Author's Note:

Again, no ownership of Harry Potter or the names you recognize. I hope you enjoy, and please leave me feedback!

It had been three days since James and Remus had had their conversation in the common room, and the latter had noticed no aforementioned "plan" come up in James' recent behavior. True, the usually lovesick guy was now giving Lily her space: a simple hello when they ran into each other throughout the day and no professions of undying love.

Sirius couldn't wrap his mind around the new James. His dark silver eyes widened to the size of dinner plates and he flapped his arms around frantically as soon as Lily had rounded the corner with her friends. James had just sidestepped swiftly to allow Lily and her friends up the stairs and simply waved a silent hello while continuing to listen to his friend's chatter.

"What has gotten into you, Prongs? Where's the love? Where's the marriage proposals? Where's the hair tussling? Where's the 'Hey Evans, want to go on a date with me?'" Sirius imitated the deeper tones James had adopted a few years back solely for the purpose of talking to Lily.

A hand reached up to ruffle the ever-messy black hair at Sirius' rapid fire questions. "I'm just…giving her space. She seems upset. I don't want to be the reason she becomes even more upset."

"Well, at least I have the hair tussling back," Sirius teased, mussing up his friend's hair even more. "You okay, Prongsie, boy?"

"What makes you ask that?" James smirked.

"I mean, usually you just throw your love at Lily without really caring what she does in return, but now… You seem different, is all. Just wondering."

James' brown eyes narrowed into a glare. "I 'throw my love?' I 'throw my love?' What, is my love a piece of spare parchment to toss in the trash? Something discardable?"

Sirius pretended to think for a while. "Yeah, just about, mate."

"You and Moony… Both nutters in the same boat… Don't even know why I'm friends with you two. I'll show you. James Potter's love is nothing to be trifled with!" With the last statement, he sarcastically puffed up his chest, threw his shoulders back, and placed his arms akimbo.

A group of third year Gryffindor girls passing by giggled at the sight of James making fun and Sirius being his usual attractive self. The latter gave them a momentary side smirk, causing the girls to dissolve into giggles and swoons.

"Glad to see you're back to normal, egotistical self, Prongs."

"Yeah, yeah, sure…"

James grinned and returned Sirius' shove good-naturedly in an attempt to cover up his true anxiety.

Sirius had noticed a change in his personality. He hadn't meant for anyone to realize he was changing, per say. He just wanted him and Lily to happen as if it was always meant to be. No drama, no fuss, nothing extraordinarily special. That's how Lily would've wanted it, he was sure; ever since first year, she was a no makeup, no hair primping kind of girl. Regardless, she was still the most beautiful girl in school to him.

But then again…it was Sirius, the guy who was with him 24/7 – sometimes even in the bathroom – and knew him better than anyone else. Sirius would notice if he changed his cologne, but wouldn't bother with asking why because the reason was so glaringly obvious.

All the same, James was disconcerted and resolved to talk to Remus that night again.

"Where's Moony?" Peter wondered.

Three fourths of the Marauders were sitting on their respective beds in their dormitory, talking about the last few weeks of school without homework, summer plans, and everything else humanly possible.

Sirius yawned. "It's Moony. He wouldn't get lost in Hogwarts. He's prefect, for goodness sake. He's probably just doubling his patrol, as usual."

"Yeah, yeah, that's true!" Peter agreed immediately. "Hey, can we go fly tomorrow?"

James tuned them out, choosing instead to fish out the Marauders' Map and search for Remus. "I solemnly swear that I'm up to no good."

"Sure thing, Wormy…" Sirius mumbled in the background. "Prongs?"

"Sure, of course," James responded automatically. He flipped over another page on the Map and was rewarded. The tiny dot labeled Remus Lupin was walking down a sixth floor corridor, alone.

When he looked up, both Sirius' light and Peter's light had been put out. The former was already snoring softly and the latter was turning over in his bed. Reassured that he wouldn't be followed, James slipped out of bed and pulled on a jacket over his white pajama shirt.

"Where you goin'?" Peter whispered.

"Hun – thirsty," James lied quickly. "Getting some water."

His friend muttered an incomprehensible reply and rolled back onto his side. James let out a sigh of relief. He had corrected himself mid-syllable, realizing almost too late that if he mentioned food, Peter would most definitely have gotten up and begged to follow him.

With the Map clutched in one hand and his wand in the other, James made his way down the darkened halls of Hogwarts. Remus was still on the sixth floor, so it didn't take him long to find his friend.

"Enjoying patrol too much, Moony?" James announced his presence once he was behind Remus.

The other boy jumped and whipped about, wand alight in front of him. "Merlin, James, what was that for?"

"I wanted to talk to you."

"About Lily, of course. What's the question?"

James grinned. Trust Remus to know exactly what was on his mind. "So…has Lily noticed a change in my…demeanor?"

"'Demeanor?' Why didn't you just use 'personality' or something? Makes you sound like you're trying to be old-fashioned," Remus teased. He let up once James made his puppy dog eyes. "Oh, stop it. Sirius is better at that, by the way. Might want to take some lessons."

"Would you stop being a smartass for just five minutes?" Despite the exasperated nature of his sentence, James was far from it.

Remus' quick-witted sense of humor was something not generally seen by the rest of the school. He was constantly afraid that something he said would reveal his furry little problem, so as a result, he said very little about himself. To everyone else, he was Remus Lupin, hardworking, smart, quiet, humble, kind, helpful Remus.

To the Marauders, he was Moony, diligent, witty, intelligent, modest, considerate, brilliant Moony. Whenever Remus showed his humorous side, none of the remaining Marauders minded one bit; they reveled in the fact that they were the only ones who had the privilege of experiencing it firsthand.

"I'm counting." Remus glanced down at his watch.

"I need to talk too, buddy."

"Fine. I'll give you…two minutes of speaking time in my five minutes of not –"

"Giving me sass, right," James filled in.

Remus rolled his eyes but gestured for his friend to continue.

"Sirius noticed today that I was acting differently. Is it that obvious?"

"Well…granted, Sirius and I both know you better than anyone else at this school. If you did something differently, we would know immediately. It's a given, James."

James opened his mouth to speak, but snapped it shut once more. He sighed and glanced down at his scuffed trainers.

"You remember the conversation we had a few days ago?" Remus asked in the silence.

"Of course. Why?"

"You remember me making fun of the fact that supposedly half the girls in school love you but I wasn't?"

"How could I forget?"

"Yeah, well, this whole James Potter acting shy makes me swoon much more than James Potter constantly messing up his hair."

The brown eyes looked over sharply. "Really?"

"I might 'give you sass,' but I'm not a liar, James."

"You like me!" James beamed.

"Yes, James, I love you. Let's get married this summer, no wait, there's a girl you're pining after."

James subdued once more, pursing his lips thoughtfully. "You think I should act more…quiet with Lily?"

Remus nodded. "I talk to her during prefect duty, and to answer your unasked question, yes, she has noticed your change in personality. According to her, it's a relief to not have to be on guard for your 'attacks' every day, but at the same time, she's a little worried about you because you seem so quiet in the halls now. As much as she insists she hates your egotistical demeanor, she says it's strange to see you without your usual pomp and circumstance."

"Moony, those words just made my day. You, my friend, are undoubtedly the coolest werewolf on this planet."

"Not so loud!" Remus hissed, glancing into the surrounding darkness furtively.

James waved the Map in his friend's face. "No one's around, mate, calm down. You know I wouldn't throw your trust around like a spare bit of parchment. I'm not Padfoot." He couldn't help but grin.

"Why do you have that look on your face?"

"Just a conversation Padfoot and I had earlier today."

Remus nodded in understanding. "So how's the plan coming along?"

The only response James could think to give was another vague shrug. "I don't know. I was thinking of a plan, but then figured if I planned something like this, it would make it seem fake, somehow. I want everything between Lily and me to be natural. It only feels right that way. I go about doing everything as it should have been done in the first place."

His friend stopped to give James a look. "When have you suddenly become so…"

"Smart?"

"No, not that. You've always been smart, intelligent, really, just incredibly lazy. I mean…you've suddenly become so knowledgeable, wise. Did something happen between now and our last conversation?"

"I guess it's suddenly just hit me that we only have two years left at this school. As well as I know Lily, I can't be sure she'll continue the same classes as me next year, and if nothing goes well in the coming two years, then I have very little chance to see her ever again after Hogwarts, and then how am I supposed to marry her and have a bunch of kids with bright green eyes?"

Remus couldn't help but laugh even as he sensed the completely serious undertone of his friend's soliloquy. "James?"

"Am I allowed to be sassy again?"

"Sure."

"I'm not your dad, but, really… I'm proud of you. Truly, I am. I guess I'm not being sassy, just cheesy. But I am proud of you, James."

James's tanned complexion darkened visibly, even in the shadows. "Come off it, Moony. You haven't even seen me do anything yet." An all-too familiar smirk grew on his face.

"Oh, no, I don't want to see."

A/N:

Sorry for the short chapter! It's kind of a filler; I don't really have the rest of this story planned out so I'm taking things as they come.