James Potter was smart. I mean, really. He never had any extra homework because he couldn’t perform whatever charm or brew whatever potion they were brewing that day in class. He received O.W.L.’s in every subject; almost all O’s except for only three subjects (two E’s and one A).

James Potter was considerably handsome. I mean, honestly. He was voted in the top ten most wanted boys in Hogwarts every year since his fourth year. He always had options of at least five or six girls for every Hogsmeade weekend.

James Potter was full of moral fiber. I mean it! He befriended a shy boy in his first year and stood by his side even though the lonely little boy was really a werewolf. He never tried to take advantage of a girl even though they were throwing the advantage at him, begging him to take it, because he was in-love with someone else.

James Potter was the best friend one could ever wish for. I mean seriously. Sirius Black can attest to that: James Potter befriended him despite being the heir of the ancient and most noble House of Black, purest blood and most insane family. Peter Pettigrew can also attest: being insecure, unsure and not particularly the best at anything, James Potter was everything he wished he could be, and so James tried his best to help Peter overcome his fears and better himself, even when no one else would keep Peter around for that long. Remus Lupin could attest as well: for one thing, he was the said werewolf friend mentioned earlier, and one would say that was enough, but James Potter knows no bounds in his friendships.

Which brings us here.

Remus Lupin, Sirius Black and Peter Pettigrew were the greatest people in the World if you asked James Potter. And in the end of the summer after the fifth year of the Marauder’s magical education, James Potter decided that there was something missing from their lives.

Love.

Not the brotherly love they had, no. The kind that included snogging. The Marauders needed girlfriends.

Of-course James had been pining over one Miss Lily Evans for the last three, or four, or five years, but he didn’t realize that he needed it to complete him. And he wanted the same completion for his brothers.

So after obsessing about it for the whole of summer break (obsessing? Oh, I meant fancying a lot, because James Potter does not ‘obsess’, he ‘fancies strongly’ as he has said for the last three, or four, or five years whenever the word ‘obsess’ has come up), James Potter decided that the Marauders were going to get the snogging kind of love before they turned 17. And Peter was the oldest, having his birthday land on May 12. So there was the deadline. The next time it was the 12th of May, all four Marauders would have someone to love.

James took out a notebook and scribbled down notes. He always preferred to have things written down to better analyze and plan pranks and missions to woo Lily. This was nothing different. He wrote out notes on the type of girls each of them would/might like.

WORMTAIL:

-funny

-pretty

-shorter than him

-not too outgoing, but not shy either

-must understand and respect that Marauders first, always!

Peter’s list seemed bare to James, but he realized they never talked too much about the subject.

PADFOOT:

-PRETTY

-hot

-must understand and respect that Marauders first, always!

Sirius’ list was pitiful. Sirius had always dated and snogged girls, but he’s never had an actual serious relationship. James smirked at his unintentional pun. Anyways, this was just to start off, he was going to go back to the list after he did more research.

ME, YES ME. PRONGS:

-LILY EVANS (she’d understand and respect that Marauders first, always!)

MOONY:

-understanding

-ACCEPTING

-smart

-bookish

-must understand and respect that Marauders first, always!

James never realized before how harder it was for Moony to find love. He’s a werewolf and that wasn’t exactly a very welcome thing in the wizarding world. He frowned…he was suddenly even more determined in his latest obsession—great fancy.

MISSION: MARAUDER MATCHMAKING

Phase One: RESEARCH!

Objective: To find out what Wormtail, Moony and Padfoot like in a bird.

-After finding out what they like, proceed to make a list of possible girls suitable for each. Must have potential bird chosen, as well as have a plot initiated to get them together by Halloween Feast.

James smiled at the page. He loved looking at his plans. James felt the excitement start in the pit of his chest. This would be a success, he knew it! And the fun they were going to have, oh the fun…

---

The Sorting had just finished, the food finally appearing in front of the starving students. James helped himself to a healthy portion of steak and vegetables. When dessert was served, James decided to finally enter phase one of Mission: Marauder Matchmaking.

“So Padfoot, you still seeing Kim Chang?” James asked innocently. Sirius looked up from his pudding with a raised eyebrow.

“You know I broke it off with her before summer break.”

“Oh, I must have forgotten. I’m sure she had a lovely summer break, then. So, uh, Pads, why ever did it not work?” James took a drink from his goblet, trying to act as though this was normal conversation for them.

“Why didn’t it work? Because we had already been dating for what, a week? What’s this all about?” Sirius asked. Peter and Remus were looking at him quite odd as well.

“I was just curious. Why is it all these girls never work out?” Peter and Remus shifted their looks to Sirius. Why had they never worked out?

“I don’t know. No one’s held my attention for very long, I guess.”

“Oh.” James tried to think…maybe Sirius had been going out with the wrong type. But then again, Sirius had dated maybe half the girls at Hogwarts, and they were all different from each other. Kim Chang, the last girl he dated, who also graduated last year was a Ravenclaw, who true to her House was clever, studious and intelligent. She was very nice and incredibly pretty. She had read a lot of the same books as Remus and was one of the top students of her class. The girl before her was Elise Smith, who was now a fifth year Hufflepuff. She wasn’t too smart; in fact she was pretty clueless and kind of stupid. She wasn’t very fun, James remembered. She had a killer figure and a pretty face, though. The girl before that was another Ravenclaw, Lisa Finnegan. She had a great sense of humor, smart, too. She was now in her seventh year and was the keeper for the Ravenclaw House Team. She was outgoing and funny. James remembered more and more girls, and could not find any real pattern. Sirius had even dated a fat girl once, back in third year. She was in sixth year, and a Hufflepuff. She was the sweetest girl in school, and even when Sirius dumped her after a month, she was still friendly to all of them. James shook his head and decided to move onto Peter for the time being. Sirius was going to take awhile.

“Hey Pete,” James called out.

“Yeah, Prongs?”

“Who do you think is the prettiest girl in school?” There, that was a nice start, and not too conspicuous, or so James thought.

“Uh, Kim Chang, I guess. Oh wait, she graduated. Uh, then Alice Prewitt.” Peter blushed a little. James took a mental note of that.

“I heard she was going with Frank Longbottom now,” Remus added. James sighed internally. He didn’t want to break anyone else up in order to find his friends girlfriends.

“That’s nice. They’re a good couple,” Sirius said.

“So brunettes are your thing, eh, mate?” James said, trying to find similarities between Alice Prewitt and Kim Chang.

“Not necessarily. I mean, I usually like blonde girls, I think.”

“Oh. What about you Moony? What type of girls you fancy then?” Remus and Sirius eyed James suspiciously.

“What’s with all these questions about our love lives, then?” Sirius asked.

“Or lack there of,” Remus corrected with a partial smile.

“I was just curious guys,” James said, trying to shrug the whole thing off.

“I always sort of had a crush on Hestia Jones, to tell you guys the truth,” Peter said, not knowing that the subject had just been closed.

“The President of the Charms Club?” Remus asked.

“Yeah, she’s pretty and nice.”

“You should ask her to the next Hogsmeade Weekend,” Sirius suggested.

“Yeah, go for it Pete,” encouraged Remus. James smiled inwardly. This was going great already!

“I guess I will,” Peter said, his voice small and slightly shaky. “So, who do you fancy, Remus?”

“No one,” he replied, a little too quickly.

“Liar,” James said, eyeing his friend.

“Well, it’s not like I can really pursue anyone, now can I?” Remus said. The four of them became quiet.

“…So I bought a muggle motorcycle over the summer,” Sirius said. And with that, the topic of love was closed, at least for the time being.

---

James began to closely observe his friends.

During Transfiguration, after he would run over the day’s project in his mind and were confident that he would be able to perform it, he would spend the rest of the class watching them. At first he tried to divide his observations equally, but soon he began to focus mostly on Moony who would be arguably the hardest one to find a proper girl for. He thought maybe someone there might have a secret crush on Remus, or vice versa. Nothing. All he would ever see, everyday was that Sirius and him talked an awful lot more than James thought they did. If it wasn’t an actual exchange of words, it would be secret facial expressions they’d give each other behind the back of whomever decided to talk to either both of them or one of them. If it wasn’t that, it was notes they passed to each other.

At lunch, or dinner, or during any breaks, he would keep an ear out on the conversations around him and the eyes that might be stealing glances at Padfoot, or Moony or Wormtail. He began to ignore the attention that Sirius received, as it was all too much to keep track of. James started a rumor about Peter possibly liking someone in the Ravenclaw House and kept an eye out for the general reaction from the table. He noticed Hestia Jones stealing glances at their table when she hadn’t before. He could check off Phase One in Peter’s case. But Remus and Sirius were still a problem. He decided to cast off Sirius for a later time and doubled his efforts on Moony.

During one Quidditch practice, he asked the girls on the team what they thought of Remus. They all said he was ‘nice’, but when he asked them if any girls fancied him, they began to giggle too much for him to get a real answer. At the end of practice, the girls caught up with him and finally cleared things up. They were giggling because Remus Lupin was also one of the most sought after boys in Hogwarts, it was just he never gave any girl a chance that the ‘soughting after’ became more of a fantasy than anything that any girl actually tried to pursue. He was ‘too nice to just snog, but too distant to ask out’. James never considered how ‘distant’ Remus really was with everyone else.

That’s when he decided, on the spot, impulsively to ask his female teammates for help. He told them to keep their ears and eyes open for any girl that might fancy Remus, and that they thought might be a good fit for him. They agreed and thought it was just the sweetest thing that James cared so deeply for his friends.

After two weeks of ‘recon’ as James called it, the girls told him what they found out. The list of girls that may have fancied Remus was actually quite long. He crossed out the ones he already knew wouldn’t work, mainly the girls Sirius had dated because he just could not see Remus dating an ex of Sirius’. Oh, and he practically tore the part of the parchment that read ‘Lily Evans’. He glared at the girls who smirked at him. He shoved the list in his pocket and walked with his teammates to the Halloween Feast. He was slightly panicking to himself—today was his self-imposed deadline, and he wasn’t exactly on task.

---

“You okay, James?” Peter asked him when all four of them were seated at the table, waiting for the Halloween Feast to begin. He turned to his side, but stopped himself before he replied. Peter was always next to him. And now that he thought about it, it wasn’t always like that. It used to be random and interchanging. Sometimes he and Sirius would sit next to each other while others it was Moony by his side. But now it was always Peter next to James, and Sirius and Moony next to each other. He quickly took out the parchment from his robes. He scanned the names and saw what he was looking for.

David Bechely (7th year Ravenclaw)

James had glossed over the name before, but was distracted as

Lily Evans (6th year Gryffindor)

went right after it. Inspiration suddenly struck him. What if Remus didn’t need a GIRL, but a BOY?! James was excited at his new discovery.

It fit, didn’t it? Yeah Remus said he didn’t want a girl because he was a werewolf and that would involve intimacy, but bloody hell! He still could have snogged a girl here and there. He was a teen-aged boy after all.

“What’s that?” Peter asked. James turned around and Sirius, who was looking at Remus with such intensity, caught his eye. Then again, he always looked at Remus that way—why hadn’t James thought of it before!

Sirius and Remus!

It was perfect! Sirius already knew about the furry little problem, and Remus accepted Sirius knowing full well of his flaws. This was brilliant! And all the little signs that were now scrolling through in his mind like a muggle movie. Transfiguration class…the wrestling matches that often landed them in shady positions…the way only Remus could get Sirius to behave…the way Sirius could make Remus blush over the dumbest of innuendos…

But how could he get those two together?

“Mate? Prongs!” Peter was still trying to get his attention. James looked at him and met worried eyes.

“Sorry, Pete.”

“I was just asking what that paper was,” Peter said.

“A love note for Evans?” Sirius joked, joining into the conversation. “Or is that just a prop so she’d get jealous?”

Jealous! That was it! James tore off a piece of the parchment in his hand and scribbled something with the muggle pen-thing Remus gave him last Christmas. He then threw it at Moony who was right in front of him, but was extremely distracted by Sirius who was proceeding to tell him more about his new motorbike. Remus’ face paled as he looked up from the sheet and into James eyes. James leaned over the table and whispered into his friends ear.

“I can help you, but you have to go along with me.”

Dumbledore cleared his throat and was about to begin his speech, but James decided right then and there, on the spot, impulsively to stand on the top of the Gryffindor Table. He had to finish Phase One by the deadline, which was by the time the feast started. And they were still a speech away. Adrenaline pumped through his body. It wasn’t enough that he accepted Remus despite his condition, and has stayed a loyal friend to him these years past. He was going to do even this for Remus.

“Ah, Mr. Potter, would you care to say a few words?” Professor Dumbledore asked.

“Yes, please,” he replied. Dumbledore nodded and sat back down, giving the floor to James. “Sonorous. Uh, hi. I just wanted to announce something to everyone.”

“Lily finally said ‘yes’?” asked a voice from the Hufflepuff Table.

“N-No. It has nothing to do with Lily. I wanted to let everyone here know, that I, James Potter, am going out with Remus Lupin.”

‘Phase One: Complete,’ James thought to himself.