Seventh year had always been told as the most difficult and Lily was beginning to believe the tales she had heard about it being stressful. Although she only took seven lessons now her timetable was always full of classes, revision sessions with the girls, alone time studying in the library or a quiet corner of the common room as well as nightly patrols with James on Tuesday nights which lasted well into the early hours of the next morning.

She didn't know where she stood with James, the only thing she knew was that she felt a lot closer to him since his dad's funeral. Lily felt confused, the looks they shared, the laughter and the moment where their eyes met and the rest of the world was drowned out. There was also the feeling of jealousy when she saw James with Marie and she still didn't understand why, she refused to believe that she had feelings for James Potter.

It was early in October when Lily walked out of the Great Hall after breakfast to head to her Arithmancy class when Marie stepped in her way. Lily rolled her eyes and smiled slightly, checking her watch when the blonde refused to move.

"Lily, can I talk to you for a second?" Marie asked brightly.

"Make it quick." Lily replied, walking up the marble staircase, with Marie only seconds behind her.

"Well me and James haven't had much time together since we came back to school and he won't skip classes and we have one free period a week together and all we do is study! We haven't even taken the next step because we have no time alone together!-"

"Get to the point Marie, I don't particularly want to listen to you moaning. I have a class to get to." Lily snapped as she made her way through the crowded corridors.

"Right sorry. Anyway, I know James is supposed to be on patrol with you tonight but could you let him have this one off?" Marie asked.

Lily stopped in her tracks and stared at Marie, she didn't know whether to admire the girl's efforts to ask for some time with her boyfriend or to dock house points from Ravenclaw for her lack of understanding of her boyfriend's commitments. James was the Head Boy and she had chosen Tuesday as their night to patrol because of his Quidditch commitments and his schedule. He could do so much better than Marie.

"I don't think so." Lily answered and continued to walk.

"That's not fair-" Marie began to protest.

Lily turned around, face matching the same colour as her hair in anger. The sixth year girl was acting like a spoiled brat that had been refused a toy or sweets and she was going to stand for it. Marie had to understand that James had more important things to take care of than his girlfriend's whining for attention.

"Marie I've already said no and now I'm deducting ten house points from Ravenclaw for your whining and waste of my time. Carry on and you'll get detention too. Now get to class before I deduct another ten points for lateness." Lily shouted.

Slightly shocked and embarassed, Marie retreated in the opposite direction and Lily exhaled heavily as she made her way to Arithmancy. She didn't feel the slightest bit of guilt for shouting at her friend's girlfriend or deducting house points and she didn't care whether Marie would go crying to James about it either. She didn't even pay attention in Arithmancy as she was too busy thinking it over why James was still with Marie. Clearly the girl wanted to change the way James looked, she was always dropping hints about James changing his glasses to contact lenses and making him sit with her during meal times and moaned about how much time she spent with the other marauders, even going as far to say that she didn't understand why he was friends with Sirius and Peter. Lily felt the girl was a huge annoyance, especially with how she had to make a spectacle out of herself by snogging James rather enthusiastically in public, even going as far as tucking her hands into the waistband of his trousers in the middle of the corridor. She was an embarrassment.

After Arithmancy, she returned to the common room for her free period; still in a foul mood from her earlier encounter with Marie. She slumped down into one of the comfy armchairs by the fireplace and chucked her bag to the floor. She still had to finish an essay for Slughorn and had to read ten pages of her Transfiguration textbook for McGonagall. But she wasn't in the mood to start homework, it would just make her mood worse. As she closed her eyes, she heard someone occupy the chair next to hers and wasn't surprised to see James sat there.

"Bad day? It's just second period." James teased.

"I don't want to talk about it." Lily huffed.

James's smile faded and he stood, pulling her to her feet. Lily frowned when he then picked up their schoolbags and exited the common room. The corridors were practically empty, with the odd sixth or seventh year walking down the moving staircases to the library.

"Where are we going?" Lily grumbled.

"I have something that will cheer you up." James smiled in an innocent tone.

When they reached the entrance hall, James pulled her behind a suit of armour and checked his watch and counted in a low whisper, "Three...Two..One..." and they both looked in direction of the caretaker's office. Lily nearly jumped out of her skin when she heard a horrified shriek come from within the office and a few seconds later, Filch came running out of his office, clutcing the remaining strands of hair that remained on his head. Lily burst into a fit laughter, having never witnessed a funnier sight than the most hated person on the school staff holding the strands of hair that had fallen out of his head and whispering to them as if they were an crying baby that needed soothing.

McGonagall came from the staff room, trying to calm down the angry caretaker and dragged the caretaker in the direction of the hospital wing. When the laughter finally settled, she looked up at James; her cheeks and ribs hurting from laughing so much. James smiled as he stroked away a tear of laughter from her eyes and she noticed the warm look that had been there over the past month. The look which had lasted much longer than it should have done for friends, the look which made Lily see into his soul that he was indeed a good person and that she had been wrong about him, the look which made her heart beat faster in her chest that she was sure, just by how close he stood to her behind the suit of armour, that he could hear it.

He was too close. Lily could feel his breath on her face, she could feel her back against the stone wall with his hands on either side of her. James moved his right hand and tucked a lock of red hair behind her ear, smelling the coconut shampoo that she had used in the shower that morning to wash her hair with. He loved the softness, like velvet. Her green eyes inquisitive and confused, why did she look so confused?

"We should-"

James stepped away from her and handed Lily her schoolbag, the look of confusion still between them.

"Do you want to get something to eat? The elves are making apple crumble for dessert tonight, they'll happily give us a piece now?" James suggested.

Lily nodded her head, "Sure, we probably won't get a chance tonight to eat dessert anyway." she replied.

The two headed to the kitchens and climbed through the tiny crawlspace to be greeted by an house elf. They sat at a table and caught up, with James telling Lily his plans to hold tryouts in the next week and Lily telling him more about how her summer holidays had gone, which included the details of her sister dating a new man named Vernon, who she worked for. James joked that her sister was trying get somewhere within the company but Lily replied that Vernon was just Petunia's type, he was 'normal'.

They heard the bell ring for third period and they sighed heavily, both wishing that they could skive off Charms and continue to eat the delicious apple crumble. But due to both wanting to do well in their exams in the Spring, they both exited the kitchen and headed to the Charms classroom.

Lily found that the rest of the day wasn't as bad. For once, Flitwick hadn't given them any homework, just advised them to continue praticing the new spell that they were learning in class. She ate lunch with Marlene and Alice and after lunch went to Double Potions and had a study session with Mary in the afternoon. At dinner, she entered the Great Hall with Remus to see that James was sat once again at the Ravenclaw table with a sulky looking Marie.

"You miss hanging out with him too?" Remus asked.

Lily blinked and looked at her friend and nodded as they sat in an empty gap at the Gryffindor table.

"I just think he's trying too hard to make her happy. All she does is sulk." Lily answered.

"That may be true but he seems to like her." Remus said.

"That and she's a good kisser." Sirius added.

Lily's stomach dropped, did James really think Marie was a good kisser? Well she must be. Lily thought to herself, considering that is what they do most of the time that they spend together. The group ate cottage pie for dinner and just as the apple crumble came up, to which Peter's eyes lighted up in delight, Lily caught James's gaze and gestured that they leave. They had to discuss James having a Tuesday night off at the end of the month when Remus would be turning and they had to discuss it whilst everyone else was at dinner.

"Marie wasn't very happy about me not having dessert with her." James muttered, as they left the Great Hall.

"Is she ever happy these days?" Lily replied.

"She just feels that I'm not spending enough time with her." James sighed.

They said nothing else to each other until they returned to the common room and were glad to see that it was empty, but James didn't want to risk being overheard should someone return early. They climbed the boy's staircase and entered the room that James shared with his friends, Lily wrinkled her nose at the pile of dirty socks that sat at the foot of Sirius's bed. James sat on his bed and patted for Lily to sit next to him to which she did. She looked around the room, noticing that it was the same shape as the one she shared with the girls. Lily's eyes fell onto a photograph on James's bedside table and she recognised James and his mother in the picture, standing happily besides a man who was a tall as James, with the same black messy hair and rounded shaped glasses. The man in the picture had to be Jame's father.

"I never knew you looked so much like your father." Lily said softly.

"I do, except my eyes. I inherited the hazel eyes from my mother." James replied.

Lily met his gaze once more, still smiling until his soft hand caressed her cheek. She bit her lip and closed her eyes as she felt his thumb slowly and gracefully moved across the soft skin of her cheek. James brought his forehead to her own and she felt his heavy breathing on her closed eyelids.

"Lily." he whispered.

Her eyes snapped open and she leapt away from him, aware of what would have happened if she had responded the way she wanted to. Oh how much she wanted to. James looked at her, just like he had that morning and she found herself backing away towards the door.

"Umm y-you can have t-the T-tuesday off." Lily stammered and exited the dormitory.

What the hell? Lily thought to herself as she sat in front of the fireplace. She didn't know what to feel. She had wanted to kiss him like he had clearly wanted to kiss her, but James had a girlfriend and having these thoughts and feelings didn't change that fact; it only made her feel worse. As much as she disliked Marie, she wouldn't pursue James whilst he was with her.

Everyone returned to the common room and she spent a little while finishing her Potions essay with Alice until James came down the boy's staircase and announced it was time to start their patrol. Lily bade goodbye to her friends and left Gryffindor tower with James, hoping that the night would progress quickly.

ooOoo

A clock chimed midnight as James and Lily searched the fourth floor. Their wands lit and both yawning loudly as they both wished that the next hour would go quickly so that they could return to their beds. The night had been a slow one, having caught three first years trying to sneak into the restricted section of the library to ease their curiosity. Moaning Myrtle had flooded the girl's bathroom on the second floor three times in one night that they had spent forty minutes helping Filch clear the floor and Peeves had stolen some dungbombs from some fifth year students and was setting them off in every corner of every corridor that stood inside the castle.

"One hour left." James said.

"I so need to sleep. I'll check classroom 4b while you check 4c." Lily yawned.

James nodded and they headed off to check the different classrooms. It wasn't as if there were many hiding places inside the classrooms but Lily checked under every desk, in each cupboard and behind the blackboard until she was satisfied that the classroom was clear. She exited the classroom and locked the door and seeing that James wasn't in the corridor waiting for her, she decided to go and meet him from 4c.

When she reached 4c, she was a little shocked to see James laying on a desk with Marie straddling him, trying to undo his belt buckle. Lily flicked her wand and all the candles in the classroom came alight and both James and Marie looked at Lily.

"What is this?!" Lily shrieked.

"Well you wouldn't let Jamie have some time off with me, so I thought I'd surprise him." Marie replied defiantly.

Lily scoffed, "You are a sixth year, you should know the rules by now." she tutted.

"Stop being Miss Goody-Two-Shoes." Marie spat, climbing off James.

"I think you need to sort out your priorities Miss Clarence." Lily replied stiffly.

"James is my priority."

Lily laughed harshly, "Really? So where were you when his dad died? Where were you when the funeral happened? That's right you were in France for eight weeks and couldn't give your boyfriend a second thought when he was going through the hardest thing in his life." she snapped.

Marie didn't know what to say, she opened her mouth to say something but closed it immediately. Both girls glared at each other and didn't notice that James had slipped off the desk and straighten his robes.

"Stop trying to be perfect Lily, you're nothing but a mudblooded bitch who looks down her nose at everyone else. At least James saw sense and moved on from you, he's with me now and he's happy because he doesn't have to take rejection from you." Marie sneered.

Lily slapped her, feeling angrier than ever in her entire life. How could Marie insult her like that? James said nothing, staring at the two girls and clearly unsure of what he should do.

"Fifty points from Ravenclaw. Two weeks detention." Lily muttered.

"That's not fair!" Marie cried, clutching her redded cheek.

"One. Sneaking out of your dormitory after hours. Two. Trying to have sex with your boyfriend, the Head Boy, whilst he's doing his duties. Three. Setting a bad example to younger students when you should know better. And finally, using foul language at your Head Girl. I think it's more than fair." Lily stated, turning her back on James and Marie.

She didn't stop to listen to the angry outbursts from Marie and she didn't care when James shouted back that she was horrible for calling Lily a mudblooded bitch. All Lily wanted to do was report back to McGonagall and climb into bed and forget that this day had ever happened. It was as she left the fourth floor and climbed down the stairs to head in the direction of McGonagall's office when she felt a strong grip pull her behind a tapestry and pin her against the cold wall.

"What?" Lily demanded, glaring at James.

"I'm sorry, she shouldn't have done any of that." James apologised.

"Why are you with her? She's a horrible and pathetic little girl." Lily replied.

James sighed, he didn't know how to answer her and Lily tried to push him away but he held her tighter, pressing his body against hers to prevent her escape.

"I don't know. I thought she was nice and I liked her but now-"

"Now what?"

James looked down into her eyes, "She shouldn't have called you that." he replied.

"I don't care Potter. I'm not ashamed of my heritage, I have a mother and a father who loved me for my difference, even if my sister hates it. I wouldn't trade my muggle parents or my lifestyle for all the pureblooded heritage in the world. I'm a mudblood and proud of if!" Lily said softly.

"Hearing Marie say those things to you, it made me see her differently." James admitted.

Lily pushed him away slightly, getting a little angry they were still on the subject when she just wanted to go to bed.

"Just drop it, have this conversation with your precious girlfriend!"

"Lily-"

"I'm tired of hearing about her James, just drop it and let me go."

"No Lily-"

"Potter I'm warning you-"

"Lily just shut up!" James hissed and pushed her back against the wall and pressed his lips to her own.

A/N: Okay I'm leaving it there as it's already a long chapter and it's getting late and I need to be up early in the morning. I'm also thinking about leaving this story for a while, I'm not sure how long for but for personal reasons, I need to put it on the backburner so I can focus on other things. I apologise but my reasons for it are important.