To make up for all the Jily fluff I've been kinda ignoring – the end gets quite cute so watch out ;)

LILY POV

The 1st of October rose bright blue and cloudless. It also marked a lazy Sunday in the eyes of Lily Evans who was still sprawled in bed, despite the late hour. Marlene had been and gone a few times already, with each visit drawing another sarcastic comment about Lily's behaviour. But frankly Lily couldn't bring herself to care. And, as she'd pointed out to Marlene she had been up already since she had to walk from her new bed – albeit still in her pajamas – to get to her old bed.

She was too busy worrying about something that made her angry because she didn't want to be stressing over the said worry. It was the first Hogsmeade visit of term and Lily didn't want to drag herself from her bed. JShe'd been asked by two different guys – each which she'd turned down. To be fair, the second guy was Remus and he was only asking because the other three marauders had dates. And here she was, back to worrying about the thing that made her angry for worrying.

Marlene was obviously going with Sirius, although Lily had noticed her hesitation when Sirius had asked. None of the girls knew what was going on with Sirius, and Lily had tried nagging it out of James during Patrols but he kept his mouth sealed. Peter had asked Amber Morgan – a pretty Ravenclaw sixth year – a couple of days ago, and to even his surprise she'd said yes. Then there was James. Lily knew it sounded bad against her, but she was shockingly surprised when instead of asking her, he'd asked Poppy Williams.

Poppy was a seventh year Gryffindor and shared a dorm with Lily. They usually got along quite well, even if Poppy mainly stuck with the fifth member of their dorm – Mary MacDonald. Poppy was tall, with legs for days and long, golden brown hair. She'd just gotten back from a two-month beach holiday and was therefore thoroughly tanned. She had wide, bright blue eyes and – not that Lily usually noticed these types of things – huge boobs. It was one of the reasons Lily had opted to stay in bed – this way she could spy on Poppy without freaking the girl out.

Marlene returned for the fourth time that morning, this time with Alice. Unfortunately for Lily, they both caught her eyeing Poppy as she run a comb through her perfect, perfect hair. Marlene smirked.

"Say Poppy," Marlene started, ignoring Lily's stink eye. "Where are you and my delightful cousin going today?"

Poppy flopped her curls over her shoulder before turning to face the girls. Her eyes instantly went to Lily.

"You do realise it's near noon Lily," Poppy said.

Lily pouted, but made an effort not to reply with something sarcastic.

"As for you Marlene, I don't know where James' is taking me. He only asked me yesterday, and it was kind of rushed at that," Poppy explained. She turned back to her mirror.

Lily watched as she expertly tied her hair back into a loose and messy, yet elegant pony tail.

"He and he's mates usually hang around the Hogs Head," Marlene continued. "I reckon the bar tender serves minors there, because I can't see its appeal honestly. I suppose they are boys. But since it is just you and James." Lily could've sworn Marlene was out to torture her. "I'd say he'd want somewhere that was still secluded but suitable for a date."

"If he takes me to Madame Puddifoots I just might scream," Poppy joked.

"Do you and James usually speak?" Alice asked. Realizing how the question might be taken offensively, she hurriedly added, "I mean, I've never really seen you two together – so people are wondering, well people think –

"That me and James are having a secret fling?" Poppy finished. She tucked her wand into the pocket of her flowing dress.

"Well yeah," Alice said timidly.

"Well you can tell those rumor starters that we're not," Poppy said firmly. "I'm not really into James. He's just fun to be around, and Mary's busy with work so I thought why not."

"Does he know that?" Marlene asked.

Lily sunk deeper and deeper into her sheets. It was so plaintively obvious as to what her two friends were doing.

"If he doesn't, then I guess he'll find out soon enough," she told them. "Anyway, I always thought James had a thing for you Lily. I expect he's just trying to make you jealous or something by taking me."

"And you're fine with that?" Marlene said incredulously.

"Like I said – I had nothing else to do. And who knows, maybe James' is just asking me as a friend or something," Poppy said.

Marlene scoffed, but noticing the hurt look on Poppy's face she turned it into a weak cough. "You could've gone with us. Well, Alice and Lily here."

"You girls are nice," Poppy said, blushing. "But it's too tiring keeping up with all your ins and out jokes. I better go, I told James I'd meet him in the common room at noon. See you there maybe."

Lily watched nervously as Poppy swept from the room. As soon as she was out of earshot, Lily rounded on her friend.

"That was out of line," she told Marlene.

"You got what you wanted from that conversation," Marlene said, rolling her eyes. "You should be thanking me."

"Yeah and you managed to seriously damper Poppy's mood," Lily muttered.

"Oh stop being a drama Queen Lily," Marlene snapped. "Sitting up here acting all sulky and down in the dumps, then rounding on your friends when we try to help. I'm going to go find Sirius. Enjoy your bed."

Marlene stamped from the room, smiling boldly at Alice before disappearing down the stairs. Alice sat tentatively on the edge of Lily's bed. Lily smiled at her friend's kind face. Alice had her opinions, and was just as strong minded and stubborn as her two friends, but someone managed to come across as fragile and sweet in her words. Lily wasn't the type to envy her friends, but it was certainly a trait that did more good than bad.

"C'mon Lils – Marly's right, there's no point mopping. We can go together and get some lunch or something," Alice said softly. "There's also this dress I saw in a catalogue that I want to try on."

Pushing back her complaints, Lily slide out from under her sheets. "I don't know why I care so much Alice, I really don't. It's not like I want to date him or anything…" she trailed off, praying that Alice would be able to untangle the knots of her mind.

"I understand that," Alice said. "I don't think it's jealously either. I think you're scared."

"Scared?" Lily repeated. That was new. She pulled on a pair of denim shorts and a cream, cashmere jumper.

"Yeah scared that you've already ruined any sort of relationship you could've had with James," Alice said bluntly.

Okay screw the idea that Alice was softer with her words. That stung painfully.

"He hates me? Doesn't he?" Lily said woundedly. "I've tried – I really have, but everything he says aggravates me so much that I can't help snapping at him."

Alice raised an eyebrow.

"Okay, fine maybe I haven't tried that hard but still."

"C'mon," Alice said. "We can go try now."

"I'm not crashing James' date," Lily said firmly. "That's too much."

Alice just rolled her eyes.

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The stupid weather made Lily even more annoyed. Her and Alice were sprawled around a table in the Three Broomsticks, their tummies full and their plates empty. The place was mainly full of third and fourth years, with a few older couples on dates. Lily was still surveying the crowded room, when she heard Alice groan and sink deeper into her seat.

Lily grinned when she noticed who'd just walked in. Frank Longbottom was a cheery, good looking Hufflepuff and also the object of Alice's affection. He was a prefect, and although Lily didn't know him that well she used to do the odd patrol with him. After Alice's and Marlene grueling this morning, Lily only thought it was fair to call him over. The boy was by himself, for bleeding sake.

"Hey Frank," Lily called, waving him over.

Alice moaned in surprise.

"Sit up properly you idiot," Lily whispered to her.

"Hey Lily," Frank said brightly. "Alice."

Alice simply whimpered.

"Want to join us?" Lily offered, waving her hand at the spare space beside Alice.

"Sure," Frank replied. "Just let me go order a Butterbeer or something. You girls want anything?"

"If you see any of those round, jam drop biscuits in the glass counter," Lily said instantly. "Here I've got coins."

Frank smiles. "No need."

As soon as he was out of earshot, Alice nearly rose out of her chair. "What in Merlin's name are you doing?" She growled. "He's going to think I'm so desperate."

"Al, clam down. Frank and I used to do patrols together," Lily told her.

"What am I supposed to say?" Alice moaned, sinking back into her chair. "How do I act."

"Just be yourself," Alice offered.

"Oh brilliant. Never heard of that piece of advice before. I'm all better now," Alice said sarcastically.

Lily didn't take her tone seriously. Alice had a habit of hiding her nerves behind sarcasm at times. She did grow surprised though, when Alice's look of horror moulded into a wide smirk.

"How this is too good," Alice said.

Lily turned in her chair to catch Frank balancing two Butterbeers in his hand. Next to him was James with her jamdrop in a brown paper bag.

"Hey girls," James said, dropping down beside Lily. He pushed the bag across the table to Lily. "Here's your biscuit."

Lily mumbled thanks, as Frank took his seat near Alice and passed James one of the drinks. "I found James moping all alone at the bar," Frank explained.

Lily strongly suspected the absence of Poppy had something to do with Marlene. "I thought you were on a date?"

"I was," James said. "But she didn't really seem that interested. And then she told me my blasted cousin had said some stuff about me this morning. All in all it wasn't my favourite date."

"That's too bad mate," Frank said good heartedly.

"From one bird to another," James said, but his heart really wasn't in it, so Lily ignored to vulgarity of his words.

"Or in this case," Alice piped, blushing slightly. "From one flower to another." Then she had the nerve to wink at Lily.

Lily fought back to urge to strangle her friend. Luckily the wink had gone unnoticed by the two boys, who were two busy howling with laughter and staring at Alice.

"I hadn't pegged you as the cheeky type Alice," Frank said, causing Alice to blush harder.

Lily smiled as the two broke off into easy conversation. She watched as Alice's shoulder's loosened and her words flowed more evenly.

"I take it this is what you had in mind when you waved Frank over, right?" James whispered into her ear.

Lily shivered as his breath ran down her neck. "I just thought I'd give the two of them a gentle nudge in the right direction," she answered. "Pity I couldn't do the same for you and Poppy. In fact, it was kind of my fault in ways."

James frowned. "And how'd you figure that out?"

Lily blanched. How was she suppose to tell James that the reason Marlene had verbally abused his date was because she was trying to wheedle information out of her about her intentions to appease Lily's over-analytical mind.

"Well I was with Marlene when she spoke to Poppy," Lily said weakly.

She had a suspicion that James knew she wasn't telling the whole truth, but she wasn't sure if she was happy or sad with the fact that he didn't try and pry it out of her. Did that mean he was giving her space? Or that he just didn't care enough to ask?

"That's hardly the spark for a dissolution of a potential relationship Evans," James teased.
"Anyway, I'm going to head back to the castle. Leave the two love birds to themselves."

Lily glanced over at Alice and Frank and realized she didn't want to be the third wheel.

"Walk me home Evans?" James added, smirking.

Lily rolled her eyes, waved a goodbye to Alice and Frank and joined James outside. He set a brisk pace back to the castle, swinging his arms carelessly by his side. Lily doubted he even realized how fast he was going – fast enough that her every third step turned into a leaping sprint.

"Do you happen to have a slow down button," Lily said, pushing her red curls out of her face.

James shrugged. "Walking is a waste of time."

"Walking has countless benefits, thank you very much."

"The very same benefits as running."

"Without the sweating and sore muscles," Lily pointed out.

"Not if you do it every day," James told her. "Anyway there are spells to stop sweating and if you stretch after, you stop your muscles from cramping up."

"James." Lily could've sworn that the voice came from James' pocket. "James! Oi you scrawny bastard."

"Ummm," Lily mumbled uncertainly.

James pulled a small mirror from his pocket, but instead of catching a glimpse of their faces, Sirius Black stared back.

"Hey Padfoot," James said.

But Sirius only had eyes for Lily now. "Ahh huh, I was wondering who'd kidnapped Prongs. What happened to your other date? What's her name?"

"Poppy," James informed him. "And it didn't work out."

"Other fish in the sea mate," Sirius said, shrugging.

"What about you and Marly?" James asked.

"Ahh yeah – I thought I better get my explanation in first before she badmouths me to the entire school," Sirius started, risking a glance at Lily. "You see, we kind of broke up."

"Kind of?" James repeated.

"All right, so she dumped me. Honestly though, I'm relieved. She was starting to drive me mental."

Lily scowled. "Cousin and best friend right here," she clarified. "So watch it."

Sirius ignored her. "It was just the same argument over and over. And she was always prying into my life. She wouldn't let the other night go – you know the one where you came a fetched me."

James nodded. "Was that really worth breaking up over?"

"She broke up with me," Sirius protested, rising his arms and flashing them the sky and a few overhanging branches.

"Where are you now?" James asked.

"Almost back at school," he replied swiftly. "I'm going to find Moony and force him to entertain me. See you there."

"Wait," Lily shouted, diving forward.

Sirius raised an eyebrow, cocking his head to the side. "Yes sweetie."

Lily rolled her eyes before asking, "did she seem upset after?"

"She wasn't crying," Sirius told her.

Lily groaned. That was useless since Marlene never cried. "Well what was she like?" Lily pressed. "Did she turn quite on you?"

Sirius pursed his lips. "Not really, I guess she still acted the same. Okay, gotta go."

Lily waved before realizing he'd already vanished. The mirror now just looked like a normal mirror.

"Well today's obviously not couples day," James joked.

Lily thumped him in the arm. "Have some sympathy," she said. "Anyway, it's certainly working for Alice and Frank."

"I'm just a match maker at heart," he told her.

"Yes? And how'd you earn that title?"

"Well for starters I convinced Peter to ask that Ravenclaw out because I thought they'd work well together. Then there was Remus girlfriend in sixth year – Jess someone. Anyway, I organized a small, Gryffindor gathering and invited her along. Then, there was…

"Yeah, yeah I've got it," Lily interrupted. "I should probably go to the Gryffindor tower and find Marley."

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It didn't Lily long to locate Marlene who was spread out on her bed, glaring furiously at the ceiling.

"I can't believe I let myself fall into his stupid trap," Marlene glowered.

"He is quite charming," Lily said. Catching Marlene glare she hastily added, "but it's probably for the better. You deserve way more than Black."

At that, Marlene's glare twisted into a frown. "Hang on?" She muttered. "How do you know about Black and I?"

"Well," Lily started.

"Lily Evans," Marlene smirked, sitting up. "Do tell."

"Okay fine," Lily said. "I had a conversation with James." Marlene rolled her eyes. "One were we didn't argue or tease each other."

"What happened to his date?" Marlene questioned.

Deciding it was probably better to keep Marlene in the dark with that one, Lily shrugged and flopped down beside her best friend. "Any way, Sirius told James about what had happened. He said that you broke it off."

Marlene nodded. "It just wasn't working. He keeps so much stuff from me, not that I want to force him into telling me all his secrets. It's just, well I want something more serious were the guy would feel comfortable in confiding in me. Actually, no he'd want to confide in me."

"And you will Marls," Lily said. "It just wasn't going to be with Sirius."

"I'll be fine Lily," Marlene said, since Lily had adopted her protective glare. "Honestly. If anything, if feels better just being friends. We kissed a couple of times, and it was fun and stuff."

"So you too never went any further?" Lily asked, cocking an eyebrow.

"He wanted to," Marlene giggled. "Trust me, I could tell."

Lily burst out laughing. "Well James fancies himself as a match maker – so maybe he can hook you up with someone."

"Match maker huh?"

"Oh it was adorable Marls," Lily pleaded, clutching her heart and flopping down beside her friend. "We finally got Alice and Frank alone together."

"Oh thank Merlin. Those two are long over due."

"Tell me about it," Lily moaned. "Anyway I'm going to head back to my room. McGonagall's essay is due tomorrow and I haven't started. Those boy's are a bad influence on me."

"Wait, I'll come with. I haven't started either."

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The two girls were sprawled in front of the fireplace, hastily scribbling the last few lines of their essays, when the portrait door swung open with a thunk. Then there was a burst of roaring laughter as James tumbled through, red faced and sparkling eyes. In his hand was a rumpled piece of parchment, and slung over his shoulder a tatty looking old cloak. Lily was too busy studying his carefree manner that she barely noticed when Marlene froze up beside her. And she barely noticed when Sirius burst into the room, patting down the smoke – smoke! – that was spiraling from his cloak sleeve.

"Oh!" James burst. Then his eyes fell on Marlene. "Oh," he repeated, this time louder. "Sorry we thought you'd be in bed. It is nearing one in the morning."

"So you thought it best to gallivant as loudly as possible back to your room?" Lily teased.

James shrugged, with a look that clearly read it's in my nature, you see. A loud cough from Sirius re-directed his focus.

"Well Prongs, I'm off to bed," he said, forcing an even smile. "See you at breakfast." He offered Lily a cheery wave, and smiled uncertainly at Marlene before leaping back outside.

James dropped onto one of the comfy sofas, groaning slightly. "Sorry Marley. If I'd had know you were –

"It's nothing," Marlene interrupted. "We agreed to still be friends. But we did break up today; I wasn't expecting to see him until at least breakfast. I was just surprised."

Not sure if she fully believed her friends words, Lily simply nodded. "It is getting rather late," she commented instead. "Do you want to stay the night here?"

Marlene shook her head. "It's fine. I should probably just head back to my dorm. Night you too."

The portrait door slammed closed for the second time in the early morning. Since Marlene had moved, Lily could now stretch out her legs and settle herself comfortably on the couch. She rolled her eyes when James transfigured one of the fire pokers into a warm blanket and levitated it over to her.

"I honestly never know what to say when you do stuff like that," she told James truthfully. Tiredness was one of Lily's strongest weaknesses, and it was the early hours of the day where she'd spilled most of her secrets.

James chuckled. "Would it make things worse if I carried you to bed."

"Definitely," Lily grumbled. "And if you try I'll hex your hands to your broom."

"I could think of worse things," he told her. "At least I could play Quidditch all day, that way."

"Mental," she found herself muttering. James' smile spread further across his face. "How about we play a game?" She suggested.

"A game?" James repeated. "It's almost one A.M."

"So?" Lily said, growing excited. Nerves filled her belly as she sat up at little, enough she could properly see the whole of James' face. Fire light flickers across his face, deepening the colour of his eyes and making his hair, if possible, even more ruffled and wild. In that moment Lily couldn't help but realize how attractive he was. Not in a rugged and chiseled type attraction – although he certainly was both of those – but in a warm and soft kind of way. Pushing aside any lingering thoughts, Lily pulled her focus back to the conversation.

"All right, I'm intrigued," James told her.

"It's not an exciting game," Lily explained, realizing that as a marauder his idea of fun was setting up pranks and causing chaos. "In fact, it's not really a game. But seeing as we don't really know much about each other and it's too early for me to bother caring much, I was thinking we could do the question game."

"Ok," James responded simply. "You start."

"Do you have any siblings?" Was Lily's first question. It wasn't the most original, but she reckoned it was safe ground. Unless he responded with the same question. Lily wasn't too sure if this was the wisest game to be playing anymore.

"None," he said. "Unless you count Sirius. He lives with me now, so I guess you call him my brother."

"Why does he live with you?" Lily asked instantly.

James waggled his finger at her. "No, no, no Lils. It's my turn now. I already know you have a sister because of Marley." Lily mentally made a note to have a proper talking to Marlene about the things she told people at breakfast. "But I want to know why you two don't get along."

"That wasn't a proper question," Lily pointed out.

Rolling his eyes, James re-phrased his words so they were in proper question form. A little nervous with confiding in James, Lily began to explain her relationship with Petunia, starting with the day she first got her Hogwarts letter. She left out the parts with Severus, not because she wanted to lie to James but she thought it best to just simply kill one bird with one stone. Besides, she didn't want to overwhelm him with all her issues.

"So basically she just ignores me when I go home over the holidays," Lily concluded.

"That's awful Lily," James said sincerely. "She sounds jealous if you ask me."

Lily shrugged. "Why does Sirius live with you?"

"His family is basically raging psychos. His mother could probably put Voldemort to shame," James put bluntly.

Lily gasped. "You can't talk about someone's mum like that."

"Trust me. It's a miracle that Sirius survived infancy."

"So he ran away or something?"

"Wait your turn Evans," James said winking. "I'm not done with you yet. This one's been bugging me ever since I first met you on the train." Lily gulped nervously at that. "I want to know why you became friends with Snape."

Lily fought back the urge to defend Severus. James and his friends, in Lily's opinion, had always been to fast to judge but after Severus behaviour during fifth year Lily couldn't blame them. Marlene had even pointed out once, that if she hadn't made friends with Snape before Hogwarts, she probably never would've made friends with the prat at all. Her choice of words, not his.

"I knew him before school," Lily started. Catching James' curious expression, she thought it safe to continue. "He caught me performing under age magic to Tuney. And first I thought he was weird and mean since he kept on calling me a witch but he finally convinced me that he was telling the truth and from there I was hooked. It was Hogwarts that changed him."

"It wasn't Hogwarts that did that Lily," James said defensively. "It was his own choices. He could've fought against everything that Slytherin did – some people too – but he didn't and that has nothing to do with Hogwarts, or you for a matter of fact."

Lily was surprised at the weight that lifted off her shoulders because of his words. She hadn't even realized how much it was still bugging her.

"How come Sirius' family are like that?" Lily asked.

"They're big believers in Voldemort," James told her. "The whole lot of them. Aside from one of his cousins and a great uncle, the whole lot of them where the worst types of Slytherins you could expect to meet. I suppose you remember some of them. Bellatrix and Narcissa Black?"

"They were his cousins?" Lily nearly exploded.

James nodded. "When Sirius got sorted into Gryffindor his whole family turned against him. He used to be really close to his brother – just like you and your sister – but you've seen him now."

Lily winced. Guilt instantly swallowed her up. She'd never taken Sirius seriously, not even once and had never even thought that he could have problems similar to hers. Catching her expression, James shook his head.

"You can't beat yourself up Lily," he told her. "That's how he wants it. He doesn't want people's pity, and he especially doesn't want to be associated as a Black."

"It's your turn," Lily whispered. She rubbed exhaustion from her eyes.

"You sure you don't want to go to bed?" James asked.

"Not really," she answered sleepily, growing warm at the smile that made its way across James' face. She'd put that there. It was a weird thought, but it made Lily happy just thinking it.

"What do you want to be when you grow up?" she asked.

"Hey, it's my turn," James protested.

Lily shook her head. "You wasted it, already."

"No fair," James grumbled. "That wasn't a proper question."

"And you're ignoring mine."

"Well my answers easy. An auror."

Lily hadn't expected the answer, but now that she heard it she realized just how much it suited him.

"What about you?"

"I used to want to be a florist," she said, yawning. "You know, because of my name. I was going to have one with my sister called Lilies and Petunias."

"All right," James said, standing up. "I think it's bed time. C'mon."

"You're not carrying me," Lily retorted, clambering to her own feet.

"Wouldn't dream of it," James breathed, his words washing over Lily's face.

She hadn't noticed how close they were standing, almost toe-to-toe. "Well night James," she whispered.

He reached over a tucked a loose strand of curly red hair behind her ear. "Night Evans," he said cheerfully before striding over to the staircase.