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Part I: Truce

Lily walked into the Great Hall the next morning and immediately noticed James. She sat down beside him, leaning into his embrace while letting out a yawn. She hadn't slept the night before. Cecily's reaction to her dating James was not what she had expected. She had expected an explosion, a long string of curse words and possibly jinxes, but all in the calm demeanor that personified Cecily Van Buren. Instead, Lily was met with one word that plagued her the entire night.

She knew that James knew something was wrong. He stared at her for a few moments, gently pressing her toward him while pushing his half eaten breakfast toward Peter. The mousy boy quickly began picking at it with a contented smile.

The Gryffindors, nosy by nature, found Lily and James interesting. Every group attempted furtive glances, except the first years who had never known the fighting version of the duo. The older students were much better than the younger students at sneakily glancing down the table toward the seventh years in their house. They had never seen the eight kids sit together and carry on civil conversation while Lily rested in James's arms. Having had enough stares, Sirius grabbed an apple and chucked it toward a group of cocky third years. He smirked when it hit the ringleader in the face.

"Was that necessary?" Remus asked, looking toward the head table to see McGonagall glaring at the boys. Sirius merely nodded in response and laid his head on the table.

The group stood when breakfast ended and began to walk to their first class, Transfiguration. Sirius trudged along, yawning every so often and stretching for an added effect. Remus rolled his eyes and walked toward the front of the group, having a conversation with Ivy and Peter. Once the slow moving Sirius had passed him, James pulled Lily away. He leaned against the wall and looked into her eyes with concern.

"What's up, Lils?" he asked slowly.

She shrugged and faked a smile. He raised an eyebrow which told Lily that he wasn't buying into her attempts to not answer his question. "Did you tell your friends?" she asked.

He nodded. "I figured it would be rather awkward this morning if I didn't. You did, right?"

"I did," she said, looking at the ground. "But that's where the trouble came in."

James sighed. He reached for Lily's hand and rubbed the back of it with his thumb. Letting out a deep breath, he leaned his head against the stone wall. "They hate this," he said quietly. "They hate the fact that we're together."

Lily shook her head, not wanting him to get the wrong impression. Not all her friends were against them. "No, James," she told him gently. "Ivy adores us already and Michelle's okay with this, but–"

"Cecily," he said, nodding his head. "I should have known. She always ruins everything."

Lily furrowed her brow and looked up at him in confusion. "What do you mean?" she asked. She didn't like the tone he spoke in, but thought that he could give her an answer as to why Cecily didn't like James or the Marauders and wasn't willing to get over it like Ivy and Michelle.

He shook his head with a small smile on his face. "It's nothing, Lily." He brought her to him and kissed the top of her head. "Forget I said anything."

A mass of Hufflepuffs walked by them and Lily assumed it was time for them to get to class. The last thing they needed was to be late to McGonagall's class. James slinked his arm around her waist and Lily smiled at the touch, nearly forgetting about the conversation they had just finished. She loved how her heart accelerated when she was around James and how he could take her away from her thoughts.

They walked together into the classroom and Lily saw her normal seat beside Michelle was taken by Sirius. He was leaning back in his chair with his feet rested on the table. His eyes were closed and he had the hood of his cloak over his shaggy black locks. While he seemed completely relaxed, he was carrying on a conversation with Michelle, who noticed Lily enter and waved.

Ivy turned around in her seat and her eyes widened when she saw Lily and James. James was pulling out Sirius's usual seat for Lily and Ivy squealed happily. Sirius, who was used to the high pitched squeals of Ivy Burns, jumped up, hitting his feet hard on the table, and turned. Remus snorted quietly in his seat at his friend's movements. Cecily continued to look toward the front of the room. Peter was the only Gryffindor not in the class. Instead the boy had Care of Magical Creatures and in his place were two Hufflepuffs who rarely conversed with their Gryffindor classmates.

Sirius glared at the tawny haired boy and opened his mouth but was interrupted by the slamming of a door. McGonagall walked through the rows. Sirius placed his feet on the ground and looked up innocently at the professor, who strode by him to the blackboard. She wrote a few words on the board and instructed the students to begin practicing the Conjuring Spells that they had begun to learn.

Many of the students were still having trouble, as it was NEWTS level learning. Lily tried a few times and only a few sparks escaped her wand. After trying for the first half of class, she finally managed to conjure a small dove from her wand. Her eyes widened with excitement and then she looked up to see if anyone else had been successful. Remus seemed to be the only one who was close, as half a chicken was running around on his table.

She turned to James and he smiled, handing her a rose. She took it in her hand and smiled. It smelled real and it was hard to believe that James had just conjured it out of thin air. He propped his head up on his hand and the smile not fading from his features.

"Very good, Mr. Potter," McGonagall said, noting the flower that Lily held in her hand. "And Ms. Evans: wonderful."

By the end of the class period, each student had achieved something. McGonagall told the class that they would work on the same spells the next day and not to worry if they hadn't succeeded fully. Lily looked up to see where her friends were heading, as they had a free period. Cecily and Ivy were waiting at the door and Michelle was still sitting in her seat. She was speaking in hushed tones with Sirius who kept looking back at Lily. She tried to read the lips of her friend, but, by the time she decided to, the conversation was over and all she saw was Michelle's mouth say the word please and Sirius grudgingly nod his head. Lily felt a hand on her shoulder and she looked up into James's face.

"You ready?" he asked.

She smiled at him and nodded. As she stood a voice interrupted them. They turned and saw Sirius standing before them. He sighed and first looked the James. "I'm sorry, mate," he muttered. "About last night, I overreacted."

"It's okay, Pads," James said while reaching his hand out. He and Sirius did some sort of confusing handshake before the latter turned to Lily. He looked like he didn't quite know what to say and he turned to Michelle. She nodded her head to him in encouragement.

"Eva…Lily, I'm sorry too," he spoke quietly. "Look, I….it's…."

"I understand," Lily told him. "It's weird, I know."

He nodded but still didn't look at her. "I just…never imagined this would happen and I'm…sorry. I should be happy for you two." He paused and sighed. "I shouldn't have accused you of trying to hurt James. I've just had enough of his broken hearts lately." The last part seemed to be a joke, but Lily didn't laugh, knowing that she had hurt James in the past.

Lily looked over Sirius's shoulder to Michelle. Her friend was smiling at her. Lily smiled back before looking up to Sirius. "So, are we okay now?"

He nodded, albeit unconvincingly but Lily knew it would take him time to get used to her and knew it wasn't a sudden friendship. Instead it was more of a truce. Michelle walked up beside Sirius and nodded to Lily and James. "Now everyone's okay," she said, pushing Sirius lightly in the arm. "Come on," she told him. "Let's leave them alone."

"Oh, wonderful," Sirius joked. "Now I'm going to have to watch where I'm going or I'll see Prongsie snogging Lily all over the castle."

"Ah, bug off, Padfoot," James laughed, pushing Sirius out the door. The boy smirked at James before Michelle dragged him out of the doorway. James shook his head at Sirius's behavior while he grabbed Lily's hand in his own. "So, where should we go?"

She shrugged as they passed a group of first year Gryffindors who were late to class. One of the boys spotted James and looked up with wide eyes. "James!" he yelled, stopping in front of the couple. "What's a good excuse to make Flitwick not mad at us for being late?"

James raised an eyebrow. "What were you doing, Billy?"

The little brown haired boy looked up at James with wide green eyes. "It wasn't anything important," he said quietly. "We just ran into a few Slytherins. They stole Aggie's books," Billy pointed to a blond girl who appeared to have been crying. Lily recognized her as a shy girl that didn't talk much, even to the girls in her own year.

"Here," James said, nodding his head and seeing that Billy wasn't lying. Lily looked up at him, nodding her head. "Lily and I will take you."

"Really?" another boy asked in surprise.

James nodded and the two lead the small group of first years to the charms classroom. While Lily walked in the back with Aggie, James headed up the front. He was listening amicably to Billy explain what happened and how they had scared away the second year Slytherins with their Gryffindor bravery. Lily smiled watching James express interest in the event and show that he was impressed.

"That is great, guys," he said to the group, ruffling Billy's hair as they approached the classroom, "that you would stand up for each other."

"Really!" Lily could tell that Billy wanted James's approval.

James nodded. "You demonstrated the Gryffindor characteristics," he said proudly. When they entered the classroom, James told Flitwick that they were stopped in the hallway by a teacher and he was supposed to bring them to him. Flitwick nodded and told them to sit down quickly.

Billy looked up at James. "Thanks," he said hurriedly, before rushing to his seat.

When they left the room, Lily looked up at James until he asked her what she was looking at him for. She smiled. "You're great with kids," she stated.

He chuckled. "Yeah?" he asked, running a hand through his hair bashfully. "That's surprising because I'm the youngest cousin by a few decades," he added.

Lily smiled and squeezed his hand. He would make a great father one day. Lily felt her stomach flutter thinking about it and her cheeks heated up. She looked to the ground as they walked out of the castle. They sat down under one of the trees surrounding the lake, Lily leaning into James with a contented smile on her face. She could sit with James for hours.

She looked up at James and he rested his forehead on hers. He was looking at her as he had the night before. She knew what was going to happen and closed her eyes as James touched his lips to hers. Her heart fluttered in chest at the gentle touch. He pulled away and she opened her eyes to see a smile played across his features.

Lily felt herself smile too and James leaned down once more. It was soft and gentle, much better than any kiss Lily had ever received. She had only kissed two guys, a Ravenclaw boy in fifth year and a Hufflepuff in sixth year, but she knew that she liked James's kissed a lot more than any she had been given by them.

She answered Michelle's question from the night before in her head. Yes, James was a very good kisser.

So, they kissed. What do you think?

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