Disclaimer: Many of the characters in this story belong to the wonderful Jo Rowling.

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Chapter One: 'In honor of the Holiday season'

………

"Potter! You get out here right now!" Lily Evans was stomping up the Gryffindor Boys' Dormitory stairs.

James Potter appeared at the door to the dormitory he shared with the four other sixth year boys. "Yes, Lily dear?" He had a look of mock innocence on his face.

Lily put her hands on her hips and though James was standing a mere three feet away from her now, she did not decrease the volume of her voice. "You put her hair back to its original color right now! Oh, and while you're at it, get this stupid mistletoe to stop following me around!"

"With pleasure, Evans." James leaned down and kissed her on the cheek. He wasn't quite stupid enough to kiss her on the lips, but the mistletoe disappeared all the same. It didn't matter anyway; Lily still slapped him soundly across the face.

"I didn't mean like that!" And with that she turned around and stormed back down the stairs, across the common room and up to her own dormitory.

………

Once back inside her own dormitory, however, her rant didn't stop. "Arg, he makes me so mad!"

"What this time?" said Alice Prewitt, Lily's best friend, coming out of the bathroom from washing her hair for the third time that morning.

"He kissed me!"

Alice gasped. "Not on the lips!"

"No, thank Merlin, but the cheek is almost as bad!" Lily rushed past Alice to wash her face. "Oh, and sorry about your hair, I stormed back over here before I could ask him properly."

"It's alright, Lily, I doubt he would have told you the countercurse, anyway."

"Good point." Still, Lily felt bad for losing her temper before she could help her friend. Lily was famous for her horrible red-head temper and the gorgeous straight red hair that went with it. Also, boys found it quite easy to get lost in her pretty green eyes. These things, coupled with her delicate porcelain skin, made her one of the prettiest girls at Hogwarts. She was a bookworm, top of her year, and was known for treasuring her friends above anything else.

Alice was her closest friend, though Lily was pretty close to all of the Gryffindor girls in her year. Her hair was currently turned bright red and green 'in honor of the holiday season' by James Potter and his best mate, Sirius Black. She was sweet and motherly with normally-blonde hair, blue eyes, and an always-warm smile. She always offered consolation and advice to any of her friends who needed it.

Lily and Alice shared a dormitory with the other three sixth-year Gryffindors, Corinne Miller, Leighna Brown, and Karen Carter. Corinne had a twin sister, Hope, who was in Ravenclaw, and who often joined the five Gryffindors on Hogsmeade weekends.

Corinne and Hope had very long straight brown hair, and brown eyes. Corinne was currently going out with Frank Longbottom, also a sixth-year Gryffindor. All of her dorm-mates were convinced it wouldn't last much longer; Corinne was known for going through guys rather fast.

Leighna was also very pretty; she had black ringlets and violet eyes. Almost all of the school looked up to her; she could have any boyfriend she wanted, but chose not to. She confided to Lily that she didn't see the point in going out with random guys; when the right person came along, she would know it.

Karen had curly brownish-reddish hair, and hazel eyes. She was very shy, but with her friends, she was easy-going and fun-loving. She was often the one helping Lily to calm down after an encounter with Potter. As all her closest friends knew, she had a crush on Remus Lupin, another of Potter's friends.

"Alice! What is wrong with your hair?" Karen had just woken up. With her scream she woke up Leighna and Corinne.

"What's going on?" Corinne mumbled sleepily.

"Merlin! Why's your hair all red and green?"

Lily appeared. "Three guesses who did it. I'll give you a hint. Same person who enchanted mistletoe to follow me around and then when asked to remove it, kissed me on the cheek!" Lily shuddered.

"Potter?" Corinne, Leighna, and Karen asked simultaneously.

"And Black no doubt," answered Lily, running her brush through her hair.

In a short while, the four girls were ready for breakfast.

"I'll make Potter and Black tell us the countercurse at breakfast, I promise. And we'll bring you back some food." Lily followed her friends down to the Great Hall.

………

…Meanwhile…

James Potter closed the door to his dormitory and then leaned against it. He gave a sigh, then said to no one in particular, "Why does Lily hate me so much?"

"No one knows what goes on in her mind, Prongsie," Sirius Black said.

"Dare I ask what you did this time, James?" Remus Lupin was sitting in bed reading, but he lifted his eyes from the page for a moment to give James a searching look.

"All I did was kiss her!"

Remus stared. "You kissed her!"

"Only on the cheek! She wanted me to get rid of the mistletoe that was following her around."

"No need to ask who enchanted the mistletoe." Remus went back to his book.

"Oh lighten up, Moony! 'Tis the season and all that. You're brilliant, Prongs! Did you tell her how to fix Alice's hair?"

"Nope!" James grinned. "But Merlin, is she gonna be mad!"

"Guys! Let's go to breakfast!" Peter Pettigrew was bouncing up and down with the exciting prospect of food.

Sirius rolled his eyes. "Calm down, Wormy, before you wet yourself."

………

When Corinne, Leighna, Karen, and Lily entered the Great Hall, the Marauders were already sitting at the Gryffindor table, apparently having an eating contest. Lily marched right over to where they were sitting and sat down next to James, causing him to choke and Sirius to thump him on the back repeatedly.

"Hey Lily."

"Hi, Remus," Lily answered. He was the only one of the Marauders she could tolerate. Actually they were pretty good friends, and often chatted about classes, both of them taking a special interest in Charms. "I don't suppose you know how to get Alice's hair back to normal?"

Remus shook his head. "Nope, sorry, Lily. I wasn't in on this one. You'll have to ask James and Sirius."

At the sound of their names, both James and Sirius looked up and quickly swallowed all the food in their mouths, quite a feat.

"Potter," Lily said sweetly. "Would you please tell me how to turn my best friend's hair back to its normal color?"

Sirius smirked. "This oughta be good," he whispered to Peter, who didn't stop shoveling in the food even to see Lily's reaction to what James was about to say.

"Of course, Evans," James said with a smirk. "To get Alice's hair to stop flashing red and green, all you have to do is kiss me."

Lily gasped. "Kiss you!"

"Yep, and then she'll go back to being the beautiful blonde she once was." James grinned. "You finally get to do what, deep down, you've always wanted to do. Kiss the one, the only, James Potter!"

"In your dreams, Potter!" With that, Lily grabbed James's goblet and dumped its contents over his head. She walked over to where her friends were sitting and grabbed a bunch of food to take to Alice. She chatted to them for a few minutes and then went back to Gryffindor tower to talk to Alice.

………

"Here you go, Ali."

"Thanks, Lils." Seeing the look on Lily's face, she added, "So I'm guessing he didn't tell you?"

"No, actually, he did." Lily grimaced. "It's awful! I have to…have to…kiss him!"

"What! You have to kiss him to get my hair back to normal! That doesn't make any sense!"

"Don't forget, this is Potter we're talking about; nothing he ever does makes sense."

"Yeah, you're right. Don't worry, Lily, you don't have to do it. We'll find another solution eventually. Thank Merlin it's the first day of the holidays! At least we have a fortnight to figure it out!"

"No, Alice. I'll have to do it. I've read every Charms book in the library, and never once have I run across anything to do with changing the color of your hair back." Lily sighed. "I guess I'll go wait for him in the common room. Care to come for moral support?"

"Of course, Lily. I just want to say, I really appreciate this." Alice grabbed a hat on their way out of the room and carefully tucked her Christmas-color-flashing hair up in it.

………

James was surprised to find, when he entered the common room after breakfast with Sirius, Remus, and Peter, that Lily Evans was waiting for him in an armchair by the fire. Alice was seated across from her with her hair tucked up in a hat.

As the Marauders came through the portrait hole, Lily jumped up and walked over to them. "Okay, just to clarify, this is definitely the only way to get Alice's hair to stop flashing?" James nodded. "And, I'm laying down the ground rules here. Number one: I am kissing you on the cheek. And I really, really hope that works, because if it doesn't, there is no way I am kissing you on the lips. Number two: breathe a word of this to anyone, and I will hex you into the next millennium. Number three: let's just make it clear that I am only doing this because Alice is my best friend, and I don't want her to have red and green hair for the rest of her life. And number four: if this doesn't work; if it's just a trick or something, I will personally make sure you die a slow and painful death. Are we clear?"

James nodded. He stepped one step closer to Lily, and she quickly planted a kiss on his cheek. She lingered longer than she meant to, and when she pulled back, James had a huge grin on his face. Lily blushed, trying to hold back a smile. She finally forced herself to tear her eyes from his face. "Alice, how's your hair?"

Alice slowly pulled off her hat, and there was all of her beautiful blonde hair. "Thanks a lot, Lily. I can't believe you would do that for me."

"Hey!"

"Sorry, James, but you have to know by now that she hates you."

"I don't hate him." James perked up. "I just think he's an arrogant and immature prat who annoys me to no end." James's face fell. Then it brightened again.

"Not to worry, Evans. I'll get you eventually."

"Yeah, whatever, Potter. Keep dreaming." Karen, Leighna, and Corinne walked through the portrait hole. With them was Hope, visiting. "Hi, Hope."

"Hi, Lils."

Suddenly Leighna noticed Alice's hair. "How'd you get your hair to turn back, Alice?"

James opened his mouth to speak, but Lily put her wand in his face as a reminder of Rule Number Two. "Don't ask," she said.

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So, how was it? Review please!

Just so you know, I plan to continue writing this story until Lily and James die. If at any point, I don't update for like a month, you have my permission to bug me until I do. And I definitely need suggestions for Marauder pranks and other stuff, so if you have any ideas, review and tell me.