James

James poured himself another Fire Whisky when he re-entered the kitchen in order to warm himself up still occasionally reaching to touch the patch of skin that had been lucky enough to come into contact with Lily's lips. Suddenly Eli stormed down the stairs jumping a little when he saw James standing in the kitchen clearly not expecting him to be there at all.

"You sure have a way with girls James," Eli spat looking slightly uncomfortable.

"What do you mean?" James asked after swallowing his mouthful.

"Not only have you managed to punch Lily in the face but you've also managed to make your little date cry."

"My...date..?" James asked dumbfounded.

"You know, Rose Marshall? The girl you claimed to like before?" Eli said spitefully.

Rose is crying?

"She's not my date..." James said, a horrible feeling slowly filling his insides. With that Eli breathed a disbelieving laugh.

"You really have no idea about anything do you?" He said before heading into the crowded room through the door of the kitchen, leaving James alone and confused. Oh no, what had he done? He hadn't meant for this night to go so completely wrong. Well, at least he'll have something to tell Sirius when he comes back.

James sighed heavily and pinched the bridge of his nose; now that he thought about it, he was being extremely unfair to Rose. He knew she liked him and he had lead her on. That was wrong.

James, you're a complete prat.

Deciding that the best thing to do was to talk to her, James placed his glass back on the counter and headed towards the staircase when all of a sudden, Rose was already standing before him, wiping the rest of her makeup off of her face.

"Oh!" She said when she almost rammed into him and tried to hurry past, "Sorry." But James grabbed her wrist before she could get away and she turned to look at him surprised. It was then that James had noticed that he had never actually seen Rose Marshall without makeup before and to be perfectly honest he preferred it. Her skin was no longer powdery and un-naturally darker than it should be but pale and clear, her eyes looks larger than when they were lined with black and the decision to remove her lipstick had left behind delicately tinted pink lips; he thought she was pretty before but nowhere near as pretty as she was now. He would even go as far as to call her beautiful.

Why do girls do that to themselves when they looked so much better without it?

"Look, can we talk?" James asked.

"Look I understand," Rose said calmly, removing her wrist from his grip, "It was clear as soon as we had that accident dancing like idiots when you swooped her into your arms and left me sitting there covered in punch. You've never liked me and you're never going to. I've just been a pest, bugging you all this time and no matter how many times you reject me I still keep coming back like that one fly you hate that just won't let you enjoy your picnic. "

Wow that sounds...familiar...

Was that how Lily felt about him?

"No Rose, it's not like that at all," James said quietly.

"James you don't have to be nice, I understand. Don't worry I won't bother you anymore-"

"Look, you just....I need to you to understand that it's not...your fault that I don't have feelings for you," James interrupted, he felt stuck up saying it but he knew that was how she felt, "You don't drive me away and I don't hate you. In fact I think…I might as well say it, I think you're beautiful. It's just...It's just that I have feelings for someone else...I love someone else. And the thing is, unlike you and me in this situation, she really does detest me. In my situation, it really is my fault."

Well…maybe not anymore after what just happened in the garden…

"It's not by any chance Lily that we're talking about here is it?" Rose said, breathing a laugh, but this time it wasn't fake and annoying; it was natural, almost inaudible, "This mystery girl that hates you yet you continue to worship her?"

"Yeah..." James nodded quietly, "I'm sorry, Rose. I was being a total utter git to you without even realising. Well no, ok, I did realise but I was just being…oh I don't know what I was being...selfish and…blind I guess…I didn't mean-"

"You know," Rose said shaking her head, "All this time I dolled myself up and tried to make myself more interesting, when ironically you fell for the most natural, normal girl in the entire world."

"You make her sound boring," James smirked trying to make light of this awful situation but he couldn't help but feel as though he was making it worse.

"Oh don't worry," Rose said with a small smile although James knew it was false, "I know otherwise."

"So...are you...ok now?" James asked stupidly, "I mean obviously you won't be...immediately-"

Oh Just shut up James.
"I think I'll manage," Rose said although her smile disappeared, "So I guess all that asking me to dance and getting me a drink was for Lily's benefit then?"

"Oh," James said looking embarrassed and feeling extremely guilty, "Well, no, not exactly. I mean I guess it went that way but I was really trying to fool Eli."
"Eli?" Rose asked looking baffled, "What's he got to do with it?"

"I knew that if Eli thought I liked Lily he'd tried to steal her off of me…so…"

"So you thought you'd use me as the mouse trap?"

"Rose," James said quietly, his insides writhing with guilt, what had he done? "It might have started out that way at first but you made my situation ten times better instead."

"Liar," Rose mumbled although the corners of her mouth twitched.

"I'm not!" James insisted, "You took Eli off of his high horse by telling him straight out that you don't actually remember anything about him, that you didn't find him amazing like everyone else does, and when I looked like an idiot dancing a dance I didn't know at all, you were there smiling and joking with me the whole way through."

"I guess," Rose smiled but this time it was genuine.

"I really am sorry though, Rose," James said seriously, "I didn't mean to be so horrible, especially to someone who seems to be in the same situation as me. Feeling the same…disappointment."

"I suppose…Rose said quietly, "I could… let you off of the hook...seeing as you saved my life all those years ago…just this once." Rose smiled sadly looking like she was about to burst into tears and James wanted to do something to make her smile again.

Leaning in, he placed a gentle kiss on her forehead.

"You're awesome Rose Marshall. Did you know that?" James asked.

Rose blushed and giggled as he pulled away although James could tell that he was hurting her and instantly regretted it.

I'm such an idiot. I'm just making it worse!

Deciding that the best thing to do was to leave her alone before he dug himself an even deeper hole, James decided to back away in order to leave but Rose stopped him once more.

"Thanks for telling me the truth, James," Rose said, managing a small smile, "I knew this day was coming…I suppose it could have been worse." And with that she hurried past him, wiping her eyes with the back of her hand before she disappeared into the huge crowd of people in the main room.

I'm such a git.

Lily

Lily stood with her back against the wall, just out of sight at the top of the staircase as she listened to James and Rose below. So that had been his plan all along? Not to make her jealous exactly but to get Eli off of the scent? Off of his property? And hurting Rose all at the same time! How dare he? Who did he think he was?

This was an all new low for Potter and as soon as Rose left the corridor she was going to give him a piece of her mind…and foot if she got the chance.

Right, that's it.

"You really are the biggest git in the whole world aren't you, Potter?" Lily snapped as she stormed down the stairs as Rose disappeared into the other room.

"Oh-I-" James stammered clearly shocked that she had been there all the time.

"So was that the plan all along? Get with Rose, get Eli off of the scent, make me jealous, dump her, end up with me instead?"
"No! It wasn't meant to be like that!"
"Oh it was; you just didn't think of it like that!"

"I didn't think Rose felt the way she did!" James said honestly, "I thought she was just after a bit of fun with me or something! You've seen her with her bucketful of make-up, her sickly perfume, her glitzy clothes; I didn't realise that was all for my benefit; I thought she was the sort of girl that was after everyone!"

"Oh that's charming isn't it, Potter! And another thing! Who said you could decide who I'm allowed to socialise with? How dare you try and keep me away from Eli like you own me, before I'd even gotten the chance to meet him? What if he had turned out to be my soul mate, my future happiness? No, it's ok as long as James Potter's happy! It's a good thing he's not isn't it!"

"You can do better, trust me!" James spat.

"Well not with you!" Lily said furiously.

"Well…fine!" James yelled, clearly hurt by what she had just said.

Good…

"You know Evans," James said angrily, "Sometimes I wish that I wasn't so bloody in love with you! That I could just chose someone else…like Rose instead, but I can't! Life would be so much easier!"

"I'm pretty sure I'd lose all respect for Rose if she allowed herself to come crawling back to you after you pretty much used her!" Lily hissed, deciding to ignore the fact that James had just used the 'L' word.

"Why is it that she can forgive me but you can't?" James asked incredulously.

"One: because she owed you her 'life' apparently, and two: because I'm not, never have been and never will be in love with you, Potter!"

"But you can forgive Snivellus who called you a Mudblood and has the potential to become a first class death eater?" James said in a very low voice and Lily froze.

"That…is untrue; I never said I forgive him for-"

"Oh but you would if he begged you enough wouldn't you?"

"You don't know anything about that Potter so-"

"No, clearly not, because I can't possibly understand how you could even consider Snivellus-"

"His name is Severus, Potter," Lily said angrily, "And if you ever think I'm going to confide in you about anything ever again, like you suggested earlier, then you're completely wrong. Clearly you don't care enough about me to help me with anything!"
"Weren't you listening, Evans?" James yelled, "I love you!"

"How can you possibly even begin to feel that way when you can hurt me so easily?" Lily said, hot angry tears prickling her eyes, "You have reached an all time low Potter…" Lily pushed past James but within an instant he grabbed her by the arm and pulled her back.

"OK, I admit it; I am an idiot. I do stupid things for reasons I can't even understand. I have a stupid sense of humour, I have a one track mind that only lets me see what I want and unintentionally block out what it might be doing to other people. But I have changed, Lily, from what I used to be, from the type of person I was to Severus, and I would never hurt you or anyone else on purpose. I'd rather die than let the people I care about down. That's why I told Rose the truth; I didn't want to make up another lie for her, even if it would have made her feel better. She deserves more than that."
"Why didn't you think of that earlier, Potter?" Lily spat, pulling her arm free of his grip and heading out into the garden again.

God I need a drink…

Authors note: Ok so this chapter isn't the greatest but it leads up to what's coming soon and I promise it's far more fluffy and exciting XD As always PLEASE REVIEW xxxx