So, hi guys! I'm kinda new at writing, so this is my first fanfic!

Disclaimer- Drearily, Depressingly not mine. Duh!

Lily groaned, putting her aching head in her hands.

She didn't know what was going on. What was wrong with her?

Merlin, what a disaster.

Why the sodding hell was she behaving like this? And now, of all times. Blasting subconsciousness.

And worse, it was all because of him.

Every sight, every thought of him, her heart would increase pace, leaving her breathless and lightheaded. His every touch was like fireworks in her veins, and on top of that, her heart had developed, a vague, empty feeling that only went away when he was there. Now, she was the one looking forward to their every meeting, every talk, every touch, even every argument they shared!

No!

Come on Lily, think of something, anything! Think of Amos, those broad shoulders, rippling muscles, those bright blue, soul-seeing eyes that seemingly pierced her soul, that amazing windswept hair! She sighed. Somehow, none of that seemed appealing anymore. He had ruined it all.

Every time he came close, she would become a fumbling mess, constantly fiddling with her hair, forgetting sentences. And her stomach never failed to develop butterflies around him. Even better, her face always developed the telltale blush that she was sure gave her away every time when she was with him.

On more than one encounter she had been sure he was going to kiss her, coming so close she could feel his breath lightly fanning her cheeks.

Merlin!

She wasn't supposed to feel like this. Imagine, imagine she actually...

No

Nope.

She wasn't even going to go there.

Idiot!

Collect yourself, Lily! You are a headstrong, stubborn, independent woman and you will not be trounced by mere feelings! She sat up, taking a deep breath. In ... Out ... In ... Out ... In, Out! BANG! Lily sat up, startled by the slam of a nearby door.

Then, horror of horrors, he walked in through it.

She hastily recollected her composure, plastering a smile on her face. 'Hello James!'. Oh! Oh! Stupid, stupid, stupid!

One single, immaculate eyebrow rose in disbelief. 'We're on speaking terms then? I wonder what made the great Lily Evans change her mind.'

Lily scowled. 'I was merely trying to be nice for a change. Forgive me if that's abnormal in your case.' Why did that prat have to open his big, fat mouth? He always made her want to slap him ... or snog him senseless, maybe that would finally knock some sense into that big fat head of his. And yet, and yet, she still grew weak at the knees at the sight of him. Her dilemma was confounding indeed! 'Now if you'll excuse me, I have to set up a few meetings with the heads.' She got up and made to leave in a huff.

'Wait.' A hand grabbed her arm, restraining her, as tingles shot up her shoulder, making her shiver. 'Hey, I'm sorry. I was being a prat. I just ... had a taxing day. How about I rectify my sentence to, 'Being on first-name speaking terms with Lily Evans is a nice, and welcome change. How have you been?'

That was it. Fate was against her. She had gotten herself into this mess, and now she had to get herself out of it. 'Fine, thanks. Now, I really have to go, I'm sorry. Maybe another time?' She apologetically smiled at Potter. Great going Lils! She mentally congratulated herself. He's never going to get himself out! To her surprise, her arch-enemy had entirely different plans. He dragged her over to the common room couch.

'Come on! It can wait.' Potter grinned at her, and plopped himself down on the sofa. 'No wriggling out of it! Let's talk!'

And so, her fate was, helplessly sealed, not that she didn't want to talk to Potter, it was just that she wasn't sure she could face him. She sighed once more, and gently lowered herself to the couch, next to an ecstatic, messy haired teen. 'Yes?'

'So, before we start, I just wanted to inquire as to if your esteemed highness...'

'No.' She cut in before he could finish the sentence. It wasn't as if she didn't want to go out with him, she just didn't want to think about what would happen if she did. 'Already asking me out, Potter? Don't you have better things to do?'

If he was hurt by her statement, he didn't show it. 'Ah, so we're back to last names then, Lily? Quite a shame, really. I was looking forward to having you call me James instead of the usual Potter you scowl on a daily basis.

Lily smiled, despite herself. 'Well, then, we wouldn't want both of us getting our hopes up. We fight on a daily basis, so I DO feel pretty inclined to revert to our original behavior.'

Potter looked shocked,' I think i heard an 'immature' in there. Did you just half compliment, half insult yourself? I'm impressed.'

'Well, it's a natural talent, I'm afraid. It's not acquired easily.'

'Oh, don't be too sure of yourself. I'm a genius, which, by the way, has been repeatedly proven, and I ALSO have pure, raw quidditch talent no one has been able to beat yet, also proven on the quidditch pitch.' On second thoughts, he added, 'More than once, in fact. '

'Mhm, sure.' Lily scratched the side of her head in mock thought. 'Know what, i think we're alike in that area.'

James scoffed, 'Puh-lease. I'd beat you with both my hands tied behind my back.'

'Ohhhh, wait. I forgot to include that unlike, certain, particular people , i don't have an ego.'

'I really do doubt that...'

Also, BIG dose of self-esteem you just gave yourself, there. You okay? No after effects of the medicine?' She checked his forehead in mock concern. 'I might have accidentally fainted while you were away daydreaming.'

James clutched his heart. 'You wound me, Lily. Where did all of those absolutely WICKED thoughts come from? I, personally, find them absolutely appalling.'

'Really? Know what, I might have to take you up on your, quote, unquote, challenge.'

Potter scoffed, a second too late after his eyes widened. 'Please, you won't be able to fly a broom if your life depended on it.'

'And if I prove you're wrong? What do I get in return?'

'A month of me refraining from asking you out.', came the instantaneous reply.

'Deal. Quidditch pitch, at 7, then?'

Potter genuinely looked shocked this time. After a minute, his face morphed into a wide grin. 'Great, then, quidditch pitch at 7. Just wait till i have my trophy.' A sudden realization struck, 'Ohhhhhh. Wait, wait, wait. If I win, what do I get in return? After all, it DOES have to go both ways, doesn't it?'

Lily's eyes sparkled. 'Hmmm. Well, i think some certain somebody's, who, i OBVIOUSLY don't know about, will be able to sneak as much pranking supplies and firewhiskey as they want for ... just about a week, i think. Sound appropriate?'

James' grin was a mile long. 'You BET. Where did this Lily come from?'

'The depths of hell...'

Then, running out of things to talk about, Lily looked ahead at the common room fireplace. Evidently, Potter's mind seemed to be blank as well, because he copied her. After a minute of awkward silence, she started laughing, for reasons she couldn't fathom. The big, holding your sides and rolling around on the couch, spitting spit everywhere, kind of laughter. Another second later, Potter joined her, and they both ended up gasping.

Then he finally spoke, 'So, how have you been?'

'Well, brilliant really, because I seem to recall giving you regular updates the last time, I was shouting at you.' She continued when he didn't reply, gazing expectantly at her through piercing hazel eyes. 'Fine, except for the fact that my cat died. I'm not too upset though, he was always trying to scratch my eyes out... To be REALLY honest, the shouting part of our fighting DOES help to get a LOT of my frustration and stress out, so i'm a LOT better.' She held her hands in front of her face. 'Don't kill me!'

When she finally had the guts to remove her hands and peek out, James was full fledged GAWKING at her. 'And to think, here i was, thinking you ACTUALLY didn't like me. I've been very ruffled lately, thanks for asking. Gryffindor's team has been lacking. Severely. Honestly, I'm not so sure we can pull through in the next match.' Then his eyes widened in realization. 'Hey, this is confidential info, okay? Don't go blabbering it about here and there, I don't even know why I'm telling you this.

Lily snorted. 'That's what got you worried? What about NEWT's? Transfiguration? Ancient Runes? I really do think you got yourself bonked on the head as a child, Potter! And don't worry, I know when to keep my mouth shut.'

James face morphed into a wicked grin, and suddenly, Lily knew what he was going to do. 'Oh really? What if I...'

'Don't even go there. Prat.'

'Prude' (cue grin)

'Toe-rag'

'Miss high and mighty' (cue grin becoming several inches wider)

Lilly scoffed this time. 'Oh, come on! That's not even an actual retort. Filch could do better than you.'

Potter looked affronted. 'Hey, come on. Not fair. I could do better than that idiot. He may know the secret corridors, but he can't differentiate his right and left foot from each other.'

'Right, like you would know anything about it.'

'Nope. Its true. I do.' And he launched into an explanation regarding one of his adventures, but Lily wasn't listening. She was too busy staring at him, and somehow, everything about him suddenly seemed fascinating. Wickedly glinting eyes, that trademark grin, raven black hair that could be mistaken for a bird's nest, and oh-so soft. As Potter talked, he gestured wildly, and everything else automatically got tuned out. Potter was really attractive, she grudgingly admitted. With that ruffled messy hair she adored, the firelight casting shadows that flickered across his face, into the little nooks and crannies, highlighting his jawline. And then, suddenly, out of nowhere, Lily wanted to kiss him. He had this endearing expression on his face, that screamed a hundred things she couldn't even begin to describe.

'Lily? Lily!'

'Huh' She was started out of her stupor. 'What?' Lily looked closer and saw he was pointedly looking at her, with a mildly annoyed expression on his face. Frowns did not suit him.

'He-llo! Nice to finally meet you.'

'Oh, sorry. I was distracted.'

'By what exactly?'

Lily wildly looked around. She spotted someone laughing, and without thinking, pointed towards them, only realizing a minute too late who it was. 'I was looking towards that direction. Some people just played a prank on a few first years, give me a second, won't you?' She walked towards the direction she pointed at nervously. It was a complete lie. She stopped, and tapped the guy who was laughing on the shoulder. He turned around. Shit! "Amos! Hi." She racked her brain. 'I spotted you laughing, anything funny in particular? What are you doing?' Lame, lame, lame! Idiot!

'Yeah.' Amos smiled. 'Want to join us? We're playing an extremely entertaining game of exploding snap. I've enchanted it to make the explosions ten times bigger!"

'Um, no thanks. I'm not a fan. See ya around, then!' She waved and walked back towards the couch, trepidation in her stomach. She plonked herself back down on the sofa. "Phew! Sorry about that. You were saying?" She turned back to James, only to find a blank face. He seemed to be staring off into space. "Um, hello?" Lily waved a hand in front of him and he jolted back to life. He seemed ... a bit sad, to be honest.

Then he jumped up. "Um, I have to go. Marauder meetings, sorry, I just remembered. You're busy too, right? With the head's meetings? Gotta go, BYE!" And he LEFT. Just like that, and she, stupidly, did nothing but gawk at his rapidly retreating back.

Lily fumed, her green eyes flashing dangerously. She was going to murder Potter when she next saw him. Their rivalry was so back on. She was DONE being nice to him. She had tried, but if that prat wasn't responding, it wasn't HER fault. She spent the rest of the day studying, and at 7 pm on the dot, she picked up her Silver Arrow and headed down to the Quidditch pitch.

James was already there, waiting for her. He smirked when he saw her. "Well, looks like you finally made it."

"Don't bother Potter, let's just get this over with." She snarled at him.

He looked ... taken aback. "O-kay? Just so you know, it's just a friendly match."

He was being nice to her? After he had left her like that?
Okay, okay, maybe she didn't have to be that mean to him. She rolled her eyes. "Yes, I know."

She climbed on her broom and took off. And just like that, her mood totally changed.
She literally laughed when the cool wind rushed through her hair. The sensation of being so high up in the sky, all of her worries seemed non-existent now. They were just tiny, insignificant specks on the ground from her viewpoint. A bubble of joy filled seemingly filled itself on its own accord. She did a loop the loop and soared even higher. She grinned- a genuine grin when James joined her. Merlin, she hadn't done this in so long. She had forgotten how it felt to be free. To be one with the wind and the sky, where anything she imagined could be possible. To be pure and untainted. Even her annoyance with James had disappeared by this point. "Hi!", Lily laughed again and raised her arms to the sky. She could almost feel the clouds passing through her fingertips.

James swerved to stop when he saw her. He smiled delightedly upon seeing her. "Hey yourself."

When she looked at his hands, she found them clutching the Quaffle. Ugh. She was in too good a mood to be sweaty and hot right now. She flew closer to him, took the Quaffle in her own hands and dropped it. She looked down. There it was, falling, falling, falling, right in the center of the Quidditch pitch.

James looked confused, "I thought we were playing?"

She rolled her eyes again. "Change of plan. Come on!" Lily swooped down towards the direction of the pitch, whooping all the while. She performed twirls, loops, twists, and turns, and every other thing she could thing she could think of. James was right there along with her, both of them laughing and grinning like idiots. When they were low enough, a sudden thought struck Lily. "I wonder if ..."

James' twinkling eyes looked at her. "What?" And then, he cried out in alarm when she fell sideways, much like a rock.
Until she was upside down.

She smiled. "Oh, come on! D'you really think I'd be as stupid as to fall off?" Her legs were keeping her in place as she subtly steered her broom in the right directions. The sensation of being upside down was ... nice. It was different, but in a good way.

James looked at her curiously. Then he swung upside down too. He had gotten the hang of it on the first try! "Wow, that's ... really impressive! I had to try loads of times before i got the hand of this! Huh. I guess they DON'T exaggerate your prowess on the pitch. " She looked at him seriously, well, as much as she could when she was upside down.

He considered her, his gaze straight and unwavering, with a hint of a sparkle. "What, you really thought i wasn't that good? You're not too bad yourself, since we're being ACTUALLY honest for once. Why don't you try out for the team?"

"Meh. I don't like competing too much. I just like playing." She swung right side up again, smiling when James did the same. She bit her lip nervously, suddenly hesitant. "Hey, um, I'd like to be friends, if that's okay. We're heads now, and I think it'd be best if we're not trying to rip each other's heads off all the time. Also, because I want to.", she added hurriedly.

He looked at her carefully, "Yeah, I'd like that." He held out his hand for her to shake. "So, friends?"

"Friends.", she confirmed with a slight smile.

After that, they just contentedly sort of ... enjoyed the feeling of being in the sky. They had quite a few conversations, and contrary to Lily's expectations, they didn't run out of topics to talk about at all. James was ... someone she had quite a lot to learn about. She was looking forward to their new-found friendship. When they finally touched ground, they both had been surprised to learn that over two hours had already passed.

Not in the sky, Lily felt her butterflies return. She had patched things up with James! She was on a high- a different sort of one. As they entered in the castle, the smirking face of one Sirius Black greeted them, along with a scowling one of Amos'.

Sirius' grey-blue eyes briefly flicked over to Amos, as he turned to them. "Ah. You're finally here. I was just chatting with Amos. He was looking for you guys."

Out of the corner of her eye, Lily briefly saw James scowl, because they both knew 'you guys', actually just meant Lily.

Amos hurriedly defended himself. "You'd been missing over three hours. I was concerned about you, Lily."

She smiled at him. "I'm fine, thanks."
Lily suddenly realized something. She slapped a hand to her forehead. "Oh! Shit! We were supposed to do rounds!"

"I totally forgot! Ugh. I'm going to have McGonagall on my head about this tomorrow morning." James grimaced as well.

Lily turned to Amos. "Could you please cover for us today? I promise I'll make it up later on." She tried a hand at puppy eyes.

They seemed to work! "Uh, yeah, sure, I suppose. I did mine yesterday, so I'm not busy today."

"Thanks so much, Amos! I'll see you later." She gave him a quick hug and a peck on the cheek. "Thanks again!" Then, Lily took James' arm (cue tingles running up HER arm) and dragged him towards the direction of the stairs. "Phew! That's over!"

James raised his eyebrows. "Lily Evans, shirking her duties? That's something I thought I'd never see."

She just smiled at him secretly.

They both walked in silence, Lily wondering at her newfound courage. It made her a little sad, though. James hadn't asked her out in over a year. If she was being honest, she kinda ... liked the weird ways he kept on conjuring in his attempts to woo her. It was endearing-ish. She wondered if he still had feelings for her. Probably not.
But hey, she had to find out! By hook or crook. It was driving her crazy not to know, because she definitely had feelings for him.

She quietly conjured some food above James' head. And once it was falling, she cried out, pointing down a random corridor. "James, watch out! Peeves!" And a second later, SPLAT, he was covered head to toe in muffins, cakes, chicken broth, pudding, and a few mashed potato sauces, with chips as the final toppings.

Her face quivered with a semblance of a smile. James was looking positively murderous. Laughter was bubbling up inside her, and Lily wasn't sure she would be able to hold it in any longer. She looked at him. A trickle of sauce ran down his face, and she couldn't help but bite back a smile at his condition. His hazel eyes were now dark, and he was staring at the floor, as if his stare alone would disembowel it. And then, the final straw. Plop. A cream muffin fell from his head onto his robes. That was it. Lily burst out laughing. Trying very hard to stop smiling so widely, she approached the sticky teen in front of her cautiously. "Um, James? You've got a little something... uh", she burst out laughing again. It was simply too funny. Granted, it was her fault, but, oh, merlin, why hadn't she tried pranks before?

"Yeah, I realized, Lily." James gritted out the words sarcastically as a chicken leg plopped to the floor. Then he grinned. "Aw,don't you want to help me out? I'm a friend after all, aren't I? And friends in need are friends indeed, aren't they? I'm pretty sure the saying DOES go along the lines of that."

"Um, sure?" Lily hesitantly took a step back. She wasn't sure how this was going to end, but she sure as hell knew it wasn't going to be good.

And she was right. James held out his hands and advanced. She shrieked and ran as fast as she could to escape the gaping jaws of death about to encompass her.

Ten minutes later ...

It wasn't enough. An equally smelly, slimy, dirty Lily was now glaring at James. He had crushed her in a hug almost as soon as she had run. Damn long legs. And THEN, he had made it a point, rub his hands into her hair. UGH! SHE HATED THAT PRAT! She slowly flicked her hands, and a look of disgust gradually spread across her face. This time, it was James that was laughing. She tilted her head and smiled sweetly at him, "How about a little taste of our own medicine, huh?"

And before he could react, she had dumped another pile of food on him, using a swift flick from her wand. She walked towards him with a wicked smile that was positively dripping honey. "Oh dear, looks like you got a little bit of food there, James." And she took her hand and proceeded to shake his sticky hair free of the food stuck in it.

She moved even closer as she wiped a little bit of food from above his mouth, and she was extremely satisfied to see that his breath hitched.
She was wrong, he so totally still liked her. She moved away with a smirk, and James seemed to shake himself out of his stupor.

And then, her entire performance, her swagger, her absolutely brilliant act was ruined. Because the klutz that she was, she slipped on the pudding on the ground.

And of course, James, with his annoyingly fast reflexes, had to catch her. In the "damsel in distress", dance position, as she liked to call it.

He smirked at her, hazel eyes twinkling mischievously. "I guess I'm still sweeping you off your feet, huh?"

Tell me how i did! How was it? To short? Wordy? Weird? Did the storyline not connect? Or was it just out of this world amazing?

Read and rate and review! Peace out ... ;)