How it began...
No, no, no, no, no, no, no, no, NO!
Lily was walking quickly, very quickly down the hall.
That did not just happen! She had not thought that forbidden and most disgusting thought!
She was starting to hyperventilate.
Really Lily, her reasonable self thought, no need to panic. I mean, it's not like it's not true. I mean you'd have to be blind, right? He has a fan club after all...AHHHHH!! Even I, you're sensible self, is going crazy! Now is the time to panic!!
Lily ran into the Head tower, and jumped on her bed, her face in her pillow.
What had put Lily in such a state?
It had all started that morning.
It had seemed to be a morning like any other. She had got up, taken her shower first, after James (they had flipped a coin at the beginning of the year), wrapped her towel around her, and went towards her room.
Unfortunately for her, she had to pass the Head common room to get there.
And Sirius Black was there.
He had wolf-whistled.
"Wow, Evans, I think I know why Prongs there is fond of you. But I won't tell him that, because he will curse me, and then blame me if your newfound almost-friendship deteriorates when you fall in love with my obvious perfection."
She had glared at him, and with her wand, had cursed him so that his eyes smarted horribly.
"OW! Evans, what was that for!" he had roared, rubbing his eyes.
But by that time, she was in her room.
That in itself, was not so bad. But the day had become slowly worse.
At breakfast, she had poured pumkin juice all over herself when she saw James enter the room (though surely it wasn't because of him) and been forced to get dressed all over again.
Her first class, Charms, had gone well, until James (who sat beside her in all her classes, and surprisingly it wasn't his fault, it was the teachers, strange creatures they are, had placed them together) had made a mistake that had caused her to laugh so loudly that the teacher had deducted points.
In Arithmancy, the teacher had caught her staring off into space...for the tenth time that week. Which was not like her at all.
Lunch, was, to her relief, completely normal.
In Transfiguration, she had been unable to do the spell, and James had helped her. Causing her to slip and call him James, and not Potter.
And finally, after the most boring Defense Against The Dark Arts lesson in the history of forever (in which she was daydreaming again), she had been called to Dumbledore's office with James (about Head duties), and had tripped on the stairs, making her fall on James (who caught her), making them uncomfortably close. And them Dumbledore had come to find out what all the racket was, and found them that way! She had jumped, and nearly fallen down the stairs again, but James had caught her. Again.
The whole meeting she didn't hear a word Dumbledore said. She seemed to have a permanent blush on her cheeks. Then, as they were walking back to Head tower, she had looked at James, and thought horrifying (well, now they were horrifying, at the time they were normal) thoughts.
He's not so bad. He's gotten so much better! His ego had deflated...well, a bit. But if it was gone, it wouldn't be him. He's also...
"Lily? Why are you staring at me?"
Her eyes had widened.
"Er, I was... I really have to be somewhere now!"
Lily still coudn't believe what the end of her train of thought had been.
...really hot.
And thus the fast walking/running through the corridors.
She cringed. How could she had thought something even remotely close to that! She wasn't supposed to like him at all! Granted, she didn't hate him anymore, but she wasn't aloud to not at least dislike James.
FORBIDDEN, Lily. Against the rules. Illegal. NOT ALOUD, she thought.
"Lily, what are you doing?" James' voice
She groaned. She did not need this right now.
"I don't need this right now," came her muffled response.
"Er...o.k.?"
She lifted her head from her pillow, frustrated.
"I mean, I'm not aloud! What was I thinking! How could I have thought anything like that! It's not normal! It's insane! THAT'S IT!! That explains everything. I'm going insane. James, you must send a letter to my parents, saying that they have to send me to an asylum, since I obviously can't be trusted to write or even say anything coherent! And look, I did it again!"
James looked eyebrow-raising.
"Er, what exactly did you do?"
"I called you James! That's not normal!"
He lifted an eyebrow.
"Lily, you need an intervention."
"A wh-?"
He grabbed her arm and dragged her to the Griffyndor common room.
When they got there, he called her friends names.
"Alice! Tonks! Frank! Sirius? What are you doing there? Well, doesn't matter. Lily needs an intervention!"
"What kind of intervention?" asked Tonks.
"She's acting weird. They're obviously something wrong."
Alice, who had looked doubtful until then, had grinned.
"I noticed that, too!"
"What exactly?" asked Frank.
Tonks spoke to Alice.
"I thought it was just me! And you know what this means!"
They giggled (or was it cackling?) loudly.
"What does it mean?" said James at the same time that Sirius said,
"What's going on!"
Lily at that time, was listening, looking a bit fearful of her friends cackling (or was it giggling?).
"I don't need an intervention anymore!" she hurriedly cried.
"And why is that, Lily?" said Tonks sweetly.
"Er..."
"You can't get away from us now, Lily!" said Alice.
A voice interrupted the babble that came after that statement.
"Would you all, shut up! I can hear you all from the other side of the common room! And, now I'm interested and can't go back to my homework, so I have to know!"
They all turned. To their surprise, an irritated Remus was standing there.
"Now, Tonks, Alice, and James will explain, and nobody else will say a word! Is it understood?"
They all nodded, too surprise by Remus' behaviour to say anything...except for Lily.
"But-"
He put a silencing charm on her. She glared her famous Lily-patented glare, which, usually, made the recipient cower. Remus didn't even flinch.
"May that be a warning to all," he said.
Everyone was shocked. Remus tapped his foot impatiently.
"Tonks! Explain."
Tonks shook herself out of her stupor.
"Oh, er, right. Lily! ...Oh yes, Lily..." she said with an evil smile.
Alice joined her in her cackling (definitely cackling this time). The boys looked at them strangely, and Lily looked downright panicked.
Tonks continued,
"You see, Lily has been acting out of the ordinary. Daydreaming, being clumsy, and she was probably rambling, wasn't she?" she asked James.
He nodded.
Alice took over.
"And the few times this happened, there was only one single and unique reason," she paused dramatically.
Frank wasn't patient enough though.
"Just say it, Alice, or else..."
"Or else what?" she smirked at him.
He whispered in her ear. Her eyes widened.
"You cruel, cruel boy!"
"I am a man. Your man, to be more exact."
"Just say it already!" yelled Sirius.
Tonks and Alice looked at each other, and said,
"It means she's in love!"
With that statement, James looked thoughtful, Sirius and Frank gasped, Remus was smiling in a very satisfied way, and Alice and Tonks were giggling (not cackling). Lily looked like a huge realisation had come to her. And everyone noticed.
"Who is it, Lily?" demanded Sirius. Remus removed the charm.
She snorted.
"Oh, like I'd tell you, Black, of all people. Since when do you call me by my first name?"
"Since I was trying to be nice so that you would tell me."
"Well, it's not working."
Alice suddenly had a brilliant idea.
"I had a brilliant idea!" she said. She turned to James, "What was she rambling on about?"
"First, when I came to her door to ask her why she was trying to suffocate herself using her pillow, she said that she didn't need this right now," Alice and Tonks traded an interested look,"After, she went on saying stuff like she wasn't aloud something, and that she should be put in an asylum. Then, she said my name, and said it wasn't normal and that was why she had to go to the asylum."
Alice and Tonks traded incredulous looks. Then, they looked at Lily, eyebrows raised, flicking their eyes slightly towards the boys. She glared at them. They looked at each other again, and began laughing so hard that they fell off the couch. They calmed down a bit, looked up at the boys, and started laughing all over again. During that time, Lily was pouting and glaring simultaneously at them, which made them laugh harder.
"I swear they have a language of their own," said James, amazed at the exchange.
"And it's all completely silent, thus impossible to translate," said Remus, bewildered.
Sirius looked slightly awed.
"Imagine if we could do that. We would never get caught in any of our pranks!"
"I'm guessing you found out who it was?" asked Frank, as Alice and Tonks finally picked themselves off the floor.
"You understand them?" asked Sirius excitedly.
"No. But I picked up a couple of things."
"I'm sorry, boys, but we can't tell you," said Tonks.
Lily smiled for the first time since she got there.
"You have to wait until we put on a banner in the Great Hall tonight," said Alice.
Lily gasped.
"No! Don't do it, please, I beg you!"
"As if they would do something like that! They're girls, not Marauders," scoffed Sirius.
"Oh, we would. Remember the mute teachers? Dumbledore's green beard? Snape's mysterious...er...gas problem? That was all us."
"And we got blamed for it!" cried James, outraged.
Lily smiled, and sighed happily.
"We create such perfect plans."
During that time, Sirius was, yet again, staring at them in awe.
"I've decided that you have to become Marauders. Who created those plans anyway?"
The girls smiled at each other. Lily spoke.
"That will remain a mystery, if only to protect said planner or planners life or lives."
"I agree with you, Padfoot," said Remus,"we should make them Marauders. If only because their genius at pranks are making me slightly nervous."
"Ah...don't worry, Remmy," said Tonks, grinning mischieviously,"we haven't done anything to you guys...yet."
Alice promptly conjured a bucket of tar and feathers to fall on him, Tonk put the words "Snape is my Lover" on Sirius' robes (large picture of Snape and Sirius together included), and Lily made James bald, and "tatooed" the logo of his most hated Quidditch team on his head. Frank, with Alice's intervention, was given mercy.
The girls clutched their sides in laughter of the Marauder's faces.
"Nevermind what we said, Moony. Let's marry them instead. Oh wait, Frank is with Alice...and Prongs and Lily may as well be married...same thing for Tonks and you, Moony. You all left me single! I, the great Sirius Black! Now I have to find the girl of my dreams somewhere else," whined Sirius.
Everyone was either blushing or glaring at Sirius for his comment.
"Remmy likes Tonks?" asked Alice suddenly.
Remus blushed to the roots of his hair. Tonks was looking at the floor, and what constantly changing her features, so it was impossible to tell what she was feeling.
"May as well admit, Remus," said Frank.
Remus nodded, looked at Tonks, then the floor.
Lily conjured a banner. It read "Remus likes Tonks likes Remus!!"
Everyone in the common room collectively gasped.
"Lily!" cried Tonks.
"What, you weren't going to say it yourself," said Lily, smirking at her.
Remus was beaming. He grabbed Tonks hand, and kissed her.
"Wow, didn't think he had it in him," said a bewildered Sirius.
When they (finally) separated, it was now Tonks who was blushing to the roots of her (now pink) hair.
Alice and Lily cackled, and gave each other high-fives. But, Lily soon lost her smile when she saw Alice looking very evilly at her.
"Er...Alice? You know that you're my bestest friend ever in the world and I will bribe you a lot if you don't do what I think you're about to do."
"How much?" asked Alice.
"Er...I'll get you an endless supply of chocolate and pay off your tab at the Three Brommsticks?"
"Hmm...tempting...very tempting...o.k.! I agree!" Alice said happily.
Lily looked relieved. Until she hear another collective gasp coming from the rest of the common room. She looked up, cringing. There was a banner saying "James was right! Lily fell in love with him!".
"Alice!"
"It wasn't me! I always respect my bribes, thank you very much."
"Tonks!"
"What? You didn't bribe me."
"I was about to!"
"Oops. If I take it down, can I still get the bribe?"
"No!"
James was trying to get Lily's attention.
"Lily! Lily!" he called.
She finally turned around, face red, cringing.
"Y-yes?"
He said the first thing that popped out of his mouth.
"Finally!"
Everyone laughed at the two of them. And so it began...