Sirius and Remus were snogging.   

"You ought to shave," Sirius said against Remus's lips, "You've got a bit of fuzz that's getting up my nose."

"You love it," Remus mumbled. His fingers were in Sirius's hair, running along the nape of his neck. "I know you love it."

Sirius's hands were on Remus's neck, his fingers parted so that some were behind his ears and some were in front, resting against his temples. He twisted his face to one side and descended upon Remus's mouth again, their tongues and lips melding together hungrily. Remus playfully bit on Sirius's lower lip, and Sirius growled happily into Remus's mouth, "Are you playing for Alpha?"

"Are you?" Remus challenged.

"Sassy Moony," Sirius mumbled, turning his head the other way and returning to the kissing, "I love it."

"We're back and absolutely nothing happened while we were gone," James announced walking up and dropping the bag of groceries onto Sirius's foot.

Sirius pulled back from Remus with a cry as the bag, heavy despite how small it was because of it's extendable charm, hit his foot. "What the actual fuck, Prongs?" he demanded, and he looked up and saw James's rain-soaked face was perfectly pale and his eyes wild. "What happened?"

"Absolutely nothing, I told you already," James said, and he coughed and looked behind him as Lily came trotting up behind him, "Tell him nothing happened, Evans."

"Nothing happened," Lily nodded.

Sirius stared at her. Her face was flushed and her eyes, too, seemed strangely wild. His narrowed.

Remus was rummaging in the bag, famished. "I knew I smelled chocolate," he announced, emerging with one of the bars that was thick with fruit and nuts added in. He looked it over. "What the bloody hell is this? Are you trying to make chocolate healthy on me?"

Lily replied, "Well, I like them."

"There's regular in there," James offered.

Remus dove back into the bag.

Sirius was still staring between Lily and James suspiciously.

"Alright, let's go camping!" Lily announced, clapping her palms together.

"Yes, camping!" James scooped up his broomstick and his rucksack.

Sirius stood up. "I've been thinking and I've had an idea."

"Yeah? You're capable of that?" James asked, teasing.

Sirius gave him the finger. "We could fly out. Rather than walking."

"Fly out?" James asked.

Sirius nodded, "Yes, I've got my motorbike and you've got your broom. Moony can ride with me and you can take Lily with your broomstick."

There was a long pause as the innuendo hung in the air and all four of them chose not to comment on  it.

"Alright," James said, clearing his throat, "Yeah." He turned to Lily, "If - if that's alright with you."

"Yes!" she said too quickly, then, calmer, she nodded, "Yes. Fantastic."

"Brilliant," James said. He looked at Sirius, "I'll take Lily with my broomstick."

"Fabulous," Sirius's lips were quirking at the corners.

Remus stood up, dusting off, and tied off the top of the market bag, putting it into his rucksack, and strung the thing about his shoulders as Sirius reached into his pocket and withdrew the tiny motorbike. Lily watched in awe as he engorged it back to regular size, shaking her head in disbelief, "Only you, Sirius Black, would have a tiny motorbike in your pocket."

Sirius grinned. "Quite handy, that." He climbed aboard the motorbike and nodded for Remus, who struggled to get up, and Sirius used a spell to plop him up on the back. Remus was pulling on a little white helmet, tightening the strap beneath his chin, and Sirius was adjusting his mirrors. "Dunno why you wear that thing," Sirius said.

"For safety," Remus answered.

"You don't bloody need it," Sirius said, "It isn't like you're going to fall off or something!"

Remus shrugged.

James took his broomstick. "Well," he said to Lily, tucking the broom between his legs. "Shall we?"

Lily walked over, coming up behind him, and straddled the broomstick too. James could feel her pressed into his back, her arms coming 'round his shoulders and holding onto him. He could smell her perfume and soap and shampoo, and his hands shook as he held onto the shaft of the broomstick. "Alright, then," he murmured. The kiss was in his mind, undulating, circling his consciousness, thumping against his brain like a heartbeat. He could still taste her on his mouth, in his breath. Could still hear her words.

I like you.

She likes me.

His heart rate tripled.

And they took off - Sirius's bike roaring as he drove across the grass to gain momentum and a moment later, he and Remus shivered out of view as the invisibility charm he'd placed on his motorbike took effect.

"You can do the honors," James told Lily.

"Talpa comple'te!" Lily said, tapping James upon the head and then herself. It was as though someone had cracked an egg upon her head, the spell slid over her slowly and over James so that for a moment it looked as though her arms were clinging onto empty air before they, too, disappeared and the broomstick and the rest of her and the rest of James slowly went out of view. 

She felt them rise up into the air and the sensation was most strange - feeling but not seeing the weight of him there, and the smell of him - rich and warm and safe. She was thankful for it, though, because it made the weirdness of flying on an invisible broomstick far off the ground much less scary. She moved so her face rested against his back and closed her eyes, listening to his heart beating as they flew.

James followed the sound of the motorbike, which sputtered and popped and roared as they flew over the trees, and every now and again Sirius would call out, "PRONGS? EVANS? STILL THERE?"

"STILL HERE," James would shout back. Then, quieter, "Alright, Evans?"

"Alright," she answered, and her fingers wrapped around the wool of his jumper a bit tighter.

James breathed deep. 

It was the first time he'd been on his broomstick since the holidays. He'd forgotten how good it felt - and even better with Lily Evans aboard - and he found himself lighter than he'd felt in a very, very long while, his heart loosening up, and a bit of spirit returning. He grinned and flew a bit higher, then, suddenly feeling quite frisky, he called, "Oi Evans?"

"Potter?"

"Reckon we could out fly a motorbike?" They were over the forest now, deep and away from any human eyes, and the invisibility was off the motorbike and staring to wear off on them so that she could see his hair, like the image of him was on a low opacity and slowly getting more and more transparent.

"I reckon you could," she said, smirking at the playfulness of his voice.

"Let's find out, shall we?"

"Alright."

"Hold on tight!" 

She wrapped her arms about his waist, and tightened her knees about him, her thighs clamping onto him and he lost his breath a moment at the sensation of it, then, energized, he shouted, "OI PADFOOT?"

"PRONGS?"

James lowered, the broomstick zipping past the motorbike, "RACE YOU."

Remus's eyes widened and, without any warning from Sirius, the motorbike sped up and Remus clamped onto Sirius the same way, shouting, "THIS! THIS IS WHY I WEAR THE HELMET!!!!!"

The motorbike and the broomstick - both fully transparent now - shot low over the trees, the tops of the especially tall ones swaying in their wake as they went past, James feet on the stirrups of the broomstick as he bent low to the handle, Lily leaning with him, pressing against his back as closely as she could. The bike had an engine, sure, but James was a bloody good flyer and his broomstick was a bloody good broomstick, and he had better control over the thermals in the air that helped to propel him, the same way that a plane could do, to pick up windspeed, which was something Sirius's motorbike was just not built to do, and the bike itself was so heavy, it was weighted down so that it wasn't long before James pulled ahead, and he shot up into the sky, heady with his win, sweeping up and up in a spiral that twisted the cloud like a whipped cream topping, barrel-rolling over and back down over the valley that their camping spot overlooked, sweeping low over a field of wild flowers, circling the field that his stag form had gone to nibble on clover so many times on past trips, and back up, into the air, over the camp site, circling the motorbike once, twice, three times.

"WOOOOOOOOOOOOOOO!" he shouted.

Lily laughed, clinging to his back.

"WOOOOOOOOOOOOO!" His face was pink with the rush of the wind and the rush of the win, and, as Sirius dropped the bike to a stop at the camping site, James did one last sweep of the field before bringing himself and Lily to a rest a few steps away from Sirius's bike.

They stumbled off the broomstick, velocity still in their muscles, and he turned and caught Lily up in a hug, spinning her about, laughing, and announced, "That was bloody brilliant! Did you see? Did you keep your eyes open?"

"I saw," she laughed as he put her down.

James pointed at Sirius, "AYYYYY MY BROOMSTICK, PADFOOT, YOU SEE WHAT MY BROOM CAN DO?"

Sirius grinned, even as Remus shed his helmet and staggered to a log to sit, looking rather pitiful as he relished the feeling of solid ground. "Yes, I see," Sirius ceded. "I see." James was jumping on Sirius playfully, punching his shoulder, admonishing him to admit he'd been out flown, and Sirius laughed, "You ruddy idiot, I saw - yes, yes you outflew me, you bloody dolt."

James laughed, invigorated. "Bloody hell that was fun."

Lily smiled and shook her head as the two of them started working on getting the tents out of their rucksacks and setting up the camp, James going on and on about his flying skills and how much he'd missed being on a broomstick. Lily sat down next to Remus and put her hand on his knee. He opened his eyes, which had been closed, trying to regain his stability, still a bit nauseated from the flight. He peeked between lowered eyelids.

"Are you already, Rey?" Lily asked gently, quietly.

Remus nodded. "And you? Are you alright?" he asked.

Lily nodded.

"Are you sure?" Remus asked.

"Yes," Lily replied, and she looked up to watch James and Sirius as they used their wands to raise the roof of the first tent. "More than alright."

Remus looked toward James and Sirius, then back at Lily. "You kissed him, didn't you?"

Lily looked at Remus with surprise, "I - what?"

"You. James. You kissed him."

Lily flushed.

Remus murmured, "About ruddy time," and closed his eyes, leaning into Lily with a sigh of contented relief.

Lily put her arm about him. "Did Sirius tell you?"

"Sirius didn't have to tell me," Remus replied. "It's been on your face every time you've looked at him for months."

Lily flushed.

"He's the only one in the entire world too thick to see it, I reckon," Remus added.

Lily lowered her voice, "He looks happy."

Remus smiled, eyes still closed, "Of course he does."

Lily said, "I'm scared."

"I was too," Remus replied. He opened his eyes and nudged Lily, "Remember back in year three, sitting together outside a cinema, and we had a conversation a bit similar to this?"

Lily nodded, smiling at Remus.

Remus wrapped his arms around her the way she'd done to him that day and he squeezed tight and put a kiss on her cheek. "I'm here for you."

"And I'm here for you." She smiled, and reached up as the hug broke off to push his curls up off his forehead.

"OI, LOVE BIRDS," Sirius yelled, looking over to each the tender moment, "I've got the tent up, you reckon you lot need a room?"

Remus called, "Oh bugger off Sirius.  It's Tuesday and you're busy with Prongs tonight anyhow."

James looked up as Sirius turned to him with a grin, and he laughed, "No.. down, you mongrel." And Pop! Pop! They both quickly had transformed and gone darting into the woods, the dog barking and howling after the stag, who crashed ungracefully away through the brush.

"They're absolute gits," Lily laughed.

Remus said, "And they're just getting started. The real gitty-ness of camping's not even begun yet." He opened his rucksack and produced the bag from the market. "Shall we get some dinner started so when they've tired themselves out, it'll be ready?"

"Alright," Lily agreed, and they got to work at it.

"OH I'm SO FUCKING FULL!" Sirius announced, leaning back and drumming against his belly with his palms. "Well done, Moony and Evans -- well done!"

"Yeah, blimey," James was sopping up the last of some gravy they'd made with a bun, though even his faced was flushed with satiation. "Bloody brilliant meal. Well done indeed."

Lily smiled, taking Sirius's empty plate and using her wand to clean it off before sticking it back into the bag from the market to be reused tomorrow. "Well, I'm certainly glad you enjoyed it," she said. "Remus, your potatoes were my favorite part, I must say."

He smiled, "It's the herbs you use that makes all the difference."

Sirius stared up at the stars over the filed and sighed happily, stretching his arms out so they went dangling over Remus's shoulders. James finished up his plate and Lily accio-ed it over and cleaned it off, too, as James stoked the fire, sending glowing ashes into the air. He asked, "Anyone fancy marshmallows to roast?"

Sirius started to say yes, but Remus cut him off, "Actually --" Sirius said said, sitting up, and looking toward Lily with meaning, "I reckon that Remus and I are tired."

"We are?"

Sirius raised an eyebrow and Remus looked up at James and Lily, then grinned, "Yeah. Yeah. We are. Tired. Night you lot."

Sirius got up and grabbed James, pulling him up from the market bag, where he was bent over and getting the marshmallows out, and splashed a big old kiss against his cheek. "GOODNIGHT MY PRONGSLET," he said.

"Goodnight, you wanker," James replied.

Sirius grinned, eyes twinkling, and he turned and pulled Moony up from the ground, winking dramatically at Lily, and tugging Remus along to the tent. Remus looked at Lily with eyes that said he hadn't told Sirius a thing, and let himself be dragged off into the further of the two tents, which now glowed as lanterns inside were lit. They heard Sirius put up the muffliato and it was the last they heard from the other two the rest of the night.

James was making a job of opening the marshmallows and sticking them onto two long sticks he'd broken off branches hanging low nearby. When he finished, he turned about, and walked back over to where Lily sat. He held out one stick to her, and, changing from where he'd been sitting before when Sirius and Remus were out there, he sat down beside her.

Lily stuck her marshmallow into the flames, staring at the flickering gold and orange, the burning red of the embers.

"About earlier," James said.

Lily looked over at him. He was turning his marshmallow stick in his hand, no where near the fire, staring down at it. "Yes?" she asked.

James cleared his throat and his eyes met hers, "That kiss."

"Yes?"

"Wow."

Lily felt her cheeks warm. "I know."

"That was a... a really fantastic kiss," James said.

Lily nodded, "It was my favorite, honestly."

"Yeah? Of all the kisses you've ever had?" he pressed.

"Mhm," Lily nodded. "Guess it's your day for winning things."

"I guess so," James looked pleased and stuck his marshmallow into the fire, grinning as it started to brown.

Lily pulled hers out and turned the stick so she could pick at the gooey sweetness. She blew it off to cool it down to avoid being burned, then tore off a piece and chewed silently, watching the flames lick over James's. "How about you?" she asked after a moment, "How did it stack up for you? Seeing as you kissed half our year at Hogwarts last Fall?"

James said, "Well you get high marks for technique."

Lily raised her eyebrow, looking up at him.

"Bloody hell, Evans," James said with a laugh, "Of course you've won, too. You won the moment I laid eyes on you on the train."

Lily looked back down at her marshmallow.

James said, "Evans?"

"Yeah?" she asked.

"I'm not dreaming, am I?"

She shook her head. "No."

"Because it's just that I've had dreams like this - disturbingly similar, actually, and I'd like to be certain it isn't that I'm going to wake up in a minute." He stared at her.

"What would help?"

"Pinch me?"

She reached over and pinched him, gently of course.

He smiled.

"Convinced, are you?"

"Yeah," he replied, and he pulled his marshmallow out of the fire, blowing off some flames that were still burning on it, leaving behind a crunchy burnt crust. He took the marshmallow in one gigantic bite, a bit of the sugary stuff getting stuck on his chin.

Lily reached over, "You've got -- just here," and she wiped it off gently with her thumb.

He turned his face and kissed her thumb.

Lily smiled and lowered her hand.

"Is it gone?" he asked.

Lily nodded.

"Good," he answered. He reached for the bag. "You want another one?"

"Alright."

James stuck another on the end of her stick, and another on his own stick, then, as casually as he could muster - his innards quivering with nervousness even as he did it, he slid his arm 'round her shoulders, and held her close as they both held out their sticks, roasting the marshmallows in the flame. He rubbed her arm. "Alright, Evans?" he asked.

Lily snuggled into his arm, against his chest. "Alright, Potter."