A/N: we're nearing seventh year, which will be written in actual book format instead of one-shots! i'm hoping to go back at some point and edit the one-shots from the first couple years to make the writing better (and maybe add some from Remus/Sirius/Peter POV?!)
Also just updated chapter 5 formatting, i realized it was super wonky

"Okay, what about Golpalott's Third Law?" Lily asked, raising an eyebrow as he stifled a yawn. "I'm cutting you off after this, Rem. I don't know how you can even absorb anything when you can barely stay awake."

"Practice," Remus responded wryly. "I have ten full moons every year to get all my practice in. Anyways, Golpalott's Third law says that an antidote to a blended potion has to be equal to more than the sum of all its parts."

"What does that mean, though?"

Remus gave her a long-suffering look, which made Lily smile to herself. They were curled up in the farthest back corner of the library on a bench seat, Potions books open on their laps. It was a Saturday evening, and strictly speaking they didn't need to be studying, but Remus had needed help with Potions. Plus, Lily was trying to avoid thinking about the catastrophe that her seventeenth birthday the next day was sure to be.

"It means," he paused to yawn again, "that you can't just combine the antidotes for each of the potions in the mix, you need a separate antidote that will work against all the potions and their combined effects."

"If I could, I'd give you ten points to Gryffindor, Remus Lupin," Lily smiled at him.

"Shame you can't," he responded as they packed their bags, the unspoken agreement hanging in the air that they were too tired and it was time for dinner, anyways. "You could give me back all the points that James and Sirius lose."

Lily rolled her eyes but refrained from response as they exited the stacks and entered the view of Madame Pince. They picked up their pace quickly, both eager to exit the library and make their way to the Great Hall for dinner.

Remus was looking weak with the full moon approaching in a few days, and Lily could never help but worry. Remus hated being fretted over and had a tendency to sulk if anyone asked how he was doing leading up to or directly following the moon. She had to admit, though, that for whatever reason it seemed as if the moons during sixth year had taken less of a toll on him. He was back in class sooner than previous years, and was looking less drawn, tired, and scarred.

They stepped into the hallway in silence, but walking in sync. Remus paused and stretched upward, his back cracking loudly in the silent hall. Lily raised an eyebrow at him.

"Too much sitting this close to the…" Remus trailed off for a moment and looked around. "It can be hard on my body."

Lily smiled gently and brushed some red hair out of her eyes. Marlene had cut her a fringe at the beginning of the year, which Lily had ended up despising. Growing it long again was even more miserable.

"At least you'll be ready to brew your antidote on Monday," she settled on responding. Avoiding mention of the moon at all costs was often the best policy for times like these.

"Knowing the theory won't help me a bit, Lils. You know I'm rubbish at potions." Remus smiled ruefully.

Before she could respond, an arm suddenly wrapped around her shoulder and a body forced its way between her and Remus.

"Black," she groaned, feeling the telltale leather jacket that signaled Sirius' presence. "How are you everywhere?"

To her chagrin, Remus only laughed.

"I could tell you, Evans," Black started "-but I'd have to hex you," the three of them finished together – Lily with an eye roll, Sirius with a flourish, and Remus with a smirk.

"Say, Lily," Sirius continued grandly. "Have you ever been to the kitchens?"

He looked too innocent. Something was up, Lily knew – but she wasn't quite sure what. Bloody Marauders. "I have not," she responded, "because I am a good, upstanding citizen of Hogwarts."

"What do you think, Moony?" Sirius continued in the same grand tone. "Should we corrupt her?"

"I think we should," Remus responded, leaning around Sirius to give Lily a quick wink.

Lily looked between both of them – Remus' sincere face and Sirius' mischievous expression and sighed. After a moment's indecision, she slid a reciprocating arm around Sirius' waist. "You'd better not get me caught," was the only thing she said in response.

"Get you caught?" Sirius gasped in mock-horror. "We never get caught."

Lily raised her eyebrows.

"Okay, we sometimes get caught," he acquiesced.

"We often get caught," Remus sighed. "But we've never been caught just for being in the kitchen. It's not against the rules."

"I'm fairly sure it is," Lily responded, laughing. They had arrived at the portrait of the food bowl. She knew where the kitchens were, of course – anyone who was friends with the Marauders did. They had their secrets, sure, but they had been known to share the wealth, too.

Remus looked around at her from the other side of Sirius, a frown on his face. "I guess the house elves like us, then."

"Everyone likes us, Moony. It's the Marauder charm," Sirius responded, removing his arm from Lily's shoulders to tickle the pear in the painting.

"You're both insufferable," Lily said fondly as they stepped inside. Once they were in the passageway, she felt Sirius give her a gentle prod ahead of him. She shot him a questioningly look, but of course he just smiled mysteriously, so she stepped forward and led the way in.

They stepped out into a broad room, as large as the Great Hall itself. There were four tables, clearly reflecting the house tables, plus a table at the front that must have been the head table. Platters of food rested on them, the food occasionally disappearing and then being refilled by the elves. They must have corresponded to the serving dishes upstairs, which explained how the food at Hogwarts seemed to just appear on the tables.

"SURPRISE!" Lily shrieked at the sudden shout that rose around her. She whirled back towards the door, only to see that while she had been distracted, people had poured through it. Mary and Marlene were the closest to her, they squealed and ran up to hug her. She hugged them, taken aback.

"Happy birthday Lils!" gasped Marlene. "Were you surprised?"

"What on earth is going on?" Lily managed to say back, in shock, looking around at the people who had begun to spread out. Alice was there, too, holding the hand of Frank Longbottom, who flashed a small smile at her. Emmeline Vance, a girl from the other dormitory of girls in their year, was standing with Alice. Potter and Peter Pettigrew were there, too, the former running a hand through his hair when Lily's eyes met his.

"It's a birthday celebration for you, silly!" squealed Mary. "Come on!"

Lily let Mary half drag her into a side room she hadn't noticed before. It had a much smaller table, with place settings, it seemed, for everyone who was there. Lily found herself sat between Mary and Marlene. Somehow, Potter and Black ended up directly across from her.

A house elf appeared, serving food to each of them, squeaking excitedly about the honor of serving students in it's kitchen! Lily had to work hard to stifle her giggles, but when she made eye-contact with Sirius across the table, she knew he was similarly amused.

"Won't it be suspicious when the teachers realize so many people from our year are missing at dinner?" Lily asked as she started eating.

"Are you ever not worried about getting in trouble, Evans?" James asked impishly from across from her. She bristled, but when she looked up he was smiling teasingly at her. Still, she had to take a deep breath.

"We got permission," Sirius said. Lily didn't miss the way he elbowed James in the side. "McGonagall knows, she was okay with it."

"Permission…just for my birthday?" she asked, almost incredulous. Was it the Marauders who had done it – and just for her?

James mumbled something that she didn't quite hear. "What, Potter?"

He ruffled a hand through his hair, she didn't miss the slight blush that had settled on his cheekbones. "I overheard you saying you weren't looking forward to it," he finally said, glancing at her quickly – as if expecting her to be mad.

She wasn't mad, though. She was almost touched – if she could admit it to herself – that James Potter had thought of something so kind to do, just for her.

"After that we just picked a day, set it up with McGonagall and the house elves," he continued more confidently after seeing she wasn't getting ready to yell at him.

"Thanks," she said weakly. She tried to smile, but was pretty sure it had come out sort of wonky. Lily was still confused, sort of, about why the Marauders had done this for her, or even why James had paid so much attention.

"It was all James' idea," Mary added from her other side. She didn't miss the look Mary sent James' way as she spoke, although Lily didn't know what to make of it. "He planned everything, too. Just told us when to show up."

James had turned to his other side to speak to Remus as soon as Mary had looked at him, but Lily saw him glance at her out of the corner of his eye. She looked away as soon as their eyes locked.

Soon, Marlene dragged her, Mary, and Alice into a conversation about the antidote they were to be brewing in Potions on Monday, which somehow led way to the next quidditch match – Gryffindor against Slytherin later that week. Potter and Black both joined the conversation, but there was no more strangeness in Potter's behaviour towards her. Perhaps she had simply imagined it all.

To Lily's surprise, when they had finished eating, the same house elf brought out a chocolate cake with the words "Happy Birthday Evans!" on it, in pink icing.

She heard Sirius whisper to James, "did you have to use her last name, you twit?" but chose to ignore it, oddly touched.

James stood up after they had all finished dessert. "So – erm, I think everyone has gifts for Lily. Maybe we could do that now?" he sat down again, quickly, and ruffled his hair.

Lily was overwhelmed. Every single person who had arrived had brought her gifts. Marlene had gotten her a quill that was charmed with everlasting ink ("Like a pen," she had said, proudly, "but better!"), Marlene a gorgeous necklace with a lily charm on it ("It has a protection charm on it," she explained. "For small hexes and curses." She had looked pointedly at the Marauders at this.), and Alice and Frank had together gotten her a beautiful notebook, red leather with pages edged with gold. Emmeline had gotten her a new Gryffindor scarf with a matching hat from Hogsmeade.

The Marauders, it seemed, had banded together to get her a boxed set of books ("My absolute favourite as a kid," Pete had explained.) – a wizard series of twelve books. Remus tried to apologize, saying they were written for younger witches and wizards than she, and if she didn't like it they would undoubtedly return it and get her something else. She had simply hugged each of them, overwhelmed and on the verge of tears.

She stayed, too, as they slowly filtered out, thanking everyone and trying not to cry. She ignored the swoop in her stomach every time she neared James, who was currently helping the house elves tidy up (much to their annoyance).

She was wrapped in a bear hug by Sirius. "Hopefully this makes up for whatever your twat of a sister pulls tomorrow," he whispered in her ear, and she really had to fight back tears, then.

"She'll probably just ignore it, honestly," she said to him as he pulled away. He held onto her shoulders at arms length for a moment, squeezing before letting go. "You know where to find me if you need anything," he said, finally.

"Thanks Black," she responded, smiling slightly. Peter came next, lifting her almost off her feet as he hugged her, which made her giggle in spite of her emotions. Remus followed, hugging her much more gingerly.

The three of them left together, leaving James and Lily alone. Her stomach swooped again, as she looked around to find him looking at her intently.

"Did you really plan everything?" she asked, more to break the silence than anything.

He smiled at her, a charming smile, really. "The boys helped, honest. Pete was the one who thought of asking McGonagall. Remus thought of using the kitchens."

Lily had to admit to herself she was surprised – used to James taking credit for everything, arrogant as he was. But then again, perhaps they had all simply grown up – maybe it was unfair of her to think of him as the eleven-year-old that had gotten on her nerves so, so badly.

"But the idea was yours?" She was unsure why she was pushing, only that she needed to know. And maybe, because her stomach had that same swooping feeling every time James ruffled his hair like that.

"Yeah, I guess Pads- Sirius had said something about you not looking forward to your birthday. It made me think that we could make it a little bit better. I hope it was alright," he finished sheepishly.

"It was amazing," she said, feeling the blush on her cheeks. At some point, she had moved, and now they were standing quite close to each other. She could feel the heat radiating off him – or was it Lily that was warm?

They looked at each other for a moment, before James took a step back, breaking the silence. Lily was mildly disappointed, if she were being honest with herself.

"I got you something else," James said, then, running his hand through his hair. She watched, slightly in shock, as he reached into his pocket with his other hand and pulled out a lumpy package, handing it to her.

"Oh," she said, rather stupidly. She felt herself blush again. Lily carefully pulled the paper off the gift, feeling James' eyes on her the whole time. It was a pair of gloves made of a light feeling, deep green fabric. She looked up to see James smiling at her.

"I know it's not much, but- they're enchanted, so they'll keep you warm no matter the weather. I know they're Slytherin colours but…" he trailed off, mumbling something. Lily raised an eyebrow at him.

"Green looks nice on you, I think," he said after a long breath in.

She felt herself blushing, barely able to bring her eyes up to his.

"Thank you," she said finally. "They're perfect."

And they were, really. Gryffindor red always clashed horribly with her hair, but it was the only colours anyone ever seemed to expect her to wear. She took a deep breath, finally looking back at James. He was shifting, she thought he looked almost anxious – but he was James Potter, he didn't get anxious. Did he?

"This whole dinner was perfect," she said to him finally. Before she could stop herself, she leaned towards him, onto her tip-toes, and pressed a quick kiss to his cheek.

Face red and hands shaky, she fled the kitchen, then, leaving James staring in shock in her wake.