(A/N: Takes place during 5th year.)

Operation: Lily Evans

Maybe there's something

you're afraid to say,

or someone you're afraid

to love, or somewhere

you're afaid to go.

It's gonna hurt. It's gonna hurt

because it matters.

~John Green.

The Beggining of a Scheme.

LILY EVANS SIGHED FOR THE FOURTH TIME.

She was sitting in Charms, trying to pay attention to what was being teached. She needed the perfect notes, for this years was OWLs year, and she inteded to all O's. However, there was a small pest attempting to ruin her plans.

The pest's name was James Potter.

She knew she shouldn't have let her hair down today, but Isabelle had insisted that it looked marvellous. And of course, no one was stupid to say no to Isabelle. It just never happen. But why in the name of Merlin did Potter feel the need to tug at her hair?

He enjoys to torment you, Lily, she reminded herself.

She had tried to stop it without causing a scene. She had shifted her hair to the side where he couldn't touch it, slid her chair closer to her desk so he couldn't reach, but he manage either way. She was tempted to look over her shoulder to glare at him, but that would only achieved what he wanted, her attention.

And there was no way she was going to let him win.

He tugged at it again, then she could feel him smirking as he curled it around his finger.

She yanked her hair out of grip.

Isabelle, who was sitting next to her, laughed.

Professor Flitwick stopped, turning to look at her. "Miss Leonte?"

She smilled blindingly at the professor. "Nothing. You may continue with your lesson."

The professor gave her a look, but continued with the lesson.

"He won't leave you alone," Isabelle said gleefully.

Lily glared at her. "Its not funny," she hissed, keeping her voice low.

She glanced back. "I don't know, Lily. I find it pretty funny."

Before Lily could answer, he decided it was a good idea to join the conversation.

"She's right you know, Lils," Potter said with his usual arrogance. "I'm funny, handsome, and Quidditch star."

She ignored him.

Isabelle frown at her. "Hello, Jamie," she greeted the pest with a wide smile.

"Hey, Izzy," he answered. "You look beautiful, as always."

The girl besides her laughed quietly. "And you get more handsome by the hour."

"I can only hope your beautiful redhead friend think so too," he answered.

That comment made her blood boil. She turn slightly, enough to glare at him. "Don't you dare say that, you prat," she snapped. "You are never getting a date with me because I can't stand you! You are like an annoying, desperate pest that doesn't undersand the meaning of no. Sometimes I wish it was 7th year so I can get far away from you!"

The last word was shouted. It rang in the now silent room. Realizing what she did, Lily bit her lip and turn to her best friend, who wasn't looking at her. Izzy was looking at Potter, who Lily didn't even dare to look.

"Miss Evans!"

She winced, looking at the tiny professor. "Yes, sir?"

"Please take care of any personal business out of class time," he reprimed sternly, which was hard to do since it was so high pitch and serious. "We have important information to cover before OWLs time."

"I'm sorry, Professor," she said, ducking her head.

"Don't let it happen again." And then he went back to his lecture.

Isabelle, ever the rebel, raised her eyebrows at her. "That wasn't as long as it usually is."

"Shhh," Lily whispered. "I don't want to be kicked out."

"It was harsh," Izzy insited.

Lily, atonished, stopped to stare at the dark headed beauty besides her. "Since when do you care?"

"Lily," Isabelle said, flickering a strand of hair away from her face. "It was harsh."

"I've said harsher," she responded, unwilling to let herself feel guilty.

A smirk tugged at the girl's lips. "And yet he still keeps trying. Oh, Lils. You don't know Jamie or you wouldn't treat him so bad."

"Why do you call him Jamie?" She asked, irritated. "His name is Potter."

"To you," was all that was said.

Lily glared at her, but said nothing more. It was true, though. Isabelle and Potter got along pretty well. They were friends. She knew it was because they knew each other all of their lives - both being purebloods- but she didn't like it. She fear Potter may try to brainwash Izzy against her, even though it was riddiculous. She knew Isabelle brainwash people, not people her.

She looked across the room, where Severus Snape was scribbling away. He was her best friend, like Isabelle, only slightly different. She had known Sev since childhood, he had been the one to tell her about the magical world, about everything that lay beyond a thin veil. They had ran to each other to when they had recieved their Hogwarts letter. She remember the joy on his face...

They had faced some problems, what with all the Hogwarts prejudice, but they've manage. Their friendship had become somewhat strained over the years, but they were still close.

As if feeling eyes on him Sev looked up. His eyes searched the room, then meet hers. He smiled at her, and she returned the smile, feeling better instantly. No matter what he always made her feel happy.

Suddenly, there was screams around her as people jumped to their feet. The green, repugnant smell fielded the air. She staggered out of her chair, holding her hand to her nose. The room was dark, and everything was a green daze, making it difficult to see.

"Settle down!" She could hear the little professor's squeaky voice. "Please be carful- oof!"

"Sorry!" A student called.

"Exist in an ordery fashion, please!" The poor professor finished.

She looked around for her best friend, but she was nowhere to be found. A panic rose to her chest, wondering if her friend had hurt herself, loosing consious, and was sprawl somewhere. She took a step forward, ready to go back in the green misty fog to look for Isabelle-

A hand grasped her elbow, pulling her back. She gasped, acting on instinc as she tried to pull her arm from the stranger's hold. The stranger was a male, clearly because the hand holding her was rough, too rough to be a girl's, too strong. The boy's destination was the door, so she allowed him to tug her out.

She wasn't sure how they manage to be one of the first ones to desert the classroom, but they were. She imidiatly reconized the black hair, and pale skin.

"Sev!" She exclaimed, of course it would be him. "Have you seen Isabelle?"

He shook his head, pulling her away from the noisy students, and bad smell. "No. I rather not, anyway. She's..." He faltered, but she understood. She knew how Severus felt about Izzy, at times she knew why, and others she didn't.

"I think maybe she's still in there," she insisted, looking back. "What if-"

He stopped, glancing at her from the corner of her eye. "She's Isabelle Leonte. I would bet that she was probably the one that started all of that."

She open her mouth to protest, but shut it. She knew he was probably right, but why would Isabelle do that? She knew Isabelle didn't particularly like taking notes, and the smoke was bold thing, too bold, and different of her usual break-away-from-class habits.

"Come on" he murmured when she didn't answer.

Isabelle sighed. "Ouch," she said borely. "That hurt."

James glanced back, "Sirius, gently," he chid.

"I'm only pulling her along," he said with a roll of his pretty dark eyes. "She's not made of glass."

"No, but I am delicate, like porcelin," Izzy said, giving him a lazy smirk.

"Point to her," James murmured.

"Doesn't she always?" Remus answered with the hint of amusement.

She looked under her eyelashes at him, a tilt to her dark red lips. "My, Remus, you have very pretty eyes."

He blinked at her, a flush creepping up his neck. "Uh-"

James laughed,"C'mon, Iz. Don't scare the block."

"I'm not," she said. "He does have very pretty eyes." She slip her arm from Sirius's grip, and took a step closer to Remus. He blinked, backing away. Izzy, already a fairly tall girl, who was three inches shorter than Sirius, the tallest of the boys, reached Remus's height. "Remus," she pur with a sigh. "How come you've never talk to me?"

The poor boy look lost. "Umm, I...I have, the other...the other day, we uh-"

She laughed, breaking the spell. "And that, boys, is my entertainment for the day."

"Flirting with poor unsuspecting blocks is entertainment for you, you heartless witch?" Sirius asked, sounding disgusted.

Her laugh was dry, sarcasitic. "Oh, now you are going to give me lessons on morality, Black?"

His jaw ticked. "Shut up, Leonte."

"Exactly," she said, and with a swirled of her pretty, black, long skirt, she began walk away.

"Isabelle," James called. "Please. I need your help."

She stopped. "Jamie-"

"I know. He'll behave, I promise."

Sirius made a sound of disgust, but said no more.

"Alright," she said. "Make it quick."

He gave her a smile, taking her arm in a gentlemanly fashion, and guide her gently to their destination. The four did not speak on their way to the 7th floor, the only sound was the swishing of their clothes, and their very soft breathing. Their stop was upon a blank wall, nothing resting on it at all.

She raised her eyebrows but said nothing.

James began to pace up and down the corridor three times. A set of souble doors began to shimmer into existence. He pushed them open, and bowed.

"What is this place?" She asked as she took Remus's arms in a very pureblood fashion, walking inside the room.

"The Room of Requirement," James answered. "Do you like it?"

She looked around, her dark green, gray and blue eyes very curious. "It's very like you, James."

He tiped his head, a smirk playing at the edges of his mouth.

The room was indeed very much like James. The walls were a royal blue, a very large window took up one of the walls, overlooking the lake with white curtains to match. A black coffee table sat in the middle of the room, with two pure white, leather, loveseats, and a black very confrable armchair facing the window. The white, black, and blue made a very convination, she noticed.

She took a seat on the lone armchair, looking out the window as the boys sat on the loveseats, James and Black on her left, and Remus on her right.

"You said you needed my help, Jamie," she said, not taking her eyes away from the very blue sky. "As I recall, I told you to make it quick."

He nodded, running a hand through his mess black hair. "I want you to help me with Evans. I want her to see I'm not all that bad as she thinks...I want her to be my girlfriend."

The three boys were watching her. She could feel it. Their glaces so intense, yet so different at the same time. Remus watched her as if he was trying to solve a very complicated puzzle in another language. Black glaze at her with intense dislike and mistrust, though she could harly blame him. They did not have the best history. James, though...her Jamie looked at her with hopeful eyes that were so defeated at the same time. His hazel iris held non of that arrogance that he flauntered arond with, that conffidence gone.

There was so many things she was sure could and would go wrong. She knew scheming against another friend was going to come back and bite her, but Jamie would never ask unless he had no other solution. He wasn't the sort to just mindlessly do things that were important to him. She had to help him or she would feel horrible...she knew he would do it for her if the situations were reverse.

Without taking her eyes of the sky, she said, "Her name is Lily."

James blinked clearly not expecting her to say that. "I know."

"That's not what I meant, James," she said. "Lily. Not Evans, beautiful, gorgeous, midnight dream, nor flower. Her name is Lily."

"I don't..." he trail off.

She sighed, standing up with grace, walking to the window. "There will be a couple of rules. You can't tell anyone about this, not even that little squirming faliture of life you call friend."

"Hey," James defended.

"You know its true. Plus, he would let it slip to Lily, and this whole..scheme would be a faliture. I never fail, and have no intentions whatsoever of letting him ruin my scheme. As of this momment, you are to follow every one of my commands. I will only make you do things for your benefit, not mine. Understood?"

He stood, eyes wide. "Are you accepting to help me?"

"I have very little choice," she said, nose in the air, still not looking at them. "She rants about you so much, it is starting to become botherisom, so really, I'm doing this for the sake of my sanity and her life."

James walked to her, turning her around. She meet his hazel eyes conffidently. He smiled at her widely after a few seconds, then engulf her in a hug, whispering the words thank you over and over. She closed her own eyes for a second before pulling away.

She placed her hand on his cheeks, holding her face closed to his. "This is not going to be easy, Jamie," she said gently. "She's going to fight, tooth and nail, she's going to pull away, scream, and hate you. She is going to say hateful words that she does not mean, and there is a huge possibility that this little scheme of ours is going to fail misarably. You are going to get hurt."

He gave her a small smile, gently pushing a dark strand of hair away from her face. "I know, Isabelle, but I have to try. She means something to me, and I just can't... I can't give up on her."

Her eyes search his face, the hope shinning in those pretty iris twisting at her insides. Holding back another sigh, she nodded, and was rewarded with a huge smile. He kissed her cheek, giving her another hug. She was pulled back to her childhood with him, and she let herself relax against him for just a minute.

"So," Remus said, breaking the silence. "When do we start?"'

The pretty dark haired girl smirked. "Why, now of course. The sooner this is over, the faster I can go back to sleep."