A/N: YAY an update. I'm terribly sorry it took so long, I promise it'll never be so bad again. And thanks for all the offers, I've settled on a beta and she's been amazing with helping me with my writing.

"So Lily actually missed part of Potions!"

Jams nodded and stretched his arms high above his head, stifling a yawn before resuming the plotting of points on his star chart. "And she went mad over the bracelet," he said.

"Well we know Remmy has the best taste," Sirius chuckled, pulling the sandy-blonde haired boy into a tight hug from behind.

The four Marauders sat on James' bed after a long day of classes, still in somewhat of recovery mode after the incident the night before.

"Oh man, you missed McGonagall," Peter chattered. "She actually blamed Longbottom for the party because Mrs. Norris sniffed him out stumbling down the hallway at 3 am. Had a fit in front of the whole class."

James chuckled. "What did she think about the absence of her star pupil?"

"Probably not that she was getting the time in the Room of Requirement," Remus answered, leaning forward to fix a point on James' chart. "And the moon passes in waxing crescent phase on the 16th. I should know."

"I don't even know why I still take Astronomy," James grumbled at his assignment. "... Oh yeah," he grinned, visions of Lily filling his mind.

"So what are you going to do when school's over?" Sirius asked James. "Get married or something?"

Shrugging, James replied, "I dunno. I mean, it's a possibility, but she'll probably whine about being 'too young' or something."

"You never know." Remus looked pensive. "I mean, Voldemort seems to be doing in a lot of people lately, including her parents..."

"Yeah let's all go get hitched before we die," Peter replied. Remus rolled his eyes.

Lily sat cross-legged on her bed early Saturday morning, absentmindedly flipping through her Advanced Charms textbook, trying to memorize as many incantations as her saturated brain would allow. Pausing momentarily to glance down at the silver bracelet dangling around her wrist, she smiled.

"Come in," Lily's roommate called out in response to the loud rapping on the dormitory door. "Oh, it's you again."

"Nice to see you too, Alice," replied James, slipping into the room. As usual, he was grinning widely and ruffling up his untidy mop of hair.

Alice sat up in bed, yawning. "How the bloody hell do you manage to get up the staircase, anyway?"

"I have my ways," James replied simply, crossing the room to give Lily a gentle peck on the lips. She flushed slightly red, attempting to tuck a few loose strands of wild, red hair into her ponytail. "Good morning, Lilyflower," he said sweetly, sitting on the edge of her mattress.

"Good morning to you too. What are you doing up here?" Lily asked, setting aside her textbook.

"I just came for a visit," James replied. "I also snagged you some breakfast, since I figured you'd be studying too hard to get a bite to eat."

"Oh, thanks. I was actually in the mood for French Toast," Lily smiled, accepting the napkin full of food.

Alice rolled her eyes as the duo engaged in another brief lip-lock.

"By the way, you'll never guess what Dumbledore gave me last night," Lily said brightly, stuffing a piece of toast in her mouth as she leaned over and began to shift aside a couple notebooks in the drawer of her scrutinizingly clean bedside table.

James studied the silver bowl Lily held in her hands. "Is that... A pensieve?"

"It was one of my mom's old things," Lily replied.

"I never knew your mum had one, they're pretty rare," James studied the intricate drawings carved into the stone of the pensieve.

Lily sighed, "Well there were a lot of things I never got to know about her."

A moment of awkwardness washed over the room. Nobody was really too sure how exactly to tackle the subjects of recently deceased relatives. Thankfully, Lily spoke up again,

"Shame there weren't many memories in it," she spoke, swirling her wand around the vapory mist lurking in the shallow basin. "Most of them are mine."

"And most of those have a little something to do with you," Alice piped up.

James raised an inquisitive eyebrow at Lily, who merely chuckled in response.

"Yes, yes, there are quite a bit of them about you," she admitted.

"Well, let's see... D'you have the one of that day when me and Sirius set the Slytherin table on fire? That was funny."

Lily rolled her eyes. "Does that seem like anything I'd ever forget?"

"Show him the one of when you guys first met," Alice suggested.

A faint smile crossed Lily's lips, and she stirred through the contents of the pensieve. "Oh yeah, that's a good one."

James rested a hand on top of Lily's, peering into the memories. "You coming with?"

Alice shook her head. "Nah, you two lovebirds have fun."

Lily leaned into the pensive, clutching onto James as the duo fell down into the swirling memories.

"Look, it's you. I forgot you had those braces."

James rubbed his chin, and Lily just gazed fondly over at the eleven-year-old version of herself. Se was sitting in an empty train compartment on the Hogwart's Express, gazing out the window at the pastures and mountains that passed by in blurs.

"How could I ever wear my hair in a bob?" Lily chuckled.

"I used to really think that bob was hot," James replied, nudging Lily with his elbow. Then another voice spoke, a squeakier, younger version of the James who was wrapping his arm around Lily.

"Hey you!"

Eleven-year-old Lily whipped around. "Me?"

"Yeah! Do you know any magic?" James asked, ruffling up his already messy black hair. He stood blocking the ajar doorway of the compartment. "Cause I do."

Lily raised her eyebrows. "You're not supposed to do magic until we're at school!"

Present-day James brushed aside a long tendril of hair, whispering into Lily's ear, "See? You've always had a fascination with rules."

Straightening the glasses that seemed a bit too big for his face, little James replied, "Well I learned anyway. I can make flowers."

"And you always had a certain disregard for the rules," present-day Lily responded, almost exactly quoting Professor McGonagall.

But Lily's eleven-year old form seemed positively joyous. "My name is Lily. Can you make me a Lily?" the young girl replied. "I've never seen anyone make one!"

"Sure! Orchideous!" James flicked his brand new wand, and a single flowed popped out of the end. Lily reached out to snag the flower as it drifted towards the ground.

"Ooh it's pretty!" Lily fondly held the flower in the palm of her hand.

But James couldn't stop there. "No, wait! I can make more!" he puffed up his chest. "Just lemme think... What was that spell... Oh yeah! Morpheautus!"

The spell hit Lily on the crown of the head as she ducked away from the jet of white light. "Hey! What'd you do that for?"

But James couldn't manage a reply, as he was already doubled over in laughter, a few tears of hysteria rolling down his cheeks. "Your hair!" he wheezed.

Lily leaned over and had a good look at herself in the reflective plexiglas window, seeing a little garden of flowers budding at the roots of her hair. Orange lillies bloomed across her entire head, stems entangling themselves in Lily's fine red hair.

"YOU! Ahh! I'm telling a prefect!" Lily cried out, hands fumbling around atop her head as she staggered out of the compartment. James continued to laugh, leaning against the wall and wiping tears from his eyes.

The fully grown version of Lily tugged on James' forearm, and they rose up into the sky, the scene disappearing beneath them.

The duo were both suppressing laughter as they returned to 1977, flopping out across Lily's bed.

"Oh god, you gave me dirty looks for the rest of first year after that," James sat up, chuckling.

"Then you gave me more reasons to give you dirty looks," Lily responded, carefully lifting the pensieve back into the drawer. "But now, since Alice seems to be gone-"

"-I'll make you a whole garden!" James declared, flicking his wand so that Lily's entire four-poster became overgrown with with springy green grass and countless roses.

Lily rolled her eyes. "Some things never change."

A/N: Thanks to my beta for the Lily's hair idea:D she's creative like that.

Also, I know most of you are L/J fans, but for those who don't mind extremely mild R/S, I have a fic that I literally pour my soul into writing. I'd appreciate it if you checked that out, too.