A/N: Again, sorry for the lateness! I'm trying my best with all the holiday craziness.

September 27th-28th, 1977

"Lily! Hey, Lily! Slow down!" James was running to catch up with her as she sped-walked toward the library. She tried not to groan. She didn't know why exactly, but she had been avoiding being alone again with James lately, and for the past couple of weeks, she had been fairly successful. Between him being gone at Quidditch practice most evenings, her N.E.W.T coursework keeping her holed up in the library most nights, and Marlene being extra needy now that Dorcas was starting to spend more time with Benjy, they hadn't crossed paths with nearly the same frequency as they had in the first half of the month. Even in the last two Defense Club meetings, they had barely spoken.

Lily was the only one so far who had successfully achieved any wandless magic, although she was still confined mainly to summoning and repelling objects. Professor Longbottom kept giving her different assignments than the rest of the group, and that had made her a bit isolated. And it was definitely wearing her down. As Longbottom had explained in their second meeting, wandless magic was incredibly draining on most witches and wizards. Wands acted not only as filter but an amplifier of magical abilities, making wandless magic generally less powerful and more difficult to control. It took a tremendous amount of physical and mental strength to conduct the most basic of actions, which in turn, wore on Lily's emotional strength. She had been a very short with most people.

And now she had only four hours before curfew to research and fill three rolls of parchment on Amortentia—not only the making of it, but the ethical implications of its use. She knew as Head Girl she was able, though not technically supposed, to bend curfew a bit, but she preferred to set a good example. Which is the same reason why she hadn't even considered using her free pass on the assignment, even though she had been far too busy with patrols, feast planning, Defense Club, and entertaining Marlene between her Quidditch practices to give the assignment the attention it demanded.

She didn't know how James did it. He had a similar workload to her. Though he wasn't taking N.E.W.T. Arithmancy or elective Astronomy like she was, he was taking N.E.W.T. Care of Magical Creatures, bringing his total of N.E.W.T. courses to an even six with hers. It was an almost unheard of number, and McGonagall hadn't exactly recommended it, although she did seem confident they could both pull it off. Plus, he was Quidditch Captain. And yet he never even seemed tired.

Meanwhile, she was feeling headachy and hormonal today on top of the usual exhaustion. She was probably about to start her period based on the amount of chocolate almond cake she had felt compelled to eat at dinner the night before. At the time, she had told herself it was because they hardly ever put out chocolate almond cake except on special occasions, but it was like the house elves were starting to figure out her eating habits, now that she could order or own food whenever she wanted. More and more, they had an uncanny knack for sending up the exact things she was craving on any given day. She wondered if they were tracking her hormone cycles and felt a wave of embarrassment.

Why hadn't anyone invented a potion for p.m.s. symptoms yet, anyway? Probably because there weren't too many professional potioneers who were female. Maybe that could be her final project, she thought. Slughorn wanted all the seventh-years to design their own potion by the end of the school year. She held back a laugh as she tried to imagine herself explaining the purpose of her potion to Slughorn.

"What's so funny?" asked James, having caught up to her. She hadn't stopped for him, but she had at least slowed her steps.

Lily decided telling him would be almost as awkward as telling Slughorn, so she shrugged the question off with a "Nothing. What's up?"

"Listen, I'm so, so sorry, but I forgot, I kind of have a thing tonight, and I don't think I can make my patrol duty with Benjy. Any chance you or somebody else could cover me?"

Lily felt like her head might explode. They had slaved over the September patrol schedule for five hours their first Saturday back. And it had been edited and revised numerous times since then as people petitioned her—always her, never James—to switch their hours based on school assignments, Quidditch practices, club meetings, or just plain preferences with no good reason. It was happening so much that Lily had put a 'no changes without a week's notice' policy into place.

"I know! I know!" he was saying. "I'm the worst Head Boy ever. But I wouldn't ask if it wasn't really, really important."

He sounded like he really thought this was a matter of life or death or something. Lily sighed.

"Okay, maybe I'll ask Remus" she said.

"Um, I don't think he's able to do it either," said James.

And as they walked past a large window, Lily saw the setting sun and realized exactly why Remus would not be able to cover the patrol. She felt horrible. Like she might cry actually, because most things made her want to cry the day before her period, which was likely being brought on by the full moon she was now viewing.

James saw her face and got very concerned. "What's wrong?" he asked, taking her hand.

She pulled hers away in an old reflex, and he looked incredibly hurt. Then she felt even worse about herself because she had been avoiding him for no good reason, and she did begin to cry. And he looked so worried and adorable that she was filled with the overwhelming urge to kiss him again. Damn these stupid hormones, she thought.

"I'm sorry," he finally said, because she was looking at him with a very peculiar expression, tears rolling down her face all the while. "I shouldn't have asked. I'll do the patrol."

"No, it's okay. I…I can handle it," she said, mentally rewriting her schedule in her head. It would give her about half an hour less time to work on the essay tonight, as well as keep her up two hours later than she expected, meaning she probably wouldn't be able to get up at five tomorrow to practice transfiguring her hair to be different lengths and colors as planned. But maybe she should just skip Astronomy this week. It was only an elective after all…

"No, don't be ridiculous," he said, looking at the huge stack of books in her arms, "you have too much to do. I'll ask Anita. And if she can't, I'll just do it myself."

"Thanks," she sniffled. "James?"

"Yeah?"

"How do you not get overwhelmed by…everything?"

"Who says I don't get overwhelmed?"

"Well, you just always seem to have it so…together."

"Last night I hexed Sirius for breathing too loud," he said.

She laughed, and he looked extremely relieved that she was no longer crying. "What hex did you use?" she asked.

"Well, lets just say, he had to figure out how to transfigure his hair a little earlier than McGonagall demanded. And he's somehow still attractive when he's bald. I don't get it. Stupid git."

Lily laughed again. They had reached the library. "Well, I hope you get your schedule thing figured out. Sorry I couldn't be more help," said Lily, pushing open the door, but James pulled it shut by the handle.

"Lily?"

Lily swallowed. She was pretty sure what was coming.

"Why haven't we…hung out since Hogsmeade?"

She was glad he didn't mention the kiss—either of them. "Uh, well like I was just saying, I've been really overwhelmed lately, and…"

"You know, I could help you relieve some of that stress," he wiggled his eyebrows at her.

She rolled her eyes and resisted laughing. It only encouraged him. "You're right," she said, "I could use a nice punching bag…"

"Hey, if that's what you need, I'm here for you," he said with a bow.

That time, she did laugh. And he looked so happy that she was happy, that she gave into the hormones and pulled him straight into a kiss when he had straightened from the bow.

His surprise did not immobilize him for long, and he was soon wrapping his fingers in her hair, pulling her face even closer to his. Lily twisted her fingers into the back of his shirt. She opened her mouth, trying to conceal a moan, and he took that as an invitation to explore it with his tongue.

Somewhere, very, very far in the back of the misty puddle that was now her brain, she was thinking that she did not have time for this. And yet she couldn't pull away, and neither, apparently could he. His hands had moved to her hips, and he held on tightly, like he was afraid she would be dragged off at any moment.

There was a loud clatter as the door to the library swung open, and Lily jumped, not only to avoid being hit by the door but also to avoid being caught in the embrace of James Potter. They were both flushed and guilty looking as the culprit entered the hallway.

It was Snape.

Lily wasn't sure if he had seen anything, but he didn't really need to have to seen it to be able to assess the situation correctly. He honestly looked as though he might vomit. His face was a queasy shade of green and his jaw was clenched furiously. His eyes lingered on the arm that James still had around Lily's hips. She wished he would drop it, but he did not. Instead, he gave Snape challenging look. Snape stared back defiantly.

Lily couldn't take the tension any longer. "Hello, Severus," she said breathlessly, hoping the use of his first name would calm the situation, but it only seemed to incense it further. She could feel the muscles in James's arm tauten angrily, and Snape was looking at her with utter betrayal in his eyes.

Without a word, he fled the scene, looking back only once, as if to assure himself that it had indeed happened and was not in fact a horrible nightmare.

Lily slumped. The glow of the kiss had quickly worn off and she was starting to feel miserable again. James was still staring after Snape, his free hand twitching longingly for his wand.

"I, uh, I should get to work on this essay," she said uncomfortably, stooping to pick up the books that she had dropped in the excitement. He bent to help her, handing her a heavy tome entitled Mysteries of the Heart: The secrets of brewing your way to love. "It's for that Amortentia essay," she said unnecessarily, though she still felt a bit ashamed of it.

"Lily," he looked at her very seriously. "Will you…do you think you'd be willing to meet me later?"

"What do you mean later?" she asked, wondering if he would ask her to break curfew and unsure if she'd be willing to do so.

"Well, I guess technically it'd be tomorrow. I mean very early. Like, at sunrise. There's this great big rock by the lake that faces east. Do you know it?"

"Yes," she said.

"So will you meet me there?"

Lily thought about it. She had already been planning on getting up that early anyway, but for all the schoolwork she'd been putting off. Still, she did feel like they really needed to talk, and they were both just so busy. And to be completely honest, her lips were still tingling from the kiss, and she kind of wanted another opportunity to feel that sensation.

"Okay," she said finally. He grinned, helping her to her feet.

"Great," he said and pecked her on the cheek. "I'll see you then." He scampered away, and there was a lightness to his step that hadn't been there before.

What did she just do, Lily wondered as she headed toward her favorite corner of the library. She was surprised to find there was already somebody sitting at her usual table, which was normally empty due to its being hidden behind a bookcase, and for once it wasn't Dorcas or Marlene sitting there. She did recognize the person, however.

"Hi. It's Jamilda, isn't it?" asked Lily as she sat down across from the beautiful sixth-year girl.

Jamilda gave a start and looked up from her homework. "Oh! I'm sorry. Did you have this table reserved? I'll just…" she began to gather her things.

"No, don't be silly. There's plenty of space for both of us," said Lily. Jamilda began to set her things back down, still looking a little uncertain. "I promise, I won't bother you. I've got a killer essay to crank out, so I won't make a peep."

"Okay. Thanks. Lily, right?" she asked, settling back into her seat.

"Yeah," Lily smiled as she sat down and began laying her books out in front of her. She heard a quiet meow, and a grey ball of fluff jumped into her lap. "Oh! Hi, Misty," she said quietly as she stroked her head. "I don't know where she is." But Marlene's cat just nipped affectionately at her fingers, walked a circle on her lap, kneaded her claws into her legs a few times—somewhat painfully, Lily might add, and then curled up, a purring little space heater on her thighs. "Okay then."

Lily opened her first book and began combing through the list of the properties of Amortentia. She was already familiar with most of them, but she wanted to double-check her memory from last year, when they had briefly been introduced to the strongest of all love potions.

Her finger stopped as it came the description of the aroma. The potion smells differently to each person based on what attracts them. She already knew this of course, but the reason she stopped was that this book claimed to have distilled the scent. "Scratch and sniff and see for yourself," it said, with a little arrow pointing to a box. Lily paused. Could this really work? Like those silly stickers she used to get as a kid that where supposed to smell like strawberries but really smelled more like plastic?

She decided it couldn't hurt to try. She glanced at Jamilda, who was deeply absorbed in her own book and paying Lily no attention. She scratched the square and lifted the book her nose self-consciously.

She was met with the scent of fresh-baked brownies, the light floral fragrance of the laundry detergent her mother always used, and a familiar earthy smell, almost like the air after a storm. She flushed red, and slammed the book back onto the table.

Jamilda looked at her questioningly. "Sorry!" Lily said. "Thought I saw a spider." Jamilda returned to her studies. Misty was still giving her a perturbed look, however, so Lily began scratching behind her ears, and the purring resumed.

Lily continued her perusal of the book, occasionally scribbling down a few notes of things she had forgotten or didn't know or couldn't quite say as well as the book did. She had just moved on to the next book when someone else rounded the corner of the bookshelf that concealed the table.

"There you are! I've been looking for you all day! Oh, hello Jamilda." It was Marlene. Jamilda looked as though she had seen a ghost. She quickly began packing her books up.

"It's okay! There's room for three!" Lily called after her as she exited as quickly as she could. "What was that all about?" she asked Marlene.

Marlene started fidgeting, looking around for a distraction. "Oh, you're working on the Amortentia essay? Did you get the book with the scratch and sniff? What did it smell like for you?"

"What happened with you and Jamilda?" asked Lily, undeterred.

Marlene plunked down into the seat beside her. "I might have…kissed her a little bit."

"What?! When? Where? Why?"

"You forgot 'how' if you want the complete collection," she joked, trying to change the subject again. Lily did not look amused, so Marlene began her explanation. "It was after Quidditch practice last night. She had gotten a Bludger to the eye, so was helping mend a cut in the girls' locker room. And she just looked so pretty, and the next thing I knew, I was leaning in, and she didn't seem to be leaning away, so I thought, 'hey, maybe she wants this too', but I was totally wrong, she just thought I was getting a closer look at her eye or something, and she ran away and I haven't talked to her since."

"Last night? Why didn't you tell me sooner?"

"I haven't seen you yet! You must have either eaten very early or not gone to breakfast. And I didn't see you at lunch either. Are you skipping meals again?" Misty had vacated Lily's lap in favor of her owner's, and Marlene was now giving her a proper rub down, much to Misty's contentment.

"No!" Lily lied. She had gotten into the bad habit of working through most mealtimes, and then sneaking to the Head Wing late in the evening and scarfing down a hamburger or something equally unhealthy. Then, of course, she would feel ill and not be able to fall asleep, so she would have to sleep through breakfast, and then work through lunch to make up for the lost time, and repeat the cycle.

It was especially bad on days like today when she didn't have any classes with Marlene, because Marlene was better at bullying Lily into going to the Great Hall than Dorcas was. But the N.E.W.T. Charms class was too big, so they were split into two separate classes, and Gryffindors were with Hufflepuffs while Ravenclaws were with Slytherins. And Marlene wasn't in N.E.W.T. Herbology. So Tuesdays were completely Marlene-less and thus often meal-less.

"So, you don't think she's interested then?" Lily asked.

"Well, you saw the way she just ran out of here. That was about the same face she made last night."

"Oh, Marl, I'm so sorry," said Lily. She tried to take her friend's hand, but Misty was having none of that.

"It's okay. It was pretty stupid of me to make a move on a teammate. I'm mostly just worried about how it's going to affect us on the field."

Lily studied her friend, trying to find signs that she was covering up some deeper heartache, but she really did seem to be more preoccupied with Quidditch than being rejected.

"So you haven't finished that yet?" asked Marlene, leaning over to figure out where in the process Lily was with her essay. Lily was too tired to feel embarrassed at her scant half roll of sloppy notes. "You do realize it's due tomorrow?"

"Ugh, I know. I just haven't had any time to work on it all week." Lily rubbed at the spot between her eyes where her tension headache had intensified.

"Do you want to look at my notes?" Marlene offered, digging around in her school bag and pulling out a stack of parchment held together by a bit of twine while Misty protested the absence of her hands. It always amazed Lily how organized Marlene could be.

"Oh my god, that would be lifesaver!" Lily felt like she might cry again as she accepted the thick stack of notes. It would cut her work by more than half.

Marlene pulled out her runes dictionary and began working on a long translation. Lily felt a wave of jealousy. Marlene didn't have Ancient Runes until Friday, and here she was, calmly working on her homework for it on Tuesday.

Luckily, Lily was a very fast writer once she had the notes. In an hour, she was already over halfway done with the essay. She only had the ethics section left. While that was perhaps the most difficult section to write, it required the least amount of integrating information from outside sources, so once she figured out what she wanted to say, it would go very quickly.

But she didn't really know what she wanted to say yet. Instead, she laid her head on the table and closed her eyes.

"Oh no, don't you fall asleep here," said Marlene, not looking up from her translation. "I won't wake you up, I'll just let you spend the night and then Madam Pince or Filch will find you."

"I'm not sleeping! I just need to be not looking at this essay for a minute."

"Well, if you need a break, why don't you tell me what you've been doing all day since you were too busy to hang out with me."

"Oh, you know. Slept through most of breakfast on accident, decided to grab some toast and get a little last minute studying in for Sprout's quiz about invasive species in the Head Wing rather than the Great Hall. Herbology all morning. Practiced Weather Charms for Flitwick's class during lunch…"

"I thought you said you weren't skipping meals," Marlene cut in.

"I, uh, grabbed a sandwich to go." Marlene clearly did not believe Lily's lie, but let her continue anyway. "After Charms, I had to meet with McGonagall to run the October Prefect schedule by her. Stopped by the hospital wing."

Though Cindy had only been in the hospital wing a few days, not two weeks later, another student had turned up with a suspiciously similar injury. It was a third-year Hufflepuff boy. And a Muggle-born. In fact, his was merely one of the most violent in a growing trend of attacks on Muggle-born students, who had increasingly found themselves the victims of covert hexes, jinxes, and pranks.

And these weren't harmless pranks like ones the Marauders used to pull, like that time they had jinxed the split pea soup so that everyone who ate it for lunch had a bright green tongue for the rest of the day. They had gotten Dumbledore good with that one, much to the admiration of most of the student body. No, these pranks were more like transfiguring articles in Muggle newspapers to make it seem like students' parents had died. Nobody was laughing.

And so Lily stopped by the hospital wing almost every day to visit the terrified Muggle-borns who often crowded its beds. And worst of all, none of the culprits had been caught yet. Rosier had somehow managed to come up with "airtight alibis" for both Gertie's tail and Cindy's ruthless assault.

Lily continued her account of the day to Marlene, "Then I took a quick nap. And then I came here."

"So the usual?" Lily bit her lip and looked away from Marlene's question. "Not the usual?" she asked with more interest.

"Well, something weird did happen," Lily admitted.

"Go on."

"Come closer, I don't want anyone overhearing," Lily beckoned. Marlene edged her chair closer and leaned in. Lily dropped her voice to a near whisper. "I kind have kissed James again." Marlene's eyes widened in shock and excitement. "And that's not all. I think Snape saw us."

"No?! What did he do?!"

So Lily told her about the awkward encounter, leaving out the part where James asked to meet her at dawn.

"Wow," she said. "What kind of kiss was it?"

"What do you mean?"

"Like, was there tongue?"

Lily blushed and looked away, effectively answering the question.

"Merlin, things are getting intense between you two. What were his hands doing?"

"I don't know, they started kind of up here," Lily demonstrated on Marlene, placing a hand on her hair. "But by the end they were somehow down here, I think," she said, moving her hand down to Marlene's hip.

"Wow," said Marlene again, leaning back in her chair.

They could hear some giggling coming from behind the bookcase that shielded their table. Lily looked over her shoulder to see a girl peeking through the space where she had just pulled out a book. She recognized her as a fourth-year Gryffindor. The girl looked a little terrified that Lily had seen her. She turned and mouthed something to her friends who must have been out of sight, and there was a patter of several sets of feet scurrying away.

"That was weird," said Lily.

"They probably saw you touching me and thought we having a romantic little rendezvous in a hidden corner of the library. I expect half the school will suspect I'm gay now that I've gone and kissed Jamilda," said Marlene glumly.

"No. You don't think she would tell people, do you? She looked pretty embarrassed about it," said Lily.

"I don't know. There was definitely a lot of whispering when I swung by the Common Room earlier. I'll ask Roz or Emmeline if they've heard anything. Why didn't anyone ever tell us seventh year would suck this much? We have five times the work of sixth-years, everyone's breathing down our necks about what we want to do after school, your best friends start ditching you for boys…"

"I am not ditching you! I've kissed him like twice. Okay three times. Maybe four, but the first two hardly count."

"Yes, but two real kisses. I feel like that means you two are well on your way to being a couple. Aren't you?"

"I'm not really sure."

"Haven't you talked about it? You should probably talk about it."

Damn Marlene and her logic, thought Lily. "Yeah, we're going to tomorrow before classes, I think."

"See. Told you you were ditching me. Ah, well. At least I still have Quidditch. Maybe. If Jamilda will never look at me again, it will be a bit difficult to pass her the Quaffle," said Marlene miserably.

"You know what we need? We need a girls' weekend. You, me, and Dorcas. No boy talk. Or girl talk, in the romantic sense. I'll ask McGonagall if it's too late to take the seventh-years into Hogsmeade this weekend."

"Really? You would do that for me?"

"Of course! I could definitely use a little break from things too," said Lily, gesturing to the unfinished essay before her.

"Right! You should really get back to work on that. We only have about an hour until the library closes."

"Ugh, don't remind me," said Lily, picking up her quill again.

They worked in silence for the next hour until Madam Pince came by ringing the closing bell.

"I better see you at breakfast tomorrow! No more skipping meals. It's not good for you!" warned Marlene as she packed her bag up. "Plus, I want to know how your conversation with James goes," she added mischievously.

Lily sighed and rolled up her freshly completed and dried essay. She was nervous enough about what she would say to James without Marlene drawing extra attention to it. Madam Pince glared at them as they exited the library, the last ones. Lily was very used to this look by now.

She just barely had time to swing by the Head Wing for a bowl of chocolate ice cream with marshmallow topping—tomorrow the healthy eating would begin, she promised herself, and make it back to Gryffindor Tower a few minutes before curfew. When she entered the seventh-year girls' room she was overwhelmed with the sickening feeling that the reason for the tense silence was that the talking had suddenly ceased due to her entrance.

She made her way quietly to her bed, avoiding eye contact with any of her dormmates. A quiet murmur had begun, and she could feel the subtle glances in her direction. As she began rooting around in her trunk for her pajamas, a shadow of someone standing behind her blocked her light. She turned reluctantly.

"Hello, Bethany."

"I just want you to know, that we all think it's really…brave of you to be…how you are."

"Thanks…" said Lily uncertainly, forgetting about the earlier incident from the library.

"And while we think it is so…brave," she kept saying that word with a weird constrained tone, like she was being ironic, maybe. "…we also feel a little uncomfortable with you being in here while we change."

Lily scrunched her face in confusion. Then she realized what Bethany was talking about.

"Um, not that it should make a difference either way, but I'm not gay."

"Mmm," said Bethany through pursed lips. "Well, we still think you should go change in the bathroom, while we change out here."

Lily was too tired to argue. She grabbed her nightgown and stomped into the bathroom, ignoring the apologetic looks of Marie and couple others as she slammed the door behind her. She took a few calming breaths. She would not cry again. She would not. She hated the way her eyes felt in the morning if she went to bed crying.

She washed her face, brushed her teeth, and shrugged the nightgown over her head. She took one more steadying breath like a soldier preparing for battle and entered the room once more. Seven pairs of eyes were on her, but Lily stayed facing straight ahead, eyes fixed on her bed.

She was setting her alarm clock when she felt someone sit on the edge of her mattress. It was Layla Hicklebee.

"I just wanted say, that not all of us agree with Bethany." They both glanced at Bethany who was glowering in their direction and whispering in Candace Clearwater's ear. "Nancy and I don't care who you date, whether it's James or Marlene or both of them or neither of them. We think you're doing a great job as Head Girl."

"Thanks, Layla," said Lily gratefully.

Layla and Nancy Bloom had been her closest allies among the Gryffindor girls. They were best friends and kind of had their own thing going, but they were always happy to let her sit near them in class or help each other with homework. Bethany had a monopoly on everyone else. Marie, Candace, and Sally Upham. But Marie did lend Lily a scrunchie or some chapstick every now and then. Though that was unlikely to continue now that they were all convinced she was a lesbian. Candace and Sally, on the other hand, were almost worse than Bethany, because they took all the lies she fed them and spread them around the rest of the school.

Layla gave her a sympathetic look and went back to her own bed where Nancy was waiting. Lily, though glad for the show of support, was even gladder to be alone at last. She drew her bed curtain around her and stared off into the darkness that now surrounded her. She had thought her life couldn't get any more complicated, and she had been sorely mistaken.

Lily wasn't in a better mood when her alarm clock went off bright an early at five the next morning. She turned it off as quickly as she could and prayed it hadn't woken any of her dormmates, especially the more hostile ones. Her period had come during the night and she silently apologized to the house elves that would have to clean her stained sheets.

The sky was still in that unearthly dark and quiet phase that occurred just before it would start to fade to grey and eventually pink. She pulled on her clothes in the dark, glaring at Bethany's sleeping form rebelliously as she did so.

When she had finished getting ready, she stepped lightly into the hall, making her way through the castle as noiselessly as she could. She didn't technically know when 'night' ended and 'morning' began, but she had a feeling teachers would frown on students being out of bed so long before the Great Hall opened at six thirty. She ran into only one other person, Professor Flitwick, who simply said, "Up early, aren't we Miss Evans?" She had agreed and explained she had left a book in the Head Wing that she needed to finish an assignment before class. "Very good, very good." He did not question her story, even though they were on the fourth floor.

It was a bit eerie being in halls when it was so empty and Lily was feeling a little jumpy by the time she reached the entrance hall. The dew of the front lawn sparkled in the pale light that was now creeping across the sky, and she swore at James under her breath as it soaked through her shoes and socks. She didn't know how he had convinced her to get up so early. As much as she had told herself she would get up at that time to practice for transfiguration, she knew it hadn't be a realistic goal.

She reached the rock and there was no sign of James. He better not have forgotten, she thought grumpily, as she leaned against it.

"Hey."

Lily jumped and slipped on the wet grass, her right foot landing in the edge of the cold water of the lake. It was already soaked through anyway, but she still wasn't happy about it.

"I didn't hear you coming at all," she said, trying to control her face so he wouldn't know what a bad mood she was in.

"Sorry, didn't mean to scare you."

"Are you…okay?" she asked. She had suddenly realized that he was covered in small scratches all over his face and arms, as if he had been running through a thicket. And he looked like he hadn't slept at all.

"What? Oh, yeah, I'm fine."

"You weren't…with Remus…were you?"

"No. Well, not exactly…"

Lily's eyebrows shot toward her hairline.

"I was…waiting in the woods nearby. It makes him feel better to know he has friends are close to him when he transitions."

"That's why you needed your patrol covered?" asked Lily, suddenly feeling very guilty that she had given him such a hard time about needing to switch.

He shrugged. "Yeah, but it worked out fine. I traded for Anita's patrol tonight. She was really happy to switch, because she has a big Divination test tomorrow."

"So, why did you want to meet me here?"

"Let's talk up there," he said gesturing up the rock. "You get a much better view of the sunrise."

Lily looked up the boulder dubiously, but James was already halfway up. She tried her best to match the holds James found with his hands and feet, but he had a good six or seven inches on her in height, so that wasn't always possible. She did manage to reach the top eventually, albeit with a very scrapped up knee.

They sat in silence for a few minutes, watching the sun come up over the far side of the lake. It really was a spectacular view, but all the while Lily was very conscious of how close James was sitting to her. She wanted to put her hand behind her to lean back, but there was nowhere to put it that wouldn't force her to touch him.

After what felt like an eternity, he finally turned to her and cleared his throat.

"Lily, it's no secret that I like you. That I have for a while."

Lily couldn't quite look him in the eye.

"And I know it may have seemed like a stupid schoolboy crush or like I was just messing with you or just in it for the thrill of the chase or something, and I know I was a bit of a git about it sometimes in the past."

She laughed softly. That was a huge understatement considering he had tormented her relentlessly for the better part of five years.

He ignored her snark. "But I want you to know, I really have been trying. Trying to be a good Head Boy. Trying to not bother you all the time. Trying to get my act together and stop jinxing people all the time for fun."

"I know you have," she admitted. He looked encouraged.

"And I promised myself I wouldn't do this this year. At least not until second semester, but then there was the kiss. And the other kisses. And you said we had a date that one day, and so I was wondering…if maybe you might want to…go out with me? Maybe even be my girlfriend?"

His tone was sweet and timid. It was so different from every other time he'd asked her out in that patronizing way of his, always doing it to show off in front of a huge crowd. Like that time he'd flown over to her after having just won a Quidditch match and hung from his broom threatening to let go if she didn't say yes. She didn't and he let go, but Sirius caught him before he hit the ground. In spite of the emotional coercion, she had to commend him for his commitment .

But there was nobody around them right now for him to show off for. It was just them sitting in the stillness of the break of day, and he was looking at her with such hope in his eyes.

"Okay. I'll go out with you," she said, and he looked as though he might explode from happiness. "But…" and he deflated considerably. "I don't think I'm ready for the whole boyfriend/girlfriend label yet."

"That's fair, I suppose," he said, looking relieved and pleased, if a little less giddy. "So maybe we can go to Hogsmeade together next time?"

"Sure. Wait, no I can't. I promised Marlene a Girls' Weekend. I was going to ask you if you think we can take the seventh-years in this Saturday."

"Yeah, we could probably do that," he agreed; then he mumbled, "Stupid Marlene" under his breath.

"You're not jealous already, are you? Sure, she's my girlfriend and all, but…"

"Your…your what?"

"Haven't you heard the rumors? She and I are madly in love."

James looked as though he thought she might be serious for a solid twenty seconds. When she couldn't take it anymore, Lily burst out laughing, and so did he, though not quite as wholeheartedly.

"Is that really the rumor?" he asked when their laughter had died down.

"Sadly, yes. We may or may not have been spied re-enacting yours and my earlier encounter in a secluded corner of the library."

"You kissed her?!" he asked a little too excitedly.

"No! I was just demonstrating the body language because she wanted to know what kind of kiss it was."

"What kind of kiss was it?" he asked with a twinkle in his eye.

"Oh, you know…" said Lily, turning red.

"Was it…" he scooched closer to her, "like this?" And then he kissed her again, just as passionately as he had last night, though with a little more restraint.

It felt a bit like the world had stopped. The sun was frozen, hovering above the still water. The birds and insects had stopped chirping. Even the breeze that had been tickling her neck seemed to have disappeared. And it really was just them, alone in the world, his lips gently sucking and nipping at her own.

"Yeah, something like that," she said dreamily when they finally broke the kiss.

They laid back on the rock, her head resting on his shoulder, his arm pulling her close. She stared up into the purple sky, dotted with the coral clouds of early morning, and wondered if she had made the right decision. She had sworn to herself, and many others, that she would never ever date James Potter.

And yet, here they were. And she wasn't even mad about being wrong like she usually was. In fact, she felt a bit like one of those clichéd characters in Dorcas's romance novels, butterflies in her stomach and everything.

When the sky had begun to transition to a pale blue, she got to her feet.

"Just a little longer," said James, pulling at her hand.

"Can't," said Lily. "My girlfriend will kill me if I skip breakfast again." He grinned and got to his feet as well.

And so they walked to the Great Hall together, and Lily half hoped that their equally muddy shoes and matching goofy grins would put to bed the whole lesbian rumor before it even got its roots in the ground.

Sirius smirked at her knowingly as she sat down beside him. He looked as tired and marked up as James did when he passed her the jam. "Good morning?" It was a question rather than a statement.

Lily just smiled into her toast. She could feel Bethany's stare penetrating the back of her head, but she didn't care. Maybe this year wouldn't be the worst year after all.