James Potter entered the carriage with a loud "GUESS WHAT!"

The other inhabitants of the carriage – two of his fellow marauders – looked up at him with raised eyebrows.

Sirius began to mutter "please not another rant about-"

"Lily Evans" interrupted James, and Sirius cursed under his breath.

Remus Lupin repressed a sigh. "What about her?"

James beamed at him. "I," he said with a dramatic flourish, "am officially over her!"

The other two suddenly found themselves in a situation they never thought would happen. They exchanged glances before Sirius asked "when did you decide this?"

"About two weeks ago" replied James smugly. He sat down and stretched out along the seat before pulling out a chocolate frog and munching on it contentedly.

Sirius and Remus were silent for a moment, and then began to bombard him with questions.

"So you're not going to ask her out anymore?"

"Or tell her she looks beautiful every time you see her?"

"Or stalk her?"

"Or stare at her?"

"Or moan about the fact that she hates you?"

"Or attempt to write poetry?"

"Or stop us from pranking her and her friends?"

James shook his head and answered each question with a happy "nope!"

Remus sat back looking impressed. "So you're really over her..." He received in response a grin similar to that of a five year old.

Sirius, however, knew when James was holding something back. "Do you swear it, Prongs?" he asked.

"Yep," James said with yet another happy smile.

"Seriously?"

"No, Jamesly," he replied with a practised air of a long-running joke that has lost its humour but is repeated for old-time sake.

Sirius looked at him hard. "Do you solemnly swear it?"

The smile faltered slightly. "I...almost."

A laugh cut through the silence and James whipped his head around to see a group of 7th year girls walk past. His eyes followed the red-head with the sparkling green eyes, and he didn't turn back to his friends until she had gone out of sight.

His shoulders slumped and he asked dejectedly "I'm not even close, am I?

They both gave him a sympathetic glance and shook their heads.

"Damn it!"