JKR thought of it first. I own nothing. If I did, I wouldn't be posting it here. :-)

New Relations

When I woke up the following morning, I felt as if my eyes had been pulled out of their sockets and had had a sledgehammer to the side of my head. When I tried to move, I felt something, or someone, holding me down with their weight. I slowly opened my eyes, and realized that it was Lily. The events of the previous night came rushing back to me as soon as I saw those perfect red locks spread across my chest, and I realized that I had made a complete fool of myself in front of her. I pounded the back of my head against the wall behind me in frustration and I cursed myself for letting my emotions get the best of me. At that moment, Lily began to stir, and when she opened her emerald eyes, she looked confused. When she finally looked up at me, she smiled that beautiful smile I loved. She was stunning any time of day and I couldn't believe that I had just spent an entire night with her.

"Good morning," she said, her voice groggy.

"Morning," I responded in a hoarse whisper.

"How are you feeling?" she asked tentatively as she pulled her hair behind her ears.

"Stupid," I bluntly responded.

"Why?" she said lifting her head a little more to look me straight in the eyes.

"Because I let my emotions get the best of me. I'm sorry about anything that I said or did last night. I shouldn't have put you through that," I said averting her gaze.

"You have nothing to be sorry about," she said putting her hand on my cheek and forcing me to look at her. "What happened last night was what anyone would have done in your position. If you yelled at me, it was because I provoked you."

"You did nothing wrong. I should have never yelled at you," I said with a frustrated tone.

"It's alright James. What matters is that you're okay. You had us all worried. Sirius was throwing every hex and curse at your door and at anyone who tried to stop him. He was really afraid of what you might have done and Remus was about ready to blast the door open if you didn't respond," she said looking into my eyes.

"If neither Sirius nor Remus could get in, how did you manage it?" I asked, remembering about the locking charms I had thrown at my door.

"Well, I don't have the highest marks in Charms for nothing, do I? It took me a bit, but I finally figured out what charms you used to lock that door."

"You did that while they were both out there?" I asked amazed at her bravery. Sirius and Remus could be pretty tough to handle when they were rattled, and they wouldn't have taken it lightly if they had been shown up by a girl.

"No, they gave up after an hour. Sirius said something about trying to fly up to your window on his broom, but Professor McGonagall stopped him after she came into the common room. She said the racket those two were making could be heard down to the teacher's lounge."

There was an awkward silence in which both of us simply sat there looking at each other. I looked down at her hands, and intertwined my fingers with hers. "Thank you for last night. I know I made a complete fool of myself in front of you."

"I was worried about you. The look on your face after breakfast was enough to send me into a panic. I'm just glad to know that there's more to you than that brick wall you keep around yourself," she said tightening her grip on my hand.

"I suppose that after seeing me like that you don't want anything to do with a sobbing baby then?" I asked with some concern.

"Why would you think that?"

"Well I didn't exactly act in a Gryffindor manner last night."

"You acted human last night. That's all anyone could ask of you."

I let her words sink in for a few moments before I finally decided to do it. I took in a deep breath and hoped for the best.

"Then you wouldn't mind becoming my girlfriend?" I boldly asked.

"I would have been disappointed if you didn't ask," she responded smiling at me and clutching my hand even tighter.

I was speechless. There I was ready to give up any hope that Lily would ever want to be with me, when there she was accepting my proposition. I felt happy, yet annoyed at the fact that I was too much of a coward to tell her how I felt sooner.

"Lily, I …."

Before I could say anything, she put her finger on my lips to silence me and then gently placed her lips on mine. It was the greatest feeling in the world to be there with her. All of the events from the prior day were distant memories. The only thing that mattered was that Lily was in my arms, and I was in hers. As we broke apart, I looked straight into her emerald eyes as she looked straight back at mine.

"You have no idea how long I've waited for this moment," I told her opening my eyes.

"About four years?" she asked smiling.

"Try six," I responded with a smile before pulling her back into my arms and meeting my lips with hers again. She did odd things to me. She was probably the most wonderful person I had ever met and she only proved to be better than that with each passing day.

xx

By the time classes resumed, the atmosphere had changed considerably around Hogwarts. News of more killings quickly spread while more and more black letters arrived with the post each morning. Each time a black letter arrived, Sirius, Remus, Peter and Lily would share meaningful glances with each other before getting my attention and picking up a conversation with me. It was getting really frustrating considering the fact that I felt like they were treating me like some fragile porcelain doll that could break with any wrong movement. Still, I was glad that they cared.

Since the holiday, Lily and I had become nearly inseparable, and although I never officially announced to the Marauders that she was my girlfriend, they knew that our relationship was now beyond the bounds of friendship because of the amount of time we spent alone together. Remus was very happy for me because he knew that my feelings towards her were genuine. Sirius made fun of me for a few days before giving up and finally accepting the situation for what it was, while Peter tried his best to try and get to know her. Head meetings in the common room after curfew soon became snogging sessions and I was always surprised that we ever got any work done. In other words, I was in heaven. As Lily and I got closer, it was also getting harder to keep secrets from her. I knew I should have been able to trust her with everything, but as the next full moon approached, I was finding it harder to come up with a good excuse for not being able to spend time with her late at night. Telling her the truth about Remus' condition was out of the question because it was his secret to share, not mine, but at the same time I felt conflicted because I wanted to tell her exactly what I was doing and why.

The night of the first full moon of the second term was a bad one. The Marauders and I made our usual plans to sneak out of Gryffindor tower for our journey to the Shrieking Shack, except we hadn't counted on Lily being adamant about spending time with me. I told the others to go ahead without me and that I would try to get out of spending time with Lily. Big mistake. When I told her that I was feeling a bit sick, she insisted that I either go to Madam Pomfrey or that she would take care of me. When I told her I was tired and just wanted to go to sleep, she insisted that she would lay down with me to make sure I was comfortable. When I told her that I wanted to be alone for the night, she got angry and stalked out of my room. At least I was free to join the rest of the Marauders.

Soon after Lily stomped out of my room, I found myself moping down the corridors towards the Whomping Willow and the passage to the Shrieking Shack. I felt awful because it was the first argument in our new relationship and because I had lied to her. At any other time I would have jumped at the opportunity to spend time with her, but Remus needed me and that's exactly where I was headed. As I rounded a corner past the doors to the Great Hall, I bumped into a sixth year witch from Hufflepuff by the name of Cassidy that I was very familiar with. I had absolutely no intention to speak to her except for the fact that she stood directly in front of me and in my way. Annoyed, I decided to address her.

"You should be in your common room, it's about five minutes until curfew," I said in a flat tone.

"Then where are you headed off to?" she asked in a sweet tone.

"I'm monitoring the corridors, making sure everybody is where they should be," I said through half gritted teeth. I admit it, normally I would be really accommodating to her but Lily meant too much to me. I would not flirt with her the way I had become accustomed to over the years.

"So where's carrot head... I mean the Head Girl?" she asked in a fake innocent voice.

"She just couldn't come tonight," I responded feeling a bit nervous but trying to sound cool.

"Well then you won't write me up for this, right James?" she said walking closer to me and pulling lightly on my tie. "I mean we could always catch up on old times….if you're up for it," she said coming closer still.

"Er…no Cassidy," I responded taking a step away from her. When she didn't let go of my tie, I pulled it out of her hand and said, "I'm gonna have to take 10 points from Hufflepuff because it's officially past curfew and you're still here."

"You're no fun anymore James," she cooed, starting to walk away. "If you ever want a walk back memory lane, you know where to find me," she finished, winking at me.

A little flustered by what had just happened, I finally made my way out of the castle and towards my friends.

xx

The next morning, I found myself sitting half awake in the Gryffindor common room trying to finish my reading for Charms while having to listen to Sirius snoring on the couch directly in front of me. Right as I was about to doze off, the noise of someone coming down from the girl's dormitories woke me up. When I looked up, Lily was quickly making her way towards the portrait hole.

"Morning," she said and quickly walked past me.

"Lily, hold up," I said trying to gather my belongings to catch up with her.

She didn't stop and I had to practically run after her before I caught up and tried to hold her hand while we made our way towards the Great Hall.

"What's wrong?" I asked

"Nothing," she responded not looking at me.

"Oh come on, something's bothering you."

"Where were you last night?" she suddenly asked stopping in the middle of the corridor.

I stopped in my tracks and looked at her with what I hoped wasn't a look of absolute horror.

"Why do you ask?"

"I went up to your dormitory an hour after we argued only to find your bed empty. I felt bad for having walked out on you and wanted to apologize, but obviously you didn't care."

"Lily, I…."

"So where were you?"

"I…can't tell you," I finally managed.

"What?" she asked, shocked.

"I'm sorry Lily, but I can't…."

"Good morning James," came a sweet voice from behind us. I would've died on the spot if it were possible.

"I enjoyed your company last night, I hope we can meet up again sometime," Cassidy said as she passed Lily and me on the corridor before disappearing into the Great Hall, with a great big evil smirk on her face.

With a look of incredulity, Lily proceeded to walk away from me at full speed.

"Lily, please wait! Let me explain!"

"Explain what! That you lied to me because you were with some girl! I can't believe you!" she screamed at me. "I thought you had changed! I thought you actually cared about me, but I was just another conquest for you wasn't I? Another prize to be won?" she screamed even louder, her face almost the color of her hair.

"Lily, it's not what you think. I ran into her in the hall last night but all I did was take points off because she was out after curfew. I swear, I only talked to her for a few minutes but that's all," I pleaded.

"If that's all you did, then why can't you tell me where you were last night?" she asked her anger still evident.

"I can't tell you that, Lily, please believe me, nothing happened," I said coming closer to her and trying to hold her hand.

"Stay away from me," she said with a voice full of hatred. "I should have known you could never change," she said before walking away and back up to the dormitories.

I stood there, dumfounded for a while before I felt a hand on my shoulder.

"What happened Prongs?"

Remus had obviously been amongst those who had witnessed our blow out.

"I messed it up Moony. She hates me now," I said feeling dejected.

"What did you do? Please tell me you weren't with that girl Cassidy last night," he said sounding worried.

"I swear I wasn't Moony, I would never do that to Lily. I was on my way to…you know, when I bumped into her. She tried to make the moves on me but I told her to go to her dormitory and took points off for being out after curfew. That's all," I finished holding my head down.

"Why didn't you tell Lily where you were?" he asked.

"You know I would never tell anyone about you, even if it means keeping it from Lily."

"What! You're letting her walk out on you because of me?" he asked in shock.

"The Marauders made a promise to never tell anybody about it Moony. I would never break that promise and I'm definitely not blaming you for this. I was bound to mess it up sooner or later. Things were too perfect between us."

Remus looked at me for a moment and it saddened me to think that such a caring person like himself would have to go through so much torture every month.

"I'll see you later Moony, I'm going to find a tower to jump off of," I finished, finally walking away from a very confused Remus Lupin.

Liked it? Hated it? Thought it was just okay? Please review!