It was amazing. It was wonderful, and beautiful, and brilliant.

And then she pulled away.

Why?

She looked like she was about to cry. "That was wrong," she said.

"No!" I told her quickly. "It was right!"

She shook her head, though I'm not sure if it was in disagreement or to clear her mind.

"No," she argued. "It was wrong. I can't…we…can't do this," she said, sounding unsure.

"Why?" I asked feebly.

"Because…" but I never found out why, because a tear escaped her eye and cascaded down her cheeks, and she ran back up to the girl's dorm to go to sleep.

I groaned. What have I done?

*****

"Prongs?" Remus asked at breakfast, sounding concerned.

"Yeah-huh?" I mumbled sleepily.

"Did you sleep last night?"

"Uh…" I trailed off.

"He had a nightmare," Sirius said. "Did you go back to sleep after that?"

I shook my head. "Needed time to think," I mumbled.

"At three in the morning?" Sirius asked incredulously, shaking his head.

I tried, unsuccessfully, to butter my toast. It just wouldn't come off the damn knife.

"So, think of anything interesting?" Peter asked stupidly.

"Yep," I answered, still attempting to win the toast war.

"Which was…?" Remus asked.

"That Lily Evans is a good kisser."

Sirius and Peter started choking simultaneously and Remus's eyes nearly popped out of his head.

"W-what?" asked Remus, who was the first to recover.

"She was there too, in the common room, real upset. I went to talk to her. Then, well, she kissed me. Then she said, 'that was wrong,' and without further explanation, ran back to bed."

"Wow," Sirius said.

"Well, there's only one solution," Remus said decisively.

"Kill myself?" I suggested. He rolled his eyes.

"We have to find Mystery Girl," Remus said. "And fast."

*****

Alice POV

I have no idea why I was doing this. I would love to say it's for my best friend, but I really think it's just my love for drama and my need to know everything.

I found Sirius and Peter walking to their next class by themselves. Perfect.

"Sirius, may I have a word with you?" I asked sweetly.

He looked at Peter, who nodded. Then he walked over to me.

"Yes, Lovely Lady?" he asked, bowing deeply. I rolled my eyes.

"I need to know why you guys wanted to know who the girl James was dancing with was so badly."

He didn't look surprised. "Are you going to tell me?" he asked.

"It depends on why you want to know," I said.

"Well, I can't really tell you that, as it is top secret."

"Well then I can't tell you who she was," I said.

"But we need to know!" he argued.

"Why?"

"Because he likes her!" he said, then slapped a hand over his own mouth and swore.

"James likes all girls," I said lazily.

"But he really likes your friend from the ball," he said, sighing.

"Okay, I'll tell you why I can't tell you her name."

He nodded eagerly.

"Because when she first talked to him at the ball, he was talking about this other girl he really likes, and then my friend started to really like him. She doesn't want him to know who she is so that he can't tell that she's starting to like him."

Sirius stared at me open mouthed for a moment.

"Now, if you'll excuse me, I must get to class," I said.

*****

Sirius POV

I have to do something, and fast.

Okay, whoever the girl was that James was dancing with likes him, but thinks he likes some other girl (Lily) more.

James isn't sure who he likes more, but he doesn't know one girl's name, and Lily doesn't like him.

The only way we have of finding out who Mystery Girl is using the clip.

The clip!

But how? I thought for a moment.

Okay, this was a very delicate situation. It needed to be handled with care.

But how?

I walked into the Gryffindor common room.

"Hello Remus," I said, slightly louder than usual. He gave me a quizzical look, and I winked for him to play along.

"The day after the ball, I founded this little silver hair clip in the Great Hall," I told him loudly. "And I'm not sure how to find it's owner."

A few girls looked over enviously, but none tried to claim it.

"It's very pretty, and whoever lost it most likely wants it back," he said, matching my volume.

"Oh, I know who's that it," Andromeda said, walking up.

"Who's?" Remus asked.

"It's Lily's, I'll give it back to her."

She took the clip from my hand, not noticing the unbelieving faces Remus and I were giving her.

When she was gone, I turned to Remus. We stood there, gaping for a moment.

"Well now we're right back where we started!" he complained after a moment.

I shook my head. "Nope," I said. "We're further along."

"How?" he asked. I told him about my discussion with Alice.

He grinned and nodded.

"This could actually work," he said.