Disclaimer: I do not own Harry Potter or any part of it.

Primary Ships: Lily Evans/James Potter, Sirius Black/Veronica Anderson (OC), Remus Lupin/Michelle Matthews (OC)

Time Period: Marauder Age

Hello! This is a fanfiction! SURPRISE! Takes place in the characters' 7th year. Just a lot of fluff, really. No real defined "plot" exactly, just what went on during their 7th year.

Note: This is Lily/James growing closer and all, but there is also just a touch of Lily/Severus. Not much though. Practically nonexistent.

Note: Although one of the main ships is Remus and my OC Michelle Matthews, there may be some Remus/Tonks leanings/moments. Very small, but they may still be there. I'm sorry, I can't help it! I just love them too much! It'll barely be there, though, just a little foreshadowing, maybe some parallels, or "Haha, if only they knew," things. Minimal!

Lily sighed as she set to work on her Potions essay. Slughorn was really cracking down hard this year. And he expected so much from her too! Just because she'd done so well in the past and was Head Girl now. She sighed again. Maybe Sev will help me...she began to think. She was even about to get up to go and wait for him outside the Slytherin common room. But then she caught herself. She wasn't allowed to think that anymore. Not after last year. She quickly brushed away the tears that were beginning to form after the thought of the memory and the aftermath of it. She tried to focus on her paper. Don't think about anything else, she ordered herself. Just work. She wrote:

The Wideye (or "Awakening") Potion is used to keep a person awake or to rouse someone from sleep or unconsciousness. It is often used in interrogations of people who have been through traumatic experiences. The person being interrogated will most likely be exhausted, physically and mentally, and will want to sleep. However, if this person's experience is crucial to a case, the Wideye Potion will be used to keep the person awake while they tell the story under questioning, since an experience is best remembered after it has just happened because it is then fresh in the person's mind. It is an old technique used in law enforcement at the Ministry of Magic and is very useful in finding out key details in cases. However, this is not the only use of the Awakening Potion. This is only one of many uses for this brew, and these uses will be explored in this essay thoroughly. How to make this potion will also be explained, as well as how the brewing can go wrong. This potion

Suddenly she was halted from continuing by a voice behind her shouting through the common room, "Hey, Evans! Evans! Lily Evans!" She knew that voice all too well. That arrogant toerag James Potter.

She turned around, and, sure enough, there he was, standing in front of her. She asked in an exasperated tone, "What do you want, Potter?"

"Well, you," he said with a slight smirk. It was as if he planned it. Lily was not amused, and her face must have shown it, for he then said, "Sorry. What I meant was that I just wanted to tell you that-"

"PRONGS!" Lily knew that voice as well. It was none other than Sirius Black, and he was accompanied by Remus Lupin and Peter Pettigrew. They made their way over to James. "Did ya' hear!"

"Of course I heard!" James exclaimed. "Honestly, Padfoot, do you think I'm deaf, dumb, and blind?"

"Well I must be, because I haven't heard whatever you four are going on about!" Lily said, annoyed.

"Do ya' think it's true?" Remus asked, actually ignoring her.

"Moony, why wouldn't it be true?" Sirius asked, exasperated. "Honestly, you're supposed to be the smart one."

Remus was about to protest, but Lily had had enough. Her curiosity had reached its breaking point. She was even curious enough to ask James Potter about something. "What is going on?" she exclaimed.

"Why, Evans, I can't believe you didn't hear!" James said mockingly. Lily could tell he was planning on deliberately dragging this out, just like always. She was not about to allow that.

"James Potter, you were just about to tell me before these three showed up. Now if you're not going to, I have better things to do with my time. Besides, if you're 'deaf, dumb, and blind' if you haven't heard about it, I'm sure some of my friends know, so I'll just ask them, thank you very much." She turned back to her essay. She knew what James would do, though. Immediately try to get her back. She was right.

"Wait!" he hastily said and turned her around again. "I'm sorry! I'll tell you! Blimey, you sure are temperamental." Lily gave him a warning look. "Sorry, sorry! The news is that, for live entertainment at the Halloween feast this year, there's gonna' be...dragons!"

The common room immediately went into a frenzy of excited voices at this news which James had just shouted at the top of his lungs. No doubt he had wanted everyone to hear their conversation, to be waiting to hear what the news was just like Lily had been waiting. He just loved being the center of attention.

"Dragons?" Lily exclaimed. She was half-excited, half-alarmed. "It could be fun, but isn't it dangerous to have dragons in the school?"

"Well, yeah, but the most fun things have a bit of danger in them, don't they?" Sirius pointed out reasonably.

"He has a point," Remus added. "It's fun to just lighten up once and while, Lily."

Remus was the only one of the "Marauders" (as they called themselves for some stupid reason) she actually liked and considered a friend. She despised James, only tolerated Sirius, and, well, she assumed Peter was all right, but he just seemed a bit...weird for some unexplainable reason.

She answered Remus, "I know that, but it's that sometimes people-certain people-" she gave a deliberate look to James "take it too far."

"I'm not denying that," Remus said, with a side-look at Sirius, "but if the dragons are well trained and controlled, I see no reason why there would be any problems. The whole thing could be really fun, but only if the situation is treated with proper care." That's why Lily liked Remus. He could have a good time, and he was nice, and sometimes funny, but he was responsible too, a trait his three best friends lacked. However, she couldn't really blame Peter, he usually just went along with whatever the others did.

"I suppose you're right," she said. "I guess it will be fun. I mean, I'm sure Dumbledore will tend to the situation correctly."

"Exactly!" Sirius said. "Glad to see you've come around, Evans."

"Mhm," Lily said. She still only tolerated Black. "Well, now I must finish this essay, so could you all just go somewhere else for awhile?"

"Sure thing, Evans," Black said nonchalantly, actually listening to her, for once. "See ya'."

"Bye, Lily," James said cheerfully. They departed.

Lily looked at her essay, but didn't write anything. She was thinking. But not about Wideye Potion. She was thinking about how she had actually just had a civil conversation with the Marauders. She smiled to herself. Maybe things were changing this year. Maybe those boys, including James, were actually becoming mature. She started to work on her essay again, still smiling.

She did not know, though, that she too was becoming more mature that year, and would soon be able to see people in different ways.