Disclaimer: I own nothing but this minute plotline. All characters belong to Jo Rowling save the few I've created within this tiny story. I do this to retain sanity, I do not make a profit from this, I swear.

After that realization of my falling in love with James Potter, it was very hard to even look at him without blushing, which would always gather attention, not only from him, but his friends as well. So I tried to avoid him at all costs, but that proved to be very hard seeing as we had our classes together.

"Why haven't you talked to James?" Alice asked me one day a week before Halloween.

I shrugged. "Just haven't found anything much to talk about. And we haven't been patrolling together lately, so…."

My feeble lie fell flat and I looked back down at my Charms book I was studying.

Alice caught it and said, "Well then what do you plan to do on your date with him?"

I shrugged again.

"I suppose he'll keep up the side of the conversation," I replied shortly. "He has such an ego about him that I'm sure I'll be able to avoid my side of the talking."

"Lily, you are such a liar," Alice said unhappily. "Something's wrong, I can tell. But why won't you tell me?"

"Because, Alice," I replied, "I need to figure some things out before I tell anyone."

With that, I shut my book, shoved it into my bag and left the Common Room quickly and headed out into the brisk autumn air to sit by the lake.

Leaves fluttered around me and I was alone, which was how I wanted to be.

Since my realization, I had been trying to occupy my mind, to busy myself, so as not to think of James, but that was proving impossible. I would catch myself during class or at mealtimes, even sitting in the Common Room, just staring at him while he joked around with his friends.

With a huff, I pulled my Charms book back out and began studying once more only to be distracted by the Giant Squid, who had just surfaced, and was swimming lazily towards me.

With an annoyed sigh, I edged farther away from the lake, not keen on being pulled into the water, and went back to reading.

Finally, as the sun began to sink behind the mountains, throwing the castle into an orange haze, I packed up my things and headed up the sloping lawn towards the castle.

"Hey Evans," said a voice from behind me.

I spun and saw Avery grinning wickedly at me, Mulciber behind him.

Without saying anything, I kept walking until Avery shouted at me again.

"Evans, it's very rude to walk away when someone's talking to you," he said in a sneering voice. "Is rudeness what makes a Gryffindor so special?"

"Does being evil make a Slytherin so special?" I replied before I could help myself. Avery merely chuckled.

"Perhaps."

Rolling my eyes, I said, "Why don't you go find something better to do? I'm sure your lovely Dark Lord can find something worth your while."

And just like that, I thrown forward, landing hard on my stomach.

"One more comment like that, Evans, and I may just have torture you," Avery said silkily.

I rolled over and saw Avery's wand still pointed at me while Mulciber guffawed loudly behind him.

"Why wait?" I asked him, glaring hatefully at him. "Why not just torture me? or are you too afraid you might get detention?"

Avery's face grew distorted and, with a loud bang, I picked up and slammed back to the ground.

Gritting my teeth against the pain, I stood up and pulled out my wand quickly.

I disarmed Avery before Stupefying him and Mulciber.

Leaving them lie, I picked up my bags and brushed at my robes before examining the damage.

There was a knot forming on the back of my hand and, when I went to touch it, my fingertips were covered with blood. My palms had been scraped against the ground, and there was a long, deep scratch down my leg. There was also a very strong likelihood of my having bruises on my back and arms tomorrow if they weren't already there now.

Groaning, I headed inside the castle and up the marble staircase but didn't make it far before I ran into Severus, who looked me up and down.

"What happened to you?" he demanded.

"Why does it matter?" I shot back, wincing as I moved the wrong way. Merlin's beard, this was not going to be pretty in the morning.

"You look like you got attacked by the Whomping Willow," he said slowly.

"Close enough." I made to walk past, but he grabbed my arm and wheeled me around.

"What happened, Lily?" he asked.

"Ask your friends, Mulciber and Avery," I snapped before wrenching my arm out his grasp and walking away.

Just as I had turned the corner to go to the library, I ran into James and Remus.

"Hey Lily," James said cheerily while Remus looked me over, catching on almost immediately.

"Lily, what happened?" he asked. Beside him, James' smile faded and he too looked me over.

I sighed in annoyance.

"Gravity and I got into a fight," I lied smoothly. "I tripped walking back up to the castle. No big deal, you two."

Remus narrowed his eyes but said no more while James, who also looked unconvinced, said, "Want to walk with us?"

Remus shook his head and said, "I got to go, Prongs. Padfoot wants to show me something."

"Ah," James said knowingly with a beaming smile. "It's a good one, let me tell you. Let me know what you think and tell Padfoot I'll talk to him tonight, okay?"

Remus nodded and, after one last look at me, left.

James and I were silent for a moment before he said, "Lily, what really happened?"

"I told you, gravity and I got into a bit of a fight," I replied lightly. "And I clearly lost."

"Not true."

"But it is."

"Is not."

"Is."

"Isn't."

I glared at him.

"How do you know, James?" I demanded. "I'm not exactly the most graceful person."

"No, but you're not the clumsiest, either," he said. "Just yesterday, I watched a first year Hufflepuff trip over her own feet walking to her table."

"Was her name Nymphadora?" I asked curiously. "Because I think I saw her trip over a book in the library last week."

"I don't know, maybe," James said impatiently. He grabbed me by my upper arms and I fought the cry of pain that almost escaped my lips. "Just tell me what happened, because I know you didn't get that nice little goose egg on your forehead by losing a fight with gravity."

I sighed.

Should I tell him? if I did, I knew for certain he wouldn't tell any teachers. But then again, he and his friends might just take matters into their own hands and deal with the scum themselves. And, even I had to admit, that didn't sound like a bad idea. I might just want to watch.

I sighed again, in defeat this time, and said, "Alright, okay. I'll tell you."

James' face brightened.

"Really? You will?" he asked, shocked.

I smiled.

"Of course," I said lightly before pulling myself out of his grasp and taking his hand, pulling him forward. "But first, we need an empty classroom."

"Erm, why?" he asked, confused.

"Because I don't want to be overheard, that's why, James," I replied.

Opening the first door, I peeked in and saw Peeves writing vulgar words on the chalkboard.

"Peeves, out!" I barked.

He stuck his tongue and shot over our heads.

"Ooh! Do the ickle lovebirds need a private room?" he asked, waggling his eyebrows.

"No, it's Head Boy and Girl talk," James said quickly. "And nothing that concerns you. Now out!"

Peeves stuck his tongue out again before zooming out of the room and, by the loud crash that followed, knocked over a suit of arms.

James shut the door and locked it before turning to me.

"Now tell me," he said.

"Okay, well, I was down by the lake studying," I began, "and it started to get dark – and cold – so I came back up to the school. And then Avery called out to me."

I looked at James, who clenched his jaw. I continued.

"He told me I was rude for ignoring him and asked me if that's what made Gryffindor's special." I chuckled humorlessly. "Well, I asked him if being evil was what made Slytherin's so special and he said 'Perhaps'."

"Did you really, Lily?" James asked with admiration. "You are some kind of woman."

I smiled a small smile before I continued.

"Yes, well, then I asked him to go find something better to do or maybe go ask You-Know-Who to go find him something to. That's when he attacked you."

The smile slid right off James' face like stinksap. "Avery attacked you?"

James pulled out his wand and was halfway to the door when I grabbed his arm.

"James, don't!" I cried. "It was my fault, I provoked him!"

"Please tell me you fought back," James pled.

"I did, I swear," I said, looking right into his eyes. "I Disarmed Avery and then Stupifyed both Avery and Mulcier. I left htem outside."

"Mucliber was there too?" he asked. "Did he attack you too?"

I snorted. "Mulciber is too stupid to know one end of his wand from the other."

James nodded in agreement.

"True," he said. "Right, well, I have to, er, go talk to Sirius about…something…."

"James?" I asked as he opened the classroom door.

He turned around and I saw an odd emotion playing on his face.

"Yeah, Lily?"

"Can I watch?"

He grinned.

"Lily Evans, you know me too well," he said before walking towards me and pulling me into a tight hug.

I hugged him back and we stood there like that for several minutes before James pulled away and said, "Let's go find Sirius. I'm sure we can think of something."

I grinned and nodded.

James took my hand and I didn't protest. I was still slightly dazed from the hug, which I found I had thoroughly enjoyed.

Merlins' beard, I'm in way over my head, I thought as we rushed back up to the Gryffindor Common Room where we found Sirius and Remus laughing loudly, poor Peter sitting beside them looking utterly confused.

"Oi, Padfoot!" James roared over the din of noise that was the Common Room. Sirius looked up and spotted his best mate.

Launching himself to his feet, Sirius raced over to us, a wide grin on his handsome face.

"Wait 'til you hear what I did to old Snivelly," he said happily before spotting me, his grin slipping. "Oh. Hello Lily. Why are you…?"
and then he spotted our hands and gave James an apprehensive look, which James brushed aside.

"Look, Padfoot," James said seriously. "We've got some work to do. Moony and Wormtail need to come too."

"What's up, mate?" Sirius asked curiously, his face serious now.

James squeezed my hand before saying, "We need to pay Mulciber and Avery a little visit."

"Why?"

"Because they attacked Lily."

I hope you enjoyed this chapter! And let me tell you, that whole gravity bit is what brought on this chapter's plot. Yeah, sad, isn't it? Lily lost a fight with gravity. That sounds more like Tonks, which I hope you enjoyed the mention. I only brought her in because I know she said she was too young to be in the Order the first time around and I figured making her a first year might work out, but I don't actually know how old she really is, so...bear with me on that bit. Please review! I swear, I read them all. :)

~TheTragedyIs13~