A Stag, A Punch and a Kiss

The sun was just beginning to rise into the sky, as James Potter turns and makes the three hundred and twelfth walk across the sixth year boys' dormitory. (Yes, his best friend and practically brother Sirius Black, was counting.) Their other friends, roommates, and fellow Marauders, were lounging across their own beds. Remus Lupin had his nose in a book (which was pretty typical for him) and Peter Pettigrew was half hidden under a pillow trying to tune out the noise James was making while talking to himself.

"I need to tell her. She wants to know me inside and out. I've been waiting for this for years…" James mumbled under his breath as he turned to cross the room again.

"MATE. You've been doing this all night long. We are exhausted. Shut it and sit down!" Sirius said, finally frustrated with his friend.

"You don't understand, Sirius! I need her to know. I need to tell her everything. I want her to know me and understand that I would do absolutely anything and everything for her. If that means telling her about Pron-"

"DON'T YOU EVEN GO THERE! That isn't just your secret to tell, Prongs. That's a whole Marauder secret, and by telling her about your animagus form, it will lead to telling her about ours too. Not to mention Remus' furry problem." Sirius grumbled.

"Well…" Remus mumbled from behind his book.

"Well what?" Sirius said, sitting up. James also stopped his pacing to look over at his friend, and Peter peeked out from under his pillow.

Remus sighed and set his book down on his bed. Rubbing his eyes, he said "Lily already knows about my lycanthropy."

"SHE WHAT!" James, Sirius and Peter shouted.

"Well," Remus began, "after being prefects together and doing all those rounds, we have become fairly close friends. Which you are all aware of so quit yelling at me. She guessed it though. She noticed that I was never able to do shifts together on the night of the full moon, or the following night. Plus, she has also been helping out in the hospital wing, so she has seen me there the day following the full moon. She asked me one night during rounds, and I told her."

"Wow, Moony. I can't believe you just admitted it!" Peter said, sounding shocked.

"So wait, Lily already knows about your fur days?" James asked, looking as stunned as if someone had thrown cold water on him.

"Yes, Prongs. She knows."

James turned to Sirius and yelled, "So WHY can't I tell Lily about my animagus form? Moony obviously trusts her, so you can't just blame it on me being crazy for her! She wants to know where I disappear to and I want to tell her!"

"Prongs, it's OUR thing! Why does she have to come between us?"

James stood, stunned again. Was this really what Sirius thought would happen if he told Lily the truth?

"Padfoot…" James began.

"Don't Prongs, just don't. If you feel like you have to tell her, then do what you need to do." Sirius said, as he got up off his bed and sulked out of the room, leaving a stunned silence in his wake.

After a few minutes, Remus spoke. "Listen Prongs, if you thing she needs to know, then tell her. I do trust Lily. I don't see her running off to tell Dumbledore about it. She does care about you, but you didn't hear that from me."

James shook his head as though to clear it, before saying "Moony, I love her. I've always loved her. You know that. I'd do anything for her. I want her to know everything about me. If that means telling her I'm an unregistered animagus, and having her punch me in the face, then so be it."

As James made his way back across the room to leave, Remus looked at Peter and whispered "if he is planning to do it the way I think he is, she may very well punch him in the face."

At dinner, James had walked up confidently to Lily and handed her a note. Lily looked up, confused and he winked at her before walking away. Shaking her head, Lily couldn't help but laugh at his antics.

"Well, Red? Are you going to open it or not?" Marlene McKinnon asked her best friend.

"But why Mar, when I could just leave the suspense hanging in the air?" Lily smirked.

"You know darn well that I am NOT above climbing over this table and yanking that note right from your hands, before screaming its message to all of the Great Hall, right?"

Lily sighed, "Yes Mar. I know. Hang on, will you? I'll open it right now."

Sliding the note onto her lap so she could read it before sharing with her rather nosey best friend, she opened the note and began to read:

Flower,

I was hoping that I could convince you to meet me tonight under the Marauder's tree by the Black Lake at 10pm? It's late, but I know you're just as capable of getting out of the castle at that time as I am. Hope to see you tonight!

Love, James

Lily couldn't help but grin as she handed the note to Marlene so she could read it too. She reached for a drink of her pumpkin juice as Marlene began to read the note.

"Oh Lily, you rebel. You're really going to go meet him, aren't you?"

"Yeah, I think I will Mar. He's right, I will have no problem getting out of the castle, plus I am rather intrigued to hear what he has to say. Normally he has no issue saying anything in front of everyone."

Now it was Marlene's turn to grin. "Oh Lily, when are you going to just admit it that you've got it bad? We all know you do. Just date the boy already!"

Lily rolled her eyes as she looked at her best friend and sighed. "Listen Mar, He's probably over me by now. He hasn't asked me out in ages, and I'm not going to set myself up to get denied. I'll just go and see what he says and call it a night, okay?"

"Yeah. Sure you will, Lily." Marlene said with a huge grin on her face.

Lily arrived at the tree that had been dubbed "the Marauder's tree" in second year, and sat down to wait for James. After a few minutes of just staring at the lake, she her a noise that made her turn quickly to her right towards the tree line. Out of the trees, came a stag. Lily was amazed, the creature was beautiful. She slowly got to her feet and took a cautious step toward him. Even though she knew she should be afraid, she felt completely safe with this wild animal.

After a few more slow and deliberate steps towards the stag, he too took a step towards her. Now they were only a few feet apart, Lily reached her hand up and stroked the head of this stag that had her so amazed. Most creatures aren't this tame around Hogwarts. "He's so cute," she thought. Then she looked up right into the eyes of the stag, and instantly took a step back. Those eyes. She knew those eyes. They were gorgeous, and the absolute most perfect shade of hazel that she has ever seen. She had only ever seen those eyes on one other person…

Suddenly there was a shift. The stag took a step back and began to change. Lily was in absolute shock and couldn't move, caught up in the craziness that was happening. (Though, she wasn't sure why she was still surprised about things like this at Hogwarts. After six years in the magical world, she assumed she would be used to it by now.) She began to panic. What was happening? Was she in danger? Should she run? During the moment it took for these thoughts to pass through her head, the stag was gone. In its place stood a very anxious looking James Potter.

A minute of silence passed between them. James decided he would try and break the awkwardness that was starting to come between them.

"Hey, Flower…" he began. Though he didn't get much more out because Lily had walked right up to him and punched him in the face.

"JAMES POTTER! How dare you? You practically gave me a heart attack! You tell me you want to talk to me and then you do this?!" Lily shouted.

"Wait, you're mad because I scared you? Not because I'm an unregistered animagus?" James asked, confused as he rubbed his face where she had hit him.

"Of course I'm mad because of that too! Don't you understand that this could get you arrested? It's ILLEGAL, James! How long have you been doing this? What made you decide to break the law in such a big way? I know you don't like rules and all, but this isn't just some silly school rule! Don't you…"

"LILY. You do need to breathe occasionally, you know." James said, grinning. He always liked when she got a little crazy about things.

"James. I just…I don't understand." Lily said, trying to contain herself so she could get some answers from him.

"Okay. I'll answer some of your questions. Yes I'm aware it's illegal. We've been doing this since last year. Though we have been trying for quite a few years before that. We did it so that we could help Remus. You know about his furry little problem, so you know that he is a danger to humans. Well, that's it. He's only dangerous to humans. So, the Marauders decided to become animagi so that we could keep him company during his transformations. It's been a big help to Remus. Helps him keep his head on a little straighter, you know?"

"James, don't you realize how dangerous that is? You guys could be hurt, or even killed!" Lily exclaimed, starting to panic at the thought of James being hurt in such a manor.

"Aww, Flower, you really do care!" James couldn't help but actually laugh out loud. He reached out, grabbed her around the waist, and spun her in a circle. So happy that he didn't get hexed into oblivion, since he is well aware that she is capable of doing just that to him.

"James!" Lily laughed too, "put me down this instant! Of course I care! I wouldn't know what to do if anything happened to you."

As soon as she said this, James stopped spinning. He looked her right in the eye, and asked her something he'd been wondering all year.

"Lily, why did you want to spend so much time getting to know me this year?"

Blushing, Lily took a deep breath and began "James, I wanted to get to know you. You are hilarious and such a good person. You've changed so much this year and, well, I kind of like you."

James stepped back, looking like she had punched him again. Staring at her, open mouthed, he wasn't able to get any words to form to respond to her.

"Look, I'm sorry. I know you've probably gotten over me by now. You haven't asked me out all year. We are finally friends and I don't want to mess that up, but I wanted you to know. I figured now was as good of a time as any to tell you. So I just…"

Lily's speech was interrupted as James reached out for her, grabbed her in his arms and kissed her. He kissed her like he had never kissed anyone before, because this was Lily. Lily Evans. The absolute love of his life, who had just said that she liked him. He was absolutely euphoric. Finally, he pulled away and looked down at a very stunned Lily. Finally, he asked her the question that he had been holding in all year, and that she had been waiting all year for him to ask.

"Lily Evans, will you go out with me?"