Before you read this, I'd like to remind you that JK Rowling owns everything HP. In my book, she is god because she created the wonderful wizarding world. I want to thank my beta, fayebaby96 for giving me alot of ideas, and reminding me to keep writing. And to everyone I forced to read and fix my grammar issues. So happy reading! Hope I don't completely suck!

Prologue

It was their final year at Hogwarts, and it was going just as the 7th year Gryffindors thought it would. The year started just like all the previous years on September 1st. They all traveled to King's Cross Station that morning, ran through the platform 9 ¾ hidden to the muggles, and boarded the red Hogwarts Express. It was in a compartment on this train when Sirius Black, or Padfoot as his fellow Marauders called him, said, "I give it a month."

"Till what? You finally realize that you're barking mad?" replied Marlene McKinnon.

"Oh Ha Ha," Sirius said sarcastically, "but no, I give it a month till James finally snogs Evans, and she succumbs to his brilliant charms."

Marlene let out a rather unladylike snort and rolled her eyes before replying, "Succumbs to his brilliant charms? Lily is too stubborn to realize that James is meant for her she won't ever 'succumb to his brilliant charms'."

At this point, the other 7th year Gryffindors had started to pay attention to Sirius and Marlene's conversation. A rather good looking, dishwater blonde already wearing her Hogwarts robes, which had a big, shiny 'P' them, to the left of Marlene looked up from her book, Hogwarts, A History, to give in her two sickles.

"I agree with Marls, Lily is too stubborn to admit that she likes James." Said Dorcas Meadowes.

"But she does like James, she just doesn't know it yet. With James being Head Boy this year, I think Lily will finally realize that she likes him. I mean with all the time they will be spending together during Head duties, she'd have to be daft not to realize that James has changed." Replied Remus Lupin, who was sitting directly across from Dorcas and to the left of Sirius.

"Remus is right, eventually Lily will realize that James has changed, but I doubt that she will…uh…succumb to James' 'brilliant charms'." Said Emmeline Vance, the blonde sitting next to Dorcas.

"Lets take a bet." Said Sirius confidently.

"No, you are not going to make any money off of Lily's emotions. She'd kill us if she ever found out, redheads have awful tempers." Replied Marlene.

Sirius, at this statement, got up from his seat next to Remus to sit next to Marlene, nonchalantly sliding his arm around her shoulders and then replied, "Oh, we marauders know exactly how foul Evans temper can be, however she will never find out. No harm, no foul. So what do you say? 10 galleons each?"

"Padfoot, I don't think that's one of your better ideas." Said Remus.

"Oy! Moony, stop being a prefect for a bit and have some fun! Its just a bet for Merlin's sake!" Replied Sirius exasperatedly.

"Fine…" Said Remus grudgingly.

"Lovely! I'll go first," said Sirius before pondering his bet while Remus and Marlene rolled their eyes simultaneously, "Mid-October." He said confidently as if his life depended on it.

"You seriously think James and Lily will be together in month and a half?" Asked Emmeline curiously.

"I am Sirius, and all this time I thought you knew my name, Vance! I'm hurt…deeply." He replied cheekily. The others in the compartment just stared blankly at Sirius, all choosing to ignore his rather lame attempt at a joke.

Marlene was the first to break the silence with, "Early March, I give it till early march."

"December." Said Remus

"January." Replied Dorcas.

Emmeline was the last to fully reply with, "May."

Peter, being as quiet as a mouse throughout the entire conversation, said, "Ju-" before being cut off by the sound of Lily screaming, "What was that for, Potter?"

It was slightly obvious that the two Heads had returned, though why Lily was yelling at James was a mystery to the occupants of the compartment, it was not a surprise. As James slid open the door to the compartment he replied at a slightly lesser volume, "I was going to open the bloody door! What did you think I was going to do? Kidnap you, and leave you in Siberia? How many times do I have to tell you Lily? I've changed! Why else do you think Dumbledore made me Head Boy?"

"I fully believe that Dumbledore had gone temporarily insane when he made you Head Boy. I'll believe that you've changed when I've gone on a date with the giant squid!" Lily replied, as Remus scooted down for James to sit, leaving Lily the only space left, which happened to be right next to James. She gave a 'someone-please-make-room-for-me' look to her friends, which they all replied to with a sweet smile but stayed in their places. Lily grudgingly sat next to James. She frowned, while he slightly smiled. If it had been any other occasion, he would have lit up like a Christmas tree.

Ignoring James, Sirius leaned towards Marlene, his arm still around her shoulders, to whisper, "Nothing beats sexual tension!"

Marlene giggled, Lily noticing this cocked her head to the left in confusion. Her confusion was quickly diminished by Sirius stating, "I bet old Dumbly would know some great pranks."

"Dumbledore? Really?" Asked James.

"Well yeah Prongs, I mean think about it! He's probably seen the very best pranks ever done at Hogwarts. Remember Gideon and Fabian Prewett? They were comedic masterminds!" Replied Sirius. Remus rolled his eyes at Sirius.

"Are pranks the only thing you think about Sirius?" Asked Lily.

Sirius faked a shocked face before replying, "No Evans, I also think about pudding, my dashingly good looks, oh and shagging the lovely ladies at Hogwarts!" The last part he said while wagging his eyebrows at Lily, but stopping as he saw the jealously etch itself in James' face.

Lily, in response to Sirius, rolled her emerald green eyes, and started to zone away from the conversation, only picking up bits and pieces of what the Gryffindors were saying while slowly falling asleep. It wasn't long in her deep slumber when she started to dream.

Suddenly, she was under water. Everything was a murky, gray colour, the lighting was dimmed, Lily knew exactly where she was, the Black Lake. She didn't know how she knew that, but it was a dream. Did it need a reason? Lily was on a date with the giant squid, his giant tentacles floating gracefully through the water, the only object hindering the squid's motion was the pink tutu situated around its waist. Lily and the squid were having a very intelligent conversation in what seemed to be fluent Russian. She looked over to the squid to answer a question when he abruptly morphed into James.

Still speaking in fluent Russian, James demanded they play quidditch, even if Lily was deathly afraid of heights. They rode seahorses (considering they were underwater). A slightly muted noise filled the underwater quidditch pitch, looking over the pair saw Sirius and Marlene playing instruments. The giant squid had reappeared as the conductor, waving his tentacles to instruct Marlene's tuba playing and Sirius's piccolo playing. Before Lily or James could wave to the musical pair, Peter, swimming furiously, yelled, "PUDDING!"

Remus, following closely, hissed loudly, "YOU CAN'T HAVE PUDDING IN THE BLACK LAKE! LISTEN TO ME! I'M A PREFECT!" Lily, laughing so hard her sides hurt, fell off her seahorse, falling slowly to the ground. As she hit the lake's surprisingly soft ground, she abruptly jerked awake finding herself comfortably situated on James's lap. For a couple moments, she breathed in deeply taking in James's delicious scent, before realizing that she couldn't be enjoying his scent. It would go against everything she knew about James, and Lily Evans could NOT be wrong about ANYTHING.

"JAMES! What the bloody hell are you doing?" Lily screeched before repeatedly hitting James on the shoulder.

"Ow! Merlin, Lily! I…wasn't…doing…anything! Stop hitting me woman!" Lily ignored James and kept hitting him until he grabbed her wrists to stop them flailing. She stared into his eyes, anger pulsing through her veins, struggling to escape his iron clad hold, before becoming dead weight in his grasp.

"You shouldn't take advantage of sleeping birds, you twit." She muttered under her breath, allowing only James to hear. He laughed, releasing her wrists in the process as she crossed her arms and pouted like a small child.

No one dared to say anything to Lily as she pouted in fear of her ripping their heads off, all except Marlene who snarky told her "Don't be so over dramatic, he didn't do anything. You cuddled up to him you nitwit!"

Lily stared at Marlene with a death glare, only earning herself Marlene's hands being put up in surrender. Which Sirius snorted at, the death glare was quickly moved to him however.

"Lils, he really didn't do anything." Emmeline told her in a calm, soothing tone. Dorcas, Remus, and Peter nodding in agreement. The compartment stayed awkwardly quiet till Sirius looked out the window noticing that the train had reached Hogsmeade, he nodded sending a silent message to the rest of the Marauders.

Remus, being the brave one broke the silence, "Well would you fancy that! We're here! You know, I could really go for some pudding…" Lily gave out an unladylike snort, which soon turned into full out grab-your-sides laughter, remembering her dream. The rest of the Gryffindors looked on with confusion, usually Lily kept a grudge for several days. Each Gryffindor had a distorted face, leaning to the side, which upon seeing this made Lily laugh even more until she had to lean on James for support. James didn't mind though, he did however mind when Sirius wagged his eyebrows at the pair.

Realizing that they really needed to get off the train, Marlene and Dorcas took either sides of Lily, lifted her up and pushed her out of the compartment, her trunk following after her. The sudden movement knocked some sense into Lily, and she turned into Head Girl mode, basically she started to herd first years towards Hagrid, the new groundskeeper, without noticing James doing the exact thing.

After successfully getting the first years to Hagrid, Lily turned venturing towards the horse-less carriages. She spotted her friends Marlene, Dorcas, and Emmeline waiting loyally for her. Nearest to the carriages was Dorcas, her long, straight, dishwater blonde hair blowing in the wind. She was smiling widely, blue eyes sparkling with amusement, Perfect badge shining brightly against the sunlight. Emmeline was in the middle of Dorcas and Marlene, she was also smiling, the smile reached her light brown eyes easily as all her smiles do. Her long, blonde hair curled gracefully was blowing in her face, every few moments she would move her curls behind her ears. Next to Emmeline stood Marlene, even from a distance she seemed cocky. She stood with confidence, smirking slightly, dark chocolate eyes showing the real amusement she felt, and her long, almost black, brown hair being blown away from her face. She reminded Lily a tad like Sirius.

By now Lily had caught up with the rest of the 7th year Gryffindor girls, and Emmeline had spotted an empty carriage. Just as the girls were closing the carriage doors, a hand snuck its way between the door and the frame, managing to keep the door from closing. The door opened revealing the Marauders; James, Sirius, Remus, and Peter.

The Marauders were all a rather good-looking lot, well except for Peter. Compared to the other Marauders, Peter stood out like a sore thumb, he wasn't as outgoing, smart, or attractive as the rest of the lot were. Peter was very short for a teenage boy, maybe around 5'6, 5'7 at most. He was rather rotund. He had mousy, light brown hair that never seemed to look very flattering. His watery, blue eyes resembled one of a rat's. Lily was almost sure that Peter hadn't had a girlfriend, or even kissed a girl, unlike Sirius who was a notorious player. Which wasn't surprising considering Sirius was very friendly, and was beaming with confidence. It didn't hurt that he was also extremely funny and attractive, though Lily would never admit this.

Sirius's chin length black hair played in the wind as he asked, "Don't mind if we join you, do you?" his almost haunted gray eyes smirking with amusement at Lily's scowl. It was a tight fit in the carriage; both James and Sirius were on the house quidditch team. Being a beater, Sirius had impressive biceps, also being on the quidditch team; Marlene (chaser) knew for a fact that he also had nice abs, which she "accidentally" leaked to the Sirius Black fan girls. Sirius had girls trailing him for weeks to try and glimpse a peak at his bare chest.

Sirius wasn't the only Marauder with a fan club mainly made out of the female population of Hogwarts, James also a fan club. James, Gryffindor quidditch Captain and Chaser, also had a nicely developed chest and arms, though not as large as Sirius was. James' alluring feature was his face, with his hazel eyes framed with circular wire glasses, always lit up with laughter, raven black hair that NEVER stayed put always sticking up a bit in the back. It drove Lily mad when he'd run his hand through his hair, only messing the already unruly mess. James was very charming, amusing, friendly, smart, and loyal, even if Lily wouldn't admit it publicly. The only Marauder Lily considered a true friend was Remus Lupin.

Remus had a slightly smaller build than James and Sirius, this was due to his lycanthropy, or 'Furry little problem' as James called it. Lily knew about Remus being a werewolf, she'd known since 5th year. She'd finally figured out why he always left to see his sick Aunt once a month, it was mostly due to the fact that they had spent so much time together on Prefect rounds. Remus had fair, sandy hair, paired with dark blue eyes. His face was slightly sallow, only noticeable after the full moon; usually he had a smile pastured to his face, even during lessons. If you looked closely enough you could see the beginnings of worry lines in his forehead, caused by the many years of worrying about the Marauder pranks.

Leaving their trunks in the opening hall to be taken up to their dorms, the 7th years ventured into the Great Hall, all of them looking at the enchanted ceiling. The ceiling sparkled with the large number of stars in it. Gazing at the ceiling, Lily didn't notice James finding his way beside her until his hand momentarily touched hers. She jumped slightly in surprise, in surprise of how much she liked the tiny touch. She felt compelled to hold his hand, but pushed down these urges thinking of them as crazy.

"You know, I never get bored of this ceiling. Its my favorite part about coming back to Hogwarts." James stated, before walking over to Sirius and sitting down next to Remus, not giving Lily a chance to reply. She did however walk towards her friends, and sat next to Marlene, which happened to be directly across James. This was not on purpose, of course. Lily liking James? HA! Don't make her laugh. However, throughout the sorting and Dumbledore's speech she'd take little peeks of James. Little did she know, James was doing the exact thing. Looking at the pair, one might have thought it was some sort of eye dance, one peering at the other, looking away only to have the other one look over at them.

This dance continued until, a sudden explosion of light and colour erupted in the ceiling. The first explosion was followed by several more, the first years had looks of utter fear, while the older years were entertained, except the Slytherins. The older years had experienced the beginning of the year prank by the Marauders, and had been expecting it. Looking up, everyone in the Great Hall saw the words 'WELCOME BACK TO ANOTHER YEAR WITH THE MARAUDERS! – MESSERS MOONY, WORMTAIL, PADFOOT, AND PRONGS.' Spelled in bright, wizard fireworks. Lions on each side of the message roared loudly.

James peered over at Lily, smiling in response to her small smile, snorting in response to the ever classic, simple, Lily response to a Marauder prank. She had rolled her eyes.

So this is my first story. I really hope I caught all my grammar issues, I've had many pairs of eyes look over it... I'd Love it if you would comment on it! Tell me what need to be improved, if I should continue the story, etc (complements are also welcome ;) ) I really hope you liked it, and would want to read more. I already have the next chapter ready...