Anger

Lily woke up the next morning in a rage. The simplest things set her off; the sound Ella's fork made against her plate at breakfast had caused Lily to shout in annoyance and leave the Great Hall in a hurry.

She could tell that her friends were aggravated with her, but for some reason she could not shake her intense and constant anger. What made her day even worse was that she had to spend her entire evening with James Potter.

As Head Girl and Boy, Dumbledore had asked them to do a patrol after curfew to make sure the students who were staying for the break weren't sneaking around after hours. Normally this would have only bothered Lily a little bit; patrolling with James hadn't been nearly as awful as she had expected it to be this year. But today, the thought of even spending a minute with him made her wish that she was wrestling the Giant Squid instead.

Sadly, that was not an option for Lily. As she sat in the common room, waiting for James to show up, she felt the pit of her stomach lurch in dread. Seeing him would just bring back memories of the past few days that she did not want to have to think about. Most likely he would be embarrassing and ask again is she fancied him. And what was worse, Lily didn't know if she could say no convincingly.

"Ready to go?" James asked, startling Lily and bringing her out of her reverie. She rolled her eyes, stood up, and led the way out of the common room. She was in for a long night.

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Before he left to patrol with Lily, Catherine had approached James to give him a warning. He remembered her exact words to be: "Be careful. She's been angry all day, and she'd just love to bite your head off tonight." James was just starting to see what Catherine had been talking about.

Every time James spoke, Lily shot him the Death Glare. He had not received this particularly nasty glare from her since sixth year, and its sudden return disconcerted him. After his seventh or eighth attempt for small talk, James decided to give up and spend the rest of the night in silence.

After a few minutes of tense, awkward silence, Lily turned to James. "You've stopped talking."

"Yes," he replied, going for what he thought was the safest answer.

"Why?" she demanded.

James couldn't help but laugh at this. "You're joking, right?

"No, I'm not. You've made it tense and awkward."

James stared at her incredulous. "I made it tense and awkward? You're the one who has been shooting me the Death Glare all night."

"God, you are so annoying," Lily said, in a poorly concealed way of changing the subject.

"What?" James asked, utterly confused by Lily's determination to make the night as painful as possible for both of them.

"Never mind. Just don't talk to me," Lily replied before speeding up and walking down the hallway.

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Lily didn't know why she had thought it would be such a great idea to walk away from James. After all, he could just speed up to catch up to her. All she knew was that she couldn't stand to be near him right now.

As she continued to walk though, she heard his footsteps quicken and a few seconds later she felt his hand grab her arm. He pulled to her a stop, and turned her to face him. "What is you're problem?"

Honestly, Lily couldn't say. "I'm angry," was the first thought that came to her mind.

"You're angry," he said, not quite sounding convinced. "Why?"

Why was he doing this to her? "I don't know. I just am. Don't you ever just get angry?"

"Not without having a reason."

"Well, I don't have a reason. Sorry."

"Or you don't want to think about the reason," James said under his breath.

"What is that supposed to mean?" Lily asked, her anger flaring again.

"I think you know what I mean," he replied, giving her a meaningful look.

Lily knew what James meant, but she didn't want to say it out loud. Saying it might make it true, and that was the last thing she wanted. "I don't know what you're talking about."

"Yeah, okay," James said sarcastically, raising his eyebrow at her. With that, he started walking again, and they didn't speak for the rest of the night.

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When James was finally got back to his dormitory he was not surprised to find both Remus and Sirius still awake. He was also not surprised to find Peter fast asleep, snoring loudly.

"How did it go James? Was it completely awful?" Sirius asked hopefully.

"It went fine, and no, it wasn't completely awful." Sirius' eyes darkened at this, which angered James. He was getting more than a little annoyed with Sirius' obvious hope that Lily would always hate him.

"That's a shame."

James was not going to take this any more. "If you have a problem, then just say it, Sirius."

However, Remus broke in before Sirius could give a reply, which most likely would have been offensive. "Sirius is jealous."

"Jealous?" James and Sirius asked at the same time.

"Yes, jealous."

"Care to explain that one, Moony?" Sirius asked.

"Sure," Remus said. "James has been devoting all of his time recently to a certain red-haired girl, and you don't like it when you aren't the center of attention. It's quite simple actually."

"What a joke," Sirius said, unconvincingly.

"Aw, Pads. You're afraid that I won't want to spend any time with you once Lily realizes her undying love for me? I'm touched," James joked.

"Oy, shut it," Sirius said, punching James in the shoulder. "I just don't like hearing about her constantly, is all. And even the best end up ditching their best friends."

"I wouldn't worry about that, Padfoot," James said. "I don't ditch my friends. Anyways, Lily still hates me. I think. Honestly, I've fallen for a crazy woman."

A/N: Thanks everyone who has reviewed so far! Thanks for all the advice too. If you have anything to say to help me with my writing, please let me know. I can use all the help I can get!