"It's going to be a huge success!"

James smiled proudly as Sirius finished explaining to them their next wave of trouble making. He glanced over at the table where Lily was reading one of the many library books she had returned with, in earshot of their plotting. A tiny dimple disrupted the usual smooth plain of her cheek; she knew what they were up to. A fact that used to put James on edge, this time around it made a different kind of pride well up inside of him. Taking a year to actually get to know the object of his affection had proven to be beneficial in countless ways.

Most notably, detentions were down significantly between all four of them now that he knew what things he could get away with that didn't infuriate the red head into assigning them herself (contrary to what he thought, being Head Boy had nothing to do with it). At the same time, he'd succeeded with worlds of help from Sirius, in unlodging that stick up her arse that McGonagall found so admirable. They balanced each other out, some of his mischief spicing up her life and some of her levelheaded maturity deflating his head (a reasonable amount, mind you, it was hard to ignore when one was so fantastic).

That little dimple was proof enough that the entirety of sixth year had paid off. She was holding back her approving smile, still too proud to admit that he'd gotten under her skin. That tiny depression of skin had him mentally restraining himself from going over to her, enjoying a pleasant evening of teasing banter, and ravishing her in unspeakable ways. Old fashioned as she was, his mother had instilled upon (beat into) the morals of a proper gentleman when it came to premarital… well anything, really. But break his heart if Lily had other views.

"Prongs," Sirius whined in a drawling voice. James snapped himself back from the enjoyable (explicit) images running through his mind. Sirius gave a heaving sigh as if James' obvious attentions were a great annoyance to him. James knew better. A lopsided grin split his face as his best friend leaned heavily on the back of the couch to look around James.

"Oi! Evans! Will you stop being so bloody attractive?" he called. Lily dropped her textbook back onto the table, forehead falling to her hand with a disbelieving laugh. James almost felt bad for embarrassing her in front of girls that had been starving for Sirius' attention. Almost. It never failed to amuse him when her smiling face lit up like a Christmas tree.

"That's so much more enjoyable now that she doesn't yell at us or storm out of the room," Sirius said, obviously pleased with himself as he unceremoniously flopped back down. "Good job on bagging that one… oh wait." He found it worthy of a loud laugh when James punched his arm.

"He might as well be dating her with the amount of time they spend together being sickeningly adorable," Remus commented from his chair next to them.

"So glad you think I'm adorable, Moony," James teased. "But really, that's what I've been thinking. I think it's time again. Operation Convince Lily Evans to Marry me is in effect as of… now."

"What ever happened to Operation Convince Lily Evans to Shag You?" Peter quipped.

"Or, more importantly, Operation Convince Lily Evans to Date You," Remus interjected. "James, just because you're eager to marry your Hogwarts sweetheart doesn't mean Lily is ready to marry someone she's never dated."

James waved his hand to dismiss that as trivial information. "It's an Operation of several steps. And you'll be glad to note that this time around I might actually listen to your advice."

Sirius nodded at this. "Lily has always had a soft spot for Moony. Listening would be wise."

"Lily has had a soft spot for most everyone but you two until last year." Remus pointed out.

"Although she's always been rather fond of me. I could lend you some fantastic advice," Sirius offered as if Remus hadn't said anything.

"Of all the people at Hogwarts I'm glad it's the heartthrob to offer his services. It'll be a success before the year is out!"

"Why do I even bother," Remus scoffed, though he knew they were purposely giving him a hard time; that was their second favorite past time net to Lily-teasing.

James tried not to bug her too much that evening, though; the last day of their practice N.E.W.T.s was tomorrow and after that would be a late night at Hogsmeade. He'd been as nice as he could all week to ease the stress in hopes that she would notice. That was part of step one; get her to notice. His evolution from snot-nosed fifth year to suave, debonair sixth year had worked wonders.

Now all he had to do was introduce his burning desire into the delicate balance that was their current relationship: friends. Best friends. Remus had been right when he said that they were basically dating, especially since seventh year had started and they began working together every day. The teasing, the touching, the tolerance. Since September, he never feared her reaction when he wrapped an arm around her shoulders in the hallway. Since November, she had even taken to occasionally reciprocating it with an arm around his back. Every class, every meal, free time, evenings, studying, meetings- he had trouble thinking of times when they weren't together. Full moons and times like now, when goofing around with just his best mates was long overdue.

What worried him was her reaction when he asked her to Hogsmeade after class. Past experience hadn't exactly conditioned him to think it'd go very well…

The train of his secret worries was broken when Marlene came stomping into the common room in a fashion very unlike her warm, cheery demeanor. She went right up to Lily, obviously unhappy. James had half a mind to stop her before she ruined his entire plan of keeping Lily stress-free.

"He's out there again," was all Marlene ground out before taking a seat at the table. James stiffened, his mind flashing to the night during O.W.L.s when Lily had returned visibly upset from a confrontation with him. And maybe she could sense his unease, because not a second after that memory occurred to him did green eyes flicker over to meet his. He watched her go, noticing the rigidity of her back and stride out of the portrait. If she cried again this time, he would just let that go.

The minutes ticked. Remus tried to suggest that it wasn't as big a deal as he was making it out to be. But it was a big deal. Snape had hurt Lily. That was a big deal.

What seemed like hours had only been thirty minutes. Finally, Lily came back in. He watched every inch of her, looking for any signs of distress. When he reached her face, she was standing behind him, eyes flashing. How long had it been since he he'd last seen that look? Long enough that he almost didn't recognize it as her "I'm going to murder you" look.

"Can we talk, please?"

The 'please' was new to that look. It took the edge off as he stood and followed her back out from the common room. Lily didn't even let him get in a snarky, tension-breaking comment.

"Did you really think I wouldn't find out about you fighting with Mulciber?"

James gave a start. "Shit happens," he mumbled. Great. Lily finding out about his impromptu fight (lacking any fairness) worked against everything he'd been doing that week.

"Why would you even think that was ok? You're Head Boy, for Merlin's sake! And you could have gotten seriously hurt!"

He tried not to smirk, he really did, but the way her worry warmed his heart made that impossible. "I'm fine, Lils, I put Mulciber-"

"In the Hospital Wing, yeah, I know. And with Muggle violence. How stupid could you be?" There was an edge in Lily's voice- just the tiniest inflection that James was sure he was lucky to catch, but he didn't quite understand it. "Why can't you ever just let anything go?"

His anger reared. "I'm not going to let it go when someone attacks a third year from behind. All I did was step in. So I put him in the Hospital, the bloody prick deserved it."

"No!" Lily shrieked, eyes closed tight and fists squeezing at her side.

"Are you defending him?" he hissed in disbelief, feeling like he'd been punched in the chest. She brought both fists up to her forehead.

"I'm not… You can't… You're better than him."

"And that's why he's in the Hospital!"

"You shouldn't have!" Green eyes finally flashed open and James at once recognized her fear and anxiety. Squashing his anger, he reached up to grab her fists and pull them down to their sides.

"What did he say to you?" He asked very directly, anger redirecting itself to its natural place.

"You shouldn't have," was all she weakly argued. James took her face between his hands now, holding her more tenderly than friends did (it's a good thing he didn't want to be friends).

"So I shouldn't have. But I did. What did Snape say? Threaten me I suppose?"

Lily shook her head but he kept his hands put.

"He told me to watch out." James saw red.

"He threatened you?" He all but shouted, rearing back and making to storm past Lily. What would he have done if she hadn't caught his arm? He knew it was his "fight now ask later" instinct cropping up again but Lily's hand had him thinking; Snape was probably long gone and he didn't have the Map. And, though the loathed the Slytherin, James knew he would never threaten Lily of all people.

"Why the hell would you need to watch out?" he asked lowly, not turning back to face her just yet. "You're an angel."

Lily scoffed and he ignored that she thought otherwise (one day she'd realize it was the truth). Mouth open to reply, James turned on his heel. The words died on his tongue.

It was that look in her eye- that scared, pleading look that nearly broke his heart right then and there. that was why Lily had been threatened. It hurts a hell of a lot more when the person you love gets hurt than spending a few days in the hospital.

Especially when it was your fault.

"Nothing is going to happen to you. I won't let it." He insisted, keeping eye contact and trying to will her to believe him.

She almost looked convinced at his certainty. "Mulciber's parents are Death Eaters, James."

He stared her straight in the eye. "And we're Gryffindors. Hell if we can't handle a couple of empty threats from masked cowards."

"Yeah," she said with a weak smile. James slung his arm around her shoulders in a friendly manner (always friendly).

"Do we have to go back? I think I'm too stressed and worked up to study anymore."

James couldn't help the aggravated sigh that escaped him, recovering quickly when Lily eyed him. "I've been trying to bloody hard not to stress you out this week, too. Butter you up, you know?" H grinned down at her. Ever was her way, Lily avoided the implication of his feelings.

"Fat lot of good that did. How could you think it'd be less stressful when you're not wreaking havoc and breaking the tension?"

His grin turned cheeky. "We'll just have to go down to the kitchens and wreak enough havoc to make up for it.

Lily nodded. "Get Sirius, would you? I'm up for double trouble tonight."

Any other person would have been disappointed when the object of their affection invited the best friend along for what was probably the only time that week they'd be alone. Not James. He was almost overeager to open the portrait with a booming "OI PADFOOT!" Lily getting along with Sirius was like Christmas- almost as fantastic as her being his friend (there was that word again).


Pages: 5
Words: 2,038
Disclaimer: Don't own
Notes: This chapter was longer, but this story, as a whole, will be rather short.

And my arthritis is kicking in so I don't think there will be another update tonight :x Definitely tomorrow when I'm procrastinatin.