"Who are you bringing to Slughorn's party?" Lily asked Remus, who was sitting next to her in the library. She was attempting to write an essay, but she kept getting distracted by the promise of Christmas break coming.

"Sirius," Remus replied, not looking up from his paper.

"I thought he was banned? For that prank in third year?" Lily asked, doodling a little snitch on the corner of her paper. She was drawing the first wing when she realized what she was doing and crossed it out.

"I asked Slughorn and he said he was okay with it so long as I kept him in line. I think he took pity on me, since I can't get a real date."

"I bet Lydia would say yes if you asked," Lily singsonged, ruffling Remus' hair.

"I don't want to ask Lydia," Remus singsonged right back.

"Well okay, but I'm sure a million girls would say yes if you asked them," Lily said returning to her essay.

"Well I was going to ask you, but you just had to go and get yourself a boyfriend, effectively ruining my life," Remus teased.

She rolled her eyes. "I'm sorry I ruined your life, Remus."

"It's fine, I will accept your apology in the form of chocolate frogs," Remus said, dramatically sighing.

"Everyone says Sirius is the dramatic one, but all of you are bunch of little drama queens, you know?"

Remus laughed, "It makes life more fun."

Lily hummed in agreement.

For Slughorn's party, Lily had gotten a slim green dress that came to just above her knees and hugged what little curves she had. She had Mary do her hair into an updo, with curls falling out in places, giving her a perfectly messy but chic look. She did her makeup soft, with a pink lip and light mascara.

She looked in the mirror, thinking she looked pretty good. Marlene said she looked hot, and Mary gave her approval as well.

Anna, who was going with her Ravenclaw boyfriend, also said that she looked very nice, and that she would be the belle of the ball.

Lily went down the girl's staircase and up the boy's staircase to collect Remus and Sirius. She knocked politely on their door. Remus opened it, attempting to tie his bow tie. He stopped, looked her up and down and his mouth hung open.

Sirius, who just turned around, whistled a low, long whistle. "Daaamn Lily."

Lily blushed and smiled, looking at her feet. "Do you like it?"

Sirius laughed, "Twirl for me, baby."

Lily stepped into the room and Sirius took her hand, and raising it above her. She giggled as he spun her around.

"You look really pretty, Lily," Lily jumped at the voice. She hadn't notice James in the corner of the room, in an oversized quidditch t-shirt and boxers.

She gestured to his outfit. "Well, now I feel overdressed," she laughed, and James smiled at her.

She turned to help Remus tie his bow tie. Her delicate fingers expertly tied it into a bow, as her dad had taught her many years ago. James watched her.

He was looking at her hair. A couple of curls had fallen out of her bun and were sweeping across her neck anytime she moved her head. Her green dress brought out her eyes, which shined as she laughed and smiled at him. He was speechless.

"You look great Lily!" Peter's voice pulled James out of his Lily-induced stupor.

Lily smiled, "Thank you Peter. I'm sorry we couldn't bring more than one guest. I would have brought you guys too."

Peter shrugged. "I don't want to hang out with Sluggy all night anyways." James nodded in agreement, though he didn't actually share the sentiment.

"Hey guys are you all- Holy shit," Will had entered the room but stopped in his tracks when he saw Lily.

She giggled. "Do you like it?" He nodded, gulping. He looked over her more than once, his mouth hanging open. Will was absolutely speechless. She walked over and grabbed his hand. "Alright, Remus, Sirius, ready?"

They nodded and followed them out. Will tripping over his feet because he was staring at Lily and not watching where he was going. Lily got a smug sense of pride knowing that she had rendered a 17 year old boy absolutely useless with just a dress and a new hairstyle.

They made it to Slughorn's party, where people had already arrived and were mingling politely. Slughorn called her over immediately, and she and Will walked over.

"Miss Evans my dear, I was just talking about you. You look quite beautiful tonight. Mr. Price here is lucky to be your date! Though I would have thought you would have brought Mr. Potter with you. You have become such unlikely friends this term!" Slughorn said, clapping Will on the shoulder. He looked visibly uncomfortable. "Anyways, I want you to meet my good friend, Tobias. He is a potions master, and is working on new, experimental potions."

Lily held out her hand. "Pleased to meet you, sir." Tobias took it and squeezed it once before letting go.

"Horace was just telling me about how you're his best student," he said, gesturing to Slughorn, who was sipping a brandy.

"Not just my best student, Tobias, the best student I have ever had!" Slughorn squeezed Lily's shoulder, "Never once messed up a potion, have you Lily?" She shook her head. "And she brewed Wolfsbane as an extra credit project! It was absolutely perfect too! I daresay it would have turned the most wild werewolf into a lap dog!"

Tobias nodded approvingly. "That is quite impressive Miss Evans. Are you thinking about going into potions as a career?"

"I was thinking about it, I wasn't sure exactly what to do though," Lily admitted. She actually knew nothing about wizard careers, beyond an Auror or a Healer.

"Well, once you receive your N.E.W.T.s, I encourage you to contact me. We could use a bright young witch like you." He raised his glass at her. She thanked him, and then pulled Will away to the other side of the room. Will grabbed two glasses of champagne off of a waiter's tray and they stood in the corner sipping them, occasionally schmoozing with some of Slughorn's former students-turned-successes.

"So, how long do we have to stay at this thing?" Will asked, grabbing another glass of champagne.

"Not much longer." she grabbed his arm. "Will, is that the Holyhead Harpies captain?"

"Yeah, are you a fan?"

Lily gave him a look. "Do you know me at all? No, I just want to get an autograph for James."

Will set down his glass. "Oh, yeah. Okay."

Lily timidly walked up to the tall, muscular woman. She was wearing a slim black dress, with her hair in beautiful braids that cascaded down her back. They had gold beads in them that caught the light when she turned, and the many braids clinked together delicately.

"Hello, my name is Lily Evans. I hope I'm not bothering you, I was just hoping to get an autograph for my friend, James." She asked, looking at her feet.

The woman laughed, "Of course dear. Horace actually told me to bring a stack of the Cannon's latest photo for this purpose. Ridiculous, right?" She pulled one out and grabbed a quill from Slughorn's desk. "So I make this out to James?" Lily nodded.

"He's Gryffindor's Quidditch captain. Everyone says he's the best player they've had for years. He's never lost a game." Lily realized she was rambling, but the captain didn't seem to notice. She wrote a short sentence on the back of the photo and handed it to Lily. "Thank you so much, he is going to love this." Lily clutched the photo and slipped it into her purse without looking at it.

She returned to where Will was standing. She leaned against him and she drank two more glasses of champagne. She started giggling and he put an arm around her waist. She leaned into him and he kissed her forehead.

At that moment a third year with a large camera snapped a photo of them, startling her. She jumped and almost fell over, but Will steadied her. She giggled and swayed.

A tall man came up and clapped Will on the back, obviously recognizing him from somewhere. Lily wasn't surprised. All of the purebloods knew each other. She listened along for a moment as they started discussing Gringotts and the current issues with the goblin strike.

Lily took the opportunity to slip out into the corridor for some fresh air. She had drank a few glasses of champagne and her head was swimming a bit. She walked back and forth in the corridor, giggling to herself when she stumbled.

She heard a dull thudding noise and instantly sobered up. She pulled out her wand. "Lumos," she whispered, illuminating the hallway. She didn't see anyone, so she moved forward. She heard another noise, and realized it was coming from the broom cupboard.

She rolled her eyes, and the prefect in her opened the door, expecting to scold some fifth years who had too much champagne.

What she did not expect, however, was Remus and Sirius, entangled and thoroughly disheveled.

"Oh, holy, oh my God, I, I'm sorry." She slammed the door and stood awkwardly, not sure of what to do.

The door opened slowly, and Sirius and Remus came out, looking at her.

"I'm sorry, I, I thought you guys were just some fifth years or something I didn't see anything I didn't mean to, oh my God, shit, I am so so sorry." Lily stumbled over her words, in shock at what she just saw.

All three of them stood awkwardly, looking at the floor, unsure of what to say.

"I'm totally fine with it," Lily blurted out. Curse her stupid, heterosexual brain. They didn't need her to say that she was okay with it.

Sirius laughed, "Thanks for the approval Lily."

She nodded, looking at her feet. "Look I won't- I'm not going to tell anyone."

"Thank you," Remus said quietly.

"I guess it's only fair I caught you, since you caught me," Lily attempted to laugh, trying to lighten the mood. Remus half smiled. Lily felt like an idiot. "I'm gonna go," she said, awkwardly pointing towards the party. They nodded and she left.

Her brain was doing somersaults. Of all people, she did not expect Sirius to be gay. It explained why he hadn't been chasing after any girls lately, though Lily was still shocked. She felt bad that she had caught them. If they hadn't told her by now, they obviously didn't want her or anyone else to know.

She was not paying attention to her surroundings, and she ran right into Will. "Whoa, Lily. You alright?"

She smiled, "Yeah, just fine!" She looked around. "Want to get out of here?"

Will nodded vigorously, and lead her out of the party. She waved goodbye to Slughorn, who waved merrily back. From the color rising in his cheeks she guessed that he had had quite a few brandys tonight.

They walked up to the common room in silence, Lily still processing what she saw. She wanted to talk to Remus about it, understand it better, but she wasn't sure if he would want to talk.

They climbed through the portrait hole and Will immediately turned up and pressed her up against the wall. "Oh!" Lily exclaimed, but the noise was muffled by Will's mouth that was suddenly on hers.

"You look gorgeous, sweet flower," he said, kissing her neck and running his hands down her waist.

She was out of breath, and her heart was beating so fast she was sure he could feel it. "Thank you," she said awkwardly. Will didn't notice though, because he pressed himself against her and his mouth returned to hers again.

Lily arched her back into him, which caused him to groan into her mouth. Lily slid her tongue over his lip and into his mouth, and their tongues moved together, with their lips pressed up against each other.

He wrapped one arm around her waist, and the other slid up her torso to grab her breast through the slick material of her dress. His mouth left hers and kissed a slow path down her neck, sucking gently on a spot several inches below her jaw. She tilted her head back, giving him better access, which pressed her breast more firmly into his hand. She moaned quietly at the increased contact.

Will pulled back and looked at her. Lily was afraid she did something wrong, but he whispered, "Fuck." Then he picked her up easily and set her on the table near him. He parted her legs with his knee and pulled her close to him. Her thighs were pressing into his hips and she wrapped her legs around him to pull him in closer.

"I've thought about doing this all night," he whispered in her ear. She tangled her fingers in his hair and pulled his mouth onto hers. He moaned, louder than before. She shushed him and he laughed.

"Sorry, flower," he whispered into her ear. There was a sudden noise, and Lily jumped. She pulled her strap back up and jumped off of the table. It was just someone's cat coming down from the dorms.

Will grabbed her from behind and kissed her neck, grabbing her hips and pulling her back against him. He slid his hand down the front of her dress and to her thigh. He moved the fabric of her dress and slid his hand up her inner thigh, brushing the fabric of her underwear slightly. She gasped at the contact, and Will cursed under his breath. He moved his hand again, and Lily felt a heat in the bottom of her stomach. He pressed his hand against her and moved it more deliberately now, and she whimpered.

Then her eyes flew open and she stepped away from him. "We're in the common room"

He looked at her, confused. "Yes?"

"Will I'm not going to fool around with you in the common room."

He looked desperate. "Well. We could, we could go to um-"

"We shouldn't do this right now." Lily said, regretting the words.

Will looked at his feet. "I'm sorry."

She stepped back towards him and grabbed his hands. "It's not your fault. I just, I've never done anything like this before, and I don't want to rush into it."

Will nodded. "Okay." He looked her up and down again and bit his lip, "Okay, yeah. Just please go upstairs so I don't have to look at how sexy you are anymore."

She laughed and kissed him lightly before heading upstairs. She turned back, "I'm sorry."

Will shook his head, "It's okay. I'll see you tomorrow." She saw him turn to head to his dorm, looking thoroughly disappointed.