Last chapter: "let's think of a fantastic prank to start the year... like really all out. That is, if your still up for it, being the all-important Head Boy and all."

James sat up again and looked ready to retort, but he let out a sigh and gave his friend a lop-sided grin - halfhearted, but a start. "Abso-bloody-lutely."

And disclaimer… if I owned harry potter, I'd be charging you to read this! :p

Lily was startled awake by a loud, whiplike crack. She groggily opened one bleary green eye. Another loud noise. Her eyes snapped open quickly now, and she threw her blankets off.

"Mary?" she whispered, emerald eyes blinking and squinting as the dark room came slowly into focus, "You awake? D'you hear that?" There was a long pause, then another sound - this time it was more like several popping sounds. It sounded like...

She grabbed her wand off her nightstand and floated across the room. She was just about to touch the doorknob when there was another loud crack. She jumped, stumbling backwards a step, before promptly rolling her eyes at her own jitteriness. She made for the doorknob again, this time turning it quickly and pulling it open

CRACK.

Lily jumped back once more, before coming to her senses. Now that the door was open the noise was much, much louder.

"Lily? What the bloody hell was- WHOA, fireworks!" Mary apparently had woken up in the time that it had taken Lily to get to the door, and was now sliding past Lily in order to poke her head out into the hallway and get a better look. By this point, they were not the only ones awake. It seemed that every Gryffindor girl was up. Alice Fortescue and Marlene McKinnon joined Lily and Mary at the door frame. Angela White, however, remained in her bed, sleeping soundly. Mary always said the girl could sleep through anything after she'd accidentally blown up a goblet she'd been attempting to transfigure, only to look up and see Angela still asleep.

Most everyone seemed to find all of this very funny - neat, even. At least, everyone except Lily. She knew that there were only four Gryffindor boys capable of doing so much damage in their first night of school. And one of them was supposed to be the responsible Head Boy. She pushed past Mary and stormed down the hallway, not caring that she was still wearing her pink nightgown, or that she was brandishing her wand like some psychotic, frilly Barbie doll hellbent on vengeance.

She flew down the stairs into the common room, where the fireworks were going off in a frenzied display of colors, and in large, red and gold sparkling letters, it read 'Welcome back Gryffindor!' But she was too irate to notice any of this as she headed toward the staircase leading to the boys' dormitories. If a boy attempted to go up the girls' staircase, he wouldn't make it very far before sliding down the stairs, though apparently the founders didn't find such precautions necessary in the boys' stairs. Perhaps that wasn't so good - Lily flew up the stairs, ignoring the scandalized looks of younger students and headed straight toward the seventh year boys' dormitories. She banged on the door twice, before shoving it open.

Caradoc Dearborn was the first to notice her, and he lunged into the bathroom, embarrassed at his scantily-clad figure. Tyler Johnson, who had been talking to Caradoc as he made his wild jump for the bathroom, looked around to see Lily, and blushed slightly through his dark skin.

"Er, hello Lily?"

Lily suddenly felt her cheeks heat up as she realised how rash she was being. She just ran into the boys' dormitories, for Merlin's sake!

"Er, hello Tyler... Where is - BLACK! Where is Potter?" She had spotted Sirius Black, standing lazily near his drawer, holding a solitary grey sock in his hand, and - unfortunately for Lily, who was growing more embarrassed by the moment - wearing nothing but his underwear.

"Oh Lily dear, lovely to see you here, but isn't it a bit early for-"

"BLACK! Where is that big-headed prat, and why don't you put on some clothes, for Merlin's sake?" Sirius was quite a well-formed individual, and she didn't like that distraction while she was attempting to yell at him. She was thankful for her fury, however, which was returning quickly.

"Sorry sweetheart, but it was you who came up here while I was attempting- innocently, if I may add! - to get dressed." He brandished his sock defensively. "But if you must know, he's down in the common room, admiring our handiwork with Remus. Now if you'll excuse me..." He shot Lily a charming grin, and then turned toward a lump in the bed to his other side. "OI! Wormtail, have you seen my other sock?"

-:-

"This was brilliant, Moony. Fantastic idea, the fireworks!" James ran a hand through his wild locks absently as he watched a firework chase a second-year boy across the common room before exploding near his left ear - that had been James' doing, the ones that chased people. Sirius particularly got a kick out of it.

"Thanks, Prongs. I thought it would be a good way to start off the year with a bang," He chuckled at his corny joke. "Uh-oh, Lily at ten o'clock," he muttered, gesturing across the room and quickly averting his eyes. James groaned, but Evans seemed to not notice them, as she flew up the stairs, looking irate.

"She must be spitting tacks," James snorted, wondering when she'd realize he wasn't up there. Remus nodded in silent agreement. They watched their lovely mini-prank with the same sort of expression a father might wear while watching his child ride a broom for the first time. Of course, this was nowhere near the first time. Indeed, James hardly even considered this a prank. It didn't involve dungbombs, fizzing whizbees or even stinkpellets, and nobody was screaming. It was more a decoration for their homecoming.

Soon enough, Evans came flying down the stairs, more furious than before, and blushing slightly. She stopped about a meter in front of him, hands on hips, her wand gripped firmly in her right hand.

"What is wrong with you, Potter!"

"Aw, Evans, you were playing so nice yesterday, what's got you now?"

"Use your loaf, Potter, look at this mess! You're supposed to be Head Boy!"

"Oh! Right, this. This, Evans, is what I call a celebration! Isn't it lovely - Are you going to hex me?" He sniggered, as Evans had raised her wand threateningly, shaking in fury.

"I- I'm telling Professor McGonagall. This is ridiculous." She took a deep breath, shot a glare at Remus for good measure, and then stalked back toward the girls' dormitories again. James rolled his eyes.

"Nice dress, Evans!" He called after her in a singsong voice as she broke into a run up the staircase.

-:-

"So what'd she say?" Mary asked, pushing her lunch around on her plate. Lily had just returned from a chat with McGonagall, and from the scandalized look that graced her delicate features, it seemed safe to guess that it didn't go quite as planned.

"She said it was a good idea. Harmless. Can you believe that? Is the entire school going absolutely mad?" She stabbed a piece of meat rather savagely, before popping it in her mouth. Mary shrugged, not sure if Lily had finished her diatribe. Usually her friend wasn't really in a state to listen to others when she was in one of these fits, and she'd learned that shrugging and nodding occasionally was the safest way to go.

"She said she'd talk to him, though," Lily finally admitted, grudgingly reassured by this fact, and then went silent again, eating with a fervor that she usually didn't have. Mary watched her friend, skeptical.

"That's not all you're sour about, is it?" she prodded, knowing she was heading in the right direction from the expression Lily gave her. She began, pulling her biscuit apart, wondering what could possibly be worse for Lily than McGonagall being in agreement with Potter. Lily was about to stuff another bite in her mouth, and Mary shot her a look. "C'mon Lils, tell me what she said to get you in such a state, how bad can it really be?"

Lily dropped her fork on her plate and washed down what was in her mouth with a sip of pumpkin juice. "She showed me the Head's dormitories - they're gorgeous, two rooms, a common room and a bathroom." She said, looking down at her plate.

"But?" Mary prodded, curious as to what could possibly be so horrible about having your own dormitories to yourself.

"She said that Potter and I have to learn to get along, if we want to keep our positions..." She sighed, "And thought it would be a brilliant idea to shove us into the same dormitories for the next three weeks." The last part of her sentence came out as an angry growl. "I'd rather live in a pit of lions, or a bull pen!" She snapped. She knew that she wouldn't be able to handle living in the Head's dormitories, with Potter. She'd kill him... or herself.

"Wait..." Mary said slowly, needing clarification of what she thought she'd just heard. "You have to stay in those dormitories, and Potter does, for the next three weeks?"

Somewhere down at the other end of the table, Mary heard raucous laughter and excessive giddiness from a certain group of boys, and eyed Lily worriedly.

-:-

hope you guys enjoyed :) as usual, the plea for a kind little review, if you've read this. Even if it's "hi! I'm here, reading!" even if you think it's crap! Let me know! take care all!