For the first time in her life, Lily was sad that the Christmas holidays were ending and that she would be going back to school. It had been fun spending time with the Marauders. Lily couldn't spend too much time with them at school, because she took more classes then any of them. It was also harder, because the work was NEWT level. Lily was taking eight classes, and the workload was beginning to catch up to her.

"Hey, Lily!" James called, and Lily looked around. "Ready to go?"

"Yeah, thanks so much James. You really saved my Christmas!"

"No problem. Oh, and you like me now, because I haven't played any pranks on you, but-"

"James!"

"-I'll try not to play any pranks on you, but it has been hard," he added.

"Don't do it!" Lily said angrily.

"I'll try!" With that, James grabbed her trunk and pulled it out of her room and towards the car. The Marauders followed, and they reached King's Cross Station a good half hour before the train left at eleven. They boarded the train and found seats together.

The train ride was boring, so they decided to play Truth or Dare. James spun the bottle and it landed on Lily who asked for truth.

"Lily, if you had to date anybody in this compartment, who would it be?" he asked thinking that Lily would say him without hesitation. But he was wrong. Lily thought for a full five minutes before speaking.

"Well, it depends. Sirius is too crazy sometimes, and you are too annoying. So, I guess, maybe, I would probably date Remus." Everyone stared at her in shock and disbelief. "Remus is smart, caring, he knows what he is doing, and he has a head on his shoulders.

"Hey, I've got a head on my shoulders. Unless you pulled it off, which you couldn't have because I'm talking," James said irritated with Lily's decision.

"You know, you asked the question!"

"Let's just move on with the game," Sirius said, knowing that the conversation would end up in an argument.

Lily spun the bottle and it landed on Sirius. He obviously said dare. Lily grinned wickedly.

"I dare you to start singing any song you like, as loud as you can, in the Great Hall during Dumbledore's speech." They all stared at Lily.

"You're on!" Sirius said. He spun the bottle and it landed on James.

"I dare you to kiss Lily," he said reading his friend's thought.

"No!" Lily shrieked as James came closer. He put his arm around her and leaned in. He kissed Lily on the lips. In a second, Lily had pulled away.

"Lily!" James said disappointedly. Her lips were like velvet and they tasted like the cherry lipgloss she had on. He had wanted to kiss her forever and never let go.

"What? You kissed me! Sirius never said it had to be longer then a second!" James glared at Lily and Sirius. He picked up the bottle and threw it at Sirius. He dove just in time, and it hit the glass door.

"Reparo," Lily said pointing her wand at the door. For the rest of the ride, they sat in silence. James was happy that he had finally kissed Lily, and she was mortified. Hours later when they were getting out, Sirius whispered,

"There's a part two of the dare. The other part is that you have to kiss Lily in the Great Hall sometime before her birthday for at least 10 seconds." James stared at Sirius, and then agreed.

"If you insist." James was glad that it was dark, because he was thrilled and was doing a tiny happy dance.

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"Hey Lily!" Lily turned around to see Sirius walking towards her with James. "Like the song I chose?" Lily smiled. Sirius had sung a muggle song as loud as he could and had gotten a double detention for it.

"Yeah, it was good," she said. "I was thinking that we start pranking tomorrow." James and Sirius were surprised, but they smiled. They loved to prank, after all.

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The next day, Lily received a mark from her Transfiguration essay back. She had done it right before the holidays, and was upset when it said A in red ink on the top of her paper. She had never gotten anything below an E, and even that was rare. She was so upset that she forgot about everything but the mark. Then she had an idea.

When McGonagall's back was turned, Lily waved her wand softly muttering, "Megwa Fentilia!" She hurried off towards the Great Hall for lunch afterwards. She met the other Marauders waiting for her.

"So Lily. What should our first prank be?"

"Watch McGonagall's back. It should tell you," she said and began to eat her lunch. The others glanced at each other and saw McGonagall enter then. They read the words on the back of her robe and it said, 'Professor McDungball. They weren't the only people to laugh. In fact, the whole hall burst into laughter.

Sirius pulled Lily away and they ran towards the Common Room with Remus and James behind them. They made it inside, and panting, began to talk.

"What made you do that?" James asked smiling.

"I got a dreadful grade on my essay."

"What, an E?" Sirius said laughing.

"No, an A! I've never done so badly, and I was so upset. I had to let my anger out somehow!" Remus grinned and shook his head.

"Ohh, you're going to get in trouble!" he said in a mocking voice.

"No, I'm not. Even if they did find out that it was me who did that, I wouldn't get into trouble. I read Hogwarts: Book of Rules three times, and nowhere does it say that you can't do that."

"Alright."

"So, prank number two. What should we do?" Sirius asked.

"Oh, we can come up with something. In fact, I have an idea right now."

Lily bent down and began to tell them exactly what she had in mind.

"Brilliant!" roared Sirius shaking with laughter. "I can't wait to do this!"

They all agreed and began planning everything out at once.