"Something nice," she said softly, "not too careless, or his feelings will be hurt." She pulled a floral dress out of the wardrobe, examined it thoughtfully, and then tossed it.

"Not too nice, though," she continued, "because we don't want him getting any ideas, do we, Lily…"

She paused, looking worriedly on her entire selection of muggle cloths lying discarded on the floor. "You are thinking much, Lily," she assured herself, "It's only James… not even a date…"

Finally, she pulled herself together and got dressed. She decided on a simple denim skirt, not too revealing, with a comfortable and worn fitted oxford shirt, the color a soft green. She tied her hair back into a loose French braid, applied a tiny bit of make-up, and studied herself in the mirror.

"Fine." She told herself grumpily, "Lily- you look fine, now relax…and stop talking to yourself, you're being ridiculous, really…"

---

She smiled at him as they met outside the common room, but then frowned.

He looked different. There was something- it was hard to say, but something was different. Let's see… tall? No, he was still tall. Thin, yes. Tanned, also yes. Ever present lopsided grin- of course… long but proportionate nose? Yep. Glasses, yes. Warm, hazel eyes with menacing twinkle… messy hair…!

"Messy hair!" she squeaked.

"I- I thought I'd straightened it up a bit, though?" He cried, smoothing a hand over his head.

"No- it's not messy, it's…" she frowned. "It's not messy."

"I thought you hated the messy!" he said defensively.

"Hate is a strong word." She said grumpily.

"I thought you wanted it to be neater."

"Why would you think that?" she cried.

"Because you told me that I made you sick, remember? In fifth year?"

"You did make me sick in fifth year! You were a pathetic arse in fifth year!"

"You mentioned specifically that it made you sick when I messed up my hair."

"Because your hair is messy by itself, though! You don't need to mess it up!"

"Yeah… okay…but I thought you hated its messy… look."

"I don't."

"So I spent hours slaving away over the sink doing this-" he pointed to his horribly neat, slicked back hair- "just for you, and you don't even like it?"

She winced. "Sorry. It's awful."

James grinned. "Well, only one thing we can do about it." He bowed his head. "Would you like to do the honors, Lily?"

She rolled her eyes but nonetheless reached up onto her tiptoes and rumpled his hair. It was fun, too, she discovered. His hair was smooth and silky but had a certain texture; a certain feel that made it want to…

"There." Lily smiled. "All better." And it was. His hair was just as it had been earlier that morning, before he'd attacked it with a wet comb and all of Sirius's 'completely manly' hair products.

"Shall we?" James grinned, gesturing towards the other students who were headed towards the school's exit.

"We shall." Lily nodded, and they headed away.

From the Common Room, Remus watched them walk away on the Marauder's Map, with this odd feeling creep into his chest. Suddenly, he hated how close their two little dots were, how the tiny labels reading 'James Potter' and 'Lily Evans' practically intertwined. And even though Remus couldn't figure out what that odd feeling was, it wasn't really that much of a mystery.

The old jealous boyfriend syndrome… happens to the best guys.

---

Hogsmeade was full of people, as usual. Zonkos, Honeydukes, Madam Puttifoots, The Hogs Head- it was all completely normal, except for one thing.

James Potter and Lily Evans were there. Together.

And as soon as they reached the village, James tried to hold her hand.

"Friends, remember?" she hissed as she snaked her hand away. "Just friends."

"Well, Lily, that's the thing. See, I've been thinking…"

"That's never good."

"I've been thinking… well, see, Lily, you say that you won't go out with me because you think that it would last and you only want to be friends, but I think you're wrong."

"Excuse me?"

"I think it'd last longer than a month, Lily. I think it could last forever. In fact, I'll bet that if you went out with me once, you'd like it too much to stop."

Lily shook her head. "James… no."

"C'mon, Lily… why not?"

she paused, looked up at James, and bit her lip. "Look-James- I'm seeing someone."

His face fell, and he simply looked at her for a moment, obviously hurt. He was very quiet until he said, "I bet he's ugly."

Lily laughed and shook her head.

"Ugly…" he continued, "And fat and rude and a muggle-hater, and really inconsiderate. Arrogant, probably worse than me in fifth year, and a first-year-bullier, and a right idiot, and- and Lily, I bet he's in Slytherin."

Lily looked him in the eye, his face so sad and earnest and hopeful, and she wished that she could just let him believe that.

"He's quite handsome." She said quietly.

"So am I…" James protested after gagging.

"Not fat at all… quite polite. Very tolerant, too- honestly, James, what would a muggle- hater want with me… and he's humble, and he'd never bully anyone, much less a first year. As for the idiot thing- he's very smart, and- really, James, of course he's not in Slytherin."

A look of relief flooded his face; "You know I don't want you with a bad guy, Lily. I just want you to be happy…" he paused. "So, it's not Snape, then?"

Suddenly, Lily looked odd- her expression made her look like she was reliving a happy memory, but at the same time like she was in a great deal of pain.

"No." she said softly, "It's not Severus."

"Okay," James smiled, "All right, so I propose a change of bet conditions."

"I never agreed to a bet," Lily protested, but James didn't appear to be listening.

"I bet that by the end of today, you will love going out with me so much that you will not be able to stop going out with me despite the boyfriend."

Lily sighed, "All right, but only because there is no way you can win this bet."

"That's what they always say, Lils…" he grinned, "Now, since this is a date, I can hold your hand, right?"

"Yeah, fine." she sighed, allowing her to take her delicate hand into his, which was warm and big and surprisingly soft. "Try to hold anything else and I'll dismember you." She growled, and he laughed like the good-natured guy that he was.

As Lily Evans and James Potter made their way towards the shops, hand in hand, the rumors began to fly.

---

Lily smiled as they approached Honeydukes, "Chocolate." She said, grinning happily.

"Yep." James smiled back at her, "Chocolate."

As they entered the shop, James approached the counter and said, "Excuse me, I'm here to pick up a special order?"

The store clerk an older, plump woman, smiled at the handsome young man in front of her.

"Yes, dear… your name, please?" she asked, though as she eyed the pretty redhead behind him, it was easy to figure out which order was his.

"James Potter, ma'am." He said politely, and she squealed, them summoned the order and smiled at James.

"That'll be one Galleon, seven Sickles." She told him.

He handed her the money and from behind the counter, she gave Lily a long, thin white box with green ribbon around it. "Lily" was engraved into the box in lovely golden calligraphy.

"You are very lucky to have that one, miss." The woman smiled.

Silently, Lily wondered if she meant James or the chocolate, but she smiled back at her, and then looked at James questioningly.

"What is this?" she whispered, looking at the box curiously.

"Open it," he insisted.

Carefully, Lily slid off the ribbon and opened the box.

"Oh!" she said softly, smiling at what was inside.

It was a chocolate lily. The stem and leaves were dark, almost black, and the petals were white chocolate, streaked with milk chocolate. There were little dark chocolate stems sticking out of the top. Lily looked at it, so intricate and beautiful, and much too nice to eat, and she turned back to James happily.

"You like it?" James asked earnestly.

Lily smiled and nodded. Then, she looked up at him and suddenly felt immensely guilty.

Quickly, she turned to the wall of homemade candles and picked out Remus's favorite chocolate fudge with caramel swirls.

James frowned. "That's Rem's favorite candy."

"Yeah…" Lily nodded, "Well… full moon's coming up, and he could use some comfort food. You know… it's painful, I'm sure, and he- he loves chocolate, and if this chocolate could make him feel better, even a little better, than I'm gonna get it… it's only a few sickles, really, and I'm just- just trying to help." She said all of this very fast.

"That's really nice of you." James said, sounding slightly suspicious.

"Well…" she smiled, "He's a terrific friend, you know that."

"Yeah." James grinned, "Yeah, I do know that. Guess it makes sense."

"Good." Lily said, and she bought the chocolate, thankful for her babbling abilities and James' insistence on trusting her.

---

Remus walked into Hogsmeade late, and was immediately attacked by a mob of fourth year girls, who he had learned early in life were extremely irritating.

"Oh my gosh! Remus!" a harsh looking Ravenclaw girl named Karen Whittle snapped, "James is with Lily Evans? How could you not tell any of us? You are so cruel…"

Remus rolled his eyes at the girl who had entertained a ridiculous crush on James since arriving at Hogwarts. "James and Lily are not together."

"They are so! They're here together!" Karen insisted, flipping her black hair behind her. "Now, cut the charade. Why didn't you tell me that James was TAKEN???"

"Because," Remus sighed, "James and Lily are only here as friends."

"Is that so?" she asked coolly, raising her eyebrows.

"Yep." Remus nodded, trying to walk away, but Karen called after him.

"So, you generally hold your friend's hand and present her with expensive custom-ordered chocolates?"

Remus turned around, closed his eyes, and sighed. "Where are they?"

---

"Look- James, this has been really nice, but- but I really can't keep seeing you. I have a boyfriend, okay? He's not just some casual thing, he's a real, serious boyfriend. I can't hurt him." Lily said gently, looking worriedly around The Three Broomsticks, wondering if Remus would show up.

"Lily- Look at me." He said forcefully. Reluctantly, Lily turned her head towards him and allowed herself to meet his practically blinding hazel gaze.

"All right." She said, "I'm looking. What could you possibly want to say?"

"Lily, I know you feel something for me."

"You're wrong." She said angrily, "I feel something for my boyfriend."

"Again with the boyfriend, Lily, I'd say you're a bit obsessed." He smirked.

"Maybe I am." She sighed, "Or maybe I'm just in love."

"Love?" James asked, in obvious disbelief, "Lily- there's no way- love- how long could you have possibly been with this guy?"

"That doesn't matter." Lily growled. "I am in love, and I'm sorry if you don't like it, but earlier today you said you just wanted me to be happy. This guy makes me happy."

"I could make you happier." James said desperately.

"How do you expect me to believe that?" Lily snapped, staring him in the eye fiercely.

James smiled. Slowly, he reached forward, and cupped her chin in his hand. She started to pull away, but James was strong, and besides that he was like a magnet on metal, pulling her towards him. He inched his face towards hers, and softly pressed his lips on hers. And somehow, for some, unexplainable reason, Lily didn't pull away. The kiss deepened, and suddenly she was melting into him, her hands around his neck, in his soft, messy hair, and she was feeling something, something amazing. She kept kissing him, because he was soft and warm and tasted like butterbeer and she loved it. People were staring- she could feel the heat of eyes on her back- but she didn't care, this was perfect, this was right, until she heard it. The cough.

She suddenly pulled back from James, and there he was. In front of them, with the most terrible and heartbreaking look she had ever seen. It was written all over his face. You hurt me. And then, it got worse. His mouth twisted into the most awful and artificial smile, and he looked away from her, looked at James instead. He said something, something that made her heart break for herself and ache for him, too.

He said, "Congratulations, Prongs. I always knew you'd get the girl."