Five years had passed without anything odd happening.

I'd made some new friends: Wendy Daniels, a brunette with a similar background as myself, Kyla McDonald, a fellow redhead with a knack for Transfiguration, and, last but not least, Kiki Arquette. Kiki was the first to approach me during our first day of classes. With her long, black hair, and cat-like chocolate eyes, she has a very mysterious aura around her. We clicked immediately. Wendy and Kyla came along during lunch that day. They sat across from Kiki and me, striking up a conversation about our morning classes. We've all been inseparable ever since.

Why couldn't I have had the luck of being in a dormitory with them?

Instead, I was still stuck with the Psycho Sisters. And they were more psychotic than ever this year. Being in our sixth year, and the fact that we were now sixteen years old, seriously affected their brains. They stayed up later talking into the early hours of the morning talking about everything. And I had to listen to it. They gossiped and did each other's hair and I did everything I could to spend the least amount of time I could in there.

Nothing out of the ordinary had happened between Sirius, James and I. They seemed to back off a bit after they became closer friends with Peter, whose last name, I later came to know, was Pettigrew, and Remus Lupin. It was a major relief not to turn around and see them.

As much as I loved Hogwarts, it definitely had a toll on my home life. The thing that broke my heart was that Petunia no longer talked to me. Apparently, the summer that I left for Hogwarts, she asked Auntie Joy to allow her to transfer schools. She chose to attend a private school and made a whole bunch of new friends. Seeing how normal they were compared to her 'freak' of a sister, she chose her friends over me. I haven't said one word to her since the summer after my first year. We exchanged a few choice words that I'd rather not repeat. Since then, we've barely been on viewing terms. The past two summers that I've returned home, she spent the entire time at a friend's house in northern England. Being alone all summer with Auntie Joy was certainly an adventure as she obsessed over me the first few days, asking me millions of questions about school, and then got sidetracked with her new hobby: golf. Let's just say, I didn't exactly look forward to summers at home.

"Hey Lil, you all right?" Kiki asked worriedly, waving an anxious hand in front of my eyes.

"Huh? Yeah, I'm fine," I replied.

"Well, you were kind of dazing out," Kyla added, sounding concerned.

"You kind of had this weird look your face," Wendy said, attempting to imitate the face.

"Ha! You look like a chipmunk!" Kyla laughed out.

The four of us laughed there for a bit longer, soon ending with tight side-clutching and heavy panting.

"That was the weirdest face I've ever seen," I said, breathing in heavily.

"Hello there, ladies." I turned around quickly to see the owner of that charmingly sly voice.

Yep, exactly who I, and most likely many of you, thought it was: Sirius Black.

"Hello, Sirius," Wendy said sweetly. It was widely known that Wendy had a massive crush on Sirius. But no one was quite sure of his feelings. I could tell he felt something because he never looked directly at her, though he always spoke charmingly and never missed a beat.

"Why hello, Wendy," he replied, sounding just as sickly sweet.

Laughing a bit, Kiki said, "You guys should just go out for goodness sakes."

Wendy immediately went beet red, and, surprisingly, Sirius shifted his weight nervously. I flickered my eyes back and forth between the two suspiciously, but didn't ask.

"Well, I better be going," Sirius said quickly, starting to walk away. But he was unfortunately stopped by James' arm around his shoulders.

"Where you going, mate?"

"Just going to find you, of course," Sirius replied slickly.

"Oh," James responded, eyeing him accusingly. "What's going on with you girls?"

"We're just doing our Charms homework, Potter," I answered, exaggerating the word "Potter".

"I see," he replied. Apparently getting the hint that he was not welcome, he spoke, "Well, we better be leaving. See you lot later."

There were no good-byes from the girls, though as Wendy started to say good-bye to Sirius, we all shot her 'the look' which obviously told her to keep her mouth shut. Apparently it worked, because her mouth immediately snapped back closed.

The two boys trudged reluctantly back over to where they were previously sitting with Remus and Peter, while we got back to work.

"You know, that Potter kid is in love with you," Kyla said, pointing out the obvious.

"Did you just realize that, Ky?" Kiki asked sarcastically.

"No," Kyla replied. "I just never understood why Lily didn't go out with him."

"Because he's an arrogant, big-headed, pompous arse," I said, splitting my attention between the conversation and my very near finished Charms essay.

"Well, I just think we you should give him a chance," Kyla retorted, causing Kiki, Wendy, and I to look at her oddly.

A few moments of silence later, the three of us burst in a fit of hysterical laughter at the exact same moment.

"Give Potter..." I said through giggles.

"...a chance?" Kiki finished, clutching her side as she nearly fell off her seat.

"Guys," Kyla whined. "I'm serious." This caused us to break out into another round of laughter. Kyla? Serious? Definitely not.

"Ky, we're just kidding," I said, noticing the bothered look on her face. "But I still think you're crazy. I mean, me give Potter a chance? There's no way. He's the picture of everything I don't want in a guy: arrogance, cockiness, and...a bunch of other things."

"See? You can only find two things wrong with him. On the good side, he's good-looking, charming, intelligent, funny, and did I mention good-looking?" Kyla asked, smirking.

Nervously, I turned around and glanced at James. He was sitting with Sirius, Remus, and Peter on the other side of the common room. I could see him laughing with the other boys, most likely about something Sirius said. They were always joking. They almost looked enjoyable to be around.

Well, I guess other people agree. Right then, a tall, perfectly blond witch by the name of Cindy Cross trotted over to the Marauders, the name that their little group was so commonly called, and sat down on the arm of the couch. She started to animatedly chat with all four of them, though she paid close to attention to James. I watched her laugh at something James said and casually touch his arm. God, she was trying so hard to get him to notice her.

And what did I have to do? Nothing. He just naturally lusted after me.

But why? I never really did understand. I certainly wasn't anything special. Cindy was much prettier than I was. Her long blond hair looked down upon my shoulder-length choppy red hair. Her aqua eyes sparkled while my emerald green eyes looked dull. She had a long, lean, model-like silhouette, while I was shorter and less 'model-like'. As I saw it, everything should have been in her favor. But instead, she was the one chasing James. While I was the one running from him.

"You were staring, Lil," Kiki said, poking my arm with her wand.

"Ow," I snapped back. "No I wasn't."

"Yeah," Kyla said. "You were."

I looked to Wendy for support, but she just shrugged and said, "Sorry, Lils, but you were."

Crap.

"Whatever. I wasn't," I said, finalizing the conversation.

But in reality, I was starting. And I realized it. I've never felt that before. I had, like, a little pang in my heart when Cindy walked over and sat down near him. Then I almost felt jealous when she laughed at something he said and touched his arm. That's just not normal. Why would I suddenly feel something like that? It makes absolutely no sense.

"Fine," Kiki said. "Let's get back to our Charms essays."

"Well, I'm all done," I said, smiling proudly.

"What do you mean you're done? It was two feet of parchment! I'm not even half way done with the first foot," Wendy said disbelievingly.

"I'm just good," I replied, gathering up my things. "I'm going up to my dormitory. See you down here after?"

"Yeah."

"All right."

"Yep, see you then."

"Bye, girls. Don't be too mad at me," I said over my shoulder as I walked off to the staircase.

What I didn't notice was that James had shot up from his seat on the couch and started to walk towards me, leaving Cindy talking to thin air yet again.

"Lily! Wait up," James said loudly. I turned around to see him running towards me.

"What do you want, Potter?"

"I want to know if you'd like to go to Hogsmeade with me."

"Potter, you've asked me that so many times over the past six years. What do you think my answer is going to be?"

"Eh, well, I'm used to rejection."

Then, I laughed. Yes, I actually laughed at something he said.

Did she just laugh? James thought to himself disbelievingly.

Did I just laugh? I thought, just as disbelievingly.

"You laughed," he said.

"Yes..."

"So Lily Evans does laugh."

"Shut up, Potter," I replied, smirking.

"Lily? Question."

"Yes?"

"Are we actually having a civilized conversation?"

"I guess we are."

"Wow, never thought I'd see the day."

"Well, James, I'd love to stay and chat, but I've really got to go put this stuff in my dorm."

"Okay," James said. "Wait."

"What?"

"What about my question?"

"Oh, um, well..."