A/N: This is a sequel to "Le Parapluie", but it's pretty much self-contained, so you don't really have to read said story, though I would love it if you did. I wrote this when I was lonely and sappy, so I cannot be held responsible for any deaths by choking on fluff. Let's just hope it's written slightly better than the other twenty million stories that follow this plot XD.

Disclaimer: I know it's going to surprise you, but no, I'm not JKR, and no, I do not own any of these characters, they are merely borrowed puppets.

Think You Should Know

Inspired by the song of the same name by Jacksoul.

James Potter sat at his desk in the Auror Department, finishing up a report for his supervisor, the famous Alastor "Mad-Eye" Moody, when the image of Lily Evans traipsed into his unsuspecting mind. Why, exactly, he was reminded of her at that moment, was very clear to everyone else but Lily herself. She was always on James' mind.

The Lily Evans in question was a very pretty woman who worked in the International Magical Office of Law, that James had known since their first year in Hogwarts together. To put it mildly, they had not hit it off. James had constantly annoyed her, and she in turn, absolutely loathed him right into 5th year, when James had fallen head over heels in love with her. But as most boys are at that age, he'd been so immature that Lily had hated him even more when he took to asking her out at every opportunity. By 6th year, he'd given up, and things had calmed down between them, especially when they'd (ironically enough) become Head students together.

It was almost a year after graduation that they'd become friends. James had bumped into her on a Muggle street, and the next day he'd gone to visit her. More like rescue her, he thought with a wry smile. Lily was something of a work-o-holic at times, and he'd had to drag her out of the office that afternoon so that she wouldn't work herself sick. Ever since, he'd taken it upon himself to make sure she got home every evening at a reasonable hour, and in the process, they'd become friends. Very good friends in fact.

In the three years since Lily had rejected his dating offers, he'd convinced himself that he was over her. It had all come rushing back that day he'd bumped into her. He'd thought that if he became friends with her, maybe he would realize that she was all very nice, but not right for him.

Oh, how wrong he'd been.

And that was why his mind wandered so easily to her these past days. It was because try as he might to ignore it, James Potter was hopelessly and irrevocably in love with Lily Evans.

He hadn't breathed a word of his real feelings to her. But he felt as if he should tell her. He felt like he was lying to her, by seeing her everyday and not saying anything. As if he were an actor in a cruel sort of play. But he couldn't bring himself to tell her. They had so much fun together… he hated the thought that if he told her, he would ruin their easy friendship. And if there was one thing he wouldn't be able to stand would be losing Lily altogether. Every day he walked her home, and debated the issue. He would lie awake some nights wishing she were in that bed sleeping next to him, and then sink into disturbing dreams about bright green eyes and of Severus Snape hanging upside-down. Quite frankly, it was driving him mad.

At five thirty, he dotted the last line in the report, closed the file, and gathered his things to leave. He cast a quick charm that switched his clothes to a Muggle suit (his route home was through Muggle London), and stuffed the overcoat into his briefcase. He'd really have to ask Lily how to cast the charm without the overcoat. They were really far too formal for his liking. My God, clothes made him think of her. He loosened his tie, grabbed his briefcase, and headed for Moody's office. He dropped off the file there, and then set off for the Magical Office of Law.

He arrived at the door of her office, which was wide open. He stopped just outside the doorway, and took a deep breath. He snuck closer to the door, and peered in. The tiny office looked like a tornado had hit it. The many filing cabinets had piles of scrolls and paper strewed haphazardly across them. The large wooden desk's surface had disappeared under a chaotic assortment of paper, parchment, quills, ballpoint pens, and violet paper airplanes, which were actually inter-department notes. Even the locker in the corner where most people would put their cloak, was full to bursting with random gizmos. In fact, the only clear surface was the floor. There was a tiny window at the very top of the left side wall, offering the only light in the cramped room. Behind the desk sat Lily, in all her glory, bent over an extremely long piece of parchment. Her auburn hair was escaping the large clip holding it up, she was frowning, and kept brushing her hair out of her face absent-mindedly. She did not notice him. He put down his briefcase, and leaned against the doorway. For a few minutes, he stood there, observing her. Then he spoke up.

"You really shouldn't hunch over your work like that, it's not good for your back." He snickered a little as she jumped in her seat, and her eyes flew up to him.

"James! Don't DO that! I was concentrating!" He flashed her a grin, and walked in. She rolled her eyes at him, and turned back to her work. He grabbed one of the simple wooden chairs for visitors, replaced it next to her behind the desk, and settled down on it. With a relaxed air, he leaned back in the chair, and propped his feet up on the desk, right next to the parchment she was working on. She sat up and scowled at him.

"Do you mind?" She asked huffily. Seemingly unconcerned, he checked his watch. Besides the actual time, it also said "Overworking".

"Yes actually, it's past five thirty." She gave him a surprised look, and checked her own watch, an ordinary Muggle quartz one.

"Oh no, I'm supposed to hand this in to Crouch tomorrow. Arg, I'll never finish it." She scowled at the parchment, then turned to him. He caught his breath at her bright green eyes. "Sorry if this ruins your plans to kidnap me, but Crouch will have my head if I don't have all this legal paperwork ready for that Wizengamot hearing tomorrow." Kidnapping? Nah, I'd much rather sweep you off your feet… He shook his head, and tried to bring his thoughts back in order. She really had to stop giving him that apologetic look, it really made him want to kiss her…

"How much longer d'you have for?" He asked. She glanced at her parchment.

"Oh, a good two hours." She said, and signed.

"Two hours! Not if I can help it!" He got up, and started shuffling through the extremely messy office for Lily's book bag.

"What on Earth are you doing, James?" he emerged with said bag from behind a filing cabinet, and snatched her quill from her hand.

"If you're going to work for two more hours, at least do it in a nice comfy sofa, at home, after supper. What do you need?" She gave him a bewildered look.

"Work? At home? With Marlene primping for a date and Dorcas yabbering constantly in the kitchen? Are you mad? That place is chaos personified!" He let her talk, while he closed her inkbottle and dropped it into the book bag. He snatched up the parchment she'd been working on and started rolling it up, ignoring her protests. She snatched his hand.

"Put that down! I'm not done yet!" His heart leaped in his throat at the touch, and it took all his effort to grin at her and pull his hand away.

"I know you're not. That's why we're taking it to your apartment, where you will have supper, and then continue, in a nice relaxed atmosphere." She raised her eyebrows at him. "Oh come on, Marlene always leaves by six thirty, and we can put a silencing charm around the kitchen if Dorcas bothers you that much." She seemed slightly mollified, but not convinced. "I'll help you out with it if you come, come on Lil'…"He cocked his head in what he hoped was an adorable way, and she smiled.

"Oh alright. But there's some more stuff I need to bring then." He gave her a wide grin.

"No problem. Just drop it all in." He held out the bag. She gave a look at her desk, then started picking up seemingly random piles of paper, and dumping them unceremoniously into the bag. After a minute, the bag was full.

"You know Lily, for such an intelligent woman, you are remarkably disorganized." He said, as he shrunk her things so that the rest of the stuff she was throwing at him would fit. She tossed him a smile.

"For such a truant person, you are remarkable clean." He rolled his eyes. It was undeniably true. While for years he'd been one of the biggest troublemakers at Hogwarts, he'd never let a leaf of parchment out of place, and his bed was always made every morning. Sirius had always thought this behavior a little disturbing. He attributed this to spending half his life in his grandparent's home, who'd both been important members of the society, believing strongly in the merits of proper upbringing and efficient living.

"Okay, I'm done." She said finally. She cast a charm on herself to change her clothes to Muggle fashion (a simple white dress shirt and a knee-length black skirt, which, he noticed, showed off her curvy figure much more than he was used to), and proclaimed herself ready to leave. He closed the bag, and swung it over his shoulder.

"Alright, Miss Work-o-holic, this way please." He slipped an arm around her waist, and steered her out the door, barely resisting the temptation to kiss her on the neck from behind. She gave him an exasperated look, which he ignored. If his hands seemed to linger a moment too long at her waist, she didn't comment. He picked up the briefcase he'd left earlier at the doorway, and they walked over to the elevator, followed by a few pale violet, flying memos.

They took the bus to Lily's flat, which she shared with her two best friends from Hogwarts, Marlene McKinnon and Dorcas Meadowes. When they got into the flat, however, it was deserted. I note was stuck to the entrance wall.

Lily,

Marlene's out with that new bloke, I don't remember his name, and I'm going to meet Fudge to tell him off about how he's dealing with goblins. Honestly, the way he acts, he'll set us in for another goblin rebellion, as if that's what we need. I have no clue when I'll be back, so be a dear and punch down my dough for me at 6 and put it in the fridge, alright? Or else we won't have bread for tomorrow.

Dorcas

Lily breathed a sign of relief.

"I'll be able to concentrate! Perfect!" She stuck her key in the door, and then flicked her wand to open the magical lock on the door. She stepped in. When James didn't follow her (Oh God, an evening alone with Lily in her apartment…) she grabbed him by the arm and dragged him in.

There was a flurry and buzz of movement as Lily set about making supper for the both of them, and she dragged him into the kitchen to help. He'd never watched Lily cook before, and he was finding it all very amusing. Much like her paperwork, her method of cooking was disorganized, to say the least, but somehow still managed to produce results. She did a lot of running around, chopping, and stirring. He had to catch her once when she tripped and nearly sent the platter of potatoes crashing to the ground, and another time he had to save her from tripping again while she hurried about, setting the table.

"You are a hazard to yourself, you know that." He commented when she stubbed her toe on a chair leg.

"I can take care of myself!" She cried indignantly while examining her now scratched up toe. He stirred the stew before going to check and make sure she didn't seriously hurt herself. He kneeled down in front of the chair where she sat.

"Alright, let's see what you've done to yourself this time." She scowled at him, but let him look at her foot.

"Wow, that looks nasty. You must be talented at this." He commented while holding her foot in his hands, secretly reveling in the feel of her skin against his.

"Oh be quiet, you. I'm in pain." She answered, but he could hear a hint of a smile in her tone of voice. He examined her now blue toe, trying to figure out which spell would be best. Basic healing techniques were an important part of Auror training. He finally decided, and waved his wand with a muttered incantation. The peeling skin smoothed over, and the bruise that had been forming healed. Lily looked interested despite herself. He inspected it one last time, and reluctantly put her foot down, letting his fingers linger a little longer than what was normal. She looked at her foot, then stood up, as if testing to see how well her foot worked.

"Wow, I really should learn that spell. It could come in handy. Thanks." She beamed at him, and his heart skipped a beat. He got up, trying very hard not to sweep her into his arms and kiss her senseless.

"Say, do I smell something burning?" He asked, though he didn't smell any such thing. It had the desired (well not really…) effect, as she stopped giving him her penetrating gaze (which was even more tempting than her apologetic look), and charged for the Muggle stove she was cooking on. She stirred the stew frantically before realizing he'd been teasing her, at which point she promptly smacked him on the back of the head.

"Owww, Lils…" She grinned mischievously at him.

"That was for making me panic for nothing. Besides, its ready." They ate in silence, James savoring the idea that he was eating Lily's cooking, and Lily dividing her attention between her plate and her scroll she'd been working on earlier. Once they'd finished, he got on the topic of what exactly she was doing, and they both settled onto a couch in the living room to work on it, James fulfilling his promise to help her out. She went through two mugs of hot chocolate (her preferred source of caffeine) before they finished the bigger part of the report, leaving only some dull copying of facts onto one contract that only Lily could legally do. She leaned forward in her spot, scribbling and cursing at quills. He leaned back, thoroughly happy to be there, and contented himself with watching her, smiling as she tucked her hair behind her ears, only to have it fall out again a few seconds later…

Charged with improper use of—oh drat, stupid quills… She muttered a curse to herself when a drop of ink blotted the page. I swear, wizards can be so primitive.

"James, where'd you put that rag I was-"She turned in her spot and stopped talking when she realized he'd fallen asleep, his arm sprawled across the back of the couch. He really is very handsome…She shook herself at that thought. Thinking thoughts like that about one of her best friends was not a good sign. She reached up and took of his glasses, pausing when he shifted, but didn't wake. She folded them and put them on the coffee table she'd been working on. She gazed at him for a while, cherishing a moment where she could be in his presence without being confused.

Well, that wasn't quite true. She was always confused about him.

The thing was, the minute she thought she had him figured out, he went and did something that would completely throw her off. One minute, he was her best friend, amusing and energetic, and the next he was something completely different, deep and heartfelt. He would do little things, like healing her toes and saving her from tripping all over the place, and she thought his fingers lingered longer than normal on her, as if he still fancied her. But there were other times when the notion sounded just ridiculous.

Possibly the most confusing thing was how much he'd changed. He used to be such a prat. It had been so easy back then to assume she would always despise him in every way. But then something had changed between 5th and 6th year, and then during 6th year him and his three best friends (Sirius Black, Remus Lupin and Peter Pettigrew) had gotten into some kind of row that had left the lot of them a whole lot more mature. She still didn't know what exactly happened, but the Slytherin goading had stopped, and the mischief-making had all but disappeared. Then in 7th year, he'd been made Head Boy to her Head Girl, and that had been when she'd really started to forgive him for all those years of animosity.

If she'd been baffled then, it was nothing to how she felt now that they'd become friends. The thing was, the James she knew now was amazing. He made her laugh, he comforted her, and he kept her always on her toes. Sometimes she would scare herself by thinking that he might be someone she could be happy with.

At any rate, nothing was ever clear where James Potter was concerned.

What I need is some more hot chocolate. She got up carefully so as not to wake him, and went to heat up some water. The actions kept her mind busy until she had to wait for the kettle to boil, and then her mind wandered. She glanced back at James' sleeping form, his wild hair sticking up all over the place.

When she'd spoken to Dorcas and Marlene, they had both assured her that he still fancied her, and it rather unnerved her.

"It's so obvious, Lily. I don't know how you missed it. You should see the way he looks at you when you're not looking… it's so adorable!" Lily hadn't taken Marlene seriously. She might be a brilliant Potions master and fabulous Healer, but she was also a complete sap, which was why she dated so much. It was Dorcas' comment that really creeped Lily out. Dorcas was usually the more level-headed of her two friends, which was understandable since she was into politics, and was a very powerful witch.

"Lily, he's absolutely smitten with you. He's just more sensible about it than he used to be. And you can't deny that you like him, Lily, because I know you do." Very unnerving.

The craziest thing was that Lily would catch herself acting as if she liked him. Her heart would start beating painfully fast whenever he touched her. She caught herself quietly observing him whenever he wasn't looking, smiling whenever he stuck his hands in his hair, a habit she used to hate that popped up when he was either frustrated or nervous. She would wake up some nights and the first person she'd want to talk to would be James, and whenever he was around, she found herself smiling a whole lot more.

The hissing kettle brought her back to reality with a jolt, and she poured herself a cup before the noise would walk James up. She crept back to the couch, sat down in the cushions next to James, and stirred her hot chocolate. She curled up on the couch, and leaned back against James' arm, holding her mug close to warm up. She felt James shift around, and he opened his eyes blearily.

"Wha…oh, sorry…I must of dropped off there…" she snickered a little at his disoriented appearance. He was rubbing his eyes, and blinking, seeming to wonder why on Earth he couldn't see properly.

"Alright, what did you do with my glasses. I can't see a blasted thing." She rolled her eyes at him, and snatched them from the coffee table. She put down her mug, and amused herself by putting his glasses on for him, grinning in a mischievous way, and then ruffling his hair like she would to a four year old.

"Fine, laugh if you want, it's not my fault I'm blind as a bat!" He leaned back into the cushions again, and she curled up next to him, and in a sudden burst audacity, she rested her head on his shoulder. There was a moment of silence in which she didn't dare look at his face, and then she felt his arm wrap around her waist and pull her just a little closer. She blushed bright red and tried to suppress her quickening heartbeat.

"Are you having another cup of hot chocolate?" He asked from right next to her ear in an incredulous tone.

"Mmhmm." She nodded, and took a sip, not quite trusted her voice.

"Haven't you already had, what, two cups of that already?" He continued, and she noticed he was grinning.

"Yeah, but that dratted quill blotted my page again and it was really getting on my nerves…"Her justifications died on her lips as he laughed. She huffed a little in indignation and took a sip of said drink, her heart rate having gone back to a relatively normal pace. "Wizards have such primitive ways of handling paperwork anyways. Haven't you lot ever heard of ballpoint pens? They are so much more practical."

"Maybe you should replace all the office quills with pens and see how everyone manages. I'm sure Arthur Weasley would be delighted, he loves anything Muggle related." She grinned mischievously.

"Lucius Malfoy would go spare." They both laughed at the image. When they fell silent, Lily picked up the contract she'd been working on, and read it over quietly, trying not to be too affected by James' even breathing from right next to her ear…

She gasped. Oh God…He was kissing her…on the neck…

And next thing she knew, she had turned a little, and their lips met. Oh God I'm kissing James! What the hell am I doing?

But at that point her mind seemed to stop working entirely, and she barely took notice of her hand reaching up to his neck. And then he was pulling away…

It took a moment for the realization of what had just happened to sink in. Then James took an absolutely thunderstruck look, and catapulted off the couch, falling in an inelegant heap on the floor, then jumping back up.

"I—umm-should-er-go-you know-to-ummm…"She nodded, still feeling dizzy, and he bolted out of the room. It took her a moment for it to sink in.

Wait…James just kissed me…and he's leaving…wait, he's leaving! She bolted up, nearly knocked over her hot chocolate but saved it just in time, and ran into the hall, slipping in between him and the door at the very last minute. The result was that they ended up rather close together, leaving them both breathless.

"Lily…"he groaned, but she didn't budge.

"You aren't leaving until you explain." He stepped back, and she was slightly afraid to find him angry.

"Explain! What do you want me to explain? That I'm completely smitten with you? That I can't think right when I'm near you? That all this time I've been trying to get over you but I can't?" He stopped yelling, his breathing heavy, and all Lily could do was stare until he swept her up in another kiss, that left her completely confused and dizzy.

"I love you." He whispered into her ear, and the next moment he was gone, and she just stood there, her eyes closed, trying to figure out what happened and why on Earth she felt so empty.

Where did I put those lab results? I had that knife sent to a friggin' Muggle lab for results and now I've lost the dratted data… James cursed to himself as he rummaged through his unusually messy filing cabinet. I'm getting as bad as Lily… no, DON'T THINK OF HER. Deciding the files he was looking for weren't in that particular cabinet, he got up, only to hit his head on an open drawer right above him. God, I feel like Prunelle in those comic books Lily brought back from France that one time… STOP THINKING ABOUT HER! Gordon Vance, the only Auror still in the office, gave him a peculiar look, before closing his briefcase and heading for the door. He patted James' shoulder on the way out.

"Keep it up, my boy. It ain't easy. Have yourself a nice weekend."

"Thank you, sir." James answered, scowling, not bothering to decipher what the enigmatic man meant. Mr. Vance gave him a knowing smile and left. Nursing his head, he closed the drawer and returned to his corner of the desk used by Alastor Moody's team of Aurors, to look there, and noticed that his quill must have broken since it was leaking all over (guess what) a sheet of lab results. Stupid quills, we really should convert to ballpoint… he muttered as he cleaned up the ink with a quick spell.

Oh damn it, I thought of her again.

It would be one week, in three hours, since that fateful first kiss (yes, he knew the time to the hour), and he felt like he'd been shoved into the wrong side of the looking glass. Everything was backwards, nothing went right, and he wanted so much to fix things but he had no idea how. He couldn't bring himself to face her, and yet he could barely stand not seeing her. He would stay at work far later than usual to keep busy so that he wouldn't think of her, but kept getting distracted because he really couldn't stop thinking of her. He fell behind with his work, and now he didn't have time to even keep his corner of the office tidy, and thus it looked a lot more like Lily's office than his, which didn't help matters much.

He resignedlysunk into his chair, twirling the defective quill in his hand, and leaning back to stare at the ceiling. The tick of his watch told him it was five thirty. He closed his eyes, accepting for a moment the fact that he couldn't stop himself from thinking that this was the time when he generally dragged Lily out of her office.

Lily signed, and checked her watch. Five thirty. Thank God, she was getting bored. She gave a look over at her office, which was eerily clean. To avoid thinking too much about James (she did enough of that when she should be sleeping), she'd thrown herself into her work, stunning Crouch by finishing all her work a day in advance. Without work left to do, she'd thrown herself into an almost maniacal project to clean her office. Her recycling bins had been filled and emptied at least 5 times in the last two days, and all surfaces were now clear and even shiny from a recent scrubbing. Sitting back in her chair, and surveying her work, she realized she felt no sense of accomplishment. If anything, the room felt empty, and she could feel the sharpness of all the angles in the room, the cold, hard surfaces, and the light streaming in gave her no warmth. She didn't know how James could stand it.

And there it was, the real cause of that empty feeling. James. She missed him. Last night, still not able to sleep, she'd thought it over, and she knew now that Marlene and Dorcas had been right all along. She really did care a lot more for him that she'd wanted to admit, maybe because she'd always been so afraid that this was some other prank of his, or just afraid of love in general. But those days were over. Hogwarts was behind them, and there was no room, with the Order of the Phoenix, and Voldemort's uprising, in her life for this silly goose chase to go on.

She knew she was in love with him, and that he was in love with her. It was just up to her now to let him know that. She'd run away from him long enough.

With that decision made, she stood up, slung her book bag over her shoulder, left her office and closed the door behind her. And this time, instead of taking the elevator to the Atrium, she walked down the hall, took a left, and then a right, until she stood in the Auror Department hall.

…DNA match confirmed between blood on the murder weapon and…

"James?"

BOOM.

…ouch…stupid chair…

"James, you okay?" James blinked up at Lily, who was peering at him from over a pile of files.

"I… ummm… yes." He said, picking himself up, and trying not to look too stupid in the process.

"Did a tornado hit? Or are you adopting my organization skills?" She gave him a small smirk, and he nervously tried to act normal.

"Haha, very funny. I've just gotten a little behind and I haven't gotten time to clean up." She seemed to find this very amusing.

"It's past five thirty."

"I know."

"You finished with that?" She asked, indicating the lab results he'd been looking over. And then he realized why she was smirking. His heart gave a painful lurch. He ran a hand through his hair.

"Actually, I think I'm stuck here for another two hours." He waited hopefully for her answer, but was disappointed by the heavy silence that fell between them. He looked down at his desk as she pulled up a chair next to him.

"James?" Reminding himself to breath, he turned to look at her. For a moment he took in the sight of her, and he noted that there was something tired about her today.

"Yeah?" She looked down at her feet and shifted around. It took him a moment to realize she was nervous. Why would she be nervous? He was nervous. But Lily had never been nervous around him. Righteously angry, yes. But not nervous. Throwing caution to the winds, he turned completely in his chair and took her hands in his. "Lily? You okay?" She jumped at the contact, but after a moment, she smiled.

"I… I owe you an apology."

"What? For what?"

"Well… for not giving you a chance all these years, and for telling you off at the smallest thing, and being completely and utterly blind, seriously I should go see an eye doctor, I must be worse than you…I, ummm, well, I mean, I'm sorry." James blinked at her. Ok…

"I thought we'd already buried that hatchet, Lily. What are you getting at?" She gave him a nervous look, and he hoped desperately that this was not what he thought this was. He didn't think he could bear it if she told him she didn't like him. He didn't think he was ready for a but-we-can-still-be-friends speech. He didn't think he ever would be. As she was opening her mouth, he hurriedly covered her lips with a finger.

"Please… don't ruin it yet."

"I won't—"

"Shush." He murmured, and when he was sure she wouldn't speak right away, he pulled away his hand and got up, her hands still in his. "Come on, let's get out of here." He pulled her up and led her out.

"No, James, I really—"

"Well, I don't." he interrupted.

"Well, I do." Finally, he turned around to face her, gave her a harried look, and pulled her into a bone-crushing hug.

"Please… I don't want to lose you just yet…" He murmured in her ear. He thinks I'm going to reject him again. She felt tears well up in her eyes. It was after all, the logical thing. She'd never been anything but horrible to him ever since they'd met. Why should he suspect otherwise? I don't deserve him.

"You won't… I promise…" she choked out.

"Then why are you crying?" She hid her face in his shirt.

"Because I don't deserve you." They stood like that for a long while, neither wanting to let go. After a time, James murmured.

"What makes you say that?"

"Because I'm just a hypocritical know-it-all bookworm that's afraid of everything, and you're… you're… well, I'm not too sure, but you're amazing. I mean, I was just pretending to hate you that whole time, when really I couldn't accept that I was in love with you, and now I'm paying the price because now you're probably sick of waiting, and you should probably go find someone less dense—"

"What?" James pulled away, and titled her chin up so that he could look her in the eye.

"I said you should find someone less dense."

"No, before that."

She blushed a little, closed her eyes as if gathering her strength, and murmured, so low that he could barely hear: "I love you." I took a moment for him to understand the words. As if trying to convince him that she wasn't lying, she stood on her tip-toes, and kissed him hesitantly. After a moment, he pulled her closer and kissed her back, until she pulled away and they both gasped for breath.

"Say that again," he asked, as if he didn't quite believe it. The look in his eyes made her heart skip a beat.

"I love you," she murmured, louder this time.

"You mean it?"

"Yes, of course I mean it! I can't stop thinking about—" Her thoughts and words were interrupted when he kissed her again. When he pulled away, he was smiling.

"I love you," he murmured, leading her into a waltz.

"I know." They danced silently for a while, remembering all the times they'd danced together (usually against one of them's will).

"James?"

"Yeah?"

"Will you go out to Hogsmeade with me?" He laughed.

"And I thought you were going with the Giant Squid!" She scowled.

"Sorry about that…"

"Don't be, I was a prat." They fell silent for a moment, until Lily, getting impatient, nudged him.

"So…"

Grinning, he replied:"Yes, Lily, love of my life, I will go to Hogsmeade with you."

reference to the French comic series "Gaston Lagaffe" who's author, Franquin, has since died cries. Une gaffe, in French, is a mistake, a screw-up, that sort of thing. Story of a guy who works in this office, never does his job, and is always inventing gadgets that always mess things up, even if he doesn't try. And I'm babbling. Anyways, it's hilarious, and I had to insert the reference. Please review?