*Disclaimer*- Messrs. Fuzzbutt and Fantail do not now, nor will they ever, claim to be J.K. Rowling. They own none of the characters or situations presented by Ms. Rowling in any of her brilliantly written books.

Chapter Eleven- A Date?

James practically skipped up to his dormitory. She said yes, she said yes! He entered the room and spun around, flopping onto his bed and into sleep with an enormous grin on his face.

"He got into the firewhiskey again, didn't he, Moony?" he heard Sirius hiss to Remus the next morning as he awoke.

James chuckled, rubbed his eyes, and sat up as he remembered the events from the previous night. "No firewhiskey, Pads. She said yes!"

"Who is she?" asked Peter.

"I think only one 'she' saying yes could make James this happy," Remus remarked.

"Alice Kirgenser?" Peter wondered.

"No, you nitwit, Frank fancies her," Sirius said, bopping Peter in the back of the head. "Lily Evans, the girl James has been fawning over for the past few years."

Peter rubbed the back of his head. "Oh," he said.

"I haven't been fawning," James muttered. He did not, however, stop grinning.

"Moony, our resident dictionary, please define 'fawning.'"

"Fawning; to fawn- to exhibit affection or attempt to please, as a dog does by wagging its tail, whining, or cringing. Also, to seek favor or attention by flattery or obsequious behavior. (1)"

"I resent that first definition," Sirius said with a mock glare. "Anyway, is it just me, or is it freaky the way he does that?

"Does what?" Remus wondered aloud.

"You're a walking dictionary. Sirius, being illiterate, finds you frightening," James explained.

Sirius sent a look towards James and sulked.

"So," Remus said after some silence, "what did she say yes to?"

"Hogsmeade," James grinned.

"Really?" Sirius asked, surprised.

James nodded enthusiastically.

"Is it a date?" Remus asked.

"Oh no," James muttered, frowning. "I don't know. I just asked her to go to Hogsmeade with me... I said it could be as friends, if she wanted, but she never said if she wanted that or more..."

"Well, look at it this way, mate," Sirius said, throwing an arm around James's shoulders, "at least she's going with you."

James grinned. "Yeah, she is, isn't she?"

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Lily climbed up her stairs, grinning as she entered the dormitory. Her friends looked up. "Hey, Lily," Marlene said in greeting.

"What are you doing up this late?” Lily asked.

"We were waiting for you to finish up," Emmeline said.

"Why?"

"Erm, no reason," Marlene fibbed. In truth, Remus had told her about his and James‘s conversation about asking Lily to Hogsmeade, and Marlene had told Emmeline, and the two had been secretly waiting every time Lily and James were gone for the moment when he would ask her out and she would accept.

Lily raised an eyebrow at Marlene's peculiar 'erm-ing.' "Are you not telling me something?" she asked.

"What took you so long?" Emmeline asked, attempting to change the subject. It worked.

Lily smiled. "James came down to ask me something, is all."

"What did he ask?" Marlene asked.

Lily grinned. "He asked me to Hogsmeade."

"What's new?" Emmeline muttered. "What did you say?"

"I said alright," Lily admitted.

"Oh! My Lilykins is all grown up!" Emmeline said, hugging Lily. "She'll be going on her first date with Jamesie!"

"Well, it's not a date, necessarily..."

"What do you mean?" Marlene asked.

"Well, he said we could go as friends if I wanted, but I'm not sure what I want."

"Lily's in love!" Emmeline squealed.

"Love?" Lily laughed. "I don't think so. I don't even know if I like him for sure, Emm."

"Well, Lily, only you can really decide that," Marlene said.

"Oh, I know," Emmeline said. "It's hypothetical situation time. James gets a girlfriend. She isn't you. How do you feel?"

Lily thought this a bit odd, but answered anyway. "Well... disappointed, I suppose. And I'd want to know what bimbo took my place..."

"Oh, did you hear that, Marlene? Her place. Bimbo taking her place. She likes him."

Lily blushed. “I suppose I might,” she admitted with some amount of effort.

Emmeline squealed again and hugged Lily. (Later she would admit to no such sound, and claim that she engaged in no such squealing.) "I can't believe it, Lils! You're getting over your stubbornness!"

"I wouldn't call it stubbornness," Lily said. "It's more of... an unwillingness to see the good qualities in James."

"Lily, you pretty much defined stubbornness. You do know that, right?" Emmeline asked with a laugh.

Lily grumbled something incoherent and put on a sulky face.

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The week passed quickly for both Lily and James, and the day of the Hogsmeade trip arrived.

Eight-o-clock found James nervous and fidgety on a couch in the common room, and Lily hurriedly trying to find a missing shoe.

A few minutes later, Lily, extrememly nervous and self-conscious, made her way into the common room. James looked up and grinned, although it seemed to be more of a grimace due to his nerves.

James offered his arm and Lily smiled. The two walked in an awkward silence down to the main entrance. As they left the school and wandered onto the snow covered grounds, James cleared his throat. "So, how are you?" he asked.

"Very well," Lily said, smiling.

James felt somewhat reassured by this answer. "That's good," he said. "I used to get answers like, 'better before you came, Potter,' when I asked that question."

Lily grimaced. "I'm sorry," she said.

"What for?" James was confused.

"For being so mean to you. I refused to see how mature you've become, and that was stupid of me."

James shoved her playfully with a chuckle. "It doesn't matter. Forget about it, it's in the past."

Lily smiled and put her arm back in his as they continued to Hogsmeade, the tension dissipating as they walked.

"So, where to, Miss Evans?" James asked when they reached the village.

"Well, how about that new tea shop? Madam Puddifoot's, I believe it's called. Have you been there?"

"When would I have gone?" James asked, amused. The shop had been put in just weeks ago.

Lily blushed. "Well, I don't know, you're a rebel, aren't you? I wouldn't be surprised if you've sneaked into Hogsmeade before."

James grinned. "I'm offended that you'd think that," he said, "but Madam Puddifoot's it is."

They walked down to the shop, and upon entering, they found the shop was completely covered in pink, frill, and hearts. "This is repulsive," Lily whispered into James's ear.

James chuckled. "Let's at least stay and see if the tea is good," he whispered back.

Lily smiled. "Sounds like a plan," she said.

They took a seat near the wall, and soon a woman, who Lily assumed was Madam Puddifoot, came to their table. "What'll it be for such a cute young couple?" she asked pleasantly.

Lily and James both blushed at the term 'couple,' but neither corrected it.

Each ordered, and while Madam Puddifoot went to collect their order, Lily felt something needed to be brought up. "James," she started, "is this a date?"

"What do you want it to be?" he asked her.

"I don't know," she answered truthfully, with another blush.

James blinked. He'd expected her to say something about them being there as friends. "Well, are we friends or on a date? Which would you rather?"

"I'm not sure," Lily said, feeling silly.

"Well, then we're friends on a date," James said, laughing slightly.

Lily smiled. "Alright," she said.

The orders came, and the two drank and conversed easily, about everything from school ("NEWTs are only seven months away, you know.") to Quidditch ("How can you not love it?") to the weather.

When the two finally left, James was hit with a sudden idea. He grinned.

"Hey, Lily," he said, grabbing her hand, and pulling her to a nearby bench, "you sit here. I'll be right back. Don't turn around."

Lily smiled. "What are you going to do?"

"It's a surprise," James said, and with that he hurried off.

Five minutes later, James returned, laden with bags from Honeydukes. "Sweets for the sweet," he said, handing her a box of chocolate. "And there's more, for when that's gone."

Lily grinned and pounced on him with a hug in excitement, causing him to laugh.

The two wandered around talking and laughing for a couple hours before stopping at the Three Broomsticks for a quick and late, (where had the time gone?) lunch.

Having seen many of the shops already, Lily and James then decided to head back to the school and spend time in the common room. The two were walking hand in hand when suddenly Lily stopped, dropped James hand, turned around and bent down. "Lily, what're you doing?" he asked.

She stood up and faced him. "My shoelace was untied," she said. James looked at the offending lace and ended up with a face full of snow.

"Lily!" he yelled as she ran away giggling. He laughed. "I'll get you back!"

James scooped up some snow and ran after Lily, who was seeking refuge behind a tree. She squatted down to quickly compose another snowball. She squealed at the sight of James, and a snowball, approaching, and ran around the tree, followed closely by James.

Three dizzy times around the tree later, James caught Lily around the waist. She turned, knocked his snowball out of his hand, and hit him in the face with hers. This, of course, caused James to let her go, and she ran off laughing again.

Not hearing James behind her, Lily turned to see if he was following. She saw that he was kneeling on the ground, bent over so that she could not see his face. Had she hurt him? She hurried back to check.

James didn’t turn at the sound of her footsteps in the snow, worrying Lily further. She put her hand on his shoulder to see if he was alright.

With a cackle, James jumped up and put a fistful of snow down the back of Lily’s coat.

“Cold, cold, cold, cold, cold, cold,” she chanted as she wriggled and hopped about, trying to rid herself of the offending substance.

James, meanwhile, was laughing his head off. Revenge was sweet indeed. Lost in his laughter, he failed to notice Lily charging toward him until he was tackled onto the ground.

A few moments of rolling around later, James was able to stand up. He hauled Lily up and over his shoulder. She kicked her legs about playfully at first and pounded on his back, but James did not let go. He laughed and carried her into the building.

“I think I win,” he said.

Lily grumbled and trickled the snow that still clung to her gloves down James’s shirt. James started at the sudden coldness, and shivered, but refrained from anything else in order to keep hold of his cargo.

When they reached Gryffindor tower, he put the red-faced Lily onto the ground. Her thoughts about how strong James must be to carry her up the many flights of steps into the common room left her mind as she looked up at him and grinned.

“That was fun,” she said.

He smiled. “We should do it again some time. What do you say, Evans?”

“Sure, Potter,” she laughed, kissing him on the cheek and walking back upstairs to the girls’ dormitories.

When she was out of earshot, James jumped up with an enthusiastic, “Yes!”

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“Hey, look,” Sirius pointed out, “there go Lily and James.” He, Remus, Peter, Marlene, and Emmeline had decided to spend the day together in Hogsmeade and to generally stay away from Lily and James. However, as the two began walking out of the village, this was becoming increasingly harder.

“I want to see what they’ll do on their own,” Emmeline said.

“Me too,” voiced Peter, who was always quick to agree with someone other than himself.

“It’s not really right, spying on them,” Remus started.

“Ah, but they’re in full view, so how is it spying? Anyone could happen upon such scenes as will be portrayed, and it would only be Lily and Prongs’s fault for being obvious,” Sirius argued.

Remus rolled his eyes, but the group consented to go up to Gryffindor tower and ‘accidently’ see the happenings between their friends.

Ten minutes later they were watching James and Lily romp about in a snowball fight from the common room window.

“It’s cute, isn’t it?” Marlene asked.

“Unbelievable, I think. I didn’t think James would end up with Lily,” Emmeline said.

“Why not? Have you no faith in your friends?” Sirius asked.

“I have more faith in Lily’s stubbornness than James’s luck,” she said.

Peter giggled. When they all simply stared at him and the unnaturalness of such a giggle, however, he stopped.

“Anyway,” Emmeline said to break the silence, “Lily and James are rolling around together.”

Sirius laughed in a French sort of way and raised his eyebrows up and down suggestively.

“Never thought I’d see the day,” Emmeline said with a sigh. “They’re lucky to have each other.”

“They sort of remind me of Moony and Marlene, though,” Sirius said with a false gag.

Remus rolled his eyes, and decided to take Marlene’s hand in his, only partially to tick Sirius off. Marlene flicked Sirius in the back of the head.

“Ow,” he said.

Marlene grinned. “Well, I’d say Operation: Flower for Prongs is a success, wouldn’t you?” she asked.

“They aren’t dating yet,” Emmeline pointed out.

“Ah, but I think they will be in time.”

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Authors’ Notes: First, we’d like to apologize for the horribly long delay in getting this chapter up. We're having some issues with mugglenet, unfortunately. That said, please, review.

(1) Definition for ‘fawning’ provided by dictionary.com.