Hehe...this came a lot sooner then all y'all thought it would, huh? Well, that's because while I didn't have access to the internet in Mexico (which kept me away from role-playing) I had my moms laptop and at one o'clock in the morning, there isn't much to do all by myself. So I wrote! I got this finished, and the majority of the next chapter finished, so be looking for that soon too!

And I'm sorry to a certain person who said that they wanted less of the characters other then Lily and James, but 1) I wrote this before I read your review and 2) I felt that I really had to establish something like this so Remus became more...well, Remus rather then the ass hole he's been this entire story so far. Also to Ariel2JLP, nope, story isn't finished, and yup, that Sorting Hat song was aaaaall mine. grins As a final note to my readers, Fanatic22 coughEmily Larsoncough be payin' attention to some of the names in here. You should be pleased...=D

And is it just me or in the PoA movie, was Remus SO totally acting like he was in love with Lily? I mean, come on! grins like an idiot

Sorry though...no time for personal thank you's right now!

And as a final note, for some reason I really liked writing this chapter...and to dragon-diva, yes, I'm having a BLAST writing this! And Stephanie, you crack me up. =D

Chapter Twenty-Two

The Voice Of The Werewolf

Remus sat alone in his dormitory rubbing his chin thoughtfully. How exactly was he to woo Bianca? She was so bashful, so shy, and as unlikely as Lily to throw herself at someone. It would take a lot of precision and careful planning to get her to even fall for him. Perhaps he would have to wait until Sirius and James were at least in the same castle so they could perhaps pull one of their famous Marauder tricks with him.

Yet just thinking about James made Remus surge with jealousy. Oh sure, he had gone to Lily's house to have dinner with her family from time to time, but he had never been allowed to stay the night, nor had she ever invited him to. And they were even dating! As far as Remus knew, Lily still detested James.

'What's all this jealously all of a sudden?' Remus asked himself as he stared at his reflection in the mirror. He was looking a bit pale and peaky. A full moon was approaching in nine days time. A constant looming threat where Remus was concerned. 'Just remember, you were the one who dumped her. No one to blame but yourself, buddy. No one made you do it.' Yet that thought didn't seem to be quite satisfying. He had lost Lily unjustly, been blinded by his jealousy when James had snatched her right out of Remus's very grasp. Remus had over-reacted.

'No one goes to a bloody ball with their boyfriend, then spends an hour dancing with his best mate!' Remus thought furiously. But who could blame her? Remus was simply a dismal dancer, and after Mrs. Potter had forced James to take dance lessons, he had transformed into an excellent dancer. It was a choice that anyone could blindly make if they just wanted to have a bit of fun.

"Whatever. What's done is done." Remus muttered sourly.

"That's the spirit. Those who dwell on the past are likely to miss out on the future." A familiar voice came from the door of the circular dormitory. Sirius entered, his face red and wind-beaten.

"Where have you been?" Remus asked, looking away from the mirror to see Sirius.

"I was on a walk with Candace." Sirius grinned. "What's up? Not resorting to talking to the mirror again, are we? Blimey, didn't think we were that close to a full moon." Sirius teased.

"Well, when no one's around it's not too bad talking to ones reflection." Remus said rather seriously.

"Whoa...Moony...I was kidding about that last one." Sirius said in a rather worried tone, but then broke and grinned. "You could always go downstairs and talk to Bianca. Poor little beauty is sitting down there reading Shakespeare. Perhaps you ought to go rescue her, dear Romeo." Sirius joked.

"Sirius, can we be serious for one second?" Remus asked, standing up from his four poster as Sirius entered further into the room, making his way to his own bed.

"Impossible." Sirius answered simply, as he tossed his cloak onto his trunk in a dismissive manner.

"OK. Then I suppose talking to you is as good as talking to my own reflection. But at least you give feedback. So, have any tips for me to get Bianca to go out with me? Even on one date?" Remus asked hopefully.

Sirius hesitated. Something told him that Bianca wasn't what Remus was thinking about when he entered the room. And why would Remus want Sirius to be serious if it was simply about Bianca. Something else was up. Sirius would get to the bottom of it. He was certain about it. "Not sure I'm the right person to ask, mate." Sirius responded truthfully.

"Why not? You and Candace just hooked up." Remus pointed out, taking a seat once again on his four poster.

"Wasn't my doing. I mean, I asked her out, but well...never mind." Sirius said, veering off of the topic. He had, as of late, decided that his little trade-off with Lily would be kept a secret. And he would tell her not to open her mouth about it the minute she got back to school. Neither Candace or James would be very pleased if they discovered their best mate was making deals with their objects of affection, whether it was for a good purpose or not. James probably wouldn't get too mad, but Candace would be infuriated to know that Sirius only asked her out because he had to keep his end of the deal with Lily.

Sure as hell he was glad he had asked Candace out. He felt like the luckiest guy alive. But it had taken something extra to get him to ask Candace out. Something extra that wouldn't have been there if it wasn't for Lily.

'Why wouldn't I ask her out?' Sirius questioned himself for what seemed like the hundredth time. Getting to call Candace his was a luxury Sirius could have never even prayed for! But perhaps he had feared losing her so much that he felt it wasn't even worth putting himself in that position. And Sirius would be ever fearful that he couldn't make Candace happy.

"Never mind? Never mind what?" Remus asked eagerly. Something was up with Sirius. Remus could sense it in his hesitation. Perhaps Remus wasn't the only one thinking about things that he didn't want to bring to the surface.

"It's nothing, Moony. Can't get into that stuff." Sirius responded, plopping down on his own four poster.

"How come?" Remus asked, watching the way Sirius's eyes seemed to look everywhere in the room but at Remus.

Sirius thought for a second. "Because I love Candace too much to spoil everything." Sirius responded. It seemed as though Remus had managed to corner Sirius into the realm of seriousness.

"Ah...spoil something, would it?" Remus asked, wishing he knew what it was, but backing off. He wouldn't spoil anything for Sirius. Didn't seem as though it was worth Remus knowing.

"So, what are you trying to put behind you today, Moony? Because I know it has nothing to do with Bianca." Sirius said, finally looking at Remus rather then a spot on the wall he had chosen for himself.

"The whole Halloween Ball." Remus admitted grudgingly.

"It was all just bad luck. You're right to try and let go of it." Sirius said with a small look of understanding painted across his handsome face.

"I know, Padfoot. Just wish it was that easy to just forget about it."

"You don't still care about her, do you?" Sirius asked, running a hand through his long black hair that was blown askew in the windy day.

"Nah. At least I don't think so." Remus sighed. Things were going to get difficult. He always found things went wrong whenever he thought about his feelings too much.

"I don't see how the two of you ever worked." Sirius responded truthfully. "I know you had the Prefect connection thing, but other then that... It seemed to me like it was all physical attraction." Sirius sighed. Did he dare to ask? Of course he did! He wanted to know! "So...what was the whole thing in the sixth year that ended up with Lily and Candace hating each other? Cause I mean, I still haven't heard the whole story."

Remus grinned guiltily. "I knew you would ask eventually. It...I don't even know what I was thinking. Candace wasn't doing so well in Defense Against the Dark Arts, so I told her she could stay after class with me and I would help her out. Nothing was intended by it either...it just happened.

"She was trying to do the knee-reversing hex on me, and instead of actually performing the spell, it blasted me off my feet and sent me flying into the filing cabinets. I think I was out cold for a couple of minutes, and when I woke up, Candace was hovering over me looking all worried and then it just got out of hand. After about ten minutes, we both freaked out, realized that we were playing with fire and left, but she had taken my wand on accident, so she came up here to give it to me.

"When she walked in the door, she kind of tripped over her own feet, and I caught her so she wouldn't fall on her face or something, and it got a bit carried away from there. Then Lily walked in. And you have never seen someone that angry. I mean, good lord, it was like World War three..." Remus said, shaking his head slightly. "It was stupid...it was wrong. I never should have let anything get that out of hand. Talk about ridiculous. It was even more ridiculous that Lily didn't dump me, though. She should have sent me packing. I didn't deserve her. But for some reason it didn't seem like she could.

"So she insisted on blaming it all on Candace, and being the ass I was, I didn't object. She blew it way out of proportion about how Candace acted, and the two began fighting every time they saw each other and in the end, they just started hating each other. I was amazed to see the two on friendly terms at the beginning of this year." Remus said truthfully.

Sirius watched Remus, listening patiently to his story. "Moony, Moony, Moony." Sirius said, shaking his head gently. "Oh well, guess you learn from your mistakes, dontcha, buddy?" Sirius grinned, fishing through his trunk for a change of clothes. His shirt was soaked from the snow, and he thought his socks would never again be dry. Yet instead of finding his lucky pair of socks, his hands hit a hard leather bound book. A grin spread across Sirius's face, for he knew exactly what this book was.

"Blimey, didn't know I still had this." Sirius grinned, pulling the book out. He flipped it open to the first page.

"Is that...no way!" Remus grinned, getting up and taking a seat on Sirius's bed so he could look at the book as well.

"I swear, that from this day on, friends will come before girls. Whether the specimen be friendly, attractive, a good kisser, or what not, the Marauders will forever remain the number one priority, and if the friendly/attractive/good kisser specimen of a woman doesn't like this, then we will send her packing. Dating a friendly/attractive/good kisser specimen of a woman that one of the other Marauders has fallen for is not right or ethical. Four for us, and four for all! Signed- Moony Remus Lupin, Wormtail Peter Pettigrew, Padfoot Sirius Black, Prongs James Potter." Sirius read aloud, a grin spread across his face.

"Sadly I can even remember signing that." Remus grinned. First day back in the third year. Whose idea was this?" Remus asked as he re-read the pact signed on the first page, scrawled in James' handwriting.

"Prongs. He did it because I spent the entire summer with that blonde girl Veronica and blew the rest of you off." Sirius grinned mischievously. Sirius turned the page and barked out a laugh as he read the contents. "It's your list of every girl you've liked from third year to probably halfway through sixth..." Sirius laughed. They had all agreed that each month they would write down each girl they had liked for later reference. Whether it be blackmail, or proof to whatever girl it was that they had liked her for ages. "Let's see, in the third year, you liked Alice Trent for two months in a row, then Megan Shanker...oh not Megan Shanker!" Sirius groaned with a grin. "Honestly, I think that girl had a sex change three years ago...why else would she look so much like a man?"

Remus laughed slightly, and continued to read the rest of his list aloud. "Harmony...good god, not her! Alena Feild, Alena Feild, Alena Feild, Alena Feild...wow. I liked Alena Feild for eight months in a row. That about sums up the third year... Fourth year it was Bianca for the month of September, Alena Feild again for the rest of the year. Man...why didn't you ever tell me I was too obsessed with her?" Remus grinned.

"Trust me. I tried." Sirius laughed. "Let's look at Wormtail's, shall we?" Sirius grinned, turning the page. "At least we were rather dedicated to filling this out each month. Makes things a lot more interesting. Ah...Wormtail." Sirius grinned. "What have we here...poor fellow didn't like anyone all of the third year. Fourth year...man, he's liked Harmony since the fourth year...look at that. Every single month! Poor sad little fellow..." Sirius chuckled. "She's a head case if I ever saw one myself." He turned the page only to see a rather extensive list of names that could only belong to someone like Sirius.

"Jeez, Padfoot! You liked at least six girls each month!" Remus laughed incredulously. "Not even worth reading that list. I bet every girl in the school is on here! Let's see...you liked Alena Feild too!"

"I went out with her in the fifth year, remember?" Sirius grinned. "She was a good girlfriend. Never unwilling to find a nice cozy broom closet...the one on the seventh floor was our favorite though." Sirius grinned mischievously once again. "Oh...look at that! I even liked Lily for a month in the third year. Along with Alice Trent...forgot I had liked her too, and Molly Reid, that Hufflepuff girl who was a year younger then us, Morgan Hendricks, and Ashley Arvin. Ah...she was almost expelled for doing a bit of magic over the summer, remember? And Emily Larson...man I really liked her but she was all ga-ga over James. Pity...he's always been into Lily." Sirius grinned. "Well, an epic tale it is to read all these names, might as well flip the page to dear Prongs, shall we?" Sirius said jovially. Though as he flipped the page a rather interesting sight greeted his eyes.

"Jeez...." Remus muttered as he looked down at James' list. "No wonder Prongs was always real offensive about us reading his. We would have all thought he was obsessed."

"Who could blame us?" Sirius asked. "Third year. September- Lily Evans, October- Lily Evans, November- Lily Evans, December- Lily Evans, January- Lily Evans, February- Lily Evans March- Lily Evans... and it keeps going and going. He hasn't liked another girl since we started this whole thing." Sirius said in awe. He knew James had been crazy for Lily ever since the second year, but perhaps maybe the appearance of another girl's name every now and then shouldn't have been so uncommon. Yet the only name on that page was Lily Evans.

"I didn't think he liked her that much! I thought he was just infatuated. I thought he would get over it." Remus said with a slight shrug, though something was nagging the back of his mind. The name Lily Evans kept flashing in his eyes as he stared down at the ink, her name written for over fifty months in a row.

"Our poor obsessive little Prongs. And everyone thinks I'm the one getting stuck up on girls.

"Yeah..." Remus said absentmindedly, still staring down at the page as if there was a lot more to read then Lily Evans. Remus flipped back to his page. Sixth year began as- September- Lily Evans, October- Lily Evans and Candace Daily...man...Lily and Candace each month until about halfway through the year when Candace's name disappeared. If he had liked her so much, why didn't he just go out with her and leave Lily to James? Things weren't that simple though, and Lily was leaning toward Remus at the time. She had returned his affection when Candace really hadn't at first. Not until... Remus sighed. He really hated thinking about what he felt. But perhaps if he learned to deal, things wouldn't be as complicated in the future.

Why hadn't James told Remus that he cared about Lily so much? Well...then again, he sort of had. Why didn't Remus listen? Why were so many questions exploding in Remus's mind? Why couldn't they just leave him alone?

I broke the pact. Remus thought, his stomach dropping. I was the first one to break it and I was too blind to realize. God, what an ass I am!

Sirius fell silent. He knew what Remus was thinking. And it wasn't too pleasant in Sirius's opinion. Especially to someone like Remus who liked to think that everything was always under control. But in the last two years, Remus had spun completely out of control. He had totally changed from when he had been awarded Prefect-ship.

Then again change isn't always bad. One could learn from change...perhaps Remus was just out to learn a lesson. Well, I hope he learns it. Whenever Moony's confused you know the world is doomed... Sirius mused.

-----------------------

The rest of the break passed in a flash, and the next thing Lily knew she was snapping her trunk shut, and lugging it down the stairs into her living room. What an eventful break it had been! School as Lily had known it wouldn't be the same when she got back. No...not since she fell for James Potter.

"Come on in and get something to eat before you leave." Lily's mother called from the kitchen. Lily waited at the foot of the steps while James came down, and once he had set his trunk by the door, she entered the kitchen with him. They took a seat at the table, and began to eat the breakfast Lily's mother had whipped together. James was fearful that he had gotten too used to Lily's mother's cooking, and when he got back to school he could possibly be disappointed. Not that the school house elves weren't good cooks, they just weren't as excellent as Lily's mother.

"You two almost finished?" Lily's father asked as he hurried into the kitchen. "We have to get going. I'll load the car. Just be ready when I get back."

Lily finished the rest of the food, then picked her plate up and placed it in the sink. James followed suit, and after a back breaking hug from Joan for both Lily and James, they started out the door and into the car. They sped off toward the King Cross station, and ten minutes later their trunks had been loaded on to trolleys, and Lily's father was saying goodbye outside the barrier of Platform 9 3/4.

"Have a good term!" He called as Lily and James disappeared into the barrier.

"Well...let's get our stuff on, shall we?" Lily asked with a smile as they removed their trunks from the trolleys and started toward the Head Boy, Head Girl compartment. They opened the door to find it sparkling clean, and placed their trunks on the luggage racks above. Only this time when Lily and James sat down, they didn't take seats opposite each other. They sat on the same bench, Lily's head rested comfortably on James' shoulder. They sat in silence as the train departed the station, and neither of them spoke for at least fifteen minutes.

"I'm glad you came with me." Lily said quietly after a length of time.

James' stomach did a back flip. She had enjoyed his company. She had enjoyed his company! She didn't loathe him, she didn't despise him, she didn't wish death upon him over everything else... "I'm glad I came too." James said simply, feeling that speaking his every thought at the moment wouldn't be exactly wise.

Lily looked up at James and smiled, very content sitting there with him in his arms. James leaned down and kissed her gently, simply brushing his lips against hers before pulling away. Lily blushing slightly, reached her arm around to the back of James head, pulling him back toward her kissing him again, this time opening her mouth slightly allowing James to deepen the kiss, an invitation in which he gladly took.

Minutes later, they broke apart, and James pulled Lily a bit closer to him, taking a deep breath. It was time to say it. He had been planning it the whole previous night, which was why he hadn't gotten much sleep. He didn't want to mess things up. He wanted to make them better. And the only way he could do it was if he planned every word carefully.

"Hey, Lily..." He said softly, getting her attention. She looked up at him with a small smile to show she was listening. "After everything that happened over break, one could assume that we were...more then friends so to say, but usually dangerous things happen when I assume things so...will you...er...be my girlfriend?" James asked. It had never come out so awkward when he had asked her out all those many times. Why did it then when he was the closest he had ever been in his life to saying that Lily was his?

He held his breath. He could do nothing but expect Lily to say no. She had said no mercilessly so many times before. This could possibly be the same. How James would die if it was. It could make or break everything...

Lily smiled in response, and kissed James gently. "Yes," She said simply, and even as she said it, she was amazed that she had. Though nothing in the world would make her change her mind. She had fallen for James Potter. And by god, let the world know it!

Remember everyone, review! Reviews make me write faster, and I need to get my butt kicked into shape! grins