Disclaimer: If my name was J.K. Rowling, it wouldn't be spelt E – V – I – E.

A/N: Well, this is the last chapter of this short story. I want to thank everybody for reviewing and I couldn't have done it without you all. And also, this chapter is more romance and less humour. Just a note. :)

"I can't believe he used that stupid potion to try and get me to say something to him!" Lily yelled in rage through her tears. "He's such an egotistical prat!"

Up in their dormitory, Marlene and Alice exchanged worried glances over the top of Lily's head.

"Come on Lily," Alice said gently. "You don't know that Potter only spiked the pumpkin juice to get at you. He may have had another reason for doing it."

"And what would that be, huh?" Lily stormed. "I can't believe he had the nerve to even try and trick me like that!"

"I don't think tricking you was the first thing he had in his mind –"

"He tried to manipulate me,"

"Lily –"

"He wanted to watch me suffer in the humiliation of the fact that –"

"What fact are you talking abo –?"

"I can't believe he tried to force it out of me!"

"Um…Lily? You might be over-reacting just a little bit. I'm sure he didn't mean for you to get hurt. If anything, I think he just wanted to know the truth." Marlene finally managed put in.

"The truth? That's what started all of this in the first place. Why can't he just be happy the way he is? Why does he always have to disturb me? Annoy me? Practically harass me?"

"Lily, stop it. He does not harass you." Marlene said firmly.

"Annoy? Yes. Disturb? Yes. But I'm sure he doesn't want to harass you, Lily. Can't you see how dramatic you're being?" Alice added.

"Me? I haven't got a dramatic bone in my body!" Lily defended.

Alice and Marlene smiled as Lily wiped her eyes ferociously.

"At least we know that potion has worn off. Look, there's no purple smoke coming from your ears and you just told a lie." Alice said excitedly.

Lily wasn't listening.

"He just wanted everyone to know that I might actually have some feelings for –"

Lily stopped in the middle of her sentence, glancing quickly at Alice and Marlene.

Alice smiled softly. "So Lily, you still have feelings for a certain Mr Potter? Even after all your ranting, raving and complaining?"

"So, there is a part of you that knows that Potter didn't do this just to humiliate you, isn't there? It's alright Lily, you can tell us." Marlene added, staring at Lily's eyes.

"What are you two going on about? If anything, Potter has just ruined any tiny amount of a piece of freaking chance that he had with me and that's all there is to it." Lily said quickly and loudly.

"Don't kid yourself, Lily. We know what really goes on in that complex brain of yours." Marlene said.

"No, you don't!"

"Yes, we do!"

"Can't we at least handle this is in a more mature way?" the ever practical Alice asked.

Lily and Marlene blushed.

"Lily, you can't go on denying it forever. Potter's done worse things than this before and –"

"Yeah, like that time he put that charm on you in our second year so that every time you opened your mouth, roses poured out!" Marlene put in enthusiastically.

"Marlene –" Alice started, watching the blush creep up Lily's neck and face.

"Yeah, and that time he put the spell on your Head Girl badge so that it said James Potter's Girl –"

"Marlene!" Alice tried again.

"And who can forget that time he managed to get this first-year to follow you around everywhere and say 'James Potter likes you', every time you tried to say something."

"Marlene! Shut up!" Alice shouted.

"Oh – er – sorry, Lils." Marlene mumbled.

"As I was saying," Alice said, glaring at Marlene. "Why is it this time you are so affected by what Potter did, when he has done much worse things, as Marlene so helpfully reminded us? Is it because this time you were afraid he might actually find something out?"

"Maybe…" Lily said evasively. "You know, both of you have just been so wonderful, but I think I'm going to go for a walk outside, okay? I just need to think for awhile."

Alice and Marlene nodded, and watched Lily walk out of the dormitory in silence.

"She was practically crying!"

Remus sighed.

"You've only told us that about ten times now, Prongs."

'Yeah, but I mean crying, crying. Not just like whining or yelling. Crying. You know what I mean? Cryi –"

"Yes Prongs! Crying! We get it!" Sirius said loudly. Sirius' voice echoed over the Lake. All four boys were lounging around on the grass in front of the rippling water.

"No, you couldn't get it if you didn't see it!"

"Yeah? Well you've described it enough for me to actually see it happening in front of me so –"

"Can the two of you shut up," Remus said wearily. "None of this is going to help Prongs and Lily."

Sirius retaliated. "Don't be stupid, Moony. Prongs and I fighting could solve all the problems."

"And how exactly?" Remus asked, his eyebrows rising.

"Well, Prongs and I will fight and then Lily will come over to see what's going on and then she'll save Prongs, because I obviously will be winning and then they'll live happily ever after and ride away into the sunset on Prong's new Nimbus 1900."

Ringing silence followed this statement.

"That has to be the stupidest thing I have ever –" Remus started.

"Actually, Moony," James said slowly. "I liked the sound of that. All of it could come true, except the fact that Padfoot would beat me in a fight."

Sirius punched James lightly on the arm as Remus rolled his eyes.

"So what are you going to do, Prongs?" Peter asked, from his spot on the grass.

"I dunno. I think I blew it for real this time. She actually started cry –" James hurriedly stopped at the look on Remus' face.

"Why don't you go and apologise?" Peter asked.

"Wormtail, how dare you suggest that? You know you can't just go up to a girl and apologise without getting a slap: Especially if it's Lily. You have to plan it out, take the necessary precautions and arm yourself against a blast of pepper-spray they may have up their sleeves."

All four boys winced; remembering what had happened to James last year, when he tried to ask Lily out for might have been the thousandth time.

James rubbed his eyes instinctively. "Anyway, I'm definitely not making that mistake again."

Sirius let out a bark-sounding laugh from the edge of the water.

"Oh shut up, Padfoot."

"But I have to do something!" James said helplessly.

"Well…you could just go and talk to her," Remus offered.

Sirius yelped. "What are you trying to do to him, Moony? Send him to his death? You know what Evans is like when she's in a temper. He probably won't come away from it in one piece!"

"Don't be over-dramatic, Padfoot. She's not like that. She's a gentle, beautiful flower…"James said, gazing into the distance.

Sirius snorted.

"Yeah, and I guess that's why you've been slapped by her a million times: Because she's gentle."

"Yeah, that's why," James said, in his own fantasy, where he and Lily grew up, got married and had a child called Harry.

Sirius snorted once more and this time Remus joined him.

Lily walked around the enormous castle, trying to clear her mind. It wasn't working. The few words Sirius had told her in Transfiguration kept coming back to her mind…

"Evans, you know when I said you hurt James' feelings, there was no smoke coming from my ears. But when you spoke, there was. I think it's time you came to see the truth and not just from any purple smoke."

Lily sighed. Why did Sirius have to become so deep anyway? He was the least deep person she knew (apart from Potter, of course) and here he was, making her think over his words. What was this world coming to?

But what if she didn't want to see the truth? What if the truth hurt her? What if James hurt her…? Lily shuddered, even though the air was warm and crisp.

She'd have to talk to him. At least that purple smoke had worn off by now. The only question was where was he?

James stared into the depths of the clear, blue water and sighed. He had really blown it now. But he hadn't meant to. Why couldn't Lily see that? He looked around at his three friends. Remus was leaning against a tree and reading a book, Sirius was lying on his back and staring up at the sky and Peter was lolling about at the edge of the water.

"You know, I was just wondering, why couldn't life just be as peaceful as it is now?" James suddenly asked.

Remus looked up from behind his book.

"Come on, Prongs. You know you like the mayhem and madness."

"Yeah, you're right. But sometimes you know…" James trailed off, staring over the emerald lawns. He had spotted a flash of red hair and it was heading straight for the huge oak tree a few meters away from the Marauder's.

"Guys," James whispered. "Guys, there's Lily!"

"Well, what are you waiting for?" Sirius said from the grass.

James paled.

"But what if she wants to be alone? What if she hates me? What if she starts getting into another temper?"

"I think you should talk to her. She's hated you so long, she probably can't hate you anymore and she looks too sad to get into another temper." Sirius said.

"Does that answer your questions then?" Remus asked.

James nodded mutely and dragged himself of the grass and walked over to the tree Lily sat under.

Lily sat under the tree and gazed out across the lake. The sun was setting behind it and casting an orange glow across it. It was so peaceful, so calm…

"Um…hey Evans,"

Lily almost jumped into the branches of the tree above her. She turned around quickly.

"Potter," she acknowledged. "You shouldn't sneak up behind people like that."

"Er – sorry…But I was wondering whether I could talk to you."

"You've never asked for my permission to talk to me before, Potter," she said staring out at the Forest. "And you can sit down you know."

James sat down awkwardly on the grass next to her. Lily noticed that for once in his life, he maintained a respectful distance. There was an uncomfortable silence.

"You know, Evans," James finally said. "I didn't mean to hurt – Lily flinched at the choice of his word – you with that potion."

"Then what did you want to do, Potter?" she asked quietly. "Humiliate me? Annoy me? Like you've always done before?"

It might have been the glow of the sunset, but Lily could have sworn she saw James blush.

"I didn't want to do that though. I just wanted you to…" James trailed off, not knowing how to say what he thought.

"Yes?" Lily asked, finally looking away from the lake and towards James.

"Well – er – I just wanted you to…um…I just wanted you to know that – that there's a leaf in your hair." he sighed.

Lily felt her stomach tumble unpleasantly. James reached out and pulled a leaf gently from her hair before handing it to her. Their hands brushed against each other and Lily immediately looked down, fingering the leaf, marvelling at its extraordinary shape.

"Actually…Lily,"

Lily looked up again expectantly.

"What I meant to say was – was that I just wanted you to notice me…" James blurted out the last part quickly, before he could lose his nerve again.

Lily looked straight into his eyes.

"But I already noticed you," she said softly.

"Yeah, but you noticed me in a bad way," James said in an even quieter tone.

Lily let out a quiet, tinkling laugh that made James' spirits lift very slightly. She looked even more beautiful when she laughed.

"Well, what did you expect? All those things you've done to me!"

"Well, I didn't mean them to be bad. I just wanted them to be different from the usual…"

Lily stared at his face. His brown eyes were sparkling in the dim light and the last rays of sun seemed to put a beautiful dancing fire in them. Lily felt herself drawn to them. She couldn't look away.

"And why did you want to be different, James?" she whispered.

"Well – because Lily – because I think…no I mean, I know that I do and have and will always…love you."

There! I said it! Now it doesn't matter what happens. At least I told her. James thought to himself.

Lily almost stopped breathing.

"You love me?" she said so softly James could hardly hear her.

James took a deep breath.

"Yes, Lily. For the longest time and I just wanted you to know that I never meant to hurt you and I never will."

Lily was quiet for a whole minute. James sighed after getting no response and stood up to leave.

"No! Wait, James!" she called and she pulled him back down.

It was her turn to take a deep breath.

"Somehow…I think under all the pretence, I love you too, James Harold Potter. I've just been too wrapped up in delusions to admit it."

James face lit up. Lily had never seen him look so happy. His face was even brighter than the dying sunset behind him.

James managed to choke out a word, "Really?"

Lily smiled. "Really."

James jumped up and punched the air in triumph. Laughing, Lily pulled him down beside her on the grass again. They stared into each other's eyes, unable to comprehend the feelings they were both having within themselves.

"So…can I kiss you now?" James finally asked.

Lily giggled and nodded but before James could say or do anything, she leant forward and kissed him.

"Awwwww…Alice! She kissed him! It's so sweet! Quick, come and see!" Marlene babbled excitedly from the dormitory window that overlooked the grounds.

Alice came to the window and smiled at the scene before turning away.

"Where are you going? It's too sweet to look away from."

Alice giggled. "Yes, Marlene, but it's rude to spy,"

Marlene finally came away from the window and lay down on her bed.

"You know what I think, Alice?"

"Hmm…what?"

"I think our work here is done."

Both girls started laughing.

"Moony! Moony! Come over here!" Sirius whispered.

"What happened? Lily didn't curse him again did she?" Remus said, getting up from the tree and walking over to where Sirius was looking through some bushes.

"No…they're kissing and Lily was the one who kissed him first!"

"What? " Remus said staring through the bushes.

He smiled and turned towards Sirius.

"Well I knew Prongs could do it and besides, I was the one who told him to go and talk to Lily."

Sirius let out his usual bark-like laugh.

"Yeah, well I inspired him with my story about how he and Lily would fly away together!"

"Well then, I guess we're both responsible for this. Oh yeah, and I guess Prongs gets some credit too."

Both boys paused for a moment before bursting into laughter.

Lily pulled away from James, slightly out of breath. James had a faraway look in his eyes.

"You know what, Potter?" Lily said smiling. "I guess you're not so bad after all."

And to think it all started with a potion and a plan called, Mission Impossible…

A/N: Well that's the end of my first ever complete James/Lily story! I hope you all liked it! Please leave a review if you did. They always make my day:D :D