Chapter 2

James' POV

Ohmigod. I kissed her. I kissed Lily Evans.

The absolute most beautiful girl I have ever seen in my whole life, and I kissed her.

The girl I have been crushing on since first year.

The girl I was so awful to because I was a terrible flirt when I was 12, and totally screwed up my chances with her for when I'm 16.

The girl who has loathed me for years while I have been swooning at her red hair, asking her out repeatedly, driving her crazy, and undoubtedly fighting with.

And she kissed me back.

She didn't blow me off or shove me away, she actually came closer and kissed me back.

And then Sirius had to come in at that exact moment a ruin it. I'd get him back for that later in our dorms, but for now we had to get off the train.

We were coming back from Christmas holiday, so all that meant was a feast and then off to the Common Room. I'd get to talk to Lily there, if not at dinner.

I needed to know what had happened, and how she saw it. I'd been in plenty of relationships in my 6 years here at Hogwarts, and I knew that when you kissed a girl she always thought that that meant you were an item. I needed to know what Lily thought.

Lily's different than other girls in this school, and she thinks differently too. So I knew that she may have not been expecting it, but since I'm such a better kisser than most guys she couldn't resist me. What if that's the case? What if she still hates me, and the answer will be no until we're in a nursing home? What if giant moths swoop down and eat us all and I never get to tell her how I feel like a gentleman instead of a total arse?

No, I was over thinking this again. I watched her leave the compartment and go down the hall. She had the best body, I wouldn't be surprised if I would have started drooling every time she walked away.

"C'mon mate! Your blocking the whole hall!" Sirius shoved me forward. I walked quickly away from the others, and caught up with Lily.

She was talking to Snivilous.

"Are you ok Sev?" She asked.

"Yeah, why wouldn't I be?" he answered

Because your a greasy big nosed git that cant keep his eyes off my woman, that's why you wouldn't be ok.

"Well, its just that everybody tells me that you were glancing my way this morning on the train, and I was curious has to why you didn't come over and say 'hi'."

"Oh, uh, I- I just...umm...I didn't say hi because...I uh...Potter!"

I jumped at the sound of my name, but saw that he wasn't talking to me, he was talking about me.

"Yeah, Potter" he continued, "Potter was standing nearby, and I didn't want to be provoked and get you involved in that, so I decided I would just say 'Hi' on the train, but he was there too...and you umm...well you two were...""Oh." said Lily, " Your saw him grab my hand?"

"And other things."

"Severus, I don't know what your talking about."

"Listen, we'll talk later, ok? I have to go!"

He jumped on a carriage with some other kids from Slytherin and left her standing there in the middle of the road, completely alone. That prat! Leaving Evans for a bunch of Slytherins? The next time I saw him, I'd-

"James?"

I jerked at the sound of a girls voice, but I knew it wasn't Lily's. It was Alice.

"What?" I replied

"Lily couldn't beat a cat at arm wrestling. What actually happened?"

"Ok, ok, you got me. I let her win."

"Potter, Lily also cant lie to save her life. I don't believe one word of it. But if you hurt my Lily you can say good bye to your sex life."

"Alice," I said. "I would never hurt Lily. Nothing in the world would bring me to that."

Alice looked at me for a moment before saying, "Um. Ok, well that's a bit possessive and creepy, but I'll let it pass as cute. You aren't fooling anyone, James. Everybody knows. We just pretend not to." and then turned around join Evans. I grabbed Alice's arm.

"Wait!" I said. "You aren't going to tell her are you?"

"She knows." she said, giving me that 'Duh' look.

"Oh. Right." I said quietly, releasing her wrist.

She turned to head off again, but then stopped.

"James?" she said.

"Yeah?"

"Don't be a stranger to her, ok? She won't admit it, but I think you're growing on her." and then she left.

I leaned against a tree and I watched Lily, saw her talking with Alice, heard my name once or twice and got a glance or two, but other than that I couldn't understand what they were saying. After a minute or two Amos wandered towards Alice, and said hello. He greeted Evans, and then he and Alice walked off, leaving Lily alone for the second time that night.

I decided to talk to her. Thoughts ran through my head as I walked towards her. What if she didn't want to talk to me? What if I had dirt on my face? What if she saw me and walked away, ignoring me?

"Hi, Lily," I said, my voice squeaking a bit. I'm not a shy person. When there are other people around, I'm James Freaking Potter. But, when it's just Lily, I'm entirely different. I don't know what it is, but I just don't feel the need to perform around her.

"Hi Potter."

"So listen, that was really nice of you to make up that story up about arm wrestling me, but I think I like the real story better." I grinned at her, and she smiled back.

It was quiet. She looked like she didn't know what to say, and kept staring at the ground.

"I think we should get to the castle now," she said.

"Can I carry your bag?" I asked her

"Sure," she said, handing it to me. Merlin, what does that girl carry around with her? Bricks? Herds of elephants? I pretended it wasn't that heavy, but it was hard to hide. How does she carry this thing from class to class?

"Heavy, right?" she asked me. She must have seen my shocked face when she gave me the bag.

"Psh no," I said, " Light has a quill!"

"So wher-"

"Why ar-"

We had started talking at the same time.

"You first" she said to me, and I watched her for a minute before talking. Her hair was swaying as she walked, and her green eyes wouldn't meet mine. She was just so beautiful.

"James?"

"Oh yeah...uh right, I was just going to ask if you were ok, you seemed a little upset. I saw you talking to Snape. Did he say something?"

"No...Well, yes."

I dropped her book bag. The thought of that slimy git saying something to upset Lily Evans made me want to punch a wall.

"Ow!" she yelled,

"What?"

"You dropped that on my foot!"

"Oh! I-I'm so sorry! I didn't see it!"

She sighed, but I could tell she was still hurt. I had noticed that she was a bit accident prone, but more often then not I wasn't the cause of the accident.

"Are you ok?" I asked

"Yeah, I guess." She stood up, and we started walking again.

"I'm really sorry, Lily," I told her again.

"It's fine," she said, but I was determined to make it up to her. She may not think that it was that big a deal, but I defiantly did.

"So, uh, what did he say?"

"Who?"

"Snivilous," I told her, "You said that he said something to upset you."

"Oh right. Well, he said that he saw you and me. In the compartment."

"Oh. About that...I was wondering...Well, you never answered me."

"What do you mean?" she said

"I asked if you would go on a date with me. You never answered me."

"Right. Well I… I don't know, James."

"What?"

"I-I have to go." she said, grabbing her bag off my arm, and running over to the nearest carriage.

"Wait! Lily!"

But she had gotten on, and it took off down the road.

I stood in the road for a moment, when Sirius and Remus caught up with me.

"Talking to your giiirrlfriend?" Sirius said, shoving me playfully."Shut up, mate." I told him"Well, if it makes you feel any better," said Remus, "she's totally into you.""What makes you think that?" I asked as we started walking towards the castle."She wrote it in her diary."I stopped. Her diary? "What diary?" I asked.

"This diary." said Sirius, pulling it out of his own bag. I jumped forward and grabbed it from his hand. "What are you doing with this?""I took it out of her bag!" laughed Sirius. "It's the best!""Yeah," Remus agreed. "She writes about you a lot."I started flipping through the pages, seeing how much was written. The whole thing was full, up until the last 20 or so pages.

January 8We get back to school in 2 days! I'm so excited to get back. It's been exhausting. Petunia sucks. Honestly, I'm looking forward to going back. I hate to say it but I totally miss James' taunting. He's such a prick, but that's what makes him so cute. I don't like him he's I don't like I wish he weren't such a twat. See, if he was kinder, I might actually be into him, but since he's constantly torturing everyone who matters to me, it makes him way less attractive. I hate that. He acts so genuine when we're alone, but as soon as anybody else comes along, it's The Potter Show. Petunia asked about him the other day. She wanted to see a picture of him, and the only one I have is from the Christmas card he sent me with him and his family in third year. She said he was .I mean, yeah, sure, but just no.

Whoa.

"Isn't it great?" Remus exclaimed.

"We have to give this back, you know." I said, gesturing to it."Yeah, she'll realize it's missing when she goes to write in it tonight." Sirius said.

"Whatever," I told them. "I'll just give it back during the feast.""No!" they both shouted. "She'll know you read it!"

"I'll just tell her I didn't read it then.""She won't believe you."

I sighed. "I'll just sneak it up into her dorm tonight," said Sirius. "I'll fly my broom above the staircase."

"Do what you want, mate. But if she asks, NONE of us read this. Got it?" I said.

They nodded, and we continued walking.

We walked into Hogwarts for what felt like the hundredth time. I found Lily quickly, thanks to her deep red hair, and ran over to sit next to her before anybody else could take the place I had declared mine, leaving the rest of the Marauders behind.

Alice was sitting next to Emmiline Vance, and they were both sitting across from Lily, their heads leaned together. They were whispering. I had a pretty good idea what about. Alice glanced up for a moment, and saw me walking towards them. Lily groaned loudly and banged her head up against the table, causing her hair to fan out over the wood, which had not yet been set for the feast. Lily's book bag of cement was sitting on the floor next to her feet.

"What do you want, Potter?" Lily groaned, her voice muffled a bit by the fact she was talking to a table.

"There's no where else to sit Lily Flower! This is the only place open."

Lily sat up and looked around the Great Hall. "Potter, there's no one here yet. At least half of our table is empty. So, you and your posse can just go sit elsewhere, ok?" she gestured to Padfoot and Moony, who'd caught up, while Peter was still nowhere to be found.

"Naahh, " I said, putting my own book bag down next to hers, taking the empty seat by her. She rolled her eyes, but didn't protest any further. Sirius and Remus sat down on either side of Emmiline and Alice.

"Where we're you on the train, Emmiline?" Sirius asked, looking over at her from the other side of Alice. "I was on hallway patrol. Second years always try to do some hazing to the first years on the train, so I was making sure that didn't happen."

"Sounds like fun," Sirius said sarcastically.

"So, Lily, " I whispered, putting my elbow up on the table, facing her. She was lovely. "Were you telling Emmy and Alice about what happened on the train?"

"What did happen on the train?" she asked,

"I kissed you, and you kissed me back,"

"No, I didn't tell them."

"So, does that mean I can't tell my mates?"

"Can't tell your mates what?" Moony asked, butting into our conversation.

"Nothing," Lily said too quickly.

Alice and Emmiline glanced at each other.

Sirius laughed his famous barking laugh, and said, "Oooohhhh, its about that!"

"Sirius knows and I don't?" Alice said.

"Well…yeah…he was sort of the one to walk in on that," Lily said sheepishly.

"Walked in on what?" Remus asked, "Your arm wrestling? 'Cause you already told us about that."

"Tongue wrestling's more like it, " Sirius muttered under his breath,

"WHAT?" Remus said so loudly that half of the school glanced our way. People were slowly filing into the Great Hall and seemed very interested in our business.

But there was no more conversation after that. Professor Dumbledore stood up to make his speech, which he made every time they came back from a holiday.

"Welcome back to Hogwarts!" he said, his voice echoing across the Great Hall, "I trust that you all had a very good holiday! I'd like to go over a few sets of rules once more incase you all forgot a few of them," He looked pointedly towards Padfoot, Moony, and I. We all looked down, pretending to be ashamed.

"No student is to go into the Forbidden Forest, without a teacher or staff member present. No student is to be out of bed after the 11pm curfew. No student is to venture to the third floor corridor. And, of course, no student should use magic to gain popularity, bully, or any other vanity of that sort. If any of you would like to know what the consequences are to breaking any of these or any other rules, simply seek out James Potter and or Sirius Black."

Sirius and I stood up, like we had every time he made that announcement. It was part of our punishment for bewitching Professor Slughorns cauldrons to dance.

"Let the feast begin," Dumbledore said raising his hands up. Stacks of food appeared before us on gleaming silver and gold plates, and everybody began to dig in.

"Hey," Moony said, his mouth full of chicken, "There's Wormtail. What's he doing?"

We all turned and looked to where Remus was looking. There was Peter, talking to two Slytherins. They were glancing around cautiously, making sure nobody was watching.

"What are they saying?" Lily asked, has if we knew.

"Beats me," I replied. "Since when does Peter talk to Slytherins?"

"Maybe he's begging them for the rest of their cheesecake." Sirius said, smirking.

Wormtail was looking everywhere, his eyes darting back and forth, not seeming to focus on anything. He seemed worried, and skittish. Finally his eyes landed on us 6, all watching curiously while the event took place. His eyes grew wide, and he stood up suddenly.

"Whoa, " Emmiline said, "Whatever he's doing, it must be something that would get him into some serious trouble. I've never seem him so….Peter-ish."

Peter said something to the Slytherins, then started nervously walking over to us.

"Heeeyyy, Peter.." Sirius said smiling, making Peter jump a little. "What was that all about?"`

"Nothing."

"Yeah whatever," I said.

"Emmiline, Alice," Lily said to her friends after they all got done eating, " I think I'm going to head up to the dorms. Want to go?"

"Sure" they said, standing up.

"I'll come with you!" I said hopping up.

"Actually, James," Sirius said, "We need to talk to in privet. It's kind of urgent."

"Oh," I said, disappointed. "Ok, yeah, I guess." I took one last look over my shoulder at Lily, before walking off with the guys.

We were headed back to the Gryffindor tower, all the way up on the 7th floor. Say what you will about Hogwarts, but there are hardly any fat people here. It's mostly because of the lack of elevators, but it also has to with the fact that you can get lost so easily, giving you excess exercise.

SMACK. Something hit my head. Hard. I felt a sudden tug on my left arm, and Sirius was dragging me into a secret passage way, Mooney and Wormtail crawling in and closing it behind us.

"What the hell!" I yelled, "Why'd you hit me!"

"I thought this would all be cooler is you were knocked out and then came to in here. You know, all mysterious and stuff."

"Well, you shot that horse in the face, didn't you?"

"Whatever, mate." Remus said. "So, what's all the stuff going on with Evans?"

"Oh," I said, blushing. I am sure doing a lot of blushing today…. "Well, it's not that big a deal, really, I jus-"

"He snogged her!" Sirius finished for me, pointing at me dramatically.

"Well!" Peter said, grinning. "It's about bloody time!"

"So, what does that mean?" Remus asked

"To be honest, I don't know. I asked her out again and she hasn't given me an answer, but she did snog me back. Alice says that she won't admit it, but she likes me, and that was sort of written in her diary. It's not really helping me if she doesn't admit it though."

"So just try again." Peter said.

"I've tried a hundred bloody times, mate! I'm starting to think she really doesn't like me. She wrote it about a bajillion times, while simultaneously giving me compliments about my looks."

"And the constant rejection, hatred, and insults didn't tip you off about that?" Moony asked.

"Oh, sod off!" I snapped. "Listen, I don't really want to talk about this, I'd like to leave now," I said, trying to crawl out of the passage, but was blocked by Wormtail and Moony and pulled back by Padfoot.

"Not so fast, mate!" Sirius said. "Can I give you some advice?"

"No."

"Persistence. She'll cave eventually, and when she does finally go out with you, she'll see what a great guy you are."

I just stared at him blankly for a moment. "Ok." I said, with absolutely no emotion in my voice. "I'm leaving now."

I shoved my way past them and crawled out of the passage. The Marauders crawled out after me.

"I'm going to go finish my dinner," said Peter.

"Here, I'll go with you. Better than being around James when he's in a mood."

I rolled my eyes. "You splitting too?" I asked Sirius.

"Actually, yes. I have a prior engagement that I'm fully committed to. Ta." he said, leaving me in the hall.

I was on my to the Gryffindor Common Room, when I heard a very loud "Damn!" coming from above me. I looked up and was greeted by none other than a shoe. Falling. Falling and landing on my face.

"Wahh!" I screamed, catching the shoe before it tumbled down the steps.

I looked up. Guess who.

"Hey, Evans!" I called up to her. "I think you dropped this!" I headed up the stairs towards her while she headed down.

"Sorry!" she said. "I was getting off a flight of steps and they changed while I was switching, so I jumped!"

I laughed. "Yes, I can see that." I said as we met in the middle of our two distances.

"Thank you," she said.

"Here," I told her, "Lift up your leg." I bet down and slid her shoe onto her dainty foot.

When I stood back up, she was looking down at her foot, slowly lowering it. "Thanks…" she said quietly.

"Where were you headed?" I asked. "You were going down, not up. Why are you leaving the tower?"

"Looking for Alice," she said. "She went missing after dinner, she just sort of disappeared. We have classes to prepare for in the morning."

"Well, may I escort you while you search for Miss Winters?"

"James, I don't really thin-"

"I insist." I said holding out my arm for her to take.

She laughed quietly, smiled, and then gave in.

We were quiet for a few moments, and then she spoke. "Why do you behave so differently when we're alone?" she asked.

Crap.

This was a question I had hoped she wouldn't ask.

I have a list.

It's right up there next to "Do you know what shampoo I use?" and "Have I ever given you a boner?"

I will only dignify one of these with an answer.

Yes. I do know what kind of shampoo she uses because Alice told me once at the beginning of 5th year. I didn't ask, it just came up in conversation.

That's all you're getting.

"I don't know." I lied.

"Seriously, James. Why?"

"I… I guess you just make me nervous."

"And how do I do that?" she inquired, but she never got an answer.

There was Alice. And Sirius. But what had happened to the space in between them?

Sirius and Alice were standing there against the wall, snogging each others heads off.

"Ahem," I coughed, but they didn't seem to hear me.

"Maybe we should just go back to the Common Room..." Lily whispered.

"Yeah, ok."

We walked away from that ghastly sight and made our way up to the 7th floor.

"That was a sin against nature," Lily said when we reached the portrait, then said the password. "Krumple Snout"

"Well, that won't last very long. Alice has a boyfriend anyways-Sirius will just pick up a new target in a week for so."

"Sound familiar?" Lily said

"Hey, I never stole another guys girlfriend-That's just wrong!"

"Yeah, well you have gone and done some prett-"

And she tripped in the entrance way.

She feel against me and I caught her. "You're just all over the place today aren't you?" I laughed, helping her up.

"No, it's my foot." she said, doing a sort of step-hop over to the couch in front of the fire. "It's been hurting really bad. Remember, you dropped my bag?"

Crap.

Crappidy-crap-crap.

"Oh, right." I said, sitting down beside her. "Here, give me your foot."

"What?" she said, looking at me strangely.

"My mom works at St. Mungo's. I might be able to help."

"Um…"She said, slowly lifting her leg up on the couch. "Ok."

I took off her shoe and examined her foot. It was just bruised, but the 'Just Bruise' was really bad. I grabbed my wand. "Accio Ice-Pack!"

We waited a moment until an ice-pack came buzzing in to the Common Room, just as someone opened the door. I put it on Lily's foot. She jumped a bit at the cold touch, but then relaxed.

"That feels great." she sighed.

I sat there then, one hand on her ankle, another in the middle of her foot. Her toes were painted blue with gold sparkles on them. She had pretty feet….

I stood up and got a pillow from a chair. I placed it under her foot, but because her foot was on the other couch seat, I sat on the rug next to the couch and by her. I leaned against the arm and closed my eyes, feeling the fire's warmth. I felt Lily's hand on my shoulder.

"Thank you." she said.

I turned my head and kissed her hand. Her finger's matched her toes. Blue with gold sparkles.

We heard laughing and looked up to see who it was.

Dang! I recognized that laugh. Way to ruin the moment-Again!

Sirius and Alice walked back into the Common Room, hand in hand, laughing hysterically.