A/N: Happy New Year! I meant to get this out earlier, but it's quite long... Way longer than I usually make my chapters...

Aaaanyway, you can just consider it your New Years gift :).

I'm thinking of posting a super cheesy "New Years First Kiss Story" At some point later today, so if you have any requests don't be shy, send in your OTP or one of your favorite ships and I'll try my best to get one up. Hey, if you all leave good suggestions I might post more than one ;).

So, here's to a wonderful 2014! Enjoy!

Disclaimer: Anything that you recognize from the books/movies is not mine... it's all J.K. Rowling's... You know the drill :P.

Chapter 11: The Fine Line

'Deep breaths, in and out Lily, in and out', the red head kept reminding herself as she moved quickly across the platform barrier with her parents and tried her hardest not to look for James.

It wasn't working.

Her breathing began to border on hyperventilation as she continuously rubbed her hands over her blue jeans in an attempt to push out the nerves that traveled through her.

She had hoped that over the summer her crush would have faded away without the constant interaction with the raven-haired boy.

No! Thinking of his hair right then was not a good idea. Like how thick it was, how soft it must feel to the touch… 'Merlin, Lily! Pull yourself together!'

Sadly, she might have grown to fancy him even more over the months they were apart.

And that left her terrified for their interactions over her seventh, and final year at Hogwarts.

As she hugged her parents goodbye and roamed about, looking for her friends and a good compartment she debated weather or not she wanted to see him on the platform at all. It might have been better to just get it over with and say hello early on. But then again she did have her head girl duties to attend to and if she could avoid him on the platform and maybe even through dinner she might not have to face him at all for quite a while.

Mind made up, she decided that if she could barely breathe at even the thought of him, then she would just avoid him all together; and so she set off in search of Alisa and avoided anyone with black hair, just in case.

She found her brunette friend sitting alone in their usual compartment near the rear of the train, casually thumbing through a broom catalogue. She looked up as Lily walked in and her demeanor immediately changed from bored to overly excited. She attacked the youngest Evans with a rib-cracking hug and almost physically dragged her from the compartment.

"Um, Lisa?"

"Mmhm?"

"Er, where are we going?" Lily asked skeptically, usually she and her friends stayed in the same few compartments each train ride, but now they were headed towards a completely different section of the train.

"I thought we would change it up a bit, we always sit back there, and I thought this year could be a year of change, don't you think?" Lisa said, all in one breath, barely finishing before coming to an abrupt halt and swinging a seemingly random door open roughly. "That seat open?" She asked, much more timidly.

Lily heard someone say yes and heard a few people shuffling around to make room for the pair, but wasn't quite sure who said or did what. There, in the corner near the window sat James, smiling and happy, black hair sitting in an unkempt halo around his face.

'Breathe! Breathe!" Her mind screamed at her as she continued to stare. Before she knew what was happening, James was smiling at her and moving so that she could sit next to him. And before she could come up with and adequate excuse and run in the other direction like she so wanted to, her legs began to move and let her to sit right next to the boy she was hoping she wouldn't have to speak to for the entire year.

Well, that plan was now down the drain.

The chatter started back up again quickly, though Lily didn't keep up with most of it. In the few minutes she was there she only managed to piece together why Alisa had chosen that compartment and insisted they sit there.

Alec Wright.

It should have been so obvious; the girl had been talking about him all summer. He was the reason Lisa had tried out for the quidditch team. She was mad about the boy.

Speaking of boys, James was standing up. What? Why? Where was he going?

"Well, better be off. The prefects are probably already in the front compartment," He stopped for a moment to grimace, "The year's barely started and I've already got more responsibility than before." He ran a hand through his hair before digging around in his trouser pockets and producing a shiny, head boy pin.

Lily felt her mouth drop open. Oh, she was so screwed.

"Ugh, you've changed Prongs, what happened to my mischievous friend that broke all the rules with me?" Sirius interjected sadly, "If you're going to be all kind and giving at least help me out and tell me when the first Hogsmede trip is going to be,"

James sighed, smiled and shook his head a bit. "Why does it matter? You'll get to go no matter what,"

Sirius shrugged, "I like to plan ahead for these types of things," Everyone rolled their eyes simultaneously.

"It's not until after Halloween, so don't worry, you'll have plenty of time to "plan"," Lily said sarcastically, making small air quotes around the last word; James turned, eyebrows raised and a small smile playing at the corner of his lips.

"I knew you'd get head girl!" His grin was slowly consuming his entire face.

Lily couldn't help but grin back, at a loss for words she settled for the safety of sarcasm, "Wish I could say the same of you,"

Everyone chuckled and Lily felt a little better about her levels of normalcy around the boy. Maybe talking to him wouldn't be the end of the world.

"Well, come on then, Evans. We have some sixth years to boss around," Lily rolled her eyes.

"And that's why," More laughter. "I'll meet you there, have to go put on my robes." He nodded, said his goodbyes and exited the compartment right before Lily, moving in the opposite direction towards the front of the train while Lily moved towards the bathrooms in the back.

After a few steps, a hand on her arm pulled her to a stop. Lily jumped a bit and turned to find a smirking Alisa.

Uh-oh.

"Ooh, Lils. You've got it bad."

The red-head's eyes widened, "Was it that obvious?" Alisa laughed.

"Maybe not to everyone else, but as your best friend it was clear as day to me."

Lily groaned and leaned up against the wall to her left. "What am I going to do? I'm screwed. We're sharing a room for the rest of the year!"

"I'll tell you what you're going to do. You are going to get over yourself, and ask him out if he doesn't do it first. That boy has fancied you for seven years, Lils; he's just too shy to say anything about it. So, you are going to be grateful that you have the rest of the year to have some alone time with him. You can thank me later at your wedding," Damn, she was getting good at that talking without breathing thing.

Lily nodded and thanked Alisa. Her friend began the trek back to the compartment when Lily called out after her, "Don't just preach it, you have to ask out Alec if I have to go for Potter,"

"Yeah, yeah, yeah, just go get changed," Lisa waved a hand over her shoulder. Lily rolled her eyes affectionately before turning on her heel and heading off to the loo.

She and James made a wonderful team, Lily decided as she exited the train and headed over to where the rest of her friends were standing and chatting, waiting for their carriage.

They had worked effectively and quickly, delegating all the necessary tasks and running over the prefect guidelines with ease.

This not liking him was getting harder and harder by the second.

"Lils, did you hear? Alec asked Lisa to the first Hogsmede trip," Jane said excitedly as the head girl finally caught up with her group.

Lily's eyebrows shot up to her hairline. Damn, she had a whole plan of not asking James out because Alisa had been too chicken herself.

Well, there goes that plan.

"That's wonderful, Lisa!" Lily said enthusiastically, though internally a small battle had begun raging as she struggled to decide if she wished James had asked her or not. It wasn't fair that he had such a strong control over her emotions. No boy should be allowed that much power.

But, oh, what power he had.

Over the following months Lily had worked herself into a frenzy, trying to balance her time. At night she stayed up hours past normal curfew, and that was nights when she didn't have to worry about her head girl duties. Then she would wake at an irrationally early time in the morning to try and make herself as appealing first thing in the morning as possible.

It was completely unfair. Lily would wake hours earlier than maybe even Dumbledore to make sure that every strand of hair was in place and perfect, that her teeth were like rows of little pearls, and that her uniform suited her; while James would roll out of bed at any random time, pajamas creased and clearly slept in, hair in an even worse state than when normally seen during the day, and still look like some kind of unearthly, god-like figure every morning.

Yet, he was amazingly fun to be around. She had come to find him even more fascinating after they began having their weekly fireside chats, well, that's what she called them.

Once a week, when they had the least amount of homework and no head girl/boy duties they would sit by the hearth and just talk. Didn't have to be about them, though in the later few they were almost all about getting to know one another better.

She remembered back to the previous night with a small smile as she pinned her shiny red locks into place and began to gather her things for the day. She had casually mentioned the cinema while relating an old story of her family, before her powers were discovered. She had wanted to finish it, as it was one of her fondest memories, but he would not get over the moving picture that could speak phenomenon. He drilled her with questions and became so excited about seeing one that the entire conversation de-railed.

"Oh, hi Lily," James had nearly run her over in their shared common room as her thoughts had been lost in the previous night.

"Hi, James!" She chirped, though her expression soon shifted from casually happy and reminiscent, to surprised. James was all dressed for school, book bag hung neatly over the side of what he had claimed as his armchair. His hair had been flattened to the best of it's capabilities, although that was soon ruined by his hand running nervously through it once more.

Lily was more than a bit confused. Usually she sat down here and read a book while he woke late and shuffled about tiredly and readied for school. Why change the routine today?

"Everything all right?" She asked worriedly. From what she had learned about the head boy, she had taken him to be a creature of habit, only changing his ways when something really forced him to.

"Erm, uh, yeah! 'Course! Yeah, I'm fine!" James waved her off, though he shifted uneasily as he did so. If Lily had to put a name to it, she would call it nerves. "You?"

She chuckled, "Uh, yeah, I'm good,"

"Good, good…" He trailed off, as he seemed to deflate a bit, and for what seemed like the first time in forever, did not have the right words to fill the quiet air.

"So, did you hear about Alec and Lisa?" She asked, hoping it sounded casual after the long, drawn out pause had made the room more than a bit uncomfortable.

"Oh, you mean their Hogsmede date?" Lily nodded her confirmation; "Yeah, yeah I did," He paused to chuckle, "He keeps trying to get me to take someone so we can double date." Lily's breath caught, "But I told him 'No way,'" Lily's heart slowed and her face fell a bit, "I said, 'If I take a girl to Hogsmede, I'm going to use the time to be alone with her, no matter how nervous you are,'"

Lily nodded a bit, still sad at the thought that he most likely wasn't going to ask her. And she knew that she would never gain the courage to ask him. She may be a Gryffindor, but Merlin only knew why. She was the most shy and un-Gyrffindorish person she knew.

She mumbled some excuse about heading off to breakfast before moving quickly towards the portrait hole that connected their quarters to the rest of the castle.

"Wait! Evans!" James' hand wrapped around her wrist and pulled her gently to a halt. She looked up at him, wishing that he would let go so that she could make the quick escape she had been trying for just a moment ago. If he wasn't going to ask her then Lily didn't want to hear about who he was going to. Oh, gods, was he going to ask her for advice? She would die.

James stood, hand still wrapped around her own, though his grip had loosened, and his mouth was open, moving a bit as he searched for the right words. Another hand ran through his hair. Gods, he needed to stop doing that!

She sighed and raised a single eyebrow, prompting him to say something and to break the mounting tension in the room. "Were you going to say something?"

"Well, yeah, I was, uh, going to, uh, well, um, ask you, if, uh, you, er, well, I mean, wanted to, you know…" He trailed off exasperatedly as he struggled to come up with a proper sentence. Lily worked her hardest not to giggle and make him feel worse.

"Yes?"

"DoyouwanttogotoHogsmedewithmeafterHaloween?" He gasped out in a single breath, almost too quickly to hear properly.

Lily's breath caught in her throat. Did he just ask her out? No, no, he was just saying how he wasn't going to ask anyone out. Oh, balls; he was still waiting for a response wasn't he?

"Yeah, sure, uh, I mean, I'd love to, that'd, um, that would be great," She smiled weakly hoping he didn't notice how verbally challenged she was around him.

He grinned; in fact his face seemed in danger of splitting in half with the sudden appearance of a smile that large. Gods, he was cute when he smiled.

"Wonderful!" He seemed much more comfortable after that, well until he realized he was still holding onto her hand and then he became quite awkward again, hand back to his hair and the nervous shifting returning.

Lily reverted back to her own nervous habit of worrying her lip. She knew it was a bad one, she had lost count of the number of split lips she had suffered through because of how often she nibbled on them.

"Breakfast?" James broke the silence, Lily sighed, happy that whole situation was over with and nodded.

"Lisa! Lisa!" Lily called out excitedly as she came to sit near her friends.

"Oh, hi, Lils!" Alisa greeted her along with her other friends and until recently, dorm mates.

"What's got you so excited?" Kate asked. Lily grinned and leaned in, prompting her friends to do the same. Lily shared the news in as hushed a whisper as she could manage.

It didn't matter, the moment she finished her short story the group erupted in excitement. All the girls immediately began chattering excitedly, congratulating Lily and drilling her with questions of what they were going to do and what she was going to wear, and how she was going to do her hair.

Had she always had such overbearing friends?

Lily giggled and tried to keep up with their questions, though most she answered in "I don't know." She didn't have the chance to get through all the questions before Grace was tugging on her sleeve and directing all of their attention to the section of the table where James' friends were staring at him quizzically.

The raven-haired boy motioned for all of his friends to lean in, just like Lily had previously. He whispered something to them, although it was quite obvious what he was telling his friends. A few moments later the group of boys exploded with noise, in quite a similar fashion to Lily's friends. The girls giggled as Sirius had leaped over the table to hug James, effectively knocking over no less than four goblets. Professor McGonagall had to physically remove him from the hall, catcalls following him out the door.

After he was dragged out the entire hall began chatting and sneaking peeks over at James and his friends. Some were able to connect it to the excited outburst from Lily's friends and were sending both groups knowing smiles, while some just guffawed at Sirius' behavior and assumed it was just Black being… well, Black.

The morning of her first date with James she tugged on her warmest clothes, hoping it would be enough to shelter her from the heavy snowfall outside. After a few minutes and a few attempts at other outfits Lily was finally satisfied and exited her dorm to meet up with James in the common room.

He was waiting for her, sitting in his armchair and finishing up a report. Gods, he was cute, wasn't he? He glanced up at her as she entered the room and grinned at her. "Ready?"

"Yup," She smiled as he put his report away and fell into step next to her as they exited the portrait hole.

"Merlin! It's freezing out here!" James shivered as they trekked through the snow. Lily would have responded, but the danger of her teeth chattering kept her from opening her mouth. She settled for a few quick nods. "Alright, I can't take this, three broomsticks?" Several grateful nods were her response.

When they finally made it into the crowded pub they were both shivering quite thoroughly. James shucked his coat and wrapped it around a slightly shaking Lily as he told her to go find a seat and that he would get the butterbeers.

She thanked him and found a small table nestled near the back where there would be enough heat, and would still be private enough for conversation. She pulled his jacket tighter around her shoulders while she sat. It provided comforting warmth that her own coat never seemed able to produce, while also covering Lily's senses in his cologne. Merlin, it smelt good.

A few minutes later she had warmed enough and was able to happily trade him his jacket back for a warm butterbeer.

"So, what did you have planned for the afternoon before we got snowed in?" She asked, wondering what James' idea of a good first date was.

"I was thinking that we would just roam around Hogsmede, it's really pretty in winter, well, I'm sure you know, but it would have been nice to see it covered in snow again. Oh well, there's always the next trip right?" Hope bubbled up in Lily as James hinted at a second date and she smiled and nodded vigorously.

They sat in comfortable silence, sipping at their drinks and searching for something else to say. Finally Lily broke the silence, "So, you're an only child, right?"

James nodded as he swallowed another sip of his butterbeer. "Yup, my parents were pretty old when they had me, so no siblings. You have that sister, right?"

Lily nodded and stifled a sigh, "Yes, I don't really like to talk about her though," James stayed silent, so she continued, "She's a muggle, like my parents, and when we found out about my powers she was really jealous. I tried writing to Dumbledore, hoping that maybe he would make an exception and let her come too… Obviously that would have never worked. So, ever since I left for Hogwarts she's been nothing but cruel."

James whistled, "No wonder you don't like to talk about her. Sounds bad."

Lily chuckled, "Family is family, but once she graduated high school she took off to live somewhere else, I'm pretty sure she denies any relation to me whenever she meets anyone. I'm the "freak" of the family in her eyes," Lily sighed. "I miss her though. We were almost inseparable when we were younger."

"She called you a freak?" James' eyes widened, "That's horrible. I'm sorry, Evans. I don't think I'd like to talk about her that much either if she were my sister. Sounds like a horrid person if you ask me."

Lily tried to ignore the jab at her sister, as much as she disliked Tuney, she was still her sister and she was still protective.

"Yeah, well-"

"You know, that's the problem with muggles," James cut in, "They think that anyone who is slightly different is a 'freak', or a 'weirdo'."

Lily ground her teeth together; insulting her sister was one thing, but her entire family? No. "Oh, right, because wizards are so inclusive,"

"Well, I mean, more inclusive than muggles. Sure there are arses like Voldemort who don't like muggles or muggle-borns, but the majority of wizards and witches aren't like that."

Lily raised an eyebrow, "Oh no? Then where has Voldemort gathered his army from? Obviously there are large groups of wizarding people who are just as ignorant as muggles. And maybe you should re-evaluate your own view on the subject if you are going to completely ignore the faults of wizarding people."

James pursed his lips a bit before shaking his head, "You know what? Just forget I said anything."

"No! I won't! I won't just act as if I haven't learned how biased you are! That's my family you're insulting James, and they are good people. You have no right-!" Her words cut off as her anger began to consume her. "I can't, I can't do this right now. Sorry. I have to go."

And with that Lily grabbed her own overcoat and hurried out of the Three Broomsticks. She hunched her shoulders against the wind as she ran, the few tears that managed to escape left cold tracks over her already frozen cheeks.

Halfway through her journey a hand tugged her to a halt, forcing her to face James once more.

"Let go, Potter!" She snapped at him.

"What was that?" He asked, almost angrily, "Why did you just run out like that?"

"You can't just insult my family like that, James!" Lily had to yell over the rushing wind.

"I wasn't insulting your family… well, your sister… but still! Just because I made one observation-"

"That wasn't an observation! Ugh! You know what? I take back every nice thing I have ever said to you. You are no better than the insolent toe-rag you were in fifth year!" Lily felt almost gleeful at the idea that she could hurt James like he hurt her.

But the boy remained stoic, staring at her calmly, making her impossibly angrier. "You don't mean that, Lily,"

"Yes! I do!"

"No, I know you. You don't mean that at all,"

Lily seethed and had to bite back her scream, "You… you are so ridiculously arrogant! Ugh! I can't believe I ever agreed to go out with you! I can't believe I ever fancied you!"

James began to smile, "How long have you fancied me?"

"Doesn't matter now, because I don't anymore!"

"I don't think that's true either. I think you still fancy me and you're just upset because you know that no matter how angry I make you, you will continue to fancy me."

Lily did scream this time, "Let go!"

"Not until you tell me how long you've fancied me," he teased; smile still planted firmly on his face.

"Ugh! You arrogant sod!"

"I prefer the word charming,"

"I don't!"

"Please?" Lily inhaled sharply as she finally notice how close James had gotten to her during their fight,

"Please… please what?" She rasped out.

"Tell me?" Their noses were almost touching.

"Tell you? Tell… tell you what?" Lily's words came out as hushed whispers, it seemed her throat had constricted so much that nothing else would come out.

"How long you've fancied me," the head boy was smiling a bit now.

"I… I, uh…" Lily shook her head a bit to clear it before she realized how close James was to kissing her, and her anger returned as she realized how much she wanted him to. Soon her head was shaking out of frustration rather than confusion. She began to pull away, James' grip tightened around her wrist, he tugged a bit, silently pleading for her not to leave. "Please let go," Lily managed to say over the wind. He did as she wished and she ran, faster than she thought she was capable of in that moment.

"Evans? Evans, come back! Lily!" James' voice carried over the wind howling in her ears as she raced towards the castle, head spinning in confusion.

Deciding that she couldn't make it in her own quarters where James would be that night she headed off to Gryffindor tower. She hurried through the common room, head down, hoping no one would recognize her.

"How'd it go?" Sirius' voice sing-songed from the couch where he lay languidly. Lily ignored him as she hurried up the stars to where her friend's dormitory was, where her old one used to be.

She burst through the door and threw herself down onto an empty bed, laying an arm over her eyes and groaning in misery.

"The date was that good, was it?" Jane asked from the ground where she sat digging through her trunk.

"I hate him," The redhead seethed, "He's just as arrogant as he was in fifth year. Maybe even more."

Kate chuckled from her bed where she set down the quill she had been using to give Lily her full attention. "You sure? You seemed quite smitten with him yesterday; I doubt you would have changed your mind that quickly."

"Well I have," Lily pouted, wishing her friends would just accept her hatred of the arse and take her side. Lily didn't need to peek under her arm to know her Jane and Kate were sharing a look. They had long since known how stubborn Lily could be.

"Alright, alright, but you know what they say Lils, there's a fine line between love and hate."

"Not for me," Lily insisted as she finally lowered her arm and stared at the stone ceiling, "Not for me…" She ignored that small part of her mind that reminded her how much she had wanted James to kiss her just a few minutes ago.

Damn heart.

A/N: I know I don't usually do one of these at the end of my chapters, but I just wanted to apologize to those of you who read the first version I had up here and were waiting and waiting for the first kiss that never came.

I thought I would save it, you know, make it all the more exciting when it finally does come.

And hey, if you want a kiss then leave a review and I'll write one for you :).