A/N: sort of short but I wanted to get it up. written mostly in various airports... I didn't proofread it at ALL, so please don't throw sticks at me. I've already gotten about halfway through the next one, too, so... yay. Thanks SO MUCH for all reviews and everything! I think I would have abandoned the story by now if you didn't let me know you're still reading. ps. still, yes, beta-hunting ... suggestions? interested? anything?

So where were we? Right, Jake was making out with me, Remus came in, got mad, and left.

"Oh, wonderful, I should go talk to him," I muttered, trying to use Remus' exit as an excuse to get away from Jake.

"But don't you want to talk about what this means?" he asked, motioning between of us to show that "this" meant "this brief attempted snogging session."

"No, Jake, I really don't," I spat, "and next time, please keep your tongue in your own mouth."

I turned sharply away and sprinted up to the boys' dorm, grabbed the map from Sirius' trunk, and ran back downstairs and out the door, avoiding Jake's hand as he tried to stop me.

Right, empty corridor. "I solemnly swear that I'm up to no good," I muttered, tapping the map with my wand and waiting quietly for it to work its magic. Literally.

I started mumbling to myself – I do this when I'm nervous. "Remus Lupin. No, not Sirius Black, I don't want you… although good luck with those two girls you've got with you in that empty classroom. James… no, Evans, no. What the sodding hell are you two doing in the same corridor? Right, Remus Lupin, Remus Lupin, Remus Lu—ahh yes. Found you." His small name was rushing quickly from the general area of the Gryffindor tower towards what I guessed would be outside to the quidditch pitch. I immediately started following.

Now, I'm not the most graceful runner. I mean, I am a Chaser for Gryffindor and I have been since third year, so I've learned how to sprint, but keeping a steady pace is just not my thing. So I can't say I was too surprised when I found myself slipping on a set of stairs and tumbling down them. Although the sharp shooting pain in my ankle that followed did, in fact, surprise me.

Ah, bloody hell, now I couldn't walk. I must have sprained it. Pomfrey was going to kill me. I glanced down at the map and saw Moony just about at the quidditch pitch. Not that I really knew what he was doing out there, but that was beside the point. Well, I could either hobble back up six flights of stairs to the common room or I could hobble down one more and out to find Remus. I chose the second option.

I continued on my way, although now it was significantly slower going. When I reached the grounds the cold hit me suddenly, and I realized that I was only in my uniform. I had taken off my robes before dinner, and I felt the chill seeping easily through the thin cotton of my white button down. I took a deep breath and continued forward, limping and freezing, clutching the map to my chest as I glanced down every once in a while to make sure Remus was still there.

By the time I reached the quidditch pitch and surveyed the stands, spotting Remus sitting about a third of the way up, I was shivering. It occurred to me briefly that I must have looked relatively odd there, wearing only my uniform, shivering and limping.

Any hopes I had of making it to Remus before he saw me were lost when it took me so bloody long to make it to him. By the time I got to him in the stands he had been staring at me with a really evil look for about four solid minutes. I sat straddling the bench below him, carefully remaining about ten feet away.

"Remus."

"You're limping."

"I fell."

"You're shivering."

"It's cold."

He just looked at me for a really long time, but I stayed silent. Finally, he spoke.

"What the fuck, Layla? Last week I told you I love you and now you go off snogging some boy you sodding hate?"

I froze and snapped my head to look at him. "What's that, Lupin? You told me you love me? No, if I recall correctly, you told me we couldn't be together. You, my dear friend, rejected me, and now you're trying to control who I'm with? No, Lupin, I don't think it works that way."

He stared angrily forward for a minute before turning to look at me. "You know why we can't be together."

"No, Remus, I bloody don't! You've been with other girls! The only thing I can think of is that you're just making excuses!"

He stood up and jumped down to the bleacher I was straddling, shoving his hands in his pockets and glaring at me. "I am making no excuses," he growled, "and if you want to go sleep with Walker then please, Layla, by all means, I'm not stopping you."

I looked up at him, torn between sadness and anger, feeling like I had just lost something I never even had. "I wasn't snogging him, Remus. He forced himself on me, really."

"You sure looked comfy," he snorted.

"Yeah, well, maybe if you had stayed around long enough to actually see what was going on or let me explain, you would know," I spat. "No, Remus, I wasn't snogging Walker, because, see, lately I've been finding it pretty hard to snog anyone when all I can do is think about how much I wish it were you."

I stood up, wincing when I put weight on my left ankle, turning away from him so that I couldn't see his reaction. Why did I say that, again? I mean yeah it's true but he doesn't need to know that.

"Layla I…" I felt his hands on my shoulders as he turned me around to face him. For a second he looked like he was going to kiss me, and he even seemed to lean down a bit towards me, but it was gone as quickly as it came, and he let is hands slide down my shivering arms, pausing briefly at my hands before he let them drop. "I can't, Layla, I …"

"Yeah, I thought so." I stumbled backwards as defiantly as I could manage in my cold and injured state, and limped down the stairs and across the pitch as fast as I could manage. I didn't look back, but I knew without looking that he made no move to follow me.

A week passed without anything out of the ordinary. I went to class, I did little bits of my work, I slept a lot, and I didn't go to practice (damn you Madame Pomfrey and your healing ways). Jake continued to bug me each night, Sirius continued to be a whore, James continued to pursue Evans, Peter continued to eat a lot, and Remus continued to be a sodding arsehole (to be read as: Remust continued to act as though he had no interest in me, nor I in him).

It was on one such uneventful evening that I decided to take matters into my own hands... sort of. Well, I decided that if I couldn't take my own matters into my own hands, it was high time I put my pranking juices to use on someone else's matters. Just smile and pretend that makes sense. So I snuck the map away from the blokes and walked down back to the common room. Peter was chatting up some -- WOAH NOW, this was new, Pete was sitting on the couch chatting up some fourth year girl. Aw, way to go Pete. You get in her pants. You manipulate that barely-post-pubescent little mind of hers. You-- ok, wow, too long with no snogging evidently gives me a dirty mind.

Anyway. James was lying asleep in an armchair, so I wouldn't have to worry about him.

I snuck out the door and pulled out the map. Hmmmmm, let us see. Without thinking about it I reflexively started looking for his name. What? Lupin in the dorms? But I was just up there...

Whatever. Back to my wonderful plan. Oh, wait, no, I didn't have a plan. Back to my wonderful improvisation in a horrible attempt to distract myself from my own life by meddling in someone else's. Ah, yes, Evans, there you are. Kitchens. A stress eater, eh? Never would have guessed...

I began walking down the many flights of stairs, feeling the chill of the cold November air seep through the castle walls. I vaguely registered the fact that I should have worn more than what I have deemed my Whore Shorts (they scarcely cover my bum, here. I don't know how they're considered anything more than underwear...) and a tank top. No time for such sensible matters, though.

I reached the kitchens and walked in with ease, perfectly familiar with the whole fruit tickling ordeal, and saw Evans eating a large bowl of chocolate ice cream. I breathed in deeply, trying to channel the let's-go-meddle energy I had felt earlier, and walked forward.

"Hello, Evans," I said cheerfully as I continued forward to where she could see me.

Her spoon clattered down into the bowl and her entire body jumped a bit. Woah, jumpy one here. Mates, we have a jumper. Mhmm, right, anyway.

"Layla! Oh god you scared me!" Once her breathing calmed down a bit she seemed to remember that we don't get along as well as James might like us to, and that it wasn't ordinary for me to seek her out and start up a conversation. (See, James keeps trying to convince me to be all buddy-buddy with Lily so that I can weasel him into the picture. He has this all planned out in great detail.) Her eyes narrowed and her posture tensed. "What are you doing here?"

I smiled, unphased by her hostile demeanor, and shrugged, leaning forward to rest my elbows on the counter on which she ate. "Oh, you know," I sighed, "got a bit hungry. But I think the real question is what are you doing here? Last time I checked you had no idea where the kitchens were."

She blushed a bit, working to maintain her glare. "Besides the fact that I have just as much right to be here as you do, which is next to no right at all, James told me how to get here."

Was it just me or did that sentence make no sense? Ah, what a day when Evans can't form a proper sentence.

"James told you, now did he?" I smirked.

She attempted to blush and give me the evil eye at the same time. Not that the blushing was intentional.

"Yes," she said, attempting to regain her composure, "James told me."

"So how are you and Jamesy boy these days?"

"We are not a we."

I frowned, again confused by her choice of sentence construction. She was wearing sweatpants and what appeared to be an old t-shirt. Her hair was pulled back into a messy ponytail, and for a moment I was struck by how beautiful she was, even in such casual clothes. Maybe I could see why James was so in love with her. Wait, WHAT? What am I thinking. Evans is to be tolerated, not admired. Anyway, what was happening?

Something in the way she said that made me curious. Could it be possible that she didn't hate James as much as she let on?

"Hey Lillyyyy," I smiled, sliding closer to her over the counter, "could it mayyybee be the case that you actually like Potter?"

Her scowl turned into a Super Scowl. "Of course not!" she spat.

I backed off slightly. Key word being slightly. Okay okay so maybe it's not my business to meddle. But I have to have something to do, now don't I?

This was hopeless, though. Why I thought I could crack Evans I don't know, but I had had enough for the night (I'm not the most persistent witch in the school.)

I sighed, muttered a "whatever, your loss," and turned away to leave.

"Hey wait. Layla?"

I turned to look at her, impatience evident on my features. "Yes, darling Lily?"

"I'll tell you what's up with James and me if you confirm my suspicions about what's up with you and Remus."

My innocent features turned to hate, and I had to stop myself from immediately turning away and running out of the kitchens. But hey, take one for the team, right? I took a deep breath and let out a "deal" through clenched teeth.

She smiled, and stooped to low as to clap her hands with glee. I took a step closer to her and crossed my arms over my chest, waiting for her to begin.

"Okay now," she grinned (wow she was having way too much fun with this), "you first. So here's the deal. Remus and you have been friends for a really long time. In fact, you've been friends with all four of them for a really long time. Much of that time was spent in the pre-pubescent heaven of naivety, but at one point or another, the blokes began to notice that you're not a bloke. And around that point in time, you began to notice it, too." She paused, taking a deep breath and trying to contain her grin. Apparently she had put an unnerving amount of time into this hypothesis. "Skip forward a couple years, you want to get in his pants, and he in yours, but he doesn't want anything to happen because he's pulling the 'it'll ruin our friendship' card. Well, he wants something to happen, but he won't let it. Ah, the nobility."

She nodded once to signify that she was done, and I attempted to glare at her more than I already was. She was … surprisingly correct, there, for the most part. I mean, minus the whole furry little problem thing, she wasn't missing much. GAH, why am I so transparent?

I shifted uncomfortably, and her face fixed itself into a triumphant smile.

I decided that denying anything she just said would be generally pointless. But there was still one thing that bothered me. OK, there were a million things that bothered me, but one stuck out in my mind.

"So if you know all this," I began, "does that mean the rest of the school does as well?"
She shrugged. "Nah, I only know this 'cause James told me everything. Although his version had a lot more emphasis on the blokes beginning to notice that you're a girl." She rolled her eyes and I blushed, looking down at my bare feet. "You and Remus make it seem like you two just never got along as well as the rest of them. That's probably what everyone thinks."

So James was a traitor. Ah, god, I couldn't really blame the bloke, could I? He'd tell Lily anything in the world if he thought it'd get him on her good side. But now … about Lily.
"Alright," I said, "now you. I've 'confirmed your suspicions', so to speak, so now you have to tell me what's up."

She sighed and looked down at her melted ice cream, poking at it with the spoon. "I can't."

"What!? What do you mean, you can't? That was the deal you made the de—"

"No, no, I mean I can't… be with him. I think that even if I … wanted to … I wouldn't let myself. I can't just give in after all this time. What will that say about me? Lily Evans: caves when pushed hard enough."

I started to laugh uncontrollably. What the sodding hell was she on about? From what she had just said, it sounded as though she might possibly not hate James. It sounded as though she might possibly even like him. Which couldn't be true. Leave it to Evans to reject him because she's worried about her image.

"So let me get this straight. You continue to reject James because you're afraid of what people might think of you if you give in? You're that shallow?"

Her face twisted into an indecisive frown. "Yes? No? Fuck, I don't know." She dropped her head into her hands, bits of her hair drooping into the sticky mess of melted ice cream in front of her. And suddenly I understood.

Ok, no, I didn't understand completely. Why she would reject him when she thought she might have feelings for him was beyond me, but … but the whole torn feelings and indecision and inability to properly reason through things? That all made sense.

I stepped forward cautiously and leaned against the counter. "I guess we're both screwed then. In a strictly metaphorical sense."

She nodded into her hands, adding a bit of a groan for the effect. Overdramatic twat.

"Well, Evans," I said as I straightened up, "we're not in the same boat here, you know. I'm not the one stopping my relationship. You're the one stopping yours. Maybe you should consider getting over yourself and giving in to what you actually want." Ah, the wise words of Layla Armone.

She sighed, looking up at me. "Yeah, well, thanks. I don't know what to tell you about Remus, though. I'm sorry…"

I shrugged. No one knows what to do with me. God it was getting late. "Well, I'm going to leave you here to enjoy your melted ice cream."

She nodded in response as I began to walk away. "Oh, Layla?"

"Yeah, Evans?"

"Can you not tell James about this little talk?"

I smirked, "What little talk?" and continued out the door.

A/N: hideously filled with typos, eh? yeah, well, I wanted to get it to you fast. yayyy. review please! I'll try to get the next one up within a week or so, tops. thanks for reading :-)