Chapter XII - The Final Straw

Author's Note: I do not own the quote from The Princess Bride on page 303.

When Lily got home and was engulfed in the arms of her father, she realized that she had left and forgotten to leave a note.

"Where have you been?" Deacon demanded when she stepped into the house later on that evening. "We've been worried sick and were just about ready to call Scotland Yard!"

Lily nodded, understanding completely why they were mad at her. They definitely had every right. "I'm sorry! Potter showed up. Sirius was in a motorcycle accident and Potter wanted me to go to the hospital with him."

"Is he alright?" Cecilia asked from Deacon's other side.

"I think so or he will be, but he has a very painful recovery over the next few days."

"Days?" Petunia asked, looking at her sister disapprovingly.

Amelia stood up now and gave Lily a smile. "The magical world does have some advantages when it comes to injuries as long as they are caught in time."

"Excuse me, Mum?" Deacon asked, staring at her in shock. "I don't believe that I heard you properly."

Lily grinned. Now they knew how she had felt. "No, you heard her, Daddy. Nana and I talked and she let me in on a little secret. She's a witch."

"What?" Petunia exclaimed, looking at her new grandmother in resentment.

Amelia rolled her eyes at Petunia. "Oh, don't look so upset, you'll give yourself wrinkles." She chuckled to herself before continuing. "Yes, I am a witch. I gave it up because of hard times. Harry never knew and well, Deacon, you never showed any magical abilities so I thought maybe it had died out in my family."

"This is unbelievable!" Cecilia exclaimed, moving to hug Lily. "That does explain where your powers came from."

Lily smiled back. "Yes, it does."

Deacon nodded. "Well, why don't I go make some tea and we'll go sit down in the common room. I think we have a few things to discuss."

Amelia smiled. "Yes, I think we do."

Lily was dreading returning to school as she stepped onto the train at the end of the holidays. Aaron had yet to speak to her since he had left her house and had been ignoring her owls.

Between the shock of what had happened to Sirius on-top of her grandmother telling her family her big secret, she honestly hadn't had much time to think about her fight with Aaron. She had written him an apology, but if she was honest with herself, she hadn't put much thought into it. But now that she was heading back, she was angry and she was definitely ready to let him have it.

First, she had been debating with herself whether or not to keep this relationship going with him. Second, she had come to the conclusion that McGonagall had been right, she didn't feel any chemistry with him. And third, the idea that he was pressuring her the way he was happened to be a big turn off for her. If he was going to give her ultimatums than she wasn't going to put up with him at all. She had already put up with this from Robbie and she wasn't in the mood to go through with it from someone else. Not to mention that she didn't even know if she wanted to try a physical relationship after what had happened to her. Especially with someone whom she felt nothing with.

She looked up at the doorway of her train compartment and sighed in relief when she saw that it wasn't Aaron. She wasn't ready to talk to him yet. She needed to get her thoughts in order or she was going to simply explode on him.

Sirius grinned at her. "You didn't come visit me?"

Lily smiled. "Well, when I realized that it had been sheer stupidity that had put you into the hospital in the first place, I figured that you wouldn't heal properly anyway."

"Ouch!" He exclaimed, grinning at her and taking a seat. "No, really, I really appreciated you coming to St. Mungo's to see me like that. Even if I think Prongs overreacted."

"He didn't overreact, Sirius. I'm your friend and I wanted to make sure that you were okay."

Sirius shrugged. "I've been better. They let me go home for Christmas and all of my bones grew back painfully and healed. But Gwen told me that if put my bike back together she will break all of the bones in my body again."

"Rightfully so," Lily said. "Sirius, do you realize how critical that accident was?"

He sighed and slipped his arm over her shoulders. "I guess it was pretty stupid. I wasn't thinking and I should have listened to James, but I'm okay now and I don't care what she says, I'm not giving up the bike."

"I figured." She sighed and rested her head on his shoulder. "Have you seen Alice or Tia yet?"

"No, not yet. Speaking of Tia, she sent me an owl saying that we had to talk. Any idea what that is about?"

Lily smirked a little. That had been a surprise over the holidays. Tia had written to her telling her that she was tired of this stupid game that she and Sirius were playing and that she was going to tell him he had to be her boyfriend or they were over. Lily thought that it was a great idea. Not only would it make Tia happy, but she thought that it would be really good for Sirius too.

"I might and no I am not telling you."

"Hmm," he said, eyeing her carefully. "Why are you looking for them?"

She sighed. "I just need to … Aaron and I had a huge fight. Potter actually interrupted us by showing up at my house with the announcement about you. I haven't heard from him since."

"He's a prat, Lil."

"You just don't like him."

"Do you?" Lily rolled her eyes, but Sirius grabbed her arm. "No, seriously, all jokes aside, do you like him?"

She made to protest and stopped herself. It was time she was honest. "I … I don't know."

"That's a problem, Lil."

"I know." She buried her face in her hands. "He's been so rude! He didn't get along with my family very well. We're always arguing it feels like and …" she blushed a deep red and Sirius placed his hand on her shoulder.

"And what? You can tell me, Lily."

She sighed. "I don't feel anything."

Sirius' eyebrow rose slightly. "What do you mean?"

"I mean," she began, blushing again. "When he kisses me, I just don't feel anything. I … maybe there is just no chemistry, but I'm so afraid that it means I'm broken."

"That's ridiculous! Why would you be broken?"

"I don't know, because of what happened and because I'm afraid."

Sirius reached over and pulled her close to him. "Not true. You are the bravest person that I know. If you don't feel anything with Aaron then there is nothing between you."

She kissed his cheek and smiled at him. "Thanks. I've been thinking that it's time for me to end it with him. I'm just stressed over it. I don't need it."

"Good."

Lily laughed. "You just don't like him."

He grinned. "Nope. Not at all. Besides, now James has another chance."

She rolled her eyes. "Go away, Sirius."

"Ha! You didn't deny it!"

"I'm not interested."

He simply grinned. "Whatever you say."

She watched him get up and head out and she shook her head. Now she just needed to find Aaron. Her thoughts were interrupted by Alice and Tia and she grinned and stood up, hugging them both.

Tia sat across from them, nervously chewing on her bottom lip. "I'm so nervous about Sirius."

Lily smiled. "He was asking me about it, wants to know if I know what you need to talk to him about. I definitely let him know that I know and then refused to tell him."

Tia laughed. "Thanks, Lily. I don't know why I'm nervous. I mean, what's the worst that can happen, he says no?"

Alice grinned. "I think its going to be great and that you are definitely going to make him say yes. He likes you way too much, Tia!"

The knock on the door made them all turn and Alice blushed when she saw Frank Longbottom standing there. "Hi Alice, come walk with me?"

"Okay." Alice said, grinning at her friends as she took Frank's hand and followed him out of the door.

Tia grinned at Lily. "I think it's going to be a good new year."

Lily thought of her pending break up with Aaron. "I think you're right."

After talking with Lily and Alice, Hestia decided that it was a good idea to have this talk or ultimatum with Sirius. Even if he didn't agree, well she would convince him of it. Lily had even said how great it would be for him. She headed up to his dorm and sat on his bed, waiting patiently for him to come out of the shower. No one else was in the dorm which made a nice change and allowed her to think some more.

She only had a minute however before the door opened and he stepped out into the bedroom in a towel. His eyebrow rose slightly and he grinned. "Hey Tia."

She smiled at him. "Hi, do you have a minute?"

"For you I have lots of minutes."

"Good. We need to talk."

He nodded and tugged on some jeans under the towel and came to sit next to her on the bed. "About what? How much we're going to shag tonight?"

She rolled her eyes. "No. About us."

Sirius' eyebrows rose again. "Sweetie, you know I adore you, but there isn't an us."

Hestia nodded, raising herself up a bit. "Well, I think there should be."

His mouth opened slightly and froze and she smiled inside, shocking him was a good start.

"I think that we should become a couple. We're together all the time anyway except that we never go to Hogsmeade together so I think that you should be my boyfriend."

Sirius laughed now. "Honey, I don't date."

"You do now."

He chuckled, shaking his head as he did. "Um … no, I don't. I like you and everything, but we both know that I am only with girls for the fun stuff. I've never even had a girlfriend."

Hestia moved to sit into his lap, straddling him and sliding her hands up his chest to wrap her arms around his neck. "There's a first time for everything."

"I don't think so."

She nibbled on his chin and down his neck. "Well, look at it this way, if you were to date me we could have sex pretty much whenever you wanted. You wouldn't have to worry about actually finding someone. I could give you whatever you wanted whenever you wanted it. The only catch would be I would be the only girl you were with." Her teeth brushed across his nipple and his breath caught. "I think that it would be really good for you."

Sirius grinned at her and tugged her mouth up to his for a quick kiss. "As tempting as that sounds, I happen to know that you being my girlfriend entails a lot more than that. You would expect me to take you out, sit and talk, maybe eat meals together and to buy you things."

Hestia smiled. "Maybe only sometimes."

"Tia, I like you, I do, but I am not boyfriend material."

"Yes, you are. You just don't know it. I think that you're being a coward for not even considering trying it." She moved to get off of his lap, but his hands clamped onto her waist.

"I am not a coward."

"Oh really?" She smirked. "Well, it looks like your running away with your tail between your legs if you ask me. It's not like I'm suggesting we get married! I just thought that as much time as we spend together both in and out of bed we might as well make it official! We both know that neither one of us is really seeing other people anyway."

Sirius stared at her for a minute and then he crushed his mouth to hers in a hard, rough kiss. It only lasted a moment, but when he pulled away he was glaring at her. "Don't tell me that I'm a shitty boyfriend."

She smiled. "I won't."

"And don't expect me to do everything right because I won't."

"Okay."

"And don't expect me to stop oogling girls whenever I want to."

"I won't, but remember, if we're together, you can only oogle, no touching."

He grimaced a little. "Fine, you win! But we are just trying this out. See how long it works out."

She grinned. "Okay."

"And you owe me for agreeing to this."

Tia laughed now and kissed him softly. "Despite your feelings, I think it will work out." She kissed him again, deepening it this time and then grinned at him. "Now let's make quick work of these pants."

Sirius grinned broadly. "That's my girl."

Lily had eaten dinner quickly before retiring to her dorm. Tia had already hurried off to see Sirius and Alice had been talking with Frank so she had headed off alone. She had seen Aaron, but he had been talking with his friends and she had chickened out before heading over there. Breaking up with someone had to be one of the hardest tasks anyone had ever done before. She didn't want to hurt his feelings but at the same time, she desperately just wanted to get this over with.

She had to do it tonight.

Alice came in, a big grin on her face and sat down on Lily's bed. "He's amazing."

Lily smiled. She had never seen Alice as happy as she had been in the last few weeks since the masquerade. Frank had been really nice to her and was clearly smitten. "I know he is. You two are amazing with each other. Did you see him over Christmas?"

Alice shook her head. "No, we had only been together for two weeks so we thought maybe bringing each other home would give the wrong impression. Can you imagine my father if I brought a boy home? Boy, am I not ready for that. But he wrote to me every day." She placed a hand over her heart. "I like him so much, Lily. I feel like my heart contracts in my chest every time I hear his name."

"I'm so happy for you!" She leaned over and hugged her friend. "But we will have to continue this conversation when I come back because right now I need to go break up with Aaron before I lose my nerve again."

She nodded, a serious look on her face. "Okay. Good luck."

Lily rolled her eyes and stood up. "I'm really going to need that. He has been nothing but a huge arse lately!"

She left the dorm to the sound of Alice's laughter and headed back out into the halls. She had fifteen minutes before she had to begin prefect duty and to her luck spotted Aaron at the bottom of the staircase on his way up. He saw her and nodded in her direction. When he reached her he gave her a small smile.

"You still mad?"

"Are you serious?"

"What?" He asked. "I don't think that I was out of line."

"Well, I do. In fact, I think that you were so past the line you couldn't even see it anymore!"

He shrugged and gestured for her to follow him into one of the empty classrooms. He closed the door behind them. "So I guess you've decided its over then."

Lily shook her head. "How am I supposed to react, Aaron? You were rude to my family."

"Your father was rude to me."

"You told me that if I didn't have sex with you than we couldn't be together anymore."

He grinned. "I just assumed that you'd pick the logical choice and sleep with me. It's not like you're a virgin, Lily. Robbie said he scored and I even heard Bellatrix Black talking about you shagging Lucius Malfoy. What's your problem?"

The colour had drained from her face, but Aaron didn't notice. Bellatrix was going around telling people this. How had she not known? How had she not heard? What was she going to do? People couldn't find out what had happened to her. They just couldn't find out.

"Lily? Earth to Lily! We were in the middle of a break-up here!" Aaron demanded, shaking his hand up and down in front of her face.

She shook the thoughts from her head and hoped that she had brave face on. "Yes, I'm still here. And we're done, Aaron. I won't put up with this from anyone, especially not you."

"You just want to fuck Sirius Black."

"No, I don't, but I would rather fuck him than you. Now leave me alone."

Aaron sneered at her. "Gladly, you frigid bitch!"

He stormed out of the classroom, slamming the door so hard that it didn't even shut properly and bounced back open. Lily took a seat on a desk in the middle of the classroom and quickly wiped tears from her eyes. The fact that Aaron had just rudely spoken to her and that she had broken up with him wasn't the reason for her tears. She just … how many other people knew about Lucius Malfoy?

"Lily, are you alright?" Remus asked gently, leaning against the doorjamb.

Lily smiled at him and wiped the last tear from her eye. "Yes, thank you."

He looked hesitant for a minute before he stepped into the classroom. "Is there anything that I can do?"

Her smile widened and she hopped off the desk and simply wrapped her arms around herself. "No, I'm fine. I just broke up with Aaron."

"About time."

She laughed. "You didn't like him either, I forgot."

Remus shrugged. "I just really hate guys like him." He stared at her for a minute. "Come here," he took her hands in his and tugged her close to him for a long hug. "Are you sure that you're okay?"

She smiled against his chest. "I'm really okay. Thanks for the hug." She pulled back and smiled at him. "I'm just glad it's over. Will you patrol with me?"

He smiled warmly at her. "I'd love to. Come on; let's go give all sorts of students detention."

"Sounds good to me."

"I can't believe that you gave me detention for going to the kitchens, Moony! Merlin, where's the love?" James demanded as he climbed into bed later on that evening.

Remus laughed. "I was trying to make Lily feel better. Besides, you were out of bed after curfew." He laughed harder when James' pillow hit him in the head. "She broke up with Aaron tonight."

These words were met with silence.

"I know what you're thinking, James, and give her some time."

"Moony, honestly, do you think that I have a chance with Lily?" James asked, his voice low.

Remus sighed. He wasn't sure how to answer that. Lily had definitely started to get along with James a little bit, but he wasn't so sure that she wanted to date him. "Honestly, I don't know, but she doesn't hate you anymore. How's that latest book you're reading going?"

"Really great. It's really interesting. I'm almost at the end." He was quiet again for a few minutes. "Thanks Moony."

Remus smiled. "You're welcome."

Sirius and Peter came inside now, laughing. "We just pranked some first years!"

Peter grinned. "It was my idea. We glued all of their homework to the table downstairs: textbooks, quills, parchment … it was hilarious watching them try to unstick it!"

Sirius nodded. "Brilliant!"

James rolled his eyes. "I'm going to sleep now so shut it."

Remus nodded. "Yeah some of us have actual things to do tomorrow."

Sirius yawned. "Yeah, yeah, yeah. 'Night!"

It was a few more minutes of rustling and what not before the room was quiet, but James was lost in his thoughts anyway. If Lily had broken up with Aaron it definitely meant that he had chance again. But he would wait it out; bide his time. He didn't want to push her. Even though it had been exactly 84 days since he had asked her out; not that he was keeping count or anything. He could definitely wait a few more.

And her birthday was coming up soon and he wanted to get her something. He would tell her that it was a thank you for all of the help that she had been given him concerning his book reviews, but he had a good gift in mind. He smiled to himself and closed his eyes, thinking of Lily.

It was a few days later when James found Lily in the library with a stack of books next to her and she was busy making notes. He sat down next to her and grinned. "Busy little bee, are we?"

She sighed and blew her hair out of her eyes. "McGonagall's essay."

James' eyebrow rose slightly. "You do know that that isn't due for like another two weeks, right?"

Lily rolled her eyes. "Well, I like to get a jump start on these things."

He nodded and put The Princess Bride down in front of her. "I loved it."

Her face broke out into a smile. "Really? I know it's corny."

"Oh, it's one hundred percent corny, but I enjoyed it; a lot. I didn't expect the Man in Black to be Westley and I liked that Fezzik and Inigo were never actually evil, but instead ended up helping Westley and Buttercup. It was a great story." He said, folding his hands in front of him. "It was so good, I even finished my paper already."

"Wow, good for you." Lily said with a smile. "I'm glad that I could help you out."

He grinned at her. "Me too. You have some great taste in stories, Lily."

She smiled at him. "Thanks."

"About Prince Humperdink though? I think that it would have been a better story if they ended him, you know? I mean, now they are on the run and that isn't so much fun."

"Yeah, maybe he will write a sequel. But I still love the book."

James laughed. "I did laugh out loud when Buttercup was getting ready to stab herself and Westley stops her by telling her that she has perfect breasts so she shouldn't disturb them." He quickly flipped through the book and grinned broadly. "Right here: 'There are always too few perfect breasts in this world, leave yours alone.'"

Lily grinned at that. She had always found that particular scene extremely amusing herself. "I agree on that; very amusing."

He shifted a little closer to her at the table. "So, do you need any help with that paper?"

"It's alright, I think I have mastered this theory."

He nodded and just watched her. She was making notes in the margins of her notebook while she scribbled away in beautiful looped cursive on the lined paper. He found it fascinating.

"James, stop staring at me."

He blushed a bit and swallowed. "Sorry, I um … Remus told me that you broke up with Aaron."

Lily turned to look over at him now. "You're not going to ask me out again, are you?"

James leaned towards her a bit and propped his elbow up on the table. "Would you say no?"

She sighed. "James … look, you are a nice guy, you proved me wrong there, but let's not ruin anything."

"I don't think that it would ruin anything, I think that it would make it better. But I'm not asking you out. I want to know if you have another book selection for me."

Lily's eyes met his hazel ones and her heart pounded. She had wanted him to ask her, she realized and she wondered what it meant that she was ninety percent positive that she would not have said no. "Um … what have you read so far: The Three Musketeers, The Man in the Iron Mask, and The Princess Bride?"

He nodded. "Yeah, and a little bit of the play you were reading: Romeo and Juliet. Got anything else good?"

She smiled. "Lots actually. How do you feel about reading a female author?"

He shrugged. "That doesn't matter."

Her smile warmed at that. She reached into her book bag and pulled out her favourite book, Pride and Prejudice. "This was written in the nineteenth century by a woman, which was extremely rare for the time."

James accepted the book from her. "What is it about?"

Lily grinned and leaned back slightly in her chair. "Well, Jane Austin is from England and she wrote about the landed gentry of the time and what it meant to be a lady during those times. Elizabeth Bennett is the main character and she is a little unorthodox when it comes to being a lady. She wants to be, but she has so many opinions and is not afraid to express them. Despite the fact that he is positive he hates her, Mr. Darcy, finds himself falling for her."

"Hmm, sounds entertaining." He flipped through the book with interest. "I look forward to reading it. I should go get started on this though, I only have one week for this one. I'll talk to you later, Lily."

She nodded as she watched him go. "Alright, enjoy the book."

He smiled at her. "I will."

He headed back to the Gryffindor common room with the book in his hand, whistling.

Lily hadn't said that she wasn't interested and that was all the motivation he needed.

When Lily woke up on her seventeenth birthday, she felt wonderful. It was the end of January, school was back in session and she wasn't constantly troubled over her relationship with Aaron. She couldn't believe that she was finally seventeen though; legally in the wizarding world, she was an adult. It was a great feeling.

She showered and dressed for the day, heading downstairs for breakfast. Her birthday had fallen on a Tuesday which wasn't as exciting as she knew her friends wanted to celebrate. But she would endure the classes like a normal day.

She sat down at the table and Alice greeted her enthusiastically. "Good morning, Lily. Happy Birthday!" She came around the table and hugged her tightly.

"Thanks Alice!" Lily said with a smile.

Alice sat down next to her and handed her a beautifully wrapped present in gold wrapping. "I decided that I couldn't wait until later to give you your gift."

She laughed and accepted the gift, carefully unwrapping the paper. She gasped when she opened the box. Alice had given her the entire encyclopedia of potions that she had been lusting after - all twelve volumes.

"Alice, you shouldn't have!"

Alice smiled. "Yes, I should have. You're my best friend. I know that you're going to be some famous potions mistress one day so, you need them."

"These were so much money!" She insisted, opening the first volume.

She smiled and hugged Lily again. "Not to me. Happy Birthday!"

Lily hugged her back. "You're the best friend any girl could ever have! I love you!"

Alice's smile widened. "You're welcome and I love you too."

Lily carefully placed the books back into the box and shrunk it so that she could fit it into her book bag, adding a featherlight charm. She helped herself to some breakfast, laughing when Hestia took a seat on her other side.

"Happy Seventeenth, Lils! Doesn't it feel awesome to be of age?"

She laughed and took a sip of her orange juice. "I haven't really had a chance to think about it yet, but yes, I think it does." Tia's birthday had been last week.

"I got a gift for you too," she handed her another beautifully wrapped box this time in green paper.

"You guys are the best," Lily replied as she quickly unwrapped the present. Her cheeks heated as she looked into the box.

Tia grinned broadly. "You don't have to pull out in here, I'm not that mean, but I thought, as your best friend, you needed at least two sexy nighties."

"Tia, when am I ever going to wear these?" She insisted as she looked down at the black lace and the gold lace.

Tia simply shrugged. "You'll thank me later."

Lily laughed and hugged her friend. "I'll thank you now, but I'm just saying."

She put that box in her book bag as well and turned back to her breakfast.

Alice smiled as she spread jam on her bread. "So, what are we going to do tonight to celebrate?"

Tia shrugged and reached for the pot of tea. "I think that we should just have a party."

"It's a school night and I have two essays due tomorrow." Lily replied as she ate her breakfast.

Alice smiled. "That is true. What about going to Hogsmeade on Saturday and going shopping?"

Tia grinned. "Excellent! I think it will be fun to have a girls day! Not to mention that Dumbledore did say, sixth years and above were allowed to go to Hogsmeade on the weekends now."

Lily nodded. "That sounds great! I'm in."

"Brilliant!" Alice exclaimed, "But now we have to go to class. Not fun."

Lily laughed as she followed her friends out of the Great Hall and towards the History of Magic classroom. Shopping sounded like a great idea.

It wasn't until the end of the day that Lily was stopped by Sirius for a birthday wish and to her surprise, a present.

"Happy Birthday!"

She smiled at him. "Thank you. You didn't have to get me anything though."

He shrugged and handed her the box. "It's nothing big. Open it."

She grinned and carefully untied the ribbon and opened the box. She laughed when she saw that it was a stuffed animal of a white stag. "Um, it's adorable thanks. Why a stag?"

Sirius shrugged, a mischevious grin on his face. "For many reasons that you will understand later." He leaned over and kissed her cheek. "Have a great one, Lils."

She watched him walk away as she held the stuffed stag in her arms. It really was very cute and so soft. She cuddled it a bit as James turned a corner and headed towards her. He stopped when he saw the stag and tilted his head a bit in surprise.

"You like stags?" He asked, looking a bit bewildered at the thought.

Lily laughed and held it out to him. "Apparently I do. Sirius just bought it for me and said that I would understand later, whatever that means."

James grinned and handed the stag back to her. You could always depend on Sirius. "Interesting. Well, I just wanted to wish you a happy birthday." He handed her a small package.

"James …"

He shrugged. "You've been a great help to me, Lily. I wouldn't have had as much luck with these book reviews if it hadn't been for you. It's nothing big, I just wanted to give you something to show my appreciation and a birthday present seemed the best way to do that."

Lily nodded. "Well, thank you." She accepted the small package and carefully unwrapped it. To her surprise it was a small blue book. "A book?"

He grinned. "Well, I know that you love fairy tales and I thought that since you introduced me to some of your favourite ones that I could show you the stories that I grew up hearing. That is The Tales of Beedle and the Bard and its a wizarding classic."

She smiled at him. "Thank you. That is very sweet."

"You're welcome." He shoved his hands into his pockets. "Well, I have to go meet Remus to work on our potions essay but, happy birthday, Lily."

Lily watched him walk away and she smiled as she held the book of children's stories in one hand and the stuffed stag in the other. It was turning out to be a very interesting birthday.

When February hit, Lily was already feeling like her birthday had been years ago. School work was piling up and she had other issues to deal with. Her thoughts kept going back to the conversation that she had had with James about her break-up with Aaron. She hadn't told him that she wasn't interested and he seemed to be taking that as that he had another chance. Lily didn't know how she felt about that. He had been extra friendly lately; finding her in the castle and walking her to class. He was full of questions about Elizabeth Bennett and Mr. Darcy and she hadn't found it in her heart to tell him to go away.

At least that's what she was telling herself.

But after six full days of non-stop James Potter, she was annoyed with him. He was just there. He hadn't asked her out. He hadn't asked for … well, anything.

"Potter! Will you just go away?" She demanded, turning on him in the classroom that he had followed her into where she planned to get some homework done.

He frowned. "Why? I thought that we were getting along."

She sighed and rolled her eyes. "James, I'm glad that you're enjoying the book; it's a classic and one of my ultimate favourites. I've read it so many times that I can quote it, but please, what do you want from me? I have things to do."

James shrugged, his hazel eyes on hers. "I just wanted … I thought we were friends."

Friends? Her anger was bubbling up inside of her before she could stop it or stop to think of where it was coming from. "Friends? We talk about books, Potter. We are mere acquaintances and nothing more! Other than that I don't want to know what you have to say! I still think that you are a bully and rude and that you are still picking on people who haven't done anything to bother you!"

"Is this about Snape?" James demanded. "I know that you were friends with him once, but you don't have to take that out on me. It's not my fault that you two aren't friends anymore."

Her face flushed both from anger at Potter and from the hurt and fear that Snape's name still managed to inflict in her heart. She was embarrassed that she was still afraid of him. "Why can't you just leave me alone?"

"Because I'm in love with you, dammit!"

Lily sneered at him now. "What a load of crock, Potter! You can have any girl you want in the school. You don't actually like me. You only think you love me because I'm the only girl who ever said no. Well, you can go to hell!