B: Hopefully you find this chapter funny because, I have to admit, me and my vivid imagination found it pretty classic. My fingers were moving so fast as I wrote it, I was hardly concentrating on the words, but then I reread it and giggled my head off the whole way through. Oh well, different people have different senses of humour. Enjoy!


Lily lay on her stomache, a book laying open on the grass in front of her. With a sigh, she lifted her nose from the pages and turned her head, staring out across the lake. A tiny smile touched her face. The sun glinting on the glassy water, the trees on the rim of the forest swaying in the breeze and the flowers still left from a long summer made her feel so at home. It was so peaceful here. Well, for the time being.

'GERONIMO!'

Lily gasped for breath as Tess pounced on her, knocking the wind from her lungs. With an elated hoot, Sirius came tearing across the grounds after her, closely followed in hot pursuit by James, Hannah, Peter, and, following more sedately, Anthea and Remus. Tess laughed and rolled away, her voice light and breezy with excitement.

'We heard you were upset-.'

'-so we've come to cheer you up,' Anthea finished, smiling brightly.

Sirius flopped down on the grass beside Lily, picked up her book and flipped through it. 'Boring. I could never understand this.'

Tess snorted. 'Only because it doesn't have pretty pictures in it.' She batted her eyelashes innocently, which nobody fell for, and was rewarded for her efforts by Sirius leaning forwards to tickle her madly in the waist. Lily could help but laugh.

'Well, Lilikins,' James said sitting himself down with the others in a huge, rowdy group and automatically picking up a stick, shredding the bark away with his nails. 'I think it's time we had some fun. Besides, it's too hot to lounge around out here studying. I think you need… a little swim.'

Lily shrieked but moved too slowly. James and Sirius scooped the small girl up bodily and the three of them plummeted into the lake.

'James!' Lily cried and, grabbing his head, pushed it under water for a second. 'You're such a-!'

'Clown?' he gasped, spluttering as he pushed his head back above the silvery surface of the lake. 'I know, ain't it great?'

She answered him by splashing him full in the face with a double handful of water. Sirius picked her up around the waist, lifted her high in the air and dumped her back into the water. The five still left on relatively dry ground were laughing madly, Tess holding her stomache as she howled her delight. Lily took the liberty of splashing the others then stomped out of the lake, her hair plastered to her back and a bright smile lighting up her face.

'Lily!'

The smile faded as she looked up. Todd was marching disapprovingly across the grounds. 'What do you think you're doing? You're soaked!'

A feeling of resentment rose inside her. She was sick of being humiliated, patronized and put down. 'I'm having fun, I can do that once in a while, can't I? Or does that oppose your ideals of women?'

The others fell silent around her. Lily's green eyes were blazing angrily and her dark red hair flashed in the bright hot sunlight. Obviously no one had ever stood up to Todd before, especially a female, because he didn't take the hint.

'A woman should behave herself.'

'And run house and home, raise the children and be a good housewife.'

'Exactly,' Todd said automatically. Lily sook her head and laughed aloud in amazement.

'You sick, twisted, sexist pig. Now you listen to me.' She sauntered up to him and poked him in the chest. He winced and rubbed his chest where her finger had struck him. Remus, James and Sirius snorted. 'Women are not here for your amusement. Women are not to be silenced and women can kick your ass whenever we damn well feel like it!'

Tess whooped and punched her fist in the air. 'Girl power.'

Todd glared at Lily and muttered, 'Little bitch…'

James and Sirius stopped laughing, their faces drained white and they launched themselves at Todd, fists flying.

'Go for the balls!' Tess shrieked from behind Lily. Hannah gasped and cheered as Todd curled into a ball, James' fist smashing into Todd's stomache. Remus had more sense than to get into the fight and stood back with Anthea, neither going to Todd's aid nor joining in with bashing the living daylights out of him. Peter cowered in the background.

Lily let the two boys go for a while then leant forward and grabbed a hold of James' arm and Sirius shoulder, pulling them back from the bruised and bloody Todd as he lay on the grass. James glared viciously down at Todd as Sirius grinned, happy that he'd finally got into a fight. With a light kick at Todd's leg, he spat down at him 'Get out of my sight. And if I ever hear you insulting Lily or any other girl, I'll kill you.'

Todd scrambled to his feet, spat at the ground between James' feet and marched off towards the castle, Lily clinging onto James' arm to keep him from running and body slamming Todd through the stone castle wall.

Tess turned and high-fived Hannah. 'That was awesome!'

Lily smiled, and then turned to look over James and Sirius. Both seemed relatively unharmed, but James had a split lip. He grinned, though. 'I highly enjoyed that. I've wanted to beat the hell out of that slimy toad since… for ages.'

Sirius wiped his forehead with the back of his arm and flung his other arm around Tess. 'Did you say Todd or toad?'

'Who cares?' Anthea snorted. 'Both mean the same thing.'

Everyone turned to stare in amazement at the usual kind, soft-hearted Anthea. She shrugged.

'Well, why can I be mean every once in a while?'

Lily laughed and gave James a quick hug and he draped his arm chummily around her neck. 'Come on, I'm freezing now. And after Sirius and I save the damsel in distress it'll destroy the story if we all got sick. Besides, I'm hungry.'

Tess rolled her eyes as she jumped onto Sirius' back, for a piggyback ride. 'Hungry again. Bloody males.'

'But what would you do without us?' Remus grinned, as he bent to pick up Lily's discarded book.

'A hell of a lot better, thank you very much. Lily could easily have kicked that Toad's butt without Padfoot's and Prong's chivalrous intervention.'

'Hey,' Sirius shrugged, almost dislodging Tess, who clung tighter to his neck. He coughed and tugged lightly at her arm. 'Not so tight. Anyway, we make fights look good, us being so damn good looking and all.'

The girls just laughed as the sun set over the lake behind them.