Never before had Lily Evans, Head Girl of Hogwarts, been greeted with such a peculiar sight. If her eyes were not tricking her (and mind you, she had perfect eyesight), she could have sworn that she had seen James Potter and Professor Slughorn conversing! Impossible! Lily knew exactly how much James hated the professor because of his sometimes nonsensical ramblings.

"Professor Slughorn? Am I interrupting anything?" Lily asked tentatively.

"Lily, m'dear! Ho, Miss Evans! Come on in! Of course you weren't interrupting!" the professor, over-enthusiastic in his greetings, waved his arm as an invitation to step into the room.

"I'll talk to you later, James!" said Slughorn while winking at the Head Boy.

"Uh, sure thing, Professor," replied the slightly intimidated James, while scurrying to the back of the room.

As class began, Lily couldn't help but wonder why James had willingly been in the same room with their Potions professor while talking to him. If it had been any other person, she would have let it go, but knowing James Potter as she did, she was determined to find out exactly what was going on.

"Prongs, man, are you serious?"

"No, Padfoot, you're Sirius, remember?"

"James, please stop with that joke. It's getting rather old now."

"I'm not old! Remus, I'm only 17, remember?"

James, Remus and Sirius turned their heads towards Peter in a synchronised motion, unsure of what to make of that last comment.

"Anyway…James, you're really going to do it? You're going to put that stuff in Lily's pumpkin soup tonight?" Sirius Black, the notorious womaniser of Hogwarts, asked his best friend, unable to stop bouncing on the bed with delight.

"Sirius, knock it off. That's getting annoying, you know." Remus managed to mutter, massaging his temple to prevent a headache.

Sirius replied to this command by pouting at his fellow Marauder.

"Yeah. I've already talked to the Slug about it, and he said he'd help me."

Although James was certain that this new-found plan of his would work, he couldn't help being nervous. After all, this was his one chance to find out if Lily Evans, the girl of his dreams, really did love him or not.

When Lily walked into the Great Hall that night with her best friend Alice, she really did not expect herself to be surprised again, but surprised she was. Sitting beside her usual 'spot' was James. As she approached the table, she saw that he had kindly prepared a bowl of pumpkin soup.

"Alright, Potter, tell the truth. Did you put something into my soup?" Lily questioned, hands on her hips and nostrils flaring, a tell-tale sign of danger to those who knew her well.

"Of course not, my dearest Lilykins! Why would I do something like that?" her so-called enemy asked innocently.

"Well, for starters, you never get my dinner for me unless you've put something in it!"
"I got you a plate of salad just the other night!"
"Yes, you did, but after I ate that, my hair turned purple! You know how much I hate purple hair!"

James winced at the memory of his Lily with purple hair. He had to admit, that wasn't one of his brightest ideas.

"Evans, come on. Just eat, don't fuss."

Having run out of excuses, Lily decided that she would just have to trust Potter for once. Mind you, that was difficult enough a job in itself if it didn't concern food.

Later that night, Lily began wondering if she was turning into an insomniac. She found the thought rather ridiculous, though. Unable to sleep, she trudged down to the fireplace that she shared with James.

"Lily? What are you doing? You're not asleep?"

"Do I look like I'm asleep to you, Potter?"

Glaring frostily at the boy, she walked over to the couch and sat down heavily. She really was tired, but couldn't seem to sleep. Glancing at James, she gasped softly. Lily couldn't explain it, but she seemed to be in a sort of trance. A trance that involved her staring at James's messy black hair and brilliant eyes, while thinking about all the things he had done for her. Not much, when you thought about it.

"Lily? Are you feeling alright?" As if to prove his point, James waved his hand, complete with lanky fingers, in front of her eyes.

"Wha-what? Yeah, I'm fine. Thanks for asking, though."

James abruptly snatched his hand away. Evans, thanking him? Impossible! He really needed to see Madam Pomfrey tomorrow.

"Goodnight, James," Lily muttered, now feeling perfectly capable of catching some rest.

Without a backward glance, she went off to her room, leaving a wide-eyed, shocked James behind her.

Over the next week or so, Lily's attitude and mannerisms towards her fellow Head changed. She found herself warming towards his ideas and jokes (she still thought of them as pranks, though), and began to question her motives.

Am I falling in love with James Potter? The arrogant git who teased me about my freckles in first-year, poured melted chocolate on my hair in second-year and still calls me, to this day, Lilykins? Impossible!

Lily confided to Alice all her suspicions and troubles. Both girls came to the conclusion that Lily was slowly falling in love with her enemy.

One night, during patrol, Lily realised that she needed to talk to James about her slight 'obsession'.

"Look, James, it's not funny!"

The redheaded girl most definitely had not expected this reaction from Potter. Shock, incredulity, even anger? Quite possibly. Laughter? Never in her wildest dreams.

"Potter, are you listening to me? Put a sock in it! I tell you about my feelings, and you laugh at me?" Lily almost shouted, her face flushing to the same colour as her hair.

Stomping off in anger, she was stopped quite suddenly by a tug on her hand. Suddenly, she found herself pinned against James's chest, in quite a compromising position, really.

You know, the final touch to this would be if he…

Miss Evans never finished that thought, what with the dashing Mr Potter kissing her.

"Aw, isn't that cute, Moony? You know what I think would be hilarious? If Prongsie told his Lily Blossom about the love potion he put in her pumpkin juice last week! Not that it's lasted this long, of course!"