James seems slightly less friendly over the next few days (which, believe me, is bizarre. I never thought James would be purely civil to me and nothing more) but he begins to thaw after several days, smiling in the corridors instead of just a nod of his head.

I'm sitting with my friend Katherine by the lake when I see Potter walking a few feet away with Sirius. I wave him over rather enthusiastically – and probably incredibly pathetically – and Katherine gives me a weird look.

"Why are you suddenly so ga-ga over Potter?"

"Ga-ga? Over Potter? Ha, don't make me laugh," I lie, watching James and Sirius walk over.

Black sits himself down next to Katherine, smiling creepily. Black seems to think that it's his duty to get with every girl in our year – except for myself, thankfully, because that would be 'breaking the code' - before we leave school, and Katherine has so far managed to avoid him.

"Hi; Katherine, is it?" He pats her knee and she nods nervously, edging away from him.

"Paddy, leave the poor girl alone," James says, laughing. He sits down next to me with a hesitant smile.

Sirius ignores James and tries to engage Katherine in a conversation. I can't hear what he's saying, but I'll bet it's about one of two things: how hard he's been working out for the next Quidditch match, or how well he performed at the last Quidditch match. He's a simple boy.

"So, James. I'm sorry about the alien thing. One big misunderstanding."

He waits a few moments before replying, and then says, "It's okay. I understand. Well, I don't, but I understand that you're weird and sometimes say these weird things that I don't understand."

"Well, I'm glad we've come to an understanding," I reply, laughing.

After a few minutes of talking about nothing in particular, James nudges me and points over my shoulder. Sirius is standing up and offering Katherine his hand. She takes it and lets him pull her up, looking up at him, dazed. Love-struck, one might say. Honestly. How does Sirius do it?

They walk off to goodness-knows-where, Black's hand on the small of Katherine's back. Watching Sirius, with all his confidence, I decide to do it: use the last pick-up line that Alice and I came up with. I said I'd never do it. She said to keep it in mind for a last resort. We argued. She won.

"James, I've got a bet for you," I say, turning back around to face him.

"Yeah?"

I take a deep breath and say it. "I bet you ten galleons that I can kiss you without using my lips."

He looks at me, puzzled. "Okay, but you're going to lose, because there's no way to – "

But before he can finish, I lean over and press my lips to his; just for a moment, just for one short, sweet moment, before I pull away.

"I lost. I guess I owe you ten galleons."

…and then I run away.

A/N So. I hope you enjoyed that. Sorry for the sort-of-cliffie. Reviews are loved, every last one of them, so thank you very much.