This is a Lily/James love/uncertainty story. I would say it was love/hate, but… Well, why don't you read it for yourself and find out? All reviews are welcome – if you love it, great, please tell me; if you hate it, sorry, love to know what I can do to improve. Thanks in advance! God bless, -KyleeMarie

Disclaimer – What you recognise (probably) is JKR's. New characters and the plot itself are mine.

Unfelt Feelings

CHAPTER I – IN WHICH WE MEET JAMES POTTER

BE-BEEP. BE-BEEP. BE-BEEP.

Sixteen year old James Potter rolled sleepily over to look at the source of the offending beep. Well, at the source of the beep, since a beep is, in fact, a sound not a sight. Without his round glasses on, James couldn't quite make out the vivid green numbers on his alarm clock, the source of that pesky beep. Well, maybe the beep wasn't so pesky after all.  You see, those vivid green numbers always, without fail, reminded him of someone, and this morning was no exception. As he reached for his glasses, James sighed and lost himself in thought, unsurprisingly about Lily Evans.

Lily's slightly almond shaped eyes were exactly the color of the digits on his alarm clock. At least, he thought so; she was almost never in the same place he was, and when she was, it usually wasn't her fault. James was completely crazy about Lily. The problem was, the feelings were far from mutual: though he'd wanted to go out with her for years, Lily viewed James as a selfish, egotistical showoff. James had hoped this feeling would dull with time, but at the end of their fifth and most recent year, Lily had declared, in front of many of their classmates, that she would rather go out with the giant squid than James Potter. Drat the beep.

James sighed again and allowed the memory that had been taunting him since last June fade. Then he glanced at the clock. 9:47 AM. Usually he'd never be up this early during the summer, but today was the last day before the start of term, and James still didn't have his school supplies. His two best friends, Sirius Black and Remus Lupin, were coming between 11 and 11:30. When they did, it would be lunch time, then time to go back-to-school shopping in Diagon Alley. The supply lists had arrived late this year; they had gotten to the Potter residence only yesterday. This meant lots of Hogwarts students would be doing their shopping…

James smiled at the thought that had just crossed his mind before staggering out of bed, hollering down to his parents that he was awake, and, on his mother's orders, getting into the shower. A little while later, he clambered back out and walked to the closet, where he grabbed a pair of blue-jeans and a forest green t-shirt with a large Golden Snitch on it to wear for the day. Once dressed, he reentered  into the bathroom and looked into the mirror, where a hazel-eyed, bespectacled boy stared back at him, apparently thinking hard. After a few moments' deliberation, James almost desperately attempted to do something, anything, with his unruly black hair. He quickly gave up, however, and rumpled it for its usual windswept look.

Walking downstairs, James found his parents sitting in the living room. His father was reading the Daily Prophet, his mother the latest issue of Witch Weekly.  Just as James opened his mouth to announce his presence and ask about breakfast, Mrs. Potter looked up, smiled at her son, and said, "My, my. Aren't we up early?" As James nodded, she added, "There's breakfast in the kitchen, Jamesie, dear."

At the sound of his childhood nickname, James began to whine. "Mum! I'm sixteen now, so no more 'Jamesie,' k?"

Mrs. Potter smiled and said, with feigned absentmindedness, "Whatever you say, Jamesie."

James groaned and walked into the large kitchen for breakfast. As his eyes swept over the familiar yellow-gold furniture and scarlet walls (the Potters were all Gryffindors, and their house's décor showed it), he spotted something - no, someone - quite unexpected: Sirius Black was leaning on the counter, munching contentedly on a piece of bacon. "How… Why… WHAT THE HECK are you doing back already?" James spluttered. "I thought you were at your girlfriend's 'til at least eleven!"

Sirius glared. "You sound as though you aren't happy to see me, Jamesie." He put special emphasis on the last word, knowing the reaction it would get. After watching James's glare and pretending to pout for a few moments, he added, "I decided to come back early. You know, I got homesick."

James snickered. Sirius had recently run away from home and was living with the Potters. Not that either of the boys minded the arrangement; they had been best friends since the very first train ride to Hogwarts.

Sirius grinned at James, then asked, "You do have the supply lists, don't you?"

"Course I do, Padfoot. They got here yesterday. Awfully late this year, aren't they? They're in my room."

Sirius nodded briefly before sprinting from the room, hollering back, "Race ya!"

The two boys shot up the stairs into James's room, where Sirius flopped down on the bed and James began rummaging around in one of his many desk drawers. "They're in here somewhere…" It appeared, however, that they were not. "Where ARE they?" he asked the room at large, now digging frantically for the missing supply lists.

Sirius rolled over to watch what was happening and noticed something. "Uh, Prongs?"

"I put them in here…"

"Oh, and everything does exactly what James Potter wants it to? Since when?"

James looked up, glared, and demanded, "You find them, then."

Sirius grinned and ordered, "Look down."

James did as he was told. "Oh." The two parchment envelopes were sitting innocently by his right foot. Mildly embarrassed, he grinned sheepishly up at Sirius and handed over one of the envelopes. Then he flopped down onto the bed and tore into his own.

For a few minutes all was silent as the two boys read their letters; then Sirius asked mischievously, "The supply lists got here yesterday, no?"

"Yes, Padfoot. I told you that downstairs," James answered, exasperated and not catching the meaning in his friend's tone.

"Well, you've had the trip set for at least a week. There has to be a reason," Sirius pointed out.

"Well, I, uh, I knew they'd be here today?" James was asking Sirius rather than telling him, and both boys knew it.

"Yeah, sure. You have a reason, and that isn't it. As for the real reason, I'd be willing to bet my right arm it has red hair, starts with Lily, and ends with Evans!" Sirius's voice was triumphant, and a cheeky grin was rapidly spreading across his face.

James groaned for the second time that morning; he felt as though the world was against him that day - everyone from the alarm with its pesky beep (but gorgeously coloured numbers) to his mother to his best friend of six years. Feeling also as though he should've seen it coming, James steered the conversation away from Lily by asking what kinds of pranks they should play during the coming year. It worked; the two spent the next hour at least planning pranks and moonlight adventures. They would've spent more time on it, but they were interrupted by a sandy-haired head in the doorway.

"Mind if I join you?"

"Hey, Moony!" James greeted happily; Sirius just waved.

Remus Lupin, "Moony" to the Marauders (the three of them plus a boy called Peter Pettigrew), walked in and sat down on the edge of the bed. Brushing some hair out of his blue-green eyes, he asked, "What've you two been up to?"

James and Sirius quickly filled him in on their plans, then James suggested they go get lunch. The other two nodded their agreement, James and Sirius pocketed their letters, and the three trouped off to the kitchen.