A/n; Hoorah! Wasn't that a fun detention? I wouldn't mind having a detention with James Potter… but of course Lily did =) Thanks for all of your reviews, keep them coming!

Just a few things I'd like to comment on:

OMG: First of all, TEN REVIEWS IN TWO DAYS IS JUST… AMAZING! I checked my reviews and I thought I'd get about two, lol, and I shrieked when I saw it was like, ten! So that's good! I encourage that! :)

And to Sorrow Personified: A lot of people believe in God so it wouldn't be an exception at Hogwarts just because it's a magical school. Remember that a lot of wizards come from muggle families, and they wouldn't just abandon their values because they're learning magic. Also, by the age fourteen, the only thing people seemed to be obsessed with is the opposite sex. I should know; I am fourteen. Not to mention the fact that some girls, by the time they're fourteen, have already matured almost into an adult. And I agree with you when I say that I hate cliché stories where Lily and James fall in love at first sight: and I'm here to say that this isn't going to be a cliché story and he did not fall in love with Lily. May I repeat this: HE DID NOT FALL IN LOVE WITH LILY :) He's simply noticing her. And thanks for that bit about Olive; I've wanted to know about that for a while!

Updated Author's Note: 9-24-02

Also to Sorrow Personified, strangely enough, (hmm… I think I should start responding to reviews, what do you think?) Um, thanks for that link to that story! I happen to love the Ultimate Harry Potter Cliché Catalogue!!!!!!!!!! GO READ IT!!!!!!!! It's bloody hilarious. And I realize that most of the Lily/James stories are ridiculously cliché, but I assure you mine is not going to end in a pleasant way. But, as you know, if you are a Harry Potter rabid fan like me, you know Lily and James do not meet a fortunate ending to their lives.

_ _ _ _ _ _ _ _ _ _ _ _ _ _ _

Lily tossed to the other side of the bed for the fiftieth time that night; she could not go to sleep. Arabella, at one point, even got up and told her stop rustling the covers because she couldn't go to sleep either.

Hot and bothered, Lily finally threw off her covers, letting the night air cool her down. She looked over at the Muggle clock she brought with her to Hogwarts. The ticking of it soothed her and usually helped her sleep, but not tonight. Lily didn't think she'd ever sleep again. She was doomed to be haunted by James Potter's eyes for the rest of her life.

Stupid bugger, who's he think he is? she thought irritably.

It was their fourth year at Hogwarts. Four years she'd known him and they'd gotten along horribly, but now – now there was that detention to put on top of all of that. And Lily wasn't quite sure what happened there. It scared her out of her wits; everything had changed so much since first year and that was the only thing she depended on that stayed the same: her and James's relationship.

Sabrina, Misty and Arabella had been her friends through thick and thin since first year. Boyfriends had come and gone, pranks had been successful and unsuccessful. But Sabrina seemed more distant than the others; always off with older students and staying out late. Change was always welcomed in, but Lily hoped it didn't stay for an extended visit.

Bearing this in mind, Lily slowly drifted off into an uneasy sleep…

--

James sat up in his bed, unable to handle closing his eyes and seeing nothing but Lily and her gorgeous green eyes any longer.

"Sirius!" He hissed into the dark room.

"Hmm? What?" Sirius muttered sleepily.

"I can't sleep," James replied.

Sirius yawned loudly. "That's great, James… go to sleep."

"I can't, Si," James whined.

Sirius said up in his bed, stretching and rubbing his eyes. "Is there something really bothering you, or can it wait? Sirius is very tired right now, and he would like to get some sleep. Unlike a certain friend of his."

"No, Sirius, it can't wait. It really can't," James said in an anguished sort of voice.

"Come on, out with it, it's 3 A.M.!" Sirius said in a shocked voice, looking at the clock.

James ran a hand through his hair, shaking his head even though Sirius couldn't see him. "All right. You know how I had detention with Evans tonight, right?"

"Yeah," Sirius said tiredly.

"Something happened, Si, something huge. I mean, this realization hit me right during the middle of detention when I looked up from scrubbing the desks: Lily Evans was standing right in front of me and –" James broke off, too embarrassed to admit further.

"And?" Sirius pushed, suddenly wide-awake. James thought he could almost see his eyes shining in anticipation.

"She looked like a goddess. A bloody goddess," he groaned, burying his face in his hands.

Sirius grinned triumphantly in the dark. "I knew it."

"You knew what?"

"I knew you liked her," Sirius exclaimed, beside himself.

"Argh! I do not like her! She's just the most bloody gorgeous girl in school!" James said, realizing too late that didn't make much sense. It was true, however, that James really hated Lily and he hoped it was mutual.

"That doesn't make any sense, James," Sirius informed him.

"It's true! I mean, she's pretty but I'd never date her," James said.

Sirius scratched his head. "Right…"

James sighed. "Never mind, Sirius."

"Ok," Sirius chirped, "but I honestly think you like her."

"Why would I? She's a spoiled brat!" James exclaimed.

"Because! Like you said, she's gorgeous and she's smart and she's the only one in this entire school who can match wits with you, James… and you know that," Sirius said quietly.

James sighed in a strangled, distressed sort of way. "Sirius, I can't like her. I just can't! It'd defy all my morals or something!"

"Fine, James. It's your life and it's your business but I think you are making the biggest mistake of your life," Sirius said in a resigned, tired tone. He was asleep before his head hit the pillow.

Unfortunately for James, when he rolled over and tried to sleep again, he was even more confused than he had been before.

_ _ _ _ _ _ _ _ _ _ _ _ _ _

"So come on, Lily, we've been waiting patiently all through breakfast and you've said nothing about last night!" Misty squealed, nearly dying in anticipation. Sabrina and Arabella were not far behind in their excitement, either.

Lily was dead tired but still managed a smile over her sleepy features. "Oh, I don't know… you guys really want to know?"

"YES!" All three of them yelled, making several people turn around and stare at them.

"Well, I went to detention last night with Potter –"

"Yes, yes we've heard that. Get to the details," Arabella said impatiently.

"Well – then we cleaned the desks and blackboards and he insulted me so I dumped an entire bucket of soapsuds on his head and he chased me around and Professor Hughes came in and told us off," Lily said. She 'forgot' to tell them about the other incident that happened, and it was all for the better anyway.

"Oh, awesome!" Sabrina beamed.

"I wish I could've gotten a picture," Arabella said, grinning as well.

"You mean one of those moving ones?" Lily asked excitedly.

"Oh come on, that's not so great. Big whoop, moving pictures," Sabrina said rolling her eyes, "what fascinates me is how you Muggles use those non-moving pictures!"

"Now those are boring," Lily said laughing.

"Yes but how do they work? I mean you just snap the –" She stopped abruptly.

"What?" Lily asked, noting Sabrina's sudden mood adjustment.

"Hey guys!" Misty and Arabella chirped.

"Hey," James, Remus and Sirius chorused, sitting down.

"What do you guys want?" Lily asked rudely. She didn't make eye contact with James - if she had, she would have noticed he was doing the same.

"Nothing! We just want to sit here!" Sirius said defensively.

"Sorry about Lily, she's just telling us about detention last night," Sabrina said.

James looked up suddenly and looked at Lily. Lily looked back with her eyebrows slightly raised.

"Yes, so anyway, that was about it. Nothing exciting," Lily said pointedly looking in James' direction.

James heaved a huge sigh of relief; Sirius shot him a confused look.

"Something wrong, Sirius?" Sabrina cooed.

"Nope! Nothing! Everything is A-OK!" Sirius said with a forced smile on his face.

James, we've got to put you through some psychoanalysis or something, he thought wryly.

"Students! Students!" Professor McGonagall called suddenly from the teacher's table.

All eyes turned towards the interruption. Professor McGonagall looked out of breath and pink-cheeked, which was unusual in itself, but not as much as the fact that she was standing on her chair.

"What's that old badger want now?" James muttered.

"Students, I have exciting news!" She said happily.

"You and Professor Hughes are finally getting married! Congratulations, Professor!" Sirius said loudly, grinning.

The entire hall burst out laughing; Sirius, like James, was charming and witty and always knew how to twist around a teacher's word. It was a rare talent, and took bravery to take on a teacher at Hogwarts.

"Mr. Black, hold your comments," Professor McGonagall said with a steely glint in her eyes.

Sirius grinned wider and saluted.

"Anyway," she continued in a more subdued manner, "this is top secret information and I'll need one student to go down to Professor Dumbledore's office for further instructions."

Remus scowled as she stepped off her chair and students, looking at one another in confusion and chattering away like monkeys.

"If she wanted us to know what the news was, why'd she bloody go away? And if it's top-secret, why do we all know?" he asked.

The group gave a laugh.

"And this message will self-destruct in five seconds," Lily said smiling.

"Wonder who this student is?" James asked.

"Probably you, Potter. It's probably a suicide mission into the Forbidden Forrest and they're happy because they're finally getting rid of you," Lily said innocently, grinning in her best angelic way.

"Haha. I'm so unbelievably amused," James muttered sarcastically.

"It's probably some smarty-pants Hufflepuff," Misty said scornfully.

"Hey wait! Professor McGonagall's coming over here!" Arabella squeaked, looking slightly panicked.

All of them watched as Professor McGonagall gestured to Lily. Lily looked bewildered and slightly panicked as well. Shooting a look at Arabella, Misty and Sabrina, she went over to where Professor McGonagall was standing.

"Yes Professor?" Lily asked nervously.

"Lily! Lily Evans, walk with me," she said in a businesslike tone. Lily walked with her, feeling stupid and wondering what one of her friends would say if they'd heard Professor McGonagall say 'walk with me.'

"What's this about, Professor?" Lily inquired, guessing they were walking to Professor Dumbledore's office.

"It's a strange series of events, actually, Lily, and we need a very mature student to handle this," Professor McGonagall said ominously. Lily almost laughed out loud when she saw her professor's eyes bugging out, making them larger when Lily looked at them through her spectacles.

"Yes?" Lily asked, trying to conceal her sniggers.

"Two new students arrived this morning: Jaden Lethesine and Sierra Lethesine. Their parents were purebloods but they were caught in a bad circle of friends, friends of the Dark Lord and, well, they perished when a group of Deatheaters set fire to their house," Professor McGonagall said solemnly.

Lily gasped. "That's awful!"

"Tragic, Miss Evans. So, I'd like you to escort Sierra to the girl's dormitories and get her used to her surroundings. Try not to bring up the death of her parent's; it's a very delicate process of healing," she said before telling the stone gargoyle outside of Dumbledore's office the password.

The two stepped inside Professor Dumbledore's office to see young Professor Dumbledore sitting at his desk, looking pensive, and two dark-haired teenagers sitting casually in the high-backed chairs facing Dumbledore's desk.

"Ah, Professor McGonagall," Professor Dumbledore nodded, "Lily."

"'Lo Professor," Lily said quietly.

"Miss Evans, I trust Professor McGonagall has explained to you the circumstances?" Professor Dumbledore asked severely.

"Yes sir," Lily replied.

"Lily, this is Jaden and that's Sierra. This is Lily Evans, one of your new classmates," Professor McGonagall said to them.

Jaden and Sierra turned around to look at Lily. Lily gasped: they were practically identical! Jaden and Sierra both had pale skin without any trace of a blemish on it, eerie violet colored eyes and curly black hair.

Lily got a shudder down her spine when her and Jaden's eyes met. He seemed so… mysterious. And both of them had somewhat of a vampire's quality to them.

"Pleasure to meet the both of you!" Lily said, still quite uncertain of how to approach them.

Sierra smiled but Jaden nodded in a cold, disregarding sort of way.

"Any particular reason why they're both in Gryffindor, Professor?" Lily asked Professor Dumbledore tentatively.

Professor Dumbledore looked pensive. "Sierra was sorted into Gryffindor; Jaden has been sorted into Ravenclaw."

Lily nodded. The matter of Sorting no longer an issue in her mind.

"I will see to it that Jaden gets to Ravenclaw," Professor McGonagall said briskly. "Lily, you may leave now."

Lily nodded and Sierra got up gracefully from her chair, said farewell to her brother and followed Lily out of the office.

"I hope you don't find Jaden too strange," Sierra said immediately, looking apologetic.

Lily looked at Sierra with confusion. "What do you mean?"

Sierra hit the toe of her black platform boots on the carpet as they walked back to Gryffindor. "Well, what I mean is that – well, he's very emotionless. He doesn't like to show people how he feels and since our parent's death, he's been even more distant."

"He seems friendly enough; maybe all he needs is a friend!" Lily said brightly, lying through her teeth.

Sierra smiled sadly and shook her head. "He has his own friends, but they never come over to our house."

"Oh," Lily said, "Does he meet them somewhere?"

Sierra shrugged. "My parents were always out somewhere and I was left with a babysitter; Jaden came and went as he pleased."

Lily could identify, sadly, with Sierra. Her parents weren't always out of the house, but it sure felt as though they were miles from communication.

"I hope he hasn't fallen in with the wrong crowd. There's an uncommon amount of Deatheaters and Dark Lord supporters these days," Lily said recalling what she'd read that morning in the Daily Prophet, before James had knocked his goblet of pumpkin juice on purpose over it.

"Oh no, Jaden would never do that. He's very distant, but he's not bad!" Sierra said quickly.

"Oh," Lily said. She began to feel quite awkward walking down the corridors silently.

"Are there moving portraits everywhere?" Sierra asked in amazement after a short lapse in conversation.

"Yes, isn't it incredible?" Lily asked enthusiastically, happy to be on a topic of conversation she could talk about easily.

"I've always wanted to be here at Hogwarts; Mum sent us off to Durmstrang when we were old enough to go," Sierra said sadly. 

"I've heard that's a pretty good school," Lily said.

Sierra's eyes widened. "Who did you hear that from?"

"Oh you know, statistics I read… somewhere," Lily said quickly.

"It's an awful school. They teach you all the things you'd never want to hear about: ways they used to torture Muggles, mind-altering potions…" Sierra broke off with a shudder and Lily felt even more sorry for the girl.

"I'm sorry," Lily said, "but I assure you we've got good teachers and no (she was about to add 'mostly' but thought better of it) bad things ever happen here."

Sierra smiled faintly. "I know. I've heard all about it here!"

"Here! Wait, don't walk anymore; we're here," Lily said, pointing towards the Fat Lady.

Sierra looked slightly intimidated by the towering portrait but sidled up next to Lily anyway.

"Hippity hop," Lily said to the Fat Lady and the portrait swung open.

Sierra stepped through first and gaped at shock at the luxuriance of her surroundings.

"This is where we stay?" she asked Lily in wonderment.

"Yup," Lily said with a nod, "up there is the boy's dormitories and to the right is the girl's dormitories. Very strict ruling about confusing those though, so don't get any ideas!" Lily said winking.

Sierra grinned. "I'd only confuse them if I had to."

"You'll want to meet my… Potter, what're you doing here?" Lily asked suddenly. James looked up from where he was sitting on the couch with Sirius and Remus.

"Evans? What're you doing here? Aren't you supposed to be in class?" James asked, just as surprised as she was.

"N – no, I have – " Lily said trying to make sense of the words that wanted to come out of her mouth.

Sirius looked from Lily to Sierra with the look of utter confusion on his face. "Who's she?"

"Yeah Lily, who is she?" Remus asked.

"Oh, yes! Yes, this is why I'm not in class – this is Sierra Lethesine, transfer student from Durmstrang," Lily said in a sort of formal introduction.

Sirius grinned widely. "Fresh blood, eh?"

"Nice Sirius, nice," Lily said in a slightly disgusted voice as he stepped over to Sierra and kissed her hand.

Remus snorted. "What a gentleman!"

"He never does anything like that with his girlfriends!" James replied.

"That's because he sweet talks them to the Astronomy Tower," Lily replied with a roguish grin.

Sirius shrugged with feigned innocence. "Can't help it!"

Sierra smiled, though utterly lost. "I should like to visit the Astronomy Tower with you sometime, Sirius."

All of them looked at Sierra with an astounding amount of newfound respect for the new girl.

Remus gave a low whistle, grinning at Sirius. "She's a smart cookie, Sirius… if I were you, I'd keep her around!"

James looked most impressed. "You catch on quickly, don't you?"

"I've always been a fast learner," she said with a shrug.

Lily laughed. "Yeah, I think we'll be keeping her."

_ _ _ _ _ _ _ _ _ _ _ _ _ _

A/N: My stories always end cheesily. Must stop doing that! Sorry for the lateness – got writer's block. R/R!