Lily quickly left the Great Hall. James confused her in the worst way. First he came in and gave her that…that smile - it was a smile that said absolutely nothing and everything rolled into one. Did he know it was she who had visited him? Had his friends told him? And why had he turned away from all of his admirers like that? She knew she hadn't imagined him looking at her right before doing that.

She sighed. If he knew, life was really going to be difficult.

For the rest of the day Lily avoided James. If he even appeared to be coming towards her, she walked the other way. If he was in the common room, she was in her room. If he was in the Great Hall, she was in the common room. She managed to go through the whole day, classes included, without speaking to him once.

That night though, things changed.

Lily was patrolling the halls for prefect duty. Remus had asked her if she minded splitting up…he said he wanted to see if it would be more effective. Lily had been surprised, because she had always enjoyed talking with him during their rounds, but finally agreed to his idea.

Then she saw James walking towards her in the hallway. He winked at her and she started to panic. Again. She felt as if she were panicking an awful lot lately.

"Lily-love," he called. "You can run, but you can't hide. I happen to know you're doing rounds until eleven…which means you can't hide from me anymore."

Lily glared at him. He fell into step beside her.

"What do you want, Potter?" she asked angrily.

"Tsk, such a harsh tone from a girl who I considered my friend." James sighed. "Would you please tell me what I did to warrant such cruel treatment?"

"You…you prat!" Lily spluttered.

"Yes, I realize that you quite often think of me as a prat. From what I know though, all I've done lately is get conked over the head with two incredibly hard bludgers; is that why you're angry with me?"

Lily nearly snarled in frustration. She was sure James knew she had been with him. Why else would he be acting so cocky? Yet, just in case, she didn't want to blow it. There was still the chance that he didn't know it had been her.

"So, I take it you were pretty worried about me," he said casually. So much for her hopes, he had just gone and dashed them with a wooden club.

"Not at all," she answered coldly. Her hands started to shake. James noticed and he grabbed them.

"Lily, why are you so scared of me?" he asked softly.

"I'm…not…scared of you," she whispered. They had stopped walking by now.

"Then what are you scared of?"

"Nothing," she chattered. By now her teeth were shaking too.

"I don't believe you." James pulled her into an empty classroom. "Talk to me, Lily. I know it was you who was with me the last two nights. You must have cared about me somewhat to stay with me. Why won't you talk to me now?"

Lily burst into tears. He looked at her in astonishment.

"Lily?"

"This is what I'm scared of!" she sobbed. "I hated you! Then you went and got yourself knocked out, and all of a sudden, all I could think about was you! And I'm scared of what I'm feeling," she added.

James wrapped his arms around her. "Does it hurt you when I hug you Lily?"

"No," she whispered.

"Does it hurt you when I do this?" he asked, smoothing her hair from her face and wiping away her tears.

"No."

"Then why are you scared of letting me be your friend? Of letting me get close to you?"

"Because. I've always felt the same about you. I thought you were an arrogant prat. And now I'm all mixed up and I don't know what I'm feeling."

"I think I know what you're feeling," James answered. "You're confused. We've both changed, and you're not sure how to react. Your pride is hurting. You've always insisted that you felt nothing for me, and now that's a lie. You want to me go, because you want things to be how they've always been between us. Yet still, you want me to stay, because you can't help but be attracted to me."

Lily started to cry even harder. Everything he said was true.

"Lily, please don't cry," he whispered gently. "It's going to be okay."

"How do you know?" she asked.

"Because I do," he said firmly. Then he leaned down and kissed her. He put everything he had felt for her for as long as he had known her into that kiss; all the frustrations, hurts, love, and longing he had felt for Lily Evans.

And when she started to kiss him back he nearly choked. Because he had dreamed of this for so long it hardly seemed real. Yet as her kisses grew more insistent, James knew it was the truth. Lily was kissing him. She wanted him. She didn't hate him after all.

Finally, James pulled back. They were both breathing unevenly, and their faces were flushed. Lily still had tears in her eyes, and James wiped them away again. Despite her swollen red eyes and disheveled hair, she had never looked more beautiful to him.

"Are you still scared?" he asked.

"Kind of," she admitted. "It's more like confused though. I thought I hated you for five years. This year, we kind of became friends, but I still pretended I disliked you immensely. Which doesn't really make sense, but go figure. And now…" she blushed.

"And now you think I'm the best kisser you've ever met and you can't believe you've been missing out for all these years?" James supplied eagerly.

"Not quite, James," she answered, laughing. "More like, and now I think I've maybe fallen for you a little bit."

James snorted. "You snog me like that and expect me to believe that you've 'fallen for me a little bit'? Maybe it takes more than that to convince you, girl. We belong together." With that he leaned over and kissed her again. By the time they had stopped again, it was already past 11:00.

"I think we're out past curfew again," Lily remarked, looking at her watch.

"But boy was it worth it," James answered, winking at her.

"We should head back," she suggested.

"Not yet," he urged. "Stay with me a little while longer. We need to talk about some things."

"Like what?"

"Like…what are we now?"

"We?" she echoed.

James moaned in frustration. "Yes, Lily. We. As in, the two people who just spent the last hour and a half snogging each other out of their minds. Usually when that happens, you have to figure out where you go from there."

"I thought for you a snogging session was just that," Lily replied snottily. "A session. And after that it was over with."

"Lily…" he said warningly. "Don't play games. I know what my history with girls has been. And you know why? They never lasted because none could compare to you. My ideal. I've been crazy about you for a long, long time. And this year, I fell completely in love with you."

"James, I don't know what to say. Can we just keep things quiet for a while? Not tell anyone that we hooked up? I need…time," Lily said lamely. It was the truth though, because she definitely needed time to adjust to her new feelings towards James.

"Lily, I've waited for you for a long time now. I'm running out of time."

"James…."

"Fine, if you need time, you've got it." Lily grinned at him.

"Thank you."

James didn't answer, he just kissed her instead. He couldn't get enough of kissing her. He had been longing to do it for so long, and now he could, as much as he wanted.

"Don't take too much time, Lily. I don't know if I can stand it." Lily didn't say anything. She didn't know what to say. Sometimes, in cases like that, silence was the best answer.

"Lily…"

"James, please don't ruin this by talking…" Lily groaned. She tried to pull James closer again but he resisted.

"What do we even have going if we can't talk to each other?" he asked dryly. The broom closet was dark but Lily knew that he was serious.

"It's not talking that I dislike. It's what you choose to talk about," Lily explained.

"I can't help it, Lily. It's been a week. Isn't that enough time for you? All you ever want to do is find an empty broom closet and snog. What's so bad about me that you can't let anybody know we're together?" he demanded.

Lily leaned in and ran a finger down the fabric of his shirt. He shivered and she smiled.

"There's nothing wrong with you, James. You're…you're a great guy. It's just that…"

"It's just your damn pride, isn't it Lily? You can't admit that you were wrong and that you like me after all. That's it, isn't it?"

"No, James…" Lily protested weakly. It shamed her to know that the words he spoke were true. She felt so worthless and dirty knowing that she would hide a guy like James to save face.

"No, James," he said mockingly. "Why don't you just tell me the truth and quit lying to me? I've been in love with you for a long time now, Lily. I put any pride I had aside and did whatever it took to get you. And now I'm finding out that maybe it wasn't worth it...because you won't even admit that we have something.

"James…"

"Don't, Lily," he growled. "I'm leaving. Damn your stupid pride."

James shoved her aside and groped for the door handle. He strode angrily down the hallway, leaving a crumpled Lily alone in the closet.

Lily fled back to the Gryffindor Common Room in complete disbelief. James had left her! She hadn't thought James would ever leave her after he had tried so hard to get her.

She sighed and curled up into a little ball in the corner of one of the couches. As she studied her flaming red toenails a million thoughts ran through her head.

James was truly wonderful. Although he was cocky and arrogant he had a certain charm about him. There was something about him that said "I'm only this cocky because I have everything in the world to be cocky about." He was a great Quidditch player, he was drop dead gorgeous, and he was at the very top of the class…depending on the day of course, he and Lily competed furiously for that spot.

And not only that, but he was head over heels in love with Lily.

"At least he was…" Lily grumbled. She had a feeling that James could never turn his feelings for her off that fast, but she knew she had to be careful. She had taken James for granted for too long. Now it was time to prove that she deserved to hold onto him.

If only she knew how to do it…

Lily sat there and planned and plotted for the rest of the evening. She walked up to bed with a small smile on her face. If her plan didn't work, nothing would.

James walked into the Great Hall and saw the entire student body of Hogwarts laughing and giggling as they stared at words that were floating through the air. He squinted and tried to read them from where he stood.

"James Potter, oh James Potter,

could any guy be hotter?

More intelligent more brainy?

More crazy, more insane-y?

More cute or more cuddly?

More simply oh-so-snuggly?

No, I think there could never be,

a guy more amazing than dear Jamie."

James felt his face flush as he read them, unsure of exactly who had written them. His question was soon answered though with one look at the Gryffindor table. Sirius, Remus, Peter, Alice, Marlene, Dorcas, and Emmeline were all howling hysterically around a very red Lily.

"Lily?" he choked in disbelief.

She stood up and walked over to him. "I've put my feelings up there for everyone to see. My pride is completely thrown away. I hope this is enough for you." With that she started to walk away. Her steps were a bit quicker than normal as if she were dying to get away from the humiliation.

"Lily!" he called after her. "Couldn't you just have maybe mentioned it to Alice or something, instead of writing sappy poetry about me for the whole school to read?"

"I could have," she said as she turned around. "But what fun would that be? Think of it as payback…for all those embarrassing times you gave me.

His eyes grew wide as an evil smirk appeared on her face. "Revenge is sweet," she whispered in his ear as he moved closer. Then she took off out of the Great Hall. With one last look at the very amused students, James ran after her.

His long legs overtook her easily. He grabbed her from behind and spun her around.

"You're crazy, Lily Evans," he growled. "And it just makes me want you more." He had to admit that her prank was humorous; he should have thought of doing something like that himself.

Lily squealed as he lifted her off of her feet and kissed her hard. When he set her down he realized they had an audience. The rest of the Gryffindor sixth years were peeking around the doors from the Great Hall. When the kiss ended they all cheered.

Lily glared at them and grabbed James's hand.

"C'mon, James. Let's go somewhere more private."

His hazel eyes got all big and round and hopeful and she hip-chucked him. "Not like that, you dork. I want to talk to you without these clowns spying on us." James chuckled and followed after him, winking at Sirius who gave him a thumbs up sign.

All was definitely good between James and Lily.

"I didn't realize you had it in you, Lily," Alice said slyly. Lily groaned and buried her face in her pillow.

"Alice, you've been teasing me about this nonstop since lunch. Now I'm trying to go to sleep. Can't you please let it go?" she asked in exasperation. Her words were muffled but Alice understood her anyway.

"Let it go?" Alice repeated in mock outrage. "Never! The moment finally comes when Lily admits that she's in love with 'cute and cuddly' James Potter and she wants me to let it go?" The other girls, who were all in bed, agreed with her.

"Especially after such a terrific demonstration of your feelings, Lils," Marlene joined in.

"Shut up!" Lily wailed from beneath her pillow.

The other four girls snickered but finally let up on their teasing.

Hey everyone! A bit of a momentous occasion takes place in this chapter. Please, let me know what you think. I need some reader feedback...likes, dislikes, comments, or suggestions. They're all extremely welcome…and wanted. Until next week – Rochelle (by the way – thanks for the review Waterdreamer, and for the awesome beta-ing Sierra!)