Potions, fifth-year. They're working in pairs: Sirius and Peter, at the back; James and Remus, at the desk in front of them. At the next desk are Lily Evans and Snape, and Remus is a little worried, at the beginning of the lesson, when he notices that James keeps looking over at them. Nothing happens, though – nothing is thrown at their cauldron, none of their ingredients are nicked. Remus is confused.

Next lesson, Remus ends up working with Sirius, at the back, and Peter and James are in front of them. Lily and Snape are in the same place as before, and Remus notices that James still keeps sending glances towards them.

"Are you planning something?" Remus asks Sirius, after seeing James glance over yet again.

Sirius frowns. "No, not yet. Why?"

Remus nods to the pair in front of them. "James has been looking at Evans and Snape all lesson."

Strangely, Sirius grins. "Oh, that is brilliant."

Remus waits for him to elaborate, but he doesn't. "What the hell are you talking about?"

"I noticed him looking at her weeks ago, but I thought I was just being stupid, but if you've noticed too..." Sirius trails off, eyes alight with triumph or mischief – Remus isn't quite sure which. "I bet he hasn't noticed himself yet, though," he adds, sounding oddly affectionate, and then notices that Remus is staring at him in total confusion. "Haven't you worked it out yet?"

"Still confused," Remus says, and, noticing that Slughorn's coming around, throws a spider's leg into their potion.

"He fancies Evans," Sirius says gleefully.

"That's the most ridiculous thing I've ever heard," Remus frowns. "If he fancied her, surely he would be the one to notice first?"

Sirius shakes his head. "Maybe with normal people," he concedes, "but we are talking about James Potter. He has to be told these things."

xxx

Remus still isn't sure he believes this, but he watches James more closely anyway. He notices James look at Lily six times at dinner, and then a further nine times in the first half-hour of being in the common room. Remus and Sirius share grins each time they see him look at her, and are suppressing laughter by the fourth.

Needless to say, James and Peter aren't best pleased at not being included in the joke.

"What's funny?" Peter demands.

"Oh, nothing," Remus lies, and Sirius rolls his eyes.

"Might as well just tell them the truth now," he says, slightly grumpy, because James and Peter are looking thoroughly unconvinced by Remus's lie. "It's not even that exciting."

Remus sees James's eyes flick to the left, where Lily and Emily Shepherd are chatting. He grins.

"It just happened again," he says, looking at Sirius, much to the irritation of James and Peter.

Sirius nods, also grinning, eyes trained on James, eyebrows slightly raised. "You fancy Evans," he says simply.

James doesn't confirm or deny, instead choosing to retort with, "Peter fancies Macdonald."

xxx

As time passes, James becomes more open about his feelings for Lily, and Peter begins a relationship with Mary Macdonald. Remus begins to think more about the red-haired object of James's affections, wondering exactly what it is that draws James to her. She's a Prefect, but, like Remus, possibly not the best girl for the job: while she's certainly hard-working and polite, she's chatty, cheeky, gets a few too many detentions. Unlike Remus, though, there are Gryffindor girls who are probably a little better suited to the role. Emily Shepherd has only ever lost five points in all her years at school, has never had a detention, hasn't missed a single piece of homework. Then again, Remus thinks, Shepherd is quiet, probably too quiet to tell off older students or even students in her own year. Lily's more confident, more likely to speak her mind. But not too confident, Remus thinks. She doesn't think she's the best thing in the world, not like that Hooper in Slytherin. And she's pretty, with all that red hair, and those big, green eyes …

"Fuck," Remus mutters to himself in Arithmancy, the one subject in which he happens to sit next to the very redhead he's just been thinking about.

"Are you okay?" Lily asks him, slightly concerned.

Remus nods. "Fine."

He's only gone and started bloody fancying her, after all. And he can't do anything about it because James fancied her first.