Lily Evans glanced down the table to where James Potter sat with the rest of his Quidditch team, eating breakfast before the first match of the season. She quickly looked back at her bowl of porridge, contemplating if she should go wish him luck or not. Friends did that sort of thing, right? Wished each other luck before a big match. Lily thought so, but it was hard for her to know for sure as she'd never had a friend that played Quidditch before.

And the real question was if they were that good of friends yet, or just friendly. How dedicated to the friendship did one have to be in order for a good luck wish to be acceptable? Or, what if it was expected? Was there some sort of protocol that Lily was just not up to date on? Like, what if you only wished people you'd been friends with for over a year good luck, or what if you only wished guy friends that you wanted to be more than friends with good luck? Perhaps there was a handbook in the library. Lily would have to go check later.

"Oh go on. Don't be a worry witch." Maddie Winder said, rolling her eyes. She was Lily's best friend, along with Sarah Hart. "He'll never realize you fancy him just because you wished him good luck."

"I thought we wanted him to find out." Sarah said, frowning in confusion. "So he could ask her out."

Lily looked like a deer in headlights, eyes wide in shock. "I don't fancy James."

Maddie snorted, "Please. The words 'James, can you help me with my essay' came out of your mouth last night. And I know for a fact you finished that essay on Wednesday."

"Okay, so maybe I fancy him a little bit." Lily admitted slowly. "Or maybe I lost my essay and was forced to redo it."

"A little bit?" Maddie raised her eyebrows.

"You fancy him a lot." Sarah said matter of factly, which ended the argument. Lily could argue the point with Maddie all day, but Sarah was another story. Once she'd decided something, there was no changing her mind.

Lily sighed in defeat and glanced over at James again. He saw her looking this time and caught her eye, smiling at her before going back to his conversation. Lily swore under her breath. Staring was one thing, but getting caught doing it was quite another thing. Now she needed to come up with some excuse or he really would figure it out. She was sure to make a giant fool out of herself, and James Potter was unlikely to want to date a fool.

"You're going to have to hurry up if you want to wish him good luck." Maddie said, jerking her head to indicate that the Quidditch team looked to be about to head down to the pitch. "Just do it."

"Go on." Sarah said encouragingly.

Lily took a deep breath and pushed down the nervous feeling that made her want to throw up. She stood up and walked over to where James and the rest of the Quidditch team were standing up, waiting for Sirius Black to shove a last three or four biscuits into his pockets for the walk to the stadium. James had his back to Lily, but the Keeper nodded in her direction, prompting James to turn around. He immediately broke into a grin.

"Hey Lily."

"Hi James. You headed down to the pitch already?" Lily asked in what she hoped was a casual manner. She swore it was a miracle she was on her feet and talking at all, she felt such a huge rush of adrenaline and nerves.

"Yep. Got to warm up a bit. You coming to the match?"

"Oh no, I thought I'd go to the library and do a bit of reading." Lily rolled her eyes. Witty. Witty was good. Witty was very good. She was amazed that she had thought of that to say at the moment, because her mind felt very, very blank. "The whole school goes to the match, James. Where else would I be? I only wanted to come and wish you luck."

"Thanks." James said with a laugh. He ran a hand through his hair. "I'll look for you after?"

"Definitely." Lily smiled in what she hoped wasn't a crazy manner. Inside she was busy freaking out about the fact that she had made him laugh. It was a minor miracle. Everyone knew Lily wasn't funny. Sarcastic? Yes. Funny? No.

"Come on, Prongs. We have to go." James' best friend, Sirius Black, took him by the arm and pushed him towards the door. James walked off with a last grin and wave back at Lily. Sirius rolled his eyes and winked at Lily, like they shared a secret. This really, really made Lily nervous. Sirius clearly knew her secret, which likely meant that James knew. "See you, Lily."

"Good luck, Sirius." Lily said in what she hoped was a calm manner. Her heart was beating a mile a minute as she sat down with her friends. "He so knows."

"Who knows what?" Maddie asked, raising an eyebrow.

"Sirius. He knows." Lily glanced at the door that Sirius had just walked out. "I know that he knows. Also, he just winked at me, so he knows that I know that he knows."

"Lily." Sarah set down her fork and looked at her friend. "Everyone knows, the whole school knows, except probably James. You're so obviously infatuated with each other. I'll prove my point by asking that random first year."

"Please don't." Lily said, clapping her hand over her friend's mouth. "I believe you."

"No, you don't." Maddie sighed. "But you will. Now was that really that bad?"

"No, only now he's going to look for me after and I have that to worry about." Lily said, already envisioning what to say when that time came. She hoped it would be congratulations, because that would be a much more pleasant conversation. "Oh, Merlin. What if we lose?"

"I hope I never fancy another boy." Sarah said to Maddie as the girls headed to the Quidditch match. Lily was far too busy fretting over her imaginary consolation speech to James to listen to their conversation, since she felt it best to prepare for both possible scenarios.

"You and me both." Maddie said, eyeing her friend. "You and me both. If he waves, I reckon she'll have an aneurysm."

"D'you think that likely?" Lily asked, wide eyed. "Oh, this is awful. Why did I ever wish him luck?"

Thankfully, the Gryffindor Quidditch team won, James did not wave to Lily, and he couldn't hear a word she said when they met after the game. He also kissed her that night, which was both wonderful and horrible at the same time, wonderful because Lily was thrilled, and horrible because now she had a whole new set of things to worry about. Was she a good kisser? Did he want to date her? Should she ask him to clarify their relationship? Could she kiss him? Would he try to hold her hand? And that was only the beginning.