A/N: Well, to start, I want to thank you all SOOOOO much! I have finally hit a hundred reviews which, to me, is absolutely phenomenal, and I want to express my sincerest gratitude for your sweet thoughts. :) It really does mean a lot to me. As much as I'd like to, I can't keep my thank you section long, because it's kind of boring, so…back to the story part of the Author's Note. :D

This chapter is pretty short, and it's simply to tell you that Lily is falling hard for Remus, and James is falling even harder for Lily. Now, for those of you wanting to see some James/Lily romance action, I'm sorry; that's going to take a while. First of all, Lily has to let herself admit that she likes him – she's super stubborn, so that'll take a while. Then she dreams; she does a lot of that. Then they get together. But all that comes nearer to the end – for now, you're stuck watching Lily fall for the wrong person. So…enjoy! Haha. :P

Lily

December 23rd

Dear Diary,

Today, Remus was the most caring thing that's ever existed. People overlook him all the time because he's quiet, but honestly; Remus is an angel in disguise.

I was sitting in the empty common room earlier this evening, staring at the fire, and feeling generally upset. Remus entered the room then; anyone else would have just passed right by me, but he didn't – he came right up to me, sat beside me, and asked me what was on my mind.

"Nothing really," I lied. "Just thinking about Saturday night again, and about how I'm always fighting with James. It's stupid – I should just get over it, and I know that."

"James and Sirius spend a lot of time debating about those two subjects," he admitted. "From what I've pieced together, it was just a lot of rotten luck; it really wasn't entirely your fault."

"It was," I said firmly. "But it's over now – Kyleigh hates me, and I shouldn't be questioning anything anymore."

"Lily, you're right – you do need to get over it – but you also need to realize that you weren't to blame for every single part of that nightmare. All right, so bits of it were, but the blame lies with more than just you."

"You don't understand," I told him, feeling the desperate need to confess to my sins so that he would see me as the dreadful person that I was. "I kissed Sirius to mess with James's head. I got cocky, I kissed him again, and disaster struck."

"While that intention was not perhaps the greatest, I know that James has done plenty to do the same thing to you; it was not completely unwarranted," Remus reasoned. "You're a good-hearted, self-determining young woman, Lily Evans; don't let one incident ruin all that for you."

I felt the sudden impulse to hug him tightly and thank him endlessly; his words were much more than I deserved. "You think too much of me," I said, blushing. "I'm not all that self-governing or good-hearted."

"You've survived the persistence of James Potter for five years with and without your friends, and still did not give way," Remus pointed out. "That is a feat to be admired."

"How do you do that?" I asked.

"I hope you'll pardon my asking, but what did I do?" he inquired.

"You make me look so much better than I really am," I told him. "How do you do it?"

He chose not to answer my question; instead, he blushed, stood up right out of the blue, and said, "I need to go, Lil; see you later." He left to go downstairs for dinner, but I didn't go; I wasn't hungry. Not for food anyway.

I ended up putting last minute adjustments to my Christmas cards during that time, it turned out. When James began to cross the threshold into the common room, I was putting my gifts into the oversized Christmas stockings we had set up earlier, and I noticed that a miniature sprig of mistletoe was inconveniently located near me.

"Ho, ho, ho, Miss Evans," James drawled, the occurrence from two days ago apparently forgotten, as I crumpled up my present carrier bag. "Happy holidays." He strode over to where I was standing, an enormous grin on his face.

I rolled my eyes, but because I was thankful for being forgiven for my behavior, I said, "Happy holidays, James."

He looked up over my head and, inevitably, he said, "Mistletoe." He pointed at in case I missed it, and his grin, if it was possible, widened even more.

"I am not going to kiss you, James," I said briskly. "You are aware of that, aren't you?"

"Christmas laws forbid you to not kiss me," James said devilishly. "Come here, Miss Evans."

"I'd sooner kiss a diseased frog," I said, turning my face away so that he couldn't pull a fast one on me.

"Awww, don't ruin my Christmas, Lil," James complained. "That's neither fair nor kind of you."

I didn't say anything, but I determinedly kept my mouth away from his, as though daring him to test my limits. James stood there for a moment before pecking my turned cheek and smiling brightly at me.

I stared at him, my eyes wide and thunderstruck; James Potter had kissed me on my cheek! I would have to burn the first layer of skin off that spot now; damn. I couldn't find the right words for my horror, so I said, "Why did you do that?"

"Mistletoe," he said again, pointing at it. "You're supposed to kiss me, but since you didn't, I did it in the only place I could."

"James, when I said I would never kiss you, I meant that you can't ever kiss me either," I informed him. "In the future, stay away from my cheek, all right?"

"I can't resist you, Lily," he said, batting his eyelashes in his flirtiest manner. "Just don't be afraid if Santa comes and takes you out of your bed on Christmas Eve; I asked for you on my list."

I rolled my eyes. "You are completely ridiculous."

"No, just completely love-struck," James said, grinning. "I enjoy being near you."

"Well, then I'll have to cut the fun, because I want to go back to my room," I said. "See you later, then."

I turned away and went to my dormitory, still reeling from the effect of his quick, worrisome kiss. Too many things were happening all at once; it wasn't good for me.

I did notice, however, that for several hours after the mistletoe ordeal, the part of my cheek that he had kissed mysteriously burned me; it was almost like a group of nerves had been displaced by his lips and had gone ballistic – I just couldn't shake the discomforting yet intriguing, diminutive feeling from my face; I feel it even as I write these lines. It's just absolutely senseless; no touch from James Potter should evoke such reactions from my systems. But, at the same time, my systems hate behaving normally nowadays.

I'll end today's entry with my one burning question I'm dying to have resolved – what the hell is wrong with me?

James

December 23rd

Dear Diary,

I think I'm losing my mind.

It sounds quite melodramatic, I know, but I seriously think I'm losing it.

Today, I walked into the common room after dinner because I wanted my Fanged Frisbee; Sirius and I were going to play with ours in the Entrance Hall, just because we could. When I reached, however, I saw the delicious sight of Lily Evans, putting presents in the stockings we had in the common room. My common sense screamed at me to leave her alone, but of course, I didn't listen to it; I had spotted some mistletoe above her head, and I couldn't stand firm against my impulses.

I had done this drill hundreds of times with many other girls – it was very easy. All you had to do was greet them with a 'happy holidays,' point out the mistletoe, and insist that Christmas laws state that a kiss must be shared under that plant. By that point, the girl of choice would be leaning in, ready to take advantage, and you would go in for the kiss. I did my first three steps, just like I always did, but then Lily said that she would sooner kiss a diseased frog.

Disappointing? Yes, it was; thank you for noticing.

I requested that she did not ruin my Christmas; it wasn't fair. Of course, fairness towards me from Evans is simply out of the question, and she showed it – she turned her cheek towards me, not letting her lips get anywhere near my face. Her cheek was out in front of me, inches upon inches of sweet, smooth skin – it was beyond maddening. I had to touch it. It was an impossibility to stay away from it. She was being plain cruel; her cheek seemed to call out to me, and I had to answer.

That was why I kissed her cheek.

It was better than I would have imagined. I smelled a faint scent of vanilla cream and flowers, and when my lips touched her skin, I wanted to explode with pleasure. The desires that flooded into my systems…they were crazy. I longed to put my face in her neck, breathe her in, and stay that way for hours. I wanted to throw her down on the ground and snog her until my lungs gave out; it was a violent emotion I never would have condoned, which was why it astonished me so much. I wanted everything from her, in short, and it was all coming in a rush in the space of a few seconds. I could have fallen down with the strength of it all. And all from kissing her cheek!

She was horrified; she asked me why I had done that in a tone of distress and wonderment. I explained that it was the mistletoe – I had kissed her because she wouldn't kiss me. She told me that I couldn't kiss her again and that's when I started to flirt. When I flirted with other girls, it was funny – they laughed and they liked me. Not with Lily; with Lily, my flirting took a turn for the worse, and it sounded cheesy. She just left me by the mistletoe to go to her room, and I wanted to kick myself; I had blown it! Again! I, James Potter, undisputed king of flirting, had failed to entice Lily Evans for the millionth time in five years. How I hated that.

I've realized one big thing about the two of us from this occasion, however – Lily is still determined to hate me, and I'm still determined to change that. We're both two, stubborn, head-strong people with opposing views – it's just a matter of who caves first.

A/N: You know what to do; press that review button, type me a few words (or more – the longer the better, I say) to tell me what you think! And remember – more reviews, more updates.