A/N: Look..what is this? Yes! It is me updating!! Yay!! Sorry I took so long, folks. My computer died and extreme writer's block happened. I love you all for waiting!!

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James simply couldn't believe her – her gall! Lily acted as if nothing had happened. She was acting as if he had never accused her of cheating on him with Snape, or broke up with her. No, James admitted to himself, that wasn't entirely true. She was acting as if they had never gone out to begin with. She was acting as if neither of them had ever declared love for each other. She was just acting like . . . Lily. She walked down the streets of Hogsmeade just like they had millions of times before. She did nothing different. He slid a look over to her and saw her laughing at one of Sirius's inane jokes.

"What are you glowering at, James?" Remus asked, walking into step next to him. James just shook his head rather dejectedly and glared at Lily as she laughed loudly. Remus, seeing this look, elbowed James slightly in the ribs. "Oh, James, get over it. If you just apologize, she'll take you back."

"Yeah right, she wouldn't take me back for anything." He shoved his hands in his pockets and tried not to look at Lily who was now whispering to Sol and Cassandra, undoubtedly about him.

"Cut the self-pity act, kiddo!" Sirius announced good naturally and flung an arm around James's neck. "It'll all be good! The Marauders always get their girl."

"Yeah, you can say that because you finally got Cassandra."

"Come on, James," Remus said, lightly punching James on his arm. "You're a man. Be strong."

"Yeah, yeah, yeah," James muttered and glared at Lily as she stopped walking to talk to Cortland Wood, Gryffindor's Keeper. "Look at her! She's practically throwing herself at him! It's disgusting."

Sirius slid his gaze discreetly over to Lily and Cortland. Personally, he thought they were simply having a pleasant conversation, like she would with Remus or himself. And he said so to James.

"Bullshit. She is totally flirting with him." His entire body tensed as Lily laughed ruffled Cortland's hair. "That's it. I'm going over there."

~~~*~~~*~~~*~~~*

"He's staring at me again," Lily whispered to Sol and Cassandra.

"Of course he is," Sol agreed. Cassandra simply nodded. "He's trying to figure you out, and miserably failing."

Lily, slightly taken back by Cassandra's silence, asked, "What, no cheeky comment, Cass?"

"Well, it's just that – are you sure you know what you're doing? What if James doesn't apologize? What if he doesn't come crawling back to you?" she asked, wary of Lily's plan of revenge.

"Then I guess that would mean that he doesn't want me."

"Would you be able to deal with that?"

"Of course. After all, I am a woman. I can take anything." Lily smirked and looked up. "Hey, look, it's Cortland. I'm going to go talk to him. Hey, Cortland!"

"Hey, Lily. How's it going?" Cortland Wood said as he looked up and saw Lily.

"It's going. I came to the game last week." Secretly, she hoped James was watching, just so he could see that she could still talk to other guys. "You were great."

"No I wasn't, Lils. You're just saying that," Cortland said modestly, bending his head so Lily wouldn't see him blush. But he really hoped that she did think he was great. He had been harboring a crush on Lily Evans since fifth year when she stopped Lucius Malfoy from breaking his younger sister's arm in a vicious prank.

"You're so modest, Cort," Lily said laughing and ruffled Cortland's hair.

"Uh-oh," Cassandra mumbled to Sol as she saw James heading over to Lily and Cortland.

"You said it," Sol muttered back.

"Hey, Lily," James said grabbing Lily's arm. He pulled her into a deep kiss despite her attempts to break free. When he finally drew away, he pulled her close to his side. "Oh, hello, Wood. I didn't notice you there."

"Hello, James," Cortland replied, slightly put back by James's frosty tone. But he understood when he wasn't wanted around. "I'll, uh, see you later, Lily. Good bye James."

"Good bye, Wood." James watched Cortland until he was a safe distance away, sill holding on to Lily. And she was smart enough to wait to speak until Cortland was a safe distance away.

"James, get the fuck off of me, you bloody asshole. I already told you once today that I don't want you touching me." Lily turned to face James and tried to pry his hands off her.

"You said that I was to refrain from touching you until it was absolutely necessary. I happened to find it absolutely necessary," James replied coolly, keeping a tight hold on Lily.

"I don't see what was so necessary about it. I was having a nice conversation with a friend of mine –"

"'Nice conversation'? Is that what they call it these days? And it appeared to me that Wood is more than a friend."

Lily just stood there for a few seconds, trying to assess what James had just said. She even stopped trying to get out of his grasp. Then what he had said sunk in. And she laughed.

"I hardly see this as a laughing matter, Lily Evans."

"Oh, James, believe me, if you were in my shoes you would see just how ludicrous this situation is."

"I fail to see the hilarity."

"James, I can't believe you're so jealous! And of Cortland!" Lily said breathlessly as she wiped the tears from her eyes. "Oh, thank you for that well needed entertainment, James."

"I'm glad I could amuse you," he said dryly. He dropped his hold on Lily and took a step back. "Although that was not my intention."

"I'm sorry that I laughed at you, James," Lily said, sounding like she was truly sorry. "It's just that I've never seen you so jealous before without any reason to be. I mean, since you and I aren't going out anymore –"

"Do you think that makes a difference? That just because we aren't dating that I care less about you?" James fisted his hands at his sides to stop himself from reaching out and touching her. "Lily, I love you, and nothing will ever change that. Whatever happens, I will always love you. Even when I had thought that you had cheated on me, I loved you. Maybe that's why I had gotten so angry with you. Because I had emptied my heart to you, and I thought that everything you said had been false. That you never loved me. That it was all just a game to snag me."

"James," Lily began as she put a hand on his shoulder. He didn't know how much that little move cost her. "I had no idea you felt that way."

"Yeah, well, now you do. Not like you care or anything." James turned away before Lily could say anything back to him. "It's time to go."

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"I can't believe he said all that to me!" Lily exclaimed to Cassandra and Sol. And not for the first time. They had collected in Lily's room. Cass was currently sprawled out over Lily's bed. "What right does he have to talk about love like that? He threw me carelessly away! How does that show that he loves me?"

"Hey, Lily, how about taking a seat before the carpet wears out?" Cassandra said casually and ignored the piercing gaze from her pacing friend. "I don't see why you're so bugged out about this anyway."

"Yeah, really. This isn't any new news or anything," Sol added sensibly. "You already knew that he loved you."

"But there's that little fact that I thought that he didn't love me anymore, therefor was a perfect candidate for revenge. If I didn't know that he cared about me, I wouldn't care about hurting him. And if I didn't care about hurting him, then I wouldn't care about rejecting him when he came crawling back. Now I have to change my entire plan, all because he said that he loves me.

"Why can't men make anything simple?" Lily said, finishing her little tirade as she plopped onto her bed and almost sitting on Cass. She expertly ignored her little protest.

"Because if they made things simple, they wouldn't be men," Sol reasoned.

"Well, put. Besides, you can always make a different plan."

"Why, my dear Cassandra," Lily said as she elbowed her ribs, signaling her to move over, "I think you are brewing something."

"As a matter of fact, I am."

"Well, come on girl! Spill already."

"What do you think of Cortland?"

"What? Cortland Wood?" Lily replied, taken aback by the unexpected question.

"Of course Cortland Wood," Cassandra said, rolling her eyes. "What other Cortland do you know? So, what do you think of him?"

"He's sweet. And smart. And an excellent Keeper. And he is cute," Lily said as she laid back on the bed.

"And he has had a crush on you since fifth year," Sol added.

"That's not true!" Lily objected. "Is it?"

"Of course it is," Cassandra said, once again rolling her eyes. "Remember when you stopped Malfoy from killing his little sister?"

"Yes, and he didn't almost kill her, he almost broke her arm. She slipped on some frog guts he spilled on the floor, and I just stopped her from falling."

"From what I remember," Sol corrected, "you kept Hermia levitated when she slipped so she wouldn't fall. Then you cleaned up the guts that Malfoy had placed on the floor before you carefully lowered her to the floor, then helped her to the Hospital Wing. And Cortland's had a sever crush on you ever since. But of course, my memory may be slightly distorted."

"Nope, not distorted at all. That's how I remember it, too. Lily's just too modest to be a Gryffindor, that's it. Now that I think about it," Cassandra said with a vicious smirk, "Cortland's the same way."

"Oh, now I see where this is going," Sol said, rolling her eyes.

"Yeah, me too. Let me take a wild guess here – you want me to go out with Cortland to make James jealous, even though I don't really like him that much. Right?"

"Exactly, Lily."

"No."

"What?"

"No."

"Why not? Lily, it's not like Cortland's horrible or anything."

"I know, but . . . it would be wrong. I don't have any feelings for him. If he indeed has feelings for me, which I severely doubt," she said, throwing a look at Cass, "it would be wrong to make him think that I like him."

Cass and Sol simply stared at her for a few more seconds. "Wouldn't it?"

"No!" Cass said, throwing her hands up in frustration. "Merlin! I do that all the time!"

"Me too," Sol admitted.

"Well, I'm not saying that I haven't done it before, but it seems kinda wrong right now because I'm using it to get back at James. That is wrong, isn't it?"

"Not at all!" Sol exclaimed. "Give Potter another two days, then you can ask Cortland out."

"Okay, that sounds good," Lily said with a shrug.

"So Potter's got two days till his doom," Cass said with a smirk. "Let's hope he uses them wisely."