Their second week went just as quick as the first one. James and Sirius were on their best behavior because they could not afford to have detention on Halloween and Hogsmeade. They even let the snide comments from the Slytherins made in the hallways go. Remus was more than pleased. He didn't like it one bit when they got in trouble. Usually he stayed away from the arguments and tried to calm James and Sirius down, hoping it would not end in a duel. But in the few cases that wands were drawn Remus did not hesitate. He was right next to James and Sirius ready to fight.

"Doesn't that feel good? Ignoring them?" Remus asked with a smug on his face while they were on their way down to the dungeons for Potions on Friday. Avery and Snape had just made a nasty comment about James his mother and Sirius his haircut. "They will stop eventually if you just keep ignoring them." Sirius made a loud huffing noise. "Please, Remus. Do you honestly think that I will forget who said what? You should know me better than that, mate. I will get my revenge. Every single one of them is on my list.

James and Sirius sat next to each other in the dungeons and Remus and Peter took the table behind them. James glared at the other side of the classroom where Snape just took his place next to Aubrey. He saw how Snape head snapped up and watched how Lily Evans entered the room. He tried to wave at her, but Lily was in an animated conversation with Marlene and didn't even notice him. He watched how Snape lowered his hand in embarrassment and he couldn't help but smile.

"I don't know where Snivellus thinks he has the right to comment on my hair. Has he looked into a mirror lately? I don't think you can even call those greasy, rope-like locks hair at this point." Sirius couldn't help but laugh at James his comment.

At that moment Slughorn entered the classroom. "A very good day, students. I hope you are ready for the this lesson. We will be brewing the Babbling Beverage and the couple who brews it best can choose another couple who will try their Babbling Beverage. Please open your book to page 79 and follow the instructions carefully. I will be walking around in case you have any questions.

The whole class opened their books and started working on this potion. At times like these they were thankful that they had a double hour. "Very good, Miss Evans." Slughorn said to Lily. James couldn't help but look at her. "I am very impressed with you. Please come and see me after class." James saw how Lily's cheeks flushed and she started fumbling with her robe. "Thank you, professor. It was a team effort, though. I didn't do it alone." Marlene shot a grateful look to Lily and eyed professor Slughorn warily, almost as if she was offended that he only acknowledged Lily. "Yes, yes. Well done, Miss McKinnon." But Slughorn didn't look at Marlene when he said it.

Fifteen minutes before the class ended professor Slughorn announced that time was up. "Well, let's see who did it best." He made his way through the classroom. James saw how Mulciber and Wilkes tried to add some ingredients last moment. "Like that would make a difference." He whispered to Sirius. "What, mate?" Sirius was confused, but James didn't want to explain. Slughorn arrived at Snape's style="mso-spacerun: yes;" /span"Never mind." James shook his head and did his best to try and hear what Slughorn said. "Oh my, will you look at this." He looked very impressed. "Well done, you two." This made James groan.

"I give you one guess who will be picked to drink his potion if Snivellus wins." James whispered to Sirius. "He probably even poisoned it, just for the fun of it." This made Sirius chuckle. "Wouldn't put it past him. And Slughorn would probably praise him before punishing him." Sirius imitated Slughorn. "Mr. Snape, what a delightful potion. It did exactly what it should have done and so quick. I am impressed. However, since you have killed two student I do have to give you detention." James snorted so loud that people started looking at him. He made it look like he was coughing, Sirius even clapped him on his back to make it convincing.

Nobody did it as well as Snape until Slughorn reached Lily and Marlene. He winked at Lily and quickly moved on. They must have done it, James thought. The Babbling Beverage he and Sirius made was adequate. "Well, I have seen every one of your Babbling Beverages. Right now I have to decide between the potion brewed by Mr. Snape and Mr. Aubrey and the potion made by Miss Evans and Miss McKinnon. Could one of each couple please bring me a sample of their potion?" Both Lily and Snape stood up and filled a vial. "Well, I think there is only one way to see which one is the best. I was supposed to be meant for the winners, but since I am the teacher I see fit to bend the rules a little bit. Please, pick one student each who will try your potion."

There was a loud murmur in the class. Everybody was suddenly tense. James frowned at the sight of the two students in front of Slughorn. Lily didn't look happy at all. James knew she was too nice to enjoy the fact that someone would be tasting her Babbling Beverage. But Snape didn't look remorseful at all. His eyes were glistening as he looked straight at James. But James didn't back down. He narrowed his eyes, looked straight back and give him a smug smile. Snape received the message loud and clear: Bring it on.

"I choose Potter." Snape said loud and clear. James didn't give an inch. He stood up and walk confidentially to the desk. "I hope it tastes better than you smell, Snivellus." He whispered quickly knowing Slughorn would not hear them since was busy with the vials. "Miss Evans, your turn." Slughorn sounded a bit impatient. Lily had a desperate look in her eyes. James felt a twinge of guilt in his stomach. He had to help her. "Pick Sirius. He won't mind." Lily glanced at him, a little bit suspicious. Her eyes darted to Sirius. "Seriously, he won't mind. " James whispered to Lily again. "I choose Sirius." Lily said with small shudder in her voice. James saw how Sirius' eyebrows frowned, but didn't hesitate. He also made his way to the front of the room and gave Lily a radiant smile. "No problem, love. Let's do this.

Slughorn handed the vials to the boys. "Cheers!" James said while clinking his vial to the one Sirius was holding. "Bottoms up." A wide grin spread over Sirius his face after knocking the content down his throat. James drank and for a few seconds he didn't notice anything. The Babbling Beverage tasted okay and somehow he slowly felt a light feeling in his body. He looked at Sirius and saw his eyes gleaming. Sirius looked at James as it was the very first time he really had a good look. "Mate, look at you. Your glasses are so round. I never noticed how round they were. Why do you even need glasses? How blind are you without them?" Sirius started on a full rant of James his glasses. "And your hair." James shoved his friend playfully. "My hair? I think your hair is more interesting subject. It is so nice. You must never cut it." James went on for another full two minutes about Sirius his hair before Slughorn stopped it and gave them another vial.

"Drink this. It will stop the babbling." James drank the vial and the elevated feeling evaporated from his body. He looked into the class room and saw his classmates smirking at him. The Babbling Beverage wasn't a potion that made your forget what you said, you still remember everything after the potion has stopped working. It just made your boundaries vanish, so you will have no filter anymore. At the very moment you are in this limitless state of mind you have the feeling there aren't any consequences, you can just say whatever you want. James was thankful that he just talked about Sirius his hair. For one brief moment before when started talking about Sirius his hair he was afraid he would mention that he likes red hair better. But somehow that didn't came out of his mouth at all.

The day flew by and before they knew it the four friends were enjoying themselves at the Halloween feast. Once again the House Elves had outdone themselves. "Come on, Remus. Eat." James pushed a plate with chicken wings towards Remus, who shook his head. "You will need a full stomach since we will be …" James looked around for any teachers nearby before he whispered the rest of the sentence. "… drinking tonight.

That night the Gryffindor Common Room was packed with every single Gryffindor student. James and Sirius had made their way down to the kitchens to get some snacks and drinks. The House Elves denied them anything stronger than Butterbeer, so they hoped the sixth and seven years were providing some. They weren't disappointed when they put the food down on the table and saw the stash. "Do you remember our very first Halloween party?" Sirius recollected. "We were only 11 years and got totally shit-faced." Thinking back about how stupid they were James smiled. "Well, it took us only like two drinks to even get that messed up. I didn't enjoy the next morning, though." Sirius shrugged. "Well, let's just drink tonight until we feel buzzed. We do have Hogsmeade to go to tomorrow." James agreed and they both filled a cup with some regular muggle beer and started looking for Peter and Remus.

They were found next to the fire place in the company of Marlene McKinnon, Alice Pescus and Mary McDonald. Lily was nowhere to be seen. 'Where is she?' James thought, looking around for her. "Good evening. Could you move, please?" Sirius asked the five students who all scooted to make room. "And where is the lovely Miss Evans, if I may ask?" James shot Sirius a quick glance and noticed a smirk around his lips. "She will be here any minute. Slughorn needed something apparently, so she went to see him after the feast. Well, speaking of Merlin! There she is." Alice said. Alice had a good view of the portrait whole. James turned around in an instant and only saw the portrait close again. 'Lily must've already gotten through the hole.' He thought. Suddenly he felt very aware of his appearance and he waved his hand through his hair, trying to make it look a bit wilder.

"Hey Lills, over here!" Marlene threw her arms up and James saw how a searching Lily saw her friends and started to smile. James his stomach did another flip. All started to scoot again, but she stopped them. "I will be down in a minute. I need to change." She pointed at her robes before she dashed upstairs. Three minutes later she appeared out of the stairwell in jeans and a lavender blouse. James gulped, she looked amazing. Lily found herself a place between Sirius and Remus, the latter handed her a drink. "Thanks Remus." She smiled softly at him. "What did Slughorn want?" The curiosity got the better of James. "He asked me if I was interested in tutoring a second year who struggles with Potions a lot. Slughorn claims to have no time." Lily sounded doubtful. "You reckon he is lying?" Remus frowned and Lily shrugged. "Well, I think he keeps himself busy with planning his parties. Tutoring a student should be a priority, not surrounding yourself with success stories."

As the evening continued the drinks were flowing and the conversation got louder and slowly also wilder. Out of nowhere Marlene was squealing in excitement. "We should play a game!" She clapped her hands together. "I was thinking about something like spin the bottle." Alice shook her head. "No, let's do something else." Sirius leaned over and whispered something in Marlene's ear; something that made her smile cunningly. "Well, Black, it's your idea. Why don't you suggest it." Sirius winked at Marlene. "I suggest truth or dare." For one second James had the idea that Sirius was glancing at him. "Fine by me." Alice said and you could see she was already thinking about possible questions or dares inside her head.

"Okay, I will start us off." Marlene looked at everyone in the group before her eyes settled on Sirius. "Black, truth or dare." Sirius blew a lock of hair out of his eyes. "Truth." He answered while never breaking eye contact with Marlene. Marlene looked straight back at him and bit her lip. Her eyes twinkled, but she seemed to hesitate to ask the question she had in her mind. "Okay, I have one." Marlene started. "Who here has nicest butt?" Somehow James got the feeling this wasn't the real question she wanted to ask him. Mary chuckled and Remus shifted a little bit forward, eager to hear the answer. "Such an easy one, McKinnon. It is obviously Peter." Sirius said teasingly. This made the group laugh and Peter even whooped a little, obviously encouraged by the three beers he had already drank and the fourth in his hand. the first three rounds everyone picked truth. Remus admitted the last he wetted his bed was when he was eight years old, after a particular real dream about his toilet needs. Marlene and Mary both revealed that they had the same crush in their first year. James enjoyed finding out these little things about Lily. If they hadn't played this game he would have never be aware of the fact that she had a pink teddy bear with the name Bubbles or that she had broken her right arm when she was four years old. This was the answer to the question 'What is the most physical pain you've ever been in?'. She had fallen of her bike and landed on a big rock.

But the next round it was Marlene who choose a dare from Alice and James felt the mood change. This meant that a new minimum was set. Alice started out very easy. "Marlene, I dare you to mix one sip of every drink we have right now in a your cup and chuck it." Marlene's face screwed up but she collected everyone's cup anyway. Luckily for her Sirius, Lily and James were out of drinks. "Go get some drinks!" Alice urged them. "No, no! That won't count. You specifically said every drink we have right now. Their cups are empty! I am so sorry!" But Marlene didn't sound sorry at all. "Well, I will get us some drinks anyway." Sirius stood up and made his way through the crowd of students to the beverage table. He returned with two beers and one wine. "Thanks, mate." James took the drink Sirius handed to him. There was just one round of fairly easy and innocent dares. But this was about to change when Mary choose a dare from Peter. "I dare you to sit between Remus his legs for the rest of the night and cuddle him." Two pairs of cheeks were flooded with blood straight away. Two pairs of eyes stared at each other shyly.

"Are you okay with that?" Remus asked Mary. James saw how Lily was looking at her friend, looking for any sign of discomfort. But to James his surprise Mary nodded. "I am game if you are." She looked straight at Remus, the Gryffindor boldness showing. "Well, I better get comfortable then." Mary got on her knees and made her way to Remus. She turned her back on him, he positioned each leg next to her and she backed herself up until she her back was against his chest. James saw how Remus gulped, tried to summon courage and put his arm around her. A small smile crept around Mary's lips and she leaned her head against his shoulder, looking very at ease. Remus caught James his eye and James wiggled his eyebrows a bit. Remus shrugged before saying: "It is your turn, Mary." Mary looked to her right. "Lily Evans, truth or dare?" Lily's lipped pursed together for a few seconds. It was almost as she was weighing her options "Dare." She said slowly eventually, while taking another sip of her wine. There was a quick glance between Mary and Marlene. "I dare you to go up to the boys dormitory with James and make out."

As soon as this dare left Mary's lips James choked on a sip of his beer. He coughed and Alice quickly patted him on his back. Lily needed to do what now? With him? As soon as he caught his breath his eyes shot up to Lily, ready to see a look of disgust on her face. But he didn't see one. She eyed him almost appraisingly before standing up and getting in front of him. "I am game if you are, Potter." What in Merlin's beard is going on right now. James felt a swift kick to his foot and saw how Sirius was nudging his head towards the staircase. James regained his posture, plastered on a cocky grin and got himself standing up to. "Ladies first." He gestured. Lily rolled her eyes and started walking towards the staircase. 'Okay, this is something that has crossed your mind several times in the past years. Get a grip on yourself! Don't make it obvious to her that this will be your first kiss, before she changes her mind.' James scolded himself. "Which door?" Lily asked once they were upstairs in a hallway with several doors. James pointed at the second one to the right. "That one." He sounded hoarse so he quickly scraped his throat. Quickly he followed Lily into his bedroom and closed the door.

Lily inspected his dorm. "Ours is similar. Just a little bit bigger. Each one of us has an extra closet next to their bed. I sleep in the same spot in the room as you do." She sat down on James his bed. "How did you know this was my bed?" Lily pointed at the drunk at the foot his bed. The trunk that the initials J.P. on the lid. "Take a wild guess." She said sarcastic. James snickered. Normally he would have felt dumb, but somehow he did not at this moment. Probably because of he consumed four beers. And suddenly he was very aware of the fact that Lily Evans sat on his bed and probably waited for him to make a move. James wanted to do this right. If this was going to happen, it was going to happen for the right reasons under the right circumstances.

"Lily, listen. I'm going to be completely honest with you." But before he could continue Lily stood up and took a step in his direction. James faltered to continue with his story. "James," Lily started and James couldn't help but notice how she didn't call him Potter this moment. "If you don't want to do this, we will just lie and say we made out." This was a surprise. James his eyebrows furrowed in confusion; she got him all wrong. But Lily had seemed so confident downstairs. Was she the one with cold feet?

"Come on, spill it. I can see the wheels practically turn in your head. You said you were going to be completely honest with me." Lily took another step towards James. A small whiff of vanilla hit him and he had never smelled something better. "I can handle the rejection." "But I don't reject you." James said honestly. "I thought the same thing, but just about you. I don't want to do it if you don't want to do it. And it's not that I just want to if only you want it too. I want it even if you don't want too. Oh no, that sound wrong. So wrong! I don't mean it like that." James felt as he had just drank another Babbling Potion, but he couldn't stop himself. "I just mean that I want to kiss you. But I won't do it if you don't want to. It is important to me that you want it too and you are completely okay with it." During his rambling Lily had taken another step closer to him. She was now standing right in front of him.

"Are you sure that Slughorn his antidote to the Babbling Potion worked? Because it seems you are on one right now." She snickered while eyeing James coyly. James looked into her green eyes and felt his heart skip a beat. "I am sorry. It's just nerves. I would be completely honest with you and that means that I should tell you that this will be my first kiss." He felt how his cheeks flushed. This seemed to take Lily by surprise, but she didn't press further on this subject. "Well, will you look at that." Her voice had dropped into an almost whisper. "It seems like we will be each other's first kiss. Who would've thought?" And with that confession James felt his confidence grow. She has never kissed anyone either. He raised his hand to put a strain of hair behind Lily's ear. He felt her shudder slightly when his fingers made contact with her temple and brushed her hair behind her ear. "If I do something you don't like, please let me know." He slid his hand into her air and moved his face closer to hers. The scent of vanilla grew stronger and was slowly intoxicating James his senses. "You have no idea how much …" But James couldn't finish his sentence because of her once again. Lily had brushed their noses together and whispered breathless: "Shut up and kiss me already, James."

Instantly James connected their lips. His hand crept further in her hair and his other one connected on her hip. He felt his stomach flutter and he every breath he took smelled like Lily. Their lips moved a bit more urgent together and somehow both of them coaxed the other ones lips open, slowly searching for each other's tongue. Lily kiss was sweet, warm and intense at the same time. Better than the ones they had shared in James his fantasies. The warm feeling of her breath combined with the slow and tantalizing movements of her tongue were inviting James to move his hand from her hip to her lower back. He pushed her closer to him and removed his hand from her hair. Instead he softly grazed her cheek before settling on her chin. He pushed her chin lightly up before claiming her lips once again, but now with more demand. James took charge and felt Lily melt completely into him. Once again their lips parted and this time James made sure he would at least try to leave Lily breathless. He would at least try to return the favor, since she was doing the exact same to him.

Neither of them had any idea how long they were up there. At was like time had stopped when their lips had met. At one point they slowed down and their kiss became more delicate. James felt breathless. It was so easy to get lost in Lily. His little bubble was brutely disturbed when they heard a knock on the door. Gently they disconnected their lips, pressing their foreheads together, unable to open their eyes for a moment. There was no denying that both of them cursed whoever dared to knock and disturb their bubble. James heard how Lily's breath had quickened. He could tell her lips were slightly parted because he could feel the pleasure of the hot air on his lips. His thumb circled soothingly over her cheek before he moved towards her lower lip, slowly brushing it. Lily's breath hitched and James slowly opened his eyes, staring straight into beautiful green ones.

He saw a twinkle of mischief in them he had never seen before. This was a mighty good look on Lily. James had never felt more attracted to her than he did at that very moment. Transfixed in her eyes he started to move his lips closer again to hers again, but there was another knock. "Everything okay in there?" It was Marlene. 'Damn it.' Lily sighed to James his surprise. "James, mate!" Marlene wasn't alone, Sirius was there as well. "You're lucky this wasn't 7 minutes in heaven. Because we should have gotten you 15 minutes in heaven apparently." James heard a small swat just outside the door and a curse from Sirius. It was an estimated guess that Marlene had probably hit him. "I guess that was our first kiss, Evans." James whispered quickly to Lily before addressing to the two outside the door. "We are fine. We will be out in a minute."

Lily and he both took as step back and looked at each other. James couldn't take his eyes of Lily. She had never looked more beautiful. Her lips were a little bit swollen, her cheeks were flushed and she tried to steady her breath. "We should head down. Because we both they will not hesitate to break down the door." James nudged with his head towards the door leading back to the hallway. "Yeah, you're right. But before we go I want to …" Lily paused for a brief moment. "Well, I guess I want to say thank you. For not making it awkward and actually giving me an amazing first kiss." James his heart seem to swell at least three times the size it was now. He had just made out with Lily Evans and she liked it. His first instinct was to shoot his hand through is hair again, but he ignored it. Somehow he got a sense that if he acted cocky right now, it would spoil everything. Instead he opted for an honest answer. "There is no need to thank me. But since you did, I should thank you as well. I don't have anything or anyone to compare it with, but I feel confident that this kiss isn't easy to top." Lily shot him a bright smile and that was a rare. After three years of looking at Lily and studying her more closely than he liked to admit he knew that Lily only smiled like this in situations when she felt truly happy and comfortable. And this was the very moment that James realized he was utterly in love with Lily Evans.

Authors note: An extra long chapter filled with some smut! I hope you guys like it, because I loved writing it! Please review!

In the next chapter (another long one) Severus Snape will find out about the kiss.. How will he react? Follow to get the notification once it is up! I am writigin it was we speak.