As the last sober students left the common room, Lily was ready to rip her hair out. Why hadn't she gotten rid of the stupid Firewhiskey as soon as she'd known it was around? James and Sirius had drunk fifteen bottles of Firewhiskey in ten minutes (and won fifteen sickles each for it), several other students had done similar, the fireworks had left scorch marks on the ceiling, and there was broken glass everywhere. Alice had brought several passed out students up to their dorms, and was now helping a wobbly Frank up to his room. Frank was mumbling incoherently while Alice glanced back at Lily, smiling nervously.

Lily now looked around the common room. Peter was passed out on the sofa, Sirius was nowhere in sight, James and ten or so other inebriated students were dancing and tripping around the common room singing, "Oh dear, what can the matter be? Seven old ladies got stuck in a lavatory! They were there from Sunday 'till Saturday! Oh what a sight that would be!" Lily couldn't help giggling at this. Remus was cleaning the scorch marks on the walls, stumbling and swaying every so often. Even Remus was a little tipsy. Sighing, Lily pulled out her own wand and began to clean up the broken glass; she'd deal with the dancing drunkards later. As she looked around the trashed room, she realized she was the only person in there that wasn't affected in some way by alcohol.

"HAY!" a girl with short blonde hair shouted, jumping high up in the air. "Straw and hay!"

"Hay and straw!" a rather good-looking sixth year boy sung out, yanking on the first girl's hair. She howled, and then tripped over her own feet. Get back here Alice, Lily pleaded silently. She had cleaned up all the glass and was working on the food scraps when Alice came down the stairs.

"Thank God you're back," Lily called. Alice chuckled looking around the room.

"What's left to do?" the brunette wanted to know.

"The food on the floor and the scorch marks on the walls," Lily responded, then glanced over at the group of drunken students. "And those over there."

"You handle them, and I'll clean up everything else," Alice said, pulling out her wand.

"What?! But-but-no!" Lily protested.

"Oh, fine, we'll each take half," Alice sighed. "I don't want to deal with them."

"Well neither do I!" Lily exclaimed. By the time Remus, Alice, and Lily had cleaned up it was almost half past midnight, and the only thing left to take care of was the students. Five had already passed out, and five were still dancing.

"Alice you get the two blonde girls, Remus, you handle James and that other boy while I bring these ones up to their dorms," Lily ordered. As she floated the students up to their dorms, her mind 

drifted back to the note in her pocket. It sent shivers down her spine to think that her family could be next in line. James promised me nothing would happen though, Lily told herself as she went back down to get the conscious ones. He promised me that Voldemort wouldn't harm us.

A lot of good his promise is, she thought as she saw James running around the common shouting, "Don't eat deer!" Remus looked to Lily with tired eyes.

"I can't get him to come up," he said wearily, rubbing his eyes.

"Go to bed, Remus," Lily urged as Alice dragged a girl up the stairs. "You look exhausted, and sleep in. It's Saturday tomorrow."

"Today, actually," Remus corrected her. She smiled slightly.

"Heh, you're right," she agreed. "Well, good night."

"Good night," he bade her before walking upstairs.

"Alice, you too. Go to bed," Lily called. Alice smiled from the top of the stairs.

"I'll take care of that blonde over there, and then I'll go to bed."

"Alright." Lily now turned to James and the girl who had sung about hay and straw.

"Alright you two, it's time to go to bed," she announced, making her way towards the girl. She turned slowly, and squinted.

"Who are you?" she wanted to know.

"I'm the girl that's going to take you up to bed," Lily responded.

"Hey, I know you," James said loudly, pointing at Lily. "You're my Lily-flower." Lily laughed slightly, walking over to where he stood swaying on the spot.

"If you want to put it that way," she replied, putting an arm around his shoulder. "Now come on, let's go up-"

"EEEEEEK!" the girl screamed, jumping up on a sofa, and nearly falling off. Lily rushed over to her.

"What's wrong?" she demanded, frowning.

"It's a dog!" she cried, pointing to an end table. "I hate dogs!" Lily blinked, choking on her own spit in an attempt to not laugh out loud. There was a bang from other side of the room. Lily turned to see James slam the portrait shut.

"Merlin help me," Lily mumbled, rushing towards the portrait hole. She exited the common room to find herself in the dark hallway with no light, except for a distant window.

"James!" she called out, seeing a stumbling figure turn the corner. What on earth was that stupid boy doing?!

"Lumos," she whispered, running down the hall to catch up with him. She turned just in time to see him trip over his robes and fall flat on his face.

"James! What on earth are you doing?" she asked quietly, rushing over to him and helping him sit up.

"We have to go on patrol," he slurred, swaying even as he sat.

"I've already gone on patrol. You don't have to do anything," she told him.

"Yes I do!" he shouted.

"Shh! Keep your voice down!" Lily urged him, wrapping her arms around his shoulders and rocking him back and forth like a little child. It kept James quiet, and it was actually kind of nice, despite the cold of the halls. It was nice to be near him, and feel the toned muscles of his arms, and put her nose close to his messy hair, even if he did smell like Firewhiskey. It was only when she finally helped him up that she realized that she had buried her face in his strangely soft hair. She had always imagined it to be stiff or crumply, but it was actually nice hair.

"Come on," she said softly, as he muttered something about cleaning and parties. "Let's go back to the common room, and I'm going to put you to bed, alright?"

"Okay, Mummy," he answered, rubbing his eyes tiredly. Lily considered correcting him, but decided against it; just let him have his way. Apparently she was his mother now.

"Now, we're going to step slowly, alright? Step now, James." After at least a minute of assuring James that the floor wasn't quicksand, she managed to get him walking, however slowly it was.

"Mummy, I want ice cream," James said.

"You can have all the ice cream you want tomorrow when you've sobered up a bit," Lily answered, staggering slightly under his weight; she was only five feet five inches tall, and he was over six feet tall. She considered pulling out her wand and floating him back, but he might panic and start screaming and shouting. That would be bad.

"How is your head feeling?" she suddenly asked, not sure why she cared.

"It hurts," James mumbled. "I want to go home, Mommy."

"We're going home right now, just keep walking," she responded as they turned the corner and the portrait of the Fat Lady came into view.

"Mummy, where's Lily?" James wanted to know. She hesitated, not sure how to respond. "I want Lily."

"You'll have her, just go upstairs and sleep first," Lily urged him. "You're doing great. You're almost at the portrait hole."

"Okay." Finally, Lily stood in front of the Fat Lady, who was staring down at the two teenagers in distaste. Lily glared back, daring the woman to comment as she gave the password. It took forever to get James into the portrait hole, but in the end it was accomplished.

"Mummy, where are my feet?" James wanted to know, wandering forward as Lily closed the portrait hole as quietly as she could manage.

"At the end of your ankles-"

"OW!" Lily turned sharply to see James, once again, trip over his robes. She immediately rushed to his side, hoping he hadn't just given himself a concussion.

"Are you alright?" she wanted to know as she rolled him over. When James looked up at her his scowl turned into a huge grin.

"Hey, I know you," he said happily. "You're Lily!" She laughed quietly at this, helping him up again. She didn't really mind it anymore.

"Yes, I am, and I'm here to take you to bed," she explained to him.

"I like the sound of that," he slurred. Even when he was roaring drunk, he was still James.

"Be quiet, you drunken idiot," Lily rebuked softly, leading him up the stairs.

"Lily. Will you go out with me?" James wanted to know as they walked to the other end of the first level of boys' dorms. Lily sighed, though she was smiling.

"We're going to that new restaurant in Hogsmeade next weekend," she reminded him, reaching the second flight of stairs.

"Oh," James hiccupped. As they climbed up the stairs, Lily wondered what she should wear when they went there. She knew she wanted to wear a dress, but it was cold, and most of her dresses were for the spring or summer. She could wear a coat, but she hated lagging a coat around the place. Finally, they reached the Head Boy's Dorm. Now came the worst of it all. The Head Dorms in the boys' and girls' dormitories were guarded with a password to keep others out and to give the Head some privacy.

"James, do you remember your password to get into your dorm?" she asked him. He squinted first at Lily, then at the door.

"No, I don't think so," he replied after a few moments of rubbing his eyes. "It's something really long." Lily looked up at him as he leaned on her shoulder, unable to help but think of how funny they probably looked at that moment. Then she considered what she should do. She didn't want to knock on the door and wake the other Marauders up; they probably wouldn't hear anyways. She could leave him in the hall with a pillow and blanket. No, she told herself. That's just mean. Would it be possible to bring him up to her dorm?

No, you idiot, she said to herself. Why would the thought even cross your mind? Maybe I could bring him downstairs and let him sleep on the sofa. It's better than making him sleep up here where it's cold. I could put a spell around him so that he doesn't wake up if people coming down the stairs make a lot of noise.

But will he panic if I leave him alone? I don't want to leave him alone. Not like this, anyways.

"Come on, let's go downstairs," she told him. God, I just want to go to bed, she thought to herself. I'm so tired, but I know I have to take care of James first. The blubbering idiot he is.

"I feel strange," he remarked. I wonder why, Lily thought. When they got downstairs she laid him down on the longest sofa in the dark common room.

"Take your shoes off," she told him as she conjured up an extra pillow and a blanket. James looked around the room bemusedly.

"Where are they?" he asked. Lily huffed impatiently, throwing the pillow and blanket on the floor.

"Are you this smashed that you don't know where your bloody shoes are? Wait, don't answer that," she added quickly. She sighed, picking up the pillow and placing it on one end of the sofa.

"Lay down," she told him, gently pushing him back so that he was lying down, before sitting down next to where his feet were and untying the laces of his shoes. "You are too much trouble, you know that?"

"Trouble," James echoed as Lily yanked his shoes off his feet, setting them on the floor. Then she pulled off his socks, and stuffed them inside his shoes.

"Yes, trouble."

"TROUBLE!" he shouted, almost sending Lily off the other side of the sofa.

"Lots of trouble," she scowled after shushing him up. "Are you comfortable?"

"My shirt is tight," he remarked casually, before grinning like the drunken boy he was. "Will you take it off for me, Lily?" She blinked, staring at him in disbelief. Was he really trying to flirt with her, now?

"It really is tight, honest," he slurred. She hesitated, eyeing him suspiciously. Was he telling the truth? It was possible; it just wasn't likely. Yet it was possible. I take too much crap from him, she told herself as she sat down on the edge of the sofa next to him. She pulled the blanket back so that she could see his shirt. She loosened his tie, folding it in half and throwing across the back of the sofa.

"I'm tired," James sighed as Lily unbuttoned his shirt. You should be, she thought. She helped him sit up so that she could pull his shirt off, then let him lay back down. Her mouth watered as she looked down at his bare chest and arms. From far away it was a good view; up close it was ethereal. Her hands were burning to run her fingers along his wonderful arms and chest. Lily had never cared much for Quidditch, but at this point in time she wanted to hug the inventor of the sport.

"Thanks, Lily," he mumbled, sighing deeply. Snapping out of her daze, she looked at his drowsy hazel eyes.

"You're welcome," she replied, then frowned as James reached out his hand towards her arm. It was only after the third try that Lily realized he was reaching for her hand. She gave it to him instantly. James smiled contently, closing his eyes.

"You're feet are so nice," he said. Lily giggled uncontrollably, squeezing his hand tightly in her own, before reaching a hand up to touch his face. She didn't really think about it, she just did it.

"Good night James," she told him softly. He smiled back, pulling the blanket up to his chest.

"Good night," he replied, closing his eyes. Lily let her hand slide down his neck to his shoulder, before pulling out her wand and putting out the last two candles burning in the room so that the only 

light was that of the moon. She had walked a few steps before she stopped. She thought about it, then turned around to go back to where James lay, snoring lightly. She bent down and kissed him on the forehead, before heading upstairs at half past one in the morning.