How It All Began

James returned home with his supplies later that afternoon. He went up to his room to write a letter to Sirius, saying what happened in Flourish and Blotts and other things. He finished the letter and sent it off with his owl. As soon the owl was out of sight, another one appeared. He recognized the owl, and realized it was from Tara. He read the letter. Wow, great. Now this girl also goes to my school. What else is new? He wrote a longer letter this time. He sent it off, wondering when Sirius will get the letter. Or Tara. He laid on his bed, about to take a nap, when heard a loud bang. James went under the bed and came out when it was over. Areatha Potter came into the room, covered head to foot with soot. "I was cleaning the fireplace when a certain friend came blasting into the room," she said, in a dangerous tone.

James thought, Who would be stupid enough to do that? Sirius. "Uh, sorry Mom. I'm sure he didn't mean to."

"Hey Prongs!" yelled Sirius from the living room. "I've got an endless supply of Dungbombs and Stink Pellets! Come check it out!"

Areatha Potter turned her head towards James. "James Daniel Potter, how dare you..."

James endured her screaming and shouting. James tried to tune it out as best as possible, but had no luck. When she was done, Sirius came into the room smiling. James shot Sirius a 'killer look'. "Hello Sirius. Next time you decide to pop up in our house, do tell us when, ok?" said Areatha, trying to say it as calm as possible.

"Ok, Mrs. Potter. I'm sorry." Then Sirius flashed her his biggest smile. She smiled back and whispered to James, "You know, he's said that several times and he still hasn't kept any of them. You should tell him that the only reason I don't tell his parents is because of his smile."

James nodded and she left. James turned to Sirius. "You got my letter?" Sirius nodded and went over to James's bed. He dumped all the little 'tricks' on the bed. He turned to look at James and said, "I hope I'm still invited here."

"Keep arriving like that, and you won't be here much longer," said James.

"Sorry," said Sirius sheepishly.

James went over to his drawer and pulled out his letters from Tara. "I gotta tell you something. I got these letters from this girl named Tara. She wrote to me saying she was bored and stuff, so she decided to write to me. Here." James handed Sirius the letters and he read them. "She sounds cool. Any idea who she is?"

James shook his head no. Sirius asked, "Do you wanna know?"

"No, I don't. I sorta want some suspense."

"Uh, James? Are you forgetting some other pretty, little red-headed crush?"

"No, I haven't Sirius. I probably have more of a chance with Lily then with Tara."

"Well, you told me what happened in Diagon Alley in the letter. So, you think you even have a chance with her?"

"Well, I have to charm her. And good too. Or else, she'll never be mine!" said James in a dreamy voice.

Sirius shook his head and snorted. "You're lovesick."

James put on his 'evil grin'. "All right, this is what we're gonna do this year..."

~*~*~*~*~

"I'm never going near James Potter again."

"Oh, why not Lily?"

"Because of what I said to him, Bella!"

"What did you say?"

"I said 'The day I kiss you on the lips is the day I fall in love with you.' I didn't mean to say that, I just said it..." Lily said, trailing off.

"Well, I think you like him. I mean if you really hated him, you probably wouldn't have said that."

"Even if I did like him, I wouldn't tell him."

"Well, you're gonna have a hard time avoiding him. He's in your house, your year, and in your classes."

Lily groaned. "Promise me Bella, if he asks me out, then you have to curse him, or rather kill me."

"Lily, I'm not gonna kill you. Or curse James. He's too cute and funny."

"Bella, you need to learn about the meaning of sarcasm."

"Ok, I'll meet you in about an hour to go over to your house, ok?" said Arabella, checking her watch.

"Yeah, see you later."

Both girls said their goodbyes and went their separate ways home.

When Lily arrived home, she noticed that Hazel was already there, with another note from Daniel. She closed the door, not wanting to be disturbed, and hastily opened the letter and read:

Dear Tara,

Well, if you wanna know more about me, I play quidditch. Yes, I'm quidditch obsessed.

My strongest subject is transfiguration, and let's just say that I'm not doing as well on charms as I do transfiguration. If you're a 'charms' person, I'm gonna have to break the promise and find you.

I don't have any brothers and sisters, so I'm an only child. My parents, are, let's just say, are...accustomed to my trouble-making. And I'm not surprised. Ok, enough about me. What about you? Tell me your stuff about yourself, or else you aren't holding up your part of the deal. I'll have to hunt you down. (I'm kidding)

Daniel

P.S. What house are you in?

P.P.S. If you're in Gryffindor, you're in my house.

P.P.P.S. How are you at flying?

P.P.P.P.S. Sorry if I'm annoying you.

P.P.P.P.P.S. Ok, another thing you should know: I'm annoying!

Lily was laughing by now and she was rolling around on the floor, clutching her stomach. There were tears in her eyes. She got up and placed the letter in her drawer with the others. She also wrote a longer letter this time, adding her little bits of humor too.

Dear Daniel (otherwise known as the annoying, quidditch playing, transfiguration doing, only child person)

Sorry I had to do that. After I read your letter I was rolling around on the floor with tears in my eyes. Just to let you know. I'm in Gryffindor also. You didn't have to go into those P.S.'s and P.P.S.'s you know? Of course you knew that. You were just trying to annoy me, like you said. Unfortunately, I am a 'charms' person. And I have to catch up on my transfiguration, or else McGonagall will kill me. And if you hunt me down, you won't be able to because I'll hunt you down first.

I'm not a flying person, and I've really never flown a broomstick ever since 1st year. It's probably because I'm muggle-born. I have one sister named...let's just say you don't wanna know her, so I'm not giving you her name. I'm not a goody-two shoes, and I'll kill anyone who gets in my way. Do I sound scary? If I do, then tell me. But, hey, you were the one who wanted to know about me. Write back soon.

Tara

P.S. You know what the weird thing is? We're in the same house and same classes, and you're gonna be wondering who wrote this.

P.P.S. Yes, now I'm doing this to annoy you.

P.P.P.S. Well, I can't go on forever. That's the good part.

P.P.P.P.S. Now I can't think of anything else to say.

P.P.P.P.P.S. I'll leave now. Bye.

Lily smiled and sent it off. She checked her watch. Hmm...Bella's going to be here any minute. She straightened up her room and made a mental note to tell Bella about the letters from Daniel. The doorbell rang and Lily rushed to get it. Arabella was at the door. "Listen Bella, I have to tell you something. C'mon, let's go to my room."

"What are you guys talking about?"

"Go away Petunia, you wouldn't understand anything we say anyway, so back off."

Both girls rushed up the stairs into Lily's room, with Petunia following close behind. Lily shut the door and could hear Petunia yelling, "Mom! Lily won't let me join her friend!"

Lily rolled her eyes and went to her drawer. She took out some letters and handed them to Bella. "Here, I uh, was bored one day, so I wrote this letter to someone, and they wrote back."

Arabella read each letter, and laughed a lot when she came to the last one. "He's sounds nice, and funny too! And he's in our house? And our school?"

Lily nodded. "He used Daniel because that's his middle name. He told me so in his first letter."

Arabella grinned. "Ooh! James has some competition!"

"Bella, don't be silly. I barely know Daniel. We've only like exchanged a couple of letters. Don't get carried away."

"Oh, I won't. Are you gonna tell James?"

"No way! If he finds out I have another admirer, then he'll kill Daniel!" said Lily sarcastically.

"Lily, he's not that desperate to get you."

"Yes he is! Did you see what happened in Flourish and Blotts? He like wanted to kiss me just for catching me!"

"Right Lily, sure. If I would've known, you have a crush on James as badly as he has on you."

"I'm soooo tired of this subject," Lily said in a dull voice. "Let's talk about something else besides James and the Morons and Daniel."

"All right," said Arabella in a disappointed voice. "Oh! Did you hear that Frank Longbottom is thinking of becoming an..."

~*~*~*~*~

Steam flew out of the Hogwarts Express as it was about to go. James had gotten Lily's letter was laughing as hard as Lily was with his letter. At least she has a sense of humor. But he never got the chance to write a reply back, since he was so busy to go over to Sirius's house, who would then take him and Sirius to King Cross's Station at Platform 9 and 3/4. Lily was also busy during the remainder of the week, and wasn't surprised that Daniel didn't write a reply back. The week before Hogwarts starts is always the busiest week.

James, Sirius, Remus, and Peter found each other and boarded the train. They got a compartment to themselves (the last one at the end of the train) and as soon they got in, Remus went down to sleep. Peter was complaining why Remus was always sleeping. James and Sirius scowled at Peter, who shut his mouth immediately. He can be so stupid sometimes. I wonder why we let him join us, thought James. James changed into his robes and placed the prefect badge it. Sirius was surprised he didn't become one and asked James. "Padfoot, if they made you a prefect, I would actually die from shock."

Sirius laughed at this comment and said, "If you were to die from shock, then who would take care of poor Lily?"

James grinned, but said nothing.

~*~*~*~*~

Outside, Lily and Arabella were struggling to get on the train. "If Petunia didn't hold us up," said Lily panting. "We would've been there an hour ago!"

They finally succeeded getting onto the train. They went from compartment to compartment, but they were all filled. They finally came to the last compartment. They discovered James and Sirius caught in a game of Exploding Snap, Remus sleeping, and Peter watching. Lily was frantic. "C'mon Bella, there's probably another compartment. Let's go check!"

But Arabella had already sat down to watch the game. Groaning, Lily sat down next to the only other available seat, next to James. She also watched the game and when it ended, Sirius was the winner. "Ha! I beat you!" Sirius then started doing some little victory dance, grabbed Arabella and they started dancing. James, who was covered in soot, was laughing, along with Peter and Lily, which woke up Remus. "Uh, do you mind? I'm trying to catch a little shut eye."

"Sorry Moony."

Remus nodded and went back to sleep. James cleaned himself up and scooted closer to Lily. She didn't notice and before she turned her head around, he quickly pecked her on the cheek. She shrieked and stood up clutching her cheek, where he had kissed her. "That's for letting me fall in Flourish and Blotts," said James who was grinning ear to ear.

"James Potter! I'm going to get you for this!" yelled Lily.

"Nah, you're not going to Lily," said James in a casual tone. "You love me too much."

Lily glared at James and went to sit on the other side of the compartment next Arabella. Arabella was laughing, as so was Sirius. Sirius gave James a high-five and went to sit next to James.

Arabella whispered to Lily, "I hope Daniel is like this too."

Lily sighed and replied, "I hope not. I hope he's not like the messy-haired freak sitting across from me," she said, loudly enough so James would hear.

James heard the comment and said, "Awwwww, Lily! I'm so touched!" James then began to wipe his eyes, as if he was crying. Arabella, Sirius, Peter, James, and a puffy-eyed Remus laughed at this comment, except Lily. She turned her head away to look out the window. She was smiling.