Love is a fire that burns unseen,
a wound that aches yet isn't felt,
an always discontent contentment,
a pain that rages without hurting,

a longing for nothing but to long,
a loneliness in the midst of people,
a never feeling pleased when pleased,
a passion that gains when lost in thought.

It's being enslaved of your own free will;
it's counting your defeat a victory;
it's staying loyal to your killer.

But if it's so self-contradictory,
how can Love, when Love chooses,
bring human hearts into sympathy?

Luís Vaz de Camões (translated from Portuguese)

The summer was the hardest time of the year for James Potter, because he didn't get to see Lily Evans, the beautiful, graceful, fiery, perfect at his eyes, red headed girl... Who hated him. And he truly didn't understand why. Maybe he did understand a little, he did had the habit of pranking her best friend, Snivelly. But he never did that to her, and he did it so that she would understand how pathetic he was and stop hanging out with him.
It didn't help that once Snivelly called her a mud-... A bad word, because of one of his pranks. He felt terrible because of it, not because of the prank (he never felt bad for that) or because of Snivelly (he never felt bad for that either, in fact he should get much worse for hurting Lily) but because Lily was so sad.
Maybe the fact that he made an obligation of his to scare away every guy that's interested in her didn't help to get her affection, but neither would her having a boyfriend, now would it? And they would either hurt her or actually stay with her, and neither of the options pleased James. He'd ask her out every Hogsmead weekend, even when he was dating someone he'd ask her first. Which made his date angry countless times, some of them would even say no to going to Hogsmead. But it didn't matter, because it was Lily and he had to ask her before anyone else. Because of that and he could get any girl to say yes sooner or later... Every single one of them, with the exception of Lily, which was the only girl he wanted. He didn't really get why the girls got mad, he always made sure to tell them he wasn't a guy to keep a serious relationship, he never promised exclusivity and he most certainly didn't promise that they'd have priority over Lily! He didn't understand that most girls he dated thought they were the ones who were going to be able to change him, to make him want a serious relationship, to make him stop chasing the red-headed girl.

If she'd finally say yes, and if they dated he wouldn't ever ask anyone else to Hogsmead. Why would he? He had Lily to do that! He wouldn't use broom cupboards, she's too classy for that He would be a perfect boyfriend; he'd do that for her! Exclusivity included! Unlike his body, his mind and soul were child like. No one could deny that, not even himself. And, like a child, he wasn't serious about anything... except, once again, for Lily and his friends and family. Maybe he wasn't serious like she thought a serious man should be, but he was serious in the only he knew how. But his dear Lily could not see that, it seemed like she was blind to everything James related.

At least her friends were on his side, "unless he'd break her heart or hurt her in any way" because if he did that they'd "make his life a living hell and would mess up his face so badly it would be a miracle if his own mother would recognize him" (their words, not his).

Everyone had already understood that James Potter really did like Lily Evans, maybe he even loved her. Well, everyone except her. And the people close to her understood that maybe she liked him back, maybe even loved him. But this was only obvious to the people close to her. Sometimes her friends would catch her staring at him (the other way around happened a lot of times, so it was obvious to anyone and when she'd notice he was looking at her if you paid attention, you could see a tiny smile on her face before she told him to look away because it was creeping her out, but it really wasn't), or the time she found out for the first he'd gotten a girlfriend and was very sad, even though she tried to hide it. That sadness soon turned to anger when he still asked her out, perhaps it was because it made her feel used or a joke or maybe because it made it clear for her that he was only asking her out because she was the only one that said no.
Her friends were certain that she really did like him one time she was complaining about him, and how he was always running a hand trough his hair, and how he'd always bit his lip or stick his tongue out when he was concentrating, how he'd tap his hands or whatever they were holding when he was nervous, or the grin on his face when he got on a broom or how he'd almost always looked at her after accomplishing something, like catching the golden snitch, or even when it was something as simple as doing his homework, the way he thought he was always doing the most honourable thing, how he was always so carefree, a smile always plastered on his face, I mean nobody could always be that happy and breezy! Since they noticed this after he'd gotten a new girlfriend and still asked her out nobody had the nerve to tell that she noticed a lot of things about him for a person who disliked him so deeply.

Because of all of this, when they were on vacations, her friends would sometimes tell James if Lily was going to Diagon Alley.
So a month before going back to Hogwarts, when they had all received their letters, Lily, Marlene, Alice and Dorcas found the Marauders in the Leaky Cauldron.
"Hello Evans" James said almost jumping out of his seat with a smile on his face
"Hello Potter" she smiled, ever so slightly, and waved at him, which only made his smile wider
"Congrats on being Head Girl" he said
"How did you know that?" She asked and even her friends frowned because they hadn't told him.
"It was rather obvious, you're the best in our year and you're always helping people" he stated matter-of-factly "What isn't so obvious is the Head Boy choice"
Lily looked at Remus "It isn't you?"
"No" he said with a small smile on his face that Lily would have noticed it if she wasn't worried about the Head Boy being Severus, her relationship with him wasn't the best, but he had good grades.
"Don't you want to know who the Head-Boy is?" James asked excitedly.
"You know who he is?" Lily asked, a glimmer of hope in her heart James wouldn't know if t was Severus, it was not like they talked during the summer... well maybe they send each other letters insulting one another so they won't lose practise.
"It was rather easy to find out, since it's me" he smiled and took the badge out of his pockets. Lily was quiet for a while until she took a deep breath.
"So it is you, Remus. Did you guys really had to do this, I thought you really weren't the Head Boy, scared me for a minute."
"Lily, he really is Head Boy" Remus laughed as Lily looked doubtfully at James.
"I have the letter here if you want to read it Evans, brought it along with the list." James said, grinning as he took the letter out of his pocket.
Lily slowly took the letter from his hands and read it "It really is you! As Dumbledore gone mad?" She asked.
"Evans, you're hurting my feelings" James took a hand to his chest in a dramatic gesture to which Lily rolled her eyes but couldn't help to smile a little.
"I must agree with Lily-flower on this one, Prongs." said Sirius. "I don't think Dumbledore's mental stability is questionable. But then again, wasn't it always?"
"What did you call me?" asked Lily.
"Do you prefer Lilykins?" Sirius grinned.
"Its Evans for you, Black." she stated simply. "We didn't go..." She stopped before finishing the muggle expression "we didn't go to school together", since they did go to school together.
" Ahaha, nice one Lils." Laughed Marlene knowing what she was going to say. "Come on Lils, don't be mean. We know them for more than six years, can't we go first name basis already?" Asked Marlene.
Lily sighted "Fine. Buts its Lily, not Lily-flower, not Lilykins, just Lily. Got it, Sirius?"
"Thank you for that Marly." said Sirius.
"Do you have to call me Marly?"
"Of course I do, same way I have to call her Lily-flower. Who do you think came up with our nicknames?"
"You're not calling me that. Also you have a lot to explain, Padfoot." said Lily
"Yes, I am, and you have been playing more attention to us that you lead on, Lily-flower. How did you know they call me Padfoot? Now should we go buy our books or not?" Sirius said getting up.
"No, actually we have to wait for Alice." said Mary.
"Alice? What's she doing here? She graduated last year." Peter spoke for the first time.
"Making us a visit, she graduated but she is still our friend." answered Dorcas "So just sit for a little bit." she sat on a chair, and so did Marlene. Obviously the two girls and the marauders made it so that Lily had to sit next to James. Lily didn't notice that, or maybe she did but didn't mind so she didn't say anything.
"I guess I should say congratulations to you too, Po- James" Lily said
"Thank you. But, James?"
Lily bit back the laughter "Isn't that your name?"
"Yeah, but you always call me Potter."
"I think Marlene's rule from since we know each other for more than 6 years I should call you for your first name applies even to you."
He smiled "Alright, Lily. We'll be great Heads."
"Hopefully we will."
"Doubting my leadership qualities, Eva-Lily?"
"Doubting my leadership qualities and you're ability to stay out of trouble"
"Don't. At least don't doubt yours. You have a point with mine, I'll just have to be more discrete." He answered
"I had the hope you'd stop, clearly unfounded. Just try not to do it in front of me or it'll be a tad awkward sending you to detention"

James was a bit surprised that their talk was so civilized. It's true that they were able to talk without fight, though it didn't last long, since 6th year but she was being extremely nice to him, after the incident in 5th year Lily was rather upset with James and she never missed on an opportunity to tell him. But when in the summer between 5th and 6th year she got a letter from him saying that he missed her deeply and even if she was insulting him it was better than no Lily at all. In that letter he also pleaded her to meet him somewhere.
This made her feel guilty for treating him so badly the whole year and she answered with something like:
"Potter,
I miss school too, though it's nice not having to do homework or classes or study. It's also nice being with mum and dad.
Anyway I'm going to buy my books this week, maybe we'll see each other.
Yours Sincerely
Lily"
They did meet that week, Lily didn't thought much of it. On the other hand James had been the whole week there just hoping to see her. Not that he didn't have fun, Sirius was there with him the whole time until Lily got there.

"You'd send me to detention, Evan- Lily?" he asked in mock shock.
"I did it before already as a Prefect, remember? When you turned almost every book in the common room into beetles" she chuckled, and again this surprised James. She usually didn't laugh at his pranks.
"Almost, but not everyone's books. I left the guys and you alone. You'd expect that after not turning any of the prefects' books into beetles they wouldn't punish me." he joked.
"So that's why you didn't do anything to my books." she remarked.
"Not just that, I couldn't do anything to you. An Hogsmead weekend was coming and if I had low chances without doing anything to you, It would be even worse if I had turned your books into beetles." he chuckled, as did she, but she blushed a little. Alice got there soon after.
"You guys are here too?" Alice asked the Marauders. "That's random." She said sarcastically, looking at the girls with an incriminatory look, to which they answered with a guilty smile. Lily however didn't notice any of this because James was biting his lip and that was a hard view to look away from, how did the guy manage to look so hot just by licking and biting his bottom lip? "Congrats on being Head Girl, Lils." Hearing her name made her snap to reality.
"Oh, yeah, thank you. You should congratulate James too. He's Head Boy." said Lily and Alice looked at her with a shocked expression on her face.
"He is head boy? That's impossible." Maybe if there wasn't for the fact that James Potter had been made Head Boy; she would have noticed that Lily called him James instead of Potter.
"Not impossible" James grinned and showed her the badge. Alice couldn't help but laugh... so much that she sounded a tad maniac.
"Alice, are you okay, love? People are staring and I don't think it's just because my ass looks fantastic in these pants." Marlene said.
"Lily is Head Girl and James is Head Boy." was the only thing she said and kept laughing.
"Yes, we all got it by now. We were the ones to tell you." said Dorcas. "It's still a mystery to us all, why you're laughing so hard. I'd understand a little laugh, but not this much."
"They'll have to share a common room, they'll have dorms next to each other." she said when she managed to stop laughing. "I know it, because I shared mine with… with Frank." After this everyone, but Lily and James, started to laugh. Lily's first thought was that she really was relived it wasn't Severus, obviously after that she remembered that sharing a dorm with James was, most probably, going to be exhausting, he was probably untidy and all. "Oh dear, the next Wizardig War is about to start." Alice said still laughing

"Do you have any pets?" Lily asked while the others still laughed and comment on the fact that James Potter and Lily Evans were going to share a dorm.
"Uh... no, just my owl. You?" he asked, surprised for the third time today, by Lily's reaction. He was expecting a "I'm gonna kill you if you go through my stuff" or "I'll throw you in the Black Lake if you leave things messy" or in best case scenario something like "You and I? Sharing a dorm? I'm gonna be mad", A threat or at least a sign of disliking sharing a dorm.
"I don't have anything either. I was thinking of getting a cat, but I don't know."
"Oh, are you allergic to them or something?" He asked.
"Not really."
"Why not?" James asked once again.
"First I'm not sure if my mum would like it very much, and it would just be another responsibility to add up to in Hogwarts."
"I think that if you want a cat you should get a cat."
"It's not that simple." Lily said.
"Why not?" He asked again.
"Because, I have to think about it. I can't just do whatever comes to my mind without thinking about the pros and cons and about the consequences."
"That's what I do." He shrugged. "Sometimes it goes wrong, but who cares?"
"I think that's why we're so different." she said, but she wasn't mad or about to make a mean comment on him like when she usually said this. And like that she surprised James for the fourth time.
"We can go now?" Remus asked. "We need to buy our book and school material."
"If you're finished laughing, I'm fine with going. You know, it's very rude to laugh in someone's face" said Lily turning around and heading for Diagon Alley, still hearing some chuckles behind her to which she rolled her eyes.

They walked through Diagon Alley and after a couple of hours they had her books and everything they needed for school. They decided to sit for a while at eat something.

"I'll be back in a minute" James said standing up. "I think I saw someone I know." And without any other word he disappeared in the crowd.
That wasn't strange at all." said Marlene sarcastically.
"It's actually usual for this to happen. Since his parents are both pure-bloods and work at the ministry he knows at least half of the wizarding world." said Sirius.
"I know how that is. Horrible, you can't do anything without being watched. Sometimes my mother just goes 'So who was the handsome boy you were with today?' You know why? Because someone saw me with a guy and told my mum." Helped Alice.

They kept talking for a while about everything and nothing, and time passed and there was still no James.

"Damn it. I bet that Prongs saw one of his parents' old friends that get all giddy when a young person talks to them and can't stop talking." said Sirius after a while. "We might have to send a rescue team."

"Maybe it was just someone actually interesting and he decided to stay there for a while." said Lily.

"Nobody is more interesting than me, Lily-flower I thought you'd know that" Sirius said getting an eye roll from Lily "Prongs, here you are. We were just talking about you, and how you were missing."

"Oh, I'm back." he said sitting down. "Don't get your knickers in a twist for me, I'll always be back for you." He said taking is hand and kissing it, in a joke.

"Aw, Prongsie-pooh. You are so sweet, the things I'd do to you if we were alone." Sirius joked.

"What is that in your arms?!" Remus asked and Lily looked seeing a lot of fur. Maybe it was a magical ingredient... did it just move?

"This, is for you." he said looking at Lily. "It's a cat, well a kitten since it's a baby one."

Lily eyes widened in shock. "James, you didn't have to-"

"I know I didn't" he shrugged "I wanted too. The only reason he's still in my arms is because he's asleep and I don't want to wake him up."

Lily took it out of his arms carefully "Oh, James- I don't know what to say."

"You don't have to say anything" he smiled. "Although a kiss in the cheek would be very nice."

"He's adorable!" said Dorcas while Lily gently kissed James' cheek making him blush slightly.

"He's waking up! He's waking, look at him blinking his eyes." said Marlene. "That's so cute."

"Aw, he looks so delicate." said Alice.

"It's just a cat" Sirius declared

"Are you getting jealous of my adorable cat?" Lily chuckled and Sirius rolled his eyes. The kitten was taken from her arms by Marlene.

Lily hugged James, surprising him for what would be the 5th time that day, and probably the biggest one yet. "Thanks, that was really nice of you."

After the initial shock he hugged her back."It isn't that big of a deal. I just took a while because I wanted to get the right cat and the girl who was helping me choose it kept asking questions about who the cat was for... and possible flirting with me, but I'm familiar with the last part." He said.

On his way home James couldn't be happier. He had no idea why Lily was being so nice to him all of a sudden, but he rather liked it, specially the hug.

On her way home Lily realized that he and James a particular good day, they didn't fight at all and she also thought that, strangely, she missed the marauders, even stranger it was that the person she missed the most was James. And she realized that she was already missing him again, specially his hugs.