'Here, drink this,' said James, pushing a flute of champagne in Lily's hand. She took it automatically, but raised an eyebrow at him. He sat down at table and took a sip out of his own flute. The day of the ceremony had finally arrived. Currently, Lily and he were sitting in the grand ball room of the Association for the Advancement of Potion Making, waiting for the event to start. The grand and fancy room was filled with close to a hundred people. So far, James had almost exclusively spotted pure-bloods. They had a small table for four. James's father was sitting with them while Mrs. Potter was sitting at the very front of the stage with the other judges. She would join them at a later point in time.

'Are you sure getting drunk is such a good idea?' said Lily, fidgeting with the glass. 'I am supposed to be cool and in control, am I not?'

'I did not tell you to get smashed,' said James with a grin. He doubted that Lily had ever been drunk in her life. He would like to see it at some point in time, but preferably not today. 'You should only drink a little to calm your nerves. You look like a caged animal!'

'Rubbish,' said Lily, through James could tell that she was lying. She had gotten better over their two days of practice at keeping her temper and at holding a polite and shallow conversation suited for these kind of events, but two days were too little to make up for a completely different upbringing. James was somewhat pleased with her progress, but he still would have to keep an eye on her to shield her from the worst company. She was not going to last against some Malfoy or Black for long. 'I am not nervous at all.'

'You are a bit tense, dear,' said Mr. Potter with a small smile. 'I think James has a good point. You should try to relax a bit. You have to appear at ease at this kind of events.'

'Alright,' said Lily, taking a sip. 'If you think it will help.'

'Good girl,' said James while scanning the crowd. He spotted Snape a few tables down and scowled. Lily followed his gaze and her face became oddly blank.

'Is he one of the finalist as well?' she asked James.

'I am afraid so,' said James, grimacing. 'Bloody Death Eater in training.'

'James,' said his father sternly, reminding James to keep his opinion to himself in these kind of events.

'Right, sorry,' said James. Lily was watching them with a puzzled expression on her face. She probably wondered why Mr. Potter did not want James to call Snape bad names.

'Well, he is a genius at potions, it is not surprising that he did well at the contest,' said Lily. 'I wondered how he modified the Blood Replenishing Potion.'

'No idea,' said James. 'I never knew that the potion needed improving in the first place.'

'What did you sent in, Lily?' asked Mr. Potter.

'Oh, I tried to make using the potion easier,' said Lily. 'It is notoriously difficult to dose correctly. If you administer too little, it is useless, if you give too much it becomes toxic itself. I have added some other ingredients to make it less dangerous in higher doses. It is only a small improvement, but I think it could really make a difference.'

'Very impressive,' said Mr. Evans and James had to agree. 'I am not as good as potions as my wife is, but I know that modifying potions in such a way is difficult. You are a very talented witch, Lily.'

'Thank you, sir,' said Lily, blushing. 'I think I got a bit lucky, to be honest. I was out of my depth most of the time.'

'Nonsense,' said Mr. Potter. 'There is no such thing as getting lucky. It may seem that way, because you had a sudden stroke of genius, but this is just the way your talent shows itself.'

Lily blushed even more at that and James had to admit that he found her modesty endearing. Being modest was not exactly common in pure-blood society or even viewed as a virtue. She should be proud of her work and highlight her talent whenever she got the chance.

'Do you think, I could win?' asked Lily shyly.

'If it was only about your quality as a potion maker, then I would expect you to win,' said James. 'However, giving the political circumstances, I would be very surprised if they picked you.'

'James is right, dear,' said Mr. Evans. 'Victoria is doing all she can to keep the blood status out of the competition, but I don't think it will be enough. Most of the other judges are very conservative people and they will not want a Muggle-born with to win the contest, when there are more than enough suitable pure-blood candidates. Personally, I would be surprised if they even picked a half-blood given current events.'

Lily looked downhearted by this pessimistic analysis.

'Look, Lily, you should not be too disappointed about this,' said James, trying to cheer her up a bit. 'It is a huge victory that you are here and you should be happy about this. It will take time for the pure-blood society as a whole to accept Muggle-borns as equals and today we are seeing a first step in this direction. Even if you don't win, you still have done a great service to all other Muggle-borns out there. You just have to get through the evening without causing some kind of scandal and everything will be fine.'

'Alright,' said Lily. She looked a bit heartened by that. James wondered for a moment why he cared about her feelings so much, but the arrival of another guest at their table interrupted his thought processes.

'Well, who do we have here,' said a tall man in his fifties with long silver hair. James recognized him immediately: It was Abraxas Malfoy, Lucius Malfoy's father. 'You seem to find yourself in rather… interesting company, Lord Potter.'

James knew that Malfoy would use a different word than 'interesting' to describe their company in private.

'Lord Malfoy, meeting you again is a great pleasure,' said Mr. Potter.

He got up from his seat and shook Malfoy's hand.

'Will you join us?' he asked the other man. James was impressed by his father's acting. A casual bystander would consider the two men friendly acquaintances or even friends, while James knew that his father despised the Malfoys and that Mr. Malfoy probably had similar feelings. His father had been serious about wanting to hide his true feelings more often.

'No, thank you,' said Mr. Malfoy. 'I don't think your company agrees with me. I am not that found of overly ambitious people who don't know their place in society.'

James realized in an instant that this jibe was directed at Lily and judging from the slight red colour on her cheeks, she had realized it as well. James supposed that he should be grateful that Malfoy was showing so much restraint. He had almost expected to hear the word 'mudblood' as soon as Mr. Malfoy had spotted Lily.

'Indeed?' said Mr. Potter. 'I thought you would value ambition very highly, Abraxas. After all, your whole family has been in Slytherin and ambition is one of the key character trades Slytherin valued most highly. Personally, I think that the only reason our families are so well-off is because our ancestors were very ambitions themselves.'

'I suppose that is one way you could look at it,' said Mr. Malfoy. James had not expected such a diplomatic answer. Both his father's and Mr. Malfoy's face were carefully neutral. James guessed that neither of them could clearly tell what the other was thinking at this point.

'Is your son Lucius here as well?' asked Mr. Potter after a few moments of silence had stretched between the two of them. 'I know that he has finished school some time ago, but maybe he would have liked to come.'

'No, he is not here,' said Mr. Malfoy. 'He is quite busy at the moment with his wedding coming up and he was never too interested in potions.'

'Right,' said Mr. Potter. 'He is getting married to Narcissa Black, is he not?'

'Indeed, he is,' said Mr. Malfoy. 'They are planning to get married in January. I am very pleased with Lucius's choice.'

'It seems to be quite a good match,' said Mr. Potter.

'It is,' said Mr. Malfoy. 'Well, it was nice talking to you, but I have to move on. Have a nice night.'

'You as well,' said Mr. Potter and sat back down. Mr. Malfoy gave Lily a last dark look, before moving on.

'That was very impressive,' said James to his father. 'I know that you hate that git, but you hid it very well.'

'Thank you,' said Mr. Potter with a smile. 'And do mind your tongue, James, you don't want to corrupt young Ms. Evans.'

'That conversation was really weird,' said Lily. 'It felt like two dangerous animals stalking each other, looking for an opportunity to pounce.'

'Quite a poetic way to describe it, but that is more or less what it was,' said Mr. Potter. 'Malfoy has our family labelled as blood traitors, but I think he is getting second thoughts, because we are less outspoken when we were in the past. That is good, we need to keep our enemies confused if we want to surprise them.'

'Your enemies?' asked Lily. 'Is there some kind of blood feud going on between your two families?'

'No,' said James. 'Dad suspects that the Malfoy family supports Voldemort. Probably some members of the family are Death Eaters as well.'

'Exactly,' said Mr. Potter keeping his voice down. 'The Malfoys were always eager to dabble in the Dark Arts and Abraxas himself has pushed to ban Muggle-borns from entering Hogwarts a decade ago. They are just the type of pure-blood Voldemort is looking for. So, we should assume that they are already actively supporting him and we should stay careful around them. I am sure that they consider us enemies as well, but I like to keep them on their toes.'

'The pure-blood society is seriously messed-up,' said Lily, shaking her head. 'You seem so preoccupied with your own head games that you forget the whole world out there. No offense meant, sir.'

'You should not be so quick to judge a part of society you only know a little about,' said James coldly. He knew that she had a point, but he was not going to be compared to someone like Abraxas Malfoy.

'Everything comes with a price,' said Mr. Potter. 'There are a lot of privileges which come with being pure-blood, but it has its downsides as well. However, not all pure-bloods are the same. Look at the Weasleys for example. They are as pure-blood as they come and indistinguishable from a half-blood family.'

'Right,' said Lily, who had flushed a bit at James's reprimand. 'Sorry.'

At this point, the booming voice of the contest host disrupted the conversation. The main event had finally began. While some mindless introductions were given, James checked the evening plan which was laid out on the table. To his dismay, he discovered, that it would take over two hours until the winner was announced. Afterwards, some dancing would be planned which hopefully would be more enjoyable.

James put the agenda down and tried to listen to the host without falling asleep. Now he knew why he had never bother to join his parents in this particular event before.

Two and a half hour later, the ceremony was over. The winners had been announced and to James's great annoyance, Snape had managed to win the contest with his more potent version of the Blood Replenishing Potion. The greasy git had been asked to say a few words and to James's surprise, he had been very humble. Apparently, Snape knew that most people had not wanted a half-blood to win this contest. James was impressed with his social awareness. After all, at Hogwarts Snape was a git without caring whom he insulted. It was interesting that the same was not true out of school. After Snape had been announced, the floor had been cleared to allow for some dancing and Snape had been asked to open the dance. He had looked extremely uncomfortable about this, but had obliged. He had done a waltz with a rather unimpressed looking Claire Parkinson and James had struggled to keep his face neutral at the sight of the two of them. He had vowed to stay away from Snape during the rest of the evening. The git was bound to be smug of his victory and he would probably use the opportunity to rile James up. Since the night Snape had found out about Remus, he had tried to stay away from the Marauders, but James knew that this peace was not going to last forever. Also, seeing Snape made it hard for James not to hex that bloody git into oblivion. After all, he had been the catalyst leading to his problems with Sirius. His hatred for Snape had intensified even more over the last few months. By now his mother had joined their table. She and his father had traded a few words about the ceremony, before joining the dance floor, leaving James and a rather subdued Lily behind. She had only scored the third place in the competition and seemed rather disappointed about it.

'Are you alright?' James asked softly. 'Is this about the competition?'

'Well, yes and no,' she said. 'I am disappointed that I did not manage to win, but I am glad that Snape managed to win it. I know that he is a very gifted potion maker.'

James pulled a face.

'He is also evil to the core,' he said. 'I would have preferred someone else to be honest. You should be proud off your third place. This competition is tough and you have your blood status as a handicap. It is quite the accomplishment.'

'Thanks,' said Lily weakly. 'I hate that being a Muggle-born witch counts against me, though. It feels like I have to do better than any pure-blood just to be considered equal.'

'That is probably accurate,' said James.

Lily sighed.

'Well, there is no use crying about it,' she said. 'You did not enter the competition, did you?'

'No, I did not,' said James.

'Why?'

'What do you mean, why?' asked James. 'I am not a prodigy at potion making.'

'You are doing well enough,' said Lily. 'There is nothing wrong with your work and if you would apply yourself rather than fooling around with Black all the time, I think you could do really well. I thought you would use the opportunity to try to best Snape.'

'Not everything I do has to purpose of besting someone,' said James, rolling his eyes. While he was flattered that she considered his skill with potions good enough to enter the contest with confidence, he knew that he would never win this contest based only on his skill. Also, he was not really interested. 'I am not too interested in potions and these kind of events bore me. So, I decided not to enter and to use the saved time in better ways.'

'I see,' said Lily. 'I probably don't want to know what you are doing with your free time. I have the bad feeling that I would have to give you detention if I knew.'

'Ask me no question and I'll tell you no lies,' said James with a smile.

'Right,' said Lily, fighting a smile. 'You would probably much more interested in a transfiguration contest, wouldn't you?'

'I certainly would be,' said James. 'Sadly, there are no transfiguration contests a student can enter. Apparently, their work is considered subpar by the established transfiguration experts out there. Which is rubbish, of course. I bet I am better at transfiguration than most people who have finished school. I have read Transfiguration Today for more than a year a now and most of the stuff they cover I can grasp without problems.'

'You read transfiguration texts for fun?' asked Lily with a raised eyebrow. 'I never would have guessed that. I mean you don't even do your homework.'

'Don't be ridiculous, of course I do my homework,' said James. 'Otherwise, I would spend every evening of the week in detention and probably would have been expelled by now.'

'But I have hardly ever seen you do your homework,' protested Lily. 'Whenever you are in the common room, you just tend to play games with your friends or talk Quidditch with Marlene. And I have only seen you a handful of times in the library and somehow I have a feeling that you were not doing homework when you were there.'

'I need silence to concentrate properly,' said James. 'Which is why I tend to avoid the common room in the evening. The library could work, I suppose, but I don't like the atmosphere. Madame Pince is not a big fan and she tends to glare at when whenever I am in there. Merlin knows why, I have never done anything to her. It was Sirius who charmed all of the books in the library to periodically rearrange themselves back in fourth year. I did not even know about that prank at the time.'

'So, where do you go to do your homework then?' asked Lily.

'Oh, I know some places in the castle where you can do your work in silence,' said James with a smile. He did a lot of his work in the early hours of the morning, where the common room was empty and quiet. If that was not an option, various secret passages and rooms in Hogwarts allowed him to work in silence.

'I bet you do,' said Lily, rolling her eyes. 'And I bet you have spent most of your time in these rooms doing anything but homework.'

'Maybe, maybe not,' said James evasively. She was probably right about this, though. With all the time he had spent planning pranks and working at the animagus transfiguration and the Marauder's Map, homework had taken a backseat a lot of times. James glanced around a discovered that the dance floor was well occupied by now. Maybe it was time to see whether or not Lily really could dance.

'Would you like to dance?' he asked her.

'What?' asked Lily, obviously not believing her ears.

'Dance, Evans,' said James, rolling his eyes. 'You know: Moving rhythmically to the beat of some music.'

'I know what dancing is,' she replied heatedly. 'Why do you want to dance?'

'Because I feel like a fool just sitting here with you without doing anything,' said James. 'It will be a few more hours before we can leave without anyone taking notice of our absence. We might as well try to enjoy it in the meantime. Dancing seems like a good idea. I am rather rusty and could do with a little practice. But if you don't want to, there is always the option of getting completely drunk. That is always rather amusing.'

'We are not going to get drunk,' said Lily, looking horrified at the thought. 'I can barely get around without offending anyone as it is. Can you imagine how bad it's going to be if I get drunk? Also, I don't trust you not to do anything stupid if you get drunk yourself.'

'Dancing it is then,' said James with a grin on his face. He had tried to dance with Lily at various events in the past, but she had always refused. 'Come on then.'

'One more thing, before we get on with it,' said Lily looking uncomfortable. 'Look, I am grateful for everything you did for me in the past few days. You are a better person than I thought you were and I may have judged you too harshly in the past. Still, just because we are going to dance does not mean that we are a couple or that I am interested in you that way. You do realize that, don't you?'

'Evans, how often do I have to remind you that I do have a girlfriend?' asked James, rolling his eyes. He was a bit hurt at her suggestion that he was going to use the opportunity to worm his way into his heart. She had to get over herself at some point! It infuriated James that she always assumed that he did everything just to impress her. It was rather self-centred. Nevertheless, she had almost apologized for being so hard with him in the past and he figured out that was better than what he had ever gotten for her before. He should be happy with that. 'Do I have to shag her in front of you just to drive the point home?'

'Certainly not,' said Lily, shaking her head in horror. 'I had forgotten about Amber. The two of you are not often seen in each other's company.'

'I value my privacy,' said James. 'And I accept your apology. I realize that I have been over the top sometimes in the past.'

'Great,' said Lily. 'Now with this out of the way, let's move. I want to see whether you really can dance.'

'Would I ever lie to you?' asked James with a smirk on his face. Lily did not even bother to reply. Instead she rose from the table and took James's hand. Her own felt small and warm in his much bigger one. James felt a small shiver run through his body and he tried not to show her how affected he was by this casual touch. For what felt like the millionth time, he cursed his unnatural attraction to the redhead. Fortunately, Lily did not seem to have noticed as she dragged him to the dance floor. James suppressed a smile. She seemed rather eager to start dancing even though she had been not too fond of the idea mere minutes ago. James recognized many of the people on the dance floor as members of the pure-blood elite. Most of them would not be pleased about him dancing with a Muggle-born witch, but James did not care. Maybe this would mess with his father's plan to keep their loyalty more veiled, but it could easily be explained as a simple courtesy. After all, it was not very polite to leave a lady to fend for herself for a whole evening and manners were very important in the pure-blood society. They started dancing and James was pleased how smooth his movements were. He had neglected to practice during the last year, but all the time he had spent dancing the past were paying off. Lily seemed surprised at how effortlessly he led the dance and James grinned at her, causing her to roll her eyes. He was going easy on her as she did not seem to be too sure of herself. During a turn, James spotted Snape sitting on a nearby table glowering at them. James stifled the urge to smirk at the Slytherin, knowing that it was wise not to bait him at the moment. He knew that Snape was romantically interested in Lily even if she did not realize it. Hopefully, it ruined Snape's day to see him dancing with the girl he liked. Snape did not have to know that he was not making any progress with Lily.

James and Lily danced for a few songs, before someone tapped James on the shoulder. He turned around and was surprised to spot Amber. She looked radiant in her velvety black dress robes and was accompanied by a handsome man in his twenties with short blonde hair and an aristocratic face. James was willing to bet that this was her fiancé, Peter Fawley. Jealousy spiked through James for a moment, before he suppressed the feeling. He had no right to be jealous. After all, he and Amber were not really dating and he had known about her being engaged for some time now. Still, seeing her fiancé in the flesh made this whole mess feel so much more real than before. James sighed inwardly. Between Lily and Amber his emotions were so confused that it was surprising that he could even get up in the morning. For a moment he longed for simpler days, when he had not been interested in witches and only had to worry about pulling pranks and playing Quidditch. Sadly, there was no way back.

'May I cut in?' asked Amber with a smile on her face. 'You are Lily Evans, are you not?'

'I am,' said Lily, smiling at Amber. 'Amber, right? I was not aware that you were going to be here.'

'It was a spur of the moment decision,' said Amber. 'So, I am going to borrow James for a moment. Peter will be glad to entertain you in the meantime.'

Before Lily had the chance to protest, Amber had grabbed James's had and dragged him away. They started dancing a few meters away, so that Lily and Peter were no longer visible through the crowd.

'Pushy, pushy,' said James with a grin. 'If I didn't know better, I would think that you are jealous, Amber.'

'Don't be silly,' she said. 'I just was surprised to find you dancing with her of all people and wanted to find out what's going on.'

'Of course,' said James dryly. Amber narrowed her eyes at him, but did not say anything. 'Nothing is going on with Lily and me. She was one of the finalists and I helped her a bit to prepare for today. After all, she is Muggle-born and does not know how to behave properly in a Pure-blood environment.'

'How noble,' said Amber. 'And you expect me to believe that you decided to help Lily Evans of all people over the holidays, because you are such a helpful person?'

'That is not very hard to believe,' protested James. 'I can be very helpful if I want to.'

'Sure thing, James,' said Amber, rolling her eyes. 'I just find it curious that I find you here dancing with the girl you've had a crush on for years.'

'Are you sure that you aren't jealous?' asked James, giving her a critical look. He did not like to talk with Amber about his feelings for Lily. In fact, he did not like to talk about his feelings for Lily at all. If there was a way to prevent that conversation, he would be happy to take it.

'I am not jealous,' said Amber, but James could see a faint blush on her face. Interesting. 'I am about to get married, remember? Now, tell me why you have decided to help Lily?'

'You are so pushy today, Amber,' said James. She gave him a sharp glare and he sighed. 'Fine, if you really want to know: My mother is part of the jury and she asked me to help Lily out. It is not easy to say no to my mother.'

'I see,' said Amber looking amused. 'I have to say I never pictured you as someone who actually listens to their mother. She must be a very special woman.'

'She is,' said James fondly. 'But what brings you here? Have you entered that blasted contest yourself?'

'Oh, Merlin no,' said Amber. 'No, I am horrible at potions. Peter dragged me here. He is already done with school, but he is very interested in potions and he wanted to see if any new talents were coming up. I have to say I am not too pleased that they let that Snape boy win of all people. He gives me the creeps.'

'Yeah, I know what you mean,' said James. He was glad that Amber shared his distaste for Snape. It was refreshing not having to dance around the issue like he had to do with Lily. 'If you ask me, he is a bloody Death Eater in training.'

'You should not say such things,' said Amber, looking around nervously. She reminded him of his father in that moment. James wondered whether she feared that Death Eaters would suddenly appear or that she just feared getting overheard by some blood purists. 'You can never know who is listening.'

'Right,' said James. He had forgotten that Amber was about to become a member of the Fawley family. They had so far refused to take a stand in the brewing conflict with Voldemort and his cronies. While James could see the wisdom of this strategy, the thought of leaving Muggle-borns and Muggles to fend for themselves was difficult to bear. That his father was trying to adopt the same strategy, was not to James's taste. In any case, he should heed Amber's advice, both to support his father's strategy and to keep her happy.

'I have missed you,' said Amber. 'Peter is very friendly, but he is not you.'

'I have missed you, too,' said James honestly. 'Maybe it is bad idea for you to get married to Fawley.'

'Maybe,' agreed Amber. 'But some things can't be changed and we just have to deal with them. I am optimistic about that marriage, though. Peter is a good guy and giving enough time we are going to be make things work between us. Maybe it is not going to be the love I have dreamed about as a little girl, but it is going to be a stable marriage.'

'Very traditional,' said James.

'Yes,' said Amber. 'Being a romantic must be difficult if you are a pure-blood. After all, most marriages have been arranged in the past. You are very lucky that your parents are letting you choose your own path. Nevertheless, I think you would do fine even if you were to have an arranged marriage.'

'What makes you think that?' asked James.

'Please,' said Amber. 'You are a Potter! The only heir to a fortune and member of one of the purest bloodlines in Britain. You would have witches lining up wanting to become Mrs. Potter. And remember usually the groom is able to pick who he wants to marry of the suitable candidates. So, you could just pick the one you like the most and you would be fine.'

'Just because I pick a girl, does not mean that she likes me back,' said James. She was right of course. He would be able to pick any pure-blood witch he desired, preferably a rich one. Still, it did not feel right for him that only his wish would be considered. He briefly entertained the thought of being in an arranged marriage with Lily. He had to repress a shudder at that particular thought. Lily would never accept being controlled in such a way and would find a way to make his life hell even if they ended up married.

'True,' said Amber. 'But pure-blood witches know that their happiness is not overly important to anyone.'

James could detect a trace of bitterness in her voice which he had never heard before when she had talked about her future marriage.

'Are you sure everything is alright with you and Fawley?' he asked, concerned. 'Do you want me to talk to him?'

'And say what?' asked Amber with a snort. 'That you are the bloke shagging me at school and that you are concerned for my well-being? I don't see this going well.'

'Right,' said James, a little hurt at the brusque way she described their relationship. It was close to the truth, but it felt rather cheap when she put it that way. 'It was just an idea.'

'I am going to be fine, James,' she said. She closed the distance between them and rested her head on his chest. The top of her blonde hair tickled his chin. 'We are both going to be fine.'

Somehow, James did not believe her.