A/N: My first LJ fic. I love them so much but never really attempted to write about them till now.

Lily sighed in a frustrated manner. Her quill hovered mere inches above her still unwritten essay for Potions. Slughorn had assigned his Advanced Potions class to give him a three-foot essay on the properties of unicorn blood. She had been so caught up in other school work that she had completely forgotten about it until seven o'clock the night before the due date. Which would be what she was currently doing.

Just then, Marlene sauntered into the comfy Gryffindor common room. "What're you doing, Lily?" she asked as she plopped herself down onto a red chair. Unlike Lily, Marlene was sick on the day that their Potions master had presented the assignment to them and therefore did not have to do it. Regardless, she wouldn't have done it anyway.

"Doing the essay on the properties of unicorn blood that you were supposed to do," Lily snapped, looking down at her blank piece of paper. "Ugh! How the heck am I supposed to do this? Just wondering, 'cause my mind is a bloody pile of useless mush!" She buried her head in her arms, worn out. Final exams were approaching, and she only had one more year of education. If she wanted to be successful in the Wizarding World, then Lily would have to buck up and stop venting to others about her problems, because that wouldn't get her anywhere.

Marlene McKinnon pulled out a candy (no doubt she had snuck out to Honeyduke's) and popped it in her mouth. "No need to be all snappy with me. I'm not the one who waited till the last minute to start a huge project."

For the umpteenth time that night, Lily heaved an exhausted sigh. "Yeah, I guess you're right. Sorry. I'm simply...oh, bugger! This whole assignment is pointless!"

"Exactly why I get sick at useful times. Actually, it was just a major hangover from the Quidditch party the night before." She smirked smugly "It was a good party, too. But you had to be doing a stupid project for History of Magic and missed all the fun. James Potter was especially hot." A sour look then crossed her face. "Even when he was drunk all he talked about was you."

"You say it like it's a good thing," Lily scoffed, dipping her quill into a bottle of ink out of habit. "It's quite annoying. I do believe Potter's off his rocker."

Her friend shook her head as she gave up. "You know what, Lily? If you would give him one little snog he'd leave you alone. What I would give for a nice snog these days." She scowled, and then brightened considerably. "But then again, our dear Lily hasn't even pecked a guy on the lips yet."

Lily lunged for Marlene and the two girls tumbled to the floor of the empty room, giggling madly. "That's not my fault!" she protested while Marlene looked doubtful. "I have a boatload of work and Prefect duties. Besides, if I were to snog Potter, then he would ask me for a shag."

Marlene roared with laughter, clutching her stomach. "You wish," she managed to wheeze.

Needless to say, Lily slapped her.

The early morning sun rose quickly; its sunlight poured through windows in the girls' dormitory. But one bed was empty.

A sixth-year girl lay fast asleep, snoozing on a long piece of parchment filled with words such as "magical" and "elixir." The redhead remained blissfully unaware as students poured out of their respective dormitories. That is, until one boy bounded out. His jet-black hair stuck up in all directions as his boisterous laugh rudely awoke the girl. She blinked lazily at her surroundings, sleepy but apparently nonchalant about being awakened, until her gaze landed on the boy. "Potter!" she shrieked as he gave her a cocky grin.

"Yes, Evans?" he replied, giving the boys behind him a knowing smirk. "What have I done to deserve your attention?"

"You, Mr. Potter," Lily seethed, brushing a piece of hair out of her angry eyes, "woke me up! What have I done to deserve you in my life? I spent my night writing an essay for Slughorn, I'm exhausted, and...and...I can't think straight, so leave me alone, Potter!"

He drew nearer to her and their lips were suddenly very close. Lily started sweating. She was now was extremely awake, aware of every movement and breath of his, and of the stares from James Potter's fellow Marauders. "Really?" he murmured. "Are you really that sleepy?"

"Yes," she gasped. She tried to scoot backwards in her chair. It didn't work. Why did Fate hate her?

"I don't think you are."

"I am, actually."

Thankfully, Marlene's laughter caught James's attention. "Don't hit on Lily any more then you have to, Potter." He shot her a loathing glance before retreating to Remus Lupin, Sirius Black, and Peter Pettigrew. Together they (well, Potter and Black) arrogantly walked off to the Great Hall for some breakfast.

Lily suddenly felt silly and dumb for getting caught up in Potter's delightful games.

"How long were you there?" she tentatively asked Marlene.

"Quite a while."

Lily suppressed a groan. "Why didn't you come to my rescue a tad bit earlier? That's what friends are for."

"Oh, but it was so amusing. I need an earnest laugh every now and then; it spices up my life. Heaven knows I need that...along with a good snog, as I said last night."

"I hate you."

"Thanks."

They both took their time as they ventured down the many corridors of Hogwarts, down the swiftly-changing staircases, through the large double doors, and into the Great Hall, where students were enjoying a pleasant morning meal before classes began. Lily and Marlene took their place at the Gryffindor House table next to Mary MacDonald and Alice Prewett. Fortunately, they were situated a way's away from Potter and his friends.

"Lily!" Mary's voice brought said girl out of her daydreams. She looked over to find her friend staring at her in a concerned manner, her fork clattering to her plate of still untouched eggs, bacon, and toast.

Lily took a sip of pumpkin juice out of the goblet in front of her. "Mhm?" she said sleepily.

"First of all, you have bruises under your eyes the size of Quaffles." Mary looked at her worriedly. "Secondly, you're still wearing the robes that you wore yesterday. That doesn't fit the students' impressions of perfect Lily Evans. I just thought you might want to know, in case you like living up to those standards."

She quickly glanced at her wrinkled robes and groaned. "Freakin' Potter and his antics," Lily muttered bitterly.

"Did I hear something about James Potter?" Alice piped up, her eyes glinting mischievously. That was a danger sign to an experienced friend like Lily.

She chose tell her story instead of paying attention to Alice. "I was writing a three-foot essay for the Potions master when I fell asleep—"

"We knew you were somewhere," Alice grinned.

"—and then Potter woke me up and we had a row."

"Ah," Marlene voiced in a disagreeing tone. "No, dear Lily was about to snog Potter senseless. Ow!" Lily's fork had hit her in the shoulder. "Bloody hell, Lily, we know you like him, so just get on with it already and give him a kiss: in the broom closet, in the hallway, in the common room, on his bed..." She raised one eyebrow in suggestion.

"Shut up." Lily angrily grabbed Marlene's fork to replace her sorely missed one and started to stab the eggs on her plate. She stuffed her mouth, took a swig of pumpkin juice, threw her backpack over one shoulder, and trudged to Defense Against the Dark Arts.

She arrived several minutes early in the classroom, deserted except for Professor Sayre, a short, balding man who seemed to be in his mid-fifties. Lily gave a small smile to him.

If she was being truthful, she wasn't fond of him. He was a splendid teacher but not an easily-liked man. He gave them tons of schoolwork that challenged the students to their limits.

They remained in awkward silence until the rest of the class walked in. When every last person was situated and ready to learn (Potter and Black walking in last), the Professor cleared his throat. "Today, class, we will be learning how to ward off Dementors.

"Now, Dementors are complex creatures that are to be treated with caution. I'm assuming that all of you know about the Dementors that guard the prison Azkaban." Everybody nodded their heads in confirmation. "The only known way to repel them is the Patronus charm. It takes the form of an animal, different for each person, and is highly complex magic. Normally, I wouldn't teach you this until your seventh year, but under the circumstances of You-Know-Who, I feel it necessary. The incantation is Expecto Patronum and to be able to have it work properly, you must think of one of the happiest memories you have, because Dementors suck out your blissful thoughts. If it doesn't work, the most that will come out will be a small silvery wisp. It takes extreme concentration and I will be astounded if you manage a corporeal Patronus on your first try. It is practically impossible. Even I cannot perform a fully-formed Patronus.

"Patronuses are known to take—or change to—the form of your true love's sometimes, however, in the opposite gender." Nobody had really paid attention to that last statement except—How cliché, thought Lily—James Potter and herself. He winked in her direction and she groaned in resignation.

Within a couple minutes, people were scrambling to their feet. Cries of "Expecto Patronum!" filled the classroom as people tried to produce a Patronus.

Lily took a deep breath and grasped her wand in her hand. She could do this. She had tons of memories to choose from. Petunia and she were playing dress-up. Severus was telling her about Hogwarts and she was fantastically excited. McGonagall was praising her because she was the first in her class to succeed in one of the spells.

Taking a deep breath, she thought of her happiest memory: Petunia and she were decorating the Christmas tree in winter. Snow was falling at a steady pace while inside they danced around with tinsel and ornaments. Their merry laughs filled the quiet Evans house. Filled with joy at the memory, Lily yelled, "Expecto Patronum!"

Out of her wand came a shimmering, ethereal shape, vague in form, yet undeniably there. Lily Evans had to admit that at times, there were moments where she truly realized magic (as in "the stuff that dreams are made on") did exist.

Alice's gasp finally broke her concentration. The forming Patronus faded into nothingness.

"Thank you, Alice." Lily smiled wryly. "It was pretty impressive, wasn't it, though?"

"Yeah, hon, whatever you say. Well, you wanna be the first in the class to achieve this? You better keep working!" Alice skipped to a new part of the room, stopping to stand by Mary.

Once again, Lily let the scene fill her mind, sighing at the easiness of it back then. Only this time, the memory was longer. Mrs. Evans called the girls out to the Muggle kitchen, with marble floors and oak cabinets. Her oven mits were on and she held a silver platter of sugar cookies, in the form of angels and stars and Santa Clauses.

"Expecto Patronum!" The vapor traveled out of her wand, spiraling in midair.

Over and over she kept replaying the memory in her head, willing the mist to stay and grow in strength. It gradually did and her patience paid off when, much to her amazement, a slightly corporeal doe appeared. From the other side of the room, out of the corner of her eye, Lily saw Potter stop what he was doing to gaze at her Patronus, absolutely dumbstruck. His friends followed suite when their eyes traveled to where he was looking.

The students started pointing and whispering. "Dear me, our Lily Evans has managed to find out her Patronus in the first class session! Fifteen points to Gryffindor!" Professor Sayre barked to her fellow classmates. A swell of pride filled Lily. Like in Transfiguration so many years ago, she was once again being praised for her handiwork.

She peeked over at Potter to find that he had stopped trying to form his Patronus and instead was avidly talking to his friends. Remus shot a glance her way. He appeared curious.

Lily made her way over to the Marauders. "Hello, Remus," she greeted the boy warmly.

He forced a smile. "Good job, Lily. I'm excited for you. Even I couldn't make my Patronus yet." Lily doubted that, since Remus was one of the best academic students in their year.

She meant to acknowledge him, but something kept bothering her. "Please tell your friend to close his mouth. Something might fly in and make a nest."

Sure enough, as soon as the words were out of her mouth, Potter shut his mouth with a snap. "Nice work, Evans." He couldn't hide his ecstatic smile. Lily raised an eyebrow.

"Thanks. And why, might I ask, are you so excited?"

He shrugged. Miffed, Lily stalked off to Alice. She climbed onto a vacant desk to watch her friend practice.

"Urgh!" Alice vented to her and Mary. "Why can't I form the damn thing? This is a load of crap. No one can do this!" Then she recalled what Lily had accomplished. "Oh. Right. Perfect Miss Evans can produce her Patronus, a beautiful doe, because she's just so gentle. What'll mine be, then? A dragon?" She looked doubtful for a moment. "Actually, that would be really cool. It could fry Lil's doe." She beamed toothily at said girl, pleased that she might have something better than her friend, despite the fact that ghost-like animals couldn't "fry" anything.

"I'd like to find out my Patronus, too," Mary added. Her eyes glazed over suddenly. "I can imagine myself making a fabulous...a fabulous dove." She received skeptical looks. "Oh, come off it. You know—I'm always settling the peace and I'm usually shy and withdrawn."

Lily listened to the girls talk about their unknown Patronuses for the rest of the period. When Defense Against the Dark Arts ended, they walked off together to Potions. Lily handed in her essay to a pleased Slughorn and drifted through the rest of her classes in an enjoyable haze until lunch came around.

"So, it's all over the school that Lily made her Patronus!" Marlene gushed as she stuck a forkful of mashed potatoes into her mouth.

Lily shook her head in disbelief. "Guys, it's really not that big of a deal. I produced a Patronus. So what?"

"Lily, are you mad? You heard Professor Sayre; it's extremely advanced magic and even he couldn't make a complete one," Alice spoke up, casting a glance at Mary.

"Yeah, but neither did I." Honestly! The attention she had gotten since her first class was ludicrous. People had come up to her asking how she had done it. She responded by saying she followed Sayre's directions, that was all. And James Potter was acting ridiculous around her. He kept staring at her with incredulity that made her uncomfortable. It didn't help that they had a decent amount of their courses together.

Through the day, Potter watched her from a distance. He simply would not let her be: in Divination, Herbology, even History of Magic!

"Can I help you with anything?" she eventually asked in an exasperated tone during Herbology. James Potter had been trailing her like a lost puppy and it was annoying her so much.

His cheeks flushed a bright, cherry red before he responded, "No, Evans, I'm fine. Go about your business." He placed his plant in a square pot, pretending to ignore her. When she didn't move, watching him ardently, he whipped one hundred-eighty degrees to face Lily. "Evans...I'm fine. Turn around."

With great reluctance, she did as she was told, and yet there was this nagging feeling that he was not fine and there was something more behind his piercing hazel eyes.

Right before the last meal of the day, she snapped again. "Potter! Leave me alone! Go hang out with your friends or something!"

Hurt flashed in his eyes. "Sorry," he mumbled almost inaudibly. Then he grinned at her before joining the Maruaders to walk to the Great Hall for supper.

As she took her place between Marlene and Mary, she poured out her worries. "Potter keeps staring at me with this weird look. At times, he's just staring. At others, he's...I dunno...he's watching me! It's a big nerve-wracking, if I dare say so. I keep asking him (politely) to stop, but he never does! It's like the boy is utterly entranced with me!"

"That's because he is, Lils!" Marlene said, half-amused, half-annoyed. "That's an obtuse complaint, even for you."

She didn't speak to her friend for the rest of the night, not even in the Girls' Dormitory towards bedtime.

"You're not talking to Marlene even after three hours?" Alice asked Lily incredulously as they walked to the bathroom to brush their teeth. She pulled out her pretty pink Muggle toothbrush Lily had given to her after jokingly saying she would die for one of those that Lily got at a "drugstore."

The redhead pulled her hair back in a sloppy ponytail as she squirted mint toothpaste on her toothbrush."Nope," she replied through a mouth full of foam. "I'm not talking to Ms. McKinnon or Potter." Lily spit and then rinsed her mouth with a cup of water. "They annoy me so much!" she laughed, wiping her lips on her pajama sleeve.

Alice gazed at her for a tense moment, and then blew it off. "Okay. Whatever, but Marlene's gonna seriously be pissed tomorrow morning, just letting you know." They shuffled back into the room where Mary and Marlene were already asleep. Lily and Alice each hopped into her own bed and magicked the lights off. "G'night, Lils," Alice Prewett whispered. She pulled the velvet drapes around her bed so that it completely obscured her from view.

Lily fell to sleep fairly fast, but woke up in the middle of the night from a bad dream. Panting anxiously, she surveyed her surroundings, and when she deemed them suitable, flopped back onto her pillow. She picked a sweaty piece of flame-colored hair out of her face.

When she couldn't get unconsciousness to come back to her, she hopped out of her comfortable bed and padded quietly down to the common room in hopes of sitting alone in front of fire after a stressful day.

She stopped cold when she heard a voice. To be specific, it was Potter's voice. Oh, God, she thought. But she couldn't just turn around and go back. That was the definition of cowardly. And Lily Evans was not a coward.

Lily peeped around the corner and saw—sure enough—Potter...with his wand. He was shutting his eyes and continuously muttering something under his breath. What it was precisely, she didn't know. Then he lifted the small piece of wood in his hands and mutedly yelled, "Expecto Patronum!"

Oh.

What happened next was something that made Lily unsure if she wasn't still having her nightmare. Out of James's wand came a galloping stag, circling around the exultant boy. In her head, Lily remembered Professor Sayre's seemingly-harmless words at the time:

"Patronuses are known to take—or change to—the form of your true love's sometimes, however, in the opposite gender." Now Lily had a better understanding of why the egotistical Potter had been staring at her all day. How had he known his Patronus, though? No one but her in their entire year had been able to form anything more than a hazy, silvery substance. That was only one of the many questions on her already-full mind at the moment.

Potter appeared pleased about his handiwork, and spun around to head up to the Boys' Dormitory, when he caught sight of Lily. He stopped cold. "Evans?" His face paled as he waited for an answer, but Lily was too busy thinking about what this new development meant.

She panicked. Soulmates weren't supposed to exist, were they? Then again, she was being biased—wizards and witches did exist, after all.

Then an unusual thing happened. Her heart started to warm at the very idea of finding her true love. If it was Potter, obviously some powerful force had bound them together for a reason. That person, however, was waiting for her to speak.

Lily shook her head. "What do you want, Potter?" she spat, without her normal vehemence. She meandered over to where he stood, tall and handsome. For some reason, she had never noticed that before. Sure, she had known he was attractive....Why had she been oblivious? Now she recognized how black and shiny his hair was, how wonderful his hazel orbs were, how muscular his arms were. Spectacular—she had fallen for James Potter. She wasn't as upset about that as she should have been.

He shrugged his shoulders. "I was wondering why the infallible Lily Evans couldn't get to sleep."

She was about to protest when she decided against it. "I had a nightmare." Goosebumps popped up along her skin at the memory.

James's forehead crinkled with worry. "Do you need a sleeping potion? I'm sure Madam Pomfrey could whip one up for you. Here: we can go down together." He started to walk out of the common room, when Lily called him back without acknowledging it it. He gave her a weird look. "Are you okay? You're acting odd tonight." Lily hated the terrible comprehension that dawned on him then. "Oh. You saw me practicing the spell, didn't you?" He didn't need to clarify which spell it was; Lily had grasped that already.

"Yeah," she exhaled. "And I recalled what Professor Sayre told us. Is that why you were acting bizarrely around me today? I was wondering about that, and I finally get it."

He was beside her in a second. "Yes, Lily. I really like you, Evans, and I hope you feel the same way. I've been trying to get you to realize that for the longest time." It was corny, but Lily could have cared less, because it sounded sweet to her ears. As if it was yesterday morning all over again, James was much too close to Lily. Yet this time it was different. This time she didn't mind that much. She had been repressing her emotions for the longest time, and the most it took to unleash them and rupture her perfect world was James Potter. His lips parted and he let out a breath. He smelt fantastic...she couldn't describe it, but she knew was that it made her forget who she was.

It happened slowly, the way his lips gently pressed against hers. Lily ran her hands through his hair and was shocked at how natural it felt. She faintly noticed in some remote part of her brain how sublime this moment was, how the world shifted beneath her feet.

They finally broke apart, Lily gasping for breath—not because she was out of it, rather, because her life had changed course so suddenly and her thoughts were dizzying. What would her friends think? What would the school think? James Potter had been asking her out since Fifth Year, and now it was obvious they were official. Girls throughout Hogwarts would hate her because the most sought-out bachelor was finally taken. And he wouldn't be free again.

"Hey," James murmured, drawing her closer so that she leaned against his chest. "What are you thinking about?"

"Nothing much. Just how the whole school will be gossiping about you and me."

His finger slid under her chin. "Lily, don't worry about them. Focus on us. That's what matters." He, for once, ran his hand through her hair as she rested her head against his shoulders. Lily proceeded to kiss him tenderly.

And in the end, James Potter and Lily Evans truly were all that mattered in their world.

A/N: I'm ecstatic about finishing this! Please review; I worked my butt off!