Disclaimer: Don't own anything.

It was two weeks after the Slytherine table incident and the morning of James' detention day. True to his word, Sirius had also gotten detention for pouring grease removal gel on Snape's head. The two had it on the same day, but were prudently separated into different rooms by Professor McGonagall.

The Gryffindors were having History of Magic with the Hufflepuffs and Lily, being one of the few who hadn't fallen asleep, was concentrating hard on taking notes. She was relatively disturbed when a paper airplane crashed into the back of her head.

Lily opened the parchment. It said: Will you go out with me, Evans?

She didn't even bother to turn around but instead scribbled back angrily: IN MY NIGHTMARES.

Why not? James' handwriting came back.

Last time I checked, Lily wrote again, the giant squid was still single. Quit bugging me Potter. She crumpled up the paper and threw it back.

The reply was quick. C'mon, Evans, just once.

Throw this parchment back again and I'll ignore you for a month. Lily wrote. She didn't fully expect James to listen, but was nevertheless surprised when the paper flew back.

You ignore me anyways. She read. At that moment, Professor Binns said, "Okay, class is over. I hope you all were taking notes, we have an exam on this tomorrow."

………………………….

"Wait a minute," Anne said, looking at Lily strangely. They were now back in the Gryffindor common room. It was late at night but none of the girls felt like sleeping.

Elain continued for her. "You need to borrow her History of Magic notes because of what?"

Lily winced. "I was a bit preoccupied."

"You were writing notes to Potter instead of listening to Binns!" Elain burst out laughing immediately after this.

"Hey," Lily snapped. "You don't listen to him either."

Between laughters, Elain breathed, "Yea, but that's because I'm catching up on my sleep, not because I'm busy writing to some guy I supposedly disliked."

"Starting to have a thing for him, Lils?" Anne smiled innocently.

Lily's face turned red. "Hell no. I wouldn't like Potter in a million…

"Hey," Elain interrupted her. "Don't the Marauders all call him Prongs?"

"Yeah," Anne was thoughtful. "Why do they do that?"

Lily snorted. "I don't know. He doesn't bare any resemblance to a fork. To say that he did would be an insult to the dinnerware. Give me your notes, Anne."

"Fine," Anne muttered as she passed Lily her notes. "We should go to bed soon. It's past twelve."

Just as she said that, a figure stumbled down from the stairs into the common room. Remus Lupin jumped in surprise as he met up with the sight of the girls. He looked dreadful. He was gaunt and pale and he wore the most tattered robes Lily had ever seen. They were shocked at how much he had changed in the course of one day.

"Hi," Anne broke the long silence between them.

In return, Remus waved his hand feebly but said nothing.

"Where you going at this hour?" Elain asked bluntly.

"Eh?" Remus said, as if startled. "Oh…I, um, I have to go home because well, uh, my, uh, Uncle Barry just died."

"I'm so sorry!" Lily cried out as Elain looked at him sympathetically.

Remus nodded to acknowledge their sympathies and moved toward the door.

"Remus," Anne called out. He turned around and she continued, "Didn't your Uncle Barry dies two years ago?"

"Eh?" Remus said as he went even paler. "What?"

"You had to go home fifth year because your Uncle Barry died then, didn't he?"

"Uh…" Remus stammered. "You must be confusing Uncle Barry with Uncle Larry. Uncle Larry died two years ago but Uncle Barry just died yesterday."

"Oh," Anne nodded. "I'm sorry for you."

Remus shrugged nonchalantly, "That's ok." But, seeing the surprised reaction on the girls' faces, he said, "I mean, I'm really sad, of course." And then proceeded out the door.

……………………………….

"Why are we sitting here?" Lily groaned at breakfast between sips of orange juice.

"Because you missed me Evans," James said, putting an arm around her shoulders.

"Potter," Lily hissed through gritted teeth. "Do you want me to hex you?"

James removed his arm. "You couldn't hex me if you tried."

Lily swerved her head around sharply. "What did you say, Potter?"

Next to her, Elain was conversing with Sirius.

"Well, he didn't seem very sad," she said, referring to Remus.

Sirius shrugged uneasily. "Oh, well, you know. Remus understands. It's the circle of life. You live, you die, it happens. Just because his Aunt Carrie died--- OW! Prongs, that was my foot you just stamped on!"

"Barry!" James hissed at his friend, turning his attention away from Lily.

"Just because his Aunt Barry died---OW!" Sirius jumped up in pain again.

"He's confused," James explained to Elain, who nodded sympathetically

"Potter!" Lily snapped. James turned back to her. "Are you saying you can duel better than me?"

"Are you saying I can't, Evans?" He returned evenly.

"Fine!" Lily said. "Then meet me tonight at eleven in the trophy room."

"I have detention tonight," James said.

She sighed. "Tomorrow then."

"Fine," James said. "You really think you can hex me, Evans?"

"Piece of cake!" She slapped the table, making pieces of their breakfast cake jump up, and then walked off to her class.