James couldn't believe she'd finally said yes. Years of rejection, and now—finally—a date. Granted, it was a school night and Sirius had promised to castrate him on the spot if he showed Lily the secret passage to Hogsmeade on their first date ("Wait at least a month, Prongs, until we're sure she's not just out to worm our trouble-making secrets out of you and then run off to Dumbledore with them!"). So James had stuck with the entirely unoriginal but good old standby of a walk around the lake after dinner. Sadly, the weather had refused to hold, and it had begun to pour. He'd given Lily his cloak, so he felt chivalrous, but nonetheless sopping wet. Therefore, they had picked a spot on the couch in front of the fire in hopes of drying off. James noticed gratefully that, whether because his friends had beaten them all off or whether every other Gryffindor knew what an occasion this date was, everyone else had scattered from the common room after they'd come in and were kindly giving them privacy. Well, as private as sitting in the middle of a common room can be when any member of your house might walk in at any moment.

Finally his clothes began to dry out and he became warm and comfortable again. He was a bit irritated when he felt his hair begin to stick up in back again; so much for all his efforts to keep it flat. Maybe this was what Lily had felt when she'd complained about the rain ruining her hair. Personally, James thought it looked nicer this way, drying into little ringlets around her face. Not that he hadn't thought she looked stunning when she showed up for their little stroll. It was still all very surreal; he kept expecting the prefects to join them for a meeting or for Lily to switch into Head Girl mode and start talking business. Yet here she was, sitting right next to him, talking about... Oh. He had no idea what she was talking about. He'd zoned out when he'd noticed that perfect red curl over her left eyebrow... Normally he would gladly have listened to Lily talk about drivel for hours, but he was a little nervous, and it had compromised his ability to think about more than one thing at a time.

In what he hoped was a casual manner, James draped his arm around Lily's shoulders. He tried to listen intently to whatever she was saying about what's-her-name, but he couldn't ignore the sensation that his stomach had dropped completely out of his body as soon as he'd touched her. He was starting to be afraid that he was going to make a complete fool of himself the next time he spoke, since Lily would be expecting him to make some witty remark about her story and he didn't even know whom she was talking about. Then she suddenly asked,

"James! Are you—are you shaking?" She looked at him, green eyes completely baffled and slightly mirthful.

"No!" he said, a little too quickly. She raised an eyebrow skeptically. He looked away, embarrassed, hoping she didn't notice the red creeping up his cheeks. "Sorry," he mumbled. "I guess I'm a little more nervous than I thought I was."

"Whatever for!" she exclaimed. "It's just a date." She looked at him bemusedly. "Surely James Potter doesn't get weak in the knees just because he's got his arm around a girl?"

"You're not just a girl to me, Lily. You know that. You're the girl." His embarrassment was starting to rankle.

"But you must've—you must've... sometime..." She shook her head as if to clear it. "James, haven't you ever been on a date before?"

He sighed, knowing there was no way she could escape noticing his blush now, judging from the way heat had begun to radiate from his face. "Is it my fault you always said no?" He managed to keep his voice controlled, but he was getting a bit peevish. There was no need to be having this conversation now.

He could feel her eyes boring into the top of his head, so he diverted his gaze to the other side. "I know that I always said no," she began, "but I always assumed I wasn't the only one you were asking. That somewhere along the line you must've gone to Hogsmeade with somebody else. Probably several other somebodies. But now that I think about it, I can't remember a single other girl ever talking about it, or looking a little cozy on the couch with you, or... anything."

"Look Lily," James scowled defensively, "you don't have to point it out. I know you've got loads more experience in this area than I do, and I'm quite nervous enough without you making a point of it. No, I've never been on a date, and I've never put my arm around a girl before, and I've never snuck out after hours to go snog in a broom closet, any of it. And believe me, Sirius makes fun of me quite enough for it. I certainly don't need to hear it from you, of all people." He took his arm back from her shoulders and folded it, along with the other, across his chest. He was getting ready to feel quite sorry for himself when he heard Lily smile. Or maybe he just imagined the sound, but when he finally dared to look at her, she was glowing.

She reached out touched his shoulder lightly. "Do you have any idea what kind of a compliment that is to a girl? To know that she can make you tremble like that? I think it's quite a bit nicer than if you just plopped down and made it seem like no big deal. There something very—romantic about that touch of awe." Her thumb brushed his collar bone, and he shivered involuntarily.

"I really didn't ever expect you to give me a second look," he admitted. "I suppose it feels a little bit like I'm sitting here, waiting to wake up. Why would you be here with me when you could be with someone who actually deserves you?"

"There, that too," Lily pointed out. "It's nice to know you respect me. That way I know you won't be looking for somebody a little better now that I've let you catch me." She smiled teasingly, then laid her head on his shoulder.

James' stomach had quickly returned, and it was rolling around inside him now so fast he didn't think he dared move. "You know I've always been nuts about you, Lily," he murmured. "Why would I waste my time in Hogsmeade on another girl? I'd rather be with you, being turned down once again. Well, most of the time, anyway. There have been a few times I've wondered if I should start looking for somebody of my own class. Down here with the toe rags, you know." He grinned. She grinned right back. "But honestly, I'd rather get a verbal lashing from you than a simpering smile from those other girls who aren't worthy to borrow your wand."

"In a twisted sort of way, I think that's the nicest thing anyone's ever told me," she chuckled. She turned on the couch, folding her legs up as she went so that she could face him fully. "So," she said, taking both his hands in hers and leaning forward.

She finished her sentence but James didn't hear it. He was looking at her hands in his, marvelling at the way they seemed to belong there. But he pulled himself out of his reverie and dragged his eyes back up to her face. "Sorry, didn't catch that. What did you say?"

He knew she was laughing at him inwardly, but she certainly didn't seem offended. "I asked what your favorite class was."

"Oh. Right. Umm, Transfiguration, probably. Though it can be a bit boring at times." He shrugged.

"I figured that's what you'd say. Is that why you get in so much trouble? Boredom?"

James was surprised at how comfortable she seemed with him. And how interested. "Yeah, I suppose so," he found himself saying. "It's just always been easy for me, you know? Like Charms and Potions for you."

She nodded. "I envy you, though. Charms and Potions seem so paltry when compared to being able to change one thing into something else. I know they're valuable classes and all, but just once in a while I'd like to be able to just—poof—change my sister into a beaver or something." She laughed.

Oh, how he loved that sound.

"We could work on that, you know," he responded, hoping he could get her to laugh again. "I'm sure we could look up the spell in the library, and I could help you with it. I'd even let you practice on me."

"Why thank you, James," Lily chuckled. "I'll have to take you up on that sometime. But preferably a little closer to the next holiday, so I don't have time to forget before I see Petunia again."

"How old is she?" James asked.

"Just starting Muggle university," Lily responded. "Thoroughly disgusted by magic and everything pertaining to it." She rolled her eyes and made a face.

"Ah. Hence wanting to turn her into a beaver." James was rewarded with a quick smile. Taking control of the conversation, he asked, "So what do you want to be when you grow up? Auror? Healer? Librarian? Caretaker of Hogwarts?"

"Oh lord no!" she gasped. "Can you picture me as Filch's successor, running around the school with my abnormal beastie, hauling kids out of broom closets and empty classrooms, threatening to hang them up by their heels?" She squinched one eye nearly closed and hunched her back, holding out one finger menacingly. "Get back to bed, Jimmy, and keep pincers and red hot irons in the back of your mind next time you think about sneaking out after hours!" she screeched.

James laughed so hard he nearly had tears leaking from his eyes. "I think you've got quite a future there. Who would have thought?" He paused a moment to take in her shining face, aglow with the pleasure of being with him. "Really though, Lily, what do you want to be after Hogwarts?" he asked seriously.

She looked down for a moment, thinking. "Alive," she said finally. "Happy. Still somehow able to suck the joy out of living, even in the midst of all the horror that's going on everywhere around us."

"You'll find a way," James said, squeezing her hands. "I can't picture you letting evil defeat you on the inside before it's beaten the outside. You're too strong for that, too keen to pick out the ray of light in the details of even the worst situations."

She seemed surprised by this evaluation of her. "What makes you say that?"

James shrugged. "It's just the way you are. Look at the way you treat Snape. Look at the way you find comfort to give the students whose parents have just been brutally and senselessly murdered. It's not easy, you know. I've had to do it too. You're much better at it than I am," he admitted admiringly.

"Somehow I can't picture you giving up very easily yourself," she replied with a smile. James didn't mind the teasing, just happy to see her smiling at him. Lily apologized a little sheepishly, "Sorry, that probably wasn't really the answer you were looking for."

"Maybe not what I was expecting, but still the answer I was really looking for," James assured her. Conversation ground to a halt for a few seconds. Then, struck with a sudden idea, he blurted out, "Do you want to go to the Astronomy Tower?" Lily snickered. James blushed. "Not to go...do whatever other people do up there," he fumbled, "but to actually go look at the stars." He ran a hand through his hair nervously. "They really are quite amazing."

"I'd love to," she answered with that same bemused smile.

When they had found themselves a spot on the floor, looking up at the vast expanse of sky, they started to talk again. It was amazingly easy. James had always dreamed of his first date with Lily Evans being a smashing success in which he wooed her with his smooth and intelligent conversation, dazzled her with his wits, and charmed her with his dashing good looks. But in the back of his mind, he'd always known that he couldn't seem to put together ten words without making himself look like an idiot, and he could never think of anything witty to say, and he was frankly a pretty ordinary looking guy, a little too tall and skinny with hair that wouldn't stay put and eyes that couldn't see farther than five feet without his glasses. When Lily had finally accepted, he'd been ecstatic—until the reality had set in that he was going to make a complete fool of himself. Still, he found himself here, with Lily so close their ankles brushed, talk flowing freely, all evidence pointing to genuine interest on her part. He was sure he was going to wake up to find it all a dream. But oh, what a blissful dream. Then she looked up him, smiled, and slid over to rest her head on his chest.

She must have been able to hear his heart pounding. He was half afraid it was going to come flying out of his chest at any moment, racing a mile a minute. It seemed to constrict painfully for a moment, and his whole body tingled all the way out to the tips of his toes and his fingers. They were silent together, just taking in the moment. James hesitantly reached over with one shaking hand to brush a strand of hair out of her face. He had imagined countless times what it might feel like to bury his hands in that thick, curly, wonderful hair (usually while also imagining what it might feel like to snog her madly), and now it lay there, waiting for him. He couldn't seem to help it; his hand just slid up and in and started to slowly stroke. Lily made a soft sound halfway between a moan and a sigh and nuzzled a little closer. His heart radiated tingles again, and his breath caught in his throat. Clearly he was doing something right. "Feels nice," she murmured, eyes closed. He closed his eyes, grinning like an idiot, completely content.

They walked back to the common room, still talking comfortably. James worked up the nerve to reach over and take her hand on the way, which she returned with a little squeeze to let him know it was all right. He was completely amazed at how well things had gone. She really was everything he'd been waiting for and more. In what seemed a moment they were back at the foot of the stairs. The other students had headed for bed long ago. James and Lily stood there in the empty room just looking at each other for a minute.

"Well." James shuffled awkwardly. "I had a really great time tonight with you. Thanks for coming, Lily. I'm glad you finally said yes."

"So am I." She smiled. "Can we do it again sometime?"

James' eyebrows shot up. "Really? You want to?" he said, a little too eagerly. He caught himself and cleared his throat. "Of course we can. If you want to."

Lily laughed. "Were you expecting, 'I had a lovely time this evening, James, and now I'd like it if you'd just leave me alone and stop speaking to me'?"

"Well, er, yeah, I suppose I was," he said sheepishly. He laughed a little in relief. "Just name your time, name your place for the next date. I'll be there."

"How about Hogsmeade this weekend? I'll meet you here in the common room a half hour after breakfast, and we can go together."

"That sounds nice." James couldn't seem to stop smiling. His cheeks were starting to hurt. "Well, um, goodnight then."

"I'll see you in the morning." Lily smiled encouragingly at him, looking expectant.

This was terribly awkward. He'd never thought about how the date was supposed to end. He'd put all his effort into thinking about getting her on the date in the first place, not how he'd leave afterwards. And she was clearly waiting for something.

Oh Merlin.

The kiss. Was that what she was waiting for? She wanted him to kiss her? But what if that wasn't what she was waiting for, and then maybe she would think that he was being presumptuous and she'd slap him and never speak to him again. Maybe there was something else in dating etiquette that he'd missed out on and Sirius had forgotten to mention. He couldn't escort her up the stairs; they'd send him sliding right back down. They'd already made plans for another date. What else could there be?

"James?" Yes, she was definitely waiting for something. "Aren't you going to kiss me goodnight?"

This time the blood drained from his face. "Won't you..." he began faintly. He cleared his throat and tried again. "Won't you think I'm presumptuous and slap me and stop speaking to me forever?"

Her eyes widened. Then she started to laugh. Hard. "You still think I'd slap you? What more is it going to take to convince you that I like you?"

The blood came pouring back into his face. She liked him. SHE liked him. Lily Evans had just said that she liked James Potter. Surely the world had just stopped spinning and that was why he felt so dizzy.

"Well?"

Right. Kissing her. It couldn't be that hard. He'd pictured it in his head a million times. He would take her in his arms just so and then...

His head wouldn't move. He just couldn't quite seem to convince it to drop those few inches to her waiting, upturned face. Merlin, she was beautiful. To him, anyway. And he was scared to death to kiss her.

She opened her eyes. "What are you waiting for?" she asked softly.

"I can't move," he whispered honestly.

The corner of her mouth twitched. "Nerves again?"

He tried to nod, but his head still wouldn't move. "Terrified. I've... never done this before, you know." Couldn't hurt to tell the truth, right? He certainly couldn't get any redder. "I might mess it up."

"Oh, pish posh. I wouldn't care. And if you think you need more practice, we can work on that later." Her eyes twinkled mischeviously. Oh lord. This wasn't fair. How could she tease him like that at a time like this? "Here, let me help." She reached up, slid her hand up the back of his neck into his hair, which seemed to trigger his eyes to close, and she pulled his head down, stopping just short of her lips. His eyelids drifted open far enough to see her looking at him, smiling a little dreamily, as she whispered, "Well, come on then." This time he did it.

Oh, what a peculiar sensation! Somehow it wasn't what he had imagined at all. He was definitely going to need that practice Lily had suggested. He pulled back after a moment and licked his lips, feeling slightly breathless. Lily smiled at him, then reached up and kissed him again. This time it felt a little less strange and a little more like he had imagined. Then she opened her mouth, silently encouraging him to follow, and he started to see why people would run off into empty classrooms to do this for a few minutes after lunch or between classes. He could do this all day. In fact, he was starting to think that now Lily had let him start, he wasn't ever going to be able to stop. He was caught between holding himself back so she wouldn't think he was just in it for the snogging, and not being able to get enough of her, her taste, her smell, her hair, her in his arms...

This time Lily was the one to pull back, quite breathless and flushed. "Well. I don't think we need to worry about practicing that," she murmured, looking a little dazed. "I'd say you're a natural."

"Really?" The edges of his mouth were turning up slowly, but he was dying for some more affirmation. Please tell me it was good, please tell me it was good...

Lily nodded. "That was..." She grinned. "That was worth repeating. Preferably several times in the future."

Now James was grinning like an idiot again. "Well, if I did all right the first time, just imagine how I'll do with a little more practice."

Her eyes twinkled. "I was."

"Well then, let me make your dreams come true," he teased, bending down to kiss her again.

Several minutes and several kisses later, James realized his knees were shaking. "Sorry Lily, I'm afraid it's time to go," he whispered, "before my legs give out and betray me. You've made me quite weak in the knees again."

She beamed at him, emerald eyes alight and affectionate. James felt the entire evening would have been worthwhile if that smile were all he had to take to his dreams tonight. "Goodnight, James." She reached up and kissed his cheek.

He smiled down at her and kissed her forehead. "Goodnight, Lily."

He watched her walk up the stairs, turn and flash him a brilliant smile, and go inside. He walked up the stairs to his own dormitory and flopped down on his bed with a happy sigh.

"Well?" He looked up to find three pairs of eyes staring at him through the bed curtains. "How did it go?" Sirius asked.

"Oh, bugger off," James said, rolling over to hide the grin he couldn't stop.

"Ooh, must've been really good," Remus said.

"How do you figure that?" Peter asked.

"You only keep the details to yourself if it was too good to share," Sirius explained. "If it had only been a normal date, he would have told us all about it." He turned back to the bed. "Just please tell me this one thing: did you get to snog her?"

James felt the red creeping up his neck and hid his head under the pillow. "I told you, bugger off." But even he could hear the smile in his voice.

"Oh, good for you, mate. That's all I really wanted to know." Sirius sounded satisfied, and James heard the curtains slide shut again. He rolled over onto his back as he drifted off into daydreams of his evening with Lily, and then finally slid into real dreams of how he might spend the rest of his life with her.