"Morning Marlene," Potter greeted me with a smile as I walked into the entrance hall with Mary on Monday. He'd never used my first name before and it sounded odd on his lips, but I decided I didn't mind it.

"Morning Potter," I told him.

"We're going on a date next weekend and you can't call me James?" He grinned.

"Right, sorry James," I told him somewhat sheepishly. "Just habit I guess."

I hadn't told any of the girls about my conversation with Potter two nights previously. I had been excited to tell them when we got back to our dorm on Saturday night but everyone else had collapsed straight into bed, and when I woke up on Sunday I was suddenly worried about what they would say. I was sure they would assume, as I had, that this was some new ploy to win Lily's affections, and so I had kept it to myself yesterday. I looked up at Mary hesitantly, and was glad to see that she looked curious and a bit confused but not angry.

As we sat down opposite Pott- I mean James - and Pettigrew, Mary poked me in the leg and hissed; "why didn't you tell me?"

I just shrugged helplessly and whispered back "I'll explain later."

I turned my attention to filling my plate, unsure as to how I should act around James now that we were – or would be - dating. I looked up at him and smiled when I caught him watching me, and felt slightly better when he blushed and glanced away, apparently not knowing how to talk to me either. The silence between the four of us was starting to get awkward so I nudged Mary in the side and asked who she was going to Hogsmeade with.

"Oh you know, I've just had soo many offers I can't decide!" She drew the words out for dramatic effect. "There's Alice, or Lily or Marlene, oh wait, silly me, Marls is taken!" I blushed in embarrassment, afraid she was going to tell James that I hadn't filled them in, but the two boys laughed and she didn't say any more.

"Well if you need some extra entertainment for the day, you could spend the day with Remus and I trying to stop Sirius from buying Zonko's out of dungbombs," Pettigrew suggested.

"Psh, you shouldn't have said that Peter," Black appeared behind him, usual roguish grin in place. "Now I'm not only going to buy them out, I'm going to make an effort to drop at least one a week when you're around without telling you."

James and Lupin, who had entered with Black, both groaned. "Pete! You can't risk these things, you know we'll both get hit too!" James told him.

"Sorry!" Pettigrew told them, smiling despite himself.

I caught James' eye over the table and mouthed; "this better not happen when I'm around." He cracked up laughing. Mary and Pettigrew looked at us curiously as we both laughed over apparently nothing, but I didn't feel the need to explain.

After we had finished eating, Potter stood and looked at me awkwardly. "So, Marlene, want to walk to Charms together?" He asked. The others all looked down at their plates as I stammered out a yes and we left together, but I heard them laughing as we walked away.

"Sorry if that was super weird," Potter said sheepishly, running his hands through his hair. "I wanted to talk to you alone and there's no subtle way to do it really when we all have the same classes and live in the same dorms."
"It's fine," I told him with a smile. "I can't think of a subtle way to say it either. So what did you want to talk about?"

"Erm – I'm not really sure," he chuckled. "Just thought we should spend some time together since I don't really think we've ever talked just the two of us."

"Yeah, it's true I guess," I told him. "So, tell me about James Potter."

"Well, what would you like to know?"
"Hmm, well I know about your family – at least that you're pureblood and have no siblings, since I've met your parents at your house and mine – it's sort of weird that we haven't spent more time together considering we're in the same house, and our parents are friends, isn't it?" I mused, distracted from his question.

"Yeah, I suppose it is," James replied. "I mean, we've been around each other a lot but never really spent time talking to each other. I guess we've always both had other friends around."

"Yeah, that's true," I agreed. "Why don't you tell me more about your family anyway, like what do your parents actually do? I don't think I know that."
"Well, Mum's an Auror, Dad works in the Department of International Magical Cooperation. They're both purebloods but not at all traditional, and they don't buy any of this blood purity nonsense going around. What about your parents?"

"My mum was a quidditch player with the Harpies but she's retired now and runs a quidditch supplies shop. Dad's a Healer at St. Mungos – my older brother, Mark is in training there too now, I'm sure you've met him?" I said.

James nodded enthusiastically. "That's right, he was telling me about it at the Christmas party last year. I like Mark – it must have been fun growing up with a brother." He sounded a little bit wistful and I thought about how lonely it must have been as an only child.

"It was a good childhood – my family is great, but my brother did drive me nuts sometimes when we were younger," I told him. "Did you have any cousins or friends around as a kid?"

"No cousins, my Dad was an only child as well and my Mum has a sister; my aunty Geraldine, but she never had kids. Lots of friends though, like the Longbottoms, Prewetts and Shacklebolts. Now Sirius lives with us in the holidays so he's like my brother and Remus and Pete are around a lot, so it's really not that different to Hogwarts," he was smiling and I didn't feel so bad for him anymore.

"I didn't know Black lived with you, that must keep things interesting," I said.

"Yeah, it's good fun having him around. Was a bit weird to adjust to at first but we definitely don't get bored," he explained. I wanted to ask why Black was there in the first place, but I knew from Hogwarts gossip that his family situation wasn't exactly ideal and I didn't want to sound like I was prying. I was trying to think of something else to say, but James asked me a question about my brother's training and we talked about that until we arrived at the classroom.

"Well, here we are at Charms," James said with an odd hand gesture. "I'd ask you to sit with me but I know we're practising non-verbal charms again and I don't think Evans would be too pleased about me stealing her partner and sticking her with Peter, so..." he trailed off, not sure how to finish the sentence. I smiled at him, following his gaze to Lily who was already there, evidently having skipped breakfast to finish her Charms homework before class.

"No worries James, thanks for walking with me here. I guess we'll talk later," I told him, walking over to sit next to Lily. She looked up when she heard my voice, and greeted me with a confused edge to her voice. As the classroom filled up with chattering students she asked me quietly; "Did you just walk in here with Potter? Just the two of you?"
"Umm, yeah." I told her, pulling out my books to avoid having to look at her. I knew that I would have to tell her about my date with James but I felt awkward about it and wasn't sure how to say it.

"So?" She asked pointedly. "Did he have you under the Imperius curse or something?"
"No," I told her, smiling at her incredulity. "I wanted to walk here with him." There was another pause, but I could see from her face that she was going to continue asking questions until she got what she wanted so I decided to just tell her.

"James asked me to go to Hogsmeade with him. I wasn't expecting it, but I get along well with him and no one ever asks me on dates so I said yes. And I don't want you to try and talk me out of it." I told her, the last sentence coming out more harshly than I'd intended it to.

"I wasn't going to talk you out of Marls," she said looking wounded. "If you want to go with him then I'm happy for you. I mean, I think you're a bit crazy, but I'm happy for you."

"Well, thanks," I told her with a small smile. "I appreciate that. Now I have something serious to talk about - do you mind if I borrow your green top for Hogsmeade?" Lily laughed at me and said it was fine, and I relaxed, suddenly wondering why I'd been so worried about telling her in the first place.