AN: Another one that I've pulled from The Stag and the Doe. If you haven't read it (and even if you have) give me your opinion. Thanks guys :)

Chivalry Is Dead?

"Should be fun eh?"

"Yeah, considering we're not caught."

"Always the level headed one Moony. We could pass for eighteen any day..."

"At a muggle club. This is run by wizards, James. They'll see right through us..."

"Chill Loopy, I've got connections," Sirius said cockily. "I've got an.. er.. old friend who works there."

"Old flame perhaps? One night stand?"

Sirius grinned. "I don't kiss and tell. Either way, we'll get in, don't worry. Who're you guys bringing anyways?"

"Bringing? Who said anything abut bringing anybody?" Peter suddenly looked worried.

"You don't have to, but Jamesy... I would've thought you'd be jumping right on Lily. What'd she say last week? That you'd matured over holidays? This is your chance man, there's booze and music..."

James thought for a minute. "Yeah, okay. But I'll bring it up to her as though we're going out as friends. Starting off slow, you know?"

"James Potter, the gentleman?"

"Hey, shut up man, I can be chivalrous if I want to."

"Chivalry's dead, baby," Sirius said, leaning back. "But if you must try to bring it back to life, your chance just walked in and she's wearing a mini skirt. All good intentions aside mate, I think you'd have a good chance if you got her drunk. That skirt would slip off like that." He snapped his fingers for emphasis, but James shook his head, smiling slightly at his friends bluntness.

"Oi, Ev- er, Lily!"

She turned around and smiled. "Hey Potter. I mean, James, I guess."

"Old habits die hard."

She smiled.

"Hey... speaking of old habits, do you want to.. er... I hate to put it this way but do you want to go out saturday night? Sirius, Remus, Pete and I are going to Hogsmeade for a party and I wanted to know if you wanted to come. As friends."

"I dunno. I'm not really a party girl."

"Coulda fooled me," James said, raising his eyebrows at her short skirt and miles of exposed leg.

"My face is up here asshole. I can always change my mind about you and go back to hating you..."

"No no," he said hastily. "Being friends is cool. But I mean, considering all you did for six years is insult me and reject me, we don't really know eachother that well, which is why I want you to come with me on saturday. As friends."

"I... yeah, okay."

"Oooh, Lily the rebel? You do know this is breaking about seventy rules, including the law. Right?"

"Yeah, sure."

"What has gotten into you?"

She smiled and shrugged. "I figure I can't go all through seventh year without having a little fun. But after saturday its all books and revision for me, got it?"

He grinned back and nodded. "See you at eight?"

She nodded. "Eight."

James wasted no time in running over to his friends, performing a sort of dance that resembled a mix between the sprinkler and the do-si-do, and singing 'she said yes, she said yes'.

He stopped suddenly, wide-eyed as he noticed Lily peeking around the corner of the girls' staircase. She raised an eyebrow. "I saw that. And I really hope you don't dance like that all the time.. I might be embarassed to be seen with you."

He awkwardly ran his fingers through his hair and smiled, more of a grimace than a smile. He gave her a tiny wave and she turned and went up the stairs, her eyebrow still cocked precariously high.

"And she's giving you a chance," Remus commented, shaking his head and wearing an amused expression.

"I must be doing something right."

---

Saturday night couldn't have rolled around slower, but by the time it came James was so excited he barely ate his dinner. Alcohol plus music so loud you'd swear your ears might fall off plus Lily Evans equaled happy James. Very happy.

He waited with Remus, Peter, Sirius and Sirius' date Emily from the sixth year, tapping his toe impatiently and running his hand through his hair nervously.

"Cut it out," Remus suggested. "Do you remember that that was one of the things she stated on her 'things I hate about James Potter' list?"

"Vaguely," he said, but he stuck his hand in his pocket instead.

When Lily came down the stairs his jaw dropped before he shut it and realised she really didn't look that different from normal, except that she had put on more makeup and she looked more.. confident.

"You look great," he said, eyeing her up and down, resting on her low cut top...

She lifted his chin. "Friends, remember?"

"Friends can enjoy other friends body's if they want to."

"Come on Mr Smooth, lets get going. Curfews not 'til nine so we should be okay until we get to the one-eyed witch... did you bring the cloak in case?"

James shook his head. "I didn't want to bring a bag or anything. It'll be fine. Who knows, we might not even be back 'til morning." He grinned devilishly.

"What have I got myself into?" Lily wondered aloud.

"The best night of your school life," James proclaimed, and they set off.

---

Walking into the club the first thing James noticed was the bar set up across the room, with twenty barstools lined up and four scantily clad baristas serving drinks. The second thing he noticed was the intensity of the music pounding in his ears. The third thing was how amazing Lily looked under the flashing colours and blacklight. Her red hair seemed to shine and her emerald eyes reflected the spectrum of colors wonderfully.

Forget best night of his school life. James was sure it was going to be the best night of his entire fucking life.

"C'mon Lily, want something to drink?" he offered.

"Don't think so, Romeo, I think I'll stay sober this time."

"This time? C'mon Lils, I bet you've never consumed alcohol in your life."

"I've had butterbeer," she defended.

"That has the lowest percentage of alcohol avaliable to mankind. They sell it to first years. Come on. One drink."

"Let's have some fun before we get wasted, okay? Dance?"

He sighed and looked at her. Considering this was the first chance he had ever had with her, he figured he'd better not screw it up. "Alright," he said, and they walked out onto the crowded dance floor.

Damn, James decided. Lily Evans wasn't as squeaky clean as her image. And man, could she dance. Even though he could see dozens of guys eyeing her, looking from her lowcut jeans to her lowcut top, never even stopping at her face, he only felt a little jealousy. He felt it was evened out by the many female club-goers looking him up and down. He shot them a sexy smile over Lily's shoulder once and awhile, but stayed focused on the one girl he wanted most. But a guy could flirt, couldn't he?

"Ready for that drink now?" he asked.

She looked at him for a minute and then nodded. "Alright, one drink."

The walked over to the bar and took two stools. James flagged over a barista, something that wasn't hard to do considering there were three of them and all of them seemed to be fighting to serve him first. He knew his good looks would do him some good one day.

"What d'you want?"

"Hmm, yeah, because I'm so experience in this area," she laughed.

He laughed. "Okay, so they've got stuff like firewhiskey, and butterbeer but I'm forbidding you to get that. So I guess... Two firewhiskeys," he said, placing some coins on the bar. "I'm paying."

"Ooh, Mr Chivalry, are we?"

He popped the cap on his bottle.

"Chivalry's dead, baby," he said, and took a deep swig.

Lily smiled and took a little sip. She looked thoughtful for a moment then nodded. "I like it. It feels good."

"You mean when it warms your throat?" he took another deep drink. "Yeah, it's pretty awesome."

"I daresay you've had a little too much of this stuff in your lifetime."

"I daresay you're accusing me of something," he said, faking shock and offense. She gave him a little smile over the top of her bottle. Within ten minutes they had both drained their bottles.

"Another?" he offered.

"You still buying?" she asked.

"Only for you, baby."

"Stop calling me that, James, we're friends."

"Right. Another firewhiskey, friend?"

"Sure. But only one, that's it."

"Your wish is my command."

He ordered them two more firewhiskeys, promising himself he'd keep an eye on her. Two would be her limit. She hadn't wanted to get drunk.

Halfway through the bottle she said, "There's a lot of girls here."

"Yeah, and you're one of them. And also the only one here I want to be with."

"You're sweet," she giggled. "Can I have another one?"

"Whooa, slow down," James said. "I think two's enough for you."

"I feel fine," she insisted. "It's having no effect on me. C'mon James, one more."

He wasn't so sure about it having no effect on her. "I bet that last bit you downed so fast hasn't even sunk in yet. I don't think you should have anymore Lily."

"You're fine."

"Yeah, I also hold the record for most bottles consumed without passing out. Sirius is the only one who's ever come close to me. I'd have to have ten or more of these before I got too drunk. Come on, let's go dance again, shall we?"

"Alright," she said, and allowed him to lead her back to the dance floor.

"Hey, there's Sirius," he said. "Let's go say hi, we haven't seen him all night."

He grabbed her elbow, not wanting to put their 'friendship' deal on edge by grabbing her hand, and led her over across the room to where Sirius was chatting with a number of different girls. Emily didn't look too dissappointed, she was off dancing nearby with a man who looked much older and much more drunk. It wasn't until he pulled out of the crowd that he noticed her elbow was no longer cupped in his hand.

"Fuck," he mumbled.

"What's up mate?" Sirius asked.

"I just lost Lily," he said, shaking his head.

"She'll be fine, she's a strong girl."

"She's had two firewhiskeys and she's never consumed any booze before. Enough said?"

"So she's a little off her rocker, she'll be fine. Stay and talk awhile, won't you? I've got some friends."

"So I see," James said. More for the sake of Sirius than himself, he hung around for a bit, talking with the four girls he had rangled and laughing with his friend. Like they always used to, before James had become more mature and landed... "Lily," he said suddenly. "I gotta go." The girls looked disappointed. He heard Sirius mutter 'he's got a saving people thing' distinctly as he walked away. Lily was nowhere to be found along the walls, as he had expected to find her. Like she had said, she wasn't a party girl and being in a club alone would probably scare the hell out of her. Unless...

He finally found her, way to close to some older guy, dancing provocatively at the edge of the dancefloor. The guy ran his hands up and down her hips and her sides, feeling her chest. James felt a surge of jealousy that had been threatening to burst ever since he saw the first guy at the door eye her up. The guy grabbed her waist and gripped her tightly, pulling on her hair and dancing lower and closer with every beat...

"Ow, stop!" she cried, her hair wild and her eyes glassy. "No, stop, you're - you're hurting me..."

"Am I hurting you bitch? Am I hurting you now, you whore?" He tugged harder on her hair and squeezed her side.

"No, stop..."

"Cut it out," James said, fully aware that the man was much bigger than he was.

"What did you say?"

"I said cut it out. Leave her alone, stop hurting her."

"I'm not hurting her. Am I you little bitch? I'm not hurting you one bit."

Lily just whimpered and James pushed the man away roughly. "She didn't do anything to you, back off."

The man shrugged and sneered. "Whatever. Like I need to waste my time with sluts like that..."

James shook his head. He wasn't going to start a fight, not infront of Lily when she had thought him so much more mature...

Then he turned back to Lily who was now dancing with someone else. "Sorry..." he said to the guy, a boy smaller than himself that had probably snuck in, too. The guy shrugged and let her go and James dragged her to the side.

"How many more did you drink?" he asked her.

"Oh, a few. Two, or three. Or four." Her speech was slurred and she was swaying on the spot. He put his hand around her waist to steady her.

"How did you pay for so many drinks?"

"I had enough for one, and then some nice guy bought me some more..."

"Some nice guy? You mean the bastard who had his hands all over you?"

"Maybe," she said, giggling unnaturally. James sighed.

"C'mon," he said, "Let's get you back to the castle, okay?"

"No, I don't wanna go!" she protested.

"Well then, I'm going to have to carry you," he told her, and swung her up into his arms. Halfway along the passage she fell asleep in his arms, her eyes closed peacefully. He got up to the Gryffindor common room. Where to go now? He couldn't leave her in the common room for people to see her, she wouldn't thank him for that... he couldn't get into the girls dorms... he finally adjusted her weight in his arms and carried her up the spiral staircase to his dorm and laid her on his bed.

He wondered if he should take off her clothes? Sleeping in your clothes, after all, was very uncomfortable. He compromised by deciding to take off only her jeans and shoes. As he pulled her jeans off over her legs, and slipped off her shoes she opened her eyes and giggled. He realised he was in a bad position, his head right above hers and one leg overtop of her, taking off her jeans..

"I'm sorry Lily, I..."

"Kiss me, James."

"What?"

"I want you to kiss me," she said.

"You're drunk, Lily. You don't know what you want."

"I want you to kiss me," she repeated, pulling his head close to her until their lips touched, then she sucked him into a powerful, passionate kiss that he was surprised she could manage so well in her state. He never wanted it to end, her hand on his back, his hand in her tangled hair, the taste of firewhiskey on her tongue and her hand pulling off his shirt, unzipping his jeans...

He grabbed her hand. "No. Stop. You can't do this. I can't do this to you."

"Can't do what?" she asked, pouting. He lifted himself off her and looked into her eyes.

"I won't take advantage of you like this," he said firmly. He pulled the blankets overtop of her. He kissed her forhead lightly, but she was already asleep. "I love you," he said quietly, and he was sure he saw her smile.