"Balderdash," James said to a portrait of a young girl with a huge pearl earring.

The portrait turned her stern gaze towards him, clearly affronted, before saying – "excuse me but you're balderdash."

Beside him, James growled as he listened to Evans laughing.

"Mature," he hissed to her, before glaring at the portrait. "That's the password."

James grinned as the girl blushed. "Right," she said, flustered. "Here you go – enjoy." He waited till she swung open before waving Evans inside, ignoring her look of shock.

Inside, the Head's common room was the exact same set up as the Gryffindor common room only smaller and with a small kitchenette on the sidewall. Two stone staircases lead to a narrow landing with two wooden doors on either end and one in the middle. James pushed the middle one open and almost laughed at the sight.

"Shared bathroom," he said, relishing in the look of horror on Evans face. "Mmm no lock either. Pity."

"Yeah you sound it," Evans snapped. She quickly pulled her wand from her pocket, pointing it at the door and performing some spell non-verbally. "Try messing with it and I'll know."

She turned to leave, but for some reason James felt the need to call her back. Lily didn't turn around but she stopped. It wasn't much but it certainly was a start. At the end of sixth year Remus had given him a pep talk on all the things Evans hated about him and all the things he probably shouldn't do in her presence – such as asking her out every second and hexing boys that tried talking to her. He then suggested that maybe James should take a stab at the whole friends thing – actually get to know her properly, not just asking her out because she was pretty.

Now that he had her attention he didn't know what to say. Should he apologize? He didn't think she'd buy that though. If she'd only turn around he might calm down a little – didn't he deserve that? Okay probably not, but still. He hadn't tried anything stupid yet. She's probably waiting for it, he thought. Then mentally slapped himself. Oh Merlin. He must look like a fool right now, not that she was even looking at him but still…

Evans spun around, hands on hips. "Want me to spell it out for you since you're now to lazy to even speak?" She said, her voice clear and sharp. "If you're going to ask me out: no thanks. If you're asking for my permission to hex Snape into next month: don't bother because I've already made plans to do that. If you want to copy my homework for the rest of the year you're dreaming. And if you want me to wheedle your way out of detention again I won't because I really don't know what was going through my mind. Is that all?"

James wasn't sure if laughing would help right now, except to make her more angry which he certainly didn't need. If he pointed out that she was wrong she'd probably laugh in his face then storm off. Sometimes he forgot why he even bothered; she obviously didn't think him worth her time.

Evans then did something he wasn't expecting. She frowned and took a step closer. Her hands loosened a little and her face lost some of its angry red colour. Something was going on behind her head and he really couldn't figure it out but whatever this was he was definitely walking on eggshells.

"Want some help with Snape?" He asked, knowing instantly that it was the wrong thing to say.

Her face moulded back into a scowl. "I'm perfectly capable," she said.

James shifted on his feet. "Yeah I know," he rushed. "You've said that a few times actually." Once again he knew those were the wrong words.

"Then are you just forgetful?" She snapped.

"Padfoot did once use a memory charm on me once," he said. Jokes were good. He couldn't somehow offend her if he kept the conversation about him – unless she starting thinking he was self-centered. Right now he really wasn't sure.

To his surprise Evans laughed – a sound that made James want to laugh back. It was light and soft and cheerful. But then she caught herself and tried to pull a straight face. Deciding it was okay to continue James launched into his story.

"It was third year I think," he started. "He and Moony had been having a wrestling match on my bed and he broke this vase my Aunt sent me for Christmas. Horrible thing really. But I guess he thought I'd been mad and decided to try modifying my memory so I wouldn't remember that I even owned it. He ended up wiping all my memories of my cat. You can't believe how shocked I was to return home I find out that we owned a cat, and had owned one since I was four."

Evans looked torn between three emotions. "I can't figure out if that's funny or stupid or just plain mean."

James laughed. "Funny," he told her. "Definitely funny."

Evans cocked an eyebrow. "Sure Potter," she said, looking at him funny. "Night."

"Night Evans," James replied.

(HP)(HP)(HP)(HP)(HP)(HP)(HP)(HP)(HP)(HP)(HP)(HP)(HP)(HP)(HP)(HP)(HP)(HP)(HP)(HP)(HP)(HP)(HP)(HP)(HP)(HP)(HP)(HP)

"This might be the first actual breakfast where Prongs isn't staring at Evans like a love sick puppy," Sirius said, stabbing a whole sausage and attempting to stick the whole thing in his throat.

"I can't believe I'm letting you date my cousin," James groaned as he watched Sirius choke on the sausage.

Before Sirius had time to defend himself Peter spoke up. "I can't believe Marlene actually said yes to going on a date with him."

"Now that's a valid point," Sirius interstated to Peter. "You on the other hand," he added, turning to James. "Are a complete arse."

"Noted," James said grinning. "And I don't stare like a puppy."

"You used to," Sirius said, now layering six fried eggs atop of a piece of toast. "Looked something like this." He turned to James – wide eyed with his tongue hanging out.

James made a lunge, trying to grab a hold of Sirius tongue but missing. "You've mistaken that for yourself Padfoot."

"You know," Remus interrupted both of them, his eyes on Sirius' plate as the boy started adding pieces of bacon to his pile. "Six eggs is actually beyond bad for you. Unless you like diabetes."

"Diabetes?" Sirius repeated. He picked up his toast, the eggs and bacon wobbling slightly, before trying to take a huge chunk. Now with food in his mouth he added, "Would that taste good with this?"

Remus rolled his eyes. "I thought you were taking Muggle Studies," he said.

"This is Padfoot you're talking about," Peter pointed out.

"I listen," Sirius whined.

James yelped in shock, knocking over Peter's glass of milk as he pulled the Daily Prophet out from under Remus' pile of books. All three Marauders turned to him with equal looks of confusion on their faces.

"This is exactly what I was talking about," James said in a near shout. For a brief second he saw Evans staring at him from down the table but then Peter yanked the paper from his grip and all thoughts of the colour of her eyes in the sunlight vanished.

"Another unidentified attack points to You-Know-Who," Peter read out loud. "What do you mean you were talking about this?"

"I was telling Moony about these attacks on the train," James explained. "Padfoot and I snuck into Dad's office but other than all his news paper clippings it's all really the same. Attack after attack after attack."

"It sounds like they don't know exactly who's attacking us," Remus pointed out.

"This is in the Ministry we're talking about," James said as if that explained everything. "I mean, obviously the Death Eaters aren't going around destroying places then leaving a huge poster with their names on it but who else could it be? Dad reckons the Minister is trying to make it look like the attacks aren't being organized by one single group, rather single attacks."

"Why would that help?" Peter asked curiously.

"It sounds worse, don't you think," Remus started. "It's like the Ministry is trying to ignore the fact that there's a war brewing."

"You can't believe the press anyway," James continued. "They'll say anything to make it look as if everything's fine and under control. These attacks and killings are being grossly underestimated. Sometimes they don't even bother reported them if its small enough."

Remus looked disgusted at that, his face shifting into a grimace. "This is balderdash."

James couldn't help but laugh earning him two reproachful glares and one look of outright horror from Remus. "Sorry," he explained. "It's our password."

"Oh yeah," Sirius said, grinning. The moment was obviously forgotten. "So how's sharing a room with Evans?"

James shrugged. "I tried what you said Moony," he said.

"You did?" Remus couldn't hide the surprise that filled his words. "Did it work?"

James either missed it or chose to ignore it. "I really don't know," he replied truthfully. In all honesty last night had been weird. Evans had given him the time of her mind even though he probably didn't deserve it.

The three marauders stared at him, as if waiting for him to continue but when he didn't they just frowned and turned back to their breakfast. James was in for a strange year.