Seventh Year

Lily whirled around to find a smirking boy with black, messy hair and rectangular glasses that sat comfortably on the bridge of his nose. With a grin plastered on his face, he watched her intently as her anger boiled from her ears to her nose. "And don't look at me like you're so oblivious! Are you even listening to me, James?" she shrieked and his eyes widened, glistening with fascination.

"Why, of course, my dear Lily pad. Why wouldn't I be listening?" he replied smoothly. Her eyes flickered as her mind thought of all the insults and retorts she could come up with but she decided to make him talk."Then what was I just talking about?" she asked, crossing her arms and pursing her lips.

James's smile faded. "Um... Dungbombs?"

Lily just glared at him. "Patrols! You forgot yesterday! I had to patrol the entire school on my own. I think I've asked you this question a hundred times but now that I have your attention... Where in Merlin's soggy, crimson trousers were you?!"

"Soggy, crimson trousers? That's new," he joked but she sent him a deathly glare. "You didn't remind me so I didn't remember. See? That was your fault!" She rolled her eyes and opened her mouth to argue but he already knew what she was going to say. "I was out with Sirius. He and I were just messing around."

"Well, no more! This year, you really have to step up your game since you have been named Head Boy. Got it?"

James nodded sullenly and turned to walk away. "Nope!" He teased with a smile. He had always enjoyed annoying her, and today was no different.

"James! What time are you going to be at Professor Dumbledore's office tonight?" she called after him.

"Six o'clock! I got it, I got it," he answered over his shoulder and turned the corner.

"That boy, I swear..." Lily murmured.

It was their seventh year at Hogwarts and Lily was finally getting adjusted to James's silly semantics. But James was maturing and that's all she had asked for since her fourth year. She still remembered the day when she stood up to him and officially encountered his bullying ways. Although she hated them, she liked the challenge of a good argument because she usually won. During their seventh year, they only argued about patrols and dates. She always denied his dates but he still asked her for fear he would lose her to some other bloke.

In the midst of Lily's thinking, Marlene, Lily's best friend, snuck up behind her just as she had turned around. "You swear you're going to marry him?"

Lily jumped in surprise and turned angrily. "Don't do that to me!" She huffed.

"Well, what I say is true. You're going to finally say yes to a date with him, marry him, and have the cutest child! Aw! Just like Frank and Alice! Mr. and Mrs. Longbottom!" Marlene swooned.

"It's just Alice Prewett and Frank Longbottom for now," Lily corrected. "And I'm not marrying that arrogant toerag."

Marlene just nodded profusely as she started skipping away. "James and Lily, sittin' in a tree! K-I-S-S-I-N-G! First comes love! Then comes marriage! Then comes a baby in a baby carriage!"

"You're a blithering idiot!" Lily called after her friend but she was long gone. "Bloody annoying, if you ask me!"

Just when Lily thought Marlene was gone, she popped out from behind a pillar on the opposite side of the corridor and hissed. "I will get you to confess! Even if it's the last thing I do!"

Lily looked over, a bit surprised, and stuck her tongue out. "Confess to what? About how much of a tosser are you?"

"LILY EVANS FANCIES JAMES POTTER AND EVERYONE KNOWS IT!" She screeched. Lily hushed her, but it was too late. Over half of the school heard her.

"Really, Marly?" she hissed and Marlene shrugged.

Running towards the nearest exit, she waved with a great, big grin on her face. "See ya!"

"Some days are just not my days..." Lily sighed.

James, having heard most of the conversation since he was only a corridor over, was relieved at the fact that Lily didn't deny too much. Then he started thinking that it was a bad thing she wasn't denying too much because she would want to cover it up a whole lot more if she really did fancy him. He shrugged and decided not to worry about it. He knew he was going to get her, no matter what.