Summary: He thought she hated him. She thought she was just bragging rights. He kept missing his chances. She was running away scared. A story of love that follows Lily and James from 6th year until graduation. R/R!

Disclaimer: So no one sues me, I'm not JKR, I could never compare to JKR and you all know that. She is the almighty goddess of all things Harry Potter/magic. Her riches are not mine. Enjoy!

Chapter Nineteen Summary: Lily and James are glowing with the joys of young love. Sirius begins to feel jealous of Lily since he never gets to hang out with James one on one anymore. After complaining about it to everyone else, Sirius decides to finally confront James about it. Neither handles the situation well and leave each other angrily. Lily decides to talk to Sirius face to face and they work out the last of their differences.

Song Credit: Can I Have A Kiss by Kelly Clarkson

A/N: Ick. Sorry about the major typos and mess-ups in the last chapter. If I wrote with more frequency, I would get a beta reader.

"I can't believe we pulled this off," Sirius said, throwing down a quill and stretching in his chair.

"Against my better judgment, I am impressed with ourselves," Remus said simply, rifling through their plans and spell lists.

James ran his hands through his wild hair. "I told you we only needed to find the right spell to make it work."

"But that spell could have taken months to find," Peter reminded him.

"Ah, but we found it one week," James replied, holding up a wise finger.

"I can't believe we pulled this off," Sirius repeated.

Trying to halt the arrogance that was sure to come, Remus said, "We haven't pulled off anything yet. It all works on paper–"

"When has what we have on paper not worked?" James smirked.

"Exactly," Sirius agreed.

"I still don't understand how the spell is able to cover such a wide area, with so many specific pieces," Peter said, looking at one of their diagrams upside down.

"What spell would that be?" a voice asked.

Quickly the men pulled out their wands and, in perfect synchronization, piled the papers together and floated them out of sight. They then turned to the person addressing them. "Hey honey," James said, shooting Lily a crooked smile and running a hand through his hair, moves that would have sent her over the edge a year ago.

For now, she settled on rolling her eyes and putting an arm around his shoulders. He wrapped his own around her waist as she examined the clear table. "What spell was Peter having trouble understanding? I'm sure I could help."

Lily said the words innocently, too innocently, James thought. He shot his fellow Marauders a look that said the enemy is on the trail. "Peter was just asking about the wards on Hogwarts and other secure establishments like the Ministry and Gringotts," James replied smoothly.

"Then why was it so important to hide what you were studying?" Lily asked sweetly, running her fingers through James' hair.

All four men kept completely silent. Lily looked at each of them in turn, then focused her gaze on Remus. "You'll tell me what's going on, because you believe in following rules."

Remus looked at her for a long time while Sirius, James, and Peter glanced nervously at each other. Finally, Remus replied, "I have no idea what you are talking about, Lily."

Lily glared, then looked at Peter. "You don't want to get in trouble for playing a dangerous prank, do you Peter?"

Peter began quivering slightly, and the other three thought that Peter would spill. Then he said, "I have no idea what you are talking about, Lily."

Lily sighed. She passed over Sirius, no way she could get him to break, then turned with inspiration in her eyes to James. Lily wrapped her arms around his neck and leaned her forehead against his, making sure to keep him trapped in her emerald stare. "James," she whispered, desire coloring her tone.

James leaned closer so their lips were almost touching. His eyes were heavy and his friends rolled their eyes. "Yes?" he asked breathlessly.

Slowly, Lily began kissing James. Remus shuddered, Sirius made gagging noises, and Peter stared, horrified.

When they finally broke apart, Lily said, "Aren't you going to tell me what you're planning?"

Grinning, James stood up, knocking Lily's feet out from under her and catching her before she hit the ground. Lily gasped and clung to James tighter. "I am going to make you regret your attempt at subterfuge," he growled.

James jogged out of the common room, leaving the chorus of "Gross!" and "My eyes!" behind him. There was no way in hell James was going to tell Lily about their prank, but her seduction had made his mind wander to the many things he wanted to do to her.

They made it to their private common room in record time and miraculously crossed no one. James blurted the password, rushed in and put Lily down to seal the door behind him. He threw the wand away as soon as he was done and captured her face in his hands, kissing her with ten times the force she had exerted in the common room. Lily moaned, making James' blood race, and began fumbling for the clasp of his robe. He copied the movements on her robe and soon they were standing in their uniforms.

Lily twisted the fabric of his shirt in her hands and began navigating him towards the nearest piece of furniture that, luckily, was a sofa. She untangled herself from him for a moment, enough time to push him over the arm. James flopped down, stunned, and Lily climbed on top of him, picking up where they left off.

James groaned, his hands roaming through her hair and down her back. "I thought I was in control," he protested half-heartedly.

"You are never in control," Lily said. Her voice had deepened from the tension between them and James caught her bottom lip with his teeth, gently pulling her towards him again.

Clumsily, Lily tugged off his tie and began unbuttoning his shirt. James' heart rate impossibly increased as he ran his hands down her sides and to her thighs. After a moment he realized her skirt had ridden up, just like it had done that day in potions last year.

Instinct took over and James crushed Lily to him, flipping so he was on top of her. Lily squealed from the rapid change then began attacking his neck as she finished with his shirt buttons. In the little space between them, she began running her hands over the expanse of his chest, feeling the hard Quidditch muscles underneath. She let her thumbs trace the skin just over the waistline of his pants.

"Oh God, Lily," James moaned, capturing her mouth for one deep kiss before he began working his way down her neck.

Lily muttered his name repeatedly and her legs wrapped around his waist on their own accord. James purred and sent one hand to explore the expanse of her thigh while the other wove itself into her red tresses. His lips were marking her neck and Lily buried her hands in his hair, moving his face down to the cleavage of her shirt.

This move sent James into seventh heaven, and terrified him. He stopped all of his movements and looked into Lily's shining green eyes, dark with lust. That almost made him forget what he was going to say and continue exploring her body. But the small rational part of his brain forced him to take a deep breath. "Lily, we are moving really fast. Do you want to slow it down a little?"

Still panting, Lily unwrapped her legs from James' waist and sat up a little. Despite his declaration, James couldn't bear to move his hand from her perfect exposed thigh. "No, I don't want to stop," Lily replied and James' whole body shouted victory, "but I know I would if my body wasn't screaming for you right now."

James smiled and pulled her into his lap. "Every part of me is screaming for you. My body, my mind, my heart."

Lily laughed. "That is so cheesy," she said adoringly, kissing him gently to stay in control. After all, she could feel every one of James' muscles through his open shirt.

The next morning Lily awoke to a throbbing pain in her lower back. "Ungh," she grunted as she sat up. She realized a second to late that her feet were on the floor, and her back was against something stable but soft. Lily looked around her and realized she was sitting on a couch.

At first, she thought she had fallen asleep in the Heads common room, but a moment later she clearly remembered walking back to the Gryffindor common room with James. Besides, the couch was located in her normal dorm room, right where her bed should be.

"What the hell?" Rita asked groggily from the bed to her right. Except when Lily looked over, Rita was sitting on a couch, just like herself. "Why are we on couches?" Rita asked, moving her hands over the expanse of hers as if she were confirming its existence.

Lily blinked, then groaned, putting her face in her hands. "The Marauders were planning a prank last night."

"How do you know?"

"They hid it from me and wouldn't tell me what they we working on. It had to be a prank."

Rita nodded. "Yeah, must've been. I call bathroom first."

Just like that, they went on with their morning routine, only acknowledging the couches when Aurelia and Calypso woke up, wondering where their beds were. Soon the girls had all dressed and gathered their things. Together they walked down to the common room, complaining about last night's homework and deciding what they were going to eat for breakfast.

They began walking across the common room to the portrait hole as if it was any other day. Soon they realized their beloved common room was not how it usually was. Instead of sofas and chairs, the room was filled with the four-poster beds that should be in their dormitories.

"It's switched," Aurelia said, the first to connect the two abnormalities of the morning.

Calypso rolled her eyes and went out the portrait hole. She was a little bitter at the Marauders for settling down and had little tolerance for their pranks anymore.

"I wonder who had to wake up on the chairs," Rita pondered aloud as they surveyed the room for their beds.

"First and second years, and a few third years, I'm afraid," Sirius said behind them. The girls turned to see the Marauders shuffling down the boys' staircase. "It was the only fair way. Of course we made sure the worst Slytherin gits got the chairs from the common room, no matter what year they are."

"This is in every common room?" Lily asked, awe evident in her voice.

"Whoa, Lily-flower is impressed!?" Sirius said, clutching a hand to his chest dramatically.

"Don't call me that," she scolded as James took her hand. He kissed her cheek, his mouth lingering by her earlobe. It gave Lily chills, her mind wandered to being tangled with him on the couch in the Heads' common room–

"Shall we?" Remus asked, snapping Lily out of her fantasy. No, not fantasy any longer. Her memory.

They made their way out of the portrait hole and down the stairs.

"Anything else in store for us today?" Aurelia asked. Instead of speaking like normal, her words came out as a song.

"Why are you singing?" Rita asked. But she sang, just like Aurelia.

"What's going on?" Lily sang the question, putting her free hand to her throat.

James grinned. "Everything you say will come out in a song." He joined the literal chorus of voices coming from the hallways.

"How do you stop it?" all three girls trilled at once.

"Sing," Remus replied with melody.

"We are!"

Shaking his head, Remus corrected, "No, don't try to talk. Try to sing."

All at once, Lily, Rita, and Aurelia spoke different song lyrics. "That's going to be confusing," Lily said, her eyes narrowed with concentration.

"Just don't tell anyone else the secret," Sirius sang.

They reached the Great Hall and saw another strange sight. Instead of four house tables and one staff table, there were eight smaller house tables and one smaller staff table. The new multiple house tables were grouped in twos around lines of larger-than-normal chairs which were filled with the food normally on the house tables. The staff table was set behind a line of the chairs, also piled with food.

"So, everything is opposite?" Aurelia said slowly, concentrating on singing so she could speak normally.

"Exactly!" Peter sang off-key.

"The classrooms are different, too," Remus sang, "The students sit at teacher desks and the teachers sit at student desks. Plus the teachers have to sing their lectures for the rest of the day."

McGonagall strode over to the group just as they sat criss-cross-applesauce on top of the tables to eat off the chairs. She simply scowled at the boys, not speaking so she wouldn't have to sing.

"It was me, Professor," James said confidently. He had volunteered to take the fall to make up for blowing off his friends for time with Lily.

McGonagall continued to look at him. James guessed what she might be after. "As usual, Professor, there is a set time frame for the spell. It won't be undone until after dinner. So you will have to continue singing until then."

Glaring, McGonagall sang four simple words. "No Hogsmeade this weekend."

"What!?" James shouted, well, tried to shout. It came out like a faux opera singer.

McGonagall held up her hand to end the conversation and walk to the staff table that Dumbledore was happily sitting on top of, making him look like an older, skinnier Buddha.

James huffed, the sound coming out like a croon in between the chorus and bridge. He had been planning to get many things that Hogsmeade trip, including his Christmas present for Lily.

"I'll take care of anything you need while I'm there," Sirius sang soberly, patting his friend's shoulder.

"It's alright, James," Lily deliberately spoke. "You should be proud of how brilliant this magic is."

"Lily-flower admitted our pranks are brilliant!" Sirius sang, hitting an unheard of high note that made everyone within a ten-foot vicinity rub their ears.

James shook his head, coming out of his funk a little. "No, she said I was brilliant." He gave her a peck on the lips and sang low so no one else could hear, "I'll thank you properly later."

"Here is the gold you need," James said, handing a small tinkering bag to Sirius. "Spend it only on the things on my list. I have just enough to get everything I need."

Sirius held the gold solemnly to his heart. "I shall guard it with my life!" he said in a horrible Spanish accent, bowing deeply.

James analyzed his best friend for a moment, then said, "Remus?"

"Got it covered, mate," Remus replied, tugging a sweater over his head.

"And the necklace, you have to remember the necklace," James said, now speaking to Remus. "And make sure–"

"Make sure the stone is an emerald and that the chain is silver. I've got it," Remus assured him.

"Have fun!" Sirius called as he, Remus, and Peter walked out of the dormitory, leaving James standing in the middle of their room alone. He flopped on his bed and looked around, trying to figure out what to do with the rarely empty room. Unfortunately, nothing interesting came to his mind.

Sighing sadly and hoping Sirius didn't spend all of his gold on rubbish, James lazily Summoned a copy of Transfiguration Today and began flipping through it. He wondered if Lily was going with Aurelia and Rita. If that were the case, then she would be hanging out with his friends. He already missed her.

There was a knock at his dorm room door and James sat up warily. Did Sirius, Remus, or Peter forget something? No, they would just walk in. "Come in…?" James asked, confused.

The door swung open and James' heart skipped as he smiled at the gorgeous redhead who just walked into his room. Lily leaned against his bedpost and returned the smile, dressed in muggle attire that consisted of flared jeans and a black short-sleeved Beatles shirt with a white long sleeved jacket zipped to her belly button. The sides of her fiery hair were pulled back in a barrette with two bangs framing her face. James had to shake himself out of examining her by asking, "What are you doing here? I thought you would go to Hogsmeade…"

Scoffing, Lily swung slightly back and forth on his bedpost and said playfully, "Are you not happy to see me?"

James threw his magazine aside and sat up on his pillows. "Well, I was hoping you would bring me back an extravagant present."

Lily grinned and swung onto the edge of his bed. "I'm the girl, you're supposed to buy me the extravagant presents." James rolled his eyes and Lily leaned forward to smack him, but James' reflexes were superb and he grabbed Lily's hand, pulling her toward him. She had been tantalizing him, keeping her distance. Lily allowed herself to be pulled and lowered herself next to him, resting her head on James' shoulder as he idly played with the hand he had grabbed. "I actually was going to go and get you some chocolate from Honeydukes, but I'd rather spend the day with you than babysitting the Marauders while Aurelia and Rita looked on with lovesick expressions."

"That's sweet, even sweeter than chocolate," James said, kissing her forehead. Lily hummed happily and snuggled closer to her new boyfriend. "Hey, don't move," James muttered, looking transfixed into her emerald eyes.

"Why?" Lily asked, raising her head slightly.

"Because I want to remember you, just like this," James said, snaking his left arm around her waist while his right still played with her hand.

Lily smiled. "Now that's sweet." And because she couldn't resist it any longer, she connected her lips to his in a slow and gentle kiss.

"I still can't believe it," James said, eyes still closed even though their lips had parted. "Ever since I was eleven I only thought about you. And it took six bloody years of fights, jealousy, and a hell of a lot of pain. Now – " James opened his eyes and kissed Lily's nose. " – you're here with me. I'm allowed to hold you, to kiss you and you won't hex me or try to run."

James shook his head in disbelief and Lily, heart aching, put a hand to his cheek. "I'm here," she said softly, combing a hand through James mess of hair. "I'm so sorry what I put you through, but you can believe it. I promise I won't run and I will only hex you if you really deserve it." James laughed through his nose. "So you better be on your best behavior, young man."

"Well," James began with a sigh, "I can't promise anything – "

Lily tutted and went to smack his chest, but James rolled her on to her back and pinned her beneath his weight. "That's not fair!" Lily gasped, but she was smiling.

"What? Can little Miss Head Girl and best at everything not think her way out of this?" James asked sarcastically.

Wriggling to no avail, Lily smiled mischievously and replied. "Oh no, I can get out of this easy…"

And with that, Lily pressed her lips to James fiercely. Lily's plan worked and James let go of her wrists, wrapping his arms around her back. Lily's fingers wound their way into James' hair and pulled his face to hers.

"So I'm never going to be in control?" James asked when they parted to take a breath.

"Not a chance," Lily said, looking up at him under her lashes. James rubbed his nose against hers before locking his lips to hers once again.

Author Notes: The whole reason I decided to write a chapter was because of my jerk psychology teacher. We were studying Sternberg's Triangular Love model and he assigned us homework were we had to answer questions based on a scale of 1 to 10 thinking of our significant other's name whom we love. If we didn't have a significant other, we had to use a past one we loved. I've never been "in love" and I am currently single. He said, "In the unlucky situation where you have never been, and are not currently, in love, then answer the questions as you ideally think you would feel about the object of your love." The questions were impossible to answer if you didn't have a specific person in mind. So I pictured how Lily would answer these questions concerning James in the current stage of their relationship. I learned a lot about my version of Lily, and I think James would have answered the questions more favorably.

Aaaannnndddd end rant. R/R!