"You fancy James Potter?"

"Shh! I don't want the whole school to know!"

Lily sighed and shook her head at her best friend's little outburst, whom she had just told that, yes, she did, in fact, fancy James. She stood up, and extended a hand to Marlene, gesturing for her to come along.

"Where are we going?" she asked, but nonetheless grabbed the hand offered, standing up herself.

"In here," Lily just said, not letting go of her hand, as she began walking to the other side of the corridor, where a wooden door was placed which, she knew, let into a broom closet. "I think it's safer being in there. Honestly, I should've thought of it before I told you. Let's just hope that no one heard."

It wasn't the Room of Requirement, although, Lily found as they entered the broom closet, it looked very much like it. However much she would've loved going to 7th floor, just so they could have a big room, with nice, comfy couches, and preferably some warm tomato soup, - better known as the best soup/food in the entire world - she didn't think Marlene would have the patience, and neither would she herself.

Marlene did seem to be the most impatient one, though, which perhaps wasn't so surprising, as Lily had had a few months to think about and acknowledge the crush, while Marlene had only just gotten to know. And if anyone knew, just how much that Lily hated - or, used to, at least - James Potter, well, then besides from herself and James, it would be Marlene.

And she did indeed stand, with crossed arms, and her foot tapping quickly against the floor. Lily bit her lip, regret filling her stomach, and suddenly wanting to just make her friend forget what she had told her, and walk away like nothing had happened, but Lily knew that it was, unfortunately, too late to back out, so she leaned against the wall, preparing herself.

"Well?" Marlene said, and cocked an eyebrow at her. When Lily didn't answer, rather confused with exactly what she was supposed to answer, she let out a frustrated huff. "You fancy him, then? Properly? This isn't some... Some sort of bet that you made with someone, because let me tell you, Lily Evans, this is not funny."

Lily raised her hands, innocently. "Calm down, Marls. I'm... Er, I'm not joking, I'm afraid that this is quite serious."

It took a few moments, before Marlene finally stopped narrowing her eyes at her suspiciously, and instead, as she realized that Lily wasn't lying, and that she was rather telling the truth, a huge grin broke out on her face. "Oh. My. God! You fancy him!"

Lily couldn't help but roll her eyes at her. "That's what I've been trying to tell you, if you had listened."

"But when?" Marlene continued, ignoring her remark. Her face was basically one huge grin, her mouth slightly agape, in surprise, Lily figured.

"It was the beginning of the year, I s'ppose," Lily mumbled and shrugged, hoping to look like the whole conversation bored her, although the deep red colour on her skin, rather gave her away.

She could almost hear the sound, of Marlene's jaw hitting the floor, and her eyes widening. "The bloody beginning? Lily! How come you didn't tell me all this time? Does James know? When are you planning on telling him, if not? How are you going to do it? Is it just, like, a little crush, or did you fall hard for the bloke?"

Her friend continued to bombard her with questions, which she tried to answer, really, but she was simply interrupted by more of what seemed to be an endless array of questions. "Alright, alright, slow down!"

Marlene froze, the words stopping in her mouth, which she then closed, hopefully, to show, that she would stop asking now.

"Okay, from the start, yeah?" Lily said and took a deep breath. "Yes, it began in the beginning of the year. I didn't tell you, because I was confused myself, and I was trying to convince myself that it was nothing. Telling you would've meant admitting that it was true, and I wasn't, still not quite am, ready to do that."

Marlene nodded approvingly, looking like she understood and accepted the explaining, but Lily ignored it, eager to get over with the answers, so she could tell her what she had really meant to be talking about, being the sudden news of James staying at Hogwarts for Christmas.

"Er, what next... Oh. No, of course James doesn't know, stupid, or I would've been having a nervous breakdown right now, instead of calmingly answering all these pointless questions."

"They're not pointless, Lily! If you had-"

"Anyway," she interrupted, moving on quickly. "I'm not planning on telling him that I like him. Nope. Never. Not going to happen."

"But Lily," Marlene complained and crossed her arms defiantly. "You simply have to. Don't you see? It's got to be fate."

"Oh, you sound almost as bad as Professor Dorsey," she muttered, rolling her eyes.

Professor Dorsey was the very very rubbish teacher, they had at Divination, and although he was a nice guy all in all, he just really wasn't very good at his subject. You had to give him some points for trying, though, because he really did.

Out of fear of losing his job, simply because he was so rubbish at it, Professor Dorsey always went on and on about fate and destiny, and how he knew the future, but he simply couldn't tell, as that would be a break of the rules at The Community for Well Trained and Perfectly Fine Seers - or TCWTPFS for short, or, you know, just bullshit, as most people referred to it as.

You couldn't really help but feel bad for the bloke.

Marlene scoffed, raising her chin. "I am nothing like Professor Dorsey, because this is actually true. And that's completely besides the point! Merlin, Lily, you've got to tell him."

For once, Lily found herself to be (slightly) happy, by the thought of a certain Lucy Miller, as she now had a reason, as to why she shouldn't tell James, even if it was a crappy one.

"My dear Marlene, I think you're forgetting that James is currently dating Lucy Miller, from Ravenclaw." Lily found it to be very hard to hide the bitterness in her tone, which caused Marlene to give a slight smirk, as she clearly noticed.

"Not at all, my dear Lily," she said, mimicking her voice teasingly. Marlene waved her hand dismissively, leaning against the wall. "They're not serious anyway."

Uhm, what?

"Excuse me?" Lily said, as she stared at her, pulling her eyebrows together. "They look very serious to me."

"Please, everyone knows that it's just a flirt," Marlene said and rolled her eyes. "It won't last."

What in the living hell was she on about? A flirt? She doubted it!

Although...

Lily felt a flutter in her stomach, as she allowed herself to think, that maybe Marlene was right. Maybe they weren't serious, yeah? And if they weren't... Well, James would soon grow tired of Lucy, then, and he would break up with her for sure, and then...

And then what?

Would she tell James that she fancied him? And if she actually decided to do so, how would he react? Did he still like her? Or was that feeling long gone by now, and she was too late?

Merlin's beard, why was things so bloody difficult with that bloke!

That little feeling of hope in her stomach immediately vanished to make way of fear and worry.

Lily narrowed her eyes at Marlene, stepping closer to her. "How'd you know? That it won't last, I mean. How do you know?"

Marlene's cheeks reddened suddenly, and she bit down on her lip, hesitating, before finally just saying, "I have my sources."

"You have your sources?" Lily repeated, staring at her. "What in the bleeding hell is that supposed to mean, Marls?"

"I don't think that's important at the moment," she just mumbled. "I believe we were discussing you and James, not me and my sources."

And however much Lily wanted to know who the hell those sources were, she was right. She had come to Marlene for a reason, and she hadn't even got to tell it yet.

"I guess you're right," Lily said, but pointed sternly at her with her index finger. "But we're discussing this later, mate."

"Yeah, whatever," she replied, rolling her eyes.

"All right, so here's the problem-"

And so, Lily told Marlene about the whole James-is-staying-at-Hogwarts-for-Christmas-but-is- it-because-he-likes-me-or-just-because situation. It took a while, because Marlene kept commenting on the story, but finally Lily finished and leaned back in silence, awaiting Marlene's judgment.

"Hmm..." she said. "Well... It most certainly could be because he likes you back, and didn't want you to be alone at Christmas, but on the other hand, I mean, he has stayed at Hogwarts before."

Lily rolled her eyes. "Yes, thank you, I know. What I want you- no, what I need you to do, is tell me which one of those he meant."

Marlene let out a scoff, and shot her a glare, crossing her arms. "Fine. My advice for you is..."

To Lily's great annoyance, Marlene chose to hold a dramatic pause here, and she bit her lip, waiting eagerly.

"Ask him."

What?

What?

"Ask him? That's your advice? You want me to ask him whether he's staying? That has to be the worst- Oi, where are you going?"

Because right then, Lily noticed a sudden stream of light, as her friend opened the door to the broom closet.

"Ask him which one it is," she just said and shrugged, before walking out of the door, her quick footsteps being heard easily against the floor outside.

Ask him?

Bloody fucking ask him?

"Well, thank God I've got you, Marlene. When in times of doubt, I can trust you to give me the right advice," she muttered to herself, as she slid down the wall, huffing. "Fat lot of good she was."

But really, Lily should have told herself, that figuring James Potter out, would never be this easy.