dislcaimer: it's jk's

James + Lily = The Rivalry

A/N: Hey ya'll! I can't believe how long it's been since I've posted! Almost 2 months! But honestly, I was going to post right in the beginning of August from Hawaii, but then fanfiction was down! I'm so so sorry for the delay, but I hope you enjoy this chapter! I don't think it's as good as any of the previous chapters, but it's more of a lead-in to a whole segment of events. Thanks for all the wonderful reviews!

Hiding... Found?

Sirius gasped, shut the door, then reopened it. He did this several times, not believing his eyes. James and Lily, sharing a classroom and... kissing? He opened the door once again and Lily was gone. He let go of the door and blinked. He stood there, dumbfounded, for a few minutes, then finally began to speak.

"Were you? Was Lily?" he gibbered, pointing to James and the open space next to him. "Wait, what am I saying?" he said coming to his senses. "What on earth were you doing in here snogging with Evans, Prongs?"

"Evans and I? Snogging? Are you out of your mind?" James quickly lied. Sirius fed him a deeply confused look. "And may I ask, what on earth were you doing with that poor door, Padfoot?" James questioned, purposely changing the subject.

"I... I... You and Lily!" Sirius stuttered.

"It's Evans, not Lily," James reminded Sirius firmly, then pushed Sirius out the door and into the stream of students still heading for the Great Hall.

As the door shut, Lily released a sigh of relief. She had jumped behind the door as Sirius had closed it, hoping Sirius wouldn't believe what he had seen. Lily chuckled. There was no way Sirius would believe it. Her and James? The thought even even seemed ludicrous to her. It was almost like a centuar and a mermaid dating. The two just didn't go together. She pulled herself out of LaLa land, reminding herself that she and James had to be much more careful in the future. With the assurance that Sirius was gone and seemed to be believing James's feeble coverup, she felt angry with herself for being so careless. Deciding she better leave the classroom and head to the feast, Lily grabbed for the door knob. Only when she opened the door did she remember what Sirius and James had called each other. Padfoot and Prongs. What were these new nicknames? Puzzled, she slipped out of the door into the line of students flowing into the Great Hall and seated herself beside Kate and Alex and across from James. Sirius still looked rather confused and gave Lily some extremely weird looks when she sat down.

"What?" she asked him after a few minutes, trying to look innocent.

"Err... nothing," he mumbled, but he continued to give her puzzled looks. Then he spoke up, a little too loudly, "Were you... were you and James..."

"Come on, Sirius. Spit it out," she said. By now half the hall was completely disregarding the sorting ceremony and listening into their conversation.

"Were you and James kissing in an empty classroom?" he sputtered.

At that moment, everyone in the Great Hall turned to Sirius and started laughing. James and Lily both laughed along, blending in with the crowds. Even the teachers were giggling, although Dumbledore did have a bit of an odd twinkle in his eye.

"Sirius, have you gone mad? James and I hate each other!" she exclaimed. And with that, she twiddled her wand and turned James's hair scarlet. "See?" she stated sweetly. The rest of the hall looked convinced, but Sirius fed Lily another quizzical look, then turned to the ceremony.

James pretended to look sour to help with the affect, but when everyone turned back around, he winked at Lily, who smiled back.

As the night passed and the whole school ate through a few courses of dinner and dessert, James and Lily continued to look at each other, but only in glances. They didn't dare look too long for they didn't want anyone to uncover their secret.

As James made his way up the stairs, he couldn't have been happier. Even with his hair still tinted red, he felt as happy as if he had just won a million galleons. He had won something way better, the heart of Lily. He had a slight spring in his step, and hummed continually as he made his way on the familiar path to Gryffindor tower. Smiling, he made his way to his bed and plopped down on it. Staring at the ceiling and dreaming of Lily, he lay with a small smile.

"PRONGS!" Sirius yelled. James jumped. "Boy are you in dreamland. I've been calling your name for the last five minutes and you haven't wiped that smile off your face all night. What is up with you?"

"Nothing, dear Padfoot. Nothing at all," he replied, with a dazed look on his face. And then he went back to staring at the ceiling.

"It's obvious," Remus said.

"What's obvious, Moony?" Sirius questioned.

"Dear Prongs here is in love," he stated, simply. Sirius looked back at James, who was still smiling at the ceiling.

"Could it be Lily?" Sirius whispered to Remus.

They both looked at each other then laughed. "Nah."

***Meanwhile***

"So Lily, what do you think of Gavin?" Alex asked.

"Mmm?" mumbled Lily, smiling as she lay in bed staring at the ceiling.

"Have you been listening to anything I've said about my summer?" Alex inquired.

"Mmhum," hummed Lily.

"Then say something about Gavin," she interrogated.

"He has deep chocolate eyes that you simply melt in, and the most gorgeous half-smile. And I must say, the cutest little nose," Lily sighed.

"What planet is she on?" Alex asked Kate. "Gavin has blue eyes."

"Come in Lily. Earth to Lily!" Kate bellowed.

"Huh?" Lily yelped. Alex and Kate both looked at her meaningfully. "Alex, I think you should totally go for Gavin. His blond hair would blend well with your light brown and being a Ravenclaw, he'll be smart enough for you," Lily remarked quickly.

"That's better," replied Alex.

"So Lily how was your summer with Petunia?" Kate asked.

"Awful. I don't think I'm welcomed to come back into her house," Lily said glumly. "I was kicked out of her house a week before term."

"Oh that's awful! I'm dreadfully sorry," Kate gasped. "But where did you go?"

Lily didn't know what to say. She didn't want to say she'd spent a whole week with James. When Sirius had returned home, James and Lily had told him that Lily had just come that day to go shopping at Diagon Alley because she couldn't get a hold of Kate or Alex or Remus to give her a ride, and as she didn't have a broom, car, or floo powder of her own she couldn't very well travel there by herself. So instead of answering Kate's question, Lily shrugged.

"What? You didn't wander around the streets or something, did you?" asked Kate, worriedly.

Lily didn't answer. She simply looked down. Then she shook her head.

"Then where did you go?" both Kate and Alex asked in unison.

"Look guys, it doesn't matter where I went. It's in the past and no offense, but it really isn't your business," Lily stated firmly ending the conversation. Both girls looked disgruntled and fed each other puzzled looks, but dropped it.

"Well, girls, it's time for me to turn in," said Kate. "And Lily," she added, "both Alex and I aren't dumb. We can tell when you're hiding something." Then she quickly drew her curtains around her bed and ignored Lily's protests. Lily turned to Alex, but she too chose to ignore her by following Kate's lead and also closing her curtains.

Unhappily, Lily crawled under her covers. She and James were sure having problems acting normally. She only wondered what else would occur to make her friends more and more suspicious of her "weird" actions. And the next morning at breakfast she learned of the greatest threat to reveal her and James's hidden relationship...

As the Great Hall grumbled with the noise of hungry students excited for the first day of schooling, Lily, Kate and Alex all ate breakfast quietly, a little edgy over the previous nights events. As Lily was starting on her toast, James, Sirius, Remus, and Peter all entered, followed by Sybill. Sybill and Peter had basically begun to stick to each other as James, Sirius, Remus, Lily, Kate, and Alex really didn't like either of them much. Although the group was never mean to Sybill and Peter, it was obvious the two were excluded. As James sat down a few seats away from Lily, they stole looks at each other. By the look in James's eyes, Lily could tell he was having as many problems with the guys as she was with the girls. And just when Lily thought things couldn't get worse, guess what happened? Yes, of course. Something worse did.

As the Hall continued to eat their breakfast, Dumbledore stood up to make an announcement.

"Hogwarts students," he started, clearing his throats. "It is my pleasure, and my apologies for not announcing this last night, that Hogwarts be holding a welcoming dance this year-" Lily choked on her pumpkin juice "-All students are invited and I do recommend everyone has a date. It will be held in early October before Halloween and there will be a vote a week before for the best couple at Hogwarts." And then he winked at Lily. No one in the hall seemed to notice, but Lily was shocked and a bit scared. Did Dumbledore know about her and James? She shivered.

Lily started to panic. If she and James went to the dance together, everyone would know, or at least suspect that they were a couple, or well, that they didn't hate each other. She knew that as a prefect there was absolutely no way she could get out of going to the dance, as she would probably be planning most of it with the other prefects and teachers. If only she and James hadn't always been such enemies before now their relationship wouldn't seem so weird. As she thought back to all of their bitter arguments, she was ashamed of how pitiful and immature they acted, although, it had been rather fun at the time. But still, she needed to talk to James, and fast.

Lily got up from the table and walked briskly over to James. "James, psst!" Lily said, urgently, "We need to talk." James looked at her confused and scared. The rest of the gang looked at them suspiciously. "Prefect business," Lily told them reassuringly. They all seemed to accept this and went back to their breakfast.

When they were out of the hall and clear from the earshot of any eavesdroppers, Lily started to talk to him, panicked. "James, what are we going to do about this whole dance situation?"

James looked at her, obviously unsure of what to do himself. "We could go to the dance together-"

"And have the rest of the school taunting us for the rest of the year?" Lily finished.

"Erm, yes. I suppose that isn't the best idea," James thought aloud. "We could go solo..."

"But wouldn't that look suspicious too? I mean, if you don't have a date, and I don't have a date, won't it be a bit peculiar?" she pointed out. "You know you're going to be asked by a million girls, and if you turn down every single one, and I turn down every single guy that asks me, not that any will ask-"

"Lily," he said rolling his eyes. "You have about 12 fan clubs with 50 members in each."

She cleared her throat, ignoring the comment, then continued, "Won't it look like we're trying to meet up solo at the dance?"

James sighed, "I suppose you're right." Then he continued slowly and reluctantly as though this was the last thing he wanted to say, "I guess we should go with other people."

Lily looked away from him, disappointed, not of him, but the situation in general. Why did Dumledore have to randomly schedule this stupid dance? They never had welcoming dances in previous years. Then Lily asked one of the most disturbing questions she could think of.

"So who are you going to take?"

James looked at her sadly. "I don't know. I really don't know. Lily, you know you are the only person I actually want to take. It's just as a prefect, you know, we sort of have a duty to go to these stupid things." He said prefect very bitterly and looked rather peeved of ever being made one.

"Yeah, I know," she said softly. "We better get back before anyone starts to suspect us." She took his hand and led him back to the hall, but stopped suddenly remembering his and Sirius's nicknames.

"What are these new names you and Sirius are calling each other... er Padfoot and Prongs?" she asked thinking hard remembering the names.

James looked speechless. "I'm starving. We ought to get back to the hall and finish breakfast," he said quickly, pulling her into the hall.

But Lily drug her heels into the floor, stopping James and herself from moving any further.

"Listen Lily, it's personal. As a prefect, you really wouldn't be too pleased if you knew," he mumbled.

"You're a prefect, too," she reminded him. "It shouldn't please you either."

James sighed. "Look, it's between Sirius, Remus, Peter and I."

"Peter?" asked Lily startled. "Peter knows and you won't tell me?"

But at that moment students began to flow out of the Great Hall and Sirius, Remus, Kate, and Alex all walked up with their bags, ready for their first day of classes.

The dance was scheduled for Friday, October 17, and over the next period Lily sat in silence during charms wondering what on earth James was hiding and why he could tell Peterand not herself. It rather upset her that he could share something that seemed so important with an annoying little rat and not his girlfriend. James kept glancing at her throughout the lesson, but Lily simply kept her eyes on Professor Flitwick and ignored him completely. Even after the lesson, she stalked off on her own in the opposite directions of the other Gryffindors, taking the long route to Transfiguration.

"Hey Lily?" Remus called after her, running to catch up to her. "Why are you going this way? We have transfiguration and it's in the opposite direction."

Lily shrugged, walking beside him.

"Well..." he started, walking beside her. "Are you going to the welcoming dance?"

"Not yet," she answered, sighing, not noticing the obvious signs Remus was giving her.

Stopping for a second, then walking brusquely to catch up with her he asked, "Is there any chance you might like to go with me?"

Lily stopped, shocked. She hadn't been expecting this at all. Then she thought the situation over. James had told her she should go with someone else, and Remus was a great candidate. She wouldn't be pressured into anything she didn't want to do, and would probably have a great time. "You know Remus. I'd love to," she smiled.

"Great," he grinned and turning a slight shade of red, and linked arms with her in a casual way. "You know, you really are a great friend." Then he talked all the way to transfiguration, a boyish grin permanently concreted on his face.

After a few weeks, James still didn't have a date, and his choices for an acceptable date were becoming slimmer and slimmer. He'd been asked plenty of times, but no one even came close to even being half the person Lily was, even with her not talking to him. He hadn't told her about becoming an Animagus for Remus with Sirius and Peter. He just didn't have the heart to let down Remus, even if he was taking Lily to the dance, which James was bitter about. But he did remind himself that Remus was better than some slobbery Slytherin, egotistical Ravenclaw, or sheepish Hufflepuff. He knew, Lily, who always had her heart in the right spot, definitely would not allow him to perform such a dangerous and complicated spell and would probably go to all means to stop him. But his silence, had definitely mad her unhappy, which rebounded heavily from her onto him, scaring off many more suitable dates. With three days before the dance, James was making plans to stay in the Gryffindor common room alone, even though he wouldn't be upholding his prefect responsibilities.

"Oh who cares about this stupid prefect business? It's not like I even wanted to be one anyway," he muttered, walking to breakfast alone. Being a prefect was sure causing him a lot of problems.

"James!" he heard a high voice yell. He turned around and saw one of the 5th year Hufflepuffs running toward him with bouncing blond hair.

"Ahh!" he yelled in his head and began to search for hiding places. Too late.

"James," the girl huffed, out of breath.

"Hi Jenna," James said, stiffly, his eyes still darting around for ways to escape.

"Well, I wanted to talk to you about the dance," Jenna started, twirling her hair on her finger. ("Oh God, oh God," James thought.) "And," she continued, "I heard you didn't have a date!"

"Erm... yeah," he grumbled, trying not to sound to foul.

"So... Would you like to go with me?" she asked.

He didn't know what to say, but he needed a date to still be on good terms with McGonagall, who was in charge of the Gryffindor prefects. Unhappily and extremely reluctantly he agreed. Could this dance get any worse? For one thing, he hated dances. For another, he was now going with one of the biggest ditzes in the school. Only half-hearing her, James agreed to meet her at the entrance to the Great Hall 5 minutes before the dance started at 7 o'clock. He couldn't wait until Saturday when this dance was over and things could go back to being normal. (Hey, Lily's peeved at him again like she had been for so many years, so that makes his life normal?)

The only thing James could do to stay remotely happy was lay out quidditch plans for the quidditch captain who was a complete moron this year. Rosie and Anna, the previous co-captains, had graduated the year before and elected this 7th year as the next captain since this was his last year. Could anything get any worse? First this stupid dance, then Lily, and now a horrible quidditch captain...