This disclaimer applies to the whole story because I don't want to write the same phrase over and over: Anything you recognize, no matter how small, belongs to JK Rowling, not me. Everything else (a very limited amount) is mine.
The next morning, a sign-up appeared in the Gryffindor common room. "Anyone want to participate in a Marauders' prank? Just sign your name and we'll give you details," it advertised. Throughout the day, rumors told them that similar signs had appeared in the Hufflepuff and Ravenclaw common rooms, too. Within two days, nearly all of Hogwarts—minus the Slytherins, who were carefully kept in the dark about the whole thing—had signed up to help.
That Saturday, Lily and the Marauders held secret meetings with a few students at a time in empty classrooms. It had been a while since anyone at Hogwarts had received a Howler from their parents, and they discovered it was harder than they had expected to explain the concept to Muggle-born first years.
"It's a letter that screams its message at you," Lily finally told them. "Imagine your mum coming to school to yell at you." A few students looked horrified at the thought. "It's like that, only she's not actually there."
"Except everyone can still hear exactly what she's saying," James added.
"Exactly," Sirius said. "So all we need you to do is get together with a friend or two, write notes to each other, and give them to us by Monday. We'll charm them to Howl for you."
Later that night, when almost all of Gryffindor House was in the common room, James made an announcement to no one in particular. "You know, the Slytherins really ought to be a part of this."
Immediately, everyone shut up. There was dead silence in the Gryffindor common room, an rare occurrence usually reserved for when everyone finally went to bed.
"Not tell them what we're doing," he insisted, "just make sure they get Howlers, too. Any volunteers to write them?"
He continued to be the object of several stares as everyone else turned back to whatever they had been doing.
"Don't you think it's a little too obvious what we're doing if, on Wednesday morning, everyone but the Slytherins gets a Howler?" he continued, unaffected. "Logically, it would have nothing to do with them, and us Gryffindors would be immediately suspect. Make it harder for the teachers to track the source, and give us a bit more time to get you all out of trouble when they finally do discover what happened. What do you say?"
"I'm in," Sirius said. "Come on, folks. You'd have fun writing to the Slytherins, wouldn't you?"
When a few heads nodded, James smiled. "I'll have a list of Slytherins by morning. We'll make sure each of them is assigned to someone writing a letter."
The next few days passed in a blur for Lily, Alice, and the Marauders. They collected letters during each meal and at odd times between classes from whoever they passed in the corridors. Lily kept a tally of who was scheduled to receive a letter, making sure no one was left out.
On Tuesday night, Lily pulled an all-nighter, an experience she was well accustomed to. As it turned out, even the Marauders weren't used to going a full night without sleep. Just past midnight, Remus and Peter went up to the boys' dormitories, followed soon after by Sirius.
"You tired, Lily?" James finally asked a few hours before sunrise. "I'll finish up here so you can get some sleep."
She waved him off. "I'm used to this, James. Besides, I can't trust you not to fall asleep, and this needs to get done tonight. And we still have to get all these Howlers to the owlery so they can be delivered at breakfast."
"Damn, I forgot about that part."
"See what I mean, James? You would forget something crucial like that, and then the whole prank would be messed up. I'm often up all night, and I can still think."
"Shut up. I would have realized it eventually."
"Sure you would have," she replied skeptically.
They chatted for the next hour as they worked, casting ululatus iratus at least a thousand times, and delivering the precious letters to the owlery as soon as they finished.
In the gray light before dawn, Sirius crept downstairs to check on them before all of Gryffindor Tower woke. He found them sound asleep on a couch. James looked as if he was relaxing, and Lily's head rested on his chest as she lay next to him. His arm was stretched around her in a friendly manner. The Howlers were nowhere to be seen, and he knew they had finished the job.
He tiptoed over to wake up James—carefully, not like he would in their dormitory—and poked his friend's shoulder. "Wake up, mate. Big day today."
James opened his eyes slowly, obviously stiff from sleeping on a couch. He froze when he realized Lily was next to him. Sirius, not usually a tactful person, quietly returned to his room to let them wake up together in peace.
Lily woke as she felt James shift, and she angled her head to look up at his face. Suddenly, she realized what she was doing and buried her face back in his shirt to avoid looking at him.
"Lily, what's wrong?"
"Nothing, James," she lied. "It's nothing." She jumped off the couch and away from him. "I just need to get ready for class, and the Howlers are today, and…" She trailed off as she walked up the stairs to the girls' dorms.
Damn, James thought. He had been starting to consider the vague possibility that Lily might sort of like him. Obviously not, though. It wasn't even like they had done anything last night, besides work on those stupid Howlers.
In her room, Lily cursed herself. She should not not care that she woke up in James Potter's arms. Or rather, she should care, and she should be upset. She was furious with herself for getting scared and running away. Once she decided to go back downstairs and see James before everyone woke up, it didn't take her long to comb her hair, brush her teeth, and change her robes.
James was still on the couch where she had left him, but now he was sitting up. He was leaning forward, with his elbows on his knees and his face in his hands. She walked over to sit next to him and rested her head on his shoulder. "Everything ok, James?"
"ululatus iratus" literally means "the howling of the angry" in Latin.
Yes, it took me almost two months to update. I'm really sorry about that, but I've been applying to college. All my applications are finally in, and I should have more time to write now. Don't kill me; this chapter is mostly fluff, I know. I just needed to get back into the story after such a long hiatus, and the other option was a chapter about three lines long. I doubt you would have preferred that.
Thanks for reading. Now review please! I'd love to know what you think.
