The two walked all the way down to the large beech tree by the lake before they stopped. It was early spring, and winter's chill hadn't entirely passed yet. The tip of Lily's nose was starting to go numb, but she ignored it. James stood, arms crossed, staring across the lake. Lily leaned against the tree, waiting for him to say something.

Evidently, he was waiting on her as well, because he cleared his throat.

"You wanted to say something to me?"

"Yes…I'm sorry for this morning. I agreed to that date weeks ago, back when I thought I'd like you the day that I willingly ate frog spawn, but I just…I forgot about him yesterday! I did! That's not like me, usually I have a great memory, but he just…slipped my mind" she said quietly, stepping a small step in James' direction.

"Slipped your mind?" he asked blankly, still not facing her.

"Yes" she said, slightly breathless.

"Did it slip your mind this morning when you went to breakfast with him this morning that…well…that last night happened?"

"No, it didn't. He just took me by surprise"

"Did you cancel your date?"

Lily couldn't answer.

"Well?" James asked, turning to her.

"…no" she whispered.

"Why not?" he half-shouted at her.

"Don't yell at me, Potter! I just – it wasn't easy, and – he's just so pushy, and excited about it and I just…"

"Forgot?" asked James nastily, visibly reacting to her use of his last name.

"I didn't want to be a wanker about it! I feel bad enough as it is, liking you and him at the same time, but - "

"Wait a minute. You like both of us?"

"Well, maybe not…I mean, no…it's just – it's just complicated, isn't it?" Lily spluttered, running a hand through her hair.

"Well either you like us both or you don't"

"It's different with you and different with him. I'd liked him for ages…before. And then last night happened and now I just don't know what to think…I mean…you're so ...not Braxton"

Saying Braxton's name seemed to act like a stimulant in James. He started shaking slightly and began pacing.

"I'm not….I'm not Braxton?" he asked, his voice barely escaping from shaking itself.

"It's a good thing" Lily replied, slightly alarmed by James' behavior.

"Then why are you going to Hogsmeade with him?" he asked as he stopped pacing, turning round to look Lily straight in the face.

And Lily had no answer. Her face fell, and she looked at the almost-green ground. She didn't look up as James stood for a moment, and then stalked past her, back toward the castle. When he was gone, she wasn't afraid to let the moisture in her eyes spill over. She sat down by the tree, and finally buried her face in her hands.

She didn't know how long she sat there, but her tears had long since dried when her friends found her; she was just staring into the lake, wondering what lay beneath its inky surface. She didn't pay attention to the footsteps at first, but when Alice knelt down beside her and began speaking words of comfort, Lily twisted and let Alice throw her arm around her.

The three were quiet for a long time, until it seemed that Mary couldn't contain herself anymore.

"Who knew you liked Potter this much"

"It's almost like a replay of second year" conceded Alice.

"So you two don't blame me for forgetting about McLaggen?"

"Braxton?" Alice laughed, "Even I forgot about that bloke"

"I figured that since you two hadn't really…well, interacted much, that he wasn't even a key player" Mary chimed in.

"That's true…but between me being a prefect and him being on the Quidditch team we don't really get a lot of time to spend together" Lily tried to explain.

"James is on the Quidditch team, and he's always around" Alice pointed out.

"His friends probably keep him busy"

"Or he just doesn't bother to be around" Mary said bluntly.

"And you never really made a concentrated effort to see him either"

This gave Lily a lot to think about.

"I called him 'Potter'…and told him he wasn't Braxton" she admitted to them.

"Aw, Lily" Alice moaned, yet hugged her closer.

The rest of the day passed by in kind of a fog. She kept hoping to catch glimpses of the Marauders, but was completely unsuccessful. After dinner (where the boys were yet again conspicuously absent), Lily was rushing out of the Hall towards the common room, hoping against hope to at least see James. She needed to see how angry he was at her. She wasn't really watching where she was going, and ran headlong into somebody. She looked up to apologize, and saw that it was none other than Remus Lupin.

"Remus!" she exclaimed.

"Uh, hi Lily" he replied uncomfortably.

"How angry is he? How bad did I mess up?" she asked as Mary and Alice caught up with her.

"He's…he's pretty upset"

Lily winced, and bit her lip.

"How bad did I mess up?" she repeated her question quietly.

"I don't really know. I mean, he really likes you, so this could all go away…if Braxton is magically taken out of the picture" he hinted heavily.

"All I have to do is get rid of Braxton?"

"Well, maybe. As I hear it you said some pretty mean stuff out there"

"It was taken the wrong way" she defended herself.

"Even so, that's still the way he took it"

"Dammit" she muttered.

"Lily - " he began.

"I know dammit is a naughty word" she nearly hissed through her teeth.

"That's…not at all what I was going to say"

"Oh…sorry. Just something James and Sirius say"

"What I was going to say is that you need to get rid of McLaggen, and apologize to James. And fairly soon, if you can manage it. And humiliating McLaggen definitely wouldn't hurt your chances, either. James seems to think he's been somewhat singled out"

"Singled out?"

"You said you didn't want to 'be a wanker' about dumping McLaggen, but you never seemed to have a problem being bitchy to James"

Lily stood there with her mouth open.

"But that's different!" she spluttered.

"How, exactly?"

"I never thought I was seriously hurting his feelings, and when I realized it, I stopped! McLaggen actually likes me!"

"Maybe" Alice slid in.

"Maybe?" asked Remus.

"It's a theory we're working on" Mary answered.

"Look, Lily. If you want to be with James, get McLaggen out of the picture. Period. It's going to suck, but it's not like you're not used to it"

Lily was stung by his remark, but it's not like it wasn't true.

"Can you tell him how sorry I am?"

"I don't know how sorry you are" Remus answered with just a touch of acid in his voice.

"Well then just tell him that I'm ridiculously sorry"

"If I can get a word in edgewise, I suppose I will"

He turned to leave.

"Thanks for telling us where she was" Alice called after him. He turned and did a mock-salute before heading in the direction of the kitchens.

"We were looking for you, and he told us what happened, and where you were" Mary explained.

But quite frankly, Lily did not care. Her mission now was to end her and Braxton's whatever-it-was, and very publicly. She wanted James to see, but who knew when that was going to be if the Marauders kept avoiding her like this?

"REMUS!" she yelled out. She called his name again, and he turned. She sprinted over to him.

"Can you…can you please get James in the common room at about…nine thirty?" she asked, slightly out of breath.

"He won't want to go up there"

"Is there any way you could convince him? I want James to see it, when I get rid of Braxton"

"I might be able to…"

"I need him to see, Remus"

"I can try. If not, I'll be there to bear witness" he replied, throwing her a half-smile.

"You…you don't think I'm horrible, do you?"

"It's a messed up situation, yes, and James really can't be angry with you for what happened before you two…resolved your differences," he smirked, "but you really should have called off the date. And maybe mentioned how ugly you think Braxton is. And you shouldn't have told him he's not Braxton, either"

"I meant… oh I don't know what I meant" she moaned.

There was a short pause; Remus seemed to be steeling himself.

"You really don't care about…about my furry little problem?" he asked tentatively.

"Your what? Oh! I get it! ...Oh, Remus, no I don't. How can you help that? It doesn't make you any less of a person"

"I don't scare you at all?"

"No offense, Mister Lupin, but I think I could take you" Lily joked.

"You won't be so sure of yourself in two weeks" he muttered.

"You know, you should really try to think of some new excuses for ditching. That's how Alice and I figured it out, you know" she replied, ignoring his comment purposefully.

"I'll bear that in mind" he smiled. And with that, he waved and went on.

Lily turned, and headed off to the common-room. She had to find Braxton, and figure out a way to publicly reject him.

Three days ago she wouldn't have even dreamed that she'd be in this situation; dumping Braxton to try to get James to talk to her again. How bizarre. It wasn't that she didn't like Braxton; he had all the qualities she admired, even if he was a bit pompous and presuming. But today, all he did was irritate her; it had gotten to the point where she wasn't sure what she'd seen in him. The visions of landing a punch right in James' suck-hole were now of landing one in Braxton's. It was a complicated mess with Braxton. And she knew only one thing about James, and that was that she enjoyed his company. How curious that it took less than twenty-four hours to flip-flop.

Before she knew it, Lily was back in the common-room, sitting by the fire. Alice and Mary had come ahead of her, and were chatting idly over their homework. They were gossiping about a girl she didn't know, some Bertha Jorkins. Apparently, according to Alice's older brother Algie, she was making a real arse of herself at the Ministry. Even though she'd heard the entire conversation, she couldn't give any more information than that. She wasn't paying them much mind; she was keeping an eagle's eye out for both Braxton and James, with no luck so far.

Was Braxton in his dormitory? Was he practicing Quidditch? Was he in the library, maybe? He had to be around here somewhere. The same was true for James. She knew he was avoiding her, but would Remus convince him? Lily sat, consumed.

Just a few moments later, Braxton came in, surrounded by his friends, whom Lily didn't know personally. She recognized Daniel Corner and Steve Macmillan, but she couldn't be positive as to who the others were. She caught Braxton's eye, and gestured that he sit next to her. His friends sniggered, and elbowed him over. One of the boys she didn't know licked his lips in an ostentatious manner. Lily tried hard to keep the disgusted look off of her face. He sat down next to her obligingly, and tried yet again to take her hand. She tried moving it, but Braxton wasn't going to have any of that. He reached for her hand and snatched it from her lap. This time she couldn't fail to keep the scandalized expression off her face. He smirked at her.

"What can I do for you, doll?"

"Doll?"

"I think it's cute. Don't you?"

"…not really"

"So what do you want?" he asked bluntly.

"I just…nothing really" she faltered. She glanced around the common-room, looking for any sign of James or Remus. There was none.

"You just wanted to be around me, that's cool" he replied in an arrogant tone. Lily turned her head, and caught Alice's expression. She almost laughed. She turned back toward Braxton, trying to think of something to say, but she didn't expect him to be so close.

He was just inches away from her face. She felt his warm breath on her face, and it smelled strongly of smoke and mint. She made the mistake of looking into his eyes, and the next thing she knew, his face was ramming into hers. Braxton's lips were groping around hers, and she was still in shock. It only took a second for her to snap out of it, and push him off.

"Braxton!" she yelped.

He backed away, looking at her with a confused and irritated look on his face. Lily turned away from him and around the common-room.

He was there. Of course he was there. Lily's face contorted from angry to pleading. James looked at her, hurt clear on his face, and stalked back out of the portrait-hole.