“Stupid, bloody promise!” was the thought that entered Lily’s head as she slowly made her way downstairs towards the kitchen (the only place in the entire house that she could find without getting lost). Her promise to Audrey hadn’t seemed so insignificant last night. But now as the prospect of spending time alone with Potter was rapidly approaching, the promise seemed like a strange and cruel form of torture inflicted upon her by her best friend. Starving seemed to become a better and better prospect with each passing second.

A morning person. It seemed so impossible. Lily decided that fate must hate her. Apparently James Potter was a morning person. The words were still unbelievable to her. To Lily, Potter was the epitome of all that was lazy. The fact that he willingly dragged himself out of bed early every morning was absolutely incomprehensible to her. James Potter. A morning person. Those words didn’t seem to belong together at all.

Audrey couldn’t have been serious when she told Lily that Potter was a morning person. It had to be a lie. A misconception. A mistake. A slight bending of the truth with the sole purpose of teasing Lily. No, Audrey wouldn’t lie to Lily again after last night. But still, she could have been mistaken. Audrey could have been unwittingly lying about Potter’s morning person-ness. Audrey and Potter hadn’t spent a great deal of time together since they were ten according to what Audrey told her later last night. It was possible that he could have changed over time. He could have grown to hate the mornings and sleep in every day. Yesterday could have been a completely weird and random occurrence.

There was a chance that Potter might not be a morning person anymore. It was a possibility. Very possible. Very likely, really when she thought about it. Potter probably, most likely, hopefully, wasn’t a morning person anymore. And if he was, well, Lily could only hope that he hadn’t seen the list as well. The morning would be a complete nightmare if he had.

Lily drew in a deep breath and paused momentarily as she arrived outside of the kitchen door. She closed her eyes and blindly searched for the handle on the door before entering the kitchen. She opened her eyes and breathed a sigh of relief as she sat down at the kitchen table, thankful that she was the only one in the room.

“Good morning, sunshine,” a voice greeted her brightly. Lily cringed immediately. She recognized that voice. She turned her head to see James Potter appear from the door that she had come through only a few seconds earlier. Fate definitely hated her.

“Where are your parents?” Lily asked choosing not to comment on the “sunshine” part of his greeting and settled for an angry glare instead.

“Sunshine, you offend me!” Potter responded. His voice was lightly laced with something she couldn’t quite identify. “Like my parents sit around all day and do nothing. They’re working.”

Lily nodded, feeling slightly idiotic, but she quickly brushed it off.

“Is Audrey up yet?” she asked, knowing what the answer would be before she finished the question. She could still hope though.

“Oh, sunshine,” he said in a very condescending tone, increasing Lily’s irritation with him, along with his repeated use of his new nickname for her. “Of course she’s not up yet. It’s seven in the morning. She won’t be up for another good four hours. And Sirius should be up in about five or six.”

“Stop calling me sunshine. And what are you doing up so early?” Lily asked bitterly. “I never thought of you as a morning person.”

She was still clinging to the hope that Potter may not actually be a morning person and that today and yesterday might have been a strange coincidence. As well as today. But it seemed less likely with every second. He was far too cheerful in the morning for this to be some bizarre coincidence.

“What? Evans-shine?” Potter said in mock outrage as he tested out a variation of his new nickname for her. “I have many layers…”

There was a brief pause. An odd emotoin crossed Potter's face; he seemed to be debating on whether or not to continue.

“I guess you were just too busy calling me an arrogant, egotistical, self-centered, annoying prick to ever get to know me that well,” he finished.

Potter’s tone had slowly turned from mock outrage to something else. Genuine outrage. Lily inhaled sharply at hearing the familiar words. She felt her face turn white; her jaw dropped in shock. The idiotic nickname didn’t even register with her this time; a single thought crossed her mind. He had most definitely seen the list. He was practically quoting it. Fate didn’t hate Lily; it loathed her. Lily closed her eyes and took a deep calming breath before she regained her composure.

“You’re really not that complex, Potter,” Lily snapped at him as she uttered the first words that popped into her head. “You are an arrogant, egotistical, self-centered, annoying prick! And don’t call me Evans-shine either!”

He looked moderately unfazed by her insults. He continued to sullenly stare at her, leaving the two of them in a bitter silence. He slowly made his way to the table and sat down in the seat across from her.

“What are you doing up so early?” he asked casually. His tone betrayed no trace of anger or resentment, but his eyes avoided hers. He was determinedly staring out of the kitchen window, being extremely careful not to even glance in her direction.

“Unfortunately, I’m a morning person too,” she answered looking down at her hands as a different kind of silence descended upon the room. It remained unbroken for several minutes.

“Are you hungry, Evans?” Potter inquired in a fairly pleasant tone, breaking the silence. He turned his head towards her as she glanced up. Their eyes met for a brief second before his eyes flickered back towards the window. Lily felt her heart stop momentarily as she wondered what Potter was up to.

“What?” Lily asked, confused at his apparent change in mood. He should be angrier at her than he was. Her eyes were now fixed solidly upon him, curiously staring at the person across from her. She tried to turn her head away. She knew that she did not want Potter to catch her staring at him. But her eyes remained inquisitively stuck to his face. She couldn’t help it; his behavior had thrown her and all she could think to do at the moment was to stare at him.

“Are you hungry? Do you want something to eat?” Potter asked, sounding irritated with her. Lily tore her eyes away from his face. As he got up from his seat and proceeded to walk over towards the other side of the room.

“Sure. Fine. I don’t care,” she answered as indifferently as she could. Her eyes were now glued to the back of his head.

“Great. What?” Potter asked coldly not bothering to look at her.

“Anything’s fine,” she replied with irritation. Potter began to search through the cabinets for different ingredients, slamming the cabinet doors loudly each time. Silence had overcome the kitchen once more; it was only broken by the sounds of Potter repeatedly slamming the doors. He continued to determinedly look away from her. A thick tension slowly built in the room with each second.

“Potter? Can I ask you a question?” Lily asked tentatively. She was trying to break the tension that was hanging in the air. She tried to convey no annoyance or bitterness in her tone. He turned around to face her, seeming a bit confused. She attempted a weak smile.

“Obviously,” he answered with a cold tone, however, a slight grin seemed to be tugging at the corners of his mouth encouraging Lily to go on. She searched her mind for something to ask him. She had merely wanted to break the tension in the room. She hadn’t thought so far ahead as to consider what to ask him. She said the first thing that came to her mind.

“Why is it you like to cook so much? I mean, it’s really not something that I ever pictured you doing,” Lily babbled. She was actually genuinely interested in Potter’s hidden talent. It was something that she had never imagined him doing, although she had never pictured him as a morning person either.

The grin on his face seemed to vanish almost instantaneously. He seemed to be frozen for a few seconds; his body was perfectly still before he let out a deep breath. He ran his fingers through his hair; it looked even messier than usual. A new kind of smile had appeared on his face; it was very familiar to Lily. Too familiar. He had used it on her so many times before. Every time he hit on her. Lily inwardly groaned as she realized what was about to happen. He began, slowly and deliberately, to walk towards Lily.

“And what sort of things have you imagined me doing?” he asked, his voice had switched to the deeper one that he usually reserved for asking her out. Lily felt her cheeks turn red at the implications hidden in Potter’s question. He usually just settled for a simple, “Evans, will you go out with me?” Lily was flustered, unsure how to respond. He was moving faster towards her now. And they were closer than they had been before. Much closer.

“I – I only meant…” Lily stammered before letting the sentence trail off completely. Her mind had seemed to have gone inexplicably blank.

“What terribly naughty things have you imagined dong with me?”

Their faces were centimeters apart now. Potter was looking at her with interest now; he seemed to be surprised that Lily had let him get so close to her. She was surprised at herself too. His questions were really catching her off guard. And his presence. Why is he so close? she wondered. Why had she let him get so close? Normally she would have hexed minutes ago. He hesitantly put his hand up to her face. Lily vaguely wondered why she couldn’t remember any good curses right now. Or where she had put her wand.

“I saw you staring at me, Evans. What sort of things do you want to do to me?” he whispered into her ear.

She sharply inhaled as she realized the full gravity of the situation. James Potter was close to her. Too close. Her hands found her way to his chest as she firmly pushed him away from herself. That was something he clearly had not planned on as he let out a gasp of surprise and toppled backwards, landing on the hard kitchen tile.

“You’re a pig, Potter,” Lily spat at him. “You disgust me. You are foul and horrible and I can’t believe that I’m stuck with you for an entire summer!”

“Well, you’re stuck with me. Start getting used to it,” he responded coldly. Lily felt her hatred for him boil up inside him. He was so horrible! Words began to stream out of her mouth as she towered over him. Every insult she could think of seemed to leave her mouth.

“You’re the most arrogant, big-headed, conceited, bullying, annoying, egotistical, insufferable prat that I have ever had the misfortune of meeting!” she yelled venomously.

“You’ve mentioned that before,” he responded coldly. “I think it might have been on that list you made earlier.”

Lily blanched as the words spilled out of Potter’s mouth. She felt slightly shocked at Potter’s confirmation of what she had suspected. He had seen it. Of course he had seen it. No wonder he was treating her like this. He had asked her out before. Many times. But he never went as far as he had just now. He had never done anything like that until now.

“You did see it then,” she stated still feeling stunned at what Potter had just said.

“Bit hard to miss, Evans. It was just lying on the desk. Didn’t seem like you were trying very hard to hide it from me!” he responded angrily. Lily wished to be anywhere but where she was right now. Voldemort’s headquarters. That seemed like a nice alternative at the moment.

“I didn’t want you to see it,” Lily said softly. She looked carefully down at her feet; she couldn’t bring herself to look at the anger and fury in his eyes.

She vaguely wondered why she was feeling so guilty about it. He was every one of those things she had written on the list. He was arrogant. He was egotistical. He was self-centered and annoying. He was all of those things she had just said. He was terrible, terrible person. But she still couldn’t help the feelings of guilt that were rising up inside of her now.

“Great! I feel so much better now knowing that you didn’t want me to see the list of reason as to why I’m such a horrible person,” he responded fiercely. She lifted her head so that their eyes met for a moment. The feelings of guilt dispersed and were placed with anger and loathing.

“You are a horrible person! You’re a bully. And a show-off! You think you’re so much better than everyone else because you score a few goals in Quidditch! You curse people for your own amusement! Because you get some sort of sick pleasure out of seeing other people being humiliated! You’re an immature, arrogant, bullying prat!” she yelled.

Potter seemed to be taken aback by her words. He said nothing for a few seconds as the words seemed to sink in. He leaned casually backwards against the kitchen countertop. The rage in his eyes seemed to dim for a moment before it was replaced by something else altogether. A strange sort of calmness had seemed to wash over his face. Lily wasn’t sure whether she liked it any better.

“And you’re so much better than me, Evans?” he asked calmly. “Are you?”

Lily stared at him for a minute feeling very taken aback at his question. She was unsure of how to respond to it. Potter let out a short derisive laugh at her stunned state before he began to speak again.

“You honestly think that you’re better than me? You? With your list of reasons as to why you a hate person? Oh, yes you’re very mature, Evans! You aren’t petty or anything, are you? A list of reasons about why you hate someone? And you still think that you’re better than me?” he asked her. His voice steadily lost its calm and managed tone. The anger from a few minutes ago was slowly working its way back into his voice.

His words hit Lily unexpectedly. She stared at him as the words slowly sunk in. A hundred thoughts began to race through her mind, but only one seemed to stand out. Was she any better than Potter? The list most definitely had not been her finest moment, but that certainly didn’t put her on Potter’s level, did it? Potter’s words seemed to be ringing incessantly in her ears now. He could hear his voice ask her that question over and over again. She looked away from him in embarrassment and quickly made her way towards the nearest door. She heard a faint “damn it” from the kitchen as she made her way up a nearby set of stairs.

Chapter 6: Of Contracts and Compromises