"Checkmate!" Mary said slamming her Queen down so hard that the other pieces rattled on the board.

I wasn't that good at Wizard's Chess but as an apology to Mary, I had agreed to play. She was completely and utterly thrashing me at it. I wish I could say I was letting her win but that girl has a gift for Wizard's Chess and I had no chance of even coming close to her.

"Lily, it's like you're not even trying!" Mary said as she began to clear the board.

"I am trying! I'm just really, really terrible at it!"

"It's almost like she's distracted by something," Marlene said, looking up from her Witches' Weekly magazine.

"I wonder what it could be." Alice chimed in.

"I don't know what you could be talking about," I said, trying to conceal a slight smile. I liked James Potter. It still sounded so odd to me. I don't know what happened that made me like him, maybe I was concussed or something but there was no denying it. I liked James Potter.

"Lily, it's so obvious," Mary said. She had her head lowered but I could tell from her face that she was smiling, "Rematch?"

"I need to go to prefect duty soon so I don't think I have time," I replied, standing up abruptly, desperately trying to leave the conversation. How did they seem to know before me?

"Alright, Marlene, you want to play?" Mary said.

"Yeah sure." She swiftly leaped over the chair arm and sat down in my empty chair, "I bet she'd play if Potter was playing."

"Marlene!" I said, anxiously checking around to see if anybody else had heard other than Alice and Mary, "I don't like him!"

The three of them continue to laugh, maybe even more so because of how flustered and red I was going.

"Don't take it too seriously, we're only teasing," Alice said kindly.

"YOU might be just teasing," Marlene said, still laughing.

"I have to go," I mumbled, grabbing my bag as I dashed towards the exit.

In my desperation to leave, I didn't notice Potter walking through the painting. It was one of those moments when your head is down and you're not quite focusing until you almost walk straight into somebody except most of the time it's just a stranger, not the guy that you just denied liking.

I hadn't realised how tall he was until I was standing inches away from me and I had to look up to see his face.

"Evening Evans." He said smoothly. I don't know how it was possible but I somehow got even redder - I was now beyond the point of being able to form any words. It may have just been the light, but I could have sworn he was blushing slightly too.

This was too much for Alice, Marlene, and Mary, who instantly burst out laughing at my embarrassment. I hated my friends sometimes.

"What's so funny, Ladies?" James said, laughing slightly even though he clearly didn't understand the situation.

"You have that effect on the girls, Prongs, thought you'd be used to it now." I'd been so focused on James, that I hadn't even noticed his right-hand man, lurking behind him, casually leaning on the doorway.

"Evening, Sirus..." Marlene said with a giggle from behind me and Sirius gave a confident nod in her direction.

"Shove off, Padfoot." James laughed, playfully pushing Sirius away. The two boys began a sort of fake fight that boys do. I caught James's eye a couple of times and each time he would smile, the sort of smile that let you know he had it under control.

"Lily, weren't you going to Prefect Duty?" Alice said, so softly I almost didn't notice.

"Oh... yeah... right," I said, suddenly becoming aware that I'd just been standing and staring for the last minute. Damn Potter and his sudden appearances.

"Bye Evans," James said, his head currently locked under Sirius's arm.

"Bye Evans," Sirius repeated in a high pitched voice and I noticed James's face momentarily freeze up before he flipped Sirius's arm off.

I didn't see any more of it though as the painting closed and I was too busy dashing off down the corridor away from the scene.

Remus was waiting for me by the transfiguration room as we'd planned. He looked chilled out as usual and after what had just happened, that was exactly what I needed.

"Hey, Lily, ready for another fascinating hour of lecturing troublesome first years?"

"As ready as I'll ever be."

"Are you okay? You look a little red."

"Yeah, yeah, just...." My mind went blank of any decent cover story, "...tired. I... er... ran here."

"You ran?" He said, raising one quizzical eyebrow.

"Yeah, I didn't want to leave you to manage first years on your own." He smiled slightly at this and I got the horrible feeling that somehow he knew what had just happened, as well as everything that I was feeling right now.

Remus seemed to be in a good mood today, sometimes he would seem very quiet and distant. Apparently, he was quite sick as he would dissapear about once a month. I couldn't imagine how hard that must be for him but he never seemed to want to talk about it.

"Remus, " I said suddenly, interrupting our discussion on whether Veela where better than Mermaids "There's actually a first year out of bed. Do you want to take him?"

The two of us turned our heads to where a small boy was creeping along the corridor, treading silently in the hopes of not being caught. Remus gave him a withering look.

"Yeah, but it's been so long, I've forgotten what we do." He said. This was a rare occurrence and I didn't want to be too harsh. Both of us were bad at this sort of thing so it had sort of become an in-joke between us.

"Stay calm. Don't look him in the eyes, that's how they get to you." I said with mock seriousness.

"Alright, I'm going in." Remus said as we both awkwardly walked over to the little boy who was sneaking along the corridors, "Er... excuse me."

I stifled a laugh at Remus's politeness. I could see he was trying really hard not to crack up either.

"Yeah?" The first year turned to us, his face suddenly defiant although I could see a hint of fear. James used to do that look when he got in trouble too. It had gone by second year when it was replaced by casual defiance but I remembered it.

"First years should be in bed by 9. Which house are you in?" Remus said with growing confidence.

"Slytherin." The boy looked very uncomfortable now that he'd seen how tall Remus was. I think Remus sometimes forgot that with his height, he could actually be more confident than he let on, "I wasn't doing anything wrong, I swear, Annie dared me to so I had to."

Remus turned to me for help, I could tell that neither of us particularly wanted to punish him but we had to do something.

"Well... er... don't do it again, we'll take you back to the Common room. If we catch you again, I'm afraid we will dock points from Slytherin." I said, stepping forward.

"Lily," Remus whispered to me as we began to walk, "I don't know where the Slytherin common room is."

"Me neither, not really. Hopefully, he'll lead the way." I said, both of us trying to not to laugh at the fact we were the most incompetent prefects ever.

After a lot of walking, we finally made it and dropped the first year off.

"Well, that was exciting." He said.

"Yeah but I hope he's the only one."

"Me too." He replied, "We've still got time."

"Yeah." I said although my mind was drifting, "That first-year kind of reminded me of James."

"Don't tell James, he'd be mad that a Slytherin reminded you of him," He laughed but then stopped and spoke more seriously, "How so?"

"I don't know. They had the same look. Not physically, that kid had smarter hair but their expressions. That sort of fear and defiance, like he wasn't used to getting into trouble. James had that before he realised he was such a charming bastard..." I turned to see Remus slightly smiling. He didn't say anything and turned away.

"Nevermind," I muttered and we sat in a slightly awkward silence for a few seconds.

"Lily..." He turned to me and in that second, I knew that he knew, "Do you fancy James?"

I knew I was being obvious thanks to Marlene and the girls but the way he asked was different. He didn't want to tease or anything, he seemed curious.

I didn't say anything but I think my face said it all.

"Don't tell him. Or anyone." I said turning away blushing.

"I wouldn't dream of it." He said smiling. It was a really genuine smile and I felt almost relieved that I'd told him.

"It's very new so I'm still not sure but I do. I like him and it's scary. I feel like I'm going against my past self." I hadn't told anybody any of this so I don't know why I was telling Remus but I felt like he was the right person to tell.

"I get that. You can't choose who you like." He looked very far away and I could tell he wasn't just talking about me and James.

"Do you like somebody?"

"Maybe..." He seemed to snap back into the present, "But let's save it for another night."