A/N: I really loved writing this fic, even though I got writers' block about five times. This was the best I got.

Thank you so much to MrsBates93 for beta-ing this. It's the first time I've ever had one of my stories beta-ed, so this was a great milestone for me, and Mrs B was especially kind to me, even though I left her waiting for about a week whilst I fretted over my story. She's really made this story sparkle!

* Lily *

"Hey, Remus," Lily said, "you do know that there's a Prefect meeting tomorrow night, right?" She subtly adjusted her Head Girl badge so that it gleamed.

Remus looked horrified. "Oh, Lily, I'm so sorry. My mother's sick; I'm going to visit her tonight."

"Your mother gets sick a lot," Lily noted.

"Weak constitution." Twiddling his thumbs, Remus grinned feebly.

"About once a month, actually… Once a month? Could that mean…? Hm…"

Remus froze as Lily pondered, her finger tapping her lower lip, fitting a pattern to her theory.

"Oh… OH! I've got it!"

Remus covered his mouth. "Please don't hate me—"

"I am so sorry. I really shouldn't be questioning you aboutthis. I mean, every girl has their time of the month, don't they, and some people have it worse than others," Lily giggled sheepishly. "I'm sorry for putting you in this position."

Remus visibly slumped in relief. "It's fine. I'd better be going."

"Phew!" Lily laughed. "Bye, Remus."

Lily waved before turning and walking away. She really was pleased that she was still friends with Remus; he was very nice, and extremely good at helping her with her Transfiguration homework. It must be so awkward for him.

I'm sure his mother loves him for it, though, Lily thought. I think my mother would have to be on her death bed to drag me out of Hogwarts - especially during NEWTs.

As she rounded the corner, however, she was met with a very familiar skinny figure, about five inches taller than her, with messy hair the colour of spilt ink and eyes of a rich hazel, which weremagnified by slightly crooked glasses.

Perfect. Just the person I wanted to see.

Potter.

Lily folded her arms and sighed, "Hello, Potter."

Potter was still for a second, before doubling over, leaning on the wall with his face hidden, trembling like a baby giraffe taking its first steps.

"Potter? What's wrong?" Lily asked, astonished. Whilst Potter shook, Lily's hands hovered in mid-air, as if she was unsure whether to hold him or not.

But he wasn't crying, he was laughing.

This left Lily in a rather awkward position. She was unsure whether he was laughing at her, or at Remus, or just because he was crazy and laughed at everything. Also, she was unsure whether or not to stop him, because although she was left wondering what to do and glaring, he sounded so pleasant when he laughed. His voice was low and deep, like honey straight from the comb. Chocolate drizzled on pancakes. As well as his appealing laugh, there was also his incredible body. His position, with one arm over his head to hide his face, lifted one corner of his shirt above his hips and revealed a slither of tanned flesh, complete with a dark treasure trail. Despite his lanky physique, Potter was quite fit.

Stop it, Lily, stop it.

Lily stopped thinking and just spoke.

"Excuse me, but may I ask,what is so funny?"

Wiping the tears from his cheeks, Potter gasped out, "You are – y-you're so stupid! I-I-I… Merlin!"

"Well!" Red hair hit James's face as Lily turned to march away like an angry child.

"N-No, wait. I'm s-sorry," Potter panted pathetically.

Lily turned around. "You know what's stupid? Eavesdropping. Now go away."

"If you weren't so oblivious, you'd be able to figure out why I eavesdropped on the two of you!"

"And if you weren't so oblivious, you'd be able to figure out that I want you to leave!"

"Well, you did say so a few seconds ago."

"Shut up, Pothead."

"Wow. How witty."

"If I didn't mishear you earlier, you called me stupid, so I don't think you should be judging me on the wittiness of my comebacks. What's your excuse?"

"How can someone be so small and yet so irritating?"

"You know what else is small?"

"You would know."

"Sirius would know."

"Can people just stop bringing the Sirius thing up? That was years ago!"

"Nobody forgot, Potter. We all just pretended to."

"Shut it, prude."

"Git."

"At least I'm not completely oblivious."

Lily cocked her head to the side so her fiery hair caught the light as well as Potter's eye. "We've been at this for about ten minutes and I still have no idea what you are on about."

Potter groaned. "Moony is a werewolf!" James blurted out.

* James *

Green eyes like emeralds locked onto him and James had never felt so guilty in his whole life. Damn his traitorous mouth. Moony was going to hate him for this.

Tears pricked in James's eyes as he panicked, his teeth clamping down so hard on his lower lip that they left little welts. Thoughts were running marathons in his head and Lily was right there, thinking, and oh Merlin Moony I am so so so so so sorry.

"Is that the truth?" asked Lily.

Silence was her reply. James was ashamed. So ashamed. He wanted to hide his head in the sand and die.

But he nodded.

"Oh."

James was clinging onto his sanity with tenterhooks. He was waiting for something to happen. What it was he didn't know, but something.

"That makes sense."

"What?" James asked.

"I said—"

James rolled his eyes and snapped, "I know what you said. Is that it?"

Lily giggled. "What, were you expecting a performance?"

"No, but more than that!"

"Should I throw a couple of screams in there and a little bit of hysteria, or is it too late to redeem myself?" Lily smiled.

Hope blossomed like a soap bubble, fuelled by only the radiance of her smile. Her eyes twinkled and her mouth stretched and the joy in it was contagious.

"You're not going to tell anyone, are you?" James asked, after the giggling had died down.

Lily shook her head violently, before looking at him through her eyelashes with darkened irises and a smirk teasing the corners of her mouth. "Not a soul," she whispered, miming zipping her lips.

It was right at that moment when James fell into a big hole called love, and dragged her down with him.

He was in love with her.

Magnetized by Lily's eyes, James found himself leaning forward against his will. Those shadowy orbs of leaf green were growing closer, and closer, and Lily's blazing hair shimmered as she started to lean forward too, and he was so close that he could count every dark eyelash brushing her cheek as her eyes closed…

* Remus *

"You did what?" yelled Remus.

"It was an accident… I didn't mean to! It will never happen again, and anyway, she promised not to tell anyone, and she's definitely mature enough, I mean…" James was babbling on and on, cheeks flushed in shame.

Peter was biting his nails down to stubs, and Sirius had gotten to his feet, looking furious.

However, Remus sighed and sat back down. "I was planning on telling her anyway, so thanks for saving me the trouble, Prongs. It's lucky that it was Lily, otherwise I would have gutted you right here."

Breath escaped James in a huff and he moaned with the force of his relief.

"You got lucky this time, Prongs."

Oh yes, Remus thought, eyes slyly taking in the colour still lingering high on James's cheeks, and how red his lips were. He got lucky all right.

Fin.