Author's note: Hi! If you are here to see if I'm still alive and writing my Supernatural story, To Hell and Back, yes, I am. But not in the Summer. Remus and Sirius are my Harry Potter OTP! I hope you enjoy this story.

Words in this story: 3352

"James," Remus said one evening in the Common Room. "What is it with you and that Snitch?"

Even though the conversation was private, the boys were the Marauders, so, naturally, everyone heard. The room froze. No one had ever asked James about his Snitch before. More accurately, no one had ever gotten away un-hexed/jinxed after asking the question before. None of James' closest friends had ever asked, partly in self-preservation (Peter) and partly because they simply didn't care (Sirius). Remus, being a friend of one Lily Evans, often heard stories of James playing with the stolen Snitch.

"I mean," he continued, as if nothing happened. "It's not like you're a Seeker."

The occupants of the Gryffindor Common Room shifted their attention to James. About half of them were hoping that he would fire a spell at his Prefect friend, and that a Wizards' Duel (as well as some of the smartest Sixth Years Hogwarts had ever seen could have one) would commence.

"I'm not?" James cried.

"No, I don't think you are," Remus agreed. "Well. . . maybe in an alternate reality you are, but in this one, you are a Chaser. I may not play Quiddich for the House Team, but I don't think Chasers have anything to do with Snitches."

"And you would be right, my dear Moony!" James cried again, this time more dramatically.

If anyone in the Common Room wondered why James Potter had just called Remus Lupin "Moony", it would have been because they lived under a rock. Though nobody (except perhaps Dumbledore) knew why he had such a strange nickname, they had learned to accept it long ago (that may or may not have been because James hexed the last person who asked).

"So I was right, and you play with the Snitch to show how arrogant a prat you are?" asked Remus casually.

"No, to show how positively brilliant I am!" corrected James.

"Hmm," nodded Remus. "Let's agree to disagree on that one."

James laughed heartily. The members of the audience that were there to just see a fight left—all they would find here would be friendship.

The crowd dissipated quickly after that. The four Marauders, James, Remus, Sirius, and Peter, huddled in the corner they were sitting in, and continued planning their next Big Prank. Because those kinds of pranks had to be capitalized.

When the huge, red and gold, clock chimed that it was fifteen minutes to nine, Peter jumped up.

"James, we've got to go!" he cried. "We have detention with McGonagall!"

"That we do," James noted with indifference, but got up as well, turning to Remus and Sirius. "Why don't you have detention, too?"

"Because we knew to hide under the cloak," Remus pointed out.

"Stupid dogs," James muttered.

"You don't have to go," Sirius groaned when his friends started to gather their robes.

"Tenth detention of the year," James said proudly—it was only the fourth week of school. "Well, with McGonagall, anyway."

"We can't miss it," Peter added. "She'd be devastated."

"And mad," Remus added, pointing to the open Marauders Map. "Look, she's already pacing."

Peter gulped inaudibly. James, though he presented the air of indifference, was also a bit scared of McGonagall's punishment if they were late or not present at all.

With a cheerful wave, Remus and Sirius watched their friends depart. They knew that James and Peter would only be back at about midnight, possibly later. None of them knew what McGonagall was having them do, so they were a bit nervous (keep it to yourself). As the portrait hole closed behind James and Peter, Remus and Sirius heard the Fat Lady mutter something about "delinquents who should sleep in the hall" instead of waking her up.

Remus and Sirius stayed hovering over their plans for another fifteen minutes, and, when the clock struck nine, silently wished their friends luck and went upstairs to the dormitory.

"Why did you ask Prongs about the Snitch?" asked Sirius, changing into his pajamas.

"Because I was annoyed at its constant buzzing," Remus answered, taking off his shirt.

"Ah," Sirius agreed, then, with an unusual curiosity on his face, turned to Remus. "Why do you think he does it?"

"Because a Quaffle is too heavy to lug around," explained Remus, sliding out of his trousers.

"Oh," Sirius said quietly, unabashedly staring at Remus' ass.

"Stop it," he heard, then grinned widely.

"Don't you like my staring, Moony?" he asked innocently.

"Just get undressed," Remus felt, rather than saw, that Sirius' smile grew. "And put your pajamas on."

Sirius' face fell, but only for a moment. "Do you think Evans knows that he does it only for her?"

"Well," Remus pondered it for a second. "I think she may have considered it once or twice. But I think that she doubts the sincerity of his feelings. Maybe she thinks that all he wants is a pretty face that he can dump when he gets bored."

"If that's the only reason he's doing it, he definitely spends way too much time talking about her!" Sirius added.

"Do you think they'll get together?" asked Remus, already dressed for bed.

"I bet you ten Galleons they get married when school's over," Sirius said, sliding on his sleep T-shirt.

"And I bet you fifteen they name their first child Harry," Remus agreed. "After James' imaginary friend."

"Shake on it?" Sirius asked.

"I'd prefer to kiss."

"That works."

When James and Peter returned to the dorm, it was almost midnight. McGonagall had had them clean up her huge classroom—the Muggle way. Neither boy was used to this type of labor (both were from wizard families), so it took a while and was very tiring. They were dragging their feet, and, had gotten a ten-minute lecture from the Fat Lady about waking her up to let them into the Gryffindor Tower.

And, to add insult to injury (that was the Muggle saying, wasn't it?), they found Remus and Sirius asleep, curled up in (the horror!) James' bed. Unfortunately, being so tired, he didn't notice and flopped down onto what he thought was a nice, soft, safe, warm mattress. Of course, at the moment, luck was not on James' side.

"Aagh!" he heard Sirius' voice.

Remus, a very deep sleeper, did not react to the skinny blob of James that was flopped ungracefully onto him as Sirius jumped out of bed. He merely mumbled something about Nargles and chocolate, and burrowed into James' fluffy pillow and extra-soft blanket.

"James?" Sirius hissed.

"You—you and Moony. . . in my bed! You—you had—you had—no! Not in my bed!" James cried.

"Shut up," Sirius clamped a hand over James' mouth. "Do you want Remus to wake up?"

James didn't know if this was self-preservation or Sirius' "caring boyfriend" tendencies. Either way, he calmed down, shuddering at the thought of the last time he had woken up Remus in the middle of the night. The less said about it, the better, but (you curious, curious people) it had ended in him being found glued to Dumbledore's chair in the morning, wearing a very pink, very flowery, dress.

"No," he whispered back, batting Sirius' hand away. "But. . . my bed?"

Sirius merely smirked and climbed back in to James' bed. Remus, sensing his presence (or just considering him a very warm teddy bear), snuggled him immediately.

"Bugger," James whispered.

He went to his trunk, located at the foot of his (permanently dirty) bed, and grabbed what he would need for the next day (books, homework, a clean robe, the Snitch, his wand, quills, ink, and parchment) as well as a pillow, blanket, and pajamas.

Tiptoeing down the dormitory stairs, being very careful to stay quiet, he sighed deeply. The last time he had to do this was the night Remus and Sirius got together. That was a memory he'd prefer to stay buried. Luckily, no one woke up.

"Biggest couch, biggest couch," he mumbled. "Aha!"

James threw a hand over his mouth, startled by the volume of his exclamation, and nervously looked toward the dorm, listening for any sounds that might have indicated that anyone had gotten up. Fortunately, the Gryffindor Tower remained quiet and James let out a sigh of relief.

He made his way to the "biggest couch" and put down the pillow and blanket he got out of the dormitory before he left. Then, changing into the pajamas he also brought with him, James lay down on the "bed" and prepared himself for a good night's sleep.

"Potter?" came the shocked voice of none other than Lily Evans (soon to be Potter, according to James).

"Whozzat?" mumbled James, too sleepy to comprehend that the "love of his life" was speaking to him. Speaking instead of the usual yelling, berating, lecturing, sighing, or so many other unfavorable synonyms for "angrily shouting".

"Lily?" he gasped, sitting up.

"What are you doing here?" Lily asked, noticing the pillow and blanket. "Were you. . . sleeping in here?"

"I—" James located his glasses on the floor.

"Don't bother, Potter," Lily said with a smile. "One could hear Remus and Black last night."

"I missed that part," James admitted, for once feeling bad about misbehaving. "I was in detention. Peter, too."

"Thought so," Lily said, then looked down. "That prank, the one with the Slytherins? That was. . . fairly creative."

James' jaw dropped. Was this his Lily?

"It was just one compliment, Potter," yes, it was his Lily. "Don't get used to it."

"You might want to take a look at that," she said, pointing to James' Transfiguration essay that lay on the couch's arm. "I think you might have mistook the spell that turns furniture and household items into animals for the one that allows a witch or wizard to build houses."

She left James staring at her with a mix of awe, annoyance, and love.

He looked at her clock, noticing that it was eight in the morning. The rest of Gryffindor would be up soon, and James didn't fancy them seeing his sleeping place. Using the spell Lily mentioned, he turned the pillows and blanket into birds, and watched them fly out of the big open window on the other side of the room. Then, he shrunk his pajamas and put them in his pocket.

Hearing someone thundering down the stairs, ("a pitter-patter of little feet"—James needed to stop reading those Muggle children's books), James got moved closer to the staircase. It was Peter. He was showered and dressed, and, a surprised James noticed, actually had all of his quills, ink, books, parchment, and homework with him.

"How'd you sleep?" asked James. "As far as I can remember, you almost literally dropped dead on your bed as soon as we entered the dorm."

"Good," said Peter. "Why are you up so early?"

"Guess who slept in my bed?" said James tiredly.

"Ew!" cried Peter. "In your bed?"

"Yup," James nodded. "They have no decency."

Peter nodded his agreement, then added that they should get down to breakfast, as Remus and Sirius were nowhere to be found.

"This is where Hooch keeps the balls?" asked Remus, walking up to a shed.

"Yup," Sirius said.

Remus jiggled the handle on the shed's door, checking to see if it was locked. When it turned out that the door was, in fact, locked, he Alorohoma'd it open.

"You would think they'd invent a locking spell that can't be countered by Alorohomora," he commented.

"You'd think," Sirius agreed.

"Well. . ." Remus smirked devilishly. "Too bad for them."

Sirius could already see ideas floating around in Remus' head. Not ideas about what was going to happen now, because nothing was, but ideas about future pranks. Maybe even a new spell or two.

The box that held the Quiddich balls was big and brown, with a big lock on it.

"Alorohomora!" Sirius easily pointed his wand at it, smiling confidently.

To his immense surprise, the box stayed closed, and, he would swear on his mother's grave (why wouldn't she just die already?), the lock even blew him a raspberry.

"Damn," Remus said casually.

Sirius transfigured a stick on the ground into a rock, then banged it against the lock. After a few very enthusiastic tries, the lock fell of with a pitiful squeak.

"Sorry," Sirius laughed to the destroyed lock, not meaning what he said.

"No, you're not," Remus answered, and knelt.

Sirius joined him, and together they pulled up the lid. Inside, were four balls. But, of course, they knew that. The two Bludgers were struggling in their chains, and the Quaffle was calmly resting in its place. The Snitch, to their surprise, was also in its place.

"Huh," Sirius said. "So he isn't using the school's Snitch."

"That must be why none of the teachers confiscated it," Remus thought aloud. "There is nothing in the rules about not being allowed to carry your own Snitch. If it is James', he's not prohibited to carry it."

"Well," Sirius said. "When he leaves school, I bet you five Galleons that it will be put into the rules."

"And I bet you five that that will be the only addition—nothing about Bludgers or Quaffles," Remus added.

"Deal," Sirius agreed. "Seal it with a kiss?"

"I was thinking more along the lines of something. . . more," Remus wrapped his arms around Sirius' body.

"Here?" Sirius would have liked to say that he was shocked, but he honestly wasn't. "Next to Hooch's shed?"

"Up for it?"

"Always."

"Evans!" James call across the Gryffindor table in the Great Hall. "Go out with me?"

"I'd rather date the Giant Squid!" she called back.

"I can arrange that!" James answered.

"Please do!" Lily said, not worried. James would be too jealous of the Squid to do that.

Very few people had any kind of reaction to this other than the hope that this time, Lily might have agreed. This happened three times a day—breakfast, lunch, and dinner. She always refused. Except April Fools. Then, she agreed, and James always fell for it.

James would never confess to anyone that Lily's rejection hurt him. He knew he should be surprised by it, or fooled by in on the first of April, but he was a hopeful person who was hopelessly and helplessly in love. No matter what Lily said, it was love.

Lily was absent from Potions that day. James, being naturally protective (*cough*Mother Hen*cough*), worried about her. However, there was nothing he could do. So he sat with his usual Potions Partner, Peter, and stared longingly at where Lily would be.

At the next table, Remus and Sirius were being disgustingly romantic as they (read: Sirius) tried to make the potion they were supposed to be working on. Remus, being Horrible (yes, he was that bad at the practical part of it) at Potions, read the instructions and handed Sirius the ingredients. That was how they worked, with Remus doing the mental and Sirius doing the physical part of the job (in Potions, anyway).

The explosion that came around the middle of the class was, surprisingly, not Remus', but Frank Longbottom's fault. Frank was not bad at Potions, he just blew up a couple cauldrons per year. It was a bit of a tradition.

After Slughorn's yelling died down, as well as the smoke, everyone could see Snivellus, or what used to be him, merrily squawking. That's right, ladies and gentlemen! Out least favorite Slytherin was a chicken. A very greasy, skinny, unattractive chicken.

Frank smirked proudly as the rest of the class, even a few Slytherins, laughed at the "Potion Prince's" predicament.

Even though Lily wasn't there, it was one of the best Potions classes of James' entire life.

"Sirius!" cried James, latching onto his best friend's shoulders. "I can't find her! I can't find her anywhere!"

"Relax," Sirius answered, used to James' drama. "I'm sure she's probably already in the dorms."

"Yeah, probably," James agreed, though the smile that returned to his face wasn't as bright as it usually was.

He quickly guzzled down his dinner. Then, with a small goodbye to his friends, James all but ran out of the Great Hall. The Hall's occupants gazed after him in surprise. Apparently, this was going to be one of the few nights when he wouldn't ask Lily out. Speaking of which, where was she?

James, as a last resort before going to the Hospital Wing or stalking Dumbledore and demanding answers, ran up to Gryffindor Tower. He hoped that Lily would be in the Common Room, not in her dorm, but if she was, he would find a way in.

"Let me sleep!" he shouted to the Fat Lady.

The password was a message to all the students, and the portrait hoped that if they all said it for a year straight, they would know not to wake her up.

James ran into the portrait hole, tripping as he emerged in the Common Room.

"James!" shouted someone.

"Lily?" he said dreamily, sitting up.

"Are you alright?" she asked, kneeling down next to him.

"All the better for seeing you," he said. "Where were you all day? Are you okay? Are you ill? Are you dying? Did Sirius offend you? What about Snivellus?"

"Potter, stop!" Lily cried. "I'm fine! Everything's fine!"

She helped James up and they made their way to the couches. They chose the biggest one, the one that was James' bed last night, and sat down, a goo yard in between them.

"But where were you?" James begged.

"I. . ." Lily contemplated telling him the truth and decided to do it. "Sev and the Slytherins. . . they ambushed me in the halls today. Made my hair grow at an alarming rate. They came out with worse damage. I was in the Hospital Wing during my first class, and after that I just came up here."

"I'll kill him," James growled.

"No!" Lily cried. "Don't! Please. . . don't."

James nodded, but remained furious. "Why weren't you in any of your classes?"

"I didn't want to go," Lily blushed. "I was tired and angry."

"Oh."

"J—Potter?" Lily asked. "I was wondering. . . about what Remus said yesterday. Why do you play with that Snitch?"

"It's something I've always done," Lily looked surprised. "My father, when he was here, was a Seeker. He taught me how to catch Snitches. To his disappointment, I'm a Chaser. Now, when I say disappointment, I don't mean actual disappointment, I mean that he was sad that I wasn't following in his footsteps. Anyway, when I was off to Hogwarts, he gave me our Snitch."

"So," Lily asked. "The Snitch you carry around is a sort of father/son-good-luck charm?"

"Yeah!" James nodded vigorously. "But don't tell anyone! Please?"

"Of course not," Lily answered, laughing at he sight of James Potter, for once, nervous.

"Thanks," he sighed.

The silence between them grew.

"Well," Lily said, standing up. "Goodnight."

James mumbled something similar and watched her ascend the stairs to the Sixth Year Girl Dormitories. Lily actually spoke to him! They had a civil conversation! Oh, Sirius, Remus, and Peter would love to hear about it!

James merrily skipped up the stairs to his own dormitory, thinking about the tale he would tell his friends.

"Well, Moony," Sirius said philosophically from beneath James' Invisibility Cloak (property of all the Marauders). "Now we know."

"Yes, indeed, Padfoot," Remus said in the same voice.

They waited awhile, then followed James up to bed. Who knows, maybe Jily/Limes, Remus and Sirius' two couple names for Lily and James (they preferred the latter, but they needed to have both), would become true.

So, for this story to work, we need to assume that James didn't tell his friends about the Snitch. And, yes, I know that Lily and James didn't get together until Seventh Year. This isn't them being together, it's them acting civil. I hope you enjoyed, and, if you can, please tell me what you thought!