Hey everyone! Thanks for checking out my story. It begins towards the end of sixth year and will continue on until seventh. I want this to be light-hearted and fun, but be as realistic as possible about the war. Also there won't be heaps of Snape in this story – he will be in it, but not a major character.

Anyway, please tell me what you think!

Disclaimer: Any characters you recognise belong to the wonderful J.K Rowling, as does the beautiful wizarding world of Harry Potter.

Breakfast was an excitable event the next morning in the great hall. Students were chatting about the news; Fetch was going to start any time within the next week. Lily had been badgered all morning by students asking her about the game and was only half listening to Ralph, the excited third year Ravenclaw who sat next to her as she pushed around the scrambled eggs on her plate.

'So yeah, my money is on Sirius this year – obviously since I'm on his team – because I just think he's the most daring of the four, don't you think? No doubt he will hide you somewhere risky, like that time you guys hid on the roof of the Gryffindor tower! Man that would have been scary. Anyway, I'm writing an entry for the school paper and I was wondering if you can answer a few questions? Like where do you think -?'

Lily was just contemplating going back to bed and calling it a day when she spotted Mary Macdonald eating further down the table. 'Ralph,' she said, cutting him off halfway through his lengthy description of Sirius' hair. 'I'm really sorry, but I've got to go. I'll talk to you later alright?' She got up and gave him an absentminded smile before moving towards Marlene.

'But wait! Lily! What about the interview? For the paper?' Ralph called after her. She sent him a small wave before collapsing into the seat next to Mary.

'Ugh Mary, can this day be over already?' groaned Lily, slumping forward onto the table with her head on her arms.

Mary snorted. 'Why?' she asked Lily before looking in dismay at her cereal bowl, which now contained a rather large chunk of Lily's auburn hair floating around in it. 'You're hair's in my cereal again Lils.'

'Great,' said Lily sarcastically as she sat up and examined her milk soaked hair. 'Add it to the list of terrible things about this morning.'

'Oh surely it can't be that bad, you're a celebrity at the moment! And I saw you talking to Ralph before, he's kinder cute and I think he's sweet on you.'

'Mary he's thirteen! And he's only cute if you're into bad cowlicks and acne. Besides, I think he's sweet on Black, not me. I just had to sit through a ten minute description of his 'luscious locks,' Lily gagged as Mary laughed into her pumpkin juice.

'Talking about me ladies?' came a smooth voice as Sirius slipped into the seat next to Lily. 'I assume you were, since you were talking about luscious locks.'

'No actually, we were talking about Potter,' replied Mary with a cheeky grin.

'Ah you wound me Macdonald,' said Sirius, dramatically placing a hand over his wounded heart. 'I always knew you liked James' hair better. I guess it just goes to show what bad taste you have. Speaking of bad hair, I must say Lily, that milky hair really isn't doing you any favours.'

'Oh piss off Black,' said Lily as she pulled out her wand and performed a quick drying spell. 'What do you want anyway? You usually sleep well passed breakfast in the holidays.'

'Alright, you got me; I didn't come here just to enjoy the presence of your company, lovely though it may be. I was wondering if either of you have seen Prewett this morning?' asked Sirius.

'Alice? No we haven't see her. Why?'

'Bugger,' muttered Sirius. 'We can't find Frank either, they must be canoodling somewhere. We need to sort some things out with Frank, considering he's the game keeper and all.'

'Oh well check the back sitting area in the Library, that's where they were last time. But I'd proceed with caution if I were you; there's no telling what they're up too,' said Lily, blushing slightly as she knew from experience that interrupting those two could leave you scarred for life.

'Will do,' said Sirius standing up. 'Thank you my lovelies. Oh and Lily? You missed a spot.'

Lily groaned in defeat and placed her head on the table, revealing the missed chunk of milk soaked hair.

Alice Prewett wasn't stupid. She knew that during the next few days, she would see very little of her boyfriend due to his 'gamekeeper' status. That was why when she decided to get up with the birds and read in the library, she dragged Frank out of his bed to come with her. It's not that she minded the fact that he was so involved with Fetch, it was just that when the game was on, he was constantly badgered and harassed, making any hopes of time alone impossible. Not that he was much company now, Alice thought as she looked down from her book to the boy sleeping peacefully in her lap. He was eagle spread across the couch, his limbs dangling everywhere. Alice smiled softly at the goofball, watching him breathe in and out evenly.

'You're staring. S'creepy,' Frank mumbled. Alice laughed and ran her fingers through his hair as he peered up at her.

'I'm only staring because you were drooling.'

'What?!' said Frank, sitting up abruptly and knocking Alice's book out of her hands. 'Oh, sorry. Was I really?' he asked, wiping his mouth quickly.

'No you big goof, trust me, I wouldn't let you use me as a pillow if you drooled.'

'Oh please,' Frank snaked an arm around her waist and pulled him to her side, causing her to shriek. 'You love my drool. You loooove it,' he sang. Before Alice could react, he leaned over and ran his tongue up the side of her face like a dog. Alice let out a squeal and tried to wiggle out of his arms.

'Gross Frank! You're disgusting, let me go,' she giggled, trying to move away while went in for another lick. Alice was so caught up in trying to escape that she didn't notice Sirius walk in.

'Merlin, what the hell is going on?! Should I come back later?' he asked, raising an eyebrows at their antics. 'You're lucky I found you before Madam Pince did.' He watched in amusement as both Alice and Frank froze and looked up at him before they quickly let go of each other and smoothing out their clothes.

'Sirius! Sorry, we didn't see you there,' said Frank, going red when he realised that Sirius had just seen him licking his girlfriend. 'What can we do for you?' he asked, trying to ignore the giggles coming from Alice.

'Well you can keep your tongue in your mouth for one thing, no one wants to see that.'

'I do,' piped up Alice.

Sirius sent her a mildly disgusted look before continuing. 'Anyway I just wanted to talk to you about the game and give you the map,' he said, pulling out the worn bit of parchment. 'I'm holding you both to your solemn oaths not to tell anyone about it,' he glared at the both, trying to intimidate them into keeping the secret.

'Of course we won't Sirius,' said Alice, rolling her eyes. 'You can trust us.'

'Right. Yeah. Anyway just one other thing; say hypothetically speaking, if someone wanted to win a –completely unrelated – game, how long would they say, have to hide a baton?'

Frank rolled his eyes. 'I'm not telling you how long the game is going for Sirius. You ask me every year and I give you the same answer I give the other three. You'll have to wait and see.'

'Ah well, worth a try isn't it?' Sirius grinned, giving them a quick wave before sauntering away.

'That boy,' said Alice, amused at his antics. 'So who do you think will win Frankie?'

'I don't know, but I'd watch out for James this year; he's got quite the team lined up.'

James was having a terrible day. Not only was he suffering from sleep deprivation, but his right hand man was in the hospital wing with the flu. The Hufflepuff fourth year Reilly Bollard had sworn black and blue that he would be feeling better by that night, but one look at Madam Pomfrey was all James had needed to confirm his fears; Reilly wasn't moving anywhere anytime soon.

James swore under his breath. He needed Reilly dammit! Together they had determined the best tactics, hiding places and established alliances. He was the one that James was going to give one of the two way mirrors to. Now he needed to find a replacement, and fast. And his unfortunate target; Marlene McKinnon.

James sat in the common room for over an hour waiting for the sixth year to leave the girls dormitory. It didn't take him long after that to realise that she was thoroughly enjoying her holiday sleep-in and wasn't coming down anytime soon. With a huff, James stood up and stalked up to his own dormitory, grabbing his broom and snitching his invisibility cloak of Peter's bed. James threw the cloak over himself and his broom, crouching low so that it covered him completely. Hoping no one would see his feet, James slowly flew up to the girls' dormitory, where Marlene was peacefully sleeping.

When he got inside, James dismounted at the foot of Marlene's bed, debating on how best to wake the sleeping girl. He knew from experience that this was a dangerous task, and he prayed that it was late enough in the day that she had had enough sleep and wouldn't murder him. Not wanting to anger her any further, he decided against any loud noises or shaking her awake. Instead he grinned, walked over to the side of her bed, lifted up the blankets and slipped in next to her.

'Lily Evans if I open my eyes and you are in my bed again I swear I will shave your eyebrow off in your sleep. Notice how I only said eyebrow? Because I will leave one intact so that every time you look in the mirror you will see your one lonesome eyebrow and remember what you lost.'

'Well aren't you a ray of sunshine this morning,' quipped James. He watched in amusement as Marlene's brow furrowed before she opened her blue eyes blearily. When he saw the be-speckled boy grinning down at her she shut her eyes again.

'Fuck off James. It's too early for your shit.'

'My my, don't we have a dirty mouth?'

Marlene snorted. 'Like you can talk. To what do I owe this completely unwelcome and unwanted visit?'

'What? No – I'm gonna skin you alive for waking me up? No death threats or bodily harm?'

'Well I would, but you clearly already know the drill, so my efforts would just be wasted on you.'

'I only know the drill because I've been on the end of said threats many many times.'

'Mmm,' Marlene groaned before rolling onto her back, spitting out the honey blonde hair that had fallen into her mouth. 'Cut the crap James, why are you in my bed? What do you want? And before you ask, I am not doing any sexual favours for you.'

'Ah well I guess I should just go than.'

'Funny,' said Marlene sarcastically. 'Seriously, talk or leave so I can go back to sleep.'

'Okay, okay! I know you said no sexual favours, but what about a normal favour? Are you willing to help out your favourite marauder?' asked James, unashamedly pouting.

'Depends.'

'Well see the thing is, Reilly may or may not be… unavailable to be my head honcho in Fetch, and I was just wondering if-'

'No.'

'But you didn't even hear what I was going to say!'

'You were going to ask me to fill in for him, to help run your little team of spies in Fetch. And now I'm saying no because I detest the game and anything to do with it. Including you.'

'Oh please,' James scoffed, 'you love me. But seriously Marls, I really need your help. Reilly left me high and dry and if I don't get it sorted my team will completely crumble! I won't have anyone to spy on the others, flush out the hiding spots or help me make kickass plans to win. Sirius will win for sure.'

'So? Who cares? It's just a game.'

James looked at her incredulously. 'It's like I don't even know you! How can you think that this is just a game?! This is the biggest event of the year! Hogwarts looks forward to this more than Christmas! The entire school is either taking bets or playing on a team. It is life! If Sirius wins again then there will be no stopping him! Imagine the bragging. Think of the children for goodness sake!' James had gotten so worked up in his dramatic speech that he was now sitting up on the bed, throwing his hands around passionately to demonstrate his point.

'Okay first of all you're being dramatic. The entire school is not involved and they certainly do not look forward to it more than Christmas. But you do make a valid point with Sirius. No part of me wants to see that jerk win again,' admitted Marlene reluctantly. 'But I still won't do it. The whole concept of it is ridiculous! You steal my friend at some ungodly hour, and hide her around the school for hours, sometimes days! Forgive me if I'm not all for it.'

'If Lily is okay with it, why can't you be?'

'Because it's stupid.'

'That's not a good enough reason.'

'Well it's the only one you're getting, so deal with it.'

'Okay, I didn't want to have to do this Marls, but if you don't help me out… I'll tell Sirius what you said at the Christmas party last year.'

'You wouldn't,' said Marlene, glaring at James.

'Oh contraire, I most certainly would,' replied James, grinning cheekily.

'Fuck you James,' said Marlene, sighing in defeat. 'Alright, I'll do it,' she said, rolling her eyes as James whooped and punched the air. 'But don't think I'm happy about it. Just promise you won't tell Sirius what I said.'

'Oh don't you worry, my lips are sealed! You're the best Marlene, thank you, thank you, thank you!' he said, grabbing her forehead and kissing it roughly.

'Ugh gross, don't touch me.'

'Okay, so I'm going to have to explain the game plan to you. Basically…' Marlene groaned as James rambled on, wishing she could just go back to sleep and forget the last half an hour of the morning.

There we go! What do you think of Frank and Alice? Do you like Marlene and James friendship? Obviously this is still early days and it's going to take a while to develop the characters, but we will get there! Also eventually this fanfic will have the primary focus of James/Lily, but I think to properly portray the era it's going to have everyone in there.

Next Chapter – the game begins!