~James' POV~

Her hair was splayed out across the pillow, the flaming red brightening up the white of the pillowcase. Her skin seemed to glow in the early morning light that made its way in through the windows, and she was breathing steadily. In. Out. In. Out.

I lightly ran my fingertips along her smooth skin. Memories flooded behind my eyes. Tracing that very same skin as her mouth moved along my stomach, my chest. Her hands clutching at my hair as she whispered my name. Our legs tangling together wantonly beneath the sheets as we held each other in the quiet moments afterward, both of us too exhausted to speak.

She stirred slightly and I reached my arm around her stomach, pulling her closer to me, breathing in her scent.

When she opened her eyes and blinked them rapidly, adjusting to the light, I smiled. "Good morning."

She groaned as she rolled over onto her side and stretched languidly. "Good morning." Her voice was husky with sleep and she closed her eyes as she snuggled in closer to me. "What time is it?"

I glanced at the clock on Remus bedside table. "It's a little after six."

"Hmm," she hummed. "And how long have you been awake?"

"Maybe about half an hour now."

"You could have gotten up," she said.

"I didn't want to wake you."

She opened her eyes once more and smiled up at me. "So, you never told me how you convinced Remus and Peter and Sirius to let you have the room all to yourself last night."

I smiled back at her. "It wasn't too hard. It is Valentine's Day today, after all, and they're hopeless romantics."

She grinned. "Even Sirius?"

"Especially Sirius. I think romanticism runs in the Black family."

She giggled. "But where did they sleep last night?"

The Shrieking Shack. But I couldn't tell her that. Not yet. "I'm not sure."

She narrowed her eyes at me. "You're lying."

"We've gotten too close," I teased her. "You can read my mind now."

"It's one of my special powers." She began to rub her thumbs in circles on my chest. "So, are you going to tell me the truth?"

I sighed. "No."

"If it's about Remus being a werewolf, I already know."

I shot upright and had to catch her arm to keep her from tumbling right off the edge of the bed. "What?"

She was looking at me like she might have thought I'd lost my marbles. "You can't keep things from me, James. I've noticed before that Remus always seems to be sick around the full moons. And then you and Sirius and Peter always seem to be pretty tired around that time, too…" She trailed off as her forehead crinkled in thought. "So, what, do you guys just stay up with him? Because that's really dangerous, you know. Werewolves are very dangerous."

Deciding that it would be best to not play dumb, I sighed. "Only to humans."

"Well, yes." She rolled her eyes. "And what exactly do you think that…" She gasped. "Of course! You and Sirius and Peter are Animagi!"

"And Jen," I added.

Her eyes widened. "You let Jen go out with you, too?"

"I didn't let her do anything," I clarified. "She found out what we were up to and figured out how to become an Animagus before we did. I tried to convince her that it was too dangerous, but it was like talking to a brick wall."

"So you all go with him on his transformations?" she asked, a scholarly voice taking over. "How does that work?"

"He goes in under the Whomping Willow, down a tunnel, and into the Shrieking Shack. It's safe for him to transform there. Jen, Peter, Sirius, and I just keep him company as animals so that he's not so lonely and won't have to rip and tear at himself." I decided that mentioning that we sometimes let him out of the Shack probably wasn't the best course of action.

The lines of her face softened. "That's very sweet of you all." But then she sobered up. "But completely dangerous, too! You could all be killed!"

I gripped her hand and brought it to my lips. "We're always careful, Lily."

"But-"

"Is this really what you want to talk about on Valentine's Day?" I asked her with a sly grin. "There'll be plenty of time for questions later. How about I give you your gift now?"

She brightened. "All right."

I got out of bed and pulled on some clothes before I went to the trunk at the foot of my bed and pulled out the package. "I'm sorry to say that I can't take full credit for this one. Jen helped me. But mostly she just listened to me rant and point at things… so I did most of the work, at least. She mostly kept me from buying the wrong things. When I saw this…" I handed her the package. "I knew it was meant for you."

She carefully tore the paper off and opened the small box, her eyes lighting up when she saw what was inside. "Oh, James. It's beautiful!"

"You like it?" I asked.

"I love it!" She lifted the silver locket from the box and held it out to me. "Will you put it on me, please?"

She turned on the bed and lifted her hair out of the way, and I positioned the locket and then clasped the back of it.

Then I pressed a gentle kiss between her shoulder blades. "Happy Valentine's Day, Lily."

She leaned back against me and sighed contentedly. "Happy Valentine's Day, James."

Lily was waiting for me by the fire when I came down the stairs from the boys' dormitory.

She was contemplating something.

"What are you thinking about?" I asked her as I pulled her into my arms and kissed her temple.

"Jen."

A sharp panic filled my chest. "What about her?"

Lily hesitated, then sighed. "She broke up with Hale."

"What?!" She hadn't said anything about breaking up with Hale. She'd told me things were going fine with them. "When did she tell you this?"

"She didn't," Lily said. "But I heard a couple of first years talking about it. Apparently, it happened last night. We were probably already in your room."

"Have you seen her?"

"No."

I ran a hand through my hair and sighed. "I'll give her some space. For now. We'll talk later. Come on. Let's go get some breakfast."

I expected Jen to be pretty upset. I thought maybe she'd even take the day off of classes and stay in her room, seeing as how it was Valentine's Day and everything.

So imagine my shock when I saw her at the breakfast table, plate half full of food, talking and laughing with her friends.

She looked happier than I'd seen her in a while.

"James…" Lily said uncertainly.

"I see her," I said.

As soon as I sat down, Sirius leaned across the table and said, "What's up with Jen? I thought she broke up with Hale?"

"She did," Remus said. "If the rumors are anything to go by, that is."

"And he's not sitting with her," Peter added. "And he always sits by her at breakfast."

"I don't know," I said. "She never said anything about-"

My words were cut off as a storm of owls flooded the Great Hall, carrying packages and letters. The crowd of owls was even bigger than normal, as it was a holiday. Jen and I both received some candy from our parents, and I was about to ask her to swap taffy with me when another owl headed for her and dropped something in front of her.

The flowers were red roses, carefully trimmed of any thorns, and they filled the air with a sweet, sweet scent. Tied to the bouquet was a small box, much like the one that had held Lily's necklace.

Jen blushed slightly, but smiled as she untied the small box from the bouquet and opened the lid.

It was a bracelet.

A silver bracelet.

A beautiful silver bracelet.

One that sparkled and caught the light in such a way that all of the girls that were anywhere near her turned to stare at it.

"That's quite a gift," Lily breathed from next to me. "Do you think… maybe the rumors aren't true?"

Jen immediately put the bracelet on and beamed down at it.

"It's not from Hale," I said, certain, though I wasn't sure how I knew.

Sirius stared at me. "But how-"

"Jen!"

My sister paused in the act of standing, the bouquet in her hands, and when she looked at me, the smile faded from her face and she suddenly looked nervous.

"That's not from Hale," I told her.

She glanced down at the bracelet, then at the bouquet, and then back at me. "No," she said finally.

"Then who?" I demanded.

But then the first bell rang and I lost my sister in the crowd.