Thank you for the lovely reviews! As implored, here's the next chapter!

The next day was a weird one. I skipped my usual morning routine of getting ready, grabbing something handheld from the Great Hall, then eating it on a crisp walk around the lake. Instead, I decided on doing the homework I missed the previous night in the common room. That's where I met Lily again, who invited me to eat breakfast with her and her group of friends. I immediately accepted without thinking.

We walked down together, first in an awkward silence, then she brought up a test we recently had in Potions, and the answers we had written down. Both of us were the kind that enjoyed going over homework, so conversation went smoothly until we reached the Great Hall.

Lily had a large group of friends - all girls, and all of them I despised. They were all pretty daft - excluding two or three - and annoying, and giggly. I could hardly stand sitting with them for a few minutes. Luckily, Lily and I were still discussing homework, so none of them joined in.

"Alright Lily?" said James Potter coming up from behind us and squeezing in next to me, as he knew Lily wouldn't allow him to go near her. His friends sat across from me. All of them - especially Sirius – were staring at me in this expectant, mysterious type of way. It made me exceedingly uncomfortable. "Alright ... Annie, is it?"

"Yes," I replied, looking down at my plate of buttered toast.

"Hey Annie, do you mind if we talk, you know, in private?" asked James, with a nod to his friends. I looked at him, expecting a prank. "Just for a moment, please?"

"Er - fine, I suppose?" With a worried glance at Lily (who seemed equally confused), I got up and followed James through the Great Hall to an empty classroom at the top of the marble staircase. He waited till I walked in, closed the door, then sat on top of a desk with his feet up on another.

"What exactly do you want?"

"Well, dear Antoinette," he answered, studying at a hole in the big toe of his Italian shoes with interest, "I want you to be my girlfriend."

My jaw dropped. "Pardon me?" I spluttered. Did he actually just say that?

"Let me explain. You see, Antoinette, I have been in love with Lily Evans since I was eleven, and since I was eleven, Lily has hated me. For the past six years I have tried charming her into fancying me, but in vain. She still hates me. Every bouquet of flowers I send her, she smiles so delightfully, until she sees the name on the card; every kind word I say to her, she takes so beautifully, until she looks to see to speaker; every -"

"James, how long have you been preparing that speech?" I asked with a slightly amused smile. Now that I knew that he didn't actually fancy me, I could be somewhat comfortable.

"Is it too much?" I nodded.

"Oh, sorry. Well, essentially, I've always tried to woo Lily, and I never really thought that my attempts really worked, but now it's obvious that she fancies me back. But the problem is, she's way too stubborn to admit to me that, and if confront her, I know she'll deny it. I need something that will push her over the edge and convince her to tell me her feelings, and I'm thinking that's jealousy."

I blinked. "So you want me to - no! I am not doing that!" I headed for the door. James hopped off his desk and ran in front of me.

"No! You have to do this, please! You're perfect for it. You're close enough to Lily that she'll notice us together, but far enough that she can't really be mad at you. And you're pretty, Annie, so she'll be jealous, but not too over-the-top, so she won't believe it. Please!"

With his chest centimetres away from my face, I realized this was the closest I had ever been to a boy, who just called me pretty. For a fleeting moment, I think I forgot to breathe.

"Annie, I just need to get Lily's attention. Please! I promise that if it doesn't work within a month we'll just forget about the whole thing."

For one shameful second, I actually considered it. James was desperate, and he seemed genuinely enamoured with Lily. If our fake dates started a romantic relationship between them, then the idea couldn't be that bad, could it? But what was I thinking? What were the chances of Lily actually stepping up and saying "Though you two seem to be in love, I want to break you up because despite hating you all these years, seeing you together makes me jealous!" That wasn't like her at all. If anything, Lily would ignore both of us.

"James, how do you even know Lily fancies you?"

"I just know – she's different. She acts all strange around me, she blushes whenever I talk to her. Sometimes during Prefect meetings, I catch her smiling in my direction when she thinks I'm not looking. I've done extensive research and I can only draw one conclusion: Lily now fancies me."

"By extensive research do you mean you asked Sirius Black?" I said, crossing my arms.

He smirked. "Him and some of Lily's friends. They agree with me. Now, will you do it?"

"I'm sorry James, but no." And with that, I pushed past him and walked out the door.

I considered going after Annie briefly, then decided that I should give her some time to think the idea over. Even I wasn't crazy about it, and this wasn't even going to benefit her. I went back towards the Gryffindor table, shook my head sadly at Moony and Prongs (Wormy was intent on finding a perfectly crisped piece of bacon), and collected my books. I'll give Annie until tomorrow night, and then I'll talk to her again.

The day went by slowly, especially since my mind was only on Annie and Lily. What could I do to convince Annie? Who could be Annie's backup if I couldn't? Dorcas Meadowes maybe, or Mary MacDonald, but they didn't have Annie's strange charm. They would convince themselves we were actually dating; Annie was obviously not interested in a romantic way. I couldn't have a backup anyway; she was perfect for this job – I had to somehow persuade her. But how? She wasn't the type to accept bribery, and I doubted she'd ever done something blackmail worthy.

"Oi, Prongs? Class ended a minute ago," said Sirius, throwing a quill at me. "C'mon, I have to demonstrate my genius!" Not bothering to ask, I packed up my things.

Back in the common room, Padfoot was trying out some slippers he charmed into wildly dancing whenever someone wore them.

"Come one, come all! Try out my amazing, but perfectly ordinary 'slippers'!" he cried, as the usual fan club giggled per usual. "Frank Longbottom! Come, try on my slippers! I promise nothing bad will come of it!"

Frank looked up from his conversation with Alice and said, "Really, Sirius? Everyone heard you explain the trick twenty seconds ago. I am not dancing for all of you." Regardless, Alice nudged him slightly and he stood up, smirking. He kicked of his shoes and stepped into the magenta, fuzzy slippers. At this point, the whole common room was watching, silent and waiting for something to happen.

Frank laughed after a minute, pushing his dark hair out of his face. "Maybe this is why you have a T in Charms, Siri –" The slippers suddenly started moving wildly. First, Frank was doing jazz squares, his arms moving madly trying to grab onto something. Just as he found a table, the slippers switched to fast tap. The crowd cackled loudly with glee.

Just as Frank started doing a little ballet, Annie ran up to me. "James," she said quietly glaring at me. She was obviously angry, but her demeanour was extremely calm. The result was oddly terrifying. "I will only pretend-date you if you stop this Marauder nonsense in the common room." And with that, she turned and stalked to the girls' dormitory.

Since you've gone to all this trouble, I suppose reviewing wouldn't be too much to ask for? :)