An Unexpected Uniting

James watched her run, until the last of her bag had disappeared up the stairs. Looking back to the fire he found all of his friends staring at him.

"Prongs." It was Sirius who spoke first. "You've gotta stop acting like an arse mate. You're making it harder for yourself."

"Don't know what you're talking about." James muttered, though he knew inside that he did.

"You're being a-" Sirius tried to speak but Remus cut across him.

"The hair thing, the walk thing, the snitch thing. Stop it" having put everything succinctly into one sentence, Remus left the fire to join another table.

"Where's he going?" asked Peter, who had until then stayed silent.

"Dunno." Sirius frowned, then brightened as he recognised the curly haired girl Remus had joined. "Oh- Allie. Good on you Moony" he smiled and turned to James,

"Look, you like her, but you're acting like a prat. For goodness sake just talk to her. And don't do any of the stuff Remus just pointed out."

James just looked glum and sat silently. Sirius turned to watch Allie and Remus, now poring over books. Sirius hoped that more than work was going on. What would be the fun otherwise?

Late that night, Lily returned to the common room to find her transfiguration textbook. Realising it was by the fire, she sighed. Why were her things trying to get her to go near Potter all the time? He didn't look happy, she noticed, and was sitting on his own.

"Where is everyone?" she asked. Why? She thought. Did I really just open a conversation with James potter?

James looked shocked, and then smiled at her. "Peter's in bed" he rolled his eyes. "Sirius is with a girl somewhere and Remus is with that mate of yours."

"Allie?" Lily asked, curiosity getting the better of her and sliding into a chair opposite him.

"Yeah, library I think." James raised a hand to smooth his hair, remembered Remus's words, and lowered it. "Charms or something."

"Well, night." Lily's head was raging. Did she want a conversation with Potter? But this wasn't the potter she usually spoke to. He was nicer, more like Remus than a toerag. But she didn't want to see how long it lasted.

"Night." James smiled at her, and she returned it, before heading to the stairs, grinning to herself.

Sitting on her bed, she curled herself into a ball. Maybe Remus was right. Maybe he wasn't all that bad; they'd just had a perfectly nice conversation without him showing off at all. She rolled over and went to sleep, still smiling to herself.

"Where were you last night?" Lily knew the answer anyway but decided to ask Allie for the fun of it. She hadn't heard Allie get back last night, and she was up late today, even for a weekend.

"Library." Came the mumbled reply.

Cat, Mary and Lily raised their eyebrows at each other as Allie did not appear from between the hangings

"And…?" Cat persisted where Lily had left off.

"With Remus." Allie's mumbled reply came through the curtains. Lily could picture her going bright red as Cat shrieked and pulled back the hangings.

Despite being ruthlessly quizzed, Allie kept quiet. Lily kicked Cat into shutting up for a bit before they left for the great hall. Remus met Allie at the bottom of the stairs and they had eyes only for each other. Unfortunately, the rest of his gang were also there. Sirius nudged James at Lily, and left pointedly taking Peter with him. Lily felt herself go red as he approached.

"So." He mumbled. "Your best mate and mine?"

Lily nodded. She smiled to herself as she saw him resist the urge to smooth his hair and decided to go for it.

"Yeah, I wondered why the library was such a great place all of a sudden."

"I thought Remus was trying to live up to his prefect's badge." James admitted. "Just don't tell him that!"

Lily entered the hall still making small talk with James. Her heart sank when she saw Remus in her usual seat. Turning she saw James grinning at her. He motioned to the seat next to him, she hesitated but took it.

After breakfast, Allie and Remus disappeared. Cat vanished taking Mary with her back to the common room, winking at Lily as she went. Lily sighed inwardly and made a mental note to kick her. Sirius looked up and dragged Peter away from the table, still holding his toast.

"Um…" James had gone a funny shade of red, as if he was trying not to blush. "Would you like to-. I mean-. You probably don't-. Um-."

Suddenly Lily felt sorry for him, and finally saw what Remus had meant. Taking his hand in hers she led him from the hall, smiling.