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“Look, if this is going to work, you have to stop asking me out every time you see me.” Perhaps not the most auspicious way to begin her first meeting as Head Girl, but if James Potter was her counterpart, luck was definitely not on her side.

“But Evans, now that we’re working together, you’ll see my charming personality! This is my chance!” Lily rolled her eyes at the boy’s predictable objection.

“I am not even sitting down at this table until you swear to me that you will only, and I mean only, ask me to spend time together in a professional or platonic manner. I want to hear you say that you will never ask me out again.” she said, crossing her arms. She could see the emotions flickering through Potter’s face.

“You want to be friends?” he asked, his face lighting up. “As long as you give me a chance to be your friend, I’ll agree to your ridiculous terms. Lily Evans, I will never ask you out again.” Lily blinked, surprised. She had expected this to be much harder.

“Deal,” she said before sliding into the seat across from him. She had been surprised to receive an owl from him yesterday, only a day after she found out that she was Head Girl, asking to meet in Diagon Alley to talk about their ‘positions’. There were at least three other innuendos in the letter, but she agreed nonetheless, wanting to get the worst part out of the way before term began.

She looked around her. They had chosen the Leaky Cauldron for their meeting, which Lily was pleased about. She adored Butterbeer, and it didn’t escape her attention that there was already a pint of it in front of her seat.

“Thank you for the Butterbeer,” she began, feeling somewhat awkward. “How has your summer been, Potter?”

“If we’re to be working together closely, or even friends, do you think we could use first names?” Potter said, rather than responding to her question. Lily regarded him through narrow eyes.

“Fine. How has your summer been, James?” she revised. He beamed.

“It’s been alright. Padfo-sorry, Sirius, is staying with me now, which has been quite fun.” Lily raised an eyebrow at the slip. She had heard the strange nicknames that the self-named Marauders used for each other, of course, and she had her suspicions about the source of at least Remus’s nickname (Moony? Really?), but had never had them used in conversation with her.

“Oh? I thought his parents never let him visit during the summer?” Lily asked, having been privy to more than one Marauder’s Reunion™ on the platform. James’s face fell slightly, and he looked a tad panicked, as though he had not meant to reveal that. “Pott-James, you don’t have to tell me anything, but it won’t get out.” James looked around, seemingly checking for classmates, before lowering his voice.  

“You’re not wrong but he’s well shot of them now. Turned up at mine about three weeks ago. Surprised my mum hasn’t already filed for adoption, state we found him in.” He disclosed. “I really shouldn’t be telling you this, but he isn’t much for talking about it, and it was a bit of a...shock.”

“He ran away from home?” Lily gasped. She knew that Sirius wasn’t like the rest of his family, but he seemed to have some vague affection for his brother, at least. She couldn’t ever imagine running away from her family. Except maybe Petunia, now.

“Yeah,” James said grimly. “Or he was disowned, I haven’t been able to get it out of him. We’re trying not to press too hard, but it’s a bit difficult seeing your best mate like that and not being able to do anything about it. I mean, Merlin, we knew it was bad, but we didn’t know how bad.”

“His parents are associated with...You-Know-Who’s followers, right?”

“Death Eaters. Odd name, if you ask me.” James nodded. “They’re not formally a part but let me tell you, I would not like to be on the receiving end of their curses, if that’s what they’d do to their own son. He called it fucking tame.” Lily was surprised at the amount James was spilling, but it seemed as though he actually needed to talk to someone about his friend. She had never seen this expression on his face, and shuddered a little bit at the pure fury. For all his flaws, James Potter seemed to be an extremely loyal friend.

***

Somehow, Lily had found herself meeting with James every week. They didn’t always talk about Head stuff, but James had been almost alarmingly pleasant to talk to when he wasn’t constantly hitting on her. To her absolute surprise, they actually became friends. Besides, as she had observed the first time, he seemed to need someone to talk to, without troubling Sirius. He also had the nicest parents in the world, she learned. And, somehow, they could have fun together: a realization she was forced to come to during her first visit to the Potter manor.

“Oh, it’s been so long since we met someone new!” Mrs. Potter exclaimed. “When Jamie said he had a friend coming over, we just assumed it’d be Remus or Peter! But you must be Lily Evans!” Lily raised her eyebrows at James who, surprisingly, blushed. So he had been talking about her to his mother. Interesting.

“It’s a pleasure to meet you, Mrs. Potter,” Lily said, reaching out her hand to shake politely. She was surprised, however, by Mrs. Potter enfolding her in a large hug.

“Sorry, we’re fans of physical affection in this household!” she exclaimed. “And please, Mrs. Potter is my mother-in-law. Call me Phia, it’s the best nickname I can get out of the horrible name my parents saddled me with.”

“Euphemia,” James mouthed behind his mother’s back. Lily had to bit back a giggle—Mrs. Potter wasn’t wrong, that was not a fun name.

“So, Jamie tells me you’re Muggle-born. But you’re the brightest student in your year! That’s quite impressive, dear.” she continued, beaming at her.

“Oh, I don’t know about that, I’m just excited to keep learning…” Lily trailed off as James’s mother shook her head fondly.

“Modesty is only becoming if it isn’t downplaying a young lady’s successes,” she scolded warmly. “Jamie is always going on about how smart you are.” James was turning a deeper shade of red.

“Mum, please,” he muttered. “C’mon, Evans, let’s go find Sirius before she brings out the baby photos.”

“He’s with your father in his study,” she said, laughing. Lily waved goodbye as she followed James down a long hallway.

“Wow, I don’t think I’ve ever been in a house this big before,” she commented as she peered into what looked like a library—seriously, who even had a library in their home?

“Well, y’know,” James looked a bit abashed. “Old pureblood family—although we’re not part of the twenty-eight, thank god, or else we’d have to go to all those galas and things—plus my dad kind of invented a popular potion. My grandparents bought a country house and gave this place to my parents when they got married though, I don’t think they would have bought something this big for just us.”

“What kind of potion?” Lily asked, glossing over the fact that James was clearly uncomfortable with how well-off his family was. “Also, what’s the twenty-eight?”

He laughed a little, ruffling his hair. “Uh, Sleekeazy’s Hair Potion? “I guess my messy hair is kind of my teenage rebellion?” Lily let out a surprised laugh. “And the Sacred Twenty-Eight are the families who are supposedly completely pure-blood, with absolutely no Muggle relations. It’s all shite, if you ask me, there’s no way that they haven’t hid some kind of squib or something. We escaped because our surname is pretty common, see.”

“So like, the Blacks and the Malfoys and such? Slytherins?” she asked, curious.

“Yeah, but there are some who are a good sort too,” he shrugged. “I don’t know if you’d know Bilius Weasley, he was a seventh year when we were first years. His older brother, Arthur, gave me a tour of the Ministry not too long ago. Good sort, but the Weasleys are on the list. The Abbotts, there’s one in Ravenclaw, I think? Patils are another family that just barely missed being on the list, not sure if you know Arjun Patil? He was on the Ravenclaw Quidditch team, graduated when we were in fourth.”

Lily blushed. “I, yes, I actually went on a date with him last year, before he started seeing his fiancee. He used to do some advanced Charms courses with me.”

“Oh.” James’s face fell briefly, before he rearranged it in a cheerful expression. “Still seeing him?”

Lily shrugged. “No, he was a tad too into Divination, if you ask me.” James brightened significantly at that.

“Oh! Well yes, the Patils were assumed to have some Muggles in their past—a bit of a suspicious pattern of exclusion, wouldn’t you say?” he continued. Lily nodded in agreement. “Ah! Here we are!” He flung open a door. “Dad, Sirius, we’re coming in!”

Mr. Potter’s study was huge, with beautiful floor-length windows and a huge mahogany desk with a leather armchair. Mr. Potter was, however, hunched over something on the floor with Sirius, who was poking it with his wand. At the sound of James’s voice, he turned, beaming.

Mr. Potter looked a lot like his son, although James had certainly inherited his mother’s cutting cheekbones. They had the same strong jawline, and nearly identical brown eyes, complete with the glasses, but Mr. Potter’s black hair was slicked back neatly, as James’s might have been if he bothered using his father’s inventions.

“You must be Miss Evans,” he said, jumping up to give her a warm handshake. “Pleasure to meet you. Excuse us for not being out front to greet you. Siri and I are trying to get this record sounder thing to work around magic.” Lily could now see that the object Sirius and Mr. Potter had been looking at was indeed, a record player.

“It’s a pleasure to meet you, Mr. Potter,” she said. He laughed a deep, booming chuckle.

“Monty, please. Any friend of Jamie’s is a friend of ours.”

“Evans.” Sirius nodded at her, not moving from the record player he was now holding a magnifying glass up to.  

“Black.” She responded in kind. Sirius flinched at the reminder of his family and seemed to draw into himself, and she instantly felt guilty, but had no time to backtrack before James flung himself right next to Sirius for damage control.

“Tell me what’s not working,” he said, quickly distracting the other boy, who launched into a long explanation of their previous attempts, with Mr. Potter interrupting every so often excitedly.

She listened carefully and cautiously sat down next to them, thinking back to her own speculations in Muggle Studies about how to get Muggle technology to work around magic.

“Have you tried using a combination of a stasis charm and Vermillious Duo to try to make some kind of sustained power source?” she asked, finally. Three heads swivelled to look at her. “I think if you did that plus a Confundus Charm, you might be able to get it thinking that the stable Vermillious is an electric outlet.”

“Wait—if we enchanted some kind of object with that-” Sirius began, turning to James.

“—outside the body of the record player, of course, don’t want to mess with the wiring—” James overlapped excitedly.

“—we could use Epoximise—”

“—stick it there permanently—”

“That could work!” Sirius cried at last, triumphantly. “C’mon then, Evans, want to do the honors? You cast the Vermillious at something and I’ll hit it with the stasis charm. Monty, do you have anything we could…?”

“How about this?” he held up a gold parchment weight from his desk, probably worth more than everything Lily was wearing. Sirius and James seemed to have no qualms about using it, as James quickly set it on the ground in front of Lily.

“Ah, boys, can we direct the Vermillious towards the fireplace? Don’t want to blow anything up, not after last week. Took me ages to put the rug to rights, and that’s not even counting the lecture I got from your mum.” Monty said, his eyes alight with mirth. Sirius nodded eagerly. Lily couldn’t help but notice the casual way Sirius was included in the Potter family—James hadn’t been being over-exaggerating the way they had welcomed in the other boy.

“Alright Lily, let’s go.” Sirius said. Lily started—that was the first time Black called her by her first name.

Sirius was remarkably good at spells when he put his mind to it, and they made short work of the parchment weight. One strong Confundus and a nice bit of Transfiguration from James and it was permanently attached to the record player.

“Moment of truth, lads. And Lily.” James said as Sirius moved to turn it on. “Three, two, one—”

“More Than a Feeling” started blasting. Lily found herself cheering along with James, Sirius, and Monty, a thrill of elation going through her at their accomplishment.

“Nicely done, Evans!” Sirius whooped. “Pity you weren’t around for some of the pranks we wanted to pull before Prongs went and got himself a Head Boyship.”

“Would’ve finished the map a whole lot faster, too, between her and Moony,” James put in. Sirius elbowed him, and Lily filed away the mention of a map to ask James at a later date.

“I don’t know,” she said, surprising herself. “I might be convinced to turn a blind eye to some well-meant mischief this next year.” She was met with twin looks of shock, which quickly turned into something more devious. Maybe she was just caught up in it, but she felt herself smiling back. “Might even join in, if any particular mischief makers need a fifth wand.”

To her surprise, she found herself suddenly enveloped in a hug from an over-excited Sirius Black.

“Prongs, you should have stopped asking her out years ago!” he crowed. Lily couldn’t do anything but laugh.

***

“Wait a second. You’re telling us that we were with our families for three months and all of the sudden you’re best friends with Sirius Black and James Potter?” Marlene gasped as they all settled down into their usual compartment.

“What do you mean?” Lily asked, cocking her head slightly. She had to bite back a smirk: she had assumed Marlene would do as much.

“Lils, you just hugged James Potter’s parents on the Platform,” Alice pointed out in her standard, reasonable tone.

“Yeah, and I definitely saw you elbow Sirius, and not in a ‘I-wish-you-were-dead’ way,” Mary added.

“Uh, I’m not the one who was holding hands with Dorcas Meadowes,” Lily pointed out, turning an accusing glare to Marlene. “Care to comment, Marls?”

“Oh, come on, we’ve known that Marls wanted to see what it’s like inside the Slytherin dungeons since Christmas, that’s old news.” Mary laughed, raising her eyebrows suggestively. Marlene went uncharacteristically pink. “Plus, their families both went to the Riviera, you knew she was going to make a move.”

“Fine!” Lily relented. “James and I started meeting over the summer, since we’re the Heads. WE reached an agreement—namely that he won’t ask me out any more—and we ended up spending some time together, since you lot decided to bugger off to the Continent. Happy?”

“James now, is it?” Marlene put in slyly. Lily groaned.

“When will it be Lily Potter? That’s the real question,” Mary added, to Lily’s chagrin.

“Actually—” Alice interrupted. The others all turned to her. “While we’re speaking about name changing…” She held up her hand, where they could see a diamond ring sparkling.

“Oh my god, Frank asked you to marry him?!” Lily shrieked, embarrassment forgotten. Alice nodded, beaming, and quickly found herself at the center of a group hug.

***

“Longbottom finally proposed, then?” James asked later that evening. To Mary’s delight, as she had always had a bit of a thing for Pettigrew, and several winks from Marlene, the Marauders had decided to sit next to the 7th-year girls, heralding in James and Lily’s new friendship.

“You knew?” Lily asked, surprised. Frank Longbottom had been a Hufflepuff, two years ahead of them. She didn’t know they ran in the same circles.

“Oh, his dad is friends with mine, they came by right at the beginning of the hols and he said he was going to do it while they were travelling,” James explained. “Oi, Alice, you’ll be part of the twenty-eight now, you know? Enjoy the parties with the Malfoys and the Lestranges.” He winked, and Alice moaned.

“Oh I know,” she complained. “I think we’re expected to invite them to the wedding. At least, that’s what Frank’s mum says, and I don’t fancy getting in an argument with her. Hopefully they won’t come though.”

“Or maybe they will, and we can poison their drinks,” Sirius put in, thoughtfully.

“No murders at weddings,” Remus said tacitly, patting Sirius on the shoulder. “Murders on the way home from weddings, however, are definitely on the table.” Sirius laughed more than was strictly necessary, which had Lily narrowing her eyes at him. She glanced at James and he shook his head. Interesting.

She noticed, when she turned back to her food, that her friends were eyeing her closely.

***

“You guys are communicating nonverbally already,” Marlene pointed out, once they were in their dormitory. “Cute.”

“We’re just friends, Marls,” Lily sighed. “And even that’s new. There’s a very good chance he’ll cock up now that we’re back at school and he’s back to his posturing.”

“Didn’t you say that he and Black were living together now?” Alice asked. When Lily nodded, she continued, “He’s the one Potter normally shows off too, anyway.”

“Just saying, this is an awfully fast change. Last time we saw you, you said you wanted to hex him so that every time he tried to talk to you, he could only speak Pig Latin. Now you’re apparently exchanging meaningful glances,” Mary added, making Lily feel particularly ganged up on.

“You guys are just imagining things,” she said, decisively, before stomping off to the toilet. She pretended to not hear the giggles behind her.

***

She settled into the familiar routine, with the addition of the Gryffindor boys playing a more prominent role in her life than before. Of course, she and Remus had always been somewhat close, but she reckoned it was easier now that James wasn’t constantly using any opportunity to pester her.

The ache that Severus’s betrayal had left in her chest through all of last year was faded, and she had no problem glaring at him alongside the rest of the Slytherins—Dorcas, who was increasingly sitting at the Gryffindor table and avoiding her house, was a sole exception as far as the sixth and seventh years went.

She noticed the way that James would frequently sling his arm around Sirius and pull him into some conversation about Quidditch or something every time they saw Regulus Black trailing around after Snape and his Death Eater pals. She also noticed when, searching for a quill she had left in the common room late one night, she caught Sirius crying on James’s shoulder in front of the fire, while James rubbed slow circles on his back. She was shocked, never having seen Sirius lose composure in quite this way, and tiptoed back upstairs.

It wasn’t until November when she once again decided that she was wrong. James Potter might be a good friend to Sirius Black, but certainly not to her.

“What do you mean you can’t do rounds tonight?” She exclaimed, furious. She had six feet due for Muggle Studies tomorrow and she was not looking forward to having to cover for James’s sorry arse, especially when she knew better than to try to schedule Remus during this time of month—he would have to ‘visit his sick mum’ or fall mysteriously ill.

“Lily, I’m sorry, I just totally forgot what day my rounds were,” he pleaded.

“What is so important that it can’t be moved?” she demanded. He wouldn’t meet her eyes. “Seriously, Potter, what is it?” He flinched at her renewed use of his last name.

“I have a date, okay?” he burst out finally. Her planned rebuttals froze in her throat.

“You’re skipping rounds for a date?” She said, her voice finally back down to a normal, even tone. Lily wasn’t sure why she was so shocked, and a tad upset by it. This was totally normal behavior for a teenage boy to go on a date. “Seriously?”

“Look, I’m really sorry, it won’t happen again, but I really cannot cancel it.” he insisted. Lily crossed her arms and gave him her best glare, but he showed no signs of backing down. “I’m sorry, Evans.”

“Fine, Potter,” she snapped. “You’re covering my next one, though.”

Why was she so bothered that he had a date? Was it just that it was inconveniencing her? It wasn’t like he was doing anything wrong--as long as he was back before curfew, there was no reason for him to not have a date.

Sure, he hadn’t gone on a date in all the time she’d known him, but it was probably because no girl wanted to date the guy who was constantly asking out someone else. Now that he’d stopped...he was quite fit, after all.

When did that thought decide to jump into her head?

“James Potter is an arse,” she said out loud, willing herself to remember that, instead of thinking about whether or not he was fit.

The next day, though, she noticed that Remus was still out sick, as expected, but the three other Marauders seemed as though they could fall asleep standing up. She approached Sirius to ask.

“Are you three okay? You seem quite tired—and I know it’s not from doing rounds, since James bailed on me for his bloody date.”

“His...oh, right,” Sirius said. “That. Yeah, just...worried about Moony.”

“He’ll be fine, he always is,” she said absently. “He’s been doing this for a while.” Then, she realized what she had said when she noticed Sirius staring at her in horror.

“You know?” he whispered. She nodded, slowly. He grabbed her arm, panicking. “How long have you known? Does anyone else?”

“I don’t think anyone else knows, at least, I haven’t said anything to anyone,” she said, her voice steady as if she was trying to comfort a wounded animal. “I started suspecting it sometime in fifth year, and once you start looking at the moon cycle…” Sirius gave a sharp nod.

“Us too. That’s how we figured it out, I mean.”

“I wouldn’t tell anyone, Sirius, I promise.” She noticed the absolute terror in his eyes, which confirmed another suspicion she had about the Marauders.

Footsteps sounded behind her and she spun to see James, who looked at her and Sirius with surprise and something else in his eyes.

“Lily,” he began. “Moony, sorry, Remus, wants to talk to you. He’s in hospital.”

“James, she knows,” Sirius murmured. James’s eyes opened wide in shock. “She figured it out.”

“Evans, I swear, you cannot—” James began, his voice as fierce as it had been when he was talking about Sirius’s family.

“James, I would never,” she interrupted. She wanted to be angry he would think so little of her, but she couldn’t help but appreciate the force of his love for his friends. James met her eyes and gave a nod, so similar to Sirius’s response that she wanted to laugh. “I’ll just go and see Remus then.” James nodded again, and despite her anger, she gave a little wave as she walked away.

Minutes later, she knocked on the door of the hospital wing. Remus, who looked pale and exhausted, smiled and gestured for her to come in.

“Lily,” he greeted. “Nobody is with you, right?”

“No,” she said, smiling warmly as she took a seat next to his bed. “How are you doing?” He shrugged.

“Been worse,” he smiled weakly. “Listen, there’s something I want to tell you.”

“Is it about where you were last night?” she asked, making sure to maintain her smile. Of course she had to have this conversation three times in the span of ten minutes. Remus nodded, going noticeably paler. “Remus, I figured it out a couple years ago.”

“Yes, I thought you might have,” he smiled again, a little wider. “I noticed that you never give me shifts or ask to study together near the full.”

“Really? Your friends certainly did not.” she chuckled. He shrugged.

“They’re lost causes, when it comes to observation.” Lily nodded in agreement.

“If you thought I knew already, what did you want to talk to me about?”

“Well, I wasn’t sure. You don’t...you don’t seem to hate me, that is,” Remus edged, cautiously.

“Remus, I don’t care. I liked you before I knew you were a werewolf and I liked you when I was figuring it out and I like you now that it’s been confirmed. All I see is my friend.” She said, reaching out her hand for his. He blinked rapidly, as if he was hiding tears.

“Thanks, Lils,” he squeezed her hand in response. “But I more wanted to talk to you about what James was doing last night.”

“James? He was on his stupid date, right?” she said, purposefully ignoring the way that Remus looked at her in response to the added epithet.

“You could call it that, in that it is a recurring plan that cannot be cancelled,” he said quietly. “He was with me.” Lily started, in surprise.

“He was with…?” she trailed off. She was pretty sure James wasn’t a werewolf but humans definitely couldn’t be around werewolves during the full moon.

“All three of them were.” Remus continued, shocking Lily further. “Werewolves, you see, are only a danger to humans.”

“But...hang on,” she gasped, realization hitting her.

“They figured out what I was second year,” he explained. “Apparently they started working on it then. Took them a while—it’s pretty complex magic for twelve year olds, you see. But they told me at the beginning of fifth year, showed me, really.”

“They’re Animagi,” Lily breathed. “You’re kidding.”

“I’m not,” Remus positively beamed. “I couldn’t believe it when they showed me. But they did it, because they researched and found some case back in the 1400s of a lover becoming an Animagus to make the full moons easier for their werewolf partner. And they became bloody Animagi at fifteen for me.”

“So when they were so tired today?”

“It’s because they spent all last night running around in the forest with a werewolf.”

“And James bailed on rounds—”

“Because he’s the largest, so they want to make sure he’s there to keep me in check.”

“That’s why you used to look so rough ‘round this time and you don’t anymore?” Lily clarified. Remus nodded, looking at his uninjured body as though it was a miracle. “Wow. That’s...wow.”

“That’s what I said,” Remus smiled wryly.

“Wait a second...your nicknames surfaced around fifth year, didn’t they?” Lily exclaimed. “Moony...that’s you, and that’s a little obvious. Uh, Padfoot, not sure? Something with paws? Wormtail—is he a mouse? A possum? Rat? And Prongs...something with horns? Antlers?” Remus was actually laughing out loud now. “Wait—James’s Patronus is a stag, isn’t it? Is he a stag Animagus?”

“Good guess,” Remus affirmed. “And yes, Peter’s a rat. And Sirius, a big black dog.” Lily covered her mouth with her hand.

“Wow,” she repeated. “Thanks for telling me, Rem. I’ll make sure that James never has rounds during the full moon, too.”

“I just didn’t want you to be mad at him,” Remus said, before his smile turned suddenly, familiarly wicked. “Or to think he was seeing anyone.”

“Why would I care?” Lily said, ignoring the fact that her heart leaped at that fact. She had been so caught up in the realization that she hadn’t stopped to think about the implications.

“I don’t know, just wanted you to know,” Remus said, smirking even more.

“Thanks for trusting me with this,” Lily knew she was blatantly sidestepping his comment, but she didn’t quite care. “I’m going to go talk to James and apologize for being so mad at him.”

“Bye!” Remus called as she left. “Make sure to use protection!” Lily showed him a V in response as she left.

Walking, she internally cursed herself. It turned out that all she needed was to see what kind of person James Potter actually was before starting to develop feelings for him. Fuck.

***

It was, tragically, official. Lily Evans had a crush on James Potter.

Late one night on her rounds, when she had dropped the Ravenclaw prefect back at her dorms, she thought that exact phrase, and in a fit of absolute annoyance, kicked a set of armor.

“Ow!” it said.

“I’m in love with my ex-worst enemy, you’re just metal,” she snapped. Oh fuck. Love.

Now that she was admitting it, she felt like evidence (and reasons for it) was everywhere. When James bounded up to her to be her partner in NEWT potions, she was suddenly much worse at potions than she had ever been in her life. When he companionably nudged her during dinner, she dropped her fork. When he laughed at something she said while they were on rounds, or studying, she felt butterflies in her stomach. It was damned inconvenient.

And, everywhere she turned, it seemed like proof that she had been wrong about him. She had judged him harshly when they were eleven, and although he had been horrible to Severus, most of his reasoning was...relatively sound, albeit cruel at the age of eleven and twelve. But he really was a...good person. Half the reason for the feud with Severus, she now knew, is because he was rude to Sirius and Remus alike, not to mention Peter, from their first day. And James was fiercely protective of those he loved.

Which she, she now realized, wanted to be included in.

Horribly inconvenient that this would now occur to her after James had sworn (and faithfully kept his promise) to never ask her out again.

And speaking of proof that she had been wrong—

She had been about to round a corner when she heard a familiar voice and drew back, half hoping to catch the Marauders in action, half hoping to join them.

“It’s okay,” James was saying. She peeked around the corner to see, to her surprise, a fifth year Slytherin crying, slumped against a wall. He was a prefect—what was his name? A tall, black boy who was guaranteed to be handsome, quiet but respectful...Kingsley Shacklebolt, wasn’t it?

“It’s not,” Kinsley sobbed. James repeated the same soothing circles on his back that she had seen him do in the common room when Sirius was crying. “I don’t know what to do.”

“Kingsley, mate,” James responded, sounding firm but not unfriendly. “What do you want to do?”

“I don’t want...I can’t be like them,” he said, in between sobs. “My older brother, he got the Mark last summer. He’s all about it. He says he wants to kill all Mudbloods—sorry, Muggleborns—with his bare hands. I don’t get it. It’s just fucking wrong.” His voice broke on the last word, but James just nodded, stoically.

“Do you know Sirius Black?” James asked in the same soothing tone. Kingsley nodded.

“Regulus’s brother, yeah. But it’s different. He’s a Gryffindor. He has an escape,” he pointed out.

“Good point,” James continued. “What about Dorcas Meadowes? I’m pretty sure her parents are on the bandwagon, but she eats with her girlfriend in Gryffindor every day. She doesn’t hate Muggleborns.”

“You should hear the things they call her in the common room,” Kingsley replied, still crying.

“I think I’d rather not,” James said, wryly. “But do you agree with them?” Kingsley shook his head. “What do you want, Kingsley?”

“I just...I want people to be safe. I don’t think blood matters. I think whether or not you want to hurt people matters,” he got out. “I think that matters more than anything.”

“Even family?”

“Even family.” Kingsley agreed. “Even my stupid, murderous brother. I would rather die than hurt innocent people.”

“So what do you want to do?” James asked, somewhat rhetorically. “I know I’m graduating at the end of the year, but until then, I’ll be here for you, and so will my friends, and their friends. And we can reach out to the year below us, too. They’ll be here.”

“Even though I’m a Slytherin?” Kingsley asked.

“I think the divide between Slytherins and Gryffindors can easily be surpassed in times of Death Eaters and those who disagree with them, whatever their reasons,” came the surprisingly confident response.

“I want to help those who disagree with him.” Kingsley said suddenly, fiercely.

“I know,” James smiled at the younger boy. “But all you can do right now is learn to be the best wizard that you can be, so that you can help when the time comes.” Kingsley nodded, and with James’s help, got to his feet. He threw his arms around James, and Lily half wanted to laugh out loud at the shocked look on James’s face.

“Thank you, James.” Kingsley whispered.

“Anytime, mate.” James replied, although Lily noted that he sounded a bit choked up.

They walked off down the hall together, and Lily was left staring at the spot where they had been. Fuck. James was...maybe one of the best people she had ever met. She had thought he was unfairly prejudiced, and spoiled rotten, and that he hated people for no reason other than the house they had been sorted into, but clearly she was wrong. He was truly kind to those around him, even those that he would—or, that the version of James she had assumed was James would—have ever reason to hate.

She had been so wrong. And she was in love. And the boy would never ask her out again.

Well, there were worse things in the world than asking a man out, right?

***

After the series of rejections, Lily wasn’t even sure if James was still interested her. So she did something she knew would catch his interest.

“I want to help you in a prank.” She said to one-half of the Marauders, while the record player she had helped fix played in the background. Sirius looked shocked, and Remus amused.

“Really?” Sirius said, a smile dancing across his face. She nodded, matching his smirk with one of her own.

“Really. But on one condition.” she added.

“C’mon Lily, you can’t stop us from pranking the Slytherins!” Sirius protested. Lily laughed.

“I am very pro pranking some of the Slytherins. I just want some part of my role in the prank to involve James and I getting stuck in very close quarters.” Remus laughed out loud at that.

“Come around, did you?” he said. Lily pulled a face at him.

“Perhaps I judged too harshly, yes.” she admitted. Sirius and Remus both looked overjoyed. “And I’m afraid a simple apology won’t work, or at the very least, won’t get the point across.”

“Evans. Lily. Lils.” Sirius looked like Christmas had come early. “Are you saying you want us to help you plan a prank that both pranks the Slytherins and declares your undying love to Prongs? Because that is something we can definitely make happen.”

“Merlin help me, yes I am.” Lily said, knowingly consigning herself to a lifetime of dealing with the dynamic duo of James-and-Sirius. At least she had Remus to hang out with, and Peter, if he wasn’t busy snogging Mary (as he was doing right now).

“Brilliant.” Sirius grinned.

***

Three days later, Lily found herself, as requested, shoved in a broom closet with one James Potter.

“Lily Evans, if I didn’t know better I would say you did this on purpose,” he grinned, which made her (annoyingly) weak in the knees.

“James Potter, you are singularly frustrating,” she responded truthfully.

“How long until the others set off the fireworks?” James asked. “Also, brilliant idea, sending some choice Slytherins letters which explode.”

“Surprised you haven’t thought of it before now,” she winked, flirtatiously.

James groaned, “Evans, you can’t do this to me.”

“Do what?”

“I agreed not to ask you out but you can’t do things like wink at me in a cupboard and not expect me to swoon, it’s not my fault that you’re so bloody amazing.” He whined. Lily looked up at him in shock. (and when did she start finding their height difference sexy, instead of annoying?)

“You think I’m amazing?” she echoed. James looked at her, his eyes deadly serious.

“Why do you think I kept asking you out? Why do you think my parents knew so much about you?” Lily gaped at him. James’s gaze was incredibly intense, and he was close enough that Lily would only have to move half a centimetre to close the gap.

Which was, of course, when Peter flung the door open.

“Still hiding in here then? C’mon, don’t you want to see the fireworks?” Lily, internally cursing him and every possible Pettigrew descendant and ancestor at this untimely betrayal, followed him out of the cupboard.

She did, however, drag James along. Meaning, she was holding his hand when they got into the Great Hall and the fireworks began going off.

“Woah!” James exclaimed after the first one went up in Snape’s face. “That looks like a J!” Lily turned to Remus to hide her smile, who just winked at her. She couldn’t help but feel she had underestimated the sweater-clad boy before—he was as mischievous as any of his friends.

“Wait, is that my name?” James exclaimed, half a second later, when the entire seventh years’ and part of the sixth years’ mail followed Severus’s. More were to come, the people who had made Kingsley feel unwelcome, anyone who had called a Muggleborn student a mudblood, and lastly, in a bit of a vindictive fit, Marlene’s latest letter, exploded into a question mark.

“Lily Evans.” James said, finally, turning to her beaming. “Did you really plan an entire prank on the Slytherins, and then some, to spell out in bloody fireworks the phrase ‘James, date me?’ Did you?”

“Erm...yes?” Lily responded, smiling sheepishly. “The others helped?” James beamed and strode the three paces that separated them.

“I thought you didn’t want me to ask you out again?” he said, cupping her face with his hands.

“I didn’t. I was wrong.” She smiled up at him. “So I just asked you out, instead.”

“Obviously, my answer is yes, you stunning woman.” James said, before capturing her lips in a knee-weakening, bone-melting, heart-stopping kiss.

Lily had never felt such joy in being wrong.