"Moony we're so close!" Sirius exclaimed as the marauders walked into the Great Hall.

"Well why don't you just shout it out to everyone, why don't you?" Remus hissed, "Just let everyone know that my three best friends are all completely breaking the law and trying to become animagi at age 15."

"Breathe, Moony," James patted him on the shoulder, "You're gonna blow a vessel before term even begins. That'll be a record, eh?"

"Oh shut it. You don't help, setting off firecrackers on the train. I am a prefect now and I suspect Dumbledore did it in hopes that I would straighten you lot out," Remus sat down at the end of the table, as they had been doing since halfway through first year.

"Little does he know that you're the brains of most of the stunts we pull," Peter snorted, following suit.

"Oi, he doesn't have all the brains! Hey there, Johnson, looks like someone finally grew a pair. A nice pair at that," Sirius winked at Gabriella Johnson, fellow yearmate, as he sat down next to her, with James on his other side.

"What's he talking about?" Peter whispered, "She's had those since second year."

"Oh, Peter, your friend is just being an absolute prat to kick of them start of term. No different than usual," Gabriella rolled her eyes and slide two feet further away from Sirius.

GGGGGGGGGGGGGGGGGGGGGGGGGGGGGGGGGGGGGGGGGGGGGGGGGGGGGGGGGGGGGGGGGGGGGGGGGGGGGGGGGGGGGGGGGGGGGGGGGGGGGGGGGGGGGGGGGGGGGGGGGGGGGGGGGGGGGGGGGGG

"What the hell is this!?" Frank Longbottom shouted as he was one of the first upperclassmen to walk into the common room, "How the hell did they even get in here before the rest of us? No one knew the password!" he shook his head as he went up to the fifth year dorm.

"POTTER!"

"Ahh, Prong's favorite sound, Evans screaming his name. Now if only it was in pleasure and not absolute distaste," Sirius propped his feet up on one of the tables in the corner.

"Padfoot, you're really not helping. I thought we convinced him not to start off the year with yet another marriage proposal to Lily?" Remus sighed as he made his way to the table Sirius claimed and rested his head on his shoulder.

"Yeah," Peter scratched his head, "But then he saw Peeves and he figured Peeves still owed him from last year. So he decided to cash in tonight. That's how this all happened," he gestured towards the many pictures of Lily and James magicked together arranged to spell out 'Lily Potter'.

"Yes, Evans? Or apparently Potter, according to whomever created this masterpiece," James smirked.

"Oh, he's going to slapped," Sirius went to sit on the edge of his seat, but didn't want to disturb Remus, "Please let this be the time she finally does it!"

"Lily, just leave him alone. He does it to get a rise out of you," Marlene McKinnon grabbed Lily and dragged her up the steps to their dorm, with Dani Adams and Alice Fawley giggling as they walked behind them.

"Well, way to make sure she didn't forget you over summer holiday, Prongs," Remus shook his head and stood up, "I am going to go lie down."

"That's always the idea," James smirked.

"Moony, it's only 8:30!" Sirius said in outrage, "Stay up with us; we've missed you."

"Pads, we were just at Prong's for an entire week together, as usual, and we rode here together, as usual, and sat together, as usual. Moony always goes to bed early. He's like my gran," Peter snickered.

"Goodnight, Moony. Be sure to wake me first so I can shower while you fight to wake up this big baby in the morning," Jams waved.

"I'm not waking any of you, so you can learn to grow up and set your own alarms," Remus huffed and turned to head to bed.

"He better not wake me. With my luck, we'll kick off the year with double potions first thing tomorrow morning," Sirius scowled.

"Don't you put that on us, Padfoot," James shook his finger in his face, "We ought to follow Moony and at least head upstairs. First night and all."

"It'll be the only night," Sirius grumbled.

GGGGGGGGGGGGGGGGGGGGGGGGGGGGGGGGGGGGGGGGGGGGGGGGGGGGGGGGGGGGGGGGGGGGGGGGGGGGGGGGGGGGGGGGGGGGGGGGGGGGGGGGGGGGGGGGGGGGGGGGGGGGGGGGGGGGGGGGGGG

"Moony! You really didn't wake us. You always wake us. I don't even know how to cast an alarm spell," Sirius exclaimed as he rushed into the Great Hall at 8:50 the following morning.

Moony sipped his tea, "I told you I wasn't going to wake you. Wormtail was able to wake up on time."

"That's because Wormtail is the world's lightest sleeper and Padfoot is probably the heaviest," James yawned, "I only got to wake up because he was yelling out your name and not in the way Evans will be yelling mine by the end of the year. I'm telling you guys, this is -"

"The year," the three of the them said in the same monotone that could only mean that they've heard it one too many times.

"You say it every year, since second year, mate. Do you think maybe it won't happen? Ever," Remus asked.

"Don't believe him, Prongs mate! She'll warm up to you eventually. You are simply irresistible," Sirius puckered his lips in James' direction.

Remus cleared his throat, "Maybe you really should just let her breathe a little. I mean she's always been amicable towards me when we get a study group together or something but I'm going to be spending a lot more time with her this year and I really don't want her hating me and wanting me traded with Longbottom or something."

"Moony, you're bloody brilliant!" James slammed his palm on the table, making half off the table snap their attention towards their end of the table before realizing it was just the marauders, "You're going to be with her all the time. Meetings, rounds, probably questions and the like. Talk to her! Talk me up, not that I need much of that, but just make her see what she's trying so hard not to. That I'm perfect for her!" James' smugness was a clear indication that he thought his plan was flawless.

"No, Prongs," Remus stacked his silverware onto his plate as he got up to leave for class, "Like I said, I don't want her to hate me. We're very good acquaintances and I'd like to even become proper mates with her just to make it better for us. And talking to her about the one person that she loathes more than anyone else in this school is not the way to make that happen. I love you, mate-"

"Oi, I thought Prongs was my lover!" Sirius objected in the background.

"but winning over Lily's heart is all down to you."

"Ha! So I shouldn't give up is what you're saying," James grabbed his time table from Remus.

Remus sighed, "Your selective hearing is almost as bad as Sirius'."

GGGGGGGGGGGGGGGGGGGGGGGGGGGGGGGGGGGGGGGGGGGGGGGGGGGGGGGGGGGGGGGGGGGGGGGGGGGGGGGGGGGGGGGGGGGGGGGGGGGGGGGGGGGGGGGGGGGGGGGGGGGGGGGGGGGGGGGGGGG

"Ugh, the nerve of Potter. You would think that he would just leave me the friggin' hell alone," Lily glared at James as he slammed his hand on the table, disrupting everyone's breakfast.

"Lils, just ignore him. We say this every year - he does it because he gets a big, dramatic reaction out of you and if you simply quit reacting then he'll quit all of the theatrics," Marlene rubbed her arm in sympathy.

"Yeah, Lily, Gabi ignores Sirius and he only bothers her about once a month, rather than once a week," Dani giggled.

Gabi rolled her eyes, "I dunno why he insists on messing with me. He's a giant pain in the arse and frankly I hope the giant squid eats him on his way back up from care of magical creatures."

"Oh my goooooosh, I am so over you two complaining. They're fit! Take all of the attention and let it fluff your ego, then walk away," Dani huffed.

"Easy for you to say, you're not having huge pictures of your face plastered all over the common room for everyone to see. For Merlin's sake, I am a prefect this year. The first years aren't going to take me seriously if they see me act that way. But Merlin help me, Potter is such a bloody prat!"

"Easy, dear. Much louder and the entire hall will hear you," Marlene shook her head and laughed at her best friend.

"Oh, there's Sev, I wasn't able to catch up with him last night because we had to escort the first years. I'll meet you lot in class," Lily waved bye and jogged to the doors as Severus walked out.

"Hey! I couldn't find you on the train yesterday. You normally wait on the platform for me, what happened?" Lily linked her arm with his but he quickly shrugged out of it.

"Uhh, sorry, Avery and Yaxley found me and took me off to their compartment. I think Yaxley put some sort of charm on it so no one would disturb us. He was telling us about his summer and I guess was rather embarrassed," Severus tried to laugh it off.

"Oh. Okay. Since when are you ad Yaxley friends?" Lily tucked her hair behind her ear and looked down.

Severus paused at the bottom of the stairs and turned to her, finally making eye contact when the pause was too long, "Lily, it's no big deal. All of our family are friends, it's only a matter of time before our paths cross and we find out that the other is actually pretty decent company. I would like to have more than just you and Avery for my friends."

"No, Sev, I know. It was just surprising is all. We don't get to see each other o much and I know this year it'll be worse because we're both prefects and we have O.W.L.s this year. The train is our main time to just chat and laugh."

Severus sighed and scratched his head, "Yeah I know. I am sorry about that, Lily. If I don't see you today, we're still on for Wednesday night in the library, just as usual."

Lily brushed off his earlier defensiveness and assumed he was just tired or something, so she smiled brightly at him and simply said, "I noticed we have double potions tomorrow before and after lunch, so we'll partner up there. But still on for Wednesday as always. See you later, Sev," she kissed his cheek and walked the other way to charms.

GGGGGGGGGGGGGGGGGGGGGGGGGGGGGGGGGGGGGGGGGGGGGGGGGGGGGGGGGGGGGGGGGGGGGGGGGGGGGGGGGGGGGGGGGGGGGGGGGGGGGGGGGGGGGGGGGGGGGGGGGGGGGGGGGGGGGGGGGGG

"So did you hear about the muggle town right outside of south London? Completely wiped out, every single person. Signs of dark magic everywhere, rumors of that same symbol in the air according to some, but of course that didn't make the papers," Dani said solemnly as they headed outside to herbology.

"Yeah," Lily sighed, "I did. This is the first I'm hearing about the symbol but that doesn't surprise me. I saw over the summer, that they were going after actually wizards and witches now. Muggleborns of course but still. I didn't think they would shed magical blood, but again, not exactly surprised."

"Worried, Evans? I wouldn't be if I were you. You could probably take him down on your own. You're top of our class, probably top of the whole school," James winked.

"Joy, you're in this class too, I see," Lily scoffed and picked up her pace as she yelled back at them, "These are serious matters and yet Potter is trying to use the moment to throw a line. Unbelievable!"

"I was just trying to- ugh!" James rubbed his face and turned to Moony, "Is she right though? I didn't read the papers this morning. Was there a bad attack last night?"

Remus nodded once, "Two nights ago but the minister was trying to keep it out of the papers. There's was a quote saying the ministry didn't want to cause a panic but I'd say it's a bit late for that."

"Andy says the aurors are going crazy trying to capture someone, anyone. But by the time they get there, everyone is already dead and the death eaters are long gone. Driving the head of the department mad," Sirius explained.

"Oh you saw Andromeda over the summer? How's Nymphadora?" Remus tried to change the subject.

"No, just wrote her. Mum would kill me if she caught me seeing her and while I don't really care what she thinks, she made it very hard for me to leave the house until Mrs. Potter showed up to collect me. Nymphadora is a riot, as usual. She's trying to control her metamorphmagus skills and she's able to pick a color and change her hair on command. Andy says she's doing great, really advanced for her age."

"Yeah remember dad said he ran into Teddy at the ministry and he told him that her hair color of choice right now is purple," James laughed.

"How many people were in that muggle town?" Peter whispered.

"1,500," Remus sighed.

GGGGGGGGGGGGGGGGGGGGGGGGGGGGGGGGGGGGGGGGGGGGGGGGGGGGGGGGGGGGGGGGGGGGGGGGGGGGGGGGGGGGGGGGGGGGGGGGGGGGGGGGGGGGGGGGGGGGGGGGGGGGGGGGGGGGGGGGGGG

"Well I am exhausted!" Sirius yawned as he laid on couch, putting his feet in Remus' lap.

"It's only 8:30," Remus mocked, "Plus you didn't do anything all day, each teacher just talked about what to expect throughout our O.W.L. year," he pushed Sirius's feet out of his lap.

Sirius twisted and laid his head in Remus' lap instead, "Yeah and listening to teachers drone on and on sucks the life out of me. I am not built for that. I am built for casting spells and making women swoon for me. Why are you tired?"

"Still not quite sure why girls swoon, you're not swoon worthy," James strutted over and knocked Sirius' feet off of the couch, almost causing him to fall, "And Moony took a nap after class while we were trying to get the spell down."

"Without me, Moony!? The betrayal!" Sirius wept.

"Oh shove off, Padfoot. You always make fun of me and try to keep me up when I nap. Being new prefects, me and Lily are scheduled on tonight's rounds. We'll be going at 9:30."

James actually gasped, "You're going to be with Evans and didn't tell me!? What kind of mate are you?"

"Yeah, Moony! Bros before hoes! And naps. Ow!" Sirius held his abdomen after James punched him in the gut.

"Evans is a wonderful young woman, not a hoe," James fumed.

"Mates before dates?" Sirius asked.

"Better," James nodded.

"Well first, Prongs would have to get a date with Lily," Peter laughed.

"And I will. She's going to come around. This year is-"

"The year," Remus, Sirius, and Peter sighed.

"Besides, Remus is going to help. Nothing drastic," James cut Remus off when he saw signs of protests, "Just some recon for me. Simply apologize for your doofus friend, like I know you've done in the past and just get a feel of her reaction. My problem is obviously that I just haven't asked her in a way that will sweep her off of her feet. But with some help from Moony, I will have a date with her before Christmas break!" James sounded triumphant. Or delusional, depending on who you asked.

GGGGGGGGGGGGGGGGGGGGGGGGGGGGGGGGGGGGGGGGGGGGGGGGGGGGGGGGGGGGGGGGGGGGGGGGGGGGGGGGGGGGGGGGGGGGGGGGGGGGGGGGGGGGGGGGGGGGGGGGGGGGGGGGGGGGGGGGGGG

"Hello, Lily," Remus greeted as she descended from the girls' dorm stairs, "How was you first day of classes?"

"Not that you weren't there for all of them," Lily laughed, "It was fine, normal first day. Definitely better than last night for me."

"Yeah I figured that would be brought up. If not by you, then by me so I could apologize for my doofus friend. He seems to think that this year is the year you'll actually march up to him and snog his face off instead of slapping him. Which Sirius is desperately waiting on by the way," Remus explained.

"Oh it's definitely going to be the year that I slap James Potter across his face. He pushed it so close last year and last night was a close call. I think the whole common room knew it too, that's why Marlene dragged me upstairs. Didn't want me setting a bad example for the younger ones."'

"Again, I want to apologize for his idioacity," Remus stepped aside so Lily could walked out of the portrait hall first.

"No, you don't need to apologize for him. You always do it. Potter is a big boy and he knows what he's doing. He's showing his arse and simply doesn't care. That's on him," Lily shrugged.

"You are right, but people tend to see me as the idiot whisperer when it come to James and Sirius, so I'm just used to answering for them."

"Well that's stupid. On other people's part, not yours. Why would anyone think those two would actually listen to someone?" Lily rolled her eyes, "But how was your day, Remus? How was your summer?"

GGGGGGGGGGGGGGGGGGGGGGGGGGGGGGGGGGGGGGGGGGGGGGGGGGGGGGGGGGGGGGGGGGGGGGGGGGGGGGGGGGGGGGGGGGGGGGGGGGGGGGGGGGGGGGGGGGGGGGGGGGGGGGGGGGGGGGGGGGG

The two wandered around the corridors, not running into anyone except a first year Ravenclaw who was having a hard time answering the riddle and was in tears over it. Thankfully it was one that Remus had heard before so they were able to let him in. It was just shy of 10:30 when they were nearing the end of their rounds and were heading for the last set of stairs before ending up at the Fat Lady's portrait, when they heard footsteps. At first, thinking it was Flitwick's, seeing as they had already run into him once that night as he was the teacher set to do rounds with them, they just kept walking. But then they heard a deeper tone speak and backtracked around the corner. Standing before them was Bartemius Crouch Jr.

"Excuse me, are you lost? Why are you out of bed so late?" Lily politely asked.

Bartemius snapped around, "No I'm not lost, I'm not an idiot. And it's none of yours as to why I'm out right now so you best just keep walking if you know what's good for you."

"Is that a threat, Crouch?" Remus' wandhand twitched.

It didn't go unnoticed by Bartemius, as his eyes were stuck on his hand, "No, no threats. Just saying you'll wanna keep your nose out of things. You don't want to get hurt. I wouldn't dare hurt a prefect, ut there are others. Others who don't like the blood coursing through your veins. Other who will be doing something about it and-"

"That's enough Crouch. You shouldn't be out of bed and you need to get going, five point will be taken for your obvious rle breaking," a voice came from the shadows.

"Severus? What are you doing out? Are you with him?" Lily's eyes went back and forth, having never been afraid of Severus but right now feeling a little caught off guard.

"No, of course not. I saw him slip out of the common room and went to follow him to-"

"And you've just followed him up the entire castle rather than tell him to get his arse back in? An additional five points taken for lack of proper authority" Remus growled.

Severus looked towards Lily with an eyebrow raised. When Lily said nothing, he scoffed, "Very well then. Crouch, let me show you back to the dungeons."

Severus through his cloak back as he passed between Remus and Lily, making Lily jump. Remus put his arm around her and watched them walk away with hushed whispers between them.