A/N: Bonjour! *read this in Meryl Streep's voice; it makes it sound great* Here is a little oneshot I wrote today for a prompt I once submitted to hpfanfictionprompts on tumblr (no, I'm not telling you which prompt yet, because it will spoil the fun). Just wanted to let you know that this isn't set in the same world as Let us be brave so you might notice some characters missing (eg. Marlene McKinnon).

Disclaimer: Everything goes to Jo Rowling, because, sadly, I'm not her. (Or if I am, you're not allowed to know)

Thanks to: Miba for taking the time to edit this and to Ana, Britt and Lia for telling me their opinion of it.

Enjoy!

SO I HEARD YOU PREFER THE GIANT SQUID

~ present ~

It was a beautiful day, really. The sun shone brightly on the cloudless sky, the birds were chirping and everyone was happy. Most of the students were outside, having picnics and laughing and having a great time.

Lily Evans wasn't having a great time.

Everything her friends had tried to improve her mood was in vain. She didn't want to cool her feet into the water of the Black Lake, because apparently the water was too pellucid. She didn't want to sit in the sun and have a picnic, because the sun was annoying. She didn't want to talk about anything, because talking was boring. And so it went on the whole morning, until her friends decided that it was already a lost battle so, at lunch, they just joined some other students by the Gryffindor table.

"So, let's talk about something," Mary MacDonald said. She looked bored as she sat at the table with her head propped in the palm of her hand.

"Did you know the Brewing Cauldrons announced a set of concerts around the country this summer?"

"Honestly, Dorcas. No one likes the Brewing Cauldrons."

"I do", Dorcas said, "and so does Lily. Don't you, Lily?"

Both Mary and Dorcas turned around to look at their friend, but she just stirred in her soup and did not make eye contact with them.

"Ok. Look, Lily. We get it. You're very angry and you hate everything and everyone. It's what happens when you lose a friend. But sooner or later you need to get over it." Dorcas gave her a sad smile, making Lily's stomach churn; she suddenly didn't feel like eating anymore.

It was true. She hated everyone. She hated Dorcas and Mary for being so easy-going and trying to make Lily feel better. She hated all the people she never talked to who suddenly thought it would be nice to come by and tell her "what an asshole Severus Snape had been". But mostly, she hated herself for not getting over it and for starting to feel remorse. Whenever she caught a glimpse of Severus anywhere – on the corridors, in class, on the stairs, in the Library, in the Great Hall – she suddenly felt like it was her duty to go up to him and apologise. But it wasn't. He wasn't her friend anymore. Dorcas and Mary were her friends, because they were here with her and she knew they would never leave her.

"You guys should go outside and have a laugh with the others."

"And leave you here?" Mary chuckled. "Not in a thousand years. You're our friend and though we would like to hit you with Hogwarts: A History –"

"Mary," Dorcas cut her off, threateningly pointing her soup spoon at her.

"Oh, I'm so scared!" Both girls laughed and Lily forced a smile.

~ the previous evening ~

"We need to get Evans to smile. She's kind of scary when she's morose," James Potter said upon his entrance in the boys' dormitory. Looking around the room hesaw Sirius and Peter jumping from a bed to another and Remus shouting at them to stop. Until then, nothing majorly different from the usual, although when they reached his bed, something exploded causing a lot of light and it made James jump. "Oi! What you doing on my bed?"

But the only one who seemed to acknowledge his presence was Remus, who turned around, throwing his hands in the air. "Finally. Where have you been?"

"Downstairs. What are they doing?" He pointed at the other Marauders, who were jumping on Frank Longbottom's bed. "Frank's not gonna be happy about that."

Remus sighed. "They say, and I'm quoting here, 'they bring Exploding Snap to a new level'. So the rules are simple: they run around the room throwing Exploding Snaps at each other and whoever gets hit first is a loser. It's so very –"

"COOL!"

"No, not you too!" But, as usual, no one was listening to Remus."If you're getting yourselves injured, I don't care."

"Neither do we. And anyway", said Sirius, who had already got a blue eye from the game, "Madam Pomfrey needs to work to earn her salary, right? So we're kind of helping her."

"I can't run anymore." Peter jumped off Frank's bed, an Exploding Snap in his hand. "Okay, stop, stop." He was panting, and the others, too, decided it might be time for a break.

"What were you saying about Lily?" Remus asked, taking advantage of their break to change the subject.

"Oh, yeah, right! I have a brilliant plan!"

"That's what you said about the previous plan too and I ended up in the hospital with three broken bones." Peter sat up on his bed.

"A mere inconvenience," said Sirius shrugging off the matter and took a sip out of queer-looking beverage. "So, tell us about it."

~ later that night ~

"So, that's the plan. Don't you think it's brilliant?" James beamed at the brilliance of his idea.

The three of them – Sirius, Remus and Peter - stared incredulously at their friend, as if he were some psycho escaped from St. Mungo's.

"Oh, c'mon! It's a great plan! Who's with me?"

Peter stared at Sirius who stared at Remus who stared at James.

"Prongs, you're my brother, but are you out of your Gryffindor mind?" Sirius finally said, voicing all their thoughts.

"What kind of mates are you?"

"The kind that worry about your non-existent sanity," Peter answered.

"Thanks."

"You're welcome."

Silence. Then –

"We're in," Sirius, Remus and Peter said all at once.

"Really?" James send them a suspicious stare, but they all nodded.

"If it's gonna make Lily smile, then we're in."

"Actually, it's kind of boring without Evans coming up with smart insults every day," Sirius said.

"So, we've decided. We're doing this tomorrow at lunch."

"I guess this means we'll have to work all night on the costumes."

"Well, then we'd better get started."

~ present again ~

"I declare this the most boring lunch in the history of boring lunches," Mary said, hitching her bag up on her shoulder and following her friends out of the Great Hall.

"I didn't know you kept track, MacDonald," Dorcas laughed.

"I keep an evidence of everything."

Dorcas and Mary fastened their pace, trying to match Lily's, when suddenly the redhead stopped, making the two of them bump into her and knock her to the ground.

"Lily, if you're looking for Nargles, it's not the right moment."

"No, look." Lily got up and pointed in the direction of a small group formed outside the Great Hall. They were all looking at something that seemed to make them laugh.

"Probably some catfight," Dorcas said dully. "Let's get out of here."

"But I wanna watch catfights."

"Stop being a child, Mary."

Then, out of a sudden, a voice from within the group echoed in the hall, making the three girls turn around. "Lily Evans. Exactly the person I was looking for!"

"If it's some stupid Hufflepuff who wants to tell Lily how sorry they are, take her and run. I'll stop them", Lily heard Dorcas tell Mary, but there was no need for that. The person who approached, followed closely by three others and by a mass of watchers, were not Hufflpuffs who wanted to show their sympathy to Lily.

"Merlin's everything," Dorcas gasped, realizing who they were.

"Is that James?" Mary asked, staring at the person who called Lily's name.

"He doesn't look –"

"Human?" Lily finished. And indeed he did not. His entire face was … changed in the most radical way: he had tentacles. His clothes were dirty and wet, with water pouring in drops from his sleeves and he was entirely covered in algae. Then, her eyes moved on to the other Marauder: Remus. He was dressed in a huge, luminous ball that seemed to imitate the moon. Around him was swaying Peter who wore a puffy costume and who had clouds floating around his waist. And then there was the last one left (and truly, it had been complicated to recognize him). Sirius was dressed in a deep-blue skin-tight and was dancing weirdly around James.

"Soooooo," James said, trying to diffuse the tension. "I heard you prefer the Giant Squid."

And then, it all sunk in. The Lake. The fight. Mudblood. I wouldn't go out with you if it was a choice between you and the giant squid. He actually paid attention to what she said.

There was another moment of tensed silence. Lily could hear Mary or Dorcas or both gasp. She stepped closer to James, curiosity glowing in her eyes, and reached a hand to touch one of his tentacles. They were mushy and wet.

No one uttered a word for another minute (besides Sirius who was still dancing around James, pushing Lily to the side and making weird sounds), but James could see it coming. She was very close to him now and he knew what was to come. He could easily imagine the profanities that would come out of her mouth, but at least he'd tried, didn't he? The corner of her lips were twitching and he waited patiently for the storm of insults to come, but when she opened her mouth, she wasn't shouting insults at him but she was … laughing.

It was his turn to stare incredulously at her as she was shaking her head and clapping her hands. Small teardrops were forming in the corner of her eyes, but he knew at once they were happy tears. The people surrounding them started laughing along with her and he eventually did too.

When she stopped to catch her breath, Sirius said: "So, what'd you think, Evans?"

"You're barking mad. What were you even thinking?"

"James wanted to cheer you up a bit," said Peter, grinning at her from behind Remus's shoulder.

"Really?" Her cheeks were still flushed from the laughing and her green eyes were fixed on him now.

He felt like blushing, but hoped no one could see anything on his tentacle-face, and nodded.

And then, taking him by surprise, she ran up to him, encircling her hands around his neck, pulling him into a hug. He could smell the flowery scent of her hair and feel the heat of her body and he was positively sure that he blushed this time. It took him a minute to comprehend what was going on and so he stood shocked with his hands hanging beside him, not knowing what to do.

"Thank you," she said and it sounded like the sweetest thing someone had ever told him. She pulled out of the hug and smiled up at him.

"Hey, don't we get hugs too?"

James saw Remus punch Sirius for ruining the moment, but Lily did not notice. Instead, she hugged the rest of them too.

"Although," she said, "I don't get what you are, Black. Remus is the moon. Peter is the clouds. Potter is the Giant Squid but who are you?"

"He's the sky?" Dorcas asked, looking confused.

"I'm the Black Lake", Sirius said, acting as if hurt. "How could you not see?"

"You're the Black Lake?"

"The one and only," he said, proudly.

"You don't look like a lake."

"I told you Padfoot's gonna make a shitty Black Lake," Peter said.

"Bollocks. You're all just jealous you didn't get to wear a skin-tight suit."

Lily laughed again and she returned to her group of friends. "Thank you, again. It was really nice of you all." And then she departed, along with the other watchers, leaving the four of them alone in the hall.

"Well, that was fun."

"Shut up. You didn't get to play the moon.''

"Are we talking about the same moon that pisses you off every month?"

Peter and Remus shushed Sirius at once. "Oh, chill, there's no on here. Let's get some food. Our job here is done. Coming, Prongs?"

But James was still staring at the place where Lily had stood just several minutes ago, lost in thought.

"She hugged me."

"Yeah, big deal. She hugged us all, " Sirius rolled his eyes, punching James in the shoulder. "C'mon snap out of it. She hugged us all."

"She hugged me."

"You need new glasses, Prongs."

It was James's turn to punch him in the shoulder, but he laughed too. "I told you it was gonna be a brilliant plan."

"You spelled 'ridicule' wrong," Peter said.

And so they departed for the kitchens making fun of each other's costumes and by the time they reached the pear portrait, Sirius had already made a chart featuring who had looked better the entire show. He was on the first place, obviously.

THE END

A/N: I reaaallllyy hoped you liked it. I had fun writing it. Oh and the prompt I submitted was: "Since Lily told James she'd rather go out with the Giant Squid than with him, James dresses as the Giant Squid".

Reviews are James making Lily laugh,

Ria.