LILY HATES JAMES…

Or maybe hate is such a strong word… Okay, Lily is not so fond of James.

So, what's this Lily's in love thing?

Uh…

This is a chapter really hard for me to write because I was cramming in almost everything I do right now. But I just can't seem to stay away from the computer and the Internet. Besides, I promised to update every weekend.

Alright, first, remember: FUNNY HOW WE SET QUALIFICATIONS WHILE WE ARE IN THE PROCESS OF FINDING THE PERSON WHO SUPPOSEDLY IS THE BEST FOR US WHEN IN THE BACK OF OUR MINDS WE KNOW THAT THE ONE WE'LL LOVE WILL ALWAYS BE AN EXCEPTION TO THE RULE. – heoamiexy.

*Sigh*

And second, I'd like to thank those who have reviewed my work since I started this little project I have: MKHLFan4Life, numbskul411, Kitty Prydew, CanadianGurl, twizhie, Starrgal, jujubee, buggy-such, lover4Mauraders, Arorra, Clearbrook, kitty, silver10fire, Frankie, KV, SpakleOwl, Musichick, angkat14, trisha, Sugarquill, potterchick, Twisted Rose, the-fly-screen, mutsumi, moonzy, animalluvr75, bertiebottsgeorge, marauder, Hermione101888, A person who majorly wants u 2 update, moonybaby, heavenly182angel, Lulcky719.

Now, remember… JK Rowling owns them all.

Other things you don't recognize happen to be mine.

everybody got to have somebody... everybody got to have someone... -- train, "respect"

someday she'll trust him... and learn how to see him... -- jars of clay, "love song for a savior"

~*~*~*~

CHAPTER FIVE: Lily's In Love…

Professor McGonagall sat comfortably in her chair behind the teacher's table. She had quite a knack on looking lenient and ruthless both at the same time.

She could have let some of the groaning and moaning of some of the Gryffindor students pass; however, when a couple of them from the back of the class started to make fun of the Slytherin standing in front of the room, she lowered her glasses and gave them a warning look.

Of course, those couple of Gryffindors were James and Sirius. And they only stopped giggling like little girls sharing some secret crushes when McGonagall's stares were already burning on them.

"Are you… finished? With your little chat over there?" she said.

"Uh… yes, Professor," replied one of them.

McGonagall took a deep breath then let out a contented sigh. She took a last glance toward them and leaned back on her chair. After which, she motioned for the student standing in front of the class to go on.

Lucius Malfoy was the Slytherin standing in front of the class. He was given the assignment to report on the overview of Animagi by McGonagall a few meetings ago.

Before he proceeded with his presentation, he took the chance of flashing a satisfied smirk toward the direction of James and Sirius, which the two 'comedians' retaliated with a roll of their eyes.

"Animagi," he began his introduction, "or humans who can voluntarily transform themselves into animal forms," he turned to the board where his visual aid was waiting. "First, let me introduce the roots of this fashion of Transfiguration…"

He continued with his oral report, while constantly taking stabbing glances from and at the never-too-tired-to-stop-irritating-the-hell-out-of-him Potter and Black. One day, you're not gonna be smirking back at me, he thought to himself.

Meanwhile, Lily thought that she could use some points for her paper. So, she listened intently to the report, taking down some notes time after time. She wasn't even looking up to stop and glance at the speaker in front. She was practically filling up inches and inches of her parchment – and those were only annotations from an overview. Who knew how much she could come up with when she finally wrote her paper on Animagi?

* * * * *

"Are you ever gonna tell her you like her?" James, not really having the desire to listen to the report, leaned forward and whispered to Vince's ear. Apparently, he thought that he was out of his body again and staring at nowhere. Until he followed his line of vision and concluded that he was staring at the back of Lily.

Again.

Vince turned to him to give him a look saying, 'what are you talking about?'

James rolled his eyes and sighed audibly. "I mean, you can't stare at Lily forever," he said matter-of-factly.

Vince gave him another look. Evidently, James would not shut up until he heard some form of answer. "Lily Evans?" he whispered back, shaking his head. "She's just a friend," he added with a shrug.

James put his elbow on his desk and rested his cheeks on his hand. He made an indescribably lazy, disappointed, frustrated expression, which included an open mouth and dull eyes. "Why is everybody in denial?" he said more to himself than to Vince.

However, as it turned out, McGonagall's hearing range was by far the best anyone could have encountered. "Mr. Potter," she said, and the whole class turned to look at him. "How would you like to spend Quidditch match in detention?"

James suddenly straightened in his seat. She could make him live in detention for all he cared, except when there was a Quidditch game. And especially when his team was the one playing. "I'm sorry, Professor," he apologized.

"This is your last warning," she said, before signaling Lucius to continue with his report.

* * * * *

It was halfway through the discussion when her mind suddenly, almost involuntarily, turned its attention to the owner of the voice she had been listening to.

It was very accidental – unplanned, unpremeditated, and completely unintentional – but Lucius standing assertively in front of everyone else while some of his classmates lark around about him, somehow… somehow made her look at him… different.

Usually, Lily saw him with green hair, spiked hair, a couple of Mohawks here and there, orange, blue, purple, and recently, red complexion. Usually, she saw him being hovered by the two most 'talented' people gifted with the ability to be a pain to everyone. Usually, she saw him angry and annoyed – completely irritated.

However, that day, as he stood there in front of the room, she saw… him.

Everyone would look stupid having green skin. Even Einstein would look ridiculous with spiked hair, she thought. But not everyone could sound as clever and intelligent no matter how much dye they put on him.

She looked at him for a minute. Seemed like she forgot that she was supposed to be taking notes. And just as suddenly, when he turned his eyes on their side of the room, she felt her cheeks go red.

She…

Blushed…

Oh…

My…

* * * * *

For somebody who was athletic, James was panting when he entered the Head Prefects Room. Apparently, he ran down the hall, very hurriedly, from Muggle Studies just to find Lily sitting comfortably in front of the hearth reading a book – relaxed.

He barged in and sat beside her. "Lasagna? Is that what you call it?" he said, out of thin air, in a speed of a-thousand-words-per-second.

Lily turned her eyes sideways at him, her face still toward the book she was holding. She let a few seconds pass before she put it down and faced him. "What are you talking about?" she asked, honestly; her eyes were to the ceiling as if trying to find the answers out of nowhere, where his question actually was from.

But instead of answering her question, James said, "Lasagna, or steak, maybe those pitas and dips, too?"

Now, Lily was confused. She ran her hand over her face hoping after which, another James, who would tell her what was going on, would appear before her.

Finally, he began an explanation that would put light in the now baffled mind of hers. "I just had my Muggle Studies—"

"I didn't know you're taking Muggle Studies this term," Lily interrupted.

James slacked his shoulders and rolled his eyes. "I like to widen my horizon," he said, smiling weakly. "Apparently, it proves that you're not that interested with me to know that."

"True," Lily uttered automatically.

"Anyway," James began, with a wave of a hand to say he was ignoring her comment. "We were talking about Muggle food. I think it'll be quite nice and different if we serve, you know, Muggle food at Yule Ball," he suggested, quite proud of himself for thinking about it. He flashed a wide smile, waiting for a reply – he had no idea what kind of reply, but a reply.

Lily narrowed her eyes at him. But James knew by now what that meant – it wasn't an annoyed narrow; it was an, 'I'm thinking' narrow. Which meant it was a good narrow.

And… I gotta stop analyzing her eye expressions, he thought to himself.

Spending all that time being a nuisance to her, that was in her opinion anyway, he knew by now what she meant with her smirks and glares and narrow eyes…

Lily nodded. "That's a good idea," she agreed, quite delighted with the sense that James was making.

"Oh!" James exclaimed remembering something more. "And the pizza thing looks good in the pictures, too."

If they were in a television series, a buzzer would sound off that very second. "Uh, James," Lily said, cutting him short. "I reckon Muggles don't serve pizza in formal occasions."

"Oh," James replied, smiling shyly.

Lily pursed her lips and gave him a gentle pat on the head – like what you give when your pet had been a good dog. And he pulled back giving her no satisfaction with what she was doing to him.

Lily snorted, realizing that she just made him feel uncomfortable. "By the way," she suddenly said, recalling something. She stood up and walked to the shelves by the corner of the room. "Can you take that down?" she said, pointing at the box in the top shelf, labeled, 'Yule Ball.'

James gave a 'piece of cake' shrug and stood next to her. Then, he took down the box and plunked it down on the floor. He dragged it across the room by the couch while Lily sat back down to where she was before.

The box was basically covered with dust because of the long time that it was stacked among the shelves. James knelt down beside it. Then, by some odd reasons, he tried to blow the dust off the surface of the box.

Lily could not help but laugh. "What are you doing?" she asked.

"I'm getting rid of the dust," James replied. Lily laughed harder. This time, he laughed with her although he actually didn't have any idea what they were laughing about. What he knew was he realized that for the first time, she laughed like she was actually having a good time… and the great thing about it was that he made her laugh like that. "What?" he asked innocently and quite confused. "I've seen it in Muggle movies."

"That only works in the movies, James," Lily said matter-of-factly.

James looked down and recognized that she was right. The box was still covered with dust. "Apparently, it doesn't actually work," he said, timidly.

Lily reached for a duster lying on the coffee table. "Here," she said, handing it to him. "Use this."

James took it and started to dust the box. "What is a duster doing in here?" he asked out of plain curiosity.

"I thought this place could use a little cleaning."

After cleaning the box, James opened it. Inside was some old Christmas decorations, memorabilia, and some old Yule Ball pictures. There were pictures of students dancing, and posing in groups. There were also those pictures of the Head Boy and Head Girl during that year, dancing cheek to cheek.

James started fiddling with the decorations while Lily busied herself looking at the pictures.

A picture of the Head Girl caught Lily's attention. She was dancing with a boy; her long flowing blond hair was swaying softly as she swung to the music. The boy whispered something in her ear and she started to laugh; her blue eyes were almost twinkling with merriment. And as her partner turned her around, her shining white robes oscillated gracefully with her.

James unconsciously fixed his attention on Lily. He smiled enjoying the sight of the expression of admiration and astonishment on her face.

"She looks like an angel," Lily muttered, smiling amusingly.

James took a turn at looking at some of the pictures and he chanced upon the one where the Head Boy and Head Girl were dancing. He distracted Lily's thoughts after examining the picture. "Are we supposed to do this?"

"What?" Lily said like she just recovered from a trance.

James handed her the photo.

"It's a school tradition for the Head Boy and Girl to do the opening dance," she explained, looking at his reluctant expression. "But I'm sure we could definitely get around without the cheek-to-cheek, head on shoulder, too-sweet-I-might-start-to-gag parts." James nodded with approval but something told her that that look was a worried look. "What's wrong?" she asked.

"Nothing," James replied, shaking his head. Suddenly he felt the need to change the subject. "So, you know what I just realized?" he started. "This is probably the most civilized conversation we ever had," he declared like he deserved some sort of a lifetime achievement award – well, in that case anyway, it took him almost half his life for that moment where they talked without one slapping the other and walking out. And added as a bonus, he made her smile – or laugh, heck, it didn't matter to him.

Now, Lily beamed widely in accord.

Then, with this, James smiled broadly like he knew some sort of secret.

"What?" Lily asked, her tone hinted worry.

"Lily's in love…" James uttered in a singsong voice, his tone teasing.

"What?!" Lily exclaimed in retaliation. "James Potter, don't be ridiculous."

James chuckled, evidently amused of the expression on her face. He continued teasing her with that singsong voice. "She is bluuuuushiiiiing…"

"James, shut up," Lily demanded. She grabbed a pillow and threw it hard at James but the smile on her face just grew even wider.

* * * * *

Quidditch field.

It was a given that on every match, students would flock the stands and cheer for their house teams. That day, when the Gryffindors were playing with the Slytherins, was no different.

Students started populating the place as early as they could to get a good view of the match. The announcer, a Ravenclaw student to avoid biases, was talking about the game coming up; even though the crowd was getting louder and louder by the minute and no one really knew if someone was actually listening to him.

Meanwhile, behind the field, the Gryffindor team had just finished their pep talk with James. Even Toni, the most composed person James knew – of course aside from himself – was pacing nervously back and forth – just like the other team members were doing, except for the team captain who was leaning against a wall deep in thought.

Toni's thoughts were disrupted when she heard Kiara's voice that sounded like she was arguing with somebody and that they were coming toward her.

She looked their direction and saw – and heard – Kiara practically dragging Sirius to go with her.

"C'mon, Sirius," Kiara groaned as she held him by the arm. "Don't be such a wussy."

"I'm fine here," Sirius commented. His voice was getting high-pitched by the end of his sentences, it was cracking. "The game's about to begin."

"My point exactly!" Kiara exclaimed as she yanked him to walk faster.

Toni watched them and snorted. Sirius was taller and much more stronger than Kiara and yet, he was letting her drag him like a dog on a leash. She wondered how in heaven's sake did they hook up with each other.

"C'mon!" Kiara said impatiently as she pulled the reluctant Sirius.

When she was certain that they were really coming to her, Toni began pacing around again, pretending not to see them.

"Toni," she heard Kiara say.

Toni stopped walking back and forth and looked up to find Kiara standing with an uncomfortable Sirius beside her. "Hey," she said with a wave.

"So, just wanna wish you good luck," Kiara said with a comforting smile. Then, she turned to Sirius and nudged him by the rib. "Right?"

Sirius rolled his eyes at Kiara that said, 'fine.' "Hey," he turned to Toni. "Well, uh, so—" He paused to swallow. "Good luck with, uh, the game," he finally said. "Hope – hope you win," he stammered a little bit more. After which, he let out a deep breath and faced Kiara. "I'm getting back," he said to her. With that he spun his heels and readied to go only to…

"Hey, Sirius!" Toni called him.

He turned around and said, "Yeah?" trying to sound as casual as possible.

Then Toni flashed a sweet smile at him. "Thanks," she said.

* * * * *

Remus arrived at the Gryffindor bleachers to watch the game. However, instead of looking for a seat or a spot to stand on – since the place was so crowded already – he wandered his eyes around the bleachers and tried to catch sight of a girl with that fiery red hair.

When he spotted her, he went to walk toward her. "Hey, Lily," he greeted, tapping her by the shoulder.

Lily looked up and smiled at him. "Hi, Remus." She budged a little to make room for him to sit on when the announcer declared that the game was about to start.

Everybody cheered excitedly.

* * * * *

The Quaffle was tossed into the air. To the frustration of the Gryffindor team, Lucius, a Chaser for Slytherin, was the one who was able to get it.

"You suck, Malfoy!" James hollered, as he flew himself up the field, to a height where he felt to be the best position to locate the Snitch.

Lucius sped fast against his opponents and passed the Quaffle to a fellow teammate.

By the end of an hour, the Slytherin team scored thirty and Gryffindors, twenty. The next thirty minutes, the position reversed as the Gryffindors scored two more goals making them ahead of the game by ten points.

During those times, the Snitch was nowhere to be found. That was why, because of boredom and to make a dupe out of the Slytherin Seeker, James zoomed down and up again, pretending to have spotted the Snitch. To his delight, the opponent's Seeker rocketed behind him, following his every turn. It was when he started doing flips with his broom and laughing so hard he almost couldn't breathe that his Slytherin counterpart stopped tailing him and flashed him an angry glare.

"Okay, now let's do a double!" he tried to yell to the Slytherin Seeker – for he was laughing so hard – as he flipped twice with his broom.

After another half an hour, the Slytherins were ahead by twenty points. James was getting frustrated. He was searching around for the Snitch bored to his mind, while his team was struggling to get ahead of the game.

He was flying his broom in circles when he saw something flickering at the corner of his eye.

The Snitch.

He sped fast to the little golden ball while his opponent was following him. They sped around the field, as the other players were still passing Quaffle and beating Bludgers.

It all happened so quickly.

The Seekers were already a few feet above the ground and James was leading.

A Bludger was going to hit Toni when their Beater flew fast and hammered the violent ball away from her.

The Bludger dashed away and went straight to hit Lucius on the arm.

He fell down.

James caught the Snitch.

Gryffindors won.

The game ended.

* * * * *

From the bleachers, Lily gasped.

Nobody would actually notice except for someone who was watching her closely.

Malfoy fell down after being hit by a Bludger… and she gasped. Remus noticed the worry in her eyes. Remus could not help but notice the worry in her eyes.

Suddenly… an eventual realization came over him.

~*~*~*~

will there come a time for me to be more to you... -- sixpence none the richer, "easy to ignore"

and all she wants is just a little piece of this dream... is that too much to ask... -- 3 doors down, "be like that"

Okay, I'm giving you time to hate me because, if you haven't noticed yet, Lily likes some person named *trying to get out of the grip of someone strangling me*

*coughs*

Alright, I won't even say it.

Just review. :)