Lily let James kiss her, leaning into him. This was the way things were supposed to be. The two of them, together. Not Grace. No Grace. Not in this dream world they imaged for themselves.

And yet, they'll leave the empty classroom together, holding hands and stopping along the way to the Common Room. Sneaking in their last 'goodnight' kisses. Enjoy the quiet time together, so close under his cloak.

And tomorrow morning, Grace will sit next to Lily at breakfast, and tell her the same thing she's been telling her for the past two months.

"I think I'm losing him Lils."

And Lily'll feel dirty, like she always does. Even if Grace started this all. She was the one that slept with that Diggory kid, that kid from Ravenclaw, and most of the Gryffindor 7th years. Lily couldn't stand watching her best friend repetitively hurt James- not when he's changed so much over the last year.

So she told him. She waited till Sirius and Remus had gone to bed, waited until James was alone next to the fire. She walked over to him, trying to ignore the butterfly in her stomach. She was here on business, that's all.

"Hey James.", he looked up quickly, smiling.

"Hey Lily. What's up?", he put his essay down, turning to really listen to her. Lily could never remember the old James doing that. She smiled, despite herself. But she remembered why she was there, and that quickly whipped the smile off face.

"I… um… Look James, I have something not so great to tell you. It's really bad, so I'm just gonna spite it out-"

James turned away, looking deep into the fire. His face had turned stone cold.

"I know Lily." She opened her mouth again, but he cut her off. "I know about Grace. And that kid from Ravenclaw. And the 7th years in the dorms."'

"And Diggory." James flinched and Lily fell next to him. "I'm sorry James! I'm being so God damn insensitive about this!"

James looked up at her with a pathetic smile. "Are you kidding Lily? Tons of people knew about this, and you're the only one who cared enough to tell me about it yourself. Everyone else are just whispers in the corridor."

Lily smiled softly, innocently holding him at his elbow. "You've changed a lot over the past couple of months James. You deserve to know what's going on- you don't deserve what's happening though."

James didn't say anything, just stared at her. She blushed, some how embarrassed about the whole thing.

"You noticed?" When he finally broke the silence, it was nothing over a whisper.

"You changing? Of course. You've turned into a sweet…." She trailed off, leaving it where she did. He just kept looking at her!

"Lily?" he whispered again. She smiled, at both his innocence expression and timid tone.

"Yea James?" He didn't respond- just lean down to kiss her.

Lily smiled at the memory, Grace racing off reasons for why James must hate her in the background of breakfast.

"I mean, he never came to find me last night!" Grace cried, pouring some orange juice. "I don't understand! I'll be perfectly willing to drop Diggory if James would give me what I need! Do you think he's sleeping with someone else?!"

Lily rolled her eyes, but Grace took it as the answer she needed. "Of course- I'm being retarded. He's not sleeping with anyone else. I mean, any guy would be lucky to be with me-"

"Hey Grace, I've got that Slughorn essay to finish. I'll talk to you later." Lily stood up before Grace could protest, practically running from the Great Hall. She turned the corner quickly, running right into the source of her problems.

"Lily?" James asked, picking up some of the stuff that flew out of her bag. His friends stayed behind for a moment, but he waved them on. As he gather most of what was on the floor at Lily's feet, he smiled up at her.

"If you wanted me that bad Lily- all you had to do was say the magic words." Lily couldn't help it- she smiled again. As mad as she was at him, she knew she was just as much to blame. They both understood that their relationship being secret, it was to get back at Grace. They were together because they wanted to be, but they were hidden to fulfill the selfish need within both of them.

"James, we need to talk.." James nodded, leading the way. Lily looked behind her, practically running to keep up with him. He turned down the corridor that was barely used, down another and finally up a small staircase to a room Lily didn't even know existed. He held the door open silently, watching the hall as she slipped in. As soon as the door shut behind them, James was pulling her into his arms.

"Hm…" He dropped his head next to her. "Your hair is intoxicating. I was smelling it the whole way up here."

Lily wanted to laugh, to blow on James neck (where she knew that he was ticklish) but she stopped herself. She put her hands on her chest, pushing him away softly. "James, seriously. We have to talk." James stopped from grabbing her again, letting his arm fall.

"Okay." He walked over to one of the armchair. From what Lily could gather, the room look like a den of some sort. "What's wrong?"

She sighed, walking towards him and dropping into the chair across from him. "Look, I was… I was talking to Grace today-"

James moaned, letting his head fall back. Ever since he and Lily were first together, he was pulling away from Grace- knowingly. He was just waiting for Lily to ask for 'the talk', before he dropped her completely.

"She's upset James."

"I know Lily. She's been upset with me for weeks. But every time I'm with her I can only think of two things- how she cheated on me, repeatively. And how I'd rather be with you."

Lily blushed, careful to not look in James' eyes. Those hazel orbs have been known to get him off more than once. "Look James. I don't want to make you choose-"

"So I'll talk to her tonight." Lily looked up, shocked.

"It'll be that easy?" Her voice was almost defensive. James felt like doing a faceplam.

"Lily, no. It'll never be that way with you. I'm serious." Lily looked away, starting at a stain on the wall. James got up, and bent down infront of her, facing her to him. "I'm telling you right now Lily. I swear on my broomstick- it's never been this way for me. I've never wanted to skip out on a prank just to talk to a girl. Never skipped Defense homework to have five more minutes with you. Never wanted to call off practice just so I can fly a girl around the school. But everyday nowadays, that's all I want to do. I've wanted to do anything just to be with you."

Lily smiled, tears filling her eyes. "I've skipped doing homework to see you. Stopped talking notes in History of Magic just to watch you laugh with Sirius. Never wanted to skip patrol to walk the halls with you."

James smiled, leaning down to kiss her softly. "I know it's not right- what I'm doing to Grace- but she's not going to be too upset when I talk to her. She's been threatening me with Diggory for days now. I promise by this time tomorrow, they'll be the new 'it' couple." He pulled her out of her seat, trading so that he could pull her onto his lap as he sat down. "And then we'll give it a couple weeks before we start going out. You know, if you'd still want to.."

Lily laughed, throwing her hair over her shoulder t kiss him. James smiled against her lips before opening himself to her. They stayed like that for a second, just kissing.

"Lils." He whispered as she pulled away. The difference between Grace and James saying it was amazing. Here, she moved to let him kiss her neck. "Lils, we've got to go to class."

"Skip it", she whispered, moving to fit better on his lap. James laugh, putting a hand on her thigh.

"Wow Lily. You must really like me- first up is Potions." Lily laughed, but she did slow down, resting her forehead against his.

"You'll talk to her tonight?"

"I promise." James said with a nod. He stood up, lifting Lily with him, "And then tonight, tonight we will celebrate!"

Hey guys.

So yea, Lily and James aren't mine.

Dur.

But, I would l-o-v-e reviews, even ones that want to edit the chapter...... :)

Thanks guys!