A/N: Wow, I am really proud of myself here – 3 chapters in one day! Woot!

Disclaimer: I own nothing… especially not Harry Potter

Happy Reading!


Way Eight: Everyone loves a poet!

The next few days of James's life were full of awkward glances and blushing. Unfortunately, neither of these two things was coming from James. It seemed to James, actually, that Sirius and Lily were getting awfully matey over the past few days, and joking around a lot more and glancing at each other a lot more…

No, James mentally scolded himself, you know Sirius would never ever do that to you… he knows how obsessed you are with her…

And yet, James also knew how hard it was for people to control their feelings. But surely, Sirius wouldn't let his feelings get the better of him, would he? James hoped not. Even so, James needed to know for sure.

As James was pondering these thoughts, he saw Sirius and Lily emerge from their Divination class, laughing together. Sirius gave Lily an affectionate shove and she bumped him with the side of her hips. James paled. He quickly pulled his invisibility cloak out of his bag, checked to make sure that nobody was watching, and swung it over his shoulders. James hurried forward, trying to make as little noise as possible, until he was within earshot of their conversation.

"… And James?" Lily asked slowly.

"Nah," Sirius replied with a wave of his hand, "He hasn't figured it out yet. Heck, I don't think he will."

"Good."

"Yeah, you're telling me," Sirius said, "I hate to hide it from him, but can you imagine what he would say if he found out now? It'd be really hard to explain it to him, all of this. Actually, no…" Sirius was silent for a moment. "He'd probably kill me before I got all the words out."

Lily laughed.

"Is he really that gullible?" Lily asked, laughing.

James got very hot in the face all of a sudden. He was angry. So far, James was wondering whether he should expose himself right now or wait to kill Sirius later. He stopped as he realized that Lily and Sirius had stopped, and almost walked into them. Snape had walked out from behind a tapestry pretending to be a solid wall, and he was smirking rather evilly.

"What do you want, Snivellus?" Sirius barked.

"I know what you're up to, Black," Snape sneered, "It's not nice to be – ah – sneaking around behind your best friend's back, is it?"

Sirius didn't wince at all, though he looked slightly nervous.

"How would you know? You haven't got any friends, Sniv," Sirius said, "So lay off."

Snape, instead of getting angry, leaned against the wall and examined his cuticles with interest.

"I could tell him, you know," Snape said lightly.

Lily stepped forward.

"Severus, don't even go there," Lily said, "It's not funny."

Snape stood up straight and strode over to Lily. Instinctively, James was about to reach out and grab Lily when he remembered he was under a cloak. Not to mention, he was supposed to be angry.

Supposed to be angry? That makes no sense…

Sirius grabbed Lily by the hand and pulled her closer to him. Snape got relatively close and stared down his hooked nose at the redhead, who was staring right back.

"Funny?" Snape breathed, "Funny's got nothing to do with it. It's the fact that I like to see you beaten, Black, and the fact that I hate you."

With that, Snape turned to walk away. Before he turned the corner, though, he turned back and said one more thing.

"Watch your backs, ladies, because I might just… slip up."

He cocked an eyebrow and stalked off. Sirius stood, fuming, and Lily was looking nervous.

"I can't stand that kid," Sirius growled, shaking in anger. "Gods, I can't wait till this is over."

"I know, I know," Lily replied, "Don't worry. It'll all be over soon; James'll find out and then it'll be all over."

Lily gave Sirius a hug and Sirius hugged her back, and tightly at that. James was disgusted. Without a word, he spun around and stalked off towards the Owlery, where he could sit by himself, and possibly punch something.

When James got up to the Owlery and found that nobody was there, he released his anger by yelling very loudly.

"AUGHHH!"

James kicked the wall nearest to him, but only accomplished hurting his toes. He stuffed his cloak back into his bag and slumped against the wall, sliding down and onto the only spot of floor not covered with owl droppings. The birds fluttered their wings as if James's outburst had been indecent. James pulled his knees to his chest and moodily placed his chin on his knees. He couldn't believe his ears, and wanted with every fiber of his being to know that he had misinterpreted what he had heard. Bt James couldn't think of anything else that they cold have possibly been talking about. And then there had been that hug…

He stopped himself from thinking any more. Surely something wasn't right. Maybe this was just a terrible, terrible dream. James pinched himself and found that it was not, in fact, a dream. James climbed to his feet and paced the Owlery, occasionally slipping on a bit of owl dropping or crunching a mouse skeleton.

James racked his brain for an excuse, any excuse, really, would suffice. The door to the Owlery suddenly opened and Sirius stepped in. James jumped, slipped, and almost fell onto the excretion-covered floor, but Sirius ran forward and pulled him steady. James didn't thank his friend, but stared at the ground. Sirius didn't seem fazed.

"Hey Prongs, I've been thinking about this whole list thing…"

Oh boy, James thought, Here it comes…

James crossed the room to one of the windows and stared outside.

"…and I've re-written Step Eight."

James turned around slowly.

"You have?"

"Yeah," Sirius said, "You wanna see it?"

James looked outside one last time before turning to Sirius.

"Yeah, I guess."

Sirius, who had the list in his hand, stopped and eyed James warily.

"Are you alright, Prongs?"

James shrugged.

"How's that Arithmacy project going?" James asked with a hint of bitterness in his voice, and Sirius seemed to get the picture right away.

Sirius seemed to grow a tad nervous.

"You know, James, I don't know what you've heard or who you heard it from, but you have to trust me; I would never lie to you."

"Do you like Lily Evans?" James asked Sirius, not taking his eyes away from his friend.

Sirius, to James's surprise, laughed. James scowled as Sirius laughed and laughed until he had to cross the room and hang onto the window for support.

"What's so funny?" James asked, half confused and half upset.

"Where'd you get that idea from?" Sirius asked between laughter.

James, not wanting to tell Sirius he'd been spying, decided that he wasn't going to lie, but nor was he going to give a straight answer.

"You looked awfully cozy that one time in the common room," James said, shrugging.

Sirius looked for a moment as if he didn't remember what James was talking about, and then his mouth formed a silent 'o'.

"Oh yeah, that," Sirius said, "Well, we were working on a project after all. Nothing romantic between her and me or anything."

James and Sirius stared at each other for a moment longer before Sirius added extra assurance.

"I don't like her like that, James. Don't worry about it."

James sighed and his hand traced its familiar path through his dark hair. He wanted to believe Sirius, he really did. So he figured he'd give it another try.

"Yeah, alright," James said, "Now what was that new step?"

Sirius grinned.

"Oh yes, back to the list. Well, it's –"

Sirius stopped as the door creaked open again and Snape, accompanied by Miss Norris, came into the Owlery. Snape, who was carrying a small parcel in his hands, looked up and saw James and Sirius standing there. A smile formed on his thin lips and he smirked at Sirius, who seemed to pale a bit. James knew why, of course, but acted as if he hadn't been eavesdropping.

"Well well well," Snape said in his icy voice, "If it isn't Black and Potter. What a pleasure."

"Back of, Snape," Sirius spat, "Get going."

Snape laughed cruelly.

"I have every right to be here, too, you know," Snape said, "Not that you care about my rights, of course, but they're there nonetheless."

Snape sent his parcel and on his way out, sent a smirk at the duo. As Snape was closing the doors, something fell out of his pocket. Snape didn't notice, but Miss Norris did. The cat bounded up to the mysterious wrapper, sniffed it, and then licked it. Instantly, she froze as if she had been petrified.

"Oh bloody hell," Sirius gasped, and the two boys bounded over to the cat.

Sirius reached out to grab the wrapper that Miss Norris had licked, but James grabbed his wrist.

"Don't touch it!" James warned, "It was from Snape, remember?"

Sirius lowered his hand.

"Right," Sirius said grimly, "Now, what of the cat?"

James scratched his chin thoughtfully, and the door opened yet again. Both men jumped a bit, only to find that it was Lily. When Lily saw Sirius and James kneeling over the frozen Miss Norris, she gasped and ran forward.

"What did you two do?" She exclaimed, "Surely you didn't kill…?"

Sirius shook his head.

"We didn't do it," Sirius said tersely, "Snape did. Kind of."
Lily raised her eyebrows and, before they could stop her, picked up the paper that Miss Norris had licked.

"Kind of?" She repeated, turning over the paper in her hands.

Sirius snatched the paper out of her hands (which James was happy to see, seeing as snatching is not a lovey-dovey thing to do) and looked at it carefully.

"This is a wrapper to an instant petrifaction lolly." Sirius concluded.

"Zonko's product," James added with a nod of verification, "It's easily reversed."

"You just need to get a few drops of Murtlap on there, and you're all set; she should wake up in about an hour," Sirius said.

"And, luckily," said James, "I happen to have some on me."

Lily raised her brows at him.

"Do you always carry around random remedies with you, Potter?" She asked in a taunting voice, though James could tell she was interested.

"I am a man of many latent talents and mysteries," James said, taking out a tiny vial and unscrewing the lid.

He poured the substance down the cat's throat and then put away the vial again. The three of them stood up and stared down at the petrified cat, which now had a faint line of Murtlap dribbling out of its mouth.

"What do we do now?" Lily asked, slightly nervous about fooling around with Filch's cat.

James bent over and picked up the cat by the tail, which was as stiff as the rest of it. Sirius laughed and even Lily couldn't suppress a smile, for the cat looked ridiculous.

"I know a suit of armor that would just love to have Miss Norris over for dinner," James said, and they walked out of the Owlery in a line.

o0o0o

After Miss Norris had been disposed of properly, Lily parted from James and Sirius and went up to the library. Sirius watched as James stared at Lily until she had completely disappeared from sight. He chuckled.

"She really makes you want to do step eight, huh Prongs?" Sirius said tauntingly and James nodded dumbly.

"Hey, wait, what is step eight, anyway?" James asked, snapping back to reality.

Sirius, grinning, drew the parchment James recognized as a copy of the list of 10 ways from his pocket and opened it. He handed it to James and James skipped down to step 8. The original step had a line through it, and had been replaced by something quite different.

Everyone loves a poet.

James laughed out loud.

"Oh no you don't, Padfoot," James said, handing Sirius the paper and backing away slowly, "James Potter does not write poetry. End of story. El Fin."

Sirius smirked.

"Well, Prongs, you do now."

o0o0o

James, after many rewrites and balls of parchment in the rubbish, set down his quill and cracked his knuckles.

"Padfoot, I've got it!" James exclaimed.

Sirius appeared over James's shoulder and scanned the parchment.

"Excellent," Sirius whispered, grinning in the way that James knew only too well as the grin he wore while plotting mischief.

o0o0o

James entered the Great Hall with Sirius, both boys wearing their uniforms. However, instead of his normal hat, James was wearing a purple hat with a red feather and Sirius was carrying a lyre. People, professors included, stopped what they were doing to stare at the duo. James and Sirius were not afraid of embarrassment from this kind of thing – well, under different circumstances. In fact, the four Marauders once performed a tap dance on the teacher's table, but that was a different story entirely.

James and Sirius walked down the aisles until they reached Lily, who, like her friends, was watching with amused looks on their faces. James pointed to Sirius and Sirius began to play random notes on the lyre. James cleared his throat and got down on one knee.

"Oh my tiger lily,

My rose petal,

My beautiful sugar plum,

I do beseech thee,

For not more than your love,

That is taller than the highest tree."

Sirius laughed out loud with his barking laugh, as did many others. Lily blushed, but smiled nonetheless. James, although he knew the poem was terrible, also knew that he was getting his point across. James continued.

"Your eyes are like green pools of pickle juice,

In which I long to swim,

And this poem is just for you,

Or my name is… Jim.

Now I've asked you once or twice…"

"Or half a dozen times," Added Sirius, strumming the lyre randomly.

"And if I had a dollar for every time you've turned me down,

I'd have a billion dimes!"

James gave Lily his trademark grin and she blushed yet again. James, who felt incredibly stupid, as many people were laughing, could do no more than work the audience. He motioned with his arms and acted out his words with motions.

"Now Lily, Lily, Lily,

If you'd give me a chance,

I'd make you really happy,

I'd I'll never, ever again, dance."

James finished and Sirius stuck a terrible-sounding series of notes on the lyre. The Great Hall burst into applause and James stood up. Even Remus was grinning slightly. James swept off his hat and bowed, then turned back to Lily.

"So, come on, Evans, what do you say?" James said, clasping his hands together underneath his chin and bringing his face close to Lily's, "Go out with me?"

Lily smirked slightly and patted the side of James's face as if he were a little kid.

"Sorry Romeo, but not today. You must have missed the mark somewhere around 'pickle juice'."

James groaned and Sirius clapped him on the shoulder.

"Better luck next time, mate," Sirius said, "Or should I call you Romeo?"

James glared at Sirius and put his feathered hat on Sirius's head.

"You'd better not," James said, "Or else."

Sirius smirked.

"Or else what?"

James paused as they exited the Great Hall, the applause following them all the way into the entrance hall. He found that he was feeling rather cheerful, even though he had been turned down yet again; James knew he was getting closer to his goal.

"I'll get back to you on that," James said, "but for now, I must prepare for step nine!"


A/N: If you don't know what a lyre is, I suggest google images. Sorry for the terrible poetry. Google will rule the world!

What is step nine, you ask? Well, I plan on having it up by Monday. So, with any luck, you'll have your penultimate chapter soon!