Who can kiss Lily Evans First?

    Later that night, Remus, Sirius, and Peter trudged up to the common room. James wasn't in a good mood right now, but so far, their plan A had worked. They sat down in their usual seats by the fire and immediately started talking.

    "Well, since that turned out so well, we should figure out what plan B is going to be. This could actually work! I never thought it would," Sirius explained.

    "Yeah. I hate confronting people like that..." Remus shuddered. "It makes me all...embarrassed."

    "Well you did good anyway," Peter squeaked. As they discussed their next plan, James was up in his dormitory.

    "That stupid Lily Evans..." he said, pummeling his pillow. He lay down in his bed and twitched the hangings of his four-poster shut. He quickly drifted off to sleep.

    He first dreamed that he was flying on his broomstick, straight into the forbidden forest. He quickly got down and began searching around. He finally came to the place he needed to be. Lily Evans was sitting on a tree stump, her long red hair glistening in the moonlight. She turned to face him.

    "Oh there you are James!" she said, smiling and standing up. "I thought you'd never come." She walked over to him and said, "It's so nice of you to meet me here." She wrapped her arms around his neck. With a startled cry, James Potter woke up.

    "Arhh!" he said, throwing his pillow across the room. Remus' face suddenly appeared.

    "James?"

    "Get away!" he said, his arms outstretched.

    "James you idiot, it's me!" Remus replied. James stopped flailing and looked into his friend's face.

    "I was dreaming!" he said, wiping his face.

    "About..."

    "Lily Evans..."

    "Ahh..." Remus looked away, trying not to smile. This definitely was working.

    "Ahh what? Ever since that stupid, meaningless kiss, she's on my mind 24/7... wait a minute..." he said, sitting up. "Why are you smiling?"

    "Nothing at all. I think it's funny the way you talk in your sleep, that's all."

    "Oh come off it." He quickly told Remus goodnight and went back to sleep.

* * * * *

    Over the next couple of days, he didn't see much of Lily. It seemed she was avoiding him too.

    "Hey did you hear? There's supposed to be a Yule Ball in a week or so," Sirius said over breakfast.

    "Really?" James said, his spirits rising. "Wicked!"

    "I can't wait! Although, nobody will want to go with me," Peter said, his face falling.

    "Get used to it."

    "Anyway, who are you taking?" James asked Remus. Remus' face turned red.

    "No one. I don't think I'm going with anybody yet."

    "Oh please, you're just as cute as any of us. No, not you Peter," Sirius explained. Sirius and James were among the most popular students in school. Remus, much to his dislike, was included.

    "I...I just don't like balls. I'll watch." Remus quickly drank his pumpkin juice.

    "I'm thinking about taking Kim to the ball (and this isn't me in the story, I never use myself)," Sirius commented.

    "Oh you mean that girl with the long black hair, who takes Double Herbology with us?" James asked. "I didn't know you fancied her.

    "I don't. I just think she's pretty." Just then, Lily Evans seated herself at the table next to James. He slipped as far away from her as he could.

    "Oh hey Lily," Remus said casually.

    "Hi Remus!" she said, flashing him her incredible smile. James felt his insides melt, but then kicked himself mentally.

    "How do you know that...that...witch?" he snarled.

    "She's a prefect, like me. We have meetings together." Remus handed her the biscuit bowl he had near him. Lily glared at James before continuing her conversation with her friends. James watched her flip her hair back and laugh. He was amazed at how white her teeth were. Get a grip over yourself! He cleared his throat and she turned to look at him.

    "Could you lower your voice miss Evans? I'm in desperate need of a hearing aid," he snapped.

    "Well what got you in such a bad mood today?" she shot back.

    "You know very well Miss Evans. Ever since that kiss..." he started.

    "You call that a kiss?" she retorted. "I'd never kissed a boy before, but if they all kiss like you, what's the point?" She stood up, gathered her things, and stomped away. Sirius sympathetically placed a hand on his shoulder.

    "That's ok James, they all act like they hate you for a while, but she's secretly trying to conceal her...true love for you," Sirius said, batting his eyelashes.

    "Shut up Sirius," he said, poking his fork in his eggs. He gulped. Could he be developing a fancy for Lily Evans? Of course not, there was no way, no way at all. But the way she flipped her hair and...

    "Jamie Boy!!!" Sirius said with a poke.

    "What?!" he cried, startled.

    "You were daydreaming...about Lily Evans..." he said.

    "Was not."

    "Was too."

    "Was not."

    "Was too."

    "Was not."

    "Was..."

"STOP IT, BOTH OF YOU!!!" Remus shouted. Half of the Great Hall went silent. Remus sat down, his cheeks pink. "This is a pointless argument. Now come on, we have History of Magic in five minutes. Remus got up with Sirius bouncing behind him.

* * * * *

    "Now I want all of you to turn to page 162 and follow along with me while I read," Professor Binns explained. He started droning off, making no sense whatsoever. A sudden poke from someone prodded James awake.

    "What do you want?" he said groggily. Lily Evans' face came into view. "Gak!" he said, scrambling backwards.

    "Shut up," she replied crossly. "Unless you weren't paying attention, Professor Binns just assigned me to be your partner." James angrily folded his arms.

    "Oh great, just great. I'm stuck with the Perfect So Totally Punctual Prefect!" he retorted.

    "Punctual Prefect? Is that the best you could come up with?" she said, with a smirk on her face. "You certainly need work on your comebacks." With her nose in the air, she flipped through his book for the correct page. James felt the color in his face rising.

    "So what do we gotta do?" he said angrily.

    "What do we have to do," she corrected him. James rolled his eyes. "We have to work on this project together. We need to write an essay on the Massacre of the Goblins in 1423. It has to be five feet long mind you."

    "FIVE FEET?" James cried out.

    "Yes, five feet."

    "That'll take ages!" he cried out.

    "That's why he assigned partners idiot! Look, we're just going to have to cooperate ok? We can do this!" Just then, Professor Binns shut his book with a snap.

    "I want this report finished in three weeks. That will be all." The students quickly grabbed their things and headed out the back door. James caught up with Remus, Sirius, and Peter.

    "Great, just great!" he told them. "I got assigned with stupid Lily. Could things get any worse?" He stormed past them, heading for the common room. Remus turned to Sirius.

    "I didn't think Professor Binns would agree that James and Lily should be assigned together! What'd you tell him?"

    "I just said, 'Oh don't put Lily and James together, they never get along!' And he loves making people who hate each other work together, so he assigned them together! This is perfect!"

    Later that evening, James was sitting in the common room, playing a game of chess.

    "Aha! I found it! Check-AHHHHHHHHH!" James cried out. A large stack of books appeared out of nowhere and landed in James' lap. Lily's face appeared...again.

    "I thought we could get a head start on things, do a bit of research." She seated her self in front of him, blocking Remus from view. She pushed the chessboard away and opened a book.

    "I was playing chess here!" he said angrily. She looked up from the book.

    "If we're going to be partners, we're going to have to do things my way for a bit, ok? Maybe you can actually get a hundred percent on the essay if you TRY," she said.

    "I try! And who said I wasn't going to study! Just...not now! Tomorrow, our vacation officially starts, why don't you hop onto the Hogwarts express with everyone else and we'll work on it AFTER vacation." He pushed the books off of the table and resumed his game.

    "Fine!" she said, standing up. "I won't help you at all. But let me tell you this, I'm not going to leave this Christmas for one purpose and one purpose only. To show the ever-so-popular James how he's supposed to do an essay." She stormed up the stairs to the girl's dormitories and slammed the door shut. James cleared his throat, obviously embarrassed, as half of the common room was looking in his direction.

    "Anyway," he said, taking up his chessboard again and setting the disheveled pieces upright again. "Your turn."

* * * * *

    Two days had passed since their quarrel, and James still couldn't concentrate on having a carefree vacation. He kept seeing the image of Lily sitting by the fire, pouring over large books and jotting notes down every now and then. Either it was guilt, or just the fact that she thought that he, James Potter, didn't know how to properly write an essay. So, he formed a plan into his head. He put this plan into action when he startled Lily by sitting down next to her at the table and grabbing one of the books.

    "What..." she started.

    "I'm going to prove to you that I can write an essay." He started turning pages, looking for something. He furrowed his brow, trying to look like he was concentrating. A giggle escaped her.

    "What?" he exclaimed.

    "Nothing, it's just that...you're reading the book upside down." She took the book from him, turned it around, and began reading again. He cleared his throat and turned a page awkwardly.

    "You know-" they both said at the same time.

    "Uhh, you go first," he said.

    "Well, I was thinking. If we could develop a system, you know, where you look up information, and I write, or vice-versa," she said. "We could get it done faster."

    "Ok, that sounds...err...better..."

    "Are you criticizing my idea Mr. Potter?" she said, hands on her hips.

    "No, not at all Miss," he said, playfully. She fought the urge to smile.

    "Your turn. You were going to say...."

    "Oh...that I was thinking about this weekend, the ball and all?" he asked.

    "Yes..." she said slowly.

    "Could we take a break from studying that day?" he asked, looking hopeful. If she was disappointed, she didn't let it show.

    "All right." They continued flipping through the pages, stopping every now and then to write something down. Sirius came strolling into the common room and he caught sight of Lily and James.

    "Oh hey there...Lily," he said, saying her name slowly and clearly.

    "What do you want now, Sirius?" she said, still reading.

    "You're actually getting along with little Jamie Boy!" he smiled.

    "What? I can be a civilized person, and so can he!" she said, defending herself, and James.

    "Awww, sticking up for little Jamie boy?" Sirius teased.

    "Sod off Sirius..." James growled. Sirius threw his hands up in defense.

    "Sorry! I was only joking!" He ascended the stairs up to his room humming something that definitely sounded like "Love is in the Air".

    "I'm sorry about Sirius. He's a real jerk at times."

    "That's ok, I'm kind of used to it."

    "Hey, Lily?"

    "Yeah?"

    "Pass the paper will you?"