Two

Remus was sitting up in his bed looking over an essay for one of his classes when James walked into the sixth year boy's dormitory. Exhausted after a long Quidditch practice but optimistic about the potential outcome of the upcoming match against Hufflepuff despite the recent loss of one of his beaters, James was about to throw his Quidditch gear on his bed when he noticed that it was already occupied.

"Lily Evans is sleeping in my bed." James stated, a brief bout of déjà vu sweeping over him as he recalled the last time he had said those words.

"Sorry, mate." Remus said, barely glancing up from his essay.

"Did something happen?" James asked, gently setting his broom on top of his trunk.

"Well…I suppose you could say that." Remus replied, finally putting the parchment down. "It's been a rough week."

"Am I allowed to ask why?" James wanted to know.

Remus shrugged. "It's nothing you don't know already, I suppose." He sighed wearily. "Lily came up here earlier claiming that she needed help revising her Potions essay—"

"The one that's not due until next week Friday?" James cut in.

"Yes." Remus replied. "She wanted me to proofread it. And, really, it's a good thing she came up here, because after reading it, I realized that there were so many things I need to fix with my essay. I entirely forgot to include a section on the importance of why the potion has to brew for exactly fourteen minutes after all of the ingredients have been added. Do you have any idea how many points Slughorn would have taken off if—"

"Moony!" James interrupted loudly, but only loud enough to get the sandy-haired boy's attention. He didn't want to disturb the sleeping girl. "Get to the point."

"Sorry." Remus said sheepishly. "Anyway, she came up and had me proofread it, and right as I opened my mouth to tell her that it's perfect, she asked what happened with Sirius."

James didn't say anything for a moment, his lips curving down into a frown. "What did you tell her?"

"The truth." Remus replied with a shrug. "She already knew about my 'furry little problem' as you like to call it."

"How did she know anything happened in the first place?" James questioned. "I thought Dumbledore covered everything up?"

"He did." Remus stated. "But…I guess Snape cornered her in the library."

A spurt of anger flared in James's chest, but he forced himself to calm down. Unless Snape had cursed Lily to go into some kind of magical sleep if she told anyone what had happened, then James could clearly see the evidence before his very eyes that she was alright. And, Remus didn't seem too concerned about the fact that she was asleep, so clearly everything was fine. "What did he say?"

"He tried telling her what I was, but clearly that was rather pointless, as she already knew." Remus said. "Then, apparently, he went on about how you and Sirius had clearly tried to get him killed."

"You've got to be joking!" James exclaimed, remembering at the last second to keep the volume of his voice down. "I was the one who bloody saved that slimy git!"

"I know, James." Remus said consolingly. "But you know Snape would do anything to get Lily to hate you."

James gave a hollow laugh as he sat at the foot of Remus's bed. "She already hates me, mate." He said softly.

"But not as much as she hates Snape." Remus replied. "You know what happened at the end of last year—"

"I lost Lily her best friend." James cut in. "He might not have called her that name if I hadn't provoked him like that. Don't deny it, Moony, I'm just as at fault for what happened as Snivellus is."

Remus merely shrugged. "I'll stay out of all of that, if it's all the same to you."

"What happened next?" James asked, after a brief moment of silence, his gaze locked on the sleeping girl in his bed.

"You'll like this," Remus said with a small smile, "Lily said she had a 'few choice words' with him for coming anywhere near her when she's already made it clear she wants him to leave her alone. But if your history with her is anything to go by, that probably means she hexed him."

"Serves him right." James muttered. "I bloody saved him."

"After that she came up here." Remus continued. "She wanted to know the truth. So, I told her that Sirius tricked Snape and you went after him as soon as you found out, and brought Snape back."

"Did she believe that I could actually do that?" James asked after a moment of hesitation. "I mean, she didn't think you were joking about me technically being nice to Snivellus?"

Remus sighed heavily. "You really shouldn't be so hard on yourself, James."

James stood up suddenly and began putting away all of his Quidditch gear. Once he was down to just his sweaty t-shirt and pants, he turned back to his friend, everything he'd need for a shower in hand.

"I think I've just about given up on her, Moony." James stated. "I don't think she's ever going to realize how I really feel about her."

Remus pursed his lips. "I can't say at all how she really feels about you," he began carefully, "But I'm willing to bet that she might at least find you more tolerable if you tone things down a bit. Maybe before you get her to fall in love with you, you should try to get to know her a bit."

"I don't know, Moony." James said hesitantly. "I really think it would be best if I just left her alone completely from now on."

"But do you really want to?" Remus questioned. "You're the one who keeps saying how much in love you are with her. If you really love her you won't let her go."

"I'll think about it." James said finally. "The year's almost over, I have all summer to figure things out. But I'm definitely going to stop asking her out." He let out a defeated sigh. "I don't know what I'll do if she says 'no' one more time…"

When James got back from his shower a half hour later, Remus had put away his school work and gone to sleep. James glanced at his own bed and saw that Lily was still sound asleep in it, fully dressed in her uniform. He gently slipped her shoes off and placed the blanket that had been at the foot of the bed over her, before turning to get into Sirius's empty bed.

Ever since the incident with Snape and the Whomping Willow a week earlier, Sirius hadn't been on speaking terms with the rest of the Marauders. James was determined to not forgive his best friend—no matter how much he missed him—until Sirius at least apologized to Remus for what he'd done. As a result, they all avoided each other like the plague—James had no idea where Sirius spent most of his nights now, but he suspected it was on the couch in the common room.

James glanced once more at Lily's sleeping form before drawing the curtains around Sirius's bed. No matter what he and Remus had discussed earlier, he really was just about ready to give up on Lily ever loving him back. It was hopeless.