"Where were you two last night?" Remus asked over breakfast the next morning.
"Do you really need to ask that?" James said. Sirius winked at Remus, who in return rolled his eyes.
"Have you even managed to glance at your schedules yet?"
"I thought you were going to do that for us." Sirius glanced over to catch the expression on Remus' face, which had, to Sirius' disappointment, not changed.
"I expect you'll be wanting me to do all of your homework for you as well?"
"Oh, of course not. How could we ask that of you?" James said more seriously, though Sirius could still detect a hint of mockery in it.
"Which is, of course, why you're just going to give us the answers and we'll write it ourselves," Sirius added. Remus sighed and resumed his consumption of the oatmeal in front of him. Sirius snickered, passing James a few pieces of toast.
James was just grabbing the toast when he noticed over Sirius' shoulder that Lily was entering the Hall. His hand went limp, causing the toast to fall into Sirius' goblet of orange juice, speckling his face with the bright orange liquid. Sirius' shout of outrage brought James back to the table.
"What do you think you're doing?" Sirius snapped. "That was a perfectly good piece of toast. There's no reason you had to go spoil it!" Sirius picked up the now soggy bread and took a bite. "Still good mate," he said, dropping the toast onto James' plate.
"I don't think that's what caused the distraction," Remus whispered, tapping Sirius on the shoulder. Sirius spun around and noticed that he was staring right at the medsection of a girl. Looking up, he noticed that the said girl just happened to be his best friend's love interest.
Sirius sputtered and spun around, grinning widely at James, who was blushing furiously across the table. Remus had to hide his face in his book to keep from bursting into laughter. Sirius, however, was making this quite challenging, as he was having more audible difficulty in such a task. And of course, James' priceless expression of shock and lust combined was most amusing.
Suddenly, from three seats down, Peter Pettigrew burst out laughing, tears rolling down his fat pink cheeks. James glanced down the table, scowling, and noted that Peter was laughing at a stupid joke that someone had just finished telling him. However, Sirius was already on edge, and this had pushed him over.
Sirius flung his face into the table, slamming either side of his plate with closed fists. His loud laughter ringing through the hall caused all other noises to stop, and James found every pair of eyes focusing on him. Humiliated, he let his face fall onto the table, right in his bowl of cereal. At this Sirius laughed harder, and Remus began to snicker.
Behind Sirius Lily muttered, "Pathetic. Every last one of them," and walked to the end of the table, where she sat down and politely ate her breakfast, with much more dignity than any of the boys she had just witnessed, who seemed to be having mental breakdowns.
After several minutes, Sirius was still howling, though the Hall had long since continued its regular morning rituals. Remus found this quite amusing, as he could not help but grin every time he glanced from Sirius' disheveled form to James' embarrassed expression.
"What did I do to deserve this?" James muttered darkly, glancing at the enchanted ceiling. Suddenly he wished he could be outside strolling the grounds, or perhaps having a nice, peaceful breakfast down by the lake where no one could bother him. After daydreaming about it for several moments, he got up and left without a word.
It could not possibly get any worse, James decided, as he strode down the hill to the lake. Every bit of anger, shame, disgust, propelled him further, until he was at the edge of the Forbidden Forest. He looked into its depths with a silent understanding. The Forest portrayed so much of the emotion that James was harboring at the moment. He wanted so badly to get lost in its depths, but just then the bell rang, signaling that he should be in his first period classroom already. With a sigh, he trudged back up to the castle, thankful that his first hour was not Potions.
His first hour was, however, Transfiguration, which was hardly any better when it came to punishment. Professor McGonagall had never gone any more easily on her own house's students than she had on any other. And it was this that James met when he entered the classroom.
"Mr. Potter, will you come up to the front please," she announced coldly when the bell rang, signaling the end of class. James received a sorry look from Sirius before he sauntered up to the teacher's desk, trying to look his most impressive. Some of his classmates laughed, others awed by his nerve. Peter was, of course, among the awed.
"Mr. Potter, will you please explain to me why you think you deserve special treatment?" McGonagall's lips formed a tight line, much like McGonagall and her strict personality itself.
James tried not to fall into his usual haughty routine of smugness as he answered her, "I don't know what you're implying, Professor. I was out and lost track of time." He watched as the professor sized him up, as if trying to find an obvious flaw. Such did not exist, however, and she sighed.
"You know that I will have to give you detention … again."
"Yes, Professor. When and where?" he asked with a dull sigh.
"Tomorrow night, eight o'clock, my office."
James thought maybe this would be a special treat, seeing as she wasn't telling him that he had to polish trophies. "What are you going to make me do?" he asked eagerly.
"I don't know yet," she answered, annoyed. "Since it is the first week of school, there isn't much that I can think of. But don't think you're getting off easy," she warned. James smirked and, with a wink, left the professor to prepare for her next class.
"Detention already, Potter?" James heard a familiar voice from behind him. He whipped around to see Lily briskly approaching him. He could not keep his hand from flying to his hair.
"I thought maybe since you'd become a Prefect you would have decided to set a better example," she said sternly. Casting her scrutinizing glance over him, she said coldly, "I guess not."
James smirked, letting his hand drop to his side. "Care of Magical Creatures next? Mind if I escort you?"
Lily scowled. "I do happen to mind, thank you." She continued her brisk walk, determined to get to her destination without paying James any more attention.
"Allow me," James offered, holding the giant door open for Lily. She walked past him, down the steps and onto the grounds without another word. James quickly ran to catch up with her, finally matching her pace.
"So, how have you been enjoying the new school year?" he asked with mock interest.
"I would be a whole lot more if you'd leave me alone," she said bitterly.
James ignored her comment. "Hogsmead will be coming up soon…"
"I'm not going with you, Potter," she said, a finality in her tone that would have stopped anyone, save for James.
"Why won't you give me a chance?" James asked, a hint of desperation in his voice.
Lily stopped mid-stride. James whirled around so that he was facing her a few feet away, making his extra steps appear intentional. "Why should I give you a chance?"
James paused, thinking quickly but carefully. He always waited for her to ask this question, and it was most important that he answered correctly. "Because – I'm willing to change for you," James finished, saying this all very quickly.
For a moment James thought he saw a flicker of interest on the girl's face, but it was quickly covered with a disapproving frown. "Why don't you go waste your lies on someone else." She walked away, leaving James standing alone on the hill, turned down again. But this time he had a glint of triumph in his eyes.