Since James's barbecue, Lily had often wrote to the boy she had loathed since her first year. She found their witty and sarcastic comments to each other rather amusing and had arranged with the girls to meet with the marauders in early August to shop for their school supplies in Diagon Alley. Marlene had been the only one who was dreading spending the whole day with Sirius. Mary was rather excited about the get together and Lily suspected that she had a crush on Remus or Peter.

The day of the get together came around rather quickly. Lily bade goodbye to her parents when the girls knocked on her front door and all of them made their way into a alley so that no muggles could witness them apparate to the leaky cauldron. They met the boys inside the pub that wasn't visible to non magical eyes and all of them made their way into the crowded shopping street.

It was in Flourish and Blotts when Lily discovered that James had seemed to take her advice about not hexing people. Everyone else had already paid and it was just her and Marlene left to pay for their books, but what Lily hadn't realised was that stood behind them were Snape, Avery and Mulciber.

"McKinnon, you're still hanging around with mudblood filth like Evans?" sneered Avery.

"Thought you had better taste McKinnon." tutted Mulciber.

Marlene thrust her gold into the shop assistant's hands and turned to face the Slytherin boys.

"I have better taste than you Mulciber." Marlene snapped.

"Although for a mudblood, Evans is quite hot." complimented Avery.

"Why don't we give you a taste of what a pureblood is like?" Mulciber suggested sickly as he grabbed Lily by the upper arm.

As Lily struggled to free herself, James came up to to them. A look of anger on his face as he drew his wand from his pocket.

"Let her go." James demanded calmly.

The shop went quiet and the shop assistant asked them to take it outside but they refused to leave. Sirius and Remus entered the shop and stood behind James. Sirius grabbed Marlene out of wand's aim and held her close to him. For once in her life, Marlene didn't protest about having Sirius near her. Lily looked at James pleadingly, not wanting him to get into trouble outside of school. They were all seventeen now and could legally be charged and sent to Azkaban if things escalated badly.

Mulciber still refused to let go of Lily as she squirmed trying to free her arm. James continued to glare murderously at Mulciber with his wand still raised.

"James please don't do anything stupid." Lily implored.

James looked at Lily and for the first time he looked confused, she had called him by his first name. She had never done that before. He put his wand away, fulfilling her request and grabbed Lily by the other arm and pulled as Mulciber let go. James had pulled her too hard, so Lily went crashing into his chest and they both fell on the floor, with Lily on top of James.

"Evans don't you worry. I'll give you a taste of pureblood one day." promised Mulciber with a sick grin and the three boys left the shop.

The crowd burst into conversation and the shop assistant continued to serve customers. Lily got to her feet and pulled James to his, her eyes full of thanks. She paid for her school books and they all left the bookshop together, wanting to get away from the stares of people who had witnessed the incident in the shop. As Remus, Sirius and Marlene walked ahead, Lily turned to James.

"You didn't have to do that back there." she stated.

"I wanted to." replied James.

"What's gotten into you? You didn't curse Mulciber and you didn't even make a stupid comment about me collapsing on top of you." said Lily.

James smiled, "Maybe I'm trying to get into your good books." he admitted.

Lily blushed as she remembered their conversation weeks previous at James's barbecue. She and James hadn't spoken about that conversation since that night.

"Well thanks I appreciate it." she smiled.

"Thanks for calling me by my first name." replied James.

Lily smiled and they walked faster to catch up to their friends.

After a long day of shopping, the group decided to go for a butterbeer in the leaky cauldron before heading their separate ways. James got the drinks in as the rest of the group made their way to a deserted table at the back of the pub. Marlene sat next to Sirius, having found herself comfortable to be by his side since the incident at Flourish and Blotts earlier that day.

James returned to the table and handed out the drinks as the group talked excitedly about their upcoming seventh and final year at Hogwarts. Alice commented on how they should all do something to make it a memorable one as it was the last time they would go to the castle as students. Remus starting up a conversation with Mary when Marlene and Sirius excused themselves to go to the loo.

They walked together to the corridor where the toilets were but before Marlene could enter the ladies, Sirius lightly tapped her wrist. She turned to face him, her blonde hair whipping over her shoulder.

"What's up?" she asked brightly.

"Marley will you go out with me sometime?" asked Sirius.

Marlene raised an eyebrow, "As in a shag Black?" she asked.

Sirius chuckled but shook his head.

"By all means if that's what you'd prefer," he hinted.

Marlene rolled her eyes.

"No I actually meant a date like to Hogsmeade or whatever when we're back at school." said Sirius.

Marlene looked confused, Sirius Black had never done dates with anyone as far as she knew. Was this a first time thing for him?

"What's the catch? You want me to sleep with you after? Sweetie it's going to take so much more than a date to get into my knickers." said Marlene.

Sirius grinned, "No catch I swear. But if you want to sleep with me I won't object." he flirted.

Marlene chuckled.

"Alright Black. One date and we'll see how that goes." she agreed.

"And if that goes well?" he asked hopeful.

Marlene shoved him away from her playfully.

"If that goes well you'll get a second date." replied Marlene.

"And then do I get to see if you wear matching undies?" asked Sirius.

"No, that's more of a fifth date thing." said Marlene.

"Five dates? Marley you honestly don't know that you're killing me here!" whined Sirius.

Marlene grinned, "Well play your cards right and we'll see if you get as many as five dates with me." she replied and then disappeared into the ladies loo.

A/N: Sorry been a while since I updated, let me know what you think please :)