Disclaimer: Yeah, still don't own anything.

First Date

"I can't believe you are going on a date with James Potter." Alice said as she ran a brush through Lily's hair.

Lily just looked at Alice in the mirror and smiled. Marlene snorted from Lily's bed where she was flipping through a copy of Witch Weekly.

"Like it matters. Have you seen the way he's been staring at her? He wouldn't care if she wore complete rubbish… or better yet, nothing at all."

A blush tinted Lily's cheeks, as her smile grew even wider. Alice and Marlene had come up to her room in order to help her get ready for her first date with James. Even though Lily wasn't planning on doing anything extravagant to her appearance, Alice insisted that she and Marlene would come up to help because "That's what girls do, Lily!"

Several outfits after the arrival of her friends, Alice was pulling a few pieces of Lily's hair back to see what would look the best. Marlene was really just reading the magazine, but Lily appreciated her presence all the same. Despite the fact that it was Halloween, and had already kissed James, there were numerous butterflies in her stomach at the mere thought of spending the entire Hogsmeade visit with. Would there be time for a kiss like the other night? She certainly hoped so.

A stupidly happy smile appeared on her face as she looked in the mirror. Everything was coming together, hopefully.

"Oh look. Now Lily's got the same face James does whenever he hears her name." said Marlene, glancing up to look at Lily's reflection.

"Oh, hush Marlene! She has every right to look like that. Now Lily. How did he ask you out again?"

"Well," began Lily. "Like I've told you, it wasn't anything special. He just asked while we were lying on the couch."

Marlene's head shot up at once. "Lying? As in lying down? What do you mean lying? I thought you were just sitting!"

Lily's cheeks flamed. "Yes, sitting, that's what I meant"

"You really are and awful liar, Lil" said Alice. "How about the unedited version this time?"

Lily smiled. It was just Alice and Marlene, her two best friends. She could tell them the truth. She knew they wouldn't feed it to the Hogwarts gossip mill, which was already buzzing about the upcoming date between the two head students.

"Well, it started earlier that night. We were doing homework, and I couldn't focus, so James took me down to the kitchens for some hot chocolate."

Marlene snorted again. "Lily, I thought this was your first date? Not the kitchens!"

"It is today! I didn't even know he liked me when we went to the kitchens! It was just convenient at the mo-"

"Lily," Alice stopped her. "We know, today is your first real date with James. Please continue."

"Well, when we came back… two hours later, mind you, everything was just so nice. I was comfy, and the common room was so warm, and we were sitting in front of the fire…" Lily trailed off.

"But I still wasn't sure he liked me. I mean, I know he's asked me out a few times before, but I always thought it was more about the chase than me. I thought he just gave up, or grew out of it."

At his point Alice and Marlene exchanged a look. Through the first two months of the school year, Lily alone could miss the delighted smiles that graced James' face whenever she spoke to him, asked him a question, or even the largest smile of all, the one that appeared whenever she called him James instead of Potter.

Ignoring her two friends, Lily continued. "So then we just kept talking, and somewhere along there he told me that I belong with him." Lily blushed. She loved her friends, and trusted them, but there was no reason to worry them with her deepest fear, and what had actually prompted James to tell her this. Not to mention, should she mention that she ever questioned her belonging in the wizarding world, each of them would be personally insulted.

Alice squealed. "Oh Lily, how romantic!"

Even Marlene was looking at her expectantly; the magazine lay forgotten next to her, "What happened next?"

"Oh don't laugh, either of you. I… well, I just kissed him."

Even Marlene squealed this time and fell off the bed. Alice's jaw dropped. "You, Lily Evans, kissed James Potter?" She asked with a note of disbelief.

Lily just nodded and blushed.

Marlene regained composure first. "Well, that explains the looks we've been witnessing, wouldn't you say so, Alice?" She said with a smirk.

"Yes, of course" replied Alice, still with a little bit of disbelief in her voice. "But that still doesn't explain how he asked you out"

"Well, at that point we were sitting rather close… he had his arm around me." Said Lily, still blushing. "I suppose we weren't really laying down, but we weren't really sitting... Anyways, he then just asked, and I said yes. It was simple."

"Of course it was simple, you had already kissed him!" said Alice.

"I know, but he was just so James, and he made me feel so nice. I'm not sure how it happened, I wasn't even really thinking. I just… acted." Said Lily, attempting to justify her actions.

Marlene and Alice exchanged a smile. They were happy that Lily was happy, especially that she was happy with James.

"That sounds perfect, Lil" said Alice. "Now, I believe my work is complete, and you have approximately 15 minutes to meet James"

Lily looked in the mirror. Pieces of her hair were pinned back on each side. It was nothing extravagant, but it looked nice. Her dark red hair fell nicely against her cream colored jumper, which worked well with her brown pants.

"Okay. Thank you, Alice" said Lily, standing up.

"You look nice Lily," said Marlene "But it's not like it matters. Like I said, James would be all over you regardless."

Lily just blushed and grabbed her cloak as the three of them left Lily's room. Lily went off to meet James in the entrance hall, Alice, to meet Frank in the common room, and Marlene, to meet up with some other friends to spend the day with.

As they walked through the common room, Alice immediately left the group to go find Frank, saying goodbye to her friends and promising to look for them in the village.

Suddenly they were interrupted by a loud voice.

"OI! McKinnon!" They both looked up to the source of the voice, both surprised to see it was Sirius Black.

"Hello Lily. You look lovely. Prongs will be thrilled. Actually, Prongs will be thrilled that you showed up." Said Sirius, causing Lily to blush. "Now McKinnon, could I have a word?"

Marlene just shrugged and said her goodbye to Lily, then followed Sirius to the other side of the common room.

As Lily walked towards the entrance hall, she thought about the upcoming day. It was Halloween, and there was the feast later. She was going on a date with James Potter. She was nervous, yes, but there was something else there- excitement. Lily was excited for her date with James.

She had thought about what it would be like to be with James earlier in the year. She knew it would be different. She also knew it would be impossible to find any intermediate stage, between their friends, history, and the head situation. In Lily's eyes, James Potter was all or nothing, in terms of romance. She was ready for all, if he would have her. She smiled as her thoughts once again came to the kiss just a week ago.

All too soon, she reached the entrance hall and her eyes immediately sought a tall head of unruly hair.

Seeing one such head at the other side of the hall, she quickly made her way towards him, side stepping other Hogwarts students searching for their friends or dates, silently thankful James' height made him easy to spot.

When she found him, he was talking to a Ravenclaw fourth year, who she believed was on the Quidditch team.

Therefore, she wasn't surprised when she caught the words "Quaffle" "Chasers" and "World Cup" before she was near enough to poke James in the back. He turned to look at her and his smile grew as he took her in.

He put his hand on the small of her back as he spoke, "Lily! Hi! Do you know Jeff Mackard? Jeff, this is Lily, my date."

Jeff and Lily shook hands, and then James asked "Ready to go then?"

Lily just nodded. As they waited to be signed out by Flich, James asked if there was anything specific she needed from Hogsmeade. She replied that there was nothing particular she needed and talk of other things picked up as they started the walk to Hogsmeade.

About half way there, Lily shivered and wished she had thought to grab her scarf. Before she took another step, a scarf was suddenly wrapped around her neck and she looked up at James with questioning eyes.

He shrugged and smiled "You looked cold. We can't have you being cold on our first date! That might hurt my chances of getting a second one."

Lily blushed and said her thanks and the pair continued walking. Yet, before they could take more than a few more steps, Lily grabbed James' hand. This time she did not miss the grin that appeared on his face.

The both looked at each other, smiled, then looked away, in a classic first date fashion.

By the time the pair reached Hogsmeade, Lily had tears in her eyes from laughing so hard as James told the story about the time Sirius had laced Remus' pumpkin juice with a singing potion, and Remus had drank half of it without realizing what was in it.

James retold the story, complete with a light impersonation of Remus trying to yell at Sirius, but it coming out more like a Wilfred and the Warlocks song. Lily was absolutely dying from laugher, while James just smiled, thrilled that he could make her laugh.

As they approached the village, they decided to visit Honeydukes first. As they browsed the colorful sweets, they flirted and learned about each other.

James was partial to Bertie Botts Every Flavored Beans, claiming, "What's life, without a little mystery?" while Lily preferred Chocolate frogs. "The cards are the best part! Think of all the people you wouldn't have ever heard about, had they not been on a chocolate frog card!"

But, James pointed out, they probably have heard about them in History of Magic. They just didn't pay attention.

As they came across acid pops, they found neither of them cared for them much. James didn't care for the grape flavor they came in "Grape tastes like medicine!" he exclaimed. Lily had a better reason.

With a slight blush on her cheeks, she told James about the time first year, when she had one in the common room, then she noticed a whole in her tongue. She ran the entire way to Madam Pomfry, then frantically explained there was a whole in her tongue, before Madam Pomfry asked if she was all right, or if she had been spending too much in the potions dungeon, then offered her a calming drought.

By the time she finished her story, James was laughing so heartily, she couldn't help but laugh with him. As they stood there, laughing in the corner of Honeydukes, when James removed his hand from hers to put her arm around her. He pulled her close and kissed her head.

"Oh Lily, next time you need help in the sweet department, I'm at your service" he said, still laughing.

"Oh, come on James! I was 11! And muggleborn! I'd never even heard of an acid pop before!" Said Lily, blushing, though that was more from James' kiss than embarrassment over acid pops.

James asked if she was hungry enough for lunch as they stepped outside the shop. "Yes, I could eat." She replied.

"So," James began, appearing more nervous than he had at any other point today, running a hand through his already messy hair.

"Where would you like to eat? We could go to the three broomsticks, or, if you want, Madam Pudifoots" said James, unable to keep a slight grimace off his face as he mentioned Madam Pudifoots.

Lily had to bite her lip to keep from laughing. Could James honestly think she would prefer Madam Pudifoots to Three Broomsticks? He was mad. Instead of telling him so, she pretended to mull it over.

"Well, you know how much I like frill and lace… but the Three Broomsticks does have a better fish and chips. But then again, what's a first date without a little frill and lace?"

James bowed his head in defeat, bracing himself for the teashop of love, hoping Lily would appreciate the sacrifice of his masculinity.

"A good one" Lily answered her own question, snapping James out of his dread.

"What?"

"A first date without frill and lace. It's a good date." Lily replied, laughing. "Oh, James, you should have seen the look on your face!"

James laughed too and reached for her hand, "It's not my fault I believed you! Who would have thought? Lily Evans pulled one over on a marauder. Now I've seen it all!"

Lily was still giggling as she walked with James to the Three Broomsticks.

As they were sitting in a booth, sipping their Butterbeers and talking easily, they both glanced up as two more bodies joined them in the booth. James and Lily were equally startled to see Marlene and Sirius had joined them at their table.

"LILY PAD!" Cried Sirius, taking Lily's hands.

"PRONGS!" cried Marlene, throwing her arms around James.

After a moment of shock, James shimmied away from Marlene and addressed Sirius harshly.

"Padfoot, what the hell do you think you're doing? I'm on a DATE!"

"Oh, is that what you called this? We thought it was just too platonic friends sharing a Butterbeer."

"You… what?" Asked James, even more confusion in his voice.

"Well it certainly didn't look like a date. You weren't holding hands or anything." Said Marlene as she smirked at Lily

"So there's no reason to leave you two alone if it wasn't a date!" finished Sirius.

Lily just looked at James, leaned over the table to whisper. "What are they on about?"

"No idea." Said James, glaring at Sirius who was simply smiling at the platonic friends having a Butterbeer.

"Sirius," said James, "what's it going to take for you to let us be?"

"Why should I? I'm mad at you, you know, Prongs. You said you had a date. After all the outfits, the pep talk, and even the cologne, I just would have thought-"

"Wait, he did all of that? You should have seen Lily this morning; she was just wearing a stupid smile while Alice was doing her hair. It took forever to find her an outfit. I suggested James would prefer her to wear nothing at all, bu-"

"MARLENE!" Cried Lily, successfully shutting her friend up.

"So really, Prongs, to answer your question, we really are just feeling a wee bit lied too"

"You two are ridiculous!" said Lily. "Of course this is a date! Do I typically have lunch with random platonic blokes? Do I let random platonic blokes put their arms around me? Do I try to hold hands with random platonic blokes? Do I tell random platonic blokes about the acid pop incident?" Lily finished with a glare at Marlene.

Marlene, Sirius, and James all just stared at Lily Evans. Marlene and Sirius with a look of total surprise, and James with a rather goofy smile on his face.

"Okay, well, we'll just be going then" said Marlene as she got up, and pulled Sirius up by the collar of his shirt to the door, then raced out of the pub.

Lily just looked down and her shoulders shook. James, thinking she was crying, quickly came to sit next to her, with a worried expression.

"I'm so sorry, Lily-" he stopped when she looked up at him, her face red with suppressed laughter.

"James, we have the strangest friends in the history of Hogwarts." She said, her voice shaking with laughter.

James smiled and pulled her to him and hugged her "Yes, Lily, I'm afraid we do"

He released her and went back to his side of the table just as their meals arrived. As they ate, they talked about their friends, and the crazy stories that they (particularly the marauders) have accumulated over the years.

When James got up to pay the bill, Lily sat there and reflected on the day with James. It had been so nice, so natural, and he had been such a wonderful date. This might actually be the best date she had ever been on, if she did say so herself.

As James reappeared in front of her, Lily just smiled and quickly stood on her tiptoes to kiss his cheek. James looked gob smacked.

"What was that for?" he asked her, smiling down at her.

"Today. Being you. Thank you for today."

"Evans, you didn't think the date was over already, did you? I haven't even given you the tour!"

"Of course not! But tour of what? We're in Hogsmeade…"

"Yes, but you haven't seen the marauder version of Hogsmeade!" said James, as though it were obvious.

Lily snorted. "If you say so, James"

The marauder version of Hogsmeade primarily consisted of the Shrieking Shack and Zonkos, both places Lily had been before, but never with James' commentary. It wasn't long before she was clutching her side from laughing so hard. Eventually, the couple made their way back towards to castle to enjoy the feast, hand in hand.

Somewhere near the lake James paused, and Lily did too.

"Evans," James began before correcting himself. "Lily"

The girl in question just eyed him expectantly, grinning.

"Did you mean what you said earlier?"

It took Lily a moment to realize what he was talking about. "You mean to Marlene and Sirius? Yes, of course I did. Today has been wonderful, James."

James smiled and kissed her forehead. "Do you think we could do it again sometime?"

"As what, exactly?" she asked, feeling her thoughts and fears of earlier coming to light. She wouldn't' do casual with James, she couldn't. She contemplated agreeing to go on another casual date and dropping the subject, but she couldn't. It was James. She needed to know.

"What do you mean?" he asked, genuinely not knowing and worrying she would turn him down.

Lily sighed. "James, its you and me. We're heads. We're friends. We have… history. I don't think I can do casual dating. Not with you anyways." She lowered her head and stared at her shoes.

James was silent for a minute. "But you went on a date with me today…." Said James as he lifted her head to look at him.

"I did." Lily stated, with a soft smile.

"You like me?" He asked, tentatively.

"I do."

"You want me? Seriously? As a boyfriend?"

"Yes, I think I'd like that." Said Lily, a blush covering her entire face.

James was silent for a moment before the largest, biggest smile Lily had ever seen appeared on his face. He looked so genuinely happy in that moment, with his hands on her shoulders, his glasses slightly askew, and his black hair messier than ever, Lily felt the butterflies explode as she returned his smile, with equal happiness.

Before she could even register what was happening, James had picked her up and spun her around, both of them laughing.

Neither of them let go, even after he put her down.

"Lily, would you be my girlfriend?"

"Yes, James, I would like that. Very much."

After grinning at each other like idiots, James' face inched closer to hers, as Lily tilted hers up to meet his.

When their lips touched, it began as soft and gentle as it had been a few nights ago, but not for long. With one hand around his neck and the other playing with his hair, she could feel James' excitement radiating from him as he used one hand to pull her closer the ran the other hand through her hair. As his lips began to move a little faster. Soon, she felt his tough lightly tracer her bottom lip, asking for entrance. She readily agreed.

Eventually they broke apart, both a little out of breath, both smiling.

"Condition." Said Lily, face flushed and her voice wavering.

"Huh?" asked James as he looked into her eyes.

"I have a condition for being your girlfriend."

James smile faltered for a second.

"That needs to be a daily occurrence."

James grin returned as he pulled her closer.

"That," he kissed her forehead.

"I think," he kissed her right cheek.

"I", he kissed her other cheek.

"Can" he kissed her nose.

"Do." He finished, kissing her lightly on the lips.

As they stood there, staring at each other, they were interrupted by the clapping of two unwanted people.

Simultaneously, James and Lily both looked to see Sirius and Marlene high-fiving.

"Come on, love birds!" called Sirius. "The feast is going to start soon!"

"Of course, now he believes us," muttered Lily as she leaned up to kiss James, quickly before taking his hand and walking over to join Sirius and Marlene as the four made their way to the Halloween feast.

An hour later, Lily could be found sitting between James and Alice, across from Marlene, surrounded by Frank, Remus, and Peter. Lily looked at all of her friends, and her new boyfriend and smiled. Everyone was talking, joking and laughing. With the floating pumpkins and the bats fluttering overhead, it was hard not to be overcome joy. She was content. This was where she belonged.

She grabbed James' hand under the table and whispered "you were right."

Chewing a mouthful of treacle tart, James smiled and raised an eyebrow in question. She simply kissed his cheek and said "Later."

"OI! Just because I've given my approval, doesn't mean you can snog at the dinner table!" exclaimed Sirius, loudly, gaining the attention of all in proximity.

Lily turned red, but James chocked. "Padfoot, I hardly need your permission to date Evans. Actually, I'd like to see you try to stop me dating Lily. Also, if that is your definition of snogging, I think we may have bigger problems."

Those paying attention laughed and Sirius merely scoffed and resumed conversation with Marlene. James squeezed Lily's hand under the table.

As the feast came to a close, Dumbledore stood and said a few words, celebrating another Halloween, and expressing his wish that every student had managed to have some type of fun that day. Lily might have imagined it, but she thought his twinkling eyes lingered over her and James a moment too long.

As the students got up to head back to their common rooms, Lily felt a hand on her shoulder. She turned around to look, but nobody was there. Before she even took a step, she felt a familiar piece of fabric being thrown over her and James appeared standing much too close for her to form coherent thoughts.

"James?" she asked.

"Come with me, Lily." Before she could even respond, he took her hand and began jogging the opposite direction of the Gryffindor common room.

"Where are we going?" asked Lily, laughing at the absurdity of the situation.

"You'll see!" said James.

Eventually they slowed down a little, and Lily tried to ask again, but James just smiled and mimicked zipping his lips.

A few minutes later, Lily realized they were climbing up to the astronomy tower. She stopped cold, suddenly overcome with fear. "Oh, James, we'll be in so much trouble if we get caught!"

He smirked. "Who said anything about getting caught, Evans? We're invisible, remember?"

Lily looked sheepish and blushed. "I forgot about that"

James chuckled and kissed her.

"You're cute when you blush" he said as he tucked a piece of her hair behind her ear. "But hurry, or we'll miss it!"

"Miss what?"

"Lily…"

"Okay, okay! I'm coming!"

The second the pair opened the door; they were met by a chilly breeze. Lily shivered and James pulled her close. He made his way over to the edge, and positioned Lily so she was looking over the edge, before standing behind her and wrapping his hands around her and resting his head on hers. As much as Lily liked the feeling of being in James' arms, she couldn't help but think this isn't why he brought her up there.

Before she had time to ask another question, James let go with one hand and pointed to down to the front door.

"Look"

Over the lake the sun was setting. It was brilliant, with various shades of orange, yellow, and red, all mixed in one. Suddenly, Lily noticed a rather loud chirping sound and looked down, only to find all of the bats that had previously been in the great hall fly out the front doors in one large, black cloud heading stratight towards the sun.

Lily sighed contentedly and turned to face James.

"What did you mean earlier?" inquired James.

Ignoring the blush still on her face, Lily moved away enough to look him in the eye.

"The other night. You said I belonged here, with you. You were right."

He smiled and pulled her close, thinking he was the luckiest man in the world. So he told her just that.

She just hugged him tighter, enjoying the feeling of his arms, and mumbled "no, you're not. Not because of me, at least."

James frowned and held her at arms length so he could look her in the eyes.

"Lily, are you daft? Do you really have no idea? I've liked you for so long, but it just hasn't worked before. All year, I've been trying to prove I've changed, and I'm getting better. Until the other night, I had no idea you'd developed any feelings other than tolerance for me. It's you, Lily, it's always been you." He paused and took a breath, looking away.

"You know, I tried to get over you. I think I've been on more first dates than any other bloke except for Sirius. But it didn't matter. None of them had dark red hair, or green eyes. None of them had your laugh, or your smile. None of them were the right combination of kindness, stubbornness, intelligence, and so many other things. None of them were you. So yes, Lily, right now, I am here with you, and I am the luckiest man in the world." He finished, looking at her again.

Lily couldn't help the single tear that ran down her cheek, but James halted its progress before it could get very far.

"Don't cry Lily. Please don't cry."

"All this time, I thought it was only the chase. I never stopped to think you actually cared for me. If I had known we could have had months, or even years full of days like today. I'm sorry James."

"You have nothing to be sorry about." He stated firmly. "Every single thing you said about me was true. I was too arrogant. I was obnoxious. I didn't realize until recently how wrong I was for taunting the defenseless. You helped me figure it out" he finished with a small smile.

They stood there a while longer, neither paying much attention, with Lily holding James tight and James' arms wrapped protectively around Lily. Eventually, they made their way back to the common room.

There they found most of their seventh year friends, taking up the space in front of the fire. Marlene and Sirius were sprawled in front of the fire, a game of wizard's chess between them, as Peter watched. Remus sat in one chair, reading a book while Alice and Frank took up the couch thumbing through a magazine together.

James led Lily to a chair and sat down, pulling her on his lap. She smiled as she laid her head on his shoulder and observed her friends, and whished the moment could stay like this forever.

"Where were you too? Patrolling the broom cupboards, eh?" Asked Sirius, with his trademark smirk.

James rolled his eyes and took his bait, and the two began a friendly verbal sparing match.

Lily sighed and burrowed closer to James. No, she wouldn't change anything, even if she could.

AN: Sorry guys, I don't think this was as good as the last part. I feel like I have some good ideas in my head, but the translation to paper ins't that smooth.

Any feedback is welcome!