Lily made a note to herself to never, under any circumstances, ask Marlene to do anything for her ever again.

She paced around her little spot in the library, clutching her copy of Romeo and Juliet like a lifeline. Which was ironic considering it was the very thing she needed to be saved from. Not long after, Potter entered, looking more than a little disheveled. Lily wondered if he owned a comb. Or a mirror.

She opened her mouth to speak, but before she could tell him all about how she was doing this purely for Marlene, he took the words right out of her mouth.

"Evans, thank you. So much. I know you're only doing this for Marlene's sake, but thank you. You're really saving all of us." He looked a bit out of breath as he said this and Lily was surprised at how sincere he sounded.

It had been five months since the Hogsmeade apology and their two friend groups had grown a lot closer since then. Still, hearing him being so genuine and kind caught her off-guard every once in awhile.

"You're welcome. And I just want to warn you, I'm no star actress. I know the lines, but the lines are only half of it. I'll do my best, but don't expect much." Lily admitted honestly.

Her words didn't dim his hopeful smile. "Not a problem. We're all amateur actors. At the end of the day, it's all about doing what we can. Just have fun and the audience will feel it."

Whatever she expected him to reply with, that certainly was not that. She suddenly felt a bit guilty for not being as good of an actress as Marlene, and she felt an ember of sheer determination in her spark to life as they began rehearsing. She was a woman of her word, and she was going to give it her all.

It wasn't long until they encountered their first obstacle: Act 1, Scene 5.

James was the first to address it. "Don't worry, we're not actually going to be kissing anywhere in the play. If I hold your face with my hands like this," he cupped her face and she prayed he couldn't feel the blood rushing to her cheeks underneath his fingertips. "I can just lean in without making any lip contact. To everyone else from a distance, it'll look real enough."

He let go of her face, leaning away once more. He reopened his script to the page they were on and continued his lines nonchalantly.

Lily was stunned for a few seconds, but quickly snapped out of it to continue the scene. She tried not to think about how close they were just then. And how much closer she wished they were.

------------

Showtime.

Despite the nerves of everyone, the play was going absolutely wonderfully. The use of magic helped out a lot in terms of special effects, lighting, and set changes, so it wasn't exactly like how muggle students would be doing it, but it was close enough. It definitely kept the student-production vibes and both the faculty and student body loved how homemade it felt.

Lily found that the casting couldn't have been more perfect. Amongst the list was Sirius as Mercutio, Remus as Benvolio, Peter as Friar Laurence, Mary as Juliet's Nurse, Frank as Tybalt, etc. Everyone was amazing in their roles and although she had only been an official part of the show for a week, she felt extremely proud of them. If she had to pick a star though, it would definitely have to be James as Romeo. He somehow managed to pull off the breeches, looking nothing less than dashing in his blue and silver costume that emphasized his charm and boldness. And despite him being an "amateur actor," it truly felt like he was Romeo. Well, he was certainly smarter than Romeo, of course. Lily chuckled to herself as she watched a scene from the wings. The characters in this play did not have the most common sense, but it was adorable. It made for some great content.

"Soft! I will go along;

An if you leave me so, you do me wrong." Remus said, embodying a playfully sly interpretation of Benvolio.

"Tut, I have lost myself; I am not here;

This is not Romeo, he's some other where." James' Romeo shot back stubbornly, much to Benvolio's exasperation.

"Tell me in sadness, who is that you love."

"What, shall I groan and tell thee?"

"Groan! why, no.

But sadly tell me who."

"Bid a sick man in sadness make his will:

Ah, word ill urged to one that is so ill!

In sadness, cousin, I do love a woman."

Something about James delivering that line made Lily's heart race, though she didn't know why.

"I aim'd so near, when I supposed you loved."

Lily smiled to herself, thinking about Remus saying those very words to her during a time that felt so far away. Things were so different back then.

The performance continued more-or-less the same as it had played out during the dress rehearsal. There was one scene where Peter entered too late, and then exited too early, but it worked out in the end. Despite her initial worries, she also quite enjoyed herself playing Juliet. Lily had practiced a lot with James the past week and she found that they had great chemistry, both on-stage and off. He had worked with her every day to slowly grow out of her minor stage fright, and every scene they shared had a sense of comfort and security. Like nothing could go wrong as long as he was by her side.

She had come to add acting to the annoyingly long list of things James was good at. He really had improved so much since that day in November where she caught him reciting some lines. He wasn't a born actor, he worked hard for it, and it was admirable how dedicated he was to a class project. Lily found herself mentally jotting down notes on things she could pick up from their rehearsals. It wasn't long for their scenes to shape into the seamless reenactments they now were. Lily found the acting tips so helpful that she even felt herself feeling the same affections Juliet felt for Romeo during practices. She supposed she was truly getting into her character and she had James to thank for that.

Speaking of the Romeo in question, James had kept his promise and they had only ever done the fake stage-kisses throughout the entire performance. Lily was really grateful he did so. Although she would never tell him, she had yet to receive her first kiss. While she had been on a handful of dates, none of them ever lasted long enough to warrant a kiss. And so, her lips were untouched and she would like them to remain that way until she actually found someone she liked. She definitely didn't want it to be fake. And of course not with James Potter... obviously.

The play finished far too soon in Lily's opinion. As the last scene played out, with Lily cradling James' "dead" body in her arms, she recited her lines with the same anguish she imagined Juliet would have felt holding her soulmate's corpse.

"What's here? a cup, closed in my true love's hand?

Poison, I see, hath been his timeless end:

O churl! drunk all, and left no friendly drop

To help me after? I will kiss thy lips;

Haply some poison yet doth hang on them,

To make die with a restorative."

And then, without a second thought, Lily did exactly what the stage directions said to do. The bracketed words that she had read oh so many times. The scene she envisioned even more times than she read, one that she had tried to tuck away from the surface despite fooling no one but herself. It was a terrifying truth, and one that she did not expect to reveal like this.

She kissed him.

A real kiss, not like the staged ones they had practiced for all week. No theatrics, no cinematic magic that offered an illusion of a kiss. It was just James, Lily, and her pure feelings out in the open and on his lips.

He was so surprised, his hazel eyes instantly shot open despite Romeo supposedly being dead. She let out an incredulous little laugh that she masked as part of Juliet's sobs as she gently used her two fingers to close his eyes again. Later. She'll talk to her Romeo later.

"Thy lips are warm." She enunciated, returning back to what they had practiced.

And while she finished her dialogue for the scene, she could have sworn she heard:

"Yours are too."

Exeunt.

Author's Note: And that's it! I hope you enjoyed and if you did, feel free to vote and comment what you thought about it! Until next time, bye! -Trip