Chapter Seven: Lily

James looked up at the staircase and sighed. Then he groaned and turned back toward the cold fireplace and the jumble of red velvet chairs.

* * *

The next day Remus seemed to be disregarding James. Sure, he was cheerful enough, and he spoke animatedly enough to James, but James thought he heard a slight coolness in Remus's voice and was sure that Remus wasn't looking him in the eye when he asked what was wrong.

So James shrugged it off, instead setting his mind to schemes that he could pull of with the time turner. He told Sirius about them, and sometimes Peter, but he never really said anything to Remus because of his strange behavior, and because he was sure Remus wouldn't approve.

He still didn't know what all of the fuss yesterday had been about, and he didn't think about it until breakfast.

* * *

As the marauders entered the Great Hall, Severus looked up, his eyes gleaming with a sort of wicked amusement. He looked over at the Gryffindor table, where little miss perfect, Lily Evans, was sitting, reading a large transfiguration book, smiled, then looked back at the marauders and their leader.

"Hey, Potter!" Severus yelled as he passed. James paused and looked down at him with disgust.

"What?" He snarled.

Severus wasn't flaunted by James's rude reply. He only smiled nastily and said quietly, "Heard about your little show of affection to Evans yesterday. Getting a bit overly-lustful aren't we?" Then he laughed, and to his astonishment, the Slytherins closest to him laughed along with him, and he delighted ironically with his success at insulting his worst enemy.

James frowned down at Severus, his hazel eyes probing into Severus's own. "I don't know what you're talking about." He said dryly, and walked away.

* * *

Snape's comment about Lily Evans made James curious as to what was going on here. And he watched Evans constantly, looking for signs of her knowing what all of this was about. But short of getting any signs as he was hoping for, all James got was a quick, snappy attitude that left him irritated and otherwise a blank, closed look when they passed in corridors or when they saw each other around classes.

Finally James got so angry with kids skirting him in the corridors and glancing with quick hidden smiles at him and whispers following him that he stomped up to the Gryffindor common room at lunch time and ignored the pang of hunger that growled in his stomach.

As he was stomping toward the boys' staircase a voice sliced coolly into the large empty room, and for a minute James thought it was Vanessa again.

"You know, you're putting up quite a show, pretending that you don't know what anyone's talking about."

James turned, and saw Lily sitting in an armchair with a book propped open on her knees. Her round, almond shaped green eyes, as always, seemed to be taking all of the energy out of him so that he was nearly drowning in her stare. But her face was set, and not in any way the happy, captivating face that he often admired when she wasn't looking his way. She looked positively repugnant as she surveyed him, and she continued, "It would be quite funny if you weren't so stupid about it, really. And you're a great actor." Lily smiled sourly.

"But I don't know." James said faltering slightly as her eyes glittered treacherously.

This time she laughed. "Right." She said, and she picked up her book and buried herself in it again.

* * *

In a half an hour, Sirius came lumbering into the seventh year boys' dormitory, his face all confusion and disarray.

James looked up.

"Well." Said Sirius. "I've found out what's...eh....been happening."

*Dances around, singing about cliffhangers and thinking of how much fun it is to write this story*