NEW YEAR'S EVE, 1975

Lily Evans breathed out a heavy sigh of relief when she saw that there was no one up on the Astronomy tower. She just wanted to be away from people tonight, especially him.

She was trying to avoid Severus Snape at all costs. Since that day out by the lake when he had called her…that word…in front of half the school, she wanted nothing to do with him. Or Potter, for that matter. However, she knew she couldn't avoid Potter. He was in all the same classes as her. Although, just the same, she could very well ignore his bloody existence. Snape, on the other hand, well…it was just better to never actually see him.

She wasn't sure how long she was out there, but she was enjoying the solitude. She finally felt like she had room to think—about school, about her family, about her friends, and even about life in general. After pondering many of her rather deeply-buried insecurities about her life and coming close to the breaking point of an existential crisis, she resolved that she needed to calm down and only take things one day at a time. No sooner had she arrived at this conclusion when she heard footsteps coming up the stairs behind her. She tried to find a place to hide, or at least an escape route, but there was nothing. There was only the way she came up, and if she walked down now, she'd probably slam right into whoever was coming up.

Of all the people she expected to find her here (Sirius trying to fool around with some girl, one of her friends who had scoured the castle in search of her, or even Headmaster Dumbledore), James Potter was not among them. She was in for another surprise when he looked just as shocked to see her here, like he didn't expect it.

"Er…I…" He stumbled. Clearly, he wasn't expecting to find her here.

"Potter," she greeted with only polite, albeit formal civility. She wasn't exactly in a mood to talk to him. The last time she'd even spoken a word to him was that fateful day out at the Black Lake. She cringed at the memory. She was frankly rather shocked at herself for even so much as attempting to be civil.

"Evans," he said as he smiled. Lily never knew what it was that he found so funny about her, but he always seemed to be smiling when she was around. Did she have something on her face? He was probably just plotting different ways of annoying the bloody hell out of her. "Mind if I join you?"

"What brings you out here tonight? Shouldn't you be at the party?" she asked bitterly. Surely Potter would rather be harassing younger years and joking with his Marauder friends than on the freezing Astronomy tower?

"I could ask the same things of you, but I think I already know the answer."

"To which question, pray tell?"

"Both. You're likely out here for the same reason I am; to get some air and to have room to think. You need peace of mind, and the only way you're going to get that is to be by yourself so you can actually think things over and get everything that's bothering you out of your head. And as for the second question," he said as he smirked, "you hate parties. I would know, considering I made the last party you went to a horrible disaster."

Lily blushed redder than a ripe tomato at his remark about their awkward kiss—if one could even call it that—at the New Year's banquet in the Great Hall last year.

"However," he continued, "I suspect that you probably won't be able to get much thinking done with me around, especially since I'm likely the cause of much of your distress. So, I will be on my way. Happy New Year, Evans."

"Happy New Year, Potter," she managed to mutter. She was shocked. He had her pinned from the start. How in the world did he know her so well, despite the fact that she hated him? "Thank you, I appreciate the space," she added before he walked away. He smiled and turned to leave. Lily turned around to face the dark almost-midnight-sky and gazed up at the stars.

"Wait," she heard from behind her. She turned back to him, to see that he hadn't moved from where he was a minute ago. "Evans, I just wanted to say…" He trailed off, unsure of himself, it seemed. "I just wanted to say that…I'm—I'm sorry."

"What?" What was he apologizing for this time? It could really have been a multitude of things.

"I'm sorry for what happened earlier this year out by the lake. I shouldn't have been messing with Sniv—I mean, with Snape, and I definitely shouldn't have pressed the issue when you went to help him. I know that it's not really any consolation, but that kid was a prick for calling you such a name. Don't believe any of that."

Lily was stunned. She didn't know that Potter was capable of actually feeling sorry for something that he had done, although she wasn't about to complain. It was about time he fessed up to the wrongs that he'd committed.

"You don't have dirty blood," he went on. "There's nothing wrong with you. I don't care if you were born to muggle parents or pureblood parents or squib parents or even some parents in between. You're great the way you are, and I wish that Snape could've seen that. I'm also sorry for provoking you. I know that you're not a mean person, so it must've hurt to appear that way in front of so many people. I hope that one day you can forgive me." When he finished, he stood there, looking at her, waiting for her to say something.

"I-It's okay, Potter, really…"

"No, it's not. I should never have said and done those things."

"Potter, it's all in the past. Please don't worry about it. Thank you so much for saying those things, I appreciate them more than you know."

He nodded and smiled, and turned once more to go, but she stopped him. "Wait, Potter." He stopped and looked at her expectantly. "I also want to say I'm sorry."

"Why are you apologizing? You have nothing to be sorry for," he said, confused.

"I'm sorry for what I said to you about the whole Giant Squid thing…" she mumbled, embarrassed.

He laughed loudly and heartily. "Why would you be sorry for that? You made my Wall of Fame!"

"Your what?"

"My Wall of Fame. Evans, you've insulted me so many times over the years that I couldn't even begin to imagine a number for all of them. But, in my dorm, there's a wall with all the best insults on it; just the ones that are my personal favorites."

"Are you serious?"

"Absolutely! That one just so happened to make it up there. I mean, 'I'd rather go on a date with the Giant Squid than ever go out with you'? That's gold! If anything, you should feel proud!" He laughed at the horrified look on her face.

"I'll remember that, Potter. Goodnight. Oh, and Happy New Year."

"Happy New Year, Evans." With that, he left down the stairs. Lily was once again alone, but this time, she felt like a weight had been lifted off her shoulders. Had she and James Potter just had a serious conversation without her blowing up at him? Who knew that was even possible?

Somewhere off in the distance she heard bells chime and a great ruckus erupt from the Great Hall. She rolled her eyes at the obnoxious yelling from many of the students, who were likely drunk, that were in there. She was glad she chose to come up to the Astronomy tower tonight. And besides, she was never really one for parties anyway.