Chapter 1: The Break-Up

Lily Evans sat on a sunken in couch with a frown on her face. She held a bottle of butter beer loosely in her hand, swirling it around aimlessly. Her left leg was crossed over the right, her foot twirling in time with her hand. She gave a soft sigh.

It was the night of the first quidditch match and the infamous Marauder's took it upon themselves to throw a party for the Gryffindor win over Slytherin. All three houses were there, including some Slytherins. This night was supposed to be a night for joy, relaxation and drunken fun. Lily was not relaxed, she was not full of joy and she most certainly was not feeling the drunken fun.

Just seven hours ago Lily had a boyfriend. A hot, sexy Slytherin boyfriend. Keith Fox was your stereotypical tall, dark and handsome guy. His rippling tan muscles and brooding gray eyes left all the girls wishing he was theirs.

But Keith was also a Quidditch fanatic. Quidditch was his life. After the brutal defeat of Slytherin today, Keith ended things with his long-term girlfriend.

Lily found Keith standing on the Quidditch pitch.

"Hey babe," she greeted him.

"Lily," he responded. He sounded distant.

"That was a pretty intense match, don't you think?" Lily asked with a giggle as she led the two of them back towards the castle.

"Yeah…really intense."

That's when Lily noticed the distance in Keith's voice.

"Babe, you alright?"

Keith pulled Lily aside from the walkway.

"Look…Lils-"

"What's going on Keith?" Lily asked; the worry was evident in her voice.

"Lily…I don't think you and I are going to work out…anymore," he said quietly.

"What? Why?" Lily asked incredulous.

"Well…it's just that…"

"…that…?"

"That you're…you're…you are a Gryffindor. I can't be dating a Gryffindor while in Slytherin's house…and problems are going to rise…this just isn't going to work," Keith finished lamely.

"Wait-you're breaking up with me because I'm in Gryffindor? That's it? That has got to be the stupidest reason to break up with someone," Lily snapped, not believing what she was hearing.

"Look Lily. You're in Gryffindor and I'm in Slytherin…we're like…two different people. And when the serious things come along…well, you just wouldn't understand," Keith said with a shrug.

"I wouldn't understand? What the hell is that supposed to mean? That doesn't even make sense!" Lily was now bordering the edge of hysteria. "If you wanted to break up with me, you should have just done it…not come up with some….lame…excuse about houses and shit." Lily shook her head a couple of times…trying to keep the tears from brimming up.

"Sorry," Keith muttered.

Lily turned on her heel and started to walk away. But then she paused, turned around, walked back to where Keith stood and slapped him hard on the face.

"You should be sorry that you stuck around for that," she muttered and stalked away.

Now Lily sat on a couch, wishing more than anything she was among what felt like thousand's of couples talking, eating and dancing together. She hated those couples, but she also envied them. This night can not get any shittier, she decided as she took another swig of her drink.

James strode into the party that he was supposed to be hosting. He had left briefly, but was now back and ready to party. At least that was what he thought.

"James! There you are! I've been looking for you," Sirius said loudly, trying to make himself heard over the blaring music.

"I had some business to take care of," James explained.

Sirius raised his eyebrows in James' direction.

"Sandy broke up with me," James said answering the unasked question.

Sirius eyes widened this time. "Really? Why?"
"Said that there was "someone else" and that I wasn't "satisfying her needs," James said using air quotes.

"That sucks big time." Sirius said.

James just nodded his head.

"But, look at it this way. Now you're free to hook up with whoever you want."

"Yeah…I guess so," James said. The only problem was that Sandy's face was still a vivid image in his mind.

"Have fun, mate. Talk to some nice girls, don't come back to the dorm till two O' Clock!" Sirius cried.

"Alright," James said with a sad chuckle.

Sirius went off in search of a girl to dance with. James tried skimming the crowd for Remus and Peter, but they were no where in sight. He walked over to the drinks table and grabbed a butter beer. Then James started to wander.

People all around congratulated him on his win, and then he would modestly say that if it wasn't for the rest of the team, there would have been no victory. Girls tried to get him to dance with them but, he just wasn't interested. What did catch his eye though was a red haired girl sitting on the couch in the middle of the room. James walked over to her and plopped down.

The girl either didn't feel James sit down or she choose to ignore him, because she didn't move in the slightest bit when he sat down beside her.

"Hey…why aren't you dancing?" he asked her.

She looked at him. James watched her eyes travel down his body and back up. She locked eyes with him and then took a swig of her drink, not breaking the contact.

"Don't have a date," she answered.

"Don't need one," James answered back.

"Used to have one…but now I don't," she said, taking another sip from her bottle.

"Me too. Isn't that a coincident?" he asked.

"Guess so," she muttered.

"You're Lily Evans right? I'm Ja-"

"James Potter. I know who you are," She said cutting him off.

"Oh…well Miss Lily Evans, how come you no longer have a date?"

"Broke up with me… that's why," She answered bluntly.

"Oh…that's sucks. I just broke up with my girlfriend too. Actually…she broke up with me but, that's beside the point," James said, using his hands to illustrate his point.

That made Lily laugh.

The two sat in silence for a while when a thought struck Lily.

"Doesn't it feel like we're the only two people who don't have dates?" she asked.

"I don't know. I never really thought about it…" he trailed off.

"Well I mean…look around. Do you see anyone else either by themselves or sitting on a couch drinking butter beer?" she asked.

James looked around. "No, I guess not. It's official. We are the last two people in this school to find love…or lust," James added as an afterthought.

Lily laughed again. "Yeah…seems like it.

"Want to dance with me?" James suddenly asked.

"What? No, I'm no good at-"

"Come on! It will be fun!" James exclaimed as he jumped to his feet.

"No. I can't dance!"
"I'll help you. Come on!" James said as he took Lily's hand and pulled her onto her feet. He dragged her out onto the floor and pulled her real close. They started moving in time together almost instantly. Lily looked up into James eyes in surprise. He just smiled a toothy grin at her.

They stayed embraced like that for about an hour when finally Lily needed a break.

"I need to get some water," she said as she pulled herself away from him. Lily started to walk towards the edge of the dance floor. James followed her.

"Wait! Are you leaving me?" he asked.

"Well, you can certainly come with if you'd like," Lily said with raised eyebrows.

She didn't know much about James Potter but this state of I'm-a-lost-puppy was not normal for him.

She grabbed a bottle of water, unscrewed the lid and guzzled a huge amount.

"Let's go for a walk," Lily said as the pounding of the music was starting to upset her.

The two walked silently as Lily gulped her water. They weren't really headed in a particular direction, just somewhere away from the party. They found a long stretch which Lily slid down and sat. She gave a long sigh and tipped her water back to guzzle some more.

"What's up with the butter beer? My throat is so dry," Lily stressed.

"Maybe a tad bit of firewiskey," James mumbled.

'Ug…you've got to be kidding me. I've had about seven of them!" Lily cried. But then she started giggling to herself.

"Hahahahahaha, I'm gonna be out of it soon enough," she said with a chuckle.

James laughed along with her. Then the two got really quiet. They sat in each other's silence for a while.

"What are you thinking about?" James finally asked.

"Lots of things," she answered.

"Wanna tell me about it?"

"Not really…"

"Please?" James pushed.

"Keith," Lily answered quietly.

"Oh. Him. What about him?"

"Wondering…"

"Wondering what?"

"Wondering what I did wrong. Wondering why I wasn't right for him. Wondering why we broke up…" Lily trailed off. Her voice was barely above a whisper.

"I'm sure it didn't have to do with you," James assured.

"Yeah? He said that we couldn't date because I was in Gryffindor! GRYFFINDOR! What the hell? What kind of an excuse is that?" Lily spat.

"I don't know but that's pretty lame."

"I mean…what went wrong?" Lily asked.

"I don't know…he seems like an ass though."

"The worst thing about it all…is that I still…kinda…like him," Lily said as tears started to prickle her eyes.

"You shouldn't. He's an ass. You don't need him," James said soothingly.

"Yeah…I know," Lily responded as tears started flowing from her eyes. "He was just so perfect and great. He…he just seemed like the kind of guy who wouldn't do something like this…act like this," Lily said, her falling tears multiplying.

"Don't cry. Please don't cry. It's alright. I don't think there's anything wrong with you. He's really not that great…" James added on, trying to get Lily to calm down.

"He just…sprung it on me. I didn't even see it coming." James pulled Lily into a tight embrace and she held onto him like her life depended on it. Her tears quickly soaked his shirt, but that was the last of his worries. The two stayed like that for three minutes. Then Lily started to calm down, but she didn't loosen her grip on him.

James stroked her hair and held her close as all her emotions spilled out onto his shirt. He looked down at the quivering redhead. She was quite pretty even with tears rolling down her face. She seemed so small and fragile right now; it made James want to hurt the man who did this to such a beautiful person. He felt Lily start to pull away from him. She looked up into his hazel eyes deeply. The next thing he knew her lips were pressed lightly against his. At first he didn't know how to respond, but the feeling felt so good and so right.

They started out slow but then she started kissing him faster, deeper…almost in a desperate kind of way. She was intoxicating him. James couldn't think, couldn't speak, couldn't feel a thing. He also couldn't breath!

He pulled back with a gasp. Lily's hands were still gripped onto James' shirt and she leaned her head against his shoulder. He looked down at her, trying to take in as much air as he could. As if she felt his eyes on her, she lifted her head and then started to lean in again.

"Wait! No, stop. Stop," James commanded.

Lily looked at him, confusion evident on her face.

"We…we can't do this. You and I both just broke-up and we're just using each other as rebound," James said.

"Less talk, more kiss," Lily said as she leaned in again.

James put his hand up. "No. We need to stop. I think that we should get back to the party," James said as he got up. He stuck out his hand for Lily to grab, but she ignored it and got up by herself. She teetered a little bit but then started walking back towards the party. James followed in her pursuit. Her walking was staggered and then she smacked right into James.

"Lils? You alright?" James asked.

"Yeah…the path keeps moving," she mumbled.

"Lily. You're drunk. You're totally and absolutely pissed," James said as he made to grab her arm. Lily took that as a hint to him wanting to kiss some more so she grabbed his arm and leaned in to kiss him full on the lips.

"Stop it! We need to get you something to calm you down or you'll hurt yourself. Remus…Remus will know what to do," James muttered to himself.

Lily put up a struggle but eventually James got her back to the 7th floor where the party was held. He opened the door and dragged Lily in with him. As soon as he got into the room both he and Lily stopped instantly. Standing in the middle of the room was Keith Fox and Sandy Parker, embraced in a lip lock.

Lily felt her throat tighten and James' vision turned red.

"That's my boyfriend!"

"That's my girlfriend!" The two cried at the same time.

"That's you-" they both said as two and two were put together.

"She said that there was someone else but…" James trailed off.

"He said it was because I was in Gryffindor…" Lily muttered. "I feel like an idiot," Lily said as her eyes started to brim with tears again, her sense of reality coming back to her. She turned on her heal and stormed out of there.

"Lily! Lily wait!" James called as he followed her back out.

"Lily wait," James said as he grabbed her arm.

"What! What do you want!?" Lily cried, tears streaming down her face.

"I…I'm sorry," was all he could come up with now that he had her attention.

"Look, this night has gone from bad to embarrassing to worse. Please leave me alone," she said sadly.

"Hey, that was my girlfriend…well ex-girlfriend too. You're not alone in this," he said.

Lily looked away. "I don't know what to do. I just want to forget."

"Yeah…I know what you mean."

"It feels like we're the only people left. Like, the only people left to find love in this school. Everyone has someone to hold onto…someone to love…and we have no one," Lily said.

"Yeah. Exactly what I was thinking. You know…I have a plan that might solve our problems though."

"Yeah? And what's that?" Lily asked, putting a hand on her waist.

"Why don't we hook up? You and I could date each other," James said.

"That's stupid. You just told me that we were using each other for rebound," Lily snapped.

"Yeah I know what I said. But I was thinking…just for a little bit. We'll go out for…let's say a month? You know the Christmas dance they always have in December? That will be the last event we'll go to as a couple. We'll break up come the new year," James explained.

"I…that sounds stupid," Lily bluntly said. "But…it would be nice…and I wouldn't feel so alone," she mused.

"So…Lily Evans, will you be my girlfriend for the next 52 days of your life?" James asked her, holding her hands in his own.

Lily gave him a sly smile. "Of course I would James Potter."

Ok...didn' think that i'd have to do this but I am...

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Disclamer: Anything you know is not mine...so Keith is mine! But Lily and James are not...

I based this story on one of those girly-love e-mail chain things. Maybe I'll post it on here for others. So...how do you know that I'm going to finish this story? Well...it's because I'm writing this story for my RP site challenge and so each month there will be a new chapter. The challenge is that I have to start off my story with whatever I come up with and then each month Allison will post a prompt that I have to incorperate into my story...bum bum bum! So see you in February!

Edit: yeah! This is the edited version of the edited version! So idk if you'll get another e-mail about...this one, so if you did...and didn't leave a review for the first chapter...think of this as a redemption for the review and go review now! NOW! Now! now (that's an eco by the way...)