*Seen through the eyes of Lily*

"Lily Evans!" laughed James. "I can't believe you did that to Melody!"

Lily smiled smugly. "Well, you know, I can't stand it when someone else hits on someone I love."

James smiled back and kissed her gently. "Well, I agree, she was getting a trifle irritating. I'm glad you drove her away!" James laughed again. Then he got all serious. "Professor Dumbledore came to see me today."

Lily's face fell. "You caused trouble?" she asked worriedly.

"No," James replied. "I'm the Head Boy replacing Oliver Kettleburn who left Hogwarts a week ago to transfer to Beauxbatons."

"That's great!" squealed Lily, and she hugged him, expressing her pride for him.

"And guess who's the new Head Girl replacing Kelly Kettleburn, Oliver's twin?" James said softly.

"Umm...Melody Jones?" teased Lily.

James laughed, a beautiful laugh that was music to Lily's ears. "No. The position belongs to an honourable person I know, and cherish."

Lily thought for a moment, but no name came to her. "I don't know. I give up," she said.

"You," James said simply.

What did he just say? thought Lily.

"What?" Lily said, dazed. "But...but I'm a -"

"Slytherin," James said. "No Slytherin in a thousand years has become a Head Girl in all of Hogwarts. But you...you're an exception because your grades are amazing."

"I can't believe it!" Lily said excitedly.

This way, I get to meet James more often...

James smiled at her again, which turned Lily's insides to jelly and melted her all the way down to her toes. She loved him so much.

"We have the task of organizing the upcoming Graduation Dance," James said.

"Graduation!" Lily cried.

That's only a week away... thought Lily sadly.

And then what will happen to James and I?

Will I lose him? Never to see his smiling face again?

Or will it be "come what may, he will love me till my dying day"?

"Yes, graduation," James said quietly. Obviously he was thinking about what was going to be of them as much as she was.

Lily gulped. But they had to go through with it, no matter what.

*

"Maybe we could enchant the balloons to burst into fireworks or something," Arthur Weasley, [a/n: yes, Ron's father] a Prefect, said.

"Well that's a good idea," James said wisely. "Just be sure they don't burn our heads off." Everyone laughed.

Lily doodled mindlessly on her paper. The news of her becoming Head Girl had been met with disapprovals and jeers from Gryffindors, even though James tried his best to ensure all of them there was nothing wrong. However, the judgmental and harsh words from other people far outweighed what James thought, and that hurt Lily. So far, she had been left out of all their discussions, even though James tried her best to include her in, but the other Prefects, mostly from Gryffindor and Ravenclaw, had treated her like an outcast.

I wish Dumbledore didn't have to give me this chance to prove my worth! Lily thought vehemently. Then I wouldn't be feeling so lonely...and I hate loneliness.

"What do you think, Lily?" James turned to her and asked. This was met with groans and titters from the rest of the Prefects.

"I'm okay with it," she replied quickly. She hadn't even been listening. But she needed to fit in, to ease her insecurity.

"All right, we'll all go with Arthur's idea. Any more ideas, anyone?" James asked. "No? Okay then, meeting adjourned."

Everyone sighed, relieved. Especially Lily.

When everyone else left, James put his arms around Lily, as if his warmth was trying to make up for the cold treatment she had been given.

"Everyone hates me," Lily said miserably. "No one except you has spoken to me, and anyway they wouldn't have said more than two words."

"You know that's not true," James said softly. "You said everyone hates you. But I don't. I love you."

He had said it again, those 'forbidden' L-words that rarely cropped up in Lily's biased family. Even if they had, they didn't mean anything to her. But only James - only James could say those words and make her feel like they were real and everything else would be better. James was the only one Lily dared to believe in.

"James!" Lily cried. "What if someone hears us?"

"I don't care," James mumbled, bringing his lips to Lily's for a shared, affectionate kiss, and again Lily dissolved in that oblivious world, where nothing but hers and James' mind existed.

The door opened, ever so slightly, and footsteps gently pattered in.

Oh no, someone's walking in! Lily's brain flashed an alert, and abruptly she broke away from James, who looked as alarmed as she was.

Too late!

Minerva McGonagall, James' fellow Gryffindor friend and prefect, was looking upon them with a look of utmost confusion and shock.

*Seen through the eyes of Minerva*

Oh. My. God. Did I just see what I thought I saw? thought Minerva.

No wonder James has been sticking up for Lily, a Slytherin, so much...

"Um, I just came back to get my file," she said hesitantly, pointing at the pink file on the table which she had absent-mindedly left behind. Minerva wasn't sure where to begin as she registered in the fact that James and Lily were looking extremely flushed, Lily especially, as her eyes were downcast and embarrassed.

"Um...uh...yeah, sure, take it," James said, sounding twice as worried as he looked.

Minerva gingerly picked up her file as she looked over at James and Lily, who snuck a quick glance at each other, not sure of how to explain their brief, romantic kiss to Minerva.

"Um..." Lily began.

"Uh..." James added.

"Look," Minerva cut in hastily. "I'll just make things easy for you guys. Am I supposed to pretend I didn't see anything? At all?"

"Yes," chorused Lily and James together.

"Okay," Minerva chirped. Her lips were sealed.

"You promise?...Because you know this really doesn't mean anything," Lily said, all panicky.

Minerva could tell she was lying. She knew Lily was in love with James. But she wasn't a big-mouthed gossiper like Mariela.

"I'm sorry I had to be the first one to find out," Minerva said. "And I wished I wasn't. But I understand your...predicament. Don't worry, your secret's safe with me."

"Thank you!" Lily said, beaming. James smiled.

Well, well, well, thought Minerva as she turned to leave.

Lily Evans and James Potter...

I would have never thought of it!

*Seen through the eyes of James*

The dance committee began work as soon as possible. Within six days they had everything ready, and by the next day (Graduation Night) all the seventh-years could just have a good time. By now most of the people had gotten dates. Since Dawn had done so much for Lily and James, Sirius probably wanted to give her a chance and start something with her, so he asked her to the dance. Dawn had giggled so much she couldn't stop, but the answer was yes. Shy Remus had finally gotten the courage and hooked up with his dream girl, the loyal and studious Minerva McGonagall [A/N: the Hermione Granger of their time :) ], while Peter got stuck with an extremely annoying Mariela, who couldn't - and wouldn't stop talking.

So out of the Marauders, only James was still available, but of course he was going with Lily. Only he hadn't confirmed it yet, since in the space of events that happened over the last few days, the two had been so busy organizing the dance that they hadn't had a chance to meet up or even talk about other stuff besides grad night.

Finally, James had a chance to plan another secret meeting at night, since the things for the dance was already completed.

"Meet you at the Astronomy Tower, nine-thirty tonight," James whispered in Lily's ear, who blushed because he had been so close.

*

"I missed you," Lily said.

"Can you believe it? We've set a record. We haven't talked for six days," James replied.

"But now we're here," Lily said, gazing at the stars. To her, something didn't seem right, but Lily didn't know what it was. Should she have seen it coming?

"Don't worry, we'll have plenty of time tomorrow at the dance," James said, taking comfort in Lily's embrace.

"The dance?" muttered Lily vaguely.

"Uh, the dance we've been planning for the last six or so days," James replied. "We're going to that. Right?"

"We...?" said Lily nervously.

James pulled away stiffly. "What are you implying? We are going to the dance. Together. Right?"

"Together...?" Lily repeated.

"Is there something you aren't telling me?" asked James worriedly. Had he done anything to hurt her?

"I'm...I'm not going to the dance," Lily said, frowning.

"You're not going?" said James, alarmed. "But...why? I've been looking forward to this...I want to spend time with you!"

"No, no...I mean, I'm not going to the dance...with you. I'm not going with you, James," Lily said gently.

James felt like an icy wind had just blasted him in the face, chilling up all his emotions and ripping his frozen heart in two. "You...you're not going with me?"

She's angry...she's angry with me...

Or maybe...she wants to break up...

NO! That's such a HORRIFYING thought! ...I won't let her...I won't let her...!

"You...you don't like me anymore?" James said quietly.

"No," Lily said impatiently. "If I ever felt like that I'd slap myself first," she added. "No, I still like - love - want to be with - you. But I'm sorry, James, but we aren't going to the dance together. We can't."

"What do you mean we can't?" sputtered James. He thought Lily was being very unreasonable.

"Are you forgetting the whole Slytherin-Gryffindor thing?" she explained. She sighed. "I'm...I'm just not ready yet, James. I'm not ready to...to show the world we're a couple."

James was reminded of the ancient feud between the two houses of course. But that was long ago. And their relationship had come this far. Did she really want to throw it all away? Hide in secret forever? Not knowing what was to become of them when they left Hogwarts tomorrow?

And I thought I could make Lily come out of her shell...

"Lily," James began patiently, taking her hands. "The feud between Gryffindor and Slytherin...well, that was eons ago. But you and I...we love each other, don't we? So why are you afraid?"

"Well now you know," Lily snapped suddenly. She always knew he was a softie at heart, even though he tried to act tough in all his other years. "My reputation still matters more than anything else, James Potter. You can go make a fool outta yourself and wallow in your own misery like a wimp when you get caught, but I'm not like you. And anyway I told Avery I'd go with him."

"A-Avery?" James growled, dropping Lily's hands like a hot potato. Not only had her comments stung, the last part especially irked him. "He's Severus Snape's best friend! How can you...go with him...knowing that...!"

"I date anyone I like, James. I want to show the whole school that," Lily said.

"Fine," James hissed. Lily was forever that stubborn, the very cause of her failure in love matters with Severus. "Have it your way. If you're going with Avery, I'll go with Melody Jones."

"Melody Jones!" Now Lily was practically shrieking. "That...that girl's ONE THOUSAND times worse than Avery! You're...you're just going with her because you want to...to spite me!"

"I don't spite people, Lily Evans," James spat. "Particularly if it's the woman I love. But if you can't understand that, and if you only care about your stinking image...well I'm sorry. At least Melody would kill to dance with me."

"James POTTER!" protested Lily. "You know how much I hate that girl!"

"Too bad, you're going to have to live with it," James said. "Just like I'm going to have to survive seeing Avery dancing with you. Anyway, Melody's nice when you aren't around."

"NICE?!?!?! NICE???? How can you say she's nice?!?!!!" Lily hyperventilated. "That girl's a crazy viper and a smelly BIMBO!"

"Lily, she is not a bimbo, she's just horribly infatuated with me, and I would appreciate it if you'd stop insulting her, just like I'm fighting not to insult that fat Avery!"

"Fine, James! I hope you die watching me dance with CUTE Avery!" Lily said harshly. She hadn't meant for it to come out, but she just felt like she had to say it. After all, her temper always got the better of her. If she wasn't so angry, she wouldn't have borne the thought of James dying, she loved him too much.

"Fine, Lily," said James coolly. "Then I hope you die watching me dance with sweet Melody."

You know, this conversation's already out of whack. This isn't supposed to be how it's ending...on the eve of graduation.

"Goodnight James," Lily said, flouncing off.

"Goodnight, Lily," said James, silently seething with anger that Lily placed her reputation as priority and not him, after all their months of courtship.

I was a fool to be taken in by her charms and believe her.

I must never trust love again!