Hi!! Hope you like it!! If you do like this story,

Read and Review . . . Please!!

"I'm BOOORED!!" moaned Sirius.

"Well, then think of something to do! I've got to finish this homework and you groaning about is just interrupting me!!" snapped a very tired, in-love-with-James-but-he-doesn't-know-and-neither-does-she Lily. Just because Sirius was practically a brother didn't mean she couldn't get mad at him.

Suddenly, Sirius had an idea. "I've got it!! MOONY! MOONY! MOONY! MOONY! MOONY! MOO-"

"WHAT!!" Remus, like Lily, actually did his homework and didn't want to be interrupted. After he calmed he said "What do you want, Padfoot?"

"Can you go get the versitilum, pleeeeeeeeeeeaaaaaaaaaaaaaaase??"

Immediately Remus got alert; the last time Sirius used the truth potion, it was for truth or dare, and it was disastrous . . . wait truth or dare?"Sirius, I am not playing truth or dare. I've got to finish this homework! The last time we played with veritaserum was the year you set the detention world record!! McGonagall even gave you a certificate stating how many detentions you got!! So, no, I will not get you the veritaserum."

"BUT REMUS!! It isn't due till, like, next week!! And anyw-"

"Hey guys! Hi Lils!" exclaimed a very dirty, muddy Alice followed by an even-worse-off Captain James of the Quiditch Team. Lily felt her heart beat faster when he entered but didn't know why. They are just friends, right?

"Hey Sirius, Remus. Hi Lily." James sounded like he was just going to fall asleep right then and there.

"Mate, you look almost dead. Go up stairs, get clean, come down stairs and we'll play Truth or Dare. You too, Alice. Oh, and grab Frank." This perked James and Alice up a bit, but the rest of the group was a quite mad at Sirius. Everyone knew that James would never turn down a game, no matter the consequences. And no one liked to make a tired James unhappy.

In five minutes, the group was downstairs, and Remus, against his will, had the truth potion. "Alright, Alice, you go first," said Sirius, anxious to get the game going.

"Umm, Frank truth or dare?" said Alice to her boyfriend.

"Dare." Frank said with a half excited half afraid voice.

"I dare you toooo… challenge James to a wizard's duel next morning with one of those phony wands you got for Christmas. And you have to yell out that Bellatrix Black is your second."

"That is the craziest thing I ever heard, but I accept. Remus, truth or dare?"

"Truth." Remus was handed a bit of the veritaserum and took just enough to answer one question.

"Who do you have a crush on?"

"No one, but Nymphadora is kind of cute." said Remus.

"YOUR NO FUN! Wait, no, you DEEPLEY disturb me." exclaimed Sirius, who was kind of disturbed that Remus thought his way-younger-then-them cousin was cute.

Remus suddenly had a random burst of craziness and replied, "Thank you!" then asked, "James, truth or dare?"

"Truth." This got a grief-stricken face from Sirius, for they had always chosen dare and followed through, no-matter how crazy. James was handed the versitilum and took just enough for Remus's question.

After some hard thinking, Remus said "Who do you think is the most innocent Slytherin?"

"Right before the Sorting Hat yells out 'SLYTHERIN' for some first year, is when the kid is the most innocent. Now . . . Sirius, TRUTH or DARE?"

"Dare all the way!" Sirius was nearly bouncing off the walls with anxiousness, for James was known for his embarrassing and funny dares.

"I dare you too . . . sing 'Happy Birthday' to Filch after Frank finishes his 'duel'."

"AWWWWW . . . is that all? Last time it was much funnier. Anyway, Lily, truth or dare?" Sirius said this with a very sly grin, which meant that either one she picked would be something bad.

"Uhhh . . . Truth?" Lily said this in a very nervous tone, for she was afraid of what Sirius had in store. She took the veritaserum and looked up at James; his continuously messy hair, his hazel eyes, why did she love them so much? Then it clicked, SHE was in love with JAMES POTTER.

While Lily was thinking this, Sirius was coming up with a good question that would help James with the 'flower situation' that has been going on since forever. Then it hit him. He cleared his throat for attention. "Lily, what do you think of James?" Everyone except for Lily was so surprised by the question that they couldn't retaliate.

"I-I think I love him." Everyone was processing what had been said. James couldn't get it.

Then, the veritaserum wore off. Lily realized what she had just said and ran. She didn't know where she would go, but it would certainly be a place where no one, especially James Potter, would be able to find her. She ran, turning in odd places and going up unfamiliar stairs. She ran until she couldn't run anymore. Lily was tiered, afraid and embarrassed; she fainted.

At this same moment in time, everyone was still in the common room. James was still processing what Lily, love of his life, had said. It didn't make sense. Every time he went over it, James came to the same conclusion: Lily loved him. But there must be something wrong; they were just friends, right? Trust me, James wanted to be more than friends with Lily, but didn't she just want to be friends? UHHHH. . . James would never get it.

On the other side of the common room, Sirius Black was being bullied by 3 of his friends. They were all yelling ("Why did you do that?!", "You probably just ruined James's chances with Lily!!" "WHY!?"). Alice was being the worst, of course. They were all over reacting, in Sirius's point of view. Frank had him in a death-lock, Alice was screaming her had off; saying "WHY?" repeatedly, and Remus was trying (unsuccessfully) to force-feed one of his best friends the truth potion so Alice would get a strait answer.

After ten minuets (with James no closer than he was before to realization), they had finally given Sirius what was left of the potion. Very calmly, Alice asked with a pained expression, "Why, out of all the questions, did you have to ask Lily that one?"

With an ashamed expression he replied, "I-I thought that it would help James wi-with the 'flower situation'." Frank then let go of Sirius, and all attention, including Padfoot's, was on the 2 current dilemmas: where, in all of Hogwarts, was Lily and what would they do with the confused 17-year-old that was James at this moment in time?

To figure out the first question, Remus simply took out the Marauders Map, for Frank and Alice had both been sworn to secrecy in second year. Lily's dot was immobile in a hallway on the other side of the school. Remus and Sirius both knew it would be simple to find her, but what Remus wondered was if they would ever be able to willingly get the two people meant-to-be in the same room. Remus decided to send Alice and Frank with the map to detain Lily, by any means but death, and bring her back to the Gryffindor common room.

Alice and Frank found the fainted redhead they were looking for easily. To get her back, Frank simply lifted her onto his shoulder. She weighed nothing. On the way back, Frank would have sworn he'd seen Peter, but when he looked again, he was gone. That was a close one, Peter thought nervously, as he walked back from the Slytherin common room.

Their second problem would not be so easy; James seemed in deep concentration, so deep that he might not have even noticed what had happened. The only thing that Remus could think of to do was try to move James out of the Gryffindor common room and into his own. That was easier said than done; James was very stubborn and strong, even when only partially conscious of his surroundings. In the end they just hovered him to his bedroom, took his wand, and locked him in his Head's room by both wizarding and muggle ways. Sirius and Remus didn't really like detaining their best friend, but it was for both his and their own protection and his possible future happiness.

When the two boys returned, they found Alice, Frank and Lily, who was in a subconscious state. They decided to leave her that way so they could discuss what to do about their friends.

Alice began to speak, but then Lily began to wake up. Sirius made a move to bring her back into an insensible state, but the three smarter ones stopped him. They all gathered around Lily as she awoke. She opened her eyes at once and seeing her surroundings, made a move to run but Sirius was too quick for her; he put a bat-bogey-curse on Lily quick as a flash. "Lily," Remus started "Sirius is very sorry (Sirius nodded vigorously) and, trust me, Alice made sure he paid for it. It was meant to help, though. And just letting you know, you don't have to be embarrassed. We, along with the whole school, knew that you would fall for James sooner or later. Speaking of James, Sirius and I locked him in his bedroom without a wand." As proof, Sirius showed Lily, whose face was very red, James's wand.

By now the curse had begun to ware off and Lily was thinking of her next move. If she tried to run, they would easily capture her again. She went with doing what they want . . . . For now.

Lily stood up and stretched, then yawned, "I'm gonna go to bed now. 'Night."

They decided to all walk her down to the Head's room, mainly to be sure that she didn't run. But Remus and Sirius decided that they would take out all the locking that they had done to James's room and just stick it on the whole dorm, that way they could finally get together. They also decided to give him back his wand; it would be safer for everyone that way.

When they entered the room, they found James calmly sitting on an armchair facing the door. He had a very pissed off expression on his face, which colored immensely when Lily entered the room. "WHAT? How did you get out?! We locked you in!! HOW??" Sirius screeched as he saw his captive best friend sitting in the chair.

"Sirius, you do remember that there is such a thing as a wandless spell and that I excel in that area? Why in did you take my wand, Remus? And why, pray tell, DID YOU ASK THAT FRICKIN' QUESTION??" James blew his top at that moment and lunged at Padfoot. In five seconds, fortunately, Frank and Remus had separated the two best friends. "WHAT THE HELL IS WITH YOU, SIRIUS!? WHAT THE HELL IS WITH YOU?!" James was nearly exploding with rage. Alice, the only one with a free hand (other than Lily, who was just staring at the spectacle in disbelief with a red face) silenced James and signaled for Frank to let go of Sirius. James looked extremely unhappy and embarrassed. Sirius looked moderately scared and, not wanting to take any chances, decided to stand next to Lily.

Alice, being the quickest one on her feet in the room, took advantage of the lull and addressed James. "James, I know that you are truly angry at Sirius, and so am I. But we already addressed the problem, and it turns out that Sirius was trying to help you in some odd way." Now everyone except for Lily and James were walking backwards to the door. Remus let go of James. Alice began talking a mile a minute. "So, we decided that we would leave you two to work it all out, Bye!" And then, everyone ran out the door, taking James's wand and grabbing Lily's. Lily could hear them using whatever they could think of to keep the pair in. Finally, they heard their group of 'friends' walk back to the Gryffindor dormitory.

Ten minutes passed by and neither of them moved nor, for that matter, made any attempt at communication, much less working out the 'problem'. Finally, James had an idea at getting out. It probably wouldn't work, but would help with the anger. He pulled out the two-way mirror and started to quietly talk to it with an occasional reply. Eventually, with a red face, James looked at Lily. "Sirius says that they might think about letting us out, but my guess is that the only way were getting out is if we scream to the high heavens or if they see us snogging through the mirror." The last comment made both of their faces turn a bright shade of red.

"Well, Alice should come to her senses soon, so until then I'm going to sleep on the couch." And with that Lily fell onto the couch and immediately began to 'snore'. In reality, Lily was faking sleep and trying to figure out the current situation. It didn't look very bright. The easiest way out would be talking to James, which would only make it less uncomfortable. She decided to 'wake up'.

With a large yawn, Lily got up. "What time is it?" she asked with fake sleep in her voice.

"Around twelve. You didn't sleep very long; only around thirty minutes. I talked to Sirius and he said that the only way were getting out of here is as a couple or through the ceiling."

"Through the ceiling?" They both looked up and saw an air vent, just big enough for one person to go through at a time.

After a few moments, with a real yawn, James said, "I'm going to go to sleep in my bedroom. I'll leave you with the mirror. If you want to talk to the others, just say 'Sirius', it'll but you right through. 'Night."

"Goodnight." And with that, James went to bed. Lily stared at the mirror that James had left on the coffee table. She thought about calling Sirius, but decided against it. The Fates seemed to think it was a good idea to talk to him though, because the mirror started yelling out 'Prongs? Mate, where are you?'

Lily hesitantly picked up the mirror. "Umm, hey Sirius. Are you ever going to let us out?"

Sirius was stunned. James, trusting his mirror with Lily? Only a few years ago he would have never even let her look at it for fear of never seeing it again. "Lily, does James know you have his mirror with you? 'Cause if he doesn't, you're never coming out, no matter what Alice says."

"No, Sirius, I stole it! DUH!! He's in his bedroom, want me to get him?"

Without thinking of ant possible consequences, good or bad, he said, "Sure, just bring him in, I'll wait." Lily nodded in confirmation, set down the mirror, walked to James's bedroom, opened it and immediately regretted it. First, James bedroom was messy with . . . undergarments. Second, there was a HUGE picture of her by his bed from fifth year and it had hearts all over it, which was kind of embarrassing. Third . . . . was James. While Lily had been taking in his bedroom, James had been taking a shower in their bathroom, and when he walked out, all he was sporting was a pair of boxers. This made Lily stare (and subconsciously smile) at him and think how handsome he was, something that Lily would never do. The first thing James saw was Lily. First, it surprised him and before she could see the next reaction, James slammed the door on her face. But this didn't even faze Lily; realization had finally hit her,

SHE

LILY EVANS

JUST SAW

HE

JAMES POTTER

IN

HIS

BOXERS!!

Lily, now in a daze, walked over to the mirror. She picked it up and begun to talk before Sirius could say something. "James was taking a shower. I just saw him in his boxers. Tell Alice that she is dead meat." She then set down the mirror and sat on the couch, processing what she just saw.

James was sitting on his bed, thinking over what just happened. Lily had just seen him in his boxers and smiled. He had slammed the door in her face. She was most likely mad at him (on the contrary, Lily was figuring out how to ask him out . . . and it wasn't working well).

Great, he thought, Lily and I will now revert back to third year and I'll never get her. She will never see me again after this year and will always remember me as some annoying boy who never left her alone. My life, from this point on, will suck so bad that Merlin will be able to smell the stench. My life will come to an end after this. Goodbye, world.

James decided he was going to go hang himself. Sirius would probably stop him in the end, but it was the way James always dealt with situations such as this. He walked up to the door -forgetting (and not remembering) that all he had on were his boxers- and walked into the Common Room. Lily was right in front of his door, almost ready to knock on it. Instead of getting mad at him for slamming the door in his face, Lily muttered, "Sorry for walking in on you. Didn't think about the consequences. Just wanted to tell you that Sirius asked for you." She handed him the mirror and then just starred at her feet (to try and avoid but not succeeding from staring at James . . . who still wore almost nothing).

Lily brought up her head and looked like she was thinking about saying something more, but Alice suddenly broke through the door, shortly followed by Remus and Frank. "Sirius has been trying to hold us back since the time we locked you guys in. When we heard Lily's stunned voice saying she saw you in your boxer, we figured we'd better stop you from hanging yourself for no apparent reason other than your own stupidity. OH." That was Alice's reaction to seeing James in his boxers. On the other hand, the boys weren't even fazed; they had lived with James for 6 lily-crazed years.

Then, Sirius came in, about to warn Alice, Frank and Remus of the situation's fragility, then stopped, thinking of what to say. "Prongs. Go to your room. Now." James left the room, still too dazed about everything. Oh well, James thought, I'll just hang myself out the window. "Remus, Frank, follow him. Don't let Prongs hang himself. Remus, you talk sense to him. Frank, you're taller, detain him. But don't take his wand; we do not want an aggravated James on our hands." Obeying orders, the boys marched into their friend's room and successfully detained James. Next, Sirius turned to Alice and yelled, "GET A HOLD OF YOURSELF, WOMEN!" Alice immediately snapped out of the odd daze she was in and almost yelled, then remembered herself. "Now, ladies, plea-"

"What do you want us to do with James, Sirius? He is successfully detained and dressed." That was Frank's head, which could be seen from behind the door.

"You know," Alice whispered to Lily, "I really did not like seeing my captain in his boxers."

Frank, unfortunately, heard everything except 'not' and nervously yelled, "YOU LIKED SEEING JAMES WEARING HIS BOXERS?"

Alice's eyes grew wide. "GOD NO!", then with a devilish smirk Alice added, "But I know Lily did." As an answer Lily started yelling 'LA LA LA LA LA' so she did not have to listen.

Putting a silencing charm on Lily (who did not notice), Sirius finally replied, "Good, Frank, that's good. Bring him in and set him down." Momentarily Frank's head disappeared, and then all of Frank, along with James and Remus, came out and sat on the couch opposite Sirius, Lily and Alice. "Okay," Sirius started, "We are going to have an open and frank (not Longbottom) discussion," Sirius quickly glanced at Remus, Frank and Alice, who somehow understood, "by force-feeding my stash of versitilum to Lily and James, NOW!" Frank and Sirius quickly stopped James and Lily from leaving by sitting on them. Quickly, Alice and Remus gave them the truth potion so that Sirius could stop crushing Lily.

Sirius stood up and all the sudden the Head's Common Room was a muggle game show set. There were lights everywhere. Alice (now wearing a red sparkly dress) and Sirius (who was now wearing a tux) stood behind a podium between the two contestant booths. Remus and Frank stood as bodyguards by the door.

"Hi! I'm Sirius, your host on 'Love and Nooses'. (Alice shook her head at Sirius's stupidity.) Today our contestants are James Potter and Lily Evans. They will be asked a series of questions. The first eleven questions go to Lily.1) How long are you and James going to be under the influence of truth?"

"Thirty minutes in counting."

"Good. 2) Do you love James?"

"With my whole heart."

"3) What would you have done if James had hung himself?"

"I would have hung myself."

"4) Will you go to the next Hogsmead with James?

"Of course." Her subconscious was thinking, gross . . . Sirius just asked me out . . . for James.

"5) How long have you loved James?"

"Since you asked me the question when we were playing Truth or Dare."

"6) Will you marry James?"

"When ever he asks me."

"7) Really?"

"Yes."

"8) Positive?"

"Yes."

"9) Would you ever leave him?"

"Not willfully. No. Never"

"10) What is a good question I should ask you?"

"Why is the show called 'Love and Nooses'?"

"11) Why is the show called 'Love and Nooses'?"

"Because you are trying to get me together with James and James tried to hang himself. Also, you are an Idiot."

"Thank you Lily for your colorful answers. Now, for James. Prongs, you get ten questions to answer truthful-"

"Padfoot, you do realize that it was the end of the thirty minutes five minutes ago, right?" Prongs had a slightly amused but very annoyed look on his face as he said this.

"DAMMIT!" Sirius suddenly understood what might happen when James got out of the booth, let's hope James is merciful Sirius thought.

Again Prongs began to speak. "I am going to count to ten, Sirius. By then I want everyone who does not live here out. And I want the room back to normal. One . . . Two . . . Three . . . Four . . . Fi-"

"Alright James, just give me a second." With a flick of his wand, Sirius turned everything back to normal. Then he said, "Come on guys, we better leave before James kills us all." Everyone except for James and Lily left the room. Remus closed the door.

"So . . ." Lily said, standing up and slowly walking over to where James stood.

"Ummm . . . was all that you said really what you think?" James' face was red as he stammered the question to Lily, but he also began to walk towards her.

"Yeah . . . you never answered those - "

By know the two's faces were mere inches apart and they were whispering. "I'll answer some for you now. 1) Yes, I love you, Lily Evans. 2) I've loved you since the moment I saw you. 3) I would jump off a cliff if you killed yourself. 4) I would never leave you. 5) -"

At that moment their lips met. James felt as though he had died and gone to Heaven; after so long, so much time, he was finally kissing his one true love. Lily was thinking that only a few months ago this would never have happened. After what seemed like many hours, days or, quite possibly, years passed by, they broke apart. "Do you have any idea how long I've wanted and waited to do that?" James asked while burying his head in her hair.

"Apparently, forever." Lily replied in a low voice.

"Hey, does this mean we are 'officially' boyfriend and girlfriend?" James asked, suddenly afraid.

"Isn't that obvious?"

"Just being sure."

"I'm going to bed."

"Ca-"

"Don't even think about asking. Goodnight, James"

" 'Night Lily-love."

And with that the two walked through their separate doors to bed.

(5 days later)

The past five days had been like hell for Lily. Almost every single girl in all of Hogwarts was pissed off at her; she took James off the market, possibly forever. She felt deeply lucky because she was rooming with James, and not other girls, who had tried to kill her around ten times a day. James, of course, didn't notice anything; he was living in pure bliss. He had great friends, the best girlfriend ever, was the captain of the Gryffindor Quiditch team and was in his last year at Hogwarts.

"Morning, Lily-love!" exclaimed James 5 days after they had gotten together.

"Morning." Lily said, still half-asleep.

"I have a surprise for you. It's not too big, but you end up spending your whole day with me! Can you guess what it is?" James said all this with a HUGE smile on his face and his hazel eyes dancing in happiness.

"Nope, can you tell me?" Lily still wasn't completely awake and James' happy-go-lucky attitude did not help at all.

"LOOK!" James held out a noose, the noose. "I'm going to tie you and me together so we can spend the WHOLE DAY TOGETHER!!"

"WHAT?! What am I going to do for Ancient Runes and Arithmacy?! Do you expect me to miss two classes?!"

"Let me explain, Lily-love. Those are the only two classes that we don't have together because I don't take them, so I'll just go to class with you!" By now the huge smile was practically the size of his head.

Wait, Lily thought, does this mean till midnight . . . .Oh Merlin . . . "James, does 'the whole day' mean till midnight?"

The smile was threatening to cover his neck. "It didn't, but now it sure as hell does! That was a bloody awesome idea, Lily! This will be the BEST DAY EVER!!"

"I'm not going to get any sleep tonight, am I?"

"NOPE!"

"Just get it over with then, James." Lily began to think today was going to be a long day. James moved towards Lily, unknotted the noose and began to tie them together as his smile grew wider.

The day was rather funny. Everyone stared and laughed at them for a while, but they all eventually got used to it, well most people.

The Ancient Runes and Arithmacy teachers were not some of those people. Both of them were stunned at seeing James Potter tied to one of their star students; clearly they did not know the relationships of their students. But, through it all, James still had that stupid smile; Lily began to think her boyfriend had gotten a Botox injection, something that deeply scared her.

Professor McGonagall was the worst. When they entered her last period class, she yelped then exclaimed (without knowing they were a couple), "JAMES POTTER! DETIE YOURSELF FROM MS. EVANS IMMEDIATELY! Lily, I'm terr-"

"Professor," Lily replied, rather embarrassed, "I let James tie me up; we're going out, he had a stupid idea, and was too excited about it for me to say no. Please don't make him untie us, I don't feel like living with a depressed man."

The last statement confused the teacher. "How would that depress Mr. Potter?"

Now embarrassed, James said, "You're my favorite teacher, you've taught me so much; how else would I have learned to levitate Snape without you? See, if you untie me from my Lily-love (at this Lily blushed), then I'll get sad because you detached me, but then I'll feel guilty because you're my favorite teacher, hence I will be utterly confused and sad."

"You know what," McGonagall said in a defeated tone, "you can stay tied, just sit down and, Mr. Potter, don't do anything stupid, or I'll have Filch skin your hide."

After that, Transfiguration went rather smoothly. When they got back to the common room that night, it was late. "I'm going to bed, Night Lily-love." James began to walk towards his door only to realize Lily was still tied to him . . . and asleep? Oh well, James thought, I'll just sleep on an arm chair tonight, with Lily. Suddenly the mile long smile came back. James lifted Lily from his side to on top of him when they were sitting down. "'Night, Lily-love." he whispered.

So how do you like it? Tell me!!