That night, James tossed and turned in his bed, unable to sleep. He was fascinated by this Lily Evans and couldn't understand why he had lost his self-control previously. It had never happened before with any girls. James had never lost control.

For the first time in his life, he believed in the saying "love at first sight".

Lily laid down on her tummy, face-down, and wondered about the incident that happened previously. She kept telling herself that it was just an accident, that James just wasn't sure of his new surroundings. Then she reminded herself that he was from a school that had both boys and girls, too.

She couldn't understand the way she was feeling. So many boys have sent love letters her way and some had even gone down on their knees to give her flowers to make her accept him. She never accepted anybody, except one. but she would never let her thoughts run that way once again.

This kind of feeling was new to her, something strange and Lily hated dealing with strange encounters. She always had a thinking of things always having explanations to them. This 'accident' crashed her concept.

Part of her wanted to believe that it was just an accident. After all, if he was just new to the school and if this wasn't an accident, by any chance, then James Potter would be classified as a playboy in her eyes. Somehow, she didn't want him to be like that. She expected and knew better.

Another part of her lurked behind her mind and it desired that it wasn't an accident, but the act was actually done on purpose. She knew she felt rather indecent, but she wondered how it would be like for his soft yielding lips to touch hers.

Lily bit her pillow in frustration. How she hated him for making her feel this confused and lost. How she loved him for making her feel something new.

The next day, Lily, by orders of Dumbledore, had to show James around, despite her weak protests that she was sick. She proposed that her friends could take him around, but Dumbledore could see through her like glass, and had insisted that she wasn't sick.

Lily showed him around Hogwarts, but midway through the 'tour', she couldn't help but wonder if she could ever finish showing him the whole school.

First of all, Hogwarts was a huge school. Secondly, for every five minutes of the 'tour', she had both girls and boys tagging after James and her.

Girls, she could understand. With James Potter's good looks, no one could really blame them. But boys? Lily really couldn't wrap her finger around that matter.

James felt irritation slowly creep up his back. He thought that this must be some welcoming by the students, but really, all he wanted was some quiet time alone with Lily Evans. Is that too much to ask for?

Boys, he could understand. With Lily Evans's, the Head Girl's, good looks, James really couldn't believe the boys for tagging along after them. They would want to keep an eye on her, to make sure that she is taken away by him.

Girls, he could understand, too. In the past, in his old school, the girls stuck to him like honey. He used to shrug them off, just like now.

The both of them tried their very best to ignore the ongoing chattering by the girls and the occasional swearing by the boys behind them. Lily resisted every urge to roll her eyes at such immaturity.

Lily continued to move on and introduced to James the different classrooms and purposes. James had to strain his ears to hear her voice over all the chatter.

Lily kept on talking monotonously, not really caring whether James heard what she was saying or not. After all, he would get used to the school sooner or later.

When they reached the Quidditch Pitch, the Slytherins were practicing their Quiddich and Kye Bradford looked good on the field, with his new broomstick.

James couldn't take it any more. He could no longer hear what Lily was talking about. And now, over the loud shouts in the Quidditch Pitch by the players wearing silver and green, James felt himself hovering over the edge of insanity.

"QUIET!" he bellowed. He heaved heavy breaths and saw Lily toss him a weird glance at the corner of his eye. It was so quiet now that one could hear a bird's heartbeat.

Then, James heard one of the boys hovering above with his broomstick fly down and swear loudly.

The girls and boys behind them slowly went out of the pitch and back to where they came from, careful not to make any sound. They were afraid to hear any more roars made by James.

James looked at the boy who swore loudly. He could see, even from quite a far distance, that that boy was quite handsome.

His hair looked like a blonde and brunette had come together and came up with a better color.

His eyes were gray, which was now full of midnight blue flecks. The gray shirt he was wearing seemed to bring the color of his eyes out more.

He turned, saw Lily, and smiled gently at her. Lily, in turn, blushed. James raised his eyebrows. Was it this guy who swore just now, and most importantly, was there something between him and Lily?

The boy turned back to James and yelled at him. "What the hell are you doing, shouting at the top of your lungs in the pitch?"

"And what the hell are you doing, shouting at the top of your lungs in the pitch?" James retorted, without any doubt of dislike in his voice.

"You're breaking our concentration, or are you too thick to know it?" the boy's voice dripped with sarcasm.

"If I'm thick then you must be-"

"Please!" Lily interjected. "Kye, please, go back to your game, all right? I apologize on his behalf."

Kye seemed to be thinking Lily's suggestions over. He obviously did not want to upset Lily further. She looked on the verge of tears, although he had never heard or seen her crying over anything before.

After a long moment, he finally said, "All right.", leaving Lily to heave a sigh of relief. She knew how violent things could get if they got out of hand.

James felt furious. Why the hell did she apologize on his behalf? He didn't need anyone to apologize for him, nor did he think that that jerk standing in front of him needed an apology from anyone.

He gave a louder cry of outrage when he saw that Kye boy plant a soft kiss on Lily's cheeks. He was about to punch the person when Kye flew off on his broomstick with Lily sitting behind him.

James felt his jaw stiffen. He always felt it when he was about to punch someone. Seeing that Lily did not hold on to Kye in any way did NOT make him feel better. His hate and anger wasn't all directed at Lily, though he admitted that he was bitter at the fact that this boy with the stupidest hair color he had ever seen beat him in winning girls over. From head to toe, that dumb and idiotic Kye looked like a genuine playboy. What could Lily see in such a guy?

Then again, he only knew Lily for a day. He can't believe the anger he felt.

Lily was about to burst out. With anger. Her arms held on to the end of the broomstick as she flew in the air with Kye. She refused to touch any one of them. How could they shout at each other like that? What if any one else, especially one of the teachers or even the Headmaster, saw this situation? They would think that she was the cause of all trouble. And what if a big fight broke out, she might even lose her position of Head Girl! She couldn't live with that ugly fact.

And here she thought that James was decent and that Kye was nice. It seemed to her now that the both were them were decent and nice only to her. That was so hypocritical.

However, one not so tiny part of her reminded herself that she wasn't her true self in school, too. She sighed at the thought of this.

Kye couldn't hear the sigh over all the cat-callings by his team mates. He loved the attention, but still wondered why Lily still refused to hold on to his waist or something. She could fall off or something. Kye certainly didn't want that. He could get into a lot of trouble, and so could she.

After a while, Lily came down from the broomstick and bid Kye good bye before leaving the pitch. She couldn't trust herself with either of the two barbarians any more. She was sure she could kill either.

She was walking though a dark throughway when she met James. She didn't actually see James. Maybe it was too dark, or maybe she was just too furious to notice anyone pass her by.

James held onto her slender wrists forcefully. Lily took out her wand and said, "Lumos", casting a weak shadow over James's angry jaw-line.

She tried to wriggle her hands free of his grasp, but he was just too strong for her. She felt every nerve inside her body commanding her to cast a full body binding spell on him, but she resisted. She could get into deep shit for that impulsive action. Plus, both her hands were held tightly, including her wand arm.

"Let go," Lily whispered dangerously.

James was slightly surprised to sense this new tone in her. But contrarily, he tightened his grasp on her wrists, refusing to let go.

He could see Lily staring at him and for a moment, he thought that he saw flames dancing around in her emerald eyes. Then he thought that he must be imagining. He didn't think that Lily had anger stored in her. She seemed like such a docile and gentle swan.

"Let go," she repeated softly.

"No." James hardened his heart. He was an impatient person. He wanted answers to his questions and he would get them. He wouldn't let her run away from him once again. He never could run worth a damn and he knew it well himself.

The few torturous moments passed and James finally asked her what her relationship was with that Kye.

"That, isn't any of your business, is it?" The matter-of-fact answer caught him off guard.

James tightened his hold once more. "Tell me," he insisted urgently.

"There is nothing going on between the two of us."

"Liar." James felt furious that Lily could lie to him without even blinking.

"If you don't believe me, then I suggest you let me go, for all the answers I give you would be lies like them." Lily couldn't ignore the lump in her throat. No one called her a liar. No one… except…

James heard her voice swagger a bit and thought that maybe he was going too far. He didn't want her to cry. He tried to look further and deeper into her seemingly expressionless eyes, but he found nothing. No tears, no anger, nothing. He felt lost.

He didn't know what else to know, so he just let go.

Lily ran worth her damn.

That night, at dinner, Dumbledore brought in three more boys. The three boys that Lily had totally forgot over today's trauma.

They now sat around her and she was positively glad that they left no space for James to sit beside her. She couldn't and wouldn't face him so soon. Her heart still ached over the previous accusation.

She learnt that their names were Remus Lupin, Sirius Black, and Peter Pettigrew.

She found that Peter Pettigrew was the weirdest of them all. He kept quiet with sudden outbursts of laughter due to the jokes the other tall bloke with black hair was making.

He was also the shortest. Lily realized that when all the students stood up to propose a toast to the three new students to welcome them. She saw that all the other three of them, James, Sirius and Remus, were all taller than her by at least a head. The top of her head was only at their shoulders and she was already considered one of the tallest girls in the entire school. Only Peter was shorter than her.

His mousy face seemed to scrunch up in either disgust or laughter all the time and Lily found that fact amusing.

Sirius Black had the most dashing good looks among all of them, actually. He had jet-black hair too, just like James, and his eyes were brown. However, his hair was rather long and was tied back in a neat ponytail, making him handsome in a rugged sort of way. Lily wondered how his old school had allowed such hair styles. Little did she know that he had gotten into a lot of trouble and had simply refused to cut his hair.

There was a play-boyish aura around him and he was also very muscular. His muscles were even more prominent against the rather tight fitting black shirt of his.

The last boy was also very cute and handsome. He had sandy colored hair, not really the typical blonde, and his eyes were also blue, but his was sky or silky blue, compared to James's right now.

Lily ate her dinner quietly and laughed politely at the ironical jokes that Sirius made throughout dinner. She was eager to get back to her own dorm room. For once, she hated the noise surrounding and attention involving her. For once, she wanted peace and quiet, just to think things over.

If she wasn't too eager, she might have noticed that Remus kept looking over at Jamie and that Melissa kept looking over at Sirius.

She might have noticed that all the girls in Hogwarts were more than fascinated by the four new boys, or rather, legendary characters, that had come to their school.

She might also have noticed that James was staring guiltily at her wrists, which had a tinge of blue-black to it.

James felt about as low a person could ever get, if possible, even lower. He couldn't believe the brute strength he had exerted when questioning her. She was such a fragile porcelain doll to him that he was fearful of breaking her.

He also can't believe that she didn't utter a word of protest when he had grabbed her wrists so roughly. She could've just said that it hurt and James would have let go of her immediately, even though he was angry and fuming.

That, really defeated the motion that she was fragile. James somehow suspected that she wasn't all that she seemed, but he couldn't explain why and how he arrived to that conclusion.

Lily finished her dinner and quickly dismissed herself from the group of eight. Jamie, first to sense something wrong with Lily as usual, followed her back to their room. Remus's eyes followed Jamie and found them fixated on the slow and unconscious swaying of her hips.

Sirius chuckled and poked Remus in the ribs, bringing him back to Earth.

"Where were you? Somewhere in space?" Sirius teased.

Remus glared at Sirius for causing him such embarrassment in front of Lily's and Jamie's two other friends. However, as he noticed the other girl, Melissa, carefully for the first time, he saw that she kept glancing over at Sirius, even when Sirius wasn't talking.

The corners of Remus's lips twitched.

Back in their dorm room, Jamie sat down on Lily's bed and looked at Lily's messy red hair. Lily looked up at her with strangely misty eyes. Jamie wasn't sure if she was tearing or just tired.

"What's wrong?" Jamie asked gently.

"Nothing."

That didn't fool Jamie, though.

"Really?"

Lily nodded, rather to herself than to Jamie. "Why would you think so?"

"Oh… the usual… you not changing into your 'normal' nerd self… keeping quiet when you're usually vibrant with anger or sarcasm…" Jamie smiled.

Lily smiled reluctantly.

"Just thinking," she replied.

Jamie then knew what had happened. Every time Lily said she was 'just thinking', she was sure to be thinking about what happened in the past.

She placed an arm around Lily's slumped shoulders to comfort her.

"Don't think too much now, all right?"

Lily nodded again.

Just as Jamie was about to leave Lily's bed chamber, she said teasingly to Lily, "And don't pout. It's bad for your image," to lighten the serious mood.

Lily smiled a genuine smiled at Jamie and was glad that she had friends like her.

She automatically locked her door and in another automatic gesture, lied down in her soft bed and tossed and turned, unable to sleep.

It was another daily routine for her.