Disclaimer: I. Own. Nothing. You know. J.K. Rowling owns all the rights to harry potter.
A/N—This is a bit different from most things I've read on ff.net. Lily isn't a loner. Lily isn't a loser. Lily isn't abused. Lily isn't Hermione-like. Lily is just as popular as James potter and she plays Quidditch as well. Actually Lily is MORE popular than James Potter—and the reason she hates him? He's been trying to steal her spotlight since first year. It didn't help that in fifth year he decided that he had a CRUSH on her. For six years Lily has been able to keep James OUT of HER spotlight. But what happens when he's made captain of the Quidditch team and Head Boy. And why does nothing seem to be going exactly the way she planned?
CHAPTER ONE: The first six years. (A/N—this is just little bits of what happened from first year to sixth year. Next chapter will start with seventh year and soon after ROMANCE will ensue.)
First Year!
The Gryffindor first years were in Charms class, learing the wingardium leviosa charm. They all had feathers to practice on. So far, none of the students had been able to master the charm. However, Lily Evans was bound to change that.
"Wingardum leviosa!" she said, swishing and flicking (a/n—hahahaha) her wand. Her feather rose about two feet off her desk.
"Very nice, miss Evans! Look class, miss Evans has done it!" professor Flitwick said, applauding Lily.
James Potter scowled at his feather.
"Wow! Look! It's someone better than James! Do you—"
"SHUT UP, Sirius! I can do it!"
Sirius crossed his arms. "Prove it, then."
"Fine. I will. Wingardium leviosa!" James bellowed, pointing his wand at his feather after doing the swish-flick movement he thought was stupid.
And James did do it. His feather rose about five feet off his desk. That would be three feet higher than that Evans girl did it! James thought smugly.
"Look here! James Potter did it too, professor!" Sirius called out across the room.
Professor Flitwick scuttled across the room. "So he has! Class! See, Mr. Potter has done it as well. Look at his technique…." Flitwick went on. James smiled arrogantly—a smile Lily Evans saw. Though she did not know it then, it was a smile she would grow to immensely abhor.
"What a PRAT!" Lily muttered under her breath.
Her friend Mel turned. "You're mad because he floated his feather higher than you did?"
"Yep," Lily seethed.
Mel crossed her arms. "Well, ok. I guess if you're just gonna stand there with steam pouring out from your ears I'm going to try."
Lily snatched up the feather protectively. "Not until I float my feather TEN feet!"
Lily muttered the spell and swished and flicked. Her feather rose off the desk until it was nearly touching the ceiling.
"Professor! Professor! Look how high mine went!" Lily yelled.
Everyone turned and Professor Flitwick came back over to Lily's side of the room. The rest of the class stared in awe at Lily's feather, way up by the ceiling. Except for James Potter. He nearly crushed his feather in his fist.
She would not beat him again.
Oh how wrong he was.
Throughout the year they both competed for the spot of being best at everything. Well such a competition does not go unnoticed, and without meaning to, they actually became the some of the most popular first years. Competition grew even more fierce when they realized this fact. Of course being most popular would mean winning in a big way. Finally summer holiday came and they got a break. But not before Lily pulled ahead by getting better marks on final exams.
***
Second YearQuidditch try-outs. (A/N—I know there's some, er, disagreement as to whether or not James was a Seeker or a Chaser. Before anyone gets mad at me, I'm making James a Chaser because it works better with the plot—it's easier to compete at something if they play the same position.)
James assumed he had the upper hand this time. He came from a wizarding family. He had had years of practice on a broom. All Lily Evans had had were the few crappy lessons that Hogwarts offered.
Maybe he should stop assuming. It really didn't get him anywhere that time.
What happened was that Lily tried, and tried hard, whereas James thought he was a sure-shot for Chaser. Of course they both made the team, but… Lily looked better at try-outs. Why? Because she was not the one who behaved like a stuck-up pompous ass.
A snatch of some conversation they had before try-outs…
"D'you want me to bewitch a mattress to float under you? You might need it. Falls are quite nasty," James asked Lily while they were waiting to fly.
"No, not that I'd expect you to know how to do that."
"You know you've got nothing on me this time. I've been flying for years."
"So? My sister's been playing the piano since she was four. She's fifteen now and she's bloody awful," Lily retorted. (a/n—needed to put that in, sorry it's like… probably not true?)
"We'll see what happens when we get out there," James said.
Lily just nodded.
And they did see. Oh boy did they see. Well, it's more what JAMES saw.
A snatch of some conversation they had after try-outs…
"Mmm… what was that you were saying about me falling?" Lily questioned nastily.
James crossed his arms and said nothing.
"You know, if you had tried, I admit that you probably would have been better than me. Ah, that's the problem with people like you."
"People like me?"
"Yes, you're so arrogant you think nobody will ever beat you and that you never have to sweat to do anything. Too bad you're always wrong as well." Lily turned and walked away.
James stood there fighting the almost overwhelming urge to curse her retreating back and long red hair.
***^
Third YearA Quidditch game between Gryffindor and Slytherin. And what are James and Lily doing? Throughout the whole game they're trying to see who can score more goals than the other. They refuse to pass to one another which leads to some sticky situations. Ultimately their little competition wins them the game because of all the goals they each scored—mainly because it kept the Slytherins from scoring at all, and they actually distracted the Slytherin Seeker. However they got in trouble with the captain for not playing "like a team", and that behavior like that in the future might not win them the game—it would probably cost them the game.
Of course, Lily still won. She scored six goals to James' five.
***^
Fourth YearFourth Year was quite interesting. Considering they were all fourteen, and had er… raging hormones. (A/N—LOL!) It turned into somewhat of a dating competition. Of course James was quite handsome and Lily was becoming very pretty. Therefore, adding to the fact that they were both the most popular students in the fourth year, and becoming known to some of the other years as well, they had lots of date offers.
And of course, James turned it into a competition.
"So I've already dated—let's see—five girls and it's only the second week of school! How amazing!" James said loudly and pointedly to Sirius, Remus and Peter at breakfast one morning while Lily was walking by.
Of course she heard, with James practically yelling that so maladroitly.
She had only been on two dates, but she had had four offers. She refused to stand for this.
Two weeks later, Lily was the one maladroitly saying things to her close friends Mel and Kaye. "Wow, I've had just absolutely so many hot guys asking me out. I mean, there's only so much time in a weekend! I feel bad that I've had to turn down half of them already!"
And so it went on through the whole year. It didn't even seem to bother the other students that the only thing they seemed to matter for that year was to provide dating partners for Lily and James. Actually they found it rather fun, for if they needed a date they could get one—almost guaranteed—from Lily or James. Also, they used it as a way to subtly root for whichever they liked better.
But at the end of the year both Lily and James lost count, and they couldn't determine who won. So what was that twinge in James' stomach? It's not as if he lost….
***^
Fifth Year(A/N—you all know the bit in OotP—assume that's part of this too)
Lily Evans had taken up a considerable amount of space in James' mind all summer. He didn't know why and was determined to get her out. He attributed it to the fact that he was so obsessed with beating her. Maybe a little too obsessed. When he arrived at Hogwarts the pit of his stomach dropped out. He fancied her. Lily Evans! How did that happen? It was going to ruin everything!
Unless…
Could he use it in his favor? Would Lily heartlessly rejecting peace offerings push him higher up than her on the ladder of popularity?
Apparently not. It didn't seem to affect anything except for Lily's utmost loathing for him. That increased immensely—more than anyone thought possible.
James actually stopped trying to beat her. But she didn't stop trying to beat him. She was determined to wipe that arrogant smirk off his pretty-boy face. It helped a lot that she was made a prefect and he wasn't.
***^
Sixth YearThey found out over the summer what they had scored on their O.W.L.s. But… it took a while to find out who scored better than whom. Lily scored better in Charms, and James scored better in Transfiguration. Other than that, they were pretty equal.
Hanging over their heads was the fact that next year was seventh year—the year when they could possibly become Head Boy and Head Girl. Also added was the fact that their Quidditch captain was graduating and they needed a new one.
Lily was still slightly ahead at the end of sixth year.
But that was all about to change.
**End chapter one**
(A/N—hope that was amusing—the real plot starts in chapter two, I just thought it would be fun to do this… a bit of background. Well it was fun to write.
p.s. I really really really do like reviews)