Disclaimer: I am not J.K. Rowling, no matter how much I wish to be at times. Therefore, I own nothing...absolutely nothing...

Summary: It was supposed to be a normal summer, one just like any other Lily Evans had experienced in the past six years of her life. Petunia would call her a "freak," and their parents would encourage them to at least be civil to one another. Little did she know how one chance meeting could change so much…

Coincidence...

"Oh no," groaned the redheaded girl, glancing down at her watch. She quickly pocketed her change, thanked the cashier, and stuffed the large leather-bound book into her tiny purse as she rushed out of the bookshop.

Lily Evans was on what she liked to call "a tight schedule." She was supposed to be at the restaurant where her family was to dine with Petunia's fiancé, Vernon Dursley, but she had "excused" herself, and had escaped to the nearest sanctuary—a bookshop. Now, she had to get back before she got into trouble with her family—well, mainly Petunia.

She all but sprinted down the street, hastily apologizing to all the people she accidentally collided into. She wished she could apparate to the restaurant, but there were too many Muggles for her to leave unnoticed. Besides, she did not want to take the risk of unintentionally apparating on top of a person.

Lily quickly rounded the corner—she was not too far from the restaurant now—and ran straight into a very solid body. Her tiny purse—which was actually quite heavy due to the Undetectable Extension Charm she had placed on it (and all the books it held)—flew out of her hands, and she staggered slightly. She quickly regained her balance and went to retrieve her purse, but found that somebody else was already picking it up. Lily took the purse as it was handed to her, and—never taking her eyes off of her purse the whole time—thanked the (she somehow noticed) young man, hurriedly, and made to walk off. Out of the corner of her eye, she saw the young man nervously run a hand through his already unruly, jet-black hair—he ran his hand through his already unruly, jet-black hair…her brain finally processed the information. She only knew one person with hair like that.

Lily glanced up to see the face of—

"Potter?" asked Lily, incredulous.

"Evans," greeted James, in a rather conversational tone.

"Wha—what are you doing here?" asked Lily, still overcome by the shock of seeing James Potter in a Muggle town.

"I could be asking the same for you," was the slightly reproachful reply.

"But I asked first," countered Lily.

"But I'm…taller," argued James.

"Well, I'm—oh," Lily sighed, frustrated at their immaturity. "Just answer the question," she ordered, sounding quite aggravated.

"Fine, fine, calm down woman!" exclaimed James, receiving a withering glare from Lily. "Sirius was at some store and told me to come find him there," he explained.

"Nice to know," Lily said, indifferently. She then looked up at James, gave him a sarcastic smile, and tried to push past him. Much to her annoyance, he blocked her path.

"Now, now, Evans, you haven't told me why you're here yet," said James, in a manner one would use when speaking to a child.

"I was never under the impression that I had to tell you," Lily replied coldly.

"Oh, but Evans, that is only fair," chastised James, in that same condescending (and horrible aggravating) voice.

Lily huffed in annoyance. It was mainly due to that fact that he was delaying her return to the restaurant, but it also had to do with the arrogant grin he wore and the condescending tone he had just used. She suddenly had the mad urge to hex that stupid smirk that was plastered on Potter's face, but restrained herself. There are Muggles here, she scolded herself mentally. If you perform magic in front of them, no matter how much you want to, you'll get into trouble.

Lily took a deep breath to calm herself down. She usually was not this temperamental and hot-headed. It was just that Petunia was going to murder her, and an unexpected meeting with James Potter (of all people!) did not help calm her nerves. That having been said, Lily cast all her dignity aside and decided to beg.

"I really have to go," she pleaded, now desperate. "If I'm not there on time, then Tuney's going to kill me." Lily quickly glanced at her watch once again. "Oh no," she muttered. "I only have five minutes left.

James, having heard her last statement with regards to how much time she had left (and realizing how desperate Lily truly was), decided not to push Lily any further. "Well then, Evans, let's walk and talk," he suggested cheerily.

Lily started to open her mouth in protest, but realizing how useless it was to argue with James Potter—and how it would only delay her further—she quickly snapped it shut and shrugged.

James, on the other hand, took it as an agreement.

"So, who's 'Tuney'?" was the first question that left James' lips as soon as the two set off.

"I thought you wanted to know why I'm here," replied Lily, walking at such a brisk pace that even James (being the very talented Quidditch player he was) had trouble keeping up.

The latter could tell that Lily was trying to avoid his previous question.

"Fine then," James said, putting his hands up in mock surrender. "What are you doing here?"

"Stupid formal dinner," was Lily's short reply. She hurried onward, walking as fast as she could in her high heels.

"What's the dinner for?" inquired James, who continued to "interrogate" Lily.

"Tuney's engagement to her walrus-like boyfriend," she muttered darkly, hoping that James did not hear her.

James nodded silently, realizing that Lily did not fancy talking about her sister and the latter's apparently "walrus-like" boyfriend.

"So— er," James continued awkwardly, "do you not like your sister much then? Or at least her boyfriend?"

Upon seeing Lily's reaction, he winced slightly. Lily had halted abruptly and had spun around to face him. Her eyes, he saw, were blazing, but the rest of her face was set in a very stoic expression.

"It's really none of your business," Lily began icily, "but if you must know, my sister is the one that dislikes me." She paused. "Now," she continued, "I would appreciate it if you questioned no further about the details of my personal life."

The two continued walking in silence. The silence, surprisingly, was not awkward, but it was more amicable than either would have expected it to be. A sense of understanding and mutual agreement hung in the air. James decided it was wise not to question Lily any longer unless he wanted to be on the receiving end of one nasty hex.

Lily was, however, at a loss of what was occurring. One moment James Potter is all cocky and arrogant, trying to interrogate her about things that she did not want to talk about; the next moment, he is silent, and almost—dare she say it—understanding. I guess that James Potter knows his limits then. At least he has enough brain cells to know that he shouldn't bother me right now.

From force of habit, Lily glanced down at her watch again, looking at the rotating arrows on her left wrist. She had a minute—maybe two—maybe less than a minute—she really could not tell with the tiny face of the watch. If it was possible, she began walking even faster, and James started following her at a light jog.

Man, that girl walks fast, he thought to himself. Much to Lily's dismay (that is, if she ever found out), that only made him attracted to her even more. But then again, anything Lily did, James found attractive.

Lily stopped once more. This time, she had reached her destination. She looked up and stared at the sign, which displayed the name of the elegant restaurant that Petunia had chosen to dine at. She sighed—a lonely, depressed sigh—which caused James looked at Lily quizzically.

To the shock of both Lily and James, Lily turned to James and opened her mouth to speak, but closed it again. Her eyebrows furrowed for a moment, as if she was deciding what she ought to say.

"Well, I guess you can leave now," said Lily, rather awkwardly, not knowing how she should behave. "And I'm sorry for being so cold to you earlier, I just—I just wasn't really in the mood for it," she added. She had absolutely no idea what made her say that. The words just poured right out of her mouth. She supposed she was just thinking too much about Petunia, which made her feel rather melancholy; whenever Lily Evans was sad, she would always become extremely polite, a fact that James Potter did not yet learn about the girl.

Based on the expression on James' face, he did not expect an apology either. "Er…that's fine," he mumbled slightly, running a hand through his already tousled hair.

Lily made to open the glass door, but James' voice stopped her once more.

"Hey Evans," James called, as if suddenly realized something.

Lily, regaining her usual demeanor, rolled her eyes and turned back to look at James with raised eyebrows. "What do you want, Potter?" she asked, slightly annoyed.

James grinned, glad that the previous awkwardness had gone. "Do you know where the café is?" he asked, adopting his usual, self-assured tone.

Lily rolled her eyes once again. "You do realize that we passed the café about three minutes ago, don't you?" she asked in response.

James shrugged, as if completely unashamed. "I was trying to keep up with you—you walk really fast. Plus, weren't we supposed to be walking together?"

Performing her usual response to James' stupid remarks (which was, obviously, rolling her eyes) Lily replied, "I was never under the impression that we were 'supposed to be walking together'—as you so nicely put it."

"Ah, Evans, you wound me," James cried in mock-hurt.

Lily smirked and shook her head ay his childishness. "I aim to please." The door was half-way open now, and James was already walking away from her, leaning back casually, but still facing Lily the whole time.

"Well then Evans, I suppose I will be seeing you again—hopefully sometime in the near future," James suggested, the beginnings of a cocky grin tugging at his lips.

"I wouldn't count on that, Potter," was Lily's somber response.

James, grinning widely now, gave Lily a casual salute and sauntered off the way they had arrived. His hands slid into his pockets, and even with all the chatter and noise of a summer evening, Lily could make out the tune that only he would be humming. I mean—who else would entertain themselves by singing the Hogwarts school song?

Author's Note: I hope you enjoyed that. For some reason, I haven't been "feeling it lately" with writing fanfiction. I guess I'm on my path of "venturing out" and writing new things-things that mean more to me than Harry Potter. Not that Harry Potter isn't great and everything, but there's more to life than a seven-book series about a boy wizard and how almost all his parental-figures die. (Yes, I understand, there is more to Harry Potter than that, but I'm just saying...)

Well...I wrote this a long time ago, and just finished this today. I apologize for any typos...I tried to edit it a bit, but I can't catch everything by rereading it only once. I'm pretty sure that the updates will not be very consistent, so please don't get your hopes up if you liked this or anything...

Please, please, review. I would greatly appreciate it. And there isn't much of an excuse not to review (but then again, if you don't find this story worthy of a review, you can, by all means, do whatever you want...), because you can always criticize it, just don't criticize me as a person. Also, anonymous review are accepted, so there is not the hassle of logging in. With that being said: please review...I really would appreciate it...I understand I'm being very repetitive...but still...*smiles meekly*...Please?

Thank you!

-Delia