Lily woke up one March morning to the most peculiar thing: the sun rose so bright the crimson curtains around her bed seemed to be glowing, and cast against them was a dark and lean silhouette. From the neck down it could have belonged to anyone, but Lily could have recognized that head of hair anywhere. It stuck out in all directions, full and unruly, and as the silhouette drew nearer Lily could make out the face more clearly.

For some reason it did not occur to Lily to wonder what James Potter was doing in her bed at all, let alone so early in the morning.

"Are you awake?" came his hoarse, sleepy voice as Lily's eyelids fluttered.

Lily nodded and watched that trademark grin spread across the face she so adored.

Her heart melted delightfully. She reached up and grasped a handful of his shirt to pull him toward her.

"Don't wake Libby," he whispered, and anxiety swelled in Lily's heart at the mention of that name, at the thought of Libby waking up to find them there together...

But it was Lily, not Libby, who woke up. Blinking into the blinding white light of that cold March morning, her heart sank. She was alone. And it was not James she clutched at, but a mass of her blankets.

She shook herself, embarrassed, and with great difficulty, got out of bed to face another day at Hogwarts. And try as she might to forget the memory of her dream, it was impossible to shake off the feeling it gave her, or the heart-wrenching disappointment she felt upon waking. She could barely look at James all day.

It was the first of many dreams she'd begun to have about James. They all seemed to involve him forgetting Libby existed, or kissing Lily when Libby was not around, or telling Lily how unsatisfying his relationship with Libby had turned out. Lily woke up feeling guilty every time, but more powerful than her guilt and embarrassment was the cold sting of disappointment when she realized she was dreaming. Often she realized she was dreaming halfway through, and she found herself trying to remain asleep for as long as possible so that she could be with dream-James a little longer.

Unfortunately, real life was nothing like her dreams. These days, Lily scarcely saw James without Libby. And ever since James and Libby started dating, Lily had become frustratingly awkward around him. She did not know whether to talk to him or not talk to him, to be friendly with him or avoid him. She feared her every interaction with him was somehow a giveaway.

On the rare occasions Lily found herself alone with James, Libby always seemed to appear out of thin air.

Just the other day her Ancient Runes teacher, Professor Vector, had sent Lily out of the lesson to check on Fiona Trachtenberg. Fiona had excused herself from the room half an hour ago complaining she did not feel well.

About twenty paces ahead of her in the deserted corridor strolled James, out of Arithmancy for whatever reason. She rolled her eyes with a small smile as she surveyed his shirttail hanging out of his trousers. She was a second away from calling to him in a mock reprimand for his appearance when, from an intersecting corridor ahead of Lily, Libby turned the corner.

Was everybody out of class? She knew Libby had Divination during this period. Did she just care for a stroll? Lily didn't have a lot of time to think about this, as she watched Libby spot James and tiptoe quietly but quickly toward him. At the last moment she sped up, tackled him from around the middle and covered his mouth with hers as he yelled in surprise. James's back collided with the stone wall and Libby kissed him hard on the mouth. Probably far from Libby's intentions, however, James's head bumped against the stone wall as surely as the rest of his body did.

"Oh!" cried Libby, unable to help laughing a little. "I'm so sorry, I didn't mean to!"

"Well, I hope you didn't," said James, rubbing his head and looking irritated in earnest. "Trying to make me swallow my teeth?"

"I'm sorry, I was just saying hello."

"If that's how you tell people hello I'd avoid women and children unless you want to go to Azkaban for murder." he mumbled, and Lily couldn't help a giggle slipping out.

James and Libby turned quickly to look at her.

"You two are really something," she smirked.

"What are you doing out of class? Don't you have Arithmancy now?" asked Libby.

"I've got Arithmancy, Evans has got Ancient Runes," James corrected her casually.

Libby glared at him.

"I've got to find Fiona in the loo. She's been in there for about forty years," Lily rolled her eyes. "Probably blubbing about Connor McCrohan again."

"Really? McCrohan?" said James thoughtfully. "She's quite fit for a prat like McCrohan. Er—you're much prettier obviously," he said nervously, catching a death-stare from Libby.

Lily laughed. "Yeah, well, the heart wants what the heart wants I suppose. Your noggin alright, Potter? You're not going to start crying as well, are you?

"Ha, ha," said Libby dryly, and James winked.

In the end, Lily received a very deliberate hint from Libby—"So what's up, Miss Prefect? You trying to figure out how many points to knock off Gryffindor for our hallway snogging or something?" Lily smiled coolly and continued on her way.

Just like James's surreptitious wink in the corridor that day, his and Lily's communication became more and more discreet. Somehow this made her attraction to him more difficult to manage than open flirtation would have. Lily found herself passing notes to him and Sirius any time Professor Slughorn invited them to gatherings, reveling in making James laugh. They had reached an unspoken agreement in Muggle Studies—their only class together without any other sixth-year Gryffindors—to partner up any time Professor Burbage instructed the class to form pairs, and after a while it was as natural as James and Sirius partnering up, or Lily and Alice.

James was not the only one Lily found herself spending more and more time with, however. Jasper Podmore had asked Lily out several times, and Lily agreed each time with cheerful indifference. Jasper was nice enough and got on well with Lily's friends. More importantly, if Lily was seeing Jasper, and James was seeing Libby, what was it to anyone if Lily and James were a bit friendly? Obviously it couldn't mean anything, as they were both involved with other people…

On the evening of Saturday, March 26th, Lily received a very amusing owl after coming home from a nice day in Hogsmeade with Jasper, Alice, and Frank.

Dear Everyone—

As you may or may not be aware, tomorrow is the seventeenth anniversary of the birth of our dear James Charlus Potter. Shall we be a bit cheeky and make him think we've forgotten the occasion?

Please join us for a laugh and HOLD YOUR CARDS, PRESSIES & BIRTHDAY WISHES TOMORROW MORNING. We had a chat with Madam Rosmerta today and convinced her to allow us to give him a birthday do at the Three Broomsticks tomorrow evening, where you are free to admit that you are, in fact, aware of the day's significance. That is, if we can even get him there. He is sure to be really sour by then after only his mum remembers it's his birthday. We can't wait.

DON'T SPOIL IT,

S. D. Black & R. J. Lupin

PS – Mr. P. E. Pettigrew refused to take part or even sign this notice because he is afraid James might give him a spanking if he gets involved. So be sure to tell everyone, particularly James, that it was all Pete's idea! Cheers!

Lily smiled and looked at the envelope she had planned to give James the following morning. She tucked it into the pocket of her winter cloak and got into bed.

In Lily's opinion, Sirius's and Remus's prank could not have been going more splendidly. The pair got up extra early that morning and convinced Jasper and Peter to do the same so that James woke up to an empty dormitory and only his mother's gift at the foot of his bed.

He already looked surly when he arrived in the Great Hall around ten o'clock for breakfast.

"Hi," he said pointedly to Sirius.

Sirius did an excellent job at looking at a loss to the reason for James's intensity. "Er…hi."

James stared calculatingly at his best friend. Sirius raised an eyebrow.

James turned abruptly to Remus and Peter, both of whom had a slightly more difficult time than Sirius hiding their amusement, but succeeded all the same.

As though certain Libby would remember this special day even if his best friends did not, James said, "Nice morning, hey Libbs?"

Sirius swallowed a smile. Lily looked away. Libby kept her eyes focused on her French toast. "I suppose…a bit too cold out for my tastes. How are you today, Love?"

James paused. Then, heaping food onto his plate, he spat, "Fine, Love." He was silent for the rest of breakfast until he called his Quidditch team out for an afternoon practice before Hogsmeade.

Lily spent the afternoon brewing a Photograph Development Potion in order to send her father some photos of Hogwarts, Lily, and her friends, as she knew he so enjoyed the moving photographs of the Wizarding World. By the time she finished and headed to the Great Hall for a late lunch, the Gryffindor Quidditch Team began to join the rest of the school from practice.

"How'd it go?" asked Sirius with an evil smirk.

"Oh, it's finished," Gwenog rolled her eyes. "James was so annoyed that no one told him happy birthday, in the end Libby told him you two put everyone up to it."

"Oh, come on!" Sirius groaned.

"She didn't, did she?" said Remus.

"Yeah," Gwenog shrugged. "I don't think she could take how let down he was and he was being really short with her."

Sirius tisked. When Libby followed Marc Hughes into the Great Hall, Sirius accosted her immediately. "What've you done?"

"Leave me alone," she snapped. "It was a really rotten prank, and you got to have your fun anyway."

"It's alright, Sirius," said Lily. "At least there's still the surprise party at Hogsmeade."

There was an awkward silence. Libby bit her lip.

"Ah, Libby, you didn't!" said Lily.

"Well, he was really down!" she whined.

"He's a big boy, Libby, he can take it," Sirius argued. "It would have been a laugh in the end."

"I know he's—I know that, but—so what? You've all had your fun."

"Yeah, for about three minutes," said Sirius testily. "Why've you gone and done that?"

"What's the big deal? It was a stupid joke anyway."

"I bet he thought it was brilliant."

Libby bit her lip again, going pink in the face.

"He did laugh," said Marc.

"See? That's that ruined," said Sirius, crossing his arms.

"Oh, grow up," Libby snapped. "I'm sure the two of you will still have a lovely date together tonight," she added bitterly.

"Oh, don't start that again. Just because you expect him not to have any friends anymore since the two of you've started—"

"I do not expect that! I never said that!"

And, rather cruelly in Lily's opinion, Sirius did his best impression of Libby's voice and said, "James, you're hanging around them again tonight? James, why can't you be my partner in lessons for once? James you've invited Sirius, Remus, and Peter round for Easter already but you haven't even thought to ask—"

"Alright," said Jasper firmly. "Lay off, will you mate?"

After Libby stormed off to the other end of the table, Sirius sighed and tended to his lunch.

"Calm down, alright?" Remus muttered to Sirius when everyone else had looked away.

When James arrived at lunch he did, to Sirius's credit, seem to be acting rather moody with Libby.

James's birthday celebration in Hogsmeade was a success nonetheless. Everyone seemed to be handing him his presents whenever they felt like it, so toward the end of the evening Lily met James near the bar.

"Alright, Trouble?" he winked.

"Very well, thanks Weirdo. Happy seventeenth."

"Cheers. What are you drinking?"

"Oh, no, I don't think so Mr. Potter. The birthday boy pays for nothing, let alone for other people."

James laughed. "Fair enough."

"Talking of…" Lily reached in her pocket. "This is for you," she said, handing over a small envelope.

"What's this?"

"It's your birthday present."

"Ah, thanks, Evans," James said with a wide and happy grin.

He had barely torn the parchment when Libby appeared next to them. "What's up?" she tried to say conversationally, but looked very deliberately back and forth between the pair of them.

"Er…just given him his present."

"Oh!" she said, pulling up a chair near James and resting her chin on his shoulder to get a better view of the envelope while he opened it.

There was a very pregnant pause in which James and Lily looked at one another. Lily gave the tiniest shrug, and James continued tearing.

He pulled out four strips of heavy paper, read the writing on one of them and snorted with laughter.

"What are they?" asked Libby, misinterpreting James's reaction for derision.

James was smiling so widely his voice actually sounded different. "It's four tickets…to the Museum of Science and Industry." He looked up at Lily.

Libby raised an eyebrow.

Lily willed herself not to blush under the look James was giving her. "Well you're always saying in Muggle Studies how that stuff boggles your mind. Muggle science and technology and that. So…I dunno, I think you'd like it, probably be a really amusing day. I figured you could take Sirius, Remus, and Peter over break in a couple weeks. It's only in Manchester."

James continued looking at Lily for a moment. Then he laughed again. "Well…blimey…thanks, Lily. This is…seriously…brilliant. I don't even know what to say."

Lily was so pleased at his reaction that she beamed at him, forgetting for a moment that Libby was practically on top of him. She was reminded of this, however, when Libby slid off her stool and stalked away mumbling, "I'll be back later." James watched her go for several seconds until she took a seat next to Frank and Jasper.

He tapped the tickets casually against his hand several times, said "Really, thanks, Evans," winked, and went to join Sirius, Remus, and Peter to show them his present.

It was not long before Lily wished she'd given him that rather personal gift in private. After several bottles of Butterbeer, James started becoming very openly excited about his trip to the science museum, and both Jasper and Libby seemed highly irritated by this.

Jasper had already pulled her aside to warn her that Libby was a bit miffed, to the point of telling him so, but after a few Butterbeers of his own Jasper admitted to having similar feelings. Lily tried to handle his complaints about how close Lily and James seemed lately as diplomatically as possible without being dishonest.

Jasper was a very nice person, and was usually very easy to get along with, he was timid to the point of seeming afraid of her, and Lily could not think of a less appealing approach. The odd thing was that Jasper was not like this when he initially asked her out, nor was he like that with anyone but Lily. With Libby, Maggie, Alice, and the boys, Jasper was fun and outgoing, but when it came to being with Lily on his own he'd clam up.

"It's because he likes you so much," Alice had told Lily a few days ago. "He's a really nice bloke though, you should give him a go."

But Jasper seemed so self conscious and uneasy around Lily that it had begun to make her uneasy.

So when Jasper approached Lily at James's birthday party, she was not keen to discuss the issue. She had a mind to go for a walk and possibly even return to Hogwarts when she was ambushed at the door by a clearly tipsy Libby.

"Can I talk to you?" she said.

Oy, thought Lily. "Yeah, sure. Alright."

Libby dragged Lily outside without bothering to put her coat on.

"Wow, Libby, it's really cold out, don't you think you should—"

"You know, I thought and thought what to get him for his birthday. And I really wanted it to be special, but I couldn't think of anything good so that's why I just got him the Quidditch stuff."

Lily swallowed. "It's…it's really nice stuff, he really seemed to love it. Don't say you 'just got him the Quidditch stuff,' as if it's not—"

"Yeah, well," Libby interrupted bitterly. "Why'd you have to get him something all…all special?"

"I…Libby, I really didn't put much thought into it…I couldn't not get him something, or…well, that'd be rude, and that was the first thing I thought of."

This, of course, was not entirely true. Although James's interest in Muggle technology was, indeed, her first stroke of inspiration for a birthday gift, she had actually spent a lot of time thinking of how to satisfy that interest.

Libby argued with Lily for another minute, never really saying what Lily could tell she wanted to say, or asking the question she wanted to ask. Still, it was too much, and Lily left the Three Broomsticks thinking that what she really wanted right now was some peace, quiet, and sleep—preferably dreamless, Jamesless sleep.

Whatever had transpired between James and Libby after Lily left the previous night, all had seemed to be forgotten. They entered Defense Against the Dark Arts that morning as friendly as ever, and Libby took her usual seat next to James.

That year, their Defense professor was a retired Auror by the name of Magda Woods, and on that day they would be covering Patronuses.

"Everyone's Patronus will, for the most part, take a different form," Professor Woods announced to the sixth-year Gryffindors and Slytherins. "Now, I know some of you have already produced corporeal Patronuses. Would any of you like to share?"

Mary Macdonald raised a hand. "I produced my first one last term. It's a dove."

"Excellent," said Professor Woods. She looked at James Potter's raised hand. "And Potter?"

"Stag," he said.

Libby raised her hand.

"Miss Eaton?"

"I've never produced a Patronus, actually. But I was wondering—what significance does the Patronus's form have?"

"Oh, there are all sorts of reasons why a Patronus materializes in the form it does. Often our deepest strengths, our core attributes manifest themselves in our Patronuses. Many have speculated that is the reason they tend to take animal forms, as they are representations of our most basic, most animal, if you will, strengths and abilities."

"So if you were really resourceful or something, you might produce a fox?"

"Perhaps. But very often, human emotions have an influence. It is no wonder, as Patronuses are born from positive energy, and one of the things we as humans draw strength from is people. So while it can reflect our deepest qualities, our most basic qualities, it can also represent very complex emotions, like love, or loyalty."

"How?" asked Libby.

"Well, they can sometimes reflect another person's most basic strengths and abilities, or those we admire in them. Or, more simply, they sometimes just mimic their Patronus. My second cousin fell madly in love with a vampire, for example, and her Patronus was a bat." The class laughed, although Professor Woods did not. "So what say we get cracking?"

Professor Woods taught them the incantation and instructed them more on how to conjure a positive enough memory, and then the class set to work.

"Very nearly, Black!" Professor Woods encouraged. "We must remember, however, that not just any memory will do. It must be a clear enough memory that you can reawaken those feelings of happiness, one that you can draw strength from. Keep trying, everyone!"

Lily, who was becoming very frustrated at her inability to conjure a corporeal Patronus, took a break. Her eyes wandered around the room and she found Severus, who'd managed to coax a feeble silvery wisp from his wand; Mulciber had given up even trying; Maggie had procured an owl from her wand and was smirking. Lily looked around, and Sirius had managed the faintest outline of a large dog which resembled a Labrador, but it quickly vanished and he punched the air in aggravation. James was leaning on a desk and leafing through his Transfiguration book, and looked up to find Lily watching him. "Alright?" he grinned.

Lily shrugged. "You, Potter? Where's your Patronus?"

James stood straight, pulled his sleeves back and firmly said, "Expecto Patronum!" A silver stag erupted from the end of his wand, cantered around the room and approached Lily. She reached out a hand to touch it, awestruck. "It's beautiful," she said, but her admiration was quickly drowned out by frustration. A bear cub had just scrambled across the floor near her feet, and she looked up to see Libby looking very satisfied with herself.

"How are you doing that?" Lily snapped unintentionally. "What are you thinking of?"

Libby grinned. "I'm thinking about when I got sorted into Gryffindor."

"That's…that's it?" said Lily, suspicious. "It made you that happy?"

Libby shrugged. "Depends how you look at it, doesn't it? My whole family's been in Ravenclaw. For ages. My older brother was head boy, works at the Ministry as an Auror now. Big sister's a prefect, you know her, Rachel? Oldest sister's about to marry the Minister's Undersecretary…they've all always studied really hard and have aspired after really successful wizards and witches, and…I dunno, I've never been that way. I've always leant more toward practice," she said, flicking her wand and guiding her Patronus on top of a desk. "When I got sorted into Gryffindor, all the pressure was sort of lifted off of me. Like I didn't have to live up to any of that, like I'm my own person, going my own way. It doesn't have to be happy in the traditional sense. Just powerful, something that makes you feel positive. Think on it, Lily, you'll get it."

"True story," said James.

Lily turned to face him again. "Alright then, what are you thinking of?"

"Quidditch," he said simply.

Lily rolled her eyes. She tried to think of a powerful memory. As she watched James steer his stag around the room, a thought occurred to her. As soon as it entered her mind, she knew this would do it. The idea that this memory could not produce a Patronus was laughable, though she was not sure where she was drawing her confidence from. It was a powerful memory…the feeling of positivity—not quite happiness—was returning to her as strongly as if she was there again, living it.

James raised an eyebrow. "Don't think so hard, Evans, your brains will leak out."

Lily looked James in the eyes, eyes flashing, jaw set, her mind made up that she would produce a Patronus and if this memory and the feeling it gave her could not do it, she was not sure what would. She pulled back her sleeves, pointed her wand and shouted, "Expecto Patronum!"

This was no mere wisp of silver. So bright it was almost solid, something leapt from her wand, the largest Patronus in the room other than James's. Several people in the class ooohed, and Lily saw that Severus wore an expression of unmistakable admiration. With a delicate trot, Lily's doe traveled the perimeter of the room, leaping as if with joy. Lily was elated, but when she looked up to see James's reaction, he merely stood there, his eyes focused very intently on her, narrowed behind his square-rimmed glasses. He stole a fleeting, worried glance at Libby, and although her expression was relatively blank, there was a lot of color in her face as she looked at Lily.

Her concentration away from the doe and with James equally distracted, the Patronuses vanished. The air was thick, as if something unseemly had just taken place in front of them. She could almost feel Severus's eyes on her, and Lily had the overwhelming urge to leave the room.

It was strange; it did not occur to Lily until long after the lesson had ended to blush furiously over the form her Patronus took.