The next morning James woke up, head pounding. The light shined in from outside so bright he had to close his eyes. He groaned, rolling over and planting his face into his pillow

"What's wrong Prongs?" asked Sirius, laughing at James' pain.

"Fuck off.." he muttered through his pillow. Remus threw a pillow at him,

"Get up you git! We have to pack up." James only muttered a curse through his pillow again before getting up. He dared to open his eyes. The light burned his eyes and his head throbbed. He pulled on a shirt and put on his glasses. There was a lump under the blankets of Peter's bed that he guessed to be Peter. Sirius sat on his bed teasing James and his hangover and Remus sat quietly laughing over Sirius' comments. Sirius rolled over on his side to face James.

"I'm gonna guess you had fun with Lily last night?" he asked.

James paused for a second before going back to packing, "I don't know what you're talking about." he muttered.

"Oh don't pretend!" he answered back, "You guys were the last ones out! I know something happened."he winked. James grabbed his wand and shut the curtains on Sirius' four-poster. Remus laughed at Sirius.

Lily was awoken by Alice shaking her, "Lily! Lily! Wake up!" Lily groaned dramatically and rolled over. "Ugh..What time is it?" she asked.

"Time to wake up." Marlene sighed, sitting on her bed. "I think someone had a bit to much to drink last night," she winked. Lily rolled her eyes before sitting up.

"My head his killing me.." she muttered, head in her hands. Alice jumped up quickly,

"I have just the thing for you!" she smiled, clapping her hands together. She skipped over to her dresser and pulled out a small vile from the top drawer.

"Drink this!" she said, happily. Lily took of the cork and poured the purple liquid into her mouth. The effect was almost instant. Her head stopped hurting, and the taste of alcohol left her mouth, leaving her more hydrated. She jumped up, happily and gave Alice a hug.

"Thank you so much!" she said. Alice smiled and returned the hug,

"It's no problem, Lils. We all took some." she laughed.

Josie sighed dramatically, "Can we please go down to breakfast? I'm starving!" They all laughed and let Lily get ready before going down the stairs to the common room.

The marauders stood around talking about the party. James looked horrible and appeared to be out of the conversation. Lily felt his eyes on her as she walked into the common room. Marlene went over to kiss Sirius on the cheek. Lily stayed a little while back and looked at James.

What had happened last night? They almost kissed..And they danced together for hours. It was as if their past had never existed. Something was different. There wasn't any tension or hate. It was as if a balloon had been released of all its air. The moment was broken by everyone suggesting they go down to breakfast. Lily gave a small nod, still looking at James and exiting with her friends. They all headed down together talking and laughing.

James had been pushed to walk awkwardly close to Lily. He glanced over every once and a while to sneak a peek at Lily. She stared ahead at nothing in particular. Her hair fell down her back easily and bounced as she moved. James loved Lily's hair.

When they entered the hall, everyone was chatting excitedly about summer plans. The marauders and the girls all sat down at the end of Gryffindor table. Lily was in her own world thinking about what she should do about James when Marlene smacked the table loudly,

"Lily! We have to make plans for the summer." she said, clapping excitedly.

"Yeah, that would be nice" she nodded. James sat looking down, twirling his food around with a fork. The smell of it all made him feel sick and the roar of voices was only making his head pound more. Lily looked over and noticed he wasn't eating. She gently rested a hand on his arm and whispered, "Are you alright?"

James turned to look into her eyes. They were large and filled with concern. He close his eyes and muttered, "Yeah. I'm fine." a couple of times. She looked at him for a few more seconds before patting his arm and turning back to her food. Sirius was practically shaking trying to hold in laughter.

"Only a few more minutes," he kept whispering.

"Until what?!" yelled Marlene in anger.

"Just hold on!" he shushed. Marlene turned angrily back to her food. Lily looked up and giggled slightly at Marlene's anger. She struck up a conversation with Alice about all their plans for the summer when a loud explosion came from the Slytherin table. The whole great hall turned to see a group of horrible Slytherin's running away from the area. The entire section of the table had exploded, then spiders and snakes poured out of a platter, crawling everywhere and on everything around there. The entire hall broke into laughter, besides the Slytherin's of course. They sat scowling at the entirety of the school. Even some of the teachers were laughing. Sirius high-fived James under the table before cheering and kissing Marlene on the lips. She just rolled her eyes and went back to eating her food.

After breakfast they all headed back to their common room, a little bit more sadly. Lily definitely didn't want to head back to Petunia and have her insult her and snog her walrus of a fiancee, Vernon. They all collapsed on the couches and the room became silent. They all just looked at each other, not really knowing what to say. Marlene had her arms around Sirius and they were whispering Merlin knows what into each others ears. Lily realized it was about time they should all be going and stood.

"I'll see you all in a bit," she smiled softly. All the girls followed her up the stairs to her dormitory. She set her trunk on her bed and put the remainder of her things inside.

"I'm gonna miss this place over summer," she sighed. They all looked at her,

"Come on, Lils! It's only a few months! We'll see each other soon," Josie smiled.

Lily shook her head, "It's different for you all. You all are going back to loving families welcoming you home. I'm going back to Petunia telling me how horrible and strange I am."

They all looked at her sadly because they knew she was right. Marlene sighed sadly,

"We should get down there.." she said looking down. They all nodded and dragged their trunks down the stairs. The Marauders were already waiting down there and they walked out together. Before they got on the train, James pulled Lily aside quietly,

"Potter let me go!" she whispered angrily. He only laughed and released her,

"Sorry I just had to talk to you." he smiled.

"If it's about last night I don't want to talk about it. I was drunk and you were too." she said, fixing her shirt. His face dropped and he ran a hand through his hair,

"Y-Yeah...That's what I was gonna say..We were just..Drunk." he said. She noticed his sadness and grabbed his hand,

"Clean up your act and maybe we'll talk next year," she winked and kissed him on the cheek. "Come on. They're waiting for us." They walked on the train and searched through all the compartments for their friends. They eventually found them near the back of the train talking. Josie jumped up quickly, "Lily! Where have you been? We've been worried sick!" she said, pulling her into the compartment.

A few hours later

They all exited the train quietly and stood on the platform. The girls hugged each other and promised to write and the boys just said goodbyes. When it came to Lily and James they just smiled and said, "Goodbye." Sirius departed with James and his parents. Lily walked up and hugged her parents happily. Petunia stood a ways back and sneered her nose at them. Lily gave a small smile and waved to her sister. She only rolled her eyes and yelled,

"Hurry up!"

This summer was going to be a long one..