A/N: Hi! I'm sorry its been a while since my last update. School started and I am PACKED with work like you wouldn't believe. I'm trying my best to write as much as I can. Anyway, I hope you like this chapter. It's the longest James chapter yet, since he usually has pretty short ones. I'd say this one is a decent size :) Anyway, I hope you like it and PLEASE PLEASE PLEASE (!) REVIEW! It would mean a lot to me! :)

(James's P.O.V.)

I am so in love with Lily Evans, that blurting it out to her was sort of inevitable at this point. I love everything about her. I love her red hair, I love her green eyes, the way they get really wide when she's thinking, how she taps her fingers when she's nervous, how she drinks cocoa and eats chocolate chip waffles every morning, the way she drags me out of the castle when it's raining to run out in it and dance, the way she cares for other people, the way she reads a book the way I watch a game of Quidditch, the way she laughs, and the way she smiles…I love her body, and the way she intertwines her hands in mine, the way she holds me, how perfectly her head seems to fit into the crook of my neck, and the way she kisses….

Needless to say, it was a bit of a let down when she didn't say she loved me back.

I may or may not have sulked about it the entire day.

Though Lily, being the caring girl that she is, tried very hard to make me feel not entirely worthless, I still felt ridiculously rubbish.

I felt a bit better after my talk with Remus in the hospital wing about it, and I felt a hell of a lot better after spending the rest of the night snogging Lily (and just being with her). Remus told me that a girl like Lily is just very cautious with these things, and she isn't as impulsive and sure of everything as I am, and that eventually she'll come around and say it back. But just because she didn't say it now doesn't mean she doesn't love me or doesn't at least care about me deeply. He said I can keep saying it as long as I mean it, and that is what I intend to do.

Oh, Moony. What would I do without him.

I didn't tell Sirius what happened until the other day, though he tried getting it out of me when I was sitting next to Lily in Transfiguration. Like I was going to write it while she was sitting right beside me. When I did tell him though, he kind of just slapped me on the back and said, "Give it time, mate."

I don't say it too often either. I don't want to overdo it. But when I do say it, Lily has two different reactions. Sometimes, she'll smile really wide and get kind of glossy eyed and kiss me really deeply and all that. And then other times, she kind of just looks at me with a much more pensive expression, like she's contemplating the fact or something.

However, I may have overdone the whole "I love you" thing the other night. It was after the Quidditch match, which we pretty much slayed Hufflepuff in, and I was sloshed, to say the least. I only vaguely remember the details. But I may or may have not stood up on a table in the common room, proclaimed, "I AM IN LOVE WITH THE BEAUTIFUL, BRILLIANT, SEXY LILY EVANS!" and then stumbled off the table, started slobbering all over Lily's face until she pushed me off her and I fell down laughing.

I know. Sounds pretty bad. It was.

She stayed away from me most of the rest of the night, until I sobered up enough to apologize, which she reluctantly accepted, but refused to snog me. You win some, you lose some, I guess.

We went to Hogsmeade last weekend though, which was pretty brilliant. The teachers have been giving us a shit load of homework lately since it's almost Christmas Holiday now and everything. Lily insisted that the first half of the trip to the village would be spent separately- her with her mates, me with mine. Then some time all of us meet up at the Three Broomsticks, and then head off with whomever we desired. We followed Lily's plan, and at about 1:30pm or so I went off with Lily, Sirius went to find Carly, June went to find Noel, and Remus, Peter, and Delia all spent the rest of the day together, Delia and Remus putting all awkwardness from past occurrences aside.

I was lucky enough to get Lily a Christmas gift when I was with the lads, so that worked out pretty well.

And the rest of my day with Lily was pretty spectacular too.

This morning, thankfully, is our last day of classes until we leave for holidays. I sat down next to Lily at the table and greeted her with a kiss. "'Morning," I said.

"We need to figure out a plan."

"A plan?" I asked.

"Yes, a plan! We've only been talking about it vaguely."

"What are we talking about again?"

"Keep up, James!" Lily shouted, taking a bite of her waffle. "Tuney's engagement party."

"How was I supposed to know what you were talking about?" I asked.

"Never mind, that. How are we going about all of this?"

"Er, well-"

"Okay, this is what we're going to do," she said quickly. "Hogwarts Express. You spend Christmas with your family. You'll apparate to the ballroom where the engagement party is at PRECISELY five o'clock on December 28th. Then you'll go back home whenever. Sound good?"

"Sounds good to me," I said, eating my food happily.

I looked over at Lily, who looked a bit tense. "Why are you so nervous?"

"Because…I don't know…" she said in a low voice, staring into her cocoa. "Whatever, it'll be fine. Okay. Great. Brilliant."

I was tempted to question Lily's strangeness, but decided against it. I didn't want to cause anything right now. Then quite suddenly, she groaned, "Ugh, it's going to be a disaster."

"No it won't be," I told her reassuringly. "You'll have me to keep you company."

"True…" she said. "But they're going to hate you."

"What?" I asked nervously.

"Not my parents, dolt," she said, noticing my tone and picking up on why I must have been nervous by her saying that. "My sister and her fiancé."

"Oh," I said with a wave of relief. "Who cares about them anyway?"

"No one," she sighed, drinking some of her cocoa. "Well, I guess we'll just make the best of it," she said.

"That's the spirit!"

"Yeah, yeah," she mumbled, as I pulled her closer to me and kissed her head.

The rest of the gang joined us and I noticed for the rest of breakfast Lily seemed to be very lost in thought. I nudged her at one point and gave her a questioning look, but she just shook her head and continued staring into her cocoa, thinking. I didn't want to press her about it so I let it slide for the rest of breakfast.

I did, however, ask her about it while we stepped into History of Magic. "What's up?" I asked.

"Hm?" she asked absentmindedly.

"Lily."

"Yeah…sorry?"

"What are you thinking about?"

"Oh…" she hesitated. "Nothing, nothing."

The rest of the day, Lily was oddly silent, and when it was time for our free and now had absolutely nothing to do but relax, Lily insisted on going to her dormitory and resting because she had a "head ache" (though I know she didn't) and how she had to do something anyway. I tried talking her out of it because tomorrow we were going to be going to our families and would be apart for a few days, and she just told me after she rests we'll spend time together, yadda yadda.

I waited for her to come down for dinner, but she didn't come down. Kim and Wendy did, though.

"Isn't it my favorite marauder," said Wendy.

"Hey, Chase," I said, smiling a bit. "Kim."

"Potter," Kim said in a fairly flat voice. I mentally rolled my eyes. She was in love with Sirius. Forgot about that.

"Hey, do you know if-"

"Evans is coming down?" Wendy said, finishing my sentence. "She's still asleep."

"Oh."

"Is she cross with you?" Kim asked nosily.

"No," I said. "She wasn't feeling well though."

"She was crying when Kim and I came in after class," Wendy told me. "She stopped once we walked in though, and then she fell asleep."

She was crying? Why? What was wrong?

"So, Potter," Kim said. "How's Sirius?"

Was she seriously changing the subject to Sirius while my girlfriend was upstairs crying?

"He's fine with his girlfriend, thanks for asking," I snapped. I turned back to Wendy. "Do you know why-"

"Oh please," interrupted Kim. "Like he and my cousin are actually going to last. Ha!"

"Wait…Carly's your cousin?" I asked, baffled.

"Unfortunately," she snorted.

"Since when?"

"Since birth, genius," she scoffed.

"Ignore her," Wendy said, pushing Kim towards the portrait hole with her, rolling her eyes. "Lily will be fine. We'll see you later."

They left and I waited a little longer for Lily, and after a while I just sent up a note to her dorm that read, Hope you're okay, love.

I went downstairs and sat down with Remus, Peter, Sirius, and Carly.

"'Ello," Sirius said with a stuffed face. Carly rolled her eyes.

"Kim's your cousin?" I asked Carly.

"Yep," she said coolly.

"Kim Farro?" Remus asked.

"Yep. Her mum and my mum are sisters."

"Do you get along?" asked Peter.

Carly shrugged. "Sometimes. I think she's a bit cross with me at the moment though, if you know what I mean."

"What do you mean?" Sirius asked innocently, swallowing his food.

Carly laughed and kissed his cheek. "You're clueless."

"Hey, that is only half true," he defended himself, biting into a chicken leg.

"She'll get over it," Carly told us. "She's a bit of a drama queen."

"Really? We never noticed," said Remus sarcastically.

When dinner was over, I went to the Common Room with the guys. We played a game of exploding snap (Sirius won by sheer luck, if you ask me) and then Remus and Sirius played a game of wizard's chess as Peter sat by the fire and wrote a letter to his family. I lied down on the couch and read the paper, spending extra time on the Quidditch section. About fifteen minutes into me reading, a pair of small hands was suddenly against my chest, and I turned to see Lily attempting to join me on the couch. I moved over a bit and folded the paper and tossed it on the coffee table as Lily snuggled up against me. "Hey," she whispered.

"Hey," I responded. "Don't you want dinner?"

She shook her head. "I'm not hungry."

"Everything all right?" I asked gently.

She nodded. "Yeah."

I was kind of getting sick of her hiding this thing, whatever it was, that was making her so upset, but I really didn't want to cause a fight right now, so I didn't say anything.

Lily suddenly turned her head up and started kissing me. Really kissing me. I pulled away and asked her, "You're sure you want to do this here? In the common room?"

"Yeah," she said, leaning in again.

This was not like her. "In front of all these people?"

"They can't see us anyway," she muttered, closing her eyes waiting for me to press my lips back to hers.

"We could just go back up to my-"

"Would you shut up?" she whispered, and pulled my head to hers and kissed me fiercely. Thinking it wasn't a good idea to protest (not that I wanted to anyway), I didn't stop her this time and continued snogging Lily away on the common room couch. No one really did see us, except Peter who scurried away, and Sirius and Remus when they came to see if I was asleep or something, (Sirius saying something along the lines of "Ms. Evans! Snogging in public? I'm going to have to take ten points off from you for disobeying school rules, and an extra ten for losing your class!") which only stopped us from snogging for a moment or two as we laughed at Sirius's joke, and then continued on.

When things started to get a bit more heated (which, by the way, started from Lily's initiation, unbuttoning my shirt while kissing the weak spot on my neck), we went upstairs to my dorm and kept ourselves preoccupied for, er, quite some time (no, we did not do anything more than we usually do), and Lily may or may not have fallen asleep with me in my bed without her shirt on (the answer is she did).

I woke up at around 3am, Lily in my arms nice and secure, and I felt my heart jump up into my throat. It was a wonderful feeling, waking up with Lily beside me. I wanted to wake up like that every day for the rest of my life. I instantly kissed her head. As much as I wanted her to stay, my brain told me to be responsible and wake her up so she can sleep comfortably in her own bed. I opened the curtain just a bit and took my wand from my bedside table right next to me and casted a muffliato spell so I could wake up and talk to Lily without waking the others.

"Lil," I whispered, moving some hair away from her face. I kissed her lips softly. "Lil, wake up."

She stirred a bit, but just sighed peacefully in her sleep. She was so beautiful.

Right. Focus. Waking her up.

"Lily," I said a bit louder. "Wake up, babe."

She groaned and just buried her face into my shoulder.

"Lily," I said. "You have to get up."

Then, Lily answered quietly, "No, I don't."

"You have to go back to your room."

"Why?" she asked, tiredly, eyes still closed. "You're very comfy."

"Because it's three in the morning," I told her. Her eyelids shot open.

"Three in the morning?! Oh, bloody hell…"

"I'm sorry. We fell asleep."

"Did we really? I thought we were dancing the salsa!" she said sarcastically.

"Wait, what? Salsa? How do you dance a salsa?"

Lily looked at me for a moment, and then burst out laughing, which made me smile, and when I asked, "What's so funny?" she just leaned in and started to kiss me, still laughing against my lips.

After a short but thorough snog, we parted and she said, "I really should go to my room."

"Mhm."

"You're the one who woke me up so I could."

"Well, I changed my mind. You should absolutely stay."

"I can't, James…" she said as I started kissing her neck. "James…"

But I continued.

"James, seriously, stop," she said sternly, pushing me off her. "I have to go back."

I sighed. She was right…

"Fine," I said, pulling away, putting my glasses on and looking around for something to put on so I could at least walk her to the stairs of the girls' dormitories.

She sighed too, getting up and putting her shirt back on. We were both dressed and she said, "James, look, I'm sorry for acting all moody today, I just have some stuff going on and…"

"And you're never going to tell me about it, are you?" I heard myself snap at her.

I'm an idiot.

She looked at me in the eyes and said, "No, I will tell you. I told you that I would. I just need time, I told you that too."

I shook my head. "Whatever. Let's just go."

"James…"

"Forget it," I said tensely.

We awkwardly left my room together and went down the stairs to the common room. I walked her to the beginning of her staircase.

"I'll see you tomorrow morning," I said quickly. "Goodnight."

I turned around and started walking away. "James," Lily said in almost a whisper once I had reached my staircase, but I chose to pretend I didn't hear her and went upstairs.

I lied in bed, angry with myself. We were having such a good night together until I went and blew it. I shouldn't have gotten so upset over something so stupid…I should have forgotten about it and just been happy to be with her. I should have kissed her again and told her I loved her and everything would have been fine. But I was a prat.

I eventually fell asleep, but it was a pretty restless sleep. I got up and Sirius kept making jokes and asking where Lily went and blah blah but I just gave him one-worded responses and he finally got it after Remus told him to shut up that I wasn't too happy.

Lily ate breakfast with her friends and I ate breakfast with mine, the both of us stealing glances at each other from time to time.

Right after breakfast, anyone going away headed out to the Hogwarts Express. The only people from my year in Gryffindor were Lily, Wendy, June, and me.

We got on the train and I caught Lily's hand in the midst of it all, and she gave me a frown and said, "I promised June I'd sit with her."

"Oh."

"I'm sorry."

"It's nothing."

"You can join us."

"It's fine, Lily, really, I'll see you around," I said, letting go of her, about to turn around.

"No, I want you to," she said in a quiet voice.

I sighed. "I'll come by later."

"Okay," she responded, still quietly.

I smiled at her weakly and walked the other way, got an empty compartment for myself, and fell asleep.

I had a strange dream. Voldemort was playing exploding snap with Regulus and Snape. Dumbledore was filing his toenails. Lily and Peter were cuddling with Remus in werewolf form and Sirius was wearing a pink tutu and singing the Beatles, while I was drawing a picture of a flower.

I literally have no idea what any of it meant. But the ending of the dream was Lily walking over to me and saying, "What the hell is that? A shoe?" And then she started laughing really hard and then everyone else started laughing and I started screaming for Dumbledore to help me but he just kept humming along to the song Sirius had been singing and continued on filing his toenails.

I woke up, confused and dazed, and saw Lily sitting on the seats opposite from me, the compartment door closed and covered with the curtain.

I sat up and scratched my head.

"How long have you been here?" I asked.

"Ten minutes," she answered. "We've got another two hours until we're back at King's Cross."

"Oh," I responded. "You didn't need to leave June."

She shrugged. "She's with Emily now. Wanted to get her away from Henry."

"Ah."

"Yep."

There was an awkward silence and then Lily got up and moved over to sit next to me.

"James, I…I'm sorry," she said, gulping. "I really am. I was being selfish yesterday. I was wallowing in my self-pity and then I just took advantage of you for comfort and refused to tell you what was even going on…I promise, James, I'm going to tell you. Soon. I really will. It's just something hard for me to talk about, but there's a time for everything, and it'll come, and I'll tell you. Okay?"

There's a time for everything. I guess I got what she meant. But why was I always so ahead of her? I always fancied her. She didn't fancy me until the end of sixth year. I wanted to be together, she didn't. I told her I loved her, she couldn't say it back. I tell her everything, and she leaves gaping holes for me to wait around to understand. Why am I so ahead of her? Why do I put all my trust and love and faith into her with no hesitation but she always needs time?

But there was nothing I could do. I guess that's just who we are. I jump in head first into the water from a cliff, and Lily dips her feet in first, slowly easing her way into it until she gets used to it. And it's always going to be like that. And I guess it's just something I'm going to have to accept.

"Okay," I told her.

She smiled at me. "Thank you," she whispered. "I really did enjoy spending the latter part of yesterday with you."

"Back at you."

"I didn't mean to be so eager to get out of there-"

"You weren't," I reassured her. "Not until you realized that you kind of had to get out. It wasn't your fault. You should have left before we fell asleep."

"But I like sleeping beside you," she said. "I always do."

"Well then," I said, raising an eyebrow. "You should have stayed."

She laughed lightly. "I couldn't. Imagine if we got caught."

"We wouldn't have."

"You never know," she said, moving closer to me. "If June and Delia were actually decent mates, they may have been worried about the fact that I wasn't back in our dorm and would have gotten McGonagall or someone to search for me."

I chuckled. "But they aren't decent mates," I teased. "They're horrid. I've got the good ones. They didn't even bother us at all. They came up once we fell asleep."

"Wow, the first time in history we were not interrupted," she said. "Put it in the record book."

"Well, he did interrupt us in the common room…"

"See. Your mates are horrid too," she said as I moved some hair out of her face and put it behind her ear.

"Well, they aren't here now," I said, leaning in slowly. "So we're in the clear. Unless, you know, your horrid mate comes and barges in."

"Not that we're going to be doing anything serious, idiot," she said, smiling. "We're on the bloody train. But, I did tell her she better not come looking for me or I'll hex her."

I laughed, and then finally pressed my lips to hers forcefully.

We made good use of the rest of the train ride. Mostly snogging, but also a lot of talking and laughing and joking and eating. When we arrived at King's Cross, we decided to say goodbye on the train rather than on the platform so it wouldn't have to be awkward in front of our families and everything.

"Write to me tonight, okay?" she asked.

"Sure thing," I promised.

"And I'll see you in five days. That's not in too long…"

"It'll feel like no time at all. Trust me."

"Okay."

"I love you," I told her.

She closed her eyes and smiled, and then opened them up to reveal tears forming in them. She sighed and leaned in and gave me one last, sweet, tender kiss. We parted and went out separate ways hesitantly.

Dad did not look good. He was walking with a cane, and he looked ten times more pale than usual. Mum stopped dying her hair and started letting the grays grow out, and her wrinkles were showing more too. I guess she stopped trying to cover everything up.

They both gave me a hug (Mum gave me a kiss too) and asked why Sirius didn't come, and I reminded them that not only did he get his own flat but he wanted to stay in school for the last Christmas holidays. They kept asking me questions they've asked millions of times before and were both just very out of it. We walked to Diagon Alley (very slowly) and flooed back home. The moment we got there Dad was already out of breath, heading to the kitchen for a drink.

I spent the entire day with them, which was in truth, sort of nice. I really did miss them. They were always so busy. Dad and I talked Quidditch and he updated me a lot on what's going on in the auror world and in the ministry and what's going on with Voldemort. I went shopping with Mum for groceries and Christmas presents (where I got an extra something for Lily) and helped her make dinner. She asked me a lot about Lily ("That ginger you've been in love with since first year? She finally fell for you, huh? Was it your natural charm or did you cook up a love potion? I almost did that for this boy in my 4th year…"). We talked and laughed a lot. I was still a bit worried with how fragile they both seemed, both coughing a lot and talking slower and walking slower and all that, but I tried to just enjoy myself.

I wrote to Lily before I went to bed. I pretty much told her how the day went in detail. I ended it like this:

I miss you. I love you. I'll see you soon.
-James

It took me a while to decide whether I should put the "I love you" in or not, but I decided it couldn't hurt. The truth was, I was anxiously awaiting for her to say it back. And there have been moments where I really thought she was going to…where I just kind of sensed that she felt it that time…like I always feel it…but it hasn't happened yet, I guess, or she's just too afraid to admit that it has.

I got a response the next day during lunch time.

James,

I told you everything would be a disaster. I. TOLD. YOU.

Not only did Tuney pick a fight with me the SECOND I arrived back home, but my Mum wasn't doing anything to stop it! I tried ignoring her, really, I did. I didn't use magic, obviously, even though technically I could because I am of age…But anyway, I ended up getting into a physical fight with her and she started crying and it was this whole big ordeal. It wasn't like a serious fight. It was just petty and we just were hitting each other like all sisters do! I couldn't help but roll my eyes over and over at her obvious act all about how it's her engagement week. I TRIED telling her it wasn't just her week but it was the family's week because in case she hadn't noticed it was bloody Christmas and the last time I checked Christmas was about the whole family not just one member!

Anyway, my Mum decided to punish me and now I can't do anything I was planning on doing. I was supposed to go over to June's the day after Christmas but now she refuses to let me! I mean…the audacity of her, really.

Thankfully, she's still letting you come to the engagement and all. I really hope you have something nice to wear. Not that I wouldn't mind if you just showed up in your boxers (really, I wouldn't mind) but these people judge you based on how you look and dress. I mean, I'm sure you don't care what they think, and you shouldn't, but, I mean, you know…MAYBE I want you to make a slightly good impression on them. Just maybe?

I'm glad you're able to spend some time with your parents. I know how much you've missed them. I can see it in your eyes when you talk about them.

I hope all is well and continues to go well. Write me back when you can.

I miss you so, so much.

Much love,

Lily.

I read it over a bunch of times and sighed, missing her. It's only been a day. I needed to get a grip on myself. It was snowing very lightly but I spent most of the day on our little Quidditch Pitch flying around and practicing, trying to avert all my thoughts from Lily. We had a nice dinner and a pretty quiet night.

I wrapped Lily's presents in a parcel and wrote a short note before I sent it.

Happy Christmas, love. Hope you like it. Missing you. –James

I woke up from an owl hooting in my ear. There was a large parcel tied to her with a note attached. I put my glasses on and untied it to read it.

You are the most wonderful bloke in the world. Thank you for the book and the necklace. I hope you like your present. Love, Lily.

I unwrapped it to find a wooden box. I opened it up and there were three gifts inside with a note for each. The first was a sneak-o-scope ("it'll come in handy when you're an auror"), the second was a really nice watch ("so that when you're late for class and rounds and say 'I didn't have the time so how was I supposed to know I was late?' I'll know you were lying"), and the third was a golden snitch, Potter engraved in script on it ("I know you aren't a seeker, but you love that snitch you nicked so much I decided to get you your own").

I am in love with the most amazing woman in the universe.

I'm such a lucky bastard.

I put on the watch and closed the box and went downstairs. My parents gave me a new leather jacket (they know me so well). We had a wonderful Christmas together, but the next day they both went back to work. The next two days were quite boring. I practiced scoring the quaffle in the hoops and played around with the new snitch Lily got me. I wrote her every day. Sirius and I spoke a couple of times a day through the mirror, Remus and Peter popping in it sometimes. Sirius pled for me to come back because the castle's a bore without me (oh, how I know), especially since Carly's at her house for Christmas, and that Peter and Remus are a bunch of sods and he's bored out of his mind. I defended Remus on that one, but I couldn't come up with too much to defend Peter. He is sort of a sod. Maybe it's a requirement to be a sod to be a Marauder.

Pft. Who am I kidding? I'm no sod.

Okay, maybe I am. Just a bit.

December 28th, 4:50. I put on a sky blue shirt (Lily's favorite) (and may have left a few buttons opened…), my new leather jacket, black trousers, relatively nice shoes (as in not sneakers which is the best I can do really), tried and failed to make my hair look all right (I like it messy anyway so maybe I didn't try that hard, but A for effort?), and put on some cologne in an attempt to smell irresistible (but let's face it, I'm irresistible anyway).

I apparated to the address Lily had given me at 5 precisely (I was wearing the watch so there really were no excuses to be late), and ended up only about fifty feet away (not too shabby). I walked inside and I saw Lily standing in a corner. She was the only person I saw, really. She was wearing a cream kind of colored dress with matching shoes, her hair down and in curls. As I walked closer I could see she was anxious. She was biting her lip and tapping her foot. I saw she was wearing the necklace I got her, which made me smile.

When I got to her, I said, "If I'm not mistaken, I think the bride's sister should be socializing instead of standing all alone in a corner, don't you, Evans?"

She looked up and smiled. "James!" she exclaimed, and then jumped and wrapped her arms around my neck securely, and I wrapped mine around her waist, lifting her a little bit off the ground, and then put her back down. We rested our heads on each other's shoulders and stood like that for a bit. I breathed in her scent, which I missed terribly. I kissed her shoulder. "Hey," I said stupidly.

She laughed and we let go of each other. "Hey," she answered back. She took my hand in hers and said, "Come with me for a minute?"

I nodded and we left the main social hall where everyone was and she dragged me down an empty corridor. There was a door slightly ajar that we approached. Lily opened it and we entered the room. It was a small room with a couch and a couple of chairs and a bathroom. She closed and locked the door. Then she dragged me to the couch, pulled me down with her, and snogged me rather thoroughly.

It was a very wonderful snog. I missed kissing her, touching her. It was only five days but it felt like a lot longer. It was very intense and passionate and mesmerizing. We must have been going at it for about seven or eight minutes until we finally parted.

"I've missed you," Lily said in a low, sweet voice, leaning in and pecking my lips again. "So much."

"I missed you too," I told her. "You had this spot picked out to attack me in, then?"

"You could say that…better here than in front of everyone back there. As if my sister's knickers aren't already in a twist."

I laughed. "Well, it's a pretty nice spot."

She smiled. "I know."

"You look beautiful."

"No, I don't," she said, looking at me. "You look nice though. You're wearing my favorite color."

"You're wearing the necklace."

"You're wearing the watch."

I smiled at her and took her hand in mine, kissing it gently. "You really do look beautiful."

"Oh, hush."

"Just accept the compliment."

"Nah," she said, leaning in and snogging me again for a little while more.

"Maybe we should go back in," I said when we parted again. "I want to meet your family, anyway. Though snogging you really is lovely…"

She looked at me nervously. "Um…well…"

She stopped speaking. "What's wrong?" I asked.

She closed her eyes and took a breath. "All right, but I, er, I have to tell you something."

"Okay."

She gulped. "Okay, so, erm…my….my father….he's, um…he's sick. He has something called cancer…it's a, um, muggle disease…pretty much incurable…he has it in his stomach… He lives in the hospital but he's here today. He lost his hair and he, er, is in a wheelchair and he can't really eat much… So, don't be surprised or anything when you see him, or if, um, if something happens and he, um, needs to leave. His nurse is here but….yeah…"

She looked down, wiping her eyes quickly. "I'm fine," she muttered.

So that's what's been making Lily cry all the time. That's why she got upset when we talked about me coming to the party… That's what all those letters were about. That's what she was talking about to June and Delia with the whole "four months" thing. All of it…all of it was about her dad.

"Lil, I…I'm so-"

"Don't say you're sorry," she said strongly. "Don't."

"Okay," I said. After a moment or two I kissed her forehead. "Okay," I repeated.

She smiled at me weakly and then laughed slightly as she wiped the lipstick she got on me off of my lips and neck before kissing me one more time anyway. Then we got up and walked back down the corridor to the main hall.

We walked over to her parents. "Mum, Dad," Lily said. "This is James. James, Mum and Dad."

Lily's mum walked over to me and embraced me. "Hello, dear. I'm Caroline. We've heard so much about you. Oh, you're even more handsome than Lily described you!"

I smiled. "Thank you, Mrs. Evans."

"And this is my husband, Scott," she said. "And his nurse, Beth."

Scott Evans looked perfectly normal to me. He may have no hair and was sitting in a wheelchair, but he looked like any other man. He was pale, but he was smiling at me. He had Lily's eyes: big, bright, and green. They were sparkling. He reached out his hand. "It's a real pleasure, James."

I took his hand and shook it. "You too, sir."

I shook Beth's hand as well. "Hello, Beth."

"Dear, why don't you introduce James to your sister?" asked Mrs. Evans.

"She isn't speaking to me," Lily replied.

"Just try," her dad said gently.

She sighed. "Fine," she said, and took my hand.

We walked to the center of the room, where I saw the backs of one tall, scrawny blonde woman and a rather enormous man with brown hair. They were talking to someone.

I felt Lily tense up. We reached them and Lily tapped the woman on the shoulder.

"Petunia," she said.

Petunia and her fiancé turned around, looking quite agitated already.

"Sorry to bother you, but I just wanted to introduce James to you. He's my boyfriend."

Petunia's face was hard and still. "Hello," she said, crossing her arms.

"Hey," I responded. "Congratulations-"

"-Thank you," Petunia sneered, and then they both turned back around to whomever they were talking to.

Then Lily pulled me towards the buffet. "Come on. Let's eat."

"Well, your sister seems, er…lovely."

"Isn't she just the peachiest?" she said sarcastically, rolling her eyes.

"Don't get upset, Lil. It's fine, really."

"I'm not upset…"

"Don't bother wasting your energy on being upset over her. She's not worth it."

"She's my sister, James."

"I know," I said. "So she shouldn't be bringing you down so much. Siblings are supposed to get into rows and be competitive and all that rubbish. Just try to have fun, all right?"

She sighed. "I know, I know, I'm sorry."

"It's fine."

"No, it isn't. I didn't invite you here so you could hear me complain the whole time. I'll try to brighten up, all right?"

"It's okay," I told her, squeezing her hand.

"I'm really happy you came. Thank you."

"Of course," I said.

We got our food and sat down at a table. I got to talk to both her parents. Her Mum seemed very interested in the Wizarding world, so she asked me a lot of questions about that and we had a nice conversation about it. I also spoke to her father for a while. He told me some stories about Lily and asked me a bit about my life. He's a good man, truly.

Eventually, Lily and I got to talk for a while too, which was really nice, except for the every now and then we were interrupted when she had to go do something for pictures or help her mother with something or to talk to her father, but other than that we had a lot of time just us. We caught each other up on the past week, telling each other in more detail than our letters what's been going on. Then Lily finally told me everything about her Dad. She stayed as calm as she could while talking about it all and I held her hand through most of the conversation, which seemed to help. When I asked her why she hadn't told me about any of it before, she told me she just hates talking about it in general, and the only people that know besides me are June and Delia, who she doesn't really give that much detail too either. When the topic was over, we hugged for a little and then changed the subject to other things. When the night was almost over, we snuck back into that room down the corridor and snogged for a while.

After quite some time, Lily pulled away. I tried leaning back in but she put a hand on me to stop me. "It's late. You probably have to go back now, and we're probably going home now anyway."

I sighed. "I know…I just…we can't see each other until school starts still?"

"Yeah, I'm still grounded. How rubbish is that. Me! Lily Evans. Grounded? It's absurd. Unheard of!"

"I always knew you had a wild side to you," I snickered, raising my eyebrows suggestively, leaning closer in again.

"Oh, shut up, you," Lily said, rolling her eyes, but let me kiss her briefly anyway. "C'mon. I'll walk you down the road a little before you apparate back."

"All right," I said. We got up and left the room and went back into the main hall, where, as Lily predicted, the only people left were Petunia, Vernon, Vernon's parents, and Lily's parents.

We were all standing generally in the same area, when Lily's mother said. "Darling, did Petunia and Vernon get a chance to talk to James?"

"Well, a bit, but-"

"Oh, but he's such a wonderful boy! Tuney, dear, I think you four should go out tomorrow evening and learn things about each other."

Petunia gave a horrifying look of absolute disgust. "Mother, I can't, I-"

"Oh, don't be silly-"

"I can't either, Mum, I'm grounded, remember?" piped in Lily, who was looking rather unhappy about her mother's suggestion.

"Yes, I remember," she said. "But you're grounded under my rules, so my rules allow you to go out with your sister and Vernon and James."

Lily rolled her eyes and crossed her arms. Petunia did the same. Vernon was looking rather agitated himself (though he always looks that way).

"Great, then it's settled. I'll make the reservations and everything for tomorrow. Eight o'clock good? Perfect," Mrs. Evans said. "Lily, why don't you walk James out?"

Lily nodded and then Mrs. Evans hugged me. "It was so nice meeting you, James!"

"You too, Mrs. Evans. It was a smashing party, really," I said.

I walked over to Mr. Evans. "It was a real pleasure, Mr. Evans,"' I said, reaching out my hand. He looked very tired and a lot paler than he did before.

He shook my hand. "You too, son."

Lily linked her arm in mine and we walked out together. "I'm sorry about that ambush," she said.

I chuckled. "It wasn't an ambush. It's fine. I get to spend another night with you."

She smiled. "Yeah, well, it's not like we're going to be alone. We're going to have the blob and the stick tagging along."

I burst out laughing. "The blob and the stick?"

"Yes!" she said, laughing too. "My sister is the size of my pinky, and then Vernon is just this big ugly gray…blob. Is there any other way to describe him, really?"

I unlinked arms with her and stopped walking and pulled her face to mine and kissed her as we both still laughed. "I love you," I told her, and then kissed her again, and the both of us seemed to stop laughing, and just got lost in the kiss.

When we parted, she smiled at me. "I'll see you tomorrow, then? Just apparate to my house and we'll probably all go in Tuney's car."

"Sounds good," I told her.

"Goodnight," she said, as I stepped back a bit.

"G'night," I said quietly, and then apparated back to my house n my bedroom. I threw off my clothes and jumped into bed, not really able to sleep, my mind racing, thinking about how much I really did love Lily.

And wondered if she'd ever feel the same.

A/N: Quick reminder- the more reviews, the faster I try to update! I hope you liked it!