Okay, okay, I know I should be working on my other fics (all of which are incomplete!) but this idea just came to me last night, so I wrote it down ASAP. It'll probably only be a couple of chapters long, so don't go getting your hopes up (what a joke).

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"Lily? You coming?"

Lily Evans, an eighteen-year-old witch with auburn hair, shining green eyes and cheekbones like the blade of a plough, looked vaguely up from her Arithmancy book.

"What?"

"Are you coming?" Scarlett asked again.

"Coming where?"

"To the Hall!" moaned Scarlett exasperatedly.

"Oh." Lily said shortly, "Yeah, I guess I have to." She looked wistfully at page ninety-three of her book, the last page of that chapter to be exact.

"Come on Lils," Scarlett said, shutting the book with triumphant vindictiveness and pulling Lily away from her table in Gryffindor common room.

After being dragged through the portrait and down a couple of corridors, Lily decided she could walk by herself, and she made her own way towards the Great Hall for the seventh year meeting.

"I wonder who we'll get!" Scarlett squealed, as they sat down at the Gryffindor table beside their best friend and fellow Gryffindor, Clementine Krucynski.

"You managed to pry her away then," she said, grinning. Lily looked at her huffily.

"Just because you don't find Arithmancy interesting Clem, doesn't mean the rest of us do!" she complained loudly.

"Name me one other person in this room who enjoys it as much as you and I'll shut up about it," Clem laughed.

"Remus does! Don't you Remus?" Lily asked, addressing a sandy-haired boy sitting opposite them. He turned round hearing his name.

"Don't I what?" he asked, yawning widely and rubbing his eyes.

"You like Arithmancy don't you?"

"Yeah… I guess," he said turning away from them, back to his friends, namely Sirius Black, Peter Pettigrew, and Lily's arch-enemy, James Potter. The four of them were known as 'The Marauders,' but nobody quite knew why.

It was common knowledge in the school that James had 'the hots' for Lily Evans, and he had made this known to her by asking her out practically everyday for the past three years, which was probably why she hated him as much as she did. In her first couple of years at Hogwarts, she'd had him down as a friendly, considerate fellow Gryffindor, even conversed in an affable manner with him. But now, he was Public Enemy Number 1; which Lily and Clem had shortened to PEN 1, so they could talk about him privately whenever he or a fellow Marauder was within earshot. And Sirius was now PEN 2, so they could talk about him without Scarlett going off on a tangent.

And unfortunately, Potter, like Lily, was a Head Student. Lily wasn't about to deny that James was attractive, because he was, and everyone knew it. His best friend, Sirius Black, was also a 'hottie', but in a different sense.

James was cute, he had messy black hair and mischievous eyes; but Sirius was… graceful was the only word to describe him. He had long, dark hair, which swept elegantly over his face and soulful, grey eyes. But even though he looked graceful, his personality was most definitely not. All one had to do was look at the cheeky grin permanently attached to his face, to realise he was quite the prankster at heart. And Lily had had a crush on him the first time she met him, until she realised how much of an idiot he was, and bequeathed him to his hoards of fan girls.

"Where's Gwen?" Clem enquired, looking around. Scarlett shrugged half-heartedly.

"I couldn't find her," she said simply, looking across the table at the dark-haired boy.

"Ah, don't worry," Clementine assured her, "She'll turn up in the end, always does."

"Oh, I hope I get Sirius," Scarlett sighed loudly, not caring that Mr. Black himself was sitting just a couple of feet away from her.

"Yeah, you and every other girl in the year!" Clem said, smirking.

"That's not true," Lily cut in, "I wouldn't want Sirius."

"Why ever not?" asked Scarlett, taken aback, "Who wouldn't want him?"

"Lily, obviously," Clem answered, grinning at the expression on Scarlett's face.

"I'd just rather someone who would actually do some work," Lily told her matter-of-factly, "Not someone who'd just sit around putting Fudge Flies in my hair." She rolled her eyes, remembering all to well, the first (and last) time she had been paired with Sirius for an assignment.

Clem laughed and ran a thin hand through her own curly, strawberry-blonde hair, looking up to the other end of the Great Hall.

"Hey, guys," she said, nudging Scarlett, who was on her left, "McGonagall's almost finished with the Ravenclaws!"

"Okay, she's going to be announcing who we're going to be paired with for studying next!" Scarlett yelped, a delighted grin on face, "Wish me luck!" Lily rolled her eyes, but held up a hand with crossed fingers all the same.

"Luck!" she said, at the same time as Clem. Scarlett giggled, and turned her bright, baby blue eyes back towards the Professor.

Lily sighed. She wasn't entirely sure why she'd signed up for this NEWT course 'Study Buddy' thing in the first place. Sure, it had seemed like a good idea at the time, but she'd only recently realised that whoever you were paired with would be in the same house as you, which meant she would get Remus, Peter, Sirius or James.

Oh joy of joys, she thought sarcastically, and knowing my luck, I'll end up with Potter.

Remus would be good, he was just about the only other person in school who shared the same views as Lily when it came to school, and the only Marauder she was actually friendly towards.

Peter, she could cope with, he wasn't as annoying as the others and would most likely do whatever she told him, but he wasn't on the same intellectual scale as Remus.

Sirius, well, she wasn't looking forward to that if it happened, as it would probably end in a reoccurrence of the Fudge Fly incident.

And James? Let's not even go there. Hell, she'd even settle for Sirius if it meant not having to work with Potter.

Teachers seemed to like pairing them. Last year in Potions they'd had to work together a grand total of six times, much to Lily's disgust, and in Charms as well, to James' delight, as Lily was top of Charms, and he wanted to see if that would somehow rub off on him. Even this year, Dumbledore had given both of them the place of Head, for which Lily had almost considered giving in her badge, but decided she was not going to let someone like him get in her way.

Lily was just thankful she didn't have Arithmancy with him, as a lot of the work was in pairs, (most of which she had been with Remus). Thinking about it, that was probably why she enjoyed Arithmancy so much.

There was a sudden commotion at the back of the hall, as a dark-haired, dark-skinned girl came bursting in, knocking over some unfortunate Hufflepuff, unkempt flyaway hair and large brown eyes surrounded by sooty lashes.

"Gwennie, what took you?" asked Clem, staring in wonder at how disorganised the girl was.

Gwenog Jones, the last of the Gryffindors, squeezed in between Lily and Clementine, panting slightly, cheeks flushed.

"Oh, y'know," she said, waving her hand absentmindedly, "I was having a shower." She looked sideways at her frizzy hair and groaned loudly. "Oh, what I wouldn't give to be a Metamorphmagus!" she wailed, glaring at Scarlett, "Some people have all the luck!"

"What can I say honey?" said Scarlett, smiling. "Ya either got it or ya don't! Which reminds me," she added, turning to Lily, "Does this hair suit me?" She pointed to the cherry red layers on her head.

"Yeah…" said Lily slowly, "It's cute. Kinda… elfin."

"You sure?" asked Scarlett, picking up a spoon and looking at her reflection, "You think Sirius likes it?"

"I'm sure he does dear," said Clem, grinning. Lily looked at her friend, who was, in essence, admiring her reflection in a spoon, and snorted.

"And I thought Potter was vain!" she howled. Clem and Gwen giggled too; the only one who didn't was a disgruntled Scarlett.

"Ahem," came a voice from behind them, putting a stop to their giggles. "Girls, please," said McGonagall, looking at the notice which she held up, "I get enough of that already from the boys, do I really need it from you as well?"

"No Professor," said Clem loudly, "Sorry, it won't happen again." McGonagall peered at them sternly, before reading from her parchment.

"For the next two weeks before NEWTs, you and your partner will be on study-leave. There will be no lessons during that time, unless you are told otherwise by me or your teacher," she read, full attention from all eight Gryffindors, "You are not forced to spend all your free time studying, but I will remind you that this is for your benefit, and you should take it seriously. The study partners are as follows: Gwenog Jones and Peter Pettigrew." Gwen rolled her eyes, and Lily bit her lip to keep herself from giggling. "Clementine Krucynski and Remus Lupin."

Clem smirked smugly at Lily, who retorted with a glare, and then sighed, knowing this could not be good.

"Scarlett Wood and Sirius Black,"

"Whoo!" said Sirius loudly, causing Scarlett to blush, beaming widely. Lily rolled her eyes, knowing her fears had been confirmed. It was exactly what she had expected after all.

"And finally, Lily Evans and James Potter. You may now go back to your common room and get started if you wish. Good luck." McGonagall finished, before heading back to the Staff room.

"Thanks," Lily muttered to herself, "I'm gonna need it."

"Oh, bummerifica Lils!" Scarlett sympathised, patting Lily's hand. Lily grimaced at her.

"Scarlett, you coming?" asked Sirius questioningly, giving her puppy dog eyes.

"Oh yeah!" she replied, jumping up as though he'd just offered her VIP tickets to the next Weird Sisters World Tour. He held out a large hand and she took it, bouncing out the hall with him and waving over her shoulder at her friends.

"So much for the bond of friendship!" Lily commented dryly, as Clem made a 'hmph' noise beside her.

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"Hey Lils?" James asked tentatively.

"How many times have I told you not to call me that?" she snapped, not looking up from her book.

"Today? Six or seven," James answered, "But anyway, why are you so upset?"

"Upset?" she snarled, rounding on him with an expression that would have made any other guy cower in fear. But this was James Potter, and he was well used to Lily's fiery temper, having received more than a slap or two from her in his time.

"Yeah," he said simply. She looked deep into his eyes and for a moment James felt hypnotised by their unearthly green.

"Because I didn't want to be with you for this 'Study' thing," she told him honestly.

"Oh," was all he said. He wasn't about to show it, but he was hurt. Badly. "Want to test me on Astronomy?" he asked brightly.

"No," Lily said grumpily.

"How about History of Magic, I can never remember those goblin leaders."

"No."

"Transfiguration?"

"No."

"Okay, Defence Against the Dark Arts?"

"NO!"

"Aw, come on Lils," he whined, "I thought the whole point of this was to help your partner study!"

"Well, so did I until I got you for a partner," she spat, "And stop calling me Lils! It's Evans to you!"

James sighed and sat back in his chair. He liked Lily, but the fact that she hated him was starting to get to him. She kept nagging at him every time he opened his mouth, and snapping if he said something wrong.

"Y'know what?" he said in an annoyed tone, sitting up, "Fine. If you're not going to help me study, I won't study at all. I'm going to go see the boys."

"Bye then Potter," she growled at him, eyes flashing dangerously.

"Bye Evans," he replied bitterly, marching out the door. "Bitch," he muttered in an undertone.

Lily sighed, before deciding she was too stressed to be studying at the moment. Everything about James seemed to make her tense up. It was true, he wasn't so brash and conceited this year, but Lily was just waiting for the act to drop so that she could stop looking over her shoulder all the time. She kept expecting James to suddenly turn back to what he used to be, and knew when the time came, she'd be the first to know.

She picked up all her books and trudged back to the Gryffindor common room. She'd been offered a room in the Heads' quarters, and it was a very nice room, but she knew if she took it, James would follow her and move in next door. Right now, having him as a study partner was enough, she could do without him being the first thing she saw on a morning as well, although she did sleep there some nights, and often smuggled the Gryffindor girls in there to have a 'Girls' Night In.'

When she got through the portrait, there were only a couple of people in there, and two of them were Gwen and Scarlett. Gwen was writing something with her tongue poking out (as often she did when concentrating) and Scarlett was flirting with Mr. Black, who was sat beside her on the leather sofa next to the fireplace. Lily chose to ignore this charming new development and sat beside Gwen.

"What are you writing?" she asked, trying to read it over her friends elbow.

"A letter."

"To whom, may I ask?"

"Holyhead Harpies."

"Why?" Gwen growled and threw her quill down, glaring at Lily.

"I am trying to concentrate!" she snarled.

"Sorry, I was just asking. But why are you?" Gwen sighed, but knew Lily would harp on about it if she didn't explain.

"You know how I really wanted to try out for Wimpbourne Wasps?"

"Yeah…"

"Well, they only accept one applicant per year, and today I found out James is applying. You have to agree that any Quidditch team would pick him over me right?"

"I guess," Lily answered, knowing she'd be foolish to admit that Potter wasn't the best player in the school.

"Wrong!" Gwen cried with vivaciousness, "One team wouldn't! The Holyhead Harpies!"

"Why not?" Lily asked. She knew the answer would be a simple one, but having grown up in the muggle world, she had no clue about anything to do with Quidditch.

"Because it's an all women's team!"

"Oh…" Lily commented with dawning comprehension, "I'll let you get on with it then, shall I?"

Gwen frowned at her patronisingly, then picked up her quill and continued to write.

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Yeah, I'm sorry, I just had to work myself into at least one of my fics (Scarlett, by the way). I wrote the character originally under the name of Chastity, so that nobody would know it was me. But then I let Nick read it before I posted it on here, and he said, (and I quote) "If you're going to write yourself as one of the characters, at least take credit for it and use your real name!" And I didn't even tell him she was supposed to be me! (Damn, that boy knows me too well!)

In case you're wondering, or if you find this kind of thing interesting, Clementine is based on my friend Meg, and her full name is the name of Kate Winslet's character in Eternal Sunshine Of The Spotless Mind. Gwen is actually a player (beater, I think) and Captain of the Holyhead Harpies, only all Women British Quidditch team.

Anyways, review and I'll put up the next chapter soon.