This was, almost certainly, a mistake.

But they were all so tired, and the drinks were cheap, and James looked like he needed to relax.

So when the bottle and glasses appeared and Sirius began to pour, Remus didn't protest. But he definitely didn't think it was a good idea.

They drank. Firewhiskey had never been Remus' favourite. But James was laughing, and Sirius was already refilling their glasses.

"Right," Sirius clapped his hands together. "Let's make this more interesting, shall we?"

It was a Monday night. It was raining outside. Something tuneless was playing on the gramophone. The world was going to hell around them.

But Sirius was already explaining the rules, James was keen and Remus could never say no to his friends.

James went first. "Okay! Would you steal if you knew you could get away with it?"

Sirius shrugged and drunk. James did the same. Remus didn't drink. Sirius rolled his eyes.

"Your turn, Moony," James insisted.

"Would you ever say I love you if you didn't mean it?" Remus asked.

To his surprise, no one drunk. Not even Sirius, whose eyes he was trying - unsuccessfully - to ignore.

"My turn," Sirius said. "Would you ever kiss someone you know you shouldn't just to see what it was like?"

James screwed up his face, confused. Remus kept his eyes firmly on his glass.

"What do you mean?" James asked. "Someone you shouldn't?"

"Oh...you know..." Sirius' chair creaked as he leant back. He continued slowly, "Teacher...Someone else's girlfriend...A friend..."

The words hung in the air between them.

"Oh well, in that case -" James took a drink, glasses slipping down his nose.

Sirius' eyes were fixed on Remus. "Well?" he asked.

Remus could have lied. But everything was fuzzy around the edges. And sometimes, just sometimes, he couldn't resist...

i haven’t posted in literally forever so here’s a one-shot i wrote two months ago now :) song-fic inspired by dress, by the one and only taylor alison swift :)) enjoy!!

Lily hates these parties. Having to talk to people and be pleasant and presentable when she’d much rather be at home with her cats and boyfriend. 

Boyfriend. 

She glances across the room at him, smiling her secret smile, the one that’s reserved just for him, as she locks eyes with James over the crowded room. 

They’re rarely in the same place. But, now that it’s award season, he’s close to her again. 

Having him here makes everything more enjoyable and more excruciating at the same time. They can share the pain of these parties and laugh about them later, when Lily is finally free of her dress and James free of his suit. 

For now though, they’re confined to opposite sides of the room and minimal interaction, just waiting for the moment they can be back in each other’s arms. 

They know no one has any idea about them. It’s electrifying knowing that they have each other, knowing there’s an indentation in the shape of him in her bed, knowing he made her mark on her like a golden tattoo just hours previously. 

They mingle with others in the party, all of the silence and patience and pining and anticipation driving them crazy.

Lily can feel her hands shaking in an effort to hold back from James as she nears him. 

“All of this silence and patience, pining and desperately waiting, my hands are shaking from all of this,” Lily says, removing one hand from her champagne glass to brush James’ arm. 

She can feel the electricity between them, burning them both as they stand still, watching each other.

James lets out a shaky laugh, bending forward to whisper, “Lily,” in her ear. 

Nothing else needs to be said as her breath catches in her throat and everything around her stops and she becomes very aware of his breath on her neck and his heartbeat under her hand.

Everyone thinks she just wants him like a best friend, but she doesn’t. 

She wants more from him than a best friend. Lily only bought this dress so he could take it off. She wants him to crave his name into her bedpost, she wants him to make it his. She wants him to make her his. 

Lily doesn’t want him like a best friend. 

She wants him like a boyfriend, and she never wants that to change. 

---

“Can I?” James asks an hour later, his voice soft as he tugs on the zipper of Lily’s pale blue dress.

“I only bought this dress so you could take it off,” she sighs, raising her arms around James’ neck and he slides her dress to the floor, laughing breathily. 

The way he makes her feel is so inescapable, she doesn't even want to try. If she gets burned, at least they were electrified. 

---

Lily smiles at James, spilling some of her wine in the bathtub as she leans forward to kiss him. 

James brushes her hair away from her face gently, leaning into the kiss greedily. 

When Lily pulls away, he leans forward again, placing kisses on her face.

She laughs drunkenly, grabbing the back of his neck to keep him where he is. 

“You’re so drunk,” Lily mumbles, leaning into James’ touch. 

“Mmm. So are you, love,” he whispers. 

Lily grins stupidly. Love. She feels like she could melt anytime he calls her love. And his accent. God, she loves his accent. 

The way he pronounces words makes her feel giddy. It’s just so perfectly and uniquely him. And the way he calls her love. 

That’s for her, and for her only. 

Everyone thinks that they know them, but they know nothing about how they feel about each other, and how they make each other feel. 

Only they can know how they really feel. 

They just need the courage to say it. 

---

Lily studies the room, searching for James. This is the first time they’ve been in the same place in three months. All of this silence and patience, pining and anticipation, her hands are shaking from holding back from him. 

Her face falls ever so slightly when she can’t find him, and she turns to distract herself when she feels a hand on her waist. 

“All of this silence and patience, pining and desperately waiting, my hands are shaking from all this, Lily,” James says, his voice low in her ear, chest warm against her back.

Even so, that’s all it takes for everything around her to come to a complete stop, leaving just James and Lily in the moment. 

She needs him. She needs him here, now, and forever. 

“I don’t want you like a best friend,” Lily whispers, turning to lock her eyes with his. “Only bought this dress so you could take it off, take it off,”

James chuckled, his voice low. 

“Carve your name into my bedpost, cause I don't want you like a best friend,” Lily says softly, not breaking her gaze. 

She watches as James swallows and glances around before bringing his hand up and tracing her jaw. “You only bought this dress so I could take it off, take it off, huh?” he whispers, smirking.

“Only bought this dress so you could take it off,” Lily says.

---

“Only bought this dress so you could take it off,” she whispers, helping James pull it off in the back of her limo. 

James laughs breathlessly, bringing his lips back to hers. She knows there’ll be marks on her neck from him tomorrow, but it doesn’t matter. 

All that matters is that they’re here, together. That’s all that will ever matter. 

---

Lily lays her head on James’ shoulder, watching the news. Paparazzi caught them leaving the party together last night. There’s speculation of them dating, flashbacks to when they first met. 

James’ hair buzzed so short you couldn't even see his curls, hers dyed a lighter red. 

Back when she was new to this, being under the eye of the whole world. She broke her back trying to please everyone, becoming the version of herself she never wanted to be. 

But even in her worst times, James could see the best in her. 

All her mistakes, her rebounds, her earthquakes. Even in her worst lies, he could see the truth in her. 

Lily nuzzles her face in James’ neck, placing a kiss on his collarbone. 

“I don’t like those pictures. I don’t like who I was,” she whispers. “It was like I was stuck in a never ending nightmare.”

“Well, it’s a good thing you woke up just in time,” James says, kissing her temple. 

“Mmm. And now I wake up by your side. My one and only, my lifeline,” she smiles.

James pulls back from her and turns on his side so they’re face-to-face. 

Lily bites her lip nervously as his serious expression.

“I love you,” he says. 

Lily feels her breath hitch as she watches him carefully. Between his eyebrows a small crease has formed and his face is carefully neutral, his mouth in a straight line. 

But Lily knows him. She can see the way his eyes shine with hope, the way his mouth is twitching at the corner, trying to not give away his expression. The way his eyebrows are raised ever so slightly, silently asking a question. 

“I love you, too,” she says. 

James' face breaks into a smile and he wraps his arm around her, pulling her towards him so their bodies are flush with each other once again. 

“I woke up just in time,” Lily whispers. 

“And now I wake up by your side,” James says. 

Lily smiles nervously, her hands shaking as she rubs James’ arm. 

“Are you okay?” he asks softly. 

“Yes,” she whispers. “I can’t explain it. I just… I can’t believe it.”

“What can’t you believe?”

“That I get to wake up by your side. That you love me. That you’re mine, and I’m yours,” she smiles. “I never thought when I met you that all my wildest dreams could come true.”

James smiles back at Lily, placing a gentle kiss to her forehead. 

“I’m glad all your wildest dreams did come true, love,” he whispered. 

“So am I. So am I.”

---

“Lily,” James moans softly, rocking his hips forward. 

Lily sighs softly into his neck, placing another kiss under his jaw. She can feel everything around them slow to a stop until it’s just the two of them in this moment. She loves the way it feels to be with him, like they’re the only two people in the world. 

“I love you,” she says, because she doesn’t want him like a best friend. 

“I love you, too,” James responds, smiling. 

“Only bought this dress so you could take it off,” Lily teases, attempting to move it out of her way. 

“Oh, did you now?” James laughs softly. “I guess it has to come off, then,” he says, unbuttoning the back and pulling it off gently. 

Lily watches as he takes in her body hungrily, like this is his last chance to see her. 

They both know this won’t be the last time. Neither of them want it to end. James wants Lily to make him hers, and Lily wants James to make her his. 

She wants him to carve his name into her bedpost, because she doesn’t want him like a best friend. 

After all, she only bought this dress so he could take it off. 

---

Lily wraps her legs around James’ waist, glad her day dress is short. 

She wants him so badly she feels giddy, her head spinning with all the thoughts of him. 

She can see pieces of him scattered throughout her room, places where he’s left his mark over the past few months and continues to. 

Her closet that holds his clothes. His glasses on her nightstand. There is an indentation in the shape of him on her bed, and she only bought this dress so he could take it off. 

But he made his mark on her like a golden tattoo, illuminating her. 

“Only bought this dress so you could take it off,” Lily whispers as she falls back onto the bed, her smile matching James’. 

“You seem to buy every dress just so I can take it off,” he grins, sliding it over her hips. 

“Well, is there any other point in buying one?”

“No, no there is not, love,” James laughs, falling into the bed next to Lily, their bodies electric.

It doesn’t matter if everyone thinks they know about their relationship, if they want to speculate or judge what’s real and what’s not. They know what’s real, and that’s all that matters. 

James is Lily’s, and Lily is James’. 

Remus, without hesitation: kiss Sirius, marry Sirius, kill Sirius.

Lily: y- you can't...

Lily: he wasn't eve-

Alice: [smoking a cigarette] that’s the point.

Marlene: [drinking alcohol] we’re trying to speed this up.

So, i was in an amusementpark yesterday and i was waiting in the line to go on one of the rollercoaster. I was just looking at the other people in the line when I saw a group of friends joking around. One had shoulder-length dark brown wavy hair. An other one had black hair and glasses. Another one had light brown hair and a strange scar (not healed yet). The last boy was a bit, left behind, but other moments he was just joking around with the others. I just thought it was confidence until I saw the black-haired boy talking to a gorgeous girl with long red hair.I know it seems a litle unrealistic but it was true, I sat with the marauders on a rollercoaster!

Remus tried, very hard, to hide it. Sirius often wondered why. Peter was a hopeless case, collapsing into nervous laughter every time. James did his very best to be inscrutable. But he had a habit of pushing his glasses up his nose when he was lying that everyone had noticed by now.

Now Sirius, Sirius was a pro. He had been honing his craft since childhood. The smallest of lies to test the waters, growing more elaborate over time. He'd perfected his approach - so casual, so charming. He could make anyone, more or less without exception, believe him if he wanted. It had come in very handy more than once.

But Remus was exceptional, such a natural that Sirius was baffled that the others couldn't see it. His affable nature and good humour made for the perfect cover. The fact that this was genuine made it even better. In fact, Sirius wasn't entirely sure that Remus knew himself just how good at it he was.

But Sirius knew.

Sirius had caught the mischievous twinkle in his eyes more than once. Something playful and devilish that he struggled to hide. A secret part of himself that Remus kept in check for reasons of his own.

Sirius tried everything he could to tease it out of him. A joke that he knew Remus wouldn't be able to resist, a quip designed to get Remus to look up from his book. With every ghost of a smile or a flicker of amusement, Remus' guard would slip. Their eyes would meet, and Sirius found himself daring not to blink in case he missed it.

But as quick as he had caught it, it would disappear. James and Peter never noticed.

He was running late. He was always late. He could hear the low murmur of voices downstairs. His beloved family was gathered below. How he hated them all.

He heard the soft approach of footsteps on the landing outside, the knock at the door and then -

"Mistress wants Sirius downstairs at once," Kreacher hissed.

Sirius did not reply and stared up into the canopy above his bed.

"Kreacher will not leave until Sirius replies."

Sirius growled in frustration. He'd avoided them as long as he could.

"Fine," he ground out, getting up off the bed and walking over to the chest of drawers. He'd have to wear a tie. His mother would expect it.

On the other side of the door Kreacher muttered under his breath and waited.

Opening the drawer he saw it, half-hidden beneath his own things, the glimpse of soft brown wool. Sirius reached out to touch it, to remove it from its hiding place, unfurling the scarf he'd borrowed from his friend.

Borrowed. In truth he had stolen it. He'd watched as Remus had forgotten it, leaving it behind on the arm of the chair. Remus had looked for it for weeks. At first Sirius had helped him. But it had been pretend.

Remus had given up and had written to his mother. He'd hoped it wouldn't be too much trouble for her to make him a replacement. Eventually she'd sent a scarf - hand-knitted and soft green. Remus claimed it was better than the brown one he had lost.