Okay, so Molly might be in the wrong year and Errol may have come from somewhere else, but who cares?

Anyway… the story picks up exactly where we left off.

Lily was angry when she returned to the common room. How could he be so nice one minute and so arrogant and pushy the next. She just didn't understand him. He was so nice to that first year, but to her, whom he claimed to love, he was an unquestionable idiot! She knew he was beautiful and handsome and heart stoppingly dashing. She could see that just as everyone else could. She so easily got lost in his perfect eyes. She also knew that he could be kind and considerate. So, why did he behave like such a creep around her and most of the school population?

Lily settled herself into one of the squishy armchairs and let the warmth of the fire soothe her. After a few minutes the portrait hole sung open admitting a white fluffy cat that strutted over to where Lily sat with a confident air. Lily had grown accustomed to the presence of the little creature and found that it was a great comfort to her as the letters from her parents brought worse news each day. The two females curled up in the chair and watched the soft snow drift past the common room windows bringing with it a chill that settled in the old stone walls of the castle.

Just as Lily was contemplating going down to lunch the first year girl with frizzy red hair appeared on the stairs, a stunning Great Gray Owl perched on her arm. The girl stopped when she saw Lily and smiled cautiously.

"Hi," Lily said "that is an impressive owl."

"Thank you, my parents bought me Errol because they said I should at least have one thing I could be proud of." The girl looked timidly at Lily.

"I think you have lots of things to be proud of," Lily told the girl smiling broadly.

"James Potter tells me I do too," the girl stepped a little closer to Lily, " he stopped some boys in my year picking on me and he is showing me how to be more confident."

"Really? Does he speak to you often?"

"Oh yes, he helps me a lot, I feel like I can stand up to those bullies now, I even feel quite strong," the red head smiled gleefully.

Lily was amazed that James was taking time out of his busy Quidditch and pranking schedules to help a first year girl with confidence problems. She just could not get her head around that boy.

At dinner that evening Lily watched the red head walk proudly across the room and smiled, remembering the quivering wreck she had seen in the common room not so long ago. Maybe James could really be a nice person and….

"ARGH!"

The few heads that littered the Great Hall turned to look at the blonde haired boy who was hopping around and waving his hands in front of his bright red face. Beside him four boys sat roaring with laughter. Lily wasn't far down the table from the group and clearly heard the words being spoken.

"Chilli powder, good thinking mate, good thinking," Sirius's words were disjointed from the bouts of laughter that sprung from his mouth.

"Well, it was one of my better plans," the cocky voice of James Potter replied.

…then again, he could just be an immature cretin.

Luckily Lily didn't see much of James Potter over the next few days and left at the beginning of the second week of the Christmas holidays. James, however, saw a lot of Lily in those few days. He had noticed that on a night, when he and his friends were playing exploding snap or some other boisterous game in their dormitories, Fluff would stalk down to the common room and not return until much later. So, in those few days James followed her and was very glad he did.

Lily was usually sat in an armchair by the fire, although she would sometimes be sat at one of the little tables scattered across the common room. She was always unaware of his presence, mainly because she was asleep already, but he wore the invisibility cloak anyway. He spent hours watching her sleep, her long hair falling across her face and her tall and slender body curled up. He would sit beside her and watch her chest rise and fall, setting his own breathing to hers. Fluff seemed to languish in Lily's company and could often be heard purring softly as Lily's hair brushed her head. James marvelled at the soft curve of Lily's lips and the determined expression her face transformed into during some of her dreams. He couldn't however, bear to see the pain that twisted her perfect features whilst she slumbered and he wondered what could be causing her this strife. Was it her grandmother? Nevertheless, James sat and watched her, relishing in this sacred time he had to freely gaze at her face. Before he knew it she was gone and he was left to spend the rest of the holidays with the Marauders.

Lily made her way to the front of the class in their first Potions lesson of the term. After dumping her things on the desk she turned around in time to catch the longing look on James's face and gave him a scathing look of her own.

"Today, we are starting some class projects. I will separate you into pairs and you shall research and make a given potion before reporting back to the class in a week." Slughorn's voice boomed out and he winked at Lily.

"Eurgh! He's a creep!" Sirius whispered in James's ear, who responded with a quick grin and a brisk nod.

"Lily Evans," Slughorn said her name with a tinge of pride, "you will be with Mr Potter, let's hope you can inspire some hard work from him."

Lily gazed disbelievingly at her Professor before glaring at James whose face was glowing brighter than the Blackpool illuminations.

How was she going to cope with him? He was an idiot and well know for lack of diligent work. She would end up doing all the work and he would take all the glory. Well, she was not in the frame of mind to be messed with at the moment and if he thought he was going to mess her about he had another thing coming, she had more important things on her plate.

At the end of the lesson she made her way over to him to tell him just that, but was surprised when he spoke first.

"So, shall we meet after dinner in the library to make a start, I don't want to leave it all 'till last minute."

Lily was speechless and only managed to nod before leaving a grinning James Potter with his friends who were patting him on the back and smiling too.

Lily flopped down at one of the little tables at the back of the library and took out her book. Her grandmother had given it to her when she was only a little girl. It was one of her favourite books. Reading about the intelligent and witty heroine Lily could see her grandmother in her mind's eye, sweet and caring, but strong and opinionated at the same time. She could remember easily the days she had spent with her grandmother laughing and playing in the beautiful countryside around her French home. Lily's grandfather had been stationed in France during the war and after raising their family and watching them start their own Lily's grandparents had moved there. Lily never wanted to go back there now. She didn't think she could bear it . She was so close to her grandmother it hurt to even think about her now. Lily looked down at the book again, willing herself to go back in time. One by one salty tears leaked down her cheeks and fell onto her chest. She fought to stop them, knowing that, because of her pale face, her eyes would be blotchy for hours. Everyone would know she had been crying and James was due in ten minutes.

Unfortunately for Lily, he was early. At first he was tentative and moved slowly to Lily's side, unsure of how to comfort her or even if she would let him. Then, his Gryffindor courage kicked in and he took the book gently from Lily' hands, laid it on the table and took her hands in his. Suddenly, she seemed to notice him.

"Oh…just go…away Potter, leave me….alone."

Her sentence was punctuated with long shuddering breaths as she struggled to regain her composure. James didn't respond. He picked her limp and slender form up from the chair and took her over to the window seat looking out onto the grounds. For a moment she beat her hands against his chest and laboured to free herself from his grasp, but as he moved she saw the book lying on the table and was finally reduced to a sobbing mess. James settled the two of them onto the seat and cradled Lily against his chest as her howling sobs shook her body.

"Shhh," he cooed in her ear and brushed her soft hair away from her face. "It's okay, tell me what's wrong."

For at least ten minutes his question was met with nothing put her raking cries. During that time he rubbed her back and kissed her hair hesitantly. As her sobs began to subside into shaky breaths he sat her up a little bit and looked into her beautiful green eyes. She assessed him for a moment; taking in the sincere look of sympathy, worry and perhaps a hint of pain on his face.

"I'm sorry, I shouldn't have behaved like that," she mumbled as she straightened her uniform, "we have work to do." Her voice was still shaky as she tried to stand.

James hands planted themselves firmly onto her waist and pulled her back down onto his lap.

Before she could protest he spoke, "The work can wait Lily, please tell me what's wrong, I'm worried."

Again she assessed him and James thought her eyes became a bit glazed as she looked into his, but maybe it was just the remnants of her tears. Nevertheless, she settled back into his embrace and looked down at his hands on her waist.

"My grandmother died during the holidays," Lily's voice was mumbled and sounded close to breaking, "My mum was really upset and I wanted to be strong for her while I was at home so…" She trailed off and wiped a couple of stray tears from her face.

James tightened his grip on her and rested his head upon her shoulder. For a moment the two of them sat quietly staring out of the window, watching the odd owl swoop across the sky.

"You know that I'm here if you need anything Lily; a shoulder to cry on, a punch bag?"

Lily laughed softly and whispered, "The second option sounds good."

"I thought it would."

The laughed together before Lily spoke very quietly, "Thank you, James." She squeezed one of his hands that was holding her waist and felt the goosebumps raise on his arms as she did so.

"You called me James." He said in disbelief.

"You've been calling me Lily."

"I have."

" I like it." She whispered.

"Me too."

She smiled at their simple exchange and allowed herself another few minutes snuggled against the warmth of his body and feeling the brush of his skin against hers before she snapped back into her usual self.

"Come on then, we have a project to do and you better pull you weight… James."

"Yes boss." He mock saluted her and they both laughed.

So they worked for an hour and half in the library, only exchanging words about the work. Lily's blotchy eyes followed James when he got up to retrieve books and marvelled at his strong arms that felt so nice wrapped around her waist. James's eyes watched as Lily's long hair fell across her face as she bent to write and sighed as her beautiful, but saddened face was hidden from his view. They both left the library that night thinking about the other which for James was an everyday occurrence, but Lily felt she was thinking about James far too often recently.

Thanks to: Obsessive Vampire Stalker, , xrainbowsx, Tiffany-Taz, xfictionfanx, Purple13512, bluekiwi95, EgyptianBookWorm, lastingillusion for adding my story to their story alerts!

Thanks to: jasperisEVIL, Melliexo, xrainbowsx, caswin, Tiffany-Taz, Merina 2, Purple13512, EgyptianBookWorm for adding my story to their favourite lists!

Thanks to xrainbowsx for adding me to their author alert and their favourite author list!

And a huge thanks to: Shey, marauder forever, , xrainbowsx, Merina 2, Purple13512, bluekiwi95, LilyBellaAlways for reviewing!

Shey- I'm glad you like it! For your first question, you will just have to wait and see and for I hope the answer to your second is becoming clearer : )