Lily pulled off the lavender scented covers and dragged herself out of bed then groaned. It was Valentine's Day, the very day she dreaded the most for one particular reason. James Potter. She had this awful premonition that he was going to ask her out again, like was his habit. Lily shook her head, her long reddish curls bobbing loosely. No, she reminded herself, James had changed over the summer and hadn't once asked her out this year. And she had to admit, she hadn't seen him hexing anyone this year, except Snape of course. But she could almost understand why he took a particular interest in him for most of the marauders' pranks. Almost. In fact, Lily had developed a tiny crush for James even though she desperately tried to convince herself otherwise.

She looked around the room, noticing that she was the only one awake. She took this opportunity to promptly grab some clothes from her trunk and head to the girls bathroom without having to wait. She had decided against dressing up for Valentine's Day, and being a weekend, Lily was not required to wear her school robes, so she simply put on a pair of tight fitting jeans and a t-shirt. She quietly stuffed her night clothes back into her trunk and walked over to the tall mirror in the corner of the dormitory. She glanced at her wrinkled clothes and muttered a simple spell to make them appear ironed. Her close fitting clothes accentuated her womanly curves very nicely. She quickly brushed her hair then took out her flattening iron and gently began straightening her hair. When she was satisfied with her appearance, she walked towards the door that led down to the common room when a groggy voice stopped her.

"Wow, Lily, you're up early this morning." She turned around and grinned at her best friend, Melissa.

Melissa was a tall, very attractive girl, with long brown hair and cinnamon colored eyes. Lily sometimes compared her to Sirius, for she could easily be his female counterpart.

"What can I say," Lily said, "I wanted the shower first today."

Melissa smiled knowingly and tiredly flopped out of her own bed. "Lily!" Once again, Lily turned to face her best friend. "What is it now?" she pretended to pout, crossing her arms across her chest. Melissa rolled her eyes and said, "You can't go down there without any makeup on! It's Valentines' Day!"

"Might I remind you that I don't wear makeup?"

Melissa giggled and said, "Well then, I guess we'll have to experiment around, now won't we!"

After several minutes of Melissa applying and taking off different colors of eye shadow, she gasped and said, "That's it! I found you the perfect color!" She put on a light shade of green that complimented Lily's eyes perfectly. A couple more minutes passed by as Melissa put blush and mascara on her. When she was finally done she studied her work and said, "You look great, Lily!" She winked at her and said, "Go on down to breakfast without me. I'm going to be a while."

Lily once again surveyed herself in the mirror and liked what she saw, "Thanks so much, Melissa! You're the best!"

"No problem, honey."

As she slowly made her way down the staircase, she could hear popping noises and laughter coming from the common room. Sirius, Remus, and Peter were already downstairs fooling around per their usual. Well, actually it was only Sirius being rowdy. Remus was quietly sitting in an armchair reading a book, but constantly looking up at Sirius who was performing tricks with his wand. All the while, Peter was mesmerized by Sirius' obnoxious attempts to show off. When he saw Lily watching him from the stairs, Sirius stopped and stood up straight, and took a bow. She clapped reluctantly and rolled her eyes. Sirius regained his composure and walked over to the red headed girl.

Sirius was dressed in a muggle clothes as well. He wore a plain white shirt and black pants that fit loosely about his legs. Remus on the other hand, was dressed up in a much more elegant style; a white shirt dress shirt with the top buttons undone and khaki slacks completed his attire, giving him a sense of dignity which he did not usually possess. Remus smiled at Lily, and she returned the gesture. She glanced at Sirius who gave her a toothy grin and made an obnoxious sweep of his hand, taking her own hand in his. He bowed, and without coming out of the bow, looked up at her. Lily dramatically rolled her eyes. Nonetheless, she played along and curtsied back, but pulled her hand out of Sirius's grip.

"Might you be interested in allowing me to escort you to breakfast, milady," Sirius asked offering her his arm.

Lily replied negatively, "No thanks, Sirius. I think I'll go by myself."

Sirius pretended to look hurt as she turned towards the portrait. She suddenly realized that James wasn't with them, but thought it would be a bad idea if she of all people asked where he was, so she continued on her way to the Great Hall for breakfast.

As Lily walked down the corridor, one of her friends caught up with her, grabbing her shoulder for support. It was fairly obvious that she had been running to catch up with Lily and so she needed to catch her breath.

"Hey, Dana. Is something wrong?" Lily asked of the blonde girl.

Dana was one of her other best friends, for they had known each other since first year.

Flashback /

A very nervous Lily stepped onto the train, and away from her parents for the first time. She had always been excited about going to boarding school, but now that the time had come, she was scared about leaving. She went in search for a compartment to sit in, desperately hoping that one would be empty. She wasn't quite ready to make friends yet. But when she couldn't find an empty one, she resorted to going into one that only had one other girl in it.

"Um - hi, do you mind if I sit in here?" Lily asked tentatively.

"Of course not! By the way, my name is Dana Horowitz," the young blonde replied smiling.

"I'm Lily Evans," she smiled shyly.

"It's nice to meet you, Lily! You're a muggle born aren't you?"

"A - a what?" Lily stammered, confused.

"I thought so. It's alright. I'll help you out and show you around if you like," Dana said kindly.

"Oh, ok. Thank you very much!" the red head replied, glad that someone would be her friend.

End Flashback \\

Ever since that first day on the train when they had become fast friends and were both sorted into Gryffindor, Dana had been one of her best friends.

Dana was a relatively short girl with shoulder length blonde hair and bright blue eyes. Her skin was paler than Lily's, but it suited her well. As she studied her friends face with a concerned look in her eye, she was relieved when Dana shook her head.

"No, nothing is wrong. I just wondered where you were. You got up awfully early and left before the rest of us woke up. We were all wondering if anything had happened."

"Oh, no I'm just fine. I just wanted to get here earlier than usual for a change. But thanks for worrying about me." Lily smiled and the two walked together to breakfast.

Lily was distracted as she talking to Dana as they rounded the corner and she collided with none other than James Potter, knocking them both to the ground. She quickly said that she was sorry and that she hadn't seen him, but he waved it away with his hand. Lily stood up and helped him get to his feet. He brushed off his clothes while she did the same.

She turned to head into the Great Hall when James asked politely, "Could I talk with you, Lily?"

With a little hesitation, she replied, "alright," nodding to Dana to let her know she could go on without her. Lily thought knew what was coming. James was here to ask her out like he did last year in hi usual cocky manner. On the other hand, he appeared more grown up, more gentlemanly per se. Of course, James would never be as sweet as Remus, but she had to admit, he was pretty cute, and he had gone for half the year without flirting with her or asking her out.

"Lily, I've been thinking about you and me - " oh here we go, she thought miserably, "and frankly, you really don't like me do you?" James looked downcast as he waited for her to reply. Lily bit her lower lip and looked at him. She hadn't expected him to ask this. But his expression gave it all away; James Potter was being perfectly serious.

"Er, honestly, James, no I didn't," she said, choosing her words carefully. James nodded sadly. "But - " James looked up when she said this with hope in his eye, "you've changed. You finally managed to deflate that big ego of yours," she continued. She couldn't help but smile faintly. James was gazing at her intently, his beautiful hazel eyes boring into her. She looked up and their eyes locked. Damn, I could easily get lost in those beautiful eyes. She took that moment to take in his entire figure. He, like Remus, was wearing a neat, white button down shirt, but had black pants instead of khaki. He is very attractive, she thought, smiling inwardly. Even his hair had been combed and wasn't the mess it usually was.

"Well, I'm glad you think so highly of me now," he beamed. "And here I thought that Lily Evans would always hate me," James grinned. Only you could ruin the moment, James, she thought bitterly. But she knew perfectly well that she didn't mean a word of it. She really liked him, no matter how much she tried to conceal it from herself.

"Lily," he said suddenly, running his hand through his jet black hair. Argh there he goes again with that habit, she thought to herself.

But Lily interrupted him, "why do you do that?" she asked irritably.

"Huh? Do what?"

"That - that thing, with your hair!"

"Oh, it's just a nervous habit I suppose," he grinned apparently pleased by the fact that she noticed.

Lily looked at him expectantly before saying, "You were about to say something..." she trailed off as she looked up at him. James stood about a foot taller than her and she always strained to look at his face. She wondered what it would be like to look down on people like that.

"Would you, er, like to, um, go to Hogsmeade with me this afternoon?" James managed to blurt out, blushing furiously. Oh my gosh, he's blushing. James Potter doesn't blush, especially around me! Lily was momentarily stunned, but after a moments thought she replied, "oh, um, alright." Just in the way he asked, Lily could tell that James wasn't James anymore. He beamed, grinning like there was no tomorrow and she smiled back awkwardly.

"You don't know how long I've waited for that answer from you, Lily."

From the looks of it, James was about to explode with happiness. One could almost see the light exerted from his face as though someone were shining a spotlight on him. His eyes were dancing with joy. Lily had never seen him in a state like this before. I caused him so much excitement just from one simple answer, she thought, thoroughly amazed. She herself was very excited. She had never gotten to know this other side of James, and now she finally had the opportunity.

"Ah, but first, for some breakfast." He offered her his arm and together they went into the Great Hall, each retreating to their own thoughts, both unaware of the stares they received upon entering. They were too comfortable in each others company to notice anything as they walked down to the middle of the Gryffindor table. They sat down next to each other and soon struck up conversation, merrily enjoying the morning so far.

Remus, Sirius, and Peter soon followed, and upon seeing James, promptly sat down across from him. A look of surprise washed over Sirius's face when he noticed Lily laughing at something James said. He raised an eyebrow and glanced at Remus, who looked as surprised as Sirius. Lily Evans and James Potter were being friendly to each other! This was not something to be taken lightly. He looked from Lily to James, and back to Lily and when he was quite sure the two were not arguing, searched James' face for an answer. When he didn't find anything, Sirius resorted to bluntly asking his best friend.

"Is there something going on that we don't know about?" gesturing to himself, Remus, and Peter.

James grinned but shook his head and said, "We aren't together if that's what you mean. But Lily Flower here has kindly accepted my offer to a date in Hogsmeade this afternoon." He gave Sirius a toothy grin, who disbelievingly looked over at Lily. She gave James a quick smile and realized that the other marauders wanted to hear it come from her own mouth.

"James isn't lying, Bla - Sirius." She was trying her hardest to call James' friends by their first names, since she and James were already on that level.

Sirius who was obviously disgruntled with this startling development, cocked his head and said to James, "Shit, Prongs. You're one lucky guy, getting the prettiest girl in the school on a date!" he winked at Lily who rolled her eyes but blushed nonetheless. Sirius began piling food onto his plate, and shoved some toast in his mouth before Remus entered the conversation.

"Why the change in heart, Lily? I thought you said James had an over sized ego and he was a arrogant prick?" James glared at him, but Remus just chuckled. Everyone turned to Lily who was becoming quite nervous at all the eyes turned to her.

"He finally managed to shrink that ego of his so that it sits properly on his neck. And I haven't seen him hexing anyone this year, so I guess I can't call him arrogant anymore. Besides, I never really hated him. I just found him annoying," she shrugged.

Sirius said, "Righ ou are, lub," spraying toast everywhere to the great displeasure of his friends.

Lily raised an eyebrow and said, "Huh?"

James kindly put the words in Sirius' mouth for him, "he said, 'right you are, love.'"

Glad to have gotten this off her chest, Lily relaxed and enjoyed the rest of the meal talking and laughing along with the other adolescent boys.