AN:/Hi guys, it's been a couple of days, that's because I was hesitant to put this chapter up. I'm not very happy with it to be honest but I wanted to put a new one up...so here we go! Thank you x

Lily looked anxiously behind her shoulder. Everyone was inside his or her compartments.
"No one here to save you now, mudblood." Mulciber taunted. Lily looked over his shoulder at Severus. He was wide-eyed and even paler than usual.
The smaller boy waited a moment, eyes locked onto hers, before retreating back into the compartment. He pulled the blind down.
Lily felt a surge of anger fire through her. Did he honestly not care one tiny bit?
"We're not at Kings Cross yet." Lily said, trying to make her voice sound confident. "I can still give you detentions."
Avery scoffed.
"Oh no, the mudblood thinks she actually has authority over us! Let's teach her a lesson, shall we?"
Lily backed away, searching for something behind her to use as a weapon. Nothing.
"Filth like you shouldn't be allowed to even look us in the eye." Mulciber snarled, edging closer and closer.
Lily, now extremely panicked, suddenly heard her sister's clipped voice pound in her head.
'Remember Lily, if any boys ever try to take of advantage of you…give them a good old kick in the place where it hurts most, that should sort them out.'
Gathering all her strength, Lily thrust her knee up at the first boy. The strike hit home, as Avery stumbled over, yelping in a high-pitched voice.

Lily smirked, but there was still Mulciber to deal with.
He had stepped over his crying friend, a look of fury crossing his eyes.
"Oh you'll pay for that, muggle."
Lily was about to punch him across the face, when-
"Stupefy!"
Mulciber fell to the floor, right onto Lily's feet.
"Ow! Sodding hell!" She kicked the heavy boy off her, glaring at the new arrival. Of course, Lily thought, my knight in bloody shining armor.

"I was handling that just fine, Potter."
James shrugged, twirling his wand in his hand.
"Looked like you needed some help."
"I did not!"
Lily pushed a stray hair out of her face, walking closer to the boy.
"Potter, didn't I tell you to leave me alone?"
James smiled. "I would of done the same for anyone, Evans."
Lily rolled her eyes. "Oh yeah, of course you would have."

There was a silence. James lifted his hand to his hair, thought better of it and swung it back down to his side.
"Actually Evans, I was looking for you."
Lily raised her eyebrows.
"I wanted to talk before we leave for summer."
"Okay…" Lily said, gesturing for him to continue.
"Um," James suddenly looked quite nervous. He looked around at the glass compartment door opposite. Four or five excited looking third years had their noses practically pressed up against it. "Mind if we go somewhere more discreet?"

Lily sighed. What did this boy want?
"Fine Potter! Merlin you're annoying."
James chose to ignore this and grabbed her hand.
He led her towards the repair closet near the very top of the train.
"I'm not going in there with you!" Lily exclaimed. "It's too small!"
James opened the door and pushed her inside in front of him, before closing it.
"Hey!" Lily groaned. "There isn't enough air in here!"
"This won't take long, I promise."
She could hear the engine of the Hogwarts Express in her ears as James played with his hands.
"Potter! What?"
James looked up. He took a deep breath and Lily noticed he was shaking slightly.
"You have to promise you'll listen to me. Don't freak out and shout, okay?"
Lily tugged at the bottom of her jumper. "Yes, fine."
"Okay…er…you see, well I just, ah…It's-"
"Spit it out Potter!" Lily snapped.
"Right, yeah. I know you hate me-"
"Despise you, more like." Lily muttered.
"And I know you think I'm an arrogant nutter…but, well, you have to believe me when I say I really like you, Evans!"
Lily blinked. "What Potter?"

"I like you! All those times I've asked you out over the years…I wasn't just being stupid or doing dares. I seriously fancy the pants off you!" He continued before she could speak. That was all right though; Lily didn't exactly know what to say to that.
"I know I'm an idiot, and a bully! I'm really immature, but I'm willing to…to change, because, well…Lily…the more I stay around you…the more I want you!"

He sighed, apparently finished his speech.
Lily was blushing, suddenly aware at how close they were. Her knees were touching his legs, and she could feel his heartbeat, uneven and jumpy.
"Well?" He said frantically. "Don't just stand there!"
Lily shook her head. She could think of plenty of things to say but her mouth was having trouble working.
"C'mon, say something!" James' eyes were wide and Lily could see the beads of sweat forming on his forehead.
"I…uh…" Lily congratulated herself on that brilliant use of vocabulary. "Um…"

The closet felt smaller than before, or had James moved closer?
Realizing that Lily didn't have much to say, he hesitantly lifted his hand up to cradle her cheek.
Lily jumped. His hand was clammy against her face.
"Potter, what are you-"
But before she could complete the sentence, James leaned down and touched her cheek with his lips.
She stiffened, unsure of what to do.
He slowly moved his lips to hers.
James' eyes were closed, but Lily's were wide open.

She jumped back. "Oh my merlin…uh…"
James had turned a commendable color of purple.
He gasped slightly before turning his back to her.
After fumbling with the door for a moment, the boy disappeared from the closet.
Lily stayed there, with her hand stuck over her mouth.

The train lurched to a stop, and Lily was still standing in the closet. What was she going to do? What if she saw him on the platform?
Lily shivered.
Deciding that she had to get off the train, she left the cupboard and walked down the empty hall. Most students were already off the train.

After she'd stepped down from the steps, Lily walked to the luggage hold, where crowds of pupils were gathering their things. She saw Alice, tugging her trunk towards her.
"Lily! Where've you been?"
"Nowhere!" Lily said too loudly. "I was just walking."
Alice raised an eyebrow. "For an hour?"
She nodded rapidly.
"Well, Hestia and Marlene have already left. They told me to tell you to have a good summer and stuff, y'know."
"Right." Lily stuttered. "Well. See you later Alice."
She nodded again before walking on to where her trunk was sitting. She gripped the handle tightly; glad to see that Alice had left.

Once Lily was back onto the normal platform, walking through King's Cross station, she thought she was safe.
No such luck.
"Oi, Evans!"
Lily looked around, biting her lip. Sirius Black was rushing up to her…James trailing half-heartedly behind.
"What, Black?"
"You were going to leave without saying goodbye!"
"Yep."
Sirius sucked in a breath dramatically.
"Fine! Goodbye Black!" Lily turned around again, but the persistent boy's hand latched onto her wrist.
"You didn't say goodbye to Prongs!"
Lily blushed and looked at James. He was staring at his shoes quite intently, and Lily could tell that he had not informed Sirius on what had happened in the repair closet.
"…B-bye, P-potter."
James nodded ever so slightly, still not looking up.
Sirius was staring between the two. "Have I missed something here?"
"O-of course n-not!" James exclaimed.
"Nope!" Lily said, wringing her hands together. "I-I need to go. See you in September."
She turned and briskly walked away, muttering to herself, so much so that an elderly couple asked if she was okay.
"No." She had replied. "I really don't think I am."