Author's Note: Hey thanks for the reviews guys! Please continue to read & review cuz that's what keeps us writing! Oh and I know Ch. 5 said that a month has passed by, but this chapter still takes place on the 2nd day of school. . . lol so we're gonna have to fix that somehow - but keep reading anyway!

Chapter Six:

The next morning, Lily awoke to find Bridget and Annabelle sitting on the edge of her bed, peering at her anxiously.

"We didn't see you last evening." Bridget said, as soon as she saw Lily open her bright green eyes. Lily slid up in bed and rubbed her eyes sleepily.

"I was in the Head common room," she answered. Bridget and Annabelle exchanged bright looks.

"The Head common room - that sounds fun! Do you get it all to yourself?" Annabelle asked. It was obvious that she already knew what the answer would be.

"No, I have to share it with the Head Boy." Lily said irritably, catching on to what Bridget and Annabelle were getting at.

"Oh! Well that would mean. . .James!" Bridget grinned.

"Was he there last night too?" Annabelle asked excitedly. Lily rolled her eyes and groaned.

"He came in just as I was leaving," she said firmly, clearly putting an end to the discussion. Lily felt a little guilty not telling her best friends the whole truth, but she knew they would make it into a huge deal. They would start giggling like mad, and would analyze Lily's "feelings". But Lily herself wasn't even sure how she felt, and decided she was much better off without biased opinions from her two Marauder-crazy friends.

Minutes later, the girls walked down to the Great Hall for breakfast. They were just about to enter the hall when Lily heard a shrill shriek and then familiar laughs echoing down the corridor. Lily ran down the corridor, reaching for her wand. She stopped when she saw a small first- year boy doing somersaults in the air. His brown beady eyes were wide in terror, as he continued to shriek shrilly. James, Sirius and Peter were laughing heartily, and even Remus looked as if he were trying hard not to laugh.

"PUT HIM DOWN!" Lily shouted, pointing her wand directly at James. James stopped laughing and looked at her in amusement.

"You're not going to hex me, are you Lily?" he asked sweetly.

"I will if you don't put that boy down right now, Potter!" Lily said angrily.

"Ooh, back on last name basis, are we Evans?" James laughed, his hazel eyes twinkling mischievously. Lily could feel herself turning red with both anger and embarrassment.

"Put him down now." Lily repeated threateningly, gripping her wand tightly. James stared at her for a couple of seconds.

"Alright," he finally said. He pointed his wand at the terrified boy and muttered a countercurse. The boy slowly dropped to the floor with a soft thud. "Maybe you'll learn not to loiter around the corridors from now on!" James said hoarsely. Sirius and Peter exploded into laughter as the boy shrieked and scrambled away.

"What business is it of yours if he loiters in the corridors?" Lily demanded. James ignored this, and swung his arm around Lily's shoulders.

"So Lils, I was wondering. . .when are we going to out?" he asked cheekily, rumpling his hair with his other hand. Lily pushed his arm off her shoulder.

"Never!" she snapped. She started to walk away, shaking with anger.

"Never? Come on Lily, you don't know that for sure. You're not a Seer or anything." James called loudly over Sirius's snickers. Lily stopped abruptly and spun around.

"I know that I will NEVER go out with you, Potter, because you will NEVER change!" she screamed. She quickly turned around and stormed into the Great Hall. She sat down between Kailyn and Bridget, and slammed her head on the table.

"Er, are you alright Lily?" Kailyn asked worriedly. Lily shook her head, realizing how insane she must have been to think that James Potter could be worth liking. Noticing that the table had suddenly gone quiet, she looked up and saw James standing next to her, wearing his usual stupid smile.

"I know you didn't mean what you said just now, and I really think that if you just get to know me, you'd-" James began.

"WELL I DON'T WANT TO GET TO KNOW YOU! I DON'T EVER WANT TO GET TO KNOW YOU!" Lily hollered. Several girls gasped, while Bridget and Annabelle looked absolutely horrified. "Don't you understand that all you are to me is a conceited, insensitive dimwit who doesn't give a damn about anyone else besides yourself? I have never met anyone who disgusts me more than you do!"

The entire Great Hall had once again gone dead silent, and everyone openly gaped at Lily. James had a completely blank expression on his face. No one had ever embarrassed him like this before, and he was so too shocked to even be angry.

"You weren't this hostile last night, were you?" he said slyly, with a devilish grin. James watched in satisfaction, as Lily turned even redder. Bridget and Annabelle looked as if they would explode, and the Great Hall exploded into hushed murmurs. Lily stood up and slapped James hard across the face, before running out of the Great Hall. Kailyn followed, dragging Bridget and Annabelle with her. James sunk into his seat, rubbing his cheek. Remus looked at him sternly.

"James, it was wrong of you to embarrass her to that extent. I mean, I don't think you should go announcing things like that to the whole school- "

"Oh, come off it Moony! What happened last night, Prongs?" Sirius demanded, grinning.

"We were wondering why you didn't come back to the dorm!" Peter squeaked excitedly.

"Oh, you know. . ." James began cunningly.

"What?" Sirius and Peter said earnestly.

"Er, nothing," James admitted quietly.

"Come on, Prongs! You have to tell us!" Sirius protested.

"Really Padfoot, nothing happened." James muttered, "I was just trying to embarrass her." Sirius groaned.

"Why?" he asked exasperatedly.

"Because she embarrassed me in front of everyone!" James yelled.

"Listen to me, James. You're crazy about this girl, so stop caring so much about your pride, and concentrate on getting her to like you!" Sirius said firmly.

"But she hates me!" James moaned, his head buried in his hands.

"Obviously!" Remus retorted. Then seeing James's depressed face, he sighed and said, "She doesn't hate you, James. You just need to stop pulling all these stunts that get her mad."

"Yeah, don't you want to show her that you're not all that bad?" Sirius smiled. James looked at Sirius glumly.

"Well what am I supposed to do now? She probably won't ever talk to me again. I've messed things up for good!" he said dejectedly.

"Come on, James! When have you ever given up on something you wanted?" Remus said spiritedly.

"Yeah! Now all you've got to do is talk to her, and apologize." Sirius added. James looked at him as if he were crazy.

"As if she'll let me talk to her! She'll start screaming at me a bit more. Or she'll slap me again," he said.

"Well you'll just have to patiently wait until she finishes. As long as you don't lose your temper and say something stupid, she'll listen once she's finished yelling." Sirius said reassuringly.

* * *
That night, Lily sat alone in the Head common room in front of the fireplace. She hugged her knees and swayed back and forth, remembering what had happened at breakfast. Angry tears filled in her eyes as she recalled James's cocky grin and triumphant eyes. The fact that the whole school now thought she had spent the night with James Potter wasn't even what was bothering her the most. No, it was the fact that she had stupidly let herself believe that James might really have changed. She had let down her guard. . . even considered giving him a chance to prove that he wasn't everything she had always accused him of being. She had started to give in to his stupid charm, and James knew it. . . he knew that he was succeeding, and decided to gloat about his achievements to the whole school.

'Well," she thought angrily, 'I'll never do anything that stupid again!' She was so angry for not defending herself when James's had made that dirty remark at breakfast. All she did was run out of the room crying. At the time, she hadn't even thought about what other people would think. She hadn't heard all the rumors that were starting up. All she could think about was how she had felt last night, how she could feel that there was something between them. . .but James could just pretend to pass it off as another one of his "achievements".

"Lily?"

Lily spun around so fast that she knocked right into James. She could feel her anger rising as she watched him stand there with a dumb look on his face. She had every urge to rip those annoying, untidy strands of hair right out of his head.

"You have a lot of nerve, Potter," she said quietly, in a dangerous tone. James didn't say anything, and looked at the ground. For some reason, this annoyed Lily even more. "So NOW you don't have anything to say, eh? Don't have any more rude or dirty comments to make?"

"Lily, I'll straighten out all the rumors, I promise-"

"That's ALL you ever think about! How highly other people think about you, your image, your reputation!"

"I'm thinking about YOUR reputation!" James said defensively.

"I DON'T GIVE A DAMN ABOUT MY REPUTATION!" Lily shouted. "It doesn't bother me too much what people are saying or thinking. What bothers me, and DISGUSTS me, is that someone could actually be so inconsiderate and egotistical!"

"Lils, I wasn't thinking straight. . .you had just embarrassed me, and-"

"Oh yes, you suffer a little blow to you ego, so you have to find a way to fix it. So by making yourself once again look like a King, and reassuring everyone that there isn't a girl that you can't get, you gain back points to your ego. . .so now damage done! Because NO ONE can insult a Marauder. . .isn't that one of your favorite lines?"

"Lily, I'm sorry," James said shamefully.

"So now that you've gotten everyone to believe that you can get me, I guess your mission is completed. You can rest easy now, Potter, and go back to snogging all of your little fans."

"Lily, I wasn't trying to prove anything! I like you!" James said pleadingly. Lily closed her eyes, willing herself not to cry.

"Regardless of what the rest of the school thinks, you and I both know that nothing happened last night, or any night. So I just hope you remember that you DIDN'T get me, and you never WILL get me! Not that it matters to you. . .all you care about is what everyone else thinks of you."

"That's not true! I don't care about what they think of me - I told you I'll take care of all the rumors. I just care about what you think of me." James said in a tone of desperation. Lily opened her eyes and looked at him.

"You want to know what I think? I believe I already told you what I think about you, many times. But okay, I'll just sum it all up for you. Basically you're a bastard, a stupid child whose head is bigger than the rest of your body. You couldn't change even if you wanted to, and you're a disgrace to the human race!" she shouted. James felt a weight tugging at his heart as he watched Lily break into tears.

"You're right Lily, I'm everything you say I am. But if you would just give me a chance, I could ch-"

"YOU'LL NEVER CHANGE! Didn't you hear me before? You CAN'T change! Your ego controls you! So just do me a favor, Potter -"Lily furiously wiped her tears away from her eyes and said softly, "Stay away from me. Please." She looked James in the eye one last time, before quickly leaving the room.

James didn't know how long he stood there for, staring at the spot where Lily had just been. He was sure he was dying, for his heart had been shattered, and he was finding it very difficult to breathe.

Author's Note: Well hope u guys liked the chapter! R&R thanks!