When Lily walked into the Great Hall the next day her friends were already half way through their breakfast.

"Sleep well?" James asked being the first one to notice her. Lily nodded with a slight smile.

You swore to yourself that you would tell him you love him this morning. Especially after what that girl told you last night in your dream.

"Lily?" She was so wrapped up in her thoughts she didn't realize that Alaura was talking to her.

"Sorry. I've got a lot on my mind." She turned to James. "Can I talk to you before divination?" James nodded, his mouth full of food. Lily turned back to Alaura and Liandra.

"What did you do last night? You weren't in bed when I tucked myself in," Lily said. Liandra blushed and Alaura smiled in memory.

"I went for a walk by the lake," Alaura replied.

"Just a walk, 'Laura? I thought our…" Alaura clapped a hand over Sirius' mouth muffling his next words.

"Gentlemen don't kiss and tell," Alaura hissed removing her hand from Sirius' mouth. He was quiet for only a moment before launching into a full tale of his night's events. Alaura threw her hands up in defeat.

"It just goes to show you that he's not a gentleman," Lily smirked.

"Lils? You wanted to talk?" James laid a hand on Lily's arm.

"Yeah," Lily replied quickly finishing off her piece of toast and following James out of the hall

How Lily was going to tell James she loved him she wasn't sure, but she knew she had to. Walking through the halls of Hogwarts talking and laughing like old times did little to calm her already raging nerves. How do you tell your best friend for years that you'd fallen head over heels for him?

"What did you want to talk about?" James asked. This was the moment Lily had been waiting for.

"Us," Lily replied refusing to meet James' eyes. She therefore missed the emotion passing over his face. James swallowed over the lump in his throat.

"What about us?"

"Well, over the last little while you've been a huge help not only as my confidante but also as a shoulder to cry on and just an over all friend. Last night I realized that there is something I really need to tell you." She looked around the corridor. Anywhere but at him. When she didn't continue, James prompted,

"And?"

"And I… I've fallen, James… hard…" That was all James needed to hear. The sound of his shattering heart overwhelmed his senses blocking out Lily's next words.

"James? James? Say something, please." Her melodic voice, the one that haunted his dreams, slammed him back to the present.

"What's his name?"

"What?"

"The guy you've fallen for. What's his name?" Lily looked at him as if he'd grown six extra heads.

"His name is James Potter."

"What house? What year?"

"Gryffindor sixth year," Lily replied a note of suspicion creeping into her voice.

"Does he play quidditch?"

"He's a seeker for the house team." James started to pay attention now. A seeker. James would have played against him.

"The house again, sorry."

"Gryffindor." James looked at Lily strangely.

"And his name?"

"James Potter." James took a moment to process the information.

"But Lily, that's not possible." Then it hit him along with Lily's book bag.

"You're talking about me."

"Yes, James."

"Let me get this straight. You love me?"

"Against my better judgement, yes. I love you."

"Honest and true?"

"Couldn't be more."

Wow…" Lily played with her hands nervously.

"I knew I shouldn't have told you. I knew that you would never feel the same. I knew…" She was abruptly silenced in the only way a brain-numb James knew how. He kissed her. It was soft and gentle, just like Lily had imagined.

"I love you, too, Lily, I love you, too."

Lily and James had decided not to tell their friends right away, especially since Remus and Liandra didn't have divination with Lily, James, Alaura and Sirius. Instead they suffered through two hours of divination and one of History of Magic before sleepily wandering to the Great Hall for lunch. Liandra and Remus were already seated, Remus' arm too far away from him to be at his side. Lily winked at Alaura before sitting across from Liandra. James sat on her right, wrapping an arm around her waist and using the other to spoon food onto both of their plates. Liandra looked inquisitively at Lily who, though still half asleep from the previous class, was grinning broadly.

"Did something happen between the two of you that we should, I don't know, know about?" As tempting as it was to come up with a witty retort James decided to let Lily explain. And explain she did going into full detail of how James was asking who she was talking about when she told him she loved some one and ending by stating that they were dating.

"Finally!" Alaura yelled making the Great Hall go silent.

"Nothing interesting, people. Just the news that Evans and Potter are dating," Sirius said making Lily and James blush. The hall immediately broke out into discussion as Lily shot daggers at the black haired man beside James.

"What? They were bound to find out sooner or later. I just sped up the process," Sirius said defensively.

"I would have preferred later! Better start sleeping with one eye open, Black!" Lily hissed angrily.

"Lily, sweetheart, calm down," James said pulling the fuming redhead closer to his body and dropping a kiss on her forehead. Lily calmed immediately much to Alaura and Liandra's surprise.

"Too bad we didn't think of that earlier. I wouldn't have half as many bruises as I do now!" Alaura exclaimed getting the laugh she had desired.

The afternoon passed quickly, too quickly in Lily's eyes. She was sitting, quite comfortably, learning up against one of the armrests of an overstuffed couch in the common room with a book of her favourite fairy tales. Her feet were in James' lap where he was rubbing her ankle gently while concentrating on his wizard's chess game against Remus.

"Knight to D6," James said watching the rider take out Remus' bishop.

"Lucky shot mate. I missed that." Lily grinned as she flipped the page to one of her favourite stories. The story, entitled On Angel's Wings, described the challenges a young angel was faced with as he searched the earth for a worthy person to release the angels' hidden power trapped inside an ancient seal. The story sounded familiar some how but Lily shrugged it off thinking she had read the story so many times she could probably recite it.

"Check mate," James said grinning at a stunned Remus.

"Jamie won?" Sirius asked entering the common room with Alaura's books tucked under one arm. "Was Remus sleeping through the match?" He ducked as a scarlet pillow came flying at his head.

"Where's Alaura?" Lily asked.

"She and Liandra are still in the library."

"What for?"

"Something about research, I don't know. It was bad enough entering that place with all of those… books." Sirius shivered. Lily flopped her head back on the armrest with a groan throwing an arm over her eyes.

"Lily?" It was Tanice, Alaura's little sister.

"Mm hmm?"

"What are you reading?" Lily looked down at the temporarily forgotten book on her stomach.

"Fairy tales," she replied with a small smile. Tanice looked interested.

"You have a big book of fairy tales? I've only read angel legends, never any fairy tales," she said looking longingly at the gold and silver swirls adorning the cover.

"Here then. Borrow mine," Lily offered closing the book and handing it to the small girl. Tanice grasped the book gleefully to her chest as Alaura and Liandra came through the portrait hole. Alaura did not look happy.

"Black!" she roared. The common room went silent.

"Cook!" Sirius yelled back.

"What the hell is your issue?! You can't just take my books!" Alaura's face was contorted in anger.

"Why not?"

"Why not?" Alaura said disbelievingly.

"Why can't I just take your books?" Sirius' voice was quieter than Alaura's but still as cocky as ever. Lily and Liandra were staring, shocked. They knew first hand what Alaura was capable of when angry.

"I'll tell you why not!" Alaura roared making half of the common room cringe at her volume. "You scared the shit out of me! I though those bastard Slytherins had taken them and then I would never get the damned books back! Those are my course books! I need those to pass the year!"

"But the Slytherins didn't take them. They're right here all sorts of safe," Sirius replied pointing to a pile of books at his feet. Alaura glared at him levitating her book up with the first year charm. The piled into her arms.

"I'd start sleeping with both eyes open Black! With Lily and I having a death wish for you, I would think you wouldn't live past Monday!" With that she stormed up the girl's stairs into the sixth year dorms.

"Nice going Sirius. You're the only one that gets her that upset," Lily said shaking her head. Sirius shrugged nonchalantly.

"She can't stay mad at me that long," he replied easily.

"Cocky much?" Lily said raising an eyebrow. Sirius grinned. James shook his head at his best friend.

"She's right though Sirius. You're the only one that upsets Alaura that much."

"Sure, now that she's your girlfriend you pick her side."

"I'm not taking any sides!" James said indignantly. Lily sat up adjusting her robes around her.

"Some one has to go up and talk to her," she said looking towards the girls' stairs. Liandra sighed following Lily's line of vision.

"I'll go Lils," she said making her way towards the stairs.

"You sure you want to go alone?" Lily asked in reply, worry marring her features.

"I'll be fine," Liandra assured smiling at all of the boys before continuing up the stairs. Lily sighed.

"I feel so bad for letting her go alone," she whispered, "but I don't want to leave." James smiled gently at her.

"Come on. Let's go for a walk." At Lily's are-you-nuts-we're-sure-to-get-caught look, James rolled his eyes.

"We're prefects. We can use the excuse that we're patrolling," he explained holding out a hand for him. Lily took the offered hand and James pulled her up.

"We'll see you guys," she called back to Sirius and Remus as James led her through the portrait hole into the dark of the castle.

A/N: I know I should have put this earlier than the sixth chapter, but I wanted you guys to know this. I was sifting through my account because my computer was being stubborn for a few months and wouldn't allow me to sign in and I noticed a lot of people who read this story and it's sequel Possession, which I had taken out of my account. Therefore, I decided, because you guys are so amazing in giving me support for all of this story and through Possession, I'll repost it. After all, it seems like you guys enjoyed my writing.

Now, nothing is actually different. I felt I needed to stay true to my original plot, but… the main point?

This is for you guys. You've… I can't even find the words.

Thanks from the bottom of my heart.

--Kavi Leighanna