A.N. For meals: James's immortality will be better explained in a few chapters, but it does have to do with genetics. Stay tuned to get the full story :D

Chapter Two:

Her name was Lily Evans. Lily Rosaline Evans.

This latest bit of news was revealed to me as well as the entire Student Body as we were sitting in the Great Hall, waiting for supper to be served. I was starving at that point, but my mind was even hungrier than my stomach, longing to know about the mysterious red-head who had stolen my heart. I tried to pinpoint her in the group of people who were steadily making their way to their seats, but she was not among them. My first thought, was that she had been merely a figment of my imagination. But she had seemed so real, so unique; could I really have imagined her into existence?

But then I saw her, it was easy enough too. She entered with the group of first years that would be sorted into their respective houses and stood about a foot taller than the entire lot of them. My heart skipped a beat as I caught sight of her and I took in a deep breath of air as my own supply was suddenly caught short.

"Who is that?" Sirius asked quietly as she passed by our table, his eyes fixated on her in interest. "I could swear I've never seen her before."

"That's probably because you haven't," Remus cut in suddenly, looking very pleased with himself, "I know who she is."

"You do?" Sirius and I chimed in unison.

Remus grinned and nodded, but said nothing more.

"Oh come on Moony," Sirius pleaded with him, "Don't tease us. If you know who she is then spill the beans."

But Remus merely remained silent and drew an invisible zipper over his mouth and locked it with a key for dramatic effect. And then, his eyes dancing with silent laughter, he turned away and smiled up at the Head Table where Professor McGonagall was standing in front of the cluster of new recruits.

Well, if Remus wouldn't tell us, McGonagall surely would. And she did indeed. After going through the long list of the newest students and sorting them into either Gryffindor, Ravenclaw, Hufflepuff or Slytherin, only my red-headed angel remained. She looked so calm even though she stood in front of us all, over three hundred pairs of eyes focused solely on her.

"And now," McGonagall said and she bestowed a rare smile upon the girl, "It is my pleasure to introduce to all of you, Miss Lily Rosaline Evans."

"Lily Rosaline Evans," I repeated quietly to myself, enjoying the feel of her name rolling off my tongue. It was just as beautiful as she.

"Miss Evans has only recently moved to England," McGonagall continued, "She is a sixth year and will be joining the house of Gryffindor. I hope all of you will welcome her and help her to adapt to Hogwarts life."

I felt a wild joy blossom in my soul. She was my age and would be residing in my house. Could there be anything more wonderful? Everything was falling perfectly in place; it was almost as if Fate herself was stepping in to make sure that our lives became intertwined.

So absorbed I was in my thoughts that I hardly realized that the cooking staff was emerging from the Kitchen carrying trays laden with a varied assortment of food. My mouth suddenly watered as the smell of the succulent dishes filled the room. The first feast of the year never disappointed.

"Excellent," Sirius whispered excitedly as the food was laid on the table before them, his grey eyes dancing with eagerness. I instantaneously mistook his anticipation as being focused on the food, but soon realized my error. Because Sirius's eyes were hardly trained on the food. I followed their gaze and saw to my immediate horror that they were staring intently at Lily. My Lily.

"She is possibly the hottest thing I have ever seen," Sirius continued, his gaze intensifying as she settled herself gracefully among the other sixth year girls. And then, the unthinkable happened. Sirius leaned forward over the table and let out a long wolf-like call and a low cat whistle.

Lily's eyes immediately turned in our direction, as if she had no doubt that the profane calls were intended for her.

Sirius smiled at her, his winning smile that had captured many a girls' heart at Hogwarts, and winked, his grey eyes flashing with the thrill of having captured her attention. "Hey Lily Flower. Fancy taking a seat over here."

But before Lily could make a reply, one of the other girls, pulled her back and shot a reproachful glare at Sirius. "What Black? Can't wait even a day before trying to find another girl to fawn over you?"

The girl in question was Nikki Durmot who had been one of Sirius's earliest conquests at Hogwarts. She had, unfortunately, learned the hard way that Sirius was not the sort of guy who was committed to serious relationships (pardon the pun). Now, Nikki loathed him with every bone in her body and had made it her personal mission to make his life miserable.

Sirius seemed unperturbed by Nikki's comments and merely shrugged at her accusations. "Well, she's definitely worth it."

"Oh shove it Black. You're not the 'Sirius' type of guy."

Peter choked suddenly on a piece of bread as the girls began to titter and began to slide into his seat as if trying to disappear behind Remus.

Evie was one of the rare girls in Hogwarts who had not fallen head over heels in love with Sirius. Maybe it was because she had seen what he had done to Nikki, or perhaps it was just that she had much more self-respect than the others, or maybe she was sincerely not the type of person who fell for the long black hair and captivating grey eyes look. In any case, Evie was now happily settled in a relationship with Ravenclaw prefect, Derek Johnson.

The other three girls who were laughing their heads off were Danni Tonks, Winifred Harson and Alice Landrin. The former was the other sixth year prefect with Remus, the one he has a major crush one. She's another one who never had time for Sirius and his good looks.

Winifred Harson and Alice Landrin also despised Sirius, though their reasons for hatred stemmed straight from the fact that he had broken Nikki's heart in two. Now that's what I liked to call a personal vendetta. Of course, both Winifred, who preferred to be known as Wyne, and Alice were happily settled with boys of their own. Their names: Amos Diggory and Frank Longbottom respectively.

"Oh really funny," Sirius commented sleekly, "That 'Sirius/serious' thing never gets old." He rolled his eyes and then ignoring the glares he was receiving, turned his attention back to Lily who looked slightly amused by all this.

Her smile was dazzling, I realized as her lips curled back into a tiny grin. It was so petite and delicate and matched the rest of her features that made her look like the elegant goddess she was. But before I could observe more of her body language, Sirius broke through my concentration with more sweet talk. "So, McGonagall says you recently moved here. Did you fly in from heaven?"

I rolled my eyes discreetly. How ridiculous, I thought to myself, he's chased her away already. But despite my best attempt to persuade myself that he had, I couldn't help but feel concern at the current situation.

"Maybe I did and maybe I didn't," Lily spoke for the first time. Her voice was possibly the most beautiful sound I had ever heard. It was like hearing angels sing, though I had never actually heard the latter, but I was certain that if the two were to be compared, they would sound the same. And the slight accent that purred when she spoke, it was mind-boggling, and yet so unique. "But I won't give you the chance to find out."

The other girls immediately began to laugh as Lily turned away from Sirius. Apparently they were more than happy to see him being shot down by her. In any case, it was bound to deflate his ego by quite a lot.

But Sirius didn't look all too bothered by the initial rejection. If anything, it made him look more excited. It was the thrill of the chase, as some people would call it. Lily had proven herself to be a smart girl, and Sirius was now set on the hunt. There was a reason women compared men to animals, and Sirius was probably the best example out there.

"She'll warm up to me," Sirius said with every inch of cockiness he possessed.

But inside I was hoping quite the opposite. And I felt terrible about it. For the past five years, Sirius and I had been best mates, friends for life and we had never butt heads. But now that I knew we were both after the same thing, I wondered how our friendship would be affected, if it would be affected at all. One thing was certain; Fate was playing a cruel game on us, and I couldn't let Sirius know just how cruel.

*****************************************************

The next day, I woke up and immediately thought of her. Well, it didn't come as much of a surprise. I had just spent the last ten hours dreaming about her and the ways in which our first meeting would go. It was inevitable that we would meet eventually. Last night had hardly counted. I mean, she hadn't even noticed me sitting there; we hadn't spoken. But today...today I would talk to her and sweep her off her feet and Sirius would...well, it was best not to think about Sirius. I had tried to reason out that problem, and my only solution was that Sirius was so shallow; he probably wouldn't care in the end, because there were so many other women out there who would be all too happy to be with him.

My schedule was lying on my bedside table and I reached for it. I had already read it over about twenty times last night, but once more couldn't possibly hurt. Calculus was my first subject today, not that I minded. Math happened to be one of my better subjects, though no one could best Remus in it. After all, he was so logical, his mind was probably always running over numbers and formulas.

I didn't know if she would be in that class as well. There were two math groups for sixth years: advanced and regular, and, although I did imagine that she was brilliant and talented, I could not really know for sure that she would be in the Advanced class with Remus and myself. Unfortunately, Sirius was in that class too. But Sirius was in every class that I was. It had been a deliberate decision that we had made at the end of last year. Of course all the houses stayed together for the core courses: English, History, Physical Education, Biology and Social Issues. But then we each had been allowed the choice of three electives, one having to pertain to the arts. So Sirius and I had chosen an Economics class, a Politics class and then Music. Art we deemed to be too boring, Drama too risky and Dance too sissy. Besides, we were both musically adept, so we had better chances surviving it than all the others. Remus, on the other hand, was a big science buff. He was bound to become the next biggest surgeon, and had taken Chemistry and Physics along with Drama. Peter, well Peter was a confused case and had finally decided to take Politics and Economics with us, but having epically failed to play the recorder in our first year, had chosen to take Art.

But all that hardly mattered in the grand scheme of things; all I wanted to know was what Lily Rosaline Evans had signed up for. Was she on the track of becoming a doctor or something else involving the sciences? Or had she conceived aspirations of becoming the next Prime Minister of Britain? Or better yet, was she set on travelling the long and winding road of the struggling musician? Hopefully I would know at least one of the answers by lunchtime.

I looked at my schedule again, though I hardly needed to. After Calculus, I had English and then after lunch: Politics and History. That meant that were definitely two classes I would be sharing with her today and if Fate wanted to repent, perhaps all four. But that was not to be the case, as I soon learned in the Great Hall.

It was Remus, who as a prefect knew the entire goings on in the school who told me. Well, in truth he was answering a question that Sirius had posed after devouring an entire bagel in two seconds.

He had come down, looking extremely hopeful and I knew that he too had been dreaming up ways of making Lily his. "So, what do we know about Miss Lily Rosaline Evans other than the fact that she is the hottest babe I have ever laid eyes on?"

"Are you actually interested in finding out that girls shouldn't only be dated because they have attractive features?" Remus asked him incredulously as he put War and Peace to the side. "Because, I have never known you to be the kind of person to be interested in much else than bra sizes."

Sirius shrugged. "Well, I've realized that I need to take a new perspective on what makes girls fall in love. I can tell that Lily Flower won't be easily impressed by my charming words and good looks. She's a different sort of person, so I intend to attack this case differently than ones in the past."

"I don't get why you're so interested in her," I spoke out suddenly, "I mean, there are plenty girls who fawn over you daily. Why not bother them? Why her?"

"Why her?" Sirius repeated in disbelief, "Why not her Prongsie?" He leaned back in his seat and smiled slyly, "It's like you said, mate. There are plenty of girls who fawn over me and I can have them at any time. But that's hardly meaningful, don't you think? She, however, Lily Rosaline Evans, rejected me after two seconds of knowing me, and I want to know what makes her so special. Because only a unique woman like her can be truly worth having."

So it was the thrill of the chase that was driving Sirius towards Lily. That, and the curiosity of the unknown. True, there were many girls now who hated his living guts, but most of them had all been secretly in love with him after meeting him. None had ever just rejected him from the start. Sure they had made him chase, but that was only to entertain themselves. But Lily wasn't like that...or so I hoped.

"So Moony, what do you know about her?"

Remus sighed as he picked up his book again. "What makes you think I know more about her than you do?"

"It's obvious that you do," Sirius replied and pulled the book out of his hands. Remus glared at him. "Come on Moony. We all know you're an intelligent guy. You don't have to lie to us. Just tell me something, anything."

Remus shook his head firmly. "It's not my business, and it isn't yours either. If you want to know, go ask her yourself. Now give me back my book."

Sirius didn't look impressed and chose not to relent. "Not until you give me a little tidbit of information. Come on, anything. Let's see...uh...tell me what electives she's taking?"

Remus looked determined not to let anything slip, but finally caved in. "Fine. If you must know. You'll have realized it sooner or later anyway. She's taken Chemistry and Physics, like me."

My heart sank as the news reached my ears. So she was dabbling in the sciences, was she? How perfect.

"What about her Arts class? Is she a painter, a musician, an actress or a dancer?"

Remus shrugged, "I don't know. She never said."

Hope was renewed in that brief moment. So there was still the chance that she was going to be in Music with me. I conjured up a mental image of my schedule in my mind, trying to remember when I had Music. Dang! I didn't have it until tomorrow from four to six. Well, at least my hopes couldn't be dashed too quickly upon the rocks.

A hand suddenly tightened around my arm and I gasped in pain as Sirius twisted it anxiously. I looked at him as if he was crazy, but he wasn't looking at me. His gaze was focused past my head. I followed it wonderingly and saw that our female counterparts were walking in. It struck me then, just how different they all were.

There was Danni with her short, pink hair, Wyne with her long blonde locks, Nikki with her short caramel tresses, Evie with her long black hair and Alice with her brown waves tied in a ponytail. And now there was Lily Rosaline Evans with her long, beautiful, red hair flowing behind her like a veil.

Many eyes had turned their way; even some Slytherins had paused to admire the beauties. All six of them were dressed in the Hogwarts attire of shirt, tie and skirt and even I had to admit that these girls really made the uniforms look...sexy.

"Oh man," Sirius whispered, "I'm in heaven."

Remus rolled his eyes from behind his book, but I could tell that his peripherals were doing their job, keeping Danni in plain sight. Peter, on the other hand, was practically drooling as he stared at the girls.

It was funny, I thought, as I turned away, not wanting to be obvious, how much people can change in the course of one summer. I really hadn't remembered the five of them looking so amazing last year. But now, you couldn't help but notice that they had blossomed into women. I guess sixteen really was the magical year.

"I hate how they all stare at us like we're something to eat," Danni commented as she sat down beside Remus. He smiled at her and she smiled back. "It's good to see some people know common courtesy.

Remus blushed and dived back into his book, as if trying very hard to ignore the fact that Danni was inches away from him.

"What's got into Peter?" Evie asked now as she took the seat to my left. She might hate Sirius to pieces but that didn't mean that she had placed all us Marauders under the title of Public Enemies.

Peter seemed to finally come out of his daydream as she said his name and with a small squeak, excused himself and ran full speed out of the Great Hall.

Sirius laughed, a laugh that many girls had fallen in love with. Evie threw him a disgusted look and then began to butter herself some toast.

I could now see Lily perfectly from where I sat. She slid herself with such poise into the seat beside Danni while Nikki took her other side. Her eyes were deliberately not looking in our direction. Nikki had probably taken it as her responsibility to protect Lily from Sirius and his womanizing. In the same moment, I felt gratitude and resentment towards Nikki. I was grateful that she had turned Lily off Sirius for good, but I resented the fact that she was now ignoring the fact that I was sitting only a few feet away.

A few minutes later, Remus glanced at his watch and proceeded to stuff his book into his book bag. "I think we should head up to Calculus." His gaze locked on my mine and I nodded. Better not to be late for McGonagall's class.

The girls said nothing as Remus, Sirius and I moved away from the table. I knew for certain that Evie, Nikki and Danni were in the Advanced Class with us, so I forced myself to still believe that she would be in this class with me, despite the fact that none of the girls had moved to follow us.

We reached the classroom a few minutes later. A few people were already seated there: three Hufflepuffs including Amos Diggory and six Ravenclaws which included Evie's Derek. They nodded at us as we came in, but no real words were exchanged although Remus did shake hands with Derek and Amos who were both the respective prefects of their houses.

Once we were settled in our seats. We had placed ourselves in the first row: Remus, Sirius and myself from left to right. The place settings pleased me greatly. There was an empty seat beside me, which meant that Lily, if she showed up, could very well end up sitting next to me.

Footsteps echoed outside the room, and I looked towards the door expectantly, my breath caught in my throat. But then a frown crossed my face as four Slytherins came sauntering in, looking as if they owned the place.

"Oh look Cissy," the tall, platinum blonde Lucius Malfoy said with malice, "And I didn't think Potter had what it took."

Narcissa, the girl he had just addressed, had blonde hair, not quite as pale as her boyfriend's. She let out a loud shriek of laughter at his comment which was taken up by her twin sister, Bellatrix Black, whose name was a fairly good representation of her hair and heart.

Sirius too began to laugh, though his exploded with mocking. "Oh...my...God Malfoy. That was hilarious. Really, just the funniest thing I've ever heard. You kill me!"

"If only Black, if only," Lucius muttered under his breath. "You know, you really are a disgrace to the name."

Sirius laughed for real now. "And do you really think that you can insult me with that type of a comment Malfoy? Please! If I wanted to be like my cousins here," he gestured towards the two girls who wore similar expressions of deepest loathing, "Then I would be like you and walk around with a pompous air. As it were, I have more respect for myself and don't really like to be considered a prat. And I'm sure you can see the difference. I have beautiful girls running after me while you're stuck with my sorry excuse of a cousin because of a little thing called arrange marriages."

Malfoy opened his mouth to say something but was silenced as four girls suddenly walked in the room, talking and giggling amongst themselves. They stopped the instant they were in, as if they could sense the tension that had risen like a wall between the two feuding parties.

"Day 1 and already a fight," Nikki commented as she observed the scene, "I do love Hogwarts."

A laugh suddenly rang out, one that was of full sincerity. I looked past Nikki and saw that, squeezed between Danni and Evie stood Lily. Her laugh stopped just as unexpectedly as it had begun as she realized that she was the only one amused by the comment and her face flushed red with embarrassment. But for even the few seconds that she had blessed me with the sound of her laugh...well, I now knew that I was hopelessly in love with her.

"Sorry," she said quietly.

"You should be foreigner." Malfoy sneered as he pronounced the last word, the tone of his voice making it painstakingly obvious that he was belittling her intelligence.

Before any of us present could react to his degrading attitude, however, a new figure stepped into the room, her mouth pulled back in a tiny line of sternness. Minerva McGonagall was a formidable woman to be sure, tallest of the teaching staff, and as strict as they come. She was also a very intelligent woman, but she was intimidating. Even Sirius could be found, at times, recoiling under her harsh gaze.

"Mr. Malfoy. There should be no need for you to speak to Miss Evans with that tone," she reprimanded him, her voice cold and unyielding, "Ten points from Slytherin. I would have expected better from you, seeing as you are a Prefect and know full well the responsibilities that accompany the title."

Lucius said nothing. He scowled in James's direction and then sat himself near the back of the class with the two cousins and his other crony, Severus Snape. Snape was an interesting case of Slytherin. He had a brilliant mind, James had to agree with that, but he was so wrapped around the finger of Lucius Malfoy that sometimes he could an even bigger git than the latter. Of course, there was also something about his slimy, greased hair that had always steered James wrong as well.

"Now please settle down class. Ladies, take your seats so that we may begin this class without further disruptions."

I looked up hopefully. There were two seats empty beside me and two others behind them. I wondered if Lily was one of those students who preferred to sit up front, or if she despised being in the line of vision of teachers. The answer came when Danni and Evie took the unoccupied seats to my right while Lily and Nikki took the back two.

So far the day was off to a horrible start.

********************************************

By the end of the day, I was feeling considerably depressed. All of my best efforts had been thwarted and by the time 3:45 came around, I was no closer to knowing Lily Rosaline Evans than I had been yesterday when she had first captured my heart.

After Calculus, I tried to make it so that only seat available would be the one next to mine, but the girls somehow beat us to the classroom and Lily was strategically placed between Danni and Evie. During our Lunch Break, I had once again tried to secure her a seat next to me, but Frank Longbottom had taken it and Alice had ended up sitting next to him while Lily and the other girls sat far away from Sirius.

In Politics, Sirius had spoken to great lengths of how he planned to win Lily's heart. I had tried to ignore him, but it was hard to do. In the end, our Politics teacher, Professor Filius Flitwick, a short man with the beginnings of white hair had us switch places to prevent any further disruptions.

And then in History with the Hufflepuffs and Professor Binns, all plans had been ruined on account of one Amos Diggory who insisted that Wyne sit beside him and then dragged the rest of the Gryffindors lasses along with her.

So by the time History was over, I was far more depressed than I had been at home for the past three months. Fate was being more than just horrible to me. She was mocking me, by planting false hope and then crushing it with her three-inch heels. What I wouldn't do for Lady Luck to smile her grace on me. What wouldn't I?

"Well, I'd best head off for Chemistry. I can't believe I have Slughorn for three classes," Remus remarked as he arranged his books and other possessions in his bag.

Sirius shook his head sadly. "You poor fool. And I thought it was bad enough that I would have to suffer through Slughorn for one class. At least he won't be able to collect me into his Slug Club, or whatever you call it."

"It's not that bad," Remus insisted, but I could see that he didn't believe a word he was saying. "Well, at least I'm not the only Gryffindor."

"That's right," Sirius chimed, "You have lovely Danni in there with you, don't you? Plenty of time for you two to get to know each other very well."

Remus rolled his eyes, but didn't retort. He had already wasted enough energy trying to get Sirius to lay off his back. "Well, see you then," he nodded in my direction and in a blink of an eye was out the door.

"You're really getting on his nerves," I commented as Sirius and I left the room at our own pace, Peter bouncing along behind the two of us. "I think you should leave him be. Focus your attention on other important things."

"Like getting Lily to fall madly in love with me."

"Right," I said, trying to sound friendly, but inside I could feel everything squirmying around with that uncomfortable feeling of competition. But so far, Sirius was a step ahead of me. He had talked to her in any case. So what did I have that he didn't? Oh yeah: she hadn't been forced into having a grudge against me...yet. "Ah shit!"

"What?"

"Forgot my textbook back there," I replied, only then realizing that my bag was lighter than it had been going in. You guys go ahead and I'll meet up with you in the Common Room."

I hurried towards the open door to the classroom and dashed in without pausing to make sure it was empty. And then Fate dealt another hand, though whether it was cruel or not, I could not be certain at first. But in my rush to get my book, I neglected to check my bearings and went barrelling into another human being.

"Oh gee, I'm so sorry. I wasn't looking where I was going."

My heart skipped a beat as I recognized the voice that had just apologized profusely, despite the fact that it had been entirely my fault. I looked up and I found myself staring into the big, beautiful emerald eyes of Lily Rosaline Evans.

A.N. Okay, yet another chapter done (Sorry for the cliffie). I must say that I did a lot of revising on this one. Kept changing my mind. I hope you guys don't think I rushed too much into the Sirius/James thing, but considering Sirius's character, it was only a matter of seconds before Lily became the object of his affection.

Anyway, I must really say a big thank you to all of you for reviewing. I wasn't expecting so many people to review and all of you had so many nice things to say to me too. So thank you, all of you for your kind and encouraging words. I hope you all enjoyed this chapter and keep reviewing it, letting me know if you think I should make changes to my story line (because I can go back and correct) or if you have other comments or questions. Everything is accepted and appreciated. After all, where would us authors be without people to read our stories.

Thanks again all of you and keep reading and reviewing and if you want to be up to date with chapter updates, add this story to your alert list.

Love you all,

Faith :D

Almost forgot, check my profile for a survery pertaining to the next chapter. It's It'll be closed in two days from now, so give your opinion soon!!!!