If someone had told me when I started writing this that there would even be a chapter twenty I would have laughed and told them that the Chudley Cannons were more likely to finish at the top of the league. This is all thanks to you, thank you so much to all my reviewers for your words of praise and advice. If it weren't for all of you this chapter wouldn't even exist.

So I hope you enjoy it.

Disclaimer: I don't own anything Harry Potter related other than an unnatural obsession with the characters.

Chapter Twenty

Lily Evans' birthday turned out to be an extremely subdued affair.

After they kissed in the library, James had barely laid eyes on Lily. She had run off so quickly afterwards, and he'd had to stay behind to explain things to Melody.

After that whenever he saw her they always seemed to be surrounded by people. He had to settle for discretely grinning at her from across the room and watching her face light up a delicious shade of pink.

A warm feeling had settled over his chest and he felt as though he was carrying around an enormous secret.

He'd done nothing but grin like an idiot for the entire weekend, until finally Sirius had asked him is he'd been on the receiving end of a backfiring cheering charm.

He couldn't help himself, every time he sat down to try and finish a piece of homework or play chess with Sirius his mind just wandered back to the library. To those perfect seconds where he'd held Lily in his arms and she'd let him.

He wanted nothing more that to just speak to her, to hold her in front of everyone else and tell the world how he felt. But at the same time he didn't want to scare her away by unleashing the full force of his feelings onto her.

So he settled with catching eyes with her across the room and discretely holding her hand under the table at breakfast.

He thought they were doing a pretty good job of keeping things under wraps, until he caught Remus smirking at them over his pumpkin juice on Sunday morning.

James was most afraid of Sirius finding out, because as soon as that happened there was bound to be a huge fan fair and most likely an announcement in the Great Hall.

But Sirius seemed too preoccupied to notice anything.

Every time Lily stood still around him he was hounding her about a birthday party. It seemed clear to James that she just really wasn't in the mood to celebrate, and given what had happened to her parents he couldn't say he blamed her.

But Sirius was like a dog with a bone, and had promised that he would throw a huge party that weekend for her birthday. Lily had promised she would cheerfully beat him to death if he tried.

Instead they settled with discreetly handing her presents over at breakfast that morning. Sirius had wanted a big fanfare and had prepared to shoot streamers out of his wand when she arrived, until Remus had pointed out that given everything with her family that might be a bit insensitive. So he just arranged her a plate of pancakes and syrup at the seat beside him and poured hot chocolate into her mug the moment she sat down.

She looked pale, and there were rings under her eyes as if she hadn't slept much the night before.

James wasn't really sure what to do, he wanted to reach out and touch her, to lean over and kiss her on the cheek. He felt as though everyone at the table must be able to feel that something had changed between them because he could barely contain his feelings inside his chest. But he didn't think she'd appreciate a huge display of affection so he settled for squeezing her fingers under the table, and his breath caught in his chest when she squeezed his back.

"I told you I didn't want a fuss" she said weakly as she accepted their badly wrapped gift.

The scruffy parcel contained a jewel encrusted, framed photograph of the five of them and a giant bar of Honeydukes finest chocolate.

Lily looked up with unshed tears in her eyes, "Thank you all, I love it."

"I bribed Edgar Bones into covering your prefect shift tonight too" Remus said.

"Have I ever told you that you're four of my most favourite people?" Lily smiled gratefully.

"We made a cake for later aswell" Peter piped up.

"And James was all for getting you an engagement ring, but we talked him out of it" Sirius joked.

"Very funny" Lily said, glaring at him weakly as her cheeks coloured slightly.

"We were thinking about sneaking into Hogsmeade later" James said conversationally, "To go to the Three Broomsticks."

"Sounds very.. Marauder-ish" Lily said dubiously.

"That's the spirit Evans" Sirius said cheerfully, shovelling more bacon into his mouth.

Lily glanced up at James for the first time and smiled, a little pink settling on her colourless cheeks. His stomach felt like it was doing little flip flops.

"Hey James."

The sound of his name jolted him out of his preoccupation with Lily and he looked up to see Melody Jones was forcing her way onto the bench between Sirius and Peter.

"Hello Melody" he said mildly, "Need some more help with Transfiguration?"

"You ran off from the library so fast on Saturday, I didn't get my answer."

James suddenly felt himself go hot.

"No offence Jones, but we're sort of in the middle of something" Sirius said loudly.

"Have you seen my sister recently, Black?" Melody asked, her eyes flashing dangerously as she looked at him. "She told me you haven't answered her question either."

Sirius opened his mouth to retaliate and then closed it quickly.

"So are you free for the next Hogsmeade trip then?" Melody asked bluntly.

"Er" James stalled.

"I'm going to be late for History and Magic" Lily mumbled, before quickly standing, grabbing her bag and rushing out of the Hall without another word.

James groaned inwardly.

"Look Melody, I'm not really free to go to Hogsmeade with you."

"Oh, okay" Melody said, shrugging cheerfully. "Well, we can always do something else."

"No, I'm not really-"

"Catch you later, James" Melody cut him off as she stood and flounced back to the Ravenclaw table.

Now James really did groan and put his head in his hands.

"What is wrong with you" Sirius hissed, "I told you going out with Melody was a bad idea, the Jones girls are nothing if not clingy."

"I was helping her with Transfiguration" James mumbled into his arms.

"I'm not sure that's how Lily saw it" said Remus.

"Yeah Prongs" Sirius agreed, "And now you've upset Evans on her birthday."

James opened his mouth to retaliate before he realised he really didn't know what he was going to say.

"Lily doesn't really have a reason to be upset though" Peter came to his aid, "I mean, she isn't his girlfriend."

"Don't be thick, Wormtail" Sirius shot back.

"I'll explain everything to her tonight, alright?" James said.

"You'd better" Sirius warned, "Because I want tonight to be perfect."

As it turned out, things seemed to run a lot smoother than most of their nightly visits to Hogsmeade.

Sirius had invited Marlene and Mary, so the girls had spent the better part of the evening getting themselves ready. After Sirius had warned them three times that they would leave without them, the girls had finally appeared.

James had to concentrate very hard not to get distracted by Lily's red lipstick.

He'd had to concentrate even harder taking the girls under the invisibility cloak to the secret passage that led to Hogsmeade.

Lily had been squashed up next to him and the smell of cinnamon from her hair was making him want to reach out and touch her.

She hadn't so much as looked at him since she came down the stairs, and she seemed to be forcing herself to laugh every time Sirius made a joke. He wanted to tug on her hand and pull her to the back of the group as they all walked through the tunnel together, but she was holding hands with Mary and he just couldn't seem to shake off Peter.

So instead he strategically positioned himself between her and Marlene at the table as Sirius offered to get the first round of drinks. Then rolled his eyes as he watched his best friend sweet talk the pretty barmaid Madame Rosmerta.

If James had even half of Sirius' charm he wouldn't be having as much trouble as he was now. Or maybe if Lily was as forward about her feelings as Melody, then maybe they'd be getting some where. He felt as though he had to pull every feeling she had about him out of her, and he was beginning to run out of ideas.

"Cheers" Sirius said as he returned with the drinks, reaching out his glass so they could all chink them together in the centre of the table. "Here's to getting the birthday girl as drunk as possible."

"Bring it on, Black" Lily laughed, taking a big chug off Firewhiskey.

James hesitated slightly before taking an obliging sip of his drink.

"Drink up, Prongs" Sirius joked, "You need it after the day you've had."

"Have you had a bad day, James?" Lily asked.

"Well I haven't had chance to speak to you" he smiled at her, "So of course I've had a bad day."

Lily promptly turned a furious shade of scarlet.

"Well you and Melody Jones seemed to be getting along so well, I didn't want to interrupt things" Lily hissed, lowering her voice.

James glanced around the table to check no one else was listening. "Lil, as much as I love it that you get jealous, you really have no reason to be."

"I'm not jealous" Lily insisted, flicking her hair out of her face, "I just think it's bad manners to kiss one girl then-"

James reached out to hold her hand under the table, "I like you, Lily" he told her solemnly, "I've only ever liked you."

Lily's breath caught as she gazed at him with those huge green eyes. She opened her mouth as though to say something but they were interrupted.

"Oi love birds" Sirius said loudly, "When you're done being gross, we want to play a game."

James turned to glare at him as Lily said, "What type of game?"

"The type that is going to get us very drunk" Sirius promised just as Peter returned to the table with a tray full of shots.

"This will not end well" Remus promised.

He couldn't have been more right.

A couple of hours later, James thought he and Remus were the only two left that could stand up straight. He wasn't sure what Sirius had put in those shots, but either they were really strong or the others just really couldn't hold their drink.

"We should think about getting back soon" Remus said, glancing at his watch. "It's past midnight."

"Do you want to be the one to break that news to Padfoot?" James laughed.

Lily appeared and grabbed a hold of his right arm, "Come and dance with me, James!"

"I'd love to Lil" he said, grabbing hold of her waist to steady her. "But you can barely stand up."

"Don't be a fun sponge!" She giggled.

"I think it's time you went to bed, Lil" Remus said.

"I'll take her back" James told him as Lily wrapped her arms around his neck, "You can round the rest of them up."

They both looked up to see Sirius pulling Marlene up onto the table he was already dancing on. While Peter was snoring softly on one of the chairs in the far corner and Mary was chatting with a handsome wizard at the bar.

"I think you got the better end of the deal" Remus said as Lily leaned her head against his shoulder.

"I definitely did" James laughed, looping his arms around Lily's waist and pulling her out of the bar. "Come on, you."

"But I didn't do anything" Lily laughed as she stumbled and grabbed a hold of him.

"Just drank way too much" James smirked as he pulled her up against his side.

"Sirius bought them all" Lily giggled.

"Sirius is a bad influence" James said, hoisting her up again as she almost tripped over a tree root.

"You're a bad influence, James Potter!" She whirled around, pointing her finger at him.

"Me?" He laughed, reaching out to lace his fingers between hers. "Honestly, you try and take a drunk girl home and put her to bed and you're the bad influence."

"You kissed me then you didn't talk to me, but you talk to Melody Jones!"

"In my defence Lil, Melody just talks at me."

"Do you want to kiss her?" Lily asked, scrunching up her face.

"Don't be silly" James sighed, reaching over to brush a stray hair out of her eyes. "I want to kiss you."

"I want to kiss you too, James" Lily breathed.

James felt fireworks explode in the pit of his stomach. He didn't know how long he had been waiting for a sign from Lily that she had feelings for him, aside from their make out session in the library last week, and now he finally had one.

It was just a shame she had to be rip roaring drunk to actually admit it.

"Come on Lil, let's get you to bed" he said, trying to loop his arm around her shoulder.

"No" Lily said, pushing him away and pouting adorably. "I want you to kiss me."

"And I want nothing more" James assured her, "But you're drunk."

"Not that drunk" she countered.

"Right, that's it" before she could say anything else James bent over, grabbed her around the waist and hoisted her over his shoulder.

"James!" She squeaked, giggling and swaying as he started to move again. "Put me down!"

"No way" he said, grinning to himself. "You need to get to bed and my self restraint can only take so much."

"You're no fun" she huffed, "I'm supposed to be the serious one."

"How about I promise to give you a good night kiss before I put you to bed?" He smiled.

"Okay" she mumbled, suddenly sounding sleepy. "But you better make it good."

She was fairly quiet the remainder of the way back. James had to ease her off his shoulder and help steer her back through the passageway, it really was a miracle they managed to get back into the common room without being seen.

He was sure Lily would have curled up and gone to sleep on one of the armchairs if he hadn't steered her towards the girls staircase.

She turned to look at him before she went up, her lipstick was smudged and her eyes were overly bright.

"What about my good night kiss?" She asked.

James had to physically restrain himself, "Lil, you're drunk and I really don't want to take advantage-"

"You're sweet, Potter" she cut him off, "But I'm sober enough to know what I want."

She ran her fingers through his hair and pulled him into a kiss that he felt right down to the tips of his toes.

"I'll see you in the morning, okay?" She smiled before placing a final kiss on the tip of his nose and disappearing up the stairs.