Summary: "Don't you know what I'd do for you?" James Potter loves Lillian Evans with all his heart . . .but his feelings aren't returned. Is there hope for a future that may never come?

Disclaimer: JK is the soul provider for these great ideas and talents; I merely embellish them into what you see before you now.

Authors Note: Thanks for all the reviews! This is the next chapter in my wonderful love story of Lily and James! Enjoy!

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Lily was reading in the Common Room late one evening when James ventured in. He was obviously shocked at seeing her alone, against the firelight, and quickly turned around to leave.

"James?"

He stopped walking and faced Lily.

"Hey Lily." He said casually. Remember what Sirius said, he thought. Jealousy is the key.

"Where were you?" She asked marking a page in her book.

"Where was I…" he trailed off. Where could he have gone to make Lily jealous? "I was out."

"Out." Lily repeated, propping her book up on her knee. "Where's 'out' "?

"Oh." James said, his nervousness increasing. "Um…on a date."

"A date?"

"With a girl." He added.

Lily snorted slightly and closed her book. "Same old James Harold Potter." She muttered lightly, and began marching up to her dorm. He had forgotten that jealousy never worked on her. Damn.

"Wait!" James called. "How did you know my middle name?"

Lily visibly froze from the top of the stairs. "Girls talk." She finally called down to him, and then left.

James was giddy with happiness. Had he just had a sort-of-almost-really-civilized conversation with Lily Evans? Wheee. He thought bubbly as he flung himself up upon the couch. Maybe I do have a chance with her. He noticed her book on a puffy chair by the fireplace and thought about returning it, but decided against it. On one hand, Lily might take it as an act of kindness and thank him so that he now had a sort of stable relationship with her. On the other hand, she may not even take the book, thinking that his germs would be on it.

But that was for first years. Lily was maturer than that. And besides, she could still perform a perfect scouring charm to clean it if she wanted to.

"Jamessssssss." A deep voice rang out softly. He turned from his thoughts, only to see Nadine Norway, a sixth year Gryffindor, and a major-league slut. "What'cha doing her all by yourself?"

"I was feeling like being alone, so if you excuse me…"

"Oh, poor thing. Are ya cold?" She asked, trailing a finger off his arm, making him shiver slightly.

"I'm fine, Nadine. Now please, I need to go to sleep." He was hoping that she would get the hint and let him leave, but on the contrary, Nadine looked pleased to know that he had even remembered her name.

"Sleep, huh? You don't exactly look tired…" She said draping and arm over his shoulders. "I could help you…"

Before James could react, Nadine had draped both her arms over him and closed any remaining space between them. She tilted her head up and planted a huge kiss on his lips. James tried to push her away, but unfortunately, it just looked like he was trying to massage her back. And the cries of 'stop!' and 'get off!' unfortunately sounded like moans, or words of encouragement.

At least, that's what it looked like from a certain redhead's point of view.

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Waking up with a huge headache the next morning, Lily summoned a glass of water from her bedside table and drank its contents deeply, wondering why she had stayed to watch James and that tramp.

Her book was still laying forgotten in the Common Room, and she didn't intend to go get it anytime soon. Just thinking about the book made her want to be sick.

It reminded her of James.

Slowly, she climbed out of bed and began her morning ritual of showering first thing, dreading the rest of the day.

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"Morning Lily!"

Grunting in response, Lily ignored Paige's feeble attempt at conversation and dug into her porridge. Paige just shrugged at Lynette. Lily had been acting crabby all morning, and she probably wasn't going to tell them about it anytime soon, so they backed off.

"We saw you're book in the Common Room earlier." Lynette said, taking a bite out of some egg. "You know, that one about werewolves? You want it?"

A few seats away, Remus began coughing.

"No, you can keep it. It…wasn't as interesting as I had hoped."

"Fine, your loss is my gain." Lynette sipped some juice. "I find werewolves fascinating."

Remus coughed again.

"I've actually always wanted to meet one. D'you know how cool it would be to talk to someone who becomes a totally different species every month? D'you know what I could learn from them?"

Remus was choking now, and Sirius had to whack him on the back to get him to shut up.

"Well, I want to get a good seat in Arithmacy." Lynette said, swinging her bad onto her shoulder and standing up. "We're supposed to be looking up research in class for a report that we were assigned yesterday. Bye Remus."

She had walked by Remus' seat and noticed that he was staring open mouthed at her. At her informal goodbye, his eyes just widened, and he sprinted out of the great hall to his Care of Magical Creatures Class.

"What a weird guy." Lynette murmured, but Sirius heard her anyway. "Don't fret, Lynette." He chirped, while Lynette glared at him for trying to make a rhyme out of her name. "He does that to every pretty girl he likes."

Lynette blushed and hurried off to class.

"Yep, its love." Sirius said, sighing. James shoved him. He took a side-glance at Lily, who threw him a dirty look in return. He sighed inwardly. She seemed way nicer last night. Maybe she just wasn't a morning person.

Severus Snape was glaring at them nearby. Why? We don't know…maybe it had something to do with them hanging out with Peter. Or the fact that Peter was hanging out with them. It probably had something to do with Peter.

"Hey, get a load of Snape." James muttered, and the group turned to glare at him. Except Peter. He looked ready to pee his pants.

Sirius' eyes moved to a large pitcher of pumpkin juice nearby. Grinning to each other, James whispered "wingardium leviosa" and the pitcher was in the air, unnoticed by everyone. It slowly glided through the air, and it was almost over the Gryffindor table when all of a sudden –

"JAMES!" Some high-pitched female voices cried out. In surprise, James dropped his wand, which meant that the charm had worn off, and the pitcher was falling.

He had rushed to prevent the inevitable, but the damage was done.

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"Lily, please talk to me!" Lily was still mute and wouldn't talk to anyone at breakfast. Paige cried out in frustration, and began attacking her eggs with her knife.

"Help me, help me!" She said in a squeaky voice, which resembled a house elf. "Ahhhhh!" she gobbled up the egg and grinned at Lily, who finally giggled, because her blonde friend now had bits of egg stuck between her teeth. She suddenly got a feeling of being watched and turned her head to find James staring at her. She gave him the best glare she could muster at the time and continued to eat.

About five minutes later, she stood up announcing to Paige that she had to be early to Ancient Runes because of an extra assignment she had to do for class. She opened her bag and arranged all the books neatly in place before taking a step.

"Lily! Watch out!"

Lily had no time to react to what was going on, because at that moment, something heavy and hard hit the back of her head with a nasty CRACK.

She faintly remembered Paige jumping up to catch her before she hit the ground, and then all went black.

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"I am VERY disappointed in you Mr. Potter!" McGonagall scolded as she led him to the hospital wing. "Do you realize what sort of damage you may have done to Miss Evans? She's been unconscious for two days now!"

"What's wrong with her?" James asked, dreading the answer.

"We won't know until she wakes up." The professor said sharply. "Honestly, Mr. Potter, I would have never expected this kind of behavior from you. And to your fellow Head Girl? I have no choice but to take sixty points from Gryffindor."

"Sixty?" James repeated incredulously. "Professor, term only started a few days ago! I'm not even sure we have sixty points to deduct!"

"Well then, we shall just have to start working with negatives now, hmm?" She said, opening the door to the hospital wing. "Goodness, Hogwarts hasn't had to do that since the year 1767 when Angelo Braxton lost ninety points from Gryffindor only the day after term began."

"Glad to know I've made history." James said dully as McGonagall led him to a bed that was secluded from the rest, with white curtains drawn up over it for privacy.

Pulling the curtains back, the two saw the sleeping form of Lily Evans. James thought she looked like an angel, the way her hair fanned out, and the sunlight shone over her in slumber. He winced when he looked at part of her shoulder that her hospital gown had slipped off of. It had a purplish-blue tint about it and a large bump as well.

"What happened to her shoulder?" James asked. "I thought she only hit her head."

"She hit her shoulder when she fainted." McGonagall replied stiffly, covering up he shoulder with a blanket. The movement stirred Lily and she opened her eyes. McGonagall smiled as the girl sat cross-legged on the bed and glanced blankly around the hospital wing. Her eyes fell on James and he was delighted to know that when he smiled at her, she smiled back. He wondered what could have caused such a dramatic change in her feelings towards him.

"Hello, Miss Evans." McGonagall said cheerfully. "How are you feeling?"

"Fine, thanks." She mumbled, moving the fabric of the material she was wearing beneath her fingers.

"We've taken care of everything, Lily." The older witch informed. "You've been out for two days, and all your work has been excused for you…you did take quite a fall, if I do say so myself. But no worries, Mr. Potter here has come to apologize and soon enough, you will be back to your normal routine at Hogwarts. Any questions?"

"Yes." Lily said, staring curiously at her professor. "Who are you?"

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WHOOP! Third chapter done! I hope none of that was too confusing for anyone out there, I have been thinking about this chapter for a long time now. You know what to do…R&R for me! Luv ya all!

PS: I have been begging my mom for a new kitten lately, and she's beginning to crack, I can FEEL IT! So PLEASE help me out here and lend me your hopes soon! BYE!