November blew, dreary and windy, across the grounds of Hogwarts. Hagrid could be seen stumping along the grounds wearing his huge moleskin overcoat, and the lake had slowly begun to freeze over as the air got colder.

Not only was the air now colder, but the seventh-year Gryffindors seemed to grow cooler with the change in climate.

"I don't get it! What happened? We were so good," James whined, flopping onto his bed and looking defeated.

Remus, Peter and Sirius glanced at one another, and then went back to what they were doing; Remus reading a book, Sirius stuffing his face with Chocolate Frogs and Peter doodling idly on a piece of parchment.

For the past week James had driven his roommates crazy with incessant talk about Lily. At first James had been ecstatic to find out that Lily wasn't mad at him for his almost kiss in the library, and was thrilled when she didn't scream at him or hex him.

However, it had been a week since the incident, and Lily had barely said five words to James. She politely reminded him that they had to patrol on Friday evening, but didn't say anything to him during the entire patrol, other than to nod her head when he spoke or reply quietly if he asked a question. It was the least they had ever talked during a patrol. Other than patrolling, or reminding him of certain Head duties, Lily had been considerably cooler towards James that she had been all year. She didn't insult him, hex him, or even pay him any attention at all. And it was killing him.

"Seriously guys, please help me out," James whined again, yanking the Chocolate Frogs away from Sirius and glaring at him. "You are the King of understanding girls! What did I do?"

Sirius groaned, eyeing his Chocolate Frogs wistfully. "Hell if I know, mate. Evans has always been a weird bird. I've no clue what you've done to fuck it up, or how you're going to fix it. Ask Remus, he's the sensible one."

James shoved the Frogs back in Sirius' hands and scowled. "Lily is not a weird bird," he pouted. He glanced over to Remus, who was studiously keeping his book in front of his face, hoping desperately that James would give up.

"Moony," James whimpered, batting his eyelashes from behind his round glasses. Remus held his book firmly in front of his face, refusing to give in. "Moony, Moony, Moony, Moon-"

"What?!" Remus snapped, tossing his book down and glaring at his friend. James grinned and then immediately turned his mouth into a pout.

"What did I do to make Lily hate me?"

Remus rolled his eyes. "James, you have asked us all a million times. I still don't know the answer. There must be something you're forgetting to tell us about that evening."

"There's not!" James practically shouted, running a hand through his hair. "We studied for hours, we were just talking and she was looking at me so obviously I was looking back and next thing I know I'm leaning in to kiss her! Of course, once I realized what was about to happen I bolted out of there! She would have hexed my balls off if I had kissed her, so what the bloody hell is bothering her now?"

"Maybe she wanted you to kiss her," Peter suggested, snorting with laughter and not looking up from his drawing.

The entire dorm went silent as the other three processed this recent revelation. Peter looked up curiously to see why they had all gone silent, and was surprised to see them staring at him.

"What?" He asked, feeling self-conscious.

"Peter, I – I think that's it," Remus said, sounding stunned. Whether because Peter had understood something even though his three best friends hadn't or that Lily had actually wanted James to kiss her, no one was quite sure.

"Oh my bloody Merlin, it is?!" Sirius asked in a high voice, his final Frog dropping to the floor and rolling under the bed.

James looked at his friends sadly.

"Guys…stop it. That's not it. Of course that's not it."

"What makes you say that?" Remus asked logically, as if they were discussing a homework problem and not the Lily Evans wanting to kiss the James Potter.

"Well for one, Wormtail came up with this idea, so it's pretty unlikely from the start," James reasoned, the other three shrugging and nodding. "Also, it's Lily, guys. She wouldn't want me to kiss her in a thousand years. She made me promise never to ask her out again, remember?"

"Yeah, mate, but she never made you promise not to kiss her," Sirius said, wagging his eyebrows. James glared at him and he shrugged. "Just saying."

"James, I don't think you're giving yourself enough credit. You're usually the first to find hidden meaning in Lily's words, especially when it's not there, but you can't see the first time she actually shows any inclination towards liking you?" Remus asked, one eyebrow raised.

James groaned. "Listen, I just got used to the idea of only being friends with her, and I don't want to get my hopes up over nothing. I just…want it to go back to how it was before that tutoring session."

Remus, Sirius and Peter glanced at one another helplessly. They had barely ever seen James looking so downcast, and they weren't sure how to help him.

"Sorry mate, we'll help you try and be friends with her again, yeah?" Sirius said, clapping James on the back.

"Thanks, Padfoot. I think I'm just going to go get some food from the kitchens or something," James mumbled, shuffling out of the room and closing the door behind him.

Sirius let out a low whistle. "This is bad, guys. We best figure out how to get James and Lily back to a somewhat-friendly level before he loses his mind."

Remus nodded. "Don't do anything yet, though. Let's give her a day or two."

The other two nodded and went back to their previous tasks, Peter continuing to draw and Sirius searching for his final Chocolate Frog.

Remus picked up his book but didn't concentrate on the words he was staring at. His brain was whirring, and Remus decided he would have to forget for a few minutes that he was a prefect and do something he certainly shouldn't. He was going to switch the patrolling timetable around before Lily could finalize it that evening. After all, it was about time somebody found out what was going on with Lily, and Remus had the perfect idea.


That evening Dorcas, Lily and Alice sat in their favorite armchairs by the fire, working on their Charms essays. This week at Hogwarts should have felt more normal to the girls, as they had hardly interacted with the Marauders. Although a year ago it would have been a perfectly average week to have not spoken to one of the Marauders, the girls were finding this week to be a strange one.

Lily had not confided in her friends the occurrences of her tutoring session with James, although it had become clear the next day that something had happened. Alice and Dorcas however, were stumped. Lily had been quite polite to James the next morning, but the coolness emanating off of her caused the other two girls to practically shudder. The odd friendship that had struck up between James and Lily seemed to have disappeared completely. Yet, instead of going back to her previous hatred of the Marauder, Lily seemed now to be completely indifferent towards him. It was very puzzling, yet try as they might, Alice and Dorcas could not get any information out of Lily.

Now that the friendship between James and Lily had been extinguished, and Dorcas and Sirius still remained silent towards one another, the seventh year girls had slowly reverted back to their old ways of practically ignoring the Gryffindor boys. Although they still sat with them at meals, the only conversation that occurred was Alice forcing conversation with the boys, or James asking Lily questions in an attempt to get her to speak to him.

Dorcas had confronted Lily about what had gone on between her and James several times, but Lily refused to speak about it. Normally this would not hinder Dorcas is any way, but secretly she was sort of relieved that they were no longer constantly hanging around the Marauders. Dorcas could ignore Sirius as much as she wanted, but her attraction to him would not be diminished. She felt stupid and childish for having any such feelings towards the playboy of Hogwarts, but it didn't stop her from feeling them. With firm conviction she spent most of her time ignoring Sirius, and the rest of the time reminding herself why she was ignoring.

As Dorcas continued with this thought process, explaining to herself for the millionth time that boys were nothing but trouble, and thinking it quite obvious that she would want the most troublesome boy she could find, a shadow fell across her paper. Glancing up, Dorcas looked into the stormy grey eyes of said troublesome boy.

"Hello, Meadowes," Sirius acknowledged, grinning awkwardly.

Dorcas stared up at him stonily. Why the bloody hell was he speaking to her again? And just where did he get the nerve to play her hot and cold like this?

"Back to last names, are we Black?" She replied icily. Sirius looked mildly surprised at her tone, but quickly rearranged his mouth into a flippant grin.

"Guess so," he replied. Behind him, Lily and Alice were gaping at the pair, quills held in mid-air as they watched the conversation between Sirius and Dorcas.

Dorcas sighed, "What do you want?"

Sirius shrugged. "Just wanted to say hello. Is that a crime now?"

"It should be. Why the bloody hell are you talking to me after a month of treating me like a leper? Am I supposed to be thankful that you've decided I'm worth talking to again? Grateful that 'Sirius Black' has deemed me worthy of his time?"

The few people that were still in the common room glanced around as Dorcas' voice rose angrily. The remaining first years scampered off to bed, leaving the Marauders, Dorcas, Lily and Alice, and a sixth year girl who seemed eager to watch Sirius Black be taken down a few pegs.

Sirius couldn't hide the shock crossing his face. Girls hardly ever spoke like that to him. Sure, they freaked out when he ditched them, or when they found him with another girl. But with a few smooth lines, he could usually get out of whatever trouble he was in. At the very least she would shout and run off, but cruel mocking was not something he got from anyone. Other than his friends, of course, who couldn't help but mock him on occasion.

"No, but I don't see why you're getting so worked up. I didn't do anything wrong," Sirius replied arrogantly, crossing his arms.

Dorcas' eye twitched with anger. She noticed Remus put his head in his hands, looking disbelieving.

"You didn't do anything wrong," Dorcas repeated. "No, I suppose you didn't. You're just an arrogant ass who was all set to be 'friends' one second and then suddenly ignores me like I'm bloody invisible."

"Meadowes, I'm curious, why do you care so much? Miss me?" Sirius smirked.

Dorcas' hands balled into fists and she had to focus on controlling her breathing so she wouldn't punch him square in the nose.

"Ha. As if. Keep dreaming, Black. I wouldn't miss you if I never saw you again," she spat, glowering at him so much he actually stepped back. "I'm merely wondering why you're talking to me right now. It was such a nice change to not hear your voice, see. I was getting rather used to it, but you're sort of ruining the peacefulness of it all."

Sirius opened his mouth uncertainly, closed it, and then opened it again. Dorcas felt oddly satisfied to see him floundering for words.

"You seem pretty pissed about it, Meadowes. I just came over to talk, there's no need to bite my head off."

"Well, dear Black, I don't want to talk to you. So bugger off, you're wasting my time."

Sirius felt a flicker of annoyance towards the witch. Why couldn't she just get over herself?

"Actually Meadowes, I rather like sitting by the fire, and seeing as this is the common room, I can sit anywhere I like," he retorted, and he flopped onto the arm of her chair.

Dorcas exhaled sharply, and reached down to grab her bag, while Sirius smirked triumphantly at the other six people staring at him. Suddenly, Dorcas whipped her bag around, smacking Sirius on the back of his head and causing him to fall face-first off the chair onto the rug at her feet.

"Oops," Dorcas said, placing her bag back beside her chair and practically sneering at Sirius.

Sirius leapt to his feet and glared contemptuously at Dorcas, who smiled back sweetly. Turning on his heel Sirius stormed out of the common room, muttering all the way up to his dorm.

Dorcas grabbed her quill and was about to continue with her essay when she noticed six pairs of eyes staring at her incredulously.

"What?" She asked defensively.

No one spoke, until finally the sixth year girl stood up, beaming.

"I don't know what Sirius did to you, but that was bloody brilliant! That git messed around with me in fourth year and never spoke to me again, and I must say watching you completely humiliate him felt pretty good. Thanks!"

"Er, you're welcome?" Dorcas said, sounding confused.

The girl laughed and flipped her long brown hair. "I'm Mary, Mary McDonald."

"Dorcas Meadowes," Dorcas mumbled, feeling a little awkward as everyone continued to stare at her.

"Oh, I know," Mary replied. "Well, I'm off to bed, but I guess I'll see you around!" With that the girl turned and marched towards the staircase leading to the girl's dormitory.

"What was that about?" Dorcas asked her two friends, turning to look at them. They stared back, shocked.

"We should ask you the same thing," Lily said in a strangled voice.

Dorcas shrugged, feeling her cheeks flush. "Nothing. That prat just had it coming."

"Care to elaborate?" Alice asked tentatively.

Dorcas shot a look at her. "Seemed pretty clear to me."

"Dorcas –" Alice began but Dorcas glared at her and then stared pointedly at the three remaining Marauders who were watching them closely.

"Fine, we know when we're not wanted. We'd rather go bug Sirius anyway," James said, grinning. He stood up from his chair and led the other two up the staircase to their dormitory.

As they heard the door close behind the boys, Lily and Alice turned to stare at Dorcas expectantly.

Dorcas groaned. "Guys, I don't want to talk about this."

"Well, too bad. I have no idea what is going on here! Is this why you have been so quiet the past few weeks?" Lily asked, looking confused.

Dorcas nodded, frowning. "Okay, well you know how Sirius and I were trying to be 'friends' and all that. Well, when we got back from Hogsmeade that night I must have fallen asleep, because when I woke up, I was in Remus' bed. Lils, relax, I was completely dressed and Sirius was in his own bed," she added seeing Lily's eyebrows sky-rocket.

Lily nodded and motioned for Dorcas to continue.

"Well after that he just…stopped talking to me. I don't know why, but he's said maybe five words to me since then. Not counting tonight, of course," she said with a slight laugh. "I'm just pissed at him. How dare he ignore me completely for something I didn't even know I did, and then talk to me again and expect it to be all good? The arrogant jerk," she muttered.

"He is a bloody prat," Alice agreed, reaching over and patting Dorcas' hand. Dorcas smiled at her.

"Whatever. I don't care, as long as he just leaves me alone."

"Hmm," Lily mused, looking calculating. Dorcas sighed.

"What, Lily?"

"Dorcas, you don't… like Sirius or anything, do you?" She asked hesitantly.

Dorcas' jaw dropped. "No! No, of course not," she answered hastily. Lily and Alice stared at her sceptically.

"I don't like him. He's a bloody git. He might be gorgeous, but there's no denying that he's a prick."

Lily nodded in understanding and Alice looked convinced.

"Listen guys, I'm really tired. I'm going to bed, I'll have to finish this essay tomorrow. Night."

Lily and Alice murmured goodnight and watched as Dorcas exited the common room. Hearing the door close, they turned to stare at each other.

"She's got it bad, hasn't she?"

"Oh, yeah."


"Sweet Merlin that girl is irritating!" Sirius ranted, pacing back and forth in his dormitory. James, Remus and Peter sat on their beds, watching him silently.

"The nerve she has, being such an icy bitch! I didn't do anything to her, it's not like we were best bloody mates or something! We barely spoke! Merlin, does she need to get over herself or what?"

The boys remained silent but Sirius rambled on without waiting for an answer.

"And how dare she smack me in the back of the head! She could have seriously hurt me! Clearly she's so self-centered she didn't even stop to consider that I just wanted to have a polite conversation. Or that hitting people bloody hurts!" At this Sirius subconsciously rubbed his head, growling furiously.

"She's a piece of work, that one is. No wonder I didn't speak to her for the past month. Bloody crazy, I swear."

The three boys still remained silent, although Remus couldn't help but roll his eyes at this last statement.

"I saw that, Moony! You guys know I'm right, right?" Sirius asked, glancing at his friends.

Peter glanced at James and Remus frantically, and quickly yawned loudly. Remus and James, getting the hint, yawned obnoxiously as well.

"We really should be getting to bed," James muttered, throwing off his robes and light speed and changing into his pajamas.

"Yeah," said Remus, grabbing his pyjamas and also throwing them on, eager to get away from Sirius' glare.

Peter nodded, and, not even bothering to change his clothes, he hopped into his bed and pulled the drapes tightly closed.

Sirius growled. "Guys! Tell me what you really think!"

James and Remus hesitated and then turned to look at Sirius.

"You're a bloody git."

"And you were pretty rude to her."

"You clearly fancy her."

"And you're a bloody git."

Sirius flapped his hands at them to get them to stop. "First off, I don't fancy her, Moony! And second, I am not a git."

Remus scowled. "Yes you do, and yes you are. Why can't you just admit it? And even if you can't do that, why can't you be civil towards her?"

"I tried! She bit my head off the second I spoke to her!"

"You had ignored her for a month though," James pointed out sternly.

Sirius threw his hands up. "Well then how am I supposed to be civil to her? Apparently I already ruined it because I ignored her!"

Remus rolled his eyes. "Just be a little less arrogant, a little more understanding, and maybe call her by her first name again? Calling her 'Meadowes' obviously didn't warm her to you."

Sirius groaned. "She is one insane witch. Not only does she freak out at me when I'm only trying to be nice, but she has you guys falling for her little tricks too! Merlin, birds are manipulative."

James and Remus glared at Sirius, arms folded.

"Fine," Sirius sighed dramatically. "I'll 'be nice'. But she better be nice in return."

Remus grinned. "That I can't promise. Although I think once she finds out you fancy her she'll be a little nicer to you. Or a little meaner, she is quite unpredictable."

Sirius threw a pillow at Remus, his expression livid. "Moony you prat, I do not fancy her!"

"He seems to be rather furious for someone who claims to not like her though, doesn't he?" James mused, peering at Sirius inquisitively. Sirius aimed his next pillow at James' head. James ducked it swiftly and laughed.

"Quite a reaction out of someone who doesn't care about her," Remus agreed, ducking another pillow and high-fiving James as he passed him.

"Argh!" Sirius shouted, throwing down his pillow. "You two are bloody gits. I don't fancy girls, and I certainly don't fancy Dorcas. Now bugger off."

Sirius pushed past his friends and marched into the bathroom, slamming the door behind him.

"You can come out now, Peter," James called. "Sirius is in the bathroom now, denying profusely his love for Dorcas. We all know that's utter rubbish though. The looks he was shooting her made me want to be sick."

"Shut up, Prongs before I come out there and hex your balls off!"

"See what happens when you get between Sirius and his lady?" Remus asked sternly. "Be careful about it Peter, he's a right jealous prat, isn't he Prongs?"

"Shut up you two, shut up!" Sirius shouted from the bathroom

"Only about his one and only love, Moony. And by that, I mean Dorcas of course."

"Argh!"


The next day Sirius made no attempt to speak to Dorcas again, although the one time they made eye contact he glared at her. In response, she lifted her bag threateningly, causing the other Marauders to howl with laughter, especially as Sirius flinched away from it.

Lily was extra quiet throughout the day, barely speaking to anyone and always looking deep in thought. It took Remus several tries to finally get her attention at dinner.

"I'm patrolling with you tonight, Lily. One of the fifth years had a scheduling conflict, and it changed around the whole schedule," he lied smoothly. The only hint of his lying was a slight tinge of red to his ears, but Lily seemed not to notice.

"Oh, alright then. I'll meet you by the portrait hole at eight," she responded vaguely, going back to her meal.

At eight that evening Lily greeted Remus at the portrait hole and the two began their patrol of the castle.

Originally, Remus had thought his plan to be a brilliant one. Getting Lily alone was a difficult feat – she was usually with Dorcas and Alice, and even when she wasn't to be around her without James was almost an impossibility, and so patrolling was the only time Remus would get. Now that they were here, however, Remus was unsure as to how to bring up his desired topic.

Lily saved him from his worry, however, as she brought it up herself.

"So, er, how's James doing?" She asked awkwardly, peering into a broom cupboard to avoid her slight blush.

Remus paused. "He's okay," he answered carefully. "He's been better, I suppose."

Lily looked at him, surprised. "Really? Is something wrong?"

Remus didn't miss the concern in her eyes, and felt a hope that maybe he was on to something.

"Well, I'm not really sure. He's just been so…different lately. Moping, not speaking much, not eating much…." He trailed off. This was stretching the truth to breaking point; James' appetite had certainly not decreased and he was still fairly loud, although he had become a little more reserved since his tutoring session with Lily.

Lily frowned. "That doesn't sound like him. I wonder what's wrong."

Remus arranged his face into a sad, confused look. "I've really no idea. I wish I could help him, but he won't tell any of us what's wrong."

Remus thought he saw a flash of guilt cross Lily's features, but the next moment, it was gone.

"I can pinpoint when I first noticed the change, though," he pressed on. "It was right after your tutoring session with him in the library. He left looking so cheerful and excited, and returned a little bemused and concerned. He didn't speak to us that night, but he didn't seem to be too upset. After dinner the next day however, the change was evident."

There was no denying the guilty look on Lily's face right now.

"Did he mention anything to you?" Remus asked innocently.

Lily shook her head, eyes glued to the floor.

"Well I sure wish he'd snap out of it. He's gotten so much more mature and responsible this year. He's really turned into a great guy, hasn't he?"

Lily nodded, still staring at her feet.

"Hopefully whatever's upset him will work out soon," Remus said quietly, glancing into an empty classroom to ensure it was, in fact, empty.

Lily seemed to have finally found her voice. "Yes, I hope so too. He really has become a decent guy, hasn't he?"

"I think so," Remus said, smiling. "I'm glad you think so too. Goodness knows he's been trying to impress you for ages."

Lily gave a tinkling laugh. "Well, he finally has. I've been so busy with work I have barely spoken to him over the past week. I'm sure that will change now that our workload has quietened a bit."

"That sounds good, Lily," Remus said earnestly, smiling slightly. "We might as well head back now, it's all clear around here."

Lily nodded and the pair made their way back to Gryffindor tower. Lily was deep in thought, as she had been all day, about James Potter. However, after her conversation with Remus, her mind was made up. It was not fair of her to ignore James and to be cool towards him when he didn't even know what it was he had done wrong. Dorcas had been right to call Sirius an arrogant jerk, and Lily couldn't help but notice she was acting just as Sirius had been. Tomorrow, she would speak with James, and hopefully everything would go back to normal.

While Lily contemplated her second time attempt at a friendship with James, Remus secretly thrilled in his cunning. He had lied without giving himself away, switched around the prefect schedule when he wasn't supposed to, and gotten Lily to speak with James again, without either of them realizing what he'd done.

Feeling very proud of himself, Remus couldn't help but think that he truly deserved his title as a Marauder.

A.N : Three weeks! I know, I hate me too. In all fairness, I'm in the midst of exam week! I even have one tomorrow! But this was much more important, so I wrote it as quickly as I could! I apologize if it's horrible, I really tried! The next chapter is the one I really had in my mind when I started this story, so hopefully you all enjoy it! It should be up soon seeing as exams are over on Thursday! Review and I'll update as fast as I can!

Here's a little excerpt from the next chapter; do with it what you will.

"You need to get the fuck over yourself!" He shouted angrily.

"I need to get over myself? Hark who's talking you cocky, ignorant, self-absorbed – " She hollered, but was cut off abruptly by his lips crashing into hers.

Oh my, oh my. Drama is on the way! (evil grin) :)