James woke up with a weird feeling that morning. He reached for his glasses on his bed-side table. When he put them on he saw three pairs of eyes staring at him. Sirius spoke first. "Does James really have to leave the girls he spends the night with alone in his bed?"

"Could you be any ruder Sirius?" replied Remus, followed by "I'm sure James will be back soon". They all seemed to talk in his direction, but the only person in his bed was himself.

"Guys, cut it out!" James said. Only his normally basso voice sounded abnormally high, he realized. Extremely like a…. A girl's!

"James?" Sirius said, with his eyes nearly flying out of his sockets. "Mate, I think you're a little too in touch with your feminine side!" Peter chuckled.

"What's wrong with my voice? What are you talking about?" He shouted in the soprano voice he now expected to come out of his mouth. Although he suspected what might be wrong with him. When he looked in the mirror, his fears were confirmed. "I'm a girl!" he squealed. This was not good! "What I'm I going to do?" He asked his friends, who by that time were all rolling on the floor laughing.

"Prongsie, mate, you have pissed someone seriously this time!" said Sirius between laughs.

"Guys, we can't let Prongs be a girl forever!" exclaimed Peter, who had strangely recovered first.

"Yes, you pricks! You have to change me back! What will Lily say if she sees me as a girl!"

"Well, think of it that way. With all the times she turned you down as a boy, you might have a better chance!" That earned Sirius a pillow in the face.

"I'm sorry to say that you throw like a girl, Prongs" Sirius chuckled.

"Okay, so James, do you have any idea who might've done this to you?" Remus took over.

A memory flashed into his mind. Last night, that Ravenclaw girl saying no boy understood what it's like to be a girl, but she would make him understand!

James groaned. "So I might've encountered a girl that said she would make me understand what it's like to be a girl…"

"Well, she definitely made her point!" said Sirius.

"Do you remember who it was?" asked Peter.

"What do you think?" replied James sarcastically.

"Well, classes start in half an hour. Let's go to breakfast and we'll discuss how we can reverse the spell." Stated the ever-practical Remus.

"You're so lucky the girls we bring here leave their stuff behind sometimes!" Sirius threw him a skirt and a shirt. This was going to be a long, long day!

They walked into the great hall, and thankfully everyone else was too busy or not yet awake enough to notice that virtually only three Marauders made it to the Gryffindor table. Everyone except the person James wished wouldn't notice him the most. But of course, ten minutes into breakfast, he saw the familiar mob of flaming red hair moving to his direction.

"Hello Remus. Sirius, Peter." Lily nodded curtly. "Care to tell me why not one inanimate object has sung a ridiculous song in attempt to ask me out by your fellow, and might I add, missing friend?" She paused scanning the rest of the Gryffindor table, as if to make sure she hadn't missed James somewhere along it. "Not that I'm not grateful I haven't been publically humiliated, but silence isn't really James style, unless something worse is coming along. If that's the case, I would appreciate a heads-up." Said the fifth-year Gryffindor. "And who's your friend? I don't believe we've met, I'm Lily Evans." The last bit was intended for James.

"Hi. I'm… " He looked to his friends for help.

"She's Sam, a friend of ours. She's in seventh year, that's why you probably haven't seen her around." James should remember to buy Remus a huge bag of Honeydukes finest.

"Yeah! I'm Sam. Nice to meet you." He said.

"You're in seventh year?" said Lily. "You must study all the time for your NEWT's."

"Well, I prefer to use other methods that don't require that much time." He replied. "We should talk about them sometime. I'm sure they'll be helpful for your OWL's too."

"That'd be great!" Lily said with a smile. "We should hang out today after class. I wouldn't want you spending too much time with these three and the missing one. I would expect your marks to go increasingly downwards. No offence Remus." With that she walked away.

"Prong, I believe Sam just accomplished in 5 minutes what you couldn't in 5 years. You've got a date with Lily Evans!" cheered Sirius. And that he did.

Just as James was closing the last book he had gathered for search, his three friends came in through the library door.

"We had a tough time convincing Mc Gonagal you were sick. She wanted to escort you to the hospital wing herself!" Remus whisper shouted.

"All the other teachers were no problem though. Just a little suggestion at what you could be doing if you had been in class, and they were more than happy to leave you be!" Sirius said gleefully.

"Well there's nothing in these books that says how to reverse the stupid spell. So Remus' idea is out. And no Peter, I will not ask for a sex-changing potion!" Peter , who had started to say something, closed his mouth.

"Anyway, I have a date with Lily, and girl or not, I am not going to miss the first chance I have to spent some time with Lily, without her wanting to scream at me." And with that James was out of the library doors.

She was sitting by the entrance, her hair getting in her face in the most endearing way.

"Hey, Lily!" James shouted.

She looked at him and smiled. "Hi, Sam! Wanna go by the lake?"

"Sure!" She could've asked him to go to the moon with him, and he'd have said yes.

When they reached the lake they both sat down.

"Lily can I ask you a question?" said "Sam".

"Shoot."

"Why do you always turn James down?"

"Oh…" she paused. "Well, I think he's a great guy. And very smart. But he uses his resources in the wrong ways. If he just saw what was important, maybe…" She shook her head. "It doesn't matter. I doubt he'll ever change."

"What if he was willing to change? I'm sure if you told him what was bothering you he'd be happy to give it a try…" And at that moment all he wanted was to try. He wanted to see whatever Lily saw as important. And then he started to change. Not the way Lily expected, that much was clear by her startled expression.

"What the… James?"

"Yes?" And when he spoke his voice was his own. And then he remembered. Boys never change!