Author's Note: I made a mistake when I posted my last poll and forgot that in Harry Potter and the Prisoner of Azkaban, Vernon and Petunia see a photograph of Sirius Black on the news. I made Petunia an option in my poll concerning Lily's dinner with the Potters. Petunia, Peter and Remus tied with Petunia and Remus with 32 votes each, so I will have to use my own interpretation of Harry Potter canon and pretend that Sirius was so altered when he escaped Azkaban that Petunia simply didn't recognise him on the news or remember his name. I am also very happy to see that people voted for Peter. I really dislike leaving him out.

Whenever I read Lily/James fanfiction, especially when it's long, I tend to skip ahead to the parts where they interact and ignore a lot of the story. I've kept that in mind as I write because I bet I'm not alone in this. They haven't really interacted much in the first five chapters but this is a Lily/James story and therefore I am prepared to give you guys a lot of Lily and James. I hope you guys enjoy this chapter for that very reason.

CHAPTER SIX

Bedknobs and Bellybuttons

Dinner with the Potters got off to a shaky start when the sight of Oddie, the house elf who admitted them entry, sent Petunia racing back to their father's Ford Cortina in tears, but only after she screamed directly in his face and called him a monster. Oddie handled himself with great dignity in the face of such rudeness, but Lily and her parents were utterly mortified. Leaving them to apologise profusely to the elf, Lily dashed to the car to drag her sister back to the house.

"I'm not giving my coat to that disgusting creature, it's filthy," Petunia hissed, stumbling over the gravel in an attempt to resist. Lily had convinced her to get out of the car only by promising to ask Oddie to get in and sit next to Petunia.

"This is the hottest summer in history, you didn't bring a bloody coat, and you can't give clothes to a house elf anyway."

"Why not?"

"Because it sets them free."

Petunia gave a pantomime gasp and tried to pull away, but with great effort Lily wrenched her forward. She knew what her sister was thinking, that a house elf set free would sneak into her bedroom while she slept and wrap his long, spindly fingers around her throat. She refrained from encouraging Petunia's fears in an effort to preserve the civility they had forged whilst abroad.

Oddie and her parents were gone by the time they reached the front door. They were met instead by Sirius Black, which never spelled good news. His long black hair would have been affront enough to Petunia, who believed that men with long hair were unsanitary, but Black had chosen to wear dress robes and a pointed hat, and had his wand tucked behind his ear. Sirius Black would not have dressed in anything other than a ratty pair of jeans and a leather jacket outside of school in a million years. His outfit had been chosen to anger Lily and alienate Petunia, who stared at him with undisguised horror.

"You look ridiculous, Black," said Lily, before he had a chance to open his mouth. "Where are our parents?"

"They're being boiled in a cauldron in an act of ritual sacrifice," he cheerfully informed them, with a vampire grin. "Didn't you tell your sister what to expect?"

"Shut up, you big baboon," Lily responded, and dragged her sister over the threshold. They found themselves standing in a large, luxurious foyer that wouldn't have gone amiss in a five-star hotel. The gleaming marble floors and snow white walls were spotlessly clean. Curtains of some glimmering golden material, clearly magical, framed the tall, wide windows that overlooked the grounds. A glossy grand piano stood in proud prominence next to a huge marble staircase that split in two halfway up and seemed made for a princess to descend. Most impressive of all was the ceiling, a great dome of glass that bathed the assembled party in brilliant light. Even Petunia was visibly impressed by the grandeur.

"It looks great, it's true," said Sirius, who had followed them inside on bouncing feet, his robes flapping absurdly around him. "But the coffins and torture devices are kept in the dungeons."

Petunia made a noise in the back of her throat, but Lily squeezed her arm hard. "Why are you here, Black?"

"I live here."

"I know that. Why are you meeting us at the door?"

"Your sister hurt Oddie's feelings, so Aunty D thought I might be more capable of interacting with her without needing a stiff drink afterwards."

"You're a prat, Black."

"You're not very polite, Evans. That's not a nice way to speak to your host." He shook his head as though deeply disappointed. "I made such an effort to dress up for you both, and this is how you repay me?"

Lily's retort died on her lips as Dorea Potter made her entry into the foyer. She glided towards the group wearing a pair of heels that would have broken both of Lily's ankles had she dared even to try them on. Sirius immediately assumed an angelic, wounded expression.

"Evans called me a big baboon," he tattled.

"You are a big baboon, so what?" said Dorea, and took Lily by the arm. "Run along and fetch the boys, and you can either change out of that ridiculous outfit or I'll make you eat naked."

"Are we having soup?" said Sirius, with a raised eyebrow. "I'm very conscious of my manhood."

"Yes, we are," said Dorea. "Hot soup."

"Oh, fine, I'll go and change," he ceded, and dashed dutifully away as Dorea Potter led both girls down a long corridor.

"Peter and Remus will be joining us tonight. They're both nice boys. Sirius is nice too, when he wants to be. Don't pay too much attention to him, Petunia," Dorea advised. "He likes winding people up, but he'll stop if he can't find an audience."

"Thanks," Petunia mumbled.

"He is a good boy, though. It's terrible, what happened with his family. He hasn't been brought up in a loving environment, but he is just the sweetest chap when you get to know him."

"Has he been here all summer, then?" Lily couldn't fathom the idea of a sweet Sirius Black, but she supposed the Potters knew him far better than she did. "I know he ran away."

"Yes, he's been here since school broke up, give or take a few days. He's been very helpful around the house, unlike James, who seems to want to spend a lot of his time moping about lately, and he looks up to Charlus, so they spend a lot of time together. Charlus is my husband," she added for Petunia's benefit. "He's at the Ministry right now, but he should be home in about half an hour."

"Oh," said Petunia, who had just enough dyed-in-the-wool English politeness to muster up the bones of a response.

"Of course, Sirius is much happier now that he gets to spend so much time with James," Dorea continued. "They really are like brothers, you know. James is such a loyal, loving chap, he always was, even as a little one. He'd do anything for any one of his friends."

Just as Lily was wondering if Mrs Potter was the kind of mother who liked to brag relentlessly about her children, she walked through an archway and found herself standing in some sort of James Potter museum.

"Well, this is the lounge," she said. "It's where we spend most of our time."

James Potter absolutely dominated the room. Every broomstick he ever owned was mounted on the wall above the fireplace, carefully labelled and arranged in descending order from small to large. His O.W.L results had been framed and given pride of place on the mantle. And the photographs – the photographs were everywhere. James as a pink-faced, naked baby, splashing happily in the bathtub. James as a rosy cheeked little boy showing his muscles to the camera. James as a skinny eleven year-old posing proudly in his new school robes. A tall, tanned, fresh-faced James, standing with an arm around his mother's shoulders, smiling somewhat bashfully at the camera while she beamed up at him with unmistakable pride. It was sweet to see how much his parents loved him, and Lily noted that Black's equally impressive exam results had been framed and placed next to Potter's, but the overall effect of the room was still slightly bizarre.

"Sit down, girls," said Dorea, directing them to a large sofa that could have comfortably seated a Quidditch team, upon which their parents were perched.

"There you are, Petunia," said their father. "I'll be wanting a word with you later."

"Oh, Andrew, don't worry about it. It was the first time the poor girl's ever seen a house elf, she was bound to get a fright. Sit down, dear," said Dorea, giving Petunia a gentle nudge in the direction of the sofa. "Now that you're all here, what drinks can I get you? I got plenty of red wine from a Muggle shop earlier, but if you'd prefer to try one of our drinks I have a beautiful bottle of Ogden's Old Firewhiskey we've been dying to open."

"That sounds fantastic," said Lily's mother, clearly excited by the prospect of sampling something from the magical world. "Although Andrew's driving."

"Oh, not a worry, we've got a potion that will sober you right up!" said Dorea, waving the matter away. "In fact, come with me and I'll show you what we have. I'm letting the boys drink tonight; I know they do it anyway, and I much prefer that they do it in the house. What about your girls?"

"Well, Petunia loves red wine, and I don't mind letting Lily have a couple of drinks," said her mother, to which her father raised his eyebrows. "Oh for goodness sake, Andrew, she's sixteen, not six."

"Fair enough," said her father, who was still giving Petunia the stink-eye. "If it's alright by you it's alright by me."

"Oh, wow, I'll have wine, please. I don't like Firewhiskey," said Lily, and then caught her father's eye. "Not that I've ever tried it."

"Fair enough. Firewhiskey for the parents, red wine for the kids. Come along, Grace, I can show you some of that Youthfulness Potion while we're at it…"

She swept from the room with Grace in tow, leaving Lily alone with her father and sister. Lily sat down next to her father to wait, but Petunia was still hovering awkwardly, swaying to and fro and staring at the moving photographs on the wall. Lily could tell that they had unnerved her.

"Sit down, Petunia," said their father tersely. He was clearly very angry about Petunia's earlier behaviour. Petunia took a step backwards, but didn't sit.

"Where's their television?" she asked.

"A lot of magical families don't have televisions," Lily explained. "Sit down, would you?"

"No television?" Petunia whipped around and looked at them both in dismay. "That's ridiculous! Who doesn't own a telly in this day and age?"

"Plenty of people," said their father. "You forget, Petunia, that different cultures have different ways of living. Sit down."

"They don't live in the middle of the jungle, Dad, they live in Great Britain," Petunia protested, going red. "These people are British, even if they are fre- Lily's kind. British people have televisions."

"There are plenty of Muggles who don't have televisions, either," Lily pointed out.

"Poor people, perhaps, but these people are rich."

"Petunia," said their father warningly. "If I have to tell you to sit down one more time…"

"Petunia, for the love of God," said Lily. "Stop calling them 'these people' and sit down, you're going to embarrass yourself!"

Petunia finally did as she was told and sat down, but stiffly, perched on the edge of her seat as if she was preparing to make a run for it at any moment.

"They're not going to make us eat eye of newt or anything, are they?"

"For the hundredth time, no!" said Lily in exasperation. "Wizards eat the exact same food as Muggles do!"

"You would say that," Petunia snapped. "For all I know you're planning to -"

"Algernon!" Lily cried, and both Petunia and her father jumped violently. James Potter's cat, an ornery ginger beast of great intelligence, had entered the room. Lily and Algernon were quite fond of one another. "I've missed you! Come here and give me a cuddle!"

Algernon made haste to the sofa and leapt with unerring grace into Lily's lap. She stroked his fluffy head and he blinked lazily, with a contented purr. Petunia gave him a wary glance. She disliked all animals, but particularly those that shed hair.

"I didn't know that the Potters had a cat," said her father, leaning forward to say hello. Algernon regarded him with a shrewd eye and kindly allowed him to pet his head.

"He's James's cat, actually. Comes to school with him. Isn't he gorgeous?" Lily enthused. "And really clever, even for a magically bred cat. They normally have higher capabilities than regular cats but Algernon is something special. He doesn't like many people but he always seemed to like me, for some reason."

"Maybe he likes you as much as his owner does," said her father wryly.

"Dad," said Lily warningly. "It's not that. Potter doesn't have any particular fondness for me. Maybe Algernon really likes my cuddles, or maybe he's just trying to wind Potter up. He enjoys that."

"Goodness," said Petunia derisively. "This Potter boy must be an absolute nightmare if even his own cat can't stand the sight of him."

Enraged, Algernon sprang to his paws and hissed menacingly at Petunia, just as Mrs Potter and their mother came back into the room bearing drinks.

"The photos are probably a bit much, I think," Dorea was saying. She took no notice of Algernon, who was arching his back, preparing to strike. Petunia scooted hastily away. "I might have gone overboard while he was growing up and he always gets so embarrassed when we have company, but I couldn't help it. He's a beautiful boy. Isn't he?"

Lily blinked as she realised that James's mother was looking at her and awaiting a response.

"Er, yeah, sure he is," she said, thinking it would be churlish to disagree and upset her hostess. "I've always thought so."

"Cheers, Evans," said James, who had just entered the room with both his friends and perfect comic timing. His mother grinned as she set down the drinks tray and Lily wondered if she had orchestrated the whole moment. Meanwhile, Algernon had sprung from the sofa and was rubbing against his owner's legs, clearly determined to show Petunia just how wrong she had been.

"You're welcome," she said, wondering if she should pull a Petunia, and run off to the car.

The food that Mrs Potter and her husband served up to them was unsurprisingly delicious. They started with a creamy spinach soup that Lily, who wasn't particularly fond of spinach, enjoyed so much that she took seconds, followed by a perfectly cooked Beef Wellington and roasted vegetables. Lily got to meet Potter's father, who was witty and charming, and the kind of handsome that made you want to blush and look away if he caught your eye.

His hair was jet black like the rest of his family, but very tidy, and streaked with silver around the ears. He had the same thick, pronounced eyebrows as his son's and the same youthful, mischievous looking eyes. He and his wife made for a very attractive pair.

Sirius Black had changed into normal attire, which was an improvement, although he had been placed across from Petunia and kept winking at her to make her uncomfortable. Petunia had conveniently decided to start feeling ill as soon as Mrs Potter tried to hand her a glass of wine and had spent the whole meal so far staring at her plate and refusing to eat or drink anything. It was painfully rude. On several occasions, Lily had noticed both her father and James Potter chewing the inside of their mouths as if desperate to hold back a diatribe, or in Potter's case, a hex.

Lily had already finished off two glasses of wine by the time she made headway with her main course, and was starting to feel warm and fuzzy in spite of the food in her stomach. She didn't have the strongest resistance to alcohol. She poured herself a third glass and took a liberal sip.

"So anyway," Mr Potter was saying. "The warlock turns to the hag and says, 'Not on your life, but I can blow bubbles with this thing until the cows come home!'"

Sirius, James, Mrs Potter and Lily's mother laughed uproariously.

"So they've got the Quaffle in the hands of the opposition," Remus was saying to Lily's father, who appeared to be enthralled. "They're one Beater down…"

"And the Harpies are one hundred and seventy points up," put in Peter.

"That's just hilarious," said Lily's mother, and took a generous mouthful of Ogden's old. "It reminds me of that fiasco with that man from our holiday, that sleazy entertainer person. What was his name, Lily?"

Lily swallowed her wine, that she had been churning around in her mouth. "Marcos."

"That's right, Marcos. Anyway, we're all sitting near the bar when Marcos comes up with a rose in his hand, and he turns to Lily, and-"

"Please don't tell this story, Mum," said Lily.

"Oh no, please do, Mrs Evans," said Sirius, and picked up the bottle of Ogden's. "Would you like me to top you up?"

"Oh, yes please, thank you," said her mother giddily. She was most certainly inebriated. "Anyway, Marcos comes over with this rose, and tries to give it to Lily because, well, between us, I think he might have been a bit taken with her-"

Sirius snorted.

"And of course, Lily's boyfriend is sitting right next to her, and he-"

"You have a boyfriend?" James Potter interrupted immediately, and then went red in the face. Beside him, Sirius started to snigger. Remus and Peter stopped talking to her father to stare at her.

"Er, yeah," said Lily, going red herself under the intense gaze of so many people. "His name's Robbie. Robbie Reneaux."

"Is that French?" said James faintly.

Lily nodded mutely. Potter made a small, convulsive movement, as if he was swallowing something unpleasant. Next to Lily, Petunia was smirking down at her plate as though greatly amused.

"Lily met him on holiday," put in her mother. "He's a lovely boy. Very good looking."

"Well," said James's mother, her tone rather flat. She chanced a look at James, and then smiled widely. "Well. That's lovely. A holiday romance! Who doesn't love a good holiday romance?"

"Marcos seemed especially fond of them," put in Lily's father, with a chuckle.

"Do you think you'll ever get to see him again, Lily?" Dorea pressed on. "I imagine it might be difficult to remain in a relationship with a Muggle while you're still at Hogwarts."

"Robbie's going to drive to Cokeworth in his car before school starts, and spend some time with me," Lily explained quietly. "He's going to university in Bristol in September. And we'll see each other at Christmas."

Lily's assurance that she and Robbie Reneaux could never be had lasted until the morning after their date, when she met with him to tell him as much. One look into his gorgeous, bright blue eyes, so full of hope and earnestness, had melted her resolve entirely. Over the course of a few days, he had managed to render her so smitten that she couldn't quite be sensible around him. She really liked Robbie and he really liked her, and being in his presence made her feel happy. She felt somewhat positive about her decision to go for it, and hoped that the long distance would protect him from a potentially dangerous situation.

"Well," said James's mother again. "That's lovely. Just lovely. And how are you going to communicate while you're at school?"

"We'll write," Lily explained. "I've told him that my school doesn't allow the students to take phone calls. Mary Macdonald's mum teaches at an all-girls school in Helensburgh that takes boarders and she's happy to pass my post to Hogwarts via owl. She gave me their address."

"Where's Helensburgh?" said Sirius, through a mouthful of Beef Wellington.

"Scotland," said Lily promptly.

"I knew it was Scotland," he retorted, with narrowed eyes. "I've heard Macdonald's accent. I meant where in Scotland?"

"Near Glasgow," Lily responded, with a glare.

"That's very kind of Mrs Macdonald to help you out like that," said Mr Potter.

"I sort of gave Mary some help with her revision before the O.W.L.S," Lily explained. "She was struggling a little with Potions, but she managed to pass in the end. I think her mother wanted to do something nice to thank me."

"She actually sent Lily a lot of information about the school," said her mother. "Just in case Robbie or his family ask any awkward questions."

"Do we know Mary Macdonald?" said Mr Potter to James. He swallowed whatever he had been eating and shook his head.

"You don't," he told his parents. "She's in the year below us. Muggle-born. She's our Seeker, and she's bloody good. Sirius is mates with her."

"Macdonald's alright," said Sirius, which was generous praise, coming from him. He tended to ignore a lot of the girls at school, particularly the ones who desperately wanted his attention, but he got along well with Mary. This was perhaps due to Mary's complete lack of attraction to him. Lily didn't have a clue why they were friends. Of Potter's group, Remus was a dear, and Peter was affable enough, but Sirius was a nightmare.

"Actually, I know how you might know her. She's going out with Edgar Bones," said James. "You know his parents."

"Is he still at school? I thought he was about eighteen by now."

"No, he just finished his N.E.W.T.S, so…"

The conversation turned to the Bones family, who were apparently intimate with the Potters, and Lily allowed herself to sigh in relief. She hadn't come to the Potters to talk about Robbie. She wanted to keep Robbie as far as possible from her other life, at least to begin with. She also got the vague impression that Dorea Potter had singled her out as a possible girlfriend for her son, and that she had disappointed her somehow.

She looked around the table. Petunia still hadn't touched anything on her plate and was staring at her fingernails. Remus had resumed his Quidditch conversation with her father and they seemed to be getting along very well. James, Sirius, his parents and Lily's mother were locked in a discussion. That left her and Peter, who was sitting across from her.

"How did you do in your exams?" she asked him, with what she hoped was an encouraging smile. Peter gave a little squeak and jumped slightly. He had already downed a couple of glasses of wine and was slightly pink in the face.

"I did alright," he said. "Failed Potions and scraped by in Defence, but I did pretty well in Transfiguration. I got a lot of help from James and Remus."

"Do the four of you revise together?"

"Not really." Peter gave Sirius and James a sideways glance. "James and Sirius don't really need to revise, but Remus revises with me, and James is, well-"

"Really helpful when you get him alone?"

"Yeah," said Peter, with an anxious kind of laugh. "You know what he's like."

"He's not hard to figure out." Lily took a mouthful of wine and studied Potter thoughtfully. An image of the photo she had seen in the lounge, the one of him with his arm around his mother, popped unbidden into her mind. Potter caught her eye and gave her a questioning look, and she looked away hastily.

"How's your friend Beatrice?" Peter piped up, going red. Peter had a very obvious crush on Beatrice, who had both a boyfriend and a very obvious crush on Remus, who never seemed to have a crush on anyone, and the whole situation was ridiculously convoluted.

"She's fine," said Lily simply. "You know, not up to much."

"It was her birthday last month, wasn't it?" said Peter eagerly. "Did she have a party?"

"I think she just had dinner with her family," Lily replied quietly. Peter's bright-eyed enthusiasm for Beatrice was almost embarrassing. "And her boyfriend."

She took another mouthful of wine and looked at Potter again. She had hoped to grab a moment with him so that she could thank him for his letters, but it didn't look as if that was going to happen. His mother was sitting at the head of the table and had positioned him to her left, and Lily was sitting in the middle between her father and sister. It didn't leave much room for a quiet chat. Again, he noticed her staring and again she was forced to look away quickly, embarrassed, feeling as if she had been caught peeking at a classmate's exam paper. Her face felt very warm indeed. She took another sip of wine, aware of the fact that she was probably drinking a little too quickly. She sincerely hoped that the Potters had something planned for pudding that could soak it all up.

"It's nice to see that you and James are getting along," said Remus. It took Lily a moment to realise that he was talking to her, and not her father.

"Are we getting along?" she asked Remus. "I've barely spoken to him all evening."

"Well, true," said Remus, smiling. "But you're not shouting at him, or telling him off."

"Oh, does my daughter shout at people at school, too?" said her father. Like his wife, he was also a little drunk. Ogden's old was very strong, particularly when the drinker wasn't used to it. "I thought she saved that attitude for when she was at home!"

Lily gaped at her father. "I don't shout at people at home!"

"You shout at Petunia."

"Petunia's not people, she's Petunia," Lily argued stubbornly.

"You shout at the television," her father countered. "You shout at the television all the time."

"Do you?" said Remus, amused, while Peter tittered.

"Well, you're always watching Happy Days, and I hate that stupid leather jacket man! What on earth is so great that he constantly feels the need to give everyone the thumbs up?"

"Maybe because he's always having a happy day?" suggested Peter.

"The name of the program would indicate as much," said Remus.

Lily's father started to laugh, and Lily's attempt to hold back a smile failed in spite of herself.

"What are you talking about, Andrew?" Lily's mother called from across the table. Mr and Mrs Potter had left the room to fetch the pudding, leaving her alone with Sirius and James. Sirius was once again refilling her glass. Black had really turned on the charm with her mother that evening. It was slightly sickening.

"Just our daughter's bad temper, my pet."

"Apparently, she likes to shout at people all day," said Peter merrily.

"I'd agree," said Sirius, and adopted a long suffering expression. He patted her mother's hand and Potter looked at him as if he were mad. "She doesn't seem to like me at all, you know."

"Aww, Lily!" sang her mother, fluttering away. "But he's a lovely boy!"

"Does Sirius fancy my mother?" Lily hissed to Remus while Peter and her father laughed. Remus shrugged, evidently much amused himself. She stole another glance at James and he gave her a look to indicate that he, at least, was as bemused by his friend as she was.

"Mum," said Lily loudly. Her mother paid her no attention, busy giggling at Sirius. "Mum, don't you think you might have had rather a lot to dri-"

She didn't get any further, and Sirius never got to complete what appeared to be his attempt to seduce Lily's mother, as she was interrupted by a high-pitched scream of terror. Lily whipped her head around just in time to see a streak of ginger fur fly past her and launch itself at Petunia's face, and her sister's wide, horrified eyes as she tumbled backwards out of her chair.

It was well past midnight when James finally reached the safety of his bed.

As a child, James had been obsessed by the idea of getting sorted into Gryffindor when he eventually went to Hogwarts. "Where dwell the brave at heart!" his father would cry, holding an imaginary sword in the air for the amusement of his son. Then while he and his wife would bicker over which house was better, an enthralled James would stare off into space with his glasses askew and his elbow in his dinner, dreaming about an inevitable act of heroism worthy of a Gryffindor. James's love for his father's house soon began to bleed into the décor of his bedroom.

James had realised that his bedroom was ridiculous the moment he stepped into Peter Pettigrew's room at the age of twelve and saw that Peter had pinned a single Gryffindor banner to his wall and considered that sufficient. Remus's bedroom boasted a Gryffindor flag from the first house Quidditch match he ever attended. Sirius had covered his walls in Gryffindor colours at his home in London, but that had been an act of insurgence. James's bedroom was a red and gold disaster, and he had no teenage rebellion to explain it all away and make it look cool. Even the legs of his four poster were carved wooden lions.

In spite of all this, he loved his warm, cosy room with its lion-shaped wall sconces and plush red carpet, especially when it provided him with much needed sanctuary. It had taken him ages to excuse himself. His mother kept insisting that it would be rude of him to leave his guests.

The majority of the household was drunk following the events of the evening. The four assembled parents had made very short work of a seventy-year-old bottle of Ogden's Old, followed by another, followed by a few bottles of red wine. Peter and Sirius had both been levitated to bed by Oddie within a couple of hours. Remus, on the other hand, drank more than the both of them combined and had gone to bed completely sober. The only people who didn't touch a drop were Petunia and James himself, who couldn't think of anything worse than getting drunk in front of Lily Evans and her parents. Evans had taken to staring at him with an unreadable expression after her third glass of wine. James didn't understand why, but he doubted that much good would come of it.

It was nice to lie on his bed in a quiet, dimly-lit room after all of the merriment of the evening, and strange to know that Lily Evans was lying in a quiet, dimly-lit room in another part of the house. She and her family had been invited to stay over at the eleventh hour, much to her sister's horror. He wondered if she liked his house or if she thought it was ostentatious. Sometimes he did. He would have preferred a smaller home, like one of the little cottages down in Godric's Hollow. A mansion was too big for three people.

"That was exhausting," he said to Algernon, then remembered that Algernon wasn't there.

His cat had been expelled from the dining room in disgrace during dinner after he attacked Petunia Evans unexpectedly and James hadn't seen him since. He suspected that Algernon, upset by his owner's refusal to stick up for him at the time, had gone into hiding to punish him. Luckily, he hadn't vomited underneath the bed, which was the form his revenge usually took.

If Algernon was angry about the slight, James couldn't blame him for it. Lily's hard-nosed sister had been downright rude to his family and friends. He would have taken a swipe or two at her if he'd been a cat, and hadn't been forced by his mother to be polite to their guests.

He wouldn't have wanted to be rude in any case, Mr and Mrs Evans were fun people, and Evans had her usual hypnotic hold over him. The discussion regarding her new Muggle boyfriend with the good looks and the French name had been particularly painful for him to sit through, especially when paired with the smug glances Petunia Evans kept throwing in his direction. He found it difficult to believe that she and her sister had originated from the same planet, let alone the same womb.

"What a complete cow," he muttered to himself. The deep, rumbling snores of a sleeping Sirius in the next room were his only response. Taking that as his cue to turn in for the night, he swung his legs from the bed and got up, intending to put out the candles. At the same time, there came a gentle knocking on his bedroom door.

"Come on in, mate, it's not locked," said James, assuming it was Remus, who often had difficulty sleeping during the week after a full moon. To his surprise, the door was pushed open and Lily Evans tiptoed softly into the room. James froze on his way to a wall sconce and stared at her with his mouth open.

"Evans?"

"I hope you don't mind, I just – wow. Wow," said Evans, her emerald eyes as wide as saucers as she took him in. "Sorry. Wow. Hello."

James became hotly aware that he was wearing nothing but his glasses and a pair of briefs. He was tall, lean and broad-shouldered, but hardly the chiselled Adonis of a woman's dreams. Quidditch wasn't an effective way to sculpt the torso, and he had seen the covers of his mother's dirty romance novels. He blushed as red as a tomato.

"Hullo, Evans," he replied, desperately wishing he were clothed.

Evans was, at least, equally red in the face. "I thought you'd be wearing pyjamas, I'm so sorry."

"I was hot."

"I can see that."

"Also, you seem to be wearing mine."

Lily tore her horrified eyes away from him and looked down at her own ensemble. "Yeah. Your mother let me borrow them for the night. She said you wouldn't mind. You don't mind, do you?"

Lily had been taller than James for four years until his growth spurt put several inches between them. Owing to his height and broader shoulders, his pyjamas were far too big for her. The sleeves were fully covering her hands. It was adorable. "Nah, they're just pyjamas."

"Okay." Lily's eyes flicked downwards for a fraction of a second and James knew that she had seen and evaluated his groin. It was the most embarrassing moment of his life. "Listen, do you mind if I come in?"

"You're already in."

"Well, do you mind if I stay here for a bit? I'm sharing a guest room with Petunia and she's refusing to sleep. She says she's too frightened, and she won't shut up. I had to get out for a while."

"Why is she scared?"

"She thinks your house elf is going to kill her."

"And why on earth would she think something like that?"

"My sister is a combination of frayed nerves and pig-ignorance. It's impossible to fully explain how her mind works." She glanced at his groin again and looked away quickly. "Listen, Potter, please don't take this the wrong way, but were you planning on putting pyjamas on? Your pants are white and your bits are, you know, right there."

"Yeah, I'm definitely putting pyjamas on," James agreed, and all but ran to his dresser. Lily looked at the ceiling while he rooted through his things to find a pair of suitable bottoms. Eventually he located a plain, black pair and pulled them on.

"So, anyway," said Lily conversationally, still inspecting the ceiling while James clumsily struggled with the task of getting his legs into his bottoms. "I told Petunia that I needed the loo and left, then I ran into Algernon."

"You found Algernon?"

"Yeah, and he seemed very determined that I follow him here." As if on cue, Algernon entered the room with his nose in the air. Lily shut the door behind him and he nuzzled one of her legs.

"What are you up to, mate?" said James to his cat. Algernon gave him a long, appraising look before leaping gracefully onto his bed and assuming his usual position of prominence. His pyjama bottoms now securely on his body, James returned to his bed and sat on it. He scratched his cat's ears.

"Maybe he thought you needed the company?"

"Maybe." Algernon looked up at him with knowing eyes. James knew what his game had been. "He was probably trying to play matchmaker. Sorry." He looked up at Evans, who raised an eyebrow. "I didn't send him off to fetch you, if you're worried about that."

"I know. It's okay. I like Algernon," said Lily. "And I needed to talk to you anyway."

"So I take it you're not here to return my pyjamas?"

"Are you trying to see me naked, Potter?"

"Absolutely."

Evans laughed. Her cheeks were rosy pink in the candlelight. "Thanks for your honesty, but I think I'll just keep them on for now."

"And to think, I let you see me in all my glory."

"You hardly showed me, I just walked in on you in your underpants."

"I've got no way to prove that you didn't do it on purpose," James pointed out. "You might have been curious to see what I've got to offer."

"Are you trying to find out what I think of what you've got to offer?"

"No thanks, mate," he replied quickly. "My ego has taken enough of a bruising as it is."

"You know I'm definitely going to have to tell my friends about this, right?"

"I assumed you would."

"I suppose I can understand that you'd like some compensation for your bruised-ego," said Lily mock-thoughtfully, and tapped her chin with her finger. James couldn't tell if he was being mocked or flirted with. "I might be prepared to show you my bellybutton."

"Excellent." James leaned back against his headboard, and decided he didn't care. "Go on then."

Lily's face dropped. "What?"

"Your bellybutton," he reminded her, indicating to her midsection with his hand. "You offered."

"You do know I was joking, right?"

"Course I do. You still offered."

"Do you even want to see my bellybutton, Potter?" She was more amused than exasperated, which James found encouraging. Bolstered by her good humour, and by the fact that he was no longer semi-naked, he flashed her a grin.

"To be completely honest, Evans, I've never sat around wondering about your bellybutton, but you've seen me in my pants, so now I'm getting more inclined to see it."

Lily laughed again. "You're actually serious, aren't you?"

"Sure I am. Go on, get it over with."

"I was definitely joking."

"So?"

"Well, I didn't think you'd actually want to see my bellybutton."

"I didn't until you brought it up."

"Well, alright then. I suppose I'll just go ahead and show it to you."

"I'm all eyes, Evans."

Lily hovered awkwardly where she stood for a moment, then lifted her top – his top - to reveal the famous bellybutton. "Happy now?"

"You've got an innie," said James, and wiggled his eyebrows suggestively. "Oh baby."

"Potter!" she squeaked, and glowed red.

"Try not to wake up the whole house, mate. I don't want to know what your father would do to me if he caught you showing me your bellybutton in the middle of the night."

"Shush!" Lily grabbed one of Algernon's cushions from a nearby ottoman and threw it at James, but she was laughing silently. "You're such a prat!"

"Don't blame me for this, Evans, you're the one who intruded upon my naked body and decided to start flashing me. And throwing cushions," he added. "You can't throw to save your life, by the way."

"Well it's a good thing that you're Quidditch captain and not me," she said, with her hands on her hips.

"That was actually the least erotic flashing I've ever been witness to," said James. "You've got nothing to worry about."

"Have you been witness to a lot of flashings?"

"Loads," he said conversationally. "I share a dorm with three other blokes. I've seen all of their balls."

"That's a lot of balls."

James nodded. "Three pairs exactly."

"Six whole balls." Lily frowned. "And you're saying that six balls are more erotic than my bellybutton?"

"If it makes you feel any better, your shorts are more erotic than their balls."

"Very comforting," said Lily. "Can I sit down? I feel strange just standing here."

"If you like."

She hesitated, but moved to the bed and positioned herself cross-legged at the end, facing him. Algernon moved to be closer to her and she patted his head.

"Traitorous cat," said James. "Are you drunk, Evans?"

"What?"

James shrugged. "It's a fair assumption."

"How so?"

"You drank quite a few glasses of wine earlier, you've voluntarily entered my bedroom, and you showed me your bellybutton, so yeah, I think you're probably a bit squiffy."

"It was a bellybutton, not a nipple," she said, and cocked her head to the side. "I suppose I do feel a bit loose and free, but I'm still completely in control of my actions."

James raised his eyebrows. "Are you though?"

"I'm not here to proposition you, if that's what you're worried about."

"I know that," said James, as if the idea of Evans putting the moves on him could ever be a worrying one. "If you were here to proposition me, you wouldn't have asked me to put clothes on."

"That would be creating more work for myself," Evans agreed. "Illogical."

"You're still a bit drunk, though."

"I'm honestly not," she insisted, shaking her head. "I'm tipsy at best, although I probably wouldn't be here if I was completely sober, so you're not entirely off the mark."

"Remind me to thank the wine later."

She smiled softly at him, characteristically beautiful in the warm orange glow of the candlelight and the reality of just how much he wanted her hit him with force, a hot, bubbling, unwelcome stirring in his chest over which he had no control. The Lily Evans who frequented his deepest fantasies would not have made it to his bed fully clothed in any circumstance. The Lily Evans of his reality didn't want him, because she had a Muggle boyfriend and some wits about her, but she was a great deal more interesting than her imaginary counterpart. James wanted to know the real Lily more than he wanted to fantasise about the false one.

"Are we becoming friends now?" he asked her. She pondered his question for a moment.

"I don't know," she eventually concluded. "Are we?"

"I don't know either. I think that's up to you."

"Why?"

"Because I like you," he said simply. "I've always liked you, even though you've never been that fond of me, and I've always wanted to be friends."

"Have you, though?"

"Yeah."

She regarded him sceptically. "Are you sure? That's not always been the impression I've gotten, to be totally honest."

"Of course I have. Do you think I'd ask out a girl I didn't like?"

"Yeah, but you weren't serious when you were asking me out," said Lily, with a laugh, and leaned against one of his bedposts, Algernon still by her side. "You were doing that to piss off Severus."

"No, I wasn't," said James, bemused. "I wanted to go out with you."

"Really?" Lily's eyes were wide as saucers. When he nodded, her mouth dropped open. "I honestly didn't think you did! I thought it was just a joke!"

"Why would you think that?"

"Well, you were always doing it in public, like it was for a laugh. If you'd have taken me to one side and asked me seriously I might have believed it…"

"Yeah, well," he said, and shrugged. "I'm an idiot, remember? It never occurred to me to take a reasonable course of action. I'm only just learning how to behave like a normal human being."

"Jesus, Potter. Wow."

"You're an absolute wally, Evans."

Lily pushed her hair away from her face and expelled a long breath. "You don't still have, you know-"

"What? Feelings for you?" Nah," James lied smoothly. He wasn't about to admit his feelings to a girl who had only just learned not to despise him, especially when she had a boyfriend. "There's only so much you can get rejected before you get the message. I moved on. But I still want to be friends," he added quickly. "If you want to be friends with me."

"I showed you my bellybutton, Potter. I think that's enough of an indication that I want to be friends."

"Why though?" he said. "I wouldn't want to be friends with me if I were you."

"I don't know!" she said, spreading her hands wide. "I just do. You're pretty nice, you know, when you're not inflating heads."

"I have inflated a lot of heads."

"And I suppose liked the letters you sent me," she continued. "They were sweet. I was really upset after that whole debacle with your mother and my parents, and it was good to know that somebody else shared my feelings. I wanted to say thank you for that, actually, it's why I came here."

"You don't have to thank me."

"I want to," she said earnestly. "It really cheered me up when I was away."

James grinned. "More than the Muggle boyfriend?"

"Robbie helped too," she admitted, with a wry smile. "I do want to be friends with you, Potter, especially now that I've seen this unbelievably humiliating bedroom." She looked around his garishly decorated room. "You're not a Gryffindor by any chance, are you?"

"I actually had all of this done before I even started school," he explained. "I was obsessed with Gryffindor when I was little. I really, really wanted to get in."

"Your father was a Gryffindor, wasn't he?"

"Yeah, he was. How did you know that?"

"You said so on the train, on our first day. We were sitting in the same compartment."

"We were?"

Lily nodded. "You were waving an imaginary sword about."

"Ah." James mirrored her nod. "That was definitely me, then."

"What if you'd been sorted into Ravenclaw instead?"

"Why Ravenclaw, out of all the other houses?"

"Dunno." Lily shrugged. "Because you're clever? It's the only other house I could possibly see you in, but even that's a stretch. You're a Gryffindor through and through."

"Thanks," he said, and felt rather proud. "So are you."

"You think so?" she said, with a smile. "Thank you. Sev always used to say that I'd been put in the wrong house, and that I really belonged in Slytherin."

"Oh right, yeah," said James, and rolled his eyes. "Because that's just what you want as an eleven-year-old Muggle-born witch, a house full of people who won't accept you."

"Hear hear," said Lily, and toasted him with an invisible glass. "Pricks."

The lapsed into silence, and Evans scratched Algernon absently behind the ears. The subject of Snape was a sore one. James hated him, but he and Lily were friends, at least they had been. He had heard rumours of a falling out but didn't know if they were true. The last time the three of them had been together Snape had called her a Mudblood. James wasn't sure how she could forgive him for that, but then he hadn't expected her to forgive him for picking on Snape in the first place, and yet here she was, in his bedroom.

"So," said James presently.

"So," said Lily.

"Are you and Snape, er, you know, do the two of you still talk or-"

"Is it alright if we don't talk about Snape?" Lily interrupted. "I know we'll probably have to eventually, but can we just shelve it for now? Please?" She met his eyes with a hard, frank expression in her own. "I'm in a really good mood, and we're getting along really well. I'd like to stay in a good mood."

"Yeah, of course," said James, cowed. "I'm sorry."

"It's alright, you didn't know," she said promptly, and shook her hair behind her shoulders. "Did you really snog Helena Hodge in a broom cupboard last year?"

James was so caught off guard by the change in topic, and by the question itself, that he spluttered helplessly trying to respond to it and accidentally spat at Algernon. He blushed and hoped Evans hadn't noticed. "What?!"

"Helena Hodge," Lily repeated. "She says you snogged her. Did you?"

"Did I – I what – no!" James replied hotly. "I think I'd remember snogging Helena Hodge, as I'm pretty sure the experience would leave me permanently traumatised."

"Shush, you'll wake your family!" Lily reminded him, sniggering, while he simmered in his own disgust. "She's been telling literally anyone who'll listen that you meet up once a week and go to town on one another."

"Evans, listen to me," he said seriously. Lily was laughing at him. "No, Evans, listen, I'm serious. I have never, ever, ever snogged Helena Hodge."

"Aww, poor Helena."

"Don't 'poor Helena' me, Evans. I know you don't like her either."

"I'm not the one snogging her in broom cupboards."

He was still wearing his glasses when he woke up the next morning, and was lying on top of the duvet, having never actually gotten into bed.

"Good morning, sunshine," said his mother. "What on earth did you two get up to last night?"

He grunted in response and sat up. Lily Evans was curled up on the end of his bed with Algernon tucked beneath her arm, fast asleep. Her dark red hair fell in front of her face, billowing gently as she breathed in and out. He took off his glasses and rubbed his eyes hard, and when he put them back on again she was still there, real and warm and still. A resplendent goddess in tatty old pyjamas, pyjamas that he never wanted to wash again. Unfortunately, his mother was there too.

"I can explain," he said blearily.

"Can you?"

"No." He nudged Evans with his foot and she didn't stir. "She can." He nudged her again and she grunted something incomprehensible. "She started it all. Evans!" He kicked her elbow and she woke with a start, which sent Algernon racing to the other side of the room, snarling madly.

"What?!" she barked, blinking repeatedly in the light of the sun that spilled through the three-inch gap between his curtains. "Shit, did I fall asleep?"

"Yes you did, you idiot," he said, and motioned to his mother with his head. "Mum wants a word."

Evans brushed a strand of hair out of her mouth and sat up. When she locked eyes on his mother her face turned crimson and she jumped half out of her skin. "Oh my God, Mrs Potter!"

"Good morning, Lily," said his mother. The quirk of her lips told James that she was very much enjoying herself. "Did you have a good night with my only son?"

"Yeah, I mean, no. Yeah. Nothing happened!" She scrambled off the bed and smoothed down his pyjamas. "I promise, nothing untoward happened at all. We were just talking, and I fell asleep."

"Liar," said James, and settled back down on his pillow, intending to go back to sleep. "She showed me her bellybutton."

"Potter!" Lily hissed, rounding on him, then turning back to his mother when she remembered herself. "We were just talking, and we fell asleep. I promise. Nothing else happened."

"Clearly, that's the case, or else my son would look far prouder of himself than he does now," said his mother archly. "Don't be so frightened, Lily, I would have known if something had happened and James knows it too." She raised an eyebrow at James. "I have my ways."

"You're terrifying," said James conversationally.

"Just try to be a bit more careful the next time you decide to have a midnight chat with a member of the opposite sex," Dorea advised, and patted Lily's shoulder. "Especially when your parents are in the house."

"My parents." Lily's face drained of what little colour it normally housed. "Do they know that I'm in here?"

"They're still asleep," said Dorea. "Your sister too. I thought I'd come in and warn you before you let yourself get caught." She cocked her head to the side and surveyed Evans from top to bottom. "I assume you wouldn't want to get caught?"

Lily nodded silently. She had practically turned purple.

"Why don't you go downstairs to the kitchen and get some breakfast? We're having omelettes. James will join you once he's presentable."

"Okay," said Lily breathlessly, and made quickly for the door. "Thank you, really, thank you. I'm so sorry. Thank you. It won't happen again."

Evans made her exit. James looked at his mother through one bleary eye and she looked at him through two perfectly made up ones.

"I like her," she said presently.

"I know," said James, with a heavy sigh. "I like her too."

"Yes." She looked him over with distaste. "I can see that. Cover that monstrosity up, would you? I'm your mother, I don't want to see things like that."

James grabbed Algernon's cushion and placed it in his lap. "Don't tell her, please."

"Tell her what?"

"That I like her. I mean, that I like her in that way. She thinks I got over it."

"Why shouldn't she know how you feel?" said his mother. "Because of the Muggle boyfriend? You don't need to worry about him."

"I don't?"

"Oh no, definitely not," she said, staring at the spot on his bed that Lily had vacated moments ago. A wry smile played about her lips. "You've got a lot to learn about women."

For anyone who is hoping that a) Robbie's going to turn out to be nasty/horrible/a cheater/working for Voldemort and b) that any of the other Marauders are going to get with Lily's friends – prepare to be seriously disappointed because neither scenario is going to happen (in spite of Beatrice's crush on Remus or Mary's friendship with Sirius). Robbie is a sweetheart and Lily's friends will only ever have platonic relationships with James's friends. It's a cliché that I feel very strongly about.