James stumbled into the dormitory, looking as if he'd been hit by a Confundus charm. Without a word, he strode towards his bed and flopped down on it, not bothering to draw the hangings shut.

Sirius exchanged looks with Remus and Peter. "Alright, mate?" he asked bemusedly.

"Yes. No. Well- sort of," replied James, not moving. He continued to stare at the top of his four-poster as if it held all the answers of the world just out of his grasp. "I mean, it's not as if it's a bad thing- I was just taken off guard…"

"You realize you're making entirely no sense," said Remus, raising his eyebrows.

James sat up abruptly. "She asked me out." he said, his eyes slightly wild. "Just now. I said yes, of course." His eyes widened further. "Blimey, I did say yes, didn't I? It's all sort of like a hallucination."

"Wait a minute, are you talking about Evans?" squeaked Peter. "But I thought you were just mates."

"So did I." muttered James. "Evidently, she did not."

Looking at his friend's panicked face, Remus reached into his trunk and tossed James a chocolate frog, which he deftly caught. "You look like you need it," supplied Remus at his friend's look. "Care to tell us the story from the beginning?"

James tore into his chocolate frog immediately. In between bites he managed, "We were in the common room doing Potions homework-"

"-Potions? That's not due until Tuesday. I knew this Head Boy business would turn you into a swot," said Sirius, wrinkling his nose. "Disgraceful."

"You knew he was a swot before," interjected Remus, grinning. "He practically gets off on Transfiguration."

Peter tried to turn his laugh into a cough when he caught James's glare. Remus made no such attempt and simply laughed at his friend's expression.

James threw the packaging at the sandy-haired boy. "Fuck off. Do you want to hear the story or not?" When Remus simply held his hands up in surrender, he continued, somewhat more grudgingly than before. "We were in the common room doing Potions homework, when she turns to me and goes, 'Right then. I reckon it's high time I admitted I fancy you. If you wouldn't mind terribly, I'd like to go out with you sometime.' and then just turns back to her bloody homework!"

All three other boys burst into laughter. "Well, that's Evans for you. Frustrating until the very end." said Sirius. "Did you snog her?" he added after a moment of thought.

James's ears reddened. "Really, Padfoot?"

"I'm going to take that as a no."

Turning increasingly red James huffed, "I was a bit distracted, alright?"

Remus sent him a sidelong glance. "You seem awfully disgruntled for someone who just got asked out by a girl he fancies. Isn't this what you what you wanted?"

"I mean, yeah," said James, a beaming grin spreading across his face. His hands went to muss up his hair. "I'm just trying to get used to the idea Lily could fancy me, I s'pose. It wasn't so long ago she thought I was an arrogant tosser."

"Well, you changed for her, didn't you?" asked Peter.

A crease formed between James's eyebrows. "What d'you mean?"

"She didn't like you when you hexed and teased other students," elaborated Peter. "So you stopped. This had to be the end goal there, yeah?"

The bespectacled boy frowned. His eyes tightened behind his glasses. "I stopped hexing other people because I realized I was being a stupid berk with a superiority complex, Wormtail. It's called growing up. It had nothing to do with her."

"And that," spoke a voice from the door, "is one of the things that prompted me to finally ask you out."

All four boys turned their heads to the door quickly. They saw the subject of their conversation, Lily Evans, leaning against the door-frame with a stack of papers in her hand.

"Eavesdropping, Lily?" asked James, raising an eyebrow.

Lily laughed. "Didn't hear anything I didn't already know," she said, not bothering to deny the accusations. She walked towards him and handed over the stack of papers. "You left your homework in the common room."

"You sure picked a rude one, Prongs," said Sirius, grinning. "Eavesdrops and then walks into our dormitory like she owns it."

Rolling her eyes at him, but still smiling, Lily retorted, "As if you haven't gotten into the girl's dormitory without our consent, Sirius." Turning back to James, she said, "You've picked me, then, have you? I don't actually recall hearing an answer downstairs. Just a lot of sputtering and gawking."

James's red ears were back with a vengeance. "Yeah, I suppose I wouldn't mind terribly."

"Good," said Lily, sitting next to him on his bed. The boys started making catcalls, but she ignored them. She leaned in and whispered in his ear. "I'm glad you didn't change for me. I rather like you the way you are."

"The feeling's mutual, Evans."