Disclaimer: I don't own the characters, I do not own the places. I don't own anything related to Harry Potter, all I own is the plot. Any resemblance to any other piece of fiction or something is purely coincidental.

- Chapter 6

"Potter! When I say Wronski Feint I mean Wronski Feint! Not a Tantalus Dive. Will you focus already?" Shouted Jolyon Rivers, captain of the Gryffindor Quidditch team across the pitch.

"Yeah, yeah…" James muttered bored.

Sirius flew over to him. "What's the matter? You seem a little…off."

James sighed.

"It's just…I like Hermione, okay. But I don't know anything about her. I was thinking about when to ask her to be my date to the ball and then I though 'Wait, I like her, but just not that much…' I like her, but not as much as I do Lily…And why would I pass up a date with Lily for one with Hermione if I believe that I really…" he swallowed difficultly. "…if I believe that I really love Lily."

Sirius smirked. "Finally came to your senses? Good decision, you know. Moony and Wormtail agreed with me on that too. We all thought you were being a little weird about the whole thing. It's really obvious you like Lily…we were all just waiting for you to admit it."

James didn't know where to look. His friends had all known and they had never told him they knew. He wanted to think they were mean to do that, but he had to admit that it was funny after all. He would have done the same thing…heck he had done the same thing with Sirius and Cathy.

"Hey look!" Sirius said suddenly, pointing at the field below. "Look who's here to cheer you on!"

A girl with red hair was walking on the grass below.

"Okay guys! Let's call it a day. Same time next Tuesday!" Jolyon shouted to the others.

James pulled into a dive and flew down to meet Lily.

"Hey there." He said merrily.

Lily nodded in his direction vaguely, staring up at the sky.

"Oh…hi…Have you seen Steven?"

"Yeah…he's still up there…Why?"

She shrugged. "Oh, nothing. I just wanted to ask him something about Saturday."

James looked at her curiously. "Saturday? But, the ball's then."

"Yes, I'm aware of that, James."

"Are you telling me that Moore is taking you to the ball!"

Lily nodded. "Yes. Steven actually asked me in a normal way. Something you never succeeded to do. Now, if you'll please excuse me…"

She walked off past James, leaving him looking thunderstruck. He got off his broom confused.

Sirius saw his face. "Ah…I guess that didn't go the way you were hoping…"

"She's going with Moore…she's not going with me but with Steven Moore…"

Sirius bit his lip. "But…I thought she fancied you too! Cathy assured me Lily fancied you!"

"Well…I guess Cathy had it wrong. Let's just go, okay?"

James quickly made his way towards the broomshed. Sirius followed him slowly, shaking his head confused.

"You know…there is still something you can do about it." Sirius said as they were discussing the problem with Peter and Remus in their dormitory.

The other three looked at him.

"Sirius…don't go suggesting what I think is in your head right now…" Remus said warningly.

"You can still ask Hermione to go with you! That's what you planned on doing anyway." Sirius continued.

James looked at the ceiling. "I suppose…but I don't really want to go with her…I want to go with Lily."

"But you don't want to show up alone, do you? Not when Lily's going with Moore."

Remus threw Sirius a warning glance, but Sirius didn't see.

James ignored Sirius' comment. "Every time I see her I feel…not that I want to sound corny…But I really feel strange. Here."

He placed his hand on his stomach to show the others what he meant.

"But if any of you ever, ever, tell anyone I said that I'll rip your heart out of your chest and use it as an inkwell."

Sirius smirked. "Oh dear, boys. I think he's a little out of shape. Your threats are a little more aggressive than usual, Prongs. Whatever happened to the nice old plastering a picture of one of us with very embarrassing pairs of underwear over our trousers like you did last year?"

Peter laughed. "I remember that! I actually thought it was funny…"

Remus sighed. "The whole school thought it was funny Wormtail…it was you they saw I that picture."

Peter blushed and looked at the floor. "Oh yeah….I forgot about that…"

"What did he do to deserve that anyway…?" Sirius wondered softly.

"Can't remember." James said flatly.

Remus looked at Sirius and gave him a look that told him to be silent. Sirius nodded, knowing Remus was better at things like this.

"Listen, James. It was obvious to all of us that you liked her, it was obvious to Cathy, Susan and Emma too. Don't you think Lily might have noticed it too if all of us did? If you love her, then why don't you just tell her."

"Because she's going with Steven bloody Moore! That's why!"

Sirius sat down and pondered the matter silently for a moment.

"You know…maybe…maybe Lily didn't get the message like we all did…You have to show her you really like her. Why don't you-"

"No, Padfoot!" Peter shouted quickly. "Not one of your crazy schemes again. You know they always end up with Lily wanting to blow us up."

"That's true." Remus said. "And that's the last thing we need to get Lily to want to do right now."

"Okay then…" Sirius said. "The why don't you try and make her jealous instead?"

James turned on his side to look at him. "What?"

Sirius gave him a triumphant smile. "It's the perfect plan! You ask Hermione and then when you show up with her, Lily will realise it's you she fancies, not the Beater guy. She'll get jealous the moment she sees you with her! It's foolproof."

Remus looked away and muttered "Famous last words..." under his breath

But James didn't hear him and his face lightened. "…You think? Sounds like a plan, Padfoot old boy! You know what? I'll go ask Hermione right now. She's a nice girl, she'll understand!"

He jumped up and ran down the stairs to find her.

He saw her at a table in the library. He quickly made his way over to her and sat down next to her.

"Hey Hermione." He said.

She didn't look up from her book.

"Hey Harry." She replied happily.

James gave her a strange stare. "Harry? Harry Stafford?"

Hermione looked up and clasped her hand to her mouth as she realised what she had just said.

"Oh, no, no…It's, err, sorry James. I was a bit confused, you sound and look exactly the same like a boy I know…back home…"

James nodded understandingly. "Ah, your boyfriend."

He tried to get up but she grasped his hand.

"No…not my boyfriend…"she said, blushing furiously as she tried to imagine herself and Harry as a couple. "I don't have a boyfriend…He's just my friend and I miss him."

James sat down again. They looked at the table in silence until James cleared his throat.

"Listen…would this friend back home mind terribly if…There's a ball coming up soon, you might have heard. I don't have a date yet and I thought you didn't either because you're new here, so…Would your friend mind if I asked you to go with me?"

She broke into a smile. "No, he wouldn't! And neither would I. I'd love to."

She was happy for a moment but then remembered what Emma had told her about Lily and James. They still weren't together, even though they obviously loved each other. Then, why didn't he ask Lily out to the ball?

"Wait…what about Lily? Aren't the two of you…sort of…"

"She's going with someone else." James said sourly.

Hermione bit her lip. This wasn't good. If Lily and James still weren't together, then when would it happen? She knew they ended up dating at school, but if they didn't hurry up, then there wouldn't be much of schooltime left to date in.

And if they didn't get together during Hogwarts time, then they would drift apart when the time came to go to different wizarding universities. It was what she had been afraid of too, with Harry.

She gasped. Harry!

If Lily and James didn't get to date, then they would never get married…and that would mean…

No, she couldn't let it get to that. She'd have to talk to both of them to put things right.

"Alright then, James. I'll go with you. But…I'll have to go and get some dressrobes from somewhere…I forgot to bring any…"

She got up hastily and gave James a peck on his cheek with another word of thanks.

"Thank you, James. It's really sweet of you to ask me."

Then she quickly went up to the common room. She found the girls there, looking a bit happier than they had done that morning.

"Hello." She said as she sat down with them.

She wanted to talk to Emma, or anyone of them, really. Just as long as Lily wasn't there to hear it.

She sat down next to Susan and looked at them. "What made you four smile so much?"

Emma giggled. "Oh, nothing much…just a plan of ours is working…"

Hermione raised her eyebrow. She was about to ask what plan they were on about, but the portrait hole opened and Sirius came in with Jolyon Rivers. Cathy got to her feet to join them and so did Susan.

"Hey Evans!" Jolyon shouted. "Steven's outside waiting for you."

Lily sighed and left through the portrait hole. Finally Emma remained for Hermione to talk to.

"Emma…what was that plan you guys were talking about?"

"Oh, that. Lily heard from Susan that James was going to take…another girl to the ball instead of her. So we set her up with Steven Moore to make him jealous. It's a wake up call for him to realise he wants to go out with her and not with…"

"Not with me." Hermione finished her sentence for her.

Emma looked embarrassed but Hermione shook her head.

"No, it's okay. Actually, I'm glad you did all of this. So…you set Lily up to make James jealous because he said he wanted to take me, not her…clever plan. James thinks she really wants to go with this other guy, you know."

Emma clapped her hands in delight. "Really? Wow, it's working better than I thought!"

"So Lily really wanted to go with James, didn't she." Hermione said.

Emma nodded. "She's really fond of him, if you catch my drift."

Hermione nodded too. Even though this was all going terribly wrong, she could see a hint of light at the end of the tunnel.

"So basically it's like this; James wanted to go with Lily and vice versa, but James messed up and Lily asked another person to make him jealous. Now James asked me to make her jealous." Hermione said quietly, putting the pieces together."

"Both of them got other dates because they wanted to go with each other!" Emma said beaming.

This was wonderful. In the end everything would work out perfectly…if they just wouldn't be too stubborn to see what they both actually wanted.

Hermione smiled softly. She would just have to help them along a bit. Just to make sure everything would work out.

"Emma, this plan is perfect. I'm sure that it will work. It has to…because if you ask me, Lily and James are meant to be together."

She recalled an image of Harry for a second and quickly dismissed it again before she got homesick.

Emma smiled. "I know! I think so too. But now….do you have any dressrobes? You can't show up at a ball with James Potter without proper dressrobes. We want to make Lily jealous, remember?"

Hermione shook her head.

"I don't have any. That's part of the reason why I came up here in such a hurry. I forgot to pack them…" she lied quickly.

"Come on then. I'm sure I have a spare set of dressrobes somewhere that'll fit you. And if none of them do, then we'll just have to alter them a bit." Emma said, twirling her wand.

She took Hermione's hand and dragged her up the stairs, into the dormitory.

"You've got to look absolutely stunning if you want to show up with James. We really want the jealousy to kick in on both sides…"

Hermione laughed and allowed herself to be pushed down onto the bed as Emma rummaged around in her trunk.

"Oh…so much to do...so little time…" she heard Emma say.

"Emma…we've still got two days, you know…"

"Exactly! So little time!"

I don't have much time today, so here goes:

Dead Red Head: Hmm...I still stick with my opinion of Ginny. I like her :) Anyway, as long as you like this story (that btw doesn't include ginny at all) then everything's okay :D

Emma Barrows: Thank you! Hope you liked this chapter too, I think it's one of the better ones personally, but some people always seem to think the exact oposite of what I think so you never know.

Lucerito-del-alba: I hope that Jame's logic is a bit more explained in this chapter. And I hope it's a bit more easy to believe. Anyway, glad you like it. I'm going to send you a lengthy email when I have the time, so you're sure to hear from me REALLY SOON.

Olga de Bont: haha, mail maar ja :P want ik wil t echt wel zien :D And yes, James and the Marauders CAN talk like normal human beings once in a while. Glad to hear you still like it.

Pottersgirl91: Well, yes, I'll be sure to update soon again!

Gwynn-Potter: I'm not letting anything on about the ending. And I think I explained James' reaction and why he is taking Hermione instead of Lily in this chapter. See you at the next one!

XXRoseDawsonXX: I agree, sometimes a bit of clichée can make a story just that bit more fun. Well, college was great, but it doesn't really strart till monday, so I'll be able to tell you more soon enough. Thanks for the review :)

Mercutio: Yup, we're getting there :D And I did get this review. So i'm guessing you used your home computer this time, not the one from work. Oh, wait, you just told me you sent this a few minutes ago, so I'm actually sure you used your own computer. Okay, I'm not all there today :D :P Well, see you tonight or tomorrow! Veel plezier met tappen :D

Well guys, see you all at the next chapter.

Love, raven55