A/N The rather sudden change is in there for a reason… so if you're reading this and thinking that's it's too sudden… well, think about it. I won't say more here, for fear of ruining the "surprise." Hope you like it, and R/R!

Disclaimer: Most of it's not mine, and if it's yours I apologise for stealing it... unless you're J K Rowling, the theft was completely unintentional. If you are her... um, I'm sorry?

Chapter Three

The next day passed, with no prank on Lily. She was getting slightly worried… what was delaying James from his revenge? Another three days passed, and still nothing happened. But Lily's mind was distracted. Trinity finally had success with Sirius! He had asked Trinity to Hogsmeade for the next weekend, but Trinity had coolly refused. Then, as soon as Sirius went out of earshot, with a carefully neutral expression on his face:

"I did it!" whisper-screamed Trinity triumphantly.

"Congratulations," Mia told her, rolling her eyes.

"He's been eyeing you for a while," Kate added, grinning broadly.

"I know," Trinity replied smugly. "So, what do you suggest?"

"Accept him next time, make him really like you, and then dump him in the middle of the common room. Should be interesting," Kate said, rather coldly. She liked Sirius less than the others put together, although she refused to say why.

"There is a problem, Trin,'" Lily said softly.

"What, that his friends'll get mad?"

"No- Potter couldn't do anything to you," she said scornfully. "I was thinking of his fan club of girls. They'll kill you!"

"Well, you'll help me, won't you?" Trinity asked, looking around the circle of friends. She grinned, "Getting attacked my a crowd of fourth years would be scary."

"Yeah, we'll stick up for you," Lisa said, reassuringly but seriously. "I'm not joking… against one or two, you'd be fine. But Trin… there are at least twenty of them! They seriously could attack you for 'hurting Sirius.'"

"You know, it might not necessarily be a problem," Kate said thoughtfully. "The fan-club's mostly Hufflepuffs, and the dumber Gryffindors. Not to be prejudiced, but won't they be a bit… well, they won't know nearly as many inventful curses as our dear Head Girl here. And most of them are a lot younger."

At that, Lily grinned. "I didn't have much choice about learning that kind of thing!" she protested. "I need it for self-defence and revenge!"

"Well, however Lily tries to squirm out of it, we can certainly defend ourselves. I suggest you go along with the plan, Trin," Kate said emphatically.

"I will. But now it's dinner time."

The girls got up and left for dinner, waiting expectantly for Sirius to try again. They weren't disappointed.

"Hey Trinity?" Sirius didn't look the least nervous, despite asking for the second time.

"Yeah, Sirius?"

"Do you want to go out for a walk with me?" he asked with hopeful eyes.

Trinity knew that she shouldn't accept too readily. She wanted him to think that she was playing hard-to-get, but at the same time she didn't want to scare him off. "Hmm, where to?" she asked. Lily held back her laughter.

"You'll see. If you come."

"Well, I suppose so. See you guys later!" Sirius took Trinity's arm, and she didn't shake him off.

James sat down in Trinity's vacated seat (diagonal from Lily), and Remus and Peter settled in seats around them. Lily glared at James, but he ignored her.

"He's fallen," James announced to no one in particular.

"Sirius?" Lisa asked. Unlike Lily, she could tolerate James. "Why?"

"He's going for Trinity." James informed her.

"And what's wrong with that?" Mia asked defensively.

"She's the only girl I know who would go for Sirius solely for the joy of dumping him. Apart from maybe Evans." James smiled fakely at Lily, and she glared at him.

"I wouldn't go out with any of your friends, Potter, if they were the last males on earth!"

"No?" he asked mockingly. Mia, Kate, Lisa, Remus, and Peter all surreptitiously edged away, sensing the huge fight that was about to come.

"No way! Your heads are so full of self-importance that I'm surprised there's any room for thinking left after all of your egos!"

"Evans? As much as you'd like to sound knowledgeable, that didn't make any sense whatsoever. There's no point trying to sound scathing if you end up sounding stupid. Not that you're sounding any different from normal," James said coolly.

He was angry now, and so was Lily. That was a fundamental difference between them. When Lily was anything above annoyed, she shouted. When James was annoyed, or mildly angry, he spoke calmly. When he got really angry he started shouting. And when he was furious (and that had only happened once, to Lily's knowledge), his voice was so deadly calm that it scared the hell out of Lily. Now, he was only slightly angry. But that last time…

It had been Malfoy that started it all off. Lily's parents had died just two days before, in a Muggle car accident. Lily had been absolutely devastated. Other people got hurt or died, but never before had it happened to someone close to Lily. She had been sitting in the Great Hall, prodding at a plate of scrambled eggs. She wasn't hungry. Her friends had long gone, leaving her in peace with her thoughts, but the Marauders were seated at the table a little way away. Malfoy had approached. He had started on Lily, as was his way.

"Oh, look at that! The mudblood isn't eating. It's not because of your parents, is it? I don't see what the problem is. They'd probably have been glad to be rid of you, if you ask me. Tell me, are the rumours true? Was it really suicide?" his voice had been taunting, his eyes full of malice.

Lily's ears had been ringing. He had no right to say such things about her parents! She had stood up, but whether to punch him or to cry she didn't know. But James had already been there. He had placed a gentle hand on her shoulder, and she had sunk back down in her seat. She had been shaking. To Lucius Malfoy, he had said,

"Malfoy, get out. Get away from Lily, before we do something you will regret." His voice was colder than ice, his fury contained in his words. Malfoy was obviously frightened. He had taken one look at James and fled. James had turned to Lily, his face now a blank mask.

"Sorry about that, Lily. I know how it feels. It's about time he got a warning." Then James had gently squeezed her shoulder before removing his hand and leaving. It had been one of the few times he had called her 'Lily.'

Lily came back to the present. This was no time to start getting sentimental. Not when James was pissed with her. She shouted at him, and he shouted back (his calm, 'you are annoying me' voice was long gone.). They both earned a detention.

McGonagall didn't even bother to tell them off, she was so used to their fights. All she said was, "Potter, Evans, detention," and then walked away. James and Lily glared at each other, turned, and stalked off - both in the same direction. Two minutes later, Lily turned on the marching James.

"Why are you following me?" she shouted. So did he.

"What is it with you?" she asked exasperatedly. Unfortunately, he did so too, at the same time. Lily shut her mouth, and glared at him again. He glared back.

Lily let out a loud, theatrical sigh, and continued to walk to the common room. James kept pace with her. When she climbed through the portrait hole and he was still here, she asked, "Why do you do this? One minute you're so nice, and the next, so annoying!"

"Nice? You think I'm capable of being nice? What happened to the Evans I know?"

"Oh, shut up for once! I know you can be nice sometimes. Sometimes! But…" Lily stopped. She probably ought to be apologising, and thanking him. It was over a year ago that he had stood up to Malfoy for her, and she had never really thanked him for doing that.

"But what?" James looked surprised and confused. Lily, to her utmost horror, blushed.

"I never really said thank you for when you got rid of Malfoy for me. When my parents… died. He hasn't bothered me since. And, well, your ego isn't as big as, well, Sirius's, for example."

James, for the first time ever when confronted with Lily, was speechless. "Uh…"

Lily smiled. "Don't tell me you're lost for words."

"No! I just… uh… You're talking to me without shouting. I didn't know it was possible."

"Good save of face, there," Lily remarked, hurt that he had thrown her apology and her thanks back in her face. Apparently, he was back to being his usual self.

"No! I honestly meant it. Maybe we should start over."

Bemusedly, Lily replied, "Um, I guess we could."

James grinned, his trademark grin. Lily noted absentmindedly that her knees didn't feel one bit like jelly. "Okay!" he told her, "I won't call you 'Carrots,' and you don't charm dung bombs to follow me around."

"Deal," Lily replied. "But now I'm going to bed."

"Okay, see you in the morning… Lily." It surprised him how 'Evans' kept wanting to pop into his mouth. Old habits died hard, it would seem.

"Yeah, 'night… James." Lily left, marvelling at what had just taken place. Six years of enmity, over like the snap of her fingers! She couldn't believe it! And she doubted that James could, either.

The next morning, Lily woke up to the tapping of a beak on the window. It was Mia's owl, so Lily blearily got up and let it in. Deciding that she couldn't go back to sleep, she got up and went to the Head Girl's bathroom for a luxurious bath. It was a Saturday.

When Lily got back from the bathroom her friends were all down at breakfast. Lily went down to join them. She sat without complaint in the only seat left - next to James.

"Morning!" she said brightly, and everyone except James turned to stare at her with shock. "What?" she asked defensively.

"Y..you..sa…you sa..you…" Trinity stammered, sitting next to a gaping Sirius.

"Oh, we didn't tell them," James said casually to Lily. If it had been possible for their friends' mouths to drop any more, it would have happened.

"Oh, right. Yeah. We've decided to start over." Lily said in explanation. There was still silence.

After a while, James said conversationally, "I think we gave them a bit of a shock."

"Yes, I think so too. Oh look, it's the post!" It was true; hundreds of owls came streaming in. One owl deposited a letter to both Lily and James. Lily ripped hers open, and read,

Miss L. Evans,

Your detention is to take place this evening. You will meet outside Mr. Filch's office at nine o'clock tonight. Please do not be late. Sincerely,

Prof. M McGonagall

Lily glared at the letter, and then looked over at James's, which was basically the same.

"Oh, yippee," she said, "Just what I want, a detention tonight!"

"Yeah, fun." James's tone was just as sincere as Lily's. Their friends were all still speechless. James sighed exaggeratedly. "C'mon, let's leave them to wind up their jaws and put their eyes back in." James took Lily's hand, pulled her up, and then the two walked outside in the direction of the lake. They left their friends to continue gaping after them.

"This is ridiculous!" James said once they were out of the castle. "I mean, why can't they just accept that we're friends now?"

"We aren't yet friends, exactly. We've just put all of the arguments behind us," Lily reminded him. "It's still a bit of a shock for me, really. But… you know, you really aren't that bad."

"Why, thank you," he told her sarcastically. "Seriously, though, we will be friends," he said, with confidence. "Sirius used to keep telling me that we're perfect for each other. Of course, because it's Sirius, it's a huge exaggeration, but I'm sure we'll get on."

"Sirius can't judge perfectness, if that's a word. I mean, he's been dating more girls than I can count. He's even with Trinity now!"

"Uh…" James looked a little nervous. "Um… actually, I think the only reason he's going out with Trinity is to get revenge."

Lily looked at James for a minute, and then burst out laughing. James just looked at her strangely. Then comprehension dawned on his face, and he began to smile. Then he too started laughing.

"Please," said Lily after she'd had a chance to calm down, "don't tell Trinity I told you."

"You didn't tell me anything."

"But you know."

"That's true. It should be interesting, really- both pretending to like each other."

"It'll only be a pretence for a short time," Lily told him, "Then they'll dump each other."

"And if they do start to like each other, they'll both pretend that they don't, while pretending they do! Their prides won't let them get together seriously."

They both continued to walk together, but in silence as they thought over the situation. At last, Lily said,

"Look, I'd better get back. My friends," she smiled, "my other friends will be wondering where I am."

"I'll go back with you," he told her. "If you go back alone they'll think you've killed me." They walked back to Gryffindor tower pretty quickly, grinning at the looks of astonishment directed at them. They passed Professor McGonagall, who nearly fainted when she saw the two former enemies walking side by side without shouting at one another. When they reached the portrait hole, Lily stopped.

"So, are we friends now?"

"Yep," he said, and grinned. Then he added, "Does this mean no more pranks?"

"Just no more malicious pranks. And nothing embarrassing. Hey! We can work together against Snape and Malfoy!"

"That," said James with relish, "would be fun. Between us, we could do practically anything!" They both grinned, twin evil grins of anticipation, and then went through the portrait hole.

"See you later," Lily said, and went up to her dorm. James went up to his.

As soon as Lily went in, everyone became silent. Then, speaking very slowly, Kate asked, "Where were you?"

"With James," Lily said casually and flopped onto her bed. She was quite enjoying this. "So what are we doing today?"
"Nothing until you tell us what's going on!" Mia said severely. "I thought you hated him! You yourself said that he had the biggest ego in the entire of Hogwarts, and the smallest brain!"

"His ego isn't nearly as big as Sirius's, and he gets the highest marks in the year."

"No, Lily, you both do. You get pretty much exactly the same marks in everything, except for Charms where you beat him, and Transfiguration where he beats you," Lisa told her. "And last time we had this conversation, you refused to admit that his marks were anywhere close to yours!"

"So I'm not in denial anymore! Now, will you please drop the subject? I didn't come up here to be interrogated!"

"One last question. When did you two make up?"

"Last night. Happy now? Can we go and do something?"

They looked at her warily. "If you're sure you're okay…" Mia said worriedly. Lily just laughed.