A/N: Welcome back! Did you have a good Easter? I hope so and I hope you like this chapter too! It's much more lighthearted - I feel like we all deserve a bit of cheer after the more serious chapters.

Enjoy :)


Chapter 29: Valentine's Day


'Remind me why we're doing this and not the fucking Prefects.' Marlene grumbled as she attached a pink paper heart to the wall with a piece of Spello-tape.

'Because it's meant to be a whole school surprise.' Lily explained for what seemed like the hundredth time that day and stuck a red heart right beside the pink one.

'Except me, you and the Marauders?' The two girls glanced over their shoulder at where the four males were having a fight with the silver and pink glitter left over from covering the paper hearts in the sparkling substance. 'Can't we just let them do the fucking rest? D'you know how much arm hair I've sacrificed to this ruddy Spello-tape? Look!' She waved her arm in Lily's face and her best friend rolled her eyes.

'Yes, yes, you've been very brave.' Lily replied and patted her on the back. 'Besides the Professors know all about it.' Marlene elbowed her and for a moment they fell into silence, sticking more paper hearts onto the stone wall. They could hear the Marauders chasing one another around the Great Hall and exchanged an exasperated look.

'I think they should finish this as a fucking punishment for fucking about.' Marlene said, stepping back to admire the two best friends' handiwork.

'We can't risk them rigging in a prank.' Lily reminded her. 'We need as little mayhem as possible, remember.' They sent a furtive look towards their male companions and then grinned at one another. The Marauders noticed nothing, all too focused on the fact that Sirius was being cornered by the other three, fists of glitter at the ready.

'Have you sent your application to St Mungo's yet?' Marlene asked, changing topic as Sirius was forced into the corner nearest to them.

'I sent it yesterday.' Lily moved in line with her and they both tilted their heads, observing the paper heart arrangement on the wall. 'Have you sent yours to the Daily Prophet?'

'I'm doing it tonight.' she responded. 'You know, we should start looking at flats soon.' Marlene added thoughtfully.

'I'll write to Gringotts for my account balance.' Lily said, nodding in agreement. 'I've saved a lot since we started se-' Marlene trod on her foot and jerked her head at the Marauders, who were causing a cloud of glitter to hover above them with their relentless feud. 'Oops.' Lily smiled sheepishly and summoned a box of ribbons towards them. 'But we have to look at our budget. I think we'll be able to get a two-bed easily.'

The existence of Lily's vault at Gringotts was not known to her parents as she had never told them. They had always favoured giving Lily Muggle money to convert over the idea of establishing a vault to store Wizarding currency in but when Lily had turned of age in the Wizarding world, she had taken it upon herself to get a vault at the bank to store the galleons, sickles and knuts she had… accumulated over the years; Marlene had previously let her put the money in her personal vault but Lily was glad of having her own one as the two girls' savings from their endeavours had expanded quite a bit since they had first begun saving.

The best friends did, of course, intend to move in together after their school career ended and be roommates; this had been their plan since 4th year, which incidentally was also when they began saving.

Sirius broke free of his fellow Marauders and sprinted past the two females, pinching Marlene on the bottom and dumping glitter in her hair as he did so; his girlfriend let out an indignant roar and chased after him, flanked by James, Remus and Peter so that the four of them made a rhombus shape as they pelted about the Great Hall. Lily shook her head despairingly and placed sticking charms on the ribbons before levitating them upwards. She flicked her wand and the ribbons all flew across the Hall and decorated each of the walls with pink, silver and red.

The other Gryffindors continued to run about the Hall but Lily decided against joining in, choosing instead to carry on decorating with the appearance of one waving a conductor's baton whilst her feet seemingly engaged in a strange and wonderful dance as she enchanted decoration after decoration into its place. She hummed to herself, lightly dancing out of the way of Sirius as he hurtled passed, closely followed by his determined herd of predators. James stopped running and began to watch in wonder as Lily bewitched a trail of floating silver lights to move into a conga line and then charmed a collection of glass cherub figurines to tap dance into place while she hummed.

Her eyes lit up slightly so that her emerald eyes seemed to sparkle just as much as the glitter that now filled the air. James stood there, entranced by her carefree beauty, and didn't even notice Peter sprinkle some bright pink glitter into his hair. She flicked her gaze in his direction and realised he was watching her, freezing and turning rather flushed. The two faced one another, one looking incredibly dazed and the other resembling a ripe tomato.

'OI, PR-' Sirius began to yell but was cut off when Marlene kneed him in a sensitive area and Remus threw his fistful of glitter into his open mouth. He fell to the floor, spluttering and clutching himself in agony, and his two attackers high fived merrily.

'How long d'you reckon?' Marlene asked Remus in an undertone, indicating her head towards Lily and James; Peter was adding more and more glitter to James' hair so that he was starting to resemble a very stunned Christmas tree.

'A week.' Sirius gasped from the floor, his eyes beginning to water due to his pain. 'Fucking hell, Marlene!'

'Oh, quiet you!' Marlene responded with a dismissive hand. 'One week?' she added sceptically. 'I'm going with 8 days.' Sirius let out an indignant grunt and Remus grinned to himself. 'Remus?'

'Hm…' Remus fell silent for a moment and then straightened his jumper. '10 days.'

'We making a bet of this?' Peter piped up as he neared them, having run out of glitter to pile of James' head. 'I'm going for 7 and a ½ personally.'

'I'm up for a bet.' Marlene nodded enthusiastically and both Sirius and Remus wore identical expressions of mischief. 'What about 5 galleons?'

'I hope you four are not planning on breaking school rules and gambling.' a stern voice had joined the conversation and the four 7th years jumped in shock, Sirius letting out a cry of pain after doing so. Professor McGonagall regarded them all with a raised eyebrow and at the sight of Sirius on the floor, her thin lips curved slightly upwards.

'But, Professor, it's about James and Lily – surely that calls for an exception.' Marlene asked hopefully.

'Miss McKinnon, the fact that the bet is about the Head boy and girl hardly helps the matter.'

'Go on, Minnie.' Sirius whined from the floor. 'How long d'you think till they get together?' Professor McGonagall glowered at them for about a minute before speaking.

'8 days and 18 hours from the start of Valentine's Day.' she announced and then produced a few gold coins from the pocket of her velvet robes. 'It was 5 galleons I believe.'


Tuesday the 14th of February dawned the next morning with a rather grey sky that did not reflect the overall feelings of affection oozing from the auras of giggling girls and incredibly nervous males, though some of them still snored loudly in their four-poster beds. Lily and Marlene, however, were already up and chatting happily as they made their way down to breakfast, waving energetically at Evelyn Pucey upon their arrival. She waved back and the three of them shared a significant look before Evelyn turned her attention to that morning's Daily Prophet and Lily sat down at the Gryffindor table, Marlene mirroring her movements.

Although completely engrossed in their conversation about Wit-Sharpening Potions, both Lily and Marlene kept glancing towards the double doors into the Great Hall. Lily helped herself to a bacon sarnie and bit into it cheerfully as she overheard a pair of 6th years admiring the Valentine's day decorations. Further along the table, Alice Prewett was gazing adoringly at her boyfriend, Frank Longbottom, while he recited a story about his parents on this very day a few years prior that must have been hilarious as mere seconds later and the two were in hysterics.

Once Lily had finished her roll, she fished around in her school bag for her Defence Against the Dark Arts homework, which she started reading over while Marlene muttered a variety of curses directed at her Divination teacher, Professor Quinn, who had just seated himself at the staff table. Marlene spooned a mouthful of cereal into her mouth in an incredibly angry manner and then glowered in the direction of the doors into the Great Hall as the Marauders strolled through them. She held a card in her hand and practically threw it at Sirius when he sat down beside her, leaning over to kiss her on the cheek. Sirius did not seem fazed by the flying card and caught it expertly before producing a bunch of flowers and handing it to her.

'Thanks.' mumbled Marlene, who turned incredibly red. Lily grinned into her essay and coughed lightly. 'Stop it, Lil! I can feel you fucking smiling!'

'I wasn't doing anything.' Lily defended innocently and glanced towards the Hufflepuff table. Whatever she was looking for wasn't there so she smiled vaguely at the Marauders before returning to reviewing her homework. She finished reading it after a few minutes and replaced it in her bag, pulling out an open envelope instead, which she handed to Remus. 'You should write a card for Emmeline.'

'What makes you think I should do that?' Remus asked in a high-pitched voice, turning pink.

'It was just an idea…' Lily replied nonchalantly and then waved at Peter, who was leaving the table to go sit with his girlfriend, Flora Jenkins, a box of chocolates in hand. 'James, I ha-'

'L-Lily,' a timid voice sounded behind her and she started before turning around so quickly she got a crick in her neck. Rubbing it fiercely, she looked up at Stewart Andrews, who stood before her, clutching a posy of sweet peas in his right hand and a pink envelope in his left hand. 'Happy Valentine's day!' he declared abruptly and thrust the flowers into her face as his nerves caught up with him.

'These are lovely, Stewart.' Lily complimented, accepting the flowers and smiling at him as Marlene stood on Sirius' foot to stop him interrupting. Stewart then held out a the violently pink card, which Lily took cheerfully. 'Thank you… Happy Valentine's day to you too…'

Stewart beamed and left to join his friends further along the table, all of which clapped him on the shoulders in congratulations. Sirius couldn't contain himself; he let out a howl of laughter and banged his fist on the table as his chortles continued. Remus and Marlene exchanged a look but James was watching Lily with a strange expression. He seemed to be desperately analysing her reaction and when she looked in his direction, his cheeks reddened visibly. The uncertain smile Lily sent towards him didn't help and he hastily busied himself with buttering a crumpet. Lily's expression drooped slightly.

She didn't have long to dwell on his reaction as the post owls arrived, raining letters all about the Great Hall. A large collection of suspiciously red and pink envelopes landed in front of James and Lily laughed as he began eying them warily. To her own surprise, two envelopes were delivered into her lap and though the first one was from Edward, evoking feelings of discomfort, the second brought an incredibly happy wave of emotions. It read:

Dear Mudblood,

This isn't a love letter if that's what you're thinking and I wouldn't put it passed you to think that. I'm sending this on this infernal day because I figured it wouldn't be suspicious for you to receive a letter today. This letter is not a thank you for the Murtlap Essence but an acknowledgement of what you did. There you have it then: I accept you helped my arm.

I will not be so indulgent should you let it slip as to what was on my arm but something tells me you at least have the brains to keep your mouth shut on that front. The absence of being summoned to Dumbledore's office gives me confidence that you do in fact have some form of sense and let's keep it that way.

Enjoy your torturous day of declaring love for your supposed loved ones.

R.A.B

Lily grinned widely and put away the card in her school bag, vanishing the one from Edward once she had done so. James had started reading his way through his vividly coloured fan mail, an involuntary shiver of disgust occurring each time he picked up a new one, and Remus sat beside him writing carefully on the card Lily had given him. She observed the two of them, still grinning, for a while and then glanced towards the Hufflepuff table.

Jack Smith sat in a crowd of his friends, all of them laughing loudly at the couples around them, and Lily's eyebrow began to raise themselves as a slight smirk replaced her grin. She elbowed Marlene, who had been snoozing on Sirius' chest, in the ribs and her best friend practically leapt to attention. Lily tilted her head in the direction of the Hufflepuff table. Marlene's face formed an evil smirk and then she and Lily nodded at Evelyn, who bowed her head in response.

Glowing pink hearts began to rain down from the enchanted ceiling, though only over the head of a specific Hufflepuff; he didn't notice, however, as he was too busy in his activity of throwing hash browns at the couple nearest to him. The hearts reached him and he let out an undignified shriek as their surface made contact with his skin. Then they crumbled, covering him in a yellow-tinted powdery substance so that he resembled someone with a rather terrible case of dandruff. A few seconds passed where he attempted to brush off all the powder on his person before he began itching uncontrollably much to the delight of the many students who had turned to watch.

While he scratched at himself, the suits of armour in the Great Hall danced towards him and began to sing in terribly passionate voices, their vizors clanking loudly. Their hands clasped at their chests as they crowded around the frantically itching Jack Smith.

You and I must make a pact
We must bring salvation back
Where there is love, I'll be there (I'll be there)

I'll reach out my hand to you
I'll have faith in all you do
Just call my name and I'll be there (I'll be there)

I'll be there to comfort you
Build my world of dreams around you
I'm so glad that I found you

I'll be there with a love that's strong
I'll be your strength
I'll keep holdin' on (holdin' on)
Yes I will, yes I will

The giggles and laughter erupting all over the Great Hall were strangely synchronised and Marlene clutched Sirius as she howled. He too was snorting loudly and Remus and James were quick to join in. Lily sent a wink in Evelyn's direction and the Slytherin grinned back, raising her goblet of pumpkin juice at the Head girl. She nodded and then stood up with her school bag over her shoulder, seamlessly placing an envelope atop the pile from James' admirers before humming to herself and leaving the Hall in high spirits.

When everyone had finally stopped laughing, talk began to break out everywhere once more and while Remus levitated a card discreetly onto Emmeline Vance's lap, James returned his attention to his fan mail. He picked up the top one and looked at it unenthusiastically. Ripping the envelope open, he glanced at the cover of the card which depicted a doe and a stag that had been enchanted to chase one another all over the front. A frown creased his forehead as he opened the card.

Dear James,

Happy Valentine's day! I thought today would be the perfect day to admit this to you and by card so I don't have to mumble this to you in person and you miss my entirely heartfelt speech. It's quite likely you've already guessed what I'm about to tell you but just in case I'll write it now. I like you, James, and as more than just a friend. Whether you feel the same or not doesn't matter but I think you have a right to know something like that.

Love,

Lily

P.S In answer to your question at Christmas; yes, I do know your Animagus form.


Lily stood in her Potions classroom while above her, in the Great Hall, dinner was in full swing. She was bent over a simmering potion that had a mother of pearl sheen to it, reflecting the lit torch brackets all around the dungeon. Professor Slughorn sat comfortably behind his desk tucking into a plate of steak and kidney pie as he marked the essays handed in by his 3rd year pupils. Every so often he would watch with interest as Lily worked on her potion and now that she was almost finished, he had put down his quill and was only eating while he observed his favourite student.

She stirred to concoction once and instantly steam began to rise in beautiful spirals. Professor Slughorn chuckled lightly as he saw her hastily pinch her nose and made a mental note to mention the scene before him to Lily's Head of House. Lily, with her nose still pinched tight shut, walked around her cauldron, writing down observations and making notes as to the potion's consistency when she ladled some towards her.

'Lily, my dear, the aroma of Amortentia is vital to its characteristics.' Professor Slughorn said from his side of the room. She turned to face him and nodded but did not remove her hand from her nose. 'You may wish to mention what you can smell if you want an Outstanding mark.'

'Yes, Professor.' Lily mumbled and took a deep breath before letting go of her nose. She exhaled and then inhaled the fumes radiating from her cauldron; they were just as she remembered them: Cadbury's milk chocolate, the mind warming smell that clung to ancient books and the smell of the earth just after it had rained. The latter was still the strongest of all the three fragrances and a look of great contentment spread across Lily's face as she placed the lid on the cauldron because at last she understood why.

Please Review :)

If you smelled Amortentia, what do you think you'd smell? I think I'd definitely smell chocolate and maybe freshly baked bread.