Hey readers! I know I said I'll put this up two Sundays ago and I am so sorry for the late update! I'll try to be more regular (hopefully). I just have a REALLY busy schedule right now...

Anyway, this is not really a great chapter, more like just a filler...but I hope you'll like it anyway.

Thanks for all the reviews and subscriptions! I really look forward to reading each one every time I put up a new chapter. I'm hoping to get many more reviews this time.

As usual, the story is in McGonagall's perspective with the interruptions by James Sirius, Albus or any of the paintings being in bold letters. If you find this chapter a little confusing in any way, let me know.

Hope you all like it and please review!

Disclaimer : No matter how much I want to, I'll never own Harry Potter.


Remus didn't let Madam Pomfrey allow his friends into the hospital wing. He joined the rest of the school in two days but avoided the Marauders. James made sure Sirius gave Remus enough space but after a week, he tried talking to Remus. Getting Remus to talk, however, was a herculean task. Remus was a Marauder after all; he knew every secret passage in the school and used them to avoid James at all costs. He didn't even talk in the dormitory. He spent most of his time in the Library and studiously ignored the rest of them in the dormitory or common room.

The rest of the school noticed this behavior too. The Slytherins were delighted that the Marauders seemed to be breaking up. The rest of the school was divided between sympathy and disappointment that there were no pranks anymore. But, no one knew why the Marauders were no longer a team. There were several theories ranging from blackmail conspiracies to speculations on whether Sirius was caught with Remus' secret (and non-existent) girlfriend, but no one was close to the truth.

Two people did know what had happened – Lily and Severus. Lily had had a huge fight with Severus the day after the incident, telling him that it had been none of his business whether or not Remus was a werewolf. Severus had tried to protest but Lily had reminded him again that Remus was her friend too and she would stand up for him.

About three weeks after the incident, Remus was sitting by the lake one evening. He was simply staring into space when a voice interrupted his thoughts. "Hey, Knut for your thoughts?"

He looked up to find Mary Macdonald smiling at him.

"No, I wasn't really thinking about anything," he said.

"You sure?" asked Mary sitting beside him, "You seem pretty lost, especially without your friends."

"They're not my friends anymore."

"Really? Then why do you spend so much time brooding over them or stealing quick glances at them to see if they're as miserable as you are?"

"I can't be their friend. I thought I could trust them," said Remus looking away.

Mary looked at him, right in his blue eyes. "Ok, let's cut the small talk. I know what you are. I know you're a werewolf. I also know that you and your friends haven't been the same since full moon. What happened?"

Remus stared at her, open-mouthed. "You know?" he whispered, "But how?"

"Come on, I'm not stupid. We did werewolves in class remember? Anyone who's observant enough would have realized it. Not that your excuses aren't believable of course," she said.

"Then why are you talking to me? You should be scared or disgusted. You're a pureblood; I know you've been taught to fear me. And it's true, I am a monster," said Remus edging away from her.

"Stop moving away, you don't have some contagious disease. I don't care what you are Remus. I know you're not scary or evil. Yes I was always taught to fear werewolves but you've hung around with Sirius for three years, you know we don't believe everything we're taught. Frankly, I always imagined werewolves to be grotesque, evil creatures but you just don't fit the bill. You're one of the sweetest, kindest, most intelligent boys I know. You shouldn't be wasting your life wallowing in self-pity. You should be showing everyone that you're as normal as they are. I'm not saying that you should shout at the top of your voice that you're a werewolf, but you shouldn't make yourself an outcast. You're a werewolf only for one night a month. But, for the rest of the time, you're just Remus Lupin," Mary took a deep breath at the end of her speech, "So tell me, why are you guys fighting?"

Remus looked at her for a moment, his eyes showing his respect for her and gratitude, "Sirius told someone about my…condition and that person came after me on full moon night. James came to pull him back but I could have killed them both and Sirius thought it would be a good prank."

"Sirius is Sirius. He doesn't think about consequences. I'm sure he thought whoever he was pranking would get caught by Madam Pomfrey. True, you could have killed or bitten them, but you didn't. That's all that matters. And you know Sirius is really sorry. I have never seen him so quiet and subdued. They're your friends Remus. People do some really irrational things that hurt people around them. But only friends feel guilty and sorry about it later because they really care. You should forgive them," said Mary.

"You're full of long speeches today."

"Don't change the subject."

Remus smiled, "I'll think about it. I might just give them another chance."

"That's good," said Mary, lightly squeezing his hand.

He squeezed back lightly, "Thanks a lot."

She smiled, got up and started walking away towards the castle when Remus suddenly remembered something. "Hey Mary," he called, "did you send me those chocolates?"

"No. What chocolates?" she asked, looking confused.

"Never mind," said Remus, trying not to look too disappointed.

She's right, he thought, friends do some really irrational things. But he also had a feeling that the tingles he'd felt when she'd squeezed his hand or the way is heart raced in excitement when he realized she might be the one who sent him chocolates was not really very rational either.

That evening, when Remus was walking back to Gryffindor Tower, a pair of hands grabbed him from behind suddenly. Before he could reach for his wand, someone had tied his hands and blindfolded him and was leading/dragging him up the stairs. He heard a lot of voices, a sudden stunned silence and he was taken up more stairs. A door closed, and he was pushed onto a bed. His hands were untied and the blindfolded removed. He blinked and looked around.

"Ok who's idea was it to abduct me just to get me into the dormitory where I was heading anyway?"

The other three Marauders looked sheepish.

"Sorry Remus," said James, "But you wouldn't listen to us otherwise. It was Peter's idea by the way."

"Remus," started Sirius. He looked anguished. "Remus, I'm really, really sorry. What I did and what I said to you were absolutely, undoubtedly and irrevocably stupid. I can't say or do anything to change it. But I really feel regretful and please, please forgive me. No matter how much I'm against it, I still do have some Black genes. But I only said that because I was angry with Snape and myself and I just wanted to protect you. Please say you'll forgive me."

Remus' face was impassive as he spoke, "Someone told me today that people do some stupid things sometimes but only friends feel sorry about it. At fist, I didn't think that was true but after that really sincere apology, I think I need to change my opinion. And no matter how many Black genes you might have, you're still Sirius. You're a true Gryffindor who doesn't think twice about what he says when he's upholding his loyalty to his friends. And after you've used such big words like 'irrevocably' in your apology, how can I say no? I forgive you Sirius."

Sirius looked at him and then his face broke into a huge smile. He walked forward and hugged Remus. "Thanks Moony, I'm really sorry though."

"Hey, don't worry about it, Padfoot. Besides if I didn't forgive you, you'd probably have broken into the Ministry, stolen a Time Turner and gone back in time to reverse everything you did," said Remus.

"He was going to," said Peter, "until James threatened to knock him out."

"You know what? This calls for a celebration. Let's prank the Slytherins!" said James.

"YEAH!"

When the Marauders celebrated, they did it in style. The next morning, the Slytherins were exceptionally grouchy because their faces were covered with red and gold paint that wouldn't wash off for at least a week. Even though everyone knew the Marauders were behind it, they had no way of proving it. Everyone was just happy that the Marauders were back to being friends.

Severus cornered Lily in the Entrance Hall.

"You know they're behind this," he said, "How could you laugh along with them today?"

Lily grinned, "Well, Remus is still my friend and I can't rat him out. Plus I'm also a Gryffindor and about the face paint…what can I say? The Marauders are back." She ran off to class leaving a very disappointed Severus Snape behind.

Albus and James laughed. "She's a true Gryffindor alright," said James.

"I'm really glad the Marauders made up," said Al.

"You would be. We teachers were hoping for some peace and quiet," said McGonagall but she was smiling too. She went on, "The rest of the year went on with pranks and James ambushing Lily every now and then. But fourth year was when the sparks really started flying."

The boys leaned forward as McGonagall started with the story of the Marauders' fourth year.

Lily was on Platform 9 and 3 quarters a little earlier than she had planned. Somehow, she'd ended up near a compartment with her heavy trunk and lost her parents in the mist. She decided to stow her trunk in the compartment and then hunt for them. But getting the trunk on board was easier said than done. After her third unsuccessful attempt, she groaned, "I should have left 'Numerology and Grammatica' at home."

"That used to be one of my favourite books," said a voice behind her. She turned to see a tall, slender, red-haired woman walking towards her. "Need some help?" she asked.

"Yes, please," said Lily.

The woman lifted her trunk with magic and into a luggage rack.

"Thanks," said Lily.

"No problem," said the woman. "I was just looking for my husband and son and I thought you could use some help." She talked to Lily about Arithmancy and Hogwarts in general for a while. Lily was beginning to really like this carefree, happy young woman.

"My son never took up Arithmancy. It was my favourite subject, but he likes to take it easy. He's a hard worker when he needs to be though. Unfortunately, he takes after his mischievous, prank-loving father," the woman said smiling slightly.

The description sounded suspiciously familiar to Lily. "I'm sorry," she said, "I didn't get your name?" she began, when another all too familiar voice called through the mist, "There you are mum!"

No way, thought Lily, this amazing lady cannot be James Potter's mother.

James Potter (unfortunately for Lily) walked through the mist with a man who looked almost exactly like him and was undoubtedly his father.

"Ah, here they are," said the woman, "Allow me to introduce myself. I'm Teresa Potter; this is my husband, Richard and our son James."

"Evans!" said James delightedly. He turned to his parents, "Mum, Dad, meet Lily Evans."

Both his parents eyes widened in recognition at the name.

"I should have guessed," said Teresa, "You are as charming and beautiful as James described you."

"And we should know; he never stopped talking about you," added Richard.

James was blushing, Lily was just shocked. Her parents saved her from answering by suddenly appearing through the mist. "There you are Lily," said Jane Evans.

"You must be Lily's parents. Don't worry; I helped her with her trunk. It's easy to lose yourself in this mist," said Teresa.

"Mum, Dad, this is Mr. and Mrs. Potter. They're my classmate, James' parents," said Lily.

"Mr. and Mrs. Evans, I'm James Potter and I'm going to ask you for your daughter's hand in marriage someday," said James suddenly, with a grin.

Lily's jaw dropped and all the parents burst out laughing. "Yes, we know all about you, young man," Lily's been ranting about you all summer," said her father, his eyes twinkling.

James grinned at Lily and put his arm around her shoulders, "See Lilykins, he approves of me. All you have to do is agree to the proposal," he said and winked at her.

Lily finally snapped out of it. She shook his arm off and pulled her wand out looking so fierce that James decided to run for it. Lily chased after him, yelling, "James Potter I am going to kill you even if it lands me in Azkaban!"

Richard Potter grinned, just like his son did, "Quite the perfect couple, aren't' they?"

That was pretty much how fourth year went. James asked Lily out; Lily hexed him, the cycle repeated.

"Minerva, don't stop fourth year there. Tell them about some of Lily's best hexes," said Snape.

"Oh alright, let's take you boys through some of Lily's favourite hexes."

Start-of-term feast:

Fireworks exploded in various shapes and colours. Pandemonium reigned for a while and then the fireworks made a huge sentence over Gryffindor table, on which James was standing. He read out the sentence, "Lily Evans, you are the most beautiful girl I've ever seen. Will you go out with me?"

Lily's face was as red as her hair. "James Potter, get off that table NOW!" she yelled.

He simply went down on one knee and held out a whole bouquet of flowers. She got up, raised her wand and pointed it at the flowers, angrily. A huge cloud of pollen enveloped James.

"Lily…acchoo!...I'm allergic…acchoo!...to pollen…ACCHHOO!" he sneezed.

"Yeah, I've tried to compliment Rosalie too many times. I told her she looked really good when she was in Care of Magical Creatures and was all hot and sweaty. She loosed a hippogriff on me. That's when I learnt timing was important," said James ruefully.

"Oh, so that's why you were running across the grounds with a hippogriff chasing you. It was good entertainment for me in History of Magic class," said Albus.

McGonagall moved on to the next incident.

Halloween party:

Lily had dressed up as a vampire. James ran up to her screaming, "Bite me Lily!"

Lily had immediately run in the opposite direction screaming, "Get away from me, you freak!"

James had used one of his (or rather, Sirius') worst pick-up lines ever. "You're a vampire tonight Lily, but you didn't drink my blood. You took it's source. You stole my heart."

The crowd burst into laughter.

"James Potter!" yelled Lily, hexing his robes to become a sack and tie him up in it.

Christmas dance:

Lily entered the Great Hall to find a huge present in the middle of the Hall.

"Hey Evans, it's addressed to you," said someone.

Curious, Lily walked up to the box and pulled the ribbon off. Immediately, James popped out singing, "Jingle bells, jingle bells, jingle all the way! Oh what fun it would be to ride in a one horse open sleigh with you Lily darling. Please, go out with me. You'll be the best Christmas present ever."

"James Potter, will you ever give up?" she demanded.

"No," he replied.

Lily sighed and waved her wand. The huge ribbon tied him up like a mummy.

"Leaving my face uncovered so you can snog me Evans?" smirked James.

She walked up to him, really close, and then slapped him hard and walked away.

"Go out with me Evans?" he called.

"POTTER!"

Some day in January:

Lily was hurrying away from the Charms classroom. James had asked her out again and was now the victim of a severe tickling charm. She was hoping to get away before he recovered.

"I've been on the receiving end of that one. It's as agonizing as the Cruciatus Curse," said James.

"Wasn't that the time you tried to sing one of Shakespeare's sonnets because you found out Rosalie liked literature?" asked Albus.

"How was I supposed to know she didn't like rock music? It made that boring old sonnet more lively," said James.

"It was funny to watch you though. I nearly died laughing though you were the one under the tickling charm," said Al.

"What happened in the Charms corridor, I don't remember this one," said Snape.

"That's because you didn't have Charms with Lily," said McGonagall. She continued.

"Evans," called a voice.

Not again thought Lily. Without turning around, she started, "Potter I will not go out with you. Get this through your thick skull, it must be the fiftieth time I'm saying this. I'd rather go out with Black." She turned around to find Sirius grinning at her.

"Why Lily, I had no idea you had such feelings for me. I actually just came to ask if I could borrow some of your notes. I can't wait to tell James. His loss is my gain right? See you on Sunday at five in Hogsmeade Evans," he said, still grinning wickedly.

Lily was dumbstruck and realized what had just happened after Sirius started walking away. "What – no wait! Sirius! It was an insult not an invitation for you to go out with me! Sirius Black, get back here this instant!"

Valentines Day:

Lily woke up early that morning, she opened her eyes and shut them again very quickly. Alison woke up too. She opened her eyes and said, "What the heck? Why's the room pink?"

"Don't look at me," said Alice.

"Hey Lily, why's your bed all decorated like a princess'?" asked Mary blinking hard to avoid hurting her eyes from all the fluorescent pink. Lily looked around to find her bed indeed decorated very extravagantly.

"Potter," she growled, looking murderous. The other girls watched as she dressed at top speed and stormed down the stairs.

"JAMES POTER," she yelled.

"Good morning Lilyflower. Happy Valentines Day," he said smiling broadly.

"Potter, why is my dormitory pink?" she asked angrily.

His face fell. "You don't like pink? I thought all girls liked the coulour."

"Have you ever seen a redhead wear pink?" she demanded.

"I can always change it to red if you like. I'm getting really good at transfiguration. Well, actually I'm the best," he said, rumpling up his hair.

She glared at him, "You are such an arrogant, boastful, annoying toe rag. And remember, all girls don't like pink," she pulled out her wand and, in seconds, James stood before her with bright red hair and pink robes. "Maybe I'm not as good at Transfiguration, but I do have quite the flair for Charms," she snapped, before storming back up to her dormitory.

Sirius came down the stairs and took one look at James before closing his eyes. "Seriously James? Red and neon pink? My eyes hurt just by looking at you," he said.

Remus came down, smirking, "I told you she wouldn't like pink."

"Way to be supportive guys," muttered James.

"Yeah, I learnt the hard way that all girls don't like pink too," said James.

"I told you Rosalie wouldn't like pink too," said Al.

"At least I didn't turn her whole dormitory pink.

"You turned all her robes pink with big hearts on it."

"She chased me around the school throwing every hex she could think of. It's a wonder I'm still alive."

"Wasn't that the time you ended up in the Hospital wing with tentacles?"

"Yeah," sighed James.

"Don't worry, your grandparents ended up together, you can do it too." Said Dumbledore encouragingly.

"Well, how about we continue onto fifth year tomorrow, since it's pretty late?" asked McGonagall.

The boys nodded and left.

"James Sirius Potter has really grown on you hasn't he Minerva?" asked Dumbledore quietly.

McGonagall smiled and replied, "Much as I hate to admit it, yes, he has. After all, he is just like his grandfather."


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