Remus bounded through the forest, Sirius and James hot on his heels. He flung his head back and howled with excitement, and Sirius barked joyfully, tossing his head and almost dislodging Peter, who was playing his usual game of seeing how long he could cling to the fur on his friend's back before falling off. Sirius bounded exuberantly after his friend; sure he would catch him in a minute… A rabbit raced passed, nearly tripping him as it flashed passed his feet, but he caught himself and sprinted on.

Behind them, there was an awful crashing sound. The wolf and the dog stopped short and spun around. Behind them, a majestic stag was tangled in a mess of thorn bushes and fallen branches, legs waving and eyes rolling in fright. A white rabbit-tail could just be seen receding into the distance. Sirius gave a laughing bark. Prongs did it again…

****

"Why are you all looking at me like that?"

Remus rolled his eyes. "You've still got bark in your hair, Prongs. Have you not yet grasped the concept of a comb?"

James opened his mouth to defend himself, but was interrupted by Sirius: "And anyway, it's pretty funny, you gotta admit. James Potter, Head Boy, Quidditch star, mischief-maker extraordinaire…is scared of bunny rabbits!"

"Shut UP, Sirius!" James yelped. He picked up his pillow and hurled it at Sirius, then ran from the dormitory, running his fingers through his messy hair in an attempt to get rid of the bark.

Remus looked at Sirius. Sirius looked at Remus. They shook their heads. "We really need to do something about that phobia of his."

They thought for a bit.

Then Remus said, "I've got an idea. Where's Wormtail?"

"Gone down to get breakfast. Why?"

"Because we're going to need at least three of us to get this done. Especially if we want to do it quickly enough James doesn't notice till we're ready."

"He won't notice anyway. He doesn't notice anything except Lily Evans anymore. He dropped the Quaffle three times last match because he thought she was looking at him."

"Trust me, when it's time, he'll notice this. And he won't forget it in a hurry."

"Padfoot! One, that's just cruel. Two, I haven't even told you what it is yet!"

Sirius looked embarrassed. "True. Now maybe you'll get around to telling me?"

"Well…" Remus began, "You know what you're supposed to do about phobias, don't you? Facing your fears and all that…"

"We're going to show him a rabbit? Lily does need to see this!"

"I was thinking more along the lines of about a hundred, actually."

Sirius roared with laughter. "Moony…that's…that's awesome! But where are we going to get a hundred rabbits?"

Remus tapped his wand. "I think we can start with those socks that you keep refusing to wash. Bunnies that smell like your feet will really scare the pants off Prongs…"

Sirius hurled the pillow at Remus. "You want to transfigure my socks into rabbits? You're supposed to be the sensible one, Moony!"

"Sensible gets boring sometimes," Remus said, catching the pillow and flinging it back at Sirius.

"You know," Sirius said thoughtfully, "Apart from the fact that my socks are going to run off into the Forbidden Forest and never be seen again, I only see one problem with this entire idea."

"What's that, then?"

"No teachers, caretakers, Slytherins or other forces of evil are getting hurt by this plan."

"Good point. Well, can you see any way around it?"

"We don't use my socks."

"Huh?"

"We use their socks."

"You plan on going and stealing the Slytherins' socks? You are insane, Padfoot."

Peter stuck his head around the door. "Why is he insane?"

"He wants to go and steal the Slytherins' socks."

"You're the one that wants to turn them into rabbits!"

Peter looked confused. "I think you're both mad…but can I join in?"

"Sure. Neither of us would be able to get at the Slytherins' socks anyway."

"So, what is it we're doing?"

Remus answered, grinning, "We're going to steal the Slytherins' socks, transform them into rabbits and use them to cure James's rabbit phobia."

"Basically, we're going to scare the crap out of him. In front of Lily." Sirius put in.

"No, Padfoot, not in front of Lily. That is just mean, even by your standards." Remus said firmly, glaring at Sirius.

"No, seriously, Moony, I'm not being evil. She wants to see him admit he's not perfect, and then maybe she'll go out with him, true? So this is perfect. He looks stupid, she likes him. Simple. I'm serious, guys. It'll work."

Remus rolled his eyes. "I don't doubt your sincerity, Padfoot, I doubt your sanity. But fine. We'll do it. But when he wants to kill someone, it's gonna be you, mate."

"Fine with me. Let's get going. Wormtail, you transform and get in the Slytherin dorms. Only problem is, how do we get the socks out?"

"If I do it one dorm at a time, I can probably manage to get them out. If we can find me a bag I can drag. And it could take a while, I'll have to go back about ten times…" Peter said tentatively.

"Lets go, them!" Sirius exclaimed, bouncing off the bed. "It's lunchtime now, they'll all be in the Great Hall. If we go now, Wormtail might be able to go in as himself, and then we'll be done way quicker."

Remus raised his hand. "Question. If they've all gone to lunch, how will we get in? We don't have the password."

"We have it. Unless they've changed it since yesterday. Prongs and me heard Snivellus telling a first-year."

"Great! We'd better go before Prongs gets back."

****

"OK, we have several hundred pairs of smelly Slytherin socks. What now?"

"We take them outside. Prongs is down by the lake again, watching Lily and those girls she hangs around with. We hide behind the bushes, stick a carrot out by Prongs, and watch the fireworks."

"Sounds good to me. Lets roll."

They hurried outside, Wormtail, unsurprisingly, ended up carrying the socks. Ducking behind a bush, they sat down on the ground and tipped the socks out across the grass. Remus pulled out his wand, and began muttering spells under his breath. The other two followed suit, and soon they were surrounded by dozens of rabbits, black, white, brown, and "Green? Who turned that one green?"

"Well, magic socks are harder to enchant," Peter said defensively. "It was one of those weird glittery ones with the snakes on."

Sirius laughed and changed the rabbit's colour with a whispered spell. "Go, bunnies, go!" he said excitedly, as the rabbits dispersed across the lawn.

"Shut up and watch," Remus hissed. "We don't want him noticing us!" All around, students out enjoying the sunshine were turning to look at the rabbits streaming out from behind the bush and covering the grass.

"We'd better move, or someone's going to find us" Remus whispered, and they sneaked carefully around until they were positioned several metres away from the bunny-flood and in a perfect position to watch both Lily and James's reactions.

Lots of the students, mostly girls, were squatting down on the grass and stroking or picking up the friendly rabbits. Lily and her friends were crouched in the middle of the grass, each holding a rabbit. James looked up from the homework he had been pretending to do when he heard the excited laughter of the other students. He dropped his quill, his eyes went wide, and he backed up against the tree, his book slipping from his lap. Sirius stuffed his fist into his mouth to stifle a laugh.

A large, chocolate-brown bunny hopped up to James and began to sniff at him. James whimpered and tried to shuffle away, only to run into another rabbit on the other side of him. He looked from one to the other as if he were trapped between two ravenous dragons.

Sirius and Peter were both creasing up silently behind the bush, and a grinning Remus was peering out at Lily, who had stood up, hugging a brown-and-white rabbit, and turned around to face James.

James hardly noticed her; he was so occupied trying to fend off the rabbits that were congregating around him, sniffing at his robes. He tried to get to his feet, but stumbled back as a rabbit ran in front of him. He tripped over the edge of his robes and fell in an untidy heap on the grass.

Lily giggled.

James looked up at her and blushed bright red, then squeaked as a rabbit began to nibble his hair. Another burrowed into his pocket, and he squirmed and kicked frantically, batting at his robes to try and dislodge it.

"AAAHHHH! Getoutofit!" he shrieked as it forced itself in against his legs. Lily stared. What on earth was Potter doing, lying on the ground screaming, with rabbits crawling all over him? What happened to the big tough-guy? He wasn't scared of them, was he?

That's actually…. kind of…sweet

A fat grey rabbit hopped onto James's chest. He was almost rigid with fear now, staring wide-eyed at the rabbit sitting on his chest.

He is, isn't he? He's scared!

Lily began to feel almost sorry for Potter. Everyone was staring at him, laughing. Well, now he knows what it feels like to be on the other end of it…I should be pleased. But I'm not. Poor James.

Glaring at the laughing students, she jogged over to the tree where James was lying and pushed the grey rabbit off his chest. She dragged out the one digging its way into his pocket, and finally shooed away the rabbit nibbling his hair. James looked up at her and smiled shakily. "Thanks,"

"It's fine."

She extended a hand towards him. Looking up into her eyes, he grasped it and climbed to his feet, smiling sheepishly.

Lily looked deep into his smiling hazel eyes. He released her hand, and she instantly wished he hadn't. His hands were firm and strong and cool, and she had the sudden strange idea that maybe holding hands with James Potter wasn't that bad an idea. His nibbled hair was sticking up in random directions and his robes were covered in grass. He looked very different from the arrogant prat she knew so well. A sudden urge to run her fingers through that messy hair struck her, but she forced it down, as she had every similar thought she'd had about him for the last six and a half years. She clenched her hands into fists at her sides to stop them moving towards him, and looked up at him defiantly, expecting him to make some typical, arrogant comment and shatter the moment.

Instead, he smiled at her, and blushed slightly. "I look like a complete prat now, don't I?" he laughed.

"Actually," she said quietly, "You look very cute." And on impulse, she leant forward and kissed him. James tentatively put an arm around her and kissed her back.

Sirius turned to Remus, grinning his head off. "Told you!"

"I do not believe that worked!" Remus laughed.

"It's a good thing they all went for him, though, or it wouldn't have done." Sirius said, thoughtfully.

"Good thing I put carrots in his pockets, then, yes?" Remus said.

Sirius burst out laughing. "You are evil!"