A/N: So I apologise for the nearly two week absence but for those of you disappointed, I have stated in my bio that I'm a mother of two and my personal reasons were my son, who is going through a lot with his health right now. But no more delays, here is chapter eleven and I hope you like it.

She felt his soft lips press against her own and felt a little stunned at what he was doing, but she closed her eyes and moved her lips in unison with James. His lips were surprisingly soft and expert at making her go weak at the knees that she felt him snake one arm around her waist and lift her off the ground so that they were the same height as he continued to kiss her in the same slow and teasing pace. Lily placed her hands in his hair and held him to her and felt his tongue lightly flick her at lips, curious and asking for entry, trying to coax something deeper from her. She allowed his tongue entrance and heard him groan into her mouth as his curious tongue met hers.

James stopped his teasing pace as he felt the tips of Lily's fingernails dig into his scalp but deepened the kiss as his free hand cupped her face. The smell of coconut still lingered on her hair and filled his nostrils, how he loved the smell of her shampoo. As she continued to match his enthusiasm, Lily suddenly realised that she hadn't breathed since James had started the kiss. She was the first to break the kiss, gasping for breath and listened to the ragged breathing coming from James.

"What just happened?" Lily asked, in a shocked whisper.

"We just kissed." James confirmed.

"I know that. Why did it happen?" Lily clarified, pacing up and down the passageway.

She looked at James and noticed the warm look in his eyes that she had become accustomed to whenever they shared eye contact. He slowly walked towards her and wrapped his arms around her waist, moving his forehead to bump against hers. Lily knew what was happening, he was going to kiss her again and as much as she wanted him to, she placed her hands firmly on his chest, ignoring the muscles she felt through his shirt, and lightly pushed him away. James looked down at her with a confused frown as her facial expression turned to a stern look which she usually reserved for students who had been caught rule breaking. Lily stepped backwards and exhaled heavily, still looking into his eyes and feeling a tad bit guilty for hurting his feelings.

"This can't happen." Lily said.

"Why? And don't fob me off with that you didn't want it, you kissed me back." James replied.

"I did want it but I shouldn't have. You have a girlfriend, a pain in the arse one, but still one nonetheless. We just cheated on Marie by kissing each other." Lily pointed out.

James scratched his nose and pushed his glasses further up it before answering her, "That's not all is it?" he questioned.

Lily felt herself getting annoyed and stormed out of the passageway with James on her tail as she walked down the moving staircases in the direction of McGongall's office. Never before had she been this confused about a boy, never had she thought she would snog a boy whilst he was in a relationship with someone else. Oh how guilty she felt, how great that kiss had been she thought but shook her head to stop herself from thinking that she could become romantically involved with James Potter.

Their report back to McGonagall was finished rather quickly, with Lily telling McGonagall about the incident with Marie to which McGongall agreed the punishments were fairly given and that she'd supervise the first detention with Marie the following night. Lily left the office and she walked back to the common room with James in complete and awkward silence, making sure that she avoided making eye contact with him; for she knew that if she did she would lost in the warm pools of hazel, the rest of the world would be drowned out and it would only be her and him to do as they pleased. She couldn't allow that to happen, she and James were just friends and he had a girlfriend, as much as that pained her to think about; Marie was still James's girlfriend and seeing the two of them in the classroom didn't exactly say that James was ready to end the relationship.

Saying the password and scrambling through the portrait hole, she marched into the common room to see that the fire was burning out and that she was completely alone with James. Lily didn't bother bidding him goodnight, she simply made her way up the girl's staircase. Suddenly her footing slipped and she was sliding down the staircase and landed with a startled 'oomph' on top of James. He gasped in pain from where she had landed on him so fast and after a few minutes, their eyes met.

"Sorry, did I hurt you?" Lily asked.

"A little but my fault." James replied.

They both got to their feet and stared at the staircase which was setting itself back into steps rather than a slide and she turned to meet James's gaze.

"I never knew the girl's one did that." James mused.

"Seriously, read Hogwarts: A History from page to page instead of skimming. You'd be surprised how much information there is in that book." Lily said.

"Look Lily-"

"Let's just forget that tonight ever happened, we're better off as friends." she said and turned to leave.

"But-"

She didn't face him this time but closed her eyes and said harshly, "Nothing can ever happen between us James." and put her foot on the first step only to hear his reply, "But it did." which caused her to freeze momentarily before she carried on her way up the girl's staircase and climbed into her bed fully clothed, closing her eyes and having restless sleep as her thoughts trailed back through the day's events and realising that James had been right, something did happen between them and now she doubted whether she could remain friends with him; only time would tell.

ooOoo

"But it did."

He watched as Lily froze momentarily before disappearing up the girl's staircase and this time he wasn't even going to attempt to follow her, not now that he knew that boys couldn't enter the girl's dormitory. James fell into one of the armchairs and massaged his temple, trying to rid himself of the aching pain that had been there since his argument with Marie. What a mess! he thought to himself and sat upright when he heard the Fat Lady swing open and footsteps climbing through the portrait hole.

"Who did you prank tonight guys?" James asked quietly.

The sound of a cloak dropping to the floor made him turn his head to see his three best friends. The boys took a seat next to James, with Sirius grinning madly.

"Well, let's just say that Madam Pince will be wearing a peg on her nose." Peter replied.

"So I'm avoiding the library during free period tomorrow." James grinned.

"We also caught a Slytherin third year out and about, so we used the leg locking hex on him." Sirius said.

"So how was patrol?" Remus asked.

James sighed, causing the other three to look at each other.

"Well let's just say that I argued with Marie and I don't think Lily will be talking to me any time soon." James replied.

"What happened?" Remus questioned.

"Marie's been complaining that I don't spend a lot of time with her right now, what with Quidditch tryouts soon and patrols and seventh year in general. Marie tried to surprise me tonight by jumping on me in a fourth floor classroom." James sighed.

"And Lily walked in?" Peter asked.

James nodded, "Yeah. Marie and Lily argued and Marie called Lily a mudblooded bitch. Lily punished Marie and then I argued with her and went after Lily-"

"Bad move." Sirius chipped in, shaking his head.

"I was angry, you know I hate it when other students use a person's heritage against them. Marie isn't the person I thought she was if she's suddenly against muggleborns being here." James snapped.

"Calm down, tell us what happened with Lily." Remus said quietly.

James paused and scratched his head, "Well we...er...we." he coughed, "I kissed her."

"You kissed Evans?!" Sirius asked, quite shocked.

"Yeah and she kissed me back."

Sirius clapped James on the back, "That's my Prongs." he laughed.

"So why are you so glum?" Peter asked, pulling a box of Bertie Bott's out of his pocket and opening it.

James sighed heavily, "Lily's adamant that nothing can ever happen between us." he muttered.

Remus smiled sympathetically as he helped himself to a Bertie Bott's bean from the box that Peter had just offered him, "Prongs, do you still like Lily?" he asked.

James nodded, placing his head in his hands at the mess he was in. He didn't know what to do, he still liked Lily but he liked Marie and the latter was his girlfriend. After years of waiting for a chance to be romantic with Lily, it had come and passed with a blink of the eyes and now he was unsure of where he stood, with Lily or with Marie.

"What am I going to do?" James groaned.

"Well Marie using Lily's heritage against her kind of tells me that she doesn't care about using that to hurt someone, it tells me that she's not the person you liked." Sirius said.

"I'd break up with Marie." Peter mused.

"And talk to Lily in a few days, give her some time to process what happened and see where you both stand." Remus said.

James yawned heavily and the boys stood up, climbing the boy's staircase to get themselves ready for bed. But just as easily as the other three fell asleep as soon as their heads hit the pillow, James didn't get much sleep that night. He was too busy thinking of the two girls he was torn between and what his next move was.

ooOoo

The next morning, Lily woke up by being poked in the shoulder by Alice. She stretched and yawned before sitting up in her bed to see that her dorm mates were already dressed for the school day. She groaned and tried to pull the covers back over her head, not wanting to get up and face James for the entire day after what had happened the night before.

"Come on Lily." Alice commanded, pulling the covers off.

"Alice!" Lily yawned heavily.

"We'll meet you in the Great Hall. Hurry up, breakfast will be over soon." Mary said.

She heard the other girls leave the dormitory as she placed her feet on the stone cold floor, making her shudder. Getting up from the bed, she undressed and pulled on her school uniform, hoping that the day wouldn't be as awkward as she thought it was going to be.

ooOoo

When James reached the marble staircase that morning, he sighed heavily when he saw that Marie was waiting for him at the bottom. He walked down and stood in front of her, smiling awkwardly. Marie took hold of his hand and looked up at him, making him see the sadness in her eyes.

"I'm sorry about last night." Marie mumbled.

"Look Marie-"

"I was just so angry with Lily, she seems determined to keep us from spending time together. I took it too far though." Marie said.

"You were out of line." James pointed out.

"Jamie, can we just get past this?" she asked impatiently.

"You can't just ask me to put this behind us, you called Lily a very nasty name just because you were angry and using someone's heritage against them is the same as bullying someone because of their skin colour or hair colour or if their too tall or too short. You're not the person I thought you were." James replied harshly.

Marie's eye welled up in tears, "What are you saying?" she whispered.

James sighed, he didn't know what he wanted or what the right thing to do was any more. He still had feelings for Marie and he still had them for Lily, despite his efforts to give the relationship with Marie a chance.

"I need some space to get my head sorted." James stated.

"So as in a break?" Marie asked.

"I don't know Marie, just give me a few days or a week where you aren't pestering me to think about who I want."

Marie's eyes narrowed, "Who you want?" she asked.

James didn't know how to answer, his eyes met the green ones that belonged to Lily. Marie looked between the two of them and stormed off into the Great Hall, leaving Lily and James to look at each other for a little longer than Lily would have liked. As Lily walked down the staircase, James went out to reach for her but she shoved past him.

"Lily-"

Turning to face him, he noticed how tired she looked. It was nice to know that he wasn't the only one who didn't have a good night's sleep.

"Nothing can happen between us." she whispered, and he couldn't help but notice the tone of break in her voice.

She didn't give him a chance to reply, she left him watching as she went to join her friend's for breakfast. James didn't follow, he returned to the dormitory and laid down on his bed, deciding to skip first period. He had not in so many words told his girlfriend that he was unsure of who he wanted to be with instead of telling her he needed to think about what he wanted and now he suspected that neither girl would want anything to do with him. What a mess he had gotten himself into and he knew that it would only be up to him to get himself out of it.