Everyone was asleep, it was just them left - the Marauders, Lily and the M's -. Mary proposed they play truth or dare and Sirius was overly excited to do it, once they had explained it to him. He also put the rule that once someone doesn't do their assigned dare (or truth for that matter), they will lose, which in a room full of Gryffindors it's punishment enough. Sirius had gotten his turn already (he had to ask a second year out on a date) and now he got to choose who was next.

"Okay, Prongs, truth or dare?" Sirius asked, a little too giddy. Everyone knew he had something planned for James, causing him to run a hand through his hair nervously.

"Dare" He said, clearly hoping that Sirius wouldn't be too brutal but wanting to keep the game interesting.

"Kiss the best-looking bloke in the room" Sirius said mischievously, he obviously thought this would make him lose but instead, James became relaxed again. Lily snorted and they all turned to look at her.

"Oh come on, you really think James is going to kiss a dude?" James scoffed at her.

"You really don't know me, Evans, kind of insulting, really." He said, pretending to be offended. He got up and walked over to Remus, whose face had pure shock plastered on it, and leaned in slowly. Right at that second, Sirius jumped.

"Okay, next victim!" he turned bright red.

"Didn't finish the dare, though." James said, his face still extremely close to Remus's. Everyone else had their mouths agape, especially Lily.

"Yeah well I was just testing you, that's all" Sirius scratched the back of his neck awkwardly. James raised his eyebrows with a smirk on his face, questioning Sirius. That face for sure suits him, Lily thought.

"Do it, you won't" Lily dared as James started to go back to where he was seated, she wanted to see how far he'd go with this.

"Oh?" James said, teasing her. Lily flushed almost instantly once James looked at her with that damn smirk.

"I don't actually think you dare to kiss a bloke either" Mary added, cooly. "Especially Remus" Remus shifted awkwardly in his seat, clearly wishing he wasn't at the center of attention right now. He simply shrugged as everyone turned to him, to check if he was okay with what James had been dared to do.

"I am offended that you don't think I'm the best-looking bloke here" Sirius said, trying to distract James as he walked over to Remus. He locked their lips for a few seconds and pulled away, immediately looking at Lily to show he proved her wrong. Remus just shrunk on the couch, throwing quick nervous glances at Sirius, who was growing even more red than before.

"Okay, that's that," James said as if nothing had happened. He didn't seem tense, or awkward or anything, he really didn't care. "Now, Evans…" She knew that was coming "Truth or dare?"

"Truth"

"Oh, come on, you can do better than that"

"Yes, I can." She admitted "I won't, though."

"But I don't have any questions."

"Oh! Oh! I have one!" Marlene said, almost jumping on her seat. "Won't be very creative, but still"

"Go on, then" James said, sitting back pleased.

"Who's the best looking bloke in this room?" Everyone turned their eyes on Lily in less than a second. She could say Remus as an escape goat but the point of the game was to say the truth. What is the truth? Lily thought, knowing very well what it was, since it was the first name to pop into her head when Sirius dared James.

"James" she said frankly after leaving some room for suspense. Normally she wouldn't have done that but it did feel good to say it, especially taking in everyone's reactions. Mary and Marlene smiled at each other knowingly. Remus smiled to himself pleased. Sirius and Peter looked at each other in surprise, choking back a laugh, and James just stared right at Lily, he was as red as her hair and his mouth slightly open. "Thought you'd be pleased, Potter" she said, laying back on the couch, satisfied with the result.

"Er…" James managed to say before Sirius interrupted him with a loud dramatic sigh.

"So what? Am I hideous or something? Unbearable to look at?" Sirius complained and Mary scoffed.

"Oh please, you think I lowered my standards just to date your dumbass last year? Humble yourself" she mocked, making the room laugh, except for James, who kept his eyes on Lily, clearly still processing.

"How can you insult and compliment me in the same sentence?" Sirius said in awe. Mary shrugged with a smug smile, Marlene just looked at her, like James did Lily. "Okay then, next victim!"

"Can you please stop saying it like that? It throws me off" Peter said, which made Sirius laugh and immediately know who the next 'victim' would be.

"Thanks for volunteering, Pete." Marlene said, laughing, as Mary leaned her head on her shoulder.

"So…" Mary said once they had gotten back to their dorm, she was sitting at the corner of her bed and so did Marlene, both looking expectantly at Lily, who had just gotten out of the bathroom. "You and James seem to be hanging out a lot…"

"Yeah, I suppose… With all the prefect duties and-" Lily said simply but was cut off by Marlene's laughing. "What?"

"Merlin, Lily, just spit it out already!" Marlene exclaimed with a smile on her face. "What are you two?" Lily was very confused.

"What do you mean? We are friends, you lot know that." She sat on the corner of her own bed, looking at the two curious girls in front of her.

"Of course you are, dear" Mary said, choking back a laugh and Marlene rolled her eyes.

"Yes that's why he has fancied you for six years and you think he's the most handsome out of the marauders." The blonde-haired girl stated sarcastically, walking over to her own bed.

"He doesn't fancy me anymore and there's nothing bad in thinking your friends are good-looking" She noticed her point wasn't getting across so she added "For example, I think you two are very pretty, that doesn't mean anything."

"Good point but how do you know he doesn't fancy you? You do remember how he asked you out every single day, don't you?" Mary stated

"He told me" Lily replied

"When?"

"Last year"

"And what about you?" Lily was caught off guard by Mary's question.

"What about me?"

"Do you fancy him?" Marlene asked, as if she could read Mary's mind and know exactly what she's about to say.

"You two are getting ridiculous" Lily said as she started to get comfortable in her bed and closed down the curtains "Good night, idiots"

"Good night" The girls said at the same time and casted a silencing charm to let Lily sleep.

But Lily didn't sleep, she had to think stuff over. Did she fancy James? There was no way. Sure, she would catch herself looking at him more than usual, her cheeks burning when he smiled at her, constantly thinking he looked so good, getting excited every time they had to patrol, looking at his lips a little more than one should with a friend; but that couldn't mean anything… or did it? Shit, Lily told herself, I fancy James Potter.

"Hey, Evans, what are you doing here?" James asked from his broom. Lily was on the quidditch pitch stands, she didn't know how she ended up there but reluctantly accepted why. The Gryffindor team was practicing. She had a book at hand to make it look like she's just hanging out and not looking at James constantly. Merlin, what has gotten into me?, she thought. Now that James noticed almost instantly that she was there, he flew up to her. He looked so good in that uniform, she instantly flushed.

"Just here to watch Marls practice." James was smiling widely, he seemed really happy to have one of his friends there. Definitely not because of me specifically, just a general thing, Lily told herself. "You don't mind, right?"

"Not at all! Although, it is pretty early and you had never come to see Marls practice…" He threw her a questioning look and her cheeks turned bright red.

"I know but it's never too late, is it? Besides, it's nice to read out here" James nodded, pleased that she was there, and went on with the team's practice.

Lily was going to tell them about her discovery from last night but the more she thought about doing so, the more anxious she'd get. It was already night time, they were getting ready to sleep and she, Lily, decided that it was now or never.

"Hey, would you two mind just staying up and talking?" Lily asked innocently and Marlene and Mary looked at her tiredly.

"I'm sorry, darling, but I'm just so tired. We can do it tomorrow, though." Mary said sweetly and Marlene nodded in agreement.

"Good night, you two, love you" Marlene said as she hid under the blankets and shut the curtains. Mary followed and Lily just remained seated, looking off to the distance by the window.

She now had some energy that she needed to drain and her friends were asleep now, so no way to drain it. Except… Lily thought, not all my friends are asleep. She stood up and walked over to the door quietly and exited the dorm. She went rushing up the stairs with the Marauders' dorm as a destination and knocked on their door.

"Who could that be? It's so fucking late" Sirius said on the other side.

"I dunno, let's see" James said and Lily heard his footsteps getting closer. Although she'd never admit it, she had hoped James would be the one to open the door. "Ev-", Lily covered his mouth before he finished talking and signaled with her head to go downstairs, he nodded, easily understanding what she meant. "Nobody, must have been a first year or something, I'm gonna look, though."

"Bloody first years, as if they were original" Sirius muttered and Lily heard Remus, in the back, telling him to shut up so he could sleep. James and Lily went down the stairs, and as soon as they got to the common room, he raised the obvious question.

"What 's up?" He looked curious and a little worried. She smiled to ease him down.

"It's truly nothing, I just couldn't sleep so I wanted to talk, but Mary and Marlene were so tired I didn't want to bother them…" Lily explained and James smirked.

"So you decided to bother me?" He joked and Lily giggled. God, she never giggled before but thanks to James, she now did.

"Well you are so bloody nice that you don't mind." James smiled at the comment and his cheeks turned a soft pink, that look suited him too.

"So… What do you want to talk about?" Lily hesitated to answer his question. She wanted to talk to Mary and Marlene about how she suddenly fancied James, but this was a topic that James certainly did not need to worry about.

"Tell me… The weirdest thing you've ever done" James laughed but did not hesitate to answer.

They kept talking for hours they could barely keep their eyes open, at this point they reluctantly admitted defeat and when to sleep. But Lily loved this night, because it would be how a new tradition would be born between and she just loved the thought. He was so funny, there were moments where she could barely breathe from laughter and she loved every second of it. She hoped it could be repeated.