Raindrops on Flower Petals

~Jupiter13

James Potter/Lily Evans

Sorry it's shorter than the others...Anyway, tomorrow's my birthday! I'll hopefully have written more in the next day or two. And here's a heads up: July 8th I'm leaving for vacation, and will barely be able to get on and add some, SADLY. I hope you'll wait patiently through the summer and not give up on this yet...It's only just begun! Stick around, and review review review! Thanks, and happy summer!

Chapter 3.

The next few weeks passed with surprising quietness. At least Lily thought so. With classes starting up again, things had been hectic and their homework loads sure weren't getting any smaller each night.

And the weirdest of all was that Lily forgot about James Potter.

Classes kept her extremely busy, and she didn't notice him much at all throughout the few weeks. Not that it bothered her. It was rather like a vacation. To her, anyway.

To James; however, he hated it.

Sixth year seemed to have had a worse start off than fifth year when it came to classes and homework. And he and the rest of the Marauders were so busy, that there were barely any pranks in the weeks that came. James and his friends found themselves working up until three A.M. just to finish their homework. It was rather exhausting. And on the downside, he didn't have much conversation with Lily Evans.

But the homework was starting to slow a bit, and more pranks were being pulled; and not just by the Marauders. A few other groups of friends found relief from work in setting pranks about the school.

So it was one day in Potions class that reminded Lily that James Potter was still around.

He and Sirius were starting to fall behind, and their potions really weren't turning out well at all. They were worse than usual. Slughorn finally decided to give them some help.

"Mr. Sirius Black," he called from his desk after observing James and Sirius's cauldron blow up, "I have assigned you a new partner. Go over and take Miss Evans' place next to Miss Prewett. And yes, Miss Evans, you will be working with Mr. Potter. This is how it will be until I see improvement, hmm? Go on then."

Lily gritted her teeth and picked up her books before walking over to James's cauldron. Wrinkling her nose, she gasped without even looking at it, and said "What did you guys do?" The smell was overwhelming. Unluckily, Alice had gotten to keep the pot that they had been working on, whose contents were in much better shape than this one's.

James gave an embarrassed smile, and ruffled his hair subconsciously. "You might want to ask Sirius," he answered, grinning.

Lily rolled her eyes and set her books down. "Throw out everything in there while I get new materials and ingredients," she ordered.

James raised and eyebrow, but did what he was told, saying, "Your wish is my command."

Lily resisted the urge to slap him, and instead went to fetch the ingredients as she said she would.

For the next half hour, Lily explained (as patiently as she could) to James what to do, and what not to do. He did his best to remember for future reference, and nodded as they worked side-by-side.

Finally, by the end of class, they had managed to successfully create the Potion.

Slughorn gave them top marks, but warned, "I hope that Mr. Potter participated."

Lily nodded. "Of course, Professor. I was mostly guiding."

Slughorn beamed at his favorite student. "Well, I am very pleased, Miss Evans. Well done."

Lily smiled back before grabbing her stuff and leaving the classroom, with James at her side.

When Lily tried to hurry on ahead of him, James matched his stride with hers, grinning from ear to ear. "We make a good team, Evans," he laughed.

Lily scowled. "Yes, since I did all the work."

James smirked. "You did about half of it, maybe a bit more. But I didn't do terribly, admit it."

Lily refused to acknowledge his comment, instead staring straight ahead down the hallway. She was a bit irritated, because he hadn't done horribly, but still did not do wonderfully, either.

James rolled his eyes. "Why are you always so hostile?" he asked, curiously, interrupting her thoughts. "I'm not that bad..."

She gritted her teeth and whirled around to face him. "Yes, you are!" she exclaimed, still irritated. "Now stop following me around like a Blast-Ended Skrewt. Just because we were partnered in Potions doesn't mean I've accepted to have you near me at all times!" she fumed angrily. People slowed down around them, watching them curiously, ready for some excitement from another Evans-Potter row.

James laughed and brushed passes her, whispering in her face, "You know you like me."

Lily stared angrily at his retreating, cockily striding figure.

What an arrogant toerag, she couldn't help but think. This was not unusual for her; however, as he tended to annoy her.

She sighed, wishing for the rest of her year to be Potter-free.

She also sighed because she knew it would never happen.