The second Hogsmeade visit of the year was scheduled on 14th February.

"Beware of James, Lils," said Mary on one day leading to Valentine's Day.

"I am tired of him!" said Lily angrily. "Him and Black! Did you hear that they hexed Bertam Aubrey with an illegal curse yesterday?"

"James told me about it, Aubrey was trying to use a Leg Locker on Peter," said Marlene.

"That's their excuse."

"They don't lie," said Alice.

"They're dreadful. But there's one thing that puzzles me. Don't you think that Black's total disinterest in girls is a little disconcerting?" asked Lily.

"What?" asked Marlene, Alice and Mary together.

"I mean, Potter always enjoys a bit of attention from girls—"

"Especially yours," said Marlene.

"—but Black's so much better looking, and more than half the female population of our school swoon on him, and he never looks at a girl."

"To think Lily Evans is thinking in such lines!"

"No...those Marauders are mysterious..."

Indeed, they were mysterious, they thought, when James didn't ask Lily out for that trip. He didn't say a word to her on Valentine's Day.

"Wonder what's wrong with him?" asked Alice.

Lily chose to ignore it.

--------------------

They had one surprise that day. Hufflepuff 6th year Reginald Cattermole, for whom Mary had been harbouring a secret liking since the beginning of the year, asked her out.

"Only you and me left, Marl," said Lily, seeing her best friend's sad expression. She did not dare to ask Sirius, who could say very hurtful things when he wished to.

"You've got a willing date. Why don't you go out with her?" James asked Sirius in Hogsmeade that day.

"Got better stuff to do, Prongs."

Remus caught Sirius' eyes and winked, though he didn't really approve of Sirius' method of getting back at Lily.

--------------------

Gryffindor's first two matches of the year were both played in March. As usual, Gryffindor won both of them safely. They had never lost a single match since James joined the team years ago.

The second last match of the season was Gryffindor vs Slytherin. The entire school was expecting Gryffindor to win and claim their 5th consecutive title.

The Hufflepuffs and Ravenclaws were actually a little inclined to back a Slytherin victory this time, because they had neither forgotten nor forgiven the clown ribbon incident.

Fifteen minutes into the match, Gryffindor was leading forty-ten. Then Frank and Marlene, Chasers of their team, advanced to score another goal. Slytherin Beaters Montague and Zabini were at the other end of the field.

Above the cheers of the spectators, there came the sound of two Bludgers being hit very hard and they sped towards James, also near the other end, from behind. The Bludgers hit James with inhumanly high speed at the back of his head.

James was knocked out for a moment, and the next second he was freefalling towards the ground.

Frank and Marlene let go of the Quaffle and hurtled toward James along with Sirius and John Creevy. The spectators sat in a horrified silence and stillness, all except Remus who dashed to the front and yelled, "MOLLIARE!" just before James hit the ground.

Two seconds later, the Gryffindor team and Madam Hooch landed beside James, who was lying on the ground, unconscious. Remus and Peter leading, half the stands rushed out to the pitch, horror-struck.

Slytherin had an easy game of it afterwards. With no opposition and no referee, after scoring five goals, their Seeker caught the Snitch, and they descended to the ground, cheering.

Sirius was white faced and shaking. Remus couldn't think straight. Peter looked terrified.

James looked so frighteningly still.

Then Madam Hooch came and hurriedly took him to the Hospital Wing, barking that no one was to follow her.

The Slytherin Beaters were in sight.

Without a second thought, Sirius went for them. Most of the girls in the crowd swooned to see his Muggle-fighting skills, because he didn't even have his wand with him. There was a fierce fight. Half the crowd cheered, and half was screaming. The rest of the Slytherin team advanced.

Seeing that fight was getting out of hand, Lily glanced at Remus. But Remus wasn't thinking of stopping the fight. His wands shaking with fury, he was fumbling with his robes for his wand.

Retrieving it, he stunned one of the the enemy, who was raising a fist to hit Sirius.

Within moments, the entire Slytherin and Gryffindor teams had joined in.

Marlene and Alice and 7th year girls Susan and Hestia used their wands on the Slytherins. The rest were physically fighting and yelling.

Lily did not even try to stop the fight; she knew it would be hopless, and perhaps some tiny part of her wanted Gryffindor to win this fight.

At last, Professor Slughorn and Professor Sprout appeared on the scene and stopped the fight along with generously giving them all detentions.

"Black started it!" howled Montague.

"No, he did not!" snapped Lily. "You hit James first!"

Coming from Lily, this was so unexpected that the Gryffindors present there gaped at her in amazement. Only Remus and Sirius weren't present there—they had scooted off to see James. Peter looked around, and when he couldn't find his friends, he sped to the Hospital Wing too.

Sirius and Remus were interrupted on their way by Professor McGonagall, who said curtly, "Lupin, I hope you will remember in future that you are a Prefect."

Remus stared at his feet.

"Going to see Potter now?"

"Yes," said Sirius.

"Well, then, go."

As they turned to continue, Professor McGonagall said, "The Cushioning charm was beautifully performed, Lupin. If you hadn't done it, Potter might've been seriously injured."

As they saw few minutes later, James didn't look much worse for his fall.

"I hear you saved my life, Moony!" said James, grinning teasingly.

"So say thank you."

"Thank you!" said James nicely.

Madam Pomfrey came in with Montague.

"I gave him the bloody nose," said Sirius proudly.

"And I gave him the boils on his face," said Remus, smiling apologetically.

Peter burst in.

"Lily," he gasped, "Lily defended you. Called you James!"

"What?" yelled James, sitting up bolt upright.

Peter related the incident. When he had finished, James looked like a hopeful kid with shining eyes.

"Stop overthinking," said Sirius. "I thought you'd stopped fancying her?"

"Why?"

"You didn't ask her out last time."

"Well, I was getting a bit tired of the refusals," admitted James.

"So early," muttered Sirius.

"What happened to the match?" asked James suddenly.

"Well, we lost, didn't we?"

"Slytherin won the Cup?"

"No, Ravenclaw or Hufflepuff might if they defeat either by a large margin, 120 points, I think," said Remus.

Sirius stared at Remus, "Since when were you so well informed about Quidditch?"

But James sank down on his bed, looking miserable.

"Cheer up, Prongs. So we didn't win one year. It's not that bad," said Sirius.

"Look," said Remus suddenly, producing a box from his pocket. "A belated birthday gift from the three of us."

It was a beautiful broomstick model with James' name hanging from it in golden letters. James released the quivering broom, and it flew around the room.

"Wow, Moony—it's great!" cried James, sitting up again.

"It only arrived by Owl Post two days ago," said Peter eagerly.

"You only thanked Moony," noted Sirius grimly.

"Stop being a jealous git, Padfoot."

Before Sirius could retort, the rest of the Gryffindor team came in to cheer James up.

Though he was grateful for their company, he felt a pang of disappointment because there was no red-haired green-eyed person among them.

--------------------

James had a constant stream of visitors that day, all intent on cheering him up. Madam Pomfrey had insisted that he needed rest, till the next day at least.

When he woke up next morning, he was startled to see a pair of bright green eyes staring at him.

"Are you all right?" asked Lily.

James grinned. "Yeah."

There was a pause.

"We were all worried about you," said Lily awkwardly.

"You, too?" asked James hopefully.

"Yes, me too," said Lily with a small smile. "Just because you are our captain, Potter."

--------------------

"Lily asked me if I was all right! Lily asked me if I was all right!"

"James," said Remus sternly. "That's about the twentieth time you have said this. Do you mind shutting up?"

James shut up with a wounded air.

"I'll ask her out now. Do you think I should do it right now?" he asked after two minutes.

"No! I told you, don't do that now! It'll only make her angry again," said Remus.

"If you must, go and get that over, Prongs," said Sirius.

As usual, James decided to follow the wrong advice.

--------------------

Amos Diggory, a very handsome Hufflepuff sixth year, was staring at Lily during breakfast the next day.

Lily's friends were giggling over it.

"Look, Lily, Amos is staring at you!" said Marlene.

Lily turned and met his gaze. Amos gave her his typical handsome smile. Lily smiled back, blushing. She liked that boy...a lot.

"Evans!" came James' voice suddenly. James saw Lily staring at Amos Diggory, and he sent a glare at him. Amos turned away hastily, looking rather frightened.

Lily felt extremely annoyed with James, and she ignored him.

Later that day while going down to Herbology with Hufflepuffs, Lily saw Amos approaching her out of the corner of her eyes.

Her expectant feeling was suddenly quenched when James came up to her first and asked, "Will you go out with me, Evans? Hogsmeade next weekend."

Amos had retreated.

Lily's temper snapped.

"Potter, how can you be so thick-skinned? How many times do you need to hear a NO to get it inside your head?" shouted Lily.

James stepped back, alarmed, his hand rising to his hair automatically.

"Stop doing that!" snapped Lily, and James lowered his arm hastily.

"You have made my life hell since first year! You used to constantly hex my best friend! You started asking me out years ago though I have always told you no, and now no boy dares to ask me out because no one dares to cross James Potter!"

"Don't you think that's their—" began James.

"I HATE YOU!" shouted Lily.

James looked taken aback.

"You—you don't really hate me, do you?" he asked.

"I thought it was obvious by now! Of course I hate you! You have never brought me anything but trouble!"

"I'm sorry—I—"

"Don't you—dare—ask me out again," snarled Lily.

James swallowed hard. "Yeah, all right...sorry..." He dashed away quickly.

Lily did not know why she felt so bad all of a sudden...she had never felt bad about refusing him earlier...but she had seen a flash of genuine hurt in James' eyes—and the memory of that broke her heart.