A/N: Thanks to everyone for reviewing, and Ducky for being helpful. You all are wonderful. Enjoy. I don't own Harry Potter.

.y.g.e.

It was a long time – several months – before everything returned to normal after winter break. It was now early March, and several times in the past few weeks, James and Lily had disappeared to various broom closets and empty classrooms around the school. More than once, Sirius had found them asleep together, lying on top of Potter's bed, her head on his shoulder.

Dumbledore, of course, was thrilled that they had finally gotten a bit smarter and started going out. McGonnagal, on the other hand, felt the need to watch them every second of the day, which made arranging their escapades much more difficult, by they managed, thanks to James' invisibility cloak and the marauders' map.

It was a way to relieve stress for Lily – she felt tied down by all her NEWT-level classes, and James would drop whatever he was doing, it seemed like, to talk to her, or to take her down to the kitchens for some ice cream. He knew the castle like the back of his hand, and there was always some new empty room he wanted to take her to see. And one thing led to another, and she'd be in his arms again, telling him how wonderful he was.

They were Hogwarts' golden couple. Everyone thought they looked cute together; everyone thought they were perfect for each other. Sirius Black had started taking bets on how long it would before they got married. Many speculated that only a few weeks after graduation, they would end up tying the knot. The fact that Lily and James were so close, however, didn't mean that they had totally ignored their friends in the past few months. On the contrary, James and Sirius had pranked Slughorn nearly every day since they had returned from break, to the amusement of the rest of the school.

Lily and Grace had continued to do their toenails late at night, poring over Witch Weekly and Seventh Year. Still, it was so different without Kim there to make fun of all the articles about what boys wanted in bed and whatnot. So, they tried, but it was hard. It was much easier just to join the boys' group and do all the things they did – the pranking, the flying, the joking.

.y.g.e.

Among the marauders, especially, there was a lot of talk as to what they would do following graduation. Sirius and James were both talking about becoming aurors, Peter would do whatever anyone else told him to. As for Remus, he was less fortunate. There were laws, and regulations, and rules. And no one would hire a werewolf. James talked of starting a broom company, and making him Vice President, but they all knew that James wasn't interested in the least in sitting at a desk all day figuring out the number of broomsticks that he should send to wherever.

"Come on, Moony," James said, in one such conversation. "You're a great wizard. Someone's bound to want to hire you."

"Yeah," Sirius agreed. "I'd hire you. We should open up a joke shop. And I'll come up with the jokes, and you can do the math."

"I suppose," Remus replied, sighing. He didn't sound convinced in the least, though he appreciated the effort. They just didn't understand what it meant to be a werewolf. You were always an outsider – no one trusted you or accepted you or anything. He wouldn't be hired, now that he was forced to tell his employer exactly what he was. He'd be fired on the spot, no matter if he was Merlin himself.

"Moony, look at yourself. You're the best guy I know. You'd just got a… a furry little problem. It wouldn't concern me in the least, if you worked for me," James retorted. "Besides, you're good with women. Lily legitimately trusts you. And you've probably got the best relationship in the world. Have you and Grace ever had a fight?"

"No," Remus replied, continuing, "but she doesn't know about the whole… thing. If she knew, she'd probably break up with me on the spot."

Sirius jumped in here. "No, she wouldn't. I mean, you thought we weren't going to be friends with you after we found out, but we never did anything like that. So why should she? She's one of the nicest girls I know. That's why we never went out. But anyways, a stupid little thing like this isn't going to change her mind about you. You've got to tell her, Remus."

"Fine, I'll tell her, but I want to wait until after NEWTs."

"Great!" James and Sirius said in unison, glad they had convinced Remus of something. Usually, he was more stubborn than any of them.

.y.g.e.

James had enjoyed only a few free hours by himself since break ended – much of the time he was either studying, or doing something else. Always, though, he was surrounded by people, whether it was the marauders, or Lily, or renegade members of the Official Sirius Black Fan Club who believed that both James and Sirius were the hottest things on the planet.

During these hours, he had enjoyed himself thoroughly. Lily's diary was a source of constant amusement for him – many of her thoughts were quite funny. There was an entire record in there of every prank he had ever played on her, and her revenge for it. The fact that someone had bothered to record this was amazing to the Head Boy. One day, several hundred years later, someone would find this. And he and Sirius Black would be legends. Not that they weren't already; Sirius had finally broken the record for most detentions to be served by a single student over the course of seven years.

Needless to say, James enjoyed the small leather-bound book, though he reserved it for himself. He wouldn't have ever thought to share Lily's thoughts with the rest of the marauders. No, this was too important to him.

He was even more interested to find an entry right before winter break, when they had only been going out for a short while.

12/2

I'm convinced that James Potter has only one flaw. He's so cute, though. I could play with his hair forever. If only he had a mute button. All he talked about all day today was the bloody Quidditch match on Saturday. I don't need a play by play of the game, I was there! That's his one problem, but it's a big problem. And there's no way I could tell him about it… He's obsessed with the game. Most boys think about sex every six seconds… Potter thinks about Quidditch. He's a total weirdo. I suppose it's alright, though. He's a pretty decent kisser.

James shut the book, letting his head fall forward slightly. He had never suspected she didn't like talking about Quidditch. It was the only thing he really knew a lot about. Well, there was that, and Transfiguration. And he knew Lily wasn't interested in Transfiguration in the least. And she didn't like it when he talked. This was absolutely awful. Plus, he had asked her on multiple occasions, and she said that she was really interested in Quidditch. What an awful lie.

At that moment, Sirius walked in, and James looked up, quickly ridding his face of his disappointed expression. "Prongs, what did you do that Dumbledore wants to see you?"

"Is it annoying when I talk about Quidditch?"

"Only when you do it constantly," Black replied. "Why?"

"Did Lily ever say anything to you or Remus about it?" James inquired, answering one question with another.

"Only once or twice," Sirius answered, downplaying the importance of the events. "You'd better get down to Dumbledore's office and own up to whatever you did."

"Fine. I'll see you later," James retorted, standing up and leaving, making his way slowly towards Dumbledore's office, kicking the floor in frustration more than once on his way there.

.y.g.e.

James made the appearance of being happy when he walked into the Headmaster's office. To his surprise, Lily was already there. Apparently, there was some sort of business thing going on here. Or Dumbledore wanted to talk about their relationship. Although, considering it was Dumbledore, that didn't seem so farfetched. Once the head boy was seated, the Headmaster began to talk. "You both know about the seventh year dance held at the end of the year. Lily, I believe you went last year?"

"You went last year?" James accused her, his eyes narrowing at the thought that there was a lot more she hadn't told him.

"Anyways," Dumbledore continued, as James fell silent. "This year, you all will be responsible for planning and setting up for the dance. Usually, there's some sort of theme, if that helps you all out at all. Just organize it, and we'll do all the set-up. I need your final plans by the Monday NEWTs begin, alright?"

"Perfect," Lily answered for the pair of them, ignoring the look James was giving her. "Well, we'd best get started." With that, they rose and left, as Potter stuffed both hands into his pockets.

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Lily, of course, wanted to begin immediately. So she dragged James back up to the Gryffindor Common Room, where they both collapsed on the couch. Lily had parchment and a self-inking quill out almost immediately. "Alright, theme. What on Earth are we going to do?"

"I have no idea," James responded. "Besides, all I ever talk about is Quidditch. And I know you don't want a Quidditch-themed dance."

"Well, I suppose it'd be interesting, but I think I'd want something a little more romantic," Lily said, trying to be nice about it. It wasn't like James to suggest something like this; he was romantic, he knew exactly what women wanted. The redhead had thought that he would be much more helpful and much less patronizing than he looked to be right now.

"Like?" James prompted her.

"Under the Stars, or something," Lily suggested.

"Too corny."

"A Night on the Thames?"

"Not exotic enough. Half the people here are from London."

"So why don't you contribute something, you smart ass?" Lily asked, shooting him a glare as he so cruelly shot down each of her ideas.

"Because I don't have any good ideas," James retorted.

"What the hell is wrong with you, James?" the redhead demanded, glaring up at him.

"Nothing," he responded, turning his head in the opposite direction.

"Tell me," Lily said softly, using one hand to turn his face back towards her, forcing their eyes to meet.

"You think I'm boring."

"I do not think you're boring," the girl insisted, her face softening.

"You think what I talk about is boring."

"Not true."

"Evans, I have your damn diary," James said, wishing she had never given it to him to begin with. There were some things you didn't want to know. "You think I'm boring."

"But James, that's just--"

"You should have told me. I asked you a ton of times, and…" he stopped, staring at the floor.

"I'm sorry, James. I just really don't care about who scored what goal or who fouled who and why it wasn't called," Lily admitted, unable to watch the disappointment that was obvious in his face.

"And why couldn't you have said that three months ago?"

"I didn't want to hurt your feelings! You love that game, and I thought that…" She drifted off, wrapping arms around his neck, in a hug. "I don't know, James. I've hurt you so many times, and I hate myself for doing it. And I'm always afraid that if I say the wrong thing, I'm going to screw up everything we have here." She kissed him, letting her tongue wander back towards his tonsils. They continued like that until Sirius Black coughed across the room, and Lily pulled back, blushing.

.y.g.e.

A/N: This is the second to last chapter, everyone. I hope you all enjoy it. I do think there will be some sort of sequel, but I have no clue when that would begin or whatever.