When James Potter woke, he groaned realising the reason for his abrupt return to consciousness was a hard-on as solid as a rock. He couldn't believe it, it was the fifth time this week.

What was the matter with him? He knew boys of his age were supposed to have a high sex drive, but this was getting bloody ridiculous.

Couldn't he have just one morning off?!

Honestly!, he thought frustrated at himself he was too old and had had to much experience with girls to have so little control over his body's reactions. So how was it possible that dreams which consisted of nothing more perverted than watching her sitting in the chair closest to the fire in the common room with her pyjamas on could cause such an extreme reaction?

She was definitely beautiful. She was definitely wonderful, but she was also nothing but a bitch to him. And yet, he woke up every morning thinking about her.

He sighed realising there was only one thing he could do. What choice did he have really? He knew a cold shower was not going to work, having tried it many times over the last few weeks, and since he certainly couldn't go to breakfast with it, he was going to have to deal with it the only other way he knew how.

So he did what he had to do, as images of a girl with dark red hair and bright green eyes flashed through his mind.

After a few steadying breaths he stared up at his canopy thinking.

It's not like he only liked her for the way she looked or the way she turned him on, she was also in a word brilliant. It was just a shame she didn't have the same high opinion of him.

He had spent most of his school days trying to get glimpses of her; trying to get her to give him just one chance. In fact he had tried everything and anything he could think of to get her to notice him, but his efforts just annoyed her. In fact the harder he tried the more she began to detest him.

As such, over the years, James had slowly lost all hope of ever getting to be with Lily and had had to try to learn to satisfy himself with the fact that they were never going to be a couple. In an attempt to get over this obsession he was harbouring, he had tried dating all kinds of different girls, hoping to find the one that would distract him. The almost manic quest had led to James gaining a reputation almost as bad as that of his best friend, Sirius Black. Problem was, whenever he was with one of them, all he could ever seem to want was her.

Which was why, despite his failing hope, and all the many creative and often harsh rejections he had received from her, he continued to ask her out.

That, as his best friends and fellow Marauders never failed to point out during their constant ribbing, was pathetic. And what really pissed him off was that he knew that they were right, he was pathetic.

So pathetic that he couldn't help but watch her whenever they were in the same room together, as they were now, and true to form he had spent all night watching her.

She had sat in a chair after dinner, had started to revise, and had failed to move since. James checked his watched and realized she had to have been working for hours. This realization amazed and worried him.

Normally her almost obsessive work ethic didn't bother him at all. It wasn't exactly an unusual occurrence to see Lily absorbed in school work, it was just the way she was. What worried him was that she normally spent at least some of her time enjoying herself, but for the last month or so she had been refusing to do anything more than study, eat, and when she was desperate sleep. She was starting to look tired and he was worried she would burn out before they were even half way through the year.

He figured she put too much pressure on herself. He had a feeling it had to do with being a Muggleborn. A lot people didn't think she belonged, so in order to prove herself she strove to be the best at everything, and she was. She, however, often got so wrapped up in proving herself that she would push herself right to her limits and end up in an awful state and unfortunately this year was worse than any other because on top of NEWT's, which thoroughly deserved their name, she had Head Girl duties to contend with.

Worst of all her friends hadn't seemed to notice. That by no means meant that they didn't care, on the contrary the only group that was closer to each other, was his. It was just that James had been watching her more closely than anyone else for a few years now and he had learnt the early signs of collapse off by heart.

This evening thought, when she eventually got so frustrated she snapped her quill he decided he had to do something instead of just watching her decent like he was normally forced to do. What he was going to do he wasn't entirely sure, but he felt he should at least try. So fully expecting to get rebuffed, but deciding it couldn't hurt. He marched right up to her and did something no other man, woman, or child would dare to do. He snatched the book she had been reading clear out of her grasp.

After a startled cry of protest, her head snapped up, emerald eyes blazing, intending to start bellowing until whoever had taken her book, had a full and compete understanding of the concept of manners.

James, however, having over the years been subject to many verbal and sometimes physical assaults from her, knew the way to prevent her from ripping out his entrails and feeding them to him while he watched was to stop her before she worked herself up it to a full tantrum.

So he jumped right in and said, "You're working way too hard, you're here when I get up and when I go to bed. I never see you do anything even remotely fun anymore. You're a mess. Without intervention you're going to burn yourself out, and as such I am high-jacking you whether you like it or not."

She opened her mouth to retort but James cut across saying firmly "Don't underestimate me Evans, I'll sling you over my shoulder if I have to."

When she raised an eyebrow at him appraisingly, almost daring him

He mimicked her facial expression before saying, "don't test me, we both know I would do it, after all I've done a lot worse"

Lily stared at him a moment and James was convinced that this was going to be one of those times where his ears would still be ringing days after the verbal lashing had finished. She, however, surprised him by sighing closing her eyes and slumping back into her chair.

She was silent for so long that James was starting to think that she wasn't going to co-operate and he was just starting to plan ways of getting her out of the chair and onto his shoulder without her maiming him, when she completely caught him of guard by saying, "Okay, Okay, so what did you have in mind Potter?"

He almost pissed himself. She never willingly spent time with him. Even more worrying she almost never let him win. But not wanting to question his luck, he composed himself and offered her his hand.

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