Chapter 15: Happiness, Worry, and YOU HAVE TO BE KIDDING!

"Ok Vix. Spill. Something happened last night. You haven't stopped smiling all morning" Melissa said the next morning at breakfast (at 11 a.m.)

"Well." Lily started. "He took me to the Astronomy Tower where he had a candlelit picnic ready."

"That's why he told you to not eat dinner." Spica interrupted.

"Shhh." Melissa and Sara told her.

"Anyways." Lily continued. "Then we got to talking about each other. I've learned so much about him."

"And?" her friends pressed on.

"That's it." She teased them.

"Lily Evans! It is not!" Melissa told her. "You came in LONG after midnight."

"Ok." Lily said giving in. "We counted down towards the New Years. I asked about any traditions his family has for New Years and he asked me."

"And?" they prompted her.

"I told him about the champagne, but then said that we could do it the way his family does it. With the fireworks that is. The next thing I knew, he had transfigured some goblets of water into glasses of champagne as a compromise. We counted down and…"

"AND!"

"Did I forget to mention to you three that I told him what my parents do? Because, we did that."

"What do your parents do?" an annoyed Spica asked.

She murmured something

"What?" Melissa asked.

"kiss." Lily whispered with a blush.

Her friends starred at her in shock.

"We weren't planning on it." Lily defended with a laugh. "He didn't say anything about his family doing it, and well, I thought, "Screw a perfect date. It's probably the last one I'll have with him." So, I turned to plant one on his lips and the next thing I knew, he had done the same. I was so surprised with what was happening, I dropped my champagne glass and wand. But it felt so good, so…I deepened it."

Her friends were still starring.

"For a while, there was nothing in the world but me and him. I think…I love him. I know it's rushing with one date, but, well, I've had a crush on him since third year, and, there were sparks when we kissed. And it felt so right. And I could have sworn I heard fireworks. Well? Say something guys."

"You…" Sara started.

"…Two…" Melissa added.

"…Kissed?" Spica finished.

Lily nodded and whipped out her wand. "Expecto Patronum." She said thinking about the feeling of that one kiss.

A silver lion came out of her wand just as Peeler and Westley came into the Great Hall.

"Whoa!" he exclaimed. "Excellent job Miss Evans. 20 points to Gryffindor."

Sara looked confused. "James Potter kissed Lily Evans. And the consequence was 20 points to Gryffindor? Weird how these things work out."

"James Potter kissed you?" Westley asked Lily.

"Actually, we kissed each other." Lily said. "Last night on the Astronomy Tower."

Peeler looked extremely amused.

0000

Amazingly, James wasn't quite feeling what Lily was.

"Prongs! Tell! We helped prepare that date. We deserve to know what happened." Sirius told his friend who was pacing around the Head Boy's apartment.

"Was I wrong to do that? No. She seemed to enjoy it. But, what if it was just the shock. Maybe she was too tired. After all, it was midnight. She probably hates me even more." James said to himself in a panic.

Remus was enjoying it even though he was as confused as Sirius.

"What was I thinking?" James continued.

"It would help us answer if you told us what you did!" Sirius said to him.

"I didn't have any champagne yet so I wasn't drunk." James said to himself not hearing Sirius. "And neither was she."

"I have an idea." Remus said as he got up off the bed and made his way to the Common Room to look for his girlfriend.

Luckily, they were just coming in from breakfast.

"Mel!" Remus called out to her. "Can we talk?"

"Sure." She said "What about?"

"Do you know what's the matter with James?" he asked her.

"Something's wrong with James?" Lily asked worriedly. The smile was whipped off her face the first time that day.

"He's pacing around in his room talking about something he did last night, but he won't tell us what he did."

"Potter isn't bragging about what he did last night?" Spica asked. "IT'S THE END OF THE WORLD!"

"Mel? Can you give Bushtail here the same lecture you gave me?" Lily asked her friend

"Later." Melissa told her. "Well Remus, James…"

"James kissed me last night and I kissed back." Lily interrupted as she put that smile back on.

Remus starred open mouthed.

"I guess the date went well then?" he said after a few minutes as the new sunk in.

"Very." She admitted with a dreamy look in her eye.

"There's that smile again." Sara said noticing it. "It only left her face today when you asked what was wrong with Potter."

"James is worried you didn't like it." Remus said to Lily.

"Is he kidding? I managed to produce a corporal Patronus at breakfast." Lily told him "Just by thinking about that kiss."

"In front of Peeler too." Spica added. "He gave Gryffindor 20 points."

"Really?" Remus asked "What is it?"

"A lion." Melissa told her secret boyfriend (well, not so secret now that Mel had that inccident last chapter)

Remus thought for a moment. Then, his face lit up.

"The Potters are Gryffindor's heir. That's why it's that way." He realized.

Lily's eyes brightened more than they already were.

"If you'll excuse me," she said, "I'm going to go daydream."

0000

When Remus got back from another secret meeting with Melissa (after Sara and Spica left them), he found James was still worried about Lily.

"What am I going to do?" James asked.

"Did you find out anything?" Sirius asked the werewolf.

"Oh yeah. Congratulations Prongs. I've just been informed about what you did. And just so you know, there were consequences." Remus said with a sly grin.

James paled for a second which caused Sirius to think perverted thoughts.

Just then, James got a confused look on his face.

"We didn't do anything to THAT extent." He said.

"What DID you do?" Sirius asked.

"What consequences?" James asked Remus ignoring the dog animagus.

"Well, she's now able to produce a corporal LION patronus, which got 20 points to Gryffindor when Peeler saw it. And she only stopped smiling when I asked if she knew what had gotten into you. She's off daydreaming about last night at this very moment." Remus answered James.

"So, she liked it?" James asked.

"What?" Sirius asked

"Yes Prongs." Remus said.

"She's not angry?" James asked

"Why would she be angry?" Sirius tried again

"No. And remember third year when we tricked you and Evans into the Room of Requirement? You guys did it in there."

"Yeah, but, we did that so the door would open. Sirius had the big mouth to reveal it."

Flashback

"What are you doing here Potter?" Lily said to James in front of the RofR.

"Remus said that Snivellus was up here. Have you seen him?"

"No and if I had, I wouldn't tell you." She spatted.

Just then, Spica, Sirius, Melissa, Remus, Sara, Peter, and John came out of the two invisibility cloaks (Sirius had borrowed James') and pushed them into the open door.

"What the…?" Lily and James both said as their "friends" slammed the door.

"We need you to lock until they kiss." Sirius said to the door.

CLICK

"LET US OUT!" Lily and James shouted.

"Not until you work out your differences." Sara said.

Lily rolled her eyes.

"TRAITORS!" she shouted "Can you believe them? You had something to do with this. DIDN'T YOU?"

"ME? No way. I didn't even know this closet was here."

"Neither did I. What now?"

"Well, Sirius did say that it would remain locked until we kiss. So maybe…"

"Not on your life." Lily interrupted.

A few hours later,

"Evans." James said after trying every spell he could think of. "We can wash our mouths out when we're done. But this door won't open until we kiss."

Lily groaned. "Okay. Let's get this over with."

They kissed. Lily, having her crush on him, enjoyed it, but she wasn't going to reveal that.

CLICK

"It's open." James said.

Lily grabbed the handle and opened the door.

"So," James said once they were out. "After we wash our mouths out, which of our so called "friends" do you want to hurt."

"I'll hurt mine and you'll hurt yours?" she suggested.

"Sounds like a plan." James said as they went to the boys/girls bathroom to pretend like they washed their mouths.

"Aaahhh." Lily sighed as she walked out the same time James did.

"Refreshed?" he asked.

"Oh yeah. I think I'll hurt Spica first. This was no doubt her idea to get involved."

"Then I'll hurt Sirius." James said. "No doubt this was his idea in the first place."

With that, they went to go teach their friends a lesson.

When they were done, well, let's just say it was a long time before that group played matchmakers again.

End Flashback

"WHAT HAPPENED?" an irritated Sirius asked again.

"He kissed her." Remus told him.

Sirius gaped and looked at James for a confirmation.

James nodded.

"And she kissed back." James added.

"Bloody hell" Sirius managed to say.

Sirius fainted on the bed. It was going way too fast for him.

0000

Two days before the rest of the school was supposed to return, Lily was walking with her friends after hours doing rounds.

"Lily Evans, that was cruel." Melissa told her.

"Telling James to read Hogwarts, A History. What were you thinking?" Spica added.

"Actually, he's the one who said he'd read it for me. I just made it mandatory for a second date." Lily said with a grin.

"Honestly Harry. How long do you think you can keep up this charade?" Miss. Westley's voice came.

"That sounded like Miss Westley." Sara said.

The girls ran to the DADA office and listened through the closed door.

"As long as it takes Ginny. I have no intention on revealing the truth. Do you realize how much mayhem it can cause if they found out?" Peeler's voice came

Just then, Sirius and Remus came in carrying a protesting James.

"Shhh." The girls warned.

"What are you doing here?" Melissa asked.

"We need to talk to Peeler." Sirius said

Flashback

When Sirius and Remus came down, James was doing the ridiculous, he was READING Hogwarts, a History. Sirius and Remus grabbed him.

"What the…" James said

"This is for your own good Prongs." Sirius told him.

End Flashback.

"He's busy." Sara said.

"What about those memory charms you mentioned before?" Westley's voice came.

"They CAN be removed." Peeler said

"Memory charms?" James asked quietly.

"Do we even HAVE to use them?" Westley asked. "Why don't we just tell them and prevent it?"

"You know we'd have to use the charms if necessary." Peeler told her. "I'd much rather grow up an orphan again and have Sirius mess up that potion than live through 13 extra years of Voldemort."

Sirius looked confused.

"What potion?" Sirius asked.

"But Voldemort wouldn't have marked you." Westley told her boyfriend

"Don't you understand Ginny? He knew that with my being an heir of Gryffindor, I had a better chance of defeating him than Neville. He didn't know that he was marking me so that I would be the one to destroy him. He would have done ANYTHING to get to me. And that includes killing Sirius, Remus, Sara, and even Dumbledore. And when John, Melissa, and Spica return to England, he would kill them as well. Lose two or seven. My parents wouldn't be able to live with themselves knowing…" Peeler lectured her.

The students looked at each other in confusion.

"You lost more than two." Westley interrupted. "What about your Godfather? And Professor Lupin? You didn't meet them until you were 13."

"Professor?" Remus asked quietly.

"At least they weren't killed. And with your family in the Order, he'd go after them too." He continued. "That's one of the other reasons I changed your name. He'd be able to recognize "Weasley"."

"Isn't Weasley that first year?" Sara asked.

"I've already had to fight Voldemort again." Peeler added.

"What?" Ginny Weasley asked. "You forgot to mention that."

"No I didn't forget." Peeler told her. "I didn't really want you knowing too much about it."

"Did he do anything to you?" she asked quietly.

"Just the Cruciatus and attempted Avada Kedavra." He told her. "But I used Amor Caritas silently and Amovatleo."

"You used that last one out loud?" she asked. "Harry Potter, do you realize how risky that was?"

The student's mouths' dropped and looked at James who looked confused.

"I don't know any Harry's." James said. "My grandfather's name was Harold, but he died just after I was born. And that's it."

"Yes. But the only one who would have recognized it had just passed out after suffering his first time with the Cruciatus. I don't think he was listening to the spells I was using." Harry told his girlfriend.

"If Voldemort had stayed longer, he would have realized the connection and found the truth out." he continued. "Then he would have turned to Dad and then what? I had to get rid of him somehow."

"Dad?" Lily asked "Did you guys see any other adults?"

The others shook their heads.

"Why couldn't you have just used those other spells?" Ginny said. "Like the ones you used to defeat him the first time?"

"Because of that bloody prophesy." Harry told her.

"But it hasn't even been prophesied yet." She told him.

"Exactly. How confusing would it be if the prophesy was prophesied but there was no reason for it to be prophesied in the first place?"

"I hate time travel. It's too confusing" Ginny said.

"One of the reasons I didn't bring Ron along." Harry said.

"He'd get a headache." Ginny laughed.

There was a pause.

"I solemnly swear I am up to no good." He said suddenly

The boys looked at each other in confusion. A few seconds later, the door swung open.

There, in the doorway, stood a black-haired 19 year old with green eyes and a lightning-bolt shaped scar on his forehead.

TBC

A/N: For those of you who have already guessed the true identity of Professor Peeler and Miss. Westley in earlier chapters, Congratulations on getting it right.