heyyyy, heres the next chapter, hope you enjoy it. there's a bit of a cliff hanger at the end, which will be solved in the next chapter, but i wont say any more, other wise, i might spoil it. :) xx

The Day After

The next day, James was the first up out of all the seventh years. He sat in the common room and waited, after a time Remus emerged, dragging Sirius behind him. The black haired boy looked awful, and he glared at James.

"Why do I have to get up Prongs?"

"Because Pads its almost midday, and you definitely do not deserve to sleep in, considering you spiked all the drinks."

"What?" Sirius looked at James confused. "I put Fire Whiskey in the Butterbeer?"

James nodded, "And then you forgot about it, got blind drunk and proposed to Goldie."

"Oh okay well...WHAT! I proposed to Goldie." James nodded, and Sirius' eyes widened, "What did she say?"

"She giggled and told you to get down on your knees."

"Then what?"

"Truth be told Pads I don't know, my attention was taken by Lily jumping of the bookcase."

"Lily jumped of the bookcase?" Remus asked, surprised, "Wait how much did she drink last night? I left after she had had two bottles, did you get more after?"

"Err...yes. Lily um had about six I think."

"Wow, Lily's going to have an awful hangover. How much did Goldie have?" Remus questioned.

"About as much as Lily."

"And Mary?"

"She went up a few minutes after you."

"So she drank the same amount as me?"

James nodded, "In fact they should be down soon shouldn't they?"

Sirius groaned, and stuffed a pillow over his head and lay down on the sofa. "I don't care were they are, I just need something to stop this bloody awful headache."

James smirked, "Well that's your own fault Pads. No I wont shout at you, because your going to have enough explaining to do when Lily gets down here."

"Good luck with that." the voice came from behind them and the boys spun round to see Marigold standing on the girls staircase. Her hair was still tied up and there were dark rings under her eyes.

She yawned, "Lily's still asleep." she glanced round. "Mary not here?"

"No, isn't she in your dorm?"

Marigold shook her head, then stopped "Ow that hurts. Hey Black budge over!"

Marigold threw herself on top of Sirius, grabbed his pillow from his head and put it over her own, resting her head on his. Remus raised his eyebrows as Sirius remained silent. James shrugged and went up to his dorm to grab his broom. Remus frowned when James returned.

"Are you going flying?"

James shook his head, "No, I'm going to see whether the lovely Miss Evans can be stirred from the dead."

Remus laughed, "Don't let Lily hear you say that, she'll skin you alive!"

"Why? I'm making sure she's still alive after the amount of alcohol she took in. She'll be happy that someone cares about her, even if its me."


Swinging onto his broom, James kicked off from the ground and soared up the stairs and along the small corridor to the room at the end. The door had pink and purple flowers painted on it in a circle, and the names of the four occupants were painted in the middle. James smiled when he saw it;it was obvious who was behind it. Lily probably hated it, but there was no reining Marigold in once she had got an idea in her head. James pushed the door open and was greeted by a spanking clean square room with four beds in each corner. Three of the beds were empty, the fourth bed stood by the window and fast asleep in the bed was Lily, her red hair splayed around her face, in a shining red halo. James smiled when he saw her and sat down on the edge of the bed.

"Lily. Lily" he shook her gently. "Hey Lily-Petal, wake up."

The girl started to stir and James shook her again.

"Lils come on wake up."

This time her eyes opened.

"James?" James nodded. "James what are you doing in my room?"

She sat up fast, clutched her head and flopped back on her pillows.

"I think I got kicked in the head by a Troll last night."

James chuckled, "Yeah you could say that."

Lily turned her head to him, "What time is it?"

"About one"

"ONE!" Lily stared at James in horror, "What time did I go to bed?"

James shrugged, "Not sure, I just brought you up here at about two thirty. So you could have been up for much longer."

"You took me up here? How the stairs turns into a slide if..."

"I flew up on my broomstick."

Lily glanced down at her clothes, and frowned, "How did I get into my pyjamas?" She turned to James "Did you put them on?"

There was a hit of anger and nervousness in her voice, James shook his head.

"I just got you in to your room, I had enough to deal with back in my dorm, with Sirius. Maybe Mary changed you, Goldie wouldn't have, she drank as much as you."

"How did I get drunk? I mean we were only drinking Butterbeer, weren't we?"

James sighed and shook his head, "Sirius spiked second batch of drinks with Fire Whiskey, and the other bottles also had alcohol in them."

Lily nodded "I would shout at him, but that would kill my head, even more than it's hurting now."

"Well if your willing to get up, I can get the perfect cure for hangovers from the House Elves."

"What's the price?"

"You have to come with me."

Lily shrugged, "That's not much, are you sure your not drunk?"

"No, for one I didn't drink any more after I tasted the Fire Whiskey."

"Wow, James Potter is being responsible? What has got into you?"

James shrugged, but didn't answer for a while. When he finally spoke it was barely above a whisper.

"Maybe I'm just trying to be who you want me to be."

Lily's heart started to race, when she heard the words, James wanted to change for her! He was willing to change for her, her Lily Evans. The red head smiled, and spoke just as quietly "You don't have to change for me James, just stay the way you are."

James lifted his head and met her sparklingly green eyes with his own hazel ones. They stayed there eyes locked for a long time until Lily broke the connection.

"I think its time I got up now."

James smirked "Really?"

Lily stuck out her tongue, "Shove off Potter, I need to change."

James grinned, "Why not just come down in your Pyjamas?"

"Because I don't want to, so James please leave the room and I will join you as soon as possible."

James' grin widened, but he got up and left.

Ten minutes later, freshly showered, Lily appeared in the common room. Although she had had a shower, she had forgotten to brush her hair and it splayed about her head in a messy frizz. Her face was taut and pale, and she swayed slightly as she walked. She smiled weakly at James.

"Can we go get your Hangover medicine please. I feel even worse now that I'm up."

"Sit down Lily-Petal, I already got it for you. I didn't think you'd be able to get down there."

"Thank you." Lily took the glass, James held out to her and sniffed it. She wrinkled her nose.

"Don't smell it, don't even think about what might be in there just drink it and you'll feel better."

Lily nodded, pinched her nose, drank and gaged.

"That tasted horrible. What on earth was in it?" she asked wiping her mouth.

"Raw egg, Vinegar, pepper, bit of water and a dash of lemon."

"Raw egg?"

James laughed at Lily's face, "Come on Lils it won't poison you, Remus, Sirius, Peter and I have had that remedy several times and we're not dead yet."

Lily leaned her head back, and closed her eyes. Then she opened them again and stared at Marigold and Sirius on the sofa. The two teens had changed position; Marigold was now lying on her side (as was Sirius) next to Sirius, who's arms were wrapped around her waist. The pillow now laying over both of their heads.

"Are they going out?"

Remus shook his head, "Not as far as we know, but Sirius did ask Marigold to marry him last night."

"Really, I didn't notice, what was I doing?"

James smiled and told her about what happened the night before. Lily's eyes widened when she heard what she had done.

"Merlin, thank goodness we weren't caught."

"That's all you can ever think about isn't it Lils? Your perfect reputation might have been ruined."

Lily was about to answer him with a few sharp words when she saw that there was a smile working it's way on to his lips. Realising that it was a joke, Lily smiled.

"Yeah James, there is no way that your going to ruin it, my record is flawless where as yours probably has more words on it than the letters in your friends name."

"Ouch, bit harsh Lils."

"But it is true James." Remus pointed out. "Even you can't deny it."

James shrugged, and changed the subject.

"I got a letter today from my parents. It turns out they didn't go to America."

"Oh why?"

"Amy didn't want to go."

"So why should that bother us?"

"Well seeing as they are not abroad, they want me home for New Year."

Remus sighed, "That's a shame. I was looking forward to a New Years day trick."

"Who says we can't play a trick on my parents?"

"What? We're invited as well?"

"Well of course. I wouldn't dream of leaving you behind. My parents can't wait to see you again, of course I can't say the same about Sirius but then again it is Sirius."

They laughed and Lily sighed.

"I hope you all have fun."

The boys stared at Lily in surprise.

"Um Lily, when Remus said 'we' he meant you, Marigold and Mary." Lily still seemed confused, so James explained again. "Okay, my mum and dad have not gone to America, because Amy doesn't want to go. So they have decided that they want me home for New Year and want me to bring some of my friends home as well, and you, Marigold and Mary are invited."

Lily nodded slowly, running everything through in her mind, then her face morphed into a smile.

"I'm going to get to meet Amy, and your parents?"

"Yes Lily you are, but if you and Amy gang up on me I will ban you from my house."

"Oh its not you I'm going to gang up on, its Sirius."

The group laughed again, and James stood up.

"I've got to go see Dumbledore, we need his permission to leave the school, as my parents want us there as soon as possible."


James returned from seeing Dumbledore with in the hour, with a grin on his face.

"Right we've got permission to go in two days and we have to be back two days before term starts. So start packing your clothes and be in the common room at eleven in two days."

"Where are we going in two days?" Sirius raised his head slightly from the sofa.

"James' house."

"Really" Sirius' face lit up for a second then fell, "My head hurts."

"There's always something wrong with you Pads. Why can't you just be happy that we're going home?"

"I am happy, its just that my head hurts."

"Oh stop complaining Sirius." Lily snapped, "Its your own fault that your like this."

Sirius glared at Lily, and his head flopped back onto the sofa. James sat down next to Lily and pulled out a book, and Remus deposited himself on the floor. They sat there in a comfortable silence and at some point Lily fell asleep her head on James' shoulder. James also found his eyes drooping, so he abandoned his book and rested his head on Lily's and soon he too was asleep. That's how Mary found them when she returned to the common room later in the day. Her eyes widened when she saw Lily, James, Marigold and Sirius.

Remus looked up when she came in and smiled, "Hey Mary. What have you been doing?"

"I spent the day with my cousin in Hufflepuff, and I might be with her tomorrow as well."

Remus nodded, "Just so you know, James' parents have invited us to his house for New Years, and we're leaving in two days."

"Wow, do James' parents know what they're getting themselves into having Lily and James in the same house?"

"Well they're used to having four boisterous Marauders in there house so Lily and James shouldn't be a problem. So are you going to come?"

"Maybe, when do we come back?"

"Two days before school. So if there is any homework that we haven't done we can do it then."

Mary nodded, "I'll have to think about it."

She sat down next to Remus, pulling her knees up to her chest. "How long have they been like that?" she asked indicating towards Lily and James.

"Since Lily got up, which was about three hours ago, she came down and almost immediately fell asleep."

"Well I'm surprised she even got up."

"Why?"

"They woke me up last night and Lily could hardly walk straight, it took me almost an hour to get both of them into their pyjamas and into bed, and even then they didn't sleep."

"That's why she's sleeping now then."

Mary nodded, and sighed "I just hope that next time Lily gets drunk I'm not the one who has to sort her out."

Remus grinned, "I don't think she will, she didn't seem to like our remedy."

Mary smiled as well. The two seventh years sat there surrounded by their sleeping friends, happy and content. After another few hours the four sleeping teens started to stir. James was the first to wake and when he did he was content to sit and watch Lily sleep. Remus saw that he was awake but made no move to acknowledge him. When at last Lily, Marigold and Sirius woke, it was nearly five and everyone was hungry. The friends made their way down to dinner, and after the meal, (where Remus and Mary were the only ones that ate) they returned to the common room. Marigold had a sense of deja-vu as the group sat on the sofas by the fire. It was so much like the day before, however this time when Sirius decided that he wanted to get Butterbeer, Lily forbade him. Sirius sulked in a corner till Marigold went over to talk to him. The group ignored the two until a shout from Marigold made them look round.

"Fine! Be that way Sirius!"

"Goldie!" Marigold turned to look back at Sirius just in time to see the black haired boy in front of her. With out a seconds hesitation Sirius took Marigold's face in his hands, and kissed her.

"Go out with me Goldie?"