Lilly Christina Evans was minding her own business, thank-you-very-much, when she rounded the corridor and was assaulted with the vision of several boys skidding down the hall at her, gasping and careening at a mad pace.

There were two kinds of people at Hogwarts, you see; those who thought that it's slow school year descent into nonsensical pandemonium and hubbub might possibly be traced back to a certain group of Gryffindor troublemakers…and those who knew it was.

Lily herself was too smart to be anything but the latter. Plus, she had personal experience with all four of said boys, and she was torn between horror and admiration for what they were able to do when they put their devil-may-care brains together.

But she was not in the mood to be run over by them when she was simply trying to go about her day.

"Oy Evans! Coming through!" Shouted Black, and of course, of course, he would be at the lead. The only surprise was that James Potter was not seconds behind him. Someone else was.

"Sirius! It took me hours to write that essay and if you don't give it back now, I won't let you borrow it to copy notes from!" Remus was yelling.

"Shameless, Remus, I'm shocked at you!" Black laughed, darting in front of him. "I expected better-"

"Sirius Black, you do not want the vengeance that I will wreak on you!"

Black spun to avoid Remus' lunging hand and smashed into the wall, crushing the parchment in his hand. Black was choking on laughter, panting, and he didn't stop for a minute, not his feet, not his mouth.

"You know we needed to get out of the library, Remus, we'd been in there for hours - besides it's warm today! Maybe this parchment feels like trying its hand at swimming, and who are you to keep it from enjoying -"

"Don't you dare, Sirius Black!" Remus' eyes flashed amber, and he threw himself forward again. Pettigrew danced out of the way, while Black let out a squawk, throwing himself to the side. He tried to regain his balance, but ended up brushing Lilly's shoulder hard enough for her to lose her balance, and took her down with him.

Quills and parchment went flying, and Lilly's bag slid off her shoulder and skated across the floor, sending her textbooks spinning, spilling and crashing all over the corridor. The quill pens were careening in air, and Remus let out a startled cry as several of them jabbed his head and shoulders on the way down, and threw his arms up over himself protectively.

Pettigrew, meanwhile, had slipped on one from the floor, which sent him tumbling forward into Remus, and seconds later, they were both down, a tangle of arms and legs. Lilly, red hair and all, was splayed out on the corridor floor, trying to catch her breath while sending death glares at Black, who remained one of the very few people on earth minimally effected by her glare. She'd just have to find another way to get his attention.

"I'm sure there'd a better way to settle this, if you actually sat down and had a civilized conversation, but then again, I suppose that'd be too much to ask from you, Black -"

Black, whose nose had met her History of Magic textbook and came away worse for it, suddenly widened his eyes and wormed forward.

Lilly broke off when she saw what had arrested his focus. The parchment, covered in Remus' neat scrawl, had somehow ended up a few feet away in the chaos, lying still, innocent, on the floor.

"Oh, I do know civilized, Lilly," He said absently, without taking his eyes off of it. "And believe me, it's no fun."

At that precise moment, Remus jerked his head out from underneath Pettigrew's arms, and had surveyed the scene in seconds. Black froze his slow wiggling, eyes darting up to him, and Remus looked at him and grinned. "Cocky still, Sirius?"

There was a frozen second before they simultaneously lunged forward, and Lilly pulled her torso up and scooted against the wall, as far away from the chaos as she could get. At this point, Pettigrew had realized what was at stake on the floor of the corridor there, and joined the tussle, the three of them just a giant ball of arms, legs, and muffled cries and grunts.

Pettigrew suddenly rolled away, arms curled under himself, and lurched to his feet with a triumphant cry, waving the parchment in his hands. Lily thought about trying to make an escape, but decided against it, bracing her palms against the smooth, cool stone floor. Not that she was afraid to step right into the middle of things and call people out, but right now she was rather interested in watching it play out.

Besides, if it turned into something, it was always nice for the teacher's to have an unbiased version of how things happened.

"Peter," Remus said firmly, already on his feet. "Give it here."

Pettigrew rolled it, slowly. His eyes darting to Black, who was quickly scrambling up, one feather pen dangling upside-down in his black hair, ink streaked across his face, tie wrapped like a noose around his neck, and one shoe flung somewhere off to the forgotten side.

"Good man, Peter! We've got him now!" Black vaulted over - why could the boy never just walk? It was like he had rockets in his feet - and clapped Pettigrew on the back, smoothly tugging the rolled parchment from his friend's pudgy fingers.

Black's face became one large, self satisfied smirk. "Well, Remy? Shall we have a race with parchment boats?"

Pettigrew's eyes widened. "Sirius! Moony could crush you,"

Remus started forward as if he meant to do so right then and there, but Lily had noticed that no wands had been involved.

"Ah, he tries to threaten me, but I know where his chocolate stash is!" Black crowed gleefully, darting across the corridor again.

"And I know what you keep in your top drawer!" Remus shot back.

Lilly didn't even want to guess at what it might be; chances are she would regret knowing. She really should step in, but there wasn't really harm in it, and this was simply too entertaining.

Remus was still taunting. "I'm sure it would be tragic if McGonnagal were somehow -"

"Oh, you're not playing fair, Remy!" Sirius groaned.

"Sirius, you can bet there's going to be retribution!" Remus tried to glower, but it came out as a smile that promised there were definitely things in store for the guilty.

"Ha! If you think I cringe at the though of revenge from you, you…are absolutely right. But!" Black threw his hands wide. "Can't really start caring about the consequences of my actions, now can I? Now that I have a reputation. And there's no need to talk about your reputation, Lupin-"

"At least my daydreams aren't about-"

"Oh, come on, that was one time!" Black interrupted loudly. "And that was a dirty trick anyways!"

Pettigrew grinned. "It totally was, but it was funny!" He shrugged. "Besides, Jamesy had to get you back somehow for pinning that nasty trick in transfiguration on him and ruining his good streak with Minnie-"

"Don't let Professor McGonnagal hear you call her that-" Remus glanced around sharply.

"It's not like she hasn't heard it before!" Pettigrew protested.

"Yes, and she's taken points every time!"

"True, but inside, her romantic heart is dancing with delight," Black smirked.

"I find it hard to picture McGonnegal's heart dancing - or romantic, for that matter," Pettigrew put in.

"Aw, she loves it-"

"Say it to her face one more time, and you'll see how much she loves it," Remus muttered under his breath, and Lilly did her best to keep from snickering.

"Not to mention the rest of Gryffindor's running thin on love for us since the Great Strawberry Incident of September last, and it's even greater loss of points," added Peter.

Sirius sighed dramatically. "Nonsense, Pete, they love me. What was it you were reading the other day, Remus?"

Sirius twirled around, hands in the air, feet jumping until his landed, sitting, on the edge of the high windowsill, and when he spoke, his voice boomed above their heads. "All the world's my stage! And you merely lowly players in it!"

Remus scrunched his nose in a way that looked almost painful. "That's not what he said, and it's Shakespeare, for Merlin's sake."

"Et tu, Brute!"

"Sirius-"

"Be strong, saith my heart!"

"-and that's Homer." Remus deadpanned.

Sirius jumped down from his makeshift pedestal. "No, that's rubbish, is what it is. " His voice went up a notch, high pitched and throaty. "'Men can't escape the torrid wanderings of destiny and fate!' Merlin's eye," He muttered.

"It's much more complicated than that! We've discussed this you rowdy, uncivilized hooliga-"

"You over-educated, tempestuous prat-!"

There was a long, long pause, and then Remus crossed his arms.

"I'm not a prat." He mumbled, trying to look resentful.

"No." Black said. "You're not."

And that was the closest Lily had ever come to hearing him apologize. She actually liked Sirius - a little bit, although she didn't have the crush on him half the girls in their year did. But she simply didn't hang much around boys who used education as an insult.

Remus slowly let his arms flop down. "And you're still a hooligan," He eyed him.

Peter snorted. "Like you don't start half the things we get into!"

Siriu's hand flew back to whap Pettigrew on the head. Then he stepped forward and held out Lupin's paper, parchment sweaty and crinkled. Looking affronted, Peter rubbed his noggin and stuck his tongue out at Sirius. Remus accepted the paper, his shoulders relaxing.

And then Black tossed his head.

"Tea, gentlemen?"

"To the kitchens!" Rallied Pettigrew, leading the way.

Remus let out a long-suffering sigh, but just the first tiny vestiges of a grin began to curl the corners of his lips.

"Anyone brought chocolate along?" He called ahead.

She barely heard Black's shouted reply. "That's your department, Moony!"

"Touché," Remus murmured, thrusting his hand in his pocket and feeling around as he sped his gait to catch up with his friends.

Lily hid a grin as she gathered her books, straightened her skirt, and prepared to finish her march down the hallway. She wondered how long it would be before they realized they had Potions in twenty minutes.

There was a paper due.

"Need some help there, Evans?"

Merlin. She should have expected this.

Lilly pursed her lips and raised her eyebrows. "I think, as delicate as I am, I can stand to carry my own school books, Potter, but thank you."

"Right-well," James Potter looked a distracted, hair mussed, face heated…but then, he usually looked like that around her nowadays. "I was erm- wondering-"

"I can't go with you to Hogsmeade on the weekend, Potter, and if you bring it up one more time-"

"No!" He looked startled. "No, I was actually…" He paused awkwardly. "Have you seen the boys? I was meant to meet them in the library, but they're not there."

"Oh, dear, lost your three-quarters of the mighty foursome? They might have come down this corridor." She admitted, the corners of her lips turning upward without her permission.

"Oh! Right." His brow rearranged itself to form a comically befuddled expression.

"I believe they were headed to the kitchens?" She said.

He flashed that brilliant grin of his, the one she had promised herself she would never be taken in by, and took off at high speed. "Right you are, Evans, the kitchens it is!"

He was halfway down the corridor when he spun again and raced back to her.

He gave a quick, nervous tug on his swirled red and gold tie, which she noticed was already loose. It wouldn't take much for it to just slip undone.

"Yes?" She tapped her foot.

"Evans, do you? Might you want to come along? There'll be - you know, food and…probably, chocolate."

"Well, you do know the way to a girl's heart, Potter." She said dryly, then narrowed her eyes. "If this is some sort of ridiculous idea for a date,"

"Nah," He crossed his arms hanging loosely by his waist and grinned. "With all the rest of 'em? We won't have a second to ourselves."

She raised her head a little, considering, and he gave another pull at his tie.

"Potter!" She snapped.

"What?" He peered at her hopefully.

"Stop that, your tie is going to fall off and get dirty." She stepped over to him, reached out, and straightened it, winching the knot closed again. When she stepped away, he seemed to let a breath out.

"Just a quick snack," She said reluctantly, trying to hold back a smile. She could talk Shakespeare with Remus…over chocolate. Yes, that sounded good. That was why she would go.

James whooped and before she could blink, he had reached out and clasped her wrist with his warm fingers.

"Potter."

He swiveled, eyes sunny and dancing a rich, light umber, head tilted at her.

"You do realize we only have ten minutes until Potions?"

Laughing, he pulled her forward, and they took off at a run, down the corridor, and Lily knew she was right.

If there was one thing those boys were, it was trouble.