A/N: the obvious belongs to the Queen

After saying goodbye to Mrs. Potter, James and Lily went to hogsmeade. The rest of their friends were in classes for the rest of the day, so they had a peaceful afternoon to themselves. They went into a small pub and sat in the corner, hiding away from the rest of the world. James didn't really know how to act now. What were they? Before he could speak up, Lily did.

"So, how are you?" She asked with a concerned look in her eyes, reaching across the table to slide her hand into his.

He gulped, "Better now" he smiled, looking at their joined hands.

She smiled wider, "Ditto"

And then their waiter ruined the moment.

"Have you decided what you want?"

"Yeah," James said, folding the menu, "I'll have flapjacks"

"Me too"

"And to drink?"

"She'll have a ginger ale and I'll have butterbeer."

The waiter nodded and promptly left. Lily looked at him and smiled,

"You know my drink order?"

He nodded, "Surprised, are we?"

She nodded and flushed, which aroused James intensely. All he wanted to do was reach across the table and grab a handful of that luscious hair and snog the bloody hell out of her. He wanted to feel her hot lips against his, moving together in perfect harmony, her hand snaking through his hair while his traveled down to-

"Your drinks" Jim said, handing James' to him quickly and staying a while to chat with Lily.

"I'm not a huge fan of ginger ale myself, what's the appeal?" he asked, looking her up and down.

"It's refreshing and bubbly and always kicks my sweet tooth." She said cheerfully, not having the slightest clue that this guy was flirting with her.

"Got it. There's this cool muggle thing, I don't know what it's called, but there are a bunch of different sodas in one thing. There's one near my apartment, maybe we could go sometime?"

This was too much.

"Sorry, she's taken." James said, grabbing Lily's hand. Jim frowned and Lily turned bright red. Seeing her reaction, Jim walked away.

"What was that about?" She asked angrily, but didn't pull her hand from his.

"He was flirting with you and I didn't like it."

"Why didn't you like it?"

"Because"

"James, because isn't a good response" She huffed, finally taking her hand out of his and crossing her arms against her chest, pushing her breasts up slightly. James coughed and counted to 10, trying to tame the tightness that overtook his jeans.

"Because I just didn't like it, okay? Can we drop it please?" He begged. All Lily did was nod.

After a few moments of awkward silence, James spoke.

"Sorry if I offended you..."

"You didn't, I was just confused."

"Why?"

"Why? Because you lied to a really nice guy! And you were really protective."

"Did you want to go out with him?" James asked, praying the answer would be no.

"Of course not!"

"Then why do you care that I lied to him? Do you like him?"

"I care because it was rude. And of course I don't like him!"

"Fine then, who do you like?" James said quietly, looking her directly in her eyes so she couldn't avoid the question.

"Who do you?"

"I asked you first."

And then she did something that James didn't expect. She put her finger on her nose.

"What are you doing?"

"Nose goes! So you go first!" She said, puffing up with pride. Before James could answer, the food arrived and they both tucked in immediately.

"Oh my god these flapjacks are delicious!" James exclaimed with his mouth full of food.

"Aren't they?" Lily replied, her mouth equally as full as his.

After paying the check and saying a very awkward goodbye to Jim, they walked out of the pub and strolled around.

"So Lily,"
"Yeah?"

"We never finished our conversation from earlier."

"Which one?" she asked, even though she knew exactly which one he was talking about.

"The one about who you like."

"Actually James, I'm pretty sure you were going to answer first."

"Fine."

He took her hand and they walked in silence to a park. It was gorgeous, long grass and big trees to provide shade. They sat right in the middle of the park and laid in the sun, their hands still intertwined.

"So there's this girl, and she's absolutely brilliant."

"What year is she in?"

"Ours."
"Tell me more about her"

"She's hilarious and smart and absolutely beautiful and we get along really well." Lily felt her stomach drop. Oh merlin, she just needed to know who it was already.

"Wow, she sounds perfect."

"She is. Tell me about this guy" He asked nervously.

"Well," she started, feeling herself blush, "He pretends to be a total prat but in reality he's the sweetest guy I've ever known. He makes me laugh and respects me and he's absolutely gorgeous and he makes me feel safe."

"He sounds awesome"

"He is."

They stopped talking for a minute or two, trying to process all of the unsaid words between them. Should I tell her? Should I tell him? Lily gathered up the courage to ask the question that's been nagging her since they sat in the pub.

"Who is she?"

He turned to look at her, brushing a lock of hair out of her eyes.

"I think you know."

She gulped.

"Who's he?"

"I think you know too" she said quietly, avoiding his eyes.

This could be it, James thought, this could be the moment I finally kiss Lily Evans.

But it wasn't mean to be, because all of the sudden he heard Sirius' voice coming out of his pocket.

"JAMES POTTER. ? PRONGS? PRONGSY? HEEEEELLLOOOOO? YOU THERE? ANSWER THE DAMN MIRROR PRONGSY THIS SHIT IS IMPORTANT!"

James sighed and sat up, taking the mirror out of his pocket.

"What the hell do you want padfoot?"

"Hi" Sirius said, smiling like an idiot.

"That's all?"

"No."

"No? Okay then what is it?" James asked, starting to get impatient.

"You know what tonight is right?" Sirius asked

"Oh, that's tonight?"

"Yep"

"What time?"

"7"

"Got it."

"See you then." And with that, Sirius disappeared.

James turned back to Lily but the moment was ruined. She was fiddling with her hair before she noticed him staring at her.

"What was that about? What even is that?" She asked, nodding toward the mirror in his hand.

"Oh this? This is a two way mirror. Sirius has one half and I have the other, and whenever we need each other we say the others name and the mirror starts ringing or something. Whatever, you heard."

She nodded, "And what's tonight?"

James widened his eyes. Crap what do I do? Moony should tell her.

"You'll learn eventually," he said.

She nodded and started to get up and James followed.

"Ready?" she asked, looking at him.

And he was ready. He was ready for her. He was ready to have her be his and only his. He was ready for her to be the only one he'd ever kiss, the only one he'd ever sleep with, the only one he'd ever lay with. The only one he'd ever protect. He was ready to feel her legs wrapped around him, her mouth hot on his, her bare chest pressed up against his. He was ready for her and everything she came with. He needed to act soon, he needed a plan.

"Ready."