"Evans!" Screamed a voice over the music.

Turning around, Lily saw none other than James Potter standing beside her on the dance floor. Strobe lights painted his face - red, blue, green, red again. Stumbling with a mixture of confusion and possibly one too many cosmopolitans, she laughed loudly, almost falling over in the process. "What are you doing here?!" she called back, still dancing.

James grin grew wider and he placed his hand on her arms to steady her. "Well, I could ask you the same question," he replied as she pushed his hands off her. "This is definitely not the place I'd expect to find Lily Evans."

Lily looked around. The club wasn't dirty, or shabby, or sleazy. She'd been coming to this club regularly over summer, and hadn't found anything wrong with it - and Lily was known for being picky. "I'm not really sure what you mean," she shouted. "I'm here all the time!" Still looking around, she spotted Remus. She shot him a smile and waved animatedly, hitting a few dancers close by. Shouting her apologies to them, she turned back to find James laughing. Realizing how stupid she must have looked, she burst out laughing too.

"I think these people probably think we're lunatics," he chuckled. "C'mon, let me buy you a drink."

Normally, Lily would say no, but her head was fuzzy and she was full of good vibes. She followed James through the crowd, feeling as though she was walking on air.

"What do you want?"

"A cosmo please!" He turned to order at the bar, but she grabbed his shirt. "Tell them to go light on the cranberry - they always add too much here!" James chuckled and turned back to the bar. Lily found a seat and plopped herself down. She kicked her legs, in her own little world until James returned with the drinks.

"So, who are you even here with?" he asked, sitting down. "I mean, Emmeline's in France all summer, Alice is busy moving in with Frank, and Marlene's been staying with me and Sirius."

"Excuse me, I do have other friends!" she replied, unsure whether to laugh or feel offended. "I'm here with some muggle friends - you know, from before Hogwarts? Look, that's Anna," she pointed to a pale girl with long, dark brown hair in a red dress who was dancing with a tall boy with blonde hair. "She's with her boyfriend, Jason. They've been together for years. And over there," she pointed to the end of the bar where a tanned strawberry blonde girl in a white dress sat, talking to a man who was turned away from them. "That's Niamh, she's Irish. She moved to our road the year before Hogwarts. I'm not sure who that guy is, though, so don't ask." She laughed. "Louise is over there," she pointed to a short blonde in black, "and Emma should be around here somewhere! I don't know Louise and Emma much any more - or Jason, for that matter - but we used to be close. Anna and Niamh, they're my best friends."

"You'll have to introduce me some day"

"I definitely will," she laughed. "So, are you all here?" There was no need for her to elaborate on who she was talking to.

"Yeah, well the guys are. Marlene decided on a quiet night in - she'll regret that when we tell her you were here! We decided we wanted a change of scene. Never thought we'd run into you, though!" He gave a short bark of a laugh. "Honestly, I can't describe how surprised I am right now. Here I am, in a muggle club, sitting opposite a drunk Lily Ev-"

"Not drunk!"

"Oh give over, Evans, you're drunk."

Lily crossed her arms and tried to glare at him, but found she couldn't keep a straight face. "Okay maybe, just a tiny, little, minuscule bit." Suddenly, her eyes went black and she felt something heavy and warm over them. "Lily Evans, guess who!" called a voice from behind. Spinning around in her seat, she saw Sirius Black grinning down at her.

"Sirius!" she exclaimed, jumping out of her seat to give him a sloppy hug. "I'm so glad you're here!"

"I'm so glad I'm here too!" he laughed. Looking her over, his grin grew. "I think this might become one of my favourite moments ever, I never thought I'd see this!"

"I'm sure I don't know what you're talking about," Lily replied, pretending to be offended and spinning her stool around so that she was facing away from him. "I'm perfectly normal right now!"

Sirius let out a bark of laughter. "Okay, Evans, whatever you say!" He looked James up and down, noting how close their seats were to each other. "Actually, I think I might have to leave you two alone," he said, wiggling his eyebrows in a way only Sirius could pull off, "I'll see you later, Prongs!" And with that he, quite literally, ran away from the pair.

"Sorry about him," James grinned, not looking sorry at all. They sat in silence for a few moments, neither really knowing what to say.

"James?"

"Lily?"

"Do you want to dance?"

He smiled and took her hand, leading her to the dance floor. A slow song was playing - at least, slow for a place like this. Thank God, Lily thought. She wasn't a good dancer at the best of times - her 'dance moves' consisted of jumping up and down in the same spot, or making over exaggerated movements relating to the song lyrics. James wrapped his arm around her waist and pulled her closer, and they started shuffling awkwardly from side to side. Somehow, though, Lily didn't mind it. It may have looked awkward to an outsider, but, looking into James' eyes, Lily couldn't be more comfortable. Without meaning to, she reached up to touch his face, and pointed her heels upwards. Their lips had barely touched when James gently pushed her back down.

"Lily. You're drunk...I think I should just bring you home." He looked sad, and a wave of guilt and regret passed over her. James led her off the dance floor, his hand lightly resting on her back, probably to make sure she didn't get lost. He made his way over to the pale girl Lily had pointed out earlier and shouted something in her ear over the music. The girl looked to Lily, who gave her a thumbs up and a weak smile, nodded and made her way to the strawberry blonde at the bar.

~.~

She stumbled off the swing set and into James' arms. "I love it so much here!" she cried, throwing her arms out and spinning around. "Don't you just love it?"

"Yeah, Lils. I love it," he said softly, smiling slightly. "Come on, we need to get you inside. We've been here for over an hour, it's cold out, and you're not even wearing a jacket."

Lily pouted and crossed her arms, but followed him across the road to her house. Silently, she questioned how he knew where she lived, but she decided it would be better not to ask right now. She'd figure it out some other time.

"Well, this is me," she said, bouncing on her heels. They stood for a couple of seconds, neither looking at the other. "James...would you mind coming in?" He raised his eyebrows and she rushed to explain. "It's just, my parents are away this week for my dad's birthday and Petunia's moved in with her fiance. Niamh was meant to stay here tonight but...well, I don't know where she is and I wouldn't be surprised if she went home with that guy. I hate being in the house alone, so would you mind? You can leave whenever you want, you don't even have to come in if you don't want to, obvio-"

"Lily, stop. Of course I'll come in."

Lily smiled and unlocked the door. "Do you want tea?" she asked.

"No thanks, I'm not a big fan - and I know that's probably the worst thing I could say to someone like you, but it's true," he chuckled. "I'll never understand that obsession of yours. I think you should go to bed, Lils, it's been a long night."

~.~

"Need anything else?"

Lily giggled and shook her head. Here she was, getting tucked into bed by James Potter. What were the odds? If someone had said to her even 6 hours ago, that James Potter would be in her room, she would have laughed in their face and told them to go to hell. Now, she couldn't think of somewhere she'd rather be. It was strange to think - nothing significant had happened, but at the same time everything had changed.

"James?"

"Yeah Lily?"

"I'm really glad you came tonight"

He smiled. "Me too Lils."

"I'm really glad you're here, too, right now, and I'm glad you're in my life. Thanks for taking care of me tonight, James. I mean, I didn't need taking care of, don't you go thinking that, but it was really sweet of you to walk me home, and to bring me up here and get me water and everything. Thank you. And I'm sorry if I'm babbling, but I just wanted to let you know that I really appreciate everything you did for me tonight, it was really kind of you. And you probably already know this but I think I should say it anyway - despite what I might've said before, I don't hate you"

"I don't hate you either," James laughed, walking over to the bed. He leaned down and kissed her on the forehead. "Go to sleep, we'll talk in the morning."

"Goodnight James"

"Night Lily"

When he thought she was finally asleep, he finally lay down and got ready to go to sleep himself. It had been a long night. Before closing his eyes, he leaned over and whispered in her ear. "I love you, Lils. I always will."

Half asleep, she murmered, "I love you too James"