Chapter Two

It seemed that over night, Lily and Molly had become closer than ever. For the next two weeks, they did everything together. And it seemed Patrice had forgiven Molly, too, because she was now talking to her again. The boys, however, did not forget about Molly's hot-faced moment.

"Hey, Molly," said James casually one day as he put his arm on her shoulder.

"Hi, James," said Molly, raising an eyebrow.

"So," he said, walking with her down the corridor. "Hey, do you mind if I ask you something?"

"It depends," said Molly.

"Who was the last person you kissed?"

Molly sighed. They had been at this all week. Always coming up to her when she was unprepared, as though they might fool the answer out of her.

Later at lunch, it was Remus's turn.

"Hey, Molly?" he asked, looking down at his paper.

"What's up?" she asked.

"Can you help me with this?"

"Yeah, sure. What is it?"

"It's for Care of Magical Creatures. How long was it said that Herpo the Foul's basilisk was supposed to live for? Was it 800 years?"

"Um…" said Molly. What was it? She had just read it…

"No, 900," she said suddenly.

"Ok, thanks," he said.

"No problem."

"Oh, and one other thing."

"Hit me."

"Who was it, again, that you kissed last?"

Molly opened her mouth, but then she closed it and slapped him hard on the arm as he started laughing.

The third time it happened was that night in the Gryffindor common room. Lily, Molly, and the Marauders were sitting at the coffee table playing exploding snap.

Sirius had just got his eyebrows burned, and Lily was trying to do a spell to make them grow back.

"Molly?" asked Peter.

"Yes?" she asked.

"Who was the last person you kissed?"

"Nice going, Wormy! You were supposed to do it discretely! Remember?" said James, rolling his eyes and hitting Peter on the back of the head lightly.

Molly, however, stood up and walked over to Remus, who was sitting across from her. He looked up at her as she approached him. Molly sat on his lap, held his face in her hands and gave him a very long, very wet… Well, she kissed him good. Very good.

Remus seemed a little surprised at first, but he had no problem in cooperating.

"I think she's choking him with her tongue," said James with a strange look on his face.

Sirius was staring at them, their lips glued together. "Hey, you've proved your point," he said, a look of disgust on his face.

Molly pulled away very slowly. Then she stood up and looked up at James. "Remus," she said. "Remus was the last person I kissed."

Lily started to clap. "The Marauder's have finally been outsmarted!" she laughed. "That deserves a trophy or something!"

Remus seemed shortly stunned.

"You're a good kisser!" said Molly, speaking the whole truth. She hadn't planned on giving him that long of a kiss.

"I'm a good kisser?" he asked, obviously thinking the same of Molly.

"Remus, I think we get it," said Sirius roughly.

Lily grinned at him. "Ooh! Looks like someone's a bit jealous!" she laughed.

"Who, me?" asked Sirius. "Jealous of what? I have nothing to be jealous of!"

Lily gave him a wry smile. "You're just jealous that you've never kissed her, and you want to so badly," teased Lily.

Molly blushed and gave Lily a warning look. Sirius looked from Molly to Lily, and a slight pink tinge could be seen in his cheeks if you looked at him close enough.

"I don't want to kiss Molly," he defended himself. "I am not jealous, and I have nothing to be jealous of."

Molly looked down. That wasn't much of a complement. Plus, he had lied.

"Well that was pretty cold," said Lily.

"What do you mean?"

"I mean you just insulted her!" said Lily to Sirius's confused face. "Why wouldn't any boy want to kiss Molly? And you definitely have something to be jealous of! Look at her. Molly's really pretty, and she's funny, and smart, and—"

"I never said that she wasn't any of those things, I just said that—"

"It doesn't matter," piped up Molly awkwardly. "I'm going to bed. Good night, everyone." She headed towards the staircase, but turned as she got to it. "Damn, Lupin! Where'd you learn to kiss like that?" She grinned at him and walked upstairs.

Remus grinned. Sirius rolled his eyes. Lily had a plan.

OOOOooOOOO

Lily's plan was almost fully formed by the next morning. She would get Molly to completely dismiss any romantic thoughts of Sirius momentarily, and make Molly go out with someone else. Momentarily. Then, Sirius would get jealous, and after a while, Lily would point this out to Molly, however, she would still say how nice of a person her temporary boyfriend was. Then Lily would talk to Sirius and get him to admit he had a thing for Molly. Meanwhile, Molly would be noticing how much she fancied Sirius. Lily would then tell Sirius that Molly really seemed to like her new boyfriend, but she still was having problems forgetting their hallway kiss. That would get Sirius's hopes up, and then… Well, she hadn't figured the rest out. Yet! It would come to her, eventually. And there were a few glitches. Lily had no proof that Molly fancied Sirius, or vice versa, although it seemed obvious to her. However, she didn't want to start the plan unless she knew that they both fancied each other. Otherwise, someone would have their heart broken.

"Wake up, lazy bones!" yelled Lily across the girls' dorm.

Molly groaned.

"Oh, Mooooollllly!" called Lily. "Time to get up! Do you know what day today is?" she asked.

Molly groaned again.

"That's right!" said Lily. "It is Friday! And do you know what we have on Friday? Don't bother guessing, I'll tell you. We've got double DADA! I know you're looking forward to it, Moll, so you've got to get up."

It was a miracle if anyone could wake Molly up in the morning. Once, she had almost punched someone while she was asleep. Everyone had confronted her about it later, and Molly had said, 'did I really? I'm sorry. I kind of remember that… Well, anyway, it just goes to show I'm not a morning person!'

"Molly, come on. I let you sleep in," she said, as though she were a mother. "If you want to get anything to eat, you'd better get up. First period starts in half an hour."

Reluctantly, Molly sat up. Her hair was a mess and she had bags under her eyes.

"Come on, Molly. You have to get dressed."

"I hate mornings, and I hate DADA."

"I know," said Lily. "But I also know that you love to eat, and that you won't get to eat if you don't hurry up."

"But I don't want to leave bed today. I don't want to get up."

"Why?"

Molly threw her head into her pillow and said something in a muffled tone.

"What?" asked Lily, leaning in closer to her friend. "Molly, I can't hear you."

Molly spoke into her into her pillow again, but this time Lily was almost certain that she heard the name 'Sirius' mentioned.

"Sirius?" asked Lily. "Is that what you said?"

Molly nodded.

"Oh," said Lily, slowly. "Molly, Sirius didn't mean what he said, I promise you. He just didn't want to say it."

"I don't want to talk to him," said Molly, sitting up again.

"You don't have to," consoled Lily. "But you need to get up, or Callous will give you detention."

So twenty-five minutes later, they headed toward the DADA classroom.

"Uhh," moaned Molly. "My stomach is killing me. I need food."

"You should have gotten up earlier," Lily said. She didn't say anything, but her stomach hurt, also.

"Hey!" said a voice from down the corridor.

The two girls turned to see James running down after them.

"I didn't see either of you at breakfast," he panted. "Here,' he said as he handed them each two pieces of toast.

"Thank you so much," said Molly gratefully as she took them off him and started to eat.

"Um," said Lily, "no thanks, James, I— I really don't want anything."

"Are you sure?" he asked. "I could never, ever, ever go without breakfast," he said, as he ate the toast for her.

Molly cast a glance at Lily, but said nothing.

"So where were you two?" asked James as they walked down to DADA. "Class starts in, like," he checked his watch. "Crap, like two minutes. We have to run," said James as he ran for it.

Lily and Molly followed. "Molly wasn't feeling too good," said Lily as she chased after James.

"Are you ok now?" he asked Molly.

"Yeah, I'm fine."

They finally reached the door to the DADA classroom literally seconds before the bell rang.

"What luck," panted James.

"Really," agreed Molly as they made their way into the classroom.

James walked over to Remus, Peter, and Sirius, while Lily followed.

"Lily," whispered Molly.

"Yeah?"

"I'm going to sit by Patrice," she said.

"Oh. Ok," said Lily. "Are you sure? There's room over by us.'

"Yeah, I know," said Molly. "I just want to sit by her this once."

"Ok."

"Sit down, class, we haven't got all day, I tell you. And it is a good thing, too, because I'd lose my head with this group," said Professor Callous in an annoyed voice. "Now, today is a practical lesson. Everybody take out your wands."

There was a sound of rummaging and a small chatter as everyone took out their wands.

"Now I will pair you up. We will be working on disarming spells—" there was a moan. "Anyone who wishes to disagree with my teaching skills, please stand up. I know we've been doing these since first year, but a fair few of you still need work. And for those of you who do not need extra practice, I can only hope it is not because you've had practice."

Peter scratched his head.

"Now, here are your partners. Anderson and Thomas. Black and St. Clair. Dotson and Sanchez." And she went on.

At first, Molly was thoroughly depressed that she had to go within five feet of Sirius, after the previous night. But then she remembered that this was a practical lesson. Hmm. This should be fun…

Fifty-three minutes later, Sirius came out of Defense Against the Dark Arts class in a lot of pain.

"I hurt," he moaned, rubbing his head, then his elbow, then his butt.

"Disarming Spells, Sirius," said James. "They hurt."

"Well then how come none of you lot are in as much pain as I am?" Sirius whined.

"Because by some horrible twist of unlucky fate, you were paired up with a very smart and powerful witch who happened to be angry with you because you were a complete and utter prat last night," said Remus simply.

"Yeah," agreed James. "And you have to keep in mind that Remus was paired up with Wormy, so that's one obvious reason why Moony's in one piece."

"And Prongs was paired with a Ravenclaw girl who was too much in love with him to hurt him," concluded Remus. "Have you anything to add, Wormy?"

"Er," said Peter.

"See?" said Remus. "Peter agrees."

"Why was I a complete and utter prat?" asked Sirius, looking up.

"Don't tell me you don't know," said James. "I mean, Sirius, you have you're stupid moments, but honestly, I think even Peter noticed."

"Yeah," piped up Peter, having no clue what they were talking about.

"But really, what did I do?" asked Sirius, stopping in the corridor.

"Well," said James, "to start off, you were completely disgusted by the fact that Remus was snogging Molly."

"No I wasn't!"

Even Peter stared at Sirius.

"Well," he started, "I don't — it's not exactly a hobby of mine to watch my friends swap spit."

"Yeah, whatever. And then," Remus added, "you told her that you had nothing to be jealous of, which is basically saying, 'I don't fancy you, you are not good enough for me, you are not extremely attractive, and I have no problem with you snogging the brains out Remus.'"

"I didn't say that, though," Sirius complained, as they reached their next class.

"But that's what it comes across as," James pointed out. "And anyway, you lied to her."

"What?"

"You said that you'd never kissed her."

Sirius froze. "What?" he said sharply.

"You heard him," said Remus. "That was pretty mean."

"I haven't— what are you—" Sirius stuttered.

"Lily told us," James said as the bell rang and people started to file into Charms. "But she swore on her life that she'd never tell another one of Molly's secrets again, and we can't tell anyone either. Especially you."

"Well," Remus said. "You certainly broke your promise."

OOOoooOOO

After Charms, the Gryffindors headed to lunch. Patrice sat across from Lily and Molly.

"Hi, Molly," said Patrice. "Who was your Charms partner?"

"Sirius."

"I had a Ravenclaw boy. I can't remember his name. I think I gave him a good beating, though," she bragged.

"You should've seen Sirius," said Lily. "Molly nearly did some permanent damage to him."

Patrice shrugged.
Molly helped herself to some chips, a toasted sandwich, a banana, and some pumpkin juice.

Lily took a bread roll.

Molly stared. "Don't eat too much, dear, you'll get sick," she said dryly.

"I'm not hungry," said Lily.

"You had no breakfast," said Molly.

"Did you ever notice that we humans seem to state the obvious?"

"Lily," said Molly.

"No, really," Lily said. "Like, 'you're very tall,' or 'it's cold out today.'"
"Lily!" Molly said again.

"Look, I'm not hungry today, ok?"

Molly looked doubtful. "Well, I better see you eating dinner tonight."

"Don't worry, Molly. I will eat."

"Are you going anorexic?" asked Patrice curiously. "I wouldn't recommend it. It's extremely boring. Trust me."

"You were anorexic?" asked Lily in surprise.

"You thought it would be exciting?" asked Molly in surprise.

"Yeah, it was stupid, though," said Patrice. "And anyway, it didn't even work. I mean, I lost weight, but barely," said Patrice as if it were no big deal. She continued to sip her drink. "So are you?"

"No," said Molly.

"I can answer for myself," said Lily. "No, I am not."

"That's cool," said Patrice, but she had clearly lost interest. "Hey, you lot mind if I go over to the Ravenclaw table?" asked Patrice suddenly.

"Go ahead," said Molly.

When Patrice had left, Molly turned to Lily.

"I'm not anorexic, Molly," she said.

"You had better not be."

Later that night, in the Gryffindor common room, Lily decided to start her pre-plan. She had to get Molly to admit that she fancied Sirius.

"Hey, Molly?" asked Lily.

"Hey, yeah?" replied Molly.

"You know you can trust me, right?" she asked.

"Of course I know that."

"So will you please tell me something?" pleaded Lily. "I really want to know if you like Sirius. Please tell me."

Molly looked at Lily curiously. "Why do you want to know so much?" she asked.

"There are so many reasons, Molly," said Lily. "I want you to be able to confide in me. I want you not to have to hold things in anymore. I want to be your new best friend, Molly." And I want to hook you up with him, she added in her head. But she stated the main reasons aloud. Molly didn't need to hear the last bit.

Molly smiled. "Lily, you already are my new best friend," she said truthfully. They'd grown very close very fast. "Just don't say it to Pat. She'll get all upset."

Lily smiled. "I won't."

"Alright. If you must know—"

"—I must."

"If you must know, I actually don't know how I feel at the moment," Molly began, twirling her shoelaces. "Its like— I always kind of liked him a little bit, but I didn't realize it until now. And right now, I'm not entirely sure how much I like him, you know?"

"Yeah, I do," said Lily. So she had proof. Molly fancied Sirius. Now, all she had to do was get Sirius to admit to liking her.

OOOoooOOO

"James?" whispered Lily the next day.

"Yeah?" he whispered back.

At the moment, they were in Transfiguration class with Professor McGonagall. They were supposed to be turning their flobberworms into shoelaces. A very simple task, but the shoelaces had to be pink and purple striped, which made it considerably more difficult. Of course, Sirius had already done it, so he had started his homework. He didn't want to, but he was under the watch of McGonagall.

Lily would've accomplished her task a while ago, but her mind was to busy thinking of her 'infamous plan' as she had called it.

"James, I don't mean for this to upset you," she began, concentrating on her worm, "but I think Sirius is keeping something from you."

"What do you mean?" asked James, looking at her.

"Well," Lily said, "I think— I'm not sure— but I think that he might me letting a girl get in the way of your friendship."

"No way!" said James, accidentally prodding his worm to a certain death. "Oops. Um, Professor McGonagall?" he asked. "Can I have another flobberworm, please? Sorry, I killed mine."

Professor McGonagall frowned and gave him another. "I beg you; please do not murder that one, too. I only have so many, Mr. Potter."

"Ok, what were you saying?" asked James to Lily again. "Oh yeah. How could a girl be in the way of our friendship? He doesn't have a girlfriend right now. Right?"

"No, but think about it. He didn't tell you about his kiss with Molly, right?"

"Right…"

"And I'm beginning to think he fancies her. Maybe you already knew?" Lily asked.

"No…" said James.

"It's just, I thought you guys told each other everything," Lily said, attempting to turn her blue shoelace back into a worm.

"We do… We did, I mean," said James, who looked upset.

"Well," said Lily optimistically, "maybe he likes Molly more than all the other girls he's liked, and he's a bit embarrassed. Or, it might be because it's Molly that he doesn't want to tell you. You know, because we're all friends with her." Lily raised her hand. "Professor, I did it," she said.

McGonagall walked over and inspected Lily's shoelace. Sure enough, it was pink and purple striped.

"Well done, Miss Evans," said McGonagall, and collected the shoelace. "You may begin your homework."

James pondered Lily's notion.

"James—?"

"Shh! I'm pondering," he said.

"You're pondering," said Lily.

"I'm pondering," said James.

"May I ask what you are pondering, James?" she asked politely.

"I'm pondering your perception," he said, tapping his chin as though thinking very hard on a very important matter.

"My perception?" Lily said.

"Yes. Your perception— your position. I'm pondering it proficiently."

"I see," said Lily, seeing it. "You are pondering my perception, proficiently. What a predicament we have profoundly gotten ourselves into, eh, Potter?" said Lily, putting a particular emphasis on the 'p' words.

James paused his pointless pondering. He laughed.

"Well?" asked Lily, getting back to the subject. "What are you going to do about it? You want to make sure that he knows he can trust you."

"I'll just talk to him about it, I guess,
said James.

"What do you think about it, then?" asked Lily.

"About what?" asked James. "Molly and Sirius?"

Lily nodded.

"I think that it's cool. And if anyone didn't like it, they'd just have to get used to it, wouldn't they?" said James. "I mean, it appears that if they do hook up, they'd stay together for a long time."

"That's good," she said. But she had a secret jealousy of how things were working between Sirius and Molly.

OOOoooOOO

Later that night, James approached Sirius about his conversation with Lily.

"Hey, Padfoot?" he asked uncertainly.

"Yeah?" Sirius said, looking away from the book he was reading.

"Um," he said. "Uh…"

Sirius stared at his best friend.

"What are you reading?" asked James quickly. He found it rather difficult to bring up the subject.

"Return of the King," said Sirius.

"By Tolkien?"

"Yeah," he said. "Molly recommended it to me a few years ago. I'm re-reading it."

"Huh," said James. Good— here's his chance. Sirius just brought Molly up— "Hey, mate," said James. "I want to talk to you about M—" he stopped.

"Mmm?" said Sirius.

"Molly," said James, finally.

"Molly St. Clair?" asked Sirius.

James nodded.

"What about her?"

"Do you fancy her?"

"…" said Sirius.

"Look, mate," said James. "You know that you can tell me anything, so why aren't you? I'd rather find out from you than from Lily."

"Lily?" Sirius finally managed to get out. "What does she know about my private life?"

"You know how she is," said James. "Those girls— they just… Know things, you know? It's weird." James shook his head. "Anyway, do you fancy her?"

"I—" Sirius began. He looked down. "Do you like peanut butter?" he asked suddenly.

"Peanut butter," stated James.

"Yes. I love peanut butter— it's so buttery…"

"Sirius, come on!" said James. "Don't change the subject on me! Really!"

"Yes," said Sirius bluntly.

"Y-yes?" James said cautiously.

"Yes, I fancy her. I've fancied her for ages now, but the problem is I'm trying to stop."

"You sound like you're giving up drugs."

"What?"

"Never mind," said James. "Why would you want to stop fancying her?"

"James," said Sirius, "you're my best mate. And Molly, she's my best girl mate. Get me?"

"Yeah," said James.

"So if I went out with her and it didn't work, we might not be mates anymore. I'd rather have her in my life and not be dating her than not have her in my life at all."

"But right now, she's not in your life," said James. "She's avoiding you because of what you said." James looked at his friend. "Hey, I think you guys have a chance. A pretty damn good one, too. I knew I had risks when I asked Lily out, and I took them."

"Prongs, your risks were: If I ask Lily out, there's a chance that she may attempt to murder me. That's completely different than my risks!"

"My risks were even riskier risks than your risks were! I value my life!"

"I value your life, too, mate," gulped Sirius, as he looked at the portrait hole.

"Risks, huh?"

James turned around. He gulped.

Lily marched over to him. "I'm sorry. I didn't know that I was such a 'risk.' After all, I could explode any minute, couldn't I? Perhaps you should take the risk free route and just dump me? Good night!" She turned on her heel and marched up to the Girls' dormitories.

James turned to Sirius, his face pale.

"Maybe it's just PMS," Sirius suggested.

OOOoooOOO

please review! thanx to everyone who reviewed already, but i need MORE! it's my fuel to keep going!