Summary: Lily and James hate each other, but there's a fine line between love and hate. How will they finally get together?

Genre: Romance

Ships: Lily/James

Rating: PG-13

Disclaimer: This story is based on characters and situations created and owned by JK Rowling, various publishers including but not limited to Bloomsbury Books, Scholastic Books and Raincoast Books, and Warner Bros., Inc. No money is being made and no copyright or trademark infringement is intended.

A/N: This was written a few years a go, so bear with the immature ideas. It's cute, though g



The Fine Line Between Love and Hate

Chapter the Second: The Hogwarts Express

[ Agent Bambi ]

Lily Evans was at the train station, looking for platform 9 ¾. She glanced in between platform 9 and 10. Nothing. Where was it?

Somebody wolf-whistled behind her.

Lily was used to this – she was an eye-catching redhead, with sparkling green eyes and a slender figure. She was only eleven years old, and was supposed to be starting at Hogwarts that day. There was only one itty, bitty problem - she couldn't find the platform.

The boy that had whistled walked past her. He was good looking, Lily decided – with cute, messed up black hair and mischievous blue eyes.

"Need some help?" he asked.

"Uh, yeah. How do you –"

"Get through to platform 9 ¾?" he finished.

Lily nodded and he pulled her through the solid-looking barrier between platform 9 and 10. Because of the unexpected move, Lily stumbled, and almost fell to the ground.

She glared furiously at him. "You could have told me first!"

Lily stared mercilessly into his innocent-looking eyes.

"Sorry, miss, it'll never happen again," he teased.

"Ugh!" Lily groaned and walked off to find a compartment.

Lily sat down in one of the empty compartments. Less than thirty seconds later, a girl appeared in the doorway and smiled shyly.

"Can I sit here?"

Lily smiled, "Sure."

"So, what's your name?"

"Lily Evans, and you?"

"Aurora Hooker. Are you starting first year?"

"Yeah, you?"

Aurora nodded. Lily looked over to her companion. She was average height, with a great figure, Lily had noticed, with golden blonde hair, and brown eyes.

Minutes later, another girl walked into their compartment. She was tall, slim, with light blue eyes and … pink hair.

"Hey," she greeted them, "Can I sit here?"

"Yeah, sure," Aurora said.

"Thanks," the girl said, "what are your names?"

"Aurora, and this is -" Aurora introduced herself.

"Lily Evans. What about you?"

"Dyna Cantrell. Are you first years?"

"Yep, are you?"

"Yeah," Dyna said, and breathed a sigh of relief, "What house do you hope to be in? I'd like to be in Gryffindor."

"Gryffindor, definitely," Aurora said, "I'd die if I was in Slytherin, wouldn't you?"

"Uh …" Lily said unintelligibly.

"Oh, Lily are you a Muggle Born?"

Lily stared, confused.

"You know, from a non-magic family?" Aurora prompted.

"Oh. Yeah, I'm a Muggle Born then. You're not are you though?"

"No, my parents were a witch and a wizard … our family goes way back," Aurora smiled.

"I'm half-half … my mum was a witch, but dad was a Muggle. They were both really happy that I turned out a witch," Dyna said.

A small mewing noise came from Lily's trunk.

"Panther!" Lily exclaimed.

"Panther?!" Dyna screeched.

"My cat … well, kitten," Lily explained as she pulled out a little black cat.

"Why'd you name him – or her – Panther?" Aurora asked.

"Well, the pet store owner said she was half panther, so yeah …"

"Oh … right."

Many uneventful hours later, it was time for the sorting.

"Amsterdam, Senya!" … "Slytherin!"

"Black, Sirius!" "Gryffindor!"

"Bongo, Alison!" "Hufflepuff!"

"Cantrell, Dyna!" "Gryffindor!"

"Compton, Jennifer!" "Ravenclaw!"

Lily was next.

"Evans, Lily!"

Lily put the patchy, black hat on her head.

She heard a voice, "Good evening, Miss Evans."

"Hi!" she thought at the hat.

"What house would you like to be in?"

"Um, I think Gryffindor sounds like a nice house, and Aurora's already in it."

"Gryffindor, eh?"

"Yes, I think so."

"Gryffindor!"

The Gryffindors cheered as Lily sat down next to Dyna. She glanced at her new friend and gave a squeal of happiness. Dyna smiled back.

"Hooker, Aurora!"

Aurora confidently walked up to the stool with the dirty hat on it, picked it up, sat down, and placed it on her head.

After about a minute's silence, the hat shouted, "Gryffindor!"

Lily and Dyna cheered as Aurora sat down, smiling happily.

They watched the sorting, making comments as they went along.

"Pettigrew, Peter!"

"What do you think of him?" Aurora asked.

"Hmm … too …" Lily tried.

"Chubby?" Dyna finished.

"Yeah, that's it!" Lily laughed.

"Gryffindor!"

"Potter, James!"

"Ooh, he's hot!" Aurora giggled.

"Mm …" said Dyna.

"He's a jerk … he made me fall!" Lily pouted.

"Gryffindor!"

A while later, the last boy stood in line.

"Zimpson, Christopher!" … "Slytherin!"

Suddenly, food appeared. Mountains of roast potatoes, meat pies - everything you could imagine! An elderly wizard, Dumbledore, she thought, stood up, and started speaking, about things like: do your homework, don't go into the Forbidden Forest, etc.

After dinner, Lily, Aurora and Dyna reached their dorm, they found three other roommates already sitting on their beds.

Lily smiled, "Hi! What are your names?"

A short girl, with blonde curls and blue eyes said, "I'm Christina Mitchell."

Another girl, with short black hair and black eyes, said, "I'm Samantha Stuart."

The last girl giggled, "Gwendolyn Williams."

She had caramel colored hair, hazel eyes, and looked very snobby.

The next morning, at breakfast, someone handed Lily her timetable.

Lily hurried to Transfiguration with Dyna and Aurora. They found the room and sat at the back. Their teacher was Prof. McGonogall. She was a stern teacher, very strict and serious about teaching. Lily was glad when the double lesson was over – she hadn't been very accomplished in turning a match into a needle. It had gone all pointy, but was still made of wood. The only person to be able to turn the match into a needle was James Potter, which Lily wasn't happy about.

Lily hurried off to recess. She went down to the Great Hall and got a snack. Then she went to Potions, with Slytherin. This wasn't enjoyable either – their teacher, Prof. Pepper, was the Head of Slytherin and obviously favored them.

At the end of the day, Lily, Dyna and Aurora all agreed that Charms had been the best class, with little Prof. Flitwick.

But they changed their minds very soon, at 7:30 to be exact. Flying lessons were definitely the best lessons ever.

Weeks passed and Lily became best friends with Aurora and Dyna, and she really liked Sirius, Remus and Peter. Sadly, she had made an enemy – James Potter. This was unfortunate – James Potter was the one of the most popular boys at school, and most girls thought that Lily was crazy that she hated James. But, Lily didn't mind much – she had Aurora and Dyna.

Then the trouble started.

James Potter did something to her. He turned her nose green!

Lily had gone down to breakfast, oblivious to the fact that her nose was as green as her eyes. She ignored the laughs and sat down. She had not yet seen Aurora or Dyna, because they had come to breakfast earlier than Lily had woken.

James Potter soon joined Lily.

He looked at her innocently, "Hi Lily, dear."

Lily raised an eyebrow, "What do you want, Potter?"

James smiled, "Nothing, hun. My, how beautiful you look today, Lily!"

"What did you do?"

James smiled. Ignoring him, Lily took out a small pocket mirror out of her robes.

She looked at her reflection and noticed her green nose.

On impulse, she punched him. She was shocked; she had never punched anyone before.

James, it seemed, was taken aback, too.

"Change it back!" Lily cried angrily.

"No can do, babe, I don't know the reverse spell!"

Lily jumped up from her seat and rushed to Madam Pomfrey. To her astonishment, James was already there. Madam Pomfrey was fixing up his eye, where Lily had hit him.

Lily gaped, "How … ?"

Madam Pomfrey noticed her. She bustled towards her.

"And what happened here?"

Lily pointed to James.

"He turned my nose green!"

Madam Pomfrey muttered the reverse spell, "Uncoloro!"

Lily felt her nose tingle as it changed back.

"Thanks."

She left, with James following very close behind.

"PLAY NICE!" Madam Pomfrey called after them.

Lily snorted with laughter.

"You sound like a pig." James laughed.

"You are a pig!" Lily retorted.

James pouted; Lily rolled her eyes and hurried ahead.

James shook his head and followed her to Transfiguration.

"Where have you been, Potter?" Prof. McGonnogall asked, sternly.

James open his mouth to speak, but Sirius answered for him, "He's been with Lily Evans, Professor."

The whole class howled with laughter.

James blushed deeply.

"I was with Li–Evans, but that's because we both happened to be with Madam Pomfrey."

McGonogall raised her eyebrow but didn't pursue the subject.

At the end of the class, McGonogall called after them, "For homework read page 34 of your textbook."

They headed off to their next class, Potions with Slytherin.

They sat down at the back of the class, as accustomed. Their teacher was Prof. Pepper, who was as bitter as her name. Her favorite student seemed to be Severus Snape, though she basically favored all the Slytherins. Snape was in James class, and he always sat at the front. Though James, Sirius, Remus and Peter wouldn't admit it, Snape was particularly good at Potions.

James, Sirius, Remus and Peter amused themselves by throwing spitballs at Snape's head, while waiting for Prof. Pepper to arrive. After the tenth time they had thrown a spitball, Snape noticed. He turned around and caught one in his eye. They burst out laughing.

Snape smirked, making him look like he was eating a lemon.

"Stop it, you insolent fool!"

"Its Potter, Snape. And don't you forget it."

"Oh? What was that? I already forgot it."

James responded to this by making an exceptionally wet spitball, and managing to get it caught in Snape's oily hair. Unfortunately for Snape, James had also put a 'Stick-to-it' Charm on the spitball, so it would be stuck on Snape's head for the next 24 hours, no matter what.

Snape managed to rip a lot of his hair out, before realizing that it was useless to try and get the spitball out.

Finally, Pepper came in.

"Today we will be making the Forgetfulness Potion. But, as most of you idiots don't know how to make it, I will have Severus explain it to you. Severus …"

Snape started talking, "First you collect your ingredients – unicorn's horn, frogs toes and spider's hairs …"

James, Sirius and Remus stopped listening – it was much too boring to listen to Snape droning on.

James scribbled a note to his friends.

Wanna blow up the Slytherin Common room???

Unfortunately, Pepper saw him scribbling away, and yelled, "What are you writing, Potter?"

James tried his best to look innocent.

"Nothing, Professor!"

Pepper raised her eyebrows and yelled, "ACCIO!"

The little paper zoomed to Pepper's hand.

"Wanna blow up the Slytherin Common room?"

Some of the Gryffindors nodded, and Lily and her friends giggled. Fortunately, Pepper didn't see them.

"Now, boys that's not very nice, is it?" Pepper said silkily, "I guess you'll have to stay and clean up after class!"

"But … we were only joking!" Remus lied.

James, Remus & Sirius were silent for the rest of the lesson. At the end, after their cleaning up thing, they hurried out.

"That BITCH!" Remus cried, releasing his anger.

The other two boys nodded in agreement.

It was time for recess, so they headed down to get a snack.

The next morning, James woke up and yawned. He got up to have a shower, and looked in the mirror.

"What the fuck?" he screamed as he looked at himself.

- TBC -