Of S'mores, Distractions, and Surprises-

Life is good. Lily Evans is finally mine, Voldemort hadn't shown his snakey face in awhile, and the weather was perfect for Quidditch. What more could you ask for? We're top of the school, with less than a week left until we leave the comfort of school and join the real world. Doesn't it just sound so adventurous?

As I walked to our last class of the day, an arm around my girlfriend, said girlfriend was worrying. "James! How can you look so relaxed? We will be taking the most important exams of our life next week! Aren't you worried?!"

I just shrugged; I wasn't worried. Even though I didn't pay attention in lessons it just subconsciously soaked in and reappeared when I took tests. Besides, why bother with grades? I didn't need a job, because of my inheritance. I know it sounds bad, but I would be perfectly content to sit on my lazy arse for the rest of my days.

I knew Lily would fly off the handle if I told her that though, so I attempted to distract her. "Why worry? I can just borrow some of my beautiful, brilliant girlfriend's brains. She has plenty to spare."

Apparently flattery wasn't going to dissuade her from worrying. "Yeah, yeah. That's sweet and all, James, but it's not going to get me O's on all of my exams. I need to crack down and study more. This weekend we're going to camp out in the library and study."

I pouted. "But Lilyflower, I can think of way more entertaining things to do if we go camping." I kissed her deeply, so she would know I wasn't exactly talking about s'mores.

She rolled her eyes, but stopped talking about exams and studying. For now, at least. I knew that after another hour spent in discussion of N.E.W.T.'s she'd be talking about living in the library again. I groaned to myself, just thinking about it.

Half an hour later, I saw the fervor of exams coming back into Lily's emerald eyes. UGH! Enough is enough!

Excusing myself to the restroom, I pulled out my mirror. I knew Sirius, who had a free period, would respond.

"Padfoot!" I said loudly.

The reflective surface of the mirror was filled with Sirius' face.

"Prongs?" He said in surprise. "Couldn't this wait? I'm, er, a little busy at the moment."

He shifted the mirror a bit, so I could see his surroundings. A broom closet and some random bimbo, who was sitting on his lap. Her shirt was looking quite ruffled and her face was flushed.

Ugh! This was not the time for Sirius to be distracted. Grinning evilly, I exclaimed, in mock surprise, "Pads! How can you snog her now, when you were just snogging Sara at lunch?!"

I heard a gasp and the distinct sound of a solid slap, before Sirius came back into view, rubbing his red cheek.

"All right, Prongs! What do you want?" He growled. "She was so hot!"

I chuckled as I taunted, "And she was even blonde, just your type."

He growled again, but relented. "Besides, we both know I snogged Theresa at lunch."

I shrugged. "Sorry, I lose track of your bimbos. Sara was at breakfast, wasn't she?"

Sirius grinned. "No, she was in between Potions and D.A.D.A. Mary was at breakfast."

I laughed with him; Sirius is such a man whore.

"Anyway, what do you need? Aren't you supposed to be in Charms with your darling Lilykins?" Sirius asked mockingly.

"That's just the problem: Lily." I explained.

Sirius gasped. "You are not breaking up with her! Are you? I mean, you've been after her since first year!"

I rolled my eyes. "No, Pads, I'm not breaking up with her." I snorted at the sheer impossibility of it. Sirius sounded relieved as he asked, "So then, what's the problem?"

"She's bonkers! This N.E.W.T. thing is driving her crazy! Next thing I know, she'll be looking at real estate in the library!"

I saw him open his mouth and I interrupted. "No, Pads, they don't really have houses in the library."

He stuck his tongue out at me. "I was going to ask where the library is. Merlin, who do you think I am? Peter?"

Laughing at my mate's idiocy, I continued. "Seriously - don't say a word, Padfoot, she's nuts! This weekend, I want to distract her a bit. Take her mind off studying."

Sirius' expression became horrified. "Bloody hell! Ew! Gross! Prongs, I will not be a part of your 'distraction'! I mean, if it was just Lily and I, sure, but with all three of us-"

I cut him off with a growl. If I had been close to him, I would've punched him. As we were on opposite sides of the castle, I'd have to content myself with growling and promising to pay him back later.

"Focus, Sirius! Now, this weekend, tonight actually, I was thinking we could have a small party."

I saw Padfoot's eyes light up at the word 'party'. "Sweeeeet!" He crowed. "How exclusive? Where? When? What type? Entertainment?"

I answered his rapid fire questions just as quickly. "Marauders plus Lily, Alice, Marlene, Frank and those other two girls in their dorm. Room of Requirement. Tonight, after Lily and I patrol, so around ten. Surprise. Muggle games."

He looked shocked at that, but asked back, in full party-planner mode now. "Surprise for who? Firewhiskey or Butterbeer?"

"Lily. And definitely Firewhiskey." I told him.

He nodded. "Okay, what Muggle games?"

I listed off the Muggles games Lily had told me about for him. He nodded again. "And how are we supposed to obtain these?"

I scoffed. "Are you a Marauder or not? Bloody hell, Sirius, you have 7 hours. What else do you need?"

He grinned maniacally. Grinning back, I told him a few other things. "Okay, I'm leaving everything up to you. Get snacks, Firewhiskey, the games, and the people. Just make sure Lily doesn't have a clue. I'll keep her 'distracted', but make sure everyone knows they aren't supposed to tell her. Or anyone else."

He nodded, eyes bright with ideas. Grinning, he shooed me away. "Okay, okay, go drool over Evans. I have a party to plan!"

I said, while laughing, "Have fun!"

Putting the mirror back in my pocket, I ran a hand through my hair before walking back to Charms, with a spring in my step.

Later that night, Lily and I's patrol was coming to a close. It's 9:45 and Lily was attempting to straighten up her shirt. Ahem. Wonder how that happened... Okay, so we get a little distracted on patrols. Can you blame us?

Anyway, for all of dinner, Lily remained clueless. The others played their role well, and she was none the wiser about our party. As I subtly lead her up to the seventh floor, she reminded me of my reason for doing all this.

"So, I was thinking tonight when we get done we could get in two hours of studying. Then tomorrow we'll wake up at 8:00 and grab a quick breakfast before going to the library. If we're in there by 8:30, we should get nearly twelve hours of studying in before we have to go patrol again. Then again we can get two hours in after patrol. We don't have to patrol on Sunday, so we can study all day. So, we should get in 42 hours of studying in, if all goes well!" She rattled off.

I blanched. "42 HOURS!?! Lils, that's nearly two straight days!"

She pouted. "I know. We could get a full two days in if we didn't have to patrol."

I stared; just stared. She eventually noticed and fidgeted self-consciously. "What, James? Did I not get my hair fixed right?"

"Lily! You are going to do fine on the tests! We don't need to kill ourselves studying. You'll be fine!" I comforted her.

"But James!" She contradicted. "Fine isn't good enough! I need to do bloody amazing on these tests, if I want to get a good job."

I rolled my eyes. "Lily, I think we'll have more than enough gold without either one of us having to get a job."

She blushed instantly at the thought of us being together after Hogwarts. I resisted rolling my eyes again; I had known since first year that I would marry Lily Evans. Apparently, my talking about the future was enough food for thought to keep her silent for the rest of our patrol. As the clock stuck ten, we ended in the corridor on the seventh floor.

Lily made to turn around, saying, "Come on James! Let's go get our two hours in."

Resisting the urge to shudder, I winked at her before saying. "Hold on, Lils. I have a little surprise for you. Close your eyes and hold out your hand."

She squealed and did as I asked; she loved surprises. Quickly pacing in front of the wall, thinking as hard as I could, Show me the place where the party is. After the third time, a door appeared.

Grinning to myself, I grabbed Lily's hand. A look of surprise crossed her face; she hadn't expected my hand.

I could tell she was about to open her eyes, so I swiftly stopped her. "Keep your eyes shut just awhile longer, Lily. I swear, you're gonna love it."

My grin positively maniacal by now, I led her through the door, into the party beyond.


Hey again :)

This story is the short story I told y'all about on the AN on my one-shot, and here it is :) I am going over Chapter 2 as we speak, and it should be up soon :) I haven't started on 3 yet, but I'll try and get this story done before school starts in a bit less than two weeks. Talk about pressure :)

Anywho, please, please, PLEASE review :)

-Nikky-