James had scanned the room several times over before concluding his fellow Marauders had bailed on the Ball all together. That was until he overheard a rather hysterical second year girl being calmed by a circle of sympathetic friends, who were brushing snow out of her hair. Smiling slightly, James decided an investigation of the Entrance Hall was in order, to turf out the perpetrators. Unless of course, the perpetrators were the particular group of boys James suspected were behind this prank, in which case, he had every intention of joining them. He wandered casually out of the Great Hall to find, surely enough - thud – something cold and wet trickling down the side of his face.

Over near the stairs, his three friends broke into laughter. Sirius cuffed Wormtail over the head.

"Nice one, Wormy. Sorry Prongs."

Slicking the snow off his cheek, James moved up the marble staircase to sit beside Sirius. "What are you lot doing out here, anyway?"

Sirius blinked, reclining against a higher step. "Peter was getting depressed," he murmured, not meeting James' eyes. "Em and Fenwick were kissing on the dance floor."

James raised his eyebrows, not missing the significance of this event.

"Actually, Em's dancing with Lily at the moment – but that's not the point. What is Peter going to do about it?" he inquired quietly, so quietly that no one but Sirius was capable of hearing.

Sirius shrugged and plucked at his dress robes. "Absolutely nothing. She's happy: that's all that matters," he replied, equally as quiet.

The doors of the Great Hall opened again, and Sirius nonchalantly flicked a snowball toward the couple attempting to slip away unnoticed. They startled as the cool white power hit their fancy clothing, and scowled toward the stairs. Peter gave them a jaunty little wave.

"May I have the next dance?"

Lily and Emmeline had given up their waltz, and instead had settled themselves on the comfy chairs that lined the dance floor, watching the rest of the school chat, flirt and generally embark on a bit of winter cheer.

Now, Lily smiled up at Benjy and gestured grandly with her hand. "Of course, she's all yours."

Emmeline grinned at her as she stood and allowed Benjy to guide her back out into the throng of dancers.

"Lily!" A voice exclaimed behind her, and Lily turned in her seat to find Art Scamander moving to stand beside her, watching the dance floor with a knowing smile. "And how does such a beautiful young lady come to find herself all alone at this time of night? Prince Charming hasn't abandoned you to the elves, has he?"

"I think you mean dwarves," Lily told him coolly, standing up. "And no, he hasn't. He's busy: Head's stuff. You wouldn't understand. Good night, Art."

Lily turned and walked away, making sure she put a considerable amount of distance between herself and her ex-boyfriend before she wrapped her arms around herself, feeling positively forlorn. Art was right: where wasJames? He'd probably gone off gallivanting with his friends, and forgotten all about her.

No, Lily told herself firmly, knowing that the latter was not true. Don't be silly.

Air. I need air, she decided, and without much further ado, she set off toward the doors.

"Here comes another," Peter announced excitedly, watching the doors inch slowly open.

He exchanged an excited look with Remus, who was appearing increasingly tired of their little game. James caught sight of the distinctive dress-robes and wine-red hair, stopping Peter's attack only a moment soon enough. The four boys watched in silence as Lily hurried out of the Great Hall, arms wrapped around herself feebly, as if for comfort, and headed out the front doors. Flashing his friends an apologetic look, James stood and slowly made his way down the stairs, his athletic body showing every sign of restraint as he cautiously followed Lily out into the night.

Sirius watched James' broad back disappear into the night, frowning.

"And that's the last we ever saw of him," he sniffed, mockingly.

Remus frowned at his friend reproachfully. "Oh grow up, Sirius," he said. "I haven't seen either of them so happy in years. This might just be the real thing, so stop being so sour about it."

Sirius scowled. "She better be worth it," he grumbled, refusing to meet Remus' eyes.

If he had, Sirius would have seen them roll, a sign that even the great patience of Remus Lupin was wearing thin. "She is to James," Remus told him softly. "He loves her. He might not have said it, but I can see it in his eyes every time he looks at her. And we all know how long he's fancied her. Are you really going to deny him his happiness?"

"But we're his friends," Peter objected, attempting coming to Sirius' rescue.

Much to his surprise, Sirius himself swiftly cut him off.

"We're his brothers," he corrected curtly. "And that's much more important than-"

"Is it really?" Remus interrupted, that familiar knowing smile spread across his face. "We're his family, and James will always come back to his family, but he's allowed to fall in love too, isn't he?"

Sirius looked away, picking up his wand and maliciously flicking a snowball toward the Great Hall doors. Unfortunately for Sirius, Professor McGonagall chose that moment to step outside and get smacked in the face.

Spotting the three boys by the staircase almost immediately, and quickly singling Sirius out as the wand-bearer, McGonagall's eyebrows knit together.

"BLACK!"

Lily hurried out into the cold night air, gasping as it hit her skin. She look slow, deep breaths as her heels crunched through the fine, powdery snow that radiated from the front of the castle, watching as her breath rose in small puffs of steam into the darkness.

Casting her gaze around the grounds, Lily paused, frowning. Down, away toward the forest, light was flickering across the snowy hillside as if a giant-bonfire was being held. Lily frowned. Not only was that not allowed, it was extremely dangerous; what if the forest caught on fire?

Immediately forgetting her lack of warm clothing and footwear, she set off across the snow, feet finding the stone-hewn path that wound down around the tumbling hills toward Hagrid's hut. As she rounded the old Seeing Stones, Lily gasped.

She hadn't been wrong about the fire; in fact, she'd been terribly, terribly right.

Seven cloaked figures stood before Hagrid's hut, laughing with glee as Hagrid's dog snarled at them, watching the big-boned man desperately trying to put out the fire raging in his rooftop.

Lily drew a sharp breath of indignation and hurried closer.

"Estingua!"

A great mound of snow lifted clean in the air and settled delicately on the rooftop. The cloaked figures turned, furious, to the Head Girl and were just ready to draw their wands when a hand clasped Lily on the shoulder.

"Fifty points from Slytherin," James told them furiously. "Get back inside, now, and don't think that Dumbledore won't hear of this!"

As one, the Slytherins, whom James estimated were no older than fourth year, shot Lily and James a very nasty look and fled.

James sighed, removed his hand, and turned to examine the damage. Steam was now rising from the rooftop in great billowing clouds, but the clouds were white, and it was clear the fire had been extinguished.

Lily, on the other hand, turned to Hagrid, who was standing watching his home with frustration.

"Ruddy kids," he grumbled. "All I was doin' was checkin' on Fang here, an' they ruddy followed me out an' attacked me!"

He turned to face Lily, shaking his head, and Lily gasped. "Hagrid, your face!"

Hagrid fingered the burn on his cheek and winced. "Well, what did yeh expect me ter do, leave Fang in there ter burn?" he asked.

Lily climbed the steps to the still smoldering house and beckoned him over. Gently, she examined the burn, before scooping up some snow and pressing it to the wound. Hagrid winced, but didn't move away.

"Thanks Lily," he mumbled quietly. "I've never felt so ruddy useless-"

"I think you should go and see Madam Pomfrey," James suggested suddenly, returned from his examination of the interior roof. "The hut doesn't look too damaged, surprisingly."

"Reinforcement spells," Hagrid winked proudly, before hastily adding, "Not that I did 'em myself, an' don't you go getting such ideas!"

James winked. "Of course not."

Hagrid sent Fang back inside, and with a sigh closed and locked his door.

"Thank you, you two. Haven't seen a better Head Boy and Girl for all my years here," he told them gruffly.

Lily and James walked back up to the castle in silence, although once they were inside once more, James' hand appeared, from where it had been stuffed deep into the pocket of his dress robed, to clasp Lily's, entwining their fingers as they strolled toward the Head's Tower. So far as they could tell, the Ball was continuing in the Great Hall, although there was no sign of the Marauders.

James measured each step carefully, marveling over Lily's prompt reaction to the fire, and her practical knowledge on how to deal with Hagrid's burn. Most of all, though, James was stunned and impressed by the compassion and kindness that he had seen in her - not, a little voice reminded him, that he should have been surprised.

Not everyone was kind to Hagrid, a fact that James knew well, but it did seem natural for Lily to be just as caring with Hagrid as she was with anyone else. He watched Lily's hair, formerly twisted into a lovely up-do, now trailing down her back in graceful tumbles, and smiled. This was simply something extra to admire about his girl – and James felt he could cope with that.

Lily was mortified by James' silence. She supposed he wanted an explanation of her sudden disappearance from the ball – how else would he have found her, unless he had been looking for her? When they reached the Carved Witch, James murmured the password, and stood back to let her in. The fire was crackling merrily in the grate, as always, but Lily winced at the flames, put a hand to her forehead and chose instead to go up to bed. Frowning, James extinguished the flames and followed.

"Lily."

She turned, eyes expectant, as he spoke her name, but James merely smiled and kissed her on the forehead.

"You look beautiful tonight. Sweet dreams."

And with that parting remark, he nodded and disappeared into his own room.

Lily rose early, her head pounding with what felt like a hangover to rival the morning she dumped Art. Gritting her teeth, she rolled out of bed, dressed quickly and managed to stumble down to breakfast in the vain hope that some food would set her right.

The Great Hall had been transformed back to it's usual magnificence, with the four house tables stretching along it's length, and the Hogwarts banner returned to its place above the teacher's table. Very few people were eating breakfast at this hour; in fact, Lily suspected that, being Sunday, most of the school would be sleeping in until lunchtime.

"Morning, Lily."

Lily glanced up, startled, to find Remus taking the seat opposite her. She had forgotten that it was only full moon a few days ago: indeed, in the anticipation for the Winter Ball, she had almost forgotten about her own personal adventure with the Marauders. Remus' face looked white and drawn: in short, the poor boy was exhausted.

"How are you feeling?" she asked gently.

He sighed wearily, and rested his head in his hands. "Terrible," he confessed. "Sirius had me on pepper-up potions all yesterday to have me all right for last night, but I can really feel it today."

Lily frowned. "Side effects?"

"Loads," Remus confirmed. "I had about five, though," he added as an afterthought.

Lily rolled her eyes. "Well that explains it."

Remus grinned guiltily, then suddenly leant forward. "Peter told me you came, too," he told her, voice lowered. "How did you like it?"

Lily blinked. "You – you can't remember?"

Remus shook his head sadly. "Nary a thing, milady. It doesn't work like that. When I'm a wolf – well, I'm allwolf. When the lads transform, though, they seem to keep themselves about them, if you know what I mean?"

Lily nodded quickly. "I do – I, er, transformed too."

Remus smiled. "I knew you had it in you. How did you like it?"

"Oh, very much, I-"

The doors to the Great Hall burst open, signaling the arrival of James and Sirius. Sirius was rubbing his head, exhausted, but James strode forward steadily, purpose in his eyes.

Reaching Lily's seat, he pulled her roughly into standing position, and kissed her.

He's kissing me, Lily's mind registered blankly. How odd. It's very early for kisses.

James pulled away, grinning.

"What was that for?" Lily demanded, stunned.

"For being the most amazing witch I've ever met." James' smile just broadened. "Remember I told you that I fancied you?"

Lily nodded dumbly, completely confused. James kissed her again. "I take it back."

"Oh?"

"Oh," James confirmed. "I lied. I don't just fancy you, Lily Evans, I love you."

Lily blinked again, a slow, cat-like smile spreading across her face.

"Is that so, James Potter?"

"It is," James confirmed.

"Good." Lily kissed him again. "Because I think I might just love you too."

She felt James smile against her lips.

"Are you quite finished?"

James and Lily sprung apart to find Professor McGonagall looking at them with raised eyebrows.

"Yes, Professor," Lily replied quickly.

McGonagall raised her brow even higher.

"Are you quite sure?"

James nodded empathetically, his eyes wide in his startled face. "Very sure, Miss – I mean, Professor."

McGonagall smiled, her own eyes twinkling. "Lovely. Then, perhaps," she suggested, turning and gesturing to the random groups of students who had all turned to watch, "perhaps the rest of the school can get on with their breakfasts now?"

James grinned, his hand finding Lily's and clasping it tight in reassurance, softening her stricken expression. "Certainly."

"Thank you, Mr. Potter. That's very considerate of you."

Sirius and Remus were sniggering into their cereal as Lily sunk back down into her seat, mortified.

James sat beside her, looking half inclined to laugh. "She certainly knows how to interrupt the perfect moment," he murmured lightly, helping himself to toast.

Remus grinned. "Did you see Scummy's face? He looked like he wanted to vomit."

Sirius rolled his eyes and grinned ruefully. "So do I. I tell you, Prongs, you certainly know how to ruin a person's appetite."

He proceeded to stuff his face with bacon and eggs, much to Lily's disgust.

"Oh, I think I'm going to be sick, too."

James glanced at her momentarily in concern, before returning his glare toward the Ravenclaw table, where Art Scamander was still seated, looking rather resentful.

"What's his problem?" he asked abruptly.

Lily followed his line of glance, and rolled his eyes. "Well, I'm happy, without him. Which is what I was trying to impress on his thick skull last night when he attempted to chat me up again."

"He what?" James repeated, voice dangerously low as he drew his wand.

Lily placed a gentle hand over his own, lowering it, as she pulled out her own.

"Allow me."

Even Sirius stopped eating to gaze in surprise at Lily.

"Appiccicoso."

James grinned, turning away again, as the telltale sound of impact carried across the Hall, signaling the collision between an unidentified green, gooey substance and the face of Artemis Scamander III. Instead, the Head Boy proffered his face for a kiss. Sirius flinched, distracting him momentarily.

"His mouth was open," was all that Sirius offered by way of explanation. Seeing James and Lily glance at him confused, Sirius gestured toward Art.

"Never mind," he told them cheerfully. "Do continue…"