This one is dedicated to @Snuzza14
As she is the first person to read vote and comment on my chapters.. thnx a lot @Snuzza14mention a user

"What are you reading?"

Lily startled and glanced up to find James leaning over the back of her lounge, smiling at her fondly.

"Oh, just revision," she murmured, setting the book aside and yawning. The fire was growing low in the grate, the flames casting flickering shadows across the Head's common room. James nodded, pushing himself back up into standing position. Suddenly, Lily noticed the cloak tucked under his arm.

"You going out?"

James nodded again. "Full moon," he explained softly.

Lily's eyes widened. James looked so calm, for someone that was setting off to spend a night with a werewolf. Although, really, he wasn't: he was going to spend a night with his friends, and it was as simple as that.

"Oh – be safe, then?" she murmured, standing up awkwardly. James leant across the lounge and kissed her cheek.

"Always, Lily. See you in the morning?"

Lily watched as he turned, checking his watch as he walked briskly out of the tower. It was Friday night, and in fact the night they had originally planned to hold the ball. Instead, James had had it pushed back to Saturday so that Remus would have some company. Sinking back down onto the lounge, she sighed. James had certainly proved to be full of surprises, and Lily couldn't help but feel the slightest bit guilty that she had been so cold to him for so long. She should have listened to Remus; but then, Lily conceded with a smile, if everyone listened to Remus the world would be perfect. She couldn't recall ever meeting someone who had such a knack for being right. And even so, she had misjudged him too. In fact, she had misjudged all of them… If only there was a way to make it up to them.

James the stag (we shall call him Prongs) trotted out of the dark, earthy passageway and into the open, ducking beneath the knarled branches of the frozen Whomping Willow. Sweeping his impressive head around, he carefully checked for any movement before turning pack to the passageway and grunting gently. A cheerful bark responded, and moments later, a shaggy black dog came bounding out of the tunnel, closely followed by a ragged wolf, his coat streaked and mottled with grey and gold. A rat clung to the wolf's fur, riding with his head held high in pride. Prongs snorted and shook his head. Rats were so conceited…

As if able to read his thoughts, Wormtail turned to him, beady eyes accusing. Padfoot, ignoring this silent match of wills, snuffled softly and jerked his head eagerly toward the forest. The wolf grinned in reply, barring his sharply pointed teeth in anticipation. As one, the pack of Marauders set off toward the tumble of trees.

There was nothing Prongs enjoyed more than loping across the gently sloping grounds of Hogwarts, the full moon cast high in the night sky. They skirted around Hagrid's cottage, and made a fresh break for the cover of the trees, when much to the collective surprise of the stag, rat, dog and werewolf, a slender doe trotted out of the undergrowth to meet them.

Padfoot barked in amusement as Prongs immediately straightened, holding his head higher, a move that immediately transformed him into a very regal looking creature.

The doe, however, did not seem impressed. She approached them without fear, ducking her head in familiarity and bleating softly.

James shook his head, immediately aware of the effect the doe was having on him. He might have been a stag, but at that moment, his human mind unfurled, and he watched the doe with suspicion. One slip on the part of his animagus form, and Lily would never forgive him.

Prongs, on the other hand, didn't care very much about Lily. Prongs saw the fire-haired girl within James' mind's eye, and found this strange doe immediately more desirable. Unfortunately for Prongs, the doe seemed to be ignoring him. Instead she approached Moony, bowed her head, and butted his nose in a gesture of familiarity. The werewolf seemed to think for a moment, sniffing her carefully, before growling his approval.

Moony's consent changed things, and immediately Padfoot approached her, raising himself onto his hind legs to sniff her face suspiciously, too. Prongs watched jealously, and James laughed as the dog seemed to fall over in shock, until…

The doe finally turned her head toward Prongs. The creature's mind near-roared in approval, immediately wanting to claim her for his own. James gasped, unable to miss those distinctively coloured eyes. What other doe would have hazel eyes, picked with green…? It had to be, but at the same time, James couldn't make head nor tail of it. Lily?

They met half way, and she butted the side of his head playfully, as if confirming her identity. Pleased that he didn't even have to win her over, Prongs grunted softly, low and deep, in approval, and nuzzled her face.

Padfoot barked again, and James had the nasty feeling his beloved mate was being as loud and obnoxious as he possibly could. Prongs glared at him, lowering his antlers threateningly, only to have Lily butt him in the head once more, her eyes laughing. Padfoot licked Lily's face in gratification, and jerked his head suggestively toward the forest once more. Prongs grinned, a very un-stag-like thing to do, his lips spreading wide to reveal his square-ish teeth. Throwing back his head, Moony howled into the night, before setting off at a run for the trees.

"Get up you lazy layabout, it's lunchtime!"

James groaned quietly to himself. Eyes still squeezed shut against what would inevitably be blinding midday light, his hand searched blindly across the top of his nightstand for the offending alarm clock. Having shut that up, James yawned widely, collapsing back onto his pillows with a crackle.

A crackle?

Peeling open an eye, he stretched a hand suspiciously behind him, until it landed on a piece of paper. A piece of paper that was in fact, a green, mottled piece of parchment. A green, mottled piece of parchment that was in fact addressed to him.

How odd.

Frowning, James opened his other eye, and unfolded the note.

Dear James, it read.

It's already 10am and it doesn't look like you're going to wake up any time soon. In fact, you look quite adorable, passed out on the bed like that (snoring your head off, too, I might add). I just wanted to let you know I'm spending the day with Em. We're going to get ready for the ball together. I know we haven't really discussed this any further, but last time you said you weren't going to ask me to the Ball, so I'm asking you instead. Meet me in the Head's Common Room by six?

- Lily

James grinned, lying back against his pillows as he read and re-read the note. Lily was one plucky girl, asking himto the ball like that. That took a lot of gumption – something that James knew Lily possessed in spades, as did any typical Gryffindor. Not, he figured, that Lily hadn't realised there wasn't much at all at stake, anyway.

Feeling sufficiently awake, James dragged back the drapes around his bed, swung his legs to the side of the bed, and cast his eyes around for a pair of pants. Spotting an elusive pair of trousers flung across a chair, he stood up, stretched, and made his way across the room to retrieve them. If he hurried, he might just make lunch…

It was three' o'clock, and the Marauders were lazing about the Gryffindor common room, watching the last minute rush for dates, and general Ball hysteria, accelerate. At approximately half past two, all the girls had mysteriously vanished from the common room, which left a great surplus of male energy. Soon, the common room had descended into chaos, with an impromptu match of Gobstones resulting in the nasty smelling liquid landing on a game of exploding snap. The results had been mildly disastrous.

James reclined by the fire, watching the frantic efforts of a few fifth- and sixth- year boys attempting to put out the small blaze that had engulfed one of the study tables. As Head Boy, James knew he should have been obliged to put the fire out, as he could have done with a lazy wave of his wand, but this way was so much more exciting; not to mention, the common room could surely stand the loss of one study table.

"I wonder what they're doing up there?" Sirius asked after a time, gazing toward the Girl's Staircase as if it were the entrance to a mystical and very foreign world.

James, on the other hand, who had been into Lily's room enough times to know that she was a great deal tidier than he, felt that Lily was not so diametrically opposed to him as the age old wizard versus witch debate suggested. In fact, they really were quite similar. Lily liked to wash her hair every second day; James every day. Lily liked mint toothpaste; James liked mint toothpaste. Lily was inclined to leave the bathroom mirror fogged after her shower; James could commonly be seen to be leaving the bathroom itself in a puff of white steam. Really, James had discovered that he and Lily were quite similar, so it came as a bit of a surprise when Sirius, Remus and Peter reacted to shocked to his flippant, "Oh, normal stuff," comment.

"Normal?" Peter had yelped. "Is it normal to spend an entire day preparing for a party?"

"James, there are only so many times one can brush one's hair," Remus added reasonably.

"Is it normal to take three hours to put on your makeup?" Sirius asked.

James frowned, affronted, a hand sweeping his face defensively. "What makes you think I wear makeup?" he demanded.

"Honestly, Prongs," Peter laughed, shaking his head. "What person takes that much pride in their appearance? It just isn't natural."

"I don't know, Wormy," Sirius mused, now stroking his own jaw line thoughtfully. "You get out what you put in, if you know what I mean."

Remus scoffed. "Oh stop being vain, Sirius. James, it isn'tnormal for the girls to exile themselves away in the name of beauty, but really, so long as it doesn't happen too often, it isn't so bad, is it?"

Sirius was busy now eyeing his own staircase. "Moony," he asked carefully. "Would it be weird if I just went up and-"

"Yes, Padfoot, it would," Remus told him firmly. "No getting ready until at least five'o'clock."

Being the considerate friend he was, Remus had exempted James from the 'no-preparation-until-five' rule on the grounds that Lily and James had to arrive early, and so were meeting each other at six. James had subsequently left the common room by four-thirty, and had made his way slowly through the school, nerves jumping about in his stomach as he thought about the night to come. He sincerely hoped that at the very least he wouldn't embarrass Lily on the dance floor, knowing full-well Sirius' tendency to send tripping spells into the dancers at random intervals. James' worrying carried him all the way across the school to the eastern corridor on the fourth floor, where the Carved Witch greeted him cheerfully.

"Ready for the big night?" she sung sweetly, her grainy smile dazzling in the dark wood.

"Just going to do that now," he told her. "Amortentia."

"From what I hear, it doesn't sound like you need that potion these days anyway!" she called cheekily as he entered and closed the door.

James gulped.

Really, he thought as he paced the common room, what was so scary about walking Lily to the ball?

He had heard Lily's attempt to sneak into the Head's Tower about half an hour earlier, as he had been rattling around in the bathroom cabinets, searching for his particularly expensive Black Magick aftershave (Her night, magic; Your scent, unforgettable). Smiling as he listened to the muffled running up the stairs, James' rattling did not falter until he heard her bedroom door close. Now, some considerable time later, he had made a show of leaving his room and loudly closing the door, before clumping his way down the stairs in his shiny dragon-hide shoes. If that wasn't a hint, James didn't know what was, and yet, here he found himself, perched on the lounge, waiting for his Cinderella to alight from the stairwell.

The door to Lily's room opened, and in that instant, James knew exactly what was so intimidating about this small task, and exactly why she had made him wait for so long.

Lily looked absolutely gorgeous.

She disappeared from his view momentarily as she descended the stair, but all too quickly she appeared beside him on the heart-rug, smiling nervously.

"You look nice," she murmured, standing back to admire his black dress-robes before she leant up to peck his cheek. "And you smell wonderful."

James grinned, and caught her lips with his instead. "Youlook wonderful."

Lily blushed and her shy smile widened. "Thanks," she told him quietly, and accepted his arm. "Shall we?"

Sirius Black hated balls. He sat with Peter, glowering at the dancing and occasionally, when struck by that peculiar feeling of malice, he would throw a tripping spell into the hub of dancing people. At least, he conceded, it wasn't Christmas yet. Christmas cheer was so over-rated. He was quite sure that had there been floating sprigs of mistletoe attacking random couples, it would have been more than he could bear.

Out in the middle of the dance floor, James and Lily were dancing, his arms wrapped around her waist, her hands toying with the hair at the nape of his neck. James held her emerald gaze with his own, so like chocolate that Lily wanted to melt into that look.

Earlier, Professor McGonagall had waltzed past them with Professor Dumbledore, just in time to catch James dipping his head for a kiss.

" Mr. Potter, Miss Evans!" she had barked. "No tongues!"

Lily had blushed a lovely shade of red, James had burst out laughing, and Dumbledore had considerately steered McGonagall away.

"Well, this surpassed all my expectations," James murmured, bending down once more to whisper the words into her ear. "Quick, is McGonagall looking?"

"No," Lily replied after a subtle glance around, in which time James stole a quick, chaste kiss. Lily grinned up at him, surprise in her eyes. "And did it really? This is just how I imagined it, actually."

James laughed easily. "Well you have a higher opinion of dancing than I do," he teased. "I'll tell you a secret – Mum used to make Sirius and I practice dancing-"

"Well, that's not so b-"

"- with each other."

Lily's mouth curved into a perfect little 'o' of surprise and amusement, and James tried valiantly to look ashamed, although he couldn't stop beaming.

"May I cut in?"

Lily and James turned, quite surprised, to find Emmeline standing beside them, smiling.

"How long have you been there?' James asked, surrendering Lily to her best friend.

Emmeline grinned. "Long enough to hear your little confession."

"If you tell anyone—"

"Empty threat," Emmeline teased. "Now go away, we have some girly gossip to catch up on!"

Pretending to grumble, James did as he was told, although he didn't terribly mind. As wonderful as dancing with Lily was, he could be fairly certain the boys were off pranking some unsuspecting couple, and he quite fancied joining in their fun.

Lily and Emmeline watched James' retreating back until they could no longer see him through the crowd.

"Well, someone seems disgustingly happy," Emmeline told her, a superior tone to her voice, as she slipped her hands around Lily's waist in an imitation of James.

Laughing, Lily placed her arms over Emmeline's shoulder, and they began to sway to the music, the odd pair in a sea of courting couples.

"Me or you?" Lily replied carelessly, rolling her eyes at the group of third year boys who were attempting to start a mosh pit.

"You, naturally. I am merely happy, and there is nothing disgusting about it."

Lily grinned. "Is this how you pictured seventh year?"

Emmeline shook her hair, her long blonde hair shimmering down her back. "No, definitely not. This is much better."