"How could he ask Caitlin Abbott?" Lily asked, groaning in frustration. She was back in the Girl's Dormitory with Alice, after a particularly disappointed dinner, during which she was forced to watch James chat up his newest girl.

"Jealous, Lily?" Alice asked, flipping through Hogwarts: A History .

"I am not jealous," she scoffed, "I just don't understand it."

Alice sighed as she rose from her back to join Lily on hers.

"What don't you understand, Lils? It's James Potter. That's what he does."

"It's different, Alice," Lily replied, lying down so she could rest her head on the pillow.

"How is this possibly any different than all the other times he's hopped from girl to girl?"

Lily groaned again, "He's different than what i expected. i just.. don't understand how he could ask her out now . He's asked me out nearly every week for three years, and now, when I was actually--"

Lily stopped herself, putting her fingers to her lips.

"When you were actually, what?" Alice asked as she moved closer to her friend, causing Lily to shake her head, motioning the fact that she wasn't going to finish the sentance.


If you, if you could return
Don't let it burn, don't let it fade
I'm sure I'm not being rude
But it's just your attitude
It's tearing me apart,
It's ruining everything

"You were going to say 'yes'!" Alice accused, "That's why you're jealous!"

"What?! I... No!" Lily exclaimed, in a way that was so defensive that it made Alice was positive she was correct.

"Lily! How could you? It's James Potter !" Alice continued, trying to put an emphasis on how bad he was.

"I'm well aware of who he is, Alice," she defended, pulling the pillow out from underneath her head and replacing it on top of her face as if would protect her.

"Lily!" Alice squealed as she grabbed the pillow and yanked it away.

I swore, I swore I would be true
And honey, so did you
So why were you holding her hand?
Is that the way we stand?
Were you lying all the time?
Was it just a game to you?

"Lily.."

"I should talk to her," Lily stated, sitting up suddenly.

"What?!" Alice exclaimed,

"I should go... I should go and talk to her," she repeated, stand up to walk towards the full-sized mirror in the corner of the room.

"Lily, you're being ridiculous!" Alice argued as she followed her across the room. Lily continued getting ready, ignoring Alice's comment.

Lily began tying her hair up into a poinytail.

"Lily!" Alice repeated, sighing, "If anything-- and I can't believe I'm saying this--, you should talk to James and tell him how you feel."

Lily paused, glaring at Alice as if she had grown an extra eye in the middle of her forehead. How dare she suggest such a thing!

"I can't do that, Alice!" She exclaimed as she finally resumed fixing her hair.

"Why not?"

"He's with Caitlin," Lily repeated, for, what seemed to be, the hundredth time that night.

"We've already gone over that little fun fact, what's your point?" she asked, confused, "Like you've said. He's asked you out multiple times during the last few years, he's only been with her for the past few hours."

"Yes, and I've said no!" Lily exclaimed, setting her brush down, "I've rejected him each time. I can't tell him now. I can't have him reject me, after all that.

"So forget about him!"

Lily sighed, tying the rubber band into her hair, "You don't get it."

With that, she quickly walked out the door and down the stairs before Alice could say another word.

Alice collapsed on her bed in frustration.

"You're too proud for your own good, Lily," she whispered, well aware that she was already out of earshot.


But I'm in so deep
You know I'm such a fool for you
You got me wrapped around your finger
Do you have to let it linger?
Do you have to, do you have to
Do you have to let it linger?

As Lily approached the last few steps, she looked over the banister into the Common Room, where she saw Remus and Peter, sitting by the fire, playing a game of wizard's chess, with a very uninterested Sirius watching next to them, with a bored look on his face.

"Hey!" Lily excalimed. The three boys immediately looked up at her as she stepped into the Common Room, their focus no longer on the game.

"Do you guys know where James is?" she asked as she walked toward them. As she got close, she could see that Remus was winning. His and Peter's attention quickly returned to the game as Sirius' eyes lit up with excitement, he actually had something to do.

Oh, I thought the world of you
I thought nothing could go wrong
But I was wrong
I was wrong

"One minute," he replied as he jumped rfom his chair and ran up the stairs leading to the Boy's Dormitories. He emerged about thirty seconds later.

"He's back at the Quidditch Pitch. Probably more practice, that was an embarassing loss yesterday.."

Lily sighed, disappointed, "Do you know if Caitlin's with him?"

"Hang on," he replied, running upstairs for the second time.

"No, she's in the Hufflepuff Common Room," he stated when he came back down.

"What? How did you.." Lily began, wondering how he could possibly know that.

"Oh.. I.. Remus?" Sirius replied, nervously, looking for help. Remus looked up from the game, for only a second, to give him a look of disapprovement. Sirius realized he wasn't going to be recieving any help from his friends, and began stammering again.

Lily sighed, knowing she wasn't going to get an answer out of him anytime soon, and she had things to take care of.

If you, if you could get by
Trying not to lie
Things wouldn't be so confused
And I wouldn't feel so used
But you always really knew
I just wanna be with you

"Nevermind."

Lily made a mental not to ask him later. She climbed out the potrait hole as she heard Remus say "checkmate" in the background.

Lily quickly made her way down random corridors, taking a left here and a right there. She didn't know exactly where she was going, she had never been to the Hufflepuff Common Room, after all.

After twenty minutes of aimless wandering, she slumped against a wall, almost eady to give up hope until she saw a first year Hufflepuff. She recognized the girl, who had blonde hair and unforgettable blue eyes, immediately. Her name was Addison.. something, she couldn't quite remember.

Lily pushed her thoughts aside as she ran to the blonde-haired girl.

"Addison!" The girl quickly turned around at the sound of her name.

"Addison, where's the Hufflepuff Common Room?"

Addison stammered for a moment, in confusion, "Why would you possibly need to know that?"


But I'm in so deep
You know I'm such a fool for you
You got me wrapped around your finger
Do you have to let it linger?
Do you have to, do you have to
Do you have to let it linger?

Lily's frustration began to grow at Addison's lack of cooperation. Why must everyone insist on being so difficult?

"I'm a Gryffindor prefect, please do not question my motives," she replied, more forcefully than she had planned. The smaller girl looked up at Lily with fear in her eyes before replying.

"In the Entrance Hall, there's a door to the right of the main staircase, go through it and then down the flight of steps," she answered, timidly.

As Addison completed her directions, Lily began running the the opposite direction, towards the Entrance Hall, yelling a quick 'thank you' over her shoulder. She suddenly began to feel bad about being so forceful with Addison, and made another mental note, this one to remind her to apologize to Addison next time she saw her.

Within three minutes she was standing at the entrance to the Hufflepuff Common Room, suddenly realizing that she had no way to get in. She began contemplating a way to get to Caitlin, when a group of Hufflepuffs walked out.

"Hey, is Caitlin in there?" She asked. One of the three girls answered.

"Yeah, hang on, I'll get her for you."

With that, the red-headed Hufflepuff climbed back into their common room, emerging a few moments later with Caitlin by her side. The red-headed girl caught up with her friends and continued on their way.

"Lily Evans," Caitlin stated as she walked out, "Can I help you?"

"Yeah, I just wanted to talk to you about.. James Potter." Lily had to force his name out. She was suddenly very nervous, and she had no idea why.

And I'm in so deep
You know I'm such a fool for you
You got me wrapped around your finger
Do you have to let it linger?
Do you have to, do you have to
Do you have to let it linger?

"James Potter?" Caitlin repeated, the conversation that she had with him just hours ago outside the Owlry ran though her mind, "What about him?"

"I.. don't know," Lily replied, realizing that she hadn't thought about what she'd say. Suddenly wishing she had listened to Alice, she began to wonder why she was always so stubborn.

"I'm sorry. I don't know why I came. It's just.. well, I was wondering, are you two together?"

"Yes," she smiled, "cute, isn't he? It's weird though, I always thought he had a thing for you."

"Yeah, me too," she muttered softly, to herself.

"Excuse me? I didn't catch that."

"Nothing," Lily responded, quickly, as she began to twirl her hair around her fingers.

"Lily, do you like him?"

She took a step back, surprised, unsure of what to say.

"Of course not!" She replied, defensively. Caitlin took a step toward her.

"Then please, inform me, Lily. Why did you come all the way down here, right before curfew, to talk about him?"

Lily began to stammer, acknowledging that Caitlin had made a very good point, "I.. uh, well.. I.. I'm sorry, Caitlin. Please don't tell him. I'm not going to act on it, don't worry."

Caitlin rested her hand on Lily's shoulder reassuringly, "Don't worry, your secret's safe with me."

Lily thanked her, apologized once more and began to walk back to the Gryffindor Common room, more disappointed than she had already been.

You know I'm such a fool for you
You got me wrapped around your finger
Do you have to let it linger?
Do you have to, do you have to
Do you have to let it linger?

Once Caitlin was sure Lily was gone, she ran up the steps into the Entrance Hall, and outside toward the Quidditch Pitch, where she knew James would be.

She saw James walking, with his broom in hand, as she approached the pitch.

"James!" she exclaimed as she got closer to him.

"What's going on?" he asked, giving her a hug.

"I need to talk to you, it's about Lily."

A/N: Thanks for the replies, I'm sorry it took so long to get this chapter up. As always, replies are appreciated.