Lily Evans lay on her front in the soft grass of the Hogwarts grounds. She was oblivious to the world around her, completely absorbed in the book she was reading. For the last two hours she had barely moved, only occasionally flicking her hair over her shoulder or swinging her legs to a rhythm her mind had conjured. She had spent most of the previous day in the library reading endless textbooks and researching anything she could find on Remus' condition. However, she had so far been unsuccessful and was now treating herself to a day of fluffy romantic fiction in the summer sunshine.

James Potter had been stood for the last ten minutes watching her. He enjoyed the way her hair caught the light as she flung it carelessly over her shoulder. Despite, the overwhelming awe he felt as he watched her, he couldn't keep his attention from flashing to the group of girls that stood just to his right. They watched him with the same amazed air that he lavished on Lily and he felt his pride swell. Almost subconsciously he ran his hand through his hair. He caught their appreciative giggles and whispers from the corner of his eye and leant back casually against the wall. He couldn't help himself. His pride was like a cat, always wanting to be fussed and pampered. He didn't feel anything for the group of girls, his heart was entirely in the ownership of one Miss Evans, but he liked to know that they felt something for him, even if it was just lust, as it was in most cases.

After a while one of the girls sauntered over to him, a mischievous look in her eye. She had long blond hair that fell in easy curls around her face and across her chest. As she approached James couldn't help, but notice the resemblance between her and Narcissa Black, the only difference being the almost plastic smile that was smattered across the girls face. If this were Narcissa Black approaching him she would most certainly be wearing a look of disdain and there was a likelihood she would be holding her wand. James smiled as he thought of some of the encounters he had had with his best friends relatives.

The approaching girl, Hayley Goodwin, thought the smile was for her benefit and quickened her pace. She was displayed before James in a matter of seconds.

"Hey," he said offhand as if he had other places to be.

"Hey, yourself," she managed to sound both cliché and sultry at the same time and James had to force himself not to laugh. "You looked lonely, so I thought I'd come keep you company. You don't mind do you?" She touched his arm.

"Of course not," James replied turning on his irresistible charm.

"I thought what you said to that Slytherin after the match yesterday was hilarious, you had me in stitches for hours," she gave him a demonstration with a high pitched giggle.

Lily who had just been finishing her chapter, heard the idiotic sound and turned to see who was amusing Hayley this time. When her eyes alighted on James she frowned and watched him gesticulate as he told a particularly active story to Hayley. Lily felt the recognisable twang of jealousy lash in her heart as she watched the blonde gaze into James eyes. Yet she also felt the fiery anger rise up in her chest as he leant forward running his hand through his hair and beaming unnecessarily.

James felt his rapture in Hayley diminish as she spoke. He was reminded of Lily as her long hair swung to and fro with the bobbing of her head. At this same time he became conscious of the movement of his hands. One was running lazily through his hair and the other was resting gently on Hayley's arm. He pulled it away sharply and let the other one fall to his side as he realised this was exactly the type of behaviour that angered Lily; he was supposed to be changing. If only it wasn't so difficult. At least it was a start, he thought to himself, at least he could see when he was being an idiot.

However, on this occasion it was too late. Lily had gathered her book, shaking her head and now proceeded to walk past James and Hayley into the castle. She didn't turn her head or even acknowledge the couple, but merely concentrated on her footsteps.

James' caramel eyes watched her pass and he inwardly berated himself. Making his excuses to Hayley her swept into the castle on a mission to find his friends.

He found them in an abandoned classroom they sometimes used when the Gryffindor common room was full of excitable first years or stressed out seventh years. Sirius was draped over the arm of an armchair, they had of course outfitted the room to be more comfortable, reading a copy of Quidditch Weekly. His shaggy black hair was limp and his face was looking paler than usual, but he was still managing to whistle an annoying tune, so James knew that he was fine. Remus was sat at a table testing Peter on his final exam whilst holding an ice pack to his face to reduce the swelling as a result of the previous night's excursion. James was becoming more and more concerned about the injuries they were all sustaining every month, some of the more serious ones were barley healed by the time they were going out again and Remus was looking more ill by the day. More than a few teachers had asked him if he was okay. McGonagall even told him that if the stress of the exams was too much for him he should consider taking less subjects next year. Sirius had immediately requested if he could do so, but her icy glare had silenced him.

"Where have you been all day? These two have been studying for hours!" Sirius practically leapt from his seat as James entered.

"I've been digging myself an even deeper hole than the one I'm already in." James said dejectedly throwing himself into a seat at the table with Remus and Peter.

Sirius came over, turning a chair the wrong way and sitting with his legs either side of the back, "What have you done this time? Pissed off more of her friends? Killed her budgie?" Peter sniggered as Remus set aside their books.

"She doesn't have a budgie," James said quietly before replaying the scene in the grounds for them.

"Well done Prongs," Remus said a wry smile on his lips, "You really did manage to be even more arrogantly annoying than usual."

"Oi! You're supposed to help me, not beat me down!" James exclaimed throwing his hands in the air and hanging his head.

"Sorry, mate, but you've gotta admit you're not helping yourself here." Sirius tried.

"Yeah, maybe, but I don't know what I'm doing wrong 'till it's too late."

James folded a piece of spare parchment into an aeroplane and threw it easily across the room into the bin. All four boys watched it's progress and then returned their interest to the matter at hand.

"Maybe you just need to know what not to do before you do it," Peter suggested quietly.

"Oh yeah that's really helpful, maybe I can get old Trelawney to predict what I'm gonna do wrong first and then I just won't do it!" James uttered sarcastically, but Remus hit him on the back of the head.

"I think Wormtail is onto something. If we can write down exactly what it is that makes you arrogant and annoying and big headed and idiotic…"

"Okay, get to the point."

"…then maybe you can stop doing them and Lily will see that you can function without being ostentatious."

"Hmm, that's a pretty good idea that, Moony, knew we put up with you for a reason," Sirius slapped Remus on the back and looked triumphantly at James.

"So, let's make this list of 'stupid stuff I do that drives Lily bonkers', yeah?"

"Go get that piece of parchment that you just threw over there and we can use that," Remus told James.

"Come on Moony, we're gonna need a bigger piece of parchment than that, this list is gonna be HUGE!" Sirius joked as James rose from his seat.

"Watch yourself Padfoot," He warned, retrieving the creased parchment.

"So first things first," Remus said after James was re-seated and the parchment was appropriately titled, "the whole running your hand through your hair thing is not good, it just screams look at me."

"Yeah, just take a leaf out of my book and go natural," Sirius said flicking his shaggy hair.

"Nah that's not natural that just unkempt," Peter quipped.

So after another hour of laughing and joking the friends had managed to compile a list of around 15 things that James could stop or tone down to be less arrogant and a bit more Lily friendly. James was now determined and planned on putting his new rules into action as soon as possible.

After entering the castle Lily had gone straight to the library. When Lily had a task or a problem that needed solving she was unbelievably focused and this certain task grew more important everyday as Remus' health seemed to deteriorate before her very eyes. When she was in the library she forgot that Remus was James' friend, in fact she forgot about James completely, well almost, and she absorbed herself into her research, which was becoming more and more desperate as time wore on. She had begun to look into mythical illnesses and afflictions in the hope of finding something that hit a chord, but so far she had found nothing.

Madame Pince the young librarian had begun to find old books and reports for Lily to look over, although she thought it was for a Healer training course Lily was applying for the next year. The librarian was reasonably kind to Lily and seemed to have a fresh approach to schooling because of her age, she often left Lily in the library after it closed if she promised to be neat and tidy and lock the door when she finished. However, so far, even with the extra help Lily had found nothing to help her and after an hour or so in the library she made her way to the Great Hall for tea.

Lily sat beside Alice and Frank at the long Gryffindor table. Unfortunately the couple had already been seated when Lily arrived so she had no option other than to sit opposite James Potter and his friends as they conversed with Frank and his friends.

Lily and Alice shared a quiet conversation about the day and the last exam that was looming over them. Alice gushed about the present Frank had bought her and Lily nodded and gasped in the right places, but her attention was repeatedly drawn to the dark haired boy sat across from her. At first it was out of sheer awe at his handsome face and his weathered arms that protruded from his plain t-shirt, his robes were slung haphazardly on the seat beneath him. She took in his facial expressions as he chatted and laughed with his friends. For a few minutes she only logged the aesthetically pleasing aspects of his face and body. Something kept niggling at her though. Through out her main course her eyes kept returning to the boy in front of her, whose attention was likewise drawn to her although he tried hard not to show it for fear of her wrath.

"Hey, Lily," Alice whispered to her as the boys marvelled at the appearance of a three tiered chocolate fudge cake, "Have you noticed how James isn't playing with his hair? It looks so weird!" She raised her eyebrows before tucking into a sizeable slice of the cake.

The light bulb popped above Lily's head and her attention returned to James. Alice was right. Not once in the entire meal had Lily seen him raise his hand to his hand and run his fingers through his hair. She was so used to seeing it that it made her uneasy for a while. She was amazed as she watched him. She could tell it was a conscious effort because he kept his hands occupied, never letting them lie still for too long and having them change course every time they crept towards his head, but despite herself she was impressed. He was changing, albeit slowly. Even though he had stopped this annoying habit so far Lily had heard him recount the same Quidditch story three times, and each time he portrayed himself as more heroic and dashing than the last. She smiled. It was a start she guessed. It wasn't enough, nowhere near enough, but she could see he was trying and for that she gave him credit. Perhaps, one day he would deflate his head enough for them to be together again.

A week and a half later Lily stood on Platform 93/4 and watched the loving families reunited with their children for the summer holidays. She waited patiently as her parents made their way towards her looking in awe at the sights around them. She sighed as she saw her sister dragging behind throwing foul looks in every direction. Petunia walked slowly past James Potter and his mother, who were stood talking animatedly. Lily watched with a beam on her face as her sister at fist gazed predatorily at James, taking in his handsome face and lithe body and then looked haughtily away as if he were a piece of dirt on her shoes. James had seen her disgusted look in a gap in his conversation and raised his eyebrow in a comical look of confusion. When her parents reached Lily she was laughing hysterically and the giggles only intensified when Petunia glanced back over her shoulder at the beautiful boy by the train.

"He's a wizard Tuney, definitely not your sort," Lily laughed, earning a derisive glower from her sister. It struck Lily then that as she had uttered those words she had felt an odd sense of possessiveness.

She would admit that she had noticed James altered mannerisms. He had somehow managed to stop himself from constantly touching his hair, playing with his snitch, twirling his wand incessantly and winking inappropriately. Unfortunately, the main bulk of the problem, his ego, was still present and Lily knew that she couldn't be with him until it was gone and therefore she wasn't allowed to feel possessive. The thing that haunted Lily the most was that at this point she felt as if she needed him to get rid of that ego, because she needed to be with him and that worried her.

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