Prompt: "I thought that was what you wanted."

Lily glared daggers at the back of the giggling girl perched on Potter's lap. What could he possibly be whispering that was so funny? She'd been there. She'd been the one he whispered to in the library. It wasn't that funny– or at least she wouldn't have giggled like an idiot school girl even if it was.

She stared a second too long, and his eyes met hers over the girl's shoulder. He held her gaze, unflinchingly.

"Problem, Potter?" she asked, trying to keep the acid out of her voice, but failing if the looks on their friends' faces were anything to go by.

"None at all, Evans," he replied coolly.

Lily opened her mouth to offer a biting retort.

"Hey Lil," Marlene interrupted her, "I think I left my potions book in the dorm, would you walk back with me to get it?"

"Here, just use mine," she huffed, sliding her potions text over to Marlene, eager to resume her glaring at Potter's newest girl.

"No, I need to get mine. It has a bunch of notes that I took in the margins," Marlene insisted, "Come with me to get mine, please?" though she'd tacked on the please, her tone was less a question than it was a command.

"Fine," Lily acquiesced. She wasn't going to get any work done anyways, what with Potter's new girl practically cackling at their table.

They'd barely left the library when Marlene yanked her into an empty classroom.

"Mar! What–"

"What the hell is your problem?" Marlene cut her off.

"I don't know what you're talking about,"

"Oh? Fighting with James like it's fifth year? All the little digs? Glaring at Amelia like you'd rather see her dead? At least own up to it, Lily!"

Lily felt her temper, which was always simmering these days, flare. "I'm fighting with Potter because he is as big of a prat as he was in fifth year. I haven't said anything to him unprovoked. And I don't glare at the Bones girl, but now that you bring it up, I find her to be quite shallow and annoying!"

"Disregarding all that other bullshit, have you even tried to get to know Amelia?"

"Yeah, I have!" Lily fired back, "Don't know how I couldn't since she always seems to be hanging around us these days. And, it's not bull. You know it as well as I do. Potter has been absolutely insufferable lately."

"Ugh, one problem at a time," Marlene let out the long breath of someone doing their best to control their own temper, "Firstly, she is not just some girl 'hanging around' all the time, she is James' girlfriend. A concept you seem to be unable to understand," she muttered the last part under her breath, but Lily felt the jab acutely.

Malene continued, "Amelia Bones is a perfectly nice girl. Actually, she's really sweet, and she's funny, and she's smart. Which, you would know if you attempted to get to know her! But mostly, she cares about James, and she makes him happy."

"And before you start on him being a prat," she interrupted before Lily could voice her objections, "he's not! I know you hate to hear it, but you're wrong. He's not being an insufferable prat. He has actually handled everything like a gentleman, all things considered."

"What's that supposed to mean?" she felt her hackles rise.

"You know exactly what I mean, Lily."

"I have no idea what you're talking about," Lily informed Marlene stiffly, "He's been a smarmy git; what, bringing around his constant string of girls and flirting incessantly with everything with two legs and a skirt."

"Girl."

"What?"

"Girl. Singular. Unless you count yourself in that lot."

"Why would I count myself?"

"Oh don't play coy, Lily. Do you think I'm stupid? The two of you were together for months, we all knew it. The only ones acting like it was still a secret were the two of you!"

"Well it's done now," Lily bit out, hating the burning she felt in her eyes and the tightness in her throat as she fought to get the words out.

"James has always been a flirt," Marlene continued as if Lily hadn't said anything at all, "You're just mad because, for the first time since the two of you met, it isn't directed at you." The scathing assessment was accompanied by a glare that made Lily physically flinch.

She'd always known Marlene was fiercely protective of her friends, but she had never thought she would be someone Marlene had to protect her friends from.

"You have no idea what happened between us. You have no idea what you're talking about," she hissed, barely holding it together.

"He told me, okay!" Marlene exploded, "He told me how the two of you were together for months, then one day you decided simply, 'hey it's not working for me, let's just be friends' with no warning or explanation. So don't try to spin this Lily. I have been trying to be there for you, as your friend; but he's my friend too!"

Lily opened her mouth to interject, but Marlene wouldn't have any of it.

"No! No, you don't get to make him the villain. That boy has been in love with you since we were fourteen. You finally give him a chance. Then just as quickly you just end it. He is trying his best. James is trying his best to be what you said you wanted, a friend. I thought this is what you wanted. So I'll ask again, what the hell is your problem?!"

"I'm in love with him, okay!" she practically screamed her confession at her friend.

"I'm in love with him," she repeated, this time at nearly a whisper, reaching blindly for a chair or something to grab onto. The act of admitting what she'd known for weeks, out loud– let alone to another person, was overwhelming.

Marlene didn't say anything; her face frozen in a mask of shock.

"What?" came the choked question from the open door.