Putting The 'M' in Mystery~ Hinny/Jily

Inducting The girls

The other three rolled their eyes expressively. "Say x had feelings for y, and y had feeling for x," he started.

"Is this Arithmancy?" asked Peter, looking confused.

"No Peter, it's to make the situation hypothetical." Remus explained. Peter screwed up his face.

"Hypo what?"

"Never mind. So to make their feelings appear less serious,"

"Hey, MORE Sirius is good!"

"Shut up, Padfoot. As I was saying, x and y flirt to mask their feelings, but it is brought to the surface in certain ways, such as protectiveness on x's part and the fact that y makes small gestures such as touching x's hair in a comfortable manner."

"Oh, for heaven's sake Moony, just speak English. I don't think I can look at Wormtail's confused expression a minute longer!"

Remus sighed. "Subtlety's really wasted on you lot, isn't it? Basically, Potter's protective and Ginny seems comfortable with close physical contact."

"Oh. Well why didn't you say that in the first place?"

Remus didn't get a chance to reply, as at that moment Lily emerged from her room. She flashed the Marauders a smile, having got friendlier with them recently.

"Hi you guys!" she turned to James and said half-heartedly, "They shouldn't be in here, you know."

James looked at her pleadingly, and as she finished speaking, a knock came at the entrance of the Common Room.

"Oi, Lils! Are you going to let us in or not?"

Blushing, Lily opened the door and Marnie and Alice came in. James mouthed 'They shouldn't be in here, you know!' at her, and she gave him an embarrassed smile.

"God, I'm such a hypocrite. Hi Al, hi Marnie?"

The two girls smiled at the Marauders and seated themselves on one of the many squashy sofas.

"What're you lot doing? Planning mayhem?"

Sirius gave her a charming, crooked smile.

"Maybe. Or we may just be planning how to get two teachers together."

Lily conjured tea for her friends, and curled up in an armchair with a surprised "You've noticed?"

Sirius snorted, and James retorted, "Lily, a blind wombat in a coma would notice. They're flirting so hard I'm surprised that Ginny is foofing a fan around in Potter's face and saying, "Fie, fie!'"

All three considered this for a moment, and then Marnie came out with something that surprised the boys greatly.

"Can we help?"

The Marauders all wore varying expressions of shock, but James managed to recover himself enough to croak, "Why?"

While Marnie was considering, Lily said musingly, "Well, it'd probably be a good idea if you think about it. We might be able to show a bit of insight, even though those two are so damn unpredictable, and also we're just plain nosy about them."

The Marauders considered, and finally Sirius stuck out his hand and said pompously, "My friends. We formally induct you into Operation Get Our Outrageously Flirting Teachers Together before We All Die of Frustration."

He shook Lily's had solemnly, while James said to him accusingly, "You've changed the name of the operation! You can't do that!"

He seemed outraged, but Sirius merely smiled patronizingly and said to his friend, "Dear Prongs. When you have pulled the pranks I have pulled, made the mayhem I have made, you will not give stuff about the name of our bloody operation."

James's strop vanished, and he beamed at his friend with a placid, 'Fair enough.'

There was silence for a minute, until Alice asked casually, "What's with the nicknames? They seem kind of – random."

Remus and James both burst into explosive coughs while Sirius decided it was time to cause a distraction by summoning a large fluffy object. Upon seeing it, James groaned.

"Padfoot now is not the time to play with Binky."

Sirius buried his face in the soft fur of the toy rabbit, making crooning noises. His fellow Marauders ignore him.

"Don't worry, he's actually fairly sane," James reassured the girls, who were looking at the seventeen year old boy lovingly cradling his toy rabbit warily.

"Now, we think it's a good idea to give Potter and Weasley a few prods in the right direction. Only we're completely at loss because the two of them are so unpredictable. Any ideas?"

Lily considered.

"Are you staying at school for Christmas?"

James nodded.

"Yeah, my parents are on a mission over Christmas so I'm not going home, why?"

Lily paused thoughtfully.

"I just thought...maybe we could wait till Christmas when everything's pretty informal and rope them into a game of Truth or Dare or Spin the Bottle or something."

James surveyed her, impressed.

"That was unexpectedly devious, Lily. You have the makings of greatness in the pranking world."

Lily gave an uncharacteristically mischievous smile.

"Well, I have a sister, who gets on my nerves, don't I? I need some ways to annoy her, and I'm afraid it's corrupted my sweet and naïve brain."

James swept a deep bow to her, while Sirius cried in delight, "She irritates her siblings! That makes a Marauder!"

Remus cleared his throat.

"Lily's plan is bloody marvellous, but in the meantime we need to do something to get them thinking about each other in a potentially romantic way. I suggest a 'Comments Campaign' where we all make strategic comments on their relationship, and keep making remarks like "You should really get together."

Sirius turned to his friend with a slightly manic gleam in his eye.

"Moony, that is pure genius. I salute you." Remus bowed.

_._._._._._._

Ginny took her broom out of her trunk and returned to the sitting room, where she found Harry waiting. She gave him a small smile and pulled her hood over her head, hiding her vibrant hair from view. Stepping over to the window, she swung a leg over her Comet 300 and kicked off the ledge, closely followed by Harry.

The wind whipped down her hood and her waist length hair streamed out like a banner as she turned a small loop-the-loop. A joyful cry met her ears as she turned her head to see Harry zoom past, spinning and looping his broom into impossible manoeuvres, corkscrewing down into a vertical dive before pulling out millimetres from the highest turret.

Pausing to hover, Ginny reflected that Harry had never been truly happy at any point in his life, and that he'd once said that flying was the only bolthole, the only breakaway. In a way, it was like the child that had been crushed deep inside him had learned how to play on a broom. For the millionth time she cursed the Dursley for breaking his spirit. She didn't really know the details of his childhood, but Ron had once told her that he had tried to kill himself several times before he went to Hogwarts.

No child should want to die...

She shook her head, mentally reminding herself that it was thee past. If there was one thing that this war had taught her, it was that life was for living.

Harry whooped loudly as he pulled out of another dive, startling Ginny when she realized that she was on her broomstick, almost fifteen hundred feet in the air. She looked affectionately at the windblown head.

Yep. He's definitely living now.