Rumours spread pretty quickly around Hogwarts castle. It's rather difficult to keep things secret but Spring 1978 brought one of the monumental secrets the castle walls had ever held.
It wasn't a secret to the students of Hogwarts that Lily Evans and James Potter had an interesting relationship; they'd watched their arguments for years as if it were a spectator sport and everyone knew that James had spent almost his entire school life wanting after Lily. However, it was a secret, in Lily's mind anyway, that the Head Girl had actually developed feelings aimed towards James, and she wanted it to stay that way for as long as possible. She didn't need people knowing she liked the boy - and if he himself found out… Well, that just didn't bear talking about. There was one other small issue she was worried about. She knew James came from a very long line of Purebloods and she knew the strife he would face if he was found dating a muggleborn such as herself, especially now that tensions were forever rising in the world around them.
However, things had started to heat up in the Heads' dorm, unbeknown to the rest of Hogwarts' student body. After a few months working with James as a surprisingly capable Head Boy, Lily had started to see that perhaps he wasn't as immature as she'd thought.
One afternoon, after James had returned from Quidditch practice, the two had settled down in their private common room to sort out patrol rotas. It had been during this that the two had finally managed to confess how they felt and gotten together. Lily's desire to keep things quiet hadn't changed however, despite her new boyfriend wanting to shout the announcement from the top of the Astronomy Tower.
"I just don't think it's a good idea," she voiced when they were lying on his bed later that day.
"Why not? I don't care what Snape and his slimy little gang of Slytherins say."
Lily tried exceptionally hard not to snort at that. "I just don't want everyone to know yet. You have to admit, it will be kind of fun sneaking around; having to meet up in broom closets and pretending we don't drive each other crazy."
And with that, she had him sold - despite a few more minor comments about Snape and his friends.
James had to admit - it had been rather fun. His friends were none the wiser - even Remus hadn't caught on, which was rather surprising seeing as Lily wasn't the best at telling lies.
Her first slip up occurred a few weeks after this had started. Both Lily and James had a free period before lunch so they'd spent it in an empty classroom on the third floor, amusing themselves one way or another. They'd wandered down to lunch to find their friends laughing in a group at their usual spot at the Gryffindor table.
"Hey Evans! Where were you?" Sirius asked as they approached. "You said you'd help me with that essay. I even went into the library, I'm telling you, that place is terrifying. So many books!"
James laughed and whacked his best friend upside the head before looking at Lily. Her face was the same colour as her hair, making her appear rather like a tomato. "Oh, um, I was with James."
"You were with Potter, eh?" Marlene voiced, wiggling her eyebrows. "What were you two doing all alone?"
Lily's face seemed to get even redder, though James hadn't thought that was possible. He rolled his eyes at Lily's friend and tugged the blushing girl down into a seat. "If you must know, McKinnon, we were sorting out the patrol rotas for next term and if you keep talking, I may have to make a few amendments. How about I pair you with Snape?"
A series of amused murmurs went around the table and James was grateful that he'd managed to avoid being caught. Just.
The next circumstance occurred during Defence Against the Dark Arts when they were learning how to produce a patronus. The Marauders had all been rather fast to produce the silvery animal out of their wands. James strode to the front of the class, confident in his abilities, and produced a stunning patronus in the form of a stag. The stag trotted around the classroom, stopping only to nuzzle slightly against the red headed girl in the queue. Lily rolled her eyes and moved away, sending a wink to James as she did so. He merely smirked in response, moving away towards the back of the classroom and making way for Lily to cast her own patronus in front of the class.
Nervously, she shuffled her way to the spot where James had been standing just moments before and closed her eyes in concentration. Waving her wand, she uttered the spell and to her surprise, a silvery doe appeared in front of her. There was a collective gasp around the classroom: first because of the beauty of the animal and secondly because of their sudden realisation of what it meant. Everyone had heard the professor explain that your patronus was a direct representation of your soul and that matching patronuses would quite literally mean that the couple were soulmates.
Sirius gave a smirk and nudged his best friend. "See Prongs? She can't reject you now, even with those antlers of yours."
James laughed, looking at Lily. She was trying her best to hide her face, to cover her embarrassment, but she wasn't doing very well. James was desperate to console her, especially when he heard one of Snape's groupies croon.
"I just feel sorry for the poor Potters, generations of purebloods and now that mudblood is going to taint their family tree."
He heard Marlene snickering behind her hand and couldn't help but think she was a pretty lousy best friend. However, he then realised that Sirius would have been even worse and quickly disregarded that thought.
"Ten points from Slytherin Mulciber, I don't tolerate that language. Alright everyone, let's leave Miss Evans and Mr Potter alone. Mr Snape, let's see you give it a go," the professor jumped in, ushering Lily from the front of the class.
Snape walked to the front, sneering at Lily and James as he passed them.
"It seems easy enough." He shrugged. "If a mudblood can do it, then I definitely can."
James muttered angry remarks under his breath, glaring at Snape. He wished he could say something without appearing too over protective so he was grateful when Sirius jumped in.
"Are you sure that grease won't hinder you, Snivellus?"
The Slytherin's nose turned up slightly as he waved his wand. "Expecto patronum." His voice was steady but all that came out of his wand was a few silvery wisps, cueing loud laughter from James and Sirius and small, hidden sniggers from their friends.
Snape's failure had hidden that clue but by the time April rolled around, James was desperate to let Hogwarts know they were finally a couple.
"Come on Lils, it's been months!" he complained to her in the Heads' Dorm one night.
"I still don't see why you're so desperate to tell people! What difference does it make to them, knowing we're a couple? Bragging rights for you?" She huffed slightly and folded her arms as she always did when she was cross but unfortunately for her, this dragged James' attention away from her face to somewhere a little lower south.
"They'll be satisfied to know I can pull a girl," he replied, smirking and looking up into her eyes.
"Not that you've actually pulled yet," she added. "Not quite."
"Oh, I see." He winked and pulled her closer. "So you want me to?"
"If I say you can tell, can I get away from this situation?" She winked and he rolled his eyes.
"You love it really."
"You didn't answer my question."
He sighed. "I guess you could get away… Hang on, does this mean I can tell people?"
"I stand by my earlier point."
"Which was?" James had never been good at remembering things, she knew that much. How he managed to remember the rota was beyond her but he was always there on a Tuesday night for their patrols.
"There's no reason for anyone to know," she stated simply, removing his arms from around her waist and stepping back.
"Of course there-"
Lily interrupted him. "Your ego doesn't count. But I guess so, as long as you don't make a big deal out of it."
"I won't, but I can't speak for Padfoot."
Lily glared at him, but she was smiling. "Ah, well your boyfriend aside, I doubt this will be monumental news to anyone. There's no need to make a big deal out of it."
It was rather mundane the way in which Hogwarts discovered the relationship between their two Head students. The two of them had a free period the next day before Transfiguration. Needless to say, they hadn't been studying. They'd gotten a little carried away and ended up being late for McGonagall's lesson. Lily wandered in first, her face a now almost customary red and smiled at the professor.
"Would you care to explain to me why you are late this close to your NEWTs, Miss Evans?" the stern teacher questioned, staring at the Head Girl.
"Surely you need to know from both of us," James replied, "since I'm late too." He wanted to try and shift the explanation onto himself; Lily would get in a muddle, trip over her words and tell the teacher exactly what had happened.
"Potter, you're always late - I expect it. However, I don't expect it from Miss Evans, from whom I am still expecting an answer," the professor replied.
"I was doing stuff." She blushed, sliding into an empty seat and covering her face with her hair.
James turned and smirked at his friends before announcing, "I didn't realise you were calling me stuff now, Evans."
Everyone gasped rather loudly whilst Lily threw her head down on the table. The chatter in the classroom started to rise as everyone began discussing this new development.
"You know, I swear I caught them coming out of an empty classroom last week."
"No! James is mine!"
"Don't worry, there's always Sirius."
"I'm here for you ladies in this troubling time."
"Darn it, I owe Albus ten galleons and a packet of lemon drops."
James grinned and sat down next to his girlfriend, moving her sheath of hair so that it no longer covered her face. "Guess the cat's out of the bag, Evans."
She lifted her head from the desk and smiled. "Guess so, Potter. I guess you're not such an arrogant toerag after all."
"The highest of compliments." He grinned and held her hand under the table. "Sounds like we sealed a couple bets though."
"Indeed. My one true purpose in life, to ensure that Dumbledore gets his lemon drops."
"Oi, Evans! Can you help my with that bloody essay now that you don't have to secretly shag Prongs!?"
"Shut it mate, just because they aren't doing it secretly doesn't mean they aren't doing it!" Remus laughed, elbowing Sirius in the gut.
"Besides, it shows she can actually get someone to shag," James chipped in, whispering to Lily, "See, these bragging rights work both ways!"
"So you're bragging that I was a prude before you? Not only that but unwillingly?"
"All right, all right, I think that's enough commotion for one class, don't you?" McGonagall shouted. She needed to teach something today, and she didn't need these conversations going any further - even if it was just so she didn't find out she'd lost another bet.
"Alright Professor," Sirius grinned from the back row. "One more though. So James, is Lily a good Head Girl?"
James just nodded and Lily threw her head back down on the table, hoping that if she hit it hard enough she'd pass out and wouldn't have to endure any more of this teasing. She elbowed James as well - bragging was okay, but only up to a certain point.
"Oh bloody hell woman, that hurt." James gasped, looking down at Lily who giggled from her position. "Don't do that again."
"Why? Scared, Potter?"
It was safe to say that the entire castle knew of this new development by dinner and Sirius ensured those who didn't were informed immediately. He'd magically strung a banner to hang above the teacher's table which read the words "JAMES AND LILY SHAGGED", much to the disapproval of the teachers and the amusement of everybody else. There was no way anyone could take it down - every time one of the teachers tried, Peeves would make sure that the banner was replaced in a higher place.
"Nice announcement, Padfoot," James commented as he walked into the Great Hall, Lily one side of him and Sirius the other.
"I do try. It adds a certain… sophistication to the place, wouldn't you say?"
"Oh, definitely - gives a real feel of class and elegance."
Lily made no comment, just tried to hide her face as they walked in. Unfortunately, her hair made sure she couldn't hide.
People jeered as she walked to their usual spot, most of them happy but some of them less so. James' fan club were collected in a corner, sobbing into handkerchiefs. Sirius gave a grin to his friends and headed over to 'console' the girls.
"Trust him to be the one who stops their tears," James said.
"If he has his way, he'll do much more than that." Lily rolled her eyes, grateful to sit down. She couldn't help but laugh however, when she saw McGonagall regretfully hand over a pile of coins and a bag of lemon drops to Dumbledore. The headmaster grinned and winked at Lily when he saw her looking.
Dumbledore stood, a sparkle in his eyes as he popped one of the sweets in his mouth. "Some of you may have noticed the rather large addition to the Great Hall's decor above my head, courtesy of Mr Black." - he glanced over at McGonagall - "I would just like to personally thank these two students, as they have enabled me to win a bet whereby I have gained an extra bag of lemon drops." Sniggers went around the Hall.
"James Potter, Lily Evans, if you would like to come up to our table where I can thank you both with one of these delicious muggle inventions, as well as giving your house 100 extra points for this fantastic occasion."
"Really? The front of the hall?" Lily sighed as James tugged her up to the front.
Unfortunately, Snape had positioned himself at the front of the Slytherin table and the couple were subjected to his sneering. "100 points? If I got 100 points for shagging some mudblood..." His sentence trailed off as James turned towards him.
"That means someone would have to want to sleep with you Snivellus and let's face it, maybe a bottle of shampoo is needed before that happens," James said, chuckling.
Murmurs rippled through the Hall once again, with Sirius shouting his appreciation from the Gryffindor table and even some Slytherins laughing at James' comment.
"Here we go and congratulations." Dumbledore smiled, holding the bag out to the couple. Lily grinned and popped one in her mouth whilst James looked in fascination at the little round sweet.
"Does it do anything?" he asked Lily as they wandered back to their seats.
"Do anything?" she replied, looking at him oddly.
"Yeah, like a Fizzing Whizbee." He grinned, looking at her.
"Yeah, it makes you turn bright yellow for a week."
"You're not serious?"
"No, she's not, I'm Sirius!" the marauder piped up as the couple reached their usual spot.
"You make that joke one more time, Padfoot!" Remus growled at his friend.
"You're joking right Lils?" James turned back to his girlfriend.
"No. You don't know how much foundation Dumbledore has to use to hide his yellowness."
James looked at her in shock.
"It's muggle, James. It's not going to cause you to float - or to turn yellow, for that matter." She laughed before looking at him. "If you don't eat that, I will."
"Hands off, woman!" he exclaimed, placing the sweet in his mouth.
"That's not what you said earlier." With a wink, she sat down and turned to Marlene who was intent on asking her about every single detail of this new relationship.
"Hopefully I won't be saying it tonight either," he replied, but Lily had already stopped talking to him.