Hello all. I am re-writing A Delayed Reaction...to make it suckless :) Feel free to re-read it as I'm posting, but it may not make complete sense until I finish re-writing the whole story. Reviews on the new Chapters would be loved :D love and peace, BEK

"Come on, Evans. You know you can't resist me!" 16-year-old James Potter walked quickly after Lily Evans down the hall, shoving his way between a line of first year girls, trying to ask her out…again.

"I can resist you, Potter, even if I'm the only girl in the school who is able to do so. So do me a favor and bug-off," Lily snapped back.

"Perhaps we should listen to the girl for once and just leave her alone." Peter Pettigrew glanced nervously around the corridor, nearly running into a fifth year.

"Ahh, but that would be so un-James like." Sirius Black let out a bark-like laugh, shook his hair out of his eyes, and winked at a seventh year Ravenclaw.

"Well, maybe he'd be a bit better for it!" Samantha Sercose, one of Lily's best friends, snapped at Sirius. "The only good thing about James is that awesome pass he made at practice yesterday." Sam, playing chaser for Gryffindor, was equally, if not more, obsessed with Quidditch than the boys.

"But seriously, let's break it up. Filch would love to find a reason to stick all of us in detention," Elizabeth Micrada interjected, calmly twisting a strand of her long blonde hair with one hand, carrying a muggle notebook in the other. The rest of the group groaned in unison as they thought of the most recent plea Filch had made to Professor Dumbledore for 'alternative detention tactics.'

"Honestly, if he's still here, I'm not sending my children here. I just don't like the way he looks me over. " James shuddered.

"Of course, he has a crush on you too, doesn't he, Potter?" Lily added softly, and Sam laughed out loud.

They exited through the large doors. It was a beautiful Saturday in a warm October and they couldn't think of anything they'd rather do than be outside.

"To the pitch!" James called, charging toward the large stadium. The girls sighed and headed away from the group of students towards a tree near the lake.

"Honestly!" Lily started the second they sat down under the tree. "He's asked me out every Saturday since the beginning of fourth year, and I haven't even hinted that I might say yes. Why won't he just give up?" She ranted as she let her dark red hair out of the braid she had put it in that morning. "I mean, how can I change my mind when he's being as rude as ever to Snivel…I mean Snape?"

"Well, he's persistent, and that's something." Sam lay down onto the ground and stared up through the tree branches, "Don't you agree, Beth?"

"Well, I…Yeah I guess." Beth sighed. She had opened her notebook and was making notes in it with a muggle pen. She wanted to be a writer, and in order to write realistic things, she took notes on the world around her for future reference.

"Okay, I know you don't want to hear it, but you are missing out on a great dating opportunity." Sam sat back up looking Lily in the eye. "Lils, Potter is the single hottest and most popular guy in school. The only one who comes close is Black, his thick black hair, his laughing gray eyes."

"Potter's eyes are hazel."

Sam rolled her eyes at Lily. "I was talking about Black. If he asked me out, I'd be on him in a second. You know, rumor has it that Black and Potter are wonderful kissers." Sam sighed, falling back onto the ground with a soft thump.

"Yeah, well, I don't date guys merely to snog them, like somebody we know." Lily laughed.

"But you must admit, he is an awesome Quidditch player," Beth, seeker for the Gryffindor team, interjected.

"Well, yeah, he does look pretty cool flying around up there." Lily smiled, glancing towards the pitch. "What do you think of the 'big, bad marauders', Beth?"

"Well…they're alright, I suppose…some are better than others, I guess," Beth muttered, turning slightly pink.

"Oh Lil, you know that Beth has the hots for Remus Lupin," Sam joked as Beth's face just grew redder.

"Well…I…you…Urg!" Beth stuttered, "Well, at least Remus is a prefect, he has some responsibility, unlike the rest of them."

"Peter's fairly responsible, but I don't think it's for lack of trying. I'm not sure the boy could think of a way to get in trouble if he had a dungbomb in his hand and was standing in front of Filch." Sam sighed.

"He's not the brightest bulb in the box." Beth nodded softly.

"He's nice enough, if you sit and talk to him on a good topic, but he usually just keeps telling me that James wants to date me." Lily shuddered.

"Oh, come on you guys." Beth snapped her notebook quickly shut, and lifted herself to her feet. "I'm heading back to the common room. We only left to escape the boys and we all have work that we should be doing."

"Yeah, okay." Sam sighed as she used the tree they were leaning on to pull herself up, and then dusted off the back of her robes.

"Coming Lily?" she asked, since Lily hadn't moved at all.

"Uh, Yeah." Lily slowly tore her eyes away from the figures darting above the Quidditch pitch and followed her friends into the castle.

-+-

James turned his broom away from the hoops where he had just scored past Sirius again. He looked down toward the tree where the girls had been sitting. Seeing they weren't there, he quickly scanned the ground and saw Lily's bright red hair bobbing along as she entered the building. James flew back down to where Remus was sitting in the stands. The full moon was in a few days, and Remus was beginning to show it.

"Hey Prongs. Why'd you stop flying?"

"I wanted to talk and Sirius isn't serious enough." Both teens ignored the joke.

"Fire away, but let me guess first."

"Okay."

"Lily, Lily, and a bit more about Lily," Remus replied, without even a hint of a joke in his voice.

"What about Lily?" Sirius asked, coming down to join them, "and where'd Peter go?"

"Peter left to get help from McGonagall on his essay, and James was about to talk about something important."

Sirius sat down and turned to James. "Let's hear it, mate."

"Moony was right. Lily, Lily and Lily. Am I really such a horrible person that she can't stand to sit in the common room with me?" James spoke quietly, almost to himself.

"Of course not, mate, but I have a word of advice for you." James looked towards Remus hopefully, "Listen to what Lily says. You know better than I do that she's a smart girl. What she thinks has to have some credit." When Remus had finished, Sirius snorted.

"Honestly, I don't see why you bother. Lily doesn't like you, so move on, there are hotter girls swooning at your feet as it is." Sirius leaned back and rested his feet on the seat in front of him. Remus rolled his eyes, and James just laughed.

"Whatever you say, Padfoot, but soon you'll find that you're feeling more than just lust for a girl, and you'll be singing a different tune." James continued to laugh.

Remus shook his head at his friends. "Just wait until you're in love, Sirius."

"And you're all knowing, Moony? Who are you in love with?"

"No one," Remus smiled, "yet."

"Elizabeth Micrada," James and Sirius called in a sing-song voice, and Remus just rolled his eyes.

"Come on, Prongs. Enough of all this silly love talk; you still need to work on your scoring techniques. You can barely get it past me." Sirius hopped back on his broom.

"Oh please! You've never blocked one of my shots." And with these words, the two boys flew to resume their game, leaving their werewolf friend to reflect.

-+-

When Lily and company had returned to the Gryffindor Common Room, they found several kids crowded around the fireplace. "Oh, here she is. Lily, come over here please," a seventh year called.

"Oh, hello, Mr. Weasley." Lily smiled, recognizing the head in the fire.

"Lily, would you mind watching the boys for a little while today? Molly needs a day to herself, and I just can't get off work."

"Oh, it's not a problem, when will they be getting here?"

"Dumbledore and I have arranged a portkey for them to arrive in his office about three o'clock, is that okay?"

"That's fine." She checked her watch; it was one on the dot. "Just enough time to get my potions essay done." She smiled.

"Thank you so much, we'll work out your payment later." Mr. Weasley's head disappeared from the fire with a small pop. Lily sat down at the table where Beth and Sam had already started working.

"I don't see how you do it." Sam complained from behind her muggle studies book. "You are taking more classes than Beth and I am, still managed to get Outstanding in all you O.W.L.S., and you baby-sit those boys almost every other weekend, I just don't see how you do it."

Lily smiled modestly, "I don't know either." She buried herself into her potions book and prepared to start her essay.

Beth's Notebook

Sam, Lily and I are talking about the Marauders. Sam is talking about her interest in Black's looks. I think there is more to that thought process than she's letting on; she's asked out every guy she's ever thought was hot, except for him…Note: watch that relationship. Lily is complaining about Potter again. I think I'm going to talk to Remus and see what I can do to help poor James out with Lily. They would go great together; I just think I'm one of the few who see it.