Chapter 1:The First Date (A/N: and I don't own Harry Potter... just in case you thought I did)

It was Friday evening in the Great Hall. Lily Evans was sitting with her fellow sixth years, Alice, Marlene, and Sandra. The were all talking about their day and schoolwork and such, because that is simply what those girls did for fun. Unlike the Marauders, who thought fun was about being chased by the caretaker, Mr. Filch and his cat halfway around the castle. The Marauders were the most obnoxious group of boys that Lily had ever had the indecency to meet. Their aim in life seemed to be to cause as much mayhem as possible. She probably would not have minded as much if it was merely harmless pranks, but it wasn't. But the worst part of the entire situation was that their leader, worst of the worst of them, was chosen to be Head Boy. Head Boy, for Merlin's sake! The only reasonable explanation Lily could come up with was that the Headmaster had had a temporary fit of insanity when choosing the roles of Heads.

Another strange thing was that no matter how much Lily tried to avoid the boys, the more they popped up in her daily life. This may not be such a mystery, though, because James Potter had declared his love her countlessly. It got irritating.

At the moment Lily's mind was far from the Marauders. In fact, she was so mesmerized in conversation that she did not notice a certain black haired boy looking at her hopelessly. He was almost on the verge of tears, which was unheard of from James Potter. He hid it well, though. After James tore his eyes away from the redhead to stare aimlessly at his dinner, the dark haired boy sitting across from him suddenly got up from his seat and walked down the table toward Lily.

"Hey, Evans," he said "Can I talk to you?" Lily turned to him with her face cringed. "Why, Black?" she asked. "I just need to talk to you..." he said again "In private." Lily looked into his face and saw that he was pleading with her. Who knew Sirius Black would plead with anyone? He always seemed like one of those big, muscle-y, save the word type of fellows. It was quite unlike him. This must be important. She sighed. "Fine," she said reluctantly, pushing up from the table and wiping her mouth one last time. She followed him out of the hall without looking back. When they reached the entrance hall, Sirius spun around to face her.

"What is this about, Black?" Lily asked stubbornly.

"Look, Evans," he began with a scowl on his face "There's only so many times a guy can be rejected before they go completely insane!" "What are you talking about?" inquired Lily as though she had no idea what Sirius was going to say next.

"Oh, don't insult my intelligence!" he barked "I will not let your stubbornness destroy my best friend!"

"I'm sure he can handle himself, thanks," snapped Lily crossing her arms over her chest.

"He can," said Sirius quietly "He has for the past four years. But now he's going insane! Just go out with him once, or you'll have the Marauders to deal with!"

"You can't tell me that Potter doesn't want to go out with me only because I'm the only girl here who refused him!" Lily scoffed.

"Come on!" he fumed "The man's a total wreck because of you!"

Lily tapped her feet in thought for a moment. She was careful not to look Sirius in the eye because she knew that the helpless look he had would convince her. Unfortunately, she couldn't avoid his gaze forever.

"Fine," she spat "I'll do it-" Sirius' face lit up "-But don't expect anything to happen."

Then Sirius did something very strange; he came up to her and hugged her. "Black," she said as he was crushing her "You're crushing me." He let go, but kept his hands on her arms. "Thank you," he whispered "You have no idea." He then walked into the Great Hall.

Lily watched him as he sat down and started eating merrily, as usual, reveling in his success. Lily sighed and walked down to where James, Sirius, Remus, and Peter sat. They looked up at her as she stopped in from of them. "Potter," she said. James looked up at her glumly. "I've decided to go out with you," she said forceably, not daring to look James or Remus in the eye. James, however, looked as though Christmas had come early.

"Are- Are you serious?" he asked, wide-eyed, beaming like an idiot. "Yes," Lily huffed.

"But why?" he asked.

"I've just agreed to go out with you! Why are you questioning it?" she retorted. James beamed at her.

"How about next weekend at Hogsmeade?" he asked.

"Erm..." she stalled. Sirius gave her a glare so dark that she could almost see into the depths of his cold, tortured soul. "Sure," she feinted a smile. "Okay," said James cheerfully. "Yeah," said Lily. She gave them a small smile and walked away.

Just when she thought she had escaped from Potter, a shout came from across the table "I love you too, Evans!"

She turned and faced him, glaring daggers into his stupid, over sized head. He smiled wryly to himself and turned back to the Marauders. "Toerag," she muttered.

When she reached the side of the table where she sat at originally, her friends were all looking at her with great interest.

"What'd he want?" asked Marlene.

"He wanted me to go out with Potter," Lily answered stiffly.

"Probably because the poor bloke's going quite mad without mutual love from you, Evans dear," teased Alice. "Did he try to murder you when you said no?"

"...I didn't exactly say no..." Lily muttered hesitantly. Sandra gasped.

"You said yes?" she asked, appalled.

"Black gave me the sob story," began Lily, digging into her food violently.

"Oh," said Sandra, relaxing in her seat "So when are you going on your date?" she asked teasingly. Lily rolled her eyes.

"Next Hogsmeade weekend," she mumbled "I have a feeling that if I hold it off, Black'll kill me in my sleep."

"At least term's almost over," Alice piped in. Lily loved Alice because of her ability to look at the bright side even in dark times such as these. The girls smiled and began a new conversation about their plans for the summer holidays, leaving their last topic abandoned for the moment.