It was the day of the hogsmeade trip. James was standing by the door in the foyer. He had told the others to go ahead without him, still holding out hope that lily would meet him here. He could always catch up with them if she didn't show, of course if she didn't show he would probably be to crushed and wouldn't go on the trip at all. Or just go hide in the shrieking shack. He was still lost in thought about which bridge he was going to jump off of when

"Guess who," suddenly all thoughts of bridges disappeared.

"Sasha from marketing." James pulled lily's hands off his face and turned around. He was caught momentarily breathless by her smile.

"Where's the gang?"

"The gang?"

"You know what i mean, the usual suspects, sirius, remus, peter."

"Well seeing as i asked you to come with me i told them we'd catch up with them later. Maybe." he gave a little smirk with the last word and lily smiled back. Her face also took on a slight tint of red, but that could've been because they stepped outside and were hit by a gust of cold air.

The two of them walked side by side to hogsmeade, brushing into each other because they were walking so close.

…[]...

Lily and james were walking to hogsmeade together. This was… interesting. Lily had been hoping he'd ask her out for weeks and now he had.

They arrived in the midst of the hustle and bustle of shops and people and started to slow.

"So," james started

"So," lily prompted

"Where do you want to go?" james asked

"You're the one who asked me here and now i have to decide where to go, good grief."

"Well, since i asked you here i did my part so i guess the whole where to go problem does fall to you." lily was struck with a ridiculous thought and began laughing heavily as james finished his thought

"What?" james asked

"We could go to madam puddifoot's." lily managed to get out in the midst of her laughter. James stared for a minute before also breaking out laughing.

"God, could you imagine?" lily said when they both had finished their laughing fit.

"Now that we're done with that," james said with one last chuckle "where do we actually want to go?"

"The three broomsticks?" lily suggested

"Sure."

So they walked to the three broomsticks together. As soon as they walked in the door lily was hit by the heat of the fire.

"Merlin, that feels good." lily sighed

"No kidding." james agreed taking off his jacket.

"See an open booth… anywhere?" lily asked. With the cold it was packed.

"No… but there's a table over there. There's only one chair but we can make it work." lily's face tinted red again

"Well considering i chose the place i suppose it's your turn to buy the drinks."

"You planned this." james said and lily laughed

"You asked me."

"Yeah but somehow, somehow you planned this out so i would have to buy the drinks."

"Yes, i'm a devious mastermind like that." lily agreed

"Fine. i suppose i'll be the gentleman here and buy the drinks." he leaned in close "butterbeer or firewhiskey?"

"Well," lily leaned in even closer "considering we're sixteen, take a guess."

"Firewhiskey it is." james smirked and hurried away before lily could argue. Instead she just shook her head and went to figure out the chair situation.

"Excuse me?" lily went up to a rowdy table. It wouldn't have been her first choice but they had two extra chairs so what could she do.

"Excuse me!" lily repeated. They hadn't heard her the first time.

"Huh?" one of them answered and turned around. He eyed lily up and down before smiling and leaning forward "what can i do for you?" good grief.

"Are you using this chair?" she pointed to the one she was leaning on.

"Yes, we are, but we're not using that one." stated one of the men at the table, pointing the the chair right next to it and then they all rioted. Very drunk.

"Great." lily muttered and picked up the chair and turned around. Of course, only after she turned around did she see the problem with maneuvering through the crowd to her table. With a great deal of effort, her coat hindering her, she lifted the chair level to her face and said excuse me at varying volumes until she reached her table, and set the chair down. Only then did she realize a slytherin girl was in the process of sitting down at it herself. A slytherin girl with dark brown hair and eyes that she could only describe as mean. She was actually quite intimidating, but lily was exasperated with people lately and ready to fight someone, even a slytherin.

"What are you doing?" lily asked

"Sitting down." she answered, finishing the action of doing just that

"No. no you're not sitting down. Get up. Move. go."

"No."

"No? What do you mean 'no'?"

"What do you not speak english?"

"Yes i speak english. I also speak dutch and latin. I also know that this is my table and you have no claim to it." she walked up next to the girl and made shooing gestures with her hands.

"You can't just will me away. I'm not a cat or something." she took a sip of a fresh butterbeer.

"No, you're not a cat, but you are at my table. Move!" one of the guys from the rowdy table made a loud cat noise in her direction and another whistled

"Piss off!" lily yelled in their direction and threw a rude hand gesture in their direction as a follow up. The table rioted but now lily was just fuming at the slytherin sitting at her table.

"Move." she stated with as much authority as she could manage.

"No." the girl stated with infuriating calm, staring straight ahead

"Listen," lily leaned in close "i have been waiting, oh have i been waiting, to go out, on a date, with what just might be the most charming boy to ever walk this planet, finally he asked me and here you are trying to ruin everything. Why are you trying to ruin everything? Why?" she leaned in even closer and the girl stood up, but lily could see she had no intention of leaving.

"I just want to sit down!"

"Hey, what's going on here?" lily whirled around to see james walking towards the table with two glasses and a bottle of firewhiskey.

"Well she wasn't lying." the slytherin girl said, suddenly seductive, and took a few steps towards james. Lily's mouth fell open. She couldn't believe it.

"No, she tends to be pretty reliable." james smiled and walked over to lily, putting an arm around her shoulders "one of the many good things i like about lily evans." at her name the slytherin's face contorted

"Lily evans?" she asked "the mudblood, lily evans?"

"You mean the smartest girl in hogwarts, lily evans? Definitely hotter than you, lily evans?" lily flushed with pleasure. The girl in front of her was bundled, but somehow still showing mass amounts of cleavage and pouting her full red lips, and here was james saying lily was hotter. It obviously wasn't true but it still made her feel good all the same.

"I don't have time for muggles and muggle supporters like you. The girl stated in a huff, whisking her butterbeer off the table and storming away.

"Well that was fun." lily stated, taking one of her hard earned seats.

"I can't believe her." james stated setting the firewhiskey and the glasses down on the table, shaking his head.

"I can." lily said

"I mean, i can believe her, bloody slytherin…" he trailed off. I silence proceeded and lily was starting to shake with a mixture of anger and disbelief and everything else that had happened in the last five minutes.

"So," she stated, leaning forward on the table, trying to act unaffected "are we going to drink the firewhiskey or do you think it's just pretty to look at."

"Of course we're going to drink it," James snapped out of his trance "why would i go off and get something that's just pretty to look at while you're here?"

Lily flushed a third time and took the glass he pushed across the table towards her. She looked down into it, swirling it around a few times before taking a sip. It burned her throat, but in a good way. She smirked at james and took another.