Disclaimer: I don't own the characters that you recognize

Lily Evans liked to think she had school spirit. She bought Hogwarts High t-shirts, participated in the acceptable amount of clubs, and cared about the outcomes of sports games. Hell, she was a cheerleader. And she enjoyed the Friday nights spent on the field long after dark, stadium lights harsh against the green turf, yelling until her voice was hoarse and her legs hurt from jumping up and down for a solid hour.

Cheering for James Potter, on the other hand, was absolutely miserable.

He had just thrown a touchdown pass. Of course he had - football quarterback extraordinaire, people were practically placing bets on where he'd go to college. D1, everyone whispered. He'd probably get an amazing scholarship.

He was good, she'd admit. Lily knew football, and anyone who knew football could see he was some kind of prodigy at the sport. He'd probably make it to the NFL, and then she'd be unlucky enough to marry some guy who was a die-hard fan of his team and she'd have to spend her Sunday nights watching him throw a ball around from a gigantic plasma screen television.

Joy.

She plastered a grin on her face as she spelled out his name with the rest of the cheerleading squad, shaking her pom-poms and jumping up and down. It wasn't even like the touchdown had been all his anyway - Roger Davies had caught the ball in the endzone, and they'd spelled out his name too, but still. He deserved all of the credit.

Lily wasn't biased in the least.

"I knew you and Potter were in love," Marlene whispered beside her, cracking a grin as her eyes followed Lily's line of vision to the quarterback, back facing them, leading the huddle. "Can't keep your eyes off him, can you? I mean, he does have a pretty great ass."

"Shut up," Lily retorted, hastily averting her vision to the scoreboard. 49-14. They were going to win. "I was trying to see if my hateful gaze could make him explode."

"I'm not convinced."

"You never are."

Marlene wasn't the only one - though, as Lily's best friend, she was certainly the most vocal about it. Half the school was under the impression that Lily and James held secret feelings for each other.

Lily had to admit, it was cliche in the cutest way. Cheer captain and football quarterback, say they hate each other but are secretly in love. If said quarterback was anyone other than Potter, she'd even convince herself to give it a go.

But she hated him - hated his stupid ego and the way he always seemed to enjoy annoying her.

No one was sure when the rivalry had started, but it had slowly evolved into something akin to hate. James seemed to take pride in his ability to ruffle her feathers at every moment imaginable, and Lily had more than enough fun hurling a slew of insults his way. Her greatest achievement was that she'd never recycled one.

"All I'm saying is that there's a very thin line between love and hate," Marlene shrugged.

"Not in this case. The line's, like, a freaking freshman's eyeliner."

"Okay, but if you don't like him, then why do you constantly flirt?"

"I do not flirt with James Potter!" Lily squeaked, louder than she had intended. Half the cheer squad turned their attention to their captain, looking various levels of amused.

"Yeah, you do," came a quiet voice from the side, and Lily craned her neck to see Mary McDonald holding her pom-poms up in surrender, apologetic look on her face.

"I do not," Lily huffed, crossing her arms and staring out at the field. See if she cheered for stupid Potter and his stupid touchdowns now.

Lily wasn't one to shirk duty, however, so the next touchdown pass James Potter threw, she was right there with the rest of the cheerleaders, clapping and whooping and doing cartwheels.

Life wasn't fair.

The game ended 66-27, Hogwarts. Cheers erupted from the crowd - almost the whole school had come to watch.

Hogwarts High School was going to the playoffs.

Lily groaned. She liked cheerleading - she really did. She was planning on doing it in college if she could, if only for the sense of being a part of something it gave her. But the last thing she wanted was a month more of waking up at 5:30 every morning to make her way to practice, having to sit in her itchy uncomfortable cheer uniform all day during school on game day, and the rides home on the bus with what seemed like a billion sweaty teenage boys.

Marlene bumped her shoulder, shooting Lily a grin. "Look who's coming over!"

Lily turned and her gaze fell onto James Potter, swaggering towards the group of high school girls gathered around the water coolers. He had taken his helmet off, untucked his jersey, and his hair looked even messier than normal, if it was even possible. He didn't have his glasses on - they were probably thrown in the locker room somewhere (the idiot was always losing them), and he had a wide smirk on his face.

Lily knew girls found James Potter attractive. She wasn't going to kid herself and deny it. With jet black hair, tanned skin, and sparkling, laughing hazel eyes, he was some kind of high school god (though that, she thought, was going a bit too far). He was tall - a good head taller than her - all wide shoulders and athlete's muscle and strong jawline. He'd probably be the hot dad all his kids' friends talked about.

But, while James Potter might have been attractive, Lily Evans was not attracted to him.

She'd had her obligatory crush on him, of course. It had been seventh grade, and she'd had History with him, and they were something like friends. But, everyone had, at least once, and Lily tried not to hold it against herself. She was young and stupid. How was she supposed to know what a douche he would become?

"Ah, Evans, enjoyed the game?" His voice came, deep and filled with humor, the most antagonizing sound Lily had ever heard.

"Yeah. My favorite part was when you were sacked."

He raised an eyebrow, bringing a hand to his heart in mock hurt. "You're really mean, you know that?"

"I try."

She spun away, hoping her ponytail had managed to hit him in the face. Stalking towards the other end of the field, she found James following her.

"Is there a reason you're stalking me?"

"Relax, Evans. I need to ask you a question."

"Really?" Lily turned, eyebrows raised, arms across her chest, preparing herself for some idiotic remark.

"Really. I need to know what the English homework is."

"You're kidding, right?"

James smirked. "I never kid about grades, Evans."

"You do realize that there are, like, three guys on your precious football team in our English class you could ask."

"Well, yeah, but then I wouldn't get the chance to annoy you."

Lily almost screamed. "You're insufferable. An insufferable fuck-tractor."

James had the audacity to laugh. "A fuck-tractor?"

"I've already called you a fuck. It's called being creative. Try it some time."

"This is fun, Evans. We should do it more often."

"We do it every day."

"I know. You love it." And with a wink, James turned and made his way back across the field.

Lily hated him.

"You should've seen her face, man. It was great."

"One day she's going to murder you, and I'm going to dig you up from your grave and bring you back to life just to say 'I told you so',", Sirius remarked, unlocking his phone and scrolling through Twitter.

"It'll be worth it. It's so fun to see her mad."

"Okay."

James turned to his best friend, raising an eyebrow. "Okay?"

"Okay."

"Is there something you're trying to say?"

Sirius shrugged, propping his feet up on the seat back in front of him. "You're so in love with her, dude."

"Hah. Funny. Haven't heard that one before."

"No, like, really. I mean, I think the whole 'guys are dicks to girls they like' thing is dumb, but I don't think that's what's happening here. I think it started off as legitimate hate, and now you're so used to her presence in your life and you actually enjoy the fact that she pays attention to you."

"For a guy with a complete shit love life, you do know how to analyze mine," James said dryly, crossing his arms. "Anyway, I'd be fine with Lily Evans not in my life. It just makes things more interesting."

"I'd bet you wouldn't know what to do with yourself."

"Why do I even talk to you?"

"You have no other friends?"

"That's funny, Sirius. Good one. Your comeback game is strong."

Sirius just cracked a grin, favoriting a tweet. "Seriously, though, I'm right. I'm always right."

James didn't dignify his friend with a response, instead turning to gaze out the window at the cars rushing by the big, yellow bus. Lily Evans was probably sitting up near the front of her bus, giggling about something stupid with her friends, tossing her long, red hair behind her back.

She was attractive. James had noticed it many times - obviously athletic looking, a wide smile, startling green eyes. Not that it mattered, though. He wasn't attracted to her.

And, besides, she hated him. Even if he didn't hate her (he did), Sirius was completely wrong. Despite what an overwhelming majority of the school seemed to think, he and Lily Evans were never going to be an item.

Don't speak too soon James... :-)

Anyway, I've been meaning to write this AU for a long time and I'm finally getting around to it so... Yay! It's not gonna be too long - less than 10 chapters definitely (unless something drastic changes) but I hope you liked the first chapter and that you'll stick around for more.

Please review! It would make my day.

- Sunny :-)