"Alice! Alice, I need your help!"

Normally it was Alice who burst into the girl's dorms, arms flailing, looking panicked and crying out desperately for help. Lily, being the wonderful friend that she was, would drop whatever she was doing to calm down her friend and attempt to fix whatever crisis had occurred (last week her favourite scarf had gone missing and she simply had to find it before her date with Frank).

So when Lily Evans, Head Girl and very best friend of Alice Prewett, threw open the door and rushed over to her bed, arms, well…flailing, and a panicked expression on her face, you would expect that Alice would drop what she was doing and attempt to calm down her friend and fix whatever crisis had occurred.

Alice, however, was not (as she liked to point out to Lily every time this happened) as good as a mate as Lily, so she continued to flick through her Witch Weekly magazine, ignoring her mates desperate pleas for help.

After a few minutes of Lily rather pointedly bemoaning the fact that her world was about to cave in at any moment and had flailed her way around the room trying to get Alice's attention, she dropped the act and gave her friend a very unimpressed glare.

"Remind me again," she demanded, crossing her arms over her chest, "why you're my best friend? You're an absolutely rubbish mate."

"Nonsense. I'm a fantastic mate."

Lily spluttered. "That is - what a - when you come bursting into the room with flailing arms and a panicked expression I always drop whatever it is I'm doing to help you in your time of need!"

"Yes," Alice agreed, squinting at the mag in disbelief, "and you always end up wasting hours of your time searching for a scarf I left in the coat pocket I was wearing, or doing my Potions homework for me, or…or…spending three hours huddled behind a statue on the fourth floor because I was convinced I saw Frank snogging Laura Fitzpatrick. I love you to bits and pieces Lily, but I am not putting myself through that let me tell you, only a mad woman would do something like that." Alice chuckled and shook her head. "Honestly."

Lily made a sound somewhere between a squeak and a growl and flung herself onto the bed next to Alice, burrowing her head in her arms miserably.

"There there." Alice comforted Lily with a pat on the back. "Chin up love, Catch That Snitch are touring and they'll be in Hogsmeade next week. We can go see them!"

"I hate Catch That Snitch." Lily complained, voice muffled by her arms. "They're rubbish." Before Alice could begin to defend Catch That Snitch, her favourite band of all time, Lily hurriedly continued. "This problem involves James Potter."

Lily had Alice's' immediate attention - she, in fact, threw her magazine towards the door and clasped her hands demurely in her lap. "Go on then."

Lily fidgeted. She bit her lip, twirled her hair around her finger, sighed, twiddled her thumbs and avoided Alice's increasingly exasperated stare. "I want to get Ja- Potter a present!" Lily blurted, blushing bright red.

There was a snigger from Patricia's bed and Lily glared. Her mates were all rubbish. Listening in on a private conversation, honestly.

Alice blinked. "You want to get James a…"

"A present." Lily confirmed, determinedly staring at the ceiling. "It's his birthday in two weeks."

"Well yes, but -"

"It's customary for people to get others presents on their birthday." Lily pressed on.

"I know, but -"

"It's his seventeenth, which is an important birthday."

"Of course it is, but-"

"I want to get him something really nice, not some…rubbish…pack of quills or something."

"I'm sure you do, but-"

"So I need your help, as my best mate, to help me find Jam- Potter a spiffing gift before his birthday."

"And I will help you Lily, you know that. But if I remember correctly, a certain red head I know very well once said to me 'The day I want to buy Potter a birthday present is the day I fancy him'. At the time it was quite funny because we all knew that you'd never fancy James Potter, or at least admit to it, but here you are, sitting in my bed, telling me that you need help buying James Potter a birthday present." Lily, who had gotten steadily redder through out Alice's speech, carefully avoided meeting her eyes. "Lily Evans." Alice sounded far too amused for Lily's liking. "Do you fancy James Potter?"

There was silence in the room - Patricia and Mary on the next bed over had frozen and were watching them intently.

Lily began fiddling again and this was enough confirmation for Alice. Lily only ever fiddled or fidgeted when she didn't want to admit something. "MERLINS PANTS!" Alice shrieked, grasping Lily's head and shoving it into her chest. "YOU FANCY JAMES SODDING POTTER!"

There were several calls of "Finally!" and "About time!" from Mary and Patricia, who were doing a victory jig on Patricia's bed.

Lily, in the meantime, had managed to extricate her head from Alice's bosom. She was rubbing it and grinning bashfully. "All right, all right." She laughed, still bright red. "I do, I admit it."

"For how long?" Alice demanded, punching the air in triumph. "Oh this is brilliant I knew you two would end up together!"

Lily's smile faded a bit at this. "A few weeks, I think, maybe a bit longer to be honest but I didn't want to admit it." Alice exchanged a glance with the other two girls. That's Lily Evans. Stubborn to the end. "I really want to get him a brill present." Lily admitted, grinning from ear to ear. "You know how I have a reputation of being a great gift giver."

It was true. Every year, for both birthdays and Christmas, Lily's friends looked forward to her gifts the most. They were always thoughtful, quirky and fun and she had quickly gained a reputation of being the one person you definitely wanted to receive a present from.

"Hogsmeade is next weekend." Alice reassured her friend, resisting the urge to squeal and join the victory jig still happening on the bed. "I'll help you pick out the perfect present then."

"This is a mistake." Lily looked around Spintwitchesin despair. She had never set foot inside Quality Quidditch Supplies in Diagon Alley, finding the idea of browsing shelves full of equipment for a sport she didn't play incredibly boring. The Hogsmeade store was small, dark and smelled overpoweringly of Quidditch. There was a large group of fourth year boys crowded around a display case, practically salivating as they eyed off the newest model broom, and they were making it difficult to maneuver in the already crowded store. "I don't know what most of these things are for."

Alice wrinkled her nose. "It smells awful in here. Too many sweaty teenage boys." The group of boys around the display case heard her and turned as one to glare at her. Lily stifled a giggle. "Come Lily," Alice announced with a sniff, "let's get out of here. Everyone and their aunt is going to get James something Quidditich related anyway."

They left the store with a sigh of relief. Lily took a deep breath of the cool March air and shoved her hands into her coat pockets. "Let's just have a wander and see what we spot." Lily suggested and they made their way down the street, chattering and laughing.

It was a lovely day in the middle of March, still cold, but the sky was a clear, bright blue and there was no wind to speak of. After pausing to say hello to Bernard Pollack, a fellow prefect in his sixth year, Lily's eyes lit up. "Scrivenshafts!" She turned to Alice, excited, but Alice looked less than impressed.

"Lily. You enjoy buying new quills and pretty parchment. I don't think James will appreciate a new Self Correcting Quill."

Her face fell.

That was the start of a long day of fruitless searching. The girls went into every store they came across; Zonkos, Honeydukes, Tomes and Scholls, Dervish and Bangs, where they actually had a moment of hope before Lily took note of the price of most items, and then Gladrags.

"Honestly Lily, you could wrap yourself up in a bow and give yourself to James and he'd be happy." Alice complained as they entered the store, the bell above the door tinkling. "Turning up to his party would probably be enough for the bloke, he's completely mad about you."

Lily blushed. "He isn't anymore." Alice looked at her sharply. Her friend looked miserable, tired and frustrated - much how she felt herself. "I think he stopped fancying me a while ago."

Alice snorted. "Don't be daft. He worships the ground you walk on. Lily," Alice exclaimed as inspiration hit. "I have a great idea! You should snog him!"

"Absolutely not." Lily replied flatly, shooting Alice a dirty look. "Are you going to help me find clothes for him or what?"

Alice grumbled but did as she was told, browsing rack upon rack of men's clothing with Lily. Lily was delighted (and slightly disappointed as she had been hoping to leave the store) to discover that if you tapped the clothing rack the right way a new range of clothes would appear. Unfortunately, all the clothes were as gaudy and tactless as the last rack.

"What about this one?" Lily couldn't help but giggle as she pulled out a thick wool sweater, made from alternating zig zags in a lurid green and orange. The green zig zags had sparkly golden snitches darting around and the orange had a slightly deformed looking person on a broomstick zooming in a circle. "It comes with a never ending Warming Charm and is guaranteed to keep you snuggly and safe."

The girls dissolved into silent giggles, Lily holding the awful sweater to her chest as a sales assistant glared at them suspiciously. "Oh no," Alice gasped, "it has bobbles on it."

Lily was almost in tears she was laughing so hard, and Alice was not much better off. "This is…who would…why would you wear this?" Lily held it back out to view it and snorted. "Can you imagine the look on James' face if I gave him this? He'd never wear it."

Alice stopped laughing at that and a familiar - and quite frankly, dreaded - glint appeared in her brown eyes. "Lily."

"No." Lily clutched the sweater tightly and shook her head. "No, I'm known for giving brilliant presents Alice, not awful, tacky, quite possibly the ugliest sweater I've ever seen in my life presents. He'd hate it! I want to give him a good present."

Alice rolled her eyes and grabbed Lily's shoulder. "Lily. The poor bloke is in love with you. If you gave him this sweater, complete with matching socks, he would wear them and wear them gladly, because you gave them to him."

Lily shook her head frantically. "He's not…he's not in lo-" she choked on the word and Alice resisted the strong urge to strangle her mate. "You've completely lost it." Lily decided with a firm nod. "I am not giving James this sweater as a present."

Lily swallowed nervously. Dressed in her favourite jeans and her favourite purple top (Alice had tried to force her into one of her strappy, low cut concoctions but Lily refused. She might be a teenager, she had told an annoyed Alice, and she might be in the 70's, but her parents had raised her to be modest and modest she would be), Lily huddled in the corner, cuddling James' bulky present.

All around the Common Room people were chatting and laughing, bottles of buttebeer and pumpkin juice on hand. James had somehow convinced Professor McGonagall to allow him to host his birthday party in the Common Room with full teacher and House Elf support. Lily suspected that the Professor had realised that if the party was not to be held in the Common Room the Marauders would have sourced out an empty classroom and caused havoc.

The boys had gone all out with the decorations, with Self Hanging Streamers infesting the roof, balloons that changed colour and couldn't be popped filled the room and, her favourite, a giant picture of James on the wall, taken when he was very young and in the bath.

She smiled fondly as a young James laughed and splashed the water, his hair messy even when soaking wet.

"Evans!" Lily was jerked out of her reverie when an arm fell on her shoulder and pulled her roughly into someone's side. "Having a grand old time? You are aren't you?"

It was Sirius Black, slightly tipsy and grinning at her madly. Lily laughed. "Of course I am." She nudged Sirius' side and nodded towards the picture. "Whose handiwork is that?"

Sirius beamed proudly. "Moi. I nicked it from his Mum's photo collection during the Christmas hols. She has, and I kid you not, fifty photo albums, all exclusively of my boy Prongs over there." He spotted the package in Lily's arms and grinned. "Oher, a pressie for the birthday boy! JAMES!" He roared and Lily winced. He hadn't bothered to turn away from her before shouting at the top of his lungs. "OI, PRONGS!" James looked over from across the Common Room, arching his eyebrows. "GET YOUR FLABBY ARSE OVER HERE NOW!" Sirius winked. "He'll be over in a jiffy."

Lily, who had been hoping to give James his present in private, flushed and tried to make her escape. "Oh, oh no it's ok, I'd much rather give it to him later, honestly Sirius, he's very busy right now, I'm ok to wait…"

Her efforts were in vain, however, because James excused him self promptly from the group of girls he'd been chatting too and ambled over, smiling and ruffling his hair. "What do you want, you tosser?" James demanded.

"Evans here has something she wants to give you." Sirius nudged Lily forward.

James' eyes fell on Lily and his face lit up. "Lily! You came." He beamed at her and Lily couldn't help but blush. She smiled up at James shyly. "I don't think you've ever been to one of my birthday parties before, have you, are you having fun?"

"Oh yes," Lily replied, telling herself sternly to pull it together and not act like a love sick thirteen year old. So what if he looked unexplainably delicious in his shirt with his top two buttons undone, visible through the V in his vest or if his hair was messy and haphazard, or if the way he was grinning at her was making her knees a little weak. She could handle it. She was stronger then that. "Loads of fun. I'm especially enjoying the picture of you and your Mum. She doesn't still bath you does she?"

James laughed and blushed a little. "Yeah, some tosser nicked it from my poor mother. Never mind that she took in the ungrateful sod, treats him like a son, feeds him, clothes him…"

"Yeah, yeah." Sirius rolled his eyes. "Who do you think told me which photo album it was in?"

James stared at Sirius in horror, while both Lily and Sirius laughed. "Betrayal!" James moaned. "Betrayed by my own Mum." He glared at Sirius and punched him in the shoulder. "You said you had something for me?"

Sirius rubbed his shoulder. "No, I said Evans had something for you."

Lily, who had completely forgotten about that, paled and tried to hide the present behind her back, but James spotted it before she had a chance. "You got me a present?" James exclaimed, looking so delighted and touched that Lily felt sick. "You've never got me a present before. Aw Evans," he took the present from her hands and grinned at her, "I didn't know you cared." He started ripping into the paper. "I'm really chuffed Lily, you have this rep you know, of always getting people the best presents…" he trailed off as he pulled the sweater from the wrappings.

Lily started wishing that the ground would open up and swallow her whole. Or maybe, in some freak accident, the offending piece of clothing would spontaneously combust and no one would ever again have to gaze at the sparkling snitches dashing around or the bobbles on the collar. After six years, Lily thought furiously, she should have learnt to never listen to Alice. This was a disaster.

Sirius was making choking noises, staring at first the sweater and then at Lily. At first Lily thought he might have been trying to hold back the vomit, but she soon realised that he was trying not to laugh. "That's…that's…wow Evans. You really went all out, didn't you?"

Lily blushed a horrible bright red. She narrowed her eyes." Shut it Black. It's not that bad."

"Not that bad?!" Sirius exclaimed, shaking his fringe out of his eyes. "It's got bleeding people on broomsticks flying around on it. The snitches are SPARKLY! What type of self respecting man would wear that? Where did you even get that from?"

"Gladrags." Lily murmured, wincing at Sirius' bark of laughter. "It was the best sweater in the store!"

"I'm sure it was." Sirius chortled. "Gladrags has got to be the tackiest clothing store in all of Britain. Peter's Mum shops there, but that's not much of a recommendation."

"This is brilliant."

While Lily and Sirius had been bickering, James had stripped off his vest and pulled the sweater on over his head. He looked, as Lily had suspected, absolutely ridiculous. Sirius' jaw dropped as he stared at his best mate, trying to work out why he had put the monstrosity on.

"Thanks Lily!" James beamed at her and pulled her in for a hug. "This is the best present I've got so far!"

Lily hesitantly put her arms around his waist, cheeks burning. The wool was scratchy against her face and it was indeed very warm, though that could have been a combination of James' body heat and her blush. She was disappointed when he pulled away, still grinning at her.

"Best present?" Sirius repeated in a strangled tone. "What about the new broom your Mum got you? Or the years supply of Zonko's tricks from Pete?"

James waved one arm airily, his other still around Lily's shoulders. "Those were good, but this…" He gazed at the sweater fondly. "This is unique. And it's from Lily."

Sirius gave James a disgusted glare and threw his arms up in the air before storming off, muttering under his breath about love crazed fools.

"Ok." Lily said, stepping away from James before she did something crazy like tackle him to the floor and snog him senseless. "You can stop pretending now."

"Pretending?" James eyebrows disappeared into his hair and he looked at her quizzically. "What do you mean?

"You can stop pretending to that…that thing now." Lily gestured towards the sweater. "Black is gone."

James laughed. "But I do like it! You gave it to me! I don't like it, actually, I love it. Anything you gave me would be fantastic Lily, really, I've wanted a gift from you for so long, I'm really pleased that you got me anything and this is brill, my mum will -"

The rest of his explanation was cut off when Lily launched herself at him. Alice had been right, she thought grudgingly as, after a few seconds of stunned frozenness, James wrapped his arms around her waist and pulled her tightly towards him. I should have given him a snog as a present.

A/N: so as usual, my ending SUCKED, but you know, I had to write this little fic out :) I should be working on IWTHYH, but I'm not feeling very motivated towards it right now and I'm a little sad about the lack of reviews :( I'm not sure if people are liking it or not!

Sorry if there are any mistakes, this hasn't been beta'd, but I needed to get it up before I left work ;)

But anyway, I hope you guys enjoyed this story! As always, R&R!