eight; illusionary.

remus.

He means well, I convince myself. Besides, it's not as if he's told her about my state. After all, Sirius is faithful to us Marauders and I admit that I am a fool to believe otherwise. Loyalty is a value that we hold in high regard; to think that Sirius may have taken advantage of such a thing, so close to our hearts, is extremely disrespectful for me to do.

"Remus, you all right, mate?" James questions, watching me with worried hazel eyes.

I nod shyly, scratching my neck. "Sorry, Prongs. S'pose I've been a bit off this week."

"You've got girl on the brain."

I don't reply for a moment; acknowledgement that he has hit home. So what if I've been thinking about Ainslee all week? "As if you don't," I scoff after the regression.

James' cheeks glow; I grin. "Yes, well, I've given up on Lily Evans," he reveals to my horror.

"You're a ruddy liar, James Potter."

"Am not, I mean it this time," James shoots fiercely, crushing his fingers into a fist.

I gape at him, jaw hanging slightly. James has been taken with Lily since as long as I can recall; certainly, he wouldn't give in to rejection? "You're serious?" I query, voice weak.

He tips his head with confidence, smirking. "It's about time I faced up to the facts, Moony. Evans just hates me."

"Hate him?! Of course I do!" A furious Lily shrieks at me.

I enclose my head in my hands, a sigh pushing between my lips. "Must you yell at me?"

Lily blinks, anger draining from her face. "Well-well, I'm sorry, but you seemed to think he was wrong and he most definitely was not."

"I know that now," I laugh dully.

"He's an awful, egomaniacal, selfish bastard who treats everyone that isn't a Marauder like the lowest form of dirt!" Lily spits indignantly, her hands on her hips.

"There's a low form of dirt?" I raise an eyebrow at her. "Look, I wouldn't bet on that if I were you, Lily. He's actually quite a nice guy if you would ever just give him a chance. Hell, even Ainslee knows that and she's only been on speaking terms with him for a week." Heat rises to my face when Ainslee's name slips into the conversation; I pray that Lily doesn't notice.

She doesn't; instead, she grinds her teeth. "I'm not sure what you're attempting or what you're trying to get at, Remus Lupin, but I sure as hell don't like it." With that, she stomps out of the library, evicting a warning look from Madame Pinch.

My fist crashes against my forehead, another heavy breath escaping.

Yesterday, after James' revelation, I had gotten to thinking. James isn't one to lie down and accept defeat. He is and always will be the only person I know – besides Sirius – that is stubborn enough to push on after something unexpected hits him.

So my genius mind hatched a seemingly brilliant plan to corner Lily in the library and inform her of the torture she is constantly putting James through. It appeared to be so much simpler this morning.

It, obviously, was more difficult to pull of than previously believed to be. I realize now that I wasn't quite sure as to how to approach the subject of James to Lily anyway; I should have planned a bit more fluently.

"She was in quite an awful mood, eh?"

A voice rings out over my shoulder; I swing around so quickly that I slip from my chair.

Ainslee holds out a hand, giggling. "Sorry for scaring you. Are you okay?"

"Fine," I reply, blushing in humiliation. I feel incredibly stupid. When I meet her gaze again, I take her hand and allow her to pull me back to my feet. "And you didn't scare me, I was just a little startled," I recover valiantly.

Amusement crosses her features. "I see. Please accept my apologies for mixing the two up."

A half-smile steals my lips. "You're forgiven, Miss Bordeaux, without another thought to the matter."

I hope dearly that my imagination isn't tricking me when her cheeks burn red. She timidly dips her head toward the floor, hair forming a curtain in front of her eyes. "Oh good, I'm not sure what I would have done had you turned away my apology."

I look straight at her, appalled. "How could I not forgive you?"

The crimson in her cheeks spreads to her ears until her entire face is wearing the colour. "My charm only gets through a select few," her voice shakes a bit, as if she's trying to sound poised despite the embarrassing flush in her face.

I smile warmly. "Ah, so I must be one of your select few. You're always charming to me."

She beams at me with pleasure. "Wonderful. I'll have to use it to my advantage more often, if it works that well."

"Oh yes, wonderful indeed, now you know how to get almost anything out of me," I simper, attempting to twist my mouth into a frown and failing.

Her eyes scrutinize me innocently. "Oh, and there's something terribly wrong with that?"

"Of course there is, what if you want something like…answers to a test paper?" I say, knowing full well that she would never do such a thing.

She covers her mouth with her hand. "Remus Lupin! I'm not an amazing student and have nothing to brag about, certainly not, but not even I would stoop that low."

Instinctively, I wonder if I've truly offended her, until she removes her hand to expose her grin. "No, I would not imagine you doing such a thing. You're right."

An idea strikes me when she smiles like that; a smile I adore, admittedly, and would love to see again. "Say, Ainslee, what're you doing after class tomorrow?"

She appears surprised by the inquiry but says, "I have nothing planned. Why?"

I hesitate, teeth clamping on my bottom lip. "Well…I'd like to show you something, if you'll meet me at the front entrance after your last class."

Ainslee nibbles her thumbnail thoughtfully. "What are you up to?"

Smiling secretively, I rejoinder, "Come tomorrow and you'll find out."

She analyzes me with an unreadable expression, finally giving in. "All right. I'll see you then."

author's note; I know, I've been really bad with the updates lately. The thing is, I can't get online at my mom's house, and that's where I've been stuck for a while. I'll update when I can and I know they're going to be short because my head's been cluttered and congested, so my thoughts are all over the place – but hey, over 30 reviews! Not bad at all :"D well, like I said, sorry about all of this and I dearly hope you'll continue to read even though I've been lazy and unable to update :(