One windy fall day, a particular raven haired boy could be found strolling the Hogwarts corridors, searching for his best mate, Sirius Black. Said boy was nowhere to be found. The two were usually side by side, whether it be planning their next prank or relaxing by the Black Lake. Sirius and James were the best of friends, practically brothers. Sirius, along with the other two Marauders, Remus Lupin and Peter Pettigrew, was always there to comfort James after another rejection from Lily Evans. Sirius knew best of them how much James was in love with the redhead, and he never showed anything but support for his best mate.

After checking the Quidditch Pitch and the kitchens, James decided the last place he would check would be the library. Although Sirius never visited the library except for a private snog session, James figured it wouldn't hurt to check anyway. Upon entering the large Hogwarts library, James' hazel eyes scanned the rows of shelves for any sign of his best mate. He decided to look towards the back, which was a private, secluded area virtually untouched by students. As he was approaching, James heard a tinkling female giggle and a deep male chuckle. Well looks like I found Sirius, James chuckled, rolling his eyes. Once again, with a girl in the corner of the library. C'mon mate.

James stopped in the row next to the location of the voices. In case it wasn't Sirius, James didn't want to walk in on an awkward moment. Heck, he still didn't want to walk in on an awkward moment if it was Sirius. James peered through a gap between two books and gasped, his eyes widening. He was successful in finding Sirius, but he did not expect to find him with a certain emerald-eyed redhead. What is he doing with Evans? James asked himself.

"C'mon Lils, you know we can't do this forever," Sirius told Lily.

Lily sighed and ran a hand through her hair in a frustrated manner. "I know, Sirius! But what else are we supposed to do?"

"Lily, James is my best mate though. We have to tell him soon."

James could've fainted right then and there. He couldn't stand to listen for another moment; he took off. James ran right out of the library, all the way past Gryffindor tower, and to the Heads Dorm. After shouting the password with a choked voice ("Humming Hippogriff"), James threw himself onto his favorite armchair in front of the fire. A tear leaked from his eye.

"Sirius? H-how? Lily?" he choked on his words. He didn't want to believe it, but what other conclusions could he draw?

The thought brought tears to his eyes, but James could only come to one assumption - Sirius Black, his best mate and practically his brother, was secretly dating Lily Evans, James' long time love, behind James' back. After six years.. six years of friendship, six years of longing after Lily Evans.. James never would've predicted this to happen.

The next day, James sat away from the Marauders at breakfast time. He sat alone at one end of the Gryffindor table, while Remus and Sirius sat at their usual spot in the middle. Both cast curious glances towards the raven-haired boy, but felt that approaching him wouldn't help the situation. Both were genuinely confused as to why their friend was behaving this way. James hadn't spoken to them at all the night before, and also did not talk to them this morning. He had avoided all contact with them, particularly with Sirius.

Lily skipped into the Great Hall and cocked her head slightly in confusion when she saw James sitting away from the others. Looking for answers, she sat down next to Remus and across from Sirius.

"What's wrong with James?" she asked them, sneaking a discreet glance at said boy.

The two shrugged sadly. "Don't know Lils," Sirius replied. "He hasn't said a word to us since yesterday afternoon."

"Um, Lily, Sirius, maybe James found out about you two," Remus trailed off uncertainly.

Sirius and Lily shared terrified looks. Lily's eyes widened and her jaw dropped open. Sirius suddenly turned pale.

"But how could that be! We've been so careful!" Lily hissed, starting to panic.

"I don't know! Don't give me that look, Lily!" Sirius replied, narrowing his eyes at her accusing glare. She sighed.

"I'm sorry, I'm not blaming you. I just didn't want him to find out this way," she said, sounding upset.

"Sirius, what if he saw us? I don't know what I'd do if he found out I like him," Lily said, seeming on the verge of tears. "What if he's gotten over me? Given up already?"

Sirius moved to sit on her other side. Remus wrapped a comforting arm around her shoulders in a brotherly manner. He had been one of Lily's best friends for years, and Lily had been one of his as well. She was probably the one person outside of the Marauders who he could trust with anything.

Sirius hugged her and pulled back to wipe a tear away. "Lily, don't say that. James is our best mate," he said, gesturing to himself and Remus. Remus nodded. "We know him better than anyone, and trust us, he's just as in love with you as he has been ever. And when he finds out that you've had feelings for him since the beginning of the year, like you told me, he'll be overjoyed. You have nothing to worry about."

"I hope you're right," Lily mumbled.

Then, James got up from where he was sitting and made his way out of the Great Hall. Along the way, he passed Sirius, Remus and Lily. He narrowed his eyes at the sight before him - Sirius' arm around Lily, Lily's head leaning against his shoulder, and Remus rubbing a comforting hand on Lily's back.

It registered for a moment in James' head that Lily was probably upset about something, which would explain Remus, but he still was hurting that Sirius and Lily were so close. It still looked to him as if the two were an item. And it hurt that his best friends hadn't thought to tell him anything.

Lily froze. Out of the corner of her eye, she saw a figure stop behind them. Slowly, she craned her head and saw none other than James Potter, looking both hurt and betrayed. Before she could say anything, James sprinted out of the hall and to who knows where.

"Oh no," Lily groaned, dropping her head into her hands miserably.

"Don't worry Lily, we'll fix this. It'll all work out in the end," Remus reassured her.

Later that day, Sirius, Remus and Lily could be found sitting on the couches and chairs in front of the fireplace in the Heads dorm. The dormitory Lily shared with James.

"So Lily, spill," Remus demanded. Sirius and Lily had decided to let him in on the complete story.

"Well," Lily sighed. "Towards the end of 6th year-"

"Wait, I thought it was the beginning of 7th?" Sirius interrupted.

"Hush, let me explain."

"Alright alright." Sirius put his hands up in mock surrender.

"Thank you, now, as I was saying, towards the end of 6th year, I had some.. inklings of feelings. I knew that I no longer felt the same way towards James as I had in the past. Over the summer, I realized I missed seeing him. When I found out he was head boy with me, I was honestly really excited. And then when I actually saw him, a ton of feelings just attacked me. Is it possible that he had always been that good looking?"

Remus cleared his throat when he realized Lily had probably forgotten the point of explaining. Her eyes regained focus and she blushed, giving him an apologetic look. Sirius just snickered.

"Anyway, when he didn't ask me out like I had expected, I started to get worried. What if he had gotten over me? So I thought 'Who knows James better than anyone?' and then it came to me - I needed Sirius' help."

"Aw why, I'm flattered Lils," Sirius teased.

"So for the past couple of weeks, Sirius and I have been meeting secretly. He has been trying to get me to confess to James how I feel, but I have chickened out every single time. Sirius' 'lessons', as we called them, just showed me how much I really do like James. But based on how James looked earlier in the Great Hall, I'm not sure if I should even tell him anymore."

"Well Lily-" Remus began, but he was interrupted by the sound of the portrait slamming back into place. The three looked to find James standing at the entrance to the Heads' common room.

"Well sorry if I'm interrupting anything," James grumbled. He began making his way towards his room when Lily jumped out of her seat and stopped him.

"No, James! Wait a second," she called. She cautiously placed a hand on his shoulder, which caused him to spin around.

"What?" he asked. Lily's heart broke a little when she heard his voice. Instead of sounding angry as she had expected, he just sounded hurt.

"James," she whispered, placing her two small hands on either side of his face. Before anyone knew it, her lips were on his.

Sirius' eyes widened for a moment before he sat back and grinned proudly. This had turned out better than he had ever expected. None of his earlier plans would have resulted in this, but he was happy nonetheless.

Remus was just confused. One moment, James was angry at the world. Then, he sounded sad, like a little child. And now, Lily was kissing him. Did this make any sense to anyone?

James' eyes displayed his shock. After a moment though, he melted into the kiss. James wrapped his arms around the petite redhead and pulled her closer. One hand was tangled in her hair while the other was pressing on the small of her back.

After a while, Remus and Sirius began to feel uncomfortable watching two of their best friends in what felt like an intimate moment. Luckily though, Lily pulled away before the feeling got too strong.

"So it wasn't Sirius?" James asked, sounding confused and a little out of breath.

"What do you mean?" Lily asked. Now she was confused.

"When I saw you two in the library the other night, I thought you two were together behind my back," James answered, looking down at the ground.

Lily used her hand to gently tip his chin up, so she could look him in the eyes. "It was always you, James. It just took Sirius to get me to realize that."

"More like a serious misunderstanding," Remus muttered.