Sirius sauntered down the Gryffindor table, looking for his favourite redhead. James had told him everything that happened in Charms, and he was thrilled. He had big plans for Lily.

"Is this seat taken?" he asked when he stumbled upon Lily. She looked up with a pleasant expression, which disappeared upon recognising Sirius.
"Yes, Your Highness," Lily sneered. Sirius grinned in reply and sat.
"Excellent! Pass me the peas, Lily darling."
"No, Your Highness."

She was fuming and Sirius hadn't even been there for a minute! It was too beautiful. Sirius leaned across Lily rudely to get them himself. "Don't mind me, Lily-poo," he said cheerfully. "I won't be here long. Just filling in for Prongs."
Lily thought that ignoring Sirius would be a good technique, but she couldn't resist giving snarky replies. "I can assure you that I won't miss your presence, Your Highness."
"You wound me, Lily."
"I'm aiming for death, Your Highness."

And James wondered why she didn't particularly like Sirius. He was taking far too much pleasure out of this.

Sirius started laughing. "Oh, Lily. You're far too much fun to be around. We'd be such good friends! A perfect match, don't you think, Prongs?" Without Lily noticing, James had snuck up behind her with a wide grin on his face. "Absolutely not. Now move, Padfoot. I can see you've done enough damage."
At his command, Sirius stood and gave Lily a gallant bow. "I'll be seeing you again, Lily dear. Very soon."
Lily refused to answer Sirius or look at James. Merlin, where were her friends when she needed them?

"So on a scale of one to ten, how kinky did Sirius get with you?" James asked. Lily clenched her jaw.
"I'm not talking to you anymore," she said childishly.
James placed a gentle arm around her neck. "Come on, Lily. Don't be sour because you lost a bet. A deal's a deal, right?" He removed his arm when he realised Lily was unresponsive. "I'll tell Sirius to be kinder. But now you know that refusing my challenges will only result in worse ones!"

Lily refused to admit that she had agreed to the challenge in the first place. A deal's a deal… what kind of saying is that anyway? James had hurt her feelings. He took it too far.

"You are never to do anything like this again," Lily said furiously. "With Sirius, of all people!"
James looked confused. "Would you have preferred Remus?"
"No!" James just didn't understand at all. "Merlin, Potter. You'd think that, you'd at least realised, how much effect this would have on me!"

Was Lily crying? Merlin. James saw a tear roll down her cheek. He pulled Lily into his side, and after a moments' resistance she allowed it. Only for a moment though.

"Sirius is a pureblood, James," Lily whispered. She moved away from his side and wiped her eyes. "You don't think I feel low enough of the class scale without calling him 'Your Highness'?"
James was suddenly reminded that there was a war about to start over blood status, and Lily was considered less than wonderful. "I'm a pureblood too," James said dumbly. "I'm sorry. I forgot."
"Yes, you did."

Lily did not say anything else, and James felt awful. "Okay, the deal is off. I'm not forcing you to do this anymore."
"A deal is a deal," Lily argued. James shook his head.
"No. Not if it makes you feel like this," he said firmly. "Next Charms class, we'll start fresh, and no more degrading challenges. No more trying to get me in trouble, either," he teased, hoping to get Lily to smile. It worked.
"Well, I can't promise that," Lily smiled.
"Neither can I." James paused for a moment, looking at Lily carefully. "I truly am sorry. It was meant to be funny and harmless, and I'm sorry I hurt your feelings."

Lily shrugged. "It's not okay," she said. "But you're forgiven."

That was the quickest the two had ever made up after an argument, and James would always remember it.

After dinner finished, James disappeared off to the seventh floor. The marauders had already spoken to Hestia about meeting them at the Room of Requirement; they were all waiting for James before they entered.

Inside, the boys followed Hestia around the room. Hestia had never been inside before, but had promised to keep it a secret, and with a quick tutoring lesson from Sirius had quickly mastered the controls, so to speak. After less than an hour, the room had gone through a gazillion different designs. The boys were exhausted.

"We should definitely have a masquerade theme," Hestia said firmly. "Much more romantic."

The room was currently an exact replica of the Great Hall, with the twelve Christmas trees and everything. Hestia was having a ball (forgive the pun) designing it.

"And icicles will hang from the roof like this," Hestia gestured to the roof, "and snow will float down. Blue would be a nice colour. Pastel blue."
Remus was writing down notes. "You know, just because you can create it in this room, doesn't mean we'll actually be able to get it in the real Great Hall," he reminded Hestia. She waved off his concerns.
"I've already told the room not to give me false hopes," she said casually. "Now, the tables. Round ones, with a white sheet covering them. The chairs should be straight backed but comfortable and have blue ribbons around them! Yes, that will look very nice."

James was smirking. "I thought I was planning the ball?"
"You had your chance," Hestia replied. "I truly don't think a Gryffindor-themed ball would be a good idea."
"Maybe we should make it for Gryffindor's only," Sirius suggested.
"What a small party," Hestia murmured. "If you two want a Gryffindor theme, then you can have lions on your masks."

James and Sirius grinned at each other. "We can make them roar!" Sirius said excitedly. "And they can prowl over our masks! Hestia, that is a great idea!"

Hestia hid her face in her hands. "I was joking," she moaned.

Elsewhere in the castle, Hestia wasn't the only person struggling to stay on track. Marlene was watching Lily struggle with her homework. It was only Ancient Runes… Lily was good at it!
"What's wrong, Lily?" Marlene asked finally, after Lily's fifth sigh.
"I just can't concentrate," Lily replied stiffly. She hadn't told anyone about the incident with Sirius. "I can't stop thinking about…"
"James?" Marlene guessed. When Lily didn't say anything, Marlene assumed she was right. "I don't blame you, Lily. He's not exactly the most unattractive guy around."
"That's not it," Lily said. "I mean, I know he's attractive, I'm not blind. But there are so many sides to him that I've seen this month already that I would never have thought existed before!"

Marlene took a moment to think carefully about what she was about to say. "No one is ever black and white, I suppose. There are so many shades of grey that it's difficult to know yourself, let alone other people."
"I want to, though, Marlene. I want to know him. And I don't understand why," Lily moaned. "After all these years… I never thought…"
"James would catch your eye?" Marlene guessed. Lily nodded.
"Maybe I have been blind this whole time," she murmured.
"The past is the past, Lils. You can't do anything about that now. Just… keep an open mind or something. Even I can see that James has changed this year. He'll make mistakes, and bad choices, and may even say a thing or two that will really annoy you and make you doubt he ever changed at all. But he has, and he'll prove it to you." Marlene smiled at Lily, who smiled back.
"You sound like you really know what you're talking about," she said. "Are you sure you're not psychic?"
Marlene grinned. "Well, there is a history of Seers in my family, you know," she teased. Lily shook her head and picked up her quill. "Well, can you predict my result on this paper for me?"
Looking over at Lily's parchment, Marlene saw Lily hadn't even written four lines. "At the rate you're going? You'll be lucky to get a D."
Lily winced. "That hurt. Maybe I should ask Remus to help me."
"If you can find him. Everyone seems to have disappeared today," Marlene said curiously.
"Everyone meaning the marauders?"
"And Hestia. Who knows where she's off to these days!"

Lily thought that was a bit suspicious. Usually, Hestia always hung out with Lily and Marlene. "She's been acting kinda strange lately, hasn't she?" Lily asked. She wondered if Marlene knew anything, but Marlene just shrugged. "Do you think that maybe she's hiding something from us?
"Like what?"
Lily chewed on her lip. It wasn't like Hestia to hide something, but… "Well, she has been spending a bit of time with James lately…"

Marlene's jaw dropped in shock. "Lily Evans, are you jealous?" Lily remained silent. "Oh, for Merlin's sake. Okay. One: Hestia has spoken to James no more than I have this year. Two: You have nothing to be jealous of. Three: James has made it clear to everyone in this entire bloody school that you are the only girl he has ever laid eyes on."
"But what if…" Lily trailed off, blushing bright red. Marlene waited impatiently for Lily to gather her thoughts. "What if, after all this time, he was only in it for the chase? I mean, we're talking and stuff now… friends, I guess… so what if he's suddenly gotten bored and I'm not good enough anymore?"

"Pull yourself together, Lily!" Marlene was having none of this self-pity. Lily was better than that. "You're over exaggerating everything that's happening right now. It's all in your head. James obviously wants to be with you. Hestia has got something else on her plate that we don't know about, but she'll tell us when she's ready. You are worthy of having a decent boyfriend. Everything will become clear eventually, and you just need to get rid of these jealous tendencies you're having over a boy you've only just begun talking to. There is zero need to be possessive." Marlene had gotten herself riled up now, and was panting a bit. Lily was glaring at Marlene.
"You know, sometimes you can be a real bitch."
"And sometimes you can be extremely irrational and pathetic."

Lily clenched her jaw, took some deep breaths, and calmed herself. Marlene was right. Lily was being irrational and pathetic. She didn't know anything yet. There was nothing to worry about.

"I'm sorry for being stupid."
"Sorry for being a bitch."
"I know you're only trying to help, so I suppose it's okay."