The music was thumping, people were dancing, alcohol induced groping was occurring everywhere. It was defiantly a Marauder Party.

Unfortunately as the birthday boy, and just as a general consequence of being Sirius' friend, James had been pulled about and pushed to partake in every festivity the party had to offer. So when he finally managed to escape Sirius' overenthusiastic clutches, James decided to hide himself away in a corner, and take a moment to catch his breath.

He was standing there leaning against the wall, his eyes leisurely scanning the party when his eyes landed on Lily, who was laughing at something her friend had said. She looked beautiful as always but less commonly she looked carefree, it suited her.

He felt a pang when he realised that she never looked that way when she was around him. He supposed it was to be expected thought because the only time he every really saw her, or interacted with her at all, was when they were at meetings or workings. So was it really a surprise he hardly ever saw her as anything else other than stressed. It was regrettable but such was life he thought morosely.

He continued to scrutinise her and when he looked to the drink in her hand he recognised it instantly as Firewhiskey. Well who would have guessed he thought cheerfully not many girls could handle Firewhiskey in the quantities she seemed to be drinking it in, not may blokes could either he thought fairly, how surprising.

Funnily enough though, she always seemed to be surprising him, for example he had been truly shocked when after working with her in the first few weeks of term, he discovered she really didn't want to be Head Girl. She hated the idea of that kind of responsibility and was resentful of the work it required. Then again, he thought he shouldn't really be surprised at all, she had always been very good at proving his assumptions wrong. It was a quality that had always captivated him: her ability to keep him guessing.

No one else had managed to hold his attention quite like her, Kim had lasted longer that the others but he still always seemed to be looking for something that he could never quite seem to find. Once upon a time he had thought he had found what he was looking for in her.

He had been wrong which was regrettable and a little painful at the time but now he decided it was finally time to forgive her for not returning his feeling and to forget the awkwardness of the past. So with Kim and his friend's words ringing in his ears he decided that in the spirit of the party he would to wander over to where she was standing so he could talk to her.

"How's it going Evans? Having a good time?" he said eyeing the Firewhisky in her hand.

She turned quickly, obviously surprised to see him, but smiled anyway, "A wonderful time actually. Happy birthday by the way."

"Thanks."

"Was it a surprise?" she asked after a small pause.

"Not really," he said quietly.

"Oh? What spoiled it?"

"Other than the fact that Sirius always does something like this…well you kind of gave it away."

"What? Me? How?" she asked shocked.

"Oh come on, I didn't believe for one second that you would let me skive off of Head duties unless there was something in it for you. I was seeing Firewhiskey in your future," he added in a misty voice.

She grinned at his impression before saying: "ah, of course. Well just don't tell Sirius, I was the one who spoiled the surprise, I dread to think what the punishment would be."

"I won't," he promised as he turned to watch the party again thinking that the interaction could have gone worse.

Buts as always she surprised him when she demanded "Alright Potter what's brought this on, you're being all nice and friendly towards me, and it's scary. I mean you just voluntarily started a conversation with me about something other than work. Are you planning to prank me?" she said nervously checking over her shoulder fully expecting to see Sirius grinning maliciously.

Okay maybe his friend hadn't been too far off when they said he was cold to her. Maybe his behaviour hadn't gone unnoticed. She certainly seemed to be very aware of how he had felt.

"It's nothing," he said.

This answer was obviously not sufficient as far as she was concerned, but she was distracted from pursuing the issue when the noise level in the room suddenly rose causing them both to look across the room.

"Is that Remus?" asked Lily incredulously.

"Yep."

"That's totally disgusting," she stated blandly from beside him.

"Hmm… but funny," replied James continuing to stare straight ahead.

"He is so going to regret it tomorrow."

"Yep."

"Aren't you going to stop him?"

"Nope."

She smiled at James mischievously before saying, "and as the birthday boy are you going to give us a show too?"

He laughed at her shocked by her innuendo, his smile lighting up his eyes. He was about to give her a cheeky answer when the noise in the room rose again.

"Oh… Oh! Not Sirius too! Does he have no shame?" she asked averting her eyes quickly while most of the girls in the room went wild.

"Nope."

She laughed before yelling out across the din, "put it away, no one wants to look at your hairy arse Black!"

Suddenly Emily brushed passed rather quickly trying to get a closer look saying, "now, now, Lils let's not be rash." causing Lily and James to dissolve into gales of laughter.

Being able to recognise James laughter form a mile away Sirius swung around looking for the familiar head of hair, so he could convince his mate to join the current festivity.

But seeing him with Lily brought him up short. His initial feeling of unease was quickly doused when he saw they were talking.

Taking a moment to process this change, Sirius felt happiness swell in his stomach. He had always liked Lily despite her feelings towards James and he was immeasurably glad that there might be hope yet. He figured they would never be great friends, but if there was less tension between them, then the world would definitely be better off.

With this joyous, and perhaps slightly alcohol fuelled feeling he pulled up his trousers and jumped down off the table he was standing on and strode over to them.

Giving them both another drink he put his arms around their shoulders before giving James a sly conniving look out of the corner of his eye,

James looked at Sirius suspiciously before saying defiantly: "No Sirius I have a girlfriend."

"Oh come on, its all in the name of fun James!" complained Sirius.

"What is?" asked Lily curiously.

"It's the best birthday tradition ever," whispered Sirius in a far away voice.

"No Sirius," repeated James.

"Oh live a little James, how bad can it be?" ask Lily inquisitively.

"I knew there was a reason I liked you sugar!" winked Sirius, before he took a lungful of air and bellowed. "Kiss the birthday boy!"

"Sirius no," whined James.

"Why did you have to encourage him?" he asked Lily mournfully, she on the other hand just watched, laughing as he was pulled away from her to be shoved in front of various girls throughout the room.

He seemed to be trying to fend Sirius off until he was put in front of Kim, and after an enthusiastic kiss from her, James seemed to realise he had permission and allowed himself to be shoved laughingly around the rest of the room.

--

Much later that evening James pulled Lily up on to the coffee table next to him and called for quite.

"By order of the Head Boy and Head Girl," said James pointing from himself to Lily. "I'm afraid my birthday party must come to an end."

This announcement was met with groans from the room at large.

"We know! We know!" said Lily, "but it's well past two o'clock and a Professor is sure to be coming in here soon. So to bed please."

With much complaining, mainly from Sirius, most people went up to bed. Lily's friends, Remus, and Kim offered to stay and help clean up, but Lily and James declined saying it wouldn't take long.

After everyone was gone, Lily flopped down on a secluded sofa and sighed tiredly before saying: "go to bed too Potter, nobody deserves clean up duty on their birthday."

He smiled at her, before he too collapsed on the sofa, "it's okay, I'd rather stay down here for a little while anyway. These parties tend to over excite Sirius and he needs to be calmed down a little before he'll sleep, otherwise he comes up with these crack pot schemes that he insist we all participate in. Considering all that I'm sure you understand why I think it's more restful down here."

She smiled at him and said: "well the least I can do is be the one to tidy up for you." He was just about to protest when Lily waved her wand in a sweeping arch.

He blinked then looked around the immaculate common room impressed. "Damn Evans, I could have used that spell a few times over the last few years. I can't believe I've been doing it the Muggle way!"

"Yes well, sometimes it does help to be brilliant at Charms," she said with a cocky smile pretending to flick lint off of her top. "Anything else you need, perhaps a Kiss for the birthday boy?" she joked with raised eyebrows.

James groaned "I know its ridiculous and degrading…I really hate Sirius sometimes" but he suddenly brightened "but why not it is my birthday." said James cheerfully puckering up his lips like a fish.

"Oh, you're incorrigible," Lily laughed, but as she said it she sat up on the couch meeting him in the middle. "Well happy birthday," she said with a smile before kissing him full on the mouth.

The kiss started out light just like all the others James had received, but when James tentatively raised his hand and slid it under her loose curls she moved automatically closer to him. When he felt her body press against his he instinctively deepened the kiss.

Suddenly the bang of a door sounded above them, the noise seemed to bring them both heavily back to the real world and they pulled back quickly.

Shakily she put her fingers to her lips staring at him wide eyed.

He stared at the fingers on her lips, his hand still resting on the back of her neck. They both hesitated a moment before they finally made eye contact.

They looked at each other in complete shock and bewilderment.

"What was that?" she asked him in a truly baffled voice.

"I…I don't know," he replied unsteadily.

"I can't believe it, what were we thinking," she said mostly to herself.

"We weren't," he offered.

"Oh shitting hell!" she said suddenly sounding almost hysterical. "I have a boyfriend!"

James groaned hearing that, "Kim."

"A wonderful boyfriend who loves me!" she said starting to hyperventilate "What were we thinking?" she repeated. "We can only barely tolerate each other. And we jeopardised our relationships for… for what?" she asked him desperately, "just a grope?!"

"Evans it's okay," said James seeming to find composure in order to deal with her distress.

"We didn't mean it. We've been drinking; No one has to know; no one would believe it! It was just a stupid mistake, we can keep it to our selves, it was just one kiss that got a little carried away."

"You're right," she mumbled. "You're right," she repeated sounding more certain "Okay- Okay… we just …never talk about this, we pretend it never happened," she said looking to him for confirmation.

He nodded his head vaguely.

Seeing this she got up to walk away, but before she got very far she seemed to realise something and turned back to him. "This isn't going to affect us, is it?" she asked with desperation in her eyes. "We've only just started to get along and I don't want to ruin…"

"Don't worry Evans I can handle it if you can," he said smiling reassuringly.

"Okay," she said starting to leave again, seemingly reassured, so her voice was strong when she said: "Goodnight Potter."

When she left, however, she gave him a lingering look over her shoulder. Meeting her gaze with his lips still tingling James had to wonder if it was really going to be as easy to forget as they thought it would be.

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