A/N- Reviews are much appreciated!

When I thought about it, James was always there when I needed him- whether I wanted him to be there or not.

I was sitting under a willow tree near the lake, studying. I was scared about our examinations, which were in three days. I’d been studying for weeks, and I thought I was ready, but I was still scared. All of a sudden, I heard footsteps coming in my direction. Someone sat down beside me. “You all right?” Oh, no, I don’t want to deal with Potter right now, I remember thinking.

“Leave me alone!” I cried out, beginning to gather my things. I didn’t want to be around him. First year, and I already detested him. Who wouldn’t? The prat and his friends were always pulling my braid. They pulled my hair when I left it loose, too. And if I put my hair into a bun, they just charmed the elastics out, and then they would pull my hair. It was infuriating.

While Potter was busy looking hurt about me yelling at him, I was finishing stuffing my things into my bag. By the time he pulled himself together, I was already on my way back into the castle. I could study in my dormitory.

James never was all that good at listening. No, that’s not it. More like, he always ignored whatever I said.

In our second year, during the week before exams, you could often find me in the Astronomy Tower. I thought he would be looking down by the lake- my study spot last year. Exactly two days, eight hours, and eighteen minutes before our first exam, I was in the Astronomy Tower- but I wasn’t studying.

“What’s wrong, Evans?” How did he find me? I always studied by the light of the moon so that he wouldn’t see any extra light. If he had, he would have known that I was up here, because I never could study in the common room. It was just too noisy in there.

“Leave me alone, you big-headed prat!” I cried out through my tears. “Can’t you see I want to be by myself?”

James looked at me and noticed my tears. “I’m sorry. What’s wrong?” he asked, looking concerned.

“Like you care! All you care about are your precious friends and how to make my life more miserable than it already is!”

“Actually, I do care about you. And I don’t just want to make your life miserable.”

“Well, I don’t care if you care or not! Just leave me alone!”

“Come on, Evans. What’s wrong?”

“You! Leave me alone!”

“Not until you tell me what’s wrong!” At that point, I gave up. I ran down the steps of the Astronomy Tower, leaving all my things behind.

Little did I know that the nosy git would go through my things. He found the letter. He actually copied it and showed all my friends. When all my friends were treating me nicer than normal, I figured that he had told them. But when I saw our Transfiguration classroom, I snapped.

He had put a note on every desk- except for the one that I always sat at. The notes said, Everyone be nice to Evans. Her mum just died. What he didn’t count on was that I’d get to the classroom early, see all the parchment, and notice that my desk was the only one without a piece of parchment. Of course, I immediately looked at one of the parchment pieces. When I saw what it said… Oh, I was furious.

I shoved him in the lake for that one.

Third year, he started asking me out. I always turned him down. He had the biggest ego I had ever seen.

“Okay, I know you’ve rejected me seventy-three-”

“Seventy-six,” his arrogant friend Black chirped.

“Seventy-six times, but, Evans, would you PLEASE go to Hogsmeade with me?”

“NO, Potter. I wouldn’t go out with you if it was a choice between you and a manticore!”

“That’s seventy-seven times, mate. Wonder how many times she’ll have rejected you by the end of our seventh year?”

Fourth year, he continued to ask me out, and I continued to turn him down. According to his imbecile friend Black, I had turned him down 163 times by the end of our fourth year. Although, in our fourth year, I would have rather gone out with a Hungarian Horntail than him. Couldn’t have things getting too predictable, now could we?

Fifth year, I was incredibly stressed out. All the time. Looking back, I almost feel bad about how I treated him.

“Get the hell out of my way!” I snarled. Potter was blocking the common room exit. Again.

“You can’t study all the time. Besides, Evans, even if you try to study to avoid me, I can always find where you are. I know all your study spots.”

I smirked. Not all. I had found one that he didn’t know about, thanks to my friend Biddy the house-elf. The Room of Requirement. It was amazing in there. There were books on every subject imaginable, and I could study for as long as I wanted in there with no interruptions. There was also a connection to the kitchens. I just spoke into a plate, and the house-elves sent me anything I asked for.

He never found me when I was in that room. It was a Potter-free paradise. However, to be free of Potter, first I had to get past him.

I shoved him. “Move!”

“Not unless you go out with me.”

“Okay. Fine.”

He was amazed. “R- Really?” He moved.

I walked past him and went out into the hallway. “I wouldn’t go out with you if it was a choice between you and the Giant Squid!” I smiled sweetly. “But thanks for letting me out of the common room, you despicable piece of dung!”

Even when he wasn’t near me, one of his other friends was.

“Leave me alone, you arrogant prick!”

“So sorry, Lily darling, but my charming friend James is in the hospital wing, and he told me to make sure that his sweetheart wasn’t lonely.”

“I’m preparing for the N.E.W.T.s! Leave me alone!”

“N.E.W.T.s??? They aren’t for another year! And aren’t you even going to ask why he’s in the hospital wing?”

“So? You can never start preparing too early. And no, I’m not wasting my breath on Potter.”

“Aw, come on! Just let me sit beside you. He’ll never forgive me otherwise.”

“Why must there always be someone beside me?”

Today is the day I start my seventh and final year at Hogwarts. When I got to the Heads’ compartment on the Hogwarts Express yesterday, he was there. I tried to throw him out, but he was the Head Boy.

It was then that I, Lily Evans, knew that James Potter would never rest unless there was always someone beside me.