Chapter 1

A/N: This was a story before, but I didn't like it so I'm rewriting it. Please review!

Liz Potter was about to go swimming. And for most people, swimming is not something that requires lip gloss and eyeliner. But when you're Liz Potter, it does. As you can already tell, she was a very odd fourteen year old.

Her best friend, Lily Evans, was tapping her foot impatiently. Lily was the more rational one of the two. "Liz," she said, "you do realize what we're doing, don't you?" Liz nodded. "So why must you take two hours to put on makeup when it will wash right off anyway?" Liz sighed.

"I told you the other day. Don't you remember?" Lily stared at her blankly. Exasperated, Liz continued, "Sirius and my brother are coming. And as I told you yesterday, Sirius will never see me again unless I look completely gorgeous." Lily shut her eyes and nodded. She was used to Liz's obsessive behavior by now, especially when Sirius Black was involved.

"Of course."

Meanwhile, James Potter and his best friend, Sirius Black, were standing outside of the Potters' very large summer home. Both were dressed in only shorts and sunglasses. "What's taking so long?" James wondered. As soon as he spoke, the front door opened. Liz and Lily came out, laughing. Liz immediately went to hug her brother. Lily stood farther away with her arms crossed.

"Potter," she said as a hello. Liz glared at her.

"You promised you would be nice!" Liz hissed.

"I am nice," Lily said crossly. They began to argue quietly.

James and Sirius were staring at the girls. "Prongs, buddy," Sirius said, "you might want to look away. Lily won't like you if she thinks you're creepy." James nodded but didn't move his eyes from her. After a minute, he looked up. Sirius stared at him incredulously.

"What?" James said.

"You were staring. Again."

"Yeah, well..." James muttered, "isn't that what sunglasses are for?"

Sirius grinned and lowered his Aviators. "Right you are. But, listen, when did your sister get... I don't know, like, kind of hot?" James glared at him.

"That's my sister. My fourteen year old sister. Can't you find a different summer fling?" Sirius shook his head stubbornly.

"I didn't say I wanted to go out with her. I just think she, er, grew up, since I last saw her."

By that time, Lily and Liz had stopped arguing. Liz caught Sirius's eye and grinned. "I heard that," she said. Sirius returned the smile.

"Hey, Liz," he said. James watched him suspiciously.

Later, Lily and James were sitting by the side of the pool. Lily had her feet in the water. James hugged his legs to his chest and glanced over to where Liz and Sirius were. The two of them were laughing and joking, drying to dunk each other underwater. Lily took a deep breath, Cautiously, she said, "Look, Potter. James. Whatever. You know I normally wouldn't talk to you under any circumstances, but..."

"I definitely know that," James said wistfully.

"Liz is my best friend, and, unfortunately, you are related to her. So I suppose I'll just have to deal with you. But really, I'm sure you know this already, she likes-"

"Sirius," James finished.

"Exactly. And just look at them. They would be perfect. If he would realize it..."

James just sat there. "I know. I Think they might need a little assistance with that."

Lily smiled ruefully. "So we have a deal, then? We try to get them together?" She held out her hand.

James shook it. "Operation Lirius is in motion." Lily raised her eyebrows.

"Lirius? Really."

James shrugged. "You know, Liz. Sirius. Lirius! Unless you prefer Siz?"

Lily yawned. "Lirius it is, then."

That night, Liz and Lily were awake late, talking. "So what were you saying to him, really?" Liz asked for the fifth time.

"I told you," Lily said, "we agreed that we're going to have to stand each other." Liz was quiet for once. You did that my first year, she thought.

"I don't believe you," Liz announced. Lily stuck out her tongue.

"I'm not telling," Lily insisted.

"Aha!" Liz cried, "So you admit you were lying, then?"

Lily looked at the ceiling. "Fine. But I'm still not telling."

Liz smiled evilly. "Then I'll go ask James."

"It's four in the morning!" Liz nodded and stood up.

"I know," she said, and walked to James's room quietly. James and Sirius were asleep, and one of them was snoring very loudly. Liz poked the closest one with her toe. "Get up!" she hissed.

The figure sat up and rubbed his eyes. "Liz?" Sirius's sleepy voice asked, "It's not morning yet."

"Sorry!" she said quickly, "I need to talk to James. He's there?" She pointed to the snoring body. Sirius nodded.

"What is it, though? Maybe I could help." Liz shook her head.

"No, it's something Lils and James said, but she won't tell me."

Sirius nodded knowingly. "Then it's probably about you. Or me. Or both of us." Liz looked at him questioningly. "I tried to get James to tell me what he was saying to her. He said it was a secret operation."

"And?" Liz asked.

"And... then he fell asleep."

"Oh." Liz shrugged. "Well, maybe I can worm it out of him. She stepped around Sirius and sat on James's bed. "James," she said. "JAMES. Get up." He continued to snore. Liz rolled her eyes. She leaned over and took his wand from the table next to his bed. She lit it and jabbed it towards his face. He jerked up and looked around.

"Whosere... what?" He fell back and groaned. "Liz. I was sleeping!" She rolled her eyes again.

"Tell me all about your secret operation," Liz ordered.

"No," he said stubbornly. "Now, if you don't mind, Liz, I'm going to sleep. The sleep YOU so rudely woke me up from. Hmph." And he turned over and began to snore again.

Liz glanced at Sirius. "How can you sleep with this noise?" Sirius shrugged. "Well, if it ever gets too loud, I would share." Sirius grinned. "Not like that! I meant... it doesn't matter." Sirius laughed.

"I was only thinking that sharing is caring," he said innocently. Liz stood up.

"Sure you were," she muttered. "Night, Sirius."

"See you in the morning, Liz." She smiled and tiptoed out of the room. Sirius leaned back and watched her silhouette disappear as she shut the door of her room.

"Rise and shine, ladies!" James pounced into the room and pulled off the covers from Liz's bed. She tugged them back and over her head.

"You know I almost never willingly wake up before ten," she grumbled. Lily sat up and smiled at James. She was much more good-natured than Liz in the morning.

"Almost?" she asked, feigning casualness. Liz threw a pillow at her with her eyes still tightly shut.

"Not to be discussed now, Lils." James narrowed his eyes.

"Should I be scared?" he asked. Lily laughed.

"No, it's nothing," she replied. "Just a little something Liz said a while back." James motioned to Sirius, who had emerged from James's room. He yawned and rubbed his eyes.

"Padfoot, go get a shirt," James sighed.

"No," Sirius said stubbornly, "I like being shirtless." At this, Liz shot up. She looked around the room excitedly. Sirius nodded at Liz. "You're up early, I see. Much earlier than usual. Special occasion?" How would he know how early Liz normally wakes up, Lily wondered.

"Yeah, I just want to, er, enjoy the last few days of summer?" Liz said breathlessly.

"Ohhhhh," James said slowly, "now I get the almost."

Lily laughed. "Yes, you do get it now."

"So... what are we doing today?" Liz asked brightly. Her cheeks had blushed dark red.

Sirius looked at Lily and James and Liz. "Did I miss something? Something with you..."

"You're almost as bad as Liz," James said, "it's September first."

Liz sank back to her bed. "That's right," she said, "I almost forgot. Hogwarts."