Prologue

The world changes. It's a simple sentence, but it means a lot.

Summer turns into autumn, and autumn becomes winter. Winter is cold, harsh, and unforgiving. Something that's warm and lovely at first can change into cold, hard ice in the blink of an eye. This is James Potter.

Ice can turn to warm water and warm water can turn into vapor. Vapor is free to travel the world, riding on the air currents. Something that's hard and unchanging can become something warm and free. This is Lily Evans.

I am here to tell you how the ice needs the warm air of summer to change into the water, and then into the free-spirited vapor.

This, my friend, is the story of how Lily Evans needed James Potter to change from the stubborn, rude girl that she was. Only he could bring out the generosity, compassion, beauty that was hidden in her soul…

*

Chapter One: In Which Lily is Annoyed by her Very Own Quidditch God. From Lily's Point of View.

"Lily, what are you doing?" asked a girl who had brown hair, blue eyes, and thick-rimmed glasses. Her name was Ellen Connors.

Lily Evans jerked out of a trance. "Er, sorry, Ellen. What were you saying?" She tore her eyes away from Remus. He was studying in an armchair, concentrating hard on reading the heavy book that was lying open on his lap. His silky brown hair hid his face as he bent over the book.

"I was saying, Lily, that I think you'd better—Lily! Hello?!"

Lily shook her head. I need to concentrate…like Remus is doing… Uh! I need to stop thinking about him! What is wrong with me…?

"I'm sorry! It won't happen again, I promise."

Ellen sighed. "Lily, you really need to do your homework. You're gonna get killed!"

Lily chuckled. "Usually I'm the one telling that to you."

Ellen grinned and rolled her eyes. "Really, though, you need to start on that essay!"

"What about you?"

"I'm halfway done. It's not that difficult. My brother told me that the N.E.W.T. year is five times as bad as the O.W.L., but I guess he was just trying to scare m—"

"Oh, don't you worry, Connors. It gets plenty worse after Christmas break. You'll want to drop out of school…" said a sneering, but handsome, voice that was coming from behind them.

"Get away from here, Potter," said Lily, annoyed. "Don't you have anything better to do?"

"Er, no, I don't think so." His amber eyes glowed brightly in the common room fire.

"I have a suggestion," said Ellen. "Why don't you go eat dung?"

"Oh, I got bored of that ages ago." He sat down in the armchair next to Lily, and rested his head on his hand, staring at Lily.

Lily sighed. "Will you leave, please?"

James continued to stare, while shaking his head.

"Don't make me hurt you."

"I don't care if I get hurt, as long as you're the one doing it."

"Don't try that crap, on me, Potter. You know that I hate you."

"Come on, cut me some slack, will you, Evans?"

"No," she said plainly. She rolled her eyes. "C'mon, Ellen. Let's go study somewhere else."

"Sure," she said and got up to follow Lily to the girl's dorms.

"Will he ever leave you alone?" Ellen asked as they carried their books with them, away from James, who was still sitting in his armchair, gazing at the back of Lily's head.

"He doesn't really like me. He's just putting on an act because he's bored."

"Really? Well, he's a pretty good actor—"

"Trust me, I've known him all my life. Even during the summer holidays I don't escape from him. Remember, he lives next door." They reached the dorms and dumped their books on their beds. "Honestly, he's like the annoying little brother I never had."

"That's interesting. I've never heard of a little brother who had a crush on his—"

"Shut it."

"Oooh, don't tease well, do you?"

Lily rolled her eyes. "Hey, we need to do our homework, remember? Just a minute ago you were telling me—"

"I get it, okay? I'm working on it," she said, pulling out her unfinished essay.

* * *

The next morning, Lily was in a very good mood. She had caught up on her large amount of homework the previous night, and she was ready for her classes. Qudditch tryouts were the next week, and now, with homework out of the way, she could practice after lessons. Lily had always been a good flyer, but she had never before made it onto the house team.

This was one of the many reasons she hated James.

During their third year, Lily had wanted very badly to be the Gryffindor seeker. Of course, James had to take her spot. How could she have thought that she'd stood a chance against the popular, handsome, spoiled, arrogant James Potter? And last year he'd gone and taken the spot of captain…

"I'm gonna get it this year," she had told Ellen on the Hogwarts Express. "If I can't be seeker, I'm going to be the keeper. This is my last chance to make it onto the team, and I'm not blowing it."

All summer she had practiced, until she was better than she had ever been in her life. Although she knew this, she still played every chance she got.

"C'mon, Ellen! Hurry up!" called Lily, into the dorm. "All the breakfast will be eaten by the time we get down there!"

"I'm almost ready! I just need to find my blue sweater! I can't—oh, here it is."

Lily rolled her eyes. "I'll see you in the Great Hall, then."

"Okay! Er…. Great, now I can't find my glasses…"

Lily chuckled to herself, and trotted down the stairs. She crossed the empty common room and climbed out of the portrait hole.

When she reached the Great Hall, she took a seat as near to Remus as she dared, which was nine feet away.

Who should sit down next to her but James?

"Hey, there Evans."

She sighed. "Go away, Potter."

"Why do you always say that?" he asked, ruffling up his hair, making it extremely untidy.

"Er, I don't know. Maybe because I want you to go away? That's just my guess…"

"Okay, er, I understand."

"Pst… yeah, sure…"

"I want to ask you something."

Lily was really annoyed. "What is it this time?"

"Er…" he said, looking around to see if anyone was watching, "Well, there's a Hogsmeade trip next weekend, and I was wondering if you'd like to—"

"No, thank you," she said, smiling falsely. "I don't really think that I'd like to go out with you."

James looked flustered and frustrated. "C'mon, Evans—er, Lily. I'm only asking you to give me a chance—"

"I'm sorry, Potter, but I don't fancy you anymore! And I don't think I ever will!" she hissed.

"Lily—"

"Don't call me by my first name! And I've given you my answer, and it's not going to change—"

"Lily, why didn't you save my seat?" asked a small voice.

"Oh, hi, Ellen," said Lily, looking around her shoulder. "I was trying saving you a seat, but Potter, here, came and made himself at home…"

James got up and walked away quickly, trying to look cool, but Lily knew that he was hurt. Serves him right… Asking me out… AGAIN… Honestly…

~*~*~

A/N: Welcome to my fanfic. ^.^ I'm really glad you've decided to read it. I wrote these first parts back in October, and I've really grown as a writer. What this means is that the fic gets better and better as it goes along. The characters' personalities, you'll notice, will become more defined; the plot will become deeper; and some other things.

Here are some things you should know while reading this:

This story won't be 100% canon… meaning that some things that are mentioned in J.K. Rowling's brilliant books I will not be putting here… just because I can't work with boundaries. For example, Lily and James will not be Head Boy and Girl… and Molly and Arthur Weasley will be the same age as Lily and James… also Tonks will be in school at the same time as them, though she'll be a lot younger than they are. (There are more things that I haven't mentioned.)

This fanfic is PG or PG-13 for mild violence, action/adventure, and some crude humor.

That's it. I hope you enjoyed the first chapter… and I hope you enjoy reading the rest of the story as much as I did writing it.

-- Misty