While Remus was busy explaining his plan to James in earnest, Lily was talking just as seriously to her friends, Shayna and Jocelyn, two compartments down from the boys.
"Listen," Lily whispered urgently.
"Um, just a second, Lily," Shayna stopped her. She was a shy girl; she was tall, pale, had wavy blonde hair that fell to the middle of her back, and blue-green eyes that reminded you of a blue sky and an ocean storm at once. The first time Lily saw her, she wondered if she was part veela. She crossed her legs and tucked a piece of hair behind her ear with a long, delicate finger. "Why are you whispering?" she asked with a tinkling laugh. If she weren't so shy, she would have every wizard in Hogwarts wrapped around her little finger.
Jocelyn, Lily's other friend, was almost the exact opposite of Shayna. She was outgoing and outspoken, she never once missed an opportunity to flirt, and she had no common sense at all. She was short, very tan, and had curly brown hair that was cut just below her shoulders. "Yeah, Lily," she said, "there's no need to whisper. We're the only people here, you dolt!"
Lily playfully smacked Jocelyn's arm and continued. "James and the Marauders are two compartments down, and if they hear us then it'll be the end of me." That shut the other two girls up right away.
"Lily," Shayna started to say in her smooth, quiet voice, "if you don't like James, why do you care so much what he thinks about you?"
Lily turned so red that it was hard to tell where the roots of her hair were. "That's just it!" Lily said in a hoarse whisper. "I don't don't like James!"
"Sorry?" Jocelyn said with a confused expression on her face. Suddenly her expression changed as she understood. Her face lit up with triumph. "So you do fancy him!" she exclaimed, and Lily hushed her quietly, though made no argument.
"The point is," Lily said, with a brisk business-like tone that reminded herself powerfully of Remus, "there is no way that James is going to ask me out again this year! I've led him on enough times, he's obviously given up on me to find someone else. He won't know that I love him and he won't care!" She suddenly realized what she admitted as her friends clapped their hands over their mouths in shock.
Jocelyn just stared at Lily, her eyes as round as saucers, as she realized that her friend was serious. Shayna's voice woke Jocelyn up out of her reverie, as she said, "Lily, James wouldn't do that. He's been asking you out at least 10 times a day since the second year!"
"Not last year," Lily said, her green eyes shimmering with tears. "Last year, towards the end of the year, he barely paid me any attention at all…well, other than that love potion incident…" Lily chuckled and continued talking, more to herself than to Jocelyn or Shayna. "That was only because of Sirius Black. I just wish…I just wish that we could do something to get him to not give up on me. I just wish that there was a way to make him understand that I don't hate him, and that I never hated him at all," she sighed, and suddenly her eyelashes were glimmering with tears.
"Oh, Lily," Jocelyn sighed, "Don't cry."
"Yeah," Shayna said, "please don't cry. You'll ruin your makeup!"
Lily made a weird noise somewhere between a sob and a laugh.
"Okay," Shayna said, "I have a plan. All you need to do, Lily, is show James that you're interested."
"How is she going to do that?" Jocelyn asked. Jocelyn, though very smart when it came to her classes, had almost no common sense.
Shayna sighed, as Lily laughed, checking her makeup in a mirror she stowed in her purse. "Honestly," Lily said, still chuckling, "you, my friend, are a complete dolt and a pain in the arse."
Shayna laughed, too, and Jocelyn finally caught on to Lily's sarcasm. "Anyway," Shayna said, after the laughter had died down, "I really do have a plan. Here's what you do, Lily. Talk to James. Show him that you care about him, ask about his interests, find out little facts and tid-bits about him. Don't yell at him. Act casual around him. And, most importantly," Shayna paused to let the full importance of the last part of the plan sink in, "be yourself around him. Don't be an uptight, shy bookworm with a wand up her arse. Just be you. Like you are around us!"
Lily nodded. This was going to need some work, but she was resolved to show James just how much he meant to her. After all, it was either now, or it truly would be never.
A/N: yup, I've got about 5 more chapters that I've written. I just wanted to get these two up first so that you could have more than one little preview to read. Please review:)