A/N: Hello there! I'm Lily. This is my first fanfiction, so please give me as much feedback on it as you can. I love criticism, as long as it's helpful. I'm going to be using a bit of British slang in here, but I'm not British, so please also correct me if I mess up on any of it.

This is the Year

Chapter 1 - Resolutions

"This is the year I'm finally going to get Lily to fall in love with me." James Potter boasted to his friends, sporting a wide grin and his usual ruffled hair, as he and his fellow Marauders prepared a round of Dr. Filibuster's Fabulous Wet-Start, No-Heat Fireworks upon the top of the Astronomy Tower. Of course, this had been his New Year's resolution for the past several years, but he was certain that this year it would work because he would take a different approach.

"You sure about that, mate?" Sirius questioned, grabbing another pack to be positioned. "You've tried that the last few years and it obviously hasn't worked yet."

"Absobloodylutely! I'm switching tactics this year; For starters, I'm going to stop taking your advice."

Sirius was taken aback, "Prongs, I'm pained! You know I put full effort into the plans I come up with for you."

"But they don't work," James rolled his eyes. "And I think they've actually caused more damage than good. Anyway, I'm going to back off a bit and just try to act like a right gentleman, like Moony's suggested." Remus, who was standing a little ways away, watching them set up the fireworks, smirked, and James continued. "It's better than keeping on the way I've been and making things worse."

Sirius laughed, "Fine, but I'm not going to be giving you anymore of my world-famous romance plots anymore."

"Good!" James exclaimed, brushing some dust from the pyrotechnic stars off his hands and stepping back to admire their work. He took a glance at the clock tower. Only a couple moments more until midnight.

Up in the Gryffindor Common Room, there was a huge bash going on. There were all sorts of snacks, drinks, and decorations, most of which were thanks to the Marauders, the self-crowned "kings of party". Streamers were strung across the high ceiling and enchanted to spin and change colors. Some of the younger students sat around the fire, playing Exploding Snap and most of the older ones stood around, talking or dancing. A couple of Ravenclaws had even snuck over for the celebrations. Lily Evans and her best friends, Emily and Alice occupied a corner of the room, chatting. Lily sat in a big, red chair with her legs hanging over one of the arms. Emily perched on the other arm, hovering over Lily and looking at Alice, who sat across from the two in her own chair.

"So how's it going with Frank?" Emily asked.

Alice turned a deep shade of scarlet at the question. "It's going alright. We're supposed to be going to Hogsmeade together next weekend." She played with the cherry in her drink as she said this, then shifted the conversation, "How's the Potter problem been, Lil?"

"Just as bad as ever, I'm afraid. The other day, he sent an owl to bang on my window to wake me up. When I finally woke up and shooed the thing away, I headed down to the common room where, much to my dismay, I found the prat unrobed with a rose in his mouth," she said with a look of disgust.

"What'd you do?"

"I hit him upside the head with a vase until he covered himself with some curtains. But I've decided that I'm not putting up with his bull anymore."

"That's great, Lil!" Emily exclaimed. "You'll show him, I'm sure! But I'm not sure how you can put up with someone less than beating them with a vase."

"She'll figure something out. This is Lily we're talking about."

"Ten…nine…eight" the room began to chant "seven...six…five…four"

James and his friends readied their wands and Lily and her friends shouted, looking out the windows for the fireworks that had gone off every New Year's without fail.

"Three…two…one…"

Suddenly, there was an explosion of fireworks and "Happy New Year!"'s. The display, as always, was magnificent. Colors swirled about the sky and for a moment, Lily felt as though she was dreaming. Meanwhile, the Marauders stood back to admire their work. After the fireworks finally finished, they rushed back up to the common room, avoiding teachers with the help of their beloved Marauders' Map.

After the excitement calmed, Lily, being one of the two Gryffindor prefects, hurried the younger students to their dormitories. She was just about to hit the hay as well, but Emily stopped her. "C'mon, Lil, let's stay up and have some fun. The boys will be back soon."

"All the more reason for me to go to sleep."

"Please? Only for a little while. It's New Years, for crying out loud!"

Lily gave in. "Fine, but if they start anything, I'm going straight to bed if I can keep myself from murdering them."

By this point, Alice and Frank were on the couch, snuggling, so Lily and Emily left them alone and retreated to the chairs they were in earlier. They really were cute together, Lily thought, but they could hardly pull themselves away from each other. "Okay, Em, if you're going to make me stay up with you, at least don't pretend like you're not doing this just for Remus."

She blushed and protested, "No, not entirely! Maybe partially, though… "

"Speak of the devil," Lily said as the portrait of the Fat Lady swung open and the Marauders walked through it.

"What's this? The party's already dead?" James looked around the common room, arms crossed. Since the younger students were in their dormitories and most of the Ravenclaws had since left, only the remaining sixth years and a couple of seventh years remained, and most of them were just lazing about.

"No, mate, it just hasn't started yet!" Sirius replied. "Who wants Firewhisky?" He thrust a box containing a couple dozen bottles into the air, admiring it as though it were a trophy. Several students took him up on the offer.

"Hi there, Remus. I loved the fireworks!" Emily smiled and stood up to greet Remus after grabbing two Firewhiskies and handing one to him..

"Thanks, but Lucy and Ethel did all the work. I was just on standby to make sure that Sirius didn't accidentally tie his foot to the fireworks… again."

Lily rolled her eyes at Emily and went to grab a Firewhisky. She was generally against underage drinking, but she figured that if she was going to have to stay sane for the rest of the night, she'd need something to take the edge off. "My, my, Lily Evans drinking?" Sirius teased. "Has someone replaced the real Lily with a fraud? James, James, come quick! There's an imposter!"

"Shove off, Sirius. Lily can have a drink if she wants. That's why we brought them, right?"

"Oh, please, you're just hoping I get drunk enough to find you even mildly appealing, Potter." She took a swig of Firewhisky and sat back down in her chair.

"The lady doth protest too much, methinks." Sirius replied and Lily shook her head.

"Seriously," James interjected.

"Oh," Sirius said, "But I'm always-" then the glare. That frightening, 'take another step forward and you won't remember the next three days' glare. "Right, then." He dropped the subject and looked around for a bit before proposing, "How'bout we play a round of Never Have I Ever to wake up this party?"

"Count me out," Lily said. "I'm just going to take a little nap here." She curled up on the chair, pressing her head deeply into the soft fabric. Even just slight amounts of alcohol made her tired. As she drifted off to sleep, she watched the fire slowly crackling and listened to her classmates hysterically laughing (over something about Sirius dating four girls at once). The room became darker and quieter until at last, Lily was sound asleep.

A/N: Thank you for reading this! I'll hopefully have the next chapter out in the next few days, if you want to keep reading it. It's going to be going at least through the end of their sixth year, which is what they're in right now. (I think I established that by saying Lily was a Prefect, but I guess I should have been clearer.) Also, cookies to anyone who can spot the zeugma.