Disclaimer: Everything belongs to J.K. Rowling, as everyone knows, except the characters I created.

A/N: Alrighty... I'm finally getting the next chapter out. Thank you sooo much for all of the reviews. I appreciate it more than anything! I totally wasn't excepting to actually reach 100! Next goal... 200! haha. no j/k. Maybe by the time I finish this I'll be at 200. I'm thinking about writing 35 chapters. I know it sounds like a lot, but it's really only 5 chapters per year, and I'm sure most of you have noticed that my chapters aren't exactly super long. I can't just sit down and write a whole long chapter. I have to break them up. Well, I've tried to make this chapter a bit better than the last. And I have a very interesting lesson coming up in one of the future chapters of this year. Hopefully it will get you all thinking about what magic really is... Sorry this A/N is soo long, but I hope you enjoy this chap and R/R please! Thanks again!
Love, Kate

The Rivalry of James and Lily

Year 4 - Chapter 1

Summer to School

"The sun will come out tomorrow," Lily found herself singing for the millionth time that summer. This song was one of her favorites from the movie Annie. When she was little, she had sung a solo in her choir to the piece, and that solo marked the proudest moment of her childhood. For that was a time when her peers actually admired her singing ability, and did not shun her for her "abnormalties." Ever since then, she had sung the song when she was depressed. It had always seemed to somewhat brighten her day, for it brought back memories of the shocked, yet impressed faces of her classmates. And today, for Lily, marked one of the worst days of her summer.

She was locked in her room, hiding from her malevolent sister, Petunia, and her parents were off vacationing in the Italian countryside. They claimed it was for business, but Lily believed that that was just an excuse. Petunia had become ruthlessly obnoxious, and Lily suspected she had been making hell at 4 Privet Drive while she had been at school.

See, Petunia had a new boyfriend (who was fatter than an elephant itself), and somehow this made her think she was even more superior to everyone else. She droned on and on and on about him, making Lily want to pull her hair out entirely. His name was Vernon Dursley, and he was a new associate at a drill company. How riveting. He seemed about as dense as a block of lead, and even more narrow-minded. And he was ugly. Big, fat, and ugly. Yet from the way that Petunia gushed about him, Lily would have thought he would have been at least half as cute as James Potter.

Lily stopped herself. Wait, did she just think about James as cute? Okay, yes, he was cute. She still hated him though. Maybe. Truth-be-told, she was really curious about what Sirius didn't say to her at the end of term about James. Did James no longer hate her? If he didn't hate her, then did she still hate him? Lily shrugged. Whether she and James still hated each other or not, Lily's parents were gone, and could not protect her from Petunia, and also were going to miss her 14th birthday.

Lily didn't object to her parent's decision to take a vacation. She actually encouraged them to take some time to relax. But now she was definitly regretting her decision to allow them to leave her with Petunia. More-often-than-not, Lily found herself in her room with nothing more than her stuffed bears, including the one James gave her, and her owl, Oe, for company. Oe had been her best friend this summer, but he had become grossly sick. He had to stay in his cage and take disgusting owl pellets that resembled bits of rat dung. Lily felt extremely sorry for her loving friend, and decided to keep him safe and not send him on any treks. This, however, meant she couldn't write letters to her friends. She had made hardly any contact with them all summer. James and Sirius had sent her a couple letters here and there, and Kate and Alex had stopped by her house twice. She had kept the best contact with Remus, but he now too was on vacation in Majorca. It appeared to Lily that her birthday was going to be a very gloomy and grim experience, indeed.

As days passed, Lily couldn't help feeling a longing for Hogwarts; the classes, the beds, the atmosphere, the teachers, and most importantly, her friends. On the day of Lily's birthday, she woke up with a bit of a pit in her stomach, hoping, but not expecting any presents or acknowledgement of her birthday at all. But the feeling quickly disappeared as she noticed a pile of gifts on her bed, just like Christmas. Excited, Lily began to open the first card.

Dear Lily,
How's your summer been going? Sorry we haven't written all that much, but we were just in Paris. It was aboslutely amazing. That's where we bought the gifts, in case you're wondering. Hope you like them! Happy 14th!
Love,
Kate and Alex

After Lily opened the gift, she was overwhelmed with mountains of delicious looking pastries and wonderful smelling perfumes. They were wonderful. She then turned to her next present, which was from Sybill and Peter. It was the fowlest bracelet she had ever seen in her whole life. It shown a million different murky colors. It looked like a cross between Sybill and Peter's outfits at the end of the year dance. She quickly put the bracelet back in its box and set it aside while wrinkling her nose.

Next, she opened a present from Sirius.

Hey Lily,
How's your summer so far? Sorry I haven't been able to keep contact with you. Dad claims he absolutley needs the family owl for work, although I stole him so I could send you your present. The present I have to say is pretty cool. I'm sure you'll find use for it, but don't be alarmed if it moves. That's normal. Well, I really miss you. I think Jamsieboy here does, too. Ouch! I have a bruised arm now because of that comment (James is watching what I write). Anyways, write back and we can set up a time to meet in Diagon Alley to get our supplies.
Sirius

Intrigued, Lily opened the present. To her amazement, she saw that it was... it was... a quill? What kind of joke was Sirius playing on her now? Cautious, Lily reached down to pick up the quill and she felt her finger grasp the soft bristles of the feather, which were suddenly black, moving, and had 8 legs.

"Eight legs," she mumbled. "Ahh! Eight legs!"

The quill had turned into a tarantula! She threw it across the room, but to her surprise, as soon as it was out of her hand, it turned back into a quill. After she felt her heart slow down to a normal speed, Lily began to feel a bit of pleasure and excitement. This present would make for an awesome prank on Lucius Malfoy, who never seemed to be supplied with a quill, and always had to borrow one.

Next she turned to a box of Bertie Botts from James, along with a short note.

Dear Pickle Eyes
Happy Birthday! Hope you choke on a sardine flavoured bean!
Love,
James

She laughed at the letter a picked out a strawberry jam bean, her favourite flavor.

Now she turned to the two presents left on her bed. One was a box of chocolate frogs (her favorite candy) from Remus. The other was a tiny, rectangular box.

Curious, she searched for a card, but couldn't find one. Disturbed, but excited, she opened the present and gasped. It was the most beautiful necklace she had ever laid eyes on. The necklace was a small sparkling emerald encircled by a golden lily. When she touched it, she felt a rush of adrenalin pour through her. She slipped it on and looked in the mirror. It fit perfectly. It was slightly shorter than her locket, so the two did not overlap in the slightest. They were practicaly the same color gold, so they also did not clash. Lily was quite puzzled by the expensive and anonymous present. Who would send her such a nice gift? Surely it wasn't her parents. They would have left a card, plus they said they would celebrate her birthday with her when they returned home. And of course it wasn't Petunia...

She pushed the thought out of her mind as she turned to her opened gifts. Her friends had just given her the most wonderful birthday presents. Lily couldn't help feeling delighted, even though she would have to spend the rest of the day with Petunia, or in her lonely room.

After little to no thought, Lily decided to stay in her room and write thank-you notes to her friends. She arranged to meet her friends, except Sybill and Peter, in Diagon Alley on August 31st, and then that night they would all sleep over at Sirius's house and travel to King's Cross Station together.

On August 31st, Lily's parents dropped her off at the Leaky Cauldron with her Hogwarts trunk and a very full money bag, as she needed new robes along with her school supplies. She stowed her trunk in the Leaky Cauldron with Tom the inkeeper, and began a trek to Gringotts to exchange her muggle money for wizarding money. As she made her way over to the white stone building, an unpleasant feeling came over her. The feeling that she was being watched. The hairs on the back of her neck stood up, and she couldn't help nervously looking around.

She stopped and observed what was happening in the packed magical street. A group of children were bundled in front of Quality Quidditch Supplies as usual, and others were bustling in and out of shops. An old green witch was singing to a group of passerby's asking for money, like those in muggle underground stations. Lily laughed at herself for feeling so uncomfortable. After all, she hadn't been in the wizarding world for a couple of months, as she had been living with her Muggle family. She just had to get back into the swing of things.

She took a few more paces, but had to stop again. She just couldn't shake the feeling. She started to get angry with herself, and turned to walk again, but stopped dead. Out of no where, a black cloaked figure put a hand over her mouth and grabbed her. She struggled with all her might, flailing her arms and hitting every part of the attacker's body she could.

She heard a muffled, "Ouch!" come from inside the cloak, but didn't stop punching the attacker until she heard-

"Lily! Lily! Stop beating up James!" It was Sirius, and he was running towards her.

"James?" she gasped.

"Yes, James," said the attacker, who had torn off his cloak. Sure enough, it revealed her messy-haired, brown-eyed, but rather cute, worst, or maybe best, enemy.

"UGH! You scared me to death!" she grumbled, but smiled in relief, none the less.

"And we're happy to see you, too!" teased Sirius.

"You guys really are immature, did you know?" she replied.

"Nah... We just have fun with life! High five Jamsie-boy!" cried Sirius.

As James reached up, he immediately winced in pain. "Dang Lily, I think you've given me a dead arm. When'd you get so strong?"

"I guess my workouts with Petunia have finally paid off. But what are you actually saying, James, that I beat you up? Did I beat up the famous James Potter?" she asked glowing.

"Haha... NO. You just got in a lucky punch. I bet you couldn't beat me up if you tried. Come on," he laughed, pulling a tricky wrestling move on her and forcing her into a headlock.

"Ouch! Ok! Ok! You win! I'm sorry!" she yelped in pain, but she, too, was overcome with giggles. "Be aware that I will get you back, Potter."

"Sure you will..." he said, feeding her his famous half-smile. "So Sirius... Sirius? Hey! Where'd he go?"

"He seems to have found Kate," said Lily amused. "And there's Alex and Remus."

Soon the whole gang met up and began to discuss their summers. They bought their supplies together and went back to Sirius's house by floo powder (a new experience for Lily). Lily was shocked, but rather pleased, with the actual appearance of a wizarding house. Sirius's house was rather messy, yet cozy. Mrs. Black claimed the mess came from the two 14-year-old boys who were constantly planting pranks and tricks around the house. There was an interesting clock on the mantelpiece that had hands of everyone in the house, including herself. She was quite puzzled by two hands on the clock, however. They were James's great-great grandparents, and they were currently stationed at James's house. She knew it probably wouldn't be proper to ask about them, but she couldn't help herself.

"Hey James? Why are your great-great grandparents at your house?" she asked as politely as she could.

"Because they live there, Lily," he said, but not in a rude tone.

Now Lily was quite confused. "If they live there, then why do you live here?"

"Well, my great-great grandparents are 189-years-old, and aren't exactly fit enough to take care of a maniac 14-year-old like myself. So I basically live over here with Sirius. I still go over to my house sometimes because they just basically stay in their room, and then Sirius and I can have the house all to ourselves. My house is right next door. It's the scarlet house with the gold trim. Don't say it looks like the Gryffindor common room because I already know," he said, cutting off Lily in mid-sentence. "I think we're going to actually stay over at my house tonite. It's just a bit more spacious, and we won't disturb anyone if we make loud noises. My great-great grandparent's room is soundproof, thank goodness."

"Cool," said Lily. She really couldn't think of anything else to say. She didn't know how sensitive James was talking about his old house or family, and she didn't want to test him. She just couldn't imagine if her parents died...

"So... Would you lot like to see my room?" asked a cheerful Sirius.

"Most certainly," Kate began, but Mr. Black cut her off.

"Uh uh Sirius. You're not taking anyone up to that room with it in the state that it's in. I think the best plan would be if you all ate some dinner then headed over to James's place."

"YES FOOD! Come on guys!" cried Sirius, bounding into the kitchen.

Laughing, the gang headed into the kitchen. They were overwhelmed with scrumptious chicken pot pie, dinner rolls, and a garden salad. The desert consisted of a bread pudding, and the meal was concluded with a steaming mug of hot cocoa. At about 11 o'clock, when the gang was actually quite tired, they headed over to James's house. His house was beautiful. It reminded Lily of an old Victorian house. It had 12 different rooms, all with different themes. The dinning room was a lovely red, and the room she, Alex, and Kate were staying in was a periwinkle blue. The boys room was green. Everyone quickly got ready for bed and settled down in their sleeping bags. At 1 o'clock Lily woke up with chills, afraid she was coming down with the flu.

"Oh don't be getting sick, Lily," she mumbled. She curled up into a tight ball, but couldn't get comfortable. Unable to sleep, she went downstairs to make herself a cup of tea.

Meanwhile, in the boy's room, James was also having trouble sleeping. He never realized Remus snored so loudly. He decided he would take a blanket downstairs and try to sleep there. He crept down the stairs, and was surprised to see a light on in the kitchen.

Peculiar, he thought, but he didn't feel awake enough to investigate. He sat down on the couch, grabbed his Quidditch Through the Ages book, and silently began to read. He only looked up when he heard-

"James? Why are you down here?"

"Lily? I couldn't sleep. Don't ever stay in a room with Remus if you don't have a wand with you to put a silencing charm on him. I never knew he could snore so incredibly loud, even though I've slept in the same dormitory with him for the past 3 years. What brings you down here?" he asked.

"I woke up with chills. I thought I was getting the flu, but now there gone and I feel fine, other than the fact that I'm wide awake. I decided to make some tea, there's some more in the kitchen if you want some."

"Great. I'll be right back," he replied, and disappeared through the kitchen doors. When he came back, Lily was under his blanket reading his book.

"Hey!" he began.

"You didn't call bubbles," she replied, happily.

"What?" he asked, bewildered.

"Oh nevermind. It's a Muggle thing," she mumbled.

"Right... Anyways, get out from under my blanket. Go get your own if you want one," he said.

"I'm too lazy. If you don't want me using this, go get me another one," she laughed at his pouty face.

"I guess I'm just going to have to force you out, aren't I?" he replied, now unable to hide a smile.

"I guess so," she giggled back. He then pounced on the couch, and began a mad fight for the blanket, in which James actually got kicked quite a few times.

"Wow, Lily, gotten violent, haven't we?" he said, struggling to hold on to the blanket.

"That's what I get living with Petunia. It's not my fault," she responded, tugging at the blanket.

"You know what? I give up. Let's share. You take that end of the couch with that end of the blanket. I'll take this end," he said, pointing to the area of the couch were he was sitting.

Reluctantly she agreed. After about an hour of talking about quidditch and school, the two were sound asleep.

***

"Anyone have a camera?"

"I wish."

"They're so cute!"

Who in the world is that, Lily wondered. She was so comfortable and warm, she didn't feel like moving. Then she realized that was her friends talking, and she was on the couch, and she wasn't by herself.

She wrenched her eyes open, and "AHH!" "What am I doing with him?" she yelped.

"We were wondering the same thing," replied a pleased-looking Sirius.

She had been sleeping with James Potter! GROSS! She had somehow ended up on his chest, and his arm was around her. She jumped up off the couch like she had just been electrocuted, and ran up the stairs to the girl's room, followed by Alex and Kate.

James was just now waking up. "Whatcha looking at?" he asked Sirius and Remus.

"You were just sleeping with Lily," they replied in unison.

"I don't see any lilies. There's a vase of roses over there," he mumbled. He obviously wasn't fully awake.

"No, Lily Evans," said Sirius.

"What about her?" James grumbled.

"You slept with her! Don't you remember?" questioned Remus.

"Haha! Funny joke! Evans and I? No way," he laughed back.

"Fine, suit yourself," Sirius said, and walked away with Remus.

What's gotten in to those two? he thought. Then he looked down and saw two empty glasses of tea.

"Oh my-! Sirius! Remus! Wait! Did I seriously sleep with Lily?" he exclaimed.

They both nodded, and he stared at them, dumbfounded, opening and closing his mouth, but not saying anything.

"I'm starving. Let's go get some breakfast and then hit the road," said Sirius, breaking the silence, watching James's shocked face contently.

Remus shrugged, and James followed the two other boys, obviously thinking about something, or someone, else.

During the car ride to the station and train ride to Hogwarts Lily and James did not talk. They were too embarrassed to even glance at each other for more than a couple of seconds. Surprisingly, their friends didn't tease them too much about the incident. In fact, they hardly talked about it all. After a very uneventful train ride, where everyone played chess and exploding snap, the students began to make their way up to Hogwarts. James couldn't take it anymore. He had to talk to Lily. Before they entered the Great Hall, James pulled her aside.

"Lily, listen, about last night... I seriously have no idea what happened," he said. "I'm really sorry. I swear I didn't mean to-"

"I know James. Look, I'm sorry, too," she said. They stood there for a couple of moments, rather awkwardly, not saying anything.

"We still hate each other, right?" James finally asked.

"Erm... right," said Lily. "Look we better get to the feast before we get detention or something."

"Right," he mumbled. And he watched her enter the Great Hall with a bit of longing in his eyes, not sure if the past night's events had been a curse or a blessing.

A/N: Alrighty! That's it! I hope you enjoyed reading it as much as I enjoyed writing it. Please review! I love getting feedback on what I've written. It seriously motivates me so much to get the next chapter out. Thanks!