Follow James and Lily's relationship through their seventh year at Hogwarts. Enemies become friends and before they know it, special feelings have developed.

Disclaimer: All characters belong to JK Rowling and anything else you may recognize from the books...also, an italicized line later in this chapter is from the book Sense and Sensibility by Jane Austen.

Oh and please don't forget to review :D I would love to know what you think of the story! And now without further ado...

Lily Evans sighed in relief as her mum loosened her grip from around her.

"Mum, I'll be fine," Lily mumbled into her mum's hair.

Mrs. Evans pulled out of the embrace to look into the shining emerald eyes of her seventeen year old daughter.

"I know sweetie. You've always made us proud and I'm sure you'll do great. Write to us often. And I know you said you aren't going to come home this year for Christmas, but if you change your mind that's completely fine."

Lily smiled, "Thanks mum, but I'm sure. I'm going to be drowning in my studies this year and I'll need all the time I can get."

Lily hugged her mum quickly one last time before moving onto her dad who kissed her forehead. "We're proud of your diligence Lily."

"Thanks Dad."

As Lily turned around and began walking towards the Hogwarts Express, she felt a twinge of pain at the absence of her older sister. Petunia had once again refused to come see off Lily at Kings Cross stating that she wanted nothing to do with "the freaks". Lily had begged her sister to come this one final time, but Petunia had outright refused and it had been a lost battle on Lily's part. Finally, stepping onto the train, Lily turned around and faced her parents. She waved at them and watched them wave back, a mixture of pride and anxiety etched on their faces. Though Lily's parents had never been short of proud at the accomplishments of their youngest daughter, even the course of seven years had not been enough for Mr. and Mrs. Evans to get completely comfortable with the world that their daughter called her own.

Lily continued waving as the Hogwarts Express began rolling and her parents were soon nothing but specks in the distance. Turning into the train, Lily sighed, flipped her straight red hair out of her eyes, straightened her Head Girl badge, and walked into her final year at Hogwarts with the confidence that she had always prided herself in having.

Two steps into the train, Lily slouched and pulled a face. Who was she kidding? There wasn't an inch of confidence in her entire body. Head Girl responsibilities, N.E.W.T. exams, and life after Hogwarts were constantly on her mind, scaring her to death.

"Lily!" Lily was distracted out of her worries as she turned around to see Remus Lupin making his way towards her. Or at least trying. The task seemed rather complicated as first years were scurrying through the narrow passageway in the opposite direction, knocking Remus off balance, and Sirius Black was holding back the collar of Remus's robes, preventing him from taking any further steps to reach her.

"Hey Remus, how's it going?" Lily asked once Remus had managed to come a bit closer.

"Ah, everything's good. How are you? Oh, Head Girl I see. Congrats!"

"Thanks! Oh, so you didn't make it?" Lily must admit that she was a bit disappointed at the lack of the Head Boy badge on Remus's robes. When she had received her letter, she had naturally wondered who was made Head Boy. Remus Lupin had seemed quite right for the position, being her fellow Gryffindor prefect the previous years. Though Remus was one of the Marauders, he was nothing like the other three. Remus was easy to work with, and he was very responsible and organized, all qualities that Lily would have preferred her co-Head to have. If Lily had expected any Gryffindor to have made it, it was definitely Remus.

"Nah. I'm kind of glad though. Head duties would have taken up a lot of my time, and with N.E.W.T this year, it's one less burden on my shoulders giving me more time to study."

"Yeah, I suppose you're right. Do you happen to know who made Head Boy then?"

Remus suddenly looked a bit sheepish, "Yeah, I do. That's actually why I wanted to talk to you. He's a fellow Gryffindor".

"A Gryffindor?" Lily repeated. She hadn't seen this one coming. "Who? It's not Sirius is it?" Lily scrunched up her nose at the prospect of having to work with someone who was so laid back and lazy. "I mean, don't get me wrong. I know he's you friends and everything, but it's just that-"

"He's going to be of no help?" Remus finished for her. "Don't worry it's not him. Go on, you don't have many left to guess from.

Lily looked at Remus apprehensively. He was right. There were only four other boys that were seventh year Gryffindors, two of which were Marauders…

One look at Lily's face and Remus decided he should just tell her. That her worst nightmare had come true, that indeed she would be sharing living quarters with, working night and day with, and seeing a lot of -

"Remus, mate!" Sirius thumped Remus on the back so hard that it caused him to bend forward and almost hit Lily in the face. "Having a great chat with Lily Pad are we?" Sirius grinned and nodded in greeting as Lily scowled.

"We better get going if we want a decent compartment to ourselves. Don't want to get stuck sitting with the pesky first years now do we?" Without waiting for an answer, Sirius began dragging Remus by the arm away from Lily. Remus turned around to helplessly wave goodbye at a still baffled Lily.

"Wait! You didn't tell me who Head Boy is!"

Remus was about to answer when Sirius placed a hand over his mouth and yelled, "You'll find out soon enough Lily! What's the rush?" And with that he pushed himself and Remus into a compartment and shut the door.

I come here with no expectations, only to profess, now I am at the liberty to do so, that my heart is and will always be yours.

Lily sighed. True love. Why did it only seem possible in novels. Why not in her real life? When would she meet her special someone? Someone who she could utter these very words to….

The thoughts were still in her head as Lily closed her book and looked up to receive the biggest shock of her life.

"POTTER!"

There, sitting on the bench in the Heads compartment right across from Lily with his arms crossed over his chest was none other than James Potter. His black hair was in its usual nest on top of his head and behind his glasses, his hazel eyes were full of laughter. He wore his legendary lopsided grin causing Lily's insides to squirm for God knows what reason.

Lily checked her watch. There were exactly ten more minutes before her first meeting with the prefects and still the Head Boy hadn't had the tact to show up. She turned to face James, hoping to get rid of him as soon as possible.

"What are you doing here Potter?" Lily asked.

"Nice to see you too Evans." James replied cockily. His grin grew wider and Lily's insides screamed.

Lily tried to ignore her conscience which was currently telling her that she loved the way James grinned, and instead said, "How long have you been here anyway? I didn't even hear you come in."

"Of course you didn't." James bent down and picked up her book. "You were too busy with your nose stuck in this cheesy romance novel."

"It is not a cheesy romance novel!" Lily got up, feeling offended as she yanked the book from James's hand. "You wouldn't know anything about romance. It's not cheesy at all. Its actually quite dignified and reputable. Two things that you clearly lack."

"Yeah, well the couple on the cover sure do seem to be quite 'dignified and reputable' in what they're doing."

Lily blushed at James's directness. "Shut up Potter" It was an instinctive thing to say whenever Lily realized she had lost yet another argument with James. She carefully stowed away her beloved book in her pack and sat back down. She frowned when she realized James was watching her with that expression again.

Trying to get the memories of James in her previous years out of her head, she realized her insides had once again begun their summersaults. Praying that the feelings would go away, she dug into her pack and pulled out a water bottle. She knew drinking water would have no effect on the summersaults but she was quite helpless any other way.

Lily unscrewed the top of her bottle and looked at James. "So, you still haven't told me what you're doing here. You do realize this compartment is for Heads only."

"Yes Evans, I do. I know this might come as a surprise to you, but you're not the only one who can read the sign outside the door." Lily scowled and brought the bottle to her mouth, the refreshing water cool on her tongue.

James straightened up his shoulders and eyed Lily's Head Girl badge carefully before looking gravely into her eyes. "I…I've been made Head Boy."

Water erupted out of Lily's mouth and sprayed all over James, drenching his robes. "You can't be serious! I don't believe you!" Lily exclaimed.

Now it was James's turn to scowl, "Well believe me. I wanted Remus to let you know ahead of time so it wouldn't come as a surprise and you wouldn't do something stupid like this to me." James indicated his wet robes and then pulled out his wand to dry himself.

Lily blushed sheepishly. "Oh, yeah sorry about that. Remus did try to tell me, but Sirius…Anyways, all he was able to tell me was that the Head Boy was in Gryffindor and I just assumed it was Frank."

"Why Frank?"

"Well, I already knew Remus and Sirius hadn't made it and that left me with Collins who himself had hinted to Dumbledore on many occasions that he was not interested in becoming Head Boy. And then naturally I thought no one in their right mind would make a Marauder Head Boy, so the only person that made sense was Frank."

James looked at her, and realized that she had a very good reason for believing Frank Longbottom was Head Boy. He would have probably guessed the same. Who would have thought that James Potter would be Head Boy?

Reality finally dawned on Lily as she realized who would be living down the hall from her the entire year. She suddenly wished that anyone, even…even Severnus Snape for Merlin's sake was Head Boy; at least he would have been more accommodating. Well okay, maybe she was stretching it a bit too much by saying she'd rather share living quarters with Snape. But still…James?

She sneaked a peek at James who was currently drying his socks. Lily knew many girls would commit an Unforgivable Curse to be her shoes. Anything to be living so close with James Potter: Quidditich player extraordinaire, charming, tall, and with that unbelievably cute lopsided grin. Lily watched James ruffle his ever so messy hair and move his wand to dry it. She couldn't help but wonder if his hair really was as soft as it looked….

"Evans?" Lily blushed so hard she was sure her head had turned the same shade as her hair. She had been caught marveling over James Potter by James Potter himself! Merlin, could it get any more humiliating?

James shot her a grin as he stowed his wand away, now completely dry. Lily expected him to make a snooty comment but instead he propped his hands behind his head and looked at her expectantly.

"So?"

"What?"

"Where's your Head Boy badge?"

James pulled open his robes to reveal his black sweater vest. Pinned neatly onto it was a badge for Gryffindor's Quidditch Captain and another for Head Boy.

Lily groaned. "Ughh, what was Dumbledore thinking?" She got up and started pacing the room, angry at Dumbledore for giving her such an obstacle in her already chaotic life.

"Honestly, I believe he wasn't thinking at all," James replied. He pulled out a chocolate frog from his pocket and began munching on it. A grin plastered on his face.

Lily paused only to throw James a disgusted look over her shoulder before continuing her pacing and mumbling, "Honestly, out of his mind…"

"Lost his marbles…" James supplied.

"…he's got to be off the hook…"

"Or off his rocker…" James was thoroughly enjoying this now. He stretched lazily on his seat and watched Lily continue pacing. He decided he would have never expected himself to be in a compartment together with Lily Evans brainstorming exactly how quickly Dumbledore was losing his mind.

"..making my life miserable by attaching a stuck up lunatic with me.."

James's grin vanished. "What? What did you just call me?"

Lily spun around so fast that her hair whipped behind her and hit her in the face before falling to her shoulders. Her face was red with anger and her green eyes were shining the same way that they did whenever they had a really bad row. James gulped. This was a side of Lily that he had prayed he wouldn't be encountering this year.

"An insensitive, stuck up, good for nothing, cocky, lunatic!" Lily fumed. James would have yelled back something to defend himself but he had promised before boarding the train that he would not pick a fight with Lily Evans this year. This year was suppose to be different, it was suppose to be… special.

James used all his strength to let his harsh response die in his throat as he ignored Lily's outrageous look and instead looked out the window. Lily calmed down. James hadn't yelled back. He hadn't tried to defend himself, or called her 'stupid for not seeing who he really was' or telling her to 'shut up, Evans'. He had merely ignored her and for some unknown reason this hurt Lily more than his harsh words would of. She hadn't said anything really bad had she? She called James names all the time. Maybe he had grown up over the summer. Maybe…just maybe he was growing a bit more mature.

Lily slid back down in her seat quietly, ending her good - for - nothing pacing. She pulled out her book once again with a lack of anything better to do and speculated the possibility of James Potter actually changing into a real human.

Half an hour later, James finally looked over at Lily and realized she was holding her novel upside down. He realized she was concentrating on something, as her face was scrunched up the way it usually was whenever she was studying. James wondered what could be on her mind when something caught his attention through the glass of their compartment door.

"Uh, Lily. The prefects are all lurking outside our door expectantly. I think we've successfully managed to be an hour late for our first meeting as Heads."