Hello... Just like to say im sorry about the late update... i got really really ill and then my internet stopped working... but its back on now so here's another chapter...

Please Read and Review... XX

CHAPTER FOURTEEN: BEFUDDLED

July 1977

Lily Evans was not that kind of girl. Nope. She would not chase after a guy. Never. It was just that he was so perfect. He had the most wonderful smile, beautiful hazel eyes and adorably messy black hair. He also happened to be in love with Lily. Yep. She had accepted the fact that James Potter was in love with her. He wasn't really acting like it much anymore though. Lily was looking through the letters on her desk, the last one had been from James.

Lily,

I miss it already to be honest. I miss you more though.

Yeah, Selena is coming over for the holidays. I don't think my parents would mind if you came. They love it when my friends come over. I think Remus and Peter might come too. It'll be nice to have the Marauders all back together again [you and Selena are part of the Marauders now, we still need to give you nicknames though].

No, I haven't read it. You could always lend it me. I don't own Muggle books.

Write back soon.

James xx

Lily sighed, she had written back her reply almost instantly, saying her parents said it would be alright for her to go over to James'. He hadn't written back yet. It always made her so agitated when he didn't write back.

Lily groaned. Pathetic.

***

James,

Aw I miss you too.

I asked my parents and they said it's fine. Tell me the dates and I'll arrange to come. Yeah it will be nice for us all to be together again. I can't wait to see you all again.

Yeah, I'll bring it over when I come.

Lily xx

James' heart skipped a beat. Lily was going to come over. To his house!!

***

"Oh how wonderful", James' mother said excitedly. She was sat in the large sitting room, writing a letter to one of her friends, when James told her that Lily would be coming over. "Have you told your father?"

"No, I'll tell him later", James said, regretting ever telling his mum of his affections for Lily. "I just wanted to know if it was ok?"

"Well of course it's ok", Mrs Potter said beaming. "I can't wait to meet her". She then bustled out of the room, muttering about old baby photos.

James groaned.

***

"Let's just hope your mum doesn't ruin it", Sirius said seriously that evening in the conservatory.

"The worse she can do is embarrass me", James said fairly. Although, this thought wasn't a pleasant one.

"What if she says something about Lily being her future daughter-in-law or something?"

He had a good point there. James would have to make sure his mother didn't get to spend too much time with Lily.

***

August 1977

Lily held her breath. This was it. Her first visit to the Potter house. Lily knocked twice on the wooden door and waited.

Barely a second later, the door opened to reveal an elderly woman with long red hair and blue eyes behind spectacles. Lily presumed her to be James' mum.

"You must be Lily", the woman said beaming.

"Yes", Lily said smiling back. "Nice to meet you, you must be James' mum." The woman nodded. Lily held out her hand, but Mrs Potter didn't take it.

"Don't be silly", she said and pulled Lily into a hug. Lily was startled, but pleased all the same. Mrs Potter then led her into the house.

The house looked as nice on the inside as it did on the outside. It was a large country house, with big rooms and had a very welcoming feel.

"This is beautiful house", Lily commented. Mrs Potter showed Lily into the sitting room. Seated in the room was James. He was wearing black trousers, a white shirt and a black pinstriped blazer. Sirius was sat next to him, also wearing a suit, but without a tie like James. Remus, Peter and Selena were also there, but Remus and Peter were wearing casual clothes. Selena was very uncharacteristically in a green dress. There was also an elderly man there wearing a black suit, similar to James', he was tall, thin and had untidy black hair. He also had hazel eyes, just like James. He had to be James' dad.

They all got up to greet her. Finally she reached James.

"Hi", Lily said quietly.

"Hi", James said smiling. "This is my dad". James indicated to the man in the suit.

"Hello", Lily said to Mr Potter, who smiled and held out his hand. Lily shook it.

***

Lily enjoyed the next few days at the Potter house greatly. Mrs Potter was an extremely nice woman, who tried to get Lily introduced to everyone in the neighbourhood. She showed Lily and Selena many baby pictures of James, which Lily had to agree were very cute. She also showed them some dancing trophies James had won when he was younger and when the girls tried to talk to James about it, he suddenly became deaf and started talking about motorbikes.

Mr Potter was also very nice and spoke to Lily often, asking about her parents, her lifestyle, everything. He even taught Lily how to beat Remus at Wizard's Chess, and he was the best in the year.

The only problem was James. He was always so awkward when he came across Lily. Today was one of those days.

Lily was sat in the Library reading a book on dragons, when James walked in, a black leather-bound book in his hand. He walked over to a bookshelf and began scanning the titles, he hadn't even noticed Lily sat in the corner.

"D… Where is D?" James said to himself. "Could just leave it here… No, mum would kill me…" James then reached for the nearest ladder and began to climb it.

"You know talking to yourself is the first sign of insanity", Lily said casually.

James started and almost fell off the ladder. Lily ran up to him, worried.

"Are you ok?" Lily asked concerned. James got off the ladder.

"Just give me a minute to let my heart restart", James said breathlessly.

Lily felt bad. "Sorry".

"It's fine", James said, his breathing back to normal now. "What are you doing in here anyway?"

"Reading", Lily held up the book in her hand.

"Yeah", James' expression looked as if he was thinking hard. "I – got to go". And he left.

***

Lily was sat in the guest room, looking through her bag for her blue top when there was a knock at the door. Lily was still wearing her white nightgown as it was still quite early in the morning.

"Come in", Lily called.

The door opened. It was James. He was also still in his night clothes. Pyjamas and a blue t-shirt.

"Erm hi", Lily said, getting up and straightening out her nightgown. James stared at her, then gave a small smile.

"Good morning", he said. Lily smiled. They both looked at each other for a while, not saying anything.

The door creaked open and Selena walked in.

"I'll see you later Lily", James said nervously and sped out of the room.

Selena looked just as confused as Lily felt.

"What the hell have you done to James?" Selena asked, half-confused and half-amused.

"I have no idea", Lily said truthfully.

***

Lily stared. An attractive girl with long wavy blond hair walked through the door with Remus. She was reasonably tall and quite curvy. So this was Remus' cousin?

Lily eyes darted towards James. He looked confused. That was weird.

---

Remus' cousin? She looked nothing like him. Hmm. Selena looked around. Sirius had gone out a few hours ago and still not come back. Weird.

---

Peter stared. The girl was gorgeous. She was curvy and tall and blond. The perfect woman. Well Peter thought so anyway.

---

James had never seen her before. To be quite honest, Remus had never mentioned her before. And now out of nowhere, she turns up? Weird.

***

"So?" Daisy, Remus' cousin, said to James that evening at dinner. She had beaten Lily to the seat next to James. Lily was now sat between Mrs Potter and Selena. "You're a great Quidditch player I heard".

"I'm ok", James sounded nervous as he reached for the jug of mead.

Lily glared at her. She was so pretty. Damn her. After a while she caught Remus looking at her from across the table with a knowing smile on his face. Lily looked away embarrassed.

James jumped in his seat suddenly. Everyone looked at him. "It's cold", he said quietly. He looked rather scared.

Lily kept her eyes on him as everyone else looked away. She saw Daisy wink at him. Bitch.

Daisy stayed for the whole evening, flirting constantly with James, with phrases like, "I love your hair, how do you keep it like that?" and "Can you teach me how to play Quidditch?"

Lily was at the end of her rope. She would not let some other girl just come in and move in on her man. And yes James was her man. He didn't know yet, but he was. Lily would have to do something.

***

It was the next day and Daisy had come again. This time wearing an absurdly short dress. Eurgh. The nerve of her. Lily walked into the Living Room to see Daisy interrogating James. She kept moving towards him, but much to Lily's delight, James was moving away.

"Hi", Lily said loudly. Daisy and James looked up, both looked guilty.

"Hi", Daisy said in a horribly sweet voice. Obviously faking it, the big… fake.

"Hey", James sounded relieved.

"Have you read that book I leant you?" Lily asked randomly. She couldn't think of what else to say.

"Erm no", James replied moving towards her. "You never gave it me".

"I'll give it you now", Lily said. "It's in the guest room". James moved towards Lily.

"I'll come with you", Daisy said smiling. Lily glared at her.

And so the next two days went on in the same fashion. With Daisy trying to get alone with James, and Lily being the third wheel, making sure they were never alone.

***

It was the last day of Daisy's visit as she was going on holiday to France or something. Lily watched, smiling as Daisy said her goodbyes. She hadn't been able to make her move on James. Mwahahahah!!! Okay, a little too much excitement, but Lily considered it a minor victory.

---

Finally that annoying girl was leaving. Selena had already had several arguments with the girl. She did have it coming, she kept flirting with James and talking inappropriately in front of the parents. Talking inappropriately was one thing, but no one made moves on James. He was Lily's man, he didn't know it yet, but he was.

Selena had noticed the increasing jealousy on Lily's part and it annoyed her. Why wouldn't James just ask her? Weird, confusing boy.

Daisy was giving Mrs Potter a hug, when Selena noticed something. Daisy scratched her head, in a very dog-like fashion… in a very Sirius-like fashion. Sirius!

After Daisy was done with the farewells, she made towards the front door. But Selena caught her and dragged her into the Living Room.

"What do you want?" Daisy said tartly.

Selena raised her eyebrow. "You", Selena walked slowly towards Daisy. She knew it was mean to mess with her boyfriend like this, but he deserved it.

"Erm, I don't really swing that way…" Daisy said with a very confused expression on her face.

"Well, lucky for you, I do", Selena said smiling.

Daisy gulped.

---

Peter stared aghast. He ran into the sitting room and pulled Remus and James aside.

"They're lesbians", he whispered.

"Who?" Remus asked, he was smiling slightly, for some reason.

"Daisy and Selena", Peter said.

"I knew it", James said shortly and left the room.

---

James opened the Living Room door to find Selena and Sirius there. Sirius was wearing a long black dress, exactly the same one that Daisy had been wearing a few minutes before.

"Sirius", James said narrowing his eyes at his best friend.

Sirius had a guilty expression on his face. "Hi".

"Wait", Peter said entering the room and staring at Sirius' choice of clothing. "Daisy… she was… and now you're…" Peter was incredibly confused. But then it dawned on him. "Oh", he said finally.

Remus sniggered. "Well, I must say, it definitely brings out your curves Padfoot".

"Yeah", James laughed too now. "Is there something you want to tell us?"

"I would be worried if I were you Selena", Remus added.

"It was part of the plan", Sirius said annoyed, pulling at his dress.

"Not another plan", James said weakly.

"It worked though, tell him Remus". Remus inclined his head towards Selena, who looked very interested.

"Tell you later", Sirius mouthed, then began explaining to Selena that it was all just a practical joke and that he did not enjoy dressing up in drag.

***

A few days earlier…

"Wait, I'm a little lost", Remus was having a hard time trying to understand Sirius' new plan.

"I'm going to be your cousin", Sirius said again, but more slowly this time as if Remus was foreign.

"I still don't get it", Remus said just as slowly.

They were sat in the Dining Room that was in the far corner of the house near the kitchen.

"I'm going to be your girl cousin", Sirius said. "We still have some of that Polyjuice Potion left over. I'll make Lily so jealous, that she'll confess that she's in love with James".

"Ah", Remus said, now fully understanding. "I think you've finally come up with a decent plan Padfoot".

"What do you mean?" Sirius asked offended. "All my plans are decent".

Remus rolled his eyes. "Of course, Padfoot", he said sarcastically. "So who knows about the plan?"

"Only me and you", Sirius said smiling mischievously. "This way it'll be a lot more fun".

***

"So she was jealous?" James asked for the fifth time as they sat in James' room the next day. The girls were with Mrs Potter in the Library, although James didn't quite agree with this.

"Yes", Remus said agitatedly. "She definitely likes you".

"I knew it", Sirius said triumphantly. "Plan double D worked!"

"Plan what?" James asked amused.

"Double D", Sirius repeated casually.

"You do know that's a bra size?" James said laughing. Remus laughed too.

"Oh", Sirius obviously didn't know. "Well it works, since she had pretty big-"

The door opened that moment and Sirius stopped speaking. It was Lily. Looking beautiful as usual. She was wearing a long green dress that really brought out her eyes. Her hair was curled and half of it was up in a bun. She looked truly breathtaking.

"Wow", James said before he could stop himself. Lily blushed, smiled and looked down. "I mean hi". James got up from the bed and walked over to her.

"Hi", she said shyly. He loved it when she blushed. It was so adorable.

"You look…" He couldn't think of the right word. What word could possible do her justice? "I'm speechless".

Lily blushed, if possible, even deeper and smacked him playfully on the arm. James smiled. He really wanted to say something. He didn't know how though. And did she really like him all of a sudden? He didn't see how she could. Why she would. He hadn't really improved. He was the same old James. How could she possibly like him?

"Your mum said to get ready and come down for dinner", Lily said quietly and then left the room.

***

Dearest Lily

No, that sounded gay…

Beloved Lily

Worse…

Lily, the love of my life…

Too much…

Lily,

Too less…

"If you're going to take that bloody long to write her name, we're not going to get anywhere", Sirius said, looking over James' shoulder at the letter.

"It has to be perfect", James said. "Just like her". Sirius groaned and slumped down on James' bed.

"He's right", Remus said, who was sat on the window sill. "It has to be perfect. Although, at the rate you're writing, she won't get it until next year".

"Okay, okay", James said irritated.

He began again.

Dear Lily,

It's weird, but it's really hard for me to say this. All these years I've been chasing after you and telling you that I want to be with you, but now that it's come to confessing my true feelings I just can't do it.

From the first time I ever saw you, on the Hogwarts Express, our very first journey on it, I knew there was something special about you. Of course then I still thought girls had cooties, but you were interesting to me even then.

When you turned out to be in Gryffindor, I was intrigued, for some reason I felt happy. Then the next couple of years I spent my time, acting like an idiot, trying to impress everyone. Especially you. But you didn't care. You were never impressed. I loved it. You were so hard to get.

Then we became friends, courtesy to Selena and Remus. And I couldn't believe my luck. But you were with that bastard two-timing son of a jackal [That's from Aladdin lol] Tom. I thought you were happy and I left you to it. I didn't want to get in the way of you being happy. But then I realised, you weren't happy. He didn't deserve you. And when I found out he was cheating on you, the only thing that stopped me from wringing his neck was Sirius. We tried to get you to find out for yourself, but when that didn't work I was going to tell you, but you found out anyway. Then you were single.

I really don't know what to do now. I know that I don't deserve you. You are way too good for me. But I just want to take this moment to tell you something.

I love you. Everything about you, from your beautiful appearance to your beautiful personality. No one else has ever made me feel this way before. And I don't think anyone could. And to me you are perfect, and my wasted heart will love you, whether you return my feelings or not.

Yours forever,

James

James sighed and looked at the letter. Well that about summed it up.

"Cheesy", Sirius said, who had walked over. "I love it".

Remus had also come over. "Yeah, that pretty much says it all".

James looked down at the letter and frowned. It sounded rather desperate. Not that he wasn't.

There was a knock on James' bedroom door and all four boys gave a start. James put the letter in the nearest book.

"Come in", James said. It was Selena.

"We're leaving soon", Selena sounded disapproving. "And you lot are in here".

Sirius walked over to his girlfriend and put his arms around her. They were sickeningly sweet sometimes. James couldn't believe he was thinking it, but he wished him and Lily could be like that.

***

"Bye", Lily said to Mrs Potter. "Thank you so much for letting me stay".

"It was our pleasure", Mrs Potter said smiling. She gave Lily a big hug. Lily looked round, James wasn't there.

Lily gave Sirius, Remus and Peter hugs and stood near the door waiting for Selena to say her goodbyes. James then came down the stairs.

"Your book", he said handing over Pride and Prejudice.

"Thanks", Lily said. "Well I guess I'll see you at Hogwarts". Perhaps it was because they were so interested in each other, but James and Lily did not notice the whole room go quiet.

"Yeah", James said quietly. Lily then did something that surprised even herself. She hugged James round the middle. He was completely taken off guard, but after a few moments he hugged her back, smelling her hair as usual. The hug lasted longer then was necessary, but no one tried to stop them.

***

"Oh, I love her", Mrs Potter said happily. "She is so nice".

"Yes, I quite agree", Mr Potter said.

James smiled.

***

"He's such a nice boy", Mrs Evans said when they were passing through Birmingham on the way home. "I like him".

"Me too", Mr Evans said pointedly, he was driving.

Lily smiled.

***

Lily sat up in her bed. She had not been able to sleep and she had been trying for at least three hours. She switched on her bedside lamp and took out Pride and Prejudice from the bookshelf. She got back in her covers and opened the book.

There was a piece of paper sticking out from the middle. Lily pulled it out. It must have been James' bookmark. Tut, he had told her that he'd read it all.

She opened the paper, it was a letter. A letter addressed… to her.

Lily read it.