10.

When James returned to the castle he found that Sirius was happy - almost too happy – and he realised that things must have gone very well with Katie Price while he was away. His suspicions were confirmed with the irritable look on Remus's face; as if he had been forced to listen to the pair's incessant coupling every night. Peter was less discreet, and by dinner James knew every trick of Katie Price's evening repertoire.

But James wasn't happy for his friend. He'd like to be, because she was a nice girl and he'd never seen Sirius so smitten, but he just couldn't. Going out with Katie Price put him in frightfully close contact with her friends, namely Meredith Dobbs, and that worried him. He'd never been this scared before when his mother had meddled in his love life. When he was thirteen, the prospect of having his future wife picked out for him did not worry him in the slightest. Nothing could come about until he was of age anyway, and that was many years away. At sixteen he had thought it an advantage and gave his mother specific instructions to seek the counsel of a Mr and Mrs Evans of Surrey in request for their daughter's hand. He was sadly disappointed when his father pointed out that Muggles generally didn't deal in arranged marriages and if he wanted the girl he would have to woo her himself. But now he was eighteen, it appeared his mother was getting desperate. On three occasions after the gala, his parents had dined with the Dobbs'. Thankfully James had only been required to attend one of these evenings, where he supposed he was being inspected for suitability, as Meredith had not been present.

His parents were not cruel; at eighteen they could not, and would not, force him to marry someone against his wishes. But they would do everything in their power to set the way for him and hope that duty and honour would make him do the rest. Naturally, James had no intention of ever marrying Meredith Dobbs, but he sure as hell felt guilty about it when he saw how eager his parents were to see him settled.

"I don't see why you're complaining," Sirius had said to him after James had finally voiced his fears. "She's awful pretty that Meredith Dobbs. And she fancies you."

James chose to ignore him but Sirius continued anyway, knowing James' general response.

"Then you'd better hope Evans changes her tune by graduation. Your Mum will have you down the aisle come July if you don't give her some sort of alternative."

But sadly James had been correct in his prediction that, upon returning to school, Lily Evans would become Professor Evans and he was just her student once again. During the first dinner back she had paused by his table to enquire as to how the rest of his holidays had been, but that was the only sign she gave that they had ever been something close to friends during those few stolen minutes at the party. After that it really was business as usual.

He was pondering these gloomy thoughts during his early morning patrol on Sunday. He bid his Head girl goodbye at the entrance to the Hufflepuff common room, and as had become habit, detoured back to Griffindor along the corridor that ran adjacent to the portrait of Matilda; the old witch in the rocking chair, just in case he might catch a glimpse of the Charms Professor on her way to breakfast. He never did. In fact, he rarely saw any body in that part of the castle. But today was different.

He had just turned a corner when he came face to face with an unexpected visitor to the castle. Terry Archibald. It appeared he had just come from Lily's room with a bag slung on one shoulder, giving James the impression he had spent the night. James was sorely tempted to hex the bastard with just the idea of what they might have gotten up to in there. Forcing himself to keep walking, he attempted to sidestep the man, when Archibald called for his attention.

"Potter, right?"

Surprised, James turned to face him. "Yeah."

"Archibald," he introduced himself, extending a hand, which James reluctantly but politely took. "Terrance, well, Terry actually. It's Jim, isn't it? "

"James."

Archibald clicked his fingers. "Knew it was something like that. I didn't recognise you before," he added, indicating the portrait over his shoulder, referring to their previous meeting. "Knew you looked familiar though."

James felt obligated to continue the small talk. "Yeah, you were head boy when I started here."

Archibald nodded in agreement. "Yeah I remember you; gave you detention in the first week," he added with an amused grin. The Marauder side of him was filled with a small amount of pride with this statement. But James tried hard to fight down the feeling before it spread to his face. "Though you were just a little bugger back then," Archibald continued with a slight smirk.

"And Professor Evans was just a little girl," James muttered before he could stop himself.

Archibald's eyes narrowed and he puffed himself up his full height. "Well, I'll see you around then, Potter," he concluded, his expression one of wariness. "Hope you had a good Christmas."

"You too," James muttered expressionlessly.

The two men parted without another word.

Following his morning rounds, James usually 'collected' his friends from the common room before heading down to breakfast. Knowing that Archibald had recently departed he was surprised not to see Lily there. Perhaps, a nagging voice in the back of his mind suggested, they had already enjoyed a romantic breakfast in bed. Sunday's tended to be a day of routine, and after breakfast, unless there was a match, he would make his way down to the Quidditch pitch for practice. This was usually followed by an hour long argument with Jacobs over his 'crappy' captaincy skills. Lunch would generally follow, and then it was off to the unused classroom on the third floor for the weekly prefects meeting. It was this event that James had been dreading all day, because it was this event that put him in close contact with Meredith Dobbs.

As expected, she cornered him after the meeting.

"Shall I wait, Prongs?" Remus had enquired from the doorway.

"Yeah, that would be-"

"It's all right Remus," Meredith had cut him off gently. "I'll make sure he gets to dinner."

Remus had sent him a piteous look before disappearing, the heavy wooden door clicking shut behind him. Meredith perched herself on the end of a desk as James leaned against the window frame, folding his arms across his chest. Her long hair was tied back into a ponytail, the light from outside reflecting in her dark eyes to make them a vibrant blue against the whiteness of her skin. He knew he was a fool not to make this girl an offer, but he just couldn't bring himself to do it.

"You're a difficult man to get hold of, James," she smiled, folding her hands across her lap. "Lucky I'm a prefect or I'm afraid I might have never got to see you."

"Hmm." In all honestly he could not think of a suitable response.

"I've been meaning to ask you," she continued none-the-wiser. "How was dinner with my parents? I hope they weren't terribly embarrassing."

"Not at all," James replied honestly.

She watched him expectantly, waiting for him to continue the conversation but she soon realised there wasn't any more coming. Sighing slightly, she dropped off the desk, stepping toward him slightly. "I think we both know where this is going," she spoke evenly, examining the cover of a book someone had left behind. "My parents are eager to settle things."

James felt his stomach clench. He did not like where this was going. Why did she speak like they were already engaged?

"I know we've never had the chance to become friends in the past," she continued, finally raising her eyes to his. "And I know this is all happening very fast…too fast," she added as an afterthought. James silently agreed. "But to be honest-" And James noticed she tore her eyes away as if too embarrassed to look at him. "I really don't mind." She giggled uncontrollably and her face flushed a slight pink with the confession.

There was silence. And James realised he was supposed to respond. He cleared his throat. "Meredith, I-"

"Oh there you are, James, I've been- Oh. Sorry."

The pair turned as the classroom door swung open, revealing a very surprised looking Lily Evans. "I didn't mean to barge in," she spoke hurriedly, avoiding eye contact with either of them. "I thought the meeting was over."

"It is," James replied quickly, thankful for the intrusion. Meredith remained silent and looked noticeably irritated. "We were just-"

"Forgive me," Lily apologised again, not hearing him and looking slightly embarrassed as she took hold of the door handle. "I'll come back later."

"No," James desperately tried to stop her. He realised how it must have looked; the two of them hanging back after the meeting in an unused classroom, Meredith blushing furiously and himself stuttering like a fool. "It's all right, you don't have to-"

It was too late. The door behind her.

James did not intend for the thwarted sigh that followed to be so audible.

"I know you fancy her," Meredith spoke flatly, drawing his attention back to her. "Everyone does."

James ran a frustrated hand across his brow.

"But I thought under the circumstances…I mean…it's a bit embarrassing for me, you know, the way you carry on around her. If my father knew-"

James could not help the defiant stare he threw her next. "He'd what? Forbid us from marrying? Please, give me his address; I'll owl him the news myself!" He had not meant to be so rude, but he was embarrassed about what Lily had just witnessed and his emotions had got the better of him.

She shifted her weight from one leg to the other, clearly not sure how to take his change in temper. Eventually a small smile came to her lips as if under the sudden impression this was some kind of joke. "She's a teacher."

James' expression remained unchanged although he managed to calm his voice. "So?"

She narrowed her eyes in confusion. "You actually think you have a chance with her?"

James did not respond.

"James, I've lost one NEWT because of her. I don't understand your obsession; she's clearly not a very nice person and she's a teacher! Your teacher, James!"

Having decided that this conversation was well and truly over, James snatched his notes of the meeting from the desk, pacing towards the exit with larger than normal strides. "You'd do well to inform your parents they need to start looking for another match," he told her as he reached the door.

The last he saw of her before leaving the room was an uncharacteristically nasty scowl and the sound of her voice reverberating down the hall after him.

"She's a teacher!"