Disclaimer: Nothing you see here is mine. Oh, and some parts in this story come from the show Friends. See author's note at bottom for more information.

Summary: James and Lily have had many encounters over the years, some pleasant and some…not so pleasant but the most memorable ones happened during their birthdays. Join them as they go through one birthday after another throughout their years at Hogwarts.

Dedicated to CrystalKisses.
Happy 15th Birthday…isn't it great to be fifteen years old finally? Well, this chapter is just perfect for you…such a coincidence (hee hee...you'll see why I am laughing after reading the chapter) that Lily turns fifteen in this chapter also. Enjoy!

Lily POV—Fourth Year

April 12—The Birthday

"Come on, Lily! Rise and shine! Up and at 'em! Get up, get up, get up!" Carina yelled, while pulling the covers off me.

I groaned, peaked at the clock (which said 6:00 AM), and pulled the covers back over me.

"Po uvay, Tenia, Vall git yup in nudder 4-5 mintes!" I mumbled from underneath the blanket.

"No, I will not go away and no, I do not trust you to sleep for only 45 more minutes Lily, especially after you hexed me for letting you sleep in last time." Carina said.

"It's amazing you could even understand exactly what it was she even said, Rina." Tracy stated from her bed.

"We've been friends for entirely too long, if you ask me." Carina replied.

Tracy rolled her eyes and hobbled over to my bed, yanking the covers off and charming them to stay off.

"Lily, get your arse out of bed this moment or you will be late for classes again and I—"

"—We," interrupted Carina.

"WE will not, under any circumstances, allow you to put us through that hell ever again." Tracy finished.

I came out from under the covers and stared, shocked, at Tracy.

"Did you just yell at me, Trae? You never yell at anyone." I asked in awe.

"Our little baby is growing up." Carina said, pretending to wipe tears from her eyes.

Tracy gave Carina a little shove and looked pointedly at me.

Probably hinting at me to get up out of bed.

"But Trae, it's Monday morning."

"Hence, the whole being-late-for-classes part, idiot."

"Monday morning." I emphasized by pointing at the calendar, ignoring Carina's remark.

"Yes, but it's also your birthday." Tracy replied back, pointing at the calendar also.

What?

"What?" I asked, looking at the calendar closely.

There it was, in plain text, Monday April 12th.

Oh, god.

I grabbed the calendar frantically and double-checked the dates, hoping that my birthday really did not fall on a Monday.

"She's gone nutters." Tracy whispered to Carina.

"No, she's gone James," Carina whispered back, "Honestly, Lily forgetting her birthday? That's such a James thing. It's as if Lily and James have switched personalities…James never forgets his birthday anymore and now this?"

"Reckon we should approach her or is it too dangerous?"

"We should stop the madness before it becomes too late," Carina stated firmly, "I'll do it...I've known her longer."

It's as if they don't even believe that I'm listening or something.

Carina came towards me, tapped me on the shoulder, and asked me the question that I knew would be coming.

"Lily, what's so wrong with your birthday being on a Monday?"

"What's wrong? What's not wrong? First of all, it's Monday. No one likes Mondays…I mean who wants to get up in the morning? Second of all, I don't want to have to go to classes on my birthday. Besides, every time my birthday falls on Monday, it becomes my worst day ever."

"Worst day ever? Aren't you being a little overdramatic?" Carina asked skeptically.

"Am I?" I whispered.

"Anyways, your birthday must have only fallen on Monday one, two times at most, since you were born." Tracy said logically.

"Exactly. And those were the two worst birthdays in the history of the entire existence of Lily Evans."

"Again, I reiterate, aren't you being a little overdramatic?"

"My first birthday—"

"First! Are you serious! You are including your first birthday as one of the worst birthdays in the world. How on earth do you even remember it?"

"My first birthday," I continued, "I somehow managed to crawl around on the floor while looking for a toy, knocked down some gas lamps that were on the counter, and set our kitchen on fire."

"And you were one?" Tracy asked, miserably trying to hold in her laughter.

"Well, it's very traumatizing for a one year to see firefighters come into your house, break down your door, and basically flood the room with hoses!"

By this time, Carina and Tracy were on the floor laughing hysterically, wiping tears from their eyes.

Well, it's nice to know that I have some very supportive friends.

"Well, I can see that I am not supported here. I'll just take my stuff and—"

"Okay, okay. We'll stop. God, you're such a drama queen. Continue on with the horrors of your life." Tracy said.

Carina was still too deep in her laughing fit to say anything.

"8th birthday: I was walking in the park with my parents and saw a gold watch on the ground. I picked it up to show my parents only to have two police officers come charging towards us."

"What's a police officer?" Carina asked, interested.

"I'll tell you later. Basically, think of them as smaller-scale Aurors." Tracy told her.

"Anyways, they thought that I had stolen the watch from some rich person and they took me and my parents, despite their insistence that I didn't do anything, down to the police station."

"You were arrested at the age of 8 and taken down for questioning for possession of a gold watch?" Tracy asked incredulously.

"Our Lily is a little criminal!" Carina sang.

I glared at them.

"Well, now don't you believe me? Lily Evans, birthdays, and Mondays just don't mix together!"

"Oh, come on Lily," Carina said seriously, "Even you can't be that superstitious. You had two birthdays that ended up like that as opposed to the other twelve other birthday parties thrown for you that were a success. It was just a coincidence. I reiterate, a co-in-ci-dence. In fact, say it with me."

"Carina, you're such an idiot."

"No Trae, I think you're the one who is the idiot."

I got up off the bed, grabbed my uniform, and headed for the shower shaking my head in amusement. My friends were incredibly annoying berks at times but I loved them for it.

As I undressed to get into the shower, I thought about what Carina said about it being coincidence. Maybe she is right. Maybe it all depends on the way I look at it.

I smiled and relaxed. They're right. I should stop being so paranoid. After I take my hot shower, I'll feel so much better.

I turned on the shower and stepped inside, waiting for the hot water to hit me.

In three...

two...

one...

AAAGGGHHH!

Maybe not.

Carina and Tracy turned towards the door in surprise as I came out of the bathroom in my uniform in a matter ofone minute.

"Lily, what happened?"

"There's no hot water! NO HOT WATER! I knew I wasn't being paranoid…Mondays are unlucky! Why did I even think that there was a possibility that you guys were right?"

Carina walked up to me and grabbed my shoulders.

"Lily, it was a coincidence. I reiterate, co-in-ci-dence."

"Carina, why do you keep saying reiterate over and over again?" Tracy asked her.

"Oh, it's my word of the day."

---------

That cold shower was only the beginning of my incredibly bad day.

First, the three of us were late to breakfast and got there 5-10 minutes before it ended.

Then, I found out that they were out of my favorite, scrambled eggs and bacon. I ended up having to eat two disgusting, dry pieces of toast.

Afterwards, we were late to Potions because I got my foot stuck in the trick staircase.

The three of us weren't able to pick our partners in Potions and I ended up getting partnered with Timothy Spalding.

He's not exactly the brightest star in the sky.

Then, I was pelted with water balloons by Peeves and ended up going soaked to Herbology.

James, Sirius, Remus, and Peter did try to make it up to me at lunch. James played this amazing song he wrote for me (I must say, he's got talent with that guitar of his), Sirius charmed the Slytherins' robes to have lilies on them (that did manage to cheer me up a little), Remus spent the whole day taking my notes for me so I could play Hangman with Carina and Sirius (he's always so amazingly thoughtful), and Peter left me a Pumpkin Pasty in every class.

I always knew I was friends with the Marauders for a reason.

But my day overrides any nice thing that anyone did for me.

-

After lunch, I was feeling a little bit better but then that idiot Randall Sykes asked if I would go to Hogsmeade with him next weeked. It was little weird how James kept glaring at him.

Anyways, it would have been alright if it weren't for the fact that he called me Lola.

Come on, give me a break. That was pretty unlucky if you ask me.

Then in Transfiguration, I was the last person to transform my porcupine into a pincushion. Somehow, I managed to change the porcupine but it became a half pincushion-half flying bat thing. It took us the rest of the class to try and get the bat down as well as to stop it from throwing pins at us.

I was the only one who got Transfiguration homework.

Of course, James offered to do it for me but I needed to learn and to tell you the truth, I am a little scared of McGonagall.

Needless to say, when I got back to the Gryffindor Common Room that night, I was ready for this nightmare to be over.

Only when I flopped down onto the couch, I had presents thrown at my face.

What, is it custom for us to throw presents at each other's faces or something?

"You guys, I really don't have to strength to open these right now. I mean, was this day horrible or horribly horrible?" I asked dramatically, throwing my hands next to my heart.

"Again, I reiterate, you're such a drama queen," Carina stated, "come on Lily, this was just purely coincidental. Co—"

"If you dare say coincidental, I will take all these presents and shove it up your arse."

Sirius, Remus, Peter, Tracy, and Carina just stared at me crazily.

"Wow, Lily really is having a bad day." Remus observed.

Way to go, Einstein.

"She does seem to be swearing a lot lately." Tracy said.

"Are you saying that Lily only swears when she's having a bad day?" Carina asked.

"Of course. Why would she swear when she's happy?" Tracy retorted.

"You never know...she could swear because she got a really good grade on an essay." Peter stated.

"Lily always gets good grades on essays." Sirius said.

"Let's just look at this objectively." Remus said, while Sirius took out a notebook to record things in.

I groaned while my friends argued about my bad days vs. my good days and sunk deeper into the couch.

Maybe I'll just open my presents without them. They don't seem to care very much anyway.

I first reached for James' present (I always love his, they're the best).

Carefully unwrapping the paper, I opened it to find a velvet box. Confused, I slowly opened the box only to find a set of flower-shaped golden earrings.

Oh, my.

He remembered.

He actually remembered.

A while ago, we were walking and as we passed by this jewelry shop, I saw these earrings. They looked exactly like the ones my Grandma used to wear and before she died, she always commented how she would one day give them to me.

But then my grandma died and all her stuff was pawned off. I never saw those earrings again but I desperately wanted to know where they went.

It was like fate wanted for me to see these earrings again. It must have been Merlin calling me, saying "Lily, it's your right to take these earrings."

Then again, 200 galleons is a little too much than I care to spend for my rights.

Anyways, I casually told James this story and listened intently (like he always does). But days and weeks passed and both of us never said anything so I assumed he had forgotten all about it.

But he hadn't.

"Where's James?" I asked, still staring at the earrings.

The five stopped arguing for a moment and finally noticed that I had already opened presents.

"Hey," Sirius said angrily, "you've already started. Why didn't you tell us?"

"Where's James? I need to find him." I said, ignoring his statement completely.

For some reason, the need to find James and thank him was so strong.

"I think I saw him in the Charms classroom about fifteen minutes ago." Remus said.

I ran off towards the Portrait Hole, ignoring my friends' outbursts, and rushed to find him.

When I finally reached the classroom, I expected James to be asking Flitwick some questions about homework.

What I saw was James throwing hexes at Snape crazily.

I stared in shock at the scene in front of me. I thought that he had learned his lesson.

But evidently not.

Anger started to replace my state of shock. How could he do this…and after he promised not to lay a finger on him.

Suddenly, the need to thank him was gone and it was replaced with something else.

I found myself yelling at him.

"JAMES TRISTAN POTTER!"

James winced slightly and abruptly turned around, causing Snape to hit the ground.

"WHAT THE HELL DO YOU THINK YOU ARE DOING?"

"Well, Snape, you know Snape don't you Lily? He's in our year, slimy Slytherin—"

"Don't you dare change the topic on me!" I shouted at him.

At this point, I saw Snape head towards us but abruptly switch directions and head back to his Common Room before James noticed.

"Well, he was reading a book on Dark Arts and I needed to teach him lesson that Dark Arts are bad for the soul."

"You hexed him because he was reading a book on Dark Arts?" I asked him incredulously.

James winced again and bit his lip, hesitating slightly.

"Well, when you make it sound like that…"

"James, there's no way you can make that reason sound plausible! You hexed Snape because you saw him reading a Dark Arts book…that's like you hexing me for reading a muggle book!"

James' eyes grew wide.

"Oh, come on. I was just having a little bit of fun, Lily."

"Fun? You call cursing innocent people fun? Only Slytherins do that. I thought you hated Slytherins, James. And if you do still believe it's fun, then you can have that kind of fun on your own. I'm leaving. I can't believe that I ran all the way over here just to thank you for such a wonderful birthday present. Obviously, you're not mature enough to be thanked."

With that, I turned around and ran towards the other end of the castle.

---------

I walked around in a place that I hoped James wouldn't find me in. I felt horribly guilty for telling him that but he deserved it.

He needed to know what a horrible thing he did and I would be the only person who would tell him.

I mean, Sirius and Peter would never tell him (Sirius would probably join him), Remus wouldn't approve but he wouldn't dare lash out against a friend, James would never take Carina's word seriously, and Tracy never yells at anyone (with the exception of this morning).

I'm the only one who ever stands up to him and challenges his opinions and actions.

I still wonder how it is we even became friends really. We have such clashing personalities and we almost always argue…I mean we're complete opposites.

But if I were to choose one Marauder, the one who I felt closest to, it would have to be James.

Funny how these things work.

"LILY! Lily, wait up!"

I spun around to find James running at a horribly fast speed. I stopped right where I was, with my arms crossed around my chest.

"Lily," he wheezed, "wait, just let me catch my breath. Shit, you were hard to find."

"Well, you can catch your breath for as long as you want. I'm going back."

"Oh, come on Lily. Hear me out."

"No. Leave me alone. I'm not done being angry with you just yet."

"But just tell me what to do so I can fix it."

"What?" I asked him tiredly.

"You know, I do something bad, you yell at me and run away, I try to find you (but usually you're somewhere around where I am), and you tell what it is that I have to do to fix our fight. So what, want me to buy you flowers, chocolate, Pumpkin Pasties? Or do you want me to do your Transfiguration homework?"

"James, I'm really tired of seeing you right now. I can't tell you what to do all the time. You're fifteen years old…you have to figure out what it is you did wrong. And we're not joking around anymore. This is serious and this is a real life problem. So come find me when you realize what it is you did wrong."

I walked towards the Common Room quickly, hoping to get James out of my way.

"Lily, come on. Lily, stop walking away from me and talk to me. Lily? Lily! LILY? Oh for god's sake." He said and ran towards me, pulling my arm.

Then he did something that I never expected.

What I expected was for him to kneel, beg, and plead for me to forgive him.

But I never expected him to pull me towards him…

…and kiss me.

Yes, ladies and gentlemen, you are correct.

James Tristan Potter is kissing me, Lily Michelle Evans.

What the hell is wrong with him?

I pushed him off me quickly, at which he protested quietly.

"What's wrong with you? Are you drunk? Is this your idea of fixing our fights? Because if it is, then we have a problem and I probably have to go back to being the relationship tutor."

"No Lily. Nothing's wrong with me and I'm perfectly sober. It's just that I hate fighting with you, I can't stand it when you walk away from me, and I absolutely can't bear it when you're angry at me. I care about you way too much." He finished, looking at his shoes.

"Care about me exactly how much?" I asked, dreading the answer.

"Lily," he murmured, "I like you. A whole lot. And much more than a friend."

Oh.

My.

God.

Oh, no, no, no, no, no, no, no, no, no, no, no, no, no, no, no, no, no, no, no, no, no, no, no, no, no, no.

Merlin, please don't do this to me.

"Oh, god," I whispered, putting a hand to my mouth, "this can't be possible. This isn't happening. This isn't a cruel joke you're playing, is it?"

He just shook his head slowly, still staring at his shoes.

I gulped. "For how long?"

"About a year and a half. Since my 14th birthday really."

A year and a half! How is it that I didn't see it?

Oh, god. That's why James kept hurting and glaring at anyone who asked me out to Hogsmeade…and why he always blushed every time I caught him staring at me or holding my hand.

My best friend, James Potter, is in love with me.

And the worst part is, I don't love him back.

"Is there a chance that you, just might possibly, like me back Lily?" James asked, with a hopeful look in his eyes.

I stared at him, knowing my answer will crush him.

"I'm sorry, James. I just…it's hard to…I don't see you as anything more than a friend, that's all."

The look on his face almost tore my heart in two.

Oh, please don't make James cry. I can't handle it when he cries.

"Look, James." I started, hoping that there would be some way I could make him feel better.

But then he started laughing.

And laughing.

And laughing until he fell on the ground holding his sides.

"I can't believe you believed me!"

What?

"What?" I asked, shocked by this outburst.

"I was just kidding about liking you! I mean, seriously, why on earth would I like you? I mean, you're Lily Evans."

I stared at him. What does that mean?

"So what?" I asked, my anger bubbling.

"So what? I can't believe that you would actually believe that I liked you! You would think that—"

SLAP.

On the side of James' cheek, a red mark in the shape of a handprint started to appear.

"You bastard." I whispered, tears threatening to spill.

"What? It was a joke, Lily. Come on."

"That was a very sick joke. You're fifteen years old, James. Why can't you, for once, act your age and consider other people's feelings?" I spat at him, glaring as hard as I could.

"Lily—"

"It's Evans to you, Potter."

James stumbled backwards, a horrified look on his face. "Potter? Lily, you can't let a silly little joke ruin our friendship." he whispered.

"What friendship? I can't believe that I ever considered you my friend, my brother. I considered you my brother James. You were closer to me than Petunia, or even Oliver, ever was. And you just cut off any bonds we had with your idea of a joke. Well, the joke's on you, mister. I don't ever want to see your face again."

James looked absolutely stunned. "What?"

"Leave me alone and never, I reiterate, never bother me again."

"You can't be serious."

"Oh, just try me." I replied in a deathly whisper.

James tried to catch a hold of my arm but I pulled out my wand and stepped away.

"Come another step closer and I will not hesitate to hex you."

"Please, Lily. Don't do this to me, to us. You're one of my best friends."

"You should have thought of that beforehand." With that said, I ran away from him, tears fully flowing from my eyes.

I ran into the Gryffindor Common Room and fell onto my bed, sobbing and sobbing.

I felt as if I would never be able to stop crying.

Throughout the whole night, I tried to get rid of everything…pictures, toys, candy, prank stuff, everything. Just to see if it would help me forget him.

But nothing was working.

And the worst part was that I wasn't able to get James' face out of my mind the entire time.

This is by far the worst Monday birthday, no, worst birthday ever.

Dramatic, no? Well, yay for me! Fast update, don't you think? This is for that long 2 month wait I put you guys through. Anyways, there weren't that many different reviews between Chapter 3 and 4 (actually not that many) so I decided to just combine the two review responses.

Oh, and the thing about the relationship tutor, Lily telling James how to fix problems, and James remembering about Lily's grandma's earrings...those are also ideas that I borrowed from the show Friends. It just seemed to fit.

Hopefully, I'll do it by tonight.

Crystalkisses, hope you liked it!

The Big Dance