Lily Evans, had done it, she'd made James seethe with jealousy and feel utterly humiliated by all his attempts to ask her out in approximately 12 hours. James was more than impressed with Lily's course of action in regards to his punishment, and if he hadn't in fact realised that this was all just that, a punishment, he might still have been fuming later that night in the common room. After his little run in with Snape, James went back to the common room, hoping to discuss his punishment with Sirius.

'Padfoot, you old dog, where've you been?' James asked Sirius jovially.
'Why you old fool Prongsie, I was just here, you old kook,' Sirius replied in the same ridiculous tone James had been using. 'You seem to be in a much better mood than last time I spoke to you…' Sirius stated after lowering his voice once the group of 3rd year girls had had a giggle over their playful banter.
'I guess you could say that yes, you see I realised what the lovely Lily was trying to do you see, and although it worked, for a time, once I recognised it for what it was I decided that in fact she is even more brilliant than I ever gave her credit for. On top of that, I've decided on a way to get her back for taunting me incessantly today with her incredibly enticing emerald eyes…' Sirius looked at James quizzically and asked him what the hell he was talking about. After explaining the whole ordeal to Sirius, and how Daniel was in fact gay and therefore had absolutely no interest in Lily, Sirius finally understood the extent of Lily's torture to James. He still couldn't understand, however, why he'd gotten away with the prank.
'So what's your plan then?' Sirius asked James.
'I'm going to be supportive of her date with Daniel.' Sirius stared at James open-mouthed, not able to fathom why James would possibly do this.
'Don't look at me like that, it's a brilliant plan, you see this way she's going to have to go on the date to attempt to hurt me more and she's going to have to continue the act she's started, meanwhile, I'm going to be overly polite to her, and make sure that she recognises I can actually be a normal human being. Plus for good measure I'm not going to date any other girl so that she can see that I am waiting for her…What do you think?'
'I think it's entirely insane and boring. Why would you do that, the first part sure, but come on as if you're not going to date anyone else, you might be waiting your whole life!' Sirius burst out in alarm at the proclamation James had just made. James frowned at Sirius, it wasn't unlike his friend to only think with his lower parts, however, it was unlike him to be so completely unsupportive of his attempts to woo Lily. Sirius recognised the look straight away and hastily attempted to fix the situation.
'I'm sure it won't be a lifetime before she recognises your love for her and returns it, but I'm just saying maybe if you dated someone else she'll realise what she's missing…' Sirius, not wanting his friend to become boring and give up on girls completely thought that perhaps by changing his thought process, he could persuade James to attract Lily by not focusing on her. James didn't answer Sirius, as he was thinking about his proposal, perhaps this would actually work better in making Lily realise that he had true feelings for her…James wasn't the type to hurt other girls though, so he definitely had to think about this some more. Fortunately at this time the rest of the Marauders came in looking at James solemnly, and it wasn't until James explained Lily's cunning trick that the group was able to continue with their joking banter and loud ruckus in the Gryffindor common room, attracting many admiring looks from the female Gryffindor population.

About an hour later Lily was on her way back to the dormitories to curl up in bed after her exhausting day attempting to flirt and be a complete bimbo when she was cornered by Marlene.
'Mar! Shit you scared me! What are you doing just sitting in the dark like that?' Lily gasped at Marlene, who looked a little sheepish.
'Sorry Lil! Didn't mean to frighten you, I was waiting for you and I guess my mind trailed off and I didn't realise how dark it had gotten…although I reckon if the male population had seen you then they wouldn't have thought you were half so attractive!' Marlene giggled at the ridiculous expression on Lily's face and her dishevelled hair as she hastily attempted to make herself appear normal again. Rolling her eyes, Lily asked her what she wanted with her.
'Oh yeah…so your plan worked brilliantly with James, I think he was genuinely humiliated today.' Lily nodded and looked at Marlene expectantly, waiting for what she would say next. Sighing exasperatedly, she continued.
'So..how come Sirius got away so freely? You know he was the one who flung the brain at Snive..Severus.' Marlene quickly caught herself from calling Snape the nickname the Marauders had given him, although it didn't go unnoticed by Lily, who looked at her sternly. Lily's next reaction was exactly what Marlene knew was coming.
'You're just upset because I didn't hex him. I know he's annoying to you Mar, but I've got my bone to pick with Potter, not Black, that's up to you…but you're right, he did get away fairly easy. I tell you what when we get into the common room I'll send a curse his was for a bit just so he knows he didn't get away with it. Is that ok with you?' Marlene who didn't want Lily to continue talking about her and Sirius' odd relationship nodded happily and left it at that. Marlene had always disliked Sirius because of the way he treated women, and because he seemed to enjoy flirting with her constantly just to see her get more and more frustrated. Both knew that they had no feelings for each other, but they both tackled it very differently.

Once they reached the common room Lily and Marlene, who had met Mary on their way there had finally decided on the 'rictusempra' curse, because they knew it was something the other Marauders wouldn't stop in a hurry, plus the curse itself was particularly effective on Black, because of his extremely ticklish nature. Mary agreed that this was the best option because it meant Sirius wouldn't get away with it, and because it meant that finally this whole ordeal would be over…How wrong she was.

When the three girls walked into the common room they were definitely not expecting to see the Marauders in fits of laughter over a game of exploding snap, so when that is exactly what they did see, cursing Sirius felt even more appropriate. Lily walked over to them and cried 'Rictusempra' directing it at Sirius who then fell about in fits of laughter, Lily then said to him while he was incapacitated,
'Don't ever mess with Severus again, or you'll get much worse than this.' Chuckling slightly with the other girls she turned ready to head straight up to bed. If only she could be so lucky, after walking across the common room, she heard Remus call the counter curse so Sirius was free, and gasping for breath, then she heard another's voice, one she had really hoped to avoid hearing before she went to bed, Potter.

'Lily! Wait!' Slowly Lily turned around eyes fuming, because all she wanted to do was go to bed and forget about this ridiculous day, said nothing but just looked at him. James faltered slightly under her stare and then continued.
'Err…I just wanted to say that I'm really sorry for what happened with Snape, and that I hope you have a great time with Daniel this weekend. I won't be bothering you anymore.' Lily looked at James completely gobsmacked. What on earth had gotten in to him?! Eventually regaining composure she nodded curtly at him, because she couldn't trust herself to speak, turned on her heel and went up to bed, thinking wildly the whole time. Could her punishment have actually worked? And if it did, then why did she feel so deflated?

James watched Lily's reaction and smiled slightly, although he had hoped she'd say something to him, at least he hadn't been cursed or yelled at, and he'd actually rendered THE Lily Evans speechless. As he sauntered back to where Sirius was spluttering, he finally had a small feeling of hope, which remained in him for a long time to come.

N/B

Hi Guys,

I'm so deeply apologetic for the ridiculous delay in posting, not sure if I've posted all year, but I'm back now, hopefully I'll get to write a few more chapters in the coming months. I've lost my direction a bit with such a big break, so reviews, ideas and thoughts are most welcome and greatly appreciated. Also sorry this chapter is so short, I just wanted to get it up and then I can flesh out a few more thoughts and ideas in some chapters which are hopefully coming soon!

Thanks guys, and please R&R!

-Mollie