Disclaimer: Must I tell you again? I AM NOT JK BLOODY ROWLING. I wouldn't be wasting my time typing out random stories about MY OWN charcters.

A/N:

Yes, I am aware that this is a rather long one-shot. However, I was too lazy to make it into more then one chapter, as it was a story I typed out a long time ago and just found, and so was on one word document. I'm sure you'll all do fine reading this, though, no matter how long of a one-shot it happens to be.

"I hate you, Potter!" He froze momentarily. So she was going to say Potter now, eh? Fine. Two can play it that way. "I hate you, Flower." He watched her freeze momentarily, too. Then she moved toward him a few inches, their noses now only two inches apart. "I can honestly say I hate you more, Potter." She spat out the last word, like it was a disease. She was heavily breathing from the run here. Tiny beads of sweat were forming on her brow… "I asked Dumbledore to do one thing! Make sure you did your duties! Watch you! 'No, Miss Evans. He doesn't need watching. He will do them without being told.' Maybe now he'll see how wrong he was!" After yelling that, her breathing was even more labored, and she had come closer another inch…

"I did do my duties without being told. I wasn't involved in the prank. Padfoot probably thought I'd tell you, or try to stop it myself if he had told me. And he was right. Damn him!" He had started out softly, but the last was thrown out with feeling. So many people just said the curse words for fun, boring fun. He had said it with feeling in it. It was much more fun, in Sirius' opinion, when you say a curse word with feeling. He had moved in an inch and a half, only half an inch separated them now…

"I hate you so much…" She murmured, studying his eyes, then his lips, then his nose, then his eyes again… He was doing the same, her eyes were such a delicate shade of emerald green, they were lovely… Her lips were so full and luscious… Her nose so perfect, straight, small… Back to those perfect eyes, the eyes he wanted his kids to have someday…

"Bloody Hell." He said slowly, raking his hand through his already messed up hair. He'd kissed her before, but never with her permission. In fact, always a peck on the cheek, once on the lips, and he'd been jinxed after the first kisses, and hexed for a month after he'd pecked her on the lips. Bloody Hell, he repeated in his head. He couldn't even fight with Lily without having thoughts of her body in his mind!

"Agreed. Bloody Hell." She said, nodding her head slowly. Her breathing was even more labored, they had both moved in the ½ inch, their noses were touching… And then they were each wrapping their arms around the other. James' arms went around her waist, pulling her closer, locking her to him, her arms around his neck, doing the same. This was their first real kiss, the first that meant something… And Bloody Hell, it was so much better then he'd ever thought it would be. He was kissing the girl he loved, the one he'd loved since second year, when they were twelve. He'd been turned down too many times to count, and yet he'd kept on… Now it was seventh year, they were seventeen, and they were kissing. Time really did yield those who refused to be yielded.

The kiss was perfect. He had expected it to me, having waited for it for so long. And here she was, in his arms, her own arms wrapped around his neck… Perfect. Utterly and completely perfect! His conscience was shouting 'yes yes yes!' at him, he was agreeing with it. It was perfect, yes, perfect, yes, perfect, yes! He was grinning and kissing. He wasn't even sure how he was doing it, but he was. It was too perfect…

•○○○•

Lily shook herself mentally. She was kissing James. No, Potter! No, James…. Her conscience was battling with her, telling her Potter, while her heart and brain were screaming James over it. She yielded to her heart, her brain. James was so much nicer, too… Bloody Hell. They were kissing! And she had her arms wrapped around his neck… She wasn't pulling away, either… What was she thinking, she didn't want to pull away anyway! This was so perfect, the warmth of him on her… So perfect… It was her fault she hadn't had this warmth before. Never letting him get close to her… Who'd blame her? Her conscience, in the back of her head, murmured, 'James… James… James would blame you…' No… He wouldn't…. Right? He wouldn't. He was the ego maniac. He still was. It was just underneath the ego was the warmth in him, the love in him… Damn her, he probably would blame her!

Yet… She didn't want to pull away from him. She didn't want to pull away, and have the warmth leave her. She didn't want him to just leave, to just walk away, and leave her alone… But she had to. She had to say how sorry she was. It was all her fault she hadn't had the warmth before. Her fault… All her own fault…

She pulled away, leaving her arms around his neck, still holding him close to her. Her eyelids were droopy… So were his… She smiled up at him. He smiled back down. He moved his head, resting his forehead on top of her head… She could still see him, she just had to crane her head to do it.

"James…" She started, relishing in the sound of his name on her tongue. She'd been saying his name since the beginning of the term, but it sounded so right, like it was supposed to be there… No, it had sounded like that before. It was only now she was noticing that it sounded so right, so perfect… She'd taken too long to go on.

"Hmm?" He whispered through his teeth, the slight breeze tickling her skin. She smiled again, resting her head against his chest.

"I'm so sorry. If I had known not all of you were so egoistical," She moved her head from his chest, and grinned up at him. "I would have kissed you so long ago…" He was still grinning, but his grin softened, his eyelids got droopy again, and he was pulling her even closer…

"It's okay, Flower. I have you now, and I'm not letting you go." He squeezed her tighter to prove his point. "You're not going anywhere. Just remember that…" He muttered, resting his head again on the top of her head. One of his hands left her waist, coming up to stroke her hair. She went weak in the knees when he did that…

"I know that now… And I wouldn't let you let me go, not for anything…" She murmured, tightening her grip around his neck. He smiled again.

They stood there for what seemed like hours, just holding each other, nothing ruining their perfect moment together, the moment they realized they loved each other, the moment they came together, the moment the world became perfect in both their lives… Until the door banged open.

"Prongs! Sorry, mate, but you'd probably go off and tell Evans what we were doing, or you'd try to stop it yourself! Moony refused to help me and Wormy, don't worry about it! So, want--" Sirius stopped when he saw both Lily and James, hand in hand now, glaring at him. "Oi, sorry. Didn't know I was interrupting something… Special!" He wiggled an eyebrow, and winked at James before turning around and leaving the room, laughing. The door slammed shut behind him.

James was cursing him to hell and back under his breath, Lily could barely discern some of the words, and was glad for it. She smiled up at him, trying to keep the amusement of his curses out of her eyes.

"James. It's fine. But he's going to go off and tell everyone what happened, and people will be knocking the door down to see for themselves." That was true. Lily knew everyone, even her best friends, willed her to get together with James. Now that it had finally happened, when everyone had been giving up hope, here comes Sirius Black skipping down the hallway, yelling "Evans and Prongsey together forever now!"

James was picturing something along those lines himself, and they both started laughing at the notion. But, down in the Great Hall, where most everyone was eating lunch, and cleaning themselves off from the prank Sirius and Peter had pulled, was Sirius, skipping up and down the rows, yelling exactly that. Everyone was whispering to their neighbors… Even the Head's Table had head's turning to talk to their neighbor. Dumbledore was sitting their patiently, smiling, his hands clasped together. After a few minutes of the skipping, he stood up. The murmuring didn't stop.

"If you'd all quiet down, please," His talking, though it took a minute extra, quieted down everyone. "As mister Black says, Miss Evans and mister Potter are together. We all know how very big news that is, but let it not ruin our lunch! Mister Black, Mister Pettigrew, Mister Lupin, I sense Mister Potter will want to talk to you." He looked at Remus over the rim of his half-moon spectacles. Remus nodded, solemnly. He knew it would come eventually… He stood up, and with Sirius on his left, and Peter on his right, they made out of the Great Hall, Sirius skipping ahead of them, Peter in the middle shoving food in his pockets, and Remus dragging his feet behind them.

Meanwhile, Dumbledore continued his speech. "And, Miss Anderson, Miss Stein, Miss Evans will probably want to talk to you, also." He stared at them over his half-moon spectacles the same way he just had. This time, though, his gaze was going from one to the other. They both nodded slowly, and started dragging their own feet out of the hall. When they were gone, Dumbledore raised a hand to signal the silence. It took another moment, but it stopped.

"Alright students. Back to your lunch, please." He said, nodding his head once before sitting down and continuing his own meal. The student's, reluctantly, started back up on their loud chatter and their eating of lunch.

In the corridor, James' friends were standing side by side arguing, while behind them stood Lily's group of friends, side by side, talking quietly to each other. They were scowling, but not arguing. They weren't listening to the group of boys in front of them, were worried about their own problem, not theirs… Until Lily's flaming hair caught their attention at the top of the stairs. They both looked up, Sirius, Peter, and Remus looked up, too, and saw James' mass of black hair with her. They both motioned to their friends to come up the stairs, which the group of five hastily did. Lily smiled a small smile to her friends, James doing the same. They both led the way to the Head's Dorm room, which, being best friends with the two Head's, they had all been in, they moved inside silently and quickly, James and Lily going in together after the five of them.

"Dumbledore told you come?" Lily asked quietly, her voice low. Kaitlyn Anderson nodded, and smiled at Lily. Lily grinned at her two best friends, glad they weren't angry at her. She took both Kaitlyn and Alysa by hand, dragging them to the far corner of the room. "Kaitlyn. Alysa. What am I going to do?" Lily whined, staring at them both, her eyes going wide. Kaitlyn shook her head. Alysa did the same. "Sorry, Lils. I have no idea. The only thing would be to tell him." Kaitlyn said the only solution out loud. Alysa nodded her head solemnly. Lily then nodded her head again, too. "Ugh, what am I going to do?" Kaitlyn grinned. "You just asked that, Lils." Alyssa smiled wide, and started giggling. "Yeah, darling. Get your head together!" Lily scowled. "No laughing matter!" Which made all three of them burst out laughing.

•○○○•

The boy's had been staring at the others, James at Lily, Sirius at Alysa, Remus at Kaitlyn, and Peter into space. James turned to the others when they started laughing. He groaned.

"What all of it am I going to tell her?" Peter jumped a little at the voice, but turned to look at James, the same as the other two did. Sirius was shaking his head, Peter was shrugging, and Remus was staring at James, his face paler then Lily's. "Remus, it's basically your secret. I want to tell her, but if you don't want to, fine. I won't tell her about you, or Peter or Sirius. I'll just tell her about me, the stag. Plus, I want to tell her about the cloak and map. Which includes all of us, so I'd better ask. And I do want to tell her about you two, being dog and rat, which if I tell her about Remus, I'd have to anyway. There would be no other way to convince her that Remus is safe when he transforms."

Remus was the first to say something, though he was still white. "James, you can tell her. But please, don't tell the other two…." He didn't know where the last part had come from. If Lily trusted Kaitlyn and Alysa, then he should. He did trust Kaitlyn, but Kaitlyn was his closest friend, besides the Marauders', and he had a crush on her. To see her turn on him… He wouldn't be able to handle it. Sirius had a crush on Alysa, too, but that wasn't really saying much. But he knew Kaitlyn only had good things to say about her, and Alysa was really nice to him, too. He didn't want anyone turning on him. The only reason he was allowing James to tell Lily was because he knew James would let it slip anyway. Better to say it now then later…

James was smiling meekly at Remus. "Moony, I'd hate to say it… Lily is as close to the other two as us four are. They'd get her to talk, mate. Or they'd somehow figure it out, just like we did. Better to hear it from us, right?" Remus had turned, if possible, even more pale. He stood in silence for a minute, before nodding slowly. He was shaking. "I'll tell Kaitlyn. Sirius can tell Alysa. James, you can tell Lily. Peter can… Um, stay here. Sorry Peter." He added the last serenely. James and Sirius both nodded. Peter frowned for a second, before he nodded too.

"Then it's settled. Let's go." The three of them trooped over to the girls, whom were smiling and giggling. They all snapped to attention when the boy's approached them. When they reached them, Lily spoke up first. "Er… James, we have something to tell all of you." James shook his head. "No, we have something to tell you." Lily shook her own head. "Ours is more important." James glanced at Sirius and Remus, and grinned. "I must disagree with that, but you can go first."

Lily glanced at Kaitlyn and Alysa before turning to look at James again. "Er… James, you know the prank in first year, the one that framed you? And then each one after that, the other one prank each year you were framed for?" James paused, thinking back. Each year, someone did a huge prank, belaying that the Marauders did the prank. Of course, they never did, for their pranks always included one of them being at the prank scene, where when all of these pranks had happened, they had been in their own dormitory, planning their own last prank. Of course, no one believed them when they said this prank wasn't theirs.

"Yes, we all know it. Whoever pulls those pranks are really good, and if they didn't cause us so many detentions, I'd be able to praise them." He glanced at Sirius from the corner of his eye. He was grinning. His gaze moved to Peter, then Remus. Peter, whom was staring willfully at Lily, and Remus who was still pale, glancing at Kaitlyn from the corner of his own eye. He looked at Lily as she coughed, and then started grinning at the other two.

"Well, James, thank you. You see, Kaitlyn, Alysa, and me pull those pranks every year. We weren't going to ever say anything unless you all got into deep trouble, which you haven't, so only the three of us and Dumbledore know what we do. Dumbledore caught us one time, winked, and then left. When we asked him about it later he only asked us what we were talking about." James and the other were staring, dumbstruck.

"You - er - You lot cause the pranks?" Sirius asked, completely unconvinced. However, when the three girls nodded, he exclaimed "Bloody Hell!" and promptly sat down where he was staring, staring up at the group. James and Remus raised an eyebrow at the behaviors, but ignored it, moving on to where they were the ones who had to do the telling.

"Well… Lils…" He sighed. "Remus, can we just tell them all together? It'll make it easier. On all of us." After a long moment, Remus finally consented with a single nod.

"Alright. Well… Lily, you know how Remus is always ill once a month?" Lily nodded. So did Alysa and Kaitlyn. "Well, it's not because of his mum. It's because… Well, Remus is a werewolf." Gasps from the girls filled the room. Kaitlyn had leapt on Remus, squeezing him, while Alysa was grinning at Kaitlyn's behavior, Lily doing the same. When Kaitlyn let go, however, Lily was able to voice her concern.

"Remus, the transformations much be painful; you must have someone with you, to help you with the pain, and-" She was cut off, by Alysa's gasp. She turned on the group of boys, though mostly Sirius.

"YOU IDIOT! YOU GO OUT WITH HIM, TOO! WHAT, ARE YOU ALL BLOODY WEREWOLVES?" Lily, surprised at her friend's outburst, took Alysa by the arm and pulled her back, whispering a "hush" in her ear. However, Kaitlyn had started to berate the boys. After a minute of that, Lily repeated the process. All of the boys were now pale.

"Not that they are done yelling, I'll restrain myself until I hear the entire story." She commented, staring contently at James.

"Well… We do go with him-" the girls were enraged again. Lily covered their mouths with her hands. "BUT, we are protected. We're… Animigi. Yes, we know it's illegal, and yes, we know we could get into huge trouble. But it helps Remus stay somewhat human, since he recognizes our scents. Plus, we keep him from tearing himself up." He was wincing, as if the girls were yelling again. However, their silence was worse then the yelling.

Finally, however, Alysa kneeled on the floor and hugged Sirius, Lily hugged James, and Kaitlyn, once again, threw herself at Remus.

"I. Can't. Believe. How. Bloody. Stupid. You. All. Were." Lily grinded out, barely keeping the words audible over the control in her voice. James was clinging to her, and then, he started to speak. "Our forms. Sirius. Peter." He said, grinning at the two. After a moment, Lily was hugging a stag, Alysa a big black dog, and a rat was scurrying around on the floor. The girls gasped collectively, even Kaitlyn, who hadn't found herself miraculously hugging an animal.

"Change. Back!" Alysa said, annoyed that the dog kept giving her slobbery kisses on her face and arms. The stag, however, was content with butting its' head against Lily, to keep her softly stroking the white fur on the stag's head. However, when Sirius changed back to Sirius with a loud pop, James did the same, though his arm snaked around Lily's waist.

"Anything else you'd like to reveal?" Lily asked, a grin plastered across her face, not expecting there to be. I mean, who has more major secrets then that, right there? James, however, sighed.

"A bit. This is rule breaking, too, but it isn't illegal this time. Actually, I don't think it is illegal. Remus, is it illegal?" Remus stared at him for a moment, before pausing. "The cloak might be, but I don't think having the map is illegal. Of course, it might be, but… I don't think so." Lily raised one slender eyebrow at James, who looked at Sirius, who reached into his pocket, and pulled out a stiff, old piece of parchment. He tossed it in the middle of their group, and then bent down and rummaged in his bag, before pulling out a silvery cloak.

James beamed. "These two things, my ladies, are the keys to our success as the Marauders. They really are." At the girls questioning stares, however, he decided to elaborate. "Remus, Sirius. The honor is all yours." Sirius picked up the Invisibility Cloak, throwing it over himself, as Remus muttered "I solemnly swear that I am up to no good," to the map, tapping it with his wand. The girls all let out simultaneous gasps of surprise; first off, Sirius was gone, and then there was the fact that the bit of spare parchment was moving. Well, it had dots moving on it, but same thing overall.

James went on to explain. "This cloak is, indeed, an Invisibility Cloak, passed down from father to son for who knows how many generations, from my dad to myself. And, this map, is all of Hogwarts. Yes, all of it. And it shows where everyone is, at every time of the day, and, no matter what you are doing, you show up on the Map. See?" He pointed to where they were all gathered.

"James. You four are way too secretive." Lily said, a slight shake of her head. James raised an eyebrow.

"Do you know how many detentions the four of us had to serve? Because of you three?" Lily laughed, and swayed a bit. "Well… Maybe this year, we can plan the prank together. All seven of us. With the brains of some of us, and the stealth of the others… We'd be able to pull off the best prank in history, I bet." And that was how it went, the group of seven going into full-blown ideas of what the prank was going to entail.

A/N:

Yes. I admit, it did end a BIT prematurely. I'm sure you'll live though. Tell me what you thought of this fanatically long one-shot.

I loved writing it. It entertained me. Especialyl since I had to go back through and retype most of the story, as my writing style orginally in this story was just horrid. Shows how old it was. :D

So. You should review.