A/N: Just so you know, the first two chapters or so will be just showing what kind of relationship Lily and James have and how it came to be. Feel free to skip them; the story should still make sense.

Lily had had a lot of time to think. After the infamous incident after the OWLs, she had barely spoken to anyone, save her best friends, Alice, Marlene, Mary, and Remus. Severus had tried to apologize but Lily had hexed him every time he had opened his mouth. After a few weeks, he left her alone, but kept up his silent pleas.

James had been more persistent, probably because she had been less violent with him. Whenever he had started to apologize, Lily just looked at him blankly and walked away, as if he just wasn't worth it.

He gave up on the last day of school.

Lily waited all summer for the usual letters from James. She secretly enjoyed them; he always had a good story and could make her laugh. Sometimes she wrote back, but even if she didn't, James always wrote regularly.

This summer, there were no letters.

So Lily had a lot of time to think during the summer before sixth year. She replayed the scene in her head, over and over, analyzing it. By the end of the summer, she had come to the conclusion that only a small part of the outcome had been James' fault. Some had been hers, for not expecting it sooner, but it was mostly Snape's.

Therefore, on September 1st, Lily entered Platform 9 ¾ determined to listen to whatever James had to say, and to avoid Snape at all costs. It turned out Lily had to face the latter first out in the train corridor. Snape grabbed her wrist from behind as Lily made her way to the Prefects' compartment and jerked her to a stop. Lily spun around and her eyes narrowed.

"Let me go," she said fiercely. Snape looked at her pleadingly.

"Lily, please. Just listen to me for a second-"

"No! I don't want to hear what you have to say! You said enough last term, and it's done! So just let me go!" Lily struggled to free herself, but Snape, despite appearances, was stronger than Lily and he seized her other wrist tighter.

"Snape! Let- me-," There was a flash and Snape fell on the floor with tentacles sprouting on his face. Lily turned around and saw James with his wand pointed at Snape. She stepped over Snape's squirming body and moved towards James. He lowered his wand and looked at her concernedly.

"Are you okay?"

"Yeah… thanks," she said with a slight shake in her voice. "He's a lot stronger than he looks."

"Slimy git," James muttered. "Hey, do you think I could talk to you for a second?"

Lily hesitated then remembered her resolve. "Uhm, okay."

They stepped into an empty compartment and faced each other: Lily trying to be open and receptive, and James nervously running his hand through his hair while trying to figure out what to say. He took a deep breath.

"Well, I just wanted to say- since I never got the chance to get it all out last term- that I'm really sorry. I never meant for it to come out that way, and I'm really sorry that it cost you a friend."

Lily gave him a small smile. "Thank you. And… you're not to blame. Most of it is Snape's fault and you just kind of sped up the process of me finding out what he's really like. So, thank you for that."

He let out a sigh of relief that she wasn't irritated. "Do you and your friends want to come and sit with us for the ride? I know Sirius has been fascinated with Marlene lately."

"Yeah, that would be fun. I have to go to the Prefect meeting first, but we'll come by afterwards, is that okay?" Lily asked.

James brightened. "Sure, we'll be waiting."

They smiled at each other and Lily left for the Prefect meeting.

After that, Lily and James were friends.