Quidditch was not the only thing on the minds of the seventh years that November. Each week their professors invented new and challenging pieces of homework that Lily thought were specifically engineered to keep her away from James. Even he and Sirius were cracking down on their work, which meant that they began writing things in their notebooks. Whether it was concocting Truth Serum (Sirius nearly had his eyebrows singed off) or catching lobalugs in the lake (Peter suffered a poisonous sting and was carted straightaway to Madam Pomfrey), the seventh years were busy. Too busy. The amount of free time grew increasingly slim, punctuated for Lily and James only by kindly patrols. After a particularly arduous Charms class where they tried charming their partners for fiery pepper breath (Lily was the first to manage this one, leading James to set Snape on fire with great blasts from his mouth) Lily took a nice stroll around the grounds with her friends.

The mid-November light illuminated the highly colored landscape. To Lily, the quilt of leaves was a bittersweet reminder that this was indeed her last year at Hogwarts. She couldn't help but feel the tiniest bit sad as looked at her laughing friends. The Marauders did not have this period free and so it was just the girls with the addition of one new face. Mafalda Hopkirk joined them on their walks more and more, due to Emmeline. The two spent a lot of time together since Mafalda had begun officially dating Benjy Fenwick and he and Caradoc Dearborn were like shadows. Lily liked the younger girl: she was witty and funny and smart without being a know-it-all. In addition, Mafalda was sometimes awkward in the presence of four older girls from outside her own house, but she tried not to show it. Lily liked that. Lily also felt a kinship with Mafalda because she got the impression that Mafalda was popular and didn't have many close friends, a position Lily had known well.

Emmeline was telling a story, something about one of the boys she had and the time he had sat in her front yard for three hours until she hexed him off. The other girls were chuckling appreciatively and Lily forced herself to tune in when Mafalda shook her pleated brown hair and said thoughtfully,

"I would worry about that if I were you, Marlene."

"Pardon?" questioned Marlene, wrapping her robes more closely around herself. Mafalda seemed a little tentative to go on.

"I said I would worry about that if I were you. I mean, you do know what that Slytherin's been saying, right?"

"What?" asked Dorcas sharply. Marlene looked nervous

"That Travers fellow. The one in your year," continued Mafalda slowly. "He's a little off, isn't he? But I heard it from Agatha Timms that he's been saying an awful lot about you. I think he likes you."

"But I never really met him and I've hardly even talked to him!" Marlene protested.

"He's infatuated, more like," said Emmeline disdainfully before Lily cut in.

"Mafalda, what exactly did he say?'

"He said—well, I heard he said—that he was going to ask Marlene out to Hogsmeade in December. And that he would have done…more…. sooner, if it hadn't been for…." Mafalda faltered and was immensely interested in an invisible piece of fuzz on her scarf.

"If it hadn't been for what?" prodded Lily. Mafalda fixed Lily with an odd sideways glance.

"You, Lily. He was saying that he could deal with Marlene being a Gryffindor (and I don't think he meant 'deal' in a nice way) but he couldn't if she went around with—with Lily."

"Although that's not what he really said, is it?" asked Dorcas shrewdly. Mafalda shook her head.

"No, he used…other language. And I know he really hates James. And Sirius. And Remus. I mean, he really hates them. Not Peter so much, though I don't know why…but he hates the other three. Him and Rosier and Wilkes and Snape, they all do. Then again they aren't exactly ready to go dancing with Caradoc or Benjy either," she added matter-of-factly, "but your boyfriend's got them in a right twist."

"I can't believe Travers is still on that!" Marlene was still clearly distraught. "I mean, I straightenedhim out last time. How can he fancy me after I told him I didn't like him—"

"You did what?" gaped Emmeline, snapped Lily, and roared Dorcas in unison. Mafalda opened her mouth and closed it again. Marlene colored pink and red.

"You said you just told him no to Hogsmeade!" accused Lily.

"Well I did, I did I swear, but he had asked why and I said…I said it was because I was scared of him!" beseeched Marlene, whose cheeks were going purple. "And I was! And I am! And I told him that I liked someone else—that I didn't like him—and I don't know why he liked me! And he just sort of twitched and I ran for it and that's it! Honest." Emmeline simply shook her head. Dorcas was still puzzling this all out when Lily pushed back her hair furiously.

"Of all the times to be assertive Marlene, of all the times! You can't just tell him things like that and not say a damn—"

"You looked like James," interrupted Mafalda quietly. Both Marlene and Lily turned to stare at her, Lily's chest heaving. How could Marlene tell him he was frightening? Just the sort of thing that creep needs to know!

"What?"

"You looked like James," she repeated. "Just now. You messed up your hair and everything." Emmeline and Dorcas shared a slow smile.

"What?" Lily was irritable. "This is about Travers, everyone, and how our favorite closet maniac is going to dismember Marlene—"

"I said I was sorry," apologized Marlene sheepishly. "I just panicked."

"No harm, no foul," breezed Emmeline lightly, putting her arm around Marlene. "Next time, don't tell boys that they frighten you. It's not polite."

"Emmeline, how can you just skate over this?" demanded Lily. "He could really be dangerous—"

"You didn't seem so sure of that when you were defending those Slytherins back in September," replied Dorcas evenly. Lily rolled her eyes.

"Dorcas, you have the memory of an elephant. And I'm not defending them now, am I, with that bunch turning up everywhere to hex people—"

"It's not really that big of a deal," piped up Mafalda Hopkirk, even though she seemed as if she was only half at ease. "Loads of boys are obsessed with girls. Look at James and you."

"James didn't kill rats for fun," shot back Lily.

"And I'm never going to end up with Travers, and certainly not like you two," shuddered Marlene.

"Like us two how?"

"Like you're both becoming the same person," chimed in Emmeline. Comprehension dawned on Lily like a clear morning. They had been talking this over amongst themselves. Knowing the craftiness of Emmeline, the girls had probably been leading up to a moment like this all week. Inquisition time. With a sigh, Lily let the other subject slip.

"What are you talking about?" This was naturally the question Emmeline most wanted to hear.

"The way you two are always laughing and the way that sometimes you two make the same jokes and don't even know it. Even though yours were never much good—" Lily gave another dramatic sigh. Marlene giggled and returned to her natural color. "—you and James are getting alike."

"And you're picking up each other's habits," interceded Dorcas. "It's only been months but already your hands are going to your hair more, like they did just now. And you sometimes speak alike too, like if you both say 'bloke.'"

"You have done the thing properly, haven't you?" Lily asked drolly.

"So," said Emmeline business-like, "do you like him?"

"Of course I do."

"A lot?"

"Yes, I guess," replied Lily slowly. "Why?"

"We were just wondering if you intended to keep this up after Hogwarts," said Dorcas bluntly, characteristically forthright.

"I…well, yes, sure," stammered Lily, a small part of her mind dryly wondering how the tables had turned so much. The larger part of her mind was badgering her heart for an answer to Drocas. It would certainly be lovely after Hogwarts but for one of the first times in her life, Lily hadn't thought far into the future. Being with James was very much being in the 'here and now' because he was that kind of person, and Dorcas' implied question unlocked a barrage of fears and worries, which always seemed to come before any good thoughts. Would James even want to? "Yes," she reiterated, "if I can."

"We were hoping you'd say that," added Dorcas.

"And we were hoping that you'd think it over too," chimed in Marlene.

"Because," Emmeline pronounced, "we don't want you coming up with any stupid ideas about what is happening here."

"What do you mean?" asked Lily quickly.

"About you and James," answered Dorcas.

"Your friends intend to pave the road of your relationship, so to speak, for you," said Emmeline.

"Wha—is this some kind of—"

"No," enforced Emmeline firmly. "We're perfectly serious. We don't want you and James to mess up."

"You're too nice together," smiled Dorcas.

"And James had been trying to long—and you've been trying to ignore your feelings for too long—for either of you to ruin things by doing something dumb," explained Emmeline. "Which you are both entirely capable of doing."

"So if you're going to go off, don't do it half baked," advised Dorcas.

"And ask us first, because we like the new you," Emmeline concluded. They're like trained canaries.

"And we have been thinking about you a lot because we care, so don't get angry," said Marlene. Naturally Marlene would say something like that… But Lily couldn't put off thinking about what they had said. Was it really so obvious that she and James got along so well? Lily was surprised that her friends were so worried or rather, concerned, with stopping her from befouling her relationship with James. She hadn't realized that they cared so much or paid so much attention to her—Lily knew that a dangerous wetness was poking up behind her eyes and she quickly turned on Mafalda, swallowing hard to suppress the warmth spreading through her face.

"Were you in on this too?" she demanded, not unkindly. Mafalda had the decency not to be smiling; she simply shook her head.

"Didn't even know it was happening. Didn't know that much," she clarified under Emmeline's watchful glare. Lily turned away to look at her three friends, who were grinning widely.

"Thank you…" she said, and the words were very difficult to say. They seemed to understand. "I'll try not to do anything brainless."

"I don't think it will matter," shrugged Dorcas. "James will probably just think you're being cute even though you're totally halfstand a good deal of the time." Lily just smiled.

"You're so lucky, Lily," sighed Marlene dreamily. "What a thing you've got going…it must be wonderful…"

Lily decided to redouble her efforts to unite Marlene and Remus.

The first step in any successful scheme was to ally oneself with James Potter and Sirius Black. Lily was no fool and therefore, she managed to carefully corner the both of them inside their Ancient Runes class just as it let out before dinner (they were still at their desks, transfiguring each other's notes into various angry animals). Remus stood around and waited patiently, giving Lily a small smile in greeting. She beamed back with a vigor that might have surprised Remus had he not spent that last ten minutes watching his best friends duel with their parchment.

James was deep in concentration, prodding his porcupine to attack Sirius' vulture, transforming the vulture into a worm. Sirius made the worm a bobcat and the desk nearly overturned as James quickly swelled the porcupine into a bald eagle. Lily shot a look at the professor, a balding man she could never remember the name of who was muttering to himself at his desk, oblivious to the students.

"Ahem." Lily cleared her throat to announce her presence. Sirius sighed and returned his bobcat (which was being pecked at by the eagle) to its natural form: a slim notebook entitled Ancient Runes in messy handwriting. James did the same.

"The old ball-and-chain, Prongs," nodded Sirius with a smile while Lily threw a quill at him. James merely smiled and stood up.

"Hey." They kissed lightly before Lily turned around and said to Remus,

"Remus, Madam Pomfrey wanted to see you. Something about your last visit?"

"Right," said Remus quickly, gathering up his stuff in haste. "I'll catch up later at dinner." He left. Lily barely had time to marvel how well her lie had worked before James caught her attention again.

"So what are you doing here? Don't I usually walk you to dinner?"

"Today will be different," Lily declared. "Today, I have come to pick the two of you up because we have to discuss Remus." Whatever she was expecting, it was not James' jaw dropping and Sirius shooting out of his chair quickly.

"What are you saying?"

"That I know that you know about Remus and Marlene," started Lily slowly, quizzically wondering what was going on.

"Ah, that," Sirius smirked, his body relaxing at once. "You know?"

"Yes, but Marlene doesn't."

"Know that you know or know that we know?"

"Padfoot, don't be an arse," interrupted James, slinging his bag on his shoulder as they head off for the Great Hall. "And that thing about Madam Pomfrey was a lie?"

"It was a diversion," qualified Lily. "To get Remus out of the way so I could find out what you knew."

"And what makes you think we'll tell?" asked Sirius slyly.

"Because you'd like to see Remus happy as much as I'd like to see Marlene happy," retorted Lily. James smiled and put an arm around her.

"Sharp as a tack. What do you want to know?"

"Everything."

"More specifically…?"

"All right…erm…" Lily was glad that James and Sirius were so willing to cooperate. "Does Remus really like Marlene?"

"Yes," supplied Sirius. "Doesn't talk about it but we know."

"Do you think he wants to go out with her?"

"Yes, in his own way," said James. "Remus is kind of…neurotic." Sirius smiled.

"Good word for it, Prongs."

"Thanks." James grinned. "Anyway, you may have noticed it but he beats himself up a lot for things that really aren't his fault. He's taking an early ride round the twist."

"But he would be willing to ask her?"

James hesitated. "Yes…eventually."

"He'd need some prodding," put in Sirius.

"But he wouldn't like it if she brought up something to him?" The boys looked at each other and shrugged. Sirius answered.

"We'll find out if she does. I personally think it would be good for old Moony if he had—er, that is, if he went out with someone." Lily got the distinct impression that Sirius had retrained himself from using other terminology and she was fairly grateful.

"I take it you're on our side? Cajoling the lovebirds together?" asked James with an amused expression. "Me and Padfoot and Wormtail are all for it." Lily grinned back up at him.

"I'm in." James leaned over and kissed her on the cheek.

"Wonderful."

Yes, it is, agreed Lily mentally. With James and Sirius working on this, Remus and Marlene would be together by Thursday.

This chapter is pretty obvious, I kind of liked it. Or at least parts of it.

The third book is my favorite, actually, because of the Quidditch game ;) And I empathize with Remus so besides the eventual Marlene sadness he won't have any other troubles. I think.

THANKS TO EVERYONE WHO READ THIS AND REVIEWED