A/N: So this story was up a long tome ago, but since it was the first I wrote, I decided it needed a major rewrite. So now it's done and you'll be getting a couple chapters every couple days, mmk?

In Which the Marauders Prove They're Daft

"You're such a prat, Sirius," James Potter growled. He stood up and made a hopeless attempt at brushing the soot and bits of chocolate from his unruly black hair.

Sirius barked with laughter. Upon hearing this, a cluster of fifth year girls who were passing by their train compartment looked up at him hopefully. He flashed them one of his famous, irresistible smirks, which successfully sent them on down the corridor, blushing and giggling. Cries of "Do you think he likes me?" and "Merlin he's dreamy!" echoed back to the marauder's compartment. Sirius smirked again, this time with a satisfied arrogance.

James just rolled his eyes and ruffled his hair, sending up a spray of dark grey soot.

"Aw, lighten up, Prongs. I reckoned you'd have recognized those truffle balls right away! You were the one who finally perfected the exploding charm on them."

"Right, but you hadn't disguised them as chocolate frogs yet." James turned to glare at him.

Realization dawned on Sirius's face. "Oh, right."

James's eyes suddenly widened in panic. "Did you ever add a counter charm for the side-effects?"

Sirius considered playing dumb, but only for a moment, since James was starting to look dangerous and his hand had twitched in the direction of his wand pocket. "Remus did. See? Wormtail's hiccups are gone." He motioned at the mousy boy next to him on the bench, who until that point had simply watched the other two with a look of adoration.

Peter squeaked upon being addressed so suddenly. "Right. The rash is gone, too."

James and Sirius raised their eyebrows. "We never saw a rash," James finally said.

Peter looked sheepish. "Well, it wasn't in an area I generally showcase to the public."

An uncomfortable silence followed. Peter's face grew red while the other boys tried to hide fits of laughter and avoided eachothers eyes. The silence was finally broken when the compartment door banged open.

"Moony, pal, back from your Brown Nosers Anonymous meeting?" Sirius asked the sandy haired boy who entered. He and James leapt to their feet and mockingly bowed. Peter rushed to imitate them and nearly toppled the whole lot over.

"Head boy duty." Remus corrected, his stern look casting the bags under his eyes into sharp relief. "And I should put you into detention for your ridiculing behavior." He nodded to them nobly with a reprimanding stare.

"Whatever." Sirius shrugged him off.

Remus broke into a grin. "Need to work on my serious look, I suppose."

"Hair gel works for me," Sirius offered.

Peter had just challenged Remus to a game of chess when the compartment door banged open again. No one needed to look up to know who it was. They knew immediately by the way James leaped to his feet and made a frenzied attempt to look cool. He glanced about for a wall to lean casually against, didn't find one, and quickly sat back down.

"Alright, Evans?" he asked with a deep voice, recovering quickly.

Lily had always done her best to appear unflustered by James, although his steady quidditch playing had made his physique muscled and his charm made him an object of desire to the majority of the Hogwarts's female population. She, for some reason, had a thing against conceited game-players.

She tossed her dark red hair over her shoulder and didn't even glance at him. "Remus? Make sure you stop by McGonagall's office after the welcoming feast. We need to pick up patrolling schedules for the prefects."

Moony nodded his head and turned back to the chess game, but Sirius, James's eyes remained trained on Lily.

Lily, too, was staring at James with an amused look on her face. He ruffled his hair self-consciously, showering them all in a cloud of ash. At a pleading look, Remus came to his rescue and with a point of his wand, the ash and chocolate disappeared.

It took James a few seconds to recover. He once again ruffled his hair, this time satisfied with the effect. "Hey Evans, if you're not busy on the first Hogsmeade weekend, I'd love to—"

Lily cut in as though she hadn't heard him. "Anyway, Remus, we're getting a new student in seventh year and she's already been sorted into Gryffindor, and I'll be showing her around but just so you know, it's kind of a special case because she's a transfer from Salem, you know, America, and Dumbledore wants it to be a smooth transition..."

Sirius's attention was caught. "A new girl, eh? Good looking?"

Lily gave him a look of disgust. "Believe me, you wouldn't be interested."

Sirius looked puzzled. "Me, not interested in a girl?"

"She's not exactly your type."

He nodded knowingly. "A real dog, huh?"

"But that's exactly your type, Padfoot!" James laughed.

Lily scowled at them, repulsed. "That's not what I meant!" she snapped. She turned on her heel and stormed out.

James ran to the door. "Go out with me?" he called after her. Shrugging, he came back inside. "D'ya reckon this means yes?" he asked, demonstrating a rude hand gesture.

Remus snorted. "That girl flips you off so often she's going to develop carpal tunnel syndrome."

James shrugged. "She's already taking pain potions for it."