Lily stormed into the Gryffindor common room and slammed her books down. Most people were too self involved to notice but her friend looked up anxiously.

"Lils, what the heck was that about?" the girl of about 16 asked.

"That James Potter thinks he's so great." Lily started her rant.

"Lils?"

"and I mean really he's not..."

"OK just calm down a sec.."

"I mean he's arrogant and annoying and and.." her friend was about to hit her with a book when she finally stopped. "Cad, what?"

"What's got you going off on James now?" an annoyed Cad asked.

"Oh Cad, I'm sorry, it's just he's so, grrr.." Cad rolled her eyes as Lily growled in frustration.

"Trust me, I know. But he can be really great too."

"I don't know what you ever saw him"

"Look we went out, he was great, I got over it. But I still think you're being a little hard on him." Cad pleaded.

"Maybe you should go join the Potter fan club, being as you're not right in the head."

"You know what Lily, You're mad at him, don't take it out on me."

"Whatever." Lily groaned as she collapsed in a chair.

~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~

"Seriously, dude, why her?" a 16 year old Sirius questioned.

"I don't know, she's the only girl who, you know..."

"Doesn't fall head over heals when you walk in a room?" Remus finished James' sentence.

"I mean she hates me!" James said almost laughing. "and Sirius, what about you and what's her face?"

"Who?" a suddenly alert Sirius answered.

"You know that girl.."

"Stacy?" Sirius was starting to get annoyed with James' vagueness.

"no..."

"Liv?"

"Try again."

"err.."

"Taylor! Lily's friend!" James stated aggravated.

"I don't know.." Sirius trailed off

"aww c'mon what's not to like?"

"um, well, how about the fact that you only want us to hook up because she is Lily's friend?" Sirius answered sarcastically.

"You guys are both mental." Remus piped in looking up from a book he was reading while he ate.

"So Prongs, what are you gonna do to get Evans' attention?" Peter finally spoke.

"Well, I could use a couple of my secret weapons." James tempted.

"Oh don't stop there. Go on. Humor us." Sirius laughed.

"Well, you know Cad..." James trailed off.

"Didn't you kind of break her heart?" Remus asked.

"No, well, I mean, we're becoming friends again, and... besides old Moony's gonna help too." Sirius fit in.

The water Remus had been drinking flew across the room, dousing Sirius.

"Hey!" Sirius complained.

"How did I get involved?" Remus questioned.

"C'mon everyone knows you've got that whole sweet guy thing going, you could totally get Lily to like me." James pleaded.

"And how does Cad fit in?"

"Well, Cad gets her to tolerate me, and then you swoop in and say what a great guy I am." James said smartly. "Evans will be at my side in no time."

Remus sighed but knew he was in trouble. James had done so much for him, what could he do?

~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~

The four boys entered the Gryffindor common room only to find exactly who they were looking for. Sirius, Remus, and Peter reluctantly went, and left James to his business.

"Cadence?" He asked slyly.

One simple name got the desired effect. The tall, beautiful blonde stopped dead in her tracks. "You know you're the only person I don't hex for calling me that." She turned around smiling.

"Yeah I know."

"So what the hell did you do to piss Evans off?" Cad asked as she walked over to James.

"Ahh. Exactly the reason I wanted to talk to you."

"No way Potter." Cad said backing away.

"What?" after realizing his not-so-innocent look wasn't working he gave in. "Aw c'mon all you have to do is put in a good word."

"Face it Potter, you don't have a chance." Cad answered coyly.

James gave her one of his trademark looks and she, like Remus, couldn't say no.

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Remus Lupin sat in the boys dormitory. He could hear Sirius messing with Peter and he even noticed James walk in with a look of victory on his face. But he couldn't get what James said off his mind. "Everyone knows you've got that sweet guy thing going.." Did he really have everyone fooled? How could they think he was so sweet? God, if they only knew...

"Earth to Moony" Sirius said as he flung a ball he'd been tossing around at him. He was brought back to Earth.

"Oh, sorry, what were you saying?"

"Me and Prongs are going to Hogsmeade tonight. We figured you could ditch Peter and talk to Evans."

Remus still not believing what he had agreed to do, nodded.

"Whoa, man, you are out of it." Sirius remarked. "Sure you're up to Evans?"

"Yeah, no problem." Remus said with a hint of sarcasm that was lost on his friend.

"Cool. Ok. I'm meeting James I'll see you later."

Remus made his way down to the common room figuring he might as well get his task out of the way.

"Hey Evans are you ok?" If he was going to be sweet he might as well do it right.

"What do you want Remus?" Lily asked angrily.

"I just wanted to know if you were ok, you know, after what Snape said earlier.

"Since when do you care?" She answer in a softer tone.

"Why wouldn't I care?" He looked into her eyes and could feel her giving in.

"I'm fine, it's just.....Potter asked you to talk to me didn't he?"

Caught off guard, Remus decided to be semi-truthful. "Yes, but that's not why I'm talking to you, I mean, I don't do everything Potter says."

"um, okay" Lily answered feeling a little guilty. "It's just that between Potter and Snape I don't know who's more of a jerk."

"Snape obviously." Remus could swear he saw her smile and relaxed a little. "I mean sure James can be a prat, but he's a great friend."

"Yeah, well I never see that side of him."

"Oh sure. That's just because he's always to busy showing off. He likes you." He pleaded.

"Why me? There are tons of other girls who would easily fall for him." Lily said getting angry again.

"I don't know. Maybe he only wants what he can't have?"

"Well that's James, thinking he can have anything he wants." Lily got up to leave.

"Can I tell him you said anything?" Remus asked hopefully.

Lily's expression became pained before saying "Just tell him to leave me alone. See you later."

"Bye, Lily."

~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~

As Remus was heading back to the dormitory, James and Sirius were returning from Hogsmeade. They had made the trip hundreds of times before, but they still got a kick out of breaking the rules. By the time they returned, Remus was fast asleep and Peter was nowhere to be found.

"Wow. Evans must have put him to bed." Sirius joked, "Argh!" Sirius got pelted with a pillow by James. "Aw. How sweet. Sticking up for your girl?" Sirius grabbed a pillow of his own and before long Remus had woken up and joined the fight.

"Ok. Ok." James muttered trying to catch his breath. "We should stop."

"Wuss." Sirius said as he passed out on his bed. "Big old Quidditch star can't keep up?"

It took all of James effort to send the last pillow hurling at Sirius' head. {He missed by about five feet.} After the three boys had calmed down James asked the question Remus least wanted to hear. "So. How'd things go with Lily?"

Remus hated to bring any hopes his friend might have down, but still answered truthfully. "Prongs, you know she doesn't like you."

"That's what she says. But I mean, c'mon, she had nothing to say about me?"

"Err-"

"No "He really is a sweet guy." or "His god-like good looks make me weak in the knees." or possibly "Watching him play Quidditch brings new meaning to my other wise dull life?"" he asked hopefully.

"Damn. What girls have you been talking to?" Sirius spoke for the first time.

"James, she said to just leave her alone." Remus said quietly.

"Oh. Well, that's ok." The look on James' face told all the boys needed to know. "Well it's late I'm gonna go to bed."

"Pro-" Remus started before he was cut off,

"Really, it's okay."

~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~

"Wake up!" Lily was jolted awake by her best friend, Cad. She opened her eyes to see three fully awake girls getting ready. "Ugg-"

"C'mon! We've got to get to breakfast!." An overly cheerful Cad suggested. Lily slowly peeled herself our of bed and headed toward the shower. As she was doing this Cad made her way down to the common room to wait for her friends. The room was deserted except for Remus Lupin. She made her way over and sat in the chair across from him. "Hey."

Remus looked up from the book he was reading. "Oh, hey Cad. What's up?"

"Oh nothing. Hey I saw you talking to Lily last night. Did James ask you to talk to her too?"

"Oh yeah. What's he having you do?"

"Same. I'm surprised though. Two people talking to Lily seems a little passive for James. You'd think he'd have some elaborate plan to win her over." Cad contemplated.

"Yeah." It had just registered in his mind that that was what James was doing. "Well, I better go wake up the guys. I'll see you later."

"Ok. Bye." Cad couldn't help but think that she was a little sad to see him go. She didn't have time to dwell on it though, because her friends had chosen that moment to make their entrance. Her three best friends slowly made their way over to her. Lily seemed to be in her own world, she was like that a lot lately; and her other two friends, Taylor and Blair, were talking animatedly. The girls made their way to breakfast. Cad still couldn't help but dwell on the Evans/ Potter situation, but at least she knew she wasn't the only one.

~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~

"You git!" Remus bust into the dormitory. The three boys who had previously been sleeping were awakened with a jolt.

"What the heck, mate" Sirius murmured. Remus ignored him and went straight over to James' bed.

"You moron! You can not use me like some Friggin' pawn!" He screamed.

"Huh?" James wasn't exactly a morning person.

"You're using me to get to Lily!"

"Well, duh. You were supposed to talk to her." James was now more awake.

"Yeah. I know but I just had a conversation with Cad that made things a little more clear."

"What did Cad say?" James was starting to get a little annoyed.

"She said she was surprised you didn't have some big plan to win Lily over. And then I realized she was right. But then it hit me, of course you have a plan."

"I have a plan?" James asked.

"You're trying to get me to hook up with Cad. You already tried to do it to Sirius and Taylor. What am I just next in line?" James was starting to look slightly uncomfortable. "You figure she'd be forced to be with you and then you can play all sweet. And then be mister supportive when something happened!"

"Well, um-" James was having trouble coming up with something to say that would calm his friend down. "Damn. You really connected the dots quickly."

"Huh?" It was Remus' turn to be confused.

"You did it quickly. Figured it all out I mean. But what's so wrong? I mean you might really like Cad."

"Potter, that's not the point."

"Look, I'm sorry. It's just I really like Lily, and I thought this was the best way for her to get to see me and what I am, not the prat she thinks I am." It felt weird to James to have to win over one of his best friends.

"Ugg. I know. Just, you know, ask me next time, Ok?" Moony gave in like everyone else when it came to James. He had a way with people.

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