Thanks for all your reviews! I hope you enjoy this one!

When Lily walked into Transfiguration 15 minutes late, she was immediately and forcibly reminded of exactly why she avoided James Potter. As soon as she stepped through the door, a wreath of lilies appeared above her head, tiny golden birds flying around it, twittering and diving through the flowers. Shocked, Lily looked up to see a curiously watching class and a grinning James Potter.

"Hey Lily, will you go out with me?"

She pretended to consider for a moment in mock concentration. Then she deliberately lifted a hand, grabbed the wreath, and placed it on the floor. Then she stomped hard on it, enjoying the slight intake of breath from the class. She looked up. James Potter was no longer smiling, and neither was Professor Switch. Lily only had time to give Potter a brief, yet murderous glance, before Switch spoke.

"Lily, as you can see, you are late. We are transfiguring insects today. Please remain after class to discuss the time of your detention."

Seething, Lily turned to sit down. She realised too late that there was only one seat left. The one next to James Potter.

"Sir, I can't sit down."

Professor Switch surveyed her over the top of his glasses.

"You can't sit down?" he echoed.

"No, Professor."

"Do you mean you have been jinxed or hexed in such a way that makes it physically impossible for you to sit?"

"No Professor. There are no seats that I can sit in."

She stood defiantly facing him. From her left Elle was shooting her frantic glares that clearly said, 'This is dangerous Lils, stop!' She ignored them.

"Evans, I see no reason why you cannot sit next to Potter for today."

The class was watching, interested now.

"Well sir, I'm concerned that if I sit next to Potter I may become physically sick."

"We'll risk it. Sit."

"But Professor, I –"

"SIT!"

Lily sat as far away from Potter as the cramped desk would allow. She was very aware of her nearness to him, and the fact she was aware of this scared her, as did her tendency to fly into crazy moods in his presence.

"Evans, why do you hate me?" asked a soft voice near her ear.

No answer.

"OK, Evans, why do you love me so much?"

"I don't!"

"Methinks the lady protesteth too much."

"Shut up."

Lily accompanied this with what she hoped was a withering glare and looked back at the dragonfly she had just transfigured.

"I will now collect your homework. Please have it ready as I come around," came the reedy voice of Professor Switch.

Lily groaned. She had completely forgotten to write her essay on transfiguring objects into insects. And she already had a detention from Switch.

"Forgot to do it?" queried James, half smiling.

"Yes. Want to rub it in my face, do you? Want to gloat over the fact that you did it and studious Lily Evans didn't? Well I don't care, Potter." She spat the last word out like it was an insult. She felt unexplainable anger, as so often happened when she was in James' company, and for what seemed the hundredth time, she wondered why.

James studied her face for a moment and then tapped his wand on the piece of parchment containing his homework. Instantly the writing changed, becoming neater and smaller. The name at the top was now Lily Evans.

Lily stared, surprised and shocked.

He was not a moment too soon. Professor Swift had just arrived at their desk and was holding out an expectant hand. Lily cleared her throat, but James swiftly kicked her under the table.

"Here's Lily's homework. About my essay…I accidently, um…that is to say, I…sort of…forgot?"

He trailed off. Lily was amazed. Not only was James Potter covering for her, but he was actually doing a pretty good bit of acting to go with it.

"Mr Potter, are you telling me that you have not done your homework?"

James looked down, a picture of guilt.

"I shall expect you at detention with Lily. Remain after class please."

The professor moved on up the class. Lily was dumbfounded. James gave her a sideways smile.

"Wha-…? How…? You…" Lily stammered, accidently upsetting a bottle of ink that spilled over Potter's books.

"I'm sorry… tergeo!" She siphoned off the ink with her wand.

"Neat," said James. "I'll have to practice that one."

"How? And why?"

"It's a useful spell. I'm dead clumsy. It'd be useful to be able to clean up all the messes I make.

"It works on all liquids, even when they're dry. But that wasn't what I meant. How and why did you just pass off your homework as mine? As much as Lily hated to admit it, she thought James' bit of magic had been pretty impressive. She'd never had the impression that James did anything at school except congratulate himself on being what he considered perfect.

"Oh. Well, being a marauder, I spend a lot of time doing forgery. You know, notes saying why we're late to class, um, signatures to get us into the restricted section of the library, even fake IDs to get us drinks at the three broomsticks. Not that one of my notes would have been much use to you today. There's no way that Swift would have accepted it. He's in a foul mood, in case you haven't noticed. But that was the first time I've changed a whole essay and the name at the top."

"But how did you copy my handwriting so well?"

"Well, I copied it off that bit of parchment sticking out of your book." James' tone became teasing. "I didn't know Lily Evans passed notes in class. The one that says 'James Potter is so up himself. He's such a…'"

Lily went bright red, mortified. James' selflessness in giving her his essay had put her off her guard. In the short time she had been talking with James – actually talking, rather than throwing insults, she had forgotten that she hated him, had dropped her defenses, her wall of hostility. James' comment brought her back to reality, but rather than making her angry again, it made her feel ashamed.

"You didn't…I didn't…" she spluttered.

"It's OK. I mean, it's not exactly a secret that you hate me, is it?"

Lily bit her lip, unsure of what to say. This morning she would have agreed wholeheartedly with James' comment. Now, she was not so sure.

"And why wouldn't you? I spend all my time around you acting like an idiot. But why did I change my essay? Well, you already have detention, and given Switch's mood, failing to do your homework would probably result in at least 10 points from Gryffindor, and wonderful chaser though I am, I– "

"Since when have you cared about losing points Potter? You lose more points for Gryffindor on your own than the rest of the house put together!" Keen to make up for the drop in her defenses, Lily spoke more sharply than she had intended. There was a bitter edge to her voice, put there by all the times she had won points for her house during class, only to have them deducted again due to one of Potter's stupid pranks.

James shrugged.

"I didn't want you to get in trouble. And of course," he said with what was evidently supposed to be a disarming smile, "I get to spend detention with you."

"That is sad. Really sad. You'll go so far as to get a detention to spend time with me."

"Well, you tend to avoid me at all costs, so…"

"That's because you stalk me! And try giving your wand more of a flick with the beetles."

"Thanks. And I don't stalk you. I just have a higher than normal interest in your day to day activities."

"In other words, you stalk me."

James looked at her, a slightly pained expression on his face.

"Look Lily – can I call you that? – I'm sorry if I've freaked you out or anything. It's just that I've never met anybody like you."

Lily felt a bit flattered by this, but tried not to show it.

"And also, I've been making a real effort this year not to be quite so arrogant and up myself."

"Sorry to break it to you, but there hasn't been a vast amount of difference."

"Yes, well, I've always acted a bit oddly around you in case you haven't noticed." He gave a sad sort of smile. "I won't pretend some of the things you've said to me haven't hurt, but somehow I forget about that when I'm with you."

Lily sat in silence, digesting this. In the past she had always snubbed James Potter without a second thought. Suddenly, in the space of one conversation, she had learnt that James Potter had feelings, and may have been hurt by what she said. She had realised that she could treat him no longer like an annoying fly that had to be swatted away whenever it got too close. She opened her mouth to say something, to apologise, but before she could speak the bell rang. There was a flurry of movement around them.

"We'd better organise that detention" James said matter-of-factly.

Lily walked to the front of the class behind James, utterly bewildered by her feelings. She nodded mutely as Switch and James organised a time and then wandered back towards Gryffindor tower as though in a dream.

"Are you OK?" asked Alice, when she climbed through the portrait hole. "You look as though you've seen a ghost! Not that unusual here at Hogwarts, but still-" Lily collapsed into a chair, "Lily!"

"I've just discovered that James Potter has …feelings." She said in an incredulous wondering voice.

Alice smiled and left Lily to her contemplation. There would be time for analysis later.