A/N: I am so sorry it had taken so long for an update! I was camping up at Shaver Lake, California for a couple days and just got back. It was dreadful, not having a computer, because I had this chapter all written up and I had no way to upload it :/ But! the camping was fun, albeit cold. And I pulled a Marauder worthy prank on the boys I was camping with :) You should all be so proud.

Anyways, here's another chapter for you lovely readers. I hope you like it!

Happy Reading! xx

Why Not You?

The first half of the day passed quickly-the only notable event happened to be when Lizabeth had walked towards our table looking for James, causing him to shoot me a look before ducking beneath the table until she had left.

Now I was sitting in Potions with James, Sirius, and Remus. Slughorn was giving the same welcome back speech he gave every year and the four of us were studiously tuning him out while looking as though we were paying attention. It was a skill we had mastered in fifth year and had kept improving ever since.

"Prongs, your facial expression was classic! When you spotted Vane looking for you outside of Astronomy I thought you were going to launch yourself off the tower!" Sirius recalled, barking out a laugh.

"Shut up, Padfoot." James mumbled as he doodled all over his brand new Potions book. Of course, he still had no respect for his books, I thought.

"She was waiting outside your classroom? How did she know what you had?" I questioned.

James looked up at me, a strange look that I couldn't decipher, on his face.

"Lily, you said you would help me…this is getting way out of hand."

I sighed. How in the bloody hell was I supposed to help him with this? I mean, yeah I had told him I would figure something out, but in reality, I had no idea what to do. Lizabeth was a love-struck little girl, and she had said that she wouldn't give up on James until he had a really serious girlfriend…

I snapped my fingers. That was it! The perfect way to get her off his back. "James…," I started, going over the thoughts in my head once more before I voiced them. "All you need to do is go out with another girl. Lizabeth said she would back off if you were in a serious relationship."

Remus and Sirius, who hadn't really been paying attention to us, looked up with interest.

"But…I don't know anyone that I would really want to date…" James said slowly.

I rolled my eyes. "You wanted my help didn't you? Well, that's my only idea of how to get Lizabeth to leave you alone! It's not like it has to be a long-term, forever and ever relationship. Just be convincing until she gets the hint."

"That's bloody brilliant Evans! Why didn't I think of that?" Sirius grinned as he pushed his silky hair out of his eyes. He leaned forward on the table, his smoky gray eyes shining. "Who's gonna be the lucky girl, Prongs?"

James, realizing he was outnumbered, turned to Remus. "Don't you have any other ideas? You're supposed to be the brainy one."

Remus shook his head. "Sorry mate, but Lily's plan is actually your only option if you want Lizabeth to stop chasing after you."

James smacked his head down on the table, looking totally defeated.

I smiled. Having his friends on my side was always a rewarding feeling. Even though James was a good friend, I loved it when I came up with a better plan than him, or when I crushed him in a friendly battle of wits.

James raised his head slowly, a new spark in his hazel eyes.

Uh oh, this could not be good…

"Lily, we're good friends right?"

"Um, yes. You know that James." I said warily. I really didn't like the look on James's face. It was the look all the Marauders got right before a really incredible prank.

"And you said you'd help me with this little…predicament…that I have, correct?"

"Erm…again, yes I did. But I just gave you my only idea. I don't see how else I can possible help you."

"Well," James began, grinning widely now. "Seeing how there's no girl I really fancy enough to date…and you don't have a boyfriend…you pretend to be my girlfriend."

James looked at me, his eyes wide and begging. My jaw dropped.

"Whoa, James. I thought you got over your crazy notion of dating me in fifth year!"

James shook his head wildly. "It's not like that Lils! We're just friends, I promise. I only feel platonic friendship feelings for you. But…friends help each other out, and it's not like I can ask Remus or Sirius to do this for me!"

Sirius and Remus exchanged a look.

"We are best mates, practically brothers, but I have a line that I will not cross." Sirius stated firmly. Remus nodded his agreement.

I sighed. Would I be able to pretend to be James's girlfriend?

"What exactly would I have to do? If I said yes, that is." I made sure to clarify that I hadn't agreed to anything yet.

"Well, all you'd really have to do is act a little more…erm…affectionate." James said, thinking it over.

"You already hang around with us, so you teo would just have to hold hands and hug and do other boyfriend/girlfriend stuff." Sirius said, looking at me.

I looked around at the three boys, torn at what to do. Sure, I wanted to help James out, but I wasn't sure I wanted to be his….girlfriend. I swallowed hard at the thought.

"May I ask why it has to be me? Why not Marlene or Alice?"

Sirius rolled his eyes and snorted. "Because of your history with James of course! You can play it off like you finally realized you had feelings for him after he stopped trying so hard, and the two of you get together. Everyone in the castle will by it."

I groaned.

"I'm not forcing you Lils," James said, "but it was your idea. Like you said, it doesn't have to be long-term or anything. Just until Lizabeth leaves me alone."

I met James's gaze and sighed. Why did he have to be so damn persuasive?

After a few moments of deliberation, I shrugged. 'I'm sort of obligated, as your friend."

James grinned and leaned over to hug me. I squeezed him back, laughing at his enthusiasm.

The commotion finally caught Slughorn's attention. He turned to us and raised an overly bushy eyebrow.

"Would you like to share what is so exciting with the class, you two?" he questioned, but the effect was ruined by the jolly look on his plump face.

I shook my head, embarrassed that he has called attention to us.

"No sir. We're sorry for being disruptive, guess it's just the joy of being back at school. It won't happen again sir." James replied charmingly, giving Slughorn an easy smile.

Slughorn, being the most carefree teacher in Hogwarts, shook his head and beamed down at them. "I trust that it won't, ."

I snorted a laugh into my hand as he turned his back on us and lumbered back to the front of the classroom. James took advantage of his ability to charm the teachers much too often, but I was amusing to watch, I had to admit.

"We'll need to discuss this more later, just to set the guidelines a bit." I whispered. James nodded at me, grinning happily now that he had a solution to getting rid of Lizabeth Vane.

I looked over at Sirius and Remus. Remus had returned his attention to his book, ignoring Slughorn like the rest of the class, but Sirius was smirking at me like he knew something I didn't.

I looked away, a rather uncomfortable feeling in my stomach caused by Sirius's look, and spaced out, thinking about the predicament I had just agreed to get myself into.

I couldn't believe that I was actually doing this…but from that moment on, I was James's girlfriend. And the Marauders and I (and Marlene and Alice, when I told them) were the only ones that knew it was fake.

What an interesting start to my final year at Hogwarts…

Later that night James and I were doing our rounds, not having made up the schedule yet. I was trying to figure out how to broach the subject of James's totally psychotic plan, seeing how after Potions ended not one word had been said about it, but James beat me to the punch.

"So, Lily, about this whole pretend girlfriend thing." He said awkwardly, which was new for James. He never did anything awkwardly. He shoved his hands deep into his pockets.

"What about it?" I asked, glad he had said something first. It was all new territory for me. I mean, pretending to be his girlfriend after four years of him asking me out and me rejecting him, and then two years of being good friends? It was bound to be a little strange.

"Well, you said earlier that we should set some guidelines or whatever."

"Oh, right," I looked around. The halls were deserted. "Erm, let's go in here and we can talk it all out." I said, grabbing James's arm and pulling him into the nearest empty classroom.

"Trying to get us a reputation already?" James teased. Of course, he would think about that. I had caught him snogging in empty classrooms on several occasions in the previous years, and each time it had been with a different girl.

I rolled my eyes at him and hopped up onto a desk, shifting until I was comfortable. James leaned on the desk across from me, crossing his arms over his chest as he did so.

Since when was he that fit? His forearms were even defined for crying out loud! I looked away from his arms and back up to his face.

He was watching me, a tiny smirk pulling up one corner of his mouth.

"Anyways…I agreed to help you by pretending to be your girlfriend. But," I help up a finger to keep him from interrupting me. "there are lines that I refuse to cross with you."

James cocked his head to his side. "And those are?" he asked.

"I am not going to snog you. No kissing at all. We can hug and hold hands and do all that other mushy stuff that people do…but no kissing. That's just to weird."

James narrowed his eyes. "Not even on the cheek? Seriously, nobody is going to buy that we're together if you don't even kiss me on the cheek in public!"

I threw my arms up, exasperated. It was just to…affectionate. I didn't want to kiss James. We were friends! Argh, this year was supposed to be good and easy, other than the N.E.W.T exams, and at the rate it was going so far, it was going to be anything but.

"Fine, I guess you're right. Cheek kisses should be…acceptable."

James nodded. "Okay, what else?"

"Well," I pondered. I didn't really have anything else to add. "How did we get together exactly? We want to have our stories straight if people ask, which I am sure they will."

James ran his hand through his hair, making it stick up in all directions. "Tonight. We were doing our rounds-which is true-and we just sorta decided to go for it. Like Sirius said, you finally realized your burning desire for me." He grinned, his eyes twinkling behind his glasses.

I shook my head at him, grinning slightly as well. Merlin, what was I thinking?

"Sounds like a decent story. I think we can actually pull this off."

"Of course we can Lily! I'm a Marauder, remember? We can pull anything off."

"You are too cocky for your own good James." I laughed as I slid off the desk.

He held out his arm towards me. "Time to head back to the common room?"

"Yeah, I think our rounds are over for the night." I agreed, grabbing his elbow.

We walked back to the Gryffindor tower, discussing our classes and how great it was to be back at Hogwarts, enjoying each other's company. If pretending to be his girlfriend was as simple as that, only with a little hand holding thrown in, I could do it easily.

"Password?" chimed the Fat Lady, snatching me out of my reverie.

"Oh, uh, Hinky punk." I mumbled.

James and stepped back as she swung her portrait forward, reveling the entrance.

"Go ahead." James said, nodding towards the entrance.

I released my grip from his elbow and stepped through, into the warm common room. He followed quickly behind me.

There was only a few third years sitting in the back corner of the common room, scribbling away on pieces of parchment. One of their teachers either didn't like them, or just didn't care that it was only the first day of term. I felt bad for them.

"Well," I said, turning to face James. "Guess this is goodnight…boyfriend."

Merlin, this was so strange.

James smirked down at me. "Guess it is goodnight….girlfriend."

I rolled my eyes. He always had to make fun of me. But we were best friends, and it didn't matter to me. It was all in good fun.

I hugged him, but somehow it was different from the hug we has shared greeting each other on the train. Or maybe it was just different for me…

I heard James chuckle as I turned to go up the stairs so I turned back to face him.

"What?"

"Oh, nothing. I was just thinking about what we're getting ourselves into." James smiled.

"Trouble, that's what." I replied, turning to head up the stairs once more.

"G'night Lils." James called softly. I waved my hand over my shoulder.

"Night James."

As I fell into my bed, suddenly exhausted, I groaned. Tomorrow was going to be very eventful, that was for sure…

A/N: Okay, so you know what to do now I hope! Please review! I love all the reviews I've gotten so far, and they are all appreciated.

Now, to answer the two questions I got asked due to my randomness :)

1. Q: Why did you start writing fanfiction?

A: Well, I started writing when I was young, and I've loved to write ever since. I found this site, and at first I just used it to read other stories, but then I decided, you know what...what the heck, I'm going to publish something on here and see what happens. Being 15 at the time I published my first story, I was a little nervous. I had never let anybody read what I wrote before, but all I got was positive feedback. I was so proud. So, I've been writing fanfiction ever since, and I love every minute of it, although I still get a little nervous when I publish new things. That's why reviews are always so great to recieve. :)

2. Q: Who is your favorite Marauder?

A: Well, that is a really hard question to answer! I love James, Sirius, and Remus so much! But I honestly would have to say James, just because I love James and Lily together. But Sirius...he is just...oh my ;) There aren't even words for Sirius except maybe YUM, but I don't think that even does him enough justice :)

So, again, if you want to ask any questions, feel free! Anything you want to know :)