CHAPTER 34

AUTHORS NOTE:

SO SEEING as I haven't updated in forever I'd recommend reading through the story again, because I suck and haven't updated in a year, and therefore don't expect you guys to remember the storyline that well (I just read through the whole story myself). If you don't feel like reading through it I've made somewhat of a summary right here:

James became Head-boy at the start of the year and shares Head-dorms with Lily. They become closer after a while, with Margaret's help. James blackmailed Margaret into helping him by telling her he knew her secret (which was that she likes Remus). Remus was dating Dorcas at the time. Sirius starts dating Sylvie, a pretty Ravenclaw, and she becomes his first long-time girlfriend. Marlene and Sirius became closer as they had to sit next to each other all year in a class. Margaret and James start "dating" to make Lily and Remus jealous – they also attend the Halloween Ball together (which makes Remus and Lily react with jealousy, even though they don't really understand why seeing as they're dating different people). Lily dates Benjy Fenwick. Margaret decides Lily is too uptight and gives her weekly dares too loosen her up. Because these dares are embarrassing and Benjy is a prick, he breaks up with her for fear of damaging his reputation. Remus realizes he's in love with Margaret and breaks up with Dorcas. Dorcas thinks he "lead her on" so she decides to figure out why he dumped her – deciding it must be some mystery girl's fault for catching his eye. Margaret and James "break-up" after their fake-relationship, seeing as Remus and Lily are both single, and they'd rather be available for them. Remus and Margaret eventually start dating – and they are very much in love. Dorcas becomes furious and stops talking to them both. Eventually she becomes "friends with benefits" with Sirius, so she can focus on healing her emotional hurt without thinking about other stuff like that. When Christmas arrives the boys throw a prank for the whole school making the great hall snow, and leaving anyone inside it wearing bikinis. After this fun, they go to James' house for the vacation – where Lily, Margaret and Marlene join them. James gives Lily a bracelet with letters that she cannot make out – he tells her it's a riddle. Sirius realizes he's in love with Marlene – and tries winning her over. Marlene is in love with Sirius, but a guy named Liam has claimed her and she admits feelings for him too. When coming back to Hogwarts Marlene breaks up with Liam, because she is too in love with Sirius. Lily and James get together after a disagreement about Lily leading him on, and her finally admitting she wasn't leading him on because she was actually in love with him. The bracelet she got for Christmas clears and the words on it make out "will you go out with me?" which Lily agrees to. Remus tells Margaret he has to tell her a secret, and she waits patiently for him to tell her.

*Oh yes, I'd also like to apologize for not updating in so long. Life came in the way with my exchange year and then getting accustomed to moving back to Norway. I'm sorry! I'll update more often whenever I have the time, now.

Disclaimer: I don't own it.

"James?" Lily called from inside her room. "Do we really have to tell everyone?"

"Lily!" James grinned. "It took me what - 6 years to get you to agree to go on a date with me? – Of course we have to tell them!"

"It's just that I feel like I'm admitting to having lost some battle" she called back, ruefully.

James smirked. "Well I mean, you get to go on a date with ME, so really you should feel like you've won a battle"

Lily laughed. "Oh please don't go all arrogant on me now! It took me what – 6 years to get your ego down to a size acceptable for me to date you?"

James barked out laughing, before turning serious as she entered the common room. "You know I'm not like that anymore, right?"

She smiled. "Of course."

"I'm just glad you forgave me for the other night" he murmured.

"And I'm glad you forgave me for all the pain I've put you through" she said softly.

Just then the door knocked.

"That's probably Sirius and the others" James said. "Soo.. are you ready?" he said grinning evilly.

"As ready as I'll never be" Lily said, rolling her eyes.

Just as James opened the door Sirius burst through, apparently having tried to open the door by force as they were talking. "What took you so long?" he exclaimed.

James rolled his eyes. "We spent 20 seconds walking over to the door, Padfoot. What do you mean long?"

"Well it was long enough for me to get bored" Sirius countered.

"You're ridiculous" James said, as the others entered behind Sirius.

"Ah, but at least I don't wear glasses"

"That argument is ridiculous as well" James said, grinning.

"Well at least it isn't wearing glasses" Sirius said, sticking his tongue out at him.

Marlene sauntered over. "Mature as always, huh Sirius?"

Sirius just grinned.

Remus and Margaret entered the door hand-in hand right along with their friends, and when they'd all finally settled down to relax and hang-out, Lily could feel her nerves going overboard. She didn't like putting her feelings on display; it had been hard enough telling James, after all. She never understood how he could be so open about himself to others. She thought that might be a reason why she'd fallen for him. He was so clear about what he wanted. He never wavered in what he believed in; and it just made her admiration for him grow.

"So what's up?" Marlene said, plopping down into a chair.

"Wait, are James and Lily going to tell us something?" Peter wondered, confused.

"Well yeah, now that you mention it.." James mumbled, drawing his breath. "Lily and I are officially going on a date". Once he'd said those words James finally realized what he'd accomplished. He'd gotten Lily Evans to go on a date with him. He could feel the wonder of it inside him, and when he looked over at her, nervously biting her lip and blushing furiously, he couldn't help but smile for the beauty of her.

The others gaped. James took in their shocked impressions, but was way too happy to become insulted.

After a while Sirius got to his senses. "Oh I get it. This is some April Fools joke, right?"

Lily, her blush diminishing slowly, looked at him bemusedly. "It's not even close to April"

Margaret shook her head then squealed happily. "You did it?" she asked James. "Oh I'm the best freaking coach in the country"

Lily looked at her with a puzzled expression wondering what she could possibly be talking about, but decided to hold her questions until later.

"Prove it" Sirius demanded.

Lily felt her blush returning. Why was she putting herself through this? Nervous butterflies were swarming her stomach and she wished they could just get this over with. She didn't want to talk, or prove, or even think about any of it. She just wanted to feel. And when she was near James she did feel. All those butterflies, yes, but they were good. And she felt safe and loved and happy. The only thing that worried her was the possibility of him leaving her. She was panicked just thinking about it. It was all a turmoil and it was getting harder for her to breathe.

"You okay Lily?" James asked in a low voice. He looked worried.

"Yeah" She gasped. "just overwhelmed by my own emotions"

He smiled at her softly. "You have no idea".

"Prove it" Sirius whined again, seeming to think they'd been ignoring him.

"How would they do that?" Remus chipped in.

"Uhm.."

"Just give her a kiss James" Marlene snapped, clearly aggravated this was taking so long.

James looked down. "That's sort of something we wanted to share in private for now" he said, lifting his chin. He wanted those kisses they would eventually share to be intimate; just like the ones they'd already shared. Oh, he looked forward to kissing her in public as well, but at this point, he just wanted to take things slow. Besides, he knew how uncomfortable Lily felt with displaying her emotions.

"Oh alright" Peter piped in. "It's not like he'd make this up anyways"

James nodded gratefully to him. Sirius decided he might as well believe his friend, seeing as Peter's point actually did make sense. Remus and Margaret congratulated them both, which made them feel like they were getting married or something. Sirius settled for a "Good job man. I always knew you could do it", which probably made James the most happy of all.

Sirius and the others eventually decided to leave, believing Lily and James needed some "alone-time", which was met with indignation from Lily and a grin from James.

"Don't forget though" Sirius called as he exited through the doorway "I call best man at your wedding".

Lily huffed as she sat down. "I can't believe they wouldn't believe us at first"

"Well it is a rather fantastic leap" James admitted. "They've seen me being shot-down so many times they probably couldn't encompass me actually being in a relationship with you"

"I'm sorry" Lily mumbled, before slowly grinning. "Relationship, you said?"

"Well maybe after this date" he said. "If I can charm you well enough"

She trilled a laugh. "Let's hope you can then".

"If not.. you'll always be worth the wait" he told her.

"But what if I'm not?" she whispered uncertainly, leaning close to him on the couch.

"Trust me Lily, you are". He kissed her softly, amazed that he was allowed to do that. His body was burning hotly just from the trace of her lips against his, while he pulled away slowly.

When he broke away she wrinkled her nose in a puzzled expression. "There's one thing I don't understand though".

"What?"

"How come I could suddenly understand what the bracelet said?" she looked down at the beautiful peace of jewelry with renewed vigor.

"Don't you want to figure it out by yourself?" James asked.

"Well I assume that it has got to have some sort of emotional trigger, sort of like a mood ring, only the emotional trigger could be triggered even without me noticing. And the only way to see if it was triggered or not was by holding the bracelet close to my heart" She mused. "Still.. I'm unsure how the bracelet could evaluate my feelings and decode itself based on that".

James grinned. "You're right. It's triggered by emotion, but not exactly like you would think. It works not only on your feelings but on whether or not you are lying. As long as you were true to your own emotions and succumbed to those without hesitation, the writing would appear". He took a deep breath "It's like a cross between a lying detector and a mood ring, you could say".

"So you're saying even if I hadn't liked you, and been absolutely sure of this, the writing would appear?"

He shrugged. "Yeah. At least that way I'd know when it was time to move on".

She smiled. "Don't even think about it."

"Nah I'm not even sure I could if I tried" he admitted.

She blushed happily, ignoring the sudden swarm of butterflies in he stomach. "And what about the second gift?" Lily asked, referring to the copper miniature statue of two people on a walk outside, which was sitting on her bedstand. "No wait, let me guess! Hmm.. the two people are us, right?"

James nodded.

"So that's a hint! And We're outside and we're walking" She snorted as she got it "So that would be for "going out""

James chortled. "Right again. Only thing you missed was the copper part, which was supposed to symbolize your hair, and if you look closely the boy has glasses.."

"Which is for you" Lily supplied.

"Yeah"

"Thanks James" she looked at him shyly "I've never had anyone give me a gift like that before. You really thought about it. I love it"

"It was a gift for me too" he grinned. "After all, I got to ask you out in an elaborate way just like I always liked"

She laughed.

"But most of all.. you gave me the answer I've always wanted. And I'm always going to like that" he grinned, as cuddled up closer next to him before drawing him near in a passionate kiss.

A couple of days later Margaret was becoming impatient. She thought she'd waited long enough for whatever stupid secret Remus was keeping from her. Remus should just tell her. It wasn't even that big of a deal. Nothing would change how she felt about him, so she might as well hear it.

"Remus!" She called as they were about to exit the classroom after the last class of the day. "wait"

Remus agreed to, and they waited patiently until everyone had left. Seeing as it was the last class of the day even the professor left, which was perfect when they needed a moment alone.

"So listen" she said. "I'm tired of waiting for you to come to me, will you please just share whatever you're hiding from me? It isn't fair of you to keep me in the dark"

"I'm not sure you want to hear this" Remus mumbled, having realized what she wanted the moment she called for him to wait.

"I don't care. It's not about me. It's about us". Oh wow, that sounded cliché. Well.. it was true nonetheless. "what are you hiding?"

He sighed. "Myself."

"What do you mean?"

"I'm dangerous… you should stay away from me"

"Stop it." Margaret growled. "I couldn't stay away from you if I wanted to. Besides, you're not dangerous"

"I'm a werewolf" he blurted.

Margaret gaped. Of all the things she might have expected that was not one of them. She fought an irrational urge to run away. How could Remus be a werewolf? He was too soft. Too compassionate. How could something like that be hiding inside him? "What?" she said in a whisper.

"I'm a werewolf" his voice cracked as he said it, like his voice was too dry to speak properly.

"No.." she leaned against a desk, dizzy "You can't be.."

He shrugged, staring at some point way past her.

"I can't… I can't. I don't understand" She said finally.

"Don't tell anyone" he pleaded.

"Of course I won't" she said fiercely.

"I understand if you need some time, or if you want to.." he stopped unable to say the words.

She shook her head.

"I don't need time. You're still you." She decided. It was a split-second decision, but she knew it was the right one. So what if he was a werewolf once a month. He was still her love. "I still love you as much as I always have". Tears rolled down her cheeks as she walked over to him "I'm just so sorry this had to happen to you". She clung to him, before turning his head and kissing him fiercely. She was afraid for him. For his future, for everything. But she knew that together they'd make it work.

"I love you" he whispered strongly. "I love you, I love you, I love you". She'd accepted him. It was unreal, and yet he knew it could not be a dream. Dreams had never made him feel like she had.

Dorcas hummed to herself as she wandered the hallways. She'd just been hanging out with Emmeline and was going to meet Sirius. She's decided she was over Remus. If he didn't love her then so be it. Sirius was better looking anyways. She wondered if with time she could convince him to be more than friends… with benefits. Him and Marlene would never work anyways. They were too different. As long as he didn't realize Dorcas was over Remus she could totally make this work.

"Hey" she grinned as she arrived at the abandoned classroom they were meeting in.

"Hi" he said. "You seem happy today…"

She got the hint. He was only interested in doing this with her if it was to help her emotionally. He was doing it as a favor. And she who always thought all he ever cared about was making-out with girls… This sure would've suited the Sirius she used to know.

"I'm alright" She nodded, purposely hardening her expression. "Been worse. But I've been better too."

He took her word for it and she came closer for a kiss. He wasn't as enthusiastic as he had been before and she thought it might be because he'd realized how off the whole setting was. She knew he liked another girl after all. She wasn't dumb. She'd get to him though. She was sure of it.

Sirius left feeling wrong. He shouldn't be kissing another girl. It felt like a betrayal to Marlene, even if she was dating someone else. Dorcas seemed to be doing fine anyways. And he couldn't bear if Marlene found out… Although now that he thought about it she might think it was expected behavior from him. But that's exactly what he didn't want. He wanted her to trust him. He climbed into the Gryffindor common room, after telling the Fat Lady the password ("Nitwit"), and found Marlene sitting alone by the fireplace. It was late and most everyone else had gone to bed, except for the occasional pairs and threes sitting huddled up in a corner, or by a table.

"Hey Marlene" he shot her one of his most famous grins and could hear the swoon from the girls all the way at the other side of the room. Fighting the urge to snicker he plopped down beside her.

"Hi Sirius" she blushed faintly, his smile obviously having had some effect. He liked the feeling.

"So what's up?"

"Writing a letter" she mumbled, biting softly on the pen as she pondered what to write next.

"Oh. To who? Your boyfriend?" He knew it was none of his business but he couldn't help but ask.

"My mom" she responded shortly. "Liam and I broke up".

Fighting the urge to swoop her up in some happy dance, and restraining his smile, he asked her why.

"I guess I just didn't like him as much as I hoped I did" she responded.

"I never liked him anyways" Sirius added frankly.

She laughed. "Why?"

"He's just not my type" Sirius said in a girlish voice, while batting his eyelashes.

Marlene giggled. "I guess not".

"Yup" he agreed.

"Soo.." she said, after a pause in which she'd been scribbling something more on her letter "What have you been up to today?"

That reminded him. He'd better tell Dorcas he couldn't.. help her anymore. Marlene was free now, and he wanted to show her he could be serious about girls. Or, well, at least one girl in particular. The rest; not so much. He had to get to her though.. he grinned at the thought. Seducing Marlene. It sounded nice, and would probably involve lots of blushing and most likely snapping. He never knew when she'd change her mood and he liked that. It made her harder to read… more like a mystery. She had a soul and a personality he'd never seen in any of the other girls he'd dated. If he didn't get her he didn't know what to do.

"Nothing much.." he answered. "Just been thinking"

"Oh! I'm sure that was an exciting experience for you" Marlene teased.

"Hey!" he said indignantly, but she only giggled and he soon found himself laughing alongside with her.

AN: So there you go. That was chapter 34. I hope you liked it ! It took forever to write.
Please review :) It really motivates me to write. Besides, then I know what I might do better and what I did good.
Alright, thanks for waiting for me. I'm sorry I took so long.
~AddictedToPotterAndProudOfIt

PS. I read through my story and I realize I have quite a few spelling mistakes here and there, but seeing as I don't have a beta and I'm usually too tired to read through the chapter at the end I hope you'll bear with me.