Disclaimer: See first chapter

A/N: To be totally honest, I'm not quite sure where this story will end, I think it'll be somewhere around Lily and James' wedding, so it should cover about three years of their lives. Obviously I'm not going to mention every detail, just some of the more important ones. This chapter is dedicated to ROPF who has, in part, given me motivation to continue writing.

The First Fight

Remus looked up from his book; Lily was pacing across the common room, hands waving in the air, muttering under her breath. Was there trouble in paradise? He glanced around the room: James and Sirius were no where to be seen.

"Something wrong, Lily?"

Sharply, her head turned towards him, "Is it that obvious?"

He patted the seat next to him, "Feel like sharing?"

"Do you have any idea what James just did?"

Oh boy, there was trouble in paradise. Remus hoped he wouldn't be asked for advice; he never understood why his friends always asked him for advice on relationships, "No, but I have a feeling you're going to tell me."

Lily and James had been dating for the past six months, since December. Now, the school year was almost over and they were about to leave Hogwarts for the last time.

"He asked me to move in with him." She plopped into the chair beside Remus and propped her head on her elbows.

"And this is bad?"

"We've only been dating for six months! Moving in is too big a step too soon. What if he wants something more out of our relationship? Something I refuse to give him?"

"The rumors proclaiming James a sex-god of Hogwarts are highly overrated. Have you tried telling him this?"

"That makes me feel so much better," she sarcastically quipped, "and he wouldn't listen."

"So what are you going to do then?"

"I was thinking of hitting him with a book, but I'm trying to control my temper."

"Haven't you and James had fights before?"

"That's different. We weren't dating then. And we haven't had any large fights since we started. We've argued about silly things, like what to do at Hogsmead, or if I want to work with someone other than him in class, but never on this scale before."

"Your wonderful red-haired, Irish temperament is just waiting to explode."

Lily glared at him. Not only did Remus tease her about her height, he also enjoyed commenting on her temper (he thought it was genetic) and bright red hair.

"I'll have you know that I'm only half-Irish. I can't help having a temper."

"I know you can't. So what are you going to do?"

"I don't know," she sighed, "he's already told his parents we're planning on getting an apartment. I haven't even met his family. When I mentioned that, he said I could spend a week with him and his parents over the summer before we moved into our lovely, mutually agreed on apartment."

"And you say I'm sarcastic. So the real problem is that James is making decisions without consulting you."

"Yes."

"Have you told him this bothers you?"

"Yes. But he changes the subject and I end up forgetting why I'm mad at him."

"That's probably because you love him."

"Yeah, don't tell him I said that."

"You haven't told him that you love him?"

"It's not like he's said it either,"

"But you do love him."

"Yes Remus. Will you stop mother-henning me?"

"All you had to do was ask. Besides, it's your job to be a mother-hen."

With a sneer worthy of Severus Snape, Lily huffed and turned away. Remus' chuckles grew louder and Lily looked back at him, eyes laughing.

Naturally, since things were getting on track, the moment had to be ruined. James and Sirius, with their wonderful timing, chose that moment to return to the common room. Lily's eyes grew cold once more and she stormed upstairs before James could say a word.

"Lily!" James shouted after her.

"Mate, you are a brave soul to even try," Sirius patted James' shoulder reassuringly, "Why are you two still dating?"

"Sirius," James warned.

"I know, I know. Give her a chance," he mimicked.

Suddenly, James drew Remus into the conversations, "Do you know why she's upset? Is there anyway I can fix it?"

"Have you tried talking to her?" Why couldn't his friends work this out themselves? He felt like he was repeating his entire conversation with Lily, all over again.

"Yeah, but she's always interrupting me. I'm really trying to make her happy. But every time that I try another idea, she gets more upset. What the hell am I supposed to do?"

Remus thought quickly. Clearly Lily and James had trouble communicating, "Have you tried listening?"

"Don't be absurd Moony. Evans clearly doesn't like Prongs' ideas. How will listening to her complain help him?"

"He could figure out why his ideas bother her," Remus retorted. He sincerely hoped that Sirius wouldn't offer advice. Sirius' advice usually ended with James getting slapped and Lily getting pissed off. He remembered Sirius' Valentine scheme from fifth year... he also remembered helping Lily plot revenge. Sirius aught to be banned from giving James advice. Though his intentions were good, they were not for maintaining long-term relationships. They tended to work for Sirius' short flings.

"Wait!" James realized, "she told you why she's mad at me!"

"No need to sound thrilled,"

"So you can tell me,"

"That goes against brother-sister confidentiality." He and Lily had watched muggle law shows on TV. Her strange sayings made a lot more since when he saw them in context. She had also made him watch the Wizard of Oz, but that was another story.

"Please?" James tried pouting. It was no where near successful. In fact, Remus had seen Lily's sister pout better than James.

"Pwease?" Sirius joined in the pouting, only marginally more successful. Remus nearly laughed at hearing the baby-lisp.

"This is something you need to work out with Lily, James. I can only give you advice. It's up to you to follow it."

"Then give me some advice I can use, Moony," James was frustrated now, not just upset.

"Leave him alone, James. It's not his fault." Lily came back downstairs, "I left my book down here," she explained.

"Then whose fault is it?"

"How about we not play the blame-game?" she snapped at James.

"Will you tell me what's wrong?"

"Are you going to listen?"

Sirius claimed the seat next to Remus, "It's like watching a duel. I bet three galleons on Evans walking away in tears,"

Remus looked at Sirius, astonished, "Isn't that a bit…cruel?" Sirius nodded, "In that case, I place two galleons on Lily stunning James to silence."

Sirius shook his hand, "You're on," and they both turned back to watch the "duel."

James was indignant, "What do you mean I never listen?"

"I've been trying to explain this to you, but you keep throwing out ideas that only make me madder,"

"Why?"

"You're making them without consulting me! You should have asked if I wanted to move in with you. You should have asked if I wanted to visit your parents. You're making plans without asking me! And it's becoming clear that you have no respect for me," she finished coldly.

"What! I respect you plenty Lily. Is there something wrong with me wanting to spend more time around you, be with you everyday? Do you have something against my parents? Or is it just against me?"

"I have nothing against your parents or you, James. It's just a very intimidating idea to spend a week with your boyfriend's family."

"What do you mean? It's traditional to meet your significant other's family."

"Traditional for whom? It'd be a heck of a lot more comfortable if it was more casual. Like, going out to dinner. Both of our families. It's a nice and short affair with minimal pressure on either of us."

James' shoulders heaved and Remus knew he understood. Lily and James came from opposite ends of the spectrum: one a muggleborn witch, the other a pureblood wizard. Heritage wasn't important to their relationship, but some of the things James considered normal were completely foreign to Lily.

"I hadn't thought of it like that, I'm sorry."

"I guess I could have reacted better."

"But, why don't you want to live with me?" Out of the two issues, this was the harder one to resolve. Although it would be terribly romantic if they moved in and lived happily-ever-after, it could blow up in their faces if they drove each other insane.

"James, Alice and I have planned on sharing an apartment near Diagon Alley since the end of last year. We've even found the right one and are going to move in the week after school's out."

"You didn't tell me this."

"You never gave me the chance. Absence makes the heart grow fonder, James. I have no idea whose quote that is, but I do know that I don't have to constantly be around you to know that I love you."

James gaped. He opened his mouth and then closed it. He tried again; he opened his mouth and still, nothing came out.

Remus nudged Sirius and whispered, "You owe me two galleons."

"You…you love me?" James stammered.

Lily bit her lip and looked up at James through her eyelashes, blushing, "Yes."

"That is… wow… I mean, that's amazing. I love you too, Lily." James blushed as well, his skin turning a red that put his Quidditch robes to shame.

"Come on, Moony. I have a feeling this is going to get excruciatingly sappy. Fast." Sirius cringed and dragged Remus back to their dorm.

"At least that's over for now, Padfoot. Who knows if we'll survive their next fight?"

"Course we will Moony. Besides, now that Evans is moving in with Alice, you, Prongs and I can get our own apartment."

"That's a situation we're far less likely to survive. Besides, isn't it illegal-?"

"For a werewolf to own an apartment? Yeah. But James and I figure we can bend the rules. We'll get a three bedroom, but only my name and James' name will go on the lease. After all, what's bending a stupid housing rule if you're already an illegal Animagus? No problem."

"I don't want to be a burden."

"You won't. You can do what you've always done as our roommate: make sure we clean up after ourselves, and remind us when we have to go somewhere, or if we have reports to write."

"You and James are both going to be aurors, aren't you?"

"Yeah. If it makes you feel better, you can be our live-in housekeeper. I'll even buy you an apron."

"That's not going to be necessary. Any idea what Prongs'll say to your plan?"

"He'll go along with it. It was our original plan, after all. Then he got it into his head that he and Lily could move in together and you saw where that went."

"You basically want me to free-load and clean?" Because he was a werewolf, no decent employer would give Remus a full-time job that could help pay rent. He hated the idea of living off of his friends.

"Nah. You'll find something to do, Remus. This isn't charity. You're a far better cook than us, and James and I need someone to knock some sense into us if necessary."

"You're sure?"

"Yes. Now stop being so paranoid."

"What about Peter?" Peter had been strangely absent for the past few hours. Sirius and James reckoned he'd found a girlfriend, but Remus doubted that. Peter had never been as involved in the Lily-James drama as Remus and Sirius were. Lily tried inviting Peter along on some of their group visits to Hogsmead, but Peter had slowly been drifting away to Merlin-knows-where.

"You know him. His mum can barely stand for him to go to school. Poor Peter is going to be stuck with his mother. We'll have to invite him over to get drunk sometime."

"Who's getting drunk?" James called while opening the door. Lily waved from behind him, before giving James a chaste kiss on the lips before going upstairs to her own dorm. Although her mussed hair and James' now-untucked shirt gave the impression that their "make-up" was no where near as innocent as the kiss.

"Peter," Sirius cheekily answered, "Now that you've got the apartment thingy worked out with Evans, I figured we could go back to our original, highly superior plan."

"Which plan? Do you mean the one where we acquire firewhisky from Madame Rosmerta, or where we three Marauders get an apartment?"

"Both!"

"Let's save the first plan for tomorrow. Do you need help convincing our dear friends Moony that we're not doing this out of charity?"

"Already done it."

James looked flabbergasted, "You did?"

"Yup, didn't I Moony?"

"Sure did, Padfoot."

James continued staring incredulously until he burst into laughter, followed by Sirius' bark-like chuckles.

As Remus joined in the chorus of laughter, he felt a twinge of sadness. He realized how easily happiness could be ruined if people refused to listen or speak up. He was relieved that Lily and James were still together, he only hoped it would continue to last and they could survive whatever challenges life threw.