much calmer than the original two, joined the conversation. Lily craned her neck around the headrest of her armchair while Sirius glared furiously at the newcomer from his own. Remus Lupin stood at the foot of the staircase in baggy pajamas, a sleepy yet alert expression on his face as he regarded his two friends.

"He's in the Room of Requirement and if you ask for him, the door will lead you to him. Don't look at me like that, Sirius, she's right when she says they need to talk it over. Come back to the dorm before you wake everyone up with your shouting."

"She was shouting too," Sirius muttered, even as he heaved himself up from his seat. Lily followed suit, although she headed towards the portrait hole rather than the stairs.

"Yes, but you're much louder and more disruptive than Lily," Remus said tiredly, giving the girl in question an encouraging smile before pushing Sirius up the stairs. The darker haired boy couldn't resist calling, "James'll tell us everything when he gets back, so no funny business!" even as he was shoved into the dorm room, but Lily decided to ignore this as she gently creaked the portrait door open. The Fat Lady gave a loud snore in response to the movement, but did not wake otherwise. Lily, now suddenly nervous and rather cold in her t-shirt and sleep pants, lit the end of her wand and hurried down the corridor.

Reaching the now-familiar stretch of blank wall on the seventh floor, she tucked away her wand and thought, I need to see James Potter as she paced in front of it three times. On the third pass she peeked out from under her eyelids and was met with a simple wooden door. Trying the handle, she was surprised to find that it was unlocked. Realizing that she'd unconsciously been banking on the extra few seconds she'd have gained by trying to unlock it, she felt curiously unbalanced, not to mention unready to face the boy on the other side of the stone wall.

Lily would probably have stayed out in that hall all night if she'd had it her way, but the Room had other ideas. The door began to shrink in front of her, forcing her to grasp the handle once again and this time yank it open. She ducked under the disappearing frame and barreled into the room, slamming the door shut behind her and leaning against it as her heart pounded with useless, surprising adrenaline.

For the second time that night, she heard herself being addressed by her surname.

"Evans?"

Lily opened her eyes and found herself in a pleasant blue bedroom about half the size of the Common Room, with random Quidditch paraphernalia tacked on the walls and Gryffindor flags proudly adorning the bed's headboard. A merry fire was crackling away to her right, with a large, inhabited blue armchair parked in between it and the bed. The room was rather messy, although cleaner than could be expected for a teenage boy's, which was surprising because it was, as Lily suddenly realized, a replica of James Potter's bedroom at home. She flushed.

"Er, Evans, as much as I joked about bringing you to my bedroom one day, I don't think this is what either of us had in mind." The confused voice of James himself finally filtered through to Lily's brain and she flushed even deeper, nervously grabbing at the door handle behind her. He made as if to get out of the armchair, then cocked his head at her. "Why... why are you here, again? How did you even find me?"

"Remus," she blurted, glad to have finally found her voice. She grabbed onto the name like it was a lifeline. "I was talking to Sirius and he wouldn't tell me where you were because of some weird sense of loyalty that you lot seem to have, but then Remus came down and told me you were in the Room of Requirement and that it'd show me you if I asked it, and then he pushed Sirius upstairs while talking about how loud he was being." About ninety percent of that speech had been irrelevant, but neither one of them pointed it out.

"Er... right. So... bugger, wait, here, have a seat."

Lily blinked at this show of chivalry. "No, it's fine, I'm really quite all right over here - "

"Don't be ridiculous, we can't have a proper conversation with you standing like that - "

"Please, Potter, there's nowhere else to sit and I'm perfectly fine - "

"You look like a very attractive hatstand."

"I - what?"

He grinned. "I knew that'd get you to shut up. Here, just sit down on the bed over there and I'll turn my seat - " he did so - "to face you." At her reluctance to move he made a face. "Look, Evans, I'm actually making an effort; you might as well profit from it." The remark unfroze her and she even managed to shoot him a dirty look as she perched on the very edge of the bed. He smirked at her and leaned forward, resting his elbows on his knees. "So what brings Lily Evans to my bedroom at this oh-so-very-late hour?"

"Shut it, Potter," she said automatically. "I didn't come for any of that. I came... well, I came because of what happened this afternoon."

The grin on his face disappeared as quickly as it had come. "Oh." His voice was flat, politely disengaged. "So will your lecture take more or less than five minutes?" At her confused look, he elaborated. "Because there's only so much shrieking I can handle in one day, and Snivellus just about filled that quota."

She frowned. "I haven't come to shout at you. And I don't shriek."

He straightened up, surprised. "You haven't come to yell at me?"

"No."

"Not even for lifting Snape into the air?"

"No."

"Not even for jinxing him?"

"No, Potter."

"Not even for trying to defend your reputation? Because you seemed to have no problem letting loose at me a few hours ago about that."

"Merlin, James, do you want an explanation or not?" she cried.

It was more her accidental usage of his first name than anything that made him shut up; she, on the other hand, didn't even notice she'd used it. "Finally." Now that silence had fallen, Lily found herself grasping for words. "Er... well... you're well aware of my friendship with Severus," she started, hesitant and almost shy.

James snorted. "Yeah. Friendship."

"It's safe to say that it's completely over now," she informed him, ignoring his skepticism. "It's been, um, failing for quite a while now, because he's been completely immersed in what his friends get up to, but now - "

"In what his friends get up to?" James said incredulously. "Evans, I dunno if you're prejudiced in his favor or if you're just blind, but he's been as big a contributor in those disgusting hate acts as Mulciber or Avery have been. Where do you think they get all those lovely potions? Or - or apparently Snape's a decent Occlumens, which means he's a Legilimens as well - what do you think he uses that for?"

"I know what he likes to do in his free time," Lily snapped. "I just hoped he'd get out of it before it became too late."

"Well, it's too bloody late now," James said bitterly. "I don't know what the fuck he was thinking, but calling you - calling you that in front of everyone was… it was simply wrong, I can't even express how wrong it was - "

Lily felt tears prick at her eyes and she blinked them away, irritated. "I get it," she said shortly. "And that's why I'm here."

James gave her a look. "If you're asking me to listen to you while you cry about Snape and your lost friendship, then you've come to the wrong bloke."

"I came to apologize." The words tumbled out in a rush.

There, she'd said it. And luckily, the world hadn't exploded. Although on second thought, it appeared that Potter's head might.

"Apologize?" Clearly, that had been the very last thing on his mind.

Lily rolled her eyes, trying to look less nervous than she felt. "Yes, apologize. I know it's a foreign term to you, since you do it so rarely, but – "

"Why?" He was staring at her now, a different sort of look than she was used to: more intense and less joking, more serious and less flirty. She fidgeted under the weight of it.

"I, er… that is to say, um… Just… thank you, all right? Merlin. Just thank you."

Suddenly the look was gone and James Potter was back, arching an eyebrow at her flailing attempts to speak. "I thought you wanted to apologize, not thank me," he replied, "although to be honest both experiences are so surreal I can't really believe you're actually here – "

"Shut up," she said again. She paused, then: "I wanted to apologize because I was angry at Snape but I took it out on you. And I wanted to say thank you because you tried to defend me from Snape in your own way, as strange and slightly demanding as it had been. So… yes." She abruptly stood up. "Mainly, I'm sorry – "she choked a little on the words – "that I yelled at you when I was actually angry with Severus. You didn't – well, no, you deserved it, but not at that particular time, especially when it had nothing to do with the topic at hand. So… I apologize."

He was looking up at her from his seat with a half-amused, half-unfathomable expression. She met his gaze for a few moments longer and then looked away, heading for the door leading out. "Sorry to bother you," she said as she turned the doorknob, tone already retreating into its impersonal, cool quality.

"Do you regret it?" His voice was steady as she turned her back, and something in it made her pause. "Do you regret coming over to save him?"

She looked back at him. "No. I was trying to do right by him, and he decided to break off the friendship once and for all. We had it coming. I guess I just didn't think it'd be this… terrible." Embarrassed again by her honesty, she opened the door and made to walk out, only turning back to say, "Good night."

James grinned at her, all heaviness from his voice abruptly gone. "Good night, Trouble."

She hurried out into the corridor and back to Gryffindor Tower, ignoring the blush that had erupted at the pet name.

James, for his part, did not sleep at all that night, too busy thinking about his archenemy, his best friends, and a certain redhead for whom he still harbored a deep affection, a rough prediction for the year to come already mapping itself out in his head.

I hope it was decent enough for the beginnings.

Ten reviews, please :)