Chapter One

Lily Evans opened her closet drawer. She shifted the heaps of clothes just lying there. Underneath all of that, there was a picture of none other than James Potter. Why she was looking at his picture, Lily didn't know. Quite honestly, it was really weird, because for the past six years, all he had done was bother her. But last year, sixth year, James had given her a picture of himself.

Flashback

Lily was sitting alone in one of the compartments on her way back home from Hogwarts when James Potter dropped by. Lily was curious about what was going on because James came alone, without the rest of the Marauders.

"Lily?"

"Go away James," Lily responded, no matter how curious she was. Anything James did usually led to some sort of prank pulled on her or some other sort of problem. James the trouble-maker. Literally.

"No, just…I wanted to give you something," James said carefully.

"I don't need it," Lily told him.

But James stuck it in her face. "A picture? Of you?" Lily asked. "I get enough of you at school, now you need to haunt my vacation too?"

"Lily, I was thinking about what you told me, in fifth year," James told her.

"What, I told you to shut up, was that it? Why don't you listen—"

"No, that thing after OWLS."

Lily remembered. "That speech I gave you for jinxing Snivel—I mean, Snape?"

"Yeah. Well, I was thinking about that, and you were right. So, I'm giving you my picture, to remember me…and…" James conjured a beautiful white lily with little pink and purple streaks on each petal and handed it to her, "a lily…which is you, and…" James brought out a little wooden stag from his pocket, "this. I carved it myself. It's like my sign. I want you to keep it. To remind you of me."

Lily was speechless. James was actually being sweet. Lily didn't want to respond with a cheeky comment. All she said was, "Thank you…"

James looked sympathetically at her. "Do you want company?"

"Does it look like I'm lonely?" Lily snapped. She knew he was being nice, but she didn't think she'd be able to survive in close proximity with James Potter for long periods of time. Instantly, she regretted her snapping as James turned around and walked right out of the compartment. She had half a mind to call him back.

Lily's best friend, Angelise Marle (who adored the name Angel and forced everyone to call her that), finally entered the compartment as Lily was taking in the sweet fragrance of the lily.

"Where'd you get that, Lils?" Angel asked her.

"It's LILY. And James Potter gave these to me," Lily explained.

Angel just stared. Angel had the biggest crush on James. Not that she'd get jealous if Lily and he dated, because she thought that they were meant for each other, she just liked him (a whole lot).

End flashback

Lily picked up James' picture and then she remembered the stag. The lily, being a magical one, had survived in the vase Lily had left it in. It was still as beautiful as Lily had left it.

Lily was entering her last and final year at Hogwarts; seventh year. Just a few weeks ago, Dumbledore had sent her the letter saying she had become Head Girl. Lily was so excited that she had sent ten letters consecutively about the responsibilities of Head Girl each approximately two feet long to Angel. After the tenth letter Angel had replied saying "I GET IT!"

Lily found the stag under a red shirt that she hated and set the stag on her bedside table next to the lily. She didn't know where to keep James' picture. She didn't even know why she went looking for it in the first place. Lily just felt a bit different about James Potter.

Her first thought was to find the best picture frame in the whole house and frame James' picture. His picture wasn't that big. It was like a 4" x 6" photo. She had frames like that just lying around. She ran downstairs and into the kitchen. She spotted one with Petunia's picture in it. Lily glared at the picture-Petunia. Lily instinctively ripped up Petunia's photo and tossed it out the window. The picture frame was really pretty and she had absolutely no idea why anyone would want to waste it on Petunia.

Lily carefully slipped James' picture into the frame and glanced at the calendar. July 28th. A month and three more days until she'd finally be returning to Hogwarts.

--James--
James woke up to Sirius pounding a pillow on his head. "WAKE UP PRONGSIE! IT'S YOUR BIRTHDAY! JULY 28th!" I groaned. That pillow did actually hurt.

"Jeez, Padfoot, did you have to hit so hard?" James asked him.

Sirius just grinned evilly. "GET UP PRONGS YOUR MOM IS WAITING!"

"Padfoot, could you get any louder?"

"Oh sure, Sonorus!" Sirius grinned even more evilly than before. This was not a good sign. Sirius' voice boomed, "GET UP JAMES!"

James covered his ears. "I'd be surprised if my eardrum didn't break, Sirius. Quietus!"

"AWW!" Sirius whined. "I liked being loud!"

"Sirius, James!" Mrs. Potter's voice rang upstairs through the intercom. "Get downstairs! Dumbledore has sent letters for you!"

Sirius and James raced to get downstairs first. Mrs. Potter smiled disapprovingly (A/N: did that make sense?). "You two are really rowdy today. Happy birthday Jamie."

"Mom, don't call me that. It's James," James whined.

"I know that, I named you," Mrs. Potter informed him. Sirius snickered. James ignored him.

"Could I see the letter, Mum?" James asked. James was handed the letter. He ripped it open. "Doesn't Dumbledore send letters earlier than this?"

Mrs. Potter replied, "Well, yeah, he sent them a few weeks ago. I was just saving them."

"Mum!"

"I don't mind getting letters late," said Sirius.

"See Sirius doesn't mind," Mrs. Potter told James. "Why do you complain about everything?"

"Mum!"

Sirius and Mrs. Potter snickered.

A girl yawned behind them. "Hello, Abby," Sirius greeted her.

Abagail Potter (going into third year) yawned again. "Hey, Sirius. Happy Birthday Jamesie."

"Don't call me—!" James began.

"Good morning Abby," Mrs. Potter interrupted.

"Oh, sorry, Mum. Good morning Mum."

"That's better."

"I've got your letters Abby," James imitated Mrs. Potter.

"Shut up James," Mrs. Potter said.

"Do you want it Abby deary?" James kept going.

"That's enough now James."

"Oh go on Abagail daaarling."

"Shut up."

James, Sirius, and Abby snickered.

James tore open his letter and gasped. "Oh my God, there must be some sort of mistake—I mean, er…this isn't right. Dumbledore has lost his mind…what?" There was a Head Boy badge.

"Oh James dearie! HEAD BOY!" Mrs. Potter was so proud.

"Dumbledore has lost his mind Prongs," Sirius told James sympathetically. "You couldn't be Head Boy… I think you might've gotten Moony's letter by mistake…"

"Who in their right mind would make James Head Boy?" Abby asked innocently.

"Oh be quiet Abby," Mrs. Potter hugged James so tight, he felt it hard to breathe. "What do you want James? I need to get you a gift for becoming Head Boy!"

"I…er…don't need anything…"

"NONSENSE! IF I SAY YOU'RE GETTING SOMETHING, YOU'RE GETTING SOMETHING!"

"Okay, Mum…er…I don't know what I want. I don't really need anything..." James tried to say.

"Except Lily," said Sirius.

"What was that, Sirius?" Mrs. Potter asked.

"Oh, nothing."

"Oh yeah, but Sirius, I've gotta tell you something…" James took his best friend by the arm and dragged him upstairs. Literally.

"Sirius, I dunno, I've been doing some thinking over the summer—"

"LISTEN TO THIS EVERYBODY! JAMES THINKS!" Sirius yelled.

"Shh! Shut up Sirius!"

"Oh sorry."

"Anyway, I've been thinking, maybe Lily isn't the right girl for me. Maybe I was just chasing after her and I don't need to. Maybe I should just choose someone else…"

"I'm hearing a lot of 'maybes," Sirius said doubtfully.

"Yeah, I know," James said. "Because I'm not sure. Ever since fifth year, I liked her, but she always blew me off. She obviously doesn't like me back. Maybe I should just give up."

"But you two look so cute together!" Sirius said.

"But you'll never know because Lily doesn't like me very much."

"Very much? That's an understatement!"

Abby walked in. "What are you two talking about?"

"Lily," Sirius responded without skipping a beat, ignoring James's desperate motions not to tell her.

"Evans?" Abby asked incredulously, as if liking a girl that pretty was against the law and that James should be sent to Azkaban for it.

"How many other Lilys do we know?" James asked dully.

"Why?"

What do you mean 'why'? James said to himself.

"Well, you see…" and James and Sirius told Abby the problem.

"What do you think I should do? She hates me," James told her.

"You shouldn't annoy her," Abby said wisely. "It seems like the message she's trying to convey is that you should grow up. James I think she's right. You're too immature for her liking. If you act properly, she most probably'll start to see what a great guy you are."

"But why can't I act normally?" James asked her.

"If you become more mature, that's gonna be you're new 'normal.'"

"I didn't get that."

"Never mind. Just…try to please her if you really like her."

"But I'm not sure I do. You see, I don't like the way she treats me," James explained. "It's really a conflict. I don't know what to do."

"Just lay off her a little bit," Abby suggested. "If you stop asking her out all the time, she'll get her space, so she can actually see you from the proper angle. If you're just on top of her all the time, she'll just get annoyed. See if that works. After a while, when she gets used to you being all mature and stuff, you could ask her out again and maybe she'll actually agree. It seemed to me (as I was listening to your story) that you don't really care about her. You're just asking her out for the fun of it."

"But—"

"No buts. You asked for my advice. Take it or leave it. Don't bother me anymore." And with that, she left the room muttering "boys."

Sirius stared after her. "I didn't get any of it."

James just shook his head. "I don't really wanna explain. I'll try what she said. Be more mature…how do I do that?"

"Well, don't act so immature," Sirius suggested.

"Duh."

"Well, don't ask me! Immature is my middle name! Sirius Immature Black."

"Yeah, well that definitely describes you well. And it makes your initials spell sib."

"Sib what?"

"Mature…" James mumbled. "How the heck'm I gonna do that?"

Sirius was puzzled. "Sib-mature? I think you mean signature! Hey, I don't have a signature yet. I'd better get practicing. Got any paper--"

"Padfoot?"

"Yeah?"

"Shut up."

--On the Hogwarts Express--
Lily saved Angel and herself a seat when she realized that she was Head Girl. She hastily made her way to the front of the bus. I wonder who's the Head Boy, she thought. She went to greet the Prefects. The Head Boy wasn't there. I bet it's Remus. But then Remus showed up with a Prefect's badge. Oh I hope it's not a Slytherin!

Then none other than James Potter waltzed into the compartment. "This is pretty cool," he told everyone.

"What're you doing here?" Lily spat. No matter how her feelings had changed towards James Potter, he was still the immature prick that didn't deserve to be in the Prefect's compartment.

"For your information…" James pointed at his chest. There was a shiny little Head Boy badge.

"Say WHAT?" Lily's head was spinning already. Who in their right mind would choose James Potter to be Head Boy? Dumbledore must've gone haywire.

"That can't be right," Lily muttered.

"Look at this cool new badge Lillian," James told her, showing off the badge. It shined in the light.

"EW POTTER! My name is LILY! Not LILLIAN! LILY IS NOT SHORT FOR LILLIAN! THAT'S DISGUSTING!"

"I'm sorry, I just assumed—"

"Well don't assume again!"

"We've got to tell these Prefects what to do." James cut in. He gave an easy speech that made everyone clap at the end.

Lily began her bit, but no one was paying attention. After a while, Lily gave up. She was fuming when she asked James, "How do you do it?"

"Do what?"

"Get everyone to listen to you!"

"I dunno, I guess, not be like you."

"What's that supposed to mean?"

"Nothing! Just to be so…serious about this stuff," James explained.

"But you're supposed to be. This is Head Girl or Head Boy stuff!"

"But you don't need to act like it is. Be that way, but don't show it."

Lily decided that she didn't need to give a speech in the end for three reasons: Because she wasn't gonna be able to, because no one was listening, and James had already told everyone everything anyway.

"It's okay Lily," James told her. "You'll get the hang of it."

Lily sighed exasperatedly. "Okay, I'm gonna get back to see Angel. I haven't seen her all through."

"Who's Angel?" James asked.

"Angel Marle? You don't know her? The girl with the biggest crush on you?" Lily asked unbelievingly.

"Seriously? I know her, but I know her as Angelise."

"She hates that name."

"I never knew she had the biggest crush on me. This is interesting…"

"Oh, she'll be happy if you ask her out," Lily told him.

"Will she?"

"Yeah, but she's really odd. She thinks that you and me make a 'great couple'."

"That's what Sirius says. I think I'll like Angelise."

"Angel!"

"Oh right."

James accompanied Lily to go visit Angel. Lily asked him about fifty times to go away, and that he had other friends to go talk to, but James just wouldn't leave. Lily liked having him around though, she just didn't want him to know that. James wasn't acting like he fancied her. Just like Lily was some sort of old friend. It was uncomfortable really.

Lily just decided that James wasn't gonna leave and that she could live with it.

Lily opened Angel's compartment. "And who's our guest?" Angel asked.

"Don't you know him?" Lily asked back. "It's James Potter."

"I was joking," Angel told her. "Er…hi James."

"Just wondering…" James answered, "Could I talk to you in private, Angel?"

Angel giggled. "Sure!"

Lily was sure that the reason James wanted to speak "privately" was because he was gonna ask her out. But she wondered why he didn't do it in front of her. The old James would've done that. And the old James would've teased her when no one was listening to her back with the Prefects. But this new James offered advice.

Lily felt odd. She was expecting to be asked out. She felt a bit empty without it. It was hard to explain. Now her best friend was gonna date James Potter when she decided that she wanted to. Oh God I'm being selfish! Lily thought. I can't always get luck. If Angel likes James and James likes Angel, who am I to butt in? But I thought he liked me…

While Lily was confused in her thoughts, James and Angel walked in, now accompanied by Sirius, Remus and Peter.

"What're you all doing here?" Lily asked, dazed.

"I thought I'd bring some friends," James said. Lily felt good to be hearing his voice. He ran his fingers through his hair. When he used to do that, Lily used to get all upset, but now…Lily thought it was nice when his hair was all messy. He looked…cute.

The food cart lady stopped by. "I'll get us some food," James offered.

"I want to!" whined Sirius.

"Let me," said Remus.

"No, I'll go," Peter stood up.

"It's okay," Angel told them.

"No I will!" Lily ran out the door and came back in less than a minute with about a hundred snacks.

"Wow, you overdid yourself a bit," James commented.

"So?" Lily asked him. "Is that a problem? Are you not hungry? Fine, then I'll eat all this by myself."

Instantly there was an uproar. Sirius took all the Bertie Bott's Every Flavor Beans and Angel and Peter lunged on top of him and stole some. Remus and James took all the Chocolate Frogs. Sirius "wanted some" so he stole some from James, who in turn stole some from Remus, who stole some Bertie Botts from Angel, who stole some from Peter, who stole some from Sirius.

Lily was left with all the Pumpkin Pasties, Cauldron Cakes, Sugar Quills, White Chocolate flowers, and a whole assortment of other snacks. Everyone noticed what a pile Lily had, and took everything, except the white chocolate flowers. Lily rolled her eyes, stole a Bertie Botts and a chocolate frog from Sirius and a cauldron cake from Angel and a random pile from Remus and Peter and started nibbling on a white chocolate flower. This one happened to be a daffodil.

"Want to share?" Lily offered.

Everyone looked at each other. "NAH!" they said at the same time. Lily shrugged.

She opened a white chocolate lily. This one was so perfect, it reminded her of the lily she still had at home, on her bedside table. She hoped Petunia wouldn't get at it. Then she remembered that she had packed the lily for her trip. She enchanted it so it wouldn't die in her trunk. Well, at least Petunia wouldn't do anything to it. Lily sighed. No one noticed.

--At Hogwarts--

"We need to tell the Prefects where to go!" Lily told James, fretting.

"Calm down, no we don't," James said. "The Prefects know where to go. They've been here for five years. Did the Heads tell you where to go when you were Prefect? Nope, Dumbledore needs to show us the Heads Dorms."

"Oh…right."

Dumbledore led Lily and James to a picture of a vase of flowers. This was the entrance to the Head's Dorms. The password was "Rose petals." Dumbledore left Lily and James to enjoy the Head's Dorm. Lily looked around. The Head's Common Room was circular and had two full bookcases and many squishy armchairs. James and her spent an hour looking at books. Then James went out onto the balcony and remembered something.

"I promised Padfoot I'd ride outside with him," James told Lily.

"Padfoot? Ride outside?" Lily asked, confused.

"Well, Padfoot is my nickname for Sirius, and I want to ride my broomstick outside."

"Could I come watch?" Lily bit her lip.

"Err…sure, I promised Angel she could come watch too. That's okay with you right?" James asked carefully.

"Sure, why wouldn't it? She's my best friend!" Lily told him. But deep down, she was hoping it would be just James and no Angel. Whatever. Lily told herself again that she shouldn't be so selfish.

(A/N: --this is that little voice in her head, and this is Lily 'talking' back to it.)

--But you know you can't help it.

What do you m—Hey! Are you one of those little annoying voices at the back of people's heads?

--Nope just yours.

How come I'm always cursed?

--I wouldn't call it cursed, at least you have one! Some people are unlucky not to!

Why are you yelling at me?

--I just wanted to point out that—oh never mind. You know you can't help being selfish and/or jealous.

Yes I can. Without your help. Now go away. I know why people think you're annoying.

--I'm insulted. But you know that you've been really mean to James these past years and now you have to go apologize.

WHAT ARE YOU TALKING ABOUT?

--You know you like James Potter.

What're you saying?

--Are you deaf? YOU. LIKE. JAMES. POTTER.

Say what

--You know it's true…

I'd curse you if you were real.

--You're hallucinating Lilykins!

Don't call me Lilykins! What do you mean by "I'm hallucinating?"

--Lilykins! Lilykins! I mean, you think—never mind. You are too difficult.

Aw shut up! Do you ever go away?

--Not until you do as you're told.

And what am I told?

--To go apologize to James.

Why?

--Didn't we just get over this? Because you were mean to him.

Why do you decide to bother me now? Couldn't you have come last year? And told me not to 'be mean to him'?

--No.

Why?

--None of your business.

But you're part of me. Anything that's your business is my business too.

--I never said it was my business.

Huh?

--'Huh?' Honestly, you are so stupid. This is turning out to be a completely pointless argument. I'm off. Weren't you going to go with James?

Oh right.

--(No answer)

It's gone!

--No I'm not!

Darn.

--But this time I'm really leaving. But be warned, I'm coming back if you don't do what I told you to do!

Be that way!

Lily followed James out of the Heads Common Room and out onto the Quidditch Pitch. James stopped at the Gryffindor common room to pick up Sirius, Angel, and his broom (the new Silver Arrow).

"Hey Lils!" Angel greeted.

"Hi Angel!" Lily hugged her. "Long time, no see!"

"Yeah, I know!"

"Hasn't it only been two hours Prongs?" Sirius asked. "Or am I hallucinating?"

"No, it has only been two hours, Padfoot. Don't worry," James told him.

"Oh okay."

"Let's go. I can't wait to go fly again," James told them. "You wanna come Moony?"

"Moony?" Lily and Angel asked at the same time.

"Remus," Sirius explained.

"So you wanna come?" James asked again.

Remus was sitting on the couch reading a thick novel. "No."

"Oh okay. Are you gonna commentate our next Quidditch match again Moony?" Sirius asked.

"Yeah, I have been, haven't I Padfoot, for the past six years."

"Actually, five because James and I only started playing on the Quidditch team for five years," Sirius corrected.

"Yeah, but I began commentating in first year," Remus informed them.

"Yeah, you did!" Sirius said gleefully. "You, Jamesie and I took turns commentating in first year. McGonagall got mad at us for 'commentating in a biased manner!'"

Angel giggled.

"Have fun, you all," Remus went back to his book. James and Sirius shrugged.

"You wanna come Pete?" Sirius asked.

Peter was just watching Remus read his book with amazement. "Err…no thanks Padfoot." Sirius shrugged again.

"Are we gonna go now?" Angel asked impatiently.

"Yeah," Sirius told her. James and Sirius led the group out onto the Quidditch field. Angel and Lily sat on the stands.

"It isn't very interesting to just watch them," Lily said.

"I'm afraid of heights," Angel gulped.

"Well, I want to go fly. You don't mind do you?"

"No. Go ahead."

Lily walked down onto the pitch. James flew down. "Hey Lily, what're you doing?"

"Well, I was just wondering…if you'd teach me to fly," Lily asked timidly. She had never been timid to James before. But that was the old times. Both Lily and James had changed. Lily liked James and James was acting more mature. Lily liked that.

"Sure. Here, borrow my broom," James told her. "Have you ever flown before?"

"No. But it doesn't look so difficult…and it looks fun."

"It is. Try."

Lily kicked off. She sped off into the air. Wow, it was so high and beautiful. Lily loved the view. She flew even higher. She found that it was easy to control the broom.

"You're doing great Lily!" James shouted from below. Lily smiled down.

James watched Lily as she went higher and higher and circled the whole stadium. Lily had actually asked him to teach her to fly. Lily was actually talking to him. She really was acting different. She was acting like a friend to James. James thought that was fine. But right when James found a new girl, Lily goes and changes her whole attitude. James felt a bit annoyed.

Lily smiled down to him again. James felt his heart melt to see that wonderful smile being flashed his way. He couldn't help not smiling back up.

"What's Lily doing?" Sirius asked stupidly.

"She flying, you idiot!" James called back.

"On a broom?"

"Yes, on a broom you dumb—!"

"Language James!" Angel and Lily and Sirius shouted together.

"Sorry!"

"James, I'm flying!" Lily told him happily flying down to where James was standing.

"You like flying?" James asked.

"Yeah."

"You wanna try out for a Quidditch part?"

"I don't think I'll be any good at any of them though."

"Try out for Chaser," James suggested. "I'm Chaser."

"No, I don't think I can catch or throw."

"How about Beater?"

"I don't think I can hit anything."

"Keeper?"

"I don't think I can block."

"Seeker?"

"Maybe…" Lily pondered.

"Try!" James said. "You might make it!"

"You're Quidditch captain aren't you?" Lily asked.

"You didn't know that?" James asked curiously.

"I'm just kidding! Of course I knew that!" Lily grinned. "What does Sirius play?"

"Keeper. He's really good."

"I assumed."

"Actually, we need a new Seeker and a Chaser," James told her. "And a Beater, actually…"

"I'll try out for Seeker or Chaser, but I'm gonna need lots of help," Lily said.

"I'll train you," James suggested. "I'll get you ready to play Seeker. Seeker and Chaser tryouts are on Friday. Don't miss it."

"All right, I won't," Lily laughed.

"Hi all!" Sirius joined them.

"Are we going up?" Angel asked.

"Yeah," James said.

--Girls Dormitory:--

Angel and Lily weren't the only girls in their dormitory. There was Alice Hanson, who was constantly fawning over Frank Longbottom (who left the school last year) and there was Molly Prewett, who was constantly fawning over Arthur Weasley (who also left last year). Naturally, these two were best friends. Lily and Angel talked to them of course, but they weren't the greatest of friends.

There were a lot of Gryffindor girls in their year, so they had to have another dorm to accommodate them all. There were three in the dorm next door.

Lily sat down on her bed and sighed. Alice and Molly were fast asleep.

"Lils, is there something you're not telling me?" Angel asked quietly, so she wouldn't wake up the other two.

"What do you mean?" Lily asked.

"About James. I've noticed there's been a great change in you. You're acting really different around him. You're acting like, friends."

"Err…we made a truce in the Heads Dorm," Lily hastily replied. Angel looked at her suspiciously. "We did!" Angel raised an eyebrow. "Fine, Angel. I…"

"You what?" Angel asked. "I won't get angry."

"You will. I'm being selfish," Lily told her. "I'm trying not to, I swear. I don't like it, I…" Lily trailed off.

"Oh Lily. I'm just guessing…but…do you like James?" Angel asked. Lily whined like a little girl and said "No!" in a really high-pitched way.

"It's okay Lily!" Angel told her. "Really! I think you two are meant for each other!"

"But James likes you!" Lily wailed. "And I don't want to be selfish, like Petunia!"

"Don't worry Lily. I don't care if you date James. I think I've…gotten over him."

"You're just saying that. You can't have gotten over him! You just started going out with him today!"

"No, seriously."

"I'm going to bed. It's not even been one day here, and I'm already ruining your life."

"Don't worry Lily, honestly," Angel tried to say. But Lily just wouldn't listen. She was already fast asleep.

--Breakfast:--

Lily refused to say anything to Angel. She was afraid she had hurt her friend and she didn't want to hurt her even more, no matter how much Angel said otherwise. Lily admired her friend for being so strong. Lily would've been so upset at her friend, they wouldn't be friends much longer. But Angel wasn't like that.

James saw that Lily wasn't talking to Angel and wondered what was going on. Did they have a fight? James knew it wasn't any of his business, but he couldn't stop his curiosity.

Angel gave up trying to talk to Lily and went to see James. This made Lily even more upset. Why was Angel going away? But Angel went over there, grabbed James' arm and dragged him back to Lily.

"Get her to talk to me James!" Angel cried desperately.

"What can I do?" James asked.

"She won't talk to me!"

"I understood that much."

"Get her to talk to me!"

"What am I supposed to do?"

"Get her to talk to me!"

"How?"

"Get her to talk to me!"

"Arrgh. Never mind."

"Just get her to talk to me!"

Lily didn't know what to do. She wasn't going to ruin anything for Angel.

And that's what she did. For a whole entire week, Lily avoided the pair of them. She woke up earlier than Angel, and fell asleep after Angel did. She stuck to the library and kept a strict lookout for her. She was only able to keep this up for a week anyway.

One day, Angel cornered her and tied her to an armchair in the Gryffindor common room. "If this is what it takes for me to be able to talk to you, then so be it."

"You sound like a movie," Lily commented, trying to wrench her arms out of the rope. "Besides, there's nothing to talk about. I. Don't. Like. James."

"Oh yes you do."

"No I don't."

"DENIAL!"

"NO!" Lily shouted. It felt like she was in court or something. Like one of those cartoons. Where if you're guilty, you get sent down under.

This obviously attracted an audience. Sirius was clapping and James was looking blank. "Hey Godsend!" Sirius called. No one knew who he was talking to, except Angel, that is.

"It's ANGEL!" Angel replied.

"Yeah, whatever Heaven send. Just let that poor Lily-flower go. Look at how she's suffering…"

"YOU WANNA KNOW SUFFERING?" Angel threatened.

"No," Sirius cowered. He used James as a shield. "SAVE ME PRONGS OL' PAL!"

"ANYWAY!" Angel turned back to Lily.

"Where'd he get Godsend?" Lily whispered curiously.

"I'll, er…tell you later," Angel muttered. "But for right now…meet me in the girls' dormitory. I have something to tell you that, er…doesn't concern James."

Lily was really curious now.

--Girls Dormitory:--

Lily nudged Angel. "What were you gonna tell me? About Godsend?"

"It was what he used to call me, you know, when we were going out," Angel explained slowly.

"Oh, I understand why it was awkward," Lily said. "It was a term he used when you two were going out. But now you're going out with James, and it's odd."

"Yeah, but…Lils…"

"Talk to me."

"I…guess…well…" Angel hesitated. "I…I don't know how to say this…but…I like Sirius. This whole year, I've liked Sirius."

"What whole year? We've only been here a week," Lily informed her.

"I mean, I was even hesitant to go out with James, but I guess I didn't know whether Sirius would like me or not."

"Oh don't worry about that…" Lily comforted. "I'll bet Sirius is wishing he never broke up with you."

--Boys Dormitory--

James asked, "Sirius, how come you called Angel Godsend? Didn't you only do that when you were dating?"

"Err…Prongs…" Peter said. (A/N: I REALLY DISLIKE THAT IMBICILE (Peter)! But since he wasn't bad right now…I'll give him proper lines and maybe even make him smart (only a little)!) "I wouldn't—"

"Sirius, just don't push it, alright?" James cut in. "Angel and I are dating now, and don't think you can just take her away like that. Don't be selfish."

"It was a joke, James," Sirius hastily told him. "I just wanted to annoy Angel! Honest!"

"Oh, okay then. Have fun annoying my girlfriend!"

"What the he, James!" Sirius yelled. "I don't have anything against you or your girlfriend! Why would I do that to you? You're my best friend! Best friends don't do that to each other!"

James sincerely felt bad. "Sorry, Padfoot, I guess I was just jealous, and I let jealousy take control."

"'S'okay Prongs." Sirius jumped back to his usual attitude. "So, full moon day after tomorrow?"

"Yeah," Remus said. "First full moon of the year. Are we doing anything special?"

James pulled out the Marauders Map. "Yeah. It has to be special. This is the first full moon of our last year. Padfoot? Moony? Wormtail? Any ideas?…"

--Breakfast:--

Lily couldn't help noticing that the Marauders had really nasty grins on their faces. Of course, Lily, being a victim of the Marauders more than once, was frightened. But she really didn't want to put up with the Marauders at this moment. She was rather hungry. Hash browns, waffles, pancakes, porridge, pumpkin juice, and milk still hadn't done anything about her hunger.

She looked at James. He looked more handsome than ever, (probably because he wasn't really wearing that evil grin like Sirius was), but he seemed even more…well, Lily couldn't explain it. She knew that she had actually begun liking him, but she wasn't going to let it get any farther. James had Angel, and that was all there was to it. Lily wasn't going to compete with her best friend, especially for a guy that she hated for six years.

Lily felt horrible. She was always being selfish. Especially with Angel. Angel was so nice, it was rather easy to take advantage of her. And Lily thought that was what she was doing. Angel said quietly, "Lily, it's okay. I see you. You can't take your eyes off him. Just go ahead."

"No, Ange. I can't," Lily looked down. "Hey Angie…" (A/N: Sometimes, when Lils feels like it, she's gonna call Angel different names. Ex: Ange, Angie, Ann, Lise, Lisa, etc.)

"Call me ANGEL," Angel replied.

"Well…I…Angel, er…I think he's forgotten all about me."

"He broke up with me."

"I know. Wait, WHAT?!"

"Well, I broke up with him actually. He didn't seem to really care…so…"

"Oh, I'm so sorry!"

"No, he wasn't really paying attention to me anyway. He got a new girlfriend," Angel explained.

"Who?" Lily asked, a bit too quickly.

"Er—"

"You know, Angel, I think James has forgotten all about me. He hasn't given me a single glance since the first couple days of school."

"To think. It's only been a week and already we are having troubles." Angel shook her head. "What are our lives coming to? We're only seventeen and we're already dating."

"Well, this is the time of entry into our adult lives," Lily giggled. "After Hogwarts, we are officially not kids anymore."

"Why, that's horrid!" Angel pretended to be extremely upset. "They can't take me away from my childhood, they just CAN'T!" The whole Great Hall went quiet. Professor Dumbledore looked highly amused.

Lily raised an eyebrow.

"Sorry," Angel told her. "I was a bit hyper." The noise abruptly began again. Lily giggled.

Boys End of the Table:

"MOONY! Pass the ketchup!" Sirius wailed.

"What for? Your bagel?" Remus replied, not taking his eyes off from his book.

"MOONY! If you must know, YES it's for the bagel!"

"Yuck, why would you eat ketchup with a bagel?" Remus asked, raising an eyebrow.

"MOONY!"

"Just give him the ketchup, Moony, if only to shut him up," James interrupted as Remus was about to retort.

"Pete, give me the ketchup so I can give it to Padfoot," Remus said to Peter.

Peter turned to James. "Prongs, I need ketchup to give to Moony to give to Padfoot."

James turned to Angel. "Angie, could I have ketchup to give to Peter to give to Moony to give to Padfoot?"

"Moony? Padfoot?" Angel asked. "Why don't you have a nickname for Peter?"

"He doesn't need one." ("HEY! I do too have one! You just don't use it! It's—" he got cut off by someone shoving a cookie in his mouth.)

"Er…" Angel turned to Lily. "Lils, hand me the ketchup to give to James to give to Pete to give to Remus to give to Sirius."

Lily raised an eyebrow. "Okay…" Lily turned to Riley Simmers, a Gryffindor sixth year, who had a huge attitude problem. "Riles, could you hand me that ketchup you're using when you're done so I can give it to Angel to give to James to give to Peter to give to Remus to give to Sirius?"

"It's Rile-Y and what's it to you if I've got the ketchup?" Riley stuck her jaw out.

"Absolutely nothing, Sirius wants—" Lily tried to say.

"Exactly. You don't need the ketchup, now just go away, I don't need you bothering me anymore," Riley rolled her eyes and continued spraying the ketchup onto her plate. It was now so full of ketchup that it seemed Riley was just continuing on purpose.

"RILEY SIMMERS, THE HEAD GIRL SAYS YOU GIVE HER THAT KETCHUP BOTTLE OR SHE'LL HEX YOU THROUGH TOMORROW!" Lily yelled. Riley's eyes narrowed.

"Was that a threat?" she challenged.

"Oh, of course not," said Lily lightly. "I was just trying to scare you. To think, a Head Girl against a measly sixth year? You wouldn't even stand a chance. That's why I wouldn't call it fair for me to threaten you like that."

"I can't believe you just called me a 'measly sixth year'! I can deal with anything!"

"That's okay Riley," Lily told her. "You don't need to pretend to be tough. I know you wouldn't be able to."

Riley and Lily stood up and Riley thrust the ketchup into Lily's hands, glaring at Lily. "Take your ketchup! But I expect to see you out on the Quidditch Pitch TONIGHT, at midnight! And come alone! See if you're so tough without your little friends!" With that, Riley strode out of the Great Hall.

Lily sat down to see Angel's eyebrows go up. "What?" asked Lily. "I got the ketchup didn't I?"

Angel slowly and carefully pried the ketchup from Lily's hand and without taking her eyes off Lily, as if she expected Lily to jinx her at any second, and she handed the ketchup to James.

James handed it to Pete who handed it to Remus, who handed it to Sirius. "Here you go Padfoot."

Sirius took one look at the ketchup bottle and said, "OH! A gift? For me? How thoughtful of you!"

Remus raised an eyebrow. "Seriously, Sirius, I can't believe you made us go through all that trouble for ketchup!"

"Yeah!" James added. "And you didn't really expect it in the first place, did you?!"

"No," Sirius told James, looking at him as if he was crazy. "Why would you think that?"

--That night in the Girls Dormitory:--

"How'm I supposed to get out to the Quidditch Pitch without teachers seeing?" Lily asked worriedly.

"Oh, jeez, Lils, you seriously aren't gonna really meet that Riley freak are you?" Angel asked. "She's just a punk with an attitude problem. You don't need to have anything to do with her."

"Oh, I know. But—"

"Okay, Lils, if you really want to, I we'll find a way."

"But I didn't say—"

"Now enough talk, let's go down and enjoy the boys' presence," Angel sniffed the air around her. Lily looked at her as if she was crazy.

"Err…Angelise Alexxa Vanessa Marle I seriously think you've lost it," Lily informed her.

"Whatever Lils," said Angel, waving it off.

--Common Room:--

"LILY!" Sirius yelled as soon as Lily walked down the stairs. "LILY!"

"What do you want Sirius?" Lily asked. Sirius ran up to her before she could say or do anything and squeezed the living daylights out of her. James, Remus and Peter looked on with amusement.

"James, I've got a question," rasped Lily, trying to get all the air back into her lungs. "I need to get down to the Quidditch field tonight at midnight but how do I get there without the teachers seeing?"

"Oh, simple. An easy task," James replied. "Easy for a Marauder. You can be in on our secrets for a day, I suppose…but you must let me come along."

"But Riley said—" Lily began, but James cut her off.

"Riley? Riley Simmers?" James asked.

"Yeah," said Lily carefully. She noted how cute James looked when he frowned.

"What do you want with her?" he asked.

"Well, she asked me to meet her on the Quidditch pitch at midnight. Probably for a duel or something," Lily shrugged.

"Err…Lily. I don't think you should go through with this—"

"Nonsense! I can take whatever she throws at me. And throw something even worse back!" Lily told him.

"That's what I'm afraid of," James mumbled. Lily didn't catch that. "I've got something that er…might be useful."

James ran upstairs with Lily at his heels.

--Boys Dorm:--

"What have you got that's so useful?" Lily asked curiously.

"That's for me to know, Lils, and you to find out in just a second…" James reached into his bag and pulled out a silvery cloak.

Lily's eyes got wide. "That's an Invisibility Cloak!"

"Yeah."

"I heard those are really rare…!"

"Yeah. Let's go."

James and Lily hurried down to the common room. "We're going," James told the group. He hid himself and Lily under the Invisibility Cloak.

"This is awesome," Lily commented.

"Is it?" James grinned.

"Yeah. I always wondered what it felt like to walk around and not have people see you," Lily told him. She sort of liked the position they were in. In such close proximity with James. She never would have let that happen last year.

"We're totally neglecting our Head duties," James informed Lily.

"Yeah…but for some reason, I feel a bit mischievous." Lily spread an evil grin. "I can't wait to take care of Riley."

"Come on, don't do any damage to her…" James said slowly.

"Why not? She's really annoying…you know…" said Lily.

"Well, that's no reason to harm someone."

"That's what you do to Snape," Lily told him. James found himself trapped.

Lily continued, "If she does any thing to me, such as threatening, I'm totally gonna teach her that she should learn never to threaten Lily Evans."

"Lily, just don't do any real damage to her."

"Why? You've got, like, a soft spot for her! If she threatens me, I'll teach her a lesson. If she hurts me or tries, I'll really do something to her."

"No, Lily," James looked away. "She's my girlfriend."

Lily glared at James. How could he? He was going out with all these girls that were absolutely not worth the time. Why was he doing that? If it would've helped, Lily would've slapped him, but she didn't want to.

Instead, she decided that she didn't need his help anymore. She grabbed the Invisibility Cloak off James and ran off to the Quidditch Pitch by herself. James looked really confused for a moment and then realized that he was completely visible now. He hastily ran after Lily.

--Quidditch Arena:--

Lily spotted Riley Simmers standing right in the center of the arena with her arms crossed and an evil smirk on her face.

"Decided to show up, have you?" she asked cheekily.

"Obviously," Lily raised her eyebrows.

"Well let's get to it, girls," Riley called out. Instantly, about ten or so girls ran out from random hiding places. What on earth was happening?

Lily felt herself being pinned to the ground. She struggled for a while but struggling against ten sixteen-year-olds was difficult. After about a minute, Lily just gave up and lay there. Riley walked up to her.

"So…I told you that you couldn't outsmart me," Riley laughed evilly. Lily could hardly believe she was hearing this from a fellow Gryffindor. If it was a Slytherin, she wouldn't have been surprised.

"You cheated," Lily told her. "You said to come alone."

"True, I told you that," Riley said. "But I said nothing about myself."

"Loophole."

"That's right. You know, Lily Evans, Head Girl, there's another reason you're on my hate list other than you being so stupid. You're stealing my James."

"Your James? Well, I don't really care whose James it is, I'm not stealing him."

"That's what they all say. And you know, I don't like that at all. So, I'm gonna do something to you, to stop you. You can't have my James."

"Was that a threat?" Lily spat.

"Of course, Lils."

"DON'T call me Lils."

"I don't care. I'm gonna finish you off." Riley pulled out her wand. Suddenly, she looked so much more frightening, approaching slowly in the moonlight, wand at the ready. Lily had the sudden urge to scream. But she knew that Riley couldn't do too much damage, her being younger than Lily…

As Riley took another step, Lily suddenly felt very scared. Riley looked like she could do a lot more damage than she was worth. Lily cringed.

Riley rested her wand under Lily's chin, right on her throat. Lily braced herself. She wished she hadn't left James there. He'd know what to do…

Suddenly, a horse jumped over Lily and landed just behind Riley. Riley whipped around and pointed her wand at the horse. As the animal got closer, Lily saw it wasn't a horse, it was a stag. A beautiful, silvery stag. It picked up Riley with its antlers and tossed her, not too far, not too painfully, but far enough to get the point across. Riley jumped to her feet, eyed the stag, rubbed her arm where she landed, snapped her fingers and ran. All ten of the other girls streaked off after her without a backwards-glance.

Lily took a deep breath. "Thanks," she said to the stag as she petted its head.

The stag bowed its head and disappeared out of the stadium. "Wait!" Lily tried to say, but the stag was already gone. Barely a second later, James stormed in.

"I never thought Riley would do something like that!" he yelled.

"Did you see that stag?" Lily asked him.

"Err…yeah. It passed me as it left. It was kinda pretty…"

"Kinda?! It was beautiful! I didn't know such carefree and lovely things even existed!" Lily was amazed James didn't think so.

James rolled his eyes so that Lily couldn't see. It was actually rather funny to see Lily ramble on and on about a stag that was actually himself. He sort of wanted to tell her, but what if she let out the secret? Or told on him? So, he didn't. Instead, he covered Lily and him with his Invisibility Cloak and took her up to the Gryffindor Common Room.

--Gryffindor Common Room:--

"Had fun Lils?" Angel asked her.

"Oh, not really, no," Lily replied, "but there was one highlight of the evening…"

"Evening? It's past midnight."

"Whatever. There was…a really pretty stag. You see…" And Lily told the story of what Riley had done and how exactly the stag had saved her. Angel's lower jaw had dropped by the end.

"So this stag saved you?" she asked. When Lily nodded, she said, "Awesome."

The Marauders were eavesdropping, a talent they had mastered. Sirius heard Lily telling Angel about a stag and immediately shifted his eyes toward James, who shrugged and mouthed, "I'll tell you later."

Sirius nodded. He could hardly not believe that Riley would do something like that. In fact, he had warned James not to start going out with her for that very reason. But, of course, James had considered this reason to be rather stupid, and that he doubted Riley Simmers was that sort of person, and had ignored Sirius completely. Little did he realize that Sirius was actually right about her.

Sirius disliked the fact that no one realized that he was actually smart. He shook his head to get these thoughts out of his head and focus on what they were eavesdropping on.

"Padfoot? You okay mate?" James asked.

"Fine. I just…I'm going up." Sirius swept upstairs without a noise.

Sirius lay down flat on his bed and sighed. He had tried, but not managed, to ask Angel out again. He had only been able to get out the words "Will" and "go." Angel could not make head nor tail of this and had given him a weird look and ignored him. Sirius shut his eyes. Why couldn't he do it? James managed to ask Lily out every second of the day every day last year. How come Sirius couldn't do the same thing?

James gave up trying to spy on Lily especially since the conversation turned away from stags. He pretended he just emerged from the boys dorms, yawning and Remus and Peter followed him and they occupied their corner of the common room that they always sat at.

"What happened to Sirius?" Angel asked.

"He went up," James yawned. "Probably sleeping, seeing as it is past midnight…"

"Oh yeah…" Lily said. "Angel, let's go."

--Girls Dorms:--

Angel told Lily, "Sirius randomly comes up to me and mutters nonsense words. It's like he's trying to tell me something, I know it!"

"What does he say?" Lily asked curiously.

"Random words that don't make sense at all!" Angel told her. "I just don't get it! What if it's important? He says things like 'will' and 'go' and 'me' and 'you.' It's all gibberish!"

"You know what it sounds like…" Lily said slyly.

"No." Angel looked sideways at Lily.

"Oh." Lily rolled her eyes. "I can't believe you don't get it. Sirius wants to go out with you! Can't you tell, he just doesn't exactly have the courage, I guess…"

"Are you sure, Lily?" Angel asked desperately.

"No, it's just what it sounds like."

"Well, I'll be a bit more patient next time. Every time he stops, I walk away, because he doesn't need to waste my time. I'll let him talk next time."

Lily gave Angel the thumbs-up and a wide grin (that looked oddly sarcastic) and went straight to sleep.

--Breakfast:--

The Marauders were rather excited about tonight's adventure. The first of the year. Brilliant. First, they were going to all meet in the Shrieking Shack, as usual. Then they'd go gallivanting off in the Forbidden Forest, where they always go next, and then…they had nothing else planned, but for some reason, it sounded even more fun than it usually did. Remus insisted on not doing anything that wore them out (for example, going into Hogsmeade would mean that James and Sirius, being the largest of the Animagi, would have to constantly keep Remus in check because there were people living in Hogsmeade).

Lily had a hard time understanding what put such a happy smile on Remus' face that particular morning. His smile was so pleased that someone would feel a bit frightened.

James looked over at Riley, who was glaring at Lily. If looks could kill, Lily would be dead by now. James shivered. First chance he got, he'd break up with her. James had been under the impression that Riley was a good kid. Now he knew. Lily had a fair few scratches on her face. James turned back to Remus and then got up and stomped over to Riley. (A/N: not literally stomped.)

"Riley, how could you?" James demanded.

"How could I what?" Riley replied innocently. "Do you want to know something Jamie? Evans cornered me yesterday. She started punching, hitting, and kicking me!"

James was furious. First, Riley goes and does all that to Lily, and then lies about it! "Why is Lily the one with all the cuts then?" James almost yelled.

"I was only trying to defend myself!" Riley fake-cried.

"Well, I can't believe anyone could be such a liar, apart from those Slytherins. We're through," James told her angrily.

"How could you break up with me? When I'm not at fault at all!" Riley began 'sobbing.'

"I really don't care if it wasn't your fault, I don't like you anyway," James informed her. Lily thought Good for James!

There was a resounding slap and everyone turned toward James, who now had a red hand print on his cheek. Riley glared at him once more and swept out of the Great Hall.

Lily slid down next to James. "How's your cheek?" Lily asked, concerned.

"Perfect!" James seemed to regain his usual composure. "I finally got rid of that Riley girl! She may have a nice face, but the person inside is truly horrible…unlike you Lily. Will you go out with me?" James asked quickly.

Lily blushed as red as her hair. "I've…er…got Head Girl duties. Bye, James."

James set his elbows on the table. "She never did answer my question, Padfoot."

"She never will, will she?" Sirius replied.

---

A/N: So how was it? Review and tell me! By the way, I've finished writing this fic, and I know for a fact that it's only going to be three long chapters long. Just to tell you.