AN: Yey, new chapter! Hope you enjoyed the last one as much as I did! This next one will have some Lily/James and of course a little bit of Caitlin/Remus. And there's a lot more fun in this one as well! :)

Disclaimer: I own nothing in this story (except maybe a half-right to Caitlin) they are the property of either J. K. Rowling or S.A. Sulit. Thanks you two!

Ruby Moon

An Impossible Idea

She thought she had heard the door open, but she was too tired to pay it any attention. Caitlin had just begun to doze into uninterrupted sleep, when a voice echoed through the dorm room.

"Morning Sunshine!" Arianna shouted gleefully.

"Oh, you've got to be fucking kidding me." Caitlin groaned and pulled the covers over her head. "Let me sleep in or I'll hex you both into next week!"

She shifted into a more comfortable position and sighed contently. Nothing would disturb this perfection that was sleeping in.

No one.

Something hard suddenly came into contact with her head and then the wind was knocked out of her as something jumped onto her stomach.

"Up and at 'em girlie!" Arianna laughed as she bounced on top of her.

Caitlin held the covers tightly over her head as she asked, "How often will you torture me like this?"

"Every day if we have to," said Lily's teasing voice. A gasp of shock and pain left Caitlin's mouth as a second person fell on top of her. Arianna and Lily giggled as Caitlin groaned again, this time loud enough to make sure they had heard.

"You two are prats who have no respect for one's desire to sleep soundly!" she remarked.

There was a sigh. "I'm glad you think that," Arianna said calmly. "Now get up or we'll send another house elf up here and set him loose on you. Remember what happened last time we gave them orders to get you up?"

Beneath the covers, Caitlin's eyes grew wide as she recalled that last unfortunate incident. The house elves had been ordered to get her up, no matter what the cost. Loud ringing had magically appeared inside her head and when that failed, the elves had taken a page from her mother's book. They had splashed buckets of icy, cold water all over her, by the time she had furiously risen from bed.

"You wouldn't," Caitlin said unbelievingly. They were desperate to get her up, but not that desperate.

"Oh yes we would," Lily said. "Besides, we're doing you a favour, really. By getting you to get up on time, we're preventing you from being late to your classes, which then prevents you from getting a detention."

Caitlin thought about that and suddenly realized that Arianna and Lily would do something crazy to get her up. That and they wouldn't feel any remorse whatsoever for whatever they had done.

She sighed. "Oh, what thoughtful, caring friends you are. Alright, I'm up, ok? No chance of getting back to sleep now with you two on my case. Now will you please just GET OFF?!"

Unfortunately, her exclamation had no affect on the two, for they continued their conversation as if she wasn't lying under them struggling to break free.

"Oh, touchy."

"Someone needs her happy pills today."

"No need for that. You think we can just charm her into being a grateful friend?"

"She should be glad there's no pool around. Otherwise we would have pulled a Mrs. Hurst on her."

Caitlin rolled her eyes. Fed up, she shoved as hard as she could against the blanket, pushing Lily and Arianna right off her. When she finally looked at them, she gave them a death glare, warning them that they were in for it today.

"Just so you know, you're going to be dealing with a very unhappy Caitlin this morning," she said indignantly.

They shrugged. "Don't worry. We deal with a very unhappy Caitlin every morning. We're used to it," Arianna said grinning.

Caitlin opened her mouth to retaliate, but Lily beat her to the punch. "Now you really should do something about your look, Caitie. I mean, we love you and all but if you show up in the Great Hall looking like that, we have no problem in pretending that we don't know you," she said, looking over Caitlin with laughter in her eyes. Arianna too was trying to stifle her laughter and Caitlin knew why.

Every morning, she woke up tired and dishevelled and her appearance did nothing to help her. Her hair was always sticking up at odd angles and her eyes were always drooping. The fact that she yawned every half minute didn't help her either.

And like every morning, she said, "Honestly, I'm too tired to care."

Lily rolled her eyes. "Fine then," she said before pointing her wand at Caitlin and muttering a few quick spells under her breath. Caitlin felt a slight tingle rush through her body as her hair was swept up into a neat half-up half-down ponytail and light makeup was applied to her face. She assumed she looked a great deal better because both Lily and Arianna broke into wide smiles.

Arianna jumped up enthusiastically. "Now brighten up, Sunshine, and get changed into your robes and then you'll be presentable again!" she said, pinching Caitlin's cheeks as if she were a five year-old. Caitlin batted her hands away and half heartedly got out of bed.

"Bloody morning people," she grumbled as she passed them, grabbing her school robes and heading over to the adjoining bathroom. Nobody was ever in there when she needed it, simply for the fact that everyone was already dressed and ready by the time she (or one of her friends) dragged her out of bed.

Looking in the mirror, Caitlin was instantly grateful she had met Lily. Who else could be so brilliant as to think to use these spells and save them a whole bunch of time? She made a mental note to ask Lily to show them to her later and began to quickly put her robes on. First, she pulled on her maroon skirt and white shirt, then her standard grey vest and gold and scarlet striped tie. Finally, she slung her black school robes around her shoulders and left the restroom, only to find Lily and Arianna waiting by the door.

"Oh, I just love sharing a dorm with you two! It's always oh so much fun!"

"Drop the sarcasm, hun, you're not gonna make us feel bad," Arianna said.

When they reached the Great Hall, it was already filled with students, though some were leaving, having already finished their breakfast. They immediately found James and Sirius, who were already making a scene, and the girls made their way over to them. Peter was eating a large helping of eggs and watching Sirius and James with admiration in his eyes. Remus was also there, a book on the table in front of him as usual.

Caitlin followed the others from the back, still too tired for conscious thought. Lily and Arianna sat down on either side of Remus, who looked up and smiled at them both.

'How can he read so much? It's unbelievable! No one can hold that much information! Though…he does look rather handsome, his gorgeous brown eyes flittering across the…'

Caitlin stopped mid-way through sitting down on the bench, one leg under the table and one on the other side. Did she just think what she thought she did? Handsome? Gorgeous brown eyes? Where in Merlin's name did that come from?

A hand touched her shoulder but Caitlin barely felt it. "Uhh, Caitie? Do you need any help?"

Caitlin looked over her shoulder at James, who had a grin plastered on his face and was shaking from holding back laughter. Only then did Caitlin realize how ridiculous she looked, and quickly sat down before anyone else could see.

'I'm just bloody tired, is all. Not thinking straight.'

She returned to the conversation to see everyone look up at the ceiling. Curious, she followed suit, and found a stormy gray sky and a flash of lightning.

"Glorious day? For who? If you haven't noticed, there's a thunderstorm going on outside," Lily said.

Caitlin had no idea why they were talking about the weather, until Sirius said, "I didn't say it was a glorious day for weather! I meant it's a glorious day for pranking!"

She rolled her eyes. Only Sirius (or perhaps James) would ever say something like that.

Beside her James chuckled. "Padfoot, with us, it's always a glorious day for pranking," he said.

"Precisely!"

Caitlin shook her head, completely unsurprised by this conversation. This was a regular morning routine for Sirius; act completely ridiculous and not give a rat's ass who saw.

She began to eat her breakfast while cautiously listening to James and Lily argue. Bickering was a common ground for them, and she wondered if they had ever gone a day without fighting ever. When she couldn't think of such a day and was fed up with hearing them row, she turned to the others.

"You know, by the way they argue like that, it seems as if they're already married," she said, though that thought scared her.

"James and Lily married?" Sirius pondered. "I'm not denying it will happen, but it'll be a long, long, long time before he convinces her."

"Just as long as he does convince her, I have no problem with that," Arianna replied while biting off a piece of buttered croissant.

Caitlin silently agreed. Though they didn't seem like it, Lily and James were perfect for each other. They bickered and fought, sure, and Lily had cursed him too many times to count, but deep, deep down they both cared for each other. And whether Lily wanted to believe it or not, they would end up together and they would get married and have a bunch of little Potters. Caitlin laughed quietly to herself at the thought of another, or many, little James', just as Professor McGonagall came over to their table, her arms laden with timetables.

"I need to make your timetables, girls. Would you mind showing your OWL results?" she asked kindly, but sternly.

Caitlin dug through her bag until she found her timetable and handed it to her Head of House. Professor McGonagall looked it over carefully.

"Alright, Miss Hurst. You have seven OWLS and an Acceptable in History of Magic. Overall, very well done, though I know you could have done better in Divination," Professor McGonagall told her.

Caitlin nodded sheepishly. The truth was that Lily, Arianna, and herself thought Divination was a joke and Caitlin hadn't even bothered to try to study for that exam. Why should she waste her time on that when she should be studying for Transfiguration or Charms?

"Now for your timetable, it's necessary to plan your schedule around a career you are interested in. I know you told me you wished to become a Healer, have you changed your mind?"

"No, Professor."

McGonagall gave a curt nod. "Very well, Miss Hurst," she said, waving her wand across an empty timetable. "These are the subjects you will need if you wish to train as a Healer."

Caitlin took her timetable and quickly compared it to Arianna's and Lily's. She was overjoyed to find that they had all their classes together, except Astronomy, which Caitlin had decided to keep, just for the sake of it.

"We have all our classes together!" Lily exclaimed.

"That's brilliant," Caitlin added.

Arianna shook her head. "Not so brilliant. Our first class for Arithmancy is in ten minutes. We better hurry or else we'll be late." Arianna and Lily looked at Caitlin, who watched them innocently.

"What?" she asked, but she knew that if they were late, technically it would be her fault.

They ate quickly, and because the boys had a free period first, they watched amusedly as the girls rushed. When they were finished, they stood up and prepared to leave for class. They now only had six minutes to get to their class on the third floor, before being late. And being late was the last thing Caitlin wanted to do for her first class of the year.

They were just about to leave, when James walked over to Lily and wrapped his arms tightly around her waist. Arianna and Caitlin watched in terrified shock as he bent down and nibbled on her ear. Lily turned beat red, but came to her senses and tried to push him away.

"Get off me, Potter," she managed to stutter out.

"Now, Evans, you're gonna have to say that nicely," James muttered in her hear with a big smile on his face. It was apparent that he was enjoying himself.

Caitlin impatiently wondered how long this was going to take because if James kept it up, they would be late for their class. By then the other boys had stood also, Sirius looking amused, Peter appeared confused, and Remus, like herself, looked annoyed.

"And how exactly would you define 'nicely', Potter?" Lily asked.

"How about a quick kiss then?"

Lily turned on him; a sickly sweet smile appeared on her face. "So, that's the only thing that would get you to let go of me?" she asked.

"The only thing."

"Alright then. Close your eyes."

Caitlin sighed and rolled her eyes. She was so ready to turn and leave, without waiting for the slap that was about to come, but she stayed put. How many times could James get rejected by Lily before he took the hint and moved on? She realized there was no such number.

However, it seemed as if James' greatest dream was unravelling before her as Lily leaned in close to him, her lips nearly touching his. Caitlin held her breath, waiting for the punch line that was coming, but it never did. Everyone who was within sight earned a look of astonishment as Lily placed her lips on James'.

That short kiss was euphoria for James and when Lily pulled away, he tried to pull her back. She broke free of his grasp and said, "You said a quick kiss, Potter. Not two quick kisses and certainly no snog session. Now, if you don't mind, I have Arithmancy with the girls, thank you."

Caitlin didn't think she would have been able to move, or would have even thought to move, if Lily hadn't grabbed her arm and dragged her from the Hall after her. Caitlin stumbled along, Arianna following in the same stunned silence as they made their way to the staircase.

Finally, Caitlin regained some sense and asked, "What was that, Lily?"

"Yeah, Lily, I never thought you of all people would cave to James' antics just like that. And may I be so bold to say that you seemed to have actually liked it!" Arianna added.

Lily snorted and brushed off their comments, though she was still a bit red in the face. "That was nothing. I just really wanted him to leave me alone. I'm not in any mood to argue with him anymore this morning. One argument per breakfast is enough," she said airily.

Caitlin looked over at Arianna and they shared an unbelieving glance. There was no way that Lily Evans kissing James Potter in the middle of the Great Hall was 'nothing'. If that was 'nothing', then she was going to colour her hair pink.

It was after lunch when the girls and the Marauders (minus one James Potter) returned to the Common Room. After two long classes, they had a free period before they had to go to double Potions. Caitlin groaned as she sat down on the couch beside Remus and pulled her Charms work out.

"God, two classes in and we already have to do two essays, plus practice two new charms!" she complained.

"Well, we wouldn't have to practice if someone here didn't set Flitwick's hair on fire!" Arianna said giving a sideways glance at Sirius.

He gave them all an apologetic smile. "Flick then jab, not jab then flick. You'd think it would be easy to remember," he said, shaking his head as he did so.

"It is easy to remember, Sirius. Your brain is just too small to keep all that information stored," Arianna replied, starting to scrawl the title of her essay.

"Oh, clever aren't we?"

"I'm simply just amazing with my witty remarks," Arianna answered.

Caitlin looked back down at her blank parchment and muttered, "I do not want to listen this right now."

Remus chuckled. "You have to admit they're not as bad as James and Lily," he said in a hushed voice.

"Okay, but I still don't want them to start bickering over who takes better care of their hair or something ridiculous," Caitlin said.

"We already know Sirius would win."

Caitlin laughed quietly as she scratched a title on her page.

The Legimatus Charm and Twenty Ways to Misuse It.

"What are the twenty ways to misuse the legimatus charm? Did Flitwick even say?" Caitlin asked aloud.

"He pretty much said three ways to use them. The rest is in the textbook somewhere," Lily said as she gazed dreamily out the window, no doubt thinking about James.

"Still thinking about Prongs, I see," Remus teased when he saw the look in her eyes.

"Am not!" Lily defended her eyes wide with shock.

Caitlin grinned. "You know I read somewhere that if you're being defensive about liking someone then you really do truly like them," she said, at the same time skimming through her charms textbook.

"I'm not being defensive," Lily said, to which everyone snorted.

"Oh, honey, you've been defensive since the very first day you met James," Arianna said.

"Speaking of 'ol Prongsie, where's he been? He'd have loved to hear this conversation," Sirius said with a mischievous glint in his eye.

"Oh yes, because this is such a wonderful chat!" Lily grumbled sarcastically.

"For us it is," Peter said as he scratched his head while thinking of a way to start his essay.

"I think he mentioned something about going down to the kitchens," Remus said.

"Didn't we just have lunch?" Arianna questioned.

"Yeah, well he's such a pig that he probably couldn't wait to get his hands on more food," Lily remarked quietly, but everyone heard it.

Caitlin threw her quill down in exasperation. "See, this is exactly what we mean about being defensive. You know, you're just like him. He's being persistent about trying to get you to finally be with him and you're being persistent about being a stuck up prat and ignoring every sweet thing he does for you," she snapped.

Remus stopped what he was doing and put a hand on her arm, as if to restrain her.

"What has he ever done that was sweet?" Lily scoffed.

"There was the time he took you for a picnic out by the lake on your birthday. Or that time he brought you all those Honeydukes sweets when you couldn't go to Hogsmeade because you were sick. And that one night when he dueled Regulus because he had called you a Mudblood?"

Lily went silent after Caitlin's outburst and lowered her head. Still aggravated, Caitlin returned to her work, while Remus watched her carefully. She hadn't meant to be so malicious, but she was tired of Lily acting like James was being a stupid prat. She wanted Lily to realize that James was actually a sweet guy, once you got past the cocky attitude.

She settled in for the uncomfortable silence that followed and found that she couldn't wait for double Potions.

The entire group walked together to their class talking and laughing, having gotten past the weird silence in the Common Room. Caitlin, however, had still not spoke to Lily and she felt terrible for yelling at her friend. That's why when she found the opportunity, she pulled Lily away from the group.

"Lily I'm so sorry. I shouldn't have acted like that. It was wrong…I shouldn't have even opened my mouth," Caitlin apologized.

Lily shook her head. "No, you were right. James has done a lot of nice things and I've just been too much of a prat to realize. Maybe…maybe he's not so bad," she said.

Caitlin smiled. "Not so bad, eh? Does that mean…?"

"It doesn't mean anything, Caitie," Lily laughed. "Just that maybe I've been too harsh on him."

"So you'll be nice?"

Lily laughed. "I'll try. No promises though!"

Caitlin laughed too and they ran to catch up to the rest of the group, who were waiting for them outside the classroom door.

When they entered, Caitlin and Lily found a table and Arianna and another girl in their House, Sam, joined them. Remus and Peter, and James and Sirius took the one ahead of them.

Professor Slughorn, a short, plump, balding man, told them that they would be brewing the Drought of Melancholy, possibly the most complicated potion any of them had ever made. Lily and Caitlin got to work right away, and even though they were the best students in the class, they found it difficult too.

About an hour in, Caitlin and Lily's potion was the correct shade of blue their potions book described, but neither of them could come up with an answer as to how they had got it that way.

"How did you do that?" Sam asked.

Caitlin looked over to Arianna and Sam's potion, which was a startlingly bright shade of pink.

"Honestly? We have no idea," Lily muttered.

Arianna gasped. "You, Lily Evans, Professor Slughorn's prized student, have no idea how you got your potion to turn out the way it did?" she asked in mock shock.

"Well, I can't master every potion there is, can I?" Lily replied.

"Besides, at least ours is somewhat the right colour. How in the bloody hell did you manage to turn yours pink?" Caitlin asked.

"Honestly? We have no idea," Sam said, copying the words that Lily just said.

"Well, at least ours isn't as bad as theirs," Arianna snickered, gesturing to James and Sirius' potion. Caitlin peered over their shoulders and her eyebrows rose in shocked surprise. Their potion was lime green in colour and was gurgling and spitting every few seconds. Remus and Peter had been asked to move tables, in fear that the rogue potion would cause them bodily harm.

"We heard that!" James said without turning his head. Caitlin noticed that his eyes deliberately avoided Lily as he spoke, and a slight pink flush rose in his cheeks. Was it possible that James Potter was... embarrassed? Could it be that even his over-inflated ego couldn't protect him from Lily's unpredictable actions?

"And what's more, we resent it!" Sirius added.

Caitlin looked at them incredulously. "How did you two ever get into this NEWT class anyways?" she asked.

"With our charm and good looks," Sirius replied while grinning devilishly.

"Because that can seriously help you with making a potion so complex such as, oh, I don't know, the Polyjuice Potion?" Lily muttered.

Sirius looked at her as if her words had hurt him. "Well of course it can, my dear sweet Lily," he defended. "You see, to make the Polyjuice Potion successfully, you need a strand of hair from the person that you want to turn into. Now with mine and James' good looks and charming ways, we can make anyone comfortable enough to let us take a piece of their hair without suspecting anything," Sirius said.

The girls broke into peals of laughter, no longer caring if they disturbed the class. Caitlin clutched her sides as she doubled over in laughter. She wasn't even sure what was so funny, part of what he said was true, but she still began to tear up.

"There's, uh, something wrong there," Sam said in between gasps for air.

"What? With the potion? Yeah I know, thanks," Sirius said.

"No, with your brain," Sam retorted, beginning a fresh round of giggles.

Sirius glared indignantly at her, but before he could retort Professor Slughorn walked over to their tables. He glanced expectantly into Caitlin and Lily's potion and a smile formed on his face.

"Once again girls, excellent work! Brilliant!" he gushed. Caitlin and Lily muttered a quiet 'thank you' and he moved onto Arianna and Sam's cauldron.

"I hate it when he does that," Lily told her as they got back to work on their potion.

"Does what?" Caitlin asked.

"Special treatment. Just because we pay attention doesn't mean he should favour us," Lily said.

Caitlin rolled her eyes. "Give it a rest Lily. In case you hadn't noticed, maybe we deserve to be praised a little bit."

Lily shrugged as she stirred the potion clockwise once. Caitlin looked at her questioningly, wondering why Lily was in such a caring mood all of a sudden. Wasn't this the girl you had gotten upset in fourth year when Professor Flitwick had skipped her once doing his rounds?

Caitlin shook her head and returned to her work, speculating what other strange things could happen that day.

By the end of their first day back, the sixth years were not only exhausted, but they had a massive pile of homework. Even with that lingering thought, the group of friends tried to forget it over dinner. In the Great Hall they talked amiably, eating and laughing as they enjoyed what would be their last free-time of the night. Caitlin found herself squeezed in between Remus and Arianna, with Lily on Arianna's other side. James, Sirius, and Peter sat across from them, stuffing their faces with as much food as they could.

"Hey Caitie, remember Quidditch practice is Friday," James reminded her.

"I'll be there! If you'll take me back that is," she said grinning.

James laughed. "Oh, you're right! You're a danger to the rest of us, so sorry!"

"Yeah, James can't afford to lose me, Caitie. I'm too important," Sirius added.

Caitlin laughed at them both, shaking her head. "I don't think so, Sirius. I'm definitely the star player!"

"You're both wrong!" James interrupted, making them both go silent. "I'm the star player. Hence why I wear the Captain's badge…"

"Stop being ridiculous!" Arianna said. "Caitie is so the best Quidditch player at this table!"

"Let's vote!" Caitlin cried.

"All in favour of James being Gryffindor's star player?" Lily prompted.

James and Peter raised their hands.

"All in favour of Sirius?"

Only Sirius raised his hand.

"And Caitie?"

Caitlin, Arianna, Lily, and Remus raised their hands.

James looked at them incredulously. "That's not fair! Remus only voted for Caitie because he likes her!"

For some unknown reason, Caitlin blushed and looked at her plate. When she realized what she had done, her head snapped back up, but her face was red with embarrassment of being embarrassed. Thankfully no one had noticed.

"That's ridiculous!" Arianna said.

"It's true though," Sirius said a mischievous smile on his face. "Ain't that right, Remus?"

"Cut it out, Padfoot," Remus warned, his eyes serious.

"What? Only words of true come from my mouth."

"Words of truth?" Arianna said. "What about…"

"Don't listen to her. She doesn't know what she's talking about," Sirius interrupted, reaching across the table to put a hand over Arianna's mouth.

Arianna ripped his hand away from her face, glaring at him. "I do too know what I'm talking about!"

Sirius sighed. "Obviously…you don't."

Caitlin turned away from their spat, somewhat grateful that her friends were obnoxious to each other. Sirius and Arianna had just saved her from a hell of a lot of awkward questions. That's when she thought about why this bugged her so much. If they had had the same conversation about her and…say James, she could have laughed it off. She would not have blushed and fidgeted uncomfortably. So why…?

Remus must have noticed her silence because he put a hand on her shoulder. "I'm sorry about that. Sirius was just being a prat," he said.

Caitlin looked him in the eyes, those deep, chocolate brown eyes. All her embarrassment and anxiousness washed away to be replaced by warmth and comfort. She could see herself reflected in his dark orbs and saw herself smiling. Quickly, she wiped the stupid grin from her face and cleared her throat.

"It doesn't matter. It's not like its true or anything, right?"

Remus pulled back from her and tore his gaze away from her eyes. Looking at his hands his said, "Right, of course not. We're just friends."

'Yeah…just friends.'

XXX

"Some day," Caitlin said as the girls entered their dorm room and began to change for bed.

"Sure was," Arianna answered, "Especially that kiss, eh Lily?"

Lily huffed. "Oh, will you two shut up about that? It was nothing," she said, crawling under the covers of her bed.

"So we're calling love 'nothing' now?" Caitlin laughed climbing into her bed.

"Love? This is far from 'love' Caitie," Lily said indignantly.

"Lily, from all the years you've known me, you know that I'm a realist right?" Arianna asked.

Caitlin pulled the covers over her as Arianna continued, "Well, here's the reality of your little situation. You two are absolutely perfect for each other. James had probably fallen head over heels in love with you during our first year. Now, I don't know when you started to feel the same way, but we all know that you do. You just have a different way of showing it. So, I suggest that you suck it up and just go out with him already or else!"

Caitlin looked over at Lily whose eyes were narrowed and her hands on her hips. "Or else what?"

Arianna opened and closed her mouth a few times. "Or else… we'll be… very, very mad at you!" she finally muttered lamely. "Now end of discussion. Good night!"

Caitlin smiled and pulled the scarlet hangings around her bed and they were engulfed in silence.

Then the silence was broken. "Yes, well James is still an arrogant little prick most of the time, isn't he?"

Caitlin decided not to answer. Lily, though she was being civilized towards James, was still adamant about him being ridiculously annoying. Caitie wished that they would get together soon, not only for their sake, but for the sanity of the rest of them.