Author's Note:

Reviews and Comments: To CorbanD17: Aww, thank you! To Bellmel: Yes, they finally kissed! I'm glad you can't stop grinning about it. I love Lily and Sirius and how she tells him things and he tells her things; sweetest friendship. James totally would help anyone with Transfiguration if they asked because it's just in him to do so, but Lily, he would move mountains to help her study LOL. Drunk Lily definitely not as good at keeping her feelings at bay lol. Yup, Sirius teasing about the Big Cock Club as if he's part of it lol. He is very cheeky. Thank you! To TripleTheCheese: Thank you! I really love the idea of Lily being the one to finally make the first move. Thank you! To Redmatter91: LOL, of course everyone was stunned into silence lol. Thank you! To ellyann13: Thank you. Lily opened up to Sirius no problem, but getting her to admit the part he already knew, she had a few drinks in her. There is more moments of just James and Lily to come, yes. Thank you. To Sets: Wow! Thank you for going back and re-reading some of my stuff! There is some synergy even among the non connected stories just because I hold a lot of the same head canons. Thanks for reading! Thank you!

To MoD366: Well, James most certainly didn't see the dare coming if that makes you feel better lol. There's some great Jily fanfiction out there. I highly recommend everything from TiffanyToms, MollyRaesly, and FloreatCastellum are some of my favourite Jily writers. Thank you for saying you love how I make them come to life and that I have an amazing skill as a writer, thank you so much! To alix33: Lily was totally listing everything she kind of loves about James Potter and doesn't want to admit aloud lol. You're welcome for the chortle. Thank you. To saucyswimmer: Thank you! To darkhk: Thank you! To Stilly24: Thank you for saying James, Lily, and Sirius are like your favourite romcom movie characters! Thank you very much for saying my "knack for story telling makes this whole trilogy absolutely incredible." Thank you! To Slaidback: Thank you! To ascfan: Sirius definitely answered for a stunned James who was a bit a speechless might I add. Thank you! To Nuno Neves: We're all glad they finally kissed. There will be more of them as a couple to come, yes. Thank you!

My posting schedule: Mondays, Wednesdays, and Fridays.

Thanks to Dusk for her amazing editing skills.

As always, thank you very much for reading and please, please review!

Your reviews give me life! They give me inspiration! And they make me want to keep writing for more than just myself! Thank you for all of your continued support!

CHAPTER FORTY-ONE:

The One With The Summer of Jily

And The Marauder Crest

Summer 1977…

From the moment that they had kissed in a game of Truth or Dare, James and Lily were essentially inseparable. Every time Sirius came to find his friend, Lily had already claimed him. James pinned her against walls, sat her on desks, hid her in broom cupboards, or snogged her right in the middle of the Gryffindor common room, but James' lips were always on hers.

And it was exactly how she wanted it.

Her fingers were always lost in that soft hair, making James' unruly hair stand up even more than usual. Kissing James Potter was like magic. She had no idea how she'd gone seventeen years without feeling his hands on her, his lips on hers. She needed his hands on her all of the time and when they weren't, she physically craved them. It was like no matter how long they kissed, it wasn't enough. She wanted his hands on her. She wanted his body pressed against hers. And she wanted him.

More than she was willing to admit.

By the time they got on the train to return home, she realized she was going to miss him and they'd only been dating for a week. He was somehow in her system like an addictive potion and she needed more of him.

But James already had a plan.

The first day she answered the phone in the kitchen and heard his voice, she'd been unable to stop the huge smile from cracking her face. He told her how he had a pocket full of Muggle coins and would call her from this number every day. They talked for hours every day until he finally came to Cokeworth the second week of the summer holiday to see her. Since her parents were at work, she tugged him inside and snogged his brains out on the sofa. She never wanted to stop touching him.

Dating James Potter was everything that she'd ever dreamed of and yet so much more than she'd ever imagined. They went on long walks and for romantic dinners. He took her dancing in Muggle clubs and she took him to the movies. They went on hikes and he took her to a Quidditch game.

And every date ended with them kissing like mad.

He met her parents and her sister, the latter who claimed she was unimpressed. She met his and was engulfed in a warm hug by Fee and Monty, the latter who claimed James' charm came from his mother. Euphemia had protested and it made her laugh.

Then in July, Lily insisted that James tag along with her and Sirius as they went out and found his motorbike. It was a 1970 Triumph Bonneville and Sirius thought it was perfect. When they brought it back to Clevedon Court, Euphemia took one look at it and raised an eyebrow.

"No."

"Aww, Fee," Sirius whined. "It's perfect! Isn't it beautiful? You can be my first passenger."

"Um, I called dibs already," James insisted, holding up his hand.

Euphemia crossed her arms in front of her chest. "I'd prefer that neither of you climb onto that death trap, thank you."

But as Sirius started to show her how it worked and what it did, she kissed his cheek and made him promise to be careful. He'd immediately gotten to work learning what every part of the engine was called, how it worked, and how it ran. He was in love.

When Sirius' great-uncle had passed away a few months ago, he'd left him everything which included not only a sizeable fortune, but a bachelor's flat in London as well as a small three bedroom cottage out in Sidmouth, Devon. Sirius and James had spent a week at the cottage at the end of last summer helping Alphard Black fix it up a bit, not knowing that the cottage would one day be left to Sirius. Sirius told Lily that his great-uncle had told him he was a good boy and to not let Walburga get to him. But Sirius had still been surprised to inherit all of his assets. He used some of the Galleons that were left to him to buy the motorbike and was very pleased.

Sirius worked on the bike and Lily spent time with James. When they made plans to meet up with Remus the third week of the summer, they found him heartbroken. Remus had come home to find out that his parents had been keeping a secret from him, wanting him to finish up the school year before telling him the news. His mother was dying of a brain tumour and now that he knew, he didn't know what to do. Lily had given the boys some time alone with Remus to help him grieve.

James found her the next day, kissing her outside of her front door. "Hey."

"Hey," Lily said, taking his hand. "How's Remus?"

James shrugged. "As good as can be expected, I guess. He went home this morning."

Lily looked at him for a moment, not sure what he was feeling, so she took his hand. "Come on, let's go get some ice cream."

James nodded. They walked down the block, disappearing into an alley so that they could Disapparate. When they arrived in Diagon Alley, James bought her a double scoop of chocolate and vanilla swirl ice cream before settling himself with a caramel toffee. They sat outside on the little patio and Lily reached across the table to take his hand.

"Do you want to talk about it?"

James shrugged. "I don't know what to say."

"Do you know Remus' mum?"

James nodded, silently licking his ice cream cone for so long that Lily thought maybe he wasn't going to answer her. He adjusted his glasses as he finally spoke up.

"A little. She's like the kindest woman in the world. Her name's Hope and she's a Muggle. She's sweet and smart. She adores Remus and she's the one who taught him how to play the piano and made him love books. From what Rem says, she's kind of a jokester too and loves to play pranks," he told her. "Every time she's brought Remus over to my house, she always tells him to have more fun than he thinks is wise and always to smile big enough to crack his face. Then she kisses his cheeks and hurries off. He adores her."

"He always tells me about her love for stories. She loves to share books with him," Lily said.

James nodded. "Yeah… I can't imagine, Lily. I mean… a brain tumour is… they tried to operate, he said, but it's too close to too many things and if they go in, it's guaranteed that she's going to die. But if they don't… her death is slower. He said it's pushing on different areas of her brain and it makes her forget things or say things she doesn't mean."

Lily brushed her fingers over his.

"I love him so much," James admitted. "I always wanted siblings and my parents were so old by the time I came around, it was a miracle they even had me. When I met Sirius and Remus and Peter, we just… connected. I always say it was like kismet. We were meant to find each other. They're my brothers. I would do absolutely anything for them. I'd kill for them or bury a body if they needed me to. I'd do anything and this…"

James pulled his hand away and covered his face with his hands.

"What am I supposed to do, Lily? How can I help him?"

Lily rubbed a hand over his back. "Oh, Jamie, you are helping him. I promise. It might not seem like much, but just being there for him; letting him vent or cry or whatever he needs, that's all you can do. Just be there."

He lowered his hands to look over at her. "What if it's not enough?"

Lily took his hand, kissing his fingers softly. "It's enough, James. I promise."

Her lips met his for a soft kiss and James cupped her cheek, his eyes on hers. "Have I mentioned how amazing you are, Evans?"

She smiled and pecked his lips once more. "Why don't we get out of here and I'll show you how amazing I think you are?"

James jumped to his feet so fast he topped the chair backward, making her laugh. When he took her back to Clevedon Court, they curled up in the garden on a lounge chair and snogged until the sun went down.

Lily thought it was definitely exactly what they both needed.

~ TFTA ~

It had been James' idea, but Sirius' excitement for it had been what pushed the idea into reality. They were going to get matching tattoos to commemorate their friendship. Remus was honoured that they wanted to do this.

Sirius had gotten his first tattoo last summer, a few weeks after he'd moved in with the Potters. He'd gotten a circular moon chart just above his heart. It was charmed to change daily so that he would always know what the stages of the moon were. Peter had gone with him and then the two of them had shown up in Wrexham to show Remus, he'd goggled at them as Sirius took off his shirt to point to the tattoo.

"It's part of my apology, Rem. I never meant to hurt you or to make you think that you can't trust me," Sirius insisted. "You are my brother. One of my best mates and I will always be there for you when you need me. No matter what."

Remus hugged him tightly, tears in his eyes at the gesture of solidarity. "Sirius, I appreciate the gesture but… you know that you will have a moon chart tattooed on you forever, right?"

He grinned. "I'll never not know what day it is again. Besides, it's only my first tattoo. It's bloody cool and I definitely want to get another one! Can you imagine what my mum will say when she finds out that the first thing I did after she kicked me out was get a tattoo? It will be brilliant!"

Remus smiled and told his father he was going out. The three of them met up with James at Clevedon Court and Sirius showed off his tattoo.

"What do you think, Fee?"

Euphemia kissed Sirius on the cheek. "I think that I like seeing you smile. Now come along, boys. I have some lunch in the kitchen for you."

Two weeks later, Sirius went back and got the Gryffindor crest inked on his back over his right shoulder blade. Over Christmas of sixth year, he'd gotten another one in the inside of his left forearm. The runic symbols for the three words: Family, Friendship, and Marauder. He'd surrounded them with footprints as a tribute to the map they'd completed. Then before returning to school, he'd gone back to ink the star charts of Sirius and Orion over the top of his right shoulder.

News had reached Walburga by then and needless to say, she was not impressed with her son's new hobby.

It was in sixth year that they'd been discussing getting a group tattoo and when they completed the map, Remus started to sketch some ideas based on the Hogwarts crest. Each of the four sections had their four animals represented. Sirius had immediately fallen in love with it and demanded that they all get that tattoo the summer before seventh year.

Now, they were here to do just that.

"Are we sure that we're doing this?" Peter asked for the twentieth time as they approached the tattoo parlour in Knockturn Alley. "We have to be positive!"

"Wormtail, you've come with me for all of my tattoos — when am I not positive?"

"Not you, Padfoot!" Peter said, rolling his eyes. "Us other normal three, who have yet to mark up our beautiful skin with ink."

James' arm came around Peter's shoulder. "I love the idea, Pete! Something great to memorialize us! And the crest that Moony designed is perfect, don't you agree?"

Peter nodded. "No, I agree."

Sirius grinned widely at the guy behind the counter. "Hey, Larry, I brought some friends with me this time," he said as he pulled his shirt off. "We all want the same tat."

Larry nodded. He had spiky blue hair and fifteen visible piercings. Both of his arms were completely covered in tattoos in bright, vivid colours. "Sounds great, Black! What did you have in mind this time?"

Remus reached into his pocket and pulled out the parchment where he had detailed the Marauder Crest and the words: I solemnly swear that I am up to no good. "This here."

Larry nodded, eyeing the sketch. "Looks easy enough. How big are we talking and where is it going?"

Sirius hopped into the chair, bunching his shirt in his hands. "About the size of a pub napkin?" he suggested, lifting the square off of the glass table and holding it up to his friends who all nodded in agreement. "Wicked. I'll go first, since I've done this before." Sirius pointed back to his left shoulder blade, opposite of the Gryffindor crest on his right. "Just here, Larry."

Larry nodded, getting to work to find his ink pallet and grabbing his wand. James, Remus, and Peter watched as he muttered a spell and used his wand to burn the ink into Sirius' shoulder blade. It took thirty minutes as he sealed it over. He added a quick charm over the tattoo, making each animal move in their area of the crest.

"Done. It looks great, Sirius," Larry told him.

Sirius grinned, jumping to his feet and checking out his back in the mirror. "Yeah, it does. Great work!" He turned and grinned at his friends. "Who's next?"

James pulled off his tee shirt and hopped up onto the table. "Me. Same spot," he said, lying on his stomach.

Peter went third.

"Left shoulder blade?" Larry asked, holding his wand in his hand.

Peter shook his head. "No. I want it here," he said pointing to his right forearm. "Here by the base of the wrist. I want to see it."

James grinned and slapped his friend on the back. "Perfect place, Wormtail!"

Peter grinned, tugging his shirt off so that the artist had better access.

When he was done, the three of them turned to Remus.

He only smiled and pulled his own shirt off. None of them commented on the multiple white scars. They only smiled at him.

He sat in the chair and smiled at Larry. "On my shoulder please," he said tapping the top of his left arm, a spot he knew wasn't scarred. "Right at the top."

Sirius grinned widely. "Great choice."

When Remus' tattoo was inked, James pulled a camera from his bag. "Larry, would you mind?"

Larry grinned at them, accepting the camera. "Not at all."

James and Sirius turned so that their tattoos were visible. Remus stood sideways in between the two of them, his left shoulder visible, and Peter stood next to James, holding his forearm out. When the camera flashed, the four of them grinned widely at each other.

"My mum is so going to kill me," Peter said as he looked at the tattoo of the four moving animals with a grin. "Worth it."

Remus laughed, looking at his shoulder with a big smile. "Definitely worth it."

"Hey, Lar, you got time to do one more quick one for me?" Sirius asked as the three of them rolled their eyes.

"Sirius! What do you want on your body now?" James asked in bewilderment.

Sirius grinned at them. "'Mischief Managed' right across here, wicked right?" he asked as he pointed to his collarbone.

James laughed. "It's totally you — do it!"

Sirius sat back in the chair and grinned. "Oh, I plan on it."