So I am posting this before I have read any reviews on the last chapter.

I was so nervous to post that….

This one isn't quite so long but it was necessary.

Chapter 17

Sleepy Secrets

It was either very late Wednesday night or very early Thursday morning when James opened his eyes to the soft flickering firelight. He had a feeling of absolute happiness but it took someone pushing herself closer into his arms for him to remember why.

He glanced down at the naked sleeping form of Lily Evans, snuggling close into his side and chest. The sheet was draped over her most private, and amazing parts in James' opinion. She looked absolutely perfect. He was practically riding on a high. He had made love to Lily Evans, and he had told her that he loved her. And she hadn't slapped him or moved away. This had to mean something.

He watched her breathe in and out for several minutes before deciding that she would be really mad if he let her miss classes today. And if she didn't go back to her dorm her friends were likely to be more suspicious than probably already were.

He only hoped that Remus had kept his mouth shut, that was the good think about Remmy, he was good at keeping secrets.

OoOoOoO

(hours earlier)

Sirius POV

Remus entered the room with Pete and was instantly grabbed by the scruff of the neck and pushed into a waiting chair.

Sirius wasted no time in starting his assault.

"You know." He said simply.

He watched Remus' eyes widen before he spoke.

"Uhm, I don't really know much of anything." He replied, mostly honestly.

"That so? Well see I have this map. Prongs had it with him this afternoon, and he accidentally left it on my bed. If you don't know than he is one sneaky bastard and we had better watch our backs." Sirius said as he folded his arms over his chest stubbornly.

Remus' eyes darted to the map being held in Sirius' outstretched hand and he grinned wickedly.

"What did you see? Where are they?" he said excitedly.

"No you answer me first, how long have you known?"

Remus laughed, leave it to Sirius to be the one demanding answers.

"I have suspected since the beginning of December, but I wasn't certain until today. I think he was desperate to get her alone so he was under the cloak and told me to bugger off basically."

Sirius laughed happily.

"Did she know he was there. No, not until after he talked to me, I don't know what he did but she blushed like mad and practically cursed me out of the corridor. That's all I know, now you."

Sirius frowned.

"Well that's disappointing, I thought you knew more than that."

"Uhm, guys d'you want to fill me in here." Peter said standing between them looking from one to the other.

"Just a second Pete, I saw the three of you meet up. I saw you go away. I saw them run into several solid walls and then they went to the seventh floor and they disappeared. I don't know where they are now. I have been watching and they haven't returned."

Remus took the map and scanned it over several times.

"Could he have charmed it not to show him?" Sirius asked, watching the young werewolf study the parchment.

"No, I don't think so. I mean we warded this ourselves, we would all have to be present to change them. I don't know where they could have gone, unless it is off the grounds but I highly doubt that James of all people could convince Lily to go off the grounds on a school day." Remus muttered as he looked closer at all the dots around the castle.

"What James and who…Lily…As in Evans…I am so lost." Peter baulked.

Both Sirius and Remus started to laugh.

"We only just found out for certain." Remus consoled him.

"Not entirely true Remmy, I have known for sure since the last Hogsmede trip." Sirius gloated.

"What? How?" Both Remus and Peter exclaimed.

"Well I was on my hidden bench in my secret spot when you and Marleen left the two of them alone. Soaryn knows too but we haven't said anything. It is obvious they don't want anyone to know. Though why is beyond me."

"Are they dating?" Pete asked the room at large.

Remus shrugged his shoulders, Sirius shook his head.

"I don't think so, but Jamie has it bad. He says he loves her. Like is in love with her. He is afraid she is embarrassed to be with him. Merlin, don't tell him I told you that." He blurted out.

"Why would she be embarrassed, he is the best flyer in the school, he has the best grades of anyone, Lily included, he could have any girl he wanted. Why would any girl be embarrassed?" Pete asked

"I don't think she is. And come one Pete, Evans doesn't care about any of that. I think she is afraid to admit she likes him." Sirius replied as he pulled off his robes and threw them into the laundry pile in the corner of the room.

Remus was fiddling with the hangings on his four poster.

"She is scared. And I'll bet she is a bit embarrassed. Not by him but by herself, she has been declaring her hatred of him since they were eleven and now they are shagging?"

"No, snogging." Sirius corrected before motioning for Remus to continue.

"Oh, well snogging then. Anyways, she is probably confused and embarrassed and on top of that, she has snogged guys before but never had a boyfriend so I would bet that she is scared too."

Sirius and Peter both stared open mouthed at their friend, it was finally Sirius who spoke.

"You should have been a girl, honestly Moony. Let's go to dinner, James said he would meet us there, we are going to get this story out of him tonight." He said with determination.

oOoOoOoO

When James got into his dorm at 4 AM Thursday morning he was at a loss as to why Remus was sleeping slung over the arm rest of a chair, and to why Sirius was sitting slumped over in the middle of his bed staring at the map. Pete was sound asleep in his own bed, snoring as usual.

He had woken Lily up three hours ago and they had just now made it back to their rooms after some more, quality time together and a brief stop by the kitchens.

She had been so tired that he carried her on his back the entire trip to the tower, she had falled asleep on his shoulder and when he woke her the about laughed themselves silly as she stumbled up the stairs.

He was so tired he didn't have the energy to think about his friends' odd behavior so he threw off his shirt flung himself across Sirius' bed and passed out with a smile on his face.

oOoOoOoO

"Aghgahh, why in the bloody hell am I always woken up like this!" James screamed as a pillow smacked him across the face.

"Because you stay out until Merlin knows when, sneak in and sleep in the wrong bed. Get your arse up and tell us about your bloody girlfriend!" Sirius yelled back as he gave James another whack upside the head.

James sat up and grabbed the pillow before it could connect again, pulling Sirius to the bed beside of him. He glared down at him.

"There is nothing to tell, I don't have a girlfriend to tell you about."

Remus looked at him in disbelief and Sirius put his hands on either hip.

"Well then your recent behavior is quite trampish Mr. James Potter and I think we need to discuss it."

"Well your recent behavior is quite girlish and I think you need to shut the fuck up and let me go to sleep." James said in a mock high voice.

He threw himself back down onto Sirius' bed and just as he closed his eyes he felt himself be pulled ankles first and landed with a thump on the floor.

"Oghf. What the hell! Moony are you effing kidding me?" he said in frustration.

"Nope, unfortunately Prongsie I am not, we have class in 15 minutes and you can't miss two days in a row. So get up and we can talk about yesterday's adventures on the way."

James threw whatever clothes on that he could reach quickly, incidentally ending up in Remus' too long pants, Pete's too loose shirt and Sirius' robe, which actually fit pretty well.

"You look ridiculous, McGonagall is going to shit a bezor when she sees you in that get up." Pete said with a laugh as James stumbled over the hem of Remus' pants.

"Well if a bloke had made decent friends this wouldn't have happened." James muttered, trying to roll up the sleeves of his shirt.

"Why couldn't you just wear the clothes you slept in? They couldn't have been that wrinkled, you only slept in them for a couple of hours." Peter replied.

James turned red and mumbled something incoherently.

Sirius stopped in his tracks outside the transfiguration door.

"What was on your clothes that you couldn't wear them today? What was on your clothes that were in my bed?" he demanded.

"Nothing they were just sweaty. That is all." He muttered, red faced.

Sirius scowled and shoved him through the door, directly into Lily. She caught him as he stumbled right into her arms.

"Sorry Evans." Sirius said with a huge grin.

"Sorry bout that Lily, they are being stupid." Remus added, grabbing James by the back of the robes and pulling him to a stand.

When he was upright he looked at her face into her amazing eyes and couldn't stop the blush that heated his face. He was fully standing on his own but she was still gripping his forearms.

"Oh ugh sorry Lils. I uhm." He stammered pushing his hands through his already completely untamed hair.

"Are you alright Evans, you look tired today." Sirius said innocently.

"Yeah…I am fine. Are you ok Potter?" she said as he stepped back away from her.

His face fell when she used his surname and he looked hurt and oblivious to everyone else around them.

"Huh?" he said, obviously confused.

"Did you confound him or something Sirius? I asked if you were alright, James." She repeated.

He nodded his head and walked past her to a table sitting beside Peter instead of by Sirius as was usual. He knew what was going on and he wasn't falling for it. Unfortunately for James today was a partner day and McGonagall was choosing the pairs. For some unfathomable reason she put James and Lily together. Remus who was working with Soaryn watched the pair closely as did Sirius and Pete, who were also a pair.

James and Lily were an absolute mess together. Apart from being ridiculously nervous around each other and so obviously trying not to be obvious they were both dead on their feet and they were laughing hysterically at the ridiculous mess that sat on their shared table.

"May I ask you two what this is supposed to be?" McGonagall asked sternly.

Lily was giggling to hard to respond so James attempted a response.

"We have no idea professor." He said trying and failing to keep a straight face.

This made all of the Gryffindors and the majority of the Ravenclaws crack up.

"Honestly, what is the meaning of this you two, I expect this from him but not you Miss. Evans." She scolded.

Lily tried to stand up straight and push her strands of hair out of her face.

"I am sorry professor, I don't know, I am just really tired, I have been pulling extra rounds. And I guess with all of the Quidditch practice that James is doing, the two of us are likely half asleep right now. We really aren't trying to be disruptive" she said while she tried to blow a long string of her bangs up out of her eyes.

James reached over and pushed it up into her hair without thinking and the three boys watched as she shivered when his fingers brushed the side of her face.

"Yes professor, he is just really tired. Let us get him out of here, before he messes up your whole class." Sirius said grabbing James by the scruff of the neck and pulling him from the classroom.

Remus smiled and grabbed James and Sirius' books and followed them out.

"We'll sort him out professor. Lily you don't mind pair with Sauryn do you? Ours is almost done, she'll help you out." He said before bolting out of the door.

Pete was left standing in the middle of the room staring at the door after his friends and looking back at a flabbergasted head of house.

"You might as well go ahead Mr. Petigrew. Just be sure to inform them that you all have detention on Sunday." She said wearily.

He grabbed his stuff and hurried from the room but not before he heard her say.

"Is it wrong that I am relieved thay skipped the rest of the class?" and the other students burst into laughter.

oOooooOoOoO

Sirius threw James into a doorway and used his wand to flood the floor outside the door. James heard Remus lock the door behind them and watched Sirius pull the flush to send Myrtle out into the black lake.

"Why are we in Myrtle's bathroom?" he asked with a yawn.

But before he could get it all of the way out Sirius had him by the front of the robes and had pulled him about two inches from his face. He looked so intent that James had to blink twice.

"You shagged Evans' last night!" he practically shouted.

That woke James up.

"huh, who did. No, no I was uhm I…Shit." he muttered, he was too tired to lie on his feet.

"Sirius let him go, you ae disorienting him. Jamie sit down." Remus said firmly.

James obeyed and slid down the wall letting his head fall forward into his hands.

"James, were aren't stupid. We have seen the two of you together this year. There is something different. Sirius saw you both in Hogsmede, he watched you hold hands and flirt the entire way back to the castle. Not to mention that I was with you in Hogsmede and watched you practically cling to each other. We know that you are the one that urged Sirius to date Soaryn."

"Thanks for that mate." Sirius said fervently before quelling under Remus' glare.

"Yes thank you for assisting Sirius Black in getting a date, as if he needed help. Anyways, I overheard you talking to Lily on the train, and I am the one that you told to scarper yesterday. You know I suspected. And then you left the map in the room and Sirius saw you run into us, leave with Lily and neither of you were seen again until 4 am this morning. We checked, that is what time Alice said Lils got back from patrol. I fell asleep sometime between 3:30 and 4:00 Sirius woke up at 5 and you were in his bed passed out, fully dressed."

"How does this add up to me having sex with Lily?" James asked astounded that all of this had been pieced together. He couldn't believe he had forgotten that forsaken map, how stupid.

"It didn't. Until class today we assumed you were just snogging and secretly dating. But after the way you two were acting. Come on Prongs I know morning after jitters and that was it. Did you, or did you not have sex with Lily Evans?" Sirius said bluntly, his smile plastered on his face.

James looked at Pete who looked excited and then a Remus who smiled softly.

"Jamie, I don't know what you are worried about. We aren't going to say anything if you two are secret, but no one could be happier for you than we are. We have been through every rejection every I hate Lily phase every I adore Lily rant, every operation achieve Evan's panties or heart or love or kiss or acceptance or whatever else we tried to help you get of Lily's.

We want you to be happy. And it has never been more obvious that you are." He said ruffling the dark tangled hair and sitting on the damp floor beside him.

James looked up, torn between overwhelming joy and misery at letting Lily down.

"I unfortunately am not dating Lily Evans. We are most certainly not a couple." He said sadly.

The other three boys looked stunned as it was apparent that James was speaking the truth.

"But I have been snogging her since the beginning of last term and I totally slept with her last night, and it was infreakingcredible." He said with a huge smile.