Disclaimer: Nada. Zippo. Zero.

A/N: (puts on a creepy voice) Youuu are myyyy precciioouuusss...Okay, enough of my Lord of the Rings impersonations...but seriously, thank you so much for reading and reviewing. My HUGGEE appreciations go out to: Fuzzyfirebunny, Lilah Aine, Bunnyluv611, sunstone-dono, Sprut, berniebotts, A Fan, mae garnder, Kikuchi, this is my reality, Bellas-lullaby, tin-tin456, -Jeisa-,chili's-girl, popcorn, C San, Mrs Claire Potter, Cookies94, -.LyLMystikeLf.-, Lily'sTwin, BadLilBirdies, MusicShoes, lilbit18, dollarbanks, stardust718, novella07, PrimaDi88, TwinkieTUTUS, Cristipotter, Princess Gillybean, coffee dessert, PRONGS-and-LILY-forever, Claudita, and Lizzar.

HAPPY NEW YEARS EVE...(or for you Australians and other day-ahead people) HAPPY NEW YEARS! WELCOME 2008! Finally, my graduation year! PARTAYY

Seriously, I'm so sorry for the long wait. But, you'll be happy to know that the chapter after this is already done and it's extremely action packed (well, not like bloody-people-dying action packed but more like hearts-are-breaking-Quidditch-game action packed). And it's super long. So look forward to that chapter which should be up sometime in two weeks...maybe a little sooner if all goes well.

C San--Don't worry. There are supposed to be some questions out there that haven't been answered yet. No worries though! All will be explained!
Cookies94--as for your prediction of what's going to happen, all I've got to say is, "No comment...ahem!"
Stardust718--I'm planning on this story to only be a few more chapters longer. There definitely won't be more than 23-25 chapters.
-Jeisa---I know, I know, my lack of updates has probably caused a lot of people to forget what's been going on, so here's a quick summary of the main plot of this story so far.

Recap:

The bet/dare: Sirius and James made a bet regarding whether or not James can get Lily to go out with him. In response, Lily's friends dared Lily to pretend to like James, in order to get his hopes up, and then dump him when he asks her out, causing him to lose. For some reason, and Lily's not quite sure why, the outcome of the bet also has to do with the upcoming Quidditch match against Slytherin.

Lily's thoughts on the bet:
--Sirius doesn't want Lily to like James.
--Remus does, but he's afraid that she's only using him to find out the Marauders' secrets, so he tries to keep a watch on them when they're together.
--Peter's in the middle.

The Phases:
Phase one: Control her temper when around the Quidditch prodigy himself.
Phase two: Join in on something that interests him.
Phase three: Actually call him by his first name.
Phase four: Go with him to his New Year's Ball.
Phase five: Make him crave her kisses.

Hope that helped a little! If anyone's still confuse PM me and I'll respond.
So, without further ado, have fun reading this chapter!

Chapter 18: Unraveling the Bet

"For the last time, you're not on the team, Evans."

Clutching the school broom she'd been using since joining the team, Lily approached the already assembled group on the pitch, a little out of breath. After her odd, but albeit informative (well, as informative it could get with Sirius) conversation with Black, Lily had rushed to her room, changed into her Quidditch gear, and had practically run to the pitch. Clearly, seeing as the captain was already addressing his team, she was late. Soon, however, the fact that she may be late might not even matter. In fact, it might turn out that she hadn't even needed to show up. She had even almost left her broom behind.

Almost.

Dorcas caught her friend's eye and motioned with her hand for her to join them. "Amelia wants back on," she whispered into Lily's ear once she'd joined them.

"I know," she muttered back, glancing, for the first time, at the center of the circle. She wasn't surprised to see James there (seeing as he was captain of the team), but she was shocked to find that he was in a heated discussion with the one and only, Amelia Evans. The other team members were gathered around the two of them, the quarrel having caught everyone's attention.

"You suspended me only until I got my grades back up," Amelia shouted, broom in hand. Her hair had fallen from her ponytail and stray pieces were hanging around her face ferociously. It made her seem quite frightening

"P's are hardly considered passing," James said coolly, crossing his arms and glaring. It was obvious to Lily that this argument had been going on for a while. Hey, wait a moment; shouldn't Amelia have been welcomed back with open arms?

What was going on?

Shifting her head to the side, Lily watched James steadily. Was he doing what she thought he was doing? Her heart leapt painfully and her grip on her broom handle tightened. She shifted her gaze to Amelia, who seemed on the verge of exploding, or clocking James in the face at any rate. Her muscled hands were clenched into fatty fists and her beady dark eyes looked almost as dangerous as a bowtruckle did right before it launched on someone to gauge their eyes out.

"McGonagall said—" she began, eyes bugging out of her head.

"Is she the captain of this team?" James countered back shortly.

Mark Botley, Lily's fellow Beater, opened his lips as if he was about to answer the question out loud, but one look from Amelia and he quickly shut his mouth. Mary Macdonald was smirking slightly, while shaking her head discreetly from side to side.

Lily couldn't help but be a bit confused.

"It would be better off if she were," Amelia grumbled under her breath. James caught her words, however, and Lily watched as he straightened his back. Oh dear, Lily knew that look; it was the look he always got right before he finalized an argument that he knew he was going to win.

"This is a closed practice, Evans," James said, motioning towards his team mates who instantly parted, creating a slim path for exiting. Dorcas pulled Lily to the side. "I suggest you leave," James finished.

For a second, Amelia looked completely gob-smacked, almost as if she couldn't possibly believe that James would risk his last chance of winning the Quidditch cup. Her dark pupils seemed to sink into the back of her head and her mouth hung open shamelessly. Then, like she'd just been hit in the back of the head with a player's Beater bat, Amelia whipped her head around, focusing on Lily, instantly pouncing like a cat onto her prey

Lily's hand jumped instinctively to her wand.

"This," Amelia said hysterically, pointing savagely towards Lily, "this is who you think is better than me?" The team shuffled somewhat as Amelia snorted disbelievingly. "She's nothing but a replacement!"

Lily's eyes narrowed. How dare that little—Firing up instantly, Lily made a motion to stalk forward, but Dorcas placed a hand on her arm, for once giving a gesture of calm and rational reasoning. Amelia was much bigger than she was. But Lily was much smarter when it came to wand work…No, this was not something she needed to get into.

Besides, James had already gotten there first. Wait, she didn't want Potter fighting her battles. Did she? No, certainly not. But—shut it, just shut it, she told herself.

"Amelia, as Head Girl—"

Rolling her eyes, the ex-beater cackled wildly. "You," she began, addressing James again, "seriously think Little Miss Head Girl here can play?"

"Yeah, I do," James said confidently, "Now that that's clear, I think it's time for you to go."

Completely red in the face, hands shaking wildly, and hair crackling, Amelia marched passed James—who she purposefully shouldered angrily—and left the circle, muttering audible curses under her breath. Immediately there was an outbreak of murmuring amongst the team.

"Whoa," whistled Dorcas quietly, releasing the hold she had maintained on Lily, "talk about dramatic."

"Yeah…" Lily responded half-heartedly, watching Amelia's retreating back. She had come down here with the intention of being sent straight back up to the castle in favor of Amelia, the Beater golden girl. Actually, she had even thought about taking Sirius's advice (scary thought, she knew) and had prepared to discuss that matter, very maturely, with James so that she could stay on the team. All of that, now, seemed unnecessary.

What had gone wrong? Or more accurately, what had gone right?

"Alright you lot," James called, catching his team's attention as if nothing whatsoever had happened, "this won't disrupt our practice. Everyone in the air in five minutes."

Robbie and Mark began heading to the changing rooms to collect their stuff as the rest of the team talked amongst themselves about what they had just witnessed. As Robbie and Mark walked passed Lily and Dorcas, the girls caught a glimpse of the conversation.

"…only because he's got a thing for Lily," Mark was saying, laughing while keeping his voice down so as to not be overheard by their captain. Lily's ears perked at the sound of her name; Dorcas grabbed her friend's wand-wrist again. Surely Mark was joking…right?

"Who cares?" Robbie countered, "Amelia scared me, good riddance, I say."

The boys continued to guffaw and crack jokes as they meandered away. Lily watched their backs; only because he's got a thing for Lily…Great, now it would be even more awkward when the end of this dare/bet thing came to be. If they were already talking…What would everyone say then? And had James kept her on just because he fancied her? No, it was because he wanted to win the bet. Right?

Uh oh. She was going to be the one who looked like the bad guy once she ended it with Potter. The whole Quidditch team would rally against her—well, except for Dorcas—and then she'd probably be kicked off the team anyways…

Oh, mother of Merlin. That was it. That was why the bet depended on the next Quidditch match. She had played right into the Marauders' bet with her dare. If she played well, James would ask her out, knowing that he could keep her on and still win the Quidditch cup, his pride and glory. However, if she played rubbish, James wouldn't possibly ask her out because he'd have to boot her off the team, risking hurting her feelings and having her ditch him, causing him to lose the bet. That's why Sirius wanted her to stay on the team and that's why he kept trying to psyche her out. He wanted her to play terribly so James wouldn't ask her out.

Merlin, the very time restriction her and her friends had been competing against had been created by them!

"Ignore them," Dorcas was saying in her ear, pulling her aside, apparently thinking that Lily's thoughtful silence was because she was upset about Mark Botley's comment. Lily glanced at her friend, her heart pumping with this new realization, but kept her mouth shut. They couldn't discuss this here, especially since the devil himself was walking right towards them.

"Hey," James said, taking Lily around the waist, drawing her into a brief side hug.

With all of the new information she'd just found out herself, her first instinct was to push him away. No, like it or not, you're still doing the dare. Wait a second…James had just kept her on in favor of Amelia…he must really think that she had a chance of being a good Beater! She became light headed. What did that mean, then? And why did he still have this effect on her, darn it!

"Why'd you do that?" Lily asked immediately.

"What? You want to be off the team?" he asked her, a small smile apparent on his face.

Lily crossed her arms. "Well, no, but…"

"You deserve it," James said earnestly, interrupting her, "you've improved and quite frankly, you're better to have around than Evans."

She simply peered up at him, blocking out the glare from the setting sun with one of her hands. He was honestly keeping her on? James thought she was good? How sweet…Merlin, she shouldn't be grinning like such an idiot. He doesn't really like me! Or does he…

"But Sirius said that she was back," Lily continued slightly dazed.

"Since when do you listen to Sirius?" James asked, rubbing his thumb in smooth circles on her hand which he'd taken. It was as if every moment lost not touching her was one moment away from winning the bet.

Goosebumps erupted up her arm. Darn him and his seductive antics that usually made her brain turn to mush. He's using you, he's using you! But he believes in me…Godric, she was in trouble. "Good point," she responded.

With a wink, he released her hand and stepped away from her. She sighed unhappily…argh, she had to get over this! He used to make her gag at his touch…now she was practically melting like drippy wax off of a candle. Pathetic, really.

"Okay, on your brooms, everyone. We've got to kill Slytherin this weekend."

As Lily mounted her broom, after rejoining Dorcas, she couldn't help but have an internal fight with herself…again. Bloody Potter was turning her into a lunatic. James was even risking the Quidditch cup to win his bet with Sirius. Did they really take their little gambling games that seriously? Or was James falling into an abyss just as deep as she was?

It made sense to think that James really did like her…

And for Godric's sake, why did it seem like Quidditch always revolved around everything to do with James Potter?

OO

"So, I don't think we can really count on Peter to persuade James to ask you out sooner," Marlene was saying, as the four girls sat in their respected beds. Dorcas was polishing her broomstick, Alice was flipping through her charms book, Marlene was sucking on the end of her quill while attempting to finish her potions homework, and Lily was lying in her bed simply staring at the ceiling.

"It's got to be Quidditch," Lily said softly, eyes closed. Honestly, they should have figured it out sooner, really.

"Sorry?" Dorcas asked, setting aside her rag.

Lily sat up. "I've figured it out. I mean, really, it's Potter we're talking about."

Alice glanced at the other two. "Well, thanks for clearing that up."

"Yeah, it would've been annoying if you hadn't explained yourself properly," Marlene commented with a roll of her eyes.

"Listen," Lily began and she launched into her sudden epiphany that she had had down at practice that evening. She explained the reason Sirius had been trying to bring her down since she'd joined the team, she told them of how James had kept her in favor of Amelia—while Dorcas did impressions of Amelia's face after hearing she was still suspended from the team—and most importantly, Lily shared how they, themselves, had created this whole Quidditch time limit to the bet by using phase two.

"…so, that means, I really have two choices," Lily finished, fiddling with the edge of her sheets as she stared around at her friends.

Marlene's eyes were bright, finally understanding. "If you want to complete the dare—"

"—and stay on the team," Dorcas broke in.

"Yes, and that, then you must play well on Saturday," Marlene said.

"But," Alice broke in, catching on as well, "if you just want James to lose the bet right off the bat you can just play horribly and he won't ask you out."

"He could always ask her out later though," Dorcas brought up, disregarding her broom all together as she crossed her legs and put her full attention onto the problem at hand. "Which," the blonde Chaser continued, "would only lengthen out the dare, and Lily wants to end this as soon as possible."

Did she want to end this? It had become so normal, easy even, to like James Potter. Besides, this year had gone by a lot smoother with them together. She didn't have to worry about flowery pronouncements of love, or fights with the Slytherins, or anything about Potter that usually drove her to the point of hexing him heavily. So, really, no, she did not want this to end. But she knew it had to eventually.

Besides, she wanted to play well. Staying on the Quidditch team had become oddly important to her.

"I'll play well," Lily announced, nodding to herself, "and stay on the team."

Her friends shared looks. "…and cause Potter to lose the bet?" Marlene added apprehensively.

At that exact moment, a small tat-tat noise interrupted their conversation. They looked around the room curiously; it sounded like someone was tapping on their window—

"Is that James's owl?" Alice asked, hopping up off of her bed, which was closest to the window. She unlatched the lock and the large, brown owl—the same one that had visited Lily's house over Christmas—drifted into the room and landed softly at the foot of Lily's bed.

She looked at her friends and then at the bird. "Harley?" she asked hesitantly, remembering the name of it. It hooted proudly as it stuck out its leg, delivering the small scroll. Lily untied it and the bird immediately took off. Alice shut the window.

"Well," Dorcas pushed.

"Well, what?" Lily asked.

"Open it."

She recognized James's scrawl immediately—it always amazed her how his writing was messy, yet neat at the same time. Her eyes wandered across the parchment, though there wasn't much to read.

Lily—common room at eleven? Don't worry. No outside adventures tonight. –James

"What does that mean? 'No outside adventures'?" Dorcas asked, having read the letter over her friend's shoulder.

Lily rolled the letter back up and stuffed it into her pocket. "No idea," she mumbled. True to her word, she hadn't told her friends the truth of where James's had taken her the night before. All Marlene, Dorcas, and Alice knew was that they'd spent some time together and they had kissed. That was all.

"Well, he can't be asking you out, if your theory about the whole Quidditch thing is true," Marlene told them all wisely. "Unless…"

"Unless what?" Lily shot back, glancing at her watch to check the time. Nine o'clock.

"Maybe he's really fallen for you and no longer cares if you're rubbish at Quidditch or not," Marlene finished.

Having her friends voice her own thought made Lily want to believe that James really did like her all the more. It was a hopeless idea, really. This whole thing was so royally screwed over that no matter which angle it was viewed at, it just couldn't end up well. "Don't," Lily remarked, "just don't."

There was a short silence.

"I'm going to go at eleven," Lily said confidently, stripping off her Quidditch robes and walking over to her trunk of clothes.

Her friends nodded. "Okay."

As the three other girls silently resumed their original tasks, Lily continued to change, slipping out of her Quidditch gear and stepping into a pair of jeans and a sweater. As she combed her hair she wondered what secrets James Potter could possibly have left to show her.

OO

Breathe, Lily, Breathe.

She shut the door to her dorm softly and began to descend down to the common room. Nerves were gripping her, causing her to be abnormally excited about seeing him. Her lips were tingling, thinking about how it felt the night before to simply kiss him without any complicated thoughts or conflictions. It seemed that whenever she was around James nowadays, she forgot about the dare and simply acted off of her instincts.

Was that good or bad?

She didn't know.

"You showed," James said, literally swooping down upon her the moment she entered the room. He grabbed her wrist and kissed her swiftly on the cheek.

Lily noticed he smelled vaguely of aftershave. The overall effect was nice. "Well, it was either come, or finish Slughorn's essay," Lily said smiling and allowing him to pull her over to the deserted couch by the fire.

"Aw, fun over homework. It appears I've been rubbing off on you, Miss Evans," James tutted, grinning at her.

"Don't let it go to your head; I never said it was a good thing," Lily replied. James laughed and Lily couldn't help but smile. "So, what exactly did you pull me down here for? Another Invisibility Cloak to show me?"

"Sorry, no, only got one of those," James said, "Actually, I just thought we'd talk."

Lily stared. Her mouth twitched. "Talk?" she asked incredulously.

"Yes, talk."

Finding this somewhat amusing—for she never really thought of James as the talking type of guy—Lily brought her legs up onto the couch and sat cross-legged, facing him. He looked incredibly cute: his messy hair still a bit damp from a recent shower, his glasses perched on his nose, and his hazel eyes regarding her so carefully. She inhaled deeply to gain control of herself before leaning her back against the armrest of the couch. "So, what do you want to discuss?"

He shrugged carelessly, scooting closer towards her. "I dunno," he said.

Lily didn't buy it. There had to be some reason he called her down here. "Well, if you can't think of anything interesting to say—which would be a feat considering it's you—then I'll just go to bed. We do have classes in the morning."

"Oh, the Head Girl in you comes back out," he joked.

"The Head Boy in you remains unseen," she countered, nudging him with her foot.

The two were quiet for a moment, the fire crackling merrily before them. James cleared his throat. "Remus and Sirius both cornered you today, didn't they?" he suddenly asked seriously.

Where had that come from? How'd he know? She wouldn't think that they would have told their best mate that they were trying to push her away from him. Well, at least that's what Black as trying to do…she wasn't quite sure what Remus's deal was. "What makes you think that?" she asked, stricken by the sudden question.

"I just wanted to make sure they didn't…I dunno," he confessed, sighing, "They weren't too happy when they found out I told you about our…abilities."

Well, that was made clear due to her conversation with Remus. "I can understand that," she said, nodding encouragingly.

"Yeah…" James breathed, watching her pensively.

"Anything else?" she asked. There had to be something else…he was acting odd. She had come to suspect something was up whenever any of the Marauders were too quiet. Lack of noise around the four of them was unnatural, not to mention highly suspicious.

She straightened her back and looked at him. A small grin was forming across his face. "I just wanted you to know…I really do think that you're the best chance for our team," he finished.

Had he just…?—yes he had. She continued to watch him as he nodded to himself, apparently reassuring himself of what he'd just shared with her. Was he only saying this so he could boost up her confidence on the pitch to insure he'd win the bet on Saturday? Or was there something more? Did he really mean that? Merlin…she had to know these answers!

Acting off of her instincts, again, she inched closer towards him and placed her hand on his. "Thanks."

Rumpling up his hair with his free hand—out of habit, Lily presumed—James smirked in a satisfied way and wove his fingers through hers. Lily could feel the goosebumps rising up her arm—thank goodness she was wearing long sleeves.

She had to get out of there before she did anything rash. Go, Lily, go. "I'll see you tomorrow, James," she said softly.

"Breakfast?"

"Well, it's sort of hard to ignore you four..."

They sat there for a moment longer, neither knowing what to do. Lily glanced at his lips…No. She couldn't risk getting any more attached to him than she already was. Resisting the urge to snog him like a mad woman, she leaned over and touched his shoulder.

"'Night, James." Her lips touched his cheek shortly. He placed a hand on her hip, hoping to draw her closer, but Lily unwound herself from him—with great will power she would like to point out. Grinning once more at him, she turned to walk away.

"See you," he called out.

Once she was back in her dorm, she leaned against the door and sighed heavily. Quidditch game on Saturday… She had a feeling it would be harder to play well with the thought of denying James Potter looming over her.

Ahh, I gotta go eat! So, I hope you liked it, please review, thanks to my amazing beta, Sunny, and have a wonderful New Years!

"MOM! I'M COMING!"

Okay, gotta go!

--HeyLookTheSnitch