This story may not be copied, shared, altered or recreated in any way, shape or form without my consent. I know anyone who wanted to could steal this story and upload it to any site they want and there would be nothing I could do about it. Truth be told, by taking J.K. Rowling's characters and making my own story with them in a way I'm stealing from her, BUT she gave us all permission to write HP fan fiction. If you stole this story you would be doing it without my permission. Anyway, I'm just asking you all nicely to please not plagiarize this story or anyone else's for that matter. Being a victim of plagiarism in the past I know how it feels to have your work stolen and I wouldn't wish that on anyone.

All things Harry Potter belong to J.K. Rowling.

Lily pulled back the deep crimson curtains on her four-poster bed, swung her legs over the side, and got to her feet. She put on her robe and slippers, picked up her wand, and tiptoed across the room, down the staircase, and into the common room. Embers glowed in the fireplace, casting the room in dark shadows. Lily shivered, moving toward an armchair. She had just sat down when suddenly a lamp came on. Startled, she let out a small gasp.

"Sorry," James muttered. He glanced at the wand pointed at his chest. "Are you going to use that on me?"

Glaring at him, Lily set her wand on the table next to her. "Why were you sitting in the dark?"

James shrugged. "Don't know. What are you doing up?"

"I had a strange dream," Lily said. "I couldn't go back to sleep."

They lapsed into an awkward silence. Lily glanced out the window and saw dawn was approaching. She heard James clear his throat and turned her head to look at him.

"Are you going on the Hogsmeade trip?"

"Yes," Lily said, "and don't even think about asking me to go with you."

"Why do you hate me, Evans?" James asked, leaning forward in his chair.

"I don't hate you. I'm just not fond of you. I happen to think you're arrogant and a bully."

"You forgot toerag," James said. "I'm a bullying toerag. If you're going to call me names you should get them right."

"Go jump in the lake, Potter." Lily grabbed her wand and jumped to her feet. She headed toward the girls' staircase, desperate to get as far away from James as she could.

"Evans," James said. "Wait."

Lily whirled around. "What do you want?"

James rose from his chair and strolled toward Lily. He came to a halt in front of her. "If I promise to stop with the pranks and the bullying will you go with me to Hogsmeade?"

Lily gazed into James' eyes and the words she was about to say stuck in her throat. He was close, so close she could see her reflection in his glasses. His nearness set her heart to beating wildly and she took a step back. "No."

"Please, Lily," James said softly. "I'm not asking you to go with me as my date. Just as friends."

"We're not friends," Lily pointed out.

"I'd like for us to be," James said. "We've been going at it for years. I think it's time we stop with the petty squabbling and try to get along. What do you say? Would you give me a chance? Starting with the trip to Hogsmeade."

He seemed so sincere, Lily found herself wanting to give in. "I don't know."

"Give me one chance," James said. "That's all I'm asking for. If you decide you don't want to be friends anymore, just tell me and we'll go back to driving each other mental."

Lily stood there for a moment and thought about it. "All right," she finally said. "I'll give you a chance." She turned and started up the staircase.

"You won't regret it," James called out.

Yes, I will, Lily thought, climbing the stairs to her room.

"Where did you go?" Charlotte whispered when Lily walked into the room.

"To the common room." She walked over and sat down on her best friend's bed. "I had a strange dream and couldn't go back to sleep. I have to tell you something, Charlie."

Charlotte tucked several strands of her blonde hair behind her ear. "I'm listening."

"Potter was in the common room." Lily nibbled on her lower lip for a moment. "He asked me to be friends and to go to Hogsmeade with him. I said yes to both."

Charlotte's blue eyes grew wide. "You what?"

"You heard me."

"I know what I heard. I just can't believe it."

Lily groaned softly. "What was I thinking agreeing to be Potter's friend?"

"Are you going to tell him you changed your mind?" Charlotte asked.

"No." She rubbed her tired eyes. "I'm going to give it a try and see what happens."

"Good luck."

"Thanks." Lily got up and moved back to her own bed. "I'm going to need all the luck I can get."

James awoke later that morning, thinking of Lily. Looking forward to spending the day with her, he pulled back the curtains around his bed and reached for his glasses. He put them on and saw Sirius was getting dressed. "Morning."

"Morning," Sirius repeated. "What kind of mischief shall we get into today?"

James yawned as he got out of bed. "You're on your own today, Padfoot. I'm spending the day with Evans."

Sirius arched a brow. "How did you convince her of that? Did you put her under a spell?"

"No," James muttered. "We decided to put our arguing aside and try to be friends."

Sirius gazed at his best friend as though he had sprouted another head. "Have you gone mental?"

"Last time I checked, no," James answered. "I also promised her I would stop with the pranks and bullying people. It was the only way I could get her to agree to anything."

"I must be having a nightmare," Sirius said to himself. "That's it. I'm having a nightmare. I'll wake up any minute to find this isn't real."

"I wish you would hurry up," Remus said, sitting up. "Some people are trying to sleep. Why don't you go downstairs and talk to yourself there?"

"Ask me nicely, Moony, and I'll think about it," Sirius said. "Go ahead, ask me."

"I'd rather swim naked with the giant squid," Remus declared.

"It's cold out there," Sirius said. "You'll freeze your-"

"Silencio!" James yelled, his wand pointed at Sirius. Sirius continued to open and close his mouth, but no sound came out.

"Good one, mate," Remus said, grinning at James.

"Thanks."

"What's going on?" Peter asked sleepily.

"Sirius just lost his voice," James said, sniggering. "It's nothing to worry about."

Once everybody was dressed, and Sirius' voice had been restored, the boys went down to breakfast. They had reached the entrance hall when Sirius spotted Snape coming up from the dungeons where the Slytherin's common room was located.

"Ah, Snivellus," he said, rubbing his hands together with anticipation. "What do you say we have a little fun before breakfast?"

Remembering his promise to Lily that he would stop with the bullying, James regretfully said, "Leave him alone."

"You really have gone mental, mate," Sirius said with a frown.

"I have not," James snarled. "Do what you want. Just leave me out of it." He headed toward the Great Hall with Remus and Peter following him. After a moment of hesitation, Sirius reluctantly joined them. No one saw a shocked Lily standing near the marble staircase.

After breakfast, Lily met up with James in the entrance hall and they joined the line of people waiting to be signed out by Filch. Occasionally she would glance his way and catch him watching her. She would hold his gaze for a moment and then look away. As she stood there beside him, she realized that she was nervous. How should she act around him? What did they say to each other? Wishing she had not agreed to the whole friendship thing, she sighed and moved forward in the line.

Lily was relieved when they stepped outside into the fresh air. It had felt crowded and stuffy inside. She wrapped her scarf around her neck and tucked a strand of red hair behind her ear. Casting a glance at James, she saw he was staring at the ground.

"Someone has to say something," she said as they walked.

"I don't know what to say," James said.

Lily racked her brain, trying to come up with something they could talk about. "How's Remus doing?"

"He's fine," James said. "Why do you ask?"

"It was a full moon the other night."

James gaped at Lily. "How did you know that he-"

"That he's a werewolf?" Lily smiled. "I've known since last year."

"How did you find out?"

Lily thought back to the night she had discovered Remus' secret. "I woke one night to the moon shining on my face. I pulled the curtains around my bed and tried to go back to sleep. When I couldn't I got up and went down to the common room. You and Sirius were there sitting in front of the fire. I'll admit I stood in the shadows and eavesdropped on your conversation. You were talking about Remus and how you hoped he would make it through the night without hurting anyone. Anyway, to make a long story short you said enough for me to figure out that your friend is a werewolf. Don't worry, I won't tell anyone. Remus' secret is safe with me."

"Thank you," James said.

"You're welcome."

"So, where do you want to go?" James asked as they entered Hogsmeade. The street was full of students walking around, looking into the shop windows and talking.

Lily shrugged. "I don't mind. We could just have a look around."

They wandered from one shop to the next, neither buying anything, just browsing. In the Three Broomsticks James bought them a butterbeer and they found an empty table in the corner. After a few minutes of tense silence they began to make small talk and before Lily knew it she was letting her guard down and sharing with James stories from her childhood.

"You know," James said when there was a lull in the conversation."We haven't snapped at each other once."

"It's early," Lily said. "I wouldn't be surprised if we have a heated row before the day is over."

"If we do it'll be you that started it, not me," James said.

Lily raised a shapely eyebrow at James. "Are you sure about that?"

"Positive," James said.

"I saw what you did in the entrance hall at breakfast this morning," Lily said, changing the subject. "Thanks for not doing anything to Snape."

"I can't promise you I won't in the future," James said. "Snivellus gets-"

"Stop calling him that!" Lily growled.

"I'm sorry," James snarled. "You know you can't expect me to change automatically. I'm going to do things you won't approve of. If we're going to be friends you're going to have to overlook some of my flaws."

"You have too many to overlook," Lily snapped.

"Oh and I suppose you don't have any flaws," James said coldly. "I suppose you're perfect."

Lily sighed. "You're right. I can't expect you to change automatically. Truce?"

"Truce," James said.

"This whole friendship thing isn't going to be easy," Lily said.

"Tell me about it," James said dryly.

"I mean it's going to be difficult to get along with someone whose favorite past time is hexing people," Lily said quietly.

"It's not my favorite past time," James said. "Quidditch is, hexing people comes in second. You should know that, Evans. You watch my every move."

"You wish." Lily took a sip of butterbeer. "Why did you ask me if we could be friends?"

James smiled at her. "I thought if we were friends you could get to know the real me and then maybe your opinion of me would change. I'm not really a bad guy, Lily."

She smirked at him. "Time will tell, Potter."

"Time will tell." James held up his butterbeer. "To friendship."

Lily clanked her bottle against his. "To friendship."