'I am going on a date with James Potter.' Lily thought. 'This is weird.' James sort of looked at Lily from the side. Bravely, he took her hand. 'Oh god, he took my hand.' Lily thought. 'Should I pull it away? No, no I'll leave it...for now.' Lily smiled at James nervously. James smiled back.

'She smiled. That's a good thing.' James thought. ' And she didn't pull her hand away. She wanted me to hold her hand.' James kept walking with Lily in silence. 'Say something, you idiot.' James thought. "I can't wait for that new café, what about you?"

"Oh, yeah, definitely." Lily said. They smiled at each other and then they were in silence again. 'Well, at least he's looking forward to the date.' Lily thought. 'If that's what we're doing.'

'You're looking forward to the date? Is that the best you could come up with?' James thought. 'Good, we're almost there.' In two minutes they were at the café. They sat down and soon a waitress was coming up to take their order. "Whaddya want?" The waitress said.

"I'll have the herbal tea and a croissant, thanks." Lily said.

"And I'll have the hot chocolate." James said.

"Healthy tea, black cow, and a roll?" the waitress asked.

"Uh, I guess." James said, trying not to laugh.

"Gotcha, sweet pea." The waitress said and walked away. Lily and James cracked up laughing.

"That was hysterical, sweetpea." Lily said. Once they calmed down, they were in silence...again.

"So, you like herbal tea." James said. "I didn't know that."

"Yeah, my mum won't let me drink coffee or anything else." Lily said.

"Wow. Why not?" James said.

"Because she's crazy." Lily said. "She's even letting my older sister date this Muggle, Vernon who is horrible to anyone weird in his opinion."

"Does that include you?" James asked.

"Of course. I mean, he doesn't know I'm a witch or anything." Lily said. "But he think I'm weird. He's the weirdo, really. Plus, my sister and mum are head over heels about this guy just because his father owns some big drill company and he'll probably take over it some day."

"What about your father? Does he like him?" James asked. Lily didn't answer right away. "I just mean you said that your mum and sister liked the guy, but you didn't say your dad, so..."

"He died." Lily said quietly. "About three years ago. He never really got used to me being a witch. It was only one year at Hogwarts before he died. It was a heart attack. No way to expect it. From that day on I vowed that if and when I have a child, I would never leave them."

"I'm so sorry, Lily. I had no idea." James said. "I would never want to leave my child alone either." He took Lily's hands and looked at her for a minute.

Soon the waitress interrupted them. "Here's ya food. Better eat it, ya damn kids." The waitress said as she put down the food. They smiled at each other and drank their beverages. There were in silence most of the time. Ever now and then they would say something like, "I don't like Potions, do you?" with a reply of, "Oh, no." Then it would be silence again.

"I hear there's going to be a full moon tonight." Lily said, trying to make conversation once they had left the café. "It's practically time for the moon, so that's why I thought of it. James? James, where are you going? James!" Lily was yelling, but James kept running. Full moon, how could he have forgotten? He was just talking about it with Sirius yesterday. James ran to the Shrieking Shack.

"James, there you are." Peter said. He transformed into a mouse and pulled the knot. James transformed and went down. There was Padfoot and Moony. Since they spent so much time together every month, they had come up of a way of communicating through face expressions and blinking.

"What happened?" Sirius asked. "Why were you so late?"

"On a date with Lily." James replied.

"You just left her?" Peter asked.

"Yeah. I guess I should have given some explanation." James said.

"Moony would have understood if you didn't make it." Sirius said. "He wants you to be with Lily."

"But I want to be here with him." James said. "He's my best mate." Prong, Padfoot and Wormtail sat with Moony painfully transformed. The Marauders stick together.