Hello future reader and possibly future fan (crosses fingers)! You opened my story! Thank you! Sorry about the summary. Well, I hope you enjoy it. This is my second fic (LJ of course), and I'm trying to make this chapter as long as I can for all of you. :-) Please review at the end too!
Another note: All the spells I use will most likely be accurate, or I will at least try the best I can.
Disclaimer: I don't own Harry Potter and all related characters, plot, etc. However, I do own the characters you've never heard of before! Woohoo- ;-)
Chapter 1: Talking, Planning, Arguing
"I know a song that gets on everybody's nerves… Everybody's nerves, everybody's –"
"Sirius! Please!" an adorable sandy-blonde haired seventh year shoved his ruggedly handsome best friend off of the squishy, scarlet couch.
"What? Do you not like my song?"
"No, Padfoot, we love your song," a messy haired Quidditch star and captain said sarcastically, not even bothering to flick his eyes up from his Potions essay.
"Thank you, thank you. Thank you very much."
"Why do you encourage this, James?" Remus looked exasperatedly over at Sirius, whose antics portion of the night was in full swing.
James looked thoughtful for a moment, "Because I can?"
"Wrong answer!" Sirius flipped backwards over the couch.
Remus and James gave each other a knowing look and held up their right arms into the air, snapped their fingers twice, and pointed at Sirius, sprawled rather painfully on the floor. Immediately, twenty girls had gathered themselves around the dazed Marauder and led him off towards a different couch in the Gryffindor common room.
"Nice," James said, high-fiving a grinning Remus.
"Works every time," Moony said, returning satisfied back to his Arithmancy project.
"I heard that!" Sirius called over from his mass of giggling fan-girls as his head emerged for air.
"Padfoot, you really don't care!"
"True," he said, shrugging as his head disappeared once more.
------in the boys dorm------
"Had a nice night, Padfoot?" Remus joked, coming out of the shower room.
"As usual," Sirius said candidly and downed a chocolate frog.
"Good to be a Marauder!" James raised a bottle of butterbeer into the air heartily.
"Hear hear!" Remus and Sirius clinked their bottles with his.
"So, what prank is coming up next?" Sirius flipped over on his bed.
"Well, I guess we could pull one for Halloween," James suggested.
"Or, we could pull a series of smaller pranks with a theme, all leading up to the grand finale on Halloween night!" Remus sat up excitedly on his bed.
"Perfect!" James exclaimed, taking another joyous swig of his butterbeer.
"And at the Halloween ball, no less, eh?" Sirius laughed.
"Which reminds me – You had better start now, James, on getting Lily to go with you," Remus said bluntly. "You don't want to run out of time at the end."
"Thanks," James said. "You never know, this could be the year."
"In fact… I believe I hear Miss Evans and her friends entering the common room right now," Sirius said, motioning to the door.
"Let's go," Remus sighed, knowing his friends' intentions all too well. Lily and her friends, Abigail and Karise, were the only girls in their year, possibly even the whole school, who could avoid swooning madly at the sight of the Marauders. In fact, Lily rather despised James, while James tried unsuccessfully to win her over. James Potter had, in fact, finally met his match.
"To the common room!" James thrust his fist into the air.
"Oh boy," Sirius and Remus looked at each other before exiting hastily after him.
The three Marauders leapt down the dormitory stairs into the common room, James ruffling his hair suavely.
"Oi! Evans!" he called, stalking up towards Lily, Abigail, and Karise sitting serenely on a couch by the fireplace.
Lily didn't even bother to look up.
"Go Away, Potter," she enunciated sharply. James just grinned smoothly.
"How would you," James produced a rose from inside his robes. "Like to go with me to the Halloween ball?"
"Problem is," she said, still scribbling down her Charms essay. "The question isn't how I would like to go with you – seeing as I wouldn't like it at all. I don't think I could manage it."
James' eyes flickered for a short moment, but years of these witty remarks had become second nature to him, and he nonchalantly shrugged, saying, "Oh, don't worry, Evans. It won't be hard."
"Harder than this essay that I am trying to finish here," she spat back, becoming increasingly more annoyed. "If it wasn't for a certain arrogant prick pestering me and making me wonder why I haven't charbroiled him yet in these flames." She motioned towards the fireplace, which was illuminating her red, wavy hair and making her look that much more intemperate.
"I don't taste very good burnt, Evans, dear," James had a mischievous glint in his eye as he continued. "I would much rather you try me as is."
"Shove off, Potter," Lily glared at him, knocking the wilting rose out of his hand and into the fire and standing up fiercely.
"Prongs, now would be a good time to –" Sirius was cut off quickly by Lily's continuing rant.
"You disgusting pig!" she shoved him hard on the shoulder. "You think you can just win whichever girl's heart you want – "
"Evans… Evans, just calm down," James tried to reason, recognizing the furious spark in her ivy colored eyes that meant danger. "I don't want to have to hurt you."
Lily whipped out her wand swiftly and pointed it threateningly at his chest and said, low and menacing, "Go ahead. Make my day." (A/N: Sorry, can't remember where that line came from, but it's not mine!)
James' hand hovered expertly over his wand pocket and began to back away slowly, knowing that if she fired a spell, he would be forced to fire one back, and he didn't want to really injure her.
"Lily, put it down," Abigail whispered anxiously from on the couch. Lily just shot her a look.
"If I don't stop you now, Potter," Lily tightened her grip on her wand. "I'll get one heck of a lot of grief from you about going to this Halloween ball."
"Good point, dearest," he said, looking for a way to avoid drawing his own wand. "Now, I'll just see you at the Heads/Prefects' meeting, alright?"
"No, Potter!" she took a step forward. "I want you to leave me alone!"
"Lily – "
She shouted angrily, "Incarcerous!"
James' senses perked, and just as menacing ropes began to shoot out of the tip of her wand, he whipped out his own and countered, "Expelliarmus!"
Lily dropped to one knee with her wand lying a few feet away. James had made a motion to help her up, but she just glared at him and stalked up to her dormitory, leaving Abigail and Karise to look blankly at the Marauders and start to gather their things. Eventually, they cast one rather sorry look at the trio and rushed up the stairs after Lily. James looked at his wand and wishing he hadn't been forced to do that to her, but shook his head determinedly and motioned for his friends to follow him.
Just as they reached the foot of their stairs, he noticed Lily's wand lying on the carpet forgotten. He sighed and reached over to pick it up, sticking it in his back pocket for later.
------in the girl's dormitory-----
"Alright, Lils?" Karise poked her head into their room with Abigail close behind.
"Stupid, stupid Potter," Lily muttered to herself, lying on her back atop her bright red comforter.
Karise nodded silently to Abigail, and they proceeded with caution into the dorm.
"Lils, you know you're going to have to face him when you go to the Heads' meeting…" Abigail sat gently on the edge of her bed, fiddling with a hair brush.
"I know, I know," Lily sighed exasperatedly and rolled over onto her stomach. "I just hate him, that's all."
The three of them looked at each other and smiled.
"Oh, okay," Lily walked over to her bag and started sifting through it. "So what if he's really a good person inside? He's still conceited and annoying on the outside."
"Well, you know what our advice would be," Karise lay on her bed facing the ceiling.
"Yes," Lily sat down on her bed again with a quill and parchment. "Give him at least one – bloody – chance."
"Exactly," Abigail said. "Of course, without the 'bloody' part."
"Yeah, Lily," Karise waved her wand lazily at the ceiling, drawing pictures and doodling. "I mean, four years of chasing after you, pining for your unattainable love, being your knight –"
"Kar, enough," Lily said, frowning at her essay.
"Well, what I was saying," Karise rolled her eyes. "Was that he's shown a lot of commitment… something that most girls would kill to have…" There was a long pause between the usually talkative girls.
"So, Derren's not keeping up with your standards?" Abigail prodded.
"Nope," Karise shook her head nonchalantly. "Took me long enough to realize it, though. I can be so thick sometimes."
"Merlin! I was supposed to shower ten minutes ago, get dressed for the Heads' meeting, finish this essay, and then beat Potter and – " Lily was quickly cut off by Karise's ushering her into the shower.
"Just hurry up and shower right now," she said, pushing Lily towards the door of the bathroom.
"But – my essay!"
"Leave it. You can finish it later!"
"But – " Lily clutched the parchment and quill to her chest protectively.
"Put it down… Yes, that's it, keep going. Down. Down. Right, now pip pip."
Lily scampered into the bathroom, reluctantly leaving the essay on the bed.
"What would that girl do without me?" Karise flopped back down on her bed.
Abigail just shrugged.
-----at the Heads' Meeting----
"Potter," Lily acknowledged as she entered the nearly empty classroom and set down her papers.
"Evans," James said, smirking and half mimicking her severe tone. She just glared at him as the prefects that were already there giggled softly in their seats.
Lily shifted her chair away from him and stared dully down at her massive stack of handouts as they waiting in silence for the rest of the Prefects. After around five minutes of Lily resolutely staring at her notes and James scribbling furiously what seemed to be a timetable of sorts. James glanced over at her, at his bent quill, then back at her for a second.
He tapped her politely on the shoulder. She looked up, taking her time to finish her last sentence, and finally flicked her piercingly green eyes up at him.
"Can I borrow a quill?" he whispered quietly as if they were in a library and the Prefects were just weird onlookers, gathered to watch them study.
Lily sighed slightly and rummaged in her bag for one. Finally, her head popped up again, and she handed him a rather weathered looking one, saying skeptically, "You don't have one in your bag right there?"
"No," he said, looking a bit sheepish. "I'm not a Boy Scout. I carry one quill, and if it breaks, I ask you."
"Clever," she said shortly and turned back to her work.
"Uh, Lily?" he said, shifting in his seat.
She started at hearing her first name used, but spat out, "What is it, Potter?"
"I only use the fine point quills," he grinned cheekily at her. "This one is – "
"I know what it is, Potter," she eyed him testily before yelling. "Just take the stupid quill!"
"Miss Evans," Dumbledore said serenely. "First of all, what quill? And secondly, I highly doubt that this quill appreciates your calling him, or her, 'stupid.' I have never seen a more intelligent looking quill, and if you would, Mr. Potter, take the erudite quill from Miss Evans' lovely hand, we can begin this meeting in order."
"Yes, Professor," Lily and James replied in unison while Dumbledore gave them a knowing wink.
"Remember students," he said, his cloak sweeping the floor on his way to the back of the classroom. "There are no stupid quills."
Many of the Prefects nodded vaguely, while others just looked outright confused.
"Miss Evans, Mr. Potter," Dumbledore said calmly, motioning for them to start the meeting.
"Right. First of all, I have made handouts for all of you regarding your hall patrolling duties and schedules," Lily got out of her chair to pick up her large stack of papers. She attempted to smoothly slip the pile off of the edge and pass them out, but they fell through her arms and spread out over the floor.
Lily's face pinked slightly as she stooped to realign them again. She glanced briefly up at James, and he looked out at the room of Prefects waiting for him to do something cool.
"Well… Free for all, I guess!" he said, running his hand through his hair as he helped Lily to her feet and away from the mob now ensuing as the students all rushed up to grab a handout.
James expected Lily to thank him, but she pulled herself out of his grasp and leaned against the wall, waiting for the students to sit down again.
"Now, as I was saying," Lily began walking towards the front table and slipped on a few remaining handouts, landing squarely on her back, her face turning an even brighter shade of red.
James rushed forward to help her and "unintentionally" slipped on a few handouts himself. The Prefects chuckled good naturedly, thinking it had been James' plan all along to start with some humor.
"Seems to be a slippery spot," he said smoothly. He pulled Lily to her feet and held out her chair, as she gave him a small, unsure smile, very much unhappy with her two mishaps.
"Okay, so," James clapped his hands together for silence and sat down in his seat. "Review that packet and learn your schedules, people! Lily and I don't have time to make sure you're all in your areas at 9:00 every other night. Learn them and learn them well, alright?"
A wave of nods went through the crowd as they all looked at James with admiration and stowed the schedules into their bags.
"Now as to the reason why I am here," Dumbledore stood up slowly, a merry twinkle in his eye. James sat down and gave him the floor, as all eyes turned to listen to the wizened fellow making his way to the front, an air of stateliness and cheer radiating from his stature and half-moon spectacles.
"As many of you know," he continued. "The Halloween ball will indeed take place this year." A round of applause and whoops came from the prefects.
"This ball is open to all those third year and up, will include a live band, full-hall decorations, food, and of course, dates," he said, peering down at them. "I would also recommend a visit to Hogsmeade planned for the weekend before and I will leave you two, Miss Evans and Mr. Potter, in charge of overseeing the planning for this event."
He nodded to them kindly and quietly exited the room with a bow to the Prefects.
Lily looked at her watch, yawning. "Alright, folks, time for bed. We'll continue this topic the day after tomorrow and bring some ideas with you!" she called after them as they exited the door with cheery waves to both the Heads.
After they had all gone, Lily began to stick things back into her bag and brushed her hair impatiently out of her eyes.
"Well, that was a good meeting, Evans," James said quietly.
"Yep," she replied shortly.
"What do you think about the Weird Sisters?" he asked coolly. "They're pretty new, but I hear they can play pretty well."
"Mhmm," she nodded vaguely.
"I actually heard them play once," he continued. "They've got great beats and –"
"As much as I hate to say this," Lily turned to face him, her bag completely packed now. "Thanks for covering for me."
"No problem," he smiled gallantly. Lily eyed him warily, walked around the table, and was almost out the door when James remembered something, "Wait! You, uh, forgot this in the common room earlier." He held out her wand, apprehensively awaiting her reaction.
"How – " she began, staring at her wand in his grasp, her eyes beginning to spark with indignation. "Nevermind."
She took her wand and left hurriedly, her fiery hair personifying the suppressed fury she felt recalling their incident in the common room. She rushed up to her Head's room and planned on taking a nice, long bath, away from James Potter.
A/N: So, do you like it? I'm trying not to make it too fast, and Lily gets mood-swingy sometimes. . Well, I hope you enjoyed it and thanks for reading! Please review! It would make my day!