[3]

The scene dissolved seamlessly into one with a view of James seated by the Gryffindor Common Room fireplace, his head tilted downwards and his hands wildly scribbling lines onto a piece of leftover parchment.

James looked lost in thought as he twirled his quill distractedly. The portrait door unexpectedly swung open at this time with a deafening creak and soon revealed a grinning Sirius, his arm slung lazily around a striking brunette, who was giggling by his side.

"Prongsie! How goes it?" Sirius asked James before releasing the girl's shoulder and murmuring in her ear, "I'll see you in a few moments, beautiful." The girl threw Sirius a coy smile, which Sirius returned with a meaningful wink as she walked up the stairs to the boys' dormitory.

"New girl, Padfoot?"

"Anna? Or maybe it's Emily?" Sirius frowned as he tried to recall the girl's name, but his face soon brightened. "Not that it matters! Girls always respond to 'beautiful.' Anyway, what have you been doing all morning? I saw you up at the crack of dawn."

James, who was concentrating completely on the piece of parchment before him, failed to respond to Sirius, which drove Sirius to walk over and investigate James's work.

"Blimey!" Sirius exclaimed, now eyes wide, as he scanned the parchment. His finger pointing at a stick figure drawing of a male in abnormally large glasses and with spiky-looking hair, Sirius demanded, "What in the bloody hell is that?"

James's face burned at Sirius's words. "Another tactic."

"Tactic? Another one? Merlin, I was grateful for those few days of rest. Prongs, you're no stag—you're a mule. The most stubborn one I've met," Sirius said, chuckling. He squinted at the drawing again. "You're presenting a large porcupine to her? She likes those prickly little demons? You're into a strange lass, Prongsie."

"That," James jabbed at the picture in question rather violently, "is me."

"Ah, I see." Sirius gave a smirk and rolled his eyes.

"Sod off, Padfoot. I'm off to find Evans now. Taking the map."

Ripping off the piece of parchment he used, James stuffed it into the folds of his robes and pulled out the Marauder's Map from his pocket. Using his finger to trace Lily's movement on the map, James gave a small start when he realized that she was making her way towards the adjacent corridor. "Have fun snogging, Padfoot. I'll see you."

James opened the portrait door and climbed across the arch into the hallway. Harry and Ginny followed James outside, and almost immediately, James spotted Lily's red hair slightly billowing behind her as she took steps towards the corridor to her right.

"Oy, Evans!"

Lily paused and turned back. Noticing that the voice belonged to James, she resumed walking without responding to him.

"Wait, where are you going?" James asked, catching up to her with ease.

"Library," Lily said curtly as she shifted her satchel onto her right shoulder.

"Oh! I'm heading there as well," James said quickly, striding along with her.

"Why?"

"Why what?"

"The library? You're a Marauder. Aside from Remus, I bet none of you have ever stepped foot in a library." Lily frowned and glanced at James suspiciously.

"Er—yes, I have!" James said furiously.

"Oh, really?" Lily asked, her face etched with skepticism. Nevertheless, she allowed James to walk with her to the library.

"Ah, this is where it is," James muttered under his breath as they passed through the entrance.

Attempting to strike up a conversation, James asked, "So, Evans, how are you?"

"Dandy. You?" Lily answered absent-mindedly as she approached a row of books and drummed her fingers over the spine of Advanced Non-Verbal Spells III. She paused for a moment before snatching it off the shelf and heaving it onto the top of an ever-growing pile in her hands. Seconds later, her hand flitted towards yet another tome.

Lily then looked up and saw James standing beside her. "Still here?"

"Since you asked, I actually came—"

Lily cut in before James could go on any further, "Don't ask me to go on a date with you."

"Fine."

"Well then—"

"—Go out with me, Evans."

"What the hell is wrong with you? I thought you said you weren't going to ask me to go out with you."

"I didn't exactly ask, did I? I told you to."

Harry and Ginny winced in the background as Lily flung the book she had been skimming towards James. With his quick Chaser reflexes, James managed to catch the book before it made contact with his face.

"Careful, Evans. Many girls' hearts will be broken if you wreck this face. And why aren't you flattered?"

"Honestly." Lily rolled her eyes and said flatly, "You are insufferable, Potter. Go annoy someone else."

Without a moment's hesitation, Lily stalked off towards the circulation desk to check out her books. As she did so, a tall figure with mousy brown hair and twinkling eyes came walking over to James.

"Moony! So this is where you usually disappear off to…"

"'Ello, Prongs. How was your encounter with Lily?" Remus prompted, nodding towards said redhead who was hurriedly exiting the library.

"Still a no. I don't know what's wrong with her, Moony. She's acting as if I'm not a big deal or something," James frowned. "I am a big deal, right?"

"Well—" Remus started, but was interrupted by James muttering angrily, "Women—they're difficult, the whole lot. Evans is especially impossible."

"You're not giving up, are you?"

"Of course not, Moony! Haven't you noticed all of the progress I've made?"

"Er—no, I can't say that I've noticed it, Prongs," Remus said, looking apologetic.

"Well, what do you say I should do to get on her good side?" James gave a sigh of exasperation.

"Well, there is one thing you haven't tried yet," Remus began and then hesitated.

"What? Tell me, Moony," James said.

"Prongs, have you ever tried being romantic to her?" Remus asked.

"Romantic?" James repeated, as he stared off. "Oh."

"So?"

"How do you be romantic?"