Chapter 2

Introduction to The Project

'Have you lost your mind completely? Are you insane? Why did the thought of apologizing to that insufferable git even cross your mind for a second?' Lily thought mentally slapping herself, but she continued walking at an average pace.

She really had gotten herself into it this time, why did she have to be such a redheaded blonde? And why was it that she had to keep reminding herself that she hated the complete prat continuously? He had done a million rotten things to her that had hurt like a sack of bricks being shot at your face. One particular time was still very clear in her mind, it stuck in there so because it was extremely embarrassing.

Flashback:

Lily was sitting in Potions class listening to the angry Professor Shelt chastise one of her fellow students when suddenly she felt a rush in her bladder. She flinched and glanced at the clock, reading it she noticed that there were only twenty-five seconds of class left, thank Merlin for that.

( sound of bell )

Lily stuffed her quill, book, ink bottle, and parchment into her bag carelessly. She did not meet up with Mallory who was usually waiting for her, and she did not say goodbye to Amanda, but she made a bee line for the nearest bathroom.

She flew around the corner and up the dungeon stairs, trying very hard to be careful not to step on a fellow second year student. As Lily neared the girls lavatory she noticed a little glowing sign posted on the door, she ran up to it and read the sign sighing heavily and angrily stomping her foot as she did so.

Girls Lavatory Closed for Repair, DO NOT ENTER!

" No!" she muttered out loud.

What was she to do? The nearest girls bathroom was up in the Gryffindor Tower, on the SEVENTH floor and she was in the DUNGEONS! She had no time to get there and keep from peeing herself. Lily looked around quickly and edged towards the boys bathroom, she had to go, and she had to go now. Within a matter of seconds she had slipped unnoticed into the unoccupied bathroom.

Lily ran to the nearest stall and relieved herself, grateful that no one had seen her. Just as she flushed the toilet the door to the boys bathroom swung open and in came two boys chatting and laughing loudly.

" Oh no, oh merlin no! This cannot be happening," Lily thought to herself, trying to think of a plan.

" Can you believe the look on that git's face? That was classic mate!" she heard one of the boys say.

" Yeah, it was pretty cool wasn't it?" the other replied.

As they continued to talk their voices grew nearer. Lily thought fast and grabbed her bag, she hoisted herself on top of the toilet and hoped to god that they wouldn't notice a thing... that thought was soon gone when there was a loud splash and Lily slipped and fell into the toilet. Her foot was jammed and she couldn't possibly get out without some assistance. She closed her eyes and prayed that the two unknown students had not heard a thing, but once again that thought was shot out of her mind when one of the boys said, " Did you hear that mate? There's someone in here, it sounded like they fell in or something, let's help 'em,"

" No no no!" Lily thought desperately, the only thing that could possibly make this situation any worse for her was to be seen like this by James Potter. Boy, he could spread a rumor through the castle like there was nothing to it.

One of the students murmured a spell and the lock on the door unlatched, Lily continued to jerk on her leg, hoping that it would dislodge itself, but it didn't... of course. The boys pushed the door open and then Lily knew that this year, from now on, would be her worst. There standing in front of her were the, ever popular and adored by all girls except her, James Potter and Sirius Black. She closed her eyes and waited for the worst, internally praying that it would never come, but.. yet again, it did.

Sirius starred at her like she was a witch with a dog's head and had a fishes fin for feet, "What the bloody hell are you doing in here!" he asked as his eyebrows furrowed and he dropped his books from his hands.

" Lily! Lily Evans, the almighty-book-worm-Lily-Evans has snuck into the boys bathroom!" James said disbelievingly. There was a long pause and then the two boys looked at each other, threw their heads back, and began howling with laughter.

Lily opened her eyes and held back angry tears as she shouted, " Oh, shove it up your hairy arses and help me out of here now!"

James stopped laughing, took one glance at her, and then started up again. Sirius shook his head at her and then laughed as he offered her a hand, she took it and glared at James. She hated James, she had hated James, and now she would forever hate James.

Sirius yanked on her hand and jerked her out of the toilet. She wobbled a bit and then let go of him, grabbed her bag and pulled out her wand. The boys continued to laugh at her, gradually getting louder. Lily ignored them and said a charm and with that her sopping wet leg quickly dried, she then stuffed her wand back into her bag and ran out of the bathroom, hoping she would soon die. And need I say it, .. she didn't.

As she was on her way to Potions class the next day she knew that very second that James had been at work with the bathroom incident, for now, everyone knew. She knew this because people would stop and stare at her then break out into hysterics.

Lily thought that she hated James on the train arriving at Hogwarts for the very first time, but that was nothing compared to the hate she held for him now.

End of Flashback

Lily quickened her pace as she kept the war over apologizing or not apologizing going. She was so consumed in her thoughts that she didn't noticed that Mallory and Amanda had been whispering for over 5 minutes.

I shouldn't apologize, this is crazy. After all he has done to me and then I apologize to him? Bullocks, that's insane.

It isn't like you to be purposely cruel to others, you should apologize. It isn't hard, all you have to say is 'sorry' and then your done!

I'm not doing it!

You are too.

NO!

Yes, and watch where your going because your going to run into J-

That thought was never completed because just at that second she bumped into someone, making her books fly everywhere and papers to scatter across the floor.

" Oh dear, what a mess! I am so sorry," Lily started as the man in front of her bent down and helped her pick up the books, but then she noticed who it was and wished that those words had never escaped her mouth.

James stood up along with Lily and smiled charmingly, " No problem, here you go," he said handing her a stack of books.

She forced a smile and then took the books from him. " Thanks," she replied shortly.

Do it now, right now. Her conscious told her.

" Erm,.. Potter?" she said carefully choosing her words, she didn't want to seem as if she actually wanted to apologize to him. But she wanted the slight annoying feeling of guilt to leave her.

He looked at her and smiled again, " Yes?

" Look, today at lunch, well I shouldn't have been so.. harsh. I wasn't feeling well and Mal and Amanda were nagging on me about something, so I was a bit tense. So I guess I'm .. sorry." Damn that was too nicely put, what should I say to make that smile disapparate? It was just fine, shut up and live on!

" That's fine, so er ... do you happen to want to go with me now?" James tried as they started off towards Charms class.

Lily laughed and then glared at him, " No thanks Potter, I'll skip on that offer," and with that she sped off in the direction of the Classroom, feeling much lighter.

Xxxxx

" Look, today at lunch, well I shouldn't have been so.. harsh," Lily started looking at him with less disgust than earlier, now only if it was like this all of the time, " I wasn't feeling well and Mal and Amanda were nagging on me about something, so I was a bit tense. So I guess I'm.. sorry,"

James was shocked, she actually just apologized, maybe he should try again. Yes, he would.

" That's fine, so er ... do you happen to want to go with me now?" he asked, hoping that she would see that he was different. He wasn't the prick he used to be, and she should have noticed that when he helped her with those books.

She looked at him with utter disgust and then chuckled a bit, " No thanks Potter, I'll skip on that offer," she said as she sped off towards Charms Class.

Bloody brilliant, that sure went well. James thought to himself as he shook his head and slowly turned to follow Lily.

A few minutes later he entered the classroom and took his seat next to Lily. James opened his bag and pulled out his parchment, a quill, the Charms Vol. 6 book, and his bottle of ink. He was actually going to listen and try to prove to Lily that he wasn't like he used to be. Maybe she went for the brains rather than the bronze, either way he would find out.

Since the teacher wasn't going to be in for a couple more minutes James leaned back in his chair, tilting it backwards a bit as he watched the few students who had came early.

James sneakily stole a admiring glance at Lily who was scribbling something down on a piece of parchment as she chatted... more like whispered with Mallory, considering he couldn't hear one word. He watched her write something down quickly and then pass it to Mallory, grinning like mad. Mallory would smile, scribble something down, slide it across the desk towards Lily and eventually they would both end up laughing about ten seconds later.

Growing more and more curious by the second as to what was on that piece of parchment, James began to tilt backwards father so that he could see the paper in clear view. Mallory just happened to glance over towards him and noticed that he was trying to look at the paper, so she leaned down and whispered something into Lily's ear. Lily nodded giggled and then leaned in closer towards the paper making it harder for James to see it. James, being the ignoramus that he was, didn't notice what was happening, all he knew was that if he leaned back just a bit further he could see it... a bit more... just a bit more,... there it was! It said : Can you believe that git? Bet he's trying to see it. Yea, surely he is, that idiot, he's gonna fall right out!

But that was all James saw because he lost his balance and his chair toppled over backwards, making his head collide with the wall behind him. Lily gasped, in surprise, and turned quickly only to find James on the ground with his feet in the air. She snorted and then looked at Mallory, instantly the two burst out laughing. A very unwanted heat could be felt running up to his cheeks making him look as if he had spilled a bottle of bright red strawberry topping on his face.

He managed to fake a laugh and then stand up, rubbing his head he looked over at Lily and said, " Heh, guess I lost my balance a bit,"

Lily smiled and snorted, " Yeah, just a bit," and that of course set off the two gigglers again.

He looked away from the two and picked up his chair again, setting down and this time, made a mental note not to tilt the chair. James quickly recovered from the embarrassing moment, there had been many times before where James had made it clear to everyone that he was a bit slow. Storing the memory of what had just happened in the back of his mind, he began to ponder on what he had seen on the parchment:

Can you believe that git? Bet he's trying to see it. Yea, surely he is, that idiot, he's gonna fall right out!

They had to of been talking about him, Lily always called him a git, he was trying to see the paper and he was going to fall out of his chair. James felt like a definite ass now, he had just made it clear to Lily that he wasn't good enough for her. There went another chance at his one and only true love, when would the chance finally come?

His thoughts were interrupted when the doors at the back of the class swung open and in strolled Professor Flitwick.

" Good morning class," he said as he approached his specialized desk and stood up on his chair, smiling broadly at everyone.

" Good morning, Professor," they all said emotionlessly.

" Glad you agree, now let's begin." he started waving his wand in a circular motion over the black board, " Please take out your quills and parchment, today we will be beginning to take notes on the subjects that will be presented on your N.E.W.T's next year." a very long list appeared on the board and a slight groan escaped the mouths of the students, except Lily, James and Mallory.

Lily and Mallory because, they actually liked to learn and James, because he wanted to impress Lily. James reluctantly picked up his quill and started taking down notes as fast as he possibly could, trying to keep up with Flitwick's speech.

Charms passed in a flash and before they knew it, they were in the dungeons classroom waiting for the new Potions teacher, Professor McClerk, to enter the room and begin the next boring assignment. The last class of the day had finally came, then it would be dinner time, and the second week of their sixth year would be over, the weekend ahead of them.

James got out his supplies once again and in a few moments the doors slammed open and in stomped Professor McClerk.

" Today I will be pairing each of you up with a partner of the opposite sex." he started, this caught James attention at once, he might get paired up with Lily! " We will be starting a project that also will be going on in Herbology, but considering the fact that you don't have Herbology until Monday afternoon, I , myself, will be the one informing you on this project rather than Professor Sprout."

James was confused, what did Herbology have to do with Potions, and vise versa? Apparently not only James was confused, but pretty much the entire classroom, because a buzz erupted among the students. Everyone was saying " Huh?" and "What's this maniac going on about?" But the chatting ceased when the professor cleared his throat and rapped his wand on his desk getting everyones attention.

" As I was saying, I will be informing you on the details of this project. For the next month you will be given a seed to raise into a full grown plant. Eventually this plant will form a bud, which will then turn into a flower, depending on how well you raised this flower the color of it will vary." he began, watching the look of confusion disappear off many of their faces, " Now, where does Potions Class come into this? You may ask. I will tell you. This specific type of plant does not require water, nor does it require sunlight, but you must make a special, and very difficult, potion to give to it every week. If you make the potion incorrectly or forget to feed this plant than it will remember."

A buzz began to fill the room again except it wasn't confusion, but excitement and anxiousness.

The professor cleared his throat again and continued once more, " The grading scale goes as follows: You will receive an 'A' if you make the potion correctly at all times, and you can only miss one day of feedings. You will receive a 'B' if you make the potion incorrectly once, and/or miss two days of feedings. You will receive a 'C' if you make the potion incorrectly twice, and/or miss three days of feedings, if you miss anymore feedings or make the potion incorrectly over three times then you fail this project. I will be able to tell whether you will get an A, B,C or fail by the color of the plant, if it is blue, you get an A, red you get a B, yellow you earn a C, and purple you fail. Any questions?" He asked looking over everyone, no one moved.

" Oh! And I almost forgot, since this is a new project and it is only being done by the sixth years we are going to try doing something new. Dumbledore has said that your partner and yourself will be sharing a dorm with your plant, you must get along with your partner and you will be making the potions in your dormitories. This plant will be like... your child, I suppose, ... you must take care of it, and if you don't your grades will suffer." he paused and watched the new look of fright, and worry cross the students young faces.

" If there aren't any questions then I will begin pairing."

James looked over at Lily, who looked very happy, not worried, or scared in the least, but rather eager. He smiled and prayed that he would be paired with her, this would give him the chance to show her that he was definitely not the ass he was before.

" Alright then, let's begin,... Remus Lupin, with Amanda Hemmings,... Sarah Clarkson with Wilson Rone ... James Potter with Lily Evans," as soon as those two names came out of his mouth James smirked and looked over at Lily who had her mouth gaped open, looking at the professor like he had gone mad.

Lily stayed like that for awhile, and James just kept beaming until McClerk finished and began handing out directions to their dormitories and the rules and regulations once again.

Once class was over James headed towards the Great Hall, still bearing that smile that melted all of the females in the school except for Lily, who was very upset indeed!

A/N: I am so sorry this took so long! I really did try... WYNTER! Lol jk ok I hope you enjoyed this, sorry I stopped here! Gimme some reviews and I will update! Thanks a million!