Author's note: Okay, this chapter's longer than the previous two, so enjoy, and tell me what you think.

Disclaimer: Emphasis on the fan in fanfiction.

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By the time breakfast ended, Lily had been asked whether her and James were together an excess of ten times, and so was forced to concede that it had not, in fact, been a dream. She didn't see James at breakfast though, which struck her as curious because she'd never known him to miss a meal for anything. The other three Marauders sat in their usual places, but there wasn't nearly as much talking and laughing and ruckus as there usually was within them. They seemed to be decreased without their little ringleader.

She hesitated before going back to the common room. She could easily go to the library and avoid talking to anyone else. Very tempting. And so she redirected her steps toward the library, but hadn't gone ten feet before realizing that was exactly where her and Potter had had that awful conversation. As soon as this thought occurred to her, she stopped dead in her tracks. She really didn't want to see Potter, or anyone else for that matter. But she would honestly rather sit in the common room and be bombarded with questions from others than sit in the library and be bombarded with questions from herself.

When she reached the common room, she made a hasty glance around for Potter, but didn't see him. Relieved, she made her way quietly to her favourite armchair. No sooner had she sat down, however, than she was noticed by a second year she'd never even seen before

"So how are things with you and James Potter?" the little twerp giggled.

"Nose out, please," was Lily's irritated response.

She needed to find Elle and ask her what was going on. She needed to know what rumours were circulating and who better to ask than her gossip-loving best friend? So Lily got up and headed toward the dormitory where she was sure her friend was anxiously waiting for her.

Sure enough, when she opened the door she was greeted with a pillow hitting her directly in the face.

"LILY! Why didn't you TELL me?" Elle shrieked.

All Lily could do was flop onto her bed. After about five seconds, she was hit with another pillow. She sat up and faced her best friend. Elle Domaine was a pretty girl, with long blonde hair and piercing blue eyes similar to those of Dumbledore's. That also meant that her gaze had a similar effect to Dumbledore's, one often felt they were being x-rayed. That was part of the reason Lily liked her so much, she was virtually impossible to lie to. This was probably also the reason she knew so much about the goings-on at the school. She was a regular gossip queen and easily excitable. But she could also be logical and level-headed when the situation called for it. She was French and spoke with a very slight accent that usually went unnoticed. You could only hear it when you were really listening for it or when she was very angry.

Her accent was easily detectable as she said, "Five years we've been best friends you do not find it necessary to tell me you've got a boyfriend?"

"I don't have a boyfriend," Lily said, taken aback at the anger in Elle's voice.

"That's not what everyone else has been saying."

"Well, seeing as 'everyone else' isn't involved in this particular situation, I would have thought you would check with someone who is before you go making unfounded accusations."

Even Lily was surprised at her cool retort. But the fact that Elle had made such assumptions truly angered her and she felt no remorse for what she said.

"Fair enough," was Elle's reply.

She seemed to be waiting expectantly but Lily was in no mood to offer up information willingly. She merely flopped back down on the bed. But waiting did not come easily to Elle and it was less than a minute before she said "Well?"

Lily sat up again. "Well what?"

"Well... What happened?"

"What have you heard?"

"I've heard a few different versions, the tamest of which being that he came up to you in the library and asked you to be his girlfriend. Are you sure you want to hear the others?"

"I'll hear them eventually, won't I? Might as well be from you." Lily was resigned to the fact that she had been dragged into the public eye simply because the star Gryffindor chaser had asked her out.

"Ah... Well... People have been saying that he got down on bended knee as you were coming out of a bathroom and begged you to go out with him." Elle informed her. "There's also a story saying he enchanted his broom to shoot out a jet of vapor like those Muggle skywriter airplanes and spelled out 'Lily, will you go out wth me?' above the lake."

At that, Lily laughed. People actually believed this stuff?

"Actually," Elle said with a sheepish grin, "I made that last up. But you get the idea."

"You're completely, insane, I hope you know that," Lily teased.

"You've told me enough times by now," Elle grinned. "But are you going to tell me what actually happened?"

"Your first version was almost spot on." Lily grimaced. "You were only missing the part where I laughed at him, told him it was a very funny joke, and left."

"Did you honestly think he was joking?" Elle looked like she couldn't believe her ears.

"Well, yes. Turns out I couldn't have been more wrong."

"If you'd known he was serious, you would have said yes, right?"

"Are you mental?" This time Lily couldn't believe her ears. "Never."

"You're the mental one! You do know he's bloody gorgeous, don't you?"

Lily pulled a face. "I'm not sure 'gorgeous' is the right word. He's not bad-looking, I'll give you that, but he's an utter git with an ego larger than the entire grounds..."

Elle decided it was best to hold her tongue for now while Lily was so caught up in her self-ritcheous rant and simply nodded and waited for it to be over.

A good half-hour later, when Lily finally wound down, Elle suggested they go down to the common room and try to debunk some of the rumours. Lily reluctantly agreed and the two of them set off down the stairs from the dormitory arm in arm.

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James spent the whole of Sunday morning sulking. After making his decision not to give up on Lily he had gone back up to bed and got an hour or so of restless sleep until he was woken most unkindly by Sirius leaping onto his bed.

"Rise and shine, sleepyhead!" he sing-songed in a most irritating fashion.

"Git," was James' reply before he turned over and put his head under the pillow. Sirius merely yanked the pillow from his grip and proceeded to beat the crap out of James with it.

"Bloody hell, Sirius, it's a Sunday morning. Can't a man get some peace?"

"Not when this 'man' supposedly asked out the girl he's been after for a million years last night!"

Oh, hell. They know. "Leave me alone," James said as he snatched the pillow back from Sirius and hid his head underneath it again.

"No, no," Sirius said as he grabbed the pillow again. "Moony!" he called before he chucked the pillow at Remus to prevent James from taking it back again. "Now, come on, mate, stop moping and tell us what the bloody hell happened."

"Don't want to talk about it," James groaned.

"We do," Remus chimed in.

"To put it simply, she said no. Alright? Satisfied?" James was irritated now.

"Not at all, we knew that much already. We want details!" Sirius was unrelenting.

James sat up abruptly and said in the most dramatic voice he could muster, "If you do not leave me alone, I will jinx each and every one of you in your sleep." He glared around menacingly in turn at Sirius, who was still kneeling on his bed, laughing, Remus, who was holding James' pillow and trying to hide his smirk, and Peter, who actually hadn't said anything but deserved a glare all the same. "Accio Pillow!" And with that he buried his head once again and refused to say another word. The other Marauders decided to back off - for now.

James finally stopped pretending to be sleeping at lunchtime when he knew everyone would be down in the Great Hall and he could maintain his peace. He went down to the common room to find it deserted but for his three best friends. The very three people he wanted to see least, aside from Lily. He groaned and started back upstairs, but found himself face to face with a magical barrier, no doubt cast by Remus or Sirius.

"Oh, no, you don't," Remus said.

"You're about to tell us what happened," Sirius added.

"I want to go back to bed," James said without emotion.

"What is wrong with you, mate?" Sirius asked, his brow furrowed.

"It's not like you to mope like this, James," Peter put in and something about the genuine concern on Peter's face made James go sit down on an armchair facing them.

"Well?" He asked them.

Sirius cocked an eyebrow.

"What is it you want to know?"

"What exactly took place between you and Evans," Sirius replied.

"Her name is Lily," James snapped.

"Er - right. Sorry. What took place between you and Lily."

Suddenly James felt stupid. Really stupid. And then, before he knew it, the entire story came pouring out of him. How he had stood behind the bookcase forever, thinking about what Sirius had said and arguing with himself, then how he sauntered over to Lily and made casual conversation about how fucking great he thought he was, which hadn't impressed Lily in the least. How there had been that awkward silence that seemed to span several eternities, and how he had felt he needed to break the silence with small talk, and he had just decided to ask her what book she was reading, though it was obvious she was only pretending to read and was uncomfortable, when he heard himself stammering some nonsense before he finally managed to choke out the words. How stupid he had sounded, like a little kid on the playground, all nervous and everything, how she had looked up at him, completely baffled at how sudden and random that must have seemed, and then how she seemed to decide he was kidding, how her eyes lit up with wicked amusement and she told him how hilarious she found this situation. How his heart had dropped into his stomach, and he didn't know what to say, and the only thing he could manage was "I'm not joking" which she didn't believe for a second. And then how she told him it had been "lovely chatting with him," sarcasm dripping from every syllable, had gotten up and walked out. And how he had sat there, unable to move, how even though he had known this was possible, even expected it, that didn't lessen the blow. How he had remained where he was until he was forced to leave by stupid Pince.

When he was finished he was met with three faces full of pity.

"Well, mate," Sirius said. "You've gotten yourself into quite the situation here."

"Tell me about it. " James mumbled.

"Okay, let's think, how can we fix this?" Remus asked.

James was confused. "We?"

"Duhh, you don't think we're gonna let you screw this up worse than you have already, do you?" Sirius half-teased.

James considered taking offense to this, but he knew his friends meant well, and he had screwed things up, so he decided to accept their help. The four friends sat planning until they heard the rumble of footsteps which meant lunch was over. They realized just how hungry they were and so headed down to the kitchens together to nick some food for their own lunch.

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Author's Note: Sorry about the abrupt end but I couldn't come up with anything better and I really needed to get it up. Thanks to my reviewers and all who added to your author/story alerts. Means a lot. :) I'll really try and get the next chapter up faster. I haven't got school for a few days so I should have it up by Tuesday. No promises though. Let me know what you think!