It was end of term, 1977. There had been an attack not twelve hours ago. Twenty people had died; ten identified, ten mangled beyond identification. Aurors were looking into responsible parties, but everyone knew who it was. Everyone agreed how stupid the search was. The guilty party didn't leave their mark, but who else would have done it? Who else could have done it? Everyone knew it was Death Eaters, but no one seemed to want to be the one to say it.

So it happened to be a dark day at Hogwarts, and a dark night. People mourned the losses of family members and friends. No one was very chatty. The Gryffindor Common Room was nearly silent; the fire crackling in the gloomy silence.

Four old friends sat stoically on the furniture before the fire. The first, with long black hair and dark eyes, fiddled with his wand, twisting it around in his fingers, picking at the wood itself. The second, long sandy neither-here-nor-there-brown hair and funny scars all over his face pretended to read his book (but was really worrying about his family). The third, shortest and pudgiest of the four, rolled a snitch around the table-for he was sitting on the floor. The fourth and final, a messy mop of black hair and crooked glasses, held nothing, fiddled with nothing, was distracted by nothing. The final-a one James Potter-stared not at the fire, but at a flame-haired girl in his year, who had taken a seat at a table not too far from the couch upon which he was seated.

He could have said something-she was obviously distressed. He could have stood, gone to her, and comforted her. In his head, versions of this happened. In his head, he was shot down every time. He stayed where he was.

She-the flame-haired girl-only came down to the Common Room to avoid the uncomfortable crying of the other girls in her dorm with whom she was not well acquainted. Six years and she had still only managed a few friendly words, never getting to know the sobbing girl who'd lost her mother and brother. Her friends, of course, had gotten to know her. Her roommates were doing the comforting that she usually volunteered for. She-her name: Lily Evans-opted out in favor of the silence of the Commons.

She tried very hard, after choosing a seat close to the fire without being close to him, to ignore the eyes she felt trained on her. She felt his eyes-his wonderfully, gorgeous eyes-on her. For years, she had always pushed away her feelings for him. Somehow, in the recent months, he had managed to get under her skin. This distressed her very much.

James, as the boy in question, was nudged by the long haired one next to him, Sirius Black. "Eyes front, soldier." He remarked in an undertone.

"Bugger off." James muttered back, not taking his eyes off her.

"Just talk to her." Piped up the one with the strange scars; Remus Lupin.

"Brilliant work, Moony," James replied sarcastically. "Never thought of that."

"I can hear you." The three speaking froze. All were embarrassed, not thinking of the proximity between Lily and themselves, but James, who had still been staring at her, felt himself flush. He ran a hand through his hair, guilty.

"Sorry, Evans," Muttered the two who hadn't flushed. James sat silently for a moment, locking eyes with her. She looked different somehow. Her eyes were brighter than usual-and, Merlin, were they green. Her hair, usually neatly combed, was in a disorderly ponytail that hung low against her neck. Disorderly meaning she had flyaway strands nearly everywhere. She wore no makeup that James could see, and he could see every imperfection on her face (though he would argue, there were never any to begin with). Her clothes were nothing special, simply the uniform everyone wore, sans Gryffindor tie.

She'd never looked prettier.

"Who wants to play a game?" James asked quite suddenly. The whole of his mates and Lily all looked at him strangely.

"Right now?" The pudgy one, Peter Pettigrew, asked.

"Yes," James nodded, turning to Sirius. "Get your liquor, Padfoot."

"I don't have any liquor." But, all the same, he still rose with a smirk on his face, and left to the dorms.

"What are you playing?" Lily snorted, moving from her table to the empty chair across from the recently vacated other. "Drink all of Black's alcohol before the prefects catch you? Too late for that one, mate."

"Go get your mates, Evans." James grinned, mischievously. Lily, cocking an eyebrow, took a moment to respond.

"Why?"

"We need girls for the game."

"James Potter, are we playing a kissing game?" There was a spark of interest in her eyes.

"Get your mates and I'll tell you."

"Enigmatic," She laughed lightly, rising. James merely shrugged. With another laugh, she headed up her own dormitory stairs. He watched her leave. She had such a beautiful walk.

Nearly five minutes later, she came back down the stairs with three of her dorm mates: Dorcas Meadowes, Marlene Mckinnon, and Mary MacDonald. All four of the girls went to sit on the floor near the fire, where James and his mates had taken residence. Lily next to Marlene, Marlene to Mary, Mary to Peter, Peter to James, James to Remus, Remus to Dorcas, Dorcas to the empty spot where Sirius would sit, and Sirius's empty spot to Lily. James explained the rules of a game he'd made up the year before. He called it "Do it and Drink," and, essentially, when someone has the bottle, they say something they've done and if anyone in the circle hasn't done it, they have to drink. There were tricky things, too, like if two hadn't done something, they both had to do it together (note that unsavory things happened in this game). James was quite thrilled to be able to play it, seeing as though he hadn't in a year. He'd just finished explaining, when Sirius came down with a bottle. An empty bottle.

"Empty?" James complained from his new position on the floor.

"Haven't had a Hogsmeade run in ages." Sirius gave as only explanation to the emptiness. Remus looked relieved however.

"Got another game in mind then, Potter?" Lily tried to conceal the smirk on her face. Her eyes damn near twinkled with merriment, and James would have done anything to keep them like that. She never looked at him like that. He was desperate for her green eyes to look at him fondly, and when they did, he couldn't ignore the falling-through-the-air-flips his stomach did. He often wondered if she even felt a single butterfly. (She did. More often than she'd admit to, as well.)

"Just a classic," He tried to remain nonchalant, all the while trying not to stare at her (it wasn't working).

"Care to explain?" Mary piped up, from her seat next to Peter.

"Spin the bottle. A classic," James clarified for her. He watched everyone's reactions, as they were much to the same effect. Remus, Marlene, Mary, Sirius, and Peter all grinned in various stages of amusement and intrigue. However, James' eye lingered on Lily. Her reaction was measured, while being neither here nor there with desire to play or leave.

"Alright," She finally said, solidifying the group's agreement. James grinned and they all began to play. The game itself began with Peter spinning-outvoted, what a shame-and having the bottle land on Marlene. She rolled her eyes, and leaned around Mary, pecking him lightly on the lips. Lord knows Peter almost fainted, having nursed a miniature crush on the beautiful blonde since the start of term. He would never act on it though; partially because she knew and didn't reciprocate; partially because she was dating Sirius, and Peter would never, ever think of betraying his friend like that.

When Marlene spun, the bottle landed on her boyfriend. Sirius, with a sly smirk, casually slipped his wand into his robes. Anyone could have called him a cheater, but no one did. It was just a game after all. They kissed, lasting longer than they should for everyone else's comfort. Then, it was Sirius's turn. He landed on Dorcas, and she made a disgusted sort of face, only allowing a cheek kiss. So on the game went, the spin never once landing on James or Lily (on Sirius quite a bit, but no one made any comments about that).

Lily found herself watching James watch the bottle more than watching it herself. He was fascinated with what was happening, clearly. His hazel eyes danced with glee, and she-though, she would never admit it-very much wanted to kiss him then. He had nice lips...kissable lips. (When would that dratted bottle land on her?)

The bottle spun when Mary had it, slowing down and pointing directly at him. She spared a glance at Lily, barely masked embarrassment coloring her features. James was aware of Lily watching him, though he tried not to be. When Mary leaned forward, he kissed her quickly and both parties sat down again. Neither looking like they'd much enjoyed it. James took the bottle in his own hands, silently hoping it landed on the girl across from him.

It did not.

"Prongs, as much as I love you, you're going to have to re-spin." Everyone laughed at Sirius Black's comment, for that's where the bottle had stopped spinning.

"What's wrong, Padfoot?" James teased back. "Afraid to give into your desires and kiss me?"

"Hardly, but I don't think my girlfriend would much like it." He joked back. James, laughing and relieved to not have it land on someone else, took the bottle again and spun it much harder this time. It was a long few moments when it began to slow. The circle of friends began a low "ooohh" as it drifted ever so slowly-evilly slow, thought James-to the left. Then it stopped. But time didn't speed up. In fact, it may have slowed more, as she looked up from the bottle to James. He could have sworn his heart stopped beating for a good ten seconds.

She could have sworn she didn't breathe for twenty.

Leaning in, slowly but surely they made their way towards each other. The amusement of the circle died slowly. Centimeters apart...less...less...their lips were a breath away. She stared at his lips, he stared at her. He was close enough to see the light sprinkling of freckles across her nose and cheekbones. She could see the slight tan-line from his glasses. Beautiful, they both thought of the other. Then their lips touched, and it was like a whole different type of magic all together. Blank minds, all that registered was the other. They didn't just kiss though, that would be too simple. They properly snogged. Almost at the same moment, both parted their lips and allowed the other inside their mouth. Moving in sync, he found his hand hooking around the back of her head and holding her there; she placed both of her hands on the side of his face. Eyes shut, they breathed each other in, a natural give and taken beginning and it just...worked. They worked. There was no awful amount of effort that he had to give with any other snog he'd had. There was no forced movement she had to make to keep it interesting. It just was.

Someone cleared their throat. The two pulled away slowly from each other, staying very, very close, however. His glasses were crooked on his nose, and he had a stupid little smirk on his face. She grinned back at him, but neither wanted to be the first to move. They didn't have to worry about it though, again in sync, they sat back to their original spots.

The same someone cleared their throat again, it was Sirius. "Uh, Evans' spin," He said a little awkwardly. Lily reached for the bottle, head still full of giddy bubbles. She hadn't realized how much fun that would be. She spun and it landed, much to her dissatisfaction, on Remus. Remus leaned over and quickly pecked her cheek, to which Lily was grateful.

The game continued on, but James stared at her. He had just snogged Lily Evans. And she had clearly liked it. He definitely liked it. He ran a hand through his hair, messing it up like he always did. She looked so adorably flushed and flustered, barely paying any attention to anything. He tried to ignore the flare of jealousy that appeared briefly when she spun the bottle and it landed on Remus. He had almost kissed Remus himself, when all Lily got was a kiss on the cheek from him.

Sometime later, maybe ten minutes, maybe twenty, Mary yawned and declared she was going to go upstairs to sleep. She was followed shortly by a blushing Dorcas (Peter and she had just kissed). The other Marauders, Marlene and Lily continued to play, though. The others who had been in the Common Room had left much earlier in the night. Remus stood later and with an excuse about the late hour, dragged Peter and Sirius up to the boys' dorms. Marlene left a bit later, with a stretching-yawn and pat on the head of Lily.

It came to be just James and Lily sitting alone in the dwindling firelight. The kiss hardly forgotten by either party, but the memory shoved aside to ease the awkward. They sat in silence, empty bottle between them. He studied her studying him. Her eyes still managed to be bright green in the waning fire light. His eyes reflected the gold of the fire, with hints of blue, she noticed.

"We'd better get up there too." She said quietly after a minute.

"I guess so." He shrugged standing, and offering her a hand up. She took it, but didn't drop it once she'd stood. The two walked towards the stairs leading to the dorms, hand in hand (but neither of them really registered that). Standing at just the bottom of the stairs, Lily registered his hand in hers. She was acutely aware of the calluses that decorated his palm, and the firmness with which he held hers. And the firmness with which she held his. She loosened her grip, and James, taking the movement the wrong way dropped her hand awkwardly. She almost verbally protested, but did not.

"That was fun." She remarked, looking everywhere but him. She took a few steps backwards; the close proximity was throwing her head for a loop.

"Fun," He echoed.

"Well... Good night." She turned to leave.

"Bloody hell, Evans, you're just going to leave?" James said frustrated, stopping her by reaching out for her arm. He gripped her wrist tightly, and she turned back, unsure of what to say. There was a beat of silence before Lily managed to come up with a-weak-retort.

"Do you kiss your mum with that mouth, Potter?"

Suddenly as it appeared, all his frustration dropped from his face and was replaced with nothing less than the typical-James-Potter-smirk. "No, but I kiss you with this mouth."

She scoffed. "Not likely." She was leaning in. Why was she leaning in? Maybe it was because he was quite handsome in the moonlight the filtered through the window. Maybe it was because of those damnable feelings. He was leaning in too. He was going to meet her halfway. Why wasn't she stopping him? Why wasn't he stopping himself? Their lips met again for the second time that night. All thoughts of a possible fluke concerning how well they-or their lips-worked together were out the window. This kiss was just as good, if not better, than its predecessor.

James could hardly believe it. He was getting to snog Lily Evans again. He had been trying to get her to kiss him since he'd realized girls were most definitely worth his time. And somehow, in the span of an hour, they'd kissed twice.

Lily could hardly understand it. She was snogging James Potter again. She had been denying his advances (not earnestly) since she could remember. Yet somehow, in the span of an hour, she'd come to terms with her feelings, and kissed him twice.

Again, they both pulled away at the same time with silly expressions on their faces. They bid each other goodnight, but didn't turn immediately to their respective stairs. James leaned down, pressing his lips to Lily's one last, quick time.

"Night, Lily."

"Good night, James."

They went to sleep that night thinking of the other. Thinking of the train ride home the next day, and having to face the grim reality of the recent deaths. James thought that this was a onetime thing, and Lily would avoid him during the summer and barely talk to him once Seventh Year began. He desperately hoped that it wouldn't be that she'd at least write. They were mates either way, right? Lily, on the other hand had a different idea of what had happened. She was terrified of the new door they had opened, but she wasn't going to shut it. She planned-and did-write him all summer. They even met up a few times (snogged a few times too). They didn't consider themselves in a relationship, just dating casually.

Once the school year had begun, Lily and James spent more and more time together as Head Boy and Girl. They decided to make it official sometime around Halloween, and stayed together. Sirius and Marlene broke up and got together and broke up again. Peter dated Dorcas for a few weeks. No one expected Lily and James to last, except maybe their closest friends. Some Ravenclaws bet on how long it would last, and no one bet longer than the term.

Proved them wrong, didn't they.

AUTHORS NOTE: hi guys! this is my first fic upload on here so I would LOVE IT if you shared it with your friends! Also, can I get a review maybe? Please? Pretty please with a new Harry Potter movie on top?

Disclaimer and all that: I don't own Harry Potter or any characters mentioned in this. (pretty sure I didn't have any oc's) Props to JKR and love to WB for wonderful movies. (also a plea for a Marauders Era movie?)