Disclaimer: Not my characters or setting, etc. ENJOY! :)

"There has to be something you like about him."

"I like the space between us. I only wish it was larger."

"Seriously."

"Yes. Seriously."

Sirius rolled his eyes. "Lily, there has got to be something, just one thing about James that doesn't totally repulse you."

"Well… hmmmm…"

"Oh come on! He's not THAT bad!" Sirius said, slightly annoyed.

"Fine. I'll do it."

"You'll make a list of James' top ten qualities?"

"I already said I would! Stop pushing it. Even James deserves something on his birthday. I'm not some evil shrew."

"Most of the time" Sirius mumbled.

"It can't be harder than the past 40 seconds of my life." Lily glared at him, a twinkle of a smile in her eyes.

10 Minutes Later

"You done yet?" Sirius asked, impatient.

"Almost." Lily said, tapping her quill on the table, "One more."

"I know… it's hard to choose from. But I think the best choice is 'He's best friends with a sex god'- except that's probably on there already huh?" he winked.

Lily poked him playfully, laughing.

Lily was having a difficult time with this. It was hard to hate James after everything that had happened the past year. They weren't enemies. Or even on bad terms at all. But she didn't want to lead him on seeing as she didn't like him. But she could do this for James, her… friend. Yes, of course, friend. Friends can admire each other's characters. This would be easy.

Writing "amazing Quidditch body" was probably out of the question.

So "intense sexy stare when you're serious" is probably not good either.

And whoops, "You make me laugh" seems harmless, but it's subtly mushy. And cliché.

She scribbled out half her list and started over again.

The Best Things about Potter

10. His many deceptions show him to be a good actor.

9. He is less limited by social conventions than the rest of us seeing as he seemingly has no scruples.

8. He has ears. Whether or not he uses them is a different matter.

7. He managed to extricate decent grades.

6. He knows English. This is an advantageous characteristic.

5. He has a high tolerance level for assorted idiocy. This is evidenced by his friendship with the Sex God himself.

4. He does not need an umbrella to walk in the rain. This is helpful in lessening the level of panic, traffic congestion and general wimp-iness.

3. He like toast. This is always an admirable quality. In fact, he seems to eat from all food groups, setting a good example for younger students.

2. He has some kind of charisma perceived by a number of people. Or, he has amazing potion brewing/ spell-casting abilities which have managed to bewitch a large fan club among others.

1. He has nice eyelashes.

Lily read it over one last time, biting her lip. It seemed mean, but then overly nice. It struck a balance. It wasn't too friendly or too unfriendly. So why did she feel so unsatisfied?

"Here," she thrust it at Sirius before she would do something stupid.

He raised his eyebrow at her. "Thanks Lils, I'll put it with the other cards so he'll see it when he wakes up."

"Mhmmm" she nodded absentmindedly.

The civil war had finally ended. Lily had admitted to herself an affinity for a certain raven-haired birthday boy. She also admitted the impossibility. Why on Earth had she chased him away so often? If not, maybe she'd have a chance. And then, so much for Gryffindor courage, she hadn't owned up to the butterflies in her stomach and tingles on her fingers when he passed her a quill.

Lily sighed. The exasperated hopeless sound captured all the emotion that her pathetic list hadn't.

James woke up. Since it was his birthday Sirius hadn't been able to use water, miniature elephants, gongs, and 187 other things on the "Official List of Forbidden Items for Waking a Marauder Up on Their Birthday".

In the end, he had creatively tickled James with some wild radishes he had nicked a few days ago and was saving for a sandwich later.

This of course resulted in an epic battle of manliness, known to the rest of the world as 'James punching Sirius in the gut for waking him up, and Sirius retaliating by hitting James with a broomstick'.

5 MINUTES LATER

"She thinks I have nice eyelashes," James said.

"James… it's been a long time now. I know she's a great girl-"

"Do you think that curling them would make them more noticeable… and me more irresistible?"

Sirius' mouth fell open. After a fit of laughter, he wiped tears of mirth from his eyes, "Why don't you try some mascara?"

James pondered this, "A little out there… but… if it accentuates my natural curves..."

10 MINUTES LATER

"AHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHH!" Lily screamed as a monster appeared in her field of vision.

She had been sitting on a couch reading, and took the opportunity to slam her book into the hideous beast.

"OWWW! Lily!" The creature shouted.

At first Lily was surprised she understood its speech. Then she came to her senses."

"Potter! What happened to your face!" She gasped, horrified.

"Well.. for one thing you just hit my nose with a 600 page book." James said, clutching his nose as his eyes watered.

"Only because you scared me. And it's 527 pages. And- this is totally irrelevant. You need help. Come on."

"Where are we going?" A wary James-beast asked.

"Hospital Wing." Lily said, taking a look at him.

"No, that's okay. I'll be fine."

Lily raised her eyebrows. She dragged James by the arm over to a mirror, noticing through his robes how fit he was.

James eyes focused in on the thing in the mirror. There was no other word to describe it than "thing". It's entire face was red and splotchy. It's nose was off-center and swelling considerably, growing an acorn sized lump, blood pouring from the nostrils. It's cheeks and lips were puffy and disfigured. One eye was bloodshot and bulging. Both eyes were surrounded by black smears which trailed down in streaks.

"AHHHHHHHH!" James screamed. Then he realized that it was his own face. "!"

"Shhhh!" Lily commanded. "It will be fine Potter. Just relax. I'm going to take you to the Hospital Wing and you'll get all fixed up. This is not serious, it'll be gone in an hour, max."

James nodded dumbly and allowed himself to be dragged through the corridors.

Lily moved rapidly through the halls, eyes ahead so they wouldn't stray to James' face. They ran into few students along the way, but those individuals cleared out quickly, and sometimes with quite loud gasps or shouts.

Finally, Lily stumbled into the Hospital Wing clumsily, half dragging James, who was still in shock.

The nurse was fearless, and quickly treated all his ailments. "Nothing serious. But, I'll bandage up his face until it recovers a little. It'll spare everyone's eyes."

Lily laughed and helped the nurse.

James did not laugh. Instead he complained. Eventually the nurse knocked him out with a potion. After they were done, Lily made a movement to leave the room. But she caught herself. It was his birthday after all.

She amused herself by reading the clipboard by his bed.

NAME: James Potter

DIAGNOSIS AND TREATMENT:

Nasal fracture- healing spell, splint

Left eye irritation- eye drops (Anti-Swelling Potion)

Allergic Reaction- ointment

ADDITIONAL NOTES:

Allergic reaction seems to be from a plant, oddly similar reaction to the radish-looking poisonous plant the herbology department has been cultivating in Greenhouse 4.

Additional cleaning was necessary, patient had some kind of black paint on face, particularly around eyes.

Uncooperative, was given a small amount of sleeping potion to calm down.

Patient has been in hospital wing 187 times.

Lily was puzzled. She understood the broken nose, but the rest of the story was lost to her. That's why she stayed. At least that's what she told herself.

And so she sat on a chair next to James bed, taking the chance to hold his hand in hers and softy hum birthday song.

TO BE CONTINUED…

WHAT HAPPENED TO JAMES? (if you haven't figured it out already)

AND, more importantly, WHAT WILL HAPPEN NEXT?