When Lily woke up it was to the sight of a smirking Marlene who looked a bit too pleased to be normal for a Monday morning. But, Lily, still pleased with the content of her previous dream was able not to be too put off by her best mate's cheery demeanor.

No, as Lily looked closer at the blonde she noticed that the demeanor wasn't exactly cheery. It was more smug than anything else.

She slowly sat at, cracking her neck and peering at the blonde who was practically bouncing on the edge of the bed next to her's. "What're you so bloody excited about?", she questioned with no real hardness in her voice.

Marlene grinned in response. "Oh, nothing. I'm just excited to hear about a certain someone's dream."

Lily felt her insides grow cold and nearly froze in place. She put on a blank face and asked in an indifferent tone, "Oh, whose dream exactly would that be."

Marlene clucked her tongue disapprovingly and rose from the bed. "Hun, I think we both know whose dream."

Lily turned her back on her friend and reached over to her bedside table for her wand. She chose not to respond.

When she finally turned around to face her friend again (after taking much longer than needed to retrieve her wand and put it into her schoolbag), she found her looking at her with a raised eyebrow.

"Seeing as you seem to be having a bout of memory loss, I'll just have to jog it for you, now won't I." Marlene said, "Does the sound of 'James' being practically screamed ring any bells in that pretty little head of your?"

"I have no clue what you're talking about." Lily replied coolly, which was quiet the opposite of what she really felt.

"Well, that's certainly odd isn't it, seeing as I seem to remember hearing the same sounds coming from behind your bed curtains last night as you slept." Marlene quipped.

Lily felt her cheeks heat up and cursed the gene that gave her red cheeks as well as red hair. She faked a laugh. "Oh that, that was nothing, I was dreaming about … dreaming about …," she groped for something to say ignoring Marlene's raised eyebrow, "my cat!" she finally finished.

"Your cat?" Marlene asked dubiously, crossing her arms and fixing her bright red friend with a stare that conveyed her incredulity.

"Yes," Lily replied sniffing, "My cat. I had a cat named James when I was a girl and just had a very good dream that involved playing with him."

"Hmmm …," she responded, biting the inside of her cheek, "Are you quite sure this dream didn't more focus on you 'playing' with a different James? Maybe one of the Potter variety?"

"Nope," Lily said stiffly, "You should know me better than that. I'm not even sure why'd you think such a thing. As if I'd ever have a dream like that about Potter."

"Well, you know it's not exactly everyday that you tell your cat to 'push harder' or 'don't stop. But I suppose, to each her own, ya know?" She replied cheekily grinning as Lily's face continued to heat up.

She coughed, "Umm … James and I … that is, my cat and I, shared a very … special relationship."

"Yes, I'm sure you and James shared something very special indeed. Was it holy too? Because based on the "oh God"s that stemmed from dream, I'd say you'd found Jesus together." Marlene said.

Lily nodded stiffly before grabbing the bundle of clothes on top of her trunk at the end of her bed and running into the bathroom, slamming the door.