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.

Author's Note: Thanks to ourlittlesecret7, Dancer girl923, JeNnIfEr88, JPx3LE, NJ MacReiley the Helpless Romantic, CrazzyD', marrokinhas, pyscho-pyro-shrink, mei5, Katie, siriusforeva, laurahonest, lizziee, zuska1985, EboniteEvans, hoolihoopgrl131, Miss Myrtle360, greenmaiden, LCH8292, sequin, reader, thehalfbloodprincess, potterchik, and Untamed Loner for reviewing! You are all amazing!

"Why do you look so happy?" Tracey asked Lily. The two girls, plus Rina, were all in their dorm room, resting after a tiring morning of classes. It was lunch break now, and Rina was flipping through a magazine, Tracey was painting her nails, and Lily was staring off into space, a large grin on her face.

Tracey's questioned snapped Lily back into reality and out of her own little world. "No reason."

"Are you starting to finally lose Potter?" Tracey questioned, turning the cap of red nail polish bottle tightly shut. She then went over to Lily's bed and sat on the corner of it.

Hearing the question, Rina perked up and intently stared at Lily. Her magazine was left completely ignored.

"We broke up for a little bit yesterday, but we're back together," Lily answered.

"Almost," Tracey replied, giving Lily a hopeful look.

Lily sighed, wondering if she should tell her two roommates how she really felt. She knew she couldn't tell Sam or Kelsey; they would make too big of deal. Besides, neither of her two best friends actually liked James. They viewed him as an arrogant brat, just as Lily used to. Tracey and Rina, however, were different. Neither of them were particularly good friends with James, but they didn't despise him either.

After careful consideration, Lily finally asked, "Is it weird that I'm starting to think he's not that bad of a guy?"

At that, Rina bolted upright and ran over to Lily's bed. There was no way this was happening; Lily Evans was supposed to lose James, not fall in love with him. "What do you mean? Like as a friend?" she asked, hammering questions at the bewildered girl in front of her.

"I, I don't know," Lily replied, her arms stiffening as she spoke. Maybe she shouldn't have said anything at all.

"You can't seriously like him," Rina stated. "I mean, he drives you crazy, he always has."

"I know, but I've gotten to know him so much better over these past few days," she responded.

"But what about all those horrible things he's done in the past?" Rina hysterically reminded her.

"I know, he was such an asshole, but he seems like he's changed a lot," Lily replied.

"You think he's changed?" Rina asked, suddenly thinking of an ingenious plan. "He hasn't changed a bit."

"He doesn't hex people anymore," Lily stated before adding, "And he hardly ever shows off."

"He hexes Snape all the time," Rina snapped.

"Well, yes, he did once, but it was kind of sweet. Snape called me a, well, a you-know-what, and James got mad at him," Lily told her, shrugging as she spoke.

"Once, try like five times a day," Rina exclaimed, exaggerating the truth.

"He does?"

"You haven't seen any of this?"

"No."

"Well, he does," Rina falsely informed Lily. "He must just not do it when you're around, to try and impress you or something."

"Wow, I didn't know that," Lily dumbly stated. She couldn't believe her ears. How could James do that? He promised her that his hexing days were over; he swore that he would stop for her. How could he lie to her like that?

Then again, she should have known. That was a typical James Potter stunt. He just wanted her to think of him as a nice wizard in order to make her like him. Well, she had news for him; it didn't work.

Lily felt so stupid, how could she have even thought about liking him? Guys like James Potter never change, why did she think he did? She made a promise to herself, forcing herself to drop any feeling she might have for James. He was going to regret the day he ever messed with Lily Evans.

"Well," Lily huffed. "I've got some things to do, so if you'll excuse me."

"Where're you going?" Rina asked.

"To go pay a little visit to James," she answered, an evil smile across her rosy lips.

"Does this mean that you're going back to torturing him?" Tracey questioned.

"Oh, I'm going to make him wish he were dead," Lily replied, heading out the door as she spoke.

Once Lily was fully out of sight, Tracey turned to Rina and gave her a puzzled look. "What was that all about? James hasn't hexed anyone since the little Snape incident the other day, and even that was miniscule compared to his usual stuff."

"No kidding, but I don't want Lily getting in the way of my plan," Rina hissed.

"You're still determined to get with James then?"

"Of course, now I just need him to crack. Then he'll coming running to me," Rina replied. She was going to get James Potter to like her if it was the last thing she did. For her entire Hogwarts career, she harbored a crush on the Head Boy. However, Lily Evans always got in the way; James was too stuck up on her. Now though, once he was finally driven away from the Head Girl, Rina would be able to act. She would finally be able to achieve her dream of being James Potter's girlfriend.

After a slight pause, Tracey said. "The other day, I was with Sirius and he told me something…I'm not sure if I should tell Lily or not. He made me swear not to tell anyone, otherwise James would kill him."

"What is it?" Rina asked, showing a great deal of interest.

"Swear you won't say anything?" Tracey hesitantly asked.

"I promise."

"Okay…on the first day of school, Sirius and James made a bet. If Lily loves James after ten days, then James wins fifty galleons. If not, Sirius wins the money," Tracey admitted.

"They made a bet?"

"Yeah."

"Did you tell Sirius about Lily's plan?"

"No."

"So none of them know she's trying to drive him away?"

"Nope."

"So that's why James is putting up with all of Lily's bullshit,' Rina stated.

"I would assume so."

"Tracey, this is amazing," Rina exclaimed. "Once the ten days is over, he'll dump Lily, and come running to me, anything to get away from what he presumes to be a complete basket case."

"Do you think I should tell her? I mean, Sirius told me not to, but it just seems so awful," Tracey said, her eyes showing the sincerity of her questions.

Rina thought about it for a moment before answering, "No, if you do, and Sirius finds out, he'll probably kill you. Besides, there's only four days left before James wins his money, and Lily loses her guy. It'll all be okay…I mean, it's not like they actually like each other."

---

As Tracey and Rina were thoroughly discussing the recently learned about bet, Lily was running around Hogwarts like a madman. She knew the perfect way to drive James further away from her, but it required quite a lot of work and effort. Her first stop was the owlery.

Stepping into the deserted area, Lily quickly pulled out a quill, ink, and piece of parchment. She scribbled a note, re-read her letter, and sent it on its way. She smiled to herself, praying that she would get a response back by the time her afternoon classes were finished.

Next, Lily found herself running down numerous flights of stairs all the way down to the dungeons. She was out of breath by the time she reached Professor Slughorn's office. She knocked on the door, and was graciously welcomed into the room.

"How can I help you, Miss Evans?" Slughorn asked, a cheerful smile on his face. He adored seeing his favorite students out of class, especially Lily. She was by far the brightest student he had ever taught (and liked.) Of course, James Potter and Sirius Black were both among the bright young intellectuals, but Slughorn wasn't fond of either of them, despite the fact that both came from very prominent families.

"Sir, I was wondering if I could possibly borrow a few ingredients?" she asked.

"What for?"

Without explaining exactly what she was doing, Lily told him the potions she planned on brewing. It wasn't a difficult potion, nor did it take more than ten minutes to brew, but Lily desperately needed it. She used the excuse that she wanted extra practice, knowing that her charm would win over her professor's heart, making it impossible for him to refuse her.

"Miss Evans, a young, bright witch like yourself, making this potion? It seems too elementary for you," Slughorn commented as he pulled out ingredients from various jars.

"I know it's a simple potion, but its one that requires very exact numbers, which is a skill that I want to practice," Lily half lied. True, the potion did require exactness, but Lily was one of the best in their year at measuring exactness, she certainly did not need any practice.

"Are you sure?" he asked, raising an eyebrow as he spoke.

Lily knew she had to think of something clever, Slughorn wasn't buying her excuse. "Okay, to be honest, I'm tutoring a second year, but she begged that I wouldn't let anyone know."

Slughorn immediately accepted Lily's lie, believing every word. Gathering all her newly collected supplies, Lily then rushed back up to Gryffindor and bolted for her room. She laid everything she would need out and planned to brew the potion as soon as her last class was let out.

Lily looked at her clock and saw that she still had half an hour until Charms began. She glanced around the empty room and dove under her bed to grab old editions of different magazines. She flipped through the pages, every once in a while stopping to tear out an image.

Twenty minutes later, she had a large stack of photographs from her magazine sitting on her bed next to the ingredients. She then grabbed her book bag and headed to class, grinning as she descended the several flights of stairs.

All throughout her classes, Lily kept glancing at the clock, watching as the seconds turned into minutes, which turned into hours. She found it hard to contain herself, which was very unusual for Lily. Generally, she took prompt, precise notes during class. Today, however, her sheet of notepaper was virtually blank. She just couldn't concentrate.

What made matters worse was the fact that in Transfiguration, which was the last class of the day, James was selected as the example for several spells. Every time he stood up, Lily's mind drifted back to her plan. She could barely keep a straight face, imagining the look in his eyes when he saw her masterpiece.

Finally, Lily was dismissed from her last class of the day. She bolted out of the room, not even waiting for her closest friends. She practically ran toward the owlery, praying that the reply letter was waiting for her. To Lily's great fortune, it was there. She smiled, grasping at it with both hands. She felt her stomach fill with butterflies; this was going to be amazing. James Potter wasn't even going to know what hit him when he saw this.

She then ran back to Gryffindor and up to her room, locking herself in the bathroom with all of her ingredients. It didn't take long to brew the potion, nor did it take her very long to apply it to the objects from the reply letter.

An hour later, Lily's plan was set. All of the preparation was completed; now all she had to do was find James.

She grinned as she picked up the large white book, gently carrying it in her arms. She then leisurely walked down the many flights of stairs to reach the common room, hoping that James would be seated there. Her smile increased once she saw him in the far corner with the rest of his friends.

Sneaking up behind him, Lily put her fingers to her lips, showing Sirius, Remus, and Peter that she didn't want them to mention her presence. She softly put the large book on the floor and placed her small hands over James's eyes.

"Guess who?" she squealed.

She felt James stiffen beneath her hands and knew he was frightened at hearing her voice. This was exactly what she wanted. In no time at all he would be fed up with her and their relationship would be over.

"Lily?" he shakily asked.

"You got it," she exclaimed, releasing his face from her hands and sitting down on the arm of his chair. "So, what're you doing?"

"Just playing wizard's chess," he answered, slanting forward and moving one of his pieces.

"Oh, how fun," she stated, watching on as James and Peter moved their pieces. "But know what else would be fun?"

"What?" he asked, not looking up from the board in front of him.

"If we went up to your room," she answered, placing a seductive hand over his shoulder.

With that said, all four boys looked at Lily. James couldn't believe she suggested that in front of all his friends; he didn't think she was quite that bold. He wondered if it would be a good idea. After all, the few times that he and Lily had been in any sort of intimate situation, it didn't end well. Of course, the time that they did spend together, before she became weird, was very enjoyable. He loved the taste of her lips and the way she could make his heart speed up with just one look.

"Um, alright," he finally replied, getting up from his chair and allowing Remus to finish the game for him.

Lily got up as well and reached down to grab the large book she brought with her. She then followed James up the boy's staircase and into his room, being careful not to be observed by anyone else in the common room.

When they reached James's dorm room, Lily noticed that her decorations were still in place. Pink could be seen everywhere. She smiled, pleased with her creative work. "I love what you've done with that place," she joked.

With a little bit of an attitude, James remarked, "I'm glad."

Lily noticed his disgruntled look on his face, but ignored it completely. She sat down on his bed and patted the space next to her, urging him to come over. "Sit down."

He obeyed her request and sat next to her. He then glanced at the large white book in her arms and asked, "What's that?"

"Oh, it's just a little something I whipped up in my free time," she said as she opened it to the first page.

James looked at it with horror. Staring back at him was a photograph of him and Lily together. Lily was dressed in a white gown and he was clad in a tuxedo. It was a picture of a wedding, one in which he was the groom and she was the bride.

"Do you like it? This is of our wedding," she informed him. "We're both wearing top of the line outfits."

"How?"

"Oh, it's nothing too special…I owled your mother and asked for some pictures of you, which she gladly sent back. And then I flipped through some magazines and found all these great pictures to use. Then, using the picture merger potion, which I brewed up this afternoon, I compiled the pictures to make our family album," Lily answered, as if it were the most obvious thing in the world.

"You owled my mother?" he asked, a horrified look on his face.

"Yeah," she answered, smiling at him. "You're not mad, are you?"

"No, not mad," he replied, his face showing otherwise. "Just a little surprised."

"Yeah, she writes such good letters too," Lily stated. "Here's the one I just got… 'Dear Lily, I'm so pleased that you and James are having such a great time together. He's told us so much about you, and now the two of you are finally together. It couldn't make us happier. I hope these photographs will come in handy, and be sure to send me some of your artwork. Love always, Linda Potter.'… Isn't that so sweet?"

James sat very still, as if he were paralyzed. "You owled my mum."

"Yes silly, we've been over this already," she laughed. "Oh, but that reminds me, I've still got to owl her again later tonight and give her a few sample pictures."

"I don't think you should," he said, looking angrily down at the book in front of him.

"What? You don't think she'll like this?"

"Well, it's just, it's kind of out there," he began.

"Out there?" she asked, her voice rising as she spoke. "Do you mean to tell me you don't like our family album?"

"No, no, no. That's not what I'm saying," he hurriedly answered. "I love it…the wedding looks amazing." It took a lot of energy for him to say those words, knowing it was a complete lie.

"Doesn't it look amazing," she said with a sigh.

"Yeah."

"Do you want to see the rest?" she asked, completely ignoring James's initial reaction to the album.

"Sure."

Lily flipped to the next page, which showed a picture of her, James, and a tiny little baby. "This is our first born child, a little girl named Fern."

"Fern?" James asked.

"Isn't it beautiful?" she said.

"Fern," James repeated.

"It's always been a dream of mine to name my first born daughter Fern," Lily lied, praying that James would find the name as repulsive as she did. After all, it was a very unusual name; one that she hoped no one in his or her right mind would every name a child.

"Really?" he choked out.

"Yeah, do you like it?"

"I, I love it," he lied, a bead of sweat trickling down his hairline.

"Good," she replied with enthusiasm. She then flipped to the next page and explained the photographs. "This is one of us, Fern, and our little boy, Breeze, vacationing in the Bahamas."

James stared at the picture. He couldn't believe how ugly the children looked. The little girl who looked to be about five, had Lily's red hair, but it was styled like James's, very messy. Her face didn't seem to line up either; James's facial features, but compacted into Lily's small face. Nothing was proportional at all. The little boy was the exact opposite. His hair was normal, but his face was a complete disaster. He had all of Lily's petite facial features, but was tacked onto James's larger head. Nothing matched at all. It was like watching a child's horror show.

"How did you say you did these?" he hesitantly asked.

"With the pictures of you and me from when we were kids. Then I found all the best features and fused them together with a potion… Fern and Breeze are so attractive, aren't they?" she answered.

"Breeze? I thought this was a boy," he stated.

"Breeze is a boy," Lily replied, her tone and face expression deadly.

"But isn't Breeze a girl's name?"

"No," she shouted, acting very outraged at the suggestion. "Breeze is my all time favorite name for a boy, and this is the name of our future son."

"Okay, I'm sorry," he apologized. "I didn't know."

"Well, now you do," she snapped.

James looked at the album again, his stomach twisting a bit. He couldn't believe that these children were so hideous. He and Lily were both very attractive people, but these kids couldn't look any uglier. How could this happen?

Then again, he couldn't believe that Lily actually compiled photographs what their future children would look like. That was not only odd, but also completely insane. It just wasn't normal. Normal people did not picture future children after they'd been together for a mere six days.

And what about Fern and Breeze? What kind of names were those? If Lily wanted to do some sort of flower name for the girl, he could understand that. After all, it seemed to be some sort of family tradition, seeing as both Lily and her sister were named after flowers. But why Fern? Couldn't she be named something realistic, like Daisy or Rose? Something that at least sounded somewhat attractive to make up for the unsightliness of the girl. Then there was Breeze. That was not a man's name, James was convinced of that. And if it was, no son of his would ever be named that. It would be an embarrassment to the Potter name.

James had enough with this family album. "You know what, Lily; I think I've seen enough… I'd love the rest of our life together to be a surprise."

"James, you are so right," she squealed, glad that she didn't have to show him the rest. She was getting a little sick to her stomach just looking at the children, not o mention the fact that it was her and James together, married.

James took the book from Lily's arms and slammed it shut before tossing it on the ground. He yawned and slyly put his arm around Lily; doing the classic guy move. He knew it was cheesy, but he didn't care. To be completely honest, James figured that if he had to put up with Lily for another four days, he might as well make the best of the situation. The physical part of their relationship, in his mind, was definitely making the best of the situation.

Lily loudly giggled once she realized what he was doing, but allowed him to guide her down toward the bed. They both laid there for a moment, just resting on top of the blankets. With them both silent, it almost felt nice to be with each other. Lily could almost forget about James's hexing. James could almost forget about Lily's obnoxious antics.

The key word, however, was almost. It almost felt nice to be with each other. They could both almost forget. Yet, they couldn't quite forget everything. Lily knew she had the task of driving him away and her heart was set on doing so.

"James," Lily began. "Tell me why you love me."

James didn't say anything. He didn't love her, at least not anymore. Staring into her emerald eyes, he knew it would be hard to lie to her. Instead, he thought of all the reasons why he used to love her. "You're smart, beautiful, nice, and fun to be around."

"Anything else?" she asked, a fake smile plastered across her face.

James racked his brain, trying to think of something else to say. Before the insane Lily came along, James knew he loved Lily, but he wasn't sure why. Yes, she was everything that he just mentioned, but there was more to it. There was something else about Lily Evans that drove him crazy for her, yet he couldn't pinpoint what it was. Was it her charm? Or that she had an unattainable quality about her? He wasn't sure.

"Um, well," he stuttered before the most obvious thing came to mind. "You're very easy to talk to. I love it when we have those times, like the other day before the Quidditch game and that first day we started dating, when he accidentally missed Transfiguration. That was nice, I liked that."

Lily smiled, knowing that his answer was sincere. Truth be told, she loved it when they talked too. She found herself confessing secrets to him, things she couldn't even tell her two best friends.

Yet, the fact that she could talk to him about nearly anything didn't excuse his personal affairs that disgusted her. She couldn't let herself be with someone who stood for exactly what she was fighting against. And as long he intended on hexing other students, she couldn't be with him.

Before Lily could open her mouth to say anything else, she felt James's warm lips on hers. He gently kissed her and ran his hands up and down her back. Her heart sped up; this was definitely one thing that she would miss once James finally came to his senses and broke up with her, again.

Once again, however, Lily knew she had to stop this. She couldn't let her selfish physical pleasures get in the way of the carefully masterminded plan. She needed to get away from James. She couldn't allow herself to start to harvest feelings for him again; it was wrong.

"Stop," she moaned, pulling apart from him.

"Lily, I know what you said yesterday, and I promise I won't let this go any further," he promised, wanting nothing more than to kiss the beautiful redhead in front of him.

Lily hadn't even thought of that. She did tell him she didn't trust herself around him, which was completely true. Now, however, that wasn't what was on her mind. She needed anything physical between them to stop, she couldn't let James get any pleasure out of dating her. She needed him to be miserable.

"It's not that," she muttered.

"What is it?" he asked, propping himself up on one elbow.

"It's just that, well, well," she began darting her eyes around the room, hoping for inspiration. She saw the open bathroom door; she could lie and say she needed to use the toilet, but knew that was no use. She'd have to come out eventually and would be expected to resume this position.

Next, her emerald eyes stopped on Sirius's bed. No, that was no help to her. What could she say, 'oh James, I can't because I'm in love with Sirius.' No, that excuse wouldn't work, not at all. She looked at the teddy bears at the foot of James's bed. She could say she didn't want to do anything in front of the stuffed animals, act as if they were alive or something. He would definitely see her as insane. Then again, he would probably suggest moving the teddy bears, which would lead her right back to where she was.

Finally, her eyes landed on the flutterby bush she had given him a couple days ago. It wasn't shaking at all and its leaves were wilted and brown. Her eyes lit up; she had the perfect excuse.

"James," she hysterically said, getting off the bed and walking over to the flutterby bush. She grabbed the plant in one hand and waved it in front of James's face. "Our love bush; you let it die!"

His smile dropped, his face was like stone. Shit. Of all the dumb things to do. How could he let the stupid bush die? Especially after Lily went on and one about how it needed gentle love and care? How could he be so stupid?

James bit his lower lip and ordered himself to think. He needed something to say; anything at all. Nothing could be worse than the silence in the room; the disappointed look on Lily's face. "It's not dead, it's just sleeping," he finally blurted out, knowing ti was the dumbest excuse in the entire world.

"Sleeping?" she yelled in outrage.

"I'm sorry," he apologized.

"For what? Letting it die or lying to me?" she asked, her eyebrows knitted close together to show her anger.

"Both."

"Are you going to let us die to?" Lily questioned, her eyes were piercing into his flesh.

"No, not at all."

"James, I slaved for hours and hours over our family photo album and you can't even keep a stupid bush alive!" she shouted.

"Lily, listen, I'm sorry," he replied. "I'll buy a new one."

"No, James, you can't just buy a new one when things go wrong," she told him. "You let it die, just like you're letting our love die… I told you that with the proper love and care, the bush would strive, just like our love. Without tender love and care, our love will die. Do you want our love to die?"

"No, not at all," he lied. "I'm sorry, I really am… Please forgive me."

She stared at him for a moment before forcing tears to come to her eyes. She looked at him and sobbed, "Sometimes I think you don't put any effort into our relationship… It's always me that does everything."

James sighed, but put an arm around Lily, holding her tightly to his chest. It seemed like everyday she was crying about something involving their relationship. Quite frankly, he was sick of hearing that he didn't do enough for their relationship. Yet, this was the sixth day out of ten. He only had to last four more days until he won his money, then he would be home free. He would be able to finally break up with Lily and forget about all this relationship nonsense she was always bringing up.

"Lily, please don't cry, I'm sorry," he said in a very flat voice. He said it so often that he felt he should have gotten a tape recording of the phrase.

"It's true though," she sobbed. "I'm the one who made the album, I'm the one that made your room beautiful, and I'm the one that asked you out… You haven't done anything except for kill out love bush. You didn't even thank me for the room décor or the album."

"Lily, please, I'm sorry. The room looks great, I love it. And the family album, is well, it's certainly very interesting… Thank you for both of them," he gulped out.

"Do you mean it?" she asked, unburying her face from his chest and looking into his eyes.

"Of course," he lied, glancing at the pink curtains surrounding his bed.

"Are you going to start paying more attention to our relationship?"

"Yes."

"Are you actually going to work at us a little?"

"Yes."

Lily wiped away all of her fake tears and smiled up at him. She lunged at him, wrapping her arms around his neck. "Oh, Jamesie-wamesie, I just love you so much."

He nearly fell over from the impact of Lily's jump. Once he regained his balance, he gently tapped Lily's back. "I, uh, I love you too," he said through gritted teeth.

"James, I can just tell, you and I are going to have a magical future together," she said, releasing him from her death grip.

"Um yeah."

"I really can't wait until we have little Fern and little Breeze running around our house," she told him, watching as his expression turned sour.

"Lily, just out of curiosity, when did you start thinking about all this?" he asked.

"Oh, I don't know… Remember when we were walking back from the Head's room to Gryffindor?"

"Yeah," he answered, recalling the peaceful silence that passed between them that night.

"It was then… I was looking at you and thought, wow, our future children are going to be beautiful," she lied. "I could just tell, from day one that we were going to mix perfectly."

James stared at her, counting down the hours until this disaster would finally be over.

Author's Note 2: Hey all, thanks for reading chapter ten! I know all of you want them to get together now, but it's only day six and this story needs to last through day ten! I promise it'll be soon, I've got it all planned out! Also, please, please, please review! Whenever I get an email saying that I received a new review, I feel reenergized to write!