Disclaimer: Harry Potter and all things affiliated belong to JK Rowling

Author's Note: Hello to everyone and I'm sorry for the long delay in updating but I've had a lot on my plate lately. I won't bore you with the details but I will say that I have the two chapters following this one written already and just waiting to be edited and uploaded...So there definately shouldn't be a long time in between postings this time :)

I want to thank everyone who reads this story! I am somewhere in the 13000 hits range and I can't believe it! That's really amazing! I'm also five reviews away from 100 which is also pretty dang awesome! So thankyou to everyone for reading this and for all your support you have all been really great!

This chapter is more to lead into the next chapter but some important things happen within it so without further ado read away :) and don't forget to review!

CHAPTER 17

Dormitory Daze and Another Drunken Cove

Lily wasn't sure how she made it through the rest of the train ride. Somehow she and James had handled the meeting with the prefects (which it ended up was in the compartment he had led them to) and then along with Remus they had gone back to their friends. When she entered their compartment she had tried not to blush but had lost the battle. Her friends shot her knowing looks but thankfully didn't say a word. Before she knew it they were all heading off the train and making their way toward the horseless carriages that would take them up to the castle.

James talked and chatted almost like usual apart from the fact that his gaze kept shooting toward and lingering on Lily, who hadn't really said much to him at all since the kiss they had shared.

When they reached the castle Lily climbed out of the carriage and found herself surrounded by her friends who forced her to walk slowly and let the Marauders get a little ways ahead.

"Alright spill it." Alice demanded. "What did James do? You've been all spaced out since you two came back into the compartment."

Lily flushed crimson and bit her lip.

"Oh Merlin, he did it didn't he? He finally made a move on you?" Marlene squealed excitedly.

Lily felt hot all over as she nodded.

"Come on, tell us Lils." Dorcas begged.

Looking around at her friends and seeing their excited and determined expressions Lily sighed in defeat.

"He kissed me alright." She admitted throatily. "He really kissed me."

Her friends all shrieked girlishly and began to hug and jostle her.

"Oh my goodness, so what does this mean?" Marlene questioned as they made their way through the large double doors of the Great Hall. "Are you two together now?"

Lily shook her head. "No but I've given him permission to convince me that we should be."

"I give it a week." Dorcas chirped excitedly.

"Two days." Marlene countered.

"Eight and a half." Alice said seriously.

"Why on Earth would you say eight and a half days?" Marlene snorted.

"Because that's what my gut was telling me."

"I think you're misinterpreting feelings of hunger." Dorcas giggled as they made their way to their seats next to the boys.

Lily fought the urge to roll her eyes as she found herself dropping into the only open seat, next to James.

OOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOO

James grinned at Lily as she took her seat next to him and leaned down to whisper in her ear.

"So how long did they give me?"

She had to laugh a little at how well he knew her and her friends as she replied. "Marlene gave you two days, Dorcas a week and Alice eight and a half days."

"Come on Potter don't let me down this time." Alice said winking at him playfully from across the table.

"I'll do my best." He said sincerely before turning his attention to Dumbledore as he gave his usual, albeit slightly more somber, welcome back speech and introduced their newest Defense Against the Dark Arts professor Erik Trygvasson a tall handsome man with an obvious scar running along the left side of his face.

After the feast was over he and Lily helped the prefects escort the younger students to the Gryffindor common room before opening up the note McGonagall had given them that explained where the head's dormitory was located.

"So we round this next corner," James said reading the instructions, "and we give the password to the portrait of Sven the Strong-hearted."

They found the portrait they were looking for and James saw Lily grin at the depiction of what was apparently a Norse Viking in ready to do battle.

The man was dressed rather scantily his entire upper body bare but for the gold bands on his upper arms and the leather guards he wore about his forearms.

"Password?" He asked in a voice that was deep and gravelly.

Lily grinned cheekily at James and he rolled his eyes at her apparent approval of the Viking.

"Flobberworms." James said scowling in dislike at the word on the paper.

The portrait swung open and James shook his head as Lily waved a flirty goodbye to Sven before preceding him up the stairs.

Her slight 'oh' of exclamation was all James needed to know their dormitory was very likely rather impressive. When it came into view he couldn't help but grin. There were three couches set up in a U shape before a large fire-place with a good-sized square coffee table in between. Throughout the room there were other large squishy looking chairs and dozens of bookshelves filled with textbooks and other reading material for them to utilize.

The whole thing was done in Gryffindor colors as James and Lily were both from that house and the effect was rather pleasant.

James moved toward the door on the left side of the common room that had his name written across the top in bright gold lettering. He pushed open the door and admired the large four-poster bed with a scarlet comforter. There was a cushioned seat in the window, and more bookshelves along the walls and a smaller sofa set positioned between the window and the bed.

James turned to find Lily staring at a door positioned to the right of the fireplace with worry. Before James could ask her what was bothering her it clicked. They had to share a bathroom.

"Well that could get awkward I guess." He said rubbing the back of his head, and yawning tiredly. "Do you usually shower in the morning or at night?"

Lily shrugged, "It depends on how I feel that day."
James nodded. "Same here. I guess we'll just have to lock it while we are in there and just work around each other."

After nodding in agreement Lily made her way into her room. James walked over and looked around the door frame smiling in approval.

"It seems like it suits you."

The bed spread was a shiny gold color with red trim and there were bookshelves and a sofa set and window seat just like in his room, only they were different colors and looked more feminine to him, and there was a large vanity positioned against one wall. There was also wallpaper that had red lilies with vine-like leaves stretching out to each other all across the walls.

"The wallpaper is a nice touch." He said grinning. "My walls are just a plain light gold."

She smiled and moved toward the bed and jumped into it grinning brightly.

"Somehow it feels more homey than the Gryffindor dorms." She said.

He nodded and then cleared his throat as he watched her lie back against her pillows.

"Well I think I'll get in the shower and then get some sleep." He said suddenly feeling rather hot.

As he moved away from her and headed toward the bathroom it occurred to him that he had just realized the drawback to sharing space with her. He sighed as he figured that he was probably just going to have to get used to being hard as a rock all the time.

OOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOO

Lily was still adjusting to sharing space with James. It had only been five days so far but she still couldn't get over the idea that he slept such a short distance away from her. That he showered where she showered. That he would be there to see her look her absolute worst in the mornings. It all took a lot of getting used to.

She had appreciated his acting so normal the first night they stayed together. She had been nervous and jittery enough about sharing space with him and on top of that she hadn't been able to get their kiss out of her mind. Once classes had begun and their duties as head boy and girl began Lily found herself occupied between thoughts of school and thoughts of James. And once classes started so had James' plan to woo Lily.

She found herself torn between amusement and embarrassment as he sought her out in between all their classes offering to carry her books, sometimes flirting with her outrageously and other times just walking in silence. She realized it was a declaration of sorts to the entire Hogwarts population that he had every intention of getting her to become his girlfriend. When they walked together people would stare and whisper and make Lily very uncomfortable but James would merely ignore them all. He talked to her about everything just as they used to in their Friday library meetings and she found herself feeling all too comfortable with him all over again.

It was on Monday the fifth day into term when he began to move forward more. As they exited their portrait hole and made their way down to breakfast he shifted their books to his left arm and grabbed her hand in his.

Lily tugged lightly and tried to pull away but he wouldn't have it.

"Come on Lils it's not like I'm mauling you in front of the whole school or something. I'm just…trying to be gentlemanly is all."

She bit her lip shyly, but allowed him to keep a firm hold on her hand all the way to the Great Hall. She found herself unsure of whether she was relieved or disappointed to have him let go of her.

All through that day he held her hand in between classes and all day long people whispered again and James just continued on as usual openly demonstrating his intentions. Before long Lily found that she was beginning to like the small gesture immensely.

She wasn't sure about her reluctance with James any longer. It was as if he were slowly tearing down her defenses and making her consider the idea that there really wasn't anything but her fear keeping them from being together. The problem was her fear was hard to bury. Even more so when some of the gossip that was flying around would reach her.

She had just walked into the girls bathroom on the fourth floor soon after the whole thing started when she heard Sarah Janson a fifth year Gryffindor talking about her.

"Well it's no wonder he's making such a big fuss about the whole thing. I mean Lily Evans has always been an attention whore. She probably asked him to make some big production out of it so that people would quit thinking she was easy."

"I don't think that sounds much like Lily Evans." She heard another voice reply. "Every time I've talked to her she seems really nice. At our prefect meetings she is always willing to talk or help you if you need it."

"Well I still think she's an attention whore. And I think she's got James Potter fooled with her whole 'I'm so innocent' act. Who knows what he's thinking anyway, I mean I'm not prejudiced or anything but it's not like his family would ever approve of her. He's got one of the oldest pureblood lines left." Sarah replied haughtily.

Lily shook her head at the silliness of it and plastered a smile on her face and rounded the corner. She stepped up to the mirror next to the owner of the second voice, who she realized was Zaria Spinnet a fifth year Gryffindor prefect, and pretended to be looking over her appearance in the mirror.

She smiled at the other two girls and said sweetly, "How are your classes going?"

"Not too bad." Zaria said grinning. "I'm rather enjoying professor Trygvasson's lessons in Defense Against the Dark Arts. He's been a pretty interesting instructor so far."
Lily nodded, "I like him too. Although I'll admit I don't always get his jokes."

"I don't think anyone does." Zaria agreed chuckling.

"Well I don't really like him yet. He's handsome though." Sarah threw in as she fluffed her hair. "It's just too bad he's got that awful scar along his cheek."

"Well we can't all have model looks." Lily replied winking at Zaria.

She finished pretending to look herself over and after washing her hands, which had been the point of her going into the bathroom in the first place, she waltzed out followed by the other two.

"See." She heard Zaria whisper. "I told you she was nice."

She found James leaning against the wall waiting for her and he smiled when he looked up and saw her.

"Hi Lils." He said reaching for her hand. "I thought I might have missed you coming out of potions."

"Nope you were just too busy with Sirius discussing what does and does not constitute second base with a girl."

James flushed crimson and squeezed her hand. "Heard that did you?"

Lily nodded enjoying his discomfort before taking pity on him, "Hope I didn't keep you waiting long."

He grinned and leaned down to kiss her on the cheek. "Of course not. For you I'd wait forever."

Now it was Lily's turn to blush, especially as she heard Zaria whisper girlishly to Sarah, "He is so sweet!"

The color faded however when she caught wind of Sarah's a little too loud reply, "I still say it's an act. I'd be sweet to someone too if they gave me what I wanted all the time."

James' head jerked up at the comment and Lily saw out of the corner of her eye that Sarah at least had the grace to look embarrassed as he shot an angry glance at her.

"What the hell is that supposed to mean?"
Lily tugged on his arm and said earnestly, "Just leave it alone James. It's nothing."

He continued to scowl at the younger girl darkly even as Lily tugged him away. Once they were around the corner he rounded on Lily.

"Are they still talking about you?" He bit out irritably.

She went to say something soothing and change the subject but he stopped her with a tug on her arm.

"I'm serious Lily. Are they still spreading rumors about you?"

She sighed and nodded. "Some people are. Others aren't. Let's just leave it alone okay."

"I knew my mum was wrong." He said shaking his head. "I talked to her about the things that they were saying about you and she told me eventually people would find something better to gossip about. But it's not really happening is it? They aren't going to just let it go."

Lily shrugged, "Some people will and some people won't. It's alright. I'm used to them talking bout me. I'm Muggleborn remember."
"It's ridiculous Lily. They think that because of who my parents are that it makes me better than you in some way. When in reality it couldn't be more opposite." He said angrily.

She smiled softly, "I wouldn't say that. There are definitely times when I think you might be better than me."

James made a scoffing noise.

"Like in quidditch." She said nodding. "You're definitely better than me at quidditch. Or in DADA. You're better than me at that. And…"

She stopped as he pulled her up against his chest with his free arm.

"You know what I meant." He said softly.

She nodded and looked at the center of his chest. "I know."

"I'm sorry they make you feel uncomfortable." He said knowingly.

"It's alright. It's none of their business if we like each other." She said raising her eyes to his.

He smiled brightly then.
"So you definitely like me then Lils?"

She bit her lip and nodded and James laughed happily and began to pull her toward the Great Hall for lunch.

"Well that's good to know. I was beginning to think our relationship was totally one sided." He teased.

Lily knew the rumors would continue to fly but there wasn't much she could do about the whole thing and she was beginning more and more to try and adopt James' policy of not caring what people thought.

OOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOO

It was really late on the night of the fourth day back at school and she found herself lost in thought about the two of them. She was seated on one of the couches in front of the fire supposed to be doing her essay for Transfiguration when Sirius came stumbling in.

She looked up in shock at the sight of him obviously drunk and stumbling. She quickly shot out of her chair and made her way toward him.

"Sirius!" She exclaimed quietly. "What in Merlin's name are you doing?"

He chuckled loudly at her and she threw a silencing spell toward James' door so as not to wake him.

"You're not Prongs." He said grinning madly and leaning against the wall.

"No I'm not." She answered smiling softly.

"You're Prongs' Lily-flower." He cackled falling over and knocking a lamp off of a nearby table.

"And you are very drunk."

He nodded looking up at the ceiling sadly. "It's that time of year."

She nodded pretending to understand but really not sure of what he meant at all.

"Well how about you and I go to my room and I'll see what I can do about getting you sobered up."

Sirius cackled again and shook his head no. "Prongs would kill me. You're his girl. He called you, way back in first year…I would have called you but he saw you first. Told me you were the prettiest girl in Hogwarts and that there was no chance in hell he would relinquish you. I even tried to bribe him with ten or so of the ones on my list but he wouldn't have it. He told me I could have his whole list if I just let him have you."

Lily blushed a little and tried to pull him into a sitting position. "Well I don't think James will mind if I'm just trying to get you sober."

"He has to do it every year. Poor bloke. It's like tradition now." Sirius mumbled rubbing his eyes tiredly.

Lily let him ramble a bit about how often he and James had gone through stupid drunken moments together while Lily ushered him toward her room.

They stepped through the doorway and he looked around in interest.

"Who lives here?"

She grinned, "The head girl."

"Ohhh…nice digs." He said stumbling toward her couch.

Lily conjured up some water for him and told him to drink it. He did so obediently before saying carefully. "I ruined it all you know."

"Ruined what?" She said sitting next to him on the couch.

"Any chance I ever had with her I ruined the second I slept with that other girl. I still can't remember her name… James can though. He remembers what girl I screwed up with." Sirius said tiredly.

"Well I'm sure that if you just tell her you feel like you screwed up…" Lily trailed off as Sirius began to shake his head.

"No…I knew then and I know now that I'm not good enough to touch her." He said firmly. "She's just too damn good for me."

Lily began to understand what exactly it was Sirius was talking about. In their fourth year Marlene had developed a huge crush on him and she'd been truly disappointed when he'd dated every girl he could get his hands on except her. Obviously Sirius had a little more emotionally invested in the situation than Lily had thought as well.

"I think that's probably something you should let her decide." She replied.

"That's what James says." Sirius groaned rubbing his head. "He says that we'll never really feel good enough for the women we want. We just have to hope that they'll want us despite that."

She was about to say something to him when he suddenly turned rather green. Grabbing him by the hand she tugged him out of her room and toward the bathroom. As he retched into the toilet she grabbed up a wash cloth and wetted it.

A long while later he lay back against the wall in misery as Lily washed his face with the cloth. She smiled in amusement as she realized that not only did Sirius speak in complete sentences when he was drunk but that he also became rather affectionate.

"You're the best Evans." He said smiling and squeezing her waist tightly.

"So I've been told." She said grinning as it was the fourth time he'd mentioned it already.

He leaned over and kissed her cheek before leaning his head back against the wall and closing his eyes again.

"James loves you. Did you know that?" He muttered tiredly. "If he were here he would agree with me…he does though. He's told me like a million times. He really really loves you."

Lily was silent and Sirius cracked his eyes open at her. "You love him too. I know it. Cause if you didn't life just wouldn't make sense. A guy like James has to get a happy ending you know?"

She nodded in understanding and then rushed to hold the cloth to his forehead as he leaned forward to vomit again.

They were still in that position Lily holding the rag to Sirius' forehead and helping to support him when she looked up to see a groggy James enter the doorway.

His eyes widened in shock as he saw them and he moved forward instantly.

"Merlin Lily, I'm sorry. I totally forgot what day it was. I just…How is he?"

Lily tore her eyes away from a bare-chested James and said softly, "He's going to feel a lot better once he gets most of that mess out of his system."

James nodded and came to sit up against the cupboards next to the toilet, so that Sirius sat vomiting with Lily on his right and James on his left. Once he was able to sit back again Sirius looked at James and smiled.

"Prongs…you showed up! I knew you'd make it, you always do." He said giddily.

"I'm here mate." James said grinning in brotherly affection at Sirius.

"Are you feeling any better?" Lily asked him moving to take his hand in hers.

Sirius nodded dramatically and Lily grinned. "Well that's good."

"Hey James, I was just telling Lily that you love her." He said turning his head to his best friend and chuckling as he slid down the wall to lay flat on the tile. "Tell her I'm right. Tell her that you say it all the time."

James flushed crimson and said softly, "Some other time Padfoot."

"Kay…but don't wait too long. Opportunity comes but rarely my friend." He said tiredly. "You shouldn't let it pass you by."

James chuckled as Sirius fell instantly into sleep after that and he turned to Lily his stare piercing.

"Thankyou for taking care of him. I'm sorry I wasn't up when he got here I just…completely forgot that it was, well…you know." He said his voice somewhat rough.

"Ya, I sort of figured out what he was so upset about." She replied carefully. "You know she still holds a candle for him too right? You know that if he would just make a move she'd be thrilled."

James nodded. "I've sort of always suspected that. I just don't know if there is any way to convince him that she feels that way."

He snorted and then added. "And even if you did convince him I'm sure he would give you the same silly reasons he gave me about not being good enough for her."
Lily nodded. "That's a hard feeling to overcome." She all but whispered keeping her gaze pinned to the floor.

James shot her a look of confusion and said, "Are you saying you feel that way?"

She began to trace the pattern in the tile on the floor. "Sometimes."
"I feel the same you know." He said seriously. "Nearly all the time." He rubbed a hand through his hair nervously before saying, "I can't imagine why you would feel that way."

Lily shrugged. "I feel that way when I start to think about how many girls in this school would kill to have you give them attention. Or when I think of what an absolutely brilliant wizard you are. Or when I think about the fact that you're a Pureblood and I'm a…"

"Don't." He ordered shaking his head. "Don't let them make you think that blood matters in any way at all whatsoever. Because it doesn't. It has nothing to do with you and me. With my feelings for you. And you shouldn't let it influence your feelings either."

She nodded letting the words sink in and then went on. "I feel that way when I think about the fact that you are extremely rich and I'm middle class by definition. I feel that way when I look at you and realize that you are the most handsome guy I've ever seen."

James shook his head blushing at her words. "All of that is nonsense Lily. All of those things could be turned back around about you. I've had to chase guys away from you for years now. You're a brilliant witch, sometimes downright scary if I'm being honest. And you're incredibly beautiful…stunning actually."

She looked up to see his eyes were roaming over her and that they were smoldering in appreciation.

"You forgot the part about my being middle-class." She mumbled quietly, trying to keep her composure.

"That's because it was insignificant. Money shouldn't make a difference. So my family has a lot of it, why is that important? So does Sirius' family and I wouldn't want to be associated with that lot if they were my last option for social interaction in the world."

Lily grinned at his words and then shrugged. "It doesn't mean anything to you because you have it. To me it's…intimidating to say the least." She explained honestly. "I'm not used to the society that you live in. To the standards that you've grown up with."

"So we find a balance somewhere in between what you are used to and what I'm used to." He said mimicking her earlier shrug. "You don't think I'm intimidated by parts of your life. I've no clue what half the things in the Muggle world are even about. I made an idiot of myself just drinking that Coke this summer." He chuckled. "I'm worried I'll make a million mistakes if I ever meet your family."

"They would like you." She said honestly. "At least my parents would. Petunia doesn't like much of anything that's associated with me. So she'll probably hate you on principle."

James smiled softly. "Good to know."

"Do you really think we can make it work James? You and me?"

He nodded, looking at her intently. "Yes."

"Even with us being so different? From such different worlds?"

He sighed and slid across the bathroom floor, pushing himself up and over Sirius' legs, until he was seated right in front of her. He grabbed both her hands in his as he thought through what he wanted to say.

"Look I know it feels like a big deal to you, but you've got to get past our backgrounds Lily. We can't change them and we shouldn't have to. I care about you…I want the chance to be with you. I don't care about the rest of it. Pureblood, half-blood, Muggleborn…it doesn't make any difference to me." He explained running his thumbs along the backs of her hands. "My parents raised me to make my own choices about people. I wasn't brought up with the usual prejudices that most people of my sort are and I'm intelligent enough to know when something is foolish and unfounded."

He looked up into her eyes and Lily smiled at the sincerity she saw there.

"I've liked you for a long time Lily Evans. I've changed a lot about myself in the past year or so to be more what you need. I'm intent on getting my shot at happiness with you. And in order to do that, I need you to forget that I'm a Pureblood and you're a Muggleborn and to focus instead on the fact that I'm a guy and you're a girl and that there's something here between us."

She sat staring back at him for awhile processing it all and going over everything that they'd shared together. The time he'd spent letting her get to know him, adjusting to the idea that he wasn't the jerk she had thought. All the times he'd been there, the things he'd said to her and the things that she'd said back. It all added up to now. To them sitting on the floor in the Head's bathroom, with a passed out Sirius next to them as Lily was forced to come to a decision about the two of them.

She smiled finally and stood up from the floor. James rose with her and quirked an eyebrow at her questioningly.

"We have patrol tomorrow night." She told him biting her lip. "You can ask me again then?"

James frowned as she moved away stepping over Sirius' prone form to get to the door.

"Ask you what?"

"You'll figure it out." She said cheekily. "Afterall it used to be your favorite question."

Lily smiled as she shut the door and a moment later heard James' laugh. Good he'd figured it out then. Now all she had to do was make it through the next day without talking herself out of it.