Marauders' Match-making Inc.

Hey…I hope you guys liked the last chapter. It was a little less humorous than the other chapters, but I'm hoping this one will turn out better, even if it isn't as humorous as the beginning ones. Don't worry. The next chapter is guaranteed to be funny (since it's another prank-filled date, of course).

To the reviews: LoL…People don't think the plan will work. Hmm…you'll see…just read on…

And thanks to the "feel better" wishes. I feel perfectly fine now. Thank heavens.

The last thing: Thank you for all the reviews and input. I'm becoming quite addicted to the reviews and hearing what you think. They're fun to read, so thanks.

Well… I think I just said enough "thank yous" in that little run-on to last me a lifetime. Happy reading!

-Kait

Disclaimer: The plot of this story is based on the ABC Family movie, "See Jane Date." The characters are property of J.K. Rowling. The only thing that belongs to me, are the changes I made to the plot I borrowed, and the new characters that you don't know from the Harry Potter books. Is that alright with you then?

Chapter 8- Bragging is Not a Virtue

At eight o'clock in the night, Lily was spotted by Frank Longbottom walking through the pathways of Hyde Park with Benjy Fenwick.

How did he ever come up with something as romantic as a moonlit walk? As if the rose at dinner wasn't enough.

Lily almost giggled at how perfect this evening had turned out to be.

And at how perfect the guy was.

She gazed up into his handsome face, lit up by the moon's graceful rays and sighed.

"I had a great time tonight, Benjy," she said earnestly, looking into his clear blue eyes. "Thank you."

"No problem, Lily," he replied, glancing down fondly at her. "I had a good time too."

The rest of walk was spent doing just that; walking. Occasionally, it was interrupted by conversation about the Order or people they knew, but for the most part, they were just caught up in being together.

When the evening had ended, Benjy led Lily home and walked her up to her doorstep.

"Good night, Lily," he murmured sweetly, with a kind smile on his face.

"Night, Benjy," Lily said slowly, barely believing the night was over.

But before she had any chance to think this through further (or any indication of what he was about to do), she found Benjy's lips upon hers.

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At approximately 8:14 p.m., Frank Longbottom entered the Leaky Cauldron. He was greeted happily by James Potter, Sirius Black, Remus Lupin and Peter Pettigrew. As he got his drink from Tom, he anxiously sat down with the four, feeling he had a bit of interesting new to tell them.

"You'll never guess who I just saw," he said, grinning from ear to ear.

"Oh, we can try," James replied grinning back at him, "And don't you worry, we will."

"A doxy?" Sirius quipped, taking a quick swig of his drink, "I hope it didn't bite you, mate."

"He is acting a bit loony, isn't he?" Remus said with a laugh, and looked around at the flickering lights in the Leaky Cauldron. The gentle snow falling outside the pub made the scene inside appear even cozier. It felt nice to Remus to be sitting near a warm fire with friends and sharing a good laugh. It was almost like the old days at Hogwarts where every said, "Voldemort who?"

"No, not a doxy in sight," Frank said, lightly hitting Sirius in the head for kicks, "Besides, I just saw—"

"—A rather stupid man sitting next to you?" Peter interrupted, trying to be witty. Instead, he got a punch in the arm from Sirius.

"That was not funny, mate," Sirius replied, a bit peeved, while attempting to talk over the laughter. "Not funny in the slightest."

"Sprout a sense of humor, Padfoot," James commented good-naturedly, "It was just a joke."

Sirius huffed loudly.

"Well, anyway, you were saying something, Frank?" Remus changed the subject for Sirius's sake.

"Oh, yes," his eyes got wider and he managed to stop chuckling for a moment, "I saw Lily. Lily Evans. She was in—"

He trailed off quickly, looking at Remus across the table. He was motioning frantically at Frank to stop saying what Remus thought he was.

James cast a glance in the direction of Remus, as he put down his drink with a look of wonder upon his face. "Do you have anything you'd like to tell us, Moony?"

"Me? No…nothing," he lied and waved his hand as if he was merely bored.

If Remus had to comment on anything at that point in time, he would have said something about the confused looks that were permanently stuck on the other three's faces.

"Go ahead and say what you were going to, then, Frank."

"Yeah, I'm intrigued," Sirius chimed in, after James.

Remus looked at Frank and then back at James again. "Wait. Okay, maybe I do have something to say."

He paused for a second, and tried to mentally prepare himself for the fits of anger he was about to endure from those around him.

"Lily had a date tonight," he stated simply, "She went out with Benjy Fenwick…from the Order. I didn't tell anyone because I felt she should have a night free of sabotage."

James looked the most stunned. Sirius managed to sputter out a little bit of his drink from surprise. Peter looked almost just as shocked as the other two. Frank appeared to be confused and disgusted (as Sirius's spit ended up in his lap).

"Did you aim that, or something, Sirius?" Frank said, reaching over for a napkin. Then he began to wipe his pants vigorously while shooting a glare at man next to him.

"Sorry, mate."

And through this all, James was still speechless.

"Why didn't you tell us?" he asked heatedly. "Benjy Fenwick is no better then the other wizards."

"I thought she deserved to have a night of peace. And anyway, we know Benjy from the Order…He's not a bad guy," Remus shot back.

"Well, how did the date go?" James questioned Frank, since he chose to ignore Remus and his damn conscience.

Who needed a conscience anyway? He loved Lily and that was all that mattered to him, nothing more.

"It looked like it went okay," Frank answered, "I couldn't exactly tell."

James shot Remus another look.

"See! It went okay…"

"Oh, God forbid Lily should be happy. Did you ever think of that?" Remus retorted, and took a drink from his glass, "The last time I saw her truly happy was the day before her parents died, and before she broke up with you."

Looks were shot around the table. Sirius stared at both Remus and James, knowing that Moony had just said the wrong thing. He just patted his best friend lightly on the back.

"You know," James mumbled, thinking back to that day, "It killed me when we broke it off. It killed me even more when she tried being friends with me. And then to see her go out with all those guys…when she'd said she wasn't ready to have a relationship with me because her parents…she said she couldn't deal with…couldn't…didn't want to fall in love only to find me dead one day…."

"It's hard, Prongs, I know…But you can't go breaking up Lily's dates forever. This is going to sound cheesy—"

"Doesn't it always?" Sirius said in an attempt to make James laugh. He succeeded, but only barely.

"—But," Remus just grinned uncharacteristically at Sirius, "If this thing between Lily and you is meant to be then it'll happen."

"And if we find out that one of her dates is a scum-bag, then we'll put a stop to it," Peter added, suddenly coming alive.

"Woo…Wormtail and Moony are getting sentimental on us," Sirius said, grinning mischievously at Frank. "Get a muggle talk-show, wouldja?"

Laughs went all around the table as Frank spoke up.

"This is going to sound weird, but, breaking off Lily's dates? What are you guys talking about?" He shot a glance at Sirius and James, "Or, doing, rather?"

James glimpsed around at the other three. Should they tell him?

But before anyone could utter a word, the little bell on the opening door rang, interrupting their thoughts.

"Hello boys!" a cheerful voice called as its owner walked into the pub, "How are you lads tonight?"

"Just peachy," James mumbled through gritted teeth.

"So we heard you had a date tonight with a certain redhead. How'd it go?" Sirius asked Benjy and tried to play it cool.

Benjy grabbed a chair from a nearby table and sat down on the back of it (A/N- In other words, he was sitting on the chair backwards).

"Good, I think, really good," he said, beaming at Frank, "Lily's just…she's great."

"Good for you," Remus smiled at him knowingly, "She is great, isn't she?"

James just took a nip of his drink and settled on being moody. Peter tried imitating him, just for fun, but couldn't.

"Having a heart attack there, Wormtail?" Sirius whispered to him, as Benjy continued talking.

"Yeah, I think it went real well. In fact, I think the girl may be hooked on me. Of course, Lily's no Irma Pince," he raised his eyebrows slightly as his said her name, thinking of the lush blonde, "But she'll do."

SHE'LL DO! James thought, waking from the dead, This girl is practically my sunrise, and yet she chooses to go out with him?

The world is controllably cruel.

Scratch that. The world sucks.

James felt a pang in his chest as he started to say something to Benjy. "I don't know who you—"

"Oh! That'd be Irma, over in the booth…I'd better go keep her company. Later boys!"

And with a quick wave, Benjy Fenwick scurried off.

"Can I go punch him?" Sirius asked, almost in a whine.

"Okay, Moony, tell me…Is that enough to go interfere with the next date?" James questioned angrily, eyeing his friend closely.

Remus just sat silently for a moment.

"Do you want some help?"