James rubbed his eyes. Finally. The big day.

Remus, after much begging from both James and Sirius ("If you don't make it for Prongs he's never going to get Evans and we'll spend the rest of our lives hearing about it") agreed to brew Felix Felicis, enough for one day of luck. Enough for him to ask out Lily.

He got up, changed into his robes and went down the stairs, his stomach rumbling in anticipation for breakfast. He had become friends with Lily, strictly platonic. At first, she seemed forced, only trying to get a long so that they could get any of the Head duties done, but now they were truly friends. He'd stopped asking her out, and even went out with another Gryffindor girl, Hestia Jones for a bit.

At the Great Hall, Remus and Peter were already there, Remus reading a thick book as he bit into his toast. James slid into the seat beside his friend, and piled his plate with pancakes, dripping with syrup.

"Didyoufinishwhereisit?" He asked excitedly, and Remus rolled his eyes. The fellow Marauder had made his dislike of the plan clear.

"Yes, it's done, it's in the dorm. I can give it to you right before we leave for Hogsmede."

"Speaking of Hogsmede," Sirius said, arriving. "I don't have anything to do today, so I was wondering—"

"You better keep away from us!" James threatened, and Sirius shrugged.

"I was actually going to ask if Remus and Peter wanted to go to Zonko's to pick up something for a new prank, but that sounds like more fun now that you mention it." He grinned, but James didn't mind. Nothing could go wrong today, not with Felix on his side.

"Hey James," Lily greeted, as she passed by him to get to her friend, Erin. James smiled automatically, he was just getting used to her referring to him by his first name. Sirius just rolled his eyes.

"Just imagine, if this works, we'll have to live with this-" Here he gestured wildly at James "-all the time. It'll be even worse." James, however, was too lost in his fantasies to pay him any mind.

"Are you sure you want to do this?" Remus asked, "I'm not sure if Lily—"

"Yes, I'm sure, Remus," James cut him off. Finally. He had been waiting for so many years, but today it would work. It had to. Remus handed him the potion and James drank it, excitedly.

As soon as he finished it, he caught sight of Lily, walking alone. Of course, since he had begged Erin and Alice to leave her alone today. Alice was already going with Frank, however Erin was persuaded quite nicely by Sirius.

"Hey, Lily!" He ran over to her, and she smiled. Was she blushing?

"Hi, James," She said. Lily seemed unusually nervous. Well, perhaps not unusually, it seemed more and more these days Lily didn't seem to be feeling comfortable around him.

"Do you want to go to Honeydukes?" James asked, the potion prodding him in the right direction. Lily nodded, but she didn't seem too excited. Her beautiful green eyes, usually so interested in their conversations, seemed slightly dull, and vacant. "Are you feeling okay?"

"Of course, I'm fine," Lily—in a move that seemed so un-Lily like and self-conscious— pushed her vibrant red hair away from her face. James made no move to argue, he knew from experience how futile that could be.

Lily was having a horrible time.

It wasn't that she wasn't enjoying herself, she was having a lovely discussion with James, but it was just that. A discussion. Between friends.

Sometimes, she wished she could just slap him. So many years in which he had asked her out annoyingly, it was just unfair that the one year that he didn't she had to fall for him.

They reached Honeydukes, and as soon as Lily walked inside she felt better. The air was filled with the scent of chocolate, and other sweets.

"Do you want anything? My treat," James grinned, and Lily tried to return the smile as enthusiastically, but her heart wasn't in it. He was so close, yet so far, so unreachable.

Suddenly, Remus bumped into them. James looked at him, almost enraged, and Lily couldn't begin to wonder why. Were they, the inseparable Marauders, arguing?

"Hey, Lily, can I talk to you for a second—I need help with the charm Flitwick taught us yesterday, it's been driving me mad." Lily raised an eyebrow, but then looked at James, who shrugged.

"Let's go out, into the fresh air," Remus suggested, almost shoving Lily outside. In a perfectly gentle, Remus-like fashion, of course.

"It was pretty simple," Lily started explaining as soon as the door closed but Remus cut her off.

"I don't care about the charm," He said impatiently. Lily looked at him expectantly.

"So, what did you come here to ask me about," She said finally, after an awkward pause.

"The fact that something so obvious is happening right in front of your nose and you can't even see it!"

"And that is…?"

"That you and James are obviously in love with each other but are too pigheaded to see it!" He said exasperatedly. Lily's mouth opened agape with this news—he still loved her?

"But why doesn't he ask me out anymore?" Lily pointed out, making Remus stare at her unbelieving.

"Lily, you hated him when he asked you out. And now, finally, you enjoy spending time with him. He's not going to ruin it for anything in the world."

It made sense. Perfect sense, and she felt incredibly happy, more than anyone had a right to be. Remus smiled at her face, the gestured towards the door.

"He's waiting. And if I hear that you aren't together by the end of this day…" Remus let the threat hang in the air, and Lily smiled, there was no reason for him to worry. Impulsively, she hugged him before she went back into the shop.

James was jealous.

He didn't have a reason to be. But Lily seemed distant when he was talking to her, but then she went out to talk to Remus, and all of a sudden she was so smiley and cheery, and then she hugged him… He knew, rationally, that Remus would never do anything to hurt him. But still...

Quickly, she came in through the door smiling. She spotted James looking at some chocolate frogs.

"Hey, let's get something and take a walk, it's a beautiful day," James proposed.

"Well," Lily looked at the sweets in front of her, contemplating. "Does your offer to buy me something still stand?" James smiled and nodded.

They bought a couple chocolate frogs along with some other sweets, before leaving.

"Any particular destination, or are we just walking?" Lily asked.

"How about we go to the Three Broomsticks?" James suggested and Lily nodded her assent. The day was beautiful, and they were able to keep a playful banter continuing on the way to the Three Broomsticks, where they got a seat and ordered two butterbeers.

As they sat down, Lily suddenly realized that her hand was in his without her realizing. She was about to pull away embarrassedly, but she remembered what Remus said and just put her head on his shoulder, something she had wanted to do for so long.

James was seriously doubting Felix Felicis while they sipped their butterbeers.

Yes, Lily was holding his hand, and yes her head was on his shoulder. But Felix was advising to talk frankly to her, about them. James wasn't sure about anything at the moment, but he decided to listen to Felix, and look Lily in the eye, so her head wasn't resting on his shoulder anymore. Her beautiful green eyes stared at him questioningly.

"Lily, I'm going to ask you a question," James stated seriously, deepening the look of curiosity in her eyes. "And you have to promise me that you'll answer it fairly."

"Yes, of course James," Lily said, startled.

"What would you do, right now, if I kissed you?" He asked, prodded by Felix. Lily smiled, as if she had been waiting for this question. In response, she leaned in and kissed him.

He had imagined kissing Lily, known that it would have been special, but he couldn't have expected this. It wasn't that she was an exceptionally good kisser, which she wasn't, but the fact that she loved him. Lily Evans loved him. Finally, after so long, the moment he had waited for had arrived.

It wasn't a long kiss, though. But it was perfect. He didn't even notice the luck starting to fade.

"The potion worked," He breathed, and Lily looked at him strangely.

"What potion?" She said, but she didn't seem as loving as before. Now she seemed almost angry. "Did you give me a love potion?"

"No—no, of course not. I tried that in fourth year, remember? I never do the same thing twice. It was just a bit of Felix Felicis that Remus made for me," He explained, and LiIy's green eyes became cold. Suddenly, a bit late, he realized that the potion had run out.

"Oh, you tried that in fourth year? You never do the same thing twice? What am I, a huge prank of yours? Let's try to play with Evans' feelings, why don't we?" Lily asked coldly, and James shook his head quickly

"No, of course not, Lily! It didn't change your feelings at all, just sort of gave me advice. Like Remus did."

"Oh yes, lovely Remus, did you beg him to talk to me earlier as well?" Lily said icily, and James shook his head confusedly.

"Remus talked to you about us?" He asked, but it was not the right thing to say.

"There is no us," Lily took her butterbeer and dumped it over his head before walking away angrily.

James, in shock, could only barely manage a drying spell before he got up and left as well, leaving to look for Remus for help. He didn't need to, however, because the other Marauders came to him, from a couple of seats away.

"What did you do mate?" Sirius whistled in awe as he sat down. "We were all congratulating Remus that the potion worked, and then next thing we know, Evans pours Butterbeer over your head and you look like…McGonagall that one time when we pranked Snivellus to make him kiss her," Sirius said, after searching for a good analogy. "Just less fury and more shock."

"She found out about the potion, didn't she," Remus sighed as James nodded. "I tried to warn you—you didn't need it. Anyone could tell Lily fancies you."

"Why did she freak out like that?"

"Isn't it obvious?" Peter said, and everyone looked at him in shock. "She felt mad at you for not manning up enough to kiss her without a potions help. She's muggleborn, Lily likes things quiet and heartfelt. She feels like you manipulated her by using the potion, that you don't care and that she's just another prank."

"Wow Peter—you sound like Remus," Sirius said after an awkward silence.

"Is that a bad thing?" The more academic of the Marauders asked; a question James never heard the answer to, as he got up and left the table.

"What happened, Lily?" Erin asked for the millionth time. She and Alice were trying to comfort Lily, but their friend wouldn't tell them what had gone wrong. They would let it go, but the tears running down the usually strong girl's face was unnerving.

"Is it something with James?" Alice ventured. The girls weren't certain if they wanted to mention the Marauder to Lily until Lily mentioned him, but they had to know.

"Don't. Mention. Potter," The redheaded girl said between clenched teeth, before diving into her covers, without having eaten since the chocolate frogs earlier. The sweet taste of them mixed with butterbeer lingered in her mouth, reminding her of Potter. She had been so stupid to even think that he could have changed for her. No, he was still the same Potter that he would always be.

"We have to find out what happened. I know Lily would rather us not ask James first, but since she's not answering us…" Alice twisted her blonde hair in frustration, she hated seeing one of her friends hurt.

"It's still pretty early, maybe we can catch him in the Common Room? Or maybe Remus could tell us what happened."

"I suppose Sirius was too busy with someone else to know," Alice smiled, but Erin shook her head.

"No, he was just begged me to stay away from Lily and James before leaving and not taking his own advice. Nothing happened," She said firmly. "And I don't wish anything did. Sirius is a teammate, and only that."

The girls went down the stairs, where luckily they saw James walk in calmly. Erin, enraged that he was so placid while Lily was crying upstairs.

"Potter!" She called acidly, running down the stairs. "What did you do to Lily?"

"Do?" He asked, surprised. Erin was on his Quidditch team, and they were usually friendly enough. "I didn't do anything to her! And since when have I been Potter?"

"Since you started hurting Lily! If you didn't do anything to her, then why is she currently in our dorm crying?" Erin said sharply. James looked at her quizzically.

"She's crying?" It didn't occur to him that Lily, who had seemed so angry, could be crying. Over him. The thought almost tore him apart.

"Yes, you idiot! What did you do?"

"I didn't do anything! I just asked Remus to brew me some liquid luck for the day at Hogsmede. Obviously he didn't make enough," The girls looked at him in shock, then looked at each other and then back at him.

"James," Alice said calmly, "I believe that you've just done the most STUPID THING ON THE PLANET!" She screeched. "How could you even THINK about doing something so IDIOTIC and REPULSIVE? You don't need luck with Lily, she was madly in love with you!"

"She was?" James knew that Lily fancied him, but hearing it from her best friend made him feel warm. Before, of course, her other best friend started yelling at him.

"Yes, you prat! Now she's heartbroken, and confused, and you might have ruined your only chance with her so she may spend the rest of her life with... Remus or someone!" Erin exclaimed.

"Do you think that it would really go that far?" James asked and the girls rolled their eyes together, a look that seemed to have been perfected over the many years they had spent together.

"Lily is notorious for keeping grudges. It runs in the family," Alice retorted, and the girls ran upstairs.

"Wait! I can fix this! Just bring Lily downstairs, please!" He begged, and the two Gryffindors stopped. They were loyal to Lily. But, their friend seemed really happy when she was around James. Could they let her ruin it?

"Fine. We'll do our best."

One full body-bind curse and a levitation charm later, Lily was in the deserted common room with James.

"What do you want Potter?" Lily asked, irritated. She wasn't in the mood to talk to James (for she still called him such in her head) at the moment. Right now, she felt more like crying herself to sleep, like heroines did in the romance novels she occasionally secretly borrowed from Erin.

"Lily—I'm sorry. It was stupid, and I didn't know you'd react this way, and I should have listened to Remus, and the stupid potion wore off at the worst moment possible but please don't hate me forever and then marry Remus and I have to live the rest of my life alone and—"

"Stop apologizing!" Lily surprised him—and herself—by cutting him off.

"What?" James

"I—I overreacted at the Three Broomsticks. It was stupid and… It was sweet that you went through the trouble of getting Felix Felicis for me," Lily smiled, and before James could realize what had happened she kissed his cheek and ran up the stairs.

"Wait!" James called after her and Lily turned, almost at the stop of the staircase.

"Go out with me next Hogsmeade weekend?" Lily smiled and nodded before leaving.

James smiled to himself, pushing his unruly hair out of his dace. What do you know? Looks like he didn't need luck after all.