It was hard for Lily and Hermione to fall back into their rhythm now that they knew what was going on with the Order. There hadn't been another meeting but James was visiting pretty regularly with information he got from his parents. Hermione tried not to interfere with their budding relationship as best she could.

It was so organic and pretty to watch. Lily had gone from hexing his face whenever she saw him to only sometimes hexing him. Other times she would throw him pretty smiles when he did something adorable.

He often had to be reminded to breathe in those situations.

Alice and Marlene sent owls frequently but they couldn't contain anything of importance. Dumbledore had stressed being discreet at the meeting. The girls were getting antsy to see each other if only to make sure that they were still safe.

Peter was having a hard time with his mother's death but they had been able to speak a few times. While unfortunate circumstances, he had been learning a lot about healing while his mom was so sick.

Remus hadn't contacted her at all.

"Hey Hermione," Lily said about two weeks after the meeting. They were just waiting for the word from Dumbledore on when they were going to start making moves. "Let's go to the river."

"Right now?" Hermione asked looking at the clock. It was late. Later than they should be out. Dark times and all that.

"Yeah," she said with a shrug, "we still need to live a little." That idea was something that was foreign to her. In her timeline, it was all Voldemort all the time. "Plus, all we have to look forward to is war and this wedding. At least give me some fun." Hermione laughed but pulled herself from her book.

"Whatever you say, Lils." A big smile spread across her face.

"And wear something cute!" Hermione didn't know what to make of that but nonetheless slid into a sundress and met Lily at the front door. She was dressed in a similar way, red hair down past her shoulders. Hermione understood why the Potter men liked red heads so much.

"Alright, what's the deal?" Hermione asked as they made their way down to the river. Lily just shrugged and pulled her along. It was suspicious and very Ginny like.

"A girl can't ask her friend to go to a bonfire down by the river?" Hermione raised her eyebrows at her.

"Not without explaining her ulterior motive." Lily sighed and ran a hand through her hair. Hermione gaped at her. "Channeling James much?"

"He's going to be there. Sirius too. They think that we should be having as much fun as we can before shit hits the fan, you know?" Hermione did know. She knew better than anyone else.

"Yeah, Lily," she told her with a hand on her arm. "I get it."

This wasn't just about having fun and they both knew it.

When they got to the river there were already a bunch of people there. Hermione vaguely remembered seeing ads for this throughout the summer but disregarded it. She honestly didn't think they would still be there. If she was being honest, she figured she would be on a mission or dead.

It wasn't hard to find James and Sirius. They were surrounded by people as usual. Lily grabbed Hermione's hand for support which she found oddly adorable.

The wind was moving Lily's blue dress around her knees but her eyes were leveled hard on James. Hermione knew the moment he saw her. He stopped pretending to listen to whoever was talking to him and stood up. Hermione tried to let go so Lily could go to him but she held fast.

It seemed like forever until the boys were able to get through the crowd. Sirius looked effortlessly gorgeous as usual. Hermione wondered where Marlene was because she was certainly missing out. He had the whole bad boy motorcycle look going on and Hermione wondered if he had bought it yet. His black shirt looked painted on.

James had Muggle jeans on. Something that Hermione noticed he seemed to wear a lot. He had a button up shirt on over his t-shirt, sleeves rolled up like he always did to his uniform. Hermione smiled when she saw Lily's red face. Nobody would deny that he looked good enough to eat.

"Lily," he called when he was within hearing distance as if she hadn't seen him and needed to call her attention to him. They were like magnets drawn to each other.

"I don't know if I can do this," Lily said quietly to Hermione. Hermione squeezed her hand.

"Sure you can. That boy would do anything for you. Trust me." Lily pulled her eyes from James to look at Hermione in a calculating sort of way. She knew that there was an undercurrent of something else to that statement but wisely chose not to comment. Hermione wouldn't have answered anyway.

They were getting closer and Lily's hand was getting tighter in Hermione's. Sirius winked in their direction which seemed to ease her tension just a little bit. Hermione laughed and gently disentangled herself to give him a hug, knowing that the other boy didn't even know she was there. He only had eyes for one person.

Whatever 'when', whatever timeline, there would always, always be Lily and James.

"You look beautiful."

It was a statement. It didn't even sound like it was meant to be a compliment and it honestly looked like it surprised both of them that he said it. Lily tilted her head to study his face. He put his hands in his pockets almost like he was trying to stop himself from putting them in his hair.

"Oh, thanks Potter." She nervously fiddled with the hem of her dress, suddenly acutely aware of its short length. The silence was awkward. "Having fun so far?" His eyes which had been downcast when she referred to him by his surname snapped up to hers.

"Not really," he told her honestly but then he smiled a sweet sort of smile at her. "Just waiting for you, Lily. As usual." She winced just a little.

"I'm never late."

"That's not what I meant."

"I know." She was sweating now. Why was she so nervous? This was Potter. James. Someone she's known for forever. Someone who has seen her at her best and worst. "Potter, I-"

"James," he said cutting her off, surprising her. Hermione felt her heart clench in her chest. It was like watching one of her romantic novels play out in front of her. Sirius grinned but miraculously stayed quiet while Hermione bounced up and down by his side.

"What?"

"Stop calling me Potter. We're past that. My name is James." His gaze didn't waver any more. He wasn't eleven. He was about to fight in a war. If he was going to die, he wasn't going to go down without Lily understanding a few things.

"Oh!" Lily was uncomfortable. She didn't do change well.

"Say it."

"I, uh," Lily was turning even more red. James sighed.

"Listen, Lily. This war, it's real. People we know are dying. There's a good chance that we are going to be put in situations where we might die. I'm not going to let that happen without telling you how I feel."

"I know how you feel," Lily told him in a small sort of voice. He shook his head with a sad smile.

"No, you really don't." She made to interrupt him but stopped when he put his hand up. Sirius leaned over to whisper in Hermione's ear.

"This is my favorite part," he said. Hermione giggled and shushed him.

"You are obnoxious. You have the worst temper of anyone I have ever known and I have no idea how I am going to explain your foul mouth to my mother. I cannot begin to describe how irritating you are first thing in the morning because you have absolutely no sense of humor. Don't even get me started on the whole Snape issue." Lily's arms were crossed over her chest and an ugly look was gracing her face.

"Oh, please do go on." He grinned.

"But you're beautiful. Not just the way you look because that's honestly the least interesting thing about you. You are the kindest person I know. You are always willing to stop whatever you're doing to help out a younger student. You study harder than anyone I know to prove yourself even though we all know that you are better than us at everything. You're hilarious and I don't even think that you do it on purpose. Your heart bleeds for everyone, sometimes too much." He paused here for a minute. "You've known about Remus for a long time and you didn't treat him any differently. How could someone not love that?"

They were quiet for a long time. He didn't move his eyes from her face. Gone was the boy who looked so much like Harry. Hermione suddenly recognized the man from Harry's photo album – this was James Potter, Harry's dad.

"You don't have to say anything back," he told her, still confident, brilliant, and beautiful like he had always been. "I just wanted you to know before we start fighting and-"

He didn't get a chance to say anything else because Lily grabbed him by the back of the neck, hauled him to her, and kissed him inside out.

oOoOo

"So, what have you heard from your brother?" Hermione asked Sirius. They were sitting next to each other by the fire. James and Lily were a little way over, wrapped up in each other the way that they were always meant to be. Sirius kicked at a rock by his feet.

"Nothing so far. I'm not sure what Dumbledore is playing at. Reg is not someone to be trusted." Hermione smiled just a little and nudged him with her shoulder.

"You'd be surprised."

"I don't trust the lot of them. Nott is a Death Eater through and through. I don't trust him one bit." Hermione didn't think telling him that he was in love with Marlene was the best course of action right now so she told him what she could.

"Listen, in my War. We worked pretty closely with a few Slytherins. One of them sent me here." That made his eyes snap up to hers. She smiled and leaned her head on his shoulder. He was warm and familiar.

"Who was it?" he asked. She let out her laughter in a breath, looking over to James and Lily. James turned Lily's face to him and kissed her soundly like he had always wanted to. It was a memory that they all needed to hold on to.

"You wouldn't believe me if I told you."

"Try m- FUCK!" They jumped away from each other in surprise and even James and Lily looked over. Sirius was frantically pulling at something inside his shirt. Finally, he was able to pull out a chain with a big ring sliding innocently around the bottom. Hermione recognized it instantly – the Black family crest. "Fucker just burned me!"

"Regulus." Hermione said. Sirius looked up. "It's time."