"I don't understand," Marlene McKinnon announced, frowning at the girls around her as if looking for back up. Lily Evans was surrounded by a huddle of her closest friends, having made a giant bed out of their mattresses and duvets in the middle of the girls' dormitory, discussing the situation at hand. "Why is it so bad that you might be falling for him? At least you know he feels the same way, it's not like you'd ever get rejected…"

Lily shook her head. "No, you don't understand," she confirmed. Lily Evans was, by all standards a beautiful girl – with her perfectly delicate features and blazing green eyes topped with her mane of soft, dark red hair, she had never been faced with the prospect of rejection. However, despite numerous advances of keen Hogwarts boys, (some being, as Marlene put it, 'fit as hell'), Lily had never had any romantic interests. She was not fazed by striking good looks or any amount of athletic ability – a hardworking, honest girl, Lily had always used schoolwork as a reason not to date. But the truthful fact was, Lily had not yet met a boy whom she felt truly understood her, and as such had rebuffed all propositions. Most boys got the hint after the first few rejections – not James Potter, however, and, despite what you might say about him, you had to admire his persistence.

It was Alice who spoke now. Alice, who understood her better than all the other girls in the room, and seemed slightly uninterested in the conversation, twirling strands of hair around her wand as she said airily, "Lily is a girl of principles. James Potter is to her an arrogant, cocky idol of all shallow immature girls in Hogwarts, and the idea of her hopping on the bandwagon disgusts her. Right, Lily?"

Lily sighed resignedly. In a way, Alice was right. But there were other reasons…

It was Mary McDonald who now piped up, seated on her deep blue duvet in the very centre of the huddle, not bothering to sit up as she added, "What I think you're failing to notice here, Lils, is that Potter's changing."

Her contribution was met by several nods around the room and Emmeline Vance whispered excitedly, "I even saw him walk past Severus Snape the other day in the corridor and not say a word! Not a word!"

Lily didn't know quite what to make of this. She herself had noticed some rather startling changes in James Potter's behaviour – the most prominent being his surprisingly honest speech several nights ago in the Gryffindor Common Room, and although they hadn't spoken since then, she hadn't been able to stop thinking about him.

Alice threw her wand down, determined to get to the point of the conversation now. "Think it through, Lil. He defended you when Snape was nasty. He came to see if you were okay. He jumps at the sight of you, he can't take his eyes off you in lessons. He hasn't shown interest in any other girl all these years – and trust me, he's had opportunities. He took the Cruciatus Curse for you – the most painful Curse there bloody is! And from what you say about last night, it seems like he genuinely cares for you. Face it Lils, he's growing up. And if you feel the same way about this shiny new James, it's simple. Start off being friends with him. Then you can see where it goes."

Alice declared. Alice had a way of making the most difficult dilemmas seeming simple with her well-reasoned solutions, and the silence after her declaration showed none of the other girls could fault it either. It was clear what Lily would have to do.