Lily Evans was not every girl. In fact, if they really knew who Lily Evans was, she'd be more than even popular.

Sadly, only one person seemed to notice.

It all started on the train to Hogwarts…

"Hi," two boys with black hair greeted a young girl with red hair. "Can we join you? All the other compartments are taken," one of the boys asked, walking up to her.

She shrugged, looking out the window. "It's your funeral. My brother catches any guys in here, he's likely to shoot you. Girls don't even want to stay around me because of him. My name's Lily, by the way."

The boy that asked to join her smiled and sat next to her, extending a hand to shake. "James. I'm James Potter. And this is Sirius Black…right?"

With black hair, a firm face, and a smile, Sirius Black was older-looking than just the average first-years, which he very much liked. "Yep! What's your last name Lily?"

Hearing a knock on the door, Lily gasped and shoved the two boys to the side and told them to be quiet.

There at the door, stood the Head Boy and lead singer to a band called the Marauders. Harry Evans was a bright boy, with raven-hair and viridian eyes. The same eyes that their great-grandfather had possessed, and was now embedded into two of his descendents.

Next to him was a seventh-year with dark auburn hair and piercing blue eyes. With straight white teeth and a button nose, Matthew Jameson was Harry's best friend and the band-leader. He was a very friendly person, and always open for Lily to talk to. To her, he was more her brother than Harry was, and much more family than Petunia.

"Evans-Two!" Matt greeted. "What's up? Psyched to see Hoggie-warts?" he joked.

"Jameson, shove it," she warned, scaring James. "Harry, why are you here?" she asked.

"Making sure there are no boys," he replied snidely. When he looked in the room, he snorted. "No girls in here either. Make some friends, Lily. It doesn't kill you."

Sirius was about to sneeze, but somehow he held it. Then he started to wondered why this girl was talking to older guys that acted like jerks. Hey, why was he stuck behind a door anyways?

"I have friends. They happen to be muggles, though. And then there's Sev, but--"

"He wants Slytherin. I don't want you hanging out with anyone from Slytherin. Trust me, you want to be a Gryffindor. Just like Jameson, Ritter, and me! I'll talk to you later," he told her, shutting the door.

She sighed as James and Sirius tumbled away from the seat. Instead of talking to them, Lily just sighed again and went back to looking out the window. She had a lot to think about. Like how her mother had loved it when she found out her son had magic, but hated when Lily got it.

Athena Evans was a squib, who felt so ashamed of being magic-less, went off into the muggle-world and never spoke to her family. Then she met another squib, Lawrence Evans, and fell in love, having three children.

The eldest, their boy Harry, had shown signs at an early age of magic, which lead them back to a world they left.

Apparently being a squib did not change the chances of having a child with magic.

But Petunia had shown no signs, while Lily started to around the same time they got Harry checked-out at St. Mungo's to see why he had magic. It made Petunia and her mother jealous, as well as her mother mad.

Her father had been too happy to care. He had two out of three magic children and he got to see his family more often now. Now that they could finally accept him.

Lily sighed as the door slid open again and in popped her best friend. Severus sat down across from her and she turned away to start crying. Just before she boarded the train, she and Petunia got in a fight because of Snape. He looked at the letter that Dumbledore wrote to Petunia, and Lily let that slip to Petunia. It was Severeus's fault, anyways.

Severus Snape was the boy down her street. He was the first person to know she was a witch--outside her family--and explained magic to her while her brother ignored her for the most part.

After a brief conversation that ended her sad mood, they started talking about houses.

"You'd better be in Slytherin," Snape told her, smiling and nodding his head.

"Slytherin?" Lily asked, shocked. Harry just said to be in Gryffindor. What was it with people wanting to decide for her?

Suddenly the other two boys stopped talking and James looked at Lily surprised. Who'd want to be in that house? It was evil! Besides, that Head Boy said she should be in Gryffindor. This girl had to see the light!

"Who wants to be in Slytherin? I think I'd leave, wouldn't you?" he asked pointedly at Sirius.

In turn, Sirius merely shrugged and said his whole family had been in Slytherin, but he may just break the family tradition. Then James made a dramatic show of saying he'd be in Gryffindor, while Snape made a comment as to being brawny instead of brainy.

So much was going on around Lily. Her brother was going into his last year, and she didn't even know a thing about these houses--the boys did.

But when she heard Sirius make fun of Snape, she decided it was far enough. So together they left the compartment, only to be yelled at by her brother's friend, Thomas Ritter, for being with Snape. So she and Snape broke it off and went in different directions.

She sighed as she found one with her cousin Frank Longbottom in it and sat across from him. For a good half-hour she just talked, teased, and joked with Frank until Harry came in and checked on her. "Family Rule. Can't be yelled at," she declared before he yelled at her, going back to her talk about spells with Frank.

After a few more minutes, two girls popped their heads in. "Hey!" an Asian one greeted, sitting next to Frank. "I'm Daiyu Ling. Can I hang out with you? I'm avoiding someone."

Lily nodded just as her brother's friend, Siyu Chang, ran in as well. "Lily!" he gasped, halting at the door as he looked around the compartment. "Do I need to tell Harry there's a boy in here?"

Shrugging, she crossed her arms over her chest and looked apathetic. "Does he need to be reminded his cousin is here?" she asked. "Why were you running, anyways? You looked possessed."

He sighed. "There's a girl that I wanted to talk to. And I thought watching your ass would be hard. She just let off the best prank I've ever seen. You've got competition, Evans. I'll give her that."

"Bye!" Lily told him, getting up and walking to the door, pushing Siyu out and shutting it behind him with a lock. Then she turned to face the other two girls.

First there was Daiyu, and then there was a pretty ash brown haired girl. While Daiyu looked older than them, this girl looked like she may even be younger. She waved, and smiled shyly. "Hi! I'm Alice. How do you know that guy? He's a seventh-year?"

"Lily…Evans?" Daiyu asked, shocked. "As in…Harry Evans's little sister? That's so cool. I mean, I think everyone knows he has one, but no one's ever seen her. I can't believe I met you."

"Yeah. Which one of you is the prankster?" Lily replied, avoiding the topic. That was the first thing every person she knew asked her about. The Marauders weren't just a wizarding band, it was also popular with the muggles. "What years are you two, anyways?"

"First," Alice replied, putting two fingers up to show who was speaking. "Daiyu's my neighbor. A good friend of the family too. Nice to meet you, Lily."

"Fourth this year. So…you're the one Siyu and Matt talk about. Are you really a good singer too?" Daiyu asked, persisting on a subject Lily didn't like. "Oh, I'm the prankster."

For the first time in her life, Lily was in awe.

"I feel bad about that girl," James told Sirius as they changed into their school robes. "We really got her mad at us when we made fun of that kid she was with."

Sirius shrugged. "That's what being a Slytherin Worshipper gets you. She's was pretty, though. I'll give her that. Can't wait to start pranking people this year."

"You do pranks too? That's so cool!" James exclaimed, smiling. "I have this one prank I want to pull…it makes a squid appear on whoever the spell is meant to hit. Wouldn't that be cool? My dad taught it to me. Said it worked on this boy he didn't like very much. Something Malfoy. His son's a prefect now. Lucius."

A knock came it the door and in entered another first-year with sandy blonde hair and a slightly scarred face. "Hello. I'm Remus. Remus Lupin. May I join you?" he asked.

James and Sirius shrugged. "Sure."

The rest went down as fact. Snape made Slytherin and Lily made Gryffindor, as well as James, Sirius, Remus, and Frank. Alice had made it to Ravenclaw, where Daiyu happily greeted her as one of them, only to have Alice come over to talk to Frank.

None of the first-years but Frank and a very quiet Alice, who immediately took to Frank, seemed to know that Harry Evans, the most popular boy at Hogwarts, was Lily Evans's brother.

Lily sighed as she looked around for Daiyu. She was in Ravenclaw. While she enjoyed Alice's company as well, Alice and Frank seemed to be quite chummy with each other. She sighed as she thought of how cool it would be if Alice and Frank got together--even though she only knew the girl for an hour or so, she seemed very nice.

The eye she did catch however, was Siyu's dirty one on Daiyu. Obviously he knew she was the trouble-maker from before. Would he tell Harry that she was hanging out with a trouble-maker?

Sure, she loved Harry and listened to him all the time, even planned to live with him after he left school. But he wouldn't really care what she did, so long as she didn't hurt his reputation.

It wouldn't matter.

He never cared about anything. Sad, but true. Everything was always about him, whether he'd admit it or he didn't. And he didn't.

A year passed, and Peter joined Sirius, James and Remus. They had made their name known in the Prank-World, and were thinking of a name to call themselves. Thus, they named themselves after their retiring Prank Idols, as well as their favorite band. And had Harry and Tom's blessing to call themselves the Marauders.

In that year, Harry got on to be a huge name in the students' heads as a brilliant prankster as well as student and singer. Now, he was on a tour with Matt Jameson, Tom Ritter, and Siyu Chang.

Lily came to be known as a brilliant child, but wasn't a very popular girl. Still, she didn't much mind that, considering she could easily become the most popular. She just…wanted to live. She didn't care what everyone said and thought.

Daiyu and she hung out often and pulled so many pranks Harry's head spun that whole year. If it wasn't them, it was James's lot. Eventually he just gave up and competed with them to be the best.

Every once and awhile he would even find Daiyu and Siyu snogging, which Lily also saw on occasion when she went to tell Daiyu any new plans. When they became official, Lily was just as happy. But then the time came for Siyu to graduate--and that meant his band would be going on long tours. Daiyu and Lily got even closer, like sisters after that.

"All right!" Daiyu yelled, walking out of Hogwarts the next year, the school year ending. "My fifth year is over!" she screamed, making Lily laugh. "Hey, Lily? Make a wish for something special next year. You'll be a third-year. You'll be able to go to Hogsmeade!"

Thinking, Lily saw Snape and one of his new Slytherin friends--Mulciber. When they were kids, Severus had lived down the street from her, and they had been semi-close. Now they barely seem to hang out, though they talked over her mirror all the time. It was just "too mortifying" for Severus to hang out with a Gryffindor girl.

She sighed and turned her head and now spotting Potter and his lot. Ever since they insulted her former best of best friends, she wasn't on good-terms with them. Which was a shame with the way he grew.

He got to be quite popular playing Quidditch and was growing to be quite handsome. She had liked him ever since she learned he was good in Defense Against the Dark Arts.

She wasn't so good.

"Okay…Let's see…A wish…" Lily spoke, thinking. "Hmm…to go home and get to actually see Harry. Did you see the owl he sent me? Really. A key to the house is so not my idea of--"

"Lily? Just make a wish for next year," Daiyu ordered.

Sighing Lily took her robes off, catching James's eye and making him drool. She didn't even mean to, or dress sexy. All she wore was her uniform. He was just a guy with hormones. Any stripping was hot at his age. And for some reason Lily seemed hot to him anyways.

Rolling her tongue over her front teeth, she looked up to the sky as she started to board. 'A wish? There's nothing to wish for…I have everything I want, and if I don't I can get it,' she thought to herself, finding the compartment Frank and Alice were snogging in.

"Hey," Lily greeted, smacking Frank's head as she sat down across from them with Daiyu. "Yu, does it seem like their too chummy?" Lily teased.

"Nah. I stick my tongue down your throat all the time," she replied, rolling her eyes. "You two should get a room…and lock it."

"So, how was summer?" James asked Lily as they bumped into each other on Platform 9 ¾ after the summer break.

She grew. A lot. And just as he was about to go through, he spotted Lily breaking away from a man and smiling happy. When she turned, she seemed depressed, then shocked to see James.

"What? No hello, no how are you? " Lily retorted, pulling her shirt down as it rode up again. "My summer was fine. And yours? I suppose you and Sirius were together?"

Sirius came up behind Lily and licked her cheek. "Of course, Lily flower. And we had a marvelous time."

Then they heard a shriek, only to turn and see Daiyu running towards Lily. The two girls had owled the entire summer, but Daiyu had gone away with Siyu for the summer to listen to the band and just be with him.

"Yu!" Lily squealed, making several heads turn, thinking she was talking to them. Hugging, the girls squealed as they smiled at reuniting. "How are you, Yu?" Lily asked, teasing.

James sighed. Lily had really matured over the summer and he wanted to talk to her. Why was it he was being forced to share her? Then he started to think. Maybe he could get her alone…on a date. He smiled at the thought.

As the girls talked, James cleared his throat. Ignoring him, they started to talk about what a jerk Harry was and how sweet Matt was for at least visiting when he could. Fed up that his girl was a) taken and b) ignoring him, James resorted to yelling.

"What does Yu mean in Asian anyways?" James asked.

Lily quirked an eyebrow. "Asian?" The way she said it made him feel like an idiot.

"I'm Chinese!" Daiyu piped in, as if it would help.

"Like I know. I think it means Fish. That's what the Chinese restaurant tells me," Lily replied, watching her friend crack up.

"No. No, no, no. Yu can mean 'jade' or 'rain.' Daiyu means 'black jade' according to my parents, but I pretend it means 'black rain.' It sounds cooler. My dad thought it'd be a fun name for a daughter. We need to get you Asian lessons. Chinese, Japanese and Korean ought to do the trick. What was your wish?" Daiyu replied.

Lily shook her head, getting on the train and showing Daiyu the new mirror Matt gave her.

James and Sirius looked on ever her shoulder. It was similar to the ones the pair owned, but this was more ornate with words engraved. Someone spent big bucks. Lily was lucky to have this guy--Matt. And he must know what a treasure Lily was.

Suddenly the glass started to swirl and Lily yelped, jumping as she stashed it into a black cloth bag she procured it from. The words to a Marauders' song started to play that sounded oddly like "Always." But why would she have that song ringing in her mirror?

"What's wrong? It's Matt," Daiyu asked, watching her friend's antics.

"Nope. That was Harry. When Matt tries to talk to me, I get 'Hollaback Boy' to play. Chang's got one too, and so does Ritter. Speaking of, how was summer with Chang?"

Daiyu sighed. "Perfect! Why can't you call him by his first name? Why is it always Chang? You call Matt by his first name. Oh, look what he gave me! It's a promise ring! As soon as I graduate we're going to get engaged! What do you think of the name Cho for a daughter?"

"Why am I having the kid? You want one, you name her yourself! Cho Chang. Sounds cute enough…Cho Cho Chang!" she yelled out, laughing. "Choo choo! And I call him Matt because it gets confusing to call him Jameson."

Daiyu sighed. "So immature. Watch, I'll name her Cho and you'll have a son, and he'll have a crush on her--and not think of Cho Cho Chang."

Lily snorted. "Right. And I'll name him Harry. Sorry, but no. I'd be more likely to name my son Harry than have one that doesn't find humor in that name."

When they found the room Frank and Alice were waiting for them in, they started to broadcast their conversation to them, not knowing Potter and Sirius were behind them.

"How about that? What's more likely?" Lily asked, putting her luggage up above. "Me having a son and naming it Harry, or me having a son that finds no humor in the name Cho Chang?"

"Choo choo train!" Alice squealed, laughing as Daiyu hit her with a soft purse.

Frank laughed. "You screwing Potter is more likely than your kid not finding humor in that name. Another Harry Evans? We have too many as it is. But a Potter? That'd be the day. Oh! Harry Potter. That would be frea-kin' scary!"

Everyone laughed but James and Sirius. James was a little hurt actually by their words.

"Harry didn't even see me once all summer!" Lily complained, finally noticing Potter and Sirius at the door, grinning like the Cheshire cat. "Go, now," she ordered, slamming the door in their faces.

James scowled. "Well that was rude!" he yelled through the door.

Four years had passed and Daiyu and Siyu were now engaged, putting it off until Lily left school. She was in her last year, and managed to get Head Girl, only to learn that Dumbledore botched the rules and made James a Head Boy as well.

Only the year before she and Severus had a falling-out when he called her a mudblood, and James had persistently asked her out ever since they were fifth-years.

Suddenly the fire cackled in the Head Common Room and Lily jumped to the fire as to muffle the sound of 'Jude Law and A Semester Abroad,' her brother's new "ring tone."

Though she hadn't seen him in three years, they still talked occasionally and lived in the same house, just to avoid their mother and Petunia. Harry was normally too busy, but Lily learned not to show it hurt that he practically tried to ignore her.

Finishing their conversation, Lily went up to bed more depressed than she had for awhile. Harry wanted to let her know to expect an owl with a set of keys for the new house in Godric's Hollow with no guarantee that he'd be there.

What was new? He was never around.

"Lily?" James asked groggily, standing at the door to his room with nothing but his pajama bottoms on. "Is everything all right? It's two in the morning. You don't look so good. Are you feeling okay?"

"Yeah. Everything's fine," she replied, shutting the door as she went in her room.

In the Great Hall that morning James didn't see Lily. Something was going on with that girl. It wasn't like her to miss the chance to talk with Frank and Alice, who'd been dating for so many years they may not have even had other relationships before.

Sirius noticed his friend's distant look and always started to spot out Lily. Remus just looked down at his textbook and kept studying while Peter watched with rapt fascination.

Finally, Lily appeared talking to a Hufflepuff student. She was younger, probably a first-year. But what made even Remus look at her was her hair. Shocking bright pink. But just seconds ago it was a dark blue!

"Bye Tonks!" Lily said, walking towards where Frank and Alice sat to the right of Remus. Sliding in next to him, Lily hugged him. "Good morning Lupin! Black, Potter. No," Lily greeted as routine. Greet her prefect friend, his friends, and deny Potter's date. It had always been deny the date since fifth year.

"Just watch Evans. One day your going to say yes," James replied, smirking at the thought of her dating him while they lived in the Head Tower alone. Very alone.

"Lily, where were you?" Frank asked.

"Dumbledore and I were talking. Harry and I are moving again. Except, Harry won't be there. Why is it whenever we move, it's really just me moving? We're supposed to be perfect, and all I see are flaws!"

"Boyfriend Troubles, Evans? Are you dating an older man?" James asked after choking on his muffin.

Lily snorted. "Right."

Suddenly "Hollaback Boy" started playing, one of the Marauders' lesser songs. Lily took the mirror out of her robes and looked at it.

"Evans-Two? Why is it I got to see your ass?" Matt asked.

"Did not. That was the area between my shoulder blades. What's up?" Lily replied, laughing.

James was shocked she was so happy just at the sound of the boy's voice. Something she never was around him. What was so different? He wasn't Harry, so who was this one?

"Harry's moving you again!" he whined. "That's not fair! You just moved in next door to me! And before you even say it, I like where I live. I'm never moving again."

Then he looked at her and started laughing at her. It wasn't Lily! It was that friend of hers--Tonks. The metamorphagus. Damn, and he said he wouldn't fall for that when they went to prank those kids at her school. He'd have to congratulate them later for pulling that off when he knew it was Lily. She must have gotten better at that charm she was trying.

"Actually, I was going to say suck it up. How's Yu? I haven't seen her or Chang since I left for Hogwarts. I really appreciated that by the way. You three didn't have to see me off."

"Course we did. You're like my little sister. Who wouldn't see their sister off? Rhetorical!" he warned as she started to answer. "God, Evans-Two! Hey, listen…"

As people started to leave the Great Hall, Remus tapped her shoulder to remind her they were leaving. As she said a quick goodbye and stashed the mirror, James just watched her. She didn't hate him anymore for what he did to Severus, but that didn't mean she liked him.

Damn she matured. Now Evans had B-cups on her chest, as he found out when she left her bra in their conjoined bathroom once. She had a really hour-glassy shape, which made him think the hour-glass was named after her. Hell, she was nothing but muscles, but not openly so. He had seen her in a training bra after she came back from running around the lake once, and that girl had abs. And arms, and damn her legs were perfect!

"So, Lily. Who was the girl?" Sirius asked, walking with her to their Charms class.

It was a ritual. James had somehow always gotten the same classes as her, which Sirius, Remus and Peter also got. So, they'd all walk to them together. "She was pretty hot. What year?"

Lily froze. "Tonks? You don't remember her? She's a fifth-year. Nymphadora Tonks? Bloody, she is good at that. She can't fool me anymore, but I guess it works on those that don't know her that well. I'm like her best friend."

Remus spun around to her. "That was Tonks? She looked young! She's a really talented metamorphagus! That's so amazing! No wonder you two are friends."

She smiled brightly. "That and you like her! It helps you when your friends make friends with people you like. Believe me."

Now it was Remus's turn to blush. How could Lily know that? No one knew that! Unless…"This is Tonks now, isn't it?" he asked dryly. "You really think I like you? Lily, can you get out here now? This is a little awkward. And confusing," he yelled, making people stare.

Morphing, Tonks smiled as Lily came out from behind a column. "Three minutes longer than I thought it'd take. You're getting slower, Lupin," Lily teased. She hugged Tonks. "And you're getting better! So it'll be at ten tonight. Don't forget."

"Bye, Lily! Tell Matt I say hi! And make him send a message back to Harry if he wants to keep you from boys like he says he wants to, he should at least see you every year. I mean, really. Can he expect that he'll be the only boy in your life for forever when he's barely there? Only a jerk would think that he can keep you away from guys until you're married."

Rolling her eyes, she motioned for Tonks to get to class. "Like he'd listen. Harry's just an arse. Besides, I'll get to see him soon. He wants me to go back to the house, but this summer I'm going with him. Matt asked me to. Over breaks, I'm going to hang with Yu and you and Chang, maybe Matt if Harry's sober enough on his own."

"That's such a perfect couple," Tonks replied, smiling as she thought of Daiyu and Siyu. "I can't believe how lucky you are, Lily Evans! Well, not entirely lucky, but damn good enough to have such friends and a couple!" she yelled, walking the opposite way down the hall.

She meant Daiyu and Siyu were a great couple, but somewhere it was lost in translation. From her lips to James's ears, he took it as Lily and Harry going out. That would be the day!

Tonks had been jealous before that Lily had such great friends, until she learned it was the only truly great thing in her life. She sung in America and did well, but there were problems. She never saw her family, her brother drunk when he was around her, her mother and sister hated her.

So, one year to get Lily to fall in love with him, James mused. He'd do it. He'd get Lily to fall in love with him and dump that Harry boy.