A.n.: Here it is. Please review. Also, Lily's dress - Search Google Images for Keira Knightley's green dress in Atonement. God I want that dress.

Homecoming, Second Chapter

With a mutter of a spell the front door flew open and he slowly maneuvered himself and the girl he was holding trough the door.

The lights turned themselves on and revealed a comfortable looking room, with a fire roaring at the back. Surrounding the fire were three, red and gold striped couches, two of them occupied by sleeping forms.

He set her down on the couch, pulled out on an odd looking stick and waved it over her, her soaking wet dress vanished and was replaced with an oversized plaid t-shirt with matching pajama pants. Her hair dried and was pulled up into a bun, and the dirt that covered her face vanished to reveal beautiful pale creamy skin. A white fluffy blanket appeared out of nowhere and tucked itself around her sleeping form as she snuggled into the cushions.

The tall man with sleek black hair sighed, and turned to go get himself cleaned up when one of the other occupants in the room began to stir.

The man looked no older than eighteen, yet his face bore scars, wrinkles and wisdom beyond his years. He had warm brown eyes filled with concern, and certain tiredness, his honey colored hair messy atop his head.

"Usual spot?" He muttered.

The black hair man nodded, "Yeah, Park Bench."

He sat down next to his friend, putting his head in his hands.

"We have to do something Remus, it's been two months, I can't just sit here and watch this any more. It's like everyday, a little more sparkle, a little more life just disappears from her eyes." His tone was angry, frustrated, he gained momentum as he talked.

"I know Sirius! You don't think I know? But Dumbledore told us to stay put, and we have absolutely no idea where he is, for all we know, he could be, he could be-"

"Don't even say it, Remus, he's not. He is not dead. He can't be." His voice shook, struggling to sound strong and sure of itself.

The one named Sirius got up; his head hanging with his eyes brimmed with tears.

"I'm going to go clean of the dress."

The one named Remus nodded, and laid back down on the couch, frowning, contemplating the past.

"What are you so stressed out about?"

James stood in front of a full-length mirror back at Hogwarts. He was wearing a muggle suit, it was crisp and black, showing off all the right muscles, he had a tie hanging around his neck waiting to be tied, and was fumbling with his hair, desperately trying to flatten it out.

"Oh, I don't know, maybe it's the fact that I am actually going out on a date with Lily Evans and my entire life is on the hanging and I can't even get my hair to sit straight!" He retorted frustrated, he let his hands fall to his side, his expression defeated.

He turned to face Remus sighing.

"Help me. God help me."

Remus let out a hearty laugh, and motioned for James to turn around. He conjured a brush out of thin air, and desperately attempted to pass it trough the dark locks.

"Don't worry about it, just be yourself. She loves you, remember, and no matter that it took her so long to get her to admit it, it means it's all the more powerful now."

"Yeah but it took her so long because I was an arrogant prat, so if I be myself she's just going to walk off again!" He protested with his voice clearly filled with true worry.

Remus sighed again, "James, you know as well as I do that the real you is not an arrogant prat. Just be your actual self, show her the side of you that she fell in love with, that she couldn't resist. Because if she didn't love you so much, she would have been able to stay away, but she said herself that she couldn't."

James let out a crooked grin, showing that he was reassured, "Thanks-"

A tall handsome man entered the room loudly, carrying a stack of books and cut him off, "I am a genius, absolute genius. You will love me forever, and ever, for I have found the ultimate hair solution for you. It took me years of searching but I will finally be able to tame your hair, come, come, my apprentice, for I am going to teach you the way of the wand!"

Peter scurried in behind him carrying even more books. They blocked his eyes, and not seeing anything he tripped and sent them to the ground. He hastily got to his feat, trying to blow of how nerdy his trip was.

"Wormtail! Careful with those!" Sirius barked out.

"Sorry," Peter muttered.

"Anyhow," Sirius turned back to his best friend, "As I was saying before Peter sent my research to the floor, I just found the perfect potion."

He grinned widely at James and dropped all his books on his bed except for one. James came to his side and together they started muttering and pouring over the book.

They didn't notice Remus slip out of the room.

--

He knocked on the door lightly and a short round-faced woman answered.

"Oh, Remus, hey, is it time already?"

"Nah, I'm just coming to check up on Lily, she okay?"

Just then a loud screech echoed out from the bathroom and the girl opened the door for Remus to come in, he shut it behind him and when he looked up he was greeted with the shock of his life.

He had never seen such a messy dormitory, ever, cloths were strew every where, bottles, and lipstick tubes cluttered the floor, the door to the bathroom was wide open and Remus could see Lily fussing over her hair, with Alice trying to calm her down.

He slowly entered the bathroom and Lily turned to him tear eyed.

"I'm almost ready Remus, just give me 5 minutes please. Oi, I can't believe I'm late. This is a nightmare."

"Your not late Lily, you still have an hour. I was just coming to see how you were doing, obviously not so good though…"

Lily sank to the floor, letting out a breath.

"Oh, thank Merlin, I'm not even close to ready, I look like complete crap and my hair is a mess and I have no idea what to wear. I didn't know when I was packing this year that I would have to bring something fancy, all I brought is one dress for graduation…"

Remus smiled, "I'm sure you'll look fine Lily, whatever you wear. In fact, I think James would think you'd look gorgeous in a card board box."

"He wants me to wear a card board box!?" She screeched and leapt to her feat, the clip in her hair falling off.

Alice put her hands of her shoulders to keep her down, "You should go Remus, your not making things any easier."

She pushed Lily back towards the chair she had placed in the bathroom and set to work on her hair.

--

James was fumbling with his tie in order to stop himself from touching his hair. It was so filled with potion, it felt heavy on his hair, yet it was combed perfectly flat, to the side, looking the most presentable that it ever had.

He was standing in front of the girl's staircase; Sirius, Remus and Peter were playing exploding snap behind him, while waiting for Lily to come down. He had a single calla lily in his hand. He didn't know what Lily's favorite flowers were; he hoped she would like it.

He spotted her at the top of the staircase and what he saw took his breath away. She was wearing a gorgeous silk emerald colored dress, which matched the exact color of her eyes, it was v-necked and loose around her torso but pulled tight around her stomach and waist where the fabric crumpled together. It tied in a makeshift belt in the front around her lower waist, and the fabric fell from the knot into the billowing skirt. It left her shoulders free to the air, as well as her entire back, because the fabric stopped right at the arch in the small of her back and fell into a sort of train (think Keira Knightley's dress in Atonement).

Her auburn hair was pinned into a loose bun, but strands fell out and curled onto her pale creamy shoulders. Her eyes were accentuated with black eyeliner and mascara, and her lips were pink and shiny with clear lip-gloss. He swore that she was an angel, and he has just died.

Remus, Sirius and Peter seamed to have notice her too, for they were wolf-whistling from the couch and shouting out comments like 'better watch your back James, I might just forget the fact that you've had dibs since first year'.

He didn't seem to notice, because he was transfixed on Lily, not being able to say anything until she stopped in front of him, slightly red in the cheeks.

"You look…"

She suddenly shrieked quite loudly causing him to fall a little out of his reverie. He stumbled wondering what he had done now. Her face was a bit shocked, yet angry.

"What have you done to your hair!?"

He grinned, happy she noticed, it had took him over an hour to make the potion and actually apply it, luckily, she was even later than he was, "I fixed it for you, I know how you didn't like it always messy…"

"Well I hate it now," she said pouting, why the hell would he have ever thought she would wanted him to make his hair look like that, "put it back."

He raised an eyebrow, he didn't understand, she hated his hair, why on earth would she want him to put it back to how it was before? She fumbled with her dress to somehow pull her wand out of the folds of it and ordered him to turn around. He did, and he heard her mutter a few words, and felt a weight lifting from his head. He lifted his fingers and ran them trough his once again clean, and messy hair. Lily was in front of him again and she wrapped her arms around his neck, and he allowed his to rest on her sides, she ran her fingers trough his hair smiling, now it was all-soft and touchable again, just how she like it, "That's much better," she whispered, locking eyes with his.

He grinned and leaned down to kiss her, and as he slowly moved his lips against hers, sweetly, not demanding, just like she liked it, he was absolutely certain he had died and gone to heaven.

"You look gorgeous," he whispered into her neck, as he smelled her perfect scent, she always smelled so fantastic. He was still shocked that of all people, Lily Evans had chosen him.

She giggled as he made his way back up her neck, placing light kisses across her jawline, "Now what did you do with that flower? I love Calla Lily's, how ironic…"