Thanks for all reviews! Love you all

Please continue!

Also, I don't own the characters, except for Miss Katie

Enjoy!

Chapter 2—Tolerance Improving…only slightly.

"It's nice." James said, standing in the common room of the Heads' suite. This year, the suite was broken off from the Gryffindor common room, seeing as both Heads were Gryffindors. The main room was spacey, with large wall-length windows looking out towards the lake. There were two comfy looking couches in the center near the fireplace. There were also wonderful wooden shelves packed with books and a beautiful mahogany desk for each of them to use for schoolwork. There was a stone staircase leading to a balcony where there were two wooden doors.

"Yep." Lily responded shortly, beginning to climb the stairs. The door on the left had a gold plate on it reading Ms. Lily Evans. Likewise, the door on the right read Mr. James Potter. Lily rolled her eyes upon seeing that and opened the door to her own room. She grinned at the sight of it. It was rather large for a school dormitory and had gleaming wooden floors, a large queen bed, wonderful shelves for all her books, a bureau, a roomy closet for Lily's many clothes, and her favorite thing, a giant window taking up almost the whole left hand wall. It was perfect. She walked out and glanced into James's room, which was the same but everything on opposite sides. James turned and saw her in the doorway.

"Care to join me?" He grinned.

"You wish." She snorted and headed out towards the Gryffindor common room. Naturally, James followed.

"Padfoot!" He yelled after entering, causing all heads to turn towards them.

"Prongs, mate! How's the room?"

"Excellent."

"Ladies will love it?"

"The ladies will love it." James confirmed and Katie laughed.

"Please. The only lady James ever has eyes for is Lily." She said, as she played with her long hair.

"Well in that case, I'll take the room!" Sirius announced and James and Remus grinned at him, while Katie just looked away. Sirius noticed.

"Lily baby!" They all heard a voice call out behind them. Tristan Thomas, a fellow seventh year, despised by the Marauders, approached them. He came up behind Lily and she leaned back to face him, causing him to plant his lips on hers and she grinned. James felt a sickening feeling in his stomach. "Good summer? Well, since I saw you last?" She winked and James almost threw up while sending him a cold glare.

"It was great. Yours?" Lily responded.

"Could have been better if I saw you more." He said, causing Lily to smile the smile that James adored. "Come with me, babe. Let's go on our own." He grabbed Lily's hand and pulled her up lightly, squeezing it as well. James watched as they walked out of the common room together.

He made a sound of disgust.

"What the bloody hell does she see in him?" He wondered aloud.

"He's hot." Katie shrugged.

"Uh, FYI little Katie Bailey, everyone knows Sirius and I are the most wanted guys in the entire school." James informed her.

"And it's a good thing that it hasn't gone to your head." Katie said sarcastically, grinning.

"Oh, shut up. It's not like you don't know that every guy dreams about you." James pointed out.

"Touché, Potter." She laughed and James couldn't help grinning. "But seriously, I don't show people that I know I'm hot. That's one reason Lily can't stand you. Listen carefully, I'm not going to help you get her ever again."

"Whatever, Bailey." James started to get frustrated. "I can't change everything about me."

"I know. You've just got to change the way she thinks about you."

"How the bloody hell do you do that?" Sirius piped in.

"Figure it out, boys. It's possible." Katie raised her eyebrows and looked towards the fireplace. Sirius couldn't help digging his fingernails into his palms. She was so damn gorgeous, it almost hurt. They heard laughter at the portrait hole and turned to see Lily laughing, with Tristan behind her, his hands on her hips, laughing as well.

"I'm out. Night, guys." James said, getting up quickly. So much for a good first night back.

o-o-o-o-o-o-o-o-o-o-o-o-o

Lily couldn't sleep. Someone was on her mind. However, it wasn't Tristan Thomas, the boy she'd just spent an hour snogging and such with.

No. It was James Potter.

She couldn't get his hurt expression when Tristan kissed her out of her mind. She saw it over and over again. She didn't want to either, she just couldn't help it. It wouldn't go away. His eyes had looked so sad, and for some insane, unknown reason, it made Lily feel slightly guilty. Only slightly. After all, it WAS Potter. Potter the Prat.

Lily yelled into her pillow and grabbed another one off her bed, throwing it as hard as she could towards the wall. This was killing her.

o-o-o-o-o-o-o-o-o-o-o-o-o

The schoolwork was hard. Harder than ever. It had only been a month since school started and the work was piling up high.

"I can't do this!" Katie slammed her Transfiguration book down on the table, causing a group of second years to jump.

"Hmm?" Lily was distracted, trying to finish her essay.

"I can't do this shit. I'm done. I HATE school." She snapped. Sirius, who was sitting on the opposite couch smirked. "Shut UP, Black!" Katie yelled at him.

"Ooooh. Testy." He grinned, but not making eye contact.

"Ah!" Katie threw a balled up piece of parchment at him, but laughed anyway.

"Katie, you're smart, just focus." Lily interrupted her laughs. Katie glared at her.

"What?" Lily frowned.

"Don't tell me to focus." She said, with a tone that made James, Sirius and Remus all look up in unison, surprised. Lily didn't know what to say.

"I-I didn't mean that insulting. You just have problems with that. You're really smart though. You just need to apply yourself." Lily tried.

"Don't give me that." Katie sneered. Lily could feel the boys' eyes digging into her, waiting for a reaction.

"Katie." Lily was shocked. She never heard her best friend sound like that.

"What? I'm so sick of you." Katie snapped back.

"What are you talking about?" Lily began to get frustrated.

"I'm sick of you telling me what to do!"

"I…what?" Lily was shocked. She glanced at the guys and they all had their jaws hanging open. They had never seen this happen between the two girls before. They had always been the best of friends, just like them. "I don't tell you what to do!"

"Yes! You do!" Tears started forming in Katie's eyes. Lily had no idea what was going on. This just wasn't making sense. "You do! You tell me NOT to hang out with the boys, just because YOU don't like them! You tell me to "focus" and "apply myself" and I'm just sick of it!" Tears began to fall down her cheeks and Lily still didn't understand the start of Katie's pain.

"Katie…" Lily's voice trailed off.

"Whatever." Katie muttered and stomped up the stairs to the girls' dorm.

"What…was that about?" Sirius asked slowly.

"I don't know." Lily's chin trembled. Katie had never treated her like that.

"You okay?" James asked her softly. Lily shrugged, forgetting it was Potter that asked her.

"That was weird. Katie never loses her temper. We've known her seven years and she's never been like that." Remus said.

"I know. Something's wrong and she won't tell me. I know it." Lily sighed but turned back to her work and pushed it out of her mind.

However, the next Transfiguration class, Katie didn't want to sit with Lily, who was more confused than ever. So, somehow, she was stuck with Potter as a partner. He grinned at her, but she did not return. Katie had always been her partner in class. That way, they never got bored. She sat at her desk with her arms crossed, watching as Katie laughed at something Sirius said to her. She was losing her best friend to the guy. James noticed too.

"Guess those two forgot about us, hm?" He smirked, but still knowing Sirius would never ditch him.

"Guess so." Lily smirked back. James grinned to himself.

o-o-o-o-o-o-o-o-o-o

"This is hard." James said. They were both sitting on the soft couch in the Heads common room, books and parchment spread everywhere on the table.

"Yeah, it is." They were talking about their Charms essay. James hated Charms. Lily didn't mind it, but it wasn't her strong point. And now they were stuck writing a fifteen-inch essay on it. Not easy. James let out a huge sigh and Lily smiled. She didn't really have her mind on the essay, she was thinking of other things. Katie still wasn't talking to her, for some unknown reason. And, most shockingly, James wasn't irritating her to no end like usual. He was… tolerable.

"Ah!" He yelled out and Lily jumped. Ink was spilled all over James's essay, and his t-shirt. Lily started laughing.

"How did you manage that one?"

"Sent the bottle flying with my textbook." He laughed, holding his t-shirt out with one hand and his essay up with the other one. "Little help?" He grinned and Lily continued laughing while she helped clear the ink off of his shirt and essay with her wand. "Thanks." He smiled at her, and she smiled back, really meaning it.

Suddenly, James leaned forward and pressed his lips against Lily's. They were so soft and sweet-tasting. Just like he imagined. Lily didn't pull away either. She actually allowed him to deepen the kiss as she wrapped her arms around him tightly. His hands found their way to her smooth stomach. James's shirt was then off and Lily felt his tight, perfect abs and arm muscles. This felt absolutely perfect. She didn't care that her shirt was coming off either.

She wanted this.

x-x-x-x-x-x-x-x-x-x-x-x

Chapter 3 coming soon!