A/N: A couple things. This one is pretty important, and a lot of people have been asking me this, so I'm gonna put it in bold, 'cause I can: This story will be relatively long, because I am going into their seventh year. I will possibly go out of Hogwarts, too, it just depends on how this story stand afterwards. This is a rough estimation—it will possibly be around thirty chapters. I'm really not sure at this point, though.

So there. And if you want to see an super awesome Harry Potter video look up Marchin' On|Harry Potter by dazzleme7 on youtube, because it moved me to tears – and I never cry (with the exception of the last Harry Potter movie…) So that's all!

Happy reading!

XXX

"Oh, have I been too discreet? How long am I supposed to wait? I think about you nightly – oh can you tell I'm losing sleep? What am I supposed to do? It's hard to stay cool – oh when you smile at me and I get so nervous I can hardly speak – my bed's too big for just me . . . when you turn your eyes, I promise I won't care . . . oh what was that you said? Would you let me know? Cause I can't read your mind . . ." – Ra Ra Riot

One Faulty Kiss and One Flawless Kiss

It seemed the whole school knew before Lily that Bellatrix Black and Rodolphus Lestrange were expelled from Hogwarts. She actually heard it being whispered between two fourth years and stopped them to ask them what they were talking about.

"You haven't heard?" one of the girls asked. "Bellatrix Black and Rodolphus Lestrange were expelled. They left this morning."

Lily was shocked that she had not heard of this earlier and went through the rest of the day in a shocked yet relieved daze. It was very odd. When she went to tell her friends, she realized they had already heard, and they were all in the same boat as Lily.

"They're just . . . gone?" Mary breathed, furrowing her brow.

"Merlin," sighed Frank, "That's . . . a bit of a weight off our shoulders, huh?"

"I suppose," Remus said thoughtfully, "The only bad side is that they won't be very happy with us. Lily, in particular."

"They won't do anything," Sirius said confidently, "Nothing's going to happen to Lily under our watch. And Hogwarts is the safest place to be right now, so we don't need to worry."

However, that was not why Remus was concerned. He knew Lily was safe. He just wasn't sure about the people close to her. He wasn't about to reveal that right then, and ruin everyone's euphoria, but it still nagged at the back of his mind . . .

Then, Peter walked into the common room looking very troubled and James called out to him, "Oi, Wormtail! Where've you been? We haven't seen you in a while."

Peter looked a little shaken and managed a forced smile. "Oh, I've just been in the kitchen. I got a little carried away." He chuckled nervously.

They all watched him walk up to the boys dormitories in confusion and then turned back to each other.

"That boy can be so odd." Dorcas noted, shaking her head.

XXX

After that event, the days seemed to fly by rather quickly for the group of Gryffindors and they didn't know what to be more excited about – the Christmas Ball or Christmas break. The Christmas ball was the day before they left for Christmas break, and of course, there were exams before that, but first – the dates needed to be arranged. Of course, Sirius and Dorcas were going together, and Alice and Frank. Peter actually revealed he wasn't going because he was going home early and he was a horrific dancer. It made the boys a little uneasy since Peter was acting a little weird lately, but they quickly shrugged it off. That just left two of the four Marauders and two of the four girls without dates.

It seemed like a logical solution that they go with each other. So that's precisely what they did. Lily of course only agreed to go with James as friends because it would've been awkward with Remus and didn't want it to . . . be like that. It had nothing to do with her feelings for James. Because they were just friends right now, just like told Alice she'd be.

How James asked her out went like this:

"Hey, Evans! Go to the Christmas Ball with me?"

"If you ask me in a more gentlemanly fashion."

"Willest thou, Lily Evans, take thine arm in attending this lovely upcoming Christmas Ball?"

"Why are you bowing?"

"Why not? I thought it added to it."

"Well – fine then. As friends, correct?"

"Correct."

But she'd seen that sparkle in his eye.

At Hogsmeade the previous weekend, the girls had chosen their dresses with each other and they indulged themselves in wearing them one night just for the fun of it.

And then came the torturous week that everyone was dreading – the week of exams before the ball and the break. Studying for said exams stole the social aspects from their life – even James and Sirius, who usually neglected studying and still did quite exceptional. So this was serious business.

Lily was pretty sure that everyone's minds were on autopilot the entire week and set to do only certain things such as: study (cram if need be), read question, answer question, check answers, turn in exam. Then eat and sleep in between that.

One particular night, Lily had dozed off right before dinner on the couch in the common room. She woke up an unknown amount of time later to James shaking her shoulder and she looked up at him in confusion.

"What – what's wrong? What's going on?" she asked groggily.

He snickered. "Nothing's wrong, sleeping beauty. I just thought I should tell you you're drooling all over your Potions book."

She straightened up all the way and grimaced, hastily wiping off the drool from her face and her book. "What time is it?"

"Eleven." He replied.

"ELEVEN?" she cried, snapping her head up to him. She smacked her textbook to her forehead. "I've been out for six hours!"

James burst out laughing and she dropped her book to her laugh again, glaring at him. "It's not funny!"

"I can't believe people just let you sit there drooling all over your book!" he exclaimed through his laughter.

"Yes, yes, it's very humorous," she grumbled, then was struck by a terrifying thought. "That means I only studied a couple hours for the Potions exam! I'm going to fail!"

"Oh, shut it, you're going to do wonderful, Lily." James assured her, finally getting a hold of himself. "In fact, you're not going to study anymore tonight."

She gave him a look. "And why is that?"

"Because you're going to sneak down into the kitchens with me. You didn't eat dinner, did you?"

"Well, no, but I really shoulder study, James –"

"Oh, you should, should you?" he repeated, raising an eyebrow and already dragging her away from the couch by the hand. "Well, sometimes it's healthy to do what you shouldn't do."

She gave him a playfully scornful look. "James –"

"No use in arguing, Evans."

She paused. "Good point."

They laughed and pushed through the portrait hole, only to find Filch walking past. He stopped and jeered at the two Gryffindors. James and Lily looked at each other with raised eyebrows.

"Children out of bed!" he exclaimed, one of his eyes twitching.

He started towards them, but they quickly stumbled back into the common room, shutting the portrait hole in front of them and laughing hysterically. They heard Filch demanding the password form the Fat Lady with no avail and some other Gryffindors who had figured out what was going on laughed as well.

James and Lily looked at each other, still chuckling, and then glanced down at their still-intertwined hands. They immediately let go and looked around sheepishly for a moment before James sighed and pulled a chocolate frog out of his pocket, putting it in Lily's hand.

"Hopefully that'll hold you over till morning." He said, smiling up at her rather bashfully.

Then, he headed towards the boys dormitories and Lily was left holding the chocolate frog and sporting a rather goofy looking smile.

XXX

Finally. Exams were over and it was the night of the ball. No one could've been more excited and relieved that the grueling week was over and the girls were so eager that they rushed down the girls dormitory stairs only half an hour after they started getting ready. They'd said their goodbyes to Peter earlier that day, and the rest of the boys were lounging on the couch and the armchairs, laughing with each other. Other Gryffindors were milling about with their dates, all looking very cheerful in the light of the night's events.

Remus noticed them first, and smirked, nudging James, who looked at him, then looked up at them. His eyes fell on Lily and his mouth fell into an 'o'. Sirius and Frank looked over to them as well, Sirius with a rather dopey look on his face as he seemed to float over to Dorcas. Dorcas snorted and smacked him over the head.

"Get a hold of yourself, Black." She laughed and he winked at her.

Lily walked over to James and he shook his head with a slight smile. She let out a short laugh. "What?" she asked.

He met her eyes with an amused disbelief. "You're really pretty, Lily." He said softly. It was such a simple statement – what made it so powerful is that he didn't say 'you look', he said 'you are'. He didn't overdo it and say 'stunning' or 'ravishing', not even 'beautiful'. He didn't joke around, he didn't act like the silly James she often had to put up with. It was the perfect thing to say, really.

"You look very handsome." She replied with a slight smile and tugging on the lapels on his dress robes. And he certainly did. His black dress robes matched his hair and Lily could tell that even for this nice occasion, he didn't even attempt to tame his hair. To be honest, she actually liked his hair.

"Oi! Lovebirds! Let's hit it!" Frank called to them, and Lily and James glanced at each other, broken out of their stupor, and smiled at each other, following the others out of the common room.

"You know what I think is so unfair?" Sirius said as they made their way down to the Great Hall. "James and Lily always end up together and they always end up dancing and diminishing the chance of another cute dancing couple for the rest of us! Because they're just so damn cute!"

James and Lily glanced at each other incredulously. "We're terrible dancers!" Lily scoffed.

"Hey! Speak for yourself." James joked.

"It's true!" Alice laughed, raising her eyebrows as she clung onto Frank. "You two are really adorable."

"Okay, okay, that's enough. We both know where your thoughts lie when it comes to us." James said, glancing down at Lily with a smirk.

She laughed and shook her head as they turned into the magnificently decorated Great Hall. It was turned into a winter wonderland, which was certainly appropriate, with snowflakes shimmering above them and the walls covered with sparkling blue fabric and the air seeming to shimmer. It really was a sight to behold.

"Wow." Lily whispered.

She didn't know that James was watching her as she stared in wonder at the decorations, and he chuckled at her face as she leaned on his arm. She looked at him and grinned.

"I suppose we should let Sirius and Dorcas dance first since they're so put out when we start to pull out our terrible dance moves." She suggested.

He laughed. "I completely agree. When Sirius gets cranky, he lets everyone know it."

XXX

It was after Lily and James' fifth dance that things took a steep turn to bad. They were taking a break, Lily getting some punch and James going to chat with the boys really quick. Steven Smiley came up to Lily, not sporting his trademark smile, which was definitely not a good sign.

"Lily, I really need your help." He whispered nervously, glancing around.

Lily swallowed her mouthful of punch and nodded. "Yeah, sure, Steven, what is it?" she asked kindly.

"Well, remember that girl I told you about? Daniela?" he asked.

Lily nodded, and he continued, "Well, we started to get on real well, but a couple nights ago we had a row – don't really want to talk about it – and she's with another bloke . . . I was wondering fi you would help me."

Lily frowned nonchalantly. "Er, sure. What do you want me to do?"

"I want you to play along." He said and looked around. He flinched slightly and Lily assumed Daniela must be watching, and, without warning, Steven took her face in his hands and kissed her. Lily widened her eyes and her punch slipped out of her hand. This was his solution?

Before Lily could do anything, Steven was suddenly torn from her and an alarming sound echoed through the Hall. Lily got a hold of herself and saw that James was there, and he'd punched Steven in the nose. Steven was now on the ground with a very angry James above him, and he was about to hit him again, but Lily rushed forward and grabbed his arm at the same time a girl – she guessed it was Daniela – and held his face in her hands.

"Are you completely insane?" she exclaimed, brushing his hair out of his face.

Lily tugged on James' arm until he finally allowed her to drag him away. When she saw Sirius and the others trying to make their way to them, she shook her head, and they backed off. She glared ahead and went through the doors into the empty main corridor. She let go of his arm and walked ahead a few steps, putting a hand to her forehead. That had not gone well.

"What the hell, Lily?" he exclaimed, and she turned on him.

"He was trying to make that girl jealous, James!" she said exasperatedly.

"And so you let him kiss you?" he asked incredulously.

"It had nothing to do with me! And I didn't even agree to it, he just sprung it on me! I was trying to help!"

"Why didn't you push him off you or something?" he yelled, his hand motions getting more and more expressive as he got angrier.

"Excuse me if I was a little shocked at the time!" she laughed mirthlessly.

"Or is it just because you really do fancy that Smiley bloke?"

She gaped at him. "That's completely ridiculous!"

"It would make sense, wouldn't it?" he exclaimed with a sarcastic smile.

"JAMES, YOU DOLT! Don't you realize I fancy you?" she yelled, and her eyes widened, for it was the first time she'd admitted it to even herself. His eyes widened, too, but she just let out a breath she hadn't realized she'd been holding and grabbed his face, kissing him shamelessly. She ran her hands through that Godforsaken hair and he wrapped his arms around her waist, lifting her off the ground.

When they broke apart, they heard cheering from the Great Hall and saw their friends had been watching, which should've irked Lily, but she simply laughed. She leaned her head on James' chest, hugging him to her and they all charged towards them, laughing and exclaiming "FINALLY"'s. Lily looked up at James and they smiled at each other.

She supposed she'd have to thank Steven after all. They both got what they wanted tonight.