A/N: I really have no idea if I'm a sucky writer or not. Please read and review! And, as this is my first fanfic, try not to be too harsh... :)

Marauder's Era

When Pixies Dance

Lily Evans crossed and uncrossed her ankles. She bit the inside of her cheek as she furrowed her brow and tucked a lock of long, dark red hair behind her ear. It was well into the night, yet the busy Head Girl had to go over some plans for the Prefect's Duties.

Lily sighed as she dipped her eagle-feather quill into her ink bottle, and a loud "Son of a - !" came from James Potter's room. The unfinished sentence didn't make Lily worry. After all, why should she? He was after all, unfortunately to both Lily and James, the Head Boy. He could take care of himself.

What Lily was worried about was the fact that they had to share the Head's quarters with one another. What if he changed the password just to annoy her? Or worse, tried to 'put the moves' on her?

What in Merlin's name possessed Dumbledore to choose Potter? Wondered Lily as her bright emerald eyes scanned the list, making sure the Prefect's Duties were spread equally amongst the four houses.

She couldn't see very well as her eyes became blurred and she yawned. Yikes! Lily thought with a jump, Is it really 12:30?

Checking her watch and the clock on the wall, she deduced that it was, in fact, 12:30.

Making a mental note to go over the Duties with James, Lily recapped her ink bottle, stuffed her quill in her bag and hurried into her room, falling into her bed without changing her attire.


"Potter?" asked Lily tentatively. As much as it killed her to admit it, she was rather intimidated by James and his friends, who seemed to have developed and toned their muscles over the summer at an alarming rate. Of course, she tried not to show it, but occasionally, they would smirk at her as if they knew exactly what was behind her timidness.

"Evans," he said coolly, stopping his animated conversation with Remus Lupin, who returned back to his cold breakfast.

"Here's the list of Prefect's Duties," she said, pulling out the list with difficulty. When she at last finished tugging it out of her unwilling bag, Lily gave it to James. "Make sure that you correct any mistakes that I've made-"

"Such as spelling all of the house's wrong?" interrupted James, pointing at her four errors. She flushed and nodded, then continued.

"- and change it how you see fit before the meeting tonight. It's at 7:30 and in the Transfiguration classroom," Lily added slowly, making sure it was clear to James what the venue and time was. He rolled his eyes.

"I know, Evans, I'm not blind, daft nor deaf. Although you don't notice it, I do read McGonagall's owls and listen to her." Lily flushed again. It was clear that James knew what to do, and was itching to continue his breakfast and conversation.

Nodding curtly, Lily joined her group of friends at the other end of the table, wishing that the blush would go away every time she caught James' hazel eyes.


"... And so," stated Professor McGonagall as she swept around the room, her tone suggesting that she was about to finish her lecture.

The room was devoid of any other sounds except the scratching of parchment, or moans of anguish as one realised they had finished their roll of parchment and had no more, or as one realised that they had no ink left and had to borrow from a neighbour, or as one realised that this lecture was completely time wasting, boring and easily found in their Transfiguration textbook and muttered this to a neighbour, causing five points to be taken away from their house. That lesson was learned pretty fast.

Either way, the Transfiguration Professor was satisfied with the note-taking skills of her NEWT students. She frowned at James, who was staring at nothing. He had no notes, in fact, he had no parchment, ink or quill in front of him. James was usually an avid note-taker when it came to Transfiguration.

She expressed her concern to James, and Lily tucked her curtain of hair behind her ear once more, straining to hear what was being exchanged between teacher and student. Every so often, she would glance their way. The rest of the class kept taking notes, unaware that their Professor had stopped talking.

"Potter," whispered McGonagall.

"Professor."

"Why haven't you taken notes?"

James sat straighter in his chair, with a thoughtful look adorning his features.

"I – I have covered this to the fullest extent, Professor. And I, unlike my classmates, have read the text and additional texts on this... matter," he said, not quite meeting her eyes.

She bristled.

"Very well, Potter."

And McGonagall ended her interrogation, and Lily hid behind her dark red hair once more.

"To become an Animagi, you would have to most essentials at hand. I had my essentials here, at Hogwarts, although I will not tell you what these essentials are," she pierced her students with a look, "for it is your assignment to have as much information gathered as possible. You will give me a twelve foot long essay about Animagi, how to spot them, how it would feel like to change into and out of your animal, how it would feel to be an animal, and so on and so forth, by the end of next week. Class dismissed."

Many did not hear her, for they were concentrating on writing down their assignment. Lily, not having the heart to disturb her classmates, packed her things as quietly as possible and snuck out to her next class, Herbology.


As Lily waited in front of the Herbology Greenhouses, she realised that she might as well sit down, as the bell wasn't due to ring for five more minutes. Sitting primly on the lone, stone bench outside, she felt a certain chill, alerting her to the fact that winter was certainly on its way.

Watching leaves blow about gently, she saw a shadow cross her line of sight, and she knew that she was not alone.

Lily looked up and saw James sulking around in the shadows. Her eyes travelled over his raven, permanently messy hair and his extremely pale and tired face. It seemed as though whatever made him stir last night kept him well awake for a while.

Shivering against a strong gust of wind, Lily drew herself closer, wishing she had at least brought a coat with her.

James' eyes caught hers and Lily shivered again, although this time it had nothing to do with the weather. Although she had not noticed it before, she noted a certain... haunted look was in his usually animated eyes.

What made him look so... zombie-like?

Slowly, more students came to stand in front of the Herbology Greenhouses.

Before Professor Sprout came to the door, Lily was determined to figure out what was wrong with James. After all, an inattentive Head Boy might cause more trouble than a blind Peeves in the Kitchens.