"no woman"

The last of the students were piling out of the great hall as the evening turned into the night. With this crowd, James Potter and Lily Evans were found.

"Evans, wait up!" James called after his female friend in a light jog, carrying a bouquet of flowers.

"Do you mind, Potter? Mary was just telling me about her Christmas," Lily sighed.

"Oh, come on, Evans, you can't ignore me forever," James grinned, attempting to hand over the flowers, which she did not accept.

"Watch me," She rolled her eyes in exhaustion.

"Quit the flirting Evans, you love me, you really do," James said, nudging her with his elbow.

It was the first day back in classes after Christmas break, and it wasn't nearly long enough for Lily to be able to deal with James for another second. "I am not flirting with you!" She snapped, "no woman is ever going to flirt with you!"

Many of their peers had stopped in their tracks to listen in on their conversation.

"You are going to grow old and die alone," She expressed with anger.

As Lily Evans, -his long time crush - continued to yell at him, he began to shrink back, feeling the eyes of those around them on him.

James stayed silent until Lily had finished her outburst. Once the hall had fallen silent, he quietly turned to leave.

"Thanks for the heads up," He muttered grimly, staring down at the bouquet of flowers that he had picked himself just hours before.

"Where are you going?" Mary questioned as he tried to escape the lingering eyes.

"I'm heading back to the dorms to live out my creepy, pathetic life," His voice nearly broke as he walked off, dodging the stares.

James had managed to get a bit sidetracked as he attempted to avoid as many people as possible. He ended up taking a longer route to the dorms, being too lost in his thoughts to care.

He was still holding onto the flowers without realizing it. He had spent the afternoon picking lilies from the green house, and he then proceeded to get caught by Professor Sprout, but he had managed to duck his way out of there before he could get a detention. Maybe she'd go easy on him after seeing him embarrass himself in front of half the school.

Of course, he was used to embarrassing himself in front of large crowds. He'd encourage it because he'd be laughing along with them, but this time, he was the only one not laughing.

He had nearly made it back to the common room when someone had finally caught up to him.

"Fancy meeting you here, Potter," Regulus Black stated, walking up behind the Gryffendor.

"Is it? Do you hang around the Gryffendor common room often?" James questioned, not bothering to look at the Slytherin. He had probably watched the whole debacle and is now here to rub it in his face. After all, he had seen Evans hanging around the younger Black in the library before while he and the other marauders attempted to plan their biggest prank yet.

"Only when I need something," He replied with a straight face.

"Oh, and what is that? Sirius is off canoodling with Remus," James had to stop himself from sighing. Just because he had a failed love life doesn't mean his best mate couldn't be happy.

"No, actually. I was waiting for you," Regulus stated in a bored tone.

"Me?" James questioned worriedly, making Regulus roll his eyes.

"That was quite a show Evans put on," he commented slyly.

"Okay, I get it. I'm unlovable. She already pointed that out. You don't have to rub it in," James looked defeated. He was tired and felt helpless. He didn't mean to come off too strong to Evans. He was just trying to be himself, which obviously didn't work.