SORRY TO EVERY ONE (ESPECIALLY THE WONDERFUL JOANNE ROWLING HERSELF). I HAVE FORGOTTEN TO PLACE MY DISCLAIMER UPON THIS WEBSITE. YOU SEE, I DON'T OWN HARRY POTTER, HIS UNIVERSE, HIS FRIENDS, HIS GLASSES, HIS HAIR, HIS FAMILY, HIS SCHOOL… YOU GET THE PICTURE. I OWN NOTHING. (BUT, IF YOU WOULD LIKE TO SELL ME A PART J.K, I'D BE MORE THAN WILLING TO ACCEPT.) O.K. THERE IS MY GENERAL DISCLAIMER THAT APPLIES THROUGHOUT. THANKS.

A/n: I have a very special thanks to give to my reviewer PammapooShe has given me a new summary, which I think will work great. I never thought about that before, I mean, summaries always seemed more of a boring little factor to me that I tried to flit past. Maybe it would do well to put a bit more thought into them. Thank you! I am now pleased to present to you all chapter three of this story. I hope that you all like it. Please review!

The Truth isn't far behind me…

Chapter three

Stubborn as ever…

Lily spent the entire first week home in a foul mood for the most part. She couldn't believe that James had managed to ruin her summer in addition to ruining her school life. How dare he go and practically invite himself over to her house for dinner? He sat that and baldly lied to her mother about their non-existent friendship, and made her mother think presumptuous thoughts, and drop 'subtle' hints about Lily's love life all the time.

She didn't think it was possible, but now she hated James Potter more than ever. He was a pigheaded jerk who thought that he could win over any girl and go through life being on top. Well, she was going to show him all right. She wasn't going to fall for his little charades, she couldn't stand him, and she took pleasure in knowing that she was the only thing that James Potter wanted, that he couldn't have.

The day of the dinner, Lily woke with a grinding pound in her head, and a weird churn in her stomach. Today she would have to deal with James, and simply grin and bear it. She stretched quickly and got out of bed, neatly folding and smoothing the blankets behind her. Out her window, she could see that it was a magnificently beautiful day, with the sun shining and birds trilling their summer songs. This was the kind of day that Lily liked more than the rest, the kind of day when she could walk barefooted through the small wood behind her family home, down by the cool watered stream. She'd always found it as a sanctuary, whenever she found her life getting to hectic, or stressful, she would go down there and just listen to the sounds around her, letting the nature sooth her deepest fears.

Lily quickly ran a comb through her tangled hair, and went down stairs for breakfast. She was smiling when she entered the kitchen, but the smile disappeared almost instantly when she looked around. There at her kitchen table, was the pig himself. James Potter.

"Oh, hello sweetie," Her mother simpered from over by the stove where she stirred a pot of grits. "I decided to send your friend James an invitation to come early. This way he can come with us to the beach. Won't that be lovely?"

Lily just stood their, eyes wide and mouth gaping. She couldn't believe it. Her mother had went behind her back to invite James over to enjoy a family outing? It wasn't his family; he wasn't even a friend of the family. Lily was suddenly very aware that her pajama shorts ended well above her knees.

"Oh, mother." She sighed, not wanting to spoil her mother's obvious good mood. "You shouldn't have." She laid emphasis on the words, but her mother didn't catch onto it, and continued stirring nonchalantly.

Lily rolled her eyes and walked back up to her room. If she was going to be around James all day, she would need some preparation.

The instant that Lily got out of the car, and stepped into the scorching sun, she desperately regretted her clothing choice. She'd decided on a pair of long black slacks and a plain tee shirt, no swimsuit. She'd been trying to be defiant, to show James, without words, that she hated him with every thread of her core. But as she watched everyone peel off his or her clothes, she didn't feel defiant, she just felt stupid.

Deciding not to admit defeat so soon, she merely pulled on her dark sunglasses, and pulled out a thick book. She stretched out on her beach chair without a complaint.

"Lily, dear? Wouldn't you like to come into the water with us?" Her mother asked as she spread sunscreen on all the skin that her (rather skimpy, in Lily's opinion) bathing suit didn't cover.

"Mother, the water will be there all day, I don't see the point in going in now, when I shall just grow tired of it and want to go home all the sooner." She replied, mentally adding 'though it's not like I don't want to go home now.'

Her mother just smiled. "All right dearie, if you change your mind, feel free to join us!" She trotted off towards the water.

Lily watched as James glanced in her direction, then walked out into the water. She couldn't believe that he was there ruining her day. She'd always enjoyed going to the beach with her family in the summer, and he'd managed to kill her fun. She scornfully pulled her book up to cover her face, and pretended to read. It was just some boring biography really, that she'd pulled off of her shelf in her haste of defiance, and right then, she wished she'd grabbed something interesting, like a Ray Bradbury or Charles Dickens.

She didn't know how long she sat their, trying to ignore the sounds of beach fun around her, but when she finally did lower the book, every one was making their way back over to her, for lunch. She smiled coldly at them all. How could they all be so happy, while she sat there so miserably? It was all their fault. Her blood was boiling, as she snatched her glassed off, and stuffed the book in her bag.

Suddenly, everyone started to giggle, then her mother outright laughed.

"What?" Lily demanded crossly, seething that they'd all shared a joke with out her.

"Oh, Lily, you really should have put on some sun block, with your fair skin." Her mother giggled.

Lily's eyes widened as her hands flew to her face. It was hot to the touch.

"O.k. so I have a sun burn. So?" She was still glaring at them all.

"Here, look dear." Her mother handed her a small mirror from her purse.

Lily looked at her reflection and gasped. Where she'd had on her sunglasses were large white circles in a sea of red flesh. She looked up at them all, and James caught her eye, a small smile on his lips. She wanted to punch him. How dare he be there to see her be humiliated in front of everyone? Suddenly she realized that she was just making things worse by resisting. She smiled.

"Oh, wow, I didn't think that could happen." She handed her mother back the mirror.

"O.k. Sandwiches for everyone then!" her mother was digging through the large thermal bag she'd brought with them.

Lily was getting ready to go, as the sun was sinking in the sky, when someone grabbed her from behind. Who ever it was, they easily lifted her, and ran off towards the water. She twisted furiously around, and stared into the laughing face of James.

"James Potter! Put me down this instant!" She shrieked, kicking her feet. She felt anger in her self, but she also felt something else. She pushed down the latter and continued shrieking until James was already in waist deep. She wrapped her arms around his neck, to keep her self out of the water.

James stared at her for a minute, then leaned in and planted a sloppy kiss right on her mouth. Lily let go of his neck instantly, pushing him away.

"You presumptuous arse!" Lily slapped him in his face. She waded out of the water quickly, with her mother, father and Petunia staring at her. She stormed up to the car, and was surprised to find her clothes had already dried. She grabbed her bag and tossed it in, and slammed the door as she got in herself.

She wanted to die. He had kissed her, and humiliated her in front of her family. Her first kiss wasn't supposed to be like that, it was supposed to be romantic, and not with James Potter. In spite of herself, she felt angry tears forming in her eyes and spilling down her sun reddened cheeks.

When they all pulled up to the house, lily was the first out of the car; she slammed the door and stormed off. She had to get away from them, she was going to her only sanctuary: the calming woods. She ignored her mother's calls as she stormed through the underbrush noisily.

When she was finally out of sight of the other's, she collapsed against a tree, her body racking with sobs. She rocked back and forth, crying her eyes out. She felt completely ridiculous, but she couldn't stop crying. She felt a soft nudge on her arm, and she looked up. There before her was a beautiful young stag. This wasn't the first time she'd seen it; it had first approached her in her third year when she was out in these same woods after her Grandmother passed away. There was something so familiar about the stag, which was ludicrous, because, she was sure it was the only stag she'd ever seen, but she felt secure when it was around.

She smiled at the deer, and reached up to pat it's velvety nose.

"You know, I don't understand anything anymore." She sighed, talking to the stag as though it could understand her. "There's this boy, James, and he is supposedly 'in love' with me. Sometimes I actually believe it, I mean you should hear how people talk, but then he does the dumbest things. I mean, when I first met him, at the sorting ceremony, he tripped me when they called my name! Ever since then, everyone's talked of his love for me, and my hatred for him has skyrocketed. And today, after I had already been humiliated once, he pulled me out into the water, and you know what he did? He kissed me. I guess he thought it was a good idea, but it definitely was not. That was my first kiss, and he stole it from me. Kisses aren't supposed to be like that." She felt tears stinging her eyes. Then she laughed. "Look at me, talking of his stupidity, and here I am talking to a deer, like it can understand me!"

She patted the stag one last time, and she stood, brushing away any signs of tears.

"Good bye" She laughed to herself as she walked out of the forest.

Twilight shone brightly as she stepped out of the wood, and she shivered in the chilled air. She walked towards the house, but stopped instantly when she heard a rustling sound behind her. She twirled around, fear engulfing her, and saw James emerging from where she'd just come.

"What were you doing?" She spat at him.

"I was looking for you." For some reason, James looked slightly nervous as he ran a hand through his hair. "Look lily, I am really sorry about what I did today, I mean, kissing you and all. I guess I just got caught up in the moment…"

Lily scoffed. "What 'moment' you were dragging me out there and I was screaming, how romantic." She rolled her eyes.

"Well, I don't know. I just… I don't' know what happened exactly."

"I'll tell you what happened, James. What happened was you being your usual arrogant self, and assuming that I would want to kiss you. For your information, I am not like all the other girls at Hogwarts. I happen to have this thing called dignity, and self respect. And I have enough of both to know that I don't want to lower myself to your level."

James looked as though she had slapped him. "Well if you hadn't sat like a sour old hag on the shore all day, in those pants, I wouldn't have had to throw you in. You looked miserable by the way. You must have been burning up-"

"It's not for you to decide if I am miserable or not, Potter, because you are nothing to me. Get that? Nothing! Just an arrogant prat who is far too used to getting his way about everything!"

"Well, maybe I wouldn't seem like such a prat if you would just lighten up and stop acting like you are better than everyone!"

"You want to know something, I am better than you. I watch you strut around, and act like a fool, and you love the fact that girls fall at your feet. But you have no integrity, and you have way too little self respect, and absolutely too much pride!"

"Oh, ho ho, who's being arrogant now, Evans? Better than me are you? Maybe you are. But you don't have to act like such a snoot!"

"And you don't have to act like such a pig! Do me a favor, Potter, and leave me alone. Stop trying to sway me, I don't even like you! Don't play nice to my mother, and don't come over here like you're wanted. This is my family, and the summer is the only time of the year when I can get away from the likes of you! I would appreciate it if you wouldn't ruin my home life for me too, cause we all know your doing a perfect job of ruining my school one."

The anger dropped instantly from James' face. "I ruin your life? Do you really think so?" He suddenly looked concerned.

"Hmm, let's think, shall we? First year, you humiliated me in front of the entire school by tripping me at the sorting, second year, you turned my hair yellow for three weeks, third year, you… you, I don't remember what you did, but I'm sure it was awful! Every year you find some new way to make life hell for me! It's a wonder that I'm even still going to Hogwarts!" She spat. "Oh, don't look so surprised. If it weren't for Dumbledore I would have left it in my first year after you tripped me. I want you to just leave me alone. I don't know if you think that all the awful things you do to me are cute or whatever, but they're not. They are hell. I can't take anymore. Stay away from me." Lily felt tears stinging her eyes as she twirled around and ran into the house, leaving James standing there alone.

A/n: well, there you all have it. That is chapter three. I really hope you enjoyed it. It is out a bit later than I would have hoped, but I have been ridiculously busy lately. I hope that you can all forgive me. I got fantastic reviews for my last chapter, and that has made me immensely happy, more so than you could ever imagine. Writing it is totally fun, but getting reviews is like a paycheck at the end of a hard week. To my reviewers individually:

Alotia: Thank you for your review. I guess we'll have to wait and see what happens in the future!

PammaPoo: Lol, i'm really glad you liked my story. I did the sleepwalking thing, because i haven't ever seen it done before either, and i think that diversity is very important to make things stand out. Thank you for the summary help! I don't seem to have much luck with reviews lately, i mean, i get people reading, because they add me to their 'alert' list and everything, but they just won't review. It's rather depressing. I think it will help if i get a beta. I was thinking of actually writing a story (not this one) but another one, and it is a version of events where Lily and James some how live, and shows how harry's life would have been different. I'll make sure to let you know when i post it. But thank you so much for your review, it meant a lot! Thanks for 'highly reccomending me' ! Thanks

hplovesme/casey: Thanks for your review, i'm glad that you think its funny, but trust me, there is lots more to come! keep coming back and checking, or add me to your alert list, i hope you like this chapter. Keep reviewing.

Thanks to every one who has been showing me support so far, and please recommend me to your friends and everything. Thank you for reading. Keep reviewing!

Ciao,

Aimee