Beginning of sixth year

"Lily!" A breathless James Potter called as he ran across the platform
to greet her as she got out of her car.

"Hey Potter," she responded warmly, but slightly uncomfortable noticing
all the people watching them. They were shocked that the two arch
nemeses were talking as if they were good friends. But a lot had
changed over the summer.

After she had decided to forgive him, he started to send her letters,
like he did every summer. But this summer, Lily's mother had seen them, and told her she had to respond, and politely, she had added.

That's how their friendship started. At first, they were just sending
painfully polite letters, but after a while, Lily warmed up to him, and
eventually they were writing each other long letters, full of inside
jokes, and every detail of their life.

By now, Lily considered him one
of her best friends. He had gotten her through a summer of hearing
about Vernon and Petunia's wedding. If Lily never saw another
centerpiece in her life, it would be too soon.

"Hey Evans," Sirius said, joining the conversation. He had been staying
at James's all summer, so he was used to the new friendship.

"Hey Sirius." Lily said. She used to call him Black, but now that Bellatrix was so infamous, he hated being reminded of his family.

"Did you guys have a good summer?" she said, addressing both the boys.

"Is there anything you don't already know?" Sirius said, snickering.
"Prongs here wrote you such long letters, I bet you know what we had
for breakfast. Oh, those letters... you should've seen the look on
James's face when you wrote to him. He looked like a child on Christmas
morning."

Sirius and Lily laughed while James's face turned as red as a tomato.

"I didn't- I just- oh whatever!" James stammered.

Lily laughed harder. She found it so funny that everyone in school
thought Potter was the toughest and coolest guy, but she knew better.
They didn't know that he blushed so easily. They didn't know that he
always got nervous round her. They didn't know that he was a big Mama's
boy, who had sent his mom roses on her birthday and wrote home twice a
week. The didn't know him. They only knew his bad side, the part of him
that had caused her to hate him for so long.

"Oh my God!" A seventh year Ravenclaw Lily thought was named Ella screamed.

"James Potter and Lily Evans finally got together?!?!"

Ella was excited but mad. There had been a bet for when they would
finally get together and she had bet Christmas time. There goes ten
Galleons, but gosh, they were so perfect for each other. Everyone at
Hogwarts had been waiting for them to get together, but it got cuter
when Ella and her friends had seen James carrying a pile of chocolate,
that after they bothered him enough, he admitted was for Lily because
her sister had gotten engaged, and Lily was upset. Lily didn't know
though. James had left them next to her favorite chair in the Common
room, and then pretended it wasn't him.

"We're not together." Lily clarified loudly, trying to stop the rumors
that were surely about to start to spread. "Do you guys think I've gone
crazy? I'm still me!"

"What?!?!" A fifth year Hufflepuff yelled, stopping to collect the
money he was being handed from the bet.

"Not just yet. Give me some time though," James said with a smirk.

Lily raised an eyebrow at him, but he just continued to smirk, causing
her to roll her eyes and hit him on the arm.

James grinned inside. Love hurts, but it's worth it. He didn't care what Lily said. He knew they were meant for each other, and was fine with being
punched, kicked, embarrassed, laughed at, and slapped in order for her to realize it. She was worth it.

Lily looked at James, who for some reason was smiling. Reluctantly, she
smiled too. The boy was a weirdo, that was for sure. No one else would
let someone punch, kick, and slap them, and still like her. No one else
would be rejected by someone, but still buy her flowers later that day.
No one else would put up with her. He was impossible and irritating,
but that's what made him James. She didn't like him the way he liked her, but she knew that she loved him deep inside. Not that she'd admit it, but he was important to her.

In her opinion, he was like a cigarette. You could enjoy it for a minute, but after that it'll be bad for you, and just
leave you worse than when you started. Maybe it was mean to only like him when she needed him, but she did. That's just who they were.

"Come on" Lily said. "We need to get on the train."

James nodded, and they started to walk towards the train. James tried
to hold her hand, but she elbowed him. Hard.
"I'm still me Potter. Don't touch me."
James rolled his eyes, grabbed her hand, and pulled her on to the train.
Lily laughed, and let him pull her away from the muggle world, and on
to the train.

End of Sixth Year

"That's NOT what happened!" Lily Evans yelled, as she walked off the
train."I got my first detention because I gave James a black eye, not
because I broke his arm!"

Remus laughed. "That's not the way people remember it. I mean, a first
detention is a milestone. It's like a baby's first word. First steps,
first words, first detention. The most important parts of a child's
growth. I can't believe you wasted yours on only a black eye."

Lily raised an eyebrow at him. "Well then, Mr 'detention is the most
important thing ever', what did you get your first detention for?"

Remus turned to look at the other marauders, and they all laughed.
"We got our first detention when we turned the Slytherin common room
red and gold" Remus said.

"Actually," said James "that was my second. I got my first detention
when I made Lily's food explode during breakfast.

Lily glared at James, remembering the time he had covered her in muffin
bits and syrup, but cracked, and ended up laughing with the rest of
them.

James grinned, and put his arm around Lily, as they walked towards the bench, to wait for their parents, because the train had arrived early
this year.

They sat down, Lily next to James, and Marlene next to her new
boyfriend Sirius. Lily had been waiting for them to be together, and
could hardly contain her grin as she saw Sirius kiss Marlene's cheek.
Next to them sat Remus, Peter, Alice, and Frank Longbottom, Alice's
boy. They'd been dating since Christmas, and were devastated that Frank had just graduated, and Alice had another year left, but they were
going to make it work, and Lily had no doubt that they'd be engaged
before their graduation.

"My first detention was for telling Slughorn he looked like a fat
walrus after I forgot to hand in my potions essay," Alice admitted.

The whole group laughed at that, remembering when it happened, and
Frank imagining the scene.

Their laughter quieted down as Snape and his Slytherin friends walked
by. Lily had gotten used to them not being friends, but it still hurt
her to see him act like this. It wasn't just about her. She could deal
with him hating her, but she couldn't deal with him hexing Gryffindors,
or calling muggle borns mudbloods. She wanted him to at least be a good
person.

Snape noticed Lily looking at him, and glared at her. Lily hid her head
in James's chest, not wanting Snape to see the tears in her eyes.
James stroked her hair, trying to comfort her, while using his other
hand to raise his middle finger at Snape.

Snape looked ready to murder him. "You don't deserve her!" He yelled at
James.

The Gryffindors and Slytherins froze in shock. Snape turned red,
blushing, and James and Lily turned red with anger.

James raised an eyebrow. "I know that! She's a thousand times better
than either than us, but at least I try and be a good friend to her, unlike you, so stop acting like you're so innocent, and get used to the
fact that you two will never be friends again!"

James knew he might have been to harsh, but he couldn't help it. He was
jealous. Maybe James wasn't perfect, or even close, but he at least
tried to be nice, and Snivellus treated people like dirt, and still expected Lily to like him. He had meant it when he said that Lily was so much better than him. She deserved better than him, but that wasn't what Snape was.

Snape looked at Lily, as if hoping she would defend him, but she stayed
silent. Severus's eyes widened, but he recovered, and simply said, "Fine. Stay "friends" with him, but you and I both know he doesn't want your friendship. He's going to finally win you over, and then dump you,
like you're yesterday's trash."

Lily clenched her jaw, and then said, "You and I both know that's not
true, and besides, James would be a MUCH better boyfriend than you, so
you're in no position to judge."

Everyone's jaw dropped, and Sirius screamed "BUUURN!" While high fiving Peter.

During all this commotion, Lily's parents had arrived, but no one had
noticed.

"Um, Lily darling" Mrs Evans said meekly.

Lily turned even more red. "Mom, Dad, hi! I didn't see you get here. I
was just, we were, it was-" Lily stammered.

Mr. Evans laughed. "Let's just go, okay? Say goodbye to your friends."

Lily turned around to give James a goodbye hug, but he was still
sitting there in shock after hearing Lily say he'd be a good boyfriend.

Lily rolled her eyes, and turned to hug the others. She gave Alice,
Mar, Remus, Frank, Peter, and Sirius hugs. As she hugged Sirius, he
whispered"I think you broke James."

She laughed, and looked at James. "You gonna say goodbye to me, or
what?"

James blinked a couple of times, and then said "oh, right. Come give me
a hug Lily-flower"

Lily rolled her eyes, and pulled him in for a hug, and then picked up
her trunk.

"Wait, Evans, I almost forgot!" James yelled.

Lily turned around.

"You wanna go out with me?"

"No, of course not." Lily responded, but she didn't quite meet his eyes
as she said that.