12

That day saw the news that the first Hogsmeade Weekend was approaching in a little over a week. Time seemed to crawl during that span—Lily seemed to keep a guarded distance from James and the others after the brawl, and Professor McGonagall had echoed Professor Slughorn's questions on the matter. Evidently, they had been unable to get any information out of Mundungus Fletcher, and neither the Slytherins nor the Gryffindors were offering up information of any sort.

Sirius and Mary were keeping their faux-relationship going at every turn now. It seemed that their first excursion on this front had made them more comfortable, and James could now barely turn a corner without finding them wrapped in passionate embrace, kissing as if there would be no tomorrow. To James, this was a mild inconvenience as he had to skirt around them and try to shut out the somewhat disturbing sounds of their affections.

It was having an altogether unpleasant effect on Marlene, who looked on the verge of tears upon seeing this several times. Davey Gudgeon barely seemed able to get her attention when she was focussed on Sirius, and she was prone to stamping off into the girls' dormitory to be alone which would frequently draw Alice and Lily behind her.

On the eve of the visit to Hogsmeade, Remus and Peter were studying a particularly different Charm by the fireplace. James—having already mastered it—was practicing Transfiguring random objects. A pincushion into a porcupine, a rock into a turtle, and then back again. Sirius strode over and plopped down next to them, completely unaware that he had a rather large lipstick smear all over his face.

'Where's the rest of you?' Remus asked without looking up.

'What?' Sirius asked in confusion.

James yawned. 'You know, the rest of you—Mary. You spend so much time attached to each other that we've come to regard you as a gestalt entity. Marius, if you will,' he said to a laugh from Remus and Peter.

'Just because I'm getting some snog doesn't mean you have to be jealous,' Sirius said.

'Right. Jealous, that's what we are,' James chuckled. 'Jealous of the allergic reaction you're having to her makeup?'

Sirius touched his face in alarm and noticed his skin swelling where her lipstick was smeared. 'Damn,' he murmured. 'Must be something new…'

'It suits you,' Peter said, stifling a laugh. He had to duck a moment later as Sirius whipped a cushion at him. 'So are we going to be seeing you in Hogsmeade tomorrow? Or are you going to be sucking face with Mary the whole time?'

Sirius snorted. 'Of course I'll make time for you guys, you know that,' he said.

'You haven't lately,' Remus observed, again without looking up.

Sirius rolled his eyes. 'You know, sometimes I wonder if you're actually reading or not. You seem to follow our conversations just fine.'

'It's called multi-tasking,' Remus said, his mouth twitching into a smile.

James turned his attention from the turtle he had just transfigured back into a rock. 'So that's a yes then? You don't have any plans to go to Hogsmeade with Mary tomorrow?'

Sirius turned slightly pink underneath the makeup and the swelling. 'Well…we have to meet up for a bit…' he said. When James sighed, Sirius looked indignant. 'Well look, I have to keep it up to make Marlene jealous, don't I?'

'I think you've gone past that point,' James said evenly.

'What do you mean?' Sirius asked.

James rolled his eyes. 'Moony, you're better at this. Maybe you should explain.'

Remus sighed and finally looked up from his book. 'If you weren't so busy trying to suck the lips off of Mary's face, you would see that you have had the desired effect on Marlene. She's ignoring Davey, she gets so inconsolable she has to retreat to the dormitories where Alice and Lily have to comfort her. You're also blinded by the impact you're having on their friendship.'

'Whose friendship?' Sirius asked.

Remus inhaled and looked up at the ceiling as if he was praying for patience. 'Mary, Marlene, Lily and Alice,' he said in a voice of determined calm. 'They are friends, Sirius. By playing Marlene and Mary's emotions off each other, you are putting a strain on them. Alice and Lily are getting more than irritated.'

'How do you know that?' James asked.

Remus shrugged. 'Lily talks to me from time to time.'

'She's been keeping her distance from me since the fight,' James said. When Remus nodded, James leaned forward. 'Has she said something to you about it?'

'Nothing you shouldn't have guessed already,' Remus said. 'She's furious with Snape, but she also doesn't like it when you two fight. You also haven't really explained to her—or anyone for that matter—how that fight started.'

James shifted. 'You were there…did you tell her?'

Remus shook his head. 'No, I figured if you didn't want to tell her than it wasn't my place to do so either. I told her you had a good reason.'

'You think it was a good reason?' James asked, feeling slightly relieved.

'Of course I do,' Remus said. 'That doesn't mean I thought you needed to hit him, but I could certainly understand your anger. And once the fight was in full swing, I wasn't about to just leave you to it,' he said. 'Marauders always have each other's backs.'

Peter cleared his throat. 'Maybe you should talk to her,' he suggested.

'Who? Me?' James and Sirius asked at once, causing all four of them to chuckle.

'Both of you,' Peter said. 'Sirius, you should talk to Marlene. James, you should talk to Lily. You don't want to hurt anyone,' he said.

James nodded, to himself as well as the others. 'I think you're right, Peter,' he said as he rose from plush chair he was sitting in just in time to see Lily coming down the stairs from the girls' dormitory. 'Alright, Evans?' he asked pleasantly.

'Can we talk?' Lily asked in a cool tone.

James was taken aback, but recovered quickly. 'Right this way,' he said and they stepped out the portrait hole. He cast a glance over his shoulder to see Sirius talking to Alice at the base of the staircase to the girls' dormitory as it shut.

'We need to talk about Sirius,' Lily said as they moved. She was a step ahead of him as they went and her tone was diplomatic, but James got the distinct impression that she had a speech prepared.

'I'm listening,' James said.

Lily cast him a glance. 'I know he's your best friend, but he's making life really difficult for a few people,' she said slowly. 'Snogging Mary publicly at every opportunity is beginning to have an…unpleasant impact,' she said.

'You can stop being so vague, I know you're talking about Marlene,' James said with a sigh.

'Surely he can see he's hurting her,' Lily said.

James chuckled. 'You're giving him too much credit. He hadn't rightly realized that until we pointed it out to him.'

'When was this?' Lily asked.

'Just now,' James replied.

Lily snorted. 'Great sense of timing,' she said with a dry laugh.

James smiled. 'I'm sorry it's been so difficult, Evans,' he said. 'Really. I don't think he meant for it to get this bad.'

'If he wants to date Mary, that's his business,' Lily said evenly. 'But he doesn't need to be so public about it.'

'Oh, he doesn't want to date Mary,' James said dismissively.

Lily looked confused. 'He what?'

James sighed as he leaned against a suit of armour as they both came to a stop. 'Long story short? Sirius was really broken up that Marlene decided to end things over the summer. He thought he was okay with it until he saw Marlene and Davey snogging on the train. He and Mary came to a…mutual agreement. She would snog him to make Marlene jealous, and he would snog her to make someone else jealous.'

Lily's jaw had dropped. 'He's…using Mary to make Marlene jealous…?' she asked.

'Yes,' James said.

Lily exhaled sharply. 'That stupid, baboon-faced, simple-minded, idiotic—' she began.

'Easy, there,' James said.

'Easy?' Lily hissed. 'This has been brutal! Marlene and Mary can't even be in the same room right now, Marlene's so angry,' she snapped. 'And this has all been a game? A ploy? And you knew?'

James was somewhat flabbergasted. 'Evans, it wasn't our idea and we certainly tried to talk him out of it,' he said.

'And Mary was in on this?' Lily went on. 'And REMUS knew? Seriously, who doesn't know? Is it just Marlene, Alice and I?'

'Er…Alice knew,' James said.

'WAS I THE ONLY ONE WHO DIDN'T?' Lily thundered.

'No, no,' James said, waving his arms in a placating gesture. 'Look—they each had someone they wanted to make jealous.'

Lily rolled her eyes. 'Now it's your turn to stop being vague. The only person Mary McDonald could possibly want to make jealous is you,' she said as she stared down into the main hall.

'I'm sorry,' James said. 'We did try to convince Sirius not to do it…but if it helps, I think we've convinced him to talk to Marlene,' he said in as encouraging a tone as he could manage.

Lily was quiet for a moment. 'Did it work?' she asked.

'I don't know, really,' James said. 'We only just talked to him before you and I left the common room.'

Lily snorted. 'That's not what I meant, Potter,' she said. She looked at him with a strained facial expression. 'Did Mary succeed in making you jealous?'

James blinked. The conversation had taken an unexpected turn. 'No,' he said evenly.

'No?' Lily asked.

Now James snorted. 'Evans, haven't you gotten a handle on me yet?' he asked. 'Mary is…neat. She's a good Quidditch player, and she's kind of funny to watch at a party when she gets into the Firewhisky. But I'm…not interested. Why are you asking?'

'I don't know,' Lily said quickly, staring at the ground.

James bit his lip. 'Does it make you jealous that she's trying to make me jealous?' he asked.

Lily laughed. 'We sound like first years,' she muttered.

'You're dodging the question,' James pressed.

Lily threw up her arms. 'I don't know. Maybe? You asked if I'd gotten a handle on you yet, and the real answer is no. Just when I think I'm getting to know you—be that good or bad—you throw me for a complete loop.'

'You mean the fight,' James said quietly.

'I know you don't want to talk about it,' Lily said, throwing her arms up. 'And I'm not asking you to.'

James cleared his throat. 'Snape insulted Engelland,' he said in as even a tone as he could manage. Lily stared at him with an unreadable face. 'He said anyone who was willing to die for me can't have had much to live for to begin with.'

Lily's mouth opened and shut several times and James was alarmed to see her eyes suddenly shine with tears. 'That's…horrible,' she said, her voice cracking as she sank to the ground and buried her face in her hands. 'Potter,' she groaned. 'What the hell has happened to him?'

James felt awkward. Being put in a position to console Lily about a person whom he profoundly loathed was not ideal. 'It's…probably me,' James said. 'I bring out the worst in him.'

Lily sniffed miserably. 'He was never like this,' she whispered. 'Outside of school…when it was just us…he was always so nice. So thoughtful. He always said the right thing at the right time. Well, not always, but most of the time,' she said on second thought. 'But now…it seems that every choice he makes takes him further and further away from me, and he wants me to follow him but I just can't because he's making the wrong choices.' She looked up at James, tears streaming down her face. 'I don't know how to save him.'

James sighed as he sat down cross-legged on the floor across from her. 'Evans, you know how he feels about you,' he said quietly. 'He's just not that good at showing it.'

'Of course I know how he feels,' Lily sniffed. 'You and him aren't exactly hard to read.'

'Comparing us again,' James joked.

Lily sniffed and laughed at the same time. 'It bears repeating that you two are more alike than you know,' she said. 'I just wish he would stop and realize what it is he's doing.'

'Have you talked to him since the summer?' James asked.

'No,' Lily said. 'Between not talking to him and Marlene being angry at Mary…it's been awful,' she said.

James bit his lip. 'Maybe that's where you should start,' he said.

Lily looked at him suspiciously now. 'You hate him,' she said. A statement, not a question.

'I can't lie. I do,' James said.

'So why are you trying to help me patch things up with him?' she asked.

James smiled sadly. 'I told you once before, Evans,' he said. 'I care more about you being happy than I do some stupid feud with Snape.'

Lily smiled, but her eyes were wet again. 'You see? There you go again,' she muttered. 'Just when I think you're one of the world's biggest prats for keeping me in the dark about Sirius and Mary, you go and say something like that,' she said.

James laughed. 'I'm not mysterious, Evans,' he said.

'Don't let me interrupt you while you're on a role,' Lily said with a wet laugh. 'How do you propose I fix things with Snape?'

'Well, it does take two to dance,' James said sagely. 'He'll be more than willing to meet with you…and you two obviously want to be friends. But there's some big differences you've had, some big gaps to bridge. He might not answer all of your questions in the way you want.'

Lily sighed. 'I know,' she said.

'Try inviting him to get together in Hogsmeade tomorrow,' James suggested. 'Just meet for tea or a butterbeer and try having a conversation.'

Lily wiped her nose on her sleeve. 'Thanks, Potter,' she said. 'I'll try it.'

James stood and extended a hand to her. 'Shall we head back?' he asked. 'Sirius may have actually talked to Marlene by this stage,' he said.

Lily smiled and took his hand, allowing him to help her to her feet. She stood there for a moment and then embraced him, planting a kiss on his cheek. James felt as if all the blood in his body has suddenly rushed to his head, causing his temperature to rise by several degrees. He stared at the floor, suddenly feeling as anxious, nervous and elated at the same time as he had on his first day at Hogwarts.

'Thanks,' she said as she stepped away and they began to walk. 'You're alright, Potter.'

James regained himself and offered her his best smile. 'It's a kind of magic,' he said.