Change of Heart
By Tempest Break

Disclaimer: Time to list the things I own in this story, since I DON'T OWN HARRY POTTER!!! Alright. I own... Zebulon Montague, Kade Brinkman, Phelon Stoker, Sergio Cameron, Damarcus Edwards and Cory Westlake, the players on the Slytherin team, except for Avery (although Mathias was my idea for a first name).

Summary: James obviously likes Lily, but she hates his guts. This is the way it's been for six years. However, in their last year, James finally has a chance, as he and Lily are Head Boy and Girl, and share a tower all to themselves. While James rejoices, Lily would rather kill herself than spend more than a nanosecond with James, who, in her opinion, is a conceited jerk. James has nine months to reverse six years of hatred for him, and will Lily have a change of heart?

- - - - - - - - -

Chapter Nine: Already Got One

As November closed and December began, all the students – or at least fourth-years and up – were getting excited about the Christmas Dance. Those who hadn't yet asked someone to the Dance were panicking and rushing about in the hallways, trying to find someone who wasn't already taken. James had watched in amusement many times as his peers were refused by their would-be dates.

It wasn't until a week after the first of December that James realized he desperately needed a date. Suddenly, he was panicking, trying to catch Lily alone, but she seemed to be evading him. She was never in the Head Tower when he was, she always sat far away at meals, and he never met up with her in the halls between classes.

Finally, he had Defense Against the Dark Arts and a chance to talk with her. When a Ravenclaw prefect called Professor Ares out into the hall, the class members immediately turned to their friends and began chatting.

James looked at Lily and found she was still reading from the textbook, intent on ignoring the noise going on. "Hey, Evans," he said.

She glanced at him. Since the Quidditch match, she had seemingly stopped hating him, but she didn't exactly like him either. She was polite to him – even outright nice on occasion – but James never got the feeling that they were friends. "Yes?" she asked.

"Well, I don't have a date for the Dance yet, and I was wondering if you'd come with me," he said casually.

"Oh, sorry, I can't," she told him, turning back to the book. "I already have a date."

He gaped at her. "Y-You already have a date?" he spluttered. "What? Who is it? Is it Butterwick? You seem to be friendly with him..."

"Oh, no, not Lee," said Lily, as if the very idea was laughable. "He's two years younger than I am, I wouldn't go to the Dance with him."

"Is he in Ravenclaw? Davies, Weber? Or Hufflepuff? Or, God forbid, Slytherin?" Suddenly James gasped. "Oh, hell… don't tell me it's Snape. I know you and he had some sort of relationship coming into Hogwarts, but honestly, that's vomit-inducing."

"No, he's in Gryffindor," she said with a frown. "And I'll thank you kindly not to insult any friends of mine, past or present."

"Well, who is it, then?"

Her eyebrows came together a bit. "Why do you care so much anyway, Potter?" she asked.

"Oh, um, well... I'm just curious, is all," James lied lamely.

"Mm hmm," she said skeptically. "Well, if you must know, I'm going with Remus." She gestured to where Remus sat in the class, reading his book and being a good student.

"Remus?!" James gasped.

"Yes, I asked him to come with me a few days ago," she said offhandedly. "It came up during Ancient Runes, and neither of us had a date."

James's mouth was wide open in shock. "He never told me about it!" he protested.

"He's not exactly obligated to, is he?" asked Lily, becoming annoyed by James's reaction. "Unless you make your friends take an Unbreakable Vow to tell you whom they're going to the Ball with."

"No, nothing of the sort," said James quickly. "I was just surprised."

He was silent then, pretending to be nonchalant about the whole thing, but inside he was fuming. How could he not have told me? he demanded inwardly. I thought...

James didn't know what he thought, but he snuck a glance at Remus over his shoulder. He still sat, reading their class book.

Why that little...

When they were dismissed, James moved quickly to talk to Remus, but he was already gone, heading towards Potions with Peter. James thought of chasing after him, but decided against it. Then he realized that he still needed a date for the dance, now that Lily was taken. He had never thought of the possibility that she might be going with someone else.

Much less my supposed best pal, Remus "Friend or Foe?" Lupin, James thought.

So, during his free period, James dragged Sirius along with him to find another girl. The first one that popped into his head was Colleen, and as she, too, had abandoned Potions with Slughorn for the sanctity of a free period, it was perfect timing. He found her in the Gryffindor common room, doing last-minute Transfiguration homework.

"Hey, O'Brian," he said, sitting down beside her.

She looked up at him in surprise. "Oy," she said. "Didn't expect you to be in here. It must seem a hole next to the Head Tower."

"I was looking for you," he told her. "I need you to come to the Christmas Dance with me."

"Well, as astoundingly romantic as that was, Cap'n," she said, "I'm afraid I must decline. I'm already going with David. Sorry."

James's shoulders drooped. This was not his day. "Do you know about Morris? Or Hamilton?" he asked, almost desperate. He ignored Sirius's ill-disguised snort of laughter.

"Not your day," she said, voicing James's own thoughts. "Liz is going with Jake, and Cady's going with your friend right there." She pointed to Sirius.

James turned to Sirius with a look that asked, Why didn't you tell me?

"You're going with Morris? She's two years younger than us!"

Sirius shrugged as his only defense.

"Ugh, fine," James muttered. "A lot of help you turned out to be, O'Brian."

"Hey, it's not my fault Davy Dreamboat got to me first," she said. "Better luck next time, Cap'n."

"Yeah, thanks," he grumbled. "C'mon, Padfoot. Let's go."

"Wait a minute," said Sirius, gesturing to the corner of the common room. "What about her?"

James followed Sirius's gaze and saw Selena Silver, hunched in one of the squishy armchairs. She was hugging her knees with one arm and using the hand of the other to hold open a small, beat-up paperback. She looked more like a mass of bones wearing school robes than a human being, but James remembered that she had given him a small help with Lily, and he held her in slightly higher regard than most girls. So he approached Selena, leaving Sirius with Colleen.

She looked up from her book as he approached and gave him a small smile. It hit him that she reminded him of Remus – sickly, never fully smiling, yet helpful and insightful. "Hello, James," she said in a voice barely more than a whisper.

"Hey," he greeted. "Um, look. I kinda need a date for the Dance, but Lily is already going with Remus, so I was wondering if – "

"If I would go with you?" Selena finished for him. "Of course. I just have to tell you that I'll have to leave early. I hope you're not upset by that."

"No, no, it's fine," James assured her. He paused for a moment. "Not like it's any of my business, but why do you have to leave early?"

"I frequent the Infirmary," she said simply.

James didn't want to pry, remembering how Lily had reacted when he asked her about Selena, so he just said: "Oh, okay then. Uh, I'll come here at ten till seven. That okay with you?"

She nodded. As James began to walk away, she asked in her quiet voice, "Were you upset when you heard about Lily and Remus?"

James stopped, his back still to her. After a moment, he said, "Yeah. Yeah, I was." He turned his head just far enough to see her patented small smile, and then he continued towards Sirius.

- - - - -

James finally caught up to Remus after Transfiguration. Remus had no idea that James was upset and was therefore quite surprised when James cornered him outside the classroom and demanded: "Okay, what's the big idea?"

Remus blinked. "I'm afraid I don't follow you," he said, baffled as to what James would be upset about.

"You're going to the Christmas Dance with Evans. Why didn't you tell me?"

"Oh, yes. I remember that," said Remus in a thoughtful voice. "I had forgotten. I'm glad you reminded me, Prongs. I had been thinking to myself that I needed to get a date."

James looked completely flummoxed as to how someone could forget they had a date with Lily Evans. "You forgot?" he asked incredulously.

Remus nodded.

"Well, why didn't you tell me about it before you forgot?"

"I didn't think it was that important. You never expressed need to ask Lily to the Dance, so I assumed that you would go with someone else. Besides that, I think I figured you would prefer that she go with me rather than someone you like rather less. And it's not my fault that she's my date. She's the one who asked me, not the other way around. So I suppose, like the information that we were Ancient Runes partners, I deemed it too trivial to tell."

"Trivial my arse," muttered James under his breath.

"Prongs, I'm sorry if I've ruined your life," said Remus, his voice bordering between sincere and sarcastic. "You won't have to go – excuse the pun – stag, will you?"

"Oh, no, I got a date – Selena Silver," he said.

"Nice girl," remarked Remus. "One of Professor Slughorn's favorite, actually."

"She good at Potions, then?" asked James.

"Almost as good as Snape," said Remus. He looked out the window onto the grounds. "I can see shapes flying around down on the Quidditch pitch. Shouldn't you be down there practicing?"

"Oh, shit!" James shouted, smacking his forehead. "I've gotta go. See you, Remus!" And with that he sprinted away to grab his Quidditch gear.

- - - - -

When James got down to the pitch, he found with surprise that Lily was there, no doubt to watch Colleen. As soon as James arrived, Colleen, Cady, and Jake began shouting things about what an irresponsible Captain he was, arriving late. He avoided looking at Lily so he wouldn't see her disapproving face, and he kicked off his broom.

"I let out the Snitch before you came," called Cady. "Have fun finding it!" She grinned at him.

"You sneak," he shouted back. "Wait till I tell Sirius he's going to the ball with a sinister little girl!"

"He'll know it's only jealousy. Speaking of which, I'm so sorry I couldn't go with you," she replied. "I heard from Colleen you desperately wanted me."

James looked at Colleen, who was listening with an unabashed grin to the conversation, and rolled his eyes. "Yes, that is, of course, exactly how it happened. Now I will find the Snitch, which you so graciously let go before I got here," he said, and sped off to the sidelines, where he hovered, perusing the pitch.

After about ten minutes, he finally spotted it, hovering near the other side of the field in the middle of one of the goals. He caught it easily and took it down to the box that housed the balls.

"Um, nice job, Potter," said Lily as James slipped the Snitch into its niche.

James looked up at her in surprise. "Thanks," he said.

"I heard you're going with Selena. That's nice of you."

"Nothing 'nice' about it, she's a great girl," James replied. He paused for a moment, then: "It's nice of you to go with Remus," he said back, a little more bitterly than he meant to.

Lily frowned slightly at James's tone. "Potter..."

James shrugged, and even to him it seemed like a fake gesture. "No, no, it's okay," he said, and sped off on his broom again.

- - - - - - - - -

Tempest: I didn't expect it to end that way! Well, James is pissed off, huh? Poor James. Okay, everyone, I'm sorry for not updating sooner, but has been down on my comp. I'm not sure if it has on everyone's, but it has on mine. Let's see here... To freakyfroggurl: Don't worry, I won't do that. The thought had never even crossed my mind. I know what you mean, though. It infuriates me when people purposely make misunderstandings happen between two characters. Anyway everyone, the Christmas Dance is the next chapter. I'm pretty proud of that chapter too. Okay, review, review, review!!!

8-02-07: This chapter has been revamped! Hope you enjoy it more than before.