Disclaimer: Characters and settings are property of J.K. Rowling. What you don't recognize is mine. And I wish I owned the Marauders (specifically Sirius and Remus) but most unfortunately, I do not. L

X-X-X-X-X

It was fortunate that Alyssa rarely got truly angry, and that even when she did, she usually didn't yell very loudly. Unfortunately for Remus, this was an exception, but that hardly mattered. Everyone was in class, anyway, with the exception of the Gryffindor sixth-years and probably Snape. This was fortunate, too, because Remus and Alyssa's breakup was not only incredibly emotionally straining and messy, but it was also quite loud.

The specifics were never again mentioned, at any point in their lives. They'd all heard Alyssa cry and ask questions with answers that Remus couldn't give – questions like "Why didn't you tell me?" or, more importantly, "Why didn't you trust me?"

Eventually, Alyssa took deep, shuddering breaths, and said, "I can't be with you if you don't trust me. Your lycanthropy – I'm scared of werewolves, but I might have gotten past that. But you don't trust me, and that makes our relationship perfectly clear to me." And she left, to the dormitory. She never officially cried, "It's over," or "This is goodbye," or anything of the sort. She'd just said that the relationship was clear to her, and that was it. Then she left. There was nothing more.

To say that Remus was miserable was an understatement. He refused to look at Sirius for the rest of the day (they'd all skipped classes) – but, as it turned out, he didn't have to worry about avoiding him the rest of the week. Sirius had vanished by the next morning.

Janine told him – after all, she belonged to the long gossip chain of Hogwarts – that Sirius had been suspended for a week. He couldn't decide whether or not he was happy about this.

For the first time in his life, Remus felt well and truly alone. Before, he'd always had his family. After arriving at Hogwarts, he's more or less always had his friends. Now, it was different. Sirius was gone – which was fine, because Remus would have avoided him anyway – and Peter was not much of a comfort, as he was clearly torn between his friends. James avoided him entirely, rarely talking to him. After questioning several people, Remus had gotten the full story out of the girls. He thanked James emotionlessly for saving Snape's life, and James had nodded.

Peter later explained to him that James and Sirius were too close for James to give up on Sirius entirely, and for the time being, James couldn't make himself be around Remus when Remus so clearly didn't want anything to do with Sirius. Nothing to do with Sirius meant nothing to with James, at least for the time being. While Remus wasn't particularly happy about this, he understood it. The pair were like brothers, and nothing could rip them apart. Not even Sirius's suspension, as they wrote to one another daily. Remus recognized Sirius's owl coming to James at every breakfast.

Sirius's disappearance didn't go completely unnoticed by the rest of the school. Everybody noticed several things - that the Marauders weren't as boisterous as they usually were, that Sirius was nowhere to be found (including the Hospital Wing and the secret bedroom on fifth floor that was used for things late at night that teachers pretended not to know about), that Remus and James were no longer speaking to one another and that the animosity between James and Severus Snape seemed to have reached a new height. But nobody knew why.

Gryffindor and Slytherin points rapidly decreased as the week flew by, mainly due to smashing ink pots, hexed quills, biting books, and any number of things. Most of the sixth-years learned within the first day that it was wise to peer into a classroom before going in, and to duck at regular intervals throughout the period.

Needless to say, Professor McGonagall and Professor Violet were rather unhappy.

And so, with due course, Friday, November 24th, 1975, arrived. And the last class of the day was not going well. "POTTER! SNAPE! STOP THAT AT ONCE!"

Professor Cetearyl – their Potions Professor – looked ready to explode. Cetearyl was generally easy-going and a nice man, and, as was decided by most of the school, not a very bad sort for an ex-Slytherin. He wasn't head of the Slytherin house, which helped, and he was impartial to all houses, favoring none of them. He did, of course, have favorite students, but that depended entirely upon their skill level and not their house. Most girls swooned at the sight of him – he was very young, and extremely good-looking – but his looks were ruined (just a bit) by anger.

At the moment, half of the class was dripping with black ink – nobody knew quite who had started it (or even if it was James or Snape, although it probably was one of the two) – due to several simultaneous explosions of inkbottles.

The only person who was even more furious than Cetearyl, however, was Lily. She stood up furiously and scowled wrathfully at James Potter. Her temper had been building all week, but she'd reached the limit. "POTTER! THAT'S IT!" She pointed angrily out the door. "Outside! NOW!"

James scurried outside – the only good part of this being that he'd get to be alone with Lily – and was followed by the redheaded girl, who slammed the door behind her. Everyone stared after them in amazement, including Cetearyl. He turned back to his class and said waspishly, "Clean up this mess!"

Outside, Lily was busy yelling at James. He stood there, stock-still, just watching her yell at him, not taking in a word he said.

She's pretty, even when she's mad.

Why doesn't she like me, anyway? It can't be because I'm a prat. I know I'm a prat. But she doesn't mind Janine, does she? And Janine's a prat.

Maybe Janine is a different sort of prat than I am? Or maybe I'm just more prat-ish. Is that it? Because I'm too prat-ish?

Well, that's hardly fair. Mum always told me that Dad was an awful prat at school, and she loved him anyway. So why can't Lily love me?

I don't get it.

"…You're not even listening to me!" she shrieked. "What's the matter with you? Does nothing penetrate that thick skull of yours?"

"Hmm? What?"

"ARGH!" Lily threw her satchel on the ground furiously. "You're so… so… so stupid! Isn't it bad enough what you did on Mon-"

James slapped a hand over her mouth, effectively silencing the rest of what she was going to say. "Shh!" he hissed. "Not so damn loud, Evans – what's wrong with you!?"

Quickly, he dragged her into a nearby broom closet (amazing how those things were always on hand when you needed one) and shut the door behind him, putting a silencing charm (and a locking charm that would hopefully last longer than five minutes) on the door. Then he let go of Lily and let her rant.

"WHAT THE HELL DO YOU THINK YOU'RE DOING? LET ME OUT OF HERE THIS INSTANT!"

"Would you shut up, for once?" snapped James irritably. "Let's get one thing straight, Evans – you're not to mention Monday night ever again. I don't care what it takes to get you to shut up, but you'd better get shut up and stay shut up. It's bad enough with Snape knowing-"

"And who's fault was that?" she said acidly. "I'll give you this much, Potter – saving Snape's life was pretty… decent, of you. But it doesn't earn you back any points. After all, Snape would never been out there if it hadn't been for you, now would he?"

James opened his mouth, intending to grouchily point that it was actually Sirius who had told Snape how to get into the Whomping Willow, and he had had nothing to do with it, which was something she should already KNOW, as it had been mentioned several times, but he got the feeling that she wouldn't care. He closed his mouth.

"Good. Now that you've finally been stunned into silence – a miracle, I'm sure – let me tell you something. All right, I slipped up back there. But unlike you, I respect Remus's condition and would never go around telling anyone about it, particularly not someone like Snape." Lily scowled.

"I did not tell Snape! Sirius did!"

"You know something, Potter? It's still despicable. I would have thought that maybe you'd have gained some respect after this incident, but you haven't, have you? No, you've only gotten worse! You keep on bullying Snape, and I doubt that will ever change, and even if it wasn't your fault, you still should know better than to keep persisting to bully Snape! Instead, you stand up for Sirius although he's obviously in the wrong! And another thing-"

Without warning, James kissed her, his arms closing around her frame.

Truthfully, he hadn't been listening to a word she'd said – he'd been debating what to do. It wasn't very often that he had Lily Evans locked in a closet alone with him, and the last time they'd been in almost the same situation, he'd kissed her and come out unscathed. He might just get lucky again…

Lily was frozen, stock-still, until she reacted. For a moment – a brief moment – James thought she might be kissing him back, but she pushed him away, wiping her mouth with the back of her hand. "Ugh! Potter – you stupid – you stinking – ugh!" She slapped him, hard – James's glasses flew off somewhere and landed in the dark. As he dropped to his knees and fumbled around for them – Okay, that was a bad idea – Lily pulled out her wand. James froze, thinking she might hex him, but she pointed her wand at the door and muttered, "Alohomora." The door sprang open, revealing a group of their classmates walking by. Everyone stopped and stared, but Lily stormed past them without looking back at James.

James was still looking for his glasses when somebody – Janine, he soon realized – bent over and said, "The left side of your face is all red. What exactly did you do?"

X-X-X-X-X

"And then… and then he… Ugh!" Lily sank lower in her seat, fuming. Hagrid chuckled lightly. Lily stared up at the gigantic man she had befriended in the later months of her first year. She smiled at the memory – she'd practically had to drag a screaming Janine to meet him. Of course, the moment Janine was actually faced with Hagrid, she'd shut up.

Lily remembered the day well – Hagrid had asked, "Another Garnet, eh? I spend half me time durin' the Quidditch matches makin' sure yer idiot brothers don't get themselves killed up in the air on those broomsticks. Good flyers, though."

"Er… right," Janine had replied, in a small voice. "They're very good."

"Yeh play Quidditch too, then? Yer mum an' dad used to play, too. Yer dad was one of the ruddy best Chasers Gryffindor ever had, and yer mum was a good keeper to boot. Although I find meself rememberin' tha' yer grandparents – on yer mother's side, tha' is – weren't none too happy 'bout her playin' Quidditch. Said it was unfeminine and all tha'… but yer mother went right along playing it. She was the year ahead of me, and she was one o' the nicest people I ever met, even though we were in different houses… yer mum was a Ravenclaw, right?" Janine nodded, her eyes very wide. "And yer dad was the funniest bloke ever – kept gettin' his head bashed in, jus' like yer brothers."

"Oh… of course… yeah, I play Quidditch." Janine was still staring up at him with wide eyes as Lily grinned impishly as Hagrid turned on her.

"Lily! Lily Evans, right?" She nodded. "Yeah, I met yeh last week. How're things goin' for you?"

"Good, Hagrid," said Lily with her warmest smile. "This is… er… my friend Janine."

"Yeah, I know." Hagrid smiled, his beetle black eyes crinkling with warmth. "I could hear her screamin' all the way over here – stuff about not wantin' to meet a scary giant and all, yeah?" Janine turned a bright red as Lily giggled and Hagrid patted her on the shoulder so hard that her knees buckled. "Well, tha's all right. Lots o' people are scared o' me." His voice turned a little sad. "Nobody ever comes to visit me that oft'n…"

"We'll visit a lot!" said Lily earnestly. "Right, Janine? Right?"

"Right," said Janine, faintly. But her voice was sincere, and Lily knew she meant it.

"Lily? Lily, yeh all right? Yer awful quiet an' everythin'…"

"Oh! Sorry, I was just… thinking." She sighed. "What am I going to do? About James, that is? I mean, he's just so…"

"Eh, he's all right," said Hagrid with a gentle smile. "Knew his mum and dad. They were two years ahead o' me, but they're great people. Real nice. I can't imagine James Potter bein' too awful… and he hangs out with that Sirius Black, and, well, both boys seem all right…"

"But he kissed me! Knowing I hate him, and everything! That's the second time this week!"

"Is tha' so?" Hagrid smiled slyly at her. "Seems to me tha' if yeh hated it so much, yeh shoulda pushed him away the first time he did it, eh?" Lily flushed, and Hagrid laughed. "It's all right if yeh go off fancyin' him, Lily. Lots o' girls do."

"I know," admitted Lily. She sighed, staring out the window, and noticed that a few flurries of snow were fluttering towards the ground. "But I don't want to fancy him."

"Why not?"

"Because, he's just so… so arrogant! He steps all over people like he owns the world, he struts around, mussing up his hair because he thinks it looks so cute, and all the girls swoon and drop at his feet, but he just seems to think that we all should worship him because he's bloody Potter, the hero of the Quidditch team, and-"

"Whoa, slow down, would yeh?" Hagrid grinned. "He's not such a bad bloke as all tha', Lily, and I think yeh know it, too. Yer makin' him out as bein' worse than he really is."

"No, I'm not! That's really what he's like!"

"Seems to me tha' yeh must've spent a whole lot o' time studyin' James Potter to know all tha' about him." Lily's mouth opened in outrage, but Hagrid pressed on. "And yer friend Janine doesn't think he's so bad, does she? In fact, I think they're friends."

"Yes, but-"

"And her judgment can't be all tha' bad, can it now? 'Cause she chose yeh as a friend, too…"

Lily opened her mouth, and then closed it. "He still had no right to drag me into a closet and… and do that!"

"Nah, I reckon yer right. He had no right to do tha', but he did, and we all make mistakes. He fancies yeh, Lily, and sometimes when blokes start fancyin' girls, they act like gits."

"James Potter doesn't act like a git. He just is one," retorted Lily crankily. She knew she was being childish and she didn't care.

Hagrid patted her shoulder gently (well, gently for him), smiling at her. "Don't yeh think too hard on 'im, Lily. He's not a bad bloke, but if he annoys yeh that much, stay outta his way."

If only it were that simple, she thought glumly, and finished her tea.

X-X-X-X-X

"You're an idiot, James," Janine said flatly.

"I know."

"A big idiot," added Jen.

"I know."

"A really big idiot," finished Marlene.

"Damn it, I know!"

"Mr. Potter, if you're not going to be quiet, leave the library!" James quailed a bit under the fierce scowl of Madam Pince. At last, she sniffed and stomped off. He glanced at the three girls before him.

"Aren't you supposed to be helping me?" he demanded in a whisper.

"Well, we would, see," said Marlene slowly. "But you've been such an idiot."

"We established that, thanks," he replied acidly.

Janine sighed, and rubbed her eyes. "James, you're trying to win points with Lily, not lose them."

"Janine, I bloody well know."

"Then why did you kiss her?" Jen asked, frowning. "I mean, that's just… stupid. She doesn't even like you."

"Yeah, the slap I got clued me in."

Janine sighed, propping her chin up in her hand as she chewed on a sugar quill thoughtfully. "The thing about Lily is, you need to make her respect you. She's not going to if you keep taking advantage of her like that." Then she flushed. "I don't mean taking advantage of in that way!" she added hastily, just as James opened his mouth.

"I wasn't going to say anything. And anyway, it's not like I'm bloody asking the girl to marry me. I just want a date."

"Why?" Marlene's face was thoughtful. He stared blankly at her. "Why do you want to go out with her?" He still stared blankly at her. "You must have a reason."

"Well, I-"

"He's driven mad by lust due to her fiery red hair," interrupted Jen wisely. "He's so desperate to shag her that he doesn't think clearly and often makes stupid mistakes in her presence."

"You're getting as bad as Sirius, with all those stupid comments," James muttered.

"That's just stupid," Marlene said at the same time.

"Of course it's stupid," Janine agreed. "James makes stupid mistakes all the time, not just in her presence."

"Shut up," grunted James, and then looked at Marlene. "What sort of question is that? Of course I have a reason."

"He's driven by hormones," suggested Jen. Annoyed, Marlene reached across the table and smacked her.

"Shut up; you'll get us thrown out of here." She looked at James. "Come on, then, what's your reason?"

He shrugged. "She's new; she's different. And she rejected me."

"Which she's been doing for the past two years," Janine pointed out. "Frankly, I'm rather amazed that you haven't given up."

James puffed out his chest. "I'm not going to give up until she goes out with me. I'm that determined."

"You'll be in for a long wait, then," Jen said, sitting back. "Look, James, Janine and I have known you a long time, and none of us girls really think you're so bad. Except for Lily, of course."

"Speak for yourself," Janine muttered. Jen kicked her lightly under the table.

"Anyway, we'll put in a good word for you – see how it goes. But seriously, James," Marlene added earnestly, "this silly infatuation with Lily is getting you nowhere. You have to prove to Lily that you're worth it. That you're worth taking the time to get ready for a date with; worth having to sit down to dinner and having conversations with."

"Basically, you're telling me to change who I am."

Thump. Janine had banged her head against the table, and then she picked it up to scowl at James. "No! What we're telling you to do is-"

"Miss Garnet! This is a library!" Madam Pince was swooping by; she halted and narrowed her eyes at the brunette. "Is that a Sugar Quill?" James looked down at the table – Janine's box of Sugar Quills had quickly vanished. "That better not be candy in the library!"

"No, ma'am," Janine said meekly. Madam Pince sniffed disdainfully and stormed away. Janine snuck the box out of her lap and pulled another quill out. "Anyway… Look, James, we're not telling you to completely change." She knocked her knuckles against his head. "The first step is to deflate your head a bit."

"It's not inflated!"

"It bloody well is," the three girls chorused.

"SILENCE!" roared Madam Pince from somewhere between the bookshelves, causing the four Gryffindors to jump.

James sighed. "I'm not going to change for her."

Janine stood up, shouldering her bag. "Then you're not going to go out with her, either."

"Hah! I knew it! You do have candy in the library! Out! OUT!" screeched Madam Pince, throwing a book in Janine's direction.

Janine looked scandalized. "Well, really! A librarian, throwing her own books about-"

"OUT!"

"I'm going, I'm going!" Janine screeched as another book flew her way, dropped her box of sugar quills, and ran out the doors, slamming them shut behind her. Sniggers echoed throughout the library until Madam Pince whirled on them, too.

"BE QUIET!"

The other three Gryffindors very quietly snuck out. "We'll finish this conversation later," said James, once outside the library.

X-X-X-X-X

When Sirius at last came back to Hogwarts, things – to nearly everyone's surprise – quieted down. The Marauders were quiet, and with his best friend back, James seemed reluctant to constantly pick on Snape, which was a mystery to all of them, most of all Snape.

After all, the Slytherin had assumed that once Sirius had come back, the torment he endured would only get worse. After all, one annoying Marauder was bad, surely two would be worse…?

But it wasn't to be. Sirius and James pretended he didn't exist, and spent all their time in the common room, playing quiet games of Exploding Snap, or in the library, reading. This baffled Lily, too, although she was much better at hiding it than the rest of the school population.

"Just what are they up to…?" she wondered aloud, looking out the window below. It was a lazy Sunday afternoon, and Sirius and James were standing against the pristine snow, their dark hair and cloaks standing out like ugly marks on an otherwise perfectly white and pure landscape. The holidays were fast approaching, and both boys seemed to be involved in a serious discussion. More and more often, she had spied them walking off together, talking, without Remus and Peter.

"Who's up to what?" Lily glanced at Janine, who was chewing on her quill, staring at her parchment. "Damn Violet," she grumbled. "Giving us an essay and a test, due the last day of term… honestly… say, Lily, do you think you could-"

"No."

"I haven't even asked yet!" she squawked indignantly. Lily rolled her eyes.

"No, I won't help you finish your essay. You've had a week to work on it, and it's your own fault you haven't finished it. And it's not due for another week, so what are you complaining for?"

Janine wasn't listening to her. "I'm going to ask James to see his essay." She shot Lily a dirty look. "He lets me copy off of his homework all the time…" Lily returned her look with a disgusted one of her own.

"How can you even talk to him? After he-"

"Lily, we've been over this. James did not do anything. It was Sirius. Haven't we established that?"

Lily sighed. "You're right. I've been unfair to him, haven't I?"

"Too right you have."

"But it's just that… all right, I'll say that it was more than decent for him to go after Snape, especially after all these years of hating him. He didn't have to do that. But come on, Janine. He's been picking on Snape even worse than usual."

"Actually, it's stopped now. Since Sirius got back." If Lily thought if was strange that Janine was referring to him as 'Sirius' and not 'Black,' she didn't comment.

"You're missing the point entirely. I had thought that after this incident, they'd learn that enough was enough. But they haven't."

"They're boys, Lily. They never learn. And he's not so bad, Lily, he's really not. Maybe you ought to give him a chance before you so suddenly assume he's the most awful git in the world."

"He is the most awful git in the world," retorted Lily. Then she smiled. "Hey, look! Isn't that Marlene and Fabian?"

Janine peered out the window. "Yes, it is! Hey… they're snuggling under the tree! That's so… cute." She grimaced. "And boring. Who wants to snuggle under a silly old tree with all that lovely snow outside? It's much more fun to have a nice snowball fight, or go ice-skating. Hmph." She rolled up her parchment and tossed it aside. "I'll see you later. I promised… er… one of the Ravenclaws that I'd meet him in the library."

"Him?" Lily's eyebrows rose. "Replaced Fabian that fast, have you?"

"What do you mean, that fast? It's been a month! And anyway, we're only studying. It's not like a date, or anything."

"Mmm-hmm. Whatever."

"It's not a date!"

"If you say so."

Janine sighed irritably. "You're so annoying," she muttered, and then perked up. "You're coming to my house for the holidays, right?"

Lily snorted. "It's not a house, Janine. More like a separate country." Janine grinned, acknowledging this. Her family was rich – on both her father and her mother's sides, and they lived on a large estate. "But yes, I'm coming."

"Good. I'm going to the library, okay?"

"For your date."

"It's not a date!"

"Sure, whatever you want to call it."

"It's not! It's a studying session!"

"Whatever you want to call it." Lily ignored Janine's sigh of annoyance and glanced out the window again. Then stopped, surprised, seeing James standing by the lake. He was alone – Sirius was nowhere to be seen.

"Hey! Where'd he go?"

"Where'd who go?" Lily turned, and saw that Janine was dressed in a cloak, wrapping her scarf around her neck.

"Forget it. You'd better bundle up; it's awfully cold outside." Janine nodded and waved, letting the door slam shut behind her. Suddenly, Lily frowned. "Hang on, I thought she was going to the library…"

X-X-X-X-X

"Hey there, you." Janine stopped just a few feet away from him, smiling. "Having fun?"

"I was until you came along," he replied with a grin – his way of telling her he was kidding – turning and taking her in his arms. He kissed her forehead. "What took you so long?"

"It took me a couple of hours to make up an excuse to Lily," she replied, resting her head on his chest.

"That long? You're a pretty bad liar, then."

"I don't want her to find out," she retorted. "So I needed something believable yet not too close to the truth. Then I gave up and told her that I was going to… You really don't care, do you?"

"Not a bit." He leaned in to kiss her, but she pushed him away. He glowered at her. "What now?"

"Let's set the record straight. All this… it's just in good fun. No attachments or commitments, yeah?"

"Yeah," he replied roughly, and then he quickly closed the space between them, pushing her against the greenhouse walls for a fierce kiss.

X-X-X-X-X

A/N: Ooh, some nice new romance! James gets a stolen kiss from Lily and Janine gets a kiss from… some unknown guy. Personally, I think it's obvious, but that's just 'cause I know who it is. I hope you guys like this chapter – again, waiting for updates! The more updates I get, the WAY happier I'll be, and the sooner I'll update. Of course, it might take a while, because I'm having just some teensy, weensy writer's block – see, my problem is that I know specific events that I want to come in the future, but my problem is getting there. So I'm working on that. Oh, and I'm really sorry to all those Remus fans – I know, he's gone through enough problems, but he and Alyssa had to break up. She's scared of werewolves (you'll find out why later – specifics and everything) and she's mad at him for not trusting her. I mean, wouldn't you be? Although I'd forgive Remus because he's just so adorable and cuddly… Oh well. Life-size Sirius and Remus dolls (oh, we'll add James this time, too, just for the heck of it) to all of you wonderful reviewers! Peaches