Lily's 19th Birthday Party

"Remus!" Lily called, "Glad you could make it."

"Of course Lil, you know I wouldn't miss it," he chuckled.

She smiled, "Yes yes, I know you give up your hatred of parties for me for one day of the year."

"Well, your parties are relatively less annoying than most," he grinned at her. Not that he would really know given that she was his only friend, but he digressed. He was sure his judgement was still spot on.

"Yes well, I try," she said modestly. Something behind him caught her attention. "Hey come on I want you to meet someone," she said, resting her hand on his arm and pulling him forward gently.

She steered him to a boy with hazel eyes and messy black hair, who was adjusting his glasses and laughing loudly at something.

"James," Lily called. He turned to face them, a bright grin on his face when he spotted Lily. "I want you to meet someone," she continued, "James, this is my good friend Remus. Remus, this is James, my boyfriend."

Remus raised a surprised eyebrow, recalling all the times Lily had complained about a boy called James who went to the same boarding school as her. "As in James Potter? THE Potter?" he asked.

Lily blushed fiercely.

"Talked about me a lot, have you Lils?" James said, his grin turning smug.

She scowled at him, "Only bad things you tosser."

"Ouch. You wound me my precious Lily-flower," he said dramatically, holding his hand to his heart.

Remus laughed.

"So...how did this happen? No offense James but I'd never really gotten the impression that Lily was very fond of you," Remus queried, "Rather, I thought she hated your guts in fact."

"Well, funny story actually," James said, rubbing the back of his head and suddenly looking bashful, "It's all thanks to you really."

"Me?!" Remus gaped incredulously. As much as he'd heard Lily grouse about Potter, he'd never had anything to add but well timed nods and sympathetic looks.

"Forgive me, but I find that rather hard to believe," Remus said, a bemused frown making its home on his face, "How could I, a person who has had literally zero interactions with you before this day, be responsible for your relationship with the girl who, as far as I knew, despised your very existence?"

"Well yeah it's true you haven't interacted with me. But you have spoken to my best mate Sirius," James said, matter-of-factly.

His eyes widened, "You're the best mate Sirius kept prattling on about?"

"Yes, that would be me," James said, his grin returning.

Remus had had no idea. "But, what does this have to do with you and Lily getting together?" he asked, still confused, "Sirius and I had a couple of conversations yeah but none of them revolved around you and Lily."

"Well it went a bit like this," said James, trying to explain.

*Flashback*

Lily's 17th Birthday Party

"Ow!" James cried, as Sirius elbowed him in the face, "Watch it will ya Pads? Can't damage the money-maker."

"Sorry Prongs, but these bushes are small and do you want to get caught sneaking into Lily's party?" Sirius huffed.

James quietly conceded the point.

The love of his life was having a party and he wasn't invited! Oh the injustice! He just had to go see her for himself on her special day, even if he had to do it from afar. He wasn't supposed to go inside but as he got there he decided that he wanted to place her present all romantic-like on her bed and so here they were skulking around the back garden, hiding in the bushes and waiting for an opportune moment to sneak in.

"The things I do in the name of friendship," Sirius grumbled.

They had to wait half an hour crouched in those bushes before an opportunity presented itself with the confusion and excitement of the caterers arriving with the cake.

They snuck in the back door and James left Sirius as lookout while he headed upstairs to find Lily's room.

Unfortunately, Lily had forgotten her cell there, and being a good hostess she had asked Remus to retrieve it from her room so she could remain with the guests.

Sirius, upon spotting someone who would catch James in the act, pretended like he was ill and stumbled about in a faux faint.

"You okay mate?" Remus had asked, and in a fit of inspiration, Sirius mumbled incoherently and looked as miserable as he could.

"Fresh air...come with...feel faint," he groaned. And Remus being Remus escorted him out front and even lent him his phone to call his mother.

The phone rang a couple times before being answered by a distinctly male voice.

"Mum!" Sirius said, then had a pretend coughing fit, "I need you to come get me at the station. I don't feel so well. Will have to leave Lily's party early I'm afraid."

"Oh crap, thanks for the heads up mate," James said on the other end of the line, understanding the point of the call and making his way out the way they came.

"Thanks man," Sirius said, "I feel well enough to make it to the tube, I'll catch you later yeah?"

"Sure," replied a confused Remus, "I hope you feel better, uh, I didn't catch your name."

"Black. Sirius Black," came the cheeky reply, "And you are?"

"Remus Lupin," he said amusedly.

"Well Remus Lupin, I must bid you adieu," and with a dramatic flourish, he headed down the road towards the point where he and James had previously decided to meet if they got separated.

*End Flashback*

"You're just lucky you didn't accidentally go into Petunia's room that day or you'd never have left alive," Lily joked.

The thought caused a momentary sadness to descend upon her. Petunia had never forgiven Lily for being accepted to Hogwarts Academy while she wasn't. She'd never attended any of Lily's birthday parties since, preferring to stay in her room. This year at least, she was married and off with her new husband touring Europe. Not that she'd told Lily this of course; she found out from her mother.

"Yes well Petunia aside, I did find it strange that he recovered so quickly," Remus said, trying to lighten the mood, "He'd be good in theatre. Quite dramatic that one."

"Right you are Remus, right you are," James grinned.

"But forgive me if I still don't see how this lead to your current relationship. That was two years ago and back then she still disliked you quite a lot," Remus remarked.

"Ah yes well that was how Sirius met you initially Remus. The next year, we tried to do it again," he said.

*Flashback*

Lily's 18th Birthday Party

"Are you sure you want to do this? She didn't seem to appreciate your Lily plushie from last year," Sirius said, once again in the bushes.

"That's just because no plushie could ever compare to the real thing," James said, looking in through the window. They were in a new patch of bushes this time, as Lily's mother had decided to spruce up the garden and had added some lovely flower bushes under the window. It allowed them a nice view of the party inside, and as long as nobody looked directly at them they would be good.

This time nobody stopped them and James managed to somehow get in and back in record time. But Petunia had returned from a date with Vernon before they could leave the property and so they were hiding in the bushes once again until Petunia and Vernon could pry themselves away from each other.

"So gross," Sirius whispered, looking away. And by that he meant Vernon's bright orange pinstriped suit with his big green necktie. He shuddered at the abomination that was Vernon's idea of fashion. "Some people have no taste," he muttered.

But James couldn't hear him. For through the window his Lily was hugging this bloke tightly, and leading him by the hand to the centre of the party. She had kissed his cheek as he arrived and smiled so brightly at him that if the sun were out it would have seemed but a candle in comparison. It seemed she had been waiting for him before commencing with the cutting of the cake, which they did together by the way, he noticed. Then the guy fed her a morsel as the rest of guests finished singing happy birthday to her.

James made a weak, strangled sound.

"You okay mate?" Sirius said, noticing his friend's unnatural behaviour.

James just pointed to the window in despair.

"Oh..." Sirius said, on seeing what was unfolding inside.

They were both silent after that.

"I think it's best we leave now yeah?" he said, after a few moments when Petunia and her oompa loompa of a fiance had finally gone their separate ways.

James just nodded, and they went back to his house without speaking of the incident.

*End Flashback*

"Wait a second," Remus said, catching on a bit, "You're talking about me?! What did you think? That I was her boyfriend?"

"Yeah," James said, "You can see how one could misinterpret that can't you?"

Remus could.

"Lily and I are just friends, best friends in fact," Remus started.

"You don't need to explain," James interrupted, before Remus could go any further, "We already talked about everything, so I know better now. But back then I just thought that I was too late and that I had lost her."

"Remus, if I had known all it would take to get Potter to grow up would be to have him think you were my boyfriend I would have done it ages ago!" Lily said, laughing.

James pouted, "That's not fair!"

"It is too!" she said, "It was the first time I'd seen him so subdued. Doing his work on time; not fooling around as much; taking his role as head boy seriously. I was impressed that he had matured so much. And he wasn't being an arrogant berk anymore either. He had actually started to seem more responsible too. And he talked to me normally without all the insane declarations of love. It was refreshing. I liked what I saw."

"Not that she let me know it of course," James said grumpily.