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!

March…

In one way, Lily really didn't know why she did it, but in another way she did. Derek was the perfect way to make James jealous and was the first somewhat decent guy to actually brave asking her to go with him. He was very handsome, pretty smart, and got along well with her friends. But Lily had had it with his priorities – she was very far down his list. For Derek, it was Quidditch first, then school, then his mates, then food, and then Lily. She just got sick of only seeing Derek once or twice a week for a few minutes. And an even sadder fact, Lily thought to herself as she walked to the Great Hall, they had been going out for nearly a month and they kissed rarely and only snogged once for a couple of minutes.

But it's all for the better, Lily thought, James is still going out with his idiotic girlfriend and hasn't talked to me since that fight in the common room. Lily was actually surprised with James – in the past whenever he had girlfriends, he continued asking Lily out behind their backs, but with Fay he had absolutely ignored her. Lily knew it wasn't as if James had found someone he was really happy with (he cringed when ever Fay laughed, Lily had noticed) but it was still curious all the same.

And even when Lily offered an undercover jinx that caused Fay to become bald for two days, James didn't dump her like Lily thought he would…Lily remembered thinking that James was so vain about appearances he would ditch Fay as soon as he looked at her gleaming head, but he comforted and visited her continually in the hospital wing while waiting for her hair to return.

Lily really couldn't deny it any longer…James was a very sweet person. It was just when peer pressure came about he felt the need to act like a prat. Lily was also actually hurt that James went from being so obsessive and wearing to completely ignoring her and screaming at her in front everyone. Last night in the common room Lily had even tried to start a conversation with him, but James said very little and brushed past her up to his dormitory after a few minutes of disregarded conversation starters.

"Hello? Lily!" Rita said loudly, waving a hand in front of Lily's face. Lily blinked stupidly – she hadn't even realized she reached the Great Hall and sat down between her two best friends. "What is your deal?"

"I broke up with Derek," Lily said, acting as if that was the reason she had been oblivious to sitting down instead of inquiring thoughts of James Potter.

Both of her friends looked at her in shock. "Why? I thought things were going great…" Aurelia asked.

Shrugging, Lily said, "It felt weird, we hardly saw each other despite the fact that we're in the same house and I was so low on his list of priorities." Plus the plan of making James jealous only worked the first three days of our relationship.

Rita gave her a sympathetic look. "Aww, well I'm sorry."

"No it's fine," Lily said, shrugging again. "He took it really well…"

But Lily trailed off, because at that moment Derek came storming into the Great Hall, looking extremely agitated. He spotted Lily, turned his head determinedly away from her, and sat down as far away from her as possible. Lily looked at her two friends and then said, "Well, maybe he didn't take it as well as I thought…"

Just as Lily and her friends turned back to their food, Sirius came bounding over. "Hello ladies!" he said jovially while springing up on his toes and jumping a little. Before they could say anything back, however, he blurted, "So, Lily, Derek looks upset – did you guys break up?"

Lily eyed him suspiciously. "Yes…" she said slowly.

Sirius' fake smile widened. "Oh I'm sorry, well, best be off – " And without another word, he nearly galloped away. Lily watched and, with grim satisfaction, saw he sat down next to James and whispered urgently in his ear.

"Huh," Lily said quietly to herself, "maybe the plan did work…"

"What Lily?" Aurelia asked, although she had a somewhat superior look that seemed to know what Lily had muttered, so Lily didn't bother answering.

Watching James, Lily saw him stand quickly from the table, walk swiftly over to the Hufflepuffs table. There he spotted Fay, squeezed next to her, averted her kiss and began conversing in low whispers, receiving a slap then glares from Fay's Hufflepuff friends as she stood and ran out of the hall. James shrugged indifferently, got up and went back to sit with Sirius, grabbing a sandwich and talking animatedly as if nothing had been amiss.

"Is that how all his girlfriends react when he breaks up with him?" Lily asked to no one in particular.

Yet Rita responded. "Well, I don't know about the rest, but I remember after practice last year Gwendolyn Carvey acted a lot like Fay just did."

"Yeah," Aurelia added, "And a few years back Anna Gunnison actually kicked him in the, well, you know. Saw it late one night in the common room."

Rita and Aurelia began a tirade of reminiscent James break up's that soon led into a tirade of reminiscent Sirius break up's, but Lily paid no notice. How came James acted so dedicated to Fay when he just so easily broke up with her without any remorse?

Instead of studying, like James knew he should've been doing, he sat in the common room reading the latest issue of Transfiguration Today. It was close enough to studying, James reasoned with himself, but he could not deny that he wasn't really absorbing any of the words – he had been reading page eighteen for half an hour now, not getting any closer to midway down the article.

James hoped that going out with the twit Fay for a month would pay off. It was Remus' ingenious suggestion…

Albeit, stolen from Lily in the first place

…that James should go out with someone else to possibly make Lily jealous. Sirius jumped on board immediately and gave him a one hundred percent no backfire guarantee pick up line to use. Peter was the one who suggested Fay Jones.

At first James thought that was a good choice – she was a moderately pretty girl with a decent figure…

Nothing on Lily's, though

…but James soon realized how wrong he was after spending one day with her. When he went to his mates to contemplate a how best to break up with Fay and find a new way of asking Lily out, Remus firmly told him that if he acted very sweet and caring towards Fay, then Lily would finally see what a great boyfriend he was. Sirius (surprisingly) went right along and didn't offer a single pick up line. Every time James was close to ditching Fay or telling her off in public, Remus and Sirius acted as cheerleaders and gave him enough momentum to stand another day with her.

It was, therefore, electrifying to see Remus' plan work. When Lily turned Fay bald, James thought it was quite funny, along with Sirius, but Remus told him why he should be angry and James carried through, causing a large scene in the common room where he scolded Lily for her actions. And ever since then, Lily had been coming up to him, attempting to apologize and trying to start a decent conversation with him. But James decided it was best to act as if he was annoyed with her and kept his distance. It was killing him to treat her like that, but then a nagging voice kept reminding him of the past five and a half years of treatment from the same redhead.

However since each had broken up with their respective partners, there had been no difference in James and Lily's relationship, except now James was also dodging Lily. But Remus was a genius and James owed him a lot, so he was currently weathering the storm.

"You realized we have a test in Potions tomorrow and you haven't studied at all, right?" Remus said calmly, peering over the top of Advanced Potion-Making.

Throwing down Transfiguration Today, James said irritably, "She's not paying any more attention to me than she has in the past. I can't possibly concentrate on studying for a worthless subject."

Rolling his eyes, Remus replied crossly, "Well, you are getting to her. She is constantly staring at you and I overheard her asking Rita why you were ignoring her. Now, Potions is not a worthless subject and you need to study because you have a pretty poor grade in that class."

Huffing, James began digging through his schoolbag. "I only listen to you, Remus, because you are a bloody genius with women and I owe you."

Remus, now smiling, said, "I'm only a genius with Lily because I'm friends with her and I'm friends with you and I know how daft you both are. And I think I owe you, Sirius, and Peter way more than I could ever begin to pay back."

James smiled back, but shifted in his chair uncomfortably. The Marauders never openly expressed their friendship to each other and these moments were rare and uneasy. So James opted to open his copy of Advanced Potion-Making and began copying down the past few potions they've been working on in attempts to memorize them.

Just as James really started working, Sirius came bursting in the common room to serve as a perfect distraction. "I am no longer single, gentlemen," Sirius said as he pulled up a chair to the table where James and Remus were.

"What?" James asked and Remus put down his book to listen properly.

"Her name is Parul Panos, she's a fifth year Ravenclaw, and she has a sexy accent," Sirius said, leaning back in his chair.

"I think I know her," Remus said, putting on a frown as he thought, "Isn't she that Indian girl with the really annoying laugh?"

Sirius glared. "Her laugh isn't annoying!"

"How did this happen, anyway?" asked James, who had no idea who Sirius' new girl was.

Shrugging, Sirius said, "She was a really good snog so I decided to ask her out."

Both Remus and James pulled appalled faces. "Really, Sirius, you are usually not that much of a pig," Remus said, shaking his head.

Sirius ignored the comment. "I think you guys will really like her."

The next morning at breakfast Remus and James found out just how much they wouldn't like Sirius' new girlfriend. The Marauders walked out of the common room and immediately heard a squeal as a skin-tanned girl with black long hair tackled Sirius. "Sirius! What took you so long! I've been up since five waiting for you!" she exclaimed as she screeched an unearthly laugh and began to smother him with loud smacking kisses. Remus and James exchanged horrified looks while Peter looked confused.

"Who's that?" Peter asked as Sirius was shoved against the wall and Parul jumped around excitedly as she recounted every minute of what had happened since she last saw him.

"Apparently it's Sirius' new bird," James said warily. "Her name is Parul and I don't think we're going to get an introduction any time soon."

Peter bit his lip and attempted politeness. "Oh, well she's very, erm, loud."

"…and then this huge ostrich started pecking at my hair and it got messed up! Then I woke up and I realized my hair was fine! Then I showered and brushed my hair and brushed my teeth and got dressed and did my hair and then I walked out of the common room and then I walked over to this painting and I waited for you and then I found you and you know what else happened!" Parul finished in one breath.

The Marauders soon found out that everything Parul said was an exclamation. They also found out she didn't really have her own personality as she contradicted herself often and tried to agree with whatever anyone else said. She was also spoiled rotten (she spent most of breakfast listing all the things her father bought her) and very public with Sirius (she sat on his lap and, whenever she wasn't talking, fed him all his food, snogging him heavily in between bites), which James figured was the reason why Sirius could stand to spend more than two minutes in her presence.

Even though James had not really got to study for his Potions test the night before, he was so thankful that Sirius and Parul had to part ways so they could go to class. After they had shared a very non-verbal goodbye (which, sadly, was much more appreciated than her voice) Sirius came up to James and Remus, grinning. "So, what did you think of her?"

"Uh," James said lamely, "Well, she's very pretty." Remus nodded in agreement.

Sirius snorted. "Anything else?"

But both Remus and James were saved the trouble of telling Sirius the truth when Slughorn entered the room and called for silence. James immediately searched the dungeon for Lily and found her, looking as gorgeous as ever. But then, for the first time, James' eyes swiveled to Rita who was sitting next to Lily. Her eyes were suspiciously watery and red-rimmed. Her nose also had a "Rudolph" look to it as if she had been vigorously blowing her nose.

"What do you thinks wrong with Rita?" James asked Sirius and Remus.

They looked over and frowned at the same time. "I don't know…" Remus said.

"I hope she's okay to practice tonight," Sirius said, analyzing her carefully. "Gina will have her head if she's not well enough to practice."

"But she doesn't look sick," James said, "more – "

" – upset," Sirius finished for him. "Yeah."

"Mr. Black and Mr. Potter!" Slughorn said irritably. Both snapped their bodies to the front. "What did I just instruct?"

"Er – let the games begin?" Sirius suggested stupidly.

Slughorn shook his head and his third chin wobbled. "Please pay attention or I will take points from Gryffindor. Now, as I was saying before, you will have three quarters of an hour to complete the potion I randomly assign you, which I assure is plenty of time to do so. The last quarter of the hour I will grade each potion." He waved his wand and rectangular sheets of paper with the name of a difficult potion fell in front of each person. "Forty-five minutes starting…NOW!"

James looked at his paper, which read Draught of Living Death. His heart sank – the only potion recipe he somewhat memorized the night before was Draught of Peace, but, James just now realized, they had already covered that in their O.W.L.'s the year before.

After lighting the fire under his cauldron, James pondered for a moment on what came next. He knew he had to do something with sopophorous beans, but couldn't recall what. So James just threw a handful in the cauldron. There was also something with an infusion of wormwood, but since James had no clue what he just added the wormwood.

Five minutes to go and James potion was not, the shades James recalled, a light shade of lilac or crystal clear. Instead it was a murky green color with thick black smoke rising from it. "Well, that's the best I can do," James muttered furiously and sat back, trying not to breath the putrid smell of rotting milk.

"And stop what you're doing! Time's up!" Slughorn called from his desk. He began making his way around the room, giving the highest of praises to Lily and Snape. James knew by the look on Slughorn's face when he spotted his cauldron that he was not going to get good marks. "My, my Mr. Potter," Slughorn said slowly, holding the back of his hand against his nose. "I don't know how you've gone so steadily downhill in your Potion work. You were quite average the previous year."

Shrugging, James replied, "This year is much harder, sir."

"Tsk, tsk. Well, I'm sorry, but I'll have to give you a D for this." And with that, Slughorn cleared James' potion away so he could stop gagging. James sighed impatiently and began to pack up his cauldron, thinking he should always listen to Remus, even if he told him to jump off the Astronomy Tower in order to sprout wings.

"Evans! Hey Evans!" James called, chasing after Lily who was walking out of Ancient Runes. With a heavy rolling of her eyes, Lily stopped and put a hand on her hip. "Can I talk to you for a second?"

"Oho," Lily said, arching an eyebrow. "It's just fine to ignore me, then scream at me, then ignore me some more when I'm trying to talk to you. But when you need to talk, it's all fine?"

James stopped next to Lily and shoved his hands in his pockets embarrassingly. "I know I've been an arse and I apologize." There was a short silence as Lily glared reproachfully at him. "Can I ask you something now?"

Lily gave him one last glare then nodded shortly. "As long as you aren't asking me out."

James laughed. "No, actually. Well, I've been thinking…" James tried to decide the best way to go about it. He wasn't used to asking for help and he was sure that Lily would turn him down. Flattery would be best. "You're really good at Potions, in my opinion, even better than Snape and I'm actually admitting he's pretty damned good."

Working to keep down a small proud smile, Lily began walking down the hall as James ran up next to her. "What are you on about? You never give me flattery that's not about my non-existent looks."

"Non-existent?" James nearly yelled, but after Lily's death glare he stopped himself from trying to ask her out. "Right, well, er…you saw how badly I did in Potions yesterday, yeah?"

Lily snorted. "Anybody with nostrils could tell how bad you did."

Frowning, James was about to shoot back an insult, but once again bit his tongue. He was asking for help. "I probably deserved that. Anyway, well, you're really good at Potions and I'm really having trouble with it this year. So, yeah, I was wondering if, er, you could possibly tutor me or something."

The last few words James uttered were so quiet it was nearly impossible to hear them in the crowded hallway. But Lily understood and stopped dead (causing people to run into her and mutter angrily as they passed) and gave James unbelieving look. "You want help?" James nodded. "James Potter, bigheaded prat of Hogwarts, is asking for help?" James nodded again and Lily laughed. "Well, I might have to agree just because you actually asked. This isn't some scheme to embarrass me or ask me out, is it?"

"No, it's really not," James said. "It's just – you're the smartest person I know and you are really good at that subject." Lily looked a bit bashful. "Go ask Slughorn if you don't believe me."

Lily shook her head. "No, I know how you're doing. All right, fine. Tell me what days you don't have Quidditch and I'll see what I can do."

James smiled. "Thanks so much Lily." James paused. "Speaking of Quidditch, do you mind if I ask you something else?"

A little warily, Lily asked, "What is it?"

"Well, I've noticed Rita is looking pretty depressed lately and she's been a little off in practice. Is something wrong?"

Lily looked at James in shock. He was actually perceptive enough to know there was something wrong and he actually showed genuine compassion to another human being that wasn't a Marauder. "Yeah, there is something wrong – nothing really bad like some one dying," Lily added after the concerned look on James' face, which made her heart tug just enough for her to ignore without question. "But I wouldn't feel right telling someone else what she's confided in me."

James nodded. "I understand, should I even attempt asking her about it?"

"Uh," Lily said, shrugging a little, "I don't know if she'd tell you, but you have been playing on the same team for quite a few years…I don't know, you could try I suppose."

"Okay," James said, now worrying about Rita but also excited he and Lily were having a civil conversation. Confidently James stuck out his hand for Lily to shake. "How about we call a truce, for the time being if you wish."

Smiling a little, Lily took it hesitantly. James' heart thudded – it was one of the few times he had made contact with her skin and it was absolutely intoxicating. He had never felt that way about any girl. "No, I think this truce will last for at least," she pretended to think, "a week."

She was joking around with him – James felt slightly giddy. "A week? That's pretty long term for us, are you sure it would be just a few days?" James joked back.

Giggling, Lily said, "No, I think we can do a week. And if we reach that goal, maybe we could add another week on."

They smiled and simultaneously realized they were still holding hands without the pumping motion that indicated a handshake. Both yanked their hands away and put them to their hair. "Well, I'll just talk to you later about it, then," James said. Lily nodded in agreement. They stood in awkward silence for a moment or two then gave each other a half wave and went their separate ways.

Author Notes: Ten points to the appropriate house if someone can tell me what television show character I based Parul off of. )

Sorry sorry sorry for the long update. I won't blame it on anything/one but myself. I decided after writing the first two pages of this chapter to re-read Harry Potter, books one through six so as to have everything fresh in my mind before entering Deathly Hallows (eep!) and I gained about a thousand new theories. Every little mention, like "And suddenly the canary turned a bright shade of purple!" spurred a whole deep and twisted theory (no that line is really not in any of the books). Then after that I was feeling H/G withdrawals, so I read my favorite fanfic of all time: After the End. The chapters are HUGE and there are something like forty-eight. Of course I skimmed for the best parts (which I am now well adapt at doing, as I've read it as many times as I've read GoF, which is a lot) and now I am in a deep romantic mood.

Unfortunately, my story is still in the stages of Lily and James not snogging. So it's been very hard to push all the fluffy fanfic moments out of my head and write the L/J love-hate relationship we've all grown to love. Basically the point of this whole ramble is it's completely my fault for not updating and I apologize on bended knee.

To wrap up these long and excruciating author notes, I'll put a question out to readers. What is your Deathly Hallows release plans? As for me, I'll be getting the book at approximately 10 in the morning on Saturday. I will wake up at 9:58 and watch out my window for the delivery truck. My mom will go and get it and bring it up to me. I will close the door and soundproof it by covering all cracks with a combination of thick blankets and duct tape (there are many TV's in my house and all are on 24/7 with the volume screaming). I will have brought non-perishable food into room to last me for the day, along with frozen bottles of water, which my mom will deliver with the book. The only sound I will listen to is my iPod. It takes me an average of 20 minutes to read a chapter, so if the book is, say, thirty chapters long, I should be done in 12-14 hours and will finish it at around 10pm-midnight the same day. Then I will spend at least half an hour sobbing my brains out because a) the series is actually over and/or b) one of my favorite characters die. I will probably exit my room and get something real to eat besides crackers and dry cereal. Then I will spend the next day reliving every second to my mom who will not be listening to a word I say and will instead be working on her college Astronomy homework.

I will most likely be anxiously awaiting for some other HP fan to finish so I can gush over the book, so as soon as you finish EMAIL ME!

That is all (finally). R/R!