September the First was a surprisingly cold day considering summer was just dying down and fall was yet to be born. Rain fell down on Platform 9 ¾ in driving sheets, and the sky was dark and heavy with blackish clouds. The comfortable chaos that was to be expected when the Hogwarts Express pulled in was suddenly not so comfortable, and the platform had transformed into complete bedlam as people ran about with wayward blowing umbrellas and cloaks pulled over their heads.

Sirius Black and James Potter, who thrived on things like bedlam and chaos, were having the times of their lives.

"Draw you scurvy knave, you dog!" Cried James, pointing his bent and tangled umbrella at Sirius in a rather juvenile manner.

Sirius whipped his own umbrella out in front of him and grinned blindingly against the onslaught of rain. "What ho? A challenge! Prepare to meet your doom!"

And they proceeded to whack each other repeatedly, screaming out capital insults and attracting quite a few stares.

Mr. and Mrs. Potter, who had set up a rather nifty umbrella spell around their heads, told them halfheartedly to act their age before they began to cheer them on enthusiastically.

"There James! Attack his blindside, that's it!"

"Come on Sirius, poke him in the stomach!"

Sirius did as he was told, perhaps a little too roughly, and with a loud sort of battle cry that made everyone turn and stare, all but impaled James on the end of his pointed umbrella.

Quite deprived of breath, James stumbled backwards, trying to focus on not laughing his head off, as he needed all his energy to breath. He landed with a wet 'thwack' on the pavement and closed his eyes for a moment, taking in a couple of haggard breaths. He heard scrambling around him, and then the sound of light footsteps running over.

"Aha! I have conquered!" He heard Sirius cry, punctuated by a loud 'thunk' that sounded as if someone had hit him.

"You moron! You really hurt him!" It was a girl's voice. A deep throaty voice that was sensual and sweet and altogether highly attractive. He knew that voice...

"Oh he'll be fine, just knocked the air out of him..." His father assured the familiar voice, and he could feel people bending over him.

He opened his eyes slowly and could make out the rain-blurred image of four people above him.

There was his Mum and Dad, of course, looking vaguely ashamed of themselves. And, thought James with a smirk, they bloody well should be...Sirius, grinning like mad, hardly able to see through a face full of wet black hair...and...wow...maybe he was delusional...yeah, that was it...there was no other way to explain Lily Evans's presence and the fact that she looked almost worried about him...yes definitely delusional...

Her long hair was down and completely soaked, the water making it heavy and turning it almost black...her skin was paler than usual, and glistened with raindrops, there were a couple clinging to her long eyelashes as well, and James found that to be wildly attractive.

Her eyes startled him a bit.

They were so large and so vibrant compared to the stark white of her skin. An almost unnatural green...vaguely haunting green...yes...a delusion...beauty like this had to be just that...an illusion...

He blinked up at her.

"Are you alright?" She asked, her brow furrowed.

He reached out a hand and brought it to her face. She got that look on her face again, the nervous hesitation, the look she had worn whenever he had nearly pounced on her in the Owlery.

He touched her cheek. Her skin was cold and kind of clammy, but it was real and that was good enough for him.

He smiled nonsensically.

He didn't know if it was because of the cold, or the rain, or the large green eyes that were boring into him, or the fact that he had just been stabbed in the stomach by a particularly pointy umbrella, but he was feeling distinctly dazed and out of his senses.

He was going to attempt to say something incredibly witty and charming and it all would have been very romantic if his father had never opened his mouth.

"Oh...you must be her..."

Sirius grinned and elbowed Lily in the side.

"Yeah, this is good old Evans! Told you she was a fox, best looking witch around, eh Jamie boy?"

James opened his mouth to agree at once, but changed his mind when he noticed the furious look Lily was shooting Sirius. She mumbled something and hit him, making him laugh.

"Oh, don't worry about being embarrassed around them!" He exclaimed loudly, pointing to Mr. and Mrs. Potter, and making Lily hit him again.

He rubbed his arm and let out another short laugh that sounded like a bark. "They're the ones that told me to stab James, you know..."

The two adults looked a little embarrassed.

"That's not true, Sirius." Said Mr. Potter. He pointed to his wife. "She's the one, not me!"

They got into a short argument involving the words 'Traitor' and 'Jerk' before finishing it up with one of Mrs. Potter's favorite phrases, 'I never should've had that Restraining order lifted!'.

Lily stared at them.

James stared at her.

Sirius stared at a witch who ran by in a white shirt.

"ALL ABOARD!"

The whistle on the train blew, and the chaos on the Platform increased dramatically.

Mr. and Mrs. Potter stood abruptly, still bickering, while Lily and Sirius grabbed James's hands and hauled him to his feet. Sirius clapped him on the back, swinging his umbrella jauntily.

"Sorry 'bout that mate," He grinned. "If I knew Evans was watching I would've let you win."

After hugs and goodbyes were handed out, everyone rushed on board the train, shivering when coming in contact with the cold, blessedly dry air. Sirius grinned and captured Lily in a hug, which she quickly disentangled herself from. She rolled her eyes and walked inside the compartment labeled 'Head Students', without a backward glance.

James and Sirius grinned at each other.

"I knew she would be Head-girl! I mean come on, who else could have beaten her too it? Me and Lily...working together...and working alone quite often, mind you...thank god for Dumbledore being insane and naming me Head-Boy!"

James thought about doing a victory dance, but was still rather sore from his previous trysts and decided against it.

Sirius let out another laugh like a bark and leaned on his pinstriped umbrella like it was a rather fashionable walking stick.

"Well, good luck to you mate, I'm off to find Mooney and Wormtail." He winked and twirled around to head down the long hall of compartments.

James stood stock still for a moment and stared at the ornately carved door that led to the Head Compartment, contemplating all the different ways he could walk in and which one would impress Lily the most.

He could be suave and debonair like Sirius...swing his umbrella over his shoulder and give her a wink when she looked up at him...

Or he could be in panting and pretend he had just saved a poor little first year from the clutches of a couple of hex-happy Slytherins...

Or...he could be himself...

He let out a long breath and closed his eyes. Showing off for Lily Evans was not to be recommended. She could see right through him, she always had been able too, almost as if those gorgeous green eyes of her's were magical.

Magical eyes indeed...

He sighed and slid open the door. Or tried too.

"Locked...?"

Without pausing to consider the reasons why the door might be locked, James whipped out his wand and performed a quick 'Alohamora', and hearing the lock click, went ahead and pulled it open. Boy would he regret that...

"AHHH!"

Lily seemed to be in the process of discarding her wet clothes, as she stood in the center of the compartment in her bra and knickers (Which James noted, with some fascination, had little happy faces printed on them), Hogwarts robes clutched in one hand and her wand, soon pointed at James's throat, in the other.

He stood rooted to the spot.

Did I say that he would regret this? Because it turned out to be the greatest moment in James Potter's young life. Up until that point at least.

"Get out you sicko- you stupid perverted- stupid- get out!"

Since he was not moving, and staring, Lily shoved him out the door, slamming it behind her and began ranting at him through the thick mahogany as she put her clothes on.

He paid her death threats and curses no mind however.

He was in teenage boy bliss. Lily Evans...in her underwear...life was sweet...

Then she came out of the compartment fully clothed and ready to kill.

Her eyes were narrowed making her look positively catlike, and her hair was curling on the ends, slowly returning to it's lovely deep red color as it dried. But she was still extremely pale and her lips were a little blue. All in all, she looked rather menacing, and James thought it might be a good idea to run away right about now.

She jabbed her finger into his chest painfully and advanced on him.

"You prat! You pratty pervy wanker boy, I can't believe you! How dare you not even bother to knock before barging into the Head Compartment, which was LOCKED for a reason, you idiot!"

She paused and her lips twitched. If James didn't know any better, he would say that she was trying desperately not to laugh. She threw her hands in the air with a "Your hopeless, you know that?", and marched back into the compartment, sliding the door shut in his face.

He stood there for a good five minutes, staring at the door. Well, what was he to do now? Being in the same room with Lily Evans might not be a good idea at the moment, much as he liked the sound of it.

He took in a few deep, calming breaths, and reached out to slide the door tentatively open.

Lily was perched on one of the cushioned benches, her legs curled up beneath her and shivering slightly. Her lips were on the purplish side now, and she looked deathly pale. She looked up curiously from where she was rubbing her hands together to keep warm, and he could see the disappointment etched all over her face when she saw that it was just him.

"Why are you still here?"

He figured he'd lay it on her subtly.

"I'm Head-Boy."

And of course, he was about as subtle as an elephant in a tutu. The look on her face was rather amusing. She shook her head, opened her mouth to speak, then changed her mind and shook her head again.

James shot her a nervous smile and shoved his hands in his pockets.

"Um...surprise?"

It took the best of ten minutes to convince her that he wasn't lying. In the end there was utter silence, and she turned away from him to stare out the window.

He couldn't really blame her for ignoring him.

After all, he had nearly killed her with his trolley the first time he met her, pulled her hair and teased her for three years steady, asked her out two to three times a day regardless of whether or not she had a boyfriend at the time, nearly molested her, yelled at her a bit, announced his undying love for her, stalked her, stalked her some more, forgot he had a girlfriend during all of this, yelled at her some more, had a near death experience involving an umbrella, touched her face, and walked in on her when she was half naked.

Hmm.

Well, when you piled it all up like that, you had to admit that things looked pretty hopeless for James. Were they cursed? Their entire history together consisted of spontaneous insanity, and that couldn't be healthy. You couldn't base a relationship on something like that, could you?

He watched her shivering in the corner and frowned.

"Your freezing-"

Digging around in his pocket, he pulled out his miniscule trunk and muttered the counter curse, watching it swell back to it's original size. He flipped open the lid and shifted his things around until he came across a thick green cloak with golden fastenings. It was made of the best material, charmed to insulate the heat to your body, but the fact that it would bring out her eyes rather wonderfully didn't hurt either. Closing the lid to his trunk and shoving it under his seat, he shook out the cloak and handed it to her.

She gave him a grateful smile and wrapped it around herself.

After a couple of minutes, he was glad to see her cheeks getting a bit rosy, and her lips were back to their normal, sultry, dark pink color. Her hair was almost completely dry now, and lay around her shoulders in messy curls.

He wondered how many more years of yearning after Lily Evans he could take before he broke down completely and pounced on her.

"Do all of your knickers have little happy faces on them?"

He should have known he would say something stupid. It was only a matter of time while he was around Lily.

She blinked.

"No. I've got some that have ducks on them."

He thought that perhaps they were meant to be after all. He was good at asking weird questions and she was good at answering them.

"I was attacked by a duck last week." He commented, feeling like an idiot.

"How does one get attacked by a duck?"

"You feed them firecrackers."

"Ah."

There was a brief silence, during which James's heart swelled painfully.

"I'm sorry." He blurted out despairingly.

"For what?"

He sighed.

"For everything."

She seemed to consider him a moment, chewing on her lower lip and fiddling with a loose string on the expensive cloak that was draped around her.

"Oh, it's all right. I forgive you." She said at last, rolling her eyes.

He grinned slowly.

"Really?"

She nodded and leaned back in her seat to observe him. He fidgeted a bit, knowing that when she put him on the spot like that he was bound to say something ridiculous. So he opted on keeping his mouth shut, hard as it was, and stared right back at her; which was one thing he was very good at, thank you very much.

She blinked at him, in that calm, curious way of hers, and turned to observe the murky countryside flashing past their window.

Her looking away from him was both a good and a bad thing. He could breath now, and that was a plus, but the clearing of his head eventually led to him thinking, and him thinking usually led to nothing very good.

He thought about their fight in Diagon Alley, the way her back had sparkled prettily in the sun, and he wondered why he had not been disappointed at all to see that the object of his every fantasy and desire did not wear tiny lace thongs with strings and zippers, but regular cotton underwear with little smiley faces on them.

It hit him particularly hard right then, the overwhelming feelings he felt for her.

She did that to him every once in awhile. She'd say something, or look at him a certain way, and the fact that he wanted her more than anything crashed down from nowhere and plonked him on the back of the head, making him feel dizzy and breathless.

They were silent for the best part of thirty minutes and when James withdrew from his thoughts at last, he looked over to find Lily fast asleep; her head pressed against the glass and his cloak wrapped around her small body tightly.

He stood to go, pausing at the doorframe and looking back at her for a long, quiet moment. Smiling, he headed down the long corridor, planning on informing Sirius that things between him and Lily Evans might just be going well at last.