Only Fools Rush In
Of Action Plans and Arguments.

James walked into his dorm, a smile spread across his face. He had just enjoyed a very lovely evening with the even lovelier Lily Evans. She had been the one to suggest the very romantic date by the school lake in full view of the entire student population because she thought it would agitate Cassy into action. He sighed, lost for a while in his memories. He figured he had better tell her soon about his new discovery, hopefully she wouldn't punch him in the face or something. Lily did had a thing for physical violence. When he stepped in, he saw his three friends hunched over a piece of paper, whispering in low voices. At the sound of his footsteps, they immediately sat up and Peter scampered to crush the paper and threw it under his bed.

James frowned, "Er, what are you guys doing?'

Sirius twiddled with his thumbs, and looked everwhere but at James, "Nothing." He replied really slowly.

Remus was the first to recover, "Prongs! How was your date with Lily?"

"Oh! Er, you know, it was good," James nodded, ruffling his hair, suddenly looking very nervous, "Strictly business and you know, unromantic." He hurriedly stepped into the bathroom, and closed the door.

"Phew, that was close." Peter said as he fished around under his bed for that crushed piece of paper. Feeling something, he pulled it out and tried to smooth it straight.

There was only one line written so far, Operation James&Lily.

Sirius rolled about his bed in frustration, "We never had problems coming up with pranks! Why now?"

"This isn't a prank Sirius," Remus reminded.

"You don't think," Peter started, "you don't think we've lost the Marauders' touch do you?"

Sirius sat up straight, "Don't be silly Wormtail!" Then worriedly he looked over at Remus, "That can't happen right Moony?"

"Of course not Padfoot," Remus replied reassuringly, "We've just had no experience in matchmaking, that's all."

The other two boys nodded and continued to rack their brains for more ideas.

The next morning, Lily looked on amusedly as a very energetic James bounced down from the boys' dorm followed by three very weary looking boys. James walked over to her and gave her a peck on the cheek, "Morning Lils!"

Lily smiled back, "Morning James, but maybe next time you should check the common room. There's no one down yet."

"Oh." James replied simply and winked at her. Honestly, he didn't looked like he cared.

Lily smiled inwardly at that thought. Noticing the rest of the Marauders trudged down the stairs, she asked James, "What were they doing last night?"

He shrugged, "Homework maybe? They were up all night i think, pouring over books and papers."

"Even Sirius?" Lily asked, not quite believing her ears.

James nodded, "Shocking isn't it?"

Lily smiled, looking over at Sirius as he tripped over a stray cushion lying on the floor, "Were you really doing your homework Padfoot?"

"Homework would have been far easier," Sirius mumbled, only within earshot of Peter and Remus and both nodded their agreement.

Receiving only a half hearted reply from Sirius, Lily gave up and looked over at the only person who would pay her any attention, "So James, what say we start the morning with a hearty breakfast?"

James grinned, "I say aye!"

xxx

Operation James&Lily: Action Plan #1: the damsel in distress.

"Are you sure this is going to work Sirius?" Peter asked nervously.

"Of course," Sirius replied, not sounding very convinced himself.

"Alright troops," Remus clapped his hands, "Here's the summary of our plan. Both of you are going to disguise yourselves as hooligans and threaten Lily. Then I would lure James over and he can rescue her! Lily would be so grateful that she would finally confess her feelings to him!"

"A foolproof plan indeed!" Sirius said as Peter and him started to pull masks over their faces.

"So we'll meet at the alley behind the 3 broomsticks then?" Peter asked.

"Yep, I'm off to tell Lily that James is planning to meet here there," Remus said as he sat off to find the targets, "Good luck guys!"

Thirty minutes later, as Sirius and Peter were lying in wait behind the garbage bin, Lily appeared according to plan. As she looked around for any sign of James, Sirius and Peter jumped out, wielding very heinous looking forks and chopsticks.

"This is a stick up! Give me all your money!" Peter managed in his gruffiest voice.

Sirius jumped around, hoping to scare Lily with his fearsome (or so he thought) kungfu poses. Unfortunately for them, they forgot that Lily was a black belt in karate.

As James and Remus rounded the corner, the sight of Lily beating the living daylights out of two masked men greeted them. The two boys stood there gaping but eventually Remus decided to remedy the situation, "Er, Prongs, don't you think you should go over there and give Lily a hand?"

"Whatever for? She seems to be handling it pretty well."

And James was right. Remus cringed as he watched Lily deliver a flying kick in Sirius' direction, "Er Lily, I think that's enough, I'm sure they're sorry for what they did!"

However, to the misfortune of Peter and Sirius, Lily paid Remus' words no heed. Eventually, James and Remus had to pull Lily away from the battered bodies of Peter and Sirius, both clutching onto their masks in a last ditch struggle to save their dignity. Quickly, they made their escape when Remus distracted Lily with questions on what happened.

xxx

Operation James&Lily: Action Plan #2 - love notes.

"Okay, so I'll give Lily a love letter written by James and Peter gives James a love letter written by Lily," Sirius double checked the plan.

Peter rubbed his sore arms, Lily had hurt him bad, "Why do we always have to be the ones doing the menial tasks? What's Moony going to do?"

"I came up with all the plans!" Remus smiled smugly and before his two friends could protest any further, Lily walked into the common room.

Immediately, Sirius sprung into action, and sauntered up to Lily who had found a comfy seat by the fireplace, "Hey Lils, this is for you."

Lily raised an eyebrow as she took the piece of paper that Sirius held out. As she read it, her eyebrows started rising even higher.

Sirius cleared his throat, "So, what do you think?"

Lily looked around nervously and figeted in her seat, "Are you sure?"

Sirius blinked, "Er, yea, I think so, we're still talking about the letter right?"

Lily laughed nervously and her voice sounded a little strained, "I had no idea Sirius."

"Oh, it's been going on for a while now already." Sirius replied wisely.

Just then, James bounded into the common room, "Detention today was such a killer, I'm so glad to be finally free from the dungeons."

Sirius and Lily sat up really straight, both avoiding eye contact with James. Sensing something amiss, he noticed a crumpled piece of paper in Lily's hand, "What's that?"

"Nothing!" Both Sirius and Lily replied a little too quickly.

"Well, let me see it then."

"No!" Lily proceeded to sit on it.

"Yea Prongs, give her some privacy." Sirius' voice was obviously quavering.

But too bad James' chaser reflexes were too quick for the both of them and he snatched the piece of paper from under Lily. Watching from the other end of the common room, Remus and Peter started pounding their heads on the table as James unfolded the paper and started reading.

Sirius scratched his head nervously, running a finger round his collar and said, "Look Prongs, I can explain!"

James looked up with a murderous expression, "Explain what? Why you're hitting on my girlfriend?"

Sirius was caught off guard and then looked genuinely puzzled. Even Remus and Peter stopped their pounding and looked up in surprise. James thrust the letter in front of Sirius and pointed to the end, the letter signed off, With lots of love, Sirius.

"Oh! I must have forgotten and signed off with my own name!"

Peter and Remus resumed their pounding, this time even harder.

Sirius chuckled, a little self-consciously, "It's just a joke?"

"Well, I don't think it's very funny Padfoot," and James picked up a fire poker, looking very menacing indeed.

Lily breathed a sigh of relief then rushed forward to try and restrain James, "Sirius was just kidding! And frankly, what's it to you?"

James' eyes widened, "Excuse me? I'm your boyfriend!" Then, having realised what he said, he put his fire poker down awkwardly and added, "Well, at least everyone thinks so."

Sirius grinned, a bit more relaxed now that James had put down his weapon. He gave Remus and Peter a thumbs up, ignoring the sharp glares James was throwing at him.

xxx

It had taken a while for the gang to convince James that Sirius was only playing a prank and was not in love with Lily but they had eventually succeeded and neither James nor Lily had found out about the botched attempts at matchmaking. As they sat around in the common room one night watching Peter and Remus play a game of wizard chess, Lily stated quite abruptly, "James, I heard Benjamin McKenzie is going after Cassy quite relentlessly."

All movement around the table stopped. Only the knights on the chessboard continued their sword fight. James put down his cup of hot chocolate and said simply, "So I've heard."

Lily sighed, "And you're not doing anything about it?"

James looked straight at Lily, "Do you want me to?"

Remus, Sirius and Peter exchanged swift glances. Lily cleared her throat uncomfortably, "Wasn't this the point in the first place? To get Cassy back? Now that McKenzie is being so proactive, don't you think you should come up with a counter plan or something?"

"I know what I'm doing," James replied shortly, starting to get irritated, she hadn't gotten the hint.

"Yea, I do too! Nothing!" Lily raised her voice, she was starting to tire from the whole acting business. If she didn't pull out soon, she knew she would fall for her best friend.

The other three boys cringed, it sounded like there was going to be a fight, and neither of them wanted to be caught in the crossfire. They retreated silently a safe distance away, wizard chessboard in tow.

James narrowed his eyes at Lily, "You, Lily Evans, are one of the densest person I have ever had to misfortune to meet!"

Lily couldn't believe her ears, "What has that got to do with anything? Do you have any idea at all how painful this whole thing is?"

"Oh, is being with me so painful? I bet you can't wait to announce to the world you're a free girl eh? So that the other guys would start asking you out again? Is that it?" James shouted, his voice growing louder with every syallable.

Lily's eyes started welling up with tears, "Yes! That's exactly it! Stop thinking about yourself all the time you pompous jerk!" and she turned away from James, fleeing the common room.

James was left standing alone in the common room, his chest heaving up and down from the shouting match. Seated a table away, the three boys were silent for a moment, then Sirius stated matter-of-factly, "Wow, those two are such prats."

"And there's not one thing we can do about it," Remus added, shaking his head.

xxx

"I wish you would just burn in hell James Potter!" screamed Lily angrily at her reflection in the girls' bathroom. She shook her head, hoping it would help her clear her thoughts but somehow, the moment she managed to push the image of James out of her mind, another one would pop up instantaneously. "I'm turning into one of his fangirls!" Lily cried in horror, "What has that idiot done to me?" Lily turned the tap and started splashing water on her face, "Wake up Lily, snap out of it!"

Then she heard footsteps behind her, someone had just entered the bathroom. She reluctantly looked up and saw the last person she wanted to talk to.

"Look Cassy, I'm really not in the mood to deal with you now."

Cassy pursed her lips, "Cocky eh Evans? What do you have that I don't? Why is James so hung up over you?"

Lily rolled her eyes, "I don't really feel like talking about this now," and tried to walk past Cassy, but she blocked the exit. Lily clenched her fists, "Look, I'm so angry that I might actually beat someone up! If you're so stuck on James, why don't you just ask him to come back to you?! I'm telling you he's going to say yes!" saying so, Lily strode purposefully towards the door, already planning in her head to slam it real loudly on her way out but she didn't count on hearing Cassy whisper, "You didn't think I tried?"

Lily froze for a second and turned on her heels to face her, "What?"

Cassy sniffed and repeated in an even lower whisper, "I said, you didn't think I tried?"

Lily opened her mouth to speak but no words came out.

"You didn't think I tried!" Casy repeated again, slowly raising her tone, "Or are you pretending not to know how he rejected me?" Tears started streaming down Cassy's cheek, smudging her mascara in the process, but she continued, "I asked him a few weeks ago, I asked him to let me come back," Cassy started choking, in between sobs, "But he said he was happy with the way things were."

Lily stared back at Cassy, she didn't know how to react.

Cassy choked back more sobs and sniffed, "He told me he was happy." She let out a strangled sob and ran out of the door.

Lily watched her leave and then suddenly, she felt a drop trickling down her face. She reached out to touch it and realised she was crying. Lily kneeled down on the floor as more and more teardrops rolled down her face. Cassy's parting words kept ringing in her ears.

Could it be?

xxx

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