Kissing James Potter seemed to have freed up a part of me that had forgotten how to breathe properly. He seemed to pull everything back into focus. I'd been preoccupied with Head duties, with proving Bellatrix wrong, with outsmarting her, and assembling an Actual Team of Actual People for the aforementioned purposes.

I'd been so busy that I hadn't noticed I was falling for the git that was currently standing in front of me, the look on his face so overwhelmingly joyous, it could have turned all the autumn leaves green again, could have banished the gloom that so often befell the Scottish moors surrounding Hogwarts—it might even have convinced Voldemort himself that happiness exists and he should end this war.

And he wanted a chat.

There was no way I was ready for that!

As wonderfully as his hands felt wrapped around mine, and as much as I enjoyed kissing him, and as peaceful and content as I felt, I just couldn't put it into words, and I didn't know how I felt, or what it meant that I liked kissing him—like, really liked kissing him—I wasn't ready.

At least, not yet.

So I did the only thing a girl in my position could do:

I blinked at him, and then ran, leaving a perfectly kissable boy down a secret passageway in a complete daze.

And I might have been able to manage a proper escape, except that James proved to be much cleverer than I'd given him credit for, and he caught me before I got to the end of the corridor.

"Lily, wait!"

He grasped my elbow lightly.

I didn't have to stop. I didn't have to turn around.

Only, he wasn't just some random, perfectly kissable boy that I'd just abandoned down a secret passageway. It was James. And I couldn't ignore that note of pain in his voice.

I turned and faced him, but I couldn't think of what to say.

"Okay, I know that was"—a smile broke out over his face and I resisted the urge to roll my eyes—"sorry, er, I know that was—"

"Unexpected?" I blurted out. Then, every new thought came pouring out of me before I could stop it. "New? Different? Completely mad?"

James grimaced and shuffled his feet nervously.

I reached for his hand. "Wonderful?"

He grinned crookedly. "Yeah?"

"Yeah," I smiled back, shyly.

James peered down at our swinging hands, and glanced skeptically back at me. "Then why—?"

"Did I run away?"

"Yeah."

I nearly laughed. "I'm just—I mean, James. I'm utterly flummoxed. I didn't realize—I would have never . . ." I searched the walls vaguely for some help. Finally, I said, "I didn't see this coming at all, did you?"

His hazel eyes laughed at me behind his glasses. "Nah, but that doesn't mean I didn't hope for it."

I shoved him playfully, fighting a smile. "Git."

He only stepped closer, smiling smugly like the big prat he was. "Sorry to break the news to you, Evans, but some people in this castle think this so-called git is wonderful."

"Whoever said that was clearly cracked," I retorted, but I couldn't help the smile this time.

James leaned down so that our lips were mere inches apart. "Perhaps I should get a second opinion," he whispered.

"Perhaps you should." The balloon in my chest soared to new heights as I found myself kissing James Potter for the second time in an afternoon, and it was absolute elation, if confusing. But it was James, and he made everything okay. Not to mention, he was an excellent kisser.

I hadn't realized lips could swell up from so much kissing.

I also hadn't realized that the swelling on both mine and James's lips would be what would make everyone's eyes go wide when we arrived late in the Great Hall for lunch, immediately following a snog session that may or may not have lasted nearly the entire lunch hour.

Jen managed to shoot me a look that clearly said I had better fill her in on the details as soon as possible.

Marlene, was, of course, the first to say anything. "About bloody time!" she yelled out of sheer joy. She immediately got up and did her Donna Summer impersonation of "I Feel Love."

"Cheeky," I scolded her, but James burst out laughing when Sirius joined her, and the sentiment was lost. Not soon after, half of the Gryffindor table let out a rousing chorus of the Muggle disco queen's hit single of the year (James and myself included).

The glares from the Slytherin table were not lost on me, but James was singing in my ear, his arm secured around my waist, and for that moment, I didn't care. I gave myself permission to enjoy myself, to enjoy this new thing with James, and let our mad mates do their best to embarrass us.

Mary discreetly pulled out a healing salve from her satchel and pointed silently to her lips.

"Ah, cheers," I said, applying a coat to my bruised lips.

"That's only going to encourage him, love," said Sirius, and he wriggled his eyebrows suggestively.

I smirked back at him. "Don't spoil all my fun, Black."

He whistled, impressed, and elbowed James in the side. "Prongs, if you fuck this up, you're an idiot."

James grinned and stared at Remus meaningfully, before meeting Sirius's gaze. "Likewise."

"I am so offended," Sirius deadpanned. "Boyfriend!" he called over to Remus. "I demand that you comfort me at once!"

Peter guffawed as Remus threw a dinner roll at his boyfriend's head.

Which was rather considerate of him, in some ways, as it took the attention off of James and me.

James walked me to Ancient Runes on the pretext that we needed to work out some kinks in the prefects' schedules immediately.

We'd finished that conversation at least two floors ago. Yet there we were, standing silently outside of the classroom, shuffling about like two shuffling things, and smiling nervously at each other.

"Alright, I'm just going to be honest," James started. "I don't really know what the protocol is here."

I breathed a sigh of relief. "Me, neither!" I laughed nervously.

The other students in our year shot us curious looks as they walked into N.E.W.T.-level Ancient Runes.

James's eyes followed a group of girls into the classroom before he set his gaze on me. "I mean, this is—it's new, isn't it? And I—er, I don't want to do anything you wouldn't feel comfortable with me doing, or do anything out of place—"

Merlin, who knew a nervous, babbling James Potter was the sexiest thing on the planet?

Laughing, I pushed him up against the wall playfully. "Kiss for luck?" I asked, and he just managed to grin before we kissed again.

"I think that settles that," I said, breaking away. I reached into my bag and pulled out Mary's healing salve. "Think you'll be needing this," I said, and tucked it into his shirt's front pocket.

He laughed and ran a hand through his wild, wild hair.

I gave him a quick peck on the cheek and marched away, lest I stay in that corridor with James Potter forever (which I wouldn't have minded, except I didn't fancy making a habit out of truancy). "I'll see you later."

"Yeah, later," he breathed.

Yes, kissing James Potter had definitely freed me up.

Remus agreed to take notes for us because you and I have VERY important business to discuss, Lily Evans!

Of course, Jen would be sure we'd still get lecture notes if she had to pass notes in class. I got out my quill and inkwell and replied, For example?

For EXAMPLE: 1) WHY WERE YOU KISSING JAMES POTTER? 2) HOW LONG WERE YOU KISSING JAMES POTTER? 3) WHAT WERE THE EVENTS LEADING UP TO AND SURROUNDING YOU KISSING JAMES POTTER? AND 4) WHAT WAS IT LIKE TO KISS THE BOY YOU'VE HATED FOR SO LONG?

Crikey.

I paused for a moment, and Jen managed to scribble one last thing beneath her interrogations.

As your best chum, I think I deserve to know.

I groaned internally. She was right, of course.

I stared at her first question. I felt as though this note-passing had quickly turned into an essay prompt. I decided to answer with as little details about my feelings as possible.

1. I was kissing James Potter because I wanted to kiss him.

2. We kissed from the moment Transfiguration was over until we got to the Great Hall. You do the maths.

3. He'd held my hand during Transfiguration and this really amazing tension just started building and building until the only thing we could do was snog it out.

4. I only regret that we didn't kiss sooner.

She read my list and frowned.

So, he didn't ask you out?

No, he hadn't. I replied as much and her frown deepened.

So you're not dating or officially together or anything?

I shook my head at her.

Her quill scratched furiously on parchment.

So all you've done is just kiss all day? Have you even talked about what you're doing? Do you even like him? If Sirius finds out you're only in it for the boy's lips, he might actually murder you.

Ha! Sirius Black try and kill me!

I almost laughed, until I remembered the conversation we'd had a few days ago where he'd sat me down and warned me about breaking James's heart.

I wasn't going to break James's heart!

At least, not on purpose. I mean, I could have walked away from him earlier. I could have just left him there, gaping like a grindylow, but I faced him. I was honest with him. He was honest with me. We were trying this thing out, working it all out one step at a time.

I mean, things had progressed very quickly in a short hour—it wasn't as though we'd drawn up a contract detailing the parameters of our relationship! I'd bet Jen would do that, though, what with all her Wizengamot-bound habits.

Whatever it is that we're doing, Jen, it's very new. For both of us. James knows so, as well. And he's willing to take things at my speed. And I'm pretty sure I like him, so no need to sic Sirius on me.

She scoffed, and had to fake a cough so that she wouldn't draw any attention from the professor.

Alright, what do you like about him so much that it's got you two snogging like you can't wait to jump each other the minute you're alone?

I tried to recall what I'd told Sirius and Remus, but I think it was mostly gibberish with bits of English mixed in. I also tried recalling my mental list from Transfiguration, but came up a little short.

All I could remember was my conversation with James in the pumpkin patch, and the way he'd helped me live out the biggest lie I'd ever told on a broomstick, and the way his hands steadied me, his eyes laughed at me, his kisses intoxicated me.

Finally, I wrote, He makes everything okay.

Jen's eyebrows shot up.

She jotted something down and passed the parchment to Remus!

Remus passed his lecture notes back to her and they simply traded off jobs, with Jen tuning into the lecture and taking notes as though she weren't mid-conversation with me—a conversation she had, incidentally, passed on to someone else without my permission!

Remus appeared more tired than usual, slumping in his seat over his desk as he read over the gossip-ridden parchment. He smiled over it, wrote something down, and exchanged it for his notes.

Jen glanced over it, rolled her eyes, and passed it back to me.

Under "He makes everything okay," Jen had asked, "Not better?"

Remus had circled "I only regret that we hadn't kissed sooner," and under Jen's question, he'd written just one word.

Exactly.

That perplexed me more than anything.

"Exactly," what, Remus?

"Exactly, he makes everything okay"?

Or, "exactly," as in he agreed with everything in general?

What did he mean by "exactly"?

What's that supposed to mean?

Jen rolled her eyes again.

It means you're an idiot, Lily Evans.

I shot her a narrowed glance.

Care to elaborate?

She sighed, which she quickly turned into a yawn.

I honestly don't know if a yawn is better than a sigh, but either way, the professor didn't look twice at her.

Alright, don't be cross with me. And not to put any pressure on this thing that you've just started with James, but, Lily, he's fancied you for a really long time. And not just as a prank or to embarrass you or anything—he's cared about you and done things for you that you don't even know about. So I'm glad that you've finally gotten to know him and realized what we've all known for a long time: he will always try to make everything okay for you. And if that's how you feel about him, you might want to tell him. I think he'd appreciate it.

The stupid balloon in my chest dropped into my stomach and took up even more space than I thought was possible as it bloomed.

I was so surprised.

Jen had known this about James? That he'd really fancied me for so long? And she let me go on and on about how I hated the way he tried to tease me with all those dating proposals and self-indulgent come-ons? She let me abuse his good name with all my bad impressions of him?

I was puzzled. I hadn't always been wrong about James, I decided. He had bullied Severus unnecessarily for years—although, apparently it had been in retaliation for Severus's many hexes.

Okay, so he wasn't a complete prat. But he didn't have to retaliate at all!

I thought of myself and Bellatrix. Competing on rivalling Hippogriff teams in order to avoid direct dueling didn't seem any better.

Right. Well, what about his obnoxious, Quidditch-inflated ego? I remember thinking he didn't need a broom to fly; his head was full of enough air to keep him airborne.

Then I thought of how quickly I had fallen prey to my own Wronski Warrior celebrity, and had even used it to recruit the Prewett twins to my Hippogriff team. Thankfully, Jen had kept me in check, but I understood how easy it was to let yourself get lost in others' appreciation of your talents, deserved or not.

I don't think I'm as good of a judge of character as I thought, I wrote. What if I'm also wrong about Bellatrix and she's actually really lovely?

Jen looked at me as though I'd gone mad.

You're not a bad judge of character, Lily. You just challenge people to be the best versions of themselves, and some people can live up to it and others can't.

That was nice.

So—what's he done for me that I don't even know, anyway?

Jen smiled.

That's his own story to tell.

The Mystery of James Potter only seemed to get more and more complicated.

Caradoc Dearborn and Abed Cassimi were sharing a table in the library, doing homework. Across from them, Harriet Seabury and Gideon Prewett appeared to be doing anything but studying.

I took an empty seat between them all.

"Hullo!" called Fabian from behind me.

"Hey," I called back. "Did you all plan this?"

"Just happened," answered Gideon with a shrug.

Caradoc decided to give me the entire play-by-play, however. "Abed and Harriet were already in here when I walked in, and they invited me to sit with them, so I did. Then ten minutes later, the twins walked in, saw us, and tried to pull up another table, but got distracted and gave up. Later, Gideon was having trouble with his Transfiguration, so Harriet offered to help him and that's why she's over there. Then, Fabian went into the thirty-third aisle to find a book on the magical properties of common flowers." He called down the length of the table as Fabian reemerged from a nearby bookshelf, "Did you find your book, Fabian?"

Fabian lifted a tiny emerald book in reply.

"Ah, very good!" Caradoc looked at me. "And that's when you walked in."

He should be promoted to commentator, honestly.

"Thank you, Caradoc," I said.

He smiled widely. "Oh, Captain?"

"Yes?" I said, trying to shrug off the way he'd called me Captain, as though it were Very Official. I was his Captain! It thrilled me in a way that being Head Girl never had.

"I read the notice about our Ministry referee. They're due to meet all the teams on Thursday." His normally matter-of-fact expression became somewhat sheepish.

It dawned on me that I'd neglected something rather important in this whole Team Assembling Business.

I gasped. "And we haven't got a name! Or a uniform!"

Caradoc nodded. "Exactly, Captain."

He was starting to remind me a bit of Spock, the way Spock very carefully and reverently addressed Captain Kirk.

I couldn't say I minded it at all.

"Good thing we're all here. We can have a brainstorm!" chimed in Harriet.

We pushed all of our tables together, and I cast a Silencing Charm around us, in anticipation of the ruckus we'd inevitably cause.

"How about the Wronksi Warriors, after the Cap?" suggested Fabian.

Cap.

I could get used to that, too.

Gideon laughed. "Don't you think that's setting expectations a bit high, Fae?"

Fabian narrowed his eyes at his brother. "You try, then."

"I say we call ourselves something Muggle-friendly, so there are no questions about what we're trying to represent," said Abed.

Gideon turned to me with an earnest expression. "Cap, didn't the Muggles go to the moon a few years ago?"

"They did," I answered, and I had a flashback to being nine years old, and watching on our neighbor's black and white telly as an American astronaut stepped out of a spacecraft and onto a grey-washed world. I'd never looked up at the moon the same way ever since.

"Muggles are obsessed with space travel," Caradoc said. "They imagined going to other galaxies before they managed to get a rocket off the planet!"

Harriet turned to him sharply. "You have to have vision before you accomplish anything, you know."

"Of course!" he answered, moving his bright orange glasses up his nose. "And their vision is extraordinary! Captain, have you ever been to a real Muggle cinema?"

I nodded.

"Then you've heard of this really excellent film that's just premiered—Star Wars!" Caradoc was beside himself with excitement. "The Muggle imagination is absolutely fascinating!"

Fabian and Gideon Prewett had never looked so confused in their lives. Whatever sharpness had been in Harriet's eyes before softened as they observed how Caradoc's whole body bounced with delight.

"Star Warriors!" Fabian exclaimed suddenly, and everyone but Caradoc broke out into guffaws.

"I don't remember seeing that—is it anohter film?" Caradoc asked, fidgeting with his glasses once more.

"No, mate! Our team name." Fabian straightened up and looked off into the distance as he announced, "Star Warriors."

Caradoc frowned. "Bit off the mark, no? You'd have to really know Star Wars to get understand."

I smiled. "Caradoc, I can guarantee that every single Muggle in this castle—and then some, including yourself—has seen Star Wars. But I worry Star Warriors makes us seem more like Vikings than Muggle Allies."

Fabian sighed. "Well, there's definitely something there."

"Han Sextet," blurted Abed, and the twins lost it.

Caradoc very kindly managed to explain that there was a character called Han Solo in the film, and since there were six of us, Abed amended his name to describe us as such.

"It's terrible," Gideon laughed, but he still smiled warmly at Abed.

"Hideous," agreed Fabian, and they laughed again.

Harriet punched Gideon slightly in the arm. "What were you going on about the moon for, anyway?"

Gideon grinned. "The Muggle contraptions that got them there. Spacecraft?"

Harriet nodded. "Most team names are named after a location, or something that flies—Chudley Cannons, Holyhead Harpies, Puddlemere United, you know? We could be—what? Merlin's Moonrovers?"

"Merlin's Moonrovers," repeated Fabian, trying it out.

"Sort of a mouthful," said Abed.

I shrugged. "It's not bad, though."

Gideon objected. "It isn't sexy enough!"

"What sort of birds are sexy, Prewett?" teased Harriet, shoving his arm playfully.

"Falcons, obviously," Gideon replied seriously without missing a beat.

Abed tried again. "Merlin's Falcons?"

"Did you know the merlin is a kind of falcon?" began Caradoc, but despite a roll of the eyes from Harriet, no one got a chance to answer him because it finally hit me.

I gasped and slammed my palm down on the table. "By Godric, I've got it!"

My team stared back at me expectantly.

Oh, Merlin, I hoped they'd like it.

I licked my lips. "The Millennium Falcons."

"YES!" agreed Harriet immediately. "That's perfect!"

Caradoc nodded thoughtfully. "That does seem to fit rather well."

"While it sounds rather nice, what exactly is a millennium falcon?" asked Fabian.

Abed answered, "Han Solo's spaceship. It's excellent."

Gideon and Fabian slammed their fists on their tables simultaneously and, in perfect unison, chorused, "Excellent!" Apparently, that was normal; they didn't even flinch.

"Muggle-friendly," started Gideon.

"And Star Wars-related," finished Fabian. "We need to see this film, Giddy!"

"What Giddy needs is to pass Transfiguration," muttered Harriet, and we all laughed.

And that's how I became captain of The Millennium Falcons.

Later, in the common room, after several "Have you talked to James yet?" inquiries from Jen, James and I managed to seclude ourselves from our mates to have a proper chat at last. We sat on a long, goldenrod couch, sandwiched between a bookcase and a wardrobe.

I'd been going over some of Jen's concerns since that afternoon in Ancient Runes and I thought that if we were going to start anything, James and I had to be on the same page.

"James Potter," I began, and I almost lost my nerve at the slight upturn of the corners of his lips. "I obviously fancy you, but—"

"Oh, sweet Merlin, are you breaking up with him already?" called over a very nosy Sirius.

I glared at him and he immediately put his hands up in defense. I got out my wand threateningly, and in what some might have considered to be a hostile manner, cast a Silencing Charm around James and me.

I turned back to James, whose face seemed to express that he was utterly charmed by whatever hostilities I may or may not have just displayed in his best mate's direction.

When our eyes met, it was as though I saw myself through his own, and I was suddenly awash in effervescence.

"Where was I?" I said, trying to clear the sensation from my mind.

"You fancy me?" he teased, turning my hand over in his.

"Right!" I looked back at him and blushed. "I fancy you, and—wait, do you fancy me?"

I couldn't believe I had actually asked him that.

I, Lily Evans, had become the Romance Inquisition.

How mortifying.

But James just burst out laughing as though I'd just told him the best joke in all of wizarding history.

"You're mad, you know that?" he finally managed, once he'd calmed down enough to speak again. "Do I fancy you? Do hippogriffs fly? Do grindylows swim? Honestly, Lily, I don't even know how to function without fancying you. I always have."

I frowned. "I thought you were just taking the mickey out of me."

James ruffled his hair nervously with his free hand. "I was a bit thick about it before," he explained sheepishly. "I didn't know how to behave properly around you. I always felt like I had something to prove."

I giggled. "You proved to be a right little prat!"

James didn't say anything, dropping his gaze to our hands.

I feared I'd hit a sore spot.

"And I—I couldn't see past that. I suppose I never bothered to since you and Sev didn't exactly get along, either."

"About that," James said, suddenly serious. "There's something you should know."

"Yes, I already know; Remus told me."

He frowned. "He did?"

I nodded. "It explains a lot, actually," I said. I thought of what Remus had told me—that Sirius and James had been engaged in a year-long feud of retaliation with Severus. It wasn't one-sided or person-specific. It was ideological, on a grander scale, and it was personal, too.

"How much did he tell you?" James asked.

"He didn't go into much detail, but I totally understand," I said.

James leaned in towards me, conspiratorial, and whispered, "So you know about me and Sirius—?"

"Yes! Remus explained it all to me."

Why was he being so weird about this?

He looked so vulnerable as he gazed down at me and asked, "And you're okay with it?"

Merlin, this was getting strange.

Was I okay with James having been a bully?

Not exactly.

But he also hadn't exactly been only a bully in this equation. He was often the victim of Sev's hexes and Dark Arts curses, which according to Remus, had left him stranded down deserted corridors for hours.

Not to mention, he'd stood up for Sirius against his blood supremacist relatives.

"You did what you had to do, and you were there for your friend. It may not have been the wisest of decisions, but it is brave."

James looked as though he were about to kiss me right then and there in the middle of a busy evening in the Gryffindor common room, and as much as I wanted to let him kiss me, I didn't want to be the object of any more gossip, especially if Frank Longbottom and his traitorous camera were around.

So I leaned forward and kissed his hand.

Like some knight in a medieval romance novel.

Merlin, I was such a loser.

However pathetic it might have been, it pinked James's cheeks significantly, and he smiled shyly at the floor.

Finally, he inquired, "And you're okay with Remus? You'll keep his secret?"

Perplexed, I cocked my head to the side.

Remus's secret?

That he was remarkably—if not eerily—observant?

"Of course," I shrugged.

And then, James actually did kiss me right then and there, and I can't say I did a good job of cutting it short or anything of the sort, because I was already sitting down and that kiss made me need to sit down.

Have I mentioned that James Potter is an amazing kisser?

Why didn't I know this before?

Why had I deprived myself of this for so long?

No matter, his lips were on mine, and the Silencing Charm had at least delayed any attention our smooching noises would have gotten.

A pink haze clouded my thoughts and I let it push out the parts of my brain that were telling me we really should stop snogging and get to the important part of the conversation—the part where I asked him if we were dating or not.

People could see us!

But so far, no catcalls or whistles had pierced my kaleidoscopic kissing daze, so I let James shift me so that we were facing each other on the settee. My heart was thrumming a pleasant, excitable rhythm, and I could feel his heart beating through his robes as he pulled me against him.

I basked in the warmth of his kisses for so long that I didn't realize we had suddenly gone horizontal. The alarms went off in my head at that, and I broke away from him.

"Damn," he whispered gruffly. He had braced himself above me, and I was embarrassed to find my legs tented up around his hips.

I sheepishly let go of him and pulled myself out from underneath him. "This is exactly why we need to talk!" I exclaimed, righting my skirt, and glancing nervously at the other Gryffindors in the vicinity. No one seemed to have noticed us at all.

James didn't even have the decency to look ashamed at how heated things had just gotten. IN PUBLIC.

"Okay. What do we need to talk about?" he asked, fixing his glasses on the bridge of his nose, and looking thoroughly put out.

The boy had no shame whatsoever!

I raised an eyebrow at him, because I couldn't work out how to say, "What are we?" without feeling like a complete numpty.

So, James continued, "I mean, things are good on my end since you already know Moony's a werewolf, and about the incident with Snape and Sirius last year."

I was about to interrupt and tell him that things would be better on my end if we talked about the exact state of our relationship, but that particular disclosure had left me totally and completely speechless.

I gaped at him.

Moony's a werewolf.

All these little puzzle pieces in my head shifted just enough that everything made a little bit more and a little bit less sense simultaneously.

He caught my surprised expression and his eyes widened. "Oh, fuck! Please tell me that's what you were talking about before!"

I shook my head slowly and unblinkingly, feeling like an empty-headed troll.

Moony's a werewolf.

James kneeled before me, and took my hands in his. "Lily, let me explain," he begged desperately. I locked my eyes on his and even though the revelation that Remus Lupin was a werewolf seemed too huge to fit in the space we'd created for ourselves in that corner of the common room, his eyes said safe and his hands said it's okay.

I nodded. "Okay," I said. "Explain away."

So he did.

A/N: Tiny disclaimer: Apparently A New Hope wasn't released in the UK until December 1977, but we'll just pretend it was a summer blockbuster hit for the sake of our newest Star Wars fans, Fabian and Gideon Prewett. :)