Untouchable

Stardrops

Summary: Lily Evans was beautiful, intelligent and mysterious. People saw her as untouchable. James Potter was a handsome, outgoing and popular. The two despised each other –determined to keep their relationship strictly that of enemies. But as time goes on, they begin to grow up and develop feelings that go much deeper than hatred. Their mutual fear of love becomes a myth when they discover that love really does overcome everything.

Disclaimer: The characters, settings and basic plots of the Harry Potter novels belong to J.K. Rowling. I own nothing.

Chapter Two: The First Party of the Year

The horseless carriages trundled up the hill towards the school, filled with students talking excitedly. Lily shared a carriage with three girls from her dormitory. They'd exchanged polite smiles as they'd sat down together, but now the three girls giggled together while Lily sat watching the trees and hill rush past in the darkness. The warm autumn air caressed her face as she closed her eyes, smiling as she smelt the familiar scent of the school grounds.

The castle loomed ahead. It looked like it belonged in a fairytale, so beautifully lit up by torches and candles shining through every window, illuminating it against the otherwise dark background. In the distance, she could just make out the boats gliding across the lake before the carriages rounded a corner and they were lost from view. The trees stood like pale shadows in the Forbidden Forest, and cicada noises floated up from all around them. Lily sighed with sheer bliss.

"Are you happy to be back, Lily?" one of the other girls – Jenny – asked, turning her head and smiling.

Lily looked at her with a slight jump. She wasn't used to people talking to her at Hogwarts. She hesitated before returning the smile – a bit weakly, if truth be told. She was always a little cautious when people were nice to her at school, as though they would turn around and laugh at her for thinking anyone would want to be friends with her. Aside from having no time from friends, Lily was not short in insecurities.

"Yeah, a little," she admitted.

Another girl – Emma – turned around to face her completely and studied Lily. "It's really strange, we've been dorm mates for six years now and we hardly know each other." She grinned and held out her hand. Lily took it and shook it. Emma was a flirty, bouncy, blonde girl with seemingly endless energy and a seemingly endless list of boyfriends to match.

Jenny was one of the quietest girls in their dormitory, but she had always made an effort to say hello to Lily whenever they were close, and Lily liked her most of all the girls. "I always like coming back," Jenny continued, her voice quiet and tentative. She seemed nervous that Lily would become sharp with her. Her brown hair hung half in her eyes, and her hat was too big, so it flopped down low on her forehead.

The last girl sat there quietly, studying Lily. "We're having a party tonight with the boys. It's just in the common room, but it will be at, like, one o'clock. Do you want to come?"

Lily stared at her, shocked. "But tonight is a school night – I mean, we have classes tomorrow!"

"So?" Emma shrugged. "Why does that matter? So we'll be a little tired, we'll get over it. Oh, come! You've never been to any of our parties before!"

Lily looked down at her lap. "Well … I …"

"She's the Head Girl, and she thinks it's improper." A sneering voice came from the carriage beside them. Lily's head whirled around to see James Potter smirking at her.

The other three girls looked at Lily and the last one to speak narrowed her eyes. "You're the Head Girl?"

Lily nodded. She could feel heat rising into her cheeks. She wasn't used to being the centre of attention, and having people's attention focussed on her.

"Of course she is," Emma said, rolling her eyes. "I should have guessed that – you and James got the top marks in the year and Dumbledore would obviously pick Lily for Head Girl – she's so responsible."

"You need to get out more, Lily. You might actually learn how to enjoy yourself," James said, somewhat sarcastically. The carriage bearing the four Marauders then moved away from them, leaving the girls in silence.

Jenny turned to Lily. "Ignore Potter. But do come tonight, it will be fun."

Lily nodded, and before she could reply, the carriages came to a halt and she was being herded out by the Professors. She caught sight of James Potter, walking with his three loyal buddies. Her stomach clenched slightly and she felt hot with anger. How dare he embarrass her like that in front of all her roommates? They were finally getting along and he had to go telling them that she was basically a goody-two-shoes who never had any fun.

But ought she to go to the party? It wasn't strictly against the rules for students to have parties, but there was the rule about students going to bed at decent hours. What if they were caught?

But at least if she was caught, James would as well. She guessed he was coming from the smirk he'd given her, and she longed to go simply to show him up. Perhaps she should. But then – 'Responsible Lily' came out – she had been trusted with this position by Dumbledore. Would this be abusing her position in any way?

Shaking her hair back, she made a decision. She was not going to go tonight. Of all things that were important to her, being Head Girl came far before going to a party to show James Potter that she did in fact know how to have fun. Why should she have to prove anything to him, anyway? He was an arrogant prick and had no right to go around making her feel inadequate anyway.

Looking around, she began to walk slowly towards the Great Hall. She was only too aware of the other people around her, and for once, she found herself wishing that she wasn't walking alone.

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The Great Hall was lit by many torches, flaming brightly and bringing a beautiful gold lighting to the room. The long house tables were set with cutlery and plates, but no food yet sat on the platters in the centre of each. Students all around waited excitedly for the feast to begin, while Dumbledore made his usual speech to welcome them all back.

Lily found herself not really listening for once. She was sitting beside Jenny, who had come to find her after she'd entered the Entrance Hall. It had made her smile to see the shy brunette come and take her arm, bringing her to sit with them.

Now the four of them were sitting together at the Gryffindor table, the Marauders beside them. Lily was separated from James by Jenny and Remus, and for that she was thankful. She couldn't remember ever disliking anyone as much as she disliked James at that moment. She'd despised him for most of the six years they had been at school together, and it wasn't likely to change as far as she was concerned.

She heard clapping and cheering, and looked up, startled. Food had randomly appeared on the table in front of her, Dumbledore was sitting down at the Head of the teacher's table, and everyone was tucking in. Not wanting to miss out on the good food, Lily grabbed the nearest dish and began dishing out portions.

Around her, everyone was gossiping and talking loudly and happily. Everyone seemed to be friends with everyone else at the Gryffindor table. This wasn't the first time Lily had noticed, she had to admit. But this was definitely the first time she'd been included.

Emma and Jenny in particular went out of their way to bring the conversation around to her. Sarah, the other girl, was slightly more interested in talking to the boys, but she did make more of an effort than usual to include Lily. Which is why, in a bizarre twist, Lily ended up talking to the Marauders.

"So where do you go in the summer, Lily?" asked Remus in a friendly voice. Lily had always liked Remus. He'd usually been the only guy to ever say hello to her, and she occasionally consulted with him on schoolwork.

She swallowed her mouthful of pie before answering. "I go home, to my parents and sister."

"Oh, you've got a sister?" said Jenny interestedly. "Is she a Muggle?"

"Yeah," replied Lily. "She's terrified of all things wizard."

A snort came from James. Everyone ignored him.

"So she's definitely not coming here, then?" Jenny asked.

"No – she's already in secondary school in London. She doesn't like anything to do with magic. She thinks all wizard folk are freaks and is not afraid to tell me so, unfortunately," Lily said with a dry laugh. She almost couldn't believe she'd just spouted all this to people who were nearly complete strangers to her. But they seemed so interested, and made such a good audience that she almost wanted to tell them more. She refrained, however, and took another mouthful of potato to excuse herself from speaking.

"Well, I shouldn't think we'll feel a great loss at that," James said nastily. "One Evans at Hogwarts is enough for us to handle for a lengthy duration, I think." He got up and left the table after speaking, leaving an uncomfortable silence behind him. Lily narrowed her eyes and watched him leave, feeling an immeasurable dislike for the boy.

"Er … sorry about James. He's feeling a bit off tonight." Remus said, trying to fill the void in the conversation. "Don't take it personally Lily, he thinks you're nice enough – I'm sure." Sirius shot him a look and Remus shut up after that. The conversation continued a little, though sounding a bit forced in some places. Lily found herself wishing that she had never opened her mouth in the first place.

He seemed to go out of his way to make her feel completely stupid. She could not tell exactly how his remark was supposed to offend her, but she knew it was intended to be insulting. That in itself was an insult, because as far as she could remember, James had only ever insulted her for his own pure pleasure. She could not ever remember provoking him.

He was just a stuck up, arrogant twit, Lily thought to herself, savagely stabbing a defenceless bean.

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James sat in the common room, a book opened in his lap as he tried to distract himself. But no matter how hard he tried, he could not stop himself from remembering Lily's expression as he'd made a dig at her at the dinner table. He somehow wanted to hurt her as much as he could, and he didn't know why.

He shuddered as he remembered what he'd been thinking at the table.

When she'd been speaking, he'd actually felt interested in her. As though he cared about her, and what happened to her in past, present and even future times. This was absurd, of course. Lily Evans was a snob, and furthermore, of absolutely no interest whatsoever to James Potter.

He slammed the book shut, furiously throwing it with all his might towards the portrait hole. To his satisfaction, it hit with a loud thump and rebounded back to slap on the floor loudly.

He groaned and watched the flames in the fireplace moodily. Why the hell was there a fire in summer anyway? He was determined to find fault with everything that night, and the thought that the night air was rather cool and that perhaps having a fire was a better idea than not did not even occur to him. It seemed perfectly ridiculous to him, and as his mood was so furious at that moment, he was not likely to think reasonably.

The portrait hole opened and James looked up, ready to pounce on whoever was entering for disturbing his irritable yet agreeable solitude. But his cutting comment was silenced by the sight of the familiar red hair of Lily Potter entering the common room.

He simply sat and stared – his mind seemed to go blank. He was feeling it again – guilt. Why should he feel guilty? She deserved everything she got. She'd started this entire six year detestation by so rudely refusing his advances – jokingly as they may have been at the time – and he was not going to allow himself to take the blame for any injuries he might cause in the process of following a fight she had so evidently caused.

Lily caught sight of him, and her eyes darkened with dislike. She simply glanced at the book which lay near her feet, bent to pick it up and placed in carefully on a small table close by. Then, without a word to James, she walked up the stairs and into the girls dormitories.

He found himself staring at the stairway, wondering what she was doing right at that moment. He'd been expecting her to yell at him for what he'd said to her at dinner – not simply treat him with a look dripping with loathing and then simply leave him in his anticlimactic suspense.

He didn't have much time to dwell, however, the rest of the school was slowly thundering up the corridors to their respective destinations. The portrait hole opened and slowly the room filled with Gryffindors, full from the feast and happily gossiping about events of the holidays.

James stifled another groan, and got up to go to his own dormitory. He could not be bothered waiting for the other Marauders – knowing their eating habits, they could be some time.

He ventured up the stairs and opened the door to his dormitory. Just as he turned to shut it, for once not simply slamming it, he saw a flash of red fly past. Opening the door slightly, he watched as Lily walked down the stairs, her posture so perfect and dignified that she looked like a princess. He gritted his teeth and slammed the dormitory door as hard as he dared.

Why was he thinking of her like this! Why!

She was his enemy. Someone he lived to annoy. Yet she was having such a strange effect on him since term had begun that he could not understand anymore how she had, in his mind, morphed from enemy to fascination.

This had better be short lived, he told himself.

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Lily had sat up late, reading her book. She was also finding it difficult to concentrate – but not because of James Potter. She was fighting with herself over whether or not she would go to the party that night. She knew she'd already made a decision, but now that the time was drawing nearer, her doubts came back and she found herself actually longing to go, simply to see what it would be like to spend some time with friends instead of constantly being in her own company.

Looking over at her bedside table, she caught sight of her Head Girl badge, shining so happily at her. It was her glory – something she'd worked so hard to achieve and yet never dared even hope for. And now she had received it, she was being sorely tempted to involve herself in activities that might lose her the position.

Was the temptation enough to risk it?

She gently shut her book and placed it on her bedside table beside the badge. She would just lie down and shut her eyes for a moment – she was feeling a little tired. Perhaps she would think better with her eyes closed, no other distractions…

A few hours later, though it seemed only a few minutes later, Lily awoke with a start. Someone was shaking her shoulder, trying desperately to wake her.

"Lily? Lily!" a girl whispered loudly. "Wake up! It's one o'clock, and we should be downstairs by now."

Lily rolled over sleepily, blinking in the harsh light from the girl's wand, and saw Jenny standing over her. Jenny's eyes were bright with excitement as she pulled the covers off Lily and threw open the curtains around Lily's four poster bed, and it was clear that she was not going to allow Lily to continue her slumber until she had attended at least a small part of the celebration.

Groaning, she sat up. Jenny handed her a set of robes that were lying on the floor beside her bed. Her own robes were on inside out, which Lily kindly pointed out to her before changing.

As the two girls readied themselves, Jenny kept up a small chatter – full of excitement. Lily found herself liking the girl more and more as time went on. These parties were not a rare occurrence, apparently. They seemed to have been being organised at least twice a term. Lily wondered how she had never noticed her dormitory mates sneaking off in the middle of the night.

Lily ran a brush through her hair and threw it on the bed. Jenny was looking very pretty with lip gloss and mascara, but Lily didn't see the point in wearing makeup to school. Particularly not when she was going to a party in the middle of the night and was likely to return to her bed within half an hour of attending. She sighed and looked at her reflection in the mirror. She knew she would look very ordinary beside her three roommates, but she simply couldn't see any point in trying to match or beat them. She simply was not pretty.

Shaking herself out of these thoughts, she slipped her feet into her favourite pair of slippers. Jenny was in the bathroom now, fiddling with the clasp on her silver charm bracelet. Lily looked at her own bare wrists and fingers in slight dejection.

The other two were already dressed and ready, and had slipped out to go and check the other dormitories to make sure there were no wandering first years or anything that might give them away in the common room

Jenny came bounding out of the bathroom and turned to Lily, smiling excitedly. "Are you ready to go?" she whispered, her breath coming out quite loudly as she exhaled to try and calm herself. Lily couldn't help smiling at her. How could she ever be jealous of this girl? Jenny was the sweetest, nicest person that Lily had ever met, and if things went well, was likely to be her first real friend.

"Ready," she agreed.

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Remus sat on the couch in the common room, watching James, who was sitting beside him. The dim light gave him only a vague view of James's face, but it was enough to know pretty much what James was thinking about, and definitely enough for James to realise he was being studied and to get really pissed off.

"What, Moony?" James asked irritably. "Stop staring at me like that."

Remus sat back in the couch and folded his arms. "If Lily comes tonight, will you please act civilly towards her? She's never been to one of these parties, and you could at least stop picking on her for tonight. Please?"

James scoffed. "Oh please. She's not going to come. She'll wake up and then remember her duties and probably scold the other girls for even thinking about coming. She's such a stuck up, boring person."

Remus sighed. "She's a nice girl, James. If you got to know her, you'd probably really like her."

James nodded and laughed dryly. "Sure, Moony. Whatever you say."

"Really, James. She's just a girl, no matter how distant and mature she might seem. She's really just like one of us." Remus's eyes were serious, and he watched James's reaction closely to see if anything gave him away. James opened his mouth to retort, but found he couldn't think of anything to say. Luckily, at that moment, the three girls tip toed into the room.

And to James's surprise, Lily was with them.

She didn't look like she'd gone to much effort, she wore school robes that were slightly creased and a pair of fluffy black slippers, no makeup and no jewellery. James rolled his eyes and remembered what Remus had said about being civil for one occasion.

He decided the best thing would be just to ignore her. Then he wouldn't be tempted to say anything he might regret or be reprimanded for.

"So, did you bring the pastries?" he asked Emma, producing several bottles of Butterbeer and sitting them in an untidy row on the floor. Emma smiled and gestured to the three plastic bags that Sarah was carrying. He took them from her, giving her a wink at which she giggled, and spread the pastries out on top of the plastic bags.

"Now, everyone, tuck in!"

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Lily looked around and smiled. She'd been at the party for about an hour and she had no intention of leaving even yet. After the initial silence while everyone munched on the delicious food and drink in front of them, they'd begun to have conversations about anything and everything. Lily didn't really join in, rather listened and joined in laughing.

James sat silently, moodily watching Lily. He hated the way his stomach felt slightly lighter inside him whenever he saw her smile or whenever she laughed. He rolled his eyes at his own thoughts and told himself, 'Remember, you said she was stuck up and boring. And she is.'

But as he watched her, he also remembered what Remus had said. "She's just a girl … she's really just like one of us." And as his observant eyes caught her movements, he found himself somewhat taken in by her beauty. Even beside her friends, who were each admittedly quite pretty in their own way, he noticed one thing.

The other girls all had immaculately brushed hair, shining with the potions they used to make it as healthy looking as possible. They wore lip gloss and eye makeup, and their clothes were picked to make their figures appear as best as they could.

But Lily sat with her school robes, probably from the previous day, no makeup and her hair only slightly brushed. She looked as if she'd just gotten out of bed (which she had, he noted). And yet – she was still eye-catching. There was no doubt about it, Lily was a natural beauty.

As these thoughts ran through his head, he continued to study her, his expression becoming less and less hating every moment. Sirius was recounting a story from their fifth year that had been told over and over but seemed to get more amusing and indeed, changed slightly and became more outrageous every time, and as Lily laughed with the others, James watched … and admired. He had never seen her look so calm and happy before.

As if she could sense his watching eyes, she looked up and met his gaze with a quizzical glance, one eyebrow raised questioningly. He quickly snapped his gaze away, his heart beating rapidly. His glance passed to Remus, who he noticed was also watching him, but with interest rather than curiosity. James gave him a glowering look and returned his attention to his croissant.

But at the back of his mind, something was bothering him.

He'd spent six years irritating, annoying, disliking and at some points, even hating Lily Evans. So why now, did he feel like every time he saw her that he wanted to impress her, or at the very least, make her think well of him?

Could he perhaps … like … Lily Evans?

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XO Moonsong: Thank you! I hope this is going the way you like it!

Hpandfriendsruletheworld: Wow, that's a pretty big compliment! Thanks heaps!

Pinkraindrop21: he feels guilty again in this chapter, don't worry. I think guilt is one of the best ways to convey his growing fascination for her:P

Kittyminky: I wasn't really sure, so I put Dippet in instead. I changed it though for you, cos you made sense in your review :P Thanks!

Evil Pilgrim: I'm not sure if that was an insult or a compliment, so I'll just say thank you, nod and smile. 

A/N: There's your second chapter. Now, I know this isn't following the story set out by J.K.Rowling, because James already liked Lily in their fifth year when Harry went back in time. But I always like making stories in the last year because it seems more significant. And making a gradual progression works better for me than starting the story from when he already liked her. If I started the progression from fifth year, this story would drag on like nothing else. So I'm going to stick with the start I've made and I hope that it works for everyone else!

By the way, In the first chapter, I wrote in Dippets character as the Headmaster, but I changed that after kittyminky reminded me of a few things to do with it. So yeah, keep in mind that it is Dumbledore who is Headmaster now, he's just a lot younger than he is obviously in Harry's school days.

Please review:D