A/N: Hello! Sorry it's been a bit of a while since I've posted something-times have been tough, ladies and gents. I decided that I wanted to put together a three-shot of James and Lily finally becoming friends. It's got some gaps because I don't want to keep you from having your own ideas and opinions of what their friendship was like. Let me know if you like it at all... or if you don't. Anything really. I hope you enjoy it, though. Thanks!

There was no doubt that the Hogwarts curriculum got harder as each year passed, but it seemed that instead of increasing in difficulty at the steady pace it was supposed to, sixth year had increased tenfold. Lily wondered if maybe it hadn't gotten as tough as she thought it had, because it seemed that it was just her and some seventh years who were always left in the common room late at night. Lily sunk her fingers into her hair and started to massage her temples. She was lonely, stressed, and so damn tired. She never realized before how much she really relied on her friendship with Severus. It wasn't that she didn't get along with her dorm mates, but she just wasn't close with them. They were plenty cordial and they tried to include her, but it was just awkward. In the past they had all made their feelings about Snape very clear and despite their efforts to not seem smug, she knew that they were all thinking about how they had been right. Mary had put in the most effort of them all-she never said a word about Snape to Lily and tried to dissuade her friends from doing so, but Lily could tell that she felt the same way about him that the others did. And, she feared, Mary didn't seem nearly as inviting as she had at the start of the year before Mulciber and his group of friends targeted Mary. It was unlikely that Mary would want any association with Lily now.

Thinking hard on her own friendship situation, though, Lily was not the only one who seemed to be having issues. The Marauders-whom she previously thought above any of the petty friendship issues it seemed that all students experienced-were divided. More than once she had observed James Potter leaving the breakfast table just as soon as Sirius Black had arrived. And sometimes, she saw James creeping down the boys dorm staircase with a blanket that she suspected he meant to sleep on the couch with. The rumors were all varied concerning what was actually going on. Some of the gossip was just plain stupid. Some first years were whispering that they heard that Sirius had rejected James when he told him he loved him and that that was the cause of the rift. Personally, Lily had not found a rumor that she agreed with completely. As far she could discern from the scuttlebutt, though, Sirius Black had done something very bad, but James stopped it from happening. What she still didn't have an answer for was why James seemed to be so upset about it. All of the other Marauders had made up from what she could tell. It just didn't make any sense. Especially since James and Sirius had always been the closest out of all of them. So caught up in her thoughts was she, that Lily didn't notice James coming down the stairs until he sunk down onto the couch next to her chair. He was in his pajamas with a snitch pattern blanket in his lap.

"Hey, Evans," He smiled as he talked to her, but it didn't match his tone. He pretty much had huffed out her name, like he was too tired to put much effort into even pretending that he was slightly okay.

She closed her transfiguration textbook and dropped it by her feet. "Hey, Potter. What are you doing down here? Causing trouble, no doubt?"

"Very funny, Evans. Like you don't already know," he let out a derisive laugh and then gave her an apologetic expression. "Sorry. Didn't mean to lash out."

"'s fine." Lily curled her legs up closer to her in the chair and took care to tuck her own blanket under her feet. She picked at her cuticles.

"What about you, though? Shouldn't you be getting some rest?" James had collapsed into the soft cushioning of the couch. His bare feet were crossed at the ankles and stretched out in front of him. His arms were crossed over the ratty band t-shirt he wore with his red plaid pants. He wasn't looking at Lily, his gaze focused on the fire in front of him.

"I'm doing some homework." At that, his attention turned back to her. His eyes roved over her, looking for whatever textbook she might have and then it landed on the textbook at her feet. He raised his eyebrows at that.

"That essay isn't due for another week."

"I struggle with transfiguration. Figured I might as well get a head start." James' gaze narrowed at her, his eyes more closely inspecting her now, and she felt a bit awkward under the attention. "What?" she asked. He took in the bags under her eyes, the protective ball she had curled into, the defeat laced in her tone, and he felt his heart well for her. They both knew it was a weak excuse, Lily wasn't terrible in any of her classes and if she were truly having issues-she would have gone to speak with McGonagall instead of staring at a textbook.

He took pause before answering, "I can help if you want. I have a knack for transfiguration."

Lily played along too, "That would be great. Thanks…. James."

"James now, am I? Well that's quite an impressive step up from toerag, don't you think?" The cheek he offered was welcome and Lily smirked.

"Well I figured that if you were going to offer help, I may as well address you proper now. It'll be back to toerag soon, though. Maybe after you're done helping me, I'll even transfigure you into one." She winked at him and it tugged at the corners of his mouth. He needed this. That easy banter she brought to the table. They had never been close, the two of them, but they had spent some time together over the years. Last year, before OWLs, the two of them led the giant Gryffindor house study session. He tutored transfiguration and she handled potions and charms. Remus had taken over defense and they had all collaborated in an effort to have everyone pass. They had gotten into their fair share of spats over the years, but from what he could tell-neither one of them had ever hated the other despite what everyone was saying.

"What does a toerag even look like?" James crinkled his nose trying to think of what a toerag would resemble. Would it smell like feet? Probably.

Lily opened her mouth to respond, but closed it half a second later. Her eyes glistened as she responded, "You."

James glared at her, but couldn't fight the smile that begged to appear on his face. "I should have seen that coming, I suppose."

"I don't blame you," Lily said cheekily. "You have terrible vision." She then silently summoned his glasses off of his face. He hadn't even noticed her pulling her wand out.

"Hey!" He lunged his upper body forward to try and snatch his glasses out of the air, but even with his skills in chasing, he was incredibly blind without the aid of his specs. He couldn't see where they were.

Lily laughed and tossed them onto his lap, "Sorry. Couldn't resist."

A crooked grin overtook James face and he let out a dramatic sigh, leaned his head back and closed his eyes, "Couldn't resist me, more like." He immediately lifted his head and opened his eyes to catch her reaction.

"Shut it, Potter." Her legs were loosened from the ball she had formed of herself and hung over the edge of the seat. Her toes peaked out from under the blanket even after she had thrown the blanket over her legs and James noticed that she had painted them a reddish purple color.

"Ah, being a toerag wouldn't be the worst," he said, "as long as I got to clean pretty toes like those. Nice color, Evans."

Lily blushed a little when she realized what he was talking about, but she didn't let it affect her composure. "Thanks, James. I can do yours for you if you want. The bottle is just upstairs."

"I'll pass for now, but thanks. I appreciate the offer." James paused slightly, "You wouldn't want to go near my feet, though. Remus swears they smell worse than Pete's do. Probably because of my quidditch trainers."

"Thanks for that. Now my mind will be clouded with mental images of your stinky clodhoppers," Lily's face scrunched up.

"You're very welcome," James smiled. They lapsed into a momentary silence before Lily broke it.

"You could always charm them, you know?"

"What? Charm my feet? No thanks," James looked thoroughly confused by the suggestion and Lily let out a small laugh.

"Not your feet. The shoes, dipshit. Summon them for me-I'll fix 'em up for you. I had to do the same thing for Mare a while ago." Lily looked at him expectantly and not seeing any reason to reject her kindness, he pulled his wand from his pants pocket and flicked it toward the boys stairs.

The shoes floated lazily down from the dormitory, "Oh Agrippa's sake, James! Did you think it was your job to bloody fumigate the dorms or something?" James laughed at Lily's expression and watched with interest as she charmed his shoes. When she was done, she flicked her wand at the air and a pleasant scent burst out and filled the room.

"Nice touch. Thanks, Lily."

She nodded and fell to the easy silence. It was several minutes before James spoke.

"So why have you still not gone up to sleep? Got a monster hiding under your bed or something?" He said it jokingly, but Lily's response didn't have the usual playful touch to it.

"More like in my head." It seemed as though she had replied without thought and James' eyebrow creased.

"Huh?"

"Oh, sorry." Lily's cheeks blossomed with pink. "I didn't mean-I uh-that's not to say that I-"

"Lily," James frowned and leaned towards her, "what's bothering you?"

Lily sat up straight in her chair, her legs twisting to dangle off the front of the chair as appropriate chair stature would require. "Nothing. I'm good."

"Ah," he spoke, "so you're just going to outright lie to me? Good to know."

"It's not any of your business!" Lily snapped coldly at him and he retracted back again the couch cushions.

The silence that they had been experiencing periodically returned now, far more cold and awkward. Lily sat rigidly in her armchair, her eyes blazing like the fire she stared into and James was leaning into the back of the couch, his face looking off to the side, an icy expression blanketing his features. They allowed the silence for five minutes or so, both of them trying to stay still, but fidgeting uncomfortably at different intervals.

Finally, Lily conceded and muttered, "Sorry."

James took his time responding, mulling carefully over the words before laying them on the table, "I was just trying to help. I'm not stupid, Lily. It's pretty obvious you've been having a rough go. I just thought I would offer some relief. I'm not as terrible a person as you may think I am."

"I don't think you're terrible. And I've been having a rough go? You're one to talk. Do you need some relief?" She looked at him quizzically and he felt her eyes trying to penetrate his own.

"No." The silence returned and James shattered it once more, "So neither one of us talks about what we don't want to, then? Work for you?"

"Dandily." She smiled, "Does this mean we are friends now or something cheesy like that?"

"I don't see a reason why we shouldn't or couldn't be." He fidgeted with his glasses, not wanting to risk ruining the olive branch she was offering.

"Alright then," she extended her hand to James, "Friends."