A/N In belated honour of James' birthday! That's really all there is to say.

Caught

They were caught, eventually. It had been inevitable. Because no matter how anxious and nervous and almost terrified Lily had been to start with, they'd become less and less cautious as a month passed, which melted into two, until they really weren't discreet about it at all.

Initially, it had been spontaneous. As one of the perks of being Heads, they each had their own room (complete with – oh sweet Merlin – a private bathroom) at the top of their respective gender dormitory staircases. James coveted the right to something wholly his for the first time in his boarding school life. From Day One, he had maintained that on no circumstances besides imminent death was any of his mates – or anyone else for that matter – to step one inch into the room. And when Sirius had rolled his eyes and proclaimed, "Oh, shove over, Prongs! If you've descended to such a state as Head Boy, the rest of us are bloody well going to milk the benefits for all they're worth," James had informed him that he was, in fact, dead serious, and had promptly slammed the door in his face.

For five months, it worked.

Until one Thursday night in mid February when James and Lily had sat up, studying a little later than the other Gryffindors. They had retreated to the sofa beside the fire, and while initially they had been planning the week's rounds with Lily's head nestled in the curve of his neck, it had quickly changed to small talk, and then to a lot of laughing, and then perhaps quite a deal more snogging than was strictly required for a conversation between two head students. It was nearly midnight though, and they both had Charms first the next morning, and before too much time had passed they approached the foot of the girls' staircase hand in hand, as they did every night. James kissed her sweetly once more, and Lily made to turn, but suddenly, impulsively, he caught her hand and pressed it against his chest.

"Come up with me," he murmured, his eyes locking on hers. She stared back at him, green eyes which had moments ago been content and sleepy now wide, alert, glinted with hints of surprise and intense nervousness. Lily shook her head slightly, and made to tug her hand away, but James held on tighter. "Please, Lil," he almost implored, and she bit her lip, hesitating for a moment.

"Not tonight, James. No," she said softly, before pecking him quickly on the cheek. She used the moment where he processed her reply to pull her hand from his grasp, darting up the stairs a moment later.

She was rather proud that she only glanced back once.

Things were only slightly awkward the next day. James kissed Lily quickly on the forehead at breakfast, and they sat beside each other in Charms, but the conversation didn't flow quite as smoothly as it normally did. There were many, many unspoken words between the pair, and they weren't as successful in hiding it as they might have wanted to be. Mary Macdonald shot Lily several looks in morning classes, and evidently conversed with others about the redhead's state of mind. Marlene McKinnon cornered Lily during Ancient Runes - a class without James present - her eyebrows furrowed in concern.

"Lily, are you alright?" she murmured quickly as the class set their books in order.

"Of course, why wouldn't I be?" Perhaps she spoke to quickly, or they had known each other for too long, or Lily was a truly terrible liar, or maybe it was a combination of all three combined, but at any rate Marlene looked entirely unconvinced.

"You look like there's something on your mind," she muttered, "but if you say you're fine ..."

"I am, absolutely." Lily smiled, turning to her books as if her mind was entirely focussed on the translation they'd been assigned. Of course, it couldn't have been farther away, still focussed on that tiny (but seemingly momentous) exchange with her boyfriend the night before. Her friend nodded, but still glanced at her frequently throughout the class, and Lily kicked herself for not taking acting lessons in childhood. She resolved to be the epitome of cheerfulness and with-it-ness at dinner.

James chose to study in his room that night. He'd been in the common room for an hour or so after dinner, but he felt he needed to be in his own space, with his own thoughts. He felt like he needed to explain things to Lily, that he hadn't meant he wanted her last night. He hadn't been going to sneak her up to his room to shag her and, so he didn't have to face the consequences, hope she'd leave before the sun rose the next morning.

She meant so, so much more to him than that. They – their relationship –meant so much more him than that. Lily knew it, he was sure of that; he just didn't know whether she'd thought he'd been asking more than he actually was last night. At eleven he swept his thirteen inch Transfiguration essay and the five books from which he'd been taking notes to the floor with a sigh, and dropped his head in his hands. He was a teenage boy, he had hormones, but at the root of it all the only thing he'd wanted was to lie there and wake up with her in his arms the next morning.

There was a knock at the door. James could only groan. The school year was almost half over, and yet Sirius still hadn't quite grasped the fact that James was never letting him in his room. Ever. It wasn't strictly personal – it had become a known fact among all the Gryffindors that if they wanted the Head Boy, they could knock and wait unless they needed to hide from a professor; in which case James was quite likely to let them in. However, Sirius' exile did have a great deal to do with the fact that after the first summer Sirius had spent with the Potters, neither James nor the house elves had ever quite managed to find the floor of his bedroom again.

The door creaked open – stupid prat wasn't even going to wait – and James didn't lift his head as he snapped, "Padfoot, you're not fucking allowed in!"

"Oh, sorry James, I'll let you be," her voice replied, and James spun around and leapt to his feet so quickly his desk chair toppled over behind him.

"No!" he exclaimed, for she was already outside the door when he grabbed her hand and hurried her back inside. Once they were a good few metres in his room, James looked down at her, and the fact that her eyes were once more quite wide - in disbelief and surprise more than any small kind of fear, but still - made him realise that he'd probably been a bit too forceful. He dropped her hand quickly and began talking extremely quickly. "I mean, no, it's okay, stay, please, here..." he picked up the chair and in one swift movement set it down next to her, gesturing for Lily to sit down. She looked at him, standing there in her blue pyjama pants and tank top, one eyebrow raised, looking like she was struggling not to laugh, for a full two seconds before stepping forward and pressing her lips to his.

He didn't mind that turn of events.

One hand was quickly lost in her red hair, the other cupping her face gently as they stumbled their way backwards onto his bed. After a few minutes though, James broke the connection, glasses slightly askew as he looked down at her (somehow she'd ended up beneath him) in concern. "We're not doing anything you don't want to do, alright?"

Lily brushed their lips together once more. "I know," she said simply. "And I don't want everything, not tonight. But ... I do want to be here, with you. And I want to wake up tomorrow, with you. And maybe every day after that, too."

James smiled crookedly. "I love you," he said gently. Though it was the first time either of them had said those three words, the action of saying them felt simple, like they'd been established a long time ago.

"I love you too," she murmured, and kissed him again.

She'd stayed the night at James'. She'd stayed the night at James'. She, Lily Evans, had stayed the night at James'. Lily worded it so in her head, romantically thinking that it sounded much nicer than 'slept in my boyfriend's bed'. However, Mary and Marlene seemed much more positioned to imply the latter as they wiggled their eyebrows suggestively over breakfast. After waking up for the first time in a different bed, Lily approached the two in the Great Hall. She winced to see that Mary sported a wicked grin and Marlene - usually the most demure of the trio - looked equally mischievous.

"Didn't hear your footsteps last night Lily," Mary began.

"You must have gone up extremely late."

"I suppose you had very important head business to attend to?"

Lily rolled her eyes, giving her friends all the confirmation they needed. "Something of that nature," she replied primly, sitting down across from them. Mary opened her mouth to speak again, but Marlene shot her a look, appearing to be making an effort not to smile. Lily relaxed as Marlene returned to the book she had propped open beside her plate, thinking the subject had been dropped for the time being. She knew she couldn't avoid the conversation forever, and was almost looking forward to spilling the (limited, but they didn't know that yet) details in the dorm later on. Muffliato would ensure they weren't heard by anyone else, keeping the Hogwarts rumour mill at bay.

Of course, Lily Evans often hoped for too much. She groaned as an arm looped around her neck.

"If you were up late working, it can't have been very tedious. Prongs practically skipped to training this morning," Sirius said breezily. Lily fought the urge to yank the waves of hair that brushed against her face. "He didn't swear once, either, except to say it was a 'really bloody fucking fantastic morning'." Merlin, she could practically hear the grin in his voice. "You wouldn't happen to know anything about this, would you Evans?"

Lily said nothing, but began spreading jam on some toast. Mary, not surprisingly, answered for her. "I'd say James just noticed that sun's shining extra bright today. Rather red, wouldn't you say?"

"Yes," Marlene agreed, looking up from her book with a faux non-committal air. "So red it's extraordinarily noticeable. I bet James saw it as soon as he woke up. From his bed, even."

"Probably took a really long look at it too," Sirius added, sliding in to sit beside Lily. "After all that exhausting heads stuff the two of you worked on last night."

Lily glared at them all. A group of third year Hufflepuffs passed by the group of seventh years, and she leaned forward. "James might have seen the sun first thing this morning," she hissed, eyes fixed on the Hufflepuffs; praying they weren't listening. "But the work wasn't as much as you lot are making it out to have been."

"Not as hard, you mean?" Sirius smirked, and Lily wished nothing more than to slap that stupid tilt of his mouth off of his face. She resorted to kicking him underneath the table, and then repeated the action twice to where the others were now in fits of giggles.

"If Lily says the – er, work, wasn't that much, then it wasn't that much."Lily head spun so quickly it cracked, and her heart sank to the dungeons as she realised she hadn't been hearing things. Remus Lupin had, a few seats up the table, also been listening. He too was smiling, but he did give her a sympathetic shrug of the shoulders. Peter, beside him, had a grin as wide as Sirius'. Git.

"So no Lilies were de-flowered?" Mary asked, shoulders slumping. Lily seriously debated allowing dementors to kiss their friendship.

"No," Lily replied fiercely, and Remus nodded in agreement. The others could go; Mary and Marlene (who had begun gesticulating frantically) especially – but Remus could still be her friend. Lily decided she'd keep him.

"What's all this about flowers?" Lily heard a far, fartoo familiar voice behind her. Well, fuck it. Mary and Marlene told her later that James' approach was, of course, what they'd been trying to signal to her. They also said that he had indeed practically skipped into the Great Hall, and he had a smile on his face like he'd been told he'd received a lifetime supply of Felix Felicis. Lily had no idea at that moment, however. With a frustrated wail, she'd dropped her head on her arms and didn't speak again until the hall was empty.

That night they snuck into the kitchens and afterwards ate a plate of chocolate biscuits lying together in his room, on Sunday that they spread out on his bed and did the homework they should have done that weekend but had left until the last minute, and so it followed. In a simple fashion, it became a routine. They'd talk, they'd study, they'd kiss a little, and then Lily would fall asleep curled up into his side as he held a book away from her face, stroking her hair gently.

They took the next step the following weekend.

And quite a few times after that as well, obviously.

"Alice has worked it out," Lily spoke up very late one night (or extremely early one morning) two weeks after the momentous next step.

James opened one eye from where he lay beside her. "Longbottom? Worked out what?"

"Us. Sleeping in the same bed." She paused. "Sometimes not sleeping."

Both eyes were open now, squinting. "What's it matter?"

Lily shuffled to get a better look at him. When the view was obtained, she considered him disbelievingly. "Did it escape your notice that Alice graduated? She sent me an owl this morning. If people who don't even go to school know, then everyone here must."

Since the scene in the Great Hall, that had been Lily's biggest fear. Though she loved them dearly, Mary and Marlene weren't known for their discretion. In fact, Lily was rather surprised that it had been only this morning that she'd received a rather cheeky letter from Alice. The amount of innuendos the former Gryffindor had managed to pen would have impressed even Sirius.

To Lily however, the situation was not amusing in the least. Something of her worry must have shown on her face or in her tone, for James reached out and brushed a lock of hair behind her ear. "It's okay, Lil."

"No, it's not!" she replied miserably, screwing her eyes shut and flopping back onto the pillows. "I bet even Dumbledore knows! I bet McGonnagall looks at me with revulsion. I bet the Ministry has been warned about me and has a whole file on all the illicit things the Head Girl of Hogwarts has done. " She paused, turning to glare at him. "I bet Voldemort himself is horrified at my behaviour, and Bellatrix Lestrange tries to imitate me."

James chuckled. "I'm sure it's only the Gryffindor seventh years that know."

For some reason, that seemed to be true. Maybe they were loyal, or kind, or just the bloody best people you could ever hope to go to school with, but the whereabouts of James and Lily every night seemed to be contained amongst the ten Gryffindors in their year. Even Joseph Sanderson, Laura Cartwright and Madeline Spencer, whom the pair barely talked to (though Sirius knew Laura quite well) hadn't let on. Sirius had pinned a notice in the Common Room announcing that 'all was going smoothly with the Head Situation' the week previously, but it had only lasted an hour before James saw it and had – admittedly grinning – taken it down. It had been a source of slight confusion to the lower years, but no more.

Amongst those on the inside though, the codename 'Head Situation' or 'HS' had stuck.

"Our lot won't tell anyone." James reassured her gently.

Lily partially agreed, but there was certain evidence demonstrating the opposite."Except Alice Longbottom, apparently."

He shrugged. "She's one of your best friends; she was going to find out no matter what."

Not having a reply, Lily merely sighed and wagged a finger at him. "You've turned me into a slag, James Potter. Wandless Witches is considering me for their next cover spread: 'Lily Evans: Good Girl Gone Bad'"

He laughed, kissing her quickly. "I'm going to pre-order a copy."

Lily rolled her eyes, but she leant across and brought his lips back to hers. If she had a reputation amongst their closest friends, she might as well live up to it.

The Head Situation continued smoothly from there. There were no political stand offs, no arms build ups or naval races. No missiles were pointed at unsuspecting parties, and no spies infiltrated the well-built walls of the secret. Alice Longbottom's letter remained the only one Lily received regarding her now entirely unused bedroom (although she'd rather prefer they slept in hers; it smelled slightly nicer and was a good deal tidier).

Until April. Things went a little haywire then.

Lily blamed first year Charms. A pointless subject, really. It did not matter in the slightest that it was her favourite; first years simply should not take it. The subject could be deceptively easy, and the simplicity of unlocking doors and levitating feathers could easily go inflate the head of a tiny, immature eleven year old with no social skills and the incapability of knocking on a clearly private bedroom.

And, Merlin forbid, if such a senseless child were to let their high Charms marks get to their head, there should be a law preventing them extending their success. Such work would clearly be too difficult for their miniscule, impolite brain with no notion of knocking to comprehend.

Lily had half a mind to write a letter to Professor Flitwick, comprised along the following lines:

Respected Professor,
YOU CAN BE A BLOODY IDIOT SOMETIMES what on earth possessed you to let a FIRST YEAR attempt to TURN CLOTHES PURPLE?! I don't care about your stupid Prize you should have known that THE IDIOTIC BASTARD WOULDN'T THINK before CHARMING THE CLOTHES HIS FRIEND WAS WEARING, thereby CHARMING HIS FRIEND AT MIDNIGHT and thus needing help from two VERY UNSUSPECTING HEAD STUDENTS WHO MAY OR MAY NOT SHARE A BED! And why IN THE NAME OF MERLIN didn't you ask him whether he knew HOW TO KNOCK BEFORE ASSIGNING SUCH A TASK?! Everyone involved in this has been scarred for life and quite frankly you'd better be good at shield charms because
I. AM. COMING. FOR. YOU.
Regards,
Lily Evans

The letter was never sent, but Lily did rip several leaves of parchment and stain her desk while composing it. And although it is a wonderful summary, the events which led to its composition are a little more detailed.

It began with Professor Flitwick's Charms Prize.

Every year, in preparation for their final exam, Professor Flitwick would challenge his first year class to perform charms more advanced than those they would generally study. Every year, it had tremendous success of calming the nerves of the Hogwarts students, as they saw that they were perfectly capable of extending their magical talent. Once they realised they could do something they wouldn't be taught until second year, they came to the conclusion that they'd be perfectly fine at performing the charms they'd learned in class under exam conditions.

There was a reason Flitwick stopped the competition after 1977. And while that reason was a source of life-long mortification to Lily Evans, James Potter couldn't wait to recount the tale to his children when they were unable to compete for the prize in their own first year.

(A side note: In 1970; there was no prize awarded. Instead, there was a four-way tie between Severus Snape, James Potter, Sirius Black, and Lily Evans. They'd all succeeded in performing spells meant for fourth years, and in a subsequent decider round had all managed to create their own. Flitwick was so pleased he threw the whole year a party, but the four victors would have much preferred a trophy.)

Though second years and above viewed the competition with an airy disdain, often commenting to one another; "Don't you remember doing that when we were little?", Flitwick's Charms Prize – commonly referred to as the FCP – was a life or death matter for the eleven year olds. Unless you were effortlessly cool, winning would make you look like a know-it-all, but to not try was not an option. For the first half of April, first years would be up to their necks in textbooks trying to find a charm that looked complicated enough to impress their friends, but was in actuality rather easy to execute.

It was thus that eleven year old Sebastian Stuart found himself in a life or death situation in the final minutes of the 16th of April. Their spells were due to be performed to the first years tomorrow, and he hadn't yet managed to execute a colour changing charm. His best friend Alex Cooper was making a valiant (but useless) attempt to assist him. The pair were known to be more incompetent when they put their heads together than when they worked alone.

It was 10pm when Lily donned the invisibility cloak and made her silent, nightly way to James' room.

It was 11:14 when James placed a final, lazy kiss on the sleeping Lily's forehead, drawing the duvet to cover both of their bodies.

It was 11:58 when Sebastian Stuart swore in the common room, throwing his wand onto an armchair.

It was 11:58 and 43 seconds when Alex Cooper egged Sebastian to try again.

It was 12am when Sebastian made that final attempt.

The freaking out began at 12:01.

Lily and James weren't aware of any of it until 12:04, when the door to James' room (which was really, by this stage, their room) smashed open, revealing a panicked Sebastian Stuart and a decidedly purple Alex Cooper.

It would be impossible to determine who of the four was the most shocked at that moment, although the most prominent emotion of each could be defined as:

Mortified: Lily
Stunned: Alex
Relieved that there was a duvet present: Stuart
Sleepy: James

Sleepy James was, however, a remarkable Quidditch player, and he recovered his wits extraordinarily quickly to be the first to speak.

"What the fuck?!"

The first years turned and ran.

Swearing again, James threw on his discarded T-shirt and boxers, fumbled for his glasses and - with the last item slightly askew - stumbled down the stairs after them. Swearing also, Lily curled herself into a ball, pulled the covers over her head and proceeded to pretend she didn't exist.

When James returned ten minutes later, it was to his girlfriend muttering repeatedly, "We've been caught, we've been caught, oh Merlin, we've been caught."

The head boy lifted the duvet and peered down at her.

"You can come out now," he said gently. "They are never to speak of it on pain of death."

Lily shook her head, eyes still blocking out the world. "No one was to come in here on pain of death, and look how well that turned out. Pass me my shirt."

James obliged, still talking as she pulled the garment (which was actually an old shirt of his own) over her head. "Okay, so if they ever breathe a word of what happened, Sirius will send a howler to every student declaring them secret lovers. Will that suffice?"

Lily huffed. "I bloody well hope you didn't turn that kid back to his proper colour."

James grinned. If he admitted it, he didn't mind being caught. Obviously, he'd rather they hadn't been, but it was comforting to know that people were aware that he'd slept with Lily Evans. It killed him that he'd reached the summit of the mountain he'd been climbing since first year, and had never been able to boast about it loudly over dinner. "Nope. Still purple."

Lily gave the beginnings of a smile, but a moment later covered her face with her hands. James knew in an instant that she was crying. "Oh, love," he murmured, pulling her to his side. "Everything's going to be okay."

The feeling of a girl shaking her head against your chest is an odd one. "Seriously, Lil. They're eleven ... they won't do anything. It's the seventies; no one's pressing charges."

"I'm just- so embarrassed-and such a bad role model-" sniff, "and how can I ever look anyone in the eyes again?"

"Hey," James said sternly. "Look at me." She did, slowly. "I don't care how many times you make me repeat it, but you're the best god dammed Head Girl we've ever had. I'm just a bad influence, and we all know people have been caught in far worse circumstances than we have. Sirius has been busted at least five times, and I don't think he's ever had a duvet protecting anyone's eyes."

Lily gave a watery laugh. "I still can't believe you've turned me into a slag."

He pressed his lips into her hair. "Nah, I just drew it out of you." With Lily in his arms he laid back down on the pillows. "We'll deal with any troubles – which there won't be – in the morning, okay?"

"It's already the morning, you prat," she mumbled.

He chuckled, kissing her temple again before placing his glasses on the bedside table. "That's my girl."

Lily was on high alert for a Head Situation invasion. When James woke up the morning after the surprise attack, it was to a lack of girlfriend and a neatly folded note on her vacant pillow.

James sighed, slipping his glasses on and unfolding the leaf of parchment.

CODE RED
- L x

They had never once discussed a code of any colour, but James had the depressing feeling that he knew exactly what it meant. His suspicions were confirmed that night, when for the first time in two months Lily didn't sleep in his bed.

James was duly depressed the following morning at breakfast, moodily spooning his porridge from one side of his bowl to the other. There were dark circles under his eyes; it was hard sleeping without her peaceful breaths beside him. To make the situation worse, Lily had not been sighted by anyone all morning, and Mary and Marlene were whispering to each other a few places along, casting dark looks in his direction. James glared back occasionally, screaming, "Nothing's wrong!" in his mind, but it wouldn't do anyone any good to voice his thoughts. He and Lily didn't need any suspicion focussed on them right now.

"All right in the HS?" Remus asked gently from across the table.

"Didn't hear any late night footsteps," chipped in Peter, taking a bite of toast. "Wuttd yoo dou?"

Remus elbowed him, but James didn't really mind. "Everything's fine," he murmured, continuing to prod his breakfast, "something just happened the other night which has shaken things up a bit."

"Shaken things up?" Remus asked curiously. James sighed, gritting his teeth. He might as well tell them. Luckily, the mail arrived at precisely that moment, providing decent cover.

"Some first years barged in about midnight on Friday," he said in a low tone. "Padfoot knows already, just because he has a part to play if there are any consequences."

"Where is Sirius?"

"Heh ws wiff Illy, ackchully."

"Swallow, Wormtail, then repeat," James instructed.

"He was with Lily, actually." James' eyes widened. "Yeah, they were talking pretty seriously in the common room this morning. Reckon it was something to do with that?"

James shrugged, feeling slightly worried. "What else would it be? God, I hope those little bastards haven't spilled…"

"Why don't you ask her?" Remus said, pointing towards the doors. James paled as an equally ashen Lily approached them.

"We have to go see Dumbledore."

A moment later, several hundred howlers started shrieking some delicious gossip about two particular first years.

"You may have summised that I have recently spoken to a rather stunned Mr Cooper and Mr Stuart," Dumbledore said in his office a half hour later.

"Please Sir," James began (Lily didn't appear to be capable of speech), "I can explain-" he stopped as Dumbledore raised a hand to cut him off.

"I understand you were discovered in a fairly, shall we say, private situation late on Friday night?"

"Yes, Sir," Lily managed to whisper.

"And I believe that you, James, promised serious consequences were word to get out about the situation you were found in?"

"Yes, Sir."

Dumbledore folded his long fingers on the desk in between them. "Well, it seems that such consequences were not enough of a deterrent. They might have held out for one day, but it appears Misters Cooper and Stuart possessed information far too significant for them to keep it to themselves." James could hear amusement in the Headmaster's voice, and looked up to see the professor's eyes looking at him kindly above his half-moon glasses. "I would advise you to be grateful that it was me they decided to inform of their discovery. They have, however had their punishment for that decision. Mr Black, I was able to hear, executed the promised consequences quite superbly over breakfast this morning."

"I believe so, Professor."

Dumbledore nodded. "Now, I must stress that what you two have done is in direct violation of at least a dozen school rules. The pair of you should, in all necessary procedures, be expelled immediately."

Lily looked like she was about to cry, but James had had similar conversations with the Headmaster many times before, and by now knew what direction this meeting was headed in. "Should, Sir?"

Dumbledore shook his head. "You are sometimes too cunning for your own good, James. It is my belief that the circumstances we find ourselves in here are quite exceptional to the ordinary case. Not only are you both exemplary head students, but I feel that such private situations are few and far between in the world currently." His voice softened, and he looked at the pair gently. "Love is our greatest weapon in the war we are fighting; and I think you two have a greater understanding of that than many who would consider themselves much wiser than you."

"So we're not punished?"

The Headmaster chuckled. "Unfortunately, you are not quite so special. 60 points will be taken from Gryffindor, and an extra ten for Mr Black's magnificent stunt this morning. You really deserve a month's detentions with Filch each, but I fear that would draw unwanted attention."

Lily was beginning to feel less like she wanted the world to open up and swallow her, but she hadn't quite regained her usual wit or power of speech. "Thank you, Professor," she managed.

Dumbledore nodded. "You're free to go," he smiled. Lily rose and disappeared first, and as James made to close the door behind them he heard the old man's voice once more.

"Just one word of advice, James." The teenager turned to be met with blue eyes twinkling brightly. "Next time, you might want to lock the door."