Disclaimer: I do not own Harry Potter, no matter how much I wish I did, sexy beast that he is.

Hope you guys like this - it's my first go at a fan fiction!

Chapter 1:

'You know you want me,' said a young, sixteen year old boy with honey coloured eyes and messy black hair, which stuck up in all directions, as if embracing the sun that shone brightly in the sky above, which was sending glitters across the vast lake.

'And why would I want you, Potter?' said Lily Evans, eyeing the boy draped casually on the grass beside her with little interest.

'Because I'm sexy.' said James, a smile now playing in the corners of his mouth and lingering in his eyes, which were staring into vivid green ones: Lily's own.

'Oh, really.' said Lily, flicking her hair over her should as she turned to survey the Hogwarts grounds. She noticed out of the corner of her eye James moving restlessly and she smiled to herself. Even she could not deny that her hair, which at most times she hated, caught the light in a beautiful way, swaying gracefully over her shoulder in a curtain of fire.

'And so are you.' said James, adjusting his position and running his delicate fingers gently along Lily's cheek. 'We're perfect for each other. We just...fit together, if you know what I mean.' he said, giving her a wink and grinning mischievously. Lily felt her face burning, and she stood up.

'Open your eyes, James. We don't "fit together." We never have "fit together". We never will "fit together". You're an idiot, and I don't want you, no matter how much your immature buddies or fat head tell you I do.'

Lily saw James' face crumble, and she could see the hurt in his eyes, but she stormed off regardless, leaving the young man quite alone with his shortcomings still lingering in the air, as they always did after he saw Lily. Maybe it was her perfume.

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'What's not to like?' said James, exasperatedly, falling back into a large armchair in the common room later that day.

'That attitude, for starters. Girls like someone who can accept their own faults and still be damn sexy in the meantime. Someone like...me, for instance.' said James' oldest and closest friend, Sirius Black, his handsome face breaking into a grin. If anyone else had said that, James would have made a retort, but everyone knew Sirius was damn sexy, even if, like James, you weren't into guys.

'Not that I have any faults.' said Sirius, smirking.

'What, so I've just got to go up to Lily and say I'm a...I'm a...'

'Arrogant pig?'

'Obnoxious idiot?'

'Bullying toerag?'

James looked over at his friends. Sirius was grinning more broadly, and Remus Lupin, who had had his head buried in a large book was now looking as him, smiling discreetly as well. Remus was a great friend, and was always there to help them out of sticky homework situations. Unless he was busy being a werewolf, of course.

There was also Peter, fat little Peter Pettigrew, who was too dumb, too ugly, too slow and too dull to be a Marauder, but was one anyway. He was looking half amused, half terrified, his rat-like face giving away his apprehension at the punch he was sure to get from the comment. James, however, was distracted.

'How do you guys remember stuff like that?' he said with an astonished look on his face, but the colour on his cheeks was rising, and anger was licking around his eyes.

'I do remember her saying something along those lines once or twice...' said Sirius, scratching his head with a mock-thoughtful tone. Peter snorted, and James gave him a cold stare, and he muttered something about needing to go to the library, and he walked quickly out of the common room, down the portrait hole and out of sight.

'You know, maybe you should just give up. You've been hassling her for over a year and she hasn't batted an eyelid-'

'Though she has batted your head round a bit, James.' Sirius said conversationally.

'-There are other fish in the sea, you know.' continued Remus, ignoring Sirius. James looked for a second as if he was going to snap back, but then he sighed, and leant back in his armchair, staring at the ceiling.

'Yeah, but I don't want those fish. I want Lily. She's like the rainbow fish, the ultimate fish...the perfect catch.' he said, the corners of his mouth twitching up into a smile.

'Here we go again.' said Remus under his breath, returning back to his book. Sirius, however, had a strange look on his face, and he leant forward, staring straight into James' eyes.

'Do you love her, James?' he asked quietly, his eyes sweeping across James' face, as if searching for a telltale sign. James was just about to reply loudly: "Hell yes, all night long!" until he saw the look in Sirius' eyes, and realised he was deadly serious.

'Huh?' he said, making sure he had heard he friend right.

'You heard me. Do you love her? And I mean real love. True love. Does James Potter love Lily Evans?' said Sirius, his face still unusually serious. Remus had his head down, but his eyes were not sweeping across the page like they usually were; in fact, they were motionless. James knew he was listening intently.

'Well,' James started, and then stopped, surprised to hear his voice coming out unnaturally high. James saw Sirius raise his eyebrows, and he cleared his throat and looked away.

'Yeah...yeah I think I do.' James turned back to face his friends. Sirius was trying, and failing to suppress a very large grin, and James gave a reluctant grin as Remus shook his head softly and gave a barely audible sigh.

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A few hours later, with a subject change, a few games of chess and a couple of butterbeers on their spirits, James, Remus and Sirius were still chatting away in the common room, enjoying the remaining hours of sunlight. Suddenly, they noticed a little fat rat creeping up the stairs. The rat looked awfully familiar.

'Peter, where have you been?' said James, jovially. The rat turned around, morphed back into their friend and sat down reluctantly.

'I was...ah...I fancied a walk.' said Peter, entirely unconvincingly. He never was a good liar, James thought to himself, watching him squirm uncomfortably in his seat.

'You never fancy a walk, Peter. Tell us. Where have you been?' said Remus, looking Peter squarely in the eyes. If anyone was ever to get a secret out of someone, it was Remus.

'In ...the astronomy tower.' said Peter quietly, and James saw a grain of truth in this statement.

'Oh, yeah? And what were you doing in the astronomy tower, exactly?' asked James.

'Yeah, and why do you look like you're hiding some big, black secret?' asked Sirius, suspiciously.

'I...I...saw Lily.' said Peter, barely audible. James' eyes widened and his jaw set.

'Yeah? And what were you doing with my girlfriend?' he said, a dangerous glint in his eyes. Peter

murmured something.

'Sorry?' I didn't catch that.' said James, leaning closer to Peter.

'I said she's not your girlfriend.' Peter said a bit more clearly.

'What the hell do you mean by that?' asked James, angrily.

'James, calm down.' said Remus, sternly. James ignored him.

'I...we...she didn't even see me! She d-didn't even know I was there! She w-was down by the lake!'

Peter stuttered.

'Perving on her, were you?' said James.

'No! I was just...out for a stroll, you know, it was all a bit hot in here and the library was crowded to I went to the...the astronomy tower, see, cause I knew no one would be there, and I looked down by the lake and Lily was standing by...by the lake...' Peter trailed off.

'Oh.' said James, his face showing his relief. 'And? What was she doing by the lake?' he asked, his voice much more even now. 'Was she alone?'

Peter was avoiding James' eyes.

'Well? Was she?'

Peter's face was as easy to read as a book.

'Who? Was it one of her friends?' Peter shook his head. 'A...a teacher? A guy?' James asked, his voice crackling on this last question. Peter nodded. 'Which one? A guy?' Peter nodded again. James clenched his teeth and looked away.

'Who? What were they doing? Studying, maybe? Talking? What?' said James, obviously trying to keep his voice leveled, but you could hear the anger swirling around.

'They...she was...they were...' James cut him off.

'They? Who's they, Peter?'

'Lily and ...and ...Frank.'

'Frank Longbottom?'

'Yeah.'

'What was she doing hanging around with him? Sure, he's-'

'Handsome?' said Remus.

'Bright?' remarked Peter.

'Funny?' put in Sirius.

'-An ok kind of guy,' said James, glaring at the others, 'But she wouldn't want to hang around him, right? She was probably trying to run away from him as fast as possible, right Peter?' said James, trying to sound airy and confident, but failing miserably.

'They were...she was...oh, blimming heck, James, she kissed him.' said Peter, suddenly deciding to rip the plaster off completely. James looked up at the ceiling, laughed softly, and slowly lowered his head. There was not a hint of amusement in his eyes.

'She kissed him.'

'Yes. Only quickly, though. I think he was sad or something.' said Peter, his voice now growing in confidence now that the burden was off.

'He was sad.'

'Yeah. I think so.'

'You think so.' Peter looked over at Remus and Sirius. Sirius was watching James carefully, and Remus had his eyes closed, and was shaking his head softly.

Suddenly the butterbeer bottle James had been holding smashed in his hands. The others looked at him, surprised, but James seemed not to have registered it, or the blood that was trickling down his hand.

'You...you ok, James?' asked Remus quietly, looking at James' hand with concern, but they all knew that wasn't what he was talking about.

'Course he is. You're fine, right, James?' said Sirius, slapping James on the back. James shook his head, and smiled brightly and falsely.

'Sure I am. Lily doesn't like Longbottom. Nor he her.'

'Yeah, doesn't he like that Alice girl?' put in Remus hopefully.

'Yeah. It was only a pity kiss. Nothing to worry about. In fact, I think I might ask her at dinner to go to Hogsmeade with me tomorrow. What's the time? Let's go down now.'

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