The next day, Carina locked away any lingering feelings of hurt and put on her everyday smile for the world. So what if the Marauders didn't consider her as close of a friend as she considered them? She knew that at the end of the day she could go to them for anything and they'd be there.

She was lounging in the common room with Lily and Alice the next afternoon doing homework when a familiar head poked his way into their area.

"Carina, haven't forgotten you agreed to study with me, have you?" James grinned good-naturedly.

"No of course not," she replied easily, not looking up from her essay. "Let me finish this up, and I can meet you at the library."

"Mmmkay," he hummed happily, pushing away from the chair.

Alice and Lily shared a curious glance, and they looked back towards Carina, who was still engrossed in her editing. James Potter studying? That had to be a joke.

They were suddenly surprised again when James plopped back down in the empty chair with a carefree attitude.

"Actually- one more thing."

"Potter, we're actually trying to study," Lily groaned, rolling her eyes. "Bother Carina later."

"It'll be quick," he promised. "Carina?"

"Hm?" She mumbled, her eyes still sweeping over her parchment.

"Will you go to the Equinox Ball with me?"

Lily and Alice stared at James with their jaws dropped, and Carina's small scratches from her quill halted. She finally looked up at James in undulated surprise.

"What?"

"Will you." He pointed to her. "Go to the Spring Equinox Ball. With me?" He pointed to himself.

Carina couldn't help the blank look of astonishment on her face. He certainly hadn't prepared her for that. "Why?"

James chuckled in surprise. "Because I want to go with you."

Carina just stared in shock. This was too much too soon. Lily would certainly realize this was a hoax at this rate. "As friends right?" Carina clarified with a nervous laugh.

James raised an eyebrow in an unconcerned manner. "How about we decide at the end of the night?"

Carina's laugh faded into a baited silence as Lily and Alice watched them in shock.

"What?" Carina repeated once again.

This was moving way too fast, even if it was fake.

James laughed again, a deep bellowing laugh this time. "I don't think you're getting it, love," he smirked. "You and me, Equinox Ball, date."

"Umm...." Carina shook her head as if to clear it. "Can I think about it?"

"Of course," he replied easily, getting to his feet. "See you at the library in a bit?"

Carina nodded wordlessly as James walked away.

It wasn't even ten seconds after he was out of earshot when the girls were immediately at Carina's ears.

"What in Merlin's name was that?"

"Are you going to say yes?"

"What the bloody hell is he up to?"

"Do you like him?"

Alice and Lily paused, looking at each other in surprise.

"You don't think he actually means it, do you?" Lily asked incredulously.

"You don't think he does?" Alice asked.

"Well of course not, this came out of nowhere!" Lily cried.

"She's his best friend- who else would it be if not her?" Alice shrugged. "It's 7th year Lily, the man has to move on eventually."

They both turned their gazes on an unprepared Carina. "Are you going to say yes?" They both asked, Alice in an excited tone that contrasted Lily's incredulous one.

"I don't know," Carina shrugged helplessly. "Maybe?"

"Do you like him?" They asked, their contrasting tones building.

Carina glanced back and forth between them in frozen panic. "No! I don't know! Look, I wasn't exactly expecting this to happen."

"Of course not," Alice agreed readily. "But James Potter is a catch, and the two of you are as close as he's ever been to any girl for the last decade."

Lily snorted under her breath and Alice rolled her eyes at her friend.

"He is a catch," she told Lily. "You're possibly the only one left who doesn't think so."

"Lily...?" Carina spoke hesitantly. "You sure you don't mind all this?"

"Hm?" Lily blinked as if being pulled from the recess of her thoughts. "Of course not, why would you think that?"

"Don't mind her," Alice said strongly. "Potter hasn't managed to catch Lily's interest in 7 bloody years, give him a chance for Merlin's sake! Let this man get a girlfriend!"

Carina glanced back and forth between her two friends. This was better than she could've ever planned for. Alice, in her genuine enthusiasm for her friend, was proving to be the perfect alibi and unwitting partner, and funnily enough James's number one fan. And Lily, despite her scoffs of disinterest, was clearly frazzled by James's shift in attention. Carina gathered her books slowly, making sure to take her time as she sighed.

"I don't know," she said quietly in what she hoped was a wistfully torn voice. "I suppose I'd never really let myself consider it."

"Well he'll be waiting for you in the library." Alice pointed out.

"I need some time, I need to try and figure things out," Carina mumbled to herself, getting to her feet.

Lily remained quiet as Alice smiled at her understandingly. Carina climbed out the passageway, heading straight for the library. While his plan seemed to work wonders, she was still fuming over James's surprise.

 ̶«̶ ̶̶̶ ̶ ̶ ̶̶̶ ̶«̶ ̶̶̶ ̶ ・☽ ༓ ☾・  ̶»̶ ̶̶̶ ̶ ̶ ̶̶̶ ̶»̶ ̶̶̶ ̶ ̶  ̶̶̶̶

She greeted him with a hard smack to the ribs.

"Ouch!" He yelped, wincing away from her.

"Shit, sorry," Carina cursed, immediately fumbling over him. "I forgot about your bruises. Are they still tender?"

"A bit," James said amusedly as he rubbed his side, already having forgiven her before she apologized.

"Well-" Carina's sympathy hardened as the afternoon came rushing back to her. "Serves you right! How could you spring that on me back there?"

"I'm sorry," James placated, not seeming at all apologetic. "But you had the perfect reaction! You had to be just as surprised as them for Lily to believe it!"

Carina eyed him before shrugging lightly. "I suppose you're not wrong..."

"Is that a compliment I hear?" James cupped his ear dramatically, leaning into her.

"Don't flatter yourself," she nudged him away with a single finger.

"So," he grinned, leaning back against the abandoned table near the window. "Will you go with me?"

"To the Equinox Ball?" Carina raised an eyebrow dubiously. "Don't you want to go with Lily?"

"I mean sure, but we both know how it would go if I asked her. Besides, we're good friends, we'd have a fun night together anyway." James explained casually.

"True," Carina shrugged. "Alright, if Lily hasn't admitted her supposedly dormant feelings by then, sure I'll go with you."

James face scrunched in confusion. "But that would leave you with no time to find a proper date if Lily did change her mind."

Carina laughed at his innocent concern. "I really doubt you'll be thinking about that if she actually admits she wants to go to the ball with you."

"No," James insisted. "I wouldn't leave you last minute like that, I'm not that much of a prat. We're going together. You and me. No matter what happens with Lily."

"Yeah okay," Carina nodded placatingly, knowing very well not to put too much faith in that.

"Lets go," James said excitedly, pulling her out of the library.

"For what," Carina dug her heels in.

"So I can go brag to the entire common room about my date, of course!"

"James!"

The excited marauder ignored her outraged yet reluctantly amused admonitions as he led her up the endless flights of stairs to their tower.

"You know, Lily's already cagey about this whole thing," Carina told James as he led her along the halls. "We might not even have to do this for long.

"All the more reason to go full steam ahead," James grinned.

He burst into the common room, his eyes glowing with a mischievous twinkle as he faced the busy common room. Sirius, Remus, and Peter looked at him in puzzlement as he raised his hand in the air in victory.

"She said yes!"

"Did Lily finally take you up on that date, Potter?" A sixth year chuckled at him. Extravagance was not a novel concept for James. The common room was used to these occasional shows of dramatics.

"Not Lily," James said smugly, looking back at Carina who stood quietly shaded in his larger frame.

His gaze lingered on her meaningfully as the entire room broke into low whistles of surprise and support. Sirius raised an eyebrow in amusement, tilting his head in approval at their strategic move. Remus merely looked between them and Lily, the concern in his eyes evident.

The whispers grew louder, some people claiming they saw it coming all along. Carina blushed under everyone's gazes. She knew every single person in the room individually but was never the sole object of their collective attention. She didn't quite like the spotlight like that.

"I'm so close to taking it back," she groaned under her breath, but not so quietly that others didn't hear.

The room broke into easy going chuckles, buying into the act easily with her very real embarrassment.

"You can't," James smirked. "Too many witnesses now!"

They walked over to the marauders as Alice pulled Lily over to them.

"You said yes!" She exclaimed happily.

"We're friends," Carina shrugged modestly. "I have no reason to say no. Better him than some desperate bloke looking to get lucky last minute." That wasn't really a lie, if she thought about it.

"I don't know," Lily shrugged nonchalantly. "I think you might've just gotten stuck with that desperate bloke, Ri."

"Hey!" James protested, seeming genuinely caught off guard.

"I don't trust you," Lily said pointedly. "And you certainly don't deserve Carina."

James froze, staring at Lily in surprise for a moment of shocked silence. The marauders, Alice, and Carina stood awkwardly as the tension between them built.

"I know I don't," James finally said dejectedly. "Lucky for me, Carina knows me, and she likes to believe the best in people."

Lily narrowed her eyes on him, not expecting his frank self-reflection. She rolled her eyes, walking away. Alice threw them an apologetic glance before deciding to go after Lily. Maybe she could talk some sense into her.

Carina sighed, placing a hand on James's shoulder. She knew the defeat in his tone was not because he thought he didn't deserve her. It's because Lily thought so.

"You okay?"

"I thought you said she was warming up to me?" James laughed bitterly.

"I said she was cagey about this whole thing."

"Seems like everything I do only makes her hate me more..."

"Hey," Carina said sternly. "I love Lily, but she's not right about you."

"But-"

"You are a good person, and if she can't see that, it's her loss. You deserve better, don't ever let anyone tell you otherwise."

James turned to her, watching her carefully as if trying to decide something. His curious gaze held her eyes for an eternity. She waited until she felt like squirming under his gaze, moving to pull her hand off his shoulder. James caught her hand before she could withdraw. He rubbed his thumb over her soft skin thoughtfully.

"Well she was right about one thing," James admitted softly, smiling to himself.

Carina raised an eyebrow curiously.

"I don't deserve you."

Carina chuckled softly, squeezing his hand gently. "Of course you don't, but where would you be without me?"