The Defining Moment

The Defining Moment

Prologue

When They First Met

Lily Evans stared fondly at the scarlet steam engine before her. I'm free... free from those vile prisses from elementary school, free from my no-nonsense sister, free from being different... I'm free.

Lily was by herself. Her parents and her sister, Petunia, had already left. She was a girl of average height, had auburn, shoulder-length hair, and almond-shaped, emerald green eyes. After much searching, she managed (just barely) to find an empty compartment and started to lift her trunk, but to her displeasure, she couldn't.

"Need any help?" Lily turned around to see who had spoken. It had been a fairly tall boy with black hair that seemed to go everywhere. Tall for an eleven-year-old, anyway. An equally tall boy who also had black hair accompanied him, but his was longer and much (much) more orderly. Lily also noticed that both of them were VERY good looking. Cute, to be truthful. You can't really be good looking at age eleven.

"Um... yes," Lily managed to say. The two boys easily picked up her trunk and stowed it away into a corner of the compartment.

"By the way," the boy who had first offered to help replied with a smile. "I'm James Potter and my friend, here, is Sirius Black."

Lily smiled back and said, "I'm Lily Evans, nice to meet you." Lily climbed into her compartment as James and Sirius waved and walked off to their own.

.:*:.

The door to her compartment was slid open by a girl with long, black hair and startling violet eyes. "Hi," she said. "I'm Auretta Thompson. Can I sit here? Everywhere else is full."

"Sure," Lily replied. "My name's Lily Evans." Lily helped Auretta pull her trunk and stuff into the compartment. As soon as they were both settled down, the train started to move.

"Hey, Lily, what were Sirius and James doing over here earlier?" Auretta asked as the train left London.

"They were helping me with my trunk," Lily answered. "You know them?"

"Yeah, they live in my neighborhood. Well, James does, but Sirius is over at his house so much, he might as well live there too." As soon as she finished saying this, the compartment door was opened by none other than James and Sirius themselves.

"Hi," Lily and Auretta chorused.

"Oh, I didn't know you two had met. Auri, long time, no see," Sirius said, surprised.

"We just wanted to see how you were holding up," James told Lily as Sirius and Auri started chatting.

“Thanks,” Lily replied politely.

There was an awkward silence between the two for a moment until James said, “Well I guess we better get going.” He flashed Lily a (somewhat nervous) grin, and pulled Sirius out of the compartment with him.

As soon as they were out of earshot, Auri squealed, “James so likes you!”

“What makes you say that?” Lily responded defensively.

Auri rolled her eyes and answered, “Uh, hello! No guy I know, except maybe Sirius, acts like that unless he likes a girl that way. And besides James can never shut up. He must like you if he can barely string two words together.”

“Are you sure?”

“Positive.”

AN~ This is one of the first fics I ever wrote, so it's probably not up to par with the stuff I write now. I think I was like, twelve when I wrote this. I have, however, edited some stuff, for your sake. Reviews are always welcome!

-->

1

The Summer from You-Know-Where

Lily Evans felt like she was going to scream... and it was only the first week of summer! I already have to deal with my sister in the summer but now I have to deal with that egotistic jerk too!!!

She had taken a walk around her neighborhood, only to find that one of her least favorite people had moved into the big, old house down the street. When she saw that there were boxes and stuff outside the house, she walked over to have a look. When she finally got to the house, to her displeasure, James Potter was lounging under the oak tree out front..

"Potter?!" she exclaimed. As James looked up to see who had spoken, his expression turned rapidly from puzzlement to delight.

"Evans!!!" he shouted happily. "I didn't know you lived near here!"

"WHAT are you doing here?" Lily asked disbelievingly.

James walked up to her, threw his arm around her shoulders and replied, "Well Evans, my dear, my family decided to move here. I had no idea you lived in this particular neighborhood too. What a wonderful coincidence!"

Lily pushed him off of her and stormed off, walking back up the street to her house. James followed. "Going so soon?" he inquired as he caught up to her.

"Leave. Me. Alone," Lily said through clenched teeth.

"Wouldn't dream of it!" James replied. Lily didn't respond to this. She did, however, turn sharply down her driveway, walking extremely fast. James continued to follow her as she walked up her porch steps.

"So this is where you live," he said happily. Lily answered by slamming her front door in his face. That didn't stop James, though. "Ok!" he shouted cheerfully. "I'll see you tomorrow!"

"Lily, who was that young man you were being so rude to?" Lily's mother asked as she came inside. Lily slammed the door and stalked into the kitchen, in which her mother was doing the dishes. "Well?" she continued expectantly, as Lily threw open the fridge.

Lily sighed and answered, "He's this arrogant jerk I know from Hogwarts who has a crush on me and he's moved into that old house down the street." Lily muttered something about useless groceries, as she shut the fridge, fruitless in her quest for food.

"He didn't seem too bad," her mom replied.

"You don't know him like I do," Lily retorted. With that, she marched up the stairs to her room and collapsed onto her bed. She hadn't been lying down for a minute, before a large barn owl swooped into her room. "I wonder who that's from," she muttered to herself, "as if I don't already know." Lily took the scroll of parchment off the owl's leg and to her surprise, the owl stayed there and waited. She read the letter and then threw it down in disgust.

It said:

Dear Evans,

How nice it is to see you again! Would you like to accompany me to the ice cream place in Diagon Alley tomorrow? We'll go by Floo powder. If you don't respond I'll keep asking.

Love,

James

Lily turned the piece of parchment over and wrote in big, bold letters: NO!!! She tied the parchment back onto the owl's leg and it flew off. That guy just can't take a hint!

Thus began the summer Lily referred to as the holiday from hell.

.:*:.

The next day, Lily decided to walk over to the park. She'd go the long way so she wouldn't have to pass James's house. When she arrived at the park, she immediately turned back around, because as soon as she entered through the park gate, a boy with extremely messy hair ran over to her. "What are you? A stalker?!" Lily shouted at him.

"You could say that," James replied, once again following Lily. She suddenly had an idea. She walked over to a cluster of trees and hid behind them.

"What are you do-," James was interrupted by a loud CRACK. Lily had disapparated.

She apparated onto her bed. At least he can't follow me that way. She had gotten her license the previous month.

.:*:.

To say that Lily loathed the following month, would be the understatement to end all understatements. It was filled with James popping up everywhere she went, coupled with an endless amount of annoying letters from the afore mentioned idiot.

In the first week of August, Lily and James got their Hogwarts letters. To Lily's displeasure, James was in all of the nine N.E.W.T. classes Lily was taking. She discovered as much when she was assaulted by her stalker while on a walk.

Even worse, he announced, "Evans, guess who the new Head Boy is?” Lily had a strange sinking feeling appear in the pit of her stomach. No…she prayed, Don't let it be so. Dear God, don't let him be…

“Me!”

Lily nearly screamed. She was the new Head Girl. She didn't even have to say it. Somehow he already knew. “See? Now you'll have to spend time with me this year!” he informed her. As Lily marched off down the sidewalk, James called after her, "I've also been made Gryffindor Quidditch captain too!!!"

When Lily thought she couldn't take it anymore, in the third week of August she got a letter from her best friend, Auri Thompson, asking her to come over to her house for the rest of the summer. Plus, Lily's parents said she could go, and Lily's other friend, Jamie Spencer, would be staying at Auri's house too.

The next time she saw James, she was practically skipping. "Hey Evans, why so happy?" he asked.

To James' surprise, Lily actually smiled and replied, "Because tomorrow I'm leaving for the rest of the summer." Then Lily continued to skip down the sidewalk, leaving behind a rather dumb-struck James.

.:*:.

Lily thoroughly enjoyed the last week of summer. She went with Auri and Jamie to Diagon Alley to get her school stuff, practiced Quidditch in Auri's backyard (Lily and Auri were Chasers on the Gryffindor Quidditch team), and pretty much had fun. It even almost made up for her less than satisfactory summer.

Other than seeing James in Diagon Alley (he had made a point to shout, "Hey neighbor!" and ask her out, only to be turned down as usual), Lily had had her first James-free week for almost the whole summer. When Lily told Auri and Jamie about it, they had said they felt like pitying her and laughing at the same time. But alas, August thirty-first came and went, and the next thing Lily knew, she was boarding the Hogwarts Express.

AN~ How's that? When I was editing this, it kind of scared me as to how atrocious my grammatical skills were back then. Alas, that's life. In fact, I have the tenth-grade writing test tomorrow (yeah, I'm a sophomore with no life). Wish me luck!

-->

2

Back to School... and the Ever-so-Annoying James Potter and Co.

Lily Evans, Auri Thompson, and Jamie Spencer had managed (just barely) to find an empty compartment on the Hogwarts Express. Just as the train was leaving London, the door was slid open by none other than James Potter, Sirius Black, Remus Lupin, and Peter Pettigrew, the group of boys otherwise known as the Marauders.

"Did you miss me?" James asked Lily as he and his friends entered the compartment.

"If you mean did I loathe the very memory of you, by that, then yes," she replied coldly. "And FYI, the only reason this summer wasn't a complete waste, was because I got to escape to Auri's place during the last week, no thanks to you." With that, Lily got up and pushed the four boys out of the compartment. She probably wouldn't have succeeded under normal circumstances, but she had caught them by surprise.

CRACK! CRACK! CRACK! CRACK! James, Sirius, Remus, and Peter had just apparated back into the compartment.

"JAMES POTTER!!! If you don't stop stalking me, I'm going to hex you!!!!!!!" Lily shouted.

James smiled and replied smoothly, "Then you might as well do it now baby, 'cause I'll never stop chasing you."

“Fine then,” Lily said calmly, pulling out her wand, “but you asked for it.”

Suddenly, saving James from a rather unpleasant fate, the compartment door was opened by Frank Longbottom, who was a Beater on the Gryffindor Quidditch team.

"Hey Lily," he said, "I believe you were a bit short on volume. The people in Russia didn't quite catch all that you said." Everyone but Lily burst out laughing. "Anyways," Frank continued, "what did James do this time to make you explode?"

"He was stalking me!" Lily said accusingly.

Frank rolled his eyes and remarked, "So what else is new? People have been taking bets for ages now, wondering when the restraining order goes into effect." This time, everyone but Lily and James burst out laughing. "Oh, and do any of you know who's the new Quidditch captain?"

"I can answer that," James replied. "I am."

"Awesome!!!" Frank exclaimed. "Well I got to go; Alice is waiting for me back in our compartment. And if I were you James, I'd leave too before Lily curses you into primordial ooze." With that, Frank left, followed by the Marauders who didn't feel like dueling with Lily, who happened to be one of the best Defense Against the Dark Arts students in the whole school (James was probably one of the other best D.A.D.A students, but he wasn't going to be jinxing Lily anytime soon).

Pretty soon, the train pulled into Hogsmeade Station. Students piled out into the corridors, pushing everyone forward. Being Head Boy and Girl, James and Lily had to see that all the students got into the carriages, while Hagrid dealt with the first years.

"Midgets over there! Everyone else follow me and Evans!" James yelled.

"Potter, don't call the first years Midgets!" Lily exclaimed.

"Well they are!" James shot back. Lily felt someone tap her shoulder and looked down to see that it was a second year.

"For Head Boy and Head Girl," he said. "You sure argue a lot!"

James smiled and replied, "I'd rather me and her not argue at all but-"

"He just frustrates me... a lot!" Lily finished for him.

When Lily was out of hearing distance, James asked the second year, "So do you think she likes me?"

The second year looked at James and answered rather frankly, "I think you're hopeless," then marched off.

“Well, who asked you, anyway?” James called after the boy, then muttering something along the lines of, “Midgets- no respect for authority…”

.:*:.

After the Sorting, the golden plates on each House table were filled all kinds of delicious foods. A girl, who was one of the new Gryffindors, was sitting beside Lily and nudged her gently. "Huh?" Lily managed to say through a mouth full of roasted chicken.

"Did you know, that boy over there with the messy black hair is practically drooling over you?" the girl asked. Jamie, who was sitting across from Lily, started giggling.

Lily glared at her and answered the first year saying, "I know. And if you ever need to practice a hex, use him for target practice."

The first year laughed and said, "Ok! My name's Jenny. What's yours?"

"Lily."

"What year are you in?"

"Seventh."

"Hey! Aren't you the Head Girl? That's a Head Girl badge, right? Do you know who the Head Boy is?” Jenny asked eagerly, determined to find out everything she could that might help her during her first year at Hogwarts.

Lily smiled and replied, "Yes, yes, and yes, unfortunately. The boy who won't stop looking over at me every ten seconds is Head Boy. Why is beyond me. My only guess is that Dumbledore finally went senile. He's been around for like, forever, after all."

“Why shouldn't that boy be a Head?”

“Let's just say,” Lily answered, “he's highly unqualified. Plus, one of his favorite past times is jinxing first years.”

Jenny grinned evilly and said, "Even more of a reason for me to use him as target practice!" Lily, Jamie, Auri, and Jenny all burst out laughing at this sentiment.

Well, Jenny," Lily said smiling. "If you ever need help with something, just ask me. Especially if you're going to try the curse or whatever out on James."

"Is James the Head Boy?" Jenny asked.

"Yes," Lily, Auri, and Jamie chorused.

With a wry grin, Lily replied, "Only James could be that pig-headed."

.:*:.

It seemed like the first month of school, had passed like lightning. During the first week of October, Jenny had taken Lily's words from the first day of school to heart. One day in the Gryffindor common room, when James wasn't looking, Jenny snuck up and "practiced" the Jelly-Legs Jinx on him. The room had burst into laughter and Lily, Auri, and Jamie had all high-fived Jenny, a dead give away that they had put the youngster up to it. James looked as mad as a hornet dipped in pudding (AN~ Don't ask- it's an inside joke. *coughJessicough*).

"Will somebody stop laughing and hand me my wand?!" he shouted. "Either that or perform the counter-jinx!!!" After several more bouts of laughter, Lily finally decided to be nice, and undid the spell. Nobody knew which was funnier: a first year succeeding in an attack on a seventh year (James imparticularly), or James wobbling around on "jelly-legs".

"I ought to give you detention for that!" he shouted at Jenny.

The young mischief-maker just smiled innocently as Lily replied, "As if you haven't done that to someone before? Last time I checked you've done worse without getting in trouble. Mainly because one of your best friends is a Prefect, who, I might add, just ignored it all." At this point she glared at a blushing Remus. "And besides," Lily continued, "at the feast on the first day of school, I kind of told her to use you if she ever needed to practice a hex. She was just following orders." Then leaving a gaping James, Lily walked up the stairs to the girl's dormitory, followed by Jenny who probably didn't want to get cursed in the Head Girl's absense.

.:*:.

The next day was a Saturday and Lily had Quidditch practice at one 'o clock PM. It was the first practice of the year and the first Quidditch match was against Slytherin during the second week of November. So they had basically five weeks to practice before the match. Lily absolutely dreaded practice. Now that James was the Quidditch captain...

After lunch, Lily and Auri headed out to the pitch, where James and Sirius had already arrived. James was still in a foul mood over what had happened the night before.

"Hey Jelly-Legs!" Lily shouted.

"Do you have to do that?" James snapped.

She laughed and replied, "Yes. As for why, two words: pay back."

"Pay back for what?" Lily turned around to see Frank and the rest of the team coming up the pitch.

"My summer basically went down the toilet thanks to Potter," she answered. Everyone on the Gryffindor Quidditch team laughed except for James. The team was made up of a variety of Gryffindors. James was the Seeker and Sirius was the Keeper. The Chasers were Lily, Auri, and a burly, brown-haired third year named Anderson Glade, who was new to the team. And last, but not least, the Beaters were Frank Longbottom and a redheaded sixth year named Alec Waters.

In Lily's opinion, Quidditch was the only thing James took seriously. Whenever he had managed to get a hold of one, he'd show off in front of Lily with a Snitch. Jared Blackwell, who had been Quidditch captain before James, had probably spent half his time at Hogwarts saying "Potter stop showing off for Evans! She's not paying you the least bit of attention, so get back to work!!!"

James spent most of the practice making everyone else miserable. It seemed that he had decided to take his frustrations from the night before out on everybody else (with the exception of Lily, of course).

After practice Frank told Lily, "Man! You're lucky James has a crush on you! My arms are aching so bad, I doubt I'll be able to lift a fork! What's up with him today? He dishes enough pranks, you'd think he'd be able to take one!"

Sirius knew exactly what was up with James. He was upset that he had been made a fool of in front of Lily. Usually he managed to do that himself. Sirius rolled his eyes as his friend marched down anyone who was in his way as they went up to the common room. "James! Chill out! You're scaring the children!!!" he told him. Sure enough, there were a couple of first years huddling together and looking up at James in terror.

James sighed. "You're right. I do need to calm down."

AN~ How's that? Oh, and to those reading This is Why I Don't Play Truth or Dare (if you're not, I'd highly advise it), I have finished chapter two. Now I just gotta type it up, and only our dear Lord above knows how long that will take. I'll tell you one thing though. Unless by some miracle, that fic's gonna be longer than three chapters.

Love ya lots!

-->