During breakfast on Sunday, Lily and James did not exchange one single word. Lily was watching him with the corner of her eye, but he had sat sufficiently far away to not justify conversation with her. She wondered if he had done it on purpose.

After breakfast, she returned to the common room with her friends, where they devoted some time to finishing up homework. When Charlotte left them to go to Quidditch practice, she started a mental countdown and, about an hour later, she let her friends know she would be going to the Prefects' Bathroom to take a bath.

The bath was decidedly enjoyable, although her anticipation wouldn't let her relax completely. It did its part to make her feel pretty and confident, though, so that was something.

She dried her hair and put on fresh clothes, then exited the bathroom and stood next to the statue of Boris the Bewildered with her back against the wall, waiting. Less than two minutes later, James Potter walked up, broomstick in hand, just like last week.

"Oi, Evans, fancy meeting you here," he said, and she knew he had seen right through her.

She smirked and stood up straight, arms crossed over her chest. He stopped before her and put his broomstick down against the statue.

"Why did you run away last night?" she cut straight to the chase.

He fixed his eyes on hers, and she could tell he was measuring his words very carefully.

"Because you'd regret it," he said eventually.

"Did I look like I'd regret it?"

He pressed his lips together. "I don't know."

She took a step towards him and let her arms drop to her sides. "I don't regret it. Do you?"

His face leaned closer to hers. "Do I look like I regret it?"

She raised an eyebrow. "I don't know."

She was playing with him. She was teasing him, provoking him.

He could resist, but what would be the point?

"I don't regret it," he said hoarsely, their faces now only one breath apart.

And suddenly her lips were on his, and her hands on his neck, and his arms around her body, and his good sense out the window.

She hadn't meant to kiss him again. At least, not so quickly.

But there was something about the way he looked at her that was simply irresistible. His eyes spoke of heat and passion, and she wanted in.

And now she was in, she was tasting his lips and his hands were on her back, her heart was beating against his and she was melting again, she was melting all over him, her body was seeking to merge with his and she had never wanted anything more.

She deepened the kiss, and he responded to her urgency, pressing her closer to him, his strong hand coming up to the back of her neck, his fingers snaking through her hair, and she was lost inside his embrace, hidden from the world, she felt protected and cherished and –

"I love you," he spoke against her mouth, and her eyes opened wide.

She faced his gaze – she had never seen it so sweet, his whole face was radiating – and she tried to form a response, but a finger on her lips stopped her.

"No. Don't say anything. I just thought you should know."

He leaned into her again and pressed the shortest, most tender kiss on her lips; she closed her eyes and held her breath, as not to disturb the quiet, reverent feeling nestling between them.

She felt the faintest touch of fingers on her cheek; slowly, she opened her eyes again, to find the quiet and reverent feeling resting in his smile, their faces barely a breath apart.

"I don't regret this one either," she whispered.

A mirthful grin escaped him; one arm tightened around her waist as the other one softly guided her head against his shoulder, and he looked around. "We will both regret it if Filch catches us," he joked.

She hummed her disagreement. Not even the caretaker's ugly mug had the power to ruin this moment.

"We do have to go, though," he said, his hand still in her hair. "It's almost lunchtime. People will start wondering where we are."

"Fine." Very reluctantly, she pulled away from his embrace. "Go drop your stuff and I'll see you at lunch."

He nodded, then picked up his broomstick and with one last smile at her, he headed to the common room.

Lily sighed in contentment, and her right hand came up to rub her left shoulder.

She already missed his touch.

James literally skipped his way to the common room and up to the dormitory to leave his Quidditch equipment. Sirius thought he also heard him whistle. They were used to him being in a good mood after Quidditch practice, but that was a little excessive.

"Ready for lunch?" he asked perkily, hopping down the dormitory staircase.

"Why so happy today?" Remus asked back.

"We are going to crush Slytherin," James said, his gaze distant but bright.

"Good, good."

They all got up and headed to the Great Hall.

"I thought practice went well, but I didn't think it merited that kind of confidence," Charlotte commented, as the girls also slowly started to get ready for lunch.

James had decided he wouldn't tell anyone about what had happened with Lily.

First of all, he wasn't sure she'd like them to know. He was still not entirely certain she wasn't going to come to her senses any moment now and deny she had ever felt the slightest attraction towards Potter, of all people.

Second, if this whole thing didn't work out – which really, was the likeliest scenario – he would want to live through the disappointment alone, and not have to explain to everyone why and how. He knew his friends cared for him, and they would be happy if it worked out and bummed if it didn't, but he didn't need that. It would only serve to prolong his agony, having everyone around feeling sorry for him.

But most importantly, right now he was so ridiculously happy, he was overflowing with joy.

And he didn't want to share the tiniest bit of it.

His joy was Lily, and Lily was his, and even if it only lasted for one day, he would savour this feeling wholly and insatiably and unendingly, just the way he loved her.

Lily noticed that James sat exactly across from her this time, and even though he was talking to his friends left and right and seemingly not paying attention to her, she did not miss his frequent glances towards her, or the way his eyes were sparkling.

Her friends noticed nothing out of the ordinary, and she participated actively in their conversation despite the back of her mind travelling elsewhere.

When they were finished with lunch, they returned to the common room, where the boys had already taken their usual place at a table for four near the dormitory staircase. Lily and the girls lounged on the sofas for a while, until Charlotte said she wanted to revise Charms.

"I'll join you, revision is always useful," Lily said, and after retrieving her book, she joined her at a table in the middle of the common room. She turned back to the index and took a piece of parchment, noting down the spells she already knew to work on her memorisation. She wanted to improve her speed.

With the corner of her eye, she was stealing glances towards James. He was sitting sideways on his chair, talking and laughing loudly, tousling his hair every so often. Lily wondered how it had taken her so long to start finding him attractive; not only was he admittedly good-looking, but his whole presence had an undeniable charm about it.

Well, maybe if she wanted to be completely honest, she hadn't been entirely unaware of those facts.

She returned to her piece of parchment, and, making sure Charlotte was focused on her own wandwork, she wrote a small note in the corner.

Meet me at our usual place at 4?

She then tore it, crumpled it up and pretended she was using it to practice levitation charms.

James spotted Lily and figured out her intentions pretty quickly, but there was no way she could get her message to him without anyone else noticing. She wasn't the kind of sneaky bastard he was.

Thankfully for both of them, though, he was.

Interrupting Sirius mid-sentence, he raised his wand theatrically, and with a loud and clear voice and a side-eye to Lily, he called out "Accio ball of parchment!"

Lily's ball of parchment flew straight to his hand, and she looked up at him with her eyes wide. "Hey!"

"No bothering your classmates, Evans!" he said, and everyone was watching them now.

"I'm only practising!" she protested.

"You were trying to throw it at me. Think you can prank the prankster?"

Lily's cheeks reddened, and some of the onlookers laughed.

"Too bad," he said, unfolding the note as though unconsciously, then with a quick spell incinerated it before anyone else could take note of the message. He looked pointedly at her. "You gotta be a good Head Girl," he said, and winked at her.

She fixed her green eyes on him, and he knew the deal was sealed. Satisfied, he turned back to his friends.

"Were you really trying to throw it at him?" Charlotte asked in a low voice.

"Yes," Lily said mischievously, and they laughed.

"Hey, what d'you say we go to Hogsmeade?"

"Now, Wormtail?" James looked at his watch. "It's late. We should have gone after lunch." He stretched his back against the chair. "Personally, all I'd like to do now is go to the Prefects' Bathroom and take a long bath."

Sirius raised an eyebrow. "Feeling fancy, Prongs?"

"Why not?" James rose and nodded toward the staircase. "I'm just going to get a change of clothes first."

Sirius shrugged. "Fine."

James ran up the stairs to the dormitory and opened the door. He found Peter's backpack by his nightstand and quickly retrieved the Marauder's Map from inside it, then stuffed it in his own backpack along with a change of clean clothes. Pleased with himself, he wore his backpack and headed to the fifth floor corridor.

Lily watched James leave the common room with the corner of her eye and started looking for an excuse to leave without anyone connecting the dots. She returned her attention to the conversation she had been having with Diane and Patricia.

"It's unacceptable that there are no practice classrooms," Patricia was saying. "Students can't be expected to improve their skills by reading only. There needs to be a hands-on approach. We can't be expected to make an outstanding potion during the exams if we've only made it once in our lives."

"Merlin knows there are a lot of empty classrooms in the castle for that," Diane agreed. "But it's probably a matter of resources. They'd need teachers to overlook the students. It could be dangerous to have students brewing potions on their own, with the fires burning and the toxic ingredients and the fumes."

"And the knives," Lily added. "Speaking of potions, I should go find Slughorn and apologise for leaving his party yesterday."

"It wasn't your fault," Diane pointed out. The girls knew Lily had made plans to leave the gathering, but she had allowed the impression that the whole dancing statues incident was just a happily convenient coincidence.

"But he'll appreciate it," Patricia countered. "Good move. Go."

"I'll see you later," she said and left the common room.

She found James next to the door to the Prefects' Bathroom, his back and one foot against the wall, his backpack hanging from one shoulder, his hands in his pockets, a mischievous smile drawn on his lips.

"You figured out the place," she said, mimicking his expression.

"It wasn't hard," he said. "But I would've found you wherever you went." He stood up straight and looked around as she approached him. "Come with me."

He grabbed her wrist and led her to the door on the left. It was locked, but he opened it with a nonverbal spell and they entered.

He shot a spell at a wall lamp, and it lit up with a blue flame. Lily looked around at the now dimly lit room; it was a linen closet, all the walls lined with shelves carrying white towels and sheets.

James closed the door and made to lock it again, but with a second thought he looked at Lily, silently asking for her consent. She nodded at him, and he proceeded with securing the lock.

He left his backpack on the floor beside him and turned towards her. "So, you wanted to see me," he said.

"I did." She took a step closer to him.

"Alone."

"Yes." Another step.

"In secret."

"Preferably." She put her arms around his neck and leaned with her body against his.

"Well, here I am."

He put his hands on her back, and she kissed him softly, trying her best not to fall in the whirlwind that his lips always seemed to bring forth.

He responded, and his touch was gentle, as though he had read her thoughts. Lily was amazed by the harmony of their bodies, always so perfectly in sync with each other, their desires intertwining.

They ended the kiss slowly, and his hand came up to caress her hair.

"I hope I didn't make you uncomfortable back in the common room," he said, looking at her sweetly. "I saw you struggling and thought I'd help."

"I wasn't struggling," she said, feigning annoyance. "But it worked, so all's well."

"I thought I might get an earful for making people laugh at you. The colour of your face was kind of alarming." He grinned.

She rolled her eyes. "Yeah, I hadn't planned on that, but I'll live."

He caressed her hair again, and his expression sobered up. "You haven't told your friends, have you?"

"No. Have you?"

"No." His gaze became distant and moved away from hers. "But not because I'm ashamed of you."

"I know what you mean."

His gaze returned to hers, now quizzical.

"I'm not ashamed of you either."

James took a moment to breathe. "Are you sure?"

Lily nodded. "Yes."

"Are you sure it would not make for irreparable damage to your image, being seen hand in hand with James Potter?"

"We've never walked hand in hand," she reminded him, expecting him to become amused, but he frowned instead.

"I'm not trying to –"

"I know. Stop."

She pressed her lips against his, now with more warmth and passion than earlier; he only hesitated for a moment before responding. She felt her heart burst in her chest when he did, and she clung onto him, pouring all the emotion she held for him into her kiss and her caresses.

Their kiss lasted a long while, and Lily only broke it because she wanted to look at his face again; she saw his eyes, glimmering with contagious joy, and she smiled at him.

"Still not holding my hand," he teased.

With a playful scowl at him, she grabbed his right hand with her left one and squeezed it.

"Better."

She locked eyes with him, and her scowl dissipated at the sight of his bright grin.

He broke free of her grip and slid his hand round her back, pulling her close against his chest. She breathed in his scent, taking in his warmth and his tender caresses, allowing herself some time to gather her thoughts.

"This is all very new to me," she said quietly. "I'm not ready to talk about it or, Merlin forbid, answer questions on it. I barely understand it myself."

"I know." He kissed her forehead. "No pressure." His finger moved to her chin, and he lifted her face so that he could look her in the eyes. "But I'm going to want to see you alone very often."

"Something tells me that our duties as Head Boy and Girl just quadrupled." She smiled mischievously.

"See, that's why I like you," he said and squeezed her into a tight hug. They both chuckled.

"I'm going to have to see Slughorn afterwards," she said. "I said I was going to go apologise for leaving his party."

"Oho!" James mimicked their teacher's favourite exclamation. "Let's see what we can do about that."

He bent and retrieved a piece of parchment from his backpack. He touched it with his wand and said "I solemnly swear that I am up to no good."

Lily watched in silent amusement, which turned to astonishment when she saw the parchment spring to life, with letters and designs appearing on it.

"What's that?" Her eyes wide, she approached him and took a better look at the parchment. "Is this a map?"

James beamed. "Yup, it's Hogwarts."

She followed the lines outlining the castle, forming the rooms and the hallways, then noticed the named dots moving all over it. "Where did you get it?"

"I made it."

"What?!" Lily's eyes were practically out of their sockets now.

"Well, me and the boys. I did most of the drawing, and a good part of the charmwork."

"How?"

James chuckled. "It's a long story."

Lily looked back at the map, still awestruck. "If Flitwick was amazed to see the dancing statues, I'd really like to hear his thoughts on this one."

"All the points in the castle are not enough reward for the work that's gone into it," James said proudly.

"I'll say," Lily said, and took it from his hands to examine it more closely. "This is a masterpiece." She observed it for a few moments, then a thought occurred to her, and she turned back to James. "I'm not going to tell anyone about it."

"I wouldn't have shown it to you if I had to tell you this." He approached her to get a better view of the map. "Now, let me see..."

"Oh!" Lily let out suddenly. "This is what Sirius was looking at when he was telling you where all the teachers were!"

James grinned. "Yes."

"Oooooh." She looked at the parchment, then back at James. "Very useful. With this and your Invisibility Cloak, you can go anywhere you please."

He nodded with a lot of self-assurance. "Exactly."

Something lit up in her mind. "And you do."

"I do."

"You sneak in the hospital wing, for instance."

James lowered his head guiltily, but laughed. "That's one of the tamest things I've done."

She smiled. Somehow all these tales of mischief were only making him look all the more endearing.

If that wasn't being in love, it should be really damn close.

"Now, see, this is really convenient." James pointed at the map after some searching, unaware of the doe-eyed look Lily was giving him. "Slughorn is at Dumbledore's office with him. You went to his office to find him, but, too bad, he wasn't there! You had to wait around. And you ended up late," he finished triumphantly.

"Oh, bother," Lily deadpanned.

"I know. You're stuck with me until he gets back to his office."

"However am I going to get through this?"

James folded the map and threw it on his backpack. "I can keep you busy," he said suggestively, approaching her and sliding an arm around her back.

She made herself comfortable against his chest, her hands playing with the collar of his robes. "Let's see what you got, Potter."

He leaned into her, their mouths tantalisingly close.

"I'll show you."

When Lily finally left to find Slughorn, James quickly changed into his clean clothes and returned to his dormitory to leave his things.

To his surprise, all his friends were there.

"Prongs!" they exclaimed in unison upon his entrance.

"Do you have the map?" Remus asked with urgency.

"Yes," he said, eyeing them curiously.

"Why did you take it?" Sirius asked.

"What do you mean? I've had it since yesterday. I took it from Wormtail when I went to find Lily."

"No, you didn't," Peter said matter-of-factly.

"I did. It's not my fault if you didn't notice."

"You stole it from my bag?"

"I told you, 'I'm taking the map'." James narrowed his eyes and looked at his friends in turn. "Why were you looking for the map? Were you planning to go Marauding without me?"

"We thought Peter had lost it," Sirius replied, "and we've been on his back for the past half hour."

"Not answering my question," James said, his voice cold. "The map stays with me from now on."

"Says who?"

"Says me."

"It's not yours, you know."

"It's as much mine as it is yours."

"We have a deal that it goes to whoever needs it the most."

"No, we have a deal that we use it together," James stated. "And if you exclude me, the deal is void, and I'm keeping the map."

"We are not excluding you!" Sirius shouted. "You went to take a bath!"

"I can't take a bath now?"

Sirius sighed heavily. "When have you ever just got up on a Sunday afternoon while we're sitting all together and gone to take a bath?"

James closed his eyes and took a breath. "Even if I've never done it before, how does that excuse you going to snoop around without me?"

"We weren't going to go anywhere without you!" Sirius glared at James. "You're being weird, Prongs."

"Whatever. I'm keeping the map."

He turned on his heel and stormed out of the room.

Sirius threw his arms up in despair and turned to Remus. "That's not normal," he said, pointing at the door.

Remus shrugged, his frown one of confusion.

Since he was pretending to be angry at his friends, James decided to kill some time at the library. It wouldn't hurt to read up on his Charms until dinnertime.

Everything would be all right by then. Sirius's anger would have defused, Remus would come to him to calm him down, Peter would swear they were not going to do anything without him, and he would pretend to still be a little annoyed but accept everyone's explanations. And tomorrow, they'd wake up and go to their classes as usual, as if nothing had happened. It wasn't the first time they fought.

It was the first time he was leading them on, though, and he was feeling a little guilty.

But not much.

Even though he could be a good actor, he hated lying, especially to his friends. But he didn't want to risk getting caught with Lily. They'd hear about it in due time.

His gaze wandered away from the book he was reading, and to the high, ornate ceiling of the library, without seeing it. A goofy grin spread on his face.

Lily had sought him. She wanted to be with him.

This was the best day of his life.