"Damn," Remus muttered, staring down at the table. He looked like he was going to stand up and go to James, but Lily stopped him.

"Don't," she said, putting a hand on his arm. "Let me."

"Lily, no. There's something you don't know about," Remus protested as she pushed her chair back.

"I know enough, Remus," she replied and he sat back heavily in his chair. "Don't worry; let me handle him. I'll be back." She walked towards the doorway where James stood, poised like an idiot. "You, outside, now," she said, shoving the door open. She didn't expect him to follow her so willingly, but when she got outside and turned around, he was right behind her.

"What?" he asked, his tone considerably lighter than it had been an hour before when he assaulted them with snow on the way to the village. "Whatever you have to say, I'm pretty sure I won't want to hear it."

"Don't be too sure," Lily replied in the same tone. "What the hell is going on, Potter? You never so much as gave me a nice look before, but as soon as Remus asks me out, you're all spiteful and horrid. What's going on?"

"Nothing you would care about," James retorted, turning away. "Don't you worry your pretty little head about it, Evans. Just go back to your little boyfriend and don't worry about me." He turned to walk away but Lily grabbed his arm.

"No! I want to know what's going on! You've been a complete jerk ever since Remus asked me out and I want to know why!" she cried, surprised at the fury within herself.

"This is between Lupin and me."

"Lupin and I," Lily corrected automatically. For a moment, it looked as though James was going to crack up laughing. Unfortunately the look faded as quickly as it came and was replaced with the same menacing face.

"I'm not as stupid as people think I am, okay?" he snarled at her, his face dangerously close to hers. "I know where my priorities lay and I don't tread where I'm not supposed to."

"Where is that?" Lily asked, almost frightened of the wild look in his eyes.

"Ask Lupin," James snapped as he turned to leave. "I'm sure he'll be more than glad to tell you." With that, he stormed away through the snow. Watching him leave, Lily felt emotionally drained, like she had just run a marathon in her brain. Sighing heavily, she rejoined Remus in the tavern.
"Are you okay?" he asked, standing up from his chair when she entered the room. "He didn't touch you, did he? If he laid a finger on you, I'll seriously hurt him."

"I'm fine," Lily answered, sitting down, giggling at Remus' use of words. It was so characteristically like him to use a phrase like 'seriously hurt' rather than 'kill'. "But I think you and I have to have a serious chat when we get out of here."

Remus nodded and Lily was ninety eight percent sure he knew what she was talking about. "Let's try to enjoy part of this date," he said, trying to be cheerful.

"Good idea," Lily agreed, but Remus' tone startled her. It sounded like he was definite this would ever be the last date they would go on. Part of her wished this wasn't true, but another part, a secret, newfound part, couldn't keep her mind off of James Potter. He was rather cute when angrily provoked, she thought to herself. She kind of liked the way he leaned in towards her when he spoke, as though he didn't want her to miss a word.

"Well, do you?" Remus' voice broke through her thoughts and she immediately felt guilty for thinking about James while on a date with Remus.

"Do I what?" she asked apologetically, but Remus just smiled.

"Trust me."

"Of course!" she cried, indignantly. "If I didn't trust you, I wouldn't be sitting here now."

"That's good to know," Remus said thoughtfully. He downed the rest of his drink. "Do you want another glass of water, or anything?" he asked, gesturing to Lily's empty mug.

Glancing down, she was surprised to see that while she was in deep thought, she had drunk most of her water. Finishing the last bit, she said, "No, I'm good. Let's go outside."

"Why outside?"

"We have to talk, Remus."

"I know, but it's cold outside."

Lily laughed and stood up. Grabbing his hands, she pulled him up from the table so that he was face to face with her. For a solid minute, she stared into his eyes, wondering how she could ever think about James Potter while out with such a sensitive person. Shaking off the feeling, she turned towards the doorway. "We can still walk outside, you know. You won't melt in the snow."
"How do you know?" Remus kidded as they exited the tavern. They walked across the path towards some of the other shops. Browsing through some of them, Lily found her mind wasn't really on shopping.

"Let's go back to the castle," she said firmly, determined to find out what was happening once and for all.

Remus looked shocked. "But Miss Evans, I hardly know you."

"You're such a geek," she said, shoving him lightly. "I want to know what's happening with James and I don't think we should talk about it here."

"Okay," Remus agreed reluctantly. "But we remain outside the common room."

"Don't you trust me?"

"I trust you," Remus replied, following her down the path that lead back to the school. "Sometimes, I don't trust myself."

Lily deliberated over these words as they headed back to the castle. Her mind controlled her every move as she walked, self-consciously, beside the guy she had liked for as long as she could remember. Now that she knew he liked her too, she should have been ecstatic. Yet the startling look in James' eyes as he stared her down occupied her foremost thoughts. Upon reaching the castle, Lily led Remus to the library where they sat in silence for more than five minutes. She had been debating with herself since they left the village that maybe she should just tell Remus she wasn't feeling that good and go lie down instead of talking.

"Lily, I'm not going to lie to you." This sentence captured her attention and she sat up promptly, staring defiantly into his eyes.

"That's a good thing," she said softly.

Remus shook his head and looked down. "I should have told you this from the beginning, but I didn't want you to think ill of me." He sighed heavily. "Okay, I have liked you since the day I laid eyes on you. My heart leapt every time we shared a smile or greeted each other. I felt so enthralled by your presence, Lily, that I felt there could be no one else for me."

Lily was stunned, unable to speak. She knew Remus had feelings for her, but she never thought they could be this strong. She opened her mouth wordlessly, but Remus held up his hand.

"I'm not through yet. Regrettably, James felt the same way. We usually joked about it, giggling when you walked by, saying to each other, 'There's your girlfriend.' But I never dreamt James would get so angry when I asked you out."
"Didn't you think to ask him?" Lily asked before she could stop herself. Reflecting back on it, she realized what a dumb thing it was to say, but Remus didn't seem to notice.

"What for?" he replied. "I was more of a friend to you than he was; why should I ask him if I could ask out my friend? Now, it would seem logical to at least warn him about it, but I can't turn back time." He emitted another heavy sigh. "What a mess. I wish I could do something."

Lily's mind was divided. Half of it was a million miles away in James Potter's eyes. The other half was staring at Remus Lupin, the boy Lily had been crushing on for what seemed like forever. He was sitting here, right in front of her, looking so dejected that she could have hugged him. But she didn't. She restrained herself and, feeling awful, succumbed to the thoughts of a certain Potter boy.

The pair of them was silent for many more moments before Remus spoke. "I had better go," he said, looking pained at the thought. He stood up, pushing his chair back lightly. Leaning back down towards Lily's face, she had visions of him kissing her in the middle of the library. What would she do? How would she react? What would she say? How should she respond?

"Keep out of trouble," he whispered, touching her cheek gently. And before she could stop him, he turned and left the library in a flurry of robes. Resting her head in her hands on the desk, Lily felt emotionally exhausted. Nothing had really happened over the course of the day, but she felt like she had been chasing the Hogwarts Express in her mind for hours. Glancing up just in time, she managed to catch Kaylen and Brianna entering the library out of the corner of her eye.

"Hey!" she yelled, receiving a rather nasty look from both the librarian and several angry students. "Kaylen! Brianna!" she called, her voice significantly quieter. The two girls took notice of her and rushed to her table.

"Well?" Kaylen asked, taking the seat that had been deserted by Remus only seconds before. "How did it go? Did he kiss you?"

"Are you pregnant yet?" Brianna kidded and Lily gave her a scathing look.

"Yes, Brianna, I am. Right here on this very table," she replied and Brianna leaned back from the table.

"Seriously," Kaylen continued, ignoring Brianna. "Did he kiss you? What did you two leave for? I thought you were going to come sit with us or something. I didn't think that you were going to be in the Three Broomsticks."

"Nor did I," Lily replied, her mind still filled with a mix of James Potter and Remus Lupin. "We left because we wanted to talk about James."
"Oh no," breathed Kaylen, completely caught up in the drama. "What did he say?"

"He told me what I already know. That James and he both liked me for a long time and that he didn't think James would get so mad that he asked me out."

"Well obviously he didn't think that," Brianna piped up, eyeing a group of seventh-years that had just entered the library. "Remus isn't the type to hurt a friend, even for a girl. Excuse me, ladies, but there's a boy over there with my name on him." She left the table, not taking her eyes off the other group.

"She's been so boring," drawled Kaylen, watching her go. "I was going to kill her if she made her silly eyes at another boy." She looked back at Lily expectantly. "Other than that, how was it? And you never answered my question: did he kiss you?"

"It was okay," Lily replied slowly, thinking of James' looming face in front of her. "Remus is a really sweet guy and one day he's going to make a wonderful husband. No, he didn't kiss me. But I thought he was going to." Lily's lips contorted into a soft smile. James had been that close to her face, too.