Disclaimer : I don't own Harry Potter, all characters except Phoenix and some plotlines go to J.K Rowling


"James – pst – James! Oi, down here!"

With his eyebrows furrowed James Potter looked down at me from where I lay under the table he was sat studying at. His eyes widened in surprise and I rolled my eyes at his dumfounded expression. I had to grudgingly admit that he was a very good looking boy – he was still a prat though.

His unbelievably messy black hair was messy in a way that made you want to run your fingers through it to see if it would ever lie flat, his hazel eyes shined showing his every emotion and the muscles he had gained from being Chaser for the Quidditch Team helped a lot. And he wore glasses. For some strange reason girls had a weakness for boys who had a weakness for eyesight. Personally, I would prefer my man to not have to wear protective goggles all the time.

"Er – Phoenix? Hi?" James asked in an unsure voice.

I laughed as he ruffled his hair nervously.

"Hello to you as well," I smirked, "I need to talk to you."

"And hiding under a table in the library was the best way to do it?" He asked.

"Yes," I replied simply, "Plus I couldn't be to sure if Lily would see me and to be honest the floor really is very comfortable."

James shrugged, "Fair enough, what did you want to talk about?"

"Lily of course."

A goofy grin filled his face and he looked across the library with a far away look in his eyes. I rolled my eyes again and pulled my wand out of my pocket, I flicked it and a number of red sparks shot out the tip of it and hit him in the side of the head jolting him out of his daydream.

"Hey! What was that for?" He grumbled rubbing his head.

"You were drooling," I said, "Plus this is really important."

"What is it then?" He asked concernedly.

I smiled. James was really great especially when it came to things like this; given that both of us had come from Pureblood families we'd known each other from toddlers. James was a really great friend and I considered him as a brother. I knew all to well that he thought of me as his little sister and therefore he was ridiculously protective of me.

It was a shame we didn't have chance to talk to each other a lot anymore, at Hogwarts it was because of Lily's great dislike of him and the other Marauders and at home well it was because of how different our families were.

"It's about Snape," I replied with a scowl as I stood up and slid into the seat beside him, "I've had enough."

"Why, what happened?"

"It's been going on a long time really," I told him with a small shrug, "He's always threatening me and Dorcas, out of earshot of Lily, but he's always telling us we make decision for her and that we should back off and not fill her mind with rubbish."

"What do you mean he threatens you?" James asked scowling deeply.

"Oh nothing to bad like he'd wipe his hair on us," I grinned, "Just more threats of hexing us into oblivion or that he knows curses we wouldn't even be able to dream off."

"That slimy little bastard." James growled.

"My thoughts exactly," I agreed with a nod, "Not that he would ever be able to try anything with me or Dorcas – you know how she is. But it's really beginning to piss me off and I have now decided it's time to kill Snape!"

I held out my arms dramatically and James laughed.

"Well not kill then," I conceded with a smirk, "But get rid of at least."

James shifted around in his seat so he was looking at me fully.

"Get rid of Snivellus? I'm in."

I laughed, "You don't even know the plan! Aww does little Jamsie care that much for Lily?"

"Yes," He replied simply and I rolled my eyes, "And don't call me Jamsie. So, what is the plan then?"

"I will admit it is my best plan yet."

"You say that with all of your crazy plans." James pointed out.

"Yeah but this one is amazing," I smiled, "So we all know Snape really hates it when he's embarrassed by you guys in front of the other Slytherin's?" James nodded and I continued, "I had this brilliant idea that if we somehow staged it so Snivellus was embarrassed in front of his snake friends and Lily that when Lily undoubtedly goes to help the git and yell at you guys that he would have to stop Lily because of all his little slithery friends being there."

James's eyebrows crinkled with confusion.

I rolled my eyes and flicked him, "It's not that difficult to figure out James, Snape will have to call Lily a you-know-what because of his friends being there, Lily hates it when someone calls her that and because it will be Snape she'll want nothing to do with him anymore, she's been trying to convince us for months that the stupid git hasn't changed and that one word will change her whole perception on him."

James's eyes lit up and he stared at me.

I smirked and brought my hand up to his face closing his mouth as he seemed incapable of doing it himself.

"Leave the drooling for Lil James," I sniggered, "So, good plan?"

"Yeah!" He said with a fervent nod, "How the bloody hell are you not in Ravenclaw?"

"Gryffindor and proud," I smirked, "I take your drool as agreement that this is an amaze-ball plan."

"Amaze-ball? Do I want to know?"

James grinned and looked around at the source of the new voice. I too looked around and saw none other than Sirius Black stood beside our table. Despite me and James being as close as siblings I had had very little to do with Sirius.

He was certainly one of the best looking guys in school, maybe the best not that I would ever tell him so, with his long black hair that was messy in a handsome way like James's yet a lot more tameable and fell into his eyes in a casual almost elegant way. His eyes were a shining grey and reminded me of stars by the way they twinkled…

He grinned roguishly at us.

"So what you two up to?" He asked sitting down in the seat opposite us flinging his feet carelessly onto the table.

"Plotting how to kill Snape." I replied.

He laughed loudly his usual bark like laugh which earner us several glares from fellow Fifth years and Seventh Years sat in the Library. We ignored them.

"We're not," James said in a disappointed voice, "But Phoenix has come up with a way to get rid of him."

Sirius arched an eyebrow.

"How?" He asked curiously.

"Provoke him in front of Lily and the snakes he associates himself with so that he'll insult Lily and make her want to rip his balls off."

"Merlin, I would pay to see that." Sirius smirked.

"We should take pictures and sell them," I suggested with a smirk, "And say their going to a fund that will get Snivellus to bathe!"

James and Sirius looked at me for a brief second before bursting out into laughter. Their laughter rung all throughout the Library and mine swiftly followed. Madam Pince stalked over white faced and furious.

"Will you three desist?" She hissed, "People are trying to study!"

"Sorry Madam Pince," James gasped wiping tears of laughter out of his eyes, "But it was all Phoenix's fault!"

"Hey!" I laughed playfully smacking his arm.

"Miss Carters!" Madam Pince said turning her glare on me, "How many times have I told you to be quiet in the Library?"

"Three hundred and twenty six, counting now," I replied sweetly, "Oh wait, was that a rhetorical question, sorry!"

Sirius snorted with renewed laughter and I shot him a mischievous smile.

"Where is Hogwarts; A History?" Pince demanded her nostrils flared as she set her hands on her hips, "I believe you borrowed it two years ago!"

"Ah…you see…"

To be honest, I had played Exploding Snap on the book two years ago, along with Marlene's eyebrows the book was one of the many things that had caught on fire because of the faulty pack. We had panicked at the rising flames and thrown the book into the fire.

Lily was horrified, I had found it hilarious.

"You will return the book at the end of the week, or you will be paying for it!"

I put my hand in my robes pockets and pulled out a handful of Galleons. I held them out for the witch.

"It won't be returned by the end of the week," I told her with a shrug, "It didn't survive an unfortunate fire."

Pince huffed angrily snatched the Galleons out of my hand and stalked off.

"Was that when you set half the Common Room on fire?" Sirius inquired with a grin.

"Yeah," I replied honestly, "That was a fun day."

"You burnt Marlene's eyebrows off didn't you?" James asked.

"She's still not over it," I replied rolling my eyes, "Even though she set my robes on fire in Potions last year."

"How is that even possible?" James asked shocked.

"She caught me flicking frog legs at Snape," I replied, "She tried to get me to stop because we needed them for the potion, she got so angry when I wouldn't that she accidentally turned up the heat of the fire and – well it was bye-bye robes that night."

Sirius laughed again earning us several more irritated glares from students trying to study. I smirked at the sight of the cluster of seventh years Ravenclaw's glaring mutinously at us.

"So this plan," Sirius said his eyes shining at the prospect of a prank that was centred around Snape, "How will we do it?"

"I think after OWL's," I replied not even questioning the two Marauder's instant willingness to be part of my plan, "That way we have a hope of Lily not brutally murdering us if she finds out."

"Always nice not being brutally murdered." Sirius smirked.

I laughed and found myself momentarily mesmerised by the way his eyes sparkled like stars as he laughed… I shook my head slightly and continued.

"Plus the greasy haired bastard that is Severus Snape will be still caught up in the pre OWL stresses that all those idiots suffer from," I said with a roll of my eyes, "Honestly, some people take exams way to seriously, but if you, James, do your usual I'm bored lets attack Snape thing-"

"It's not because I'm bored!" James argued, "He usually starts it! Or I'm getting revenge because he's attacked a potato!"

"A potato?" I repeated blankly.

"Hufflepuff's." Sirius explained.

I looked between the two of them for a moment before realising they were being completely serious – well one of them was Sirius but that wasn't the point.

"Okay," I said not for the first time questioning their sanity, "That's how Lily sees it anyway, so you'll attack him avenging your – er – little Hufflepuff friends, Lily will step in and try to help of which Snape will snap and call her a you-know-what and Lily will be so pissed she'll hopefully kill him."

"I'm keeping my fingers crossed." Sirius said with an impish smile.

I grinned, "So am I, what about you James?"

"As much as I would love to see Snivellus dead," James said with a laugh, "Lily will probably be more upset about it…"

I bite my lip, "Yeah, she will… but it'll be for the best, if you look at the type of people he's friends with, did you not hear what Mulciber did to Mary a few weeks back?"

Sirius frowned, "No, what happened?"

"She's Half-blood and she had told him off for calling Lily a you-know-what," I explained in an angry tone still furious with what the stupid Slytherin had done to my friend, "And when she was walking down a corridor alone a few weeks ago he attacked her, hit her with all these horrible curses, she was in the Hospital Wing for three days."

James paled as Sirius exclaimed, "That bastard!"

"I got my revenge," I said with a satisfied smile, "Me and Dorcas charmed his robes so they let off the smell of shit for days not matter how much he washed him."

Sirius laughed his eyes twinkling once again so I found myself entranced by the way they lit up his whole face… I suddenly realised why he was such a womanizer, once look in those eyes and you were hook, line and sinker, the muscles helped as well… Hang on! I shouldn't be thinking about his muscles, of all people Sirius Black's! Think of Snape dancing around naked, Phoenix… I cringed at the image in my head and was, thankfully, thoroughly distracted.

I tore my gaze from Sirius and looked to James who was laughing as well. I really hoped I hadn't been daydreaming that long, I was known for doing so especially in lessons mainly History of Magic, Merlin, for a dead guy Binn's really talked way too much.

"You know, now you've said that, I really want to kill Snivellus." James said with a small scowl on his face.

"Save it for later," I advised, "If we just do this to get Lily to see the real him then you can show her how you're not an annoying, arrogant git – most the time."

"Gee thanks for the compliment Phoenix." James grumbled.

"She's right Prongs," Sirius said, "Plus you're creepily obsessed with her."

"I'm not!" James argued his face flushing.

"Oh really?" Sirius questioned with a smirk, "Well I think by the way you've drawn L.E all over your Charms revision in little snitches that's a lie…"

Blushing furiously James made to snatch back the parchment a laughing Sirius now held in his hands but Sirius moved it out of his reach. Grinning I slid over the table scattering much of James's books and parchment as I did to fall into the seat beside Sirius. I leant over to look at the parchment to see for myself Lily's initials encased in small golden snitches.

I laughed loudly and turned to a mutinous looking James, "Aw how cute, Jamsie's doodling her name all over his diary!"

Sirius laughed loudly as did I. Madam Pince hissed for us to be quiet from the front of the library but we ignored her. James whipped out his wand and said; "Accio parchment!" and the parchment soared from Sirius's grip and into James's hands where he hurriedly stuffed it into his bag.

I slumped back in my seat crossing my arms over my chest.

"You're no fun." Sirius grumbled mirroring my actions.

James looked at us his eyes slightly wide.

"Guys, that's slightly creepy…"

I rolled my eyes.

"You did it again!" James exclaimed, "You both rolled your eyes!"

"Do you need help mate?" Sirius asked in a mock sincere tone.

"Yeah, do we need to take you to see Madam Pomfrey?"

"Oh ha ha," James muttered with a small smile, "Very funny and no I'm absolutely fine because in a week we'll be getting rid of Snape."

"You know he won't be disappearing if he's not friends with Lily." I pointed out.

"Yeah but Prongs's whole existence is centred on Lily," Sirius pointed out, "So in his mind it counts."

"True," I agreed, "You know he has a weird way of having a crush on someone."

"I've been telling him that for five years."

I grinned.

"When you two have stopped insulting me," James said loudly and I looked to him smirking, "The plan? We doing it then?"

"Straight after OWL's?" I suggested.

"Of course," James agreed with a nod his eyes shining brightly, "Be prepared to be amazed by my brilliant acting skills."

"You need to learn to hide your blush better then mate." Sirius advised.

James scowled, "Shut up Padfoot."

"And maybe you should stop scribbling Lily's initials all over your work," I said picking up one of his Potions essays that had not fallen to the floor, "It's a bit stalker-ish…"

James snatched it out of my hands his cheeks slightly pink. Sirius and I grinned at each other at the sight of his blush.

"Phoenix?"

"Oh shit!" I exclaimed diving to the floor.

Alarmed, Sirius looked around before I grabbed his arm and pulled him to the floor with me as I scrambled under the table. I kicked James and he yelped looking under the table with a murderous glared before I too grabbed him and pulled him under the far too small table for the three of us to fit under.

"What the bloody hell was that for?" James grumbled readjusting his glasses.

"I think Lily may have just walked in mate." Sirius replied as he leant against one of the legs of the tables and peered around the chairs.

James's eyes lit up at the mention of my best friend.

"If she sees me talking to you guys she'll know something is up!" I hissed, "So don't you dare go out there professing your love for her!"

"I wasn't planning on!" James hissed back.

Sirius snorted, "Even I don't believe that."

I shifted where I was crouched so I was sat down in between the two Marauders. My arm was pressed up against Sirius's as my other was against James's legs.

"Well – this is cosy." Sirius smirked.

I rolled my eyes, "Man-whore."

Sirius laughed loudly and I hurriedly clapped my hand over his mouth. His raised his eyebrows at me.

"You want the whole bloody castle to hear you?" I asked him amused, "We're trying to hide here!"

"Phoenix?"

I shrunk away as the sound of my best friend Lily was dangerously close to our table. I peered under the legs of the chair I was leant against and could see Lily stood beside our table donning Muggle clothes, I only recognised her because she was wearing her favourite light blue jeans that she regularly wore at weekends.

Without a moments hesitation I clapped my hand over James's mouth as well, nothing good would come from trusting him to not say something stupid in front of Lily.

"Phoenix?" Lily called out again in a quiet voice.

I bite my lip sincerely hoping none of the Ravenclaw's would rat us out.

Lily stood for a few more seconds rocking back on the balls of her feet before another voice, a greasy, snider one that I instantly recognised, and hated, spoke.

"She's not here, we should go Lily."

"She might be in the Common Room," I heard Lily argue; "I'll go look for her there."

"You don't spend anytime with me anymore Lily; you only spend time with them." The sneer in Snape's bloody voice was clear, it made me want to take out my wand and curse him.

Apparently James and Sirius had the same thoughts as I had to move my hands from their mouths to their shoulders to restrain the glaring pair, something which was very difficult to do in such a small space.

"By them you mean my friends," Lily said in an angry voice, "And I spend plenty of time with you Severus, but I really need to talk to Phoenix."

Oh shit, what've I done now… Lily only needed to talk to me when I was in trouble and she wanted to yell at me about it.

"Of course, Phoenix." The slimy git spat my name with disgust and it was suddenly James and Sirius's turn to restrain me.

"Humph!" Lily huffed angrily, "If your going to talk about my best friend like that Severus then you can think again!"

There was a moment's silence.

"I'm sorry."

"Yeah right." Sirius said sarcastically beside me and I cracked a grin.

"Come on, let's go."

I watched for a few moments as Lily's feet disappeared. We stayed hidden for a few more seconds before crawling out from under the table.

"Well, that was unexpected." Sirius said pointedly.

"Yeah, Lily seemed really pissed with Snivellus!" James said grinning broadly.

"Which is why my plan will work." I smirked broadly getting to my feet.

"How long did it take you to come up with it though?" Sirius questioned as he too stood up.

"Er – a year…" I admitted running my fingers through my hair, "But all good plans need a bit of fine tuning."

"Of course they do," James chuckled as he gathered up his books and parchment before unceremoniously shoving them into his bag, "But I'm in."

"So am I." Sirius agreed leaning against the table.

"What about Remus and Peter?" I questioned tilting my head slightly, "We need to get them to sort of just stay out the way…"

James and Sirius glanced at each other then to me their eyebrows raised identically.

"Oh no," I said, "You're not leaving me to tell them!"

The pair slowly began to back away.

"Don't think I won't hesitate to put a Full Body Bind Curse on you." I threatened them.

Sirius glanced at James, "Run for it?"

"Run for it."

And before I could say another word or any well chosen hex the pair had spun around and sprinted out of the Library laughing loudly. I stood for a moment with my arms crossed across my chest.

"Bloody idiots…" I grumbled under my breath though for some odd reason I was grinning.

I looked around to see a number of Ravenclaws staring at me. I raised my eyebrow at them.

"What? You've never seen two Marauders acting like dickheads?"

A couple of them smiled before they all looked away back to their books and notes. I chuckled under my breath before retrieving my bag from where I had dumped it on the floor and left the Library Madam Pince glaring after my murderously.

Snivellus, Lily and two of the most immature blokes in the school in one crazy plan cooked up by me, Phoenix Carters, what could possibly go wrong?


A/N So this is a rewritten version of what was A Sprinkle of Carters Mischief, it was my first fanfic and I was really disappointed with what I had written so I decided to delete it and re-upload it and I have to admit I am much happier with this version! Enjoy and please review! Ta, Mischief Managed ;)