James scrutinised his reflection in the mirror. Nervously, he tried to flatten his stubborn hair, but quickly gave up, and ruffled it. Then, he began to pace.

'James!' Remus groaned, tossing a pillow at him. 'My head hurts enough without watching you.' James grimaced. It was Remus' time of the month; tonight, he would transform into a werewolf. He was already feeling ill –judging by his pale face and the light sheen of sweat that covered his face – and James' pacing probably wasn't helping.

'Sorry, Moony, just nervous.' James sat down on his bed, and fiddled with a hole in the faded red and gold duvet.

'Will you be back by tonight?' Remus asked anxiously. James knew he wanted him to be there for the transformation process. 'I don't want it to be just Padfoot,' he glanced at the sleeping boy, 'He could get hurt...'

'And you might eat Wormtail.' James laughed, but Remus looked sombre. 'Anyway... how do I look?'

Remus pointed to the dormitory door. 'Get out.' James knew well enough to listen; he had asked Remus that same question several times already that morning, and didn't want to be hexed before his date with Lily. He ran out and closed the door just in time to block another pillow.

'What do you want?' James asked, over the loud noise of the Three Broomsticks.

Lily chewed her lip, looking thoughtful, 'A butterbeer, please.' She dug through her purse, and pulled out a sickle. 'Here.'

James closed her hand around it. 'I'm buying.' Lily sighed. Before they had come to the Three Broomsticks, they had been to almost every other shop in Hogsmeade. James had bought her a lifetimes supply of sweets from Honeydukes and several new books from Dervish and Banges. She thought it was sweet, but a little annoying that he refused to let her pay for her own things.

He preceded over to the bar, and then, after a quick word with Mr Rosmerta, returned to the table carrying two foaming mugs of golden butterbeer.

'Thanks,' Lily said shyly, not sure how she should behave around James when he was being so gentlemanly. 'Well... you seem to know a lot about me, Potter, so can I ask you a few things about you?'

James shrugged, and took a sip of his beverage. 'Go ahead.' Whether he wanted to or not, he already knew he would tell Lily anything she wanted to know if she asked.

'What do your parents do?'

'Mum's with the Department of Mysteries. Rather obviously, I don't know a lot about what she does. Dad's Head Auror.' James grinned. 'That's what I want to do when I finish school,' he said proudly.

'That's a dangerous job though!' Lily exclaimed.

'Yeah, well, Slytherins are great to practice on.' James said cheerfully.

'Oh. I would've thought you'd want to play Quidditch, as a professional.'

James leaned forward, looking quite serious. 'I did. But then with all this He Who Must Not Be Named stuff going on, I decided I want to be of some use. I mean, if I die, say, in five years time, I don't want to be sitting on the other side thinking, "yeah, well at least I broke the record for catching the snitch in the least amount of time." I want to be sitting there knowing that I made a difference. That I contributed to defeating the most evil wizard of our time. I could rest easy dead, if I know I've sent a few Slytherins to Azkaban.' Lily smiled, amazed.

'They're not all bad,' she laughed.

'Name one.' James dared her.

Lily thought for a moment. 'Regulus Black,' she said confidently.

'Death Eater,' James said in a low voice.

'Poor Sirius,' Lily said, clapping her hands to her mouth.

James smiled. 'Sirius is always saying "the world isn't split into good people and death eaters." Reg is all right when he's on his own... and he and Sirius get on well considering the differences.'

'Oh, well then... how about Narcissa Rosier?' James shook his head again. 'Andromeda Rosier?'

'She's in Hufflepuff, but no, she's not a Death Eater. Like Sirius, she's one of the '

'Ha! So I win!'

'Nope,' James said grinning. 'I said I wanted to take a few Slytherins with me, and you said they can't all be bad. Dromeda's in Hufflepuff. You still lose!'

Lily rolled her eyes and drained the last inch of her butterbeer. James followed suit. 'So, what do you want to do now?' Lily asked when they were again outside, in the snowy street.

James eyed her thoughtfully. 'I'm not sure. You don't like Zonko's', James pouted, 'and we've already been everywhere else.' Lily nodded. 'Back to Honeydukes then?

'Why?' Lily asked, slipping on her gloves.

James grabbed her hand, 'Come on!'

'So where are we?' Lily whispered. James had taken her into the cellar of Honeydukes, levitated a floor tile, and was now leading her through a wand-lit tunnel.

'Secret passage,' James said casually. 'It's quicker than the other way. Sirius and I found it in second year.'

'But we weren't allowed into Hogsmeade until third year!' Lily protested. James grinned, and continued to lead her through the earthy tunnel.

'If you get me lost, James, I swear I'll kill you.' James laughed.

Eventually, they reached a staircase. 'After you, Lily,' James said politely.

Lily made it up three steps before she heard James' voice behind her. 'Lily.' She spun.

James had been much closer than she had realised. She allowed herself to enjoy the way his lips felt against hers, until she laughed, breaking the kiss. James suddenly looked wary, as if he was expecting her to explode with anger. But she wasn't. She laughed again and a look of triumph and joy replaced worry on James' face.

'How do we get out?'

James grinned. 'There's a price...'

'Yes, and I just payed,' Lily said, beaming. She wondered what Alice would say when she told her that she, Lily Evans had kissed James Potter.

'Fair enough.' He waved his wand and a hole appeared at the top of the staircase. Once they were both out, James resealed the passage, which had opened on the hunched back of a statue. Lily took his hand as they walked, but when they reached a staircase James announced that he would be leaving.

'Where?'

'Remus is ill. He's in the hospital wing, and I said I'd visit him when I got back.'

'Oh! Is he going to be all right?'

'He should be fine. I just think he'll be annoyed because he missed out on the Hogsmeade trip.'

'Do you want me to come?'

'If you want to. From the loud conversation I heard between you and Alice this morning I was under the impression you had some things to discuss when you got back.' Lily blushed, and hugged James so he couldn't see her face. Alice had been shouting that she wanted details about the date.

'Yes. I should see to Alice.' She balanced on her tiptoes long enough to peck a startled James on the cheek, then trotted off toward the Gryffindor common room. 'I'll see you later,' she called over her shoulder, still blushing furiously.