Lily Evans awoke to a sunshine filled room and with regret, rolled out of bed. She hoped in the hot shower and spent a considerable amount of time in there, enjoying the relaxing heat. After getting dressed, she sat in front of the mirror deciding what to do with her hair. Lily's hair was something she was very proud of, for it's beautiful color. Her locks were an amazing fiery red that matched perfectly with her emerald eyes. After brushing her hair and applying some makeup, Lily made her way downstairs to her awaiting family. Today Lily was going with one of her best friends to purchase school supplies for the up coming year."Honey remember not to spend too much money on clothes, you won't need too many!" said Lily's mother, a petite woman with auburn hair that was cut into a short bob.

"Yes, mother" Lily said annoyed, did her mother think she was stupid?

"Well, I guess you better get your purse sweetie, she'll be here soon" said Lily's Father, Mark. He was a tall man with neat brown hair and his eyes filled with pride every time they rested upon his youngest daughter, Lily.

"Yes, daddy!" Lily said as she left the room to run up the stairs to get her purse.

Ten minutes later there was a knock on the door. Lily ran to open it and was happy to see her friend Shayla standing in the doorway.

"Sorry I'm late!" she said. Shayla was a bit under average height and had gorgeous strawberry blonde hair that fell into perfect ringlets. Her eyes were a beautiful hazel and her eyelashes were so perfect, even without makeup. She was a bit curvier than most girls, which helped her to get the boys. Her smile was also something, and was probably her best feature. When she smiled, you could tell she meant it. Shayla was a very popular girl because of her personality and constant happiness. The guys drooled over her and she knew it. She has such confidence that it was amazing she wasn't conceited. Shayla seemed perfect, seemed being the key word.

"That's okay Shay, I was expecting it," Lily told her constantly late friend. After shouting a goodbye to her parents, Lily and Shay were out the door and headed for The Leaky Cauldron.

"So, how has your summer been?" asked Shayla.

"It's been boring. All I've basically been doing is trying to stay away from Petunia, as not to be yelled at for not walking properly or something. She's a nightmare! She waits until I do something wrong and then criticizes me about it until I make another mistake!" Lily replied, her voice dripping with loathing. "I just wish she would, like, go back to normal! We used to be so close, now, she just hates me! Whatever, so how was your summer?" she added to her friend.

"Well, again my sister has left me in her shadow and I've determined I'm seriously dreading going home at Christmas. All my parents do is yell at me! Even if it's not my fault, I get into trouble! Now my sister is getting married to Mr. Perfect, so that'll be something else I'll have to live up to!" Shay said, trying not to sound too upset. Lily knew how much Shay felt out of place in her family. Shay always put on a happy face though, only Lily and their other friend Lindsay knew about Shay's family troubles.

The girls talked about random things for the rest of the trip and laughed at nameless strangers. They knew they looked like fools, but didn't care. That was the best thing about Lily and her friends, you could be a total fool and they would still love you. When they finally got to The Leaky Cauldron, they went out back and tapped the brick that lead to Diagon Alley. The girls first went to the bank to take out some money, and then headed for Flourish and Blotts to purchase some new books. After visiting all the shops they needed to, they decided to go into Quality Quidditch, just to look around. Neither of them was any good at the sport, but it was still fun to look at the merchandise.

"It's too bad we both suck at flying, it could be fun to wear these cute outfits!" said Lily, as she pointed to the ugliest flying robes in the store.

"Ya, we're not missing out on anything big, well except a big fashion disaster!" Shay said rather loudly. She always under estimated her voice and how loud it actually was.

"Well if it isn't the beautiful Lilykins, and her ravishing friend Shayla!" came a voice from behind a shelf that sounded all too familiar to Lily.

"Hello Sirius, and mind not calling me Lilykins," said Lily. Frost practically came out of her mouth because of the icy tone she was using.

"Well, unlike my friend here, I can take a compliment and I must say you are looking quite good yourself Mr. Black," Shayla said as she nudged Lily in the ribs, "Be nice for once," she muttered to Lily.

"Well, Sirius, if you're here, then Potter must be trailing some where, right?" Lily said, dreading the answer. Her day had been so nice, and now, because of Potter and his arrogant friend, she was going to go home fuming. He always ruins everything! Lily thought to herself. Indeed, in a matter of seconds, James appeared at Sirius' side, smiling as his eyes rested upon Lily.

"Hello, Evans! Fancy meeting you here! I didn't think you'd be that interested in Quidditch, considering you can't get up two feet in the air on a broomstick!" James regretted the words as they came out of his mouth. He cringed waiting for the explosion that was Lily's pride.

"Just because I can't zoom around on a broom doesn't mean I can't look around a store!" Lily said defensively. Why must he always pick at the things that I'm bad at!

"Umm, right," James managed to spit out. He had no idea what to say to fix his blunder, so he settled with paying attention to Shayla, "So, Shay, how have you been?"

"Pretty good, James! I can't wait until school starts! SEVENTH YEARS!" Shayla was so excited about school, well, she was usually excited about everything, but school was definitely a big one.

"Wow, don't bother keeping your voice down!" Lily hissed. She loved Shay, but sometimes she was just a little too loud.

"I like a girl who's not afraid to shout!" Sirius said as he wink at Shay. Shay smiled her amazing smile and hid her face as she blushed.

"Anyways, we ought to be going!" Lily said, breaking the silence.

"We do?" asked Shayla, "Oh ya, we do..uhh lot's of things to take care of!" she added on lamely as she caught sight of Lily's expression.

"Okay, well we'll see you on the train!" Sirius said, although he looked rather sad that Shay was leaving.

"Ya! On the train!" James said, still cringing at his comment to Lily.

"Alrighty then!" Shay said with enthusiasm. "Bye James! Bye Sirius!" she added a
wink of her own to Sirius.

"Bye Shay! Ta Ta Lilykins!" Sirius said as he walked away quickly so Lily couldn't hex him.

"Bye Shayla, see you later! Bye Lily," James said as he went to catch up with Sirius.

"Bye…" Lily said absent mindidly. Did he just call me Lily? What happened to Evans? No, he couldn't have. But I could have sworn I hear him say that…hmmm…Lily continued to think about this until Shay pulled her back to her senses."LILY! Are you even listening?" Shay asked, rather annoyed.

"Sorry, Shay, I was thinking about…umm, school. It's going to be great, huh?" Lily wasn't sure why she was lying to her friend. Surely Shay would understand, but Lily wasn't to keen on sharing the fact that she was thinking about Potter when she didn't have to.

"Oh my goodness yes! So much fun! I plan to look for some new meat. I wonder which boys have grown up over the summer, in more way than one I mean," she said with a sly grin.

"Are you and Sirius gonna hook up?" Lily asked in a dead serious tone.

"Hello! Where have you been the last 4 years?" Shay replied in a tone that sounded as if Lily had asked a totally ridiculous question.

"I don't mean broom closet hook up! I mean dating hook up!" Lily replied in an annoyed tone.

"And have him tie me down? I don't thin so! Trust me, we're both the same. We see the opposite sex as one thing; fun. Maybe two; fun and a challenge. Sirius would just dump me for the next thing with boobs and an ass, so I much prefer our "closet buddy" friendship!" Shay was always so good at justifying everything. She could take something that had been proven wrong and make you think it was right. "What about you and James?" she added, knowing this would get to Lily.

"Don't even get me started on him! I will never go out with him! Ever! He's rude, obnoxious, disgusting and a chauvinist among many others! I mean, does he just live to make my life miserable? Every time he's near, I just want to run away before he can upset me! The way he looks at me…"

Lily continued ranting about James to Shay all the way back to Lily's house. Shay was okay with this though. Since it had been about the 100th repetition of the "Why I Hate James Potter Speech", she knew it off by heart and just mumbled something during Lily's breaths. Deep down, Shay knew they were meant to be together; she'd just have to help her realize it!

Well, that goes on my to do list for seventh year, "Help Lily realize she loves James Potter". Hmm, it's going to be an interesting year.