Doesn't Remus know what?…

That night, there was no sitting around the common room laughing and talking. Everyone was so tired from the ball and the excitable day that they hurried straight up to their dormitories and lay ion their beds, huge smiles plastered on each of the girls faces. Sirius was the only one absent from the boys' dormitory, and he wasn't returned until late that night.

James woke up to a loud bang.

"Ow." Muttered someone, who was passing the foot of his bed.

"Whozair?" whispered James. Sirius sat down at the end of James bed, cradling his toe.

"It's only me." Sirius said. James sat up.

"Where were you?" he asked. "Not with Dani?"

"No, not with Dani. With Hagrid actually. She's a lot prettier." Sirius laughed.

"What were you doing down there?" James asked.

"Spilling my heart to Hagrid, I guess. He found me lying in his vegetable garden-It's a long story." He said preposterously. James cracked an unseen smile in the dark.

"So what did you get up too?" Sirius asked shrewdly, "Matt told us that you and Lily went back up to the castle."

"Yeah, yeah, we did." James said vaguely.

"So…what did you get up to? How was your afternoon?" Sirius asked. James beamed, reminiscing about dusk, and thinking that if he was going to tell Sirius then he had better tell him now.

"Well, er, we…well we…I sort of…" James couldn't seem to get the words out. He felt like he was jinxing his own good luck, and he didn't want to see the triumphant look on Sirius face when he found out the cause for James' stuttering.

"I kissed her." He said very quickly. Sirius' jaw dropped open, and he let out a triumphant whoop.

"Way to go Prongs! I knew you too had it in you! Finally!" Sirius roared. There was an exhausted murmur from the next bed.

"What on earth is all that noise?" said Remus quietly, sitting up and rubbing his eyes. "Is he talking in his sleep again James?"

"Doesn't Remus know?" said Sirius excitably. This was the only good news any of them had had in romance for a very long time, and Sirius found it a great cause to celebrate.

"Doesn't Remus know what?" Lupin asked happily, crawling over to sit next to Sirius on the edge of James' bed.

"Doesn't Remus know bout James and Lily!" Sirius screamed, jittery.

"No he doesn't! What about James and Lily? Did you kiss her?" Lupin said excitably. James nodded in the dim light, a huge grin on his face, and Lupin, too, let out an appreciative whoop.

"Finally!" he laughed. There was a truly loud snore form the region of Carl's bed, and the marauders exchanged looks. Maybe the rest of the dormitory wasn't as asleep as they thought that they were.

They were quick to notice that, once the shock of the good news had worn off, as it had done for Sirius, Lupin's face remained carved into a splendid grin.

"What are you so happy about?" Sirius asked him. Lupin shook his head. He didn't know weather he wanted them to know what a brilliant afternoon he had had. For one thing, he didn't like the idea of Carl being able to hear what they were talking about, and for another thing, admitting that telling her had been no problem would be admitting that they had been right all along, and Lupin did not want to have to tell them that.
"Nothing. I'm just in a good mood I guess." He said happily, and slid back over into his own bed. Sirius did the same, and they all drifted off to sleep. In fact, the last person to finally close his eyes, in the dormitory, was Carl Watson, because when you have a plan forming in your mind, it is always very hard to fall asleep…

The girls got down to breakfast first the next morning. Ella and Lily wanted to wait for the Marauders to come down in the common room before they left, but Dani wouldn't hear a word of it. Happy as she was for them, she was determined not to give Sirius any opportunities to entice her the way he had the previous afternoon.

"Besides." She said, as they got dressed, "I have to meet Matt downstairs." The others rolled their eyes. As happy as they were that Dani was seemingly, 'happy' Matt didn't fit into their group at all, and a conversation with him often was filled to the brim with awkward silences.

"Hey Lily!" called Carl from the other side of the Griffindore table, when Ella, Dani and Lily had taken their seats.

"Oh no, not him, keep your heads down, maybe he wont talk to us…" Lily muttered, amid sniggers from her friends. Too late. Carl Watson was edging his way along the table, and the walked up behind Lily and rested his hands on her shoulders.

"Well done! James told me all bout it! Didn't know you were so easy Evans! Should have chosen me you know; I'd brag a lot less, but I'll leave you to it." He said, causing everyone around her to glance curiously, but none more so than the ones that she received form Ella and Dani.

"What," hissed Dani, "Was all that about?" Lily was heaving with fury, and her eyes darted precariously towards the tall, double doors, waiting for James to come strutting through them.

"I can't believe he told Carl." She whined angrily, and the other two exchanged shocked, curious expressions, which Lily met with a battered sigh.

"James and I kissed." She murmured to her friends. Their eyes grew wide, and Ella dropped the toast that she was buttering so that it slid to the floor.

"You and James WHAT?" Dani hissed. There was no time for explaining. The marauders strode through the open doors a split second later, and, shelving her anger, Lily turned her back, and wouldn't look at any of them as they entered the hall and took their usual seats opposite the girls.

"Morning." Said James and the others murmured simular.

"Morning Peter, Remus, Sirius." Said Lily, aloof, not looking in James direction once. He swapped incredulous looks with Sirius.

"Um, hi?" said James attentively. No one said anything. All that could be heard was a snigger from down the table. Sirius, Remus and James turned to see Carl hi-fiving Jason, and James cursed, and slunk his head down into his hands.

"James, you're hairs in the marmalade." Said Ella politely. Lupin reached for it, at the same time that Ella had, and their hands met briefly. She caught his eye, and giggled at his lopsided grin. Their eyes darted to make sure that no one had noticed.

"Lily." James hissed over the table, "What ever that guy said to you is a-"

"I don't want to hear it James." She argued back. James groaned in frustration.

"No, you don't get it! I didn't do anything wrong, what ever he's been spreading is-"

"So what? You didn't get back up to the dormitory last night and brag about what…what we did yesterday?" she lowered her voice, and leaned closer over the table, so that she was talking in barely a whisper.

"No! I mean, I told Lupin and Sirius, but I didn't talk about it or anything! Carl's just trying to make trouble because he's jealous. I think that the whole school will be jealous when they find out, I mean, I got to kiss Lily Evans!" James said proudly. Lily hit him over the back of the head with her spoon.

"That's exactly the sort of behaviour that I was scared about! And besides, It seems like we won't have long to wait…" she said, all anger at James gone. James looked towards where she was indicating, and saw that Carl was darting across the hall, talking to people in frenzied whispers, and eyes seemed to press in on them from all directions. Lily groaned.

"Listen, while no one else is listening, I had a look at that book that I borrowed…" James gave her a sharp, accusatory look, and Lily begrudgingly corrected herself. "Ok, the one that I stole, it's beside the point. Something that night made me pick it up, and it's about gemstones…there might be something in it about…" she trailed of, and looked at Lupin. A huge smile was painted on his tired face, which Lily registered as unusual. He looked genuinely happy, something that she had not witnessed in a long while.

"Really? You think?" he whispered back, "I'll have a look, shall I? Come up to our dorm tonight, we'll talk about it then."