Disclaimer: I do not own the Harry Potter series at all. J.K. Rowling does.

Meaning of the Lilyflower

Chapter 1: Names

"Will you go out with me? Just one date?"

Lily Evans sighed exasperatedly. James Potter could not leave her alone for one waking moment of the day. Every chance he got, it was always him asking her out and her rejecting. It was like the pattern of life; James inquired, Lily rejected. It had always been the same and didn't look like it would change. And Lily wanted to keep it that way.

"No, Potter, I will never go out with you!" Lily whipped around and saw James standing about five feet away, eyes hopeful and lips questioning. Those hazel eyes looked liked a wounded puppy's once James heard her reply. Lily almost felt guilty. Almost.

"But why, Lily?"

"Because you're annoying and jerky and an egomaniac! And lots of other not nice things that I can't say because first years are around!" A few tiny, brave kids glared at Lily before moving onto their next class in fear of being late.

James's face looked grave dead and that penetrating hazel stare fixed Lily's gaze on him. "I swear on your beautiful name, Lily, that I will go out with you. Someday."

Lily gasped at his obvious stupidity of swearing on her name and countered in rash rage, "My name is nothing! You can swear on my name all you want and I still will stand with my position of never giving in."

His face twisted into the shock of someone who had kicked him smack dab in the stomach. James's eyes opened wide, his glasses sliding to the end of his curved nose. "Lily, you can't be serious! Your name, it's worth wonders and suits you very well! I only swear on things I know are too precious to give up so the promise is worth twice as much."

Lily snorted and folded her arms over her chest. A group of Slytherins had grouped around them, but she dismissed them when she stuck out her gleaming Head Girl badge and nodded curtly. "My name. Names are nothing! They are only labels for people to refer to. My name doesn't suit me at all, which proves you're even more of a dummy than I thought."

"I believe names make a person. Names don't identify people, people bring names to life. Just silly words they may seem to some, but yours, Lily. Your name couldn't match your personality better."

"Oh yeah? I'd like to see you prove that."

Lily saw a light flicker in James's mind. He was thinking of something, some bet to win her over. The hallway started to thin out, yet James and Lily were still in deadlock glances after the bell had rung. After moments of nervous anticipation from Lily, James finally spoke.

"I will prove your name is you, Lily. If you're not satisfied, I will never ask you out again or talk to you. But if you like my proof, then you will have to go out on one date with me. No guarantees, just one, simple date. Deal?"

Losing her favorite stalker was too fantastic of a bet to pass up. James's face looked eager and willing, even though he seemed to know Lily would be too stubborn to accept. But, much to his surprise, Lily said in a clipped tone, "Deal. But you have a month, until October first."

James looked astonished. "Wow, being generous today much?"

Lily huffed and replied, "Shut up. Now I'm going to get to class before this prized badge of mine is ripped off my chest. And you should too, or else a detention could fall on your shoulders any second now."

"I can't believe the nerve of him, making a stupid bet to win me over. Doesn't he know I can lie and say I hate whatever he's planning?"

Lily was sprawled out on her crimson bed that night, a box of chocolates lying beside her. Alice Prewitt sat on the bed next to her, speaking soothing words of comfort. But it was little help, because Lily was in absolute turmoil. She had just agreed to a bet with James Potter. The person who was nicknamed the weasel of the school. The person who could cheat himself out of a murder crime scene if he wanted. The person who liked her enough to confine her to a sealed deal to go on a date. No, this was definitely not good.

"Well, maybe he won't. He seemed kind of serious when he made the bet." Alice had waited around the corner until Lily was done with her little encounter with James. She had seen it all and from her point of view, it had looked like James had meant every condition of that bet, even though Lily preferred to deny it.

"Maybe. But I know James, after all his years of stalking. He'll find a way out of this, whatever he's doing. I'm pretty sure he didn't even mean it. He'll forget it by tomorrow, I know he will."

Alice smiled and nodded just to agree with Lily. But on the inside, the opposite screamed in her head. "Sure, Lils, I know exactly what you mean. Being friends with Frank all these years has taught us some very important lessons about guys: they never seem to be what they appear to be."

"Got that right," Lily snorted with a frown, stuffing another Chocolate Frog in her mouth. It squirmed on the way down in a satisfying, comforting way. No matter how crazy things got, chocolate always stayed a same, like a constant. And Lily was sure grateful for that.

Her round face breaking into a heartwarming grin, Alice hopped onto Lily's bed and popped a Bertie Bott's Every Flavor Bean into her mouth. She made a grimace and reluctantly swallowed. "Grass. Disgusting! Tastes more like the brussel sprouts they used serve at lunch!"

This was just the thought that Lily needed to send her into a fit of giggles. Following the lead, Alice started to chuckle too. And soon, their girly shrieks set them into new peals of laughter until tears formed at the tips of their eyes and they were holding onto each other to keep from crashing off the bed.

Once they could grasp their thoughts from the air and settle back down, Alice's face got very serious. She spoke in a hushed whisper, even though they were the only two in their dormitory at the time. "Listen, Lily. You might want to give James a chance. After all this time of rejecting him, you might want to be nice, just sit down and talk, you know? Get to know him instead of assuming things."

Lily sighed and stared off into space. She had heard this many times before. Alice's reasoning seemed logical, and, as her best friend, it would be a good idea to take it. But Lily couldn't seem to grasp the idea of talking to James calmly. Every conversation they had was quick, witty, and filled with harsh words. She couldn't see the possibility of them going out, let alone being friends.

"I don't know, Alice. He isn't ready to change, and I'm certainly not. We're enemies. Well, at least he is to me. And it's okay that way. Nothing can change that. I don't think I can change. Things have to stay the way they are. They have to."

Alice exhaled heavily and softly said, "Okay. Just consider it, please?"

But even Lily doubted she would take anything that involved a compromise between she and James to heart. Ever.

"This is my last chance."

James groaned into his mashed potatoes at dinner. Remus Lupin nodded sympathetically before spearing asparagus. Sirius Black, on the other hand, was too busy dreaming off into space about his newest girlfriend. And Peter Pettigrew? Well, Peter never really did much at all. Nobody knew why he was in the Marauders, anyway. They all assumed it was some kind of freak accident that involved Remus's compassion for small, defenseless people.

"I've got to do something drastic." James emphasized "drastic" right into Sirius's ear, which made him finally glance up. Giving Sirius a disapproving look, James turned back to his lamb chop and continued, "Lily has to be my girlfriend. She has to."

Sirius furrowed his brow in confusion and shrugged away whatever thought was coming on like it was some bothersome butterfly. "Go for it, Prongsie. Do whatever you can to score her." And then he dreamily blanked out again.

Remus discreetly smiled. "I see Sirius is lost in love."

Sirius folded his arms in front of his chest and snorted. A few second years seemed intimidated and scooted farther down the bench. "More like lust. Did you see my new catch? Did you see… umm… what's her name again?"

"Trace?" Peter squeaked, trying to be a heroic little pet to Sirius.

Sirius smacked his head and goofily grinned. "Yeah, that's right, good old Trace from Ravenclaw. Man, they say you can't have beauty and brains, but she's got them both!"

"So, she would be the opposite of you then?" James joked. Everyone knew Sirius and he were the heartthrobs of the school. There were even fan clubs formed by younger ladies who wished to date them. They could win any girl over with a simple wink of the eye or pearly white smile.

That is, every girl except Lily Evans.

His laughter dying down, Remus turned to James with an inquiring expression on his normally smiling face. "How come Lily, James? At first, we thought it was just an infatuation." At this point, Sirius nodded vigorously, a chicken drumstick dangling from his hand. "But now, we're curious. This has gone on for two long years, this chasing after Lily. And now we're just confused. You used to go through many girls a week, but now? It's, like, you've never dated a girl in the past year. We're concerned James."

Sirius decided to butt in with, "Yeah, girls are a way of life. Like food or something. You don't have them, you don't live. Simple. What's going on?"

James rested his head in his hands and moaned. That was the problem: he had no idea what was wrong with him. A while ago, if he wanted to woo a girl, he would date another to make her jealous. But now? He seemed tempted to stay on the Lily-track instead of branching to many fine young ladies. Never, in all of James's life, had he ever been attracted to a human being this way before. It was like an unbreakable chain connecting him to Lily, no matter how much she hated him.

"I – I don't know," James stumbled, wiping his brow and pausing thoughtfully. "It's so confusing. All I know is that I want her, and only her. I have only wanted for her two years. No other girls," he completed, noting Sirius's face of shock and horror.

Peter shrugged while Remus contemplated the idea quietly. "I guess… it makes sense… " Remus trailed off into his thoughts, muttering like he did during the OWLs.

"And besides, I've got more pressing issues," James whispered, making the Marauders lean in close to hear the next words.

"What's in a name?"

A/N: Yeah, it's my first fanfic, but I hope you enjoyed this first chapter anyway! It was more of a background chapter; the further ones will get more light-hearted and fun. The story line will get more detailed too. Things will start picking up very soon. Please leave reviews, especially on how I can improve! They are quite nice and make my day :)