"Well, what sort of research?" James asked, a bit curious despite the fact that he wasn't the biggest fan of the journals himself. James didn't like having to keep a blood diary. In fact, he hadn't written in his for days now and that suited him just fine. The only thing he had used his journal for since Mona Snapea was to take the mick out of some of his classmates on their entries.
James shot Sirius a look. "Oh shove off you great git," he said and gave Sirius a playful, yet forceful push that said in James language 'I know you're joking, but watch your step.' It may seem like James was defending Remus, and partly he was, but a larger part of James' words and actions were dictated by the fact that talk of Lily dating anyone but him made him squirmy and put him on the defense.
Once the topic steered back to the Slytherin tryouts, James flashed Sirius a grin. "You know, I think maybe we ought to live up to our 'not so innocent' reputations," he said. "I mean think about it," James said looking between Remus and Sirius "We have a golden opportunity here, do we not? We can't let it pass us by, that'd be unforgivable."