"Every gesture, every move that she makes
Makes me feel like never before."

~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~

"And how are my lovely ladies on this fine morning?"

Bell gave a light laugh and Sirius' smile only grew. He was in a fine mood this morning, having slept well and dreamed of pleasant things, and he was glad to see Bell seemed to share his positive attitude. 

"What about me?" Lily stuck out her bottom lip in a pout and James immediately threw his arms around her in a hug from the back.

"You're Prongs' lovely lady," replied Sirius and Lily's cheeks went pink as she swatted away James, but did so rather gently. 

"Look at that sweet smile," the spectacle-clad boy said, grinning at Lily, and she blushed even deeper but let him sit down beside her once he drew back his arms from around her.

"Well I'm not about to fight Bell for you," teased Marlene and she shrugged off Sirius' arm. He chuckled and sat down in the space she'd made between her and Bell, his other arm still around Bell's shoulders as she snatched up a croissant from a platter before her.

"Works for me!" he said and reveled at how Bell still didn't make any sign she didn't want his arm around her. With his free hand, he retrieved two waffles and a serving of peach slices, but paused when he realized he'd have to drop his arm in order to cut up the food. Bell glanced to him, then his plate, and she gave a laugh. Sirius was about to retort and ask what was so funny to her- but then she drew her wand, muttered some first-year charm, and his waffles and peaches split themselves into bite-sized portions.

Just so he wouldn't have to move his arm from around her.

Nothing that morning could have dampened his spirits after that.

~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~

"WOOOO!! YEAAAAAHHH!!! GO BELL!! GO JAMES!! GO MARLEEEEENE!!"

Persephone started laughing beside Remus and he couldn't help but join in her amusement at Lily's hyper-enthusiastic cheering. It was the first Quidditch game of the season and Gryffindor was up against Hufflepuff. When Remus asked her, Persephone admitted she wasn't too interested in Quidditch, but sure, she'd go to watch the game with him. The feeling at his realization she'd come mostly for him buoyed him through his exhaustion and melancholy from the recent full moon, and now, as he laughed with her in the stands, he felt better emotionally and mentally than he had in a while.

The score was tied, 50 points for both teams, and the new Quidditch announcer this year, third year Gilderoy Lockhart, a boy who already had a reputation for throwing raging parties in the Room of Requirement just to garner himself attention, was rambling on and on. Only half, maybe even less, of his words were concerning the current happenings of the match, and so the students with little to no clue of how Quidditch worked were clearly lost. Remus, although he didn't know much about the sport himself, kept up a running dialogue with Persephone as she watched the game beside him.

As they were standing at the front of the stands, right at the very top, Remus could see everything happening below and above. James was up in the sky, looking for the Snitch, as was the Hufflepuff Seeker but on the other end of the pitch. Marlene was diving past a Hufflepuff Beater to catch the Quaffle from when one of her opponent's chasers had dropped it after being hit on the arm with a Bludger. Bell did a loop, narrowly avoiding one of the aggressive flying balls herself, and when she flipped right side up again, she was holding the Quaffle. The stands went wild, only a few people having seen the pass between her and Marlene, and when Madam Hooch signaled from below that she'd observed it too, the Gryffindor side of the stands cheered even louder.

"YEAH BELL!! THAT'S MY GIRL!!!"

Remus chuckled and nudged Sirius' side. "She's not your girl-" 

"-yet. I'm working on it, Moony, just give me some time." 

Peter grinned, shaking a lock of sandy hair out of his eyes. "You've had six years, Pads-"

"Oh, shush, he's waiting for the right time." Lily gave a laugh as the pair turned their gazes toward her. "Well, aren't you?" Sirius nodded and she smiled. "It'll happen, sooner or later." 

"If I might-" Persephone cut herself off when four pairs of eyes turned to her and blushed. Remus gave her a small nod and a smile appeared on her face again. "I didn't even realize you two weren't together."

Sirius grinned and Lily gave a laugh. "Exactly! So sooner rather than later would be preferable. Hurry it up, loverboy."

A swoosh of wind warned the group only a moment before a Hufflepuff Beater swooped over their heads to bat away a Bludger before it could hit the spectators. "Sorry!" she called down as she darted away, but Remus barely noticed. Persephone had grabbed his hand when the Beater flew over and she was still holding it now. His fingers curled around hers and he glanced at her, both of them blushing. She didn't let go, and he certainly didn't want to, so he didn't either.

If Remus had been in a good mood earlier, now he was feeling stellar.

~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~

James wiped the sweat from his brow as he changed out of his Quidditch uniform. Gryffindor had won the match but just barely, and he was still a bit tense from the near-loss. The Hufflepuff Seeker had spotted the Snitch before he had and it was a neck-in-neck chase for a good five minutes before he took a risk and darted to the left. It seemed luck was on his side, for that's exactly the way the little golden ball zipped next and he snatched it out of the air reflexively before he even realized he had the opportunity to do so.

Lily had waved at him after the game, from the front row of the stands, nonetheless. He'd heard her cheering for him (and Bell and Marlene, too) during the match as well. But what was she doing here? She never came to the House Quidditch matches. In their third year, she'd been persuaded by Bell to watch and when she was nearly hit by a stray Bludger, she decided she was better off staying away from the pitch, even during practices. Not that James minded that she'd come, in fact, he was quite glad about it.

"You coming, daydreamer?"

James realized he'd been standing by the wall in silence, his shirt half on and his gaze somewhere up at the ceiling. He snapped out of his thoughts, blinking, and pulled on his shirt fully as he replied to Marlene that he just needed to grab his shoes. A minute later, walking back toward the castle with her and Bell, James joined in their chatter about Remus and Persephone.

"I saw them holding hands when you were going after the Snitch." 

James gave a low whistle. "I knew Moony had the guts to do it!" he said, grinning. Ever since Bell had revealed to him how Remus had fancied the artistic Hufflepuff for years, he'd been silently cheering on the possible couple from the sidelines. In the last two weeks, Persephone's slow joining of the friend group had coincided with Remus smiling more and being more open to hugs and other physical forms of friendly affection. When Sirius ruffled his hair the other day, he'd just laughed and nudged his mate's arm instead of flinching away like he might have at the end of last school year. James was, to put it simply, delighted to see Remus like this. Even after the full moon, when he was usually lethargic and quiet, he'd seemed upbeat, and if this was because of Persephone (which it probably was), James was happy to have her in the group.

Their talk turned to other things, like the recent Transfiguration test and how Marlene had completely bluffed her way out of getting a detention from Professor Slughorn for breaking curfew. "And he didn't even ask to see the 'note'!" James laughed along and they proceeded into the castle, glad for its warmth considering the chilly breeze out on the Quidditch field and the unusually low temperatures that had hung around Hogwarts for a month or so. October usually had its fair share of cold versus warmer days, but this year, even in mid-September, it had been wintry and dry. James grinned as Peeves drifted past, loudly singing a Christmas carol with the words changed up to make it about figs, and led the way into the Great Hall.

~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~

Supper passed by quickly, and soon, the friends had commandeered the sofas, loveseat, and armchair around the fireplace in the Gryffindor Common room as they worked on their homework. Bell and Sirius were sitting cross-legged and facing each other on the floor as they quizzed each other on poisonous plants for Herbology. Remus was reading through the assigned chapter of A Compendium of Common Curses and Their Counter-Actions and looking like he wanted to hit himself in the face with the book to alleviate his boredom. Persephone (who'd been invited to study with the others by Lily and then encouraged to do so by the rest of the group) was curled up in the old armchair, also reading, but seeming genuinely interested in her copy of Dreadful Denizens of the Deep. 

Glancing beside her, the corners of Lily's mouth curved up into a little smile as she saw James tapping his quill against his cheek as he stared down at the essay he was writing for Astronomy on the accomplishments of centaurs in reading the stars. His glasses had slipped halfway down his nose and she felt a slight pink come to her cheeks when she felt the urge to push them back up but ignored it. His black hair was messy as always, and he had a slight spot of ink on his cheek where he was fiddling with his quill. She looked back down at her own essay, though hers was for Potions and not Astronomy, and her face felt hot as she realized she'd absentmindedly written his last name instead of her own at the top of her parchment. 

"Are you alright, Lily? You look like you've just seen Dumbledore naked." Peter shuddered at the thought and Sirius stifled a laugh. Bell swatted his arm and Lily nodded fervently, muttering that she just needed water or something. Quickly scribbling out the name, she tilted the parchment away from James and stood up, sticking to her fib by going up to her dorm room to get a glass of water. Behind her, she heard Remus asking Persephone about the potion used to counter the effects of the Conjunctivitis Curse and was relieved that no one made a further remark on her crimson cheeks after Marlene's jest.

That was a close call.

~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~

James noticed that Lily was careful to keep the written side of her parchment out of his view as she scribbled on it, his curiosity only fueled by the red coloring of her face and neck and the way she glanced at him as she was heading up to her dorm to 'get water' as she said she needed. He hesitated, but after a moment he drew her essay toward him and scanned it for what she'd scribbled out. It only took him a moment to find the mostly-blacked-out word next to her first name. If he squinted, he could see a P there, and maybe a T... He flipped over the parchment and saw the indents perfectly: ɿɘɈɈoꟼ.

Merlin's beard.

James blinked at that name, his last name, that she'd written next to her first, presumably on accident, before scribbling it out, blushing. She must have had a reason for doing that, even if it was in her subconscious mind, right? He quickly replaced the parchment only a few seconds before Lily came back into the Common Room and acted as if he'd been going over his Astronomy essay the whole time she was gone. She sat down beside him, picked up her quill, and scribbled harder until the entire word was completely hidden. He only noticed because he was now expecting it. His heart was in a tizzy.

Lily Evans didn't blush when James Potter complimented her on her smile.

Lily Evans didn't come to House Quidditch games and cheer for a certain Gryffindor Seeker. 

Lily Evans didn't forget her last name and have to scribble out 'Potter' on her Potions essay until it was completely blacked out before the red on her cheeks would fade.

But the evidence was there, and he'd seen all three things happen. Dare he hope?

Of course he did.