Disclaimer: Harry Potter belongs to J.K. Rowling, only Nia, Bella and anyone not in the books belong to me

A/n: I want you to bear in mind that despite Lily's behaviour at the party, her personality is not going to undergo a sudden, complete change, her behaviour will be explained.

A/n 2: Rewrite!!! I'd really love it you reviewed as well, you know, just saying.

**Reluctance Relenting**

Lily wasn't exactly sure why she had so willingly allowed Nia to drag her off to the Common Room for this party. She was shy and quiet but no one who really knew her could say she was biddable.

She had a very strong mind and could often be stubborn to the point of being pig-headed but nevertheless she had let her friend whisk her away to this party which, had she given it some forethought, she would have known would result in a futile evening.

Lily Evans was not a party kind of person. She couldn't even think of a positive adjective with which to describe parties, let alone actually bring herself to have fun at them.

Surprisingly, as Lily looked back at her Hogwart's career, there wasn't a single party she hadn't frequented during her almost seven years at the school, however temporary her attendance at that party had been.

Normally she would come, she would see, she would stand in a corner and then she would leave.

After spending three difficult years trying to get people to be interested in their beloved friend and in turn trying to get said friend interested in said people, Nia and Bella had given up.

This party was no different, Lily thought as she looked around. Somewhere in the centre she saw Bella sitting on a sofa with five or six boys dancing attendance on her. Some of the younger ones looked on in earnest admiration.

Bella laughed, joked and smiled at them all in turn. In doing so, she enthralled them further, one of her foremost charms being that she really was indifferent to her extraordinary good looks.

Nia was leaning on one of the girl's staircase banisters, casually flirting with Sirius Black and smiling at the various compliments she was given about her performance by passers-by. The corners of Lily's mouth twitched irrepressibly as she watched her friend and Sirius Black.

They had excellent chemistry and Sirius' terribly concealed attraction to Nia was the despair of many a Hogwarts maiden. And yet, nothing had ever become of this pairing, but there was still time, Lily thought.

Near her, Lily spotted Remus Lupin, gazing intently at Bella and turning only when he thought someone might notice.

James was standing almost at the foot of the girl's staircase, making polite conversation to a group of besotted girls but looking thoroughly bored. Lily hadn't spoken much to anyone except for the odd word here and there.

"Hey Lily" said someone, rudely interrupting her thoughts. She looked up into the face of David Peakes.

"Oh hello" she replied and smiled obligingly.

"Listen I just wanted to say, that move you used today, pure genius!" he praised.

Lily had to refrain from sighing, this was all she'd gotten all night, not one person actually wanted converse with her, but then, she thought, that wasn't their fault.

Instead of sighing, she smiled up at the boy "oh thank you, it wasn't much really I was getting desperate and the girl was a good flyer" she said.

"Well she couldn't have outflown you could she?" he said fairly. Lily was a retiring soul but completely inured to praise of this particular sort.

Even so, she conjured up a blush (an art she'd acquired at a young age) and muttered quietly "oh I'm not that good really" and then turned her head, making it seem as if she was really embarrassed. The boy walked away.

Once he was out of earshot she looked up, completely unmoved and sighed again. Typical. A few minutes later, a frustrated Remus joined her.

Lily was, if not completely, more at ease around him than other boys. Their two years as prefects together helped her to have some degree of comfort in his presence. She couldn't call him a friend; he was more a friendly acquaintance/friend's admirer.

She glanced at his face; he looked quite as displeased with the evening's proceedings as she was.

"Hey Remus" she greeted.

"Hey Lily"

"So you're finally tired of staring at Bella unwaveringly and since I'm naturally unengaged, you've come to alleviate some of your discontentment by making commonplace conversation so that you'll be even more bored and want to go back to staring at Bella" Lily ventured.

"That's not true, I wanted to talk to you" Remus said with a pitying smile on his face.

Lily found she was so bored; she was even willing to maintain friendly conversation with this -much too popular for her liking- boy.

She didn't smile but amusement clearly flickered in her eyes. "Don't feel sorry, I'm used to it and besides you know it's true"

"Oh try saying that to the rest of Gryffindor" he said irritably, digging at her shyness.

Lily raised her eyebrows "oh! Below the belt there, Lupin' she said jokingly.

The boy looked round at her in evident surprise, this made her smile wryly.

"Shocker, isn't it? But yes I believe I can be remotely entertaining when you catch me at a good time as one, Nia Fletcher puts it. Surprised?"

"Uh- to be honest, yeah" Remus said apologetically, Lily smiled once again and shook her head.

"Don't get used to it, I'm regretting coming here so much I'll do anything to turn the evening to some purpose, even if I have to, god forbid, make an effort with people" she finished bitterly. It was Remus' turn to smile.

"I knew you weren't as dull as you seemed" he commented.

Lily blinked and then she started to laugh.

When the laughter subsided she replied by saying "oh you are a charmer Lupin but it's true. I am not, contrary to popular belief, insipid by nature"

"You've never seemed insipid to me" Remus said.

"Oh come off it!" she exclaimed.

"Well alright, normally you don't provide the most interesting of conversations but you're proving everything I've ever thought about you, wrong right now"

"Well that's one consolation" she broke off and glanced at Bella and then back at Remus "why don't you go talk to her?" she asked.

Remus turned to her and they stared at each other for a moment defiantly. He finally sighed and said "I couldn't"

"Why not?"

"I dunno, she's Bella Aldringham!" he declared, as if that perfectly cleared matters up. Lily couldn't help rolling her eyes.

"Well? And what's that supposed to mean?" she enquired.

"She's- well she's…I mean come on! Look at her; she's like the fittest girl in our year"

"So I'm told. I'm not seeing the problem though. I'm sure you guys talk like every day"

"It's not the same; talking to her every day and talking to her now" he argued "it's pointless anyway, she wouldn't bother with me, she could have anyone...everyone"

Lily looked over at her best friend with her ever growing crowd of faithful admirers and back to the despairing youth beside her and laughed at him.

"She is popular but are you telling me that that's a problem for you? You don't give yourself enough credit" she said.

"What do you mean?" Remus asked.

"You're a marauder! Thereby, for some reason, making you one of the most popular boys around. "You've got more charm than any of them and from an objective viewpoint of course" she broke off, profusely blushing at what she was going to continue with but continued bravely even so.

"Y-you're a good looking guy Remus" she managed but he certainly was, in a very casual sort of way.

Longish light brown waves with a dishevelled appearance, enigmatic pale blue eyes, slightly hollow cheeks, six foot height and slim but athletic build. His expressions, the way he smiled and carried himself gave him all the appearance of the strong silent stereotype which a lot of girls found alluring.

He looked at the redhead curiously "do you think so? Do you think I might stand a chance with Bella?"

"Of course you do! I'm her best friend, I should know" Lily said patiently, she looked up and muttered hurriedly "here she comes now, use your charm and cross your fingers" and they watched the smiling brunette approach.

Remus with a determined look on his face and Lily with an amused one on hers.

"Hey Lily! Having fun?" Bella asked.

"Oh yeah, loads of fun!" she lied, her friend looked surprised.

"You are?"

"Of course I am, I've got Remus to talk to, you know what excellent company he is, of course" Lily said archly.

It was all Remus could do to stop himself staring at her, dumbstruck. Obviously Lily Evans was not the girl he had believed her to be at all.

Bella stared at her friend, not bothering to mask her disbelief "well of course he is but… Lily, are you feeling alright?"

"Yes!" Lily cried "I told you I was, I've got Remus" she repeated, nudging the boy.

Bella looked back at the clutch of males awaiting her and sighed "I wish I had Remus too, if I'm honest"

"That could be arranged" Remus added with a slight smile playing at his lips, that mischievous and highly intriguing smile.

Bella had looked up at him in surprise at that remark but grinned appreciatively when she looked at his pale eyes. "Oh really?" she asked.

"Well of course, if you think you could spare me a few moments of your time" he answered.

Bella looked at the group of boys by the sofa that had been boring her for the entirety of the party "a few moments, I'll spare you the rest of my life if you can get me away from them" she quipped.

"Be warned, I might hold you to that" Remus countered. Lily suddenly realised she had no business being there anymore and discreetly walked away.

Another glance around the room told her there was really no point to her presence at this party and it wasn't like anyone would miss her. With those thoughts she made her way over to the girl's staircase.

She was a few stairs up when a voice called "Lily!" puzzled; she turned around and saw James looking up at her enquiringly.

"Yes?"

"Are you leaving?" James asked.

"Well actually, yeah I was'"

"Oh come on you can't leave!" he protested.

"And why not?" Lily questioned.

"Well this party's for the team, everyone's enjoying it, don't ruin the night for yourself" he attempted.

"Correction James; you, Jack, Cara, Nia, Aaron, and Sirius are enjoying it. Me, not so much"

"Whatever! Come on, stay" he persisted.

"What for?"

"For your friends, they'll be bored without you" he suggested.

Lily glanced at Nia, still flirting with Sirius, slightly less harmlessly than before, under the effects of some butterbeer and then at Bella who was currently laughing at something Remus had said. Then she looked back at James, smiling dryly.

"I think they'll be just fine" she remarked simply.

"Well stay for me then. Kind of like an impromptu date, as friends of course. I'll do anything to stop you going up there to do homework when you should be down here"

Lily stared at him and wanted to open her mouth to protest. He quite miscalculated her devotion to her schoolwork.

She then looked at the group of girls who had previously been talking to him and were now glaring at her.

"No offence James, kind as your offer is, I don't wish to be mauled by your little girlfriends, I like my life" she joked.

James rolled his eyes. "They are not my girlfriends. I don't really know their names, they just sort of attacked me after the match and I can't get rid of them"

"So in short, you saw me coming up here, and in a desperate bid to escape, thought you'd stop me on the stairs, persuade me to act as your date, thus effectively rejecting them but in a nice way?" she made another astute guess, making James slightly uncomfortable at the truth in it.

"W-well I mean you, you can be-Evans! Will you do it, please?" he pleaded. Lily considered her options.

Stay downstairs and have to use energy to maintain conversation with James but do a good thing at the same time or go upstairs and comfortably continue her quiet, hassle free existence without being shunned all the time. Well, she wasn't a saint.

"James, we have nothing in common and we'd very soon have very little to talk about except Head duties and the team, don't ruin your night trying to be sweet" she said rather quietly.

James looked at her. She was biting her lip nervously as her bright unsure eyes scanned to see that no one else was observing this exchange, luckily even James' girls had turned away. Her cheeks had pinked and she was tucking a red curl behind a small ear. But there was something oddly attractive about her just then. He was surprised at himself for thinking it but it was true.

"No" he said firmly "I'm not ruining my night. Anything would be an improvement and if it means we spend the rest of the night trying to find common ground, so be it, just please help me out"

Lily looked back at him, shocked that he was being so nice to her. Not that she needed him to be nice but for him to pay attention to a girl he'd never really bothered with in their seven years together (and vice versa), it was still surprising.

"Please Lily?" he pleaded again. It was getting a little pathetic now.

"Oh alright" she grumbled. She walked back down behind the raven haired boy.

They were stopped by his group of admirers who were on the alert, having spotted him making a move from the stairs "James? Where are you going?"

"Sorry, I'm on a rescue mission. It's become my responsibility to ensure Lily has fun tonight" he answered.

The girls looked puzzled and slightly angry as they glanced at Lily who was blushing even more now.

"Is this going to become a scene?" she whispered anxiously to James who merely shook his head.

"Lily Evans?" one of the girls asked in disbelief.

"That's the one, now if you'll excuse me" James said, putting a hand to Lily's shoulder and led her away from the other girls.

The two seater sofa which had been occupied by Bella and her devotees earlier was now free and the two Heads took a seat on it.

"I'll be murdered in my sleep" Lily muttered, her blush had not died down. She unavailingly attempted to quicken this by putting her hands to her cheeks.

James studied her for a second and then laughed "no you won't, don't worry. Besides even if you were, at least it'd be in the knowledge that it was because you were saving me from an early death"

"No offence James, but I'd happily give you up to stop myself from dying. They won't do anything anyway; I'd like to see them try" Lily said casting the girls in question an appraising look.

"Think you're a match for them do you? Beware they can be quite deranged if they put their mind to it" James said.

"Doesn't surprise me in the least"

James grinned and watched the redhead once again before saying "well this is a night of surprises isn't it? I've finally caught Lily Evans at a good time" this made Lily direct her gaze back to James.

"Funny you say that, Remus was just saying something along the same lines" Lily said thoughtfully.

"Was he? It's true though, how much butterbeer have you had anyway?" he asked.

"A considerable amount and a few bottles of that other stuff, which by the way you forgot to charm so I did it for you" Lily remarked.

"Ah, so you've had a lot to drink, considering that other stuff's firewhiskey. What kind of charm-"

His question was unnecessary as just then; a fourth year boy approached the other bottles. As his hand enclosed around the neck of a bottle he jumped back and cried out, shaking his hand and swearing. Lily turned to James with amused eyes.

"Stinging hex, anyone under age is repelled in a most unfortunate manner if they try to touch those bottles. I didn't know what they were but a sip told me the little ones shouldn't be drinking it so…" she trailed off, making James laugh.

"But you know, I knew I'd left the charm off" James said. Lily turned to him with a raised eyebrow.

"I can take it off. If you want to explain the appearance of hung over first years at breakfast to Professor McGonagall, be my guest" she replied.

James looked from the bottles to Lily and smiled "nah leave them on. If it came to that, I don't think I could explain hung over first years" he joked. Lily smiled and shook her head but said nothing.

"I'm surprised at how well you can hold out seeing as how you're perfect prefect Evans, I didn't have you down as a drinker, I thought you'd be a lightweight. Actually I never thought about you and drinks in the same sentence"

"I'm not a drinker; I'm tall and I'm used to it. My mum's very European about her wine, dinner isn't served without it so I can hold out pretty well when I want" she paused to drain the last of her butterbeer.

"I don't normally drink this much but I was bored and as you can see it's made it difficult to hold back what I'm thinking" she said.

James held up his bottle to her "to you Lily Evans, the most admirable drinking girl I've ever come across" he announced and took a sip.

Lily smiled prettily "it's not admirable at all. Look at Nia, a few bottles of butterbeer turns her into…well she loses control" she finished lamely.

James grinned as he looked over to where Nia was stood. "That's one way to put it" he replied.

"She'll wake up tomorrow morning with a gaping headache, shout at us all for screaming and then start worrying about how out of it she was the night before" Lily said, grinning too.

"It's her fault, she knows she can't hold it and yet…every time!" he exclaimed, rolling his eyes.

"She knows she can get away with it because she knows when she starts to go completely off her head, Bella will call me and then I'll haul her up to the dormitory so she can't get into too much trouble" the girl paused and thought for a second before continuing.

"It'd be so much easier if she just stayed away from the drinks, might be able to go to bed without having to embarrass her all the time"

"At least you know you're a good friend" James said in a conciliating manner.

Lily was spared the need to reply as just then a pretty, dark haired girl approached them, "hey James" she said.

"Oh hey, Lisa?" he tried but the girl looked annoyed.

"No it's Rose" she snapped but then her expression turned sweet again.

"Ah! Well of course you're Rose, I don't know why I thought you were Lisa in the first place" he said apologetically.

Rose burst out laughing and said "oh James, you're so funny" as she playfully slapped him on the shoulder.

James looked down at the spot where she'd slapped him and then exchanged glances with Lily, who looked like she was thoroughly enjoying this little display. That is, she was until the girl spoke again.

"Follow me James. You'll have more fun with me then you could with Lily Evans here" she whispered audibly.

"Sorry er-Rose. I'm fine here. In fact, I was having fun until we were so rudely interrupted" he said repressively. The girl looked offended and flounced off huffily.

Lily was looking distinctly pink once again. "Thanks James, you didn't have to you know"

"I know I didn't" James said and he looked a little embarrassed too.

"You should've gone with her, she was right she probably could have kept you rather more entertained than I could" she muttered but still with a little mischief in her tone.

James stared at her incredulously "I can't believe you just said that. Besides, I just remembered, that girl asked me out to Hogsmeade once. Most boring date I've ever been on" he recalled with a shudder.

"Oh she didn't drag you off to that awful café did she? What's it called now…Madam Puddifoot's, I think"

"That's it! You're right, it is awful. It made me feel sick. Why, do you go there on dates and stuff?" he asked. Lily thought for a moment.

"I don't generally go on dates. Don't get asked. Got asked once and we went there, it was terrible. But the boy was after Bella anyway and she was in there too which is why he took me" she said.

"Oh. I'm sorry" James replied, not knowing what to say.

But Lily smiled "oh no, I didn't really care. In fact until he asked me out, I'd never spoken to him before. That was an awkward fifteen minutes until he told me what was going on. Then it got easier, I told him it was alright and helped him out. Nice boy really, bit confused is all"

"Does that always happen to you? I mean do you always get looked over for Bella and Nia?" he asked tentatively but he needn't have been so hesitant, Lily was quite at her ease, discussing her friends.

"Well…yeah I suppose. I don't blame them; don't blame anyone except for myself. I mean it's my fault isn't it? I should try to be friendlier, more confident and such" she conceded.

"Why don't you? Try, I mean" James questioned. Lily frowned at him pensively, thinking of an answer.

"I just can't. I don't know why. It's like unless I've got five butterbeers down me, I can't seem to open up at all. If I've had three or four firewhiskies on top of that, you get me as I am now. Normally though, it's just natural for me to hold back"

James nodded in response. Lily glanced at his drink "can I have a sip?" she asked, he handed it over to her and watched as she took a large gulp and gave it back.

He looked at her large startling eyes. They had a very slight wild look about them which made him shrewdly ask "are you sure you're alright?"

"Hmm? Me? Oh yeah I'm fine" Lily answered. Her voice was fine; the heat was obviously starting to get to her as her pink cheeks indicated but she was walking straight as well so he let it pass.

"Do girls always ask you out to Hogsmeade?" she voiced. It was a bit off the cuff but he answered anyway.

"For some reason yeah. Honestly there are only five girls in here that I asked to Hogsmeade but I've been with about ten plus the ones in other houses"

"Bet you love that" Lily said.

"Not really, I mean I guess it's okay when the girl you want to ask says yes but not so much when someone you don't know, asks and you have to say yes because otherwise you'd have to be nasty" but Lily didn't have to answer as she heard someone call her name worriedly.

She looked around and saw Bella motioning for her to come as Nia was about to leave the common room with a far more sober Sirius, who seemed to understand what was going and trying to deter the girl.

Lily sighed and looked at James "sorry James I have to be off, duty calls. But I had a really nice time, so thank you. I'll see you tomorrow" and with that she walked off to take charge of her friend.

James watched as she silenced Nia with her wand, put two firm hands around her friend's shoulders and led her through the common room and up the stairs with some difficulty as Nia struggled indignantly. Bella followed them up, shaking her head disapprovingly.

As he watched the three girls disappear up the stairs, he wondered amusedly, exactly how embarrassed the cold, good mannered Lily Evans would feel when she remembered how much she'd told him tonight.

Lily took the silencing charm off Nia. She then nodded to Bella who grabbed the struggling girl's other arm. Together they pushed her onto the bed.

They shut her curtains and Lily performed a charm on them so she could neither escape nor could any sound get in or out until she fell asleep.

"God I'm getting really tired of this" Lily muttered wearily.

"Tell me about it" Bella said in the same tone and they took a seat on Lily's bed.

They both sighed and then Lily turned to Bella "so how much did you have?"

"Two butterbeers"

"Good girl' Lily said and smiled.

'What about you?" Bella asked and frowned as Lily grinned and bit her lip. "How much Lily?"

"Mmm, five butterbeers , maybe more, in fact probably more and then I got bored of that so I had like three and half bottles of that firewhiskey, luckily Sirius and James got the smallish ones"

"Lily!" Bella cried and then burst out laughing "God you make me laugh. I thought your eyes looked funny. No wonder you had fun"

"I saw you had fun too. Nice isn't he?" Lily said.

"Who? Remus?" Bella frowned "isn't he always?"

"I know, I'm just saying I'm sure you had fun with him" she replied.

Bella's large grey eyes narrowed, Lily talked as if she'd been meeting Remus for the first time tonight "I always have fun with Remus. What doesn't always happen however is you hanging out with James, what was that about?"

"My inability to turn down someone in need. Well that's not true because I tried to shake him off but he obviously wanted to get away from those harpies of his so I helped him and then we got talking. He's an alright guy I guess"

"Well of course he is' Bella said and then got up 'listen I'm going to sleep, I'm getting really tired"

Lily agreed and the two girls got ready for bed and promptly fell asleep.


The girls awoke the following morning to not unexpected results. Lily and Bella were fine, if a touch haggard while the ever serene Nia started the day with a foul temper and an aching head.

"Morning!" Sirius sang as they seated themselves opposite the Marauders.

Lily and Bella managed replies in kind, Nia emitted an unseemly grunt.

"You alright there Nia? Seem a bit worse for the wear" Sirius commented, his tone only a little mocking. He earned a somewhat murderous glare for his efforts.

Lily engaged herself in setting out a bowl of coco pops and orange juice for Nia to regale herself with. Pushing these in front of her friend and then set about grabbing some toast for herself.

"Thank you Lily" Nia mumbled, delving into her bowlful of chocolatey goodness.

"Everyone enjoy themselves last night?" James enquired. A series of assenting yet noncommittal and characteristically adolescent sounds were his answer.

The rest of breakfast was spent in a mutually exhausted silence. The only movement made by Remus, James and Lily who were trying to share bits and pieces of the same newspaper.

It was Bella who got up first, proclaiming "I'd better get going, my Arithmancy class is about to start, I'll see you two later?" she asked, Nia and Lily nodded and smiled back.

As Bella swung her bag onto her shoulder, Remus pushed his bowl away, handed his third of the paper to James and got up too.

"Mind if we went together, Bella?" he asked lightly. The girl smiled prettily and shrugged.

"Sure, why not? But we'd better be off"

Lily watched them go with a thoughtful eye, entirely unsure, as of yet, if Bella could ever be persuaded to look upon Remus in any other but a platonic light.

Sirius was notably bemused "where did that come from?" he asked.

"What are you talking about?" James said.

"He's been whining about her for months and suddenly works up the courage to talk to her, just like that?" he commented, looking around. The others rolled their eyes and sighed.

"Do you not notice anything? He started talking to her last night, after a push from Lily, I think" James answered, finishing by casting a questioning glance at Lily who nodded.

Sirius' eyebrows rose "oh! I guess I didn't notice. My attention was a little occupied" he said, glancing at Nia, who smiled but didn't look up. James , Lily and Peter involuntarily exchanged exasperated glances.

"Bloody hell, just go out and get it over with. If you think we'll be surprised, you're wrong" James stated, Peter and Lily smiled but said nothing.

Sirius laughed and turned to the girl opposite him who chose that moment to jump up, her coco pops and orange juice magically gone. Before anyone had the time to say a word, she'd picked up her bag and was looking at the redhead.

"Coming Lily? We've got ten minutes before Potions and I can't seem to conclude that essay to save my life" she remarked.

Lily looked wistfully at the Danish pastries she had planned to go for next and then studied her best friend, deciding that the latter needed her more. As they started to walk away, she turned back and smiled at her teammates, feeling Nia's abrupt departure was a little rude.

Sirius didn't notice but James smiled back and waved, continuing to watch her retreating form even though she'd turned back round.

"Now that wasn't very nice, was it?" Lily joked. Nia gave her a little and highly unsuccessful push.

"Shut up, I needed help with my homework" she said.

"No, you wanted to run away before Sirius could ask you out again" Lily reasoned. Nia turned to look at her with protest in her expression; Lily's was one of dry scepticism.

Each tried to stare the other down but as always, Nia lost. She blinked and sighed defeatedly. "You're probably right"

"Remind my forgetful self, why does Sirius' asking you out betoken the apocalypse? " Lily asked.

"I'll tell you for the last time, I'm still figuring out the details!" the other girl snapped, not appreciating her friend's humour.

They fell into silence until Lily tentatively said "is this about Cameron?"

Nia stopped immediately and looked at Lily with a sour expression on her face "actually Lily, it has nothing to do with Cameron and I'd rather we didn't talk about him. Ever. Alright?" she said tersely.

Lily nodded and didn't bother arguing and simply muttered "sorry"

Nia looked over at her and shook her head apologetically. "I'm sorry Lily, but you know how I get about him" she said.

Lily put an arm around Nia's shoulder "of course I do, I shouldn't have mentioned him at all. Promise I won't say another word about him until you do"

"Thank you"


"You know, you guys could pretend to listen!" Lily hissed to her best friends who were enjoying a leisurely chat. James, Remus and Sirius, who seated on the table behind them, were doing much the same.

Her friends looked at her in immoderate disbelief "Lily, are you having a laugh?" Nia demanded.

"Yeah I specifically remember listening on your behalf in almost every other lesson that we have together" Bella added indignantly.

"Not to mention the dozens of notes we replicated for you, first year to fifth. Remember that Lily o'mine?"

"And we deserve some sort of compensation for the fact that despite these self-imposed hindrances, you always did better than we did!" Bella finished.

Lily had the grace to look ashamed of her hypocrisy and redirected her attention to what Slughorn was saying which at that moment happened to be "pair up please!"

James was out of a partner. Sirius and Remus were always partners in Potions, due to James' lack of precision and abundance of carelessness when making a potion and Peter had dropped the subject.

"Sorry mate" Sirius said and grinned.

James rolled his eyes and looked around "it's alright, someone will work with me, I'm sure" as he twisted around in his seat, his eyes met with the twinkling ones of Nia.

He frowned, she was planning something, he was sure of it.

"James! Lily's free" she said, kindly offering her best friend. Lily looked at the girl with widened eyes and a frantic but discreet shake of the head.

"No, no, no. Nia, please Nia!" she whispered but Nia shook her head and pursed her lips solemnly.

"No Lily. It's not fair, James needs you more than we do, he's shocking and we're adequate" she said. Bella glanced from one friend to the other in confusion and a little anxiety. Lily laughed nervously.

"This potion is really difficult though, you don't understand!" the redhead attempted. But Nia looked at her with horror stricken eyes.

"Lily, are you suggesting that we can't handle a difficult potion, we have an OWL just like you, you know! And look, James is here" she cried.

James narrowed his eyes further. She was trying to force Lily into working with him but to what purpose?

Lily turned to James and tucked her hair behind her ear timidly. "Erm, d'you want to work at our table or yours?" she asked, not meeting his eyes.

He smiled at her, trying to put her at her ease "we'll work at yours. Don't worry I don't bite" he said pleasantly. He only got a nod in response.

Bella turned to Nia with a frown. "Oh nice one! As if we could do this without Lily!"

"Trust me, we'll be fine" Nia said with a smile.

"Do you even know what we're brewing?" the other girl asked. Nia looked to the board.

"Of course I do, we're brewing the 'strengthening solution' " she reiterated.

"Oh very funny, positively hilarious! But really-" Bella started but Nia held up a hand.

"Just prepare the ingredients Bella and calm down"

They worked in silence, and rather efficiently, James thought. He had stopped trying to converse with her, it obviously wasn't going to happen and of course she hadn't attempted. Or at least she hadn't until she took a look at their potion.

"James?" she enquired politely.

"Yes?" he replied.

"Our potion is pink" she stated calmly. He glanced into the cauldron and nodded.

"So it is" he said.

"Our potion is not supposed to be pink" she pointed out.

"Oh, that is a problem" he said, peering at the liquid rather closely.

"How many ashwinder eggs did you use?" Lily asked.

"Five" James answered.

Lily blinked and stared. James felt slightly nervous under her gaze.

She then took a deep breath and said, as politely as ever, "d'you mind reading the line about the ashwinder eggs out for me?"

"Sure. 'Add three ashwinder eggs, stir twice to-' Oh. Shit, I could've sworn it said five. Well two more, I mean it can't hurt, can it? It means our potion is just stronger, right?"

"Well actually no, because you see now, our strengthening solution is well on its way to being a love potion. Quite a strong one too" Lily explained patiently.

"Oh. I'm sorry Lily, I didn't know. I didn't mean to" he apologised. She shook her head and sighed.

"It's alright. Just get five valerian roots, cut each root into four equal pieces and throw them in there" she said. James nodded and began to count out roots.

"And James?" Lily said, the boy looked up. "Please, please make sure you cut them evenly"

"Right, I'll make sure of it"

And then there was silence.

"Miss Evans, your potion is pink" Professor Slughorn remarked, his brows furrowed.

"Uh yes sir, I'd noticed" she replied in a solemn tone which contradicted her bright smile.

Slughorn chuckled and then pointed questioningly at the potion.

"Well you see sir, we had an accident but it's all under control" she explained vaguely, hoping to get away with it.

"Too many ashwinder eggs, I suppose. A mistake characteristic of Mr. Potter's work of course" the man said airily.

James continued to cut up the roots but the knife went down rather more viciously. Lily blushed for James and looked from him to the teacher before clearing her throat.

"A-actually sir, it was my fault. I-um zoned out there for a second. James here, actually pointed it out to me. But it's okay; see I told him to cut up those valerian roots, to counteract the excess" she lied.

James looked up in confusion while Slughorn beamed.

"Your intuition never ceases to amaze me, my girl!" he said and smiled at James as well who nodded.

Neither of them said anything for a while. Bella added some powder to her cauldron and rolled her eyes.

"Could you two be any more boring?" she exclaimed. The Heads looked at each other and laughed.

"Listen I don't know why you did that just now but thanks" James said casually. Lily shrugged a shoulder as she stirred the concoction.

"It's alright"

"Why though? Sluggy's pet can't be seen to be making mistakes like that"

She scowled at him but let it go "it was nothing. Really. Besides you don't need another reason for him to hate you, right?" she said kindly.

"Fair point, did you see his face when I walked in, in the first lesson?" he said, grinning at the memory. The corners of her mouth twitched irrepressibly.

"How could I forget?"

"I thought he was going to collapse" they shared a smile and continued to work together in a rather more comfortable silence.

Nia had watched this exchange with an approving smile. She nudged Bella.

"Hey, don't you think Lily and James make a good couple" she commented. Bella looked at the pair in question and then back at Nia. Then she groaned.

"What?" Nia asked innocently "he likes her, you know"

"Oh really? Are you sure about that?" Bella countered.

"Of course I am!" Nia replied confidently.

"Did the words 'I like Lily' come out of his mouth?"

"Well…no, not exactly"

"Well then I very much doubt it" Bella said decidedly.

"You don't think it's possible for James to like Lily?"

"Of course not, she's brilliant" the brunette answered.

"Well then"

"But nobody else seems to see it…Nia, stay away from them!"

"What are you talking about?" Nia cried in protest. Bella gave her a look.

"Juts because the last two I set up got a bit messy-"

"Nia. It was a disaster" Bella stated.

"That was only one!" she cried, the other girl stared "and the one before that" she conceded, Bella raised her eyebrows. "Alright, so there have been a lot! But there have been successes"

"Name one"

"Jake and Diana, they were a success"

"She pushed him off a broom, Nia... on purpose"

"Yeah but they went out for a good three months before that"

"She almost got expelled and he broke half the bones in his body" Bella said.

"Whatever. This one will work, I can feel it"

"You're insane"

James glanced at the bickering pair from the other end of the table and then turned to his partner.

"What are they fighting about?" he asked. Lily didn't look up; she was too busy counting out twenty one laburnum seeds.

"Lily!"

She looked up, her brow creased.

"Huh? Did you say something?" she asked.

"Bella and Nia, why are they arguing?"

Lily looked towards her best friends and rolled her eyes "fuck knows" she murmured and went back to counting out seeds.

James frowned "well aren't you going to stop them? You stop everyone else"

The red head sighed and looked back at Nia and Bella and then at the clock. "Give them four minutes" she said and bent her head again. Her hand froze.

"Here, powder this quick!" she ordered quietly, sliding him a tiny little basin.

"What?"

"Look busy" Lily whispered.

Before, he could question, Slughorn was upon them and peering curiously into their cauldron.

"Everything looks just as it should, not that I'm surprised" Slughorn said. Lily smiled at him. The rotund man then glanced at what James was busy crushing with the pestle.

"Hellebore, eh?" he asked.

James looked to Lily who nodded very discreetly.

"Don't need to tell you, sir" James replied, attempting a joking tone.

"Yes, yes. Well Mr. Potter, you'd be wise to stick to Miss Evans in this dungeon if you want that spot in the auror office. No one better to help you along" he said, winking at Lily and passing on. The wheels were turning in James' head.

"Thanks again" he said, watching her closely.

"It's okay. Better to have him on your side, and you need it more than I do" she answered, not looking up but blushing in embarrassment nevertheless.

"Speaking of which, I was wondering if-" but he broke off.

"If?" she repeated in curiosity.

"I know it's weird I'm asking but could-would you mind being my potions tut-partner?" he proposed.

"Tut-partner? Which one do you want me to be?"

"I don't know, something in the middle? As the situation requires, if you will"

"I see"

"I mean, you're amazing at Potions and the E I got in the OWLs was like by the skin of my teeth and I need it for Auror training and I figure, if you helped me, I'd probably…yeah" he said. Lily looked rather pink as she stared at her feet.

James looked at her with an amused eye; she was obviously not used to compliments. It took her a second to compose herself, then she looked up.

"And you really want to be an auror?" Lily enquired gently.

"More than anything"

"Alright then"

He grinned at her; she shook her head with a smile and examined the potion.

"Seriously? Thank you so much. What do want in return? Help with Transfiguration?" he offered.

"No, thank you. I don't need it"

"Of course you don't. So what do you want me to do?"

"You don't need to pay me back, James" Lily said firmly.

"Yes I do" James persisted.

"No because if I hadn't said yes, that'd be very unfair of me, wouldn't it?"

"Even so, I have to do something, I owe you. I'll figure something out" he finished. Lily looked at him and they held a gaze for a brief second before she sighed resignedly.

"If you insist"

Ten minutes later, Lily could be found by Nia's side, waiting for Bella to finish packing up.

As they walked out, Nia turned to the head girl.

"So did you have fun working with James?" she asked.

"How much fun can you have in a cold dungeon?" Lily responded.

"True"

"But, I did agree to be his tutor slash partner for the rest of the year"

"You did?"

"He wants to be an auror. It's only fair someone help him out" the red head explained.

"You're too nice, love. It'll bite you in the arse one day" Bella joked. Nia looked archly at the tiny brunette who rolled her eyes.

"She would have done that for anyone!" she whispered.

"If you say so"


"Nia?" Sirius said, keeping his attention steadily on the rum'n'raisin ice cream he was taking a chunk out of with his spoon.

"Yes?" Nia answered in a similar tone, smiling at a house elf who handed her a hot chocolate to go with her own preferred triple scoop of butterscotch.

They settled down on a nearby table in the large school kitchen as Sirius voiced his concern "do you like me?"

Nia paused for a second, her spoon firmly in one of the scoops before she resumed her action "of course I like you"

"Do you-do you like like me?"

"Do I like like you?" Nia repeated, clearly amused "what are we, seven?"

"Are you going to answer me?"

Nia groaned audibly "Sirius must we do this?"

"Yes, we must actually"

"Of course I like like you, you know I do"

"But you don't want to go out with me?"

Nia sighed "it's not as simple as that"

Sirius looked at her, his smoky grey eyes a little grave "I thought it was"

She thought about how she was going to answer his question "I do want to go out with you. I always have, there's just been people in the way. First it was that girl you were going out with-"

"Olivia"

"Olivia. Then you broke up with her and I started going out with Cameron and that lasted ages"

"But now we're both free" Sirius reasoned.

"We are but-The thing is though that the last girl you went out with lasted about two months, which isn't terrible but I mean, Cameron and I went out for two years and our breakup was...difficult"

He frowned instantly "what happened?"

Nia thought about it, her murky eyes melancholic "a load of shit really, I'm still getting my head round it. And I don't want to go out with you, still thinking about Cameron, d'you understand?"

Sirius nodded and went back to his ice cream. "Do you want to um-talk about it?" he asked awkwardly.

Nia laughed and looked at him sceptically "yes, I'd like that, and is that your shoulder because I'd quite like to cry on it"

He looked apprehensive and suspicious "y-you're, that's sarcasm, isn't it?" this made her burst into laughter "thank fuck for that" he sighed.

"Chicken"

"Dog actually"

"Cheer up love, you're not that bad. Still won't go out with you though"

Sirius rolled his eyes "shut up. Hogwarts swoons at these feet, haven't you heard?"

"This Hogwarts?" Nia asked, looking around.

"I don't know why I bother with you; it's not like it does my ego any favours"

The corner of her mouth lifted in that way that never failed to make Sirius stare "that's why you bother with me" she joked "if it came to that though, I don't know that you're all that either"

Sirius grinned devilishly, in a way that put her on her guard and somehow completely disarmed her at the same time "you do know, know very well. I think it was….summer just gone, August- 26th was it?"

She should've known this was going to come up "no! Sirius, don't! You haven't told anyone, have you?"

"Haven't told anyone yet but I'm starting to wonder if maybe I should" he said lightly.

If possible her eyes widened even more "Sirius" she warned "come on, it was a mistake, you know it was"

Sirius frowned in mock thought "it didn't feel like a mistake, you didn't sound like you'd make a mistake either, in fact what you said, more like scr-"

"Say it; I will kill you" Nia stated "right now, in front of the elves. And I can't believe you let me get that far"

The boy stared at her with enough scorn to make her blush as she vaguely recalled what had happened that night "I let you get that far? You got there all by yourself, darling. I was just around"

She looked at him imploringly "you won't tell anyone will you? Will you Sirius?" she pleaded.

He took one look at her and felt his lip curl "no I won't tell anyone" he paused for a second to lean closer to her "you're the only one who needs to remember and you're not going to forget are you?"

He closed the gap between them before she'd said another word and her mind went blank, heart rate increasing instantly as her hand touched the back of his neck lightly for support as he took her over. With a gasp her mouth opened, her want amplified by the feeling of his tongue on her bottom lip.

This was his game.

But he was done. And when she opened her eyes, the kitchen entrance was shutting behind him.


"What's your favourite quidditch team?" James asked suddenly.

Lily blinked "um-I don't really have one, don't follow the league"

"You don't follow the league?" James asked, almost horrified "b-but you love quidditch"

She thought about this carefully "well I dunno, I like playing it, certainly. I just never got into it. I know Nia supports the Wanderers" James made a derisive noise "and Bella's family all support Kenmare but..."

"I support Kenmare too" James stated.

Lily waited for a second, in case he had anything to add to this but apparently he hadn't "oh? That's nice"

"But if you, like, had to support one of them, had to, which one? Out of the Wanderers and the Kestrels I mean"

"Well...Wigtown are Scottish, aren't they? And I mean, my parents are the least Irish, Irish people you will ever meet but they would still think it a heresy for me to endorse anything Scottish in any way so-" she considered out loud.

"Kenmare are Irish" James added helpfully.

She nodded decidedly "yes, so Kenmare then. I suppose if I had to pick, I'd pick Kenmare"

James smiled in a satisfied manner as they continued walking and then spoke up again "you know, I always got the impression you were from London"

She shrugged "Kent, we've always lived in Kent but I always spend my time in London so I suppose you're right"

"And Ireland?" he enquired further.

Lily looked at him strangely but let it go "well my dad's family have been making their money off all this land that they've owned there for like ages and my mum comes from this big whiskey family and they still own a distillery there and she's sort of like the acting head of it all so..."

"So that's why you're Irish" James finished and then asked "so-so your mum's family, actually make whiskey?"

"For generations" Lily answered shortly.

He whistled "that's-"

"Lucrative?" she suggested with an incredibly dry smile.

He looked at her, returning her small offering "actually I was going to say that that's really cool. So is that what they do, manage land and whiskey?"

She shook her head "no. My dad has his own stockbroking firm in the city as well" she broke off, noting his confused look "you don't want me to explain what that means, trust me and we have a family restaurant that my dad manages with my uncle"

"Wow, they keep themselves busy then?"

Lily's face immediately darkened as she quietly answered "yes, they do"

He hadn't expected that and he could have kicked himself for it because he could see it her whole demeanour that she was drawing herself right back into her shell.

"What about your parents?" she asked politely.

"Nothing so exciting. My dad used to work in the Minister's office but he's retired and my mum is on the governing body for St. Mungo's"

"Your dad's retired?" Lily asked, sounding faintly surprised.

James laughed at this "yeah-he's uh, he's getting on a bit, my mum is too, she just loves working. They're a lot older than you're thinking them to be"

Lily blushed "oh James, I didn't mean to sound rude at all. I just didn't-I'm sorry"

He waved his hand "it's alright, I know, calm down Lily"

Just then two familiar girls walked past them. Lily's eyes narrowed and she opened her mouth but they beat her to it.

"Yeah, we know Lily, we're sorry. We're off to bed right now, promise" called one of them.

The Head Girl's mouth shut and she swivelled round to continue her round before changing her mind. "No, stop! Leo, Annie, get over here"

James watched, utterly bemused, as the two girls stopped where they were but did not turn around.

"My wand is out, I will not hesitate to hex you" Lily declared, making good her word by pulling out her rather thing wand.

One of them sighed and they sullenly turned and made their way over.

"You have no scruples, Lily Evans, I hope you know that" one of them said.

"How long have you known us? All our lives practically-"

"Not quite seven years" Lily inserted, rolling her eyes.

"-and here you are, wand drawn, ready to kill us and we thought you were one of the family"

"Your family wouldn't hesitate either in fact I've frequently seen your mother reach for her wand in front of you two"

The two girls grinned, thinking back to these times.

James, by this time, was thoroughly struck by the sight of them.

It was understandable though, primarily because they were identical. And secondly because he had often fleetingly wondered as to the identities of this eye-catching pair.

"James" Lily was saying "this is Leonora and Marianne Aldringham but they prefer Leo and Annie. Guys, this is James Potter"

Looking at them, he wondered why he hadn't noticed it before. The resemblance between them and their sister was clear.

They shared the same pale skin, aristocratic cast of lineaments and clear grey eyes but their hair though ringletted like Bella's, was of a pretty golden shade and they were both a tad curvier and about two inches taller. And they were all three of them, gorgeous.

"What are you two doing?" the redheaded demanded severely.

"Nothing! We were with some friends in the Ravenclaw Common Room and now we're going to bed, we just didn't realise what time it was" Leo explained.

Lily looked at them both, her suspicion not mitigated one bit "plausible as that explanation is, since I'm sure you do have friends in Ravenclaw and I'm sure you're clever enough to get into their common room without assistance, I still think it's bollocks. What are you two up to?"

It was at this moment that James, running a sapient eye over the pair of them, noticed that both their arms were folded and pressed quite tightly against their stomachs just concealing what looked to be a slight bulge.

Pulling out his wand and pointing at bulge he twice said "accio" before any of them had had the chance to blink whereupon numerous dungbombs came flying towards the two Heads who, inimitably trained as they were, deftly caught them.

Lily, to the indignation of her fifth year friends, looked rather gleeful "I knew it! Good one James" she said, losing her reserve.

The twins were now glaring at him with an expression that quite clearly read 'et tu Brute?' James understanding this, shrugged sheepishly.

"Sorry. I've always wanted to do that"

"What are these? Dungbombs?" Lily interrupted, tentatively turning the offending items over in her hands.

The other three all looked at her derisively, James speaking first "of course they are, what else could they be?" he looked at the two that two he was holding "and they're the ones that come with timers, nice"

Lily shook her head "no! Not nice. You guys, how many times? I don't want to tell you off, it puts me in an awkward position especially when your mum writes to ask me to back up whatever letter McGonagall last sent her about you. Does it not bother you in the slightest that between you, you'll be the death of your mother?"

Annie smiled seraphically and replied bracingly "Lily, don't be silly! We won't be the death of our mother, Fred's whorishness will"

James snorted and quickly pursed lips while Lily's mouth twitched as she tried to school her face into a scowl.

"What were you going to do with these anyway?" she asked.

They looked at each other thoughtfully and seemed to come to a decision "we'll tell James"

Lily narrowed her eyes and looked between the pretty pair and her counterpart, not trusting any of them but had to concede.

Leo came closer and whispered something into James' ear who, upon hearing her out, nodded gravely "we can let them off for that, it's an internal affair"

His partner seemed inclined to disagree but thought better of it after glancing at her watch and let the two girls go with a tight-lipped warning.

"Your personality switches baffle me" James proclaimed once they had resumed their tedious duty.

Lily looked at him in a measuring way and answered, pleasantly as ever "personality switches?"

"The person you become when you're around people you know, when in lessons and apparently when you're drunk"

"I wasn't drunk" she corrected primly.

"When you're merry then" he retorted with a smirk "but it happens. I mean, I know shy people can be like that, Remus is my best friend. But even when he's with his us, he's still a reserved person, Remus is still Remus, you're not"

To his surprise, his frank tactics impressed her more than his usual employment of tact "I'm not a shy person" she said quite simply "I'm just...funny about people"

"What does that mean?"

She chose her words carefully "people are...they're strange. They require a lot a faith, some people –like Bella- can just hand it out but I'm too lazy and the majority of people are too...shifty to bother with"

James internally disagreed with her. She was shy. Shy people, he reasoned with himself, had problems trusting people but decided not to contest her. His thoughts were interrupted by her voice.

"James? Why the interest?"

Why the sudden interest, that was interesting, he answered as best he could "because last week when we did rounds and you pointed out that although people who see each other as much as we do would probably at least have the decency to become good friends, we know near on nothing about each other, it's unnatural"

"Is it?" Lily wondered aloud in a way that left James with a desire to laugh.

"Yes! We should know each other, we should be able to talk each other only-I've never bothered because it didn't seem right. I've never been around you and felt like we should talk, you know?"

He wasn't being rude, he was stating a fact and she agreed "I know"

"But then at that last practise, I saw you and Nia talking and then you laughed in-in this way and for the first time since...ever, I actually wanted to go and talk to you. You looked like-you reminded me of the first time I met Bella. I just had to talk to you; I wanted to be friends with you"

Lily had stopped walking and was staring at him in a very hard, unnerving way that made him feel incredibly awkward, as though she were reading things he'd rather she didn't.

After much deliberation, she chose to let his explanation sit alone.

"We'd better finish these rounds, McGonagall will kill us"

A/n: I'm so sorry this took so long but here it is! Anyway I hope you liked it and I'd love a review!