"YES!" James exclaimed. "N.E.W.T.'s are done!"

All the Marauders cheered. After three days of nonstop testing, it was finally over. But Lily was feeling far from happy. These results determined the outcome of her entire life! What if she messed up on a simple Runes translation? Or misread a problem in Transfiguration? Or labeled a moon incorrectly in Astronomy? She groaned and dropped her head into her hands, lamenting the twelve T's that she was surely going to receive.

"Lily?" Alice asked hesitantly. Lily mumbled something in response.

"Lils, are you all right?" Marlene frowned concernedly. "Do you need anything?"

"I've failed everything!" Lily blurted out, shocking everyone. Usually she was the first to recover from the nervousness of exams.

"No you haven't, Lily," Dorcas soothed, rubbing her back gently. Lily shook her head, her green eyes wild.

"Yes I have! I was always doomed to fail Runes and Arithmetic, Defense Against the Dark Arts bombed, Remus is far better than me at Astronomy, and Care of Magical Creatures is no good at all. Even James is better at Transfiguration." Lily sniffed, tears falling. James looked outraged.

"Hey!" he exclaimed. Remus shot him a look, clearly conveying this isn't the best time, Prongs. James immediately closed his mouth and hugged Lily instead.

"Love, you're the most brilliant witch I've ever seen. You did not fail anything," He told her firmly but Lily was still shaking and moaning.

"—and Divination was hell from the start, Potions was a disaster, I'm terrible at History of Magic and at least I'll get a D instead of a T in Charms."

Alice, Marlene, Dorcas, and Mary all sighed. They knew this was coming. Lily was as calm as can be a few days before the N.E.W.T's and that usually led to problems right after it.

"Lils." Marlene gently detached Lily from James' arms. "Lils, you need Madam Pomfrey. She'll give you something for nerves."

"NO!" Lily shrieked, causing everyone to jump. "I DON'T NEED MADAM POMFREY!"

"What do you need then, honey?" Alice peered worriedly at her best friend.

Lily broke into full, body-racking sobs now. "I don't know, I don't know, I don't know! All I know is that I've failed everything!" Sitting down on the lawn, she rocked back and forth like a small child after a nightmare. Sirius looked scared, like he wasn't sure how to deal with this, Remus got some water for Lily, and Peter just stood there. As one, all the girls turned to face James, who looked helplessly at them.

Oh, bloody hell. What am I supposed to do? He grimaced at them.

Comfort her, you great, useless prat! Dorcas glared.

James, you've always said loved her. Now's time to prove it, Mary's brown eyes said.

Well? What are you waiting for? Marlene silently yelled at him.

James sat down next to Lily and wrapped his arms around her small, fragile frame. She hissed malevolently.

"James—arse—Potter," She screeched. "GET THE HELL AWAY FROM ME!"

James gaped. Lily didn't stop there.

"STOP BEING SO NICE! I DON'T NEED YOUR NICENESS!"

James didn't let go. Lily, looking rather frightening, started punching and clawing at him, hair flying and eyes glaring.

"Lily—stop—gerroff me—" James tried to push her off but that deemed to be unnecessary.

Abruptly, she turned her head and buried her face into his shoulder, soaking his robes.

"I've failed everything," she wailed. "I won't have a job and I'll just be a stupid Mudblood out on the streets, begging for gold."

"Lily, listen to me," James spoke softly. "You are not stupid and you are most certainly not a Mudblood." His mouth twisted when he said it, like it caused him a great deal of physical pain. "And you did not fail. Just think of all the O's you'll get, when the results come."

"But I won't!" She sobbed. "I'll just get T's in every subject—"

"Lily Marie Evans. You listen to me and you listen good." James growled, rather disliking this sniveling, blubbering Lily. "You're the best of our class in Charms and Potions. In Care of Magical Creatures, you were always the one that answered the most questions. Same goes for Defense class. Remember when you knocked Professor Merrythought off his feet once?" Lily quieted down a bit, thinking about what James had said. "As for Divination and History of Magic, who cares about those two anyway?"

"James is right," Remus piped up. "And in Runes, you're the best translator out of all of us, hands-down. And you are just amazing at Arithmetic."

"But what about Astronomy?" She asked. "I suck at Astronomy."

Sirius had been watching all this time, but he simply couldn't stand it anymore. He needed the old Lily back, stat.

"Does it really matter, Evans?" He roared. "Who cares about getting a single E in a subject that you're not even pursuing? Just accept that you'll get straight Outstanding's already!"

Lily looked at him, thrown. For a second she couldn't even remember why she was crying in the first place.

"Guys?" She asked slowly. "Why was I crying again?"

They all looked incredulously at each other, and then burst out laughing.

"What?" Lily demanded, confused. Were they making fun of her?

"Oh Evans," Sirius chortled. "I do love you at times like these."

Marlene shot him a venomous glare. "But I love you more," Sirius added quickly, kissing his girlfriend's cheek.

James laughed lightly then looked down at Lily. "All back to normal then?

"Back to normal," She agreed, grinning. To his—and all their friends'—amazement, Lily raised her head and kissed James quickly on the cheek then promptly ran away.

"I can't believe it!" James shouted. "We need to have N.E.W.T's more often!"

"It's not N.E.W.T's, James," Alice informed him. "It's a very powerful thing called hormones."

James stopped mid-dance. "Wait, what?"

Marlene smirked. "Hormones, Potter, hormones."

The grin slowly slid off of James' face. "Damn those hormones," He growled.