A/N - Hey guys! This was just a little ditty that was buzzing around in my head a while ago. If you think I should keep writing, let me know - this could either be a oneshot or the first chapter of something more. I don't own any of the guys you recognise, although I so wish that I did :P Enjoy! AB ~

Marauders on the Lake

"So Moony, have you finished your Transfiguration essay yet?" Sirius Black questioned his friend playfully, for the 14th time in the last 20 minutes.

"Again, Padfoot. No. I haven't, and I won't unless you stop asking me. You're distracting me." Remus Lupin answered, a little agitated.

Sirius elbowed James Potter and grinned, quite mischievously. He let a few minutes go by, as he silently stared out across the lake, whistling, before he turned back to Remus.

"How about now?"

Remus turned his head around slowly, eyes narrowed and his lips pulled into a line so tight it could have rivalled Professor McGonagall's. "No. Sirius. I haven't. Now shut up before I go found Sally Brockleburt and tell her exactly how many girls were in your bed last week."

Sirius' grin was wiped clean off and the colour quickly drained from his face as he started to gape like a fish out of water.

James and Peter Pettigrew glanced from Remus, who was still fuming, but looking slightly more amused now that Sirius was gasping for air, and then back to Sirius, trying to hide the smirks from their faces, but not succeeding.

Remus, grumbling now, turned back to the parchment and ink sitting on his lap.

James cleared his throat loudly. "So Padfoot, how many girls did you have in your bed last week?" He asked, trying hiding the broad grin and the loud laugh that was threatening to emerge from his lips.

"Uh, well, there was, um... I don't, it doesn't, um, matter, uh..."

Remus snorted. "Get on with it! Or do I have to tell them?" Sirius paled considerably at that. "Uh... eight."

Peter's eyebrows rose up into his hair line as he shook his head in disbelief. "I don't even know eight girls! How can you get twelve into bed with you?"

At that, the laugh that was threatening to emerge, burst from James' lips and soon, Remus and Sirius stopped fuming and gaping respectively, and were laughing along as well. All tension rose from the group and Sirius shook his head, tears of laughter pouring from his face.

"It's not that hard when you've got my name and of course, this gorgeous face." Sirius said brokenly through his bark like laugh.

James chuckled back at him and pointed at his own face. "Then how come I get more girls than you?"

Remus laughed loudly at that and even Peter joined in.

"You can't get more girls than me, because I get all your leftovers and then some!"

Suddenly, James stopped laughing and stared across the lake as if in a trance.

"But I don't shag any of them, unlike you. I'm still waiting for Evans to..." But he was cut off by Sirius.

"Prongs, you gotta get over her, I mean, honestly. She thinks you're a conceited, arrogant, pain in the arse. And I must admit, I know you're conceited, but Mindy the other night was telling me how you were a pain in her..."

Remus shot him a look of disgust to shut him up – and it worked.

"What? It's not my fault if..." Sirius started.

James turned to Sirius slowly, the dreamy look slipping from his face and his eyes narrowing. "But I never... who's Mindy?"

Sirius laughed. "Did I scare you Prongs? Thought you needed to be woken up from your sick erotic day dreams. Don't worry, I don't think there's a Mindy here."

Peter snorted and Remus, Sirius and James all stared at him. "And Sirius would know if there was a girl called Mindy here, wouldn't you Padfoot."

Sirius' face turned dark and then brightened quickly. "Yeah, I guess I would, eh Wormtail? I guess ol' Prongsie and me will have to teach you some things. How about you Moony, would you give us a hand, or should we prepare for the next full..."

And Remus cut him off by punching him in the arm and pointing to James quietly, who was standing now on the very edge of the bank staring across the lake to the other side, where a certain auburn haired, green eyed girl sat on the other bank with her bare feet in the water and turning her head from staring into space to her friend.

James let his eyes trailed from her perfect toes up her legs to the base of her kilt which she wore over her perfect hourglass shaped body. Her blouse sleeves rolled up to her elbows and her tie loosened around her neck, where a couple of freckles lay scattered on one side and then up to her face.

That face. His mouth started to water as his eyes ran over her perfect full lips, to her petite button nose and then her eyes. Her almond shaped, emerald green eyes. Her face was devoid of freckles and he knew that it was only because the sun at not properly emerged from behind the winter clouds. Her hair was pulled back into a bun and the loose strands dangled down her face, framing it.

He took her all in before he found himself being pushed from behind towards the water. And as he yelped, he fell into the lake, but not before he grabbed his assailant's shirt and pulled him in as well.

Sirius yelped as James grabbed his shirt and together they went tumbling off the edge of the shore and into the lake.

-:-:-:-:-:-

From across the lake, Lily Evans watched James staring at her and then as Sirius pushed him into the lake and in response, being dragged in as well.

She let a soft laugh leave her lips before she turned back to Abby Cristof who was trying to talk to her about Matthew Brockleburt.

"And so I was talking to Michelle the other day, who heard it from Debbie who heard it from Melissa who heard it from Bettie who's tight with Sally..."

And Lily tuned out again – so that's why I tuned out in the first place...

She watched as James emerged from the lake gasping for air and looking around him for his assailant. As Sirius came up as well, James spotted him and swam over to him, quite quickly she noticed as well. His Quidditch muscles must have been coming in now as he kicked over towards Sirius, his face flushed red and his lips turning blue from the cold water.

Sirius, who had only just gotten his breath back turned around to see James coming towards him, looking quite angry and winced. He's going to dunk me...

And James pushed down on Sirius' head and he was under.

Lily chuckled quietly to herself and Jessica stopped talking and looked at her friend shaking her head.

"Lily?"

Lily stopped chuckling and turned around hurriedly. "Totally, I know, yeah..."

Abby shook her head. "You weren't listening to me were you Lils?"

Lily looked guiltily over at the boys now splashing at each other, still fully clothed. "I heard some of it. Kind of... No. I'm sorry Abs, I just got distracted is all."

Abby followed her eye line, clocked her head to the side and then smiled softly. "Just go out with him already."

Lily turned around spluttering as though it was she who had been pushed into the water. "No. No way on earth. Not in a million years. No way."

Abby giggled lightly. "Come on Lils. Everyone knows he's in love with you and that he only goes out with all those girls to make you jealous. And it works doesn't it? And I don't know about you, but I can tell that you only go out with those guys to make him jealous. He's been pining for you since we got here. Honestly Lils, that's 6 years! He's never going to give up, I don't reckon."

Lily frowned and shook her head. "Well he's going to have to isn't he? Because I am not going out with him ever, hear me? Ever! And anyway, if he's liked me so much for all that time, why is he so horrible? I still haven't forgotten the time, before he even knew me no less, when he poured chocolate sauce down my top on the train, before we even got to school!"

Abby sighed and looked over at James and Sirius, both now shirtless and splashing around while their two friends rolled around on the grass in tears of laughter. "He's not so bad looking is he Lils? Check out those abs..."

Lily cut her off with a snort of disgust, while cautiously letting her eyes trail over his toned chest and arms. "Who cares what he looks like? It's what's up here that counts." She said pointing to her head. "If you're stupid both intelligence- and maturity-wise it doesn't matter what you look like."

Abby shook her head in disbelief. "You're nuts Lily, you know that. You got the best looking bloke in the school drooling after you wherever you go and you don't even care. If I had him pining after me like that I'd, hmm..." She broke off thinking of the possibilities as Lily sat and pondered on her words.

-:-:-:-:-:-

That night, dinner in the Great Hall was quiet, with there being only thirty or so students as the rest were at home for the Easter break.

James sat opposite Lily so that he could watch her eat, in her polite manner, whilst next to him sat Sirius, spit and food flying everywhere as he tried to finish first, so that desert would come faster.

Remus sat on the other side of James, as only one in a state of daydream would be able to sit next to Sirius at Easter dinner. So far, he didn't think James had quite noticed there was a piece of chicken on his face in a mixture of Sirius' spit and gravy.

Peter on the other hand, was sitting on the other side of Remus, supposedly staring off into space, but really over at Bettie Jeantie, who sat next to Sally Brockleburt, who was chatting casually to Belinda Scholl.

Lily sat stock still as she listened to Abby's rabble about Sally's new girl accepted into the group. He was staring at her again. She blushed red and automatically looked in the other direction towards the Slytherin green and silver head flags.

James smiled when her cheeks turned red and she looked away from his gaze. She wants me...

"James!"

He turned slowly, a look of frustration on his face. "What?"

Remus stifled a laugh as the piece of chicken stuck to his face wobbled with his jaw as it moved. He looked at him quizzically and then pointed to his own cheek. "Chicken."

James raised his eyebrows and shook his head in his confused state. "Huh?"

Sirius turned from his now empty plate, the gravy dripping down his chin as he reached for a napkin and handed one to James. James accepted the napkin and threw a puzzled look down at it. Remus gestured towards Sirius. "You do know who you're sitting next to Prongs?"

James' eyes opened wider as he realized what Remus was trying to get at. He punched Sirius in the arm and raised the napkin to his face to remove the piece of chicken. "Padfoot, I will never sit next to you at dinner again I swear..." And he went off muttering under his breath. But Remus thought he heard something along the lines of: "Lily... humiliating... wants me... bloody Padfoot..."

Peter smirked and finished eating with a content look on his face. Well, content for Peter's standards.

"So, full moon in a couple days Moony..." Sirius started, quite loudly, before James punched his arm.

"Padfoot! Shut up. Not while so many people are around!" Remus hissed across James.

But it was too late, Lily had heard.

-:-:-:-:-:-

"So full moon in a couple of days Moony..." Sirius had said before Remus had hissed at him to shut up.

Lily had been laying in bed for the past hour pondering on the words. She knew that Remus disappeared regularly, with the excuses of family members being ill and recently, he had been looking more exhausted when he came back from these trips. And James, Sirius and Peter had been disappearing at the same time as well, but not for as long.

Full moon... What could that mean? It didn't have a meaning! So why was Remus so afraid that anyone would hear? Full moon...

Changing the subject of her thoughts away from Sirius' blurt out in the Great Hall and towards her recent school studies. Not being able to sleep, she got up and lit her bedside lamp, pulling her more recent of homework assignments from Professor Kettleburn, the Care of Magical Creatures teacher.

Unicorns... What are the properties of unicorn blood? ... What will happen if a person drinks unicorn blood?... Unicorns... Their natural enemies... ? The werewolf was one of them... Werewolves... Full moon... Remus becoming more rugged in appearance of late... His disappearances... Full moon...

Suddenly it all made sense. She gasped and covered her mouth with her hand as to keep from waking her dorm mates. "Remus is a werewolf." She whispered softly before hurriedly placing her parchment and quill back into her trunks compartment for her homework, distinguishing the lamp and closing her eyes.

That night she dreamt of a giant wolf trying to break free from a tightly secured dungeon in the school.

-:-:-:-:-:-

The next morning, James woke with a start. He had been dreaming of his parents bodies in their mansion in Glasgow. In his dream they had been tortured and killed by Lord Voldemort and an assortment of Death Eaters.

Still uneasy and slightly paranoid by the dream, he hurried out of his pyjama bottoms and into a shirt and jeans, scrawled out a quick note to his parents asking them how they were, hoping to get a lengthy response, and left to go up to the Owl Infirmary.

He slowed as he reached the base of the stairs that would have lead him up to the Infirmary, both out of breath and because he thought he heard someone crying up the top of the stairs. He walked up the stairs slowly, cautious and still a bit uneasy, until he stopped behind the door. There was definitely someone crying in there. He pushed open the door slowly and the crying stopped. As he poked his head around the door, he saw the person who he had both wanted to see, but not wanted to see crying at the same time.

Lily looked up from the letter in her hand, tear stained and with running ink down the sides of the parchment.

"Lily..." James began.

"What do you want? Want to see me crying? Well you got it. Go away Potter." Lily cried, trying to wipe the tears from her eyes and keep her voice from wavering unsuccessfully.

"No. Lily... What's wrong? Has something happened with your parents or..." James tried to start again moving closer to Lily, who was sitting on the ground in the corner.

"I know you're thick, but I didn't know you were deaf as well. I said go away." Lily came back quickly, as her tears started to dry up slowly.

James sighed and shook his head. "I've never been anything but nice to you Lily, and now I'm trying to be nice again. Why do you hate me so much?"

Lily's eyes narrowed and her mouth pulled into a tight line. "Because Potter, you are a disgrace to the Gryffindor name of bravery and courage. You've never done anything like that and all you care about is the next girl you can get into bed with you."

James snorted loudly and stared deep into Lily's emerald green eyes as he squatted down in front of her. "You know, that's Sirius, not me. I've never been with anyone like that. I'm waiting for you, you know."

Lily's eyes narrowed. He'd asked her out a number of times and every time she'd declined, but he'd never said anything like that before. Waiting for me?...

James smiled sadly at her. "Yeah. Well, now that I've made the ultimate fool of myself, I have to send a letter to my parents, make sure they're okay you know. Haven't heard from them for a little while, just getting a bit worried. And Lily, if you don't want me to talk to you anymore, you've got it. For today at least anyway."

Lily smiled sadly as a fresh bout of tears started to pour down her face. "James..."

James turned slowly and walked back to her. "What is it?"

She furrowed her brow and hastily tried to wipe the tears from her face. "I know about Remus."

James' face went from shock to terror in the space of just a couple of minutes of silence. "What? How? You can't possibly know anything!"

Lily's lips curled into a slight smile. "I heard Sirius talking last night and I guess I put two and two together. You should tell him to stop talking quite so loud about things he doesn't want people to know."

James put his head in his hands and shook his head a grimace on his face. "I will kill him you know. And I suppose now you're going to want to know everything about everything there is to know so that you can go and blab to all your girlfriends..."

Lily stared at him, her eyebrows raised. "You honestly think that's the kind of person I am? I wouldn't tell anyone and if you're not going to tell me anything, I don't mind. I'll go straight to Remus and ask him."

James' eyes widened. "Lily. Don't talk to him now, please. Wait until after the full moon. Let him think that it wasn't Sirius and that it was just you putting things together with the moon and all. If he finds out that you know, it'll make the change so hard on him."

Lily nodded in understanding. "You know Potter, if you stopped attacking poor Severus all the time, you could be an okay guy."

James snorted again. "Snivellus deserves everything he gets Lily. You heard him the other day, going on about all the filthy 'mudbloods' in the school. It hurts me when I know who he's talking about, the people that are my best friends – the ones I care about. It makes me want to hurt him and sometimes, it's hard to stop myself. I'd be after him twice as much as I already do if Remus wasn't good with words and persuasion."

Lily shook her head and sighed. "You need to grow up. There's still no way I'll go out with you, but you could make a good date for a friend of mine."

James groaned and rolled his eyes. "Lily, I'm almost tired of chasing you when I know that you feel the same way that I do but yet, you won't give me a chance. What are you afraid of?" He whispered, his face inches from hers. "Why won't you even give me a chance?" He slid his fingers through the auburn lock that was hanging on the left side of her face from where it had slipped out from her ponytail and she gulped.

"I'm... I'm afraid of this." She dropped the letter to the floor and looked up at his face through her eyelashes, inching painfully slowly closer to him, before bringing her lips to his. They stood in the Infirmary kissing passionately for what felt like forever before Lily pulled away.

James smiled at her. "See?"

"Don't you dare 'see' me, Potter! I don't want this! Leave me alone." She demanded as she started to walk away.

James grabbed her arm as she made for the door. "How can you walk away from this?"

Lily bit her lip, tears threatening to start falling again. "Because I may be attracted to you, but I don't like you." Then she walked away, leaving him standing there and staring after her.

He shook his head in disbelief and he walked over to the window to send his letter with his tawny black owl.

He stood staring out of the window for a good twenty minutes before he sighed and walked back down to his dorm room where, no doubt, Sirius would be waking up with a different girl in his arms.

-:-:-:-:-:-

The year started to slowly slip by after the day in the Infirmary, filled with endless days of study and stress as the exams started to pop out of seemingly nowhere.

"At least we don't have NEWT's this year, that's got to be a plus doesn't it?" Peter mumbled through a mouthful of porridge on the morning of the last day of school.

"Yeah, but that means that next year will be ten times worse doesn't it?" Sirius grumbled pushing his food across his plate.

James chuckled at his miserable friend and turned to look at Lily in a manner which he hoped was inconspicuous, remembering the day she had given in to his charm and snogged him senseless on the floor of the infirmary.

"Prongs!"

"What? Ow!" James cried as Sirius' fist collided with his head from where it had been sitting before he had turned just above his ear, still unmoving.

"What was that for!" He cried nursing his nose that had received a fair thwack from Sirius' enclosed hand.

"You need to get over Lily mate. Get. Over. Her. Seriously! She wants nothing to do with you." Sirius said, an amused look on his face, hurriedly changing the subject before he got a punch in the head.

"She wants me." James said dreamily. "I'm going to marry her you know."

Remus shook his head in amusement. "You see, marriage usually comes after engagement which usually comes after at least going out with the person in question, which would at least somewhat entail a mutual..." He started.

James turned back to Lily as she spoke to her friends, smiling to himself, still recalling memories of the Infirmary. "Look at her, she's so beautiful." James sighed and set his jaw. "I can wear her down."

Peter's eyebrows rose, a smirk on his face. "I believe your last attempt at that involved the words: stupid, annoying, useless prat."

James sighed. "Yeah, she wants me."

Sirius rolled his eyes. "Well, anyway, what you all doing these holidays..."

-:-:-:-:-:-

James sat in the train compartment waiting relatively patiently for Remus, Sirius and Peter to find him. He had arrived close to an hour early for the school train and he was dead bored – mainly because he had been dead excited to start his last year at Hogwarts. He looked up, grinning when the compartment door opened as he expected to greet one of his fellow Marauders, but his grin froze when he saw Lily Evans waiting at the door.

"Lily. What a surprise." He gulped.

Lily nodded and closed the door behind her delicately, locking it and spreading a silencing charm over it. "I need to talk to you."

James made a point of looking at the door behind her. "So I noticed. What can I do for you?"

She took a seat next to him and sighed. "Why did you write me all those letters through summer? Do you think I cared about what you were doing?"

James shrugged, a slight smirk on his face. "Well you read them didn't you?"

Lily frowned, before sighing. "I'm an awful person."

James' eyebrows furrowed. "What are you on about?"

She shifted uneasily in her seat. "I felt so bad about how I treated you that day in the Infirmary and then after that, and that time I... Anyway, it doesn't matter, what does is that... well, it's been bothering me all summer." She replied softly.

"You were a bit awful, but it's okay. I accept your apology." James said, half-smirking.

"I wasn't apologizing!" Her eyes narrowed dangerously in frustration.

James merely grinned at her. "Okay, then what are you doing?"

"I don't like you James! You're rude and you're mean... to, to people like Severus, and he hasn't ever done anything to you! And then you play pranks on people and act like you're king of the world. Just because you're so damn good at Quidditch and you get almost top grades without even trying doesn't mean you can act like such an arrogant prat! And the flowers all summer? The roses? The daffodils? I mean, when I told you to leave me alone and then those... well, you obviously didn't get the point! Can't you see? We have nothing in common Potter – nothing!" She cried, furiously pacing the small compartment.

"So why are you here then, Lily?" He asked quietly.

"To... To tell you that we have nothing in common and to leave me alone." She replied, her hands on her hips and her face flushing.

"Well you've done that." He replied. "Now here's what I think. We have plenty in common. We're both smart and have the same goal of fighting for the Light through this war. We're both loyal to our friends and families, who we both have a deep and strong love for. We both like Quidditch, even if you won't admit it, and we make magic together. It's as simple as that. You're in love with me and you don't want to admit it, to yourself or anyone else." James finished, a contented look on his face, slowly closing the gap between them.

Lily let out a snort of disgust, and narrowed her eyes so much they could have been closed, practically fuming.

"Of all the arrogant, self-centred things to – mmphf." She murmured as he yanked her close and covered her mouth with his.

He pulled away and looked deep into her emerald green eyes. "I love you Lily. I've loved you for what feels like my entire life. When the hell are you going to stop playing games with me?" He whispered.

She stared at him for a moment before her eyes switched from fury to a resolve. "When you kiss me again."

He grinned and brought his lips back to hers. When he pulled away, her eyes were glazed over as she looked down at him. "After I saw you today I realized that you've been right all along."

He grinned. "Knew I could wear you down."

She sighed, lips still pursed. "You're so annoying."

He laughed. "And so that's why you fought me for so long?"

"No. I fought you for so long because I didn't want to admit to myself that I was falling in love with such a prat."

He grinned. "Too late now. No turning back."

She slipped her arms around his neck. "I don't think I want to turn back but I also don't want to be another one of James Potter's girls."

James smiled. "You won't be. I was with most of those girls to try to make you jealous."

She laughed. "Git."

"Yup." Then he brought her lips down to his.

-:-:-:-:-:-

A/N - Thanks for getting all the way through! Feel free to review, but no pressure or anything, I might have to kill your first born or something.. but whatever :) Hope you enjoyed it, and please let me know if you don't think I should ever pick up a pen/keyboard again. Thanks again, AB ~