"Damn mate, she's run off again. What did you do to make her mad?" Sirius was the one to break James out of his stupor.

"Shove off, I haven't done anything," James ground out. This was getting ridiculous, it has been weeks now since Harron started to ignore him. He really didn't understand what had happened to make her try to avoid him like the plague. Even when they were working together in class, she kept things short and curt. She'd even stopped taking his snacks! That was saying something, as she ate almost as much as he did.

"Well, when was the last time that you can remember that things were normal?" Peter asked. The four boys had headed towards the hall for lunch, taking pity on the downtrodden mood James had been in since the blonde girl began giving him the cold shoulder.

"Gimme a minute," James paused." Probably when she had come to watch us practice quidditch."

"Did you say or do something to upset her when you went to talk to her?" Remus tried gently.

"No! We were just joking around like we normally do. I've never seen her mad at me before, even when I've done things that anyone else would be," James pulled out his wand and began twiddling with it.

The three other boys turned to each other, each shrugging. None of them really knew the girl well enough to understand what the issue could possibly be. They knew the girl about as well as James did when they were made partners, although they did hear about her from the bespectacled boy. He was always excited at anything they did together and would go on about how she was nothing like how other girls he had hung out with before.

"I could try to flirt with her and see if I can get information from her that way," Sirius had tried to joke, nudging James.

"She wouldn't go for it." James waved the boy off, continuing their trek.

"What do you mean by that?" Sirius looked offended.

"Nothing. I just don't think you're her type," James rolled his eyes. Peter and Remus shared a look, their brows raised.

"I'm everyone's type. Just because you say she's different from all other girls, that doesn't mean she would be immune to this," Sirius gestured to himself.

"I bet you she wouldn't," James glared at the boy. Who did he think he was? Harron wasn't the type to fall for the bad boy players like Sirius. She would prefer someone like- he wasn't sure, but he knew Sirius was not it.

Sirius bucked up at the challenging tone, "I'll take you up on that bet. Just watch and see."

"I'm not sure this is the best idea. We are supposed to be figuring out how to get Diana to forgive Prongs for whatever it was he did, not give her more reason to ignore the lot of us." Remus tried to stop the staring contest between the boys, but they both marched off.

Once they reached the hall, the two moved in almost perfect sync. Their stride was broken by the sight of Jesper standing at the Hufflepuff table, talking with Diana and her friends. Sirius smirked at the sight.

"Looks like I've got some competition," the boy joked before sauntering over.

James went to follow, but stopped at another voice." James! Come sit over here!" It was Lily, beckoning the boy over where there was an open spot at the table next to her.

James turned to Remus and Peter, a helpless look on his face. He turned back to the sight of Sirius joining Jesper at the Hufflepuff table, and then to Lily, who looked at him expectantly. He glanced at Diana, who had also happened to glance his way. She stared for a second before looking away quickly, causing the boys stomach to pinch.

"Come on mate," Peter pulled James towards where Lily sat.

The three boys had joined Lily and some of her friends, Marlene and Alice the only ones he recognized. James took up the spot next to Lily. Lily worked as a good distraction to the disaster happening at the other table over, and James found himself simmering down.

The Lily distraction only worked for so long before James grew curious. He took a chance to peek at the Hufflepuff table when Lily started talking with one of her friends. James saw that Jesper was no longer over there, but Sirius had taken up the seat across from Diana. He was chatting with her friend group and at one point they all burst into laughter, Diana bent over clutching her sides. She'd even snorted! She only did that when she found something extremely funny. What even were they talking-

"James?"

Lilys voice cut into James spacing off. He turned back to the red headed at his side. She gave him an inquisitive look, before looking in the direction of where he was looking. It took her a second before she caught sight of where he was looking.

"Oh. Sirius is sitting next to Diana? I didn't know they were friends," Lily said tilting her head.

"You know Harron?" James asked in return. Why didn't Diana tell him she knew Lily?

"Not very well. I had studied with her in the library last week and we talked a little. She's very sweet, she was very defensive of you when she thought I had said something rude about you. She spoke very highly of you, especially as her partner," Lily explained.

James almost blanched. Harron had defended him to Lily? The blonde hadn't talked to him in weeks, but still took the time to defend him to Lily. The blonde had even spoke highly of him to her. She really was a good mate. The thought made his chest warm and it settled some of the knots in his stomach he didn't even know were there.

"Oh. She's a good friend like that." James wasn't sure what else to say.

The rest of lunch went on, James forcing himself not to look back over to where Sirius sat with Diana. Once lunch ended, they continued back to class. Sirius was late to their next class, but didn't say anything about what happened when he went to talk to Diana. And James hated to admit it, but it bothered him.