The party was raging in the Gryffindor Common Room. The Marauders had set up court in the center of the room, occupying the best couches in front of the fireplace. Music was blasting, some Muggle group called the Beatles that most of the girls were gaga over. Sirius had an arm wrapped around two girls who sat on either side of him, laughing as they talked. Remus, the quieter one, sat beside Marlene McKinnon on a different couch. Peter sat beside James and listened to him relive every moment. James was in his element, surrounded by pretty girls and eager listeners.

Lily Evans was alone upon the steps to the boys' dormitories. She was caught between wanting desperately to leave the party due to the lack of fun she was having and yet a strong desire to stay and become one with the others. She was pondering her dilemma when she saw Mary Meadows saunter over to her.

"Oh Mary, what's wrong?" She asked when she saw Mary's sad face.

"Sirius Black, the tosser." Mary replied, looking over in his general direction.

Lily followed Mary's gaze and nodded. "That's Black for you, Mary. But don't be sad over him. I thought you weren't interested?"

Mary laughed bitterly. "It's called playing hard to get, Lily. You should know that seeing as how you practically wrote the book on how to do it."

"What do you mean, wrote the book?" Lily raised her eyebrows. "I haven't played hard to get."

"Yes, you have. What do you think you've done to James Potter? He wants you because he can't have you. That's what I tried to evoke in Black but to no use. I'm no you and he's no Potter." Mary sighed. "I'm going to see if they've anything to spice my punch up a bit. Coming?"

Lily shook her head. "Nah, I'm fine with this." She lifted her bottle of butterbeer as proof.

"I'm going to try and see what Black does when I ask him for some spices. If he leaves those bimbos he's interested, right?"

"Definitely," Lily agreed.

"Wish me luck." Mary ambled over to Sirius, leaning down and whispering in his ear. Lily watched as he nodded and stood up, leaving behind his blonde bimbos. He led her over to the bookcase, where he slyly pulled out a small flask. Lily, with her 20-20 vision, read the label aloud to herself. "Firewhisky," she muttered.

"Talking to yourself is either the first sign of insanity or drunkenness," a voice teased. Lily looked away from the bookcase to see James Potter standing before her.

"Neither in my case," Lily replied.

"Too bad. Insanity is loads of fun. And being drunk isn't too bad."

"Oh would you know a lot about both?" Lily raised an eyebrow. "My, my, here I thought that Dumbledore may have known what he was doing having you as Head Boy."

James winked at her. "It's a 'don't ask don't tell' policy."

Lily laughed, forgetting for a moment who she was dealing with. When she looked back at James, she saw in his eyes that same lovesick look she'd seen all last year. "Don't ruin the moment," she warned.

"Oh I wouldn't do that. But I do have something to ask you."

"What's that?" Lily asked hesitantly.

"Will you," he began. Lily felt her spirits drooping. Here it came. Yet another proposal to date. She ran through her mental list of rejections before setting upon one.

"I will when Hufflepuff beats Gryffindor at Quidditch!" She said when she realized he was finished. She had zoned out during the asking part, choosing to find a rejection that wasn't too harsh.

James looked at her strangely. "You'll move when Hufflepuff beats Gryffindor at Quidditch? That may take a long time, Evans. Are you planning on camping out on the steps to the boys' dormitory?"

Lily stared at him. "You didn't ask me out?"

"Er… no?"

"Oh. Well… um… yeah…" Lily blushed, her face as red as a tomato.

"Well will you?" James asked somewhat impatiently.

"Will I what?" Lily said carefully, making sure to not zone out.

"Will you move?" James sighed.

She blushed again. God she hated having red hair. She probably looked like a tomato that caught fire. Blast those genetics. "Er… yeah…" Lily stood up to let him through, leaning against the wall. James brushed against her as he walked up, not bothering to apologize or thank her for moving. "Stupid twat," she murmured to herself again.

"Insanity!" James called out infuriatingly from the steps. He had heard her speak as he walked up.

Lily sighed as she sank down onto them again. She pulled her knees to her chest, watching Mary flirt with Sirius. Mary had been a shy, quiet girl until this summer. This summer she had met with Sirius Black.

"You seem to like these stairs a lot," James remarked as he walked back down.

Lily glared at him.

"Oooh silence. The quiet killer."

Lily rolled her eyes.

"Careful Evans, they may get stuck that way."

She made a face at him.

"Now wouldn't it be fun to go through life looking like that?" He pulled a small mirror out of his jeans pocket. Lily almost burst out laughing when she realized to what extent his vanity really was. Luckily she remembered her silence and caught herself in time.

James held the mirror up for her to see her face. Her eyes were crossed, her tongue was stuck out at an awkward angle, her cheeks were blown out; in short she looked awful. She started to giggle when she saw herself.

"Broken the vow of silence, have you? What will the Reverend Mother say?" James teased.

"To hell with James Potter," Lily replied with a slight smile.

"Touché, Miss Evans. And I must say, your face looked much better a minute ago." He grinned at her.

Lily's smile grew. "Do you have a larger mirror in another pocket, perhaps? That one can't possibly be big enough to fit your entire big head into it."

James reached into his back pocket and pulled out another mirror, this one considerably larger.

"That's vanity for you," Lily stated as she fixed her hair.

"You've heard of magic, haven't you?" James answered. The way he phrased his question brought back to her Mary's accusations of writing the book on hard to get. Perhaps she had been leading him on?

Lily didn't reply. She didn't want to lead him on again.

"Oh bloody hell. You're back to silence." He slid down onto the stair beside her. "What've I done this time? Go ahead, read me my list of wrongdoings."

She didn't reply.

"So you're just going to stop in the middle of a perfectly friendly conversation and freeze up?"

She bit her tongue but didn't speak.

"You've got issues, you know that, don't you?"

Nothing.

"Well it's a good thing I'm an amazing conversationalist. I'll have this damn conversation alone if I must."

She looked at the ground.

"I've no time for this. I've got eager listeners waiting to hear my story." He looked at her. "Jesus, Mary, and Joseph. You've got to get over this whole silence thing, Evans. It'll make exchanging our wedding vows hard."

Lily bit her lips to keep from smiling.

"Stop it, Evans. I know you want to smile. Come on, the thoughts of a wedding to me? Priceless."

She sucked in her cheeks.

"And you've got to make that face in all of the pictures. It's grand." He fished the mirror out again and showed her what she looked like. "It should be illegal to look that good."

Lily rolled her eyes but kept sucking in her cheeks to keep from laughing.

"Alright Miss Evans, I leave you to your silence. Should you decide that you actually want to have a dialogue that involves two people talking instead of you talking to yourself about what a twat I am, I'll be over there." James pointed over to where Peter sat.

Lily didn't say anything but she let the air out of her cheeks.

"Goodnight, Evans."

She watched him walk away before speaking softly. "Good game, Potter."

James turned around in split second. "I knew it!" He walked over to her again. "You watched the game," he said accusingly.

"Guilty as charged."

"Liar, you told me you weren't going."

"Did I? I don't recall." Lily grinned at him, "but it's my bedtime, Potter. I need plenty of sleep if I'm to battle wits against you." She walked away from him, surprised at the amount of civil conversation they'd managed lately. It was almost discerning, while at the same time quite enjoyable.

She walked up her staircase and smiled as she changed into her pajamas. The lights were off and she was alone in the room. She heard a loud roar of laughter and regretted her decision to go to bed so early. Was it worth getting up again, changing to join a party that would soon be ending?

A tap at her window decided for her.

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Author's Note: Reviews are lovely, just so everyone knows. I really appreciate them and they make me want to write more. I will update with two chapters for every twenty reviews I get. Fair deal?

Lexie, I'd like to thank you for all the reviews you write. You're seriously inspiring and make me want to write. You've reviewed all the chapters in my two stories (I don't count my first story. I don't like it at all, now that I've reread it!) and made me want to write. ) Thank you for all of the reviews.