a/n: So, I guess I'm back. I haven't written anything in such a long time. Only some random ideas now and then but mostly nothing serious. Then, a few days ago I just decided that if I'm ever going to start writing again, I might as well start now. Please, please, please disregard some of the stories on my account now. I'll admit it. They're not good. At all. But I have a feeling that this one will be much better. J

Dedication: tootsieXpopXdiscovery…JLG! Now you start writing J Oh, and only 85% percent left…

I'm not a usual LE/JP or LE/SS shipper when it comes to writing, but an idea just popped into my head and I figured I'd just go for it. Keep an eye out for another fic coming soon. A SS/HG, another interesting pairing.

Anyway, I hope you enjoy this first chapter. Reviews are always welcome!

"But from that moment on, Hermione Granger became their friend. There are some things that you can't share without ending up liking each other, and knocking out a twelve-foot mountain troll is one of them" (Philosopher/Sorcerer's Stone).

Lily hated James. She hated his arrogant attitude. She hated his ever-present overconfident smile, which, for some reason, always seemed to be aimed towards her. She hated his annoying habit of mussing his hair every second to make it look like he had, yet again, captured the Snitch and won the Cup for all of Gryffindor House's screaming, adoring fans. But most of all, Lily Evans hated the fact that James and his friends could do just about anything they pleased without consequence.

Well, she planned on changing that. First, she just had to figure out what is was, exactly, that they were doing.

Hogwarts School of Witchcraft and Wizardry

Lily Evan's sixth year

Potions Class

"Alright class," said Professor Slughorn over the din of bubbling cauldrons and anxious students, "all pairs of students please submit a flask of their potion to me for inspection."

Lily looked at Severus apprehensively. "Are you sure we did this correctly? The book did say to mix in the shrivelfig then the minced gillyroot, not the other way around. And we only stirred seven times instead of¾"

Lily was abruptly cut off by her partner. "Please Lily," he said, "have I ever, in our entire relationship," she glanced up at him, "our relationship as brewing partners," he clarified, "messed up a potion?" He spoke these last words with a degree of disgust that one would usually reserve for horrible cuss words or, in the case of Severus Snape, the name "James Potter."

"I suppose you're right," Lily resigned. "But Potter and Black have been getting better, and there's no bloody way I'm allowing them to get higher marks than us." Just as she finished this threat, James called across the room to her.

"Hey Snivellus! Hope that's some Anti-Grease potion you're brewing there. Don't want to get Lily all infected now, do we?"

"Ah," said Severus quietly to Lily, "speak of the Devil." She looked at him and gave a small smile.

James saw this and, as he always was when he saw Snape moving in on his girl and Lily respond to it, felt disgusted. And also a little embarrassed, though he would never admit it, even to Sirius. " What does she see in him?" he wondered silently as Sirius continued to taunt the slimy Slytherin. "Maybe she only likes smart guys…but it's not like I'm dumb, I get okay marks. And there's no way I'll give up Quidditch to study more. I'm Captain, for God's sake, why doesn't she want me?"

Gryffindor Common Room

The fire was roaring. The frustrated sigh of students attempting to complete McGonagall's homework echoed throughout the room. The occasional shout of victory or grunt of defeat also rang out as a few students played Wizard Chess. All in all, a very normal night in the Gryffindor common room.

Also as expected, James and his crew were laughing loudly in an attempt to get every single girl in the room to notice them, not as if they didn't already. All the girls were giggling along with them or trying to catch glances at them and not look like they were blatantly staring. All of them, except for one Lily Evans.

Lily, like any good student and prefect, sat huddled in a corner by the fireplace studying. She may have been an ace at Potions, but Astronomy was a different matter entirely. Realizing that there was no way she could correctly depict Jupiter on its second rotation around the Sun and plot its moons in the noisy common room, Lily decided to head to the library.

Peace. Comfort. Solitude. These were the words that Lily associated with the place she considered her refuge. She discovered this her first night at Hogwarts five years ago. It was terrible. Her parents were teary and Petunia refused to go and say goodbye. To this day, Lily sometimes cries at the thought of her only sister's hatred. Lily was so upset that night that sleep was impossible for her. Hoping to find solace in the quiet of the corridors, Lily had snuck out of Gryffindor Tower. She had not thought, however, that the school being enormous and her being new, not to mention the constantly moving staircases, that she would end up lost.

Lily didn't mind though. She knew she wouldn't be able to sleep anyway so meandering around the castle wasn't a problem for her. Suddenly, Lily came upon a set of magnificent doors with the inscription Erudio Quod Lectio Prolixus Mens written above it. "A library," she thought, "just what I need." Back at home, Lily had began devouring the books in her parents' library at age seven. Her thirst for knowledge only grew with her as she grew older. Faced with a massive library and a night all to herself, Lily picked a book at random off the shelves and sat.

Now was no different.

As she snuggled into her favorite comfortable chair by the ashes of a fire that must have been beautiful just hours before, Lily heard a voice.

Not a foreign one, no, but not one she was expecting to hear.

a/n: Well, there it is. Hope you liked it. It will get more exciting as the the plot develops, promise.

Reviews would be wonderful J

-ali