A/N: You. Guys. Are. AWESOME! No, seriously, you are. I posted chapter 23 at about 10:30 PM, and by the time I checked my e-mail at work the next morning around 8:15, I already had THIRTY-ONE REVIEWS! My jaw literally dropped. Okay, not literally. But it probably would have if not for the risk of my coworkers wondering at my sudden shock. But wait, it gets better. Because over the past five days, we blew past 400 reviews for this story, AND hit 75! reviews for this chapter alone! *makes WOW face. And I didn't even mind all the death threats for being so cruel with the cliffhanger, haha.

SO, a gigantic, wonderful, delicious (er, what? I don't know) thank you to (deep breath, it's a long one): Heart of the Phoenix, NathyMoony, ClaraMay, accio-ninjaness, Inu13, Somesets, Gwen, MissArtemisFowl, Agnes Werneck, iKKxLee52, stellalunaa, DarlingILoveYou, Ahhhhhhhhhhhhhh (LOL), rosey grunblatt, BrokenFaerie16, Evisawesome, gravesofqueens, existence555, Girlfriend of nick day, kikicakes, GiantPurpleRing, Doormanland, Miss larien, 02, autumnfallout, Aen 06, Alice Demer, Caroline Turpentine, WhereIsMyThumpThump, swimer123, angiedotdotla, Foreverandtrulyyours, skazmi, Jenn222, dancer987, theycallherkaush, misszsalvatore101, RaptorSaysRawr, polarbear1355, ottoismydog, AJAY09, Sunset on Heartache, AliLuvsAlliSirius, SeriouslySiriusBlack, teteeee, ZoneSystems, xoFallenLeavesxo, MaryandMerlin, EchoNightFall22, .forever2116 (I swear I type out your whole name each time, but ffnet shortens it for some reason….sorry for making you think I always forgot you!), Tabbycat270, WobblyJelly, Meeeee, xoxokat, Silver Scorpion, unspokenlies, snookolive, marinewife08, Rach, Will Write For Food, Elless, Cassie Cayne (formerly known as Weasley? Right? I think this is you…), emotionsonhold, jak23, unnamed anonymous reviewer, PkmnLuver292, steel-trap, PoseidonsLittleGirl, i3fiction, amy-x-ian-forever, Taylorcutie, Dancethroughlife, and movinggirl! Also, Papoose913 and Iratze, who reviewed the prologue chapter, but I THINK they were meant for this past one….WOW that took a long time to get through! And I still can't believe this RIDICULOUS number of reviews!

Also, I realized this week that I don't often reply to questions people post in reviews. And I wanted to assure you that it's nothing personal….usually, if I don't respond, it's because you'll find out in the future (be it near or far), and I don't want to ruin the story! But I'll try and do better from now on

Anyway, one question a lot of people seem to ask is how long this story is going to be. And I've always responded with some version of 'I have no idea.' I bring this up now because, well, I HAVE an idea now. I sat down and semi-thoroughly outlined the rest of the story, and it came out to around 33 chapters. So, there you go. And I can tell/warn you right now that there are definitely at least two more big cliffhangers. In a row. *ducks as sharp projectiles are thrown at my head by angry readers.

Hey, at least I warned you, right?

Okay, so, since you've probably skipped all that already, and are shouting 'get on with it' like in Monty Python and the Holy Grail, here's the next chapter!

(again, not that you need it, but just to set up the scene):

"I know—I'm sorry too. I mean, I shouldn't try and tell you how to run your team."

"I am the Cap'in."

I laughed again. "Yes, I know. That's why I'm apologizing. And I—" But I stopped. No need to bring up the other bit, right? If James wasn't going to bother about it, I wasn't going to start the fight over again.

"Righ,' yeah." James grinned. "Well, glad tha's settled."

"Me too, because I really didn't—"

But I was forced to stop again, because at that moment, James leaned down and kissed me.

Chapter 23: Just Remember

And it wasn't exactly just a peck on the lips. I stood there frozen in surprise—at least, I thought I did. But when he finally pulled back, I was horrified to discover that my hands had somehow found their way around James's neck.

I looked up to see James watching me with an idiotic grin on his face.

"I—um," I started, my voice coming out as a croak.

Before I could clear my throat and start again—not that I had any idea what to say—James put a finger on my lips. "Shh—it'll be our l'il secret," he said, and with that, he walked away.

I stared after him for a moment before coming to my senses. My heart leapt into my throat as I quickly looked around, wondering if anyone had witnessed our—I could hardly believe the word—kiss. But no one was paying any attention to me; we were at a party, after all. I tried not to acknowledge how relieved I felt at this discovery, and as it turned out, it wasn't that difficult. I was quickly distracted as A.J. returned at that moment with butterbeer for me.

One look at his face told me he hadn't seen James's and my recent, er, exchange, and another wave of relief swept through me.

"One butterbeer, as requested," A.J. announced with a smirk, handing me my drink and leaning in to kiss me. I automatically stiffened, irrationally afraid that he'd be able to taste James's lips on mine. A.J. pulled back with a frown. "What's up?"

"Er, nothing—er, do you want to . . . go somewhere?"
"What?" A.J. asked with a bemused smile.

"I mean—you know—somewhere that's . . . not here?"

A.J. raised an eyebrow. "Are you trying to seduce me, Miss Evans?" he asked shrewdly.

I punched his arm lightly. "No," I said, blushing. "I just wanted to—I guess what I'm trying to say is that I'm not really in the partying mood anymore." And by that I mean I need to get out of here and away from James, because I'm a coward.

A.J. shrugged. "Okay—any suggestions?"

"Not really," I said, but my feet were already directing me towards the portrait hole. A.J. intertwined his fingers with mine as we stepped into the corridor beyond, and we began to walk slowly away from the common room.

My mind was still reeling with the memory of James's lips on mine, and I was on the verge of an all-out panic. I knew this wasn't something I could just ignore until it went away—though I might not have to deal with it tonight, certainly by tomorrow . . . "Can you distract me, please?" I heard myself ask A.J., wincing as it came out sounding slightly desperate.

"Seriously, are you sure you're okay?" he asked.

"Yes—well, kind of—I mean . . . please don't ask," I finished in a pleading whisper.

"Okay," A.J. said, sounding a little bewildered. "Er, right . . . so, I saw Sirius chatting up Melanie Brown—you know, that seventh year who—"

"Has a reputation that would make a prostitute blush?" I finished, and A.J. pretended to look shocked.

"Lily Evans," he said with mock admonishment, "I'd never have expected such crassness from you!"

"What? She is a complete slag," I defended.

A.J. grinned. "Right, well, anyway, you know she has a twin—Marietta—in Hufflepuff?" I nodded. "I don't really know why, but she's at the party tonight as well." I grinned, suddenly guessing where this was going. "So, at one point, Sirius turns away to talk to Remus, and Marietta quickly takes her sister's place, and when Sirius turns back, he carries on like nothing happened! I mean, they're wearing completely different outfits, and he didn't even notice!"

I laughed. "Or maybe he did, but didn't really fuss about it—a girl's a girl, after all."

"Yeah, but, of the two, Melanie'd be much more likely to get off with him."

I couldn't argue with that—while they were twins down to the last perfectly manicured nail, they had almost completely opposite personalities. "Honestly, he never ceases to amaze me—and not in a good way, either. Can you believe he's thinking of buying a motorcycle?"

"What?" A.J. asked, and too late, I remembered he hadn't been present for that part of the conversation a few days ago.

"Oh, well, he—er—mentioned it that night when James and I fought about Quidditch," I explained. And now I'm thinking about the kiss again. Well done, Lily.

A.J. didn't say anything for a minute, and when he did speak, it was in a serious tone. "Can I ask you something about that night?"

"I guess," I said slowly.

"What did Sirius mean when he asked why you'd brought up 'that day'?"

And here it was. We'd made it nearly four months without having this conversation, but now there was no choice. Well, James would be happy, I thought, somewhat bitterly. Sighing, I stopped walking to face A.J., dropping his hand in the process. "It's kind of a long story. And you might—well, it involves something . . . big, that you don't know about me."

A.J. raised his eyebrows. "Is this big thing also bad?"

"I—it's kind of a matter of opinion, but . . ." I stopped, uncomfortable.

A.J. seemed to sense my apprehension, because he said gently, "You don't have to tell me."

Merlin, he's too nice, I thought, my insides squirming guiltily at the thought of the other big—and definitely bad—thing he didn't know about me. "No, it's—I should." Looking around, I pushed experimentally at the door to an empty classroom. It gave under my hand, and I led A.J. into it, shutting the door behind us and sliding down against one of the walls. A.J. sat down beside me, knees bent and arms resting casually on top of them.

I sat quietly for a moment, trying to decide how to begin. "I guess the first thing you need to know is—you know Severus Snape?" A.J. nodded. "Well, he used to be my best friend." A.J.'s eyes widened in surprise, and I nodded grimly. "Yep, hard to believe, right? But he wasn't always so . . . I mean, I met him when I was nine—he was the one who told me that I was a witch."

And I told A.J. the story of Sev's and my early friendship, how he'd been this strange and gawky kid who'd talked so passionately about magic, and had excitedly described how wonderful Hogwarts would be. Never in my young life had I wanted to visit a place so badly, and as I discovered that I would not only get to visit it, but live and go to school there for seven years . . . well, it had seemed only natural to like the person who'd introduced me to that. Finally, I'd be part of a place where I wasn't a 'freak,' but where I was surrounded by people—witches and wizards—who could do magic just like me.

"We met Potter and Black on our first day at Hogwarts—on the train ride there, in fact. And with Severus, well, it was just one of those things where each instantly loathed the other. Understandable, to a point, of course. I mean, on the one hand you have James, who comes from a long line of Gryffindors, so it's only natural that he'd despise Sev for wanting to be in Slytherin. It's an old prejudice, but as an eleven-year-old . . . he had that childish tendency to only see the world in black and white, good and evil.

"As for Sirius, well, he was James's opposite in terms of family legacy, but he absolutely despises his Slytherin heritage. So it makes sense that he'd want to adamantly distance himself from any semblance of a connection to that House.

"At any rate, James, Sirius, and later Peter and Remus had a feud going with Severus from day one. And they were rather horrible to him—I mean, it was never really a fair fight, since Sev was outnumbered at least two to one every time . . ." I paused, suddenly realizing how distantly and objectively I was talking about this. It shocked me, that I could discuss it so calmly. Shaking myself and choosing to ignore this for the moment, I continued, "Anyway, while on the one hand I hated James and Sirius for their pranks and hexes and taunting, I also started to notice that Sev was slipping further towards the—at the risk of sounding cliché—dark side.

"He started hanging out with Slytherins who—well, they pulled some pretty awful and downright cruel pranks themselves. And it wasn't just pranks . . . you could even call some of them attacks. Plus, there were rumors floating around that they intended to join the Death Eaters when they left school . . ." Here, I was forced to stop again, because this was the part of the story that I still hadn't fully dealt with yet. But I was nearing the end of my tale, so I knew I had to just push through and finish it.

"So, at the end of last year, things all kind of came to a head. It was after our Defense O.W.L., and James and Sirius were once again taunting Sev, and I was, once again, defending him. I guess they must have finally pushed him too far, or—well, I don't really know, but he ended up shouting at me as well, saying he didn't help from a—from a filthy little Mudblood like me." I said this quickly, because it still stung to remember the words.

A.J. made a noise that was half-incredulous, half-furious. But before he could say anything, I pressed on. "I ended my friendship with Sev that day, and for a long time I blamed Potter for what happened. But now I know—and even then I knew, though I didn't want to admit it—that it really wasn't his fault. It was all heading in that direction anyway, and Sev . . . he was always going to choose the Dark Arts over me."

I fell silent at last, looking to A.J. to see his reaction. He didn't look at me for a while, frowning at his knees instead. Finally, he glanced over and asked, "And Snape's—I mean, I heard he, er . . . left to . . . so he's—" I nodded, and A.J. dropped his gaze to his knees again. "I'm sorry," he said quietly.

I sighed. "It's fine. Well, not fine, but I've—there's nothing I can do about it, so I might as well learn to live with it, right?" I tried to sound lighthearted, attempting to convince myself as much as him.

At that, A.J. really looked at me. "Wow," he said eventually.

"What?"

"I'm just impressed by how . . . okay, you seem about all of that. And being friends with James . . . well, let's just say it doesn't seem so trivial to me anymore," he finished with a smirk.

I shrugged. "Like I said, none of it was his fault, really. And he's apologized for it, so—" I stopped, realizing this was the first time I'd actually defended James about his actions towards Severus. Another milestone, I guess, I thought ruefully. "Anyway, it's sort of one of those untouchable topics, so it was pretty low of me to bring it up in our argument the other day." I smiled suddenly. "So there's your answer—long enough, huh?"

A.J. returned my grin. "I'd say."

OOOOOOOO

We talked for a bit longer about much lighter things (namely the match, since I'd missed it), and we snogged for a while as well—hey, we'd gone through the trouble of finding an abandoned classroom, hadn't we? When we eventually started back towards the common room, I prayed that the party had broken up, so I wouldn't have to—

"Rookie! I'm—I've ba-been lookin' aaaaaaall over for ya!"

Of course James would have to be the first person we run into on our return, I thought in irritation as I concentrated on not turning bright red. But I needn't have bothered—James barely spared me a glance as he pulled A.J. away into a large circle of Gryffindor Quidditch players and their adoring fans. A.J. looked back at me with a half-shrug and an apologetic smile, mouthing 'I'll be right back.'

I nodded and wandered away from the crowded center of the room.

Suddenly feeling incredibly lonely and tired, I turned towards the girls' staircases, taking them two at a time. Shutting the door of my dormitory on the pounding of music and sounds of laughter floating up from below, I leaned against it for a moment, struggling against the tears that had inexplicably sprung into my eyes. Finally deciding that it was a losing battle, I strode over to collapse on my bed, succumbing to a good, hard cry, not entirely sure just what I was crying about. Nevertheless, when done sparingly, crying actually makes you feel quite a lot better. I'd just caught my breath again and wiped my eyes when the door opened.

"There you are—I saw you come down earlier, but then you just disap—sweetie, what's wrong?" Mary voice abruptly changed from exasperated to concerned as she caught sight of my puffy eyes and red nose.

"Oh, nothing, I'm—"

"That, my dear, is complete bullocks—you never cry," Mary interrupted, sitting down beside me and handing me a tissue from the table between our beds. "Seriously, what's up?"

I sighed. "Well, for starters," I said, blowing my nose, "Remus still hates me." That was the easiest one to admit, and had truthfully contributed a little to my recent tears.

Mary hugged me around the shoulders. "I'm sorry, love."

I leaned into her hug for a moment, before standing and moving to sit on her bed. "I don't want to get hurt when I tell you this next part and you completely wig out," I explained when Mary frowned at me. "So, tonight—just a couple hours ago, actually—I mean, I wasn't expecting it at all—well, why would I? It wasn't like—"

"Would you spit it out already, Lily," Mary demanded, crossing her arms impatiently.

Taking a deep breath, I plunged on, "James kissed me."

Mary stared at me for a full five seconds. Then she squealed "What?" so loudly that I almost fell off her bed in surprise.

I nodded. "Oh, and a few weeks ago, A.J. told me he loved me."

Mary leapt off my bed at that and I flinched back, afraid she might actually hit me for being such a crap friend.

"What have you—why didn't—I thought we were best friends!"

"I know, I know—I'm horrible—I just—Merlin, Mary, I don't know why I didn't tell you—"

"Well, that's no excuse!"

"I know," I repeated. "But I've told you now, so your brilliant advice would be much appreciated."

Mary raised her eyebrows. "Bit of a tall order, don't you think?"

I wrinkled my nose. "Please don't tell me that—I need you to tell me it's all going to work out."

"Okay, just give me a second to digest everything." She sat down beside me on her bed. After a pause, in which I continued to look at her anxiously, she said, "So, what did you say when A.J. told you he loved you?"

I blushed and relayed our subsequent conversation.

Mary smirked. "Oh, Lily, you're so woefully naïve about all things relationship-related, it's precious."

I rolled my eyes. "About that advice . . ."

"All right, all right—I'm getting there. So, A.J. loves you, and you . . . er . . . 'really like' him . . . and James kissed you tonight."

"Yep, that pretty much sums it up." Panic suddenly overtook me again, and I fixed Mary with a pleading look. "I'm a complete slag, aren't I? I mean, what am I going to do?" I stood up and started pacing; Mary tracked my progress with her eyes. "I'll have to talk to Potter tomorrow—God, that's going to be one of the worst conversations of my life! How could he—I didn't even know—he's joked about and even outright denied having feelings for me, so what the hell is he playing at? I—"

"Okay, Lily, just calm down! I can't help you when you're freaking out like this!"

I took a deep breath and flopped down on my bed again.

Mary scooted forward on the edge of her bed, leaning towards me slightly. "Right, so, you will have to face James tomorrow—that's unavoidable." I wrinkled my nose. "And it is going to be awkward, I'm sorry, but I can't promise you otherwise." This time I let out a frustrated groan.

"Why'd he have to do this? I actually—finally—really like being friends with him, and now—"

"You can still be friends," Mary insisted with a tiny frown. "This doesn't ruin anything."

I raised a skeptical eyebrow. "But it's never going to be the same."

"Maybe not at first, but—"

"Shit!" I interrupted her suddenly, sitting up straight as a new thought struck me. "What am I going to tell A.J.?" I know, probably the first thing I should have thought of, but I hadn't.

"You don't have to tell him anything," Mary said mildly.

I snorted. "No, that'll just come back to bite me in the—"

"Okay, okay, you're right. Well, look, it's not like it's that big a deal, right? I mean, James was drunk, and you didn't kiss him back . . . did you?"

I opened my mouth fully intending to say 'no,' but when I actually stopped to think back on our kiss . . . "I don't remember," I finally said in a small voice.

Mary recovered from this blow remarkably quickly. "Okay, don't worry about that—this stuff happens at parties all the time, so . . . it's going to be fine, Lily."

"Easy for you to say," I muttered.

OOOOOOOO

"Well, could you just check?" I pleaded the next morning. Mary and I were at the bottom of the stairs, and I had asked her to—yep, you guessed it—go first to see if any of the Marauders (namely Remus or James) were in the common room.

"Lily, promise me that you won't just avoid him forever," Mary said, fixing me with a stern look.

"All right, all right—I promise. I don't want to deal with it first thing this morning, that's all. Now will you please look?"

With a sigh, Mary poked her head around the corner of the staircase. "You're in the clear," she announced, and I breathed a sigh of relief.

"Thanks," I said as we started towards the portrait hole. "You really are a fantastic friend; have I ever told y—" But I stopped abruptly as the Fat Lady swung open on all four Marauders, probably on their way back from breakfast.

Oh come on, I thought in exasperation. What happened to being too hungover to go to breakfast this morning? Fate is just never on my side, is it?

"Lily, I need to talk to you," James said immediately, and I felt myself go red. I could have sworn Mary let out a snort of laughter, but she expertly turned it into a sort of sneeze/cough, so I couldn't be sure.

"Well, forget that 'fantastic friend' bit," I muttered to her anyway. To James, I said, "Sure, of course," and I thought it came off convincingly casual . . . you know, besides the fact that my face was still as red as a tomato.

Remus continued past Mary and I with the barest of half-glances in my direction. Well, that's progress, I thought dryly, almost an acknowledgement of my existence. Peter had slowed slightly alongside James, but Sirius just rolled his eyes and grabbed his friend by the upper arm.

"Come on, Wormtail," he said, grinning at me in an all too knowing way as they passed. But he couldn't know—could he? Unless Potter had told them all . . . I winced as I turned to Mary again.

"I'll meet you later," I said resignedly.

Shooting me a somewhat evil smile, she nodded and continued down the corridor.

I watched her go as long as I possibly could without it being too obvious that I was avoiding the imminent conversation, and then I finally steeled myself to meet Potter's eyes.

"Right," he said once he had my attention. "So, I just wanted to apologize for . . . you know. I mean, I shouldn't have—it was a bit of an overreaction."

I frowned slightly—that was an odd way to put it. "Er, no problem. I—well, it happens, right?"

James smiled slightly. "Rather a lot to us, unfortunately."

I opened my mouth to reply, then shut it, thoroughly confused now. "Wait, what are you talking about?"

Now it was James's turn to frown. "What do you think I'm talking about?"

"I thought I knew, but now I'm not so sure."

"I'm trying to tell you that I'm sorry for getting so worked up about the Quidditch thing the other day." He smirked a little. "You're right—I probably do take it too seriously, but . . . it's something I—Evans, you all right?"

My jaw had dropped open slightly as I realized he had no idea he'd already apologized to me last night. That, or he was a really good actor. "Yes," I said, quickly closing my mouth. "I'm just . . . trying to process a couple things. First, the words 'you're right' just left your mouth, which is unprecedented." James's smirk widened. "And second . . . er, you already told me all that. Well, a rather more intoxicated version, but the main points were the same."

"I—what?" James said, frowning again.

"Last night, at the after party, you came up to me and said . . . you don't remember any of this, do you?" I tried not to sound too hopeful. But if he really didn't remember our conversation, then that meant he also didn't remember . . . what had followed.

James laughed. "Yeah, last night was . . . interesting. There's definitely a large period of it missing from my memory—but it's good to know that even my drunken self is looking out for our friendship," he said, smirk back in place.

"Yeah . . . that's good," I agreed with a smile, hating that I still felt embarrassed, wondering if I was obligated to tell him the other part he didn't remember. But, as you probably could guess, I was way too cowardly to do that, so what I said instead was, "I'm sorry too, by the way—you probably don't remember my apology either, so . . ."

"Right," James said, looking at me carefully. He seemed like he wanted to add something, but I glanced away, and an awkward silence descended upon us instead. As I searched for something to say, I realized it was the first time one had done so. We'd shouted at each other, exchanged sarcastic banter, and even had a few genuine conversations, but never had either of us been at a loss for words.

"Well, I should, you know, catch up with Mary," I said eventually.

"Okay, yeah," Potter said, too quickly.

I started to turn away.

"Hey, Evans!"

"Yeah?"

"We're good, right?"

"Of course," I said with a smile. But as I started walking again, it melted into a frown. Merlin, I hope I don't always feel this embarrassed around him from now on.

I was still frowning when I sat down across from Mary and pulled a plate of eggs towards me.

"So?" she asked tentatively.

"He doesn't remember."

"What?"

"He doesn't remember," I repeated. "Any of it."

Mary raised her eyebrows. "Well that's, um, convenient."

"Yeah, it's good—right? I mean, you don't think I should . . . tell him?"

Mary just looked at me.

"Right—you're right, of course I shouldn't."

OOOOOOOO

So I didn't. As busy as everyone became with exams and general end-of-the-year hype, I hardly had time to think of it myself. A.J. and I celebrated the end of his O.W.L.s at the last Hogsmeade weekend of the year. It was a chance for us to get in as much "couple time" as possible, too, since he'd be visiting relatives in Spain with his parents all summer. Incidentally, I didn't tell him about James's kiss either, and though I felt a little guilty about it, I easily convinced myself it was all for the best.

And suddenly, we were all boarding the train back.

"The end of the year always comes so fast—it sneaks up on me every time," I commented to A.J. as I helped him load his trunk onto the Hogwarts Express.

He laughed. "You know, you still surprise me sometimes with the crazy things you say."

I grinned back. "Well, I guess that's good—you won't get bored of me."

A.J. leaned over to kiss the top of my head. "No, I daresay I won't." He bent to pick up one end of my trunk, but soon dropped it, straightening abruptly.

"What?"

"I think I left—listen, I've got to run back," he said, starting to trot towards the castle. "I'll be right back!"

"Hurry!" I called after him. "I'm not going to hold the train for you!"

He whirled around but continued to run backwards. "Ah, I knew there was a reason I was dating you!"

I grinned as he turned and began to sprint in earnest. However, turning to contemplate my large and rather heavy trunk, I sighed, wishing he'd at least helped me load it before leaving. Reaching down, I dragged it by one end over to the compartment door, then hauled that end up so it was propped against the train. Getting behind it on the other side, I started shoving it inside. A moment later, another pair of hands joined mine, and the trunk slid smoothly onto the train. "Thanks," I said, straightening. Whatever else I might have said died in my throat as I looked up to find Remus standing beside me, an unreadable expression on his face.

"You could have just used magic, you know," he said finally, with the tiniest hint of a smile. "Since you're seventeen," he added when I continued to stare at him.

"Er, yes, I guess I could have," I said, shaking myself out of my shock. "But, still, I suppose I should be setting a good example, being a prefect and everything."

Just then, A.J. came panting up to us. "I remembered halfway back that I already—" he stopped abruptly, looking confusedly between Remus and I.

Genuinely smiling now, Remus nodded to me. "Have a good summer, Lily."

A/N: Yay, they're friends again! See, now, you all didn't have to worry so much! Remus can't be a jerk for that long….he's physically incapable of it, after all ;)

So…..ALMOST everyone who reviewed predicted/were excited for some sort of showdown between James and A.J. after he saw them kiss. BUT, as you obviously know, that didn't happen. *ducks again as the A.J.-haters throw more sharp objects. All I can say is….actually, I don't know what to say. Sorry?

However, for those who are worried that James hasn't shown NEARLY enough jealousy/angst/etc over the Lily/A.J. sitch, don't worry, that's coming ;) I can promise you a very different (well, maybe not VERY different, but different) James for seventh year! Which will begin the chapter after next. Chapter 24 will be completely in letter form, like the one covering the Christmas holidays.