Mischief in the Library

Summary : Sirius can't seem to find any of his friends. So, he decides to check in the library only to find his favourite redhead, Lily. She,now, has no choice but to listen to the little mischief that he has done. However, can she be hiding something from him? A little twist at the end and it's definitely not between Sirius and lily. JP/LE.

Disclaimer : I do not own any of the characters that belong to the world of Harry Potter.

Author's note : I wrote this story many years back and posted under a joint account with one of my dear friends. Needless to say, I've taken it down, rewritten it and posted it up here. I'm quite sure that not many have come across this story but if you have then this should explain why. I wanted the story to be under an account of my own. So here we are. Please read and review. Should I continue with it or just leave it be?

Sirius wandered along the corridors of Hogwarts with a big smile plastered on his face. He had been searching for his three best mates for the past half an hour but his search had been fruitless. He had looked in the dorms, the common room, the Quidditch pitch and the Great Hall. However, they seemed to have disappeared as neither of them were anywhere to be found. This on the other hand did not seem to put a damper on the rather good mood Sirius had recently adapted in the past couple of hours. Yes, a good prank on James and an easy get off from Professor McGonagall was bound to put him in a really excellent mood.

There was one more place that Sirius had avoided going in to look for his friends and that was the one place he rarely visited during his whole stay at Hogwarts, the library. He highly doubt that they would be in there except for Remus, but it would not hurt to just take a quick peep to see if they were in fact there or not. Reluctantly, Sirius gave in and proceeded in the direction of the school library. Soon enough, he was making his way through the giant oak doors and into the brightly lit library.

As he passed by the front desk, he winked at Madam Pince who in return gave him a slight frown before turning to face the vast room that stocked books of various sorts in its shelves. Running a hand through his shaggy hair, Sirius quickly glanced around the library in hopes of spotting one of his fellow marauders there. Alas, not a single one of the bowed heads showed resemblance to any of his friends. As he turned to exit the well stocked library, he caught sight of red hair situated at a table nearby one of the many huge windows present in the library. Inwardly smiling to himself, Sirius immediately made way to the desk that sat a one busy Lily Evans.

"Hello, Flower." Sirius greeted her as he pulled out a chair in front of her and promptly sat down before she could chase him out.

Being Head Girl, Lily rarely had a moment to herself. That particular day, however, she had surprisingly finished all important matters that required her attention before it was even time for lunch. That meant that she was free until some other problem opens up. Taking the opportunity that hardly ever comes her way anymore, she decided to spend her much needed alone time in the library, away from all the commotions present at Hogwarts. Lily had not even spent a good two hours poring over her books before her time alone was disrupted by none other than Sirius Black himself. Trying not to let her irritation show, Lilly continued to flip through her book whilst acknowledging his presence with a question.

"Sirius," Lily started calmly. "What is my name?" She asked.

Sirius, who was rather surprised at her odd greeting, answered her almost at once not giving her a chance to ruin his already good mood.

"Why, it's Lily Evans of course. I think when you've known someone for seven years or so you do tend to remember their name." He answered her with a pleased smile on his face. He decided that he had phrased that answer rather nicely and it satisfied him immensely.

"Ok then, what did you call me previously?"

"Umm...Flower?" Sirius answered puzzled.

"And, is that my name?" Lily countered.

"Well, technically no."

"So..."

It took him a minute to realize what Lily was trying to get at. As realization dawned upon him, Lily could not help but to smile as she watched him put two and two together.

"Ok, I think I know what you're trying to get at. I promise, no more Flower just plain old Lily." He stated as he watched her give a slight nod indicating that he had come to the right conclusion.

"So, Sirius, what brings you to the library on this very fine day? I highly doubt that you came in here to look up for material on our potions assignment." Lily asked as she stretched her arms forward, loosening her slightly tensed muscles.

"We have an assignment for potions? Well, that's new." He said simply as he casually flipped through one of the books strewn across the table. Leave it to Sirius to not give a rat's arse about homework.

"Have you ever done any sort of homework?" She asked curiously. It had suddenly occurred to her that she had never once seen him actually attempting to do homework.

"Of course I have. Although, I only do the ones that I find interesting." He answered, looking up at her.

"And may I ask as to what kind of homework that captures your interest?"

"The kind that requires a test subject," Sirius replied, chuckling slightly. "And usually my test subject would be Peter but if he's not available then it's got to be either James or Remus. Also I have to add, that I've never once asked for their permission before carrying it out which makes the result even better." Sirius stated with a chuckle. He remembered the time when he first came across the Levicorpus spell. He was so intrigued by it that he had spent the whole night lifting Peter of his bed. The next morning Peter's throat was sore from all the screaming he had done to convince Sirius to stop but to no avail. It was Remus who had found them and persuaded Sirius to put the poor chap down.

"So, if you're not in here to do homework, then what are you in here for?" Lily asked, snapping him out of his past.

"Well, I'm actually looking for James, Remus and Peter. Somehow they've all seem to have disappeared." Sirius explained, shaking his head a little. "I've checked everywhere but I can't seem to find them."

"I saw them a little while ago. They were at the quidditch pitch but they didn't stay long." Lily told him after some thought. "Hang on, weren't you with them earlier today. How could you lose them then?" Lily questioned him.

"You see, there was a slight mishap." Sirius told her with a mischievous gleam in his eyes. Lily knew that look almost too well. It meant only one thing, trouble.

"What kind of mess did you get stuck into this time?" Lily asked with a sigh.

"Well," Sirius started with a goofy smile on his face. "It all started a couple of days ago. We, as in James, Remus, Peter and I were playing exploding snap in the common room. We were well into our last game when an opportunity presented itself to me that I just couldn't resist but to take." Sirius explained with a sigh.

"What kind of opportunity?"Lily questioned curiously.

"An opportunity to poke fun at James," Sirius explained with a grin. "You see, as I was winning the last round against James, the portrait hole opened and in came in James' lady of interest and her friends. Instantly, James completely forgot about the game as he watched her walk in and head up to the girls dormitories.

Upon hearing this Lily snorted softly, mostly for Sirius's benefit, but Sirius failed to notice the small smile that had crawled its way to Lily's lips as he continued with his story.

"Anyway, I couldn't help myself but to tease James on his secret crush which of course only I know about, being his best mate and all." Sirius added smugly. Lily rolled her eyes

"Leave it to James to have a crush on someone when half the school girls are chasing after him." Surprisingly, Sirius noticed that Lily's statement lacked its usual amount of sarcasm. Not thinking too much about it, Sirius agreed with her and continued before she could interrupt again.

"However true that is, this girl that James likes isn't like the rest. He's been pinning after her for years but yet this girl seems oblivious to everything he does. So, teasing him about her was so much fun that I just had to do it. Sadly for me though, the one thing I didn't know James had in him was sensitivity. He got so worked up that that night he pulled this really dim-witted revenge on me. He snuck out to Hogsmeade and-"

"HE WHAT!" Lily shrieked.

"Pipe down will you? The last thing that I need is another detention." Sirius hushed her as he looked around to see if Lily outburst had caught any unwanted attention. Luckily for him, the library was already almost empty and Madam Pince wasn't around either.

"You have to calm down," Sirius said, finally, turning his attention back to Lily. "If anyone had overheard you, then we would be in heaps of trouble." He looked at her pointedly.

"Well, that's the whole thing." Lily said as she calmed herself. "James could have got into heaps of trouble for doing that. Moreover, he's Head Boy. If he was found out, he could get sacked or worse expelled." She emphasized.

"Yes, but nobody is going to rat him out." He told her sternly. Lily looked at him a little sceptically before giving a sigh.

"Are you going to tell why he risked his badge to sneak off to Hogsmeade without permission?" She asked with a small smile, encouraging him to carry on. At this, Sirius's face broke out into a huge grin before carrying on.

"Well, he went to Hogsmeade to get some dungbombs from Zonko's-" Sirius continued but was yet again interrupted by the redhead opposite him.

"What in Merlin's name would he want dungbombs for? They're extremely disgusting." Lily stated as she cringed slightly.

"I think, my dear Lily," Sirius started. "That you're not getting the part that this is James Potter. One of the greatest pranksters of Hogwarts apart from me, of course." He added with a smirk. "But I do have to agree with you that using dungbombs just to pull a prank on me is absolutely revolting."

"What did he do?" Lily questioned a little excited now.

"That night, while I was getting my beauty sleep, the git threw that massive load of grossness on me." Sirius said fighting the urge to vomit right there and then. His scrunched up face looked so funny that Lily couldn't help but to burst out laughing at the sight of him.

"What are you laughing at? Do you know how hard it was to get that entire gunk out of my hair?" Sirius said with a pout. Lily tried holding her hands up to show defeat but failed miserably when another giggle escaped her lips.

"Great," Sirius decided. "The one person that I do share my misfortunes with decides to laugh at me instead of pouring her endless pit of sympathy on me."

"No, Sirius, that's not it. It's just that you're expression was so funny that I couldn't help myself." Lily explained as she tried her hardest to suppress another giggle. "So what did you do for revenge?" She asked him trying to change the topic.

"What makes you think I took revenge?" He asked her.

"Really, Sirius? If you didn't take revenge then who are you and what have you done to Sirius Black?" She asked him, struggling to keep a straight face.

"Alright, you caught me. This morning I was so mad at what he did to me that I-"

"Dyed his hair green and turned his skin orange?" She guessed.

"Yeah, how did you know?" He asked her, surprised.

"Oh so you did that." She said more to herself which left Sirius completely confused.

"I'm sorry, what?" Sirius asked hoping that she would explain herself.

"Well, during breakfast, James entered the Great Hall, fuming. He was looking for Remus but that didn't go so well. You see, the minute he entered, everyone burst out laughing at the sight of him. He had bright green hair and his orange skin was glowing in the morning sunlight. Instead of searching for Remus he turned straight back on his heels and stalked out of the hall." Lily smiled as she remembered the incident.

"Well, that's good." Sirius said as he tried to imagine the whole scene in his head before his face broke out into a big grin. "He deserved it."

"All jokes aside now, I'm guessing you got into heaps of trouble for doing that." She said with her arms crossed, curious as to what type of punishment he had received.

"Besides turning the dorm a nice shade of orange and a lecture from McGonagall, I would say it was worth it." He said, shifting slightly in his chair. "Actually I just came back from her office and that's why I'm looking for James."

"Did she take of any house points?" Lily asked.

"She might have taken off 100 points if I did to a student of another house but since it was only James she decided to take off 40 points." Sirius answered her with a shrug. "That's not a lot right? Cause I've done worse." Sirius said puzzled as he watched her grow slightly frustrated.

"Sirius, you nutcase, if you haven't noticed, Slytherin's been beating Gryffindor for the House Cup for the past few years. This year, seeing as there's only a couple of weeks left for school, we had a good 30 points extra against them. We were winning! But now because of your actions, we've just lost the House Cup!" Lily said outraged. She was actually angry enough to hex his sorry little arse out of the library.

Sirius was absolutely terrified of the mad witch opposite him. One look at her face and one would know that she was not one to be messed with.

"But Lily, you're smart. I'm quite sure you can come up with something to get more points. Maybe answering a few more questions in class would help." Sirius said in hopes of calming her but the look on Lily's face showed that she was not at all impressed. Luckily, for Sirius, whenever he was in trouble, he could always count on his friends to come dig him out of it.

At that exact moment, James, whose skin and hair was back to its normal colour, strolled into the library and headed straight for the table that Sirius and Lily occupied. He glanced discretely at Lily who looked put off and then at Sirius.

"What's going on guys?" He asked casually as he turned his attention to Sirius. "Pads, what's wrong with you? You look all pale. McGonagall couldn't have been that harsh with you. I haven't seen you that scared since that time you're mother found out you were dating a muggleborn and blasted you around the house for it." James asked him, concern written all over his face.

"Hey James, thank heavens you're here. Now sit down and sort things out with your girlfriend while I run out of the library as fast as I can before my head gets blown off. Bye Lily, nice...ah chat." Sirius said hurriedly as he stood up and winked at Lily before smacking James on the back.

"Thanks for the distraction, mate. Sorry for that whole girlfriend thing but I'm sure you'll clear that up and I see that you're skin's back to normal. Well, good for you." He told James before, finally dashing out of the library.

James stood there, utterly shocked. He gawked at Sirius's retreating figure until he was finally out of the library. He shook his head in disbelief as he turned his attention to Lily.

"Sorry about that Lily," He started. "Sirius can be such a git sometimes."

Instead of replying, Lily gathered her books and put them carefully into her bag. She then looked out of the window to notice that heavy, dark clouds were now gathering in the sky. Lily stood up and slung her bag around her shoulder before turning her gaze towards him. She was silently glad that he looked normal now but she wasn't going to let him know that.

"You sneaked out to Hogsmeade?" She asked him incredulously.

James froze at her words. He was clearly not expecting that when he entered the library moments ago. As his emotions quickly changed from that of a calm one to a one of utter surprise, Lily stood opposite him wither arms crossed, waiting for a reply.

"Maybe," James said after collecting himself. He didn't know how she could have found out. She wasn't supposed to know about his little adventure.

"Maybe," Lily mimicked in a huff. "Sirius told me all about it and don't even try to explain yourself to me James Potter!" She said before she tried to walk away from him.

James on the other hand, had no intentions of letting Lily leave without an explanation. So, instead of making way for her to get pass him, James blocked her path and slowly walked towards her. As he moved closer to her, he had succeeded in getting her to back away from him until her back was in contact with the bookshelf behind her. James quickly closed the gap between them before she had any time to process his actions and gently put an arm around her waist. He pulled her softly to a side until they were both were completely hidden behind the bookshelf.

"What else did he tell you?" James asked softly as he tucked some of her hair that had come loose from her bun behind her ears.

Lily looked up at him. That was her first mistake. Then, she locked eyes with him. That was her second mistake, because as she did so, all her anger towards him had suddenly vanished. She allowed herself to completely lose herself into his brown eyes. He looked back at her with equally soft, knowing eyes.

"That you have a crush on some girl. But that isn't really the point. Dungbombs, James? On a person like Sirius who has a mop for hair? It would have taken him ages to wash it off." Lily said as she giggled lightly and rested her head on his shoulder.

As the sky outside grew darker and the light drizzle patterned the windows with droplets of water, James planted his arms firmly against her waist and rested his head on top of hers. They stood there like that for a while, each one taking comfort from the other.

"I've missed you today." He whispered to her as he pulled back ever so slightly to take a good look at her face. Although Lily tried her hardest not to let his words get to her, she just couldn't help but to smile at what he has said.

"I missed you too," She started. "But that's not going to make me forget, James." She added sternly. "I thought we were keeping this to ourselves for a while." She said softly, motioned her finger to the space in between them. "But now Sirius knows." She continued with a pout.

James looked at her with her pout and decided that she looked rather cute like that and that he would try to get her to do that more often now. Smiling inwardly to himself, James answered her question.

"He's my best friend Lily and it's not like I actually told him about you and I. Besides, he's known that I've had a crush on you for years now. That's not really something new." He explained to her. "But turning my skin orange, well, that's just crossing the line!" James said in a huff which earned another giggle from Lily.

"Well, I, for one am glad that you're back to normal." She said with a smile on her face. James decided then that he really was very lucky.

Slowly, he leaned in to her and kissed her. He started out slow at first but deepening it soon enough. Lily responded just as well to his kiss, enjoying the way he nibbled lightly at her lower lip. She had missed James a lot too. They rarely had moments like this due to their tight schedules. They both pulled away from each other after a while, with his hands resting on her lower back and hers around his shoulders.

"Shall we get going then?" He asked her with one of his silly grins that made many girls giddy. Lily looked at him as he took her bag. She stood on het tiptoes and tried to straighten his hair with her hands, laughing softly while she did.

"You look like a mess." She exclaimed light heartedly.

"Well, I've had an extremely long day." He exclaimed. "But it just got better a little while ago." He said cheekily. She laughed and slapped his chest softly.

"Well, Mr James Potter," She started as he handed her bag to her. "I think the time for us to part has come." She said a little bit sadly.

James, who had no intentions of parting with her just yet, sneaked a peek from behind the bookshelf to notice that the library was now empty.

"Not just yet, my dear Lily." He said before holding her hand and walking out from behind the bookshelf. Lily was about to protest when she noticed the empty library. Relaxing, a little, Lily softly squeezed his hand to show her appreciation before the two walked, hand in hand, out of the library.

'I'll try to see you later if I can." Lily said with a sad smile once they were outside the library. She clearly didn't want to leave him now. James, nodded slightly before giving her a quick peck on the lips.

"I'll miss you. You know that right?" He whispered softly to her.

"Yes, I do." She said with a small smile. Never would she have thought that there would be a time when she would be the one who was head over heels for the person beside her. But yet, there she was, smiling up at him, adoringly.

James squeezed her hand softly before letting it go. Lily took one last look at him before they both went in opposite directions. Lily headed towards the Gryffindor common room whilst James went to look for his friends or more like one friend in particular who could transform into a dog.

Well? How was it? I'm a little rusty, so do tell me what you think. Smiles :)