Disclaimer: I'm touched that anyone could believe that I am as creative as JK Rowling, but considering I'm using her 1) world, 2) her characters, and 3) her plot, I'm afraid it disproves that theory.

Great big thanks goes to all those who have followed, favorited and/or reviewed my story, please keep it up!

I have no way of knowing what everyone wants to see out of this story, so drop by and give me a review so I can get some input. Jokes, stories, raves, sub-plots and especially pranks are more than welcome!

A/N: you know those cute marauder-themed headcanons that you see on Facebook, Pinterest, and Tumblr? I plan on including as many of those as I can- as long as they're relevant- because I really love them. Therefore, I will additionally include in my disclaimers that anything you RECOGNIZE from somewhere on the internet IS NOT MINE. But I love it all, and so it shall be included, as long as I like where it'll take the story. Usually, it just gives more character development, rather than adding anything to the plot.

Without further ado,

Chapter 9

The talking, story-telling and laughing went on throughout the entire night, and well into the morning. Once Peter had woken up from his nap and Alice and Frank had slipped back into the room, a slightly staggering Remus yelled out 'TWISTERRR!' at the top of his lungs as he produced the game from behind his back. Even with the mass groaning erupting from the others, they all agreed to join with large smiles covering their faces. Sirius was the most excited of all, jumping about like an excited puppy. After setting up the game, it was decided that Peter - still a little sleepy from his nap, would man the panel while the others would play the game.

Once they were all standing around the mat, Peter called out 'Right foot, Blue!'. Sirius was standing in the middle, stretching his foot over the row of blue and the row of red, because 'You lot'll be so surprised, just watch how far I can bend over backwards.' He said with a wink in Lily and Marlene's direction, much to James' annoyance and Remus' sigh. The girls just laughed and challenged him to prove it by winning.

After fifteen minutes of playing, it was only James, Lily and Sirius left. Lily's left hand was thrown over James' torso, touching the red, and her right foot was in between Sirius' legs, on the yellow. Sirius stopped taunting Lily about it when she reminded him that she'd much rather kick him there than do anything else. He was so shocked that when he moved his left hand near her head on the blue and she pretended to bite him, he shrieked and fell over, loosing the game. James, laughing so hard, would've fallen over, had it not been for Lily's left foot, right under his lower-back.

Trying to ignore the warmth emanating from his torso, Lily focused on her feet. When she moved her left foot over James' torso, along with the hand that had not moved for two minutes, she started to doubt the calls that Peter made. She highly doubted that they were still playing fair, forgoing the panel for calling out whatever would render the two in the most compromising position possible. Her train of thought was confirmed by the muffled giggling coming from her friends, who were all huddled and seemed to be debating their next call. Finally, with a 'Right hand, Blue!', Lily moved hers to just beside James' right thigh, and his went near her head. That movement meant that he was almost lying on top of her, pinning her with his other hand, stretched over her onto the green, with her hand and leg thrown over him. Staring into his eyes, she wasn't so sure that she could identify what she saw amid the hazel and flecks of gold and blue. She just knew that she was in no particular hurry to move, aside from moving her hair so that it could better cover the blush rising up her cheeks.

As James looked down at her, he knew what his friends were doing. As he looked into the bright green eyes staring back at him, for once not filled with tears or hatred, but glowing with embarrassment and laughter, he found that he didn't care all that much. He could tell by her shifting that she wanted to hide the blush creeping up her cheeks, but she couldn't quite get the required height to do so, as his body was barely hovering over hers. As they called out the next move, for a left hand, he knew that that would mean that he'd be directly on top of her-it was either have it over her head or across her chest. He knew which one she'd prefer, and frankly, with the company giggling not seven feet away, he knew which one he'd prefer too. Moving his hand over her head, he was pinning her on both sides.

Laughter in his eyes, he murmured 'Hi there, Lils. Fancy seeing you here.'

His face was covered by his smile, lighting up his eyes and covering his freckles. Judging by the way that her laugh caught, he quickly reverted back to his usual smirk, a little upset that he had no one aside from Sirius that preferred his real smile.

That is, until he heard her whisper to him, so quiet that no one else could hear, 'If I'm around, don't ever make that smirk again. I like the real one much better.' He was so shocked that he almost fell down on top of her. Sadly, in doing so, she lost her balance and fell. With a small smile, she said 'I guess you win. Congrats.'

And then she was gone, out from under him and stalking towards the group and grabbing a pillow on the way. James laughed when he saw the girls and Remus start apologizing and trying to escape from her while Sirius was calling them cowards and dared them to face her. He, Frank and Peter were the only ones who had no idea what was coming, and, therefore, were unprepared for the whack that followed. Sirius was knocked to the floor, and sat up looking dazed. He then looked at her in wonder as she started on Marlene, Alice, Dorcas and Remus.

James looked for Peter and was not shocked when he saw a rat peeking out from under the couch. He started laughing but stopped when he realized what Lily would say when she started looking for him. Glaring at the rat, he pointed to the couch, where there was just barely enough space for Peter to switch back.

Once Lily had exacted revenge on all their friends, she tossed bottles of butterbeer to everyone, taking one herself and walking over to James, who still sat on the mat, chuckling from the redhead's antics. She breathlessly hauled him to his feet and handed him his butterbeer, drinking her own with a wide smile.

After they had all stopped wincing when Lily glanced in their direction, the group of friends gathered once again around the kitchen table, sharing stories and telling jokes.

'One time, Filch was chasing us down the corridors because he caught us trying to paint Mrs. Norris pink, and Peeves started pelting bits of chalk at him because ' "no running in the corridors" .' laughed Peter.

'To be fair, though, we did hang Mrs. Norris on the chandelier right before that as well…' Put in Remus, with a chuckle.

Laughing, Lily said 'The things that I've done to Mrs. Norris are far worse than hanging her on a chandelier and turning her pink.'

'Oh yeah? Like what?' asked James.

'Well, for starters, trapping her in every single suit of armor that I see her near is liberating, but not as much as closing her in Moaning Myrtle's bathroom.' Continued Lily.

'Wait, you're telling me, that you've been the one doing all of that?! We have been signing your high praises since third year!' Sirius exclaimed with incredulous awe.

'Just because I don't get caught doesn't mean that I don't rebel.' Winked Lily.

After the hoots of laughter died down, Frank started chuckling and said, 'Does anybody remember when James, Peter and Remus wrestled a kicking and screaming Sirius into a Christmas tree, trying to put him on top because Sirius is a star, ?'

Laughing, Marlene asked, 'Wasn't he only wearing gold colored, skin-tight pants at the time?'

'So glad that you remembered.' Purred Sirius.

'Only because it gave me nightmares for the next month.' Retorted Marlene, to everyone's amusement. She winked at Sirius, who looked like he was trying not to laugh himself.

James had set up Frank in his/The Marauder's bedroom, and the girls shared their own down the hall, but none of the beds were occupied more than four hours that night. Everyone decided that it was time to crash around four in the morning, and so Lily went with the girls to the shared bedroom.

Collapsing on the bed, she laid awake, staring at the ceiling, long after the regular snoring of Marlene and the sound of Dorcas muttering in her sleep could be heard. The only indication that Alice was sleeping was the stench emanating from her side of the room- anyone who thinks Alice is ladylike has obviously not shared a room with her while she's asleep. The smell is worse than Lily's Father after a chili supper.

In a baggy shirt that went to her hips and a pair of loose short shorts, Lily went back downstairs to the kitchen. Leaving the lights off, she grabbed a glass of water and went to look out at the moon. Or rather what was left of it, for the full moon had been the previous week. She stared up at the stars, admiring their beauty. This was why she went down to breakfast in the mornings with bags under her eyes, or makeup covering her face- she didn't like performing magic on anyone before she's had some caffeine in her, just to be sure no one ends up with an additional head. She didn't bring any makeup for tonight, but she figured that with how late everyone else went to bed, let alone the amount of alcohol consumed, she wouldn't look the worst for wear. So she continued her staring, and she would've for quite awhile yet, had someone not coughed from behind her.


Ever since before he can remember, Sirius never willingly missed eating a late night snack. Starting from when he was younger, Sirius and his Big Cousin Andromeda, or Andy as he always called her, would sneak downstairs to find whatever pastry they could. Once she was disowned and had moved out, he vowed to never do it again, because that was their thing. That didn't last long, as the next night he was sent to bed without supper for being late and missing lunch.

He forced himself to creep downstairs after hours of debating with himself, and he hated himself for being in a position that made him do this without her. He went back upstairs with only an apple, leaving the pastries as further self-punishment to himself for what he felt had been further betrayal of his cousin.

But as he kept on getting punished, night after night of being sent to bed without supper, he stopped thinking about it. He would take apples, cheeses, and whatever else he could, but he never again took the pastries. It wasn't until his little brother, Regulus, got sent to bed without supper one night, that he ever brought someone else along. That night, Reg had defended Andy at the supper table against the whole family, and had immediately been dismissed. Sirius was too shocked, but he recovered enough to try to defend his brother. He too was dismissed. That night, Sirius quietly tapped on his brother's door and waited. When a sleepy Regulus opened up his door, his eyes widened in curiosity when he saw his brother, holding out his hand to lead him in the dark.

As he took Sirius' hand, Reg knew that he was the only family member he would've done so with, so quickly. Regulus usually kept the rest of the family at a distrustful distance, but that never worked with his older brother. Leading him downstairs to the kitchen, they both crept past the house-elf, Kreacher, and went into the kitchen noiselessly. It was then, that for the first time in many months, that Sirius reached up above the pantry shelves, and grabbed the pastries.

Handing one to Reg, he took one for himself and then proceeded to grab cheeses, meats and fruits. That night, they feasted in Sirius' room. Even though he was a Gryffindor, the room was decorated in Slytherin's colors, green and silver, and Sirius hated his bedroom the most of all in the entire house, even more than the drawing room with all the dark objects and the damned tapestry. They did that every night afterward, for years, until Sirius got his Hogwarts letter.


It only took Sirius a week before he found the kitchens at Hogwarts, and in his mind, it was a week too long. Always afraid of not having his next meal, Sirius always ate an extreme amount of food. The only reason that he was so scrawny was because he spent half his days running around the castle, trying to get to classes on time because he overslept in the previous one. However, every time he went to the kitchens, he never had any pastries.

Sirius had been going to the kitchens only for a week or so before one night, he heard someone else there, sitting at his preferred table by the House Elves. Before rounding the corner, Sirius took a moment to brace himself, cooling his features into that of an air of importance, of authority, in hopes that his presence might not be questioned there.

Rounding the corner, Sirius walked into an invisible wall and stumbled. He swore at how rotten his luck was. Fearing that the person would hear him, he froze. In doing so, it gave him time to realize that he wasn't the only one who swore. Nor was his the only sounds of breathing that he heard.

'Hello?' Sirius whispered, stumbling around with his arms out, trying to feel for the invisible wall. His outstretched hands met with a cool, smooth fabric and he yanked.

The head of James Potter became visible, his body closely followed as the rest of the fabric fell to the floor. He tried to pass off a smirk, but Sirius, who had grown up forced to attend boring wizard functions and parties, knew that it was only to conceal his nervousness.

He didn't know James very well. Even though they were both purebloods, his parents didn't attend the same kind of functions as his, or if they did, they were the odd one where no kids were allowed. So they only really met on the Hogwarts train. Sirius had been reclusive, only sharing the same compartment because there were no others left, as James had befriended Peter Pettigrew and Remus Lupin, two boys in their year. Aside from making small talk in the mornings, Sirius didn't talk much with the other boys. Not that he wasn't relieved, because after all, it's what he had dared to ask for, but being in gryffindor, shunned from his family -while lonely, it wasn't the worst thing that happened. No, it was the fact that he had a feeling that Reg wouldn't be the same when Sirius came home. The nagging feeling that his family had gotten to him and that he wouldn't want to sneak midnight snacks anymore. Because that had been the one thing that had brought the vastly different brothers together. Feeling quite depressed, Sirius hadn't made quite the effort to make new friends as he should have, which was why he was quite thoroughly shocked when James visibly steeled himself and opened his mouth, words spilling out of his mouth in his nervousness.

'Um, hi. I'm sorry, I know I shouldn't be here, but it's just that I wake up starving in the middle of the night and I heard something about the kitchens so I had to find it. Please don't report me to McGonagall!'

Sirius was so shocked that he started laughing. He explained that he has never been in a position of authority in his life, mainly because he was always too busy pranking and being a pain in the ass to be reliable.

Once the boys got to talking, they found they rather enjoyed each other's company. They decided to sit down at the table, and after a few nights of walking down to the kitchens together, Sirius grabbed some pastries while James explained what the cool, soft fabric was and how he had been made invisible.

Ever since then, the boys would go down to the kitchens as soon as one's stomach started grumbling. Especially if it was in the middle of the night. And when Sirius came over to James', James would make up the pastries right then, laughing at whatever he and Sirius were talking about, and while the pastries were in the oven, both would be at the sink doing the dishes. It usually ended up with whacking each other with the towels, but those fights always ended as soon as the timer went off for the oven.


Once everyone had gone to bed, James and Sirius spent a few extra minutes tidying things up in the living room and then went to bed themselves. James had barely lain down on his bed when he heard Sirius' stomach growling loudly, and both boys broke out in laughter.

Going down the stairs, they tried to be as quiet as possible, hoping to avoid waking anyone up. Sirius had just reached the doorway to the kitchen when he threw out his arm to block James' path, drawing his wand as he did so. Only when James caught up to him did Sirius recognize the figure staring out the window though James knew the instant that he saw the red hair glowing in the window. Coughing, the boys stepped into the moonlight and gave small smiles when Lily turned her head, smiling as she took in the disgruntled exhaustion pouring off the boys. However, she laughed when she heard both the boys' stomachs growling.


Thanks again to all that read this, please send me a review and let me know what you think? Thanks everyone!