Every balanced situation is somehow the same. Every unbalanced situation is messy in it's own way. The peace of Remus's mind happened every time when he was on his own bed, reading a book, studying, or even talking to his friends. That was something he did night after night for the last six years.

It was Friday when Sirius came in with a smile on his face and said the words.

— C'mon guys! The girls are playing spin the bottle and want us to join them.

— What kind of game is that? — James asked.

— It's a kissing game and Lily is there.

James jumped from his bed and ran downstairs, making Remus laugh a little.

— Aren't you coming? Dorcas is there too. — Sirius inquired.

The mention of the girl's name made Remus roll his eyes. Amongst all his girl friends, Dorcas was the one he hung out with the most. They were both incredibly good with Defense Against Dark Arts and members of the Duel Club, so being friends with her was kind of a challenge. And they loved it. But that's all it was, just friendship, and Sirius failed to see that.

— Don't roll your eyes at me, I know you like her.

— I don't. — Remus replied while closing his book. He stood up and walked towards Sirius with everything but amusing on his face. — But I don't want to be alone here.

Downstairs in the common room, almost every Gryffindor they met was sitting in the ground, forming a circle around an empty bottle. Dorcas Meadowes and Lily Evans were whispering in each other's ears and giggling. James was staring at Lily and totally ignoring whatever Mary MacDonald was talking to him. Peter was paying way too much attention to the game rules, which Marlene McKinnon was explaining. Remus though he was anxious to have his first kiss, but decided to keep this malice to himself.

Remus and Sirius sat down and waited Marlene to finish talking. It was a silly muggle game Lily had talk about a few days ago, but the girls decided to spice things up. While in the original version the two people involved just had to kiss briefly, by the new rules they had to do it for at least ten second. Whoever declined would have to drink a shot of firewhisky.

Eager-Peter was the first one to spin the bottle, but it pointed to James and the alcohol was a better idea. It took him a few more matches to finally point to Dorcas, and judging by the way he was smiling and shaking, that really could be his first kiss.

In respect of James, all the other guys refused kissing Lily. In respect to herself, Lily refused to kiss James. Twice. There was only one more shot of firewhisky, waiting for the bottle to point to the wrong person again. Everyone was a little drunk and Sir Nicholas, floating beside the fireplace, looked at them with disapproval. When Lily's bottle pointed to Mary, she apologized and drank it all in a sip.

— What now? — She asked Marlene, her voice sounding very weird.

— We can't decline anything!

Drunk as they were, everyone agreed. "Oh, blimey…" sighed Sir Nicholas as he left the room through a wall. Mary laughed at the ghost and spun the bottle once more. She kissed Sirius, who couldn't be more happy for kissing her for the third time that night. When the time came for him to spin the bottle, it pointed to Remus.

— Ok, where's the firewhisky? — He laughed.

— Lily finished it, my friend. — Some of the girls said.

Remus laughed and fell on his back, with both hands covering his face.

— Just give him an earwax-flavored bean already!

Between laughs and protests, everyone started to talk at the same time. Remus ignored them all, hoping they would change their minds and resume the game, but it never happened. Suddenly he felt male hands over his own and Sirius gently forced him to uncover his face. They looked into each other's eyes for a few seconds before laughing as they never did before.

— C'mon, you do that and I'll kiss James. — Lily said, knowing he was the only reason why she hadn't kiss anyone all night. Everyone looked at her as if they didn't believe, even Remus, who was still laying on his back. — Ten seconds, I mean it.

— Count loud. — Sirius said before locking his lips to his friend's.

Remus closed his eyes when he felt the soft flesh against his mouth. For some reason he didn't know, he parted his lips and used his tongue to ask Sirius to do the same. He didn't do it before with any of the girls, but there was something about the hand on the back of his neck that made him want to deepen the kiss. As idiotic as it may seem, the first thing Remus noticed was the absence of breasts against his chest. Sirius was almost laying over him, they upper limb touching almost entirely. Remus tangled his fingers on Sirius's long hair and pulled it a little. Sirius seemed to like it, because he gently bitted Remus's tongue, making him smile.

— Ten. — The choir of voices finished counting and almost immediately, the two boy separated. On the other side of the circle, one couldn't tell where James's body finished and Lily's began.

Silently, Sirius made a sign for everyone to leave the two lovebirds alone. They walked upstairs to the Marauder's dormitory, and Lily and James only noticed when they finished kissing. James ran his fingers through her bright hair; saw the light of the fireplace burning them from distance, a silly smile on his face. He only looked back at her when she kissed his cheek softly.

— Guess this time you'll say yes if I ask you out, uh? — He murmured close to her face, their lips almost touching.

— Maybe…

— Would you like to go to a date with me, Evans?

— I'll give you a chance. — She finally said, after years of the same question.

Lily laughed at the surprise look on James' face and wrapped her arms around his neck, kissing the alcohol from his lips. She felt a little dizzy and their kiss was clumsy and drunk, but she did it anyway. She even let him bite her neck, and laughed when he held her tighter. For a long moment, neither of them said a word. They just sat there on the floor, her legs over his, holding each other. When Sir Nicholas came back, he floated around the new couple, threw his hands to the air and smiled.

— Oh, finally! — He screamed before disappearing again.

Lily and James jumped in fright and she got up all of a sudden, just to lose balance and fall to James' lap. He helped her to stand properly and took quite an effort to do the same. Reeling and laughing at their own disgrace, he walked her to her dormitory. He kissed her one last time against the door before saying goodnight.

By the time James stepped inside his own dormitory, he found every single person who was playing spin the bottle starring at him.

— So…? — Peter asked, sitting on his own bed with legs crossed like a child and his body leaned forward in anticipation.

— We're going on a date! — James announced with a punch in the air.

At the same time, Sirius jumped from his bed and scrubbed James' hair with his fist. Peter and the girls soon formed a circle around them, asking how did that happen and all kinds of questions. Remus chose to stay away from the little crowd, but he smiled fondly at his friend's happiness.