Chapter 21

Mary gasped.

"Really? Holding hands? Are you sure?" Alice nodded firmly, glee written all over her face. Frank smiled at her eagerness. Remus grinned and Sirius banged his fist on the table, spilling half of everyone's Butterbeers.

"Thank God for that!" he said loudly. "Listening to James whine day in and day out that Lily doesn't love him back for six and a half years has not been good for my mental health." He lifted up a long wavy chunk of his hair and pulled on a light strand. "See? Grey!"

Everyone chuckled and Remus waved his wand over the spilled beverage.

"Where's Peter?" asked Marlene, suddenly realising he wasn't skulking in the corner. Remus and Sirius exchanged puzzled glances.

"No idea," Remus shrugged. "Did he leave Zonkos with us?" he asked Sirius, who was too distracted by Lily and James walking through the door of the Three Broomsticks, laughing and holding hands, to reply.

"They're here!" he said excitedly. "Everyone act normal!" Lily spotted the group and waved as her and James made their way over, their cheeks flushed pink from the wind.

"Hello," she said. James pulled over two chairs and the two sat, their hands still clasped together.

"Lily," Sirius smirked. He turned his gaze on his best friend. "James."

"Sirius."

"Something you - er - want to tell us?" Sirius prompted, glancing purposefully down at their entwined hands and wiggling his eyebrows.

Lily and James followed his gaze but didn't spring apart, only sighed in a defeated manner. James was grinning like an idiot and Lily had blushed as red as her hair.

"Oh my goodness!" Alice squealed in happiness, clutching at Frank's arm. Frank looked uncomfortable and nearly cried out as Alice's fingers dug into his forearm. If it was possible, Lily blushed even harder. Even James' cheeks had a pinkish tinge to them.

"I think everyone wants some more Butterbeers," Lily said, standing up and smiling at James before scurrying over to the bar.

Alice, Mary and Marlene were smiling happily. Sirius and Remus smirked at James across the table.

"What?" He said defensively, grinning like an idiot.

"Lily, how on earth did this happen?! I mean, I know you've been getting along a lot better with him...But - " Alice threw her hands in the air, squealing happily. "Oh I always knew you'd end up together!...Frank and I were just saying how lovey dovey you two were looking lately...isn't this great, Marlene?...Aah I'm so happy!.."

Lily frowned, rolling her eyes before returning to her potions essay and allowing Alice to continue her contented sighing. Inwardly, she was screaming herself. Who would have thought she'd end up liking James? James Potter. But she had and he liked her back. Obviously. She wanted to laugh and scream and do happy dances but decided Alice was doing quite enough of that for the both of them. The other girls in the dormitory lounged on their beds, purposefully not making eye contact. Despite having reconciled, it appeared relations between Mary and Marlene were not quite what they used to be. Lily doubted they ever would be the same. The thought saddened her and she sighed, rolling up the parchment in a scroll.

Outside, the sky was a hazy mixture of blue and grey. A thick fog had descended over the forest and the lake, giving the illusion the castle was nestled in a cloud. How many times had she seen that landscape, Lily wondered? How many more times would she see it? Her years at Hogwarts had been the most wonderful and magical(quite literally) in her life. And now she was leaving the place. Less than a year of her life here left.

"Does this mean you'll be bringing James to Slughorn's Christmas party?" Alice continued grinning widely.

Lily's head jerked up suddenly as she awoke from her reverie. "How did you know about that?"

"Frank, obviously. Oh! We'll be going togeth-" She broke off, having fallen off her bed in excitement. "Ow!"

Though used to Alice's clumsy moments, the other seventh year Gryffindor girls burst out laughing. For a moment, Lily reflected, it was just like it had been before.

Sirius lay on his stomach on Peter's bed, head cupped in his hands and waving his feet in the air in a girly fashion. He was staring, eyebrows raised, across to where James was leaning against his headboard. Remus perched beside Sirius on Peter's bed, smirking slightly.

"What?" James asked, glancing up and failing to suppress a grin. Remus' smirk widened and Sirius began waggling his eyebrows.

"What, Padfoot?!" Sirius didn't say anything, only continued to waggle his eyebrows.

"Seriously, Sirius-" Remus sniggered and James threw him a look. "-shut up, Moony. We've had six and a half years of stupid 'serious' puns. Sirius, can you please just come out with it?"

Sirius sighed, sitting up on the bed. "Look - I wanted to congratulate you."

"Oh." James straightened. "Well...thanks."

"Yep. And also to thank you for saving me from any more days of whining about Lily. Oh wait - " Sirius stopped, a sudden look of horror coming over his face.

"What?" Remus and James asked in unison.

"The - the - the fights! The lovers' spats!"

The two other boys exchanged looks.

"Oh, God!" Sirius cried. "You better never break-up, James, because I am not listening to another single word about you and Lily!" He moved to the door of the dormitory, shouting behind him, "Never again!"

James rolled his eyes.

Author's Note

I just thought, seeing as we haven't posted anything in ages, I pop this up. We wrote it ages ago and it's not quite ready for posting but oh well! I'd like to think we'll be moving on a bit, but the truth is this year is really busy for us so updates won't be as frequent. Hopefully we'll get a couple of chapters up within the next few weeks. If you'd like to contact us, I'd recommend you PM our separate accounts as we don't always get a chance to check in on things here. Hope you all had a nice Valentine's Day! And Happy Pancake Tuesday!:)