You coulda had class, you coulda been a contender - James

[James Potter]

James couldn't help but glower a little when his mate wouldn't rise to the challenge, and spoke fairly of the predicament. Because it was true - they were all entitled to their feelings. But Tommy Wood and Lily Evans? How had that even happened? You’re just sore because she went for someone on the team who isn’t you. Because Lily did have an eye for Quidditch players, so was it really that far off the mark to think that he could've been the next? He chuckled a bit as Remus acknowledged his lack of experience in the area, not that James had much himself. Giving a heavy sigh, James settled back on the desk. "I know I sound mental, mate, but I'm telling you - one of these days, it's gonna happen. I'm not about to sabotage her and Wood or anything, don't worry. I know that's not the way, even if it's damn tempting. But mark my words," he decreed with a cracked grin, "you’'ll be mad about a girl one day and want to pull some crazy sh*t too. Unavoidable, really, curse of our species."

Thankfully the tension in the air thinned enough for jokes again as Remus came back to share the desk with him. The Marauder's idea for a prank was killer, and a laughing James Potter couldn't believe they hadn't pulled that yet. Sure, they'd pranked "the Medusas" in other ways to pick at their vanity, but this was just brilliant.

"We truly are the best for the job," he agreed, knowing that in her heart of hearts that even McGonagall would be proud of the efforts put into this latest trick of Transfiguration. "We're gonna need a volunteer to practice on though, don't fancy making a scene only to have it fall flat." For of course there would be a rousing speech accompanying the wandwork. Something about legacy and the truth of myth, how justice was patient and served in its own time, yada yada yada. "Think Mary would be up for it? They've given her enough hell for her to be game for something more damning than her needlepoint." Their housemate had crafted some beautiful - er - messages for the pack of Slytherin girls over the years, and wasn't the sort to tell a prefect about their...f*ck's sake, you're Head Boy, prefects can't have anything over you anymore. And while James was grateful for the outpouring of honesty today, the airing of grievances and new understandings, he still didn't get why Remus had told Lily that story. He kept quiet as Remus explained, eyebrows popping up in surprise when his friend brought up his own involvement in that day, a smile uncontainable despite the situation.

So Lily knows he's a werewolf. She knows that Snape knows. She knows that we all know.

    She knows you saved Snape's sorry arse.

"Right, okay, we can work with that - do Sirius and Peter know that she knows this much?" They all needed to be on the same page about this - they had been for so long, it was critical that they remain in sync with such important things. He was glad that Remus had trimmed the story, but did wonder why he'd chosen to keep James in it. Not that he minded. Would help Lily understand why Snape hated him like he did - was there anything worse than him owing James his life? What James would've given to be in the room when this story was shared! So he knew the line to keep, naturally...Oh shut it, you want to know how she reacted to your part in this. "What did she think of it?" he asked, smile creeping back up. "You and me and Snivelly? She get why he's such a git to us?"

[Remus Lupin]

There was no harm in the way James thought that he would get his chance with Lily, but Remus didn’t want one of his best mates to get his hopes up. Even if they were spending a large amount of time together now because of their appointments as Head Boy and Girl, it didn’t mean Lily would warm up to him any more than she already had. Still, he’d let James keep his dream. But he had to chuckle, because there was no way he’d ever be head over heels for someone the way James was for Lily. In the last six years of school, Remus had never even come close to dating anyone. Unless you counted in incident last year with Charlotte Fudge and the roses, but that hadn’t meant anything. He’d simply panicked. It wasn’t as if he didn’t find her pretty, no he’d thought Charlotte was pretty for a while now. Ever since Daisy had started pestering him about her after the whole incident with the roses. And nothing had come of it, other than smiles shot Charlotte’s way whenever they happened to pass. “I don’t know mate, think that would require me to be interested in someone first.”

Oh, how wonderful this prank was going to be. There were more pranksters than just them, of course, but no one was as good as them. And the Medusa’s deserved it many reasons, including their treatment of Mary. Remus could believe that Mary would be up for helping them, although he wasn’t sure if she’d be up for having snakes for hair. Still, they would need to practice on someone besides each other. “It wouldn’t hurt to ask her,” he mused. Her participation would be for a very worthy cause, and he hoped that she was game.

But, as he drew the conversation back to a less than ideal place, Remus was feeling like an arse. He had lied to Lily about the truth, but he protecting his friends was more important. She wouldn't understand why in the moment, Sirius had spilled the beans. She knew what kind of person Severus was, she knew the kinds of spells he made. But would she ask Severus, and then find he had lied? “I haven't told them yet, kind of a weird thing to just bring up in conversation. But I'll clue them in, don't worry," he said, nudging James shoulder with his own. Unfortunately James had to go and ruin the moment, and Remus rolled his eyes at his friend, "Uh well, we didn't really talk about it. Was more of just a snippet of a conversation, she was more focused on the Snivellus almost being killed by a werewolf I think."

[James Potter]

James knew that much of his mate's earlier words had come from places of anger and frustration and disappointment. At not having had control over his story. At working hard, at doing exactly what he should have, and not reaping the benefit. And James was doing what he could to let the harsh words slide off of his back, however much some wanted to cling to his robes, however much Remus may have truly meant them. They were brothers. Brothers fought. They were still a team - James wasn't letting that one go now, not after all they'd been through together. And while it may be true that he didn't deserve the position alone - together, they would do great things. He was grateful for the twist of conversation, laughter from the bloke beside him, and nudged his shoulder with his own.

"One of these days," he repeated, chuckling himself. "It'll surprise you, hit you like a rogue Bludger to the chest. That's how it is for me, anyway, dunno if it's that for everyone," James admitted quickly, color rising on his neck and cheeks as he again avoided the bloke's eye. That’s how I know it’s different, what I feel for Lily. The girls he'd dated before, he'd loved them as friends. They'd enjoyed time and experiences together, never had a shortage of laughs or shenanigans, they challenged him in different ways and he'd eaten up the attention. But since fifth year, after his and Ana's split, he'd seen Lily Evans. Not that he hadn't noticed her before - hardly. She was a striking beauty, and sharp as a tack, and a fierce friend - and for as much as he was simply drawn to her, for as much as she had a hook in his heart, she had had no shortage of means to describe how she hated him. So maybe it really was hopeless, hanging on to the thought that maybe, just maybe, if he could make her laugh, and show he cared, and earned her trust…

Only have one year left together here. Might as well try, right?

A successful prank seemed more likely than Wood leaving Lily, however, and James was eager to jump in. "It's for a good cause," he agreed, grin stretching at the thought. So far, this term had been all work, no fun. Some of the stress of work was being taken off of him by Remus, so it made sense that the fun would come from their partnership too, didn't it? He let out a sharp laugh at his next thought, continuing excitedly, "D'you think we can get the snakes to, y'know - work? Like, if the girls look at each other, they're petrified?" Surely there were records of such things holed up in the Charms classroom, or somewhere in the library… 

"We've had much weirder conversations, Moony," James laughed as he nudged him back. "Important for us all to know, yeah? So we don't slip up?" But this was a first, he realized - of everyone that knew the truth, Lily was the first person who Remus had decided to tell it to. His parents knew, obviously, the professors too; he and the boys had asked him point-blank in second, rather forcing an answer out of him; Snape had seen...James couldn't imagine Lily cornering him or stumbling upon the truth. "Simple as - I told Lily I'm a werewolf, and about Snape seeing and James turning up. Night, lads," he said with a grin, emulating his friend's Welsh lilt as best as he could. The Head Boy rolled his eyes right back, sighing in his vast disappointment. If his luck would turn, maybe he'd hear it from Lily herself one of these days. "I can see how that could preoccupy attention. How'd it all come up, though?"

[Remus Lupin]

Later, when he was calmer, he’d take a trip into Hogsmeade and get apology supplies for James for lashing out at him. Remus hated moments where he let his anger get the better of him, the way he projected it onto the first person around. It wasn’t one of his best qualities, but he rarely felt so angry. He knew that he shouldn’t have let this upset him so much, but was it really that foolish for him to get his hopes up that Dumbledore had changed his mind over the summer? He’d worked for this - maybe not as hard as he could have when it came to his friends - but he’d truly wanted this. Lily and him, they’d talked about this, they’d planned for it. Gryffindor was going to have run of the school and it was going to be great.

But with James as Head Boy, it still could be. It had just taken him too long to see that.

Remus chuckled at James words, doubting that one day he’d find someone that made him feel that way. It had been a long time ago that he had given up one the idea of being married someday, even though in his childhood years he’d always envied what his parents had. And if he was never going to get married, then what was the point of dating someone. To get attached and lose your head over them seemed silly when there was no future guaranteed. “I’ve never really felt that way about anyone. It’s just not in the cards for me,” he said with a shrug. He had his brothers, and that would never change. That was what mattered to him. And while sometimes he thought of one particular girl on occasion, her brother had made it quite clear where the boundary was.

If they could get Mary to allow them to test out their theory, it would be grand. And it was for a good cause, she would see that. He was sure that they could even get Mick and Daisy in on it, the two of them were never fans of the Medusas. But this was why he liked when pranks were planned together, because better ideas always cropped up. “If we can get them to move, I bet we can get them to petrify each other. You know, I’m sure there’s a book in the library I could use. Probably in the restricted section, but we all know that’s not a problem,” he said, mind going. They’d have to try and make sure the Medusa’s didn’t petrify other people - or maybe that would be even better and the girls would get into trouble. They needed to talk to Sirius and Peter about this, because surely they would have ideas as well.

“When are we not having a weird conversation, really?” he said with a laugh. James was right though, they needed to be on the same page about who knew this secret and who didn’t. And Remus hoped that James saw the significance of what it was, because he’d never flat out told anyone before. Everyone had simply just known or figured it out. And perhaps Lily had, but she let him come to her about it. That Remus really appreciated. He smirked as James tried to mimic his beloved welsh accent, glad for the humor in their conversation. Perhaps it was as simple as that, but Remus wanted to make sure both Peter and Sirius knew that Lily only knew some of the truth. “Which part Prongs, the I’m-a-secret-werewolf part or the James-is-a-hero part?”

[James Potter]

James shrugged back, relinquishing the line of questioning for the time being. Maybe Remus was right, maybe that kind of love wasn't what he wanted or needed. He had them, he had his mum - love around him wasn't lacking, by anyone's estimation. And if he was proven wrong and James got to come to him with an I told you so somewhere down the line? Well, that would be just fine too. They had far more pressing concerns than any of their love lives, however, as their next prank developed. Vain as Mary was, he hoped she'd trust them enough to risk sporting copper snakes as hair temporarily, until they'd perfected it, until they'd determined the counter-curse. Swapping for a few days at the most in her room, getting out of classes, getting meals delivered, ample reading time... If anyone could sell it to her, he knew they could.

"Ah yes, our favorite part of any successful prank - the research stage," James teased, grinning at seeing Remus's inner cogs working away. "Nah, bet you're right. Someone out there must've been intrigued enough by a Basilisk to make a spell, eh? I feel our weekend taking shape," he laughed, glad to be making time for this. With Remus's help with Head duties, and perhaps, perhaps, delegating some Quidditch Captain duties to another senior member...this year could work for instead of against him.

"Hero?" James let out a low whistle, trying not to burst out in a laugh. Of course, compared to some, his actions that day could seem heroic. He'd acted on instinct, not wanting something irreparable to happen and haunt his friend...The term was a dangerous one for his ego, and he tried to veer away, no matter how great it'd be to hear Lily say it. "That's nice, Remus. I'll let her know that's how you think of me, sure that'll help my chances - " He preemptively scooted out of arm's reach of his friend, laughter winning out. "No, no, seriously - now that she knows, I can only imagine she's trying to figure out how she can help, and I don't think we should try to stop her. If she hasn't already picked up on it, she'll notice that we're all in the Hospital Wing...with the cycle. We should talk to the boys before the next moon, still have a few weeks." Their Head Girl was a gifted witch with a heart to match, and the werewolf was out of the bag...Whether it be helping with preventative or healing potions, company while they waited out their healing treatments, and yes, fine, fresh ears to tell their stories to - didn't it make sense to expand their circle to include her? To some extent? The Forest, their transformations - that was theirs, but she was as clever as they came. Surely she'd have ideas they hadn't thought of!

"But, er - yeah, yeah, was asking about the I'm a secret werewolf part," he grinned, happy to skive off for the rest of the hour.