Breathless

Chapter One

Lily Evans was working peacefully in the Gryffindor common room when Sirius, James, Remus and Peter burst in through the portrait hole giggling uncontrollably. It seemed they had been on one of their mischief and havoc missions again.

"Did you see his face?" commented Sirius "You could have fried an egg on it-",

"Yeah," continued Remus "Snape really didn't know what hit him when we set those dung bombs on his head-"

 "One after the other," finished James wiping a tear from his eye.

Peter nodded in agreement, clearly speechless.

The whole common room was looking at them now. Lily decided to act; she put on her superior bossy voice. "If you boys don't mind, but if you can't keep your voices down in a civilized manner, could you please go find somewhere else to rant about your foolish pranks?"

Sirius approached her in a macho manly manner and sat next to her wrapping his arms around her shoulders, his face uncomfortably close to hers. "Sorry Lily" he said sweetly.

"GET OFF ME YOU PRICK!" she yelled a little too loudly as she moved at least two metres away from Sirius.

"Whoa, take it easy Lily I was only playing round. I didn't think you'd take it seriously," he joked in an offhand manner, clearly not in the least bit offended, but was surprised she looked a bit shaken.

"Are you alright Lily?" asked James amused.

"That doesn't concern you much Potter, I don't think," she said defensively standing up and glaring up at them.

James looked slightly hurt at her abruptness. He quickly recovered, regaining his composure.

"You know what your problem is Lily?" said James with a smug look on his face.

"What's my problem then? Bighead boy," she snapped with twice the venom, the great prat annoyed her so much.

 He ignored her last comment and said in an amused tone, "you're afraid of boys".

Whatever she expected him to say that was definitely not on the list.

"WHAT?" she said not bothering to keep her voice low as the rest of the room started to prick up their ears in deep interest.

"You're afraid of boys," he repeated in mock irritation.

Lily who had regained her sanity started on him, "what makes you say that? If you think I'm afraid of you, Potter or any other boy in this school, you are very much mistaken!" She screeched.

And with that she stalked off leaving the room with them all looking dumbstruck. It had been a long time since they had seen her lose control like that.

She heard Sirius mutter, "that time of month again," while she walked up the stairs. She had the sudden urge to slap him, but instead controlled herself until she reached her dormitory door.

***

Lily went around the perimeter of her dormitory, trying to regain control. She was thinking. Thinking about James Potter.

Why did he annoy her so much?  Why did he have to act so ridiculously, and say the most unbelievable things? Why did he have to be always spot on? She sighed, lying on her four-poster bed.

Lily Evans was in her seventh and last year of Hogwarts school of Witchcraft and Wizardry. She was head girl and to her great disbelief and terrible shock James Potter had become head boy with her.

She hated James Potter, hated him for so many reasons. She hated the way his black hair stuck out in obtuse angles, she hated how he played the most foolish pranks, she hated how he made faces at her and teased her about her red hair, she hated how everyone liked him, she hated how he was good at Quidditch, she hated how he beat her in every Transfiguration test without trying, but what she hated above all was that, well, sometimes she couldn't help liking him too.

Not that she would ever admit it. Lily was very proud, stubborn and had the tendency to breath fire at any one who got in her way. She wasn't a nasty person of course or some sort of try hard; on the contrary almost everyone liked Lily for her kindness.

But she wasn't very patient. Especially when it involved a certain four boys who were able to turn a common room into a circus before you said the word 'go'. She didn't hate all of them off course. She was very fond of Remus, he was a clever boy and Sirius was quite funny to be around, and she did feel sorry for Peter, but James. James was a terror on legs. Even the ten plagues of Egypt must have been a mercy compared to what James could do when he came back from a Hogsemeade trip with tricks jammed in his pockets. And he was supposed to be Head Boy.

She gave a disapproving scoff, her face still radiating heat from being angered by the marauders. It wasn't true, she thought. She wasn't afraid of boys; the fact that she didn't have a boyfriend was beside the point and the countless times when she tried to keep away from anyone of the opposite sex for fear of being in an uncomfortable situation was understandable. She sighed. She wasn't afraid of boys. She was afraid of taking on a relationship.

A/N: Please review, I'll be happy if I just get one. I like to hear what you guys think!