A/N: Welcome to my story! If you are reading this, I thank you very much. To clarify, I think what I'm going to do is switch off from James's POV to Lily's POV from chapter to chapter. So this one is in James's POV, and the next chapter will be in Lily's. I hope I do them justice. The story starts at Platform 9 & 3/4 at the opening of James and Lily's 7th year. Pretty, pretty please with a cherry on top and sprinkles and fudge, review? :) Enjoy!

(JAMES'S P.O.V.)

"Looking for Evans?"

No, Sirius. I'm looking for my Aunt Gretchen.

"What an idiotic question. Don't you know me by now?"

He slapped my back. "Better than you know yourself, mate."

We stood there on the platform, and we were pretty early 'cause Mum and Dad had to go to work. I could see a few Slytherins looking all sinister as per usual. A few Ravenclaw birds (ha, get it?) were giggling and waving at Sirius and me. A Gryffindor was talking with them too. She was the only fit one. They were fifth years, so they seemed pretty easy.

"Carly Manning has the hots for you, Prongs," Sirius pointed out. Carly was the Gryffindor.

"She's nothing special," I shrugged, uninterested.

Sirius rolled his eyes. "Just because she's not Ev-"

"Sod off, Padfoot."

"-ans doesn't mean she won't be a good first-of-the-year-snog."

"So you go for her, then," I suggested.

Sirius contemplated it for a moment before he said, "Maybe later."

I nudged him. "Come on."

We started walking around more, until we got bored (which was pretty quickly) and we leaned against a wall.

Sirius and I had spent the first few weeks of the summer doing whatever we wanted, which wasn't much. We'd get drunk off Dad's firewhiskey at least once a week, but most of the time we just played Quidditch, slept and ate. Believe it or not, the pranking habit had settled down a bit. I'm really trying to improve. Whenever I'd say that to Sirius he's just say, "Being a sodding boring prat must be the only way you'll even get a chance of getting into Evans' knickers then, eh?" I mean...how else?

No, I'm really trying my hardest to improve. But it doesn't even have to do with Lily. Okay, maybe very slightly. After Lily yelling at me and rejecting me all those times I kind of realized what a prat I've been to some people who don't deserve it. (Or as Lily would put it, me being a "bullying toerag" to the innocent). But that's not the sole reason. Not entirely, really. Mum and Dad are barely ever around anymore. They don't write when I'm in school that much either. Even on Christmas holiday they're busy. Most years I just hang back at the castle, though. Anyway, Dad's an auror. Mum works as a healer for aurors injured on the job. Dad got hurt real bad this summer. He had to take a break. He's old, ya know. But of them are. I don't even know why he's even still on the bloody force. Whatever. So Mum couldn't stick around for longer than a week to help him out. She had to go back to where she actually works. The wars getting real bad. So the amount of injuries are getting worse too. So most of the rest of the summer I was helping Dad get back on his feet. Sirius wanted to help, but I didn't really want him around, in all honesty. He spent a lot of time time with Remus and Peter. Around the last week of summer Dad went back to work. Sirius and I had a huge row but we put our differences aside. But I guess it all kind of put me into a different perspective. Shit's actually happening out there. An actual war. It was time to stop acting like a prat and grow up a bit.

So I'm changing my ways. Turning over a new leaf. Becoming a new man. Quitting the random hexing cold turkey. Except Snivellus, I'll always hex him. Even though I wasn't even hexing people that much last year anyway.

Even though in 6th year I wasn't so bad. Hell, I even improved enough for Lily to finally agree to be friends with me. It took a lot of convincing, but after a while she gave in. Honestly, who can resist me? No. She's just a really stubborn bird.

It's not like we're best mates or anything. At the beginning of 6th year she'd barely even look at me. But I wasn't even that bad then! I knew a war was going on and the whole thing already just kind of freaked me out a bit, which, weirdly, relaxed my "arrogance" I guess. I still messed up my hair every once in a while and I wouldn't stop playing with the snitch. The cooling of the over-hexing for fun seemed to be enough for Evans to start talking to me. Sometimes even laugh at my jokes. Then, eventually actually have full conversations with me. She still called me a git at the end of almost every conversation or banter. It was in the first few months of 6th year where I actually stopped hexing and pranking the socially-less-fortunate as frequently, not just to get on Lily's good side. It was after one of our first real conversations.

She was really upset about a fight she had with her sister, Petunia, via letter. She was crying in the common room (though she always denies the crying part) and no one else was there but me. And I asked her what was wrong and without thinking she just started telling me everything and I listened intently.

And when she was done I said, "I'm sorry."

She laughed lightly. "For?"

I shrugged. "I don't have any siblings, unless you count Sirius. And though he's not my brother, I feel like he is most of the time, and I love it. Sure we may bicker, but if we ever had a big row and he hated me forever, I don't know what I'd do. So, I'm sorry."

She nodded, thinking.

"But can I be honest?" I asked.

She nodded again.

"She sounds like a real pain in the arse. And so does her new boyfriend. What kind of name is Vernon? What's he from, the 15th century?"

She laughed at that. Like, really laughed. I can still hear it, like an endless echo, or my favorite song on a loop.

"He is rather dull," she admitted.

I smiled. "And you're anything but. And if Mr. Boring and Mrs. Boring-to-be want nothing to do with you, that's their loss."

She grinned slightly. "But still, she's my sister. She's family."

"Family is just blood. Real family has nothing to do with that."

"Like Sirius and you," she almost whispered.

I nodded. "Yeah."

We stayed silent for a few moments. Then she suddenly touched my arm, like close to my wrist. My heart picked up speed, though it was already racing like it was in the Muggle Olympics or whatever that thing is Moony told me about. "You know," she said. "When you want, you actually can be quite nice, Potter."

Her hand was still on my arm when I said, "I told you I'm not all that bad."

Then she took her hand off me. "Well, for the record, I guess you aren't such a jerk."

"Toerag," I corrected her.

She chuckled. "Right. Well...thanks. For listening." She stood up and took her letter. She started to walk away when I said, "Hey, Evans?"

She turned around. "Yes?"

"So does this mean you'll go on a date with me now?"

She laughed. "Goodnight, Potter," and went to her dormitory.

And that's when I realized that maybe I was a complete git. None of that was who I really was anyway. I'm still trying to understand why I did it so much in the first place. I mean, it started with Snivellus, and people were impressed by amazing hexing skills. Can you blame them? And then I just started doing it for fun to impress people, I guess. I had been a star on the Quidditch team since second year and Sirius joined third year. Sirius and I both hit puberty around the beginning of fourth year, him just a month or two before me. And in fifth year I was made captain of the team. And we won every game that year. That's when I had my first shag, and so did Sirius. Not the same night though. Sadly, he was ahead of me by about a week. Sirius' was with a real slag, Jenny Stem, who's in our year but in Ravenclaw. Mine was when I was really, really drunk after our win against Slytherin in the middle of fifth year. I remember most of it. It kind of sucked though. First of all, it was with Wendy Chase, who is probably one of the best looking birds in our year, and she's a Gryffindor and she's really nice, but neither of us knew what the fuck we were doing. I mean, we were fifteen for Merlin's sake. And it was in a closet. It was pretty pathetic, but she made me a man.

I wasn't that drunk just because of our win. I mean, I usually get pissed after Quidditch games all the time, but this was more than usual. It was right after the game and mind you, I wasn't even using the map. I was kind of just running around the castle all excited about my second triumph as captain, not thinking. And I was running through one of the corridors to go through one of the secret passages, prepping for a butterbeer run in Hogsmeade when I happened to stumble upon Lily snogging Patrick Miles, a 6th year on the team. I happened to be wearing the cloak so they didn't know. But I ran as fast as I could away from the situation. And I didn't know what to do. Really, I thought I was going to go back in there and kill that kid. Or kill myself. Or punch a wall. I'm not really the biggest emotional bloke, but when it comes to Evans I can't help myself. There's always been something about her, since that first day in the first year on the Hogwarts Express. The way she doesn't give a damn what other people think, about how she's so bloody nice to everyone, even people who don't deserve it, how she bites her lip and taps her fingernails against the table or desk or her book when she's nervous about something, and how she only wears her hair down on the weekend for some reason, and those green eyes that just absolutely murder me...

Look at me. I'm pathetic.

Anyway, I got totally off track there. What I was trying to say was that being a git has had its perks, but after the realization of what's going on out there, and on top of all that the conversation with Lily in 6th year, I realized that I honestly didn't care anymore. Who was I trying to impress by being an idiot? Girls? All those girls were just ways to eat up my time, to be perfectly honest. And the only girl I ever really wanted anyway was Lily.

After Sirius and I stood against the wall for a little, talking about all the things he could get away with my new position of authority, suddenly Peter and Remus appeared. Sirius hugged Remus rather violently and Remus sighed. "Hey, mates."

"Moony, my favorite furry little friend," I greeted him.

"I thought I was your favorite furry little friend," Sirius hissed.

"And I'm not little," Remus replied.

"Yeah, that's Wormtail. Sheesh, Prongs. Get with it," Sirius added.

"Hey! It's not my fault my animagus is a rat," Peter said.

"Yes it is, you idiot. You choose your animagus," Sirius laughed.

Peter just crossed his arms and we all laughed. "What time is it?" I asked.

Remus looked at his watch. "10:50."

"Want to grab a good compartment on the train?" Peter asked.

"Please," Sirius responded.

"Sorry, but I have to sit in the prefects compartment for the first half of the ride," Remus sighed.

"Damn it, I forgot about that," Sirius groaned. I laughed.

Remus turned to me. "You know you have to also, don't you?"

Oh shit. "Oh shit. I completely forgot. Ugh, can I not? Don't I get like special privileges to do whatever I want?"

"No, Prongs," Remus said quite sternly. He could be so damn serious sometimes.

"That's just cruel. What's the point of being Head Boy if I can't do whatever I please?"

Remus just rolled his eyes. "Speaking of your head position, I happened to see Lily when I-"

"Where is she?" I asked, cutting him off.

"She's down there," Remus said, pointing to where a bunch of kids in our year were. "Try not to be such a prat, all right?"

"Please, Moony. I'm an expert at being a complete gentleman to Lily. I mean, come on." I quickly messed up my hair and then said, "Boys, wish me luck."

"700th time's the charm?" Sirius said, smirking. What a git.

I started to walk hastily towards where Moony had directed me. I ignored most of the people, who were about ninety percent girls, greeting me. Finally I spotted red hair, and I could feel the adrenaline inside of me increasing. I started walking towards her when I saw her talking to the Hufflepuff prefect Dave Beckon. They started dating at the end of last year and let's just say I didn't take it well. But Remus told me they broke things off in the middle of the summer but decided to "remain friends." Remain friends my arse. That never works.

I walked up to them all cool and collected. They were engaged in a conversation about who knows what. I cleared my throat with a not so subtle, "He-hem."

Mr. I'm-Dave-and-I'm-so-cool-I-went-out-with-Lily-Evans-for-only-two-months-and-she-dumped-my-sorry-arse turned to me and looked like he was ready for the kill. Dude, you're a Hufflepuff. You don't scare me. Stupid badger. "Potter," he said.

"Yes, that is my surname. Thanks for reminding me!" I said, punching his arm like he was my best mate in the world (not bloody likely).

That's when Lily turned around, and though I may be biased (that's an understatement) she looked like a fucking goddess. Like a Veela. Is she part Veela? Man, she's smoking. Okay, so she was wearing very little makeup but all her features were enhanced. And she was wearing a purple t-shirt with a decent neckline (not revealing enough, damn) and dark blue jeans and navy sneakers. And I was honestly surprised when she smiled at me. And it was a real smile. Not one of those fake ones like everyone else gives. This was real. And she was glowing.

"Hello James," she said, still smiling.

"Hey there Lily. Is this guy bothering you?"

She rolled her eyes but her smile didn't fade. "No, but you are."

"That's a lie."

"I don't lie."

"That's what a liar would say."

"You're an idiot."

"We've been speaking for barely fifteen seconds and you already insulted me. That's harsh."

"So is life."

"Pessimistic much? I never really thought of you as a cynic," I said, not being able to control the prat smile on my face. And she was still smiling too. And Dave looked about ready to jump off the astronomy tower. Be my guest, buddy ole pal.

"I'll uh, talk to you later, Lily," Dave said really awkwardly and headed in the other direction.

"What a stick in the mud," I said.

Lily didn't reply to that, instead she said, "How was your summer?"

"Oh, you know. Nothing special. I've just been wasting the days away with hard studying in preparation for N.E.W.T.s. I'm already on the end of the year's material. You know, seventh year and all. Gotta be on top of the game!"

Lily shook her head and chuckled silently. "Oh, same here. Except I've finished all the material. Twice. So you have some competition."

Damn, she was fucking adorable. "I always have Lupin to copy off of if I'm that desperate," I said.

"You're incorrigible."

"On the contrary, my dear, I disagree with that statement. Anyway, congratulations."

"Congratulations?"

"On breaking up with Beckon! Glad you took some of your inner Gryffindor courage to chuck that guy. I'm surprised you're still even communicating with him. Oh yeah, and on being Head Girl."

Lily looked bewildered. "Wait, how do you know about that? Both of those? I didn't mention them in any of my letters to you."

"You mean the two letters you sent me and the Merlin-knows-how-many I sent you?"

"James."

"Remus is bad at keeping secrets."

"Or you just harassed him until he told you."

"A little bit of both."

"Well, yes, you're right. Dave and I split, but we're staying friends. And yeah, I'm Head Girl, which still makes no sense."

Makes no sense? What kind of messed up potion is she taking? I shook my head. "You're impossible."

"What?"

"You're just impossible!"

"Speak for yourself."

"I am speaking for myself. No one else is here. Merlin," I said.

Lily suddenly looked frantic, and she glanced around. Then she looked at her watch. "James, we have to get on the train!" She literally pulled me onto the train. Practically like five seconds later, the train started to slowly move.

"I cannot believe I almost missed the train because of you," Lily breathed.

"I'm sorry that my dashing good looks and hysterical sense of humor distracted you."

She slapped my arm.

"Ouch?"

"That didn't hurt?"

"Not really. You know. Biceps of steel."

She shook her head and started walking. I followed her because I had no idea where this goodie-two-shoes compartment was. Ten seconds later she whipped her head around to look me in the eye and raised an eyebrow. I opened my mouth to say something but then she said, "Don't bother," and kept walking, and I kept following. She finally stopped at a compartment and opened the door to it. I saw Moony sitting there, talking to some Ravenclaw across from him, and Lily stepped in so I stepped in too. She sat down next to Lupin but there was a small space between them so I placed myself in between them. "Potter, what are you-"

"Hey, I thought we were done with the last names," I reminded her.

The last day of 6th year, I was up earlier than everyone else, or at least the other Marauders. I went down to the Great Hall for breakfast and there wasn't a lot of people there, but Lily was. I sat down across from her.

"Hello," she mumbled.

"Where's your boyfriend?"

"Sleeping, I suppose," she said, taking another bite of her waffle.

"Where's Sirius and the rest of your lot?"

"Asleep," I answered. "What about you? Where's Delia and June?"

She shrugged. "Asleep. Why are you awake?"

"Why are you?"

"I couldn't sleep last night."

"Why not?"

"Not sure," she said, taking another bite. "I guess I'm anxious about going home tomorrow."

"Good anxious or bad anxious?"

She shrugged again. "Both, I guess. More bad anxious though."

"Because of Petunia?" I asked.

She nodded. "Yeah. So why are you up?"

"Haven't been sleeping well the past few weeks." Because I thought maybe I'd finally have a shot with you and now you're with that git.

"Any reason?"

"Not that you'd be interested in," I muttered.

She raised an eyebrow and said, "All right then…A bit hostile, but I can see you're upset."

"I'm not upset."

"C'mon, Potter, don't-"

"Can you stop that?"

She looked confused. "Stop what?"

"Calling me Potter. For Merlin's sake, I'm not your enemy."

She looked taken aback. "I…I'm sorry? I don't… I mean, you call me Evans…you-"

"I can't even remember the last time I called you Evans. Maybe at the beginning of the year." And I knew I was right. After the first time Lily confessed to me everything about her and Petunia, I started calling her Lily. The whole last name thing seemed too informal.

"I…I guess you're right. I'm sorry, Po- James…You know I don't hate you."

"You used to."

"No, I didn't, just…you've matured," she stated.

I shrugged.

"But, you're right. I guess…I guess you've earned the right to be called by your first name, now." She smiled at me and it made me feel great and hurt at the same time. She'd never see me any other way.

"Well, thanks. Lily," I said.

"You're welcome, James," she said. And that made me smile. It did.

"So do you think we have any chance at all of winning the house cup?"

"Sorry, James," she said. "But what are you-"

I cut her off again with a, "Sh. You'll ruin it."

"Ruin what?"

"The look on Snivellus' face when he realizes what's going on," I said, as Snape walked into the compartment. He looked over at Lily, and then looked over at Moony, and then looked over at me. And his emotionless face altered to a look of absolute anger as he sat next to the other Slytherin prefect, Bette Ross. I stifled my laughter and I looked over at Moony who I know was holding back a grin.

Lily turned to me and whispered, "What are you doing in here?"

I smiled real wide. "Oh right. I forgot one small detail. I'm Head Boy."

Lily's eyes widened. She didn't say anything, which made me laugh. "I know, hard to believe, right?"

"But- but…but how? You're not…you aren't even…prefects-"

I laughed even louder. She was so cute. "Would you stop laughing? This isn't funny!" She said, still in whisper.

"Relax, would you, Lily? I'm as shocked as you are."

"But- but it doesn't make any sense!"

I shrugged. "Don't get yourself too worked up, now. I'm sure ole Dumbledore has his reasons."

"Yeah. Lunacy," Lily responded.

"Now, now, Lily. Don't go insulting our lovely Headmaster. You wouldn't want your position revoked, now would you?"

She just crossed her arms. I laughed. "That's the spirit!"

Lupin finally spoke up. "Don't worry, Lily. James has his faults, but-"

"You mean he's full of them."

"Hey-," I tried to intervene.

"But," Remus continued. "He's going to take his job as Head Boy seriously. Right, Prongs?"

"Right Moony," I said, smirking.

Professor McGonagall came in and gave us the low down, which in all honesty I was only half-conscious during. The half the time I was conscious I was just thinking about how adorable and impossible Lily is and how her green eyes were sparkling more than usual. I didn't know if it was from not seeing them for so long or if the purple shirt just made them stand out more. And the entire time I was taking in the raspberry smell of her hair. I was completely absorbed in how our legs were practically pressed against each other.

I kept glancing over at Beckon who kept looking over at Lily and I. Yeah, be jealous, git.

Snivellus looked angrier than ever. He really needs a nose job. And a new hairstyle.

I was dozing off and almost fell asleep on Lily's shoulder like, five times. Which caused her to pinch me five times. And it really bloody hurt. Well excuse me, but it's not my raspberry smelling hair that relaxes me, and it's not my boring speeches about responsibilities and being role models and blahblahblah yaddayadda putting everyone to sleep! Merlin.

The only thing I heard was that after the feast and after we show all the first years and all where they go, Lily and I have a meeting with Dumbledore, which should be interesting, I think.

Once McGonagall finally left, Sirius was there almost immediately, and looked like he was about to lose it. He stepped into the compartment. "God, that was long. Being alone with Wormtail is like being alone with my Gran when she's out cold- Oh, hey Evans!" Sirius shouted as he suddenly wrapped his arms tightly around Lily and pulled her into a bear hug. She laughed. "Hello, Sirius."

Sirius finally let go of her and turned to me. "Come on, I'm starving and you're the one with the cash."

"How polite, Padfoot," said Remus.

I looked over at Lily and said, "See ya later?"

She sighed and nodded. "Don't be late."

I smiled at her and then turned to Sirius. "Ready?"

"As ready as I'll ever be," Sirius said, dragging me out of the compartment to the trolley, where I bought the whole lot. Sirius grabbed my face and kissed my cheek. "I love you," he said, and then pushed me and grabbed all the sweets. What a freak.

Remus was still talking to Lily but then he finally came over to us. We went into the compartment where Peter was. Peter and Remus decided to go change into their robes, leaving Sirius and I to ourselves with all the candy in the compartment.

"So, how was the prat convention?" Sirius asked, shoving a chocolate frog into his mouth.

I had just finished chewing an every-flavored bean. "Don't know. I was spacing out."

"You mean thinking about Evans."

"That too."

"You think she'll come around this year?" He asked. And I hated that question. And my answer was always the same.

"Doubt it."

"Don't think like that, James."

Sirius wasn't the best with these things, but he tried. "Thanks," I answered, trying to smile.

I mean, I knew she thought I was cocky and over confident, but in reality, I had no confidence when it came to Lily. Sure, we were mates now, but she didn't look at me the way I looked at her. She didn't do what the rest of the girls did around me. She never blushed or played with her hair or acted any different. And I didn't know what to think of that in all honesty.

Sirius and I changed into our robes and rejoined Remus and Peter.

The train stopped and as we were walking off, who do we bump into other than Snivellus.

I accidently (I swear, it really was an accident), bumped into his left arm, and he literally jumped five stories high.

"Whoa there," I said.

"Don't. Potter," Snape hissed. He turned away and scurried off the train.

"What do you think that was about?" Sirius asked.

"Don't know," I shrugged. We walked off the train and Hagrid was standing there talking to the first years.

"Hagrid!" Sirius shouted.

Hagrid turned to us, smiled, and nodded and continued talking to the first years. Poor bastards.

"He's busy," Remus said.

Sirius sighed and we went into a carriage. I saw Snivellus walking with his little pureblood crew (though he himself is a half-blood, as much as he would hate to admit it), Mulciber and Avery. And I saw Lily walking to a carriage with Delia Greyson and June Carter, her two best friends.

"This is our last first feast of the year at Hogwarts," said Peter.

"True," Sirius said.

"That's creepy to think about," Remus shuddered.

I didn't say anything. I stayed silent most of the ride there. I just thought about nothing. No, that's a lie. I thought about everything.

Which means Lily.

The only thing that stopped me was knowing that she probably wasn't doing the same.