James Potter was still half-asleep in his red and black striped boxers. It was the last day of summer and he had fallen asleep the previous night while sharing a huge bowl of ice-cream with his best buddy Sirius Black . They had been celebrating some unexpected news that had arrived from Hogwarts, along with their booklists.

Celebrations of any sort had been scarce this summer, since the boys had been trying to help James' parents fight against Lord Voldemort by joining a secret organisation called the 'Order of the Phoenix'.The first six weeks of the holidays had gone in a wierd sort of blurr consisting of fights, dreams and complex in the end, James' parents had come to a conclusion that they wanted the boys to take some time off for a while,as they thought they were too young to cope with such stress for the boys had spent the last few weeks trying to forget all that had happened by partying like crazy, trying to regain their original selfs with their carefree attitudes.

At the moment ,he was trying to recall a had been a huge study with an adjoining terrace.A cool breeze and a fiery red-haired girl .He was about to remember what she had been saying,but as usual Sirius Black had to intervene.

"Wake up Prongs!!!!!!!" he yelled, taking care to jump right on top of James' stomach.

" Getoff you sadistic ass! " said a muffled voice.

"duly noted " replied Sirius," I'll give you exactly 5 seconds to get out and get dressed "

James snorted as he got out of bed. Sirius never woke up early unless,of course, it was something like today. Today,they were going to Diagon Alley. James, of course knew that they were going to see Lily (obviously) and also to get their things for seventh year. But unfortunately Sirius kept thinking that every year they went primarily to see tons of girls and also the new brooms and jokeshops.

Finally they managed to get ready in decent time.(Sirius pulling James away from the mirror and James trying to get Sirius to stop boasting about his supossedly perfect hair.)

"Morning Mom" said James

"Morning " chorused Sirius, as he gulped down some taost and milk with almost indecent enthusiasm.

"See ya" they said in unison as they stepped into the fire that turned a bright green before dropping them off at Diagon Alley.

As they were just getting on to the street, they spotted their friends Peter and Lupin Checking out some spellbooks.

"Moony,Wormtail!!!!!!!" they yelled as they ran to give each one a breathtaking punch,which almost threw Lupin down. Wormtail just looked too pleased that they had even bothered to punch him.

"Mate,long time no see" said Sirius giving Lupin yet another punch.

"I came over three days ago" said Lupin incredulously, as he straightened up."and would you mind keeping it down on the punches, I'm still recovering from this month's bruises"

James grinned as he saw Sirius roll his eyes , and say "sure sure" in the patronising tone he had taken to using lately. Feeling unusually lighthearted and happy,he turned his head only to see his love-of-life Lilly walking towards them along with her friends.

"Bonjour madame Evans" he said cockily,looking more handsome than ever with his hazel eyes on her.

"Hello James" blushed Lilly

"What brings you to this neck of the woods?" he continued in the same annoyingly cocky way.

"Obviously, I wanted to make my day by looking at your face early in the morning" she replied sarcastically.

"Ouch" muttered James

"Let the man take over" said Sirius stepping forward.

"Hi Lills,Ashley and Selena " he emphasized

"Hey, Padfoot" grinned Selena, her light brown eyes taking Sirius just as he had been taking her in.

Well, she's definitely hot,thought James. Last year the three girls had begun to get close to them during the last three weeks,when they had accidently learned about Lupin's furry problem. In fact,Selena and Sirius had been going out for long "walks" alone supossedly talking about Quiditch tactics. This reason would have actually been plausible as both of them were excellent Quiditch players, but James knew Sirius too well for his own good. He also thought that Ashley would be good for Lupin. They were both calm, but fun once you got to know them.

"Oy" said Sirius suddenly, pulling James out of his thoughts."are you gonna stand dreaming all day or help me buy these lovely ladies some treats?"

"Of course" said James sticking his nose in the air."Who else will buy my Lilly love her ice-cream?" he said in a deep voice while motioning Lilly to lock her arm in his.

"Fine, I will agree only on one condition that you will stop bugging us as soon as we finish eating and will get the hell away from us so we can buy our books in peace" replied Lilly.

"Whatever it takes" came the answer

"C'mon Ashley" Lupin said taking her hand.

And together the three pairs went to Fortescue's ice cream parlour with Wormtail tagging along. Once they had ordered their favourites, they chose a table overlooking the crowd at Diagon Alley.

"So,what have you guys been doing all summer" asked Selena

James took time eating a spoon of ice-cream before answering - "Well, Sirius was at my place the whole time, Lupin visited alot and Wormtail stopped in once in a while too,so of-course we had a blast everyday."

Selena gave Sirius a questioning look as to why he had been at James' place the whole time but she didn't say anything.

She probably knows that now is not the time, but she'll definitely corner him sometime,thought James. Smart girl.

"What've you girls been doing" asked Sirius.

"Well Ashley was at her Grandma's the whole time, Lilly spent half her summer with me to escape from her horrible-horsy sister("Sel!" said Lilly reproachfully), and I went over to Lilly's once in a while" finished Selena .

"Omigosh! we forgot to tell them!" yelled James all of a sudden."I've been made Head-boy!" he exclaimed turning to Lupin and Wormtail.

They gaped at him,both mouths ajar,too astonished to say anything.

The best reaction however came from Lilly.

"What!" she shrieked with such vigour that she toppled off her chair."no way" she said getting up quickly "that's impossible".

"And why's that?" said James in a hurt tone.

But it was Sirius who realised what the only possible reason could be.

"Oh" he said looking at Selena and Ashley.

"I know" said Selena "this ought to be good"

"Yeah." grinned Sirius suddenly,"They'll have to share a room and everything."

Selena snorted "Right".

It was only then that realisation dawned upon James too.

"Omigosh!" he said "Lilly that's really amazing" he exclaimed after two seconds. "I hadn't really thought about who would be head girl,we'll work out great together"

"I know, won't we" said Lilly in a miserable tone.

"Lilly, what's wrong?" said James "don't you like me?"

"Um yeah,like someone who's become friends in a really short span of time after years of mutual hatred" she said

"Then what's the problem?" he asked

"Nothing now......only if you return to your concieted self then I won't like working with you" she answered.

"Lilly, I promise I won't okay. Don't you trust me?"

"sure" said Lilly in a small voice.

"Are you guys done now?" said Sirius

James looked up to see that all of them had already finished and gotten up.

"Um,yeah,let's go" he said, throwing a galleon and a few sickles on the table as he got up.

"So,where do you guys wanna go?" asked Sirius

"Uh, Sirius,it's getting kind of late and we really have lots of shopping , so........"said Selena

"Oh, well see ya later then" grinned Sirius.

"Hey, we'll see you at king's cross tomorrow right?" Lilly asked James.

"Sure" he grinned too.

"Bye" they said, before walking off towards some potion cauldrons on sale.

The three marauders also set off to Zonko's and after that spent the remaining time trying their very best not to miss anything on their list.