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Chapter One

More Than A Challenge

"Lily! Will you wait up!"

"No, Potter. You're a git, a despicable, arrogant, annoying, insufferable git. I don't want anything to do with you. Not now. Not ever. Leave. Me. Alone!" Behind him Lily could hear a chuckle. It only brought a deeper shade of crimson to her face, and she stomped louder through the corridors of Hogwarts her steps only slightly echoing, it wasn't enough to get through the roaring in her ears. "Stop following me."

"You know that won't ever happen," he said smug.

She spun around, and he nearly ran into her, but she stood her ground. She wasn't going to let him get the best of her. His shiny black hair, and hazel eyes, his smirk would not get the best of her. It wouldn't. "What part of 'no' don't you understand?"

"All of it."

"You're so thick!"

"Ah, c'mon, you know that isn't true. I'm only second to you in NEWTS."

She huffed irritated more than she was when she spotted him following her out on the grounds, leaving his three best friends behind. "That is beside the point!"

"Then what's the point sweetness," Potter ruffled his hair in that annoying way.

"I'm not interested!" She ignored that disgusting nickname he knew she hated.

"Oh, but I am."

"Only because you can't have me! Believe me, if any other girl was this hard to get you'd be after them, not me." That thought caused a slight pain in her chest she wasn't aware of. Why should she have any sort of feelings towards - towards him?! The bane of her existence?! The very boy that tortured Severus last year?! Another pain in her chest too close to her heart. Severus... Her childhood friend...

"One date."

"An hour I'd never get back," she snarled turning on her heel with the utmost grace she could manage. She was proud of herself for turning away. It was satisfying, that is until he called to her, and she couldn't help but to stop in her tracks listening without facing him. She stared straight at the staircase to her left. She would run, but he would run too, and what good would that do? He was faster than she was.

"Who said anything about an hour? I was thinking of keeping you."

That was it. Jam - Potter had taken too many rounds to the head with a Bludger. It would've been the perfect excuse if he wasn't such a superb Quidditch player. She couldn't recall a time that he hadn't dodged one.

Lily knew she was pretty. It wasn't a feeling of being better than anyone else it was simply the attention she gained from the boys at school. She was asked out on a date every day, and every day she turned them down. It wasn't hard to do, and they eventually gave up, but it had been a year, and Potter was still at it, pestering her to no end. In any other circumstance she would have hexed him by now, but she liked the way he stared into her eyes, brown into green, every time he looked at her. It made her feel warm, and she cursed herself for that.

She spun back around staring into his face that clearly said that he was winning. She would remedy that. "I don't want anything to do with you."

His smile widened. "What about Lee?"

She crossed her arms over her chest, flipping her flaming hair over her shoulder. "What about him?"

"Word gets around the school. He asked you out, and you cursed him. He only asked you once while I've been asking for ages. What's the difference, Lily? Why not curse me?"

"Because you'll never leave me alone!" She usually waited until the tenth time the boys asked her out that she would curse them, but Lee was different. She overheard a week before Malfoy telling a stranger that Lee had some plans for her. Slytherin's, they all had their mind someplace else. It was sickening.

He grinned, shining perfect white teeth. "You're right, I wouldn't, but I think the answer is more along the lines that you don't want me to. You like me chasing you, me as the predator, you as the prey."

"You're insane."

"On the contrary I'm very sane. Well within my mind to follow you around -"

"Stalking -"

"Whichever. You have yet to curse me."

Her blood boiled, and she withdrew her wand from her back pocket pointing it at his chest - his incredible sculpted chest. She paid no attention to the way her heart skipped one of its many beats. "Don't think I won't, Potter!"

"Tsk, tsk, tsk, Evans. This isn't your nature. You're Head Girl, you shouldn't be threatening students. Especially your fellow Head. Especially those unarmed."

She reached over, dipping her hand into his robe. She cringed as she did this, being so close to him, feeling his radiating warmth, but she soon found what she was looking for immediately, and took out his wand. She brandished it in front of his face.

"Like I said... I'm unarmed."

"You're impossible." Lily tossed the wand back to him, and he caught it like he would catch the Quaffle on the field. It was with speed, and stealth, and she secretly envied him for that.

"One date, Lily. That's all I'm asking of you. If I don't impress you can go your way. I won't bother you again. I promise."

She lowered her wand. It was a tempting offer. One date, one hour - thirty minutes at least, and she could be rid of him. It would be lovely to turn him down with the most venom she could manage. It wasn't in her nature to be unkind, but lets face it, some girls had to do what they needed to, and she needed to get rid of James Potter once, and for all. She would be free. Somehow the thought didn't please her as much as it should have. She filled her voice with as much impatience, and as much vex as possible. "Fine, Mr. Potter. You have a date." She rushed towards the staircase immediately after agreeing so she wouldn't witness that conceited expression he wore so often.

As she hurried her way to the Gryffindor common room she looked into every doorway, every dark crevice for any sign that someone heard. That would be embarrassing. She could never explain it to her friends that she failed in her mission. The mission in which she vowed to never to date the popular Gryffindor Quidditch star. She only hoped that no one would see them on her date. She couldn't come up with a plausible excuse for her irrational, and rather stupid behavior.

Out of the doorway behind James came a dark haired man with sallow skin. He smirked after the fiery dark red-head, James could feel it. He felt proud himself, but in case she looked back he tried to appear serious.

"I think she likes you," said Sirius.

Once he saw Lily turn the corner her slight figure out of his view he beamed at his best mate. "Not yet."

"She agreed -"

"To get rid of me!" He laughed heartily. "Trust me, Padfoot, if it's the last thing I do I will win over Lily Evans."

"Be sure to do it before Snivelly."

"He's still after her?" James felt worry grip his gut.

Severus Snape (or Snivelly as they called him) was Lily's ex-best friend. It was well-known that he was in love with her, and continued to seek her forgiveness. It wasn't with as much gusto as it was in their fifth year when he called her a mudblood effectively ending their relationship, but it didn't stop bothering James that she would someday forgive him, and he would lose her, or at least part of her the one where he could grip her attention as easily as he could throw a Quaffle into the hole of the goal post.

"Lily threatened to extract some..." He grimaced, "parts of him last week. He's backed off some, but... Don't wait long..." Sirius elbowed his ribs turning playful again.

"Use your charm, and she's yours."

"No," he informed, "it'll take much more than charm... She's... Different."

"Beautiful -"

"Smart."

He barked out a laugh. "And that's why you'll get her, Prongs. You - unlike every other warm-blooded male in this school wants her for her brains."

James sighed heavily. "The fact that she's beautiful is an added bonus. She can keep up with me - hell lets be honest she's way ahead of me. That's why I want her. That's why I'll have her."

"Because she's a challenge?"

"Because she's much more than that. She's the only girl who can capture my attention for more than a minute."

A/N: This story in its entireity is dedicated to my friend Sagesther. She attempted a Draco/Hermione story, and for that (and being a great friend) I attempted a James/Lily ship, and here is the result. She's much better at it than I am, so if you want to read a couple of awesome James/Lily stories she has them. Thanks, Sage.