"When I call your name, please come to the stool and put on the hat." Professor McGonagall said. She stood next to a stool with the Sorting Hat placed on it, a long scroll in her grasp. "Abbott, Timothy!"

"Honestly? I don't care about their sorting- I just want to eat." Sirius was saying as Lily entered the Great Hall, astoundingly late- she had missed the carriages and had had to run all of the way here, and she has tripped a few times over rocks, so she was a little scuffed up. "And what happened to you?"

Lily shakes her head. "Nothing. Don't worry about it." She pulls out the invisibility cloak from her pocket and hands it to James, who accepts it, looking thoroughly confused. "Here's your cloak. Sorry it took so long to get it back to you- I missed the carriages."

James scoots over to make room for her and she sits down beside him. James's heart soars when their arms touch. "Why did you miss the carriages? And what did you need the cloak for?"

She frowns. "I was using it to spy on Se-"

"To spy on me?" A cool voice asks from behind them, and she turns around to see Severus looming over her. The sorting had already ended, which she hadn't noticed, and he and two of his Slytherin friends- Yaxley and Nott- were behind him.

"Did I say that?" She answers back, and he flinches at the harshness of her tone. James smirked- he was glad that Severus still wanted her. Because now he would know how it feels to watch your enemy hang out with the girl you like. Except James and the Marauders had no plans to betray Lily like Severus had. "Come on, Severus, we both know how this works. How about you just call me a mudblood and move along?"

"No, Lily I wasn't going to-"

James points his wand at Snape furiously. "Call her a mudblood and I will hexes your drawers so high up your-"

"Alright James, that's good." Remus says, using his pointer finger to tip James's wand at the ground. "Not on the first day, please."

"I'm just making sure that Evans isn't getting mistreated." He says, turning to scowl at Snape. "Now, Snivellus, give me one good reason not to test out my new...  creation on you." He says, twirling his wand in circles.

Lily cuts in. "I can give you a reason."

Snape looks at her with hope and surprise, which she doesn't respond to, and James looks at her with astonished hurt. "Evans-"

Lily raises her hand, which silences him instantly. Sirius reaches across the table and high fives her hand, making her smile. Then she speaks. "My reason is, that if you do use it on him, there are all of these teachers in here watching, and you'll get in huge trouble- and I can't spend time with my friend if he isn't even here for me to hang out with him."

Snape's mouth drops open. "Friend?"

Lily smiles. "Yup."

Snape scowls, hurt, and strides back to his table, leaving Lily to turn back to her food and resume eating. It isn't until halfway through dinner that Lily notices something's wrong with James.

"James? You look so sad." She pokes his arm, and he stares at the spot he touched her, his cheeks turning pink, before he looks at her.

"Yeah... it's nothing."

Lily thinks about how the boys told her on the train that James was trying to stop liking her so that she would be happy, and now she had just friend zoned him rather harshly. She instantly felt guilty.

"I think I know why you're upset." She whispers into his ear later that evening, as they're all climbing up to Gryffindor Tower to head to bed. "I didn't mean it like that. I just didn't want you to get into trouble."

James frowns. "It's fine, Evans, honestly. We're just friends, I get it." And then he walks quicker, ahead of her and practically runs up the dormitory stairs. "Goodnight."

Lily stands there, in the common room, staring after him. She knew that James didn't actually fancy her- that it was all just a joke running between them. He didn't actually care for her. Sure he wanted to be friends, but date her? James Potter would never want to date someone like her. And when Sirius, Remus, and Peter had told her about him liking her and trying not to so that she could be happy... she had just figured it was all part of the joke. Part of the act that they were playing.

Obviously something else had made James upset, and he was just using the joke he had going to make it seem like nothing. Yes, that must be it. Then... why did Lily fell slightly hurt by the way he had rushed up to the dorms?

She pushes her thoughts away and clambers up the stairs, deciding to just go to bed and worry about it in the morning.

~~~~~

The next morning, James acted as if the entire incident was nothing. He joked around, played, and pretended to have a crush on Lily. At least, that's what Lily thought.

James, on the other hand, had been extremely hurt by what Lily had said. They were just friends to her- nothing more. He had thought- he had hoped- that maybe she changed her mind in the past few months that they had all been hanging out together. Apparently he was wrong.

In the beginning he had gone up to his bed and let a few tears fall down his face. When Sirius, Peter, and Remus entered the room, he tried to act as if it was nothing, but that obviously didn't work.

"Mate, why're you crying?" Sirius asks, and they all sit down on James's bed.

James shakes his head. "It's nothing."

"Prongs..."

And then James picks up a bottle of ink off of the floor and smashes it in anger. "FINE! You really want to know? FINE! I'm upset because of Evans, okay? Isn't that the only reason I do get upset, is because of her? She friend zoned me, and it hurt- it hurt really bad." He smashes another bottle of ink, sending a second splatter of ink onto the wooden floor. "I've been trying with her for years- this is my fifth year trying! And I thought that maybe after these past few months of hanging out together, she would feel different about me, but apparently not. She only sees us as FRIENDS!" He yells the last word and throws his final new bottle of ink onto the floor, and the sound of it smashing makes him feel a little better. "And now I'm alone and I'm all out of ink."

He lets angry tears fall down his cheeks, his eyes closed tightly. When he opens them up, he sees Peter cleaning up the ink with Reparo, and Sirius and Remus patting his back and telling him it's alright.

"You aren't alone, Prongs. We're still here." Sirius says. "And Evans will fancy you soon enough- I know she will."

James hisses through his teeth. "No. She won't. She hasn't fancied me for the entire six years I've been trying, so what makes you think she will now?"

"Because James- in her previous years, she was blinded by her friendship with Snivellus. She never got to see the real James Potter- the James Potter that we know. So just... be a gentleman to her, and compliment her..."

Sirius cuts in. "So basically say all of the things that you practice every morning in the mirror."

"Evans, you know what else is beautiful? You." Peter says.

"If I could rearrange the alphabet, I would put U and I together." Remus repeats.

"On a scale of nine to ten, your a nine and I'm the one you need." Sirius mimics.

"You wanna know the best thing in my life? It's the first word of this sentence." Peter says.

Remus grins. "Are you a camera? Because everytime I see you I smile."

"Can I borrow a kiss? I promise I'll give it back." Sirius says.

James smiles, rubbing the tears off of his face. "Shut up."

But honestly? Everything they said was true. James was not going to give up on Lily- he wanted her more than anything. They were also right about talking to himself every morning in the mirror, and he had indeed said all of those pick up lines that they listed.

So he was extra nice to her all day, and he beamed on the inside when he complimented her and she blushed.

"Morning Evans." He reaches over and touches her hair, which was in a long plait. "Your hair looks beautiful."

Her cheeks burn crimson and she smiles at him. "Thank you James..."

And it turns out, his mates were right. James wasn't even really acting that different than himself- all he was doing was telling her what he'd always wanted to tell her, and what he always had been telling her. He thought she looked pretty. He liked her hair. She was a genius. She was probably one of the best Quidditch players he'd ever played with. He liked her smile.

The only difference was that she was listening to his compliments now. She thanked him instead of telling him to screw off. She blushed and smiled instead of calling him a toerag. She even complimented him one morning, and that made his entire day better.

"Evans!" James yells. "Evans- slow down."

She turns around to see him, slowing down a bit. "Why?"

"I want to walk with you to Quidditch tryouts." He says, falling into step beside her.

"Ah," She glances over at him adjusting her Quidditch robes. "Are you nervous about being the team captain?"

He shrugs. "Sort of. I mean, what if I suck?"

She laughs. "You won't suck. Also, I like that badge on you." She taps his Captain's badge with her finger. "And the robes- you look good in them."

James smiles, and he feels his face heating up. "Thanks."

"No problem." They had reached the locker rooms, and she tugs onto his scarf before he can go into his changing room. "I'm going to try out for Chaser, and I need you to promise me something."

"That I won't fall in love with you?" He asks, taking a brave stab. "Because I can't promise that."

Instead of scowling, she smiles a bit, but still tells him to shut up. "I want you to promise me that you won't put me on the Quidditch team unless I'm at least five points ahead of your best scorer."

James's eyes widen. "What? Why?"

"To make sure that you don't favor me because I'm your friend. I want to be on the team because I can kick some butt, not because you let me on the team because you know me." She says.

James smirks. "What if I put you on the team anyway?"

She raises her eyebrows, sighing. "Then I'll quit." He pauses, stunned. "I'm trying to prove to myself I can do this, James. Don't do me any favors."

And then she turns and enters the girls changing rooms, leaving James stunned behind her.

~~~~~

"Alright, everyone!" James hollers into the crowd, and everyone immediately falls silent. "Now that you've all got your name and position written down on the chart, please stay quiet while tryouts take place. I'm going to be testing the Chasers first." He looks straight at Lily, who's in front, and she pinches her lips.

When she passes him, she stops and whispers "Please." into his ear, and he knows instantly what she is asking him to do.

"I will." He says back reluctantly.

"Making plans for what you two lovebirds are going to do later tonight?" Someone from the Beaters line- a fifth year, shouts.

Lily whirls around, her wand pointed at him. "Petrificus Totalus." And he keels over. She glances at James. "Sorry about that." She then turns to the crowd. "If I HEAR ONE MORE CRACK ABOUT POTTER AND I DATING I WILL MAKE ALL OF YOUR GROW BOILS ON YOUR RUMPS! WE ARE JUST FRIENDS!" And then she turns and strides off of the field.

Well that hurt, James thinks to himself before turning and striding off onto the muddy field, his clipboard balanced on his hip. "Right then. I'm the team's Seeker- you all know that. So, I'm going to recite the names of the people who tried out for the Chaser position. When I get to you're name, say here. Anthony Bones."

"Here."

"Christopher Crembal."

"Here."

"Amelia Davidson."

"Hi James." She says flirtatiously, and James looks up to stare at her only to see that Evan's face was flushed and she was glaring at her. Interesting.

He gets to Evan's name, and he wonders if she as going to say something to show Amelia who's boss. "Evans."

She doesn't. "Here."

Disappointed, he finishes off the list of names- there were only two more- before rolling up the scroll and stuffing it into his large Quidditch robe pocket. "Right then. A few of my mates are going to pose in as some of the other team- they're going to be the Beaters and Keepers. I'm going to split you lot into two teams.You're going to be scoring as many goals as you can, and every other point, the other team is going to start with the Quaffle so you're going to have to steal it. You have to get it past the Keeper, Sirius." James nods to Sirius, who was up at the goal posts, and at the rest of his friends that he could scrape together to form the opposing team.

They all get onto the field and kick off as soon as James blows his whistle. Anthony starts off with the ball but Lily, from the other team, swoops in and takes it easily from his hands, speeding down the pitch and straight as Sirius, who was Keeper.

"Take it easy on me now, Evans." Sirius hollers at her, and James hears her laugh.

"No way in Merlin am I making it easy on anyone." And then she scores.

The tryouts proceeded, and by the end- much to James's surprise- Lily was six points ahead of the top player, rather than five. He announces that the team list will be posted tomorrow evening on the Gryffindor bulletin board. The people disperse, and James heads to the changing room, his boots heavy with mud and dreading picking up after the kids who had already left.

To his surprise, when he enters, both of the changing rooms are clean, and Lily is in the corner, picking up a final dirty towel in her arms and tossing it into a hamper. He walks up behind her. "Thanks."

She jumps and turns around quickly, her wand already out and nearly up his nose. She lowers it. "Oh. James. You scared me."

"Did I? No way." He says, and she punches his shoulder. He groans. "So violent."

"Why don't you ever punch me back then?"

"Maybe 'cause I can't hit a girl?"

She lifts up his hand and makes it slap her shoulder. "Yes you can. See- you just did it."

He rolls his eyes, grinning. "You know what I meant."

"Do I?"

She turns and walks out of the changing rooms all of the sudden, and James has to jog to keep up with her. "Evans. Evans slow down."

She raises her eyebrows. "Why?"

He sighs. "Didn't we have this conversation on the way down here? I want to walk with you." He shakes his head. "You make this a lot more difficult than it needs to be." He mutters under his breath.

Thankfully, she doesn't hear the last part. "Sorry. I'm not used to... doing things with you."

"We're just walking."

"It's still something. I never used to walk with you- at least, not as friends."

"You've never eaten breakfast with me 'as friends' either, but you did that just this morning and it didn't seem to much different, so I doubt walking 'as friends' is much harder than what we used to do."

She grins. "Wow. Your sarcasm levels have increased."

"Have they? I didn't notice."

They enter the castle, James leaving a trail of mud and Lily leaving not a speck of dirt behind her. "I meant, whenever I used to walk with you, it was to tell you to go away."

James adds "And to say that I was an insufferable snotrag."

She nods. "Exactly. And now I'm actually talking to you. We never used to have conversations like this."

"Wow. Actually talking to me, eh?"

"Shut up James." She says, turning to look at the portraits instead of him. "Never mind then."

He rushes to apologize. "No, Lily, I'm sorry. I was just trying to make you laugh."

She frowns. "Why would you want to make me laugh?"

He avoids her gaze. "I like your laugh."

"Why?"

He nearly screams "BECAUSE I LIKE YOU!" but is saved when Sirius comes up from behind and topples him to the floor. Laughing, James tries to sit up, but Sirius squashes him.

"Thanks, mate. I nearly told her I-" He mutters, but Sirius cuts him off in a whisper.

"Fancied her? No problemo." Then he lets him up.

And as they, Lily, Remus, and Peter, who had shown up after Sirius, head back to Gryffindor Tower, James wonders how on earth he was going to stop himself from saying a thing to Lily about fancying her.