Disclaimer: For those of you with the I.Q. of a flubberworm, I do not own Harry Potter.

A/N: My muse must be an insomniac, because for some reason I can't write this fic at anytime before midnight…this has resulted in three straight nights of extremely late bedtimes, so I hope you like it. This chapter was particularly hard to write due to a little thing I like to call 'plot advancement', it's this crazy new thing writers are trying…anywho, thanks so much to all my reviewers, as usual! Oh, and this chapter was not beta read, so I hope it's okay…

And now, without further adieu…

Another Notch

The Marauders breathed a collective sigh of relief when Sunday dawned, crisp and cool. Not only had they pulled off the greatest scam in Hogwarts history, no one had gotten mauled during their midnight wanderings last night. All in all, not a bad day in the life of a Marauder.

James tucked into his bacon and eggs with vigor, thinking of yesterdays events. More specifically, the fact that Lily had wanted to spend the day with him. By choice. Perhaps Lily was finally warming up to the idea of James as more than a friend.

James looked around the Great Hall and spotted Lily at the Ravenclaw table with Gwen, who seemed to be very pensive over something. All thoughts of Gwen were banished from his mind, though, as Lily looked up and gave him a small yet brilliant smile from across the room.

"Oh yeah, she definitely wants me."

The other three boys looked up from their plates to see whom James was staring at.

"Ah yes," Remus said. "The illustrious Lily. We should have known. And what, pray tell, drove you to this conclusion?"

"A combination of many convincing actions. But never you mind about that. I need to figure out how to tell her in a way that won't end with me being pricked in the arse by an anti-cupid."

Remus steepled his fingers, resting his elbows on the table.

"A very perplexing situation indeed. Might I suggest—"

"Shh!" James shushed him frantically. For heading over to the Gryffindor table was a tall emerald-eyed witch accompanied by her fair-haired friend. The last thing he wanted was for Lily to be frightened off before he'd even said his piece.

Lily gave him a strange look as she took her place next to James. Gwendolyn sat across from her, next to Remus. James smiled at the two girls in greeting and turned back to his bacon.

His attention was almost immediately drawn to Gwendolyn once more, however, when he heard her say in a breathy, incredibly girly voice he had never heard her use before, "Oh Remmie!"

Remmie? When did he get that nickname? He certainly didn't have it yesterday…

"I had such a good time—"

James smirked to himself.

"And my gift was divine!"

Wait, what gift? Remus was going to give her his present today, so I wouldn't get the benefits of gift giving…she's got to be up to something…

"And listen," Gwen lowered her voice to the lowest decibel possible, and James leaned across the table, struggling to hear her words. "I know we shouldn't have gone as far as we did last night, but I'm glad we did."

Uh oh.

Before James knew it Remus lunged across the table, catching his friend's head in a chokehold so strong it would rival a troll's.

Both boy's faces were growing steadily redder, though for very different reasons; James's for lack of oxygen, and Remus's from rage. He was spitting out insults and threats that would have made a sailor blush.

Sirius was the first to come to his senses. He stood quickly, taking Remus firmly by the shoulders, attempting to pull him off his best friend.

"Come on now, Moony! This is Prongs we're talking about here. At least let him explain himself before you kill him!"

Reluctantly, Remus released him and returned to his seat, glowering.

James's hands flew to his throat as he gulped in huge amounts of air.

"Remus…. I…. didn't…. do…. anything…. with her…"

Remus's grey eyes flew from best friend to girlfriend, unsure whom to believe. His gaze finally settled on Gwendolyn, who had stood, crossing her arms across her chest. Absolute rage was burning in her beautiful blue eyes.

"Remus," she said, her voice deadly calm yet filled with raw anger, "I think you have some explaining to do."

With that she stormed out of the Hall, tears glistening in her eyes. Remus quickly followed, hoping against hope that there was a way he could bluff himself out of this mess.

James looked around at the remaining Marauders, and then set his gaze on Lily. She was wearing a confused expression, as if trying to figure out a very perplexing Arithmancy problem. James prayed to whatever gods there be that Lily was struck with a sudden case of idiocy.

Please, please, for once don't let her figure this out…

Apparently Zeus was not in favor of James today.

"Evans…" she whispered, a look of dawning comprehension on her pale face. "James not going…"

Lily's supple lips were parted in a delicate 'o' of revelation, here eyes wide as galleons. "I thought I misread the signs! I should have known he couldn't possibly be there on Saturday. I mean, come on! He's a—"

James quickly clapped a hand over the raving girl's mouth.

"Gentlemen," he said, scooping Lily up from her seat. "We have a code 'fuzzy bunny'. Let's move."

With that James swooped Lily out of the Hall, followed by Sirius and Peter. He didn't stop until he arrived in a deserted corridor in the East end of the castle.

"All clear, Sirius?" James asked.

Lily saw Sirius pull out what appeared to be a blank piece of parchment. Noticing Lily's gaze, he quickly turned away. She heard him mutter something, and a minute later he turned back.

"It's a go, James."

The three boys surrounded Lily, putting her between them and the cold stonewall.

"Listen," Lily began to apologize. "I'm really sorry about that. I know I shouldn't have been talking about Remus's condition like that, but—"

"Lily, how long have you known?" James interrupted.

"Er, about mid sixth year. Ever since I started to notice you—er—you're odd…um…"

Damn, damn, damn! That was close…now if only I could finish the sentence…

"You're odd…erm…"

Okay, different approach…

"You know what!?" Lily assaulted him. "I'm more interested to know why you, a git, thought you could impersonate Remus, who is not, and get away with it!"

"I—"

"With his girlfriend of all people?! How much of an idiot do you think she is!?"

"Well---"

"And were you ever intending to come clean with her?! What kind of selfish prat would do that to an innocent girl?!"

"Er, Prongs?" Sirius jumped in as Lily stopped to breathe. "Isn't this interrogation/intimidation thing supposed to be going the other way?"

"Shut it, Sirius," James said, clearly angry at Lily's accusation. His hardened hazel eyes stayed locked on hers, daring her to look away, as he continued. "Why don't you take Peter and go check on Remus? I'll handle her…"

"Rightio, boss," Sirius mock saluted. "Be gentle," he finished with a wicked grin, then made his way down the hall, Peter scurrying behind him.

Once James was sure they were gone, he had a go at Lily.

"How dare you think I did this to benefit myself! Don't you think I tried to get him to tell her the truth!"

"James I—" Lily started, taken aback by James's anger.

"Don't interrupt me. The bottom line is, my friend was in trouble. He needed help. So I helped. You know why, Lily?"

Lily shook her head helplessly, speechless at James's fury.

"Because that's what friends do! They help each other! Either way, Gwen was going to be hurt, and this was the way Remus wanted it, so I obliged—"

"I'm sorry, James."

"I SAID DON'T-what?"

"I'm sorry. I should have had more faith in your character than that," Lily looked away from James, a tinge of pink touching her cheeks. "I guess I'm still getting used to that whole friends thing…"

James cupped her face in his hand, forcing her to look at him, and sending shivers of pleasure through her body.

"It's okay, Lils. It was a pretty stupid thing to do," he admitted.

Lily smiled her agreement and reluctantly pulled away from James. They began to walk companionably towards Gryffindor tower. After several minutes of silence, Lily looked up at James questioningly.

"Code fuzzy bunny?"

…………………………………………………………………………………………….

James's return to Gryffindor tower found three sullen Marauders moping in James's private dorm.

"I take it things didn't go so well with Gwen, eh?" James asked up on his entrance.

Remus shook his head despairingly from his spot on the bed.

"Do you mind my asking what happened?"

"She basically gave me an ultimatum. Tell the truth, or lose her. I guess I hesitated a bit too long, cuz a minute later she was gone. She said something about me not being the man she thought I was…" Remus laughed bitterly. "Isn't that the truth…"

"So you two are…er…on a break?"

"More like a permanent hiatus, I should think." Remus admitted ruefully.

It was then that Peter made his first semi-intelligent statement of the year.

"Why didn't you just tell her the truth?"

A pained look came across Remus's face as he answered. "I don't think I could bear the look on her face if I did. The disgust on her face when she's realized she's been dating a thing."

"She hasn't been dating a thing!" James immediately put in. "She's been dating you, Remus Lupin."

The four boys were silent, scattered in various points in the room, mulling over the events of the last two days.

"Well," Sirius said after a time, in a rather brighter tone than should be allowed in the circumstances. "No use lingering over spilt butterbear! I mean, it's sticky really, and soon the fly's will come…"

James raised his ebony eyebrows at his friend.

"It's true! What we need a distraction. As I always say, distraction is the cure for a broken heart."

Surprisingly, Remus chuckled. "Padfoot, usually I worry quite a lot about your logic, but for once, I agree with you."

"So what do we have in mind?" Peter asked.

"Well, I am on something of a quest…" James began, only to be interrupted by his shaggy haired friend with an uncanny impression of a certain mad knight.

"A quest, good sirs! We're on to conquer scurvy Slytherins or die bravely in battle!"

Sirius swung his arm wildly in the air, as if brandishing a sword. He then plunged it in the general direction of Peter's heart, who proceeded to die a rather gruesome death.

"That's not exactly what I had in mind…"James said. "I know I said I could be just friends with Lily, but I can't. The more time I spend with her, the more I want to violate her in not so friendly ways!"

Sirius gave an appreciative chuckle.

"Anyway, Moony, I was wondering what you were going to suggest before we got…erm…interrupted."

Remus thought back for a moment. "Oh right…I was going to tell you to write her a love letter."

Wide-eyed looks of horror met his suggestion. It seemed to James that he had officially lost his gobstones.

"You must be nutters…" James said in a hoarse whisper.

Moony rolled his eyes at his three best friends, wondering if they were ever going to get a clue. Surprise support came from Sirius, however.

"You know Prongsy…the idea's got merit. Girls flip over the kind of mush…"

James looked over to Peter.

"Where do you stand in this, Wormtail?"

"Well, if Moony thinks it's a good idea…"

"Fat lotta help you are…" James muttered darkly. "Do you really think she'll buy it, Moony?"

"If you go about it the right way, yes. You have to compliment her. Tell her what you like about her the most."

"Well, for starters, she's got a great set of—"

"Sirius!" James cut him off. "I beg you not to finish that sentence."

"Eyes! I was going to say eyes!"

"Sure you were Padfoot, sure you were," Remus said, shaking his head. "But James, I recommend mentioning areas above the neck…"

And with that the Marauders set about their most daunting quest yet.

………………………………………………………………………………….

After an exhausting day of catching up on homework, Lily made her way up to Gryffindor Tower. She mumbled the password (ironically enough, werewolf), and made a beeline for her dormitory. The fiery haired vixen flopped on her bed and was about to bury her head in her pillows when she noticed something rather odd.

On her pillow was a thick looking envelope with her name scrawled across in ruby colored ink.

Curious, she opened it, and out fell a crushed lily. She then pulled out a letter, neatly folded into thirds.

Lily,

I'm not much for fancy words or poetry, but there's something that you deserve to know.

I can't get you out of my mind. Even my dreams are haunted by your emerald eyes or your melodious laugh. I can't help but want to be near you.

And it's not just your looks, either. (Which are top notch, by the way…) It's because of the way your nose wrinkles up when you're puzzled, and the way you smile at everyone, even if they don't deserve it. It's because of the way you laugh at my jokes, even if they aren't funny. (Which is often.) But mostly, it's because of the way you look at me when I've made you happy. I would eat Snape's underwear ten times over just to have you look at me that way once more.

My heart, Lily, belongs to you.

Yours,

James

Lily's first thought was 'This is the sweetest thing I've ever read.' Unfortunately, logic kicked in, and her second thought was 'What is he playing at?'

"JAMES!" Lily bellowed, storming into the common room, where he apparently had been waiting for her, as he hopped up from a nearby chair, a grin on his face. The grin immediately dissipated when he saw the look Lily was sporting, however.

"Lily, what is it? I thought you would like—"

"I THOUGHT WE AGREED NO MORE PRANKS! YOU CAN'T GO AND PLAY WITH PEOPLES EMOTIONS LIKE THIS! IT'S NOT RIGHT, JAMES!"

"It's not a prank, Lils," James responded, looking earnestly into Lily's anger filled eyes.

"Wha…what?" she said, taken aback.

Encouraged by Lily's lack of shouting, James pushed on.

"Lily, ever since we became friends, I find myself caring for you more and more. I can't stand being this close to you, and still not have all of you. I really like you, Lils."

A battle like never before raged between Lily's heart and mind. As per usual, her mind won out.

"No," she nearly whispered, for her heart was till putting up a valiant effort.

"No?" James repeated, dumbfounded.

"No," Lily said, firmly squashing her heart back to where it belonged. Which proved to be a much easier task than expected, as it had been ripped in two when she refused perhaps the only boy she had ever truly cared for.

James was still trying to process what she had said, but managed to get out a strangled "Why?"

Lily took a deep breath, summoning all her remaining strength and fighting tears at the same time.

"Why James? Because I can't stand to be just another notch on your wand, that's why!"

Upon sneaking a glimpse of James's face, Lily decided that honesty was not always the best policy. His expression was quickly turning from dumbfounded to angry, and, to Lily's horror, a tear actually dribbled down her cheek as she looked at him.

"Another notch? ANOTHER NOTCH!" James exploded at her, grabbing her face in the same way he did earlier that morning. Only this time, there was no affection in his touch, only anger.

"How could you say that, Lily?!" Hurt now mingled with the fury in his voice. "First, my affections are a prank, and next I just want to score with you! This is the second time today that you have completely misjudged me. This time, I don't know that I'm inclined to forgive."

With that James stormed into his own dormitory, slamming the door on the tearful witch, and whatever love he had for her.

A/N- Gah!! I hate to leave you like that, but…what can I do? They made me write it like that…remember, the more reviews, the sooner the next chapter comes up! So click that friendly little button in the lower left corner!