Disclaimer: I don't own this. *Sigh*

"Okay, in retrospect, it was probably a bad idea."

James glared at Sirius, who was failing miserably at comforting him in their dorm.

"Really, Padfoot? You think?"

He couldn't blame Sirius though, Lily was never one for public displays of affection, and the Great Hall is as public as it gets at Hogwarts. James knew this and he still went along with the idea.

"Well, there's no need to be so snarky. You're not the one who had to deal with our lovely Head Girl after the incident."

That was true. While Sirius went about things normally after lunch, James hid out in his dormitory all day. The teachers couldn't expect him to show up in class after that disaster! So instead, James spent five hours fretting over his looming attempt at an apology.

"You might as well get it over with."

James gave him an incredulous look.

"Why would I do that? I think I should just lie low, you know, let her cool off for a while. Maybe a couple days."

"Right, because that has always worked before."

He threw his pillow at Sirius, and took a deep breath. Regardless of how much he wanted to hide out until graduation, James knew that it would be better to apologize sooner rather than later.

He lifted himself of his bed and checked his appearance in a mirror. There was nothing he could do to fix himself up before seeing her. No matter what he did his shirt would stay wrinkled, his glasses would stay crooked, and his hair would not lay flat. Although he knew it was a lost cause, he tried once more to squash the wild hair down. It sprung back up into the unruly mess it always was – the way Lily hated. It was as good as he could get it. He turned and headed toward the door.

"Alright fine, wish me luck."

"I'll pray for you, mate."

He exited and descended the stairs slowly.

James took pride in his knowledge of Lily's emotions. It had taken James all of five minutes to figure out how to bother her. In two short years he learned how to upset her. By forth year he inadvertently discovered how to royally piss her off. But in all his years studying her, memorizing her every feature, he never learned how to get her to forgive him. It was the reason their relationship was so difficult. And now, after regressing into his old habits and losing all the ground he had gained this year, James really needed her to forgive him.

He would have to beg. Begging was a given. And grovel, groveling would help. Maybe if he got down on his knees? No. That would give her flashbacks to his countless marriage proposals, and he didn't need her thinking of those at a time like this.

As he descended down the spiral staircase, contemplating how to apologize, he was awakened from his thoughts by the angelic sound of his true love's voice.

"It's not just the stupid Great Hall stunt. He's been acting like a complete arse all year! First being all perfect, then after finding out that I actually do have feelings for him, utterly ignoring me for days! And if that wasn't enough, he makes me look like a total fool by announcing to the whole school that, yeah, I do fancy him!"

Wait. Lily really does fancy someone? Damn it! That stupid git she was gushing about before. What the bloody hell does she see in him? It sounds like he's a stupid prick, who doesn't even deserve her. Toying with her emotions like that. If James ever found out that Lily liked him he wouldn't ignore her. And then telling the whole school like she said, that's just cruel.

"But, you have to admit," Alice began cautiously, "it was some pretty impressive magic earlier. I mean, moving all those portraits and the armor, and then charming them to sing to you. If you didn't hate him– I mean, if we didn't totally hate him, it would have been really brilliant. And, maybe he didn't mean for it to be as awful as it seems. Maybe, he thought you would like it. Remember when you said you liked Slughorn's cauldron that was made out of a fire-crab's shell, so he put a live fire-crab in our dorm?"

Hey! That was an excellent gift!

Wait...

James gave Lily a fire-crab. James moved the portraits and armor, and charmed them to sing to her. Oh, Merlin. Stupid Great Hall stunt. They were talking about him.

Lily was talking about him. Did Lily talk about him often? Not the point. She was talking about him. She said she had feelings for him. Feelings. Good feelings, bad feelings? Probably bad. No! She had said she fancies him! Alice said they both hated him... There's a thin line between love and hate.

What does that even mean? Does it mean Lily loves him? It does now.

Wait. Hadn't they said that he knew Lily loved him? James didn't know that! Sure, he had hoped, wished, dreamed she did, but James never knew.

"But, if he did still like me, wouldn't he have just said so when he walked in on us talking about him. He just walked right by! And we had rounds that night and he didn't say one word."

Oh. The git. He was the git.

Hey, she did talk about him often!

"Yes, but James has never been very good at just talking to you. He always makes himself look much worse than before."

Not always.

"I suppose. But then announcing it in the Great Hall? Honestly, it's like he doesn't know me at all."

It was supposed to be romantic! Like a grand gesture sort of thing. Any other girl in the school would have loved it.

"Yeah, I don't know anyone who would like to have a guy ambush them like that."

Okay, maybe not every girl.

"But, did you see his face, he was absolutely terrified. I heard him talking to Sirius in class right before, I think he was trying to stop it, he's so scared of you. Such a coward."

A coward? James was not a coward. And no, he was not terrified! He was just realizing that, maybe, it was not the best plan of action, and he was reevaluating his options. James wasn't scared of Lily. Well, okay, sometimes, but not always. Earlier today he was, but now he most certainly was not. The fear sort of comes and goes.

"He should be scared. I'm so angry right now. If I saw him, I would castrate him."

The fear was back.

"Lily, don't be too hard on him. This is James, we're talking about. You know he's an absolute idiot when it comes to you."

"Am not!"

Shit. He said that out loud.

There was silence coming from the common room. Maybe, they hadn't heard him. Yeah, he hadn't spoken very loudly, they probably didn't hear him.

"James?"

Okay, they heard him. He should go apologize. He could still run. No, that would not be good. But she said she was going to castrate him! That would really hurt. She wouldn't do it, then she'd never have any kids. They could always adopt...

What was he going to do?

He didn't get a chance to decide, because at that moment the lovely Lily Evans appeared at the bottom of the stairs. She was glaring. Merlin, she looked gorgeous when she wanted to kill him.

"I'll just leave you two alone then," Alice headed around James to the girls dormitories.

Okay, what had he rehearsed? Oh no. He couldn't remember. He spent five hours preparing an apology and he didn't remember it! This was bad, very bad. Stupid Sirius! It was all his fault. Him and his bad idea.

James needed to do something. He couldn't just stand there. Do something! So, he smiled at her, it couldn't hurt, right? She reached for her wand.

Oh shit. It did hurt. It hurt a lot. She was getting her wand. She was going to castrate him. Castrate him with magic. This could not be happening.

"I'm so sorry, Lily!"

He was on the ground and, his arms were wrapped around her legs.

"I didn't mean to! It was Sirius, he came up with this stupid plan! I thought it was a bad idea. I told him it was a bad idea, but he wouldn't listen! I tried to stop it, I swear! Please, don't castrate me, I like being a man! Don't you ever want kids? I do! Do you like the name Harry? And I didn't mean it! I swear! I'm sorry!"

And now he was rambling incoherently. This was not working out the way he planned. Perhaps, he should've practiced more before going to find her.

"James," she tried to get his attention.

"I didn't mean it, think of Harry, I didn't mean it..." he murmured over and over into her skirt.

"James, let go of me."

She didn't sound violent angry, she sounded passive aggressive angry. Like she did the one time in sixth year when he tried passing notes with her during Transfiguration – he had written a poem for her – and Professor McGonagall made her read it aloud to the whole class. She stood up and read it like a good student, but when she spoke she had zero emotion in her voice. It was kind of scary, and James didn't like it. Sort of like the calm before the storm. Cool and collected, then she would lash out and kill him! James much preferred the yelling and screaming Lily.

"James, now."

"Right, sorry."

He stood up and backed away from her quickly, keeping his eyes on her wand hand at all times. She smoothed her skirt and ran her fingers through her hair. It was beautiful hair, the only thing more beautiful was hearing her read the words he had written about it to their entire Transfiguration class.

He stared at her for a moment. He had no idea what to say, and apparently anything he did would just make it worse. Okay, maybe if he just acted like it was a normal conversation. He's had normal conversations with her before. Sort of.

"So, how was your day?"

She narrowed her eyes at him. A normal conversation probably wasn't going to work in this situation.

For a moment, neither of them said anything. She was obviously angry, but more than that, it seemed as if she was expecting something from him. He stared at her, trying to understand what she wanted him to say. He honestly didn't know. He took a deep breath, and concentrated on remembering what he had practiced all day.

"Lily, I was so wrong. I know I totally crossed the line, there's no excuse for what I did. I'm really, really sorry."

Lily sighed, a sort of desperate, pathetic sigh, "Is that all James?"

James was frozen, he didn't know what else there was to say. She still expected something from him, and he didn't know what. She slid past him into the stairwell.

She was leaving, and he could feel his dreams slipping through his fingers. He was losing his last chance at fixing things between them. He couldn't let that happen.

"Lily!" He turned and caught her hand before she could make her way up the stairs.

James spun her around to meet him. Her hands met his chest and her nose brushed against his.

"Umm... yes, James?" She was breathless, but she wasn't pulling away.

He tried to think, but she was too close. They had never been this close before. His head was spinning and he couldn't breath. He could hear his heart pounding in his chest. Or was that her heart?

"I... I just – because you, I mean... umm...we should..." he stuttered incoherently.

She still hadn't pulled away.

Their lips brushed and he felt her gasp. Her eyelids fluttered, until they closed completely. James lost all conscious thought and closed the space between them.

It was perfect. His mind was swimming from the complete and utter thrill, the bliss – the ecstasy of her. James couldn't imagine anything in the entire world could ever feel better than kissing Lily Evans.

She pulled back slowly with a shy smile and played with the hair on the nape of his neck.

"So, um... you were saying?"

"I – I – uh... sorry?"

She glanced away bashfully, with a blush rising in her cheeks and a smile playing on her lips. She didn't push him away.

"Go to next Hogsmeade weekend with me," he barely whispered to her.

"Alright," she answered softly.

He stared at her in disbelief as she pulled away from him and turned to go up to her dormitory. She was out of site for only a moment before she returned with a laugh.

"Oh and James, you could've just asked. The whole grand gesture thing was a bad idea."

And after years of anticipation it is concluded! Did anyone reading this actually read it when the first part was posted? If so, I'm so sorry... I'll snog you to make up for it if you find me. Review anyways please?