She was just upset. Not mad, not sad, just upset. James is in love with her for five years and the second she finally likes him, he goes off and breaks her heart by dating Amelia Boot. A girl she couldn't even bring herself to hate. She was kind, and it's not her fault James said yes when she asked him out. Amelia was a total sweetheart, she thought. That was the worst part.
Lily didn't want anyone to see her cry about this, so she ended up in a random basement corridor, knees tucked into her chest, letting herself finally cry about Potter.
"Hey, are you ok- Lily?" Someone said from in front of her. Her eyes were cloudy with tears but she managed to make out that it was Sirius Black.

"Go away." She already felt silly that someone saw her crying over James.

"One of my friends is sobbing in a corner, I'm not going to walk away." Though he doesn't want to admit it, Sirius can definitely be a mom friend sometimes.

"It's nothing, Sirius. Really." She wanted to talk to someone about it more than anything, but that would mean admitting her feelings.

"Is it about Amelia?" Sirius asked. Everyone knew she wasn't taking the James and Amelia thing very well, except James, of course.

"How did you know?" Lily cried.

"I'm not quite as oblivious as James, I'm afraid."

Lily chuckled, choking on tears.

"See, there's a smile. What's wrong?" Sirius poked her shoulder.

"I don't want to talk about it." She turned away from him.

"Because you don't want to admit that you like him?" Sirius nudged closer to her.

"I don't like him! I just don't understand why perfect little Amelia had to come and scoop him up and ruin everything. He hasn't dated anyone for years! What's so special about her? She swooped in and took him away! I mean, she's really nice but why does he like her all of a sudden? He's supposed to like me. He's been saying that for 5 years, that he likes me. Why did Amelia Boot change that? Why did she ruin that? He's liked me and only me for 5 years and the second I like him back-" She stopped mid-rant, realizing what she had said.

"Number one, knew it. Number two, I won't tell anyone. Nobody understands what happened to the gears in his brain." He felt terrible for Lily. She rarely cried like this. He could tell she was actually heartbroken.

"And, of course, I have to study with him tonight." She cried even harder.

Sirius didn't know how to respond. So, he said nothing, but patted his shoulder so she could lay down on it.

Lily rested her head on Sirius's shoulder, and let herself cry. Finally.

A couple minutes later, her breathing started to steady.

"Feel better?" Sirius asked, holding her hand. Sometimes crying it out can help amazingly.

"Yeah, thanks. Sorry I soaked your shirt." The two laughed and stayed in the corroded for a couple more moments, alone, quiet, and breathing.

—
Hours had passed and Lily had calmed herself down as best as possible. She walked down the stairs of the girls dormitory, seeing James sitting on the floor of the common room, using a coffee table as a desk. His notes and parchment were strewn about the table and floor, and he looked to be reading something closely.

"Hey, Potter." Lily walked over and sat beside him, smoothing her skirt underneath her as she did so.

"Oh, Evans. Thank Merlin you're here. I'm so confused." James looked over to her, relieved that she was there. He was truly hopeless at Divination.

The two sat and studied for the next hour or so, talking about class and editing each other's work.

And it felt so good. Sitting there, in the other's presence. They felt comfortable, happy, safe. The air was calm and cool. Lily didn't want to leave James's presence. James didn't want to leave Lily's presence.

But, alas, Amelia needed to talk to her boyfriend.

James checked his watch for the first time since Lily arrived. It was a little bit past midnight. He was late to meet his girlfriend.

"Hey, Evans. Sorry to cut this short, but I need to find Amelia. She needs to talk to me." James stood up.

Lily internally rolled her eyes. The last person she wanted to hear about right then was perfect little Amelia.
It was fine, though. Amelia wasn't doing anything wrong. She was perfect. All she wanted was to talk to her boyfriend. That's not a crime, no matter how much Lily wanted it to be.

"Oh, okay. When should we finish the essays?" She asked, faking a smile once more.

"Um, I have quidditch practice tomorrow night. How about the day after? Wednesday night?" He asked. They didn't finish writing. The Divination professor was not one to give short assignments.

"Sounds good to me." Of course she wanted to avoid seeing James and falling deeper, but she couldn't resist the comfort in the air when they were together, just the two of them.

"Great. This was fun. See you tomorrow." James walked over and thoughtlessly kissed Lily on the cheek. He does that to all of his friends, sometimes even the other marauders. Usually not Lily though.

He ran out of the common room to catch his girlfriend before she went to bed, leaving Lily alone on the floor of the Gryffindor common room, hand hovering over her cheek.

She hated the fact that her first thought was "His lips are really soft."

—
James ran down the the Hufflepuff dormitory. It didn't require a password of any sort, so he walked right in. Amelia was waiting for him on the couch in the common room.

"Hey, babe. Sorry I'm late." They agreed to meet at 11:45. It was almost 12:30.

"It's fine. Where were you?" She asked, visibly upset but attempting to hide it.

"I was studying." He purposely left out the fact that it was with Lily. Amelia didn't like her for some reason.

"Alone?" She cocked her head to the side. She already knew the answer, but she wanted James to admit it.

"No, with Lily." It was no use lying to her.

"Just who I wanted to talk about!" Amelia exclaimed, standing up to lead James over to the couch.

"Why are we talking about Lily?" James asked. He didn't want Amelia badmouthing Lily, especially not to him.

"Oh, I don't know. Maybe because you're still in love with her." James may be oblivious, but Amelia definitely was not.

"What? Babe, no. I like you." He moved his hand on top of hers. She pulled it out from under him.

"You like me. You love her. There's a difference, Jamie. I hope you know that." She said, voice dripping with jealousy.

"I don't love her, Amelia. I used to. What do i need to do to prove that to you?" James was in big time denial. He knew she was exactly right, but Lily didn't like him, so why even dwell on those feelings.

"What do you need to do to prove you don't love her?" She repeated him.

"Yes." He felt regret creeping up on him slowly.

"I want you to stop talking to Lily."

"I'm sorry, what?"

a/n
this is def inspired by emily from friends so thanks friends. yeah, i didn't keep amelia nice. i mean, she already has a hate club (and I love it lmao) so might as well make her as bad as everyone wants her to be. anyway, this chapter is pretty short but I promise the book will speed up soon. did you guys like this chapter? how much do you hate amelia now? hahahahahah. well, I love you guys! mwah!
~ brynlee