AN: This chapter is split into two parts because together it was pretty long, but I had an ickle cliffhanger I wanted to add in. Yey.

Chapter 3
Or,
Of the Ritz, full names and dating games.

Part 1:

It was the last week of the summer holidays, and Lily had been back in the country for a week; she'd been to Paris with her family. She'd also been on two dates with Josh in the week in which she came back from Paris, and she was really excited to be meeting up with him for a third time. Coincidently, they were meeting later that day (it was only around eight, but she was way too excited to sleep). They were going to the beach to take advantage of the really hot summer they were having, and they were also meeting up with their friends after they'd spent a few hours alone. After realising she wasn't going to get anymore sleep, she decided to have a long relaxing bath before she had to get ready to meet Josh at noon.

Lily really liked Josh. He was funny, intelligent, and yeah, gorgeous. Most of all, he seemed to care about Lily and her personality, and not her blood status, although that didn't matter considering he were a muggleborn too; but Lily liked that. Not that she had anything against purebloods, but she felt better knowing that Josh was muggleborn because it meant he knew about things she did in the Muggle world, and the fact they both had to deal with the bullies, so they both understood what it was like. She sat in the bath, while she daydreamed about the two dates she'd already had with Josh.

Their first date together was based around a simple Muggle tradition; going to the cinema. They met at the cinema, considering they both knew where it was, and Josh had allowed Lily to pick the film. It was small things like that which made Lily really like him, because he obviously liked Lily to an extent which meant he'd sit in a cinema and watch a chick-flick. What surprised Lily the most was what Josh had worn on their first date and the reason he'd worn it. She found him leaning against the wall outside the cinema, in a pair of black skinny jeans with a navy shirt and a tie. He looked drop-dead gorgeous and told Lily he'd overheard a conversation between herself and Marlene about how attractive guys in ties were. Lily remembered grinning at him, and telling him that he were one the guys that looked attractive in ties. Another thing which she liked about Josh was that he weren't the type of guy who'd take a girl on a date to the cinema to sit in the back row and snog her face off. They didn't even sit in the back row; they sat near the front sharing a bowl of popcorn and simply watched the film. Josh didn't do that I'm-stretching-but-my-arm-is-going-to-fall-around-your-shoulders thing, either, he simply sat dipping his hand into the popcorn which he let Lily hold.

Their second date went just as well, and the stuck to the Muggle way of things by going for a meal. It was a proper candlelit dinner with a band which played romantic music, but it wasn't cheesy, it was just the right amount of romance. They simply sat for a good couple of hours, chatting about different things; their favourite foods, favourite class at school, and what they liked to do in their spare time. That's how the beach date was arranged. Lily had mentioned how she loved the beach, so Josh asked her out again, but he had mentioned they could make a whole date of it with their friends too. They'd also danced too, which Lily found rather amusing because Josh was surprisingly a great dancer. What Lily found really cute, was that Josh seemed timid about holding her hand or kissing her cheek. She had laughed when he went to hold her hand, but then changed his mind midway through the action, and Lily simply took his hand anyway. She wasn't bothered that she'd taken his hand, it wasn't like he didn't want to, and he was just a bit nervous. Lily laughed when she recalled this memory.

Snapping out of her daydream, Lily shrieked after realising the time. She only had an hour to get dressed. An hour! She was frantic trying to figure out how she was supposed to make herself look presentable with just an hour to spare, and she was pretty pissed off with the ministry for banning magic at home because this task of getting ready could be made much easier if she were allowed to charm her hair dry. She switched on the hairdryer and started to dry her hair, while she mentally made notes on what she was going to wear and how she would style her hair.

"Prongs, I'm bored." Sirius whined, while he and James were lounging outside in one of the many gardens at Potter manor.

"Well, should we go out?" James suggested, pulling at the grass.

"Where should we go?" Sirius sat up excitedly, just wanting to get out and do something.

"I dunno." James stopped to think. "What about the beach? We could get Moony and Wormy to come to, make it a lad's day out."

"Yes! The beach! And there might be some super sexy girls in bikinis!" Sirius jumped up and ran inside, mumbling something about getting his swimming trunks and doing his hair. James laughed at his best friend, while sending a patronus to Remus and Peter about meeting them at the beach around lunchtime-He, unlike Lily, could actually use magic at home because he came from a magical family, so the ministry had no way of detecting it was James who had used the magic, and of course, James never abided by the rules. He followed Sirius into the house, getting his trunks also, but completely forgetting about even trying to tame his hair. It would never style, it would never lie flat, and it just did whatever it fancied.

"Oi, Prongs, Padfoot!" Remus came zooming out of Potter manor fireplace, coughing and spluttering. Remus came early to Potter Manor, instead of meeting the guys at the beach. Considering this was James and Sirius, and those two alone in a Muggle area? That was a big 'hell no'.

"Yey, Moony is here!" Sirius came sprinting down the stairs, jumping the last four and diving onto his best friends back. "Alright, pal?" He asked, shouting 'Oi!' when Remus dropped him from his back.

"Yeah, I'm fine, Wormy is going to meet us near the beach, he didn't want to floo." Remus grinned and ruffled Sirius' hair.

"I've just spent the last half hour styling my hair, you prat!" Sirius huffed and began to stare at himself while pushing his hair into its previous style.

"And you call me the prat! Padfoot, we're going to the beach, not the bloody Ritz!" He replied, holding back a laugh.

"What's the Ritz?" Sirius and James, who had just appeared behind them both, said in unison.

Remus rolled his eyes and groaned for knowing all about Muggle's, he waved his hand impatiently. "It doesn't even matter, just hurry up." He plonked himself down in one of the chairs, while Sirius ran back upstairs to change while James sat opposite Remus, and while they waited for Sirius to return; they struck up a conversation about quidditch.

About five minutes later, Sirius came bounding down the stairs again. "Right, lads, you ready?" He asked, when he came skidding to a stop at the front door. James clapped his hands and jumped up.

"Hell yeah, Remus, what exactly are we doing at the beach?" When James said this with a serious face, Remus burst into laughter. "What?" James asked innocently, frowning at a confused Sirius.

"It's a beach, James! A place to do anything you want with sea, sand and sun-"Remus' explanation was cut off by a loud and excited Sirius.

"And girls!" Sirius contributed.

"Mmmmhhmmm, that isn't helping, Padfoot. Anyway, basically we do what we want, but you obviously can't use magic." Remus stood up while he finished his brief explanation of what they could do, and emphasized the fact that they can't do magic because he knew exactly what James and Sirius could be like when they were after girls, or just fun.

Sirius nodded and walked out of the door, James and Remus following behind him, and they walked to the beach which took about an hour. When they arrived Sirius was already off on the look for girls, while Remus, James and Peter (who had already been waiting for them) sat on the wall to decide what they wanted to do first.

One thing that the marauders didn't know was that this beach was the exact same beach which Lily Evans, Josh Richards, and both of their friendship groups would be going to later. Maybe if they did, they wouldn't have gone at all.

"Lily darling, are you ready? Joshua is here!" Lily cringed when her mother shouted up the stairs but she was actually pretty shocked that Josh had come to her house, they normally just met up at organised place in which they both knew. Quickly finishing off her plait, she rushed downstairs and smiled the moment she saw Josh sitting having a conversation with her father about a football game.

"Yeah, sorry about that, I lost track of time." She explained, walking over and giving her mother a hug and her father a kiss on the cheek. She turned to Josh and smiled. "Ready?"

"Yeah…" He turned around and smiled to Lily's father. "Nice talking to you, Mr Evans."

"Anytime, anytime…" Mr Evans replied, and Lily smiled again. "Well, you two kids better go; you don't want to miss all the sun now." He fixed his sight onto the TV, where a game of football was just kicking off and Lily opened the door and beckoned for Josh to come join her. She called goodbye to her mother who was now outside attending to the garden, and she walked with Josh to the beach.

"I was surprised to see you at my house." Lily commented, while she and Josh walked along the seafront to find a nice little spot where they could sit until it was time to meet their friends.

"That's what I was aiming for." Josh replied, grinning down at her.

"Well you definitely succeeded." She grinned back, and they both sat down on the sand. Josh accidentally brushed her waist with his hand when sitting down and Lily jumped and giggled, when he noticed that he'd tickled her, he did it on purpose; tickling her waist why she giggled and pleaded breathlessly for him to stop.

"J-Josh…Stop! This is so unfair!"

After a few more moments of tickling Lily, he stopped and grinned when she jumped up, pouting. Josh followed suit, minus the pouting.

"I'll get you back for that, Richards." Lily smirked, wiggling her eyebrows in a mischievous way.

"Damn!" Cursed Josh teasingly, although he was hoping it would be a nice revenge and not one of Lily's famous hexes.

They were standing very close to each other, and Lily immediately recognised this as a romantic kissing moment- not like every time a guy stood close to you that you were supposed to snog his face off, but you know, it was Josh and he was cute. Surprisingly, Lily wasn't even nervous, on the contrary to what people at Hogwarts said, she had actually kissed a few boys- only a few, she wasn't about to turn into Hestia or something. Josh had noticed this too, and he was vowing to himself that he wouldn't be an idiot and mess it up because he really liked Lily, probably a lot more than people realised. Josh, being extremely handsome and intelligent, attracted a lot of people and he did have quite a few rumours made about him- whether they were actually proper rumours, or true facts, had nothing to do with his situation right now- but you could say he did have experience, probably lots more than Lily. Josh stopped his random train of thoughts and snapped back into the present; where Lily was gazing up at him, her eyes swimming with excitement and her lips were parted slightly- still catching her breath from the tickling moment. He leaned down and smiled slightly when Lily didn't make any attempt to pull away, and he kept leaning in until their lips were only inches apart. He was so excited to finally get to kiss her.

But Lily had no intention of kissing Josh.

Part 2:

Okay, she really wanted to just pull him down by the front of his buttoned up shirt and completely kiss him back. She really liked Josh, and she along with many others at Hogwarts, had a huge crush on him. But Lily saw Josh for who he was inside, his true intentions and feelings, not just the smouldering sex-god look that he worked so well. When Josh moved another inch, meaning their lips were just about to touch, she jumped back- desperate to keep a straight face. Josh's stomach sunk, and he frowned at Lily- noticing her serious expression. He opened his mouth to speak but no sound was produced. What just happened? I thought…I thought it was going well! His mind was working overtime to find a reason why Lily wouldn't actually want to kiss him, but he came up blank.

It was when Lily really scrutinized Josh's face for emotions, that she actually realised he thought she was being serious. Hadn't it just been minutes ago I said I was getting revenge? Pfffffft, Ravenclaw? That sorting hat needs to sort itself out! Lily couldn't possibly hold in her laughter anymore, and out of the blue she was bent double with laughter- the look on Josh's face was totally priceless.

Recognition dawned on Josh and he rolled his eyes, cracking a smile. "Lily Evans! That was beyond cruel!" Lily was still laughing, but she eventually calmed herself down.

"Mmmmmh, yeah, maybe, but it was hilarious!" She replied, grinning.

"You know, I thought it was going to be me who ruined a totally cute moment, but no-"Lily was smirking cheekily, and there was a hint of mischief in her eyes, and Josh groaned. "You're not done with the teasing, are you?"

Lily shook her head. "You have to catch me. You have to catch me to be able to kiss me." And with a wink, she took off running along the sand. Josh chuckled and yelled 'Easy!' after her, but as it turns out; running on sand wasn't exactly the easiest thing in the world.

He did manage to catch her though. After several minutes of running after her, Lily was growing a bit tired and had to slow down. Josh grabbed her sweetly by the waist, hoisted her up, and without any hesitation this time- he kissed her. Only to be interrupted by Marlene, Hestia, and Josh's friends.

"Lily, I'm so glad to-Oh. Sorry." Marlene grimaced as Lily and Josh pulled apart. Lily was torn, she was dying to kiss Josh again, but she wasn't exactly the type who just kissed in front of her friends and she was dying to see Marlene and the girls again; she'd missed them so much, they may as well been sisters. Oh, screw it. She thought, and with a grin toward Marlene and Hestia, and then a sweet smile to Josh's friends; she pulled Josh back toward her and kissed him. Only to be granted with another interruption.

"Lily Louise Evans!" This voice came from Alice, who was normally quiet and sweet, but Alice shouting? Especially using Lily's full name? Shit. Lily, who had stopped kissing Josh the moment Alice had bellowed out her name, turned to face her and cringed.

"Hey, Alice…" She grinned sheepishly, and Josh let Lily down and walked to greet his best friends.

"Why are you snogging in public? You and I, we're supposed to be the innocent ones! We leave all of that up to Marls and Tia!" Alice was grinning while she spoke, clearly showing she was happy for Lily, but it was very out of character for Lily to be openly kissing somebody in public, unless alcohol was involved- which Lily rarely drank.

"Erm…" She began, again looking very sheepish "It was Josh. All him, he is a bad influence!" Josh, who at that moment had be chatting happily with Tom- his best friend- about Quidditch, turned around and gasped.

"It was all you, Lily Louise Evans!" He was grinning, knowing Lily would obviously hate the use of her full name. When he saw Lily's eyebrows shoot up, and her face deepen red, he hastily changed topic. "And, this is my cue to go play footie with my friends!" He left before Lily could argue, leaving the girls alone.

"Oh my Merlin, your boyfriend is Josh Richards!" Marlene grinned at her best friend, hugging her tightly.

"It's okay Marls, I don't particularly like breathing." Lily pointed out that Marlene was actually hugging her a bit too tight.

"Nice topic change, M'love." Hestia hugged Lily too, but gently, unlike Marlene.

"Not much of a topic change now!" Lily pointed out, shoving her gently.

"Why are we changing the topic? He's great Lily! Much better than that thing you went out with last year!" Alice chimed in, also giving her friend a swift hug.

"Are you implying that I dated the giant squid?" Lily asked.

"Yes!" Hestia shouted, as if it were blatantly obvious.

"Hell yeah you did!" Marlene looked as if Lily had genuinely dated and made out with a creature.

"Hate to break it to you, chick, but yup!" Alice said in a polite tone, as if she were trying to be nicer than the other two.

"You're going on as if I dated Rodolphus Lestrange!" Lily groaned.

"No, you only dated Snape." Alice said, as if Lily needed reminding. Lily didn't even bother responding, although it wasn't technically true that Lily dated Severus Snape, they didn't kinda-maybe-sort of had a thing.

"Or did she?" Asked Marlene, she wasn't being serious, but it was hilarious to see the outraged look on Lily's face.

"No, I dated Rodolphus Lestrange because he's so gorgeous and charming, and I come from one of the biggest pure blood families around." Lily's response caused a collective laugh, and after another round of hugs, Marlene and Hestia ran off-into the sea- to try and find some sexy Muggle boys, the group of boys they came with were still playing football, and Lily and Alice retreated to a wall to chat. Lily was giving Alice one of her famous scrutinizing looks as Alice was staring off into the distance at somebody.

"You like Frank, hmmm?" Lily asked as soon as they sat down on the wall.

"Frank? What?" Alice's eyes looked as if they were about to burst out of her sockets.

"You totally like Frank Longbottom and he is totally walking over to us- no you- now!" Lily exclaimed, grinning at how nervous Alice looked.

"You better not say a thing or I will kill you, Lily Louise." Alice warned, and then turned to Frank who had just arrived. "So, what you doing down here Frank?" Alice asked sweetly- this shocked Lily the most; Alice flirting was not something you would see on a daily basis.

"Josh and the guys invited me." He said, grinning at her, and then Lily realised something else. Frank liked Alice. She couldn't wait to tell the others.

"Lily Louise and Alice May!" Marlene was shouting from the sea- it wasn't surprising that Marlene's voice could actually carry that far- the girl was like a bloody foghorn. "Oh, and Frank, Tom, Josh, and the other sexy one whose name I don't know! Get your arses in this sea. Now" She grinned and continued swimming.

"She called me sexy, so I'm going." Matthew- the boy whose name Marlene didn't know- spoke excitedly and ran off toward the sea. Lily and Alice were the only ones who were a bit sceptical, but they did decide to go ahead and join their friends anyway. They jumped off the wall simultaneously and stripped off so they were just in their bikinis, when they heard somebody wolf-whistle. Lily expected it to be Josh or Frank, but Alice wasn't so sure; she was just planning to hex- when back at Hogwarts- whoever it was. They turned around, and didn't find Josh- or Frank- but the Marauders.

Lily's response was caught in her throat and Alice was surprised she didn't pass out; a wolf-whistle was enough- but it coming from the Marauders?

Alice was confused, and Lily was disgusted.

"Lily-Pad, it really is you!" Sirius cheered, grinning broadly at her. While James look smug at the look on the girls' face, Remus was just grinning politely and Peter was eating. No surprises there.

"Who else do you expect looking that hot?" James intervened, purely just to annoy Lily.

"I feel dirty and….yuck now." Lily shivered and Alice looked as if she were going to die with laughter.

"And you didn't feel dirty while you were dating that thing?" Alice asked, raising her eyebrows in a way that said-we're-totally-going-to-mess-with-the-Marauders-heads.

"Who is 'that thing'?" Sirius asked immediately, and Alice grinned while Lily caught on to what she was doing. They were pranking the Marauders.

"Alice..." Lily whined. "I thought we'd already discussed, I didn't date him! It was only like a two day thing!" She was shaking her head while Sirius, James and Remus (Peter was too busy eating his chips) looked astonished that Lily Evans had dated somebody, and they didn't know about it.

"Oh, yeah, I remember. But still, I bet the Slytherin Sex God was just…perfection, am I right?" Alice cocked her head to the side and managed to feign a look of wanting to hear every detail. It was a Hestia look; Marlene on the other hand would have just hexed it out of her if she got no cooperation.

"Wait- Slytherin?" The three Marauders responded.

"Yes, obviously, I mean he couldn't be him and be totally imperfect could he?" Lily looked like she was daydreaming.

"Who is he?!" Sirius demanded and Lily snapped out of her 'daydream'.

"Why do you want to know, jealous?" Alice winked at Sirius, who looked greatly annoyed. James was frowning deeply and Remus looked like he was probably going to faint. Lily was desperately trying not to laugh at the boys' worked up faces, this was absolutely hilarious.

"Yes! Somebody in Slytherin has got a 'sex-god' reputation!" Sirius cried out, his face showing true distress now.

"Well, if you were a Slytherin maybe he wouldn't stand a chance." Remus spoke logically. It was always Remus- the good 'ol logical one.

"Oh, hell no, Sirius would not stand a chance against this guy!" Lily spoke, her voice full of passion toward this mystery man, although it was with all of her might that she didn't double over with laughter right that instant.

"And how on Earth would you know?" James spoke up, his frown deepening.

"Hestia." Alice and Lily spoke together, giggling in a so not Alice/Lily way.

"Excuse me? Hestia?" Peter piped up.

"Let's not get off topic! Lily here has dated a Slytherin who she claims is a sex-god!" Sirius changed the topic with a pointed look at Lily, showing her she wasn't getting away with this.

"That's totally obvious who it is though, right?" Peter replied, frowning a little.

"Erm, is it?" James asked.

"Yeah…" Peter paused with a look at his three best friends, and once he realised this wasn't a joke on his behalf, he continued. "Severus Snape."

"That can't be…no way." Sirius' eyes widened.

"That's ridiculous, Wormtail." James' expression was a double of Sirius'.

"Actually, it does seem obvious now. They spent a lot of time together." Remus pointed out. Ah, there it was, Remus-logic.

"As much as his Remus-logic is true, he is definitely not a sex god." Alice stated with a roll of her eyes.

"And we didn't technically date." Lily added.

"Who is it then?" Sirius whined, and pulled his puppy-dog face. James was pouting in a sort-of-maybe cute manner, and Remus was holding a hand to his temple to make sure it didn't explode or something. Peter went back to finishing his chips.

"It's so obvious for Merlin's sake!" Alice cried, shaking her head in exasperation.

"Please tell us?" James begged, while Sirius took a drink of his slush to think about who Lily could possibly have dated. Lily was physically in her element now; James Potter was begging to know who she had dated. Okay, this was all big one lie, and they probably were going to pay for it but Lily could just tell this was going to be brilliant.

"The Slytherin sex god is Rodolphus." Lily said cheerfully, and the reaction was just as they had expected, maybe even better. Sirius spat out his slush so far it actually covered Lily and Alice, James' mouth was actually hanging opening and his eyes were wider than a deer's caught in the headlights, Remus had slipped off the wall and was in a heap in the sand and Peter was choking on a chip.

"Ow." Remus cried from the sand, and both the girls were frowning.

"This was my favourite bikini!" Lily cried, looking down to see her previously pristine white bikini a mix of red and blue.

"Rodolphus Lestrange?" James, being the first one to recover, asked as if he didn't hear Lily before.

"Yeah, Rodolphus, he's totally smokin'." Alice said, licking her lips.

"You should date him, Al." Lily said, trying to wipe the stains from her bikini.

"Oh, no, I couldn't." Alice shook her head, her mind on Frank, but the Marauders got the impression of the female version of the 'Bro code.'

"I can't believe it. You actually dated and kissed-"James began, a disgusted look on his face.

"You just actually touched him, like seriously, I always thought of him as a parasite or something." Sirius finished James' sentence.

"Wait- Lily is a muggleborn!" Remus pointed out.

"Whoa, Remus; there is no need for the whole blood status thing. " Sirius barked a Remus, but then he realised that Remus would never do that being a Half-Blood himself. He also realised something else. Lily was a muggleborn. Rodolphus was a Pureblood. That fling, or relationship, whatever you wanted to call it, would never have worked. It couldn't have even existed. James was also realising the same thing, and the three of them (Peter was still recovering over his incident with the chip) turned toward Lily and Alice who were smiling innocently.

"You two are evil. You're both pure evil." Sirius exclaimed, while James and Remus nodded in agreement.

"We're evil? That is like, the biggest overstatement of the year. We pranked you. That is all we did." Lily rolled her eyes.

All four Marauders gasped. "Oh my Merlin, that did so not happen." James groaned.

"I hate to break it to you, James, but yeah it did." Alice reminded him. The look that they received from each of the Marauders was enough to tip them over the edge into hysterical laughter, and after a few minutes the Marauders joined in two. Sirius was glad he still had his sex god reputation intact; James was just relieved that Lily hadn't been sleeping-or even dating- Lestrange or Snape, and Remus was pretty glad of it too- not because he liked Lily in a romantic way, but he was just happy Lily hadn't stooped so low to actually do such a thing. Peter was just glad to be alive, that choking incident lasted way too long for his liking.

Lily realised that they'd just had a civilised conversation with the Marauders, especially James. She'd always got along with Remus because Remus was just that type of guy; he was always polite and he and Lily were always chatting about work or prefect duties, they were pretty close friends. Sirius and Lily had grown together, Lily often described Sirius as some type of fungus- he'd just grown on her because of the conditions surrounding him but, surprisingly to each of their friends, Lily and Sirius were probably the closest type of friends you'd ever saw. Lily and Sirius would always talk to each other about things. They were best friends, obviously not as close as the four Marauders or Lily and the girls, but they were really close. Peter and Lily got on with each other just like Lily got on with most people who weren't Slytherin, Muggleborn haters, or bitchy girls. However, she and James was something that confused her. She never really got on with James- understatement of the year- they loathed each other and James would normally go out of his way to torment her in some way. If somebody had of told her that she and James would be having a conversation which lasted more than ten minutes without insulting or threatening each other, she would have laughed in their faces and told them they were stupider than Sirius- which was actually saying something, considering Sirius lacked in common sense. She realised she didn't mind it, but she'd never admit it.

"Lily, Alice, come on!" Marlene was strolling up the beach dripping wet, with a stern look on her face. Lily and Alice realised they'd been longer than they thought, and when Lily turned around to look face Marlene; her eyes landed on Josh in the sea. He was standing in some swimming shorts with his hair sticking up in every direction; he looked gorgeous to Lily and probably every female that looked at him. Something stood out about him though. Lily could have sworn that he saw jealously flash through his eyes. Lily cringed and realised that she was just having a conversation with four guys, two of which were known for their womanizing ways and Remus was clever and handsome; something Josh knew Lily liked. Josh noticed her gaze and turned away, which was when Lily decided she wasn't going to let this escalate into some argument. She just got with Josh a week ago, and under no circumstances was she going to let him slip through her fingers. Not when she liked him so much. She was determined to make it work, and that's why she sprinted off down the beach and jumped gently onto Josh's back, kissing him swiftly on his cheek. Okay. This definitely wasn't enough to change his feelings just yet, and Lily could guess. She had a brilliant talent for reading people. Josh spoke before Lily had to chance to rectify things.

"Lily, I know you were with your friends and stuff, but seriously; if you don't want to be with me. Just say." Josh practically whispered it, and Lily let out a short laugh because of how ridiculous Josh was being; she understood though, well kind of. Josh had watched her laughing and teasing the Marauders, but he was focused on Sirius and James. Josh didn't know of her friendship with Sirius, and where everybody knew of the hatred between James and Lily, Josh had some feeling that it wasn't just hatred. He just saw it from a boyfriend's perspective. Lily got that.

"Josh, stop it right now. I know you were watching me and Alice with the guys, but it's nothing that your imagination is telling you. I know you don't actually believe anything is going- or well, I hope you don't think anything is, but I'm going to say it anyway; nothing is going on. We pranked them." Lily didn't care that maybe she was rambling, Josh deserved to know, and well he was the first guy who had shown genuine interest in her and actually wanted to be her boyfriend. Well, apart from Severus- but that was never going to happen, and apart from James; who was just being a prat and messing about with her.

"You pranked them?" He asked, and Lily told the story of how she and Alice had pranked the Marauders. Josh laughed, and then they continued the day just like they would have without that mini episode with Lily and Josh- they had a reasonable day. The Marauders didn't hang out with them after the prank, they went back to James' house to 'get wasted' (Sirius' idea) and all Lily, Josh and the others did was swim all day.

When it eventually was time to depart and go home, Josh insisted-being Lily's boyfriend now- to escort her home, but really, he just didn't want to go home. He enjoyed going out with Lily, her friends and his friends, and he did feel guilty about what he said at the beach. He knew he had to leave, but he honestly thought that he and Lily would make it together- He didn't love her, it was way too soon, but he liked her. He knew it could work, and if it was supposed to, it would. Lily agreed and she was hoping for it to work because she knew if it didn't, heartbreak was the only result and of course, she really liked Josh in return. It was clear to everybody at the beach today that they worked together, a perfect match they were not, but they definitely worked. Josh promised to sit with Lily and her friends on the train, only if she could stop Marlene from hitting on Matthew. It was a joke, but Lily would try because Marlene didn't do boyfriends and Matthew looked as if he'd do literally anything for her already. Josh walked Lily right up to her door, and kissed her softly before walking home himself. Lily smiled for the rest of the night, and she knew it wasn't because her parents had ordered a takeaway from her favourite place.