Disclaimer: I do not own any of the characters as owned by , although some of the characters in this story are from my own imagination. You're cool, you work it out :)

A/N: So, this is my second fanfiction, hope you like it 3 R&R and I'll love you forever, because just seeing those reviews pop up in my inbox makes me happy, :) I promise to reply to your Reviews, even if you're horrid (which, I actually quite like, because it tells me how to improve) Thankyou, cookie? :D

"If you change your mind, I'm the first in line, honey I'm still free, take a chance on me, if you need me, let me know, gonna be around, if you got no place to go and you're feeling down." - Abba.

Chapter One: Take A Chance On Me

"Seventeen years old, slim but curvy girl

w/ green eyes and wavy dark hair, 5'4".

likes picnics and rainy days. WLTM male,

seventeen to eighteen years old, 5'6" or

more, attractive or not, shy or not, but

fun loving, from any house, for any kind

of relationship, lasting, not, or in-between."

Lily Evans spluttered into her pumpkin juice as she read the article that had just been tossed in front of her. Her jade eyes ran speedily over the "Lonely Hearts" advert that had been marked out, reading it again, hoping that she had misread it. Clearly not, because that advert still, very clearly, highlighted herself in the dark black ink of a feathered quill. She was pretty certain that if there had been a photo accompanying the advert, there she would be, flaming red hair and all. Of course, that detail was far too obvious to put in the advert, so the words had been played around slightly to stop all eyes having turned to her.

"Quinn! I said no! Please tell me that this is some kind of sick joke!" Lily's eyes grew wider as she looked up at the girl in front of her, whose face was lit up with an almost innocent smile.

Quinn Reynalds only wiggled her eyebrows in reply as her eyes glittered sapphire in excitement. It was clear that she was trying to hold back a giggle as she sat down opposite her best friend, kicking her playfully under the table. "Oh, it's for real," she stated, matter of factly, before reaching across the table towards the never-ending stack of warm, golden toast, butter adding a yummy shine to it. For a moment, Lily was tempted to grab her fork and stab it right through Quinn's hand, but, fortunately for her friend, she managed to refrain. Instead, Lily shook her head hopelessly, before placing it down in her hands, rubbing her temples with her fingers. "Oh, c'mon, Lils. S'only an ad," Quinn mumbled, half the slice of toast stuffed into her mouth. "I even left out the hair, kinda! No one will know, promise."

A small sigh left Lily's lips, and she slowly looked up at the brunette in front of her, hey eyes narrowed to show that she was one hundred percent not happy about this. But there was no way that she could hate her best friend for longer than thirty seconds, especially not when she was grinning cheesily down at her through a mouthful of toast.

There was no one quite like Quinn Reynalds. Yet there she was, seated across from Lily and blabbing on about anything that entered her mind as Lily's eyes began to wander down the Gryffindor table, all the while pretending to be listening intently to Quinn, nodding her head now and then when it seemed to be the right time to do so.

A few couples were seated with their arms around each other, no doubt whispering sweet nothings over their cornflakes and pumpkin juice; a small group of first years looking nervous about something or other, for it seemed that they always wore the same look on their faces; a larger, louder group of fifth year girls, giggling and squealing occasionally as they all looked in the same direction, whispering behind their hands. Lily found herself following their gaze. At the far bottom of the long wooden table was a clutter of boys. Not just any boys, four in particular. The Marauders.

There was Sirius Black, seemingly telling a story very animatedly to the girls closest to him, occasionally elbowing poor Peter Pettigrew in the head as his scruffy hair fell over his eyes. Remus Lupin, looking more tired than ever, seemed to be oblivious to his friend's storytelling - or the well-being of Peter – and was staring into his bowl, his skin as pale as the milk that it contained.

And there he was. James Potter, Gryffindor heart-throb, staring right into Lily's eyes, his signature smile stretching across his face. A strand of dark brown hair stuck up from his head, something that annoyed Lily to no end. Then again, it was hard to find anything about Potter that didn't get on her last nerve.

Lily shook her head at him, narrowing her eyes. He winked at her in reply, his smile turning more and more into a grin with each second that passed. Frustrated, Lily averted her gaze, nodding politely at Remus who had taken a time out from cornflake watching.

"Fine, we'll do it." Lily muttered, cutting Quinn off mid-sentence. "But only to get Potter off my back."


James Potter pushed his glasses up with his index finger, wrinkling up his nose as he did so, in disgust at the Potions paper in front of him. Atop the yellowing parchment was the title 'Bezoar and its Uses', followed by a mass of blank parchment. He was sat in the common room, his brown eyes reflecting the dying embers of the fire.

As soon as the day's lessons had finished, Remus had gone up to his dorm to catch up on much needed sleep, the scratches that marked his body going unmentioned by the rest of the Marauders. Peter was asleep in the high-backed armchair across from James, his round face seemingly calm as his small mouth flopped open to show his crooked teeth. His short but stout frame seemed to fit most peculiarly into the chair, too short yet large enough to be seated on the soft cushion. James knew that if Sirius had been there, her would have laughed raucously at the sight in front of him, before extracting a permanent-marking quill from his bag and proceeding to draw a lopsided moustache upon Peter's upper lip.

James sighed as he pushed his Potions paper aside, and began to pack his belongings into his tattered bag. If only I had Lily, he thought, knowing how their Potions teacher had an almost creepy favouring for the attractive redhead. In fact, even Remus would do, with his uncanny ability for storing information in his mind. But no one compared to Lily Evans, the one girl in the whole of Hogwarts who despised his every bone. It was almost as though she went out of her way to display her almost torturous hate for him, but James had a strange feeling that her hating him made her even more entrancing, the Forbidden Fruit. The way her scorching hair fell down her shoulders in sleek waves, the way her green eyes sparkled as she laughed, the way that her clothes were smart but hugged every gorgeous curve on her slim form. Everything about her made James want her more than anything. But no matter what he did, she always despised him.

A slam pulled James out of his thoughts, causing him to jump and knock his glasses slightly askew. He blinked up at Sirius, unaware of him having entered into the common room, too lost in his own thoughts. A wide grin was on Sirius' face, stretching mischievously up his cheeks.

"This is the answer to Miss Lily Evans." Sirius stated, clapping his hands to his hips once he had tapped his finger on top of the supposed cure. James cast his eyes down and saw...

"Mate... this is The Daily Prophet." James said, raising his eyebrows. "Exactly," replied Sirius. "No need to thank me." He dropped down into the chair beside Peter, flicking him on the forehead as he did so.

Several minutes later, James still hadn't got what the hell his best friend was talking about. He began to flick absent mindedly through the paper in front of him, skimming through the pages until a section caught his eye. Reading through it, he turned to face Sirius, not at all surprised to see him feeding Peter leftover crumbs and fluff from the side of his chair.

"Lonely Hearts?" James exclaimed, looking at Sirius in utter disbelief. "Please explain to me how the Lonely Hearts column is the answer to getting Evans." James turned back to the newspaper spread out in front of him. There was no more than twenty adverts in the Lonely Hearts section for Hogwarts, all of which were looking for boys. Girls can be so needy, he thought, rolling his eyes. A sinking feeling entered his stomach at the realisation that it was Sirius who had come up with this plan, the same Sirius whose plans usually ended in death or, at the very least, a fatal injury.

"Well, let's face it, Lily clearly has the hots for me, so no amount of flirting on your part is gonna win her over. I mean, have you seen me?" Sirius paused his attempts to see how close he could get to suffocating Peter by pinching his nose, pointing to his face instead for effect. That was Sirius all over; completely and utterly in love with himself. "Anyway, I was reading up on something or other, and I thought 'whoa, James totally needs to get over Evans. I mean, of course, we've all been thinking the same thing for the past few years because, seriously mate, it's not normal, and it's really quite annoying and all..."

"Sirius," James interrupted, urging him to get to the point of his plan.

"Oh, right, yeah. Well, I saw these articles, and it came to me. Lonely Hearts! I mean, it's not that bad for your reputation. Besides, you get to date multiple girls at once for 'any kind of relationship' and you never know what could happen! Sure, some girls might be butt ugly, but you needn't date them. Just, y'know." Sirius winked and shimmied his hips in his chair, causing his floppy hair to fall over his eyes, in a completely sexy way, and James to toss his bag at him.

"You know, that could work."

The sudden voice made the two boys jump as their eyes darted to the source of it. A bedraggled Remus stepped down from the top of the stairs which lead to the boys' dorms. His skin was pale and waxy, his normally sleek hair ruffled and thin, looking almost black in the dim lighting compared to its usual pale brown. Two red scratches ran up his neck, vanishing behind his ear up into his hair. He walked slowly towards the boys in his dark red pyjamas, as if each step he took was causing him great pain. Shrugging slightly, he continued. "At the very least, it will make Lily jealous to see you with other girls. Anyway, I couldn't sleep with Sirius giggling like a three year old down here."

Sirius' grin spread back across his face, nodding his head at James as if to say 'I told you do.' James only rolled his eyes in reply and aimed a playful punch ad his best friend's shoulder. Remus, knowing - that within seconds – the two boys would be in a full on play fight, rolling on the floor and all, placed his finger down on the first advert.

"Let's start from the top, shall we?"