Hmmm, OK, here's the next chapter. Bear in mind I'm only halfway through the fifth chapter right now, so updates will not be frequent. And I kinda have major writer's block.

Thanks to MaRoNcOoL my only other reviewer. Come on guys! Get those reviews in!

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Lily sat up stretched out her arms, yawning. The events of last night came rushing back to her.

Crap, she thought, sighing heavily. To be completely honest, the thing that scared her most was the awkwardness between her and Remus that would most likely follow. The whole werewolf thing didn't really bother her, but, she mused, she'd grown up in a home where prejudice towards half-breeds was absent. Well duh!

But James… he was a completely different story. Last night had changed her entire attitude towards him; he been, dare she say it, a perfect gentleman. Let's think, he'd saved her from a werewolf (Well, technically, it had been that stag, but he had sure been the first human face she seen afterwards), he'd trusted her enough to tell her Remus' secret, she thought, ticking them off on her fingers, he'd walked her back to their rooms (although, technically, he was headed there too, so he was just… walking with her), been concerned for her well-being, cheered her up, he'd given her chocolate and on the whole, made her feel awfully better. And he'd put her to bed.

Lily didn't actually remember that last part, but she was pretty sure he had, because she'd awoken in her room, although she'd fallen asleep on the couch beside him. He'd even taken off her shoes. Sweet. Or perverted, depending on which way you looked at it.

And five seconds after having those thoughts, Lily mentally kicked herself. Here she was mooning over James of all people! And… Oh shit! She'd even stopped thinking of him as Potter, he was now just… James.

Before any more thoughts of James managed to sink into her head, Lily got up. This weekend was a Hogsmeade weekend, and Lily had already made plans with the girls that she would spend the day with them. She had pulled on her shoes, planning to go back to Gryffindor and change (because she was still wearing her school uniform from yesterday), when James walked in carrying a tray piled high with food.

"Oh! You're up!" he exclaimed when he saw her, almost dropping the tray in surprise, "Well, I bought you some food. You've already missed breakfast."

"I have? What time is it?" Lily asked frantically, looking around for a clock.

"Half eleven," James told her.

"Oh no! I can't stay! I'm supposed to be leaving for Hogsmeade in ten minutes!" She stood up reaching for the door.

"Oh no you don't," James said, grabbing her wrist and sitting her back down, "You're going to wait here and eat breakfast."

"But if I do I'll miss the carriages!" she moaned, "And then I won't be able to go at all!"

"Don't worry I'll take you," he assured her. Lily raised her eyebrows sceptically. "What? You really think after seven years of exploring the castle, the Marauders and I haven't found numerous ways out of the castle and into Hogsmeade?"

"You have a point," Lily relented, taking a croissant from the top of the tray and biting into it. James sat down beside her on the flowery bedspread and took one for himself. "Hey! I thought you said these were for me!"

"And you really plan on eating 17 croissants, 7 slices of toast, 12 Danish pastries and 20 jam doughnuts all to yourself?" James asked, looking at her with a rather bemused expression on his face. Lily smiled despite herself, and there was an uncomfortable silence between them for a while.

"Did you just go into the Great Hall and put all this stuff on a tray?" she asked, not really caring about the answer, just needing something to talk about. "Didn't anyone try to stop you?"

"I got it from the kitchens."

"Oh. You know where the-?" She stopped mid-sentence. "Stupid question," she muttered. James laughed.

"It's a concealed door behind a picture of a bowl of fruit," he explained, "You just have to tickle the pear, it giggles and turns into a door handle. Easy."

"But how did you find out?" Lily asked interestedly, choosing a Danish pastry.

"A house elf called Bunty told us. She took quite a shine to Sirius." There was another long silence before he continued. "You know you can't tell anyone, right?"

"How to get into the kitchens? Why ever not? It's not like you own-"

"About Remus."

"Oh." Lily fell silent. James had just brought up the issue they'd avoided up until now. "Of course I won't, I'm not stupid you know."

"I figured as much."

"Have you told him? About me knowing?"

"Not yet."

"Will you?" she asked persistently.

"Yeah. Sooner or later."

There was another silence in which Lily ate a slice of toast, but this one didn't seem to be quite so awkward now they'd got past a major issue.

"How long have you known?"

"Since second year. He made some stuff up for a while, about where he went every month, but we worked it out eventually."

"Does it hurt him?"

"Not as much as it did. And he's used to it by now, he's been like that since he was very small."

"That's awful. I don't think I could cope with it."

"Me neither," James sighed. "He's very strong, mentally. I think he's done a magnificent job of handling it."

"It explains some stuff, y'know," Lily mumbled, thinking with a frown. "Where he used to disappear to, why seemed so crabby sometimes."

"I know. It's so unlike him to be that way normally."

"I'm gonna go back to my dormitory," Lily said, standing up and brushing crumbs off her skirt, "I need to change and my hair's almost as messy as yours."

"Right. I'll meet you by the statue of the one-eyed witch at quarter-past!" he called as she left the room.

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"Well, that was an experience," Lily commented as they left Honeydukes later.

James grinned, mentally slapping himself for not being able to do much else these days. "Where do you think you'll find your friends?"

"The Brazil Lounge most probably," Lily answered. "But how did you know that's who I was meeting?"

"Lucky guess."

And sure enough, that was where they found the girls, sat with Remus and Peter.

The Brazil Lounge had no connections with Brazil and wasn't a lounge but a snack bar that had only opened two years ago. It was decorated with plastic-topped tables, sugar sifters with chrome spouts, ketchup in polythene tomatoes, psychedelic designs on the walls; and it was popular with Hogwarts students because it was naff, cheap, and the wizard who ran it didn't hassle you if you made a cup of coffee last for an hour.

Lily sat down between Clem, who was having a heated debate with Gwen about a Quidditch team; and Scarlett, whose hair was black with red streaks, and whose face was wearing an uncharacteristically grumpy look.

"Where's Sirius?" James asked, sinking into an armchair, just as Lily was about to ask her friend what was up.

"Madame Puddifoot's. On a date with Jenny Carver," Remus told him, not looking up from his and Peter's game of Wizard chess. Lily stared at him for a few seconds, before putting the events of last night out of her mind. In light of this new evidence, she decided not to ask Scarlett why she looked rather melancholy, for fear that she might cause a scene; and instead resorted to rolling her eyes contemptuously.

James nodded and jumped to his feet again. "Lily, you want something to drink?"

"No thanks James," she lied, not really wanting to let him pay for her. He looked at her accusingly. "Fine!" she sighed. "I'll have a strawberry milkshake."

"Since when were you two on a first-name basis?" Scarlett whispered as James strolled up to the counter, the petulant expression replaced momentarily by a rather mischievous one. Lily shook her head, refusing to say anything, and feeling thankful when James returned with their drinks, shutting up her friend.

But she had barely taken a sip of her milkshake when Sirius burst in, looking pained.

"Well?" James asked, as soon as Sirius had sat down.

"Hole in the ground you get water out of," Sirius replied promptly.

James grimaced. "I meant the date, you dolt! How did you get on?"

"I didn't. Jenny was bored, I was pathetic and she doesn't want to go out with me again."

"Bummerifica!" Scarlett commented, sounding delighted more than anything.

"Don't worry, I think I'm getting the hang of rejection. I might as well face it, when it comes to girls I don't have the 'right stuff'. Is there something I should know about myself that you haven't told me?"

"Yes," said Lily, butting in. "You have no taste."

"Excuse me?!"

"Get real Sirius! Jenny Carver? Sure, she's attractive, but she's also so up herself her shoes don't touch the ground. You always go for the wrong girls, don't you?"

"No!"

"No?" She counted off Sirius's previous disasters on her fingers. "Clare Lynch is so obsessed with riding that she'll probably wind up marrying a centaur, Amelia Crawford puts locks on her underwear, Amber Myers is so attached to her broomstick it's unhealthy, Hannah Owens is a total man-eater and would eat you for breakfast, Carmen Lanes has an ego bigger than this loser ("Hey!" said James, looking put out when she pointed to him) Katie Rhodes is a poser and a utter wannabe, Andrea Walker is the gossip-monger responsible for the rumour you like your women in nurses costumes, and Kitty Wainwright is a manic-depressive who never gets manic. You put yourself in a no-win situation every time."

"Maybe he's a masochist," James chipped in. "They do things for kicks. Did you hear about the masochist who-."

"Not now James," said Lily. "Come to think of it, not ever."

Sirius was puzzled. "Hang on Evans, are you saying that I deliberately chose girls I didn't stand a chance with?" he said.

"Yes," Lily replied, feeling rather pleased Sirius had grasped this concept so quickly.

"Why would I do that?"

"Because if it worked out with someone, you wouldn't know what to do. You enjoy the hunt, but you don't like going in for the kill."

"So what should I do?"

"Quit chasing. The girl you're after is out there somewhere," She threw a furtive look in Scarlett's direction, who had stayed oddly quiet during the conversation. "But if you go looking you're not going to find her. Let her come to you."

"Like… do nothing?"

"Exactly."

"Isn't that a bit passive? Girls expect boys to make the first move, don't they?"

Lily laughed loudly. "Wise up Sirius! The rule book was trashed last century."

"Some girls like the old-fashioned approach," Sirius said defensively.

"True, and they're exactly the kind of girls you should steer clear of."

"Lighten up, you two!" James grumbled, "All this reverse psychology is doing my head in."

"You're jealous," Sirius retorted.

"Of what?"

"Me. You're happy with who you are. I've got angst, no hand-eye coordination and a massive problem with forming long-term relationships. That makes me a real adolescent and you a fake."

"You have a point there Sirius. Why don't you find a nice quiet corner and sit on it?" Sirius pulled a face. "Hey, girls?" James called to the other pair. Clem snapped her head round quickly. "Quidditch practice Wednesday, Thursday and Friday. I got up six o'clock this morning to book the pitch before the Slytherins did."

The girls, who, alongside James, were chasers on the Gryffindor house team, nodded.

"You got up at six o'clock just to book the Quidditch pitch?" Lily asked incredulously.

"Lily, Lily, Lily," James said patronisingly. "Just because you don't feel the need to sleep until lunch, doesn't mean we all do!"

Lily glared as James laughed at her blushing face.

"Hey, you know that club round the corner, Spacey's?" Scarlett interrupted brightly. "It's having an under-eighteens evening next Saturday."

"On a weekend?" asked Clementine, joining the discussion. "Business must be bad."

"So let's get in there before it closes down!" James said excitedly, and Lily was thankful he'd stopped laughing at her.

"Yeah!" Sirius agreed, looking happier. "We can pogo till we go-go!"

"Shouldn't that be bop till we drop?" asked Gwen.

"Whatever," James said, waving it away, "All up for it?"