A/N: Sorry this took a while! It was a pretty difficult chapter to write, but I'm quite happy with it now it's done. Hope you enjoy!

I didn't sleep very well that night. I lay awake, staring at the ceiling, long after our discussions had finished and Alice and Emmeline had fallen asleep. I attempted to convince myself that it was just the numerous events of the day running through my mind, and the excitement of being made Head Girl; but deep down, I knew that really I was just nervous about our trip to Diagon Alley; nervous about seeing James.

Only four or five hours after I finally fell asleep, we were once again awoken by Alice's mum knocking on the door.

"Breakfast's ready, girls. It's half past nine, so you've got about an hour and a half before Flooing to the Leaky Cauldron." The three of us slowly got out of bed, and went downstairs to eat, yawning and stretching as we went. I followed behind the other two, not feeling particularly hungry; the butterflies in my stomach seemed to have intensified overnight.

Thoughts of James continued to preoccupy me while we were getting ready, and what he would think of me was my main concern. I wanted to look good, but was also wary of appearing to be trying too hard. I therefore settled for clothes that were relatively simple – a plain green t-shirt, which matched the colour of my eyes, and blue denim jeans – and a few touches of discrete make-up. Surveying myself critically in the mirror, I thought I looked casual, but quite pretty. I hoped James felt the same.

I had been so absorbed in getting ready that I had barely paid the other two a moment's attention. As I was examining my reflection, however, Emmeline came up behind me and looked at my image in the mirror too.

"Lily, I think you look absolutely lovely, but I doubt that it's for my benefit," she said, smirking. "But frankly, I think James would probably say you looked great if you turned up not wearing anything. Come to think of it…" I frowned, as Alice laughed.

About an hour later, I stepped out of the fire in the Leaky Cauldron, and immediately heard someone calling my name in greeting. I looked, and saw James, grinning broadly at me. His hazel eyes shone out from behind his glasses, and he was wearing a short-sleeved shirt that gave him a casually elegant look, despite his typically untidy hair, and also, I noted, revealed rather muscled and powerful arms. I swallowed hard; he seemed to have become even more handsome and attractive in the few weeks since I had last seen him.

He walked forwards confidently and embraced me. I hugged back tightly, holding him for a second or two longer than the occasion warranted, and only breaking apart when Alice stepped out of the fire behind me. Emmeline arrived a few moments later, and immediately ran over to Remus, who had been standing chatting to Sirius. It was lucky Remus noticed Emmeline a second before she reached him, or she would have completely bowled him over.

James, who was also watching the two of them, chuckled, and then turned back to me. "Good summer so far?"

"Not bad, thanks," I said, smiling back at him, and resisting the mad urge to tell him that he had been on my mind for the entire duration of the holidays so far. "You?"

He laughed. "It's been a right laugh with Sirius around," he replied, throwing an arm around his best friend, who had wandered over from where Emmeline and Remus stood.

"Speak for yourself," said Sirius in a mock-annoyed voice, ruining the effect by grinning broadly. They both laughed.

As James and Sirius continued chatting with me and Alice, I glanced briefly at Emmeline and Remus. They were still standing a few metres away from us, but were now whispering urgently to each other, with an air of great excitement. I was immediately suspicious, particularly when I saw Emmeline glance over in my direction, realise I was looking, and then look hurriedly back at Remus again. A second later, the two of them came over to where the four of us were standing.

"We're going to Fortescue's," said Emmeline matter-of-factly. "Why don't we meet you later in Flourish and Blotts at about midday, and we can all buy our new books together?"

As we all agreed to this, I saw Remus give Sirius a meaningful look, which was returned with a slight nod. Whilst growing ever more aware that there was something going on, I made no comment on this as we headed into Diagon Alley. After we passed through the concealed archway into the street, Remus and Emmeline left the group, heading left, and the rest of us walked right.

"I need to go to Gringotts," I said, checking my purse as we walked along, and seeing that there was hardly anything in there.

"Oh yeah, me too!" said James quickly. I looked at him in slight surprise, but he appeared completely unfazed, and looked around at the other two. "Either of you need to come?"

"Nah, I'm fine, mate," replied Sirius, grinning. "How about you, Alice?"

"Um…" she said, likewise opening her purse to check its contents. "Yeah, I think I'd better…"

Out of the corner of my eye, I saw James frown, and Sirius roll his eyes in amused exasperation. I had a funny feeling I knew what was behind the suspicious behaviour of the others now.

"Oh, hang on a minute… Yeah, I'm fine, actually," said James distractedly, as we approached the great marble building. "You two go on in, we'll wait outside."

As Alice and I walked out of the bank and into the dazzling sunlight twenty minutes later, we saw the two boys standing a few metres away, having a whispered and urgent conversation. They stopped quickly as we approached them, and James asked where we should go next.

Sirius promptly said, "Alice, why don't we go and get the new equipment we need for Astronomy?"

"What new equipment?" she asked, looking puzzled.

"Oh, you know, the new telescope lenses," he said airily. "It was on the book list."

"Was it? I don't remember…"

I definitely knew what was going on by now. I looked at James, who looked at me. I gave him a slightly shy grin, which he returned.

Eventually, Sirius gave up. He walked up to Alice and began whispering into her ear. A look of comprehension suddenly came over her face, and she exclaimed, "Oh! Oh, right… yeah, um, Sirius and I have to go and do… erm, something… See you both later!" And with that, the two of them walked off, Sirius shaking his head incredulously.

"She doesn't take a hint, does she?" asked James quietly, watching the two walking away from us.

"Um, no," I laughed. "She's about as subtle as a brick." He laughed too, and I turned to look at him. He looked straight back at me.

"Listen, Lily…" he said, looking incredibly nervous. He ran his hand through his messy, jet black hair, and continued. "Um… well firstly, I guess I wanted to apologise for being such an idiot for such a long time." He paused, looking at me cautiously.

"Don't worry," I said, smiling. My heart was hammering inside my chest. "I'm just glad that you realised."

He gave another nervous laugh, took a deep breath, and pressed on. "Look, I know I've asked you this question about a million times, and I admit, I never really fully appreciated what I was doing before. But… well, I'd like to think that I've changed over the last couple of months, and also that we've become friends." He looked up at me again, staring earnestly into my eyes. "But I want more."

I looked straight back. He certainly had changed. Here was a depth of feeling I would never before have thought possible, and there was a sincerity in his gaze that was both powerful and endearing.

"Um…" he said, very tentatively. "Will you… will you go with me?"

I kept looking at him. He started to go red. But then I smiled, and nodded. The expression of relief on his face was so great that it caused me to laugh. He laughed, too.

After a while, we fell silent, and stood there looking at each other for a few seconds. He opened his mouth to speak, but just then, we heard a voice calling James' name loudly. Turning, we saw Finbar Quigley, a fifth year, and beater on the Gryffindor Quidditch team. I stood there awkwardly whilst Finbar told James at length about the new broom his father had bought him for his birthday, but after a while, James cut him off.

"Great, Fin, but I'll have to catch you later; I'm pretty busy at the moment. Come on, Lily." He grabbed my hand and we marched off.

"Sorry about that," he said, once we were out of earshot.

"No problem," I replied, grinning.

There was a short silence, before he said, "So, um… what now?"

"Well…" I replied, grinning, "I guess that means you're my boyfriend." He stopped, and looked at me. He was grinning too.

Slowly, he said, "That would make you my girlfriend." I nodded, still smiling.

"Cool," he said, beaming. I laughed. Then, he leant towards me hesitantly, and gave me a brief kiss.

I heard someone squeal loudly behind me. It was Alice. Turning back to James, I rolled my eyes. He laughed.

"Never a moment's peace," he said, and we turned to face Alice and Sirius. Since pulling me away from Quigley, he had not released my hand.

A/N: Please review! Feedback would be appreciated, particularly since I'm not sure where to go with this next. Suggestions welcome!