A/N: Written for the Quidditch League Fanfiction Competition Round Thirteen.

Disclaimer: JK Rowling owns all.

Title: James' Secret

Prompts: #3 Dialogue: "Let it go," #8 Truth, and #11 Library

Team: Montrose Magpies

Position: Chaser One

Words: 1,054

It was quite a sunny day outside on June 2, 1974. In fact, it was such a sunny day that one did not expect to find anyone in the library, especially not four rambunctious third year Gryffindor boys who were much more likely to be in detention than studying for end of year exams. James Potter, Sirius Black, Remus Lupin, and Peter Pettigrew were each bent over various school books, rereading chapters and looking over their notes—which weren't that detailed, one might notice.

Remus, in particular, looked as though he was enjoying the peace and quiet. The full moon was, in fact, the next night, so he needed to get as much studying as he possibly could done before he was incapacitated throughout the next few days. James Potter, Remus' best friend, didn't seem to think that the studying was all that important, however, as he and Sirius Black were currently playing an intense game of tic-tac-toe on a spare bit of parchment.

"Will you two cut it out?" Remus said for about the thirtieth time, raising one eyebrow at his friends. "The library is a place to study, not to slack off." Remus turned at once back to what he had been doing, which just so happened to be tutoring the fourth member of their group, Peter Pettigrew, in Astronomy. The plumper boy just didn't seem to remember any of the phases of the moon, and he had an even tougher time remembering exactly which constellations went where in the sky.

James and Sirius chuckled and then went back to their game. A shout of victory, followed by Madame Pince's yell for quiet, could be heard seconds later as James won the game. "Yes!" he whispered, not in the least subdued after Madame Pince's reprimand. "Now you owe me five Galleons!" James gloated, holding out his hand smugly for the money from Sirius.

Sirius frowned. "I don't owe you anything," he said. "We never bet."

"Yeah, we did," James insisted, now shoving his hand in front of Sirius' face. "And you'd better pay up. You didn't last time, anyway, so you owe me this time."

"We didn't bet last time either!" Sirius exclaimed, pushing James' hand away.

"Yeah, we did!" James said, raising his voice, but the argument was soon forgotten as a certain third year redheaded Gryffindor walked into the library, alongside a greasy-haired Slytherin. James found himself staring as the unlikely duo found a table far from the four Marauders, and Lily sat with her back to him. Severus Snape sat protectively on the other side of the table, so he could watch and see if anything fishy was happening at James' table.

James narrowed his eyes at Snape and was about to shoot the Slytherin a very nasty hand gesture before Sirius interrupted him. "Earth to James," he said, waving his hand in front of his friend's face. James started and focused back on Sirius, who was smirking. Remus and Peter had even looked up from their studying to watch the spectacle that was occurring right under their noses.

"What?" James asked, suddenly self-conscious. His face was probably bright red, a trait he'd inherited from his mother, and James tried frantically to hide the blush. He'd had a crush on Lily Evans since the first time he'd laid eyes on her, and so far he'd been able to hide that from his friends. It was rather easy, James reflected, when the girl in question wanted absolutely nothing to do with him. She'd even gone as far as to suggest that they draw a line down the middle of the common room, and she'd stay on her side while he stayed on his. He'd refused, promising he'd keep his distance, but that was proving easier said than done. The two of them seemed to always find each other.

"Do you like Evans?" Peter asked bluntly. Sirius began to howl in laughter at Peter's lack of tact, and Remus even snorted from behind his book, which he'd returned to when nothing interesting had happened.

James sputtered indignantly. "Why would you think I like Evans? I could have any girl I wanted in the entire year, maybe in the entire school, and she's the only one that can't stand me! Why would I have a crush on her?"

Sirius chuckled. "For exactly that reason, mate. She's interesting. It fascinates you how she could just downright dislike you when everyone else can't resist your charm. She's sort of like a challenge. So? Do you like her?"

"Let it go, Sirius," James said, his cheeks growing even a deeper shade of red. He hoped that his friends didn't notice, but from their looks of excitement, they had. Even Remus was fully paying attention now, as he'd set down his book after carefully marking the page he'd stopped at.

"Tell us the truth, James," Sirius pressed. "Do you like Evans?"

James lowered his hazel eyes from meeting his friend's black ones and then, with only a little bit of hesitation, he gave a slight nod of his head. It was so slight that Sirius would have missed it if James' hair hadn't bobbed slightly. Sirius, Remus, and Peter clapped hands and then exchanged some money. James looked on in shock as the money exchanged hands, and Remus was grinning as though he'd just won the bet. "You bet on me, didn't you?" James asked his friends.

Remus nodded. "Sirius started it, but I obviously won. We were betting on when you were going to tell us that you had a crush on Evans. Sirius guessed the middle of second year, Peter guessed the beginning of fourth year, and I guessed the end of this year. Thanks for telling us, mate, or I'd be down ten Galleons. Now I'm up twenty and I've still got my ten!"

James grinned at Remus' betting skills. It always seemed as though, no matter what they bet on, Remus always won. "We'll help her like you, mate," Sirius said, clapping James on his back. "She'll go out with you by the time we leave Hogwarts, I just know it."

James smiled. "Thanks, Sirius," he said, "but I don't know how that could possibly happen. She hates my guts."

Sirius just smirked. "Where there's a will, there's a way," he said.

A/N: Just some lighthearted Marauder fun for you! Hope you liked it, and please take the time to write a review! All reviews are greatly appreciated!