A/N: I just want to say thanks a lot to my reviewers, especially Snoopy511 (Emily) and Sarcasm Queen (Stef)! You guys review every chapter. I hope everyone likes this one. I'll make it as interesting as I can. I'm sorry if the last one was slightly confusing, but I was trying to write it as fast as I can. Hopefully this one won't be.
*
"You don't want to be late for Herbology, do you?" said Pooja, annoyed.
"I'm coming, hang on. I need to get my bag. Now where did my DADA book go?" Suzanne said with her hands on her hips.
"Oh, come on! We're not even going to get any breakfast at this rate!" Lily yelled.
"It's okay, you guys can go ahead. I'm not hungry," Suzanne said, but at that very moment, a loud grumble echoed from her stomach.
"Yeah, right, you're going to miss all the toast, eggs, pumpkin juice, and –" Sammy began, but Suzanne cut her off.
"I found it! Okay, we can go now!" she said happily. The other grinned at one another behind her back, but Lily's faded quickly when she thought of the reputation she had to keep up.
Back in the first year boys' dorm, something slightly similar was taking place.
*
"James, wake up! We're going to miss our first Herbology class! We're already too late for breakfast; at least don't let us get detention in our first week! Come on, James, wake up!" yelled Remus.
"Please, Mum, just let me sleep for five more minutes," James muttered groggily into his pillow.
"I'm not your mother! Now get up and be sensible!" Remus yelled again.
"Let's just leave for breakfast without him. No wait, correction: let's leave for our first period class without him. We're too late for breakfast now," Peter said.
"Hang on, Pete. Hey, Remus, why don't we uh take up the opportunity to polish off our fire charms? Or do you think the water spout works better in situations like this?" Sirius said, grinning.
"No, don't do that! You'll get him all wet, and, boy, will he be mad when he wakes up!" squeaked Peter, half-amused and half-worried.
"Oh, I say water would work," Remus replied, ignoring Peter. "Are you ready? Then let's do it on the count of three: 1… 2… 3! Hydrito exploitus!" The last two words were yelled together.
A shower of water poured itself onto the still body that lay on the bed. In a moment, James sat bolt upright spluttering.
"Hey, what was that for? You woke me up from a very good dream!" James coughed.
"We want to make it down at least for lunch! I'm hungry!" Sirius scowled.
"You're always hungry –" James began.
"What were you dreaming about, anyway?" asked Peter curiously.
"Oh, I was just dreaming about how – nothing, I wasn't dreaming…" James said, trying to cover up what he was about to say.
"Yeah, right, you never dream… especially about Lily Evans!" Sirius exclaimed grinning.
"Lily Evans, why would I dream about her of all people? What reason would I have to do such a thing?" James said factually.
"Oh, maybe because you were talking in your sleep," Sirius said.
"You know, I never knew you really liked her, I thought you wanted a good prank to pull," Remus chimed in.
"What else would you dream about, anyway?" Peter added eager to do his bit.
"I do not talk in my sleep, and I would never like Lily! Uh, has anyone seen my robes?" James asked, trying to change the subject.
"Avoiding the topic…"
*
"Now, be careful, class, these specimens are very rare. We are most fortunate to have such beautiful Venomous Lilies in our greenhouses," said Professor Chickpea.
"Yeah, really lucky, we've got one in our class too," James, whispered to his friends who grinned.
"I heard that, Potter," Lily said from behind him. James looked at her and grinned. It didn't work. Not only was Lily glaring at him, but the professor was too.
"Mr. Potter, please get back to work! Chit-chatting will only help you fail Herbology!" she said.
"But I –" he tried, but Professor Chickpea wouldn't hear of any excuses. James turned around to glare at Lily, but this time she was simply smiling at him.
"Lils, why'd you do that? You got him in trouble!" Suzanne whispered to her.
"What's wrong with that?" Lily asked puzzled.
"You're supposed to like him! At least pretend, Lily, or else our whole plan will go down the drain…" Sammy groaned.
"I'm not sure whether this is going to work or not. I mean, he's acting pretty normal today," Pooja said unsurely.
"Guys almost always act like that. Most guys have a split personality. One minute they're your best friend, the next your archenemy," Suzanne explained. She seemed to know a lot about boys.
"I'm experienced," she added simply.
"Uh huh, whatever you say."
At the next pot of lilies, the four boys were also whispering together.
"You're supposed to be nice! I know it's hard, but you have to try at the very least. What happened to the old Potter charm? It used to get down all the girls at Elementary," Sirius said, trying his best to coax James into agreeing, which wasn't all that easy.
"It only works on people I want it to work on. Lily isn't one of those people," James said, turning around to glare at her again.
"Oh, come on James, you're going to ruin everything if you act like this. You're the only one who can pull off something like this," Remus said.
"Please stick to the plan, James. I'm sure she likes you, just a little bit. All you have to do is make her like you some more. It won't be that hard," Peter said, as he turned around to look at her. As Lily saw them looking at her, she glared at them again. "Then again, it could be." Peter added in a timid whisper.
"Oh, alright, I'll try. But, it's going to be hard, and you guys are going to have to help me… a lot," James said, giving in sadly.
"Don't worry, we'll give you all the help we can," Sirius said, winking at him again.
"Class is dismissed! Please put your pots in their respective places and remove your safety attire!" Professor Chickpea said trying to talk over the racket the students were causing in the mad rush to leave.
"What do we have now?" Pooja asked as she tidied up her hair. It had fallen out of place as she tried to exit, and it looked dreadful.
"Let me check… We have Charms! Yay, I love charms!" Lily said excitedly.
"Yeah, only because you're good at it," said a voice behind her.
"What, oh, it's you Pot – uh, James," she said, correcting herself. She had gotten so used to calling him Potter within the last few days that it was hard for her to correct the habit. It does not do well for friends to call one another by their last names.
"Yeah, it's me!" he said brightly. Apparently, he hadn't noticed her slip up. "So, what're you doing, today?" he asked.
"Well, I'm going to class right now…" Lily said. What else would she be doing?
"Oh, I meant what're you going to do this afternoon? We have Friday afternoons free, you know," James said.
"I don't know. I'll probably start my homework… we have a lot for Transfiguration. Ugh, I hate Transfiguration!" she said, more to herself rather than to him.
"How can you hate it? It's so simple! Just a little flick of your wand, and voila, you have a needle in place of a matchstick. There's nothing to it, really," James said, smiling.
Lily, however, thought he was trying to show off again, and snapped back. "Well, yeah, it's the perfect chance for you to show off, isn't it? At least we have Charms next class…," she muttered.
"We do? Now Charms is what I call boring," James groaned. They had all started walking down, and neither Lily nor James noticed the fact that the other six were lagging behind, whispering, and pointing at the 'couple'.
"How can you hate Charms?" Lily nearly yelled, ecstatic.
"Easy… you just do."
"But it's so… so… let me put it this way. I guess Charms come to me just as Transfiguration comes to you. I just flick my wand, mutter the words, and the feather flies up in the air. You flick your wand, and the match turns into a needle. I guess we're just different," Lily said, thoughtfully.
"Yeah, I guess you're right," James agreed. They were quiet for a while, neither noticing what to say. In a few minutes, however, James had an idea.
"Hey, you think, you think we could help each other out?" James asked.
"Help each other out, how do you suppose we do a thing like that?" Lily asked, puzzled.
"You help me with my Charms, and I'll help you with your Transfiguration. It's that simple, Lils" he said happily.
"Please don't call me that. But, anyway, I guess, okay, I'll try it out. I'm not sure if it'll work, but I guess I'll try," she said, giving in.
"Come on, you two, or we'll be late for Charms. You wouldn't want that, would you, Lils?" asked Sammy.
"What, what time is it? 10:30, oh no, hurry up or we'll be late!" Lily yelled, as she ran to the classroom, dragging James along by the arm.
"Didn't I just say that?" Sammy asked. But no one heard her, because they were all trying to catch up with the James and Lily.
"What's gotten into those two? They're suddenly the best of friends! What happened to us, eh Remus?" asked Sirius.
"I seriously don't know… Come on, maybe we'll find out next class. We have History of Magic, so we can pass notes like we did yesterday," Remus said.
The Charms class was one of the strangest yet. Amazingly, Lily was using her talent at Charms to help out James, instead of showing them off in front of him. There is probably no need to add that James was hopeless at it.
"Oh, very good, Miss Evans. I see you are helping out your classmate Mr. Potter. Mr. Potter, do see that you take her advice seriously, for she is our star-student," Professor Fluorite, their Charms professor, said. Turning around, he spotted trouble at the table where Peter and Suzanne were working as partners.
"Mr. Pettigrew, do try and do the charms right! Miss Urban, please help out your partner," the professor said. That Charms class didn't seem to be going well for him anymore than it was for James.
"James, please, watch carefully so you'll get it right for a change! Now, first, hold your wand by the end, like so. No, you're doing it all wrong. Keep your wrist nice and loose, it should be able to, I don't know, your wand should be able to slide up and down through your fingers without falling. Here, now watch carefully… Wingardium Leviosa! See, it worked for me. Just swish your wand lightly through the air, and flick it slowly at the feather. That's all there is to it. Okay, now you try…" Lily said. She was on the verge of losing her temper, and she wasn't to keen on doing such a thing. Especially due to what came to her memory when she thought of the last time she ever lost it…
-|flashback|-
"Liliane, what have you done with my barrette?" Petunia shouted in her ear.
"What… your barrette hasn't seen me… I mean I haven't seen your barrette," Lily said. She had been fast asleep, and it was usually a daily routine for Petunia to wake her up. Usually, however, this was on a school day so Lily didn't mind. Sundays, however, were different.
"Very funny… guilty consciences are always inarticulate! Now give me my barrette, Liliane! I'm waiting!" Petunia fumed.
"For the last time, I haven't taken your damn barrette! Jeez, and it's a Sunday! Petunia, what were you thinking to wake me up at seven forty on a Sunday?" Lily yelled back.
"Shut it, you! I want my barrette!" she stamped her foot on the ground as she said this. (In fact, it was so loud that Mrs. Evans, who was downstairs, screamed and produced a tinkling sound, as though she had dropped Mr. Evans' cup of coffee.) "Now give it to me before I call Mother!"
"Ugh, I told you. I haven't done anything to it! Why would I even want to touch your barrette?" Lily said. This didn't seem to help; if anything, it just made Petunia even more annoyed.
"You little brat, just get up and help me find it! I know a lie when I hear one, and I've been hearing them for the past five minutes! You're nothing but a good-for-nothing little weasel, that's what you are! A weasel, a stinky old weasel that doesn't know left from right. You don't even know how to talk politely to your older sister! And you call yourself a member of the Evans family… you give our family a bad name! You're a disgrace to society!" Petunia screeched back. It was nothing unusual for Petunia to go a little overboard when criticizing Lily, but this time, Lily felt that she had gone too far.
"How dare you call me a 'disgrace'? If anyone's a disgrace, it's you! And you say that I have been lying? You have! If I say I haven't taken your stupid barrette, I haven't! What's the big deal if it's lost anyway? It's just a stupid hair accessory… it's not important! You probably just misplaced it; that's a very likely thing to happen with the incurable disease you inherited from your creator!" Lily snapped.
"Oh yeah, what's that?" Petunia snapped back.
"Stupidity… isn't that obvious! Now get the hell out of my room before I make you!" Lily yelled.
"MOTHER, Liliane called me stupid!" Petunia screeched.
"Lily, dear, don't lose your temper," came her mother's sweet voice from downstairs. She never got worked up about their arguments. Like many other things, they were only part of the routine in the Evans household.
-|end of flashback|-
"Okay… uh, swish, and flick… um Wingardium Leviosa! Hey, it didn't work! Your stupid rules made it disappear again! Oh, you're no good at teaching, Lily!" James said. Though he was only joking, Lily was so worked up that she didn't catch the sarcasm, and as much as she had tried to keep it in, she snapped.
"Fine then, if you don't want me to teach you, I won't! I was only helping you because you wanted me to do so! This deal is over, Potter!"
"Lily, I was only –" James began.
"I know you were trying, but it just isn't working! You're hopeless!" Lily said, slowly calming down.
"I'm not hopeless; you're the one who can't teach!" It was now James' turn to yell at her.
"Just leave me alone Potter! I don't need to hear insults from you!"
"Is that so? Well, then why don't you go? I was here first!"
"Says who?"
"I say so!"
"Who wants to listen to what the 'famous Mr. Potter' says?"
"Everyone in this damn school, that's who! And I'm surprised you don't want to, since you're the one who's so terrible at Transfiguration! You practically came running to me for help!" James said. Both of them knew it was a lie, since James was the one who came up with idea, but nevertheless Lily bit her lip and started to think.
If I call this deal off, then I won't get the help I need. But who wants help from James Potter? I do… well, actually, I don't want to get help from him, but I need it if I'm going to pass the Transfiguration exam. Everything else is perfectly fine…
"Well, okay, I'm sorry James. I'll give it one more try. But if you blow off these Charms any more, I'm through," Lily gave in.
"I don't need your help. Remus is the best at Charms anyway. I don't know why I asked you. Probably because you're so useless at Transfiguration," James said, before stalking off towards where Peter was sitting, having been abandoned by Suzanne.
The rest of the class had been aware of their heated argument, but they had grown used to acting indifferent towards them. The first argument, which had grown out of who was the bigger show-off during DADA, had only ended up including the whole class when Suzanne and Sammy tried to break them apart. After that, the Gryffindors had decided to leave the two to their own devices.
"James, please, I'm sorry, just please help me in Transfiguration. I – I need your help. I, I want it. Please help me; you're the only one that can help me enough that I can pass the Transfiguration Exam. Please help me. I said I'm sorry," she said, sadly.
James was usually good at ignoring girls, unless they were 'totally hot' in his opinion. However, though Lily didn't come under this category, he still couldn't help but notice how downcast she looked, as though he had truly offended her. He noticed how her eyes had turned this dark emerald color, as though they were close to tears, and how her cheeks were flushed.
Wait a minute. This is Lily here. Snap out of it, James old boy! You can't fall for her, at least not yet. You have to get to fall for you, or you're going to be the laughingstock of the Gryffindor First Years… But what if I give it a try? No, I can't do that. You have a prank to pull, remember. Why can't we just ditch it? Forget it, James. You can't like her and dump her at the same time. You have some money on the line.
"James, what's up?" Sirius said, poking him in the back of the head.
"Huh, what happened?" James asked, coming out of his trance. He looked back at the place where Lily had been standing seconds ago, and found that there was nothing there. In fact, no one was even in the classroom except for his friends.
"You and Evans were arguing over your Charms, and she tried to apologize, and you ignored her, but then all of a sudden you were staring at her with a, a queer look on your face," Peter said in a rush.
"I, I was?" James asked, as though he didn't know.
"No, it wasn't a queer look. I'd recognize it anywhere. It's the same look you had when you were staring at her in Diagon Alley, and when you were staring at Lorena Martine who went to the same elementary as we did. Do you remember her?" Sirius said a sly look on his face.
"Yeah, I remember her. But that has nothing to do with this. I don't like Lily! Why do you keep saying I do?" James replied furiously.
"Oh, never mind him James. He's just upset that Sammy was criticizing him the whole time. They were partners…" Remus said.
"She was not; she was only jealous of my amazing skill at Charms. At least I wasn't stuck with Pooja. I wonder why Professor Fluorite paired us four up with those devil-incarnates. Sheer torture… we don't deserve it," Sirius said.
"Um, to change the subject, does anyone else think that we should be in DADA now?" James asked. He didn't want to talk about Lily and her friends any more than he had to.
"We have lunch first. Come on, let's go," Remus said. He had memorized the schedule on the first day.
"Yes, teacher," Sirius said, grinning.
The four talked as they walked on their way to lunch. Or rather, Sirius and Remus talked, James pretended to listen, and Peter was running trying to keep up with them. He didn't realize that Sirius had put the Leg-Locker Curse on him, just for fun. When he was confronted by Professor McGonagall, their strict Transfiguration professor, (A/N: I know most of you know this already, but I'm still going to write stuff like this out. Sorry if it bugs you) he said he was only practicing his hexes.
"Lily, you know you're supposed to get along," Sammy said as they sat down at the Gryffindor table. They had come in rather late, since they had spent a few minutes talking to one of the other Gryffindor girls, a girl by the name of Linda Nadir. She had gone on and on to Lily on how lucky, she had been to have James as a partner, and the four of them had spent the same amount of time trying to convince her that it was exactly the opposite case.
"I know, and I was trying my hardest, but it just didn't work. It's not my fault that he's a jerk. But I really was sorry when I apologized. Besides, I really do need help in Transfiguration," Lily said.
"Well, I guess you tried, and that's what counts. But, does anyone else think that this joke doesn't seem to be going anywhere? As soon as you two try and get along, you suddenly start fighting again. I don't get it. Maybe we should just forget about it. Or else, we can think of something else to do in the meantime," Pooja said. She was really good at thinking things out.
"Well, what'll we do?" asked Suzanne. Unlike Pooja, she was more of a follower and copier rather than a leader.
"I don't know. What do you want to do, Lily?" Sammy asked, stumped.
"Hmm… I don't know. Give me a while, and I'll come up with something soon enough," she said. She was going to think of something even if it was the last thing, she did. The longer she could keep from being nice to James, the better.
"Hey, look, here they come now. Really, you'd think they'd be nice at least to their own friends. Look at what they've done to Peter!" Pooja said, almost sympathetically.
"That guy deserves to be hexed. I would have done the same, but Professor Fluorite was watching us almost the whole time. The poor idiot can't even tell one side of his wand from the other!" Suzanne said. "Partnering him once a week is just once a week too much."
"I wonder what the other three are talking about. They seem to be deep in thought. Or, at least Remus is. Mind you, he always looks like he's thinking. Sirius is pretty much just a joker who hurls insults every which way, and Peter's this nosy little git who isn't all that smart," Lily said, observing.
"What about James? What do you think of him?" asked Sammy.
"I don't really know. He's, well, he's a jerk with a big ego; he doesn't acknowledge other people's strengths, and sucks up to McGonagall as much as he can. He is kind of smart, though. But then, there is something good in everyone," Lily said.
"You do realize that you've said more about him than the other three, don't you?" Suzanne said, smiling.
"What difference does it make? The only reason I know more about him than the others is because he shows-off so much. Can we stop talking about them?" Lily said. She was getting sick of James and his gang. Much to her dismay, when they finally reached the Gryffindor table (they had finally freed Peter of his burden and had been busy running around as he tried to chase them), James took no time at all in sitting right next to her.
"Hey Lils, do you want to practice during lunch?" James asked brightly.
"Don't call me Lils!" Lily exclaimed. Keep your temper, girl.
"Oh, sorry Lily, I thought you liked being called by your nickname. Well, do you want to practice?" he asked again.
"Practice what?" Lily asked. I wouldn't mind practicing Transfiguration, but I don't want to get into another fight.
"Transfiguration… you've already done your bit by helping me out. We have DADA next, so we could practice in the History of Magic classroom across the hallway. It'll be empty now since we don't have any classes after Defense. Friday afternoons are free, don't you remember? I'll meet you there after lunch," he said. Being nice is tough, but I think I rather like it. It's much better than arguing, anyway.
"Okay, if you say so. Um, James, can I ask you something?" Lily asked.
"You just have. But go ahead," he replied softly.
"Nothing, don't mind me."
"Well, okay then… I'll meet you there."
Things were quiet for a while, but in a few minutes, James and his friends got up, having finished. Lily hadn't eaten; she had only picked at her food, and her friends were starting to get worried about her.
"Lily, what's wrong?" Suzanne asked worriedly.
"Yeah, you've been quiet ever since those four got over here. Is something bugging you?" Pooja asked.
"Come on, Lils. You can tell us. We're your friends," Sammy put in.
Lily sighed, and decided that it would be best to give in to their requests. "Nothing's wrong guys. Really, if something were wrong, I'd tell you. I'm just… unsure, that's all," Lily explained.
"Unsure… what are you unsure about?" asked Sammy, who was starting to get worried for her friend.
"I'm not sure about James, that's what. I know this sounds weird; it does to me too. You see, I've only known him for a week, and I'm already like his worst enemy. That is, I am until he starts acting perfectly nice again like he was on the train and talks to me as though he's known me for ages," Lily said. She was talking more to herself than to her friends, as though she was trying to explain her confusion to herself.
"Gee, Lily, I wish you would have told us sooner. Then maybe we wouldn't have forced you to like him. I'm sorry," Pooja said softly in an apologetic tone.
"It is okay, Pooja. I'm probably going to have to, anyway, what with one thing and another.
They were all silent for a while as they finished the rest of their food. Soon, Suzanne spoke up.
"Lils, don't you have to meet him for something? He's helping you with your Transfiguration, isn't he?" Suzanne said suddenly.
"Oh no, I nearly forgot! I've got to run. Well, I'll see you guys at Defense!" Lily said as she whipped up her bags and ran out of the Great Hall.
"She certainly does want to get good grades in McGonagall's class, doesn't she?" asked Sammy.
"Yeah, you're right. Hey, I've got an idea of a prank we could pull! And it could be on two people at once, too!" Suzanne said excitedly, an evil grin on her face.
"What is it, Suzanne?" Sammy asked.
"Come with me to the Common Room. We can talk there," she replied shortly. "I have some really great plans."
"I wonder what she's planning?" Sammy whispered to the confused Pooja as they followed Suzanne down the hall. They were in for a surprise.
*
A/N: I hope you liked this chapter. Sorry it went kind of slow, but I was trying to get the personalities of all of the different characters to kind of fall in place, as well as allow the plot to build up. It may look as though it's going to end up as a romance, but I'm trying to steer it as far away from that as possible. You may think I'm being stupid by saying this, but to tell you the truth I have no clue as to where this story is going… I just write as things come to me… I don't really plan ahead much. I'm not really organized. Well, thanks for reading.