I love you guys, I love you guys, I love you guys.

Last chapter. There will be an epilogue, but a very short one. To make up for it though, this chapter is much longer than usual. Hope you enjoy. :)


Life isn't how we always wish it to be.

People cannot go through such an ordeal and come out of it entirely unscathed, all forgotten and forgiven the next day. Those around them cannot simply revert back to old times and treat them how they once did in the past – even though essentially, nothing had actually changed about them. There would always be that element of shock and surprise – even a little distrust – that left its mark on that event.

So it was so for James Potter. His classmates did not immediately treat him with the same warmth as before, even after hearing the whole story behind his supposed love affair with Melody Varnes. Their encounters with him were often strained, with a soft element of caution. It took time; every one of these things took time. In turn, James did not make up for lost time and sweep Lily up into his arms, carrying her off to her fairytale ending and proclaiming his undying love for her.

Not yet, anyway. But that's another story.

Lily understood it all and stayed loyal and caring by his side. She, for one, would not have been ready for such a grandiose display of affection. But in the meanwhile, she showed everybody how she loved him – how much she really loved him, and in every sense of the word. They did everything together – sat next to each other in class, ate lunch (with the occasional sneaky peck on the lips every so often) and even spent their free time in the library studying for the upcoming NEWTs.

Yes. James Potter studied.

He probably didn't need to, and she probably didn't need to – but then again, why not? They walked out of every exam room in full confidence knowing that they had aced it all.

Only James bragged about it though. And Sirius, of course.


A couple of months following the whole incident, they were sitting with each other during breakfast. Lily could tell out from the corner of her eye that James had been looking intently at her, and for more than just a few seconds now. It seemed... different from the usual, that was all she could say.

She turned her gaze to him with a small smile. "Hey," she murmured.

James smiled back. "Hey," he said. His opened his lips to say something but then shook his head, evidentially thinking better of it.

Lily cocked her head. "Everything okay?"

"Yeah," he laughed lightly. "Some other time."

Lily tapped her fingernails against the jug beside her. "Want some pumpkin juice?" she asked, raising her eyebrows in question.

James shot her a look. "I think I'll be drinking out of my own flask now, thanks. We don't want any more Amortentias going around."

Lily rolled her eyes and grinned. "And what if it had Amortentia brewed in it for you to fall in love with me?" she said teasingly.

The expression on his face did not falter. "Well then," he said quietly. "I wouldn't need it, would I?"


"You two are like an old married couple," muttered Sirius to Lily one night by the fire in the Gryffindor Common Room. "Always walking about hand in hand, embarrassing the living daylights out of me. Seriously. Could you please start acting like you're actually seventeen and not seventy?"

"It's not my fault," argued Lily. "We would have been perfectly fine if Severus hadn't gone and screwed everything up."

Sirius' face darkened, causing her to frown. "What happened to Sev, anyway?" she asked.

"Prongs wouldn't let me do anything to him," he grumbled, slumping back on the couch. "Said that we had to be fair and not sink so low, some bullshit like that. So we just told Dumbledore."

"That's all?" Lily asked, looking incredulous.

"I know! How shit is that? I can't believe he—"

"No, no," she interrupted with a laugh. "That's not what I meant. What did Dumbledore do?"

"Oh," said Sirius. "I wasn't really listening. He said something along the lines of how this issue was going to be taken very seriously, and how we were lucky that nothing too bad came out of it. Prongs was acting all mature and sombre, like the ass-kissing Head Boy he is. I swear, I see more of you in him every day." He shot her a rueful glance. "It's rather frightening."

Lily smiled at this, and a comfortable silence ensued for the next few minutes.

"So," Sirius finally said in a casual tone, and Lily was surprised to hear an element of caution in his voice. He seemed to be making a point not to look at her. "How was your breakfast?"

Lily blinked. "My breakfast?" she echoed.

"Yes, your breakfast."

Her forehead crinkled. What on earth was the boy talking about? She shot him a weird glance, but he still did not meet her eyes. "It was okay, I guess."

"Nothing... special?"

"No, not really." She cocked an eyebrow. "Unless you're trying to make me say that me being with James is special? Not saying that it isn't," she said hastily, "But it's not that, is it? What did you mean?"

Several seconds passed without response.

"Sirius?" She looked over to the boy in question, but he appeared to not have been listening to her. Sirius had turned his back to her, facing the armrest of the couch, and was now crouching over in a defensive sort of manner, as if trying to conceal something. "You gutless feminine girl," she heard him hiss. "I thought you were supposed to do it today."

Sirius Black was talking to himself?

In utter disbelief, Lily rolled up the sleeve of her shirt and pinched herself. Hard. It hurt terribly, and nothing different happened. She shook her head quickly back and forth.

What on earth?

"I need to give it time, or else it'll screw up!" another voice hissed back.

Lily's vision snapped back to Sirius. It was James – but he wasn't there. She briefly contemplated interrupting him – or them – but then decided that she would try to hear more of the conversation to figure out what was going on.

"You won't screw it up," was Sirius' reply. "She loves you, Prongs. You didn't see her when we first found you with Melody. I was scared to my wits that the girl would go throw herself out the window."

Wait. They were talking about her?

"That's the thing," James murmured, though she could still detect an exasperated tone in the soft voice. "I've messed up with her so badly, and we've really hardly had any proper time together. She's bound to say—"

"Yes. She'll say yes. Trust me mate, I'm not screwing you around." Sirius paused and shuddered. "Hell knows why I would want to screw you, anyway," he added. "And who cares about time? You're both bloody head over heels with each other. I would say that I feel left out, but I would rather not be included in you lovebirds' long passionate snogs and embraces. I mean, honestly – you can't even go five minutes talking to me without asking me if I know where she is!"

"Where is she, anyway?"

There was a short pause. "Oh shit," Sirius said.

James' tone took on a frightening edge. "Sirius Black, do not tell me that she's there next to you."

"Uh, okay then. I won't."

Lily could hear something that sounded suspiciously like a growl. "Has Merlin ripped the brains out of you and flung them into the Black Lake?"

"No, because if he did my hair would be quite disgusting – full of yucky brain parts, and all. And it's not. In fact, it's looking hotter than ever. If your hair was gay, it would totally want to make out with my hair."

"What the..." There was a pause. "You're mad, you know that?"

"Yup," replied Sirius cheerfully.

"You realise she can hear all of this?"

"Yup," he repeated again. "But that's not my loss, is it? Plus, this just gives you more reason to ask her now – and not back out this time. Prongs, you'll want to be doing this before school's over. Otherwise you might have different careers, and she'll forget about you and hook up with some hot hunking Healer..."

"She wants to be an Auror, Pads. Like me. And I thought you said she loved me?"

"She does," said Sirius impatiently, "but that's not the point. The point is—"

But Lily never got to hear what the point was, because at that very moment she finally chose to make herself heard. "James?"

"I—SHIT!" James' voice said, sounding absolutely horrified.

And then there was silence.

That had possibly been the worst way to go about finding out what they were talking about.

Lily immediately cursed underneath her breath. She punched the armrest of the couch with a balled fist.

Sirius turned around, holding a mirror in his hand, and gave her a guilty grin. "Uh... hey Evans! So you were saying before?" he said innocently.

Lily didn't fall for it. She regarded him for several moments with a quiet, settled intensity. "What was James going to ask me?" she asked.

"I have absolutely no idea what you're on about."

"No," she said in a warning tone. "Seriously, Black. This isn't funny."

"I am serious," muttered Sirius aside to himself. He looked up to her, lips twitching. "And I know that this isn't funny."

Lily stared back at him unsmilingly. "Tell me," she commanded.

"No," he replied. "It's not mine to tell." Then he raised an eyebrow. "And really," he said, "I'd be surprised if you weren't able to figure it out after hearing all of that."

Her heart jolted.

I'd be surprised if you weren't able to figure it out after hearing all of that.

No.

Well, she had suspected, but...

Lily shook her head over and over, letting the shock slowly spread across her face. "No," she whispered. "That's impossible. He wouldn't..."

"Yes," sighed Sirius, "he would."

She was at a loss for words. "But it can't be, I—"

"Evans, is it really such a bad thing?"

No, it wasn't. Bloody frightening, that's what it was.

"Yes!" she wailed. "We're only seventeen years old!"

"You come of age at seventeen," Sirius said, with a hint of amusement gracing his features.

She huffed. "So?"

"So what? I don't know. You tell me."

Lily blinked and shook her head. Her mouth opened and closed. She blinked again. "Um," she finally blurted out, "where is he?"

Sirius' countenance remained expressionless. "No idea," he said smoothly.

She didn't even need the rock to tell that that one was a lie.

Lily's eyes flashed into a steely glare. "Black," she said threateningly, "where is he?"

"Where's who?"

"James Potter," she said through gritted teeth.

"And why would you want to know that?"

"Because I fucking love him, okay?"

She stopped with her mouth open, breathing out rather heavily.

She loved him?

Wow. Okay. She loved him.

She, Lily Evans – Lily Evans – loved James Potter.

Merlin save her soul.

Sirius' eyes widened for a flitting moment. Then he smiled – a genuine, real smile this time. "Nice to know," was his reply. "Room of Requirement."


Lily didn't know how fast she ran then. She didn't think, didn't worry – just did. The walls and paintings that surrounded her passed by in a huge, multicoloured blur. Her footsteps pounded, echoing loud; her ears were ringing, ringing...

An arm tugged her back. "Lily!"

Lily's heart jolted. She spun around violently to meet the anxious face of Severus Snape.

Oh, for fuck's sake.

"What?" she spat, ripping her arm away from his grasp. She was almost surprised at the vast amount of hatred that burned through her.

Snape regarded her, dejection clear in those pitiful black eyes. He seemed to be at a loss for words. "I just," he said thickly, "just want to..."

She couldn't believe that he used to be her friend. Her closest friend. Lily's throat felt so dry, like parchment. She swallowed hard, squeezing her eyes shut for a brief moment.

"I wanted to say sorry," finished Snape, and though she hated the boy to bits, Lily couldn't help but feel a stab of pity go through her.

She shook her head. "No Sev, it's—"

"No," he interrupted, sighing loudly. "No, I just want a chance to explain myself, okay? Have you got a moment – please?"

"An explanation," muttered Lily to herself. "Yeah, an explanation would be nice."

Snape cast his eyes down to the ground. "Look," he said, with a shake of his head. "I just... just couldn't stand you two being together. You don't know Potter. He's so arrogant and up himself, and all he does is strut around the castle all day with that Black, thinking he's so cool and—"

"That was in Fifth Year, Severus," Lily raised an eyebrow. "I'm afraid to say that you're a bit behind time."

Snape let out a frustrated growl. "No," he said. "You don't understand, he's still like that—"

"Oh, really now?"

"Yes. He just doesn't... doesn't outwardly show it, that's all. He's still the same inside, and I... I thought that you hated him?" he finished off in a small voice.

Lily's eyes flickered to the corridor down the hallway where she had to turn into to get to the Room of Requirement. She sighed and began to bundle her silky red hair into a high ponytail (Emmeline and Alice had done a bloody excellent job at that makeover). Speaking to Snape always made her so hot and frazzled – and not in a good way, either. "So," she said. "You don't think that people deserve a second chance?"

Snape hesitated. "No," he said slowly. "Not Potter, at any rate."

Lily blinked. "So what makes you so special that you deserve one?" she said coolly.

"Look Lily, I—"

"Just go use your fucking Felix Felicis if you want anything done, okay?" she snapped, losing her cool.

She groaned inwardly. How could she be so stupid as to actually give him the idea?

There was an extended period of thick silence. Snape stared at her, looking utterly pathetic and hopeless in his small, hunched stance. Lily glared unnervingly back, eyes narrowed to thin slits.

Snape pushed a greasy tendril of hair behind his ear. "I can't," he finally said, shifting his gaze down to his feet. "Black stole it from me."

Lily snorted and shook her head. "Well, that's rather shocking to hear," she commented dryly. "The boy just might be as intelligent as he proclaims himself to be."

Then pursed her lips, turned on her heel and walked off.


Lily burst into the Room of Requirement, quickly slamming the door shut behind her. "James!" she said breathlessly. Her heart beat loudly against her chest. She scanned the large room.

But it was empty.

"Oh, you've got to be shitting me," she grumbled to herself, shaking her head vehemently. "Stupid Black, what a bloody moron. Thinks everything's so funny—"

"Lil?" a small, weary voice interrupted.

"James!" she exclaimed in a mixture of surprise and relief. "Where are you?" Frantically, her eyes searched over the room again, looking out for that dark mop of black hair.

Where was he?

She clenched her teeth in frustration.

Where was he?

And then she saw him – at the very back corner of the room, squinting at her in confusion. He had propped himself up with his elbows from a lying down position.

Her jaw dropped open (she was being incredibly melodramatic, Lily was). He was on a bed.

James Potter was on a bed.

A bed. In the same room as her.

Looking absolutely bewildered, James quickly grabbed his glasses and shoved them onto his face. He blinked quickly several times over. "What are you – what are you..."

"What are you doing on a bed?" shrieked Lily, walking backwards till her back hit the door again. She thrust an accusatory finger in his direction. "Are you trying to give me ideas? Well let me tell you, Mr Potter – it's not working!"

It was working. But he didn't need to know that.

James sat up, swinging his legs off to the side. He was still in his school uniform, but his tie had been loosened and his shirt untucked. Lily pressed her lips together, feeling rather pale. It looked too bloody hot that it had to be a figment of her imagination. "It's eleven o'clock, you know," he said, throwing her a rueful glance. "And what are you doing here?"

"Never mind about that," she said impatiently. "There's no reason for you to be all bunked up in the Room of Requirement. Why on earth didn't you just go sleep in the dormitories?"

James averted her gaze, scratching the back of his neck. "Uh," he said sheepishly. "Well..."

Realisation dawned upon her. Her eyes widened. "Oh my God. You haven't been avoiding me, have you?"

Nice going there, Einstein.

"Not exactly, but..."

She advanced towards him with several purposeful strides, probably resembling closely those huffy old women on streets that scream at young children for doing something wrong, like picking their noses. "Wanker! I can't believe you," she snapped. "We are in a relationship! We might not act like it yet, but we are together! You can't just rent out a rudding bedroom in the Room of Requirement and not tell me about it!" Her hands were waving about maniacally. "What if I wanted to... join you or something?" she cried.

She stopped in front of him, breathing heavily.

James cocked an eyebrow.

"Not... not on your bed," she added hastily. "Just... just to join you. As friends. Friends-in-a-relationship kind of friends."

James pressed his lips together, fighting back laugher. "Yeah," he replied. "Sure. Well uh," he stopped to pat the space beside him. "Come join, then?"

"Oh, for God's sake," Lily grumbled, throwing herself down next to him. She looked pointedly away from him. "Fine, since you insisted upon it. You're impossible."

"Lil?"

"What?" she said crossly, throwing him a glare. She didn't even know what she was angry at him for.

James smiled. "You're really still exactly the same as you were before all of this happened, aren't you?" he said, letting out a quiet laugh.

"Well, obviously. Unless someone's been stalking around under Polyjuice Potion for the past few months..."

She didn't get to finish, because at that moment James kissed her.

And it was a real kiss this time, not one of those stupid half-second pecks that she had been receiving lately. His lips pressed hungrily against hers, hot and burning with desire. James grabbed the back of her head and pushed her down roughly onto the bed.

Lily was mildly embarrassed to realise that this action on his part didn't perturb her in the slightest, and that it had taken her a mere one or two seconds to respond just as eagerly. Her head felt incredibly dizzy. She clutched to his hair with both hands and hummed happily, pressing kiss after kiss on that stupidly, irritatingly delightful mouth.

By Merlin, she had missed this so, so much.

Without thinking, Lily rolled him over till she was situated on top of him. She moaned and kissed and gasped and kissed some more, and somehow along the way James' shirt disappeared...

And really, the bed was just so comfy.

"Lily," James drew in a ragged breath. He pushed her away gently. "I need to—"

"What?" she drew away abruptly. She was breathing rather heavily for somebody who had just been engaged in a heated snogging session for – she checked her watch –

Twenty minutes already?

"Oh, shit!" she swore, still panting. "So long – and where did – where did your shirt go?" She frowned, ignoring the incessant twinkling in those warm, hazel-brown eyes. "And my jumper? What about – what about my jumper?"

"I don't know," James said, amusement evident in his voice. "You tell me. You seemed pretty eager to uh, take control of the situation just before."

Lily's face heated up. "Oh, shut up," she snapped, rolling to the edge of the bed and collapsing down beside him. She huffed loudly. "You – you just shut up. I hate the sound of your voice."

"My voice? Okay then, I can deal with that," replied James cheerfully, leaning over towards her mouth again.

Lily drew in a sharp breath. "No," she scowled, quickly grabbing his cheeks between her palms to stop him. "No more snogs for you, you arrogant piece of—"

James' smile disappeared, and he gazed back at her imploringly.

Lily's mind went blank.

She bit her lip, turning a nasty shade of red again. "Um," she said shakily, her glare faltering. "No more – no more..."

"Snogs?" he laughed softly, still trapped between her hands. "Yeah, okay grandma."

"Hey! I am only two months older than you, thank you very much—"

"You know my birthday?" he asked, looking genuinely surprised.

"Of course," Lily replied automatically without thinking. "Twenty-seventh of March."

"Oh," he said softly. A large, blinding grin spread across his face. "Well, that's nice to know."

They stayed there in silence for a long moment, James' face hovering inches away from hers. Lily's arms began to shake. "What I wanted to say before when I came to find you," she said feebly, looking uncertain under his intense gaze, "was that—"

"No," James interrupted. He sighed, closing his eyes with a wince. "It was stupid, forget about it."

Yeah, fat chance.

"Are you kidding me?" said Lily exasperatedly.

He grumbled in response, "Just pretend it never happened."

"Why on earth would I ever do that?"

"Well isn't that what you want?"

Lily was speechless, caught entirely off-guard. What did she want?

"I think – I guess I was just so insecure after everything that's happened. Because, well, I obviously want to be with you," James said with a small sigh. His entire body looked deflated – and not just his face. His shoulders were slouched, and he just didn't have any... life in him.

He was starting to remind Lily of Snape. The thought of it made her shudder. Sirius would have been so outraged.

"But I don't know if you'll feel the same way in a few months' time. And I understand, really. Only..."

Lily's grip dropped, but James' face remained in the same place. He blinked heavily, eyelids fluttering. "Only I don't know if I could handle that myself, you see," he admitted, voice dropping down low. His lips twitched into a small, sad smile. "And you know how much of a selfish pig I am."

Lily wanted to cry.

"Look," she said thickly. Angrily, she willed the tears to go away, and for possibly the first time in her life, they obeyed. She looked at him firmly. "I love you. More than you can ever imagine. For some twisted reason that even I can't get my head around, I like you a terrible deal. It scares me, I'll admit. And I'll never leave you, so long as you don't go off snogging more Melody Varneses. Ever, you hear that, James?"

She stopped as James gave a watery laugh. "But we need to wait, okay? No – no marriage." The word slipped awkwardly off her tongue. "It makes me feel so old, the word wife. Seventeen and a half is just too young."

And she knew then, when she had finished speaking, that what she had said was true.

After what seemed like forever, James finally broke into another smile. "I know," he replied, and drew her into a tight hug. "That's why I saved it till later, yeah?"

She knew.

She knew that what she wanted was James, but James taken in a slow manner. What they had was love, by no doubt – but they had barely come of age yet, and who knew what lay in store for them?

Well, there was really only one way to find out.

Lily felt a stupid grin creep to the corners of her mouth. She pressed her face into the crook of his neck, planting a small kiss and rolling around in a continuous stream of happy laughter.

Oh, how she loved the boy. Loved, loved loved him.

But the best thing of all?

He still smelled like mango.


Well, it's pretty much over and I've got to say that it's been an amazing, amazing ride to the end! Thank you all for making this so special. The epilogue will come out in a few days, but it's just really short to tie the story all together.

If you've read till here - feedback would be great, because I would just love to hear what you think!

There is a possibility of a sequel to this - so author alert me if you're interested in reading one. ;)

Again - THANK YOU SO MUCH, and I LOVE you guys to pieces!

~ birchermuesli