Disclaimer: Rowling owns all the characters, Hasbro owns Candyland. Don't sue me. Puhleeease. Cute face

A/N: This is a sequel to "Bored Games". It is not life threatening if you don't read that first but, well, you never know...

"Get it away from me!" James Potter, recently affianced to Lily Evans, cast the illogically happy looking Mr. Mint a suspicious glance. Lily rolled her eyes.

"Damn it Prongs, you've got it all wrong! This…dramatic pause this evil… If you're going to be scared of anybody…" He smashed his index finger onto the red and black clad two-dimensional figure of Lord Licorice.

"Oooh, she looks nice." Peter Pettigrew's eyes glazed over as he contemplated the friendly Gramma Nutt. "I bet she makes great sandwiches!"

Remus Lupin watched all of this occur with his mouth drawn into a thin line. Finally, he shook his head. "The one you really have to watch out for is her." The other four followed his glance to Princess Frostine. "Appearances can be very, very deceiving." His ethereal, pale face looked so serious about this that the other marauders and a very entertained Lily Evans burst into pealing laughter.

"Lily, I love your laugh. It sounds like ringing bells…" James started. He was, however, interrupted.

Cough Brown Cough Nose! Cough

Lupin turned to Sirius Black. "Padfoot, friend, subtlety has never been your strong suit."

"Enough! Can we play now?" Lily looked at each separate face, but saw the same blank expression on each one.

"Play?" The marauders said in unison.

"Yes. That's what one normally does with games." Lily had to concentrate with every fibre of her being to suppress a giggling fit.

"How do you expect us to play this?" For a man raised on Exploding Snap and Gobstones, Sirius was not very open minded when it came to rainbows, licorice, peppermint, and trees made of gingerbread. To illustrate his point, he grabbed a few of the small, rectangular cards and dropped them onto the coffee table in front of him.

"You draw them." Lily said, knowing full well that this would accentuate the confusion and that she could get another laugh out of the situation.

"Draw what?" Asked James. He hadn't paid attention since the last time Lily had spoken. He had been staring at her, thinking about the way her profile contrasted with the fluffy, floral couch cushions.

"James." Lily sounded exasperated. "At least when you were afraid of a peppermint stick you were paying attention!" She turned to the rest of the marauders and James seized the opportunity and stuck his tongue out at her. She pretended not to see him. He was an idiot.

"So, I'm still lost here. How do we 'draw' the cards?" Lupin asked, pulling a slab of chocolate out of his pocket and taking a bite.

"Yeah, what Moony said!" Peter chimed in.

"Well, you put them in a pile like this…" She neatly made sure all of the cards were facing the same direction and in a neat stack. "And when it's your turn, you pick the one from the top of the pile. See this card?" She grabbed a card. "It has two green squares on it. That means I can move my piece…" She showed them all a little, red, plastic figure, "to not the next green square on the path, but the one after."

"Can I try?" Sirius was practically bouncing up and down he was so hyper.

"Sure you can. Do you remember what to do first?" Lily told Sirius as if he were a two and a half year old instead of just being as immature as one. Nobody really noticed, and Lily justified this to herself with the fact that this game taught color recognition to muggle children as old as he acted.

oooo

Later

"No! I am stuck in the big "Gloppy" dude again!" James was not having a good game. He seemed to be a slave of Gloppy and Lord Licorice. "You were wrong, Padfoot. He is definitely the evil one."

For the sixty-seventh time that night, Lily rolled her eyes. James had been counting.

"Mate, it's just a game!" Sirius was anxious because he had missed his last turn, and he just wanted to play. The room stared at him. "Or…gulp… is it?" The room glared at him. "Sorry guys, couldn't resist!" He put a huge smile on his face and as usual, all idiocy was forgiven.

Peter, while all this was occurring, was coming up with a strategy to get to King Kandy first. He was the farthest away on the board and it didn't seem like it was possible for him to come out ahead. So, under the guise of reaching for a handful of Pepper Imps and a biscuit he leaned into the coffee table and toppled Candyland.

"Wormtail. That is the fourth time you've done that tonight," said a very upset Remus. He had been almost to King Kandy that time, too!

"It's not a problem." Lily looked at Peter. "After the last time you accidentally knocked over the bored I put a magnetic charm on it and the pieces. See?" She carefully lifted the board and showed the marauders that every piece was still in the right place.

Peter looked sullen. "Maybe we should play a different game," he said in a barely audible, meek voice.

"O.K. then!" Lily jumped off the couch and up the stairs of the little house. Five minutes later she returned with another rectangle of reinforced cardboard. Her engagement ring winked in the soft light of the living room and she dropped onto the couch with the new game on her lap.

Lupin, still very mad at Peter, asked, "Well. What do you call this one?"

"Chutes and Ladders."