DISCLAIMER: I don't claim to be J.K. Rowling, but I do worship her. So yes, everything is hers. Thanks for reading...

ON WITH THE STORY!

Chapter 4: Angles

Back up in her dormitory, Lily could barely breath. She had run the whole way up there, and had only been stopped once. That was when Professor Flitwick had yelled at her for running in the hallways. She couldn't believe that Potter had said that, and in the middle of the corridor too! She would surely be the laughing stock of her year, not to mention, her dormitory full of gossipy Sixth Year girls.

And "beautiful"--that was certainly not something she heard directed at her everyday. It could've been a nice thing to say, if James Potter had not said it as though it was entirely unbelievable. This intonation turned the compliment distinctly sour.

Lily did not see herself as necessarily beautiful either way. She saw that being the "beauty" was Raina's job--definitely not hers. Small stature, troublesome, way-to-red hair, and freckles. And her eyes.They were enormous and surely too green. Yet another outstanding feature that set her so far apart from her family, further alienating her older sister, Petunia. Beautiful? I wonder what that Potter is angling at... She thought with suspicion, flouncing onto her favourite couch by the fire and opening a large puce tome.

--

Reasons Why I (Might) Find Lily Evans Beautiful

By James Earl Potter

--Long, wavy, red, fiery hair (Merlin, did I seriously just write that?)

--Small frame (She looks as if she could just fit right against me)

--Freckles dotting her arms, legs, and face. For some inexplicable reason, they are just one more thing I find attractive about her. (When did I turn into such a buggery sap?)

--Eyes. Green, emerald, olive, grass? (How do you describe those eyes?)

--

"I really have to stop this list now. Why can't she just make it easy on me, and explain to me, why I think she's beautiful? Then I could get over it, and move on to hating her like nothing ever happened." James screamed, exasperated. It was the next day, and James had been up all night celebrating Gryffindor's fully expected victory. But instead of sleeping the party off in usual Marauder fashion, he had been sitting at that table in the Great Library for an just over hour pondering this list. He had even enlisted his fellow Marauders to help him. Madam Pince, the stern Hogwarts librarian, was of course glaring daggers at them from across the room.

Sirius noticed this, and called "Sorry 'bout that Pincey, darling!" from his lethargic position on the floor next to James' desk.

"Okay James. Now I'm going to spell it out for you. Yes, I am going to tell you exactly why you think Lily is drop dead gorgeous, okay?" stated Remus, staring at James with his trademark "You-couldn't-live-without-me-breathing-for-you" look, truly exasperated with his foolishness that, in his opinion, had been going on far too long.

"Okay, yes, er...That's exactly what I've been waiting for! Come on, tell me, don't hold it back now..." whined James in a very six-year-old esq. voice and demeanor.

"She. Is." Remus said with a small smile, flicking James scribbled scratch pad closed, and sitting back in his seat in satisfaction with the incredulous face James now had about his face.

"What? Are you kidding me? You think she's pretty too? You've got to be joking." James said, pushing his head into his hands in confusion.

"Why Jamsie, are you jealous? You think dear Remus is going to steal your fiery witch away from you, now?" taunted Sirius, pushing James in the side, nearly to the point of falling onto the floor as well.

"No. Yes. NO. She's not my anything. And she's not "fiery" either. Wait, don't tell me. I don't think I could take it if you thought that Lily Evans is beautiful too Padfoot. This is just too much. Five years of hating her and teasing her and pulling pranks on her, and now you tell me that she's Merlin's gift to Gryffindor?" James said, turning his bereaved face towards his laughing friend.

"Yes Prongs, you bugger. She's bloody gorgeous! Do you truly think that you're the only one who has noticed that in the last couple years? The only reason I haven't snogged her senseless for the past five years, is because I knew you you would call me a traitor. But now..." Sirius said with a suggestive smirk. "We may be due for a trip to Honeyduke's store room sometime soon." he said with his eyebrows waggling, causing Peter to chuckle from his place across the table.

"Don't. You. DARE." James roared, whilst standing up and jabbing his finger in Sirius' joyful face.

"See, I knew you fancied her. I also knew that you've always been insanely jealous of my devilishly handsome looks." teased Sirius, striking a pose, as they were shooed out of the library by a livid Madam Pince.

"Sorry Pincey! I'll have to send you a big box o' chocolate frogs to make it up to you, now won't I? " Sirius said to her retreating back, his face aglow with his trademark grin.

--

Days later, Remus and Sirius were still trying to make James understand that Lily was, in fact, beautiful. This had resulted in intense interrogations of every Sixth Year Gryffindor male, many of whom had agreed with the two Marauders. This may have been because of one of two reasons: that they truly agreed that Lily was attractive; or that they were simply too scared of Remus and Sirius' wrath. Although the two had had there ups and downs the last year over an incident they referred to as the Snape Death Debacle; Remus had basically forgiven Sirius, especially when he sided with him about something like this. James could not really make as much of a threat as the both of them put together, because of Remus' mind, and Sirius' temper. So it was common knowledge that it was always better to have one Marauder (James), mad at you, than having two (Remus and Sirius)

Nevertheless, James was still stubborn. He surely wasn't afraid of his friends.

No sir, they can't bully me into anything I don't want to believe! No sir...No sir... James mumbled incoherently under his breath at breakfast that Saturday. Today was the second Hogsmeade trip of the year, and he couldn't even enjoy it because he was so bleedin' caught up in this Evans nonsense. He simply could not except the fact that Evans hadn't just dropped some potent love potion into afternoon tea, or something of the like. But was it possible, even for a brilliant witch like Evans, to drug the entire school's tea? Not only had James noticed that Evans had many of the Gryffindor boys entranced, but it seemed that she had also attracted Hufflepuffs and Ravenclaws. But the craziest thing about it all, was that he had even seen some Slytherinns, especially one Severus Snape, look her way during double Potions a couple times.

In the last week, James had become nearly obsessed. He noticed everything, from Evan's preference in fruits (cherries and raspberries mostly), to her dislike of Herbology and yogurt. It wasn't as if he was stalking her, he was merely paying close attention is all. And this attention had led to multiple slaps to his face from Evans and her posse. Thinking of this, James rubbed his still-pink cheek absently.

Adding to his list of Reasons Why I (Might) Find Lily Evans Beautiful list, he also composed another list, of his observations. It was titled, Evans' Strange-Yet-Endearing Quirks; and covered all manner of things, from her hatred of asparagus, to her habit of biting her nails. And apparently she was quite partial to tomato juice and drank it excessively. She also was very close to Hagrid the Groundskeeper (as was James--he noted this with a feeling of pride). This list went on for nearly ten sheets of parchment. And it was still growing.

His friends could do nothing to help him. They just looked on in pity and thought collectively "He's so far gone, and he doesn't even know it".

--

Lily, for her part, was taking the fact that Potter was stalking her, quite well. Besides the fact that her friends had taken to calling her Mrs. Potter; and mocked her endlessly; and that her boyfriend had become quite protective of her in the past week, she was not very affected by the whole affair. She was quite calm in actuality, except for a few slaps that she had been forced to give Potter to keep up appearances. At the moment, Lily was happy that instead of pranking her, he had been staring at her--although it was creepy, it wasn't nearly as irritating.

--

Lily was drinking a large cup of tomato juice, yes, tomato juice, and trying to find something to wear for her date to Hogsmeade with Gideon Prewett. Now, Lily was not a superficial person, nor a vain one. But something about Gideon made her want to be perfect. It was odd, but she really didn't mind because she really fancied him. She wanted to be better for him.

In light of this, Lily's dormitory now looked as if her wardrobe had exploded. Her three friends, were now huddled on top of Raina's bed, dodging and ducking as socks and tank tops were tossed their way. "Bombs away! Batten down the hatches mi' mutinous crew!" screamed Tessa jokingly, only to be glared at by Lily. "Sorry Lils, but this is getting ridiculous!"

And it was. School robes, dress robes, jeans, khakis, jumpers, and dresses were strewn about the room. One sequined top had actually gotten stuck to the ceiling, although no one could attest to how this happened. It already looked like a war zone, and Lily had only been at it for half an hour.

"So where is old Prewett taking you anyway?" Brianna asked in a guarded way. She tried to hide the grimace on her face after saying Gideon's name, but her efforts were mostly to no avail. Anyone who looked could plainly see her obvious dislike of the boy.

"Well, first we are going to take a walk around the town, and then head over to the Three Broomsticks for some butterbeer. And of course I'll have to pick up some sort of gift for his birthday next week. Yes, his birthday is December 8th, so I only have until Wednesday to find the perfect thing." Lily said as she struggled into a long burgundy skirt that complimented her hair. With this, she put on a v-neck brown jumper, and her brown suede boots. After all; it was supposed to be a cold day, what with it being December and all, she reasoned.

Lily seemed to be satisfied with her outfit, and then set out upon digging up accessories from the mess, and doing her hair and makeup. "I think I might love Gideon, some day anyway. I mean, we have only been going out for about a month, but he's been so sweet. And he makes me so happy--he really is the perfect boyfriend." She mused aloud. While saying this, she had tamed her red ringlets, tied her long bangs up with a brown clip, and applied mascara and lipgloss. She doubted that she would need any blush, seeing as she always burst into a deep flush whenever around Gideon. He complimented her so often, that her blush-prone face was perpetually pink.

"Oh yeah, he's so perfect," Brianna said dryly, her voice dripping with sarcasm. For some untold reason, Brianna had refused to like Gideon Prewett. No one knew why, but the black-haired girl would not even give him a chance. "He's stuck-up." was the only response given when she was repeatedly asked for a reason. And so, Lily was used to the resentment, and chose to ignore it the best she could. As she pinned on her usual peal earrings as finishing touch, she turned around to face her friends with a goofy "Tada!"

"You look great Lily. I always say that you look great in that chocolate color. But borrow my brown beret and gloves, it should be pretty cold out there, and we don't want you in the Hospital Wing for the sake of a silly date," Raina said with her deep voice, as she fetched the hat and gloves. "There you go honey. Have loads of fun, and don't come back 'till dark," She said with a warm smile, hurrying a thankful Lily towards the door.

"Have a great time Lils!" Tessa offered to her retreating back.

"Ugh" Brianna mumbled from her state of denial under her bed. None of the others had dates, except of course for Raina. Raina always had a date. Or two. She was the "beauty" of the group, but needed only five minutes or less to get ready; and wouldn't start coming down to the carriages for another fifteen minutes. And so, with hugs and kisses from all of her friends, yes, even Brianna ventured out from her hovel to say goodbye, the tiny redhead ran out of her dormitory, and into the Common Room. But as she ran into the Room, she ran into someone as well. As Lily looked up from her odd position on the floor, where she had be pushed in the fall, she saw on top of her, of course, James Potter.

--A/N: Okay, I hope from this chapter you learned a little more about james and his obsessions...let it be said now that i love james. i love him bunches! but one thing i hate, and will be skipping over is the whole sirius sets remus on snape thing. in case you didn't' notice, it was noted as the "snape death debacle" in this chapter. okay thats about it. thanx for the reviews, continue please! oh yes, and there is a plot here. i will be making the chapters longer so don't worry bout that!

Love,

Summer