Chapter 3: She'll Come Around

What was that?! Why was I so awkward? Oh GOD! I acted like a fool! She ranted to herself in her head. She entered the compartment where her friends were playing a game of Exploding Snap. She felt faint.

"Quick, Marlene, feel my forehead. Am I sick?" she asked almost hopefully. Marlene looked at her oddly but complied.

"Umm, I don't think you're sick, but you look kind of flushed. Did something happen?" she asked carefully. Lily sat down in a rush; the other girls were very confused.

"Lily, what's wrong? What happened?" Marlene tried again, concerned.

Lily took a deep breath and answered, "James Potter is Head Boy," she said quietly, almost to herself.

The three other girls gasped in shock, "WHAT?" asked Nicole.

"James Potter is Head Boy," Lily said again, still quietly and still shocked.

"…What?" asked Melissa, in almost a whisper.

"James. Potter. Is. Head. Boy." Lily said impatiently this time. How many times do I have to say it? She thought angrily in her head.

"Oh my," replied Marlene. She took a seat across from Lily and breathed deeply. "What are you going to do?" she asked.

"What do you mean?" Lily said, furrowing her eyebrows.

"Well, you always hated Potter, so I'm assuming that you're very upset over this…" Marlene trailed off, looking uncertain.

Lily sighed yet again. What should she tell them? "W-well, it seems that P-James has changed a lot over the summer, and I also think that I should at least try and be nice to him seeing as we will be working together for the whole year." She finished slowly.

The girls were utterly shocked. Never in their lives would they think they'd hear the Lily Evans say that she was going to be nice to the James Potter.

A lot of surprises today, aren't there? Thought Lily, annoyed at her friends' gaping.

"I-I'm confused," said Melissa, screwing up her face at Lily. "Why?"

"Um. Well 'cause I thought I was acting unfair to him and, well…" Lily didn't want to tell her friends of her "syndrome" and not wanting to be different anymore, so she made up something on the spot. "Because I'm trying to be kind to everyone this year, and leave Hogwarts known as the nicest Head Girl Hogwarts has ever seen." said Lily. "Bloody hell, I was even trying to be nice to Petunia," she added as an afterthought.

Lily never had a problem of lying about James Potter before, but now it was unbearably hard. Her expressions were far too easy to read at this moment. Lily was grimacing. She knew this was a horrible lie since the students at Hogwarts already knew Lily as the nicest girl, even the Slytherins. There was no doubt in their minds that she would go down as the nicest Head Girl.

Melissa and Nicole, however, seemed to be satisfied with her answer and continued their game of Exploding Snap. Marlene, being the keen observer that she was, caught on very quickly that there was something else going on. But, Marlene knew that Lily would not be willing to share and gave her a look that clearly said, You're not off the hook yet, missy. Lily was expecting this, and rolled her eyes at Marlene.

Lily returned to her normal self and the rest of the train ride was spent chatting about anything that came to mind until the Marauders decided to pay a visit.

"Hello Ladies," said Sirius as they entered the Gryffindor girls' compartment. He sat down across from Lily and looked at her strangely, a look of slight disbelief and confusion. Lily blushed. Great, James probably told them how much of an idiot I was.

The rest of the Marauders seated themselves amongst the girls. James was also staring at Lily and she blushed again. Marlene then looked at her with an eyebrow raised, questioning why she was blushing. Noticing the direction his friends were looking, Remus too, turned to look at Lily. Soon Melissa, Nicole and Peter were all turning to stare at Lily, although they did not know why.

Lily, noticing all seven pairs of eyes on her, said, "Yes? What are all of you staring at?" her voice slightly shaky and high, "Is there something on my face?" she asked worriedly, wiping her face of non-existent food.

"No. No, Lily. There is nothing on your face," replied Marlene. Oh dear, I'm getting a serious interrogation tonight, thought Lily.

"Um, okay, so can everyone stop staring at me please?" Her voice was still high, and her face was still red. Remus, Peter, Melissa and Nicole all looked away, still not sure why they were staring at Lily. Sirius eventually looked away as well and joined Melissa and Nicole's conversation. Marlene looked accusatory, but finally looked away. James was the only one still looking. Lily tried to ignore him, but to no avail.

She coughed and said quietly, "James, could you please stop staring?" James nodded and looked away.

…………………………

He knew something was different the moment she stepped into the Prefect compartment. She didn't yell at them for laughing. She didn't yell at them for being in the Prefect compartment. She didn't have a Lily Evans Temper Tantrum when she found out that James was Head Boy. She actually suggested being friends. Well, kind of. She said 'act like friends' but that doesn't matter.

James decided to try and impress Lily Evans; not with hexes and jinxes, because he only knew too well how that worked. No, he thought, I've grown up; I'm just going to act normal, and none of that arrogant act. Yes, that would work. He forgot that it wasn't an act. Well, not exactly. No, James Potter was not normally that arrogant, just a tad. But when Lily Evans was around, he felt the cocky side of his brain control his actions. His whole body would react differently when she was around. When she walked into a room, she controlled his eyes with her shoulder length, wavy, red hair and bright, endless, green eyes. His body didn't seem to listen to his mind; he wasn't able to tear his eyes away from her breath-taking beauty. He couldn't help it when something inappropriate came popping out of his mouth when he had not meant to say it. James always regretted what he said to her, but he didn't have the guts to say sorry. Plus, he would probably end up saying something that he would regret all over again and make her hate him more. Truthfully, he felt like fainting at the perfection of Lily Evans; much like a teenage girl occasionally does after Sirius Black gives them his famous Marauder grin.

Today was different though. James had finally gotten some control over his actions. Maybe it was because Lily had not yelled, and that gave him some confidence. Maybe it was because he had matured over the summer. And during the Prefect meeting, she had even smiled at some of his jokes! James was in heaven. But he was confused. Why had she smiled at his jokes? Why hadn't see yelled? Why was she trying to be nice? Was this some kind of a dare that Marlene had thrust upon her? No, Marlene was looking at her strangely too, he reminded himself. Then what?! James would never figure out how the female mind worked.

Back in the Marauders' compartment, James entered the compartment looking dazed.

"Prongs, mate, what's up with you?" asked Remus. He had left the Prefect compartment before James had. Sirius was still slightly shocked at Lily's actions; or rather, lack thereof. Peter couldn't care less.

"Am I dreaming? Was Lily actually being nice to me? Moony, did you see her smile at my jokes? Is this a dare? Damn it! What the hell is going on here?!" James asked. He looked like he was on the wrong planet.

Sirius was laughing slightly, "She smiled at your jokes, mate?" he asked disbelievingly.

"Yes, she did, Padfoot," Remus replied, completely serious. Sirius stopped laughing abruptly.

"What? Am I dreaming? Was Lily actually nice to Prongs? She actually smiled at Prongs', James Potter's jokes? Is this a dare? Damn it! What the hell is wrong with Evans?!" repeated Sirius, confusion and disbelief etched on his handsome face.

Peter was confused too, not because of Lily's actions, but because he didn't know what the boys were talking about. Apparently he also had short-term memory loss as he didn't remember what had happened previously in the Prefect compartment.

Remus shook his head at his friends' faces. They were all staring at him as though he was a magnificent teacher that held all the answers. He wished he had a camera. "Did you guys ever think of the fact that MAYBE Lily is starting to see that James isn't that bad of a guy? That maybe he has matured?" asked Remus. There was a slight pause until…

"HAHAHA! Good one, Moony. LILY EVANS being NICE to JAMES POTTER? HAHAHA!" Sirius shouted. Remus rolled his eyes at Sirius' insensitiveness. Peter seemed to be laughing too, only because Sirius was. James ignored Sirius and Peter and was looking at Remus with a hopeful look in his eyes.

"Really, Moony? Do you think that Lily might like me?" asked James, eager like a child on Christmas.

"Whoa, mate, one step at a time. I said that she might have realized that you matured," said Remus, having way too much fun. "But you never know, she could have been abducted by aliens," he added. James' face fell. Sirius laughed loudly at James' expression. Remus just chuckled at how hopelessly in love his mate was.

James sat down and sulked. "So you think that Lily will never like me?"

"Prongs, stop putting words in my mouth! Just take it one step at a time. Right now she's willing to be nice to you. Just take what you can get," replied Remus, exasperated. James agreed half-heartedly.

"Don't worry Prongs," said Sirius, still chuckling lightly, "She'll come around."

"Whatever," said James, his tone indifferent. "Hey Wormtail, want to play chess?"

"Sure!" replied Peter. Finally he knew what was going on.