Sirius Black couldn't stop grinning. He and James had just spent the most normal hour together in what felt like decades. His best friend, his brother, seemed happier than ever. And even though he didn't know the reason, he didn't want to question it.

With everyone Sirius knew, he was always completely himself – saying what he wanted, when he wanted to. But when James was being all mysteriously weird and tricky like he had been the past few months, (not that James let it show easily – master of disguise, was James), it was one of the few moments in Sirius' life when he would feel... hesitation. Like he should step lightly. James was, after all, the most important person to him. No question.

Stuck in Mcgonagalls lesson however, James had covertly suggested they antagonise her. Sirius was so taken aback by the smirk on James' face, that had been missing for so long, that he didn't even bother asking why. Together they were making life very frustrating for Mcgonagall. Moving things around, writing additions to the instructions on the board, swapping items around, writing creative things on her back, the politest of which read "Check out my forbidden forest."

James and Sirius had been doing this too long throughout their school career to be easily caught either, but they did refrain from continuing too long into the lesson – Mcgonagall got pretty angry...Completely uncalled for, in Sirius view...

Despite Remus being pretty annoyed with them at the start, whispering to them that they would land themselves in detention till the end of the year, Moony also could not help sniggering after a while, stifling his laughter along with the rest of them. It was the first time Sirius had seen Remus laugh properly since before people found out he was a werewolf. A lot of the younger ones still pointed him out fearfully, (which Sirius took great advantage of, whispering in their ears how if they looked at him too long he was sure to eat them) most were ignoring it, or at least appearing to for which they were all glad. And of course, Wormtail followed in whatever James did, (he worshipped the floor Prongs walked on), and as a result was just as content as him too.

The four of them spent the week together. What especially pleased Sirius was that James had started looking pleased about the fact he had help looking at all the Deatheater crap now. Sirius was impressed with his long time friend; who would have thought he would be so good at figuring out dark wizard plots. But then, he really wasn't too surprised, Prongs was clever as fuck and they had spent years enough plotting, to recognise it on a grand scale like Voldemort. Sirius looked at James, who had lost his parents, and felt disgusted for a little moment that he was related to people who actually supported this shit. Nothing was worth that.

Together they managed to ignore what was happening in the outside world, continuing as normal, but even Sirius felt ...uneasy as he watched the newspapers change...the world become so much more different than even the mess they had all started out with... even, much to people's dismay, the muggle world. In summer, James and Sirius would often enter the muggle world, chat up the muggle girls, go for muggle drinks, drive the motorbike faster than perhaps they should... Sirius did not think such excursions would be so available to them this summer...

But, that aside, Sirius was even in a good enough mood to take up Jess on her offer. Jess, a seriously good looking 6th year from Ravenclaw, had been hinting heavily for rather a long time that she wouldn't object to meeting him in several dark corners. Most of his nights, when he was sure James, Remus and Peter weren't busy of course, he would arrange to meet with her for an hour or so... all in all the meetings weren't too bad... he had started teasing James and Remus about their lack of action, (he wasn't allowed to tease Peter about it, so the other two said). Remus didn't mind, merely insulting Sirius in his lack of an actual girlfriend. James was being weird though, he seemed oddly amused... Sirius felt grumpy about this; he loved jokes, what joke was Prongs keeping to himself??

"Really though, come on, you haven't done anything more than kiss a few girls, and that was a while ago! Apart from that one time when that girl - Steph, was it? - slipped a hand down there when you weren't looking...That was more comical than anything though." Remus and Peter sniggered...they all remembered Steph... James rolled his eyes. He had asked at the time that they forget it...yeah, that was going to happen...

"I mean, even wonderfully polite Remus has managed to do it – not that its that surprising thinking about it...all those animal urges..." The three of them laughed whilst Remus scowled darkly at them,

"Come on. That wasn't me, I've told you all this before."

"It was a bit you though," James said fairly, chuckling slightly "Nobody impersonated you or anything... Not that anyone could imitate you that night...my God, d'you remember her practically swooning afterwards?!? And the screaming!!"

"What's so funny?" They all looked up, (Remus, in dread), at Lily, who was standing smiling easily at them all. She was another one who had cheered up. It was weird, she had been quite nice to James over the week, not overly nice, but nice enough. Sirius opinion of her had improved a lot as a result. "Oh, the funniest -"

"HEY! Come on, you said no-one. Please, just don't-"

"Oh wait, what is it?" Lily interrupted, smiling curiously, "What did you do?"

Remus shook his head pleadingly at James, who seemed to be holding in a large grin, and then turned, with a hopeless look, to Sirius. Sirius delivered the most wicked grin he could manage.

"A long while ago, Lily, the summer after 5th year,"

Remus groaned and hid behind his book. James and Peter sat up as though listening to a bed time story. Lily grinned, settling comfortably on the arm of James chair. It was strange how normal it was to have her there.

Sirius adopted a kindly tone, smiling condescendingly and began his story

"Well, you remember Remus back then. Always the responsible one, just made into a prefect. Always so polite in an effort to make up for those slightly... wolfish habits of his... Well we decided he needed a bit of a break. Bless him. We took him out to a muggle pub. There was a group of rather lovely ladies which we didn't hesitate to sit with-" Lily rolled her eyes, "and soon enough we had charmed them into joining us for the evening. Not literally, of course. We're not those sorts of boys." Lily laughed sceptically while James and Peter grinned broadly, "Anyway, bless his furry behind, Remus was soon too drunk to even remember his own name. And I'd never seen him so confident, Lily, let me tell you. You might have believed he was me or James, how arrogantly he was behaving. Scallywag," Sirius fondly sent a patronising smile Moony's way. He stuck a finger up at him, to which Sirius tutted, shaking his head and smiling. "Silly. Now, one particular lady seemed verrry interested in what Remus had to say. Now, I personally, have never seen such shocking and underhanded behaviour in the whole of my innocent existence...but we all know how compassionate and empathetic he is – he started using this as a technique!! That's right Lily," he nodded gravely, as Lily laughed delightedly, "Remus pulled. Me and James were thin air to them when this stud was around...but it gets better. Remus decided he was feeling a little more...feisty than that. He took this gorgeous lady outside to speak to her on her own. When he didn't return to us we began to get fairly anxious; we ought to go look after him...he needed no such help," Remus moaned,

"Come on Sirius, its really not that interes-"

"Shush! You're ruining it. Anyway, we went outside and immediately we started giggling. Two people were being so loud and excitable down this alleyway we could barely hear ourselves shouting Remus name, that is until, some girl screamed it back to us..."
Lily gasped and rounded on Remus, "You had sex with a girl down an alley?? Remus!!"

The three of them laughed whilst Lily stared shocked at Remus,

"Unbelievable isn't it. A boy so young...so innoce- Ouch!" Remus had flung the book in his face.

"Aaw, now that is out of order – its a good story!! We couldn't believe he was actually doing it – we turned before thinking and had to run back inside the pub - he had her up against the wall!! You should have seen how aggressively he was thrusti- hey!!"

Remus had kicked him painfully. Sirius simply started laughing with the others.

Lily turned suddenly to James,

"Oh! I was meant to tell you! Slughorn wants to see us both in his office right away."

James rolled his eyes, "All right. Lets go."

The two of them got up to leave, still smiling whilst Remus glowered in his chair. Sirius watched them go,

"Do you think she still supposedly hates him? She's been nice to him this week."

Remus shrugged grumpily.

The door slammed shut noisily and they tumbled in against some chairs. They barely noticed. James had glanced to check it was empty and that was it. Once he'd pulled her inside, he pushed her back up against the door, running his hands over every bit of her he could reach. She had a truly magnificent figure.

Kissing Lily was like kissing no-one else. It was so intense, and so passionate, there was such a yearning behind it...he'd quite frankly never been more turned on in his entire life. He had been telling her about this when she had suddenly decided she was bored with talking. Before he knew it, she had her fingers tangled in his hair and her lips moving earnestly against his, moving him unsteadily towards the nearest door.

These moments he had with her, (they referred to them in company as simply their head boy and girl responsibilities), seemed to be getting noticeably more risky every time. The always took it just that little bit further.

Today seemed to different all together. It was going very far...very fast.

She had shoved his cloak to the floor, had whipped off his tie, and he had long since removed her shirt...he couldn't quite comprehend how he was suddenly holding Lily practically half naked... the thought encouraged him to move even faster if that was possible. Gasping and pressing against each other, James let his lips trace along her jaw and softly to her neck, pressing her delicate hands up against the door as he did...she moaned...almost too quietly too hear...but he wanted desperately to hear more sounds like it...

"Lily?" he whispered hotly against her ear.

She breathed back some form of an answer whilst he kissed his way around her,

"Lily, I want to..." he kissed her mouth quickly, not sure how to say it. Most verbal forms of it sounded so...tacky... and if he'd imagined it, he'd always imagined just getting on with it...but what if she wasn't ready for him to do that. In the end he decided to... indicate to her...

"I want to..." he mumbled right in her ear, and as he did, slid his hand tentatively to the edge of her skirt, lingering slightly. When he did, her arms, currently wrapped around his neck, went very still...her whole body seemed to freeze...cautiously he moved his head back just enough to see her. She was looking right at him, her bright green eyes searching his. Almost inaudibly, she said, "I...had a dream about that...it was...with you..."

For a long moment they stood wrapped around each other against the door, simply looking at each other, James trying to get his head around the fact that Lily Evans had ever dreamt about him in that way.

He took it as permission.

James Potter watched in fascination as Lily trembled...as she gasped...as she bit her lip. He watched when before long her eyes actually closed, and her hands tightened almost painfully around him, pulling him right up against her...she seemed to be somehow both pressing herself against the door, away from him, and yet always moving her body slightly towards him...helplessly...He began to kiss her neck, move his free hand softly over anywhere he could reach. He took off her bra, and she barely seemed to notice while he marvelled at her chest... moving his hand over everything...she trembled again, her mouth open slightly, the faintest of sounds escaping...getting slightly louder... he traced his lips over her, and finding her breast he gave the slightest of licks with the tip of his tongue... Lily actually moaned.

Kissing her, doing this to her, he didn't at first notice when one of her hands moved slowly down his chest so close to hers. He gulped slightly as he realised what she was doing, and couldn't help the small intake of breath as she encircled her hand carefully around him. At first she was a little unsteady, but, faster than he was actually prepared for, she got it... and he couldn't really think of much else...neither of them really could. He rested his cheek against hers, listening to her gasp, breathing unevenly, thrilled at being able to make anything like this happen... with Lily...

* * *

They each stood, rearranging, putting back on any clothes they had managed to remove. Pulling his cloak on, James turned to look at Lily a few paces away. For a long moment, they said nothing, and simply looked. James looked away again,

"um...sorry again about...getting it on you." He half laughed a little awkwardly,

She smiled with a shrug, looking at the floor, "no...it's fine. Easy-easily gotten... rid of." She flicked her wand a little to demonstrate. James nodded, looking up at her. Her face was still very flushed, and she was biting her lip a little, because she was nervous now he thought, but it still caused his mind to stray a little as the events of just moments ago replayed in his head...not that they had ever left his head.

Feeling pleased, at least, about the part she had played he felt himself start to grin rather cheekily at her. Lily saw this and, going a little more red, she reluctantly grinned back and giggled, still biting her lip.

"Well," said James, still grinning a little foolishly, (he was feeling quite giddy), "I didn't expect that to happen... a week into our relationship..."

A hesitant giggle escaped out of her again and she shook her head, looking just as bemused as he felt, "No...that...that was unexpected. I'm...I'm glad it did though." She looked up at him warily, "Are you?"

He laughed, "erm...just a little bit, yea..." And she laughed with him, seeming more at ease. And James felt himself relaxing as she did. He was comfortable enough to move towards her again. She stepped forward as well, putting her hands in his outstretched ones.

He smiled at her, "You always look really lovely...when you blush and things."

She blushed again, (proving his point) and said, her smile slightly playful, "You ain't so bad yourself, Potter."

He grinned, "Well Cheers. Glad you think so."

She looked down again, a little nervous once more. She seemed to be steeling herself to say something.

"What?"

Very quietly, Lily said, "Well...um, I've never...never done that sort of thing before. I um... I heard you had. So I was just wondering if that was ok..."

He removed one hand from hers to move her chin up so she was looking at him. "You were perfect."

She smiled softly.

"And," he continued reluctantly, "That's not true. I haven't either, really."

She raised her eyebrows, "Really?"

James chuckled darkly, "This girl practically assaulted me. It was nothing enjoyable, trust me." He swallowed a little, "not like this."

Lily smiled again, and nodded.

"I'm-I'm hoping, we can do this again some time."

He grinned broadly – it was so easy to smile around Lily, "Oh, I'm sure you'll be able to persuade me." She rolled her eyes, blushing, (again) her smile growing wider.

"And," she continued, her voice shaking a little, "Eventually...we can...we can go all the way...?"

He stared at her for a little while...that was perhaps one of the best sentences she'd ever uttered.

He couldn't quite voice the answer, so he just nodded earnestly, to which she nodded and said, "Because, I want to. With you, anyway."

After a while, when he could think of something other than what she was suggesting, James said, "Me too." He smiled at her, "You're actually quite sweet, Evans."

Lily rolled her eyes, "Whatever, Potter." They laughed a little, James feeling strangely but happily connected to her somehow. He leaned towards her and they kissed, warmly rather than lustfully this time. It had been one of those moments – it wasn't perfect, or overly romantic, but it meant so much, that you remembered and treasured it word for word.

Today was the day. Lily and James had both said they ought to tell people; their friends would get angry if they had to find out about it from someone else who'd seen the two of them by accident. Lily sat nervously waiting for her friends in the common room. She was worried about convincing them. Rather guiltily, she contemplated how completely closed off she had been about James. They knew nothing of what had gone on in her head at all over the past year. The original frustration and confusion to the eventual realisation, to the feelings of complete bliss she was feeling now... They knew nothing, either, of days she's spent with him, times she'd realised how alike they were, bits and pieces that would mean she wouldn't have to be explaining this to them now – they would have seen it coming long before even she had...

She squirmed guiltily again when she thought of how she had been a bad friend this year. The fact she was a decent friend was one of the things she'd prided herself on since childhood. She loved her friends. Lily was always attentive and loyal, always there for people, reliable and kind for them... she'd been very few of those things this year. All because of James... it was slowly dawning on her how much he had affected her this year. She liked him so very much... her mind strayed back to yesterday, when they had been in that classroom together. She could feel the heat rising to her cheeks. It wasn't so much what had happened that took her by surprise, more her eventual reaction to it... that had been somewhere in the region of mind blowing. Every time she thought about it she so badly wanted to see him and have him... luckily it wasn't just she who had made all the noise (she blushed thinking about how she had actually cried out...) she also remembered, with a growing yearning, the groan that had escaped his lips, so close to her ear -

"Hey Lily, how's it going?"

Lily jumped and watched as her two friends smiled at her and seated themselves. This week had been a good week for the three of them. Although James had been a distraction throughout it, he wasn't the nagging worry in her mind that he had been before, he had become a catalyst for her happiness and as a result she had been much better company. Like herself, really. Strangely, so had Alice. Every time she seemed not to notice James at all, Lily let herself feel hopeful over how she in particular would react when told.

"Good, thank you. I managed to finish Slughorns essay this morning, so I'm feeling pretty successful actually."

Lauren grinned, "Me too. Bitch of an essay to write though, wasn't it?"

Both Lily and Alice agreed fervently and they discussed it for a little while, Lily wondering vaguely how she should proceed... but they moved on to talking about light-hearted and generally funny things and she could find nowhere to squeeze the information in, plus she was enjoying her time with her friends. As it slipped nearer dinner time though, she realised she would simply have to...what if James had told the marauders already? They would be loud about it...very loud...

"Um...I have something to tell you both..." Both Alice and Lauren looked at each other for a moment and then turned to look back at Lily,

"Go on." said Alice politely. Frowning at this exchange, Lily hesitated.

"Well...um...I'm just going to go ahead and say it then. I'm...I'm going out with James Potter."

For a moment neither Alice nor Lauren said anything, then they both grinned and started laughing. Lily frowned again...this wasn't a reaction she'd predicted...

Alice shook her head at Lily, almost pitying her, "Lily, we know."

Lily stared at them both. She began to splutter, "B-but how??! When did- who told-"

Lauren interjected, "We've not known it was that official. We were hoping it would become so, but we guessed this was kind of where you were headed. A while back you started acting so strange around him, and strange in general, and honestly did you think it would escape our notice? And we knew James was still hooked on you, it was only a matter of time. And this week especially, you've been so...happy," Lauren smiled at her broadly, "We knew something had happened... James had come down to breakfast on Monday looking ecstatic...more arrogant than I remember seeing him in a long while. There's only one thing that could have made him so pleased with himself...the only thing that's been keeping him humble these past seven years...you rejecting him." Both Alice and Lauren giggled.

Alice turned to Lauren, "D'you remember me saying ages ago, last year or something, that one day she would so give in to him! I was so right!" They laughed together. All Lily could do was gape at her best friends. And then she frowned at Alice,

"But...But I thought you liked him, Alice?"

Alice looked a little guilty while Lauren smirked at her,

"Alice has something she'd like to confess to you, Lily."

Lily looked closely at her friend, who squirmed a little, but otherwise she started to grin again,

"Well, I'll admit, I did think I liked James. But, to be honest, I'd just lost my Dad, I would've liked anyone I think as long as it gave me some form of comfort... I mean, don't get me wrong, I think James is a great person, but he's so much more suited to you, in more ways than even you're aware I think. Me and him would never have worked..." Alice started looking a little more guilty, "Well...since me and Lauren had worked it out about you and James, well, sorry, but we were a little annoyed you weren't telling us anything about it. We are your best friends..."

Lily looked down, "Yeah...I am really sorry about that...I don't know why I did..."

Alice waved away her apology, "It doesn't matter at all. We get it – it's the sort of thing you'd feel awkward and embarrassed about. Specially 'cos it's James...how long have you been saying you hate him? Anyways, because of that, when Lauren found out something in particular about me, we decided we wouldn't let you know until you finally told us about you."

"Let me know what?"

"I'm going out with Frank!"

Lily blinked...now that, she had not seen coming. Alice was practically beaming and Lauren was smiling fondly at her.

"It's so great! I mean he gets me so well, you know. And he's been so lovely to me..."

Lauren nodded, "They're really good together."

Lily felt an odd twinge of regret as she imagined Lauren and Alice and Frank all hanging about together, getting to know each other... she really should have just told them about James...

"But now you have to meet him! I mean, I know you already have, but you must meet him as my boyfriend! Although, keep it quiet because he really shouldn't be here getting it on with the students...he's supposed to be doing his job all the time..."

They had an hour or so before dinner. Lily told them everything she could dig up, even about running into the Death Eaters (they were quite pissed off about her not telling them that one), and she listened intently to the information she got in return. She couldn't believe how much she had missed by just holding back things from her friends. Lauren even told them about this boy from Ravenclaw she'd been talking to as well... But Lily felt an odd freedom in finally being able to say anything she wanted to her friends, and a relief at being able to share how happy she was with her two best friends. Knowing they were just as happy only increased her joy.

At dinner the three of them were sat down, chattering alongside everyone else, when the marauders entered the room. Lily looked at James significantly and he shook his head – he hadn't told them yet. Lily shook her head disapprovingly back and indicated she'd told her friends. James grinned at her and when his friends weren't looking he waved cheerfully at both Alice and Lauren, who smiled and waved back. Lily wondered why he hadn't told his own friends yet...