A/N: So it's been awhile, but here is chapter 3! Thank-you to JesusFreak777, Guest and Mirage1234 for reviewing!


The next morning was quiet between the four friends. Peter was once again sleeping. Remus was, as usual, buried in the daily prophet, and Sirius was sitting beside him, leaning over to read an article with a frown on his face and a fork blindly shoveling food into his mouth.

"Morning," James sighed as he sat down.

Sirius opened his mouth, as if to respond, but it was full and a piece of egg fell out onto the newspaper that Remus was, in an unusual display of kindness, holding so that Sirius could see. Remus glared, shaking the offending piece of half chewed egg onto the table, and buried his face in the Prophet once again, this time so that Sirius couldn't see. Sirius sulked silently, continuing to shovel food into his mouth.

The table was once again in silence as Peter slept, Remus read, Sirius sulked, and James brooded, staring at a crack in the wooden table like it's very existence was an insult to him. The minutes stretched on until Sirius couldn't handle it anymore.

"What is wrong with you, Prongs?" he asked, dropping his fork with an exasperated sigh.

James finished chewing his mouthful of toast before answering. "Lily has a boyfriend."

Sirius groaned, "She broke up with Garrott, like two days ago."

"Last night I followed her when she left the Great Hall early. She was meeting a man, that was not Garrott."

"Maybe is was one of her friends."

James snorted with humorless laughter. "One, this man was definitely older than her, he must have been staying in Hogsmeade and coming to see her each night. And two, who goes on midnight strolls with a 'just friend'?"

"We do," Peter spoke up, having woken to the sound of his friends' voices.

James glared across the table at him, "Not helping, Pete, and besides they aren't strolls. They're walks for planning nefarious deeds."."

"I'm sorry, are we supposed to be helping you with this delusion you've cooked up?" Sirius asked. He was tired, and whatever article he had been reading earlier had put him in a bad mood.

"I'm telling you, this is true." James insisted.

"You've been chasing Lily for five years. Get over her already!" Sirius threw his hands up in exasperation.

"It's not that easy."

"And what's so difficult about it?"

"You wouldn't understand."

"I wouldn't?"

"No!"

"And why not?"

"You wouldn't understand it because-" They were shouting now.

"Because what?" when James didn't answer Sirius glared at him, "Because I've never had a serious relationship? Because I'm just a player, a man whore?"

"I wasn't going to-"

"I bloody live with you James, I know how your mind works, and don't tell me you've never gotten angry at me because of all the girls I date and then dump." He looked at James for a few more seconds before turning to Remus. "Moony, I have a potions essay to finish, help me." It wasn't a question.

Remus look taken aback but nodded and stood up. Sirius send James one last glare before herding Remus out of the Great Hall.

James turned to Peter but the fourth boy just shook his head and stood up, following Sirius out.

James watched as his three friends walked out of the Great Hall. When the doors swung shut behind them he picked up his goblet and threw it across the room.

"Mr. Potter!" Miss Mcgonagall yelled when the goblet landed on the floor. "Detention, you should know better.

Angry he pushed the bench back and stalked from the room. He failed to see Lily Evans staring after him, her brow furrowed in confusion and possibly a little bit of concern.


The three boys avoided James for the rest of the day. Choosing seats as far away from him as possible in class, bolting out the door as soon as the bell rang, and Sirius even went so far as to duck into the girl's washroom, dragging a reluctant Remus after him, when James came down the hallway.

It was a gloomy affair for James, he'd never spent more than twenty-four hours away from at least one of the other Marauders since they'd arrived at Hogwarts, save for holidays. So, the next day when he entered the Great Hall for breakfast he was fully prepared to settle things with Sirius so that they could get back to planning pranks on the Slytherins.

He looked around, spotting Sirius head of perfect black hair, and made his way in that direction. He sat down in the spot open beside Peter and folded his hands on the table. It was the usual breakfast protocol for the group, and James felt a smile twitching on his lips as the hair that had fallen into Peter's eyes fluttered with each snore, and Remus' eyes moved back and forth dizzyingly as he read the Daily Prophet that was inches from his nose. Sirius, however, was paying no mind to the food that usually consumed his attention at meals. He was winking at a petit fifth year who had been unlucky enough, although by the way she giggled and fluttered her eyelashes she didn't see it as a great misfortune, to be sitting next to the most notorious flirt in all of Hogwarts.

James cleared his throat. Sirius gave her one last smirk before turning to the boy in front of him. "Yes?"

"I've thought long and hard about it, and have decided that I'm willing to accept your apology." James said.

"And what would I be apologizing for?" Sirius asked.

"Insulting Lily, and myself, but mostly Lily."

"I seem to recall, you were the one insulting me. You should be apologizing." Sirius replied.

"I don't have anything to apologies for."

"No? Not even for calling me a man whore?" Sirius all but growled.

"I said no such thing!"

"You were going to."

"But I didn't."

"So you admit you were going to."

"No, and you were the one who insisted that it should be easy to get over Lily."

"Which was when you called me a man whore."

"I did not!"

"Moony!" Sirius turned to Remus, whose eyes flickered up briefly before he pulled the newspaper closer to his face. Sirius reached out and grabbed it, wrenching it from his grip and rolling it up, before stuffing it in Remus' bag.

"I don't want any part in this," Remus sighed.

"Did James call me a man whore?" Sirius asked, ignoring Remus' statement.

Remus scrubbed a hand over his face, giving in to his duty as peacekeeper between his friends. "No he did not call you a man whore."

James smirked in triumph.

"Was he going to call me a man whore?" Sirius asked.

Remus looked like he was seriously considering cracking his skull on the wooden table below him. "Seeing as he didn't complete his thought, there's no way of knowing what he was going to-"

"You know him almost as well as I do Remus. Was he going to call me a man whore?" Sirius insisted.

Remus sighed again, "Most likely," he grudgingly replied.

A triumphant smirk flitted across Sirius face and he turned to James. "See! So if you aren't going to apologies for 'most likely' going to call me a man whore, leave."

James, prideful as he was, did just that.


James sat down next to Lily, who was once again reading a muggle novel. Peering at the cover he noticed it was a different one from two days ago, and she was almost done that one as well.

"You read awfully fast," he noted.

She didn't give him a reply, continuing to wind a piece of her hair round her index finger. The two remain quiet, until the owl post arrived. Talon, James' barn owl, flew over and dropped a large package into James' hands. A small folded note, with James' name written in his mother's flowing script, was attached. Send some more brownies for you and the boys, was written on the inside. Remus had eaten the last, of the ones his mother had sent with James on the train, a week ago.

Carelessly ripping the brown paper from it, James opened the gold tin. Sure enough, the smell of chocolate and nuts wafted up. James glanced down to where his friends sat and saw Remus eyeing the tin, before Sirius cuffed him over the head and he looked back down at the Prophet. When he turned back he caught Lily shoving the last bit of one of the brownies into her mouth. She smiled at him sheepishly, and he had to resist the urge to wipe a crumb from the edge of her mouth.

"You can have 'em," he said, shoving the tin towards her.

She brightened up, "Thanks!"

"It's what friends do," he shrugged, "I'm not gonna eat them all, and you have the second biggest chocolate addiction in all of Hogwarts."

She nodded her head before reaching for another, "I wish my mother made brownies this good."

"My mom has a secret ingredient, magic." Lily laughed.

Another hand plucked a brownie from across the table and James looked up to see Marlene. "Thanks, Potter." she said, sitting down.

Mary MacDonald, a blonde and Lily's other best friend, sat down also. She eyed the brownies with a mixture of longing and distaste, before looking up. "Lily, James." she greeted.

"Have a brownie," Marlene said.

Mary glared at her, "Not all can be as fit as you."

James a little taken aback at the venom in her voice. Mary had always been kind and gentle.

Marlene laughed, "You are missing out, girl."

Mary turned to her plate, piling it with vegetables and meat, no carbs, and didn't answer.

"Speaking of fitness, when's our next practice, Captain." Marlene asked.

"Tomorrow," James replied.

"We have a Prefect meeting," Lily said.

"Damn," James ignored the glare Lily threw him at the language, "And Friday I have-" he paused. Him and his friends had been planning a prank for Friday, but now that the weren't talking to him. "Actually, Friday would work."

Lily looked at him funny, but Marlene just nodded her head, and went back to eating.