Chapter Three

Lily silently buttered a slice of toast as her ears listened in on the conversations around her. She didn't particularly like talking much in the morning, so she'd it next to her friend Alice who would chat away about her boyfriend, leaving Lily to nod in the appropriate places.

"Hey, gorgeous," said Scott from behind her, bending down to place a kiss on her lips. He squeezed in on the bench next to her and helped himself to a bite of her toast. "So how are you this morning?"

"Yeah I'm fine thanks, I mean, nothing really has happened to me to make me upset so for now I've been great," rambled Lily nervously, without pause for breath. She closed her eyes in frustration. A sharp pain radiated through her shin as she felt a foot give her a swift kick. She opened her eyes in shock to see James sat in front of her with one of his eyebrows raised.

"What has got into you?" asked Scott, concerned but with an amused smile on his face.

"Nothing," smiled Lily expertly. "I'm sorry, I'm just a little nervous about Potions because we have a test. I don't feel prepared for it at all."

"That's exactly why I dropped Potions as soon as I could," laughed Scott, wrapping an arm around Lily possessively. "It's ridiculously hard. Although, I know you'll do great Lily. You always do."

"Thanks," smiled Lily, embarrassed.

"So what are you doing here Harolds?" smirked James arrogantly. "I thought Ravenclaws were supposed to be clever- your table is over there."

Much to Lily's distaste, Sirius Black roared with laughter, even Alice chuckled. She wanted to smack the smug expression off James' face with her own fist. She heard Scott, swallow next to her and she knew there was bound to be some sort of actual confrontation.

"And I thought you were supposed to be the great James Potter," said Scott, a glint in his eye, his grip on Lily tightening. "Yet I was the one who got the girl."

For a moment, Lily's little world was silent. Alice had stopped wittering on and eager to know what James would do, the other marauders were quiet, concernedly waiting for their friend's response. Even Scott was nervously quiet. After all, it was a wide known fact that in previous years James was besotted with her and asked her out numerous times a day. He invested so much time into her that despite the fact that he was over her and hadn't asked her out in months, it must still sting that somebody else seemed to get her to go out with him with ease.

She watched as James stared calmly back at Scott, who Lily believed would crack if this prolonged silence carried on any longer, before slamming his palms down on the table to heave himself up before storming out of the Great Hall. A stunned stillness was bestowed upon them. She wished for somebody to make some sort of a noise.

"Should someone go after him?" asked Sirius unsurely, the man who was always so relaxed in demeanour.

"I will," offered Lily shyly.

"No, Lily, if he wants to go sulk let him," said Scott, with a haughty expression. "Besides I thought you hated him."

"Hates a strong word," sighed Lily, standing up, brushing off invisible crumbs off of her uniform. "I disliked him immensely but he has changed, Scott, even I can't deny him that. More importantly, I do have to live with him; I don't want him to be completely unbearable. I'll see you lot later, save me a seat in potions if I'm a bit late please, Alice."

She turned to leave but felt a hand grab her wrist. Sirius stared at her, obviously analysing her, before giving her a nod of appreciation.

"Thanks, Evans," stated Sirius. Lily gave him a quick, small smile before leaving the Great Hall in search of the temperamental James Potter.

She walked into the entrance hall and took a moment to glance around. She actually had no idea where he could have stalked off to. He most likely would have gone back to the Heads Common Room but he could have quite easily gone anywhere else in the castle. She gulped. It was a big castle. She started to walk up the large staircase that filled the high ceilinged hall with such grandeur. She craned her neck to check whether he was walking down the opposite direction of the hall. She couldn't see anyone's back let alone the top of his haphazard mop of hair. That hallway was empty, after all everybody was in the Great Hall eating breakfast. He must have gone down the other hallway, the one that led to the Head's Common Room.

Walking along the corridor gave her the chance to think about what she was going to say to him when she found him. She didn't know; it was a stupid idea to try finding him. Sirius or any of the boys would have been able to diffuse the situation a lot better than she could. She didn't actually know James Potter that well at all and it had only just dawned on her. Why had she gone to him for help?

She suddenly felt a large hand encase around her wrist pulling her roughly into an alcove behind one of the ancient detailed tapestries. She opened her mouth the scream but it was quickly covered by someone else's lips, fervently attacking hers. Lily tried to wrench herself away from him but he was stronger and managed to pull her even closer to him, flush against his hard muscular body and hard up against the wall. She screamed in panic into his mouth, yet he only used this as a way to thrust his tongue into her mouth, hot and forceful. Her emerald eyes darted around in fear, trying to make out who it was in the dim light. She could see her own nervous reflection in the glass of a pair of spectacles. It clicked. James. Once she knew that it was him, her panic dissipated, she lost herself in his heated almost violent kisses. She couldn't doubt that he was a good kisser; he made her feel so invigorated. She heard him groan with an animal like need and it sent tingles shooting throughout her body. Her arms no longer struggled, letting themselves being pinned to wall, trapping her there.

James pushed himself away from her, leaving her out of breath and bemused. Lily pressed her finger tips to her bruised lips in mild shock as she stared at James, confused. He was running a hand through his messy black hair. His hazel eyes had hardened steel glint to them that made Lily cautious of him. Never once had she actually been scared of the tall, attractive boy- no man- in front of her.

"Lesson number one: spontaneity," said James, his voice husky. She watched him as he clenched his fists in frustration.

"What was that for?" exclaimed Lily, with a slight dazed look in her fiery emerald orbs. She massaged her sore wrists and he seemed to note the action. The anger in his eyes died and an expression of guilt and concern took over. He stopped pacing and rushed towards her, grasping her wrist gently to see it.

"Oh Merlin, I am so sorry Lily," apologised James, softly. "I didn't realise how rough I was being with you. He annoyed the hell out me and I used you as a way to vent my anger."

"Do you have any idea how much you scared me?" scolded Lily. "Anybody could have seen us. You might be single and carefree but I'm not."

"Once you knew who I was you didn't exactly fight back," smirked James. With one hand holding her wrist, the other was gently caressing her cheek. She could feel his hot breath on her cheek; it made her nervous.

"That's not the point," murmured Lily, cursing herself for not sounding like the angry, fiery Lily Evans she should be. "I asked you to give me lessons, kissing you is something that I'll have to do. I'd have looked stupid asking you to stop. You haven't answered my question though; what was that for?"

"I was frustrated and everyone has their own way of dealing with it," said James with a blasé attitude. "When Sirius is annoyed he drinks, when Remus is annoyed he eats chocolate and when you're annoyed you find haven in the library and settle yourself down with a hefty book. For me, I either go to the Quidditch pitch to fly for a while or I find some girl who can make me forget. As it turns out you're not a broom I had to rely on the latter."

"You're really quite observant," remarked Lily.

"I notice patterns," said James with a shrug.

"You know, your way of getting rid of your frustrations is one of the reasons I always rejected you," admitted Lily, pausing for a moment as the school bell rang. She ignored it; Slughorn probably wouldn't punish her if she was late. After all, it was rare for her to do anything wrong in his eyes. "Every time you'd profess your eternal love for me I said no because I knew you'd just be making out with some random girl."

James chuckled. "What a vicious cycle! I only made out with random girls because you said no."

"If you didn't have maybe I would have said yes eventually," said Lily with a rue smile. "James, are you over me? Why did you get so angry over some stupid thing Scott said?"

James rolled his eyes with a sigh. Why did he do that? He had such a laidback handsomeness that intimidated her immensely. If he was handsome in the traditional sense it would be fine because then she would know he would have had to put effort into it. The fact she knew he did little to alter his attractive appearance made her feel inadequate and small.

"I am over you, Lily," replied James with a charming crooked smile. "The idea of you though, is hard to get over. I've always been fortunate in life to get what I want; sometimes because of whom I am, others purely out of luck and occasionally because I've worked hard for it. I worked my damn hardest to try persuade you to see me in a romantic light. I put more effort into you than I ever have my school work. You'd be bitter about working on something with all your heart and soul, failing and then watching someone else waltz in and succeed with little effort."

"I don't think you did put all your heart and soul into wooing me though," commented Lily, laughing lightly under her breath as his hazel eyes grew wide in shock.

"Have you not been here for the past several years?" asked James sarcastically, astonished that she thought that. "I did put my heart and soul into it, maybe even more."

"No you didn't," said Lily gently, placing her hand on his chest. "It was always flamboyant and extravagant. Not once did you actually try to get to know me-"

"I know lots about you," interrupted James indignantly.

She laughed softly, even more so when she saw his bemused expression. "You only know lots about me because you're observant not because I confided in you or because we were friends. I don't really know you because of that and maybe if I did know you properly I may have liked you."

"In my defence, I wanted to get to know you," said James with a smile. He dropped his hand from her cheek and used it to pull back the tapestry; the hand holding onto her wrist was used to lead her out ahead in front of him. Lily had to blink a few times to get used to the amount of light in the corridor.

"Your behaviour made me despise you so I wanted nothing to do with you," admitted Lily. "But there was always a part of me that wanted to see another side of you."

"Well now we're friends you will be able to see that side of me," said James softly. "I think if I wasn't such a prick when I was younger we could have actually been really good friends."

"Maybe," smirked Lily. "But perhaps if you hadn't been such a prick I wouldn't have wanted to get to see the other side of you."

"Oh everyone always wants to get to know me," said James cheekily, wiggling his eyebrows up and down.

Lily laughed and lightly smacked his arm. "I'm going to go to potions now as I think that prick thing may be starting to resurface."

James grinned and wrapped a friendly arm around her shoulders as they began walking towards the dungeons. "You know you love it."