A/N: To say it feels good to be back and I'm sorry for the SIX YEAR LONG delay, is a gross understatement. That said, I won't keep you from reading any longer. And a huge thanks to my wonderfully patient Beta, CharlieCats!

Chapter 18: Conversations of Consideration

"Seriously, mate," Sirius said. "I'm really beginning to get the feeling that something isn't quite right with Prongs. Doesn't something seem a bit… off to you?"

Remus drummed his fingers on the table as he poked his fork around his food aimlessly.

"Yeah, I've been thinking that lately, actually," he answered. "He seems like he's been a bit more… I don't know… stressed out or something. Or a little more…"

"High strung, right? Tell me about it! I walked in on him changing his shirt the other day in the room and he flipped his shit. Covered himself with his jumper and told me I needed to learn how to knock! I said, Prongs, I see your full moon every full moon. I think I can handle your flat boobs."

"And what'd he say?" Remus laughed.

"He kind of just gave me a weird look and finished changing. His face got super red though." Sirius bit off a chunk of biscuit, his brow wrinkling as he contemplated what he relayed. "Hang on…" he said slowly, as a thought struck him. "He's been jumpy, slightly twitchy and anxious, he got embarrassed around me… oh, boy," he breathed.

Remus looked on as he watched Sirius work out his thoughts. "What?" he prompted. "What did you figure out?"

"Moony," Sirius asked in a hushed tone. "You don't reckon… I mean, if he does, I'll still totally be there for him, but—?"

"What?! What do I reckon?!"

"You don't think that he's started fancying me, do you?"

Remus jaw dropped down and he gaped at Sirius incredulously. "Are you bloody kidding me? " he said. "That's your brilliant theory? Seriously?!"

"Well, it could be!" Sirius defended. "I mean, think about it, is it really that farfetched considering everything?"

"Incredible," Remus laughed, shaking his head. "You, my dear Padfoot… just when I think you couldn't surprise me, your ego just pops up and proves me wrong."

"So you don't agree?"

"Oh, come off it!" Remus checked a roll at his friend's head.

"Alright, alright. Fine. We'll just keep an eye out then, yeah? Maybe he's going through a rough time or something we don't know about. We'll just talk to him."

"You should talk to him anyway after that whole spectacle in the hall," Parker chimed in from behind them. She set her bag down next to Sirius and swung her legs over the bench, reaching for a plate as she settled down. "Honestly, I've been thinking of that debacle all morning! Remus, can you pass that chicken right there? " Remus complied and she added a large helping as her plate. "James rushed off and then Lily rushed off," she continued, "and I have no idea what is going on with those two anymore. Neither of them were in class!"

"Well I saw Lily in Ancient Runes," Remus offered, scratching his chin. "I asked where she'd been and if she was okay, and all she said was that she needed to clear her head and had been in the kitchens. Which, by the way, I didn't even know she knew how to find."

"Kitchens? What do you mean?"

"The three of us sometimes go down there," Sirius clarified. "Just for an extra coffee here and there. Or toast. Or you know, duck. The usual."

"Duck?" Parker questioned. "But we only have duck at the winter feast."

"You only have duck at the winter feast, " Remus corrected with a smile, tilting his head at her.

"So, what, you guys just go down there whenever, snap your fingers and they bring you a three course meal?"

"Parker, please," Remus scoffed. He poured himself a glass of pumpkin juice. "It's not like that at all. We actually clap our hands instead. Sirius isn't so great at snapping."

Sirius barked out a laugh and placed his hands on his chest, bowing his head. "Well, each of us does have our own faults."

A blast of short breath blew out of Parker's nose as she shook her head at the two boys in front of her. "Okay, well moving on from the fact that yet another part of this school is at your beck and call, you said she went to the kitchen. By herself?"

"No, it had to be with James," Sirius told her. "He rushed into class late too, and when I asked where he was he just said, 'With Lily, I was hungry.' I tried to ask if he was alright and what happened but he just shushed me and that was that."

"So just to clarify, none of us know the story behind anything that happened, right?" Parker set her elbows on the table and squeezed her eyes closed, pressing her finger tips into the corners of her eyelids as she tried to process her reasoning. "I just don't get it. It's like those two are completely oblivious to what went down, like it never happened! Meanwhile, the rest of us are sitting on pins and needles and trying to get some answers. I know Lily and the fact that she isn't way more stressed out about all of this is not like her at all. And, add to the fact that in a moment where she's most of upset, it's James that she goes to? Of all people? That makes no sense at all!"

"Should you be relieved that she's calmer, period, no matter who she's around? " Sirius countered. "I love Lily but I think we can all agree that she needs to ease up. If she gets that from James, then fine, but whatever makes her chill out, we probably shouldn't interfere with it."

Parker shook her head. "No, you don't understand. It's not like I'm not happy she's facing this so well but considering she went with him and she's confiding in him? When neither Kate nor I know anything about anything?"

"Green-eyed-monster, much?" Remus replied. "Look, Parker, I know how James comes across, but you'd actually be surprised what he's like if you really knew him. He can be a very good comforter after a bad day."

"Yeah, I think you're sort of focused on the wrong part of the situation," Sirius added.

"Look, I'd be lying if I said Kate and I don't wonder why she hasn't been around us much but as for James—if it wasn't for how she felt about him, and so strongly, I wouldn't think anything of it. But this quick change to spending so much time with him? And now he's physically defending her? Come on, you guys! They couldn't stand each other and now look at them! They're sleeping on the couch!"

"I'm not sure he ever said he couldn't stand Lily," Remus argued. "I know she hated him, but—"

"She never hated him, " Parker interrupted. "But you can't pretend his arrogance doesn't show up as a major part of his personality. He acts entitled all the time, he can't seem to take anything seriously, breaks every rule and always gets away with it… for someone like Lily, the fact that he gets rewarded for all of this is what drives her crazy."

"Hang on on, now, you've got to be a bit more fair," Sirius interjected indignantly, getting worked up. "Lily may seem like a saint to everyone else but the way I see it James isn't the only one with a 'complex'."

"Sirius," Remus tried.

"No, Moony, someone needs to say it. I'm tired of James getting all the shit for this; Lily can be a doll but she really can be on her own high horse. She always concerns herself with following the rules and takes it on herself to hold everyone else to that. She's bossy as hell and assumes she knows everything, and then flies off the handle before knowing the entire story. At her best, Lils is a sweetheart, but when she gets into it she's like McGonagall Junior—she needles James just as much as he provokes her, so this whole thing is just as much her responsibility as it is his."

"Listen, Parker," Remus told her. "I may not agree with everything at Sirius says but he does have a valid point. I think if Lily weren't so combative all the time, she might take a liking to James."

Parker crossed her arms and said defensively, "He doesn't really give her a shot either, you know."

"Well I think that's changing," Remus reasoned. "I'm not sure what happened but they've been spending a lot of time together. It's really weird of them, yeah, and I was going to say something to Prongs. But now I'm beginning to get more convinced to leave them be."

"But what if something is wrong?"

"Yeah, Moony," Sirius agreed. "I don't like that James isn't himself."

"I know, but why don't we just sit back a minute and watch? If we noticed anything serious we'll step in, but as of right now, I see no negative side effects. Let's just let them work this one out for themselves."

"Well I can't say I promise I'm not at least going to check in with Lils and make sure that nothing serious is wrong," Parker said. "But I'll do my best not to get involved too much."

"Yeah, I agree," Sirius told him. "I think we should at least chat with James—if he says he's okay, then we won't press."

"Fair enough," Remus answered, shrugging his shoulders."

Sirius clapped his hands together and grinned broadly, his normal playful demeanor returning.

"Well! Now that that bit of unpleasantness is out of the way, let's create a small silver lining, shall we?" He reached into his pocket and shook out a red drawstring bag and dropped it onto the table. "Who wants to place the first bet? And no saying that it's because Lily is preggers—too cliché."

Lily sat outside the Headmaster's office waiting for him to open the door. A portrait had interrupted their respective lectures during class and informed them that Dumbledore wished to have a chat during their lunch hour. Instead of going to the Great Hall with their comrades, Lily and James made their way to their upper tower.

"It's probably because we skipped class," Lily muttered. She worriedly toyed with the corner at the hem of her robe and rapidly bounced her left leg. "Watch this, he'll tell us we missed some pop quiz or something. Or, I don't know, maybe some vital thing we need to know for the exams."

James slouched against the wall and tipped his head back, looking at Lily sideways as she rambled on. "Come on, lighten up. Don't tell me you regret breakfast, because a few hours ago you were all for doing this on the regular. Dumbledore is the headmaster of a school with thousands of students; there's no way we would be called over here for a meal that was just—oh, you know," he lifted his hand and gestured vaguely, "slightly mistimed. Nah, worse-case scenario, we'll get a detention."

"I know, I know." Lily sighed and started fidgeting again, this time with her tie. "I just hate that waiting game where you're waiting to find out what the punishment is going to be. It's always worse than the actual consequence itself."

"Shouldn't you be more nervous that he's going to tell us something regarding a situation that's a lot more serious? Like maybe that we're stuck in this little problem of being in each other's bodies?"

Lily's eyebrows shot up at James' suggestion and she looked at him in disbelief. She leaned forward and eased her elbows onto her knees, dropping her head down and cradling it in her hands. "Ugh, I didn't even think of that," she groaned.

James felt a twinge of guilt as he watched Lily's leg start begin to bounce again, the pace increasing.

Wrong thing to say, he berated himself. She didn't need any more anxiety.

Instinctively he reached out and gently rested a hand on the twitching limb, squeezing slightly to quell the rapid movement. "Easy, Lils," he said quietly. Almost immediately Lily stilled and lifted her head, looking startled as she regarded him.

"It's going to be fine," James reiterated. "Try not to worry so much, alright? We'll find a way out of this, Dumbledore would never allow us to stay stuck—the man is one of the most brilliant wizards of our time. He'll figure something out, okay."

Lily nodded and inhaled deeply, trying to dispel the tension she felt. "Okay. You're right. He wouldn't leave us like this." She breathed in and out again before turning to look to James.

"Thank you, " she told him sincerely. "Thank you for calming me down. You're just as stuck as I am and you're way more at ease not knowing what'll happen. I don't know how you do it, but clearly I should take a page out of your book. And," she added with a mock glare. "If you tell anyone I said that I'll deny it until my last breath."

"Understood," James laughed. "If this situation has proven anything to you it's that I can keep a secret, don't you think?"

Lily grinned back and shook her head, glancing down and playing with her tie again, this time languidly instead of the frantic movements before.

Satisfied that he calmed her down, James watched Lily's fingers work the tie for a moment before looking further down and seeing his hand still resting on her knee. He cleared his throat and quickly pulled it away, feeling his face grow warm as he awkwardly moved it to his own knee where he began drumming his fingers.

How long did I have my hand there? She's going to think I'm creepy… I hope she doesn't think I'm creepy. I wasn't even being creepy!

Eager to silence his thoughts and land firmly back into his comfort zone, he did what he knew best when he felt uncomfortable and tried to make light of the situation.

"Um… awkward," he said, forcing a laugh. He avoided looking at her as he tilted his head and scratched his neck. "Sorry about that. Been out of my body for too long and I missed the touch of my own limbs. Nothing personal. Not really like I'm touching you anyway, is it? More like I'm touching myself." As soon as the words were out James wished for nothing more than a time turner. He winced and pressed his fingers into his forehead. "Okay, um… sorry. That came out wrong. I, uh… what I meant was—"

"I got it, James," Lily cut in. "No need to continue to embarrass yourself, it's painful enough to watch as it is and you're making it worse by talking more, so… just stop."

Thank Merlin! I can't remember the last time I babbled like such an idiot… C'mon, Potter, get with it. "Um, right," he said aloud, trying to regain his social footing. "Sorry."

Raising an eyebrow, Lily shook her head, "What is going on with you? You've said 'sorry' to me in the last few minutes than you have in the entire time we've known each other."

James opened his mouth to reply but Lily held her hand up to stop him before anything could be said. "Quit it. You're being weird."

James couldn't have asked for anything more than what happened next, when the heavy wooden door to Dumbledore's office swung open and revealed the Headmaster walking through the door way, greeting them with a warm smile. Eager to be free altogether of the uneasy situation he single-handedly created with his babbling, James jumped up from the bench and hurried inside without waiting for an official invitation of entry.

Dumbledore's eyebrows shot up and he turned to Lily. "Was it something I said?" he asked mildly.

She heaved herself to her feet and lifted her hands over her head, linking her fingers together as she stretched and rolled her shoulders. She walked up to the headmaster and paused before the entry, clapping a hand to his shoulder amiably, as an old friend might greet another over pints in a pub.

"Behold, headmaster," she said breezily. "The side of James Potter that I have been waiting for others to see—even Peeves can make him look unrefined."

Offering a jovial smile, Lily gave one last pat to the bemused man and strode inside. She seated herself beside James and lounged back into the plush seat, somehow feeling much more at ease than shortly before despite still unaware of the reasons for the visit.

The door clicked shut and Dumbledore walked around the furniture to ease his old bones into his chair. As per to habit, he reached for a bowl in front of him and offered sweets to his pupils before beginning. James hurriedly plucked some chocolates from the bowl and popped a few into his mouth.

"Thank you, Headmaster," he managed to say around a full mouth. "Man, I am so hungry!"

"Oh dear," the man said. He picked up his wand and with a hasty wave, a platter of assorted sandwiches appeared in front of them. Another quick pop and a pitcher of pumpkin juice appeared as well. "I often forget that most have much better eating habits than your's truly and leave afters until—until, well, after the main meal. I, however, find myself quite distracted unless I don't enjoy my dessert first. I'm too busy wondering what it is, to enjoy what's in front of me. So, much to my mother's chagrin, I decided at an early age that it was only most logical to put that distraction to an end by consuming it first. Who am I to argue with logic, especially when it agrees with my childish whims? One can't disrupt order, now can they?" Finished, Dumbledore sighed with content.

Neither James nor Lily knew how to respond to their professor's personal tirade, and instead just offered polite smiles as they began to fill their plates. Once they'd served themselves to satisfaction, Dumbledore folded his hands and switched gears.

"Speaking of disrupting order," he began. "How are you adjusting to your rather curious predicament. If I'm not mistaken it has been nearly two weeks, correct?"

"Yes, headmaster," they replied.

"And, seeing as Gryffindor Tower is still intact, am I right to assume that things are going much better than what I anticipated?"

"Oh, well, we're trying to keep a somewhat low profile with all of this," Lily explained, gesturing between her and James.

"HA!" James barked. "A low profile, are you joking?! I'd say we've failed on… oh, about four out of five fronts with that goal."

"What are you on about?" Lily said. "I don't think we've been that bad."

"And I don't know which school you've been attending lately, but at mine, we've hardly managed to keep a low profile. Between this morning, the other night, the disastrous Quidditch game, and the fact that we've been playing house on the common room couches, I'd say operation subtlety is a definite fail."

"Indeed, Ms. Evans," Dumbledore said. "I do believe that a few changes might be necessary should subtlety be your intention. If I may be so bold, valiant displays in the halls perhaps are best kept behind closed doors. And," he paused and looked over his half moon glasses, "maintaining appropriate attendance records might be a good beginning."

"Yes, professor," Lily replied sheepishly. "Headmaster, are there any of our professors aware of our situation? Do they know what's going on?"

"Only Professor McGonagall," he assured her. "She is the head of her your house, so I believe it appropriate for her to remain abreast of such occurrences."

"Oh!" Lily said with surprise. "She's never let on that she knew. She's known since the start?"

"Since you two informed me, yes. But much to her dismay, I convinced her that involvement was currently unnecessary unless things take a turn for the worse. This spell is one where we are forced to let the course of nature have control. I have the utmost confidence that your bodies will be back to normal sooner than I originally anticipated."

"Do you think there's anything we can do to speed up the process?" Lily asked.

"On the contrary, Ms. Evans, I believe things are moving quite rapidly considering the nature of your acquaintance to Mr. Potter prior to the switch; the spell is a smart one and is not fooled; it only returns the owner's property once a true understanding of the other is obtained."

"You mean, like being best friends or something?"

"No, not necessarily. Something far more important—a true empathy and understanding for the other's perspective. Essentially, dispelling assumptions and prejudices based on assumptions alone. This is something that even some of the closest friends might fail to achieve."

"And of all people to have to accomplish it, Peeves chose us. I can't think of two more unsuited people to have to figure this out."

"On the contrary," the headmaster said. "I do believe you and Mr. Potter are exactly the type of duo the creator meant this for. Would you say you still see each other through the same eyes?"'

Lily shook her head somewhat reluctantly at the same time that James said quietly, "Not at all."

The answer seemed more said to himself than to the asker, and he looked down at his feet as he considered the question further.

This girl is full of surprises, he thought to himself. The way her mind works… I wonder what else I'll find out.

Discreetly surveying James's demeanor, Dumbledore bent his head to hide the small grin that began to spread, and coughed lightly to bring James out of his reverie. James' head snapped up and he looked to see if the other two people had noticed how he had drifted into his mind, but Lily was distractedly toying with a remaining bit of crust on her plate, and Dumbledore appeared preoccupied by straightening a stack of stray papers. Time to fill the silence.

"So, uh," James started. "you think we're on the right path, then? "

Dumbledore looked up from the parchment and looked at him; if James didn't know better the older man made purposeful eye-contact with him before responding. "Yes, Mr. Potter—I would venture that without a doubt you and Ms. Evans are doing splendidly." The upturn of his eyes was so delicate that James thought it might be a trick of the light. Or his own paranoia.

"Well then," Dumbledore said, resting his palms flat in front of him. "I see that you are doing excellently in spite of the circumstances. Keep me informed of any changes. Now! On with you both."