Chapter 1


"Tomorrow, I'll finally be able to get up at the time I want to without you nagging me because we are late for some test!" exclaimed Alice as she went to sit down on the nearest couch of the common room and pointed at one of her friends.

"You say it as if I never let you sleep, Alice!" replied Lily, frowning.

"You have to admit that during the tests period you limit our hours of sleep, Lily" commented the third girl of the group, who went to sit at the sofa in front of the fireplace.

"Great. My friends think I'm an army officer..." said Lily as she sat brusquely beside her friend on the sofa. "I only do it for your own good, so you'll get good marks."

"Oh, come on, Lily! You know both Grace and I love you and care about you! But believe me, there are other ways to show it, it's not necessary for you to wake us up at 6:00 AM for a last check-up" , assured Alice getting up from the couch and sitting with her friends on the sofa.

"This doesn't happen very often, but I for once agree with Alice", affirmed Grace in a surprised voice. "Promise us that for the NEWTS you'll let us go at our own pace."

Lily looked at both of her friends raising an eyebrow, asking herself if she really was that demanding with them. Alice was at one side, looking at her expectantly, and to the other side was Grace, trying in vain to tie back her dark curls into a ponytail and not really paying attention at what she would or would not say. After thinking about it for a few moments, she resigned. After all, she still had two years to make them change their studying 'pace'.

oOo

Half an hour later, the three friends were still at the same spot, talking and commenting about their tests. And they would have carried on if it weren't for the voice that interrupted them just when Alice was asking what they were doing on the next Hogsmade visit.

"Evan already has plans," assured them the voice of recently deep voice of the messy, dark haired boy who had just entered the common room with two of his friends.

Lily took a deep breath before standing up and turning around to face him.

"What makes you think I already have something to do on Saturday, Potter?" she asked coldly.

"Well, that you are going with me, of course",he answered, giving a hint of that particular grin of his that melted away half of the girls at Hogwarts and that to Lily Evans was just another feature of his arrogance.

The whole room went silent. Her friends had already turned around and were looking at the scene rather entertained, very sure of the answer Lily was going to give. The rest of the students there, though, were all speechless from the surprise. Lily Evans never waited more than a second to reply to James Potter every time he asked her out.

"This doesn't smell too good" whispered one of his friends to the boy next to were both observing the situation from far behind, leaning against the wall that divided the girls' stairway to the dormitories from the boys'.

"Evans is about to give in, Remus" ,replied Sirius whispering, "James has succeeded".

But Remus had been right in his intuition and Sirius realized it when he saw Lily taking out her wand of her robes.

"I told you I'd rather go out with the giant squid than with you!" she yelled, rage flashing through her eyes. "And I've also told you that I wouldn't go out with you even if you were the last person in the planet! Don't you listen to me when I speak?" she asked, raising her voice even more, which made most of the people there dissapear through the Fat Lady's portrait.

"Of course I listen to you. But you don't have to take everything literally, you need to know how to read between the lines," he replied calmy and with the same grin.

Lily grabbed her wand tightly, ready to curse him, but lucky for James, her friends were faster and Grace managed to take away her wand and drag her to the dormitory before her friend did something she would regret later. Alice turned back to the sofa to pick up her friends' satchels.

"You should change your attitude if you really want to date her" she told James with a shred of diversion when she walked past him.

He didn't say anything, he just kept staring at the stairway through which Lily had just dissapeared.

"Good night, Sirius" said Alice sweetly when she faced him. His only response was pulling a face that she couldn't see, since she never stayed to wait for an answer.

"May I know why you never answer her?" asked Remus him as they sat at the sofa with James.

"Because she thinks she's so funny and bugs me. As if anyone could like her..." replied Sirius with a groan.

"I like her" answered the chestnut haired friend, frowning a bit.

"Yeah, but you are a weird case, Remus, you should be looked into...You even get along with Evans..."