Flashback: July 1977

NARRATIVE POV

Lily walked up to the spot James had said; they'd been writing to each other all summer, she'd finally decided to give him a chance.

You want to know why? It was the stupidest thing, but that final week before the summer began was the first time that Potter had managed one month without flirting with Lily, he hadn't pulled any pranks in the last two weeks, which was a long time for him. And that final push that persuaded Lily to have her first proper conversation with Pot- James! Was the most unnoticeable thing imaginable: he helped her up when she tripped on her way to Muggle Studies, and then offered to carry her books.

That was it. In that whole exchange he never mentioned love, he called her Lily, and he was…polite.

He had grown up.

And so, here they were: in a children's park. Lily finally saw him in the distance and made her way towards him. The first thing she noticed was his expression, there was no childish smirk, but a slight grimace accompanied by a panicked glint in his eyes. For the first time, James Potter had managed to confuse Lily, and spark an emotion in her that could only be described as compassion.

James was honestly terrified. The previous methods hadn't worked and he'd finally realised what it was that he had to do to win Lily's heart: he had to grow up. Of course, this would only be temporary! There was no way he could lose his mischievous flirty nature forever… just for a few months until Lily would accept it. He had this all planned out. All that was left now was to tell her… Well, it's now or never.

" Lily,"

" James?"

"I, uh, just wanted to see you…"

Lily smiled, "Ok, well I'm here."

And James suddenly felt at ease, "Right, well, I wanted to ask you something- and please take me seriously this time because I'm trying- Lily ever since I saw you in first year I have tried to win you over. I know it hasn't worked so far, but this is different. This isn't smirking, flirty Prongs the Marauder with his entourage coming to demonstrate his love with a prank, this is James Potter; a guy who is trying to be honest and tell you that those escapades weren't meant in the way you assumed them. I did it because I knew it worked. Just not with you. That's why you're special Lil, you're not a carbon copy of the typical girl: you are unique, and beautiful, and I love you."

Lily gasped. This wasn't a speech to simply shake off… and after seven years, this felt like the first time all over again. He was right; this wasn't that same cocky kid. And so, Lily gave him a chance, and let herself be honest too.
"James, I-I think I feel the same… You have changed, and you haven't as well. You were always charming and loyal, I've heard that much from Remus. Now you're just not as insufferable as you were." James began to smile, and Lily paused for a second in deliberation," Ok. Yes James Potter, I will go out with you."

James immediately ran over to Lily and hugged her, " Thank you! Please just give me this chance, I'll try to be the best boyfriend imaginable,"

This made Lily laugh, "You can try all you like! It's impossible."

James shook his head, "Just wait…"

That was the start of it all really…

September 1977

JAMES POV

"YOU'RE KIDDING! She finally said yes!"

I nodded, and started to smile, "I won her over."

Sirius was beaming from ear to ear and started to smirk, "So, how far have you got?" wink

I glared at him, as did Moony, "It's not like that."

Sirius' smile changed, "oh yeah? Going slow then? Good idea, makes it more passionate."

"Padfoot shut up!"

Then he actually looked at me for the first time, and saw that I was serious, "OK, sorry mate. I didn't mean anything by it… But hey! On the bright side we have a new Marauder! I'm sure Lilyflower will be an excellent addition."

Remus chuckled slightly and stuck his head out of his book, "I doubt Lily'll condone the pranking any more than she did last year Padfoot. She's still Lily."

This caused Sirius to pout. Peter finally spoke up; he had stayed completely silent until now.

"This is really great James, I'm happy for you… But what does this mean for our pranking?"

Ah great. Now I really have to tell them. They're not going to like it, especially Sirius, "Well, I think we're going to have to lie low for a bit on the pranks… it's too risky."

That caused Padfoot to almost jump out of his seat, "But we have to keep up our reputation! Everyone will want a welcome back prank from the infamous Marauders!"

I took a deep breath, well here goes, "Pads I can't. I've got to change my reputation now…. Dumbledore made me Head Boy."

That really caused uproar. Peter fell of his seat; Moony dropped his book, but managed to hide his surprise quite well. Sirius however, was a completely different matter. He somehow managed to drag all the luggage off of their shelves and onto the floor with him, as well as making a dent in the carriage door and smashing his nose against the opposite bench, specifically where James' knee was, causing them both to screech in pain.

"You?! Head Boy?! How? When? Why? But- you're Prongs! If any of us were gonna be Head Boy it would have been Moony!"

At that specific moment Moony went red and raised his book over his face, I could see the guilty look in his eyes though that he had thought the same.

I just shrugged, "Go ask Dumbledore, I didn't choose this."

Sirius just stayed silent for almost ten minutes; it was starting to creep me out actually, until he spoke.

"We can use this, now you have influence! Power and authority! Just you wait, we can punish those Slytherins as much as we want and just say that it was justified!"

That was the last thing I expected to hear, " What? No of course we can't! I'm not going to do that Pads! I don't want to lose Lily when I only just got her,"

"UH-HM!"

A very loud cough interrupted the argument, Lily.

"James, can I talk to you for a second?"

She had a steely glint in her eyes, this was never going to be good… We had lasted a grand total of two months and she was about to break up with me.

She led me out into the carriage and I took a deep breath, "Look, Lily, about that… It was Sirius, not me. I was trying to stop him, I'd just told him about the Head Boy thing and I just"

"SH!"

That shut me up.

"I came to tell you that we had to go to the Prefects' carriage, but, now I need to tell you this: I'm glad I said yes."

I was stunned, she just continued to stare at me though…

I smirked, "Yes, well, of course I knew that… um, why aren't you mad at me?"

She just rolled her eyes, those beautiful emerald eyes, "Because you didn't think of Sirius' daft idea first. And you tried to persuade him otherwise… You really have changed."

And with that she kissed me, so let's just say that McGonagall and Dumbledore weren't particularly happy when we arrived 20 minutes late, although I swore to Sirius later that nothing actually happened…

Two weeks before chapter 1

Still October 1977

JAMES POV

I had to tell Lily! This was so important to her! Plus it was hilarious, I mean, come on! It was Padfoot, in the library, reading! As in, actually reading!And what's more, it was Hogwarts; A History, of all things! He had finally cracked, and she needed to gloat.

(We'd been together for three months now, I knew her habits pretty well)

I sprinted up to dormitory stairs, and then slid straight back down them when I remembered about the wards on the girls' dorms. I had to be smarter than that.

Eventually, I came up with the bright idea of following a girl up the stairs in my cloak… Surprisingly it worked.

Anyway, I got to Lily's dorm, and then heard the words that broke my flawless composure for weeks afterwards.

"Oh come on Lily, it's James Potter! He's been acting like a fool for so long surely he'll make a mistake. He'll be back to his own ways before the year finishes!"

Present October 1977

REMUS POV

He was actually about to do it. It'd taken him two weeks but Prongs had actually gone and done it.

"Woah Prongs, isn't this a bit excessive? A potion and everything?"

Prongs looked at Padfoot solemnly and nodded, that was what really scared me. He was deadly serious.

I was desperate to buy some time before this went dreadfully wrong, "Look, at least tell Lily what's going on? She doesn't think that you will make any mistakes, and neither do we! Just believe us for once please!"

James sighed, "You're right. If this doesn't work, I need to at least say goodbye."

That made me feel worse.

"James, don't say that! You'll be back, me and Pads'll be there to get you home in one piece."

"WHAT ARE YOU DOING?!"

Oh no. Quick! Explanation? Ugh, too late, time for the truth.

"Lily, James is scared and paranoid that he's gonna muck up your relationship so he wants to travel to the future and find out if he did."

"Oh thanks Moony! Tell her then!"

I felt immediately guilty, "I'm sorry, but she needs to know."

Lily glared at us, "Damn right I did! How can you want to do this? Don't you know the dangers?"

James nodded, "But I want to make sure that I don't make any mistakes before the end of the year, that's all!"

It finally clicked in Lily's head, "You heard Alice the other day didn't you?"

James just stared at her, "It doesn't matter what I heard, she's right. I just need to make sure…"

" Well, then I'm coming too!"

James' eyes widened in fear, "No, you weren't even meant to know about this!"

" I DON'T CARE! TAKE ME WITH YOU!"

I felt I had to intervene, "James just do it."

He looked at me, and nodded. "Ok, just be careful ok?"

Lily nodded.

Sirius started speaking in an awkwardly quiet tone, "So, how does this work?"

James turned to the potion, "We just drink the potion, it wears off after three days, and then we return back to the very second we left."

Everyone nodded.

I had one final question though, "Isn't Peter coming with us?"

James sighed, "No, nobody else was supposed to know, at least if something goes wrong, he can truthfully say he doesn't know anything."

I nodded… It wasn't the best idea but we all knew that Peter was more of a hindrance than a help…

James dished out goblets of his potion and after a stunned silence, we drank…

A.N: Thanks to jeremiah123 for reviewing already, I know this is the same day, but I was told to provide a backstory for what was happening and I completely agreed, so this is a longer chapter for you :D again, please review, constructive criticism is welcome.

Also I forgot to mention this last chapter, but here is my disclaimer: I own nothing of the Harry Potter world, it all belongs to J.K. Rowling. So thanks guys :)