A/N: Last chapter! Hope I do it justice.

The next day was filled with awkwardness and insecurity. James didn't have any classes with Lily until that afternoon and dammit, he just wanted to talk to her… and maybe kiss her again. At breakfast, he was too late to see her; at lunch, he was forced to sit with his friends and missed her fiery red hair at the table. In DADA was his only chance to talk to her – but even then, they had assigned seats because of the ruckus the marauders caused, and James sat nowhere near Lily.

The need to talk to Lily was eased when he heard a quiet chime inside his bag. Of course, how could he have forgotten his present to Lily? The diary was the answer to all his problems!

Tell me your head hurts as much as mine.

James chuckled. It seemed that Lily wasn't smart enough to cure herself of a hangover. Take some pepper-up potion, you'll be fine, he wrote.

I'll take some later. How much do you remember of last night?

The question set a feeling of unease in James' stomach. All of it, he wrote. You?

Same.

James waited impatiently but nothing else appeared on the page. What was the point in asking that if she didn't have anything to say?

Do you regret it? James wrote.

No.

Well, at least the answer came quickly enough to settle his mind.

Me neither.

To James' utter infuriation, Lily didn't write anything else in the diary for the rest of the lesson. When he turned in his seat to send her an angry look, she simply looked content, dissipating James' anger immediately. He decided to confront her after class – for now, he needed to focus on counter-curses.

Lily found him after class though, greeting him with the same shy smile she wore the night before. "Hi," she murmured, hugging her books close to her chest.
"Hello princess," James greeted with a sly grin. Lily blushed.
"So about last night," she began, but James held his hand up to stop her.
"Please don't let whatever you're about to say ruin the bliss I am currently feeling," James said warningly. Lily tossed her hair over her shoulder.
"I was actually going to say that I had a really nice time, if you had let me finish," Lily informed him. James gave a sheepish smile.
"Sorry, but I'm not in the mood for rejection," James admitted. "I'm actually really quite happy with how we are right now."
"And how is that?" Lily asked, walking slowly. James matched her pace.
"Talking. Snogging. All of that."

James let Lily think in silence as they walked. "You still like me, right?" Lily asked eventually. James chuckled.
"Oh yeah."
"Okay. Well, I like you too."

James raised his eyebrows in surprise. He looked at Lily carefully, noticing how her fingers were clenched around her books tightly and how she stood rigidly. Her breathing was uneven and her lips were tightly pinched together.

"That's… new."
All the tension seemed to leave Lily's body as she breathed out. "Yeah. I know."

The two walked on in silence for a while, but it seemed that Lily was keen to talk about… whatever it was. "Is James Potter rendered speechless? I'm impressed with myself."
"I actually don't know what to say," James laughed guiltily. "I'm sorry! I've waited all these years to hear you say that and now I just don't know what to do!"
"You don't have to do anything. I just want to know where we stand," Lily smiled.
"I don't know if this will make sense, but I liked where we stood last night," James said, running a hand through his hair. Lily laughed.
"So did I."
James tilted his head. A strange thought just struck him. "Are you asking me to ask you out?" he demanded.
"Caught on, have you?"

James gasped. "That's incredibly manipulative of you, Miss Evans!"
Lily's jaw dropped. "I'm sorry but I thought you needed a bit of a push in the right direction!" she exclaimed, a smile tugging at the corners of her mouth.
"I'll take that as a yes then, shall I?" James asked. Lily nodded, her smile becoming more pronounced. "Good."

James leaned forward and pressed his lips to Lily's, holding her close, books and all. She responded enthusiastically, standing on her tiptoes eagerly. It was James who had to pull away first to breathe.

"You're a hell of a kiss, Lils," James whispered. The comment made her laugh.
"Thanks. You're not too shabby either."
"Thanks."

Lily shifted her books to one arm, using her free hand to intertwine with James'. She offered him a smile.
"What?" Lily asked, when James did not return the smile.
"Am I dreaming?" James asked dramatically. "Slap me, Lily! I don't think this is real!"
Lily threw her head back and laughed. "Is this all happening a bit quick for you?"
"No," James said immediately. Then his brain caught up with his mouth. "Well, maybe. Not last week you promised to try and see me as who I am and now we're dating… It feels like I've missed a step, you know?"

Lily nodded. "I know. During the last week I've tried really hard to not be biased towards you and I discovered that Mary was right. You really aren't any worse than Sirius, and I think that made me realise how unfair I've been to you, because I started noticing what everyone else has always seen."
"And what's that?"
"A guy who's actually really nice and caring, if a little dramatic at times, who's talented at sport and schoolwork, and rather attractive."
James smirked. "The list seems rather short, in my opinion," he teased. Lily rolled her eyes.
"I'm not going to feed your ego any more than that. The point I'm trying to get across is that you're not the person I always thought you were."

James grinned, but the wheels in his brain were turning. "How did this end up with you kissing me?"
Lily blushed. "Oh, that. Well, I never actually planned on doing that. And technically, you kissed me," Lily added fiercely. "It just seemed like a good idea at the time."
"At the time…" James repeated quietly.
"And it was," Lily said firmly. "I can't quite describe how we got here, but I pray that it doesn't end in catastrophe."

James gave Lily his most charming smile. They had just reached Gryffindor tower. "May all your prayers be answered, Lily flower. Now, let's go find Sirius. He has to know he lost the bet."

"You made a bet on me?" Lily cried. "I can't believe you!"
James tugged on Lily's hand. "Don't worry, it's nothing bad. He just thought that we'd never date while we're at school, and believed it so much he bet me thirty galleons! Gillyweed."

The portrait swung open and James clambered through excitedly. Lily took a more dignified speed, trying not to draw attention to herself. James was shouting in the common room.

"Pay up, Padfoot! Thirty galleons!" James pounced on Sirius' back, making them both fall onto the floor. Remus pulled his feet up onto his seat so they didn't roll on them, looking at Lily accusingly.
"Don't look at me like that, Remus," Lily said cheerfully.
"If you weren't here, he'd never be this happy," Remus said. "You've just made him the happiest man alive."
Lily looked at her new boyfriend, who had succeeded in getting Sirius in a headlock. "Yeah. I know."

"You've lost me thirty galleons," Sirius gasped. James laughed and let him free. "Bloody hell, Lily. You'll have me broke in no time."
"You want to bet on that?" Lily asked, holding back her laughter.
"NO!"

The next day, it had spread over the entire school that James Potter was now dating Lily Evans. Lily found that she didn't mind all that much and was having quite a wonderful day until Severus showed up during her free period. Lily was sitting out in the courtyard enjoying the sunlight when his shadow covered her book. She looked up to see him wearing a pained expression. She returned her attention to her book.

"Lily," he whispered. "Please don't tell me it's true."
"What's true?" Lily asked casually, turning a page in her book. Severus sat beside her and covered her page with his hand.
"Please don't tell me you're… you and him," Severus spat. "You'd never…"
Lily sighed. "Who I am dating is none of your business, Severus. We aren't friends, I owe you nothing."
Severus' face turned from pained to furious in a second. "Has he put you under an Imperius curse?" he demanded, taking out his wand. Lily immediately got hers out, standing up and backing away, dropping her books on the floor. Severus copied her movement.
"No, he hasn't," Lily snapped, "Now go away, or I swear I'll hex you."

Severus' eyes flicked to something behind Lily's shoulder, but she didn't dare look. "He doesn't love you, Lily," Severus said. "It's just obsession. Now's he got you he'll leave you within a week."
"You'd know all about obsession, wouldn't you, Sev?" Lily murmured, her voice shaking a little. It took a lot of courage for her to say that, for Lily had never paid much attention to how Severus felt about her, but she knew the difference between him and James and it was as simple as obsession versus love.
Severus lowered his wand. "You think you're in love, but you're not," he said. "I don't believe it for a second."

Severus turned around and walked away quickly, his cloak billowing out behind him. Lily didn't put her wand away until he was out of sight.

"He's wrong, you know."

Lily barely glanced over her shoulder. Of course they would be there. "I know, Sirius."
"He's not going to leave you within the week," Remus added. "I'll be surprised if he leaves you at all."
Lily chuckled, returning to her bench to pick up her books. "Shouldn't you guys be in class?"

Sirius and Remus came over to help her. "Don't tell James we told you," Sirius said quietly, "But he has a habit of watching you on the map, and when he saw Snape coming your way we came out to make sure everything was okay."
"I can look after myself," Lily said, but she smiled at their protectiveness.
"We know," Remus assured her. "But we do what we can to ease James' fears."

Lily smiled widely and entered the castle again. Class had just ended and people were beginning to mill out into the hall, heading to the Great Hall for lunch. Lily loitered outside the doors with Sirius and Remus, waiting for James and Peter to show up.

When they finally did, James had Sirius and Remus' books in his arms, which he quickly handed over. "I would have come myself," James said hurriedly to Lily, pulling her in for a tight hug, "But I wasn't allowed to leave because apparently I'm too irresponsible."

Lily made a point to hug James back tightly, knowing that Severus' eyes would be on her, even if she couldn't see him. "The teachers just know you too well," Lily joked.
James smiled softly. "Everything okay?" Lily nodded.
"He's just jealous, that's all," she said, entering the hall. Sirius slung an arm over Lily's shoulder.
"It doesn't matter now. He's irrelevant, and you've got us watching over you," he said gallantly.
"Just like angels," Lily agreed.

The five Gryffindors sat at the table, all thoughts of Severus out of their minds. After all, what was the point of dwelling on what was? Lily was perfectly content to focus on the present, and that meant holding hands with James underneath the table and struggling to eat her lunch left-handed.

A/N: Because no Lily romance is complete without a Snape scene!

Thanks for reading, I had a blast writing this story despite not being too pleased with the ending. Review and tell me what you think!