It was only the second week of school, but the professors had already piled up work on the seventh years. There were many rolls of parchment due in the various classes. Slughorn was especially driving them up the wall, assigning potions projects involving lots of patience, a trait that James Potter and Sirius Black happened to lack.

James finally ended up throwing his quill across the room. He groaned with frustration.

"What's wrong with those professors? Do they not know we have a life, too, especially when we've only just got back?" He leaned back on one of the couches, putting his hands behind his head.

He was ready for a break.

The four marauders were currently trying to work in the Gryffindor common room. It wasn't really working very well, however. Remus seemed to be the only one actually concentrating. James had only written one line of his essay when he gave up, and Sirius was just being Sirius. Peter, on the other hand, was attempting to work. He was not very bright, though, making it difficult him to process information.

Remus finally put his quill down.

"Prongs, you're just in a bad mood because Lily rejected you when you asked to do the Potions project with her."

While James wasn't looking, Remus and Sirius both shared an eye-roll.

James, who had assumed that being Heads would bring them closer, was obviously disappointed that they actually didn't have much to plan together yet. They had only had two meetings – one with Dumbledore and one with the rest of the prefects. There hadn't been any "bonding" time so far. James wanted to grab the chance to work with her in Potions, but Lily had coldly refused, asking Remus instead.

James frowned at the memory.

"Why's it always you?" James wondered out loud, a loud sigh coming through as he said the words.

"Maybe you should actually talk to her like you talk with us," Remus said.

He was always the voice of reason, even if James usually never listened.

Peter nodded slightly in agreement, still unsure of what to say. He looked a bit confused, so he watched his words so he didn't say something that would make one of them angry.

"But it's Lily. She's not like one of you three. She's .. Lily."

Sirius scrunched up his face with disgust. "It's a mighty good thing you don't think of us like her, mate. That would just be wrong."

Remus let out a laugh before turning towards James one more time.

"But Prongs, did you honestly think you were winning her over by flirting and being incredibly arrogant in front of her?" Remus asked.

He knew his friend was a bit dense sometimes, lacking in the common sense department, but not that much. Remus knew that Lily despised James's pranking and foolish ways. Remus tried to explain this all to James, but had he really not understood?

"I never really thought of it that way."

He scratched the back of his head while Remus sighed. He had gone through the same conversation around 100 times, but it never worked out in the end. For some reason, James always forgot his advice.

"Mooney, he's just not used to having to get the girls. They usually just come to him," Sirius added, "And of course, they come to me too. We just happen to have a gift. Well, except for Lily-kins."

James just shrugged. "I just want to talk to her."

James had another faraway look in his eyes. Sirius just shot him another disgusted look.

"It's not that I don't get why you like her. Hell, if you didn't fancy her, I think I'd steal her away, Prongsie. It's just that, I think you should broaden your mind a little. You have tons of other girls lining up to date you." Sirius said.

Sirius understood why James liked her. He would have to be blind not to. He, however, was loyal to his friend. Plus, him and Lily just didn't make sense.

James shot a glare at his best friend. Even if it was a joke, it was not particularly funny. He disliked competition. Plus, Lily didn't give him any light of day, except to either hex him into oblivion or yell at him until she was completely satisfied. This was not helping.

"Don't worry, Prongs. I won't touch your precious Lily."

James just laughed, "Do you think I should ask her out again?"

Sirius groaned.

"Do you never listen to what I say?"

Remus scoffed. "I don't think what you say is very wise either, Padfoot. Just let him be. He'll eventually figure it out for himself."

"Hey, I'll meet you in the Great Hall later. I need to go find Lily." James said, packing up his stuff from the common room. He grinned down at his friends as he got out from his seat.

The Potter confidence was slightly returning.

He started walking towards the door.

"Five galleons he comes back whining." Mooney said, smirking.

"Ten galleons he comes back grumbling to himself and saying he's going to bed early." Sirius said with a smile upon his face.

"You're on."

They then both turned to their friend beside them. "Do you want in?"

Peter shook his head, indicating a no. He never really got caught up in these random bets. He had always tried to be positive, wishing that maybe, one day, Lily would actually give in. Though he did have many doubts.

"You three do realize I'm still here?" James asked while turning around.

He had not yet left the room. He just laughed and walked closer to the portrait.

It suddenly opened in front of him, barely missing his nose.

He immediately noticed the figure that came through. The dark red hair was hard to miss.

"Evans!" He yelled out in glee.

The red-head looked up at him.

"Oh, just the person I was looking for."

James beamed.

"You were looking for me?"

His grin grew even bigger. His friends were surprised his lips didn't start to tear from being overstretched. Speaking of his friends, they were busy making fun of James instead of doing their work.

"Don't get your hopes up, Potter. I was just coming here because apparently, our partners for Potions were changed."

Remus raised his head at the mentioning of his Potions project. He walked towards them and motioned towards Lily to explain.

"Apparently, Frank is getting extremely frustrated over Stebbins and how he's so 'incompetent' at working. He complained to Professor Slughorn, and he agreed to change him. He wants to put Stebbins with Remus and Avery with Sirius, which means we're stuck together."

James grinned.

Remus, however, seemed down. Everyone knew Stebbins was a bit below average in many subjects, especially Potions. "But why does it have to be us?"

Lily turned towards Remus "Slughorn wanted to put Stebbins with someone that could make up for his lack of talent in the subject and since you're good at Potions, he chose you. Then, Frank said he wanted Sirius because they're pretty good friends. I volunteered to work with Stebbins, but Professor Slughorn told me that Stebbins specifically asked not to be placed with me and wanted to be with Remus."

Remus's eyebrows furrowed together. He couldn't think of any reasons why someone would not want to be Lily Evans in a project, especially in Potions.

"Why?"

Lily shot a glare towards James. "He was under the impression that James would hex him if he ruined his chances to work with me."

Sirius, who was listening to this conversation, snickered. He was fine with this partner swap. James would just be moping about Lily the whole time if it didn't work out, and Frank was quite gifted at Potions.

The only people that were clearly upset about this outcome was Remus and Lily. Lily did not want to work with James Potter of all people. She didn't fancy the idea at all. His skill in the subject was fairly above average, but it was obvious that during their meetings to work together, he would not exactly be concentrating.

On the other hand, Remus was slightly dreading working with Stebbins. Stebbins was a nice bloke once you got to know him, but his ignorance and slowness at Potions wasn't easy to overlook. In fact, he had barely earned an Acceptable in the subject. The experience would not be pretty, especially for Remus, who had earned an Outstanding.

James was ecstatic. "Evans, we're partners now."

A wink went her way, which was of course ignored by Lily. She was, however, suddenly wrapped up into a hug.

She squirmed and pushed him away, but her strength was nothing compared to James's. She gave up and instead decided to use another weapon of hers. She used her foot to step on the boy's foot with all her might.

Her small stature made her look like she had no strength at all, but when she focused her energy on one thing, it paid off in the end.

James jumped off her. "Evans! That hurt!"

"Well, that was sort of what I was aiming at."

"But I suppose now we'll be spending extra time together."

James had obviously forgotten the pain. This was exactly the chance he had been waiting for.

"You better cooperate during this project, Potter. If not, I'll just keep you in the dark and do it myself. Or I'll go ask Slughorn to change my partner. I'd rather work with Black or Frank." Lily shot.

"Lily-kins! I knew you loved me!" Sirius called out to her from his spot on one of the couches.

"Just get back to your work, Black!" She called back. She laughed a little. Sirius was always a very good source of amusement.

James, however, just frowned. Nothing he did ever amused her, it just annoyed her. Why didn't she laugh with him?

Lily just ignored James's pouty face and turned on her heels to leave. The portrait swung open, letting her out. She realized that James was following her, but decided to ignore him. She just swiftly headed to whatever destination she was heading towards.

"Evans!"

She was about to completely ignore him all together but he footsteps behind her were getting faster and louder, meaning that he was close.

She suddenly felt a yank in her arm.

"Evans, I do believe I called your name."

He shot her a dashing smile. Well, dashing in the eyes of other girls.

"And I do believe that 'not hearing' someone when you're the only two people in a quiet corridor usually gives the other person a hint."

"But I needed to ask you something."

Lily already had an idea of what he was going to ask. He'd been asking her since fifth year.

"Go out with me, Evans."

"That's not even a legitimate question." She said with a sigh of frustration. She had hoped to avoid this during her seventh year.

"Fine then. Will you go out with me?"

"You've asked me that more than a hundred times, and has the answer ever changed? No, it hasn't. How many times do I have to reject you for you to stop?"

She groaned as she remembered how the past year or two had been for her. Every single week there was a James's confess-to-Lily day. He just never gave up. He was just much too stubborn.

"I suppose a few hundred more. I won't give up."

Lily was now on the brink of losing it. What was with this boy?

"Well, I guess I'll have to say it once again then. I don't fancy you, Potter."

Lily wanted those words to shut him up, but apparently they had no affect whatsoever.

"Then, we have a problem, 'cause I fancy you."

"The feelings aren't mutual, so just leave, Potter."

"No. I want to be beside you."

His hazel eyes looked down at her. Lily just crinkled her nose at the cheesiness of the comment.

"Technically, you're in front of me."

James laughed. "You just had to ruin my amazing moment."

Lily was about to speak up about how cheesy that 'moment' of his was, when she suddenly felt an arm around her once again.

James had shifted his position so that he was actually beside her. His arm was draped around her shoulders, just as it had been so many times before.

She moved away again, walking down the hallway. She turned around for a brief moment, only to say one thing.

"Don't ask me out again, Potter!" She called out. A small smile lingered on her lips.

James just grinned. "I won't! Never again!"

Lily turned around before she let out a small laugh.

They both knew he was lying.