Chapter 10

Hate Can Slowly Fade

The next day, Lily and James were excused from their classes as they needed to start planning and preparations as soon as possible. Since last night, they had to call each other by their first names, as ordered by Dumbledore; he had felt that if the guests would hear the two call each other by their surnames, it wouldn't make a very good impression. Right after breakfast, the two headed to the Head's common room to start.

"Listen James," Lily said, "Dumbledore is counting on us for this to make this right, so please, act like a normal human being for once and do annoy me, okay?"

James, looking deep in thought, merely nodded. Still a bit doubtful at James's absentminded response, she said nothing. They continued walking in silence. Until a certain someone blocked their path.

"James, how nice to see you!" Sandra van der Mark, a seventh year Slytherin whom Lily and her friends especially hated, said, fluttering her eyelashes at James. When she noticed Lily, however, her smile changed and she said haughtily and insultingly, "Evans. Why, may I ask, are you with James? Don't you realize that you don't deserve his time, what with you being a mudblood and all?"

Lily narrowed her eyes and snapped, "Honestly Sandra, could you please do me a favor and be a bitch to someone else? 'Cuz you see, I am not a very good mood this morning, and dealing with you or any of the crap that you're going to say isn't helping to lighten my mood".

James looked uneasily at Sandra then at Lily. He knew full well that after him, Sandra van der Mark was the next person Lily despised with all her being. He didn't like the girl too much himself.

"Come on, Lily, let's go. We have to start planning, remember?" James said, hoping to avoid another scene he may be caught in the middle of.

Taking a deep breath, Lily nodded, trying to control herself from not yelling, or hurting Sandra. She was about to leave when Sandra suddenly spoke up.

"Honestly Lily, I don't really care about how you feel right now" Sandra said. The turning to James, she said, "Really, James, how can you stand spending a lot of time planning with this pathetic excuse of a witch? Oh, wait, forget the last five words I said. Evans is a mudblood, so it doesn't really make her a real witch, right?"

Lily's eys blazed in anger and her expression was a furious one. She was about to yell but thought the better of it. Besides, she voice was almost gone, as she had been doing a lot of yelling at James the past few days. Struggling to compose herself amidst her anger, she simply turned and was about to leave. She knew that if she reacted to what Sandra had said, she would be paying right into the girl's hands.

"What's this?" Sandra said. "Lily Evans, turning away from something? Why? Are you too ashamed to admit that what I had just said was true?"

That was the final straw for Lily. She was about to slap Sandra but James quickly grasped her hand before she could do it.

"Let my hand go James because I swear I really want to cause this haughty slut in front of me lot of pain" Lily said in a dangerous voice she used on only two people: Sandra and James.

"No, Lily. It's not worth it. Let's go". James replied. Then, turning to Sandra, he snapped, "Sandra, I think you've shown us how much of a shrew you are, so do us a favor and leave her alone". And with that, Lily and James left.

Once they were in the privacy of their own common room, Lily said awkwardly, "Um….. I…..uh….just want to say that….I mean….."

"If you're going to say thanks for what I did, don't worry, its fine" James said, grinning.

"Yeah, well, thanks anyway. I have a feeling that if you didn't stop me I would have gotten in trouble, something I really don't want to happen. I owe you one" Lily said.

"Really, it's no problem. Besides, as much as I wanted to see you slap that smirk off Sandra's face, as I told, it wouldn't be worth it. Trust me, the moment you do that, she's probably gonna run off to a teacher and be the tattle-tale that she is"

Lily cast him a look as she set down a few pieces of parchment on the table. "How would you know that?"

James replied, a ghost of a smirk on his face, "Well, let's just say that I got detention for a week because of her"

Lily nodded. Then, she realized something: she was actually talking nicely to James! Not yelling at him, but actually talking. It was strange that It would suddenly come out so naturally. Maybe because of what had happened earlier. She looked at him and their eyes met; it looked as if the two were thinking along the same lines.

"So….should we start then?" Lily said.

"I would prefer continuing this conversation, but, sure, let's start" James replied. Lily laughed and sat down. James followed suit and they began planning. Amazingly, they didn't fight or argue once.

Twenty minutes later, they stopped. They had already gone into the basic details, but there was still so much to do. James saw that Lily was deep in thought.

"Uh, Lily? Can I ask why you look as if you're thinking really hard about something?"

Lily turned to face him and said, "Well……..you see, this morning has been, to put it plainly, strange. I mean, we didn't argue all day and you didn't act like an arrogant jerk. It's just….strange"

"Really Lily, do you think of me as an arrogant jerk only?"

"Well, that's the only side of you I've seen, so yes" Lily replied. Then seeing an odd look on James's face, she added slowly, "But, now I'm not so sure anymore. What happened earlier made me think that maybe you're not so bad after all"

James smiled. "That's good to hear". And after that, the two launched into conversation. The two talked about almost everything; their past, their families, everything. As time passed Lily was beginning to realize that James had a good side after all.

"Wow, he's actually being a normal person for once. I mean, he hasn't bragged once, he's made me laugh, and he's looking extremely cute today……whoa, were on earth did that last thought come from?" Lily said to herself. Se shook her head and turned back to James.

"So Lily," James began. "Remember you said that you owed me? Well I know the perfect way for you to thank me for what I did"

Oh no, I should have known he was only pulling his nice guy act so he could ask me out…. Lily thought fleetingly. Or so she thought, until she heard the next word James said, which shocked her very much.

"Friends?"

Lily looked very taken aback. She blurted out, "What? You want us to be friends? You mean, you weren't going to ask me out again?"

"Nope. I have to tell you, I'm getting tired of the constant rejections, so I figured that if you won't be my girlfriend, you could at least agree to be my friend"

Lily looked into his eyes to see and saw only sincerity. Still shocked, she said, the slightest hint of uncertainty in her voice, "Fine then. Friends"

James smiled and Lily managed to smile in return amidst her shock. Knowing that she was probably shocked over the whole thing, he decided to lighten things up a bit by telling Lily something funny. It worked and they went back to talking. That is, until, Lily checked her watch.

"Unbelievable! We've been talking longer than we've been working!" she exclaimed.

"Well, when the person who hates my guts finally decides to be friends with me, I tend to talk a lot" James said.

Lily laughed again and picked up her quill. Noticing this as a chance to resume planning, James followed suit.

As the days progressed, Lily's hate had completely evaporated and she was being very kind to James, who thought it a marvelous change. Everyone noticed as well, and were glad of it. Their friends were happy as well. Only when Friday came did Lily realize something: In just a week, she, Lily Evans, was beginning to fall for James Potter. James, on the other hand, had admitted on the same day something to his friends: He was in love with Lily. His friends, of course, were delighted at the news. Everyone was happy at the change.

But, that happiness would only be short-lived, since all of it would end during the ball, where James was planning to tell Lily that he was her Prince Charming.

Again, thanks to the reviews! Not my best chapter, I admit, but, you decide for yourself. Please review! Next chapter is going to be dramatic!