A/N: Thanks for the reviews everyone, they're really appreciated, keep 'em coming. Oh, and I know the Magical Menagerie and the Ice Cream Parlor in this chapter are not in Hogsmeade, but in Diagon Alley, but I have writers license, right?
Lily and James left Sirius to go on their date. After practically the entire day, the two only had a half-hour. So, James decided to surprise her by picking the place, Florean Fortescue's Ice Cream Parlor. He had his hand on the small of her back as he guided her into the parlor. Her nose filled with the fresh aroma of sweet ice cream and sprinkles and cones, it was mouthwatering. The walls were completely covered in covered in ice cream freezer tubs. They covered every inch except the counter and the doorway. Lily walked around the store, looking at every flavor and every menu posted on the walls above the freezers.
"Pick any flavor you want, beautiful," said James, moving his arm to her waist.
"You really don't have to pay for me," said Lily, blushing.
"Yes, actually, I think I do," said James jokingly. Lily shook her head at him, but he just smiled. It felt like they had just had an entire conversation without speaking. Lily began to walk again, searching for something she thought would be perfect. The store had every single flavor of ice cream imaginable. There was chocolate frog, Every Flavor Beans (which was a rainbow of colors that had every flavor Bertie Bott's had), plain vanilla, plain chocolate, strawberry, watermelon-strawberry, berry, blueberry, spicy chicken (eww!), peanut butter cup, butterscotch, grape, cherry, orange sherbet, sherbert-lemon, plain lemon, carrot cake, birthday cake, wedding cake, chocolate chip cookie dough, Butterbeer, chocolate cake, licorice, cola, and then she saw it, something that made her mouth water more than any other flavor, chocolate chunky brownie chip. Lily had never told anyone she was a choclaholic, and she wasn't sure she ever would, but this was too much to pass on.
"That one," she said, pointing to the open tub in the freezer. James laughed.
"Okay," he said. Florean Fortescue came from the back with two ice cream scoops. "We want a chocolate chunky brownie chip double scoop and a chocolate chip cookie dough double scoop, and I want hers to be special, please," said James, giving his order.
"Double?" asked Lily in astonishment. "There's no way I can finish a double."
"Trust me," began James. "When you taste this, you won't be able to get enough of it." Another woman walked form the back of the store, Florean's wife, we presumed. She also had two Ice Cream scoops. She went to work scooping a large ball of chocolate chip cookie dough ice cream out of the open tub and put it on the counter, working it around with the scoops and adding chocolate ships here and there and putting in chunks of cookie dough before putting it on a large waffle cone and scooping out another and doing the same thing. Lily wasn't paying attention to James's ice cream though, but to her own. Florean was taking a scoop of plain chocolate ice cream. He was going to make hers from scratch. He put the scoop on the clean counter and began working it into a flat lump. On top of the lump he put a soft, moist brownie. The he smothered the surface of the lump and brownie with chocolate syrup. He mashed up the brownie into small pieces and mixed the ice cream together then he dumped chocolate ships onto the concoction and mixed those in, followed by chocolate sprinkles. He mixed everything together and split the hunk of ice cream in half, forming it into two large, perfectly round scoops. He took a cone and dipped the top of it in chocolate sauce, then put the two scoops inside the cone.
He handed the ice cream cone to her and she licked it once. There is no way for me to describe how it tasted to Lily except for heavenly. If heaven could be put inside a cone, this was it for her. James wrapped his arm around her waist again, taking a bite of his own ice cream.
"How is it?" he asked, placing some amount of sickles on the counter and turning around to walk out of the parlor.
"It's amazing," she breathed. He laughed and placed his finger on the corner of her mouth, wiping off the chocolate stuck to her lips there.
"You are perfect," he said with another laugh, kissing her and then laughing again. She shook her head and laughed with him, walking outside and sitting down at one of the two-person tables. They ate their ice cream in silence, making faces at each other, another of those silent conversations. When Lily had, to her surprise, finished everything and James was done too, he looked at her, about to bust up laughing.
"You have something right there, he said, pointing to his lips. "Here, let me get it." He leaned across the table, pressing his lips to hers and parting them slightly. What was meant to be a playful kiss became a passionate one. They had to be kissing for about three entire minutes, speaking in between kisses. Lily and James felt a spark there, and they knew it was more than just infatuation now, they were falling head over heels and they knew it all too well. A small beep came from James's watch. He groaned, angling his head so that his cheek was pressed against hers. He sat back down in his seat and looked at his watch.
"We have to go," he said glumly. "Its four-twenty-five." They both stood up, James placed his thumb on her lips and wiped off the remaining chocolate, and she did the same. In the kiss, a lot of the chocolate on her lips had moved to his. They began walking when an autumn wind blew and made Lily shiver. James, of course, noticed and began shrugging out of his beige leather jacket from the train ride the day before. He placed it over her shoulders and she pushed her hands through the too-long sleeves. She placed her arms around his waist and he put his around her shoulders. Her head rested against his muscled chest and his head was on top of hers, his lips pressed against her hair. They began heading o the Three Broomsticks, it getting colder every minute. When they entered the warm pub, Lily got a cold chill, like when you go from a cold place and eat something warm too fast and your spine tingles. Sirius was already sitting at the bar, drinking a Butterbeer.
"Oh, come one, no more public signs affection, please," pleaded Sirius with a playful grin.
"Oh, you come on," began James. "You snog girls right in front of us every single day, and I can't even hold my girlfriend?"
"Exactly," said Sirius, the grin not leaving his face.
"Oh shut up," interrupted Lily. She let go of James and he let go of her, almost at the same time. She sat up at the bar next to James who was next to Sirius.
"Two Butterbeers, please," said James, looking to the bartender. She came back a few seconds later with two and placed them on the counter. James handed her four knuts and gave Lily her Butterbeer. She sipped it and a warm, sweet feeling spread through her body. She felt perfectly warm by now.
When everyone was finished, they stood up and began walking back to Honeydukes in silence. James and Lily were holding hands, but walking much closer to each other now so that their arms and shoulders were touching. Lily would, on occasion, rest her head on his shoulder as they walked, and he would press his lips to her hair and kiss the top of her head. When they made it back to Honeydukes, all they had to do was sneak past the clerk to get back into the cellar and out into the passageway. Sirius changed into a dog right away, going in first and sprinting to the end, leaving Lily and James alone. James kissed her before helping her down into the tunnel and clambering in after her. It seemed to take much less time now, and that was a relief. When Lily climbed out, Sirius was there waiting for her. James lifted her by the waist and Sirius grabbed her hand to help pull her out.
"So, back to the common room, then?" asked Lily, grabbing James's hand when he climbed out of the tunnel.
"Yes, ma'am," he said playfully. Sirius rolled his eyes and began walking ahead of them. They, once again, walked in silence, James and Lily holding hands and standing close together, her head resting on his shoulder again. They climbed through the portrait hole and Peter was waiting for them.
"Where's Remus?" asked Lily frantically.
"Pompfrey already came," responded Peter drowsily.
"Then we better check the map, eh, Prongs?" asked Sirius, climbing into the common room.
"Yeah," said James, pulling the map out of his pocket. "I solemnly swear that I am up to no good." He tapped the map with his wand the writing appeared on it. A dot labeled Remus Lupin was going through the tunnel under the Whomping Willow and going off the edge of the map.
"It's time," said Sirius solemnly. "Let's hope we don't meet a fully fledged werewolf when we get into the shack or else we might have some problems."
"Lils," began James. "We'll be back in the morning, okay?"
"Please, don't get hurt," she said, wrapping her arms around him and burying her head in his chest.
"Lily, please, don't worry about us, we've been doing this since fifth year."
"I can't help it, how am I supposed to know if you're okay when the map doesn't even show the shack?"
"Don't worry, I promise to be conscious when I get back. Can't make promises about getting hurt though." Lily laughed a short, sad laugh that seemed to hang in the air gravely. She looked up, into James's eyes and looked back down; her eyes had begus to water. She was worried and James could tell.
"Lils, please don't do this. Don't get yourself all in a fuss over this. I will be okay, don't worry." He placed his hand on her cheek and kissed her passionately, her eyes closed and she was perfectly content. She felt him pull away and when she opened her eyes, he was gone, along with Sirius and Peter. The map lay readable on the common room table, and Lily bent over and began to watch it. She saw the map reading their names, travailing very huddled to together, obviously under James's invisibility cloak. They escaped on the grounds and Peter left them, running to the willow. Then the other two boys ran after Peter and their dots appeared in the tunnel below and escaped off the map.
A/N: You know what to do by now I hope, read, review and I'll keep the story comin'. Hope you all like it!