Chapter 2
Lily woke to someone stroking her hair. It wasn't an all together unpleasant feeling, but when she opened her eyes, she couldn't hate it more.
"What the bloody hell, Potter?"
"Someone's feisty this morning."
"What are you doing here?" Lily closed her eyes and tried to calm her breathing.
"Madam Pompfrey said it was fine for me to stay the night." He leaned closer to Lily. "Between you and me, she seemed to like the idea. I'd even say she thinks we'd make a good couple."
"Well of course you'd say that, you prat!" Lily grabbed his shoulder and shoved James away. Lily started to try to get out of bed.
"Oh no you don't!" James said pushing her back into the bed.
"Potter, it's fine. I feel fine. Now I'm going back to the common room to study."
"No it's not fine. Madam Pompfrey said you had to spend one more night in the infirmary and then you'll be good to go."
"What the hell am I supposed to do for another 24 hours?"
"Language, Ms. Lily Evans!" James gasped sarcastically. "I would have expected more from the Head Girl!"
"Save it, Potter."
"And don't worry about being bored. I've sent for reinforcements."
"What's that supposed to mean?" Lily asked in a worried voice, which only made the smile on James' face widen.
"Padfoot, Wormtail, and Moony are coming to help entertain you."
Lily groaned. The only good part about this news was that Remus would be coming to visit. He and Lily had gotten to know each other quite well. Through studying with each other, they learned that they quite liked the other's company.
"Please, Potter, just leave. I don't see why Black coming would help make things any better."
"Well, it's not just Black coming— oh, no— it's the whole Marauders gang! Get ready for the best day of your life!"
"Yeah, right! Maybe it'll be the best day of your life. I won't be able to run away, so you'll be able to bug me all day long."
"No it won't."
"No what won't? Speak clearly, Potter."
"No it won't be the best day of my life."
"Mind if I ask what exactly was the best day of your life?"
"Wow, someone is very interested in me today."
"Humor me." Lily said rolling her eyes.
"The day you say yes."
"Yes to what? You really do need to work on your communication skills."
"The day you say yes and agree to go out with me."
Lily started to laugh. "That hasn't happened, Potter. And I don't see it happening."
"It'll happen. Trust me." James' voice was serious when he responded. This stopped Lily's laughter. He genuinely seemed to mean that the day she became his girlfriend would be the best day of his life. All this time she had dismissed his spouts of affection towards her as a combination of teenage hormones and Sirius Black laughing at his failed attempts to win her over. Now she saw his persistent love in a different way. He was still annoying and should learn to take a hint, but it changed how Lily saw him when she realized that behind his Marauder-ness, he did actually seem to truly love her.
That's when a rose suddenly appeared out of thin air and landed on Lily's lap. Then a second one appeared. Then a third. Music began to play. Fast music. The song? It's Raining Men.
"Oh no!" Lily groaned. This had Sirius Black written all over it.
At that moment, Sirius Black came racing into the room singing and dancing to the song. He wasn't wearing a shirt and he couldn't have been more delighted about it.
"It's raining mennn! Hallelujahhhh! It's raining men!" Sirius belted out the song in a voice that was extremely off-key, but he didn't seem to notice at all. Sirius simply pranced around the room, shaking his shoulders and singing to the song. Lily couldn't help but smile.
Her grin did fade, however, when the song began to close and Sirius pranced over the side of her bed and planted a big, wet kiss on her cheek.
Lily grunted in disgust and wiped off her face
"What the hell? What was that for?"
"No need to thank me, love." Sirius winked at her and licked his lips in a semi-seductive manner. This caused James to shake with laughter.
"Don't worry, I wasn't planning on it." Lily was controlling her anger better now. "How do you even know that song, anyways?"
"A muggle-born brought their MP3 player this year and played this song. When I heard it, I knew it was the one for me!"
"So, you heard the song and decided to come and dance topless for us and then kiss me?"
"Well, I didn't have a choice about the dancing and kissing, really. You see, I lost a bet."
"Who did you make a bet with?"
"Potter, of course. He's the only bloke I could lose too. Maybe I could lose to Moony or Wormtail— nah, who am I kidding." Sirius was laughing now.
"Potter why on earth would you make him do that?"
"Oh I didn't make him do anything!" James said defensibly, yet in a smug voice. "We made a bet and he lost, so he had to pay the price."
"Can someone just tell me what you bet already?"
"Remember when you broke your nose yesterday and Padfoot and I were talking after I tackled him for being a prat?" James looked proud to be able to announce that he had tackled Sirius. "Well, we made a bet. We've been making lots of bets these days. I bet that I could get you to let me carry you all the way to the infirmary. If I won, Sirius had to do this little number," James gestured to the half-naked Sirius. "and he also had to stop making the comments about me staring at you. If I lost, Sirius' comments would only get worse and I could say or do nothing about it for two weeks."
"That's a risky bet, Potter."
"Not really, considering I knew you'd jump at the chance to be carried by the one and only James Potter."
"Yeah, right. Keep dreaming, Potter."
"Well I won the bet, didn't I?" James smirked.
After Lily didn't respond, Lupin suggested that they start the day's activities. This only made Lily like him more. That was until Sirius announced what the plan for the day was: making bets with each other.
"Here's how it works. No money is involved. Like, at all because I'm broke and so is James." Sirius had put his shirt back on and started to speak as if he was delivering extremely important news. "The biggest, most important part of any bet is that you don't reveal the dare until both parties have agreed on the rewards.
"You have to decide on what each person gets as their reward if they win. For example, the loser could have to clean the winners section of the dorm for a month. Once this is agreed on, everyone involved in the bet has to take an oath that is enforced with a spell and a hand shake. This will force the losing party to carry out their end of the bet.
"After the oath is taken, the challenge is announced. This can be virtually anything unless it involves killing someone, any of the unforgivable curses, public nudity," Sirius leaned in closer to the circle of people listening, "and remember I said public, I didn't say anything about nudity within the players of the betting game." Sirius then winked at Lily.
"You're such a pig, Black!" Lily threw a pillow at him in disgust.
"Do you understand the rules, Evans?" James was laughing/
"Why are you asking me? It's not like I'm going to be playing!"
"I'm asking you because everyone else already knows the rules. And of course your playing, you can't just sit there and watch."
"I don't want to 'just sit there and watch'! I want to study! There really isn't much time until we have our NEWTs. You all should be studying, too."
"NEWTs, shmewts." Sirius mocked. "You're playing"
Lily turned her head and looked at Remus pleadingly. Remus simply shrugged, "You should play. It'll be fun! Besides, they can't make you do anything too crazy, anyways. You don't have to agree to a bet in the first place. Although, if you decline too many James and Sirius will never stop bugging you about it and the dare will only be worse when you finally do accept."
Lily let out a defeated sigh. "Fine, let's play."
—
A/N: I sincerely apologize if having the song It's Raining Men make an appearance in a Harry Potter fanfic has made you question what has happened to this world of ours, but for some reason I couldn't resist adding it! I know that it was released after Lily and the Marauders were at Hogwarts and there's no reason for them to know about this song, but for some reason I just had to include it. I hope it hasn't caused you to swear off ever reading any of my fanfics again! I pinky promise that I won't do it again!