"Evans, will you go out with me?" James asked sweetly.
Lily and Matilda stared at him, before Lily frowned slightly and said, "No."
0o0o0o0o0o0o0o0o0o0o0o0
James snuck up behind Lily after classes. "Lily, please go out with me?"
Lily glanced at Matilda, who grimaced. "No, James," Lily said, "I told you day before yesterday. No."
0o0o0o0o0o0o0o0o0o0o0o0o0
"Lily, pretty please go out with me? I brought you a flower." James produced a giant, floppy yellow flower that appeared to have fangs.
Matilda laughed as Lily exclaimed, "NO, and that's not even a normal flower, that's one of Professor Sprout's biting flowers. Why would you give me that?"
0o0o0o0o0o0o0o0o0o0o0o0o0o0
"Lily, go out with me?" James asked, twisting his hands behind his back.
Lily stared at him for a moment. Matilda elbowed her. "No, James. I've got to go to class."
0o0o0o0o0o0o0o0o0o0o0o0o0o0o0
"Sirius! Why won't she go out with me?" James plopped dejectedly down slightly above his bed. They were sitting in their dorm doing billywigs, after James had just asked Lily on a date and been turned down. Again.
"I dunno, James," Sirius said dully, spinning slowly through the air. "Maybe the same reason she's said no the past sixteen times?"
"Is she still mad about that thing with Snape at Potions? 'Cause that was three weeks ago, and she really needs to move on."
"No, James, for the last time, I don't think that's it."
"Then what?" James did a small flip, looked around his dorm, and plopped back down again. He'd tried every trick in the book. Normally by now, he'd have gone out with the girl, they'd have lasted a bit, then gone their separate ways. He'd spent the time he could have been dating her trying to date her. It was mind-boggling.
"James, just think. What happens every time you ask her out?" Sirius grinned slightly and flipped over on his side to face James' bed, where James was still floating, staring pathetically at the ceiling.
"She and that girl she's always with look at each other, then she says no," James answered thoughtfully.
"Exactly," Sirius answered back happily. Billywigs always made Sirius cheerful and upbeat for hours afterward, even when facing Snivellus. They had accounted for some confusion and paranoid suspicion on the part of several Slytherins, when he'd talked to them under the influence. "So, what does that tell you?"
"It tells me that she… What does that tell me Padfoot?"
Sirius sighed. "It tells you that she doesn't want to go out with you."
"Are you sure? Because I swear it's telling me something else," James said, floating upside down and looking at Sirius.
"Yes, James. The girl does not like you," Sirius rolled his eyes. "Alas, I fear it is time to move on."
James stayed for a moment staring at a Puddlemere United poster on the wall. The players flitted in and out of sight, smiling and waving.
"She doesn't like me?" he asked, confused. "That can't be right…"
"I'm afraid so, Prongs," Sirius said, watching James closely. He looked rather upset, now staring out the window. Sirius felt he should comfort him. He did a few somersaults; thoughtful ones.
James ran a hand through his hair and mussed it up. He sighed. Sirius rolled his eyes.
The door opened suddenly, and Sirius, paranoid under the influence and quite bored, had his wand pointed at the newcomer in under a second.
It was Moony.
A very confused looking Moony, taking in the wand aimed at his heart with a curious and slightly hesitant look on his face.
"What are you two doing in here?" he asked. His eyes widened. "And why are you floating?"
Sirius lowered his wand. As he attempted to think of a plausible reason for why they were both floating several feet off the floor, it suddenly struck him how odd they must look. He let out a small giggle, then a slightly bigger one. James looked at him and laughed too. Soon they were both rolling on the air, laughing themselves silly.
Remus stared at them, eyes wide. "What have you two been doing?" he asked, sounding disturbed and worried.
Sirius looked down at him contemplatively, still laughing a bit.
"Say, James, d'you think we should tell him?" He flipped over in midair and raised his eyebrows at James, although the effect was diminished very slightly since he was upside-down.
James stared at him, also upside down, so perhaps the effect wasn't ruined for him. He pretended to think for a moment, then said, as though it were the most obvious thing in the world, "Sirius, it's Moony."
"Yeah, I know who he is," Sirius said exasperatedly. "D'you think we should tell our dear friend Moony?"
James gave him an incredulous look, and glanced at Remus. "Excuse us for a second," he said formally, and dragged Sirius through the air to the other side of the room, where they began whispering furiously.
"Sirius! He's a prefect! It'd practically be his job to turn us in! Are you mad?"
"Yeah," Sirius said uncomfortably, "But it's Moony, James. Moony."
James looked at him for a moment and said, "Is that supposed to mean something, Sirius?"
Sirius thought. "Well, I think so… I mean, I thought you'd get it if I just said it a couple times, but I don't think it's working, so…"
James considered this, frowning. It is a bit difficult to think clearly under the influence of Billywigs, and James had been stung by quite a few in the past hour.
"Well, I suppose that makes sense," he said. "But what if I was supposed to say the prefect thing a load of times to make you understand something?"
"Hmm, maybe we should try that. Okay, you say that and I'll say this and we'll see how it works…"
Remus watched them bemusedly from across the room. They'd gone over there to discuss something, but apparently had completely forgotten, and where now playing some kind of game involving his name.
"Moony."
"Prefect."
"Moony."
He tuned them out and instead turned to their beds to see what he could learn. The beds would probably be more lucid than those two, anyway. He sifted through James' unmade bed, shuddering as he came across a Pumpkin Pasty that looked as though James had gotten it on the train in September, six months earlier.
"Eurgh," he muttered, leaving James' bed for Peter and the rats. He went to Sirius' bed instead, and there found what he was looking for.
"James, Sirius," he asked, straightening up with a jar in his hand.
"Mooony."
"Preeeeefect."
"Moooooony."
"Preee-"
"Sirius! James!" Remus said loudly. They stopped their odd game and looked up at him, eyes flying to the jar in his hand.
"Well, hell, Sirius," James said, "I kinda forgot what we were doing this for, but I get the feeling you won."
Sirius felt triumphant, for reasons he also couldn't fully remember, but faltered slightly at the look Remus was giving them.
"Moony-buddy?" he asked hopefully.
"Sirius, are these billywigs?" Remie asked dangerously.
"Well, they aren't not Billywigs…" James said slowly. "So, I suppose - "
Remus cut him off. "Why do you two have billywigs in here?"
James stared at him blankly.
"Practicing Potions?" Sirius tried. "No? Okay, we were, er…James, help me out here…"
"Practicing Charms?" James asked. "No, that's not right…"
"You two are stinging with billywigs, aren't you?" Remus demanded, waving the jar around.
The two boys stared at him. James nodded. Sirius elbowed him, and he shook his head instead. Remus threw his hands in the air.
"What's to stop me from reporting you?" he asked, giving them both a look.
"Because you're Moony, Remus," Sirius said, finally remembering.
"And…and because we won't do it anymore," James said, thinking fast. He and Sirius had already begun sinking to the floor and sobering up. Well, sobering down, anyway.
"You won't?" Remus asked suspiciously, glancing back and forth between the two of them.
"Nope, not one more eensy weensy bit," Sirius said with his most charming smile.
"Well…" Remus looked to be bending. "I suppose if you never do it again, I won't tell."
"Alright Moony!" Sirius grinned, "See James, I told you Remus was a great friend!"
"Of course he is, Padfoot! Remus is an even better friend than you!"
"Don't push it, Prongs."
Remus shook his head and grabbed his bag from his bed, which was what he'd come up here for in the first place. As he walked back down to the common room, he wondered why he'd always let James and Sirius influence him like they did. He sighed. They were a prime example of peer pressure, even if they were wonderful friends.