The rest of the week wasn't anything special, in fact the next three weeks were absolutely dismal. Every day was the same; breakfast, classes, lunch, more classes, dinner, detention (for James and Sirius), homework, sleep and every day –with the exception of the full moon- the process just started all over again. Until the last Saturday in September, the day of the Gryffindor Quidditch trials. For once it wasn't raining and everyone was outside soaking up all the sunlight they could while it lasted, though not at 6am, which Marlene thought was the perfect time to wake up her room mates.

Lily woke to the scratchy sound of a record that hadn't started playing then the opening and closing of a door. There was the soft guitar riff-which was actually very loud- and then the even louder drums.

"Oh, Merlin. Turn it off! Turn it off!" She yelled. "I am going to kill you, Marlene!"

"You are so lucky that we actually like you," Alice yelled at the bathroom door as she pulled the pin off of the record, "because if we didn't, one of us actually would kill you."

Lily yanked her curtains open as Marlene cackled manically in the srehower, she pointed her wand at the wall and with a bang and the sound of pipes groaning turned the water ice cold. Marlene squealed.
"No sleepovers last night?" Lily asked Alice, trying to contain her laughter.

Alice shook her head, "Nah, Friday night is blokes' night apparently."

Lily snorted and glanced at her watch. "It's too early." She moaned.

"Agreed. I'm going back to bed."
She heard the sound of springs groaning as Alice flopped onto her bed. Lily closed the curtains to her own bed and rolled over, closing her eyes. It was half an hour of tossing and turning before she decided to go down to the Quidditch tryouts with Marlene.

Lily sat on the end of her bed, pulling her Chuck Taylors on when Marlene came out of the bathroom, fully clothed in tights and her Quidditch jersey with a toothbrush sticking out of her mouth.

"Oogumming?" She asked.

"What?" Lily asked, looking up at her.

Marlene rolled her eyes and turned back into the bathroom. "I said are you coming?" She called.

"Oh," Lily muttered. "Yeah."

When they got there there were already more than two dozen people on the pitch and a few in the stands, including four giggling Ravenclaw girls.

"Oi!" Marlene shouted up at them, "Rack off!"

The girls instantly went quiet, got up and left. Lily sat in their spot and was shortly joined by Mary, Dorcas and Alice.

James stood in front of the group on the pitch, Marlene- one of the teams beaters- and Sirius- a chaser like James- stood behind him.

"Right." James said, "Four laps around the pitch, if you can't stay in front of McKinnon you're wasting my time. What are you waiting for? Go!"

They all took off around the pitch, "Go easy on them," He muttered, "There's a few third year Hufflepuffs in there."

Marlene nodded and ran after them.

"Okay, boys and girls," James called after they had run their four laps. "sit."

The group collapsed on the ground, panting, Marlene and Sirius resumed their positions behind James.

"Did that hurt?" He was met with a few nods and groans. "Good. Daniels, Abbot and Tyler, I'm not daft, you aren't even in the right house. Leave." The three younger students he had called out stood up slowly and left the pitch. "Right. Now, I want you in groups. I want Chasers over there," he pointed to his left, "beaters there," to his right, "and seekers." in front of him, "We already have a keeper," he motioned to Edgar Bones who was already up hovering in front of the goals, "so if you were going for that you may as well leave now. We have five positions up for offer today; one beater, one chaser, a seeker and two reserves. Those laps were only an eighth of how hard training sessions will be so if you have a problem so far you are also wasting my time."

A few more people got up and left.

"Okay," James rubbed his hands together. "Seekers," He pointed to the group of six in front of him. "you'll be working with Black. Beaters," he looked at the group of seven to his right, "meet McKinnon. And chasers you get to work with myself and Ed up there. Lucky you." He grinned.


"Harvey; chaser, Essley; beater, Montgomery; seeker, Inns and Donery; reserves. Congratulations. First training session is Monday afternoon, four-thirty. The rest of you…" James looked out over the wheezing group. "better luck next time."

The group got up and left, some limping slightly, and he turned to Sirius and Marlene.

"I need a smoke." He shook his head. "It amazes me how trials never fail to piss me off, really why try out for the part if you don't even know how to play Quidditch?"

"Mate, to you nobody knows how to play Quidditch unless you train them."

"Exactly." James muttered.

When they got to the little clearing by the lake, followed by the girls, Remus and Peter were already there, the former sitting on a rock with his nose in a book.

"Moony," Sirius said sharply, "I thought we agreed that this was a homework-free area."

"Actually you made that a rule," Remus replied, "and this isn't homework,"

"It's Lord of the Rings," Lily finished for him. Remus nodded.

"What?" Marlene and James said in unison.

"It's a muggle fantasy book series," Lily shook her head, "don't worry."

Meanwhile Dorcas was scouring the perimeter, looking under rocks and gnarled tree roots.

"What are you doing, Doe?" Mary asked.

"Looking for- Aha! Got it." Dorcas ducked out from behind a tree with a half empty, glass bottle that was crusted in dirt and rotten leaves. "I dropped this here ages ago!"

"It's a bottle of dirt." Alice pointed out.

"Yep." She grinned.

"How were try outs?" Peter asked, watching as everyone else dropped their stuff and sat on the ground, then casting a wary eye at Dorcas before turning to James.

"Don't even get me started," James muttered, lighting a cigarette.

"That bad?"

"Three Hufflepuffs tried to get in," Sirius said.

"And some Ravenclaw girls came down to ogle at James." Marlene added.

"So the usual." Dorcas finished, swaying back and forth on the swing she had made with Lily back in their fourth year. "I can't believe we only have two more years."

"Two more years to do as much crazy shit as we can," Marlene grinned.


The next day went quite well, as Sundays go. It was sunny again and a bit warm too, though that didn't stop the sixth year Gryffindors from staying inside. Lily and Mary sat with Remus, Peter and James at a back table in the library around an hour after breakfast. They were supposed to be studying for a Divination exam but none of them took notice of the books and parchment piled on the end of the table.

"I guess you haven't talked to her then?" Lily asked Remus.

He shook his head, scrawling down a few sentences. "What am I supposed to say to her, Lily?"

"How about 'Dorcas I really do love you but I have major commitment issues. Because I'm a werewolf.' Would that work?" James put in.

"Keep it down!" Remus scolded, glancing around.

"Am I missing something?" Peter asked.

Remus sighed and shook his head. "Dorcas tried to kiss him," Mary said.

"What?" Peter shook his head, "When?"

"On the train," Remus answered, "when they lost Lily's cat,"

"You lost Lily's cat?"

"No!" James looked offended, "Marlene did,"

Lily rolled her eyes, turning back to Remus, "You need to talk to her, Remus,"

"I'm sure she's gotten over it by now. She seems fine,"

"She's been getting up earlier and earlier to run every morning," Mary said. Lily nodded.

"So?" James asked.

"So Dorcas isn't a morning person," Remus responded, "you're lucky to get her up in time for classes without coffee. Why do you think she's so energetic and happy?"

"She drinks about four cups of coffee at breakfast," Lily finished.

Peter looked confused, "But what has that got to do with running?"

"It's how she gets away," came Mary's reply, "when she needs to think, she runs."

"Remus you have to talk to her!"

"Lily, she's probably gotten over it!"

"She hasn't," Mary murmured.

"Just talk to her, Moony," James muttered. Peter nodded.

"Fine!" Remus hissed, "Okay, I'll talk to her,"


The Slytherin common room was littered with folded leaflets of parchment covered in slanted, green writing when Severus Snape came down from his dormitory on Monday morning. The Hogwarts Express was written in bold across the top of the one he picked up, followed by the words; A monthly news report from yours truly, Rita Skeeter. Rita Skeeter was a bossy, little blonde know-it-all, fourth year who thought it was her business to invade people's privacy and relay the information to everybody else. It had been that way since she'd arrived at the school. And being the little know-it-all she was, she already had job prospects; she wanted to write for the Prophet and was already trying to get a summer job there. Snape skimmed through the articles, rolling his eyes at the main one on the front page; Potter and Black trying to blow up the train, there were a few more articles about Quidditch and the weather but that was mostly it. He huffed and threw the paper into the glowing embers in the fireplace left from the night before, before leaving for breakfast. The corridors and the Great Hall were strewn with the pamphlets too.


"Bloody hell," James muttered, flipping through the pamphlet that had appeared in front of him when he'd sat down at the Gryffindor table, "'James Potter and Sirius Black, two of Hogwarts most infamous trouble makers, attempted to blow up the Hogwarts Express at the beginning of this month and risked the lives of many. The boys claim to have only been playing a game of what they call 'Ultimate Exploding Snap' but managed to blow up their entire compartment, though this is not the first or the worst prank the boys have pulled in the past several years…' We didn't try to blow up the train, it wasn't even a prank!"

Marlene snorted, reading over his shoulder. "Wow. Just wow,"

"As if she didn't gossip enough," Dorcas muttered from across the table.

Marlene looked up at Dorcas and then at Sirius who was next to her, staring across the hall at the Slytherin table. Following his line of view, she realised who he was staring at; a short blonde with curly hair and winged glasses giggling along with the group of girls around her. "Seems like they're the only ones who care about it," She muttered.


"I really do hate Mondays," Lily groaned as they waited outside the potions dungeon.

"Really, Evans? 'Because I really do love Mondays," Sirius smirked, holding out a handful of Filibusters to her.

Lily took them, shaking her head, "You are such a kid," She frowned, giving him a reproving look.

"Those were meant for the Slytherins, Padfoot, not Evans," James grinned, taking them from Lily.

"Didn't your mother ever tell you not to snatch?" Lily bit back.

"No," he poked her arm, "I'm perfectly nice to my mother so there is no need for her to tell me such things,"

The class filed into the room and the Marauders took their usual seats up the back with the girls.

"Can we try to get through at least one lesson without an exploding cauldron caused by you five?" Remus muttered, looking at his fellow Marauders, Marlene and Dorcas.

"Of course!" Marlene laughed.

"But don't forget it is double potions," Sirius finished with a smirk.

"You know, McKinnon, we would make such a great team," Sirius said some hours later as they made their way down to lunch.

"I sense an insinuation of sex somewhere in that sentence," Dorcas muttered.

Lily laughed, "You too?"

Marlene scoffed, "Maybe in your dreams," she patted his chest and winked.

"Smooth, Padfoot," James muttered, watching the four girls walk off ahead of them.

Sirius elbowed him in the ribs, "Shut up,"


"How many times, Severus?" Mulciber started, following his fellow Slytherin's glare toward the Gryffindor table, "We have no need to associate with that filth,"

Snape ignored his friend's comments and continued glowering at the Gryffindor table, specifically Potter. There he sat, laughing with his friends, making jokes, making her laugh too. Snape had never made Lily laugh like that in all the years they had been friends. She was radiant, she always had been, but since they had stopped being friends and she had become good friends with Potter, Lily had been happier than he had even seen her and it made his blood boil.

"Snape!" Mulciber snapped his fingers in front of his friend's face, "Focus!"

"Yeah, yeah," Snape muttered, taking one last look at Lily before moving his gaze to the open book on the table in front of him, "I'm listening," He resolved to give her some space over the holidays but now he was going to talk to her. He had to talk to her. As soon as he could get her alone, or away from Potter at least.


"Remind me again why we are taking this class," Marlene groaned as they lounged on the bean bags in Divination after lunch.

"Free tea," Dorcas supplied, holding up her half empty cup.

"'Cause Winting is a stoner," James laughed quietly.

"To find our 'Inner Eye'," Sirius added.

"All great arguments," Remus muttered, "but I think we can all agree that it's because of the bean bags,"

The group laughed, "Definitely the bean bags," Lily chuckled.

Mary giggled, "Does it smell funny to you?" She asked, running her fingers through the thick, purple smoke above their heads.

"I don't think it's just incense he's burning," Sirius laughed.

"Miss Evans," Professor Winting called from his armchair at the front of the room.

"Yes, Sir?"

"Tell me, Miss Evans, what do you see in Miss Meadowes' cup?"

"Oh," Lily giggled, snatching up her friend's tea cup and peering into it, "I dunno, Professor. What do you see, Sirius?" She thrust the cup under Sirius' nose for him to see.

"Er… Some slimy looking yellow stuff, weird green things, a bit of back wash. And, Merlin, it smells like a hippogriff's arse." The whole class broke into laughter and Sirius pushed the cup toward Dorcas.

"Mr Pettigrew,"

"Sir?"

"What do you see in Miss McKinnon's cup?"

"Oh, I'm more of a coffee sort of person, sir," Marlene cackled.

"Have any of you drunk your tea?" Winting asked, exasperated. They all looked to Dorcas.

"Actually, this is my fourth cup," She said, raising the tea cup to him.

He sighed and shook his head, "I'd like to see you after class, the seven of you,"

"Sir?"

"Yes, Mr Lupin?"

"Can I ask, what is that you're burning?"

"Oh, just my own special blend," James snorted.

The group lingered behind as everyone else made their way to their next class, standing in a line at the front of the room, trying to stifle their giggles.

"I'm afraid you'll not be able to complete your examinations if you don't concentrate in my classes," Winting said, pacing in front of them, "it has occurred to me that you may not care for these lessons and if you don't, do not come to my class,"

Lily fidgeted uncomfortably, "Sir, we really do need to get to Transfiguration, and Professor McGonagall doesn't like it when we're late,"

He waved them off, "Yes, yes, just come to my class prepared tomorrow, okay?" They all nodded and got out of there as quickly as possible.


Later that night when the Quidditch team got back to Gryffindor tower, covered in mud and sweat, the common room was almost completely empty but for Lily and a few younger students waiting for their friends. Lily looked up from her book as Marlene collapsed on the couch beside her.

"A whole year with Potter may kill me," Eliza Harvey, a lanky girl from the year below, groaned as she stumbled toward the girls' staircase.

"Trust me, he sort of grows on you," Liam Essley, the Marauders' roommate, called after her as he sat on the other side of Lily.

"I take it practise went well?" She smirked, watching as a few more of the younger students stagger towards their dorms.

"It went splendidly," James sighed, "Donery almost passed out,"

"Isn't he a reserve?" Marlene nodded, "What are you doing to them, James?" Lily asked incredulously.

Before James could make some witty remark in response, the portrait hole opened again, emitting Sirius who breezed straight past them and only stopped at the bottom of the stairs. "Care to join me for a shower, McKinnon?"

"You know, Black, you won't get anywhere by asking a girl to watch you wash your hair for half an hour," She replied over her shoulder.


The rest of the week passed and not much happened; they all slowly stopped going to Divination, Remus still didn't talk to Dorcas, Snape still didn't talk to Lily, James and Lily remained friends, Sirius and Marlene continued their little game of flirt and tease and miraculously nobody on the Gryffindor Quidditch team died from the exhaustion caused by the practises James had scheduled for four times a week.


A/N - And there you have chapter 2! It didn't really pan out how I had hoped and it's a lot shorter than I had intended. BUT chapters 3 and 4 will (hopefully) be super long and eventful!
Reviews are nutella in my chocolate deprived life.
Cheers, Chelle.