Of Secrets and Stags

'She can't possibly think that I should give that prat a chance!' Lily thought as she flopped over to one side, her back to Alice. 'He's arrogant, selfish and everything gets handed to him on a silver platter! I'm the only thing that he wants that he can't have, so of course he has to pout and be "determined" about it. The only reason that he has "liked" me for so long is because… because I'm the only one he can't have, EVER…' Lily's thoughts trailed off as she began to fall asleep. 'But… maybe… I'll start… "observing" myself… to see… if what Alice says… is… true…' Lily thought before she fell completely asleep.

----

Lily woke up with a start and rubbed her eyes furiously. She glanced out the window, expecting to still see a closed curtain. She jumped up, however, when she noticed the curtain was wide open. It was only wide open when Alice opened it before leaving, which normally woke Lily right up.

"Bloody hell!" Lily cried as she jumped up and ran to her wardrobe, pulling clothes out quickly and getting prepared with much more speed than normal. She raced down the steps to the empty Common Room and glanced at the clock, hoping that she wasn't already late for her first class.

"Ten minutes… I can get to Slughorn's class in ten minutes if I sprint…" she muttered to herself as she threw the portrait hole open, slamming t shut behind her to the protest of the Fat Lady.

"Sorry!" she called back behind her as she ran down the steps, two at a time.

----

James sighed as he walked into the Potions classroom. Peter was already sitting next to Sirius, much to James' and Sirius' disapproval. Sirius looked back at James and gave him a look that plainly read, "I can make him go away if you want to sit here." James smirked and shook his head, declining Sirius's offer for the spot behind him. Remus was out in the Hospital Wing for pre-transformation preparations.

James stared at the board as Slughorn began to jot down notes and directions for their Invisibility Potion. James scoffed under his breath, causing both Peter and Sirius to smirk at the thought of James' Invisibility Cloak. After all, who needs a potion when you can use a cloak?

Loud footsteps could be heard coming from outside the room just before the door slammed open, revealing a panting Lily Evans.

----

Lily made it to her class just in time for the bell to ring. Slughorn gave her one curt nod, telling her that everything was fine. She sighed and looked around the room for an empty seat. There were only two—one by James Potter and one by Lucius Malfoy. Frank already occupied the seat next to Alice, and she couldn't tell him to move. She had to decide between a few hours' worth of torture or death.

Torture it had to be.

With a low growl, she placed her things neatly to the side of her chair and took the seat next to James, much to his delight. She glanced down at his bag, which was wayward and had bits of parchment and quills sticking out of the top, with rips nearly everywhere.

'He's definitely just as irresponsible as before, IF not worse,' Lily thought with an inward scoff as she took out a neat piece of parchment and jotted down notes to the potion.

"Class, today you will be doing this potion. You'll partner up with the one you're sitting beside—Mr. Malfoy, you'll have to join a group of three at Parkinson's and Bulstrode's table, I'm afraid," Professor Slughorn said as he motioned for Lucius to joint he other Slytherins. Lily both sighed in relief and scoffed in displeasure. She winced, expecting some sort of comment from James.

"I'll make this as painless as possible for you," he whispered, all the while keeping his eyes on Professor Slughorn. She turned in surprise to him and gaped. James took this opportunity to wink at her, all the while keeping that smug smirk of his.

"You… PERVERT!" she cried out in surprise, thinking he was flirting with her, not trying to comfort her. She smacked him across the head, hard.

"I didn't mean anything by it! Which one of US is the pervert, the one who says perfectly innocent comments or the one that twists the innocent comments into something vulgar?" James cried out in his defense, attempting to block the majority of his head from Lily's attacks.

"That's ENOUGH, Potter, Evans!" Slughorn yelled. Lily paled visibly, and then blushed. James, however, simply straightened in his chair nonchalantly.

"I DO believe you two need to get along better! Not only as fellow housemates, but also as Head Boy and Head Girl! If YOU two are the best in the school, I HATE to see what the rest of this lot act like!" Slughorn thought a moment before a devilish gleam appeared in his eyes. "I won't assign detention, but I will make you two lab partners for however long I deem it necessary. Which could mean the rest of the year," he added.

Lily looked back at James, gaping like she had just been sentenced to death. James, however, looked like Christmas had come early.

"Don't look so smug!" she cried out and hit him across the back of the head. 'Responsible my ARSE!' she through angrily as she huffed and sat back down beside him.

Needless to say, potions dragged on forever.

----

As the students departed, everyone, especially the Slytherins, couldn't help but snicker as they passed Lily and James. Lily seemed to glare inwardly and outwardly at every single person who laughed, but James just took it all in stride.

"Lily, I'll catch up to you at Herbology. There's something I need to discuss with Slughorn," Alice said with a bright smile, excusing herself from having to hear another one of Lily's rants.

"Well, okay… But hurry up, I want to get partnered with you, not Potter at Herbology," Lily muttered.

"Oh, yeah. Sorry about you not getting up early enough. I thought the curtain thing always worked," Alice said with a laugh.

"Yeah, I did, too… I guess I stayed up last night thinking too much…" Lily muttered.

"I went to sleep right away, so I got enough. You really need to save this thinking thing for daytime hours, you know," Alice said jokingly.

Lily nodded and trudged slowly out of the classroom. The Marauders walked out of the class, being the last ones (excluding Alice) to leave. Alice waited a minute before hurrying out of the classroom and tapping James on the shoulder.

"Sorry, but… could I have a word with you?" Alice asked politely. She turned to the Sirius and Peter and said, "I'll just borrow him for a few minutes before Herbology."

"Okay," Sirius said happily before he and Peter hurried off to Herbology.

"So, what about Lily do you want to talk to me about?" James asked with a raised eyebrow after Sirius and Peter were well out of earshot.

"Well, don't take this the wrong way… But I want to help you with Lily. By no means am I playing matchmaker. But… I can see you've grown up, even if it is just by a little bit. And I think Lily could use a friend like you. Whether or not it goes beyond that is up to you," Alice said, being someone completely against beating around the bush.

James' eyes popped open and then he sighed. "You're… actually helping me? Why?"

"Like I said. I think Lily could use a friend like you. Besides… you'd make a cute couple," she added with a wink before skipping off to Herbology, leaving a very shocked and mortified James behind.

James' only thoughts? 'Would we REALLY make a cute couple? It's bad when my friends say it, but when HER friends say it… I just might have a chance…' Filled with restored hope, James walked slowly and nonchalantly to Herbology. 'Maybe getting "stuck" with Lily will be the best experience of my year…'

A/N: Not too long, not too short. Keep the reviews coming!