"Can't help myself, I'm falling.
Stone in love."

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Back out into the cold! Marlene shimmied her shoulders at the chilly air, but she was smiling, and for good reason. Today was turning out to be a lovely day, and she intended to keep it that way. To either side of her, Bell and Lily walked, and on either side of them was Sirius and James, where you'd expect them to be. Behind walked Peter, Remus, and Persephone, and Marlene led the way, beelining across the street to Gladrags Wizardwear. Any trip to Hogsmeade was worth bringing back a souvenir or two, in Marlene's opinion, and she had a few ideas of what she wanted to get this time, so naturally, she went for them.

The clothing store wasn't as warm and not nearly as crowded as The Three Broomsticks, but it was so packed with (moving) racks and racks of clothing and accessories and the like that one could easily disappear for a few hours and not be found. Apparently, that had actually happened to a fifth year last spring, and he'd missed final exams as a result. Ignoring the fact that the boy wasn't supposed to be in Hogsmeade in the first place, Professor Dumbledore granted him a pass, and he became a sort of legend throughout the school for the last week of term.

Marlene searched through the sweaters, browsing with an idea in her head of what she was looking for, but not yet seeing it. Lily ventured toward the jewelry and James followed her, Bell checked out the boots section with Sirius, Peter just sort of walked around, and Persephone stepped up beside Marlene as Remus went off toward Peter. As their scar-faced friend led their more-timid pal toward the postcards section, Persephone shifted on her feet and Marlene turned with a raised eyebrow and a smile.

"I want to tell him."

Marlene beamed. "Yes, yes yes yes, you definitely should." She gave a little happy gesture with her hands curled into fists and Persephone blushed, clasping her own hands before her nervously.

"I, ah, I just don't know how."

Marlene nodded sagely. "Just kiss him."

Persephone's cheeks went from pink to red. "Wh-what? No, I don't have the nerve-"

Marlene shook her head and asserted again, "Just up and kiss him. The guy clearly fancies you and it's about time one of you did something about it, and I doubt it will be him."

Persephone just sort of gaped for a minute. Peter appeared from behind them, holding out a postcard, and said that Remus was looking for her. She swallowed nervously and Marlene took her hand, squeezing it.

"You've got this."

Persephone nodded and slipped away, a moving rack boasting an array of multicolored bowler hats obscuring her from view after a few seconds. Peter watched her go and turned back to Marlene with a grin.

"He's gonna kiss her."

Marlene couldn't help but grin right back at her friend. "That's what I told her to do, too!"

The pair laughed and Marlene sought his opinion on which shade of purple was closer to plum of all the sweaters before him, their thoughts of Persephone and Remus pushed to the back of their minds. For now.

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

"Just kiss him."

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

"Just kiss her."

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Alright then, she'd do it.

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

Alright then, he'd do it.

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Persephone stepped out of the catalogs section of the store and into the art aisle. Remus was heading down the other way and didn't notice her, so she called softly after him, "Hey." Immediately, he turned around and smiled. 

"Hey."

They met halfway down the aisle, right between the shelf full of various-sized parchments and the rack of quills of every color, size, and shape. Persephone stared at him. He stared back. With a trembling hand, she reached out to hold his. He took it. His fingers were cold. She looked down and he did the same, at their hands clasped together, then when she looked back up, he was right there, so close. A good bit shorter than her, but what did that matter? She could simply lean down.

And she dared to do it.

Their lips met and Persephone wondered if he could hear her heartbeat dancing wildly in her chest. The kiss was sweet and nervous and gentle and perfect and she felt like if this was the rest of her life, this one moment, she'd be happy forever. Seconds, only seconds, passed, but the kiss was over soon and Persephone's dark eyes opened to see Remus, beaming at her. She leaned her forehead against his, having to crane her neck again to do so, and gave a soft laugh, joyous. He did the same and his arms wrapped around her neck as her own around his back drew him closer. He kissed her this time, and now neither were as nervous. Both were blushing, but Persephone didn't care about the red on her cheeks, and it seemed like he didn't either.

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Was this really happening? Remus was half-certain it was a dream, the best and most realistic one he'd ever had, true, but still perhaps a dream. It was only when he heard a cheer and broke from their third kiss- no, their fourth? maybe fifth? -that he let himself believe this was real. Sirius and Bell were standing at the end of the aisle, grinning at him and Persephone, and the latter had her hand over the former's mouth.

"Sorry about that, we'll leave you be," Bell said, still beaming, and winked at them before ushering away Sirius, who was apparently the one who'd cheered.

Remus looked back to Persephone. She still held him close, he still had his own arms around her neck. There was a dark blush on her cheeks and he smiled.

"So."

"So."

Remus dared to move one of his hands to gently brush her cheek, and she leaned into his touch.

"I think it's clear by now that I fancy you."

"I'd hope so."

They shared a soft laugh. Remus' heart was still going all pitter-patter in his chest.

"And I gather that you feel the same?"

Remus grinned. "Definitely."

Persephone's smile widened and she swayed a little in their embrace. He could definitely get used to this. He wanted to, dearly. His doubt and fears could wait to be addressed another day. Right? Right.

He kissed her again.

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Lily tilted her head at James and narrowed her eyes. He was holding something behind his back, and she was half-sure it was something from Zonko's, which they'd visited after Gladrags Wizardwear, Honeydukes, and Dervish & Bangs. The group now stood outside Hogsmeade train station, shivering, as they waited for two carriages to take them back to Hogwarts. Persephone and Remus stood hand in hand, and Lily was still smiling at how Sirius had revealed to her that he and Bell had seen them kissing.

"And they were all wrapped in each other's arms and it was adorable and I think they're together now, they'd better be, after all, they've fancied each other for years-"

"Ahem."

Lily gives a pointed glance between Sirius and Bell, the latter of whom is distracted by a giant box of Bertie Botts' Every Flavor Beans on display (they are in Honeydukes at the time), and the former blinks at her. He glances away for a moment, swallows, then looks back.

"Soon," he mouths, "very soon."

"Lily?"

"Mmm?"

James waved his hand in front of her face and the redhead snapped out of her thoughts. She blushed at how Mr. Potter was grinning at her and declared, "I was not staring at you, I was just thinking!"

"Sure, Evans, sure." He winked. "I have something for you. A gift."

Lily tilted her head at him again. A gift, not a prank? She didn't have very high expectations. The things he'd tried to give her in the past included every awful poem he'd ever written about her and a stick (that's right, a stick, like one from a tree; it was an inside joke at the time that she still didn't understand), so she crossed her arms and raised her eyebrow at him. He held up one hand in a defensive manner and she noticed his hands were pale. They were probably cold too, and she realized with a start that he'd given her his only pair of gloves.

"Trust me on this one, Lily." She hesitated. "Please?"

"Oh, alright, just this once, Potter." His smile sent butterflies through her stomach and she felt the corners of her own mouth tugging up.

"Close your eyes."

"Really?" 

He sighed. "Why must you be so skeptical? It's not going to bite you, Evans."

"After the snake, I'm not so sure."

James winced. "That was third year, and I completely regret it."

"I know, you've said sorry to me about it at least a thousand times since."

He smirked. "And you've never accepted my apology."

"And I still won't." After she winked at him, noticing the look of delight that crossed his face when she did so, Lily closed her eyes and held out her grey-gloved hands. She felt something small placed there, like a little box, and when James said she could open her eyes, she did so. A gasp escaped her lips at what she now held, and she glanced up at the messy-haired boy before her with a genuinely-warm smile.

"Thank you. It's beautiful."

James grinned. "I'm glad you like it."

"I love it," she blurted out, and she blushed, but it was the truth, and from how he smiled- like he wanted to start serenading her with one of his terrible love poems -she didn't feel like retracting her words.

He asked if she wanted to wear it now, and she bit her lip, staring into the box for a second or two. The necklace really was gorgeous, a simple silver chain with a delicate flower pendant- a lily. Looking back up, she replied that she did, indeed, want to put it on, and when she reached to, James tut-tutted and took it out of the box for her. He wiggled his gloveless fingers at her and spouted some half-true nonsense about him being able to clasp it better, but Lily could tell he just wanted to put it on her, and though she'd never admit it aloud, so did she.

He stepped behind her and she could feel his cold fingers on the nape of her neck. Lily shivered, and his hands remained there a moment after she heard the click of the clasp. She looked down and smiled softly at the flower pendant, resting right below her collarbone, and James gave a soft sigh behind her that tickled her neck. She turned around and glanced at Remus and Persephone, who were chattering about something and smiling adoringly at each other- cute cute cute -then back to James. Should she say something? No, too soon, she needed to figure out her own feelings before she admitted to him she'd finally come to fancy him after all these years.

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A carriage rolled up and the group scrambled to claim it. Luckily, it was one of the bigger vehicles of the bunch, and when James and Sirius offered to sit up front where the driver usually would if the carriages weren't magic, there was enough room for everyone. As James hopped up on the front seat, Lily slipped off the grey gloves he'd lent her and handed them up to him. He grinned down at her, a good six feet off the ground there, and shook his head.

"You need 'em more than I do."

Lily smiled back up at James. He tried to capture every detail of this moment so he could treasure it later- the way she smiled, her red hair drifting about in the chilly breeze, the way her green eyes gleamed in the sunlight -and his heart gave a sigh. He heard a click and glanced at Sirius, who winked at both of them and held up Bell's Muggle polaroid camera.

"Bell asked me to take pictures," he said with a shrug, smiling, and James made a mental note to thank him later.

Lily touched the pendant of the necklace, almost absentmindedly, as she stepped toward the door of the carriage, and she missed the way James beamed ear-to-ear at her, his eyes sparkling with real, genuine love.