Author's Note:

OH HELLO THERE!

Yes, yes. I KNOW I've been away for almost a year now… I know, I know! I'm so sorry! High school has just gotten so tough and I haven't been inspired like I used to be. It's so hard for me to write just a page-worth of words anymore! But I FINALLY wrote something and FINALLY edited it and FINALLY am uploading it tonight. I really like this fanfic. It's just really super cute and fluffy and I just want to hug James. My writing has changed quite a bit and I'm more aware of what I put down now. I think you can tell that very clearly. I still need work and I plan on writing more and more this year! Anyways!

Disclaimer: I obviously don't own any characters from the Harry Potter series. Those are JK Rowling's property! I'm just borrowing them with kindness! I'll give them back – I promise!

The Morning After: A Note from James Potter

"Prongs, please tell me why we are waiting at the foot of the girls' dorm stairs for Lily?" Sirius Black rested an elbow on the windowsill behind him.

"Because, young Padfoot," I answered, bouncing on the balls of my feet, "Miss Lily Evans is now my official girlfriend and I must wait for her and walk her to breakfast like a gentleman." Sirius rolled his eyes at me. "Or at least that's what Moony told me to do." I shrugged and threw a nod to Remus Lupin who was reading, sprawled comfortably in the arm chair I was standing next to.

Remus looked up from his book, "That I did. But don't tell Lily that. That wouldn't look very good on your part. And she finally said yes, so you better not screw this up, James."

I let out a sigh and puffed out my chest. "How could I ever screw this up? Just look at me!"

Just then I felt two pinches at my sides and I fell into a fit of not-exactly-manly giggles, dancing to get away from whoever was perpetrating it.

"Yes, look at you! All the soft, doughy you!" My girlfriend, Lily Evans stepped out from behind me, laughing her gorgeous laugh and flashing her brilliant smile.

I can't help but love the idea of, 'my girlfriend,' and how good it feels calling Lily that.

Over Sirius' and Remus' roaring laughter, I rubbed my sides and pouted at Lily. She countered with running a finger tip down her cheek, symbolizing a tear. I stepped up to her and started tickling her sides, not stopping until, between giggles, she called, "TRUCE!"

"That's what I thought," I huffed. Lily narrowed her brilliant green eyes at me but stood down – which could be taken literally because she is very short. She came up to just my shoulder! But I digress.

"Whatever, Potter. Are you ready for breakfast then?" She perked up.

Sirius practically jumped with excitement and said, "YES! PLEASE!"

Remus bookmarked his page and stood up, "Where's Peter? Isn't he joining us?"

"Our friend Wormtail is probably with his Slytherin friends right now. Only Merlin knows what they're up to," Sirius condemned them.

"You've gotten very hostile towards him, Padfoot. Did he do something wrong?" I asked him. I was genuinely curious. Sirius would never contradict a friend.

Sirius' eyes clouded and he looked to the ground, "I don't know. Just something about the way he's been acting… kind of like a rat. And he's been hanging out with those Slytherins. They're all wankers."

Lily grabbed Sirius by the shoulder and pushed him a bit towards the Fat Lady's portrait back. "It's not time to worry about this. He'll be fine. We've known him long enough, he can take care of himself. He can't always be riding on the tails of your coats. And not all of them are wankers."

"Perhaps you're right," Sirius sighed and opened the portrait for Lily to climb out. Lily shot him an impressed look and stepped through. Sirius didn't usually open doors.

When Lily was on the other side and Remus was climbing through, I stopped Sirius and said playfully, "You know, she is my girlfriend, right? Let me impress her with the door-opening, okay?"

"Whatever you like, Sir Smooth!"

I rolled my eyes and stepped through the portrait, sliding into step with Lily. Sirius and Remus had the common courtesy of staying a bit behind – or well, Remus probably did and told Sirius follow suit.

"You know, Sirius seems a little fragile as of late," she mentioned, looking up at me with concern. She looked cute when she was concerned.

"Padfoot? Nah, he's fine. He's a just bummed about Grace Pettifer turning him down. He never gets turned down."

Lily raised an eyebrow, "Wait, what? Grace? MY Grace? My best friend? Sirius Black asked out Grace Pettifer?"

"Well, yeah," I shrugged, "what's the big deal?"

"Potter! Gracie is… innocent. She's sweet and kind. Not Sirius Black type! Not to mention that she wasn't in our room this morning to tell me of this!"

"And what is Sirius Black type?" I laughed, eyeing her hand. Maybe I should hold it? I don't know. Is that too soon? We spent a whole day in the village yesterday though… It shouldn't be too soon. But this is Lily Evans! Lily Evans should be held to much, much higher standards that I know nothing about. This is stressful. Oh wait, she's looking up at me with concern in her eyes. I wasn't listening. Crap.

I nodded gravely and agreed with what she just said.

"You weren't listening at all, were you?" Lily narrowed her green eyes.

I eyed around the corridor and finally said, "Not really, no. You know me well."

"Yes, I do," Lily smirked. Her hand bumped into mine and I took my chance. I grabbed it.

Lily raised an eyebrow at me. Oh gosh, what did I do this time?

"You're squeezing my hand, Potter."

She laughed as I jerked away from her and then proceeded to take her hand again and pet it. I don't know. That's what I did.

Lily lifted her hand out of mine, spread out her fingers and offered it to me again. She smirked the entire time.

I mumbled, "Sorry…" I intertwined my fingers with hers and didn't squeeze too hard this time.

"The Great James Potter is flustered now, is he?" Lily's eyes twinkled with mischief. "I thought you were good at this relationship stuff, Potter? With some other girls, you're usually out in the grounds somewhere, making out, on the second day."

My cheeks burned. I locked eyes with her and mumbled, "But you're not just some other girl, Evans."

Lily looked taken aback for a second, but the brightness never left her eyes. The corners of her mouth slowly upturned into a smile and she rested her head on my shoulder. We walked like that in silence for a bit.

What the fuck just came out of my mouth?

I didn't have that much time to ponder the thought before we were about to enter the Entrance Hall. Heads turned as we stepped down the stairs. I wasn't self conscience, but I could tell that Lily was. She squirmed and lifted her head from my shoulder. She was looking around tensely and squeezing my hand.

"Take it easy, Evans," I smirked at her.

She whispered, "They're all looking at us… just staring… This is so weird."

I smiled knowingly, "Well, you are dating James Potter and we are kind of Head Boy and Girl. We're a power couple."

Lily scoffed. "Don't people have other things to do?"

"No, they don't."

We turned into the Great Hall, where we were met with more stares.

"I wish they would stop it," Lily said simply.

We sat at the Gryffindor table, a little away from everyone else. Sirius and Remus sat with us.

"I thought you were fearless, Evans," I said, spooning eggs onto my plate.

Lily picked at a muffin.

"I guess not."

Remus looked up from his book which he had opened upon settling in his seat. "You'll be fine, Lily. There isn't anyone as brave as you. You're just not used to this kind of attention."

"What kind?"

"Jealousy," Sirius put it plainly.

"Gee, thanks," Lily rolled her eyes.

"He's right, you know," I cut in. "Girls will start to be jealous of you, now that you're dating me."

Lily raised an eyebrow. "Start to be jealous?"

"Not that there was any reason not to before," I managed to save myself quickly. Oops. Play it off. "Padfoot, pass the butter."

Lily was still picking at her muffin, her fringe falling in front of her eyes as she looked down.

"Lily?" I said quietly. When she looked up, I noticed that she came out of some sort of reverie. I leaned closer from across the table. "Eat something. Don't you ever let them get you down. They don't hate you. They hate that you have what they want. Me." I said it as pompously as I could muster.

Lily cracked a smile that grew into a laugh. "Potter."

I shrugged and sat back, spooning the last of my eggs, but not before throwing her a little wink.

She rolled her brilliant green eyes.

Sirius changed the subject.

"So, what's Lily's name going to be then?"

Lily looked at him, puzzled, "I always thought my name was Lily… that's a shame. I've been using it for years."

Sirius didn't bat an eyelash. "I meant your nickname, smart one. You are an honorary Marauder now."

Lily smiled and looked pleased. "I could do worse."

"No, you couldn't," Remus mumbled from behind his book.

"Shut up, Moony," Sirius leaned forward on the table, jabbing his fork with eggs on the end at me, "Lily here needs a nickname before I make up one myself. You all know how my nicknames go."

James shuddered and smirked at me, "He wanted to name me Hoofs."

Lily laughed. "You can nickname me whatever you like."

I raised an eyebrow at her.

"Okay, not anything."

"I like Flower," Remus contributed.

I tried to look like I was pondering some deep dark mystery about the human brain and said, "I'VE GOT IT! How about Flower?"

Remus looked up from his book and stuck his tongue out at me. I stuck mine right back.

"Alright children, I do quite like it. Flower. Simple." Lily smiled.

"Flower it is then," I smiled back, "Are we all done eating?"

"Don't I get a say in Lily's nickname?" Sirius pouted.

"No," I said and got up from the table. Sirius glowered at me. "Oh come on, get up and we'll talk about this outside."

Sirius rolled his eyes at Lily, who nodded gravely back. Sirius swung his arm around her as they followed me out the Great Hall doors, back through the Entrance Hall, and out the front doors of the castle.

Remus, who had closed his book, caught up to me. "You're doing quite the nice balancing job there, Prongs."

"You sound impressed."

"That's because I am."

I slugged him in the shoulder and he slugged me one back. We laughed out to the grounds where we made our way to the seniors' spot of the lawns and settled down.

When Lily sat down next to me, she gave me a wide-eyed look as if to say, "Sirius is crazy." I just smirked back and laughed. She laughed her beautiful laugh along.

I sat back against the old oak tree that provided some extremely comfortable shade. Lily laid her head on my shoulder and sat back against the tree with me. We sat here so often, along with some of the other upperclassmen, that the rest of Hogwarts knew not to mess with our spot. I loved it here. It was a good place to just sit or lay in the shade on a warm mid-fall day.

"So what exactly did you have in mind, Padfoot?"

Sirius looked puzzled, "What?"

"You said you wanted a say in Lily's nickname. Now's your chance."

"Oh."

"Oh?" Lily sighed, "That's not very original."

"Oh hush up!" Sirius put his two index fingers to his temples and rubbed in circles for a little while, making expressions that were probably supposed to look like he was in pain, when in reality he just looked constipated. "OKAY! I'VE GOT IT!"

Remus closed his book and raised an eyebrow. Lily and I both applauded.

"Well," I said, "What is it?"

"Flower!"

Remus shook his head in shame at Sirius. Naturally, this caused Sirius to retaliate with a very mature sticking-out-of-the-tongue. Remus rolled his eyes and stick out his tongue right back.

Lily giggled at my two friends. "Now I see why you enjoy hanging out with them."

I looked puzzled, "What?"

"Well, they're great entertainment!" Lily laughed, pointing at Remus and Sirius who had started ripping up grass and throwing it at each other, "Although, I always thought Remus to be a little more mature."

Remus turned to Lily and said, "Well—" He threw more grass, "I usually am but these nitwits bring out the worst in me!"

"Nitwits?" I whispered, narrowing my eyes.

"Oh Remus, I think this is actually the best in you! You never have enough fun." Lily smiled at him. Remus smiled whole-hearted thank you back (and Sirius threw some grass in his teeth).

"See," I said, "And you all thought you wouldn't get along! Look at us!"

Remus and Sirius stopped their grass fight to look at me incredulously. "But you said-"

"SHHHHHH!" I warned. I narrowed my eyes at them.

Lily raised her eyebrow at me, but I just smiled. She shook her head in shame and went back to lying her head on my shoulder.

"This is quite fun," Lily commented.

Remus opened his book, "Stick around a while longer. You'll change your mind."

Lily laughed and my stomach leapt.

This was as perfect as perfect could get in the moment: my friends in harmony with my girlfriend, being outside on a beautiful day, quidditch later that afternoon and Lily's laugh. It was all just so perfect...

I'm writing this almost seven years later.

Lily is my wife. We have a son on the way. Sirius, Remus and Peter are still my best friends. I am about to go speak with Dumbledore about something 'urgent'. His words, not mine. He sent a patronus earlier. I didn't know his patronus was a phoenix. It fits him very well. Something is wrong. I don't know what… but something is terribly wrong. Life or death, I mean. I only hope I get to see my son play quidditch one day. That would make me the happiest man on the planet.

Author's Note:

How was it? If you're new to my writing ,let me know what you thought! Maybe go back into some of my old things and see how I've progressed over the year hiatus that I've taken? There's the nice, big review button! Press it!