A/N: Okay, so this is the last edited chapter before we get to some new stuff for this story! If you're here reading this, you must be psyched; this story was received very well when I first posted it, which surprised me since it was initially written so awfully. But, now I think I'm ready for it; my writing has definitely grown at least a little since last summer when this came up, and I can't wait to turn this into something exciting!!

Read & review, luffs; you know how that makes me so happy. ;3

The next morning couldn't come fast enough for James, sad though he was to admit to it; the moment the first, hazy rays of sunlight hit his eyes through the loose muslin curtains in his room, he jumped out of bed and bounded off to get ready. He took a hasty shower and got dressed before running down to the Great Hall for an early breakfast, with his fellow Marauders still in bed.

He sat down and tried to eat something, but in truth, he couldn't; he needed to see Lily. He needed to see if she had reacted to what Prongs had written to her, and he needed to see it right then; he would go more than legally insane if he didn't.

It was one of his biggest nadirs, really – he was probably one of the least patient people in the world. The only pity was that he didn't care enough to work on changing it.

So, he dutifully hunted for Lily through the morning, as he did whenever he had the sudden urge to speak to her, but to his disappointment, he couldn't find her; it was quite frustrating, really. He was sure she was avoiding him – she usually was, even when he only had an innocent query to pose.

Eventually though, he managed to catch her outside the girl's bathroom; she was just coming out and clearly looking like she wanted something to eat at this early hour. Smiling his usual goofy grin upon catching her, he strode right over to her, and said, "Good morning, Miss Evans."

Lily was rather astonished to find James by her side, in all honesty, and she decided to share the notion with him by saying, "Isn't it a little ahead of your schedule for you to be stalking me right now, Potter?"

James rolled his eyes, but kept his grin in place as he ran a hand unconsciously through his hair. "Actually, I find the term 'stalker' kind of offensive – I prefer 'knowledgeable admirer.'"

"You would." She smirked, but tried to walk a little ahead of him as she said, "But either way, I'd like to get down to the Great Hall at the moment; do you mind?"

"Not at all," he said as he easily picked up her stride. "In fact, I'll join you."

"Lucky me." Her tone was dripping in sarcasm, but she was clearly in a better mood than the one he'd caught her in on the day he'd posted the original notice for the Prongs Advice Letter system – she was letting him walk with her, which was inspiring.

He was about to say something useless, bordering on conversation-filler, but it was at this moment Lily finally asked, "What do you want, anyway? You're evidently after something or another."

"Very observant," James said, his expression and tone impressed. "I'm pleased that you've managed to pick up on my little habits."

It was her turn to roll her eyes now, but he went on to ask her, "But since you asked, my question to you was this – did you decide to send Prongs a letter, like I'd suggested the first day?"

"Maybe," Lily answered a little too quickly, her cheeks a very subtle rose. "Why?"

"I dunno," James said purposefully. "I wrote to him myself, and his advice was pretty good, actually. He's a smart guy."

There was nothing wrong with advertising his own business, was there?

Lily didn't believe him, however; she just got that stormy look on her face that she always wore when she was pissed at something, and she said tonelessly, "I'm sure it was."

He winked. "I think someone's a little tetchy because they did send a letter to Prongs and don't want to admit it."

"Who would tell you a thing like that?" she immediately asked.

"Sirius," he lied effortlessly.

"How did Sirius know? Are all of you my 'knowledgeable admirers' now?" she inquired icily, her expression hardening by the second. Lily was slightly more polite this year than she had been last year, but that didn't mean she was truly nice to him yet – he still had some bugs to work out with that goal.

"Nah, it was nothing like that, he just happened to see you put your letter in the box a couple of days back," James said, the spontaneous fib rolling off his tongue so naturally he almost believed himself. "So, did he reply?"

"Yes, he did," she chose to divulge, although her tone was surprisingly curt – even to someone who knew the truth. "And I found that I was justified in not liking Prongs. It was stupid to write to him."

All right then! This was something he hadn't expected – not in the least. But, then again, Lily Evans was (in)famous for never doing what people expected her to do – so maybe he should have expected to expect the unexpected. If that made any sense at all.

It didn't seem to, so instead of figuring it out further, James innocently asked her, "Well…what did he say?"

"Something about him not wanting to talk to me anymore," Lily said stiffly. Her lips were pursed in that tight, anxious, brisk sort of way they were when something did not go exactly to plan; he had seen her make that face in class when she didn't get the grade she wanted on a class assignment and he knew her well enough to know that it meant business.

"Are you going to write back anyway?" James eventually asked as they passed a slightly-rattling suit of armor on the second floor, choosing his words carefully to ensure they were devoid of more connotation than he could help; this was plainly a delicate conversation, and he didn't want to be the one to spoil it.

She took a minute or two to walk with him down the main steps, contemplating her response. Visibly frustrated with her lack of one once they reached the landing of the ground floor, she resolved to snap, "It's none of your business really, so you'll leave me alone now, yeah?"

As a bonus, she threw him a very dirty look for reasons yet unknown to him, and his eyes slightly narrowed; it was not his fault that she was rude to Prongs and got upset by a very well-stated (at least, in his point of view) response in return.

He was about to tell her so, to protest this highly unjust treatment to a harmless question, but it was now that she finally tucked her vivid hair behind her ear and stormed rather immaturely into the Great Hall to eat.

Of course, James knew better than to follow her when she was in such a vindictive mood, but he was tempted to nonetheless; not only was it amusing how fired-up she allowed herself to get in front of him, he also wanted to protest how utterly unfair she'd been. He decided against it though; it was never good to try talking sense to a girl like Lily, who even at the age of fifteen-going-on-sixteen, had the tendency to act like a four-year-old with him. It would only end in another vicious sort of a row.

He ran his fingers through his hair once more, exhaling roughly as he made a face to himself, leaning back against the stone wall next to the door.

Brilliant – just bloody brilliant.

He wondered vaguely where Sirius would be, since it was now closer to the normal time he came downstairs to breakfast, but he wasn't in the mood to look for him. He wasn't in the mood to wait for Remus or Peter either, since they would probably either be getting ready to come down with Sirius or egging Sirius to hurry up so they could leave.

His goal-focused, bright weekday morning suddenly became a whole lot less goal-focused and bright as he sullenly blew loose strands of his raven hair out of his face and resolved to go and get a sandwich as he waited for his three best friends to take his mind off the red-haired girl who had just stomped away from him.

&

At their customary time numerous hours later – eleven in the evening – Sirius heaved the box of letters upstairs into the dormitory. He dropped it on the floor between their now-customary little circle, panting as he did so.

"This thing is so damn heavy!" he complained. "It's like trying to lift Peter up after he's eaten breakfast."

"Not funny," Peter protested as the other three laughed maniacally together. "I don't eat that much."

"Yes, you do," James said unexpectedly through his laughter. "It's like something out of a bad television program; you eat worse than the hippogriffs, and they're bloody horse-birds."

"Remus, back me up here," Peter said, throwing his chortling friends dirty looks.

"They're right this time, unfortunately," Remus said with a snort. "I know; I'm surprised too." James in particular was rather shocked by this – Remus usually prided himself on being the most compassionate out of the group, but he was poking fun at Peter with them nonetheless – it was quite an interesting development.

"Thanks a lot guys," Peter said, glowering at all of them.

"No problem, Pete," Sirius said genially, thumping him on the back. "Now, be a peach and tip this box over, yeah?"

Peter rolled his eyes and did so, forcing a mountain of letters fall out. James rooted through them, looking for one in particular, until Sirius asked, "What are you doing, Prongs?"

"Looking for Lily's letter," James answered, continuing to go through the pile. "I have to answer hers first; then I'll answer the other ones."

"You're obsessed with that Evans," Sirius said with a groan. "Come on, Jamesie; there are plenty of girls out there for you to date. Brianna O'Connell – now she's one you might like. Cute, kind of shy, can crack a good joke, laughs like a foghorn at yours. A tad on the possessive side, but I'm sure she'd do. Do you want me to drop a good word for you?"

"Not really, Pads, maybe another time," James said stubbornly. "I'm not dating right now, but Lily's the one I'm interested in."

"I don't know how it happened, but this is the second time that Sirius has been right today," Remus remarked, much to Sirius's mixed vexation and glee. "Maybe you should try to date another girl for a little while. Give Lily her own space; pushing her will only make her despise you more."

"She couldn't despise me more if she tried, so she can only start liking me from this point onward," James insisted. "Call me whatever you want, but I have a good feeling about her. I really think she's someone who's going to be worth my while."

"Yeah, yeah, whatever," Sirius said, rolling his eyes. "I try to get you a date with a great girl, and this is how I'm repaid – it's unbelievable! Brianna's a sought-after girl, James, so you should go for her now rather than later. And besides that, ungratefulness to the help of a best friend with your interests at heart is a sin!"

"Would you two please stop bickering and start answering letters?" Remus requested irritably, picking one up as the boys turned to look at him. He read it through, snorted again, and handed it to Peter, who cleared his throat and read it aloud in a high-pitched and squeaky voice.

Dear Prongs,

I'M TOTALLY IN LOVE WITH YOU! WILL YOU GO OUT WITH ME? I KNOW THAT JEN HARTMAN IS GOING TO ASK YOU OUT AS WELL, BUT SAY NO, OKAY? I ASKED FIRST. I LOVE YOU!

XOX,

Emily Watson

"You're going to get a marriage proposal from a girl soon enough, no joke," Sirius said, snatching the letter from Peter and looking at it in disbelief.

"I know," James said with a sigh. "I mean, yeah, I'm Prongs the Marauder, but who said that Prongs the Marauder was interested in any of them?"

"She used absolutely no lower-case letters in the main part of her message either," Remus said with disgust. "Does she not know how to use the English language properly?"

"I reckon she doesn't," Sirius told him solemnly. "I mean, this girl has only lived in England all her life, conversed with hundreds of English-speaking citizens, and used it to write her letter…why would she not know how to use it?"

While James and Peter snorted, Remus exhaled roughly and said, "What I meant was that you are not supposed to capitalize almost every letter in a note. It looks horrible – like you don't know how to use English."

"She's a big spazz," Sirius said. "She doesn't care much for using English properly, as you put it. But, come to think of it, aren't Emily Watson and Jen Hartman friends of Lily's?"

"Yeah, they are," Peter confirmed. "They always sit together at mealtimes and try catching James's eye when he's looking for Lily."

"Great; her friends like me, but she doesn't," James moaned, somewhat exaggerated, but still somewhat genuinely. "Why is the world so cruel to me, Padfoot?"

"Maybe because you complain so much," Sirius suggested. "It's kind of funny to watch. I think that the world likes a bit of entertainment once in a while."

"Gee, thanks," James responded, chucking a nearby pillow at his friend, who laughed merrily and dodged it.

"That wasn't nice, Sirius," Remus reprimanded. "I'm actually quite proud of how this letter thing has been going – my plan is working perfectly."

"You mean you planned for a million girls to send him letters to ask him out?" Peter asked, wrinkling his nose.

"No," Remus snapped. "James is being surprisingly mature about it; his rejections had the potential to be extremely obnoxious, but they weren't, and that's admirable."

"Time to check if you're normal again," Sirius announced. "James, say something perverted."

"Erm, a dream of mine is to bang Lily Evans on a desk for a few hours the day she admits to me that she loves me?" James tried.

Sirius nodded, smiling contentedly. "That's the Prongs I know; I was just scared that this stupid plan of Moony's was going to turn you into a prat or something – I mean, you might actually want to do your homework now, and I don't think I can stand losing my best friend to a cause like that."

"Please – it would take more than a few letters to make me do such felonies," James assured Sirius.

"So you're still going to play tic-tack-toe in History of Magic?" Peter asked.

"Of course," James said as though this was the most obvious thing in the world. "What else is there to do? Listen? Take notes?"

As the three boys high-fived each other, utterly pleased, Remus looked aggravated again. "James, it would not kill you to do some actual work once in a while."

"Yes, it would," James said with a shudder. "Just because Prongs happens to be good at giving advice, doesn't mean that the normal James Potter will be the same way. I still like to mess around and slack off – I'm fifteen, for Merlin's sake. I'm not supposed to care about the world for another few years."

"Maturity is a good thing, James," Remus said. "I mean, you need to get some preparation for the real world beyond the castle walls, don't you? We're going to be legal adults in just two years, and we need to get ourselves properly ready – the habits we develop and hone now will become fundamental building blocks for the –"

"Yeah, yeah, there's plenty of time to be a boring adult; we know that," Sirius said, cutting Remus off with a wave of his arm. "But we're technically still kids right now, so we should enjoy what is left of our childhood."

"Amen," James and Peter said together, with Peter going as far as to provide a salute – something that greatly thrilled Sirius.

"Whatever; just open another letter," Remus said, disgusted.

"Ooh, here's one," Peter said, picking up another letter. He cleared his throat again, and began to read:

Dear Prongs,

I like this girl, Lily Evans, but I don't know how to tell her that. Every time I look at those beautiful eyes of hers, I completely lose it and say something stupid. She's also always with her friends – there is never a time when she's by herself. She's just so perfect, and I really want to ask her out, but I don't know how – what should I do?

Head Over Heels for Evans

"Clever guy," James growled. "He didn't put his name on it – I surely would have killed him if he had."

"Ah, Jamesie, don't be so hard on the poor guy," Sirius said fairly. "I mean, you're not the only one who's noticed that that girl is potentially sexy stuff – even if she's a pain."

"Everyone knows I – meaning the James part – like her," he grumbled, pulling out some parchment and a quill to write his response.

"James, be in your prime now," Remus said warningly. "You are still Prongs; no one knows if Prongs likes Lily or not. Pretend you are giving advice to someone who desires some other girl who isn't Lily, if that helps."

"Oh, don't worry, I feel perfectly fine," James said, scribbling something down furiously. "Read this out, Peter."

There was something about his tone – something pained, tight, demanding – that made the three Marauders, who had been so animated moments before, look nervously at their Prongs. His expression hadn't really changed, but a glimmer of animation that was normally in his eyes of bright hazel had mysteriously vanished, leaving an air of incompleteness in his face.

The boys were sure it would return, but they decided to let it slide for the moment as Peter read out the letter in his hands,

Dear Head Over Heels,

I know that it can be kind of nerve-wracking to ask a girl out, especially when you're not sure what she thinks about you. I'd say to just keep it cool, ask her for a private word, and simply put the idea forward without trying to be something you're not. She's a nice girl – she'll be good about it. Take a chance, really – if you don't, how will you know if you could be in a relationship or not?

Good luck,
Prongs

"There you go, James," Remus said, smiling in a highly satisfied manner as he observed his best friend. "That was established, well-expressed, and very useful advice. Good job."

Sirius, however, blanched. "Why are you giving him advice about asking out the girl you're in love with?"

"Trying to be 'mature' for Moony," James said through gritted teeth – a tiny bit of the missing animation returned, now that he had seen a couple of strong reactions to his letter, but he wasn't quite there yet.

"Thank you, James," Remus said contentedly. "And as your reward, I'll give you Lily's letter; I found it a few minutes back."

James pounced on Remus to get the letter. Remus, astonished, gave it up quickly as Peter and Sirius cheered, and James was quick to rip it open and stare at it, hoping to see something a little bit beyond his extremely low expectations.

However, he gave a pained snort when he resurfaced and tossed it aside, his eyes shut down completely despite his efforts at appearing blithe and untroubled.

"She loves to torture me," was his only sarcastic remark.

Peter, curious, picked up the parchment from where it had been tossed and began to read:

Dear Prongs,

You know, when I first saw your pranks with the rest of your Marauders, I had, for the briefest second, thought you were exactly what we needed in our school; people who were funny, inventive, and different from everyone else. People who had more to them than the usual blandness. But, I was wrong; you're just like the rest of them. You're shallow and take everything for granted – you think that if you tell me you liked me before, then I'll just suddenly jump up and like you too. Well, you're wrong. I don't like you, Prongs; I don't think I ever will.

Lily Evans

"Ooh, bad luck, Prongs," Sirius said sympathetically, patting his friend's shoulder. James, however, was busy writing his response, which he handed to Peter quite rapidly, though with his handwriting a bit messier than it had been for the other letters. Remus looked worried as Peter read that one as well:

Dear Lily Evans,

You know what? I don't really need to hear this, especially not from you. I don't need to hear how much you hate me, or what you think I am. You don't know me. You don't know my name, let alone my personality. And you're right – I don't know you either. But do you know what sucks the most about that? It's the fact that you never even gave me a chance to fix it. You refused to let things work out for the better. I'm done trying now; that goes for both the real me, and this side of me.

Prongs

"That was really harsh, Prongs," Sirius said, impressed rather than sorry. "I like it; are you really done with her, as I'd been hoping you would be?"

"I might be," James confirmed. The words shocked him; they were true, and he had never thought the day would come when he questioned his seemingly-undeniable love for Lily Evans. "I mean, she never returns any warm feelings back, does she? I have to move on with life, don't I?"

"Excellent! Finally!" Sirius jumped up, pulled James into a bear hug, and then sat back down. "I'm going to get you together with Brianna tomorrow, I promise."

"I don't want to get together with Brianna yet," James said, shaking his head. "I'm feeling a bit weird tonight; Sirius, can you just put the box back downstairs? I'll answer the rest of the letters tomorrow night."

"Are you sure you're all right?" Peter asked anxiously.

"I don't think so," James said, his eyes murky for the first time as he stood up to go to bed. "But I will be. Sorry."

"It's no big deal," Sirius said dismissively, picking the box up with difficulty to transport it to its table in the common room. "Just feel better, all right, mate? I hate seeing you down like this. Stupid bitch Evans."

"Don't call her that," he said automatically.

"You don't like her anymore; I can call her what I want," Sirius said, his smile triumphant.

"I just said I was done with her – that doesn't mean that I hate her," James said steadily. "I'll talk to you again tomorrow, okay?"

"Okay," Sirius said, obviously disappointed.

"Good night, James," Peter said, going off to bed as well.

Remus, however, stayed put on the floor with James; he looked thoughtfully at him, waited until Sirius and Peter were out of the room, and then spoke.

"James, are you sure you're all right?" he inquired gently.

"I don't know," James said honestly. "I guess…I'm just a bit irritated. Things aren't going right. I have to pretend I'm intelligent, and thoughtful, and all that shit, when the fact of the matter is that I'm not most of the time. It's almost like lying, you know? Sometimes I feel like I'd actually give that advice in real life, if someone asked me, while at other times, I'm listening purely to the voice in my head that sounds too much like you because that's what I know you'd want me to do. And this was your own bloody idea in the first place."

"You're just maturing," Remus said, grinning slightly at the last bit of his remark. "It's a good thing – there comes a time in life when you have to shed your childish habits and start to become the adult you will be for the rest of your life, as I was saying before. You'll figure it out."

"Okay, I feel different, but I'm not crazy enough to 'mature' just yet," James said with a half-smile. "But I suppose you're right. It's just that this whole thing with Lily is also screwing things up; I mean, her letters are surprisingly nasty for a person like her. Maybe I don't love her like I thought I did. Maybe my good feelings were the ones you get from seeing a cute girl from a distance. I've done everything, Moony; what else is left?"

Remus considered. "You haven't been yourself for her yet, I think; she doesn't know you like we do, and she, like any girl, wants a guy who will be sensitive to her. You can do it – Sirius, Peter, and I know that – but she doesn't. Just play it by ear, Prongs; be who your gut tells you to be."

Although this sort of advice – this "be yourself" type of suggestion – really didn't help him, he decided to smile anyway, and say, "Thanks Moony." But, after a moment of consideration, he added, "Oh, and if Sirius catches wind of this conversation, I'll feed you to the Giant Squid, yeah?"

Remus laughed. "Okay. Just figure things out for yourself, all right? Don't take what Sirius says to heart too much when we're screwing around here answering letters. Or me, for that matter; I'm not always right."

"Yeah, you're only right every damn time we ask you for your take on things," James said, smirking. "Go to sleep, Moony."

"You too, Prongs." Remus gave him a pat on the shoulder and got up to go to bed as well. Sirius was already in bed, curled up like a dog, and Peter was snoring loudly from his corner of the room. Remus rolled his eyes and climbed into bed, and James followed suit, although he wouldn't sleep for many more hours, mulling over the events of the night.

He sighed as he rubbed his eyes and yawned; what new source of anguish would Lily Evans cook up for him next?

A/N: All right luvs, I promise you, I'm going to post another chapter very, very soon. Then this story will start becoming regular. Bear with me here, please!