"I should probably be getting back to the Common Room. I was supposed to... well... it's better if you didn't know. Plausible deniability, y'know..."
"Right." Lily nodded briskly. "Of course."
James did not move away at once, however. "Are you coming?" he asked.
The witch considered it, and then shook her head. "I don't think so. I should finish up here—point deduction documentation, y'know..."
"I'm pretty sure the points will be just as deductable tomorrow," James replied. "C'mon."
But Lily shook her head. "I'll be along soon. You go on." She slid down from the desk and turned once more to the parchment and quill she had neglected.
"Fine." More disappointed then he let on, James's hands found his pockets and he started for the door. He paused there, though, and turned back. "Listen, Evans..."
"Mhm?" She looked over her shoulder at the Marauder.
"I'm sorry that—people let you down... but they do that, y'know."
Lily chewed her lip. She didn't look too upset anymore. "Yeah, they do," she agreed. "But sometimes they surprise you for the better, too."
"Right, but how often does that happen?" asked James dryly. Lily smiled enigmatically, shrugging and returning to her prefect project.
"I dunno," she said, as much to the form in front of her as the Marauder behind her. "But it's happened to me twice in the last two weeks."
And that was the part of the conversation that James's brain replayed over and over again, far longer than he would ever have admitted to anyone, even Sirius.