Thanks to Bookybookbook, laxrules18, messyblackhair66, siriusbrillantbrunette, american nymphadora, BeccaBex and Super Cara for reviewing! Thanks also to sakuracat14 for adding this story as a favourite.

I'm really sorry about the cliff hanger on the last chapter. I felt bad about leaving you hanging there so I updated as soon as possible. Hopefully this chapter meets the expectations! Unfortunately, poor James has a bit more heartbreak to come but I promise it won't be too much more!

And yes, I'm sure Lily would be freezing in a mini skirt in an English winter…but how often has that stopped anyone? Lol. And as for Marly's love life…you'll have to wait and see ;-)

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Ch 15: Stupid Ideas

"I love you"

James looked directly at Lily as the crowd roared in excitement. Lily looked stunned and James felt his nerves kick in with a vengeance.

"Happy New Year." A voice boomed through the pub, greeted with cheers and screams.

James looked at Lily with bated breath, waiting for her to respond. His hands were sweaty and he felt claustrophobic amongst the sea of closely packed people. Maybe he shouldn't have told her.

The noise died down slightly and Lily moved so she could talk to James. James felt tingles where he could feel her breath on his neck as she leaned into him.

"What did you say?" James felt his heart sink.

She hadn't even heard him. His words had been drowned out by the noise of the crowd. He didn't know if he could go through all that again. He felt drained from all the energy he had put into telling her. Telling her that hardest thing he had ever had to say to anyone. The thing he had never felt or told to any other girl. Telling her what had cost him every ounce of energy to say to her that she hadn't even heard.

"What did you want to say to me before?" Lily repeated.

Finding his voice, James managed, "Nothing. Nothing. It doesn't matter."

Lily looked concernedly at him. He looked pale and miserable. "Sure?"

"Sure." He confirmed, mustering a small smile. Suddenly, he noticed the man standing next to Lily, his hand on her shoulder. He was standing close to her, too close James thought.

"I see you're busy anyway." James added bitterly, the words spilling from his mouth before he could stop them. And with that he turned and walked away. He felt as if she had ripped his heart from his chest, thrown it to the ground and stomped all over it. And the worst thing was, she didn't even know it.

Her face had looked shocked and hurt at his nasty comment and he felt a horrible kind of satisfaction. Maybe she would understand how much pain and torture she had put him through. Maybe she would feel a fraction of the hurt he was feeling now.

---

"Sorry about that." Lily said, turning back to Daniel. She smiled slightly but her mind was still mulling over what James had just said to her. Where had the sudden nastiness come from? What had she done?

Daniel waved away her apology. "Was that guy your boyfriend?"

"What?" Lily was surprised at his question. "No, of course not. He's just one of my friends."

Daniel looked slightly disbelieving. "He never was?"

"Good God no!"

Daniel nodded but he still didn't look convinced. "Well, just in case you haven't noticed, I don't think that's how he sees it."

"What?" Lily was genuinely confused. What was wrong with everybody? First James had snapped at her for no reason and now Daniel was going all weird on her too. And that was the second person to insinuate that she and James were more than friends. It was ridiculous!

"He likes you. Loves you even." Seeing Lily shocked expression, Daniel looked at her curiously. "You really have no idea?"

"Well, I know he used to like me. But it was just a silly crush. He got over it. We're just friends now." Lily said firmly, hoping that was all it was.

Daniel shook his handsome head. "Listen to me Lily. I've been watching you all night. Don't worry, I'm not a stalker or anything." He added hastily. Lily laughed.

"The way he watches you, the way he gets angry and jealous every time he sees you talking to another guy. Like me. He loves you." Lily had no idea how to respond to what Daniel had just told her. A crush? Yeah. But love? That was a whole other thing.

"Are you sure?" Lily asked Daniel faintly.

"Positive. I've seen that look too many times to misread it." He looked sad and Lily felt sorry for him. Had he been just like he was telling her James was, hopelessly in love with a girl who didn't return his feelings?

"You're a nice girl Lily. Think about what I said. About that guy, whatever his name is. Take care." With a light peck on her cheek, Daniel turned and left just like James had only minutes before. And Lily was left standing there, more confused than ever. So, for lack of anything else to do, Lily downed the rest of her drink and headed into the sea of people.

---

"Are you okay Lily?" Marly asked, looking at her friend worriedly. The five of them were huddled together outside the pub. It was nearly two in the morning and they knew they should get back to the school.

"I'm fine." Lily said breezily, looking far from it as she collapsed into another fit of giggles. Lily had spent the last hour dancing wildly and she still had energy to burn.

"Do you think maybe I shouldn't have made her try those cocktails?" Marly asked the others, looking slightly guilty. Lily had definitely consumed more than her fair share of alcohol for the evening.

"Let's get her back to the castle." James said as he took Lily's arm to support her. He felt bad for what he had said to her earlier. After all, it wasn't her fault if she didn't love him. But it sure didn't make the pain go away.

The return to the castle was interesting, what with a slightly drunk Lily who collapsed into fits of giggles at everything, to Marly who wobbled along rather comically, clutching her heels in her hand and complaining loudly about how much her feet hurt.

When they eventually reached the common room, Lily's head had dropped onto James' shoulder and her eyes drooped tiredly.

"Let's get her to bed." Marly whispered to James who was still supporting Lily.

Leading Lily towards the foot of the stairs, James stopped suddenly. "Can't go up there." James mumbled.

"I can't get her up all those stairs by myself!" Marly exclaimed looking anxious.

"I'm fine." Lily said with a casual wave of her hand as she detached herself from James. She rested her foot on the first stair and stopped, grabbing the handrails.

"Uh oh, don't feel good." Lily swayed slightly, looking unsteady. Being the only one that could, Marly rushed to Lily's side to support her.

"Look Marly!" Lily said, a grin spreading across her face. "They're spinning. Look, there. You're spinning too." Lily began giggling hysterically while Marly shot James a worried glance.

"That's right Lily." Marly said with false enthusiasm, as if talking to a toddler as she gently guided Lily back down the stairs. There was no way she could get Lily up the flight of stairs in the state she was in.

Once lying safely on the couch, Lily yawned widely. Marly had retreated upstairs, tired and sore, as had Sirius and Remus. Left alone with Lily, James pulled a blanket over her, tucking it in around her gently.

"How are you feeling Lily?" James asked her softly kneeling down beside her, her giggling having subsided somewhat.

"Thanks James." She whispered. Then she did the last thing James had expected. Sitting up slightly, Lily leaned over and placed the lightest kiss on his cheek. Letting her head fall back on the soft cushion, her eyes closed and a small innocent smile on her lips. "I'm sorry for making you sad."

And with that, Lily drifted into an easy sleep. Sitting beside her and gently stroking her soft hair, James watched her until he too could no longer fight tiredness.

---

Lily awoke with a splitting headache. Groaning loudly, Lily untangled herself from the blanket wrapped around her.

Where am I? She thought in alarm, sitting up quickly and instantly regretting her actions. Her head pounded painfully and white light covered her vision for a few seconds. After it passed, Lily recognised the scarlet adorned room. She had spent the night on the couch in the Gryffindor common room.

The creaking stairs caused Lily to look up and a dishevelled looking Marly walked towards her.

"What a night, huh?" Marly sat down next to a sheepishly smiling Lily. "How are you feeling?"

"Like hell. My head feels like it's been beaten repeatedly with a club. I didn't do anything too stupid did I?" Marly didn't even need to answer that one. Memories from the previous came flooding back and Lily grimaced in humiliation. Dancing madly with the crowd. Singing off key, loudly to the blaring music. Giggling and pointing at every ordinary thing around her. Kissing James.

Lily buried her head in her hands. What had she done? Sure it was an innocent kiss on the cheek, but after what Daniel had said, the last thing Lily wanted to do was to mislead James if he really did feel that way about her. If her really did…love her.

"Hey, it's okay." Marly patted Lily's shoulder reassuringly.

Later that afternoon, the five students were sitting by the common room fire toasting marshmallows.

"How did you survive your first ever hang over?" Sirius grinned at Lily as he pulled his toasted marshmallow off the end of his stick and popping it into his mouth.

Lily grimaced causing Sirius to laugh. "Never again. I am never going within a mile of alcohol ever again." She said with conviction.

"That's what they all say in the beginning." Sirius said with a knowing smile. Lily just shook her head.

An hour later, deprived of anything else to do, they decided to attempt some of their mountain of homework. Lily, who had done most of hers earlier, was practising spells in the corner. Marly was doing everything possible to distract herself from actually doing her work. Remus was deeply absorbed in his potions essay and Sirius, who was sitting in the seat beside him, was casually glancing at his work whenever Remus wasn't looking and quickly jotting down notes when Remus gave him suspicious looks. James was cursing as his charm failed for the eighth consecutive time.

"Stupid spell." He muttered angrily under his breath. Remus shot him an annoyed look for disturbing his essay. With delight, Sirius used this opportunity to copy down a paragraph of Remus' essay.

James rarely had trouble with spells except when Lily Evans was around and today was no different. He couldn't concentrate on a single thing. When he wasn't staring pathetically at her he was thinking about last night. She'd kissed him on the cheek, and while it wasn't much, James replayed that moment over and over in his mind. Maybe she did think of him as more than a friend? Maybe he should pluck up the courage to tell her that he was in love with her again?

Suddenly, James was struck with a fool-proof idea. Lily was top student and good at everything right? So it couldn't hurt to ask her for a little extra help. And Lily being the kind, sweet, generous person that she was wouldn't refuse. With all that extra time together, she was bound to realise that he was the perfect guy for her and fall madly in love with him. It was perfect.

Filled with a new found hope, James approached Lily, a winning smile plastered on his face.

---

"You're doing the wand movements wrong." Lily said patiently as she and James sat in the common room later that night.

Taking her own wand, Lily demonstrated the spell while James watched. "Now try again." She instructed.

Moving his hand in the same way Lily had, James watched in horror as an armchair burst into flames.

"Never mind, never mind." Lily said quickly as she put out the flames with a fountain of water from the end of her own wand. "You're jabbing too hard at the end. Your movements need to be gentle." She said turning back to James.

Placing her hand over his, Lily gently guided his hand in the correct movement. Her hand was warm and soft and James felt his heart thud painfully in his chest. He could feel the heat from her body and smell the fruity aroma of her shampoo.

Saying the incantation as Lily's hand guided his, James beamed as he succeeding in casting the spell correctly.

"Well done James." Lily said with a smile in her voice. But still she didn't move her hand from his. For a minute James savoured her closeness when all too abruptly she moved away.

"Right, well, try by yourself now." Lily's cheeks were flaming and she looked flustered.

Nodding, James tried the spell again wishing Lily's hand was still on his. For the second time, he cast the spell correctly.

"Well done James. I think you've got it now." Lily smiled at him, her cheeks still flushed. She couldn't understand why she was embarrassed and awkward all of a sudden. All she knew was that she needed to get away from James as soon as possible.

"Well, good night." She said, turning her back on him.

She heard James call out a thank you but she didn't turn around. Instead she continued up the stairs and flopped onto her bed when she reached the seventh year girls' dormitory.

What was all that about? Lily thought to herself. Why had she got so flustered around James? It was all Daniel's fault. Why had she let him put all these stupid ideas in her head? She thought angrily. James didn't love her. James was her friend, that's all.

Pulling out a book, Lily settled herself down comfortably on her bed. She could read about someone else's problems and maybe it would distract her from her own.

Everyone knew Lily read a lot but they all assumed that she read highly difficult, intellectual books. However, Lily had a strange addiction to romance novels. While she had no love life herself (as yet) she loved reading of others'.

A true romantic at heart, Lily used to hope that one day she would be swept off her feet by a handsome, smart, funny, kind, honest guy, fall in love and live happily ever after. It was corny, (which was why she never told anyone, even Marly) but true. Unfortunately, as Lily was beginning to understand, life wasn't quite that simple. Things could get messy and in real life, everything wasn't resolved by the last page.

Lily always assumed that she would fall in love sometime in the future, after she finished school and she was shocked to find that it crept up on her far sooner than she imagined, or was prepared for.