A/N: This story is about Lilly and Sev but he doesn't come in till the second chapter.

It was the first day of her sixth year and Lilly Evans was more thankful then ever to be back at Hogwarts. That summer had been a particularly unpleasant one at home, her sister Petunia was even more nasty then usual, delighted by the fact that Lilly lost her best friend, the only one she had at home, at the end of the last school year.

"Where's your freaky little friend? Shouldn't you two be out doing whatever you freaks do?" "You know, you're better off without him. People like you shouldn't even be allowed to have friends." "I'd invite you to come along with my friends and I, but we wouldn't want anyone to see what a freak you are. You know I do have a reputation to uphold, and unlike you I will only be seen with the right type of people."

The words of her sister had stung worse that summer than they had another. Were they meaner? She honestly couldn't remember. In the past she didn't spend to much time at home. But she had had no where to go this time, no best friend to escape with, she had never felt so lonely in her whole life. Of course she had not spent the whole summer completely alone, she saw a few of she school friends, but only a hand full of times, and none of those friends could fill the void that was left in side her due to a Slytherin by the name of Severus Snape.

Lilly had a plan, she was going try and fix that void, and she knew exactly how she was going to do it. Years of being best friends with a Slytherin allowed her to pick up a thing or two.

After stepping off the train in Hogsmead she pushed her way through the crowd of fellow students in an effort to catch up with four in particular. She was actually only looking for one, but where ever one was the other three were never far away. She spotted the back of his head, his black messy hair sticking up at all sorts of odd angles, and made an attempt push on faster but found her self unsuccessful and the crowd between them only grew thicker as people excited other train cars.

Lilly sighed, so much for not being seen by the entire school, "Potter!" She shouted, a few people turned to look at her but not him. "Hey! Potter!" and again he did not hear her. Damn it! Lilly took a deep breath this time getting prepared to yell at the top of her lungs, "James Potter! For Merlin's sake have you gone deaf?"

That caught his attention. James Potter stopped walking and turned around, causing a few people to bump into him as he did so to see who had called him. Lilly waved to him and asked that he wait up, he nodded and instructed his friends to go on ahead and meet him by the carriages.

James felt his heart beat a little faster as she approached, her shiny red hair bouncing behind her in the warm September night. She was the only person who made him nervous, and the only girl he fancied in all his time at Hogwarts, who just so happened to be the only girl who couldn't stand the sight of him. James brought his hand up to the back of his head to ruffle his hair,something he did when he was nervous or felt uncomfortable in a situation, but stopped when he remember her telling him that she hated how he did that. Not the only thing she hates about you, idiot.

"H-hey Evens," James greeted flashing her his brightest smile, which she walked along side by side as the crowd thinned out making small talk.

"How was your summer?" Lilly's smile faltered, "It was alright, my sister and I don't get along very well. I mean, I try because I want us to be close, we used to be when we were kids. She's afraid though, of magic and all, so she wants nothing to do with me and I don't know why but this summer it bothered me more than usual." She finished in a failed attempt to shrug nonchalantly which didn't go unnoticed by James.

The carriages came into sight, and James' three friends who had been standing around waved for his attention. Every thing was going according to Lilly's plan.

When they reached his friends they all greeted her a little apprehensively, the last time she had spoked to the leader of their little group, they were sure she was going to hex him or accidentally set him on fire with her anger, the way that children can accidentally do before they learn to use their magic properly. Their friend looked okay, pretty happy actually so they didn't ask any questions. And when they thought she wasn't looking as they went to board their carriage one boy, Sirius Black, elbowed James and whispered; "Looks like your luck has turned around, Eh' Prongs"

Lilly situated her self in between James and Remus Lupin, a fellow prefect who she was friendly with. She sat quietly as the quartet known as the Marauders talked loudly around her about; pranks they couldn't wait to pull, Quidditch, and classes. She half listened to them not really interested in their conversations. She made sure to accidentally brush her hand against his when she readjust her tie and, the way she sat her thigh touched his when ever there was a bump in the path.

The carriage ride to the school was not a long one, but it was long enough for Lilly that night, she was starting to become anxious. She was the last one to climb down out. Like a proper gentleman James extended a hand to help her graciously accepted even though she didn't need any help. When her feet touched the ground she thanked him but didn't let go of his hand. Instead she pulled him in to whisper something to him. "Do you think I could talk to you about something," She cast a glance at the other boys "privately."

On the walk to the Great Hall the pair allowed themselves to get slightly separated from his friends again, before they snuck off, unnoticed by anyone around them, down a long corridor, walking all the way to the end.

"So what's it you wanted to talk to me about Evens?" James asked leaning causally against the wall and, once again resisting the urge to touch his hair. She sure does look beautiful in this torch light. Noticing the way it made her red hair glow, like a halo of fire.

Lilly looked down at her shoes "Uh well, um I was hoping I could ask you for a favor," meeting her green eyes that looked like glowing emeralds with his hazel ones,"but only if it's not to much trouble." She added hastily.

"Yeah, sure. What do you need?" Jumping at the chance to help and show her how great a guy he was. Lilly broke eye contact and stared down the corridor in the direction they had just come from. They were missing the sorting which Lilly liked to see because as a prefect she liked getting a chance to match the first years names to faces and see what house they were in. Oh well, this is a bit more important. I'll just catch up on it latter.

Running her hand though her hair she looked back to James and launched into her spiel. "You know how I told you about my sister?" He nodded "Well,"She continued, "She said something particularly nasty to me right before I got on the train and I can't get it out of my head. It kinda killed all my excitement about coming back and I'm just not in the mood for all the festivities and excitement of tonight."

James looked slightly perplexed. "Okay…" He really hoped that she wasn't asking him to miss the feast to walk around with her or something. Of course he wouldn't say no if that's what she wanted, he just hadn't eaten in a few hours and the start of term feast always had the best food.

"You're probably wondering what this could have to do with you… I'm sorry, I'll get to that soon. I love my room mates, there great and all but after five years of rooming with them I know how they are. You know how it is." Lilly looked around again, making sure that no one was around, they'd be in trouble if they were caught. Not a lot of trouble but they could lose house points and that would not be a good way to start off the year.

"They're all going to want to catch up about what we all did over the summer and on all the latest gossip the moment we all finnish unpacking, and I really don't want to listen to how they all had so much fun on vacations with their families, while I sat around home getting picked on by my mean spirited sister. In all honesty I kinda want to get away from it for a while, the whole tower really. I just want to be left alone for a little while. I was hoping you could help me."

It wasn't a lie, she really didn't want to talk about her summer , her sister really did say something extra mean to her, and James was the only one who could help her. So what if she left out a minor detail about what she wanted to do was.

If she wanted to be alone he and Sirius could easily convince some of the second year boys to abandon their room for a few hours, and make sure none of the boys in the tower even thought of going in there. However James had a feeling he knew what she was getting at, but decided to ask anyway.

"How?"

"Well, I was wondering If I could borrow your cloak." Lilly asked putting on just a little bit of a sweet hopeful air. He pursed his lips and scratched the back of his neck, " Um… erm its kind of a family heirloom, my father would have my head if something happened to it. I'm not really supposed to have it at school."

Lilly's shoulders slumped slightly, but she wasn't deterred. Time to kick up the feminine charm Evens.

She stepped a bit closer to him so there was only about half an arms distance in between them and looked up at him batting her long lashes with her hands clasped to her chest . "Please James,"

He scratched his neck again. "I…Uh well…" Pout your lips just ever so slightly. "I'll be supper careful. I promise I won't let anything happen. I don't want to go outside, just for a little walk around the castle." He was starting to cave. "If someone caught you… I'd get…" Now touch his arm. "If I get caught I'll take all the blame. I promise James, you wont get in trouble at all. I'll tell them that I went to your room saying I had to speak to Remus and I saw it in your trunk while you were unpacking. So when no one was looking I stole it and you have no idea I have it." Lilly reassured him. That should do it.

James bit his lip and thought about it for a minute. "Alright. I guess it couldn't hurt to let you borrow it. You are just getting away from your roommates after all. It's not like you're running through the forbidden forest or anything right."

Running through the forest? Why in the world would I want to do that? Lilly wondered but did not say anything. Instead she smiled her brightest smile, for real this time, and threw her arms around him.

"Thank you! Thank you! Thank you so much! Oh James you have no idea how much this means to me, I can't even begin to tell you! You're the best. I promise I'll make it up to you some how, thank you so much." Lilly exclaimed and gave him a kiss on the cheek before she unwrapped her arms from him.

His face matched the color of his tie and there was a small dreamy smile on his lips.

"We need to go now, dinner should be starting any minute." She said snapping him out of what ever little fantasy he was in.

They walked in science down the dark empty hall, the only sound being their shoes on the stone floor, until they reached the doors of the Great Hall.

Lilly spoke; "When we get in there just play along. We will pretend I caught you doing something, like hmmm… planting dungbombs to go off as everyone leaves. Alright?"

James just nodded and put on a guilty face. "Good."

Lilly opened the door to the Great hall, shook her head at Potter in a way that said 'I am very disappointed in you' , and ushered him in. As the two walked to their house table the headmaster caught her eye, giving her a questioning look.

Cooly Lilly pointed to the badge on her robe then to the boy walking in front of her and shrugged her shoulders as if to say 'what can you do'. The old wizard smiled warmly at her , he bought it.

Smiling at her thoughts, she sat down with her friends.

Maybe I should have been a Slytherin, that was way to easy…