I would like to thank AllyKitten! She was the sole reviewer last chapter and I want her to know that I really appreciate it! This chapter is for you!

And I've gone back and (hopefully) fixed all the typos from previous chapters. If you notice any, though, please tell me!

Mmkayy, here we go...

Disclaimer: I. Own. Nothing.

The best laughs are the ones that come from deep inside when everything is going wrong and there's nothing you can do but laugh, and after that, laugh some more.

Chapter Nine: Laughter and Love Potion

Lily's cheek burned slightly where James had kissed her and his husky whisper made her stomach flip.

What's happening to me? Thought Lily wildly. This is Potter!

"Dance with me?" James asked, stepping back and tucking a single lily behind her ear.

"I just told you I am not your Valentine." Lily said, crossing her arms across her chest.

"Never said you were, love. But you can still dance with me. I put this whole thing together for you, you know." James said, flashing her a smile.

"Potter, you do something over-the-top like this every year and I never take part in it. You should know that by now."

"I do. But I've decided to change it this year." James said, taking her hand and dragging her onto the dance floor Sirius had set up in the middle of the Common Room. He took her arms and placed them around his neck before putting his on her waist.

"See," he said. "You're already doing better. You haven't even set a swarm of bees on me yet." He smiled down at her.

"I'm still considering it," Lily said with a smirk. "Just out of curiosity, how on earth did you get your friend to dress up as those ridiculous Cupids that year?"

James laughed. "Well, I gave Remus five gallons, I told Sirius that if he ever meets a girl that he wants to do something special for, I would dress up like that and sing, and Peter, well, Peter just did it."

Lily laughed as well.

"Oh and, by the way, you look beautiful." James added, unable to keep the smile off his face.

"I'm just in my uniform...."

"Good thing too, otherwise I would have some serious competition tonight, not that I don't already, but Sirius and Remus can handle it."

"You sure have a strange way of giving compliments." Lily said with a hint of laughter.

"Is that a 'thank you'?" James said, raising his eyebrows.

"It's a 'you're not being a complete git tonight so I'll let you have this one dance without doing something terrible to you'."

"I'll take that." James said happily, sweeping her off around the dance floor.

Oh, Lily, what have you done? She asked herself.

When the song ended, James led Lily to the edge of the dance floor.

"Thank you." He said quietly.

"For what?"

James smiled at the puzzled look on her face. "For giving me the best Valentine's Day I've ever had."

Lily smiled slightly. "Don't get used to it."

James laughed, kissed her on the cheek, winked, and set off to find his friends, running a hand through his untidy hair as he went.

"You know, Lily-flower," Sirius said, coming to stand beside her. "You'll never find a better guy for you than James."

"I doubt that. He's just a player and I'm just the girl who won't fall for it."

"Not true. He may have had a lot of girlfriends, but what guy would do something like this for you if he just wanted to get you in bed?" He asked, gesturing around at the party. "I know he tries not to show it, but he really cares about you." With that, he was gone, leaving Lily with a lot to think about.

She made her way up to the dormitory, remembering everything that had happened that Valentine's and on the same day in the past years. James Potter had been – nice. Lily did not know what to think anymore. She would not, of course, allow herself to fall for James Potter. He would probably be back to his normal self tomorrow and she would be wishing that she had never given him the time of day.

- - - - - - -

"James, my friend, you have completely out done yourself this time." Sirius said with an evil grin.

The Marauders were sitting at the Gryffindor table for breakfast one morning discreetly, but expectantly, watching Severus Snape.

All four boys were exhausted. The night before had been the first full moon that James, Peter, and Sirius joined Remus in his transformation. He had been angry they had taken such risks for him, but at the same time thrilled he was no longer alone. But with or without sleep, the Marauders were still the best trouble-makers Hogwarts had ever seen.

Suddenly, Snape jumped onto the Slytherin table and declared his undying love for Professor Agatha Gregory, the ancient and decrepit Astronomy teacher. The four Marauders howled with laughter at the sight, James rolling on the floor and Sirius desperately gasping for air.

Snape jumped down and sprinted up to the staff table, where he dropped down on one knee and proposed to a very puzzled-looking Professor Gregory. The boys could hardly stand it. All of them, even Remus, were on the floor with James, clutching their sides and rolling with laughter.

James, finally pulling himself together, noticed someone standing over him. Wiping a tear from his eye, he looked up into the enraged face of Lily Evans.

"Well hello, love." He said, standing up. She glared at him.

"If looks could kill," Sirius muttered to Remus and Peter, who still looked as though they were trying not to laugh.

"Don't you 'hello, love' me!" Lily yelled. "I know that was you, Potter! You spiked his pumpkin juice with a love potion! When are you going to grow up?"

"Calm down, Evans, it was only Snivillus." James said, noticing how cute she was when she was angry.

"Well Severus just happens to be my friend!"

"Hey, that's your fault, not mine."

"James Potter you are the most disgusting – irritating – arrogant, immature excuse for a human being I have ever had the misfortune of meeting!" She tried to go on, but it seemed words failed her, so instead, she punched James square in the jaw.

"Miss Evans! I am ashamed of you!" Professor McGonagall said as she approached Lily and the Marauders.

"Sorry, Professor," Lily said, staring at the ground.

"I am assuming you did this because these boys are responsible for what happened to Mr. Snape?"

"Yes, Professor."

"Well, noble as your intentions might have been, Miss Evans, I am afraid I cannot have my students behaving in such a way. Twenty points each will be taken from Gryffindor and all five of you will receive detention. To be served Friday. Be at my office at 7 o'clock."

"Yes, Professor." The five of them chorused as Professor McGonagall dragged Snape to the hospital wing.

"You throw quite a punch, Evans," James said, rubbing his jaw.

Lily gave him a withering look and went to check on Severus.

"Not the way to get the girl, mate."

"Well, usually, the girl isn't friendly with the villain." James answered.

- - - - - - -

"Hey, Lily?" James said as he approached her that night in the common room. "Can I talk to you for a moment?"

"No," Lily said, turning away from him and staring at her Healing book.

"Please?" James asked, sitting beside her on the couch. Lily said nothing, but continued leafing through the pages. "Listen," James went on, dropping his voice so no one else could hear. "I wanted to apologize."

The statement, so foreign to James' lips, actually made Lily put her book down and look at him, an expression of shock on her face.

"What?" She asked, unable to be certain she had even heard correctly.

"Haha, very funny. Look, I know Snivi– Snape's your friend. So I'm," his voice dropped again, "sorry."

"But why do you do those things to him?" Lily asked, searching his hazel eyes. "He's never done anything to you."

"Honestly, I don't know." James said absently, losing himself in her emerald eyes. "He just aggravates me."

"I know the feeling."

James raised his eyebrows and moved closer to Lily. "So you think you hate me as much as I hate Snape?"

"It's not unlikely." Lily said, never breaking eye contact.

"You just wait, darling. One day I'll get through to you."

"You keep telling yourself that." Lily said, looking back down at her book.

"I will, love. And I'll keep telling it to you too." James said, echoing Lily's own words from the Ball. The redhead couldn't conceal a small smile.

- - - - - - -

Lily ate dinner quickly Friday night, not wanting to be late for detention. She said a quick goodbye to Alice and Vanessa before running upstairs to leave her bag in the common room.

She arrived outside McGonagall's office a few minutes early and was soon joined by Remus, Peter, Sirius, and James. Sirius was complaining about having to leave dinner early, though he had already eaten enough to feed a small elephant.

"Hello, darling," James said when he saw Lily. His hand jumped to his already messy black hair. "Don't tell me we're the cause of your first detention."

"It's not my first," Lily said lightly, deciding to ignore the pet name. "But you were the cause. I got two back in second year for setting those bees on you."

The boys laughed.

"I still can't believe you did that, Lily-flower." Sirius said.

"I still can't believe you wore a diaper." Lily retorted.

James, Peter, and Remus roared with laughter. Sirius sputtered, trying to think of a comeback, something he usually had no trouble with.

Just then, the door to Professor McGonagall's office opened.

"Ah, good." She said when she saw them. "Mr. Lupin and Mr. Black, Mr. Filch has requested you serve detention in the trophy room this evening. He is there to give you instructions. Mr. Potter, Miss Evans, you will be cleaning out the storeroom in the Potions classroom. Mr. Pettigrew, you will be helping Professor Sprout.

James could have jumped for joy. He would be spending detention with Lily Evans. He tried to keep the excitement off his face as Professor McGonagall took their wands and bid them goodnight. They each headed off toward their separate detentions.

"Oi!" Sirius' voice said from behind James. Lily whirled around, looking for its owner.

James laughed and pulled a mirror from his back pocket.

"Hey, Pad. Tough luck, getting stuck with Filch." James said. Lily fell into step beside him and saw Sirius' face looking up at them from the mirror.

"Well, you got all the luck tonight, Prongs. We can't all the girl of our dreams all to ourselves." Sirius said, and then, pretending to have just noticed Lily, added, "Oh Lily-flower! Lovely to see you."

James laughed. "I do plan on having her all to myself, which means no more interruptions from you!" He joked, shoving the mirror back into his pocket.

Normally, Lily would have been mad at James for saying something like that, but her curiosity got the better of her. "What was that?" She asked.

"Two-way mirror." James explained. "We got them for whenever we're in separate detentions."

They had reached Professor Slughorn's office. James knocked and the Potions master was there almost immediately.

"Ah, Miss Evans, Mr. Potter, I was just on my way to the staff room. Just clean out the storeroom as best you can. Get rid of anything that has expired. No magic, now." He chuckled. "Goodnight."

"Goodnight, Professor." They said in unison and made their way through the Potions classroom and into the storeroom.

"Bloody Hell...." James said when he opened the door. "This'll take all night."

For indeed, the shelves were overflowing with boxes, viles, tubs, and jars containing all sorts of putrid smelling things.

All of a sudden, James plunged his entire face into Lily's hair and inhaled. Lily jerked away.

"What are you doing?"

"Your hair, it always smells like vanilla. I figured it might be the last good thing I ever smell." James said as though it were the most obvious thing in the world.

Lily rolled her eyes, not sure whether to be touched or worried by the fact that he paid attention to the smell of her hair.

"Come on, we'd best get started if we want to finish before dawn." She said, taking a deep breath and dragging him into the storeroom.

"And what if I don't want to finish? What if I'd rather spend more time with you?"

"Puh-lease." Lily said. "Your cutesy little one-liners may work on the other girls here, but in case you haven't noticed, I'm not other girls."

"Believe me," James said quietly, staring into her eyes. "I know."

Lily cleared her throat, tearing her eyes away from his. "Let's get started then, shall we?"

Though she would never admit it, Lily actually had a good time that night. The pair had fun trying to guess what everything was and what kinds of potions they could possibly be used in.

It was nearing two in the morning and they were almost done when James, standing on his toes on the step stool, knocked a vat of age-old troll blood over, covering Lily and himself.

"Are you alright?" He asked, jumping down and hoping that she was not angry.

Lily wiped the blood from her eyes, looked at James for a moment, and burst out laughing.

"Er, Lily? Are you feeling alright?" He asked, putting a hand to her forehead.

"I'm, I'm – fine!" Lily said through her laughter, she was clutching her sides and tears were forming in her eyes.

James, deciding that Lily was clearly not angry, joined in. The whole situation was laughably absurd.

They laughed for almost ten minutes. Finally calming down and gasping for breath, Lily grabbed the mop and began cleaning the floor.

"It's no use, love." James smiled as Lily spun around in circles making more drops than she was able to clean.

"I suppose you're right." Lily said, putting the mop down.

"Wait, Lily Evans – THE Lily Evans – just admitted that I, James Potter, was right?"

"I did, didn't I?" Lily laughed. "Well, remember it then, because you won't ever hear me say it again."

"I think I'll remember this night anyway." James laughed, ringing some of the troll blood out of his robes.

"What do we do? Professor McGonagall took our wands so we couldn't use magic, but how do we get rid of the blood so we can finish?" Lily asked, sitting down on an upturned bucket.

"Well, darling, disgusting though it may be, I think we'll just have to wait for it to dry and finish up then."

"That could take ages." Lily said.

"I'm perfectly fine with waiting." James said with a grin, sitting against the wall and patting the floor beside him.

"Only because I'd rather not fight with you at the moment." Lily said as she got off the bucket and plopped down beside him.

"So.... Are things just going to go back to normal tomorrow?" James asked, trying to keep a hint of sadness out of his voice.

"What do you mean?"

"You know, I ask you out, you call me an obnoxious git, the usual."

"Well, you can be an obnoxious git." Lily said reasonably, but she was smiling. "You're being nice tonight."

"I'm always nice to you, love."

"But not to other people." James knew she meant Snape.

"So does that mean you would date me if I was nicer to Snivillus?" He asked hopefully.

"Severus. And no, not date you. But I would consider being friends with you."

"I'll take that, love."

"But if we ever become friends, you have to stop with the pet names." Lily said, crossing her arms.

"I'm sorry, darling, but you're just too, well, darling, for me to resist."

Lily rolled her eyes. "I already told you those lines don't work on me."

"They aren't lines, hun, I mean every word."

"Mmhmm." Lily said sarcastically. She yawned and leaned her head back on the wall. "Wake me when the blood's dry."

"I will."

James watched as Lily's breathing evened out and she was soon fast asleep. The troll blood dried quickly, so James heaved himself up and mopped the floor and put the empty vat in the waste bin. He gently scooped Lily into his strong arms and easily moved her over enough to clean the blood from where she was sitting. He finished just after three in the morning, and, too tired to make the trek up to the dormitories, sat back down beside Lily.

In her sleep, she looked so vulnerable, and so content. James smiled at the thought that just maybe, she trusted him enough now to allow him to see her in such a vulnerable state. But then again, it could have been due to the fact that she was utterly exhausted.

Ha watched her sleep for a moment more, a goofy smile of adoration on his face, before brushing a strand of long, red hair from her face, kissing her on the forehead, and leaning back to get some sleep as well.

________________________

Phew! Longest chapter yet! I hope it wasn't too long.... Please let me know what you thought! Reviews are greatly appreciated!

Peace!

Love Always,

Kayla

Life is just a mirror, and what you see out there, you must first see inside of you.