A Hangover of Sorts

Lily awoke on the morning after the ball nursing a splitting headache and a mood like thunder. The early morning sun shone through the windows and right into her eyes, as she hadn't wanted to close the heavy velvet curtains in her bedroom the night before, and had forbidden Siobhan from doing so. They shut out the light completely and made the room look stuffier, and stuffy it already was. Everything in it seemed to be brown or dark green; even the lamp shades and wash basin in the corner were a murky, earthy colour. Her covers were also much too heavy and her nightclothes were stuck to her body with sweat. She would throw them off during the night, but then she would become too cold and have to pull them back up.

Lily was positive that it was her bedroom that made her so very grumpy every morning. Were she to have her own home, everything would be light and white and airy, but that was not possible, so among her list of things to resign her woeful soul to were sleepless nights and uncomfortable temperatures.

She rubbed her eyes, which were sore and itchy, groaned and swung her feet out of bed. Her head was absolutely throbbing as she went over to the basin to wash her face and hands and haphazardly fix her hair. She looked in the mirror and decided that she looked hideous, but she did not care because it was too early for anybody else to be awake. If it was time to get up, Siobhan would have already come in to waken her and Siobhan came in at seven. The clock beside her bed read six.

She wondered if she could take a sneaky look around the house while nobody was awake. Lily liked to walk about her own house when her family were sleeping; she would make up stories whilst she did so, pretending that she was on the hunt for a ghost or searching for hidden jewels. This house, being a lot bigger than her parent's house, was good in at least one way for presented more opportunities to snoop.

Without bothering to change out of her nightdress, she quietly opened her door and left the room.

She padded along the upstairs hallway, stopping to look at paintings and statues that she passed. Every person she saw in a painting was given a name and story, as was customary for Lily whenever she explored a new place. A kindly looking young woman holding a baby became Lady Ursula DeBraam, who liked to boil children up and eat them in order to preserve her youth, the beautiful young lady in the red dress was named Vivian LeVey who had poisoned each of her husbands and taken their money, and the man with the unusual black eyes and a wooden pipe became Henry Halloway, who could only speak in riddles lest he immediately choke to death. On and on she spun tales for the painted until she ventured downstairs. On her travels she passed the parlour and the drawing room, cut through the living room and arrived outside the study, the door of which was open.

She glanced inside.

There was another painting on the wall, a painting of two boys, one of whom she recognized straight away. It was Edward Chamberly, although he looked a lot younger and he was sitting beside another boy, one whom Lily did not know. The boy had dark hair, glasses, and a very cheeky grin. He looked somewhat like James Potter but not very much, and was almost, but not quite, as handsome as he was.

She frowned to herself and shut the door in a hurry. Her thoughts had been full of nothing but James Potter ever since the ball yesterday evening, she had even dreamed about him that night, and she had no desire to think about him now, not at six in the morning when her head hurt and she felt disgusting. Luckily for her, she had not seen him since their dance. The cretin had done a disappearing act and Edward Chamberly had not been given the chance to converse with him while Lily was present. However, she had been introduced to Sirius Black and Peter Pettigrew, the former whose voice she recognized as being that of Potter's ghastly comrade, Padfoot. Neither of them seemed to bother hiding their dislike for Chamberly and it was most amusing that Chamberly didn't seem to notice. They were both very nice to her and she liked Pettigrew instantly, he was a sweet and very funny young man, and she had the strangest feeling that she knew him from somewhere. She did not like Sirius Black, however, even though his blatant yawning and the faces he made behind Chamberly's back made her laugh. She was sure that she would have, had she not heard him behind the curtain, but then again, she could have really liked James Potter, too.

She moved on, wondering who on earth the young boy in the painting could have been, and she forgot to take much notice of her surroundings until she accidentally wandered into the breakfast room. Lily liked the breakfast room because it was the only room in the house that wasn't drab and dark. She decided to go in and sit down for a bit, so she did so, and immediately regretted her decision.

"Good morning, Miss Lily!"

Edward Chamberly was in the room, alone except for the mounds of paperwork that he was surrounded by, and holding a cup of tea. Even though she was clothed in her nightgown and looked a fright, he seemed absolutely overjoyed to see her.

"Oh, well, I didn't know that anyone would be…" She bit her lip and decided to hell with it. "Good morning, Mr Chamberly."

"Do come and sit down, and have some breakfast. I'm delighted to see you up and about so early," he implored her kindly, and hastily began clear the papers away from the gigantic table as they were taking up a great deal of it, even though they were not. Lily didn't move from her spot by the door.

"Perhaps I should go back upstairs first and change? I must look dreadfully improper."

"Nonsense," he said. "You look wonderful. Come and take a seat. I promise that should I ever recount this incident to your mother, I'll tell her that you were dressed to the nines."

Lily smiled. It was the first thing Chamberly had ever offered to do that she was actually grateful for. Her mother would have a fit if she knew that Lily had joined him for breakfast in her nightdress and with bare feet. "Are you sure? I don't wish to be rude."

"Please, Miss Lily, sit. You are a guest in my home and as my guest you are required and expected to do whatever you please. It is a mandatory order for everyone who stays here." He placed a hand on his heart, and indeed he did seem sincere. "My only wish is to see you contented."

Lily decided to join him, partly because she was absolutely starving and there was a delicious smell of bacon in the air, but mostly because she now had no excuse to escape the situation. He smiled approvingly at her. For a man over ten years her senior, she supposed that he wasn't as hideous as she had made him out to be. Certainly he had no major physical flaws, apart from the extra weight he was carrying around his middle, although she still did not find him remotely attractive as he simply wasn't her type. As for his personality, she still found him very dull and she had noted yesterday that he did like to talk about himself quite a lot when he was near his peers, sometimes in a rather boastful manner, which was rather irritating. However, he was respectful and polite at all times, so there really shouldn't have been a reason to feel uncomfortable around him. He was a nice, generous, kind man.

All the same, she just couldn't bring herself to like him.

"I am very contented here, sir, so please rest assured that all is well. I still can't thank you enough for the beautiful gifts you bestowed upon me yesterday."

"There is no need to thank me again," he said, as she lowered herself into a chair. "It was no trouble."

They lapsed into a somewhat awkward silence as she frantically cast her mind over every subject she could think of. What did a man like Chamberly like to talk about, apart from himself? Somehow Shakespeare didn't seem to be his idea of good conversation, nor did James Potter and his heinous plans to avenge himself upon him for no reasons. Her eyes fell again upon the stack of papers, and she supposed that she would have to stick to talking about Chamberly, after all.

"Surely you were not working this early in the morning, sir, and so soon after a party, too? You must wear yourself out."

"I am afraid that I must work, Miss Lily. It's a favour for your father."

"Really?"

"It's nothing serious, of course," he assured her. "One of your father's partners is considering selling his shares, so he and another trustee are coming here tonight for dinner to discuss it. Have you met Boris Davenport?" Upon Lily's nod, he continued. "His brother is a trustee of the children's hospital in London and he has decided to buy into that hospital instead. A family enterprise, you see. Naturally Boris would prefer to sell either to your father or Henry Hastings."

"Henry Hastings." Lily had to think for a moment in order for the name to register in her memory. "Forgive me if I'm incorrect, but is he not my father's other partner?"

"Yes, he is indeed, so I agreed to draw up the contracts for your father without charge. It's the least I can do for a friend."

"That is very kind of you. You're a very accommodating host."

"Thank you." He removed the paper stack, which was now neat and tidy, from the table and placed it on a chair beside him. "I must be boring you out of your mind with all of this business talk."

"Of course not, I did ask you, after all."

"Yes, but all the same, surely there is something you find more interesting than business? It is very hard to understand, all of this legal mumbo jumbo, and - Oh, dear me, I've forgotten! Would you like some breakfast?"

"Oh," Lily was taken aback when he stood up and strode towards the kitchen door. "Some porridge would be fine, I suppose. Thank you."

"I think we can do better than that." He grinned. "How about some bacon?"

"Oh, well if it isn't any trouble…"

"No trouble at all." He entered the kitchen and she heard his voice call back to her as he clattered around. "I always make a large stash in the morning and I keep it warm in the oven."

"Oh." This was surprising. "You do your cooking yourself?"

"Now I know what you're thinking," he said, with a wry grin, as he entered the breakfast room with a plate of toast and piles of bacon. "I have an excellent cook, but I find that nobody can ever make bacon to my taste and I don't like to wake Mrs Jerkins at this early hour."

"Thank you," she said graciously, accepting her breakfast with a smile. "Are you always up this early in the morning?"

"Every day but Sunday," he said, pouring her some tea. "I'm an early riser by nature."

"I'm afraid I can't say the same for myself," she said, after taking a sip of tea. "Siobhan often has to drag me from my bed in the morning. In fact, I can't imagine why I woke up so early today, especially after such a late night."

Lies, she told herself silently. She knew exactly why.

"That reminds me," he said, taking up his own mug. "Did you enjoy the ball last night?"

"Oh yes," she replied, after hastily swallowing a burning mouthful of tea and almost scalding her tongue. "It was quite lovely."

"You seemed to take to Remus quite well."

"Oh, Mr Lupin!" she sang enthusiastically. "Yes, he's such a lovely young man. You know, he reminds me of… well, no, never mind."

"No, please," Chamberly encouraged, even though he seemed a little suspicious, maybe even jealous. "Continue your thought."

"I couldn't possibly," said Lily evasively. "It is very silly."

"You? Silly? I doubt it."

"It really is silly, and I'd be embarrassed to tell you."

"Anything you say is music to my ears, Miss Evans. Please feel free to chatter about whatever you wish."

She hesitated before deciding that she might as well appease him. He had made her breakfast, after all.

"Well," she began, feeling stupid. "It's just that he reminds me so strongly of my phantom brother. You see, Petunia and I used to long for a brother when we were little, and when I met Remus, Mr Lupin, I mean to say, he just seemed to fit into that category. It was like how I always imagined a brother to be."

Chamberly beamed at her, visibly relieved. "That's not silly at all! Remus is a wonderful young man and this I know for a fact; I have known him for all of his life. His parents are charming people too."

"You have known him for all of his life?"

"Yes, ever since he was born. He has grown into a smashing chap. He is awfully intelligent, too, I'm always badgering him to become an intern at my practice, but he is not very ambitious, funnily enough," Chamberly shrugged. "Nice boy, terribly accident prone, though."

"Oh?"

"Didn't you notice? He's always covered in scratches and bruises and scars. He says he has a nasty habit of falling over and banging into things."

This sounded most alarming to Lily, who couldn't imagine that a person could be so accident prone that they were constantly covered in bruises and scars, especially not Remus, who seemed to elude steadiness in every sense of the word, but she supposed that Chamberly was exaggerating.

"Of course," he was saying. "I don't see Remus as much as I used to over these past few years, what with him disappearing off to boarding school."

"Oh yes, he attended St. Andrew's, did he not?" Maybe when she married Chamberly, they could just sit around and discuss Remus all of the time. He was certainly the most interesting thing she could think of to discuss with the man.

"Yes, he did. That's where he met his friends."

"You mean Mr Black and Mr Pettigrew?" she said, unwilling to bring Potter into the conversation until Chamberly had done so first.

"And James," he said. It must have been Lily's lucky day. "Of course."

"I had forgotten that Mr Potter was a friend of Mr Lupin's," Lily lied. "Do you know him well?"

"I've known him ever since he was a wee little chap of twelve and he came to visit Brighton with Remus. I was just into my first year of internship in my father's firm at the time. Mrs Lupin brought all four boys to the annual ball and my parents invited them to stay with us for a week. They just loved having children around the house, my parents."

"You get along with Mr Potter?" she enquired, thinking only of Potter's conversation with Sirius Black behind the curtain, during which he said very unflattering things about the man sitting opposite her. It didn't stand to reason that they would have a friendly relationship.

"Oh yes, famously." Apparently she was wrong. "He is a terribly funny boy, very cheeky, and clever like the rest of his friends. My mother used to call him a little monkey." He laughed a little.

"Your parents liked him?"

"Immensely," he said. "They liked all of them, but my mother always preferred James."

"Why would that be?"

"You know, I have no idea. I suppose it's just because he is such a likeable boy. He cared very much about my mother. In fact, he even took some time off school to come to her funeral when she passed away."

He tried to smile, but it didn't quite reach his eyes.

"If you don't mind me asking, when did your mother pass away?" Lily enquired gently, thinking that it must have been hard for Chamberly to lose his parents. Just because she didn't like him, it didn't mean that she couldn't pity his loss.

"Two years ago. Did you find James to be amiable?" he replied, his cheerful manner not fooling her for a second. However, it was not her place to attempt to probe into his mother's death so she decided to humour him. Besides, she didn't mind discussing the cretin at all. Any information she could get would be useful at this stage.

"I suppose he was nice," she said slowly, wondering how best to approach this situation. Were Chamberly to report to Potter that Lily had disliked him, he may halt his plans, and she had her heart set on humiliating him.

"You didn't get along?" he said, his face falling. "What a pity, I was hoping to invite him to dinner tonight."

"Oh, no," Lily amended hurriedly. "We got along just fine. You were? Planning on asking him here, I mean?"

"Yes well, I was planning to invite all of them. I hope I may be able to persuade Remus to take me up on my job offer once my partners and your father's partners are here to discuss the hospital. But if you dislike James…"

"Oh no, as I said, not at all." Chamberly did not listen to her, obviously. "I just didn't get a chance to speak with him properly, the music was very loud," she nodded eagerly, but stopped, remembering that it may have been offensive to Chamberly to hear that she had been dancing with Potter last night, and he probably did not need reminding. "Do invite him, and the other boys, too. I would like to get to know them better, especially Mr Potter."

He raised a questioning eyebrow. "Is that so?"

"If Mr Potter is a good friend of yours, Mr Chamberly, then I wish for him to be a good friend of mine too."

"Well then, we'll just have to see to it that your wish is granted, shan't we?" He grinned and set down his tea. "I'll send someone up to Remus's house with an invitation."

"Would you mind if I went to the house?" She continued hurriedly upon seeing Chamberly raise his eyebrows yet again. "Mr Lupin told me of a book he has in his possession that he would like to let me borrow. It sounds utterly fascinating and I'd love to begin it today. Do you think I could? I could bring Siobhan with me to ensure that I don't get lost?"

"Well if you wish to go, then you must." Lily wondered if Chamberly was always this agreeable or if he was just pretending to be this way until after they were married and he had the power to make her do whatever he wanted. "Take the carriage, if you like."

"Actually, Mr Chamberly, I'd much prefer to walk. It looks to be a gorgeous day and I do love to ramble about."

"Ramble to your heart's content, my dear."

"Lily?"

"Yes?"

"I don't want to pry, or anything of the sort," said Siobhan, as she skipped over something in the grass that looked suspiciously like it had been recently deposited by a dog. "But we've been walking for ten minutes and you still haven't told me where we're going."

It was two in the afternoon, and Siobhan and a now fully dressed and very presentable Lily were walking up to Remus Lupin's house, also known as Meadowbrook Lodge, in order to invite Remus and his friends to dinner. Lily had taken great pleasure in confusing Siobhan before they left and telling her that she just fancied a stroll, but it had become clear soon into the journey that she was marching somewhere with purpose.

"We are going to call upon my friend, Remus Lupin."

"I haven't been told of a Remus Lupin before," said Siobhan in affront. She tossed her head. "You keep so many secrets from me."

"Hush, silly, I learned his name only last night," said Lily by way of explanation. "He's the boy from the beach who I told you about."

"Ooooh," said Siobhan, grey eyes glittering with glee. "The handsome one who bought our ice creams?"

"Plenty of young men are handsome, Siobhan, but there are very few young men who are both handsome and interesting, and the latter is far more important."

"But," Siobhan argued. "If those young men weren't so handsome, we'd never bother to find out how interesting they are to begin with."

"Maybe you wouldn't," said Lily chidingly. "You, perhaps, are more shallow than I."

"Of course," said Siobhan slyly. "I know you care nothing for outward appearance, which is exactly why you have taken such pains with your own today, is it not?"

Lily stopped walking and stared at her friend with an open mouth. "I have done no such thing!"

Lily had done, and she knew that Siobhan knew it. She was wearing a light blue dress that looked nicer on her than any of her others, or so she was often told, she had painted her nails and made up her face and pinned her hair up in a style that was very becoming on her. She had even worn jewellery. All in all, she was very pleased with her appearance. It had surprised her mother, but as suspicious as it was that Lily would ever try to look nice without direction, Catherine had simply assumed that Lily was trying to impress Edward Chamberly and her father was not sensitive to the changes in women's apparel and appearance, much like any man. Siobhan, Lily told herself, had been bound to notice that something was up.

"You have, and you did so without your mother's word, too."

"And if, once in a while, I feel like making myself look pretty," said Lily defensively, crossing her arms over her chest. "Is there anything amiss about that?"

"Not at all," said Siobhan, highly amused as they resumed their walk. "Speaking of beauty, though; the young man you were flirting with last night, was he handsome?"

Lily stopped in her tracks. Again. This time she was genuinely surprised. "What on earth are you talking about, flirting? I never flirt!"

"Servants talk, you know," said Siobhan, tapping her nose. "And I happened to hear from a reliable source that you were dancing with a very personable young man last night. Is this the Remus we're visiting?"

"Who told you that?" said Lily, going red.

"Santa Claus," said Siobhan calmly.

"Siobhan!"

Siobhan laughed and stuck her tongue out at Lily. "Mary Scully said that she was carrying some plates and she saw her mistress' daughter, dancing with a very attractive young man who most definitely not the man she is rumoured to be getting engaged to. It was all very scandalous, apparently. The old ladies sitting in the corner were buzzing about it all evening."

"Oh, those women are just spiteful old cats," Lily scoffed. "What is it to anyone if I dance with a man who isn't Edward Chamberly? I'm not engaged to him yet, and until then I can dance with whomever I like!"

"I was only teasing, Lily," said Siobhan softly. "I didn't mean to upset you."

"I shall kill Mary when we get back to Cheshire," Lily replied venomously, even though Mary Scully clearly wasn't the problem, more the mere fact that her marriage to Chamberly was already accepted as fact amongst the Brighton people.

"Lily?"

Lily heaved a heavy sigh. "Yes?"

"Do you like him?"

"Who?" said Lily, feigning ignorance and still feeling very put-out.

"Remus Lupin, the man you were dancing with," Siobhan also sighed heavily. "You're playing ignorant."

"I was not dancing with Remus Lupin; I was dancing with a friend of his," Lily answered stuffily. "And if your question implies what I think it implies, no, I do not like him, no matter how handsome he is. Or however nice his hair may be," she added as an afterthought.

"His hair?"

"Nothing," she said, feeling agitated. "It's really nothing. The man in question is not even worth discussing."

"I see," said Siobhan. "And this is the reason why you're blushing, yes?"

"I am not!" Lily was most definitely blushing, and it annoyed her to admit (inwardly only, of course) that it may have had something to do with the fact that the cretin was very, very handsome indeed.

"Worry not, darling, I won't tell anybody, particularly not Mary Scully." Siobhan poked her in the ribs. "Do you know the name of this handsome friend?"

"Oh look, there's the house!" Lily cried, still blushing furiously.

"How interesting. His name, please? Is he as delicious as your dream man?"

"There are apple trees in the garden. How lovely!"

"His name?"

"And is that a fountain?"

"Lily Elizabeth Evans! His name!"

"Come on, Siobhan!" Lily grabbed her friend's hand and started running through the Lupin's small and rather pretty orchard in order to distract her, and in doing so she succeeded in preventing Siobhan from questioning her any further. She sprinted through the trees, around the flower beds and up the large stone slabs that led to the Lupin's front door without a breath, dragging her poor, unfortunate maid behind her. Siobhan almost fell over when they halted quite abruptly on the front steps.

"You are quite unfit, you know," Lily said.

"You are quite dishevelled, you know," said Siobhan smugly, brushing off her dress. And sure enough, Lily's cheeks were red and several strands of her hair had escaped from the pins, half of which were scattered around the garden. Siobhan raised her fist to the door and smiled beautifully at her friend.

"No, no, Siobhan, don't! I can't be seen looking like this! Do you have any hair pins? Let's go back and find mine!"

But Siobhan, grinning wickedly, had already knocked on the door.

"So you see, Moony, it was perfectly innocent."

Remus, after several hours listening to his protestations of innocence, still didn't look like he believed him. The whole morning had been a long and stormy battle.

"I'm not saying that I don't trust you, James," he was saying. "But I know what you can be like when your mind is set on something and I-"

"Moony, for Merlin's sake, James has been through this a million times," said Sirius, who was lying on the chaise lounge with his arm thrown over his eyes. He isn't chasing after Chamberly's things, it was a joke."

James, who was sitting on Remus' very large bedroom windowsill and trying half-heartedly to read a Quidditch book, looked over the top at his best friend with incredulous eyes.

"You call her one of his things, Padfoot?"

Sirius grunted from beneath his arm, and evidently this was all he needed to do to explain himself.

"Is anybody else at a loss to explain why Sirius is so popular with the fairer sex?" James asked of the group in general. Peter shrugged from his spot on Remus' bed and Remus, looking slightly mollified, uncrossed his arms and sat down next to him.

"It is, I'm afraid, one of the more terrible and ironic things about life."

"Indeed," said Peter, turning a page of his own adventure book. "Murders and criminals live to a grand old age, dirty businessmen end up unbelievably wealthy, and people like Sirius get all the girls."

"People like Sirius don't want all the girls, most of them are so mindless," said Sirius lazily. "Although I must say, your girl is pretty as women go, Prongs."

"She's not my girl, though." James leaned his back against the wall.

"Poor Prongs," said Peter, who mimicked wiping a tear from his eye

"Unrequited love is the worst thing these days, or so I've heard," said Sirius.

"Oh yes," Remus played along. "It is the fashion now, you know."

"I don't want her to be my girl, either!" James insisted. His friends had, for the last hour, been ribbing him about Lily Evans and he was sick of trying to convince them that he really didn't care about her that much. And he really didn't. He could admit that he had reacted a tad strongly to her at the ball last night, but in the cold light of day, James was able to see things more clearly and it occurred to him that staying away from Lily Evans was not going to be that difficult. After all, she was only a girl, a very beautiful girl, but a girl nonetheless. There were plenty of those about to get involved with. His weird, sudden infatuation with Lily Evans was nothing more than his old habit of wanting something he couldn't have.

"You're lying," said Peter simply.

"I'm not," he insisted stubbornly. "Even if I was, I'll pull my hair out before I chase any girl, and I certainly wouldn't do so just to hurt Chamberly. He's not worth it, and I'm not that bad a person," he finished, sending a level glare in one Remus Lupin's direction.

"Fine," said Remus, sighing resignedly. "I believe you."

"Why do you care about what happens to that girl anyway?" said Sirius.

"It wouldn't have been fair of James to use her, just to get at Edward," he explained. "Although now that I know he isn't, I'm not worried."

"I thought she was very nice," Peter piped up. "She reminded me of somebody, or perhaps I've met her somewhere before."

"Really? Where?" said James curiously, not that he cared. Peter shrugged. Remus mumbled something about Shakespeare and Sirius managed a disinterested grunt. His friends were very strange.

They all lapsed into silence, and there was nothing but the sound of pages turning for a while. Gradually, Sirius' snores started to fill the room.

"He sounds rather like an animal when he snores, doesn't he?" Peter remarked.

"Sometimes I think that his human form is his true Animagus, and he was really meant to be a dog all along," said Remus quietly. "Especially when his legs start twitching in his sleep."

There was a loud knock on Remus' bedroom door. Sirius snorted and jumped slightly, but wasn't roused from his slumber.

"Come in," said Remus.

The door opened and one of the maids poked her head into the room.

"Mr. Lupin?" she said, looking confused. "There is a friend of yours at the door. She said she met you at the dance last night, Miss Lily Evans?"

"Miss Evans is here?" said Remus. James, who had been staring out of the window, not caring much about anything and certainly not caring about Lily Evans, jumped at the sound of her name and watched in woeful embarrassment as his book slid off his lap and onto the floor

" She is downstairs in the parlour, sir, if you want to see her," said the maid.

"Oh, right. Of course." Remus heaved himself up from his bed. "Does anyone else want to accompany me?"

"Just as soon as I finish my chapter," said Peter, whose flushed cheeks and rapt eyes were a sure sign that he had reached a thrilling part of his book. James and Remus looked at Sirius, but he was still snoring with wild abandon. Remus shot a questioning glance at James.

"I'll come, Moony." He hopped off the windowsill and immediately ran a hand through his hair so that it stood out in all possible directions. Remus smiled knowingly at him, but said nothing in front of the maid. When they were walking down the stairs, however, he elbowed him in the ribs.

"I thought you said that you didn't care?" he whispered.

"I don't," James whispered back. "But there is no law against trying to look presentable for company."

They found her in the parlour examining some sheets of music on Remus' old piano, and she did not turn when they entered the room, so she obviously had not heard them. There was another girl with blonde hair hovering awkwardly near the window, dressed in simpler clothes, and she had obviously been sent as her chaperone. She coughed, and Lily Evans spun around to greet them.

Of course, all of James's previous resolve seemed to fly away and he was seized with a wild, crazy urge to pull her to him and kiss her until she passed out in his arms.

"Mr Lupin," she said, smiling as she sank into a curtsey.

"Miss Evans." Remus did a dutiful little bow. "It's delightful to see you here but I must confess myself a little confused. Is anything amiss?"

"Oh, everything is just fine, don't worry!" she said, and then proceeded to look at James as if she had just noticed him there. "Good afternoon, Mr Potter."

This was said breezily, and she dropped her attentions to him with a swiftness that confused him, as if they hadn't shared two dances and one strange and peculiarly flirtatious conversation the night before. One would almost swear that she was a completely different girl. He ran a hand through his hair and resolved to be as unaffected as possible.

"Good afternoon, Miss Evans," he said.

"Mr Lupin, this is my handmaiden and dearest friend, although that information is not something that everybody is party to, Siobhan Finnegan. Siobhan, this is my new friend Remus Lupin and his friend James Potter."

"Hello," Siobhan said quietly, from her spot by the window, looking very surprised to have been introduced to the two of them like an equal. James thought her name sounded quite familiar but he didn't bring up the subject, for he was too busy trying to figure out the enigma that was Lily Evans, who still wasn't looking at him. He looked at Remus, who seemed to be quite mystified as well.

"Anyway," said Lily, once James and Remus had said hello to Siobhan Finnegan. "The reason that I made my way here was to invite you to dinner on behalf of my host, Mr Chamberly." Here she caught James' eye for a slight second, as if by mistake, and blushed a little. "He is having a small gathering tonight at seven o' clock and he would very much like it if both of you and your friends could join us."

"That sounds like a fine idea. What do you think, James?" said Remus.

"Yes, it does," said James dully, now staring unashamedly at Lily Evans, still pointedly being ignored.

"Excellent," said Remus, smiling in that genial way of his. Lily smiled back, and James was suddenly gripped by unwarranted jealousy. "We'd love to come. I'll just find my mother and let her know of our plans."

"Wonderful," said Lily, with a dazzling smile on her face. Once Remus left the room, however, she dropped the smile, and her pleasant manner, and turned to speak to her friend in low tones. "Siobhan, do you mind if I speak to Mr Potter alone for a moment?"

Siobhan Finnegan, looking as much confused as Remus and James and possibly everybody else involved might have felt, hurriedly left the room and in doing so left James and Lily alone.

"I might have minded, you know," he told her. "It was rather rude of you not to ask."

Lily Evans turned her brilliant green eyes on him and smiled coyly.

"Do you mind?" she asked, to which he could only shake his head. Of course he didn't mind, how could he have minded? He wanted nothing more than to be locked away alone with her for the rest of his life. "I need to borrow a book from you."

"A book?" He furrowed his brow and wondered if she had somehow conspired with his friends to play a trick on him or something equally mad. "I mean to say, of course you can borrow a book from me but, why on earth do you need a book, and from me, of all possible people?"

"Mr Chamberly wanted to send a messenger here with the invitation for Mr Lupin," she began, making her way over to him with small, slow steps, and stopped when they were mere feet away. "I needed an excuse to come here."

"That was rather conniving of you, Miss Evans. I don't mean to offend you, of course."

"I'm not offended," she said, with a little smug smile. "Has your impression of me altered in any way since last night, or is it as of yet unchanged?"

"Not at all," he responded. He was more than well aware that he was flirting with her and he knew that he ought to feel guilty, but he felt rather like he had to, lest he burst. Besides, she was knowingly encouraging him along. "I'm rather intrigued by you, to be honest."

She raised her eyebrows. "So, I may borrow a book from you?"

"You can, if you tell me why you were so intent upon coming here."

"Oh, Mr Potter, my motivations for coming here wouldn't be of any consequence to you, I'm sure."

"Oh," he paused, wondering if perhaps she had been driven here by a wild desire to see Remus. "Is that so?"

She smiled at him, a mischievous, wicked, alluring smile that answered his question even before the words left her lips, and he knew then that he was completely and utterly lost.

"Of course not."

A/N: Less cheese? Maybe? More sass? I hope so.