A/N: This chapter is dedicated to the anonymous person on Tumblr who messaged me yesterday evening with a dare to update "by tomorrow". Well, it's tomorrow, so here's your update, written, edited and posted. Considering I hadn't even started it then, I'm feeling quite smug about my output pace. It's just a shame I can't manage this all the time.

Due to the hurried nature, it's entirely possible this is riddled with mistakes - I'll get to them when I can.

Hope you like it.

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1st June 1977, 9.55am

It was interesting, James mused, how time changed things. Well, some things. Not others; not the fact that he could sit in Transfiguration passing notes with the other three Marauders, secure in the knowledge that he needed to make no real effort to be good at this particular subject, without being caught. They'd perfected the art of note passing long ago.

In that respect, this morning's lesson was like any other from the last six years. But other things…other things changed. Like the fact that his focus was not on his three friends at all, no matter how many notes they passed between them. In fact, he wished they wouldn't bother at all, because his mind was on more difficult matters at the moment.

Like the fact that it had, by his best estimation, taken him about three and a half years to go from recognising a girl by name and face and acknowledging her when he passed her, to thinking she was probably the prettiest thing he'd ever seen.

Then it had taken him about a year and a half to get past the 'I think you're so pretty that for some reason I can't help but make an arse of myself in front of you' stage.

A further three or four months of vaguely civil conversations had led to a kiss in the kitchens that she initiated and he still wasn't entirely sure he hadn't dreamt.

Five more months of friendly interaction – and a certain amount of flirting - had got them to 'I snogged you and you snogged me right back and now neither of us knows what to do'.

And there they were stuck.

For two weeks now, neither of them had mentioned that walk the night of the Quidditch game, or what it had led to, at least not to each other; James couldn't be sure that Lily hadn't told her friends, though he was fairly certain that she hadn't. He most definitely hadn't mentioned anything to his friends, though he occasionally thought that Remus had some suspicions. Every now and then he'd catch his werewolf friend looking at him speculatively and he felt a little clench of guilt at keeping things from his friends – his brothers really – but this just felt too personal to share with anyone but Lily. And he dreaded the possibility of one of them approaching her in a misguided attempt to help if they knew; he couldn't bear it if she got the wrong idea and thought he was bragging to his friends about what had happened between them. He knew her well enough to know that would send her running for the hills.

He sighed, and failed to notice Sirius' eyes narrowing as they took in his contemplative posture and pensive expression. He had to talk to her about this and he knew it, but he'd hoped so much that she would come to him; that for once she would manage to stop thinking so hard about everything and just be guided by her feelings. He snorted quietly to himself. Not that there was much chance of that – Lily overthought everything.

He was jerked back to reality by a hard dig in his ribs and he hissed in a breath as he tried not to make any vocal reaction to the pain that would draw Professor McGonagall's attention to him. He twisted slightly in his seat so that he could scowl at Sirius who was sitting just across from him.

'Bloody hell Padfoot! If you want something then pass me a bloody note would you? You'll land us both in detention at this rate.'

Sirius rolled his eyes and hissed a response back. 'Pass him a note he says. Take a look at the desk in front of you Prongs.'

James looked down to see a small pile of scribbled notes accumulated on the table in front of him. He glanced back up and smiled sheepishly, glancing quickly forwards to the seats occupied by Remus and Peter to include them in the tacit apology. 'Sorry. Mind on other things.'

He turned back in his seat so that he was once again directly facing the front of the classroom where McGonagall was outlining the legality of being an animagus whilst a floating piece of chalk wrote her words neatly across the blackboard behind her; she hadn't noticed his brief distraction apparently and he was grateful for that.

He began to quietly sift through the notes in front of him, discarding the top few which were merely insults because he hadn't responded to any of the previous notes; the ones at the bottom all related to which area of the grounds they were going to explore over the next few nights as they kept Remus company.

James pursed his lips thoughtfully. The map was almost complete now; the castle had been finished for some time - though they occasionally had to alter it when they discovered something new, something that was much less frequent now – and they had covered most of the grounds. The last few weeks had been so stressful that James was inclined to say that they should forget about trying to cover certain areas and just charge around enjoying themselves; he'd missed doing that recently.

He scribbled as much on a note and sent it flying to Sirius' waiting fingertips just as McGonagall finished speaking and dismissed them. As he glanced over at his best mate James caught sight of a flash of red as Lily rose from her seat just ahead and to the front of Sirius. She laughed at something Alice said as she and Marlene rushed from the room; they had Herbology next while Lily had a free, James remembered. He watched Lily take her time collecting her things and made a snap decision.

He waved the other Marauders on without him and made his way over to Lily. He reached over and scooped her bag up from under her startled nose.

'What do you carry in here anyway? It's a wonder you don't crumble under the weight of dragging this around all day.'

Lily huffed at him as they made their way over to the door, the last to leave the classroom, but the little smile playing on the corner of her lips told him she didn't mean it. 'I'm not a weakling you know, I can carry my own things.'

'I'm aware.' James answered calmly as he opened the door for her, ignoring the small smile on McGonagall's face at the sight of them together. It wasn't the first time she'd directed that half-approving look at him when she saw him with Lily; he suspected that his Head of House approved of what she perceived to be Lily's influence on him. 'But it would be un-gentlemanly of me to let you.'

'Un-gentlemanly huh?' Lily raised an amused eyebrow at him.

James grinned down at her. 'Try and be nice to a girl and all you get is scepticism. I don't know why I bother.'

Lily gave him an arch look. 'Oh, you don't huh?'

James' smile fell ever so slightly as he murmured a response he wasn't sure she could even hear. 'No, I know exactly why.' He cleared his throat and spoke a little louder. 'Actually I wanted to talk to you for a minute. Privately?'

He made sure he phrased it as a question; he had no desire to back her into a corner and make her defensive. He honestly felt that they needed to discuss things, but he also knew that she wouldn't want to. Rock and a hard place.

She gave him a slightly startled look then nodded just once. James stopped alongside one of the disused classrooms and glanced around; almost everyone else was in class by now, and just a few NEWT students with free periods were left wandering around. No-one seemed to be paying any attention to them. He pulled the door open and gestured Lily in; as he followed her through the door his eyes briefly locked with those of Severus Snape, who he hadn't previously spotted sitting in an alcove further along the corridor until he noticed Snape watching him disappear into an empty classroom with Lily, his eyes a curious mix of fury and pain.

Dismissing it as a potential problem for later, James slid into the room behind Lily and closed the door, shutting Snape and whatever his problem was out.

Lily was perched on the edge of a desk, her hands clasped in her lap as she bit her lip nervously and watched him. He loved that habit, loved the way her teeth just caught the edge of her lip and rubbed slightly while her eyes unconsciously widened. It was amusing to him that her instinctive reaction to a stressful situation was to make herself look adorable; he was willing to bet that he wasn't the only man it worked on.

He stopped in front of her and smiled. 'You look like you're about to face the firing squad.'

The corner of her lip quirked. 'What do you know about firing squads?'

'I took Muggle Studies.' James kept his tone light. 'Look, Lily, I just wanted to talk about…about that night after Quidditch. You know, when I…kissed you.'

'Oh.' Lily looked down at her feet and James stuffed his hands in his pockets, feeling useless as he stared down at his shoes scuffing the floor.

'Lils, I…I'm sorry if I screwed up. I really am, and I know we've just been pretending that it never happened and that's nothing's changed but… I mean, it happened didn't it? I kissed you, and I'm not an idiot so I can tell when a girl is kissing me back, and you did, which just confuses me a little because I don't know how you feel. And I just wanted to say that…if you don't want it to happen again, that's fine, but I can't pretend that I don't. And…I really want us to be okay, even if that means being friends and nothing else. But I need to be honest, I need you to know that I'll be the best friend I can be, but I'll probably always want to kiss you again.'

Lily nodded slowly. 'Okay. I…I can't say I don't want it to happen again, because I sort of do. But I'm not ready for it to happen again yet.

'Okay. That's okay Lil.' James heart squeezed almost painfully as he looked up at her and he was comforted to see nothing more sinister in her eyes than confusion and anxiety. 'That yet gives me some hope here right?'

To his relief she smiled, a real beaming smile. 'I suppose so. It's not that I don't want to kiss you again James, it's that I'm not totally sure what that would mean; and I want to be sure. I love being friends with you, and I don't want to lose that because we started something, and ruined everything.'

He smiled back at her and couldn't help reaching out to touch her now; his fingertips grazed her cheekbone as he tucked a stray hair behind her ear, allowing his fingers to linger on her skin. She was scared of losing him because she thought they might bugger this up; he couldn't say he hadn't wondered the same thing. He'd just already worked through it and come to the conclusion that they'd be perfect together. Now he just had to wait for her to catch up, and contrary to what many might have said, James had a lot of patience when it came to something he really wanted.

'So we're okay? I mean, I'm happy to be your friend Lils, and I swear I'll keep my hands – and lips – to myself unless you tell me otherwise. I just want us to go back to being…relaxed…with each other. I hate walking on eggshells around you.' His words were soft and his tone gentle as he looked intently at her.

Lily's eyes were fixed directly on his as she reached out and caught his other hand in hers. 'We're good. We're friends. I don't want to change that – I'd miss you James. I just can't process being more than friends right now.'

James gave their joined hands a gentle tug and she willingly slid from the desk to her feet and into his arms. He felt her almost sag against him as he gathered her up, breathing in the smell of her hair and feeling her heart beating against his.

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7th June 1977, 8.15am

'Moony, pass the butter would you?' Sirius waited a moment then scowled as Remus showed absolutely no sign of having heard him. He picked up his butter knife and poked his tall friend hard in the ribs.

'Ah!' Remus jumped and dropped his book onto his toast and jam. 'What the bloody Merlin Padfoot?'

'I said: pass the butter would you?' Sirius answered calmly, using the offending knife to indicate the butter dish that he wanted.

'And it was less effort to stab one of your best friends in the ribs than it was to just get it yourself?' asked Peter, his tone lightly amused as he watched his two friends. He reached across the table for the juice and topped up his glass. 'You ought to avoid provoking Moony, you know how touchy he gets.'

'I do not get touchy!' Remus grouched, obviously offended. 'I just don't think it's too much to ask to be left in peace to eat my breakfast.'

'I still don't have my butter.' Sirius raised his eyebrows at Remus then nodded at the butter. Remus opened his mouth, then quite visibly forced down the angry retort that wanted to come out and calmly passed the butter.

'Moony, your good temper is an example to us all.' Peter didn't even look up at his two friends, his eyes fixed on his food as he ate.

'Why are we discussing Moony's temper?' asked James as he slid into a seat at the table alongside Peter.

'Because Sirius is doing his best to trample all over it.' Replied Peter calmly.

'Ah.' No further explanation was necessary and James simply reached for the bacon without another word.

All four ate in silence for a few moments, Remus giving Sirius the occasional dirty look as he wiped the occasional patch of jam off his book.

James cleared his throat casually. 'So, does anyone know where I can buy a muggle suit?'

All three Marauders looked up at that. Remus was first to find his voice. 'A muggle suit James?'

'Yeah. A nice one.' James seemed intently interested in his breakfast this morning.

Peter shrugged. 'Okay. If no-one else is going to ask, I will. Why would you want to buy a muggle suit Prongs?'

James sighed and pushed his plate away. 'I knew I'd never get away without an explanation. This stays between us okay?' He waited for them all to nod assent before he continued. 'Lily asked me to go to her sister's wedding with her, and her sister not only is a muggle but she hates everything magical so I need to blend in, and I don't own anything suitable.'

Remus continued calmly eating his breakfast but both Sirius and Peter had frozen. James still harboured suspicions that Remus knew more about whatever it was that was going on between him and Lily than he was letting on, and his friend's reaction, or rather lack of it just encouraged his thoughts.

'Lily is taking you to a family wedding?' asked Sirius incredulously.

'A muggle wedding? You don't know anything about muggles!' Peter exclaimed in astonishment. 'If Lily's sister is going to freak out at the first sign of anything magical, why in the name of Circe's arse is she taking a pureblood to her wedding?'

Sirius frowned. 'Wait, that doesn't make any sense. Her sister can't be that freaked out about magic; I mean…Lily's a witch.'

'And when was the last time you heard Lily mention her sister?' Remus asked calmly, putting his book down.

Peter and Sirius looked at each other and Peter shrugged. 'I didn't know she had a sister until recently actually.'

Remus nodded. 'Exactly. She doesn't talk about her because they don't get on. Because her sister doesn't approve of Lily being a witch.'

Sirius snorted into his pumpkin juice. 'Doesn't approve of her being a witch? It's not a career path, it's what she is. Merlin, it's not like she's dropped out of school to become a stripper or something.'

Peter sniggered. 'Don't put images like that in Prong's head. He might spontaneously combust.'

James cuffed him across the back of the head. 'Have some respect Wormtail. And you're right Padfoot, there's no way Lily can change what she is, but you are walking proof that your family doesn't have to accept what you are. '

Sirius scowled at that, but he couldn't deny the accuracy of it.

'But I still don't get why she'd ask a pureblood wizard to a muggle wedding if she wants to blend in.' Peter's face clearly showed his confusion, but Remus simply leaned forward.

'Lily doesn't exactly know many muggle men and I would imagine, given her preference for privacy that she wanted to take someone who understood the situation and would be discreet about it.'

'Thank you Moony.' James seemed relieved to have someone else who understood.

'And I'd recommend Savile Row in muggle London if you're leaning towards a good suit and you have no objection to paying a high price for it.' Remus added before reaching for the juice.

'So let me get this straight.' Sirius leaned forward and lowered his voice. 'You have to go to muggle London and buy a muggle suit, which you then have to wear while you escort Lily to a muggle wedding and you both pretend to be muggles?'

James considered. 'That's about the long and the short of it, yes.'

Sirius leaned back. 'Well, that ought to be bloody entertaining. Shame we can't be there.'

A hint of slyness had crept into Sirius' tone, and James found himself brandishing a fork threateningly in his direction. 'I swear Sirius, I get even the slightest inkling of one of you crashing and I will make sure that you can never have children.'

'Simmer down Prongs, I wouldn't do that.' Sirius grinned at him. 'I may not be scared of you, but I am scared of Lily.'

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12th June 1977, 6.30pm

For once there was very little chatter between the girls as their quills scratched across parchment. The library was reasonably quiet, only a few students spread out here and there, most of them sixth years; the other years had experienced the usual end of school wind down including a marked reduction in their schoolwork, and most of them were taking advantage of it, and enjoying the warmer, lighter evenings. The fifth and seventh years whose exams had finished were particularly raucous in the common room and that had driven the sixth year girls to the library for the third evening in a row.

'Merlin, I can't wait for term to be over.' Marlene stretched her hands high above her head and cracked her knuckles, earning a wince from Alice.

'You think we aren't going to have bucketloads of homework over the summer?' asked Emma with amusement.

Marlene shrugged. 'I know we will, but at least we won't have teachers breathing down our necks over it. And no more schedules or timetables. Sounds like bloody heaven to me.'

Alice grinned. 'I have to agree with Marls and say I'm looking forward to the summer.'

Emma laughed under her breath and threw a balled-up piece of parchment at her. 'And that wouldn't have anything to do with the fact that you're going on holiday with Frank and his family?'

Alice's blush got quite a few laughs, and she turned to Lily. 'What about you Lils? Looking forward to summer?'

Lily's face fell and she directed her gaze back at her parchment. 'It might be okay after the first couple of weeks. I'll let you know if I survive them.'

The girl's exchanged confused looks that didn't go unnoticed by Lily; she sighed and dropped her quill. 'It's Tuney's wedding at the end of the month. She'd bad enough to be around anyway, but she's going to be unbearable until it's over. And Vernon's relatives are horrendous. I'm just dreading it.'

Marlene's brow furrowed. 'Didn't that awful letter say you had to find a date or she'd assign you one? Maybe one of us could be your date and take your mind off things!'

Lily's blush was far more impressive than Alice's had been. 'I think Tuney would have a fit if I turned up to her wedding with a female date. And I've already made arrangements actually.'

'Oh?' Emma's eyebrows rose and she fixed Lily with a quizzical expression. Unable to ignore the questioning looks from all three of her friends, Lily closed her eyes and covered them with one hand for good measure.

'James is coming with me.'

Her friends were quiet for a moment.

'Well, you kept that quiet.' Marlene broke the silence.

'Yeah, sneaky.' Alice poked at Lily with her quill. 'When did you make these arrangements, and when were you planning on telling us?'

Lily sighed and resigned herself to filling her friends in, presumably in minute detail. 'Well, I asked him on his birthday…'

Half an hour later she'd had enough of pretending to study when she was actually brooding over her sister and was packing up her things to return to the common room. She waved goodbye to the girls and left the library, taking the shortest route back to the tower.

She was halfway up one of the narrowest and darkest staircases when a voice spoke to her out of the shadows.

'You really don't listen do you?' Snape stepped out and folded his arms as he looked at her; Lily couldn't really describe the roiling mix of anxiety, disgust and fear that was taking up residence in her belly as he stopped just above her and towered over her. Still, the Gryffindor in her made her hold her ground.

'To you? No, not any more. I learnt my lesson.'

Snape's eyes darkened and his jaw tensed, but he kept his composure and his expression remained neutral.

'I told you months ago that the best thing you could do would be to steer well clear of Potter and his little gang. And now you're taking him to a family wedding?' The sneer in his voice was unmistakable.

'How on earth do you know about that?' Lily wished she could hide the astonishment in her tone but she was floored by the fact that Snape knew something she'd only told her closest friends about an hour ago.

He snorted. 'Like you could rely on Potter to be discreet. I heard him talking to his mates about it at breakfast the other day, wittering on about needing to buy a muggle suit.'

Lily folded her arms. 'You mean you were eavesdropping on a private conversation.'

His eyes narrowed. There had been a time when Lily either would not have picked up on that or wouldn't have commented on it.

'Doesn't matter. The point is, you're being a fool.'

'Oh, really?' One of Lily's eyebrows rose. 'Please, enlighten me.'

Snape took one step forward and leaned over her, bending his head closer to hers. 'Do you think that what Macnair did to you in April had anything to do with you?'

Lily felt a tremble run through her at the memory of the magic cutting into her as she lay frozen on the floor. Snape had stopped talking and was staring at her seriously, nodding approvingly when he realised that she understood what he meant.

'Of course the fact that you are a mud…muggle-born is a factor, but you could have been a pureblood and they would still have cursed you when the opportunity arose because of your relationship with Potter. A good way to get at him you see.' Snape waved a hand dismissively. 'Of course, they all think you're shagging him but I like to think you still have the smallest amount of good sense.'

He fixed her with a hard stare. 'Prove me right and end your…friendship with him. And his bunch of misfits and rejects. You'll still be a target, but at least you won't be a target twice over.'

Lily felt her spine straighten and her shoulders stiffen. 'Anyone would think you gave a damn Severus. And if you think I plan on allowing your disgusting friends to dictate anything about my life to me, then you are seriously mistaken!'

She pushed past him and continued up the stairs, stopping when she was a few treads above him. 'And in future, you can keep your opinions and your advice to yourself. It's not welcome.'

She left him on the staircase, staring after her with coal-black eyes that gave no trace of emotion away.

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20th June 1977, 11.45am

The Hogwarts Express was less than twenty minutes away from King's Cross by James' estimation.

Twenty minutes before he wouldn't see Lily again for over a week.

It was strange to think that there had been times in the past when he had gone months without seeing her, something that seemed unthinkable now. Over the last six months she had become an integral part of his life; he wasn't quite sure when or how, but she was part of him now, and he was struggling to imagine not seeing her every night in the common room, not looking for her hair at breakfast or listening for her laugh in the corridors.

He could only be grateful that he was going home knowing that he would be seeing her on the 29th for her sister's wedding, and that he was confident that she would both write to him and visit him over the course of the next couple of months.

Watching her now, laughing with Marlene and Alice at some of Sirius' repertoire of rather vile jokes, he wondered how it had taken him so long to realise how amazing she was. He couldn't quite believe that he'd spent so long thinking that she was pretty. Pretty didn't even begin to cover it; for a start, she was downright beautiful with those green eyes and all that red hair and the lightest dusting of freckles across the pale skin of her face. More importantly, she was witty, and kind and unswervingly loyal, not to mention fiendishly clever; though he'd never been under any illusion about her intelligence, he'd never fully appreciated her intellect before.

'Might want to at least blink occasionally.' Remus whispered in his ear. 'You'll end up with an image of Lily seared onto your eyeballs.'

James flushed and turned his head to face his friend. Remus was smiling indulgently, without a hint of judgment on his face.

James grinned sheepishly. 'Wouldn't be so bad.'

Remus snorted a quiet laugh. 'Dear Merlin, you are arse over teakettle aren't you?'

The train whistle blew to alert the students to the fact that the train was pulling in, and suddenly the carriage was a flurry of movement as everyone tried to grab their trunks and organise themselves. They fought their way off the train and into the crowd of waiting families; Peter and Remus disappeared with their respective families almost immediately and following several hugs and shouted goodbyes; Frank took Alice home with him by side-along apparition and Marlene was engulfed by her siblings and dragged off still waving back at them.

Lily finally caught sight of her parents at the far side of the platform looking a little nervous; they may have known about the magical world for a few years now, but they still weren't very comfortable in it – especially without their daughter – and tended to hover on the edge of things.

She reached over to grab the handle of her trunk from James who frowned at her. 'If you've spotted your parents Lily, point them out and I'll carry your trunk over, but you aren't carrying it yourself.'

'I'm perfectly capable James.' Lily argued, without much heat; James was the proverbial immovable object when he got like this. He gave her a mock stern look.

'Didn't we have a conversation about gentlemanly behaviour recently? And my mother is here somewhere observing me, and she'd skin me if she thought I wasn't being chivalrous.'

Sirius tapped his shoulder and pointed off somewhere to James' right. 'And there she is.' He glanced down at Lily. 'Come say hi to my parents.'

Lily paled, but allowed James to tug her in the direction of an older but distinguished looking couple. As they got closer, it became obvious that they were his parents; James' bright hazel eyes looked back out of his mother's face, and his father's messy hair and dark colouring matched his exactly.

'Mum, Dad.' James dropped both his and Lily's trunks and hugged his parents one at a time, Sirius following his example immediately after him to her surprise. 'You look better.'

'I wish I could say the same dear.' James' mother looked at him, her eyes narrowing. 'Your hair is getting worse.'

'Blame dad. He passed it on.' He answered, completely unruffled.

'Oh, I do.' His mother assured him, and Lily couldn't quite stifle the giggle that escaped then. James' mother noticed her properly for the first time and a wide smile spread across her face as she looked from Lily to James expectantly.

'Mum, this is Lily Evans. Lily, my mother.'

'It's nice to meet you Mrs Potter.' Lily was aware of how shy her voice sounded, and she was also aware of the smile James was trying to hide.

'Lily Evans?' Mrs Potter repeated and raised her eyebrows at her son. 'Well well.' She reached out and took Lily's outstretched hand. 'I've heard a lot about you dear.'

'I've heard a lot about you too.' Lily answered. 'James is fond of telling stories about your time in the auror department.'

'Oh Merlin.' Mrs Potter rolled her eyes. 'He gets those from his father dear, so I wouldn't put too much faith in their accuracy. My husband is a natural embellisher.'

'Oi!' Mr Potter put his arm around his wife's waist and faked a hurt expression before extending his hand to Lily. 'Don't believe a word my dear. I speak only the truth.'

'With some bits tacked on to make it more interesting.' Mrs Potter murmured, not quite under her breath and Lily laughed.

'It's nice to know that James comes by that particular trait honestly then.'

James gave her a gentle dig in the ribs. 'Watch the cheek Evans. It might get you in trouble one day.'

'Try every day.' Sirius grinned at her and she laughed and stepped over to him to wrap her arms around his waist. He looked startled for a moment, but folded her up in his arms. 'See you Evans.'

She stepped away from him and back towards James, where she tried to pick up her trunk only to find it once again firmly in James' grasp.

'Point them out Lily.' He said stubbornly, and she sighed and gestured towards her parents on the opposite side of the platform. He grinned at her. 'Let's go then.'

He began to tug her towards her family as she called goodbyes to his. The second they were out of ear shot, James' parents turned to Sirius, who waved his hands defensively. 'Don't ask, I don't know. James doesn't talk about it.'

Mrs Potter pursed her lips as she stared after her son. 'That is the Lily Evans he's mentioned before isn't it?'

Sirius snorted. 'I sincerely hope there isn't another one.'

'Interesting.' Mr Potter watched over his wife's shoulder as his son shook hands with Lily's father while the girl in question hugged her mother. 'Been some developments anyway.'

'More than he's admitting to I think.' Said Sirius as he watched James with the girl he was pretty certain his best mate was in love with.

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29th June 1977, 12.45pm

Lily flew to the door after the first knock and flung it open to reveal James. His face lit up into a wide smile and she felt her answering grin spread slowly across her face as she flung her arms around his neck and held on; his arms tightened around her waist and he buried his face in her hair.

'Hi.' He murmured into her hair.

'Hi.' She whispered back into his ear.

They didn't have to say "I missed you", or "I'm glad you're here"; it went without saying, and neither of them was sure exactly when that had become the case.

Lily eventually relinquished her hold on James' neck, and he released her immediately and stepped back to look at her outfit, which he'd only got the barest glimpse at before she'd jumped into his arms.

The pale yellow dress she wore was made of a light and floaty material that stopped just above her knees, and the cut left her neck and shoulders bare. Her hair was loose and hung in soft waves around her head. James swept his eyes over her and privately decided that he needed to keep every other male in their age range away from her.

'Beautiful as always Lily.'

To his everlasting delight, she blushed. 'You look rather dashing yourself there Potter. Nice suit.'

'Thanks.' He brushed a slightly self-conscious hand over his navy blue suit and grinned at her. 'I had no idea what would be suitable, so Remus sent me to Savile Row, to some shop named Gieves and Hawkes. They were very helpful; I told the tailor to kit me out for a wedding, and this is what I ended up with. Mind you, I took Sirius with me when I went to collect it and he was a complete liability; I thought I was going to have to Confund or Obliviate the guy for sure.'

Lily smiled up at him. 'You had a suit custom made for this?'

He jerked a shoulder. 'Didn't want to embarrass you Evans.'

There was an outraged squawk from upstairs, and Lily rolled her eyes as Petunia's voice became slowly louder and shriller. 'I don't think there's any chance that you'll be the person I'm embarrassed by today James.'

'Lily did you get the door…oh hello James.' Lily's mother paused on the stairs and looked at the two of them; at that exact moment James realised that they had somehow managed to end up holding hands, and he could feel the back of his neck beginning to burn with a blush.

'Hi Mrs Evans, it's good to see you again. You look nice.'

Lily's mum laughed and touched her hair. 'Thank you James. Not that anyone's going to be looking at me today.'

James opened his mouth again, but another series of rather hysterical sounding shrieks drifted down the stairs and Mrs Evans visibly winced. 'You'd both better get to the church. I'll see to that.' She pointed upstairs, then turned and headed back up with all the enthusiasm of a woman being summoned to an execution.

Lily turned back to James. 'To the church?' he asked, one eyebrow raised as he offered her his arm.

'To the church.' She confirmed, slipping her arm through his and pulling the door shut behind them as she stepped through.

(J&L) (J&L) (J&L) (J&L) (J&L) (J&L) (J&L) (J&L) (J&L) (J&L) (J&L) (J&L) (J&L) (J&L) (J&L) (J&L) (J&L) (J&L) (J&L) (J&L) (J&L) (J&L) (J&L) (J&L) (J&L)

29th June 1977, 7.20pm

It hadn't been as bad as she'd been expecting, Lily had to admit that much.

Well, no it had. Vernon was awful, his family was worse, and even though it was apparently the happiest day of her life, Petunia had still found the time to glower at her occasionally. But those things seemed to matter less because she didn't feel alone; James had been with her all the way through, muttering jokes – and a few rather cruel observations – to make her laugh, touching the back of her hand whenever he saw her stiffen until she relaxed again and fielding questions from her relatives like a seasoned liar, which of course he was.

The vast majority of her extended family was now convinced that she and James attended a boarding school for the gifted, were both set to work as government scientists when they left school, and that he couldn't disclose any details of his parents because he'd be breaching the Official Secrets Act. His lies were totally outrageous, but somehow he sold them to people; they didn't believe the lies, they believed him. Lord help the wizarding world if he ever decided to go into politics.

Looking across the table at him conversing easily with her ten year old cousin Abigail, she felt a surge of affection for him; he had to be uncomfortable with all this, and he'd made the day bearable, something she doubted anyone else would have been able to do. When the song that was playing finished and a new one started, she rose from her seat and looked over at James.

'Would you dance with me?'

He arched an eyebrow at her. 'Shouldn't I be asking you?'

She grinned. 'Well, you didn't seem likely to. Thought I'd be modern about things.'

He grinned back and then glanced down at the little girl sat next to him. 'Well, if Abigail doesn't mind…?' Abigail shook her head quickly as she stared up at him adoringly. Lily hid a smile; someone had developed a crush.

She felt James' large, slightly calloused hand close over hers and he led her over to the dance floor past several tables of her family members who looked at them approvingly. She had to admit that she understood why; parents had nightmares about who their daughters might bring home to meet them, and Lily had brought a well-dressed, handsome and apparently ultra-intelligent young man who had plenty of money if the cut of his suit was anything to go by. She was almost surprised that none of her older relatives had tried offering James a dowry yet.

He looked at her expression, then smiled and stepped closer to her, pulling her towards him. His hands settled on her back and hers landed on his shoulders and they both breathed a silent sigh of relief as their bodies brushed against each other.

Lily rested her cheek against James' chest and listened to his breathing and his heart beat as they moved gently and in perfect sync with the soft music; she was aware that Tuney was glaring at her, though for God knows what reason, and she was also aware that she and James were rather intimately touching given that the room contained basically her entire family, but she just couldn't bring herself to care.

They drifted around the dance floor, just enjoying each other's company until James lifted her hair away from her left ear with a gentle hand and whispered into it.

'Your sister is scowling at you.'

Lily tilted her head back to look up at him. 'I know. I'm starting to think that maybe it's just the only facial expression she has these days. I haven't done anything that could be considered remotely annoying today.'

James smiled down at her. 'I think she's mad because you're drawing focus.'

Lily frowned. 'Huh?'

'Well, the bride wants all the attention on her wedding day to be on her right?' he answered. 'And from what I know of your sister that's probably especially true of her. I think she's annoyed that people are looking at you.'

Lily huffed. 'Some of our relatives are looking at me because they don't see me very often, that's all; I'm not trying to steal any of her limelight. I don't want to attract attention.'

His smile spread a little wider as he leaned down and pressed his forehead into hers. 'Then you should have worn a different dress.' He shifted his head to brush a kiss over her cheekbone and Lily caught sight of her mother's appraising look out of the corner of her eye and she could feel the blush spreading across her cheeks. This being friends thing was turning out to be a little harder than she'd anticipated.

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A/N: I couldn't bring myself to write Petunia's wedding in any kind of detail, firstly because it wasn't important, but mainly because it's about to come up in the TT sequel, and I'll be damned if I'm writing her wedding twice in one week.

Review and you will receive my undying gratitude.