It's been so long, wow! But I had a sudden rush of guilt / inspiration/ whatever so... yes, let's finish this thing once and forever! My sincere apologies to everybody who once read it and gave up on it. But you know what people say: Better late than never!

xxx

And an interesting year it was. James Potter kept his promise.

Lily's sixth year in Hogwarts was different from anything before. First, her small circle of friends suddenly expanded. Sometimes she felt as if the Marauders had adopted her. Somehow they always found a way to involve her in their pranks. At first she would get scandalized but eventually discovered that a spark of rebellion had been smoldering deep inside. And once she embraced this new side of her… oh my, was she good!

Like this one time when she and Sirius made a special version of love potion, forcing the victim to fall in love with the first person whose name they whisper in his ear…Poor James didn't attend NEWT Potions and unsuspiciously drank the amazingly smelling cup of "something" they offered him at lunch. And after that Lily almost died of laughter when James fell to his knees in the middle of the Great Hall and declared his undying love to a very much shocked Professor McGonagall.

After the whole plot was revealed, they all got detention – Lily and Sirius for making the potion and James for being foolish enough to drink it. However, Horace Slughorn had been thoroughly impressed; he even send their revised Amortentia recipe to the "Potion Masters' Monthly".

Or… there was this time when James decided to convince her that Quidditch is really the greatest thing ever. And of course what other way to do it but secretly making Polyjuice Potion so that the both of them can sneak to Slytherin's practice and… basically cause as much mayhem as possible. It was a brilliant plan, Lily gave him that. With one tiny little problem. Apparently James had missed an ingredient so when the one hour was over, instead of safely returning to their real appearance, they ended up stuck in between. And it was not a pretty sight!

Madame Pomfrey had to spend hours on them, feeding them the most disgusting medicines, keeping them in the hospital wing for two days… And in the end Lily was still convinced that there is something really wrong with her nose.

So yes, when the girl came to think of it… this year contained a few memorable "incidents" with potions.

"You are an idiot, James Potter! Why didn't you just ask me to make the potion? "

"Would have ruined the surprise"

"Potter! Evans! Enough with the notes in class!"

"My apologies, Professor. "

Lily's smile was an example of politeness, as she made a big show of turning her full attention to Professor Flitwick's explanation on nonverbal color-changing spells.

And just a second later she passed another t note to Potter.

"Next time we do this, I make the potion!"

A quick glance at James' direction was enough to see his more than pleased smirk.

Starting as a time-passer during the most boring holiday ever, Lily's correspondence with James Potter was not interrupted even during school year. Actually, it rose to a whole new level and the occasional notes in class were the smallest part of it.

Now they were officially friends and Lily spent a lot of time in his company. However, she realized that it was still easier for them to express their more serious and intimate thoughts on parchment rather than in person. During the day they would joke around, talk about school and tease each other. Yet, very often (too often according to her roommates who kept complaining about it), long past bedtime his owl would knock on her bedroom window carrying a note of a completely different tone.

"…did you read the Prophet today? About the Prewett brothers? They were not much older than you and me.

Here, in school, it is not so difficult to forget that there is a war going on. Less than two years, Lily, and we will be out there. No longer protected by the walls of this castle. But see, I actually look forward to this moment. Because I want to make a difference. I want to fight.

Have you heard about the Order of the Phoenix? Once we are of age, I will join…"

"I will join too", she would write back, scribbling through the parchment on the light of her wand, so fast that her usually elegant letters looked shaky and uneven. "I am a muggleborn and obviously this puts me in a dangerous position. I want so hard to believe that everything is going to be alright in the end, that we will all be safe and sound. But something tells me that the war is far from over. "

"Nothing will ever happen to you, Lily, I promise. I will keep you safe."

When James wrote something like that, Lily didn't know how to respond. Yes, somehow he had become an important person in her life. He was a good friend. But sometimes (more and more as the year progressed, although she tried to ignore it) she couldn't help but wonder: could he be more than just a good friend. Did he want to be? And more important, did she want it?

The honest answer was: she did not know.

And thus, her sixth year in Hogwarts was over. One more breakfast, one ride with the train, and another long and boring summer awaited her. Lily would miss everything about Hogwarts – her friends, the classes, the professors, the castle itself. And James. Yes, especially James.

They didn't talk much in the train although she and Mary shared the compartment with the Marauders. Sirius was eating everybody's food, Mary, Remus and Peter were playing Exploding snap cards and James was reading although – Lily couldn't help but notice – he kept staring at the same page all the time.

Only after they reached King's Cross Station and everybody piled up at the exit, he closed the book. His eyes found Lily's and under that intense brown gaze the girl felt herself severely blushing.

"Lily, can you please wait a second. I need to talk to you about something".

Their friends all grinned and winked at each other but James didn't pay any attention.

"Yes, sure." Lily nodded and sat next to him. They silently waited until they were the only people left in the compartment.

"I'm listening, James, what is it?" she asked. He fidgeted with his arms, obviously not knowing how to start.

"Do you want to write it instead?" she teased. His smile was a little crooked but at least some of the tension was relieved.

"OK, I will be straightforward. You probably never knew, but I liked you since the moment I first saw you all these years ago. I was a stupid spoiled little brat who didn't know the first thing about girls. I had no idea how to act around you and only made you hate me. And Snape… I never understood how someone who is as kind and beautiful and amazing as you can actually care about someone like him. But in the end of the day I was exactly like him…. And the thing is, I've been really trying, Lily. I wanted to show you that I can be a better person. That I can be worthy of your friendship."

"And you have. Don't you see it? Yes, there was a time when Severus Snape was the only friend of a little girl who had just discovered the world of magic. And there was a time when you were an insufferable jerk. But you both grew up, James. Severus… he became someone who would call his supposed best friend a mudblood. And you…" she paused, a soft smile curling on her lips.

He reached and gently touched her face. She closed her eyes, feeling him coming closer… and closer… the tip of his nose brushed hers…

"What are you still doing here? The train is leaving back in 5 minutes!"

The witch who carried the food trolley was standing in front of their compartment, looking both irritated and amused. Lily jumped up, smoothing her robes, her face – almost as red as her hair.

"Merlin's pants!" James cursed. "Tell me about bad timing!"

They grabbed their luggage and got out of the train as fast as possible.

"This was…" Lily started.

"Awkward."

"Indeed. Anyway, I've got to go. Have a good holiday, James". She literally ran to her parents, leaving a deeply confused James Potter to hurry to his own family. His parents hugged him happily and if their noticed that their son is looking unusually distracted after parting with the pretty red-haired girl, they wisely didn't say a word about it.