Summary: He thought she hated him. She thought she was just bragging rights. He kept missing his chances. She was running away scared. A story of love that follows Lily and James from 6th year until graduation. R/R!

Disclaimer: So no one sues me, I'm not JKR, I could never compare to JKR and you all know that. She is the almighty goddess of all things Harry Potter/magic. Her riches are not mine. Enjoy!

Please read Author Notes at end, I need help and advice on a lot of things. Thanks!

December…

"Excellent!" Horace Slughorn, the potions teacher, exclaimed. "Wonderful! Snape, I believe you are the most brilliant potions student I've ever had!"

The lank and greasy hair did not move an inch as Snape inclined his head. Usually, when a student was given an outstanding compliment, their face lit up and a small smile found it's way onto their lips. But Snape's sneering and pale complexion had no change. "Thank you, Professor."

A snort erupted from the back of the room. "Wonderful Snape! Excellent Snape! You are bloody amazing Snape!" James mocked cruelly, causing Sirius and Peter to snicker and Remus to let out a small grin as he quickly added another ingredient to his grey potion.

Slughorn didn't hear (or ignored) this mocking, but instead bent closer to the perfectly pearly potion whose steam was rising in spirals. "My boy, did you add extra rose petals to the mixture? Its absolutely worked wonders!"

Once again, Snape inclined his head and Sirius tried to suppress a bark-like laugh. "No, he added the grease from his hair in hopes if a girl smelled it, she would fall in love with him," Sirius said and James began choking slightly. "Hey Pete, go smell his potion, maybe you'll fall in love with old Snivellus."

Before Peter could indignantly respond, a shadow fell over the two tables from Slughorn. His hands were on his portly hips and his stubby fingers were tapping impatiently. "Let's see what you two have created, Black and Potter."

Slughorn hesitated for a moment then took a small sniff of Sirius' potion. The next moment, Slughorn backed away quickly, coughing and gagging as his pudgy faced turned the color of an overcooked lobster. "Black! What in God's name – did you forget to add the frozen Ashwinder eggs?"

Sirius looked at Slughorn blankly then let out a sheepish grin. "Do you mean these eggs?" he asked, holding up two in his hand. "Well, I suppose so, but they're not very frozen – more like melting…"

Panic sprouted on Slughorn's face. "My boy—" he began, but was interrupted by the eggs, which began spurting blue flames that leapt to anything flammable in the room. Sirius dropped the eggs quickly – the flame had burned his hand pretty badly.

"You idiot!" Lily Evans screeched, immediately jumping up to assist Slughorn, Snape right behind her. "Ashwinder eggs will burn down a home within seconds if they aren't kept frozen!"

Since Slughorn, Lily, and Snape were the only ones who understood what had to be done, they helped with refreezing the eggs and putting out the fires that had erupted on student's robes, book bags, and chairs.

"Huh," James stated interestedly as he turned the pages of his potion book while chaos ensued around him. "So that's what I forgot…"

Lily rolled her eyes and sat back down, muttering under her breath about "incompetence" and "bigheaded gits". Meanwhile, Slughorn mopped his brow with a pink flowered handkerchief and made his way over to Lily's worktable that was shared with Aurelia. "I know I can always depend on you, Evans," Slughorn said, smiling as he took a whiff of her potion. "Perfect as usual!" Slughorn chuckled. "A dab at potions! I really believe you should've been sorted in the Slytherin, my dear. Very cunning…"

Lily's eyes narrowed with this comment, as she usually did whenever Slughorn suggested this. "Cunning, maybe, but I'm not a coward who hides under powerful friends."

Slughorn chuckled again, not offended in the least. "Cheeky, cheeky…Alright students!" Slughorn said with a clap of his hands. "Please bottle some of your potion and label it, then leave it on my desk for grading. Put any unused Ashwinder eggs into the cooler and empty out your cauldrons. Since Amortentia is illegal in this school and I had to beg Dumbledore to let me teach it, you are not to take any out of this classroom. Not only is it very powerful, but if brewed improperly as, forgive me, most of yours are, the side effects are nearly fatal. I put sensors around the door that will catch the potion if anyone attempts to sneak it out and, trust me, the consequences will be fierce.

"And I also have invitations to my annual Christmas party this year for the select few on the guest list," Slughorn said, pulling a stack of invitations seemingly out of a roll of fat and clearing his throat importantly. "When I call your name, please walk up here and receive your invitation. Aubrey, Crispin, Evans, Garbunkal, Jody, Smith, Snape, and Wright."

Sirius and James exchanged confused glances. "Professor!" James said, raising his hand high in the air and bouncing a little in his seat. "I believe you forgot to give me an invitation."

Once again, Lily rolled her eyes while Slughorn blinked slowly. "Well, Mr. Potter, I don't believe I meant to give you an invitation. But each invitee is allowed one guest, so I suppose you can banter some other poor soul to take you, if you wish to go so badly."

Tutting, James said resentfully, "But the Potter's are a very old and very wealthy family! We have done many great things! My great-great grandfather, Sir Ellis Potter, was the owner and creator of the Holyhead Harpies! My distant cousin supplied the main funding for Zonko's Joke shop! I believe I deserve a personal invitation."

Smiling kindly and patiently, Slughorn replied, "My boy, I am well aware of your family history, as you have relayed it to me, in depth, so many times, and I am duly impressed. Yet young Miss Evans has given me more than enough reasons to not hand you a direct invitation – she is such a smart girl."

Lily turned around, flicking her auburn hair and giving James an evil grin. "Why does she insist on ruining my life?" Potter muttered to his friends. "I just want to go to woo her."

"Maybe you should go back to the 1800's when that phrase was last used," Sirius said sarcastically, rapping his temple smartly. A moment later, he cringed in pain, realizing for the first time in a while that his hand was pretty badly burnt. "Professor, can you fix my hand?" Sirius asked, holding up his still slightly smoking palm.

Trotting over there hurriedly, Slughorn said, "Of course, my boy. You should've said something earlier."

While Slughorn was repairing Sirius' hand, James began to bottle up his and Sirius' potions for a grade. But Slughorn stopped him by saying, "There will be no need to bottle those, Mr. Potter. I have already given you zeros – Ashwinder eggs are an extremely vital ingredient."

The bell rang and, as usual, Lily was the first out of the classroom with her two friends jogging fast behind her in order to keep up. Lily had begun this routine near the end of first year after she realized James would not stop following her around. Leaving the classroom early meant escaping James' mockery.

"This is complete bullocks," James said angrily as himself, Remus, Sirius, and Peter made their way to Charms. "My family history is impeccable. I need an invitation to that party! Lily will for sure fall for me there – the mood will be unattainable anywhere else." He thought for a second about his situation, then added, "Maybe I'll have father write to him, I'm sure he will have some influence over that fat old codger."

Sirius snorted. "I don't dare bring up my family history, that would just dig me deeper. But you would think I would be given some credibility because I'm not evil." He pronounced each word dramatically.

Sighing, Remus said with a voice full of rationale, "The only reason you want to be invited is because you want a new opportunity to meet girls," he said to Sirius, who shrugged and nodded in agreement, "and you think that this new scheme will cause Lily to fall madly and deeply in love with you," he directed towards James.

James let out an indignant breath and glared and Remus. "Whatever, Moony, I think you're upset you aren't invited also."

Remus shook his head. "No, I really could care less, I hate parties anyhow."

All of a sudden there was a flashing gold invitation in James' face with sprawling green and red writing. "It truly is a shame that you aren't invited, Potter," a cold voice said behind him.

Wands were out in seconds as both Sirius and James spun to face the voice they knew had to belong to a Slytherin. And they were correct – Bertram Aubrey was standing there, his left hand on his hip while the right now twirled the invitation between his fingers mockingly.

"Yeah, actually, it is a shame," James said, repeating the tone Aubrey used. "The party will be quite dull without me there."

Aubrey made a slight humming sound. "Well, you haven't been to any of them and I've always had a marvelous time attending."

"What do you want, Aubrey?" Sirius asked, cutting to the chase. "Are you still upset about losing the match by five hundred points?"

Eyes flashing dangerously, Aubrey put the invitation in his pocket and exchanged it for a wand. Aubrey was Seeker for the Slytherin Quidditch team and completely rotten. "Say that again," he drawled slowly, pronouncing each word with dangerous intensity.

But James and Sirius weren't intimidated in the slightest. They rarely were. In fact, James came up to him (wand still at the ready) and patted his shoulder in what would've been a comforting way, if Slytherins and Gryffindors got along. "It's okay that you're thick when it comes to Quidditch, some people just need to practice a lot to get to the level we're at."

Growling, Aubrey raised his wand and opened his mouth, ready to yell an incantation. But, at the same time, James and Sirius both yelled, "Engorgio!"

Instantly, Aubrey's head began growing rapidly. Aubrey dropped his wand and felt around his face, eyes widening in shock. "Potter! Black! What the hell do you think you are doing?" yelled a voice behind them. Both James and Sirius shared a worried look – they knew that voice all too well. Slowly, they turned around to face one of the few people in the world that could intimidate them.

"Hey Evans!" Sirius and James said together, only James ran a hand coolly through his hair.

Lily glared at them, then focused her attention on Aubrey, who glowered at her. Slytherins had a reputation to uphold, after all. "Let me guess, the Enlargement Charm to his head? Oh, and I bet my life he wasn't doing anything to you. Probably just an innocent victim, right Potter?"

"Yeah right!" James said, pointing back towards Aubrey. "First he was provoking me and then he tried to jinx me, but I beat him to it. I was the innocent victim. Right Sirius?"

At first Sirius rolled his eyes, but James elbowed him hard in the ribs and Sirius rasped, "Yes, yes that's right. Innocent, I say!" Sirius held his right fist in the air victoriously while his left rubbed the area where James had elbowed him.

Copying Sirius, Lily rolled her eyes. "Right, right." She produced the counter charm to return Aubrey's head to its normal size. "Since I am a prefect, twenty points from each of you." She said it casually and turned to walk away, but James grabbed her hand.

"Now, now, Lillian, dear." Lily cringed at the horrible name. "Perhaps you and I can discuss this disturbance over dinner and a night on the town. Maybe you can even join me in my quarters afterwards."

Sirius whistled low under his breath and logged the use of James' "quarters" to make fun of him later. Lily's eyes narrowed to the dangerous point. "Double detention with Filch for both of you tonight," she nearly bellowed.

"What? I didn't try and get in your knickers, Evans!" Sirius yelled resentfully, but Lily already stormed off. "Not that I wouldn't mind trying, quite a nice arse on that one – OW!" Sirius yelped, rubbing the spot on his bicep where James punched him.

"Double detention…" Filch read off a piece of parchment that Lily had written their sentence on. "Well, I won't be putting you together that's for sure. I know how you two work," Filch drawled in a scratchy voice. James and Sirius stood before him indifferently – they had had one too many detentions with Filch to be scared of him anymore, it was just a pain to accomplish all the tasks he assigned them to.

"Ms. Evans did make a note that Potter was supposed to get a harsher chore," Filch said with a sneer. Lily was the only student in Hogwarts Filch didn't despise. "In that case…Black, you stay here and buff every trophy without magic, then dust the cabinets and clean the glass cases, also without magic."

Secretly, Sirius cheered. That was the best detention option available to James and Sirius; for they had done it so many times they could probably set a world record by how fast they clean the room. Sirius fought the urge to laugh when he saw James' shoulder slump – his best friend was in for it.

"As for you, Potter," Filch said nastily, "I believe an appropriate punishment for you is to clean all the bathrooms in the castle and then the hospital wing, all without magic." Filch clarified carefully. He had learned from experience that Black and Potter will find any loophole possible to get out of doing something. "Follow me to the broom closet for your supplies. Black, I will be back in one hour to check on you, so no monkey business."

A moment later, James had disappeared off to some corridor and Sirius stood in the middle of the trophy room, hands on his hips as he surveyed his task. Might as well get started while waiting for James, Sirius thought to himself and began with the cabinet farthest left, timing in his head how long it will take for Filch to leave James alone.

Sirius had cleaned a whole cabinet in the seven minutes it took for his pocket to warm up against his leg. Sirius put down the polish and the rag and pulled a mirror out of his pocket. Instead of his own face reflected in the glass, Sirius saw James with an expression similar of a man walking the plank – inevitable doom. "So, Jamsie-poo, how was the broom closet with Filch?" Sirius said with a smirk.

Glaring, James said, "Don't start with me and don't call me Jamsie-poo. He made me start with Moaning Myrtle's bathroom! I have to do the girl's bathrooms also…I've never had to do the girl's bathrooms! All this for cursing a Slytherin git who, if I hadn't retaliated, would've blown me to pieces."

"Aren't you being a little over dramatic?"

"No, I'm not. This is perfect logic."

"Sure it is."

"I can't believe Evans did this to me! She put on the note to punish me more. On the note and Filch listened!"

"Maybe it's her way of showing her undying love for you."

"Didn't I tell you not to start with me?"

"Oh I'm sorry…are you menstruating?"

James made a grotesque face. "Sick man! No! Ew!"

Sirius shrugged. "Just making sure."

"How I am supposed to win her over when she hates me?" James said, resuming his rant.

"Cheer up, mate, maybe she'll ask you out. I think she owes you after all the times you've hit her over the head with requests."

Even though Sirius had been completely sarcastic, a light lit up in James' eyes and Sirius internally groaned. Now he knew he started something. "Ask me...yeah, maybe she will!"

"James – "

"I can be the perfect guy and she will see how wonderful I am and won't be able to resist the opportunity to take me!"

"James – "

"I can bring her flowers every day and woo her with Shakespeare and not prank anybody and not look at any other girls and – "

"JAMES!" Sirius yelled and James quieted, but shushed him. Sirius voice returned to its normal octave. "You've tried this a hundred times before and it has never worked. You can't stop being who you are for a girl…you have your pick of anyone at Hogwarts and you chose to be difficult and go out with the only one who isn't remotely interested." Silence. "And never say 'woo' again, this is 1976, not 1883."

Rolling his eyes, James protested, "But don't you think there may be a slim chance it would work, if I followed through on everything I said I would do?"

"Hell would freeze over before Lily Evans asked James Potter out," Sirius said simply, then looked at his watch. "You're going to be here all night if you don't get started."

Nodding, James replied, "Yeah, you're right. See you tomorrow then."

"Bye." The mirror went black and Sirius put it carefully back in his pocket. He continued his cleaning of the trophy room, all the while thinking his best friend was the craziest guy in the world.

James was absolutely exhausted. He looked at his watch for what felt like the billionth time and saw that it was nearly six in the morning. "Six in the bloody, bullocking morning," James said, scrubbing furiously at the sink in the last bathroom on the top floor.

There were footsteps behind him and James didn't even have to turn around – he knew who they belonged to. Filch had been coming in randomly throughout the night to see how he was doing. He would examine various parts of the bathroom, grin evilly, point to a corner of the bathroom, and say leeringly, "You missed a spot, right there." Once he had made him redo a whole bathroom.

The only satisfaction James got out of this was that Filch had been up most of the night also, checking up on him. But that rewarding feeling was quickly disappearing with each passing second into the night. "Tired Potter?" Filch asked and James could hear the sneer in his voice.

Although it took everything for James not to yell "PISS OFF!", he took a deep breath in and said, "Yes, sir."

A little content hum escaped Filch and he said, "Well, let's see how you are doing then, and I'll consider if your detention is over."

James stopped scrubbing his last sink and stood up, flexing and rolling his shoulders in pain. Footsteps echoed around him as Filch inspected his slave labor. "Unfortentently, Mr. Potter," Filch began and gave a long pause for emphasis. James' heart sank, he wasn't done yet, he would probably have to redo this whole bathroom also. "This is where you and I part ways. You are dismissed."

Shoulders slumping, James walked out of the bathroom without ever looking at Filch. He slowly made his way back to the common room, massaging various sore spots and wishing with all his heart for Filch to drop dead.

"Fairy lights," James grumbled and the Fat Lady smiled warmly at him in Christmas spirit as she sprung open. He walked in, fully recognizing he would skip today's classes and just sleep.

But before he took even three steps into the common room, there was laughing to his right and James looked up, eyes narrowing slightly yet his heart still managing to flutter in spite of his anger. Lily Evans stood on the girl's dormitory stairs, close to the bottom. "Well, well, well, Potter, looks like someone had a long night. Shagging too many ladies wear you out? Or is that what you'll tell your friends?" she said, still laughing cruelly.

James rolled his eyes. "I'm not Sirius and you know perfectly well what I was doing all night. What are you doing up this early?"

Still giggling, Lily replied, "Going to breakfast a little earlier today, I have to help a third year with their Charms before classes start." Lily leaned against the wall, flung her hair to her left shoulder, and smiled somewhat wickedly to him. James loved it. "So tell me, what was the punishment that made you work all night long?"

Lovesickness disappeared and anger returned, even though it was Lily. "Thanks to you, I had to clean every bathroom, girls and boys, without magic. Filch was up all night with me, scrutinizing every little detail." Lily began laughing again, only it wasn't so raucous as before. "You can stuff it, no thanks to you and your little harsher punishment note."

"I just meant I didn't want you to do something easy, but I can't believe he went that harsh on you," Lily said, a little of the laughter disappearing from her eyes.

Snorting, James said, "Well, congratulations, I didn't do something easy at all. He would have hung me in the dungeons if it was allowed."

"I didn't think he would take that side note that seriously," Lily protested, but James cut her off swiftly.

"Everybody loves you, Lily, even Filch. They would do whatever you told them to," James said quietly, his eyes fiercely meeting with hers.

Lily was taken aback, she was not used to James being mad at her. "Honestly, I didn't want it like that."

Shrugging, James said, "Well, to make it up to me, you could always take me as your guest to Slughorn's ball thing."

Anger boiled inside of Lily as she snapped, "I can't believe you. First you insult me and I actually feel sorry for you and then you try to ask me out again!"

Confused, James asked, "Wait, wait…when did I insult you?"

Lily ignored his confusion. "Piss off, James, I give up with you." And with that, Lily stormed past James out of the common room.

"Whoa, mate, what did you do now?" Sirius asked as he came down the stairs, grinning at him. His expression immediately changed. "Wait, did you just get back?"

"Way to go, Sherlock," James said irritably, crossing his arms and huffing as he looked at the common room door where Lily had just disappeared.

Another set of footsteps came down the stairs. "James, you look like hell, what happened?" Remus asked, standing next to Sirius.

"I'll tell you what happened," James began his ramble angrily. "Filch had me cleaning bathrooms all night long! I actually had to completely redo one and I was never just allowed to move on to the next one, there was always some little thing I missed. And then Lily gets mad at ME when SHE was the one who caused that hell for me in the first place!"

Both Sirius' and Remus' mouths dropped. "I can't believe that, it can't be allowed," Remus said doubtfully.

"You know what we're going to do?" Sirius said, rubbing his hands together maliciously. James' eyes lit up and Remus cringed…a prank was forming. "We are going to retaliate. I have a great revenge planned already."

It's worth a shot, Remus thought to himself. "Guys," he interjected wearily, "it might not be the smartest idea to prank Filch. If we get a detention with him, it will be worse than cleaning bathrooms all night, it will be torture for sure, no matter what Dumbledore says. And James would get in a hell of a lot of trouble for purposely getting even a teacher."

"Aw, come on, Moony, where's your sense of fun?" Sirius asked.

"Very in tune with my sense of danger, thank you very much. Where's your sense of self control?" Remus asked.

Sirius opened his mouth to retort and James stepped in between the two to stop an oncoming fight. "Sirius, just tell me the idea. I'm skiving off class today to sleep, but I'll probably be up before you're done and I can work on it."

"That's what I like to hear!" Sirius said, patting James on the back. "Okay, here's the idea…"

"You know, I'm very proud of ourselves," Sirius said, taking a huge bite out his sausage. "'t 'nly pook un dfay twah pwan," Sirius said, bits of sausage spraying James and Remus in the face while Peter snickered.

Remus began swiping at the mess. "I'm sorry, I couldn't catch any of that, I was distracted by the half chewed food rolling around and out of your mouth."

Glaring, Sirius swallowed and repeated, "I said, it only took one day to plan."

"And it's commencing in a few seconds, so act casual like we know nothing," James said, although this tactic was as old as the hills and any professor could see through it.

A few moments later, there was a scream of anger from outside the Great Hall and everyone looked towards the doors curiously. Filch came running through, waving his hands above his head and wobbling up towards the staff table, screaming like a little girl for help. Right behind him, six toilets were ambling after him, their lids acting like mouths with razor sharp teeth that were snapping and growling at Filch. Above them were three flying sinks whose taps turned on and off randomly, dumping water to any unsuspecting person below them.

Students immediately took cover under the tables while Filch scrambled up to Dumbledore, scared for his life. Filch grabbed the front of the great wizard's robes while Dumbledore tried to calmly console him, raising his wand over Filch's shoulder. In a second, the toilets and sinks were gone and all that was left were great water patches and soggy food.

Filch continued to scream incoherently and Dumbledore escorted him out the doors. McGonagall wearily put her head in her left hand and used her right to curl her finger towards the Marauders, indicating for them to join her at the staff table. "I told you," was all Remus said and they made their way up there.

"Did you do it?" McGonagall asked without looking up.

James opened his mouth to speak, but Sirius beat him to it. "Actually, Professor, this was all me."

McGonagall barely peaked at him. "Only you? In the past six years, it is never been just one of you to commit a practical joke."

Next Remus cut in. "And it was me, also, Professor." He turned to Sirius. "I told you I didn't want you taking all the blame."

Nodding, McGonagall said, "That's more believable, but Mr. Potter…you had no part in this?"

Sirius shot him a look that plainly said "don't get yourself in more trouble" and James, although it pained him to do it, shook his head. "No…actually I'm a little put out I wasn't apart of this one."

"And Pettigrew?"

Gulping, Pettigrew's eyes darted around fearfully while he shook his head. McGonagall nodded. "Alright, Potter and Pettigrew, you are dismissed. Lupin and Black, stay with me."

Peter and James went back to the table and, once they were seated, James said, "Man, I owe them one."

"You would've gotten in a lot more trouble, they would've thought it was retaliation for Filch's detention," Peter said in a squeaky voice.

"It was retaliation, that's the whole thing…" James trailed off and shook his head. "Me and you will take the blame for the next few, alright?"

Peter nodded and a moment later, Sirius and Remus plopped down beside them.

James looked over at his two friends sour faces. "What's the punishment?" he asked.

Sighing, Sirius said, "A month for me, Remus got two weeks…I told her it was my idea and I dragged Remus into it."

Nodding, James said, "I was just telling Peter I owe you both one."

Sirius grinned. "I know how you can make it up to us…I want to see Lily ask you to dance."

Remus interjected with a snort. "Half of my detentions are with Filch, I rather see some other form of flattery."

But James was already standing beside Lily, talking to her solemnly. "Apologizing," Sirius called at once and Remus nodded in agreement. "I wonder what for, though."

"There's a lot of things he could apologize for," Remus said. "It's just a matter of which was most recent."

Peter laughed. "Look – puppy dog eyes, they won't work on her."

Lily swiftly turned back to her somewhat damp meal and Sirius whistled. "Literal cold shoulder, nice touch," he said under his breath.

James got on his knees and was saying something. "Yikes," Remus commented. "He's getting desperate, not good."

"I don't think she'll ever ask him, but it would be quite funny if she did," Sirius said, then "ooo-ed" a second later – Lily had slapped James across his cheek. "Sexual pass, I'll bet anything…I've told him so many times those don't work with her."

"Then quit giving him sexual passes to use," Remus said.

All Lily saw in her line of vision was deep blue and gold. Pollen filled her nostrils and she began gagging slightly. "James – I can't breath!" she said and, a second later, her normal view of the corridor leading to Transfiguration reappeared, only this time James was there, holding the bouquet of lilies that had been shoved in her face a moment earlier.

"Sorry they were so close your face," James began, batting his eyelashes while the 6th year Gryffindors watched amusingly. "I saw them outside amidst the snow and just had to show them what true beauty was."

Sirius, Remus, and Peter appeared behind James and "awed" appropriately. Lily rolled her eyes. "James, lilies of that color don't exist, which means you charmed them, and flowers don't grow in the middle of winter, which means you conjured them."

Not missing a beat, James said, "Well then, don't you appreciate the effort I put into making them?"

"Sure," Lily said, uninterested, and tried to pass him in order to go to Transfiguration. But he blocked her effectively; after all, he was a Quidditch star. "Is there something you want to ask me?" he asked, holding out the flowers for her to take.

Lily obliged, taking the flowers out of his hand and smiling sweetly at James. "Yes, actually." James' face lit up. "Is your mirror missing in your dorm or did you mean to look like this today?"

Behind James, Sirius let out a bark like laugh. "That was harsh, Evans," he said, laughing some more. James turned to insult him and Lily saw her opportunity to rush around James and into class.

Lily sat at one of the desks, Rita and Aurelia plopping down next to her, grinning. "That was brilliant," Rita said approvingly.

Smiling, Lily replied, "You thought that was good? Watch this." She turned her head towards the door of the room and when James walked in, Lily threw the bouquet of flowers into the air and shot an arrow of fire from her wand. The fire hit the flowers and they went up in a plume of red and orange.

James' mouth fell open and Rita and Aurelia laughed. "Wow, Lily, that must've hurt," Aurelia said. "I can't believe he's still trying to win you over."

"Why does he want to go to that stupid dance so badly, anyhow?" Rita asked, scowling as she said it. "I would give anything to not be required to go."

"Beats me," Lily said and immediately quieted as McGonagall came in the room.

For the first time in a long time, Lily was having trouble with her potion. Sure, it might be good enough for a passing grade, but, for Lily's standard, it was not good enough. She read her book once more for the result: The potion should be the color of a lemon with the steam spilling over the sides of the cauldron.

Looking up, Lily saw the potion was the color of a very light lemon, but the steam was not spilling over the sides of the cauldron. Instead, it had spelled out something in the air that made Lily's eyes narrow to the dangerous point. Beautiful Lily, take me along for the most enthralling night of your life…the steam read in overly loopy cursive.

"My, my," chuckled Slughorn as he came to Lily's potion. "Mr. Potter truly has been bantering you about the party. What is your answer, dear?"

The whole class had turned its attention to Lily and she glared at James, who sat smiling pompously as his own potion was a bubbling brown above his cauldron. Turning slightly red from the attention, Lily said simply. "No, Potter, and if you ask me again I will make it so you can never bear children."

James' eyes widened in fear and Slughorn chuckled again. "Ms. Evans, I do believe your bark is worse than your bite. As for your potion," Slughorn waved the cursive steam out of the way and leaned over the cauldron. "Not up to your usual standard, but the steam spell may have had an effect on it. It will most likely receive an E, not bad at all."

E. Lily's shoulders slumped. It was her first E in Potions. The only class she received E's in was Transfiguration – her worst subject. Sure she had gotten a few in Arithmancy and Ancient Runes, but those were advanced classes. But an E in Potions…she glared once more at James, who was bottling his potion.

In a small fit of rage, Lily waited until James began walking to Slughorn's desk for his potion grading when she inconspicuously pulled out her wand and muttered a spell. Instantly, James tripped over seemingly nothing and his potion flew out of his hands. Lily waited a split second to late, then shouted, "Accio!" The bottle smashed just as the last syllable came out of Lily's mouth.

"Damnit!" James muttered, then looked over at Lily, glaring a little.

"Oh no," Lily said in a very fake concerned tone. Slughorn came up to help James off the ground. "I tried to get the potion Professor, but it smashed before I could Summon it."

Slughorn tsked. "At least you tried, my girl. Such a shame, Mr. Potter, do you have any potion left in your cauldron?"

Nodding, James turned to back to his desk and saw Sirius' frowning face. "Sorry, mate, I thought you were done so I cleared our potions." Lily hid a smile.

"Oh dear, I'm sorry, Mr. Potter, but I'll have to give you a zero," Slughorn said sympathetically, patting him on the shoulder.

James focused on Lily, who gave him an over sympathetic face. James just glared and made his way back to his seat, talking angrily with Sirius. Lily turned back to Aurelia and Rita, who were sharing a table behind her. "Shows him, but I can't believe he is still trying to ask me. It's the seventh attempt today and it's not even noon yet."

Rita nodded in agreement. "Your threats are lethal. In my expertise of turning down guys, he should've given up by now."

Lily buried her face in her hands. "Then why is he still addicted to me?" A thought occurred to her and she looked up at Aurelia. "Maybe I could bring you as my guest!"

Aurelia held her hands up defensively. "Oh no, there's no way I'm going."

Slumping, Lily said hopelessly, "Then I have no choice, I can't stand this anymore. I'll have to take him and just avoid him all night."

"What the hell is wrong with you?" Rita asked, slapping Lily lightly on the shoulder. "The party is in three days, you can hold him off for that long. And there's no way I'm letting you take him, because you're the only one I like that's going and I'm not spending the whole night either separated from you with James hounding me or hiding under a table with you."

"Plus," Aurelia added, "he might just stay away with that last comment. And I think he's pretty upset with you because you smashed his potion."

Lily glared once again; only this time she aimed it at Aurelia. "He was the cause of my first E in Potions – "

"Which is a perfectly acceptable grade – " Rita said in an undertone.

" – and his potion was already ruined. I'm only doing these awful things to him in hopes he'll leave me alone."

Aurelia and Rita laughed and said together, "Fat chance." Lily groaned.

"Let's get this over with," Rita grumbled, reluctantly fastening earrings into her ears.

Aurelia sat on her bed in pajamas, reading Witch Weekly. "Have fun guys!" she said cheerfully, then laughed somewhat evilly. "I'll just be sitting her in pajamas, relaxing and listening to music."

"Yeah, yeah," Lily said, glowering at Aurelia while pushing Rita out of the door and down the dormitory stairs. "Cheeky little – " Lily was about to say, but was interrupted by someone dressed in flowing and expensive black dress robes at the bottom of the stairs.

"Hello Lillian, dear," James said, bowing extravagantly and offering his arm. "Shall we be on our way?"

Lily blinked slowly for a few moments, then asked confusedly, "Haven't I told you no enough times? Haven't I tortured and humiliated you enough?"

James shook his head and flashed another grin. "You would probably have to kill me in order to get me to stop loving you."

"That can be arranged," Lily said briskly, pushing past him. "Now, if you'll excuse us."

Just as James was about to go into the danger zone, Remus came up behind him and pulled James away from Lily. "Leave her alone, James," Remus said, then called. "Bye Lily and Rita, have a good time."

"Thank you, Remus," they both chimed gratefully and made their way out of the portrait hole.

James yanked his arm away from Remus'. "What the hell did you do that for?"

Remus rolled his eyes. "I'm coming over to your house near the end of break, right?"

"Not if you keep acting like this," James said stubbornly.

"Well, I'll talk to you about it then. Just promise me one thing…"

Stubbornly, James spat, "What?"

"Stay out of Lily's hair until the end of Christmas break, alright?" James opened his mouth to protest, but Remus cut him off. "Just promise."

Growling under his breath, James said, "Whatever," and went upstairs to change.

Author Notes: Sorry for not updating again, I have three writing classes at school and I'm a wee bit burned out. A few things...

If anyone has any ideas for this story's seventh year (which I only have one idea for) please tell me, or this story will end before Lily and James actually get together. I will be sure to include your name at the top of the chapter to show you came up with the idea. I really just need filler things, but if anyone has an idea of how Lily and James should get together, please tell me because my idea is so cheesy I blush when I think about it haha.

I also have some really great songs that would go well in this story, but I'm afraid to put the lyrics in because my story might get removed again. But these songs fit perfectly...so I'm thinking about posting this story twice - one with lyrics and one without, but then I'm afraid there's some dumb rule about plagiarism even though it's posted on the same account. I'm also thinking about changing the title of this story from Here With Me to I'll See It Through (both based off of songs haha, don't you see how music dictates my life?) I need help!

Also, for my Creative Writing II class I had to write a five-chapter short story. I posted it on ff net's sister site called fictionpress and I was hoping some of you could go there and read the story called "Lost". I don't like my idea or what I've written so far and I would appreciate all the critique I can get. The URL to my profile is http colon slash slash www dot fictionpress dot com slash ljs4everandalways. There are a couple other poems and stories that I had to submit…just read the things from 2007, don't go to anything before that because it's all REALLY bad writing.

And I'll be 17 in six days! D

R/R!