Hmm, hello, not sure if I'm game to show my face after how long it's taken me to write this. the day is still not over, but I've spent a fair while on this and my brain has about had it. I hope you enjoy it! Also, they've updated the site since I was last on it and made it even easier to review, the butteon is sitting there begging to be clicked, so please do...

Disclaimer: Anything related to the 'Harry Potter' Novels or Films is not mine. everything inventive and amazing otherwise I reserve the right to claim as my own, any parts that are neither Harry Potter related or excellent belong to my pet cat, and only he will take the blame :D

A Magical Day: Part Two

'Of course I support you Mon,' Lily said, 'you know I trust your judgement, that's why I'm giving James a chance after all. If Sirius is good enough for you then I'm happy for you'

It took all of James' self restraint not to exclaim or jump for joy; the idea behind the invisibility cloak was to go unnoticed after all. He settled with grinning like an idiot and took solace in the fact that no one could see him. The idea for the 'Change Day' had been one of his more brilliant moves, it seemed to have shown Lily that not only was he willing to change, he was able to see what needed changing within the school and was willing to help implement it. He had seen the way that Lily had smiled when he had gone off at Melanie and in that instant, knew that she must share at least some of his views. Now that it was actually happening, he thought it would be difficult to keep up, but the inter-house relations were strained at best and if something were not done to help mend it, it could be more than just an occasional fight with the Slytherins.

James followed as students began to walk into the charms classroom he took advantage of Sirius and Remus' conveniently timed decision to be outrageously polite and refused to be the first through the door. The result was endless bowing and 'After You'-s, not to mention ample time for James to walk into the room and take his seat without bumping in to anyone. As he looked around him he was pleased to see that Professor Flitwick had set up the name cards as agreed and that everyone was looking thoroughly confused.

The professor climbed atop a pile of books behind his desk and cleared his throat, preparing to address the class.

'Each of you will notice a name card on a desk that belongs to you. For this lesson you will sit at that desk and every lesson for the remainder of the term it will be in a different place. I understand that you will all have preferred people to sit with so the cards will be moved in pairs to allow a small measure of familiarity but the idea is to get you all interacting with people you may not normally associate with.' Flitwick explained amidst groans from most of the students. All too quickly, however, there was a mad rush to see who would be sitting where and much chatter among people who knew each other only vaguely, or not at all.

James smiled to himself and turned to listen to the Ravenclaw girl, a girl with beautiful long brown hair and startling blue eyes, who had just sat behind him with her friend.

'Who will that be in front of us?' She asked and indicated James' 'empty' seat.

'I dunno,' replied her friend, a relatively plain girl who also wore her hair long, but not as successfully as Blue Eyes, 'go check.'

'No need ladies,' interceded none other than Sirius Black, who -James thought briefly- didn't seem to enjoy the looks they gave him as much as he once had. 'You find yourself in the illustrious company of myself and James Potter, Marauder Extraordinaire, Dashing, Brave, Handsome -James rolled his eyes-, aaannd: rather ill.' he stopped and scratched his temple, 'Hmm, that kind of ruined the effect a little didn't it, oh well, I could have let on that he couldn't spend more than 5 minutes off the toilet, and couldn't get to the hospital wing because it took more than five minutes and if he tried he wouldn't make it and... Wow that really ruined it... Well, anyway, nice to meet you.'

James sighed softly as Sirius held out his hand and Blue Eyes took it, laughing, while her friend looked on, unsure of whether to be aghast or envious.

'Lauren,' Blue Eyes, Lauren replied, still chuckling softly, 'I hope he isn't too ill, I wouldn't want to miss meeting 'The Illustrious and rather ill James Potter'.'

'No he's fine, just needed a day off,' Sirius said, waving his hand as if dismissing the illness, 'I'm sure he'll be back in class tomorrow, I'm sure he'd love to meet you Lauren.' Sirius finished the statement with a smile that quite clearly showed that, yes, he knew she was staring at him, and no, he didn't mind.

He obviously still like the attention if nothing else James mused silently, finding it difficult not to partake in the conversation and, despite himself, interested in 'meeting' Lauren once he was 'better'. It would be refreshing to have a conversation with an obviously intelligent girl without running too severe a risk of being yelled at.

He returned his attention to the front of the class as Flitwick began talking animatedly about their newest assignment.

As part of this 'Change Day' that Po- that is to say Professor Dumbledore -he winked at the invisible James- has organised, your tasks will now be done is pairs, the aim of this task is to create an interesting piece of charm work that will cause something with an ordinary purpose to do something extraordinary.

Oh great, James thought, how about something like, I don't know, the Marauders Map. He knew immediately that this assignment would be a piece of cake.

'Okay,' Professor Flitwick continued, 'the pairs are as follows.'

At this, all of the students sat up a little straighter and began (the Sirius') or continued (the Lily's) to pay attention.

James' heart caught in his throat as Flitwick started reading through names, and with every pair called out, the chances of he and Lily being paired together increased.

'Sirius Black and Monica Primrose.'

'Yes!' Sirius exclaimed and James had to resist the urge to smack him on the back of the head for being so blatant. Thankfully Sirius looked over at Monica, who was blushing furiously, and sat down with a sheepish grin plastered on his face.

A few more names were called and finally there were only four people left.

'Lily Evans and,' James crossed his fingers and, though he would never admit it, his toes, legs, arms and eyes, 'Remus Lupin.'

James let out a breath he didn't realise he had been holding and stared blankly at his desk, he had been sure that everything was going to go according to his plans but apparently, fate had something else in store for him. He started paying attention again as Flitwick read out the name of his partner for the project.

'Lauren Belle'

James heard a mostly suppressed titter of excitement come from behind him and turned around to see none other than Blue Eyes smiling nearly as much as Sirius had been, wait, still was. Her eyes, which had been a deep, sapphire blue moments before, were now sparkling with highlights of- wait. Why was he looking with such curiosity and interest at a pair of eyes that weren't emerald green? He turned back toward the front of the room and sat for a moment, feeling emotions warring within him. He was hardly paying attention as Flitwick went over the requirements for the project, his thoughts whirling around within his head, trying to look at the future he had always imagined, a beautiful laugh sounding behind him and a young boy with black hair and green eyes smiling wickedly after having been caught committing a prank, but all of a sudden, the eyes were no longer green.

Lily held her breath as Flitwick got down to the last four names.

'Lily Evans and, 'Lily crossed her fingers and, though she would never admit it, her toes, legs, arms and eyes, 'Remus Lupin.'

'Yes,' she whispered, though maybe a little louder than she had intended to. Just because she hoped that Potter was changing didn't mean that she had to like the idea of doing a whole two person project just because he was too lazy to pull his finger out.

She listened to Flitwick's explanation of the project and its requirements with rapt attention, Charms had always been her favourite class and getting to design something entirely of her own choosing was not something she had expected. As if to top it all off, she was partnered with Remus, who was as intelligent as Potter but with a dedication to his work that was surprising for a Marauder.

The project simply required her to take an existing item and make it do something extra to make life more convenient. Her first thought was of a chair that changed its size, shape or plushness to ensure the comfort of the person or people sitting on it, so that they would never have to change position or stretch out their limbs when all they, okay, all she wanted to do was sit and read.

Her next idea came in the form of a book to read while sitting in that chair that would turn its own pages or change the size or neatness of the script to make it more legible, something she knew would score her high marks as the Professor's would love being able to change someone like Black's illegible scrawl into something readable.

Her final thought was to bring some of her former life into the wizarding world, and set up a room where a wall could be charmed to play films like a Muggle cinema screen, something that she was sure most of the magical community would never have experienced.

She looked up as the rest of the students got up and started to file out of the room. Remus came over to her, smiling pleasantly.

'I bet you're glad we're partners,' he said with a laugh, 'I was terrified I'd be put with Sirius, he's probably more intelligent than most people in this school but I know that we would have ended up spending the final day of the project doing work that he had left until the last minute.'

Lily laughed good naturedly, 'That sounds like Black alright.' She walked out of the classroom with Remus in tow; it wasn't until she saw a trail of roses that she remembered the idea behind the rest of the day. She gave Remus an apologetic smile as he walked toward another class and she followed the path of roses that were laid out before her. Not that she wanted to, of course, it just so happened that she had a free period now and was planning to head to the Library and that was where the roses seemed to be headed anyway. Trust Potter to assume that she spent all of her free time in the Library and lead the trail there. Maybe she would just go to, well somewhere else, just to prove that he didn't know her schedule at all and that she too, could change and be spontaneous if she wanted to.

This train of thought carried her along the trail of roses toward the Library and she was so wrapped in ideas of going to have an early lunch that she nearly missed the note that she walked straight over. She heard a cough behind her and turned, surprised to see that nobody was there. It was then that she saw the note and scurried back to pick it up, just because it would have been rude not to, of course.

Lily,

I hope you excuse the presumption that you would be heading to the Library, I did not intend to insinuate anything but we generally get homework from Charms and I know you like to keep on top of things.

I understand (read: hope) that you are curious as to the purpose of today and I beg that you will allow your patience to carry you through the day, I think you will find that it will be rewarded if you see the day through.

I also suggest that you pick up what you need from the Library then head down to an early lunch, you probably won't appreciate what I think Sirius intends to do, please believe me when I say that I tried to stop him, but it may be easier for you to deal with if you don't have to see it.

James

PS: You may want to encourage Monica to avoid the Great hall at lunch time too, let's just say that Sirius can be a little on the extreme side.

Lily smiled and shook her head, wondering what Sirius could possibly be up to, and more than a little tempted to head down at lunch time just to see what would happen.

She continued on to the Library and checked out the books she thought may help for her Charms project then took the note's advice and went down to have a quick bite to eat, she sat at the Gryffindor table alone and thought about her plans for the term.

She had assumed that it would be half a year of arguing with Potter, struggling with her school work and just trying to find a quiet place to study where she wouldn't be interrupted by a prank or a fight that, as a Prefect, she would need to step in to prevent. To her surprise, the term was getting close to a month gone and she had yet to stop a prank, was seeing less fighting and could sit in the common room on any given night and study. She hadn't realised before that the example set by someone as popular as Potter could have such a strong impact. The younger boys looked at him and the other 'Marauders' as they had dubbed themselves, and saw them sitting peacefully in a corner doing what appeared to be homework. She was convinced that half the time they were just using the work as a cover while planning a prank but the end result was the same and she couldn't say that she minded when the end result was peace and quiet.

She popped one last bite of blueberry muffin into her mouth and strode out of the great hall, passing Sirius on her way out. She was surprised to see him carrying not only one textbook, but dragging a cart behind him filled with books. She had never thought he had been one to take study seriously but apparently having Monica as a partner was a far better motivation than the threat of detention. She was silently congratulating him on showing some maturity when she noticed that only the book he carried under his arm was Charms related. She wondered what he planned to do with the rest of them but upon thinking back to the note she had received, decided to leave before she saw something she didn't want to.

She heard a squealing sound coming from the Great Hall and quickened her pace, fairly sure that she knew what was happening, and even more sure that she did not want to be in that room.

She followed the trail of roses up a few flights of stairs and soon found herself back at the Library, she smile to herself before walking inside and sitting at a quiet table as far from the door as she could manage. She pulled out a quill and some parchment and started jotting down ideas for the project, starting with the chair, book and cinema. She added a few more items to the list then put it in her bag to show to Remus when they were on patrols together later in the week as part of their Prefect duties. She then took out the book she had found and began reading up on charms that could sense the user's intention, realising before too long that these sorts of charms were way above the level that she was familiar with, maybe she would have to stick to something simpler.

She looked at the clock on the wall and realised that Transfiguration was close to starting. She packed up her notes and made her way toward the classroom; she followed that path of roses to the Transfiguration classroom and stood waiting for the rest of the group to arrive. She listened as some Ravenclaw girls made their way to the classroom, gossiping about what had happened at lunch.

'-And then, he turned all of the books into pigs, as if that wasn't enough, he gave them all wings and yelled that 'if anyone has ever been told "when pigs fly", then here's your chance to do something you'd never dreamed possible.' and with that, he left the Great Hall, not to mention the mess the pigs were making.'

Lily couldn't help but smile. Sirius had shown the flying pig to Monica and obviously thought that everyone else should have a chance to try something different as well.

She returned her thoughts to the real world and continued to listen to the Ravenclaw conversation.

'You're so lucky Lauren,' one of them sighed, 'you get James potter as a partner for the whole term, he's single at the moment too, and that's not a chance that comes along every day.'

Lauren, a girl with gorgeous blue eyes and silky brown hair smiled shyly, blushing. She seemed to be everything Lily wished she could be, beautiful, intelligent, popular and genuinely nice. Lily certainly had brains, but not the kind of intelligence that allows people to excel without hard work. She also knew that she was not unattractive, but next to Lauren Belle, she would not be looked at twice.

Then again, she thought, a smile touching her lips, I have got one of the most popular and attractive guys in the school guiding me along a magical day with a trail of roses... she felt her mind reel suddenly, attractive? Where did that come from, sure he was trying to change but that hardly made him attractive!

She sighed and walked into the classroom as Professor McGonagall opened the door for them, Sirius obviously finding it hilarious to send a tripping jinx at peter as he walked toward the door, causing a blockage to form outside the doorway. She shook her head ruefully and looked around the classroom, not entirely surprised to find that there were name cards on all the tables. This time, however, the cards were in pairs that coincided with their pairs for Charms, she realised that they must be having joint effort projects for Transfiguration as well.

She was proven correct when McGonagall read out the same list that Flitwick had, and went straight into explaining their project: to perform a partial transfiguration to give something properties or abilities that it could not normally posses.

At this point Sirius let out an excited whoop.

McGonagall retaliated by saying, 'and there are to be no pigs involved, that means you Mr. Black,' she smirked.

'Are you calling me a pig or telling me that I can't use one for the project?'

'Take you pick,' she laughed, 'the project is to include a transfiguration that is useful, and making pigs fly is not useful. An example of this would be to give hands to an instrument, or give a person gills with which to breathe under water. There are certainly charms that can cause instruments to play, create a bubble of air around you, but to truly perfect the art of partial transfiguration is something that is highly difficult, and may help you in more ways than you think. Isn't that right Mr. Black.'

Sirius blushed slightly before trying, and failing, to laugh the whole pig situation off.

Lily smiled to herself, happy that she would have a competent, reliable partner for two of her major projects and realised that the term would probably go a lot more smoothly than she thought.

Well, what is happening now, to be honest I'm not so sure, haha,

A huge thanks to everyone who reviewed the last chapter and all those previous, it makes my day to see those emails.

I am very open to constructive criticism as well as the standard review, even flames are appreciated if they serve a purpose other than to make people feel bad, so please let me know what you think or would like to see happen.

Also: If anyone would like to Beta this story or receive tidbits as I write them to help smooth the story out or suggested ideas, let me know and I'll see what I can do, having someone to bounce ideas off will help me with keeping the updates coming more quickly as I'll be motivated to write more :)