.chapter one.

'I'm always going to remember this,' thought Lily Evans, goosebumps rippling across her flesh as she gazed around the Great Hall of Hogwarts, School of Witchcraft and Wizardry. She had a small smile on her face as she watched the students, and she almost felt as though she could burst into tears. It was her last year there, and she was insistant on making it her best. She was Head Girl, had a prospective boyfriend, and hopefully she would finally get James Potter in line. The last one was very doubtful, as James Potter was the most annoying human being on Earth and also very persistant in his unsuccessful pursuit of her, which caused Lily to dislike him even more. But she didn't want to think about that now; why waste her time thinking about him when she could be thinking about something happy, like ... Benjamin Corners, perhaps?

"Lily... um," said the tall, slender girl sitting beside her. She snapped her fingers in front of Lily's face and giggled to the other girl sitting with them, which effectively dragged her from her reverie. "You were beginning to drool."

"Thanks," replied Lily, rolling her emerald green eyes. She picked up her fork, pushed her potatoes around on her plate, then rested her wrist on the table, thoughtful. She got like this quite often, when something was bothering her or she just had so much going on in her brilliant mind that she just couldn't talk about it because there was just too much to say and not enough words. The blonde haired girl, Jackie Storms, watched her for a moment curiously, hoping that she would say something. The other girl, who had brown hair that was more the color of mocha, hardly registered the process. She was called Jena Jacobson.

Over the past seven years, these three girls had become close as sisters, with the same squabbles that sisters had and the loving moments and bonds that sisters also have. They were mostly polar opposites; one booksmart and head strong, one out spoken and Quidditch - obsessed, and the other shy and artsy. The seven years they spent together at Hogwarts was not without drama, of course; they had gone through puberty, first loves, heart break, broken bones and pranks, and of course the occasional quarrel. They were accustomed to eachother's habits, like Lily's thinking sort of through expression, or that Jackie had a tendancey to chew on the skin around her thumbs whenever she was nervous. They were very often made fun of by James Potter and his crew of mischievous friends at the end of the school year, as they were always crying and hugging like girls sometimes do. They loved eachother and came together like pieces of a puzzle, to complete a beautiful picture.

"D'you think that I've got a chance with Ryan Chang this year?" asked Jackie suddenly. They all leaned forward to have a little piece of privacy, and Lily was even paying atteniton. She glanced over to the Ravenclaw table, where the exotic looking boy was chatting with a pretty girl named Tracy Brown. She kept flicking her hair over her shoulder, and it was coming dangerously close to her mashed potatoes and gravy.

"Well, if he's interested in Tracy... definitely," said Lily. "I mean, look at her. She hardly got an 'Acceptable,' on her O.W.L's." This was something unacceptable to Lily; she wouldn't date a guy that got below 'Acceptable,' on his O.W.L's. But most guys didn't ask Lily out anyway, as she was a bit intense and overwhelming. Plus, James Potter had obviously marked her as his, much to her annoyance and disgust.

"But look at her... assets." Jackie meant her curvasous body; she herself was a bit like a bean pole, which left her feeling that she lacked something, which she didn't. She was beautiful and Tracy Brown had nothing on her.

"Oh my, are we still on that?" asked Lily with a weary sigh.

"You are beautiful, and Tracy Brown might as well be invisible," chimed in Jena. She herself was rather pretty, with big, almond shaped blue eyes that sparkled, and classic features that made you think she was the heroine in some old movie that included a war or something. Lily was particularly fond of those movies.

"Think so?" Jackie asked. "Good. I was going to ask him to help me out with some chaser stuff." Jackie was the sporty one of the group, and had snagged a position as one of the three chasers on the Gryffindor Quidditch team. She also had a very long line of guys that she had dated and dumped - she had never been the dumpee. Ever.

"Well, I'm sure he'd adore the chance play Quidditch with you. But anyway, guess what happened to me this summer when I was shopping at Diagon Alley." Lily had not yet told them this story, but kept it to herself, as it was such a big deal to her. She had liked Benjamin since their fifth year, when he said that she looked with a prefects badge. So, of course, this budded some interest and she analyzed him - his grades, how he treated his other friends (the girls, of course) - and finally decided that he was a great guy. So, she was especially happy when she bumped into him at Flourish and Blotts.

"You met a Latin man and had an affair and now you're having an illigitamate baby?" asked Jackie in one swift breath. She could be a rather quick talker.

"No," said Lily, furrowing her brows at her friend. "Why on Earth would you think that?"

"Well, you see, my Grandmother watches these soap operas -"

"Nevermind. I was in Flourish and Blotts, and guess who walked right up to me and tapped me on the shoulder! Ben Corners, that's who. And you'll never guess what he said to me. I'll tell you, you'll never guess," she said to her friends, who didn't look like they would be guessing any time soon, "He said, "Lily Evans! I hardly recognized you, you've changed a lot over the summer." And then he grinned and I said, "You think so?" and he said, "Yeah." And I asked, "Is that a good thing?" and he scratched his nose, a bit like this," she demonstrated, "and then he said - you'll never believe this - "Yeah. It's a great thing." Isn't that spectacular?!"

"Well," drawled a very bored sounding voice from over Lily's head, causing her face to flush with embarrassment immediately as she knew who the voice belonged to, "I think it's sort of sad. Because it means you weren't great looking before." Then the person sunk down beside her on the bench, leaning on his elbows against the table. The same mop of untidy (though sometimes purposefully so) pitch black hair and the teasing, chestnut eyes behind the wire rimmed spectacles, the firm set jaw, and lanky body that belonged to Lily's most hated enemies sat beside her, a bored grin on his face. James Potter was striking back again, and this time, with a vengance.

"Shut up, Potter," said Jackie, her voice annoyed and bored. "This is an A, B, and D conversation. 'C' yourself out."

"That didn't go quite in order," pointed out James, only to be cut off by Jackie's explination.

"That's because you have to use -"

"He knows that. He's just being his normal, bothersome self. What do you want, Potter?" asked Lily, her voice weary of these confrontations. And he was beginning early this year - usually he didn't start until midway through the first day of classes.

"What I have accomplished. Hearing your voice. Also, annoying you. So, see you around, Evans." He stood up, patted a large hand on her dark red hair, then strolled off with his hands jammed in his pockets, whistling, as though they had just had the most normal conversation ever.

"Well, one things for sure," said Jena quietly. "James Potter is never going to give up on you." She smiled slowly, but it quickly disappeared.

"I do wish he would," replied Lily fretfully. "That boy is most definitely not stable in the mind."

A/N: That was rather abrupt, huh? Well, the second chapter is better, trust me. Trust me.

Disclaimer: If I owned Harry Potter, do you think I would really be writing fanfiction on the internet, huh? Well yeah.... I wouldn't be. I would be writing the sixth book as quickly as I could so I could satisfy people like me!!