The Marauders were winding their way through the corridors laughing and joking like the old friends they were. James was taking quite a lot of ribbing over his affection for Lily Evans.

Sirius pulled slightly ahead of his crew. He fluttered his lashes and said in a mock faint voice, "Is that Evans?" He stood closer to James, "Padfoot, hide me!"

James punched his shoulder good-naturedly and Sirius swooned and fell into Remus' waiting arms. Remus laughed raucously and even Peter managed a snigger despite the glares James was throwing at his friends.

"He's right, Prongs." Remus' matter-of-fact voice was unwelcome. "You act exactly like that every time you spot Lily."

James scowled and drawled, "As if. I have far too much class for that, Moony. Don't be ridiculous." James was blushing, however. He knew that he had acted out that mortifying scene more times than he could count.

Well no more.

Sirius saw the tell-tale signs that they were pushing James too far. His jaw tightened, his lips thinned and one eyebrow – always the left one – twitched every so often. "All right lads," he murmured dryly, "I believe Prongs has been thoroughly shown what a prat he's being. I'm sure he'll supress his nervous breakdowns around her.

Those nervous breakdowns never happened before Sirius came to stay with James. They hadn't happened for a while after, not until Sirius decided he wanted to know the extent of his mate's feelings for the uptight Gryffindor. Only since Sirius had sat him down one day in July – the summer after sixth year – and had interrogated him on his feelings for Lily Evans.

And James had admitted to both Sirius and himself that night that he was truly in love with her.

"Today is the day our Prongsie regains his dignity." Sirius proclaimed, almost loudly enough so that a mousy Ravenclaw thirty paces ahead of them could hear. Almost, even when mocking his mate he understood the need for discretion.

Straightening his back, he strode forwards. Something like his old swagger entered his gait and he continued to walk proudly, side-by-side with his best mates.

He was getting the hang of it once more and almost had his arrogant strut perfected to the one he had displayed in sixth year when he was rudely ran into by a running student.

"Hold it!" Sirius barked as the figure made to continue. James' head swam from the contact it had made with the unforgiving concrete floor. "There are punishments for knocking a Marauder flying, Evans."

That's when James realized it was Lily who had barged into his and that's when he shoved some iron into his spine and stood on trembling legs. James' vision – even after straightening his glasses – was still blurry. He felt a migraine building behind his eyes and he led out a reluctant whimper. Fucking floor, fucking Lily and her flouncing around Hogwarts.

"Pads," he moaned. "That fucking concussion is back. I told you not to test your healing spells on me!"

As a rule, James did his damn best not to swear. With the ever increasing pain he realized the reason most other people swore. So he swore at everyone around him in time with the thumping of the migraine.

Lily gaped at the man before her. What was he doing? She had heard James swear only once in the past few years and that was the time he had caught Nott trying to force himself on a third year. Other than that one time, she had never heard him swear as far as she could remember.

With a quick flurry of movement, she dropped to her knees and pulled James down too. She laid him flat on the ground and ran a quick spell over him to check for any other minor injuries. Other than a couple of bruises on his shins, there were none and she levitated him after quickly murmuring: "Petrificus Totalus."

Sirius watched as Lily took his mate to the hospital wing. He trailed behind, not one to abandon James when he was injured. "Go on to the dorm," he said quietly to Remus and Peter. They obeyed without question; both knew Sirius wouldn't leave James' side until James himself told him it was okay for him to leave – sometimes not even then.

If Lily was aware of his presence she didn't show it.

"Concussion, Madam Pomfrey," she called out almost cheerily. Sirius, who had been subject to James' ramblings about her subconscious body language, could tell from the frown lining her brow that she was worried.

If James was conscious – and able to see correctly – he would tell Sirius he had missed the nervous chafing of her fingers against the inside of her robe sleeve and the way she angled herself forward, slightly crouched over, as she watched the healer take care of James.

"I must admit," Madam Pomfrey said after minutes of tense waiting, "I never thought I'd see the day that Lily Evans would sit in the hospital wing, worrying over James Potter."

Lily sneered. It wasn't a true sneer and there was no heat behind it, but for old-time's sake she snapped: "I'm only here because I was the one who knocked him over."

Madam Pomfrey was too wise to be fooled by her denial.

"Come now, Miss Evans. Surely you feel worried he won't recover. I'm afraid it's a rather nasty concussion." She winked at Sirius to show she was kidding and watched calmly as Lily shot James a more than worried look and seated herself right by the bed.

"Will he recover?" she managed to grind out.

Madam Pomfrey sighed and looked suitably aggrieved. "I'm not sure, Miss Evans. I'm afraid he mightn't survive the night."

Sirius was on his feet and perched on the bed before the sentence was finished. Even though he knew the Healer was messing with Lily's mind her acting was far too real. Sirius was legitimately worried for his friend's welfare.

Lily crouched over James' sleeping form and pressed a quick almost-kiss to his forehead. "Come on Potter, you dickhead."

Sirius almost stared at her but backed away from the bed, deciding to give the pair a little space. If he was reading her right, the twinkling of Madam Pomfrey's eyes were signalling that James would awaken soon. It would be a nice surprise for him to see Lily there.

Besides, it wasn't as if Sirius was leaving. Godric, no! He would still wait until James told him to piss off, only outside the curtains that were pulled around the bed.

James stifled a groan as he awoke. Lily was there whispering. "Get better James. I promise I'll go to Hogsmeade with you. I'll never fight with you again. I'll be nice to Sirius. I'll get you off every detention you get from here until you finish school. Just get better or by Merlin's wand I'll chop you into little pieces and feed you to that brute of an owl of yours."

Lily knew she was pleading – begging – an unconscious body to get better and she knew it was pointless. Her pride would take a batter when she thought about it lucidly, but for the moment all that mattered was that James got better and got better now, damn it! She would beg him until her last breath if it meant he would live.

James grinned. "I might get better, Lily," he said, smiling wider at the face she made, "If you give me a kiss."

It was so like the James Potter she knew and wanted that she leaned down and pressed her lips firmly to his.

His entire body went eerily motionless. He barely seemed to breathe. When she pulled away in alarm to see what was wrong with him, his body trembled slightly in reluctance for her departure. His eyes were wide – he had honestly thought Lily would just tell him to piss off and leave her alone. His heart was hammering in his chest – that had to be the best kiss he had ever received. His breathing was shallow, fragile – the tight ball of love that had suddenly formed was constricting his breathing.

"Lily…" he breathed.

"James," she whispered back fondly.

They shared another chaste kiss. It was perfect and the knot in his chest loosened a little. It would gradually disappear if he continued to be around Lily.

~O~

Sirius held a hand out to Remus and grinned sappily. "Oh Lily," he said in a pretend husky voice. "You look absolutely edible today.

Remus, in turn, batted his eyelashes coyly, "Oh James! Let's go find a broom cupboard to snog in!"

Sirius pulled Remus close – allowing a slot of space remain between them. "I have an erection whenever you're around, Lily"

Remus gave loud snort and fell out of character. James was scowling at his best mates, trying to make the scowl fit over the smile that had taken residence on his face lately. They had taken to acting out that scene every so often to wind James up. Funnily enough, Remus could never stay in character after Sirius said the word erection.

It was childish, and he knew his mates both had their eyes firmly set on girls, but they made the antics of Lily and James look sort of cute.

Remus had argued that Lily and James were the ones who made them cute, his and Sirius' re-enactments were a mockery, a parody of their sickeningly sweet love.

James thought back to where it had all started: Sirius getting James riled up by showing how he fell to pieces with Lily around. It had ended in a relationship between the pair. A relationship and the love that both of them were sure they felt. The knot in his chest was only a lingering memory.

Everything always started with Sirius, James thought fondly.

A/N: I feel like I abandoned James and Lily for Harry and Draco! :pout: I'll have them back with loads more soon. Typing this on my new laptop - LIKE A BOSS! Sorry, :giggle: I'm quite hyper so forgive my rambling.

It's Boxing Day (half an hour into it anyway) so I can't really wish you a happy Christmas, so I won't. I hope you had a great Christmas and got lots of presents and a HUGE dinner.

Love you guys lots!

~ShazzaBlack...x