Before I start, a preamble, of sorts. James has a sister who's a year younger than him, but she's a fifth year with her brother and his friends. The story is about the Marauders, but not in their era, it's more of a modern day version of their antics. Also, I own nothing, though I wish I could own Sirius Black.

So what if it was an accident? Lily's head was covered in ink. It didn't matter that the prank had gone wrong, and that Snivellus had managed to avoid getting a mouthful of ink on his way to the Great Hall. Lily's head was still covered in ink. Students didn't even stop to point and laugh at her, for fear of earning themselves detention from the redheaded prefect. This was between her and James, none of them wanted to be caught in as collateral damage. She just stood there, temporarily dumbfounded at the simplicity of the Marauders' prank. Dumping ink on people was something they'd gotten bored of by fourth year.

"Blue's not your color, Evans! It clashes horribly with your hair!" Sirius called out and Peter let out a shrill giggle, as the boys in question passed her on their way to dinner.

Lily's common sense waged a war with her pride: chase after the boys and give them all detention, or get the sticky blue substance off her hair before it dries and more students see her head drenched in blue? Her pride won in the end and she stormed off to the prefect's bathroom to take a quick shower.

"You don't think she thought we meant to prank her, do you, Padfoot?" a concerned James asked Sirius.

"Nope. She can't have thought that." Sirius replied between mouthfuls of shepherd's pie. "Inking people's not something the students associate with us anymore, remember? It's too simple."

"We're too mature for those childish jokes," Peter added.

"But she looked downright furious. What if she does think we intended to get her covered in ink? I'm going to find her and explain everything after dinner," James countered, his eyes still clouded with sympathy and regret.

"She won't listen to your reasoning, Prongs, you're the bane of her existence," Moony interrupted, "let me talk to her. I've got the best chance of not getting hexed, after all."

The boys all agreed that letting Remus handle the situation this time would be better, but James could not figure out why Lily hated him, and voicing his concern only yielded the same replies from his three best friends. "She thinks you're an arrogant, bullying toe-rag," Peter always said. "Your head's too big, mate, maybe if you shrunk it down a tad bit," was Remus's advice. "She secretly fancies me, Prongs, and she knows you're madly in love with her. She's just hoping you get the message and move on so that she can go out with me," Sirius would always joke.

"I don't get it. Why doesn't she like me? I've been asking her out since second year and she's always turned me down," James frowned. "It's not like I go out of my way to make her life miserable, and I've stopped jinxing people for no reason," he continued, "and it doesn't hurt that I'm kind perfect. What?" James asked as Sirius and Peter snorted into their desserts as the last sentence came out of James's mouth.

"Oh, I dunno. Think it could be your narcissism?" Sirius feigned ignorance. "Maybe the fact that you think you're oh so perfect and have girls swooning over you everywhere? 'Oh, James! You're so handsome, with your messy hair, hazel eyes and well-toned-from-all-those-Quidditch-practices body! Marry me, James Potter, won't you, please?'" Sirius mimicked in his best high-pitched, girly voice as Peter snorted with laughter, causing everyone within a two meter radius to give the two concerned looks.

James reached up to grab his best friend, who had jumped up with his proclamation, and yanked him back into his seat, "We can't have the girls thinking that the best looking wizard in our year fancies his best mate, now can we?" James muttered.

"So I'm right, then, am I?" asked Adriana, seating herself happily in between Remus and Sirius. "Padfoot does have a thing for you, James?" she asked her older brother.

"No, Scarlet, I thought I made it very clear that I had a thing for you and not your brother?" Sirius interjected with a frown.

He was fond of James's younger sister. She was the female version of James, with the same hazel eyes, long, straight nose, personality and brains, but that was where their similarities ended. She was the second brightest witch in their year, a prefect alongside Lily (who was top) and was even allowed to skip first year after just one month, putting her in second year with her brother and his friends. She even maintained a spotlessly clean record (she had never been given detention, nor had she been caught doing something her brother would). Her hair was, like her brother's jet black, but it was long and straight, with the inside of her sweeping, side-swept bangs dyed a crimson red. The shade gave her a more mischievous look, and it earned her the nickname Scarlet.

"Oh, bite me, Sirius," Adriana replied, with no hint of ulterior motives.

"Where?" Sirius replied with a grin, "And when?" he added as an afterthought.

"Oi, I'm right here!" James exclaimed, a look of disbelief on his face.

It was common knowledge that his sister was what the boys at Hogwarts called 'hot property', but she was his younger sister, and she made up for her clean record by leaving scores of boys dazed and confused in her wake. She's worse than Sirius, James thought.

"So why'd you guys ink Lily? I thought you were in sixth year, James. Dumping ink on her is how you'd get her attention if you were a second year," Adriana commented, eyeing the redhead as she sauntered into the Great Hall and sat down with her friends.

"Because Prongs here is a second year. He's been slipping up more and more with our pranks and he didn't take into account that Snivellus might just get lucky, and some other poor soul might get pranked instead," Sirius explained, while he shoveled spoonfuls of ice cream down his throat.

"And the poor soul this time just happened to be Lily," Adriana mused. "Have you tried just going up to her and telling her how you feel, James? I'm sure if you explained-"

"I've thought about it, and it wouldn't work," James said after a little pause.

"She can't stand the sight of me. How on earth does she talk to you all the time, what with you looking like my twin?" he asked.

Adriana smiled before replying, "I don't try to ask her out every opportunity I get."

"Speaking of which, come with me to Hogsmeade this weekend, Scarlet," Sirius interrupted, with trademark I'm-too-hot-for-my-own-good-and-I-know-it smile. He used this smile on girls and it usually delivered results, but not this time.

"I don't know. I've got plans with Jordan Riley this weekend," Adriana replied, stifling a yawn.

"Again, I'm right here, you two," James said, addressing Sirius and his younger sister. "Maybe try flirting and playing hard-to-get when I'm not looking?"

"Alright then, turn around and don't listen to us," Adriana pouted.

"Tell Riley you've got other plans, he's really not in your league," Sirius continued, "besides, I don't ask just anyone out."

"I know," was Adriana's reply, "but it's not like I go out with just anyone."

"Just quit while you're ahead, Padfoot," Remus offered. "Either way, you're going to make Merlin roll over in his grave. Prongs will be beside himself with rage if you do anything to Scarlet," to which James gave a single nod of agreement, "and even if you do manage to get things right, he'll be breathing down your neck just to make sure you don't screw things up."

"I resent that!" Sirius exclaimed loudly, "I have never screwed things up! Not with women, at least."

"What about Melissa Ridge?" Peter pointed out. "Or Angelie Fitch? There was Brittany Morrison, Sara Gutierrez, Robin Blunt, the list goes on. They all kind of severely dislike you"

"Don't forget your mother," James added with a hint of a smile.

"They were all bonkers, Wormtail, and my mother is a banshee, don't confuse her for a woman!" Sirius explained in a condescending tone.

"Either way, I'll be heading off now. Still got that essay from Trelawney to finish. G'night," Adriana said, swinging her legs from the bench and heaving herself to walk out of the hall.

If you're going to imagine what my sister looks like naked, can you at least do it when I'm not around, Padfoot?" James asked in an annoyed tone, as Sirius openly stared at where Adriana's skirt ended and her slender, tan thighs began. "Sirius? Hey!" James exclaimed as he snapped his fingers in front Sirius's face.

"Sorry mate," Sirius apologized. "She's too pretty for her own good. She'll be mine one day, mark my words," he finished. "Out of her own free will, because she decided she fell in love with me and my ego and that her life would be miserable without either of us," he tacked on at the end, seeing the glower on James's face.

"She'll be out the door the instant she sees you arguing with your mirror over who's prettier," Remus muttered.

-x-

'James Potter will be the death of me,' thought Lily angrily, as she watched the Marauders amble out of the Great Hall.

"He's a pretty good catch, Lily. You should just say yes and go out with him," Alice said, without looking up from her copy of Witch Weekly.

"And how would you know?" snapped Lily.

"He's not given up on you, has he? He still asks you out? Is always trying to make you see how much he likes you?" Lily's best friend asked, and she nodded her head in answer to the questions.

"It's pretty hard to ignore the signs. The boy's smitten, dear, and you're not doing him any good by thinking he's just asking you out to be annoying. He actually does like you. Just go out with him, even if it's for one date. If you don't like it, well, you don't really have anything to lose. You can just go back to hating him and yelling at him each time he does something wrong. And if you do like him, you'll have found yourself an amazing boyfriend. I'm not saying you will like him, though," Alice added in hastily, seeing the look of disbelief on Lily's face.

Lily was about to open her mouth to counter all of Alice's statements about James, but before she could do so, Frank Longbottom joined the two girls.

"Detention with Filch was horrible!" he groaned tiredly as Alice pecked him on the cheek. "Remind me never to take the fall for someone, or get framed for something I didn't do."

"How are we getting back at them?" asked Alice, her expression growing dark.

The Slytherin boys in their year set up Frank to make it look like he'd bewitched the pumpkins in Hagrid's pumpkin patch to make them prance about and spit pumpkin seeds at anyone that passed them.

"I was thinking about asking Sirius and James. They're always pulling off excellent pranks. I have an idea of what I want to do. Get Ma – what?" Frank asked as Lily's face turned a pale shade of deep purple.

"I'll explain later, love." Alice promised, patting his arm. "Lily, did you want to go to Hogsmeade with us this weekend? The weather's finally nice, and this might be the last chance we get to go out and have some fun before O.W.L. preparation takes up every minute of our time."

Lily had been planning on going to Hogsmeade herself; her parents fell in love with butterbeer when she sent some back home for them to try out and she'd been thinking of getting them more.

"Sure, why not? I'm not going to be the third wheel, am I?" she asked.

Frank laughed before replying, "No I doubt it. We're too used to having you around to think of you as one. We could also bring Barny and Jill," he offered, referring to Aldebaran Cadre of Ravenclaw and Jillian Abrams from Hufflepuff. "They're nothing short of fun."

"Yes, definitely!" Alice exclaimed. "Jill and I have some catching up to do, I've not spoken to her in so long! And Lily's been keeping track of Baran's whereabouts, haven't you?" she asked shyly.

Lily turned a bright shade of red before replying, "He's a nice boy. And he's very intelligent."

"All Ravenclaws are," Frank pointed out, "that's why they're in Ravenclaw. Speaking of which, why are you not in that house?" he added, changing the topic before Lily was subjected to Alice's questions about Aldebaran.

"I don't know." Lily shrugged. "The had was thinking of putting me there but then decided that I'm not quick on my feet and can't make quick decisions. I'm going back up now. I need Adriana's help with Trelawney's essay," and with that, she hoisted herself from the table and walked out of the Great Hall.

So... if you've read this, help me, please? I've been thinking of writing fanfiction for so long but I've always been too lazy to actually do it. Now that I have, how can I improve? What should I do? Any suggestions on where this story should go? I've got a vague idea but I'm open to suggestions and would love to have input.