A/N: Hey, guess what! The next chapter will have DEDICATIONS! Hehe, so if you want your pen name or anonymous name to be included in the next chapter, review, favourite, and add I LOVE YOU GODDAMIT! to your alerts! ^^ It'll be a Christmas present from me! Hehe ^^

A/N: So, last chapter was quite long, and that was the longest chapter I've written so far. Generally, the shortest chapter will be about 1,000 words long, and the longest chapter will be about 5,000 words long. How eager am I? Hehe ^^

A/N: Oh, and cannon last names are in the same House as their children, and cannon characters are still in their Houses. Just a heads up. Oh, and some characters that are OC might be mentioned casually, but they'll have their last name too, in case you people forgot. Unless I develop the character even more! Then they might stick in your minds… ;)

A/N: ENJOY ZE CHAPTER!

Chapter Nine

"Tell us about what happened!" Sirius begged. He was on his knees, looking up at James, who wore an amused grin on his face.

"No, Sirius. Get off the floor, you're looking like a hobo."

"If looking like a hobo will get you to tell us about what you and Evans were doing for twenty minutes, then so be it!"

"Puppy dog eyes won't work on me, Padfoot."

Sirius sighed and got up.

"Was worth a shot. Come on, let's get to Transfiguration."


James saw the way Professor McGonagall's sharp eyes observed the Marauders as they walked into the classroom and sat in the back. It sent him a message, a message that something big was planned for them. Something that they wouldn't like.

"Hey, guys…" said James to Sirius, Remus and Peter.

"Yeah?"

"I think Minnie has an assignment planned for us. With partners. Of her choosing."

"Oh no…" groaned Sirius.

They waited for the rest of the class, which consisted of Seventh Year Slytherins and Gryffindors, to file in and to sit down. Well, they waited for their Professor to announce what was going to happen in that lesson.

"Today," started the Professor, "We will be starting an assignment of sorts."

A mixture of excited whispers and loud groans filled the room and Professor McGonagall waited patiently.

"You will be in partners of my choosing."

Immediately, the class started to object as one, but the Transfiguration Professor merely lifted a hand, in the universal stop sign, and the talking ceased.

"You will be working on this assignment, with your partner, for two weeks. There should be a neat, colourful and eye-catching presentation with solid facts and demonstrations, for you will present your assignment to the class. You will hand to me a list of your references and four scrolls (two each) of notes, or an essay."

"Great," muttered James, "I'll be stuck with Evans."

"I'll be stuck with KayCee," sighed Sirius in a resigned sort of manner.

"I'll be stuck with Lionel," murmured Peter.

"And I'll be stuck with Bridget," said Remus, a glint of hope in his eyes.

"Yeah, but you'd enjoy that," Sirius whispered, a smirk plastered on his face. Remus whacked him on the back.

"Ack!"

"Mr Black, is there a problem?" asked Professor McGonagall.

"No, Ma'am," he replied cheerfully. She gave him a suspicious look.

"I know you covered this briefly with me in your first year, but this time, we're studying it in depth and making sure that you understand the concept. You never know – it may come up in your NEWT exam."

James noticed Lily sit up straighter in her chair at these words.

"You will use demonstrations and examples and try to make it interesting. This is worth a quarter of your grade for this term," finished the Professor, letting her students chew on their thoughts.

"We are studying Gamp's Law of Elemental Transfiguration. I daresay that there is a section on that in your textbooks. That is where I, personally, would start. Once I read out the list of partners, you will move off and plan your assignment. If you both feel the need to go and 'hit the books' straight away, then you come to me and I will write you a note. Remember – the Restricted Section is not off limits to you anymore. There might be a few books there that are worth studying for this assignment," stated the Professor, looking at all of her students intently. Then she reached into her robe, pulled out a scroll of parchment from her pocket, and began to read it out.

"Mr Black and Miss Williams, Mr Lupin and Miss Jones, Mr Pettigrew and Mr Case, Mr Malfoy and Miss N Black, Mr Potter and Miss Evans, Miss Rein and Miss Fall, Mr Parkinson and Mr Crabbe, Mr Goyle and Miss Wells, Mr Hazelworth and Miss Kent, Mr Lestrange and Miss B Black, Mr Zabini and Mr Snape. Those are the partners, no swapping and no pleading to change," said Professor McGonagall sternly.

With a groan, James, Sirius, Remus and Peter got up and headed off to their partners.

Great… I'm stuck with Evans. We'll be fighting more than cooperating.

James took this as an opportunity to observe the pairs. The moment Sirius reached KayCee, she snarled out a quick remark, which he countered very quickly. Remus and Bridget started blushing when they met in the middle of the classroom. Peter and Lionel sighed heavily, then Lionel started to joke with Peter about being put as partners AGAIN and how he thought that the teachers were insinuating something. Lucius Malfoy and Narcissa Black refused to look at each other and when Professor McGonagall came over and prompted them to talk, they glared at each other then immediately started fighting. They reminded James of him and Lily's relationship. With a sigh, James turned and observed the other side of the classroom.

Rose Rein, a delicate Gryffindor girl, and her best friend, Felicity Fall, another Gryffindor girl, immediately started gossiping and chattering about things that weren't related to Gamp's Law.

Paul Parkinson and Daniel Crabbe seemed to get along, both of them being Slytherins and in Lucius' friendship group. William Goyle and Selene Wells, a dark-haired Slytherin, were blatantly flirting, rather than planning their assignment. Chase Hazelworth, a Beater for the Gryffindor Quidditch team, was flexing his muscles and attempting to flirt with Jessica Kent, an attractive Slytherin chatterbox who deflected his flirty remarks expertly, though with a smile that told James that perhaps… perhaps something might go on between the two of them soon.

Rodulphus Lestrange and Bellatrix Black avoided each other subtly, and they were civil to each other, but there was a certain… frostiness between them. James had heard from his father that the Lestrange's and the Black's had decided to betroth Rodulphus and Bellatrix, something that James assumed that they didn't particularly enjoy. Gabriel, or Gabe, Zabini and Severus Snape seemed to be friendly and they got down to business straight away, something that surprised James.

"Are you going to just stand there daydreaming, Potter?"

Lily's voice brought him out of his thoughts and observations, and he shook his head, clearing his thoughts.

"No."

"Well then, where do you want to sit?" she asked, adjusting the bag on her shoulder.

"Uhm, I dunno. Where do you want to sit?"

"Wherever," she shrugged indifferently, though her eyes gave it away. She wanted to sit near KayCee. Truth be told, James wanted to sit near Sirius, so it all worked out in his mind.

"How about over there?" asked James, pointing to the empty desk beside KayCee and Sirius, who were still exchanging insults.

"Sure!" she said, practically skipping over there.

"I didn't know you wanted to sit next to Sirius so much," joked James, grabbing his bag and hurrying after her. She gave him a playful glare back.

This is more like it… James thought, enjoying the calm, playful nature of their conversation. Then a tip from Charlie's letter floated into his mind: 'Tip number three: Organization and attempting to study/put on a show, as if you are studying – especially since you're the Head Boy.'

Lily settled into the seat next to KayCee, even though neither KayCee nor Sirius noticed their arrival.

"So, Evans, what part do you want to do in this assignment?" asked James, seating himself next to her and pulling out an ink bottle, a quill and a piece of parchment from his bag.

"Is that what I think that is?" gasped Lily, pointing at his quill.

"What?" asked James.

"The quill! It's a Hippogriff feather quill!"

"Yeah…? I could use another quill, if you want," said James, still unsure of what she was getting at.

"Can I see the quill?" she asked, ignoring his last sentence.

"Sure," said James, handing it over. Then, he pulled out another quill.

"Are you kidding me?" she asked him incredulously.

"What?" James asked again, impatient and confused. What was so interesting about his stationary?

"That's a Phoenix feather quill!"

"I've got loads of quills with feathers from interesting creatures," shrugged James.

"May I?" Lily asked, pointing to his bag.

"Sure," said James, handing over the bag.

"Are they in here?" she asked, zipping open the front pocket of his bag. Immediately, James turned bright red.

"Uh – no, they're not in there," he said in a slightly strangled voice. Lily's eyes widened and she quickly zipped up the pocket. Then, she started laughing.

"Wow, Potter, keeping your 'items' in your school bag?" she asked, "Thinking of getting lucky during dinner?"

"No! I just haven't had time to go up to my dorm and put them in my room! I got them at breakfast!" said James defensively.

"Sureeeee," she laughed, opening the next pocket.

"That's funny…" she frowned.

"What's funny?" asked James, a slight panic rising in the back of his head. She opened the pocket that held the Invisibility Cloak.

"There's a slight bulge, as though there's something like a piece of material, or a small pillow or something… but there's nothing in here."

"Huh, weird," replied James, abruptly zipping the pocket shut. Dang it, Evans, he thought, how do you manage to open the pockets that are ones that I don't want to be opened by people other than me or the Marauders?

A look of curiosity crossed her face.

"You sure have an interesting bag, Potter," she said, opening another pocket. Confusion flittered across her face.

"Is this where you keep your letters?" she asked.

"Yeah," said James, "Why?"

"Oh, well, there's a few pieces of parchment in here that look a bit… out of place. There's some really new ones, and there's some rather old ones… that one looks about six or seven years old."

"Huh… you don't say."

She zipped up the pocket and opened the next one.

"Oh!" she gasped.

"So even Miss Evans can get distracted by shiny pieces of jewellery," laughed James.

"Why do you keep these precious things in here?" she asked, picking up a pearl necklace with a glittering, golden pendant at the end of it.

"Oh, well, they're with me at all times. When I don't have my bag, I keep them in my robes, and if I'm not wearing one, I shrink them and put them in my pockets," said James indifferently.

"Oh," said Lily. She didn't press him further. Instead, she zipped up the pocket and opened the third last one.

"Parchment, textbooks, loose notes, and ordinary quills," he stated, "But these aren't the quills that you've been searching for."

He gently zipped it up and opened the second last pocket.

"Here we go," he said, "Quills and inks of all types."

"Wow! Is that golden ink?"

"Yup," said James proudly.

"That must've been very hard to find."

"Yeah, but not if you're friends with the owner of the shop."

"Is that bright green ink?" asked Lily, picking up the bottle.

"Yeah. Sirius made us buy one each over the holidays," said James.

He shook his head at the memory with an amused expression on his face.

"Did not!" exclaimed Sirius, the war of words with KayCee on hold, for she had rushed off to the bathroom for 'female' reasons.

"Did too!"

"Did not!"

"Did too!"

"Did not!"

"Did too!"

"Did not!"

"Is this going anywhere?" Lily asked James.

"Nope. Did too!"

"Did not!"

"Did too!"

"Did not!"

"Did too!"

"Did not!"

"Did not!"

"Did too! DAMMIT! EVERY. SINGLE. TIME!"

James laughed and Sirius' face took on an expression of despair.

Lily closed the pocket and was about to open the last one when James cried out, "No!"

"Why? More 'items'?" she asked, "Don't worry, I'm used to seeing them – my parents get it on quite a bit. Especially with me and 'Tuney out of the house."

"Ouch," said Sirius, "Evans saw your 'items' from Charlie?"

"Yeah," said James, wincing.

"Anyway, you don't want to look in that pocket," said Sirius.

"Why not?" asked Lily.

"Because it's the Marauder's stash of everything from spare clothes to food to pranking necessities to… 'items'."

"Really?" asked Lily.

"Yeah. Did you know that that pocket is almost bottomless?"

"Really? So you mean that there tons of stuff in there?"

"Yup."

"So, can I look?" asked Lily.

"Sure, whatever," said James dismissively, "Just watch out for the owl. It bites."

"You keep an owl in here?" she asked incredulously.

"It's an emergency owl. They're meant to be in almost bottomless bags. They have more stamina and besides… in almost bottomless bags, you can keep owl food, treats or whatever food it wants," explained James.

"Is there a place for it to do its business?" asked Lily.

"Definitely. You see, emergency owls also have a built in knowledge base. They see food that's designed for owls, and they know it's theirs. They see an owl toilet type thing, and they know what to do with it. Mine's really helpful. If there's a mess or impending mess to do with food or organised piles, he'll help prevent the disaster," replied James.

"Huh…"

"Yeah."

"Well that was an interesting bag tour. Can you hide people in there?" she asked, handing James his bag back.

"Sure," said James, "I played hide and seek with my little cousin, and she couldn't find me for ages. Mind you, she didn't think of my handy bag."

"People never normally think of your hiding place if it's a good one," Sirius pointed out.

"That's true," said Lily.

"Yeah. Who would think of a 17 year old male hiding in an almost bottomless bag that he uses for school?" asked James. Lily and Sirius laughed, and James could tell that they were imagining James curled up in a ball inside his bag.

"Anyway," said James, "We better start working on that assignment. Thank God that this is a double Transfiguration lesson, instead of a single because we would only have about 20 minutes left, and some of that is an over view and us packing up our stuff."

"Oh! The assignment!" said Lily, a faint blush tainting her cheeks.

"You forgot, didn't you?" asked James.

"You distracted me!"

James was about to say, 'In what way?' when another of Charlie's tips floated into his mind: 'No erotic insinuations when you're talking to her. Not a suggestive wink – nada. Save that for when it's time for the magical bedtime adventure! (You know what I mean.)'

However, that didn't stop Sirius.

"In what way?" he asked with a snigger.

"Shut up, Black," said Lily, a brighter blush on her face.

"Hey," said Sirius, raising his hands defensively, "No need to get all snappy."

"Whatever. Look, here's KayCee, you better start working too," said Lily.

"She's a mad woman, though," complained Sirius.

"MAD WOMAN?" shrieked KayCee, stalking towards him, "HOW ABOUT YOUR COUSINS, HUH?"

"They're mad women, too," said Sirius indifferently. James could feel the poisonous glares of Narcissa Black and Bellatrix Black, who were glaring at the whole table in general.

"Calm your farms," James said to the two Black sisters, and they gave him a short glare and turned away.

James picked up the phoenix feather quill and popped it back into his back. Lily, seeing this, gave him the hippogriff feather quill.

"Thanks," he said, dipping the quill in dark blue ink.

"What're you going to write?" she asked.

"I was just going to jot down ideas," replied James.

"Oh, OK. So… how about you write at the top, 'Gamp's Law Assignment Ideas'?"

"Sure," said James, doing as she suggested.

"How about we write down questions that we can answer for our research?"

"Yeah, OK."

"Uhm, one, What is Gamp's Law of Elemental Transfiguration?"

James wrote that one down.

"How about, 'What are the principles of Gamp' Law?'" James asked.

"Good question."

He took that as a 'write that down' sign and he wrote it down.

Ten minutes and 17 questions later, James rolled up the piece of parchment and said, "Let's research."

"Yeah, OK," said Lily, packing up her bag. James slipped the parchment into his bag and went over to Professor McGonagall.

"Professor, Evans and I would like to go to the library to do some research," he said.

Professor McGonagall looked up and then pulled out two small, square pieces of parchment, wrote down why they were allowed to go the library during class time and signed it.

"There you go, Mr Potter," she said, handing over the slips.

"Thank you," he said, taking them and hurrying over to Lily.

"Here, take it. It's our permission slip," said James.

"Oh, right," said Lily, taking one.

And off they set.


"You are the most infuriating person I've ever had the misfortune to meet."

"What?" asked James, turning around. Lily's fists were clenched and she was shaking in anger – presumably.

"You heard me," she hissed.

"What did I do now?" asked James, bewildered and clueless. Then he realised. She was sopping wet.

How the hell can I just notice that she's soaked? thought James, mentally slapping himself.

"I didn't do that," said James.

"Yes you did," snarled Lily, "I turn my back for one second, one second, and suddenly I feel cold water being poured all over me."

"I didn't do it!"

"Yes you did. I saw you moving."

"I didn't do it!" said James, again, beginning to get angry.

"If I said I didn't do it, I didn't do it," he snarled, getting up from his chair.

"Oh yeah? How about that time last year when you and Black were hanging from the rafters and almost crushed 30 students? Oh, yes, wasn't your fault, no way!" said Lily, sarcastically, anger flashing in her green eyes.

"Evans, you're forgetting that I'm the Head Boy now," said James, his patience wearing thin.

"Being the Head Boy doesn't change your character!" Lily half-yelled at him. He glowered at her.

"And being the Head Girl obviously doesn't change yours. We were having a lovely Transfiguration double earlier – but of course; Miss Lily Evans has to find some way or another to fight with her Head counterpart. This assignment is going down with the dogs, I can see it now. You know what? We might as well never talk to each other, and just do our own bloody assignments. If we have to talk to each other, then we'll send a freaking owl. Do you prefer that idea, Evans? Oh, wait, of course not! Little miss stuck-up has to have her way with her ideas, so now I'll have to put up with you for two weeks until this assignment is over! What a nightmare. You say that I'm infuriating? Well, just go look in the mirror, princess."

Lily looked quite taken aback at his angry speech, and James could see tears threatening to escape her eyes. Then, with a blink, they were gone. James could see her jaw setting and her fists clenching by her sides.

"You are getting on my last nerve, Potter."

"I'm getting on your last nerve?" asked James incredulously, "You're already on mine!"

"JUST SHUT UP, POTTER! WHATEVER COMES OUT OF YOUR MOUTH ANNOYS THE HELL OUT OF ME! YOU'RE RUDE, ARROGANT, A PRANKER, RICH, SPOILT AND YOU'RE THE WORST HUMAN BEING ON THIS PLANET! I HATE YOU WITH EVERY FIBRE OF MY BODY, AND YET YOU HAVEN'T SEEMED TO HAVE GOTTEN THE MESSAGE!" Lily had finally exploded.

"OH YEAH?" yelled James, "YOU HAVEN'T SEEM TO HAVE GOTTEN MY MESSAGE – YOU'RE ANNOYING AS HELL AND I CAN'T BELIEVE THAT I HAVE TO WORK WITH YOU! WHY HAVE YOU COME TO INFURIATE ME, HUH? WHY DO YOU HATE ME SO MUCH? IF YOU HAVEN'T NOTICED, I HAVEN'T PRANKED ANYONE! I HAVEN'T DONE ANYTHING WRONG ALL WEEK!"

"EXCEPT FOR NOW!" Lily yelled back, gesturing at herself.

"I'VE ALREADY TOLD YOU – I DIDN'T DO IT! YOU NEVER LISTEN TO ME BECAUSE YOU ARE TOO DAMN STUBBORN! YOU HAVE GOT IT FIXED IN THAT MIND OF YOURS THAT WHENEVER SOMETHING GOES WRONG, I'M THE ONE BEHIND IT ALL! YOU ARE SO JUDGEMENTAL! WHY DO YOU HAVE TO RUIN EVERYTHING? I DON'T THINK THAT YOU'VE NOTICED THIS, BUT YOU'RE ALWAYS THE PERSON WHO STARTS THE FIGHTS! I'M JUST SICK OF IT!"

James slammed his fist on the table, breathing hard. Then, without another word, he started to pack up.

"What're you doing, Potter?" asked Lily, with a hint of anger.

"What does it look like?" he spat at her, "I'm leaving."

A/N: Oh dear… that was intense. Anyway, I'm leaving this chapter at this point, because the next chapter will be the Prefect Meeting and then James reflecting on ze fight.

A/N: Anyway, if you want to be mentioned in the next chapter… review, favourite and add this story to your alerts! Yay! I'll add the next chapter on Christmas day, so it's almost like a Christmas present :D.