A/N: Okay, so I guess the third time's going to be the charm with this one. I've been listening to the audio books for the past few months, and now I have the HP feels all over again. So I have decided to rewrite this fic (yet again), and I'm hoping to finish it this time, though with the amount planned, it probably will take a while. I hope to update as often as I can, but it might not be as much as I would like. Having a full time job and a bunch of other on-going projects, I don't have a whole lot of time to devote to writing in general.

If you're coming back from seven or more years, welcome back. I've changed a lot to the original, so it would be highly advisible to read the newer version. Anyway, thank you again for reading and reviewing.

Sarah

Disclaimer: I do not own Harry Potter or any of its characters.

Chapter One

Sunlight cascaded through the tall windows of the Potter household as a seventeen-year-old lay on his bed, the sheets askew. A tepid breeze came up through the window. Normally, the young man would have been enthralled with such weather. There was not a cloud in sight, rare for just outside of London. It would have been the perfect weather to take his broom out for a spin. It was the latest model—a Nimbus 1500, which had come out earlier that year. It had been his gift for when he had become of age, and when your parents had a vast fortune like his did, money was no object.

He had been thrilled for that broom when it had arrived by owl one night in late March. It was perfect for Quidditch, a sport played upon brooms where players tried to score by throwing a ball into one of three hoops. As Quidditch captain for Gryffindor house, James thought that it had done a lot for the team's morale for the rest of the year. They had won the cup this past June of course, and normally, he would have been putting in that extra practice as to continue their streak.

It was not a normal day, however. How could it be when he knew that she was coming to stay for a few days? How could he think of anything else when thoughts of bright, green eyes swirled around in his brain? He sighed and rolled over, his skin sticking slightly to the sheets. Quidditch was one of the last things on his mind in that moment.

His best friend Sirius Black had already tried to drag him out of bed that morning, with the intent of practicing as well. He was a beater on the team, starting a year after James. Like James, Sirius was also a wizard.

James and Sirius were in their last year at Hogwarts School of Witchcraft and Wizardry, the best school of magic in all of Britain. This upcoming year would prove to be the toughest yet with preparations for their NEWTs (Nastily Exhausting Wizarding Tests) and all. They were certainly not looking forward to all of the homework they were sure to have, though they would probably slack off on a lot of it, as usual.

He was sure that he and his friends could handle it, no matter how tough it would get. They had had loads of practice with all of their adventures around the school. Bubblehead chards were nothing in comparison to the work they had put into the Marauder's Map, a piece of parchment that when given the correct password, would reveal a complete map of Hogwarts and all movements of its inhabitants to the user. After many months of completing it in their spare time, they finally had a finished product last fall.

Sirius had been living at his house ever since last summer when he had finally had enough of his blood supremacist family and ran away from home. He had shown up at their door one stormy night. Of course it had been raining. Sirius always had a habit of being dramatic. James didn't care though. He was thrilled to have him there, and normally, James would have been grateful for Sirius' company, but today was a different matter.

"Come on, Prongs," Sirius had whined at him that morning, leaning over his bed and brushing his black hair out of his eyes. He had been holding his own broom over his shoulder.

"Oh sod off," James had groaned from underneath his pillow. Why couldn't he have been left to mope in peace?

"Come on, Prongs," Sirius retorted. "Don't make me have to practice with Rini."

"What's wrong with her?" James frowned, showing his face for the first time since Sirius had barged into his room.

"Nothing," Sirius had said quickly. "Don't get me wrong. She's a decent chaser and all, but she's not you, you know."

"I'd say that she's actually better than me in a lot of cases."

"You're joking."

"I don't know. She comes up with a lot of plays that we do."

Sirius had suppressed a laugh. James had then thrown the pillow at him. His frown had deepened, his eyebrows furrowed.

"Would you lay off of my sister?"

"Fine," Sirius had replied before tossing the pillow back at him. "I'll go see if she wants to practice."

That had been hours ago, and James was still plastered to his bed. He could have stayed there all day if it were up to him. The occasion would certainly have warranted it. It was bound to be a disaster if he were to leave this room. The way to avoid looking like an idiot would be to avoid her completely. That had to be the solution.

The door flew open with a bang, causing James to jump, knocking his glasses askew. He bolted upright, his hand flying to his wand. He was about to cast a stunning spell, but stopped short when he saw the petite brunette in front of him, a frown plastered across her face.

"Merlin's beard, Rini. You should know better to something like that. I could have hurt you."

"Yeah, but you didn't," she said, her eyes dancing, a grin etched on her face.

"Ugh, what do you want anyway?" he asked, straightening his glasses.

"Mum sent me up here. She said that you're not allowed to lock yourself in here all day when we have guests."

"Do I have to?" James groaned.

"You expect me to entertain your friends too?"

"Naturally," James replied, not missing a beat. "What else are sisters for?"

"James!"

His head pivoted in her direction. He took a long look at his sister. She was a year younger than him, about to go into her sixth year at Hogwarts. They were siblings, but they didn't really look that much like each other. Serena Potter took after their mother. Her hair was soft, chestnut brown and fell upon her face in elegant wisps, accenting the messy bun that she frequently put it up in. She had bright sapphire eyes with no need for glasses, unlike her brother. They had a fire behind them, which frequently sparked at the smallest of challenges. She had a lot of spunk for being a tiny person, barely coming up to his shoulder in height.

Her hair was down that morning, cascading down her back and ending at her waist. She had her own wand tucked behind her ear, though she wouldn't have been able to even use it. She was dressed in Muggle clothes – a white blouse with the sleeves rolled up and a light pink skirt. She stood there, her toes dancing against the wooden floor. She stared down at her hands, suddenly intensely interested in her cuticles. He sighed and sat upright, his eyes full of desperation.

"You wouldn't understand," he said.

"Oh c'mon, James. You can't go all week avoiding her."

"Want to try me?"

"Get over yourself. It's not that bad."

"Well, let's see—the girl I fancy, who also happens to be my sister's best friend, hates me and my friends and is coming to stay at my house for a week. Yeah, it's that bad."

"She doesn't hate you."

"Funny, that's not the impression I got."

Rini rolled her eyes. The expression reminded him of the look Lily would have on her face when they won in Quidditch. The influence that the two had on each other was unmistakable. James only wondered when his sister would start to hate him too.

"Oh please," she retorted. "You're almost as over-dramatic as Sirius is, and he's the biggest drama queen there is. Anyway, Mum said that if you're not downstairs in ten minutes, she's going to pull out the photo albums and show them to everyone."

"All right," James snapped. That had done it. The one thing that could be worse than his crush showing up at his house was his mum showing her his naked baby pictures. He shuddered at the thought. He'd prefer to face the Whomping Willow by himself.

"Oh and James?"

"Yeah?"

"You might want to get dressed. I doubt that you want Lily to see you in your boxers," she said as she left the room, closing the door behind her.

He groaned, sitting. He swung his legs over the edge. He rubbed his face, knocking his glasses out of place once more. He pushed them back up the bridge of his nose.

He stood and stretched his arms, hearing the pop of his joints. Only seventeen years of age, and he had the body of an old man, he mused. He grabbed a shirt from the floor and sniffed. It smelled acceptable. He threw it over his head and went to his dresser for some pants.

He threw them on, grumbling that he had to go downstairs. His mother could be irritating at times. He could risk not going, but he knew that she would stick to her guns. The whole family had to be in Gryffindor, didn't they?

He grumbled in front of the mirror, desperately trying to get his hair to lie flat. It was no use. They irony was that his father had multiplied the family fortune ten-fold by inventing a potion that would have taken care of that.

"I don't know why you even bother," the mirror said to him. He paused to glower at it.

Resigning to the fact that he would never tame his hair, he grabbed his wand from the nightstand, pocketed it, and disappeared from the spot with a small pop.

He reappeared at the bottom of the stairs. The long hallway was deserted. James sighed and made his way toward the kitchen. The door at the end of the hall opened at James' slightest touch. It swung forward, revealing the group of people sitting at a long table. His mum was sitting at the end taking a sip of her wine. She never had a meal without a glass. Euphemia Potter was a beautiful older witch and matriarch of the Potter household. James closed the door as she laughed at something Sirius had said, her grey streaked brown hair fluttering as she threw her head back. Her blue eyes twinkled as she turned to look at James.

"Well, look who finally decided to grace us with his presence," she said, her voice light. "I guess I won't be digging out that old album then."

"You are absolutely evil," James retorted. "Are you sure the sorting hat didn't make a mistake?"

"There is no such thing as a Slytherin Potter," she replied. "You better watch it or I really will bring that photo album out."

"I was only joking, Mum. Please don't."

"Fine," she said. "But you'll have to clean the library at some point this weekend."

James grumbled, turning to the two people to his immediate right. They were sitting directly across from Rini and Sirius, eating their sandwiches. The one closest to him was another Gryffindor boy by the name of Remus Lupin. The girl next to him was Renée Benoît.

Remus was a prefect, also in seventh year with James and Sirius. The studious one of their group, Remus had light brown hair and brown eyes. James caught a glance of him and noticed that he was a bit peaky in complexion and possibly had a couple of fresh scars on his arm. James winced at the sight of him. That month's full moon, which had only been a few days prior, must have been especially rough for him. James felt a twinge of guilt as he sat down in the empty seat next to Remus, across from Sirius.

The interesting (and also tragic) thing about Remus Lupin was that he was a werewolf, bitten when he had been a young child. Transformations were always violent—no month had been any different. That was, of course, until the past year and a half when the other three had successfully become animagi.

An animagus was a wizard who could become a specific animal at will. It took three long years, but they finally achieved it in their fifth year, able to become an animal whenever they pleased. James' form was that of a stag, and Sirius became a dog.

They were only able to do this undetected at school, so summer holidays were particularly tough on Remus. James often pondered about what was going to happen after the end of that seventh and final year at school. Perhaps they would all take shifts or something. They had time though. The next year would be so important for so many reasons. It made James nervous thinking about it.

"Hey Moony," James said to Remus.

"Hey yourself," he replied.

"Bonjour, Ren," James said over Remus' shoulder.

"We meet again, Mr. Potter," she retorted.

Renée Benoît was another seventh year Gryffindor. She was a witch of mixed race with a black father and white mother, leaving her skin a medium shade of brown. Her dark, curly hair was pulled up into a ponytail, revealing the tiny mole on her cheek. She lived down in the main part of the village, about a few miles away from the Potter Manor. James and Rini had known Renée since they were young children. Recently emigrated from France, her parents were desperate for her to make friends with other magical children. Rini and Renée had been best friends ever since. Though she technically could have also gone to Beauxbatons Academy of Magic, she ultimately wanted to stay with her friends at Hogwarts.

"No Peter then?" Remus asked after a few moments of silence.

Peter Pettigrew was the fourth and final member of their group, self-dubbed the Marauders. He was the shortest, a little bit dumpy, with sandy blond hair and watery blue eyes. He was easily the most timid and struggled a lot with his magic, but the other three still loved him the same. Like James and Sirius, Peter was also an animagus. His form was that of a rat, earning him the name of Wormtail.

"We got his owl day before yesterday," James said, helping himself to one of the sandwiches. "His mum didn't want him to come. His father is still at St. Mungo's"

"Well, that's too bad," Remus said. "But I'm sure his dad'll be all right."

"I don't know," Sirius said slowly. "He has a pretty bad case of spattergroit."

"I'm sure he'll pull through," Euphemia said. "It's not as if it's dragonpox."

"Yeah, you're probably right."

They continued to eat lunch, a fantastic spread made by Euphemia. Sirius was, as always, the most appreciative of them all. He showed this by woofing down his food as quickly as he could, easily eating twice as much any of the others.

About half-way through lunch, the old doorbell chimed through the house, fading off into a sickly sounding ring, not unlike an unruly ghoul. They all looked up, grimacing. It chimed once more, causing Euphemia to lower her fork, looking thoughtful.

"We really ought to fix that," she said.

Rini jumped out of her seat, knocking into Sirius hard, causing him to fall off of his chair. He got back up, swearing.

"An apology would be nice," he groaned.

"Sorry, Sirius!" Rini yelled as she ran through the door and into the hall.

"I'm starting to think that this place is bad for your health," Remus said, chuckling. "Last summer, you fell off the roof!"

"That was Prongs' fault!" he shouted. "He's the one who pushed me off!"

"Details, details," James said, sniggering. "And Dad was able to mend your arm in the end."

They were still laughing over the memory when Rini returned with a girl about their age. Her red hair was put up in an elegant, but messy bun. She was wearing a lovely olive green blouse with simple bell bottom jeans. She caught James' eye, her emerald green eyes piercing through his hazel. His heart gave an uncomfortable lurch, and he swallowed hard.

Lily Evans was also in her seventh year at Hogwarts. Another Gryffindor prefect, she was best friends with Renée and Rini. A brilliant and talented witch, James had been in love with her for the past couple of years, not that he would admit how deep his feelings were to anyone. The feeling, however, was not mutual. James recalled the time that she had told him to go jump in the lake. He had a habit of making a fool of himself whenever she was around. That day would be no different.

"All right, Evans?" he asked with a crooked grin. Real smooth, idiot.

She made no reply, rolling her eyes at him. She walked away and sat down next to Renée, giving her a one-arm hug. Rini sat down across from them.

"Right," Euphemia said as she began clearing the table. "James, don't forget about cleaning the library."

"You were serious about that?" he asked indignantly.

"No, I'm Sirius."

James ignored him.

"Well, if you don't want me to—"

"All right, all right," James said, rising from his seat. "I'm going. Come on guys."

Sirius and Remus followed suit, standing. They pushed in their chairs and made their way to the door. They were about to leave when Euphemia opened her mouth once more.

"Oh and boys," she said. "No magic, okay?"

James looked mortified. "But Mum," he whined. "We're of age now."

"I doubt that you've really mastered sorting spells, and I don't want the library to catch fire," she said, pursing her lips.

"Fine," James snapped.

"There are dusters in the closet down the hall!" she called to them as they left.

The boys headed to the library, located at the far west end of the house. This took several minutes, largely due to the house's vast size. Potter Manor was only rivaled by Malfoy Manor, in which James had never stepped foot. Sirius, however, had been forced to go a few galas with his family in his youth. James had been told of the tales of dressing in fancy dress robes with his brother Regulus and being forced to socialize with the Malfoy's son Lucius.

They each grabbed a feather duster from the hall closet, just outside of the library. James opened one of the heavy oak doors, and the other two followed him through the doorway into the library. It was set in a massive circular room with a high ceiling and built-in shelving. The room was bathed in warm light, cascading down from the glass ceiling above them. There were books scattered all throughout the room, strewn about on a few of the maroon armchairs and tables. A thick layer of dust had settled over the entire room.

"This is going to take all day," Remus said, running a finger across one of the end tables.

"Well we better get started," James replied bitterly.

They started from the top down. Sirius, being the tallest, was designated to the only ladder. He passed books down to the other two. They had also taken rags from the closet and were using them to dust off the books. Once dust-free, they placed them into various stacks in an attempt to reorganize them. Once they got a shelf cleared, Sirius passed his feather duster along it furiously, showering the other two in a thick grey snow. Soon, the floor was littered with leaning stacks of books.

"You guys have an awful lot of Muggle books," Remus commented as Sirius handed him Sense and Sensibility.

"Rini," James replied absent-mindedly, plopping down on the floor.

"Huh?" Sirius said, stopping abruptly.

"Uh yeah," James replied. "Most of them are hers. She has a thing for Muggle romance novels or something."

"She's so strange."

James made no reply, crossing his legs. He sighed, throwing a book aside and putting his head in his hands. Sirius and Remus gave each other a puzzled look.

"You okay, Prongsy?"

"It's hopeless," he muttered.

"What's hopeless?" Remus said.

"He's hopeless," Sirius replied.

"Well, besides that."

"Lily," James blurted out. "She's going to hate me forever, isn't she?"

"I wouldn't say that," Remus said encouragingly. "I'm sure she'll come around eventually. Just stop acting like an idiot around her."

"Or he could just become Head Boy," Sirius piped in. "That would impress her."

"Yeah, like that could ever happen," James replied sarcastically.

"Stranger things have happened."

James shook his head before getting up. He kneeled down and started going through the stacks again, preparing them to be re-shelved. It would have taken no time if his mother had let them do magic. Even to simply dust would have saved some time. What was the use of being a wizard if you couldn't do magic? He took a book from one stack and threw it onto another. It tumbled over, the books spilling to the floor like dominos. Cursing, he fumbled to his feet and began picking them up.

"You better not be destroying all of my books in there."

James lifted his head to see the girls standing in the doorway, Rini in the very front. She had her hands on her hips, her brow furrowed. Renée rolled her eyes at her. Lily was leaning against the wall in the hallway, giving them a side-glance.

"If you're so bothered," Sirius said. "You could help us."

"And take away all the fun from you guys?" she said. "No way."

James ignored his sister. He gazed at Lily longingly, his mouth slightly agape. She was now looking away from them, inspecting her fingernails. He knew that she was trying to avoid him on purpose. It was obvious. Why did she have to do that? She broke briefly, her eyes snapping up to stare back—those emerald irises would forever haunt his soul.

"Potter, what are you looking at?" she snapped.

"Nothing," he muttered, averting his eyes.

"C'mon," Lily said. "Let's go up to Rini's room."

The three of them turned and left, Rini sticking her tongue out at them as they went. Sirius went up the ladder with a small stack, slamming them on the top shelf.

"Oh, I'll get back at them for this," he muttered.

"Now Sirius…" Remus began.

"Who does she think she is?" he hissed. "Little miss princess."

"Oh, shut it!" James said, throwing a book at him. Sirius barely dodged it, the book missing by an inch. The ladder wobbled, and he had to grab both sides to steady it. "It's no use complaining, Pads. My parents favor her."

Sirius made no response, choosing instead to grumble to himself. Remus shook his head at him, chuckling as they got back to work. James heaved a sigh and carried on, thoughts of red hair and green eyes plaguing his mind.

Cleaning the library took up the greater portion of the day. By the time they were finished, it was time for dinner. The three boys threw the dusters back in the hall closet and made their way back to the kitchen, the nice weather wasted. His mum was so pleased with them that she let them use magic to set the table. They used their wands, finally having a moment of enjoyment. In the excitement, a few plates crashed to the floor. Euphemia rolled her eyes and with a wave of her wand, they flew back onto the shelf in a stack, completely intact.

Once the table had been adorned with eight table settings, Euphemia called the girls down. They straggled in a few minutes later and plopped themselves down. James frowned as Lily put as much distance in between them as possible, sitting far diagonal from him, next to Rini and across from Renée.

Fleamont Potter showed up ten minutes later, looking tired and grey as he sat down at the head of the table. He flashed a smile at his wife from across the table before helping himself to some cauliflower cheese. The rest of them had already loaded their plated with a bit of everything and were enjoying pleasant conversation.

Sirius had seemingly forgotten all about his grudge as he sat chatting with Rini next to him. James paused in the middle of biting a roasted potato to observe the two. Sirius had laughed at something she had said and was now whispering something in her ear. She giggled at whatever it had been, her cheeks becoming flushed. James chewed his potatoes slowly. What the bloody hell was going on? He raised his eyebrows, now taking a bite of his pork, before finally getting distracted by something Remus had said. When he diverted his attention back to the two, they were back to eating in silence. He might have been imaging it, but he could have sworn he saw an expression on Sirius' face that he had never seen.

Dinner lasted for a bit after that, the girls finishing first. They cleared their plates and headed back upstairs to Rini's room. The guys lingered for awhile, inquiring about Fleamont's latest potion. He was quite amused as they pressed him for more information.

"Now boys," he said. "This is serious work—not to be used for some silly prank."

"Oh c'mon, Dad," James said. "Us thinking of using it for something like that? Now where did you ever get such an idea?"

"No idea, son," his father replied with a wink. His wife gave an exasperated sigh.

"All right you three," she said. "Unless you plan on helping me with the dishes, I suggest that you get out of my way."

"Right," Sirius said. "Let's go up to your room then, James."

"Yeah, all right," he replied.

They cleared off their plates and left Euphemia and Fleamont to do the dishes. Fleamont was levitating the plates of leftover Yorkshire puddings as they were leaving the room. They walked down the hall and climbed the staircase, going up two flights before they reached the floor on which James' room was located. They began to make their way towards the end of the hallway, but stopped when they heard a voice coming out of an open doorway.

"Hey, James!"

The three backtracked, piling into Rini's room. It was like being thrown into the outside world. The walls were painted midnight blue, and she had secretly bewitched the ceiling to sparkle like the stars above them. There was a breeze coming from the open bay window. James peered down to see his sister and Renée sitting on the floor, a stack of old Witch Weekly issues lying between them.

"So," Rini said with a smirk. "Still making a fool of yourself in front of Lily, huh?"

"How can someone so tiny be so immensely irritating?"

"Pure talent." She grinned and winked at him. "Oh c'mon. You know you love me."

"Only because Mum would disown me if I murdered you."

"Oh shut up."

"Well, maybe you shouldn't provok—"

He stopped short of his sentence at the sound of screeching coming from the window. They all turned to see a couple of barn owls sitting on the windowsill, three letters each in their beaks. Remus made his way over to them and retrieved the envelopes. The owls flapped their wings hard as they turned around, facing the night. They flew off, making a loud swoosh in their exit.

"How do they always know where to find us?" Remus said in astonishment as he tossed a letter to Sirius. James took his own from Remus' hand.

"Hang on," Sirius said as he began to open his letter, watching Remus hand the girls theirs. "Where is Evans anyway?"

"I think she must be still down in the library," Renée said.

"Yeah," Rini said. "She went down a little while ago. I said she could borrow a few of my books to read."

"Ah," Sirius said. "You hear that, Prongs? Now's your chance to talk to Evans. Go down and give her her letter. Perfect opportunity, right Prongs? Uh…Prongs?"

James didn't reply. He was staring at his letter, a metal badge in one of his hands. Sirius and Remus walked over and looked over his shoulder at the letter. The silver badge adorned with the letters HB sparked in the candlelight.

"I don't believe it," Sirius muttered.

"I guess congrats are in order then, Prongs," Remus said, hitting a still-stunned James on the back.

Rini also stood, her brow furrowed. She waltzed over to the boys, pushing Sirius out of the way before snatching the letter out of her brother's hand. She read it, mouthing the words as she went along. "Head Boy?" she yelped, staring at James, eyes wide.

"This had to be some mistake," James muttered.

"'Fraid not," Remus said.

"Oh, I'll never hear the end of this now!" Rini moaned. "Mum and Dad will be talking about this until the day I die."

"Just become Head Girl next year." Renée said. "That'll fix your problem."

"Like that'll ever happen."

"Well, your brother was made Head Boy, and we all know that there had been a better chance of You-Know-Who dropping dead of a heart attack than that happening."

"I guess that means the war is over now," Rini said bitterly "Hallelujah!"

"Not to interrupt this erm—riveting conversation," Remus interjected. "But someone still needs to go give Lily her letter."

James sighed, taking it from Remus. "I'll do it. It's what you all want anyway, isn't it?"

"Good luck, James!" Rini called as he exited the room. He waved his head above his head offhandedly in response as he crossed over the threshold.

James walked down the stairs, stuffing his own letter and badge as he went. He fiddled with the envelope in his hand. It felt heavy and lumpy—just like his own had. It was safe to conclude that a Head Girl badge rested in there. He grimaced at the thought of nighttime patrols. While it would be nice to have an excuse to be alone with her, it wasn't helpful when she practically loathed him.

He exhaled as he reached the bottom landing and went down the corridor. There were murmurs coming from the kitchen as he passed—his parents must have still been in there. He continued on toward the library. It was silent except for the sounds of his footsteps and the hammering of his heart.

He reached the double doors of the library, his pulse quickening. Trying to get his hand to stop shaking, he placed it on the handle and inhaled sharply. He closed his eyes for a moment before tugging it forward.

He entered the room, gently closing the door behind him. At first it appeared to be empty. Then he saw her. She was curled up on one end of the loveseat, feet tucked up to her chest. Her head was down, arms wrapped around her shoulders, concealing her face. James stood paralyzed for a moment, unsure of what to do—until he heard what sounded like crying.

"All right there, Evans?"

She flinched at the sound of his voice. They remained there, suspended in time for a moment. Eventually, she lifted her head up, staring at him with tumultuous eyes. Her face was tear-stained. James rushed to her, plopping down next to her and dropping the letter between them.

"Hey—what's wrong?"

"It's nothing," she said, turning her head.

"I don't believe you," he said, reaching for her. He cupped her chin in his hand, steering her face back toward him. They sat motionless as he stared intently at her with an intensity that caused her heart to miss a beat. Her eyes sparkled with a vulnerability that he had never before witnessed from her. In that moment, all of her walls crumbled.

She withdrew from him, wiping her eyes with her shirt. "I don't want to burden you would my problems," she said.

"Listen to me," he said. "You are not a burden."

"I—" she said, stopping short when their gaze locked once more. His eyes caught her off guard. Since when were they so kind, so caring—so gorgeous? A blush began to creep upon her face.

"Lily, you can talk to me."

It was so stupid. Of all the people to interrupt her while she was having an emotional breakdown, it had to be James Potter—the stupid prat who had an inexplicable habit of infuriating her. Yet, there he was, gazing at her with so much concern etched upon his handsome face. What harm would it do to tell him?

"I had a fight with my sister before coming here today."

"Your sister?"

"Yeah. She's got this new boyfriend." Lily made a face. "He's quite awful. Don't know what she she's in him. Anyway, we got into it before Dad drove me here from Cokeworth. She told me that she didn't want a freak like me around him."

"That's horrible," James responded. "Why do you put up with that?"

"I mean, she is my sister," she said. "But I guess I don't belong anywhere."

"What do you mean?"

"Well," she said, casting her eyes down as she rung her hands together. "I'm neither here nor there. Not quite a Muggle, not quite a witch. My own sister hates me. It cost me a good friend. I feel like there's no place for me."

"Evans," James said, taking one of her hands into his. "You listen to me. You are just as much of a witch as any of us. And your sister can go fuck off as far as I am concerned."

"James—"

"And as far as having a place for you, you can always find one here."

She stared at him, incredulous. Where did this James Potter come from? It wasn't what she was used to. Is this what he was like without a bunch of people to watch him? It was so refreshing that she almost forgot that she was supposed to hate him.

"Thank you."

No one spoke. There was a pregnant pause between them. James's hand was still over hers. They both peered down at the same time. Lily jumped, removing hers. James cleared his throat.

"Anyway," he said, picking up the letter and handing it to her. "I have something that might cheer you up. Feels heavy. Could mean that someone was made Head Girl."

She took it from him a bit eagerly. He saw the first smile on her face since he had been there. She ripped the envelope and tipped it so a silver badge fell into her lap. James watched her intently as she read the letter silently to herself.

"Well," she said, stuffing it back into the envelope. "Mum and Dad will be pleased. And I can shove this into Petunia's face."

"That'll show her," James said with a lopsided smile.

"I wonder who the Head Boy is," she said, staring down at her badge.

"Yeah," James said, his voice cracking slightly. "Should be interesting."

"Is it Remus?"

"No, don't think so."

"It must be someone from another house."

Should he just tell her it's him? James wasn't sure if he should reveal that information to her yet. They were finally having a civil conversation. Would telling her that she would be stuck with him almost every night ruin that? Probably. So, he kept his mouth shut.

"I think I'm going to go to bed," Lily said, snapping him out of his thoughts. She stood up and stretched. The badge fell to the floor. She bent down quickly, picking it back up. "You coming too?"

"You go ahead. I think I might stay here awhile. Admire all of my hard work," he replied, flashing a warm smile at her.

"Okay," she said, tucking what looked like a copy of Pride and Prejudice under her arm, her letter now tucked inside of the cover. "See you in the morning then."

"Night, Evans."

"James?"

His heart skipped at the sound of his first name upon her lips. "Hmm?"

"Thanks again."

"It's no trouble."

She graced him with a small smile before turning to leave. He watched her go, his emotions running wild. Once she had gone, he retrieved his own badge from his pocket. Maybe he should have told her. He might not get another chance before they were back at school. She might be more pissed at him for keeping it a secret. Running his fingers through his hair, he stared at the metal trinket, the thing responsible for his newest dilemma. He remained there for some time, wondering how the bloody hell he was going to make it through this year.