Harry Potter 1. Chapter 1

Take Your Pick

Summary: James has always loved Lily, and feels no shame in showing it…albeit to everyone in the school. The problem is, Lily's already got the perfect boyfriend. And she isn't giving him up for anything… yet.

**Disclaimer**: The only character who's mine is Rhys... he's yummy. But still, I own nothing else in this little snippit of a story except... part... of the plot. Except I don't even own the plot. Darn it!!

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Chapter 1: He's Wonderful… 

Lily's eyes scanned the room quickly, appraisingly. It had been almost an hour. Where was he? He'd promised he'd be here, and now… Lily couldn't help but feel hurt. Maybe he didn't feel the same way she did, maybe she was so caught up in her own feelings that she couldn't see the obvious truth right in front of her. And yet Rhys was always so caring, gentle, sweet.

_Still, people change, right?_ Lily thought, an icy clamor slowly filling her.

Suddenly, strong arms engulfed her waist from behind. Lily gasped at the unexpected touch. She felt him place a light kiss on the side of her neck. Lily closed her eyes for a moment, enjoying the peacefulness and calm that had descended over her. But just as soon as she had been tranquilized, her anger sprang up anew.

She spun around, staring Rhys straight in his crystal-blue eyes.

"Where have you been? I've been waiting for nearly an hour! You told me this morning that you were on your way to Hogsmeade with some friends, and that you'd be back by two. Normally I wouldn't care, but you know today's special. For Heaven's sake, Rhys, it's my birthday! Don't you think I'd rather have you be here on my birthday than be stuck with that idiot Wendelyn? And she kept saying that on her birthday, her 'boyfriend' would take her out to dinner and give her the best gifts. Do you have any idea how that made me feel?" Lily's glare was angry, hurt, questioning.

"Listen, baby," Rhys began.

Lily held up her hand. "Don't even try to sweet talk your way out of this. Why can't you even think of my feelings for once?"

Rhys lowered his head. "You know I would have been here if I could. But I have a good reason, otherwise you know I wouldn't have missed your birthday for the world."

"Well? What is it?"

"It's my grandmother. She had another heart attack, and she's back in the hospital. I had to go see her. I'm sorry I didn't tell you, but it was a sudden thing and I didn't have any time. They didn't think she was going to make it, so it really couldn't wait. I'm sorry."

Lily's eyes begged forgiveness. "Oh, Rhys, I'm sorry I judged you so quickly. Of course it's not your fault. I hope your grandmother is okay."

"She's doing better. I'm just sorry this happened on your birthday. This is not how I pictured today at all."

Lily stepped closer to him, and ran her hands up his chest. "How did you picture today?"

Rhys grinned. He bent his head and whispered in her ear. "I was going to take you for a walk by the lake, and then we were going to have dinner up in the north tower. After that, I was going to take you to Hogsmeade. I asked Dumbledore already, he said it was okay." He sighed. "I'm sorry we couldn't have that night. Today was supposed to be perfect." He hung his head.

She placed her small hand under his chin and lifted his head so he was looking at her. "Now that you're here, it is."

He smiled, and she leaned forward, their lips meeting in a gentle kiss.

Just down the hall, a boy called Potter rounded the corner and stopped dead, staring at the scene before him.

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**A/N:** I know it's short, but I had a sudden urge to write a new story!! The next chapter will be longer, I promise. I'm still working on the next chapter for Chances Are and I'm also working on As the Eye Sparkles... aaahhhhh so much to do!! (don't know how I managed to squeeze this in...) :) Enjoy!! 

Reviews are appreciated ; )


	2. Chapter 2

**Disclaimer**: I don't own it. Enough said.

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Chapter 2: … And You're Not

Rhys walked down the hallway, waving goodbye to Lily.

She waved back, and James Potter gagged, nearly spitting out the bite of apple he was chewing.

He decided to remind Lily who Lily's true love was.

"Oh, Lillian!"

Lily turned. "My name's not Lillian, Potter. We've been over this. It's Lily. Just Lily. Not Lily-short-for-something. Lily."

"Yes, well, Lily. Darling." He slipped an arm around her shoulders, which she warily shrugged off, and took a large bite of apple, the juice running down his chin. She gagged. "I wanted to catch up. See what's been going on since I last saw you."

"James, you saw me this morning."

"Well, you never know how much can happen in just a few hours." He wiggled his eyebrows, looking toward the spot where Rhys had been only a few moments before.

"Oh, you mean Rhys? Yes, well, he's absolutely… perfect." Lily's eyes sparkled with happiness and memories.

James's eyes sparkled with revulsion. "I'm sure he is. But Lily," here he slyly slid his arm back around her shoulders, "you know his grandmother wasn't ill."

Lily frowned. "How do you know?"

"Oh, Edna and I go way back. She used to teach me… yoga. Yup. I used to take yoga with Edna."

Lily raised her eyebrow. "You took yoga with Rhys' grandmother?"

"I surely did." Another bite disappeared from the fruit.

"Rrrrright. Listen, I've got to go. I'll see you later, ok?"

James leaned against the wall, chomping away on his apple. "Okay, Lillian."

She nearly screamed.

"Just thought you should know your boyfriend's a liar. Let me spell it out for you. L-I-A-R. LIAR."

Lily spun around to face him. "Listen, Jamie," he stood up straighter, angry at the use of that nickname. She smiled at her revenge. "Rhys is a perfect gentleman, and an amazing, caring boyfriend. I'm afraid I can't say either of those about you."

"Ah, Lily dear, if you would but let me try, you would see that the second part is my best trait."

She snorted. "I'm sure it is. I really have to get to Charms, I'll see you… when I see you." She turned away, then spun back for a moment. "Oh, and James?"

He looked at her expectantly.

"Don't talk to me again unless you can contribute to the conversation. In other words, don't talk to me again."

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"I'm telling you, she's half in love with me already." James leaned back in his chair, a fresh new apple in his hand.

"James," Remus said soothingly, ever the voice of reason. "Lily already has a boyfriend. And from what I've heard, he's a nice guy. She's not just going to break up with him."

"She might." Sirius lay draped across the couch. "You'd just have to prove to her you'd be a better guy for her, Prongsie." 

"Yeah." Peter piped in, always agreeing with Sirius.

James scoffed. "She already knows that. As does the rest of the world."

Remus cocked his eyebrow. "James, she doesn't know you that well. She doesn't know if you'd be good for her or not. You have to prove it. And don't get all cocky like you always do. Girls don't like that, it makes them… well, it makes them hate you."

"Oh. But Lily doesn't hate you."

Sirius clomped James on the back. "She sure doesn't love ya, mate."

James frowned and stomped his foot like an petulant child. "She will! She will!"

"Listen, mate, she won't. Not unless you help her along." Sirius said.

James leaned in. "How?"

And so the marauders bent their heads together to come up with the perfect plan to get James the perfect girl.

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Sirius scoffed. "Yeah. THAT will work. She's not an idiot."

James glared. "YOU think of a better idea, then."

Sirius leaned forward. "Fine. I say that you prove your worth by showing how worthless Rhys is. Show her that you love her more than he could ever love her. Show her that you're the guy for her. In other words, be there for her when Rhys isn't."

James frowned. "But Rhys is always there for her."

"That's where we come in, mate."

James looked awfully suspicious. "What are you going to do to him?"

Remus smiled. "What do you care? I thought you didn't like him."

James thought about it for a second. "Oh yeah. Okay, then. I'll do it."

Sirius grinned. "Good. 'Cause we've already done our part."

Peter laughed maniacally, which made the others spin around and stare at him with fright and amusement. Peter hiccupped. "Sorry. It was instinct." The others laughed, partially out of humor and partially because it was the least funny thing they had ever heard… in short, they laughed because of the irony.

James grinned. "What have you done?"

Remus twiddled his thumbs and looked guilty. "We gave him a little… temptation. He was always vulnerable, we just prodded him along."

James tilted his head. "You mean like…"

"Yup. We bribed Carrie Grey." Sirius snickered.

"THE Carrie Grey?" James gaped at them.

"The one and only, mate. We're pretty sure Lily won't take that well." Remus's guilty look increased even more.

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**A/N**: I have the next chapter mostly written, should get it up tomorrow : ) 

Sorry this is so short but I have to go!! Hope you like it though!


	3. Chapter 3

**Disclaimer**: No matter how good this chapter is, and how much I may sound like JK Rowling, the characters don't belong to me. ; ) (hah! as if I could ever sound as wonderful as JK Rowling...)

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Chapter 3: The Perfect Plan… with a twist

The marauders sat in their dormitory drinking their secret stash of butter beer, contemplating the situation before them.

James opened his wallet, examining the contents within. "I was thinking we could go grab some more butter beer. Who wants to go this time?"

Sirius's hand shot up. "Pick me!"

"Alright. Wait a second… I had 10 galleons, 5 knuts, and 13 sickles. WHERE IS ALL OF MY MONEY?!?!?!?!?!?"

"Well, mate, umm…don't be mad, but we kinda had to use it to pay off Grey…we are all broke because PETER HERE decided to buy 500 FIREWORKS and DUNGBOMBS with OUR money!" Remus replied, "But even though you may be out some cash now, think of all the pranks we are going to play this year with all those dung bombs and fireworks! Prank fest-This Halloween! YAHOOO!"

"Pete…oh, Pete…WHY DIDN'T YOU TELL US YOU WERE GOING ON A SHOPPING SPREE? THERE ARE SO MANY OTHER SUPPLIES WE ARE GOING TO NEED AND NOW WE ARE BROKE! James is the one with all of the dough and now there is none and we can't have a proper Prank Fest without water balloons and feathers and dragon hair and newts and slime from the giant squid and those cool mini fuzzy alive puff balls that are in all of the pretty colors that we saw in Diagon Alley last week…and OH WE ARE SOOOO UNPREPARED! WHATEVER WILL WE DO?" Sirius dramatically inquired.

"Oops. I didn't think of that. Oh well. At least Lily is going to be yours finally!"

"Yipee!" James grinned. "Okay. Anyway. Back to planning. Sirius, when did you tell Grey to seduce Rhys?" James inquired.

"Tomorrow night in the empty classroom in the transfiguration wing, why?"

"Well, we may have a slight snag in the plan…" Remus replied carefully.

"What are you talking about?"

"Umm, well, either she doesn't know what the word 'tomorrow' means or there is a little something going on between them that has nothing to do with the money we paid her this afternoon…"

"WHAT?"

"Yep. There seem to be two dots VERY close to each other in that empty classroom and they happened to be labeled Rhys and Carrie."

"Remus, actually, when I come to think of it, she did seem a little too eager to accept the bribe, but I thought that it was just because she found him attractive or something…oh no this is not good!" Sirius exclaimed.

"James, what should we do?"

"James? JAMES????"

"Uh oh…Where are you, buddy?"

"Where did he go?"

There was a pause, as the marauders looked at each other. All at once, they began to grin maniacally.

"Someone is in for an unpleasant exchange with our Prongsie tonight."

The rest of the marauders rushed over to the map that was sitting on James' bed, searching for the dot labeled with his name.

There was the dot labeled "James", moving rapidly down to the transfiguration wing.

The marauders sat and stared at the dot for a bit, before all instantly tensing and running toward the door. "James!"

"Don't fight him, Jamesie boy!"

Remus frowned. "I thought you didn't care what happened to Rhys?"

Sirius grinned. "I don't. I care about James getting hurt. Rhys is like… huge."

"But James is way better at spells." Peter piped up.

By now, all three boys were panting with the effort of running down four flights of stairs and down three corridors, plus meeting Diana Fellone in the hallways deterred Sirius slightly from his originally selfless goal of helping James.

"Sirius!" Remus pulled on his friend's arm, tearing Sirius's gaze away from the black-haired beauty, who pouted at the sudden removal of her temporary man-candy.

"See ya later, sweetheart." Sirius blew her a kiss, then ran pell-mell after his friends.

Finally, after only one small incident (Peter's fault), they stopped dead in front of the door to the empty classroom in the transfiguration wing.

Remus and Sirius pressed their ears against the door in a vain attempt to hear what was going on inside; the door, however, appeared to be sound-proof.

"Darn it! James could be dead by now and we're sitting here, absolutely helpless!" Sirius cried.

Remus sighed. "Don't be a dramatic. James is fine. If anything, I'm worried about Rhys." Suddenly, Remus's eyes lit up. "I have an idea. I'll go get Lily and bring her down here."

Sirius gasped. "Are you crazy?"

Remus shushed him. "Only a little. Sirius, Peter, I want you to go in and distract them. Prevent them from actually fighting until I send a green spark down the hallway, okay? Then make sure they start fighting."

Pouting, Sirius agreed. "Fine, but I wanted to go get Lily."

"Normally, I would say fine," Remus said coolly, "but first, now is not the time to seduce her, and second, you're much more capable of distracting them. Now go!"

As Sirius and Peter banged on the door, Remus ran down the hall toward the Gryffindor common room.

Sirius winked at Peter before backing up and slamming into the door, causing the wood to split in half and the door to fall off its hinges. He jumped into the room, his arms flung wide open and his legs apart. "Get ready, babies! The life of the party is HERE!"

James stared at him. Rhys stared at him. Carrie stared at him.

Sirius started jumping around. "What? You've never seen a good-looking man before?"

James scoffed. "Man?"

Sirius stuck out his tongue. "Boy. Fine. Still, I must say you are looking extra-spiffy today, Rhys. New hair gel?"

Rhys simply looked at him, with an expression that combined shock, awe, and anger. "No."

Sirius began twisting a piece of Rhys hair around his finger. "You sure?"

Rhys slapped his hand away. "YES! What the bloody hell are you doing, mate?"

"Just checking up on you guys." Sirius put his arms around Rhys and James. "My chums. Chummy-chum-chums. My buds. You're my buddies, you know that. My brothers. My boys. My…"

"Sirius!" James raised his eyebrow. "What are you doing?"

"I've come to see you, buddy ol' pal." Sirius turned to Rhys. "Hey, mate, we need to hang out some time. You know, catch up on the gossip and all. Check out the ladies…" He wiggled his eyebrows, and Rhys sneered.

Suddenly a green spark flew down the hallway, illuminating everything in a sickly pale green color.

Sirius's head snapped around as he saw this, and he backed off quickly. He turned to Rhys. "You are the worst human being on this planet! How dare you do this to Lily?"

Sure enough, that got James started. James' eyes flashed and his hand returned to his wand pocket. He was facing away from the door.

Remus pulled Lily into the room quietly.

"You know, you don't know the value of what you've got if you can just throw it away like this. I can't believe you would do this to her. She is wonderful, beautiful, smart, perfect, and you would throw it away on… this girl?" James motioned to Carrie's red miniskirt that covered nothing. Carrie gasped indignantly.

James sneered. "You disgust me. If I had Lily, I wouldn't give her up for the world. I would give her the respect she deserves. I would show her that she is perfect, and I would never, ever hurt her. But you have the… the nerve to go and trample on her feelings. I swear, I'm going to have to…" James paused, eyes flashing, and pulled out his wand, aiming for Rhys.

"James!" Remus cried.

James spun, and his eyes fell upon Lily, who was crying and processing what had just happened.

"Lily?"

Lily marched up to Rhys, pulled out her wand, and muttered a spell. He flew backwards, slamming against the far wall. "You pig." Lily sobbed slightly.

"Oh, Lily, I'm sorry," James encircled her in his arms.

She smiled through her tears, and pushed him away. "Was all that true?"

He gulped. "Yeah."

She smiled more, and studied his face. "Thank you."

He shrugged, and she backed toward the door, finally reaching it and swiftly stepping into the hallway.

James frowned. "Why isn't she in love with me yet?"

Remus grinned. "Give her time. Soon she will be. After all, you're her hero."

James puffed out his chest, and looked down magisterially at Sirius. "Hear that? I'm her hero." And with that in mind, they all traipsed back to the dormitory to finish their butter beers.

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**A/N**: Hope you liked it! I would like to thank Caitlin for writing part of the middle section (the part with the wallet and dung bombs). Excellent job, dear!!

Thanks for all the reviews!! Keep them coming: )


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Harry Potter, Romance