Some may say that this update is silly, and rather pointless... but I absolutely LOVED writing this chapter, so please read it anyways =]

*""*

If relations between James and Sirius had been strained before, then they were now shattered beyond recognition. Hard as Remus tried to get the two boys to get along, his efforts always proved fruitless. The poor boy spent much of the next week traveling back and forth between the two, in a vain attempt to keep them both happy, but they were starting to wear the werewolf down.

Lily noticed this all, but whenever she tried to ask James what had happened between him and his handsome friend, he remained mum. As could be imagined, she didn't take his silence well.

"Just tell me what's wrong! What kind of relationship are we going to have if you don't confide in me?"

James groaned, "Just drop it, will you Lily? This is between me and him."

"No, it isn't! Your little fight is all you think about; you're constantly stressed out, you're rude to everyone for no reason… You can't expect me to just ignore it all."

Getting irritated, James replied with, "Diddle, Evans, you're starting to sound like my mother."

"Because I care about you, you idiot! Merlin knows why, but I do."

Her emerald eyes bored into his hazel ones, and for a moment, James contemplated just telling her the truth.

No! If she knew that this fight had happened because of her, she'd probably decide to leave me "For my own good". And I couldn't take that…

James sighed, "If you care about me, then please, just drop it Lily."

His hazel eyes pleaded to her silently, and she had to give in. With a soft sigh, Lily reached up and ran her fingers through his dark hair, "Fine, James. For you, I'll drop it."

But in her head she silently added, "For now."

Lily had a feeling that whatever James and Sirius were fighting about involved her, and wondering what had happened was driving her nearly insane. She and James were slowly growing apart over this, and she could feel it.

*""*

The following day was the day Professor McGonagall announced the final assessment project for her NEWT level Transfiguration class.

"This year, as we have a record number of students taking this course, I have decided that the final assessment will be done in groups. To be precice you'll be working in three's; with the groups you are currently seated in, and you will be asked to transfigure an ordinary bowl of fruit into a miniature zoo. You will also have to create a guide, going through all of the steps you took to arrive at the final product. A list of required animals and their exact dimensions is being passed out now."

As usual, the only words the students appeared to have heard were the ones concerning their group assignments. Any other year, and most of the class would have been delighted with their current group arrangements: Lily was grouped with Alice and Geeta, while James was grouped with Sirius and Remus.

Today, though, most of them felt that they'd give anything to change groups. Lily wanted to be with James; the renowned Transfiguration prodigy, and James wanted to be in any group but the one he was in.

Perhaps he would have felt better about his current location had be been moved to Peter's spot though. Peter usually sat alone at the table behind the other Marauders, so he had been placed in another group. Snape and Mulciber's group, to be exact.

Needles to say there was very little talking at that particular table. The same could be said of the Marauders table.

"Moony, could you please pass me that plum?"

Remus silently handed James the purple fruit, and then watched as his friend proceeded to shoot orange sparks at its side.

"Moony, could you please tell Potter that he's using the wrong spell? He's going to cause a fire."

James looked up at Sirius for the first time that day with a fierce glare, "So I'm 'Potter' now, am I?"

Feigning indifference, Sirius turned to Remus, "Sorry, d'you say something Moony?"

"Oh yeah, that's mature." James said, rolling his eyes.

Finally deciding to face James, Sirius sent him a look that would send a lesser man running, "So I'm the immature one? You need to take a look in the mirror, mate… and no, not to admire your overgrown head."

"At least I haven't sunk to stealing my insults from girls, you unfortunate result of inbreeding."

Sirius shrugged, "Well, in this case Evans does have a point. Your head is massive, and it's a wonder your scrawny little neck can hold it up. Now, Remus, pass me that banana."

James frowned, "No, pass me the banana, Moony."

"Give me that bloody banana!" Sirius glowered, leaning in to his lycanthropic friend.

When Remus didn't move, James smirked, "See, Black? You're not worthy to touch the banana!"

"I'm more banana worthy than you are."

"Are not.

"Are too."

"In your dreams."

"Please, Potter. I don't dream about fruit. I happen to have a life."

James, who had been glaring at Sirius, turned back to his other friend, "Just give me that diddle banana already!"

Remus, who knew perfectly well that his friends really couldn't care less about the tropical fruit, sighed, "Guys, there's only one banana."

Sirius scoffed, "Thank you, oh brilliant one. D'you hear that? Apparently, Moony's figured out that there's only one banana."

With a mad glint in his eye, James replied with, "Yeah, and it's mine!"

He made a lunge for it, and tugged it from Remus's hand.

"No, it's mine!" Sirius declared, diving over the table to grab the banana's other end. This was followed by a fierce tug of war, in which the sides of the banana were squeezed almost to the breaking point. The insides of the fruit were forced into the middle, which began to bulge precariously.

By that time, James and Sirius were practically rolling on the floor, and cussing up a storm of colorful insults for each other.

"Bloody, arrogant, shampoo loving dog!"

"Pathetic, mop topped, banana loving git!"

Here the seams of the banana began to swell, slowly pulling apart.

"Banana brain!"

"Banana butt!"

"Banana bread!"

"You diddle idiot."

By now the poor banana was nearing it's untimely end. The middle had swollen to a dangerous size, and any access pressure would likely blow the thing apart like Little Boy in Hiroshima.

"Diddle son of a death eather!"

"Beer bottle glasses wearer!

But then, they were interrupted by the banana finally erupting and hitting something to their left with a loud SPLAT! And by a very familiar, and very angry voice shouting, "ENOUGH!"

Both teens instantly froze and looked left, then up into the enraged face of Minerva McGonagall. And they gulped:

Minerva McGonagall was probably the only person in the world who could look that frightening through a face full of dripping banana, including Voldemort himself.

When she spoke, her voice was icy, but deadly calm. "Potter, Black, my office. Now."

Not wanting to risk getting her even angrier, the two did exactly as they were told. But the moment the three of them had left the room, the entire class burst into one of the loudest bouts of laughter the room had ever seen.