Disclaimer: All the characters that you recognize belong to J. K. Rowling. The plot of this story was greatly inspired by the movie, How to Lose a Guy in 10 Days. Also, one scene in this was greatly inspired by Wedding Crashers.

Author's Note: Thanks to mutti, Willimillia, Rachel, Miss Myrtle360, Lillith Potter, rowling-wannabe, Untamed Loner, lizziee, serindraxx, siriusforeva, EboniteEvans, lillypad123, NJ MacReiley the Helpless Romantic, and zuska1985 for reviewing! You are all amazing!

"Lily, there he is, go talk to him," Sam urged, nodding her head towards James. Lily, Sam, and Kelsey were all seated at the Gryffindor table in the Great Hall, waiting for their dinner to appear.

"I don't know," Lily whined.

"Do you want to drive him away?" Kelsey asked.

"Yes," Lily weakly answered.

"Then you have to. You need to go over there, not let him eat with his friends and bug the shit out of him," Kelsey informed Lily.

"Oh, that's good," Sam commented. "Don't sit down with his friends; make him sit alone with you."

"Oh my God, better yet, make him come over here and sit with us. There's nothing worse than forcing a guy to ditch his friends to hang out with yours," Kelsey said, getting excited as she spoke.

"I don't know, maybe I should give him a break. I mean, I was with him so much the past two days," Lily replied.

"No," both Sam and Kelsey said at once.

Lily looked startled, not expecting them to react with such emotions.

"You can't do that…if you let him off the hook for even one day, everything will be ruined. You have to be clingy and annoying if you want to drive him away," Sam asserted.

"Okay, okay…but I'm not sure what I'm going to do," Lily confessed. "I've already done the pet name thing, referenced his you-know-what, accused him of being gay, told him that kissing was off limits, accused him of looking at porn, and got him hexed by Snape. I'm not sure what else there is to do."

"Wow, that's a lot in just two days," Sam commented.

"I know, and he's still not backing off," Lily exclaimed.

"Okay, this guy is not going to be easy to crack," Kelsey stated. "You need to do something absolutely repulsive, something that no guy in their right mind would stand for."

"But what?" Lily asked.

"I've got it," Sam announced, a grin on her face. "Think of the one thing all guys hate, especially in the beginning of a relationship."

"Pet names?" Lily asked, very unsure of her answer.

"No, you moron," Sam joked. "Commitment."

"Commitment?" Lily asked, an intrigued look on her face.

"Commitment," Sam stated, grinning from ear to ear.

---

Lily watched as James sat down with his friends. He took a seat next to Peter, across from Sirius and Remus. He looked genuinely happy to be around them, as if there was nothing wrong in his life.

She watched as he piled a large chicken breast onto his plate, adding three scoops of mashed potatoes next to it. He then poured himself a glass of water before guzzling half of it down with one swift motion.

Lily took a deep breath before getting up from her end of the table and walking toward him. She felt bad, ripping him away from his friends. He wasn't such a bad guy, was he? Did he really deserve her carefully masterminded plan?

She was almost directly behind him when she heard him say, "I'm not worried about it all. Let's face it, in a competition between me and Mandel, of course I'd win. He's such a whiny little kid anyways. Do you remember back in fourth year when we turned his entire wardrobe pink for a month, that was priceless."

"That and when he cried about it," Peter joked.

That cocky, mean bastard. How could she even think that he didn't deserve this? He was mean, arrogant, and couldn't get enough of himself. He was appalling. She hated James Potter, simply despised him. She was not going to permit herself to feel sorry for him ever again. He was a no good, lousy piece of shit and she couldn't wait to tear him apart.

After hearing the Marauder's conversation, she was determined not to make James regret the day he ever laid eyes on Lily Evans; she was going to make him wish he were dead.

"Guess who?" she asked, slipping her small hands over his eyes.

"Hey," he simply said.

"I said, guess who," she repeated, giggling after she spoke. She couldn't believe she was actually doing such an immature game with James, but it was babyish and hopefully annoying.

"Lily," he said, playing along with her game.

"How'd you know?" she asked, removing her hands from his face and taking a seat next to him.

"Lucky guess," he replied.

"Anyways, James, I was thinking, maybe we could eat dinner together," she said, wrapping her arm around him in order to play with his messy hair as she spoke.

"Okay, grab a plate," he responded, ignoring the fact that her hand was entwined with his hair. It wasn't that he really minded people touching his hair, especially not Lily, but it was rather bothersome while he was trying to eat. He let it pass though, thinking it could be worse.

"Well, actually, I told my friends we'd eat with them," she told him and then added, "I hope you're not mad."

"Um, no," he lied. He hated it when people said he would do things without asking him first.

"Okay, so come on," she brightly said.

"The only thing is, I'm already eating," he stated.

"So, bring your plate with you," she answered, as if it were the most obvious thing in the world.

"How about I eat with you and them tomorrow night," he suggested.

"But Jamesie-wamesie," she protested, throwing in another pet name.

"Jamesie-wamesie?" Sirius asked, looking very amused. Out of all four of the Marauders, he was the only one able to keep a straight face. James looked at her in a terrified manner, praying that he heard the name wrong. Both Remus and Peter looked away from the table, hoping to conceal their laughter from Lily.

"That's right," she answered, flashing a giant smile around the table. "He's my Jamesie-wamesie, aren't you Sweetie?"

"Jamesie-wamesie?" James said, repeating Sirius's question.

"What? You don't like it?" she asked, suddenly looking very offended.

"No, it's great," he lied and then sarcastically added, "I just love those little names you give me."

Lily, although catching onto the tone of his voice, pretended that she didn't understand his distaste for them. "Oh I know, I love them too."

"Me too," Remus said, sending James an amused look. "Jamesie-wamesie is just about the best one I've heard."

"Well, thank you," Lily replied, "You are so sweet."

"You know, Lily," James began, getting them off the subject of pet names. "I wish we could have dinner together tonight, but I already promised these guys that I'd spend some time with them, catch up on old things."

"Oh," she said, frowning at his response. "I mean, I guess that's okay…I just thought, you know, that you'd want to be with me…I'm only your girlfriend."

"Look how sad she looks," Sirius commented to James. "I really don't want to be responsible for that, so why don't you go ahead. We all understand."

"No, I couldn't do that," James said through clenched teeth. He sent Sirius a look, one that begged him not to make him leave their end of the table.

"Of course you could," Sirius evilly replied. "We don't mind, do we guys?"

"Not at all, besides, we'll see you in the dorm tonight," Remus answered.

"Yeah, James, really you should spend time with Lily," Peter added.

"Are you sure about that?" James asked, growing angrier with every word he spoke.

"Positive," Remus answered with a smile.

"Oh, I'm so excited," Lily said, finally speaking up. She purposely brightened her face at once, her eyes glowing with joy and a smile plastered on her face.

"Me too," he lied, forcing himself to grin at her.

"You are going to love my friends, they're so great," Lily commented, slipping her arms around his waist to guide him over to her side of the table. "We are just going to have so much fun. And it's really important to me that any guy I plan on being with gets along with my friends, you know? I mean, I want you all to be able to hang out and get along with each other for years to come. You're friendship with them should blossom, just like our relationship."

"Yeah," he simply said. His mind was running about a mile a minute, did he hear her correctly? Did she say 'years to come?' This was only the third day of their relationship and Lily was already thinking about years to come?

"Hi James," both Sam and Kelsey said as he and Lily took a seat across from the two girls.

"Hello," he replied, putting his plate down in front of him.

"So, Lily told us that Snape hexed you pretty bad yesterday," Sam said, knowing that it would make James get very defensive about the situation.

"No, that's not true," he answered.

"Well, James, don't lie, they're just my friends, you don't need to act all macho in front of them," Lily chided. She then turned her attention to her friends and said, "It was pretty bad, he's got an awful cut on his forehead."

"No, it's not bad at all," James insisted. "I did a lot more damage to him than he did to me."

"Okay, whatever you say," Lily commented, rolling her eyes as she spoke.

"Wait, don't do that," he said. "It's true, and you know that too."

"James, I'm not disagreeing with you," she stated, but looked at her friends and made a motion to suggest that she was just going along with his story to make him happy.

"She's lying," he blatantly said to Sam and Kelsey. "Snivellus could never do any serious harm to me in his entire life."

"I'm sure," Kelsey added, looking at Lily to show that she agreed with her friend.

"Wait just a second, I'm telling the truth," he exclaimed. There was no way that these girls could possibly believe that Snape, a pitiful Slytherin, could do any damage.

"You know what, I'm sensing some tension here," Sam remarked. "So how about a quick change of subject.

"I'm telling the truth," James miserably muttered. He glanced over at the Marauders and desperately wanted to be with them. They were all laughing and having a good time while he was stuck with Lily's friends, making him feel weak.

"How's Quidditch going?" Sam asked.

"It's incredible," he answered, relieved that something he was passionate about was brought up.

"I don't really care for it myself," Sam stated, and then added, "But if you like it, that's good for you."

Crap. How could he be this unlucky? How could his girlfriend's best friend not like Quidditch? How was he supposed to get on her good side now?

"Do you not like playing it or just not like it in general?" he asked, hoping that her answer was his former suggestion.

"I just don't like it," Sam replied. "I mean, it's a bunch of people flying around like idiots on broomsticks, chasing after balls, how interesting could that possibly be?"

James felt as if he was slapped across the face. Was she serious? Just a bunch of people flying around like idiots on broomsticks? Chasing balls? Not interesting? This girl obviously had no clue about Quidditch at all. It was the greatest sport ever invented, and people certainly weren't just flying around like idiots.

"It's not like that all," he defensively said. "It's a game about the rush and excitement of am I going to score or is the keeper going to block it? Am I going to reach the golden snitch first? Am I going to be knocked off my broomstick from the bludger? It's about the rush of the wind against your face, and just having a fun time. It's the greatest game in the world."

"All I'm saying is that I find it boring," Sam responded. It was a downright lie, but how was James supposed to know that? In reality, she attended every single Quidditch game held at the school and found the rules to be fascinating.

"I don't understand," he exclaimed, getting very passionate about the subject.

"What is there to understand, I find it boring," Sam argued back.

"Okay, okay, enough," Lily snapped. "I really don't want to talk about Quidditch."

James looked at her, not believing his ears. Did she just say she didn't want to talk about Quidditch? Did she not like it either? No, he assured himself, she had to like it. After all, he always looked for a spot of red hair whenever he was flying, just to make sure she was there.

"Oh, James," Lily said, reaching into her bag and pulling out a card. "I need you to sign this."

"What is it?" he asked, glancing down to see a bright pink card with a birthday cake on the cover.

"It's a birthday card for my mum," she answered, looking up at him expectantly.

If James had been drinking something at that moment, he would have spit it out across the entire table. Did he hear her correctly? Did she really say he needed to sign a birthday card for her mother?

"Is something wrong?' she asked, trying her hardest not to show how pleased she was to see the terrified look in his eyes.

"I don't know your mother," he blatantly stated.

"So?"

"Lily, this is the third day we've been dating, I don't think it's appropriate for me to sign the card," he replied.

"You know, I think we're going to go now," Kelsey told the couple, pulling Sam away from the table with her.

Lily ignored her friend's comment and asked, "Not appropriate?"

"I highly doubt your mother wants a card form a guy she doesn't even know."

"But I've told her everything about you," Lily argued.

"What?" he asked. Lily was officially creeping him out.

"Yeah, I told her that you are handsome, that you have messy hair, beautiful eyes, are funny, smart, Head Boy, and that we have a fantastic relationship," she answered.

"Still, we've only been dating for three days," he nervously replied.

"But it feels like so much longer," she dreamily said. "Besides, mum said that you're practically part of the family now."

James could feel his eyes widen. Part of the family?

"Now, sign the card," Lily demanded.

"I really don't think it's appropriate," he insisted.

"James, it would be rude not to. Besides, mum said that she feels like she already knows you, just from what I've already told her," Lily said, smiling sweetly at him.

Was it normal to have a girlfriend like this? Should her mother know enough about him to consider him part of the family after only three days of dating Lily? No, James decided, this was very strange.

"Sign," she insisted, passing him a quill.

James felt his stomach give a large lurch, and not in a good way. He tried to think of something to say, but Lily wasn't taking no for an answer. He bit his bottom lip and grabbed the quill from her hand. He could feel his hand shake as he signed his name beneath Lily's, knowing that this was not normal at all.

"There," he stated.

"Good," she simply told him before shutting the card and putting it back in her bag. "Now mum will no for sure that you and I are going to stay together for a very, very long time."

James gulped before asking, "What?"

"Yeah, now that you've signed her birthday card, my entire family will be able to see just how much you care for me and that we belong together," she answered. "Just think about it, that was the first of a lot of cards that will contain both of our names."

James felt his stomach lurch again and his heart sped up rapidly. Her words echoed throughout his mind. She was planning on staying with him for a very long time. This was scary. He wasn't ready for this kind of commitment, not after such a short time of dating anyways.

Lily sat there, smiling at him. She desperately wanted to run away laughing. She couldn't believe she had persuaded him to sign the card, but it was worth it to see the terror in his eyes. The funny thing about it all was that her mother's birthday is in April, not September.

Her smiled started to fade a bit, as she realized that he hadn't cracked while she tried to get him to sign the card. Any normal boyfriend would have dumped her on the spot, refusing to sign anything addressed to a woman he didn't know. This was going to be a hard task to do, losing James Potter, and she was going to have to step up her game a bit.

"Know what?" Lily asked. She placed her right hand on James's leg, just as she did the other night in the library. She felt a slight, devious smile appear at her lips. She was determined to drive him away.

"What?" he asked, taking a drink of water.

"I was talking with my mum, about you," she began, "and she said that the smallest ones were always like tigers." She gave his upper thigh a tight squeeze and flashed him a scandalous smile.

He nearly gagged on the water as she spoke, sending a mouthful flying back into his glass. He began coughing, trying to relieve his throat from the water. His face turned ten shades of red, both from nearly choking on the drink and from the words that just left her lips.

"Are you okay?" she asked, lightly tapping him on the back, removing her hands from his leg.

"Fine," he gasped. He wanted nothing more than jump off the top of Hogwarts at that moment. He'd never been so embarrassed or shocked in his entire life.

"So, is it true? Are you a tiger?" she asked, still seducing him with her emerald green eyes.

"I, I don't know," he stammered.

"I hope so, to make up for your teeny-we…" she began, but was cut off by James's hands wrapping around her lips.

"I, I don't have," he began, unable to finish his sentence.

Lily only giggled when he released her from his strong hands.

"And if you'll excuse me for a minute, I've got to go to bathroom," he lied. He needed to get away from her; he needed to think of what to do next.

"I'll be waiting," she said, and then drew her hand closer to her face, making it look like a claw and growled like a tiger.

James shook his head as he walked away. Scratch his previous thoughts; he knew what he needed to do. He needed to break up with her, and fast. He couldn't handle any more of the psychotic Lily Evans, and not even her better side could excuse this behavior. Now, he only needed to think of how he should dump her.

Once James made his way out of the Great Hall, he darted into the nearest bathroom. He immediately went to the sink and splashed ice-cold water onto his face. He needed to concentrate. He needed to end his relationship with Lily.

Just then, his three best friends came into the bathroom. "James, we saw you nearly spit water all over the place, what happened?" Remus asked.

"She is a complete psycho," he answered, his hazel eyes wide open. "I swear, I've never met anyone as neurotic and unpredictable as her before."

"What happened?" Remus asked again.

"First, there are her friends. I can handle them, even if they don't like Quidditch. They make Lily look normal," James began.

"Her friends?" Sirius asked, looking doubtful.

"It gets worse," James snapped. "She made me sign her mother's fucking birthday card. Her birthday card! We've only been dating three days, and I don't know her mother! That, I thought was weird, but I did it anyway. Then she starts blabbering on about us in the future, like years from now."

"That's kind of weird," Peter commented.

"That's not all," James replied. "Then, she grabbed my leg and asked if I was like a tiger! And growled like one as I left."

"That's not too bad," Sirius said, "Kind of kinky, but not too bad."

"She said I was small, and that her mother told her small guys were like tigers," he answered.

"Oh," Sirius replied. "That's gross."

"No fucking shit," James shouted. "I just can't take it anymore. She's completely nuts, I can't handle it anymore. No woman is worth this much."

"So what're you going to do?" Remus asked.

"What do you think I'm going to do? Dump her," he snapped.

"Wait, wait, wait," Peter said, finally speaking up. "You can't dump her."

"Why the bloody hell can't I?" James furiously asked.

"The bet," Peter explained. "You can't win if you're not dating by the end of ten days."

"That's right," James said. Was staying with Lily Evans worth the money? Could he put up with her obnoxious qualities for just seven more days? Surely he could. One week wasn't that long, besides, she had some good qualities. When she wasn't acting like a psycho, she was so much fun to be around. He could date her until the end of the ten-day period; after all, he'd made it the first three days.

"What're you going to do?" Sirius asked. "I mean, she's a complete nut from the sounds of it…So, I guess I win the money."

"Not so fast, Padfoot," James replied. "I'm staying with her."

"You're what?" both Remus and Sirius asked.

"I'm going to win that money, besides, I can handle seven more days," he answered.

"That's the spirit, Prongs," Peter enthusiastically said, giving James a pat on the back.

Just then, the four boys heard the door open up and they immediately stopped talking. No one could know about the bet, just in case. They heard light footsteps coming closer to them, none of them sure who it could possibly be.

"Peek-a-boo, I found you," came the voice of the redhead that they were just talking about. She giggled and flashed a giant smile at James, her eyes showing that she was eager for his return.

James's eyes went wide at the sight of seeing her. His heart sped up just by seeing the frightening look she had on her face. It was like watching a poor, defenseless bunny turn into a psychotic killer. She just looked too perky for her own good. The tone that she used scared him as well. It was high-pitched, like a child's, but showed signs of being needy.

"Oh, you sure did," he replied, giving his three best friends a look that said he feared for his own sanity.

"What're you doing hiding in here?" she giddily asked.

"We're not hiding, just needed to splash some water on my face," he answered. He paused for a moment before asking, "What're you doing in here?"

"Looking for you," she answered. "Don't ever hide from me again."

"I wouldn't think of it," he replied.

"Good, because I'd find you," she said, her voice was still high and squeaky. Her nose was scrunched slightly, but she was still beaming at him.

"We've got to go now," Sirius quickly said.

"Yeah, let's go," Peter agreed.

"I second that," Remus added. With that said, the three boys left James and Lily standing in the bathroom together. None of them could believe how right James was about her; she was completely insane.

"Um, you know what, Lily, I think I've got to go as well. I should really start in on my homework," he told her.

"What an excellent idea," she exclaimed, clapping her hands together. "We can do homework together, like homework buddies."

"No, no," he quickly said. "Did I say homework, I meant I have Quidditch practice."

"Well, I'll come watch you," she replied.

"You don't have to. I mean it's just Quidditch practice, nothing too interesting. Really, you'll be very bored," he said, pleading with her not to come.

"But James, if you love it, then I love it," she told him, her voice glowing in the same high, squeaky tone.

"Great," he muttered. "Just great."

"Come on, let's go back up to Gryffindor to grab my cloak," she said, leading the way through the castle halls and towards their destination.

James followed her, but barely talked at all. He just pretended to listen to Lily blab on about her day. Usually, he hated girls that could only talk about themselves, but now he was grateful for it. In the time it takes to grab a cloak, he needed to gather the Gryffindor Quidditch team together for an emergency practice, a task that wouldn't be easy.

Lucky for him, however, he did see his seeker in the hallway. "Amanda, don't forget, we've got practice in twenty minutes." The poor fourth year girl looked at him confused, but went with it anyways, promising to be at field, dressed and ready to go in twenty minutes.

Once they reached the portrait hole, Lily said the password and they entered the common room. "Now, don't go anywhere. I'll just run up and get my cloak."

"Alright," he answered. He sighed a sigh of relief when he noticed his keeper and one of his chasers sitting in the common room. Once Lily was out of his sight, he quickly hassled them into agreeing to go to the fields. Then he ran upstairs into the boy's dormitory, knocking on doors and ordering his fellow teammates to go to the Quidditch pitch. Luckily, he made it back downstairs before Lily reappeared from her dorm room.

Meanwhile, Lily was in her room, complaining to Sam and Kelsey. "He still hasn't cracked!" she exclaimed. "I don't understand. I thought the fake birthday card would get him for sure, but it didn't work. And I swear to God, when I referenced his size again and then started acting like an insane person, it only scared him a little bit. But he still didn't break up with me!"

"Wow, he is one tough guy," Sam stated.

"Thank you captain obvious," Lily sarcastically said before adding, "I don't know how much more I can take of this. I mean, you know there's a problem when I'm driving myself crazy!"

"Just keep at it, he'll back down soon," Kelsey reassured her.

"What if he doesn't?" Lily moaned.

"He will, just be very repulsive at his Quidditch practice," Sam said.

"I've been repulsive all night though," she cried out.

"He won't be able to take it much longer, I promise," Sam replied.

"God I hope so, or else I'm going to need some therapy after this, I feel like I'm taking crazy pills or something…I'm not sure if I can keep smiling anymore, my jaw is starting to hurt," she complained.

"Good luck," Kelsey said as she watched Lily descend the stairs.

Lily grumbled slightly as she walked down the several flights of stairs down towards the common room. She didn't understand why James was still with her. She would have dumped herself if that was possible. She didn't understand how any self-respecting person could stand to be around her. She was not only clingy and annoying, but made Lord Voldermort himself sound like a better date option.

She took a deep breath once she reached the common room. She needed to mentally prepare herself for another round of losing James, which proved to be a much more strenuous activity than she would have assumed. She quickly shut her eyes, as if the process would rejuvenate her enough to deal with James.

"You ready?" he asked, sounding anxious.

"Sure am," she replied with a smile. When he wasn't looking, she took her hand to her jaw, rubbing it slightly. She couldn't believe that her jaw was already in pain from fake smiling, and she still had a long night ahead of her.

They walked hand in hand to the Quidditch pitch, and Lily slightly swung their hands too, hoping it would annoy him. As of that moment, she was praying that the slightest little things would set him off.

To her dismay, however, he didn't make a comment about it at all. He was too concentrated on his bet with Sirius; he needed to win. No matter how badly he wanted to push Lily into the Great Lake and never see her again, he had to remain calm. He needed to continue to date her for seven more days. Seven long and painful days.

"I've only ever been to a Quidditch practice once before," Lily informed him during the long walk to the fields.

"So, you know that they're not very interesting to watch then," he commented, hoping that she would leave.

"I think that they're fascinating," she answered, "especially when you're watching your knight in shining armor play."

"Oh."

"Aren't you going to ask who I watched play before?"

"Who?" he asked, not caring at all. He was counting down the minutes until they reached the pitch and he could fly high above her on his broom, escaping from her madness.

"Travis Harper," she replied. Travis graduated from Hogwarts last year and had been Lily's boyfriend in third year. Of course, she lied about seeing a Quidditch practice before, but was hoping that by mentioning an ex-boyfriend, James would break up with her.

"Really?"

"Yeah, he was such a good boyfriend to me," she said. "He was so smart and talented, and a really good kisser too." She looked at James as she spoke and noticed that he barely had any reaction to her words at all. She smiled, knowing she was getting to him. If he was acting like his usual self, he would have gone ballistic at the thought of her kissing another guy; after all, he hexed many guys just for asking her out on a date. Now though, he didn't even flinch. She was slowly, but surely driving him away. She was finally starting to lose James.

"Well, here we are," he stated, ignoring her last comment.

"Yeah…I guess I'll just sit up in the stands and watch," Lily said, looking at the monstrous seating selection around her.

"Okay…I've got to go get changed, and then start practice. So, um, I'll see you," he replied, heading off toward the locker room.

"Bye," she responded, turning the opposite direction, towards the stands.

By the time she climbed into the Gryffindor seats, the practice had already begun. She watched as the seven figures zoomed around on their brooms, flying so high it looked as if they intended to touch the moon. She noticed that James flew down to the ground and released the balls. First, he took out the golden snitch, allowing it to fly out of his hand. Next, he took out each of the bludgers, and one by one hit them with a bat into the sky. Finally, he took the quaffle out, keeping it in his hand. He flew up a good ten stories to meet his team, running plays by them.

After what seemed like a lifetime of warming up, they finally began to practice some of their moves. Lily watched as James and the two other chasers took turns weaving around each other, closing in on the keeper flying near the goal posts.

She smiled as she saw James grasp the ball and throw it into the goal post. She didn't think it would go in, but it went soaring past the keeper's hands.

Realizing the reason she wanted to come to the practice, Lily immediately got to her feet and began shouting at James. "Yay! Go James, that's my man!" She felt like an idiot yelling cheers for him during practice, but knew that she needed to do it in order to drive him away.

She noticed one of the chasers approach James, and Lily could only guess that the boy was asking what she was doing there. She smiled, knowing that James was probably explaining that she was his crazy girlfriend. She could only pray that he would dump her soon.

After several minutes of cheering, Lily sat back down again and focused on James. She was surprised at what an amazing flyer he was. Of course, she always knew he was good at Quidditch, the entire school knew he was probably the best Quidditch player that Hogwarts had seen in twenty years. Yet, before now, she never actually realized just how good he was. In the past, whenever she came to watch the games, she never focused on him. In fact, she bluntly ignored him, as if he weren't even playing the game.

Things were different now though. She needed to pay attention to him; she needed to see every move he made. Lily hated to admit it, but she felt as if even if she wasn't forced to watch him for the plan, she wouldn't be able to keep her eyes off him. The way he zoomed in and out of tight situations made him look as if he were an untouchable life form, almost heavenly. When he went to throw the quaffle, she could tell that his arms were strong and that his accuracy was sharp.

She watched as he scored again and stood up to cheer him once more. "Yay James! Nice shot! Whoooo!" she screamed as she clapped her hands.

She was cheering so much that she didn't even noticed James fly over to her. "Lily, please stop," he begged.

"Huh?"

"Please, stop the cheering," he asked. "It's very distracting."

"I'm just trying to show my support," she answered.

"I know, and I appreciate it. It's just that, it's very distracting when we're all trying to concentrate," he said. The look in his eyes was genuine, as if he was pleading with his heart, not his mind.

"Okay," she answered, knowing that she was going to break her promise the moment he scored again. That would surely irritate him, just as she wanted it to.

"Thank you," he said before flying away, the wind ruffling his hair.

Lily sat back down again and watched as the practice continued. She watched as James dodged a bludger that was hurtling straight for his head. He rocketed around the entire pitch, checking in on his other teammates. Every now and then he would stop and talk with someone, giving them slight pointers.

He then went back to the other chasers and began to practice with them again. He passed the ball to Steve, a fifth year, who in turn aimed at the goal post. The keeper blocked it immediately, flying to his left to gather the ball. The keeper then threw the ball back to James, who passed it to Steve again.

They continued with the drills for several more minutes until Steve finally made an excellent shot, earning a high five from James. Lily smiled at the gesture, knowing that Steve was new to the team.

A few minutes later, James took another shot at the goal, the ball easily made it through the center hoop. Lily immediately rose to her feet, hands in position to clap. Midway, however, she stopped herself. She couldn't shake James's pleading eyes out of her mind. He looked so innocent, so sincere. Yes, her original plan was to embarrass him despite his wishes, but she couldn't bring herself to do it. She didn't want to see his hurting hazel eyes anymore.

She sat back down in her seat, staring at him as he took another shot, this time the keeper blocked it. She studied him as he wiped a hand threw his hair. She could tell he was working hard, doing what he loved to do.

Lily frowned a bit as she wondered why she was even here in the first place. Why was she so intent on making him so miserable? Did he really deserve it?

She shook her head. She was done for the night. She put him through enough hell to last any man a lifetime, let alone a day.

Lily got to her feet and slowly made her way down the stairs and onto the grassy field. She looked up at James once more before turning towards the castle. She made it a good ten feet before she heard, "Lily, wait up."

Lily turned around to see James flying towards her until his feet could reach the ground. He then slid the broom into one hand and began to walk the rest of the way.

"I think I'm going to go now," she told him.

"Do you want me to walk you back to the castle?" he asked.

"I think I'll manage," Lily answered.

"You sure?"

"Yeah," she replied before adding, "And James, you're really good at this."

"Quidditch?"

"Yeah," she answered. That was what she had originally been referring to, but in her heart, she felt something different. She wasn't sure what it was, but it wasn't Quidditch.

Author's Note 2: Hey everyone, hope you all liked chapter 7! Thanks for reading, and please remember to review!