Rules for Dating Lily Evans

Disclaimer: I don't own it.

Oh yeah, I almost forgot. I'm not sure if I made this clear or not, but this is supposed to be the winter holidays in the middle of seventh year. That's all, carry on.

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Sirius was trying very hard to be quiet. That was because, at 11:30 at night, Mr. and Mrs. Potter were asleep, and probably expected Sirius to be, too. Sirius, however, was not asleep. He was wide awake, and at that very moment rummaging through the Potters' potion cabinet.

Now, Sirius knew that if he'd simply asked Mrs. Potter, she would have gladly allowed him to borrow some potion ingredients. However, he didn't want her asking questions.

Like what kind of potion it was. Or who it was for.

Having found what he was looking for, he silently made his way back upstairs.

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Lily was quite pleased. Although she'd been forced to kiss James (and forced to admit to herself that she didn't hate it), Petunia had been very grumpy for the past day and a half, and Lily knew why.

Not only had Petunia been proven wrong about Lily and James (or so she thought), but she hadn't heard from Vernon since he left two nights ago. So Lily smiled to herself that day while eating lunch while Petunia looked very sullen.

"You know Lily, you should invite James over again," Mrs. Evans said as she pulled some cookies out of the oven. Lily loved the smell of her mother's Christmas cookies baking. "You're father and I would love to get to know him better."

"Sure. I assume you mean without any other muggles around?" she asked, looking at her sister calmly.

"Well, you know we couldn't talk as freely with Vernon here. But how about you invite him over tomorrow night? He was such a nice boy."

Oh yeah, he's a real nice boy, Lily thought. If only her mother could see half of the mayhem he and his friends cause at Hogwarts, she wouldn't think he was very nice at all. Out loud she said, "Great, I'll go write him now."

Up in her room, Lily took out her quill, ink, and parchment. She was quite fond of the ink, because it alternated between red and green, giving her letters a seasonal touch.

Dear James,

Thank you for coming over Friday night. If you don't mind, my mother's asked me to have you over again tomorrow night. Petunia's boyfriend won't be around, so you'll be able to talk about school and magic. I suppose Sirius can come along again.

Sincerely,

Lily Evans

There, that sounds good, Lily thought, rolling it up. She sent Iris along with the letter, and headed back downstairs.

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Sirius sat hunched over a book on the floor of James' bedroom. He looked up at the sound of an owl tapping on the window. He let it in grudgingly, annoyed that it had interrupted his thought process, and grabbed the letter it held.

James walked into the room a moment later. "Hey," Sirius said, "You got a letter from your fake girlfriend." He tossed the note and James caught it expertly, his reflexes honed from years of quidditch.

"What the hell are you even doing, Padfoot?" he asked as he opened his letter.

"Planning."

"For what?"

"The Plan," Sirius said, as if it were the most thing in the world.

"Never mind." He read the letter, then sat down at his desk to respond. Pushing some clutter out of the way, he quickly scribbled an answer.

Sending his reply back with Lily's owl, he sat down on the floor across from Sirius and his book. "Alright, really, what are you doing?"

"Oh, you'll see." James decided it was probably best if he didn't know.

Then, James had an idea as well. "Hey Sirius. I'm sure you're plan is good, but mine might be better."

Sirius scoffed at the thought. "Fine, let's hear it."

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When James told her he was coming by floo powder, Lily had to spend twenty minutes explaining the concept to her parents. Then, they had spent another forty-five minutes trying to calm Petunia down. She did not like the idea of those two freaks flying out of the fireplace.

So, that evening, Lily was pacing around her living room, waiting for the two of them to show up. But when James came, Sirius did not accompany him. Instead, a large, shaggy black dog came out of the fireplace with him.

Lily looked curiously at the dog. "What's this?" she asked James, very confused.

"Well, Sirius is feeling a bit under the weather tonight, so he couldn't join us. However, I remembered you said you like dogs, so I thought maybe I could bring him along," James said, motioning to the canine, who was quietly sitting with his tail wagging.

"Well, I do like dogs," Lily said, softening a bit. "And he is adorable." She leaned down to pet him, and asked, "What's his name?"

"Uh, Snuffles."

"Snuffles?"

"Yeah, it's Sirius' dog. He seems to like you."

"He's cute," she said, scratching him behind his ear, "But he'll have to stay outside during dinner." As if he could hear her, the dog suddenly looked up with imploring eyes. "I'm sorry, but you won't be allowed to stay, otherwise."

"I'll take him out," James offered.

"Doesn't he need to be tied up?"

"No, he won't run away."

"Okay then," she said, letting James lead the dog towards the backyard.

Once there, James said, "Okay, the coast is clear."

Moments later, Sirius Black appeared where the dog had been. "You couldn't have thought of a better name for me?"

"But Rover is so overdone."

"Whatever," he said, reaching into his pocket. "You need to get this into the sister's drink somehow."

"Don't you think she'll notice she's drinking potion?" James asked, taking the small vial Sirius handed him.

"Who cares? Oh, and don't forget to bring out some leftovers for Snuffles."

"That'll depend on how ungrateful Snuffles is being," James answered.

Sirius pretended to look shocked. "I'm very grateful to be a dog. Not only do I get out of dinner with the sister, but when Lily was petting me I could see down her shirt."

"What!"

"It was a nice view, actually."

"Go back to being a dog, you prat!"

"Alright, whatever. Just remember to give her the potion," Sirius said before transforming again. James went inside quite disgruntled.

"Everything okay?" Lily asked upon seeing the scowl on his face.

"Oh yeah, everything's fine. The dog's just bloody stupid."

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Dinner this time went very well. James managed to slip the potion discreetly into Petunia's drink, but oddly enough, nothing happened to her all through dinner. She was very quiet, and left the table early so she wouldn't have to hear more talk about magic.

James was able to tell the Evans' about quidditch more thoroughly, as well as his classes. Lily also seemed much more relaxed than at the first dinner. Maybe because Vernon wasn't there, watching Lily and the others as if they were a side show at a circus. Or maybe it was because Sirius wasn't there, and she wasn't constantly afraid of what he might say. Either way, Lily actually found herself enjoying the evening. She and James were so good at pretending, there were times when she actually forgot they weren't dating.

"So James, what classes do you like?" Lily's mother asked.

"Well, I like Defense Against the Dark Arts, Charms, Transfiguration-"

"Ha!"

"What?" James asked, looking at Lily.

"If you like Transfiguration so much, then why do show up late to every class?"

"I'm a very busy man, you know."

"Oh really? With what? Causing mayhem?" she questioned.

"As a matter of fact, that happens to be very time consuming."

"Well, I guess it is, seeing as you spend half your free time on it."

"And the other half I spend with you, so why are you complaining?" James said smugly.

Lily thought about that for a minute. "I don't know. McGonagall's the one who gets mad, anyway. Carry on."

"Well it's too late for that, I've completely forgotten what the topic was," he told her.

"They are so cute," Lily's mother said quietly to Mr. Evans.

"Mum!"

"Sorry dear," she said with a smile. Then, things seemed to go a little downhill.

"So, James," Lily's father started, "What do you plan to do after you graduate?"

"Oh dear,"Lily said to herself. However, James didn't miss a beat.

"Hopefully continue living," he answered.

"Oh my God," Lily mumbled.

"Excuse me?" her father asked.

"I'm not entirely sure, although I've considered playing quidditch."

"Quidditch? You're going to play sports for the rest of your life?"

"Or at least part of it, maybe."

"Daddy, I-"

"Is that you're only option?"

"No. But I haven't really thought about it all that much."

"Who's ready for dessert? Okay, great!" Lily said without waiting for an answer, and she grabbed James' hand, dragging him into the kitchen.

Once they were alone, she said, "James, I am so sorry! I had no idea he was going to grill you like that."

"That's alright."

"But you probably shouldn't have given him that smart-ass response."

"Yeah, okay, that was bad judgement on my part. Do you mind if I bring some leftovers out to Snuffles?"

"Go ahead," she said distractedly.

Once in the backyard, Sirius changed back. "Thanks for the food. Did you give her the potion?"

"Yeah."

"And?"

"Nothing happened."

Sirius looked crestfallen. "Really? Nothing? She didn't even sneeze?"

"She didn't even notice," James told him.

"Well that just ruins my night. On the bright side, I did chase a rabbit earlier."

"Good for you. I'm going back inside, I'll get you later."

But Sirius had other things in mind. So he changed back into his doggy self and followed James into the kitchen. "Shoo! Go back outside!" James said sternly, but it was no use. "Sorry, I told you he was stupid."

"We can take him up to my room, no will mind him there," Lily said, looking like she had gotten over the earlier conversation. "Mum, Dad, James and I are going upstairs!" she called to them.

"Your room, did you say?" James asked.

"Yeah, come on," she said, looking fairly cheerful.

They went up the stairs, and Lily led James and Snuffles into the second room on the right. The first door was closed. "That's Petunia's room," she whispered as they walked by.

The first thing James saw as they entered the room was blue. A pale blue color was painted on all the walls, and the bedspread was a sky blue color. Her dresser and desk were white, with blue knobs on the drawers, and the carpet was (what else?) blue, although darker than the walls.

"Wow," James said, looking around. "You really weren't kidding when you said blue was your favorite color."

She turned around and smiled at him. "You remembered."

"Well, we have been dating for a month." Lily laughed, and James thought it was beautiful the way her eyes lit up when she was happy. "So, what now?"

"Who cares? I just wanted to get away from everybody," she said, sitting down on the floor. James joined her, and Snuffles laid himself down nearby. "So James."

"So Lily."

She was about to ask him the question that had been on her mind for days, but chickened out at the last minute. "Want to listen to some music?"

He looked a little confused, but said, "Sure. I don't know many muggle bands though."

"That's okay," she said, putting something on. They sat in silence for a while, until Lily finally blurted out, "Why did you do it?"

"Excuse me?"

"Why did you agree to help me?"

"Well I thought that was obvious. I like you." She looked down, a little embarrassed. "What I don't understand is, why me?"

"Huh?"

"Why, out of all the names you could have told your sister, did you pick mine?"

Now she was very embarrassed. "I don't know."

After another long pause, James said, "I like this song." And without knowing exactly why, Lily burst out laughing.

He and Snuffles left later that evening. Lily's parents were there to see him off, so Lily gave him a hug goodbye. "Thanks for coming James."

"See you later," he said, hugging her back. "Bye Mrs. Evans, Mr. Evans," he said politely before jumping into the fireplace.

Once back at his house, Sirius transformed back into himself. "Well that was a waste of time. The stupid potion didn't even work." James was ignoring him. He was enjoying thinking about Lily.

At her own house, Lily just happened to be thinking about him.

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A/N: Okay, vacation is over, yet spending all that time cooped up with my family didn't make me feel terribly relaxed. Not that they bother me that much, you just never get a second to yourself! Well, I'm back and writing again (with an uber-long chapter, I might add), although I think I crapped up the ending. Thanks for your ideas, too! Don't worry, Sirius will continue to go after Petunia.

Special thanks to BrownEyes90 for the Snuffles idea!

Thank you so much for reviewing!

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