The Rise And Fall Of The Stag And The Doe

C'mon

"Wormtail," James whispered furiously, diving into barrel role and flattening himself against the crook in the corridor. "Wormtail! Where are you!"

"Boo!" Wormtail laughed pulling off the invisibility cloak.

"Mate you scared the shit out of me!" James groaned punching him in the arm.

Peter laughed, "That was kind of the point."

"Give me the cloak," James snorted, giving Peter a smirk. "Did Remus and Sirius finish up?"

"Yep."

"Then my sneaky little friend. It is our turn!" James proclaimed before throwing his arm around Peter and the pair of them snuck into the Great hall.

It was nearing March and the boys had been slacking a bit in the pranks department. James had orchestrated 10 of the best pranks of his career in the past two months with the help of Remus and Peter. Of course Sirius was there too, but his head wasn't as into it as it used to be. James tried to see what had changed, but he could never really pinpoint the reason. Sirius didn't go out any more then he used to and as far as he knew there wasn't anything different. So it was a bit of a mystery to them all, but they just shrugged it off.

If the truth was to be told, James was more worried about Marlene. She had been not stopped smiling for three months, which he was pretty sure couldn't be healthy. He wanted to be happy that she was happy, but she was his little sister and it was his job to protect her. James wondered if Marlene had simply picked up a new hobby and gotten perkier or what had happened. If that was it he was more than happy to be happy for her, but if it was a guy, it made James more paranoid than necessary. He was putting all energy into having the best sixth year possible and at the top of that list was Marlene being okay.

James considered dating himself. Unlike his approach a few months earlier he tried not to be so aggressive and actually think about if there was anyone he would like to go out with. The list was slim, and sadly only contained one name. If there was one thing James knew about himself he knew, it was that, that wouldn't change. He had a very fixed personality, when he became invested in something his whole existence was thrown into it whether he liked it or not. And it was nice being friends with Lily. He no longer had to think of excuses to speak to her or reasons why he had to be near her. If James fancied a chat with her he could just go up to her and do it, no effort necessary.

The problem was that no matter how hard he tried to act like he didn't love her, the feeling never faded.

Since he knew himself well, he knew it wouldn't go away. It was one of those things that everybody tells you to the point where you start to think maybe it could be true. For a second he tried to think they were right and one day he would wake up and not want to be with her, but it never happened. Instead James threw himself into Quidditch, school and pranking to take the edge off. He just hoped if he put enough energy into it he wouldn't feel the negative side effects of his bitterly unrequited love. So far, he was doing quite well.

"Prongs," Peter began with a low whistle, looking across the empty hall to the Slytherin table. "So we are raising the table two inches?"

"And we are dropping the bench an inch…Make sure you balance the weight on the support legs because otherwise the table will just topple over."

Peter grinned, "Aye Aye Prongs."

Peter on the other hand had an exceptional year so far. For one, he got a girlfriend, which would be exciting on any person, but was sensational for him as they all had silently feared he'd die a virgin. Now Peter had a spring in his step. He was still tentative and it was Marlene that had set him up with the shy Hufflepuff in the first place, but it didn't matter. What mattered was that someone wanted to be with Peter and he wanted to be with her. All the rest wasn't important.