I'd like to make a quick apology - I was reading about how the Prefect/Head Girl/Head Boy system works the other day and according the the page, the Head Girl and Boy are (if they were prefects beforehand) not replaced after getting Head Girl/Boy. So basically, Poppy would not have replaced Lily. But for the sake of the story, she has. Sorry if this bothers anyone.

Anyway, hope you enjoy this chapter lovelies.

The first week of school (which was in fact only two days, as lessons began on Thursday) went by relatively quickly, however the seventh years unanimously agreed they had more work than the first three years put together. The Gryffindor Common room was bubbling with phrases such as 'Four rolls of parchment for Herbology? Ha, that's fine. We got six for Transfiguration. McGonagall's off her rocker, I'm telling you.' and, 'I saw James Potter doing homework on the day it was set. I know!'. Poppy had had to have a serious talk with her conscience about whether she could manage the work, Quidditch and being a prefect, along with working on trying not to be a bitch.

The first day of lessons was very normal. The lesson Poppy had first was Charms, which was always pleasant. She was sat next to Eleanor - also a good thing. At this point in the day she took a moment to realise how good a day it had been so far - she'd had a nice run, a particularly large spot had disappeared from her face, she found a nice bra she thought she had lost, the toast was perfect at breakfast, Remus had said her hair looked nice (she had made a bit of an effort) and now she had Charms first thing, sitting next to one of her friends. The day continued in a delightfully unextraordinary manner, and things only seemed to get better. She was sat by Remus in Ancient Runes and in front of James in Transfiguration (which was useful as he was very good at Transfiguration). He had not attempted to talk to her yet, but it was only a matter of time. As a final pleasantry of the day, Lily fished out an expensive mascara she had bought for Poppy in London as a gift, with Poppy giving her a jumper Lily had been admiring in a catalogue when Lily had come over during the summer. Lily was greatly amused, as she claimed that Sirius had 'followed' Poppy into the library - Poppy was mildly irritated.

It really should have been a sign that if (besides the excessive amount of homework) the first day of school had gone so well, the second was going to be diabolical.

The morning started at roughly 5:52am - Poppy was an early riser - when she woke up after a bad dream, which she couldn't completely recall other than it had been bad. She quietly got changed and discovered that some wine she'd had in her trunk (for emotional emergencies, because muggle alcohol was better for emotional emergencies) had leaked in to her second pair of trainers. The run itself was pleasant enough, however when she returned at around 6:23am for a shower, Poppy realised instantaneously it was not a good day when she saw her reflection after her shower.

The conventional term for what Poppy was aware she was about to have is a 'bad hair day', but really it's a lot worse than that. In exchange for the spot that had so kindly evacuated her face the previous day, Poppy had three more - one where the edge of her nose met her cheek, one slightly to the left in between her eyebrows and the last one was a particularly bulbous one on her chin. So this was a bad skin day. In addition, her hair was clearly not going to behave at all that day. On days like this, she also became aware of how depressingly average she was - her chest resembled that of a reasonably developed eleven year old, her smile seemed ridiculously wonky, her ears pointed out at a stupid angle and her nose went on for far too long. She tied her hair in a high ponytail - even then it came to her a few inches above her waist - and applied her makeup. Neither looked as she wanted them too, and this set her in a bad mood.

At breakfast, her friends seemed to notice her discontent.

'You alright, Pops?' Alice asked cautiously, laying her porridge next to Poppy's (overdone) toast and sitting down. Poppy grunted.

'Face.'

'Ah.'

Alice, along with the other residents of Poppy's dormitory, were used to Poppy's 'Slightly More Than Bad Hair Days', as they happened about once every three weeks and she was never very happy when they did. Whenever asked what was wrong, the reply would be the same - 'Face.'. When Lily entered, Alice mouthed, 'Face.' quietly and Lily nodded understandingly, positioning herself across from Poppy.

'Alright, Pops?'

'Face.'

'You look lovely.'

'Don't.'

It would be lovely to say that in truth Poppy looked radiant and delightful, but she did look a mess and Lily and Alice both privately knew this, but were both far too kind to say so. In fact, it was a great testament to all of those who'd had to deal with Poppy on a day like that that they didn't just shout, 'You're right, you look bloody awful!'. They didn't know it, but Poppy appreciated this greatly.

Things, however, were no better when the boys walked in, as they were not as equipped to deal with Poppy in this manner. Remus had once encountered Poppy in this mind set in their third year and has been very unsure of how to react. Sirius had been fortunate enough to avoid that situation, and as a consequence made the juvenile error of bringing it up before Poppy did.

'Merlin, Poppy, you look like Mandrakes just chased you through a bush of poison ivy after you a sleepless night.' He said cheerfully, sitting down opposite her.

Lily and Alice, now joined by Mary, Marlene and Eleanor, inhaled sharply. Poppy looked up and graced him with a simple scowl. Her friends exhaled.

'My face isn't behaving.' She explained. He laughed.

'I pity you. Never get that problem, me.'

Poppy, to the surprise of her friends, smirked.

'Some of us have it all.' She stood up and brushed some crumbs off her robes. 'I've got Arithmancy first, and that's a long way from here. I'm going to go now. Anyone coming?' She asked, fairly pleasantly. Lily glanced sideways at Mary warily who shrugged, and got up to follow her friend.

'You were just civil. On a face day. To Sirius Black.'

'I admire your observation skills.'

'Quiet, Penelope.'

Probably the strangest thing about Poppy was that her full name was Penelope. This would mean her logical nickname would be Penny, however when Sam was born she could only say 'Poppy', not 'Penelope' or 'Penny'. The name stuck, and from then on, everyone called Poppy Poppy.

'I'm trying to be nicer. And Black's been decent to me since we got back, so I'll be decent back.' Poppy explained briefly, checking she had her glasses in her bag.

'Right. Is that going well?'

'Frighteningly so.'

The day passed slowly, and Poppy was partnered with Nicole Smith in Potions and a sat by Ravenclaw called Henry in Arithmancy, her favourite subject.

Saturday came around, and once again it was an early rise for Poppy, as she headed out for a run. There were normally one or two others out, but today it seemed she was the only one. She was intending to crack off her Arithmancy homework and go to the library to get a book for her Herbology and Potions and work, then write some letters and hopefully do a bit more work and maybe even go for a fly before her patrol with Remus. On days when she was particularly busy, she wrote down everything she was going to do and at what time. Today was quiet.

Despite being as fantastically organised as she was, she could never quite remember when or why she started running. Perhaps too fill the time before everyone woke up. One of Sam's issues of Witch Weekly said it helped your skin, too.

She turned a sharp corner.

'Merlin!'

Poppy had to stop very suddenly as she turned the corner, almost slamming right into someone. She looked up, and saw Sirius, with a wide grin plastered across his face, looking as though he has deliberately positioned himself there.

'Not quite, it's just me.'

She rolled her eyes, breathing loudly from physical exertion. 'Aren't you a bit young for dad jokes, Black?'

'Probably,' He grinned, 'Won't stop me, though. How are you?'

'Splendid.' She panted, still catching her breath.

'You look better than yesterday.' He commented. Poppy raised am eyebrow.

'Is that a roundabout way of saying I look nice?'

'Your analysis impresses me.'

'Does it?' She replied, smiling but also suddenly becoming aware of her (mostly) bare legs and that this was a complete conversation ender. 'You know, Lily finds it really funny you keep following me.' She said added hastily, trying to deter him from noticing her legs by distracting him with conversation. This was barely true - she'd mentioned that he'd apparently followed her to the library and then commented that she'd been civil towards him.

'I'm not following you, love. This was pure coincidence, other times I've just been making friends with you. I just think you're strangely likeable.'

She laughed, slightly uncomfortable at this almost complement and eager to change the subject slightly. 'You know, I've never seen you when I'm on a run.'

'Coincidence.' He repeated, 'It was just nice to bump into a friend, quite literally.'

She groaned, 'What a cliché.'

'What, me saying you're my friend?' He asked, confused.

'No, saying 'bumped into, quite literally.''

'I'll bear that in mind.' He grinned. 'Are you going to start your run again?'

'I was sort of distracted when someone, apparently my new friend, caused me to stop pretty suddenly and engage in conversation.' Poppy replied, amused.

'I'll let you get on with it then.'

'Thanks.'

They went their separate ways, and after running about 30 metres, Sirius called, 'Nice legs, by the way!'

She rolled her eyes. Typical. He'd been civil for a few minutes, of course he had to throw in a comment like that.

'I'd hex you if I had my wand!' She called back, trying to remember roughly how long she had been running for and feeling her wand press into her leg as she ran.

'So he was just there as you turned the corner?' Lily asked, puzzled. Poppy nodded. The Arithmancy homework between them had long since been abandoned and they were each on their third chocolate frog.

'Yeah. He says it was a coincidence.'

Lily snorted. 'If he's having to say it's a coincidence then it obviously isn't!'

'Lily...'

'He's trying to get into your pants.' She declared, half jokingly, slamming her hands down on the table for effect.

'Lily, of course he isn't. One - it's only about the third time he's gone out of his way to talk to me, it's not that bad. Two - he hasn't been flirting with me. Three - My tits aren't big enough for him to want to do that. Four - NO.'

'I have never known Sirius to have intentions that are limited to and including friendship.' She reasoned. Poppy sighed.

'Honestly, we're barely friends! Acquaintances at best!'

'Do you want to shag him?' Lily asked quizzically. Poppy gave an exasperated noise.

'I am completely indifferent towards him. Now can we please just get on with this work?' She cried. Lily nodded, satisfied with this answer.

'Yeah, sorry.'

The two witches were lucky to get a solid half hour of work done, despite the various interruptions that were part and parcel of working in the Gryffindor Common Room. At one point, Poppy suggested moving to the library but Lily didn't want to pack up her things. They were almost three quarters of the way through their work when James interrupted.

'Can I have a word?'

Lily sighed, 'I'm working, can't you just leave me - '

'With Poppy.' He interjected. Lily looked embarrassed and returned to her work, whilst Poppy followed James to a concave in the wall by the fireplace.

'So?' Poppy prompted.

'So I've had a think, and annoyingly you're right. Do not let that go to your head. Lily is not my trophy to claim, and she can date Archie if she wants to. If she really likes him, I'm not going to get in the way of it, am I? No. So if anything, you're right - I'll just get on with life. There is no way I'm going to have spent over two thirds of my school life pining after her, so I'm going to try and fancy other girls, and to be honest, if she does like me in anyway she'll probably realise it then.' James explained. There was a few seconds pause, and then Poppy hugged him.

'I've been waiting for you to get that for about a year and a half.' She grinned. It truly was a relief to her - James was not the sort of boy to wait patiently (or impatiently in his case) for a girl to get on the market again, so it greatly annoyed Poppy that that was exactly what he'd been doing. He laughed and they seperated.

'We're talking again?' Poppy checked. He nodded.

'Partly because you told me to tell you when I had thought everything through and partly because I think it's really amusing that Sirius is trying to befriend you after six years and thinks following you and pestering you is the way to do it.' James admitted. Poppy rolled her eyes and slapped his shoulder.

'You and Lily both, lad.'

The castle was serene, considering it was a Saturday morning, and Poppy had finished her Arithmancy homework, despite her rekindled friendship with James, which usually provided a distraction from any work that needed to be done. The walk to the library was always very enjoyable, mainly due to the prospect of books at the end of it, even if homework was involved too. Poppy was very keen to get her hands on The Guide To Magical Flora, Fauna and Fungi: Asia and Eastern Europe and Captivating Herbs of the Middle East for her Herbology homework.

The library was no busier than usual, and upon entry Poppy gave Madam Farroway a cheerful smile and went about searching for the books. She passed by Frank and Eleanor, both poring over a run down copy of The Life and Ways of a British Muggle - 4th Edition. The two looked up at her and gave weak smiles, which she returned. If she wasn't so busy, she'd probably help them.

She continued to walk to the back of the library, smiling at those she knew and keeping an eye out for any misbehaviour - she was taking Prefect duties seriously.

To her luck, one of the books she wanted was laid across a table already. She smiled to herself and quickened her walk, just as Alice came around the other corner, looking very glum and weighed down with a tattered copies of Know Your Antidotes, 10 Simples Ways to Perfect Your Draught Of Living Death and The Complete Guide to Potions of the 19th Century. She heaved them onto the table next to Poppy's book and sighed.

'I'm done with that,' She said dejectedly.

'Oh, great. Are you alright, Alice?' Poppy asked nervously. Alice shook her head and flicked open a page of one of the books.

'Not particularly.' She replied bluntly. Poppy prepared herself for a talk about emotions or boys, which she was frustratingly bad at, and sat down.

'What's happened?'

'You saw Eleanor and Frank, right?' Alice asked. Poppy nodded.

'Well, I was sitting at the table near them, but ended up moving. She was all over him - flirting and leaning against him and giggling. Honestly, it was infuriating. He seemed to be pretty flattered by it all too. I couldn't focus, so I moved here.' She explained.

'So why are you upset?' Poppy questioned. Alice gave her a pointed look.

'Oh,' she realised, 'You fancy Frank.'

'Bloody hell, Pops, don't tell everyone!' Alice snapped.

'It wasn't that loud...' Poppy grumbled, but Alice didn't hear her, as she was now off on her rant.

'It's just insulting, you know? He's been really sweet to me over the past few months, and we even met up a few times over summer and I really thought he liked me but he's barely spoken to me since we came back. It's quite disheartening when the lad you've fancied for two and a half years starts flirting with you and then gives up because a prettier one's come along, and hey-ho, she likes him too! What a surprise!' Alice complained, jabbing her finger into the table on every stressed syllable.

'Maybe you could talk to him?'

'God, no.' Alice shuddered, 'That would make things worse.'

Poppy, oblivious to why this would make things worse, innocently inquired why it bothered Alice if they were not actually dating. Alice sighed.

'Never mind. You do your work, I'm going to go for a shower. Bye Pops.'

'Oh, alright. Bye Alice.'

Alice left Poppy to work, exasperated but not annoyed, wondering if Poppy had honestly spent the last few years surrounded by teenage girls and their problems - Poppy herself was not an abnormal teenage girl and there was no reason for her to be so terrible at advice and those sort of things, yet she truly lacked an understanding of the way relationships and some friendships worked. If Alice was a nastier person, she probably would not have been surprised that Poppy had never had a boyfriend, a date, or even (as far as she knew) a wee crush on anyone. It was a tad bizarre.

Now alone, Poppy pondered whether or not she should continue to help Alice: clearly she was upset and this was not good, as Alice was rarely snappy or upset, but she had terminated the conversation rather abruptly. Poppy, eternally organised, sighed and fished out an old piece of parchment that she could probably no longer use for any kind of work due to it's uncleanliness and made a list of what her options were in helping Alice.

BRIEF ANALYSIS: Alice upset as Frank (who had 'been really sweet to her') now seemingly ignoring her but spending time with 'prettier' Eleanor. Jealousy?

1. Tell Frank that Alice is upset he has been ignoring her for Eleanor.

PROS:

•If the talk goes well, Frank can simply apologise to Alice and things will resume

•Simple resolution with no lies involved

CONS:

•Alice specified she didn't want to talk to him about it (however did not say anything about me)

•This could be declared 'interfering' or 'bitchy' by Alice, who is my friend and therefore not someone who I wish to think these things about me.

•This could annoy Frank, causing him to further ignore Alice, which could lead to Alice realising I've told him, finally leading to the outcome mentioned before this.

2. Tell Eleanor.

PROS:

•I'm fairly sure she would take it well

CONS:

•Might be hard to tell her without making her sound like a bitch

•Could result in tension between Alice and Eleanor

3. Remain uninvolved.

PROS:

•Extra time to read, do work, Quidditch practice etc. as I will not have to be updating any party on what the other said or avoiding people.

•Can not be declared a bitch by any party

•Generally avoiding petty school drama

CONS:

•I will have to put up with my conscience violently assaulting me and screaming at me to tell someone

She lined off the list and looked at it studied it carefully, immediately crossing off the second option. A minute or so passed and she crossed off the first feebly, folding the parchment up gently and resuming her work.

Several hours later in the Common Room, Poppy was thrilled to have finished all her homework an hour before her patrol and was reading Emma for the second time (how she found the time was beyond most of her housemates, as she always seemed to be busy. In addition to this, you'd only see her reading the same book about three times, and then she'd have moved on. James had once attempted to bribe Mary to find out whether she actually finished the books, and then a year later asked Eleanor to check she actually slept). Being a Gryffindor meant that she had adjusted to reading when surrounded by noise, a very useful habit.

On the other side of the room, Frank Longbottom was working very hard for Herbology, having now had Captivating Herbs of the Middle East in front of him for over three quarters of an hour. He turned the page, and found a slip of empty parchment. He frowned and flipped it over to reveal the other side, which had words on it. His frown deepened at the sight of his name, but he read the parchment anyway. He did not recognise the writing, but upon reading it he began to form a good estimate as to who might have wrote it. He smiled to himself and glanced across the room, seeing an oblivious Alice chatting animatedly to Peter. Next to them, curled up with her feet inches from Alice's hand was Poppy, her glasses almost slipping off her nose. She pushed them up. He squished up the parchment and shoved it in his pocket. He then stood up, and strode confidently over to Alice.

'Hi, can I have a word?' He asked. Peter began to rise.

'With Alice.' Frank added hastily, offering an apologetic glance at Peter who sat back down, a bit embarrassed. Alice raised a (perfectly arched) eyebrow.

'Blimey, he speaks.' She commented sarcastically, raising herself out of the sofa and beginning to move to a quieter area of the room. Every movement she made was the most gorgeous thing Frank had ever seen, and he'd been denying himself of it for the sake of trying to make sure she did feel the same way about him as he did about her. Stupid.

Poppy chuckled.

The pair moved next to a bookcase, which Alice leaned against nonchalantly (and looked gorgeous even doing this, Frank thought). As if to live up to what she was doing, he attempted to look vaguely sexy.

'What are you doing with your face, Frank?' She asked scathingly. She said his name in such a lovely way.

'Nothing.' He replied quickly, abandoning his facial expression.

'Is there anything in particular you wish to discuss?' Alice interrogated coolly, her eyes narrowing slightly. Her beautiful, expressive eyes.

'Oh, well, um, yes. Are you alright?'

'I'm fine.' She replied shortly.

'That's good. It's just - I'm sorry.' He blurted out. Alice tilted her head and edged a millimetre closer, but it had the effect of a metre to Frank.

'What for?'

'I'm sorry that I've barely spoken to you since the start of school, and I'm sorry if you thought I was leading you on, and I'm really sorry for making it seem like I'd ditched you for Eleanor.' Frank reeled off the three things he'd been wanting to apologise for since he first did them (why he did them he didn't really understand - nerves perhaps. He'd never really had a girlfriend.) and he was intensely relieved to be able to do so. Alice's stance became more relaxed and she smiled.

'Great. Friends?'

It was strange how this one word made Frank think. Friends? He wanted to be friends with Eleanor. But Alice? There was no person he could want to be friends with so little. He wanted to completely be with her (his apology had made him realise) and he wanted her to know. He wanted to be the sort of person to Alice who she'd never shut up about and always be thinking about and be her first though when she woke up and her last when she went to sleep. He wanted her to feel as if he was the only thing that mattered. He wanted her to get butterflies at the thought of him and palpitations at the sight of him. He wanted her to hold his hand for every waking moment of the day, and to kiss him even more often - because that was everything what Frank wanted to do to her. Most of all, however, he wanted to tell her that he didn't think he could manage friends, because he cared for her so much more than that and wanted her to know it.

'Friends.' He agreed.

'Evening, Coogan, you're looking as studious as ever. I have something of yours you may want back.' Sirius announced, falling into the space next to Poppy on one of the couches in the Common Room, an action which was not missed by Lily, who gave Poppy a look that came off as 'Now, let's see if I'm right and he flirts with you.'

'And what is that?' Poppy replied quietly, edging about an inch away from Sirius, who had sat down just a bit too close for her comfort, something she had noticed he did to everyone. He handed her her (now slightly worse for wear) copy of 1984.

'I enjoyed it.' He said, in a way that made it sounds vaguely cryptic. He grinned at her and got up before Poppy could think what to say in reply.

Generally, James Potter would say there were two things he hated with a passion: Quidditch trials and Severus Snape, however the latter much more than the former.

He truly was honoured to be Quidditch captain, and he thoroughly enjoyed everything about Quidditch, excluding the trials. He didn't know if it was worse now he was captain - he could be held directly responsible if all the rest of the team were pathetic. On the other hand, he no longer had to worry that he would completely cock up at the trials and get the piss taken out of him by Sirius.

Of course, he had to tell everyone that you weren't guaranteed a place on the team just because you were on a previous year, but he was fairly sure he had a couple he'd keep. Normally he would have wanted Sirius from the offset, but as a punishment for an event they had agreed not to discuss, Sirius had been banned from Quidditch. It was likely he'd pick Christopher and Enwezor Cruft as his other two Chasers again, and probably Poppy as his Keeper, and he knew it would be a toss up between Jenny Drinkwater, Eddy Bourneville and Georgina Perranus as their Seeker.

He didn't really know why trials were necessary - maybe that was why he hated them so much.

In front of him stood around 25 Gryffindors (it had taken about five minutes to get rid of confused first years, from Gryffindor and the other four houses), all looking apprehensive.

'Right, I'll be doing trials for each position separately that will last around fifteen minutes. You'll do drills designed to rest your aptitude for that position. You can try out for more than one position. After that, we'll do a quick fitness test and then I'll split you into two teams, and we'll have rolling subs so I can see who you play well with and how are you are in a match situation. Any questions? No? Brilliant. Chasers first.'

An about two hours later, the amount of people had decreased by about a third and the trial match had just finished. James smiled to himself as the remaining try outs cleared up the equipment and chatted pleasantly about what went well and what didn't, and who'd got what position. Gryffindor would have a strong team this year.

Another fifteen minutes later, James was making his way back up to the castle alone. In front of him were Christopher and Mary (who had come along to watch), completely oblivious to his presence a few feet behind them and deep in conversation about something, both nodding violently or laughing every now and then. He could also see Poppy and Lily a bit further ahead, talking in a secretive manner. He had not noticed Lily in the stands, which was strange. He always noticed Lily. Why hadn't he?

Once, in a moment in which James was thinking about his emotions, he thought he only ever said crude or attention seeking things to her because he was worried she never noticed him as much as he did her. James believed very strongly that there was a difference between seeing and noticing. When you see someone, you haven't necessarily processed their existence or thought about them - your brain has just subconsciously confirmed the person you saw is alive. When you notice someone, however, your brain asks you why they're where they are or provides memories of said person. That, he thought, was why Lily never liked him. He noticed her. She saw him.

'Earth to Potter? I've said hello four times now.' An amused voice said from. A metre or so to the left of James was Gillian Palmer, smirking slightly. Gillian was very pretty and she probably knew it, with long dark hair and rosy cheeks, and a magnificent arse - Sirius couldn't see her without saying something about it. Her smirk widened to a grin.

'Generally, people say hello back.' She said, still amused.

'Sorry, hi. Just trying to piece together the team that are going to smash Ravenclaw this year.' James grinned, aiming for a reaction from Gillian, the Ravenclaw Seeker and captain. She scoffed.

'Highly unlikely, Potter. We had try outs yesterday afternoon, and I'll shove myself in a broom cupboard with Snape if we don't beat Gryffindor this year.' Gillian replied, shoving James lightly.

'I'll tell Snape to find his favourite broom cupboard then.' He teased, and she rolled her eyes at him.

'I wish I hadn't said that now! Especially when there's plenty of lads I'd rather be in a broom cupboard with.' She said distantly glancing slightly at James and then turning away quickly. He raised his eyebrows slightly. 'Anyway, I better go and tell my fantastic team who they are. Ta rah, Potter.' Gillian finished, smiling and turning off up another path, her curls flouncing behind her. He didn't want to say it, but he was a bit stunned. Gillian had made a pointed look at him straight after the broom cupboard remark, and he was pretty chuffed that she had. He smirked to himself. Lily Evans who? Poppy would be so proud, and Peter, Remus and Sirius probably would too.

'Honestly, Poppy, didn't you see him talking to her? He must have halved the population of flies at Hogwarts with his mouth that far open.' Lily ranted to Poppy on their way to the Head's office after dinner, where Lily had ranted about how James had 'cancelled out' his general niceness over the first few days back by being a prat around Gillian. Poppy found the situation very amusing.

'Lily dearest, I hate to be a critic - '

'Bloody liar.'

'Language, flower. As I was saying, I hate to be a critic but for the last six years you've been relentlessly informing me of how you just want James to stop obsessing over you and go after other girls. So, we are on the way to this happening but now, when dearest James does have a conversation with another girl - it could have just been a conversation, Gillian was hardly all over him - you are annoyed. Correct?' Poppy asked. Lily made a noise of disagreement.

'But he was being all... smarmy and pervy.' She shuddered.

'He was talking to her.'

'But you're his friend, you'd protect him - '

'True, but I'm nowhere near as biased as you are. Gillian and James had a conversation that was vaguely flirty and he looked at her arse. Does it matter? Gillian has a fantastic arse.' Poppy said bluntly. Lily sighed.

'She does, it depresses me.'

'Yep.'

'I want an arse like that.'

'Yeah,' Poppy agreed, 'Wouldn't mind either. What's your password?'

'Runtatun,' Lily said clearly, then adding, 'It's Gobbledegook for cake.'

The portrait for the Head's Common Room swung open and the two girls climbed through, the previous disagreement quickly forgotten. Frustratingly for Lily, they were not alone as they would've preferred - James was lying on a couch, tossing a Quaffle a metre or so into the air and then catching it again and repeating. He hadn't shown any sign of noticing the entry of his housemates.

'You said you were going to be with Sirius.' Lily said, annoyed. James sat up and turned to face her.

'He's busy.'

'But you said me and Poppy could have the room to ourselves for a bit.' Lily insisted. He shrugged and tossed the Quaffle lazily.

'I am Head Boy, I am allowed to be here, you know. And Poppy doesn't mind, do you?' He asked, turning to Poppy and receiving a shake of the head from her. Lily gave her a disappointed look and walked towards the stairs up to her dormitory.

'It's alright, I was going to have a shower anyway. Won't be long.' She finished somewhat haughtily, floating off up the stairs, the two watching her go knowing full well she probably wasn't intending to have a shower. As soon as she was out of sight, James patted the couch next to him. Poppy sat down next to him hesitantly.

'Remus.' James said simply. Poppy looked at him, confused.

'What about him?'

'You fancy him.' He stated simply, rolling the Quaffle around his lap.

'You're a wanker.' She replied. He grinned.

'I'm right.'

'You're a wanker.' She reiterated.

'But I'm right. I've known for ages.' He said, smirking and sinking back in to the couch, satisfied.

'You're a wanker and a cocky little shit.'

'You can just say it Poppy, I won't tell him. It's obvious to me, anyway. Just say it: 'I fancy Remus John Lupin'.'

'Do I have to do the middle name?' She asked dejectedly.

'You can do it however you want, sweetheart.' He winked. She ignored it.

'I fancy Remus.' She admitted dully. James whooped. 'But don't be a twat about it, alright? Anyway, change of subject - am I Keeper again?'

'I can't tell you that.' James sang in reply. Poppy glared at him. 'Back to you fancying Remus - '

'Oh for fuck's sake - '

'Back to you fancying Remus,' He pressed on, ignoring her complaint, 'How are you going to tell him?'

Poppy stared at him blankly. 'I wasn't really intending to.'

James sighed at her ostentatiously, 'Honestly, Poops, how do you expect him to know if you don't tell him?'

'Maybe I don't want him to know.' She suggested. James sighed again.

'That completely defies the point of fancying someone. Merlin, Poppy, where on earth would you be without my help?' He said, exasperated. She raised an eyebrow, amused.

'Safer.' She replied quickly. 'You're being very gossipy, Potter.'

'Nothing wrong with that. Why don't you want to tell him?'

Poppy brought her knees into her chest and grimaced slightly, thinking. 'I'm not sure. I'm not afraid of any results of it, I just feel like it would be admitting to myself that someone has a proper control over my emotions, and I know that sounds really overly dramatic and profound but it scares me. I don't want to feel like someone else is controlling me, even someone I like and trust.'

A reply was not needed, because James understood what she was saying, and realised he'd never actually told Lily he fancied her. He always found a way to childishly ask her out or get her attention, because he couldn't admit that someone had a hold over him emotionally.

When Lily came back in ten minutes later, a word had still not been uttered. The two had just sat there in silence, silently agreeing over things without the need to voice them. It occurred to both of them in those ten minutes that this was why they were friends - those occasional moments where there was a complete understanding of the other, even with very little conversation. James and Poppy were not best friends, but they got closer after those few minutes, and only they knew why.

I actually really like James and Poppy's relationship, simply because they don't fancy eachother (I mean they shouldn't bc Jily) and they aren't 'best friends' (Sorry but I can't fecking STAND when the main OC and James are 'best friends!1!1' I mean just no, James is best friends with Sirius, and then Peter and Remus no Mary-Sue can get in the way of that. Anyway, thanks for reading don't hate me love you x