Title: Even If I Said No? (It took 14.5 second to think up this title)

Slash: James/Lily (My favorite)

Rating:PG-13 (Language, possible sexual situations. Ooo.)

Genre: Romance/General (My specialty)

Summary: Your basic J/L hate/love fic.

Disclaimer: Let's put it this way: If I owned Harry Potter, do you think I'd be writing fan fictions? No. I'd be spending my sweet, sweet cash on everything I wanted (maybe some charity).

Author's Note: Lily and James are my favorite, I've decided. Then there's Harry/Hermione, then Ron/Lav, then Ron/Hermione then (pawn of fate is the greatest at this) Harry/Draco. Enjoy this story, because I do, dammit. Woo hoo!

~*~

CHAPTER ONE: Lily and James, James and Lily

Tuning the strings on her guitar, Lily hummed the song she made up the previous night. Ideas kept her from sleep, so she gave up and wrote a 3-page song. People would fall asleep listening to a song that lasted for 15 minutes, so she chopped it up into 2 songs. Her favorite, Untitled, and without a chorus, was a light-rock love ballad.

Lily's prized possession was her acoustic green guitar, with a sleek and shiny body and jet-black handle. It cost her nearly 30 Galleons from her Savings Account (her mother made sure she made one). Her favorite feature on it was a white lightning bolt streaking across the body of her guitar. Whenever she had a moment to herself, she would play until her left hand looked like raw hamburger. Her favorite singer was a Muggle singer and guitar player, Michelle Branch.

Strumming loudly with her eyes closed, all of Lily's emotion pouring into her favorite Michelle Branch songs in the Gryffindor Common Room. "If you want to I can save you/I can take you away from here/so lonely inside/so busy out there/and all you wanted was somebody who cares..."

"Why don't you sing to somebody who cares?" Came an annoyingly familiar amused voice. A hand slapped the strings of the guitar. Lily looked up and saw the mess of black hair and sky blue eyes that was James Potter, with a taunting expression playing on his 17-year-old lips.

Lily slapped James's hand, and the took it back with a loud, "Ow!"

"If you ever touch my guitar again, James, I'll personally make sure you die." Lily warned with spite in her voice. Her emerald eyes flashed.

"Oh, is that a fact, Granny Smith?" James's grin disappeared and he folded his arms. Lily's anger increased as James referred her by a stupid nickname he gave her in fourth year. Her eyes were as bright as a granny smith apple, thus was dubbed Granny Smith.

"Yes."

"Crap." James jogged off to the sofa across the room where Moony and Padfoot were. Wormtail was supposedly in the Hospital Wing for blowing up a Time Tonic in Potions. The three boys laughed and Lily cursed, shaking her head so her ruby hair fell over her face.

"Why is he such an asshole?" Lily said to herself, re-tuning her strings in case James messed something up. She wouldn't have been surprised if he did. "What a coward. He always runs off to his little pals!"

"Still not doing well in the Ladies Department, I see." Sirius said with a boyish grin. James punched him playfully in the arm. Sirius ruffled James's hair.

"Hey!" James said, trying to flatten his askew mane. "I had it just the way I wanted it!"

"What, a carpet sample?" Sirius ducked as James threw another punch. Remus raised his eye brows.

"Please, shut up." He told them. Remus showed them a paper of directions and instructions of a prank they were going to pull. "We have to prepare Operation Water Lily."

"The operation where that...?" Sirius was about to ask.

"Shut up!" James said, cupping his best friend's mouth. "She's right over there!"

Remus yawned. Last night was a full moon, and he was very exhausted. He was the one of the Marauders that actually got along okay with Lily (she didn't glare, he didn't tease). Prank/Joke wise, Remus did most of the planning. Wormtail was usually the one who pulled the small pranks (rubber chickens, squeaky mice, fake blood...) and James and Sirius pulled the big ones (spells, potions, curses, hexes, jinxes...). No one (Peter sometimes) really complained.

Except Lily.

Lily was your average person. Besides the fact that the one thing she would die for was music. She could play the piano, guitar, harmonica, and there were rumors (yes, sadly there were rumors about this) she could play the saxophone. She never touched one in her life and wondered where the hell that came from. Lily was friendly and had a couple of friends, but she wasn't what you'd call popular or unpopular; she was between.

Ever since that 'unfortunate misunderstanding' in first year (James but a Booger Bean in Lily's pumpkin juice) as the Marauders put it, James and Lily took turns getting at each other's throats. A prank here, a curse there. Lily's one true friend, Traycee, had the hugest crush on Sirius and this conflicted with James and Lily trying to kill each other.

"Lily, Sirius won't ever like me if you keep on hurting his best friend!" Traycee whined. Traycee was an expert at whining.

"Traycee, puh-lease. James won't care about your little 'thing' for Sirius and I can't possibly influence the decision. Unless James is more self-centered than he seems to be," Lily added with spite.

So seven years of pranks... after curses... after teasing... James and Lily hated each other in the loathing of a thousand suns. They thought they always would.

*

"After an exam in Potions," Counted off Poezee Patil, "a test in Transfig and a quiz in Charms, I think sleep is well deserved!"

"Agreed." Lily said, polishing her harmonica. It was a lovely silver and sky blue. It was a fairly large one, a Solfege XII, apparently the best harmonica ever. It was based on the solfege scale, and it was long because it had two sets of Do Re Mi Fa So La Ti Do on it. It was rather light thanks to a charm. Lily played 'Rock-A-Bye Baby' on it to get Poezee asleep, so she could sneak down to the Common Room and play her guitar.

Before Lily creaked the door open, she heard Poezee say in her sleep, "I can sauce you." Lily didn't want to know where that came from so she tip-toed down the stairs at top speed.

When she reached the bottom of the stairs, it was already occupied by none other than James Potter. Lily's shoulders dropped and she rolled her eyes as she went to the only couch she could relax in, the one farthest from the fire. James was on the other side of her; they were on the opposite side of the couch.

James thought that Lily sat on the same couch as him because she wanted to. He watched expectantly as Lily put her guitar around her shoulder and plucked the strings to see if it was tuned or not, which she was paranoid about. She turned the turning knobs a couple of times and played simple songs like 'Mary Had a Little Lamb' as a warm up.

"Can I help you?" James said. He was down in the Common Room to finish homework which he couldn't do in his dorm because Sirius needed total darkness when he slept. Lily turned to him, her emerald eyes blazing. She was wearing a red Muggle hooded zip-up sweat shirt. And white bikini underwear that whenever James took a glance his skin tingled. Her red hair was tied back into a messy bun.

"No, but you could get help." Lily said casually. They did this all the time, her and James. James rolled his eyes and said:

"What's with you and that guitar, Granny Smith?"

Lily's glare only deepened. "It happens to be my baby."

"Who's the father?" James laughed at his own joke and stole a smile from Lily.

"You are so immature. I meant that..." Lily suddenly seemed to come to realization. "Why do you care?"

"Curiosity." James said simply.

"I'm not going to tell you, you'd laugh."

James lifted up his right hand. "I solemnly swear I won't laugh."

Lily shook her head and strummed 'Three Blind Mice'.

"Tell me!" James said. "You've gotten me intrigued."

Lily poked her tongue in her cheek. "Promise you won't laugh?"

"Promise."

Lily took off her guitar and held the neck and the bottom of the body, showing it to James. "In third year, I saw this is a shop in Diagon Alley called Music Petals. It was show casing in the window, and I wanted it more than anything because it matched the exact color of my eyes, which is my favorite color. Call me crazy."

"You're crazy." James joked. Lily went on.

"The saleswoman there put it around me and gave me this pick," Lily took her hand off the bottom of the guitar, resting it on her knee, and took a very chipped rose pink pick out of her pocket and put it in James's hand. "She taught me the basic notes on the strings. I was hooked right after she showed me how. I played until my fingers bled."

James put the pink back in Lily's hand, who put it back in her pocket. "Yeah?"

"My mother didn't have enough Muggle money to exchange so I got a job I do in Hogsmeade on the weekends. This guitar was 30 Galleons. You could say," Lily grinned, "There is a love affair between me and music."

At the last sentence James laughed. Lily's grin disappeared. She put the guitar back around her and she put the pick to the strings and played her favorite song that she wrote, determined to shove James's laugh back into his mouth:

Even if you leave

Even if you tease

Even if you hurt me

I'll still love you

Even if I hurt inside

Even if I cry

Even if I die

I'll still love you

But what happens when

You ask for forgiveness

But what happens when

You try to renew yourself

But what happens when

I won't take it anymore

But what happens when

I won't put up with your pranks

And can you give

Up your selfishness

And can you give

Me your compassion

And can you give

Me a better chance

And can you give

Me a lighter load

Even if I said no?

James just stared at her. Her voice was like an angel's, and it felt like that song was sung just for him. When she ran her pick against those stings on that emerald guitar, her emerald eyes worked in harmony with the notes and with the words. It was like her whole body was just as much as the instrument as the guitar. James's breath was taken away. He, of course, had stopped laughing on the first note of that ballad. He looked into her eyes, but when the music stopped it seemed like her eyes went back it's look of loathing upon James.

"Can you laugh now?" Lily spat. Her eyes glossed over as tears swelled up inside them. "Oh, I hate you, James!" She placed her pick back inside her pocket and stormed up the stairs, her guitar still around her. James watched her go, still stunned by her song.

"I had no clue," He said to no one, "That she could play that well." He also didn't know how sensitive she was about her music, and how much she loved it. James figured he had just screwed up royally. Even if he did dislike her he hadn't meant to hurt her feelings. James shook his head and returned to his homework.

*

"I guess we have to do the Midterm Test together, Evans." Sneered Severus.

"Shut up, Snape." Lily whispered back. She always dreaded Potions ever since Professor Skowl teamed them up.. The guy had to be around 70, and he was full of sarcasm and angst. He wore midnight-blue robes and a red beanie-like hat on top of his head, which was very tacky because of the purple tassel that hung from it. Skowl had a growl to his voice.

"Now, children." He said. "Midterm is coming up, and for your tests, you will ultimately either fail or pass, depending if the Content Concoction works."

"He could use some Content Concoction," Sirius whispered to James. James put his fist in his mouth to stop from laughing.

"If the person is still angry from getting kicked after the potion is consumed, you will fail."

"Do we get to kick him? We'll all fail!" James whispered to Sirius. Sirius ducked under the desk and tried to make it sound like he was coughing.

"Mr. Black, do you need a drink?" Growled Skowl.

"Yes sir, I think I do," Sirius grinned as he ran out the door, a couple of giggles echoing from behind him.

Sirius laughed as he made his way to the Gryffindor House. He was skipping the rest Potions, and he was sure James was going to be right out with him. The huge halls of Hogwarts were quiet, as classes were being held in every class, preparing for the Midterm Tests that always take place in December. Soon after which, however, they would immediately be studying for the NEWTS. Sirius ran this all through his mind and thought about going back, then realized he had incomplete homework for Transfig in his room.

Sirius sped his pace in case a teacher was around. He looked to his left; he thought he heard a small noise, like a click of a heel. Then suddenly, he ran into something- or rather, someone.

A feminine yelp sounded as they both crashed to the ground. Books and parchment splayed around them, and as did quills and a leather book bag. Sirius rubbed his head and looked up to find a stunning looking girl. She was tall, blonde with super-model proportions. She rubbed her head too, and wasn't smiling.

"Oh, uh..." Sirius clumsily gathered her things up for her. "Er, sorry."

"Ugh, stupid Gryffindors!" She spat, slapping the floor with her hands. Sirius was taken aback, and noticed her nose was crinkled. "You're a Gryffindor, aren't you? You're that immature kid with the kid with messed up hair, right?"

"The name is Sirius." Sirius said, still putting her things together and handing them into her lap, annoyed by the girl's random irritation for Gryffindors. "You're obviously a Slytherin. You're that girl who always sucks on Malfoy in public, right?"

"My name is Narcissa Pyre, thank you very much." Narcissa suddenly smiled. "I broke up with Lucius a week ago. He was making sheep's eyes at that jet-black haired slut... I think her last name is Zebrine."

"She wears thongs. I'm friends with her ex." Sirius rolled his eyes. He was good at girl-talk, which was an odd talent of his. "Her name is Sabrina."

"Sabrina Zebrine!" Narcissa laughed. "What a fucked up name."

Sirius laughed, and Narcissa grinned at him in a flirty way. They both were still sitting on the ground. "Say," She said leaning in closer. In a perfect lusty whisper, she said, "Do you have a girlfriend?"

Padfoot's palms began to sweat. "No." He cleared his throat, scared his voice would crack. "Why do you ask?"

Narcissa took a spare bit of parchment and wrote a note on it. Before handing to Sirius, she put all of her things in her book bag, winked and walked away, her tight robes showing her off. Sirius read the note, and his whole face turned red as he grinned like an idiot. Any other Gryffindor-girl would have slapped him.

He stuffed the note into an inside-pocket of his robes and walked off to the Common Room as if nothing had happened.

*

"Ms. Brown! What is so interesting to your left?!" Yelled Professor Quirrel, who was in his first year of teaching at Hogwarts. He was in the middle of telling the students about the trip he was taking to find a vampire in the Black Forest this summer.

Magenta Brown blushed and took her stare off Remus and looked at Professor Quirrel. He scowled and continued, "This will be my first time dealing with an actual vampire. I reckon that it will be rather easy as I know so much about them."

Peter whispered to Remus, who was in front of him, "He'll get bitten, the slimy nugget!" Peter laughed at his own joke.

Remus smiled weakly. James and Sirius were a lot more clever at that then little Peter was. He even laughed at his own cracks, and often got caught...

"Mr. Pettigrew, what it so funny?" Quirrel snapped. Peter stopped laughing and stared straight at the DADA teacher. Quirrel put his hands on his hips. "You people are restless today! How about skipping the rest of class..."

The class cheered. James, Remus and Sirius stood up and whistled. Peter didn't, because he just get yelled at.

"...With some experience with our next project, werewolves?"

Everyone stopped cheering. James, Remus and Sirius sat down, blushing. Most of all, Remus.

"I thought so. Continuing with the lesson!"

*

"Ask him out for me."

"Traycee, read my lips. No. Way. In. Hell."

"Please? I'll buy you a new pick. One of those ones that sparkle and record songs for you and you can play them back. I saw those at the Music Petals in Hogsmeade."

"Trace, Lily's not gonna change her mind."

"No. Way. In. Hell."

Lily just had a conversation with Remus about how stupid Sirius was acting. He had actually smiled and shook her hand, which really freaked her out because James told him to stay away from her. Traycee had overheard and thought Sirius was daydreaming out her. Lily thought that was bigheaded. Poezee was looking over sheet music when they came in arguing.

"Why not?" Traycee demanded, taking out her magical microphone. Lily and Traycee were making a band called Enchant. Poezee played the drums and Traycee sung as Lily played her guitar. "I really like him, Lil!" She added with a whine that would make anyone but Lily and Poezee wince.

"Why can't you do it?" Lily said, quietly running her pink pick across the strings, her heart smiling at the sound.

"I'm shy!" Traycee whined. Lily laughed and Poezee snorted.

"You? Shy? That's like saying I like James." Lily knew this from experience. One time a girl looked at Traycee wrong and Traycee cursed her. Later, when the girl that she cursed turned her temple-lengthed hair purple and so her glasses looked like Professor Trelawny's, Traycee used a small Memory Charm to make that girl's boyfriend forget who she was.

"That's like saying I like Peter!" Poezee laughed.

"Sick!" Traycee stuck out her tongue at the thought of 'Poezee and Peter'. "Let me be more specific. I'm shy around *boys*."

"Perhaps. But you have to do it yourself." Lily said, slapping her strings so they would stop making noise. "Let's rehearse. I finally talked Dumbledore into letting us perform at the Christmas Ball. Which is in like... what, a week?"

"Well, I think we should sing those Muggle songs you like." Traycee offered. Lily glared. Poezee covered her mouth, hiding a grin.

"Michelle. Branch. Get. It. Right."

Suddenly, the door swung open and a familiar, and disliked, face popped in.

((A/N- WHO'S AT THE DOOR! MWA HA HA HA! Hint: Not James. There, I set up half of the plot in the story. Yes, it's only half, there is more to come. Interesting, huh? I was going to make it longer, but then I decided not to. That would be dumb of me, because on my computer the font is size eight and is 6 pages long. That's a signal for a new chappy!))

((Oh, what a pretty little box, such a loverly light bluish! I wonder what would happen if you were to press it? Please R/R!!! Reviews fuel up a new chapter!))