Sirius and Peter, along with Lily, Lauren and Alice were settled around James' room waiting for him to return, talking seriously amongst themselves whilst the rest of the school buzzed with gossip.

Lily felt strange. The room managed to make her feel both completely at home and very uneasy at the same time. At home, because there was something almost familiar about this room... books on the shelf that she'd read, music she also listened too, a general cluttered look, (although not quite as bad as hers); but uneasy because it suddenly became all too clear just how much they had in common. She had known this, she supposed; being his friend had certainly uncovered that they had these similar interests. But now it was like they were laid out before her, and it seemed so glaringly obvious she wondered why it had not struck her before.

The worst part of the room though, by far, was the smell. It didn't smell bad. Worse. It smelled like him. And it alarmed her beyond words that not only could she identify it, but she also felt.. at home with it...among other feelings...

Interrupting their conversations, James entered the room swiftly.

"It's not good, the whole schools talking about it."

Feeling rather intensely embarrassed at the number of vivid images James seemed to inspire just by walking through the door, Lily swallowed her own questions and waited for the others to speak instead.

"So what's happening?"

"He's not getting expelled, of course."

Sirius sighed, "Well what d'you say 'its not good' for, Prongs? He's going to be fine."

Lily, standing safely away from the bed that Sirius and Alice were sat so casually on, (she could only imagine how it smelled over there), rolled her eyes, "Everyone knows. And if they don't know exactly who, it's not really too difficult to work out. He's right; it isn't good at all." James looked at her, but as usual of late she couldn't quite bring herself to look back... not without blushing furiously.

Sirius waved the information away, "Lauren and Alice were fine when they found out, and everyone knows Remus is alright. They've known him for 7 years! It'll be just like he's got some obscure period he needs to excuse himself for..."

"Lovely comparison Sirius," said Lauren drily, "But until I knew it was Remus, if I'm perfectly honest, I was horrified -"

"What?"

"No you weren't-"

"Yes I was," Lauren continued simply, "The general knowledge about werewolves is that they are vicious. I was half expecting to suddenly notice some yellow eyed, hairy pupil that I'd somehow managed to overlook. The fact that I'd been around one disgusted me at the time."

There was a silence then, until Alice sighed, "I suppose I felt similar... It's awful really, I feel so bad! I mean it's Remus! He's lovely, and yet he's that as well... But thinking about how I felt, I think the rest of the school are going to have a hard time seeing it our way unless they know him very well. It's sad really."

Lauren walked in silence with her two best friends through the castle, sighing loudly. Neither of them took any notice. They were coming back from lunch, which had been just as silent as this walk. She couldn't figure out what was wrong with them! Alice seemed to be in a complete daze and Lily, (when she forgot to appear annoyingly cheerful) often looked overwhelmingly confused and upset. When she thought no-one was looking, sometimes she would shake her head vigorously, as if to shake out whatever thought could have distressed her. Lauren was beginning to think she was the only sane one left...

As they walked by the entrance of the castle, Lauren spotted James Potter lounging idly against a wall, looking bored. She realised then that she hadn't seen anything of him at all since the day they had been in his room. Over a week ago now.

"Hey James," she called, "Where's the rest of you?"

Surreptitiously, Lauren peeked at her friend's reactions to James sudden appearance. She was extremely confused to note that neither was a reaction she could have guessed. For the first time in ages Alice didn't even so much as giggle for him. She simply smiled. Briefly and politely. And Lily... Lily gave a start, as though she'd just been shocked with a wand, and then made some weird attempt to smile at the floor. Lauren could practically feel the heat coming from her cheeks.

"The rest of me?" James gave a dry smile, "You think we're joined at the hip?"

Lauren shrugged, still wondering at her friends unnatural behaviour "Something like that. Where are they then?"

James' eyes snapped back to Lauren from where they had been straying...well something hadn't changed it was good to see. He was still very much in love with Lily. Oddly, she felt herself feeling vaguely jealous. Not because it was James, but because he adored Lily with what seemed an everlasting devotion. She had received no such attention so far this year...and in all honesty Lily received much. It almost angered her that Lily had disregarded the boy so in love with her for so long, no matter how he had behaved in the past.

"Sirius is actually doing some homework for once on threat of expulsion," James chuckled cheerfully...and Lauren felt herself relaxing when he did. He was charming; she supposed she couldn't deny him that.

"Peter's with him. He wanted the excuse for Sirius to help him with homework." James did not mention Remus.

"So you aren't going to Hogsmeade I take it?"

James shrugged, "Not fussed either way."

Lauren only just managed to stop from grinning – she'd just had an idea.

"Well...you could come with us, I was just asking these two whether we should or not."

James ears seemed to perk up visibly at the invitation. His eyes flickered from Lauren to Lily almost too quickly to notice. He ran a hand through his hair, ruffling it up as usual and casually replied, "Well yeah...if you're offering..."

Alice, who suddenly seemed to have realised what was going on, turned to the other two, "Erm... I actually...I won't be able to go I don't think, I'll see you all when you get back?" This was going to be easy; James was looking even more interested...

"Aaaw, why?"

Alice looked flustered for a moment, "Oh...you know...Mcgonagall's essay...I never did it... You go on though." She was lying. Lauren had done it with her last week and was now rather suspicious... but desperate times...

"Oh!! Crap! I haven't done Flitwick's essay either... But I really need to get some things..." Feigning her best look of apologetic need she turned to her best friend, "Lily, so sorry, but I know you've done your homework, could you pleeeease get it for me? I really need this stuff..."

Lily stared at her; she looked halfway between shocked and furious. She knew exactly what Lauren was doing and was not only completely taken aback by it, but was trapped – she could say nothing in front of James. Lauren didn't care, she simply waited patiently.

After a rather tense pause, in which James didn't even bother to conceal how closely he was paying attention to Lily, she finally nodded. "Sure, I'll get it for you."

Lauren turned to James, "James, I know it won't be very interesting just getting my stuff for me but would you still go? I don't want her walking around by herself..."

For a moment, he didn't answer. He was looking directly at Lily, a strange mixture of emotions seeming to play across his features. And then he was himself again. He shrugged and smiled, "Sure why not. Shall we, Evans?"

Lauren wanted to laugh at how easy that had been. She made up a few things for Lily to get her from Hogsmeade and as quickly as possible, took a wary looking Alice off back to the common room.

James Potter could not believe his luck. Did that really just happen? Never, (never!) had he had a complete day with Lily to himself, and yet here it was, pre-made. He had never overly liked Lauren, but he felt suddenly rather warm to her, and made a promise to himself to take more notice of her in future. James had been nothing but bitter for days, but as Lily walked towards him, immediately James' mind started zooming with ideas about how to entice the woman who had rejected him for so long.

The first were the most unhelpful, ones linked largely to his penis and little more. Not much better ones followed; tacky thoughts of how to immediately win her over with charming words and smiles. He almost laughed at the idea... This was Lily, not some random girl he was trying to pull. It would take a great deal more for her. He thought back to the last time he had actually got it right with Lily...when he had taken her away in the middle of the night and transformed right in front of her. She had been so...impressed. He had never believed such an expression could cross her face when looking at him, but it had. And that gave him the kind of hope he had never dared to have. The problem was she was a difficult person to understand. The week following that she had been so distant. She had actually seemed awkward around him. He tried to assess the situation now, but her face was impossible to read.

James sighed and decided he was being stupid – just do it.

He grabbed her hand and she gave a start, but before she could snatch her hand back he was walking her briskly to Hogsmeade,

"What -"

"Just showing you Hogsmeade." He grinned at her.

"What??"

"I'm just showing you some places you probably haven't been before...I know the village pretty well...I thought you might like to..." He shrugged innocently. She frowned slightly and stopped walking abruptly, but he almost grinned again; her eyes had suddenly lit up with a certain interest.

"Like where?" Her voice sounded strange...curiosity tinged it.

He smiled, "Let me show you." There was an odd moment then, they stood looking at one another, their forgotten hands still clasped together. But he had been paying attention the other night, she liked to be surprised. Not only that, she liked to be surprised with adventure. Something he'd spent years finding around Hogwarts. So, it didn't surprise him too much, when she shrugged awkwardly and sighed,

"If you must...it had better not be a waste of time though, and make sure we get Lauren the stuff she wanted." He nodded earnestly, and they set off again, James still keeping a brisk pace, and trying not to grin too dementedly. It was worrying the level of control Lily seemed to have over his happiness. But, he realised, feeling the warmth of her hand in his, he didn't really care. He rather desperately hoped that she might though...