Thanks to The Librarian's Apprentice, messyblackhair66, Bookybookbook, Blue-elephant1, laxrules18, amanamanam and Suoer Cara for reviewing! OMG, seven reviews for the last chapter, that's the most I've ever had! Thank you so much for all the reviews, I loved reading them!

Thanks also to Librarian's Apprentice, Jade Fairy, coldveil and Blue-elephant1 for adding this story as a favourite :-)

Lol, and I did try not to have the typical bunch of lilies or a lily necklace! Thanks for noticing!

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Ch 14: What Can't You Say on New Year?

"Lily can you help me with my transfiguration essay?" A frustrated Marly asked as they sat together in the library, surrounded by parchment and textbooks.

"Sure, in a minute." Lily replied distractedly as she scribbled frantically on a piece of parchment. After a few minutes, in which Marly repeatedly sighed impatiently, Lily pushed her own essay away and looked towards Marly.

"Here, what do you need help with?" Lily asked Marly, pulling her essay towards her.

For hours, the two girls sat at the cramped table as they worked through the piles of work the teachers had left them for the holidays. Well, more accurately, Lily worked through all her homework while Marly sat staring out the window or doodling on the corners of Lily's parchment looking bored.

"Lily?" Marly said after a long silence in which only the turning of pages and the scratching of a quill could be heard. "Why do we have to do our homework now?" Marly sounded tired and irritable, and quite honestly Lily felt the same.

"Because, if we don't do it now then we will have to do it all after New Year and for the whole New Year's Eve celebrations we will be constantly thinking about all the homework we have to do and stressing out." Lily replied matter-of-factly.

Marly snorted. "Right. Lily, only you would stress about homework on New Year's Eve. I could quite happily leave all my homework until the last minute and not worry one bit, especially on New Year's."

"Fine. But I want to do it before and I don't want to have to sit in the library by myself so you are keeping me company while I do all my homework. And just because you haven't finished your's, don't even think you can copy mine!" Lily said sternly, looking at Marly's guilty face. Marly had been planning to, well copy wasn't the right word, 'gather inspiration' from Lily's work later on.

Finally, as it neared nightfall, Madame Pince shooed them out of the library.

"That was the most boring afternoon I have ever had!" Marly said grumpily as they headed back up to the common room.

"Well, you could have done something a little more productive than draw stick figures all over my essay." said Lily dryly. "I got almost all my work done. All I have to do now is practice the spells from charms and I'm done." She continued happily while Marly scowled.

---

The evening of New Year's Eve, Lily was sitting by the common room fire talking with Marly. They didn't really have anything planned for tonight and were content with relaxing by the fire.

"Lily, stop stealing my blanket!" Marly said, yanking back the blanket Lily had been slowly pulling over herself, hoping Marly wouldn't notice.

"But I'm cold!" Lily whined. Just then, Lily felt the weight of a soft blanket on her shoulders. Looking up, she found herself looking at James' smiling face.

"Thanks James." Lily said with a grateful smile and snuggling under the warmth of the blanket.

"Anyone for marshmallows?" Sirius and Remus appeared behind James, both holding packets of marshmallows and five long sticks.

"Oh, yes please!" Marly immediately helped herself to a marshmallow and a stick.

Sirius, James and Remus comfortably settled themselves next to the fire and the five of them sat there, happily eating marshmallow after sticky marshmallow. After a short while, the marshmallows ran out and they sat there in silence.

"I'm bored." Sirius complained after he felt the silence had dragged on long enough.

"Me too!" Marly also piped up.

"It's New Year's Eve. We shouldn't be sitting by a fire, we should be out partying!" James said, a smile creeping over his face. Suddenly, Sirius and Remus smiled also as if they were all in on the same joke.

"Are you thinking what I'm thinking?" Remus asked, grinning mischievously.

"What?" Marly added impatiently.

"We're going partying!" James exclaimed. His grin faded slightly when neither Lily nor Marly responded. "Come on, you're not going like that are you?" James grinned again and Lily looked down at her old trackies and warm woollen jumper.

"Where are we going?" Marly asked in confusion. She was thrilled about a party, Marly loved parties but James seemed to be missing the small fact that no one was having a party in Hogwarts.

"Go on, go get changed!" Sirius said, ignoring her question as Lily and Marly doubtfully headed towards the girls staircase.

---

"Maybe this wasn't such a great idea." Sirius said as they waited at the bottom of the girls' staircase two hours later. "How long does it take them to get ready?" He added impatiently.

"You know girls mate, they always take ages." James replied.

Meanwhile, up the staircase a minor emergency was taking place.

"Marly, what am I going to wear?" Lily asked worriedly, looking at the huge pile of discarded clothes on her bed.

After a few minutes of rummaging, Marly tossed Lily some clothes from the mound before returning to the mirror to apply her mascara. "Here, wear these."

Finally, the girls emerged from their dormitory.

"About time." Sirius said as he leapt over towards the portrait hole.

Marly looked dazzling in a flattering yellow dress, her perfect curls framing her pretty face. But James barely noticed as his eyes were immediately drawn towards the beautiful red-head that stood behind her. James stood stock still, staring up at the top of the stairs, his mouth hanging open. Above him stood a nervously smiling Lily. Her short denim skirt showed off her toned legs and the emerald green top set off her vivid green eyes. With surprising steadiness (Marly had made her practise for 5 minutes before they came down!), Lily descended the stairs in high gold heels.

"It's rude to stare!" Remus hissed in James' ear while elbowing him in the ribs. Gaining control of himself, James smiled casually.

"Wow Lils, you're almost as tall as me now." James joked. Lily was quite short that even in her heels she was still nearly two inches shorter than him.

"Where are we going?" Marly asked interestedly.

"That's for me to know and you to find out!" Sirius grinned.

"We won't be breaking any rules will we?" Lily asked nervously, looking at Remus for support. When no one answered, Lily looked slightly worried.

"Oh come on Lily." Remus said with mischievous grin. "Live a little. We won't get caught. And I wouldn't do anything too risky."

Mostly reassured, the group of seventh years trooped out of the common room. The Marauders led the girls to a corridor on the forth floor and stopped outside a large elegant looking mirror.

"Wow, raging party!" Marly said sarcastically. Lily trod on her foot with a scowl.

"Give us some time." Sirius muttered, watching as James tapped his wand against the ornate gold frame. Suddenly, the mirror swung open to reveal a roomy passageway.

"Where are we?" Lily asked in awe. She had really underestimated the Marauders.

With James leading the way, the others followed. After what seemed like ages with many grumbles from Marly, they came to a sudden halt. With a soft 'oomph' Lily banged straight into James' back from the sudden stop. His warm strong hands grabbed her instantly to stop her from falling and for some unknown reason Lily felt a slight swooping sensation in her stomach. As he pulled away from her, Lily could feel her skin tingling from his touch. Shaking her head, Lily cast all these strange feelings from her mind.

Like he had back by the mirror, James began tapping at the brick wall in front of him with his wand, muttering spells under his breath. Before her very eyes, Lily saw the wall begin to melt away like the one at the entrance to Diagon Alley.

Lily's eyes widened in surprise as she took in her surroundings. Gentle snowflakes fell from the sky, falling into Lily's long wavy hair. Tiny fairy lights were strung across the quaint little cottages and in the distance Lily could hear the sounds of New Year's Eve celebrations. With a sudden realisation Lily recognised the streets around her.

"Hogsmeade." She breathed, her eyes alight with interest. "How did you know how to get here?" She asked the Marauders in awe.

"A magician never reveals his tricks." Remus replied mildly with a smile. Sirius shot him a strange look, having no idea what a magician was and Remus blushed slightly.

"Follow me." James began to lead the way and Lily's head turned in every direction as they made their way through the quiet streets of Hogsmeade. Before long they came across a small bar, not far from the main street.

Pushing the door open, the five students entered the noisy pub. Fighting their way through the crowd of people they made it to the bar where Sirius ordered them a round of butterbeers. Within minutes, Marly was out dancing with a handsome young wizard. Lily laughed as she watched Marly toss her hair while flirting outrageously with the young wizard who was clearly enjoying her attention. Sirius had also disappeared with a pretty brunette in an extraordinarily short skirt and a tight fitting top.

Chatting companionably with James and Remus, Lily was surprised when she felt a faint tap on her shoulder.

"Wanna dance?" A voice behind her slurred. Turning around, Lily was startled at how close the man's face was. He was clearly very drunk and looked to be in his mid thirties. His eyes were small and bloodshot and his dark blonde hair was as dishevelled as his clothes.

"Come on pretty lady." The man said with a leering grin. His breath stunk of alcohol mixed with tobacco and Lily felt as if she might pass out from the stench.

Shooting James and Remus a scared look behind her, Lily felt unsure of how to act. James, always the hero, rushed to her defence.

"Leave her alone." James said angrily, moving to stand next to Lily and put his arm around her shoulders protectively.

The man waved his hand dismissively. As he turned to leave he said to Lily with a glance in James' direction, "You can do better 'an 'im, a pretty girl like you." Unsteadily, he wobbled off into the crowd.

"Are you okay?" James asked, turning to Lily looking concerned.

"Yeah, I'm fine. Just a little creeped out." Lily replied taking a gulp of her butterbeer.

For the next hour, Lily continued to sit with James and Remus at the bar with brief appearances every now and then from a breathless Marly. Sirius kept himself quite well occupied for the majority of the night and they occasionally caught glances of him amongst the crowd.

"Come on Lil, just try it." Marly urged as Lily stared distastefully at the glass in front of her. "Lily, it's New Years Eve, you have to at least try it."

Caving in, Lily gingerly raised the glass to her lips as James and Remus looked on with mild interest. This was a sight to see. Lily Evans, perfect little Head Girl, sitting in a bar late at night with a cocktail clutched in her hand. Lily had flat out refused to try the firewhiskey but Marly had not given up easily, intent on making her try at least one alcoholic drink. Wrinkling her nose, Lily took a tiny sip of the pink liquid.

"Could you even taste that Lily?" Marly rolled her eyes. "So how was it?"

Lily took another sip as Marly raise her eyebrows is surprise. "It's actually really nice." It tasted like strawberries and Lily took yet another sip as Marly burst into laughter.

"There you go Lily, we can still turn you into a rebel yet." They all laughed again and Marly was asked by what must have been the twentieth guy if she wanted to dance. Lily raised her eyebrows in surprise when Marly refused. He had been quite good looking too.

Lily had been asked to dance a few times but had politely refused each time, to James' relief. While slightly flattered by the attention, Lily felt uncomfortable by the leering grins and suggestive comments some of the men made at her. James looked as if he wanted to punch every guy that as much as looked at Lily, something she herself didn't even notice. Although she did notice that James had also refused every one of the offers to dance he had got, which had been much more than she had.

"Alright Lil, you've been sitting here all night. It's time you moved around a bit." Marly said, taking Lily's hand and trying to drag her onto the dance floor.

"What about James?" Lily asked, glancing at him. He just waved his hand in a 'don't worry about it' fashion, and still protesting half-heartedly, Lily allowed herself to be pulled onto the dance floor.

Dancing wildly with Marly and attracting much of the male attention, Lily felt exhilarated. With a confidence only the alcohol could have produced, Lily laughed and danced with Marly, full of energy. James watched her carefully, unable to tear his eyes away from her. He was so absorbed in watching her he didn't even notice Remus come up next to him.

"Daydreaming again Prongs?" He asked mildly.

Looking up, James felt wretched. Noticing his expression, Remus sat down next to his friend looking concerned.

"I don't know what to do Moony." James said miserably. "I think, I think I'm in love with her." Remus didn't need to ask who 'her' was. There was only one 'her' that James thought about, daydreamed about, fantasised about. Remus nodded, looking sympathetic but not surprised.

"You have to tell her." He said simply.

"What?" Asked James aghast. "I can't do that. After all, I know she doesn't feel the same. We're just friends." James spat the word out like a curse, which in a way, it was.

"Prongs, if you love her as much as I think you do, she has to know. And if you can't say if at New Year, when can you say it?" Remus said reasonably. James looked surprised at Remus' words but continued to stare at his hands miserably. Lily had been eaten up by the crowd and was no longer visible. The loud chime of clock indicated that it was close to midnight. Excited faces turned to look at the giant clock on the wall, watching as it counted down the minutes and seconds until the New Year.

---

A breathless Lily stood amongst the excited crowd, looking around for Marly who had somehow disappeared into the mass of people. Continued to search for Marly, Lily was interrupted by a voice behind her.

"Hey." Turning around, a handsome man around 20 stood behind her, smiling nicely. "Can I buy you a drink?" Somehow Lily had made her way to the other side of the bar. Looking curiously over to the other side, Lily could no longer see James.

Opening her mouth to politely refuse, the man cut across her. "Before you say no like you have to every other guy who has asked you tonight," Lily blushed embarrassedly, "I just want to get to know you. Nothing more." He looked sincere and Lily couldn't help smiling.

"Well in that case, I would love one of those." Lily said with a smile, pointing to the cocktail Marly had ordered her earlier.

The man grinned and turned to the bar, ordering a firewhiskey for himself. "Daniel Marks." He said, turning back to her and holding out his hand.

"The Daniel Marks?" She asked in surprise, shaking his hand. "Ravenclaw prefect and Quidditch Captain?"

"The one and only." Daniel said with a grin.

"Lily Evans." Lily remembered him from Hogwarts. He had graduated three years earlier.

They discussed Hogwarts, quidditch and Lily found Daniel's company quite enjoyable. He was very funny not to mention extremely handsome. They were both so absorbed in their conversation that neither noticed the crowd grow quiet. Soon the crowd began to chant the count down and Lily and Daniel rose from their seats to stand amongst the crowd. Still chattering and laughing they listened to the chanting as the New Year grew closer.

"Ten"

James had been looking for Lily and couldn't find her anywhere. Marly was talking to some guy in the corner and Lily was nowhere to be seen.

"Nine"

Pushing his way through the crowd, James knew he had to find Lily. Thinking about what Remus had said, he knew he was right. He had to tell her.

"Eight"

Lily was standing holding a cocktail when James spotted her through the crowd. Her bright hair stood out amongst the swarm of people as James made his way towards her.

"Seven"

"Lily!" Turning around, Lily spotted James in the crowd waving at her. She motioned for him to come over which he complied.

"Six"

Excited murmurs could be heard through the bar as James fought his way through unmoving people.

"Five"

Finally reaching her, James felt his resolution waver. She would reject him, he just knew it. But he had to try didn't he? He had to tell her that he loved her.

"Four"

"Lily, I have to tell you something!" James shouted through the music that had been turned up to full blast and the shouts and screams from the crowd. Lily looked at him curiously.

"Three"

"I can't hear you James!" She yelled back, waving about to indicate that she couldn't hear. James attempted to move closer to her so that he was standing barely a foot away from her.

"Two"

"Lily. I –" James stuttered as he looked straight into her eyes.

"One"

"I love you."

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Sorry, bit of a cliff hanger there! So, James has finally had the courage to tell Lily, but how will she react?