A/N: Whoa, super quick update- I know. It's because i've had nothing to do but write all week since I haven't had school because of Hurricane Sandy. Updates in the future won't be this quick :( BUT this was definitely one of my favorite chapters- I had SO much fun writing it- and I REALLY hope you like it! PLEASE PLEASE PLEASE PLEASE PLEASE PLEASE PLEASE review ?! :)

(LILY'S P.O.V.)

I am the unluckiest person on the planet.

Not only have I been excruciatingly sad for the past week and a half, but now, on my eighteenth birthday, I have woken up with my period a week earlier than expected.

Yes, what a present indeed.

Now, since I got back from Dad's funeral, as unhappy and as unpleasant as I've been, James has really been the best. I actually smile and even laugh when I'm with him. Without him though, I just feel numb.

Now I know that's not healthy, but during times like this, I can't control it.

I just really, really love him.

Since the, er, night, we've only, um, done it one other time, and it was a few days after, which was last weekend in his room. Even the first time it was, well, really great, actually, and each time it gets better. The only reason we haven't done it since is because of busy schedules and tiredness and all that rubbish.

But James had a whole romantic evening planned out for us tonight, and I know that was part of his plans.

How was I going to break this to him?

Besides that, I have the biggest headache Mother Nature could muster up for me, I'm starving my head off, and I miss my Dad.

I remember on my ninth birthday my Dad and I went ice skating on one of the lakes near the pond, and then we got hot chocolates and he gave me my present, which was a journal because he knew I loved to write. I wrote him a story and gave it to him before the night was over, and I called it "The Girl With Red Hair and Some Clues," about a girl with red hair who was an investigator and got a key to the city for capturing Britain's most wanted. He told me it was the best story he ever read.

I really miss him. He was the best.

Anyway, I woke up to Delia and June jumping on my bed, but I ignored them and ran straight to the bathroom.

I may or may not have cried on the toilet.

I came out and went right back into bed, screaming into my pillow.

Delia tried comforting me, and June told me to "suck it up," in to which I gave her a not so friendly hand gesture back.

She threw a pillow at me. "It's your birthday! It's a Saturday! Take a potion and get on with your life!"

"No," I mumbled into my pillow.

Delia gave me a potion though, which I took, but it usually doesn't kick in until about a half hour later.

"You'll survive," June said. "Now open our present!"

"Okay, okay, just stop shouting, would you? My head's going to explode."

"Sorry," she said, though I knew she wasn't. "Now open it! Open it!"

"What are you, twelve?" asked Delia.

"Yes," she said, handing the present over to me. "It's from the both of us."

I unwrapped it slowly just to bug her. It was a scrapbook of the three of us, from first year until now. The front cover had a picture of us from first year, laughing on June's bed, eating chocolate frogs.

It was the hormones that made me cry, I swear.

"Aww, Lil!" said June, wrapping her arms around me. "Come on, Dee, join in!"

Delia rolled her eyes but then smiled and joined in the hug.

"I didn't cry. That never gets mentioned. Got it?"

"Got it," they said.

We got dressed and went down to breakfast.

"LILY CRIED WHEN WE GAVE HER OUR PRESENT. HA! TOP THAT, POTTER," shouted June the second we got to our spot.

I actually hate her so much.

James looked up and smiled at me. He stood up and physically pushed June out of the way, ignoring her "WELL EXCUSE ME," and kissed me full on the mouth.

DOES HE NOT REMEMBER THAT I DO NOT LIKE PDA?

Stay calm, Evans. Stay. Calm.

When he let go, he said, "Happy birthday, beautiful."

"Beautiful? I don't even look nice yet," I said flatly.

"You always look nice."

I rolled my eyes and sat down. Man, I was starving. I needed food inside of me, pronto.

James was probably confused by my non-gushy response to his gushiness, but he would have to be a man and not take it personally because I was just not in the mood at the moment, if you know what I mean.

He sat down next to me. Remus, Sirius, and Peter all said happy birthday to me too, in which I gave a weak smile and a "thanks" to before stuffing my face. June started yelling at James about how he has no manners whatsoever and she can't believe I'm dating a guy as rude as him and I deserve better, yadda yadda, but I didn't really care because all I could think about was the sharp pains I were receiving in my lower stomach.

"You okay?" James asked.

I spoke through the pain. "Yeah, fine, great," I said quickly.

"Okay then…"

While I waited for the pain to surpass, I got a good look at James, who was looking as dashing as ever. His hair was just the right kind of messy, and his face was clean-shaven, and he was wearing a sky blue shirt, sleeves rolled up and everything (he knows me so well, ugh) and a pair of jeans.

And my craziness kicked in and I whispered in his ear, "You look sexy."

WHICH WAS PROBABLY THE WORST THING I COULD HAVE SAID.

Not because he didn't look sexy. He totally did.

But because he gave me his most sexy smirk and eyebrow wiggle and put his hand on my thigh and I GAVE HIM THE WRONG IDEA.

Well not really the wrong idea in general, just the wrong idea for right now.

THANKS A LOT MOTHER-NATURE. I HATE YOU.

Then, I started to sulk in my misery, because I wanted James and could not have him at the present time. Or for the next week.

Life sucks.

I cleared my throat and continued to dig into my waffles, and eventually and thankfully, James removed his hand from my thigh. I sighed in relief.

"What's up with you?" he asked me quietly.

Whoops- maybe I sighed a bit too loud.

"Nothing, nothing," I said, trying to smile. And despite my hatred for PDA, I leaned over and kissed James on the lips. "Everything's good."

"Good," he grinned, and leaned in to try to kiss me again, but I pushed him away.

"Whoa there, cowboy. Can I at least eat first?"

"Seriously, Prongs," chimed in Sirius. "Let the lady eat!"

"Thanks, Sirius," I said.

"My pleasure," he said, winking.

"Please don't wink at me. It makes me uncomfortable."

"What?" asked Sirius in dismay. "The ladies love it when I wink."

"You're a creepy winker," I told him.

"Ha, winker," said Sirius, chuckling. "Sounds a lot like wanker."

"You have the maturity of a five year old," said Remus, rolling his eyes.

"Hey, that is an insult to five year olds," said June.

After I ate, I felt significantly better, partially because I wasn't starving anymore and partially because the potion finally kicked in a bit. When the owl post came, I got a letter from Marlene and a letter from my Mum and a small parcel from her too. I wasn't planning on reading/opening them now so Delia offered to take them upstairs for me. What an angel.

"Well, folks," James said, getting up and pulling me up with him. "Would love to stay, but, you know- places to go, people to see. Ready, Lily?"

I got up. "Ready. Farewell, friends. I am being kidnapped now. Delia, you can have all my clothes. June, I leave you nothing. I TOLD YOU NOT TO MENTION THE CRYING THING. Which never really happened, by the way. She's a pathological liar. Goodbye, I love you all, except June."

"Way for a dramatic exit," June said.

"You're just upset because you don't get my clothes. Now, good day," I said, and took James's hand and off we went.

"Kidnapping, eh?" he asked.

"Well, obviously. I'm assuming you're never returning me, and you're taking me against my will. Hence, you're kidnapping me."

He rolled his eyes. "You like being kidnapped."

I shrugged. "Some days yes, some days no. So, what's first on the agenda?"

"Well," he said, squeezing my hand. "I thought since you've been down lately we wouldn't do anything too crazy."

"We're skydiving, aren't we? Oh Merlin, I'm too young to die."

He laughed. "Nah, we'll save that for my birthday. Come on."

We got to a wall, and James started to pace back and forth.

A door appeared.

"Ah, the Room of Requirement," I said. "Clever."

He smiled and opened the door, and we walked in.

James closed the door behind us. Inside, was a nice cozy little room, a bit similar to the Gryffindor Common Room. The walls were a deep scarlet color, and there was a fireplace, with a nice big couch and a coffee table right in front of it. There was a record player, and everything smelled like cinnamon apple- like James.

"Thought we could just hang out alone," he said softly, scratching his head. "You know. Talk, laugh, relax. You need to relax, especially on your birthday. Sound all right?"

He was so sweet I could feel my heart melting.

"Perfect. You're perfect," I told him, grinning up at him. "Thank you."

He kissed my cheek. "You're welcome." He led me to the couch, where there was tea already there on the table for us, all sweet and ready.

We stayed there until lunch. We didn't do much of anything, really. We drank our tea and ate some biscuits that James brought. James and I had a really great, lengthy conversation, snuggled up together on the couch. We talked for hours about a bunch of things. He made me laugh a lot, bless his heart. We also talked about Dad for a little, and then I asked him about his family. He told me his Dad wasn't doing so well right now, and neither was his Mum, but he's trying not to worry about it. He told me a lot of stories he never told me before, about growing up in the Wizarding World. He told me about his first Quidditch game, and how he couldn't control his powers at his young age and made a fan of the other team's hat go on fire. He told me about how his parents made him go to Muggle school when he was a kid since they both worked, and that he hated it and got in trouble weekly (no surprise there). I told him about my school, and he made fun of me when I told him how I had the most gold stars in my class every year, and how I cried when I got a B on my geography test. He told me how one time he accidently made his paper airplane zoom around the room, the teacher running around, trying to catch it. I asked him if he went to school with muggles why he was still so ignorant about most Muggle things, and he told me it was because he didn't have too many friends there so he never bothered to find out.

"I was different. They didn't like it. I didn't really care," he said.

"I know the feeling."

"I knew I was going to go to a Wizarding school soon enough anyway, hopefully Hogwarts. I was so happy when I got my letter," he sighed. "I knew things would turn around."

"And then you met Sirius," I said.

"Yeah. Finally had a real friend," he said, smiling.

"And Remus and Peter."

"And Remus and Peter," he repeated, playing with one of my hands. I loved his hands. They were big and warm and rough.

"You have great friends," I told him.

"Yeah, I do," he said. "And I have you."

"Well," I said. "I'm not that much to be proud to have."

He rolled his eyes but chuckled a bit. "You're an idiot."

"Exactly!"

"I love you," he said, and then kissed me.

And then we spent a very, very long time kissing each other. Just snogging though, thank Merlin. Obviously there was hand wandering, but not in any place where there really should not be at the present time, so that was good. I'm extremely surprised James didn't try to take it any further. Maybe he was just saving it for tonight…even though, little did he know, that wasn't going to happen. Kissing was good enough anyway, at least under these conditions. James Potter was an amazing kisser, and his lips and tongue both tasted nice.

I really don't know how long it went on for, but it only ended because my stomach growled, really loudly.

He stopped kissing me, laughing. He looked at his watch. "Want lunch?"

"No, no, it's okay, keep kissing me," I said, and leaned in and kissed him more.

He chuckled, pulling away after a few moments. "You're hungry."

"No, I'm not," I said, leaning in again.

"Lily, your stomach just-"

But I cut him off with a kiss. He kissed me back for a moment, and then I felt him smile. "I see we've switched roles today," he murmured against my mouth.

"What does that mean?"

"I'm usually the one begging for more."

"I am not begging!" I said. "It's my birthday, and if I want my boyfriend to snog me, he should be more than happy to do so!"

"Lily-"

"I'll eat when I'm good and ready," I told him, and then before he could protest any longer, I leaned in and shoved my tongue in his mouth.

That shut him up.

A few minutes later though, my stomach growled again, and I really was hungry…and I kinda sorta was desperately dying to go to the bathroom.

"Okay, we'll pause this for now," I said when we parted, both laughing.

"I love you," he said.

"I love you too," I said, caressing his face. And then I couldn't help myself but lean in and kiss him just one more time. "Okay, now pause."

He grinned broadly. "Paused."

We walked out and started walking down the corridor. "Hey, um, James, I really need to use the loo."

"Do you want me to wait for you?"

"No, no," I told him. "Go to lunch. I'll be there in a few minutes."

"Okay," he said, kissing my cheek. He let go of my hand and went off to the Great Hall.

Once he was out of sight, I SPRINTED towards the Prefect's bathroom and did my business. What a relief.

When I got to lunch, Delia told me that she left extra potion on my bedside table if I start to feel like dung again to take. I hugged her.

"No love for me?" asked June.

"Nope," I said.

"I worked hard on that scrapbook!"

"And then you blabbed about my emotional reaction. Totally negated your 'hard work'."

"I don't appreciate the air-quotes, missy!"

"It's her birthday, leave her alone," said James, defending my honor, like the perfect boyfriend he is.

"Yeah, leave me alone," I told her. "I can air-quote all I want!"

She rolled her eyes. "Lily, I'm sorry for telling everyone you cried. Please don't be cross with me."

"I'm not cross with you," I told her. "Just temporarily annoyed. You know I love you."

"Can I have that statement written and signed, please?"

"Shut up and let me eat," I said, smiling at her. I really did love her, and the scrapbook.

We had a nice lunch, though Sirius kept making inappropriate remarks that were only partially true and only sometimes funny. Somewhere along the line, though, my mind got off-track and I started thinking about my dad and got all upset. Could partially be the hormones, but this happens pretty much everyday. After a few minutes, James noticed and held my hand. He didn't even have to ask, he just knew. That's why I love him.

When we finished eating, I asked, "Okay, what's next," hoping he'd tell me we were going back to the Room of Requirement to do nothing again.

"Well, unfortunately, this is the part of the day where I give you up," he said.

Um, excuse me?

No.

Today is my day and I want it to just be a snuggle-and-snog-with-James day.

Is that too much to ask?

"Why?"

"June and Delia are taking over from here," he said.

"Oh yeah?" I said. "And what are we doing?"

"Hogsmeade," he told me. "Shopping, dinner, all that fun stuff."

"In the freezing cold. Fun," I said unenthusiastically. I just wasn't in the mood.

"But you have to come back looking extra pretty because then I get you back and I have more things planned," he said.

"Okay," I sighed. He leaned in and kissed me briefly. There has been too much PDA going on today. I guess since it's my birthday I'll make an exception. "I'll see you later," he said, getting up.

"Love you," I said softly.

"You too, Lil," he responded, smiling, and then left with his mates.

Sigh. I hated when he left.

"Ready, Lillian?" asked June, pulling me up and putting an arm around me.

"You know my name isn't short for Lillian. It's just Lily."

"Okay, Lillian," she said anyway, ignoring me. "Delia has a punch of stuff packed in her rucksack for us. James showed us one of the secret passages. Ready?"

"I need a coat," I said, realizing they were both wearing coats.

Delia pulled one of my coats out of her rucksack and handed it to me.

"Wha-"

"It's charmed to hold as much as we so desire in it," Delia answered.

"Without weighing a thing," said June.

"Ah," I said, putting my coat on. "All right, let's go, I guess."

"Yay!" said June excitedly, linking her arm with mine. "C'mon Delia, let's hit the road!"

"You're a little too excited about this, June," said Delia, laughing.

"She's getting to shop," I replied. "Of course she's excited."

So we snuck off to Hogsmeade, and June, Delia, and I all went shopping. They picked out a dress for me to wear tonight with matching shoes, and bought it for me with James's money, to which I violently protested, though Delia held me back while June paid, telling me "James said he'd kill us if you paid for anything. Besides, he's filthy rich, he doesn't need all this money."

WHATEVER.

We went out for dinner too, which was nice. All though I was still not my happy self, I had fun. They really were great mates. We talked about everything, from June and all the boys hitting on her lately, from Delia's new found happiness of the single life, to James and me, which I felt a little uncomfortable about because they were grilling me about our, er, newfound sex life, but I talked about it with them anyway, because that's just what we do.

I told them about how I hadn't told James about my, well, current situation, and they both just laughed and didn't give me advice on the situation, telling me I'm "on my own on this one."

They suck.

"All right, let's go into the prefect's bathroom now," said Delia.

"Uh, besides the fact that I need to pee, why are we going in there?"

"To do your hair and makeup, silly," said June. "And so you can change into your dress. And pee."

"Can't we just go up to the room?" I asked.

"No, James is in the Common Room waiting for you, and he can't see you yet."

"Okay, then," I said, rolling my eyes and entering the bathroom with them.

Delia did my hair and June did my makeup. I don't know why they were doing all this for me. Whatever, I like being pampered.

When they were done, I peed and changed my you-know-what, and then put on the dress they got me. It was royal blue and long sleeved and had a bit of a revealing neckline but I didn't fight them on it, and went down to right above my knee, and it was kind of sparkly. I put on the blue heels and got out of the bathroom, and then put on the necklace James had gotten me for Christmas.

"Aw, Lil," said Delia after she zipped what I couldn't get of my dress for me. "You look beautiful."

"Thanks," I said. "It's your doing."

"And mine. Ah, what a masterpiece," said June. "All right, let's go."

"Okay," I said, and we left the bathroom and went up to Gryffindor tower.

"Look alive, would you, Lil?" asked June.

"I'm in pain!" I exclaimed. "Stupid womanly bodily parts."

"Don't worry, I told you I left the potion on your bedside table. Just go up real quick before you and James do whatever and you'll be fine," Delia advised me.

"Right, okay. Looking alive."

June said the password and the Fat Lady let us in, in to which this happened:

"SURPRISE!"

From every 4th, 5th, 6th, and 7th year Gryffindor.

It was a surprise party. No one's ever thrown me one of those. How nice.

BUT THIS IS WHAT I GOT ALL DRESSED UP FOR? Everyone was dressed so casually, and here I am, looking like I'm going to a bloody ball!

And there was James, walking towards me, arms out, and then embracing me tightly, kissing my head. "You look beautiful," he whispered to me. "Happy birthday."

"You did this?" I asked, as he let go.

"With help," he said, smiling, jerking his head towards Delia and June.

"We're the best, we know," said June, high fiving James.

I started to tear up. Dumb hormones. And happiness.

"Lily, don't cry!" said Delia, hugging me.

"But why am I so dressed up for this?" I asked.

"Because, genius," said June. "It's your birthday so you have to look hotter than everyone else, duh. And with me by your side that's usually a difficult task, but I think you pull it off tonight."

"Har, har," I said, sticking my tongue out at her.

"I'm only half kidding," she said, smiling.

"Also, James is already drooling," said Delia, laughing.

James rolled his eyes, and then put an arm around me. "Come on, it's party time!"

Sirius ran over to me and hugged me. "Looking hot, Evans," he said, saying it purposely loud for James to hear, to which James hit the back of his head.

I got all the "happy birthdays" from everyone, by which time I was trying not to show that I was dying of pain and needed that potion, pronto. But I was surprised when even Kim gave me a nice "happy birthday," including a hug. That was weird, though. Wendy gave me a hug too, but I actually got along with her, so, that wasn't as big of a shock.

I quickly ran upstairs and gulped down the potion, and then came back down and rejoined James and my mates. He was happy I was wearing the necklace, and he kept telling me how "beautiful" I looked, though I kept telling him I was going to kill him for having June and Delia pay with HIS money, but he just kept telling me not to worry about it. OF COURSE I WAS GOING TO WORRY ABOUT IT. God, he's so daft.

Of course, though, there was alcohol, and though technically I was legally allowed to have now, though I've had before, I just wasn't in the mood, and I didn't want all my friends acting like a bunch of idiots, either. James swore he wouldn't get drunk, which I thanked him for. June and Delia, on the other hand, didn't give a rat's arse about me not wanting them to drink too much and got drunk anyway. We got Peter to keep Remus away from Delia so that they wouldn't snog again.

Sirius was, well, pissed as hell, but that's just a regular thing for him. Carly wasn't, though, and seemed a bit annoyed with Sirius being so drunk. Interesting.

After a while, though, James asked if we could go up to his room. I nervously agreed, still not knowing what I was going to do about this. I knew it wasn't a big deal, and James wouldn't really care, but still!

When he opened the door, I really was just speechless. There were rose petals, rose petals, on his bed, and candles- CANDLES- all around it.

I couldn't believe this. Why did he have to be such a romantic?

I just HAD to get my period on my birthday, didn't I?

Merlin, this was just not fair.

"James…" was all I was able to say.

"Wait," he said, going to his bedside table, and taking something out. I walked towards him and he turned back to me, holding something in his fist.

"I know I already got you a necklace," he said in a soft voice. "But I thought this one would be more special."

He took my palm and put it out, and then dropped what was in his fist in my hand.

It was a golden locket, real gold, engraved "L.E." upon it. "Open it," he said. And I did. And inside was a picture…a picture of my dad and me from when I was little.

I sat down on the bed. "James, how did you-"

"I wrote your Mum," he confessed, sitting down next to me. "I told her what I wanted to do with it. She sent it right over."

I started crying…really, really hard. "Oh, James. Thank you…I can't believe…you did this…"

He hugged me, shushing me, rubbing my back. "You're welcome. Please don't cry."

I tried to stop crying. After a couple of minutes, I calmed down and we parted. "I love you so much," I said. "So, so, much, James. God, I…"

"I love you too," he said, smiling at me. "Please stop crying, Lily."

"I'm sorry," I said, wiping my eyes. My makeup was all messed up now but I didn't care. "You're just…I don't get why you did all of this for me."

He put the necklace on for me. "You deserve it," he said simply.

And then I kissed him with everything I had. We lied down on the bed and I kicked off my shoes and I just kissed him with everything in me, not caring about anything else in the world but him, but James. Because he was the best thing that has ever happened to me.

We lied there kissing for a long while, and then eventually, I started to take off his shirt, which was a dumb thing for me to do. And I let his hands wander me all they wanted, and then he started to unzip my dress, and that's when I had to stop him.

"James, wait," I said, and got off him.

"What's wrong?" he asked, lying on his side to face me.

And then I started to cry again.

I was doing too much crying today.

"Lily, what is it?"

"I…We…we can't have sex."

"Um, okay…is that why you're crying? And, er, why can't we?"

"James, I'm such an idiot! Ugh, I should have told you the moment I saw you this morning. It's not that I don't want to, because, I really do, and I love you so much, and, I…I got my period this morning. So, so we can't. Shit, I'm sorry, James."

And then…he started laughing.

LAUGHING.

"And you're crying over this?" he asked, chuckling.

"Why the hell are you laughing?" I asked, very, very confused.

"Because, I love you," he said, still laughing. "I can't believe you're crying over this. Don't feel bad! It's not like it's your fault. Even if you didn't have it and you didn't want to I wouldn't care, and you know that! I mean, I'm disappointed, because, well…you know. But it doesn't really matter, because I just wanted to spend time with you anyway."

That's when I started smacking him.

"What are you- ow, Lily!"

"Stop-" smack, "being-" smack, "so-" smack, "damn-" smack, "perfect!" smack.

"Stop hitting me!"

"God, it's like you can do no wrong! You make me feel like the world's crappiest girlfriend! I could never live up to all the things you do for me, and how you never ever get cross with me, and how you're just so bloody perfect and it drives me insane!"

"So you'd rather I be angry?"

"No! But… I was expecting you to be!"

"I could act angry?" he suggested, laughing.

"Could you?"

"Goddamn it, Lily! You have your period? Blimey, this is so like you. You know that? To get my hopes up and then crush my dreams last minute? God you are such a prig! Get out of my room, get out!" he shouted, and then smiled. "Convincing enough?"

"It'll do," I sighed. He grabbed my face and started kissing me again.

I pulled away after a few moments. "I love you, James. Thank you for everything. For the morning, and for the money in Hogsmeade- though I'm still not happy about that-, and for the party, and for the locket…and just for being there for me. I love you so much."

"I love you too, Lily," he said and grinned. "I always have." And then he kissed me again, and this time I didn't pull away.

We snogged for a while again. Eventually, we got tired and stopped. When I asked where Sirius, Remus, and Peter were he said they were spending the night in Sirius's flat so they wouldn't interrupt us. Too bad we weren't actually doing it. Bummer. But it was still nice not having any interruptions. I didn't want to wear my dress anymore so James gave me one of his over-sized t-shirts that I liked, and old pajama pants that he still had though he outgrew them between fourth and fifth year, so they fit me okay.

The rest of the night we laid in his bed, holding each other, talking, and kissing every so often. I fell asleep with him, and woke up in his arms.

"Good morning," he whispered, kissing me.

"Morning," I answered, smiling at him. "What time is it?"

"Ten thirty," he answered. "But it's Sunday, so we don't have to go anywhere."

"Good," I said, and snuggled closer against him. "Except I have to go to the loo."

He chuckled. "So go."

"But I'm lazy," I sighed. "And you're very hard to let go of."

"I have faith in you," he responded.

"I don't want to."

"So don't."

"Good."

So I didn't…for about fifteen seconds.

"Okay, I'll be right back," I said, getting up quickly and running to the bathroom. I could hear him laugh as I shut the door.

When I got back, James was laying there, glasses on, looking at me. I crawled into his bed and cuddled up next to him and kissed his neck, and then he said, "Did I tell you I like how you look in my clothes?"

"You've said it before. Not too recently, though."

"Well, I like it," he said, kissing me. "It's sexy."

I rolled my eyes. "Don't get yourself all worked up for nothing now."

"It's hard not to when you're laying here next to me."

"Think of your Aunt Gertrude or something."

"I'd rather not," he said, and started nibbling my ear.

"Stop it!" I squealed. It really tickled.

He kissed my cheek, and then my nose, and then my lips. "Did you have a good birthday?"

"Excluding the pain, yeah, I did," I told him. "Thanks."

"No problem," he said, flashing me a smile.

So my birthday was over. The hormones were still flying but you know, nothing you could do about it.

The unlucky streak had not ended on my birthday though. See, on the last day of my period, James ended up in the hospital wing with stomach flu. The only lucky thing here was I somehow didn't catch it. But he was in the hospital wing for a whole 24 hours, and even when he got out he was still sick, and could only go to class and then back to his bed. He didn't even go against Pomfrey's orders- that's how crappy he felt. At meals he barely ate, and if he did eat it was just bread or pasta or something. That lasted for about five or six days, which was really sad, because I hated seeing James so not himself. I would come up to his room when I was done with my homework and lay down with him until he fell asleep, which was pretty quickly. He wasn't contagious so I was in the clear to be close to him and all that.

As the week ended, though, he was pretty much back to himself. He started eating more and he rejoined the Quidditch practices, which he had given Sirius the job of handling while he was sick.

And just in time for Valentine's Day.

Now, I'm not the biggest fan of Valentine's Day. Never have been, even when I've had a boyfriend or a date on the day. It was just never appealing to me. I didn't get why people made such a big fuss about it, and still don't. Like, why do we need a day to be extra lovey dovey with our significant other? Just randomly out of the blue? I'm pretty sure this day was made for two reasons: The first being for card stores, flower stores, etc., to make loads of money, and the second being to make people who don't have a boyfriend or girlfriend feel like complete rubbish.

But since Dumbledore is so hung up on love and it being the most powerful force in the world, yadda yadda, he always allows Hogsmeade trips on Valentine's Day.

I told James very strictly that I did not want him to make Valentine's Day a big deal, and the only thing I was going to accept from him were chocolates, because I love chocolate. He laughed and agreed.

We went into Hogsmeade anyway together for a little Valentine's Day date, where he got me chocolates from Honeydukes, which I was rather ecstatic about, and ate about half of them while we were just walking around.

Sirius and Carly went together, though they seemed to be fighting more often than usual, so they didn't look too happy.

Peter went with his snogging mate from Hufflepuff.

June went with some Ravenclaw sixth year, who was actually very, very fit, so good on her.

And, against all of our protests, Delia and Remus went together.

We actually held an intervention against them yesterday. See, because June had found out that they were secretly snogging behind our backs. The most confusing part about all of this to me is that Remus is so not that type of guy. Delia got up and left the intervention, yelling at us to stay out of her love life. Remus guiltily stayed though, and confessed how strongly he felt about her, which was kind of surprising, actually.

We decided we should just let them give it a go and that there was nothing we could do about it.

So James and I went to lunch together, but practically everyone in the world was there too.

"You know," James said after he paid for our meal. "Sirius called dibs on his flat, and it's still early so I doubt anyone's going back to the castle soon…so my room is available, if you want to get out of here."

"LET'S GO," I said, grabbed James by the hand as he smiled maliciously, and we ran.

Not only has it been weeks since we made love, but we haven't even had a proper snog since James got sick.

Do you know what James withdrawal is like?

It is not fun, my friends. Not fun at all.

When we got to his room, we closed the door and then all bets were off from there. We raced to the bed and snogged the living daylights out of each other. Oh how I missed James's sweet, sweet lips…and a few other things of James as well.

About an hour and a half later, James and I were all cuddled up under his blankets, entangled with each other, and both very, very happy, to say the least.

"I hope that was a good enough Valentine's Day gift," he said.

"It's in second place behind the chocolates," I said, smiling and kissing him.

"Are you joking or…"

"You'll never know."

"Because I could make this a very cliché Valentine's Day if I wanted to."

"Please don't," I begged him.

"I could transfigure my socks or something into flowers."

"No."

"I could write you a cheesy love poem. Or a song!"

"James, don't even dare."

"I'll even sing it for you!" he said excitedly.

"James-"

"Lily, my flower, our love will never go sour-"

"James, stop," I ordered him, holding back laughter.

"You get more beautiful by the hour-"

"James," I said, laughing out loud now.

"Together I think we should take a shower," he sang enthusiastically.

The lyrics and his attempt to sing made me burst out in hysterical laughter, and he started laughing too, and then the door slammed open.

Of course, it was Sirius.

The problem was I was naked.

Thank Merlin we were under the covers.

I pulled them up all the way to my neck.

"Sirius, what the hell, I thought you'd be at your flat," James shouted. "Get out!"

"I'm sorry," he said, closing the door. "But I need to talk to you."

"What's so important that you left Carly and had to interrupt us?"

"You're done though."

"Not the point!" James said annoyed, and I couldn't help but giggle.

"Carly and I broke up."

"What?" James and I both asked.

Sirius sat on the bed. "It's all my fault."

"Okay, okay, one second…" said James. He picked up his boxers, put them on and got up. "Er, Sirius, how about we either stand or sit down on a different bed so Lily could put some clothes on."

"Or," started Sirius, though he still sounded sad. "You could let me borrow her without her clothes on to cheer me up?"

James frowned at him.

"All right, not funny, I know, I know," he said and got up. James picked up our clothes and put them on the bed. He whispered, "sorry," and kissed me quickly and then closed the curtains so I could change.

I put on my bra, knickers, and jeans, but I put on his shirt, because a) I love wearing his shirts because they're comfy and smell like him and b) now he has no shirt. Ha.

While I was changing, James said, "Okay, what happened?"

Sirius sighed. "I don't know. We've been fighting often lately…mostly about how Carly 'doesn't like my behavior.' What the fuck? She acts exactly like me! Like, we had a fight after Lily's party because she didn't like how drunk I got. Um, excuse me? She gets drunk at parties too. I don't get what her deal has been lately."

"So what happened today?"

I opened the curtains and got out of the bed and walked over to them and sat on the foot of Sirius's bed with James. When he looked at me he said, "My shirt? Really?"

Psh, like he doesn't like it.

"Continue, Sirius," I said, ignoring James even though I saw him looking at me and smirking because obviously he loved it.

"Anyway, I tried today, really. I gave her flowers, I acted on my best behavior, we went to lunch, and everything was going fine. We went to my flat and all we did was snog and out of nowhere she pulls away and starts yelling at me! Telling me how I treat her like she doesn't matter and all I care about is sex and partying and doing whatever I want and never thinking about her. I mean, this was my first serious relationship and I told her I've been doing my best and then I went and fucking told her I loved her-"

"You WHAT?" James said in disbelief.

"I told her I bloody loved her and then she said 'Oh no you don't' and then said we should take 'a break' and then I said no let's just end this for good and then she cried and ran out and…fuck, I screwed up big time."

"No you didn't, mate," said James. "You didn't. You've really been a different bloke these past few months that you've been with her, I'm not just saying that."

"It's true," I said.

"And I guess you're just not what she's looking for."

"I can't believe this…" said Sirius, running his fingers through his hair.

"Sirius," I said softly. "Do you really love her?"

He sighed. "I don't fucking know…I mean, it's possible. But I think I just said it so she wouldn't walk out on me."

"Did you really want to break up?" I asked.

"Of course not," he said. "But, you know…I think it was the right thing to do. We just…I don't know. She deserves someone better."

"Not someone better, mate," said James. "Just someone else. You two were just…"

"Not meant to be," I finished for him.

"I guess you're right," he said, and then got up. "Sorry for interrupting. I'll talk to you later."

"You don't have to go," I told him, getting up too. "We feel bad."

"It's all right," he said. "James is only wearing boxers and he keeps looking at you and I can see something rising in them, so I think I'll go."

I looked over at James who immediately crossed his legs and his face turned pink and I started cracking up, and then I gave Sirius a hug. "I'm sorry it didn't work out for you two."

He shrugged. "Thanks. I'll get over it. I'll see you guys."

"See you, mate," James said, standing up too and walking over to me.

Sirius waved, left and closed the door.

I turned to James and continued to laugh, and then he picked me up and brought me to his bed, and when I didn't stop laughing he said, "Fine," and started tickling me.

I was going to kill him.

HE KNEW I HATED BEING TICKLED.

He finally stopped, and I smacked his chest. "I hate you."

"Sure."

"I feel really bad about Sirius."

"Me too. He'll be fine though."

"Yeah…" Then I looked at James, who was staring at me lovingly. "What?"

"I love you," he said.

"I love you too," I said, and then I kissed him, and he kissed me back, and things got heated. I pulled away and said, "Again?"

"Again," he nodded in agreement.

And so we made love again.

Whatever, that's what Valentine's Day is really for anyway.

And for the other two reasons I stated earlier.

I guess it wasn't too bad of a holiday. Especially since he bought me chocolates.

A/N: Hope you liked it! PLEASE PLEASE REVIEW PRETTY PRETTY PLEASE WITH A CHERRY ON TOP!? :) xox