"So, Prongsy, my love, what's going on with Lil Red over there? Score big last night?" Sirius asked, the smirk on his face hinting that his question was not as innocent as it sounded. He had a knack for asking what the rest of the Marauders were thinking, especially when they were too scared to ask themselves.

Peter nearly spat out his cereal trying to hold back a laugh. "Sirius!" He elbowed his friend and gave him a look.

"Wow, Padfoot. Subtle. Y'know, my plan was to wait until he was ready to share his developments," Remus said, playfully hitting Sirius on the shoulder with a piece of muffin hastily torn apart and thrown across the table.

James looked back and forth between his best friends. He contemplated lying about the encounter with Lily Evans, making up a story about how some tension had arisen regarding their Head partnership. He weighed the pros and cons of telling the full truth quickly in his head, and ultimately decided that there was no use in lying, and besides, he could use some advice. So he let out a small sigh, which was quickly followed unconsciously by the tiniest of smiles. He glanced down the long table at the object of his confusion and desire. "Well, no. Scoring wasn't really on the agenda for our Head meeting. We, um, talked."

The other three boys shared a look, knowing that clearly he wasn't ready to talk about his night. When the time was ready, and he had properly led up to it, he'd share, and they'd overanalyze everything Lily Evans had to say about James Potter, making plans and all the rest. But until then, they might just have to settle with "we talked."

But not if they could help it.

"Oh. Nice," Sirius said, shoveling a sausage into his mouth to prevent something sarcastic and probably crude from slipping out.

Remus took over, much more experienced at the art of subtlety and prying information from someone. "What'd you talk about? The whole huge gigantic crush thing? The bullying? What'd she say?"

Did I say subtlety? I meant bluntness.

James smiled again, this time into his coffee. "Uh, no, actually. We talked about a book series we both really love. For a pretty long time, actually. And we laughed a lot. She's really funny. And she said I was funny. And then we.. Um.."

The other three Marauders stared at him while he fixated on his plate, moving eggs around with a fork for an unreasonable amount of time, refusing, or maybe just unable, to complete his sentence.

Finally, Peter broke the silence. "You what?!"

"We kissed."


"So how did everything go last night with Potter?" There it was. The big question that Lily had been anticipating since Alice arrived at the table. So far they had discussed the classes they had to tolerate that day, the evening's activities, essays that needed writing, the new 6th year relationship drama between several members of Ravenclaw and Gryffindor houses, and now it was finally time to get down to brass tacks. "Spill!"

What harm could actually come from telling Alice, right? She'd probably be able to provide some really helpful insight, actually. She had a lot of experience with relationships, and flings, and even some one night stands. She'd know how to approach the situation.

So Lily bore all, and told Alice about the bonding over Hitchhiker's Guide, and their long conversation, and all the joke, and the kissing (and subsequent dying and rebirthing), and then the less than romantic ending to the night and weird late night confusion, and then the awkwardness this morning.

"So what do I do?" Lily finished.

Alice took a moment, letting all the newly acquired information sink in before responding to her new friend. "I think he's into you. But I know James, we're sorta friends. He doesn't seem like he talks about feelings or anything with anyone except the Marauders, so it would be hard for me to snoop around and find out."

"Oh god, no, please don't snoop!" Lily shook her head, before burying it in her hands. "This feels like first year. It's so dramatic. I don't even know if I like him. For god's sake, I've hated him for years! This is all just very confusing, and I think that I'm just in shock from all of his.. Confessions." She ignored the pointed look Alice was giving her. "I probably don't even really like him. Even as a friend. I don't even really know him."

She glanced down the table to where the Marauders sat, letting her eyes wander as long as they possibly could before they absolutely had to settle on the slightly disheveled figure of the Head Boy, only to see that he had been looking at her, too. Their eyes met, and for a moment, neither looked away. Lily felt herself beginning to smile before she shook herself out of her kiss induced trance and broke the eye contact. She forced herself to stare at her eggs, only half listening to Alice as she eventually changed the subject to their upcoming Potions class that afternoon.

When a suitable amount of time had passed, she figured it was safe to steal another peek at James. His hair was so wild and soft looking, his glasses were as crooked as his grin, and he still had a scar on his chin from that Quidditch accident in 4th year. His robes had a dribble of orange juice right down the front, and he was shoveling food into his mouth, but somehow, Lily couldn't help but think he looked perfect.

Shit.

A/N: Told ya I'd be updating again soon! Let me know what you're thinking about this chapter in the reviews! Thanks for reading!

-Chloe