"UGH!"… BANG…BANG… Remus heard as he stepped into the Gryffindor Common Room.

He quickly scanned around the deserted room until his eyes rested on the source of the pitiful cry. It was coming from James, who was banging his head not too gently against the hardwood table.

BANG…"Why me"… BANG... Remus quickly hurried over to James and stopped him before his troubled friend could do any more damage to his poor cranium.

"What's wrong James? Trying to lose more brain cells than you already have? Or are you trying to damage your good looks? How will we break the news to ALL of the fans of James Potter?" Remus asked good-humoredly and waited. He was waiting for the witty retort that James would come back with, in answers to his questions. But there was no clever reply.

Instead James looked at Remus reproachfully, and started to bang his head ever harder against the table again. Remus quickly turned sober, this was a serious matter. What was wrong with James? Something had to be if he had no clever remark to make.

"Hey Prongs, what's wrong? This isn't like you." James just gave a pathetic little moan and made a move to bang his head, but Remus quickly stepped in to stop him.

"Hmmm… is this about Lily?" James moaned again and started to mutter. All Remus could catch was "argument with Lily… list…things I like… her socks…"

"Prongs!" James stopped immediately and Remus waited to hear what was going on. James moaned again and began his tale.

"I just had another fantastic row with Lily and so I had decided to come back here, to blow off some steam. I was so angry, I was struck with a brilliant idea to start a list and prove to myself that I DON'T LIKE Lily Evans! It was going well too, I had a whole column about stuff I didn't like about Lily, but when I started to look over my bloody list, I started to change my mind. I kept crossing it off and moving it under the other column. LOOK! THIS IS MY LIST NOW!" James quickly thrust the list into Remus's face.

"THIS IS WHAT I HAVE!"

Remus looked over the list. There were two columns, a column with the word love and another with the word hate. Underneath the word hate, he found a list of reasons… but almost all of them were crossed out. Instead they had been moved to the other column, which filled up front and back.

"Wow" thought Remus.

"See!" moaned James, "I couldn't think of anything I really hate about her. When I think of something, I realize later that I love that feature and so I move… Look where it leaves me! Why does she have to be so damn perfect! After I was done it only left me with one thing I hate about Lily-

"Her socks!" Remus inquired. "The only thing you hate about Lilyis her socks!"

"YES, HER SOCKS! Sigh…I don't like how they droop down… but I have to admit they are sort of cute." James looked thoughtful. "Especially when she wears the ones with polka dots and…"

"DAMN IT! I LIKE HER SOCK TOO! UGH… Now I have to cross it off!"

Remus sighed and rubbed his temples, talking to James was so tiresome, especially when he didn't see how obsessed he was with Lily.

"See, I can't find anything that I hate about Lily! What am I going to do! What is wrong with me! I LIKE EVERYTHING about her! To the way she scrunches her nose when she is deep in thought (which was Reason #21 on the list)… to how her green eyes flash when she is angry at me (Reason #6)… to how her turns this wonder shade of red…sigh… when the light hits it just right… to how she likes-"

"Okay, Prongs I get it." Remus interrupted. "You noticed all these things about Lily? To anyone, it would seem that you are infatuated with her."

"What?"

Remus sighed. "James, I'm going to tell you something. Join us in what everybody except you and Lily know. James… you are in love with Lily!"

"What!"

"Think about it! Look at your list; you don't hate anything about Lily! You like every little minor thing about Lily! Either you are stalking her or you love her!"

James stared at Remus incredulously for a few moments. Remus watched as light slowly dawned on James as James suddenly realized the truth.

"Bloody hell! I'm in love with Lily! Bloody hell!" James banged his head hard against the table. Remus sighed, finally James realized it.

"Prongs, it won't do you any good if you damage your mind anymore. What you should do is tell Lily!"

James stared at Remus again.

"Are you bloody out of your mind? Tell Lily!"

"Yes, you should. Think about it. It would do both of you good. Tell Lily!" With that Remus left for the dorm. Trying to get some sense into James was very hard. At least he finally realized what everybody else knew. Hopefully, he will confess to Lily soon.

The next morning, James staggered into the Great Hall. He had gotten no sleep as he tossed and turned over in his bed, thinking of the sudden revelation that had came upon him, with Remus's help. What was he to do? He snuck a look at Lily and sighed. God… what was he to do? He left the Great Hall and started to head towards class.

Little did he know, Lily was also just leaving. She was heading towards Defense Against Dark Arts, just where James was going. As she was walking behind James, a piece of parchment floated out of James's pocket and fluttered to the floor. Lily picked it up.

"Potter!" Hoping James would come back. She glanced at the paper when something caught her eye. It was her name. What was it doing on a piece of parchment that belonged to James Potter? She quickly scanned the title, Things I love/hate about Lily Evans. Suddenly a hand lunged out, trying to make a grab for the piece of paper.

Lily pulled back and looked up to see James Potter panting.

"Uh, hello Lily! Can I have my paper back?" James asked, hoping she hadn't seen what was written on it. Lily narrowed her eyes. Oh no, it seems that she had seen what was written. James gulped.

"What is this, Potter! Why do you have a list about me? …Well!" Lily tapped her foot impatiently, waiting for the poor boy's answer.

James stared at the floor and scuffed his shoe into the floor. What was he supposed to do? Here was Lily, wanting answers. Then Remus's parting words came into his mind; Tell Lily. Should he tell her? What if she rejected him, he couldn't stand the pain of rejection. He was too fragile. And who the hell would listen to Remus? A throat clearing interrupted his brooding thoughts. Lily was still waiting for an answer.

He had to tell her and so he began… "Uh… Lily…" he faltered not knowing how to continue. If he just outright blurted it, wouldn't it scare her away? How should he say it? It's not everyday he confesses his love.

Lily looked at him; this was not how Potter usually acted. Usually he was very smooth and wasn't at all flustered or nervous. But look at him now; he wouldn't even look at her! What was so important that he had to say?

James took a deep, deep breath and just decided to blurt it out. To hell with thinking, he was just going to say it. "Lily… I'm in love with you! I love everything about you! Not just a part, but everything. I love your mind, your sharp tongue, your beautiful eyes, the way your eyes show me how you feel, how your face flushes red when I did something to anger or annoy you or how you wear your socks!" His voice got softer…" I love everything about you! I think about you all the time…I can't sleep at night. I feel like I want to spend the rest of my life with you!" James stopped breathing heavily. Wow! He felt lighter after his confession. Then reality crashed on him as he realized what he actually did. He had confessed he loved Lily! Crap! What was he thinking!

He snuck a look at Lily. She looked surprised and shocked. Clearly this was not what she expecting. Bloody hell! It didn't look like she was going to declare her love for him back. This didn't happen as he hoped.

Meanwhile Lily was very confused. She had never ever expected that James Potter would be in love with her! What was she supposed to do? She looked at him. He looked miserable and depressed.

"Uh… Lily… It's all right you don't feel the same way… I mean I didn't expect you to… and yeah… I'm guess I'll go to class… uh… see you there…" he muttered to her as he turned to leave. God, what did he hope would happen? He should be getting to class or else he would stay here, babbling off.

Abruptly, he was whirled around and lips were pressed against his. He stumbled backwards in surprise. He staggered back into the wall. LILY EVANS WAS KISSING HIM! Was this a dream, did after his confession he died from embarrassment and went to heaven! Well, if it was, he might as well enjoy it. After what seemed like an eternity, Lily pulled away from James, breathing heavily.

James looked at her… dazed. Wow! I didn't think kissing Lily would be this breathtaking, literally.

What she was thinking, he didn't know. He was lost in his thoughts, wondering what the hell had just happened. Didn't she reject him? Technically she didn't, but when she didn't reply, he thought she didn't feely the same way. Clearly he was mistaken… or was he?

"James…" His musings were interrupted by her voice. He was too dumbstruck to answer. Great Merlin!

This was the first time ever that Lily had ever said his first name and it was heavenly! Divine! He could have died on the spot right there and he wouldn't care.

"Uh… yeah Lily?" Inside he was cursing himself, was that the best response he could come up with?

Lily leaned upwards and kissed him on the corner of his mouth. "I got to get to class. See you later." Then she just walked off. James Potter slumped down to the ground. He couldn't believe what just happened. He decided right then and there that Remus was a genius and that the ground he walked on should be worshipped. He should always listen to Remus's advice from now on. Maybe he should-

"James…" His head shot up and turned to look at Lily who was walking away.

"James… pick me up at noon on Sunday for the Hogsmeade trip. Don't be late... I hate to be kept waiting. Okay?" And with that Lily disappeared around the corner. James definitely was going to repay Remus in some way. Maybe he should name his first child Remus… he mused. No… that was too extreme… it would be his second child. James stood up and dusted himself off, whistling as he walked towards class.