Disclaimer I do not own James, Lily, or anything/anybody else that the great J.K. Rowling has created.
Summary James Potter is constantly bugging Lily to go out with him. Lily Evans rolls her eyes and says no. James makes a rebound and tries again. Lily is tempted to slap him. How did the two ever get married? (OotP plot.)
Chapter One: Train Rides and Apologies"Hey Whitney!" Lily waved excitedly as she spotted her friend. A strand of her fiery red hair fell into her face, and Lily quickly brushed it away. It was September 1st, and Lily Evans, along with the sea of students, was on platform 9 ¾. Whitney waved back as she pushed through a crowd of 2nd years, to greet her.
"Hello Lily! How are you doing? I heard you made Head Girl! Congratulations!"
Lily smiled. She was proud that she was chosen to be Head Girl, though it came as no surprise. She was top of her class in every subject, and after six hard years of toiling away, it was quite a just reward.
"Thanks!" Lily made a face as she spotted James Potter's head over the sea of milling students. James Potter, in her opinion was the all-time prat, and bugged her to no end.
Whitney laughed at her friend's expression. "Lily, any girl would kill to be in your position!" she said.
Lily rolled her eyes, but it was true. Everybody adored James. And all boys envied James for his good looks, sharp mind, and talent in Quidditch. Every girl at Hogwarts would do anything to be his girl. Unfortunately for them, James had his eyes set on Lily. Unfortunately for him, Lily despised him with a passion.
She supposed that it was unjust to dislike a person because of their reputation. However, wouldn't dislike be justified when that person proved their reputation right? After all, James Potter had built it up himself.
The two girls chatted, glad to be able to finally have some time to talk face to face after months of only communicating by owl. They were just moaning about the year's upcoming N.E.W.T.s when they spotted another familiar face.
"Hello Gemma!" they greeted as the familiar brown eyes gazed at them, a little bewildered, through the bustling crowd of students, her blonde head bobbing up and down as she tugged at her heavy luggage.
"Hi Lily! Whitney! It's great to see you guys!" she panted. "Could you…?" She gestured at her trunk rather helplessly. Lily smiled, exasperated, and trudged over to help her friend.
After they had successfully dragged Gemma's trunk onto the train, the three friends moved to an empty compartment as they talked of their summer, the upcoming year, and other necessary things that needed to be discussed. It was as they were bickering about whether Whitney's Ravenclaw boyfriend was cuter than Gemma's new idol when Lily stood up suddenly, exclaiming a, "I'm supposed to be at the Prefects' compartment right now!" and running off through the hall to the head of the train.
Lily walked through the Hogwarts Express, contemplating her new position as Head. Or rather, her and Potter's new position.
Yes, it was true, sadly. After giving a rather traditional speech (and wondering why in the world the Head Boy had not been present), she had made her way back to her compartment, when she overheard a couple in a compartment discussing an interesting topic… a topic which involved this year's new Head Boy. Lily, wondering who the Head Boy was, and rather curious as to why he didn't show up at the Prefect's Carriage had simply walked a bit slower and was able to hear, quite clearly, whom this mysterious person was…
"Did you hear what Sirius had said earlier about the new Head Boy?" the girl asked.
"Who wouldn't, with that loud voice…" the boy said, disgruntled. This comment was shortly followed by a rather loud "Ow!"
"So annoying…" The girl continued, " Anyway… it's James! James Potter is the new Head Boy…"
This comment was followed by a series of rather loud cooing from the girl and very silent gagging from a horrified Lily as she hurriedly made her way back to her friends.
Lily burst into the compartment, startling her two friends.
"Did you know," she began furiously, "that Potter has been made Head Boy?"
Upon hearing this, Gemma dropped the chocolate frog she had been intent eating, letting it bounce away out of the open door. Whitney hid a small smile.
"…Of all the people it's just got to be Potter? And why him, really? I mean, what were they thinking, doing that? No, they probably weren't thinking when they made the decision… " Lily trailed off, muttering something about Dumbledore and Ogden's Firewhiskey.
It was then that their rather one-sided discussion was interrupted by a loud BANG outside their compartment, which made everyone jump. The girls quickly rushed to the door. Outside, the chaos was quite a spectacle. James had a growth on his arm, while Severus Snape was levitating several feet above the ground. Arvandus Connolly and Sirius Black both had an assortment of cuts and bruises. Remus Lupin had a black eye (Lily was once again reminded that he was, after all, a Marauder), and Peter Pettigrew - well, it was no surprise that he was huddled on the floor, timorously whimpering. As Lily stepped outside to restore peace, James, unable to see Lily coming out of her compartment, aimed another spell at Snape, regardless of the large piece of flesh that was balancing precariously on his arm.
"What is going on?" Lily demanded. Then the spell hit her. Her legs immediately started wobbling uncontrollably.
James looked mortified. Peter made a hollow croak; no doubt wishing that he were anywhere but there. Remus, being the sensible one, quickly muttered the counter curse, and Lily regained the use of her legs. All the boys had a look of guilt and displeasure on their faces as they looked at Lily, her eyes austerely glaring; the boys were forcibly reminded of McGonagall. Lily looked at them expectantly, trying to be circumspect in her judgment. James spoke up.
"Lily… Are you alright?" he asked, genuinely concerned. "You see, we were… what I mean is… Er…" He trailed off lamely.
Lily rolled her eyes. "Perhaps I should rephrase my question for you - why the hell are you guys lying on the floor looking like idiots?" Lily spat; she had obviously recovered from the initial shock of having the Jelly Leg curse placed upon her. By now, a small crowd had gathered, tittering and glaring at Lily for completely disregarding James' concern, the ungrateful little thing.
Sirius was squinting at Lily, with a look of fascination.
"What are you looking at?" Lily narrowed her eyes.
With a finger pointed to Lily, and with a sheen, dazed look on his face, Sirius said, "Heeey! The Fat Lady's out of her painting!"
Lily, enraged, inspected closer and found that, besides the cuts and bruises, Sirius also had a nasty-looking, enormous purple lump on his head. She sighed.
"Alright, break it up! Potter, could you take care of your friend and see him to the hospital wing when we arrive? Or must I take care of that too?" James hastily complied with Lily's instructions, not wanting to look more of a fool than he already was in her eyes.
The rest of the trip was uneventful. Everyone settled down, eventually, and Lily and her friends finally sat down for some much deserved, uninterrupted conversation.
When the Hogwarts Express stopped, there was the usual clamor to get off, as everyone was excited to attend to the food that was so welcomingly awaiting them at the start-of-term feast.
Lily, however, had other things to attend to.
"So, Lily, I heard you were made Head Girl!" James's voice sounded. Lily spun around to find him propping up Sirius, who was looking around blearily. "Congratulations!"
"Thank you. And I heard you were made Head Boy," Lily replied, a bit sourly. She obviously hadn't forgotten the incident on the train.
James seemed to read her mind. "Listen, I'm sorry about what happened on the train, I really didn't see you and-"
"It's alright," Lily cut him off.
"Well, would you let me make it up to you by going with me to the next Hogsmeade weekend?" James asked innocently.
"Sod off, Potter."
Lily sighed. She was in her dorm with, Whitney, Gemma and the two other girls that resided in the same dorm, Nicole and Karina. Lily was close friends with them although not as close as she was with Whitney, and Gemma.
"So, did you snog anyone cute this summer?" Gemma asked Nicole, with an enraptured glint in her eye. Lily shook her head and sighed. Yeah, it was good to be home.
As the sun's first rays came through the window next morning, Lily was found on the couch in the Gryffindor common room, asleep, after staying up a bit late last night to 'catch up' on her studies as everyone retired early. The truth was, however, she had not gotten to study much; she was just as tired as everyone else, and fell asleep on the couch not long after everyone had gone to bed. So, as James emerged from the boys dormitories fully intending to get ahead on Quidditch strategies that morning, he could not help himself as he spotted a tangle of red hair and leaned in to get a better look….
A/N: PLEASE REVIEW!!! :) [Sorry for the evil cliffhanger… The more reviews, the faster I write…]