"James, really, what are we doing? You promised to help me study for my transfiguration test…" Lily said uneasily through a shiver.

"Come on, I'll help you later, I promise," James said, pulling her along.

"I should have brought my coat," Lily whispered mostly to herself.

Why did I believe him when he said it wasn't that cold out?

James put his arms around her and held her close, rubbing her arms to warm them up.

Lily shivered for a whole new reason.

"We're almost there, I promise," James said.

"And where exactly are you taking me?" Lily said, trying to focus on the path ahead and not his arms around her.

"I would expect you, Lily Evans: top of our class and head girl, to know what the word surprise meant." James said.

Why is every stupid word out of your mouth so bloody clever?

"You are truly hilarious." Lily said, her voice laced with sarcasm.

James took out his wand and whispered something.

"What did you just do?" Lily asked.

Before she knew it James' broom was soaring towards them.

"This next part is by broom," James said mysteriously.

"Why didn't we just go on the broom the whole time?" Lily asked.

James seemed deep in thought.

I am dating an idiot.

"Not important!" James finally declared. "But I'm on the front this time," he said. "We'll go a lot faster that way."

"What makes you think I am even getting on a broom with you again?" Lily asked.

James mounted the broom and held out his hand. "Get on,"

Damn.

Lily took his hand and then sat on the broom behind him, letting him wrap her arms around his waist.

When James took off Lily's reflexes caused her to hold tight and close her eyes. True, she had gone flying with James once before, but that didn't stop the fear from settling in the pit of her stomach.

"Open your eyes Lily," James said.

"How do you know that they're not open?" She asked.

"Are they open?"

"No."

James laughed. "Come on open them I want you to see this,"

Lily opened her eyes and all that was in her field of vision was James' back. She took a deep breath and slowly turned her head so she was looking at the world around her.

"Wow," Lily said, stunned to see thousands of lights dancing around the lake. "What are they?" She asked in wonder.

"Some sort of sprites I think," James said. "They only tend to come out around the equinoxes. Pretty neat, huh?"

"They're amazing!" Lily exclaimed, her fear of heights slowly fading.

"I'm glad tonight ended up being so clear, it's not raining or anything," James commented, seemingly proud of his clever planning.

"Look it's a full moon!" Lily said.

"Not until tomorrow," James said.

"How do you know?" Lily asked

"I uh I guess I overheard someone talking about it."

Lily smiled, looking out on the world around her and thinking about how she came to be in this moment. She laughed and then said to James, "If I was told last year that a year from then I would be here, right now, I wouldn't have believed it,"

James smiled and laughed. "I sure would,"

"I know you would have," Lily commented. "And as odd as it is to admit, since last year I never would have believed I would be sitting on the back of a broom flying around happily with you, I'm strangely happy to be proven wrong,"

James sighed, "Me too," he said. "More than you know,"

And Lily wholeheartedly knew that he truly meant it.

Lily sat down for breakfast in the great hall with James, Sirius, Remus, Peter, Becca, Alice, and Frank. She looked down at her food for only a few seconds, and when she looked back up Sirius had somewhat managed to have his hand completely stuck in the jelly jar and Peter had a pitcher of juice on his head.

"What happened?" Lily exclaimed, her eyes darting back and forth between the two of them.

Remus was pulling the pitcher off of Peter's head and James was pulling the jelly jar off of Sirius' hand. In only an instant all four of them somehow ended up landing on the floor, followed by cheers of fellow housemates and fits of laughter. Soon enough they were situated again and everyone else was just waiting for the next obnoxious moment to happen.

"I don't even know how you get yourselves into these random situations," Lily said, buttering her toast.

Lily received a gentle nudge against her foot under the table and looked up at James who was smiling.

"Admit it, you know you love it," he said.

Normally Lily would have yelled and told him to control his bigheaded cocky attitude, but instead she found herself grinning, getting lost in his hazel eyes.

Just as soon as the world around her had slipped out of focus, it roughly snapped back in as an owl swooped down and dropped a large fancy envelope on the table in front of Lily.

"What's this?" Sirius asked, almost diving across the table for the envelope, that was, before Becca intercepted his reach, causing him to dive headfirst into the fruit salad.

"What are you doing?" Becca scolded, trying to contain her laughter as Sirius pulled bits of fruit off of his face.

Lily, slowly learning to tune the Marauders out, reached for her envelope. She looked carefully at the delicate writing on the front, and turned it over to see an intricate glossy white pattern covering the back. She shrugged and carefully opened it. Inside it read:

You are cordially invited to the wedding of Petunia Evans and Vernon Dursley

It went on to detail the time and date but Lily could barely contain herself. She wanted to tear the card to pieces but instead she promptly put it back in the envelope and stuffed it in her bag.

"What's wrong?" James asked.

Lily sighed. "My sister is getting married."

James paused and Lily could tell he didn't know how to react.

"Well at least you got an invitation," Alice said, trying to lift Lily's spirits.

I don't even know if I can look at that as a good thing.

Lily composed herself and put on her best fake smile. "I've got to grab a book from the library before class, I'll see you guys soon, okay?"

Keeping a steady grin, she grabbed her bag and stood up, walking away from the table, making sure not to make eye contact with anyone, especially James.

She walked quickly down the corridor towards the library.

At least I can have some quiet in there, I'll just try not to think about it, and I really should study some more for…

But there was a sudden hand on Lily's shoulder that turned her around and she was face to face with a panting James.

"What's going on?" He asked, panting, having obviously chased after her.

"Nothing," Lily lied. "I told you, I have a transfiguration test and I just wanted to…"

"Lily, seriously, we both know I'm not an idiot," James retorted.

"Listen James, I'm fine. You wouldn't understand even if I told you, so please, just let it go."

"Please, if you just tell me I know that I can help," James tried.

Lily suddenly got heated and said, "You don't know that you can help!"

"Maybe that's cause you have never let me, but I sure as hell have been trying!" James yelled, causing several people in the hall to look in their direction.

James suddenly pulled Lily into a nook in the hallway and backed her up against a wall, placing his hands gently on the sides of her neck.

Lily lost all previous concentration and all she could focus on was the warmth of his body heat. And she certainly never expected to hear net next words out of his mouth.

"Listen, you have to understand something, yes, I may act arrogant, I may think I can do whatever I want, and yes, that may piss you off to no end, but you have to understand one thing, I care about you and if you're in pain I'm going to do everything I can do to fix that, whether you like it or not,"

Lily stood still for a few moments, staring at his face, watching him breath in and out, until she finally brought his hands down off her neck and held them by her side.

"Fine," she said softly. "I'll tell you what's going on."

So they stood there in that nook and Lily proceeded to tell James about her sister. She told him everything, she told him about every horribly thing her sister had done to her, and every time she wished things could be different. She told him about the horrible man her sister was about to marry and how event though her and her sister were always at odds, she couldn't stand to see her marry such a man. And that was the first time Lily Evans ever skipped a class.

After properly freaking out about missing class, and diligently copying down all of Remus' notes, Lily sat in the Head's common room, her head buried in her transfiguration book, already dressed in her pajamas due to anticipation of falling asleep studying.

She poured her heart out to James earlier and for most of the day the two of them couldn't have been better. Lily then suddenly noticed the Marauders getting quieter and quieter, and Remus was suspiciously absent at dinner. After dinner James had started acting antsy, and Lily couldn't tell why; he had headed to his room a while earlier, and Lily assumed he already fell asleep. She read over and over her transfiguration notes, trying not to be upset that James never helped her study, it was his best subject after all.

It was dark out and the moonlight was shining into the room, accompanying the firelight Lily was studying by. She then heard a sudden creak and turned to see James stealthily coming out of his room.

"Where are you going?" Lily asked.

He's acting like he has to sneak out of his own room…

"Just out…I mean going to meet up with Padfoot, I mean Sirius, and the uh, the rest of, yeah."

That's not suspicious at all.

"Well I was just asking," Lily said. "But now I'm a little bit worried. Are you alright?"

"Peachy," James said. "Couldn't be peachier or keener in any way."

"Fine," Lily said. "If you're off to plan another prank with the rest of the Marauders I won't stand in your way," she said.

"Right!"

"But just try to remember that you are head boy." Lily pleaded.

"I try to remember that every day," James said. "And I often succeed."

Of course. He doesn't even remember.

Lily rolled her eyes. "Well whatever you're planning I'd appreciate it if it doesn't interfere with me getting to class on time tomorrow. I have a transfiguration test. You know the test you said you would help me study for?"

James seemed to freeze in his place. And now you remember.

"Lil I am so, so sorry. I completely forgot." James said.

"Just…don't make me late for class. Okay?" Lily asked.

He had been acting so strange after this morning and Lily hated herself for getting as upset as she was. At times like these she didn't know what to expect from him and didn't know if she was the cause for his strange behavior.

When his simple answer was in fact a question, asking, "I'll see you later, alright?" Lily wanted to slap him and hug him at the same time…but all she could do was sit there.


"James, really, what are we doing? You promised to help me study for my transfiguration test…" Lily said uneasily through a shiver.

Don't remember that…note to self: help Lily study for transfiguration.

"Come on, I'll help you later, I promise," James said, pulling her along.

"I should have brought my coat," Lily whispered mostly to herself.

Guess that wasn't completely truthful when I said it wasn't cold out…

James solved his error by putting his arms around her, quite enjoying holding her close and rubbing her arms to warm them up. Although he thought it might not have done any good because Lily started shivering again.

"We're almost there, I promise," he said.

"And where exactly are you taking me?" Lily asked.

"I would expect you, Lily Evans: top of our class and head girl, to know what the word surprise meant." James said.

Oh the cleverness of me.

"You are truly hilarious." Lily said, James detecting her sarcasm.

James then took out his wand and whispered accio broom under his breath.

"What did you just do?" Lily asked.

And just as expected, James' broom came zooming up to them.

"This next part is by broom," James said mysteriously.

"Why didn't we just go on the broom the whole time?" Lily asked.

James paused.

Good question. Hmm maybe it was because…nope. There was absolutely no reason why we couldn't have taken the broom the whole time.

"Not important!" James finally declared. "But I'm on the front this time," he decided. "We'll go a lot faster that way."

"What makes you think I am even getting on a broom with you again?" Lily asked.

Because you are unable to resist my charm.

James mounted the broom and held out his hand. "Get on,"

Lily seemingly couldn't help but take his hand and join him.

That's what I thought.

He waited until her arms were tightly around his waist and then he took off. He instantly knew she was scared because her grip substantially tightened. He could also just feel that her eyes were closed, but he couldn't let her miss this.

"Open your eyes Lily," he said.

"How do you know that they're not open?" She asked.

"Are they open?"

"No."

James laughed. "Come on open them I want you to see this,"

As soon as she spoke he knew they were open.

"Wow," Lily said. "What are they?" She asked.

"Some sort of sprites I think," he explained. "They only tend to come out around the equinoxes. Pretty neat, huh?"

"They're amazing!" Lily exclaimed.

"I'm glad tonight ended up being so clear, it's not raining or anything," James commented, deeply proud of his clever planning.

"Look it's a full moon!" Lily said.

"Not until tomorrow," James said.

"How do you know?" Lily asked

"I uh I guess I overheard someone talking about it."

Good…that wasn't a complete lie.

Unexpectedly, James heard Lily say, "If I was told last year that a year from then I would be here, right now, I wouldn't have believed it,"

James smiled and laughed.

I sure would.

"I sure would," he said.

"I know you would have," Lily said. "And as odd as it is to admit, since last year I never would have believed I would be sitting on the back of a broom flying around happily with you, I'm strangely happy to be proven wrong,"

James turned, hiding his grin. "Me too," he said wholeheartedly. "More than you know,"

James was sitting down for breakfast in the great hall with Lily, Sirius, Remus, Peter, Becca, Alice, and Frank. He took one bite of bacon, which Sirius then tried to grab out of his mouth (James was unsure why because there was an entire plate in front of him) so he pushed it away, resulting in it thrusting into the jelly jar. Sirius had the pitcher of juice in his other hand and because of the sudden thrust the pitcher ended up on top of and stuck to Peter's head.

"What happened?" James heard Lily exclaim as he was pulling the jelly jar off of Sirius' hand and Remus was pulling the pitcher off of Peter's head.

Yep, that's it, I can already tell we're going down.

And within seconds they ended up all crashing to the floor. This of course was accompanied with their own fits of laughter and the cheers of their fellow housemates.

Once they were situated again, James resumed his breakfast.

"I don't even know how you get yourselves into these random situations," Lily said, buttering her toast.

James smiled and nudged her foot under the table.

"Admit it, you know you love it," he said.

What? No clever retort Evans? Not going to tell me to deflate my head?

Despite his thoughts, James couldn't help but grin and soon he found himself lost in her emerald eyes.

Then suddenly an owl swooped down and dropped a large fancy envelope on the table in front of Lily.

"What's this?" Sirius asked, almost diving across the table for the envelope, that was, before Becca intercepted his reach, causing him to dive headfirst into the fruit salad.

"What are you doing?" Becca scolded, trying to contain her laughter as Sirius pulled bits of fruit off of his face.

James watched Lily slowly examine the letter. She opened it and suddenly a look spread across her face that James had never seen before.

What's wrong? What does the letter say?

Her eyes suddenly snapped back to reality and she promptly put it back in the envelope and stuffed it in her bag.

"What's wrong?" James asked.

Lily sighed. "My sister is getting married."

James had no idea how to react.

Well this obviously doesn't look like a good thing. What could be so bad about that?

"Well at least you got an invitation," Alice said in a chipper tone.

James observed Lily, knowing by her face that Lily was not seeing that as a good thing.

I don't understand what's going on…

James then saw Lily's all too famous fake smile.

"I've got to grab a book from the library before class, I'll see you guys soon, okay?" she said, keeping a steady grin, grabbing her bag and standing up, walking away from the table, making sure not to make eye contact with anyone, especially, James noticed, himself.

Sirius then did the most unexpectedly helpful thing: slapping James with the back of his hand and saying, "What are you doing Prongs? Go after her,"

James tore down the great hall and corridor until he finally reached Lily.

He gently turned her around and asked, "What's going on?" He said, unable to help from panting.

"Nothing," Lily obviously lied. "I told you, I have a transfiguration test and I just wanted to…"

"Lily, seriously, we both know I'm not an idiot," James retorted.

"Listen James, I'm fine. You wouldn't understand even if I told you, so please, just let it go."

"Please, if you just tell me I know that I can help," James tried.

Lily burst out, "You don't know that you can help!"

You've got to be kidding me.

"Maybe that's cause you have never let me, but I sure as hell have been trying!" James yelled, almost not caring that everyone in the hallway was now looking in their direction.

James suddenly pulled Lily into a nook in the hallway and backed her up against a wall, placing his hands gently on the sides of her neck.

He could tell she had lost a great deal of concentration, and usually he would have congratulated himself and took advantage of the moment, but something like this was far more important.

"Listen, you have to understand something, yes, I may act arrogant, I may think I can do whatever I want, and yes, that may piss you off to no end, but you have to understand one thing, I care about you and if you're in pain I'm going to do everything I can do to fix that, whether you like it or not,"

They both just stood there staring until Lily brought his hands down off her neck and held them by her side.

"Fine," she said softly. "I'll tell you what's going on."

So they stood there in that nook and Lily proceeded to tell James about her sister. She told him everything, she told him about every horribly thing her sister had done to her, and every time she wished things could be different. She told him about the horrible man her sister was about to marry and how event though her and her sister were always at odds, she couldn't stand to see her marry such a man. James couldn't believe a lot of what he was hearing, he couldn't believe how he didn't know about any of it, and he couldn't believe how she could continue holding it in. But one thing James was sure of, and that was that this was the first time Lily Evans ever skipped a class.

James mildly enjoyed Lily's freak out session about missing class as he saw her frantically copying down Remus' notes.

There was one thing however that James felt terrible about. And that was that Lily had just poured her heart out to him, but all he could concentrate on was how awful Remus looked as he let Lily copy her notes. He was getting paler by the second and James knew that it was almost time for him to get himself away and to a safe place, a safe place that only the Marauders knew about.

Sirius and Peter both had class so James helped Remus sneak outside and to the shrieking shack. James forgot how difficult that was to do without Peter there, so he ended up with a few bruises. Needless to say Remus did not join them for dinner that night.

James, Peter, and Sirius were walking down the hall to the Gryffindor common room.

"I'll meet you guys outside of here when it's time. I've got the cloak so just try not to wake up the fat lady." James said.

"Easier s-said than d-done," Peter stammered.

"We'll be fine mate," Sirius said. "Just try not to wake up your flower,"

James ignored him and started towards the head's room, thankful that he didn't have patrolling that night. He wished that Lily did though, so he had an easier time of leaving without her noticing.

James thankfully got back before Lily and he retreated to his room, getting as much work done as he could because he knew he would be much too tired tomorrow to do it. After what seemed like hours and hours, which it probably was, he tucked his cloak away and headed for the door.

He hadn't heard movement for quite some while and as he creaked the door open he hoped that Lily was sound asleep in her room. She was not.

"Where are you going?" Lily asked.

Damn. She had to be in here at this EXACT moment, of course.

"Just out…I mean going to meet up with Padfoot, I mean Sirius, and the uh, the rest of, yeah."

Smooth.

"Well I was just asking," Lily said. "But now I'm a little bit worried. Are you alright?"

"Peachy," James said. "Couldn't be peachier or keener in any way."

"Fine," Lily said. "If you're off to plan another prank with the rest of the Marauders I won't stand in your way," she said.

"Right!"

"But just try to remember that you are head boy." Lily pleaded.

"I try to remember that every day," James said. "And I often succeed."

Excellent. Witty comeback is on cue as usual.

Lily rolled her eyes. "Well whatever you're planning I'd appreciate it if it doesn't interfere with me getting to class on time tomorrow. I have a transfiguration test. You know the test you said you would help me study for?"

James froze. Bloody hell. I am a bloody idiot.

"Lil I am so, so sorry. I completely forgot." James said.

I don't have time to feel guilty right now. I need to go. Now.

"Just…don't make me late for class. Okay?" Lily asked.

And that was when James truly felt his heart split in two. He could never abandon his friends; never leave Remus alone on a night like this when he needed him most. But his heart also belonged to someone else now, and he couldn't abandon her either.

"I'll see you later, alright?" James didn't realize that that was the hardest question he had ever asked. And it remained unanswered.


Thanks for reading! Hope you enjoyed it, I'll try to update asap!