Disclaimer: JK Rowling has all rights to the characters and world concerning Harry Potter.

Author's note: Hello everyone! I am really sorry this took so long but I finally finished between SAT/ACT/AP test studying, school work, and trying not to die of exhaustion. I hope you will all enjoy it but there are just a few things I should remind you of: James and Lily had been trying to set Remus up with Ella Johnson, a Sixth year, Hufflepuff prefect, there was the whole ordeal of the small group of pro-Voldemort students who were caught writing anti-muggleborn threats on the walls in the Entrance Hall, and just to clear up any confusion, Alice, Marlene, and Emmeline are all Seventh years and Mary is a Sixth year. As always, I wish you happy reading and I'll try to start the next chapter ASAP.

~Julia

"I just don't understand why?"

"Lily, I've told you this a thousand times. James isn't normal nor does he go about showing affection in conventional ways," Sirius said with head bent over The Daily Prophet, studiously working on the day's crossword.

He had a point, Lily thought to herself. Her mind was going over the day's events that had certainly taken a turn at Gryffindor's quidditch practice.

During that Sunday afternoon, Lily had gone to watch the practice, having not only James to go for but also Emmeline, who had been on the team since they were fifteen. Of course whenever Lily did so, James liked to make the day's drills harder and extremely more dangerous, thinking that impressed Lily. Besides being scared out of her mind that something was going to happen to the rest of the team in the wake of his recklessness, it irritated her to bits. But James knew this and made it even more enjoyable for him. However James had been going overboard on the "trying to impress Lily" train, flying dangerously and rather stupidly just to prove he could. Sometimes Lily honestly second guessed her reasons for being with James. Their relationship gave her a heart attack on a daily basis as it was and him being an idiot to try to impress her was so beyond ridiculous. But Lily knew James could handle himself and that he was a well enough quidditch player that he wouldn't injure himself too terribly.

Well, James did love to prove Lily wrong, whether it was intentional or not. Out of nowhere he dove straight down at a 90-degree angle as a supposed-to-be stunt but of course he was too occupied looking up into the stands where Lily and Marlene had been watching, winking in their direction and smiling like an idiot and… that's when he slammed into the ground headfirst.

At first it had been like time had stopped; everyone flying had become frozen in the air, the students in the stands stunned beyond return, all but Lily. She didn't think she had ever moved faster in her life than she did running to where James was on the ground, unmoving from the impact. Lily dropped down next to her and took out her want in an instant, trying every spell she could think of that would help. Tears were spilling down her face unnoticed, too occupied with the fact that James was unconscious and like hell was she going to let him just lie there. "Come on, James, please wake up. Please, please, please…" she muttered these words over and over again, only stopping once his eyes started fluttering.

Reaching for his hand, she gulped down her sobs. Barely registering as a whisper, James breathed, "Lily…" People had now surrounded them, lifting James into the air and heading towards the castle.

Sirius had been the only one smart enough to pull Lily back, knowing that she'd be panicking just as much as he had been. When they had finally reached the hospital wing Sirius had guided her away from James' side just before entering, Lily almost hexing him, but she had quickly realized he was trying to help. "You don't need to hear him screaming like that," Sirius told her, "You don't need to see him in that type of pain."

Soon enough, sounds came flooding from under the door and into the corridor where Lily and Sirius had stationed themselves for the time. Lily had covered her ears as tightly as she could trying to block out the terrible cries of agony she knew could only be coming from James. Even yelling, James had a distinct sound.

Remus and Peter, hearing of what had happened, arrived at the hospital wing shortly after. Seeing Lily and Sirius on the floor with arms around each other for support certainly was a surprising sight, but was quickly discarded once a new round of screaming came from inside the closed doors. "What the hell are they doing to him in there?" Remus asked looking as if he was going to throw up.

Lily, unable to speak, was thankful for Sirius elaborating, "He smashed his head into the ground flying. He's banged himself up quite a lot this time, but the healing process isn't going to be pretty." The four waited for what seemed like hours until Madam Pomfrey peaked her head out of the doors, telling them all James was awake.

Over the six years of knowing James, she couldn't remember a time that he had looked as beat up and drained of life as he did then. As relieved as Lily was, a sudden anger rose within Lily. James looked over at her and smiled, which promptly made Lily feel like she wanted to slap him. James spoke, "Lily I'm sorry I – "

"James Potter, are you fucking mental?" Lily screamed. "No, you know what? Don't answer that, of course you're fucking mental! Why else would you have done that? How many goddamn times do I need to tell you to stop being so… so… God, why are you so bloody stupid! I am telling you right now, James Potter, that if you don't stop pulling these stupid tricks, I'll… I'll…" She screamed in frustration, "You just can't do these things, James! Are you even listening to me?" She asked in response to his smile getting larger and larger after every word.

James was trying to hide his laughter, "Of course I'm listening, Lils."

"Well then why the hell are you laughing? This isn't funny!"

"No, it's not funny at all," James said trying to calm his chuckling down. "I'm sorry Lily, you're right. I'll try not to be an idiot anymore. Am I forgiven?" He made the biggest puppy eyes Lily had ever seen.

Lily sighed reluctantly, "James you stupid, careless – "

"Yes, yes, I know I'm reckless. Now come here," He gestured to the side of his bed.

She sat down next to him and took his hand. "Don't you dare ever pull anything like this again. You practically scared me to death." Lily looked at their entangled fingers, not wanting to look into his eyes knowing she'd melt into a puddle if she did.

"I really am sorry, Lily," her boyfriend said in a much more serious tone than before. "But I can't live knowing you're mad at me." He wrapped his arm around her, leaning his forehead against her temple. James whispered, "Please don't be mad at me…"

All the anger rushed out of Lily, his voice breaking Lily completely. She turned her head slightly and kissed him, her hand reaching up to his face. "Forgiven."

"Lily?"

Remus' voice brought Lily out of her own thoughts. She looked around rather alarmingly to be reminded that she was in the Head dorm studying with the Marauders. Since she and James had started dating, the boys and her had grown quite fond of each other, Lily becoming apart of their extremely exclusive group of friends. That had been one of the most surprising developments in the month of James and Lily dating. Even though Lily had already been close with Remus, she hadn't yet been that way with Sirius and Peter, and a friendship sparking between her and the two boys had been wonderful. James especially thought it was grand having his girlfriend and best friends being fine with one another, even more so that they would be around each other without him being there.

The first month of their relationship had gone quite smoothly, Lily thought to herself. Lily, who had once been disgusted by new couples, found herself completely infatuated by the whole ordeal. James was purely intoxicating whenever the two were together and everyone around them knew it. Not that they were jumping at each other in the middle of the halls like many other couples their age were, but there was a certain thrill that came along with the forming of a new relationship.

James and Lily still bickered quite a lot, probably more than before, but their arguments were often short lived and about nothing of real importance. However their spurts of disputing usually ended with a rather heated make-out session, forcing them to be conscious of where they were when 'arguing' because on more than one occasion had their friends thrown pillows at them or groan at the sight that was 'burning my eyes forever and into the afterlife' as Sirius had so dramatically exclaimed one day.

Lily glanced over to Sirius, responding to his earlier statement about her boyfriend, "His display was not affection, it was complete stupidity," she shook her head. "He's such a boy," Lily herself, she smiled. As insane as James made her feel, she was too far fallen in love with him to give a damn. Of course, James had no idea of how much he meant to her and Lily was only too determined to keep it that way.

Sirius looked up from his paper, raising his eyebrows at Lily's smile, "What the hell are you smiling about, Evans?"

"Nothing," she spoke quickly, wiping her expression from her face.

Sirius left it at that and shrugged, "I'm warning you now, Evans, you're going to have to get used to this type of thing. James wont ever stop being the idiot he is now, and it certainly wont change any time in the future."

Peter laughed, "Can you imagine? James being all calm and docile in a few more years. Now that would be quite a strange thing, indeed."

"What do you mean by 'in a few more years'? Do you expect... but it's only been…" Lily stopped herself in her own tracks, suddenly hit by the feeling of the impending future pressing towards her.

Sirius looked at her uncertainly, "Well come on, Lily, it's not that complicated. Is it really not that obvious? James is…" he was cut off by his friend.

"Completely mad, of course," Remus interjected, "Barking, actually. As insane as old man Potter himself." He sent a warning look towards Sirius' direction. Trying to change the subject, Remus asked Lily, "Would you mind checking a few of my answers? I want to make sure they are all correct, just to be sure."

Lily nodded, "Yeah, of course." But as she sat down next to the prefect, her mind had not wandered off from the subject Remus had just so blatantly avoided.

Obviously Lily hoped to stay with James for some time, the possibility of them ever breaking up terrified her beyond imagination, but she honestly hadn't thought that far into the future. Whenever she did look ahead, the idea stepping away from the protected hold on her life as an adolescent felt like an oncoming doom was waiting for her to crash and fall. But now… maybe her life could be different. She wouldn't have to step off that ledge into the unknown alone. Maybe jumping into life outside of school wouldn't have to be so frightening.

Potions that Wednesday morning wouldn't have been so terribly executed if only Professor Slughorn wasn't so desperate to match Lily and Severus together for the millionth time. As much as Lily thought he was a brilliant teacher, he certainly could not take a hint to save his life.

After the Potions professor paired off the class, again asking Lily how James was feeling since his accident, Lily left her comforting surroundings of her friends and walked over to the table Sev and she had always worked at in the past.

She wouldn't mind it so much, but things had been extremely tense concerning anything Slytherin since the horrifying slogans had been painted in front of the Great Hall. That morning had been the worst; unable to erase the phrases from the stone, the entire school had read them on their way into breakfast. Lily couldn't count on her fingers the amount of people she'd heard scream or had to console after.

Nothing to the extremity of writing such vulgar phrases had happened since, but it was almost impossible to walk from class to class without hearing slurs or insults towards muggleborns, more often than not coming from the group who was friends with those who had been expelled. All of who happened to be friends with Sev.

He had been dodging Lily ever since, not even daring to look at her. It was probably better that way considering Sev hated James more than anyone could ever imagine. Since their past years at Hogwarts weren't exactly the most peaceful, and while neither was one hundred percent to blame for their fighting, neither one of them were completely innocent. But things had changed; James stopped instigating fights so often with Sev, and Sev had stopped egging James on all the time. Honestly, Lily thought the less fighting at Hogwarts the better it was for everyone.

Once Lily had reached her seat, she looked over to where Sev was examining the potion tasked to the class, taking that as her cue to gather ingredients. However when she returned to the cauldron, it didn't come as a surprise when the first words Sev said to her were extremely cold and to the point, "So James then?"

She looked up from the cauldron and saw that he was lazily writing in a journal. Lily knew what he was saying but instead of responding with a straight answer, she sighed, "What about James?"

Without looking up from the page he laughed, "I mean, you finally caved in to that prick and started dating him." When he did look up, Sev looked as if he was amused by the whole ordeal, "I must say I didn't think you'd break. But then again, you were always weak for a Quidditch player," He leaned onto his elbows and asked, "Is it true you've shagged ever guy on the Gryffindor team?"

Lily was appalled, "Excuse me?"

Sev swayed back on his stool, "It wouldn't surprise me. That lot has already put shame to their families, shagging a mudblood is just adding the cherry on top."

Why was he saying these things? Lily couldn't think straight, couldn't form words. Lily had become so filled with rage, unable to process any of what Sev had said to her. Despite the obvious dislike Sev had for James, Lily would've never had thought Sev would react the way he had. She had known since James and her had begun dating that this might happen, that at some point Sev would put in his two cents about their relationship, but never to the extent that he was. It was like the two had never been friends, like he had just forgotten all of his history with Lily… as if it had meant nothing at all.

Instead of yelling and screaming like she wanted to do so terribly, all Lily allowed herself to say was, "And why, may I ask, should I care what you think of me?" Her voice was dry, trying not to convey any emotion. "Why should I care who you believe I've slept with? You're opinion means absolutely nothing to me. You've clearly made your thoughts about me known to the entire school and I decided long ago not to waste the time of day worrying about what you of all people think of me." She stood up from her stool, gathering her bag and notes. With a sound of finality, Lily spat, "I think it'd be best if you find another partner." And with that, Lily spun on her heels to find Professor Slughorn.

She crossed the room, noticing slowly that almost the entire room had quieted in the wake of her and Severus' argument. Lily ignored the surrounding students and kept walking to the potions master, knowing that the second she let herself take notice of them her nerve would disappear. As she approached the professor, she cleared her throat to get his attention and his head snapped up in confusion from the student he had been working with. He turned towards where Lily was standing, looking rather shocked that she was there instead of working. "What's the matter, Lily? Feeling ill?" Slughorn asked.

"I came over here to ask if it would be alright if I found someone else to work with for today's assignment. It seems Mr. Snape and I are having a few differences of opinion that is disrupting work," she allowed a moments pause to make sure Slughorn was following, "I think it would be a waste of a class period, don't you?"

Professor Slughorn stared at her with a confused sort of gaze and then answered, "Yes, yes. Go ahead, Lily, join any group you'd like."

Lily nodded, "Thank you, Professor."

"Miss Evans, one last thing," Professor Slughorn added. "I was just wondering how Mr. Potter has been. Doing well in recovery, I assume?"

Lily nodded. Ever since James' accident, all of their teachers had been asking of his health, all being extremely concerned of how he was doing. "He's well, thank you for asking. I'll be sure to let him know you were asking about him."

Slughorn smiled to himself, "Well, he is our school's Head Boy. I'm sure every other teacher in this school is just as concerned that he will be in full recovery soon. Classes just have not been the same this past week."

The Head Girl nodded once more, not wanting to say anything in response. As much as she denied it to James, Lily really missed him. Even though she visited him every night and most of her free periods with the boys, him not being in classes all of the time felt like something was missing. It wasn't as if she was sulking in the corner, crying through all her classes like it was a tragedy, but there was just so much more life when James was in a room. His being absent even for a few days had been draining their entire year slowly throughout the week, and it just wasn't the same without him.

She departed from where she was standing with Professor Slughorn and walked off in the direction she knew her fellow Gryffindor friends would be. Eyeing the room quickly, she noticed that the majority of the class had returned to their potions, all except Remus and Sirius who were staring at her as she walked towards them. The two boys sat with their jaws slightly ajar as she sat down in an unoccupied stool, setting her bag on the floor and sighing unhappily.

Sirius looked at Lily with a curious glare, "Would you care to elaborate what just happened? After Slughorn paired you off with Snivelly, Remus and I had been discussing a way to get you away from him but then before we knew it, you were storming off like the angry little devil you are." Remus punched him on the shoulder. "That was supposed to be a compliment."

Remus eyed his fellow marauder in confusion before speaking to Lily, "Do you want to talk about what happened?"

"I just," she started, "I wouldn't get so frustrated if it were anyone else, but it had to be Sev to say that…" Lily ran her hands through her hair repeatedly out of frustration, stopping only when Sirius was looking at her, who appeared to be holding back laughter. "What the hell is so funny, Padfoot?"

"I'm honestly not trying to be a prick, I promise Evans, but besides the fact that you just called me Padfoot, you're messing around with your hair exactly like James does." Sirius shook his head, "You two are spending too much time together, it's like you're one person now."

Before she was about to tell Sirius that he was wrong, she caught herself going to run her hands through her hair again. She straightened herself in her seat and groaned, "Oh, sod off," and rolled her eyes.

Reaching over and touching her elbow, Remus said calmly, "Now as much as I don't object to you killing Sirius, maybe you ought to breathe slowly and explain what happened." He paused only to add, "And Sirius, shut the hell up before you get hexed." Sirius held his hands up in defeat.

Lily took a deep breath, "Well, to start off, Sev told me I was weak for 'caving into James', and then basically called me a slag. And I just… I just stormed off like a little kid." Feeling like she wanted to scream and curl into a ball to cry simultaneously, Lily put her head in her hands. "I just can't deal with him saying that to me. It's too personal. I mean… it's not like we're still friends, if that's not obvious enough. But that doesn't mean that we weren't friends for almost ten years. Him saying those things just felt like he didn't remember what we once were, like all he saw me as was a mudbl – "

"Lily, don't you ever think that," Sirius cut in. "You more than anyone should know that you are so much more that who your parents are. For Merlin's sake, you're Head-bloody-Girl and the absolute top of our year. Not only are you the most brilliant witch I've ever known, you are a literal angel. All of the teachers adore you and just happen to be a model of perfection."

Lily was at a loss for words. "Wow," she stared at Sirius. "I don't even… I can't even start to…" She took a deep breath and finally said, "Thank you."

"Now don't turn to mush on me, Evans. I'm just being honest with you." Even though Sirius was trying to shake it off as nothing, Lily gave him a look of pure gratitude and something in the way Sirius smiled back at her made the day seem a little bit brighter.

"I hate to kill the love between you two, but we'd better start with this potion. It looks pretty complicated and we need to use all the time we can get for it." Lily and Sirius nodded, agreeing that they should get working.

The trio operated together in a surprising harmony. However it was mainly Lily doing the majority of the work; in one of her previous private potion lessons during Sixth year she had made the potion they had been assigned and it wasn't as difficult for her as it probably was for her classmates.

She worked through the period in almost complete silence, only muttering a few instructions to Sirius and Remus every few minutes. When the class finally came to an end, Lily felt considerably better about life.

Pouring a sample of the potion into a single vial to bring to Professor Slughorn for evaluation, the two boys helped Lily clean up and once they finished she grabbed her bag and headed for the door. Knowing she would have to sit through a period of History of Magic made leaving the classroom an extremely depressing idea, but also remembering she would get to see James for lunch in the hospital wing was a comforting thought. She walked out of Slughorn's class accompanied by Sirius and Remus, trying not to notice Sev watching her resentfully from behind.

Filing the last report of the day, Lily congratulated herself on the hard work she had accomplished. After she'd left the hospital wing three hours before, she had sat down in the Prefect office to do some of the Head Girl paperwork only thinking she'd brush a bit off the top. A sudden strike of ambition had suddenly made her want to just finish off the pile while she wasn't stressed out about studying for the upcoming test in her Alchemy class next week.

Lily left the office, figuring she had ought to get some sleep that night. When she walked into the Common Room, Emmeline and Alice were still sitting on the couch in front of the barely lit fire. Stopping over to say goodnight to her friends, Alice smiled up at Lily.

"Lily dear, where on Earth have you been hiding for so long?" she asked enthusiastically.

Emmeline laughed slightly, "And it wasn't with James, what with him being – "

"With him being in the hospital wing and all." Alice quickly said, staring at Emmeline for a moment before saying suggestively, "You look rather exhausted, Lily, you should go up to bed."

"I was just doing some work down in the Prefect office," Lily said noticing how strangely her friends were behaving. "I actually feel wide awake. When were you two thinking of heading up to bed? I thought we could maybe talk for some time, I feel as if I haven't seen enough of you two in what seems like years." Lily told them. In the past month, Lily had just become overwhelmed with Head duties and well, James, and she felt like she hadn't spent enough time with her friends.

Obviously faking it, Alice yawned overdramatically, "Oh well, I was going to go up to bed just before you walked in." Jumping to her feet and dragging Emmeline with her, Alice told Lily, "Honestly, I feel like I haven't slept in weeks! Not literally of course, but… Anyways, we'll see you tomorrow, Lily. Goodnight."

Emmeline rolled her eyes and while Alice was too busy rushing off to the stairs, she said quietly, "Just go up to your dorm and get some sleep, yeah?"

As Lily made her way up the staircase, she laughed to herself at how insane her friends could be sometimes. However her thoughts switched quite abruptly to James. Having it been more than a week since he had injured himself, James was supposed to be let out of the hospital wing that coming Friday, returning to classes as usual in less than two days. Lily was beyond excited for James to leave the hospital wing. She had been having trouble sleeping at night; since they had started dating and considering their lack of formality in the beginning of the year, the two had quickly become accustomed to sleeping in one another's bed. And since James was sleeping in the Hospital Wing, the lack of another body next to Lily's made getting any sound sleep nearly impossible.

She reached the top of the stairs, quietly giving the week's password to the stone lion and entered her dorm. As she walked into the living area, she laid her things on one of the tables where a photo of her and the Marauders had been framed over the past month. Lily looked back on the day that Marlene had taken the picture in her hands; the Gryffindor Quidditch team had won against Hufflepuff in the first match of the year. That afternoon had been filled with much rejoicing, reaching into the late hours of the night. Lily, along with the other Seventh year students, had all gathered in she and James's dorm, talking and joking with one another. At one point, the Marauders had all squished onto the couch, pulling Lily in with them and in a spur of the moment decision, Marlene had photographed the ridiculous sight. However absurd it may have seemed back then, it was a wonderful memory. That whole night was.

Lily sighed while placing the photo back on the table, not wanting to spend another night alone in her bedroom, wishing for James to be out of the hospital wing. Doubting she'd find any ease in her own room, Lily walked up the stairs and into James's bedroom. Opening the door was like standing right next to the man himself; the whole room smelled like him, everything that James was spilled out of the room. From the stacks of old books about Quidditch, to the infinitely messy sheets covering the bed, and the strewn papers that cluttered his desk, it just screamed James Potter. Sat on the edge of his bed, pretending that it was any other night; James was just saying goodnight to the boys or went to fetch the book he had been reading that day.

One of James' old jerseys was draped over the side of the bed, probably been thrown carelessly from his dresser when he had been getting ready one morning. Lily discarded her own shirt with the sweater, feeling the soft knit against her skin. She looked over at the clock on James' side table, the smaller hand almost reaching one. Slipping off her skirt and casting off the light, Lily tucked herself under the covers, deciding she'd try and get some sleep before it was too late.

A gentle hand was running itself softly back and forth across Lily's arm. Opening her eyes slightly, the silhouette of James was beside her, barely lit from the moonlight coming in from the window. Lily realized she must've been dreaming because James was still in the hospital wing and wouldn't be leaving for a few days.

Dream James was still running his hand across Lily's body, leaving invisible traces along her side. Noticing she was awake, he paused and drew his hand back. "Don't stop," dream Lily whispered as she moved closer to James, cuddling into his body. "I missed you terribly, you know."

James kissed Lily's forehead, "I'm sorry, love. I won't do that again, I promise."

Lily pulled enough away from his body so she could look up at him, "Why did you have to smash your head into the ground?"

"I was trying to impress a girl. I don't think it went as smoothly as I planned it to."

"What was your first clue?"

"Mainly the fact that she's in my room with one of my jerseys on looking awfully saddened in her sleep. Another's that she practically murdered me after the whole thing had happened."

"Well you earned it, you stupid git."

"I was shaking in my boots, really. Is that satisfactory?"

"Very much so, thank you."

"Your welcome, love," James said as he dipped down to Lily, kissing her lightly on the mouth.

But as this was Lily's dream, that simply wouldn't do.

She reached for James' lips before they entirely escaped her own, returning James' barely lit candle with a blazing forest fire. Lust, passion, an irresistible hunger were radiating from the two as their bodies crashed together and melted into one. James' fingers flitted along the bottom of the sweater covering Lily, inching it up slowly. Hesitating only for a moment, James started pulling the material away from Lily's body. Impatient for it's removal, Lily moved beneath James and flipped him over, straddling his body with her own. She swiftly brought the sweater over her head and threw it behind her. James stopped and took in the sight of her porcelain skin against the moonlight.

Dreams, Lily thought, should all be like this.

Slowly sitting up, James kissed Lily's neck. She gasped in delight, intertwining her fingers in his hair. He trailed his lips farther up, reaching her own, telling her a million and a half apologies within a second of their kiss, his promises holding true in his hands caressing her body. Everything about his movements told her his secrets, exposed his deepest thoughts, and conveyed that as much Lily was his, James was hers tenfold.

"James," Lily was gasping for air, but like hell that'd stop her from saying the next three words, "I love you."

Instead of looking surprised like Lily had hoped he would – because that honestly would've been easier to deal with – James leaned back ever so slightly and amusement spread across his face. He didn't say anything, he merely laughed. Lily was bewildered, "Great. That's certainly a lovely reaction." Lily sat back, disentangling herself from James body. She curled her knees to her chest and muttered, "Thank Merlin this is only a dream." Lily started pinching her bare legs, hoping the small amounts of pain would wake her up from this embarrassment.

James peered over her shoulder and asked, "Lily, what are you doing? And what do you mean 'this is only a dream'?" He touched her arm and Lily continued to pinch her legs. A single tear was making its way down her cheek in frustration. Why wouldn't she wake up? She just wanted this to be over.

James moved around Lily so he was in front of her. "Lily, please, don't cry. Why am I such an dickhead?" he questioned himself. "Love, look at me, I don't understand why – " Lily cut him off, crying harder now.

"You want to know why I'm crying? After you just laughed at me for saying 'I love you'? Really James? I can take being ridiculed from most people but you, James?" She pinched her arm as painfully as she could handle, "I just want to wake up from this bloody dream before it gets any worse! Why cant I just wake up – " She stopped mid-sentence on account of James laughing at her again. "Oh, here we go again!" She started to get off the bed to storm away when James grabbed her arm.

"Love, I'm not laughing at you. Merlin, I am an arse." He looked at her apologetically, "I was laughing at myself because I've been working up the courage to tell you I've loved you for six years and you beat me to it."

Lily looked at her boyfriend, "And you thought laughing was a perfectly fine reaction after I told you that, did you?"

James ran his free hand through his hair and took a deep breath, "Well, yeah. But I'm an idiot, what do I know?"

"An idiot is hardly the first word – did you just say I beat you to it? As in – "

"I love you, Lily Evans. I have since about five minutes after I first met you," he took Lily's hands in his own, "Well as much as an eleven year old boy can love a girl, but it still counts."

"But why couldn't you've just said that to begin with instead of laughing? That's not the best reaction when a girl says she's in love with you."

"I realized that half a second after I'd done it, thank you," lifting his hand to brush back Lily's hair, he said, "But I do, I love you so much it scares me sometimes. It scares me to know that if something terrible were to happen to you, I'd feel as if the same had happened to me. I know that sounds ridiculously cheesy and overdone, but I can't explain in enough words what I feel for you." He looked her straight in the eyes, whispering the next words.

"I'm"

He kissed her right cheek.

"In"

Left cheek.

"Love"

Forehead.

"With you."

Mouth.

Lily was overwhelmed with emotion, with James's words, and especially with his hands desperately running themselves over her body like water.

And then reality struck her and Lily was laughing.

"Oh, for fuck's sake. Why are you laughing at me after you just got so upset when I did the same to you?" James was clearly confused about Lily's abrupt mood swings happening every other second.

Lily kept laughing, "I just cried because I thought you were making fun of me for saying 'I love you' and then you pour all of these beautiful words out confessing how much you love me, and it's all just a dream!" She was going mad.

"You keep on saying this is a dream, but its not."

"What are you talking about, of course it's a dream!" She was wiping away the tears of laughter coming out of her eyes.

"Why the hell would this be a dream?"

"Because you… wait." She stopped dead. "This whole time, everything that just happened, it actually happened?"

"Lils, are you alright?"

Lily just looked off into space, "Oh my… oh, James, not at all." She thought she was going to die.

"Can I ask why you look like you want to punch yourself in the face?"

"Probably best not to."

"Glad I asked."

"Let's just… go to bed."

"Are you sure you don't want to – "

"Better not." Lily got off the bed and reached to where she had thrown James's sweater, slipping it back on. "Come on, I promise not to take all of the blankets."

James grunted and shook his head, "Like you do every night?"

"Oh, shut it." She said as she jumped back on the bed and slid next to James.

"Make me." James dared her as he lifted the blankets around them both.

Lily kissed him tenderly. "Goodnight, James," she said softly.

The two laid side by side, James draping one arm over her body and the other laying under her head. "Goodnight, love."

Just as their breathing settled into a steady rhythm, Lily whispered, "I love you," to James. A smell peck of a kiss nuzzled in her neck told her he did, too.

Halloween had come barreling towards Hogwarts before anyone could slow time down that year. Students buzzed about one another, talking in anticipation about the coming feast that arrived for the school every Halloween night. Spirits were high between everyone; almost everyone had forgotten about the terrible words that had been written in front of the Great Hall entrance since they had finally disappeared from the stone. Those who obviously thought of themselves higher than everyone else still made an effort to voice their opinions, but the tension that had been so high in the beginning of the month had become less so over time.

As Lily sat waiting in the common room waiting for her friends to be ready to leave for the feast, she thought about the many significant events that'd happened so early in the term. She was brought back to the first night at Hogwarts and how James had poured so much of himself out in front of Lily, how his father had been so conflicted about James's return to school for his Seventh year. James had received a letter every now and then from his father, but nothing of any serious concern, not since he ran out on him like a mad man the night of the party that one Friday evening.

Lily smiled to herself, being reminded of the night that forever would be known as the start of her relationship with James. It had felt like a lifetime since the party, but in reality it had only been about a month and a half. Being with James was more or less the same as just being friends with him, with the exception of snogging half the time and having extremely steamy study dates.

Being brought back to her surroundings, Lily heard a loud noise coming from the stairs, being met with Peter and Remus in a headlock rushing down the stairs. The two fell and rolled down the last few steps landing in a heap of a mess of the floor. They wrestled for some time until they noticed the entire common room had gone silent in watching the two boys. Peter backed off quickly and his face reddened, allowing Remus to grab the small object they had been fighting for in the first place. Remus stood up, brushed himself off, and placed the object in his pocket. Peter, whom at this point was looking like a scared and lost puppy, cleared his throat and stuttered, "I'm sorry for interrupting everyone, I'll just – " and he ran back up the stairs.

Remus shook his head watching his friend scurry away. Although most of the students had gone back to talking amongst themselves, Lily was looking at him inquisitively. As Remus made his way to where the Head Girl was sitting, Lily asked, "What the hell was that about?"

The prefect laughed and took the object out of his pocket. It was as small as a snitch but it wasn't gold nor was it a ball; it looked like a black, diamond-shaped rock, but when seen closer it was as if the whole piece was moving, a million tiny swirls all intertwining between one another. He held in close to him and whispered, "Tonight's entertainment, Miss Evans."

Lily crossed her arms, "I wouldn't expect you to be the culprit behind such a scheme. Sirius definitely, James most likely, but you Moony? Now this must be a new development."

He laughed, "Not new, just refreshed. Reborn."

"Well aren't you just ecstatic." And it was true. Remus was absolutely beaming.

"It's Halloween," he shrugged. Then he said in a lowered voice so only Lily could hear, "Plus it's almost a new moon, which is always when I'm at my best." Lily was brought back to when she had first found out about Remus; she had been so shocked, even more so when Remus was so convinced that Lily would hate him forever, which wasn't the case at all. Lily had told him that it wasn't Remus's fault he had been attacked when he was so young and that just because he turned into a werewolf once a month didn't make him a monster.

"That's always good. So can I ask what you four have planned or do I have to wait?" Lily asked with a smirk.

Remus rolled his eyes, "I'm sure you'll find out from James. He's practically been counting down the days for this to happen since I thought up the idea in Fourth year."

"Plus," Sirius voiced, walking up behind Remus, "You could practically bat your eyes at the prick and he'd hand over his family's key to their Gringotts vault."

"Oh, please," Lily started, "Like James would do something that reckless."

"For you?" Sirius scoffed, "Of course he would."

Brushing it off as nonsense, Lily asked, "Speaking of, where is my boyfriend? I thought he'd be down with the rest of you?"

Sirius shrugged, "Probably gushing over you to Peter, poisoning the poor bastard's brain."

"Am not."

James walked up to the group, smacked Sirius's arm lightly with the book he was carrying, and stood next to Lily. "I was merely telling Wormy about a past holiday trip I took with Mum one summer. Actually, Padfoot, you came with us when we visited Barcelona."

"And I can picture it like it was yesterday. Beautiful city, beautiful women. And men, too," he said quickly at the offended glare Lily was pointing at him.

"Too true, Padfoot. Ow!" he yelped when Lily elbowed him in the stomach. "I was talking about the men! You should've seen them, Lils, absolutely gorgeous." The group burst into laughter at James's absolute seriousness.

Still chuckling every now and then, Remus asked, "Changing subject, is everyone ready to go down to dinner?"

"As long as we have everything," Sirius responded. "Em is going to wait until mostly everyone has left for the feat before leaving."

"You got Emmeline wrapped up in this? Merlin, it must be extremely elaborate," Lily guessed.

"Well since hot-stuff over here – " Sirius motioned to James " – can't exactly take part in this certain activity, we had to improvise. And Emmeline can hold her own."

"You're not going to get her into trouble or anything, are you?"

"No, she'll be fine," James reassured. "Nothing she'll be doing will get her expelled. I don't think she'll get expelled."

"Wonderful," Lily shook her head. "You boys can go down now if you want to, I'm waiting for Alice, Marlene, and Mary to be done getting ready."

"No it's fine, we can wait for them." Remus said while walking around the group to sit down next to a table. He reached down under the chair and returned with a deck of cards in his hands, "Want to play a quick round of rummy, Lily?" She smiled and nodded in response, knowing what was likely to come from the other two, laughing when she was correct.

Sirius and James both rolled their eyes and the latter groaned, "What is it with you two always playing that awful muggle game? There is no point to it for one, and I don't know how to play it."

Lily pulled up two chairs, one of the two getting immediately taken by Sirius. She shook her head and gestured to the only chair left, "Come on I'll teach you. But you have to deal with sharing the chair with me."

James walked over sitting in the chair, pulling Lily onto his lap, "No problem, love, I don't mind at all," he smiled as he kissed her cheek.

"You two are disgusting," Remus commented without looking up from shuffling the cards.

"And that!" Sirius exclaimed, "Why do you do that by hand when you could just as easily shuffle the cards with magic?"

"Unlike some people, I don't mind doing things without magic. Plus it teaches you to value the use of thumbs," he said with a pointed look.

"One of these days you'll be grateful to have friends who know how to do everything without the flick of a wand, " Lily told Sirius.

"Yeah, but it's just so much easier doing everything with a wand."

Lily stuck her tongue out at her friend and picked up her pile of cards.

Having already briefly explained the game to James and Sirius, it was much easier to get an actual game going. James decided that instead of playing solo, he wanted to be paired with Lily, so the two played with one set of cards. The duo was a fair match against Remus who, like Lily who already knew how to play, was doing pretty well. However Sirius was struggling immensely.

"Wait, how come I cant put down any cards right now?"

"Because you're a git."

"James, shut it. It's because you don't have three cards that are either the same or a straight."

"But how come Remus put down a single card?"

"Because he put it down to go with one of the sets I have. See?"

"And how come I cant put a two down next to the ace?"

"Because you can't corner."

"I don't understand this game," Sirius sounded worn down. "I'm confused and hungry, and I just want to go down to the feast so we can – "

"Oh, Lily I wasn't expecting you to wait for us!" Alice said as her and Marlene walked into the common room.

The three sitting at the table turned to look at Sirius who looked as if he wanted to scream loudly and violently.

"What? Why are you all looking at Sirius?" Marlene asked.

Slowly and trying to contain his anger, Sirius said word-by-word, "No reason at all." He stood up and then went on, "I'm going to go down to the feast, save us all some good seats."

Lily covered her mouth to stop herself from laughing and James was curling his head into her back obviously cracking up. The second that Sirius exited the Common Room, the two remaining Marauders and Lily burst into laughter.

Alice and Marlene looked onto the group strangely, the former saying to her companion, "They are so weird."

"Tell me about it," Peter said as he entered the Common Room.

The two girls laughed and the Marauder asked the others, "Where'd Padfoot go?"

"Stormed off in a trail of steam, what else is new?" James told him.

Remus's stomach growled and he stood up, "Well I don't know about anyone else, but I am famished. Prongs, Wormtail, ladies, shall we make our way to our last Halloween feast?"

Marlene looked at Remus and asked, "How are things with Ella going?"

He blushed at the sound of her names, "Oh I don't know. I thought that maybe something would develop out of it but I'm not so sure anymore…" Remus trailed off looking disappointed.

Alice rolled her eyes, "Nothing has developed? Is that what you call kissing in the Prefect office?"

"Well that… That was a one-time occurrence. She hasn't talked to me since and it's been three days – "

"Remus, as much as I love you," Alice said, "You are really quite blind when it comes to these things."

"Then why hasn't she talked to me yet?"

"Hmmm let's see," Marlene started, "Maybe because you are a Seventh year Gryffindor who is one of the coolest people this school has ever seen and Ella is a Sixth year Hufflepuff."

"Maybe she's just nervous that you'll end up dumping her because you're leaving school in six months and have 'real life problems'" Peter said.

"Take me and Frank, for example. He was top of his class when we started dating two years ago and look where we are now."

"900 kilometers away from each other and he's going through hell to become an auror?" Marlene inquired sarcastically.

Alice shook her head, "Happy and in love, Mar." She looked to Remus, "Just talk to her later, alright? Don't be a stupid boy about this. I know that she likes you and it's bloody obvious that you like her back so go for it. Be happy."

Lily took her attention away from the conversation in front of her, feeling completely in denial about having to go to the feast. James noticed her slight changed expression and whispered in her ear as everyone started to gather their things, "Don't be sad, Lils, next year we can have our own Halloween feast. It'll be just as good."

Just the fact that James was sure that they'd still be together for another year gave Lily a new found motivation for going through all of the last-time events she'd have to face this year. "That sounds grand. Maybe your parents will come."

"And yours, I hope."

"You think so, do you?"

"Of course I do. I'm very convincing, you know."

"Yes, I suppose I do know that."

"Can you just imagine, my parents and your parents eating dinner together? Mum would love that, so would Dad."

"Speaking of your parents, when am I getting to meet them?"

"I was thinking Christmas?" James asked timidly.

"I hope they like me."

"Don't worry. They already know I've been head over heels in love with you for years, I'm positive they'll adore you."

"Really?"

"One-hundred percent sure."

"Good." With that, Lily leaned in and kissed James, losing herself in his embrace.

At the sound of slightly annoyed coughing, the two separated and looked up. Everyone looked ready to leave and was staring at the couple impatiently. Lily felt blood rush to her face and she slowly stood up, trying not to fall on her face as she disentangled herself from James. Her boyfriend on the other hand stayed completely calm, "Oh come on, it's not like we were shagging or anything in front of you all."

"Wouldn't be the first time," Peter muttered to Marlene.

"Wormtail, just because you're my mate, don't think that I wont kill you." James said plainly.

"I'm counting on it," Peter replied.

James looked to the rest of his friends, "For future reference, when I'm being charged of murdering him, you all heard him say that, right?"

Remus laughed, "Sure, Prongs, whatever you say."

"Okay, well now that Lily and James have stopped mauling one another, can we go down to eat? I'm starved." Alice said. They all started towards the door to leave. Remus said to no one in particular, "I hope they have that one chocolate dessert that was there last year." There was more than one hungry groan in agreement.

Just as the group of friends had left the Tower, a small voice reached over their own talking, "Uh, hey sorry about that before. I was just really hungry."

Sirius was leaning against a wall just around a corner, hands in his pockets and an obvious look of remorse was printed on his face. "That's okay, Padfoot," James told his friend, "We all get a little snippy sometimes. 'Happens to the best of us." He walked over to Sirius and clapped his shoulder. "Come on lets go down to the feast. I'm sure the school is just buzzing of anticipation for tonight's special show planned for everyone."

"Speaking of," Lily began, "You still haven't told me what's going on. Care to explain, James?"

The Head Boy considered this for a moment and replied, "No, I think it will be best left as a surprise."

"Arse."

"Too true, Miss Evans," Sirius chimed in.

"Shut it," said James and Lily at the same time causing the couple to laugh at themselves.

"If we could get a move on, I would like to get down to the Great Hall before all the good seats are taken." Marlene, who was usually well tempered, looked about as annoyed as a child did when they didn't get the lollipop they wanted.

"As you wish," Sirius said, bowing down overdramatically. Marlene rolled her eyes at Sirius's gesture, and the students finally made their way to the Halloween feast.

By the time the group had made it's way to the Great Hall, almost the entire school had seat themselves among the four House tables and the teachers to their own. Excitement buzzed throughout the air and as the Seventh years found their way to their seats, surrounded by anticipation and past memories of years gone by, succulent looking mountains of food appeared on the tables, causing each and every attendant to instantly dig into their plates.

Time seemed to go on forever as endless spoonfuls of the various dishes continued to be consumed and despite the nonstop eating, conversations flowed from student to student. As usual, the Marauders were laughing and joking with one another and what was probably one of the most unpredicted developments to occur within their time at Hogwarts, Lily Evans was in the middle of such antics.

"Evans, I promise you! I would never poison you, now just eat the damn thing!" In Sirius's hand was a concoction of his own invention, probably including just about every dish being served. He held it out, offering the mystery mixture to Lily. "Come on, it's not that bad! It's the perfect mixture of meats and sweets."

Lily cringed at the thought of the horrid taste, "That really convinced me. Honestly, I think someone like James would much rather have a taste. He's so much more daring than I am."

"That's not at all true and you know it, Lils," James said accusingly. "But I think we know who the most courageous of us all is." He looked diagonally towards Peter who, it seemed, was already eating the mixture.

"Uh," Peter was momentarily at a loss for words, unsure as to what he was supposed to say. He gave up on trying to make up an excuse and shrugged, "Its actually not half bad."

"Of course it's not, Peter," Remus said still laughing.

Sirius hung his arm around Peters neck and told him, "It's okay, Wormy, this stuff is just too good for these common folk."

"Padfoot, are you calling me common?" James asked looking offended. "I will have you know that I am one of the most extraordinary human beings – "

"James," Lily interjected, "As wonderful as you are, you need to stop talking."

"Lily Evans, I am – " James was cut short again, this time by Lily's index finger stopping his lips from moving. Once she was sure James wouldn't talk, Lily looked to the teacher's table where Professor Dumbledore was standing to speak.

The Headmaster waited until silence was spread evenly throughout the Great Hall. "What a night this has been! Only a few short words before I send you off to bed…" Dumbledore's voice drifted out of focus for Lily as it was replaced with those of Sirius, Remus, and Peter. She turned in her seat, planning on telling them to cut it out but stopped short when she realized that Emmeline, who had been sitting with them only moments ago, had disappeared.

Lily only had a second to register this before Remus whispered, "Show time."

The tiny, black object that Remus had taken from Peter earlier in the night was rolling quickly along the floor, looking as if it was shedding itself, splinters of what looked like glass being scattered in seconds. Before Lily could blink, hundreds of loud bangs were being set off all throughout the Great Hall. As each noise sounded off the Hall became considerably darker, stopping only until the only light came from the moon; even the ceiling, which was always mirroring the sky and never went blank, had been put out.

Before anyone could register what was happening, a single ball of multi-colored light was zooming above everyone's heads, being carried by what Lily could only guess was Emmeline on a broomstick. The hall looked on, too shocked to do anything but gasp at the shooting light; Professor Dumbledore, who had been speaking prior to the blackout stayed quiet, watching on in interest.

Once Emmeline threw the light, it spun in a circle where the now-put out candles were floating in the air and exploded like a firework, spiraling out into a million little strands of burning intensity. Soon shapes formed from the explosion, turning into wizards, obvious from the flowing purple cloaks and wands protruding from their hands.

A story, it seemed, was being played out above their heads in the lasting fireworks. At first they stood in groups practicing spells, tiny flashes of sparks coming out of the ends of their wands. However as time passed, more wizards were being brought into the scene from the fireworks, violent colors of green and red being splashed onto their cloaks. These new formations started casting spells at the purple-cloaked wizards. The duels quickly turned into a dramatic battle, in which each student and teacher eagerly watched on as the fireworks went on.

Lily looked down and over to Sirius, Remus, and Peter who looked extremely pleased with themselves, clapping one another on the back and grinning widely. They noticed Lily and Sirius asked her, "Liking the show?"

She shook her head smiling, "You boys are absolutely mental. It's brilliant!" Lily couldn't recall a time at Hogwarts where she was truly this entertained at a feast.

Lily looked back up to the ceiling where the final battle between two remaining wizards, their spells shooting new colors of magic from their wands. Finally after a defiant spell hit the last red-cloaked wizard – leaving him to fall to the ground in defeat – the still lit sparks came together in a bulb of light collapsing in on it's self, shrinking until it exploded in one last firework. The light came back into the Great Hall and applause drummed loudly from everyone. Even Professor McGonagall, who usually was so strict and tense about these types of things, was clapping alongside the other teachers.

"Well," Professor Dumbledore said once the Hall quieted some, "I think I can truthfully say that was an extremely entertaining way to end the night. Thank you to the brilliant students behind that for a wonderful and memorable Halloween night, unless of course that was done by one of our own staff," he scanned the teachers questionably, but none responded. "Of course not. Then I am afraid I have no more words to pass onto you all and it is time for us to return to our dorms for a well-deserved slumber!" He smiled into the smiling masses of students, all of whom stood in applause once more before the students nearest to the doors began filing out of the Great Hall.

"Moony, that was absolutely insane!" Peter beamed.

"Nice work!" Sirius shouted.

"Remus, I think it's safe to say that was one of the greatest moments this castle has ever seen," James told his friend.

Just as Remus was most likely about to say he really couldn't have done it without the other three, a single scream pierced the Great Hall, silencing every single person in a second. Lily looked to James and their instincts of being Head Girl and Head Boy kicked in. They made their way through the swarming crowd of students, going as fast as they could.

Lily craned her head over the sea of heads and located a circle forming, grabbing James's hand and dragging him in that direction. As they approached, students moved out of their way, making a path that led to a girl lying still on the ground, hair splayed on everywhere and her cloak drowning her body.

"Does anyone know what happened?" James asked the surrounding crowd.

One girl spoke swiftly, "I-I-I don't k-know. I walked out-t first and saw her just sitting here, not moving-g."

James walked over to the girl talking to him and asked in a calming voice, "Did you happen to see anyone else?"

"N-no, only her." Lily looked over to see that tears were spilling out of her eyes. A nearby student came over and comforted the girl, pulling her away.

Glancing at James, he nodded and the two moved closer to the girl on the ground, leaning over her slightly. Carefully, James moved her body so she was lying flat on her back, a gasp escaping his mouth, "Jennifer."

Her eyes fluttered open slightly, breathing in slowly. Jennifer looked around her surroundings, deeply sighing. "Jennifer," Lily said quietly, "Can you remember what happened?"

Only one word came out of her mouth before she passed out:

"Severus."