A/N: Yes, yes, of course I won't be satisfied until there's more drama for these poor Marauders. :) So, for this chapter, we introduce Miss Regina Masters, who was mentioned once very briefly in an earlier chapter, and she is pretty head-strong. You'll think I rushed through her part in the chapter. Well, I didn't; she's just like that, and I wanted to let you know. This chapter is more getting-to-know the characters, a little bit more to set up for Lily's insane December, and then starting Chapter 13 onwards, things start to explode! So, enjoy the chapter, and lets see how fast I'll update the next chapter. :D

James

December 5th

Dear Diary,

I had a Quidditch match again today, against Slytherin, making it nearly an obligation to win. Of course, we did, but I was still a little disappointed because I didn't see Lily this time. Everyone knew that Quidditch scared her and she hated watching it, but it was almost a responsibility to watch every match the whole way through. Besides, Kyleigh had been playing; Lily usually went just because of that. I saw Leila, however; Leila was a little hard to miss, since she shouted compliments at me as I played.

I have come to the conclusion recently that Leila is a very strange girl. While I was trying to catch the Quaffle, she yelled that my arms were really 'muscular and lovely.' After I scored a goal, she told me that I was 'the best Chaser she'd ever seen in her life.' When I was simply lingering near the Slytherin rings, waiting for Kyleigh to pass me the ball, she asked me what shampoo I used to keep my hair so 'silky and sexy.' When she said that one, I nearly toppled off my broom; had she no shame? She was in public, and she was telling me these stupid types of things! What had I done to deserve it besides be my usual amazing self?!

Anyway, after the match was over and we won, the Gryffindors were all pretty celebratory; we were closer to the Cup! Gryffindor liked winning the Quidditch Cup, obviously, and we were delighted with our record. Though it's really the Seeker that should get the most credit, I usually get it all, since I score so many goals to keep us ahead, and because I'm more popular than the guy who plays Seeker; I was lifted onto the shoulders of my fans, and carried back to the common room, which was quite enjoyable, I must say.

Once we started up our victory party (our year was known for throwing parties every time something good happened), Regina Masters, a girl I had studied with a few times, sidled up to me. I was drinking pumpkin juice when she smiled broadly and said, "Hey Potter."

"Hey Regina," I said, genuinely surprised. Regina liked to flirt, which was a well-known fact, and I just assumed that I was the one she wanted for the moment. She was that type of person; she was tall, blonde, blue-eyed, sexy, and seemed to be perfect in every way. A lot of the girls in our year called her Queen of the Bitches, but the guys in our year prefer calling her the Queen of Flirting. She's pretty good at both titles, really.

"Congratulations on the match today," she said, her grin still in place.

"Thanks," I said, keeping my voice on-the-surface.

"So…would you like to go out sometime?" she asked, looking right at my eyes and coming much closer to me than I liked.

"Well," I began, but she cut me off.

"We can go to Hogsmeade," she interrupted me. "We could have a butterbeer or something."

"Would you like to stay here at Hogwarts and we can just study or something?" I suggested. I wanted to avoid having a date; this was my year to get Lily away from Remus, Chris, and Snivelly so that she was mine, and that would be difficult if I was dating Regina.

"Fine," she said. "But can we go to Hogsmeade another time?"

"Sure, sure," I said, relieved that I had gotten out of her clutches for at least a little bit of borrowed time.

"All right," said Regina, walking off. "See you later then, Potter."

"Bye," I said weakly, going back to my drink. I shook my head in confusion the moment she was safely on the other side of the room though; what? Why had Regina Masters, Queen Flirt, asked me out? I mean, yeah, I'm pretty damn fantastic, but she never took much of an interest in me before. Life was being pretty cruel to me lately.

After a half an hour, our party lost its strength and we sort of wrapped everything up. Sirius had found another conquest – this time, it was Caroline Taylor – and they were sitting on the side, with Sirius's face in her neck and his hands on her waist. Peter was bouncing around the room, "supervising" clean up, and Remus was pacing, looking rather anxious. I could have bet my position on the Quidditch team that he was thinking about Lily, but I didn't ask; I would probably tear him up if he admitted to my face that he had a crush on her. He would only be out of harm's way if he liked her in secret with me just assuming things. That's literally how my life works now – I know things, but whether I do anything about them depends entirely on how much people choose to confirm for me.

I'm feeling so restless by this point that I don't even know what to do; I wrote it all in here, and reading it over again is making my stomach twist painfully. I can't write anymore. I've never been someone to just sit around and do nothing when things happen around me. I'm going to get up and I'm going to be normal again. I'll ignore Remus's lust for Lily Evans, I will laugh at Peter when he screws up tomorrow in class (face it – it's almost guaranteed to happen), and I will tease Sirius about Caroline. I won't let this get to me. I'm sure it's just a phase of hers; Lily has lots of little phases, and she gets over them eventually. Everything will be fine. I know it.

Don't I?

Lily

December 5th

Dear Diary,

Chris took me to Madam Puddifoot's little tea shop this afternoon for a bit of coffee during the Quidditch match; because of what happened during the last one, I didn't quite feel like watching. Chris purposely kept things very casual as we ate biscuits and sipped our drinks, and I felt that calming security that I had valued in him before – he was so sweet! He asked me more questions today, but this time, they were more about boys I had liked (or rather, disliked) before.

"So…have you ever had a boyfriend?" he asked me conversationally once I started my first biscuit.

"No," I said. "I normally don't like hanging around with boys. Not until you asked me out."

"You haven't even gone on a date?" he asked incredulously. "Blimey; Muggle boys must be blind, because you are the most beautiful girl I've ever seen in my life."

I blushed and bit into my biscuit. "No, I'm not."

"Yes, you are, and the things you say always have me hanging," he said, his eyelashes fluttering flirtatiously. "I always want to hear you say something more, but you don't."

"I never have anything to say that is worth listening to," I said in an undertone.

"Rubbish," he scoffed, his smile widening as he touched my hair.

I blushed a bit more and sipped my coffee, not wanting to say anything else. He threw his head back after a moment, exasperated. "This is what I'm talking about!" he said. "I always wait for you to say something, but you don't!"

"I don't have anything to say," I mumbled.

"Yes, you do, and I want to hear it," demanded Chris. "Say something. Anything."

"Er…I hate James Potter?" I had been thinking about why I never liked guys before I met Chris, and I had remembered that it was the scarring experiences with James that had caused it; the thought just burst out of my mouth before I could stop myself.

Chris burst out laughing. "That was quite random, don't you think?"

"I had been thinking about why I hated guys so much, and James was the reason," I said, shrugging and going beetroot red again.

"I see," he said. "But all guys our age are idiots; forgive him." It might just have been my imagination being weird, but it almost sounded as though Chris didn't want me to forgive James at all, and had only said that to humor me or something.

"It is a harsh world, Chris, and we have no room for idiocy," I said. "We are the future of the world, and we are in training; we have to take things seriously now, or we never will."

"I admit myself quite awed, Lily Evans," he told me. "You do have things to say; you just need someone to listen to them."

"You think so?" Chris was truly different from any boys I had ever known; no one had ever looked at me as intensely as he did.

"Yes, I do," he murmured in a low voice. I bit my lip and felt my ears go red as well; flattering though he was, it was a new experience for me to be in the spotlight this way.

The date went pretty smoothly though – we talked a bit more (to spare me, he let me ask him questions about himself instead) and then walked back to the school. Chris claimed to have some other business to take care of in his dormitory, so he left me in the Entrance Hall; I made my way upstairs by myself, thinking about our date again. On my way though, I bumped into Snape again.

"Hey Lily," he said, smiling at me.

"Hi Severus," I said tiredly; I really didn't want to have to deal with him, but at the same time, I didn't want to be rude to him.

"How are you?" I hated these chatty types of questions the most; they were pretty annoying, and made the asker sound overly eager or overly unsure.

"Fine," I said.

"Your hair looks really pretty today," he said, blushing.

"You said that to me at the Quidditch match," I said without thinking.

"It was true then and it is true now," Snape said with a shrug.

"Thank you," I said tonelessly.

"Well, bye," he said, actually smiling as he walked away. I stared after him; Severus Snape had a reputation for never smiling at anyone unless they were in pain. Well, it kind of fit then, seeing as I was in internal pain, but the gesture still startled me; it was almost nice of him.

When I went to the common room and told Kyleigh and Leila about our date, they were beside themselves with happiness for us. At least, Leila was; Kyleigh seemed to be a bit more lukewarm about it.

"Lily, this is a really good thing!" Leila told me elatedly, jumping up and down like a maniac. "You have a boyfriend now!"

"He was supposed to be my boyfriend first," Kyleigh reminded us sourly. "But Lily stole him from me."

"Oh shush, Leigh," Leila said, frowning at her. "You always have a line of boys worshipping the ground you walk on; can't Lily go out with just one of them?"

"I know," Kyleigh grumbled. "It's just that Chris never listened to me – oh no, it was always about him. He never gave me advice or anything either; he just nodded and told me that my situation really sucked. Why does Lily have to get his caring side?"

"At least you're athletic and pretty," I said. "Guys can actually notice you, and like Leila said, they worship the ground you walk on. That's more than what can be said for me – the geek who works too much."

"I wouldn't be so sure," Kyleigh said. "The one time I went out with him, he only ever asked me about you – are we good friends? Do you have a boyfriend? If he asked you out, would you say yes? I got really pissed and didn't talk to him at all, but that brought on a relentless flow of observations about you! The way you smiled, that shirt you were wearing, how your hair curled in the back; it drove me insane."

"What did you put in his drink, Kyleigh?" I inquired. "There is no way he would think that way about me on his own free will."

Leila then surprised me by smacking me sharply on the arm. "Lily Evans; you need to just stop talking now."

"Care to tell me why?" I asked.

"You always put yourself down, and it's bloody frustrating," she said. "You're a beautiful, sensitive girl who is easy to be around and can provide sociable company. It really pisses me off when you deny it; you know you are."

"Are you after the attention?" Kyleigh demanded all of a sudden. "Are you trying to fish for compliments? I would hope you aren't that low, Lil."

"I am not after attention or compliments!" I flared up at once. Were they joking? I was never that sort of person; I always tried to tell the truth, and the truth was that I am the exact opposite of what Leila was saying. It wasn't my fault if my friends were under a different illusion.

"If you think I want attention, think again," I went on furiously. "I can't stand having the spotlight on me, and I don't deserve Chris Daniels. You both need a bracing and thorough reality check if you think otherwise, all right? And if you don't get one, keep your demented theories to yourselves, because I don't want to hear them."

"Relax, Lils," Kyleigh said in an injured tone after a long, uncomfortable moment. "There was no necessity to fly off the handle like that; we just think that because it's usually how it is when people judge themselves that way."

"Well, I'm not 'other people,'" I pointed out. "I'm just me, Lily Evans, and Lily Evans wants to be left alone now."

After I said this, I stormed upstairs and stayed locked up in here in my dormitory for a couple of hours. I took a long, relaxing shower to soothe my nerves, and then I did my homework. I also caught up on my O. W. L. practice papers, and I got pitiful results; it was really aggravating, and I tried again and again in hopes of getting a better score.

During the time I was working though, Kyleigh and Leila knocked on the door seven times. I told them that I wanted to be alone ach time, and that I'd open the door a little later. I didn't; I finished my work and got you out, diary. I can't describe how much writing helps me; I've never needed a diary more in my life. I just don't know what's wrong with me these days; I'm so moody and crazy – it's not like me.

I think I'll let the girls in now. I shouldn't have gotten so upset, and Kyleigh's guess was perfectly justified, even if I didn't like it; she shouldn't have to feel guilty about stating her opinions. Leila was only trying to help – I shouldn't have snapped at her. I'll go try and make up it up to them now – with any luck, they'll forgive my bratty behavior and we can all try to move on in life once again. Maybe I can even get my act together soon.

That would definitely be nice.